SEVEN
midnight, at the house

Lauren and Lenny come in and go into the kitchen.

Lauren- I feel like a sponge. (she grabs the dish tub and puts it on the floor in front of her feet and wrings out the end of her t-shirt) I could probably fill this whole tub with rain water.

Lenny- If ya don't fill it, I'll help. (he takes his jacket off and wrings it out into the tub, almost filling it to the brim) I didn't know this held so much water.

Carmine (comes into the doorway)- What's goin' on? Why're ya all wet? (pause) Never mind, I don't really wanna know.

Lauren- Why're you still awake?

Carmine- Squiggy's snoring is keeping me up.

Lenny- Atleast he ain't sleep walkin'.

Carmine- I'd prefer his sleep walkin' 'cuz then I could do som'en about it. (he turns and leaves the doorway)

Suddenly, there's the sound of footsteps from the room above the kitchen.

Lauren- Someone's up. Quick, go into the living room!

Lenny- What about you? You're s'posed to be upstairs.

Lauren- I'll plop on one-a the... oh no! My parents won't like wet furniture and we're soaked.

Lenny- What about the floor?

Lauren- Uh... oh, just go plop on the floor!

They sprint into the living room. Lauren turns off all the lights as they go, then turns off the living room light and trips over Lenny, who's already on the floor.

Lauren (whispering)- That hurt!

Lenny (whispering)- No kiddin', ya landed on me!

Lauren- Oh, shoot! (she moves away a couple of feet and lies there staring into the dining room)

A flashlight beam comes from the hallway, accompanied by Laverne. She shines it right into Lauren's face.

Laverne (whispering)- What're ya doin' down here? An' why're ya wet?

Lauren (gets up)- Long story. Are my parents still asleep?

Laverne- Yeah, why?

Lauren- Nothin', just wonderin'. (pause) Uh, I gotta go put some dry PJs on. (she leaves the room)

Laverne (shines the flashlight around and shines into Lenny's face)- Uh huh, you're all wet, too. What'd ya do, go out in the rain?

Lenny- We were outside before the rain started. She was gonna show me around up the hill, then we got soakes, and came back

Laverne- I'm sorry I asked. (she turns and leaves)

EIGHT
morning, back yard

Lauren (sitting on the grass)- I am so lad we got good weather today!

Laverne- Yeah, 'specially after that down pour last night.

Lauren glares at her.

Lenny (comes out the back door with a guitar)- Did ya know this thing is hard to tune?

Lauren- Yeah, I did. A pair of plyers usually helps. I'll go get a pair. (she gets up and goes in the house)

Lenny takes her spot on the grass and starts strumming the guitar. It's no where close to being in tune.

Carmine (making a face)- That sounds even worse than Squiggy's clarinet playing!

Squiggy (smiling)- Thanks!

Carmine rolls his eyes.

Shirley- Why're you going to tune that? It sounds pretty hopeless anyway.

Lauren (coming out with a pair of plyers)- Because he and Squig are gonna ask the head person of the Fest if they can perform a few songs.

Kristin- How do you know all that?

Lenny- 'Cuz she's gonna be part of our band.

Laverne (laughing)- You're gonna perform? Whada you know about playing music?

Lauren (sits next to Lenny)- Well, I happen to be a self-taught percussionist, for your information.

Kristin- Really? You never told me that.

Lauren- I only play along with records and that's just for fun. I've never done any type of performance in front of a large crowd. (it hits her like a ton of bricks) ...A large crowd? Oh, no!

Shirley- This doesn't sound promising.

Lenny- Whatsa matter?

Lauren (gulps)- Stage fright. I didn't realize it till now that there's gonna be a ton of people there and I just cna't handle that.

Laverne- Awe, c'mon. There's nothin' to worry about. I doubt they'd letcha perform anyway.

Shirely (slaps Laverne in the back of her head)- Don't say that!

Lenny- We won't even be able to ask if I can't tune this. These strings aren't even wound right. (he starts playing with the strings)

Lauren- I hadta restring it. When I snatched it from my bother's black hole of a room, it only had three ot four strings on it, then one broke on me, so I bought new strings.

Lenny- Nice shoulder strap on it, here, too.

Lauren- Yeah, that came from a school bag I had used.

Kristin- Why don't we just go down there and ask. I'm sure they've got instruments there all ready to be played.

Lauren shoots her a "why'd you say that?" look.

Lenny- good, 'cuz I'm gettin' no where fast with this guitar.

They all get up. Lauren takes the guitar and plyers and puts them in the house. She tells mom and dad they're leaving and they tell her they'll be down there in a few hours. She grabs her keys, leaves the house, and starts leading the group to Noel Field.

NINE
route 8, towards Noel Field, about 25 minutes later

Lenny and Squiggy have been trying to talk Lauren into performing with them.

Lauren- I'm sorry, fellas, I just can't get up there in front of all those people. I'm not an outgoing person.

Lenny- If we get to perform, will ya atleast come back stage?

Lauren- Yeah, I guess that'd be okay.

They get to the field. Laverne, Shirley, and Carmine go off to the booths. The others wander around,looking for the person in charge of the music.

Kristin- I don't see anyone who looks important enough to deal with the music.

Lauren- Me, neither.

They turn to find that the boys have run off and are now talking to someone about a hundred feet away.

Kristin- You think that's actually somebody?

Lauren- Could be.

They continue watching the boys. Their conversation concludes and the boys start back with huge smiles on their faces. They get back to the girls.

Lenny- We get to play one song!

Lauren- Really!?

Kristin- That's wonderful!

Squiggy- Yeah, but what song?

They all become silent.

Lauren- "If Only I'd've Listened To Mama". It's got the best tambourine part in it.

Lenny- I knew you'd change your mind!

