7

out of his ears.

FREDDIE
What took you so long?

They walk down the corridor.

BENNY
I had a curry last night. Completely destroyed my bowel.

FREDDIE
Nice.

BENNY
You wanted to know.

Cut to
INT. – OUTSIDE THE HALL – AFTERNOON

JULIAN is standing with his back against the wall. He has his phone in his hands, which is playing music. APRIL walks towards him. He wolf whistles at her.

APRIL
Julian.

JULIAN
Hey, babe. I can’t help but notice that fine arse of yours.

JULIAN spanks APRIL. She moves his hand away from her bottom.

APRIL
There’s a time and a place for that.

JULIAN (flirting)
Oh, yeah? When’s that?

APRIL
I’m free tonight. (moves closer to him) I’ll call you when I’m free.

APRIL kisses JULIAN on the cheek, then she turns and walks away. JULIAN smiles to himself.

Cut to
INT. – RICKY AND ALISON’S HALLWAY – AFTERNOON


Page 9
The front door opens and FREDDIE walks inside the house. He closes the door behind himself. ALISON, early forties, comes out from the kitchen. She walks towards him.

ALISON
How was it?

FREDDIE
It was cool. (pauses) Where’s Dad?

ALISON
At work. They asked him to work extra hours.

Cut to
INT. – RICKY AND ALISON’S KITCHEN – EVENING

FREDDIE, RICKY and ALISON are sitting at the table, quietly eating their dinner. ALISON sighs.

RICKY
(turns to face her) What’s up with you?

ALISON
It’s just not working, is it? The move. Us. Everything.

RICKY
The move was your idea. I was perfectly happy where we were.

ALISON
It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, okay?

FREDDIE
Guys, can you stop it?

RICKY and ALISON argue over the top of FREDDIE.

RICKY (shouting)
We wouldn’t have needed to move in the first place if you didn’t sleep with my fucking boss!

FREDDIE
Hello.

ALISON
It’s not my fault you never showed me any affection. He showed me what it was like to have someone care for me.

FREDDIE

Page 10
Are you guys listening?
.
RICKY
Affection?! He didn’t give a flying toss about you! You were just his shag doll. Fucking women is his hobby.

FREDDIE sighs. He gets to his feet and he walks out of the room. They can hear the noise of the front door opening and closing as FREDDIE leaves the house.

ALISON (sighing)
Great. Now look what you’ve done.

RICKY
How was it my fault?! You’re the one who won’t stop going on about it.

Cut to
INT. – AUDITORIUM – EVENING

JJ, BENNY, APRIL and ZACK are on the stage, playing a song. ZACK is drumming, APRIL is playing bass, BENNY is playing guitar and JJ is singing. Flashing lights brighten up the stage. There are hundreds of teens around the stage, dancing. FREDDIE walks inside the room. The song ends. The crowd cheers.

JJ (excitedly)
Cheers, guys!

JJ spots FREDDIE standing in the crowd. He nods to him. FREDDIE puts his thumb up to him.

Cut to
EXT. – ALLEY – NIGHT

APRIL and JULIAN are walking down the alley, laughing and joking with each other. JULIAN has his arm around APRIL’S shoulders. They stop walking. JULIAN smiles at APRIL, then kisses her on the lips. She responds. She pulls away from him.

APRIL (smiling)
Cheeky.

JULIAN goes to kiss APRIL again, but she moves out of the way.

JULIAN

Page 11
What’s wrong?

APRIL
We should slow down. The night’s still young.

JULIAN
(shakes his head) You’re all the same. You flirt to get our attention and then play hard to get. You’re not doing it to me.

JULIAN forces himself onto APRIL. He kisses her on the neck.

APRIL
What are you doing?

JULIAN
Hold still.

JULIAN unzips his trousers. APRIL kicks him in the crotch. He groans and drops to his knees. APRIL runs away. JULIAN gets to his feet and runs after her. He grabs hold of APRIL and pushes her against the wall. She screams.

JULIAN
Think you could get away from me, eh?

APRIL (struggling)
Get off me!

JULIAN
You’ll thank me for this.

JULIAN lowers APRIL’S trousers. He is unaware that JJ, BENNY and ZACK are standing at the end of the alley. JJ has a baseball bat in his hands.

JJ
Interrupting something, are we?

JULIAN quickly turns to face them. APRIL pulls up her trousers. JJ walks towards JULIAN.

JULIAN
What the fuck are you doing here?

JJ
The question is, what were you doing with my girlfriend?

Page 12
It sure didn’t look like you were being friendly.

JULIAN (nervously)
Look, mate. It’s not what it seems.

JJ
Mate? I’m not your fucking mate.

APRIL picks up a brick from off the floor. She hits JULIAN round the back of the head with it. He stumbles forward. JJ hits JULIAN in the face with the baseball bat. He drops to his knees.
APRIL throws the brick down and stands with BENNY and ZACK. BENNY puts his arm around her waist. JJ hits JULIAN in the stomach with the baseball bat. He screams from the agony.

JJ
You still wish you treated girls badly, do ya?

JULIAN cries.

JJ (shouting)
Are you listening?!

