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What If It’s Not Meant For Me To Be Us

BY: YVONNE NGUYEN

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CHARACTERS

Coreen A Black-American girl that is cynical and a

little bit burnt out. She falls in love with
someone her parents see as someone that has
made their lives harder.

Lennie An Vietnamese-American girl who is a

first-generation of her conservative immigrant
parents. She’s socially extroverted and
optimistic to the point of naivety.

Mr. Jackson His wife died from cervical cancer and is

currently the main provider for Coreen. He
loves helping Coreen, seeing she is anticipated
to have a bright future. He went to MIT and is
currently an environmental engineer.

Mr. Tran He immigrated to Vietnam during the horrors of

the Vietnam War. He began dating a Vietnamese
woman, and brought Lennie into the world. But
Lennie’s mother was forced back to Vietnam due
to an expired green card. Mr. Tran becomes
Lennie’s main provider, and is a nail
technician at a local nail salon.

Otis Lennie’s best friend who is white. He’s the

first person that Lennie comes to after she
realizes her feelings for Coreen. He encourages
Lennie to ask Coreen out, but he does not
understand the implications of families.

Coli Lennie’s cousin

Maeve Lennie’s other cousin

TEACHER Lennie and Coreen’s world history teacher

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SCENES

Scene 1 Separate Lives

Scene 2 Assigned

Scene 3 “For the Project”

Scene 4 Eyes On You

Scene 5 Doesn’t Get It

Scene 6 Dad’s Two Cents

Scene 7 Flirting Montage (Insufferable)

Scene 8 Talking Yourself Out Of It

Scene 9 Confession

Scene 10 Best Friend Meets Lover

Scene 11 You Were Supposed To Be Happy For Me

Scene 12 Breaking Free or Away

Scene 13 Where Are You?

Scene 14 Meant To Be Us?

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Scene 1: Separate Lives

SETTING 1: Lennie is in her room with the legs of cousins around her.
They’re talking while there’s karaoke playing downstairs throughout
the entire scene.

LENNIE
I just don’t know what I’m doing anymore. Life right now just feels
like multiple car crashes in one week.

COLI
It doesn’t get easier (laughs). Did you tell your dad yet?

MAEVE
Yeah, how did it go?

LENNIE
He was weirdly fine about it. I didn’t really know how he was gonna
react, but it was good. I’m just glad he knows now. Just to get it
over with.

SETTING 2: Coreen is putting up her UNICEF competition trophy on her

shelf in her room.

COREEN
OK, that was good Coreen. I mean you could’ve done a little bit
better…

(COREEN pauses. She begins to laugh.)

Whatever, I’m too tired to care at this point.

(COREEN slams onto her bed, face-first.)

MR. JACKSON
(Yelling from the other room) Get ready for bed, you need to wake up
early for school tomorrow.

(COREEN groans.)

Scene 2: Assigned

SETTING: In a generic high school, world history class starts.

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(The school bell rings. LENNIE sits in a seat, and COREEN is

sitting in the desk in front of LENNIE. COREEN is about to fall
asleep, and LENNIE is on her phone under her desk.)

TEACHER
(In a muffled voice.) Alright, y’all. We’re starting with a project.
I’m setting up partners—(class groans.)

You all are so dramatic. (Class laughs.) Anyway, you will have the
assignment of outlining sources and putting them into categories…

(TEACHER’s voice begins to fade. COREEN’s eyes go dark.

Then, she wakes up immediately as TEACHER says…)

TEACHER
And Lennie and Coreen, you both will be a pair. Alright, folks. Now
get with your partners and start working. Lennie, get off your phone.

(LENNIE slowly gets off her phone. COREEN turns around to

see Lennie.)

COREEN
Hi. Should I sit with you?

LENNIE
Sure.

(COREEN packs up her stuff to move to the desk next to

Lennie. LENNIE is trying to take out her laptop but she keeps staring
at Coreen. COREEN doesn’t notice.)

COREEN
Alright, so what if we split up the documents. I can do—

(COREEN finally notices Lennie staring at her.)

Umm…hello? (Waves hand in front of Lennie’s face)

LENNIE
Ah right. Yeah sorry, little tired right now heh.

(COREEN laughs.)

COREEN
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I gotchu. Don’t worry about it. I almost fell asleep when the teacher
was talking.

(LENNIE smi-eyes. COREEN smiles back. They look down at

their laptops, continuing to smile.)

LENNIE
This is due Wednesday, apparently. Um, want to go somewhere to finish
it off, after school maybe?

