Pqrs Episode 1

PQRS Episode 1 1 FADE IN: WIDE SHOT OF A EXT. LARGE, LUSH FIELD We watch the short wild grass blow in the wind, set against a picturesque morning sky. It’s not even eleven a.m. yet. CUT TO a pair of hairless legs, naked toes wriggling in boyish glee. We hear the soft whisper of a breeze. The serenity is broken only by an even more beautiful voice. His voice is innocent, child-like in its unbridled optimism and unaffected faith that everything will turn out alright in the end. We cannot help but be comforted and delighted by that reassuring voice. ZED The Nintendo Wii is coming out today. We PAN UP from the boy’s legs, till we see his whole body. Zed is short for his fourteen years of age, a 140cm boy who weighs a mere 40kg. He is lying on the ground, arms propping himself up as he admires the clouds in the horizon. He carries himself with the effortless ease of a child, unaware of the awkwardness that will soon set in with puberty. This is reflected in his looks; his hair is uncombed, neither cut fashionably nor conscientiously styled. Its jet black strands simply flop over his head and his fringe partially conceals his forehead. He speaks wistfully, hopefully, as though he is suggesting something, or intending to lead the conversation somewhere. Slowly, the camera SHIFTS TO THE LEFT, and we finally meet the person he is talking to. She is a feisty young woman, her luscious black hair tinted with the slightest highlights of brown. She is acutely aware of her own lack of fashion sense, and wears the badge of honour with a mix of pride and shame. Her body, positioned similarly to Zed, is decked in a plain tank top; her short green skirt barely skims the top of her thighs. She is constantly restless, and she often bursts out in random acts of craziness. She is a few years older than him, but she is only about his size and unlikely to grow much bigger. She speaks in an artificial drawl, as though she isn’t interested in what she is saying. The wind blows again in the silence of that last comment. ZED Kay, Elle and I were thinking of going to Comics Con to pick one up. Do you want to come along? A gust of wind sweeps over the field. VEE Not interested. The wind sighs again. VEE I just want to sit here with my ZEDDY BEAR! Out of nowhere, she reaches her arms around Zed and grabs him in a tight embrace, burying her face in the nape of his neck, rubbing back and forth. Zed falls back in shock, his body stiffening uncomfortably. She has done this many times before, but Zed is still not used to it. He is mature enough to understand what she is doing, but not old enough to appreciate it. ZED Why do you always have to do that? VEE

I love my Zed! He is the best Zeddy Bear in the whole wide world! I am going to give Zed a kiss! ZED NO! VEE Naughty Zeddy Bear! She batters her eyelashes flirtatiously before slowly raising her lips to his. He is clearly terrified, and his lips are trembling as she abruptly lunges forward, roughly pressing her lips onto his. VEE MUAH! I LOVE YOU ZED! ZED Come on, stop it... stop it... get off of me... why do you always want to kiss me... VEE Because I love my Zeddy Bear! ZED And stop calling me that! It sounds stupid when you say it. VEE But I like saying it. ZeddyBearZeddyBearZeddyBear! I think its cute. ZED Well I don’t, and I should decide what you get to call me. VEE Aww, Zeddy Bear is so adorable when he gets angwey. I like the way the tips of your ears turn red after I kiss you. Like they are right now. Do you like it when I kiss you? Do you want me to kiss you again? And again? She leans forward; she is breathing onto his neck. VEE I’ll keep kissing your face. I’ll kiss you and kiss you till I reach your cute little ears. And then I’ll use my tongue, and lick them, and suck them, till your whole face is red and warm... like it’s becoming now. Do you like it when I tell you what I’m going to do to you? Do you imagine it with me? My slick, moist tongue sliding down your smooth skin, licking you in small, sweet circles up and down and up and down... Does it make you... horny? She extends a tongue tantalisingly close to the bristling skin on his neck, but he jerks away in horror before she can. ZED Eww...NO! Stop it... stop it.... Get away from me! He quickly gathers his small slingbag, grabs his pair of sneakers and flees into the distance without putting them on. He turns back briefly to shout: ZED I HATE YOU! before he is over the hills, and far away. The wind halts abruptly, and the grass stills. She doesn’t seem to have heard what Zed said. Only her body stirs as she curls into a fetal

