Winthrop Prep -- Episode 3 -- Cry Wolf

Jasper: You’re avoiding me.

Bianca: And, clearly I suck at it. My hiding place is the public dining room in broad daylight. Where did I go wrong?

Jasper: We haven’t spoken since Monday. Come on, Binx, you can’t tell me you killed someone and then run off like that.

Bianca: Say it a little louder. I don’t think Hamilton House heard you. I should go get ready for classes.

Jasper: It’s Saturday.

 

Bianca: Oh.

Jasper: Binx –

Bianca: Bianca!

Jasper: Binx, tell me what happened. Was it an accident?

Bianca: Yes. No…no. Not exactly...

His name was Pete Summers. He was my stepfather, husband number five, maybe six, I can’t remember. He was a horrible man with an even worse temper. My mother’s something of a relationship chameleon, adapting herself to the man of the minute. His views, his needs, his aspirations all become hers, to the detriment of her own. Pete was no exception. I hated him so much, Jasper. He would talk down to her, belittle her, cheat on her with every cute, young thing that crossed his path, all the while convincing her that she was fat and old and no one was ever going to love her like he did.

One night, my mother was speaking at the annual Woman of the Year banquet. Pete didn’t want her to go, but it was tradition for the previous year’s winner to deliver the opening address.

When she was gone, he came up to my room. He’d been drinking, I could smell it on him. I told him to leave, I needed my rest, but he said that my mother was gone, so I needed to take care of him. I didn’t know what he meant, not until he tried to kiss me.

I slapped him, shoved him away. He yelled at me, told me I was going to be just like my mother, useless and unlovable. Then, he hit me, tried to kiss me again, tried to force me backwards, towards the bed.

Somehow, I got away from him, made it out to the landing of the stairs.

We struggled again and…he lost his balance. He fell down to the floor below.  

Bianca: He was laying there, bleeding and broken and crying out for help. I ran downstairs to get the phone, but I didn’t. I saw that he couldn’t move at all, that he was dying. And, I let him. I stood still until the last bit of life drained out of him and I was glad. I was genuinely happy to watch him die, Jasper.

Jasper: He tried to rape you. He’d been abusing your mother. You were distressed.

Bianca: That’s what my lawyer argued. The judge showed uncharacteristic leniency, letting me go with six months of inpatient treatment for my traumas at the Reynolds Center. So, now you know. Do you hate me? Do you think I’m some kind of monster?

Jasper: I thought I told you I could never hate you?

Bianca: Even after that?

Jasper: We’ve all got our demons, our dark secrets. Yours is safe with me, Bianca, and I’ll never judge it.

Bianca: Careful, Jasper. I’m going to start thinking you like me.

Jasper: Like you? I tolerate you sometimes because you’re Sam’s girlfriend and are insanely hot, but like you?

Bianca: I am insanely hot, huh? Speaking of my beloved, where is he?

Jasper: Boathouse. We’re going to go throw the ball around in a little while. Told him I’d meet him there.

Bianca: Could you do me a favor?

Jasper: A sexual favor? Absolutely.

Bianca: A regular favor.

Jasper: Not as exciting, but okay.

Bianca: Could you talk to him for me? He’s been acting strange, distant. It has something to do with Alison and I need to know what I’m up against here.

Later that morning, Jasper did as Bianca asked. He met his best friend down by the boathouse and, as they threw an old baseball around, he changed the subject from chem. lab to Bianca.

Jasper: So, how are things with Bianca?

Sam: Fine.

Jasper: Just fine?

Sam: Yeah.

Jasper: Sealed the deal yet? She looked like she was revved up and raring to go when we all came down here the other night. I’m surprised you resisted.

Sam: Alison was here.

Jasper: So? Something going on with you and new girl?

Sam: Kind of. At least, I thought there was. Do you remember our road trip this summer? When we passed through Topeka?

Jasper: How could I forget? I was so sick. I thought I was going to die.

Sam: So, we stopped at that motel, so you could rest. I went for a drive, but the car broke down just inside the city limits for this town called –

Jasper: Petunia Plains?

