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The Lunchroom Episode 1 "THINGS FALL APART" Written by Bruce Snyder Created by Bruce Snyder CHARACTERS: Will Cooper: 15. Blonde, about six foot high. Some acne. Brian Vandele: 15. Red hair, big, overweight. Scary appearance, but isn't very violent. Joel Mayberry: 15. Tall, Blonde, a tad bit overweight but most is muscle. Brock Warner: 15. Very tall, dark hair, with a mysterious look to him. Reicther: 14. Same height as Will. Dark messy hair. Thinnest out of the group. Casey Jennings: 14. Tall. Spiky hair. Overweight. Usually is always smiling. RECURRING CHARACTERS: RENE DAVID: 15. Short. Weird styled hair. Wears glasses. Sorta geeky. EMILY LUCAS: 14. Short. Beautiful blonde dyed hair, extremely pretty. LOIS WARNER: 41. Blonde, thin, pretty. MAY: 43. Tall. Gray hair, thin. William Reicther: 45. Bald, very fit. FADE IN: INT. CLOSET ? DAY It's pitch black in the this closet. We can't see a thing. Suddenly the door flies open and LACIE, is holding CASEY JENNINGS' arm, enter. She closes the door behind her and it becomes dark again. She turns on the lights. CASEY What the hell was that all about? LACIE Well, I needed to tell you something, away from everybody else. CASEY God, it's small in here ? LACIE Casey! CASEY Yes? LACIE We have to talk. CASEY (uneasy) What about? LACIE I want out. CASEY (confused) Out of this closet? LACIE I mean, out of our relationship. CASEY What? Why? LACIE No real big reason, I just want out. CASEY Can't you give a reason? LACIE I guess it's because...you nag me too much. CASEY Well, that's because you smoke and drink. LACIE I know and you never get off my fucking back about it. Casey seems confused. CASEY But, I ? LACIE Please, don't speak. I just want out. CASEY Fine. You are officially out. Gone. LACIE Please, Casey. Don't hate me. CASEY Yeah...see that's kinda hard to do right now. LACIE Sorry. Pause. CASEY I'm leaving. He tries to open the door, but it's stuck. CASEY Well, it seems to be stuck. He uses both hands, and tries his hardest. Nothing. He stops. The two stand, Casey tries not looking at her. CASEY This is awkward. OPENING CREDIT SEQUENCE: Marvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar" plays over the credits. AFTER CREDITS: INT. WILL'S ROOM ? EARLY MORNING It's dark, making it hard to see. On his walls there are a few posters. We can make out WILLIAM 'WILL' COOPER lying on his bed. His alarm goes off. His arm slowly comes out and hits it. It shuts off. He slowly turns off and sits up. He yawns. He reaches over and turns on the lamb on his nightstand. He slowly stands. INT. JOEL'S ROOM ? ABOUT THE SAME JOEL MAYBERY is sitting at the edge of his bed, eating from a bowl of cereal. He yawns. INT. BRIAN'S HOUSE ? LIVING ROOM ? LITTLE LATER BRIAN VANDELE is sitting on the couch he has his head phones on and is starring at the TV. INT. BROCK'S ROOM ? SAME BROCK WARNER sits at his desk. He stares at the wall in front of him. He seems ready to doze off. INT. REICTHER'S ROOM ? SAME REICTHER is on top of his bed with a fly swatter. Carefully looking over his room. He stares at a corner of his wall. He hits it as hard as he can, three times. REICTHER HA HA! Got it! CUT TO BLACK FADE BACK IN: INT. SCHOOL ? COKE MACHINE ? MORNING Will is standing by the machine, studying his choices. Casey walks up. CASEY Hey, Will. WILL Morning, Casey. Will hits a button, and then takes notice of Casey's blank face. WILL God, I hate it when you do that "Village of the Damned" faces. CASEY I apologize. Will reaches down and gets his drink. WILL Hey, when does Lacie get in? I need to get some Bio work from her. Casey starts to smile. They both begin to walk down the hallway. CASEY Funny you should mention her. CUT TO: INT. BROCK ROOM'S ? SAME Brock is sitting