GEE. There’s nothing you could have done.
TEE. Exactly.
GEE. Just come out.
TEE. Please?
DEE. No.
Eight
Night.
The CHORUS enter from all over.
CHORUS. My bra itches.
All of my bras itch.
Under my boob.
And my boobs are getting bigger.
I don’t want them to be bigger.
Makes me look fatter.
DELETE.
It doesn’t say delete.
It does.
It doesn’t.
She erased it.
Happy?
Fine.
Recall it as it was written.
Fine.
Carry on.
My areolas are getting bigger too. My left areola’s bigger than my right and I hate it.
It’s not that I want my areola to look like everybody else’s areola per se, it’s just…
Well, I want it to…
Like…
Well, not look like the rubber on my HB. Know what I mean?
It’s a bit scary, it’s growing… I don’t get it, don’t want people to be scared.
Don’t want fake-looking tits necessarily, don’t wanna look plastic fantastic.
Don’t wanna give people another reason to look at me in that way.
But I do want my tits to stand up.
Want them to be approachable. Know what I mean? I want approachable boobs.
Not like I would let just anybody approach them or anything… not like anybody will ever want to approach them, it’s unlikely, I know that…
Just.
That.
I… I think I ought to have them ready for when someone is ready… like, if they ever are.
Sounds dramatic, but I don’t care, that’s what I want and I want to find someone that looks at me the way Granddad looks at Nan. And I want my mum to be happy again and I want to feel like I fit and feel the love people keep telling me they have for me, but I… don’t.
I have dreams of flying, ya know.
Of closing my eyes, taking a big breath in, and soaring until I’m ready to come back down. Not as before.
Not gently.
A bang, come back down with a bang.
If I was braver I would… If I was braver I’d close my eyes and take a deep breath in and go.
I’d fly.
I’d soar until I was ready to come back down.
Not gently.
But with a bang.
If I was braver I’d make it all stop.
Nine
Dusk.
The Tent.
DEE takes off her trainers, and undoes her school tie. She lays down on the grass and runs her hands and feet through it and looks up at the sky.
JAY enters.
CHORUS. Sssh.
DEE lights a match and looks around once more.
She’s doing it again, scrolling through pages, looking for answers, searching her mind for blossom seeds planted in memories.
DEE. Jay?
JAY lights a match in a completely different part of the space.
Lights out.
Ten
Dusk.
BEE. Get off the floor.
TEE. Get up off of the floor!
BEE. Quick!
TEE. Now!
DEE. Are you okay?
BEE. Of course she’s okay.
DEE. No thanks to you.
BEE. And where were you?
DEE. Don’t worry about where I was, worry why you were right by her side and you did nothing.
BEE. I wasn’t by her side.
TEE. This isn’t…
DEE. You were by her side.
JAY. Gee?
BEE. I wasn’t by her side, if I was by her side I’d say I was by her side.
JAY. Gee, babe?
TEE. This isn’t useful.
DEE. You were blatantly by her side doing absolutely…
BEE. I was not.
DEE. Absolutely nothing as per usual.
BEE. You’re out of line.
DEE. I don’t care, because you did absolutely nothing.
TEE. Can both of you shut up?!
DEE. She should leave.
TEE. Shut up!
JAY. We should…
TEE. Exactly.
JAY. We should take her to the hospital.
GEE. No!
JAY. She needs to go.
GEE. No.
BEE. We’ve got to tell her mum.
GEE. No.
BEE. We have to.
GEE. I said no.
BEE. Seriously.
DEE. She said no.
BEE. I heard her.
DEE. Then shut up.
BEE. What is your problem?
DEE. You, you’re my problem, you’re a liability.
BEE. Oh, I’m a liability?
JAY. Can you both just…
DEE. Yeah, you.
BEE. Coming from you, the one who…
TEE. Seriously…
BEE.…always gets us in some kind of mess…
TEE. If you’re both gonna keep…
DEE. You wanna talk about mess?
BEE. Not really, that’s your / job…
TEE. If you’re gonna keep on arguing about absolute crap when she can barely…
DEE. You don’t need to tell me.
TEE. She can barely open her…
DEE. I can see that.
BEE. You sure?
DEE. Why don’t you shut your face?!
JAY. Both of you can shut up, seriously, you can both shut up and get lost!
Beat.
Is that what you want?
BEE. I just want to make sure that she’s alright.
JAY. Good.
GEE. Don’t tell my mum.
JAY. Babe, we have to.
GEE. No.
TEE. She’s right, we have to.
GEE. She’ll only worry and I’m fine.
TEE. Seriously.
DEE. They’re right.
BEE. Yeah, they are.
GEE. Please don’t tell my mum. Seriously, for the last time, I’m fine, I will be fine.
JAY. Okay.
DEE. What?
JAY. We’ll protect her.
DEE. Obviously! But that’s / not the [point].
JAY. ‘But’ nothing. If she doesn’t want to tell her mum, she doesn’t have to.
BEE. Oh come on!
JAY. If we see anything again, we’ll call the police. Until then, we protect her, we protect each other, like we always do.
