7th Heaven s06e02 Episode Script
Teased
Nice hair.
Yeah.
That was probably cool back in Jersey, but here it's just stupid.
Hey, why don't you guys knock it off? Because, preacher boy, we don't wanna knock it off.
You still taking the bus? Hey, wait.
Where do you think you're going? Home.
Going home.
Not unless you ask.
He doesn't have to ask.
Get out of his way.
- Leave him alone.
- Or what? He's gonna come to school with a gun and shoot innocent students like me because he's angry at idiots like you, all right? Knock it off.
Did preacher boy just insult us? - Can I please go home now? - Can I please go home now? Mommy, may I? - What's with you, Camden? - Hey, I don't care what's with him, just don't ever embarrass us like that again.
Or we might shoot you.
Excuse me.
You had to have just heard that.
Didn't you? You heard the whole thing and then you just, what? You hid in your classroom? Students aren't the only targets, Simon.
Can't you at least talk to their parents? I have.
The parents are just like them.
So, what are we gonna do about this? Aha! I knew you were the one sneaking my cookies.
Did you know you're bad at hiding your cookies? Who knew you could get there with a broken finger? You'd think an injury would slow you.
You'd think.
But I can't help myself.
I love a challenge.
You love to sneak cookies.
I think I'm gonna call you snookie from now on.
Really? I never had a nickname.
Even though I wasn't sneaking any cookies.
- What's going on? - Ask snookie.
Who is snookie? I am.
It means "sneaking cookies.
" It's a nickname.
I've always wanted a nickname.
I always wanted a nickname too.
Why, I can't just pull a nickname out of thin air.
It has to come to me.
If you tell me what went wrong in New York with Jeremy, maybe I could come up with something.
Robbie knows, so maybe he could come up with something.
Tell me, please.
- Can't.
- Why not? Because you can't be trusted, snookie.
Come on, come on.
I thought you were working.
Taking a break.
What's up? What's up? Simon still isn't home from school.
Well, I'm sure he's fine.
The bus is probably just running a little late.
You don't get it.
Come on, Weepy.
You know everything's gonna be fine.
Simon's fine.
Weepy? You said yesterday that you felt like the eighth dwarf, Weepy in Snow White.
Hello? Leave your wife and children and come away with me.
Bird? Who else is gonna ask you to leave your wife and children? It's Bird's an old friend from high school.
And? Hey, you're not busy raising someone from the dead or something, are you? - Am I interrupting? - No, I'm just I'm talking to my wife.
Oh.
Oh, oh, oh.
Sorry.
I am staying at the Glenoak Inn.
Call me back because I am in town for a week and I would love to see you.
Okay.
- Old girlfriend.
- Old friend.
So invite her over for dinner tonight.
After all, I liked your last girlfriend, Serena.
Right.
Right.
- Oh, hello.
- Hi.
This is my wife, Amy.
- Hi.
- I'm Tim.
That's kind of what we came to see you about, the fact that I don't have an arm.
Don't worry, we don't want you to pray it grows back.
Why don't you sit down? Your friend Lou knows us from the bank and said you might be able to help me out.
I have this prosthetic arm.
It's uncomfortable.
I took it off one day at work.
Some guys stole it.
And they think this is funny.
I promise to take good care of your car and pick you up at midnight.
Camden.
I have to go.
Let's go hot lips.
- Simon? - What are you doing with Matt's car? What are you doing at a bus stop? Took the wrong bus.
I didn't realise till I got here.
My car's in the shop and I have something to do tonight, so Matt let me take his.
Get in.
What's wrong? My whole life is wrong.
You wouldn't understand.
Try me.
I'm a very good listener.
We'll talk while I drive you home.
Well, I'll take the ride, but no thanks on the talk.
Grandma fried fish that the Colonel and George caught.
- The whole house reeks of it.
Other than that, how's it going? Well, I applied to be a firefighter.
- Why would you do that? - Why wouldn't I? It's just that, well, have you ever had any interest in fighting fires? - No, but I do now.
- Why? Because what if Wilson and I get married and then something happens to him and I need to support the family? I mean, I need to get a job, a real job.
And the Colonel encouraged me to look for something in public service, and, well, I can't be a cop, so I'm gonna be a firefighter.
- Couldn't you just be a postal worker? - That is just what the Colonel said.
