Nerd Love One Act Prologue Scene 1

Prologue

Narrator- She was a stressed nerd, who wished life could fit in a graphic organizer. He was a nerdy musician, who wished life could be better for everyone. She was waiting before school for a project partner. He was there to cheer up girls like her. They both loved the White Stripes. He was a Libra. She was a Taurus. He loved school for the people and interactions. She hated school for the people and the work. They both loved the Beatles. He was a tea person, and she, a coffee person. He was into nerdy girls and she, into actors. They both loved Ben Folds. These two seem like two normal people, bound to meet. That is true. But a story isn’t simply about the action; it is also about the circumstances. This is their story.

Scene 1- Courtyard

(Virginia rushes onstage, with papers falling all over, wearing an oversized backpack full of stuff, to get to the center stage table and stand there.)

Virginia- (angry) I am going to shoot Charles when I see him! First he doesn’t work in class, and then he doesn’t email me his work, then he texts me telling me to come early and of course he is late. I hate group projects! This Civil War project is merely a big graphic organizer and he can’t email me the work he did so I can add it onto mine! Ugh! I hate this! I hate my nerdiness! (Calming down, slightly) I guess nerds always do all the work and only get half the credit. (She sits down, plunks the papers on the table and recognizes she left others behind, so she picks them up, comes back to the table, and sits down again.) My life was so much easier last year. I had a boyfriend. I had a life. I had friends. I had no homework. I had a life. I had dreams. I had a life. I had straight A’s. I had a life. I had a life. I had a life. I had a life! Not only did I have a life I had the life! I had a boy who is the goofy weirdo in the school play. I had no stress whatsoever. I had no problems! (She plunks her head on the table)

(Dylan comes onstage playing We’re Going to be Friends, by the White Stripes on his black acoustic guitar. Virginia looks around. Dylan smiles at her.)

Dylan- White Stripes. They are known for harder rock, but I like the relaxing sound of the guitar on this one.

Virginia- Oh. I like The Hardest Button to Button. (Dylan plays the guitar part with tapping his foot to the beat.)

Dylan- Me too. Do you like any Ben Folds?

Virginia-Yeah.

Dylan-What is the song by him that is the most soothing for you?

Virginia- Adelaide.

Dylan- (smiles then plays the piano part on his guitar.) What is up that you are here so early?

Virginia- I am here to meet Charles for a project.

Dylan- Which one?

Virginia- Joseph.

Dylan- Oh he is a pain to work with.

Virginia- (sarcastically) No!

Dylan- You can manage it.

Virginia- How do you know?

Dylan- I have heard from Marc.

Virginia- (fighting back urges to release her feelings) Are you in drama club too?

Dylan- No. I play for them. I have a girlfriend in tech. Apparently no one else is fluent in pretty much every instrument he or she picks up.

Virginia- How is he?

Dylan- Normal, unlike what Lydia tells me you normally act, and a little bit of him.

Virginia- Well she got all religious on me and he got distant.

Dylan- Lydia has the Wiccan thing on grips a bit more. Marc isn’t my girlfriend, thank god so I don’t know about him.

Virginia- (stifles a laugh) I think it is weird I told you more in five minutes than I have told all my friends in months and I don’t even know your name.

Dylan- It is Dylan.

Virginia- Virginia.

Dylan- Nice to meet you. Do you want to sing something together?

Virginia- Sure. (Dylan plays an acoustic version of You Don’t Know Me by Ben Folds and Regina Spektor. Virginia sings Regina’s part and Dylan sings Ben’s part. It can be censored.)

Dylan- You have a pretty voice.

Virginia- You too.

Dylan- But I guessed you weren’t a singer. You had to have guessed I lip synced for your boyfriend.

Virginia- Of course. He sounds like a dying cat.

Dylan- (laughs) He does. I am a guitarist with fracking pitch!

Virginia- I like your curse alternative.

Dylan- I heard it on The Big Bang Theory and use it all the time.

Virginia- I like you.

Dylan- You don’t know me.

Virginia- Lydia told me all about her perfect guy. I can only assume you fit the description.

Dylan- She wanted a Metallica-loving Goth/punk rocker. I am an alternative rock kind of person who is calm.

Virginia- I noticed.

(Charles rushes in.)

Charles- Sorry I was late Virginia! I only got the causes done.

Virginia- You have got to be kidding me! You were responsible for the course!! Now you will never know what happened at the Battle of Shiloh!

Charles- What did happen?

Virginia- How the hell would I know?

Dylan- I know.

Virginia- What?

Dylan- The North won and it was this battle that showed more modern techniques we call total war.

(Charles is scribbling this down.)

Virginia- Thanks, Dylan.

Dylan- No problem. I want you to be my friend.

Virginia- Of course.

Charles- We only have to turn in one so…

Virginia- You were wasting my time.

