Keep It Steady Episode 9

MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Good evening, Columbus High students! Tonight is Thursday, May 18, 2006. Be advised this episode contains extremely strong language. Battle of the Bands is still happening, next up is the ska band that Ponni was excited to go see, led by Heather on lead sax. And in another life, Zach Wilson, maybe you’d still care about that.

ZACH NARRATION

I don’t need to remember the way to the gas station. All I have to do is head towards the smoke.

The glowing numbers on the tape deck say 9:57. It’s surreal. My friend's life has been blown into fragments, a before and after with a sharp crack down the middle, and The Daily Show isn't even on yet. The world is still awake, and Tori's house is burning down.

The Shell station by the McDonald’s on Fifth has never felt so sinister. The yellow is garish against the smoky sky, and there's something mocking in the neon signs for beer and lotto tickets. Tori is leaning by the entrance, smoking a cigarette and shivering despite a sweatshirt, her bare legs too pale against the black of her boots. A man in a suit glares at her on his way out, for the smoking or the boots or maybe for the shortness of her skirt. She hunches her shoulders against it, and I want to punch that guy in the mouth.

FX: A VAN ROLLS TO A STOP. THE WINDOW ROLLS DOWN.

ZACH

Hey.

TORI

Thank god.

FX: TORI YANKS OPEN THE PASSENGER DOOR AND CLIMBS INSIDE, SLAMMING THE DOOR BEHIND HER.

ZACH

Are you two alright?

TORI

Don’t worry, we got out before they lit it.

ZACH

(BLANKLY) They set your house on fire for the insurance.

TORI

It went up like firewood. (MAKING THE SOUND OF A FLARE OF FIRE) Whoof.

ZACH

Where are they?

TORI

Still talking to the firefighters, I think. Told ‘em we were stepping out for cigarettes. When Cody comes out, we should book it. Not sure how long before they think to check on us.

ZACH

Are you…

TORI

I told Cody if he was good, he could shoplift one thing, but he's gonna be back soon, so real quick. We need to get out of here, go to your place, grab real clothes—

ZACH

Yeah, of course. And you guys can crash there, obviously, it's—

TORI

And you and I have to go do something tonight, but first we need to find someone to watch Cody, because if we tell him he’s not allowed to follow us, he is definitely gonna try. He knows some of what’s going on but you’re gonna have to play along and not ask a lot of questions because he doesn’t know all of it, and there’s stuff I wanna keep from him. Just, for now. If I can.

ZACH

Like what?

TORI

I don’t know if he realizes yet that we can’t come back.

ZACH

To the house?

TORI

To the family. If we don’t go along with it, we’re out. Auf wiedersehen.

ZACH

Tori…

FX: LIGHT KNOCKING ON THE SIDE OF THE VAN. THE BACK DOOR SLIDES OPEN.

CODY

Hey.

TORI

Drive.

SFX: ENGINE

ZACH NARRATION

Cody’s in pajamas, and I can’t figure out how he’s gonna get changed at my place. He’s the one person in this adventure who doesn’t leave piles of clothes conveniently on my floor. But when we get to my room, he just flops on his belly, tugs up a loose corner of my comforter from where it’s dragging on the floor, and resurfaces holding a pair of his own jeans.

ZACH

The hell—

CODY

Magic. Also, getting the sense you’ve never looked under your own bed before. Like, maybe ever.

ZACH

Oh my god, what else is under there?

TORI

C’mon, Cody. We’re not leaving until you put on your goddamn shoes.

CODY

I don’t get why we’re leaving at all.

FX: THREE SETS OF FOOTSTEPS OUT OF ZACH’S ROOM.

TORI

Me and Zach are running errands. And we’re leaving you with Nick for like an hour, so—

FX: THREE SETS OF FOOTSTEPS DOWN THE HALLWAY.

ZACH

Dude, no.

CODY

His whole house smells and he never lets me pick the channel.

ZACH

We are not leaving your little brother with a drug dealer, Tori, I don’t care what—

TORI

I trust him.

ZACH

Yeah, but do you trust all his friends?

FX: DOOR OPENS. THEY CUT ACROSS THE WET GRASS.

TORI

Then—who?

ZACH

Ponni and Andy—

TORI

They’re still at the thing.

ZACH

You know they’d do it if you called them. Krista—

TORI

(ALMOST VIOLENTLY) No. We are not pulling her into this, okay? I have one friend who doesn’t know what a car crash my life is, can we please—

ZACH

Leslie.

TORI

We don’t even know if she’s home.

FX: VAN DOORS OPEN. EVERYONE CLIMBS INSIDE.

ZACH

Well shit. (FX: ZACH SLAMS HIS DOOR SHUT.) it’s a pretty nerdy group of people, odds are we’ll think of someone who’s not out partying on a Thursday—

TORI

Okay. That’s—smart. Do you have his number?

ZACH

...hang on.

