Mistress America Page #2

---

TONY:

I get it. It’s like I’m so

grateful to be here, but why are myparents taking out loans for me tolisten to that 18-year-old assholetalk?

Tracy laughs.

TRACY:

Loans everywhere.

TONY:

I was going go get frozen yogurt,

want to come?

TRACY:

Yes but... well, I have to getsomewhere by five.

TONY:

Where?

TRACY:

Um, it’s embarrassing.

TONY:

What is it?

TRACY:

I’m submitting a story to theMobius Literary Society. I have to

print it.

(MORE)

9.

TRACY (CONT'D)

They only take hard copies which isa kind of pretension I can getbehind.

TONY:

GET OUT OF TOWN SISTER! I alreadygave mine! Do you know how youfind out if you’re in it?

TRACY:

They said they’d post a list -

TONY:

No. The only people who check thelist are people who didn’t get in -

they come wake us up at night inour rooms and put pie in our faceand then bring us out into the quadand make us sing and stuff.

TRACY:

(smiling at the thought)

Yeah.

INT. SOME HALLWAY. DAY

Tracy walks down to a door with Mobius on the glass. There’s

a box outside with Submissions written underneath it. A guyin a sweater vest sitting cross legged on the ground playingjacks stares at her. She fishes into her messenger bag andputs a story in the box. She hurries away.

INT. TRACY’S DORM ROOM. NIGHT

Tracy lies awake in bed. We hear yelling in the hallwayoutside her door. Footsteps come close to her door. A

shadow underneath. She tenses in great anticipation.

The footsteps and chatter continue down the hall.

Tracy gets up and opens her door.

INT. DORM HALLWAY. NIGHT

The hall is empty. Bits of pie and crust on the floor.

Another door opens at the end of the hall. A Tiny Girl looksout.

She and Tracy meet eyes.

TINY GIRL:

F***.

The Tiny Girl retreats into her room. Tracy does the same.

10.

INT. TONY’S ROOM. DAY

Tony sits on his bed and Tracy sits on the floor. They bothdrink screwdrivers.

TONY:

They’re self-elected douche bags.

TRACY:

I know, but I wanted to be one ofthem. I could die then.

TONY:

Yeah, me too. Both I wanted to be

in and I could also then die.

TRACY:

I heard they serve wine and cheeseand they all carry breifcases.

TONY:

I know, when I had my tour here,

the guide was one of them andthat’s why I wanted to come here.

TRACY:

I heard the pie stuff all night.

TONY:

They got the guy next door. He

doesn’t even look like a writer.

Tony indicates a breifcase from the floor. Tracy sees this.

TRACY:

I’m so sorry.

TONY:

Do you want to trade stories?

TRACY:

Sure.

TIME CUT:

They both silently read each other’s stories. They stealglances at one another.

TIME CUT:

TONY:

I liked it!

11.

TRACY:

Thanks - I liked yours too.

TONY:

So do you want notes?

TRACY:

Oh, are we - sure...

TONY:

Okay, I thought the middle partsounded really fake.

TRACY:

Okay.

TONY:

It’s just my impression.

TRACY:

I’ll work on that.

TONY:

Do you have any notes for me?

TRACY:

Um... no.

TONY:

Great.

(thinks for a second)

I have a car.

INT. CAR. DUSK

Tracy and Tony drive in the car.

TRACY:

Let’s go to the beach.

TONY:

I don’t want to leave Manhattan.

TRACY:

Oh, why are we in your car then?

EXT. UPPER MANHATTAN, BY THE HUSDON RIVER. NIGHT

Tracy and Tony try to burn his briefcase but it won’t catch

fire.

They chuck it in the water.

They smoke a joint and sit on the roof of a car.

12.

TRACY:

We look like we’re in a song.

INT. CLASSROOM. DAY

Tracy raises her hand.

TRACY:

I think the way Aristotle writesabout ethics and morality is muchcloser to how most people thinkabout it. Less like math, morelike a story.

