"Tears of Life"

EXT. RIVER IN THE WOODS - DAY

WE FOLLOW the river upstream towards a deep part just below a small waterfalls.
Standing at the top of the waterfalls, water streaming over his feet, is ALEX. He stands on
the tips of his feet, staring solemnly out at the water and then takes several
deep breaths, trying to relax himself. He closes his eyes. Everything goes black, all that is
heard is the rippling of the water and the wind blowing through the leaves. A slight sound of
grinding pebbles can be heard as Alex jumps from the bank. There is a brief moment of
complete silence before a loud splash, followed by the muffled gurgling from under water as
Alex swims up to the surface.

Alex floats on his back staring at the cloudless sky above him. Then heducks his head under
the water and lets his hair stream back over his head as he comes out of the water and grabs
his towel. He buries his face in it and then drapes it over his shoulders and makes his way up
through a path in the woods.

EXT. ROADSIDE - DAY

Alex climbs into the car. He leans back in the seat and closes his eyes. After several
moments he opens them and starts up the engine, putting a tape in the stereo and
turning it up loud. He closes the door and rolls down the window as he drives away.
He has one arm dangling out the window as the wind blows through his hair.

INT. ALEX'S HOUSE - DAY

Alex comes in through the front doors and WE FOLLOW him through the house and
up the stairs to his bedroom. The sounds of a hair dryer can be heard in the
background. Alex closes his door and things go quiet. The room is mostly barren. An
open suitcase is sitting on the bed and some clothes are laid out beside it. Alex looks
at the dressy clothes on the bed and then reaches in the suitcase and pulls out an old
pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He shoves the dressy clothes in the suitcase.

EXT.  ALEX'S HOUSE - DAY

Alex and his parents are loading the car up with luggage, boxes, and various books.
They all get in the car and drive down the lane.

EXT.  UNIVERSITY CAMPUS - DAY

The car pulls into the university parking lot. The family gets out and looks up at the
full height of the residence high rise.

INT.  ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

Alex waves goodbye as his parents leave his room After they have disappeared around the
corner he closes the door and sits down on one of the chests piled in his room, staring into the
darkness.

After several moments, he gets up and undoes the latches on the chest and opens it
up. He removes several layers of clothes, tossing them on the floor and then lifts out
another sweater and carefully places it on the bed. He then closes the chest and turns
on the light.

Alex sits down on the bed beside the sweater and removes a large picture frame
wrapped in plastic. He unwraps the frame, revealing a close-up picture of a younger
girl (SARAH). He looks at it for a moment, smiles slightly, then hangs it up on the
wall. He lies back on the bed.
 
 

 ALEX
(to picture)
Well, we're finally here, aren't we. One of the big
college students now, all ready to take on the
world.
(laughs)
Or at least Calculus. So, what do you think,
should I tackle this mess tonight, huh? Nah, you're
right, just leave it 'til the morning.

Alex locks his room door, turns off the light and looks out the window. After several
moments, he shuts the drapes and everything goes dark.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

The room is cleaned up, all the books are on the shelves, the television is on the
desk, clothes are hung up neatly. Alex just finishes putting the last thing on his shelf,
a photo album, when he changes his mind and sits down on the bed to look at it.

Alex skims through several pages and then stops on a page with several pictures
from a party. His eyes rest on a photo of Alex and Sarah with funny expressions on
their faces.

INT. PARTY HOUSE - NIGHT

Sarah and Alex are just recovering from the bright flash from a camera. Sarah covers her
face with her hands, Alex is smiling, blinking his eyes.

 SARAH
Did you have to take that picture right then? God,
my mouth was like way open out to here. I looked
like an ape or something.

 ALEX
Hey, make sure you get me a copy of those
pictures when you get 'em done, eh Jamie.

 JAMIE
Yeah, sure.

 SARAH
Yeah, so I can burn them up.

 JAMIE
(somewhat drunk)
What? Burn up a perfectly fine picture of the two
lovebirds?

Alex laughs, Sarah rolls her eyes backwards.

 JAMIE
I don't know what's wrong with you Alex, you
haven't laid a finger on her all night. Man, if I
were you I would've been all over her long ago.

 ALEX
Yeah, well that's 'cause you're totally drunk.
Here, go over there and bug Jessie and Nancy for
a while.

 JAMIE
Nah, they're too boring. They've been necking all
night, there's nothing new happening there. I'll
just sit down here and talk to you two.
(sits down on couch)
So, Alex, Sarah, how's your sex life?

 ALEX
(to Sarah)
Come on, I think we'd be better off if we got out
of here, go for a walk or something. Anything
would be better than this.
(grabs her hand and stands)

 JAMIE
Oh, I see. Well I'll let you guys do that. A nice
romantic stroll under the moon, by the bushes, I
wouldn't want to interrupt anything.

 ALEX
(as they head for the door)
Well at least we can get rid of him.

 SARAH
I hope.

Alex and Sarah leave the party and begin walking towards the dirt road. Sarah pauses
at the gate of the fence surrounding the house and turns to Alex.

 SARAH

Why can't people accept that we're just good
friends? We hang around together, I think we
enjoy being around each other. Doesn't anyone
realize that a guy and a girl can just be friends.
Jamie thinks that if you're within five feet of a girl
you've got to be sleeping with her.

 ALEX
They don't actually mean it. Jamie, he's just
jealous. Anyway, he knows we don't do anything.

 SARAH
Are you serious? You'd actually tell him what we
have or haven't done? Are all guys like that,
bragging about their exploits?

 ALEX
Come on Sarah, you know I didn't mean it that
way. He knows me, knows me well. He could tell
just by looking at my face. When he's not drinking
he's pretty sensible. He knows how we are
together.

 SARAH
How much do you tell him about us?

 ALEX
Well there's not that much to tell.

 SARAH
What?
 

 ALEX
What I mean is that he wouldn't understand most
of this. Like you say, he looks at girls with only
one thought on his mind.

 SARAH
And you?

 ALEX
I don't know, I just enjoy being around you.

They begin walking again. Alex goes to take hold of her hand and then changes his
mind and puts his hands in his pockets. Sarah takes a deep breath, looking around
her as they walk.

 SARAH
You know, they say the night time is the best time
for running. The air is cooler, more oxygen in the
air, less pollution. Some people think that if the
olympics were held during the night, most of the
records would be broken.

 ALEX
You serious?

 SARAH
I don't know. Sounds good anyway.
(roots through pockets)
Hey, bet ya a quarter I can race you to the
end of the lane.

 ALEX
A whole quarter?

 SARAH
Well I don't have anything else on me worth
betting.

Alex laughs.

 SARAH
What?

 ALEX
(pauses for a moment)
Okay, on the count of three. One, two, three, go!

The two of them begin racing and Sarah takes a big lead on Alex.

 ALEX
Holy crap, you can really run.

They reach the end of the lane and stop, both of them are breathing heavily and
laughing.

 SARAH
(holding out her hand)
All right, pay up bud, you owe me a quarter.

 ALEX
(searching pockets)
'Fraid I'm broke. How about a victory piggy back
ride?

 SARAH
A what?

 ALEX
(kneeling)
Come on, climb up.

Sarah climbs up and Alex gives her a slightly off balance ride along the highway a
short distance and back. Then, he heads straight towards the yield sign at the end of
the lane.

 ALEX
(laughing)
Oh no! We're gonna crash!

 SARAH
Ahhhhh!

Just before reaching the sign, Alex's foot falls down in a small hole and they both
tumble down to the ground.

 ALEX
Are you all right?

 SARAH
Probably.

Alex crawls over beside her and grabs her leg, pretending to examine it.

 ALEX
Any broken bones?

 SARAH
(looking at the sky, ignoring
him)
It really is a beautiful night.

Alex pulls himself up closer to her so that he's looking right in her face.

 ALEX
Yes, it is beautiful.

 SARAH
There are so many stars out, thousands of them.

 ALEX
Yeah.

 SARAH
You're not even looking at them, you can't see
any.

Alex runs his fingers through her hair and looks in her eyes. Sarah gets up and begins
walking back to the house.

 SARAH
We'd better get back to the party, everyone's going
to wonder where we are. Besides, I've got to get
little sis home before Mom and Dad ground me.

Alex is still sitting on the ground.

 SARAH
Aren't you coming?

 ALEX
Nah, I think I'll just lie here for a couple hours.

 SARAH
Okay then, go ahead.

Sarah gives a brief wave to Alex and runs off down the road. Alex lays on his back
watching her leave. After she is out of view, he picks up a rock and throws it at the
sign.

 ALEX
Damn!

After several moments, Alex gets a silly grin on his face and walks over to the sign
and, while making noises like a monster (grunting and growling), he pulls the sign
out of the ground and turns it around so that the "no exit" side and the "yield" side
are reversed. Then he walks back towards the party grinning as if he just
accomplished some great feat.

He gets back to the party just in time to see Sarah and her sister driving away. He
gives an exaggerated wave to them and then walks in to the house and goes in a
room by himself, closing the door behind him. Everything goes pitch black. There is
a knock at the door.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

Alex closes the photo album and replaces it on the shelf.

 ALEX
Come in.

 STEVE
Hey bud, you Alex?

 ALEX
Uh, yeah!

 STEVE
Thought so, that's what it says on your door. I'm
Steve.
(shakes hands)
This your first year?

 ALEX
(nodding)
Uh-huh.

 STEVE
Well, you've come at the right year, this is the
official party year.

 ALEX
Oh really?

 STEVE
Yeah, I mean last year we really partied, but this
year-

 ALEX
So was last year a party year?

 STEVE
Oh well yeah, but this year it's official.

 ALEX
Oh, well that's good to know.

 STEVE
It is very good to know. We've got a big party on
tonight, first one of the year, you've gotta come to
it.

 ALEX
Yeah, I might, but I've got to register first. They sort of misplaced my papers so I've got to
do the whole thing over again.

 STEVE
Hah, well good luck. Late
registration is quite an experience.

INT. REGISTRATION ROOM- DAY

A large crowd of students are all waiting around in line ups and talking loudly.  We
find Alex in the crowd just as he receives a handful of registration papers.

Alex walks out towards the doors and then looks down at one of the papers
confusedly. He then goes out the door and begins heading down a hallway. He
pauses, looks at the paper again and then returns to the room and turns to one of the
helpers at the doors.

 ALEX
Hey, do you know where I'm supposed to go?

 HELPER
Lets see what you've got here. Oh, Physics major,
huh? Well, you'll certainly be in for a fun year.
Okay, you need to get to the faculty of science.
Just go down the hall to your left, follow it until
you get to the stairs, turn right, go down the green
set of stairs, hang a right at the bottom, go across
the catwalk, turn left, down two flights of stairs,
then the science building is down the hall. From
there, it's up the stairs to the third floor. Easy as
that.

 ALEX
I turn left after the catwalk?

 HELPER
Right.

 ALEX
I turn right?

 HELPER
No, I told you, you turn left, gee, for a Physics
major you have problems taking simple
instructions.

Alex walks away down the hall again, looking at the paper and shaking his head.

INT. SCIENCE BUILDING - DAY

Alex comes out of the stairway door and goes to the end of a long line of students.

 ALEX
(to the boy ahead of him)
Is this the faculty of science?

 BOY
Hope so, I've been waiting here for twenty
minutes.

INT. FACULTY ROOM - DAY

Alex is sitting in the room as an instructor is trying to help the boy ahead of him with
his schedule.

 INSTRUCTOR
So you see, right now you have your schedule so
that you have three classes on Wednesdays at the
same time. So we really should change something.
Do you really think you need this Shakespeare
Intro. course? Why don't we switch that with
Analytical Chemistry, that would be an easy
elective.

INT. REGISTRATION ROOM - DAY

Alex is looking at his completed registration form. He holds the paper down and
looks at the line ups. There are at least thirty people in each line up.

 ALEX
Oh no!

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - EVENING

Alex is lying on his bed with copies of his registration papers lying all over the floor. He
looks very tired. Steve goes by the room humming "To All the Girls I've Loved Before",
carrying several cases of beer. He passes by the doorway and then several seconds
later he backs up and pokes his head in the room.

 STEVE
Are there any signs of life captain?

Alex waves at him without moving his face. Steve comes in the room and begins
thumbing through Alex's registration papers.

 STEVE
Well I've got just the cure for the post registration
dreariness. Big party, tonight, Omega Beta Theta
Frathouse, I'll drag you there if you don't come
willingly.

