Don t Worry Bear Base don the Children s Book Don t Worry Bear By: Greg Foley Script Writers: Ellena Cash DOB 12/30/1998 Saul Leon 08/07/1997 Jaquelyn Santos 11/02/1999 Leslie Mendoza 09/13/1999 Raven Salinas 06/20/1999 Diana Alvarez 05/29/1999 Maywood Academy High School 6125 Pine Avenue Maywood, CA 90270 Instructor: M.C. Shah (323)838-6000 mcs93082@lausd.net
Don t Worry Bear 2 Cast of characters Victoria.......................................... Main character Beatriz.......................................... Victoria s best friend May............................................. Drug dealer Blank............................................ Drug dealer s friend Ski.............................................. Drug dealer s friend Olivia........................................... Beatriz s new fiend The story takes place in a high school in the present time.
Don t Worry Bear 3 (Beatriz and Victoria are studying afterschool) Beatriz: okay, I think that s enough for today. Victoria: I m tired. None of this Biology stuff makes sense. Beatriz: don t worry, we can try again tomorrow. Is your dad coming to pick you up? Victoria: yeah, he ll be here soon. (Beatriz hugs Victoria) Beatriz: I ll see you tomorrow, bye. (Leaves) (Victoria notices a group of girls heading her way and puts her head down. Maybelle, ski, and blank all stand behind Victoria, Maybelle pokes Victoria.) Maybelle: what s your name? Victoria: (looks up) V Victoria what s yours? Maybelle: mine s Maybelle, but I go by May.(takes a seat next to Victoria) I ve seen you around school a lot. Is that your only friend? Victoria: yeah who are they? (turns around) Blank: I m blank. Victoria: oh... but what s your name? Blank: (in a stern voice) It s blank. (Victoria gets a little bit scared, May puts her arm on her shoulder) May: it okay. She s not going to hurt you. Ski: unless you say something stupid May: shut up ski. (starts digging through her bag) so Victoria you want to smoke? Victoria: (starts looking around, gets nervous) oh I don t do those kinds of things. Blank: c mon it ll get your mind off of school Victoria: (looks down) I said no. Ski: let s go guys, guess she isn t cool enough.
Don t Worry Bear 4 (May, ski, and Blank all leave, May stops) May: I thought you might actually be cool. *** (everybody leaves, next day) (Beatriz and Victoria are studying for finals at lunch, Victoria is extremely stressed out) Beatriz: its okay Victoria. You just need to relax. You already know all of this; you just have to remember, take a deep breathe. Victoria: (takes deep breathes, nods head) okay, okay. What was the question again? Beatriz: explain the process of photosynthesis. Victoria: (starts looking through her notes, starts breathing heavy and panicking) Beatriz: It s okay, you can do it. Victoria: no, I can t. You always say that and you know you don t believe it. I can t keep doing this. (runs off) Betriz: (runs after Victoria) where are you going? Victoria: I just need to cool off. (runs to restroom, finds May, Blank, and Ski smoking) May: (surprised) what s wrong? Blank: you look scared May: (walks closer to Victoria, feels her forehead.) I know what can calm you down Ski: (starts digging through her bag and gets out a brownie to give to May) here. May: (rips a piece off of the brownie and gives it to Victoria.) eat it, it ll help you feel better. Victoria: (tastes the brownie) it taste funny. Blank: finish it. All of it. Ski: Are we gonna tell her? May: just shut up. (bell rings) Victoria: (keeps eating the brownie, goes to class) (walks into class takes a seat, takes out pencil, starts coughing, scratching head, sweating laughing, crying, tapping pencil, sneezes, sees things, waves hand in the air, looks at hands, focuses on test, laughs and goes to sleep)
Don t Worry Bear 5 (bell rings) Beatriz: (wakes up Victoria) are you okay? Victoria: what do you mean? Beatriz: you just had a mental breakdown in the middle of finals. Victoria: don t worry. Just forget about it. Let s just go home. (lays down on bed, hears knocking from her bedroom window, opens the curtains and sees her friends) Ski: let us in. Victoria: (opens the window and lets them in) how did you know where I live? Blank: we have our sources Victoria: (gets scared) what do you guys want? May: were just here to talk about what happened earlier. Victoria: I don t want to do that kind of stuff anymore. May: look, I know you re scared, but after a while you will get used to it. You have to admit that it made you calm down. You don t want to live your life with worried all the time. Ski: as long you re with us, we will never let anything happen to you. Victoria: what about bear? Blank: you re going to have to leave her, she s going to rat us out. Victoria: I can t just leave her. She s my best friend. May: well you have to. Ski: we ll be like your family; we ll protect you with our life. You re one of us now, and we never let anyone in our group. Victoria: okay then I won t talk to her anymore (they start getting a bit high) Victoria: so why do you guys do this stuff May: it gets our minds off of things. Victoria: what type of things? May: Problems we have
