The one who fights

The one who fights

Scene 1


Stephen sits beside his girlfriend, Michelle. They sit with their backs against the bed, snuggled up and watching telly.

Dylan (Puts his arm around her and kisses her forehead) I like this.

Michelle: What?

Dylan: Just snuggling up together and watching telly.

Michelle: Aww, you're a real sweetheart arn't you. (She turns and kisses him on the cheek) What would i do without you.

Dylan: I think maybe you'd... die of the pain of not being able to live without my natural charm and good looks. (He smiles)

Michelle (Smiles back) You always know i'm gona smile when you do that, don't you?

Dylan: Yep.

Michelle: Would you be so cocky if i walked out of your room now and left for good. (She continues to smile)

Dylan: Nope, because i know you wouldn't.

Michelle: How can you be so sure. (Her face goes serious)

Dylan: Would you?

Michelle (Smiles again) Nope. Got ya!

Dylan: Ha, ha. Your hilarious, so funny that my insides are about to explode.

Michelle (Laughs) I wouldn't go that far.

Dylan: I just did, and there's nothing you can do about it. (He sticks his tounge out at her)

Michelle: Oh, really? (She begins to tickle his sides)

Dylan: Ah, stop. (He laughs hysterically as she tickles him) I give, i give.

Michelle (Stops tickling him) What do you say?

Dylan: Eh... Michelle is my master.

Michelle (Smiles) Yeah, good boy.

Dylan: You do know... now that you've stopped tickling me...

Michelle (Tries to roll away)

Dylan (Tickles her) Now who's the master, huh?

Michelle: Still me. (She laughs)

Dylan (Stops tickling her) I think you've got enough punishment for today. (He smiles widely at her)

Michelle: You think i'm gona just fall into your arms with that smile of yours, don't you?

Dylan: Oh, yeah deffinately.

Michelle: Well you'd be right. (She falls into his arms and hugs him tight)

Dylan(Looks serious now) Michelle?

Michelle: Yeah?

Dylan(Stars into space) Lets do this forever, and just never let go.

Michelle: How do you suppose we do that? We're only sixteen. We've got our whole lives ahead of us.

Dylan: We just don't let go and stay like this forever. It's that simple.

Michelle: Yeah and what about the law?

Dylan: What law?

Michelle: Eh, the law that say's your not even aloud be hugging me right now.

Dylan: Tut, it's a stupid law anyway.

Michelle: Do you care about the age difference?

Dylan: No.

Michelle: You look like you care.

Dylan: Trust me, you'd know if i cared.

Michelle: What's that supposed to mean? (She sits up and looks at him)

Dylan: It means if i didn't wana be hugging you, i wouldn't be.

Michelle: Are you not afraid your friends will call you a pedo or something?

Dylan: Nah, i don't care what people think.

Michelle (Falls back into his arms and looks up at him)

Dylan (Looks down at her) What?

Michelle: Nothing. I just can't believe i've found you.

Dylan: Believe it. I'm nothing special.

Michelle: You are to me.

Dylan (Smiles) You sound like you love me.

Michelle: Maybe i do.

Dylan (Laughs) You don't, trust me.

Michelle (Sits back up) How would you know?

Dylan (Looks surprised) You... you love me?

Michelle (Stand up and begins to put on her shoes) This was a bad idea.

Dylan: What? Why? Whats wrong?

Michelle: Please, i can tell from the look on your face just now that you don't love me.

Dylan: I didn't say that

Michelle: You didn't have to. It's written all over your face.

Dylan: Look, sit down and we can talk.

Michelle: About what? There's nothing to talk about. I love you and you don't love me. It seems pretty simple to me.

Michelle storms out of the room. Dylan doesn't call her back. He doesn't go after her.



Later. Dylans on the phone to his friend Geoff.

Geoff: I can't believe you didn't go after her. What were you thinking?

Dylan: I don't think i was.

Geoff: Maybe not...

Dylan: Oh, i should've went after her.

Geoff: Well obviously.

Dylan: Shut up!

Geoff: Alright, alright. Listen, you can still make it right. Go over to her house and apologize, say anything to get her back. You love her, want her, whatever you have to get her forgiveness.

Dylan (Sighs) I don't though.

Geoff: You gotta be kidding me. How can you not love someone like Michelle. She's one of a kind, man. Don't blow it on your stupid conscience. For once in your life just lie, and in a couple of years when you're both happy as summer you'll be thanking me.

Dylan: I can't. I can't lie to her. If she ever found out...

Geoff: How would she? I'm not gona tell.

Dylan: I promised i wouldn't be one of those guys who lie and cheat.

Geoff: Think about it hard. Maybe you love her and you just don't know it.

Dylan: I don't know.

Geoff: Well does she make you smile? Does she make you glow where others can't? Is it possible for just one second, that you're so confused by what love actually is, that you have idea if your in love?

Dylan: Could be.

Geoff: Dylan, just go to her house and work things out.

Dylan: Your acting all... lovey dovey today. (He smiles)

Geoff: Yeah, well don't tell anyone. It'd kill my reputation.

