This Caige fic will be brought to you in 3 parts, which will be published as I finish them.

Extraordinary Girl — American Idiot OBC

SCENE I

[SETTING: A video studio somewhere on a college campus. Students are being interviewed and are asked to speak candidly on camera about a best friend/love interest/person of fascination that goes to the school. Think like When Harry Met Sally except it’s not so much “how you met your partner” as it is “pick someone important and talk openly and honestly about them.” The students aren’t being told what they’re being interviewed for ahead of time, and everything is caught on film.

ENTER CATT, a sophomore with brilliantly purple hair, a somewhat baggy shirt of the show currently in production by the theatre department, and a clean pair of black cargo pants. She’s looking around the room with a smile on her face, watching as the TV techies run about doing very last-minute adjustments on the booms and the lighting. From offscreen, a MALE VOICE is heard mumbling “rolling.” CATT perks up in her seat.]

CATT: We’re on, it’s recording?

MALE VOICE: Yes. Please introduce yourself.

CATT: Oh! Okay. Hi! I’m Catt Mucklow aaaaand I’m in theatre

MALE VOICE: So, do you know why you’ve been brought here today.

CATT: I honestly haven’t got the slightest clue.

MALE VOICE: Okay, good. Alright, think of one person who goes to this school.
CATT: Just – just anyone, or…?

MALE VOICE: Someone who’s important to you. It could be a crush, or a friend, or a classmate. Just someone who means a lot to you.

[CATT furrows her brow in thought, but then smiles as she’s picked her person.]

CATT: Okay, got it! Now what?

MALE VOICE: Talk about them. Say anything you want about them, but it has to be what you genuinely feel.

CATT: Um… She won’t be shown this, will she?

MALE VOICE: No, this is just for the psychology department. Any names will be bleeped later in the editing process.

CATT: Um… Okay then… So I – I just talk about her? I just – I start?

MALE VOICE: Whenever you’re ready.

[NOTE: CATT gesticulates wildly when she’s trying to explain or gets excited/passionate]

CATT: Okay… [Awkward pause] So then, um. Paige. Paige is, well… Paige. She’s been my friend for years now. Oh, gosh, so long. Since our freshman year in high school. [laugh] Man. She’s in theatre with me. Well, not with, so much as alongside. You see, she’s studying to be an actress and I’m studying to be a stage manager. Anyway, she’s really quite extraordinary, you see? She’s, uh. She’s sort of tall, blonde hair, really pretty, and – oh gosh – she’s curvy. Curvy as hell, man. She’s really beautiful, but she doesn’t let it get to her head. And she doesn’t really admit it either, y’know? Like, she knows she’s pretty and she knows she’s got this fantastic body, but whenever someone tells her she’s beautiful or sexy or stunning she sort of just like smiles awkwardly and says thank you. Well, either that, or she makes the ugliest face she possibly can.

But the thing is that she really, genuinely is beautiful. I’m not just saying that because I like – er, love – er, am her friend – best friend. Or anything. [clears throat] No, she um. She’s not only pretty, but she’s got this lovely personality too. She’s so compassionate, she cares so much for her friends. She’s always there for you when you need her to be. Like, if it’s 2 AM and she’s at a party getting drunk and trying to hook up with someone and you call her and you’re a wreck from stress, she’ll get the guy she’s trying to get with to bring her back to our dorm so she can help me. I mean, your dorm. Help you. Anyway, yeah, she goes out of her way to hold her friends together.

But you see, the thing is that she’s not all that sturdy herself. Like… She’s undoubtedly a strong girl – independent, self-sufficient, can solve her own problems, etcetera… But I’ll walk into the dorm sometimes and just catch her crying. And usually she’ll compose herself and wipe her tears and sniff real quick and she’ll be fine again. The other night, though, it was the weirdest thing. She came home at 3 AM holding her sparkly heels in her hands, hair all rumpled, clearly having just slept with someone again. And this isn’t too weird. I mean, she’s had this one guy she’s sort of been with unofficially for a few months. I don’t know much about him, really looked like a bit of an ass if you ask me, majoring in law or something. But when she came back the other night, I was watching this new Jesse Eisenberg movie and she just sort of walked in, dropped her shoes and plopped down on her bed. I looked over at her and there’s mascara in little streams down her cheeks and her makeup’s just a mess and she just looks back at me all sad and such and she just says, voice trembling, “Why can’t I keep just one? For once, why can’t I keep someone?” She stood up again, walked over to the bathroom, came back with a clean face and in her pajamas, and got in her bed and fell asleep. And I sort of just watched her as she did this. I didn’t return to my movie or anything. I just watched her go to sleep, closed my laptop, and fell asleep myself. [pause]

She must’ve felt so alone. I mean, she has plenty of friends and everything, but… I mean, she hasn’t ever had a real, steady, loving relationship. The last one she had, our senior year in high school, she was with this guy for seven months or something and she was crazy for him – head over heels – and she lost her virginity to him. A week later, though, he broke up with her. He said something about differing interests – which was total bullshit, mind you, because he was playing in the pit for our musical and he was in marching band, so he was at rehearsals just as much as she was. But she hasn’t really held a guy in a real relationship since then, and the only one before that was this one kid our freshman year, and they only lasted a couple weeks. And so this new guy just now who she’d been flirting with and going on dates with for months and who she thought she had something real with dumps her after they had sex. I mean, that’s just got to feel terribly lonely. I mean, she’s this – this extraordinary girl surrounded by all these stupid and ordinary guys, all of them not worthy of her, but she’s sitting there and thinking she’s not worthy of them. It’s just – it doesn’t make sense.

[Pause as CATT regains her composure]

So um. Yeah. That’s Paige, I guess.

MALE VOICE: Nothing else to say?

CATT: Uh… No, I guess not. She’s really great. She is.

MALE VOICE: I’m sure. Alright, you’re free to go. You can grab a water and a cookie or something if you want.

CATT: So that’s it? That’s all you need?

MALE VOICE: Yep. That’s it.

CATT: Okay. Um. Bye, then, I guess.

[CATT stands up from her stool and awkwardly walks offscreen]