Winthrop Prep -- Episode #7 -- Revelations

The sun rose over Winthrop Prep again the next morning, though Bianca did not notice. She’d been in a daze ever since her father brought her home. It wasn’t fair, she thought, sitting opposite him on the couch in her room. Franklin was locked away in a tiny cell, sleeping on an uncomfortable cot and probably getting felt up by a large man with a mullet and “Mother” tattooed onto his flabby bicep. And, while she wasn’t unconvinced Franklin might enjoy the feeling up part, she knew the rest of it was making him miserable.

And, she felt miserable, too, because not only did she have no one – except her father, of course – but, she felt useless, too.

Useless just like Pete said she’d be.

Ted: Bianca, honey, let me go downstairs and make you something to eat.

Bianca: I’m not hungry.

Ted: Then, why don’t you go to bed? Come on, I’ll tuck you in like I used to when you were little.

Bianca: Dad, I don’t want to sleep. I can’t sleep, not until Franklin and Jasper come home. I need to be doing something, to have my hands on something, some goal I can work towards, a task I can complete…something that will make me stop feeling so useless.

Ted: You aren’t useless.

Bianca: Yes, I am! I can’t help Franklin, I can’t help Jasper, two of the three people I love most in this world are imprisoned and I’m powerless…

A cold feeling washed over Bianca when she said that word. Powerless. Suddenly, she remembered that night again, how she’d sworn to herself as she stood over Pete Summers’ dead body that she would never be powerless again.

And, now she was.

Ted: If that’s what you need, you can help me.

Bianca: With Franklin’s defense?

Ted: No, my hands are pretty much tied until the DNA test comes back in that regard. My motion to have the charges dropped was dismissed when I went in front of Judge Laurent last night. But, Beth has  been asked by the Winthrop Prep board to plan the charity banquet for next weekend. I’m sure she would love your input.

Bianca: I’m not much for party planning right now. I think if you give me input, we’ll wind up with black streamers and balloons and an Evanescence cover band, maybe a marquee video on the perks of surrendering your soul to the dark lord.

Ted: Adam Lambert?

Bianca: The other one.

Ted: Actually, if you helped Beth with this project, you’d be doing me a favor. You know how you said that I should marry Beth? 

Bianca: Mm-hmm.

Ted: Well, I’ve asked. Four times. She’s turned me down each and every proposal.

Bianca: How come? You’re awesome. It’s where I get my awesomeness from.

Ted: I don’t know. The first time I asked, she said she wanted to think about it. Then, the next day, she turned me down. So, I asked again when we went to Madrid this summer, Manhattan and that day trip we took to Cherryvale to visit her parents.

Bianca: Why didn’t you tell me?

Ted: You’re sixteen, you’re a strong, beautiful young woman and I didn’t want to burden you with my many rejections.

 

Bianca: Daddy, I’m sorry. Okay. I will voice conference Beth in Bridgeport and help her plan the charity banquet. 

Ted: Thank you. I love you, Bianca.

Bianca: I love you, too. And, I suspect Beth does as well. I’ll get to the bottom of this commitment phobia she has. Don’t worry.

Bianca: Oh, don’t cry! Alright, cry. There, there. I’m sure it’ll all work out. Beth has fat knees and ugly hair, remember? If not you, who else?

Ted: Not that.

Bianca: What?

Ted: You’re all grown up. Seems like just yesterday you were waddling around the house in diapers and stowing away in my overnight bag when I would go on business trips.

Bianca: They always caught me when you hit airport security. Damn x-ray machines. 

Ted: I just feel like I’ve missed so much.

Bianca: Hey, Dad? You think when you’re done crying on my shoulder, I could cry on yours? ‘Cause, I’m kind of the depressed one, here.

Ted: Five minutes?

Bianca: Okay, five minutes.

 

 

Downstairs, in his room, Noel was up early to work on his drafting project for his architecture class. 

He’d let Rebecca sleep in because, well, he didn’t want to bother her. It’d been a long time since Rebecca Turner was in his bed and, while he didn’t know what last night meant, he did know he wanted her there a while longer. Besides, she was always so cute when she snored.