FX: ZACH RETRIEVES HIS PHONE, FLIPS IT OPEN, AND DIALS GABE. THE PHONE RINGS FOUR TIMES.

GABE

Hello?

ZACH

(SIGH OF RELIEF) (TRYING FOR LIGHTNESS AND CRASH-LANDING ON MANIC.) Uh, hey, Gabe, d’you happen to remember that sketchy favor you owed me?

GABE

What do you need?

ZACH

Are you home?

GABE

Yeah. Why?

ZACH

Um. You ever babysat before?

GABE

No?

ZACH

Cool. Yeah. Okay (LAUGHS, A LITTLE SHRILL.) Well, I guess the good news is that you’re about to bust up some gender norms. We’ll be over in ten minutes—

TORI (LOUDLY, INTO THE PHONE)

And don’t tell anyone.

ZACH

Uh, did you get that?

GABE

You want me to babysit in secret.

ZACH

Yeah.

ZACH NARRATION

I wonder what Gabe was doing before his phone rang, if he was working on homework or reading a novel or researching colleges to visit next year. It’s hard to blame Tori for not wanting to involve Krista in all of this. If I had the option of keeping Gabe separate from the car crash of my own life, I would take it.

ZACH

That’s a decent summary.

GABE

Don’t ring the doorbell, my parents are still up. Call me when you get here, I’ll come down and let you in.

ZACH

Okay.

GABE

Careful about setting off the floodlights, they’re—

ZACH NARRATION

Despite the circumstances, my mind zooms back to that night in Gabe’s driveway, sitting there in the dark bathed by interrogation-grade bulbs. How the biggest concern had been trying to make it look from far away like we might have been kissing, my vision burning white, my lips by Gabe’s ear—

ZACH

Trust me. I have not forgotten about the floodlights.

GABE

Yeah.

ZACH

See you soon.

GABE

Right.

FX: CELL PHONE CALL ENDS. ZACH FLIPS HIS PHONE SHUT, SHOVES IT IN HIS POCKET, AND STARTS THE VAN

ZACH NARRATION

The thing is, talking to Gabe helps. I don’t have to remind myself to breathe as much for this part of the drive. At least there’s a plan now. Or, not a plan, because I still have no idea what’s happening, what me and Tori are going to have to do. But at least there’s a direction to head in, even if it’s just left on Hemlock.

When we get there, I pull over in front of the neighbor’s house.

FX: THE VAN TURNS OFF. GAMEBOY MUSIC IS PLAYING, BUTTONS ARE BEING PRESSED.

TORI

C’mon, monkey.

CODY

‘M almost to a save point.

TORI

Cody.

CODY

Fine.

FX: SOUNDS OF A LEVEL BEING LOST. GAMEBOY SHUTS DOWN. THE VAN DOORS OPEN, TORI, ZACH, AND CODY CLIMB OUT, THE DOORS CLOSE. THEY START ACROSS THE LAWN, MORE GRASS SHUSHING UNDERFOOT.

CODY

Why are we here.

ZACH

Because Gabe needs to hear your top ten favorite post-punk albums.

CODY

Wait, this is your boyfriend’s house?

ZACH

For now. Is it, is it freezing out here?

TORI

I don’t know.

ZACH

Yeah.

FX: A FLIP PHONE IS OPENED, A NUMBER REDIALED. THE PHONE RINGS TWICE.

GABE

Are you here?

ZACH

Front porch.

GABE

One sec.

FX: THE CELL PHONE CALL ENDS.

ZACH NARRATION

I crane my neck back, trying to get a decent view of the sky: light pollution still browning the edges, a sliver of moon doing its level best. We’re facing the wrong way to see the smoke.

The door opens, and there’s no time for it, but my brain takes a moment anyway to notice that Gabe is barefoot, that he’s got on a black fleece jacket and plaid pajama pants, that he’s wearing glasses, for some reason. Glasses and a very worried expression.

He flicks a glance up, towards the sound of what’s probably a TV, as if indicating the need for stealth. As if the need for stealth has to be indicated. I’ve always hated this part in movies, when the characters are walking in places they shouldn’t. It stresses me out too much, my heart in my throat no matter how stupid the script, how contrived the situation: you need to get out of there.

I’m only grateful when Gabe ushers us through a door and closes it safely behind us. I breathe a deep sigh of relief and it’s only then I realize the incredibly obvious: we’re in his room.

Books are heaped and piled and splayed facedown on every conceivable surface, including other books. There’s a bed and a desk and a bulletin board tacked full of photos which I will never get to examine, never get to check for awkward candids or gloriously bad childhood haircuts, because we would not be here if something wasn’t desperately wrong.

GABE

(LOW) Is part of the favor that I can’t ask what’s going on?