 ALEX
Do I have any choice?

 STEVE
No sir. You'll thank me for it, this is the party of the year-
first and last ones are always the best. Come on,
get off your butt, do some major partying.
(drags Alex out of bed)
You deserve it.

 ALEX
(straightens clothes)
How do I look?

 STEVE
Almost as good as I do.

Alex leaves the room and locks the door behind him.

INT. FRAT HOUSE - NIGHT

A large crowd of students are drinking, yelling, partying, falling all over the place. Alex is
off to one side of the room, sitting at a couch that is facing the door. He is cradling a beer in
his hands, looking very bored and depressed.

 ALEX'S P.O.V. - PARTY

A couple comes through the door. Alex looks at them for a moment and then looks
down at the can of pop in his hands.

INT.  HIGH SCHOOL PARTY - NIGHT

Alex looks up at the door as Sarah and MARC walk in. He stares at them as they talk to
several people at the door.

A friend of Alex's, LESTER, comes over beside Alex.

 LESTER
Hey Alex, what's up?

 ALEX
Who is that guy?

 LESTER
Don't know, some guy who moved here around
the first of the summer. I guess he's her new
neighbor.

 ALEX
Terrific.

 LESTER
Whaddya say we go introduce ourselves, say hi to the
guy, see what's going on.

 ALEX
Are you crazy? I'm not gonna just waltz up there
and say hi to the guy. God, look how she's just
clinging to him. Uhh! How long did you say he's
been here?

 LESTER
I don't know, a couple of months, maybe.

 ALEX
Damn, a perfect start to the school year.

Alex throws down his pop and goes to the door and walks out, excusing himself as
he pushes past the two of them and leaves.

 SARAH
Alex?

INT. FRATHOUSE - NIGHT

Alex is sitting at the couch staring across the room into space.

 STEVE
(shaking Alex's shoulder)
Hey bud, snap out of it, I know she's beautiful,
but don't go in a coma over it.

 ALEX
Huh?

Alex blinks his eyes for a second and sees the girl across the room.

 STEVE
I think she's got the hots for you, she keeps
looking over here and smiling. She wants to jump
your bones.

 ALEX
Yeah, I'm sure.

 STEVE
Come on, this is your lucky break, go up there, sit
down, offer her a beer.

 ALEX
Why don't you go for her?

 STEVE
And move in on your territory? No way, I do have
some morals. She was looking at you, so she's
yours, at least until you attempt to get her. I won't
touch the babe. Come on, be daring, ask her out,
it's the first of the year, if you wait too long, all
the good ones will be taken. She really wants you,
I know she does.

Alex gets up from the couch and walks towards her.

 STEVE
All right Alex, that's the spirit.

Before he reaches the girl, Alex turns and heads out the door.

 STEVE
Aw man, you blew a golden opportunity.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - NIGHT

Alex is sitting on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He hears the sounds of people
coming back from the party. Several of them start banging on the door.

 STEVE
Hey Alex, that girl, man she really loves you a
whole lot. I asked her and she said she wants to
come up here tomorrow and help you mess up
your bed. It's the truth, she said she'd die for you.

Alex turns face down on the bed and covers his head with his pillow.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - MORNING

Alex is laying in bed with a smile on his face, sleeping peacefully. The alarm goes
off from his clock and he leaps out of bed screaming. Then he settles down for a
moment, turns off the alarm and crawls out of bed, pulling on his bathrobe. He grabs
a towel and shaving kit and opens the door. Scrawled messily on his door is a
message: "Wake me up when your ready to go to class - Steve".

 ALEX
Hey Steve, you spelled you're wrong, it's you are,
Y-O-U-'-R-E. You're in university now, you
should know better.

Alex laughs, erases the message and then goes in to the shower. Several seconds
pass. We hear water running and then Alex starts screaming from the cold water.

Alex emerges from the shower, looking wide awake, fully dressed, hair
combed back, and clean shaven. He puts his gear in his room and knocks on Steve's
door. There is a groan from inside.

 ALEX
You wanted me to get you up?

 STEVE
Oh... oh yeah, hang on.
(hear Steve fall on the floor)
Ow! Uh, just a sec.

We hear Steve zipping up his pants inside.

 STEVE
Ow! Ahhh, son of a bitch! Hold on, be right there.

Alex laughs outside Steve's door. The door opens and Steve comes out, cap on his
head, scruffy face, shirt half buttoned up, holding a piece of paper in one hand and
rubbing his eyes with the other.

 STEVE
Well, what are ya waiting for? You don't want us
to be late for our first class of the year do ya?

 ALEX
You're going to class like that?

 STEVE
You see anything wrong with the way I'm
dressed? If you think I'm bad, you should see the
Calculus prof. He knows me well enough anyway,
no need to impress him, he is certain that I can't
do anything even related to Calculus.

 ALEX
You're not going to my Calculus class are you?

 STEVE
You are Section C, right?

Alex nods. They begin walking down the hallway towards the elevator. They get
inside and press the ground floor.

 STEVE
Read it off your registration card. It's an excellent
class, I liked it so much I decided to take it again.

 ALEX
You failed?

 STEVE
Course not. I didn't fail, I flunked. If you failed, it
means you had at least a small chance of passing,
I flunked it. He said I had the lowest course
average ever.

 ALEX
You serious?

 STEVE
Of course, the guy gave me a little plaque and
everything. It was really quite embarrassing. But I
guess that's the price of fame and glory.

 ALEX
So is this guy as bad as everyone says he is? I hear
that he doesn't hardly even speak English and you
can't understand a word he says. When I signed
up for the course, one of the guys there told me I
might as well sign up for next year's course as
well.

 STEVE
Well, I'm living proof that you can fail it.
Actually, statistics wise, on average about one-
third of the class passes. In some people's minds
that's actually pretty good.

 ALEX
Well I definitely can't take it over again next year.

 STEVE
Why not? There's nothing too wrong with it,
people do it all the time, it's expected of us. To go
through an entire year without flunking at least
one subject is dangerous to your brain. Of course I
like playing it safe, I flunked three last year.

 ALEX
My parents would kill me if I failed even one
course.

 STEVE
Don't tell me, you've got some of those rich,
snooty parents who must have their son amount to
something great.

 ALEX
No, it's nothing like that. I mean they wouldn't
get angry or anything, they would just be really
disappointed. I don't want to disappoint them. The
thing is, I want to do my best, get good grades.

 STEVE
Uh-oh, I believe that what we have here is a
keener.

 ALEX
A keener?

 STEVE
You know, the guy who does all his homework,
goes to all his classes on time, passes in
assignments early, that's a keener. Of course by
the end of the year, anyone who even shows up to
class or passes in any assignments is considered a
keener.

The elevator gets to the ground floor and they head toward their class. They reach the
classroom and go inside, taking seats towards the back of the room.

 STEVE
Hey, can you believe it?

 ALEX
What?

 STEVE
She's here.

 ALEX
Who?

 STEVE
Her! The girl, the one at the party, the one that
wants to jump your bones.

 ALEX
You sure it's her?

 STEVE
I never forget a beautiful face, even if I'm drunk.

 ALEX
I can't tell, I'd have to see her face.

 STEVE
That can be arranged.

Steve grabs Alex's Calculus book and raises it high above him and lets it drop on the
floor, making a loud noise. Everyone in the class turns around to see what the noise was.

 STEVE
See, I told you it was her.

 ALEX
Really cute move there.

 STEVE
Thank you, I thought it possessed a great deal of
originality.

 ALEX
I gotta admit, she is cute.

 STEVE
(shaking Alex's shoulder)
All right Alex.

The classroom door opens and a short foreign man walks in the door. He is dressed
in an old, worn out brown suit, his hair looks greasy and slicked back and he speaks
with a heavy accent.

 PROFESSOR
Good morning class. To begin our introduction to
Calcuwus, we must begin with the
funawentals of  matwematics, the nummers.
Nummers go from zero to infity, you
unnerstand? So we welate all nummers to be
wery big or wery small.

 STEVE
(turning to Alex)
Need a translator?

INT. STEVE'S ROOM - DAY

Alex and Steve are sitting in the middle of a large pile of clothes, boxes, and various
papers.The only thing really unpacked is a stereo which is placed on the desk and
playing heavy metal music at a low volume.

 STEVE
So, do you want me to find out the girl's name? I
can just ask her, tell her it's part of a survey,
Names Across America.

 ALEX
Tell me, why are you so interested in my love
life?

 STEVE
Why not?

 ALEX
I didn't see you with ten girls up here last night,
maybe you should help yourself out.

 STEVE
Me? Oh no, I've already proven to myself that I
can get any girl I set my sights on. Now it's my
duty to pass on this valuable information to the
needy people of the world.

 ALEX
Do I look that needy?

 STEVE
I could tell from the first moment I saw you, you
had that love-starved look in your eyes.

Alex laughs.

 STEVE
Well it's true, I've got a good eye for this sort of
thing. So, want me to check her out?

 ALEX
I think you can hold off on that for a little while.
Getting a girlfriend is the least of my worries. I've
gotta worry about getting some good marks first.

 STEVE
You're really serious about this aren't you. Bet
you're gonna go in right now and study all those
valuable Calculus notes we got today.

 ALEX
Yeah sure, what did we cover today? That
numbers are sometimes wery big and
sometimes wery small and that the only limit
we can put on infinity is that it is limitless.

 STEVE
I knew it, I've got a brain for a neighbor, don't I. I
bet all that stuff was pretty basic to you, wasn't it!
Well, it blew my mind away. So, do you think
some of those Calculus brains could rub off on
me?

 ALEX
Yeah, right!

INT. PHYSICS CLASSROOM - DAY

Alex and two other students (GARY and ANDREW) are sitting together looking at a 
sheet of paper on the desk. The rest of the class is also separated in to groups of 
three. The professor is walking back and forth at the front of the class.

	PROFESSOR
Okay, so each group has a list of fifteen different 
experiments. These are extremely simple 
experiments, you probably did ones similar to 
these in high school. The only difference here is 
that there are no procedures, no guidelines, all you 
are given is a certain value to determine or a 
property to prove and you must do it with 
whatever means you think reasonable. Any 
materials you need will be made available to you, 
stop watches, measuring sticks, weights, scales. 
All fifteen experiments must be finished by the 
end of the year, so you should do about one every 
two weeks.

	GARY
Uh sir, uh are there any restrictions to how we do 
these experiments?

	PROFESSOR
I'd rather that you didn't do anything illegal, I 
wouldn't advise you driving your car in to a brick 
wall for the inertia experiment. Just keep it 
simple, reasonable, but I do always enjoy a little 
originality and imagination in them.

	GARY
(to group)
Okay, first experiment, the determination of the 
value for gravitational acceleration. This should 
be fun!

	INT. ALEX'S ROOM - NIGHT

Gary and Andrew are at the window with screwdrivers trying to remove the screen. 
Alex is standing back from the window holding a bag of pennies. After a moment 
they remove the screen and Gary sticks his head out and begins howling.

	ALEX
Hey, cut that out, I'll get in trouble if anyone sees 
us doing this.

	GARY
Don't worry, no one will notice.

	ALEX
Easy for you to say, if you howl out the window I 
can get kicked out.

	GARY
You can get kicked out for howling out your 
window?

	ALEX
Yeah, we had a notice under our doors yesterday 
saying so.

	GARY
Boy, campus life is pretty bizarre.

	ANDREW
Lucky for you, you just happen to live three 
blocks away with your parents

	GARY
Not my fault that I'm blessed.

	ANDREW
Okay, first we need to know how high up we are.

	ALEX
Well, twenty floors, probably two, two and a half 
meters each, say forty-five meters?



	ANDREW
Nah, we need something more accurate. Got any 
string?

	ALEX
Nope. But Steve might have some, just a second.

Alex goes out the door and goes next door to Steve's door.

	GARY (O.S.)
Who's Steve?

INT. STEVE'S ROOM - NIGHT

Steve is sitting at his desk with his Calculus book open and papers scattered 
everywhere. He plugs several numbers in his calculator and when he sees the result 
he throws it down and curses to himself. There is a knock on the door. He shuts his 
book and puts it away before opening the door and peeking out.

	STEVE
Yo!

	ALEX
Got any string?

	STEVE
Why?

	ALEX
We need to find out how high up we are.

	STEVE
By hanging it out the window?

	ALEX
Yeah, how'd you know?