COREEN
Yeah, let’s do that.

LENNIE
Bleachers? Tomorrow after school.

COREEN
Sounds good to me.

Scene 3: “For the Project”

SETTING: Lennie and Coreen are on the bleachers. Papers are spread
out and laptops and phones placed everywhere.

(LENNIE and COREEN are laughing and smiling like crazy. It

doesn’t look like they’re doing any work.)

Scene 4: Eyes On You

SETTING: Lennie and Coreen are presenting in their world history

class.

(COREEN is talking about their project to the class. LENNIE

is watching Coreen with admiration.)

Scene 5: Doesn’t Get It

SETTING: Lennie is in the hallways with Otis.

LENNIE
She’s reaaaally cute.

OTIS
You should ask her out, dude!!
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Lennie
And she’s reaaaally smart too.

OTIS
Ask her ouuuuut.

LENNIE
And really funny, and we’ve been hanging out a bit—

OTIS
(Practically yelling) Ask her out if you like her so much!

LENNIE
No, I can’t. My dad would probably disown me right then and there, it
would be a mess.

OTIS
Okay, Miss Drama. Let the pining begin, I guess.

(OTIS walks ahead of Lennie.)

LENNIE
Hey! That’s not fair!

Scene 6: Dad’s Two Cents

SETTING 1: Mr. Jackson is driving Coreen home from the library.

MR. JACKSON
You’ve been hanging out with Lennie a lot lately.

COREEN
Yeah, I guess.

MR. JACKSON
I’m just saying, you need time to study by yourself. You can’t focus
when you’re studying with other people. And Lennie doesn’t seem to be
especially the best person to be around anyway—

COREEN
(Interrupts) You don’t know that.

MR. JACKSON
I do. I know me, and I know you.
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(Coreen rolls her eyes.)

SETTING 2: Coreen and her dad are talking at the dinner table.

MR. TRAN
I hope you aren’t seeing that girl. She is bad.

LENNIE
Ba, you’ve barely talked to her. You don’t even know her.

MR. TRAN
I know enough.

LENNIE
Well, we aren’t going out. We’re just friends.

MR. TRAN
Even friends not good too.

(LENNIE stares at Mr. Tran in offense. Then, blinks a bit,

coming out of her thoughts. She shakes her head in disappointment.)

LENNIE
God, I knew you would get this way.

(LENNIE walks off from the dinner counter. MR. TRAN

continues to eat, purposefully ignorant of Lennie’s reaction.)

Scene 7: Flirting Montage (Insufferable)

SETTING 1: World History class, doing classwork.

(COREEN and LENNIE are laughing on their laptops.)

COREEN
Okay, focus!

LENNIE
What if I don’t want to?

COREEN
Well then, it can’t be my fault that you don’t pass this class.

LENNIE
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Don’t discredit yourself, pretty girl.

(COREEN playfully punches Lennie in the arm.)

SETTING 2: Coreen and Lennie are on the bleachers, eating their

lunches.

(COREEN tries to grab a chip from Lennie’s bag of shrimp

chips. LENNIE slaps Coreen’s hand.

LENNIE
Who said you can have a chip?

COREEN
I did.

LENNIE
Of course you did.

COREEN
What is that supposed to mean?

LENNIE
I said it as it is: of course, you did.

(COREEN tries to play-tackle Lennie. LENNIE’s laughing.)

SETTING 3: Coreen and Lennie are in the library.

(LENNIE is writing something down. COREEN is looking at

Lennie. LENNIE doesn’t notice.)

Scene 8: Talking Yourself Out Of It

SETTING: Coreen is at her desk in her room, trying to do homework.

(COREEN is failing to focus on her homework.)

COREEN
(Voiceover monologue) I mean, there’s no chance she’ll like me right?
Like this is obviously one-sided and I’m just being an idiot for not
taking the hint that she just wants to be friends. But like, how does
she flirt? Is it normal to call your friends “baby”? Am I
overanalyzing this?
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(COREEN pauses. Eyes wandering. She grunts and moves towards

her bed, slams onto it and is looking up at the ceiling.)

Ugh, this is dumb.

(COREEN pauses.)

But she is a bit touchy.

(COREEN pauses again.)

Just tell her or something. You are so annoying right now, Coreen. I
know, oh god. OK. Wait no, this is fine. Just tell her, and you know
what, she’s gonna say she likes me too. We have something, she can’t
deny that, I can’t be the only one feeling it. Yeah, nothing will go
wrong. Nope. I…

(COREEN pauses.)

