scene lien sweetness

“I can’t make it tonight. I have to watch my brother and sister. I can’t believe I have to miss dance practice again.” Ysabelle rolled her eyes furiously. She was waiting in line at a 7/11 and there were 4 people ahead of her. She was talking on the phone with her best friend Adriel while waiting. “She doesn’t even ask you know? She just leaves the house without saying a word. If I was really a petty person, I’d let the kids watch themselves.” Ysabelle retorts. Looking to see how many people are still left, she spots something. In another woman’s cart was a M&M chocolate bar. It was way better than her plain Hershey’s one. She tapped the woman’s shoulder. “Yooooooo, where did you get that from? I ain’t see that in the store. It looks odee good.” Sweetness smiled a tight lipped smile. These young kids and their slang. What the heck was odee? She then remembered she had to answer this question. “I found it towards the back next to the slurpee machine. It’s my new obsession ever since I seen them in Stop&Shop.” Sweetness replied. “Oh that’s dope. They got em up in there? It’s closer to my house than this 7/11.”

 

 

not finished

Character Prompt

Ysabelle 

  1. image 

She’s Filipino-American. She has black hair that reaches her back. She’s very slender. Her eyes are light brown. She’s 20 years old. Her skin is a bit tan. She always has her nails done. She dresses in athletic wear a lot of the time because she’s a dancer. 

  1. Voice 

She is from the Bronx. She uses slang a lot. She is also outspoken. She speaks her mind whenever she wants. 

  1. Desire 

She wants to move out of her parent’s home. (freedom) She wants to have a better relationship with her mother. 

  1. Conflict 

Her mother demands her to take care of the younger siblings because the father left them for another woman. The mom constantly puts down Ysabelle and makes her feel like she is not important. 

  1. Action 

She works two jobs in order to make more money to put into her savings to move out. She begins to go against her mother’s wishes and doesn’t watch the children sometimes. She tries to have a heart to heart talks with her mom about her life. She spends time with her mom by taking her out to dinner, buying her a gift, and helping to pay the bills. 

 

Joseph 

  1. Image 

He’s 6’3. He’s African-American but light skin. He has brown eyes. He has a lot of tattoos. His hair is short. 

  1. Voice 

He is rude. He likes to joke around. He is blunt. He is easily irritated. 

  1. Desire

He wants to break up with his girlfriend of 3 years. He wants to stop working so much. 

  1. Conflict 

His girlfriend’s parents died in a car crash. He doesn’t want to leave her alone in her time of need. He gets fired from his current job that pays well because he cursed out his boss. He cannot afford to be without his job because his lifestyle is expensive. 

  1. Action

He begins searching for a new job. He fights with his girlfriend about small things. He tries to avoid seeing her all day until it’s time to go to bed. He goes out every weekend to hang out with his friends. He begins to see someone else at the same time. He becomes frustrated when his new job isn’t what he wants.

Dialogue scene

It was 6 o’clock and there was still no sign of Bryan texting anytime soon. For the one-hundredth time, Lorena checked her iPhone for a message. It’s her mother’s retirement party and they were going to be late. Not wanting to wait any longer, Lorena dials Bryan’s number furiously. After the fourth ring, he picks up. “Hello?” Bryan answers. “Yeah, you wanna tell me why you haven’t texted me back all day?” she grits. “Lor, I was going to text you when I was on my way to your house. Chill out,” he replies. After spending all day being angry about receiving no texts, Lorena was furious now. Her fingers gripped the phone tighter while she tried to steady her breathing. “Chill out? CHILL OUT? I’m sorry. I didn’t know my mom’s retirement party isn’t important to you.” she yells. Bryan takes a deep breath because that’s nowhere near what he said. Lorena always takes things to the next level. “Babe, I said to chill out not that I hate your mom. What the hell,” he replies. “It’s ten minutes until my mom is supposed to arrive for the surprise and you are taking your sweet time to come and pick me up. It seems pretty messed up that you didn’t leave sooner.” she retorts. “Here we fucking go. You see this is your problem. You assume and don’t ask. Not a hey Bryan are you okay, why haven’t I heard from you. Nope. I’m the bad guy because we aren’t an hour early as you want.” he huffs. Lorena realizes he is trying to place the blame away from himself. “You know what? Forget it. You’re obviously not even on your way. You can take your excuses and shove them far up your –“. she screams. “I’m not trying to argue today Lorena. I’m not. Yes, I should have texted you but your yelling needs to reach a 0. I understand you’re upset but that was really uncalled for.” Suddenly, Lorena feels drained of this conversation. It’s two minutes until her mom’s big arrival. “Just hurry up and come get me. We need to finish this conversation tonight. Without us being assholes.” She smiles a bit and hangs up her iPhone. She walks over to her couch to wait for his stupid car to arrive.

