WordGirl

Act 2 Scene 4

Narrator: And now for another exciting episode of Wordgirl!!

Becky hesitantly walked up the sidewalk leading to the front door with TJ and Bob right behind her. She raised her fist to the door, ready to knock, but didn't. She looked back to TJ and Bob, TJ looked confused and asked, "What? Where are we?" Bob gave her a sympathetic look.

While looking at TJ, Becky noticed the fear in his eyes and knew she couldn't let him down. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She knocked on the door rapidly until she saw the lights flip on in the downstairs window. The door opened and a very confused Ms. McCallister stood there with curlers in her hair, "Wha--Becky? What on earth are you doing here? And who is this?" She bent down to look at TJ.

"This is TJ and Bob, and we need a place to stay tonight. Is it okay if we sleep here?" Becky asked very politely.

"Oh my goodness! Please come in! Did you kids walk here? You must be freezing!" Ms. McCallister bustled around finding them blankets and making hot chocolate.

Once Ms. McCallister made sure they were comfortable she sat them down in the couch and started asking them questions. "Why do you need a place to sleep? Do I need to call your parents to tell them where you are? I'm sure they're worried sick!"

Becky noticed TJ yawn and his eyelids start to droop, "I promise I'll answer all of your question, but first I think TJ needs to get some sleep."

"Oh, of course! I'm sure that all of you are exhausted," she gave a side look at Bob already asleep in the coffee table, "I'll wake up Tobey and have him set up a spot in his room for TJ, and while he's doing that I'll call your parents and you can get some sleep too, and we'll talk about this in the morning." She got up and started to walk away.

TJ squeezed Becky's arm tightly and looked at her, scared. "No! I think TJ would rather sleep down here with me, and there's no point in calling our parents, they won't hear the phone anyway. I'll tell them tomorrow morning, I promise, but my priority right now if making sure TJ is safe and gets a good nights sleep."

Ms. McCallister was shocked at Becky's answer, but she simply nodded and went to find them more blankets and pillows for the couch.

Narrator: After a lot of quiet singing and hugging, Becky finally got TJ to sleep and she quietly snuck to the kitchen to talk to Ms. McCallister.

"Thank you so much for letting us stay here tonight, Ms. McCallister. I couldn't think of anywhere else to go." Becky said, drinking her hot cocoa.

"Of course, dear. I'm just happy that you kids are safe." She sat down at the table with a cup of coffee across from Becky, "Now. Can you please tell me what on earth you are doing looking around for a place to sleep without your parent's knowledge?"

Becky sighed and took a long drink of her hot cocoa. She took a deep breath and let everything out about her parents fighting.

Narrator: After about an hour of Becky talking and Ms. McCallister just listening. Becky started yawning.

"You've been through so much and I want you to know that you can always talk to me if it ever becomes too much. And always know that you kids are welcome here anytime you need, alright? But right now, what you need is some sleep. You go lay with your brother and I'll clean up in here." Ms. McCallister said, hugging Becky to her side.

Becky wiped away the tears in her eyes before she gave Ms. McCallister a big hug saying a muffled, "thank you," into her shirt. She unwrapped herself from around the kind woman and walking back into the living room and laid on the couch next to TJ.

As Becky was trying to fall asleep and listening to the sounds of Ms. McCallister cleaning up in the kitchen, she heard someone walk down the stairs.

"What's going on, mom? Why are the lights on down here?" Tobey mumbled while rubbing his eyes under his glasses.

His mother smacked his hands away from his eyes, "Don't rub at it! You'll make it worse! I still don't understand how you got hit in the eye during math class!"

"Someone...threw an eraser! What are you doing up?" Tobey asked again, throwing out a lame excuse to answer his mothers question.

Ms. McCallister nodded her head towards the he living room door, "the Botsford kids showed up needing somewhere to sleep. I couldn't say no. There parents are fighting and Becky's been really stressed recently, I want you to be extra nice to her at school from now on, this kind of thing is really hard on kids like her. She feels like it's her fault and that she is responsible for keeping TJ safe. She needs at least one part of her day to be super easy."

Becky closed her eyes pretending to be asleep while listening to the conversation in the kitchen. After a while of it being quiet, she felt a pair of eyes on her. She opened one eye slightly to see. She saw Tobey standing in the doorway of the kitchen staring at her with worry.

Before Tobey's mother sent him back upstairs to his bed, he noticed one of Becky's eyes open and made the decision that as soon as his mother went to bed, he would sneak down to make sure Becky was okay.

When Tobey went back upstairs to his room he listened, waiting for his mother to go to sleep. When he was sure she was asleep, he grabbed a couple blankets and a pillow and snuck down stairs to the living room.

Becky was still trying to fall asleep when she heard someone come into the room. She opened her eyes to find Tobey sneaking in with a pillow and a couple blankets. She sat up on the couch make room for him

Tobey laid out his blankets on the floor next to couch and sat down next to Becky. "Couldn't sleep?" She shook her head. "Need to talk?" Becky burst into quiet tear and shook her head again.

Tobey hugged her close and comforted her until she felt better and pulled away. She laid back down on the couch and Tobey settled in on the floor next to her. They stayed up and talked for a while.

Right before they went to sleep Tobey made sure to tell Becky, "You know none of this is you're fault, right?"

"But it kinda is, this all started whe-"

Tobey didn't let her finish, "No! It doesn't matter! No matter what happened, this is not your fault! Do you understand? I need you to understand!"

Becky wanted to argue, but Tobey seemed so sure that she kind of believed him, so she just nodded.

They fell asleep holding hands.

Narrator: The night before Tobey and Becky had made a plan to both wake up early. Becky to go talk to her parents and Tobey to move his things back up to his room.

Tobey and Becky stood at Tobey's window and looked out at the morning sun, "Are you sure you're ready for this? I can come with you if you need?" Tobey asked, worried.

"No. I need to do this alone. This shouldn't have lasted this long, I should have done something a while ago." Becky responded, reassuring herself. "Just make sure TJ gets breakfast, I should be back in time to take him to school."

Tobey nodded, "and Bob?"

"Oh, he'll get his own food, don't worry about it. He's pretty rude, we're working on that. If you have any trouble with Bob, ask TJ for help."

Tobey chuckled, looking at Becky intensely.

"What?" Becky said, smiling back at him.

"You're just cute." Tobey responded smiling widely.

Becky's face got really hot and she turned bright red, "I should probably go now," she opened the window and was about to climb out.

"Wait!" Becky turned and looked at Tobey, smiling. Tobey pulled her close and kissed her on the lips, "there. Now you can go."

Becky's blush deepened and she flew out of the window with super speed back to her house.

Narrator: To be continued on another exciting episode of Wordgirl!