ACT ONE
FADE IN:
EXT. MOONLIGHT CAFE - NIGHT
Flashing red and blue police lights illuminate the street
outside the restaurant, as uniformed officers pour over the
scene.
ANGLE: THE VALET
talking to one of the officers.
VALET
It's crazy, man! It was like he
was aiming right at that poor
girl!
POLICEMAN #1
The driver made no attempt to
stop?
VALET
That's what I'm saying! I'm
telling you—I heard him gun the
engine!
Meanwhile...
ANGLE: SAM
trying to talk to another officer.
SAM
(crying)
—I don't know!
Grey...silver...something! It—it
just happened so fast!
POLICEMAN #2
(gently)
I'm sorry, Ma'am...you didn't see
a license plate?
SAM
No! All I saw was...Brooke...
Sam breaks down completely, hugging herself. Harrison comes
jogging up to her.
HARRISON
Sam—
When he touches her shoulder, she recoils violently away from
him. Harrison looks shocked, but presses on:
HARRISON (CONT'D)
Sam, I got through to your mom.
She's trying to find Brooke's dad.
Sam looks up at him, and collapses into his arms, sobbing.
SAM
(to the policeman)
Please! We have to get to the
hospital!
A middle-aged man in a suit walks up to them, and flashes an
ID case at the policeman.
CAVANAUGH
Hello, I'm Detective Cavanaugh.
HARRISON
Uh, Harrison John.
(gesturing)
Sam McPherson.
POLICEMAN #2
(to Cavanaugh)
These two were having dinner with
the victim just prior to the
incident.
Cavanaugh looks them over.
CAVANAUGH
Come on, kids. We can do this at
the hospital.
SAM
Thank you.
He herds them towards an unmarked sedan.
CUT TO:
INT. EMERGENCY ROOM
Dr. Wilmore, a large fifty-ish man, is striding briskly down
the corridor when a nurse meets him and matches his pace. She
hands him a clipboard.
WILMORE
What've we got?
NURSE
Female, seventeen. Vehicle
impact. Internal bleeding,
collapsed lung, ruptured spleen—we
don't know about her kidneys
yet—broken ribs, fractured femur,
probable skull fracture. She was
thrown at least twenty feet.
Spiked a couple minutes ago—almost
bought it in the ambulance.
WILMORE
Okay—set her up in three. And get
LaRue down here—I'm gonna need
her.
The nurse jogs off, and Dr. Wilmore quickens his step.
CUT TO:
INT. EMERGENCY WAITING ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
Harrison and Sam come bursting through the doors, arm in arm,
with Cavanaugh a step behind. Sam rushes up to the nurse's
desk. A nurse is sitting behind the desk, but she is busy
chatting on the phone, and doesn't bother to look up at Sam's
approach.
SAM
Excuse me? Excuse me!
The nurse puts a hand up to shush Sam, still not bothering to
look up. Sam throws her hands up in despair. Then Cavanaugh
appears at her side.
CAVANAUGH
Allow me.
He takes his ID out of his jacket pocket, reaches over and
holds it in front of the nurse's face. She immediately puts
the phone down and looks up at him.
CAVANAUGH (CONT'D)
Brooke McQueen. Car accident. A
few minutes ago.
NURSE
Sir—
CAVANAUGH
I don't need your 520's. Just
tell me what's going on.
The nurse taps a few keys on her keyboard, and looks through
the papers on the desk.
NURSE
They're working on her—that's all
I can tell you.
CAVANAUGH
Okay.
He turns to Sam and Harrison
CAVANAUGH (CONT'D)
"Working on her" is good. In my
experience, "working on her" is
much better than "not working on
her".
His beeper goes off. He pulls it from his belt and looks at
the message.
CAVANAUGH (CONT'D)
I have to take this. I'll be back
in a few.
HARRISON
Thanks.
CAVANAUGH
(delicately)
She might think about sitting
down.
Harrison nods, and as Cavanaugh walks off, he guides Sam to a
seat, sitting down next to her and wrapping his arm around her
protectively. She buries her face in his chest.
SAM
This is so wrong...
HARRISON
She's gonna be okay, Sam. She's
gotta be okay.
She looks up at him, crying again.
SAM
Why? Why?
He can only shake his head helplessly.
A moment later, the doors fly open and Jane rushes in. Sam
leaps up and runs into her arms.
SAM (CONT'D)
Mom!
JANE
(comforting)
Oh, baby...what happened?
SAM
(sobbing)
It just—came out of
nowhere...just—ran her down...
JANE
(rocking her gently)
Shh...
(to Harrison)
I tracked down Mike. He's on his
way. Thank you—for being here.
HARRISON
(at a loss)
There's a detective here.
He's...been helpful.
On cue, Cavanaugh walks back into the waiting room.
