RISING UP

by

Cassidy Henderson

Made in Highland
 2.

INT. HOTEL - NIGHT

In a messy hotel room is a group of TRACK GIRLS. Among them are

ALICE, 20s, and LILY, 20s. Lily is giving and kind, although a
bit of a pushover. She may be kind but when it comes to
athletics, she has no issues expressing her confidence and
letting people know she is the best. Pole vaulting is the only
time she has this mindset, she is almost shy and gives in
easily anywhere else.

Lily is laying on a bed writing in a notebook while the track

girls sit on the other bed. They are all wearing the same warm
ups with UCLA logos on them.

LILY
I don’t know about this, I still
have to compete tomorrow.

ALICE
Come on! It will be fun!

TRACK GIRL 1
Yeah! Come on Lily, we want to go
out and celebrate for you.

Lily bites her bottom lip and raises her eyebrows.

LILY
Are you sure this will be okay?

The other girls laugh.

ALICE
Definitely, you are perfectly safe
with us.

Lily sighs.

LILY
Whatever you say.

The track girls cheer and pat Lily on the back before pulling
her off the bed. Lily places the notebook on the nightstand
before being dragged out of the room.

EXT. STREET - NIGHT

Lily carries Alice’s arm over her shoulder, wobbling as she

attempts to walk. The other track girls are walking the same,
drunkly walking down the street as Lily remains to be the only
steady one. Lily’s mouth is in a line and her eyes are tense as
she stares ahead. They arrive at a stoplight and Lily presses
the crosswalk button, they wait for a green light.

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 3.

ALICE
Man, I think I’m gonna hurl.

LILY
Please don’t, it’ll go all over me
if you do.

The track girls all laugh and pretend to throw up on Lily. Lily
just rolls her eyes, annoyed, and tries to steady Alice as she
is draped over her shoulders. Alice just keeps fidgeting.

TRACK GIRL 1
Lily is such a baby, she’d
probably cry if you threw up on
her.

ALICE
You’re right, watch this!

Alice pretends to hurl on her again, but this time she trips
over Lily’s feet and begins falling. Lily, quick with her
reflexes, grabs her arm and yanks her back onto the sidewalk.
The momentum pulls Lily forward and into the street. Lily
screams as her body slams onto the asphalt. Not soon after, a
truck comes speeding down the road honks its horn as it hits
Lily. The drunk track girls scream and stumble into the road
after Lily. Alice is frozen in her spot, staring at Lily as she
lays there with blood pouring everywhere.

EXT. CAR - DAY

The morning is bright outside as we watch an SUV drive on a

road, turning into a drop off zone on the UCLA campus. Walking
out of the driver’s seat is LILY’S MOM. She walks to the rear
of the car, pulling out a wheelchair and carrying it to the
passenger side. She sets it up with ease and then opens the
passenger door. She wraps her arm around the passenger and
places her in the wheelchair, revealing Lily as the passenger.
Lily’s mom closes the door and smiles softly.

LILY’S MOM
Have a great day, hun.

She kisses Lily on the forehead and pats her head gently before
walking back to the driver’s side of the car. Lily is
emotionless with her eyes staring straight forward and her
mouth in a line. She sighs and wheels away toward the nearest
building.

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 4.

EXT. TRACK - DAY

THE TEAM is out doing their practices on the track and among
them are the track girls. They are working hard on this bright
and sunny day, showing traces of fall beginning to arrive. The
POLE VAULTERS are working on approaches to the mat. Lily is
sitting on the sideline, watching as her former teammates
practice. She stares at them in a trance, not being able to
tear her eyes away. Her eyes begin to get glossy and she grips
the armrests on her wheelchair.

COACH
Are you okay?

This sudden appearance startled Lily and brought her out of her
trance. When COACH spoke up, she jumped in her seat and then
quickly wiped her eyes from tears threatening to come out.

LILY
Of course, why wouldn’t I be?

Coach sighs and pats Lily on the shoulder. Lily gives him a
weak smile.

COACH
I’m here if you need anything,
alright?

Lily nods and looks down.

LILY
I know, coach. I better get going,
I have homework to do.

Lily quickly starts wheeling away, not waiting for a response.

Coach scratches his head and brings his attention back to his
athletes.