	STEVE
We do it all the time.

	ALEX
Well, have some anywhere?



	STEVE
(going to the washroom)
Don't have any string, but you can use this.

Steve hands Alex a roll of toilet tissue.

	ALEX
That's a unique idea.

He takes it in the room and hands it to Gary.

	GARY
All right, just what we need, okay how are we 
gonna measure it?

	STEVE
Easy, just count the sheets, each one is exactly 
eleven point five centimeters long. Says so right 
on the bag.

	ALEX
Okay, just tape my pen on to the bottom sheet, 
give it some weight so it doesn't buckle up.

They slowly unravel the roll of toilet paper out the window as they count of the 
sheets.

GARY'S P.O.V. - OUT THE WINDOW

Gary watches the bottom sheet touch the ground as he finishes counting off the 
sheets. He stops on number 391.

BACK TO SCENE

	ANDREW
(punching his calculator)
Okay, that works out to be... 44.97 meters, gee it 
almost was 45 meters.

	ALEX
Okay, I'll make the first drop, Gary you ready 
with the timer? Okay here we go on the count of 
three I push the first test penny off the ledge. 
Ready? Okay, one two three...

Alex slides the penny off the ledge.

GARY'S P.O.V. - OUT THE WINDOW

Gary watches as the penny falls and hits the ground. He stops the stopwatch and 
pulls his head back inside.

BACK TO SCENE
	GARY
Just under three point one seconds, 3.07 to be 
precise. Okay, lets go for penny number two.
Alex is in the process of sliding the penny off when Gary sees someone walking 
down below.

	GARY
Don't drop it, I think there's a prof walking by 
under there!

The penny goes over the edge and everyone ducks inside the window.

	ANDREW
Oh great, first year physics students commit 
murder when experiment turns mean.

	GARY
(looking out)
Oh God, there's blood everywhere!

Everyone else looks out and Gary cracks up laughing.

INT. STEVE'S ROOM - NIGHT

Steve is trying several more Calculus problems unsuccessfully. He takes his book 
and WE FOLLOW him to Alex's room.

	STEVE
How many pennies you dropped now?

	GARY
That last one makes forty-nine. We want to be 
very thorough, one more for a lucky fifty.

	STEVE
Have you tried various masses?

	ALEX
Shoot, he's right, we should be using something 
different, maybe a couple quarters or something.

	ANDREW
Hey, I'm not chucking any quarters out there, I'm 
broke enough as is.

	STEVE
Screw quarters, go for something real heavy, 
how's this?

He hands Gary his Calculus book and Gary puts it on the ledge to drop.

	STEVE
I don't have any use for it myself, I might as well 
help out your great cause here. Bombs away!

Gary drops the book and it falls making a loud bang when it hits the ground.
	ALEX
Okay, data element number fifty, item dropped: 
Steve's Calculus book.

	ANDREW
You're not actually writing that down are you?

	ALEX
Of course. He did say we should be imaginative, I 
already have all the facts on the length of toilet 
tissue sheets.

	GARY
I'd say we are going to have a lot of fun with these 
experiments.

EXT. PATHWAY - NIGHT

Steve walks along and finds his half-demolished Calculus book stuck in the grass. 
He wipes it off and tries to pull it back together. He notices one of the pennies, picks 
it up, smiles, and walks away.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - MORNING

Alex is sitting on his bed, books on his lap, door closed, staring up at the picture of 
Sarah.

	ALEX
You know, I always wonder what you're doing 
now, where you are, what's happened to you, I 
wish I could be with you, feel what you feel, 
understand everything. Here I am in this crazy 
little world pretending to be the perfect college 
student. I don't know what I'm doing here, or 
even if I should be here. If only you were here 
now, I could realize that things would turn out 
okay. You always gave me confidence that I could 
do anything I set my mind to. Ahhh, what a life, 
huh? I can't get any more screwed up than I 
already am. 
(looks at watch)
Well, look at the time, I've gotta go wake up 
Steve, I'll see you later.

He kisses his hand and rubs it on the picture. He goes out the door and locks it 
behind him before banging on Steve's door.

	STEVE (O.S.)

Go on, I'll catch up to you in a couple minutes.

Alex walks past his door again and down the hallway towards the elevators.

INT. CLASSROOM - DAY

The Calculus professor is ranting about some sort of Mathematical proof on the 
board. Steve squeezes in through the door wearing his bath robe, dark glasses and 
holding a mug of coffee in his hands. The professor pauses for a moment then 
continues on with the lesson. Steve sits down beside Alex and begins drinking his 
coffee.



	ALEX
Hey Steve, he's popped a surprise test on us, he's 
gonna give it to us in five minutes.

Steve spurts his coffee out of his mouth and all over the back of the student in front 
of him. He pulls out his crumpled sheet of paper from his bath robe pocket and tries 
wiping the guy's back off.

	PROFESSOR
Okay, enough lessons, we will now have our 
"surpwise" test. Please "wemove" all books 
"fwom" your desks and I will hand out your test.

He grabs a stack of papers and hands them out to everybody and they begin writing 
on the papers. Steve picks up his paper, stares at it for a moment, then begins 
laughing out loud. He stands up, takes his paper up to the front of the class, lays it on 
the teacher's desk and walks out of the room. Alex looks up for a moment, shakes 
his head and then goes back to writing the test.

INT. STEVE'S ROOM - NIGHT

Five Calculus students, including Alex and Steve are sprawled out on the floor 
drinking beer.

	STEVE
I tell you guys, that was one nasty thing of old 
what's his name to spring that surprise test on us 
like that, totally unfair, the man has no common 
morals at all, he is a sadist, loves inflicting bad 
marks on people. Don't you think Alex?

	ALEX
Oh yeah, sure.

	STEVE
Hey guys, Alex here is a real smart guy, he 
probably knew every answer on that test. Come 
on, tell us, what is the derivative of 7x? Come on, 
you can tell us, we won't laugh if you get it 
wrong.

	ALEX
Seven.

	STEVE
My buddy over here said he pressed the random 
function on his calculator and it came up with a 
six so he wrote that down. Don't you think that's 
bad luck?

	ALEX
Definitely.

Alex finishes the last of his beer and stands up.

	ALEX
That's one gone, I think I'll have one more before 
I hit the sack.

He heads over to his room and everyone else gets up to follow Alex into his room. 
Alex reaches in to his fridge and pulls out another beer. Steve pulls out the whole 
case and starts handing them out, holding several for himself.

	ALEX
Hey, those were gonna last me all year.

	STEVE
Well we're doing you the excellent service of 
preventing you from drinking old, flat beer. 
You're really lucky you have us with you.

They all sit down on the floor and continue drinking. Alex plays some music in his 
stereo.

INT. OUTSIDE ALEX'S ROOM - NIGHT

The door is closed and we can hear voices talking inside.

	STEVE (O.S.)
Hey wait a minute, I never saw this before, what is 
that, a girl. Hey, this is a picture of a girl.
	ALEX (O.S.)
Hey, be careful with it, I don't want anything to 
happen to it.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - NIGHT

Steve is standing up rather awkwardly, holding a beer in one hand, staring at the 
picture on the wall. Alex has just gotten up to make sure he doesn't break the 
picture.

	STEVE
Don't worry Alex, ole buddy, I won't touch it, a 
thing of such beauty must not be damaged, I 
understand your concern.

He sits back down on the floor, the other boys are passed out on the floor beside him.

	STEVE
No wonder you aren't interested in what's her 
name down in Calculus class, if I had a beauty 
like this on my wall, I'd be spoiled for life. She 
your girlfriend?

	ALEX
(shrugging his shoulders)
Umm, I don't know,  she was a very close friend. 

	STEVE
Are you serious? You knew a beaut like that and 
were just friends with her. That must have been 
pretty frustrating.

	ALEX
Yeah, it was pretty tough.
	STEVE
So tell me, who was she? Did you have a high 
school crush on her? Was she the class flirt, how 
about the class heartbreaker? She must have had 
some power over you if you were just friends and 
you've still got her picture on the wall.

	Alex sits down on the bed and guzzles his beer. He pauses for a minute and then 
lays down on the bed, staring up at the picture on the wall.

	ALEX
She is the most important person in the world to 
me. The only one that really matters, everything 
could go wrong, everything, but as long as she 
was there, it all just seemed to be okay, 
survivable. I never knew anyone like her, she was 
perfect, you know, even her flaws made her 
wonderful.

	STEVE
What'd she do, run off with another guy?

	ALEX
She left, that's what I like to think of it as, she just 
hopped on a plane, left everything behind, didn't 
tell anybody she was going, just disappeared, 
vanished, never to be seen again. I like do think 
that's what happened, I really do, I wish it had 
happened. In the back of my mind I still think she 
just left.

	STEVE
Well what happened to her?

Alex pulls himself up and pulls the photo album from the shelf. Opening it up to one 
of the pages he passes it to Steve.

STEVE'S P.O.V. - PHOTO ALBUM

By itself in the center of the page is an obituary for Sarah, the same picture as is on 
his wall is above the writing. On the opposite page is a clipping of a newspaper 
article with the headline: Girl Killed, Boy Badly Injured in Car Accident. Steve 
begins reading the article.

BACK TO SCENE

Alex is lying back on the bed again and begins reciting the article word for word.

	ALEX
Late last night on highway 117 just two miles 
outside of town, a car carrying two passengers, a 
male driver and a female, lost control on the icy 
roads and drove through the guard railing and 
over the embankment on the hairpin turn. The 
driver supposedly crawled free of the wreckage 
before the flames ignited the gas leaking from the 
fuel tank. The girl was killed on impact. Police 
have still not released the names of the two 
victims or confirmed whether there was a second 
car that may have been involved with the accident.

	STEVE
Damn.

	ALEX
Yeah.

	STEVE
How long ago was that?

	ALEX
Christmas dance, Friday night, December 19th, 
three years ago.

	STEVE
Well you came out of it all right, says here you 
were nearly killed yourself.

	ALEX
That wasn't me driving the car, it was her 
boyfriend, some jerk who only knew her for about 
six, seven months. I knew her for all my life. She 
dies and he survives, if I had been driving I would 
have dragged her out or stayed in the car with her.

	STEVE
God man, I'm really sorry about that.

	ALEX
Yeah, well that's my life. Summarized in one 
article, everything my life meant, everything I was 
hoping for, all my dreams, everything that made 
me feel good inside died that night.

	STEVE
And you still keep her picture up there? 

	ALEX
She keeps me from going insane. I can talk to her, 
I know what things she'd say to me, you know, I 
can feel her presence there, I can almost see her 
smiling in the picture, see her expressions change.

	STEVE
Ah man, you're pretty hung up on this.

	ALEX
I know it sounds crazy, but I'm not. I know she's 
gone, I keep all that stuff there as a reminder that 
she is. But it hurts, it hurts knowing that she is 
dead. I went for two years with only one thought 
going through my head, that she was dead, that I 
would never see her again. It drove me crazy, I 
couldn't study, I never went anywhere, I just sat in 
my room, reminiscing, crying, I just couldn't do 
anything. So now I can, it's sort of like a drug I 
can take to temporarily get myself over her, I see 
her, I talk to her, and I know somewhere, she can 
hear me and she understands it all, and it makes 
me feel that life is still worth living. As long as I 
forget that she's dead, things are okay, life goes 
on.

	STEVE
Are you saying that picture's the only reason you 
keep on living? You've actually considered 
ending it all?

	ALEX
It was like going past checkpoints, every so often I 
seemed to test myself, see if I should go on, I'd 
read all her old letters, play all the songs we 
listened to, get all torn up inside so that everything 
was churning around, then I'd go to the cliff 
where it happened. I'd stand there for hours 
sometimes, and if I went home that evening, then I 
passed the test. I guess you can only fail it once.

	STEVE
You still that way now?

	ALEX
I think I'm okay right now, I've come to grips 
with some things, put up walls to protect me from 
the rest of it. It sort of keeps me isolated from a 
lot of things. I'm kind of like a hermit in a lot of 
ways, lone guy off in the distance. Come on, have 
another beer, drink up, don't let me bugger up 
your mind with all this nonsense.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - MORNING

The room is fairly dark since the drapes are partially closed, everyone is flaked out 
on the floor and Alex is asleep on the bed. Alex's hand moves and it shifts the drapes 
slightly and a ray of light shines in on Steve's face. He starts rubbing his eyes and 
then slowly pulls himself off the floor and looks around as if he can't remember 
where he is. He notices the photo album on the floor and places it back up on the 
shelf. He then looks at the picture on the wall for a moment and turns and looks at 
Alex sleeping peacefully on the bed. He pauses for a moment then grabs a few beer 
bottles, opens up the door and walks outside.