HARRISON (CONT'D)
Oh—Detective Cavanaugh, this is—
JANE
Jane McPherson.
Jane holds out her hand awkwardly; Cavanaugh takes it briefly.
CAVANAUGH
So, you are...?
JANE
I'm...Brooke's father's fiance.
And the mother of his child. Uh,
new child—we just had a baby.
CAVANAUGH
Oh. Well, congratulations.
(to Sam)
So, you and Miss McQueen—you're
going to be step-sisters?
Sam nods.
CAVANAUGH (CONT'D)
I see...
(musing)
I had a step-sister once. If I'd
gotten hit by a car...she probably
would've buried me right there in
the street.
(returning to the present)
But, that's just me.
He looks over the group.
CAVANAUGH (CONT'D)
Well, I'm going to have to talk to
all of you at some point.
Harrison? You mind going first?
HARRISON
Ah, yeah, fine.
(thinks)
Oh—can I have a couple minutes?
CAVANAUGH
Sure. I'll go find a room.
HARRISON
(to Jane)
I'll be right back.
Cavanaugh and Harrison walk off in different directions, while
Jane sits Sam down and huddles with her.
CUT TO:
INT. BOBBI GLASS'S BEDROOM
Miss Glass is snoring soundly on top of the covers when the
phone rings. After a few rings, she grumbles, and without
pulling off her sleep mask, reaches over, and snatches it up.
GLASS
(snarling)
If this is that weirdo selling
knock-off Old Navy pullovers
again, I'm gonna track you down
and break your face, you pile of
sewage!
As she listens, she pushes up her mask, and her expression
changes completely.
GLASS (CONT'D)
Oh. I see... I see... No—I
mean, yes.
Numbly, she replaces the phone.
CUT TO:
INT. JOSH AND LILY'S APARTMENT - MOMENTS LATER
Miss Glass, dressed as usual, comes banging down the steps,
flicking the light on. Josh and Lily, who are asleep in their
bathrobes on their individual beds, look up, blinking and
disoriented.
LILY
(tiredly)
Miss Glass, you can just come
barging in here anytime you want—!
GLASS
This isn't a social call, kids!
(a bit softer)
I got some bad news.
Josh and Lily look at each other with trepidation.
CUT TO:
INT. A SMALL WAITING ROOM
Off the main hallway, the room has only a few chairs and a
tiny table. Cavanaugh is sitting there, with a few papers
strewn across the table, when Harrison pokes his head through
the doorway and knocks.
CAVANAUGH
Come on in.
Harrison steps into the room and sits across the table from
Cavanaugh, who picks up his notebook and flips to a fresh
page.
CAVANAUGH (CONT'D)
Just a couple of things... You
and Miss McPherson, and Miss
McQueen, were having dinner at the
Moonlight Cafe?
HARRISON
Right. We were going to the
junior prom after.
CAVANAUGH
(raising an eyebrow)
The three of you?
HARRISON
(embarrassed)
Yeah—I know, that must sound a
little weird...
CAVANAUGH
Hey, I'm not the dating police.
(flips a few pages)
You were inside when it happened,
correct?
HARRISON
Yeah. I heard the crash, and I
ran out, and that's when I saw...
CAVANAUGH
(holding up a hand)
Okay.
(rifles through more pages)
All right, what I've got from
other witnesses is that the three
of you were sitting at the table,
and then Miss McQueen got up, and
ran out. She was upset?
HARRISON
Yeah.
CAVANAUGH
And Miss McPherson ran after her?
HARRISON
Yeah.
CAVANAUGH
(spreading his hands)
Care to tell me what that was
about?
HARRISON
(uncomfortably)
That's kinda a long story.
CAVANAUGH
That's all right. You're not
gonna bore me.
Look, my philosophy is, the more I
know about the victim and what was
going on right before the
incident, the better I am at
putting the pieces together and
closing the case. So you just
tell me whatever I need to know to
understand.
HARRISON
(sighs)
Okay. It all started a few weeks
ago...
EFFECT CUT TO:
INT. MISS GLASS'S CAR
Miss Glass is in the driver's seat, while Josh and Lily are
ensconced in the back.
JOSH
Thanks for driving us to the
hospital, Miss Glass.
GLASS
(gruffly)
I was already up. Besides, with
all you LOSERS in my class, I have
to hang onto the ones that
actually have a fighting chance of
passing!
She starts the engine, and the car lurches ominously.
LILY
(tentatively)
Uh...are you sure this is safe?
GLASS
(jovially)
Don't worry, you're as safe as a
rock-a-bye baby!
JOSH
(to Lily)
Wasn't that the baby who fell out
of the tree?
GLASS
Yeeeeh-HAWWW!
With the SOUND EFFECT of a whip cracking, Miss Glass puts the pedal
to the metal, and the car screeches off, accompanied by Lily's
rising shriek from the back seat.
