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Doris stands looking at herself in the dressing room mirror and pulls a face. She doesn’t like the graduation gown that she’s still wearing, thinking it makes her look fat and decides mauve really isn’t her colour. From the other side of the mirror comes a voice
Holly “Are you ready Doris?”
Holly comes round to see Doris still not changed.
Holly: “What’s taking you so long? We’re going to be late for the Graduation party at
Lou’s.”
Doris sighs: “Maybe you should go without me, I don’t feel like a party”
Holly shakes her head: “Come on Doris you’ll enjoy it when you get there”.
Doris turns to look at her friend and announces:
Doris: “Oh Holly, I’m leaving School”.
Holly is confused by Doris’ statement, as the way it’s said makes it sound like it's some big new event.
Holly: “Doris, why are you being so dramatic? We all know you’re leaving that’s
why we’ve just had your graduation service and that’s why Lou’s throwing
this party. Which we’re going to miss if you don’t hurry up!”
Stopping what she is doing Doris slumps into a chair, folds her arms against her chest and sighs again. Holly looks at her and rolls her eyes in frustration.
Doris: “No Holly, I mean I’m finally leaving our special School. You understand that
don’t you? The School where dreams come true, the School that makes us feel
special and we can do anything. I’ve dreaded this day for so long and now it’s
finally here and I don’t want to leave.”
Holly moves closer to her friend, knowing if she doesn’t change her frame of mind they’ll be stuck here for hours.
Holly: “None of us wants to leave but surely that’s what all the hard work is for. So we
can get out there and start living our dreams. What’s the point in dreams if we
don’t go out there and try to make them come true?”
Doris begrudgingly nods in agreement.
Holly continues: “Just think of all the auditions you’ll now be able to go on, all the
parts you’ll be able to go for, not having to worry about being
thrown out of school if you get a job.”
Doris takes exception to Holly’s words and interrupts her.
Doris: “So you think I’ll need to go up for LOTS of part and go to LOTS of auditions
do you? What don’t you think I’ll EVER get a part?”
Holly shakes her head: “No, No you know I didn’t mean it like that, its…”
Doris interrupts: “You know when you first came to this School I really didn’t
like you, and I’m beginning to remember the reasons why!”
Holly: “I remember it well and if you remember, I wasn't even sure I wanted to stay at
this school and some of that was down to you. However, again that's all in the
past. NowI know you don’t want to leave School but there’s no point in taking
that out on me. I’m your friend, Remember? Besides, we both know you only
didn’t like me then, because you were jealous of me.”
Doris snaps “I Was NOT!”
Holly: “You were SO jealous and you know it! All my life people think I’ve got it
easy because I’m pretty and talented..”
Doris interrupts again: “Wait a minute. I never said I was jealous of your talent.
Looks, okay, maybe I was a bit but it was never about talent.”
Holly ignoring the comment carries on.
Holly: “Whatever! People always think for some reason my life is perfect and that I
don’t have the same feelings of insecurity that they do. Well, surely what’s
happened this year has shown that I have the same feelings and hang ups as
everyone else.”
For a moment there is silence as the impact of Holly’s words sink in. Doris thinks back to when she first heard the news. She'd walked into the locker rooms to find Nicole alone and crying. Instantly concerned Doris rushed over to her friend.
Doris "What's wrong Nicole? What's Happened?"
Nicole had taken a deep breath.
Nicole: "It's Holly. She's not been eating and collapsed in dance class. They took her to
the hospital and said she's anorexic. How can that be Doris? I don't
understand... What if she dies?"
The same pangs of guilt, she felt in that moment Nicole told her, washed over her again now. Eventually Doris breaks the silence with Holly and softly says “I’m Sorry”.
Holly looks at her friend puzzled: “Sorry for what?”
Doris takes a deep breath.
Doris: “I’m sorry for what I've just said and sorry for misjudging you when you first came to this school. But most of all I’m sorry I let you down and wasn’t there when you needed a friend”.
Both girls are close to tears as Doris continues.
Doris: “I should have noticed you were hurting. I should have noticed that you
weren’t eating and I certainly should have noticed you were losing weight. But
hey good old Doris was too busy organising proms and worrying about stuff
like leaving school...
Doris breaks off as tears roll down her cheeks.
Holly: “You never said that you felt like that.”
As Doris looks up the girls make eye contact and Doris shrugs. Holly moves over to her friend and hugs her.
Holly: “It wasn’t your fault Doris and I certainly don’t blame you. You didn’t notice
because I didn’t let you notice. I hid how I was feeling and I hid that I wasn’t
eating. I was in denial myself and couldn’t deal with it all. So to be honest
Doris even if you had said anything it wouldn’t have made any difference and
might have actually made things worse, so please don’t feel guilty. It's happened
and it's in the past. We have to move on and deal with the present.”
Doris nods: “Okay, but only if you promise if you ever feel like that again, that
you'll talk to me about it and don’t let it get out of hand again.”
Holly wipes the tears from her eyes and gives a little laugh.
Holly: “I can’t promise that because who knows what will happen, but what I can
promise is to TRY not to let it happen again and to TRY to ask for help.”
Doris smiles and the girls give each other another hug.
