SCENE I: Wal-Mart Bathroom-Early Morning

The screen is completely black. JOSIE begins to speak in a disconnected voice.

JOSIE:

When I was eighteen years old I killed my unborn child. I'd like to say it was an accident, but…

FADE IN

JOSIE sits on a toilet with her legs spread wide and her right hand between them in her crotch. Over the intercom, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey belt out "When You Believe" in time to the muffled sound of pissing in the toilet. JOSIE stares intently at a poster on the wall across from her explaining how Wal-Mart employees deal with shoplifters. The pissing sound stops and she lifts her hands up, staring impatiently at the little stick in her hand. Her anxiety turns to disbelief as the little viewing window slowly develops one blue line, then another.

JOSIE

(whispers)

…shit.

The intercom music is drowned out by Rise Against screaming out "The Art of Losing" as JOSIE jumps up and down in the bathroom, stopping ever so often to kick the toilet, the wall, and the door. She glances briefly at the sink in the corner, but it seems to be falling apart already on its own, so she leaves it alone. She screams and kicks a little more before collapsing against the wall, pregnancy test still tightly grasped in her hand. The music ceases, replaced again by the pop singers and she starts to cry.

CUT TO:

JOSIE, wiping her eyes, opens the door of the bathroom to find an EMPLOYEE and a MANAGER standing in the doorway, glaring at her sternly.

EMPLOYEE

That's the one. She totally stole that. (He points to the pregnancy stick still in JOSIE'S hand)

The MANAGER looks JOSIE up and down, staring at her pigtails, her boobs, and the short plaid skirt she wears as her school uniform. He sighs sympathetically.

MANAGER

Look, missy. I can tell you've been through a lot. Now, if you'll just pay for that now, we can forget this whole thing ever happened.

He glances back at her boobs. JOSIE catches the glance and turns bright red. Her mouth opens slightly in fear and her hands move subconsciously to tug at her uniform nervously. She looks down, then looks up again at him with regained composure.

JOSIE

Yeah. Yeah, of course. (She reaches for her bag) I just, you know, forgot to pay. I really did mean to, you know. Um. The money's right here, just let me get it out of my-

She stops midway through the sentence and starts to sprint as the Rise Against song returns. She heads out the employee door in the back of the building and behind the Wal-mart, where she turns to run down an alley. The employee and manager run screaming after her, but give up after she turns the corner. The music dies out when JOSIE slows to a walk. She heads out of the alley onto the side of a busy road, which she walks along until she reaches God's Almighty Conception High School. She stops to study the sign with disdain for a moment, then looks down and realizes the pregnancy test is still in her hand. She quickly stuffs it into the front pocket of her messenger bag before continuing through the crowd of high school students dressed exactly like her. A group of girls, who all wear their hair in variations of JOSIE'S pigtails and a boy who manages to look a little like JOSIE himself all wave to her simultaneously. She looks down for a moment, then looks up and smiles ecstatically, waving her arm enthusiastically.

JOSIE

Hey guys! What's up?

LINA

Guess who Rina's taking to turnabout?

JOSIE

(with fake enthusiasm)

Who?

RINA

(bashfully)

Derrick

JOSIE

Canning?

AINA

Do we KNOW any other Derrick's? Especially one's that would go with Rina?

The girls giggle while the boy stands awkwardly to the side, staring at the ground. JOSIE glances over at him and notices his behavior. She walks over and hugs him, giving him the only sincere smile she's had all morning.

JOSIE

: (shyly)

Hey.

MURRAY

Hey.

JOSIE

What's up?

MURRAY

(stares at the ground again)

N-nothing.

JOSIE looks confused for a minute until RINA pulls her over and whispers in her ear. She looks at the ground, then back at MURRAY. Once free from RINA's grasp, she heads back over to MURRAY. Getting up on her tiptoes, she kisses him lightly on the cheek and takes both of his hands in hers.

JOSIE

So. Are you going to turnabout with me or not?

MURRAY smiles and kisses her on the forehead, and they embrace. The other girls watch and giggle at the displays of affection. They make obnoxious cooing noises and the couple breaks off, laughing. No one in the group notices as some kid rushes past, knocking the pregnancy test out of JOSIE's bag. HAROLD, a kind of creepily attractive kid standing nearby, sees it and picks it up. His eyes widen as he looks from the pregnancy test to JOSIE and back again. He pockets it and walks back to his friends.

END SCENE I