But, soon, she did wake, and she came over to check out his drafting project.

Rebecca: Good morning.

Noel: Good morning. I hope I didn’t wake you.

Rebecca: No, I should’ve been up a while ago. We have classes.

Noel: No, we don’t. Mancini’s planning a memorial service for Cynthia. Classes are cancelled for the day.

Rebecca: Oh, that’s good. I still haven’t finished my homework. What’s this?

Noel: My dream home. We’re supposed to submit a draft by Friday. Cozy cottage, two stories, three bedrooms, so the kids can have their own room each –

Rebecca: Kids?

Noel: Well, yeah, you know I want a couple of kids one of these days.

Rebecca fell quiet, and the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. Noel could tell something was wrong, and he wondered if this had something to do with what Cynthia was blackmailing her with. He had no right to pry, as she hadn’t pried into his secrets, but he didn’t like seeing her struggling underneath the weight of her own conscience.

Noel: Rebecca, what’s wrong?

Rebecca: I need to tell you something and, before I do, I want you to know that last night meant the world to me. I love you, Noel. I’ve been in love with you ever since I saw your geek glasses and dorky dance moves at the first social freshman year. And, though we broke up, I’ve never stopped loving you.

Noel: You broke up with me.

Rebecca: I know. I just couldn’t take the guilt, couldn’t bear to look at you every day and know I did something that you’d hate me for. So, I ended it. I thought you were better off without me.

Noel: What could you possibly do to make me hate you?

Rebecca: Last year, during finals, you remember how stressed you were. We both were. I felt like crap, couldn’t keep my food down, was exhausted – I thought it was the stress, but it wasn’t. I was pregnant. 

Noel: What? But, we always use protection –

Rebecca: Nothing’s one hundred percent. All it takes is one failed condom.

Noel: What happened?

Rebecca: I was going to tell you about the baby the night before our final for Prescott’s British Lit class, but you had that paper you were working on and you kept talking about how you were so far behind and you didn’t know how you were going to catch up and how if you failed, you’d get kicked out and how much your education meant and –

Noel: What did you do?

Rebecca: We were fifteen.

Noel: You had an abortion? 

When Bianca hung up her conference call with Beth – who refused to discuss the status of her relationship with Ted except to say she loved him very much – she went downstairs. There, she found Grant in the dining room, talking to his computer.

Bianca: Look, if you’re going to cyber, do it in your own room and not on our dining room table.

Grant: Good morning, Miss Bishop.

Bianca watched as Grant clicked something and said in a weird voice:

Grant: That was the “Firework” from Katy Perry and you are still on the air with DJ Waterz.

Bianca: What are you doing?

Grant: Campus radio show.

Bianca: You can broadcast from your computer?

Grant: Yeah, you can do everything on a computer nowadays. And, since they’re doing renovations to the old studio, that means I’m working from here. I have my wireless microphone pack and the songs we have license to catalogued on my system and with one click, I can broadcast to every radio in Sunset Valley, tuned to our station.

Bianca: Huh. You take requests?

Grant: Sure.

Bianca: Send one out to Jasper from Bian—from Binx. “Apologize,” OneRepublic. It's his favorite song. Tell him I'm thinking about him.

Noel didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say anything at all. Instead, he went to feed his fish. That he had no fish didn’t matter all that much to him in that particular moment.

Rebecca: Noel, say something. Please?

Noel: What do you want me to say? You know how I feel about abortion.

Rebecca: I do. But, I also know how you feel about your education. And, I know how your family feels about your education. You’re the smartest guy at this school, probably in the universe. You’re going so many places, so many doors are open for you. When I saw that pink line, I could hear those doors slamming shut, and I didn’t want you looking back on your life in twenty years and resenting me –

Noel: We made a child. It was an accident, probably evidence that kids our age shouldn’t be doing what we’re doing, but it was a life we created. And, you killed it.

Rebecca: I’m sorry.

Noel: Do you at least regret it?

