WHAT IF? - SEASON 6 EPISODE 7A - CANDY GIRL (PART 1)
IMPORTANT NOTE: AS I ALSO WROTE IN THE FOREWORD TO THE PREVIOUS EPISODE, THIS IS NOT THE ENDING TO THE ANYA/BRITTANY + ELI/JEREMY/MANNY/JAY STORYLINE FROM THE LAST EPISODES. THAT EPISODE WILL FOLLOW AFTER THIS DOUBLE EPISODE, ONCE I GET IT FINISHED. IN THE MEANTIME, I HOPE THAT YOU WILL ENJOY THESE AS WELL.
1. Int. Gymnasium. Day.
Angie and some of the other girls in her class (including her BFF Jenny) are playing a game of floor hockey against another school, in front of the very small crowd in the stands. Manny is their coach and is probably more into it, than the players on the court are.
Manny:
Come on, you guys! We have one last chance!
Seeing as the clock is winding down and they don´t have the time for anything else, Angie tries a shot from far out and despite the odds, it actually goes in! Angie gets group hugged by her team-mates, as Manny comes running over to them.
Manny:
Way to go, Angie!
Angie radiates with pride, but it fades, when her team-mates start looking at her a little awkwardly.
Angie:
What is it?
Manny sees too now and tries to shield her from the crowd to Angie´s confusion.
Manny:
Look at your leg.
She does and we can see blood running down it in a thin stream.
Jenny:
Congratulations, Angie. In the last minute, you haven´t only won us the game, you also became a woman.
Angie looks like she doesn´t know how entirely how to react to it.
OPENING CREDITS
2. Int. Angie´s Room. Evening.
Craig is over for a visit and him and Angie are talking about the day´s "major event".
Craig:
It´s crazy to think that you, my tiny runt of a little sister, has become a woman!
Angie:
No, I´m not! It´s not like I feel any different, than I did this morning.
Craig:
It is a big step though. You´re already a teenager and you´re in Junior High now. Soon you actually will become a grown woman and then I´ll really start to feel old!
They smile at each other.
Craig:
Just think that when me and Manny went on our first date, she wasn´t much older, than you are now. Not even a year.
Angie:
I bet you knew from moment one, that you were going to fall in love with her!
Craig:
Nah, not really. To be honest with you, after that first date went as bad as it did, I didn´t think we´d ever go on another one.
Angie:
How did you go about ... asking her out?
Craig looks her in the eyes for a few seconds before answering her.
Craig:
Does this have to do with a certain boy named Jordan, who you´ve been beating around the bush of starting a relationship with, since you were eleven?
Angie:
Kinda.
Craig:
And you think, he feels the same way about you?
Angie:
That´s the thing! I know that he likes me as a friend, I just don´t know if he likes me like I want him to like me.
Craig:
Well, the short answer is that I didn´t ask Manny out. She asked me out.
Angie looks surprised.
Angie:
She did?
Craig:
She was so cute when she did it, that there was no way I could bring myself to turn her down. I don´t think, looking back on it, that she was mature enough yet to have a boyfriend at that point, but cute and sweet were two things, she definitely was! You are too and if Jordan is anything like I was at his age, then he won´t be able to say no to you.
Angie:
I hope so. It´s also kind of nice to hear, that is possible to come back from a bad first date.
Craig:
So what, if our first date wasn´t the greatest date of all time and she was so nervous, that she kept blabbering on all the time? All of the ones we had afterwards more than made up for it.
Angie:
I can always try to ask him out a date, I guess.
Craig:
If you´re really sure that you like him, then I wish you good luck. Just promise me that you won´t try to copy Manny in every way, because you being 14 and pregnant by this time next year, isn´t something that anyone wants to see!
She nods in agreement.
3. Int. The Dot. Evening.
An old face is back in familiar surroundings, since Liberty is back in town! She´s enjoying a soda with her two old friends, who still live in the city, Manny and JT.
Manny:
Whenever I coach the girls, I always think to myself "What would Liberty have done"?
