"There's just one more in the laundry room." "It's okay." "Mom..." "What?" "See, everything's fine." "Ashley!" "We're going to be late." "I'm coming." "Sure you don't want to wear something a little nicer?" "No mom, I don't." "Okay." "You ready?" "Sure." "It's going to be fine." "Yeah, just another school." "Okay stop!" "Stop, stop, stop." "What, here?" "Yeah." "Ashley, that's a bit extreme." "Mom, it's not worth the risk." "The most powerful civilization..." "Hi." "Oh, here." "Thanks." "I got it." "A fight..." "A fight to the death!" "Wanna move?" "Nice hoodie." "Oh, uh, thanks." "Miss Beardall used to work out of here so I hope this is okay for you as well." "Of course." "Good because we don't have any extra office space available." "Okay, let's see, you have your first hour off, class in the second hour, fourth hour, lunch and a sixth hour class." "Okay." "And if you need any help, call me." "That is Mr. Carlisle." "What is he...?" "Don't even get me started." "I need to get back to my office." "Stop in this afternoon?" "Thanks." "Maxie!" "Hey!" "Don't do that!" "Wait, did you say something?" "That's what I thought." "Yo, Burnside." "What's up man?" "You going to Cal's this weekend?" "Yeah dude!" "All right everyone, take your seats." "I see we have a new student." "Please stand, tell us your name." "Um, my name is Ashley Evans." "Hopefully you're not too far behind in the curriculum but I'll get to you." "Just sit there." "It's always nice to have some fresh blood here." "Let's turn our text books to page 207." "Hey, check it out." "She's that girl..." "Oh whatever." "Romans!" "Did you see how high she jumped?" "Ah, good morning class." "Ancient Rome was one of the most powerful, most technologically advanced societies in the world." "Also one of the most violent." "Now, can someone tell me what the coliseum was?" "Oh, my parents saw it on a cruise they went on last year." "Awesome!" "What was it?" "Awesome." "Oh, oh..." "Wei?" "Col-i-see-um, an amphitheater in Rome." "Wei scores!" "Yes, it is the amphitheater in Rome." "Thank-you Wei." "Now, the coliseum was the mecca of all entertainment." "Let's say you wanted to go and see two warriors fighting." "Yeah!" "Where would you sit?" "Sitting?" "I'd be fighting in the middle of the arena." "Yeah!" "That's a beast." "Okay, Nick?" "Box seats - wherever the emperor sat." "Okay." "Carrie?" "I guess that makes me queen." "Or empress." "No way I'm sitting in the last section." "Totally!" "I get it." "Totes!" "All right, anyone else?" "Max?" "Oh, I'd probably just be..." "Max, he'd be in the middle of the coliseum wetting his pants." "Yeah, I'd kick his butt." "Well as a gladiator you'd have many opponents to fight." "Sure would..." "Yeah with one big difference." "What'd you say?" "Uh, nothing." "No, you said something..." "What was the difference?" "Well... they fought to the death." "Blondie's right." "They fought to the death because they were the lowest class." "What?" "Most of them were prisoners of war, slaves, criminals." "Or just people that the Romans used to torture." "They had no choice." "It was either fight... or die." "Throughout the coliseum crowds roared and people flocked to see the latest fight." "Remind you of anything today?" "Um, boxing." "Battles we gather to watch." "Anything else?" "Oh, American football." "Yes, Wei." "Movies." "That's very insightful Carrie." "See, violence is as much a part of our society today as it was in ancient Rome." "Now, we may not literally kill people for entertainment anymore but we do flock to death and suffering." "You ever rubber neck on the side of the road to see an accident?" "When someone's house goes up in flames why do we rush to film it on our cell phones?" "You ever leave a negative comment online or spread a rumor for all the world to see?" "I know we talk about the Romans and how they really delighted in the bloodshed, but I think the real question today for us here is this..." "Why do we take so much delight in watching other people suffer?" "History is always in the making." "What will your history be?" "Hey..." "Watch it." "Uh, here." "Thanks." "Yeah." "I'm Max." "Ashley." "What's your next class?" "Uh, spanish." "I've got drama." "I hear there's a new teacher today." "Later!" "Okay, well welcome." "I'm really looking forward to hearing what you've been doing in drama." "Um, so what play have you been working on this semester?" "Any of the roles been cast yet or are we still in the casting process?" "Anyone?" "Oh, thank-you." "Honey can you hand me a tomato?" "So?" "How'd it go today?" "It was just school." "Come on, tell me about one class." "Okay, um, history was good." "Really?" "The teacher seems kind of eccentric." "Yeah he was." "Okay, look, it's not perfect." "But we're lucky you know it's hard to find a position in the middle of the school year." "So does that mean we're lucky that the previous drama teacher died?" "Lemonade from lemons." "Subtle." "Here's your mom's locker you loser." "Ow, no, come on man!" "What's your problem?" "I can't believe you stabbed me in the back like this." "I trusted you." "Lisa I didn't..." "Of all people" "I can't believe you went and did that." "Ok, thank-you." "Hi." "Hi." "Where did you get this dress?" "Um, I got it from a costume store years ago." "I'm thinking about using it for our play." "I'm Julie Johnson by the way." "I'm the new drama teacher." "Kevin Carlisle, history." "Wow, you've taken such good care of it." "Thank-you." "Hey, watch this." "Hey, pick it up!" "You gotta give them credit." "They know how to make their own fun." "Want the run down on everyone here?" "Uh, yeah, sure." "All right." "Well, there you've got your intellectuals." "They got a full ride scholarship through all the universities." "They're nice enough." "Then