Winthrop Prep -- 3.02 -- Old Habits

Bianca still couldn’t wrap her head around this. It’d been two weeks and she still couldn’t believe it – her sister was alive! The reunion had been emotional, once everyone got past the shock. Her mother … their mother … had almost fallen over upon seeing the girls together. She’d managed to conceal her delicate condition around Ted with baggy clothes and, of all things, a poncho. Fortunately, those were big on the island, so she was in fashion with her deception.

The others had gone home, but Bianca stayed behind, wanting to bond with her sister as much as she wanted to avoid Jasper.

Layla: He’s called eleven times.

Bianca: It’s been two weeks.

Layla: He’s called eleven times today. 

 

Bianca: I don't know how I'm going to face him. I can't stay here forever...I have to go back to Winthrop Prep soon.

Layla: I’m going to miss you.

Bianca: Why don’t you come back with me? The man who stole you –

Layla: The man who found me and nursed me back to health and loved me for the past ten years…

Bianca: Whoever he is, he’s gone a lot on fishing trips and it would give you and me more time together.

Layla: He’s coming back tonight. I’ll talk to him about it.

No sooner had those words escaped Layla’s lips did the door open and her father walk in.

Chuck: You must be the sister.

Bianca: Did the identical thing give it away?

Layla: Bianca…

Bianca: Sorry. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Norris.

Chuck: Call me Chuck.

Bianca: Your name is Chuck Norris?

Chuck: I don’t get it, all you mainlanders making a big deal of it.

Bianca: Walker, Texas Ranger? Ring any bells?

Chuck: Don’t watch the television.

Bianca: How do you live?!

Layla: Bianca and I were going to go out. Do you need me to do anything, Dad?

Chuck: No. Don’t let this girl get you into trouble, Layla. She looks mean.

Layla: She looks like me…

Chuck: Well, you look mean, too, but the pink offsets it.

Layla: Goodnight, Dad.

Back at Winthrop Prep, Rebecca showed her sister around.

Denise: I still think it’s lame, Mom and Dad making me room with you.

Rebecca: They just want to make sure you don’t get into trouble.

Denise: What’s the worst that could happen? I could get pregnant, get an abortion, be a suspect in a murder, get blown up, go blind, actually murder someone, receive threats, get blackmailed, recover my sight and find out my boyfriend is schtupping another guy behind my back…

 

Rebecca: You know, I finally realized why the first three years of my life were the happiest. I was an only child then.

Denise: So, are you going to hook up with Sam now?

Rebecca: What? No!

Denise: Cool. So, can I date him?

Rebecca: No!

Denise: How come?

Rebecca: Because, you are going to focus on your studies. Boys can wait … until you’re fifty. Now, go to your room.

Denise: We’re in our room.

Rebecca: Oh. Well, stay here. I’m going to go meet with Beth. She wanted to talk to me about something. 

Jasper longed for Bianca. Two weeks without her might as well have been two centuries. His bed felt cold without her … his heart felt cold without her. He tried to be strong for Alison and their daughter, but this wasn’t the life he wanted.

Sam entered his room.

Sam: Hey. You slumming it in Dalton House again?

Jasper: No. I’m actually doing off-campus living this year. I just came by to see if you needed any help moving in.

Sam: I’ve been moved in for six days.

Jasper: I also came to see if you’ve maybe heard from Bianca?

Sam: Sorry, man, she hasn’t called me. I do think Rebecca’s spoken to her, though.

Jasper: Yeah, Beth said Bianca called Rebecca to get her assignments for the classes they have in common. She’s spending a while longer with Layla.

Sam: That’s so crazy, her sister being alive all this time. This whole year has been crazy.

Jasper: Hard to believe it’s only been a year. Twelve months ago, you and Bianca were this school’s It Couple. I was just a smarmy playboy. But, then, everything changed. My father murdered Cynthia. You and Bianca broke up –

Sam: You had sex with her behind my back.

Jasper: Several times. You were a douche bag, she had needs…

Sam: Everything worked out like it was meant to. You and Bianca belong together. If I hadn’t been a class-A douche, none of us would have figured that out.

Jasper: I can’t believe it was meant to wind up here.

Sam: Jasper, what is it you really want to talk about?