CODY

It’s no big deal. (FX: CODY PLOPS ONTO THE DESK CHAIR) Mom and Dad burned our house down ‘cause they needed the money, and Tori doesn’t want to lie to the cops about it, so we’re lying low for a bit. (FX: CODY BOUNCES IN THE CHAIR.) Probably stay at Zach’s, I’m guessing. They are gonna be pissed when they find out. I’m Cody, by the way, hi. (FX: CODY JOGS THE COMPUTER MOUSE) What’s your password, dude?

GABE

It’s on a sticky note under the keyboard. Zach, can I—talk to you for a sec? In the hallway?

TORI

I’ll make sure he doesn’t delete anything important.

CODY

Oh come on. You guys see each other all the damn time, why do you have to go off together when—

ZACH NARRATION

I really wish I had a better plan than what I actually do, which is to run one hand down Gabe’s bicep and say:

ZACH

You’ll understand when you’re older.

CODY

Gross! Not the gay part, just. Ugh. Ew.

FX: QUICK FOOTSTEPS OUT THE DOOR. DOOR SHUTS.

GABE

(QUIET) Is he telling the truth? Their parents—

ZACH

(QUIET) Yeah. And congratulations, you now know about as much as I do, because Tori won’t tell me shit. Except that she’s pretty sure her parents are gonna kick ‘em out for not going along with it.

GABE

(QUIET) What?

ZACH

I mean, they’ve been kicked out for a day or two before, but—permanent. And she doesn’t want Cody to know, which. Can’t really blame her.

GABE

Why am I looking after him? What are you guys—

ZACH

She didn’t tell me. If he can’t be around for it, that’s not a great sign. (REASSURING) It’s probably just something illegal. Less illegal than arson.

GABE

What if it’s dangerous?

ZACH

Then that would explain a lot.

GABE

I want to go. I can go, Tori can watch her brother—

ZACH

She’s the only one who knows what’s going on. Also, she’s way, way tougher than me. I’m useless in a fight.

GABE

Okay, me and Tori will go, and you can stay here with—

ZACH

I’m the only one with a driver’s license.

GABE

Sorry. Just—this is a terrible plan. You don’t even know what you’re doing.

ZACH

Yeah, but I never do.

GABE

Please, please take this seriously.

ZACH NARRATION

What I want to say is that I don’t know another way, that I get how high the stakes are but it’s like something from an old cartoon, those scenes where Daffy Duck strolled off the edge of a cliff without realizing it, how if he didn’t look down, kept whistling, kept his feet moving and his eyes ahead, he could manage a few normal steps before gravity kicked in. That’s what I need, the hover before the freefall, because if I think about the rocks below, I’m not gonna be any use to anyone.

ZACH

I am. I swear I am, it’s just if I stop making jokes my head’s, like, gonna explode, so—

FX: A QUIET KNOCK ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR.

TORI

Hey, you guys done being gross or whatever?

GABE

(WHISPERING) Mess up your hair.

ZACH

(WHISPERING) What?

GABE

(WHISPERING) So it’ll look like we were—

ZACH

(WHISPERING) Fine, yeah.

FX: ZACH MESSES UP HIS OWN HAIR.

ZACH

(TO TORI) Sorry. We’re done.

FX: DOOR OPENS GINGERLY. TORI WALKS THROUGH, PULLING IT SHUT BEHIND HER.

TORI

Gabe. I told him he had an hour to explain all of rock history to you, so just. Pretend you’re interested and you’ll be fine. Zach, we’ve gotta get going.

ZACH

Yeah.

GABE

Tori, are you okay?

TORI

Obviously, do I look burned? Zach, c’mon—

GABE

I meant the part where your parents threatened to disown you for not lying to the police.

TORI

(HISSING) Zach, did you tell him? What, he flutters his eyelashes and you just—

GABE

I need to know what’s going on. Look, Tori, you came to me for help, and I’ll do it, because I owe him a favor and because I trust you, but—

ZACH

Dude. She’s not gonna tell you and it seems like we don’t have much time, so—

GABE

All the more reason to get it over with. If I’m gonna be an accessory to a crime, I need to know what crime that is, okay? We are gonna help you either way, but we can help you better if we understand what’s happening.

TORI

It’s not—we’re not gonna hurt anybody. I just need to pick up some stuff.

GABE

From where?

TORI

Work. The library.

GABE

The library’s closed. (A BEAT) Breaking and entry?

TORI

It’s not stealing anything. I left some stuff there, a folder. I didn’t have time to find a better hiding place.

GABE

Do you need it right now?

TORI

I don’t want to wait. It’s—important, okay?

GABE

How important?

CODY

(THROUGH THE DOOR) Yo, guys?

ZACH

One sec, dude.

TORI

Look, Cody was—my parents never wanted him. They don’t give a shit about him. I raised that kid. But if I go against them, they will take him from me. That’s how they think.

ZACH NARRATION

She glances up at the ceiling and clenches her jaw, missing the horrified expression on Gabe’s face. It’s hard for an outsider to comprehend just how bad her parents are, I know that well enough. It comes in lurches, like crashing down a series of awful waterfalls. I want to pat him on the shoulder, although god knows Tori needs it more.

