Rearview Window NOTE: Yes, the arms have changed (on both Josh and Lily); Lily's RIGHT arm is the one that is in a sling, and Josh's LEFT arm is in a sling. They are the ones that are Mello's and Johnson's dominant hands (I admit, I goofed in the past 2 eps). Hell, if the real Popular can goof, so can I (if you re-watch "Two Weddings and a Funeral" carefully, you will see that Miss Glass's LEFT hand is the one where the cat chews the finger off of; this season, Bobbi Glass has The Claw on her right hand). I only mention this because it's got to do with the events to come. By the way, Carly Pope's a lefty. Just thought you'd like to know.

REARVIEW WINDOW: ACT 1

INT. KENNEDY HIGH SCHOOL - PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE - DAY

PRINCIPAL CECILIA HALL sits behind her desk, hands folded.

HALL
New scent, Ms. Julian?

NICOLE JULIAN sits in her high-tech wheelchair across from her.

NICOLE
So nice to see you again, Principal Hall.

HALL
It's good to be back, although I wish it were
under better circumstances.
(pauses)
And I'm sure you feel the same way, given
your own circumstances.

NICOLE
And what would they be?

Principal Hall softens.

HALL
I know exactly how hard it is to adjust to a new...lifestyle,
but I can assure you that Kennedy High is fully equipped
to assist you in your needs.

NICOLE
With all due respect Principal Hall, I don't need anything.

HALL
When I lost my eyesight, I didn't want to need anything,
either. But I had to face my fate and accept that whether or
not I wanted it, I was going to need help.
(pauses)
I know from experience that you are a very stubborn,
strong-willed individual, Ms. Julian. In most cases, it
aids in your successful self-preservation. But in this case,
I fear that it may hinder your adjustment.

NICOLE
I don't have to adjust to anything. I know that I may never
walk again -- big deal. Everything happens for a reason, Principal
Hall, and my fate is parked right outside in front of the big blue sign.

HALL
It doesn't have to be that way. There is a chance that you may
be able to walk again --

NICOLE
I won't be cheering for the Glamazons, that's for sure.

HALL
Maybe not, but I know exactly how fiercely you will strive to
recover from this...and you will.
(pauses)
But until you do, I'm requiring you to enlist the aid of a
fellow classmate to help you along in the process. I've
had numerous volunteers for temporary assistance until
you've made your choice, but --

MARY CHERRY (O.S.)
Hi hun!

Nicole's head whips around to see a beaming MARY CHERRY standing at the door, waving.

HALL
-- only one was as enthusiastic as Mary Cherry.

MARY CHERRY
Don't you worry Forrest Gimp, I've got lots of experience
dealin' with the handicapped -- ooo, sorry Principal Hall:
disabled.

NICOLE
Mary Cherry, you are handicapped.

MARY CHERRY
Your attitude is quite common of those whose futures
are locked away in the dank, stairless cellar of physical
immobility.

Nicole turns to Principal Hall, her eyes wide, fuming.

Mary Cherry smiles and shrugs.

INT. KENNEDY HIGH SCHOOL - HALL - A LITTLE LATER

Mary Cherry clumsily pushes Nicole along in her wheelchair...even though it's an automatic.

NICOLE
(angry)
You don't need to push me, Mary Cherry.
Why the hell did you volunteer to do this,
anyway?

MARY CHERRY
You see, Nic, your invalid status radiates
sympathy and whoever helps you perform the
daily activities that you can no longer perform
on your own gains major popularity points.

NICOLE
Mm, of course. The pity party has
arrived.

MARY CHERRY
And I'll be your host for all time, my
gimpy friend.

Nicole rolls her eyes as she flips a switch and the chair jerks ahead of Mary Cherry.

INT. KENNEDY HIGH SCHOOL - CHEMISTRY CLASS - DAY

JOSH FORD settles in his seat next to SUGAR DADDY. He exhibits trouble with his books, as his left arm is still in a cast.

SUGAR DADDY
Yo, Josh...you gonna be O.K.?

JOSH
Yeah, I'll be fine...it's a little frustrating,
you know? Not being able to take notes
and stuff.

SUGAR DADDY
Don't worry 'bout it. I got your back,
bro.

JOSH
Naw, that's O.K....Lily already said she'd
help out.

SUGAR DADDY
You sure?

JOSH
Yeah.

He glances over at LILY ESPOSITO. She smiles at him, a little concerned. Her own hand isn't able to take notes.

BROOKE and SAM settle in their seats.

BROOKE
You haven't said a word since we left the
house.

SAM
I guess I'm just kind of shocked, that's
all.

BROOOKE
Shocked in a good, happy way or
shocked in an I'm miserable and I
wanna die way?

SAM
(smiles)
A...good way, definitely.

BROOKE
Why didn't you tell me about your
grandmother? She seems like such a
sweet lady.