Rebecca: No. I have rights, Noel. It was my body. And, I know I probably should have informed you, but the decision impacted me as much as it did you. It wasn’t the decision you would have made, but it was the decision I had to make. I love you and I want nothing more than to someday be the mother of your children, but not now.

Noel: You need to leave. I’m going to say something I can’t take back and you need to leave.

So, she did. There was nothing left to say that hadn’t already been said, and a fundamental difference that could not be overcome so quickly after its realization. Rebecca returned to her room and cried herself back to sleep.

In his suite at Sunset Valley Inpatient Rehab, Jasper relaxed on his bed, thinking about the only thing he could think about – Bianca. His fantasies of having her in his arms again were all that was keeping him sane. She hadn’t called, according to his father and the nurses, but something in his gut told him not to believe that. They were connected, whether either of them planned on it or not. Her soul was linked to his in ways neither of them imagined possible. And, he knew that she was out there somewhere, thinking of him, too –

Beyonce’s "Halo" finished on the radio, and Grant’s obnoxious DJ voice crackled to life over the speakers. “We’ve got a request lined up for Jasper from his Binx. She says she’s thinking of you.” 

As OneRepublic’s “Apologize” started to play, Jasper smiled. She remembered. And, she was thinking of him. That alone gave him the strength to make it through another day.

After returning Beth’s call (and talking her down from the mariachi band idea), Bianca returned to the dining room, looking for Grant. She found him in the kitchen.

 

Bianca: Today is your lucky day.

Grant: You’re transferring?

Bianca: No. I’m going to give you a chance to get in my good graces.

Later that afternoon, Cynthia’s memorial was held. Everyone on campus went – everyone except Bianca, Noel and Rebecca. Sam and Alison were the only Dalton House representatives.

After the service, they passed through the quad and had a seat on the benches. Alison could tell something was weighing on Sam’s mind.
 

 

Alison: You okay?

Sam: Thinking about Jasper.

Alison: You did the right thing.

Sam: Did I? I found that syringe four days before I turned it in, and I didn’t do that until I found out he was with Bianca.

Alison did not like that Bianca was, once again, on Sam’s mind.

Alison: He’s on drugs again. You were being a good friend telling his father. Now, he’s getting help.

Sam: I just don’t like seeing her this miserable. I know I’ve been a complete dick to her, but …

Alison: You shouldn’t feel bad. It’s karma, Sam. She’s a bitch to everyone. Look at how she’s treated me. My first day here, she didn’t know me at all and she sat in judgment of me just because I’m on scholarship. She hurts everyone, now the universe is hurting her back. It’s out of our hands.

Sam: I’m not so sure she was wrong about you.

Alison: What?

Sam: There’s just something off about this whole thing, something I can’t put my finger on. You show up out of the blue, you say you want to be with me, then you don’t because you’re worried about Bianca’s mental health, then you do and you’re taking pleasure in seeing her break down. I don’t understand you, Alison.

Alison: Me? You want to talk about my questionable motives? You want me, then you want Bianca, then Bianca doesn’t want you, so you have sex with me … you use me because you can’t have her. So, I’m sorry if I seem to be a little pleased that she’s in a bad place right now, but I love you, Sam, and I don’t want her taking anyone else away from me.

Sam: What’s that supposed to mean? Who else did she take away from you?

Alison: I just mean that I’ve lost people very close to me and I don’t want her to take another person away. Sam, you might not love me like I love you, I don’t know where your head is at right now. One minute you love me, the next you don’t. But, regardless of how you feel about me, you’re where my heart is. Can we please just not fight?

Sam hugged her when she wrapped her arms around him, but he did not hold on as tightly as she did, and while she took this as a sign they were working on things, Sam just wondered what he’d gotten himself into.

Later that night, when Alison returned to Dalton House, she stopped off at Bianca’s room. Bianca found her there, parading about in one of Bianca’s headbands.

Alison: Oh, hey, Binx.

Bianca: What are you doing in my room? And wearing my headband again!

