- Policewoman: [after Karen is arrested] We're gonna have to strip search you, I want you to take everything off, starting with your scarf, and any jewelry you might be wearing, and I'm gonna check your clothes, and I'm gonna check you, and then you put everything back on again. I'm gonna keep the contents of your purse and your jewelry until you're released.
- Police Sergeant: You suspected Karen was shoplifting and you didn't do anything about it?
- Sam Hughes: Well I tried to speak to her...
- Alice Hughes: But she always had an explanation.
- Sam Hughes: Sergeant, I'm gonna write out a check for whatever this whole business amounted to.
- Alice Hughes: And we'll have Karen apologize personally to the store.
- Sam Hughes: What was the name of that store?
- Police Sergeant: I don't think you understand. Your daughter has been arrested.
- Sam Hughes: Well there must be something we can do.
- Alice Hughes: I mean kids do these things all the time.
- Police Sergeant: Mrs. Hughes, your daughter committed a crime.
- Sam Hughes: Sergeant, my daughter is not a criminal.
- Alice Hughes: She's not a murderer or a bank robber, it was just shoplifting.
- Police Sergeant: Just shoplifting. Shoplifting is the biggest monetary crime in this country, 16 billion dollars a year, that's *real* crime. Bank robbery's a drop in the bucket compared to that.
- Sam Hughes: Um, what's going to happen to her?
- Police Sergeant: She'll have to go through the legal process like everybody else; judges are getting a lot tougher on shoplifters. Now even though it's her first offense, it's still possible she'll get a jail sentence.
- Alice Hughes: Jail?
- Police Sergeant: No matter what, she'll be fined and have a police record.
- Alice Hughes: A police record? For how long?
- Police Sergeant: For the rest of her life.
- Sam Hughes: Sergeant, I don't know if you know what this means. This could ruin her chances for college, a job, her future.
- Police Sergeant: Believe me, Mr. Hughes, I hate to see another kid like this with a record, but there's nothing I can do about it. In this state, it's the law. She'll be arraigned tomorrow morning at 9 A.M. At that time they'll set a date for her trial.
- Becky: [the day after Karen's disastrous date with Pete Crawford, she is sitting by herself in the bleachers] ... Hey, Karen. What's the matter?
- Karen Hughes: Nothing... Everything. Everything's the matter. I never get anything right. I do my best, but nothing works. I just can't focus or concentrate on anything... My family keeps bugging me all the time. I love them, but I simply don't know what to do with them... I just hate myself; I feel so ugly, and I can't figure out what's wrong with me.
- Becky: Karen, everybody feels that way sometimes.
- Karen Hughes: *I* feel that way *all the time*. It's awful. I get depressed, then I do and say things that I curse myself for afterwards. It's like everything's out of my control, especially me.
- Becky: Maybe you just feel more things, and harder, than most other people do. Sometimes, I think it's better to be that way than like me; I feel dull, simply because I'm so organized... I think this is what's known as adolescence.
- Karen Hughes: I only wish I was older, so that everything would be figured out and settled.
- Becky: ... Hey, how are things going with Pete?
- Karen Hughes: [scoffs] Pete "Mr. Macho" Crawford? What a jerk.
- Becky: I thought you liked him.
- Karen Hughes: I did... I mean, I do... I don't know what I mean.
- Cheryl: [At their junior prom, Pete is dancing with Karen when Cheryl comes up to them] Hi, Karen, Pete... Pete, would you care to dance with me?
- [the couple look at her, then at each other]
- Karen Hughes: ... It's okay.
- [She goes for something to drink, then looks back at Cheryl dancing with Pete. Jealous, Karen goes outside and sits by herself. Pete rejoins her]
- Pete Crawford: ... If you didn't want me to dance with Cheryl, then why did you say it was all right?
- Karen Hughes: It was the way you were dancing with her.
- Pete Crawford: How was I *supposed* to dance with her?
- Karen Hughes: You know what I mean.
- Pete Crawford: No, I don't.
- Karen Hughes: She was practically taking your clothes off!
- Pete Crawford: So what *did* you want me to do, just shove her away?
- Karen Hughes: Yes!
- Pete Crawford: ... Come on, let's go back in.
- Karen Hughes: I don't want to go back there.
- Pete Crawford: Where you want to go?
- Karen Hughes: I don't know... Can't we just be alone somewhere for a while?
- [Later, at the Hughes residence]
- Karen Hughes: ... Why don't you take your jacket off?
- Pete Crawford: When are your parents coming back?
- Karen Hughes: In a couple of hours; they took Alice to the movies. Hey, want to see a picture of a guy who looks just like you...? Here it is.
- Pete Crawford: Are you kidding? He looks like a munchkin.
- Karen Hughes: No, he doesn't; he looks terrific.
- [She puts her arms around his neck and kisses him, then pulls him to the floor on top of herself. Giggling, they make out for a few seconds; then she abruptly pushes him off]
- Karen Hughes: ... Pete, don't!
- Pete Crawford: What is it with you?
- Karen Hughes: I don't know; it's going too fast, that's all.
- Pete Crawford: Too fast?
- Karen Hughes: Yes! Can't you just give me a chance?
- Pete Crawford: What's *that* supposed to mean?
- Karen Hughes: Well, can't we simply *be together*? I mean, do we have to sleep with each other?
- Pete Crawford: Just tell me where I went wrong with you, and I'll apologize!
- Karen Hughes: I'm not ready, that's all!
- Pete Crawford: Oh, man, I don't believe this. One minute, you're acting like you want to play with the big kids; and the next you're...
- Karen Hughes: *Everybody* wants me to grow up before I'm ready. Why are you trying to make me do something I don't want to do?
- Pete Crawford: *I'm* not trying to make you do *anything*. You're the one who wanted to leave the dance, not me. It was your idea to come here, not mine.
- [He gets up and starts to leave]
- Karen Hughes: All you care about is yourself. You don't give a hoot about me, or how I feel!
- Pete Crawford: Look, this just isn't gonna work out.
- [He departs]