Sam: Yeah. Guy who towed the car said it’d take all afternoon to fix, recommended a diner to get something to eat and wait. So, I did. Second I walked through those doors, I saw her. Her hair was pulled back and she was wiping down the counter. I’ve never seen anyone more beautiful. I sat down in a back booth and she came over, asked me what I wanted. I wanted her, but I ordered a burger and fries. We wound up spending the whole afternoon talking. I told her about Winthrop and she told me about life in Petunia Plains and, when the guy from the garage stopped in to tell me the car was fixed, she walked me out. Before I left, I kissed her goodbye and that one kiss stayed with me the rest of the summer. Next thing I know, she’s here and I was so ready to break up with Bianca. But, then the Cynthia thing happened and Alison wanted to stay apart because of how fragile Bianca is.

Jasper: You could really break up with Bianca for Alison?

Sam: Yeah. You don’t know what it’s like being Bianca’s boyfriend. She’s clingy and she’s neurotic and she’s so unbelievably selfish. Alison’s none of those things. She’s cool and simple and willing to put Bianca’s happiness ahead of her own.

Jasper: I just don’t see how you can call Bianca selfish. Do you remember when your dad had his heart surgery? Bianca blew off an entire week of classes to go home with you. She almost didn’t get all of her work made up and risked disciplinary action just so she could be with you and support you. And, when your dad had a second heart attack and passed away, who was it that ended her winter break to go to Twinbrook with you for the service? She’s always had your back when you needed her. So, yeah, she might be clingy and neurotic and unbelievably selfish, but she’s a damn good girlfriend, one you’re lucky to have.

Sam: Since when are you so defensive of Bianca?

Jasper: Us evil people have to stick together, I guess. Your ball.

That afternoon, as Dalton House got ready for the mixer, Bianca stood in front of her mirror, observing her makeup. She had to look perfect for Sam tonight, she thought. Or, at least better than Kansas.

When she looked up, she was shocked to see Kansas behind her.

Alison: Hey, roomie. Oh, you look super cute.

Bianca: I know.

Alison: I wish I had something that nice to wear to the mixer tonight. Everything I’ve got’s more Sunday school than social function.

Bianca: Doesn’t surprise me.

Alison: So, I was wondering, I saw this pink Maxis in your closet and –

Bianca: Are you forgetting my rules again? I don’t loan my clothes to people from Kansas. God only knows what kind of scholarship germs you’d get all over it.

Alison: Just this once?

Bianca: No. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I promised Franklin I’d help him with his trig before we leave.

When Bianca was gone, Alison went to their closet and found the pink Maxis. Just for a minute, she thought, as she shimmied out of her workout clothes and slipped it on over her shoulders. It fit like a glove, like it was made for her and not Bianca.

She danced around the sleeping area of the suite, imagining Sam’s hands on her in this dress. Then, she gussied up in Bianca's mirror and laid back on Bianca’s prized duvet, imagining her first time with Sam atop it.

Bianca, Jasper and Sam were dancing around, enjoying the beat and the lights and the freebie food in the reception hall. She didn’t have a care in the world, until the door opened and Alison and Noel walked in.

Alison, wearing Bianca’s pink Maxis dress.

Bianca: What the hell?

Sam: What’s wrong?

Bianca: That’s my dress! What did I tell you about keeping your grubby, scholarship mits off of my things?

Alison: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Bianca: Don’t give me that. Day one I told you I wasn’t going to loan you anything. Today, when you asked about that dress, I told you no. And, now here you are, wearing it?

Alison: Bianca, please, calm down. I don’t know what you’re talking about. We never had that conversation. In fact, when you saw me this afternoon, you said yourself that I couldn’t wear the dress I was going to wear because Noel wouldn’t like it. You insisted I wear this one.

Bianca: Are you kidding me? You have two seconds to get my dress off your body. It’s probably infested already. I should have it fumigated before your scholarship germs spread onto my other clothes.

Alison: You said I could borrow it.

Bianca: No, I didn’t, and newsflash, it’s borrowing when you have permission; it’s stealing when you don’t. You didn’t. You stole my dress!

Sam: Bianca, that’s enough. We’re all here to have a good time. You’re being unfairly cruel to Alison. I think you should apologize.

Bianca: When pigs fly. Come on, I need a drink.