Alison: I was just wondering if I could borrow some condoms? Sam and I were planning on going down to the boathouse for a while and, well, we figured you and Jasper wouldn’t be using yours anytime soon. Why let them go to waste?

Bianca: Get out of my room, Alison.

Alison: Aw. Look at you. So sad and deflated. No best friend, no boyfriend, Sam and I hate you and Noel and Rebecca are completely indifferent to you. The dorm adviser doesn’t even like you. Gosh. Sucks to be you, Bianca.

Bianca: Why are you doing this to me?

Alison: Because someone had to. Your life is far too easy. Money. Status. Fine clothes. People who love you. People like you don’t deserve to have their lives go so easy, not while good people struggle.

Bianca: What are you talking about?

Alison: I know all about you, Bianca. You’re a coldhearted monster, the type of girl who’d pass a dying man and not help just because he isn’t in your socioeconomic bracket.

Bianca: You don’t know a damn thing about me or my capabilities.

 

Alison: You look down your nose at people who you think have nothing because they have no money, but it’s you who has nothing now, Bianca. Sam’s mine. I sold Franklin out to Detective Carr and he’s going to go away for Cynthia’s murder and I took Jasper away from you, too.

Bianca: How do you figure?

Alison: That syringe Sam found? I planted it. I saw how close you and Jasper were, even before you did. So, I left it for Sam to find and waited for him to see what I saw – that you and Jasper wanted each other. He got angry, he turned it over and my hands were clean when they carted your little boyfriend off to the junkie clinic.

Bianca: You’re psychotic. Alison, you need help, some kind of therapy.

Alison: Maybe. But, I have friends here, I have that big old double suite to myself and I have a boyfriend who totally rocks my world. You have nothing Bianca. 

Bianca: Actually, that’s not true. I do have one thing you don’t.

Alison: Oh yeah? What?

Bianca leaned in close and whispered into her enemy's ear ...

Bianca: A wireless microphone pack that transmits to the campus radio station. Congratulations, Alison. You just confessed to everyone in Sunset Valley.

Alison: What? No, you’re bluffing!

Bianca: Am I? I warned you, Alison that on your best day, you can’t out psycho bitch me on my worst. If I were you, I’d leave now while you can still walk out of this room.

Alison’s life began to crumble in slow motion. Grant was waiting for her in her room with Headmaster Mancini, who informed her the scholarship was revoked and she had one hour to gather her belongings and leave the Winthrop Prep campus. And, when she had her things and went downstairs, Sam, Bianca, Noel and Rebecca were standing there, watching her, a look of smug victory on Bianca’s face.

Alison: Sam, please don’t let them –

Sam: Shut up, Alison. I heard everything. Bianca was right about you.

Rebecca: When we make a pact in this house, we stick to it.

Noel: We don’t rat out our own like you did Franklin.

Bianca: What were you saying again about me having no friends? Have fun back in Kansas, I’m sure your cows missed you. We sure as hell won’t.

Alison made a silent vow of her own before she left – a promise to all of them, but especially Bianca, that this wasn’t over with. She might not be a Winthrop Prep student anymore, but she was going forward with her plans. Bianca would permanently lose someone she loved the same way Alison lost Pete. She was more determined than ever now.

Hours passed and Bianca grew more frustrated. Her father met her outside her room for an update on Beth.

Bianca: Beth loves you but doesn’t want to talk about marriage to me or anyone else. Don’t worry. You know me, when I want info out of someone, I get it … eventually.

Ted: Are you okay? I heard about the Alison thing.

Bianca: I think she knows about Pete Summers. Something she said to me … could you look into it for me? See if Pete had any friends or family outside of Mom?

 

Ted: Absolutely. Is there anything else you need?

Bianca: Jasper. And, Franklin. Any news on the DNA?

Ted: Just that his DNA was a match … and that there is another sample that doesn’t match.

Bianca: Gross. But, this is good, right?

Ted: Another man means another motive and another potential killer, which is all we’ll need for reasonable doubt, so, yes, this will help.

Bianca: Dad, there’s something you should know. That other sample could be Jasper’s.

