Title: “Juliet and her new gift”.
Author: Yanett Mora.
4 Characters:
- Juliet (9 year old girl).
- Joseph, Juliet’s father (38 year old man).
- Austin (9 year old boy).
- Carlos, Austin’s father (38 year old man).
Act I
Setting: Living room of Juliet’s house.
Introduction: It was Juliet’s 10th birthday. Her father gives her a big box wrapped in pink paper, her favorite color!
Dad: Happy Birthday Juliet, this present is for you!
Juliet (giving her dad a big hug): Thanks dad, and it’s wrapped in pink paper, my favorite color! Let’s see what it will be.
Juliet impatiently tears the pink paper.
Juliet: Daddy, it’s a laptop! I can’t wait to use it.
Dad: Juliet, remember that the Internet opens doors to a world of opportunities to use your creativity, do research and communicate with others. But it is also a tool that people with bad intentions use to harm others. Be responsible and smart.
Juliet (not paying much attention to her dad): Yes, yes, dad, I already know everything you’re telling me. I’m going up to my room to use it! Thank you daddy, it’s the best birthday I’ve ever had.
Dad: I love you very much, Juliet.
Juliet: And I love you even more, daddy!
Act II
Setting: Juliet’s room.
Introduction: Excited, she downloads all her favorite apps, among those, chat rooms to talk to her friends and a special app to make new friends. Juliet logs into the “New Friends” chat room and searches for boys and girls her age in her city. Suddenly a pop-up window opens.
Austin: Hi Juliet!
Juliet: Hi, how are you?
Austin: Well, Juliet, my name is Austin.
Juliet: Yes Austin, I can see it in your chat name.
Austin: Ha, ha, ha.
Juliet: Where are you from?
Austin: I’m from the mountains of the city, I live in a small town called “LaSalle”.
Juliet: A small town? I live in the big city! I can’t imagine living in a small town, it must be very boring.
Austin: It’s boring if you don’t look for hobbies or don’t study.
Juliet: I wouldn’t be interested in living in a town at all!
Austin: Wouldn’t you be interested in being friends with a boy like me who lives in a small town?
Juliet: Of course not! What could you possibly bring to my amusement? I don’t think so. Where would you take me?
Juliet closes the chat room.
Act III
Setting: Juliet’s kitchen.
Introduction: The next morning, at breakfast, Juliet’s dad asks her how her new computer went.
Juliet: It’s great, Dad, yesterday I downloaded an application to make new friends!
Dad: That sounds very interesting, Juliet, but remember, you have to be careful. Never give out your passwords and information to anyone, not even your friends, sometimes people are not who they say they are.
Juliet: Dad, I think you are exaggerating a little.
Dad: I’m not overreacting, Juliet, I’m just worried about you and I want you to use the Internet responsibly.
Juliet: Okay, Dad! By the way, I didn’t have any homework this weekend, so I’ll take advantage of these days to use the computer you gave me.
Dad: That’s fine, Juliet, but don’t stay up all night!
Juliet: I won’t, Dad!
Act IV
Setting: Juliet’s room.
Introduction: Juliet turns on the computer and enters the chat room again.
Juliet: I want to make interesting friends, let’s see who’s online.
Suddenly a pop-up window opens. It was Austin.
Austin: Hi Juliet, do you remember me?
Juliet: Ah, yes… the boring kid from the little town… how are you?
Austin: I don’t think you should judge me for living in a small town.
Juliet: What do you care? We don’t even know each other in person and I don’t think we’ll ever see each other again.
Austin: But maybe we could plan a meeting and get to know each other! The mountains are only two hours away from the big city.
Juliet: I don’t think so Austin, I really don’t think we have anything in common. A person from a small town couldn’t possibly have the same interests as a big city girl like me.
Austin: I think you’re being a little unfair, Juliet. If you let us get to know each other, you might be surprised.
Juliet: I’ll give you just one chance, Austin. Tell me, what would you like to be when you grow up and what music do you like?
Austin: Well, I’d like to be a fireman to help all the people who are going through difficult times, I could even save lives! And I like pop music a lot, I especially like to listen to my mom sing every morning in the garden.
Juliet: Oh Austin, you’re so corny! A fireman? What a boring profession, and pop music? You’re corny, corny and boring!
Austin: But Juliet…
Juliet: I’m not interested in being your friend Austin, I could even bet you’re ugly. Your picture looks a little blurry, but judging by what you’re wearing, those pants and that shirt are pretty old-fashioned. You’re a dork!
Austin: That’s a very rude thing to say.
Juliet: Of course you’re going to think it’s rude, because you’re a C U R S I! You live in a village, you’re boring, corny, ugly and you dress badly. I don’t want to keep wasting my time with you, we could never be friends, nothing in common! Goodbye “Austin the fool”.
Juliet blocks him from the friends chat.
Act V
Setting: Juliet’s kitchen.
Introduction: A month had passed. Juliet and her dad were having breakfast.
