CUT TO:
Fin sits on the couch while a new girl enters the room (CALI 18, Sarcastic, Brown eyes), having a conversation with a nervous kid (BART 16, Weird, Funny) that is not going well.
BARTHOLOMEW
(Sweating)
So, your name’s Cali? Is that short for anything, or are your parents from there?
CALI
No Bart, everyone’s name doesn’t have to be short for something.
Cali pauses before asking a question.
CALI (CONT’D)
Speaking of, did your parents get Bartholomew from the Bible or The Simpsons.
BARTHOLOMEW
They just thought it was a pretty name.
CALI
Yeah let’s go with that.
Cali pats Bart on the shoulder, grabs a book off the shelf and sits on the opposite side of the couch next to Fin.
Fin looks at her and then notices the jocks with beer bottles shoved in their pants.
FIN
(Whispers to himself)
Ugh, that looks so wrong.
CUT TO: Kyler and the girls are now outside watching the football players drive their trucks in the pasture shooting roman candles at each other in the distance.
PARTY GIRL 1
I wish people were swimming, I bought a new swimsuit just for this.
PARTY GIRL 2
Aw, I forgot mine. I guess I could just go in without it.
PARTY GIRL 1
Nobody’s swimming, just forget about it.
KYLER
No no no, I’ll get everybody in the pool, you two just get undressed and ready.
The girls smile while Kyler gets the help of some dudes and climbs on to the roof of the house.
KYLER (CONT’D)
(Screams)
CANNON-BALL!!!
The two on the couch sit in silence reading together when we hear a big splash, Kyler had jumped off the roof into the pool and started splashing everybody. The place erupts with cheers while everyone else follows him in.
CALI
God if my mom came home she’d kill Ash.
FIN
You’re related to Ash? Now I can see why you were so harsh to Bart, it’s in your blood.
CALI
Ha, we are NOT blood, thankfully, he was cleaning the house yesterday getting it ready for the party and I saw him pick up one of my socks, smell it, and stick it in his back pocket. He’s disgusting.
FIN
(laughs)
Disgusting is one of the many words that fit Ash.
CALI
Are ya’ll pretty close?
FIN
Close is one way to say it… have you ever seen Tom and Jerry?
CALI
Of course.
FIN
Yeah, it’s like that.
CALI
(Laughs)
He’s always been a bit of a bully… when we were kids I had a crush on one of the boy’s next door, Ash told them I had a very contagious disease and if I got near any of them, they would likely die.
FIN
(Laughs)
Yikes
CALI
(Laughs)
I know right. So, one day I’m riding my bike home from school and I notice that the boy has his bag unzipped so I tap him on the shoulder to let him know, HE RAN AWAY SCREAMING when he saw me.
FIN
(Laughs)
Tell me he at least zipped up his bag.
CALI
Absolutely not, all of his stuff spilled out, I got a free bookmark out of it though, so it’s really his loss.
FIN
Bookmark thief huh, you must be really boring If book marks get you excited.
CALI
Says the boy that brought a book to a party.
FIN
It’s a part of the costume.
CALI
Ohhh, So you weren’t sitting on the couch reading it when I came in.
FIN
(Pauses)
Better than shooting my shot with girls like you and getting shot down like Bart.
They look over and see Bart talk to two other girls as they throw their drinks in his face.
FIN (CONT’D)
Oof.
Cali pauses before asking a question.
CALI
How do you know that you’d get shot down if you never shoot?
Cali looks at Fin and grins, they lock eyes and the camera focuses on Cali’s dark brown eyes, and we realize that they are sitting slightly closer than they were at the beginning of this conversation.
Fin notices how close they are and starts sweating.
FIN
(Laughs Nervously)
I’m not the “get the girl” type, that would be my best friend. We have done everything together since we were kids, we’re basically inseparable.