at his desk, putting books into his backpack. After he is done, he looks around his room for something. He gets up and leaves his room. INT. KITCHEN ? SAME LOIS, Brock's mom, is at the counter cooking something. Brock enters. BROCK Hey, mom. Do you know where my copy of the Watchmen is? LOIS Better check with May, sweetheart. Brock looks uneasy about it. INT. HALLWAY ? SECONDS LATER Brock walks up to a door and knocks. After a second, MAY walks out. MAY Yeah. BROCK Um, my mom told me you had my Watchmen and I was wondering if I could get it back. MAY Sorry. But I can't. BROCK What? Why? MAY Well, since you forgot to mow the lawn yesterday I'm holding on too it. BROCK Till when? MAY When you can start to remember to mow the lawn. She goes back into the room. Brock now looks angry. INT. LUNCHROOM ? SAME It's still about half an hour before school starts. Their a few kids sitting at the tables, waiting. At one table, Casey and Will sit. CASEY So, then she wanted out. WILL Like, out of the closet? CASEY You know, that's what I said, but she meant the relationship. WILL Really? Wow. I'm sorry, Casey. CASEY It's okay. I couldn't stand her drinking anyway. WILL Yeah, well lot ? Wait, drinking? As in...drinking beer? CASEY Yeah, plus she liked to party and go to concerts a lot. WILL Jesus, sounds like you were dating Paris Hilton. Casey shrugs and begins to work on his math again. WILL Me and the guys have had our problems with women. EXT. STREET CORNER ? DAY (FLASHBACK) There is a pretty GIRL, standing at the corner. Will walks up. WILL Did you just fart? GIRL No, why? WILL Cause you just blew me away. INT. MOVIE THEATER ? NIGHT (FLASHBACK) Joel sits with a pretty GIRL. He has his arm around her shoulder. JOEL My love for you is like diarrhea. I can't hold it in. The girl looks at him, surprised. EXT. CLASSROOM ? DAY (FLASHBACK) Brian is sitting next to a pretty GIRL she seems distressed BRIAN (to himself) If I bought Champions of Norrath, then I would be tight for money, but it would give me something to do GIRL Did you get this worksheet done? BRIAN Do you really think I did it? INT. RESTURANT ? NIGHT (FLASHBACK) A GIRL is sitting down, eating. Brock walks up. BROCK Excuse, me but can I borrow a quarter? GIRL What for? BROCK I want to call my mom and tell her I just met the girl of my dreams. The girl smiles. INT. DANCE ? NIGHT (FLASHBACK) A pretty GIRL is standing by the wall. Reicther is talking to her. REICTHER Listen, do you want some stupid cheesy line or do you just want to do it? INT. LUNCHROOM ? MORNING (PRESENT) Casey works on his math, while Will sits and drinks. He is staring off into nothingness. Thinking about all the group's romantic problems. WILL Sad, ain't it. CASEY What? WILL Oh, nothing. INT. BUS ? SAME The bus is full of kids. We focus on Brian and Brock who sit together. BRIAN She took it away? BROCK Yes. That bitch. BRIAN Should you really call her that? BROCK Oops. My bad. (correcting himself) That evil lesbian bitch. BRIAN That?s better BROCK Damn straight The bus stops. Reicther gets on the bus. He wears a giant coat. He wears nice black suit. He goes and sits behind Brock and Brian. BRIAN Hey, Reicther. What's up with the suit? REICTHER I've got to go to my grand papa's funeral halfway through the day. BRIAN Oh. Well...I'm sorry for your loss. EXT. SCHOOL ? SAME Joel walks up and enters. INT. SCHOOL ? LUNCHROOM ? SAME A few more people have entered. Casey and Will are talking. WILL You got her a live dog? CASEY Yep. WILL (laughing) Did you wrap it up in a box or something. CASEY (dead serious) Yep. Will, realizing that he's serious, wipes away his smile. WILL (serious) Oh. Joel walks up and sits down. JOEL Morning all. WILL Morning. JOEL Hello, Casey. CASEY Hello, Joel. WILL Lacie, dumped Casey yesterday. JOEL