we got the foreign exchange students." "You know, Brazilian, German, Italian, French." "Norwegians." "Now, they're always hanging out with each other, but none of them know english." "You gotta wonder how they communicate right?" "Then, right there, the skaters and the drama geeks." "You know they merged together because one of them was dating the other." "Now it was very Romeo and Juliet at first but now it's cool." "Then, Nick's the leader of that... um..." "Gang?" "Yeah." "You know you've got Burnside right next to him who is 95% mass, 5% brain." "Then you've got Carrie, the queen bee." "Got a whole hive following her all the time, you know." "As long as they're on top they don't care." "Okay." "So they're the group to avoid." "Yeah, well I try to ignore them." "You know high school isn't forever." "Oh, cool." "Um, where is...?" "Oh yeah, I'll show you." "Okay." "You spend way too much time on your costumes." "Carrie, how long did it take you to pick out your clothes this morning?" "I changed a couple of times..." "Maybe 20 minutes." "Oh, girls" "Not just girls." "Uh, Nick if I'm not mistaken you're wearing a shirt from one of those guy boutiques." "What?" "You act like you just picked whatever shirt it is you wanted out of your closet" "And I'm willing to bet you paid... what?" "50 dollars for it?" "It was 70, so?" "Well doesn't it mean something?" "What we wear every day?" "Maybe not a lot." "But we think about it." "It's a part of us, part of our culture." "Part of our history." "Come on." "Since the early age of knights we've often had romantic notions of how wonderful these men were." "Riding in on white horses, rescuing damsels in distress." "But who were they?" "Well, most knights were sons of aristocrats." "Noble upper-class families." "Anyone ever heard of chivalry?" "Um, like when you open the door for a girl?" "How would he know?" "It's not like any girl's gonna get that close to him anyways." "Yeah, that's what it's become today." "It's been watered down." "Yes, Wei." "Chil-vary." "The rules and customs of medieval k-nighthood." "Yes." "It was a code of conduct for the knights." "Honesty, obedience to God, loyalty to king and country." "Humility and charity." "What a drag." "Knights were protectors of the weak." "They were warriors." "Not just for battle sake." "But to protect." "Wouldn't you want to become a knight today?" "Not really." "Why not?" "What's the point of being a great knight if that's all you do?" "A knight stood on the battle field and in society as an example of what a man should be." "Protectors of the weak and defenseless, and warriors against monsters who threatened this land." "Lame!" "You know, that's what all the wannabe knights said." "They were too busy being monsters instead of protectors." "Maybe..." "If a knight broke this broke this code of conduct it was considered treason." "No wonder they're not around anymore" "Actually, they are." "But they're knights in titles rather than armor." "But even though the armor is gone, a knight's ideals should always remain in fashion." "History is always in the making." "And what will your history be?" "Way to stay under the radar Ashley." "Thank-you for participating today Ashley." "No problem." "You know, I've put together a list of upcoming projects for the year." "The biggest one is called the" "'History in Your Life' project." "Okay." "It's a video presentation about some event in history and how it has affected your life." "Wait, my life?" "Mm hmm." "The details about it are right here." "Okay." "Thanks." "I tracked down this virus from my aunt's computer." "It's meant to intrude and collect information and send it back to the sender." "Yeah, I found out where the source is coming from." "Check that out." "That's pretty cool." "Oh, watch it." "Nick!" "Be careful with my laptop." "Yeah it would have fried it right?" "Would you cut it out?" "Oh, look Max, it's your knight in shining armor." "I'm sorry, in what world is this actually cool?" "Didn't you push enough kids around on the playground ten years ago?" "Yeah, well, later losers." "Hey." "Hi." "Have you met a girl named Angie yet?" "Uh, no I don't think so." "Somebody dropped out of the play." "I was thinking about using her as a replacement." "Yeah?" "What role?" "Olivia." "We're doing Twelfth Night." "You'd be such a great Olivia." "It's not even the starring role." "Mom, I don't have time in my class schedule for drama, okay?" "This is incomplete." "Well I don't get it." "Well maybe if you spent less time goofing off with your friends and more time actually paying attention you'd understand." "Now I want you to take it home and try again." "Go on." "Hey that's mine." "Hey!" "Here's where you're getting it wrong." "That should be 'y'." "You're making the same mistake on every problem." "Mr. Carlisle." "Mrs. Tanner, what a surprise." "I heard something about weapons in your class and a stabbed mannequin." "What?" "Oh that?" "It was a plastic sword." "Is that what you're talking about?" "Are there more than that?" "Oh there's an army." "And what's with the armor?" "It's part of my lesson." "I can appreciate a little devotion to your subject but some common sense would be good." "Swords real or fake, they can send the wrong message." "And a suit of armor is heavy." "Well I'm the one wearing it." "It can be used as a weapon itself." "Well so can a textbook." "But at some point you're going to have to have a little faith in humanity." "I'm only responding to the concerns of our students and their parents." "Well tell them to beware of all those dangerous textbooks." "They have sharp edges." "Yeah, I will." "Hi." "Hi." "Need a break?" "So Mrs. Tanner's not a fan, huh?" "I can't blame her." "I know my methods are out there." "You do?" "Sorry, I mean you just seem