INT. DORM ROOM. DAY

Tracy, feeling better about herself, cleans the room andtalks to her roommate.

TRACY:

I think we should set up arecycling system for our trash. A

lot of what we’re throwing out canbe recycled.

She trips over something on the floor but recovers quickly.

TRACY:

And Ruth, I think that fan can goin the closet now, it’s 60 degreesout-

INT. STUDY ABROAD OFFICE. DAY

Tracy is filing with some exuberance.

STUDY ABROAD WOMAN

You seem happy today.

TRACY:

I love filing! It’s satisfying.

EXT. QUAD. EVE

Tracy is running to get somewhere.

TONY (O.S.)

Slow down, T!

Tracy hits the breaks. It’s Tony. She laughs. But he’s

holding Nicolette’s hand (She’s the girl from their class).

TRACY:

Hey.

13.

TONY:

Hey.

NICOLETTE:

Hey.

INT. JJ’S DINER. NIGHT

Tracy sits in a booth by herself eating mozzarella sticks.

She looks at her phone. Makes a call. Her mother’s voice

mail. She hangs up.

She scrolls to:

BROOKE CARDINAS:

She quickly presses that name...

FEMALE VOICE MESSAGE

You’ve reached Brooke Cardinas.

Leave your name and number and Iwill get back to you at my earliestconvenience.

Tracy hangs up on the beep. She dips a mozzarella stick inthe red sauce and shoves it into her mouth. Her phone rings.

She’s startled.

TRACY:

Hello?

BROOKE:

Hi, this Brooke Cardinas. I justgot a missed call from this number.

TRACY:

Oh...sorry. Hi... this is TracyFishko, um, my mom is marrying yourdad?

BROOKE:

You’re reading the sonnet.

TRACY:

Right! We’re doing Thanksgivingand then wedding together... Um, Igo to college in the city. My momsaid I should call you.

BROOKE:

Have you eaten? Do you want tohang out?

14.

TRACY:

(looks at her near-

finished plate)

No, I haven’t. OK.

BROOKE:

Well, do you know where Times

Square is?

EXT. TIMES SQUARE. NIGHT

Tracy crosses the crowded street.

Brooke is at the top of the TKTS steps. She attempts to walkelegantly down the steps. It’s an entrance.

BROOKE:

(awkwardly grand)

Welcome to the Great White Way.

She still hasn’t finished walking the steps. It takes a

second. Tracy holds a smile. Finally, Brooke is there:

TRACY:

Times Square is so crazy.

BROOKE:

Isn’t it?

TRACY:

I don’t know anyone who lives here.

BROOKE:

Yours truly. I got off the bus fromJersey I thought this was the coolplace to live. It’s mother fuckingTimes Square.

INT. TAXI. LATER

Brooke lights a cigarette, takes a long drag, passes it toTracy.

BROOKE:

Why do you live in New York again?

TRACY:

College - I go to Barnard - it’sall women uptown - well,

“historically” and kind ofactually. But there are boys in myclasses and stuff. From Columbia.

15.

BROOKE:

You gay?

TRACY:

No. The Columbia girls do theirbest to make us feel inferior.

Which it’s like “I already do.”

BROOKE:

That’s stupid. Don’t feel

inferior.

TRACY:

You’re right, that is stupid.

It’s the best someone has made her feel in a long time ormaybe ever.

INT. BACKSTAGE AT A MUSIC CLUB. NIGHT

Brooke, wearing an orange VIP sticker on her suede jacket,

affixes an identical sticker to Tracy’s shirt.

BROOKE:

I didn’t go to college.

TRACY:

Oh. OK.

BROOKE:

I’m an autodidact. Do you knowwhat that means?

TRACY:

Yes.

BROOKE:

That word is one of the things Iself-taught myself.

CUT TO:
Brooke is pulled up onstage to sing, she tries toact like she doesn’t want to and then does it. When she

dances while she sings it’s a person who is pretending to befree.

Rate this script:3.0 / 2 votes