- What are you, an old lady? - No, I'm not an old lady.
I may be conservative, but so what? Maybe it's time for people to be more conservative.
Sorry.
What are you getting so upset about? Fire! Bird, I want you to meet my family.
This is my wife, Annie.
- Hi.
- And that's Sam and David.
Lucy, Ruthie.
Simon and Robbie.
- Wow, these all yours? - Well Except for me.
I'm the ex-boyfriend of the one who's missing, Mary.
She's in New York.
Wow, again.
Let's see if I got everybody straight here.
This is Sam and David.
- And Ruthie? - Call me snookie.
It's a nickname.
Oh, well, I just love nicknames, snookie.
And Simon? That's easy for me to remember.
I have an old boyfriend in New York named Simon.
Then you and Lucy have something in common.
She has an old boyfriend in New York.
- Old fiancé, actually.
- Shut up.
I got it.
We'll call you Lady Liberty, after the Statue of Liberty, because you got your freedom in New York.
Not a good idea, snook.
- Why don't I just stick to Lucy? - Yeah.
And you're Robbie? And I'm Matt, but you can call me hot lips, since that's what everyone else calls me, thanks to Cheryl.
That's our oldest son, Matt.
I'll get you a plate.
See? See, no one even cares that I'm hot lips.
No one but the Legal Department.
And you're? A friend from high school, Bird.
- Hi.
- Why do they call you Bird? Well, my dad used to call me bird legs.
I guess because I have, ladies and gentlemen, bird legs.
But somewhere along the way, mercifully, Bird Legs was shortened to Bird.
Maybe it's time we call you by your given name, what with Eric's weak heart and everything.
What is your given name? Merle.
So could we just stick with Bird, please? Oh, sure.
But Merle is a nice name.
It just doesn't suit me.
- Yeah.
Okay, we'll go with Bird.
- Oh, thank you.
Did you say "Legal Department"? Yeah.
I had to call Cheryl and have her pick me up because the nurses were calling me hot lips, and the doctor, who hates me anyway, said it could be a sexual-harassment problem and told me I can't work there until she gets the situation clear with the Legal Department.
I mean, can you believe that? I wanna know about the hot lips thing later.
But what is Cheryl doing with your car? And please tell me that it's something very important, because your insurance does not cover Cheryl.
Oh, she had something important she had to do tonight.
I thought she worked nights.
Cheryl was Robbie's old girlfriend and Matt's new girlfriend.
Thank you.
Cheryl's going to college.
She had class.
Cheryl? Look, she didn't want anyone to know.
Why not? Because some people might think it's funny.
- Maybe we can talk about this later? - No.
Why don't we just talk about this now.
What is wrong with everyone? What's with all the teasing and the name calling? Why do we have to keep doing that? You know what? I'm sick of it.
A guy can't even take it anymore.
I'll take care of it.
- Hello? Yeah, may I speak to Simon? - This is Mick from school.
- I'll get him.
- What? - Phone.
- Who is it? - Mick from school.
- Hello? - Hey, Simon, this is Mick, the guy you defended at school today.
The guy all those jocks were picking on.
Yeah, I remember.
Yeah, I just wanted to call and say thanks for your help, man.
You were really cool.
Do you mind? I wanna talk to you after dinner.
I'll bring a plate up for you.
Thanks.
Those guys are losers, man.
You know that.
Yeah, I know that.
That's why I'm gonna blow them away.
I beg your pardon? Hey, you said it yourself, right? I mean, one day they're gonna push me too far and I'm gonna blow them away.
But you don't mean that.
Yeah, I do.
I can't take it anymore.
I understand that but when you start talking about actually blowing people away We've moved ten times and every time, it's the same.
They're all the same.
All of them.
Shooting people won't solve your problems.
Right.
So I should just let What's it called? Their teasing.
Yeah, I should just let all their teasing roll off my back.
That'll work.
It's better than shooting people.
- Not for me.
- For everyone.
Come on, you know you don't wanna hurt anyone.
You know, I do.
The only way these guys are gonna shut up is if they can't talk anymore.
But, look, I just wanted to call and say thanks.
And don't worry, you won't get hurt.
That's it? You took the wrong bus? You're angry about having to take the bus and you can't wait to grow up and get out of here? - Yes.
