COLD OPEN – ABIGAIL ADAMS HIGH, MORNING
Lockers thud, coffee breath wafts. August, Ava, Dewey, and Mikey shuffle toward English.
Ava: Manifesting an easy day.
Mikey: Manifesting lunch.
Dewey: Manifesting enlightenment.
August: Manifesting… correctness.
They step into ENGLISH. Ms. Patel smiles too sweetly and drops a stack of papers.
Ms. Patel: Pop quiz on The Crucible. Ten minutes. No notes. Begin.
Mikey doesn’t touch his paper.
Ms. Patel: Mr. Bennett?
Mikey: I’m not doing a surprise gotcha. I have reading accommodations. You know that.
Ms. Patel: This is short answer, not reading. Pens up.
Mikey: Pass.
The room stills.
August looks at Ava; Ava looks at Dewey.
Ava: (whisper) Picket line?
August: (whisper) Picket line.
They each set down their pens.
Dewey: In solidarity.
Ava: In community.
Ms. Patel: …Principal’s office. Now.
Smash to titles.
ACT ONE
SCENE A – ADMIN OFFICE – LATER
Vice Principal Hernandez sits behind a desk of ferns. Ms. Patel stands; Cory (summoned from History) enters mid-bite of a granola bar.
Hernandez: Mr. Matthews, your students staged a walkout in English. Care to explain?
Cory: They’re also her students. I teach them labor history. I didn’t assign a field trip.
Ms. Patel: They refused a quiz. It undermines my authority.
Mikey: I refused a “gotcha.” I need advance notice to use my tools. We learned that with the counselor. It’s… in my file.
August: We asked for a fix, not mutiny.
Hernandez: Here’s mine: you’ll all take the quiz at lunch.
Ava: With accommodations?
Hernandez: (pause) With accommodations.
Cory: And maybe after we all breathe, we meet about how to pop-quiz and follow plans we’ve agreed to. Teaching is a team sport.
Hernandez eyes the room. Nods once.
SCENE B – DOWNTOWN THRIFT + BOUTIQUE – DAY
Topanga and Katy comb racks: one hand legal, one hand glam.
Katy: If Shawn’s going to win head of the school board, he needs two jackets that say, “I fight for buses and budgets” and not “I sleep in this flannel.”
Topanga: We polish the packaging; we don’t change what’s inside.
A local blogger (Liv) overhears a slice, types fast: “CANDIDATE’S WIFE + LAWYER FRIEND PLAN ‘NEW LOOK’ FOR CAMPAIGN.” Posts it with a snarky caption.
Katy: Did you feel a disturbance in the force?
Topanga: Somewhere, a group chat just misread us.
They shrug, keep shopping—unaware.
SCENE C – CORY’S HISTORY CLASS – AFTER FIRST PERIOD
Board reads: “STRIKES: HOW, WHEN, WHY.”
Cory: Today was a thing. So: what’s a strike?
Dewey: Not doing a thing until a different thing changes.
Cory: Good. What makes one work?
August: Clear demand, clear reason, right people informed.
Ava: And not torching the person you’re mad at. Just… asking them to meet you.
Cory: Historical examples: Pullman—ugly and violent. Memphis sanitation—clear, human, powerful. A strike is a sentence: We stop until X. Use verbs, not volume.
He glances at Mikey.
Cory: After school, I’ll be in the library if anyone wants to turn anger into actions that fix something.
They nod. Lesson received.
ACT TWO
SCENE D – SCHOOL STEPS – LUNCH
Ava unfurls a hand-lettered sign: “ACCOMMODATIONS AREN’T EXTRA CREDIT.” August holds: “NO SURPRISES, JUST SUPPORT.” Dewey wears a DIY button: “WE CAN READ, WE NEED TIME.” A handful of kids join. It’s quiet, tidy, specific.
Ms. Patel steps outside, braced.
Ms. Patel: You’re… peaceful.
Mikey: That’s the point. We’re not against you. We’re for the plan we made.
Ava: We’ll take the make-up with accommodations today. We want a policy so this doesn’t happen to anybody else.
Ms. Patel exhales. The fight leaves her shoulders.
Ms. Patel: My bad. I planned a quiz; I didn’t check files. We’ll write a pop-quiz policy in the department: 24-hour window, or open-notes with accommodations. And I’ll bring it to Hernandez.
August: That’s our X. We can un-picket.
They lower signs. A small thing got better.
SCENE E – MATTHEWS APARTMENT – AFTERNOON
Shawn bursts in with his phone.
Shawn: Why am I trending as “#MakeoverShawn”? Did I die?
Katy: Oh no.