The look in her eyes says she might bite my arm off if I tried.

TORI

I snuck out some stuff before the fire. Some of it’s just—shit we’ll need to get jobs or IDs or whatever, but I took what I could. Printouts of emails they sent, sketchy receipts. I think I can pretty much prove it was on purpose. So. They push me, I push back.

GABE

If you wait for the library to open again—

TORI

Doors open at nine to patrons but Sharon and Penny are in there way before. The first two papers in that folder are our birth certificates. If anybody finds it, the first people they’re gonna try to get ahold of—

GABE

—are your parents.

TORI

Yeah.

CODY

What the hell are you guys doing out there?

TORI

We need to go now. While the cops are still busy with the fire—

GABE

Yeah. If anything goes wrong—

ZACH

If we get arrested, you’re my one phone call.

ZACH NARRATION

It’s only half a joke because if Tori’s with me, who else does that leave? Gabe gives me a long look that I can’t decipher. It might be ‘how do we allay the kid’s suspicions?’ because I can hear muffled footsteps approaching from the other side of the door. I know only one way guaranteed to make a 12-year-old look away. As the knob starts to turn, I stretch to my tiptoes and reach up to lay one hand lightly on the back of Gabe’s neck so that when the door swings open, I can already be leaning in to kiss him on the mouth.

It’s as quick as I can make it, basically a peck, no more lingering than that time Gabe kissed me in Vice Principal Richardson’s office. Time still unspools a little, slows breathless around the way Gabe is holding my arm at the elbow, warm and steadying, around that momentary press of our lips together, even the burn in my calves from standing like this, the way I feel vividly and acutely aware of every cell in my body—

CODY

(QUIETLY BUT SINCERELY) Oh god, my eyes!

TORI

We have to go.

GABE

White’s not great for this.

ZACH NARRATION

My shirt is actually a very very faded gray but it is true that I am hardly dressed for a break-in, whatever the hell that requires. A robber mask? A catsuit?

GABE

Hang on, I can lend you a jacket. Actually--

(FX: GABE UNZIPS HIS FLEECE JACKET AND HANDS IT TO ZACH.)

GABE

Here.

ZACH

Thanks.

GABE

Be back soon.

ZACH

We’ll try.

CODY

Jesus, you two, keep it in your pants.

ZACH NARRATION

As Tori tugs me away, I think that, no matter what else happens, at least I got to see Gabe blushing at mockery from a 12-year-old.

In the van, Tori is quiet again, like she used up all her words with Gabe. There’s no immediate excuse to talk; I know the way. Right on Hemlock. The smoke is visible again, a sooty streak past the side of the road. I think I can feel her gaze following it. I want to say something, but everything sounds cheap and small in my head. I want to make her smile, but I get that it’s probably out of the question.

FX: DRIVING SOUNDS

ZACH

Never thought I’d say this, but Christ, man, thank god you always leave your shit all over my room.

TORI

(ALMOST GENTLY) Zach. Do you still really think that was an accident? (A BEAT) Thought maybe you kinda knew.

ZACH

No idea. None.

TORI

Well yeah, I put that together.

ZACH NARRATION

How long has her shit been colonizing my room? It’s been a fact of my life for so long, it feels static, ever-present, like a painted-in backdrop. Since Christmas, or—before that, actually. Since Gabe moved to town. Or, before that.

It’s beyond surreal to talk about this out in the open, in view of all the ordinary things in my van. The mystery of Tori’s family solved at last, and in the shittiest possible way. I’d thought it would be impossible to get answers from her, that it would be one of those things I’d go to my grave never knowing, but maybe it was always only a matter of asking the right questions. Asking questions at all.

ZACH

How long have you known?

TORI

Didn’t know tonight was the night ‘til this week. But they’d been talking about it for like a year. Year and a half, maybe. There’s a lot of debt. Credit cards and whatever.

ZACH

Yeah.

FX: VAN SHUTS OFF.

ZACH

How are we doing this?

TORI

I need you to wait here. I’ll be back in five minutes.

ZACH

You’re breaking into the library by yourself?

TORI

The building’s from the fifties. There’s a lock on the front door, the end. A window in the back never shuts all the way, you can get in with a screwdriver.

ZACH

Do you have one?

TORI

(IMMEDIATELY) In my purse.

ZACH

How long have you been planning this?

TORI

I haven’t. Figured it’d be good to know how to break in somewhere, in case me and Cody needed a place to sleep.

ZACH

Tori...are you sure you don’t want some help? How are you gonna get past the alarms and—

TORI

No alarms, no cameras, no motion detectors. This isn’t Ocean’s Eleven. It’s like breaking into a garden shed. Okay?

ZACH

Have you broken into a garden shed before?

TORI

Five minutes. Count to five hundred and I’ll be back.

ZACH

That’s like—eight and a half minutes.