As they separate from each other, Doris begins to change her clothes leaving Holly thinking.
Holly: “You know Schwartz with all your insecurities, you still got more action at this
school than I ever did”.
Doris is adamant “I Did Not!”
Holly “You certainly did, You went out with David, Doug, Sandy oh and what was
the name of that cowboy guy you told me about?”
Doris smiles at the thought of him and her face lights up: “Will”.
Holly: “Well they were all pretty hot!”
Doris smiles widens across her face as the faces of boyfriends past flash into her mind.
Doris: “Yeah, I guess they were. Although perhaps they didn’t turn out to be the best
relationships in the World.”
Holly: “At least you got the guys interest what did I ever get?”
Doris: “You got interest”.
Holly: “Name someone in this school who was interested in me?”
Doris takes a moment to think.
Doris: “There was erm..erm, Oh yes there was Dwight!”
Both girls burst into fits of laughter.
Holly: “Oh yes Dwight, my knight in shining armour!” If only Donlon and Billy
hadn’t ended up being such jerks or Mr Reardon hadn’t been a teacher, maybe
I’d have got somewhere.
Doris: "Reardon! You're not still hung up on him are you?"
Holly: "Doris he's really cute!"
Doris can’t help but laughing at her friend.
Doris: “You know Holly you’ve really cheered me up. Thinking about your disastrous
love life makes mine seem pretty damn good.”
Holly throws Doris a dirty look. Then a sneaky smile crosses her face.
Holly: “Well don’t forget about Snake from that break dancing gang. I thought he
was going to carry you off back to his cave and make you his woman!”
Doris pulls a face as she remembers Snake standing by the door of this very room trying to persuade her to go out with him. She shudders at the thought of him.
Holly continues: “Then there was you and Amatullo.”
Surprised Doris asks: “What’s wrong with Danny? Surely you’re not comparing him
to Snake are you?”
Holly laughs: “No, I just never really saw you guys as a couple that’s all. If anyone had
asked me I would have said you and Martelli would have got together.”
Again a smiles crosses Doris’ face at the thought of a guy. She'd missed Bruno so much since he moved to California, last Summer, to write jingles for commercials. They had kept in touch with the odd letter but she missed having him in her life.
Doris: "You know Holly there was a time when I thought Bruno and I might have got
together too and for awhile I had a bit of a crush on him."
Holly’s eyes widen as she licks her lips at the thought of some juicy gossip.
Holly: “Okay, well we’re not going anywhere until you tell me about that then. I can’t
believe you kept that to yourself all this time.”
Doris coyly states: “There’s nothing to tell, really as nothing happened”.
Holly becoming frustrated yells “Schwartz!”
Doris “Okay, okay. Well Bruno had written a play and was struggling to cast the lead.
Really the character was him so he thought he’d give it a go playing the part.”
Holly giggles: “Bruno acting?”
Doris: “Well that’s where I came in as he needed someone to teach him to act. So we
spent a lot of time together and there was a love scene so we had to practice
kissing.”
Doris Pauses.
Holly: “Well? Don’t just stop there, what was it like?”
Doris remembers the kiss being all soft and gentle. She’d just sung a beautiful ballad that Bruno had Written, “Beautiful Dreamer”. She’d always loved that song as it really expressed her feeling towards Bruno at the time.
“You, you're different
You go your own way, come what may
You seem to do what you should do
And nothing ever gets to you
You're special, they wrote a song just for you
Beautiful Dreamer, that's your name
And I wanna be the same way too
Beautiful Dreamer share a dream with me
You, Beautiful Dreamer, dream on and on through eternity
Some may call you foolish
But only those who don't believe
They can't conceive that dreams can come true, but I do
'Cause I'm a dreamer too
Beautiful Dreamer share a dream with me
You, Beautiful Dreamer, dream on and on
You, Beautiful Dreamer, share your dream with me
You, Beautiful Dreamer, dream on and on through eternity
You, you're different
You, you're special”
Doris: “You know Holly, it was really nice, he was so soft and tender and I didn't want
it to end. Sadly I realised that he wasn’t kissing me though, it was one
character in a play kissing another. Then that was the end of that! Bruno never
saw me as anything other than a friend so I just had to settle for being his
friend too.”
Holly: “Oh Doris, it’s just like the plot of a sad old movie.
Doris: “Yeah, right, where the girl doesn’t get the guy as he heads off to California
without her!”
Again the girls laugh. Then after a moment
Holly asks: “Are you ready to go now?”
Doris pauses for a moment and then reaches for her friends hand.
Doris: “No. No, I’m not ready to let go of all this just yet. You go and I’ll come later
I just want to stay a little longer, just me and my memories. This is a very
special place to me and so much has happened here. I grew up here and I’m
not ready to say goodbye just yet. You’ll realise one day yourself Holly, it’s
just not that easy to walk away.”
Holly nods: “Are you sure?”
Doris nods and the girls hug, then Holly turns to leave. At the door she looks back at Doris who is nodding for Holly to continue and gives a weak smile.
Holly leaves the room and Doris is left alone with her thoughts and the melody of “Beautiful Dreamer” going round in her head.
End of Part 2.
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