DEGRASSI: AFTERMATH - S09E09 - WAR (WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR) PART 2

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

WARNING: THERE IS SOME EXTREMELY HEAVY CONTENT IN THIS EPISODE

READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED

1. Ext. Back Alley. Evening.

Pete and Rodney are waiting. Both of them look very uncomfortable.

Rodney:

Come on, Kreese! Get down here!

Pete:

How did we get into this mess?

Rodney:

It´s not our fault. We only wanted to get back at them for what they did to that girl.

Pete:

That kid had nothing to do with it!

Rodney:

Kreese said, that he did!

Pete:

Kreese is insane! Can´t you see that?

Rodney:

If you let me talk to him, then I can get him to do the right thing,

Pete:

He isn´t the only one, who will be going to jail. We hit him too. It could have been one of our blows, that killed him.

Rodney:

Don´t say that! I haven´t killed anyone. He has.

Pete:

Stop kidding yourself! Even in the best case scenario, we´ll be accessories to murder.

Rodney finally starts to lose his cool and kicks the wall.

Rodney:

This isn´t happening!

Pete:

It is and there´s no way around it. That looks like him.

A car comes riding up the street towards them. Kreese gets out of it and comes towards them. They look intimidated by him.

Kreese:

What happens doesn´t change anything.

Pete:

What do you mean, that it doesn´t change anything? He´s dead!

Kreese:

It´s unfortunate, but casualties are a fact of war. They can´t have anything on us.

Rodney:

How can you be sure?

Kreese:

Because I´m smarter than you! We left no clues or DNA evidence behind. There´s no way, that they will find out, that it was us, unless one of you talks.

Pete:

He´s just a casualty of war to you? He was innocent!

Kreese:

You weren´t there with my niece, after those pigs defiled her! She was pure, until they took that away from her! I swore to her, that I would make them pay and I will! Now they can sit in their jail cell and know, that their friend is dead and it´s all their fault! Vengeance will be mine, or I´ll die trying!

Rodney:

Mr. Kreese ...

Kreese:

They will know what it´s like to suffer, like she´s suffering. If any of you even think about going to the police, it´ll be the last you you do, or so help me God!

Rodney and Pete both look terrified of him.

OPENING CREDITS

2. Int. Car. Evening.

Rodney is driving, with Pete in the passenger seat.

Pete:

Do you believe me now?

Rodney:

It´ll be okay. We´ll be off to college and we´ll put this all behind us.

Pete:

Are you hearing yourself? What about going to hell?

Rodney:

I can´t consider that into the situation right now. We have to be rational.

Pete:

The only thing we can do is go to the police.

Rodney:

That´s not an option! I´m gonna be a preacher, like my dad and I´m gonna marry Tina and ...

Pete:

None of that will happen! Don´t you get it? We´re as good as dead, if we don´t do it! He´s paranoid out of his mind now, on top of how crazy he was before!

Rodney:

We´ll transfer schools. I can find some way of swinging it.

Pete:

There´s no other way. We have to face our punishment.

Rodney clearly still doesn´t want to face the truth.

3. Int. Rodney´s House. Evening.

Rodney comes into the living room. His dad is watching TV.

Rodney:

Hey, dad. What are you watching?

Dad:

Some silly comedy. How was your evening?

Rodney:

It was okay. I hung our with Pete.

Dad:

What did you do?

Rodney:

Oh, you know. A little of this, a little of that. I´m gonna hit the bricks.

Dad:

I´ll be doing the same in a bit.

Rodney:

Dad.

They make eye contact. Rodney smiles lovingly at him.

Rodney:

I love you. We´re not the kind of guys, who say it all the time, but I do. You´re the best dad, I could have asked for.

His dad smiles back at him.

Dad:

I love you too, son. Sleep tight.

Rodney:

I´ll try my best.

Rodney leaves him.

4. Int. Deacon´s Room. Evening.

Rodney comes into his little brother Deacon´s room. Deacon is ten years old and like a younger copy of Rodney in the way he looks. He looks up from the comic book, that he´s reading.

Rodney:

Hey, Deacon.

Deacon:

Hey. I beat your record on "Galaxy Wars 3" tonight.

Rodney:

You did, huh? I´ll have to see if I can set a benchmark, that´s more challenging. How did your English test go?

Deacon:

What do you think?

Rodney looks pleased.

Rodney:

The straight A kid strikes again!

Deacon:

I have to get straight A´s, if I´m gonna follow in your footsteps.