- No, that's not it.
You can stand here all night and try to make it more than that, but it's not.
Well, you realise why you're taking the bus? Yes.
I'm taking the bus because I wanna be treated like a man.
So I'm acting like a man and being responsible for my own transportation.
- What makes you angry about that? - Have you ridden a bus lately? You know, it's not fun.
So you're angry about the role of public transportation in your transition to manhood, but not angry with your mother or me? Please, I can't talk any longer, okay? I've just had a bad day.
And nothing outside of getting on the wrong bus made it a bad day? Simon, my gut tells me that you got on the wrong bus because you weren't paying attention, because you were already upset about something and that something had to do with someone teasing someone, since that was the subject of your speech at dinner.
Maybe you should have your gut checked out.
Had it checked out last week.
All systems are go.
Look, I have a lot to do here, okay? And if you don't leave soon, I'm gonna be up until midnight doing homework.
All right.
Well, if you change your mind and you wanna talk Why don't I just go? Yeah.
Glenoak Police Department.
This is Simon Camden.
May I speak to Sergeant Michaels? One moment.
Simon, is everything okay? Thanks for taking my call.
And no.
Look, I have a serious problem.
And I'd talk to my dad about it, but the last time I had a serious problem like this, he nearly got killed.
- Hello? - Hey.
Sorry I'm so late.
We were just working on the annual report.
- Just wanted to say good night.
- Good night.
Is everything okay? Yeah, considering I nearly burned down the house.
What are you talking about? I set the curtains on fire with a candle.
- Was anyone hurt? - No one was hurt but the fire department came.
I know you're smiling, and it's not funny.
Okay, it's not funny.
It's just a very interesting way to see how the fire department works.
And that could be very useful in your interview with them tomorrow.
Okay, you have to see some humour in this.
And if I don't see any humour in this? Well, then the guy who's interviewing you tomorrow is gonna see that you don't have a sense of humour - and that might not be so good.
- And why is that? Because as a woman in a firehouse, you're gonna need to have a sense of humour.
Again, why? Because you're gonna be the only woman, surrounded by a bunch of guys, and guys like to kid around.
About what? They can't kid me just because I'm a woman.
That's called harassment and that's illegal.
Look, this is my fault.
The fire was probably very scary, and I shouldn't have been joking around about it, because now I've got you way ahead of where you should be.
I mean, you're hired, you're in the firehouse, you're being harassed and you're ready to take legal action, when you actually haven't even had the interview yet.
So let's just back up and let's get through the interview first.
And I'm supposed to do that with a sense of humour? That would be my advice.
Don't be mad at me.
I love you.
I love you too.
- Good luck tomorrow.
- Thanks.
- Good night.
- Good night.
I feel a little guilty because I kind of laughed when I found out.
Just because I was surprised.
But, believe me, I'm really proud of you.
And you should really be proud of yourself.
Thanks.
I appreciate that.
It's hard.
I know.
But you'll do fine.
You will.
So don't be mad at Simon for telling everyone.
I'm not.
It's not his fault.
If I didn't want people to know, I shouldn't have told him.
Come on, tell snookie your deep, dark secrets.
It'll help you sleep.
Quit calling yourself snookie.
I hate that.
You hate that I refer to myself in the third person? Or you hate that I have a nickname and you don't? What, I offended you, Lady Liberty? - Oh, shut up.
- Hey, that wasn't very nice.
Well, you're not very nice.
Well, I just wanna know what happened.
The way you sneak, I'm surprised you haven't been able to sneak the information, sneaky.
Yeah, that's what your name should be.
Sneaky.
Not snookie, sneaky.
- I'm not sneaky.
- Yes, you are.
And I think that Robbie was trying to tell you in a nice way.
Snookie's a nice name.
He wasn't criticising me, he was teasing me.
Yeah, but why was he teasing you? Maybe he was trying to point something out to you.
Good night, sneaky.
Why are you staring at me? Can't sleep.
Why not? Well, it's selfish of me to bring this up, especially after you entertained my friend tonight, but I got my feelings hurt tonight when you said I have a weak heart.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Oh, I don't know why I said that.
I feel terrible.
No, no, no.
I don't wanna make you cry, Annie.
I can't help it.
I really am weepy.
Well, no.
I'm I shouldn't have brought it up.