Jasper: I’m scared, Sam. I drove down to that bad area of town and I convinced myself I was just going for a drive to clear my head, but I know what I was there for. I was looking for a score. I’m afraid I’m going to start using again. I’m trying not to, for Alison and our daughter and for 

this ghost of Bianca that’s haunting me. But, I can feel that familiar itch way down deep in my bones, and there’s only one thing that’ll scratch it and I’m afraid. I'm so, so afraid, Sam. I don’t want to be that guy again.

Sam: Come here, man. I’ve got your back. You know that. No matter what happens, you’re my best friend. I won’t let you down again.

Rebecca had just enough time after her meeting with Beth to pop in and change. She wanted to work on her audition for the Winthrop Prep dance team before chem. lab. But, when she arrived, she found a familiar – if different – face waiting for her.

Rebecca: Noel?

Noel: Hey, Rebecca.

Rebecca: I didn’t see your name on the Dalton House residency sheet.

Noel: I’m not living there.

Rebecca: Then, which dorm are you in?

Noel: I’m not in a dorm. I’m not attending Winthrop Prep this year.

Rebecca: I don’t understand. Because of what happened with us?

Noel: Yes. Partially. A lot has happened this summer. My family found out about Franklin and me. They threw me out. I spent the summer working with this guy named Chuck Norris on a fishing boat just to earn enough money to get by.

Rebecca: There are scholarships. Talk to Beth, she can –

Noel: I met someone. It wasn’t anything special, just a one-night thing when we were docked in Twinbrook.

Rebecca: Another man?

Noel: Yes.

Rebecca: So, why are you here?

Noel: Because, I needed you to know that what you and I had, it was real. It wasn’t some state of confusion, it wasn’t fear. 

 

Rebecca: Was it really real?

Noel: I loved you. I was in love with you.

Rebecca: I loved you, too, with all my heart.

Noel: Sometimes, I think I should have fought for you. Maybe if I would’ve pushed instead of backing down when you asked me to … maybe I wouldn’t have turned to Franklin. But, I did and somewhere along the way, I fell in love with him, too. And, I think that’s where I need

to be right now, with him.

Rebecca: I hope you’re happy wherever life takes you, Noel.  

Noel: I hope you find someone, too, Rebecca. I truly do. You’re an amazing girl and my life is richer having had you as a part of it.

Rebecca: Thank you.

Rebecca hugged Noel one last time. How could she be saying goodbye when she’d been so sure they were going to be together forever? Or, maybe it was just a cruel joke played on her by the universe. Silly teenager, thinking she knew anything of love or longevity in relationships. Rebecca felt like a fool…a heartbroken fool.

When Chuck came home from the store, he found a strange, knocked-up woman sleeping on his couch. And, he didn’t bother her. He figured if she was a murderer, he’d have the edge, given he didn’t waddle and wasn’t lugging around a watermelon under his shirt.

Instead, he ate dinner. He figured she’d wake up eventually, then, he’d find out what the hell she wanted.

Meanwhile, at San Cristian Club, Bianca and Layla danced. Or, rather, Bianca danced. Layla stood there like a tree stump.

Bianca: How can you not know how to dance?

Layla: I don’t know how to rob a bank, either, but you’re not giving me a hard time about that.

Bianca: Come on, it’s not hard. Just let the music move you. It’s like sex, it comes naturally.

Layla: I don’t know how to do that, either.

Bianca: You’ve never…?

Layla: No. Yay, my phone is vibrating. Let’s postpone this conversation until never.

 

Layla: It’s Ben. He’s in crisis mode. I have to go. Do you want to share a cab?

Bianca: I think I might hang out a while, have a drink. Or seven. 

Layla: Okay. I’ll leave a light on for you.

Bianca hadn’t expected it, but the darkness scared her again. Everything scared her without Jasper. It was just for a while, she told herself. She would conquer her fear of the dark places again. Without him. She had to get used to life without Jasper...somehow.

Jasper found Alison upstairs when he got home. The things for the nursery had arrived.

Jasper: You put it all together yourself? I told you I’d help…

Alison: I know, I was just so excited to see what her room would look like.

Jasper: Is everything okay?

Alison: Yes. Dr. Avery called this morning and said everything looked great on the amnio.

Jasper: Six more weeks. Are you nervous?

Alison: Scared out of my mind. Thank you for letting me stay here while we’re waiting on her to be born.

Jasper: You’re the mother of my child, Alison. I’m not going to turn you away. You can stay here as long as you want. I’d actually prefer it, to have all the time with my little girl I can get.