No. Wait no everything can go wrong.

(COREEN pauses.)

(Groans) (outloud) I hate liking people, I feel stupid.

MR. JACKSON
Coreen, what’s going on in there? Are you talking to someone right
now?

COREEN
No, dad! (Thinks about what to say) Uh, just thinking out loud
working on this math homework!

Scene 9: Confession

SETTING: Lennie and Coreen nervously meet up at the bleachers during

lunch.

(COREEN arrives first, and sits on the silver seat. Her legs
bounce rigorously. She hears steps; LENNIE sits down next to her.)

LENNIE
Hello…(notice Coreen has her mind on something.)...You alright?
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COREEN
(Nervous staccato) Yep. Totally fine.

(LENNIE stops Coreen’s knee from bouncing. COREEN looks up

at Lennie)

LENNIE
You are a bad liar.

COREEN
I know.

(Long pause as they stare at each other.)

I like you.

(Long pause, BOTH are still staring at each other, but

LENNIE’s eyes widened.)

Please don’t say anything.

(LENNIE suddenly looks confused.)

It was already hard enough to tell you.

LENNIE
Okay. (Smiles, cheekily)

COREEN
(Looks at Lennie, looks away and cringes) Ugh, gross.

LENNIE
What?

COREEN
You make me sick.

LENNIE
Are you sure it’s not your nervous energy making you sick?

COREEN
Touché.

LENNIE
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I’ll be right back. (Stands up and runs off under the bleachers, but
COREEN is unaware where she’s going.)

COREEN
Right now??

(LENNIE is already gone.)

Oh my god. (Rolls her eyes)

LENNIE
(Underneath the bleachers, muffled) I like you too.

(COREEN is confused. LENNIE pokes out her head from

underneath the bleachers. COREEN is jokingly unimpressed.)

I had to say it.

(BOTH laugh.)

COREEN
(Flicks LENNIE’s forehead) Get back up here, idiot.

Scene 10: Best Friend Meets Lover

SETTING: At the park, Lennie and Otis arrive, waiting for Coreen.

LENNIE
I really like her (laughs).

OTIS
Then there should be nothing to worry about. No matter what your dad
thinks. He’ll be happy if you’re happy.

LENNIE
You don’t know that.

(BOTH sit on the grass.)

OTIS
I don’t. But I know that even if it’s not gonna happen immediately,
he’s gonna fold eventually.

LENNIE
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It was hard enough to build up the confidence to tell him I’m queer.
I went as far as searching up “Buddhism support gay people?”

OTIS
And it went alright! This should be no different.

LENNIE
Otis, “I don’t need to search up “do Asian people like Black people”
to know the answer. My dad’s a massive raci—

(Reveals COREEN from afar.)

Hi (waves)! Coreen! (whispers to Otis) Do not say anything.

(COREEN walks over to them.)

COREEN
(Elongated greeting) Hi, my name's Coreen!

OTIS
Otis! Heard a lot about you (looks over at Lennie, cheekily. LENNIE
rolls her eyes).

Scene 11: You Were Supposed To Be Happy For Me

SETTING: Screen simultaneously shows Lennie and her dad in the living
room, and Coreen barging into her room with her dad behind her.

CAMERA: Closeup Lennie and Coreen’s eyes, vulnerable, looking up at

their dads. Transition to scared, terrified eyes, as their dads
appear to not react well to their relationship status with the other.

Scene 12: Break Free or Break Away

SETTING: Lennie on the bathroom floor in the Tran house, and Coreen
in her own bedroom wrapped in a blanket burrito. They are thinking
aloud, one after the other.

LENNIE
—Cist asshole. I shouldn’t have said anything.

COREEN
I should’ve just said nothing.

LENNIE
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Why do I do stuff like this?

COREEN
How do I get out of this?

LENNIE
It’s like I’m looking for every way to fuck up my life.

COREEN
(Stammering) I’ve never done something like this.

LENNIE
Every single time. (Pauses. Then takes out her phone to text Coreen.)

CAMERA: Show Coreen’s room

(Coreen’s phone tings from a text message from Lennie.

Coreen looks down at her phone. She texts back, and waits for a
response. Her phone tings, she looks down. She blankly looks up and
stares for a moment. Then, she texts something and puts her phone
down. She leaves her bed, leaving her phone on the bed.)

CAMERA: Reveals Lennie & Coreen’s conversation on Coreen’s phone.