Don t Worry Bear 6 Victoria: like? May: well, my parent s died when I was a baby and the only family I have is my grandma, but she s in the hospital. Victoria: oh, I m so sorry. May: It s okay. I try not to think about it. Victoria: what about you guys? (hoping their stories weren t sad either) May: I don t think we ve ever talked about it. Blank: When I was 8, my teacher raped me I haven t mentioned it until now. May: You re strong. Don t let that kind of stuff bother you. Blank: I guess Ski: my parents are divorced and neither pays any attention to me. They re both too busy working all the time. Victoria: (looks down not knowing what to say) oh. May: its okay. you don t have to feel bad for us, we re over it already. We just do this to numb out the pain and forget. Victoria: okay (not sure how to feel about it) May: here put this in your bag. (takes out weed) Victoria: for what? May: in case you ever feel low, you just do this and you will forget all about why you re down. Victoria: Okay. (next Day) Dean: okay get in line we are going to search everyone. Victoria: (starts panicking) Dean: next person Victoria: (gets even more nervous, takes out weed and puts into the backpack of the person in front of her) Dean: next. We found something
Don t Worry Bear 7 Beatriz: wait what I swear I don t do that. Dean: please take her to the office. Beatriz: why?! I don t do that stuff, I swear. Dean: Miss, please cooperate you don t want to get into any more trouble. Officer: lets go ma am. Dean: next Victoria: (feels bad for what she did) Dean: okay your clear ma am Victoria: thank you. Victoria: (phone rings, answers) hello?... May: hey, meet us at the park. we found something. Victoria: I can't. Second period is about to start. May: You'll be back in time. Trust me. Just get here quick or you'll miss it. Victoria: Okay, I'm coming. May: Oh, and nice coverup this morning. None of us would be that mean to put it in someone else's bag. I like this new you. *hangs up* (Victoria tries leaving and runs into Beatriz) Victoria: oh... hey... just the person I wanted to see. Beatriz: (kind of sad) why? Victoria: look, I heard about the drugs and I just can't be friends with someone like that. Beatriz: Seriously? Victoria I know it was you who put that in my bag. Victoria: I don't know what you're talking about. Beatriz: I'm being suspended because of you. You're just lucky I took the blame. You can't let this get the best of you, it's not healthy. Please, stop. (Victoria gets upset that Beatriz keeps nagging her.) Victoria: what's it to you?
Don t Worry Bear 8 Beatriz: Class is about to start. We should go. Victoria: (looks around) ummm... I actually have to go somewhere real quick. But I'll meet you there, I promise. Beatriz: okay. don't be late. (both girls walk away. Victoria meets up with May, Ski, & Blank at the park. May calls over to Victoria) May: Victoria! over here! Ski: hurry! Victoria: (walks over to them) What is it?! Blank: we found a pot of gold. Victoria: what? (confused) May: We were walking and we found a bag and it was filled with all the good stuff. want some? Ski: This stuff is better than the one we gave you the first time. Try it. (Ski hands Victoria a bag filled with various drugs. Victoria accepts the bag and puts it in her backpack. May decides to try something new with Victoria.) May: Victoria.. have you ever done heroin? Ski: wait, what are you doing? Blank: I don't think she's-- May: Shut up Victoria: isn't that stuff addicting? (Victoria starts to get a little worried for herself. May tries to play off her mistake. May: yes it is, so stay away from it. And if you do want to try it, come to me. Victoria: okay. shouldn't we probably get back to class? I'm pretty sure we're extremely late. (Ski, May, and Blank start laughing) Blank: We barely even go to school. Does it even matter?
