Winthrop Prep -- 2.03 -- Lovesick

You know that feeling you get when you run into an old friend after a long time? Warmth. Familiarity. Love. Well, it’s safe to say Ted Bishop felt none of those things when he opened his door to a certain hose beast from Kansas.

Ted: What did you just say?

Alison: Jasper’s alive. I know this sounds –

Ted: Haven’t you had enough of playing your sick games?

Alison: I swear, this is not a game. Jasper didn’t die in the explosion. I can prove it. Come with me.

Ted: If you think I’m going anywhere with –

Alison: Damn it! He’s alive! The one person who might be able to get through to Bianca is alive. Stop standing there and go get dressed. We don’t have much time. I’ll be in the car.

In Dalton Hall, Rebecca Turner felt like a zombie, minus the hankering for brains. On her way back from the kitchen, where she’d just been mainlining coffee, she bumped into Sam.

Rebecca: Do you have some kind of undiagnosed shirt allergy?

Sam: Someone’s cranky.

Rebecca: Hrmph. I haven’t slept in a week. You’d be cranky, too, Shirtless Wonder.

Sam: Bet I can cheer you up.

Rebecca: No, you can’t.

Rebecca laughed. Then, resolved to stab Sam in his stomach. Though, with the way that boy worked out, it’d probably do more damage to the knife.

Sam: Hah! See?

Rebecca: Loser.

Sam: Hey, did you find those books I left in your room?

Rebecca: I haven’t been in my room. I’ve been … in Noel’s room.

Sam: Harlot.

Rebecca: Shirt-phobe. What kind of books?

 

Sam: Jane’s journals. Grant had me box up all the stuff in her room for her folks when they come to collect it. I found them, in a secret compartment underneath her nightstand. Thought you might want to look at them before her parents come next week.

Rebecca: Wow. Did they say anything about Brian?

Sam: I didn’t read them. It felt sort of wrong since I hardly knew her. 

Rebecca: Thanks, Sam.

Sam: Welcome. If I find anything else, I’ll leave it for you.

When Lucas said he was going to take Layla out to dinner, she’d expected actual food, not marshmallows.

Layla: Am I doing this right?

Lucas: You’ve never roasted marshmallows before?

Layla: I’ve never done any of this before.

Lucas: Any of what?

Layla: This. Going on a date. Talking about something other than my preferred positions.

 

Lucas: You’ve never been on a date before?

Layla: Not technically.

Lucas: So, what you’re saying is you’re a virgin?

Layla: Hah! Yeah, I’m a virgin. And, the earth is flat and Pluto’s not a planet.

Lucas: Pluto isn’t a planet.

Layla: Seriously? It was a planet last time I was out.

 

Lucas: Out?

Layla: Never mind. What’s next after the marshmallow-y nothingness that is dinner?

Lucas: I have a real surprise for you. Come on.

Jasper Mancini couldn’t sleep, so he went for a walk, trying to clear his head. He didn’t know what was going on. He liked Alison. At least, he thought he did. He was certainly attracted to Alison, but who wouldn’t be? But, when it’d mattered most, when he’d tried to give his body to her, his head had been filled with one thought – Bianca.

Whoever that was.

Before he knew it, he was back on the Winthrop Prep campus. Maybe this was where he needed to be. After all, he’d taken Alison to the old boathouse site, even though he couldn’t remember being there before. Maybe he could walk around, stir up a few old memories.

And, stir up, he did. As he passed the swings, something flashed in his mind. The quickest, most fleeting of images, it was gone again as quickly as it came, but he thought he saw a beautiful brunette girl lounging on a similar swing.

He sat down on the swings, and the memory came back.

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.

An unusual warmth filled Jasper’s being, settled around his heart. This girl, this beautiful girl with long brown hair and a body that just did not stop – he was in love with her. But, where was she? And, who was she? He had to remember more, had to find her. His soul couldn’t rest until he did.

Beth woke up to find Ted was not beside her – and that his ex-wife was loitering in their kitchen.

Beth: What are those?

Rachel: They’re boxes. You know, cube-shaped objects meant for containing other objects? God, and they let you be in charge of a whole school?

Beth: I mean what are they doing in my living room?

Rachel: I’m moving in. Didn’t Ted tell you? He practically begged me to move into your guest house.

Beth: Where is Ted?

Rachel: He didn’t tell you that, either? Trouble in Paradise already?

Beth: I wasn’t feeling well. I fell asleep.

Rachel: He got a lead about Bianca. He called me and asked me to come over and look out for you, then he said I could stay in the guest house while I’m in town.