TEE. This isn’t the same.
DEE. Yeah… It really isn’t.
TEE. Maybe, but we took an oath.
DEE. An oath?
JAY. Yeah!
BEE. A stupid promise when we were like five years old is hardly an oath.
JAY. Maybe not to you.
DEE. Babe, she’s right.
JAY. Fine then, let’s take one now.
DEE. This is ridiculous.
TEE. Don’t know what has got in to you, but I’m telling her mum / and then I’m telling [the police].
GEE. Please, I’m begging you. It’s not necessary. It was nothing serious… it just got a little out of control. Please…
TEE. No.
GEE. Please.
DEE. No.
JAY. That’s final.
DEE. You don’t get to decide.
BEE. This is ridiculous.
TEE. I don’t want to be a part of this.
JAY. Then don’t. If you can live with betraying one of your oldest friends then fine.
TEE. That’s not fair.
JAY. She’s asked us to do something, and we’ve gotta honour that, and it’s as simple as that.
DEE. Fine.
JAY. Any final objections?
No reply.
Good!
Repeat after me.
I swear…
TEE. Nope.
GEE. I sw
ear.
BEE. For God’s sake, guys!
JAY. To stand with you.
GEE. To stand with you.
JAY. In all that you ask of me.
GEE. In all that you ask of me…
JAY. And to respect your wishes at all costs.
DEE. Fine.
ALL. And to respect your wishes at all costs.
JAY. Until the end of our friendships.
ALL. Until the end of our friendships.
JAY. Which will be never!
GEE. Ever!
JAY places her pinky in the middle of the circle and waits.
JAY. Well?
GEE joins her pinky to JAY’s. Eventually all the GIRLS join in.
Now, you’re gonna text your mum and tell her that you’re staying at Dee’s.
DEE. What?
JAY. We all are!
DEE. My room’s a mess.
JAY. Yes, but you’re the only one without a nosey brother or sister and by the time it hits 9 p.m. your mum’ll be on the wine / and forget about us!
DEE. Oi!
TEE. Sorted.
GEE. I love you.
BEE. I can’t stand you.
JAY. She meant that!
BEE. Tart!
GEE. Cow!
Lights out.
Eleven
Day.
The cul-de-sac.
GEE, BEE and TEE slump around the trolley. DEE paces. They are not as we have seen them before.
The CHORUS watch on, they are close.
DEE. Right, you’re me.
TEE. Fine.
DEE. And you’re Jay.
GEE. Cool.
DEE. And we’re gonna keep drilling this until…
BEE. Until what?
DEE. You don’t need to be here if you don’t want to.
BEE. Well, your mum told us to speak to you, she’s worried.
DEE. Can we just get on with it?
GEE. Perhaps…
TEE. Perhaps we could talk.
GEE. Yeah.
BEE. Let us be there for you.
DEE. I remember how you liked to run.
GEE. I did?
DEE. Yes, she did. Now the crowd were roaring and she loved that. You loved that, right?
GEE. Yeah, yes, babe, I loved it.
DEE. And that was the last time, right?
TEE. Yeah.
DEE. And all of us came together, didn’t we?
TEE. Yes.
DEE. I remember reading her message at like 8 a.m., what about you guys?
TEE. Well…
BEE. This is irrelevant.
DEE. I don’t want you to talk to me any more.
TEE. It’s fine, guys, I remember too, I think I read her message at like eight-thirty, does that sound right?
DEE. Yeah… I… I think.
TEE. Great.
DEE. Okay, so erm… I guess…
On your mark!
GEE. We’re gonna start now?
DEE. Obviously!
GEE. Okay, babe.
DEE. On your mark!
Beat.
This isn’t difficult, take your position… and the rest of you were not stood there, stand where you were.
GEE. Fine.
BEE. Look…
GEE raises her hand and BEE acknowledges.
DEE. Now you’d line us all up, make us sit and watch you race yourself so we were prepared, we knew where you would want us to be, and even though it was packed you could see us, you wanted us to watch you run, to feel free, and we did.
TEE. Pause.
DEE. No.
GEE. Just a quick pause.
DEE. All you guys have done since you arrived is pause, now you couldn’t get it correct the first two times and so we’re gonna get it correct now.
BEE. This is crazy.
DEE. So I’m gonna start again.
BEE. Whatever.
DEE. You’d line us all up, make us sit and watch you race yourself.
GEE. Sure.
DEE. Do you remember or not?
GEE. Yes, I remember.
Beat.
DEE. Continue.
TEE. We’d all have to sit there until you’d raced yourself at least ten times.
BEE. Yep.
DEE. And so… And so you start to run now.
GEE. Look… Pause.
DEE. No. Run.
GEE. Am I in the right place?
Beat.
DEE. Answer her.
TEE. Yes.
GEE. Perfect.
TEE. On your mark!!! Get set!!! GO!!!
GEE begins sprinting up and down the cul-de-sac.
DEE. Faster!!!
TEE. So we… we chanted and you loved it and you were happy and…?
DEE. What do you mean, ‘and’?
GEE. I keep going.