Topanga reads the post: out-of-context quote, spicy comments: “Fake suit, fake guy.”
Shawn: I’m not a suit. I’m… your flannel.
Katy: You’re my whole closet. We were fixing buttons, not your soul.
Topanga: We’ll clarify. Not with a clapback— with a community.
Shawn: English, Topanga.
Topanga: Pop-up Q&A at Topanga’s tonight: “Ask Shawn Anything (and Try a Cookie).” No filters. No spin.
Katy: And the jacket stays if the kid in the back row thinks it looks kind.
Shawn: Okay. I can do honest. I can do cookies.
SCENE F – PARK BENCH – LATE AFTERNOON
Shawn dials Jack. The line clicks: Jack on a city bench across town.
Shawn: Need brother advice on politics, clothes, and people thinking I’m not me.
Jack: My specialty: ‘90s trauma and present sincerity. Hit me.
They spiral into old rhythms… then trip.
Jack: Put on the suit. It won’t kill you.
Shawn: I don’t need a suit to be a person.
Jack: It’s not about you. It’s about the job.
Shawn: I know the job. Don’t tell me who I am.
Jack: Fine. Strike. We’re on a 24-hour brother break. No advice. Clean lines.
Shawn: Fine! Solidarity with myself!
They hang up. Immediately regret it. Stubbornly commit.
ACT THREE
SCENE G – LIBRARY – AFTER SCHOOL
Cory meets with Ms. Patel, Hernandez, and the kids. A whiteboard reads: “Pop Quiz Framework.”
Hernandez: Proposal: teachers give a 24-hour window for quizzes or allow open-notes; all quizzes respect accommodations; if a mistake happens, there’s a make-up plan without penalty.
Ms. Patel: And if students feel blindsided, they can bring it here before the picket signs.
Ava: Signs are prettier after the policy.
Dewey: We’ll put the signs in the civics club closet for emergencies.
Mikey: Emergency is rare. Respect is daily.
Cory: Look at you. You did history in real time.
They sign the draft. It’s small. It’s real.
SCENE H – TOPANGA’S (NYC) – EVENING
Hand-lettered chalkboard: “ASK SHAWN ANYTHING (COOKIES INCLUDED)”. Topanga moderates; Katy sits next to Shawn, fingers laced, no ring light, no spin.
Community questions:
Student: Are you changing for votes?
Shawn: I change when I learn. My jacket won’t decide a bus route. I will.
Parent: How will you protect reading programs?
Shawn: By asking teachers what they use and funding that instead of whatever sounds shiny at a conference.
Blogger Liv raises a hand, sheepish.
Liv: I misread your wives’ shopping trip. Sorry. The post was… unfair.
Topanga: Forgiven. Come to the budget meeting. Bring that energy.
The room claps—soft, real. Shawn looks like himself… in a jacket that fits.
SCENE I – CITY BENCH → TOPANGA’S – NIGHT
Jack stares at his phone. Sighs. Dials. Shawn picks up.
Jack: I hate the break.
Shawn: Me too.
Jack: I wanted to help and came in like a guy who used to be 19 and loud.
Shawn: Same. I’m 40-something and loud. Keep the advice. Lose the tone. Deal?
Jack: Deal. Also… I’m outside Topanga’s. Can I un-strike and clap for my brother?
Shawn: Get in here.
Jack enters; brothers hug. The room cheers the kind of small reconciliation you can hear.
SCENE J – ABIGAIL ADAMS HIGH – NEXT MORNING
Cory writes on the board: “RIGHTS + RESPONSIBILITY = CHANGE.”
Cory: Yesterday you made noise and a policy. That’s the equation.
August: Also Ms. Patel’s letting us do a creative scene from The Crucible with notes.
Ava: And cookies if we don’t set off the fire alarm.
Dewey: We call that “accommodations for theater kids.”
Mikey: And reading kids, and everyone.
Cory: All kids.
Bell rings. The core four head out. In the hall, Shawn pops his head into Cory’s doorway, jacket on, Katy and Topanga flanking; Jack behind them making a heart with his hands like a dork.
Shawn: We’re back on the same team.
Cory: You never left.
They smile. The day feels possible.
TAG – SCHOOL STEPS – LATER
A tiny sign leans against the railing: “STRIKE KIT (USE WISELY): markers, tape, policy template, snacks.” A sticky note in Ava’s handwriting: “Clear ask. Kind words. Clean up your tape.”
Mikey tosses the last crumb of a granola bar into the trash.
Dewey: You just struck against littering.
Mikey: Solidarity with the custodians.
They bump fists and head to class.
END.
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