Lulu in LA LA Land (10 page)

MIGUEL

(serious)

Lulu! We've got bigger problems than your crazy dog. Papa's for sure gonna have to sell the truck. Could be as soon as next month.

Lulu looks over at Señor Garza talking to Elana. There are NO other customers around.

LULU

How do you know?! That can't happen!

MIGUEL

Some guys came to the house the other night. Papa thinks I was asleep. He took them all through the truck. Showed them everything. How to grill, fry, and bake.

ALEXIS

(calling from open car window)

I've got to get home! Robbie date night! C'mon, Elana, please!!

LULU

You guys can't shut down the truck! There's gotta be an idea we haven't thought of yet.

ELANA

(calling out)

You want anything now, Lulu?

LULU

Oh, si! Elana, how 'bout we pick up dinner here for the whole family? We can get one of everything since we don't know what everyone would like.

ELANA

Yes we do. Nada. Your mother and sister not eating this food.

LULU

Right. OK, how about I bring it to school tomorrow? For all my, ummmm, friends. They've never tried it.

Alexis has gotten out of the car and walks over to Lulu and Elana to get them to hurry up.

ALEXIS

The so-called Pop Girls don't eat greasy Mexican food. Never have. Never will.

CUT!! I'm SO
mucho
boiling angry at Alexis right now. I feel like force-feeding her a beef tamale. I'm trying to save my pals' delicious business and total way of LIFE, and she reminds me that I'm surrounded by people who only eat kale. Back to: ACTION!!

LULU

Beef tamale, por favor, Señor Garza.

MR. GARZA

(big, warm voice)

Coming right up, Lulu.

MIGUEL

(whispering)

Lulu, ya know you can't order enough tamales to get us out of this pickle!

Lulu stares at Miguel for a while. He pretends to be interested in the uneven sidewalk he's kicking.

Mr. Garza hands Lulu a warm silver package.

MR. GARZA

Baked up hot and fresh!

Lulu takes the tamale and immediately unwraps and bites into it.

LULU

(with mouth full)

Hey, Miguel, that's it: Bake sale! But, actually, I won't sell the food. Let's see.

(pauses)

I'll bake something and put the Taco Truck name on it!

MIGUEL

Lulu, how you gonna write on food?

LULU

Leave it to me. I'm making a plan as I chew.

EXT. CROSSWINDS SCHOOL—MONDAY RECESS

Sophia acts polite to Lulu, but not like a friend, and definitely NOT a best friend. She barely answers Lulu's questions and doesn't start any conversations. Sophia skips recess to help Mrs. Tarvin, the English teacher, write analogy worksheets.

After Lulu gets over the s'bad shock of Sophia's changed attitude, she decides to hang out with the Pop Girls. Could turning eleven mean that life is moving in a different direction? Like new friends and even brushing her hair?

Kids run, catch, jump, cartwheel around a grassy field.

SLOW MOTION SHOT OF POP GIRLS ENTERING YARD AND ARRANGING THEMSELVES ON BENCHES IN THE SUN.

JADE

Ginormous shopping spree at Century City Mall! Check out these new bootie boots.

JANA

Totes ADORBS! Way wanted to go shopping all last weekend but slept at my dad's house in Malibu.

Lulu approaches. There's no room on the benches. She and her Save Earth tote plunk with a thud on the ground. She sits with her back facing the direct sunlight to keep the rays off her face.

LULU

Alexis took me shopping. We bought a dress for my birthday party. It's blue kinda-stretchy material.

JADE

That's soooo lucky that Alexis takes ya shopping.

LULU

You guys can all come next time she takes me.

JADE

Time and place?! We'll be there!

Lulu pulls out some tortilla chips and a small glass container of salsa.

LULU

(waves around the salsa container)

You wanna try it? Homemade and my secret recipe.

JENNA

K.

Jenna plucks a chip from the bag, dunks it in the salsa, and pushes it into her mouth.

JANA

(to Jenna)

I hope you have mint gum!

LULU

I have an idea. Why don't you come early to my party so we can swim?

JADE

Maybe your dad will lifeguard?!

LULU

My dad used to be a lifeguard for Santa Monica beaches but that was when he was, like, twenty.

JENNA

(to Lulu)

Swimming sounds fun.

LULU

And the pool's really warm.

JENNA

(to Jana and Jade)

We could bring bathing suits?

LULU

Alexis wanted everyone to bring bathing suits anyway to put on for massages or something.

JADE

Way too much to pack to bring over. I don't even know what to wear to the party yet.

JENNA

Dresses?

JANA

Or skirts?

JADE

I think we should do skirts.

(tosses a look in Lulu's direction)

Prob NOT orange ones.

INT. HARRISONS' HOUSE—AFTER SCHOOL

Pop Girls wander around the huge kitchen and connected “family” room. Lulu, excited to have her new friends over, forgets to have them remove their shoes when they come in. The Pop Girls' wedged and heeled shoes scuff the shiny floors, but Elana, sensing Lulu's nervousness at having these girls over, doesn't say a word.

JADE

(holding up a silver picture frame)

Do your parents really know Stab?

LULU

Is he in that picture with them?

JANA

Lulu, like you never noticed?!

LULU

Stab's really a great person. Do you know—

JADE

(dropping into a metal and leather director's chair)

Is this your mom's?

LULU

Ummm. I guess.

JANA

Whaddya mean, you guess? She's a director and this is a mega-way-cool modern director's chair.

LULU

Yeah. She's a director. Let's go into the kitchen. Elana and I put out my favorite food.

POP GIRLS TOGETHER

Chips and salsa!

The girls drift into the kitchen.

Fast as lightning, Jenna grabs a chip, dunks it in salsa, and crunches it in her mouth. Lulu smiles at her.