FX: PASSENGER DOOR OPENS. TORI HOPS DOWN.

TORI

Ponni taught you well. Wait here.

FX: DOOR SLAMS. DISTANTLY, TORI’S RUNNING FEET.

ZACH

(INHALES SHAKILY, EXHALES SHAKILY) Has it been five hundred seconds yet?

ZACH NARRATION

No alarms, no cameras—it doesn’t seem like it should be so easy to sneak into a library. Then again, the reference computers are all about the same age as Cody, so who knows? Tori’s got stories about people trying to sneak a look at porn sites, thwarted by the loading times.

I rub my forehead. I swing my feet. I count half-heartedly to fifteen and lose focus. My thoughts are like a flock of hungry birds; they won’t stop moving, won’t settle on any one thing. What second would I be on if I’d been counting from the beginning, like Tori said? I think about flipping on the radio but it turns my stomach, the thought of Top 40 hits and commercials while Tori risks arrest trying to protect her and her brother from the schemes of their own parents.

The library is only a few blocks from Tori’s house but I can’t find the smoke again through the window. I’m not sure if the fire’s burned out yet, if there’s nothing but a pile of cinders in the yard or if little chunks survived here and there, her dolphin poster flapping in the ashy breeze, its wet purple eye staring down at whatever remains of Tori’s bedroom.

That day we got high under that poster, Tori already knew this was going to happen. I wonder how long Cody has known. Long enough to hide a change of clothes under my bed, but that could’ve been three days ago or three months ago; it’s true that I never look.

Cody is smart enough that he might honestly know everything already, no matter how hard Tori’s tried to shield him. If he does, it doesn’t seem to bother him much, blessed with a middle schooler’s lack of foresight. I think of Cody bouncing unconcerned in Gabe’s desk chair and hope the two of them are getting along, that it’s not excruciating for either of them. Cody is a lot to spring on an unsuspecting person, and there’s no real reason to think Gabe is going to be especially good with kids.

You can never tell with that guy, though. Wearing the jacket helps, in some obscure way. That it’s warm, or that it’s comfortably too big, or that it smells like Gabe, which is to say, like oranges, which is to say, like women’s deodorant. ‘What a weirdo,’ I think, burrowing deeper into the fleece.

The worst thing is when cars slow down as they pass by me. Maybe I’m just imagining it, the drivers squinting through their windshields at the mysterious van by the side of the road. If I kill the engine or turn off the lights, that’s just gonna make me harder for Tori to find. All I can do is try to shape my mouth into a smile, do my best impression of a good kid experiencing engine trouble, and pray none of these people are in the Neighborhood Watch.

ZACH

(BREATHES IN AND OUT, SHAKY) (UNDER HIS BREATH) One, two, three, four, five, six...

FX: THE PASSENGER DOOR OPENS.

ZACH

(BREATHES A SIGH OF RELIEF) Everything okay?

FX: TORI CLIMBS IN. DOOR SHUTS.

TORI

Honestly, think I’ve lost any sense of what that word means.

ZACH

Hey. Did something—

TORI

No. We’re fine. I have it.

FX: PAPER FOLDER BEING SET DOWN

ZACH NARRATION

She closes her eyes and hunches forward, and all I can think is, ‘Then why don’t you seem any calmer?’

My very cowardice about asking these questions is part of the reason this is all such a mess now.

ZACH

What’s wrong?

TORI

That was the easy part.

ZACH

Why, what are we breaking into now?

TORI

(LAUGHS EXHAUSTEDLY)

ZACH

If we’re stealing the Declaration of Independence next, can I just say—

TORI

No. We’re done. We’re gonna go back to Gabe’s house, pick up Cody, drive back to your place. Cody can take the bed tonight, I’m not sleeping.

ZACH

What’s the hard part?

FX: A LONG MOMENT OF SILENCE. DRIVING SOUNDS.

TORI

Everything that comes after.

ZACH

I mean, you guys can stay with me as long as you need—

TORI

No, actually we can’t. (VOICE BEGINNING TO WOBBLE) Zach, your parents are borderline negligent but they are gonna notice two extra people living full-time in your house.

ZACH

(MUTTERING) They don’t know what I do.

TORI

So we just hide in your room any time they’re home ‘til you go to college? If they run into me, fine, whatever, you’ve got a friend over. But if they see Cody for a second, it’s gonna raise so many questions.

ZACH

(PLAINTIVE) Where are you gonna go, then?

TORI

You’re gonna be a dick about it.

ZACH

...Nick? You agreed it was bad to let him babysit, and instead you’re gonna move in with him?

TORI

He’s got his own place—

ZACH

(HALF-SHOUTING) Yeah, where he deals drugs.

TORI

Drugs you’ve bought, so maybe don’t get on some high horse about what he does for a living.

ZACH

He’s gotten caught, Tori. He’ll get caught again. You know how messed up the laws are, you could probably get arrested for being around while he was dealing—

TORI

I’m not marrying the guy. Two months and I’ll have a deposit on a crappy apartment someplace.