INT. LIBRARY - NIGHT

The library is nearly empty while Lily is at a table reading

through a textbook. She is scratching her head out of confusion
and closes the book, frustrated. She opens her laptop and pulls
up the website to the school paper. She clicks on an article
about the track team and skims through it. She clicks on an
attachment in the article, a video of an SYDNEY, an old
teammate comes up. Sydney is pole vaulting and succeeds at the
height she was attempting. She jumps up after the vault and
throws her hands up in the air in excitement.

Lily tenses up and stares at the video playing over and over
again. She suddenly closes her laptop and stuffs all of her
stuff away and wheels out of the library.

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 5.

EXT. TRACK - NIGHT

Lily is shown unlocking and opening the track shed and taking a
pole. She is then at the end of the runway toward the pole
vault pit in her wheelchair with the pole over her shoulder.
She stares intensely down the runway before launching herself
down it, rolling her wheels with one hand and holding the
massive pole in the other.

After she gains enough momentum, she lets go of the wheel and
puts both hands on the pole to grip it and then pushes the pole
into the ground to launch herself up. Right as she leaves the
ground, she can’t go up enough because of her lack of speed.
She yelps as she ends up falling on the ground. She lays there
in shock at first, and then starts crying. After she gets all
teared out, she uses her upper body to crawl back into her
wheelchair and she turns and leaves the track.

INT. LILY’S HOUSE - NIGHT

When Lily gets home, she wheels into her room and glances at
her nightstand, noticing a letter. Exhausted, she pulls herself
onto her bed and turns over and picks up the letter from her
nightstand. She scans it and gasps when she realizes who it is
from. It says it’s from Alice. Lily groans and crumbles it up
and throws it in the trash.

LILY
I can’t deal with this right now.

She pulls up her covers and goes to sleep.

INT. LILY’S HOUSE - DAY

Lily wheels herself into her room and plops herself into her
bed. She takes off her shirt and looks at her bruised shoulder,
poking it and then cringing back in pain. She reaches toward
the ground to pick her shirt back up but then notices the trash
can right next to it with the crumbled up letter. She opts to
pick up the letter instead and is about to open it when
suddenly her mom walks in. She quickly shoves the letter under
the sheets.

Lily’s mom gasps.

LILY’S MOM
You’re shoulder! Honey what
happened?

Lily bites her lip, completely forgetting that she was only in
her sports bra.

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 6.

LILY
Oh it’s nothing.

She proceeds to quickly grab the shirt on her floor to cover it

up.

LILY (CONT’D)
Just a little accident in the
weight room at practice today.

LILY’S MOM
You need to be more careful honey,
you’re really fragile right now.

Lily sighs and looks down.

LILY’S MOM (CONT’D)

By the way, did you get that
letter I left on your desk?

Lily nods.

LILY’S MOM (CONT’D)

Who was it from?

LILY
No one, just junk mail.

LILY’S MOM
Well that’s too bad, I was hoping
someone was reaching out to you.

Lily continues to just look down. Lily’s mom rubs the top of
her head affectionately and starts toward the door.

LILY’S MOM (CONT’D)

I love you, honey, don’t ever
forget.

LILY
Love you too, mom.

When Lily’s mom leaves the room, she pulls the letter out again
and reads it.

ALICE (V.O)
Lily, I know that I am probably
the last person you want to hear
from. What happened that night was
entirely my fault and you were the
one who suffered from it. I want
to make amends, I can’t stand
having this on my conscious.
(MORE)

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 7.

ALICE (V.O) (CONT’D)

Please forgive me for writing to
you via letter, but I am too much
of a coward to face you in person.
I really hope to hear back from
you, although I won’t ever ask for
your forgiveness.

Lily groans and slams the paper on her nightstand.

LILY
You have got to be kidding me.

Lily grabs her notebook out of her bag and starts ferociously
writing. She tears the paper out of her notebook and crawls on
the floor to grab an envelope out of her desk drawer. She
stuffs the paper in it and seals it, writing on the back
Alice’s name. She then takes her wheelchair outside and throws
the envelope in the mailbox without hesitation.

EXT. LILY’S HOUSE - DAY

Lily is wheeling herself down the sidewalk toward her house and
stops at the mailbox to pick up the mail before going inside.

