Diary of a Future President (2020) s02e03 Episode Script

1 Diary, my bid for Student Rep was over before it even began.
More like Patty Meltdown.
And things were changing fast at the Cañero-Reed household.
Sam is moving in.
Pretty cool Sam's moving in, huh? I listened to my heart.
At least with the musical, I had something else to focus on.
Bobby, on the other hand I joined because my girlfriend's in it.
- Oh, nice.
Oh! - Yeah.
- Jada Collins-Frost? - Yeah.
- That's what's up, man! - Thanks.
Bobby had a lot on his plate too.
It's gonna be hard to say goodbye, but I am so excited about what's on the other side.
Luckily, with Mami so distracted, it was easy to avoid telling her I crossed my name off the Student Rep list.
Has Elena mentioned anything about a new nickname, or about not running for Student Rep, or Which meant I had plenty of time to figure out my next move.
anything at all? Hi.
Mi amor.
Elenita.
My love.
How's the Student Rep race going? - Great.
- I'm so sorry to hear that.
Wait, what? It's going well.
Are you sure? Because, you know, there's nothing like the bond between a mother and her daughter.
You can tell me anything.
I'm probably gonna win.
Even Ms.
R.
thinks so.
Oh.
Fantastic.
That's exactly what I expected to hear.
Stop looking at me like that.
What was that? You never lie to Mami.
You know what'll happen - if I tell her about Student Rep.
- Hmm.
I'll get a lecture on quitting or a motivational speech, which is a lecture in a slightly different tone.
Either way, it'll last three hours.
It must be so hard, having to share your feelings with people who love you.
Exactly! She's so proud of me.
And now I'm a quitter, and it's better if she doesn't know that, okay? She can be a lot.
I just need to keep her off my back.
Or you could just put your name back on the list, huh? You have time till the sign-ups close.
- I'm not doing that.
- What are you gonna do? Have that poor woman help you on a campaign that doesn't exist? And then what? Tell her that you lost? That's a great idea.
Wouldn't it be much easier to tell the truth? What would be easier is if I didn't have this annoying voice in my head telling me what to do.
I am you.
This is your voice.
Really? I don't remember sounding this shrill.
I'm sorry.
That was uncalled for.
Why are men never called shrill? I'm here for it ♪ Facing fears and chasing dreams ♪ Just winging it ♪ And I'm staying true to me ♪ Hello world I wonder who I'll be ♪ No matter what I do ♪ It's all about my journey ♪ Lo puedo lograr ♪ I can't believe this is it.
I can't believe you're making me help you move.
Help? You made me buy you a $14 smoothie on the way here.
Macadamia milk is not cheap.
Are you about to knock on the door of your own house? We're early.
Technically, I don't live here for another hour.
Sam, you're being ridiculous.
You live here.
Just walk in.
Sorry.
It's all new.
I'm just trying to figure it out.
Oh, well, you figured out the door.
- I got the door.
- Yeah.
What do Cesar Chavez, Gandhi and King George VI have in common? Anyone? Yes? They're all dead guys? Ah.
Yes.
But that's not what I was thinking of.
They were all incredibly gifted speakers.
Not this.
- What's going on? - I know that sounds boring It's the freshman History speech.
Jada's sister warned me about this.
Already? I thought we had more time.
- What's the freshman History speech? - I'm too young to go down like this.
Now, that being said, I want you to speak to the class for two minutes on whatever topic you'd like.
My only requirements are that you choose something that you're passionate about.
Seriously? - Speak from the heart.
- The heart? Share a part of yourself with the class during those two minutes.
Think of it as a window to your soul.
Oh, God.
Hi, mijita.
How's it going? Any Student Rep news? No news.
Just already brainstorming my campaign speech.
Oh.
I thought you didn't have to say a speech till the end of the year.
I'm supposed to wait till the night before? You raised me better than that.
Of course.
Getting an early start.
Ugh, Mami.
Uh, do you need index cards if you're working on your speech? I mean, the last time I checked, we were out of five-by-eights.
Oh, yeah, I got some from school.
Ms.
R.
let me borrow a stack.
But I thought that it was a conflict of interest for the school to supply campaign materials.
Gab.
Your mom's calling me.
Wait.
Don't answer that.
That was a close call, Diary.
Too close.
Well, Gabi and I make roughly the same before taxes.
Wanna hear about my 401(K)? I don't have one.
I'm kidding! I'm kidding.
Did you just ask Sam how much money he makes? You weren't going to tell me.
You're not answering your phone.
I was beginning to forget what your voice sounded like.
I called you last week.
Don't be dramatic.
- Next time, don't pick up.
- Sorry.
I panicked.
You tell me nothing about your life.
Hmm? Is he spending the night at your house? Uh, he was just leaving.
How about Elena? How is our little presidenta doing? She's great.
