All The World's a Stage

I was originally going to write this as a script, but I decided it might be fun to try it as a storybook will people online. It's a family drama about the ordeals of family life. I have the names/ages/genders of the main family worked out, and you can take one of them, but you can also create extended family/friends/peers/colleagues.

RULES

1. No god-modding.

2. This is a real life storybook, not a fantasy.

3. You make have two characters.

4. Proper spelling, grammar and puncuation please.

Here are the characters I've already thougt a bit about. I've only given their ages, names and genders, so feel free to do whatever else you wish with them.

Name: Jessica Groves
Age: 15
Gender: F

Name: Jayleen Groves
Age: 17
Gender: F

Name: Portia Groves
Age: 11
Gender: F

Name: Jesse Groves
Age: 15
Gender: M

Name: Katherine Groves
Age: 42
Gender: F

Name: Mark Groves
Age: 44
Gender: M


I'm taking Jayleen, so you have pick of all the others. I'll begin the storybook on the 20th. Good luck!

I'm assuming Katherine is the mother? I'll play her. I'll post a bio when some more people sign up.

I'm going to make a friend!

Name: James Underwood

Age: 18

Gender: M

Appearance: Just ignore the background ... James is the one in the front

http://theexcidium.deviantart.com/art/C ... u-74989190

~Hope you don't mind me changing the attachment to a link; it was stretching the thread. (Kitty15)~

Okay, I'm going to pst my bio now.

Name: Jayleen Groves

Age: 17

Gender: F

Apperance: Tallish, not thin but not overweight. Long brown hair, green eyes. Olive skin and freckles.

Personality: A normal teenager. Doesn't get on very well with her father, but doesn't mind her mum or sister Jess. Can be very vicious and has a bad temper. Is smart, but doesn't like going to school or doing her work.

Other: Has a job in a CD store. Doesn't have a boyfriend, but up for love.

I'll take Portia!

And... enter Jessica Groves
Age: 15
Gender: F
Appearance: tall, skinny, straight black hair, brown eyes, not pretty but has a pleasant face

Personality: introvert, avid photographer, plays the piano when sad, has few but good friends, gloomy type.

Other: Goes to school, tries convincing her parents that living a lonely life is not a problem, says that she doesn't need a boyfriend although few boys are after her because of her strangely attractive personality.

[This is my first storybook entry ever...hope I'll do justice to this character.]

Ummm... I guess I'll be Jessica's friend, then!

Name: Rebekah Wallinga

Age: 15

Gender: F

Appearance: http://xcxakasauxcx.deviantart.com/art/ ... l-80517057

Personality: kind, quiet, really sweet and giggly. Model for Jessica's photography.

Other: has a secret crush on Jesse *someone please be Jesse* that not even Jessica knows about.

*Well I'm going to start this even though Jesse and Mark haven't been picked up. Somebody can grab them later I guess, but for the moment we'll just use them*

Jayleen

Beepbeepbeep. Beepbeepbeep.

Jayleen's hand reached over the pressed the button on top of the alarm, before she rolled onto her side and buried her head in the pillow.

A few minutes later Jayleen's watch, which was sitting on the other side of the room, started beeping, and her phone began ringing. Groaning, she stood up and stummbled to her mobile.

"Hello?"

"Hi Jayleen. It's James. I'm outside right now, do you want to come running with me?"

Jayleen glanced at her watch.

"James, It's six o'clock. I don't even want to get up, let alone go out. Swing by here at eight thirty with your car, my knee's playing up again."

"Right-o. Well, goodbye."

"Bye."

Jayleen hung up and walk out of her door, pulling her dressing gown off the hook first. Jessica was already in the lounge room eating breakfast while she finished off some homework.

"Morning."

"Morning."

Better post a bio then, shouldn't I?

Name: Katherine Groves

Age: 42

Gender: F

Appearance: tall and skinny like her daughters, also shares Jayleen’s green eyes and Jessica's black hair.

Personality: Very maternal, and a worrier. She used to be more outgoing, but she's become more laid back in her middle years.

Other: She put her career as an actress on hold to marry Mark, and hasn't yet gone back to it yet. She was a bad girl way back in high school, and although she wants her children to be better behaved than she was, she isn't as concerned when they aren't.

Kathrine

Katherine woke up when she heard her children stirring. There was a time when if the softest cough in the night would have her up and ready for action, but recently it had been harder to get up before them. Probably because she couldn’t get them to bed by seven anymore, and she couldn’t sleep when even one of them was still up.

Groaning she got up and pulled on a robe before marching downstairs. Hopefully she still had time to make them breakfast.

I'll play Jesse for the next week, but then I have to leave so if someone wants to pick him up then (or before then) that's perfectly fine!

Name: Jesse Groves
Age: 15
Gender: M
Appearance: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v712/ivystorm/Jesse.jpg
Personality: Jesse is the "bad child" by most standards. He's gorgeous, and seems to have a new girlfriend every week but never gets too serious with them. He can frequently be found at parties or sneaking out in the middle of the night. He teases his twin sister but will stand up for her in a second in any situation. He loves his family, but is a little to into himself right now to care.
Other: Even though he is a partier, Jesse gets mostly A's and B's in school.