Dad: Juliet, it’s been a month since I gave you the computer. Tell me how it’s been going.
Juliet: Well, Dad, I’ve made some very interesting friends in this city.
Suddenly a car horn honks.
Dad: Oh Juliet, my friend Carlos is here! We studied all through school together, and we hadn’t seen each other for years, he’s staying with us for the weekend at the guesthouse in the garden!
Juliet: Great dad!
Dad: Come, Juliet, come with me to welcome him.
Juliet’s dad opens the living room door.
Dad (hugging Carlos tightly): Oh Carlos, how much time has passed, and you look just like when we were 15!
Carlos: HAHAHAHA, I couldn’t say the same about you, Joseph, time has not passed in vain for you!
Dad: HAHAHAHA, you’re still the same joker you always were!
Carlos: And that little girl, she must be your daughter, isn’t she?
Dad: Yes Carlos, this is Juliet.
Juliet approaches and introduces herself.
Juliet: Good morning Mr. Carlos! Welcome to our house, it is a pleasure for us to receive you during the weekend.
Carlos: Oh how beautiful and polite your daughter is, Joseph, she looks just like her mother. I would also like you to meet someone.
Behind Carlos, a boy appears. He looked familiar to Juliet, but she couldn’t remember from where. Suddenly, she realized that the boy in front of her was none other than the village boy, Austin!
Carlos: And this is my dear son Austin, Austin, say hello!
Austin takes a step forward looking down at the floor.
Juliet’s father: Welcome Austin, this is your home! And this is my daughter Juliet.
Juliet could not move, it was impossible for her to get out of her state of surprise.
Juliet’s father: What’s wrong, Juliet?
Carlos: And what’s wrong with you, Austin, why don’t you stop looking at the floor.
Juliet’s father: Could someone explain to me what’s going on?
Juliet (looking at the floor): The truth is that Austin and I already knew each other.
Carlos: You already knew each other, but how?
Austin: I knew that our parents were friends and that we were going to spend a weekend here at Juliet’s house, but before that I wanted us to get to know each other and I contacted her through the chat room. But Juliet was very rude to me, she said I was a boring kid for living in the mountains and that I was ugly and my clothes were old-fashioned.
Juliet’s dad: Is this true, Juliet?
Juliet: Yes, Dad, everything Austin said is true.
Carlos: Juliet, I am very sad and disappointed. When I gave you the computer, I told you that you had to be responsible. You can’t treat people badly. What you did is called cyberbullying.
Carlos: Austin, my dear son, why didn’t you tell me?
Austin: I didn’t want you to feel bad, Dad, besides, she is the daughter of your lifelong friend.
Carlos: Although Juliet’s father and I are friends, what Juliet did is very wrong. Just as it was her, it could have been an older boy who mistreated you. You shouldn’t allow that!
Juliet’s dad: Why did you do that, Juliet?
Juliet: I thought it wouldn’t matter, we didn’t know each other and we live so far away, we were never going to meet.
Juliet’s Dad: The things you do on the Internet leave a mark. Are you sure you want to share these attitudes on the Internet? The only one who looks bad is you, Juliet.
Juliet: I’m so sorry, Dad. And I’m sorry about what happened Austin. I hope you and your dad can apologize to me.
Carlos: Cyberbullying consists of offending, insulting or mistreating someone through the Internet. Even though you and Austin live far away and didn’t know each other, that doesn’t give you a free pass to treat him badly.
Juliet’s dad: That’s right, and to avoid that, children should talk to their parents when this happens, tell the abuser to stop what he is doing is wrong and keep the evidence of what happened.
Juliet (With tears in her eyes): Austin, I want you to know that none of what happened is your fault. You’re not ugly and you’re not boring either. And now that I know that our parents are lifelong friends, I’m sure we do have things in common. I really didn’t mean to tell you that you were a pacifier for wanting to be a fireman.
Juliet’s Dad: Kids, I think you have a lot to talk about.
Juliet: Austin, will you let me take you for a walk around town for a while?
Austin (very embarrassed): All right, Juliet.
Juliet: By the way, your cap is very nice, it’s not out of fashion.
Austin smiles and walks off with Juliet.
Juliet’s Dad: Carlos, I think I’ll take that computer away from Juliet.
Carlos: No Joseph, I’m sure Juliet has learned her lesson. And I know Austin has too. It was wrong that when he was mistreated by someone, he didn’t tell me. Everything she said affected him very much, I knew something was wrong with him, he is not a quiet child, he is very happy and outgoing. He had already been like that for several days, sad and silent.
Juliet’s father: What a way our children have met each other, eh? Come on, let’s go in the house so you can make yourself comfortable.
Act VI
Setting: Entrance to Juliet’s house.
Introduction: At the end of the afternoon, Juliet and Austin return to the house.
Juliet: You see, Austin, now it’s your turn to take me to see your little town in the mountains.
Austin smiles.
THE END.