Liberty:
Have you alienated all of them by being bossy, to the point where none of them want to talk to you anymore?
Manny:
They´re between the ages of 12 and 13! Hence, they don´t talk to me either way.
JT:
Right in the middle of that "All adults suck and none of them understands me phase", huh?
Manny:
Pretty much, yeah!
The three of them laugh.
JT:
You still haven´t told us, what brings you back to town, Liberty? Not that we´re not glad to have you here!
Liberty:
It´s a long story.
Manny:
We don´t have anywhere, that we need to be.
JT:
We´re your friends, Liberty. You can tell us anything.
Liberty:
I´d rather wait for a different time, where we´re somewhere less public, if that´s okay?
Manny and JT look a little surprised that she wouldn´t just tell them, but don´t want to push it too much right now.
Manny:
Yeah, sure.
Liberty:
Right now, I just want to enjoy being home again.
JT:
How long are you here for?
Liberty:
It´s hard to say. A while at least.
Manny:
We´re just glad to have you back here, where we get to enjoy the pleasure of your company again! If I call Emma and tell her, I´m sure she´d want to come down for the weekend.
Liberty:
You don´t have to make a fuss over me!
Manny:
Don´t be silly! She´s missed you, as much as the rest of us have.
Liberty:
In that case, I guess it would be fine.
JT looks her in the eyes to see if he can figure out, what it is that she´s hiding, but she´s doing a good job of hiding it.
4. Int. Degrassi Hallway. Day.
Angie is talking to Jordan about the day before.
Jordan:
You couldn´t have gotten at least one sick day out of it?
Angie:
I probably could have, if I wanted to, but I´d rather be in school than bored at home by myself.
Jordan:
Was it embarrassing?
Angie gets a little shy at being asked this way.
Angie:
A little bit, yeah. Does it freak you out to know that I´m currently bleeding out of my ... you know?
Jordan:
Angie, I´ve grown up with two older sisters! I know ten times more about female hygiene products, than any boy my age should!
Angie:
I´m just glad that it doesn´t freak you out, because ...
She sees that Jordan has stopped paying attention, because someone has his eye. She turns her head to see that it´s a short blonde girl with glasses, who´s around their own age. We also know her as Maya Matlin and she´s smiling shyly at Jordan. Angie gets annoyed with him for not paying attention to her, when she´s talking.
Angie:
Hello, Jordan! I was in the middle of saying something!
Jordan snaps out of it and tries to focus on Angie.
Jordan:
I was listening!
Angie:
No, you weren´t! I could tell.
Jordan:
What do you think of Maya?
Angie clearly doesn´t like that he´s asking her about another girl and especially not Maya!
Angie:
She´s sort of a nerd, don´t you think? I mean with those big classes and that big, dumb cello, she keeps dragging around everywhere!
Jordan:
I don´t think it´s dumb. It´s kind of cool actually, that she known how to play an instrument.
Angie:
Well, I do too! You don´t go around praising me for it all the time!
Jordan:
What do you play again?
Angie:
The guitar! I´ve only told you like a million times!
Jordan:
Oh, I´m sorry!
He still can´t keep his eyes off Maya, which definitely isn´t to Angie´s liking!
5. Int. Same Hallway. Day.
Liberty and Snake come walking up the same hallway together.
Liberty:
Thanks for letting me come back for a visit. I wasn´t expecting a tour from my favorite teacher, to go along with it!
Snake:
We have to have someone follow all visitors around, after a group of onknowns came in here and basically stole everything they could, without anyone asking them what they were doing. The apathy shown around here is astounding sometimes!
Liberty:
Not like when I went here?
Snake:
Students like you and Toby were a dream to work with. How´s he doing, by the way?
Liberty:
Great, from what I hear! These hallways sure bring back a lot of memories!
Snake:
Want to hear something, that will make you feel old? Joey´s daughter started here this past summer.
Liberty:
Little Angie? I haven´t seen her in years!
Snake:
You have now. She´s right over there.
He points to Angie, who´s sulking over what Jordan said about Maya.
