INT.—TYRELL KITCHEN—DAY
MRS. TYRELL is standing at the counter, drinking the last of a cup of coffee. She is wearing a business suit. KELLY is sitting at the table, eating a piece of toast. TEGAN is in the doorway to the kitchen, a scowl on her face.
MRS. TYRELL
It will be good for you. Carla says that Bradley says the best thing you can do is get back into your regular routine.
KELLY
(to the camera)
Carla is my mother’s best friend. Her husband, Bradley, is a psychiatrist.
MRS. TYRELL
Besides, you don’t want to lose your school year, do you?
TEGAN
I just lost two of my best friends. What do I care about the school year?
MRS. TYRELL
You can’t give up. We all face a lot of hurt in life, Tegan. We’re all called upon to be strong. Clark and Martin wouldn’t have wanted your life to stop just because theirs did. I know they wouldn’t. Kelly will walk with you.
KELLY
No, she won’t.
MRS. TYRELL
Tegan is your sister. She’s been through something you can’t even begin to imagine. You’ll walk with her and you’ll look out for her.
KELLY
Why doesn’t she walk to school with Gina? Gina’s her best friend.
MRS. TYRELL looks inquiringly at TEGAN, who shakes her head miserably.
MRS. TYRELL
She wants you to walk with her.
KELLY looks at her mother as if her mother has taken complete leave of her senses.
KELLY
No, she doesn’t.
KELLY glances at Tegan.
KELLY (CONT’D)
Do you, Teeg?
TEGAN
(pale-faced)
Actually, Kel, I kinda do.
MRS. TYRELL
Then it’s settled.
KELLY
(to the camera)
My plan: wait until Mom leaves for work and then take off by myself. Jeez, who does she think she is? Tegan, I mean. She’s spent the last couple of days telling me to mind my own business. And now she wants my help? Fat chance!
MRS. TYRELL remains where she is, arms crossed over her chest.
MRS. TYRELL
Well? Go and get your things, Tegan.
TEGAN shoots an annoyed look at her mother.
KELLY
(to camera)
Well, what do you know? Big sister is thinking the same thing I am—only in her case it’s wait until Mom leaves and then go back up to her room.
TEGAN leaves the kitchen. Footsteps are heard going up the stairs and then, a moment later, coming back down again. TEGAN reappears, backpack slung over one shoulder. MRS. TYRELL pushes herself away from the counter and walks the girls to the door.
CUT TO:
INT.—HIGH SCHOOL HALLWAY—DAY
KELLY stands impatiently beside a locker as TEGAN works the combination to open the lock.
KELLY
(impatiently)
I have to go, Teeg. I have to get to my locker.
TEGAN
Just a sec. I’ll go with you. I promise.
KELLY
I don’t need you to go with me.
KELLY pushes away from the locker she’s been leaning on. TEGAN grabs her arm.
TEGAN
Please, Kel? Just for today.
KELLY
What’s the matter with you? Where’s Gina?
TEGAN
(angry)
Why do you keep asking me about Gina? What does she have to do with anything?
KELLY
Trouble in best-friend paradise?
TEGAN
Please, Kel? People keep looking at me. They’re looking at me now. I don’t like it.
KELLY glances around the crowded corridor. Sure enough, kids are staring at Tegan. Some of them are talking while their eyes are glued to her.
KELLY
They’re just curious. I bet Clark and Martin are the first kids in the whole history of this school who have ever been shot.
TEGAN
That’s not it. That’s not why they’re staring at me.
KELLY
What do you mean?
Before TEGAN can answer, she sees a girl approaching her. She is petite and slender, with long dark hair and piercing brown eyes. She is ANNA GENOVESE, Martin’s sister.
TEGAN
Oh my god! It’s Anna. What am I going to say to her?
ANNA walks straight up to Tegan. She thrusts out her hands and slams Tegan against the wall of lockers.
ANNA
Bitch! Lying bitch!
The hallway filled with students falls silent, as if someone has thrown a switch, shutting off the audio.
ANNA (CONT’D)
How dare you tell the cops my brother was a drug dealer!
TEGAN looks at her in dismay.
TEGAN
I never said that.
ANNA
First you lie about Martin. Now you’re lying to me.
ANNA looks around at the kids in the hall as if making sure that everyone is listening.
TEGAN
I never said anything to the cops about drugs. I never said Martin was a drug dealer.
ANNA
Then how come the cops came to my house and asked my mom and dad and my sisters what we knew about Martin using drugs? You should have seen the look on my mother’s face. It was like that cop had reached right into her chest and ripped her heart out.
TEGAN
I didn’t say anything to the cops about Martin doing drugs.
KELLY peers intently at her sister.
ANNA
Stop lying.
TEGAN
I’m not lying.
ANNA
The cops said Martin smoked up the night he died.
TEGAN
They probably got that from the autopsy report.
ANNA
They said a lot of people at the party smoked up and that Martin was the one who supplied the weed. My mother started to cry when they said that. She’s afraid he was some kind of criminal.
TEGAN
They must have asked someone at the party. They didn’t say anything to me about that.
KELLY
(to the camera)
She’s hiding something. I know that look on her face.
ANNA
The cops asked us if we knew where Martin got the drugs he brought to the party. They asked about everyone Martin had ever talked to, everyone he had ever called—they said they were going to look through his cell-phone records, and they took his computer. My dad asked them why they were doing all that. You know what they said? Do you?
(glaring at Tegan)
They said that it’s possible Martin’s death was drug-related. You know what that means, right? It means they think it’s Martin’s fault he got killed. They think it’s because he was a drug dealer.
TEGAN
(clearly shaken)
It wasn’t me. I didn’t say anything like that.
ANNA glances at her audience again, making sure that everyone is paying close attention.
ANNA
My dad called Clark’s dad to ask him if the cops were asking the same kind of questions about Clark. Mr. Carson said of course not. He said that Clark hadn’t done any drugs that night—he said the autopsy report proves it. He said Clark never did any drugs, like Clark was an angel and Martin was the devil. Martin was ten thousand times nicer than Clark. He didn’t make fun of people the way Clark did or push them around or key their cars for no reason.
TEGAN
Anna, I—
ANNA
Mr. Carson said that he’d hired an investigator of his own to ask some questions. He said the investigator talked to you and that you knew that Martin had a drug connection.
KELLY stares at her sister.
KELLY
(to the camera)
I knew it. I knew she was hiding something.
TEGAN
I didn’t say that.
ANNA
He also said that that’s why you weren’t cooperating with the police—because you knew all about it and you must have seen the guy who did it, but you’re too much of a coward to tell the truth.
TEGAN
That’s not true. None of it’s true.
ANNA
He said that if it wasn’t for Martin and his drug buddies, Clark would still be alive. The Carsons are blaming Martin too. Everyone’s blaming Martin.
TEGAN
I’m sure that’s not true. I’m sure no one blames Martin.
ANNA
Really? Then how come the cops are at school today? How come they want to talk to everyone who knew Martin?
ANNA’s hands are curled into fists. Her face is twisted. She spits at Tegan, hitting her square in the face.
ANNA (CONT’D)
I wish Martin never knew you. I hope you rot in Hell.
She turns and strides down the hall, the heels of her shoes click-clicking, past a hallway full of kids who are standing so still it looks like they’re painted on a backdrop. TEGAN fumbles in her pockets but comes up empty. She wipes the spit off her face with the sleeve of her sweater. Then she peels the sweater off and stuffs it in her locker. She slams the locker shut and runs down the hall. KELLY watches her push open the door to the girls’ bathroom. She looks up and down the hallway at all the faces that are still turned in Tegan’s direction.