Jasper remained on the dance floor, amused by the display. He knew Alison was lying because he knew Bianca. She’d cut off her own hands before she’d allow them to give one of her prized designer Maxis dresses to a scholarship student, especially one she thought had designs on her boyfriend. Who was this Alison Roberts and why did he suddenly suspect there was more to her run-in with Sam than a simple act of fate?

As the night wore on, most everybody went out to the pool. Only the Dalton House kids stayed inside. While Bianca and Sam lounged on the couch, Franklin, Rebecca, Noel and Alison tore up the dance floor.

Sam: She looks like she’s having a good time.

Bianca: Why wouldn’t she be? She’s with Noel, who’s a pretty cool guy for someone who can recite pi to the twenty-eighth digit or whatever.

Sam didn’t like her closeness with Noel at all. It set his teeth on edge, watching them dancing together, the way she laughed, the way she rubbed herself up against him, the way she should’ve been dancing with him. So, he decided if she was going to rub Noel in his face, he was going to do her one worse.

He grabbed Bianca and kissed her.

Bianca: What’s that for?

Sam: You’re my girlfriend. I wanted to kiss you.

Bianca was pleased. Jasper’s talk with him must have worked. Finally, he remembered how much he loved her.

Sam: Do you want to get out of here? There’s a room upstairs.

Bianca: Here? Now? I thought you wanted our first time to be special? That’s what you said down at the boathouse the other night.

Sam: Forget what I said. Let’s just do it.

Bianca thought about it for a moment. Sunday night, she would’ve given anything for Sam to want to sneak away and ravage her. But, now she felt uneasy about it. Why, she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but whatever her misgivings, she decided to ignore them. Finally, she was going to make love with Sam and prove to him she was so much better than Kansas.

Bianca: Okay.

Alison spun around and saw Sam and Bianca kissing. She couldn’t believe it. Why was he kissing her? Her heart sank. And, she wasn’t the only one. As Jasper came in from the pool, he saw them, too.

Sam led Bianca across the dance floor, heading for the stairs. He stopped for a minute to share a look with Alison. Yeah, I’m going to go have sex with my girlfriend, the look said. If he saw the pain on her face, it didn’t matter, as he kept moving.

Bianca, too, stopped when she saw Jasper. That pang of misgiving in her stomach worsened. Don’t do this, her mind screamed. It’s not right. But, what was right? Jasper? The boy whose hobby was bedding and dumping dumb girls? He of the steadfast hit it and quit it mentality? No, Sam was a good guy and Sam loved her. Whatever friendship she and Jasper were developing was just that, friendship.

Bianca forced herself to keep moving, and went upstairs with Sam.

Rebecca could tell something was up. Jasper was being broody, even by Jasper’s standards. She followed him over to the couch and plopped down beside him.

Rebecca: You look like someone just shot your kitten.

Jasper: Leave me alone.

Rebecca: Nope, can’t do. You’re my friend and you are clearly distressed. Want to talk about it?

Jasper: No.

Rebecca: Okay, then I guess I’ll have to guess. You don’t have a pet kitten, and you didn’t get this look on your face until you saw Sam and Bianca going upstairs and you refuse to take your eyes off those stairs and … oh my God. You have a thing for your best friend’s girlfriend.

Jasper: I do not.

Rebecca: It makes so much sense, the way you defended her to Grant, how much time you’ve been spending together, and I always thought your bickering was foreplay. Just fess up, you’ve got it bad for Bianca.

Jasper: It’s humiliating. I see her and my palms get all sweaty and my heartbeat speeds up and I feel like there’s a vice around my lungs, squeezing every last bit of air out of them. This isn’t supposed to happen to me. I don’t like girls, girls like me. I have sex with them, they satisfy my physical needs and my ego and I’m done with them. But, Bianca is – Bianca. Now, she’s up there with him, doing God knows what, things I should be doing to her.

Rebecca: Come on.

Jasper: Where are we going?

Rebecca: To get you drunk. Very, very drunk.

Upstairs, in the dark, Sam and Bianca made out. They were a mess of awkwardly placed hands and poorly positioned knees and, though Bianca tried to get into it, Sam’s kisses weren’t the same. He didn’t turn her on the way he used to, and all she could think about was how she’d always wanted her first time to be. It wasn’t like this. It wasn’t supposed to be harried and fumbling and in the dark, but slow and smooth and celebrated in the light.