EFFECT CUT TO:
INT. EMERGENCY WAITING ROOM
The doors open and Mike comes storming in. Jane and Sam jump
up and hug him.
MIKE
What happened? Where is she?
SAM
We—we don't know...
Mike breaks out of their grip and walks purposefully over to
the nurses desk.
MIKE
Excuse me, I need to find out
about Brooke McQueen.
NURSE
Sir, I can't—
MIKE
(hissing)
I'm her father!
NURSE
(insistently)
Sir, the doctor will be out as
soon as he can spare a minute,
okay? I promise...they're doing
everything they can.
After a tense moment, Mike relents and walks back to Jane and
Sam.
CUT TO:
INT. THE SMALL WAITING ROOM
where Harrison and Cavanaugh are still talking.
CAVANAUGH
(consulting his notes)
So, basically, you had a thing for
both these girls.
HARRISON
Ah...yeah.
CAVANAUGH
And, when you found out they were
both using you to get at each
other, you told them both to take
a hike.
HARRISON
Right.
CAVANAUGH
But then, they decided not to
fight, and ask you to go to the
prom with both of them...together.
HARRISON
Uh huh...
CAVANAUGH
Which...brings us to the Moonlight
Cafe.
HARRISON
(unhappily)
Yeah.
CAVANAUGH
So?
Harrison runs his hand through his hair nervously.
DISSOLVE TO:
FLASHBACK
INT. MOONLIGHT CAFE - NIGHT
Harrison, Brooke and Sam's fateful meeting.
SAM
Harrison, this isn't working.
HARRISON
Hey, you guys are the ones that
proposed this, this—
BROOKE
(cutting him off)
Look, we know. It just— It hurts
too much.
HARRISON
(dreading the moment)
You want me to choose?
They both nod.
SAM
Yeah.
HARRISON
Well, I knew this was coming...
So...I'm prepared.
BROOKE
(a bit shocked)
You know...which one of us you
want to be with?
HARRISON
This is really hard. Someone's
gonna get hurt, and I hate that
more than anything. But...yeah.
For a long moment, no one speaks. Or breathes. Finally:
SAM
(with a forced grin)
Well?
Harrison takes a deep breath and blows it out.
HARRISON
Brooke—
Instantly Brooke's eyes light up; and Sam winces and turns
away.
HARRISON (CONT'D)
I had a crush on you since...since
I don't even know when. For
years, you were like this perfect,
unattainable goal for me. And
then... Then I got leukemia.
And I found out that there was so
much more to you... You were
there, when I didn't think I was
gonna make it. And when you told
me that you had...feelings...for
me? I—I didn't...
Hearing all this, Sam miserably sinks further down in her seat
and buries her face in her hands.
HARRISON (CONT'D)
Brooke, what we shared during
spring break...that was...the most
important, special thing...anyone
has ever given me. And—and I know
that it wasn't just sex.
That...bond...will always be
there, between us.
He looks skyward for a moment, and takes one more deep breath,
before:
HARRISON (CONT'D)
But...
Brooke's face falls; and Sam looks up at him curiously.
BROOKE
(confused and hurt)
But?
SAM
But?
Harrison steels himself—again—before turning to Sam.
HARRISON
Sam...we've been best friends
since first grade. You were
there, when my mom took the
training wheels off my bike, and
the first thing I did was crash it
into a tree. And—and you helped
make that dinosaur diorama, when I
won the fifth-grade science fair,
remember that?
Sam laughs in spite of herself.
HARRISON (CONT'D)
And when my mom and dad split
up... Sam, you've been the most
important person in my life...my
whole life.
SAM
(tearing up)
Harrison...
HARRISON
I said that I couldn't be just
friends with you anymore, Sam.
I—I had to know. And I still do.
I have to know, if...if we can be
more than friends. If we can make
it work.
BROOKE
(breaking in)
Wait...you don't think we could
work?
HARRISON
Brooke, I didn't say that.
BROOKE
Yes, you did! You're just—giving
up on us, just like that! I
thought you had feelings for me!
HARRISON
(flustered)
Brooke—
BROOKE
Don't you?
HARRISON
I do! I mean—
SAM
Whoa!
BROOKE
If you have feelings for ME, why
are you choosing HER?
SAM
You have feelings for HER? What
kind of feelings are we talking
about?
HARRISON
Sam, I—
SAM
Wait, are you doing this out of
some kind of PITY? Because of
what happened with George?
HARRISON
Sam, that's not why! I mean—yeah,
I feel responsible for that, but—
SAM
So that IS what this is about!
HARRISON
No!
BROOKE
So, you're dumping me so you can
run off and do this little
experiment with Sam?
HARRISON
Brooke, no—I love Sam!
SAM
You do?
HARRISON
I think.
SAM
You don't KNOW?