Liberty:
That´s her? Is it okay, if I say hi to her?
Snake:
I can´t see why not.
They walk over to Angie and Liberty smiles at her. It gets a small smile out of Angie too.
Liberty:
Hi, Angie. Remember me?
Angie:
Yeah, sure! How´s it going, Liberty?
Liberty:
Not too bad.
Snake´s phone rings and he gets it out of his pocket.
Snake:
Excuse me a minute.
He takes it and steps away from them, so they won´t hear.
Liberty:
You?
Angie:
Okay, I guess.
They´re interrupted again by Snake, who has one hand covering his phone, so that the one on the other end can´t hear what´s being said.
Snake:
Can I trust you not to steal anything on your way out, Liberty?
Liberty:
Sure, you can.
Snake:
I´ll have to take your word for it. There´s a chemistry lab experiment that´s gone wrong, that I have to deal with ASAP!
He walks quickly away from them, as they look one another in the eyes and wonder, what could have happened.
Liberty:
Why are you only okay?
Angie:
There´s this boy, I like ... it probably won´t interest you!
Liberty:
You´d be surprised at how much experience I have, when it comes to unlucky crushes!
Angie:
I thought that he liked me, but now it looks like he likes Maya in stead, that little tramp with her "Oh, I´m so perfect with my fantastic grades and how I´m a musical prodigy and how I´ve never done a day´s detention in my entire life"! Well, excuse the rest of us for not being perfect like you are, Maya!
Liberty smiles to herself.
Liberty:
Believe it or not, back when I was your age, there was a guy you know very well, that I had crush on. It really hurt me too, to find out that there was this other girl, who was my complete mirror opposite, that he liked better than me. Can you guess who it was?
Angie:
JT? But, I thought he only ever has had eyes for Manny!
Liberty:
Back then, they were still just friends. As for that other girl, she ended up becoming his first girlfriend and I ended up hating her for it for a long time. Which was really for no good reason, since I didn´t know her all that well and certainly not well enough to pass that kind of judgmend on her.
Angie:
Are you saying, that I should try becoming friends with her?
Liberty:
It´s better than hating her for something, she has no control over, don´t you think?
Angie takes in what Liberty told her.
6. Int. Music Classroom. Day.
Angie and her classmates are having music class with the school´s music teacher, Mr. Fowler. Angie and Jordan are in the class, as is Maya.
Mr. Fowler:
For the next assignment, I want you to pair up in groups of two and think of a piece of music, that you can perform together. You can spend the rest of our time here today discussing it. So, go ahead! Pair up with whoever you want to.
The students start to and seeing that Jordan is about to ask Maya to pair up with him, Angie´s jealousy gets the better of her and she decides to get the jump on him.
Angie:
Hi, Maya! Wanna pair up?
Maya:
Sure, if you have no one else to pair up with!
Angie:
I just think that we could do something really great together, is all!
She smiles fakely at Maya, while giving Jordan a look that tells him to back off, which he does. Maya clearly doesn´t know what´s going and just looks glad to be asked by someone.
7. Int. Angie´s Room. Day.
Angie is having Maya, who´s brought her cello, over for a visit and possible rehearsal.
Angie:
So, tell me about yourself. We´ve gone to school together for over half a year and we still haven´t had a proper conversation.
Maya:
Shouldn´t we be concentrating on the assignment?
Angie:
That doesn´t mean we can´t take this time to get to know one another!
Maya:
No, I guess not! What do you want to know?
Angie:
How long have you been playing the cello?
Maya:
Since I was eight. I started out on a violin, when I was five.
Angie:
Five? When I was five, I was still trying to master a cup and ball!
Maya smiles at her.
Maya:
That sounds like it would have been fun too!
Angie:
You can´t tell me that it was too much fun, sitting in your room and rehearsing by yourself.
Maya:
It all depends on how you look at it, I guess. I´ve never minded being alone.
Angie:
So, what kind of boys do you like?
Maya looks a little surprised at being asked so bluntly.
