By Sydny Long
...................................................................................
THE GIRL BETWEEN US
A PLAY IN ONE ACT
(LIGHTS RISE on a furnished living room. KATIE KELL enters, holding a board game box to her chest and pacing the floor.)
KATIE: (quietly) She just wants to talk, she just wants to talk...
(KATIE sets the board game down on the coffee table, then sits down on the sofa. She
nervously braids and unbraids a strand of hair)
KATIE: Say something about her lacrosse game. Tell her you saw her score that goal and that Dawn would’ve been really proud. Say what she likes to hear.
(A doorbell rings. KATIE sits up suddenly and stops playing with her hair.)
KATIE: It’s unlocked!
(JUNE JACOBSON enters, wearing a lacrosse jersey. She appears flustered.)
JUNE: Sorry. I thought practice would be done by seven.
KATIE: It’s okay! Um, how was practice?
JUNE: Good.
(A pause.)
KATIE: I saw you guys play on Saturday. That goal you scored was choice.
JUNE: Are you still trying to make up slang?
KATIE: I’m pretty sure “choice” is a real thing.
JUNE: Wow, that’s even worse.
KATIE: What?
JUNE: You couldn’t even make up something dumber than choice.
KATIE: Oh.
(A painful silence. JUNE seems remorseful.)
JUNE: Thanks for coming to the game, though. You didn’t have to.
KATIE: Yeah, well... You guys are great. Dawn would’ve been really proud of that goal.
(JUNE smiles.)
JUNE: Dawn didn’t know anything about sports. She probably wouldn’t have even realized I scored.
KATIE: (laughing) Remember that cheer she made up for you guys?
JUNE: Oh, yeah!
JUNE, KATIE: (in unison) HIT THE BALL! DO THE SPORT! WIN THE GAME!
(KATIE and JUNE laugh.)
KATIE: Um... I saw Dawn’s mom yesterday.
(JUNE sits down in the chair.)
JUNE: How’s she doing?
KATIE: Really well! We went to the farmer’s market together and she seemed a lot better. She said she really likes that new music class she’s doing and I’m thinking of getting her tickets to “Wicked” when it comes so she’ll have something to look forward to this summer.
JUNE: (surprised) Oh... Wow, that’s great. Really great.
KATIE: Yeah.
(They avoid eye contact for a moment. JUNE notices the board game and picks up the box.)
JUNE: Didn’t we literally just watch a movie where people used this thing and got haunted?
KATIE: Those people were just messing around. We’re... We’re making a direct call.
(JUNE sets the box down.)
JUNE: Katie... are you sure this is a good idea?
KATIE: ... I don’t know. (Pause) I don’t care. I want to hear her voice again. Her phone number’s disconnected, so I can’t even hear her voicemail.
JUNE: Are you still sending those texts to her phone? KATIE: Yeah. So?
JUNE: Nothing! It-It’s fine, I know it’s how you cope, but, like...
KATIE: June, you can go if you want.
JUNE: No, no, I came here to do this. I... I wanna do this too. I just wanna make sure we’re doing it right, I guess.
(KATIE picks up the box and opens it. She pulls out a planchette and an ouija board, which she carefully places on the table.)
KATIE: We’re doing it right enough.
(Both girls kneel on opposite sides of the table. After a moment’s hesitation, they place their fingertips on the planchette.)
JUNE: Who should call out to her?
KATIE: I read that you should call out together. The spirit might get confused if we do it separately.
JUNE: What do we say? Just, like, “Dawn, can you hear us?”
KATIE: More specific. Something only she’d know. There might be other Dawns out there.
(Pause) How about: “Greetings, Mr. Picasso”?
JUNE: (laughing uneasily) God... I haven’t thought about that in so long. KATIE: Are you ready?
JUNE: Uh, yeah.
KATIE: Okay. One, two—
KATIE & JUNE: (almost in unison) Greetings, Mr. Picasso.