Yeah, you're right, you shouldn't have, because now I feel just terrible.
Sorry.
I'm really uncomfortable with your arm like that.
I thought Bird was very nice.
Yeah.
Yeah, I just I'm not sure what she wants to talk to me about.
Well, I don't know, but whatever it is, I'm sure you can handle it.
Thanks.
Okay.
Hey, would you kindly hang up? I have to make a call.
I gotta go.
Good night.
Glenoak Police Department.
- Sergeant Michaels, please.
- One moment.
Simon, I've been waiting for you to call.
I went over to Mick's house, I had a talk with him and his dad.
I told them we had several anonymous calls from students who were disturbed about other students harassing Mick, and we wanted to offer our help.
- And? - And his dad invited me in.
I had a long talk with both of them.
From everything I could gather, however, Mick doesn't exhibit any of the usual signs of being a shooter.
He doesn't abuse animals, he has a few friends he's stayed in close contact with, even though he's moved around a lot.
He's not violent, he's not into music with violent lyrics, he's not up in his room drawing weird pictures.
He has no prior arrests.
Never been expelled or suspended from school for any reason.
Great.
So I've falsely accused him? You did the right thing, Simon.
You heard what you heard.
And despite the way things look, I'm not absolutely certain he doesn't have the potential for violence, because he did make that threat.
I want you to do me a favour.
I want you to talk to your dad.
- But the last time - Every time is different, Simon.
But you said you didn't find anything, so everything's fine, right? I didn't say that.
I said every time is different.
So talk to your father.
Okay, I'll talk to him in the morning.
In case anyone wants to know, I am now entering the kitchen.
Good morning, snookie.
I'll see you later.
Bye.
- What's up? - He thinks I'm sneaky.
What? He does.
And instead of just saying so to my face, he thinks he can just laugh it off by calling me snookie.
Well, you can tell him I got the message.
I don't want him calling me snookie anymore.
- Why don't you tell him? - Because I'm not talking to him.
Sorry I'm late, Rev.
Had a few things to do.
Doughnuts.
I'm Roland Rogers.
My boss sent me over? What can I do for you? Well, it's nice to meet you.
I'm Eric Camden.
- Rev.
- Or Eric.
Or Rev, huh? So I talked to a guy who works for you yesterday.
Oh, no.
This isn't about the arm, is it? It's more about the person the arm belongs to.
My boss actually conned me into coming here to talk to you about that arm? - Apparently.
- It's a joke.
Yeah, it seems like there's a lot of joking going on in your office.
Exactly.
There are jokes about me and there are jokes about Jackie the short guy, jokes about Ellen with the fat ankles, Lisa with the buck teeth, and about George and his big ears.
It's a laugh fest up there, I'm telling you.
So no one is picking on the one-armed guy.
Tim.
I understand someone took his arm.
The guy takes it off all the time.
Someone took it.
If he hadn't gotten so upset about it, they would have given it back by now.
Oh.
He wants to be one of the guys.
This is what happens.
Many people don't see the humour in hiding a prosthetic arm.
Tim needs the arm back, today, as soon as you get back to the office.
What? Do I answer to you now, Rev? You answer to the same guy I answer to.
But it was your supervisor who sent you here in an effort to avoid some legal problems.
Come on.
The guys didn't mean nothing by it.
Yeah, they did, Roland.
And they mean something when they call you fat.
They make themselves feel powerful and you feel like you're nothing unless you're in their group.
Do I really have to explain this to you? I've been teased my whole life.
If I don't wanna be teased, then I should just drop a few pounds.
Or 50.
Yeah, it's one thing to have a sense of humour about yourself.
It's another to cooperate with people who are humiliating you.
And that's what these guys are doing to Tim and to you.
But you're the boss, you're in charge.
So take charge.
You have the power to make a change here.
So go make that change.
Be a man, Roland.
Speak up.
Seize the day.
Hi.
Mary Camden, pyromaniac.
Perhaps we met at my recent fire? Hi, I'm Mary Camden.
We know I can start fires, now I wanna put them out too.
Hello, Mary Camden.
Pleased to meet you.
Do you smell something burning? Morning, Luce.
Can we talk? You've been home a week and we still don't know what happened.
Your dad and I would really like to know.
It's just too embarrassing, okay? I can't talk about it.