Lennie: i was so excited.

Coreen: Was it worth it?
Lennie: what if i said yes
Coreen: Then you’re a fool.
Lennie: what’s that mean
Lennie: coreen
Lennie: (“...” is in process, but then the text bubble disappears)

Scene 13: Where are you?

SETTING: Lennie comes into world history class hoping to catch

Coreen, but she isn’t there.

(LENNIE walks in, looks around for Coreen. She doesn’t see
her. Pulls out her phone and texts Coreen.)

CAMERA: Showing Lennie’s phone

Lennie: bleachers later. please.

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Scene 14: Meant To be Us?

SETTING: Lennie and Coreen’s usual spot on the bleachers.

(LENNIE walks onto the bleachers. She doesn’t see Coreen.

She sits. COREEN is under the bleachers.)

COREEN
(Blankly) What, Lennie?

LENNIE
Coreen? (Looks around) Where are you?

COREEN
What do you want, Lennie?

LENNIE
(offendly puzzled) “What do you want?” ??? Are we not gonna talk
about it? Was it not obvious?

COREEN
My dad doesn’t want me hanging around you anymore.

(Silence.)

Isn’t that what you wanted? To know what was going on? I told you. We
can’t be together.

LENNIE
First off, I’m processing, give me a sec. Second of all, are you
actually gonna let him tell you what to do?

COREEN
He knows what’s best for me. I have made it this far because of my
dad. I owe it to him to focus on school, not on some…person.
Especially…(reluctant) someone like you.

LENNIE
What does that even mean? And anyway, You owe him nothing—

COREEN
(Interrupts) My grades have been going down. I haven’t been paying
attention in class. I’ve been slacking.

(Silence.)
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LENNIE
But are you happy?

(Silence.)

So what, your grades are going down. So what, we’ve been spending
time together, and you can’t do your homework in time. So what,
you’ve been thinking about some Asian girl. Were you even OK before I
met you?

(Silence.)

COREEN
(Jokingly) You’re giving yourself a lot of credit here.

LENNIE
(Matter-of-factly) Am I wrong then? That I make you happy? Because
you, you make me so happy.

(COREEN pauses, then walks up onto the bleachers, walking

slowly towards Lennie.)

COREEN
Tell me that to my face.

(Silence.)

LENNIE
(Jokingly) Should’ve been up here in the first place.

(COREEN rolls her eyes, then sits next to Lennie. LENNIE

grabs Coreen’s hands.)

Are you going to listen to your dad?

COREEN
Are you?

(Silence.)

LENNIE
I’ve already decided that this is for me. That it’s my choice. OUR
choice.
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COREEN
My dad has worked hard to make sure I can be the best I can be. I was
the best.

LENNIE
But did he make sure you were the best you can be for yourself?

COREEN
For my future. My future self. My present self just needs to pull
through. I am not relevant right now.

LENNIE
Well, that is apathetic at best.

(Pause.)

Listen, my dad has taken care of me after my mom had to leave the
country. My dad, he could barely do it, without my mom. Not just
because being a single parent is hard, but also just missing my mom.
He didn’t have to say it, but I knew it. The point is, I’m calling BS
on my dad. If he genuinely thinks that I should leave you just
because you’re Black, after all he’s had to go through without my
mom? I’ve come to think that is entirely hypocritical.

COREEN
When did you get so insightful?

LENNIE
I try.

(Pause.)

COREEN
I get it. My dad, he had to lose my mom too. But you don’t
understand, he has done everything for me. Picked me up after meets
and clubs, made me food, made sure I was focusing and persevering
through everything I put my mind to—

LENNIE
I’m on your mind.

COREEN
I knew you were gonna say that.You get what I’m saying. He has
sacrificed his time and focus for me when he has his own stuff going
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on. I owe it all to him, all that I’ve been able to get, it’s all
thanks to him.

LENNIE
Sorry to make this about me again, but hello? I didn’t start liking
you because you’re smart. I mean, definitely a plus—

COREEN
That’s only because I can help you with homework.

LENNIE
True, but also because you’re just a cool person. You’re sweet, and
funny, and genuine. You are beyond all that you’ve been able to
achieve.

COREEN
Ew.

(LENNIE makes a “are you serious” face.)

Sorry, you’re being too nice and it makes me uncomfortable.

LENNIE
I know.

COREEN
So, what now? You’re not giving me an easy decision here.

LENNIE
(Cheesily) I think we should—