Read Time Well Spent Page 6


  SETH

  Just til I find something better.

  He steps out from behind the bar. He’s wearing short CUTOFF

  JEANS. Anna giggles.

  RUSS

  Dude, which side are you now on?

  SETH

  The side that tips better. Plus I finally

  get a chance to properly show off my

  package.

  He turns sideways a couple of times so his friends can appreciate it. Anna is checking it out. Then Anna snaps out of it.

  ANNA

  How on Earth did you get this job anyway--

  you’re not even 21.

  SETH

  I used my fake ID.

  INSERT SHOT - SETH’S FAKE ID

  So fake, it has a photo of a young black woman on it.

  BACK TO SCENE

  SETH (CONT’D)

  If anyone asks, I’m a 26-year-old black

  woman.

  A BIG, FAT, HAIRY GAY MAN slaps Seth’s ass.

  SETH (CONT’D)

  (girlishly)

  Fresh!

  BIG, FAT, HAIRY GAY MAN

  Don’t act like you don’t like it.

  INT. GEORGE BUSH HIGH. LIBRARY - MORNING

  Seth and Russ are sitting beside each other, each having a

  large opened BOOK WRITTEN IN JAPANESE before them.

  RUSS

  I’ve been thinking--

  SETH

  (interrupting)

  Why?

  RUSS

  (sarcastically)

  Ha-ha--not!

  He slaps Seth upside his head.

  RUSS (CONT’D)

  I think it’s time you start dating again.

  SETH

  I tried! But girls won’t give me their

  numbers--and they keep blocking me on

  Facebook.

  RUSS

  That’s never stopped me, and you know it.

  Now you just need to get back in the

  saddle.

  SETH

  Why do people always say that? “Get back

  in the saddle”? It’s like, “Hello? It’s

  not a horse I’m trying to mount!”

  RUSS

  Dude?

  SETH

  What?

  RUSS

  Focus. (beat) I’m gonna hook you up with

  the greatest social institution.

  SETH

  You’re getting me a hooker?

  RUSS

  No, but you’re close: a blind date. Her

  name is Charlotte.

  SETH

  Waitress?

  RUSS

  No. She cleans rooms at the Motel 6 in

  West Hollywood--that’s how I met her.

  (beat) Long story.

  Anna approaches them, sitting across from them.

  ANNA

  Hey, guys. Whatcha reading? Porn?

  She grabs the tops of their books.

  ANNA (CONT’D)

  This trick is so old.

  She forcibly lowers them flatout on the table. There’s no

  material in between the opened sections.

  ANNA (CONT’D)

  You’re reading Japanese now?

  SETH

  You can’t?

  EXT. CHARLOTTE’S HOUSE. FRONT DOOR - NIGHT

  Seth’s holding a BOUQUET of flowers. He RINGS her bell.

  Instantly, a four year old boy, JEB, swings the door open.

  SETH (CONT’D)

  Hey there. I’m here for Charlotte.

  Without a word, Jeb waves him in. He ENTERS. Jeb shuts the

  door behind him.

  INT. CHARLOTTE’S HOUSE. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

  Seth and Jeb are sitting across from each other. Jeb takes

  up a POLAROID CAMERA, and takes Seth’s picture. He places

  the developing POLAROID into his pocket, sticking out

  slightly.

  SETH (CONT’D)

  So you like photography? I had a camera

  like that when I was your age. Didn't

  know they still had film for them.

  CHARLOTTE (V.O.)

  (coming from down a hall)

  Jeb! Can you come in my room for a sec?

  Jeb gets up and goes down the hall.

  SETH

  (to himself)

  Maybe I was a little older.

  Jeb returns, without the Polaroid. He looks up at Seth.

  JEB

  Are you my new daddy?

  SFX - THE ACTION THEME FROM “THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN”

  Bolting up, Seth goes for the open window and dives through

  it.

  SFX - SETH LANDS IN SHRUBS

  SFX - RUNNING

  SFX - SETH’S CAR PEELING OFF

  The beautiful CHARLOTTE ENTERS the living room. She kneels

  down and hugs Jeb and gives him a CANDY BAR.

  CHARLOTTE

  You’re the greatest little brother ever!

  EXT. GEORGE BUSH HIGH. ATHLETICS FIELD - MORNING

  Russ is dressed in his gym cloths, shorts and all. He’s

  jogging laps around the track. Seth, also jogging laps,

  runs up to him. They both leave the track and stop by a

  bench. Russ picks up a BOTTLE OF LEMON-LIME GATORADE off

  the bench and opens it and takes a slurp.

  RUSS

  Hey dude, how’d your date go?