INT. CALCULUS CLASSROOM - DAY

Steve and Alex are sitting towards the back again talking as a few of the other 
students start coming in to the classroom.

	STEVE
You've got to do me a favour okay Alex, just give 
this girl a try, ask her out, go to a movie or 
something. It will be good.



	ALEX
Please, lay off of me on that, I have no time for 
taking a girl out to a movie.

	STEVE
What if I beg?

	ALEX
No.

	STEVE
Are you a gambling man?

	ALEX
I'm scared to ask why.

	STEVE
If you make over 95% on this test, will you admit 
that just maybe you can spare a little time for non 
intellectual activities?

Alex shakes his head.

	STEVE
Okay, here goes, if I make any mark above zero 
on this test, will you give it a try?

	ALEX
Okay, but only if I make above 95% and you 
make above zero, which of course is pretty 
doubtful in either case.

	STEVE
Great, well I'm gonna find out her name for you, 
it will be a good way to start things off.

	ALEX
You're not going to just go up and ask her are 
you?

	STEVE
Oh no, I'm more reformed now, I know the 
correct way of doing such things. When he gives 
her her test back, I'll sneak over and read her 
name off the paper!

	ALEX
Brilliant!

The professor walks in to the classroom and he places a pile of papers on his desk.

	PROFESSOR
All the papers are in "alphwabetical" order, please 
come to the "fwont" of the class and find your 
paper.

	STEVE
Hey, grab my paper while you're up there.

Alex goes up to the front along with everyone else and begins rooting through the 
pile. Steve sees that the girl found her paper and he sneaks over to the other side of 
the room when she takes a seat. After a moment, Alex finds their papers and sits 
down again. Moments later, Steve returns to his seat and the professor begins talking 
about the test results.

	STEVE
(whispering)
Okay, her name is Rachel. Now, what did I make 
on my test?

	ALEX
You got one percent, looks like your bet paid off.

	STEVE
Of course it did, like I told you, I know this guy, 
he always scales the marks and for some reason he 
never gives zeroes on his tests, gives me one point 
for writing my name or something. Poor Rachel, 
she only got a thirty eight. Now, what did you 
make? Are we going to be courting for her 
affections tonight?

Alex holds up his test to Steve, it has a mark of one hundred on it.

	STEVE
Well, I guess I won that bet hands down, didn't I. 
So, what is your opening line going to be? 

	ALEX
Well I don't know about this.

	STEVE
Hey, a bet's a bet. If you don't ask her out you will 
lose my trust forever.

	ALEX
Surely it's not that dramatic.

	STEVE
Come on, what's the worst that can happen to 
you?

	ALEX
She'll look at me, tell me I'm an ugly slime, slap 
my face, and tell me to never look at her again.

	STEVE
And what's wrong with that? Hey, seriously, if she 
does that then you should be glad to get rid of her 
right away. If the girl is worth considering at all, 
she will at least let you down easy.

	ALEX
What makes you so smart?

	STEVE
Hey, some people are smart about girls and dolts 
when it comes to Calculus, and some people are 
smart about Calculus and-

	ALEX
Okay, okay.

	STEVE
So, what is your plan?
 

	ALEX
She made only thirty eight, huh? Well, I guess I 
could offer to help her out in Calculus.

	STEVE
All right, now that really shows you that there is 
some use for Calculus brains after all. I wish you 
all the luck in the world, I hope you get laid 
within twenty-four hours.

	ALEX
You have no common decency, do you?

	STEVE
Not a single drop of the stuff.

INT. OUTSIDE CLASSROOM - DAY

Rachel walks out of the classroom and Alex comes out behind her and just happens 
to bump in to her. 

	ALEX
Oh, I'm sorry.

	RACHEL
That's okay.

	ALEX
You're Rachel, right?

	RACHEL
Yeah.

	ALEX
I remember you from the party the other week.

	RACHEL
Oh yeah, that was a real unique one, my first party 
here, I guess it lived up to my expectations, wild 
and noisy.

	ALEX
Great class there, wasn't it. How'd you find the 
test, anyway?

	RACHEL
Not too good, it sort of caught me off guard, I 
hadn't studied any of the stuff. And derivatives 
don't really seem to be the easiest thing in the 
world.

Steve slowly sneaks up behind the two of them and is following them, listening in on 
the conversation with a big smile on his face.

	ALEX
You having problems with that stuff?

	RACHEL
Well, a little bit.

	ALEX
If you'd like, I could go over it a little with you, 
help you out a bit.

	RACHEL
(turning her face to one side, 
smiling)
Yeah?

	ALEX
Well, in high school we had one of those teachers 
that wanted to show us everything we were going 
to get in university. Hated it then, but I think it 
was worth it.

	RACHEL
Sure, that would be great. Want to get together 
this weekend, before he pops another surprise on 
us?

	ALEX
Sure, you want to come up to my place? Sunday 
afternoon okay?

	RACHEL
Ahh, yeah sure, Sunday's fine.




	ALEX
(writing on piece of paper)
Okay, here's my room number, just drop up any 
time on Sunday.

	RACHEL
Okay, thanks a lot, I'll see you then.

Rachel takes the piece of paper and goes down the hall as Alex heads towards the 
elevator. Steve moves up beside him.


	ALEX
Whoo! I can't believe I just did that. Do you 
realize how fast my heart was racing just trying to 
get up the nerve to bump in to her? 
	STEVE
So, gonna bring her to your room for some extra 
curricular activities? You don't think that's 
sacrilegious, doing it on Sunday do you?

	ALEX
Would you lay off it, please. She seems nice, 
someone I might like to know. I'm not going to 
rip her clothes off and drag her in to bed. I'm not 
interested in twenty minute relationships.

	STEVE
Twenty minutes, huh? Aren't we being a little bit 
generous?

	ALEX
I don't think there is anything that is too much for 
your morales to deal with.

	STEVE
You know, when I hang around you, I really feel 
like an evil little bastard.

	ALEX
Good.


INT. ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

Alex is putting the last touches in cleaning up his room. Then he looks at the picture 
of Sarah on the wall and takes it down.

	ALEX
(to picture)
Hope you don't mind, just gonna put you away for 
a little bit, wouldn't want to get Rachel too 
confused about all this. I'll see you later.

He gives the picture a light kiss and then carefully places it under his bed. Moments 
later there is a knock at the door. Alex opens it and Rachel walks inside.

	RACHEL
So, ready to teach me all about derivatives?

	ALEX
Sure, come on in, you'll have to excuse the room, 
it's pretty barren, just a few bare necessities, TV, 
VCR, stereo, but not much else.

	RACHEL
You should see my room, it's a disaster area, I 
have too much stuff. I figured I should bring all 
my stuff in here with me and I don't even have 
room for half of it. I feel like chucking most of my 
stuff out just to get some room.

	ALEX
Yeah, sounds crazy. I think I'm just the opposite, I 
keep finding things missing that I thought I 
brought with me. So, you want to come in.

	SARAH
Yeah, sure.

	ALEX
Okay, so you brought your book did you?


	RACHEL
Yeah, and here's my awful test. Don't look at the 
mark though, it's too embarrassing.

They both sit down on the bed, Alex opens up the book and then starts skimming 
through her test.

	RACHEL
They probably look like stupid mistakes, I hadn't 
hardly looked at any of my notes so I was just 
guessing.

	ALEX
Okay, I'll quiz you on the test okay. 

They turn on some music and we see Alex going over the test with her.

INT. OUTSIDE ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

Rachel is just going out the door with her Calculus book in hand.

	RACHEL
Thanks a lot Alex, I think I've got the hang of this 
stuff now. I'm all ready in case he pulls another 
test on us this week.
	ALEX
That's good.

	RACHEL
Oh yeah, would you mind if I get some help from 
you next weekend if we get some more tough 
stuff? I really found this a great help.
	ALEX
No, sure, that would be fine.

	RACHEL
Thanks, you're a great help.

Rachel nods to Alex, smiling and then walks away down the hallway. Alex turns 
around and goes to enter his room again. Steve's door slowly opens and he goes over 
to Alex.



	STEVE
You hear that? She wants to come up to your 
place next weekend too.

	ALEX
If she has anymore problems.

	STEVE
Million bucks says she'll spend all this week 
trying to come up with some.

	ALEX
Yeah well, I'd rather not get my hopes up. I just 
want to help her, spend some time with her 
perhaps, see how things go. I don't want to rush 
into anything.

	STEVE
So what did you guys do?

	ALEX
Why don't you tell me, I'm sure you had your ear 
to the wall listening to every detail.

	STEVE
I resent that, I do consider some things private. 
So, what did you do?

	ALEX
We studied Calculus.

	STEVE
And that's it? Nothing else? Not even a little basic 
"how are you doing", "what's going on in your 
life" stuff?

	ALEX
No, it was pretty formal, we just sat there on the 
bed and went over all the stuff she was having 
problems with.

	STEVE
On the bed, huh? Well, it's a start, maybe there's 
some promise for you two.


	ALEX
Well, maybe there is, maybe there isn't, but only 
time well tell.

	STEVE
Well I hope it hurries up, I can't go on with my 
own love life 'til I'm sure you're all set up.

	ALEX
That's really nice to hear, I'll try to hurry it up so 
you can rest in peace.

Alex walks back in to his room, shaking his head. Once he gets inside, he closes the 
door and takes the picture back out and hangs it up on the wall.

	ALEX
So what do you think? Is she okay? She seems 
nice you know, maybe that's what I need, they say 
the only replacement for love is to love again. 
Maybe she is special enough, I need someone I 
can just talk to, who'll understand stuff, no one 
around here really understands how I feel, except 
you. Oh well, I'll talk to her again next weekend, 
maybe I'll take her out to a movie or something.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - EVENING

Alex and Rachel are sitting on the bed with papers scattered everywhere.

	RACHEL
So you're saying that if the derivative of sine is 
cosine and the derivative of cosine is negative 
sine, then the derivative of tan should be the sine 
squared plus cosine squared divided by cosine 
squared, which is secant squared. Shucks, it's that 
simple isn't it.

	ALEX
If you can work it out that way then you've got it 
made.

	RACHEL
It seems a whole lot easier to just memorize it all.

	ALEX
Ah yes, that's what all the evil people believe, but 
if you just understand how to work it out, then as 
long as you know the very basics you can forget 
everything else. Work it out on the exam.

	RACHEL
But the prof always says to memorize it so you'll 
have more time to spend on the exam questions.

	ALEX
That's what I hate about some teachers. Actually, 
I guess we call them profs now, don't we. They 
don't care if you learn anything or understand it, 
just that you memorize it long enough to pass the 
exam. In the real world we could look all this stuff 
up, we'd have more than ten minutes to do each 
problem, and anything you rush to memorize right 
now will be gone two days after your exam.

	RACHEL
It sounds like you don't have a high opinion of 
some of the people here.

	ALEX
I don't want to sound too negative, I think some of 
them are just not interested in teaching. Some of 
my teachers back home were wonderful, they 
made me enjoy what they taught me. Some of 
these guys seem to work the opposite way.

	RACHEL
I had a few good teachers, but the last one I 
remember was in grade nine. Our Biology teacher 
used to take us out on field trips every second 
week. It was great. Sometimes it was just 
searchinh through mud in the woods by the school 
but sometimes we'd go for these long treks and 
have contests to see who could find the most types 
of mushrooms.

Alex looks at her for several moments and then she smiles and turns away.

	ALEX
Listen, is there anything else you want to go over?

	RACHEL
If I go over any more of this junk I'll go crazy. Do 
you really think we'll ever find any use for all 
this? 

	ALEX
No. I think the basics are extremely important and 
so is a little practice, but that's it. Maybe if they 
showed us some uses for it, it wouldn't be so bad.

	RACHEL
Yeah.

	ALEX
So what are you up to tonight?

	RACHEL
Not much, I guess. I'm sure not studying any 
Calculus.

	ALEX
Well, I don't know, I was sort of wondering if 
you'd like to go out and do something.

	RACHEL
Sure, what were you thinking of?

	ALEX
I don't know, I guess we could just take a walk or 
something. I haven't hardly been outside since I 
came here.