Rodney:

I´m proud of you. I know, that you´ll make something of yourself, when you grow up.

Deacon holds his comic book up.

Deacon:

Maybe I can be the next Superman!

Rodney:

You can´t be a worse one than Ben Affleck!

The brothers laugh.

Deacon:

I´m going for either that or Spiderman.

Rodney:

Why shouldn´t you aim big? I love you, Deacon. Sweet dreams.

Deacon:

I love you too. Are we going fishing this weekend?

Rodney:

We´ll see.

Rodney leaves his brother´s room. Deacon goes back to reading.

5. Int. Living Room. Night.

Rodney´s dad has gone to bed and the living room is dark, when Rodney comes sneaking in as quiet as he can. He turns on a small lamp and opens a drawer. He takes a box out of it and opens it. It has a .12 millimeter revolver inside. He takes it out of the box and tries to the feel of the weight of it in his hand, before putting it back in the box. He picks up the box and closes the drawer, before turning the light off.

6. Int. Car. Morning.

Rodney is driving, with Tina in the passenger seat.

Rodney:

Did you study for your history test?

Tina:

Quiz me.

Rodney:

Who was the emperor, who played his violin, while Rome was burning around him?

Tina:

That was the crazy one. Nero.

Rodney:

You´re not lying there. That guy was off his rocker!

Tina:

Can you imagine what it was like having to live in a country, where he was the ruler?

Rodney:

It wouldn´t have been fun. At least, they managed to take him down in the end.

Tina:

Not until after the damage was done. What good did it do them by then? He had left the entire Roman Empire on the verge of collapse, when they finally got rid of him. If that story has taught us anything, it´s that rulers like him had to be done away with ASAP, before they did too much damage.

Rodney tries to work up his nerve to tell her.

Rodney:

Tina, there´s something I need to tell you.

Tina:

Nothing bad, I hope.

Rodney:

I ...

He looks into her smiling face and loses his nerve.

Rodney:

I love you so much. I don´t say it enough, but I want you to know, that my life would never have been the same, if it didn´t have you in it.

Tina:

Where´s all this coming from?

Rodney:

I just thought, that it needed to be said.

Tina:

I love you too. I feel so lucky, that someday I will get to marry my best friend and have his children.

He takes her hand and kisses it very gently.

7. Ext. Parking Lot. Morning.

Tina and Rodney have gotten out of the car.

Rodney:

You run along. I forgot that I need to check the oil gage.

Tina:

Can´t it wait until after school?

Rodney:

I should have done it yesterday. You know me. I´ll just drive me crazy all day.

Tina:

Okay. See you inisde.

She leaves him and heads towards the school. He opens the trunk and the box with the gun in it is in there. He opens it and quickly loads the gun with 12 bullets, before sticking it down the front of his pants. Seeing that it´s too obvious, he in stead gets some tape from the trunk and tapes it to the inside of his calf muscle. He takes a deep breath and heads inside.

8. Int. Hallway. Morning.

Rodney walks through the hallway with determination. He passes by Deco and Regina and waves good morning to them with a fake smile. They wave back at him. His smile quickly fades, as he continues up the hallway.

9. Int. Men´s Room. Morning.

Rodney gets into one of the stalls. He frees the gun from his leg and looks at his phone, which reads 7:59. He waits for the attendance bell to ring and hides the gun under his jacket, before leaving the bathroom.

10. Int. Gym. Morning.

Kreese is teaching a boy´s PE class. Among those in the class are Deco, Pete and Simon. Jamie is one the sidelines nursing his broken ankle and reading a book. The others are doing war up´s.

Kreese:

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 and ...

Rodney comes in and Jamie looks up to see him. He´s surprised, that he isn´t in gym clothes.

Jamie:

Hi, Rodney. Didn´t you forget something?

Rodney:

No, I didn´t. As a matter of fact, I brought the only thing I need.

The others notice him too and stop warming up, as he approaches them.

Kreese:

What are you stopping for?

Kreese notices him and Rodney pulls the gun out. Kreese raises his hands.

Pete:

Rodney, you don´t want to do this!

Rodney:

The mad emperor must die, for the good of the people!

Rodney fires the gun and his Kreese square in the chest. The students are shocked, to say the least, as Kreese gasps for air on the floor.

Simon:

Why?

Rodney:

He´s the son of a bitch, who killed Bobby DeMarco!