Our relationship has never been better.
We were just having an amazing conversation right before you called, so I should get back to her feelings.
Mm-hmm.
Niña, call me again before I die, okay? Bye.
My mother is a lot.
I see why we are waiting to tell her about the move-in.
She's constantly at a category five.
Oh, yeah.
I sat next to her at Noche Buena.
Every hurricane should be named Francisca.
Don't talk about my mother.
I'm just kidding.
But don't.
Two minutes? I've never talked for two minutes straight in my life.
Dude, this speech is cursed.
Jada's sister told me it's the assignment that defines you for the rest of high school.
What? It's just some speech in class.
Sweet Roberto, survival in high school is based on first impressions.
For those of us who've managed to play it cool till now, - this speech forces you to be vulnerable.
- Exposed.
Like my grandma's dog after it gets groomed.
You ever heard about Sweaty Spaghetti? His real name is Brian.
But freshman year, he sweat so much during his speech, people say he left puddles behind him as he walked back to his desk.
To this day, people avoid the splash zone.
Man! As if public speaking wasn't stressful enough.
Where'd the Spaghetti part come from? It comes from rhyming.
Whatever happens during your speech could haunt you for the rest of your life.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish I could write an essay.
My mother is a lot.
The situation at home is becoming untenable.
I get that.
I join one musical, and suddenly, my mom is a talent agent.
It's like, "No, I will not sing 'Memory' for your coworker, even if her uncle was the original Bustopher Jones.
" - What can I do to get her off my back? - Is she allergic to anything? One sniff of a sunflower, I'm out of commission for weeks.
Rodrigo, my man.
Good choice on the water instead of chocolate milk.
Staying healthy.
I love it.
But could you toss the bottle into the recycling bin instead of the trash can? Like it matters what we do with our individual bottles when the recycling system needs to be reformed.
What? Like a broken system's an excuse for individual apathy? Yeah.
Recycling programs in the school system definitely need work.
That doesn't mean we get a pass on trying to make the world better on our own.
See what I'm trying to say? I said that.
He should mention composting programs.
You know, you could get in there.
Emilio's got it covered.
I can't worry about Mother Earth when I've got my own mother to deal with.
Elena? ¡Mami! I can't talk.
I have homework.
Bye.
What are you doing here? I thought you were allergic to my room.
I need your help with something.
I have this assignment at school.
I have to talk about something I care about for two minutes.
You've never talked for two minutes straight in your life.
Exactly! Please help.
You're good at this stuff.
I used to think so too.
You heard the nickname I got when I tried to speak my mind.
Yeah, but people don't call you Patty Meltdown anymore, right? Not to my face.
But I can still hear it sometimes floating on a whisper down the halls.
And deep down, I know those whispers are right.
I'm a failure.
I'll always be Patty Meltdown.
Unfit to lead, and unfit to help you with your assignment.
Oh, God.
If you can't make it through a speech without getting labeled, there's no hope for me.
You didn't tell Mami about student council? Guess we moved on to your thing.
If you didn't tell her, why won't she let it lie? Why is she so annoying? That's how it works.
She'll annoy you till the end of time like her mother, and her mother before, and her mother before.
Circle of life.
I think I have the perfect way to get Mami off my back.
Sam? Uh Francisca.
It's nice to see you.
So much of you.
Mmm.
¡Mami! Que cosa cornhole, Gabriela? Que cosa es Sam's stuff? He moved in.
Sam moved in! He's putting his stuff in your cornhole! Oh, wow! She is like a detective.
You answered the door in your robe.
- What are you even doing here? - Elena called.
She said she missed me and that I should come and stay for a few days.
It's nice to know someone in the family wants to include me in their lives.
Elena! Do you wanna explain yourself? Explain to me why you don't pick up the phone and tell me anything.
Did you get married too and not tell me? Bueno.
Then at least you'd be married.
I'm gonna go see what Bobby's doing.
Elena! You can't just come here without calling first.
So, I brought you into this world, and now I can't even come into your house? Mami Ma.
I knew calling Ñeñe here would keep Mami busy, but I had no idea just how busy.
Whatever they were fighting about, as long as they kept at it, she'd be off my back.
Can I hide out in here? Your mom and grandmother are Terrifying? Completely.
You can hide in here as long as you want if you sign this.
- You want me to get you out of school? - No.
Just one class.
There's this assignment.
I don't think I can do it.
What do you have to do? Talk.
Bobby, I think you can handle that.
Besides, I can't sign this.
It says it has to be signed by a parent or guardian, and I'm neither.
Oh.
What are you? That's a good question.
Well, guess you can't hide out in here then.
What? That was the deal, so - No, I I didn't agree to that.
- Yeah, no.
- Back out with the scary women, you go.
- That's cruel.
¡Mami! You have to knock.
