(A/N)This is a rewrite of the song 16 Going On 17 from Sound Of Music. It's not really fanfiction of the characters, but I found it appropriate to post here.

***

CHARACTERS

Lessie – Mezzo-Soprano/Soprano. Upbeat, bouncy, sassy.

Raffaella – Alto/Mezzo-Soprano. Good posture, subtle emotions, cautious.

***

(Lessie enters stage left dragging Raffaella by the hand. Lessie is excited and eager to reach their destination, while Raffaella is apprehensive and wildly looking around in a mixture of confusion and worry. Lessie stops center stage and looks somewhere offstage, barely containing her excitement.)

LESSIE

There it is!

(Raffaella stares at the same spot, but with incredulity. She slowly turns to Lessie and tries not to squash her best friend's excitement.)

RAFFAELLA

Lessie...Lessie...I love you...but I am not letting you take a single step into that warehouse.

(Lessie noticeably flashes her eyes up at the words 'I love you', but tries to cover it up with pouting.)

LESSIE

But Raffaellaaaaa. That's not fairrrrr. We did the thing you wanted to do yesterday. You said we can do my thing today.

RAFFAELLA

Yes, I did, but the key difference you seem to be overlooking is that I went to a BOOKSTORE at 2:00 pm. YOU want to go to a WAREHOUSE at 11:00 pm.

LESSIE

Firstly, you got the time wrong it's actually about 12:30 right now. Secondly, I don't want to go to the WAREHOUSE. I want to go to the RAVE inSIDE the warehouse.

RAFFAELLA

What?! A rave?! That is completely and utterly ridiculous. We're going home.

LESSIE

We are NOT going home. My parents probably won't let me go out again with you this month, so I have to make the most of tonight.

(A beat. Raffaella looks taken aback for a moment and a flicker of sadness flashes across her face. She quickly recovers and continues as if nothing happened.)

RAFFAELLA

Why won't they let you?

LESSIE

Because I went out with you today.

RAFFAELLA

Is there some sort of limit to how many times you're permitted to go out with me?

LESSIE

Well, yes but it's not like a set number. They think I'm spending too much time with you, and that I should get a boyfriend.

RAFFAELLA

Why do they want you to get a boyfriend?

LESSIE

Because it'll "give me experience for when I get a husband". After all, "how can I expect to snag up a good one if I don't know how.".

(Lessie crosses her arms and walks around the stage, waving her hands around and trying to hide her obvious disdain at the notion of getting a husband.)

RAFFAELLA

That...odd.

LESSIE

Tell me something I don't know. So, yeah, I'm not going home. 

(Raffaella attempts to compromise with Lessie, worried for her safety.)

RAFFAELLA

Well, if that's the case, let's just...go see a movie then. We can watch an R-rated one if you can't squash your need to be rebellious. 

LESSIE

Please, girl, I'm staying. I'm not giving this chance up.

(Less stands on the box farthest to the right of the stage and looks offstage, at the warehouse. Raffaella pulls her back and off of the box.)

RAFFAELLA

Please, "girl", why do you need to go in there?

LESSIE, JOKINGLY SINGING AND SHIMMYING 

I love the night life! I've got to boo-gay~

RAFFAELLA

Nonono, that's it. We're getting away from this place.

LESSIE

No, fine, you go. I'm gonna stay.

RAFFAELLA

No, it's too dangerous. You're just a baby.

LESSIE

I'm not a baby! I'm 18.

(Beat.)

RAFFAELLA, DEADPAN

You're 16.

LESSIE

Nearly 17. And 17 in basically 18.

(A beat. A sigh from Raffaella is heard.)

RAFFAELLA

You wait little girl
On an empty stage
For fate to turn the light on

Your life little girl

LESSIE

I'm not little.

RAFFAELLA

Sure.

RAFFAELLA

Is an empty page
That men will want to write on

LESSIE, LOOKING AT RAFFAELLA WISTFULLY,

To write on

RAFFAELLA

You are 16 going on 17
Baby it's time to think

LESSIE

Sounds disgusting

(Raffaella send Lessie a 'done' look. Lessie scrunches up her nose and smirks at Raffaella.)

RAFFAELLA

Better beware
Be canny and careful
Baby you're on the brink

You are 16 going on 17
Fellows will fall in line
Eager young lads
And grueways and cads
Will offer you food and wine

LESSIE

Sounds amazing. 

RAFFAELLA 

Totally unprepared are you
To face a world of men
Timid and shy and scared are you
Of things beyond your kin

You need someone
Older and wiser
Telling you what to do
I am 17 going on 18
I'll take care of you

(Raffaella goes to boop Lessie on the nose. Lessie grabs her hand and moves it away from her face. Raffaella briefly looks down at her hand in Lessie's before her attention coming back up to Lessie when the girl talks.)

LESSIE

You aren't 'going on 18', your birthday was literally 2 days ago.

RAFFAELLA, SMIRKING

It doesn't change the fact that you're still a 16-year-old baby while I'm a 17-year-old adult.

(Lessie lets go of Raffaella's hand.)

LESSIE

Two weeks. Two weeks between my birthday and yours. Only TWO WEEKS. Nobody found this little bit funny when we were six, and it still isn't funny when we're 17. 

RAFFAELLA

I'M 17. You, on the other hand, are-

LESSIE

Don't you da-

RAFFAELLA 

16.

LESSIE

You're not my friend anymore.

RAFFAELLA

I have to stay your friend, because I am older and therefore obligated to take care of you.

LESSIE

I can take care of myself, thank you very much. 

(Lessie's lyrics are sung in a sickeningly sweet soprano. So much mugging that she would be arrested and put before a jury.)

 
LESSIE

I am 16 going on 17
I know that I'm naive
Fellows I meet may tell me I'm sweet
And willingly I believe

I am 16 going on 17 innocent as a rose
Bachelor dandies
Drinkers of brandies
What do I know of those?

(Raffaella sticks out her leg and trips Lessie. Lessie glares at her. Raffaella gives an innocent look. Lessie recovers quickly and continues her sarcasm.)

Totally unprepared am I
To face a world of men
Timid and shy and scared am I
Of things beyond my kin

I need someone
Older and wiser
Telling me what to do

(Lessie walks behind Raffaella and wraps her arms around Raffaella's middle, bringing herself down to peep her head in between Raffaella's torso and arms. She begins to sway back and forth.)

You are 17 going on 18

(Lessie looks up at Raffaella with an uncanny sweetness and says to line with unexpected sincerity.)

I'll depend on you

LESSIE

Sike, I'm going to the rave.

(Raffaella grabs Lessie by the hand and pulls her back. Lessie spins into Raffaella's arms. They make eye contact. They are both noticeably flustered. Lessie hastily pushes Raffaella away. Raffaella is saddened by the loss of contact but Lessie doesn't notice, lost in her own thoughts.)

(Musical interlude. Consider using either modern or timeless type of dance. They end on opposite ends of the stage.)

(Raffaella and Lessie do that iconic 'walking away and coming back again' that is memorable from the original Sixteen Going On Seventeen scene. On the final time they meet in the middle, Raffaella pulls Lessie into a kiss. At first, Lessie gets pushed back by the force, but quickly pushes forward and return to kiss. Raffaella pulls back in surprise. Raffaella runs offstage right. Lessie holds her fingers up to her lips and squeals in excitement. Her head snaps back up to where Rafaella ran off to. She reaches out her hand. She exits stage right in the same direction as Raffaella, yelling.)

LESSIE

Wait, Raffaella, wait up!

(End scene.)