Jesse

He was a bit late, he was very aware of this. He checked his watch and decided to go through the back lounge door instead of the front...it would be quieter and less likely to run into family members. The paper was on the driveway, saviour he thought, picking it up and tucking it up his arm.

Jesse was dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a blue jacket, earrings still in his ear as always and a couple necklaces. He pulled the house key out of his pocket and slid it into the lock of the lounge door, quietly pushing it open.

He stopped in his tracks as Jessica and Jayleen stared at him. What to do now? He was pretty much caught, but his only hope was that they didn't care. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him, playing it cool.

He raised a finger to his lips, "Shh, not a word."

His sisters raised a brow to him, but didn't have time to dispute when he heard his mother's voice from the kitchen, "Jesse, is that you?"

Jesse sighed and glanced down, catching his clever newspaper in the corner of his eye. A smile grew over his soft lips as he held the newspaper up in the air, "Yup. Just grabbing the paper!"

He twitched his brows to his sisters in a yes, I did just save my own butt kind of way and headed into the kitchen with the paper.

[James Underwood]

He flipped the cellphone closed and stuck in back in his right pocket. The morning air was cool and wet. Barely anyone was outside, including the sun, who was just rising above the horizon. James took in a deep breath and started to run again. Faster and faster, until finally, from a distance, it would look like he was trying to run away from something.

He slowed down to a jog and looked around to check where he was. A sign above him read: North Crest Dr. A few more people started to come out of their houses, covered in robes, tiredly shuffling along to get the morning paper. James waved happilly before turning the corner and running towards a towards a bright red house.

"Nothing's better than a morning run!" he whiped a few beads of sweat off of his forehead.

The lights inside the home were bright and welcoming, the Underwood family has always been early risers. James jogged around to the back and slid open the doors to the garage. He jumped into the car and started the egnition. The low roar of the engine hummed throughout the small building.

James took out his cellphone again and dialed in Jayleen's number. The lime green numbers on his watch glowed 7:30.

"She should be up by now," he mumbled.

Jayleen

Jayleen zipped up her bag and grabbed her ringing phone from the bench.

"Are you here already?" she asked, glancing at Jessica and rolling her eyes.

"Almost. Five minutes at most. Are you ready?"

Jayleen grabbed her blazer and srugged it on.

"I am now. I'll be waiting for you outside."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

Jayleen hung up. Jessica was already in her uniform, waiting for Rebekah to turn up. Katherine was in the kitchen making herself breakfast.

"Bye mum." Jayleen kissed her mother on the cheek and left the house. Three minutes later, James pulled up and Jayleen jumped into the car.

Rebekah

She ran up just as she saw James pull into the driveway. Breathing a sigh of relief, she hugged James and hopped in the back.

"Sup James? I haven't seen you in a while," she said. She and James were cousins, but people often mistook them for brother and sister. They had the same straight black hair, brownish blue eyes and they were both rather tall and tan.

James chuckled. "Not much." Rebekah frowned. This was the first time she'd seen him in about a week and a half and that was all he could say? She sighed in frustration. The one difference between them was that James didn't say much while she could easily talk about nothing.

Jessica ran into the front seat and James started backing out.

"Wait!" she yelled and James stopped. "We have to wait for Rebekah!"

"But I'm right here!" she said from the backseat, saying it so suddenly it made Jessica jump.

"Aaah! Geez, Bekah, do you want to kill me?" she said sarcastically, giggling a bit.

[James Underwood]

"I still don't see why you wouldn't come running with me this morning." he grumbled as he began driving again.

Jayleen rolled her eyes. "Maybe because it was 6 am and I was still asleep?"

He sighed and started driving out of the neiborhood and onto the highway, heading towards the school as he always did. Jayleen seemed to sink back into the leather seat as James sped up the car. Going way past the maximum speed limit. The cars behind them honked furiously, shouts being yelled, and angry fists thrown up into the air.

"Slow down!" she shouted over the wind. "Or at least put the cover up!"

James took a sharp turn to the right, the school just ahead of them now. "No way! We're almost there."

Jayleen jerked from side to side, she gripped onto the seatbelt until her knuckles started turning white. About ten seconds later they were there, James laughed at his friend's expression. He jumped out and opened the door on the other side.

"It's unbelievable that you haven't gotten a speeding ticket!" said Jayleen, staggering out of the car.

James grinned broadly and shugged. "I'm just lucky like that. So, wanna me to drive you back home?" he asked, his smile growing wider.

Jessica and Rebekah were still clinging to the back seat, their faces pale, mouths hanging open. Their hair was pointing back, like they had gelled it that way.

"I wasn't driving that fast," James said, the corners of his mouth turning down a bit. "You two are just being dramatic. Now come on! There's still time to run a few laps around the track before school." he jogged in place as he waited for the girls to get out of the car.