Synopsis Five

Two 15 year old girls in school uniform, Steph and Rachel, are sitting on a wall. Rachel is blissfully reading a magazine and smoking a roll up while Steph fidgets nervously. She’s fixating on Rachel who is oblivious at first. Eventually, she shifts towards Rachel, who looks up and catches Steph looking at her. She says “do you fancy me or something?” causing Steph to quickly retort with “what?” Rachel lets out a slight laugh, “you’re staring at me!” She rummages through her bag before asking Steph to go and buy a packet of cigarettes for her. Steph reluctantly agrees, crosses the road and walks towards the shop.

While Rachel is left sitting on the wall alone, she notices a car pull up near her. From the way the car is parked it isn’t possible to see clearly who is inside. She picks up her can of drink to take a sip while stubbing the roll up against the wall.
Steph edges around and looks at the magazines. She discreetly turns her attention to behind the counter, where the cigarettes are, before reverting back to the magazines. The shop keeper stares at Steph and their eyes meet awkwardly before Steph looks away.

A man steps out of the car and walks over to Rachel. He pulls out a badge, tells her he’s a police officer and asks why she’s not in school. Rachel states she woke up late and is on her way. The police officer is sceptical and asks why there are two cans of drink on the wall which prompts Rachel to shrug her shoulders and gaze downwards. He tells her he’s looking for a girl around the same age who must be playing truant because her absence from school is rare. Rachel has now realised he’s talking about Steph. She jumps off the wall as if she’s about to walk off, however, the police officer halts her and says he has the right to search her. Rachel’s eyes widen as she turns to face him. He searches her and pulls a tiny, transparent packet from her pocket. It’s empty which causes him to smell it. From inside the shop, Steph is staring out of the window, witnessing everything that’s going on. She see’s Rachel being led to the police officer’s car before it drives away.