INT. LILY’S HOUSE - DAY

She sifts through the mail before coming upon an envelope for
her. She sets the rest of the mail on the table and wheels to
her room. After she closes her door, she opens the letter and
sees Alice’s name at the bottom.

ALICE (V.O)
Lily, I don’t even know how to
respond to your letter. I deserved
everything you wrote about me, I
ruined your track career, your
future. I am sorry for reaching
out to you, it may have been a
mistake. I will leave you alone
from now on. Sincerely, Alice.

Lily sighs and rubs her forehead in thought before reaching

into her bag and taking out her notebook. She opens it and
turns the many pages filled with writing before she finds an
empty page. She grabs a pen on her desk and begins writing.

LILY (V.O)
Alice, you did not deserve any of
the rude things I said to you.
(MORE)

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 8.

LILY (V.O) (CONT’D)

Truth is, I said those things
because I thought it might make me
feel better. Pole vaulting was my
whole world, it feels as if I am
going through an identity crisis.
Things that I once enjoyed are now
dull, I pushed away the friends I
used to love and spend time with.
What I am trying to say is that I
am suffering a lot right now but
it isn’t because of you, it is
because I have lost my way. I am
not sure if I am ready to forgive
you, but if it means reconnecting
with an old friend, I am willing
to continue writing back to you.
It is all my fault that this all
happened, I don’t deserve anything
else good in this world.

Lily puts down her pen and takes a deep breath. She rests her
head in her hands and closes her eyes as she exhales deeply.

EXT. TRACK - NIGHT

The night is cold and harsh as the wind roars and whips at the
bare trees. Lily is shown at the end of the runway, her cheeks
rosy and the wind blowing her hair into her face. She seems
unfazed by the weather as she stares intensely down the runway
and toward the pole vault pit. Her whole body is shaking and
her mouth twitches a few times. She then quickly wheels herself
down the runway. She lets go of her chair and lets her momentum
take over, going at a very fast pace. She grips the pole with
white knuckles and pushes it into the ground, flinging herself
up. The pole goes up, further than last time, but stops when
she is only straight up off the ground. Lily goes into a state
of panic, screaming and letting go of the pole, flailing the
working parts of her body in the air. She falls over ten feet
in front of the pad, barely missing it.

CUT TO BLACK

INT. HOSPITAL - DAY

Lily wakes up in a hospital room. On her side table is a tray

of fresh hospital food and a waterbottle. Her eyelids look
heavy as she blinks slowly and often. She turns and notices
someone else in the room. Alice smiles.

ALICE
Long time no see. How are you?

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Lily, a bit confused, rubs her temples and squints at Alice.

LILY
I’m... fine.

Lily is hesitant and rubs her eyes, recognition beginning to

show on her face as she raises her eyebrows and parts her lips.

LILY (CONT’D)
What are you doing here, Alice?
How did you find me?

Alice smiles again.

ALICE
I was not there for you before, I
wanted to be here for you now.

Lily creases her eyebrows together.

LILY
Now you’re here for me, after all
this time? You were nowhere to be
seen after my accident, what made
you change your mind? Look at me,
you’re saying you want to be there
for this? I am a failure, I don’t
see why anyone would still want to
be around me.

Lily chokes on her words a bit at the end of her sentence and
goes into a coughing fit. Alice comes over and puts a hand on
her back.

ALICE
Hey, don’t exert yourself too
much, you should rest.

Lily finally catches her breath again.

LILY
You didn’t answer my question,
Alice.

Alice sighs deeply and ponders for a moment before responding.

ALICE
I beat myself up for months over
what I did to you. I wanted to see
you and be there for you but I
thought you would reject me
because I am the reason your track
career is over.

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Alice starts to tear up and her body begins to tremble.
 10.

ALICE (CONT’D)
I wanted to tell you how deeply
sorry I am, I can barely live with
myself seeing you like this. Pole
vaulting made you so happy and I
destroyed your future, how am I
supposed to go on knowing I ruined
what made you so bright and happy?
I should’ve fell into the street
that one night instead of you.

Alice puts her face in her hands and begins sobbing. Lily
reaches out with her hand shaking and grabs one of Alice’s
hands off of her face and holds it.

LILY
I don’t blame you for what
happened that night, we all
could’ve been better to prevent
what happened.