Dylan (Laughs) I won't, don't worry.

Geoff: Right, i'm gona hang up now, and when i put the phone down i expect you to be on your way out the door and to Michelle's house.

Dylan: Yes, sir.

Geoff (Hangs up)

The phone goes dead and Dylan puts it back in it's charger. He grabs his coat from the hanger beside the door and heads out.


Outside. Michelle's house. Dylan sits on a wall across the road, thinking wether to go in or not. He sighs. He walks over to the house, through the garden and into the porch, and rings the door bell. There's no answer. The door creaks open an inch. He curiously pushes the door open and walks in. Once in, he walks into the kitchen and living room, which are empty. He then walks upstairs, hoping to find Michelle. He hears giggles. He walks towards her room and pushes the door open an inch or two, pearing in. He see's Michelle kissing a tall boy, then smiling once they'd stopped. The smile she gave him from time to time. Michelle spots him in the corner of her eye and turns around, shocked that it's Dylan.

Michelle: Dylan? (She looks surprised)

Dylan (Runs down the stairs and out the front door) (He can hear her shouting after him from her bedroom window)


It's night now. Dylan sits on his bed, curled up in a ball and crying like a baby. There are two knocks on his door.

Dylan: Go away!

His Dad enters. He closes the door behind him.

Dad: Whats up? And don't bother saying "nothing", because we've heard you crying for the last few hours. We thought we'd give you some space before we actually came up to see what was wrong.

Dylan (Continues to cry) Oh, Dad. I think i loved her... loved her. I messed up, Dad. I'm an idiot.

Dad (Sit's down and embraces him) Hey, don't say that. You're not an idiot, she is.

Dylan (Looks at his Dad)

Dad: I know everything, kiddo. All i need is to see your face to know that it's over a girl. It's the first, but it won't be the last.

Dylan: I'm such an idiot. I only realised that i actually loved her when i saw her kissing him. How could i not know if i loved her? Oh, i'm an idiot.

Dad: Hey, you're not an idiot. Now i don't know what happened, but i know with who, and i think you should go and talk to her.

Dylan (Looks surprised) What? Talk to her? I can't. I can't even think about her without crying.

Dad: Forgetting about her is only gona make it worse, and if you really do love her then you're never gona forget about her.

Dylan: I could try.

Dad: You could, but i don't think it'd do anything but make the situation worse. Listen to what i'm saying. I'm a man who's been through everything you have and more. Talk to her. I'm not saying to forgive her, just talk to her. She might have a reasonable explanation or she might not.

Dylan (Thinks) What would i say? What would i do? I don't know if it's such a good idea.

Dad (Looks into his sons eye's) If you don't fight for her, who will? You don't want the guy she kissed to be her new love, do you? When your old and grey and have a family of your own, and you look back on this day, do you wana remember it as the day you fought for what you loved, or the day you walked away? Do you wana be remembered as the one who fights, or the one who runs? It might sound harsh now but trust me, it's the only bite of reality you'll get this early on in life. Now, you have two choices: One, go find the girl and talk to her, or two, come to the shop with me to get some groceries and never look back at her. It's up to you.

Dylan (Looks puzzled)

Dad: Alright, let me put it plain and simple for you. If you don't go get that girl, the girl you say you love, then someone else will.

Dylan: She's already gone. I can't turn back time.

Dad: No, but you can alter it. Now go before it's too late.

Dylan: I can't

Dad: Ok. I won't push you. It's your decision and i'll reespect it.



Three months later. Stephen sits there in front of a desk. Behind the desk is a small man, Mr Mitchell stroking his grey mustache.

Mr Mitchell: So how are you getting on. Is school good? How are you progressing with your problem?

Dylan (Laughs) Problem? I never looked at love that way.

Mr Mitchell: Well thats what it is for you, isn't it? Am i wrong or did your father send you to me for no reason? Do i have do i have to remind you why you're here?

Dylan: I'm here because i fell in love with a girl, was too afraid to tell her, and then tried to kill myself to stop the pain.

Mr Mitchell: Ok. Let me ask you something: If you had a chance to go back in time, what would you change about your life or that certain situation?

Dylan: Ha.

Mr Mitchell: What?

Dylan: Nothing, it's just... if you had of asked me that a month or two earlier, i would've told you i'd go back and change everything.

Mr Mitchell: I'm askng you now though.

Dylan: Yeah. Now... I'd go back and change nothing.

Mr Mitchell: So your telling me if you had the chance to tell her you loved her, how much you would've died for, that you wouldn't have took that chance, that you wouldn't repeat that one fleeting moment again?

Dylan: Yeah. I mean i've thought about it, hundreds of times, but after a while i just figured it was faith.

Mr Mitchell: Faith?

Dylan: That everything happens for a reason.

Mr Mitchell: Do You know of Albert Einstein?

Dylan: Who doesn't?