so caught up sometimes." "I've always been fascinated by history." "I mean, we read these emotionless passages out of these textbooks about some battle or some event." "But if you really think about it, you have to be there to understand the context." "You know?" "People's lives were affected from the outcome." "You're really passionate about this, huh?" "Yeah, well, my passion drives my administration insane." "I don't follow the book from front to back, you know." "I'd rather focus on the topic." "The message." "Message?" "Yeah, the real message that history can teach us." "History is not just about dates and facts." "The real lesson in history is what we can learn in hindsight." "That way kids can take it and personalize it and figure out how they feel about it today." "Wow." "I can certainly understand why Ashley enjoys your class so much." "Ashley?" "Yeah, she's my daughter." "She just doesn't like people to know." "You're last name is Johnson." "Yup." "Well, she changed her name back to her father's a little while ago." "Oh." "Math?" "Science." "Any good?" "Yeah, well if you consider chemical equations to be good then sure." "Want to watch a movie?" "Can I pick?" "Yeah, well, you promised me skiing, so..." "On slopes!" "Well you never specified that, and besides..." "Julie!" "Hi." "Sorry..." "Hi." "I really wanted to ask you if I, um... if you could maybe, um... give me your dress?" "No, no, the costume from the other day." "Oh, yeah sure." "Great, thank-you." "Oh, can I borrow you too?" "Excuse me?" "Okay, I need a volunteer." "Look at this one." "Carrie!" "Carrie, can you stand over here please?" "Okay, Carrie." "Now imagine you see this really handsome guy." "That shouldn't be too hard." "How would you go about meeting him?" "Easy, go up and talk to him." "What if you weren't allowed?" "Let me show you how it's done." "Max, can you come up here please?" "All right." "Max, come on over here and stand here." "According to society's rules, a woman could not even talk to a man unless she was formally introduced." "So, my lady Carrie may I introduce you to" "Maximillian of the house of Bentley." "Max, bow to Carrie." "Good." "Carrie, curtsy." "What?" "Good, very good." "Ok, have a seat." "Now, that was just meeting a person." "Now can you imagine courtship, dating?" "Nice curtsy." "Back in the early days, the only way that a man could meet a woman was at a dance." "Dancing was the one place for true interaction between a man and a woman." "And it would work something like this..." "A woman would receive a dance card." "A man would then write his name down on this dance card and at the end of the evening the woman would review who she danced with and who she like the best." "Now, if you guys aren't familiar, I would like to introduce our new drama teacher Ms. Johnson." "She's going to help demonstrate these traditional dances which we will then all learn." "Now I'm not talking about the fast paced sweaty stuff that you guys do today." "You know the..." "What I'm talking about is dancing." "Okay, so, with dancing there was real communication." "There was no asking each other out by texts or poking each other on Facebook." "It was just man and a woman, face to face." "With dancing... dancing was the first time that it allowed you to hold a woman's hand." "Like so..." "Dancing allowed for intimate closeness... and private conversation." "Okay, everyone come on up here," "Now we're all going to try it." "You know, Mr. Carlisle, I can't really risk injuring myself in the off season, so..." "If you injure yourself doing this then I'd highly reconsider calling yourself an athlete." "All right, come on guys let's pair up." "Nick and Ashley, Max and Wei, Brenna and Patrick." "Come on up." "All right, everyone ready?" "Grab your partners like this." "And follow us." "Now back in civil war times dancing was enjoyed by everyone." "It was a way to forget about the conflict and the bloodshed for a little while." "Now if you attended a ball or a dance you were expected to dance." "The whole point was to socialize after all." "Are you dancing with me or somebody else?" "Jealous?" "Don't flatter yourself." "Can I ask you a question?" "Sure." "You just moved here right?" "That's your question?" "What makes you think that you know me?" "I don't." "I know guys like you." "What's that supposed to mean?" "Nothing." "Can we just dance?" "No." "I want to know." "Okay, fine." "I know you lame, self centered guys who always have to be on top." "You can't go two seconds without putting someone else down." "And why?" "Because in some perverse way it makes you feel better." "I'm not all those things." "Fine, prove me wrong." "You know what?" "I don't have to prove anything." "Especially not to some loner girl." "You're right." "Who cares what I think?" "And one, two, three, four... one, two, three and four." "Very good guys." "Okay." "Now look at your partner and bow or curtsy." "Milady..." "Hi sweetie." "Hey." "How was the rest of your day?" "Um, it was okay." "I had a kid cut himself on one of the pages of the play." "Are you serious?" "Bled a lot for a paper cut." "I had to send him to the school nurse." "What is this?" "What?" "It came here?" "Well I changed our address with the post office." "Yeah, but mom they could track us here." "They can't." "Are your sure?" "They won't track us here, okay?" "They got what they wanted." "Sweetie..." "It's just junk." "Want to get take-out tonight?" "Hey." "What?" "Are you following me now?" "No." "Just saw you coming back here and I thought I'd see what you were doing." "Just exploring." "My old school didn't have anything like this." "It's just an old building." "I mean, nobody really comes back here anymore." "That's fine by me." "So... kind of a loner, aren't you?" "Does it