Lily’s face is red and she squints while trying to hold back
tears.

LILY (CONT’D)
I love pole vaulting, with all my
heart, but life still goes on,
right? The past is in the past and
all we can do now is move on.

Alice stops sobbing but trembles as she looks up at Lily.

ALICE
You are so unbelievably strong, I
just know you’re gonna go great
places.

Lily gives a weak smile and then starts another coughing fit.
Alice puts her hand on her shoulder and knits her eyebrows
together with concern.

ALICE (CONT’D)
Hey, lay down and get some rest,
you need to get better.

Lily just nods and takes a swig of her water, stopping the
coughing fit.

LILY
Thank you, Alice. I’m so grateful
to have a friend like you.

Lily then lays down and closes her eyes to get some sleep.

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 11.

INT. LILY’S HOUSE - DAY

Lily is laying in her bed at home all bandaged up and staring

at the ceiling. She sighs out of boredom and then turns over
gently to pick up her laptop from her bag. She begins to do
some math homework but groans and rubs her face, frustrated.
She sits there for a moment before opening the website to the
school paper. As she is browsing the articles she stops at an
article titled “Freshman High Jumper Scores Big at California
Invitational”. She clicks and begins to read. She smiles and
clicks on another article, this one titled “UCLA Women’s Pole
Vault: On Their Way To Do Great Things”. Lily’s face is calm
and content as she reads.

SCENE FADES BLACK.

EXT. TRACK - DAY

The trees around the track are in full bloom, the sun shining
down and bringing warmth to the day. Dozens of athletes are
seen warming up around the track with tons of different
uniforms. Lily is right next to the pole vault pit sitting in
her wheel chair with her laptop on her lap. The crowd of people
watching start to chant as a Sydney, a girl pole vaulter with a
UCLA jersey on, starts down the runway. She pushes her pole
into the ground and is propelled up. As she lets go of the pole
at the peak she arches her back and gets over the bar. The
crowd erupts and Lily claps and smiles for her. Sydney jumps up
off the mat with an enormous grin on her face and bows to the
crowd.

EXT. TRACK - DAY

Lily wheels over and approaches Sydney. She taps her on the arm
and the girl turns around.

SYDNEY
Lily! I am so happy to see you!

Sydney crouches down to Lily’s level and gives her a hug.

LILY
Congrats on being a conference
champion! How do you feel?

SYDNEY
It felt unbelievable, never in a
million years would I have ever
thought I would win conference.

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LILY
You only won gold because you
didn’t have me there to lose to.

Sydney chuckles, a bit uncomfortable, but Lily grins wide.

LILY (CONT’D)
I’m just messing with you. You are
incredibly talented, Sydney. Oh,
also, would you mind letting me
interview you for an article I’m
writing?

SYDNEY
Of course! Although I am in the
middle of my cool down, could we
possibly talk later?

LILY
Sounds good!

SYDNEY
Congrats on joining the school
paper by the way, looks like
you’re really enjoying it.

Lily smiles.

LILY
It has been the best opportunity,
I really love it.

Sydney also smiles and gives Lily another quick hug before
starting to jog off.

SYDNEY
I’ll catch up with you later,
alright?

Lily nods and waves her off. As Sydney runs away, Lily looks
over at the pole vaulters cooling down and genuinely smiles.

INT. LILY’S HOUSE - NIGHT

Lily is working at her desk on her computer when her mom walks
in, holding an envelope.

LILY’S MOM
This is for you, sweetheart.

She places it down next to her on the desk and pats Lily’s
shoulder.

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 13.

LILY
Thanks, mom.

Lily gives her mom a quick kiss on the cheek and then her mom
leaves the room, closing the door behind her. Lily looks down
and sees that the letter is from Alice. She opens it and reads.

ALICE (V.O)
Lily, what have you been up to? I
just wanted to say congratulations
on becoming a writer and that I
hope you’re doing alright. Maybe
we could get together sometime,
preferably not in a hospital room!
I heard that the track team has
been having a great season, how
cool is that? Anyways, let’s catch
up and and hangout, maybe we can
invite some of the girls on the
team, just like old times. Hope
you’re doing well Lily!

After reading, Lily puts the paper to her chest and smiles
before placing it down and working on her laptop once again.

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