position. She takes out a handheld console (a Gameboy Advance) and begins to press the buttons mechanically. We hear the clicking of the buttons as the scene FADES OUT. Black screen. The four voices of Zed, Vee, Elle and Kay say the following letters in unison as four huge white letters splash across the screen: P Q R S! 2 EXT. IXUS INDEPENDENT It’s a school for the academically brilliant: the top ten percent of the country’s elite. It’s the middle of the first term, and students are still getting into the daily routine of school life. Zed has to push through throngs of rowdy students to get to a neglected corner of the school, where his friends are already waiting for him. ELLE Where were you today Zed? You’ve already missed PW and Lit! If Vee was foolish and wild, Elle is intelligent and proper. She is dressed in a pedestrian white blouse and green skirt, and we see now that it is IXUS Independent’s school uniform. She is a plain sort of pretty, but pretty nonetheless. Her hair is neatly tied back in a ponytail, and she clutches a stack of books in front of her that conceal behind them a lithe, healthy body. ELLE Oh my god, you haven’t even put on your shoes yet! Zed has just seemed to realise this himself, and he attempts to put them on hastily, dropping his file and slingbag in the process. ELLE Zed you’re such a baby! She reaches down to help him pick his stuff up, clucking like a peeved off mother hen as she does so. Kay gives a nervous laugh as he waves gawkily to Zed. He is obviously a nerd. His pants are higher than average, his glasses look old fashioned and his hair is neatly parted down the middle. He has a pleasant intellectual disposition about him, but when he speaks you immediately realise he’s not very used to talking and being heard; he says the silliest things with the utmost solemnity. KAY Hi Zed. ZED Hey Casey... KAY Why were you so late today? We didn’t know how to present our project without you. After all, it was your idea to do a project on Second Life and none of us knew what we were saying and everyone was laughing at us because we said that Second Life was cool andZED Kay, Kay! I’m sorry I couldn’t make it today, okay? Vee was being annoying again... Elle snorts in derision. They have picked the stuff off the floor and are now standing

around preparing to move off to class. ELLE When is she not annoying? I don’t understand why you have to hang around that delusional delinquent all the time. ZED Elle, come on. She’s my friend too, alright? And she’s not that bad... she just gets weird sometimes... otherwise she's be really funny and nice... KAY Well tell her she can only be weird when we don’t need you. ZED When don’t you need me? ELLE HA! Whatever, Zed. ZED (laughing) Come on, let’s just finish school so we can go get our Wii! ZED, KAY, and ELLE (in unison) WE WANT WII. WE WANT WII. WE WANT WII. WE WANT WII. They continue chanting as they enter the main school building. The doors swing as they pass through it and we CUT TOINT. CHARACTER AND LEADERSHIP EDUCATION CLASS It’s a typical classroom for genius kids. We immediately notice that Kay and Elle are not with Zed; not only that, we realise that Zed doesn’t really have any friends here, since he is sitting to the side but nobody is bothering to engage him. They all seem cooler than him, larger, more athletic looking, and far more grown up juxtaposed next to this boyish, petite individual. The all-boys class is fidgety; disinterested boredom is suppressing the boundless energy of youth. MR. KOH Class, time to shut up and listen please. Class settles down. MR. KOH Thank you. For today’s lesson, the school wants me to teach you about sexYOUality. That’s sexuality with YOU in it (murmurs of laughter) yes, yes, very funny, very funny. Before we get into all the sordid details of intercourse which I am sure all of you are dying to hear, we’re first going to discuss puberty, and the changes your body is going through at this moment. He whips out a cartoonish diagram of a wooden looking boy, naked, with his insides all labelled neatly. He takes out a long ruler, and points to relevant areas as he lectures them. MR. KOH First thing that happens when you undergo puberty is your body starts to change. You start growing taller. Your muscles get bigger. Your voice begins to break and you find hair in places you’ve never had hair before. Your penis gets larger, and you start behaving oddly around girls. (raucous catcalling to this) yes, yes, very amusing, very amusing. I’m flattered by your appreciation for my imaginative wit and....never mind, moving on. If you’ll look here, you’ll see that- yes, what is it Jack?

