EXT. OUTSIDE. LUNCH TIME
Freddy meets Jackie they stop to talk for a minute.
JACKIE
You heading over the Edge?
FREDDY
Yeah, but I thought I’d get a burger.
JACKIE
A burger! Since when did you start eating hamburgers at school?
FREDDY
I’m thinking if I put on some weight maybe Spike would lay off me or at least I could
at least beat the shit out of em.
JACKIE
Sure, if you can put on fifty pounds, I mean you being a runt and all. I figure it’ll take
about five hundred hamburgers for you to become Freddy the Terminator. But you
gotta start somewhere. Still, it might be easier just to get yourself a gun.
The two boys begin walking toward the snack bar.
JACKIE
So did Ms. Whiner give you her now-you-know-how-the-Jews feel lecture in Social
Studies?
FREDDY
She tried, but Jarrell Johnson and that brain Henry jump her before she got very far,
saying that the Jews got what was comin to them because they invaded the Arabs’
territory and we got jumped by the Arabs for helpin out the Jews. Course Ms Whiner
takes the side of the Jews ‘cause she’s one herself, but so is Hernry. I don’t care whose
side she takes because she’s hot. You see how she was dressed today, all in black, her
white skin all beautiful, and she’s got those dark eyes...
JACKIE
Jesus fucking Christ, Freddy, you sound like a pervert. She ever hears you talk that
way and she’ll have you arrested. Anyway, she Jewish and the Jews don’t mix with
other races because it degrades the gene pool—like mixing Einstein’s genes with a
monkeys, ha, ha, ha... I mean if Ms Whiner brought you home to meet her parents, like
if she was blind and retarded—ha, ha—it’d be like you bringing some black chick to
meet your dad. I can just see that. He’d go off into his room and come out wearing a
white sheet and pointy hat and would tell her that he don’t want any half-breed kids.
FREDDY
No way my dad would do that. I mean he’s like a big fan of Tony Gwynn. And he
don’t even use the N word.
JACKIE
You mean the nigger word?
FREDDY
(Looking around.)
Fuck, Jackie, you lookin to getting us killed.
EXT. SNACK BAR WINDOW
JACKIE
They mess with me and I’ll be the one doin the killin. Anyway all that shit about
Jews, Arabs, and Americans fighting one another, the way I see it they’re no different
from the Crips, Mexican Mafia, and Arian Brotherhood. Just bigger gangs, called
nations, and bigger crews, armies and navies and shit, their tags are their flags. It’s all
the same bullshit, except our gangs are on the losing side, I mean I don’t get us
worrying about the Arabs, though I wouldn’t mind killing a few for what they
done to those buildings. But it ain’t the Arabs taken over the country but the beaners.
Freddy is given a burger, a bag of chips, and a carton of milk and pays. They walk over to one of the concrete tables and sit down.
FREDDY
Ain’t you gettin anything?
JACKIE
Fuck no. $2.50 for a fucking burger and chips. And I hate milk. It’s a waste of
money. I’m saving mine to buy a gun.
FREDDY
(Again looking around.)
Jesus, Jackie, not so loud.
JACKIE
Fuck em.
FREDDY
(Before taking a bite.)
You want part of my burger?
JACKIE
No thanks, Freddy.
FREDDY
Take the chips. This is too much for me.
JACKIE
Nah. I’d rather stay hungry. You know my philosophy. The free man desires nothing
and fears not pain. And you ain’t goin to become a Terminator if you don’t eat your
chips.
FREDDY
Oh fuck! Here comes my fucking nemesis.
Spike walks up to the table with a couple of his buddies, looks about to see if there are any teachers in the area. There aren’t.
SPIKE
(Slapping Freddy hard on the back.)
Well if it ain’t Freddy douche bag and his weirdo friend.
Freddy and Jackie don’t reply.
SPIKE
Cat’s got your tongue assholes? What in the fuck you eating. You know that greasy
burger meat ain’t good for you.
Grabs the burger from Freddy.
SPIKE
Let me taste it to make sure it’s safe for you to eat.
Takes a big bite out of it.
SPIKE
I ain’t sure. Tastes a little funny to me.
Drops the burger on the table top. Spike’s friends snigger.
