DeviousMonkey: Winthrop Prep -- Episode #8 -- ...Said The Spider To The Fly

They say nothing warms the heart like a good charity gala, so why was Bianca Bishop’s freezing cold? As she stood on the footbridge in the park, where she’d agreed to meet Jasper for their first official date as a couple, she felt the most peculiar chill sweep over her. She wanted to think it was being out that late at night sans a wrap, but in all truth, she’d been feeling it all day, and no matter how many layers she wore, how high she turned up the heater, how many warm baths or hot cups of tea she drank, nothing could shake this chill. It was down in her bones, and increased tenfold when she saw him.

Jasper: You look sensational.

Bianca: I know. I mean … thank you. Is that a splash of actual color I see you wearing?

Jasper: Only for you. Are you ready?

Bianca: In a minute. I have this really terrible feeling –

Jasper: Maybe it’s indigestion. Did you eat the fajitas Grant made for lunch?

Bianca: No, it’s not that. I’ve just had this unshakable feeling that something bad is going to happen.

Jasper: It’s probably just stress. You know, Franklin’s still in jail and you haven’t been sleeping at all, I know because when you don’t sleep, I don’t sleep. If you didn’t feel weird, I’d think something was wrong. But, look on the bright side, your dad says the police are investigating a new lead based on the info Sam gave them, and Alison is finally gone and out of our lives...

...Of course, if you don’t want to go tonight, just say the word and I’ll take you home and spend the night making you feel better.

Bianca: Tempting as that is, I promised Beth I would go. But, maybe we can check out early?

Jasper: Just let me know when you want to go.

Bianca wanted to say something else to him, something she’d been wanting to say all week, but could not find the nerve to say. It was just three little words, three words she was finally feeling and three words he said silently every time he looked at her. But, when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. There was only fear, the nagging voice in her head telling her as soon as she said those words, she was giving him permission to leave her.

So, she said nothing. She only kissed him and they left for the party.

Beth Davenport was pleased with the party’s turnout. It’d been an absolutely disastrous week, between the band cancelling and hiring the string quartet in its place, then the venue change from the Sunset Valley Ballroom to Mancini Manor. Thankfully Roger had been gracious enough to give them his home for the night, and the last minute changes had not impacted expected attendance.

She joined Ted’s daughter, Bianca, in the downstairs sitting room.

Beth: Your mother’s not here.

Bianca: She’s in Antigua with future husband number twelve.

Beth: Is it wrong if I say I’m happy this is one party she isn’t going to crash?

Bianca: Mom’s psychotically territorial over all of her ex-husbands, not just Ted. I kind of hoped she would come, though, to see how hot I made you.

Beth: You did make me kind of hot, didn’t you?

Bianca: Mm-hmm. Did something with that hair and got you a long dress to cover up your weird knees. You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you look good enough to get engaged to a certain ruggedly handsome if geeky father.

Beth: Bianca, please don’t start on this again.

Bianca: He loves you and, as far as potential step-monsters go, I don’t entirely dislike you, which is really saying something for me.

Beth: I’m fond of you, too, Bianca. But, the fact remains that I don’t think I’m right for your father as far as being his wife.

Bianca: Why? Beth, he adores you. Is this because of my mom? Because, if she’s giving you problems, just wave a shot of vodka under her nose and she’ll calm down.

Beth: No, it’s not your mother. I just can’t give your father everything he wants.

Beth sighed. How could she make Bianca understand this? Bianca could be very cynical, but she could also be very idealistic, as if she were two different people with two different outlooks on life. The little girl who still believed in happy endings resided in harmony with the teenage girl who knew life sucked, and that fascinated Beth, who was a psychologist and quite familiar with Bianca’s history.

Beth: I can’t give him children, Bianca.

Bianca: What’s he need more kids for? He’s got me. And, honestly, I don’t know why you’d even try to improve on perfection. Why set yourself up for failure like that?

Beth: He wants a houseful of children. Ted is a good man with a lot of love in his heart to give and regrets over how much he missed with you. He speaks of holidays with our blended family, our children and you and us, and I can’t give that to him.

Bianca: Why not?