JACK When are all these things supposed to happen, Mr Koh? MR. KOH Well, Jack, I’d say that these exciting things are happening right now. JACK But sir, Zed over here doesn’t even have any pit hair yet! The class immediately roars in laughter. We see Zed silently mouth a vulgarity as his face flushes red and he sinks his head beneath his arms. MR. KOH Is that true Zed? Do you really not have any hair in your arm pits? ZED I... I do have some pit hair! MR. KOH Right, right, of course. It would have been pretty odd for a fourteen year old if you didn’t have any. Alright, settle down now class, settle down. We’re now going to talk about the changes in girls. Like you, they start growing taller. They’re muscles also get bigger, but only slightly. Rather, their breasts grow larger and their hips widen. They also get hair around their genitals. Okay, now we’re going to look at what happens inside their bodies. Yes, yes, very exciting. Okay, this is a diagram of a woman’s vagina and if you’ll look here... Mr. Koh drones on as our attention returns to Zed. Jack is sitting behind him and is obviously still teasing him about his lack of pit hair. JACK Is it true Zed? Do you really not have any pit hair? Because that would be pretty odd for a fourteen year old boy. You’re still a boy, you know that Zed? A little baby boy. God, you are such a loser. A loser. No wait, you’re a geek Zed, a fucking geek. I bet you jerk off while playing Star Wars or whatever it is you loser geeks do. I bet that diagram over there is the closest you’ve ever gotten to being with a girl. God, look at your face, it’s all red. Are you going to start crying now? Are you going to run home to mommy, little baby Zeddy Bear? Is ZedZED SHUT UP! MR. KOH What’s that, Zed? (uncomfortable silence) Did you just ask me to shut up? ZED No, Mr. Koh... I was talking to Jack. MR. KOH And why were you talking to Jack while I was talking? Oh, you must be very well versed in the female anatomy. (sniggers from the rest of the class) Fine then, come on up. Zed hesistates. MR. KOH I said, Come. On. Up. It was not a request. Mr. Koh passes Zed the ruler.

MR. KOH Okay, I want you to point the g-spot out to me. Zed is helpless, flustered, on the brink of tears. He randomly points to the ovaries. The entire class knows he has got it wrong and jeers. His face is cast to the ground, and his eyes wince as he holds back the tears, which humiliate him more than his wrong answer. MR. KOH Ah yes, that elusive mythical spot. Anyway, that was wrong, Zed. Now, if you still think you can fool around with Jack during my lesson, go ahead. Let this be a warning to the rest of you: when it comes down to it, girls are not going to appreciate your ignorance and stupidity. If you want to be a idiot in front of the girls, go ahead and be clueless like Mr. Oh here. Right, class dismissed. And Zed, I want a 500 word essay on why we shouldn’t talk and disturb the rest of our class when I am talking. By tomorrow. Now go. Out. Out. Zed never takes his eyes off the floor. He shuffles over to his bag, snatches it off the table, and stumbles out of class. JACK Zed? Did you hear that? He just called you an idiot. An idiot Zed....... Jack’s mocking echoes down the corridor as Zed runs towards the canteen. We follow his distraught flight from the classroom as he bursts through the doors and CUT TO 3 INT. IXUS INDEPENDENT’s CANTEEN II's long green tables serve only one purpose: to display how many (or how few) friends you have. The canteen is a mess of tables, randomly scattered about the place in a most haphazard fashion. Students eat, work, sleep and play here. On the right are clearly the jocks; the entire football team has taken up a table with their paraphernalia. On the left, sit a varied bunch of freaks and geeks. In the corner are the Humanities students. Eloquence and flamboyance exacerbate their arrogance. Dressed smartly in freshly ironed uniforms (ironed by their two maids, of course), they hang around the back tables amusing themselves with pseudo-intellectual talk of world politics and philosophy (this condition has been found to stem from penis-length anxiety). Only the Humanities Girls, all extremely attractive, know what they're talking about. Behind them sit the Arts classes; these are the freaks. Unable to convince anyone of their intelligence (and hence are exempted from the torturous Humanities programme), these oddballs have been relegated to a class where they can only infect like-minded screw ups. They exude a palpable “Do I look like I care because I don’t (not really)” attitude and they are obviously having fun doodling, joking around, gossiping, playing Spin-the-Bottle and singing the Powerpuff Girls theme song. While the Humanities view them as lower class denizens, they are so unassuming and easygoing that they are an easy bunch to like. Their simplistic delight is enviable. Stuck in the darkest deepest doldrums of the canteen are two wildly opposite groups. At one end of the table sit the Attached. These are those who have found their life partner, and must therefore sit alone so as to distinguish themselves from the rest of the gene pool (aka the ugly and unattractive). On the other side sit the geeks. They have not found their life partners, seem unlikely to find any kind of partner any time soon, and don’t exhibit any interest to do so (or exhibit too much interest). Instead, they are married to either some exotic topic of research (market forces of virtual realities, bug dung, hock lee bus riots) or Star Wars (mostly both).