	RACHEL
That sounds like a wonderful idea.

	ALEX
Great.

EXT. PATHWAY - NIGHT

Alex and Rachel are walking along, kicking at the leaves on the ground.

	ALEX
So, tell me a little bit about yourself.

	RACHEL
Like what?

	ALEX
I don't know, anything interesting I guess. What 
are you doing here, what do you want to do with 
your life, what are your likes and dislikes, what 
are your favorite pastimes. Who are you?

	RACHEL
Ooh boy, a nice easy question. Well I guess the 
reason I'm here is because I didn't really know 
what else to do. I finished high school and I did 
fairly well there and everyone just naturally 
assumed I was going off to university so here I 
am.

	ALEX
Do you live around here?

	RACHEL
No, not at all. I used to, but five years ago my 
folks decided to move out west and of course we 
all had to go to. I left a lot of good friends back 
here so when I was applying at universities I sent 
one here. It was the only place I got a small 
scholarship at so I figured, why not?


	ALEX
That's good that you got a scholarship.

	RACHEL
Yeah, and I'm the poor kid asking you for help in 
Calculus. Some brain I turned out to be.

	ALEX
I'd say you're catching on pretty well now.

	RACHEL
Yeah maybe. Anyway, I was also figuring that I'd 
meet all my old friends here because a lot of them 
had written and they said they were going here. 
But I get here and I don't really know any of them 
anymore. Part of me is homesick and wonders if I 
went to the right place.

	ALEX
You must've made a few friends here.

	RACHEL
Well, one or two. So, how about you, what do you 
want to be?

	ALEX
Something. That's about all I really know. I'll go 
here for so many years, and when I'm finished I'll 
go do something. Part of me's worried about it all. 
I find everything here rather interesting but I just 
don't know if this is what I want to do with the 
rest of my life. I feel that I'm narrowing my 
options so much. It's sort of like, I go here and 
spend so many years and then I must become a 
great Physicist because I've invested so much time 
and money and I'm not certain about it all.

	RACHEL
What else would you like to be?

	ALEX
I like computers, I'd like to design computer 
games, I'd like to write short stories, be a movie 
critic, fly an airplane, be a singer. Just about 
anything.

	RACHEL
Well at least you have some ideas. You shouldn't 
put yourself under too much pressure yet. So you 
take a year or two and realize you've gone in the 
wrong direction. It's not that deadly is it? It's 
expensive, but it's not the end of the world.

	ALEX
Yeah, I guess you're right. Of course I'll still worry 
about it anyway.

	RACHEL
It's sort of good to worry some, it keeps you on 
your toes.

Alex looks over at Rachel for a few moments and then closes his eyes and smiles. 
When he opens them again she is giving him a funny look.

	RACHEL
Something wrong?

	ALEX
Oh no, I'm just acting crazy. Uh listen, we 
probably should be getting back, it's almost ten 
thirty and we've got Calculus first thing.

	RACHEL
No, don't remind me. That's one class I wouldn't 
mind missing.

	ALEX
I think the feeling is mutual.

INT. PHYSICS CLASSROOM - DAY

The physics professor is writing a problem on the board. Alex, Gary and Andrew are 
sitting at their desk.

GARY'S P.O.V. - SHEET OF PAPER

Gary looks down the sheet of paper, going past several experiments that have already 
been circled. He runs his finger down the page and stops at Galileo's Falling Ball 
Experiment.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

Gary, Alex and Andrew are sitting on the bed skimming through various text books. 
Alex stops at one of the pages and reads it for a moment.


	ALEX
Okay, here it is, Galileo had a cannon ball shot out 
of the leaning Tower of Pisa and had another 
cannon ball dropped at the same time. He found 
that both cannon balls landed at the same time.

	GARY
Hey, I know that one, we did something stunned 
like that in High School. Our teacher set up this 
little blow dart thing and shot it across the 
classroom at one of the walls and this cardboard 
turkey was started falling to the ground at the 
same time and the dart always pinned it to the 
wall.

	ANDREW
Oh yeah, our prof did that too.

	GARY
He did? I thought my teacher came up with that 
idea.

	ALEX
So should we set up something like that?

	GARY
You got any eggs in your fridge?



EXT. OUTSIDE UNIVERSITY HIGH RISE - DAY

We see a pellet gun mounted on a tripod and aimed at a wall some distance away. 
We follow a string which is attached to the trigger and then goes over to a pulley 
stuck in the ground, over various twists and turns over to a little platform with a 
sliding gate under it and an egg on top of it. There is a happy face sticking it's tongue 
out drawn on the egg.

BACK TO SCENE

Andrew is holding a large movie camera labelled "Property of Science Department" 
and he is slowly panning the entire set-up. Alex is putting the last adjustments on the 
platform and Gary is holding the string at the other end which is attached to the 
platform and the trigger.

	ALEX
Okay, it's all ready, I'd say we should get an A+ 
for this one.

	STEVE
Yeah, if it works.

ANDREW'S P.O.V. - THROUGH CAMERA AT ALEX

Alex stands in front of the set-up holding a microphone.

	ALEX
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to experiment 
number nine of group seven for Physics class B. 
As you can see, behind me is what we call our 
highly advanced egg neutron splitter. We have 
high hopes of pulling both the trigger and egg 
release at the same moment and having the egg 
totally vaporized by the high power pellet we have 
placed in our gun. Please listen to our technician 
here.

CAMERA TURNS to see Gary. Gary is still holding the string but has now put on a 
pair of horn-rimmed glasses and has his hair messed up. 

	GARY
Well, through many years of strenuous 
experimentation, we have found by cranking the 
gun only once and firing it at the wall, it drops in 
height by approximately one foot. The gun and 
egg are directly in line, so we will release both at 
the same time and if the egg is shot by the pellet, 
we will have proven Galileo's ancient experiment. 
Are you all ready? Here goes...

Gary pulls the string and the gun fires. The egg falls and is spattered on the wall. 
Cheers of victory come up from the three boys.

	ALEX
(mimicking Howard Cosell)
Unbelievable ladies and gentleman. In all my 
years I have never ever seen such a stupendous 
and monumental occasion.

INT. OUTSIDE ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

Rachel walks up to the door, dressed from head to toe in snow gear and she knocks 
on the door. Alex peeks his head out through the door, half asleep.

	ALEX
Wha?

	RACHEL
Come on, first snow of the year, we've gotta have 
a snowball fight, get ready.

	ALEX
A snowball fight? What time is it?
(looks at watch)
That late, huh? Just a minute, I'll be right out.

Alex closes the door and after some bumping and banging inside he emerges dressed 
up in snow boots, a big jacket and ski pants. Down the hall Steve sticks his head out 
his doorway.

	STEVE
Did someone say snowball fight?

EXT. EDGE OF FOOTBALL FIELD - DAY

A group of football players are practicing out on the field. Rachel and Alex are to the 
side of the field throwing snowballs at each other. After several moments, Steve and 
one of his friends arrive on the field and start throwing snowballs at the two of them.

	STEVE
We have officially declared war!

	ALEX
Hey, how about twenty minutes time out to build 
forts, then we can start a war.

	STEVE
You're on!

EXT. ALEX'S SNOW FORTRESS - DAY

A fortress is built in to the snowdrift. Alex's eyes are peering out through a 
rectangular hole in the front of the fort. A garbage can lid covering a hole in the top 
lifts up and Rachel peeks up, holding several snowballs in her hand.

INT. INSIDE ALEX'S SNOW FORTRESS - DAY

Alex is gouging out more on the inside and making snowballs with the snow. Rachel 
closes the lid and goes to look out of the hole.

	ALEX
You figure we've got enough snowballs yet?

	RACHEL
Oh yeah, plenty. But we can keep digging and get 
a secret escape tunnel, give them a surprise attack.

EXT. STEVE'S FORTRESS - DAY

	STEVE
Okay, here's the plan, we chuck as many 
snowballs as we can at that little peep hole, if we 
can put a hole in there we can take 'er out.

The two of them run towards the fort armed with snowballs. Before they can throw 
any, the lid opens and Rachel appears with a ball scoop in her hand and begins 
chucking snowballs at them with the scoop. One of them hits Steve in the face and 
he falls to the ground. He quickly scrambles back to the fort with his friend, 
peppered with snowballs.


INT. ALEX'S SNOW FORTRESS - DAY

Alex is halfway in to the hole he has been digging. Rachel is making more snowballs 
with all the snow he's been throwing out.

	RACHEL
Okay, time to unveil secret weapon number two.

She picks up a long straight stick that has been sharpened at one end. She grabs 
several snowballs and sticks one on the end of the stick.

EXT. STEVE'S FORTRESS - DAY

	STEVE
Okay, okay, she got a lucky shot on us, what do 
you say we go for it again? You just run behind 
me and cover me.

Steve, who had his back to Alex's fort turns around just as Rachel throws a snowball 
using the stick.

STEVE'S P.O.V. - SNOWBALL

The snowball flies through the air and it heads straight at Steve's face.

BACK TO SCENE

The snowball hits Steve square in the face, knocking him off his feet once again. He 
quickly gets up, grabbing a handful of snowballs.

	STEVE
That does it, let's take them out.

He runs for the fortress chucking snowballs. Rachel ducks back down in to the fort.

	RACHEL (O.S.)
Alex, we're in trouble! Alex?

EXT. OUTSIDE ALEX'S SNOW FORTRESS - DAY

Alex busts through the snow a little ways down the snow bank and runs over to 
Steve's fort without them noticing. As they begin banging on the fortress, he starts 
showering them with snowballs. Surprised, they turn around and start running back 
to the fort. Alex quickly leaves and returns through the hole he came out of.

	STEVE
This is not good, these maniacs are killing us. We 
need to take them out, we need a good plan. 
Actually, they've got the brains, what we need is 
some strength behind us.
(turning to the football players)
Excuse me, could one of you guys help me for a 
sec?

INT. ALEX'S SNOW FORTRESS - DAY

	RACHEL
What are they doing?

	ALEX
I don't know, I can't see them, they must be 
hiding in the fort.

ALEX'S P.O.V. - THROUGH PEEP HOLE

Alex is looking at Steve's fortress. Steve pokes his head up and then a huge football 
player, dressed in full gear, comes from the fort and barrels towards Alex.

	ALEX
Oh God!

	RACHEL
What?

	ALEX
Oh God!

Alex looks to see the football player almost right up to the fort, growling fiercely.

	ALEX
Duck!

BACK TO SCENE

Alex turns around and grabs Rachel, pushing her to the ground. A loud crunch is 
heard outside and snow starts falling in all around.


CLOSE SHOT - ALEX AND RACHEL

Alex and Rachel are covered in snow, their chins are pressed together and they are 
looking at each other face to face.

	ALEX
Are you alive?

	RACHEL
As long as I don't suffocate.

	STEVE (O.S)
Hang on, we're coming to rescue you.

	ALEX
I think this is the type of position they talk about 
in those Clorets commercials.

	RACHEL
(laughing)
Can you move at all?

	ALEX
I think I can move my head a little.

Alex tries moving his head. Just then someone outside bangs on the fort and more 
snow gets pushed down. Alex's face gets pushed down on Rachel's, their lips get 
pressed together.

	ALEX
(muffled)
Ever wonder how we get in these positions?

Rachel begins laughing uncontrollably.

	ALEX
Oh please, don't do that, you're tickling my teeth.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

Alex takes off his jacket and hangs it up on the door. Rachel takes off her sweater, 
she is wearing a T-shirt under it. Then she begins undoing her pants. Alex looks at 
her.

	RACHEL
Don't worry, I've still got long johns under these, 
I'm not gonna strip on you, honest.

She hangs up her clothes by the radiator and then lays down on the bed, looking up 
at Alex. Alex pulls off his sweater and puts it beside Rachel's. Then he grabs his 
bath robe and goes to the door.

	ALEX
I'll be back in a minute.

Alex goes out, closing the door behind him.

	STEVE (O.S.)
Ahh, here he is now, the hero of the day. I tell you 
Gary this guy's the real tough guy. He snowballed 
us to death and then when we finally take him out, 
what's he doing? He's in there in the fort giving 
Rachel mouth to mouth, I tell you, some hero of 
the day.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - EVENING

Alex and Rachel are holding their hands out, warming them. The reflection of a fire 
can be seen in their faces. 

ALEX'S P.O.V. - TELEVISION

A VCR recording of a fireplace is on the television and Rachel and Alex are 
warming themselves over the heater plugged in on the floor.