SAM
She is.
(sighs)
I guess. I just never spent much time with her
when I was growing up.

NICOLE glides along in her wheelchair past them, MARY CHERRY following with her books. The kids sit in silence as they "try not to look". BOBBI GLASS ambles in and sets a few graduated cylinders on her desk. She peers up towards the back of the room.

HARRISON JOHN watches as MARY CHERRY sets Nicole's books down and reaches to help her adjust the height of her fancy wheelchair to an upright position. As it rises, Mary Cherry presses the wrong button and it jams, sending it down, then up, then down, then up -- Nicole fumes as she attempt to slap Mary Cherry's hands away as she panics. Nicole gets a good swipe in.

MARY CHERRY
(quiet)
Oh, ooo, okay.

She tip toes away and Nicole's eyes burn through her as she takes her seat. Miss Glass clears her throat.

BOBBI GLASS
Okay people...despite the unfortunate
doctrina interruptus that occurred when
we were all given a week to come
together and mourn our fellow students'
and faculty member's departure from this
godforsaken planet, I'd still like to
temporarily forget what happened and
pick up where we left off.

Lily huffs. Miss Glass looks up and everyone's wearing yellow armbands except for Nicole.

BOBBI GLASS (cont'd)
Something wrong, Miss Esposito?

LILY
No, Miss Glass...I just think that alot of
us are going to find it hard for us to even
temporarily forget.

BOBBI GLASS
Well, maybe it'd be a little easier for you
if you all weren't wearing bright yellow
bandanas to suck up the light in your
peripheral vision.

LILY
These armbands signify our tribute to those
who died and our refusal to forget what
happened.

Miss Glass pauses and tilts her chin to look at Nicole for a short moment. She notices the missing armband and turns back to her papers on her desk.

BOBBI GLASS (cont'd)
Yes, well, some of us don't need an armband
to remember the suffering caused by the
tragedy.
(pauses)
Now I implore all of you...put aside the
candles in the wind and remember something
else -- the show must go on.
(pauses)
That said, let's refresh: Can anyone tell me
what the Law of Mass Conservation is?
(pauses)
I promise you it has nothing to do with Don Henley's
efforts at Walden Pond.

BROOKE
Isn't that the law that states that matter can't be
created or destroyed?

BOBBI GLASS (cont'd)
Precisely, Miss McQueen. Applied to chemistry,
the Law of Mass Conservation states that the mass of
materials before a reaction takes place is exactly
equal to the mass of the materials after the reaction
is completed.

She reaches in her drawer and pulls out a flask.

BOBBI GLASS(cont'd)
After receiving some inspiration on my daytrip
to San Fran, I stopped by the local Tencel plant
and siphoned what I could into my sport sipper
to get my first chemical compound: carbon disulfide,
a pungent substance used predominantly in the manufacture
of synthetic materials.

She chuckles as Lily squints her eyes ruefully. Miss Glass opens her drawer, but her brows furrow.

BOBBI GLASS (cont'd)
Make sure your cellphones are off. This stuff is
highly flammable.
(pauses)
Hm. Seems that I've temporarily misplaced the
second reactant. Does anyone have a large
bottle of ethyl acetate?

The kids look confused.

BOBBI GLASS (cont'd)
Nail polish remover.

The girls scramble to look in their bags, but Mary Cherry comes up first with a huge bottle (along with a wide smile). She hands it to Miss Glass.

CARMEN
(whispers to Lily)
Why would she carry around that much nail
polish remover?

Lily shrugs.

Miss Glass uncaps the flask of carbon disulfide and the kids wince, crinkling their noses.

LILY
Ugh, God, that stuff smells!

BOBBI GLASS
Really? Couldn't notice it above the
putrid smell of your adolescent
emanations.

She pours 50 mL of the substance into one of the cylinders. She uncaps the nail polish remover and pours 50 mL in the other cylinder and places them on the scale.

BOBBI GLASS
Make note of the weight.
(pauses)
Now, observe.

She pours one cylinder's contents into the other, as the liquid rises to 100mL and places the empty cylinder back on the scale.

BOBBI GLASS (cont'd)
As you can see, nothing has changed
in terms of mass weight.
(pauses)
In fact, no matter how I rearrange the
molecules of these two liquids, their
mass will indeedy stay the same. Even
if I...took this empty cylinder off of the
scale, the mass of all items would still
stay the same, despite the misleading
scale reading. It just so happens that
the off-scale cylinder is over here...and
not over here.

CARMEN
So what you're saying is that when you
take something away, you're not getting
rid of it, you're just putting it in a different
place.

BOBBI GLASS
Yes, that's what I'm saying. Think about it, kids,
the next time you nonchalantly toss your next
Clif bar wrapper on the ground, you're not getting
rid of it, you're just merely placing it in an unenviornmentally
sound place other than your pocket...or the bottom of
your bookbags.

