The early morning sun shines over the three story home of the Monroe family. The man of the house, James Monroe, a forty-eight year old widowed judge and lawyer, is staring at himself in the bathroom mirror as he ties his tie. He's getting ready for work. He's got a case to reside today. He puts on the finishing touches of his day's attire, he looks down at a framed photograph of his late wife Elizabeth Monroe, who took her own life eight years ago.
James looks at the mirror and sees the reflection of the bathtub. Everytime he sees the bathtub, he feels like a knife has stuck him in his heart and his stomach turns. All he can see is blood soaked water even when it's empty and dry. He wishes that he can just get rid of that bathtub. He hasn't used that tub in eight years. Not since his wife committed suicide in the bathtub. James will never forget the moment that he found his wife's body in the tub. Elizabeth set everything up like it was meant to be a beautiful tragedy. Lit candles were lined up on the side of the tub and she was wearing her white wedding dress.
In the kitchen, cooking breakfast for the family, is the eldest son, twenty-one year old Calvin Monroe, standing at six-foot-one-and-a-half, short dark brown hair. With the death of their mother and their father working all the time, Calvin has taken on much of the responsibilities around the house, including taking care of his younger siblings. He checks on the eggs cooking on the stove and flips them. They are just about ready.
James enters the kitchen, grabs an empty coffee mug from the cupboard, and fills it up with fresh hot coffee from the coffee pot.
"Good morning, Calvin." James greeted his eldest child.
"Morning, Dad." Calvin greeted his father back. "Breakfast is almost ready."
"Good. I'm starving."
Entering the kitchen are the younger children; seventeen year old twins Finn and Madison "Maddy" Monroe. They are seniors at Tippecanoe High School. Finn is average height, standing at five-ten. He's not athletic but he's not skinny. You cannot tell if he's tough or not. He's neither a popular jock or a nerdy bookworm. He's just average. He plans to follow in his father's footsteps in having a legal career.
Maddy is a short girl, standing just about five-foot-four, with light brown hair. She looks fragile and weak because of her small size. But she is a tough little cookie. She is also very sweet and compassionate. She can be a bookworm but she's no nerd with glasses. She has her own sense of style and beauty that a guy can either appreciate or not. She wouldn't care anyway if you didn't. She is very independent and mature for her age.
James, Finn, and Maddy stand in a line as Calvin serves them eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns one by one. After everyone is served, they gather together at the dinner table to have breakfast.
"So I have a case at eleven. I am hoping to be home by five." James informs his children. "Calvin, what are your plans today?"
"After work I have to go help Melissa around six o'clock tonight. So I don't think I'll be home for dinner tonight." Calvin informs his father.
"Alright, Finn and Maddy, you'll have to fend for yourselves." James informs his younger kids.
"We'll just have dinner at Van Buren's." Finn suggested.
"That's fine." James agreed.
James checks his watch and sees the time.
"I have to get to work." James announces.
James grabs his coffee mug and gets up from his seat.
"You kids have a good day at school." said James.
"We will." replied Maddy.
"Finn, you work hard today. Okay, son?"
"Yes, sir." replied Finn.
James leaves the kitchen. With Finn's dream of becoming a lawyer like his father was, James has been very encouraging and has pushed Finn to work hard to make that dream come true.
On the wall over the fireplace is a large picture of the late Elizabeth Monroe. It was ordered and hung up six months after her death by James. He wanted to show that she would always be important and would never be forgotten. Even eight years after her death, her absence is still felt by everyone. Her death hit everyone hard. Calvin was thirteen and Finn and Maddy were both nine. It's amazing that the three kids were able to keep it together after losing their mother at very young ages. The picture has become somewhat of a good luck charm for them. Everyday before leaving for school, the kids talk to the picture.
"Goodbye, Mom. I miss you" said Finn as he passed by the picture.
"Goodbye, Mom. I love you." said Maddy, blowing a kiss to the picture.
As the twins walk out the front door, Calvin takes a moment to stop at the picture. He fights back tears as he stares at the picture of his beautiful mother.
"I miss you so much." said Calvin. "I promise you...everything will be okay. I will take care of everything. I love you, Mama."
Calvin walks away from the picture before he can shed any tears.
Tippecanoe High School is a very large single building. The building's exterior layout looks very similar to that of the United States Capitol, minus the famous dome in the center and the large staircases leading to the first floor levels. In fact, there are no stairs leading to the first level. The first floor and its entrances are above ground level. There is no need for stairs to the entrance.
There are two wings on both sides of the center main part of the building. The main part of the building is where the main classrooms are located. The freshmen classes are located on the east side of the first floor, the sophomore classes are located on the west side of the first floor, the junior classes are located on the east side of the second floor, and the senior classes are located on the west side of the second floor. The entire center of the main building, where you would enter the school through the main front entrance, is where the food court is located. This is where the students have their lunches. And at the very end of the center is the main office where the administration operates and runs the school.
The west wing houses the gymnasium and weight lifting class on the main floor and the library is located on the upper floor. Below ground is the school swimming pool. The east wing houses the large auditorium. The main lower seats are located below ground and the upper balcony seats are located on the main floor. The drama class, computer lab, shop class, and ROTC are located on the upper level of the east wing.