Oh, God. Really? CASEY Yep. JOEL Why? WILL She drank. JOEL She drank? CASEY She drank. WILL Partied too. Brian, Brock, and Reicther walk up and sit down. BRIAN Who partied? CASEY Lacie, but she ? WILL They broke up yesterday. BROCK Because of the parting? CASEY Listen, I don't want to te ? JOEL No. It was because she drank. REICTHER She drank? God, she's only like... fifteen or something. Casey looks embarrassed. Will takes notice. WILL You okay, Casey? Casey puts a fake smile on his face. CASEY Just preachy. The bell rings. Each guy gets up, says their good-byes, and head off in different directions. INT. HALLWAY ? MINUTES LATER Will is walking down the hallway, carrying his math book. INT. MATH CLASS ? SECONDS LATER Will enters. He walks clear across the room until he reaches his table. He sits down. On the other side of the table RENE DAVID and EMILY LUCAS sit. Emily looks a little depressed. WILL What's wrong with you? Emily holds up a piece of paper. It's a drawing of Emily. She is drawn tall with small string hair. She also has fangs and looks angry. There's a word bubble coming from her saying "take me to the prom, cocksucker!" WILL Who drew this? Rene laughs. RENE I did. Will laughs too. Emily doesn't like this. WILL Don't worry, Emily. This drawing is completely inaccurate. I mean, you don't have stringy hair do ya'? Emily leans over and hits Will. Rene and Will laugh. WILL Why did you draw that picture for? EMILY I can answer that. People think I'm just dating Jesse to so he can take me to prom. WILL That's what I thought. Emily hits him again. WILL Ow! RENE Do you want to go to prom? EMILY Yeah. I lot. In fact I want to be the only girl in this school to go all four years. WILL So then you are dating him just to get to the prom. EMILY No. RENE But he is the only way you can get there...right? EMILY Right. WILL Christ, I'm confused. EMILY Okay. I'm dating Jesse. WILL Got it. EMILY Since he's two years older then me, he can take me to the junior prom. WILL Right. EMILY He asked. I agreed. Now people think I'm using him for the prom. RENE Someone told me about that, and I drew the picture. WILL I don't see why you girls make a big deal about prom. It's just a dance. RENE No it's not. WILL Oh. My mistake. It's expensive dance where probably half this student body was conceived at. I know my mom's nickname for me is "broken condom." Emily and Rene almost die laughing at this. INT. FUNERAL HOME ? SAME Reicther is standing by an open casket. In the casket is his dead grandfather. He reaches into this pocket and pulls out two quarters. He places them on grandpa's eyes and does a hail marry. He turns and walks over to a wall. He leans his back up against it and sighs. A few inches away, a WOMAN takes notice. She comes over. WOMAN I'm sorry for your lost. REICTHER Yeah, well. I didn't know him as well as I should have. WOMAN Well, you should know that James was a good man. Reicther seems confused. REICTHER My grandfather's name was Arthur. WOMAN What? REICTHER His name wasn't James, it was Arthur. WOMAN Oops. REICTHER How do you know my grandfather anyway? WOMAN Gotta go. She hurries off. This has sparked Reicther's interest. INT. BATHROOM ? A FEW MINUTES AFTER SCHOOL Will is at a stall, using it. Casey walks in. CASEY Hey, Will. WILL Hey, Casey. CASEY Is okay if I walk home with you and Joel? WILL Oh, yeah. Sure. CASEY Where is Joel? WILL Doing his book deciding. INT. HALLWAY ? SAME Joel is standing by his open locker. He is looking at the books, trying to make a decision. JOEL (to himself) Okay, I got math...Spanish... geography...so I should take my math book and geography book...or should it be Spanish and math book ...I could do geography tomorrow morning...that way I wouldn't have to take my book home...but Spanish I could