Beth: I’ll show you where it is, but you’re moving yourself. Whoa.

Rachel: Are you alright?

Beth: Fine. Nothing a little breakfast won't fix.

Ted did not like riding in a rust bucket driven by a psychopath, but what choice did he have? He left his car at home, in case Beth needed it.

Ted: So, how’d you pull this one off? Faking Jasper’s death?

Alison: I didn’t intend for it to go this way. I thought – I wanted Bianca to suffer.

Ted: Congratulations.

Alison: She killed my father. I know why she did it, but I was so consumed with hatred and my own grief, I didn’t care. I wanted her to know the kind of pain I was in. So, I waited for the perfect opportunity …

Franklin had just been released from jail and Jasper was on his way to turn his father in. I subdued them both with drugs. But, while I took Franklin to the boathouse, I took Jasper back to where I was staying. In his place, I put a dead homeless man Jasper’s size and build, and in case there was DNA testing done afterwards, I replaced Jasper’s toothbrush back in his suite with one I’d brushed the homeless man’s teeth with.

Ted: How did you get a dead body?

Alison: You’d be amazed the things you stumble across in back alleys. Don’t look at me like that. Bianca taught me that. We got paired together on a biology assignment one time.

Ted: Keep going.

Alison: The man I bought the drugs from said that it was enough to keep an elephant knocked out for 7-10 days, but he didn’t wake up until almost twenty days in. By that time, Bianca was already gone.... 

 And, Jasper’s memory was gone. I’d given him too much. His entire memory, everything was just gone. So, I started thinking maybe it was fate. Maybe this was the universe’s way of evening things out. Bianca took my father, but it was giving me her Jasper. Except, he didn’t remember her and he looked at me like – like I was a human being, like I mattered, like I wasn’t just some crazy girl. That’s what I told my mother when I went to give her all the juicy details about my grand revenge on Bianca. 

I was so happy, I thought she’d be 

proud, I’d made the terrible girl suffer for taking Daddy away from us. But, all my mother did was look at me and say she didn’t know who I was anymore. I found her dead the next day and those were her last words to me. “I don’t know who you are anymore.” 

Jasper comforted me at the funeral and I knew I needed to give him back, but in the back of my mind, I was rationalizing it. What good would it do? Bianca was gone and wouldn’t it hurt her more that he couldn’t remember her? 

 

So, we played house for a while, every day of which I spent in fear of his memory coming back. He didn’t understand why I was keeping him at arm’s length and I tried desperately not to fall in love with him. 

 

I failed, miserably. Then, there was tonight. Tonight we almost made love and he said Bianca’s name instead of mine. Tonight, I had to face the ugly truth that, I can take away his memory, I can play house all I want, but Jasper is never going to be mine.

Rebecca settled in with Jane’s diaries. She read entry after entry from the time Brian came into Jane’s life, each page making the true nature of their relationship apparent.

Dear Diary,

Interim headmaster asked me to tutor Brian Drake. We went to the library and he was less than cooperative. “I don’t know what a cosine is!” he whined over and over again. But, it’s kind of cute. In an obnoxious sort of way.

 

Dear Diary,

I snuck out tonight! I was so sure we’d get caught, but Brian swore we wouldn’t. And, we didn’t! He took me to this secluded area I didn’t even know about. You could see the whole of Sunset Valley! Or, well, most of it. He claimed he needed some more work on his cosines, but I suspected differently, especially when he kept trying to kiss me. So, I kissed him. Just once. My first kiss! It was so sweet. I never thought a guy like Brian Drake would like ME!

Dear Diary,

Brian hurt me last night. I – I don’t know what happened. I was late meeting him. He slapped me, accused me of being with someone else. I tried to explain that I wasn’t, but he called me a whore and left. I feel so alone and empty and I don’t know what to do.

 

Dear Diary,

Brian said he would give me another chance, but I think I messed up again. He got his calculus final back and didn’t make the grade he thought he would. He said it’s my fault. I didn’t tutor him right. Then, he grabbed me and started choking me, telling me if he loses his position on the swim team next semester because of me he’ll kill me. I’m scared.

Dear Diary,

Stuck on campus while everyone else is gone on Winter Break. Mom got transferred to Tokyo for work and Dad is in Hawaii with his new wife. At least there’s no Brian Drake here.

Dear Diary,

He came back! I saw him today when I was helping the new exchange student, Fortuna, move her things in. 

He tried to apologize, but I told him I don’t want to talk to him. And, I don’t. I never want to see him again.