ZACH

You work part-time at the library. How are you gonna afford an apartment—

TORI

I think they’ll give me more hours if I ask. So that and another part-time job, like maybe thirty hours doing fast food or something, I could stretch it to fifty hours—

ZACH

You can’t work fifty hours a week and go to school—

TORI

(SLOWLY) I know.

FX: ZACH PULLS OVER TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND PUTS THE VAN IN PARK.

ZACH

Your plan is to live with a drug dealer and drop out of high school—

TORI

(SERIOUSLY STARTING TO LOSE IT) Oh my god, what, Zach? What in the world am I supposed to do, because I have been staring down this shit for over a year and no better answers have appeared. So please, please use your genius brain to swoop in and find the magic solution—

ZACH

Tori.

TORI

—because either I’m a goddamn idiot or there isn’t one.

ZACH

If you, like, told someone, I’m pretty sure—there’s like, foster care—

TORI

Are you serious? Live with some random strangers? How do I know it’s not gonna be the same thing all over again? Hell, they could be worse—

ZACH

I think the odds are pretty good they won’t be.

TORI

I don’t want odds. This is my brother—

ZACH

If you think he’s gonna be safer hanging out with a bunch of criminals—

TORI

Stop acting like you’re better than them. You’re not.

ZACH

You didn’t call them for help, though. You called me.

TORI

Just drive, okay?

FX: ZACH TAKES THE VAN OUT OF PARK AND SHIFTS BACK ONTO THE ROAD.

ZACH

I’m sorry.

TORI

(TONELESS) It’s fine. You haven’t had time to get used to it, whatever.

ZACH

No. I’m sorry for, like—you’ve been dealing with this incredible shit all year. I was rambling on and on about my teen drama and you had, like. Actual problems, that I had no idea about—

TORI

Uh, none of that’s your fault.

ZACH

But if I’d known, maybe I could’ve—I don’t know, not spent the whole year whining about my stupid crush—

TORI

Zach, I didn’t want you to know. Like, yeah, could I have done with less of the Gabe Will Never Love Me variety hour? Obviously. But I was never gonna tell you.

ZACH

If you didn’t trust me—

TORI

I just—wanted someplace I could—think about other stuff, I dunno. Like, I put way more work into that prom dress than I needed to. It was good to—not to think.

ZACH

But I could’ve helped more, I could’ve—

TORI

You did fine. Also, I stole some stuff from your parents, so.

ZACH

Like what?

TORI

Nothing big. Medicine, one time when Cody was sick. Saw the Imodium in the cabinet, and I just. Also, some of your mom’s tampons, those things are frigging expensive. So like. Sorry.

ZACH

Dude, I don’t care. Not like she’s gonna trace the missing tampons back to me, you know? Or the—is Imodium one of those things you can take to get high?

TORI

It’s for diarrhea.

ZACH

Yeah, so we’re probably clear.

TORI

Not like I wanted to.

ZACH

Don’t worry about it. You needed it more, y’know?

TORI

No, I mean—all of it. Not like I wanna live in that gross-ass house. Not like I wanna work at a fast food place for the rest of my life. It’s like— (LAUGHS RAGGEDLY) God, everything is so—like, suddenly I’m a teen mom and I didn’t even get laid first? What is that?

ZACH

Immaculate conception.

TORI

So, like, don’t yell at me, okay? I’m not doing this for fun. I need you to be cool about it. Can you do that?

ZACH

(WEAKLY) I mean, I’ll try. (A BEAT) Isn’t Nick’s house like five miles from the library? How are you gonna get there?

TORI

Ride my bike.

ZACH

Do you, uh, still have your bike? Like, I don’t remember seeing it in my yard, so if it was in your garage when—

TORI

(ABSOLUTELY LOSING IT) FUCK!

ZACH

It’s okay—

TORI

No, Zach, it’s not. It’s not okay. That’s another whole paycheck, that’s—what am I gonna—

ZACH

Take my bike. Hell, you can keep it, when’s the last time I—

TORI

Jesus Christ, Zach, I do not want your stupid shitty bike!

ZACH

Okay.

TORI

Sorry.

ZACH

S’alright.

TORI

(SIGHS) Probably will need to borrow your bike.

ZACH

That’s fine.

TORI

Thinkin’ I might be pretty bitchy for a while. Just to warn you.

ZACH

It’s okay. Your life’s basically a supervillain origin story right now, so.

TORI

No superpowers, though. No sex and no superpowers. Like, what is the point?

ZACH

If I figure it out, I’ll let you know. (FX: THE VAN STOPS, AND IS TURNED OFF) Here we are.

TORI

Finally. I am so ready for this night to be over.

ZACH NARRATION

I climb out of the van and don’t state the obvious, which is that tomorrow night is probably not gonna be a picnic either. There are not a lot of good nights in her immediate future.