Bianca: Can we turn the lights on?

Sam: Why?

Bianca: Because, I want to see you. And, I don’t like being in the dark. Please?

Frustrated, Sam got up and turned the lights on. He didn’t get the big deal, but whatever.

The light didn’t help. As they returned to their kissing, Sam snaked his hand under the hem of Bianca’s skirt and she froze.

Suddenly, she was back in time, to that night with Pete. He had his hands on her and was pushing her towards the bed and she was clawing and screaming and trying to shove him away.

Bianca: No! Stop! Get away from me!

Sam: What’s wrong?

Bianca: I can’t do this. I can’t – I’m sorry.

Sam: I just don’t get you. You want to do it, but I don’t. We start to do it and then you clam up? Whatever, Bianca. I’m going to go get a drink.

Bianca: Wait, can you just stay with me?

Sam didn’t answer, just got up and went downstairs, despite Bianca’s cries for him to come back.

Sam went outside for a breath of fresh air and Alison followed.

Alison: That was quick.

Sam: We didn’t do anything.

Alison: But, you would’ve? You would have had sex with her?

Sam: Why not? She’s my girlfriend and having sex with her beats sitting around, watching you dance with Noel.

Alison: You’re jealous?

Sam: Yeah, I am. I told you, Alison, I want to be with you.

Alison: Oh, Sam. You’re right. We can’t keep on this way. I don’t like Noel, I mean, he’s a great guy, but he isn’t you. Are you sure Bianca will understand?

Sam: Maybe not. But, right now, I don’t care.

Bianca

Alison: Bianca, I’m so sorry.

Bianca slapped Alison as hard as she could. And, she would’ve slapped her again, if Sam hadn’t grabbed her hand and demanded she leave Alison alone, as it wasn’t poor, Kansas’ fault.

Bianca: You’re not sorry yet, but you’re going to be. If you think getting your germs on my dress pissed me off, you have no idea the things I’m going to do to you for getting your germs on my boyfriend!

Alison: Please, just let me explain – we met this summer and we couldn’t help it. We fell in love.

Bianca: Love? You’re in love with her, Sam?

Sam: Yeah. I didn’t know how to tell you. Alison, can you give us a few minutes to talk?

Alison: I don’t want to leave you.

Sam: I’ll be alright. Please?

Alison went back inside. When she was gone, Bianca felt the tears stinging the surface of her eyes, but she refused to let them go. Sam didn’t deserve them and Alison sure as hell didn’t.

Bianca: Just tell me one thing, Sam. Where did I go wrong? Did I not love you enough? Did I love you too much?

Sam: It’s not your fault, Bianca. I just don’t think we fit each other. You’re loud and you’re mean and you love to the point of suffocating people. Alison, though, she’s gentle and she’s sweet and that’s the way she loves. For a long time, I’ve wondered if I could survive a future with you and I’ve come to the decision that I can’t. You’re good to me, Jasper pointed out to me earlier today how good you’ve been to me. But, it isn’t enough.

Bianca: So, that’s it? It’s over?

Sam: I’m sorry, Bianca.

Bianca: You’re going to regret this. One of these days, you’ll wake up and you’ll realize that Kansas isn’t this sweet, innocent dove she pretends to be. She’s a liar and she’s a manipulator just as much as I am. At least I’m honest about it.

That night, Bianca went down to the boathouse. She sat on the swing, looked out at the water. It was so quiet here, so peaceful, the complete opposite of the way it was in her head. She replayed it all over, the entire span of her relationship with Sam. Maybe she did love him to the point of suffocating him, but that was the only way Bianca knew how to love.

What if Pete was right about her? What if she was destined to wind up like her mother, someone nobody could ever love?

Jasper: Don’t even think about it.

Bianca: You’re a mind-reader now?

Jasper: When it comes to you? Yes. I heard about what happened at the mixer.

Bianca: He dumped me for Kansas. Guess you’re off the hook.

Jasper: He’s an idiot.

Bianca: Is he? He said I loved him to the point of suffocating him.

Jasper: You loved him completely, and with everything you had. Some people would be lucky to experience a love like that and Sam’s a fool if he can just throw it away for a girl he’s known for all of a few days.

Bianca: I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I don’t want to think about it. Distract me?