Zed bursts through the door, and heads for this last group with seasoned familiarity. Elle and Kay are already waiting for him. They always seem to be doing that. Elle is eating a bowl of plain rice with plain chicken (no sauce, no vegetables, no other ingredients). She dislikes wet rice and detests vegetables & fruits. Whenever we see them eating, Elle will always be eating something equally plain and unappetising and faux Japanese. Kay is eating a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich his Mum packed for him; it came stored in a R2D2 lunch box with a cheesy slogan on it. Kay will always be eating food his Mum has provided. ELLE Zed, what’s wrong? ZED I hate this school. Everyone here sucks. Mr. Koh sucks. Jack sucksELLE Oh shit, speak of the devil. Zed spins his head around, and we see Jack push the two doors open. Behind him are his two cronies, who are attempting to appear menacing. Only because of how big they are compared to Zed, Elle and Kay do they succeed. They are, after all, fourteen years oldand they still look it. Jack immediately spots Zed, and plods towards him. JACK Hi Zed! I see you’ve run to your loser friends today. Did you tell them you don’t have any pit hair yet? That you’re still a baby boy? Because if you won’t, I will. In fact, I think I’m going to tell the whole school right now. No wait, I’ve got a better plan. How about I show them, eh? Jack laughs cruelly as he tries to yank Zed’s shirt over his head. Zed tries in vain to pull him away but Jack succeeds in pulling the shirt to his arm pits. We see that Zed doesn’t have any pit hair before Jack suddenly lets go. JACK What the hell was that for, bitch? Elle has splashed a cup of water at him. The front of his shirt is soaked through. ELLE Why don’t you go pick on someone who weighs more than 40kg Jack? Maybe someone like Troy? Or are you just too much of a coward that you have to pick on Zed? You’re so immature and infantile I don’t know how you live with yourself Jack, because if I had a name that described what I do with myself all the time I'd know I couldn’t. Why don’t you and your dogs go screw off to the shit hole where you came from and chase after your own tails, because we are too important to let a louse like you irritate us for much longer. JACK Fine, fine, whatever you say bitch. I’m not going to fight a girl. ELLE Because you know you could never win. JACK Whatever makes you feel better, baby. Zed, the next time I see you you’re dead, you got me? When your girlfriend here ain’t around to protect you. You can run but you can’t hide Zed. I’ll be waiting. Jack grabs Kay’s sandwich out of his hands. He and his two cronies saunter out of the canteen.

ELLE Well, at least his parents did one thing right. They named their abomination perfectly. KAY Elle, I don’t think you should have done that. Now Jack is going to wait for Zed when you’re not around. I...I heard him! He said: “I’ll be waiting”, like he’ll be waiting for Zed. I think Zed’s in big trouble now. ELLE Don’t be silly Kay, everyone knows the best way to stop a bully is to fight back. Bullies all have an inferior complex they need to take out on those they perceive as weaker than they are to make them feel better about themselves. Why do you think they don’t pick on one of the footballers, like Troy or something? Troy would kick Jack’s sorry little ass any day, that’s why. ZED (barely audible) I could too. ELLE What’s that, Zed? ZED (raising his trembling voice) I said, I could too! And you really didn’t need to do that Elle. I could have handled that myself! Why did you have to go and say those things for? Now Jack’s going to be even more pissed at me and he’s going to waiting for me and you only made everything worse. And I weigh 42kg. And I’m not that much shorter than Jack. I don’t know why you said those things, Elle. ELLE Oh. Right. I’m sorry Zed. ZED Now you just went and made everything worse... I don’t think I’ll be going with you two to buy the Wii today. I think I’ll just go get a blue slip and go home now. ELLE ZedZED Bye. KAY (shouts after Zed) ZED IT’S OK I DON’T HAVE PIT HAIR EITHER... ELLE (as Zed leaves the canteen) You don’t? KAY Well, actually I only said that so Zed would feel better. You wanna see? ELLE Eww, gross. (silence) Anyway, I don’t understand why Zed was so pissed with me. I stood up for him, didn’t I? KAY I told you you shouldn’t have done that. ELLE Maybe you were right for once.