  Seth takes the bottle, pulls open the front of Russ’ gym

  shorts and pours the Gatorade down. The bottle is almost

  full, so it takes a few seconds; Russ doesn’t resist. He

  casually keeps his hands at his side. There’s a pause.

  RUSS (CONT’D)

  So how did it go?

  Seth nods.

  SETH

  Not so good.

  INT. GEORGE BUSH HIGH. GYMNASIUM - MORNING

  Two teams of HOT GIRLS are playing volleyball. Seth and

  Russ are standing high on the bleachers, watching. Russ

  takes out a HACKEY SACK.

  RUSS

  Have you ever heard of the hackey sack

  intro?

  SETH

  Once...(beat)...is that like "Two Girls,

  One Cup"?

  RUSS

  Yeah. That was a good movie. But no, I’m

  talking about the one using an actual

  hackey sack.

  He holds up the beanbag.

  RUSS (CONT’D)

  You over think things. We need to strip

  this down to the simplest decision-

  making possibility. Throw this blindly

  into a crowd of hot girls. Whoever catches

  it, you ask out.

  Seth turns his back to the hot volleyball players...

  REAR SHOT - SETH

  ...and tosses it over his shoulder. Someone can be heard

  catching it. Seth turns around and looks down. Lance has

  caught it. Apparently, he’s playing with the girls.

  LANCE

  Yoo-hoo! Did you loose your hackey sack?

  SETH

  No. I’d better not.

  CUT TO:

  Another toss over the shoulder. Seth turns. This time a hot

  girl, STELLA, has caught it.

  SETH

  Hey! Thanks for catching it for me! Do you

  want to go out?

  STELLA

  Sure!

  SETH

  Great! (beat) What’s your name?

  INT. A FANCY REST
AURANT. DINING AREA - EVENING

  TWO SHOT - SETH AND STELLA

  Seth and Stella are in formal wear, seating across from each other. There’s a little CANDLE in between them. Seth withdraws a BOOK OF MATCHES.

  SETH (CONT’D)

  Here, let me light this.

  He withdraws and strikes a MATCH. He lights the candle.

  SETH (CONT’D)

  Y’know, I should warn you: I’ve been

  going out more often after a messy

  breakup...

  He shakes the match out. He tosses the extinguished match over his shoulder.

  SETH (CONT’D)

  ...and something always goes wrong.

  WIDE OUT

  An entire wall behind Seth is suddenly engulfed in flames.

  SFX - A WOMAN SCREAMS

  A WAITER runs up with a FIRE EXTINGUISHER and begins to put

  it out.

  SETH (CONT’D)

  (ashamedly)

  See.

  STELLA

  I should have seen it, but I’m not even

  sure what just happened.

  We PAN OVER to another table across the retaurant. Anna, in

  a formal gown, is on a date with a nerdish fellow, the UCLA

  JERK.

  UCLA JERK

  Twenty hours of community service with

  Habitat for Humanity--twenty hours--don’t

  get me wrong, I’m okay with that. Coz,

  y’know, UCLA likes its new freshman to be,

  y’know, active in the community--but c’mon!

  Isn’t twenty hours enough? That’s like my

  eleventh grade chemistry teacher, Dr.

  Udell--now I’m not sure if he was Russian

  or Ukranian--and I’m okay with that, I

  mean--but it’s just helpful to know; I

  don’t want to offend him. Some people are

  okay with saying things that are offensive-and

  I’m okay with that because this is

  America, y’know, and our founding fathers

  intended all of us to have freedom of

  speech, not just the ones with something

  popular to say. Do you like that? I just

  thought of that right now. Maybe you don’t,

  and I’m okay with that, but if you didn’t

  like it, I’d want to know coz I don’t want

  to be in UCLA and throw out a bad line at a

  party.

  Anna rubs her temples in sheer annoyance.

  UCLA JERK (CONT’D)

  Maybe he was Russian--do you know him?

  EXT. FANCY RESTAURANT. ALLEY - EVENING

  There are two windows perpendicular to each other--one is

  connected to the men’s room, the other’s the ladies’ room.

  Seth and Anna both open and place a leg over the sill at

  the same time.

  ANNA

  Wow, this is an awkward coincidence.

  SETH

  I hear you, sister.

  There’s thirty seconds of silence.

  SETH (CONT’D)

  So...(beat)...how’s it going?

  ANNA

  I have a leg out the window; I’m about

  to jump and run for sweet freedom.

  SETH

  Me too!

  There’s another pause.

  SETH (CONT’D)

  Look, this is crazy, Anna. It’s two

  stories. You can break something.

  ANNA

  And I’m okay with that. Damnit! Now I

  need to be deprogrammed. Why are you

  ditching your date?

  SETH

  She thinks Val Kilmer was the best

  Batman.

  ANNA

  Dumb bitch.

