Drama: A Graphic Novel

The scene opens on three middle-schoolers walking down the sidewalk on their way home after school. Callie, the main character, walks beside her friend Matt, who is a bit taller than her and wears glasses. Callie wears a long green coat, a green beanie, and green earmuffs. Her long hair is dyed two different shades of purple. Greg, Matt’s older brother, is taller than the other two children and walks beside Matt.

Matt wonders aloud if Mr. Madera will allow him to operate the spotlight during this year’s school play. After he bungled his spotlight operation during last year’s production, he feels skeptical that he will be entrusted with the duty once more.

Suddenly, Greg, wearing an upset expression, asks Callie, “You’re a girl, right?” (5). “Last time I checked, yes,” Callie sarcastically replies (5). Greg then tells Callie that he’d like to ask her something, and tells Matt that he’d like to speak with Callie alone. Matt, indignant, leaves. He grouses about having to walk home alone while doing so.

Greg and Callie head toward the park while Callie fluffs her hair and surreptitiously checks the smell of her breath. Greg then tells Callie that his girlfriend, Bonnie, broke up with him. Callie has to control her excitement as she gathers more details. Greg tells Callie that Bonnie has told him that he does not go to her dance recitals nor spend enough time with her—although she also never attends his baseball games. Then, Callie impulsively decides to kiss Greg on the cheek. The young man is surprised, and Callie confesses that she’s been wanting to do that for a long time. “All you’ve ever said about Bonnie is that she’s annoying and stuck-up and only cares about herself,” Callie tells him (9). When Greg replies that Bonnie liked him though, Callie replies that Bonnie is not the only one who likes him. Greg and Callie then share a full-on kiss.

The next day, before a backstage meeting of the school play crew, Callie tells her best friend, Liz, about what has happened between her and Greg, and Liz excitedly and loudly begins a conversation about it, which other students quickly join.

The students’ excited chatter abruptly ends when Mr. Madera arrives and guides the conversation to preparations for this year’s play. The students will be producing “Moon Over Mississippi.” Callie notices that Matt is fixing her with an annoyed glare throughout the meeting.

Everyone is given the position that they want: Callie is in charge of set design, the eighth-grader Loren (who will be graduating this year) is given the title of stage manager, Liz is in charge of costumes, Sanjay is a carpenter, Delfina is in charge of makeup, Matt is in charge of lights, and Mirko is assigned to the sound booth. Mr. Madera then informs the students that they will have 14 weeks to prepare, and that the last 11 will be quite intense. Everyone is very excited to work together as a team.

After the meeting ends, Callie asks Matt if Greg will, once again, be joining them on their walk home. Matt informs her in vague terms that Greg is busy with baseball practice today, before leaving without her. Callie, heartbroken, runs to the baseball field and finds it empty.

The next day, at lunch, Callie finds Matt eating with his friends. He excuses himself from their company in order to talk to Callie separately, and even avoids her touch when she tries to reach for his arm. He informs Callie that Bonnie called him in tears the previous day and that he talked to her until midnight. They will talk again later that day. He then apologizes and tells Callie that perhaps they can “catch up another time” (20). He also thanks her and tells her that she is the best—while she walks away trying to hold back tears.

Later, at home, Callie chats via instant message with Liz. She wonders aloud what Bonnie Lake has that she doesn’t. Liz assures Callie that the distraction of the school play will provide just what she needs to keep her mind off of Greg and Bonnie. Callie then confesses that she feels annoyed that, “no matter how many times [she] told herself to just ignore [her] crush on him...that didn’t stop [her] from wanting to kiss him” (21-22). At that moment, Callie’s younger brother, Richard, sneaks up behind her and loudly asks “WHO DID YOU WANT TO KISS?!” (22). Callie chases him out of her room and playfully buries him beneath several couch cushions as a reprisal.

The following week, Callie sits backstage with the stage crew, reading and marking up her copy of the “Moon Over Mississippi” script. She gushes about it, loving the script’s romance. Loren informs the crew that they need to get their ideas together, as they will be meeting with Mr. Madera that Wednesday regarding the play’s budget.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Callie proposes that they make a functioning cannon, a giant magnolia tree which will shower leaves upon the characters Bailey and Maybelline when they complete their big kiss, a gazebo, an interior set for the house, and an exterior set for the house. Mr. Madera then counters that, while Eucalyptus Middle School is a progressive campus, it is doubtful that a functioning cannon will be approved. He also tells Callie that two is the maximum for set pieces—and Callie replies that a cannon must be one of those two. She then volunteers to help Sanjay construct the set pieces—and to find another person to assist them. She begins strategizing immediately for how she is going to accomplish her set design goals.