Don t Worry Bear 9 (Peer pressure starts to bug Victoria a little. She frowns a bit that she's missing school and if her dad found out, she'd be in serious trouble. She doesn't want to seem uncool to her new friends so she makes up and excuse.) Victoria: Well, I'm going to go put this stuff in my house so I don't get caught, again. I'll see you guys later. May: WAIT! you can't leave now! Victoria: why not? Ski: Well, do you see that van parked over there? We know some guys in there who can show you a good time. (Victoria really does not want to go, so finds another excuse.) Victoria: (nervously) but I really need to put this away and I forgot to.. umm.. feed my cat! Yes! My cat's probably starving. Ski: you don't have a cat. (starts laughing) Blank: Awww. I think little Vicky is scared. It's okay if you don't want to go, we can always find someone to replace you. Victoria: But I do want to go. Ski: it's okay, you can always go back to having that one friend. But I can't guarantee she wants to be friends with you anymore after what you did. (Victoria tries not to be bothered by what the girls are telling her, May watches Victoria) Victoria: Alright then, lets go. (the four girls go into the van) (the next morning, Victoria wakes up on her bed with a massive headache. She can barely stand up. Her arms are filled with needle marks and bruises, her breath reeks. She thinks to herself.) Victoria: Woah... how did I get here? Ow, my head. (Victoria yawns and hears her dad talking in the next room) Victoria: who is that? (Victoria peeks in the next room to see Beatriz talking to her dad)
Don t Worry Bear 10 Beatriz: I'm just really worried about her that's all. (Victoria quickly turns around and runs back to her room. Victoria begins panicking then remembers what May gave her to keep her calm. She smokes a little then lets it all out of her window. She tries listening in on their conversation.) Dad: I just don't understand what's gotten into her lately. She's never been like this before. Beatriz: I don't know. I just miss her. She's always been like a sister to me and I just want what's best for her. (Victoria interrupts) Victoria: You don't know what's best for me! Only May does. I can finally relax because of her and my other friends. You guys never cared about me. I just wish- (Victoria falls to the floor. Beatriz tries to help her up) Victoria: get off me! (Victoria runs back to her room) *** (The next month at school. Beatriz walks into the restroom and sees May, Ski, and Blank. Beatriz hides from them in one of the stalls, hoping they don't recognize her.) Ski: Have any of you guys heard from Victoria? I haven't seen her for weeks. Blank: Maybe she overdosed. We should probably go check on her. Make sure she still has sanity. May: No. she's alive. Ski: you've talked to her? May: She's been coming to my house like every other day getting hook ups. She goes through them really quickly. Blank: is that even safe? May: who cares? I like the new Victoria, she's fun to be around. Ski: really? May: yeah! except, I think I heard her talking to herself once, and she was twitching. And she's starting to look a little different. Blank: weird.
Don t Worry Bear 11 Ski: don't you think we should do something? She's worse than us. May: No, she'll be fine. Lets get out of here. I'm bored. (May, Ski, and Blank all leave. Beatriz runs out crying and sits outside. A girl sees her crying and walks up to her.) Olivia: are you okay? (Beatriz wipes her tears) Beatriz: No, I'm not. Boy: what's wrong? Maybe I can help. Beatriz: everything. and those stupid girls over there (points to May, Ski, and Blank, who are laughing) aren't doing anything about it either. Olivia: are they your friends? Beatriz: No. And I'm glad they're not. Olivia: I'm sorry, I don't understand the problem here. Beatriz: It's just that I have a friend who's kind of friends with them and now she's hooked on drugs and there's nothing I can do to help her. I just feel so useless. Olivia: Oh, I understand. Before Ski and Blank came along, I was friends with May. Beatriz: What happened? Olivia: She got into drugs in middle school and she got one of our other friends to do it too. Beatriz: What happened to her? Olivia: (looks down) She overdosed. I wish I would ve helped, but listen. You can always help out your friend. Just talk to her. But always keep faith that things are going to be okay. Just learn not to worry so much. Beatriz: You're probably right. Hey what's your name anyway? Olivia: It's Olivia. Anyways, I have to go. Help out your friend before it s too late. (Oliver and Beatriz hug) Beatriz: Thank you. (Beatriz goes to Victoria's house) Beatriz: Victoria?... Victoria are you here?
