CUT TO:
INT. STUDENT UNION - LATER
A huge one-stop for students. Comprised of several open floors, it looks like a mini-mall.
A cafeteria, book store, movie theatre, arcade, etc. fill the place.
Gale moves through the lobby area when she sees Debbie Salt heading her off. She tries to bolt but she's not fast enough.
DEBBIE SALT Hi, Gale, any leads?
GALE Tons and tons.
DEBBIE SALT Where is Sidney's father?
GALE Home--where he lives.
DEBBIE SALT And are the police sure about that?
GALE Why don't you ask them?
DEBBIE SALT Already did. He's the perfect suspect, don't you think?
GALE No, I don't.
DEBBIE SALT Parents are always responsible. It all starts in the home.
GALE Look, I know you kinda hold me up as your career template and it gives you some anal charge to challenge me but you win. Okay? I'm not interested in the scoop anymore. Excuse me.
Gale charges off, moving to a nearby newsstand. The tabloid papers exploit what's going on. Crazy headlines about the murders dominate the newsrack.
Gale is clearly bothered by this. Just then, a phone RINGS. She pulls it from her pocket.
GALE (cont'd) Hello?
MAN'S VOICE Hello, Gale.
It's the Killer. His voice is unmistakable.
GALE Who is this?
MAN'S VOICE I'll give you one guess.
Gale knows immediately. She looks around for help. A CAMPUS COP is across thelobby.
GALE Who are you?
MAN'S VOICE That's not the way we play the game.
GALE I don't play games.
MAN'S VOICE What if your life depended on it?
Gale gets testy with him.
GALE What do you want?
MAN'S VOICE You're pretty when you're angry.
Gale stops cold. She looks around. The place is alive with people. He could be anywhere.
GALE Where are you?
MAN'S VOICE I'm everywhere.
She continues moving to the CAMPUS COP.
GALE Oh--a God complex
MAN'S VOICE Stay away from the cop.
A deadly warning. Gale stops. She plays it cool. She looks above her to the upper floor. STUDENTS hang over a balcony.
GALE What do you want from me?
MAN'S VOICE It's what you want from me.
Silence.
GALE What do you mean?
MAN'S VOICE You are writing another book, aren't you? That's why you're here. The story's not over.
GALE You're getting obvious.
MAN'S VOICE No, Gale, I'm just getting started. Seeya soon.
GALE No, wait...
MAN'S VOICE Watch your back.
CLICK. The phone goes dead. Gale spins around, doing quick circle to make sure no one's around her. She turns and heads off, right into...
DEWEY. They both GASP.
CUT TO:
INT. CAMPUS THEATRE - DAY
A large tiered theatre. Seats five-hundred. Old but preserved and updated. A rehearsal is
in progress. SEVERAL ACTORS stand stage center running lines as stagehands work on
the set around them.
Sidney is one of them. She moves around the stage, very animated. More alive than ever. She dons a Russian accent. Convincing. A promising actress.
SIDNEY (in character) "Pain, yah, such pain. Pain."
Pain. Pain.
An awkward silence. Everyone looks at each other. Finally, Lois, the bitchy sorority girl speaks up.
LOIS That's not the line. You jumped.
SIDNEY Shit. Did I?
LOIS About a page.
DIRECTOR (off stage) CUT! Let's take five.
The actors break up as Sidney, frustrated, walks across a make shift bridge that takes her across the orchestra pit and down the stairs into the house where Hallie sits watching. Sid's bodyguards can be seen sitting scattered about.
HALLIE That was good.
SIDNEY Yeah, right.
The DIRECTOR, mid-30's, intelligent, friendly.
DIRECTOR Sid, why don't you get outta here? We'll pick this up tomorrow.
Sid nods in agreement. The Director smiles at her.
DIRECTOR (cont'd) Work on the accent.
She grabs her things and heads off with Hallie when...
VOICE Sid?
Sid turns to find Randy moving through an aisle. He had been watching rehearsal. Sid's face tenses.
HALLIE Who is that guy?
SIDNEY It's okay. Look, Hallie, I'll meet you outside.
HALLIE No, girletta, I don't leave your side.
SIDNEY I've got my entourage. Take a break. Please.
Sid is definite. Hallie backs off, heading up the aisle, against her better wishes.
SIDNEY What do you want?
RANDY I'm sorry, Sid, please. I never should have gone along with Gale. I know I'm stupid. I wish I had some good reason to give you but I'm just stupid. Please, Sid, don't be mad at me.
SIDNEY Do you work for her now?
RANDY Well, yeah...she gave me a job. Freelance. It got me outta Woodsboro. I'm sorry about Cotton and yesterday. It was a bad idea. I knew it was a bad idea but it seemed like a quasi harmless bad idea. Ah, shit, Sid, I'm fucked up. Sidney looks at him Long and hard, a smile slowly appearing.