	ALEX
We saw those fireplace videos in the store, you 
could buy them for twenty bucks, but Mom and 
Dad just filmed this one at home with their 
camera. True, it doesn't have the fire crackling in 
pure stereo, but it does look good.

	RACHEL
They made that up for you?

	ALEX
Said it would keep me warm on those cold winter 
nights.

	RACHEL
You've got sweet parents. Listen, I don't think my 
clothes are gonna dry until at least morning.

	ALEX
Did you want to borrow some of mine?

	RACHEL
Actually, it's getting late, and I don't really feel 
like going out in the cold out there to get back 
home. I'd probably fall asleep before I got there.

	ALEX
If you want you could spend the night here. If you 
want.

	RACHEL
You wouldn't mind?

	ALEX
Of course not.

Alex picks up the remote control in his hand and switches off the television and 
VCR. He lays back on the bed, folding his hands behind his head. Rachel reaches 
over and puts a tape in the tape player and some quiet music begins playing. She lays 
down with him. She pulls his bathrobe open a bit and rests her head on his chest. He 
begins running his fingers through her hair. She lifts her head and looks at him, then 
gives him a kiss. He pauses for a moment, uncertain what to do, then kisses her. She 
smiles slightly and then nuzzles her nose down in his chest. He reaches over and 
pulls the blankets over them.


INT. ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

Rachel is sitting on the edge of Alex's bed, still in her long johns,  pulling her 
clothes on and Alex is sitting with his back to the wall thumbing through his tape 
collection, looking up at her as she stands up to pull her pants up.

	RACHEL
You know it's really going to be a lousy 
Christmas in here, nearly everyone else is going 
home, you'll be spending Christmas all by 
yourself. That's really depressing.

	ALEX
Yeah, well I've got a lot of studying to do. We've 
got midterms in February and I could use a little 
time to myself to catch up on everything I guess. I 
want to write up some of my labs too.I already 
told Mom and Dad I probably wouldn't be home.

	RACHEL
Midterms in February? You've got to be joking. 
Why would you want to stay in here? It just 
sounds so horrible. Of everyone I know, you are 
the one person who should be able to relax over 
the break. God, if you need to work over 
Christmas, I'd have to take off my whole summer.

	ALEX
Yeah, well I just want to keep busy. So, when are 
you leaving?

	RACHEL
Right after my English class tomorrow afternoon, 
I'm taking the first bus outta here. I'm glad it 
snowed yesterday, I doubt if we'll get any snow 
back home, I really wanted a good snow fight. Oh 
yeah, I've got to get you a Christmas present. I 
know what I'm gonna get you, but I can't get it 
right yet. I'll mail it to you, it should get here just 
before Christmas, give you something to look 
forward to.

	ALEX
That sounds great. So I guess I won't see you 
tomorrow before you go, huh?

	RACHEL
Unless you skip Physics class.

	ALEX
Well then, I guess I should wish you a merry 
Christmas now, before you take off. I think I'll 
save your present until you get back, give you 
something to look forward to.

	RACHEL
(looking at watch)
Well, I'd better get going, I told my mother I'd 
call her today, tell her what bus I'd be taking. I've 
gotta get all my junk packed up too. That'll be a 
whole lot of fun.

Rachel picks up her jacket and goes to walk out of the door. She stops for a moment, 
looks back in and then goes over to the bed and gives him a kiss. Then she goes out 
the door and out of sight. Alex moves over and rests his back against the window. 
He has a slight smile on his face but it slowly fades away and he appears depressed.

	STEVE (O.S.)
Hey hey hey, what did I say? Somebody didn't go 
back home last night! And you don't look like you 
got much sleep. Did you pick up where you left 
off in the snow?

	ALEX
Ha ha ha. So, when are you taking off, so I can 
spend the holiday in peace?

	STEVE
Oh ho, smart guy, trying to change the subject. 
Well, you're stuck with me for another two hours. 
I was gonna go yesterday, but the snowball fight 
was too fun. 

	ALEX
So you're skipping your last classes?

	STEVE
It's only English, Chemistry, and Astronomy, 
nothing too major.

	ALEX
Yeah, right.

INT. OUTSIDE ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

Alex is dressed up in a winter jacket, covered with snow, carrying a bag in one hand 
and fumbling for his key in his pockets with the other hand. He finally finds the key 
and goes in to the room. Once inside, he removes his jacket and pulls out a package 
which he had been carrying under the jacket. He goes over to his bed, turns on the 
radio and then sits down to start unwrapping the present. He opens it up and pulls 
out a little picture frame with a picture of Rachel. Etched in the glass is "Merry 
Christmas 1992 Alex, Love Rachel".

Alex looks at it for a moment, then finds a tack and hangs it up on the wall beside 
the picture of Sarah and looks at them for a moment. He goes to remove Sarah's 
picture when "The Little Drummer Boy" comes on the radio and Alex turns and 
looks towards the radio. He walks towards it, goes to turn it off, then his hand drops 
and he sits down on the bed and lets his head fall backwards, banging against the 
screen in the window.  He closes his eyes.

INT. HIGH SCHOOL DANCE - NIGHT

"The Little Drummer Boy" is being played by the band at the high school dance.  
WE FIND Alex in the crowd sitting by himself at one of the tables. Hearing the 
song, he slowly gets up and starts walking through the crowd to the other side of the 
gymnasium.

ALEX'S P.O.V. - CROWD

Alex pushes through the crowd to the other side where he sees Sarah and her 
boyfriend sitting at a table.

BACK TO SCENE

	ALEX
Sarah, you want to dance?

	SARAH
Oh, I'm sorry, I've been dancing all night, I think 
I'll just sit this one out.

	ALEX
You sat out the last three, I just want one dance, 
that's not so much of a crime is it?

	SARAH
Alex, you're driving yourself crazy doing this. 
You're a good friend of mine and I hope we're 
always good friends.

	ALEX
Friends dance together, there's nothing wrong 
with that.

	SARAH
Look Alex, I know what you're like, I know how 
you feel. Every time we talk on the phone I feel it. 
If we dance, it's not two friends dancing together, 
I know it means so much more to you. I just want 
to be your friend. That's all.


	ALEX
I just want one dance, that's all, then I'll never 
bother you again.

	SARAH
At times I wish that were true.

Alex stands there staring at her, his eyes start watering up. Sarah stands up.

	SARAH
Oh Alex, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. You 
know I care about you, it's just different than how 
you feel. I can never be the person you want me to 
be.

	ALEX
You want to know what really hurts me right 
now? It's the fact that I know you're right. All 
these years of hoping, trying, and I realize that 
you're right.

Alex wipes the tears from his eyes and runs out of the gymnasium. Sarah chases after 
him calling his name.

EXT. HIGH SCHOOL - NIGHT

Snow is falling on the ground as Alex runs down the steps, half sliding as he goes 
and gets in to his car. He fumbles with the keys and then starts up the car and drives 
off, tears streaming down his face. Sarah and her boyfriend come running outside 
just as he drives away.

	SARAH
We've got to go after him, I'm scared he might do 
something.

They both get in their car and drive out of the school lot after him.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - NIGHT

Alex leaps out of bed yelling. He is covered in sweat, breathing heavily. He holds his 
face in his hands and then pushes back his hair. He looks up at the pictures on the 
wall in the darkness.

INT. CALCULUS CLASSROOM - MORNING

Alex and Steve are sitting in the back of the classroom waiting for the class to begin. 
Rachel comes in the door and smiles when she sees Alex. She is hugging a white 
teddy bear. She runs over and sits down in the seat in front of him. 

	RACHEL
Hi!

	ALEX
Welcome back.

	RACHEL
I just love this guy, he is so adorable.

	ALEX
I'm glad you like it. I think the picture you sent me 
is sweet.

	RACHEL
So, how was your lonely Christmas?

	ALEX
It was okay, I got a lot of stuff done, pretty well all 
ready for exams now.

	STEVE
Can you believe this guy? He's hoping to end up 
with an A- for the course by the end of the year. 
All I want is someone, anyone to make a lower 
mark than me.

	ALEX
Well why don't you start taking some notes and 
study them. Or better yet, start writing some of the 
tests.

Steve points to himself and raises his eyebrows.

	STEVE
What, me study?

	ALEX
You better watch out, you're starting to sound like 
Tarzan, you may be slowly falling down in the 
evolution scale.

	RACHEL
Well, I'd say with your help, I should be able to 
pull off a B, that would be great.

	STEVE
Yeah, you guys are making quite a team, aren't 
you, together almost every second, studying 
together, holding down forts together and doing 
God knows what in to the wee wee hours of the 
night, gee it looks like pretty serious stuff.

	ALEX
You'll have to forgive him, he has an 
uncontrollable urge to poke his nose in other 
people's business.

	RACHEL
Well Steve, why don't you come in and watch 
some time, the experience might actually do some 
good.

	STEVE
That's a laugh, I've already got it perfected.

	ALEX
I think she's talking about Calculus.

	STEVE
Of course.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

Alex is sitting by the side of the bed looking at the two pictures on the wall. Then he 
gets up and goes out to the washroom, closing his room door as he goes. A moment 
later, Rachel comes up to the room and knocks on the door.

	ALEX (O.S)
Just a minute, I'll be right out.

	RACHEL
No problem.

Rachel opens up the door and goes in to the room. She looks around for a moment, 
sees the two pictures on the wall, and then looks closely at the picture of Sarah. 
Seeing no writing on the front, she takes it off the wall and turns it around to see the 
back. Just then Alex comes out of the washroom. She goes to put the picture back on 
the wall.

	ALEX
What are you doing?

	RACHEL
Oh, I'm sorry, I was just looking, I was wondering 
who it was.


	ALEX
An old friend, someone I knew in High School.

He goes over to the picture and adjusts it, making sure it's secure on the wall.

	RACHEL
An old girlfriend?

	ALEX
Just someone special.

	RACHEL
You've had that up there all along?

	ALEX
I take her down when you come up, I didn't want 
you to get all screwed up by it, it was a long time 
ago.

	RACHEL
And you still have her picture up?

	ALEX
(carefully taking down the 
picture)
Look, it doesn't matter, here, I'll put her away.

	RACHEL
How long ago was it?

	ALEX
Look, it's nothing, there she's gone, okay.

	RACHEL
Do you want to talk about it?

	ALEX
Just forget about it please, it's nothing.

Rachel just looks at him for a moment in silence.




	RACHEL
Look, I really should get going, I just dropped up 
to see if you had a good Christmas.

	ALEX
Oh yeah, it was okay, got all sorts of stuff from 
home.

	RACHEL
That's great, well I really should be getting back, 
I'll see you tomorrow in Calculus.

	ALEX
Yeah, see ya.

Rachel goes out the door, looks back for a moment and then leaves. Alex pulls out 
the picture of Sarah again for a moment, then puts it away and looks at the picture of 
Rachel on the wall. He turns around towards the window and pounds his fist on the 
glass.

	ALEX
Damn!

INT/EXT. UNIVERSITY CAMPUS - NIGHT

Rachel and Alex are walking towards the residence tower.

	RACHEL
I just wish I knew what was bugging you, you 
want to talk about her?

	ALEX
She was just someone really close to me, first 
love, you know, only thing was the feelings 
weren't mutual. I know it's sorta silly, but I'm still 
hung up on her a little.

	RACHEL
(holding out her arms)
Come here, hold me. I won't just take off on you. 
I care about you, a whole lot, understand, just let 
her go, okay. Trust me, if you dwell on the past 
you just go crazy.

Alex goes to her side and she puts her arms around him.

INT. CALCULUS CLASSROOM - DAY

The professor places the latest pile of tests on the desk to be returned. Steve returns 
with three tests, he hands one to Alex, one to Rachel, and then stares at his own.

	STEVE
I don't believe it, I failed!

	RACHEL
Weren't you expecting to anyway?

	ALEX
No, no what he means is he didn't flunk. What did 
you make?

	STEVE
I got thirty two percent!

	RACHEL
What's he been doing, taking brain steroids?

	ALEX
Actually, I've been giving him a little help.

	RACHEL
I knew there had to be something.

	STEVE
This is fantastic, this just tripled my average for 
the year! I can't believe it.

EXT. UNIVERSITY CAMPUS - NIGHT

Rachel is sitting at the bottom of the steps to the entrance to one of the buildings. 
Alex runs to the top of the stairs and looks over the parking lot.