Maya:
Why do you want to know?
Angie:
I´m just making girl talk. Fess up! Is there someone, you´re sweet on?
Maya:
Well ... that Jordan boy, you´re friends with is kind of cute.
Angie:
In that case, I should tell you. I think, that he could be gay, he just doesn´t know it yet!
Maya:
Really? Because I was getting a feeling that he liked, liked me.
Angie:
It´s nothing to be ashamed of! I thought that I was getting those vibes off him too once upon a time, but it´s not a girlfriend, he´s looking for. It´s a (said in the most stereotypically gay way possible) "Girlfriend!", that he´s subconsciously looking for, if you catch my drift.
Maya takes in what Angie told her and is clearly very surprised.
Maya:
Thanks for telling me! I was way off in what I was thinking!
Angie:
No sweat. Us girls have to look out for one another, right?
Maya:
If there´s ever a favor, I can do for you, just let me know.
Angie:
I´m sure, that we can think of something.
Angie smiles to herself at how well her devious plan is working.
8. Int. Kitchen. Evening.
Angie is helping Caitlin make dinner, while still looking quite pleased with herself.
Caitlin:
Can you chop up the carrots for me?
Angie:
Sure thing.
Angie grabs the carrots and a kinfe and gets to work.
Caitlin:
Who was the girl, you had over?
Angie:
Her name is Maya.
Caitlin:
Is she a friend of yours?
Angie:
Kinda. We´re working together on a song, we have to perform in music class.
Caitlin:
What does "Kinda" mean in this situation?
Angie:
She´s nice enough, it´s not that.
Caitlin:
What is it then?
Angie stops working for a second to think about it.
Angie:
This is going to sound weird, but it´s because I don´t want to like her.
Caitlin looks a little confused over what Angie told her.
Caitlin:
You´ll need to explain that a little further! If she´s nice, then why don´t you want to like her?
Angie:
She likes Jordan and I´m afraid, that he likes her too. In fact, I´m pretty sure that he does.
Caitlin:
Ah! So, it´s your first time fighting with another girl over a boy, we´re talking about!
Angie:
I want him to like me, the same way I like him! Not her!
Caitlin:
And today was what? Your attempt at scoping out the competition?
Angie:
It´s not that I don´t want her to find a nice boyfriend, who´ll make her happy. I just don´t want it to be him!
Caitlin shoots her a very motherly look.
Caitlin:
The moral thing to tell you right now, would be to let him choose and be an adult about it, but since you´re still just a kid, that would probably be too much to ask!
Angie:
He was mine first!
Caitlin:
Even though he was, it´s still his choice to make. If he likes her more, then you´ll just have to accept it.
Angie doesn´t look like she´s entirely ready to though.
9. Ext. Degrassi. Evening.
Liberty is still sitting outside of the school and it looks like, she´s reminiscing about old times. Jay comes towards her, carrying a lit flashlight.
Jay:
If you´re here to steal, I´m from the cops!
LIberty looks over at him and can see his face in the glow of the light.
Liberty:
No, you´re not, Jay! You liar!
Jay:
Liberty? What are you doing, sitting here in the dark by yourself?
Liberty:
I should ask what you, what you are doing here?
Jay:
They pay me an extra fifty a month to go and check, whenever there´s an intruder here at night. Usually it´s one of the neighborhood cats, that´s found it´s way in and sets off the alarm.
Liberty:
Sorry, that I pulled you away from your evening.
Jay:
That´s okay. Ellie has making me watch "Eraserhead" with her for the fifth time, to see if I could finally grasp the magic in it, that she sees!
Liberty:
You couldn´t find any magic in it this time either, huh?
Jay:
All I saw were the same messed up images, that gave me nightmares the first four times, I tried watching it! You´re not allowed to hang out here, or they will call the real cops on you. Their rules, not mine.
Liberty stands up and walks over to him.
Liberty:
I´ve probably done enough moping for one evening, anyway. If I pay you, can you give me ride home?
Jay:
I´ll do you one better. Why don´t we go to the nearest bar, get a beer and you can tell me, what´s troubling you?
