Precious

[first lines]

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
[voiceover] My name is Clareece "Precious" Jones. I wish I had a light-skinned boyfriend with real nice hair. And I wanna be on the cover of a magazine. But first I wanna be in one of them BET videos. Momma said I can't dance. Plus, she said who wants to see my big ass dancing, anyhow?

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
[Crying hysterically] Nobody loves me!

Ms. Rain:
People do love you, Precious.

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
Please don't lie to me, Ms. Rain! Love ain't done nothing for me... but beat me... rape me... call me an animal! Make me feel worthless! Make me sick!

Ms. Rain:
[Tears begin falling from her eyes] That wasn't love, Precious. Your baby loves you. *I* love you!

Mary:
[to Precious] Oh, so you're going to stand up there and look down at me like you're a woman? You don't know what real women do! Real women sacrifice! [Throws glass at Precious, which shatters at her feet] Now, laugh at that, fat b*tch.

Mrs. Weiss:
Let's talk about the abuse in your household. You know what I'm talking about.

Mary:
[Tearfully] You sit there and you judge me, and you write them notes on your notepad, because you think you know who I am!

Mrs. Weiss:
You know, let's talk about your father. Tell me about your relationship with him.

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
I don't know much more than you do, Mrs. White.

Mrs. Weiss:
That's Mrs. "Weiss." Talk to me about the little you do know about your father. It is important, whether you know it or not.

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
He give me his baby and my one before it, but I don't never see him...

Mrs. Weiss:
Wait, what did you say he gave you?

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
Nothing.

Mrs. Weiss:
Wait, Clareece, you just said your father gave you something...

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
Nothing.

Mrs. Weiss:
No, I HEARD you just say...

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
You didn't hear sh*t.

Mrs. Weiss:
I heard you just say your father...

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
You didn't hear sh*t like it!

Mrs. Weiss:
I don't care, honey! I need to know this!

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
[Overlapping with Mrs. Weiss' voice] I didn't say nothing like it! Let's move ON!

Mrs. Weiss:
I need this to HELP you...

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
[Angrily] B*tch, can we change the subject?

Mrs. Weiss:
[tossing her file aside] Okay. Well, I'll see you next time then. Or maybe you'll see someone else. But you're going to have to talk to someone if you want your check, sweetie.

[Long pause, whilst Clareece considers this]

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
I see vampires too...

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
You don't even like me.

Mrs. Weiss:
Have we not been in this room together for like, a year discussing your life?

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
Does that mean we like each other because we discussing my life?

Mrs. Weiss:
[Smiling] Well, I can't speak for you. I can only speak for me, and I like you. I do.

Mary:
We would, we would, uh, start doin' it, and he reached over... and he touched my baby. And I asked him, and I said "Carl, what are you doing"? And he told me to shut, to shut my fat ass up, and it was good for her.

Mrs. Weiss:
And what did you do then?

Mary:
I shut my fat ass up. And I don't want you to sit there and judge me, Miss Weiss.

Mrs. Weiss:
[Angrily] You shut up and you let him abuse your daughter.

Mary:
I didi not want him to abuse my daughter. I did not want him to hurt her.

Mrs. Weiss:
[Overlapping with Mary's voice] But you ALLOWED him to hurt her!

Mary:
I did not want him to do nothin' to her. I wanted him to make love to me. That was my man. That was my f***in' man. That was my man, and he wanted my daughter. And that's why I hated her. Because my man who was supposed to be loving me, who was supposed to be making love to me was f***ing my baby. And she made him leave. She made him go away.

Mrs. Weiss:
So whose fault was that?

Mary:
It's this b*tch's fault, because she let my man have her. And she didn't say nothin', she didn't scream, she didn't do nothin'. So, those things that she told you I did to her? Who... who... who else was going to love me? Hmmm? Since you got your degree, and you know every f***in' thing, who was gonna love me? Who... who... was gonna make me feel good? Who was gonna touch me, and make me feel good late at night? And she made him go away. So... when you sit there, and you writin' them f***in' notes on your pad about who you think I am, and why I did it and all of that... because I didn't have a man.

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
[of Ms. Rain and her friend] They talk like TV channels I don't watch... I'm glad Abdul here to listen in, though, 'cause I know they're smart.

Joann:
Hi, I'm Joann, my favorite color is fluorescent beige. I'm already in the music business, shoot, I'm just here to get my GED!