	ALEX
Friends, Romans, Numerals, lend me your ears, 
for I am deaf and have none.

	RACHEL
You are absolutely crazy.

	ALEX
Thank you.

	RACHEL
Get on down here before security catches you and 
fines you for disturbing the peace.

	ALEX
Okay, you're right, time to saunter back to our 
humble abodes. You want me to walk you back?

	RACHEL
I really don't think I'll get mugged or anything. 
Anyway, you'd probably fall asleep before you got 
there. I'd have to carry you back home.

	ALEX
You're absolutely right. Okay then, I shall bid you 
farewell, adieu, and all that other nonsense.

	RACHEL
See you tomorrow Alex.

	ALEX
Yeah, see ya Sar-

Alex pauses for a moment and the smile goes from his face.

	RACHEL
What did you say?

	ALEX
I just said see ya soon.

	RACHEL
Oh. See ya then.

She slowly turns around and begins walking away. Alex sits down on the steps, lets 
out a deep breath and pushes his hair back over his forehead.

INT. RESIDENCE - NIGHT

Alex is talking on the telephone. He is sitting in the washroom with the door half 
closed.

	ALEX
Well, exams start in another three weeks, then 
that'll take about a week for them and I should be 
able to come home any time after that. My last 
one is Calculus, I think I write it on a Saturday.

Rachel comes around the corner and knocks on his door. He peeks out of the 
bathroom and smiles at her.

	ALEX
Just a sec Mom. Hi Rachel, I'll be off in just a few 
minutes, you can go in, put on a tape or 
something, I'll be in in a bit.

Rachel smiles at him and goes in the room, closing it behind her. She can still hear 
Alex talking softly outside. She sits down on the bed for a moment, looking up at his 
video tapes on the shelf. She pulls one out and then notices the photo album and 
pulls it out instead. She begins skimming through it, laughing at several photos of 
Alex. Then she turns to the page with Sarah's obituary. She reaches under the bed 
and finds the picture of Sarah and compares the two. She begins reading through the 
article on her. Hearing Alex hang up the phone, she quickly turns to one of the first 
pages and pushes the picture back under the bed with her foot.

	ALEX
Oh, you found that, did you? Here, let me see that.

He sits on the bed beside her and begins thumbing through the pages. He turns to a 
page with a picture of him and Sarah.

	RACHEL
What ever happened to her?

	ALEX
Who Sarah?

Rachel nods.

	ALEX
She just disappeared. We had sort of broken up, 
you know, she just wanted to be a good pal and 
all, and then she just vanished, ran away, 
something. Don't really know why, she just 
couldn't handle it all I guess. I'm hoping she'll 
write sometime, just to let me know where she is, 
but I doubt if she will.

Alex closes the album and places it back up on the shelf.

	ALEX
Okay, what movie do you want to watch?

	RACHEL
I don't really feel like watching a movie. I just 
wanted to be with you, thought we could spend 
some time together.

	ALEX
Yeah, sure, I could put on some music.

	RACHEL
Just forget that, come here.

She lies down on the bed and pulls him down with her. She puts her hands on his 
face and starts kissing him. She begins undoing the buttons on his shirt.

	ALEX
What are you doing?

	RACHEL
Just relax, trust me.

She slowly pulls off his shirt and then lays back down with her arms spread out. 
Alex hesitates as if scared to do anything. His hand is shaking as he goes to unbutton 
her blouse. He unbuttons the first button, then stops, he lets out a shallow breath and 
then gets off the bed and stands up, walking over towards the closet, pulling his shirt 
back on.


	ALEX
I'm sorry, I just can't

	RACHEL
What's the matter?

	ALEX
I don't know, I just, I just can't do it, something 
doesn't seem right.

	RACHEL
Is it me?

	ALEX
No, it's not you, you're beautiful, and I really care 
about you, I do, I just don't know, everything 
seems so cloudy, I just don't know.

	RACHEL
Why won't you talk to me? Tell me what's going 
on in your head. Is it Sarah, is that why you don't 
feel right? I want to help you if I can.

	ALEX
I don't need any help, I can do fine on my own.

	RACHEL
Do you want me to leave?

	ALEX
I just don't feel comfortable with this right now, 
things are going too fast, I need to let my mind 
catch up.

	RACHEL
Oh Alex, I'm so sorry, I was just hoping to get 
close to you, I wanted to show you how much I 
care about you.

	ALEX
I just can't care for anyone right now, my whole 
body feels like it's falling apart.


	RACHEL
It is Sarah. That's why you won't let me near you.

	ALEX
Don't you understand, I love her. I have never had 
a single plan in my life that didn't involve her. I 
treasure every little photograph of her, every word 
she's ever written to me. Every time I think of her, 
every time I'd see her I would feel this wonderful 
sensation through my whole body. I don't want to 
be with anyone but her.

	RACHEL
But she's dead Alex!

Alex turns his back to Rachel and covers his face in the corner.

	ALEX
I know she's dead! Do you think there's any doubt 
of that in my mind? You read an article in a 
scrapbook and you think you know things I don't 
know? I know she's dead. Her boyfriend was 
thrown free but I got to the car before it exploded. 
I saw her face, I saw her beautiful eyes, her hair. 
Do you know what an accident like that does to 
someone's face? I wanted to die in that car with 
her. When it blew up I wasn't trying to pull her 
out, I was trying to crawl in. I couldn't get the 
door open. I went around the car to crawl in the 
other side when it went. I was too far away from 
it. I was too damn far away. I had a piece of metal 
lodged in my arm for two days, two days after the 
accident. I walked away, I never told a soul.

	RACHEL
Alex, I'm so sorry.

	ALEX
Of course you're sorry. Everyone was sorry, 
everyone told me how much they understood my 
pain. Is that why you did this tonight? Were you 
sorry for me? Did you simply take pity on me, 
decide to do me a favour so I would forget about 
things?

Rachel gets up and pulls on her sneakers. Alex puts his hands over his face. Rachel 
walks past him and opens up the door. Alex looks up again and grabs Rachel's arm 
as she goes to leave.

	ALEX
God Rachel, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that.

	RACHEL
Did you ever stop to think that the reason I wanted 
to make love to you tonight was because I am 
falling deeply in love with you?

Rachel pulls her arm away from him and walks away. Alex buries his face in his 
hands and begins sobbing. After several moments Alex closes the door and softly 
starts banging his head on the door. Then he goes over to the bed and pulls out 
Sarah's picture. He shakes the picture in his hands and then drops it on the bed. He 
looks out the window and lets out a loud scream.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

Alex is sitting in the middle of a large mess of papers on the floor. His Calculus 
book is open and he is figuring out some problems on scrap paper. There is a knock 
at the door. Steve comes in.

	ALEX
Hey, need some Calculus help?

	STEVE
Oh nah, I'm not even writing the thing. Even if I 
aced it I'd still only make thirty percent. Maybe 
next year I'll make it.

	ALEX
So you taking off on Monday, eh?



	STEVE
Yeah, that'll be my last exam, then I am out of 
here and glad of it.

	ALEX
Yeah, that will be nice.

	STEVE
So, how are things going?

	ALEX
Surviving, I've got everything covered except this 
stuff here. Another day or two and I should have 
most of it down.

	STEVE
How's Rachel? I haven't seen her around for a 
little while.
	ALEX
She's taking a little vacation from me I guess. I 
was just really stupid, I don't know why.

	STEVE
What did you do?

	ALEX
More like what I didn't do. I chickened out, I 
don't know why, she was just lying there on the 
bed, she looked beautiful, and all I could see was 
Sarah there, all I heard was her voice. God damn 
it, I really blew it.
(slams book shut)
I don't think she'll be coming back, I think she's 
gone for good.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - NIGHT

The room is a complete mess. Calculus papers are everywhere, clothes thrown all 
over the floor. The bed is covered in various pictures of Sarah and letters. Some slow 
music is playing from the stereo and Alex is sitting on the floor, back against the 
bed, holding a picture of Sarah in one hand and drinking a beer in the other. Several 
empty bottles are lying overturned around him. His hair is all messed up and he has a 
great look of depression on his face. There is a knock at the door. After several 
knocks, the door slowly opens and Rachel comes in.

	RACHEL
Oh God.

	ALEX
Oh hi Rachel, I didn't think you'd be back, I 
thought you weren't coming back.

	RACHEL
What are you doing? You're a mess.

	ALEX
Oh, just reminiscing about the old gal here, she 
was beautiful wasn't she.

	RACHEL
Are you okay?

	ALEX
I've never been better, I feel fine. I'm all ready for 
my test.

	RACHEL
Well you're gonna flunk it if you come in there 
tomorrow with a hangover. Come on, let me get 
you up here.
(tries to pull him up)

	ALEX
No that's okay, I'm just spending a romantic 
evening with my girl here. She really is beautiful, 
isn't she. You know, we we're gonna get married, 
I told everyone that someday we'd get married, 
have ten kids and live in a big house on a hill. She 
likes big houses, the ones with those large 
winding staircases and big patios in back. When 
we were twelve, we made a blood oath that we'd 
always stay together. You know, you prick your 
thumb with a little pin and-

Alex fumbles in the bottom drawer of his desk and pulls out a tack and tries to prick 
his thumb with it. Rachel grabs his hand and takes it from him.

	RACHEL
Give me that, before you hurt yourself with it.

	ALEX
You'd never hurt yourself with a pin prick, you 
need something bigger, like a car or something, 
you just drive down the road and close your eyes, 
see where it takes you.

	RACHEL
Why are you doing this to yourself?

	ALEX
It's for my test, it's time to test myself again. 
Here, you want to read this letter? It's one of her 
best, read the little poem there, isn't it beautiful? 
"I held a maple leaf open in my hand and it blew 
away. It took it chances with the wind, it left me, 
hoping to find something more. I couldn't watch it 
as it went away from me forever."
She's the leaf, I'm the hand, and I'm supposed to 
turn away as it blows.

	RACHEL
You know I'm leaving tomorrow.

	ALEX
Yeah, right after Calculus, everyone's leaving me.

	RACHEL
I may not be coming back next year.

	ALEX
But you said you would, said we'd make sure we 
had the same Calculus class again.

	RACHEL
Things are just changing so fast, I think it would 
be better if I get away from here.


	ALEX
Get away from me?

	RACHEL
You don't want me, look at you, you're obsessed 
with that girl, you don't need me.

	ALEX
But I love her.

	RACHEL
She's dead, can't you just get that through your 
skull?

	ALEX
Yes, you keep reminding me of that. It just makes 
me feel so wonderful over and over again.

	RACHEL
Look, I've got to get back to studying, I just 
dropped up to wish you luck tomorrow.

	ALEX
Yeah, get back to all those important things in 
life.

	RACHEL
Please, don't do this to me, you're not being fair. I 
really do care about you.

	ALEX
Then why are you leaving?

	RACHEL
Because I can't stand to watch you killing 
yourself.

Alex laughs to himself. Rachel walks back out the door and disappears. Alex sits 
there for a moment and then hurls his half empty beer bottle at the wall outside. Then 
he flakes out on the floor.




INT. ALEX'S ROOM - MORNING

Alex is still asleep on the floor, Sarah's picture clutched in his hand. The clock on 
the desk above him reads 9:20. Alex's foot moves, knocking over one of the beer 
bottles and it falls over, waking him up. He groans for a minute, then pulling himself 
up he looks at the clock. Realizing the time, he quickly pulls some sneakers on, 
grabs a pencil and goes hurrying out the door. We follow him as he runs towards the 
elevators. He pounds on the buttons several times, then he gets impatient and runs 
for the stairs going around and around the winding stairs. When he reaches the 
bottom he staggers out of the door and runs, half off balance, down the hallway. 
After rounding several corners he reaches the exam room and runs in through the 
door. Everyone looks up at him as he comes in, some of them giggle. 

ALEX'S P.O.V. - CLASSROOM

Alex sees Rachel at the back of the classroom. She is staring at him. He looks away 
from her to the professor.

	PROFESSOR
I'm sorry sir, but we do not allow anyone in to the 
exam room once the first thirty minutes are up.

Alex looks at his watch which reads 9:37. 