really matter?" "No." "I guess you probably don't have a boyfriend though." "Do you?" "I'm sorry, how is that any of your business?" "I guess it's not." "I was just..." "because you said you..." "Just stop." "Okay, fine." "I was just trying to be nice, or whatever." "Yeah, well you could use a little more practice." "Why?" "Why what?" "Why are you being nice all of a sudden?" "Why does it matter to you now?" "It doesn't." "Okay, um," "Everyone around here knows me." "But you don't." "So...?" "Well, it's like one minute you're getting all over my case and the next you're helping me." "Am I supposed to apologize for that?" "No." "I just..." "I don't get why you did what you did." "Look, I helped you with your math okay, it's not that big of a deal." "It is that big of a deal." "I mean, I wouldn't have helped." "Oh, I know." "I don't know... it was the right thing to do." "Yeah... the right thing to do." "It doesn't really sound like me does it?" "You know, people can change." "Seriously?" "People can change?" "Yes, seriously." "People can change." "You know Max, right?" "Yeah." "So?" "Why aren't you nicer to him?" "I'm plenty nice to Max." "Oh no you are not." "Okay, okay." "Um..." "Me and Max grew up together." "We were actually friends." "Then he started getting into all this tech stuff and I don't know." "That's not really how I roll, so, we drifted apart" "I mean, it's like you said, people change." "Yeah but there's a difference between changing and changing for the better." "Well, that's it for today." "Uh, but I do have your next assignment." "Now, here's what I want you to do:" "I want you to pick a place that has history." "Any place at all." "City hall, a museum, a monument." "Go there and write about it and what it means to you." "Um, how long does the paper have to be?" "Just two or three pages." "Ugh." "You can make it longer." "Yeah, right." "Due next week" "Oh, sorry." "Go ahead." "Thanks." "I could have sworn my keys were in my purse." "Did you check your school stuff?" "Yeah, I already did." "When did you see them last?" "Yesterday." "I came home, put my purse down..." "And what did you do next?" "Uh, what did I do?" "I..." "I got something to drink, I paid the rent, made dinner." "Found them." "By the spaghetti sauce." "Of course." "Any special requests?" "Chips and cereal." "Of course." "Okay." "Thanks mom." "Hi." "Hi." "Um, Is Ashley here?" "What are you doing here?" "Um, I was just going to go do that history assignment." "Have you started?" "Um, no." "Well, I had a place if you wanted to go." "Sounds good." "Yeah, you should get out, You should get out a little bit today." "Uh, I'll go get my shoes." "Was that Ms. Johnson?" "Yeah." "So Ms. Johnson is your mom?" "Yes." "But, don't tell anybody okay?" "Okay." "Thanks." "So, Carrie didn't want to come?" "No, she had other plans." "She won't mind?" "No." "I mean, it's not like this is a date or anything." "It better not be." "This place is so cool." "You come here a lot?" "It's the first time." "I usually just see the planes from the road." "It's the first place I thought of when Mr. Carlisle gave us the assignment." "So, what's your story?" "My story?" "Yeah, I mean, I don't know much about you." "Other than the fact that you're kind of quiet." "At least until you get mad anyway." "Where did you move from?" "Uh, a small town a few hours away." "Did your mom or dad change jobs?" "Not my dad." "So, with your mom." "What?" "Your mom." "Taking over for the drama teacher." "Oh, yeah." "That sucks." "Changing schools in the middle of the year." "Do you miss your friends?" "I'm adjusting." "It's cool." "My mom's grandpa flew one of these." "Yeah?" "Uh huh." "Uh, B-17." "Flying fortress." "World War One." "Wait, what?" "World War two?" "Uh, yeah, they didn't exactly have planes like this in World War One." "Yeah, well history isn't my best subject." "Did he ever see any action?" "Yeah, he was flying over Germany when he was fired on." "No way!" "Yeah!" "What did he do?" "It tore through the whole side, trapping one of his crew in the tail." "He had five of his men bail just in case he couldn't land the plane safely." "And the rest of the men used their own parachutes to hold the tail on." "Were they okay?" "Yeah, he landed the plane safely." "Well, what was left of the plane." "They gave him a medal for it." "Is he still alive?" "No..." "Not many from that time are." "Wow." "That's a really cool story." "It's not just a story." "It really happened." "Thanks for today." "Yeah." "Why did you ask me to go with you?" "I don't know." "I just thought you might like it." "I did." "So, thanks." "See you at school." "Yeah." "Don't forget to write your paper." "I won't." "In fact I think I know what I'm going to write on already." "Her great-grandfather saved the plane and the men in it." "To me it used to be some war that happened years ago." "But to others it's a real event." "That changes your perspective." "Just like seeing that B-17 changed my perspective." "It wasn't just a story." "It was history." "Well hello." "What brings you here?" "Just basking in a moment of triumph." "One of my students is finally starting to get it." "Oh, who?" "Nick Thomas." "Very good." "You know him and Ashley have been hanging out lately." "Is he a good kid?" "He has potential." "He's spending time with my daughter," "I'm asking as a mother." "He has potential." "What the... what is this?" "A fog machine." "I use it in some of the plays that I do." "You know I'm just being careful, you know?" "What kind of mother would I be if I let my daughter go out with just anyone?" "Kevin?" "Hey, you want a drink?" "Yeah, sure." "All right, what can I get you?" "Well, diet something." "Sheila's got me back on one of her losing weight schemes again." "Oh boy." "All right, there