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
Some folks got a light around them that shine for other peoples. I think that maybe some of them was in tunnels, and in that tunnel, maybe the only light they had was inside of them. And then, even long after they escaped that tunnel... They still be shining for everybody else.

Mrs. Lichtenstein:
[In the principal's office] Hello, Clareese. Are you pregnant?

[Clareese looks away]

Mrs. Lichtenstein:
You're 16; you're still in Junior High School; and you're pregnant with your second child. Is that correct?

[No reply]

Mrs. Lichtenstein:
Are you pregnant, again?

[Mrs. Lichtenstein huffs, exasperated]

Mrs. Lichtenstein:
What happened Clareese?

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
I had sex, Mrs. Lichtenstein.

Mrs. Lichtenstein:
Do you have any other thoughts about your situation, Clareese?

[Clareese shrugs]

Mrs. Lichtenstein:
Clareese?

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
Am I in trouble?

[No reply]

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
Thank you, but I have to get back to math.

[She gathers her things to leave]

Mrs. Lichtenstein:
Sit down, Clareese. Sit down right now!

[Clareese sits back down]

Mrs. Lichtenstein:
We should have a parent-teacher conference with you, me and your mother.

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
My mother's busy.

Mrs. Lichtenstein:
Alright. How about if I come to your house?

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
If I were you, I wouldn't.

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
[Taking an assessment test] There's always something wrong with these tests. These tests paint a picture of me with no brain. These tests paint a picture of me and my mother, my whole family as less than dumb. Just ugly black grease, need to be wiped away, find a job for.

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
Sometimes I wish I was dead. I'll be okay, I guess, 'cause I'm lookin' up. Lookin' for something to fall, [chuckles to herself] a desk, a couch, tv... my mom, maybe.

Tootsie:
You got a nasty-ass mouth.

Joann:
[laughs] You got a nasty-ass hat.

Mary:
He looks just like his father.

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
I'm gonna break through or somebody gonna break through to me.

[remembering a previous visit from the social worker]

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
Social worker here.

Mary:
Why din't you tell me that b*tch was comin' so f***in' early? My f***ing wi...

[motions to Precious]

Mary:
Come get my wig!

Ms. Rain:
[to Precious] PUSH yourself.

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
[to her mother] You know to this day, I never even knew who you was, not even after all them things you did. Maybe I was too stupid. Maybe I just didn't want to. You ain't gonna see me no more.

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
The other day, I cried. But you know what? F*** that day. That's why God, or whoever, makes other days.

Mary:
Precious! PRECIOUS! PRECIOUS! Get down here, b*tch! You brought that white b*tch up in my house? You wrong to bring that b*tch up in here!

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
I ain't bring her in here.

Mary:
Well, why the f*** did she ring my buzzer? I can't here you, Precious. Since you got so much mothaf***in' mouth and you gon' bring a b*tch up in my house... why did that b*tch ring my goddamn buzzer?

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
I ain't tell her to come here!

Mary:
See, I think right now you think you becomin' a grown woman. 'Cause that sh*t you pulled in the kitchen... I shoulda f***ed you up. But I let you walk away. And I let you get yourself together. But, b*tch, I'mma let you know, don't you ever pull that sh*t again. That'll be your last mothaf***in' day stayin here. I promise you that. You gon' send a white b*tch to my mothaf***in' buzzer? Talkin' 'bout some higher education? You're a dummy, b*tch! You will never know sh*t! Don't nobody want you, don't nobody need you! You done f***ed around and f***ed my mothaf***in' man? And had two mothaf***in' children? And one of 'ems a goddamn animal, runnin' 'round lookin' crazy as a mothaf***a? B*tch, you know what? See, I think you... I think you tryin' me. I think you tryin' to f*** with me. You f***in' with my money... and you gon' stand up there and look at me like you a mothaf***in' woman? I'mma show you what real women do, b*tch. See, you don't know what real mothaf***in' women do. Real mothaf***in' women sacrafice! I shoulda aborter your mothaf***in' ass! 'Cause you ain't sh*t! I knew it when the doctor put you in my goddamn hand you wasn't a goddamn thing! You wear that smirk on your face, b*tch? Get outta...! [throws object at Precious] Now smile about that! Smile about that, you fat bi - [Precious kicks a shoe at Mary] I'mma kill you, b*tch! [Mary chases Precious up the stairs] F***!

Clareece 'Precious' Jones:
[to one of the boys disrupting math class] Shut the F*** UP! I'm tryin' to listen!