Dear Diary,

He won’t stop! He won’t leave me alone! I’m staying in my room all day now because when I leave, he’s there, harassing me, trying to touch me, to kiss me. I don’t want him here! I contacted campus security, but they haven’t done anything. Why won’t anyone listen to me?

 

Dear Diary,

He’s been in my room. I came back from the shower to find a dead bird on my pillow. I contacted campus security again, but they say there’s no proof it was Brian. I know it was. Who else wants to hurt me?

Dear Diary,

He found a way in.

Everything is broken now.

I don’t know how to fix it.

Darkness is coming.

Won’t ever go away.

Still, no one listens.

The entries ended there. There was nothing but blank pages in the rest of the journal. Rebecca sat where she was for a while, her body numb. Jane had spent her last days suffering alone and in fear, a feeling Rebecca knew all too well.

At the beach, Layla was annoyed – and slightly amused by – her surprise.

Lucas: Laaaaaaaaaaayla, you've got me on my knees. Layla, I'm begging, darling please.

Layla: Oh dear God…

Lucas: Layla, darling won't you ease my worried miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind?

Layla: Stop singing! Please, I’ll do anything.

She shimmied out of her cover-up and went down to the water’s edge, only close enough to get her toes wet.

Lucas: Will you go swimming with me?

Layla: Except that.

Lucas: I thought you loved the water? You like the pool at Aquarius.

Layla: Pools are one thing. Oceans and rivers are another. You could go under in those and never find your way back out again.

Lucas: Bad experience?

 

Layla: My sister drowned. They never recovered her body.

Lucas: I’m sorry.

Layla: So, I don’t swim, but I’m open to other suggestions.

Lucas: How are you at handling a pole?

Layla: Well, once, when I was running low on cash in Boston I worked at this club, but the tips were horrible and no 

one really respected the two drink minimum and --

Lucas: I meant a fishing pole.

Layla: Oh. I can try.

Beth decided to make something to eat. She wasn’t hungry, but she knew she needed to keep her strength – which was rapidly diminishing – up. 

So, she made waffles. At least. That was the plan. As soon as she put them in the oven, she fainted.

 

Rachel came in when she heard the smoke alarms and saw the smoke billowing up. While a lesser woman would’ve left her rival to burn, Rachel had a modicum of goodwill left in her plastic surgery display of a body to help Beth out. 

She tried slapping her awake and, when that didn’t work, half-carried, half-dragged her to the couch. Then, she put out the fire.

 

Rachel: Gees, you’re heavy. Bianca always said you carried your weight in your knees. Guess those rumors about you getting liposuction on your knees aren’t true. 

Then, she went to the phone and called an ambulance.

 

Rebecca heard a noise outside her room. When she went to investigate, she found no surprise.

Rebecca: I know what you did to her.

Brian: This again?

Rebecca: I know how you abused her. I know how you stalked her. I know every ugly thing you did.

Brian: How? Quija board?

Rebecca: Journals. Same ones I’m guessing you’ve been trying to sneak in and get. That’s why you’ve been lurking around so much, isn’t it? I’m giving them to Beth first thing in the morning and everyone is going to know what you did to her. So much for the big man on campus. This time tomorrow, all anybody's going to be talking about is what a coward you are.

Poor Rebecca. Didn’t anyone ever tell her about playing with boys with short fuses? She may have won the battle, but Brian was already cooking up his offense plan for winning the war.

Meanwhile, Layla’s foe was unusually quiet. She had been ever since Layla and Lucas left Aquarius. Good. Bianca could be quite the wet blanket.

Lucas: How are you doing over there?

Layla: I’m getting the hang of – oh! I have a bite! 

Layla: I’ve got a big one! It must be huge…it’s a shark! It’s a dolphin it’s...

Layla: A very tiny fishlet.

Lucas: Good job.

Layla: I suck at fishing.

Lucas: We could do something else.

Layla: Like what?

Layla threw the fish back while Lucas put away their poles.

Lucas: Forward boy time – can I kiss you?

Layla: Yes.

Lucas: Can I kiss you again?

Layla: I think I’m going to vomit.

Lucas: That’s a new reaction. I’m making you sick?

Layla: Yes. Ever since sometime around the hot tub at Aquarius. I thought it was my WooHoo on the Beach, but, it’s never caused this nauseous, fluttering feeling before. Besides, it’s been hours and the … fluttering … should’ve worn off by now.

Lucas: Fluttering? I’m making you flutter?

Layla: You say that as if it’s a good thing.

Lucas: It means you like me.

Layla: I do not! Are your cheeks freakishly warm, too?

Layla: I don’t like you.

Layla: Not one little bit.

Layla: Oh, crap.