Don t Worry Bear 12 (Beatriz hears mumbling in Victoria's room, finds Victoria alone, crying in the corner. Victoria looks pale, her eyes are red, she has heavy bags) Victoria: (mumbling) I don't want this anymore... I don't want this anymore.. I don't want this anymore (Beatriz slowly walks over to Victoria) Beatriz: Victoria... are you okay? Victoria: (shaking her head) It's not what I want. It's not what I want. (Beatriz puts her hand on Victoria's shoulder, Victoria turns) Victoria: But it's what I need. (Beatriz starts crying) Beatriz: Look what they did to you. Victoria you have to stop now. Victoria: too late.. it's too late... Beatriz: no. you have to stop. Victoria: You don't think I'm trying?! I can't fight it. I need it. Just a little. (Victoria tries reaching for a box, Beatriz kicks it away) Beatriz: Come on. You can get help. You can always get help. Victoria: I'm trying. Beatriz: You can't do this alone. There's a treatment center by the park. If you go you can get help. Victoria: I can't... too late. Beatriz: Do you trust me? Victoria: yes Beatriz: If you stay there, they can help you. just trust me. Victoria: Okay.. Okay... Okay... let s go. ***
Don t Worry Bear 13 (six months later Victoria gets released from the treatment center. She's six months clean, she walks back to her house and sees some teenagers doing drugs and fights the need to go back to her old ways, She returns home and leaves her bag on the couch, she goes to her room and sits on her bed. ) Victoria: Wow.. I did it. (Victoria finds her old box full of cocaine, weed, pills, and heroin. She begins throwing everything away. She looks at her old heroin needles) Victoria: just one can't hurt.. no one would know. (She injects one dose of heroin, but feels nothing. ) Victoria: well, maybe another. (She injects another dose, still feels nothing. She goes for another but before she could finish injecting, she passes out on the floor and her heart stops.) *** (Dad comes home from a long day at work. He sets his keys and jacket down on the couch. He loosens his tie as he grabs a water bottle from the fridge. He notices the date marked on the calendar.) Dad: Oh! It s the 29 th of May and I finally get to see my daughter. ( Dad smiles then picks up the phone to call the rehab center.) Dad: Hello? (pause) (the lady explains that Victoria checked out) Dad: What do you mean she checked out for hours ago? I thought I was supposed to pick her up. (pause) Dad: Thank you.
Don t Worry Bear 14 Dad hangs up and looks around for Victoria. He finds her purse on the couch and takes a breath of relief. Dad smiles, thinking his daughter is safe now that he s under his protection. He slowly walks over to Victoria s room, thinking she s asleep. When he opens the door, he notices Victoria is not in her bed. Dad: Victoria? He slowly walks into his daughter s bedroom and notices her body on the floor. He runs over to her in a panic. Dad: (yells) Victoria?! Wake up!! Victoria! His knees becomes weak, and he falls to the floor. He shakes his daughter, hoping she ll wake up. Dad: Victoria! He can t hold back his tears, his heart begins to race. He holds his head near he chest, looking for a heartbeat but her body s already turning cold. Victoria s body is pale. Dad realizes his daughter is gone. He takes Victoria into his arms and rocks her back and forth. He can t stop crying. He looks up and begins to yell. Dad: No! You can t do this! Bring her back or take me with her! She s my little girl, stay away, It s not her time! (cries more) take me instead. (quietly) take me instead. Dad looks at his daughter and outs the hair that s in her face behind her ear. Dad: My beautiful little angel. I love you. (begins to sing) Dad kisses her on the forehead, whispers I love you, then closes her eyes.
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