(Silence.)
JUNE: Uh... What exactly’s supposed to happen?
KATIE: I... She’s supposed to communicate with us. That’s the goal.
(More silence. KATIE glances around as if waiting for Dawn herself to appear. JUNE is visibly uncomfortable.)
JUNE: Katie—
(BOTH GIRLS gasp as the planchette suddenly jerks to the side.)
JUNE: What the fuck?!
KATIE: (excited) She’s here! She’s talking to us!
JUNE: You just moved the thing!
KATIE: What? No, I didn’t!
JUNE: (getting upset) Yes, you did! You moved it! I felt you move it! KATIE: I didn’t move it!
(JUNE takes her hands off of the planchette and moves to get up. KATIE reaches across the table to grab her wrist, putting her hands back on the planchette.)
KATIE: We can’t break the bond!
JUNE: (volcanically angry) Fuck your bond! I’m not doing this, I’m not playing this stupid fucking game.
KATIE: (starting to get worked up) It’s not stupid! Here—just ask her a question, June. Just ask her something, she’s here. She’ll answer.
(JUNE glares at KATIE for a moment before fully settling her hands on the planchette. JUNE pauses, then lifts her head.)
JUNE: (now calm) Dawn. Who did you like better—me or Katie?
KATIE: What?
JUNE: Dawn, if you’re there, tell us who you liked better. Was it me or Katie?
KATIE: June, what’re you doing?
JUNE: You told me to ask a question.
(The planchette jerks across the board. BOTH GIRLS release it and scramble to their feet. KATIE is shaking with anger.)
KATIE: You moved it!
JUNE: No, you’re the one who moved it! You—You wanted us to do this. You’re the one digging all this shit back up.
KATIE: (screaming) I’M NOT DIGGING ANYTHING UP!
JUNE: Then why the fuck are we using an Ouija board?! Why can’t you just get a fucking journal or go to therapy like the rest of us?
KATIE: DON’T TELL ME HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS!
(JUNE picks up the planchette from the table and throws it against the floor. The glass eye shatters. KATIE covers her mouth with her hand, but doesn’t go to pick it up.)
JUNE: (a little shaken) There. Fuck your Ouija board.
(KATIE lowers her hand and starts crying. She stands in the middle of the room, sobbing. JUNE looks down at the broken planchette, then quickly goes to KATIE and awkwardly tries to hug her.)
JUNE: I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Katie. I didn’t mean to do that.
KATIE: (crying) Yes, you did!
(JUNE lets her go, but stands nearby. KATIE wraps her arms around herself.)
KATIE: Why would you ask that?
JUNE: Because... I just wanted to know. I don’t... I don’t believe in this stuff, I guess, but I thought if I asked, then maybe...
KATIE: Don’t you know the answer?
JUNE: No. Well... yeah. It’s not the answer I want.
KATIE: She was your friend first. She always liked you more.
JUNE: (shaking her head) No. I was always hanging with my lacrosse friends. She... When she found you, you became her best friend. I was just an understudy.
KATIE: No. No, June... You were never an understudy. We all—We were best friends. All three of us.
JUNE: A best friend would’ve noticed when she stopped replying to my texts.
(They are silent for a long moment.)
KATIE: I’m sorry. I’m sorry I started this.
JUNE: It’s okay.
KATIE: No, it’s not. I can’t move on and I’m... I’m keeping you down with me.
JUNE: No one expects you to move on, Katie. It’s only been six months.
KATIE: But you’re still doing stuff and you got all your college apps in on time, and I... I can’t. I can’t move at all.
JUNE: Katie, you have depression. No one expects you to just bounce back.
KATIE: I want to bounce back. (Pause) I want to stop being lonely.
JUNE: You’re, like, always with Dana and Sarah and Dawn’s mom, though. Aren’t they helping some?