KAY Nah I don't think so. (silence) By the way, are you going to eat the rest of that rice bowl? I hadn’t really eaten much of my sandwich yet... ELLE Oh! Yeah, it’s ok. Just take it... Do you still want to go buy the Wii today? KAY I don't think it would be right to buy it without Zed. ELLE You’re right. We should ask him about it tomorrow. KAY Yeah, before Jack kills him. ELLE KAY! KAY What?! It’s true. We need Zed to pay his share. FADE OUT into BLACK 4 FADE IN FROM BLACK INT. OH FAMILY HOME DINING ROOM Typical family dining room: clean, cluttered, functional. They always sit in the same place around the round table, which is kinda remarkable because the table is round. Meet Daddy Oh. Medium-set, balding, wardrobe consists of random clothes passed to or bought for him. Works in an electric drill company. Mommy Oh exists solely as Daddy's Oh wife. She's always trying to be cheerful but is actually craving to pick a fight. Showing obvious signs of imminent obesity. This is the Oh family. They are all staring into their foods, eating glumly. The sounds of their cutlery clanging dully against the plates only makes the lack of conversation all the more obvious. After 5 seconds of excruciating silence, Mommy Oh tries to break the ice. MOMMY OH So, Zed, how was school today? Awkward silence. DADDY OH Zed, didn't you hear your mother? She asked how was school today? ZED Usual. DADDY OH And that would be? ZED Boring.

MOMMY OH Oh, how can school be boring! I remember when I was your age, I had so much fun learning about all these exciting things in biology class. We used to dissect frogs! Isn't that fun? ZED No mum, it's cruel and barbaric. Which is exactly what school is. MOMMY OH Honey, what's wrong? ZED Nothing. DADDY OH Well then maybe someone should tell your face. (makes a sour face) MOMMY OH Harry... don't bother with him Zed, you can tell us what's on your mind. ZED Mum, I said nothing, okay?! Weren't you listening? DADDY OH We hear you, we just don't believe you. ZED Well then maybe it's time you actually took the effort to listen to me. I'm sick of telling you things and you never listen and I always have to explain everything to you. I'm FULL. (pushes himself away from the table and storms off to room) We see Zed's fury as he swings his glare from side to side, charges up the stairs, and slams his door shut behind him. He doesn't lock the room though, since there is a NoLocked-Doors-In-This-House policy. He flings himself onto the bed and buries his face beneath his Darth Vader pillow. He screams into the mask, struggling against the bed as though breaking some invisible bonds. He whimpers, whines, moans, and even sobs. He lies on the bed, still for the most part, only spontaneously bursting out into some terrible convulsions. He tries to cry, but no tears are forth coming. Then, two tentative raps on his door. MOMMY OH Zed, we're coming in, alright? Zed immediately throws the Star Wars-decorated covers over himself and pretends to sleep. The door creaks open, and we hear them step into the room. DADDY OH (whispering) Oh, he's gone to sleep. MOMMY OH (whispering sympathetically) Poor boy, he must have had a rough day at school. DADDY OH I'll talk to him about it tomorrow.