This is my house! I don't have to do anything! I'm sorry.
But Ñeñe said you called her.
Why did you do that exactly? I missed her.
It had been a while, and she's a better cook than you.
Or Sam.
No offense.
I'm not buying that.
You love night eggs.
Something's going on with you.
Thought you'd be happy to see your mom.
You said, "Nothing like a bond between mother and daughter.
" I am happy to see her.
I love my mother.
I tell her everything.
Okay.
Same.
Elenita, strip your bed.
I'm doing all the sheets in the house.
I just did them last week.
Last week? Thank God I'm here.
Mami, can you please leave? I'm sure you two have stuff to talk about.
- What was what? - That.
- Nothing.
- Gabriela, this whole thing is one big cry for help.
What whole thing? Elenita calling me here.
Clearly, the two of you are on rocky ground.
My relationship with my daughter is fine.
It's natural.
Every daughter fights with her mother.
Let me help.
Mami, I don't need your help.
I already told you, Elenita and I are great.
And that's the end of it.
- Pero que touchy - I said that's the end of it.
I tried to get Elena to help me, but she's out of commission.
I tried to get Sam to sign my absence slip, but he got all existential.
Maybe it won't be as bad as we think it'll be? I heard last year's valedictorian broke a pencil during her freshman History speech, and everybody called her Stubby for the rest of high school.
- That's all it took? - I've seen the video.
The principal literally said, "Please welcome your valedictorian, Stubby Phillips.
" Oh, God.
We have to get out of this.
Could we, like, fake a heart attack before class starts? Won't people just call you Heart Attack Boy? Dang it.
There's no way out is there? - Hey, Mami.
- Hey.
How's it going? Are you opening my mail? I'm your mother.
Your mail is my mail.
Oof! Your electric bill was high this month.
Pobrecita's afraid of the dark.
So do you chip in at all for this, or do you let her pay for the whole thing? Uh we haven't discussed it yet.
- Sam? - Yes? Why didn't you stop her from opening my mail? I didn't know I could.
This is a federal offense, you know? I'm just trying to help.
Take some things off your plate so you can figure out what's going on with Elena.
Nothing is going on with Elena.
- A mother knows.
- I'm her mother.
And I'm yours.
I created all of this! This situation is untenable.
What can I do? I can I can tell her we have mold.
I can tell her everyone needs to leave while I call Chad Billings in to take care of it.
Chad Billings? He's like the Ghostbusters of mold.
Problem solved.
Just call me Sam the Solver of Problems.
That'll never work.
The only way I'm gonna get my mother off my back is if she knows Elena's okay.
And since Elena won't talk to me herself, I'm gonna have to get to the bottom of this on my own.
How can I help? I think this has to be between me and Elena.
But thank you.
What are you doing? Were you reading my diary? - I didn't see anything, I promise.
- How could you? I'm worried about you.
I know you quit Student Rep.
I thought you didn't read anything.
I didn't.
I saw the list at school.
Why didn't you tell me about something so big? Why do you need to know every little detail about my life? You know, if you'd told me your boyfriend moved in, I could have mentally prepared to wash his unmentionables.
Wait a second.
Did you not tell Ñeñe about Sam moving in? Elena.
Because it seems to me like you don't tell your mom anything! - That's different.
- How? Because you're still a kid! Sometimes you think you know what's best for you, and you don't.
I do.
So when I'm being the perfect daughter, I'm your little presidenta and your mini-me.
But when I keep one thing to myself, I'm just a kid? That's not what I'm saying.
Let's just talk about it You're such a hypocrite.
Can you get out of my room? I am your mother.
Your room is my room.
That doesn't make any sense.
You look like hell in a T-shirt.
I don't think that's an expression.
So you're Señor Expression all of a sudden? I mean, you look sad.
Oh.
I have to give a speech in class tomorrow.
I don't know if I can do it.
Why not? I'm not good at stuff like that.
I can't talk in front of people.
Even if I could, no matter what I say, everyone's gonna judge me.
I don't want whatever label they come up with to define me for the rest of my life.
Oye, Bobby.
Do you know that I was terrified to speak English when I first came to this country? I spent months practicing.
And then when I finally got here, I was afraid to say a word.
And I was able to avoid it for a little while, but then I realized there was a mistake on our phone bill.
They were charging me five dollars a month for a second phone we didn't even have! But I had such a thick accent that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get through the call.
Or if I did, I was afraid that they'd laugh at me or call me names.
It was scary.
That sucks.
It did suck.
But I knew I had to make that call.
And it felt so good to express myself, as scary as it was.
Did they stop charging you? Of course not.
Phone companies are a scam.
But it gave me the courage to keep speaking up.
And now listen to me.
I don't have an accent at all.
Oh.
Give your speech, mijo.
You'll never regret using your voice.