Character

Ysabelle 

  1. image 

    She’s filipino-american. She has black hair that reaches her back. She’s very slender. Her eyes are a light brown. She’s 20 years old. Her skin is a bit tan. She always has her nails done. She dresses in athletic wear a lot of the time because she’s a dancer. 

  1. Voice 

She is from the Bronx. She uses slang a lot. She is also outspoken. She speaks her mind whenever she wants. 

  1. Desire 

She wants to move out of her parent’s home. (freedom) She wants to have a better relationship with her mother. 

  1. Conflict 

Her mother demands her to take care of the younger siblings because the father left them for another woman. The mom constantly puts down Ysabelle and makes her feel like she is not important. 

  1. Action 

She works two jobs in order to make more money to put into her savings to move out. She begins to go against her mother’s wishes and doesn’t watch the children sometimes. She tries to have heart to heart talks with her mom about her life. She spends time with her mom by taking her out to dinner, buying her a gift, and helping to pay the bills. 

 

Joseph 

  1. Image 

He’s 6’3. He’s African-American but light skin. He has brown eyes. He has a lot of tattoos. His hair is short. 

  1. Voice 

He is rude. He likes to joke around. He is blunt. He is easily irritated. 

  1. Desire

He wants to break up with his girlfriend of 3 years. He wants to stop working so much. 

  1. Conflict 

His girlfriend’s parents died in a car crash. He is doesn’t want to leave her alone in her time of need. He gets fired from his current job that pays well because he cursed out his boss. He cannot afford to be without his job because his lifestyle is expensive. 

  1. Action

He begins searching for a new job. He fights with his girlfriend about small things. He tries to avoid seeing her all day until it’s time to go to bed. He goes out every weekend to hang out with his friends. He begins to see someone else at the same time. He becomes frustrated when his new job isn’t what he wants.

 

Inspiration

I parked my white Nissan Rogue outside of her house. I chose the spot right in front of the hydrant. It would only be a few minutes. I had to drop off some groceries. It was a dead-end street. I assumed no cops would be coming by. She led me to the front door. It was white with a glass frame in the middle. Upon entering the home, I could smell Tide laundry detergent in the laundry room. It was the first room when you enter the two-family house. The sound of the dryer was just going off. Ding, ding. The blue light shut off when the dry cycle was over. She leads me to another door. The real entrance to their part of the home. There’s a corkboard when family photos all over it. Alex when she was 5 with cake smeared in hair. Her sister graduating from college. Her dad starting his home improvement business. Their floors were light wood. You could hear the dogs feet pattering against it when they walked. Alex’s room was the best I ever have seen. She had a whole floor to herself. Walking through the kitchen to her room, you can smell spaghetti cooking. We walked down the carpeted steps to her room in the basement. The carpet is beige and it covers the stairs and her entire room. The room was so big she even had a chocolate-colored couch in there for herself. Her sheets were lavender and her duvet was freshly washed. She had 4 white decorative pillows. One of them was shimmery. Her tv was sitting atop of a long table. Next to her tv was her collection of funko pops she had acquired through the years. Her vanity closet was sort of old. The wood was chipping and its paint was faded. Her lesson planner lay on the floor next to it. The morning rush was evident. Her hairbrush on the floor, the hairdryer still plugged in, and work shoes strewn across the papers. She had a walk-in closet. The clothes and shoes were labeled for the season. She hid her favorite food in there under a black bin. The room made me jealous. She had all this space for herself to herself. It was what I dreamed of having someday. We walked back upstairs and I . could still smell the Tide.