DEGRASSI: AFTERMATH - S09E02 - ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL

Disclaimer: I don´t own Degrassi or the characters from it.

1. Ext. Degrassi. Morning.

Heather and Julie are arriving for school, with the hundreds of other students, who are starting the school year.

Julie:

One year left.

Heather:

It´s only ten months, when you get down to it.

Julie:

However long it is, it can´t pass soon enough.

They´re shocked, when they see a 17 year old African American girl arrive for school.

Heather:

Is that Taryn?

Julie:

I didn´t think, we´d ever see her back here.

Heather:

You don´t think, she´s come back to get revenge, do you?

Heather and Julie watch Taryn step up to the school entrance. She pauses for a moment and takes a deep breath to work up her courage, before walking in. They look worried.

OPENING CREDITS

2. Int. Hallway. Day.

Regina and Deco come walking down the hallway, holding each other. Regina looks very optimistic.

Regina:

Can you fathom, that I´ve been looking forward to school starting up again?

Deco smiles.

Deco:

You´re in a different place, than you were a year ago.

Regina:

This time I have friends and I have the hottest boyfriend in school.

Deco:

Are you gonna try out for the squad?

Regina:

I was thinking about trying my luck with student government, actually.

Deco:

Do you need a campaign manager?

Regina:

No offense, but I´m asking someone, who has experience. You can be my first boy, though.

Deco:

Okay, but can I come up with a cooler name than "First Boy?".

They smile at each other.

3. Int. Classroom. Morning.

Heather and Julie are trying not to stare at Taryn, who´s on the opposite side of the room. She´s being welcomed to the class by Eddy.

Heather:

I have to try to apologize to her, at least. What me, Hannah and Regina did to that poor girl, breaks my heart, when I think back on it. To think that I was capable of doing that to someone.

Julie:

I could have done something, but I didn´t. Kimmie wasn´t any nicer to her, than you were. If I could talk to my 12 year old self, I´d give her a good, hard slap and tell her to be Taryn´s friend. Not join in with the bullies.

They see Regina and Deco come in.

Heather:

Oh, goodie! Here´s the new queen with her king!

Julie:

Why won´t she just crawl into a hole and die?

We cut over Deco and Regina, who sit down next to each other and look very in love.

4. Int. Bianca´s Office. Day.

Taryn is in session with Bianca.

Taryn:

I´m not exxaggerating, when I say, that this is the last school in the world, I wanted to come back to. It´s this or home schooling and I can´t go back to that.

Bianca:

If you stay positive, you can still have a great senior year here.

Taryn scoffs.

Taryn:

Yeah, that´s likely! Next you´ll be telling me, that I should look forward to a visit from Santa and the Easter Bunny!

Bianca:

How have your first classes gone?

Taryn:

Alright, I guess. Mr. Reid was really nice, I guess. I don´t usually like my teachers, but he seems alright.

Bianca is clearly pleased to hear, that there´s at least one positive, to work from.

Bianca:

What about your classmates?

Taryn:

What about them? I saw Regina, Heather, Julie, Hannah. I never needed to see any of them again.

Bianca:

What happened was a long time ago. People change. I´ve done a lot of hard work with Regina these last years and she´s not the mean girl, that she used to be. If you give her a chance ...

Taryn:

REGINA MORGAN CAN ROT IN HELL, WHERE SHE BELONGS! I´M NEVER TALKING TO THAT BITCH!

Taryn tries to calm down again. Bianca sees, that it´s going to take a lot of work with this girl.

5. Int. Hallway. Day.

Regina is enjoying the sight of her new locker, when Hannah comes over to her, looking nervous. Regina smiles at her.

Regina:

Three years of the worst lockers, known to mankind and I finally got a decent one! I can´t tell you, how gratifying, it feels. what´s yours like?

Hannah:

Run of the mill, but it´s close to Seb´s, so there´s that, I guess. Did you see, who´s back at Degrassi?

Regina clearly hasn´t.

Regina:

No. Is there someone, I was supposed to notice?

She becomes giddy.

Regina:

Is it someone from the show?

Hannah:

Taryn Collins.

Regina´s smile fades and her face freezes.

6. Ext. Atrium. Day

Regina is talking to Deco. She looks upset.

Regina:

You know, that I did some pretty mean things, before you came here. Well, I think that it´s come back to bite me in the butt this time.

Deco:

You did your time for it, with the other girls. God, you can be mean to one another!

