AGE: 16-20
A group of underprivileged students have the opportunity to cheat in a very important test when the invigilator passes out - in this monologue Ewan is convincing his peers to take the risk.
Wait. Just hear me out.
(He hurriedly grabs a paper from Mr Jones’ desk)
I watched him fill out his own copy of our paper. Weird, I’ve never seen another invigilator take the test with us. Who knows, it’s probably something he does to stop himself pulling out eyelashes for an hour, or perhaps just for the fun of it, whatever, he’s a maths professor.
(The others watch him, clearly confused)
What I’m saying is…he’s not dead. He’s just unconscious. And this is an important test for us, right? I mean, this impacts what university we can go to, what jobs we can apply for. If we mess up now, there's no going back. Let’s face it, none of us can afford to retake. If we could, we wouldn’t be at this place. Where the teachers only turn up halfway through the lesson and the textbooks were published 30 years ago. Where we barely ever cover 3/4 of the curriculum. Nobody's ever passed maths with anything other than a C- and then they make it seem like our fault. We should’ve studied harder or gone to less parties, or maybe we’re just not smart enough. I don’t know about you, but it makes me sick. How the kids in the next village over get their private education so they can all become doctors and lawyers and live in their fancy white houses while the rest of us, who are probably just as naturally smart as them, but because our school is utter crap, end up dropping out before 6th form to work in a factory or stacking shelves, and those of us who do stay on because we have the tiniest glimmer of ambition or wanting to do more with our lives than end up at the job centre or prison, barely scrape a D in our A-Levels. (He pauses for breath).
We have half the answers right here. Answers we know are correct. That would ensure we all at least pass. Maybe...maybe this is the universes way of making things up to us. And I just think this would solve a lot of our problems. Truly. So what do you say?