Confidence Page #5

LETTY:

Who can come up here and give me a

sentence with a "to be" verb in it?

13.

ZACH:

Who was that girl?

LETTY:

Come on up, Zach.

Zach approaches the board and begins to write, "I am..." He

doesn't get any further before Letty cuts him off.

LETTY:

Neater, Zach.

Zach begins again, but Letty stops him when he reaches "am."

LETTY:

Zach, you know the line by the "a"

has to come straight down or it

looks like an "o."

Zach looks back toward his classmates for help.

LETTY:

What's wrong, Zach?

Letty picks up a piece of chalk and writes an "a." She

erases it furiously and works at it until the "a" is perfect.

.

LETTY:

Try again, Zach. Like that.

Letty jabs at the board with a piece of chalk. Zach freezes.

He sees Letty's shoes, her arm, her contorted face, and,

above all else, that perfect “a” staring right back down at

him.

Letty grips Zach’s arm, guiding the chalk to form what looks

like a pretty good “a.”

LETTY:

I don't believe it. You still

can't do it.

ZACH:

I'm sorry, OK, Miss Mayer?

LETTY:

No, it's not OK. You'll never get

to college on OK.

Letty's fingers press into Zach's arm. A tear slides

ominously down his cheek.

14.

LETTY:

It has to be good, Zach. Do you

understand me?

Zach wrests free of Letty. He's in full cry now. He backs

away, stumbles, then makes a run for his seat. Bobby

SNICKERS at Zach's misfortune. Other children glance around,

unsure, confused.

Letty looks vacantly at the children, stares at the board and

looks at the children again.

She sits down at her desk and buries her face in her hands.

Letty's fists, clenched at first, slowly relax. She takes a

deep breath and raises her head.

LETTY:

I'm very, very sorry, Zach.

Zach continues to cry. Letty looks down at her desk. She

grabs a piece of construction paper and a jar of paste.

LETTY:

You know what, guys? Wednesday's

not a grammar day. It's a collage

day. It's a collage ON THE WALL

day.

Letty jumps up. She slaps the paper on the wall with some

paste. She motions for the students to join her.

The children slowly approach her. Zach lags behind.

LETTY:

And, Zach? Zach, I want you to be

in charge of paste.

INT. BEDROOM - LETTY'S APARTMENT - DAY

Letty lies in bed. The alarm clock BLASTS opera. Letty

fumbles for the switch. She can't turn it off. She yanks

out the cord.

.

Letty gets out of bed, walks to the dresser and turns off the

second clock before it rings. She goes to the KITCHEN and

snaps off the alarm, then heads down the HALLWAY and shuts

that alarm off, as well.

Letty hurries back to her BEDROOM and crawls into bed. Paul,

toweling his hair dry, walks in.

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