you go." "Thank-you." "Mm hmm." "Washington's army was a rag-tag group of British soldiers." "They didn't have the training, the food, or the equipment of the British." "So three months prior he issued a general order to his commanders." ""Instant to be observed." ""As a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer," ""humbly to supplicate the mercy of Almighty God," ""that it would please and pardon all manifold sins and transgressions" ""and to prosper the arms of the United Colonies," ""and finally establish the peace and freedom of America, upon a solid and lasting foundation. "" "Hey, wait, wait, wait." "This isn't church, dude." "An astute observation." "What's with all the God stuff?" "I'm quoting Washington." "Religion was a part of life and therefore a part of history." "Now, the British and the Americans were building their forces to battle on Long Island, and it appeared that the British were going to beat the Americans badly." "The British sent there ships to cut off an escape route." "Sorry." "It's okay." "All they had to do was trap Washington and make him surrender, and the whole revolution would be over." "Think of the despair in the American troops must have felt." "Was God against them?" "Was their whole fight in vain now?" "Think of your own lives." "Have you ever had something challenge you?" "Made your life completely unbearable?" "Did you think it was the end of the world?" "Well, it wasn't the end of the world for Washington." "He made his troops ready to escape." "But in daylight on that island, the British could easily see them and corner them." "But then a fog came." "It came and stayed until the sunlight came up and hid the American troops and they escaped unnoticed." "Because of this fog the American cause was saved once again." "See, history teaches us that we can't just despair." "Hope may yet come!" "Better things may lie ahead!" "History is in the making!" "What will your history be?" "Hey." "Clumsy much?" "So that's where my fog machine went." "Sorry." "But it added to the ambiance perfectly." "Ok, good." "I should have asked." "I'm not surprised you didn't." "Oh, I know, I do have to work on that." "All right, you can make it up to me." "How?" "Help me figure out how to make this scene work." "What happens in it?" "It's a scene where Viola in disguise, tells Orsino about a young woman who loves a man so much but doesn't know how to tell him." "So what direction are you thinking about taking it?" "I don't know." "I need to find a way to balance the romance and the humor," "I mean, this is Viola almost declaring her love for Orsino and yet he has no idea." "So do I keep them together?" "Apart?" "I don't know." "What if she draws closer to him as she speaks..." "And then when she remembers she's in disguise she sort of starts drawing away again?" "Um hmm." "You want to try it?" "Would you?" "Yeah." "Okay." "What page?" "Page 141." ""My father had a daughter, lov'd a man as it might be perhaps, I were a woman, I should your Lordship. "" ""And what's her history?"" ""A blank, my lord." ""She never told her love, but let concealment, like a worm in the bud feed on her damask cheek." ""She pined and thought, and with a green and yellow melancholy she sat..." ""like patience on a monument," ""smiling at grief." ""Was not this love indeed?" ""We men say more, swear more," ""but indeed our shows are more than will." ""For still we prove much in our vows but little in our love. "" "Hey mom, I can't the keys to the..." "Uh, keys to the house." "We're just rehearsing a scene." "Isn't Viola supposed to step back there at the end?" "Yeah, and Orsino should probably just stay put." "I'll..." "I'll wait..." "out, yeah." "Did you see what that Ashley girl's wearing?" "Blah." "Yeah, and her hair?" "Maxie!" "Hey!" "Texting your mom?" "Let's see what we got here?" "Cut it out." "Oh, let's buy something." "That looks good." "Oops, how about this one next?" "Hey, I love to shop!" "Stop." "Hmm, I need new shoes." "Pink maybe?" "Hey." "Let him go." "Hey!" "I didn't finish." "You're done." "Dude?" "What was that?" "You're freaking me out." "It's nothing." "Nothing?" "Did you see what you just did?" "Did you?" "I don't know what's going on with you but just stop it." "No." "So you're going to turn loser on me?" "Why do you care?" "I don't." "I'm not hanging around for this new Nick." "We're through." "Have fun crying yourself to sleep at night." "I think I'll be okay." "Okay, those actually need to be hemmed." "So, how are the kids liking the play?" "Um..." "When I sum it up for them they like it." "But the language is a bit tricky, you know?" "Have you ever done this play before?" "Not as a teacher." "I did do a role in college once though." "Oh..." "You should act out the scene for them then." "No." "Why?" "I dress up and act all the time." "It will inspire them." "Yeah?" "Well maybe I'll save inspiration for next year." "I thought you were only staying until the end of the year." "Yeah." "Hopefully it works out." "How's Ashley handling the move?" "As well as can be expected." "She's a good student." "She's smart." "I noticed she tries to stay quiet though." "Yeah." "But she seems like she has a lot to say." "Well, we've been through a lot." "Divorce?" "No... well yeah, but that was a long time ago." "Oh, when was this?" "About five months ago." "She had a ton of friends, she was a great student." "Well, as great as any teenage girl can be who spends more time on the phone than doing homework." "But, um, suddenly, I mean completely out of the blue, everybody started to hate her." "She had no idea why so many of her friends were pulling away." "And..." "Well anyway we found this profile online, it was linked to all of her friends, everyone from her school." "Someone was pretending