(Lydia enters and taps Dylan’s shoulder. He smiles a crooked smile as he turns to greet her.)

Dylan- (fake dramatically) Lydia.

Lydia- (in the same manner) Dylan. (Dylan kisses her passionately, swung over and tongue.)

Dylan- (smiles a real smile and both stifle a laugh) I love you.

Lydia- I love you too. Marc’s lighting is all fracked up so I have to get the right light.

Dylan- Cool. Don’t let him steal you away from me.

Lydia- Marc is nice.

Dylan- I trust him… somewhat.

Lydia- Oh hi Virginia. Speaking of people we sort of trust…

Dylan- Hey! She is nice!

Lydia- Yeah. Wait until she hurts you.

Virginia- You hurt me. Everything was about Lilith.

Lydia- Wiccan.

Dylan- That was a little annoying.

Marc- Lydia, you are the understudy for that romantic part, right?

Lydia- Yes.

Marc- You are her now.

Lydia- But, she kisses you.

Marc- Exactly.

Virginia- (to Dylan)There is nothing to be jealous about.

Marc- Hello Virginia.

Virginia- Hello Marc.

Dylan- Marc, you have it out for me don’t you?

Marc- Maybe. (leaves)

Lydia- Dylan, you and I will talk later. (leaves)

Dylan- Well I am in trouble. I think it was totally worth it.

Virginia- That is good. Marc is going to kiss Lydia.

Dylan- This is going to be one hell of a play.

Virginia- If Lydia wasn’t there…

Dylan- Don’t worry about her. I don’t know you.

Virginia- Okay. See you later (both exit)

Charles- What the hell just happened? (lights go down as the scene changes)

Chapter 2 Visuals

This explains the way that Indiana's town is set up. The town center is industrial. The agricultural land is on the outside, then there are houses, then many many shops and then town center.

This is Tristan's jacket, though this model looks nothing like Tristan.

Chapter 2 Tristan WARNINGS

Tristan is a  a hippie, but when he gets mad, he is mad. This happens three times in the story where he gets really mad. Once with his crew, once with Charlotte and once with Mrs. Cedoris at the very end. Tristan is a great character that only improves.

When I first came up with Tristan, I knew I needed a leader and I knew I needed a nice guy, someone who I could introduce as a love interest. Tristan's first name came from the movie Stardust, which features sky pirates in the light I thought about them. His last name -Verne- comes from the great Jules Verne.

Indiana is not in here, but her town sure is! I will show pictures of what Tristan's jacket looks like and what Indiana's town looks like.

Chapter 2: Tristan

Chapter 2: Tristan

Tristan Verne was the ship’s captain, and therefore he was in charge of the ship left to him from his father.

At that moment, standing on the highest look out point of the ship, the wind whipping his hair, his father and even his crew were the last thing he thought about. It was the type of clear, beautiful day that occurred infrequently, and he normally would want them to occur infrequently. Sky pirates caught lightning, so normally they would want weather to be full of thunderstorms, so they could catch lightning and make money. Lately, though, the weather had been so full of thunderstorms that catching lightning had become a daily activity. This made Tristan recognize he was not in the sky pirate business to harvest lightning. He was in it for the thrill, because as he was recognizing, he was a born adventurer. He lived for each day, never regretting the last and never pondering the next. He would usually go off course onto an interesting island so he can have an epic battle with a female villan and end up using his lips as his best weapon.

He prided himself in his sharp wit (which he used to lead his crew properly) and strength. He was ruggedly handsome, but acted like he thought he was a beast and not a beauty. Any woman would love him for that. If Tristan could find a girl who did not find him attractive for the fact he was a sky pirate or just naturally handsome, he would easily fall in love her. Any man on his crew would say Tristan is his hero, mentor and savior, despite the fact Tristan did not feel like a hero.

Tristan was eighteen, compared to the average age of about twenty-five in his crewmates. This was due to the fact his father owned the vessel originally in Ottawa. Before he died, his father sold the ship to some people he knew in Toronto. When Tristan was about fourteen,  he decided to work for the people who had bought the ship, and try to get it back. The capitain decided to let him pay it off. For everything he would get paid for, he got the satisfaction he was one paycheck closer to owning his father’s ship. In two years he had worked it off.

In two more years he was already bored with it. In all reality, the interesting and exciting parts for Tristan was not catching lightning, but rather, going on extra excursions and missons. It was all he ever cared about, and it wasn’t even his job to care. When he thought about this it made him realize that there was only one time that he truly loved sky pirating.

It was a rainy night on the Sky Maiden. It was Tristan’s first time on a sky ship while the rain, thunder and lightning boomed against the ceiling, like gunfire. He hadn’t even been out on the Sky Maiden when it was drizzling, and this night was close to a hurricane.

Tristan’s father ran into Tristan’s room. “Tristan! Do you want to see me work?” Mr. Verne asked.