BACK TO SCENE

Alex drops the pencil from his hand and walks out of the room. He slowly walks 
back to the elevators and we follow him as he gets in and presses his floor. Once the 
elevator reaches his floor, he slowly walks down the hallway in almost a state of 
shock. He rounds the corner to his room and sees his door wide open. He walks in to 
see the place in worst shambles than before. His wallet is lying open on the bed, his 
VCR and television are gone, all his cassettes thrown over the floor. Alex quietly 
closes the door and walks over to the window. His breathing becomes shallow.

	ALEX
No, no...

He begins banging his head hard against the glass.

	ALEX
God damn it no!

EXT. HIGH SCHOOL - NIGHT

ALEX'S P.O.V. - ROAD

Alex starts up the car and drives out of the school parking lot.

BACK TO SCENE

Sarah and her boyfriend get in the other car and they drive off after him.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

Alex, still banging his head on the window.

	ALEX
Why did you leave me?

He turns away from the window, grabs Sarah's picture from the floor and yells at it.

	ALEX
Why did you leave me?

He throws the picture to the floor and the glass shatters as it hits.

EXT. ALEX'S CAR - NIGHT

Alex is driving extremely fast down the snow covered road. Tears are rolling down 
his face. He comes to a hairpin turn in the road and steers violently to get around it. 
The car swerves and slides on the snow running in to the guard railing and scraping 
along it, coming to a stop a short distance down the road. He gets out of the car, 
breathing heavily. He hears another car coming in the distance and starts running up 
the road. He sees the car come around the turn and lose control on the icy road. The 
car spins around completely and then plows through the guard railing and goes over 
the edge.

	ALEX
No!


INT. ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

Alex goes up to the window and removes the screen, throwing it on the floor. He 
climbs out so that he is half inside, half outside.

EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT

Alex runs to the edge of the road and stumbles towards where the car went off.

ALEX'S P.O.V. - LOOKING DOWN OVER EDGE

Alex looks down to see the car some distance below, it is lying upside-down and 
flames are coming out of it.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

ALEX'S P.O.V.  - OUTSIDE WINDOW

Alex looks straight down on to the football field.

	ALEX
Three point one seconds.

BACK TO SCENE

Alex gets his feet on the edge and pulls his arms outside so that only his grip on the 
sides are holding him in. He closes his eyes for a moment. He opens them again and 
looks down on the field.

EXT. RIVER IN THE WOODS - DAY
Alex is standing at the top of the waterfalls. He closes his eyes and leaps from the 
edge, falling towards the water below.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

Alex hears the phone ringing outside his door. He turns his head around for a 
moment, then hears someone answer it. He turns around again and focuses on the 
twenty yard line. There is a knock on the door.

INT. OUTSIDE ALEX'S ROOM - DAY

A student is knocking on Alex's door.

	STUDENT
Hey Alex, you got a phone call.

Several seconds go by. The student knocks on the door again, then the door opens 
and Alex peeks his head out. The student hands him the phone.

	STUDENT
Are you okay bud?

Alex just mumbles and takes the phone.

	ALEX
Hello?

	MOTHER
Hi son, I didn't expect to reach you. We're going 
over to your Aunt's place in a few minutes and I 
was just going to leave the number there so you 
could call us later. I hope I didn't interrupt you 
from your studying.

Alex sinks to the floor.

	ALEX
Oh no, we just finished our last one this morning.

	MOTHER
Already?

	ALEX
Yeah.

	MOTHER
Well then I guess you'll be coming home this 
evening, right?

	ALEX
Yeah sure.

	MOTHER
I checked the schedule and it leaves every day this 
week at noon and two.

	ALEX
Noon sounds fine.

	MOTHER
Okay, we'll be waiting for you there when it 
comes in. It'll be good to get you back home for a 
bit.


	ALEX
Oh yeah, it will.

	MOTHER
Are you okay, is something wrong?

	ALEX
Oh no, nothing's wrong.

	MOTHER
You sure, have any bad exams? Don't worry too 
much about it okay, you know we'll still love you.
	ALEX
Yeah, I know. So it's noon then?

	MOTHER
The bus leaves at noon, you should be home 
before dark. We'll be glad to see you, we missed 
you at Christmas you know, I've got a big supper 
all ready for you tomorrow.

	ALEX
Oh, that's great.

	MOTHER
Well, I won't keep you too long, you can tell us 
everything when you get back home. See ya soon 
Alex.

	ALEX
Yeah see you tonight.

	MOTHER
I love you.

	ALEX
Love you too. Good-bye.

Alex hangs up the phone and lets out a deep sigh. One of his neighbors walks by him 
to his door.

	ALEX
Hey, could you lend me twenty bucks? I just had 
my stuff stolen, I just need bus fare to get home.

INT. BUS - AFTERNOON

Alex is sitting in the back seat of the bus, his head resting against the window, 
watching the scenery go by.

INT. ALEX'S HOUSE - NIGHT

Alex and his father are sitting in front of the television, his father is looking at some 
of the tests Alex had written through the year.

	FATHER
So everything else was fine though, except the 
Calculus?

	ALEX
Oh yeah, I think I got A's in the rest, except 
Philosophy, I think I got a B there.

	FATHER
Well that's pretty good, maybe we could talk to 
the professor, he might be able to give you a 
second chance instead of making you take 
Calculus next year.

	ALEX
Yeah, maybe.

	FATHER
Come on, don't worry about.

He messes up Alex's hair with his hand. Alex smiles and nods his head.

	ALEX
You mind if I just go for a little ride in the car? I'd 
just like to take a little look around, see a couple 
people.

	FATHER
Oh sure, here's the keys, just filled up the tank 
this morning, you can do all the driving you want.

	ALEX
Thanks a lot, I'll be back in a little while.

EXT. DRIVING ALONG DIRT ROAD - NIGHT

Alex pulls up to a house and slowly gets out. He walks up to the door and knocks at 
it. An older lady answers the door.

	SARAH'S MOM
Oh hi Alex, you just get back?

	ALEX
Yeah, just a couple hours ago.

	SARAH'S MOM
That's great, how was university?

	ALEX
Oh pretty good, surviving anyway. Listen, I hope 
you don't mind me asking, but could I see Sarah's 
room?

	SARAH'S MOM
Yes sure, are you looking for something in 
particular?

	ALEX
I don't know, I just wanted to look around.

Sarah's mom lets him inside and we follow them up the stairs to the room. Sarah's 
mom opens the door and Alex walks in.

	ALEX
You've never touched a thing in here, have you?

	SARAH'S MOM
No, we just closed it up, I never had the heart to 
do anything with it. I wanted to clean it up a 
couple of times, you know how messy she could 
get.

Alex begins thumbing through the various papers on her desk and looking at some 
snapshots.

	SARAH'S MOM
You are looking for something, aren't you?

	ALEX
Sort of, nothing in particular, just something, I 
don't know, I guess I just need something, I'd like 
to straighten some things up in my head.

	SARAH'S MOM
You still hooked on her? I bet you've still got her 
picture in her wallet.

	ALEX
Still got her picture on my wall.

	SARAH'S MOM
You keep filling your home with ghosts and 
wonder why it seems haunted.
	ALEX
I guess you're just as bad as me, huh?

Alex motions around the room.

	SARAH'S MOM
You're right, sometimes it is best to just cut all 
connections, go on with life. In a couple years I 
know I will. It just hurts so much to let go.

	ALEX
And it hurts too much to hold on.

	SARAH'S MOM
What is it you're looking for?

	ALEX
Just anything she's written, thoughts she's had, 
stuff like that.

	SARAH'S MOM
You're still wondering why she never loved you, 
aren't you.
	ALEX
I guess so.

	SARAH'S MOM
Sarah was always very private with her thoughts, 
never told people what she really felt. She did 
love you, don't ever think she didn't. She was 
probably torn up as much as you were when she 
broke things off with you. She loved you like a 
brother, she cared for you as much as anyone else, 
perhaps more. You had something special. She 
knew that, that's why it hurt her so much to hurt 
you.

	ALEX
And Marc?

	SARAH'S MOM
Marc was just someone who came at just the right 
(or wrong) time. She needed someone, not 
someone special, not someone she really cared 
about, just someone to be with, to have no worries 
with. You been bothered by this all year?

	ALEX
Sort of, I guess it's been off and on for the last 
three years. I keep looking at myself and telling 
me how stupid I am, but it doesn't seem to help. I 
guess I'm like an alcoholic, they keep telling 
themselves they won't drink anymore, but in the 
heat of the moment, it would be the first thing 
they'd grab for protection.

	SARAH'S MOM
Well I think it takes a long while for all of us to 
get over it all.

	ALEX
Look, I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have come 
here, I'm just getting you all depressed over again.

	SARAH'S MOM
It's okay, you have to let it out every so often, 
otherwise you'll eventually explode.




	ALEX
Yeah. Well, thanks a lot for your time, I think it 
helped me a little. 

	SARAH'S MOM
Do you want anything before you go? I've got 
some cookies and stuff downstairs.

	ALEX
Oh no, that's okay, I'd better be going on anyway. 
Thanks a lot.

Alex walks out of the room and down the stairs with Sarah's mom following behind 
him. Alex goes outside and drives away in the car. Sarah's mom watches him as he 
leaves. Alex drives uptown and drives around the village for a few minutes. Then he 
drives up to the high school and parks the car. He climbs up to the top of the front 
steps and looks around. He slowly begins singing "The Little Drummer Boy". After 
several moments, he goes back in to his car and drives off, still singing the song. We 
follow him along the road as he slowly leaves town. After several moments, he 
comes to the hairpin turn and comes to a stop beside the guard railing. He gets out of 
the car and goes over to the edge. He looks down and then looks around him. He 
pulls out a picture of Sarah from his wallet and reads it in the light of the headlights.

	ALEX
Life comes and goes, people come in to our lives 
and leave just as soon, hearts are loved and hearts 
are broken, but life goes on. Life goes on at all 
costs.

Alex looks at the picture for a moment and puts it back in his wallet.

	ALEX
You knew then, didn't you. Somehow you knew, 
knew how I must have felt. This was a warning, 
wasn't it, trying to protect me from myself. Trying 
to help me realize just what was important.

Alex looks out across the horizon.



	ALEX
Why did this have to happen, huh? You know, I 
used to wonder what would've happened if this 
hadn't happened, if you hadn't gone out with 
Marc, if you had've loved me, by the end of it, I 
came up with so many ifs, not even my 
imagination could believe it was possible. And to 
think I always used to think we were meant to be. 
We did have some good times though, didn't we-
He laughs for a moment, then the smile goes from his face.

	ALEX
But it's over now, isn't it. No use hoping for the 
impossible, can't wish something to happen if it 
could never be anyway. I do love you, you know 
that. I always will, that could never change.

He smiles slightly and takes her picture out once again. He lets it fall over the edge 
and watches as it disappears in the darkness. He takes one more look around and 
then yells at the top of his lungs.

	ALEX
I love you!

It echoes over the countryside as he slowly gets back in his car and drives away.

INT. ALEX'S HOME - DAY

ALEX'S P.O.V. - KITCHEN

Alex's parents are sitting at the table with him, eating supper.

	ALEX
I just need a little time on my own, to sort things 
out, get a few things straight in my mind. All I 
want is a little bit of money and I'll be fine. I 
don't know, maybe just a couple days or weeks, 
I'll keep in touch.


EXT. UNIVERSITY CAMPUS - EVENING

Alex walks towards the residence tower with a backpack in his hand.

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - EVENING

Alex unlocks the door and walks in. The room is still in the same mess he left it. He 
grabs a suitcase and starts putting all the pictures and Sarah's letters in it. He cleans 
up some of the mess and throws all his papers in the garbage. He looks out the 
window.  Down to the left of the field he sees a large crowd of students gathered 
around a bonfire burning books. He picks up the screen and places it back in the 
window. Then he grabs his suitcase and backpack and tucks Sarah's picture under 
his arm. Noticing Rachel's picture he puts that in his backpack. Then he walks out of 
the room, locking it behind him.

EXT. UNIVERSITY CAMPUS - NIGHT

Alex walks up to the large bonfire. Many of the students are drinking and cheering as 
they heave tests, textbooks and notes on the fire. Alex walks up to it and throws the 
suitcase on the fire. Then he holds out Sarah's picture for a moment, looks at it one 
last time and throws it on the fire. He slings his backpack over his shoulder and 
walks away from it.

INT. BUS - NIGHT

Alex is sitting at the back of the bus in silence, watching the lights go by, holding the 
picture of Rachel in his lap. A single tear runs down the side of his face and he 
smiles.

FADE OUT

THE END