Regina:

You don´t have to tell me. I want you to hear it from me, because it´s bound to come up again, now that Taryn is back.

Deco:

Who´s she?

Regina:

I girl, we pretty much tortured for fun, back when we were around 11 or 12. She was a nerd and an easy target, because she didn´t have any friends and had only just started here. It was me, Hannah, Heather and a girl named Kimmie, who doesn´t go here anymore, that were the worst.

Deco tries to take it in.

Deco:

You know, how I feel about bullies.

Regina:

It´s horrible to think, that I was like that! If I could do anything to change it, I would.

Deco:

I almost shudder to ask, what kind of things you did to her.

Regina:

Do you want the highlights? Okay, I guess, it´s better that you hear it from me..

She clearly would rather leave it in the past.

7. Ext. Street. Day (flashback)

We see the 11 year old versions of Hannah, Heather and Regina pushing Taryn, who´s much smaller than them, around. She´s crying and tries to escape them, but they keep ganging up on her.

Heather:

What are you gonna do, Taryn? Run crying home to your mommy?

Taryn:

Why are you doing this to me?

Regina:

Because you´re a loser! We don´t want losers like you at our school.

Taryn gets pushed to the ground and loses her books. Hannah picks them up and dumps them down a sewage drain, while the other two laugh at Taryn´s pain.

Hannah:

Have fun fishing those out of there!

They leave her crying on the street.

8. Ext. Atrium. Day.

Deco looks shocked. Regina is in no way proud of herself.

Deco:

Damn! That´s cruel!

Regina:

That was only her first day of school? We were even meaner to her, the next day.

Deco:

Lay it on me.

He braces himself for it.

9. Int. Classroom. Day (flashback)

We see Taryn looking very afraid and being cornered by Hannah, Heather and Regina.

Taryn:

What do you want from me?

Regina:

Take your clothes off. We want them.

Taryn:

I can´t do that!

Heather:

You can either give them to us, or we can tear them off you.

Hannah:

If you don´t fight it, then we might give them back to you. After school!

Taryn looks mortified.

Taryn:

I´ll be humiliated.

Regina:

Which is bad for you, but very funny for us!

Taryn:

This is fun to you? Ruining my life?

Hannah:

Stop talking and start stripping! This isn´t a joke!

Taryn starts taking her clothes off.

10. Ext Atrium. Day.

Deco has put his hand over Regina´s mouth.

Deco:

I can´t take any more! That´s incredibly messed up!

He removes his hand from Regina´s mouth.

Regina:

The only good part is that a teacher saw it and put an end to it, before she´d taken too much of it off. We weren´t actually gonna let her strip naked. It was about making her feel humiliated, so we felt like, we had power over her.

Deco:

What were you thinking?

Regina:

That we could do what we wanted to with her, because she didn´t fight back. She was just a toy to us, to be played with. In our stupid young minds, we were still better than Kimmie, because we didn´t call her the N-word all the time. I suppose the story of when we paid Kimmie five dollars to make her eat a slug, would be too much for you.

Deco:

Jesus!

Regina:

We all stood there laughing at her, while she was throwing up. Kids can be mean, but what we did was far past anything, you can call acceptable behavior.

Deco:

Yeah!

Regina:

She became home schooled after one semester. It must have become too much for her and who can blame her?

Deco:

Where was the school in all of this, or the parents?

Regina:

We got some detention here and there, but nothing we really cared about. I think, that she was too scared of us to tell the whole truth to anyone, or I´m sure, we would have been suspended.

Deco:

Damn!

He tries to take it in.

Regina:

How do you even begin to apologize for what we did to her? If that had been me, I probably would have hated all of us, for my entire life.

Deco:

You can at least try. If anyone owes her an apology, it´s you three.

Regina:

Do you think, she´ll accept it?

Deco:

Would you, if you were her?

Regina:

Probably not. I still have to try, though.

She looks determined.

11. Montage - Music "Hard for me to say I´m Sorry" by Chicago.

We see Heather and Julie not being able to concentrate in class, after Taryn has answered a question asked by the teacher. It clear that both of them feel very ashamed of their past with her.

We see Regina coming towards a bulletin board to look at the postings, but she stops herself, when she sees Taryn standing by it, talking to Eddy, who she clearly has taken a liking to. Regina looks pleased for her, but sneaks away without talking to her.

We see Heather and Regina being forced to work together on a science project. Taryn coming back clearly hasn´t eased the tension between them and it doesn´t take a lot for them to get annoyed with each other. Julie is paired with Deco, while Taryn is paired with Simon, who she seems to get along with pretty good.