SIDNEY Me, too. Randy. Me too.
He nods, knowingly.
SIDNEY (cont'd) Wanna get outta here?
CUT TO:
INT. CAMPUS SECURITY STATION - AFTERNOON
Gale and Dewey are with Captain Tyler and Sheriff Evans.
CAPTAIN TYLER If he calls again--find help. Don't engage him in conversation. I'm gonna put a man on you--to cover you.
DEWEY I can do it, Captain.
CAPTAIN TYLER Thanks, Dewey, but I was thinking I'd pull Jesse off...
GALE I'd prefer Dewey, Captain.
Tyler doesn't argue. He's too crazed. Dewey avoids Gale's stare.
DEWEY How's the name search going?
CAPTAIN TYLER 37 usages of Himbry located in the registar's office. 9 Tatum's, 47 Riley's. And that's just on campus. It's hopeless.
CUT TO:
INT. CINEPLEX MOVIE THEATRE - LITTLE LATER
A movie is in progress. STAB.
ON SCREEN
A young girl, looking a lot like Tori Spelling, runs down a school corridor. She runs
smack into a young, handsome boy. He could very well be Johnny Depp.
TORI (in movie) Oh, God, Billy, you scared me. What are you doing here?
JOHNNY (in movie) They let me go, Sid, I didn't do it. I'm innocent.
IN THE THEATRE
Sid and Randy sit in the small cineplex mall type theatre. Behind them sit Sid's trusting
police guards. Sidney shifts in her seat.
RANDY You okay, Sid?
SIDNEY Yeah.
ON SCREEN
Tori Spelling and Johnny Depp continue their dramatic discussion.
JOHNNY (in movie) When my mom left my dad, I accepted it. That's just the way the cookie crumbles. Moms leave.
TORI Yeah, but your mom left town. She's not dead. My mom's dead. Do you hear me? She's dead. Dead. And she's never coming back. Ever, Ever.
IN THE THEATRE
Sidney grows increasingly uneasy.
CUT TO:
INT. STUDENT CAFETERIA - LATER
Mickey, Joel, and Derek are crowded around a table in the Student Union Cafeteria.
DEREK My documentary is due on Tuesday.
MICKEY What's your subject?
DEREK I WAS A SORORITY SLUT.
JOEL You should of done it on Sidney. That would have been a cool.
DEREK She wouldn't let me.
MICKEY Not with Primetime Live and 20/20 coming at her. I'd save my shit too.
Hallie comes waltzing up.
DEREK Where's Sid?
HALLIE Damned if I know. She ditched me.
DEREK You weren't supposed to leave her alone.
HALLIE I didn't say she was alone. That guy-- from her home town showed up. They went off together.
Hallie plops down, giving Mickey a big kiss.
MICKEY I've been waiting for you, baby.
JOEL Is that cool? Just to leave her like that?
HALLIEShe's got guards with her.
DEREK What guy?
HALLIERandy somebody.
JOEL Randy Meeks. He was with Sid that night in Woodsboro.
MICKEY Her old boyfriend?
JOEL No, she killed her boyfriend. Randy was a friend.
MICKEY Watch out, Derek.
HALLIE He tried to kill her first.
MICKEY Is Sid in therapy?
JOEL She was for a while. Gave it up.
DEREK How do you know so much about her?
JOEL I read the book.
MICKEY I could use some therapy.
DEREK Should we be worried about this guy? Isn't it kinda weird he just showed up and now people are dying?
HALLIE He seemed harmless.
DEREK Aren't most serial killers seemingly harmless?
JOEL And white.
MICKEY Easy black boy.
JOEL It's documented. Most serial killers are attractive--slightly off white males in their twenties.
HALLIE That's you, honey.
Hallie kisses Mickey again.
MICKEY I got a surprise for you.
HALLIE What?
Suddenly, he leaps up on the cafeteria table and begins to sing at the top of his lungs.
MICKEY "If I should stay. I would only be in your way. So I'll go. And yet, I know, I'll think of you each step of the way...
HALLIE Don't do this.
MICKEY "And IIIIIIIIIYEIIIII will always love you OOOOOOWUOOOOOOOO will always love you."
Everyone has taken notice. They begin to cheer and sing with him.
JOEL (to Derek) Whitney?
DEREK I think he's doing Dolly.
MICKEY "And I hope life treats you kind and I hope you have all you dreamed of offffff. I wish you JOYYY."
DEREK Definitely Whitney.
Hallie can't help but be touched. He finishes up, ending on a last, final note. As he does, he pulls a necklace from around his neck. His Greek letters dangle from it. He places them around her neck, kissing her.