Beth: When I was a teenager, living in Veronaville, I fell madly in love with this young man. He had dark hair and stunning blue eyes and he was kind of smarmy, but I adored him –

Bianca: I know the feeling.

Beth: I would’ve done anything for him, and when I gave him my virginity, I thought we were going to be together forever...

...But, he didn’t have forever in mind. He stuck around for a few weeks, played the dutiful boyfriend, but then he got bored, I guess. He moved on to other girls and I was heartbroken. And, then, I found out I was pregnant.

Bianca: You had a baby?

Beth: No. I told him and he insisted I abort. It went against everything I believed in. I told my family, but they refused to sign the consent forms. In Veronaville, you have to be eighteen to get an abortion without parental consent. So, he found this clinic about an hour outside of town, one that handled abortions for minors who couldn’t get consent. I think a friend of a friend had told him about it. I didn’t want to, I was relieved when my parents refused to sign the papers, but he just kept pressuring me and telling me I was ruining his life and mine. After a few weeks of this, I gave in. I was young and dumb and didn’t question that it was in a basement or that there were no accreditation plaques in sight or that the

place was severely understaffed. All I cared about was making him happy. I didn’t want to ruin his life and I didn’t want him to hate me. He dropped me off, told me he’d be back in an hour and I went through with the procedure. I was alone and terrified and all I wanted was him … but, then something went wrong.

Bianca: What happened?

Beth: I was under anesthesia, so I didn’t feel a thing. One minute I was there, the next I was waking up in the Veronaville emergency room. The

doctor at the clinic had done internal damage, damage they tried to repair through surgery, but there was so much scar tissue. The doctors told me that the chances of me conceiving a child were slim, the chances of me carrying to term even less. I would give anything if I could go back in time and do things differently, I would’ve done what was right for me, but I didn’t. I did what he wanted and now, here I am, twenty years later, with a wonderful man who treats me like I hung the moon and my decision I made at fifteen is still haunting me.

Bianca: Oh, Beth. Does he know?

Beth: No. I’m too petrified to tell him. I think he’ll leave.

Bianca: He won’t. Trust me. I’ve known him for sixteen years. He didn’t leave me and I killed a man.

Beth: That’s different. You’re his daughter. He loves you.

Bianca: He loves you, too. Trust me, Dad isn’t going to care if you can’t have

children. He’s going to tell you exactly what I’m about to tell you – you can adopt. He has a lot of love in his heart, like you said, but that love isn’t conditional and doesn’t require biology, and he knows better than anyone that there are a lot of kids out there in the system who could use an awesome mom and dad like you’ll be.

Beth: Thank you, Bianca.

Bianca: You’re welcome. Just, no Ethiopian kids, okay? They’re skinnier than I am and I develop complexes easily.

Unbeknownst to Beth and Bianca, Noel Redding was eavesdropping on their conversation. He hadn’t meant to, but now he was glad he did. After listening to Beth, he went off in search of Rebecca, finding her in the downstairs lounge.

Noel: What are you watching?

Rebecca: A horror movie.

Noel: Isn’t this Bridget Jones’ Diary?

Rebecca: Renee Zellweger scares me.

Noel: How are you?

Rebecca: Are we talking now? Because, I really don’t think I can take another incident like the other day, reconnecting with you, making love to you and then getting dumped by you.

So, if all you’re looking for is to remind me I’m the devil for aborting and not telling you –

Noel: That’s not what I’m here for. I wanted to apologize to you.

Rebecca: Why?

Noel: What you went through was a very exhausting experience, physically and emotionally, and that you went through it alone only made it worse. I was angry the other day, and I couldn’t take your perspective into account

because of it. I’m not saying I agree with what you did, because I don’t. But, I understand it now, and I know your heart was in the right place. It was your body and your decision and I don’t have the right to judge it. So, I’m sorry for how I’ve behaved.

Rebecca: I’m sorry, too. I should’ve talked to you, should have told you. But –

Noel: It’s in the past now. Okay? What’s done is done. You can’t erase what you did anymore than I can erase what I did.

Rebecca: What did you do?

Noel: I bought my English paper last year.

Rebecca: That’s what Cynthia was holding over your head?

Noel: I could’ve gotten thrown out of school, and then there’s college, I couldn’t apply with a plagiarism expulsion on my record.