SPIKE
Maybe these are better. Let me see.
Grabs the bag of chips.
JACKIE
(Angry.)
Why don’t you pick on somebody your own size?
SPIKE
Why don’t you make me, you trench-coat freak. You think you’re such a bad ass?
Jackie doesn’t reply. Spike crushes the bag of chips and throws them on the table.
You oughta take these chips back. I think they’re all broken. Ha, ha, ha.
To his friends.
Come on let’s get away from these two losers before we catch some fucking disease,
like stupiditus.
As Spike and his friends laugh and walk off, Dermin picks up the milk carton, drops it on the ground, and steps on it, crushing the carton and causing the milk to squirt out.
JACKIE
So much for your Terminator meal.
FREDDY
God I hate that guy. Let’s go over the Edge.
Freddy and Jackie get up and walk away.
EXT. THE EDGE - GRASSY AREA AWAY FROM THE STUDENTS NEAR ADMINISTRATION
Freddy and Jackie walk toward Moog who is sitting on the grass. They are both are upset about what has just happened. They plop down next to Moog. Moog is a runt. He is scruffy and blond headed and wears two tattoos on his arms, a frowny face and a pig.
MOOG
You guys look cheery. Somethin happen?
JACKIE
Fucking Spike and his neanderthal friends just ruined Freddy’s Terminator lunch. (Turns to Freddy and smiles.)
MOOG
(Shaking his head.)
Fuck, Freddy, you don’t know by now to stay away from the caf and the snack bar?
The food’s shit anyway and they’re a lot better ways to spend your lunch money, like
Pharmacy Phil’s got some uppers he’s peddlin. Course they cost more than two fifty.
FREDDY
I was kinda hopin this year might be different. I know now that ain’t goin to happen.
I hate that fuckin’ Spike.
JACKIE
(Cynically.)
Different from what, Freddy? Fuck that’s life. We’re just at the wrong end of the food
chain, but that don’t mean we can’t get some payback.
MOOG
I think you ought to just stay out of their space.
FREDDY
That ain’t right though. I got the right to eat my lunch in peace.
JACKIE
Dream on, Freddy. There ain’t no such thing as right, only might. Take Orion Jones.
(Black athlete. Think Michael Clarke Duncan.) Nobody is goin to fuck with him while
he’s eating his lunch just like nobody want to be in the tiger’s cage at the zoo while
Mr. Tiger is eating his lunch. The only right is might. Some Greek guy said that. The
niggers and Mexicans know that. I mean ain’t that the reason those Arabs flew those
planes in our fucking buildings—to get some respect? You want Spike to respect your
rights, you’re gonna have to find some way to scare the shit out of him. And eating
hamburgers ain’t goin to do the trick, not even Terminator hamburgers. (Smiling.)
MOOG
Terminator hamburgers?
JACKIE
Freddy’s idea, thinkin if he eats enough hamburgers he turn into the Terminator.
MOOG
You’ll just end up like Popeye's friend Wimpy, fat and still a wimp.
FREDDY
Whose Popeye?
MOOG
You need to take a break from Resident Evil and get educated. Anyway what I’m
saying is no way Freddy’s goin to take on Spike. He could kick all three of our asses at
once. Besides he got his posse. They ain’t much but compared to them we’re the
three little pigs. (Smiles at his cleverness.)
JACKIE
Three little pigs! Thanks a lot. But I’ll tell you this. Strapped, the three little pigs
would get plenty of respect from the baddest wolf.
MOOG
You got some heat, Jackie?
JACKIE
Not yet, but workin on it. You?
MOOG
My dad’s got a 22 Ruger and a couple of rifles. Why? You thinking about shooting up
the school?
JACKIE
Not a bad idea, at least that fucking Spike and his pathetic crew. We
could get them at lunch.
An administrator, MRS. ARGALL, walks toward the boys and stops.
MRS. ARGALL
(Pleasant but serious.)
Why are you boys sitting here? This is not part of the lunch area.
JACKIE
For our safety, what do you think?
MRS. ARGALL
(Annoyed by Jackie’s tone, but restrained.)
I don’t understand. Was there a problem?