to be her." "And they were saying all these horrible things about everybody else." "And of course everybody thought it was Ashley." "Well who was it?" "Two of my students." "Two girls." "Were they stopped?" "No." "Apparently there is a gray area in the law between cyber-bullying and free speech." "The local police didn't want to get involved." "They said if the accusations were true - if... that it was sad and unfortunate, but probably not illegal." "They didn't believe you?" "It was a really tight knit town, you know?" "Even some of the adults started hearing what Ashley was supposedly saying..." "Absolutely unacceptable!" "She should be suspended if I had any say!" "What kind of daughter have you raised?" "Wait!" "You should be ashamed of yourself and her." "Lies spread faster than truth." "And in everyone's mind Ashley was guilty." "The truth didn't matter." "Kids started shunning her at school." "Then attacking her." "With what was being said online by the other girls it was just so much hate." "How long did this go on for?" "Two months." "What did the attorney say?" "It wasn't good." "We'll just... this is going to blow over..." "No, mom, wake up!" "This isn't going to blow over!" "Ashley!" "Ashley begged me to move." "We left in the middle of the night two days later." "Julie, I'm so sorry." "Don't be." "Well, not for me anyway." "Is there anything I can do to help?" "Just be patient with her." "She's a good kid." "It's just going to take a little while for her to open back up." "Thanks for your help." "Thanks for the pizza." "Hey, um, why did those girls do it?" "Ashley was cast as the lead in a play, she used to love theater." "I even had two other faculty members decide on who to cast just to make sure" "I wasn't inadvertently giving her special treatment." "But one of those girls really wanted the part." "Wait a minute..." "All of it because of that?" "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." "And we're talking about teenage girls." "Hey." "Hi." "Um, what are you doing?" "Uh, just studying." "Well would you like to take a break?" "Uh, sure." "You ready for this?" "Yeah, I guess so." "You're not scared of heights or anything are you?" "No." "So, what you're going to want to do is use these grips and, well, just climb with your legs and try not to fall." "Okay, this isn't rocket science." "I should be able to manage." "Want to race?" "Hey that's not fair!" "Oh yeah!" "Okay, you're pretty good at rock climbing." "But, how is your balance?" "My balance?" "So I was at the mall the other day and I saw these really cute, lace, yellow..." "Ugh!" "Hey." "What's up with you?" "Don't give me any of that crap." "You're not a saint so this whole change is what?" "A fake?" "Oh wait, are you just trying to score with that Ashley chick?" "Hey man..." "Watch it." "Then what's really going on?" "Nothing." "Yeah, keep telling yourself that." "You're being a wuss." "Don't forget who you are man." "I'm not." "Maybe I like who I am better when I'm with her." "Scores!" "Come on, that wasn't fair." "Hey do you have any props, 1770s American?" "Uh, not that I'm know of." "But there's a whole prop closet I haven't even been through yet." "Ooh, really?" "Yeah." "What are you looking for exactly?" "I'm not really sure." "I haven't found that thing to really drive home an upcoming lesson." "Well we could go and check it out after school if you want." "That'd be awesome." "Okay." "You are so obvious." "I am not." "Oh, just get back to class." "You get that paper done?" "Hey." "Hi." "So did you hear about that party this weekend?" "Oh, I'm not really one for parties." "Come on." "It'll be fun, I promise." "Uh, okay, we'll see." "Really?" "Yeah." "Okay." "See you." "See you." "Hey!" "Ow!" "Stay away from him." "Who?" "Oh please, he's not into girls like you." "Hey, Ashley." "Oh hi!" "You came!" "Yeah." "Wow, you look great." "Thanks." "Yeah, victory!" "Come on." "So... what do you think?" "Um, looks like fun." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "Well are you ready?" "For what?" "To swim." "Wait!" "No!" "Really?" "You looked hot." "Here we are." "At least it looks more promising than the last party." "Hey." "That bad?" "Lame fest." "Ooh, that one's cute." "Whoa Carrie, who's your friend?" "Watch it Burnside." "She's my cousin." "I'm Mel this is Alana." "Okay cool." "I'll see you later probably." "I'll get your number." "Maybe." "Ow." "Hey, it was an accident." "Sure it was." "It was!" "I'm sorry." "You okay?" "Yeah." "Sorry." "Hey!" "No!" "That little slut!" "Who?" "Is that...?" "No way!" "Look who's here." "Ashley!" "You know her?" "Hey are there any towels anywhere?" "Uh, sure." "Good luck." "Thanks." "Nick..." "Hey." "We need to talk." "Yeah, well I'm a little wet, so..." "You need to see this." "Hi Ashley." "What are you doing here?" "You didn't move far enough away." "People still talk about you at home you know." "About what you did." "I didn't do any of those things." "Yeah, that doesn't really matter, does it?" "I can't believe you!" "HOW COULD YOU?" "YOU RUINED MY LIFE!" "Stop, okay!" "Look, you got what you wanted." "Just leave me alone." "But what's the fun in that?" "Why?" "Why me?" "Why not?" "You got in my way." "You are so messed up." "YOU'RE SO HORRIBLE!" "YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!" "Well I'm not." "Okay?" "And if you think that you can blackmail me here, you're wrong." "I didn't think anyone would have a reason to blackmail you." "Nick." "This is a very different side of you." "What?" ""Darren gained 15 pounds over this weekend making out with donuts. "" "Did you Photoshop this?" ""I caught Libby in the closet with the janitor." "What a ho. "" ""Lisa, if you don't get some gum," "I'm going to start Lysoling your mouth. "" "That's