- Did he break the engagement? - No.
- So you broke the engagement? - I don't wanna talk about it.
- You talked to Robbie.
- I wish I hadn't.
- Can we talk about something else? - Okay.
Let's do.
Do you have any idea why Ruthie's not talking to Robbie? I might.
Thanks a lot.
My car's ready.
Thanks for driving me.
- What, no kiss? - I thought I wasn't allowed to kiss you.
Just not in the vicinity of work until this whole hot lips thing blows over.
And why are you mad at me? I know you are.
Just tell me.
You're insensitive.
In general, or about something in particular? You don't understand how insecure I am about going to college.
But Robbie does.
I heard him on the phone with you last night.
It's just that he's known me for a long time.
He knows my mom.
I can't talk about this right now.
Well, can you talk about it later with me? Yeah.
I know you sent that cop over to my house.
I knew you'd call someone.
You were gonna blow those guys away.
- What was I supposed to do? - I was just joking.
Really? I mean, because you sounded pretty serious to me.
I was angry about those guys teasing me.
But it's not like I was really gonna kill anyone.
Fine.
I'm sorry for the mistake.
If it was a mistake.
Oh, look, it's little preacher boy with the geek.
Hi, this is Eric Camden.
May I speak to Sergeant Michaels? I'm sorry, he's not in now.
- Well, I've been trying to reach him.
Let him know that I returned his calls.
Thanks.
Hey.
Sit down.
I would have been happy to treat you to lunch.
Thanks.
I'm not that hungry.
And Well, maybe I'll feel better after we talk.
I hope so.
So, Eric, I'm just gonna get straight to it.
You remember my little brother, Ben? Yeah.
Yeah, funny kid.
My dad always teased Ben about his foot.
He had a club foot.
So did my dad.
It's a hereditary thing.
My dad always thought that if he teased Ben about his foot, then it wouldn't bother him when the kids in school teased him.
I don't remember your brother having a club foot.
No.
Most people looked right past it because he didn't make it important.
He was just such a nice guy and always did the right thing.
Very sweet, very funny, very kind.
I miss him.
Ben.
What happened to him? Last year, Ben had a son, born with the same foot problem.
My dad just couldn't contain his disappointment.
And the way he expressed it was by making a joke about the baby.
Then when Ben and his wife took my nephew home from the hospital, they left town.
And I've never seen them again.
And then my father died and now I have no family.
All because my father couldn't deal with my brother's imperfection in any other way except to make jokes about him.
Ben suffered his whole life, and so did my father.
To tell you the truth, I don't even know which one was in more pain.
But I do know who could have stopped teasing Ben.
You want some help finding your brother? No, no, I'll find him eventually.
I hope.
What I want is some help in forgiving my father.
That's what my therapist keeps telling me I need to work on, forgiveness, for the way he treated Ben and for driving him away.
But I am having a real problem with that.
Well, forgiveness is a It's a funny thing.
Because when we say we forgive someone, it feels as if, you know, we have the power to forgive, but it's God who has the power.
So as a first step, I would say, turn it over.
Let God forgive him.
You don't have to.
It might not be in your power to forgive.
But it is in your power to let it go and move on.
Keep trying to find your brother.
Focus on that.
You can't imagine what a relief that would be if I didn't feel that I need to forgive my father.
But how do I just forget what he did? You mean, how can you forget about trying to judge him? That is what I've been doing, isn't it? - Judging him.
- Imagine the difference it would make if each of us would stop judging the other.
I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have to get your advice on something.
It's kind of a matter of life and death.
Ruthie isn't talking to you, so I'm supposed to tell you to stop calling her snookie.
I thought she liked it.
What happened? What happened is that Lucy told Ruthie that you calling her snookie is a polite way of telling her that she's sneaky.
That wasn't it at all.
Well, then you better let her know.
She's pretty upset.
She likes you a lot.
Are you kidding? She loves me.
I know.
We all love you.
We do.
Free clinic.
Hi.
Is Matt Camden available to take a phone call? Camden.
It's for you, hot lips.
Now don't come crying to me when you get fired for sexual harassment.
- Am I harassing you? - No.
Phone.
- Hello? - Hey.
I know you're busy, but I just couldn't have this conversation with you face-to-face.
- Are you okay? - Yeah.