The shock of the revelation and the murder they just witnessed has every student reeling. Deco slowly approaches Rodney, as Jamie sees the chance to quietly sneak out without Rodney noticing.

Deco:

Rodney, give me the gun. You´re a good man and you don´t want to hurt anyone else.

Rodney:

I was there. Me and Pete.

Pete moves away from the rest of them, looking scared.

Simon:

Is that true?

Pete:

We should have stopped him, but we were too afraid of him. The girl, who was raped, was his niece. He wanted the ultimate revenge on those, who did it.

Rodney:

We deserve to die.

Rodney points the gun at Pete and fires it. He´s hit in the chest, just like Kreese was and falls backwards. Deco charges him, but doesn´t get to him, before he´s shot in the leg and goes down.

Deco:

GOD! ARGH!

Simon:

Deco!

Simon rushes to tend to him.

Simon:

Would you stop killing people?

Rodney cries and is having a complete breakdown.

Rodney:

What did I do? I´ve killed my best friend.

A student check Pete´s pulse. He shakes his head at Rodney, who points the gun at his own head.

Rodney:

I never meant for this to happen. All I wanted was to spend my life helping people and marry my Tina. Lord, forgive me.

He closes his eyes and tries to get himself to pull the trigger, but gives up and in stead fires another bullet into the head of coach Kreese, that seemingly kills him, if he wasn´t already dead.

11. Int. Classroom. Morning.

The students are in uproar after hearing the gunshots. Many are scared, including Regina, Tina and Carla. Eddy tries to calm them down.

Eddy:

Everyone stay put! I´m finding out, what´s going on.

He leaves them.

Regina:

Those sounded like gunshots.

Carla:

At Degrassi?

Tina:

It wouldn´t be the first time.

They look worried.

12. Int. Hallway. Morning.

Eddy comes running down the hallway and finds Jamie dragging himself up the floor.

Jamie:

Get down!

Eddy crouches down next to him.

Eddy:

Are you hurt?

Jamie:

I´m fine. I can´t say the same for Coach Kreese. Rodney shot him in the chest.

Eddy looks shocked.

Eddy:

Rodney from Friendship Club?

Jamie:

He´s gone full out psycho. I snuck out in the commotion after the first shot, but I heard three more shots fired, as I was crawling away.

Eddy:

Who else is in there?

Jamie:

Deco, Simon and a handful of others.

Eddy:

We need to get you to safety. We can worry about the rest later.

Eddy starts dragging him away.

13. Int. Classroom. Day.

Chrissy and the other juniors are just as shocked as the seniors were. Rosie is their teacher.

Snake (over the PA):

Everyone stay in your classrooms. Do not start a panic.

Rosie:

You heard him.

Lisa:

What if a gunman comes in here and shoots us?

Sally:

Shouldn´t we be running for the hills?

Rosie:

Calm down! The principal knows, what he´s doing!

Chrissy:

I´m his grand daughter. Don´t you think, he would do what he can, to keep me safe?

Rosie:

Good point, Chrissy. We need to let the police handle this.

Rosie gives a Chrissy a slight nod of appreciation.

14. Int. Gymnasium. Morning.

Rodney is having a break down, while Simon is tying a T-Shirt around Deco´s leg. Deco is starting to lose consciousness.

Deco:

Simon ...

Simon:

Stay with me!

He looks over at Rodney.

Simon:

He´s losing blood fast. He´ll die too, if we don´t get him out of here.

Rodney:

Take him. Just leave me alone.

Simon:

Come with us.

Rodney:

I can´t. Go.

Simon and one of the other boys grab Deco and carry him out. Rodney crouches down by Pete´s body and cries.

15. Int. Classroom. Morning.

Bianca comes in to the senior´s classroom.

Julie:

What´s going on?

Bianca:

There´s been a shooting, but it doesn´t look like there´s any more to worry about. Stay calm and we´ll get you more information, as soon as we can. Regina, Tina, can you come with me?

Regina and Tina look very worried, as they walk over to Bianca. They leave the room.

16. Int. Hallway. Morning.

The police have now arrived in large numbers and are manning the hallway. Deco is rolled through on a stretcher by EMT´s, as Regina runs over to him.

Regina:

Is he gonna be okay?

EMT:

He´s lost a lot of blood. Are you his girlfriend?

Regina:

Yes. I´m coming with you.

She grabs Deco´s hand, as he tries to stay awake for and Bianca watch them, as they head up the hallway. Tina is in tears.

