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Rolls, salad, pasta, cake. That order. It’s the law.

  Jodie is eating her meal cake first but stops, pushes it to the back then shrugs and brings it back.

  JODIE

  I like cake.

  HANNAH

  You two are going to be great together. Or should that be miserable.

  They both look at Hannah but she just laughs at them.

  HANNAH (CONT’D)

  You’ve even got the same confused face.

  SAM

  Rather a confused face than still wearing my PJs.

  HANNAH

  I was pulled out of Judo. Your excuse?

  SAM

  Lack of sleep.

  He takes a quick peek around the table - no-one within hearing distance.

  SAM (CONT’D)

  I found gravel in my bed this morning.

  MATTIE (O.S.)

  Hannie! Want a hug!

  A little blond boy tears through the other children and throws himself at Hannah.

  MATTIE (CONT’D)

  You missed me.

  HANNAH

  Sure I did. You’re my very favourite remember.

  SAM

  Mattie’s her brother. No-one else has family onsite, I don’t think.

  JODIE

  The only two in a school of, what, 2000 that are related. Man, that sucks for everyone else.

  HANNAH

  Yeah. I guess we’re just lucky.

  JODIE

  Really lucky.

  HANNAH

  Mattie, this is Jodie. Our new friend.

  MATTIE

  Hiya.

  He grins and waves enthusiastically then gets distracted by the tray of food and dives for half the roll in one move.

  MATTIE (CONT’D)

  Mr Jacks said there was a new girl.

  SAM

  Everything okay Jodie?

  JODIE

  It’s a lot to take in.

  MATTIE

  It’s big and huge and ginormous. But the teachers show you the way when you get lost.

  HANNAH

  Mattie needs a map tattooed inside his eyelids.

  MATTIE

  Lots of doors. I forget which one I use.

  SAM

  No. You just want to be with Hannah.

  MATTIE

  Sometimes I come and find you instead.

  SAM

  I was on the roof.

  JODIE

  Yes. I saw you up there this morning.

  SAM

  No, I was there last night too. At least I dreamt I was.

  HANNAH

  Boy, you have the strangest fantasies of any 13 year old boy.

  SAM

  So says Miss Insomniac. And how do you know what boys dream about?

  HANNAH

  I read. I’ve also been through puberty.

  MATTIE

  What’s -

  JODIE

  Big kid talk.

  HANNAH

  So cool it.

  SAM

  I’m chilled. I’m frosted.

  JODIE

  You look it.

  He doesn’t.

  SAM

  Your mom’ll be ages yet. The afternoon’s yours.

  JODIE

  She’s not my mother.

  HANNAH

  I’m going to put people clothes on. Stay Mattie. Be a good boy.

  The little boy tries to follow her as she melts into the crowd but returns to the table and climbs up on Jodie’s lap. She instantly wraps her arms around him.

  JODIE

  My mom died and Gaynor did it. She wanted to get her claws into my dad and now she has.

  SAM

  That’s why you don’t want to leave home.

  MATTIE

  This is home. Right Sam?

  SAM

  You can do -

  JODIE

  Is this the only home you know, Mattie?

  The little boy nods and then wriggles off her, skipping off to join a group of friends.

  SAM

  I guess it feels like it after a while.

  JODIE

  Maybe I’ll explore on my own for a while.

  CAFETERIA - AFTERNOON - INT

  A couple of people in red tabards are buzzing round the cafeteria and picking up discarded trays and pieces of rubbish. All the children have left and Jodie is drawing patterns in her congealing pasta sauce.

  JODIE

  What is this, def the new girl.

  SUPERVISOR (O.S.)

  You’re new.

  She nods and heavy footfalls thud away. She starts whistling but it echoes so loudly that she stops after just a bar. A large hand whips the cracked wooden tray from beneath her face. Then there is silence once more and the supervisors have cleared all the tables and disappeared.

  Jodie rises and takes a look around. The walls are clinically pale and bare. There is no display work pinned to the wall and painted brick is covered in places by sheets of plaster and hollow wall panel. With a red marker from her pocket, Jodie draws a heart with a narrow being shot through it by a faceless archer. She stands back to look, bends to sign her name. A yell that may have been a scream sounds faintly.