Mr Mitchell: Just checking. Well Einstein predicted that everything happens for a reason. He maintained that if you roll a dice and it comes up 7, and you roll it again under exactly the same conditions, that the dice would come up 7 again.

Dylan: Strange thing to dedicate half your life to.

Mr Mitchell: Not if you believe it in. Not if you want other people to believe it. I'm not saying i believe it, but it's a heck of a theory to just think of. You see the moral of the question i asked you, is that you're young and shouldn't wana change a single thing, no matter how bad. We all bare wounds, even me, but we bare them so that we can learn, from our mistakes and from our problems, not so we can go back and change them, make them better. You come here twice a week, hoping beyond all hope that i'll have a cure for you, but i don't. You can't cure what you have, because it's not a disease, it's a feeling. Ok, you tried to hurt yourself and that was... uncalled for, but if your looking to make the feelings for her go away, then your in the wrong place talking to the wrong person. We're here to talk about you and what can stop you from trying to hurt yourself again, but if you think for a second that it will be a solution to what you seek, then your gravely mistaken. You don't need help, you need an answer, someone to tell you the harsh truth that is this: Love doesn't fade, and if it does there's no guarentee's it won't come back, that you won't long for her touch again when you run into her at the local shopping centre in twenty years or so.

Dylan: What are you saying?

Mr Mitchell: I'm saying... find her. Once you do that everything else will fall into place.

Dylan: What about our sessions?

Mr Mitchell (Smiles) You don't wana be here, Dylan. You asked your father to see me. I know that now. But you won't find the answers you want with me, you'll find them with her. I don't know her and i don't pretend to, but she's obviously worth a lot if you're willing to pay the insane prices i ask for each session. You can tell a lot from a persons face, their actions. I can tell by your face that you miss her, and by your past actions that you love her. Now, i don't want you to say anything, just go and find her.


Dylan walks towards the door and is about to turn the knob when Mr Mitchell say's something.


Mr Mitchell: And Dylan?

Dylan: Yeah?

Mr Mitchell: Don't try and hurt yourself again. I don't wana have to see you back here. It'd be a bad sign. (He smiles)

Dylan (Smiles) Ok.


Dylan Walks out the door.



Later. Dylan finds himself in the same position he was a few months ago, standing across the road from Michelle's house, watching, thinking wether to go in or not. He doesn't have to. Michelle comes running out of her house, pulling her jacket on. She runs across the road and stops in front of Dylan, staring at him, into his eye's.


Michelle: Hi.

Dylan: Hi.

Michelle: I missed you.

Dylan: Can we hgo somewhere and talk.

Michelle: Where?

Dylan: Just somewhere.

Michelle: Ok.

They walk slowly while talking.

Michelle: I heard what happened. Are you ok?

Dylan: You should know, it was your fault.

Michelle: I know.

Dylan: Atleast you admitted that.

Michelle: Why did you come see me now, after all this time?

Dylan: I wanted an answer.

Michelle: To what?

Dylan: I think you know, Michelle.

Michelle: Yeah, i think i do. Lets sit down somewhere.


They walk a bit further and sit on a hillside beside eachother, both looking straight ahead. They sit in silence for a several moments.


Michelle: I felt lonely.

Dylan: What?

Michelle: Oh, i felt lonely.

Dylan (Laughs) That's funny, because i seem to remember me being your boyfriend, and dropping everything just to see you sometimes.

Michelle: I was lonely in the way that you didn't love me.

Dylan: Yeah, well...

Michelle: You didn't love me, right?

Dylan (Hesitates) No.

Michelle: Do you love me now?

Dylan: No.

Michelle: So what exactlys changed then?

Dylan: Nothing.

Michelle: Then i don't see much point in me being here.


Michelle quickly walks off. Dylan sighs. He runs after her and calls her name. There a few yards away.


Dylan: Michelle, wait!

Michelle (Turns around) What!

Dylan: I lied, i did love you. I do love you. I'll always love you. I didn't realise how i felt until it was too late, until you were gone. When i seen that guy kissing you... that was the end for me. I've been through so much hell that you can't begin to realise how far i've strolled off the path.

Michelle: I'm sorry. I just... he was just... he was like you, and he loved me. I thought if i could find someone like you that did love me, then i'd be able to get over you, get past it and move on, but i couldn't. When i kissed him and seen you, i realised there was no changing the fact that i love you and not some imposter pretending to be you. (She sighs) I can't take it back, can i?

Dylan (Sighs)

Michelle (Begins to cry) (She turns around)

Dylan: I want you back.

Michelle (Turns around slowly) What?

Dylan: You're right, you can't take it back. But i love you and i'll always love you, and i can't just sit back and let someone swoop you up into their arms like i did. I can't move on with my life, picturing you and some muscley hunk kissing, lying together on a bed like we did. I'll die before i let that happen. Someone asked me if i wanted to fight for what i love, or walk away and never look back. I wana fight for what i love.

Michelle goes and wraps her arms around him. They kiss, dripping wet with the rain now. They don't let it affect them. To them it's like... nothing can ruin their moment. They wished they could stay like that forever.