Bianca:

I can´t make you do this, but you´re probably the only one, he will talk to.

Tina:

I don´t know, what happened. He seemed fine this morning.

Bianca:

I need to warn you. We know from Jamie, that he´s shot coach Kreese and he could be dead. He´s also shot Pete.

Tina looks shocked.

Tina:

It has to be a mistake. They´re best friends, for crying out loud!

Bianca:

Are you sure, you can handle it? It´s fine, if you say no.

Tina:

Who´ll talk to him then? No, it has to be me.

She wipes her eyes and tries to look determined.

17. Int. Gymnasium. Morning.

Rodney is still crouched over Pete´s body.

Snake (off screen):

We´re sending Tina in. Don´t shoot!

He turns to face the door. Tina comes in and immediately starts crying, when she sees Pete´s body.

Rodney:

Tina, I´m so sorry. I didn´t mean to shoot him!

Tina:

Is he dead?

Rodney nods. She slowly approaches him.

Rodney:

Coach Kreese had us do all of those attacks. We´re the ones, who killed Bobby DeMarco. Us and him.

Tina:

How could you not tell me?

Rodney:

I wanted to, but he was crazy. He could have gone after you, if he found out, that you knew. He threatened to kill me and Pete, if we talked and that´s when I knew, I had to put an end to it.

Tina:

Like this? You´ll spend the rest of your life in prison.

Rodney:

DON´T YOU THINK, I KNOW THAT?

Tina:

You´ll go to hell, unless you repent.

Rodney shakes his head at her.

Rodney:

Tina, you really are an angel, aren´t you? If God exists, then he´s left me.

Tina:

DON´T TALK LIKE THAT!

Rodney:

IT´S THE TRUTH! IF GOD HADN´T LEFT ME, THEN WHY WOULD HE ALLOW ME TO KILL?

Tina:

I don´t know. But I know, that he still has a plan for you.

Rodney:

No, he doesn´t. If he does, then it´s a pretty screwed up plan!

Tina approaches him, but he points the gun at her, so she stops.

Tina:

You´re not gonna shoot me.

Rodney:

Leave. Just walk away, don´t look back and forget, that you ever knew me.

Tina:

So you can kill yourself?

Rodney:

That´s the plan. My life is over anyway.

Tina:

You can´t.

Rodney:

Watch me.

He puts the gun to his head.

We cut to Tina´s shocked face, as we hear the gunshot.

18. Montage - Music: "Indifference" by Pearl Jam

The whole montage is in slow motion.

We see Police rushing in and tending to a shocked Tina, who´s practically catatonic. She met by Bianca out in the hallway.

We see the students being led out of school by teachers and policemen. Chrissy finds Jamie outside and he tells her and Lisa about Deco. They´re shocked and Suey comes over to them. Her and Lisa hug.

We see Simon and the other students, who were present (excluding Deco, of course) being questioned by the police. Everyone is still clearly in shock over what happened.

We see Regina following Deco as far as she can, before he goes into surgery. She looks very worried about him.

We see Tina with her parents and a psychologist. She´s clearly very shook up.

19. Ext. Hospital. Evening.

Deco´s fans and fellow Degrassi students have gathered outside the hospital by the hundreds, many with lit candles for him. Some of them sing songs for him, while others just mourn in peace.

We cut to Lois Cronkite and her camera crew.

Lois:

Tonight is a night of somber reflection, as people all over Canada try to make sense of the tragedy, that struck Degrassi Community School today. A student, whose name is still withheld by the authorities came to school armed with a gun and shot two people to death, coach Barry Kreese and senior student Pete Bonney. Both have passed away. Inside this hospital, star actor Declan O´Hare from the hit show, that´s shot at the school is fighting for his life. He was shot in the leg and reportedly lost a lot of blood in the incident. It´s been almost ten hours since the shooting and his fans out here are still desperately awaiting news. One can only hope, that this tragedy doesn´t claim yet another innocent life.

20. Int. Waiting Room. Evening.

Simon, Regina and Deco´s other friends and closest colleagues are in the waiting room.

Regina:

What´s taking them so long?

Simon:

It can´t be a good sign.

Bianca comes in with a somber look on her face. She makes eye contact with Regina and Regina starts crying.

Bianca:

He had lost too much blood and the bullet hit his main artery. He didn´t make it.

We see the reactions of many in the room, before ending on Simon and Regina, who are holding each other.

CLOSING CREDITS