FX: TWO SETS OF FOOTSTEPS CROSSING GABE’S LAWN

TORI

You’re still wearing Gabe’s jacket? Could’ve taken that off once you realized you were staying in the car.

ZACH

I was cold.

TORI

(NOT OKAY BUT TRYING PRETTY HARD TO SOUND OKAY) Right. How much do you hope he lets you keep it and you can set up, like, a creepy shrine in your room?

ZACH

Five percent.

TORI

Please. Fifteen at least.

ZACH

Compromise. Ten. (FX: ZACH PULLS HIS PHONE FROM HIS POCKET AND FLIPS IT OPEN)

TORI

Twenty. Were you smelling it?

ZACH

Sh!

FX: ZACH HITS REDIAL. THE PHONE RINGS TWICE.

GABE

Hey.

ZACH

Hey.

GABE

Did you—how’s it going?

ZACH

Got what we needed. We’re closing in on your front porch.

GABE

The door should still be unlocked, let yourselves in. Do you remember where my room was?

ZACH

Yeah. Be up soon.

FX: DOOR OPENS, FOOTSTEPS; DOOR CLOSES. CAUTIOUS FOOTSTEPS UP A CARPETED SET OF STAIRS. FROM ANOTHER ROOM IN THE HOUSE, A SITCOM LAUGH TRACK. THE STEPS PAUSE, THEN CONTINUE. CODY’S VOICE GROWS LOUDER (BUT STAYS MUFFLED) AS THEY APPROACH.

CODY

—my god, dude. No no. Rage Against the Machine, Rise Against, Against Me. They’re three separate bands.

GABE

I’ll add it to my notes.

FX: DOOR OPENS.

CODY

Hey folks. (ALMOST IMPRESSED) Dude, Zach, where did you find this guy, the past?

GABE

Detention. Zach, can I talk to you for a s—

CODY

(GROANS) Seriously? Show some respect, man, our house just burned—

ZACH NARRATION

He’s cut off by Tori hugging him, hard. He doesn’t squirm out of it or act annoyed, even jokingly, and I think Cody has to know more than he’s letting on. He’s a smart kid and no matter how hard Tori must’ve tried, there’s no way she could hide everything.

GABE

Uh, Zach and I will be back in a sec. Cody, drink your tea.

CODY

It tastes like grass clippings.

GABE

It’s chamomile. It’s good for you.

FX: DOOR SHUTS

GABE

(QUIET) How was the B and E?

ZACH NARRATION

Gabe looks so reasonable in his glasses and his pajama pants and his navy blue replacement hoodie that I suddenly, abruptly, can’t even pretend to keep it together. I can feel my face crumpling, that cartoon moment where gravity remembers its job and the drop starts.

I know I’m supposed to make a joke but it’s too hard. Even making words seems like an impossible mountain to climb.

GABE

Zach, are you okay? What happened? Did you run into their parents, or—

ZACH NARRATION

I shake my head. I’m blinking so much my vision is like a strobelight, but it’s possible Gabe gives me a concerned look.

GABE

(SLOWLY) If you didn’t hate hugs.

ZACH

(CROAKING) What?

GABE

it was your one condition when we started—

ZACH NARRATION

All I can do is make a weird snorting noise and keep shaking my head. The truth is, I can’t remember why I’d said that, other than it seemed like having no boundaries might kind of freak Gabe out. I blink and blink and fail to square my jaw because my chin is still going. I make myself look back up at Gabe.

Gabe, who is very tentatively opening his arms.

I don’t consciously decide to hug him but then I’m diving forward and then I’m squeezing Gabe around the middle, probably too hard, probably getting snot and tears on the poor guy’s shirt. Gabe’s hands come up to rest on my shoulder blades, warm through the borrowed jacket, layer after layer of kindnesses I will never have any way to pay back. I don’t even have the energy to feel that bad about it.

GABE

Were there problems?

ZACH

No. No, it—the, the heist went fine, like, she got the stuff. I didn’t even—I—I didn’t have to help, it was. Like—actually it was, uh, pretty boring?

GABE

Well, that’s—fortunate. What happened?

ZACH

(HICCUPY ALMOST-CRYING VOICE) It’s not—really your problem, I already cashed in my favor, you don’t have to—

GABE

Zach, my favor lasted two and a half months, and in the process, you were harassed and beaten up. All I’ve done tonight was spend some time with a middle schooler and learn a little about modern music. Realistically, we’re not even yet.

ZACH

It’s—Tori’s plan, for what to do next, is that she’s gonna quit school, get a second job and live with this guy she knows who is shady as Hell, like, dude literally just got out of jail for dealing drugs—and she’s, like, trying to be a badass about it but she’s clearly freaking out so bad, and I do not blame her, like, her life is ruined, it’s just—so goddamn unfair—

GABE

That’s, uh, that’s a lot to deal with. But I’m not sure that’s her only option.

