Chapter 1
Cady's Room. Early morning.
There are boxes around an undecorated room. The clock says 6:29 am. Ariel, 16, lies in bed asleep. She is naturally pretty with bright, fire red hair. Her long hair has never been dyed. Her eyebrows have never been plucked. She has a fantastic clock hits 6:30 am and the alarm goes off. Ariel opens her eyes.
Ariel: *groggy* Okay, I'm up.
Ariel closes her eyes for what seems like a second. When she opens them again, the clock says 7:15. Ariel screams and jumps out of bed.
Hallway, a few minutes later.
Ariel rushes out. She's wearing khaki pants, a faded izod, and a kahaki bucket hat. Her mom rushes by her.
Athena: You're gonna be late. Come here. I'll braid your hair.
Ariel's kitchen. A few minutes later.
The kitchen is full of boxes. Ariel (hair french braided) pours two bowls of cat food. Two cats come running. They hiss at each other.
Ariel: Flounder, be nice! Sebastian! Stop it!
While the cats are fighting, a big droopy dog strolls behind them.
Triton: *outside* Come out front Ariel! I wanna get a photo!
Ariel is still fighting with the cats.
Ariel: Stop fighting. There's enough for everybody.
Ariel puts the cats by their bowls, but the dog has eaten all their food.
Ariel: Why don't you fight with him?
The dog is slobbering.
Front of Ariel's house.
Triton and Athena stand out front looking at Ariel.
Triton: That's good. Stay close.
Athena bursts into tears.
Athena: My baby's going to school.
Ariel comforts her mother.
Ariel: *V.O* I guess it's natural for parents to cry on their kid's first day of school. But this usually happens when the kid is five.
Athena has pulled Ariel close and is hugging her.
Ariel: *V.O.* I'm 16, and until today, I was home-schooled. That means my mom was my only teacher and my Dad was the only sub. I know what you're thinking, home-schooled kids are freaks.
The Atlantis Spelling Bee.
A spazzy looking girl with thick glasses is at the mic.
Girl: X! Y! L! O! C! A! R! P! Xylocarp!
Ariel: *V.O.* Or that we're weirdly religious or something.
A yard
A family of six in-bred looking albino kids staring straight into the camera.
Eight year old kid: And on the third day God created the Remington bolt action rifle so that man could fight the dinosaurs. And the homosexuals.
Other kids: Amen.
Ariel: *V.O.* But it's not like that with us.
Smililng family photo of Ariel, her parents, the cats and the dog.
Ariel: *V.O.* My family's totally normal. Except for the fact that both my parents are Research Zoologists and we've spent the last four years in a hut in Namibia.
Pulls back from the photo to reveal that they are completely surrounded by lions, cheetahs, monkeys, snakes, birds, etc.
Africa- Day- One Year Ago.
Gorgeous sweeping footage. "Out of Africa" type music. Ariel sits next to her father who is observing nearby cheetahs.
Ariel: *V.O.* In my life so far, we'd lived in 9 different countries on three continents. But it's not like I didn't have structure growing up. I'd spend all day in the field with my parents.
Triton: *into tape recorder* Two large females and three cubs. The females appear to be searching out their late morning prey. They're focused on soemthing 10 to 20 meters in this direction. Aaand...it's us.
Ariel and Triton run for their jeep.
African House- Evening.
As Athena tests Ariel on her Spanish, Ariel feeds a bottle to a baby monkey.
Ariel: *V.O.* And then at night I'd do schoolwork with my mom.
Ariel: Hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos.
The monkey burps.
African House- Another Evening
Triton is cooking dinner. Ariel hands him her math paper.
Ariel: *V.O.* My favorite subject was always math.
Triton: You're done with this chapter already? Okay, let's start on those, um, inverse functions. Jeez.
Ariel: *V.O.* Cause with math you're either right or wrong. There's no in between. Which is comforting when you live in a crazy place.
An ostrich walks through the room.