Task: Story Composition
Input (English): Fact1: Doyle has walked out on family, Fact2: Juliet has begun to date father of school friend, Fact3: former partner has dropped out of high school after falling silent mid-speech and losing New Jersey State High School Policy Debate Championship, Fact4: Hal and Ginny begin to study for upcoming tournament, Fact5: Ginny meet him on day of debate
Output (English): Hal Hefner is a fifteenyearold student of Plainsboro, New Jersey with a pronounced stutter. His older brother Earl is an obsessivecompulsive kleptomaniac, his father Doyle has recently walked out on the family after a heated argument, and his mother Juliet has begun to date the father of his school friend, Heston. Hal is riding the school bus home one day when he is approached by Ginny Ryerson, the articulate, competitive star of the debate team. She urges him to join her and replace her former partner, Ben Wekselbaum, who has dropped out of high school after falling silent midspeech and losing the New Jersey State High School Policy Debate Championship. Though Hal initially declines, he finds himself besotted with Ginny and agrees to be her partner. Hal and Ginny begin to study for the upcoming tournament and form arguments on either side of whether the federal government should support the teaching of sexual abstinence in public schools. When Hal finds himself unable to talk during a practice debate, he runs out of the room and hides in the janitorial closet, where Ginny joins him. Hal kisses her hopefully, and they make out, but she subsequently falls out of contact with him. Ginnys parents assure him that she is confident with the work they have already completed and that she will meet him on the day of the debate. On the day of the tournament, Coach Lumbly tells the debate team that Ginny has transferred to Townsend Prep for the remainder of her senior year and that Hal will be paired with Heston for the day. Struggling with his speech and his stutter, Hal calls his therapist, who suggests that he sing his speech or talk with a foreign accent. Hal and Heston finish the day without much success, while Ginny wins a trophy for First Place as an Individual Speaker, which inexplicably goes missing. Coach Lumbly asks Hal to leave the team, telling him that Ginny had never planned to debate as his partner and had only recruited him as a cruel joke to damage the schools chances of winning. He breaks into Earls bedroom and takes a bottle of stolen tequila, then rides with Heston to his friend Lewiss house, who lives across the street from Ginny. A drunken Hal drags Lewiss mothers cello across the street and throws it through Ginnys window just as she is arriving home with her new teammate, Ram. Later in the year, Hals mother breaks up with Hestons father, and Hal decides to seek out Ginny and return her trophy, which he stole. She rejects his apology, and he travels to Trenton—the Big City—to find Ben, Ginnys former debate partner. Hal convinces Ben to debate with him, and they register as a homeschooled team in the upcoming Policy Debate Championships. In order to overcome his stutter, Ben helps Hal to write his entire speech to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. During the tournament, Hal is interrupted in the middle of his songspeech by Coach Lumbly and a Debate Official who disqualify Hal and Ben on the grounds that neither of them is homeschooled. Ben is satisfied with their efforts, but Hal finds Ginny before leaving. He insists that one day will be his day, while she tells him that it was not easy for her to betray him as he walks off, having gained a sense of confidence. He spends the evening at a nearby beach, and when his father picks him up, Hal tries to tell him that life and love shouldnt be rocket science, although he is unable to say the phrase rocket science due to his stutter.