EPISODE 9 - THE MALL

(3.5.15)

Jess enters high school and stops dead in her tracks; about 12 feet away, she sees Matt talking to another girl. She instantly becomes jealous and insecure as she feels this girl is way more attractive than her.

"Hey, Jess!" Ashley says from behind her, making her jump. "Oop, sorry!"

Jess puts a hand to her chest and catches her breath. "Ugh,"

"Sorry." Ashley repeats, looking worried.

Jess calms down. "It's okay."

"So what's up?" Ashley asks. "We usually don't see each other this early."

Jess ignores her question and looks back at Matt and the stranger. "Who is that?"

Ashley follows her gaze. "Oh, that's Rachel! She's a new student here."

"Of all the people she could befriend first." Jess mutters.

Ashley grunts. "I'm sure it's nothing, Jess, don't worry about it."

"Did Justin ever find out if he likes me back or not?" Jess asks her. "As a matter of fact, where is Justin? I haven't seen him at all this week."

Ashley's heart skips a beat at the mention of Justin. "Uh, I'm sorry, Jess, but I don't think Justin will be finding anything out anytime soon."

Matt finishes talking to Rachel and she walks away. He spots Jess and Ashley and happily walks over to them. "Hey, girls!"

"Was that your girlfriend?" Jess asks, her face stone cold.

Matt exhales sharply in amusement. "No? What am I not allowed to talk to other people?"

"I don't think I said that did I?" Jess retorts.

"Oh no." Ashley murmurs.

Matt gives her a look. "Whoa, why are you being so rude? You really wanna start the day off like this?"

"No, but you're being weird!" Jess argues.

Matt looks at her in confusion. "How in the world am I being weird? I just came over and said hi."

"You don't have to flaunt your girlfriend though!" Jess complains.

"What?! She's not my girlfriend and I'm not flaunting anything! She's a new student here and I wanted her to feel welcome so I was being friendly."

"Whatever." Jess snarls. She storms past Matt. He shakes his head as she disappears down the hall.

Ashley comes up beside Matt. "I'll talk to her, don't worry."

Matt, ignoring what Ashley just said, goes off on a tyrant. "Ashley, stop telling people to ask me about my love life, it's really annoying. And don't even try to deny that it was you either because it's so obvious that it was. Like, it's such an invasion of privacy and that's not cool… at all." Matt storms off.

Shocked by Matt's monologue, Ashley sadly stares after him as he walks down the hall.


At college, Sam, Chris, and Emily are joined by their new friends, Antonio and Caitlin, for breakfast this morning. They all have a good time talking to each other.

Isabelle, Terry, Becky and Gina, enter the cafeteria. Isabelle spots her enemies and brings her girls over.

"Well, would you look at this!" Isabelle exclaims. "The losers made new friends!" She, Becky, and Gina laugh mockingly while Terry laughs uncomfortably.

"Yep, we made new friends while you're stuck with the same sorry bitches!" Emily retorts. Antonio and Caitlin chuckle.

Isabelle smirks. "Ladies, did she just call you bitches?"

"I think she did." Becky says.

"Most definitely." Gina agrees.

"Yeah," Terry says quietly.

Isabelle's smirk gets bigger. "Well, since my uncle is the new assistant dean, I should probably report that and have her expelled, huh?"

"You definitely should!" Gina exclaims.

"Yeah, she really hurt my feelings." Becky comments, wiping a fake tear from her eye.

Isabelle gives Emily a knowing look. "What?" Emily growls.

"I think she wants you to apologize." Sam says.

Isabelle nods. "Ding ding ding! Let's hear it, Davis."

Emily looks at her with disgust. "Are you serious?"

Isabelle scoffs. "Yep. I mean, you don't have to, but then I'd have to report you to my uncle."

"Emily, please just apologize," Sam pleads. "I don't want to lose you, none of us do."

"Yeah. Honestly, I'd rather have you here laughing at me falling than not have you here at all." Chris adds.

Emily looks at Sam, who mouths "please" to her with a desperate look. Emily sighs. "Sorry."

Isabelle laughs. "Oh, honey, you're gonna have to do better than that," Isabelle tells her. "You need to look at us, tell us exactly what you're sorry about, and sound & look like you mean it."