We see everything from the waistdown. Mommy Oh goes over to close the windows, then comes over to pull Zed's covers all the way up. She pauses to kiss him on the forehead, where she says MOMMY OH You know we love you Zed. She kisses him again, before Daddy Oh switches the lights off. We see their shadows leave their room, and the door close. We watch Zed's face as he imagines what might have happened had he confessed his problems to them. He misses the security and comfort of utter surrender to his parents. He's lost some connection with them ever since he left for high school, and he can't retrieve it no matter how hard he wishes. He tosses and turns in bed, agitated and conflicted. FADE OUT TO WHITE FADE IN FROM WHITE Ext. LARGE LUSH FIELD It's the exact same scene we saw him and Vee in. They're lying down in the grass, like they were this morning. The light is more luminous here, as though everything has a healthy pink glow to it. There's soft music in the background, and they just look so happy. We watch as Vee rolls over to Zed, and hugs him tenderly. VEE I love you, Zeddy Bear. ZED I love you too, Vee. And then he raises his head, and kisses her on the lips, and it's the sweetest happiest kiss, because its the kind of kiss that just says I love you and needs nothing else. Then Zed has rolled over Vee, and he kisses her again, only this time it's aggressive and hungry. And they're kissing and kissing and then she's biting his neck, and he's moaning in time with her and then she slips her shirt off her shoulders slightly and he's just breathing in the peach glow where her shoulder flows into her arm and then another face comes up and who else might it be but Elle looking so beautiful with her large round confident eyes that look deep into you and he's staring into them now and he's running his hands down her body and he squeezes and teases every inch of her and then he tantalisingly pops off the first few buttons of her plain, proper blouse and he's imagining her completely in his hands and what they would feel like, what it would feel like and then QUICK PAN to the sky as Zed exhales deeply. Music swells. Our view crashes back down on Zed sprawled on the floor. INT. ZED'S ROOM He gives a furtive look around, before slowly picking himself up. He pauses to think about the dream, before he's changing into the Ixus Independent uniform, wearing his shoes, and going off to meet Vee at the field, like they always do. He looks slightly disgruntled by the dream, as though it were an annoyance he wish he didn't have to go through. CUT TO EXT. LARGE LUSH FIELD

VEE You came. ZED Don't I always? VEE That's what I like about you, Zed. ZED I like that about me too. We take some time to appreciate the windswept field, softly illuminated skies, and the hair wisps brushing against their faces. VEE Will you go out with me, Zed? ZED Hmm? VEE To buy the Wii, I mean. ZED Oh, I was thinking of buying it together with Elle and Kay. VEE I was thinking of buying it with you. ZED We coulVEE Only you. I couldn't buy it with anyone else. ZED Oh. He rolls over to the side away from her. ZED Okay then.... today, after school, at The Junction? She comes up behind him, and hugs him tightly. VEE How about now? ZED Right now? What about school? VEE Forget it. It's going to be so exciting. Just the two of us. Alone. No school. No work. No screwed up shit. Just the two of us, allowed to have all the fun we want. Zed opens his mouth to reject her offer, but images of Jack looking angry and Elle looking guilty loom in his mind, intercut with erotic and sensuous images of a prostrate Vee.

ZED (barely audible) Let's go then. VEE OKAY! She bounces off the grass, grabs him by the arm, and practically flees over the hill. ZED Hey, relax! VEE Let's get a Super Duper Banana Monkey Ball Blitz and a Crazy Smooth Warioware Moves and a... CUT TO EXT. IXUS INDEPENDENT SCHOOLYARD The clock has just chimed 8:00am. Elle and Kay look tired of waiting, and finally trudge into the school building along with everyone else. They are the last. FADE OUT TO BLACK 5 EXT. THE JUNCTION COURTYARD Typical suburban mall: boring tiled floors, boring glass displays and boring commuters. It's the perfect cross-section of society: the dropouts just occupying space and looking menacing, the family-types busying to and fro obsessing over the latest vouchers and coupons, and the actual shoppers- rich, presentable and snobby. Zed and Vee are holding hands as they walk into the mall's large foyer (open-air), with shops on both sides. ZED Where do you want to go first? VEE Let's go get some breakfast. ZED What do you want to eat? VEE What do you have in mind? ZED Well, I know there's a cool stall around here that sells someVEE Hey! I've got an idea. How about waffles? Let's go get waffles! ZED Oh. Ok. Whatever you like. VEE Aww, thanks Zed. You're the sweetest.