Rebecca: Oh, Noel. I’m sorry.

Noel: Look, I know you and me, we’re different people than we were last year. We’re older, we’ve got more mileage on us and we’ve made a lot of mistakes. If you’ll give me the chance, though, I’d like to see if we can get us back.

Rebecca: Do you mean that?

Noel: I want it more than anything. I still love you, Rebecca. No matter how hard I’ve tried to stop and move on, it’s always been there, and I don’t think it’s ever going away.

Rebecca: I love you, too.

Upstairs, in the library, Jasper Mancini found his father.

Jasper: Since when do you summon me by text message?

Roger: I just got off the phone with Detective Carr. Is there something you want to tell me?

He knew. Jasper’s stomach turned inside out. He could tell from that devastated gleam in his father’s eye – he knew. Jasper hung his head.

Jasper: They found my DNA, didn’t they?

Roger: Yes. Well, actually, they found a partial match to my DNA, the matching markers of which they determined must come from a direct offspring. You’re my only son, so that must make it your DNA.

Roger stood and went to the fireplace, poking at the logs. The fire was almost dead, just like Jasper sensed their relationship was.

Roger: It’s ironic. I thought she was leaving me for that scrawny Winters boy, but it was you all along.

Jasper: What? She was leaving you?

Roger: As if you didn’t know. She turned in her resignation, had her room all packed up, was leaving by morning, she said. Because, she was in love with a younger man, a man who was viril and strong and the most fantastic lover she’d ever known.

Jasper: Wait, I thought you said she faxed her resignation?

Roger: No, she hand-delivered it, with a smug smile on her face. She was so proud of herself, talking about how now she had everything she ever wanted and she was going to run off and live her life on her own. She was coming into money, fifty thousand dollars, I had no idea where she thought she was getting that kind of money from, and I didn’t care. I just knew I couldn’t let her leave.

Jasper: Oh my God. You killed her, didn’t you?

Roger: I went to her room, through the tunnels. She was in bed with the Winters boy. She let herself go, let herself scream and moan because she thought the dorm was empty and no one would hear. But, I heard. I heard every pant, every sigh, every squeak of the springs, and when he was gone, I confronted her...

That’s when she turned in her resignation and told me everything. She was rubbing it in my face, telling me that she never loved me, that she’d just used me for the job at Winthrop Prep and I couldn’t help myself.

I hit her. She fell back, hit her head on the wall. Then, she was just laying there. Still. Quiet. I knelt down and took her pulse --

Jasper: Jesus. It was an accident--

Roger: I wanted her to die. When I felt for her pulse, it was there, but faint. So, I put my hand over her nose and mouth until I couldn’t feel it anymore. Until she was dead. I killed Cynthia.

Jasper: We’ll fix this. We’ll find some way to fix this.

Roger: They’re all the same, Jasper. All I wanted was to protect you from them. For a while, I thought you had the right

idea. Indiscriminate sex, throw them away before they throw you away, that way you don’t get your heart broken. I’ve been trying to protect you from them for years.

Jasper: From who? You’re not talking about Cynthia, who are you – oh God. No.

Roger: She tried to leave me, too.

Jasper: No, no, Mom died in a car accident.

Roger: I cut her brake line. She was

carrying on with this artist in town, guy who worked part-time at a garage. She was going to leave us, too. She had to be stopped, too.

Jasper: You son of a bitch.

Roger: They’re all the same, Jasper! You have to understand that. I made the mistake of believing them twice and both times it ended up the same. That’s why I tried to keep you in rehab, until you could get that little bitch you’ve taken up with out of your system.

Jasper: What does Bianca have to do with anything?

Roger: Bianca, Bianca, Bianca! Don’t you hear yourself? It’s every word out of your mouth! I need to be with Bianca, I love Bianca, I want Bianca, I can’t cross the street without getting permission from BIANCA! Can’t you see? You’ve fallen into her trap. She’s just like your mother and Cynthia. It’s only a matter of time before she does to you what they did to me.

Jasper: You don’t know anything about her.

Roger: I need you to let her go, son. I need you to fix this situation, just like I fixed the situations with your mom and Cynthia. Prove to me there is still some hope for you.