It's just kind of embarrassing.
I just want you to know, my mom and her boyfriend used to always call me Blondie and make jokes about how stupid I was.
I tried to prove myself to them by doing well at work, but it didn't matter.
They still call me Blondie when I see them and they still make the same jokes.
I'm not going to college to prove anything to them, but I am going to college to prove something to myself.
And I feel pressure to do well, because if I fail, then I guess that's proof that I really am a dumb blond.
Stop, okay? Just stop.
Don't let college be about proving anything to anyone.
Just let it be about learning.
That's all any class is ever about, learning.
And, if you knew everything, then you wouldn't need to learn anything.
So don't put so much pressure on yourself.
Don't set yourself up to fail.
College is a good thing.
It is.
And I want you to have good things.
Forget about your mom and her boyfriend.
Forget about what they said.
They don't know you.
They kicked you out of the house at 16 and they stuck you in an apartment.
- I wish I could forget.
- What's stopping you? Letting go of the excuse I'd have if I do fail.
After all, it's their fault, right? They called me stupid.
And I may not be stupid, but I've been an idiot to believe them.
- Thanks, Matt.
- Anytime.
- I'm gonna go study.
- I'll call you later.
Okay.
- Why? - I don't know if there is a "why.
" I don't think that Ruthie is sneaky.
You think that Ruthie is sneaky, don't you? - Maybe.
- You don't want her sneaking around and finding out what happened with Jeremy, do you? If you hadn't come up with that nickname, she wouldn't be going around calling me Lady Liberty.
And I don't like that.
- When are you gonna tell them? - I don't know if I am.
I think you should tell them.
I think they'll understand.
I didn't hear a thing.
I thought you were coming up to talk to Ruthie.
She's downstairs in the kitchen.
Okay, okay, okay.
When you marry someone, you marry their family.
And I didn't want to marry Jeremy because I didn't want to marry his family.
So you quit school and came home? Maybe I'm not cut out for the ministry.
Because? Because his family teased me relentlessly for being a goody A goody two-shoes.
And they called me Mother Teresa.
- She was a great woman.
- I am not Mother Teresa.
I offer what I said to Ruthie as proof.
I should only hope to do one thing as great as any of the millions of things Mother Teresa ever did.
Yeah.
They drink, they smoke pot, and they throw a lot of parties.
And, yet, I liked them.
I don't approve of how they live their lives, but I liked them.
I like everybody.
They just didn't like me.
I kind of got kicked out.
How could anyone tease my baby for being good? It's hardly a Camden world out there.
MARY This is Mary.
Leave a message at the beep.
I know you're there.
I called the Colonel.
Please pick up.
Tell me what happened.
This is what happened.
They turned me down.
They don't think I take the job seriously because of all the jokes I made, trying to convince them I have a sense of humour.
Oh.
I give up, snookie.
I knew you would.
I never said you were a sneaky person.
I said you were sneaking cookies, that's all.
But you still think I'm sneaky.
I don't think you're sneaky.
I think you're cute.
And I think snookie suits you.
And I like the sound of it, even if you never sneaked a cookie.
I like having my own special name for you because, you and I, we have a special relationship.
I never had a little sister.
I think you're great.
Why did I ever listen to that idiot? Hi.
Oops I guess I deserve to be called an idiot.
I was so wrong to hurt your feelings like that.
I know how much Robbie loves you.
And, well, we're all a little sneaky around here.
In a family of seven children, it happens.
I don't know who to hug first.
I am loved.
Hi, Mom.
I'm trying to guess what you're thinking.
You decided not to make him take the bus anymore, didn't you? No.
I still think taking the bus is perfectly fine.
Then what's going on? Simon's speaking to all the social studies classes tomorrow.
- About? - About changing the world.
I don't feel safe at school.
And I'm tired of waiting for everyone else to make our school safe for us.
And every time there's a shooting, we hear that the shooter was someone who felt there was a score to settle.
It's always someone who felt they had to shoot someone to get even.
I mean, that's a pretty weird concept.
Someone calls you a name, so you kill them? The name callers are sometimes relentless.
You know they are.
Like a pack, they engage others in their hunt to search and destroy the already vulnerable students.
They're torturing people.
And you know what? We allow it.
We hear them, we don't speak up.
