J.T.
Wow, you know, Manny was really so pretty. Not like Paige, not all blond and "look at me" sort of. She was pretty in a more subtle way. I looked at her sitting on the couch with her arms crossed, so clearly uncomfortable. But she agreed to come to my "commercial premier party" despite being so fed up with everyone. I mean, who could blame her? Her little thing with Craig was public knowledge. And all people did was talk.
Ashley
I couldn't take it. Seeing Craig in the halls at school every day after what he did was so hard. And he was still so thoughtless about it, so smug. He didn't care who he hurt or anything. Nothing mattered except what Craig wanted. I couldn't stand it. This battle of the bands thing wasn't just some little battle of the bands for fun, for whatever prize they were offering. No. It was personal. It was between me and him.
Craig
Ashley. God. She makes that T-shirt with my face on it, all melting. She was so pissed. And I apologized to her again, but kind of fed up and pissed off. I'd told her I was sorry like a hundred times. What was I supposed to do? Turn back time? What happened with Manny happened, I couldn't change it now. So I'm apologizing to her again, saying it like a million times and then I say, "how many times do I have to say it?" And she says, "until you mean it,"
And it was like all of a sudden I got it. It's like I got how I wasn't getting it. I'd been so blind to the whole thing, and she was right. I was only thinking about myself. It kind of changed it when I thought about her. And that did it. The writer's block I'd been stuck in dissolved and I ducked out to find an empty classroom so I could write it all down before our set.
Paige
It was this perfect day. Spin got his new car and we were off down the highway, wind in our hair. The radio was on and playing away. I smiled at my honeybee. Perfect. And then the cop comes over to us and gives me the court thing. I looked at it kind of uncomprehending at first. Court? What did that have to do with my life? And then the cop says it, he mentions the sexual assault from '02 and it just soured everything.
Ellie
This was hard for me. I didn't know I'd be so bad at this. Sean was great, I mean, I felt all connected to him and everything. But I wasn't good at this. I didn't want to change my life for him, bend for him. So I brought Marco along to our dates so I wouldn't have to, so I wouldn't have to be intimate. So I wouldn't have to feel threatened.
Manny
This wasn't going to end. All the stares, the talking and the whispers. I knew what they were saying. They were saying slut. They were saying I got pregnant and got an abortion. They were saying I was easy. Well, they didn't know. They weren't there. They didn't know that I loved him, that I still loved him despite all the pain he caused. But why weren't they talking about him in the same way? What he'd done was worse. I didn't cheat on anybody. He did.
Marco
Was I actually feeling sorry for Spinner? He, he practically pulled the trigger that ruined Jimmy's life. But he was involved in that religious zealot group and following that weird Linus guy around and just, I don't know. I guess I was feeling sorry for him. I'd give him another chance. Didn't everyone deserve one?