LILY
Miss Glass, I'm impressed.

BOBBI GLASS
You shouldn't be. I'm merely establishing the
foundation for the lesson du jour.

LILY
Yes, but that lesson so far seems to incorporate
a common sense theory that I've been --

BOBBI GLASS
Preaching?

LILY
Practicing, and using to teach others to be
environmentally conscious.

BOBBI GLASS
Maybe, but I assure you that my goal today was
not to validate or justify your nagging activism. It
was to make sure that you know that in chemistry
and life...things that cannot be destroyed.

NICOLE
Per usual, Claw, I beg to differ with that.

A short silence permeates the classroom as the kids turn to look at Nicole.

BOBBI GLASS
How so, Ms. Julian?

NICOLE
Well...why don't we take the simplest example. Me.
I am the same mass -- give or take a few ounces
gained while I languished in that godforsaken hospital
bed for a week -- that I was a month ago...that is,
if you take me out of my wonderful high-tech highchair
here.

The class grows uncomfortable.

NICOLE (cont'd)
However, things were destroyed within my anatomical
structure and now my body does not function the same
as it did a month ago, given the severed neurons.

BOBBI GLASS
This has nothing to do with functionality, Ms. Julian.
If I took these two chemicals and carefully separated
them, their mass would still be the same. They would
still exist.

NICOLE
Yes, but they still wouldn't come out the exact same way.
Much like how my body does not exist the exact same
way it did before.

BOBBI GLASS
And your point is?

NICOLE
My point is this: Things do get destroyed during a reaction.
If they don't get destroyed, there certainly is a change in
mass, however big or small. Unless...Mr. Lavoisier would
like to come back from the dead and dispute the integrity of
my mass before and after the prom.

Miss Glass sighs.

LATER...

The kids file out of the classroom. Mary Cherry gathers Nicole's books and Nicole revs her chair to clip Mary Cherry's heels. Mary Cherry scrambles out of the classroom and Nicole rolls along, only to be stopped by...

BOBBI GLASS
Ms. Julian.

Nicole reverses her chair.

BOBBI GLASS (cont'd)
I...I know how hard it is for you --

NICOLE
No, you certainly don't --

BOBBI GLASS
Just shut yer teen trap and listen.

Mary Cherry stops outside of the class to listen.

BOBBI GLASS (cont'd)
What I was going to say is that I know
how hard it is for you to come to terms
with our...relative relationship.

Mary Cherry cocks her head in question.

BOBBI GLASS (cont'd)
Imagine my utter terror when I realized that
one of my own students was indeed...one of
my own. Nonetheless...I will continue to hide
in the silent shame of knowing that we swim in
the same genepool and grade you accordingly.

Mary Cherry's mouth drops open in shock.

BOBBI GLASS (cont'd)
But just so you know...I...
(painful)
...I...do care about your welfare. If you find
yourself in need of any assistance --

NICOLE
Yes, hi -- you're only the umpteenth person to
tell me that "you care" and that "if I need help,
I can come to you" and yadda yadda. Its novelty
wore off about 24 hours ago. If I needed any help,
I'd definitely say something...but I don't, and I don't
want any special treatment.

She turns her chair and exits, leaving Miss Glass to ponder.

INT. KENNEDY HIGH SCHOOL - HALLWAY - DAY

Brooke and Sam walk on their crutches.

SAM
Wow. I thought I had it bad.

BROOKE
Yeah...Nic's gonna be pretty hard to deal with these days.

SAM
Like she wasn't before.

BROOKE
You know the scary part is that there's a sad truth to your
sarcasm, Sam.

SAM
Yeah. I guess it is pretty sad.

BROOKE
Speaking of sad, what's up, Sammy? We never got to finish
our conversation about Vivian. I thought maybe you'd be
excited that about her arrival.

SAM
I would be, but again...I don't really know her all that well and
vice versa.
(pauses)
What if she doesn't like me?

BROOKE
(scoffs)
Now that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Sam crooks her eyebrow as they stop at Brooke's locker.

BROOKE (cont'd)
What's not to like? You're like...every grandmother's dream.

SAM
Uh -- ha , yeah, no, that'd be you. Beautiful, popular, blonde,
straight-A cheerleader --

BROOKE
Ex-cheerleader, Sam. And might I remind you, failed class
presidential candidate.

SAM
Uh, yeah, but there were extenuating circumstances? Gee, you were
only in the hospital for an eating disorder.

BROOKE
See? I'm not without my flaws...my very big flaws. You, though.
What exactly have you done that would make you an archetype of
disfunction?

Sam drops her eyes.

BROOKE (cont'd)
That's right. Nothing. You're like...so perfect, it's unreal.

SAM
Mmph, whatever.

