Paper Towns
The way I figure it,
everyone gets a miracle.
Like, maybe you hit
the Powerball jackpot.
Or a last-second jumper
in the NBA Finals.
Maybe you make it
to outer space...
or marry the Queen of England,
or something.
If you consider
all the unlikely things
that happen
in all the world...
you gotta think
at least one of them
will happen to each of us.
Turns out,
my miracle was different.
Of all the houses
in all the subdivisions
in all the state of Florida...
I wound up living
across the street...
from Margo Roth Spiegelman.
Bring your own lampshade,
somewhere there's a party
Here it's never endin',
can't remember when it started
Pass around the lampshade,
There'll be plenty enough
room in jail
From the
moment I saw her...
I was hopelessly,
madly in love.
If bein' wrong's a crime,
I'm serving forever
If bein' strong's your kind
Then I need help here
with this feather
Due to our
close proximity
in both age and location...
and for no other reason
I could ever discern...
we soon became friends.
If bein' afraid is a crime
we hang side by side
At the swingin' party
down the line
Look.
Quentin.
He's dead.
We should get out
of here, Margo.
I thought you closed
your eyes when you died.
The truth is...
at the time,
it didn't feel like
that big a deal to me.
It's not like I knew the guy.
If I had a panic attack
every time someone
I didn't know died...
I'd go insane.
It was a much
bigger deal to Margo.
I figured it out.
His name is Robert Joyner.
He was 36.
Apparently he was
getting divorced
and he was sad about it.
How do you know all this?
I'm doing an investigation.
Are you in?
Sure.
Great. Come on.
Wait, what?
His wife works at SeaWorld.
I bet there's a clue.
Margo...
we can't go to SeaWorld.
It's almost 11:
00.I can get us in.
Come on!
I don't wanna
get in trouble.
It's a shame,
don't you think?
All those strings
inside him broke.
Margo always
loved mysteries.
And in everything
that came after,
I could never stop thinking...
maybe she
loved them so much...
she became one.
But I'm getting
ahead of myself.
A lot changed
in the years that followed.
Margo and I sort of...
drifted apart.
But I never stopped
thinking about her...
I'll get it! I'll get it.
...and hoping
I'd get a second chance.
Trick or treat!
Yeah.
- Happy Halloween, guys.
It wasn't just me.
Pretty much
everyone recognized...
Margo was different.
Margo was...
special.
Her life had become a series
of unbelievably
epic adventures.
Each one
too insane to be true.
Like the time
she spent three weeks
traveling with the circus.
Or the time she toured
with the Mallionaires
up and down the East Coast.
Look, if you ask
the bassist...
I'm his girlfriend
or he wants me to be...
Either way
I'm going back there...
so you might as well
make it easier for yourself
and just let me in.
And wherever she went...
for her little sister, Ruthie.
Or anyone else
she deemed worthy.
I was never
one of those people.
As senior year
drew to a close,
Margo and I
barely talked at all.
It's your senior prom.
I don't understand
the objection.
I have so many
objections, Mom.
Like slow dancing.
And fast dancing.
Any kind of dancing.
No, we're not
a thing anymore.
But she was such a nice girl.
What happened with you two?
I don't know, it just...
Just didn't work out.
Hi, Ben. Hi, Radar.
Hi, Mrs. Jacobsen.
Hey, Mrs. Jacobsen.
I would hit that so hard.
I don't see it.
What? Q!
I'm not saying
I just wanna bang your mom.
She should be respected.
Stop.
Admired. You know,
she's a real lady.
Yeah, she's my mom.
What?
I'd feed her grapes,
take her to Paris.
Treat her like the princess
she is. What, is that wrong?
It's weird.
It's always weird.
I wanna give her a bath.
That's gonna be so...
Oh! Hold on.
Uh-oh.
Hey, honey bunny.
How's prom looking for you?
Not a chance, Bloody Ben.
No.
No!
Freshmen know that story?
When Ben was 12...
he got a kidney infection
and started literally
pissing blood. Oh, God.
By the time he came
back from the hospital...
the entire school...
that his condition
was the result
of chronic masturbation.
I'm never gonna
get a prom date, am I?
Prom is a waste of time
and a waste of money.
Radar's going to prom.
Radar has a girlfriend,
so he has to go to prom.
Lame.
Radar, has she
been to your house yet?
Oh, yeah. Has your girlfriend
come to your house yet?
Stop. Isn't there a certain reason
why she doesn't
come to your house?
Radar, what up with that?
You know very well
"what up with that".
We just like
to hear you say it.
Could you tell us again?
Because of what?
I cannot hear you.
Can you project?
My parents own
the world's largest collection
of black Santas!
Oh, yeah.
You heard that correctly.
Radar's parents
were trying to get into
The Guinness Book
of World Records...
for the largest collection
of black Santas in one house.
There were over a thousand.
And they were everywhere.
And not just at Christmas.
Even so, Radar was
the first one of us
to get a serious girlfriend.
You need a prom date.
Why don't you ask that girl
you slept with at summer camp?
Oh. She's made up.
No, she's not.
But you can ask the girl
from Saskatchewan.
Oh, yeah, you could ask...
Oh, no, she's also made up.
No, they are both real.
Not made up.
Define "real".
- I don't know.
Gotta go.
Hi.
- Hey.
Hey. Let's go.
We have 10 minutes.
No, we're fine. Let's go.
Hi, Angela.
Bye, Angela.
It was nice
talking to you, Angela.
Oh, God. She's great.
Glad we can
have these chats.
So most of my days
were exactly like this.
I threw myself
into my classes...
SATs, extracurriculars.
By the end of high school...
I barely
thought of her at all.
I just had to graduate,
go off to college,
find someone new.
And forget the miracle
ever happened.
And it almost
worked out that way.
Until this one night.
Margo?
Shh.
Margo, hey.
I need to borrow your car.
What?
Your car.
I don't have a car.
I mean your mom's car.
Why can't you use your car?
My parents locked
the keys in the safe
beneath their bed.
And while I'm sure
I could go in there
and crack the combo...
it just so happens that
Myrna Mountweazel's
in there...
and that goddamn dog
despises me.
Anyway, so like I said,
I need to borrow your car.
Mmm-mmm.
Also, I need you
to drive the car...
because I have nine things
I need to do tonight...
and more than half of them
require a getaway driver.
What, are you
committing felonies?
Ooh. Remind me, is breaking
and entering a felony?
Yes. What?
Well.
Margo!
Okay.
I gotta go,
so are you in or out?
Why can't you just get
one of your underlings
to help you out?
Like Jase,
or Lacey, or Becca?
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"Paper Towns" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/paper_towns_15553>.
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