  SETH

  I know.

  There’s another pause.

  SETH (CONT’D)

  Okay, look, on the count of three, we’ll

  both go back into the restroom, go into

  the restaurant and try to enjoy

  ourselves, okay? Neither of us will jump.

  ANNA

  Sounds good.

  SETH

  One, two,...

  They both slowly ease into the restrooms.

  SETH (CONT’D)

  ...three!

  They leap out the windows, grab each other and fall. They

  land in an open dumpster. The dumpster’s lids close after

  them. The lids rise. They stand up, giggling like morons.

  He has a half-empty CAN OF BEER in his hand. He tilts his

  head back, beginning to chug the rest up.

  ANNA

  (in a patronizing tone)

  Seth, remember what I told you about

  putting stuff you find in the trash in

  your mouth?

  Seth finishes the beer. He throws the can. It lands

  somewhere with a CLANG. Then he scratches his right cheek

  with his finger suggestively.

  SETH

  Anna, you’ve got a little...

  ANNA

  What?

  SETH

  You have a little...(beat)...condom on

  your cheek.

  She YELPS and brushes a USED CONDOM off her cheek.

  INT. GEORGE BUSH HIGH. HALLWAY - MORNING

  Russ and STONER JEFF and STEVE are in a circle, kicking

  around the old hackey sack. Seth ENTERS and grabs the hackeysack in midair and takes off with it. Worried, Russ

  follows.

  RUSS

  Dude? Dude?

  INT. GEORGE BUSH HIGH. MEN’S RESTROOM - MORNING

  The two ENTER the restroom. Seth leads Russ to the stall

  farthest from the door. He swings the door wide open and

  tosses the beanbag into the toilet...

  SETH

  I’ll see you in Hell, hackey sack!

  ...and depresses the flush handle with his foot--WHOOSH!-and

  the toy gets stuck in the hole. Disappointed, he

  repeatedly tries to flush it, with Russ looking on in

  surprise.

  SETH (CONT’D)

  See you...(beat)...see you...(beat)...

  see--

  Clogged, the toilet begins to overflow...as does all the

  urinals behind them. They see this.

  SETH (CONT’D)

  Oh my God! We’ve started some kind of

  chain reaction! Always with me and the

  toilets!

  Running out--with the sinks backing up and overflowing-Seth

  pounds open an unlocked stall door. Three BULLIES have

  turned a NERD upside down, stuffing his head in the bowl.

  BULLY #1

  (to the nerd)

  This is for bringing up the grading curve!

  Russ stops to warn them.

  RUSS

  Run!

  Russ continues running.

  BULLY #2

  Let’s get’im out!

  BULLY #1

  (places a hand on #2’s shoulder)

  It’s too late for him.

  They all run for it, leaving the nerd alone in the rising

  waters, his arms and legs flaying skyward.

  NERD (V.O.)

  You’ll all pay for this! Shit!

  SHIIIIIT!!!

  INT. GEORGE BUSH HIGH. MR. GEE’S CLASS - NOON

  PRINCIPAL ESCOBAR (V.O.)

  (over P.A. system)

  Due to the massive flooding on the first

  floor, hackey sacks and hackey s
ack

  paraphernalia are hereby banned from

  school premises. Although I am legally

  not allowed to say the name of the

  student responsible, I can tell you he’s

  in Mr. Gee’s class right now, wearing a

  Weird Al Yankovic tee under a checkered

  over=shirt.

  SETH

  Lots of people like Weird Al.

  A volley of HACKEY SACKS strike Seth from all angles, and a

  CAN OF RED BULL strikes him on the side of his head.

  SETH (CONT’D)

  OW! He said “hackey sacks,” not “Red Bull.”

  GUY WHO THREW RED BULL (O.S.)

  “...gives you wings!”

  EXT. GEORGE BUSH HIGH. FRONT ENTRANCE - EVENING

  Students are leaving school. TWO MORMONS, dressed

  alike, are passing out BOOKS OF MORMON to passerbys. A GOTH

  GIRL approaches them. MORMON #1 hands her a Bible.

  MORMON #1

  Don’t go to Hell. Accept Jesus Christ.

  A JEWISH BOY, wearing a YAMAKUH, approaches them. Mormon

  #1 hands him a Book.

  MORMON #1 (CONT’D)

  Don’t go to Hell. Accept Jesus Christ,

  become LDS.

  A MUSLIM GIRL, wearing the full Muslim dress attire,

  approaches them. Mormon #1 hands her a Bible.

  MORMON #1 (CONT’D)

  Don’t go to Hell. Accept Jesus Christ,

  becomes LDS.

  Seth, Russ and Anna approach them.

  SETH

  So, are you fun Mormons like the Mormons