LULU

Delicioso
, si?

JADE

(sniffing)

Smells like Stan's Donuts in here.

LULU

I just fried cinnamon churros.

JENNA

You can make churros? Is it hard?

LULU

No, I just wear this hoodie jacket and put the hood up when I fry the dough so the oil doesn't splatter on me. That really stings.

JANA

The grease in here is gonna give me pimples.

JENNA

Churros are, like, my, I mean, my brother's favorite.

LULU

Hey! Maybe you guys can help me? My friend and his dad have this food truck, called the Taco Truck. And, well, I'm trying to help them save it 'cause business hasn't been too good. So I started making cinnamon churros and putting them in brown bags that that have the name and phone number of the Taco Truck.

JANA

I thought a churro was, like, some kind of animal.

LULU

It's a Mexican doughnut, sorta, but without the hole.

JADE

I had a cart of them at my fifth birthday.

LULU

Well, I've been giving 'em away down at the Bel-Air East Gate around five o'clock.

JANA

Glad to hear you aren't eating them all yourself.

JADE

Barfy!

JENNA

You mean, you're doing all that just to help some dude?

JADE

Why even care about another monster chow truck chugging around?

LULU

'Cause Miguel, that's my friend, and his dad, Mr. Garza—the truck's their job. I mean, it's really their whole business.

JENNA

Did they ask you to do that?

LULU

Geez peas! I don't want them to know. I used allowance money to buy flour, sugar, oil, brown bags, and a stamper that says “The Taco Truck.”

JADE

I don't have allowance money. I just have my dad's credit card number in my phone under his contact information.

LULU

Well, I don't have a cell phone, but I'd saved allowance money. The churros go pretty fast. It only takes about fifteen minutes of standing near Sunset to hand out forty free churros. So, if you guys'll help me, it would be even faster.

SILENCE.

Pop Girls drift back into the family room. Lulu follows.

LULU

Ya see, I want people to see the number on the churro bag and call to find out where the Garzas' truck is and go eat there.

JADE

I want to get myself sitting in your mom's chair on Instagram.

Jade arranges herself in Fiona's director's chair and then tosses her iPhone to Jenna.

JADE

Take me!

Jenna puts the phone on camera and shoots. She gives it back to Jade to post the photo on Instagram. Lulu looks on, confused.

JADE

I bet I get, like, a hundred “likes” from that.

JENNA

Hey, how 'bout we Instagram the churros and phone number on the bag for your friend's food truck?

LULU

Whatever that is. If you think it'll help, I'm massively for it.

JANA

You know what Instagram is, right?

LULU

I'm guessing it's not a fast way to make graham crackers.

JADE

LULU?! You could be hopeless.

Jenna fills the awkward moment with a round of giggles.

LULU

Wanna start planning for the beach cleanup? We can go up to my room.

JADE

Let's go wherever your dad and mom usually hang out. I wanna chill out in their most fave place in the house.

LULU

(confused)

Ya know, I'm really not sure where that would be.

EXT. JUST INSIDE BEL-AIR GATES—5:00 p.m.

Lulu's frizzy hair and burnt orange crocheted scarf flap in the breeze. She stands on a patch of grass next to the humongous white Bel-Air Gates, just before Sunset Boulevard. Johnny Walker lounges on a lawn chair he set up behind Lulu. He wears dark black sunglasses and studies a Hollywood stars map he bought on the corner of Carolwood and Sunset. Watson lies curled up on Johnny's stomach, also sporting dark sunglasses.

LULU

(yelling into the street)

Get your free churro and call the TACO TRUCK!

Lulu and her churro giveaway cause traffic to back up. Angry drivers in shiny cars honk.

LULU

Best Mexican feast on wheels!

A siren screams. A patrol car screeches to a halt alongside Lulu. It's Bel-Air Patrol, the private security company that protects the Bel-Air neighborhood. OFFICER GALE steps out.

OFFICER GALE

Hiya, Lulu!

LULU

Hi, Officer Gale. Want another churro today? Fried fresh!

OFFICER GALE

Mrs. Gale will kill me. Last night, I reported to her about the churro, and she couldn't believe I didn't save her any.

LULU

(hands over two bags)

Here. Take one to her AND tell her to eat at my friend's truck.

OFFICER GALE

She'd love one.

JOHNNY

(calling out from his lounge chair)

Any problem, Officer?

OFFICER GALE

(to Lulu)

Is Johnny supervising?

Lulu and Officer Gale look back at Johnny and Watson.

LULU

Yup. Johnny can't move, though, because Watson is asleep on him and any sudden jolt wakes puggy up.

OFFICER GALE

Lulu, I'm afraid this time I can't let a sleeping dog lie. I'm shutting down your operation.

LULU

What?

Cars continue to honk and drivers yell out, “c'mon” and “what do you think you're doing, kid?”

OFFICER GALE

Done with business here, darlin'. I'm getting too many complaints about the backup onto Sunset.

Johnny, cradling Watson in his arms, comes up next to the patrol car.

JOHNNY

Let me guess: my entrepreneurial Lulu doesn't have a business permit for this ritzy residential area?

LULU

But I'm not selling anything. I'm giving people free information about where to eat.

JOHNNY

Along with a delicious fried stick of dough!

OFFICER GALE

Lulu's slowing the traffic. Sorry. Not a good spot. Especially during rush hour.

LULU

What am I gonna do with all these leftover churros?

As Lulu lifts up a canvas tote bag filled with bagged churros, Watson wiggles awake as if his sweets-and-treats alarm went off.

JOHNNY

(jiggling Watson)

Well, the warm furry goodness in my arms can think of a few ways to get rid of 'em.