do very easily. He begins to think. EXT. HALLWAY ? SAME Will and Casey walk down a mostly deserted hallway. WILL What if he didn't have a name? CASEY C'mon, it's Sesame Street. Everyone had a name. WILL Count...countalot? Casey laughs. CASEY No. I think it was just The Count. WILL Just The Count? CASEY Yeah. WILL C'mon, he had better name then that. Will and Casey have reached Joel's locker. WILL Joel, what was the vampire's name on Sesame Street? JOEL The one that loved counting? WILL Yeah. JOEL I don't know. Count Chocula? CASEY It was The Count right? All three begin to walk. Joel thinks. JOEL Yeah. That sounds right. WILL It can't be. CASEY Why not? WILL It's just too simple of a name for a vampire puppet who loves counting more then anything in the world. He should have a better name then that. CUT TO: EXT. SIDEWALK ? MINUTES LATER Joel and Casey are on the sidewalk. Will is on the street. Next to Will is KATIE JENNINGS, Casey's nine year old sister. She is swinging a stick at him, but he ducks every time. CASEY Okay. This is where we turn. WILL All right then, Casey. See ya'. CASEY See ya'. JOEL Bye Case. Casey turns. CASEY C'mon, Katie. Let's go. Katie quickly follows. Will and Joel continue to walk forward. WILL I've got an idea. JOEL What is it? WILL I was thinking...maybe Casey should join us. JOEL Join us? What the hell, are some kind of club or something? WILL No, I meant our little circle of friends. JOEL Really? WILL I mean, Lacie was the only person he had in his life. And last thing we need him doing is going hanging out with those asshole jocks or those freaky goth kids. I say we get him before anyone else. JOEL Hey, I got no problem with it. Although Brian, Brock and Reicther might need some convincing. INT. FUNERAL HOME ? SAME WILLIAM REICTHER, Kevin's father is sitting down on a couch. Reicther walks up. REICTHER Dad, I think we have a problem. WILLIAM A problem? Reicther sits down. REICTHER See that lady over there. He points her out for William. REICTHER I don't even think she knew grandpa. She thought his name was James. WILLIAM Well, Kevin ? REICTHER I think she's just here to mooch off us mourners. WILLIAM Kevin, listen. I've got to tell you something. REICTHER What? WILLIAM She was a hired actor. Reicther is confused. REICTHER Hired actor? WILLIAM (whispering) In fact, three fourths of the people here are actors. REICTHER What? Why? WILLIAM Well, son. Your grandfather wasn't well liked because of certain views. REICTHER Was he...racist? WILLIAM Oh hell yeah. I just felt that grandpa didn't deserve an empty funeral. Reicther is speechless. INT. FUNERAL HOME ? HALLWAY ? MINUTES LATER Reicther walks down the hallway. He passes a group of three people. PERSON #1 Oh God. I just feel so bad. I thought we would have Andy around forever. REICTHER (as he's walking by) His name was Arthur. PERSONS 2 and 3 look at Person #1 suspiciously. There's an awkward silence. PERSON #1 It's a tragedy I tell ya'. He takes a drink. INT. BROCK'S HOME ? KITCHEN ? LATER May is washing the dishes. In the background we can hear the sound of a lawnmower. She stops working. She walks over to the doorway. She peers her head through it. MAY'S POV: She is looking through the front window in the living room. Through the window she can see the top half of Brock's body. He seems to be pushing something. May smiles and goes back to work. EXT. BROCK'S HOUSE ? A LITTLE LATER We can still hear the mowing sound. The front door slowly opens and May steps out. MAY Okay, Brock you can ? She stops and notices something. We PAN TO THE LEFT to reveal that the mower is against the house with no one using it. May, realizing that it's a distraction, runs back into the house. INT. BROCK'S HOUSE ? MAY'S ROOM ? SECONDS LATER May runs in. She quickly open the