Jasper: We could go somewhere else, get off these deathtraps.

Bianca: They’re swings. Don’t tell me you’re afraid of swings. Haha, you are, aren’t you?

Jasper: I jumped off of one in first grade, trying to impress a girl, and I broke my arm. Naturally, I haven’t been on another one since.

Jasper: What are you doing? What’s that face? Binx, I don’t like that face! Oh no! No, no, no, no – AHHH!

Bianca: Just hold onto the chains and don’t jump! Trust me!

Jasper: Bianca, please let me down – oh. Hey, this is kind of fun.

Bianca: See? It’s not so bad. Sometimes you have to just let the past go and embrace the now.

Back at Dalton Hall, Sam went home with Alison. Neither of them figured Bianca would come back to the room, given how hurt her feelings were, and that she would bunk with Franklin, her best friend.

They went to Alison’s bed and stretched out. They kissed and held each other and though Alison was eager to go all the way, Sam, suddenly, was not. In the back of his mind, he heard Jasper’s voice, reminding him of how Bianca had been, both when his dad was sick and when he passed away. He couldn’t help but think about that now. She held his hand, waited on him hand and foot and stood there, absorbing it, each and every time he lashed out at her because he couldn’t handle his own pain.

She really did love him.

But, it was over now. He’d made his decision … though he was beginning to wonder if he’d made the right one, after all.

When it began to rain, Jasper and Bianca took shelter in the boathouse. There was a lot of dust, as the place hadn’t been touched in years, not since they had a security guard posted there to watch the lake at night and make sure none of the kids were coming down there to get drunk and engage in naughty promiscuity, basically all the things they were doing since the school had to cut the guard budget thanks to the recession.

Bianca shivered and Jasper pulled her to him.

Jasper: You’re still thinking about him, aren’t you?

Bianca: No, not exactly.

Jasper: Binx, what happened when you went upstairs? Did you –

Bianca: No. I tried, I thought I wanted to, but I couldn’t. I knew it wasn’t right, that he didn’t love me and, when I refused to listen, my mind forced me to. I flashed back to Pete, to how he tried to attack me that night and I realized if I had sex with him, I was doing what Pete said I would – becoming my mother, adapting myself to the man I was with even though he didn’t love me or really respect me. Then, Sam ran off to Kansas.

Jasper: You deserve better. Bianca, you’re incredible. Yeah, you’re kind of a bitch, but you should be with someone who appreciates and admires you for what you are, not someone who is ashamed and sits in judgment of you.

Bianca: Like you?

Jasper: I didn’t mean –

Jasper: Are you sure you want to do this? I don’t want you to regret it or feel like I’m taking advantage of you.

Bianca: The only thing I’ll regret is if my first time is with anyone else. I knew it when I saw the way you were looking at me as I headed upstairs with Sam, and I tried to ignore it, but I can’t anymore. I want you, Jasper. I want to spend the night with you.

Jasper pulled her closer to him, kissed her again more passionately than he’d ever kissed any of the other girls he’d been with, because Bianca wasn’t like them. He had no idea where they would go from here, or if this would be anything more than one night, but he ached for her, craved her in a way he’d never wanted anyone else before.

Sam pushed Alison away.

Alison: What’s wrong?

Sam: This isn’t right. I can’t do this. I’m sorry.

Alison: Where are you going?

Sam: To find Bianca. I’m sorry, Alison. I owe her better than this.

Bianca’s body was the most beautiful thing Jasper had ever laid his eyes on. He took her in his arms and carried her towards the bed. She smelled and tasted of coconut body lotion and each time he felt the sensation of her skin against his, he thought if he died right now, he would die in ecstasy.

He spent the night doing everything she wanted him to do, making love to her over and over again until she was exhausted, insisting on postponing his own satisfaction until hers was fully spent. And, when Bianca rolled over, he wrapped his arms around her, breaking Jasper Mancini’s golden rule … never linger.

Bianca: Are you cuddling with me?

Jasper: No.

Bianca: Really? Because this feels distinctly like cuddling.

Jasper: Hypothetically speaking, what if we were cuddling?

Bianca: I’d think it might be okay.

And, that was all they said. In each other’s arms, they drifted off to sleep, neither knowing of the danger that lurked behind the walls … or what the morning had in store for them.