ZACH

What else is there? I brought up foster care and she flipped out—

GABE

Leslie’s in foster care. She likes the family she’s with right now.

ZACH NARRATION

His arms have settled more around me and it’s so nice, I’m briefly annoyed; we could’ve had two and a half months of this if only I’d communicated better.

ZACH

She said it was too much chance. They could put her and Cody with really shitty people.

GABE

Actually, Tori might have more leverage than she thinks. But first, I should probably—that’s not actually why I wanted to talk to you. I, uh, need your help with something.

ZACH

With what? If you say like, ‘overthrowing the patriarchy,’ I admire your pluck, but dude, it’s been a long day, maybe tomorrow if that works—

GABE

(EXHALING ON A HALF-LAUGH) No, unfortunately. It’s—look, I need you to help me explain something to Tori, because you know her better and I have the sense she won’t take this well unless we’re really careful.

ZACH

What?

GABE

(WITH EXTREME CAUTION) It’s not—bad, exactly. It’s—in the long run, it’s good news but I don’t think she’ll see it that way at first and I don’t want her to panic—

ZACH

Not that I don’t love super cryptic shit, but give me a clue here at least. A code word, a hint—

GABE

I told my parents when I stepped out to get the tea.

ZACH

(BLANKLY) You told them—

GABE

Everything I knew.

ZACH

What?

GABE

I trust them. Also, I wanted a lawyer’s perspective on this—

ZACH

She’s a real estate lawyer. How can you just—

GABE

Zach, can you appreciate that she might still have a better grasp of the law than a couple of teenagers? Arson and insurance fraud on this scale, they’re very very illegal. So’s forcing your children to lie to the police. Tori’s the witness to a felony. If she’s willing to testify against her parents—people make deals about this kind of stuff, she could get some say in what happens to her and Cody, where they’d be placed.

ZACH NARRATION

I try not to wig out. I try not to do the easy thing, which would be to leap to the worst possibility and stay there. The steady thud of Gabe’s heartbeat is helpful but it can’t work miracles. It’s a struggle to process: maybe it’s not over yet, that maybe everything won’t be terrible. It involves mental muscles I haven’t flexed much.

ZACH

You’re on your own, to explain this to her. Like, if there’s a trial, that means a chance she could lose, and she is not in a gambling mood right now.

GABE

It might not be that much of a gamble. If her evidence is good, if there’s any record of the horrific parenting they’ve—

ZACH

Okay, also—shit, good luck making her talk to an adult about this. Tori doesn’t trust anyone over 25 unless they’re like, a dead author or a dead musician, her favorite teacher is the one she calls a bitch slightly less often than the others—

GABE

Zach.

ZACH

If you think the jury is gonna believe an angsty teenage girl over her mom and dad. It’ll be, like, hours of ‘oh she’s just doing this for the attention, oh look at the music she listens to, she’s so troubled and emo.’ Never mind she didn’t even tell me for a goddamn year, just let it weigh on her and weigh on her—

GABE

(WITH SOME URGENCY) Zach.

ZACH

Sorry, just—shit, I hate her parents so much—

GABE

Zach.

ZACH

What, dude?

MRS. NAVARRO

(COUGHS)

ZACH

Gah!

ZACH NARRATION

Even if I didn’t suddenly realize that, in tugging us away from his bedroom, Gabe had moved us down the hallway, even if I hadn’t just now noticed the open door at my back or the fact that the man and woman standing in it both bear a strong resemblance to Gabe, I would still be able to tell that I was looking at his parents, because that is just how my luck works.

In retrospect, of course it would happen like this. Of course I would meet them for the first time in the middle of the night, uninvited in their house, my hair a tangled cloud around my head, wearing head to toe black and a giant baggy jacket like a delinquent, obviously distraught, still wet around the eyes and cussing into their only son’s chest. Of course.

The woman who is definitely Gabe’s mom has his same jaw—the clench of it if not the shape. The man who is definitely his dad is tall and thin, with dark curly hair like Gabe and bushy eyebrows. He raises those eyebrows now.

MR. NAVARRO

(POLITELY) Is this a bad time?

ZACH

Oh shit.

MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS This episode features—

MATTHEW

Matthew Sabido as Zach

ISHANI

Ishani Kanetkar as Tori

CHRIS

Chris Rivera as Gabe

GREG Greg Vinciguerra as Cody

LW

L.W. Salinas as Mrs. Navarro

Mike

Mike Martinez as Mr. Navarro

RACHEL

Directed by Rachel Mackenzie Kellum

MICHAELA

Production coordination by Michaela Whatnall

PHOEBE

Sound effects by Phoebe Izzard Davie

REBECCA

Audio mixing by Rebecca Lynn

JESSICA Written by Jessica Best

Zach's narration music is written, recorded, and produced by Chiron Star

KAY And I've been Kay Watson, your morning announcements. Thank you, and have a great day, Columbus High!