KATIE: They’re... They just feel bad for me. They’re worried I’ll do something drastic and it’s—it’s not like that. I don’t want to die, you know? I just want... to feel normal again and being with them doesn’t feel normal. It just reminds me that she’s not here.
JUNE: No, I get that. I’m sorry... I’m sorry I haven’t been there.
KATIE: It’s okay, I know you’ve been busy.
JUNE: (exhaling fiercely) No. It’s not okay and I... I’ve been avoiding you on purpose. Not on purpose, I mean, like... I can’t look at you sometimes. When I look at you, I see Dawn and I see all the times I should’ve been there for both of you. All the times I ignored you or hung out with Dawn without you because I was jealous of you. You make it worse. That’s not a good excuse or anything, but looking at you makes me remember Dawn’s dead.
KATIE: Are you saying we can’t be friends anymore?
JUNE: (uncertain) No...
KATIE: It’s okay if you don’t. Dawn was the only reason we ever really became friends in the first place.
JUNE: But that’s not fair. I still really like you, Katie, even without Dawn.
KATIE: I like you too.
(They stand together, sharing a solemn look. The space between them is glaring.)
JUNE: I think... I don’t want to remember anything from before. I just want to keep going.
KATIE: I understand.
JUNE: But I still love you. I still love you and if you ever need anything, you can always come to me. I’ll still be here.
KATIE: (smiling weakly) Thank you.
JUNE: Of course.
KATIE: I’m sorry.
(JUNE reaches out to take KATIE’S hand and give it a squeeze.)
JUNE: Don’t be sorry. It’s okay. You’re okay.
(A long pause.) I’m going to go, but I’ll see you at school tomorrow.
KATIE: Okay.
JUNE: Bye, Katie. If you need anything, just text me.
(JUNE squeezes her hand again and slowly walks out of the room. KATIE stands in her spot, closing the hand that JUNE squeezed into a loose fist. She then picks up the planchette from the floor and holds it against her chest. Taking a deep breath, KATIE presses the planchette firmly to her heart and leaves the living room.)
(LIGHTS DOWN.)
Critique
Hi Sydny,
The Girl Between Us opens with an interesting premise, and succeeds in moving the story along swiftly. I appreciate its small scope—it doesn’t attempt to overstretch itself. In my opinion, one-acts, like short stories, work very well as ‘slices’ of an often greater narrative; while they are stories in their own right, they should also hint at the world they are set in, convincing the audience that the story’s setting and unique sense of reality extends beyond what they were shown. The best one acts will give the impression that they are only one small piece of an extended universe, rather than taking place in a detached vacuum. The Girl Between Us works as one of these narrative slices. We don’t get to see what happened before, and we aren’t introduced to the character of Dawn, but we understand that this scene is the result of what came before it, that the characters have histories behind them. Great job on that aspect!
However, this introduces its own limitations, and makes it very important for the world of the story to feel real. In a one-act play, the writer is heavily constrained by the shorter runtime and a lack of “breathing room” to stop and allow pauses in the story, thus increasing the story’s reliance on well-crafted dialogue and character interaction. I enjoyed the dynamic between June and Katie: it was very clear where each of them was coming from, how they were mutually bound by their relationship to Dawn, and how this created tension in their relationship. However, despite their motivations being quite clear, neither character feels fully fleshed out, causing them to remain somewhat two-dimensional.
This is because of the play’s heavy use of exposition—I recommend that either cut down on the exposition (ambiguity can be powerful and intriguing), or weave the expository lines with actions that serve to drive the story forwards as well. Another way to give more depth to the characters would be to differentiate their styles of speaking—dialogue is a means of showing a character’s personality, their quirks, yet June and Dawn’s ways of speaking are very similar to each other, causing them to feel less like real people. More stage instructions would also help in breathing life into the play. Due to the characterization, the events of the play felt rather sudden, and sometimes contrived rather than organic. Because their conflict is the play’s main source of dramatic tension, this is probably the aspect that you want to focus on developing the most.
Thank you for sharing your work with us!