funny..." "Yeah, it's a very interesting profile you have here, Ashley..." "Johnson." "I didn't say any of those things." "Oh really?" "You're just going to pretend like you had nothing to do with this?" "Do you know how many people you hurt back home?" "And now you're trying to do it over again here!" "Nick... please listen." "No, Ashley." "I'm done listening to all your crap." "Okay." "You're crap about the way I act... make me feel like I've done everything wrong." "Yet here you are..." "the biggest hypocrite of all." "Been so busy judging everyone else you never really stopped to look at yourself." "Nick, you have no idea what you're talking about." "YOU'RE SUCH A FAKE!" "GET OUT OF HERE!" "Yeah, no one wants you here anyway." "Just go Ashley." "Ashley?" "Ashley?" "Ashley what happened?" "Did something happen with you and Nick?" "Mom just go away." "Come on, let me in." "Please mom, would you just leave me alone?" "Then she falls in..." "Hey look, there she is!" "So embarassing..." "Should have stayed home..." "Watch out." "Did you see her last night?" "How embarassing." "Loser." "Hey Ashley." "Are you all right?" "Yeah." "I saw the video of what happened the other day." "I'm so sorry, I..." "Your're a ho you know that?" "Would you just leave me alone?" "How could you be so mean to my cousin?" "I wasn't." "And I'm willing to bet that you know that." "Yeah, but that's just our secret." "Hey!" "Next time you insult my family you better be ready to face me." "Got it?" "Mel said it took her a couple of months to run you out of town..." "I'm betting I can do it in a matter of days." "Nice locker!" "So I wanted the pink ones..." "I can't believe you trashed my locker!" "I don't know what you're talking about." "Oh, drop the act." "It wasn't me." "Okay, fine, then you had someone do it for you." "Maybe, maybe not." "You'll never know." "Why are you doing this to me?" "Do I need a reason?" "Now get out of here." "Yeah, girl fight!" "Get off of me!" "Stop it!" "That is enough!" "I expect better behavior than this from the both of you." "You are the last two girls I would expect to be fighting." "She vandalized my locker!" "I would never do something like that!" "She probably did it herself." "Have you seen what she did at her old school to get attention." "Oh stop it!" "Look at all the mean things she was saying." "That's a lie." "Mrs. Tanner, I've grown up here." "You know me." "Does this sound like me?" "Ashley, I know you're new here and your mother was sketchy on your history, but at my school we don't stand idly by while one student hurts another." "I didn't start this." "Oh please, you did it before!" "Ashley!" "What's going on here?" "Max, did you see where Ashley went?" "Yeah, she went that way." "Thanks!" "Wait, what's going on?" "Ashley?" "I'm done." "I can't do this anymore." "I spoke to Mrs. Tanner." "It's going to be okay." "Did she believe you?" "See?" "It's just happening all over again." "Why?" "Why is this happening to me?" "I don't know." "But we're going to fight this." "Why mom?" "There's no point." "Nobody believes me, it doesn't matter what I say." "And you know none of this would have happened if it weren't for you." "Ashley, that's not fair." "No, mom." "You're the one that was always saying what a good student I was, and praising me." "No wonder they came after me." "You know if it wasn't you it was going to be somebody else" "You know how many times I've wished that?" "I bet you do." "Now you're dating Mr. Carlisle... are you trying to make this worse for me?" "We're not dating." "It sure looks like you are." "Look, Ashley, if you want to blame me, fine." "I'm okay with that." "But better yet blame the girls that are at fault here." "Blame Alana and Mel, and now Carrie." "If it makes you feel any better blame everybody who never believed the truth." "I'm sure there's plenty of blame to go around." "But whatever you do, do not give them the satisfaction of tearing us apart too." "I'm sorry." "Hey..." "Ashley..." "You know, maybe we shouldn't have run before." "We gave them exactly what they wanted." "I'm just so tired of it all." "I know..." "I know." "I don't know what to do." "Well whatever you do, whatever you decide, if you stay or go, fight or run," "we're going to do it together, okay?" "Okay." "I love you mom." "I love you too." "It's okay." "Celebrations and balls were early versions of pageants." "My mother, aunts and sisters all followed tradition to be beautiful winners." "I'm sure I'll follow in their footsteps and become another winner in beauty pageant history." "Thank-you Kylie." "That was interesting." "Hey Nick, you wanna go see a movie later tonight?" "No." "Nick." "What?" "Have you seen Ashley?" "No, and I don't want to." "I can't believe you think she'd do that." "And you don't." "I know her better than that." "I don't buy it." "Okay, well you're the only one." "Look, man, I saw it, I saw what she wrote online." "Just because you heard something new about her doesn't mean that it's true." "Well it doesn't mean that it's not." "Does any of it even sound like the Ashley that you know?" "Okay look, she was pretending." "Why?" "I mean obviously people hated her for the crap that was written." "If it was her why wouldn't she take it down?" "I don't know." "My guess is that it was a fake account." "Okay, look, whatever." "You remember that rumor you started about me?" "How I put Principal Tanner on the FBI's most wanted list?" "Yeah." "So?" "What spread faster?" "That rumor or me trying to say I didn't do it?" "Just give her the benefit of the doubt." "It is important." "It helps me to know what you don't know what we need to focus on." "If you don't know how to do the whole problem... just do the bits you know how to do." "Can I help you?" "Um, yeah, is Ashley here?" "She