Beth hated hospitals. She loved working in them, in her capacity as a psychiatric consult, but being a patient was all kinds of irritating.

And, she was hoping to avoid this visit from Dr. Griffin.

Dr. Griffin: We need to talk, Beth.

Beth: Do we have to?

Dr. Griffin: You fainted while trying to cook a meal and almost burned to death. If it weren’t for your fiance’s ex-wife, you would be dead right now. Beth, you need to tell your family what is going on with you.

Beth: I can’t! Ted has enough on his plate right now with Bianca. I told him it was my diabetes.

Dr. Griffin: It's not diabetes. You’re  very, very sick. Now, either you can communicate with your family about this, or I can admit you here.

Beth: Are you strong-arming me as my physician or my friend?

Dr. Griffin: Both. You have to take care of yourself. What you’re facing isn’t something anyone should have to handle alone, not when you have so many people who love you.

Jasper made his way from the swings to the bridge. And, again, he remembered her.

Jasper: You look sensational.

Bianca: I know. I mean … thank you.

Quickly, Jasper went to the fountain. He could remember being here, too. And, as soon as he sat down, he saw her, just like he had that day.

  

Jasper: Nice tights, Binx.

Bianca: Nice – well, I would say nice shirt, but since you’ve worn that outfit every day since we met, that seems kind of unnecessary...

Bianca: So, I guess I should thank you for standing up for me with Grant earlier.

Jasper: Nah, just helping you break this one in. I wouldn’t want you to get confused and think we’re friends or anything.

Bianca: Of course not. I think friendship with you has a disease panel as a prerequisite. But, thank you.

Jasper: You’re welcome.

Layla didn’t understand this feeling. She felt wired, like a giant ball of pure nervous energy. It only intensified when Lucas touched her.

Layla: If you’re not here in the morning, I’ll understand.

Lucas: I’m not going anywhere until you tell me to.

Ted and Alison arrived at her house. But, when they went inside, there was no Jasper. Not in the bedroom or the bathroom or the little shed out back. Jasper was gone.

Alison: I don’t understand. He was here when I left.

Ted: Right. You’ve wasted my time.

Alison: No! No, I didn’t – he’s … I don’t know where he is, but he’s alive.

Ted: So you keep saying. Why don’t you have this conversation with the police?

Rebecca went to see Noel, to share her victory with him. Twice. And, when she returned to her room, she found a box waiting for her. 

Assuming it to be something else Sam found, she opened it. She didn’t even hear the click when she pulled open the flaps until it was too late and the bomb detonated and sent her flying backwards, through her bedroom door.

Jasper ran to the old boathouse site. He could feel her. She was coursing through his veins, like she’d always been. She was right there, on the edge of his memory, a silhouette beyond billowing curtains. And, when he was there, at the boathouse, he remembered everything.

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.

He remembered making love to her. Her porcelain skin was so soft, her body was so warm. He felt complete in her and when she was in his arms, he was invincible. Memory after memory came flooding back to him, overwhelming him, drowning him, until there was only one thing left he could do...

Jasper screamed her name out to the heavens.

Jasper: BIANCAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Bianca: Jasper?

Bianca didn’t know where she was or how she got here … or who the man laying next to her was. All she knew was that every inch of her was alive with a need to find Jasper. It didn’t make any sense, she knew he was gone, but she thought she heard him say her name and it’d been enough for her to regain control. For now. She couldn’t let Layla get the chance to resurface and had to act quickly.

So, she showered and threw on the clothes she’d had when Layla escaped from the Reynolds Center. They were the only clothes she could call her own. Then, she left.

Ted was just getting off the phone with the police when his phone rung again.

Ted: Hello?

Bianca: Daddy?

Rebecca didn’t want any visitors. She’d told the nurses as much when they came in to take the bandages off. Dr. Griffin told her how lucky she’d been. The burns had been minimal. But, that didn’t stop Noel from going in anyway.

Noel: You’re awake. Check out my eyes. Dr. Griffin helped me out with that shiner.

Rebecca: Go away.

Noel: No. You wouldn’t go away if I were hurt, I’m not going away now.

Rebecca: Please.

Noel: Look, I know you don’t want to see anyone right now –

Rebecca: I can’t see anyone!

Noel: What?

Rebecca: I can’t see! I’m blind. 

Jasper Mancini stole some guy's car off the street in front of his house. His fault, Jasper reasoned, for leaving a classic convertible like this on the street. He wouldn't have cared if it'd been a sardine can with wheels. He would steal as many cars as he had to to get to Bianca.








Jasper: Hang on, Binx. I'm coming home.