MOOG
Yeah, my friend here (Nodding toward Freddy.) just had his lunch ruined by some of
the school’s local bullies. That’s why we’re here. They won’t mess with us this close to
admin.
The administrator looks at Freddy, who looks pathetic.
MRS. ARGALL
(To Freddy.)
Perhaps you ought to go to Mr. Hurt and tell him what happened.
FREDDY
(Cynical but appreciates her concern.)
It don’t matter. If you don’t want us here then we’ll move.
MOOG
(Mildly sardonic.)
And what do you think will happen when bully boy finds out that Freddy is a fink?
MRS. ARGALL
(Pauses, pondering Moog’s remark.)
I still think you should report what happened to Mr. Hurt, but it’s okay with me if you
want to stay here. (Sympathetically.) If someone says you shouldn’t be here, tell them
Mrs. Argall gave you permission.
THE BOYS
Thanks.
‘Preciate it.
Yeah.
Mrs. Argall smiles and walks on.
MOOG
She was cool, clueless but cool.
FREDDY
Yeah. Jackie, I don’t think it’s such a good idea to be talking about shooting
people at school. If someone like that Mrs. Argall heard you, or even some student,
you’d be in some deep shit.
JACKIE
I’d just say I was kidding around.
MOOG
They wouldn’t care if you was kidding. Besides I think you’re serious. We
know you, Jackie. It’s good the guns are at my house and not yours. (Smiles.)
FREDDY
I’d rather not be talkin about shooting people. Though I would shoot that fucking
Spike if I thought I could get away with.
Ed walks over. Ed has light reddish hair and is about the same size as Freddy and Jackie. He is dorky and less an outsider than the other three boys. His parents are older, more like grandparents, but his family is more normal than those of the other boys.
ED
Hey guys, what’s goin on?
MOOG
Just shooting the shit about Spike goin after Freddy at lunch.
JACKIE
(Smiling.)
Took a bite out of his burger and dropped it on the table, then crushed his chips. And
that fucking Dermin stepped on his milk. Nice lunch, huh?
ED
That’s Spike. He is such an asshole, but he’s really got it out for you, Freddy. Don’t
ask me why except him being an asshole.
JACKIE
Yeah, we were just talking about shooting him.
FREDDY
(Miffed.)
Jesus, Jackie, what were we just saying about talking that way?
JACKIE
(Smiling mischievously.)
I’m just putting you on. Ed’s one of us.
ED
You guys planning a Columbine?
FREDDY
See, Jackie! Fuck no. We’s just talkin about how much we hate Spike is all.
ED
How about we get together after school and play some 500 at the Y?
MOOG
Could do it Saturday, but not today.
ED
What about you, Freddy? Saturday?
FREDDY
(Despondent.)
You know I hate baseball.
ED
Come on. None of us give a shit about baseball. We’ll hit a few flies and smoke some
cigarettes if Jackie will get some for us.
JACKIE
No fucking way I’m goin to play 500, but Freddy and I will steal you some cigarettes.
How about it Freddy? Get your mind off of fucking Spike.
FREDDY
You kidding? I don’t want to get busted shoplifting. My dad would be pissed.
JACKIE
You got nothing to worry about. Your dad ain’t like mine or Moog’s. He’d get upset
and give you a lecture but wouldn’t lay a hand on you. And he wouldn’t do this to you.
(pulls up his sleeve showing burn marks.)
Seeing a large pinkish burn mark scars and some smaller ones on Jackie’s arm, Ed, Moog, and Freddy stare glumly. They are not shocked because they have seen them before. Then Moog finally breaks the silence.
MOOG
My old man has knocked me around plenty, specially when he’s been drinking, which
is most of the time, but he’s never done me nothin like that.
JACKIE
(Seeing the other a little depressed by the marks.)
It ain’t such a big deal, and if I get busted he won’t give a shit. Anyway, Freddy, you
won’t have to do nothin. I got a really cool method. How about after school we swing
by your place and you can get your skateboard and we head over to the Mexican’s
store? I’ll get the cigarettes and give you a pack because these two are too chickenshit
to come along.
FREDDY
(Reluctantly.)
Yeah, okay, if it don’t take too long—‘cause I got homework.
JACKIE
Don’t we all. Cheer up Freddy. We’re goin on a mission.