Ted: Excuse me?

Bianca: This stays between us? Attorney-client privilege?

 

Ted: It stays between us because of father-daughter privilege, but, yes, you know you can trust me.

Bianca: Last year, Jasper was involved with drugs – taking them, selling them, a little of everything. He went to rehab, but it didn’t take. Cynthia found out and she blackmailed him into having sex with her and cutting her in for a share of the profit, otherwise –

Ted: She’d go to Roger and tell him everything?

 

 

Bianca: Yeah. I know this is the last thing you want to hear about your daughter’s boyfriend, but Cynthia was blackmailing everyone here. She had the Pete Summers thing to hold over my head, she had the tape to hold over Franklin, the drugs to hold over Jasper … I don’t know what she had on the others, but she probably had something on everyone other than Alison.

Ted: This will all work itself out, okay? Cynthia’s dead and Alison is gone. No one knows what happened with Pete Summers outside of us.

Bianca: Except Jasper. I told him. Figured I didn’t have anything else to lose when no one believed me over Cynthia being dead. Why isn’t he home yet, Dad? Can you do something?

Jasper: He already did.

Bianca stood frozen for a moment, but when her brain caught up to the rest of her, she ran into his arms. She grabbed him and kissed him and held onto him like a boa constrictor holds onto his lunch, and he held onto her right back.

Bianca did not let go of him or stop kissing him until her father, whom she’d forgotten was mere feet away, cleared his throat.

Bianca: Sorry. Hi.

Jasper: Hi. I got your song.

Bianca: I hoped you would. Are you here now? For good?

Jasper: Alison’s confession and my latest clean drug test was all it took to convince the doctors to release me. My father wanted to leave me in there, for my own good, he said, but your dad got a court order and the doctors released me with no contest.

Bianca: I thought I was never going to see you again. Or, at least for a year, which is like forever in teenager time.

Jasper: I know, I got your messages when they gave me my phone back. All 812 of them.

Bianca: Sorry.

Jasper: Don’t be. I saved every single one. I would’ve left you just as many if I had phone access.

Downstairs, Sam was on his way to change for a workout when Sheriff Sheridan arrived. She asked to speak with him alone and they went outside.

Sheridan: The Sunset Valley Sherriff’s Department is working in conjunction with the city police on the murder of Cynthia Christian. We’re going to need you to come down to the station and answer some questions.

Sam: I’ve already told Detective Carr everything I know.

Sheridan: Did you tell him why yours was the last number Cynthia dialed on her cell phone? Or why she sent dozens of text messages to you throughout the day, demanding you talk about something?

Sam: I want a lawyer.

Sheridan: You can call one at the station, along with your folks.

That night, Bianca turned in to sleep. She sat down on the bed and curled up into familiar arms.

Bianca: You don’t know how much I’ve missed being held by you.

Pete: I knew you loved it.

Bianca jerked away. No! No, this wasn’t possible!

Bianca: You’re dead! I – I saw you die!

Pete: Stood there and watched, I remember. I remember everything, even the things you don’t.

Bianca: There’s nothing I forgot.

Pete: Yes, there is. Think about it, Bianca. Go on, remember…remember what happened that night when the lights went out.

Bianca: No! No! No! NO!

Bianca screamed and thrashed about, trying to escape, but arms held onto her, no matter how she kicked and clawed and yelled for him to let her go … arms that would never let her go of their own volition.

Jasper’s arms.

Jasper: Binx, what is it? What’s wrong?

Bianca: Jasper?

Jasper: Sweetheart, you were sleeping. You were only sleeping.

Bianca: You’ve been here the whole time?

Jasper: The whole time.

Bianca: And, you’ll stay?

Jasper: Until I have to sneak back to my room in the morning.

Bianca: Please don’t leave. Not while it’s dark out.

Jasper: You know it’d take an act of God to make me leave you. Go back to sleep. I promise, nothing will hurt you.

Bianca settled back under the covers and curled up against Jasper, but before she drifted off to sleep again, she said:

Bianca: Can we sleep with the light on?