CALI
Well it’s good you have somebody, I’m new here, I haven’t got around to the making friends part, I think I’d rather focus on school and keep taking my college classes. I’m already stressed out enough as it is.
FIN
I get that, sometimes it feels like no matter how hard you work, or how much time you sacrifice, all you’re doing is trying to forget about LIFE and just focus more on your STRUGGLES when it really should be the opposite.
Fin pauses and then asks a question.
FIN (CONT’D)
Do you know what you wanna do someday? Like what you really want to be? I’ve been thinking about this for the last year and I’m really tired of just doing what my parents wanted for me or what my friends think I should do. I just want to figure out what I want to do.
CALI
(Sips drink)
I think I’ve always known what I wanted to do, when I was 8 one of my sisters got really sick… after a few months the doctors said there was nothing left they could do to help her without charging us thousands of dollars we didn’t have.
Fin looks at her saddened and quiet.
CALI (CONT’D)
When she died; I felt like I was missing my other piece. Making friends wasn’t the same, no one understood what it was like. Ever since then I’ve been working my ass off to be a nurse. I wanna be there for people like my sister, who didn’t get to forget about her struggles.
She pauses before speaking again.
CALI (CONT’D)
You know, I think some people come into your life at the exact moment they’re supposed to… My sister did that for me.
FIN
I know what you mean, I lost my dad a little over a year ago, he also died to soon, I know how hard losing someone like that can be.
Cali gives a sad look, as if she understands what he’s going through.
CALI
Yeah, I don’t normally talk to people about it, but I just had a feeling you would actually listen.
Fin Smiles.
FIN
My dad was always there for me, he basically raised me and my best friend. He taught us these rules, called it the “bro code”, it’s something him and his friends would do, and we would always follow it no matter what.
CALI
Aw, I love that, you and your dad seem really close. What kind of rules were they?
FIN
The first rule was that dibs always decided who got what, if you didn’t like that, you’d have to challenge the person that called it to a game of their choosing, dad always picked rock paper scissors, and I somehow lost every time.
CALI
I’m pretty sure it’s 100 percent impossible to lose every time at rock paper scissors.
FIN
(Laughs)
Well you’ve never played against me.
Cali sticks her hand up in the motion to play rock paper scissors.
CALI
You can’t really be that bad.
FIN
Just wait.
The two play rock paper scissors 4 times and Fin loses every single one.
CALI
I’m literally trying to make you win.
FIN
It’s literally the hardest game ever invented.
CALI
(Laughs)
It’s rock paper scissors, not rocket science.
CALI (CONT’D)
Okay one more time, I’m going to go rock you go paper okay?
FIN
Okay. Okay.
The two look at each other smiling as they say Rock Paper Scissors Shoot. Fin picks scissors and loses
CALI
What did you do that for!?
FIN
I thought you were trying to trick me! I didn’t think you’d actually go rock, what do you think I am, stupid?
CALI
(Laughs)
I’m starting to.
Fin throws his head back in disappointment, rolls his eyes and then lets out a light laugh.
FIN
My names Fin.
CALI
(Mocking Bart)
What’s your real name? Fineas?
FIN
No Cali, everyone’s name doesn’t have to be short for something.
CALI
(smiles)
Caliope (Kuh-LIE-uh-pee.)
Fin looks confused after Cali corrects him.
CALI (CONT’D)
My real name is Caliope.
At this point the two on the couch are very close to each other when we see a firework shoot into the house exploding and sending the place into a frenzy.
Zeke bursts into the room with a pizza box in hand
ZEKE
Fin, we’ve got to go. The cops are coming.
FIN
But.
Fin looks around and Cali is gone, lost in the swarm of people panicking.
The camera pans to outside and we see multiple vehicles driving around shooting Roman candles at each other when one flies off into the distance and heads toward the road when a cop with his lights on speeds toward the party. The roman candle goes into his window and causes him to crash in the ditch.
FIN (CONT’D)
(Panicked)
Okay. Let’s go.