TEE. There’s a point where you stop running because you’re running out of breath.
BEE. And we cheer.
DEE. Good.
TEE. And we keep on cheering and cheering.
DEE. And you’re feeling great, aren’t you?
GEE. I think so.
DEE. You are.
GEE. Yes! I’m feeling great!
TEE. And you start to run out of breath again.
BEE. You do, you start to run out of breath.
TEE. You start to feel dizzy and you ask me to grab your water from your bag.
DEE. And she does.
TEE. Yep.
GEE. Do I stop now?
DEE. Are you running out of air?
GEE. I am.
DEE. Good, then you fall to the ground?
BEE. What?
DEE. She falls to the floor.
GEE. It’s fine.
TEE. I give you water?
DEE. Yes.
TEE. And then what?
DEE. I… I’m not sure.
GEE. It’s not okay. Let’s go again.
TEE. No.
DEE. Just one more time.
TEE. No.
GEE. You couldn’t have known, we couldn’t have known.
DEE. That’s crap, let’s start again.
BEE. Maybe she just doesn’t wanna be found, maybe that last day she felt freedom was when she ran, and she just didn’t stop, maybe that was it.
DEE. Leave.
BEE. This didn’t just happen to you.
DEE. I want you to leave.
BEE. Fine. But it won’t bring her back.
TEE. It really won’t.
Twelve
Dusk.
Enter DEE and JAY. JAY pushes DEE around in a trolley. They are full of joy.
The CHORUS are close by.
DEE. I want to go faster!!!
JAY. I’m trying!!
DEE. Try harder!!
JAY. I am!!!
DEE. Move your feet faster then!!
JAY. I am!
DEE. Even faster!
JAY. What if they fall off?!
DEE. They can’t fall off.
JAY. But what if they do?
DEE. Then you have mankier feet than I thought!
JAY. My feet are beautiful!
DEE. They’re dry like rhinoceros skin!
JAY. Shut ya face!
DEE. As dry as the Sahara!
JAY. You haven’t even been to the Sahara!
DEE. Doesn’t stop your feet being as dry as it!
JAY. Like your breath!
DEE. Like your foot!!
JAY. Like your lip in the winter!
DEE. LIKE YOUR RHINO FOOT! Spin me, Rhinoceros! Spin me round and round until my head rolls away from my neck!
JAY. You’re so stupid!!!
JAY spins the trolley round.
DEE. You’re moving too slow!
JAY. Alright!
DEE. FASTER!!!
JAY. Shut up!
DEE. FASTER!
JAY. ALRIGHT!!!
DEE spins away from JAY. They both lose their balance and crash into a heap of laughter. JAY gets up to leave.
DEE. Where are you going?
JAY. Look at the sky, babe!!! It’s mental!!! Lay with me.
DEE. What?
JAY. Lay with me.
DEE. I don’t remember this.
JAY. You do.
DEE. No, I would have remembered this.
JAY. But you do.
DEE. I don’t.
JAY smiles.
If I remembered, I’d say.
JAY. Okay.
DEE. No really I would.
JAY. It’s okay.
DEE. ‘Night, babe.’
‘Night, Rhinoceros.’
‘Look at the sky, babe, it’s mental!’
JAY. Lay with me.
DEE. Don’t wanna lay with you.
JAY. You do.
DEE. No.
JAY. You’re scared, but you do.
DEE hesitates then lays down.
DEE. What am I supposed to be looking at?
JAY. Just lay here.
DEE. I am.
JAY. Really be here with me, with the sky.
DEE grows annoyed and jolts up.
I told you.
DEE. No, you didn’t.
JAY. I told you that I needed to go.
DEE. No, you didn’t.
I would remember.
JAY. I did.
DEE. No, I have gone over it and over it. I’d remember if you had, and I can’t find that memory.
JAY smiles.
JAY. Lay with me.
DEE. No.
JAY. Lay with me.
DEE. No.
JAY. Close your eyes and breathe.
DEE. No.
JAY holds out her hand.
JAY. Come on.
She waits.
DEE gently lays beside her friend.
Goodnight, babe.
DEE. Goodnight, Rhinoceros.
JAY. Look at the sky, babe, look how it paints the world. How it commands us to see it.
All seven-point-five billion of us.
Look at it, babe. Look how the clouds dance around the sun. How the moon pops up to say ‘hi’. All of us reaching for the stars, reaching for the sky, trying to be red like the sky. Stand out like the sky.
To be heard like…
To roar like the sky.
To be seen, once again. Like the red in the sky.
Beat.
You see it, right?
DEE. No.
JAY. I asked you if you could see it and you said…?
DEE. What do you want me to say?
JAY. I asked you if you could see it and you said…?
DEE. No! I said ‘no’ because I couldn’t!
JAY. Did you know there are like seven billion people on Earth?
Well, seven-point-five.
There are seven-point-five billion people on planet Earth.
As far as we know.
That’s… nuts!
The CHORUS appear in different spaces. In pairs. Looking to the sky. We bounce in and out of each of their worlds.
CHORUS. I mean.
What does that even look like?
Red Page 3