  She looks around but there is no-one else in the cafeteria, the few windows are shut and the open door only leads into a long quiet corridor. The closed door leads outside so she chooses that one.

  PLAYGROUND - CONTINUOUS - EXT

  Fallen toys lie on the ground, a football rolls across the pitch. Jodie grabs it and starts bouncing it like a basketball, looking around.

  Another voice drifts to her, the sound undefineable. Jodie drop-kicks the football straight onto the roof.

  JODIE

  Whoopsie.

  Then she takes another door that leads into a building of the school. The brickwork is different but it is the same grey colour as everything. The door takes a few shoves to muscle open but it gives.

  CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS - INT

  The fire door flops shut behind Jodie and she notices a chain dangling, broken by the side of the exit bar.

  JODIE

  Seriously. Messed. Up.

  Above her head is a banner with HUMANITIES in red letters. There are fluorescent overhead lights on the ceiling, lighting just one long corridor with some doors leading off it. The first door is marked STUDIO and a quick peek through the porthole window shows a number of young children standing in front of a class and acting out a scene from a play and making a fair bit of noise doing it. Trailing fingers along the wall, Jodie halts when she feels roughness. Some-one has carved IN on the wall. She takes out her marker and writes over the letters. Further down are more scratches HUMAN and then a long gouge as though the vandal was dragged away mid-scratch.

  Just as Jodie licks her finger and tries to rub off the marker before it dries, a line of teenagers start filing from one room into the room at the end. Sam is about halfway down the line.

  JODIE (CONT’D)

  Sam, hey. Can I tag along?

  He does not respond at all.

  JODIE (CONT’D)

  Sam. Wait for -

  But he is through the door already. Jodie runs to catch up to the class. The door closes on another room called STUDIO moments before she gets there. She tiptoes up to a porthole window a little higher than the others.

  CLASSROOM - CONTINUOUS - INT

  Rows upon rows of teens sit silently in a large white room. They are all wearing outfits of solid black. A tall woman is standing at the front of the room with a pointing stick in front of a huge screen. She nods to a man at the side of the room who flicks a switch to turn the lights out although the blinded windows still give just enough din daylight to see by. He stalks to the back of the room and pulls a black blind over the window in the door.

  CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS - INT

  The tall man comes close to the window to pull the blind. Jodie ducks out of sight for a few moments, then
bobs backup just in time to see flickering lights break through the blind and moans drifting through the crack under the door.

  HEADS OFFICE - AFTERNOON - INT

  Mr Jacks seems to have not moved but Dad is shuffling his feet under the desk and Gaynor is picking at her acrylic nails.

  MR JACKS

  So it’s settled then.

  GAYNOR

  Uh-huh. You get Jodie and we get-

  DAD

  She gets-

  GAYNOR

  Right. She gets a full scholarship, you provide room and board and equipment. We buy her basic grey uniform and you guys do the rest.

  MR JACKS

  Simple as that.

  He looks quite smug.

  MR JACKS (CONT’D)

  We’ll get the baby from the nursery and you can be on your way.

  DAD

  Right away?

  GAYNOR

  Babe, it’s for the best. Just write the man a cheque and-

  DAD

  You want Jodie to start right now?

  MR JACKS

  Mr Payne, I’m only trying to make this easier on you all. We have a place for her and it seems foolish not to take it now.

  DAD

  She needs to come home for a while. Pack.

  MR JACKS

  She’ll need nothing we can’t provide.

  DAD

  Say goodbye to her friends.

  GAYNOR

  Her spot will be there in a week, right? Just give us a week.

  The three of them rise and Mr Jacks presses a buzzer on the desk. a woman buzzes in, piles the tray, wipes it with a cloth until it is spotless and reflective again, then buzzes back out with the tray balanced on one arm.

  MR JACKS

  I hire the most efficient staff.

  DAD

  Why are you paying for Jodie’s education?

  MR JACKS

  She could be very valuable and it is our duty to nurture that.

  DAD

  She’s a great kid.

  GAYNOR

  But I’ve never noticed anything particularly special about her. Not that she’s not bright but... gifted?

  DAD

  You know best Mr Jacks. You will take care of her though.

  He grins and shows teeth like a steel trap.

  MR