Alison: Ouch!

 

 

Jasper: What’s wrong?

Alison: She tends to kick me when she hears the sound of your voice. I think she’s going to be a daddy’s girl.

Jasper: I hope I don’t let her down.

Alison: I know you won’t. So, I was hoping when you get a few minutes we could talk about names.

Jasper: Are you thinking of any name in particular?

Alison: Laura?

Jasper: It’s a beautiful name. Laura Mancini. I like it.

 

Rebecca tried to finish choreographing her audition routine, but her heart wasn’t in it. Thankfully, a friend came by while she was doing her post-dance stretches, as if he could sense she was minutes away from a meltdown.

 

Sam: You look hot in a leotard, you know that?

Rebecca: Hey, you!

Sam: Really, you’ve got this whole Beyonce thing going on. All you need is a funky, mechanical hand.

Rebecca: You saw Noel, didn’t you?

Sam: The Beyonce thing taking the “Objective: Perk Becca Up” mission too far?

 

Rebecca: Did you get all the classes you want?

Sam: Everything but European Lit. It was full. So, I’m taking a free period in its place. Have you heard anything about who’s going to be the new dorm monitor? After the last two, the next one’s probably going to be majorly shady.

Rebecca: It’s me!

Sam: Huh?

 

Rebecca: Beth and I had a meeting earlier today. She asked me to act as dorm monitor. I’m very excited. Micromanaging the lives of everyone in Dalton Hall gives me something to focus on that isn’t Noel.

Sam: Is it too late to transfer dorms?

Rebecca: Ha ha. Very funny.

Sam: Do you feel better yet?

Rebecca: No.

Sam: Want to see pictures of my trip to Antigua? I got stung by a jellyfish and my whole body swelled up twice its normal size.

Rebecca: That would make me feel better.

Rachel awoke on a strange couch. She hadn’t meant to doze off. Then again, she napped every ten minutes, it seemed. Her pregnancy with Bianca and Layla hadn’t exhausted her like this, and she was carrying a double load. But, she’d been much younger then.

Chuck: Good. You’re awake.

Rachel: You’re Charles?

Chuck: No, my father is Charles. I’m Chuck.

Rachel: Chuck Norris?

Chuck: Moving along…who are you and what are you doing sleeping on my couch? You’re not Goldilocks, the hair’s all wrong.

Rachel: I’m Layla’s mother. I came to tell you I’m taking her home to Sunset Valley with me.

Chuck: You’re not taking my daughter anywhere.

Rachel: She’s not your daughter. She’s mine.

Chuck: I found that girl nearly dead and took care of her for well over two years before I knew a damn thing about you people. Now, I might not be her biological father, but I am that

girl’s father.

Rachel: Ted and I love her. We mourned her. You’re not robbing us of more time with her.

Chuck: I should’ve known nothing but a headache would come from letting some female intruder sleep on my couch.

Rachel: You have the social skills of a cactus.

Chuck: Look, I don’t need some female telling me she’s taking my 

kid and criticizing my social skills.

Rachel: Why do you keep calling me a female?

Chuck: It’s what you are, right? I don’t know too many men who can get themselves in that condition.

Rachel: Oh my God, you’re the most infuriating man I’ve ever met in my entire life! 

Prince Archibald Sinclair met the bouncer outside the VIP entrance to Club San Cristian.

Prince Archibald: She’s inside?

Bouncer: Hasn’t left.

Prince Archibald: Thank you.

He walked inside and saw her, at the bar. She was quite beautiful, but then again, he imagined she would be.

Prince Archibald: Hello.

Bianca: Sorry, Archie. Wrong sister.

Prince Archibald: You’re Bianca.

Bianca: In the flesh.

Prince Archibald: Then, no, I don’t have the wrong sister. Layla has proven quite difficult in the wooing sense. I was hoping, upon hearing 

about your own relationship troubles, perhaps you and I could be of some assistance to each other. A bit of 

mutual manipulation, if you will? Strictly platonic, of course.

Bianca: I’m listening.

Prince Archibald: Let me buy you another drink.

Jasper fixed Alison dinner. He’d learned a new specialty in his impending fatherhood – macaroni and cheese.

Alison: I thought I told you to stop calling me? Look, Jasper and I are this baby’s parents. The DNA test confirmed it. Leave me alone! I’m begging you. Please, just leave me alone.