I thought I told you to leave me alone.
- Why aren't you honest with Mami? - I don't wanna talk about it.
Well, it's out in the open.
She knows the deal.
Why do you care? Because I let her down.
She was proud of me, and I disappointed her, and I Hey! - I'm you.
I know everything in here.
- Then you don't need to read it.
Oh! "I, Elena Ofelia Cañero-Reed, am a quitter"? Don't! "Might as well walk around with a big, red Q sewn on my shirt.
I don't deserve to be Student Rep anyway.
" Notice anything about the way you talk about yourself? It's both accurate and adequately humbled.
It's scathing.
Come on.
Elena, you didn't keep this from Mami because you let her down.
You kept this from her because you let yourself down.
Fine.
Maybe I was too embarrassed to say it out loud, to admit that I - Failed.
- Don't say the f-word.
Failure is a part of life.
You're gonna do it a lot more as you grow up.
Don't shut out the people who are eager to lift you up just because you're mad at yourself.
You're more annoying than my mom.
Again, you and I are the same person.
¿Mami? I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Student Rep.
Saying it out loud to you made my failure real.
And I didn't want it to be real.
I understand, Elenita.
But I just want you to know I'll always be proud of you.
It's just this is the first time you ever kept me in the dark.
I wasn't used to it.
You usually tell me everything.
I know.
But sometimes I wanna figure things out on my own.
I might need you to give me a little space.
I'll try.
Although, I am your mother.
Being there for you is kinda my job.
Exacto.
That's what I've been trying to tell her.
Can I go into my room? Gabi's room.
Can I go in there? Why you be so ridículo? You live in this house, no? Even though you two heartlessly kept that fact from me.
Listen, I'm sorry about that.
Don't worry.
It's water on a duck.
- I don't think that's an expression.
- I'm pretty sure it is.
I'm just still trying to figure out my place here.
It doesn't matter what your place is.
What matters is you make my daughter and grandkids happy.
So, as far as I'm concerned, we're family.
Thank you, Francisca.
I needed that.
So, you're gonna be my spy on the inside.
I'm talking daily updates, whether or not Gabriela answers my calls.
I need to know there's a problem before there's a problem.
Whenever you're ready, Bobby.
Um Today, I'm going to talk to you about why this assignment sucks.
This assignment is notorious for defining your whole high school experience.
In two minutes, your classmates decide who you are.
But that's dumb.
Speaking up is nerve-racking enough on its own.
But this speech puts so much pressure on us to have ourselves all figured out.
And if we mess up, we're judged and laughed at and labeled.
But we should be able to pick our own labels.
Or decide whether we want any labels at all.
We define ourselves when we're ready to, you know, voice who we are.
No one else gets to do that for us.
But I guess if you really wanna label me you can label me as someone who thinks this is stupid.
Hey.
That was really good.
I know that look.
What look? The look a mother gets when she realizes her daughter is her daughter and not her friend.
No, Elena and I talked it through.
Everything's totally fine now.
Ay, mija.
This is just the beginning, and you know it.
When does it get better? When we figure it out, I'll let you know.
I guess sometimes I still feel like that teenager that's scared to tell you things.
You don't have to be scared.
I like Sam.
I am sorry that I kept it from you.
I know how that feels.
It's okay.
Just never do it again.
What if I die on a bad note? Hey, Mami, you're going to outlive us all.
Know who's gonna die on a bad note? Tia Leila.
Just last week she called me crying about Yoli again.
With the tablecloth.
They are such a mess.
Did you know that Yoli's a vegan now? Her poor mother.
Sorry I didn't help you with your speech.
I'm sure you don't wanna talk about it, but failure is a part of life.
I am now comfortable with my own failure, and you can be too.
Whatever they call you, even if it's something terrible like Boring Bobby or Cañero-Needs to Learn How to Talk, it's okay.
Just be kind to yourself and make space for the people who love you, like me.
They're calling me Speech Master.
Which means they missed my point about labels but That's not a mean nickname.
I know.
I crushed it.
Oh, my God.
I get why you're into this whole using-your-voice thing.
It was chill to, like, be honest about my feelings or whatever.
Can I hear it? - Here? Now? - Yeah.
Well, I mean, it was sort of off the cuff.
I got up there, and didn't know what I was gonna say.
I was thinking about what Ñeñe said, so I was like, "Screw it.
" Diary, sometimes you're Patty Meltdown, and sometimes you're Speech Master.
And I stood up there and said, "Today, I am going to talk to you about why this assignment sucks.
" You said that? In class? That was just the beginning.
But it doesn't matter if you fail or succeed.
Because as long as you let the people who love you in, you'll be okay.
"My label is someone who thinks this assignment is stupid.
" Bobby, that was so good.
It's a bummer you're not running for Student Rep.
Speech Master coulda taught you a thing or two.