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HELENA:

Arnie, I feel like Alice stepping

through the looking glass.

ARNIE:

That's a very apt analogy, Helena.

Now, go home and be with your

children.

EXT. BUILDING PARKING LOT - DAY

Helena exits. Her expression is set as she drives. She

turns a corner in the shopping district, passing JAVIER AND

MANOLO who are walking down the street. Tourists, drunk

Marines and the homeless piss away another day.

We follow them into a bar with blackened windows and a

discrete sign.

INT. BAR - DAY

This is a place where men come to meet men. And it's already

lively even at this early hour. Javier and Manolo find a

seat and wait.

LATER:

Javi is working on his second beer

when he seems to recognize somebody.

ACROSS THE ROOM:

Francisco "Frankie" Flowers has entered the bar. Javi watches

him circulate through the room then settle at the bar. Javier

finishes his beer, rises, and takes the empty seat next to

Francisco. Manolo watches.

Very quickly Javi strikes up a conversation. We don't hear

what they're saying but it doesn't matter because Francisco

clearly likes Javi.

Off Francisco's anticipatory smile --

OMITTED:

OMITTED:

EXT. MILITARY BASE - MEXICO - DAY

The back of a blue van opens and a blindfolded Francisco

falls onto the ground.

Surrounding him are Javi and Salazar, who watch as two of

Salazar's MEN drag Francisco away toward an abandoned mission-

style building.

SALAZAR:

(clearly pleased with

Javi)

I'm curious how you did this with

such economy.

JAVIER:

Everybody has a weakness.

CUT TO:

EXT. SOMEBODY'S PARENTS' MANSION, CINCINNATI - NIGHT

With its old-growth trees and manipulated shrubbery, the

large house is shrouded in the mystery of well-heeled

suburbia. It is very late.

INT. SOMEBODY'S PARENTS' MANSION - NIGHT

Somebody's parents are out of town and the house feels empty.

Big empty rooms with expensive furniture nobody sits on.

Faint MUSIC echoes through the house.

INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT

High ceilings of a 1930's kitchen. Vodka bottles and

cranberry juice and limes are spilled across a counter. ON

THE RHODES AGAIN by Morcheeba plays from a jam-box on a

counter.

Maybe ten TEENAGERS are partying hard in this kitchen. It's

weird and disassociated, people wandering in and out, playing

with kitchen utensils, heavily f***ed up.

There are drugs on a mirror on the eat-in table. Caroline

and Seth and two friends sit around this table. VANESSA,

16, almost pretty, is hitting a freebase pipe and holds the

hit. F***ED-UP BOWMAN, 17, super-preppy with a wan, Baby

Huey face, takes a slug of vodka.

They are jittery, sweaty, tweaked, f***ed-up --

CAROLINE:

All I'm saying, what I'm saying, is

it never seems like anybody ever

says anything that matters to them,

like we all look at each other and

nod with responses we've been trained

to make, not real responses, just

social conventions, phony, fake

smiles, surface bullshit... I mean,

we're all smart and do we have any

idea what each other are like, really

like? Do I know what Seth's afraid

of, or Vanessa, or f***ed-up Bowman?

Everyone looks at F***ed-up Bowman who grinds his jaw

appreciatively --

CAROLINE:

...Probably, but do I ever say this

stuff, just say, "hey, I'm

uncomfortable in this crowd, I don't

know what the f*** I'm doing, either?

I know you're afraid and it's okay--

"

Seth's words come quickly, they're riffing, totally in sync,

totally wired --

SETH:

We act like we have all the answers

and we're totally invincible like

our parents seem and their parents

before them and it's f***ing bullshit --

F***ed-up Bowman takes another slug of vodka and almost pukes.

F***ED-UP BOWMAN

For instance --

SETH:

For instance I know you jack-off

thinking about Caroline even though

you're supposedly "in love" with

Vanessa. Whatever the f*** that

means?

(a digression)

I mean, what is that convention,

anyway? We're all these random

collections of self-interest, and

then we just decide that now we're

two people walking along --

Caroline expels a hit of rock cocaine --

CAROLINE:

And Vanessa doesn't think she's pretty

so she does all these weird f***ing

diets which is totally about self-

esteem. And she's beautiful.

(beat)

And that's not even fair. Because

listen to me. I'm f***ing lying

right now. This is exactly what I'm

talking about... I'm supposedly

talking about you, making some big

point about you, and it's really

about me. So I should talk about

me, not you, not even the universal

"you..."

(takes a beat)

Okay. Okay, I'm worried I'm not

really smart or that I'm not nearly

as smart as people think I am, or

that my parents' expectations have

been way too high since I was five,

I mean who knows they're going to

Harvard when they're five, not that

I'm blaming them for anything because

everything's great, and I may not

even get in, but we all feel this

sh*t and we never acknowledge it and

if we can't acknowledge it to the

people we care the most about then

who will we ever say it too and what

kind of life will that be?

They all look at each other with love. This is an adventure

and they're having a connection --

F***ED-UP BOWMAN

I jack-off thinking about Seth.

Everybody I know does.

Bowman does another huge hit of freebase.

CAROLINE:

(disgusted)

Ach, that's what I'm talking about.

Sarcasm. Always f***ing sarcasm.

You're afraid and you think if you

admit it people will think you're

weak or won't like you --

SETH:

We live our lives by these unspoken

rules that are handed to us.

They all look at each other, vibrating with the moment --

VANESSA:

Let's be different --

F***ED-UP BOWMAN

I can't feel my hands.

Bowman looks around, squinting, confused. He's chalk white.

F***ED-UP BOWMAN

I'm serious --

Suddenly, he clutches his chest and begins to twitch. Puke

and foam come from his mouth. He seizes and falls from the

chair. Vanessa SCREAMS.

Seth and Caroline push the table aside to get a better look.

Other people in the kitchen slowly take notice.

VANESSA:

He's blue. He isn't breathing --

CAROLINE:

Is he breathing?

Bowman's eyes have rolled back in his head.

SETH:

What do we do? Okay. F***ed-up

Bowman's turning blue. Doctor. We

need a doctor.

VANESSA:

Your dad's a doctor. Call him --

SETH:

He's a research doctor. You're

dad's a doctor, too --

VANESSA:

What kind of research?

SETH:

Mapping the f***ing pig genome.

We'll call your dad, he's a

neurosurgeon --

VANESSA:

It's three a.m. I'm not supposed

to be here. I snuck out --

CAROLINE:

Are you kidding... I'm staying

with you --

SETH:

He's gonna f***ing die right here

on the kitchen floor --

ANOTHER KID:

He can't. My parents are in

Barbados --

OMITTED:

EXT. SUBURBAN HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ENTRANCE - NIGHT

The Taurus wagon races up to the emergency room of Suburban

Hospital. The back door opens and Bowman tumbles out onto

the wheelchair ramp under the fluorescent lights.

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