HARRISON
(rubbing his eyes)
Okay, this is not going the way
I'd hoped...
DISSOLVE TO:
THE SMALL WAITING ROOM
CAVANAUGH
And that's when Miss McQueen ran
out
HARRISON
(sighs)
Yeah.
CAVANAUGH
I'm no Ann Landers, kid. I can't
tell you how to solve your dating
problems, but... My gut tells
me, this is just going to wind up
being wrong place, wrong time.
(closes his notebook)
Anyway, thanks for clearing that
up.
Harrison takes the cue and gets up.
HARRISON
Sure.
CAVANAUGH
You should go find out how your
friend is doing.
HARRISON
Yeah. Thanks.
Harrison walks out.
CUT TO:
INT. EMERGENCY WAITING ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
Just as Harrison walks back into the waiting room, there is a
screech of tires from outside. A moment later, Miss Glass
comes through the doors, followed by Josh and Lily. While
Josh and Lily huddle with Sam and Harrison, Mike comes over
and shakes Miss Glass's hand.
MIKE
Miss Glass? I—appreciate your
being here.
GLASS
Well...
(conspiratorially)
Don't tell her I said so, but your
kid's got a good head on her
shoulders.
Dr. Wilmore steps into the room.
WILMORE
Mr. McQueen?
At the sight of the doctor, Mike rushes to the forefront, with
everyone else close behind.
MIKE
I'm Mike McQueen.
WILMORE
Dr. Leonard Wilmore.
MIKE
How is she?
WILMORE
I'm not going to pull any punches,
Mr. McQueen. Your daughter's in
very bad shape.
She has numerous internal
injuries, the worst of which we've
managed to stabilize for the
moment. She has a severe skull
fracture, and she hasn't responded
to us at all. It's really too
soon to say, but—there may be
brain damage.
MIKE
(breaking down)
Oh, God...
WILMORE
We're going to transfer her up to
ICU at some point, but, frankly,
I'm worried about moving her right
now. I wish I tell you something
else, but—we're not very confident
of her making through the night.
MIKE
Can I see her?
WILMORE
(nodding)
Just for a few moments.
Dr. Wilmore takes Mike by the arm and leads him away.
CUT TO:
INT. EMERGENCY ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
Brooke is lying on a bed, unconscious, hooked up to a
respirator and a dozen other machines. The curtain
surrounding her bed parts, and Dr. Wilmore motions Mike
through.
WILMORE
Just a few moments.
Dr. Wilmore closes the curtain, leaving Mike alone with
Brooke. He gingerly steps to her side, and, crying, strokes
part of her face that isn't covered.
MIKE
Oh, baby...
FADE TO WHITE.
EXT. THE MEADOW
Brooke looks around uncertainly.
BROOKE
Hello? Hel-loooo! Anyone
here?
Looking down, she sees that she's standing on a narrow dirt
path that winds away in both directions. Sighing, she picks
one and starts walking.
BROOKE (CONT'D)
(to no one in particular)
You know, not that I'm not having
a good time—because I'm
not—but...
Suddenly she notices a card stuck in the tall grass. She
bends over and picks it up.
INSERT: THE CARD
an ornate invitation.
BROOKE (CONT'D)
(reading)
Brooke McQueen, you are cordially
invited to dinner and drinks at
Chez Destiny, immediately. Casual
attire...?
She looks up, confused, and—
CUT TO:
INT. CHEZ DESTINY
—suddenly finds herself standing in the foyer of an elegant
restaurant. Then from behind her:
HOSTESS
Name?
Brooke spins around and sees, standing behind a small podium,
the hostess—who bears an uncanny resemblance to Gwyneth
Paltrow (natch).
BROOKE
Excuse me?
HOSTESS
(patiently)
Name?
BROOKE
Oh—McQueen. Brooke McQueen.
HOSTESS
(looking through a list)
McQueen, McQueen...oh, yes, here
we are.
(looking up)
I'm sorry, Ms. McQueen, but your
table isn't quite ready yet. We'd
be happy to have you wait at the
bar in the meantime.
BROOKE
Oh—but...
HOSTESS
It's all right.
Brooke shrugs and takes a step in that direction, then turns
back.
BROOKE
Hey...you look...?
HOSTESS
(smiling)
I get that a lot.
Brooke shrugs again, and perches herself on a stool at the
bar, which is otherwise empty. Looking around, she notices
that all the tables are empty, too—in fact, the entre place
seems deserted. What she doesn't notice is a wine glass being
set in front of her, until she sees it sitting there.
BROOKE
Oh, no, that's all—
She stops in mid-sentence as she looks up and sees—
BROOKE (CONT'D)
(shocked)
Clarence?
Indeed, Clarence, decked out in a bartender's uniform,
grinning at her.
BLACK OUT.
END OF ACT ONE