BROOKE
So what're you doing now?

SAM
I think I'm gonna go re-write my essay for Berkeley.

BROOKE
Really? I thought you'd already finished it.

SAM
I thought so too, but after what we've been through, I think
the topic of 'What are your goals?' has changed.

BROOKE
Hm. Could it have to do with, oh...I dunno...Harrison?

SAM
(hobbling off)
See you after class, Brooke.

BROOKE
Thought so.

DOWN THE HALL

Lily stands at her locker with Carmen, attempting to pile the books in. A book starts to fall -- Carmen catches it in time.

CARMEN
Are you sure you don't need me to stick around? I mean,
I have the next two periods free --

LILY
No, Carm, come on. I'm fine...you're already doing
enough as it is.

CARMEN
Lily. You need help, I can see that. You shouldn't be
ashamed of it --

LILY
I'm not ashamed. I'm just...frustrated. And feeling
a little guilty.

Carmen cocks her head in question.

LILY (cont'd)
(sighs)
I told Josh that I'd help him out by taking notes. But
now you're the one taking notes and helping the both
of us and I...I don't feel like you should be carrying
that burden.

CARMEN
(scoffs)
Don't you think that that would be my decision to make?
(pauses)
Lily. You're my best friend. I'm sure you would do the
same for me, right?

Lily nods.

CARMEN (cont'd)
Besides, does it really matter who's taking the notes, so
long as you guys get them?

Josh appears behind Lily, all smiles.

JOSH
Hey sweetstuff. You got those notes you promised?

LILY
Uh...yeah.

She motions silently for Carmen. Carmen digs in her notebook and hands the sheets over to Josh.

JOSH
Niiiiiiiice...thanks.
(pauses)
Hey, this isn't your handwriting.

LILY
Um, yeah, well...I...kinda have something to tell you.
It's really hard for me to take notes with my hand like
this and...

Carmen smiles; Lily turns away from her.

LILY (cont'd)
...and I guess it just shows in my writing.

Carmen's smile dissipates quickly. Josh nods with a smile.

JOSH
Well, it still looks great.

CARMEN
(mutters)
Yeah, just great.

LILY
Carmen --

Carmen ignores her, angry. Lily turns back to Josh.

JOSH
What's her problem?

Lily throws her head back and sighs.

Carmen flies by Nicole's locker where Nicole sits in her wheelchair. Mary Cherry is nowhere to be found. She heaves a couple of books up towards the locker, but they fall with a thud on the ground. Her lower lip quivers as she looks away towards the ceiling in frustration.

Someone has started to pick her things off the ground. She looks down and it's HARRISON. She sniffles and looks away as she subtlely wipe her tears away. Harrison rises and stuffs the books into her locker.

HARRISON
Hey.
(pauses)
Where's Mary Cherry? I thought she was supposed to
be helping you ou --

NICOLE
Yeah, well, it so turns out that Mary Cherry isn't
equipped for such a stressful job. Or any job,
for that matter.

HARRISON
(trying to make light)
Wouldn't be the first job she was fired from, huh.
(pauses)
Shouldn't you have someone else --

NICOLE
I don't need anybody else.

HARRISON
Yeah. Oh...okay.

He stares at her for a moment, but quickly looks away as she meets his stare.

HARRISON (cont'd)
Well, if you don't need anything, I guess I'll just go.

Nicole nods him off silently as she continues to fiddle with the books and papers in her lap. Harrison starts to leave, but his conscience kicks in. Just as he turns, Sam makes it around the corner and spots them; she stops.

HARRISON (cont'd)
But before I go, w...we need to talk.

Nicole looks at him, finally.

NICOLE
What exactly do we need to talk about?

HARRISON
Oh, I don't know...about...us?

Sam shakes her head and moves on, unnoticed. Nicole turns away from him again, fidgeting with her papers.

NICOLE
What about us?

HARRISON
W...well, first, we haven't really talked since that
day in the hospital when you finally woke up.
(pauses)
I think we need to talk about what happened
before that.

NICOLE
Must we, really? Rehashing the past is not my
idea of moving on.

HARRISON
Yes, but the past is what makes up the future...in
a way. I guess...what I mean is...that we didn't
have any closure, really.

Nicole closes her locker and turns her chair to him.

NICOLE
What is it that you're asking me, stud? Or should
I say, asking of me?

HARRISON
I'm not asking anything -- well, not much. I'd just
like to talk...m...maybe, and just move on from there.

NICOLE
Hm. Well. I suggest you take your relationship
problems to Oprah. I'm sure Dr. Phil can help you
mend your broken heart. You're not going to get anywhere
with me. Literally.

HARRISON
Nicole, that's not what --

Nicole revs up her wheelchair and nearly rolls over his toes as she buzzes down the hall. He sighs.

END OF ACT 1