JJ hits JULIAN in the stomach with the baseball bat again. He groans. JJ hits him for the third time. JULIAN falls onto his back.

JULIAN (tearfully)
No! No, I don’t. Please. Don’t hurt me.

JJ
(turns to face BENNY) Bring the brick.

BENNY
Okay.

BENNY picks up the brick. JULIAN slowly crawls away. JJ walks after him.

JJ
Where do you think you’re going?

JJ hits JULIAN in the back with the baseball bat. He screams. JJ then turns to face ZACK. He nods to him. ZACK runs over to JULIAN and he jumps on his back. JULIAN screams out in pain. He kicks JULIAN in the face,
breaking his nose. He continuously kicks JULIAN. He is in

Page 13
a bloody mess.

BENNY
JJ, stop this.

JJ stands with ZACK. He holds the baseball bat out to him and he grabs hold of it. ZACK hits JULIAN in the back with it.

JJ
Let’s go.

They quickly run away, leaving JULIAN alone on the floor.

Cut to
INT. – FREDDIE’S BEDROOM – NIGHT

FREDDIE is laying on the bed, playing a game on his PSP. A bedside lamp is on. There is a knock on the door. RICKY steps inside the room. He closes the door behind himself. FREDDIE pauses the game.

FREDDIE
Hey, Dad.

RICKY
I’m sorry you had to hear that earlier. Your Mum and I were out of order. (pauses) It’s just we’re going through a rough patch at the moment. Things will get better. I promise.

FREDDIE
It’s okay.

RICKY sits on the edge of the bed.

RICKY
How about I take you out for the day on Saturday? Just the two of us. We can go in town if you like.

FREDDIE
Yeah. Sounds cool.

RICKY
I better leave you to it. (gets to his feet) I’m downstairs if you want me.

FREDDIE
Bye, Dad.

Page 14
RICKY walks out of the room and he closes the door behind himself. FREDDIE sighs.

Cut to
EXT. – WOODS – NIGHT

A small fire has been lit. BENNY and APRIL are sitting around it. BENNY has his arm around APRIL’S shoulders. APRIL wipes tears away from her eyes. JJ and ZACK are standing the opposite end of the fire to BENNY and APRIL. They each have a can of beer in their hands, which they are drinking from.

ZACK
I got some of his blood on my trainers. Gonna cost me sixty quid to get a new pair.

BENNY
(gets to his feet and walks to ZACK) All what’s happened and you care about your trainers?

JJ
Benny.

BENNY
No! April almost got hurt tonight and you’re treating it like a joke.

ZACK grabs hold of BENNY and he pins him against a tree.

ZACK
Speak to me like that again…

BENNY
Or what? You’ll do the same to me?

ZACK lets go of BENNY, who straightens himself out. JJ sits next to APRIL. She rests her head against his arm.

JJ (softly)
I’m sorry. I didn’t think this through. (pauses) I love you. You know that, right?

APRIL nods. She wipes the tears away from her eyes. Fade to black.

Cut to
INT. – COLLEGE CANTEEN – MORNING


Page 15
JJ, BENNY, APRIL and ZACK are sitting quietly around a table. APRIL has a scratch on her forehead from the previous night. FREDDIE sits at the table.

FREDDIE
Great performance last night, guys.

BENNY (casually)
Any favorites?

FREDDIE
Well the guitarist was pretty awesome. (notices APRIL’S scratch) What happened to you?

APRIL
Had a fall on my way home last night. It’s nothing to worry about.

JJ
Freddie, do you play an instrument?

FREDDIE
I play the guitar from time to time. I’m not in a band or anything like that.

JJ
We’ve booked the hall at the end of the day for band practice. You should come along and show us what you’ve got.

FREDDIE
(smiles) Awesome. I might just do that.

ZACK (muttering)
Jesus Christ.

ZACK gets to his feet and he walks across the room. FREDDIE gets to his feet and hurries after him.

FREDDIE
Hey, Zack.

ZACK stops and turns to face him.

FREDDIE (continued)
I don’t know what I’ve done, but I get the feeling you don’t like me. But if you let me get to know you better…

ZACK

Page 16
You’re right.

FREDDIE (smiling)
Great!

ZACK
I don’t like you. I don’t wanna be your friend so why don’t you fuck off to where you came from?

ZACK turns and walks out of the room, leaving FREDDIE standing on his own. BENNY stands next to him.

BENNY
Don’t worry about him. He’ll come around.

FREDDIE
Yeah.

Cut to
INT. – COLLEGE COMPUTER ROOM – MORNING

FREDDIE is sitting at a computer on his own. He is browsing across the website for the Chasing Shadows band. He looks at a photo of JJ. He is unaware that BECKY is standing next to him.

BECKY
You’re not gonna find out much about them from there. You’re better off asking them in person.

FREDDIE quickly clicks off the website.

FREDDIE
(turns to face her) I was just checking out what tracks they had.

BECKY sits next to him.

BECKY
They used to have a fifth band member, but he left a while ago.

FREDDIE
Why did he quit?

BECKY
Dunno. He just left. It was like he’d never been a part of the band. They never talk about him. (pauses) I’m Becky.