wasn't feeling up to school today." "Is she here?" "Did she answer?" "No." "Then no." "Okay look, I just want to talk to her." "Yeah..." "Look..." "I was stupid." "Okay, I heard some things about you and I just..." "I assumed they were true." "But, I don't know what happened to you before you moved here." "But, if I'm going to hear it from anyone" "I'd rather it be you." "Well you sure seemed like you knew everything at the party." "I was stupid." "You can be mad at me." "I mean, obviously you are." "But, if it helps, throw it at me." "Feel better?" "No." "There's only one thing I can think of that'll help." "Telling everybody off?" "Do you really think that they'd care?" "Maybe." "I mean, I did." "When you called me out on being, well, me." "I just..." "I've got to leave this place behind." "Thinking of moving?" "I want to." "I don't know." "Stay." "Please?" "You've no idea what I'm going to face if I stay." "I'll be right here with you." "You said it yourself - you don't even know what happened." "That doesn't matter." "I know you." "Mine went farther." "Hey." "Hi." "I didn't know you play." "Oh, I don't." "I just figured my life is pretty much a country song anyway." "So, might as well learn." "Well..." "I brought you your missing homework assignments." "Gee, thanks." "You're welcome." "Oh, and your video presentation is due in history tomorrow." "Oh my gosh, I haven't even started on that." "Well, would you like some help?" "Hey Max... yeah it's Nick." "So I was wondering if you could help us with something?" "Yeah, yeah." "We're over at Ashley's." "Okay." "He said he'd be right over." "Okay." "I think this could work." "Yeah, it's perfect." "I guess you're innocent." "Come on..." "Ahh." "Max, this is great!" "Oh, thanks." "You sure you can pull this off?" "Hacking into the school network is cake." "Hey." "You ready?" "I think so." "Don't worry." "You're going to be great." "Okay, let's do this." "All right." "Continuing with our video presentations" "History in your life..." "Ashley." "Thank-you." "Hi, my name is Ashley Johnson." "Not Evans..." "I changed my name when I moved here." "And I'll get to why later." "But the event in history that I want to talk about happened in many parts of the world." "It happened over three hundred years ago... and resulted in the deaths of anywhere from" "50 thousand to 100 thousand people." "In colonial Masachusetts this event started in a village called Salem, where these girls started having fits." "And these fits disturbed local authorities." "What's wrong with these crazy girls?" "There's witches, three witches." "They put a curse on us." "Well bring the witches here." "So, you're a witch?" "No I'm not." "Too bad." "That's the story we're going with." "But it's not true." "Well, we'll see." "Drown her." "If she floats to the top and is alive, she's a witch." "What if she survives that?" "Then how do we execute her?" "We'll hang her." "But what if I die from drowning?" "Well then, I guess you're innocent." "Come on!" "The girls' accusations led to a chain of hysteria." "Over 200 people were accused of witchcraft and 20 were hung." "Now the colony eventually admitted that the witch trials were a mistake." "But you're probably wondering how this bit of history relates to my life." "I used to think that history didn't really matter" "Know that you could just forget the past." "Ignore it and move on." "But, where I lived before I came here..." "It wasn't enough that I was a good person," "All it took were those that wanted to ruin my reputation." "I was accused of terrible things." "And I did none of them." "All it took were two girls and false accusations." "In a matter of days I lost most of my friends." "A couple of my closest ones held on for a few more weeks." "But people were believing the lies so much that they started attacking me." "And other than my mom," "I had no one to believe in me." "So, we ran away." "And it didn't help like I thought it would." "And for those of you that have heard anything about me in the last few days... you already know that." "And if history has taught me anything, it's that there are those people out there that love to watch others suffer." "Loyalty fades under pressure." "And there are very few knights out there that are willing to fight for you." "But they are out there." "But you know what?" "My past... it isn't the end of the world." "Better things are in store." "I just have to fight for them." "So I'm standing up." "I'm not going to sit here and wait for someone to come forward and admit that they made a mistake." "Enough is enough." "I'm not going to bow down to those who get a thrill from watching me suffer." "In Salem, all it took to destroy someone that you didn't like was to call them a witch." "And today you just make up some other lie." "Essentially, I have been accused of being a witch." "No matter what I say, the witch trials find me guilty." "But I know what happened." "So, I guess it's up to you to decide whether you want to think and feel for yourself, or wait until I drown." "History is what you make of it right?" "So I'm making sure that mine is the truth." "Hi, my name is Ashley Johnson..." "You're a witch!" "No I'm not..." "I was accused of terrible things..." "So I'm standing up..." "Enough is enough!" "History is what you make of it right?" "So I'm making sure that mine is the truth." "All it took were two girls and false accusations." "In a matter of days I lost most of my friends..." "Do you want to say something to me?" "Say it to my face!" "That's them!" "So..." "Now that things are fine with you and Ashley," "Do you think it would crank up the awkwardness if you and I went out on a date?" "Yes, definitely." "But she's a strong girl..." "She can handle it." "Besides, I think she likes history."