Kristin- Wait a minute. What can I do?

Lauren- You can go get Laverne, Shirley, and Carmine.

Kristin- Okay. (she goes off, looking for the others)

Lauren and the boys go back stage to prepare.

TEN
about an hour later

Squiggy is peeking out through the side of the stage curtain. He turns back and goes over to Lauren and Lenny.

Squiggy- There's a huge buncha people out there!

Lenny- Yeah, and about five minutes to spare.

Lauren- I dunno if this was such a good idea.

Squiggy- There she goes again.

Lenny- What're ya doin'? I thought you were okay with this now?

Lauren- Well, I was, but now I dunno.

The MC comes back stage.

MC- You ready? The band only needs about another five minutes to warm up.

Lenny- Yeah, we're ready.

The boys practically drag Lauren out onto the stage. They introduce themsleves as "Lenny & The Squigtones", of course, then Lenny does the worst thing possible--he introduces Lauren. {And you thought it was gonna be something bad... well, that was!} They start playing and everything goes fine.

ELEVEN
backstage, a few minutes later

The rest of the group comes back stage.

Laverne- You did a great job!

Kristin- Everybody loved the song!

Lauren- If we did so great, then why am I still petrified?

Shirley- You didn't seem it once you started playing.

Lauren- Then apparently you weren't close enough to see I had my eyes closed the whole time.

Lenny- Awe, com'on. Ya did it, anyway.

Lauren- Yeah.

Suddenly, Lauren's mom and dad come back stage.

Mom- There she is!

Lauren- Oh, geez, I'll never hear the end of this now.

Dad- You did a great performance, even though you had your eyes closed.

Lauren- How close were you sitting?

Mom- Second row, center.

Lauren- Did you know about this?

Dad- We heard all of you talking about this earlier this morning.

Squiggy- An' you was worried about this.

Lauren- Yeah, I guess I didn't really have to be.

Mom- We're going home now. So, come when you're ready.

Lauren- Okay.

Dad- See you at home.

They leave.

Lauren- Let's go find som'en else to do so I can get over all this embarassment.

They go around to all the booths and have a great afternoon.

TWELVE
late evening

June Fest has ended. Everything is now being packed up and the field is open to the public.

Kristin- Whatta great day!

Shirely- And a tiring one.

Lauren- Ya wanna go already?

Laverne- Yeah, we're not used to all the excitement.

Lauren- Doesn't anyone wanna stay here for a little while?

Lenny taps her on the shoulder. Lauren turns and he grins at her.

Lauren- Uh, Squig, you remember the way back, don'tcha?

Squiggy- Yeah...

Lauren- Good. Why don't you show them back. We'll be along in a little while.

The group leaves.

Lauren- With any luck, it'll take Squig an hour and a half to get them to the house. Now, what exactly were you just grinnin' about?

Lenny- Awe, c'mon, you set this up.

Lauren- Well, I only sorta made them leave, that's all.

Lenny- So, now what?

Lauren- Go for a little walk around the field?

Lenny- Let's go!

THIRTEEN
the house, about 40 minutes later

The group trudges in, even more exhausted from the walk. They go into the living room where mom and dad are. {Uh oh, are you thinkin' maybe som'en's gonna go wrong here?}

Dad- Where's Lauren?

Squiggy- Lenny an' her stayed at the field. Well, see ya in the mornin'. (he flops on the couch and falls asleep instantly)

Kristin (slaps her forehead; quietly)- Oh, Squig, you nit wit!

Mom- We'd better go down to the field.

Mom and dad leave.

Laverne- Doesn't Squig know what not to say in fronta parents?

Carmine- I'll take a wild guess and say no.

Shirley- I think this trip has suddenly taken a turn for the worse.

Squiggy snores.

Laverne- No, that's worse!

Fourteen
Noel Field, a little while later

The outfield of the softball field. Quiet place. So quiet you can hear crickets... exactly what Lauren and Lenny are doing, they're listening to the crickets. {Okay, so they're laying on the ground, too, geez}

Lenny- Well, atleast it ain't rainin' this time.

Lauren- Yeah, the sky's clear.

Lenny- So... do ya think you parents like me?

Lauren- What? Where did that come from?

Lenny- I dunno. Did ya ever tell 'em we've gone out?

Lauren- Actually, no, but maybe I should've.

Mom- That would have been nice.

Lauren shoots up and turns around.

Lauren- Mom? Dad? What're you doing here?

Dad- We were going to ask you the same thing.

Lauren- Nobody else wanted to stay and hang around.

Dad (gives her that stern "father is not happy" look)- Certainly you could have come up with something better than that for an excuse.

Lenny (finally stands up)- But they did wanna leave. They followed Squig. If they wasn't so tired, they would've stayed insteada trusting him to show 'em the way back to the house.

Mom- He does have a point, there.

Dad- I guess he does, but I'm still not too happy about this.

Lenny (nudges Lauren)- Now.

Lauren ignores him.

Lenny nudges her again.

Lauren nudges back.

Lenny nudges her yet again.

Lauren (giving up)- Okay, okay. We just wanted a little time to talk... um, we've, um...

Lenny nudges her one last time.

Lauren- ...been going out. (to Lenny) Happy now?

Mom- That expalins why you've been acting unlike yourself.

Dad- Come on, lets go home. We'll talk about all this again another time.

Mom and dad go back towards the car. Lauren and Lenny follow.

Lauren (quietly)- So help me, you ever nudge me that much again...

Lenny- Sorry 'bout that, but I just wanted ya to tell 'em. Besides, that wasn't that bad.

Lauren- Yeah, it really wasn't... but remind me to pull Squiggy's hair worm for squealing, okay?

Lenny- No problem.

They all get in the car and go home.