Short Term 12 Page #11

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JESSICA:

Hey, Marcus's fish died last night.

GRACE:

What?

JESSICA:

He thinks Luis had something to dowith it.

GRACE:

Did he?

Jessica shrugs.

Grace heads out the door, determined to keep her shittogether.

INT. LUIS'S ROOM -- MORNING

We follow Grace into the room as she goes straight forsleeping Luis and rips the pillow out from under him. Luis

wakes up, slowly. Grace is in bad-ass mode.

GRACE:

Tell me you didn't do something toMarcus's fish.

LUIS:

What?

GRACE:

Luis, tell me!

LUIS:

I don't know what you're talkingabout.

She stares at him to see if he's lying. He's kind of scared

of her.

LUIS (CONT’D)

I swear.

She leaves as quickly as she came.

INT. MARCUS'S ROOM -- MORNING

Grace knocks and walks in. She finds Marcus sitting on the

floor, writing in his lyric journal.

In front of him is his fishbowl tipped over, with itscontents spilled on the floor.

GRACE:

I'm really sorry Marcus.

She watches him as he writes. His face is dark and brooding.

GRACE (CONT’D)

It wasn't Luis.

Marcus shrugs.

MARCUS:

It don’t matter.

She watches him for a moment longer.

MARCUS (CONT’D)

I'd like to be left alone if that's

cool with you.

GRACE:

Okay.

(beat)

Just let me know if you need

anything.

Grace keeps an eye on him as she leaves.

EXT. GROUP HOME HALLWAY -- MORNING

Grace walks out of Marcus' room. She looks uneasy, like

something is wrong. We move with her as she walks.

She begins to pick at her bandaged thumb.

EXT. JAYDEN'S ROOM -- MORNING

Grace continues to walk, the uneasiness building inside her,

the bubbling fear that everything around her is out of her

control.

A few girls walk from the bathroom to their room w/ towels on

their heads.

Grace stops at Jayden's room and looks in.

INT. JAYDEN'S ROOM -- CONTINUOUS

Jayden's room looks as it usually does, except she isn't

there.

EXT. JAYDEN'S ROOM -- MORNING

Grace is a bit confused, looking around the hall for ananswer. She sees Spring brushing her teeth in the doorway.

GRACE:

Have you guys seen Jayden?

Spring shakes her head.

Grace walks back to the office.

INT. GROUP HOME OFFICE -- MORNING

We continue to follow Grace as she walks up to Jessica,

sitting at the door.

GRACE:

Jess, where's Jayden?

JESSICA:

Oh, her dad showed up last nightand took her on pass for theweekend.

GRACE:

What?

Grace looks at the log in front of Jessica.

JESSICA:

Jack signed off on it.

GRACE:

Are you f***ing kidding me?

Grace storms out of the unit, heading for Jack's office.

INT. GROUP HOME JACK'S OFFICE -- MORNING

Grace blasts through the door and walks straight into Jack's

office. Jack's on the phone but Grace doesn't care.

GRACE:

How could you let her go?

Jack realizes this is serious.

JACK:

Uh, Jan, let me call you right backokay?

He hangs up the phone and looks at her for a moment.

JACK (CONT’D)

The man called, he apologized. He

had a personal emergency.

GRACE:

That's not even the point, Jack.

Did you read my report?

JACK:

Of course I did, and I was veryconcerned. But when Jayden's social

worker asked her about it, she saidher father has never been abusive

in any way.

GRACE:

Of course she said that, she'sfucking scared! What the f*** do

they teach you guys in grad school?

Jack's a bit taken aback by her temper.

GRACE (CONT’D)

Jack, in her mind, he is alwaysright behind her, watching her,

when she is sleeping, she is takinga sh*t, when she is alone with hertherapist, he is right there,

watching her, ready to pounce. And

you just expect her to just comeout and say it? Are you guysfucking stupid?! Because she was

here asking for help and you justsent her back to the f***ing shark!

Jack is very offended by her language and temper. He takes

off his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose and closeshis eyes.

JACK:

I realize you're upset, Grace, butyelling at me isn’t an effectiveform of communication.

Grace realizes she won't get to him this way. She sits down.

GRACE:

Okay, Jack. Jack I'm sorry.

Please. Cancel the pass until wefigure this out. Because I know

her, and I know that things are notgood at home.

JACK:

And how do you know that? Because

she read you a children's story?

GRACE:

Don't f*** with me Jack. I am on

the floor every day with thosekids. And last night, that girlsat next to me and she cried and

she tried to tell me the only waythat she knew how.

JACK:

Grace, you are a line staff. It'snot your job to interpret tears.

That's what our trained therapistsare here for.

GRACE:

Then your trained therapists don'tknow sh*t!

JACK:

Did she tell you that she was beingabused by her father?

GRACE:

She didn't have to!

JACK:

If I’m gonna take that child awayfrom her biological parent, yes,

she does.

GRACE:

This is bullshit.

JACK:

Grace, I have been working withthese kids for longer than you'vebeen alive, and there’s not one ofthem that I wouldn’t die for. I

look into those broken eyes, I wantto find the a**hole who did that to

them and beat the sh*t out of him.

But although I feel that way everysingle day, I know I can't trackdown everyone who’s hurt them. I

know I can't heal all their wounds.

And I can't start accusing alltheir parents of being sexualoffenders.

Grace holds back her temper.

GRACE:

Especially when their friends offriends, right Jack?

Jack looks at her, seriously.

JACK:

We're finished here, Grace.

Jack picks up the phone, dials, and swivels his chair so hisback is to Grace.

Grace stares at him for a moment, then looks at the big,

ugly, yellow lamp on his desk.

JACK (CONT’D)

Hey Jan-

She grabs the lamp and walks out of the room. The electric

cord pops from the outlet and drags behind her.

EXT. GROUP HOME, COTTAGE -- CONTINUOUS

We follow her out the front door of the main office, out intothe parking lot, where she lifts the lamp over her head andhurls it down onto the pavement, shattering it into athousand pieces.

Hold on wide shot for a moment.

INT. GROUP HOME LOUNGE -- AFTERNOON

Nate vacuums the couch, fluffing the pillows, sucking up all

the dust. He grabs one of the main pillows and flips it

over.

He stops. Sees something. Looks around to see if someone is

watching. Then reaches for it.

INT. SAMMY'S ROOM -- AFTERNOON

Nate walks into Sammy's room, taking one more peek over his

shoulder.

He walks up to Sammy, who is lying in his bed, acting like

he's sleeping.

He places one of Sammy's dolls on the bed next to him. Sammy

slowly opens his eyes, looks at the doll, looks at Nate.

Nate smiles, gets up and walks out, looking back in time to

see:

Sammy slowly wraps his hands around the doll and brings her

close to him, holding it like his little sister.

INT. GROUP HOME HALLWAY -- AFTERNOON

Grace unlocks the back door and enters, sneakily, SWOOSHING

the smoke back outside and airing out her clothes a bit.

She walks over to Marcus's room. His door is closed, rap

MUSIC blaring from inside. She opens the door and walks in.

INT. MARCUS'S ROOM -- CONTINUOUS

The music surrounds her like a rush of wind.

The room is empty, except for his fishbowl, now shattered in

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