SCENE 1
BRYCE: All I ever wanted was for Juli Baker to leave me alone. It all began in the summer of 1957, before the start of second grade.
STEVEN: Here we are.
PA TSY: Ha, ha. What do you guys think? LYNETTA: I like this place.
BRYCE: It's cool.
LYNETTA: Uh, what color is my room? PA TSY: Just you wait.
BRYCE: Let's see what's inside. STEVEN: Hey, come on, buddy Bryce. Why don't, uh, you and I go help unload the van and the womenfolk here can get in the kitchen and start setting up. BRYCE: Okay, Dad.
BRYCE: For me, it was the beginning of what would be more than half a decade of strategic avoidance and social discomfort. JULI: Hi, I'm Juli Baker.
STEVEN: Hey, hey, what are you doing? JULI: Don't you want some help? STEVEN: No. There's some valuable things in there.
JULI: - How about this one?
STEVEN: No, no, no. Run home. Y our mother's probably wondering where you are.
JULI: Oh, no, my mom knows where I am. She said it's fine.
BRYCE: It didn't take long to realize this girl could not take a hint.
STEVEN: It's crowded in here with three people.
JULI: I don't mind.
BRYCE: Of any kind.
JULI: Y ou wanna push this one together?
STEVEN: Bryce, isn't it time for you to go
help your mother?
BRYCE: Huh? Oh, yeah.
BRYCE: I mean, nothing would stop her. I
was about to tell her to get lost when the
weirdest thing happened. I couldn't believe
it. There I was holding hands with this
strange girl. How did I get into this mess?
PA TSY: Well, hello. I see you've met my
son.
JULI: Uh-huh.
BRYCE: Finally, I did the only manly
thing available when you're 7 years old.
[BELL RINGING]
BRYCE: However, my troubles were far
from over. The minute I walked into Miss
Y elson's classroom...
JULI: Bryce? Y ou're here.
BRYCE: ...it was clear: School would not
be a sanctuary.
[CHILDREN LAUGHING]
KID 1: Hey, Bryce, where's your
girlfriend?
BRYCE: I was branded for life.
KID 2: Hey, Bryce, why don't you ask her
to marry you?
GIRLS [SINGING]: Bryce and Juli sitting
in a tree, K-l-S-S-l-N-G.
BRYCE: My first year in town was a
disaster. And the next three weren't much
better. But finally, in the sixth grade, I
took action. I hatched the plan.
BRYCE: Sherry. Sherry, wait up.
SHERRY: Hi, Bryce. Heh.
BRYCE: I asked out Sherry Stalls.
BRYCE: I was wondering if you wanted
to go...
BRYCE: To full appreciate the brilliance
of this plan, you have to understand that
Juli hated Sherry Stalls, though I never
understood why. Sherry was nice, friendly
and she had a lot of hair.
SHERRY: At first, my mother wouldn't let
me get my ears pierced, but I begged...
BRYCE: The idea was that Sherry would
eat with me... maybe we'd walk around
together, and hopefully Juli would lose
interest.
SHERRY: But I still can't get the hoops till
I'm 16.
BRYCE: Oh, that's a shame.
SHERRY: So Melanie wanted to get her
ears pierced, but of course her mother said
no. So she threw a fit and smashed her
Johnny Mathis Greatest Hits album...
[LAUGHS]...and she got grounded, so
now she can't come to my pajama
sleepover party.
BRYCE: Things were unfolding quite
nicely.
GARRETT: What are you doing for your
science project?
BRYCE: That is, until my supposed best
friend, Garrett Einbinder took an interest
in Sherry himself.
SHERRY: I was thinking of showing how
split ends react with different hair
conditioners.
GARRETT: That's fascinating.
BRYCE: Loyalty gave way to desire and
Garrett, the turncoat... told Sherry what I
was up to.
SHERRY: Jerk.
BRYCE: She didn't take it well. Word got
back to Juli, and pretty soon she started up
with the goo-goo eyes again. Only this
time it was worse. She started sniffing me.
That's right, sniffing me. What was that all
about? My only consolation was that next
year would be different. Junior high,
bigger school. Maybe we'd be in different
classes and it would finally, finally be
over.
SCENE 2
JULI: The first day I met Bryce Loski, I
flipped. It was those eyes, something in
those dazzling eyes.
JULI: Y ou wanna push this one together?
JULI: His family had just moved into the
neighborhood... and I'd gone over to help
them. I'd been in the van all of two
minutes when his dad sent him off to help
his mom. I could see he didn't wanna go.
So I chased after him to see if we could
play a little before he got trapped inside.
The next thing I know, he's holding my
hand... and looking right into my eyes. My
heart stopped. Was this it? Would this be
1