We see Heather and Julie waiting outside of the school, waiting for Taryn to come out. Taryn comes out from the school, talking to Simon. They say goodbye and he skates off to go to practice. Taryn has clearly taken a liking to him, to Heather and Julie´s delight.

12. Ext. Degrassi. Day.

Heather and Julie tentatively approach Taryn, who gets defensive.

Heather:

Can we talk, Taryn?

Taryn:

Why would I want to talk to you? You and the other two made my life hell.

Julie:

We want to apologize for it.

Taryn:

Apologize? Do you think, that somehow makes it better?

Heather:

What else can we do?

Taryn:

Nothing! Actually, that´s not true. You can pay my parents back for the child psychologist, I went to for the next four years. I´m sure, they´d appreciate it.

Julie:

We´re not like that anymore. There´s nothing I wouldn´t do to change it now.

Taryn:

You were just a follower and you were probably as scared of Kimmie, as I was.

Julie:

That doesn´t make it right. I can´t begin to express, how bad I feel over it. I should have tried to be your friend and I didn´t. It wasn´t until you left, that it dawned on me, how horrible we´d been and by then, it was too late. I stopped being friends with Kimmie a year later, when I finally worked up my nerve to stand up to her. I totally understand, if you won´t accept my apology, but I´d like to be your friend, like I should have been the last time.

Taryn takes a few seconds to ponder, whether or not to accept it.

Taryn:

That was a nice apology. As I said, you weren´t one of the worst. But you?

She stares Heather down.

Heather:

Let me have it. I deserve it.

Taryn:

Kimmie was a bitch, but she wouldn´t have been nearly as bad, if it wasn´t for you or your friends.

Heather:

I´m not friends with them anymore and I haven´t been in a long time. Regina was the same way with me, that Kimmie was with Julie. She controlled me.

Taryn:

Don´t give me that! I´ll only talk to you, if I it´s my only choice. Spread the message to the other two.

Taryn leaves them. They look each other in the eyes and look depressed.

13. Int. Holly J´s Apartment. Evening.

Holly J and Hannah are eating dinner, but Hannah is mostly picking at hers.

Holly J:

Eat up. You´re still growing.

Hannah:

I don´t have any appetite. Something happened at school today. A girl, we used to bully, is back at Degrassi.

Holly J:

Did you try to talk to her?

Hannah:

I don´t know, why she´d want to tak to me. We did some pretty horrible things to her.

Holly J:

The keyword is did. Considering how your childhood was ...

Hannah:

That doesn´t matter to her! All she remembers is us humiliating her, because we could.

Holly J:

These things can take their time. Anya stayed mad at me for over a year once, for how I had treated her. We´re friends now, aren´t we?

Hannah:

You were controlling. That´s not the same as bullying. I have to try to talk to her tomorrow, or it will drive me crazy.

Holly J:

Good luck.

Hannah:

Thanks. I have a feeling, that I´ll need it.

She picks some more at her food.

14. Int. Classroom. Morning.

Heather and Julie come in. They see Taryn sitting by herself.

Heather:

Break a leg.

Julie:

Thanks. I just hope, that she doesn´t break one of them for real!

Julie walks over to Taryn.

Julie:

Is it okay, if I sit with you?

Taryn looks up at her and shrugs. Julie sits down.

Taryn:

Don´t you usually sit with Heather? The two of you look pretty inseparable.

Julie:

We´ve become that way, these past few years.

Taryn:

Do you have a boyfriend?

Julie shakes her head.

Taryn:

Why not?

Julie:

I spent the better part of two years getting over my ex. You can say, that it´s soured me on the whole dating thing. You?

Taryn:

No. I´ve had a few, but they haven´t lasted long. 3 weeks is still my record.

Julie:

Heather keeps falling for guys, she can´t get. Until they find a girlfriend, they´re not even a blip on her radar. Once they do, it´s like watch out, cuz here comes Heather! Go figure!

Taryn:

Tell me more.

Taryn looks intrigued.

15. Ext. Atrium. Day.

Regina is practicing her apology on Hannah.

Regina:

Taryn, I was horrible to you. If anyone had done that to me, I probably would have let it destroy me. Just the fact that you´re here and standing proud, shows that you have more character, than I´ll ever have.

Hannah:

You might want to spice it up a bit. Throw in some groveling.

Regina:

Can I hear yours?

