Shaylen
By Hannah M

Summary
Loneliness and the difficulty of breaking into cliques is explored in this play for teens.

Characters
Lauren
Shaylen

Script

(Two girls sit laughing and talking.)

Shaylen: So when Shannon yelled, Chad dropped all the dishes he was taking
back to the kitchen! Nothing broke, but you should have seen the look on his
face ... it was priceless!

Lauren: (laughing) That sounds like Chad, all right. I wish I could have
seen it.

Shaylen: You would have, but that was before Tiffany and Missy left. You
were probably off somewhere with them. Why did they have to go anyway?

Lauren: Remember how Tiffany felt kind of sick Thursday afternoon? (Shaylen
nods.) Well, that night she started puking. Missy got sick the next morning.
So they took them back home.

Shaylen: It would have been over in twenty-four hours though, probably.

Lauren: Well, we were only a few hours from home. (shakes her head) I was
with them all week- I'm amazed I didn't get it too!

Shaylen: (shyly) I'm glad you didn't. Otherwise you would have been sent
home, too, and we wouldn't have started talking.

Lauren: I'm really glad we did! (smiles) I never thought I'd meet anybody
who liked Stacie Orrico as much as I did!

Shaylen: (grinning) I never thought I'd meet anybody with the same favorite
color! I mean, brown isn't all that popular.

Lauren: (smiling broadly) All in all, this has been a great week.

Shaylen: (nodding... but her thoughts are all of a sudden somewhere else)
Mm-hmm.

Lauren: (confused) Hey... what'd I say?

Shaylen: (smiling absently) Oh, nothing you said. I was just thinking ...
after our parents pick us up, we'll go on with life ... just as if this
missions trip never happened.

Lauren: (comforting, thinking she knows what's going on) Well ... like they
say, the fire doesn't last forever.

Shaylen: (confused) The fire?

Lauren: Yeah ... being on fire for God. They say it's all emotional and
it's good while it lasts but it's ... nothing solid, ya know?

Shaylen: Oh, no, I meant ... (she pauses) I meant you and I will go our
separate ways ... you'll go back to being with Tiffany and Missy all the
time and I'll go back to being the loner. (pause) I hope that didn't sound
like I'm mad at you. I'm not. It makes sense. They're two wonderful girls.
They're nice, pretty, smart, really on fire for God ... I understand why you
want to be around them. It's just that ... (another pause and another sigh)
... when I see people hanging with their friends, I feel like I'm ... you
know, everything that's bad.

Lauren: Wow.

Shaylen: When I moved here this past year, I thought maybe things would be
different. I'd never had any friends in New Hampshire, I hoped I'd have some
here. (shrugs and gives a laugh that shows how hard she's trying not to cry)
I guess not.

Lauren: Well, if you'd have told me I would have invited me but I figured
you were fine by yourself.

Shaylen: (getting more worked up) It was like that from the beginning. I
would come into the church for youth group meetings, and everybody would be
with their friends. It was the Washington clique, the Jackson clique, the
Gardner High clique, the Christian school clique ... and then me. In a room
full of people. By myself.

Lauren: I'm sorry-

Shaylen: You remember Lacy?

Lauren: Yeah.

Shaylen: She was my next-door neighbor. You know why she stopped coming?
(Lauren doesn't answer but looks slightly guilty.) She said nobody let her
into their group.

Lauren: (trying to excuse herself) Well, we never knew she wanted to be-

Shaylen: (interrupting) She was a quiet person. She never really reached out
because she was afraid she would be rejected. Now, I know she could have
tried harder to fit in. But that's her issue, and she's working on that. I
just feel that you people could at LEAST try to meet us halfway, and not act
like we don't exist.

Lauren: (defensive) I remember once I invited her to sit with me during
church.

Shaylen: Exactly. ONCE. She came home all excited about that. "Lauren's a
really nice girl," she kept saying. "Maybe I'll actually start to make
friends now." And the next week, you ignored her. (sighs) ONCE isn't enough.
ONCE you ask her to be on your team during a game. ONCE you take her
shopping. ONCE you strike up a conversation with her.

Lauren: (really defensive) I didn't KNOW. She didn't TRY to--

Shaylen: (erupting) Don't use that argument, Lauren, because I did try. I
tried so hard to fit in, but you were all with your stupid cliques and I
was all by myself ... just like Lacy, except I proved that it wasn't all
her fault. Some of it was yours. (a quiet pause) This trip was going to be
the last thing I was going to do with the youth group.

Lauren: (is feeling really, really guilty now but feels she has to keep
talking) Oh ... really?

Shaylen: (nods) I hoped something would change. (shrugs) Nothing really did
... I got to talk with you, and it was nice, but ... (shakes her head) I
think I'm going to start going to Lacy's new youth group.

Lauren: (realizes part of this is her fault) Shaylen- please don't leave.

Shaylen: Why? We're always talking about unity and how important it is to
reach out, but do we ever do it? Believe me, cliques definitely don't bring
unity. (looks) Oh, my mom's here. Bye.

Lauren: (dazed) Yeah ... bye.

(Shaylen exits. Lauren sits there, shocked.)

***

MY GROUP
4 females, 1 male, props: if possible a small video camera, light-hearted
skit

Characters:
Josephine
.............................

Copyright Hannah M 
This play may be performed free of charge. In return the author would like to be told when and where it was performed. She may be contacted at judowomansfriend86@hotmail.com