“No, Father. It is scary outside. I am afraid of lightning.” Tristan answered.

“Afraid of lightning? Blasephemy! I know my son and my son can catch lightning with his father.” Mr. Verne responded.

“But I am afraid!” Tristan defended.

“You will have to face your fears someday. Why not today?”

“I’m not ready!”

“Well, I am putting my foot down then. You are going and that is final.” Mr. Verne responded.

Tristan reluctantly put on his rubber rain boots and raincoat and followed his father outside.

He felt like he was on a batllefield. The raindrops were bullets, dropping against his face, with the sounds of thunder bombs dropping in the background. Then there was the enemy that needed to be captured- the lightning.

“You hold the cup in one hand and the cap in the other!” He exclaimed, handing Tristan the cup. It was made of glass and at the bottom was aluminum. The top was aluminum too. “On a night like tonight, you just keep the jar out and ready to catch! You can let some water get inside, it is a good conductor! ”

The bait was the aluminum. The trap was set. Young Tristan heard the thunder of another lightning bolt. Another came, almost concurrently. Tristan saw the enemy on his camp. The bullets were flying in his face, so he couldn’t see very well and the sound of bombs made it hard to hear, but the enemy took the bait, and Tristan deployed his trap.

He slammed the lightning jar shut. He peered though it, watching as the little light bounced up and down, the rain still going as hard and as fast as ever. It was all worth it to see that beautiful piece of nature become bottled up, like when a child catches a butterfly.

Tristan was proud of himself at the time, but as he grew older, he started to ponder if free things are put out into the world to be captured, or to be let free. This made him think about why he was capturing the freest light and bottling it up to be sold.

He knew even more that this wasn’t right for him at all. He was in search of his crew to let them know the news, and only the steering person was working.

He thought as he scoured the ship, “Of course when I want to land they all sleep. They always sleep. They don’t do anything. Honest to God I need a new crew. I am no longer the mystified eight-year-old I once was. I need to go into town, get an adventuring license and go do something worthwhile. I want excitement and fun. I need to adventure as my main job.”

He found his crew, unsurprisingly all in their beds at noon.

Tristan bellowed, “Get up you sloths!” All startled awake. “Now you will all land this ship with me. I am quitting lightning catching for adventuring.”

“But sir you don’t have a…” One started.

“A license? I am a captain of a lightning catcher squad. They would give me the world on a silver platter.” Tristan interrupted. The crewmates dispersed. Tristan went behind the wheel (the wheel person took a nap). The majestic wings of the Sky Maiden spread out to allow for a majestic vehicle to descend onto the earth.

Tristan exited the ship with his motorcycle, destined to find his destiny in a small town. He passed miles of farmland on his motorcycle. He also recognized the town’s shape was somewhat circular, and since the houses were in front of the farmland, the more he went in the more industrial it would get. This was true.

Tristan’s motorcycle was very unique. It could not only run off of solar energy, it could run off of the windmill that would pop out in the back if Tristan pressed the wind button, it could run off manual power, or it could run off of the power he very infrequently used. This power was gas. Tristan never believed in exploiting what nature left us in fossil fuels to fuel things when there are more efficient ways.

It was made from brass, there was intricate detail in the way he manipulated the metal to cover the parts, but look like it was part of the gears and gadgets to make it work. Tristan did this all by himself when he was sixteen when he was on sky leave.

It was a bright, beautiful day so Tristan used his solar power. It was nice to Tristan, though it didn’t change his look in the slightest. He still wore his off-white button down shirt, brown leather jacket (the only animal skin he would ever wear) and jeans that weren’t too tight or too loose. His shoes looked like leather, but were actually animal-friendly.

His hair that matched the jacket was longer than it normally was. It was about half way down his neck. His facial hair had grown out a bit too. He normally kept up with his shaving, but he liked to keep it scruffy. He was not the more feminine look of the clean-shaven look or the fully manly man beard look.

His eyes were a warm blue. His skin was very tanned, but he was white beneath it all. He worked out frequently and had the muscles to prove it.

Tristan wanted an adventure and would stop at nothing to get one.

Indiana and Tristan = DONE!!!

I still don't have a better title. I was thinking Journey to Arsenic Island, but the "Journey to" thing is when most of the story is the journey, which is not the case in of my stories. So Chapter 2 hopefully will be up tonight.
<3 HRT

I am almost done :)

Hopefully I can get this baby done so I can type tonight!!
<3 HRT

Not going to post chapter 2 for awhile

I am in the heat of my story, my keyboard is bipolar (right now the arrow buttons aren't working, other times the letters won't work) and I am truthfully uninterested in going back and typing this whole story up. When I am done (projected date sometime this month) I will go back and type 2 to the end. I probably won't post the end, so email me at hrtgirl1990@gmail.com (if you are interested)