Jasper: You’re sick if you think I’m going to harm a hair on Bianca’s head.

Roger: That’s okay. I can do it for you.

Jasper couldn’t help himself. He loved his father, but now he didn’t even know who he was. He attacked him, fought with him, punched him over and over again. He’d never felt rage like this before, rage at knowing the truth now about his mother’s death, rage at the thought of Roger – or anyone else – hurting Bianca. He hit him until he was knocked out on the floor, then went to find Bianca and warn her while he got the police.

As one man confessed in the upstairs library, a woman confessed everything in the downstairs atrium.

Ted: You can’t have children?

Beth: No, I can’t. And, I understand if this is a deal breaker.

Ted: Oh, Beth, darling, you know I love you. I don’t care if you can give me biological children. I have Bianca, and she’s like fifteen children in one. Besides, if we find our home needs more love in it, there are options, surrogates, adoption, becoming part of the foster system … the important thing is I love you, and nothing can change that.

Beth: Are you sure?

Ted: Beth, what am I going to have to say to get through to you? You and Bianca are all the family I could ever want or need.

Beth: I love you so much. You don’t know how scared I’ve been.

Ted: Then, for the love of everything holy, woman, will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?

Beth: Yes. Yes, Ted.

Ted: Thank God. I’m not getting any younger and I don’t know how many more times my knees will let me get in this position.

Beth: Give me the ring!

Ted: I should go tell Bianca.

Bianca: That’s okay, she’s eavesdropping. Carry on!

Ted: Well, now that that’s settled, want to go make out like we’re a pair of horny teenagers?

Beth: Oh, what the hell?

Bianca met Jasper in the foyer, coming down the stairs.

Bianca: What’s wrong?

Jasper: Franklin’s about to get released.

Bianca: I don’t understand –

Jasper: Just do me a favor? Go home, wait for me in Franklin’s room, lock the door, do not open it for anyone who isn’t me? Okay? I have to go to the police station.

The cold feeling wasn’t going away. If anything, it was intensifying.

Bianca: Jasper, I have something to tell you.

Jasper: Can it wait? I really need to go.

Bianca: I guess, just – please be safe?

Jasper: Remember, lock the door, do not open it for anyone but me. Okay?

Bianca: Okay.

Jasper: Thank you. Now, give me a kiss goodbye, sweetheart.

She did. And, then, he was gone. He disappeared into the night, leaving Bianca with no warmth but his lingering kiss on her lips and the unshakable feeling this was the last time she was ever going to see him again.

Bianca did as she was told and returned to Dalton House. There, she found Sam.

Sam: Hey, I’m glad I ran into you.

Bianca: Why?

Sam: I have to tell you something, about Cynthia. You’re going to hear this anyway, but I was helping her.

Bianca: What?

Sam: The information, I was giving her access to it. I set up Noel, I corrupted a paper of his and told him about a site where he could buy a new one, so she could blackmail him and I told her about

Jasper and Asher’s side business and I was the one who recorded the video of Franklin and Vincent that she had.

Bianca: Why would you do that?

Sam: Because it was all that was keeping me in Dalton House. Bianca, I’m broke. Ever since my dad died, finances have been stretched. My mom had to let all the help go, had to help me get settled in herself this year. It was embarrassing. I didn’t want my friends knowing I finished last year and began this year on scholarship. Cynthia told me

if I would help her, she would see to it I stayed in Dalton House, kept up the illusion of being one of us.

Bianca: I made out with someone on scholarship?! Gross. I mean – I’m sorry you have problems, we all have problems. You’re poor, I killed someone –

Sam: You what?

Bianca: Never mind. The point is, we all do things we’re not proud of to survive.

Sam: Then, you understand? You’re not going to like swear your revenge?

Bianca: Um, no. You hurt my best friend, I’ll have revenge and it’ll probably be the most publically humiliating revenge imaginable. But, not right now. I have to go.

Bianca went downstairs to Franklin’s room, let herself in with the extra key her B.F.F. had given her. She closed the door just as she heard a noise.

Bianca: Franklin?

It wasn’t Franklin. When Bianca turned around, she saw the face of the person waiting for her in Franklin’s room – just before she saw the gun in their hand.