Sam once again urges her to do it. Emily can feel her blood boiling, but takes a deep breath to compose herself. She looks up at Isabelle and her friends and puts on a sad look. "Isabelle, I am sorry for calling your friends bitches. Terry, Becky, Gina, I am sorry I called you bitches. It was wrong of me and it will not happen again."

"Better not happen again." Becky warns.

"Thanks for apologizing Emily, even though it was shit." Isabelle says. Isabelle gives them her signature wink, and she and her friends walk away.

The second they are out of sight, Emily's body goes limp and her head falls on the table. Sam comes around and wraps her arms around her. "Em, I know how hard that was for you to do, I just wanna say that I'm so proud of you for doing it." Emily groans in response.

"It's crazy how we're in college, but some people still act like they're in like elementary school." Chris says. "Isabelle and Tony really need to grow up."


Instead of sitting with Ashley and Jess for lunch like usual, Matt sits with Sasha and Rachel today.

Jess glares at their table. "What a dick." she says.

"Jess, he isn't a dick." Ashley says.

"If he isn't a dick then why is he sitting with those two instead of us?"

Ashley shrugs. "I guess he just wants space from us. You did kind of flip out on him this morning."

Jess scoffs. "That was nothing. I can show you a flip out if you wanna see one."

"Please don't." Ashley pleads.

Jess sees Matt make Sasha and Rachel laugh very hard; Rachel even puts her hand on Matt's arm. This makes Jess even angrier. She gets up and storms over, ignoring Ashley's pleas for her to stop.

Jess stands at the end of the table, arms crossed. Matt looks up at her. "Hi, Jess."

"Why are you being such a dick?" Jess asks.

Matt does a double take. "Uh, what? How am I being a dick?"

"You're sitting with these two instead of with me and Ash and you're rubbing it in our faces!" Jess snarls.

Matt blankly stares back at her. "Not that it's any of your business, Jessica, but for your information, Rachel here is a very shy person. The vice principal introduced us this morning, so I'm the only one she knows. I introduced her to Sasha next because Sasha is also shy and I knew they'd get along really well. When she felt more comfortable with Sasha and I, that's when I was gonna introduce her to you and Ashley. But now, I'm not gonna be doing that since you're being so hostile towards me for no reason."

"I can vouch for him, that is what he was doing," Sasha says. "He told her that me, you, and Ashley are his only real friends here and he spoke very highly of you two, especially you."

Jess processes this. She can see the hurt on Matt's face and gets flushed with shame and embarrassment. "Matt…"

Matt puts a hand up. "Save it, I'd like for you to leave me alone right now."

Those words feel like a bullet to the heart. Jess' face twitches as she fights to keep the incoming tears back. Just then, Ashley appears and grabs Jess. "Come on, Jess, let's go." She drags Jess away and out of the cafeteria. Matt looks after them, disappointed.


After their classes, Chris and Emily awkwardly sit together in a lounge area on the campus, waiting for Sam.

Ryan and Connor pass by and say hi to Chris. "Hey, guys," he says back to them.

They see Emily and smile. "Did you ask her out yet?" Ryan asks Chris.

Chris closes his eyes and curses everything. Emily looks between Chris and his friends in confusion. "Huh?"

"He said you were hot." Ryan tells her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you were the one that said she was hot!" Chris corrects him.

"Yeah, but you agreed with him." Connor reminds him.

Chris can feel Emily smirking at him. "I have a girlfriend." he tells his friends.

"Then why were you calling another girl hot?" Ryan asks.

Chris glares at them. They finally get the hint. "Well, I guess we'll see you later." Connor says. He and Ryan walk off.

"So, Chris, why were you calling another girl hot when you have a girlfriend?" Emily asks smugly.

"Again, it wasn't like that." Chris grumbles. "They called you hot, I agreed because you're my friend."

"But you do think I'm hot?"

Chris sighs. "Yes…"

Emily smiles widely. "Good to know."

"Ashley is hotter." Chris quickly adds.

Emily giggles. "Mhm."


After school, Ashley exits the building and comes face to face with Justin. She lets out a frightened exhale as she looks at her former friend.