Hannah:

You could, if I could think of one. I spent half the night awake, trying to come up with one.

Regina:

Can you believe, that we were like that once?

Hannah:

It´s one of many things, I regret. Our parents sure messed us up, huh?

Regina:

If I have a daughter someday, I´ll be on her like a hawk!

Hannah:

Boys aren´t much better.

Regina:

Let their dads worry about them!

They smile at each other.

Hannah:

What are you gonna do, if she tells you to get lost?

Regina:

Live with it. It doesn´t seem, like we have any other choice.

Hannah:

Can you?

Regina:

We have to.

Regina puts her hand on Hannah´s to comfort her.

16. Int. Hallway. Day.

Taryn and Julie are going from one class to another.

Taryn:

You´re a great advertisement for staying single! The first one turns out to be gay and the second one sleeps, with you, leaves you, comes back, only for you to find out that he´d been lying and you break up again.

Julie:

Something like that. What´s the story of your boyfriends?

Taryn:

Let´s see, two cheaters, one, who was cute, but too dumb and one, who was alright. It just wasn´t meant to be with me and him.

Julie:

That´s how it goes. Are you on the lookout?

Taryn:

There is that Simon guy. He´s kinda hot.

Julie:

Simon, aka my gay ex-boyfriend.

Taryn looks annoyed.

Taryn:

I should have guessed. All the good ones are either gay or taken!

Julie:

I have to use the little girl´s room before class. See ya there.

Julie heads into the bathroom.

17. Int. Girl´s Room. Day.

Julie comes in. Heather is there, waiting for her.

Heather:

How´s it going with her?

Julie:

Not bad. She´s actually pretty nice.

Heather:

Did you try to work me into the conversation?

Julie:

It wasn´t well received. It´ll have to be done slowly.

Heather:

But you are making progress, right?

Julie:

Not really.

Heather gets annoyed.

Heather:

Wasn´t that the whole purpose of this?

Julie:

Not for me! Look, what happened with her has always been my biggest regret. Getting to rectify it, feels really nice.

Heather:

What about me? You´re supposed to be my friend.

Julie:

I can be friends with both of you.

Heather:

How would that work, if she doesn´t want to be anywhere near me? Can you tell me, because I´m drawing a blank here?

Julie:

In time ...

Heather:

Look, just forget about it! You can forget about our whole friendship, while you´re at it!

She leaves Julie, who clearly wishes, that it had gone better.

18. Ext. Degrassi. Day.

Julie and Taryn come out from the school. Hannah and Regina come up to them.

Taryn:

Leave me alone!

Regina:

Taryn, I ...

Taryn:

Save it for someone, who cares!

Hannah:

You can´t keep holding what we did as kids against us.

Taryn:

Can´t I? I´ve been doing a good jod of it so far!

Regina:

I´m sorry, but that´s not fair!

Taryn:

Was it fair, that you decided to single me out for no reason? Was I just the unlucky one?

Julie:

You weren´t the only one, they tried it on. Girls like them never learn.

Taryn:

I couldn´t have said it better! Screw the both of you! I will never forgive you, for as long, as I live!

Julie:

Good on you, Taryn!

Taryn and Julie leave Regina and Hannah flabbergasted.

19. Int. The Dot. Day.

Taryn and Julie are sharing a plate of fries and are enjoying themselves.

Taryn:

I´ve waited six years to say that to them!

Julie:

Did it feel good, to get it out of your system?

Taryn:

Hell yeah!

Julie looks happy for her.

Julie:

What about the rest of the schoolyear?

Taryn:

As far as they go?

Julie nods, as she chews on a French Fry.

Taryn:

They´re beneath me. None of them are worth a second of my time. They lost that right, years ago.

Julie:

You´d rather go on hating them?

Taryn:

It´s worked for me so far. I think, that everybody needs someone to hate. Whether is a girl at school, a prime minister, a serial killer. Bringing out the negativity can be a good thing, if you turn it into something positive.

Julie:

How do you mean?

Taryn:

Like, no matter what, I want to do better in life, than the three bitches from hell do.

Julie:

I hope, that all three of them end up fat, single and living in a trailer park!

Taryn:

Julie, you´re my kind of girl!

Julie:

I´m glad to hear it! Especially since Heather just dumped me as a friend.

Taryn:

You don´t need her anyway.

Julie:

You´re right. If that´s her decision, then that´s her problem. I have enough friends, without her.

Julie looks pleased.

CLOSING CREDITS