WRiting Contest #2 - Monologue

Senior Category Winning SUbmissions

Colors Outside the Box
By Selina Wang
First Place, Senior Catgeory

(EVELYN yoinks a book out of a friend’s hands)

EVELYN: Stop reading! Please? This is important. I think I’ve done something incredibly stupid.

(she drags a chair over from another library table and sits down a little miserably in the chair.)

So there’s this new student in our class, right? Yes, the dark-haired short guy with glasses. The teacher put him in me and Xeno’s group. And we were continuing the getting-to-know-each-other icebreaker thing from last class. Everything was going fine, even though the thing was so boring. (talking faster) Why would you ever need to know what someone's favorite TV show is? It’s not like…(people sitting nearby glance at her) (Evelyn pretends not to see and pulls at her hair)

Sorry, I’m getting off track. I just…I can’t believe I, well...

We were all peacefully asking each other about TV shows and whatsoever, but the guy was looking at Xeno and with this weird look, as if Xeno was a soggy piece of toast or something. And then he made this really uncomfortable face, like he needed to go to the bathroom. Our conversation paused at that, and the guy broke the awkward silence with, “So…are you a girl or a guy?”

All the noise in the classroom dissolved in that moment, fading into a soundless roar. We all just kind of stared at each other, and I thought, I should probably say something.

Finally, Xeno dropped their gaze and said in the quietest voice, “I…I’m a they/them.” They turned to me, silently pleading for support.

I really should have said something then, but this thing was stopping me. A lump in my throat, almost. I don’t know what I was thinking; maybe I was scared, or embarrassed, I don’t know why, but I shouldn’t have been. (a little too loudly) Blue and pink aren’t the only options, and we ought to tell people that.

(a librarian glares daggers at Evelyn; she blushes and grabs a book off a shelf, pretending to read. When the librarian turns away, she drops the book onto the table and worries at its edges.)

But the lump pressed against my chest, squeezing the air out of me. I couldn’t speak, couldn’t help my friend, couldn’t do anything except to stare at both of them blankly. The guy looked confused. And Xeno…I couldn’t bear to look at them. I should say something, but I can’t.

Time froze for an eternity. My eyes were open but I couldn’t see anything. Xeno stood up at some point, I think, and they didn’t come back for the rest of class.

I was a coward. I was just as bad as the people who refuse to acknowledge genders other than male and female exist altogether.

(plops her head down on the table and buries her face in her arms)

I wonder if Xeno will ever forgive me.

No, forget that. I wouldn’t forgive me.

The Movie Night
By Sonia Gill
Second Place, Senior Category

Oh, there they are! Hey guys, I’m here. I am literally so tired, I had three tests this week and a presentation! (PAUSE) You had four tests? That’s crazy. I’m so glad it’s finally the weekend. Hey, I have an idea, since this week has been so stressful, why don’t we have a movie night tomorrow? At my place? (PAUSE) You can come? We can eat popcorn, and all wear our pajamas! This is so exciting.

Let me call my mom. (pulls out phone and dials). Hey mom, can me and some friends have a sleepover tomorrow? Please? (PAUSE) Yes! Thanks mom. Ok, bye. (Hangs up) She said yes! And she’s going to order pizza.

(PAUSE) You’re allergic to tomatoes? Well, I’m sure we can order something else for you. (PAUSE) What? Sophie, I didn’t know you’re vegan!

(PAUSE) You don’t have any pajamas? So what do you sleep in? You know what, it's fine just wear comfy clothes or something. (PAUSE) It’s fine Ashley, my PJs are old too. Guys, literally just wear whatever you want.

What about snacks, what do you guys want? We could pick up some chips, popcorn, candy, and cookies maybe? (PAUSE) Too unhealthy? But chips are the best…(PAUSE) sure, you can bring celery sticks, I guess.

Now, what kind of movie should we watch? I was thinking of a romcom? (PAUSE) You want action? But I’ve already seen all the good action movies.. And then Maya’s not allowed to watch horror movies, and Annie doesn’t want anything sad, so what does that leave? Documentaries? This isn’t supposed to be stressful, the whole point of this was to relax! We’re probably going to end up watching a kids show because we can’t decide on anything. (PAUSE) You want to watch Sesame Street? Ughh… I give up.

Answering the UBC Personal Profile
By Noah Park
Thrid Place, Senior Category

Noah: I have a really busy life. So busy, in fact, that I barely have time to do homework! Buuuuut… I still manage to survive with a 95% average. How do I do that? I don’t have meaningless extracurriculars. In fact, you could call it quite the opposite. Quite a few of my after-school endeavors are educational (looking at you, Mr. Wong!), but many of them you wouldn’t necessarily consider an academic undertaking. Take, for instance, rowing. It’s not really academic, but I still learned a lot from it.

Rowing is a sport, but it is very closely tied to academics. For example, let’s look at Harvard. Good school, lots of courses, and a great athletics department. Average acceptance rate: 6%. Recruited athlete rate? Almost 15 times more, at 86%! Not only that, but you get lots of interesting things to write about on college applications. For example, take the word “Perseverance”. You could write a whole essay on that (not that I would want to, of course), but the point is that you would have a higher chance of success with that if you yourself had to persevere at one point in your life. Take the time to just think about what you have persevered through. (Mine is my mom’s temper tantrums-but don’t tell her I said that!) Rowing gives you a lot of things to talk about. I have capsized in a quad before, which was supposed to be “impossible”, but… it happened. Annnnnnnnnd, because it isn't supposed to happen, it’s a pain to flip the boat back right side up. It was really hard to do, not just because the water was freezing and everyone was in shorts and t-shirts at the time.

Okay, now let’s stop talking about depressing stuff and start talking about something else. Hmmm, let's see. Cadets would be a good one! There is a lot to remember. Just in the dress uniforms: Boots, wool socks, trousers, belt #1, tunic, dress shirt, belt #2, and the wedge (hat). It’s definitely a memory game, but it’s good training for the real world, I guess. And guess what, you also get MORE stuff to write about on your PP (personal profile). YAY! Can you hear the sarcasm? Not that I don’t like cadets. It’s really fun being in cadets, But, the thing is, there’s just too much stuff to write about for cadets. There’s leadership and independence, attention to detail, all the stuff that the universities eat up. Or in my dad’s words, verbal diarrhea. That’s when you are writing just to be writing, kind of like this essay.

Anyways, I probably have to answer the question now. “Tell us more about one or two activities you participated in during high school that are most important to you. Please explain the role you played and what you learned in the process.” Activity one: Rowing. Activity two: Cadets. Role I played: I led my rowing crew. I am a cadet. I learned one or more of the below: Leadership, Attention to Detail, Teamwork, Perseverance, fill in the blank. And now is the time where I write a bunch of sappy stuff that shows that I really like this university that I’m applying to, and that they should really accept me. Boom! Exactly 550 words ON THE SPOT!