Liberty smiles at his suggestion.
Liberty:
A beer, huh? Sure, why not?
He leads the way, and she follows after him.
10. Int. Bar. Evening.
Liberty and Jay are enjoying their beers on this otherwise slow evening in the bar, where Amy also works from time to time.
Liberty:
College started out great! I was getting straight A´s, everything was going swimmingly, until it stopped going all that great.
Jay:
Meaning?
Liberty:
I had what they call a stress induced nervous breakdown. Two of them as a matter of fact, although I somehow managed to hide it from everyone the first time, it happened.
Jay:
Damn! Here I thought, I had it hard!
Liberty:
All of my life, everyone has seen me as the perfect one, who was going to go on to do great things with her life and now, I can honestly say that I have no idea what my future will bring. I´m officially on sabbatical from college, but if what I have to come back to is going to cause me to suffer through the same thing again, I´m not sure that I want to.
Jay:
I wouldn´t either, if I were you. Not that I call myself an expert, but I do have a girlfriend, who´s a psych major and just from my own experiences and common logic alone, I can tell you that going back to a bad situation again, won´t help you one bit.
Liberty:
Yeah, but it´s different for you. You don´t have a pair of parents, who now look at you with disappointment, whenever you walk in through the door to your own home.
Jay:
Why don´t you try living like the rest of us for a while then?
Liberty:
What do you mean by that?
Jay:
Find a job and a place of your own, so you won´t have to deal with your parents and their disappointment in you. After work you can go out and have fun and not have to worry about grades or your future for a while. It´s what I would do, if I were you.
They take a sip of their beers, and she ponders over what he said.
11. Int. Liberty´s Parent´s House. Evening.
Liberty is laying the news on her parents, who don´t look too thrilled about the idea.
Liberty´s Dad:
You want to what?
Liberty:
Find a job and a place of my own. I thought, that was made pretty clear.
Liberty´s Mom:
Here in Toronto?
Liberty:
I wasn´t planning on it being anywhere else! This is where I feel at home and there´s a comfort I get from being here, that I won´t find anywhere else.
Liberty´s Dad:
What about school?
Liberty:
It´ll still be there at the start of the next semester, when I plan on going back. Let´s face it, after a year and a half of living either on my own or with Jimmy, me moving back in with you guys isn´t going to work for any of us.
Her parents look at one another, without really knowing what to say.
Liberty´s Mom:
You have the money in your trust fund to find a place of your own, if you´re sure that what you want to do.
Liberty:
It is. If I´m going to move on from this, what I need is to separate myself from it as much as possible. I thoroughly believe that.
Liberty´s Dad:
In that case, we´ll start looking for an apartment for you first thing in the morning.
Liberty´s Mom:
All we want is for you to get better, so you can go back to chasing your dreams, Honey.
Liberty looks happy with her decision.
12. Int. Hallway. Morning.
Angie arrives for school, looking in a pretty good mood. It fades a little though, when she sees Jordan and Maya talking to one another. After Jordan walks away from Maya, Angie walks over to her.
Angie:
Hi, Maya. Making friends this morning, are we?
Maya:
Yeah! You know, before you told me that he was ... that thing ... I was way too nervous to talk to him, but now I don´t feel nearly as nervous about it anymore!
Angie:
That´s nice, I guess!
Maya:
Although I´m not entirely sure that you´re right about it, because I think he asked me out for this Friday.
Angie:
How can, you be sure?
Maya:
He asked me "Do you want to go out on Friday?".
Angie:
He probably only meant as friends.
Maya:
I know that I have no experience when it comes to dating, but I really don´t think so! Thanks, Angie. If it wasn´t for you, none of this would have ever happened!
Maya smiles sweetly at her and heads off to class, while Angie sulks that her plan backfired on her.
Angie (muttering to herself):
Welcome to womanhood, Angie Jeremiah! It sure sucks already!
She looks like she wishes that she´d stayed a kid for a little while longer.
CLOSING CREDITS