JOEL Isn't that a big no-no?
DEREK I think so.
Hallie breaks away. She swats him.
HALLIE You're going to get it. You know what happens.
MICKEY But I love you. And I want the whole world to know it.
Hallie smiles, her eyes misty. Derek and Joel eye each other.
CUT TO:
INT. CINEPLEX MOVIE THEATRE - LITTLE LATER
Sid and Randy continue watching the movie. The guards behind them are way engrossed.
ON SCREEN
It's the end of the movie. Tori Spelling is running for her life from two killers - Johnny
Depp and his sidekick. She finds herself trapped in the kitchen. Johnny Depp holds the
knife up to Tori's face.
TORI Why did you kill my mother?
JOHNNY Because she was sleeping with my dad. She's the reason my mom left. She was a whore just like you.
IN THE THEATRE
These words sting Sid. Randy notices her flinching.
ON SCREEN
TORI My mom was no whore. Don't you say that.
JOHHNY Whore! Whore! Whore! Whore!
Tori starts to cry.
IN THE THEATRE
Tears find their way down Sidney's cheeks.
ON SCREEN
Johnny Depp and his murderous sidekick start stabbing each other.
JOHNNY (cont'd) It's the perfect alibi, Sidney.
SIDEKICK Just like in the movies.
IN THE THEATRE
Sidney can't take it anymore. She gets up and races out of the theatre.
INT. LOBBY - A SECOND LATER
Sid emerges from the theatre and into the lobby. She moves into a curtained section where
the water fountain is. She looks up and sees Randy flying out of the theatre. He exits
outside looking for her. The cops are right behind him.
VOICE Hello Sidney.
Sidney spins around. Cotton Weary stands before her. shoulders slumped, his face pained.
SIDNEY Cotton.
COTTON Can we talk?
SIDNEY I don't think that's a good idea.
COTTON Look, yesterday wasn't my idea. That was all Gale and dollar signs and ratings.
SIDNEY What do you want from me, Cotton?
COTTON You could start with an apology.
SIDNEY I did that.
COTTON You wrote me a letter. Very cordial. Very appropriate.
SIDNEY How? What could I say that would make a difference? I took away a year of your life-- how do I apologize for that?
COTTON I wish it was just a year. I lost everything because of you. I have nothing now. Look at me, this is what I've become. A long silence. Sidney is hanging on by threads.
SIDNEY Cotton, there isn't one day, one hour, one minute when I'm not reminded of what I've done. I have not had one second of reprieve and no therapy or religion or spiritual plane can ever erase what I feel in every vein of my being. And I wish I had in me what you need to hear but I don't think the words exist.
More silence.
COTTON I just thought if I saw you face to face, maybe it would help.
SIDNEY Did it?
COTTON It helped me realize one thing.
SIDNEY What?
COTTON You're a self-obsessed little cunt like your mother.
And with that, Cotton flips on a dime. His face turns evil. Sidney races by him as he throws out his arm, stopping her just as...
THE TWO POLICE GUARDS appear, grabbing him from behind. They throw him against the wall, retaining him. Randy appears at Sid's side.
RANDY You okay?
Sid nods as she watches the officers arrest him. They do a body search, pulling from his coat a large revolver. Cotton just smiles.
CUT TO:
EXT. CAMPUS LIBRARY - LATER
Sid and Randy walk up the steps to the school library. The ever helping guards behind
them.
SIDNEY I don't know. I don't think Cotton did it. It's too predictable.
RANDY If he's innocent he'll have an alibi.
SIDNEY I guess Gale's going to be pissed she missed her exclusive.
RANDY I'll relay it. You sure you don't wanna go home?
SIDNEY I have this button I press. See? It insulates me. She mimes an air lock valve.
RANDY I gotta coupla of those buttons myself.
There's something sad about this exchange. These two people understand each other
SIDNEY Thanks for the movie, Randy.
RANDY Anytime. Sorry it sucked. It just had that been there done that feeling.
Sidney watches as Randy shoves off, disappearing across campus. Sid turns to find Derek leaning against a pole.
DEREK I had the four o'clock shift. You weren't there. You had us worried. Is everything okay?
SIDNEY No, it's not.
DEREK I don't really know what happened in Woodsboro, Sid. But I know you don't trust me.
SIDNEY It's not you, Derek. I don't trust myself. I tend to make big selection errors when it comes to men.
DEREK Then I'll make this easy for you. I like you. I'm crazy about you, Sid. But I'm gonna stay away. Until you say otherwise.
A long moment. He looks at her, hoping she'll say otherwise.
SIDNEY I'm sorry, Derek.
Derek nods. So that's how it's going to be. He turns and wanders off, not looking back once.