"Hey, Ashley," Justin greets her. Justin sports many scrapes on his face and is holding his side.

"H-hi, J-Justin." Ashley stutters, her body shaking.

Justin laughs in her face, then winces as it seems to hurt his side. "Did you see that, Ash? I can't even laugh anymore, it hurts too much."

"Justin, I'm so sorry!" Ashley says, breaking out into tears.

Justin scoffs. "It's too late for sorry, Ashley. I thought we were friends, but you tried to kill me. We grew up together, but you threw it all away. I didn't tell anyone it was you, but I can do so in the blink of an eye."

Ashley kneels before him. "Please don't." she begs.

Justin smirks. "Oh don't worry, I won't. It's gonna cost you though… a lot."

"How much, I'll pay you however much you want!" Ashley pleads.

Justin rolls his eyes. "I don't want money."

"What do you want?" Ashley asks, scared.

Justin tells Ashley exactly what he wants from her, leaving her absolutely mortified. She stands up and leans against the wall, processing the information that was just given to her.

"I'll give you a few days to decide if you wanna do that or not," Justin informs her.

"I can't do that," Ashley says softly, still crying. "I have a boyfriend."

"He doesn't need to know."

"I can't…"

Justin shakes his head. "That's too bad." He walks away, leaving Ashley balling her eyes out.


At the Taylor house, Matt watches TV in the living room. Susan, his mother, comes in and tells him there is someone at the door for him. Wondering who it could be, he heads over and opens the door and is immediately filled with anger.

"Hi." Brett says with a nervous smile.

"What in the world do you want?" Matt asks. "Actually, I don't even care what you want. You need to leave before I call the police."

"Please don't call the police, I just need to tell you something!" Brett explains.

Matt considers slamming the door in face, but decides to hear what he has to say. "You've got 10 seconds, hurry up."

Brett nods and begins talking. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for bothering you at lunch all the time and more importantly, jumping you in the bathroom. You're a good dude and you didn't deserve that. It was incredibly wrong of me, and I'm sorry."

"I don't accept your apology." Matt slams the door in his face and locks it. He then goes back into the living room and continues watching TV.

Susan returns. "So who was that?"

"It was Brett, one of the jerks who jumped me in the bathroom." Matt answers.

Susan furrows her brows. "Oh, what did he want?"

"He tried to apologize. I didn't accept it and slammed the door in his face."

"Are you okay?" Susan asks with concern.

"I will be once I watch some TV."

"Alright. Let me know if you need anything." Susan leaves the living room.

Matt curses Brett as he starts watching a comedy show to bring his mood back up.


Jess enters her house and hears her father crying. She finds him in the living room.

"Dad?" she calls out, completely shocked as she's never seen her father cry before.

Tom looks up at her and quickly wipes the tears from his eyes. "Hello, honey," he sniffles.

"What's wrong?" Jess asks him.

"Your mother and I got into an argument and she stormed out." Tom tells her.

"It must've been the worst one yet cause I've never seen you cry before." Jess comments.

Tom nods in agreement. "It certainly was the worst one yet."

"What was it about, if you don't mind me asking?"

Tom sighs. "She said I haven't been giving her enough attention lately and accused me of cheating."

Jess raises an eyebrow. "Have you been cheating?"

Tom whips his head up. "No!" he answers, offended. "Never in a million years would I cheat on your mother. She is the woman of my dreams. I don't need anyone else but her."

"Did it happen out of nowhere?" Jess asks. "Or did you do something that upset her?"

Tom thinks for a second. "It kind of happened out of nowhere, to be honest. I was just watching TV in here and she came in and started yelling at me. When I tried to defend myself, she didn't wanna hear it and just left."

Jess gets a bad feeling in her body. "I'm sorry, Dad."

"You don't need to be sorry, dear, it isn't your fault." Tom says. "I shouldn't have even shared the details with you as it's just between your mother and I." Jess sighs and hugs her dad.


(3.6.15)

After high school and college, the girls meet up at the local mall. Emily and Jess try on different clothes in the changing room of a clothing store while Sam and Ashley wait outside the changing room for them.

