122

MARY JANE: (alarmed) What is going on in here?

NICK: (to Frankie) Don’t say anything.

FRANKIE: Mom. You know Bella? She—

Nick interrupts with the sanitized account.

NICK: She’s claiming that Andrew...assaulted her.

MARY JANE: (dubious) Andrew Montefiore? What do you mean, assaulted?

FRANKIE: She was raped. Andrew forced himself on her while she was unconscious. Bella says Nick was hanging out them at the party. He saw how drunk she was. Nick needs to go to the police!

MARY JANE: Frankie, you can’t just go calling the police because a girl got drunk and there’s some he-said-she-said. If someone drinks themselves into oblivion, these things can happen. We’re all responsible for our own actions.

FRANKIE: What?!

MARY JANE: A girl got drunk and someone took advantage of her. It’s a shame but it happens all the time. I wouldn’t make this your cause of the week.

FRANKIE: Cause of the week? Why did I think you would understand?

Frankie storms out of the room. Mary Jane is clearly shaken and hurt.

MARY JANE: (to Nick) Were you drinking, Nick?

NICK: Is that even pertinent?

MARY JANE: I told you that party was a bad idea. There is no reason for you to get involved in this. Don’t borrow...

Nick has a weary familiarity with this phrase.

NICK: ...borrow trouble.

Mary Jane leaves as “WAKE UP” continues.

NICK: I like pain¹
But only if it doesn’t hurt too much

CHORUS:
Too much

NICK:
Should I sit, should I wait,
to receive?

CHORUS:
Sit, wait,
To receive

CHORUS:
There’s an obvious attraction / To the path of least resistance / In your life

NICK:
Well there’s an obvious aversion
No amount of your insistence
Could make me try tonight

CHORUS:
Ooh...
Oh...
Try tonight

1 “The point of view changes from ’you’ to ’I’ throughout the song,
switching between accusation and self-examination.”