The Monroe family van pulls up at the back end of the school in front of the courtyard. Finn and Maddy both jump out of the van.
"Have a good day, guys." said Calvin as he watched his younger siblings heading towards the courtyard.
"You too, Calvin." said Finn.
"Bye!" exclaims Maddy.
Calvin drives off as Maddy and Finn head for the courtyard. Maddy and Finn arrive at the courtyard where they meet up with their friends; Finn's eighteen year old senior girlfriend Rachel Fillmore, his friend seventeen year old senior football player Zachary Cleveland, Zachary's seventeen year old senior cheerleader girlfriend and one of Maddy's friend Veronica Livingston, and the "slut" of the group seventeen year old blonde senior Aria Shaw. They are all sitting down on the bricks that surround the fountain. Rachel jumps and opens her arms out for Finn.
"Hey, Babe." Rachel greets Finn with a loving smile.
"Hey, Beautiful." Finn greets her back.
Finn and Rachel hug and kiss each other.
"I tried calling you last night. But you never answered." Rachel informs her boyfriend.
"Oh, I was busy doing some studying." answered Finn.
"Ugh! I hate studying." stated Aria.
"Who cares about that?" asked Veronica, who wants to get on with a different subject.
"Are we still on for Wednesday?"
"Hell, yes, we are." answered Finn.
"We talked to our Dad about it last night. He's cool with you guys coming over for dinner on Wednesday."
"Awesome! Steak night!" exclaimed Zachary.
"I love steak." stated Rachel.
"I love all kinds of meat." Aria chimed in with.
"Yeah. Especially when they go inside you." joked Veronica, making another slut-shaming joke at her expense.
Everyone laughs at Veronica's comment. But Aria isn't offended by this. In fact, she's used to the slut-shaming jokes.
"Ha! Ha!" exclaimed a sarcastic Aria.
As the group of friends continue to talk about their Wednesday plans, Maddy starts to space out. Not interested in the subject. She finds herself eyeing the school's yard until her eye catches something interesting to her - Victor McQueen, seventeen years, senior, standing at six foot. Not athletic but most definitely not weak at all. A hardass, but a badass. He can either be your coolest friend ever or somebody who can be your worst enemy. But for Maddy, he is the cutest guy in school.
"Hey, Maddy!" Veronica calls out.
Maddy finally comes to and turns to her group. The entire group is grinning at her. They know exactly who she was staring at.
"Staring at Victor again?" asked Veronica.
"Does it show?" asked Maddy.
"I don't blame you. He's hot." said Aria.
"You think everyone is hot." Rachel points out.
"Can I help it if everyone is hot?" asked Aria. "Even you, Veronica, and Maddy are hot."
The group glances at each other as it's obvious that Aria is easy to please and doesn't care about the gender of her interest. If she finds them hot, she's going after them. The first bell rings.
"GET TO CLASS!" shouted Gerald Roosevelt, the Principal of Tippecanone High.
The group stands up from sitting on the brick fountain and proceeds to go their separate way for their respective first classes.
"See you guys later." said Aria as she is the first to leave the group.
"Later!" Everyone responds to her.
During the second period, Maddy is attending study hall class, a class where students use this period to finish up assignments, homework, and other projects. Maddy is working on an essay for her English class writing assignment. While she does not plan to follow in her father's footsteps into the law like Finn, she has great knowledge of the law. So her essay is to write a complete history on her father's legal career and what his legal decisions have done to change things in Tippecanoe.
But Maddy finds herself distracted upon seeing Victor sitting not far from her. Victor is trying to work on a math assignment. But he doesn't like math and is struggling. He notices Maddy staring at him. She embarrassingly turns away. Maddy turns back to Victor to find he was staring at the whole time. The two stare at each other for a moment before they both form smiles at each other. They look so happy to see each other.
After the bell rings to end the second period, Victor walks out of study hall class to head for his next class. Maddy comes out and runs up next to him. They look around to see if anybody that they know is nearby before taking each other by the hand. Then they make a sharp turn into an empty room. Upon entering the empty room together, they drop their stuff and proceed to makeout. Maddy and Victor are secretly a couple.
"You know sneaking around with you like this is so hot." said Victor.
"It's necessary." Maddy reminds him.
"I wish it weren't. Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?"
"You know why we do this."
"What? Because you're afraid somebody will tell your Dad?"
"My Dad wouldn't understand you. You see…you're not..."
Maddy cannot finish the sentence. She knows that it would be offensive to him. But Victor gets it.
"I'm not part of a prominent family. I come from a poor family with a criminal history. I'm a troublemaker."
Maddy feels bad about this. Just because Victor is seen as a rebel and a juvenile delinquent that doesn't come from a well-to-do family, James has prohibited her from seeing him. He has high standards for the guys that his daughter dates and Victor McQueen doesn't meet these standards.
"I get it, babe." Victor assures her. "It just sucks."
"I know, Victor. I know." stated Maddy, feeling the same way about this.
They just stare at each other for a moment. This is the only moment that they can be alone together and it sucks for them having to do this. And even worse, it's for a limited time in between classes.
"I better get to my next class." said Maddy.
"Yeah." replied Victor.
They kiss each other one last time before Maddy leaves. Victor stays there for a moment to allow Maddy time to leave without being seen with him before he, too, leaves the empty room.