"So, how's school going?" Sam asks Ashley.

"Academic wise, it's going really well!" Ashley answers, feeling proud at the thought of her grades.

"How about socially?"

"For me it's alright, but I definitely can't say the same for Jess."

Sam tilts her head. "Why?"

Ashley grits her teeth and nervously takes a breath. "Well…" Ashley tells her about what happened yesterday with Matt and Jess.

"Wait, Jess likes Matt?" Sam asks, very intrigued.

Ashley smiles. "Yeah, she likes him a lot. I think he likes her too, but I'm not too sure. Either way he definitely isn't happy with her after yesterday."

Sam frowns. "Dang, that sucks. Hopefully he'll come around because I think they would make an awesome couple!"

"Right?" Ashley says. "What about you, Sam, do you like anyone?"

Sam starts to answer, but Jess and Emily finally come out of the changing room, making her stay quiet. She looks nervously at the pair, then back at Ashley. Confused, Ashley looks at them too, then back at Sam. It is then that Ashley understands.

"Oh my gosh, Sam!" Ashley throws her arms around Sam. Sam lets out a nervous chuckle as she hugs Ashley back. Ashley steps back and looks at Sam with the biggest supportive smile anyone has ever seen. "That's amazing, Sam, I love that for you!"

"What's amazing?" Emily asks when she and Jess finally reach them.

Ashley gives Sam a wink before looking at the other two. "Sam got a 100% on one of her tests!"

Jess nods in approval. "Wow, good shit, Sam."

"Congratulations." Emily says with a smile.

"Thanks, guys." Sam says back, blushing.

The group exit the store and begin their next activities which include having lunch and watching a movie. Unbeknownst to them, Emilia is hot on their trail at all times, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.

After the movie, the girls make their way to the large fountain in the middle of the mall where people flip a penny in and make a wish.

"Hey, let's all make a wish!" Ashley suggests.

"Good idea!" Sam agrees.

They all take out a penny and begin making their wishes. While they're distracted, Emilia uses this opportunity to sneak up behind Jess and shove her with all her might into the fountain. Next, she throws her coffee in Ashley's face, and finally, she smacks the penny out of Emily's hand. Fellow shoppers stop and watch the scene, some even taking their phones out to record.

Emily rubs her hand and Ashley tries to rub the coffee out of her stinging eyes.

Jess stands up, soaking wet. "Emilia, what the fuck?!"

"Did you bitches really think I was gonna let you get away with sending my brother to jail?" Emilia snarks.

"We didn't send him to jail for no fucking reason, he fucking hurt Matt!" Jess screams at her.

"Who doesn't even fucking care!" Emilia screams back. "So why should you!"

"It doesn't fucking matter if he cares or not, your retarded brother committed a fucking crime and now he's doing the fucking time!" Jess screams right back.

Emilia balls her fists. Sam sees this and gets in front of her. "Emilia, please, just hold on." she pleads. Emily helps Jess out of the fountain.

"Hold on for fucking what? I need to avenge my brother!"

A lightbulb goes off in Sam's face. "You actually just did, you know."

Emilia furrows her brows. "What?"

Sam nods. "Yeah, you just pushed Jess in the fountain and she was wearing her favorite outfit and now look at her, she's a miserable, wet mess! And you threw a drink in Ashley's face and her eyes are very red and probably stinging right now. And you smacked Emily's penny out of her hand when she was going to make a very important wish."

Emilia takes in what Sam said. She looks at her three victims, who are indeed miserable and upset. This brings joy to her and she smirks victoriously. "I guess you're right, Sam," she says. "I've definitely ruined their day, that's for sure!"

"You sure have, girl!" Sam agrees, patting her on the back.

Emilia gives Sam a big, long hug. "You're an angel, why the fuck don't you have a boyfriend yet?"

Sam chortles. "I don't know, it just hasn't happened yet."

"Well, when you do, let me know." Emilia says.

Sam smiles at her. "I will." Emilia walks away smiling. Sam looks at her friends, who now sport very impressed expressions.

"Wow, Sam, you are one fucking badass bitch!" Jess exclaims when Emilia is out of view.