Or, even worse, we hear them and we join in, if not in the hallways, on the Internet.
The teasing that isolates one student or a couple of students from the rest of us has to stop.
And I think the only way it's going to is if we stop it ourselves.
The issue is not who's to blame.
The issue is who is gonna take responsibility.
Why don't we claim responsibility? We're the ones with the real power here.
We have the power to change people's lives.
We have the power to save people's lives.
So I say we claim that power, seize the day.
There are always gonna be cliques in high school.
There are always gonna be the popular students and the not-so-popular students.
There are always gonna be winners and losers, teasers and the teased.
But I think it's time for the mean and the cruel to be silenced by our insistence, before they or any of us are silenced by a gun.
We don't know who's on the brink.
We don't know who's merely threatening retaliation or who actually is capable of carrying out a threat.
What we do know is that we can make a difference.
Yeah.
That was probably cool back in Jersey, but here it's just stupid.
Hey, why don't you guys knock it off? Because, preacher boy, we don't wanna knock it off.
You still taking the bus? Hey, wait.
Where do you think you're going? Home.
Going home.
Not unless you ask.
He doesn't have to ask.
Get out of his way.
- Leave him alone.
- Or what? He's gonna come to school with a gun and shoot innocent students like me because he's angry at idiots like you, all right? Knock it off.
Did preacher boy just insult us? - Can I please go home now? - Can I please go home now? Mommy, may I? - What's with you, Camden? - Hey, I don't care what's with him, just don't ever embarrass us like that again.
Or we might shoot you.
Excuse me.
You had to have just heard that.
Didn't you? You heard the whole thing and then you just, what? You hid in your classroom? Students aren't the only targets, Simon.
Can't you at least talk to their parents? I have.
The parents are just like them.
So, what are we gonna do about this? Aha! I knew you were the one sneaking my cookies.
Did you know you're bad at hiding your cookies? Who knew you could get there with a broken finger? You'd think an injury would slow you.
You'd think.
But I can't help myself.
I love a challenge.
You love to sneak cookies.
I think I'm gonna call you snookie from now on.
Really? I never had a nickname.
Even though I wasn't sneaking any cookies.
- What's going on? - Ask snookie.
Who is snookie? I am.
It means "sneaking cookies.
" It's a nickname.
I've always wanted a nickname.
I always wanted a nickname too.
Why, I can't just pull a nickname out of thin air.
It has to come to me.
If you tell me what went wrong in New York with Jeremy, maybe I could come up with something.
Robbie knows, so maybe he could come up with something.
Tell me, please.
- Can't.
- Why not? Because you can't be trusted, snookie.
Come on, come on.
I thought you were working.
Taking a break.
What's up? What's up? Simon still isn't home from school.
Well, I'm sure he's fine.
The bus is probably just running a little late.
You don't get it.
Come on, Weepy.
You know everything's gonna be fine.
Simon's fine.
Weepy? You said yesterday that you felt like the eighth dwarf, Weepy in Snow White.
Hello? Leave your wife and children and come away with me.
Bird? Who else is gonna ask you to leave your wife and children? It's Bird's an old friend from high school.
And? Hey, you're not busy raising someone from the dead or something, are you? - Am I interrupting? - No, I'm just I'm talking to my wife.
Oh.
Oh, oh, oh.
Sorry.
I am staying at the Glenoak Inn.
Call me back because I am in town for a week and I would love to see you.
Okay.
- Old girlfriend.
- Old friend.
So invite her over for dinner tonight.
After all, I liked your last girlfriend, Serena.
Right.
Right.
- Oh, hello.
- Hi.
This is my wife, Amy.
- Hi.
- I'm Tim.
That's kind of what we came to see you about, the fact that I don't have an arm.
Don't worry, we don't want you to pray it grows back.
Why don't you sit down? Your friend Lou knows us from the bank and said you might be able to help me out.
I have this prosthetic arm.
It's uncomfortable.
I took it off one day at work.
Some guys stole it.
And they think this is funny.
I promise to take good care of your car and pick you up at midnight.
Camden.
I have to go.
Let's go hot lips.
- Simon? - What are you doing with Matt's car? What are you doing at a bus stop? Took the wrong bus.
I didn't realise till I got here.
My car's in the shop and I have something to do tonight, so Matt let me take his.
Get in.
