THE CHOICE

INT. NIGHT. LILY’S 1

Inside Lily’s house, it’s decorated with a lot of birthdays balloons and lights of different colors. We go through the teenagers with drinks in their hands who are looking at a boy who is singing in front of them. He has an amazing voice. When he’s done singing, everyone claps for him, he’s happier than ever.

LILY : Thank you! You have such an amazing voice you know!

She then hugs him tightly, everyone around them makes an awe sound. Lily smiles at Chris once again. An old woman brings in a cake with a candle in the shape of eighteen at the top of it. The other teenagers give her a way so that she can put it on the table. She gives the knife to Lily so that she cuts her cake. While Lily is cutting the cake, everyone led by Chris sings for her happy birthday. When she’s done cutting it, she serves a piece of it to all her friends who are present. She then stands in front of them holding her part of the cake and a soda. After a second, they all go silent

Lily starts to speak:

LILY : I won’t say much... I just want to express my love to you for being here for me and tell you how I’m grateful for having you as friends! And especially... I want to thank my nanny who is always where my parents can’t be for me, (She pauses for a second) Please clap for her.

They all turn back to see where she’s standing in the back, they clap for her.

LILY : Y’all know I’m not good at speech so I think I’ll have to skip to the part where we dance

The dj instantly plays the music and they all start to dance. While everyone is dancing, Chris is standing against the wall watching others dance.

Lily sees it and moves towards him.

LILY (Smiling ): You’re the only guy here who doesn’t drink alcohol!

CHRIS : Funny...

Lily remarks that something may be bothering Chris.

LILY (Worried ): Is everything okay Chris? You have become very distant lately

Chris looks away from Lily and then looks at her again

CHRIS : Just personal problems, something I can fix!

Lily stands on the wall next to him.

LILY: do you want to talk about it??

CHRIS: No... I’ll be fine! Happy birthday again anyway! I have to go

Lily takes Chris’s arm.

LILY: Stay a little longer, please!

CHRIS: I’ll see you tomorrow at school...

Chris hugs her and leaves the party. Lily keeps staring at him as he goes away. She then goes back to her friends.

EXT. SCHOOL YARD. MORNING 2

Chris is out in the schoolyard with other students, most of them are those who were at the birthday party the night before. It’s a cozy morning and everyone is talking about this and that. A man approaches Chris’s group, and they all go quiet suddenly as if he was a big threat to whatever they were saying.

HEADMASTER (Looking at Chris ) : Chris, meet me in my office, please!

The whole group looks at Chris. Chris also has no idea of what he could have done. At the same time, the alarm to start class goes off, the whole group goes into the classroom.

Chris heads to the headmaster’s office. He waits for him in front of his door. The headmaster gets to him minutes later, he opens his office and calls Chris in.

INT. HEADMASTER ‘S OFFICE. DAY 3

Chris takes a sit in front of the headmaster.

HEADMASTER: I assume you know what we’re going to talk about!

CHRIS: I know... I talked to my father, he sold everything he could, looked for any job but still we can’t really get enough to pay my school bills...

The headmaster looks at Chris in his eyes, he is about to say something that he wishes he couldn’t.

HEADMASTER : You know Chris... you’re smart and disciplined and... everything that a good student can be, but you also know that everything always evolves around money! I tried my best to cover you all this year long but I can’t anymore... my hands are tight now...

CHRIS (Interrupting the headmaster ): I know

HEADMASTER : Go home and discuss it with your father! Chris pushes his chair backward and stands up. He murmurs a thank you and leave the office.

INT. CLASSROOM -DAY 4

Chris enters the classroom looking sad. He doesn’t talk to anyone. He continues to his sit, takes all his notebooks, and put them in his backpack. The whole class is surprised. After, he pads outside side, not looking angry, not looking happy either. Lily follows him outside, She takes his arm and stops him from continuing to walk away.

Chris turns back.

LILY: What’s going on ???

CHRIS: Nothing worth mentioning... I just need to stay home for some days!

LILY: Please tell me...

CHRIS: I’m fine Lily... I’ll text you.

Lily looks at him in the eyes, she knows he is lying. She hugs him and whispers something in his ears.

EXT. CHRIS’S HOME. NIGHT 5

It’s a great night, with the moon all over. Chris and his father are both sitting outside. Chris’s father has a bottle of beer in his hands.

CHRIS: So my studies are over Dad??

CHRIS’S DAD : I didn’t say that... look at the situation we’re in too. Your mother’s illness left us with nothing and now she’s even gone... may her soul Rest In Peace. It’ll take me a long time to recover from even the debts I took to save her.

CHRIS: But she used to go to Kigali to sing... wasn’t she given any money there??

CHRIS’S DAD: No... she always told me that they were recording her songs and that they had to be released when the full album is complete... I don’t even know what an album is... all I did was nodding when she told me about her music.

CHRIS: An album is a collection of songs. The musician has to make a full album and then they sell it!

Chris and his father fell in silence, both looking at the moon.

CHRIS (Talking to himself): If that album was released, the producer would get a lot of money, and we would probably get nothing from it.

CHRIS’S DAD : That’s the world we live in son. The rich, the poor. The loser, the winner.

Chris nods at what his father was saying.

CHRIS: But, didn’t she even tell you the name of his producer?

CHRIS’S DAD : A what ???

Chris looks for better words to explain to his dad who a producer is.

CHRIS: The person that my mother was going to record her songs.

CHRIS’S DAD : It’s been a long time son, 4 years are gone by now... how would I be still remembering!

CHRIS: Please try dad, I want to go to kigali to follow up on what happened to my mom’s songs.

CHRIS’S DAD : That’s a crazy idea...

CHRIS: I know... but imagine if we’re suffering and there’s someone out there taking mom’s money!

CHRIS’S DAD : So what will you do when you get in kigali ?? Shout his name out ?? Call him ???

CHRIS: I don’t know... all I know is that I’ll find him.

CHRIS’S DAD : His name is Eduard! He takes his bottle which is empty and returns inside the house.

EXT. KIGALI BUS STATION. DAY 6

Chris gets out of a bus in the middle of a crowded place. He looks like a stranger in a new country. All he has is a small backpack that contains all his clothes. He starts asking everyone he meets if they know a music producer called Eduard. From taxi drivers to airtime sellers to people working in their shops, no one knows Eduard.

1 day passes by.

2 days pass.

After a week running around the whole town, he finally gives up, he knows that he’ll never find the Eduard. As he is walking in the streets, tossing the last coins he has on him, he sees a group of teenagers who are dancing. He tries to pass through the crowd until he gets to the front line. They’re 5 dancers who have very good moves, and the crowd behind him is very cheerful because of them. After their performance, the crowd puts some coins in the can the dancers are presenting in front of it

Read the second part soon! THANK YOU FOR READING