Sam grins. "I had to do something or that could've gone much worse."

"I'd hug the shit out of you, but I'm soaking wet right now so I'll just say thank you." Jess says.

"Seriously, thank you." Ashley adds.

"Of course," Sam responds. "Now come on, let's get out of here."

The four of them head to the exit. Emily gives Sam a pat on the back and mouths "thank you" to her for dealing with Emilia. Sam smiles at her.

Before they leave, mall security talks to them and asks if they're okay and if they'd like to report the person who attacked them. They confirm they are okay and decline to make a report. Security tells them they're still going to look through the cameras to find the person and ban them from the mall.


Chris and Matt hang out in the park again. Neither of them have much to talk about so they just sit on the bench in silence and people watch.

Brett appears and approaches Matt. Matt rolls his eyes upon seeing him.

"Why do you keep bothering me?" Matt snaps at him.

"Cause you slammed the door in my face last night." Brett says.

"Yeah? That should tell you that I don't want anything to do with you." Matt retorts.

Chris laughs. "I couldn't imagine trying to talk to someone who doesn't like me when they've made it clear they don't want anything to do with me."

"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Matt." Brett says, annoyed.

"No, you weren't," Matt corrects him. "Go away."

"But I want you to accept my apology!" Brett complains.

Chris huffs. "You shouldn't have jumped him, man."

Brett socks Chris in the face, knocking him off the bench. "I wasn't talking to you!" he shouts.

Matt jumps up from the bench and pushes Brett into a pond. "And you fucking wonder why I won't accept your shitty apology!" Matt turns his attention to Chris and helps him up. "Are you okay, bro?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Chris replies, wiping blood from his mouth.

Brett gets out of the pond and looks down at his wet clothes, then at Matt. "What the fuck, man?!"

Matt gives him a perplexed look. "You must be the dumbest person I've met. Leave us alone or I'm calling the police."

"But you pushed me in the pond." Brett whines.

"Did you not hear what I just said?" Matt asks.

"My clothes are ruined now!"

"I need you to understand the gravity of what's happening here. I gave you a choice, what is it going to be?" Matt stares intently at Brett, awaiting his answer.

"You're a bully." Brett says as he walks away.

"How the hell am I a bully?" Matt says to himself.

"He's trolling," Chris notes. "He's upset he got suspended so he's messing with you more now." Matt sighs, so Chris continues. "Come on, let's head back over to my house and play some video games." He and Matt leave the park.


That evening, the Munroe's return home after picking Mike up from the police station. When they get inside, Mike's dad gives him an earful.

"Listen, boy, if you get arrested one more time, you will be kicked out of this house. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir." Mike responds. Mike is sent to his room, with Emilia following him.

"It's so good to have you back home, bro!" Emilia tells him.

"Wish I could say the same." Mike mutters.

Emilia lightly taps his arm. "Oh come on! At least you have me, right?"

"I guess." Mike responds with a shrug.

"I got some revenge for you." Emilia tells him with a pleased grin.

Mike looks at her in horror. "What?"

"Yeah, I pushed Jessica in a fountain, threw hot coffee in Ashley's face, and smacked a penny out of Emily's hand!"

Mike facepalms. "Why would you do that?!"

Emilia's smile fades. "Because they sent you to jail!"

"I deserved it!" Mike argues.

Emilia scoffs. "Like hell you did! I gave them what they deserved."

Mike shakes his head. "No."

Emilia frowns at him. "Hopefully one day you'll thank me, but I guess it ain't today." Emilia exits his room.

Mike sighs. He retrieves his phone and texts the group chat. He tells them he just got home from jail and apologizes to everyone for the stress he added to their lives. He also asks to meet up with Matt so he can apologize in person. When he's done, he puts his phone down and lies down on his bed.

END


Credits:

Starring

Samantha Giddings

Michael Munroe

Emily Davis

Christopher Hartley

Ashley Brown

Matthew Taylor

Jessica Riley

Secondary

Tom

Susan

Emilia

Sasha

Brett

Isabelle

Minor

Justin

Rachel

Terry

Becky

Gina

Ryan

Connor

Antonio

Caitlin

Mr. Munroe

Mrs. Munroe