He grins sheepishly in response, but she's not really paying attention. She's already thinking about waffles, and pulling him along to the stall. It occurs to you that they're not really going out- it's more like Zed's accompanying Vee. VEE (mumbling in impatience) Where is it... where is it... I know its around here somewhere... ZED Hey! I think they sell waffles there. Zed is pointing to one of those quaint French cafes with a chalk drawing of waffles outside. It looks tasty. The moment Vee turns over though, she immediately flinches, and quickly grabs Zed's arm in desperation. VEE (in a falsely gay tone) I've changed my mind! Let's go eat at the food court instead! ZED But why? The cafe looks good! VEE But I want to eat at the food court now. ZED Well... whatever you... VOICE FROM BEHIND (interrupting) Eh eh eh... isn't that Miss Vee? Zed whips his head around, and sees four girls advancing towards him. They are from Vee's year, but look older and more sophisticated than her. They are dressed in the same uniform as Vee, but unlike her they manage to look beautiful and rebellious at the same time. As is usually the case in these kinds of scenarios, only one tormentor speaks most of the lines. Her name is Valyrie. We discover that the "voice from behind" belongs to her. VALYRIE And look what she's got here... her own little boy toy... Vee immediately shakes Zed's hand off hers. Zed gives her a furtive glance in disappointment, before Valyrie has his attention again. The three other girls have already circled them, so there is little room for running. VALYRIE Well, at least now she's got another Gameboy. (the four girls snigger) Tell me Vee, shouldn't you be in school instead of out here seducing children? How old is he? Ten? Are you that desperate, Vee? Are you that much of a slut? VEE Fuck off, Val. VALYRIE Ooh, naughty naughty. Who knew that Evey had such a dirty mouth. But I suppose that's what you have to resort to when you have such a limited vocabulary. Is it true, Vee, that you failed all your tests this term? Again? Are you that useless and stupid, Vee, are you? VEE Well at least I didn't fuck the teacher to get my A.

One of the girls reaches out and gives Vee a tight slap. She gives a sharp cry as the force sends her spinning to the ground. Zed looks on helplessly, paralysed. They ignore him completely. VALYRIE You better watch what comes out of that mouth, girl. VEE Yeah, and you better watch what goes into yours. Who knows where they've been stickinOne of the girls kick her in the stomach before she can finish. She exclaims in pain before curling up in humiliation. We don't notice Zed any more. VALYRIE You're asking for it, you know. If I were a spastic failure with no friends and an ugly as shit face, I wouldn't talk so big. VEE You should take your own advice. Valyrie grabs Vee's bag in anger and pours everything over Vee. VALYRIE Pass me her lipstick. One of the girls does so. VALYRIE (reading off the lipstick) Ah, "scarlet". How fitting. The girls laugh cruelly as they smudge the lipstick onto Vee's face, clothes, and possessions. They kick and slap her, pulling and jeering at her. Before they can do much more, they are startled by the angry shout of the mall's security guard, and quickly scamper off (not before giving Vee one last condescending pat on the face). Apparently Zed had run off to alert security. Vee sits up, and painstakingly gathers her things back into the bag. She is not crying. ZED Vee, are you alright? No response. SECURITY GUARD Well, they're gone now. ZED Thanks for helping us. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't helped us. SECURITY GUARD You want some advice, boy? Be a man. Zed is ostensibly stunned. The security guard shakes his head (bemoaning the state of teenagers nowadays, no doubt) as he walks away back to his doughnut joint. Vee has done cleaning up now, but the stains still mark her clothes. ZED Vee... Vee!

VEE Haha, wasn't that funny, Zeddy Bear? ZED Vee? VEE Valyrie is a laugh, isn't she? It's always good, clean fun when you're with friends. ZED (hesitantly) Those... girls... were your friends? VEE Oh sure. I've know them ever since I was 10. We've been in the same class since junior high. ZED Oh... ok... VEE Let's go watch a movie now, Zeddy Bear. ZED Yeah, sure, that'll be great! Are you sure you're alright...? VEE With you Zeddy Bear, how could I not be? She turns and they look at each other. VEE It's going to be good, right Zeddy Bear? ZED I hope so. VEE Yes, it's all going to get better. She kisses him briefly on the lips, before walking towards the theatre, hand in hand. FADE OUT TO BLACK End of Episode 1