top drawer and looks in. MAY Shit. She runs out. INT. BROCK'S HOUSE ? BROCK'S ROOM ? SECONDS LATER Brock is on his top of his bed, reading a book. It's his Watchmen. May enters. MAY You! BROCK Hello, May. MAY You tricked me! Brock smiles. BROCK Finally looked outside did you? MAY Listen, I ? LOIS (O.S.) I'm home everybody! May looks like she's about to say something but leaves. Brock smiles and goes back to reading. INT. BRIAN?S HOUSE- SAME TIME Brain is sitting at his computer, we can see there is a lengthy document on the screen. Brian is holding his head. BRIAN The light came to him in a rush, he felt reality itself shift around him fading into an unseen void, he felt the hair raise on the back of his neck as he felt death's cold grip becoming tighter and tighter around him. He struggled to breathe it felt as if a some one had their hands around his neck, tightening it?s grip every time he tried to breathe. He let out a strangled cry and darkness covered his eyes, every fiber in his being cried out in pain at once, relentlessly. Then it was over he lay on his back waiting for death, knowing it would never come, immortality was a curse to him now, a promise that he wished to break with all his heart. His eyes closed against his will, for the first time in a long time he slumbered. Pause. BRIAN No, that sucks. He sits back in his chair. BRIAN Damn writer's block. The phone rings. Brian quickly picks it up. BRIAN Joe's crab shack, you kill we grill it. (We intercut between Brian and Will in his room.) WILL Oh, hello Joe. I'll take three crabs slightly cooked with butter. BRIAN Hey, Will. What's happening? WILL Nothing much. Just called to ask a question. BRIAN Okay. Shoot. WILL I want to add Casey to the group. BRIAN Casey Jennings? WILL Yeah. Brian thinks for a second. Then nods. Silence. WILL So what's your answer? BRIAN Get off my ass. I nodded. Will puts his hand to his face, embarrassed by Brian. WILL Brian...we're talking on the phone. I can't see you. Brian realizes his mistake. BRIAN Ah, goddamn it. WILL It's okay. Brian still can't believe he made this mistake. WILL Well, what was your answer? BRIAN Yes. Casey can join if he wants. WILL Thanks. Will hangs up. INT. SCHOOL HALLWAY ? NEXT DAY Casey is putting things away in his locker. He closes the door before he tries to head off. Will appears and stops him. WILL Where are you going, Casey? CASEY Well, I was going to go outside and eat by myself. Will shakes his head. WILL No you're not. CASEY Whadda' you mean? WILL I want you to join my group of friends. CASEY Really? The two begin to walk. WILL Well, since you lost Lacie. I figured you got no one left. CASEY Sounds tempting. Casey looks unsure. CASEY I don't know if this is such a good idea. WILL Trust me it will work. Besides we need a sixth guy. Five is good, but for some reason I hate odd numbers. They walk off. INT. LUNCHROOM ? MINUTES LATER Will, Joel, Brock, Brian, Reicther, and Casey are sitting around a table. Each one is eating food. They're all laughing. WILL So Jesus leans in and says to Peter, "I can see your whole house from here." Everyone begins to laugh hardy. After a few seconds, Casey speaks. CASEY You know what you guys remind me of? WILL What's that? CASEY The knights of the round table. Everyone "Ohs." WILL I guess that makes me "sir masturbates all the time." Everyone begin to crack up. WILL Wait, that won't work. It's too long. They continue to laugh. BRIAN You know, that Brock tricked May yesterday? JOEL He did? BRIAN Tell 'em, Brock. BROCK Well, I decided to mow the lawn but halfway through... As he tells the story the CAMERA SLOWLY begins to PAN to the LEFT until we are looking out a window. Brock continues his story. FADE OUT. END OF EPISODE
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