What's wrong? My whole life is wrong.
You wouldn't understand.
Try me.
I'm a very good listener.
We'll talk while I drive you home.
Well, I'll take the ride, but no thanks on the talk.
Grandma fried fish that the Colonel and George caught.
- The whole house reeks of it.
Other than that, how's it going? Well, I applied to be a firefighter.
- Why would you do that? - Why wouldn't I? It's just that, well, have you ever had any interest in fighting fires? - No, but I do now.
- Why? Because what if Wilson and I get married and then something happens to him and I need to support the family? I mean, I need to get a job, a real job.
And the Colonel encouraged me to look for something in public service, and, well, I can't be a cop, so I'm gonna be a firefighter.
- Couldn't you just be a postal worker? - That is just what the Colonel said.
- What are you, an old lady? - No, I'm not an old lady.
I may be conservative, but so what? Maybe it's time for people to be more conservative.
Sorry.
What are you getting so upset about? Fire! Bird, I want you to meet my family.
This is my wife, Annie.
- Hi.
- And that's Sam and David.
Lucy, Ruthie.
Simon and Robbie.
- Wow, these all yours? - Well Except for me.
I'm the ex-boyfriend of the one who's missing, Mary.
She's in New York.
Wow, again.
Let's see if I got everybody straight here.
This is Sam and David.
- And Ruthie? - Call me snookie.
It's a nickname.
Oh, well, I just love nicknames, snookie.
And Simon? That's easy for me to remember.
I have an old boyfriend in New York named Simon.
Then you and Lucy have something in common.
She has an old boyfriend in New York.
- Old fiancé, actually.
- Shut up.
I got it.
We'll call you Lady Liberty, after the Statue of Liberty, because you got your freedom in New York.
Not a good idea, snook.
- Why don't I just stick to Lucy? - Yeah.
And you're Robbie? And I'm Matt, but you can call me hot lips, since that's what everyone else calls me, thanks to Cheryl.
That's our oldest son, Matt.
I'll get you a plate.
See? See, no one even cares that I'm hot lips.
No one but the Legal Department.
And you're? A friend from high school, Bird.
- Hi.
- Why do they call you Bird? Well, my dad used to call me bird legs.
I guess because I have, ladies and gentlemen, bird legs.
But somewhere along the way, mercifully, Bird Legs was shortened to Bird.
Maybe it's time we call you by your given name, what with Eric's weak heart and everything.
What is your given name? Merle.
So could we just stick with Bird, please? Oh, sure.
But Merle is a nice name.
It just doesn't suit me.
- Yeah.
Okay, we'll go with Bird.
- Oh, thank you.
Did you say "Legal Department"? Yeah.
I had to call Cheryl and have her pick me up because the nurses were calling me hot lips, and the doctor, who hates me anyway, said it could be a sexual-harassment problem and told me I can't work there until she gets the situation clear with the Legal Department.
I mean, can you believe that? I wanna know about the hot lips thing later.
But what is Cheryl doing with your car? And please tell me that it's something very important, because your insurance does not cover Cheryl.
Oh, she had something important she had to do tonight.
I thought she worked nights.
Cheryl was Robbie's old girlfriend and Matt's new girlfriend.
Thank you.
Cheryl's going to college.
She had class.
Cheryl? Look, she didn't want anyone to know.
Why not? Because some people might think it's funny.
- Maybe we can talk about this later? - No.
Why don't we just talk about this now.
What is wrong with everyone? What's with all the teasing and the name calling? Why do we have to keep doing that? You know what? I'm sick of it.
A guy can't even take it anymore.
I'll take care of it.
- Hello? Yeah, may I speak to Simon? - This is Mick from school.
- I'll get him.
- What? - Phone.
- Who is it? - Mick from school.
- Hello? - Hey, Simon, this is Mick, the guy you defended at school today.
The guy all those jocks were picking on.
Yeah, I remember.
Yeah, I just wanted to call and say thanks for your help, man.
You were really cool.
Do you mind? I wanna talk to you after dinner.
I'll bring a plate up for you.
Thanks.
Those guys are losers, man.
You know that.
Yeah, I know that.
That's why I'm gonna blow them away.
I beg your pardon? Hey, you said it yourself, right? I mean, one day they're gonna push me too far and I'm gonna blow them away.
But you don't mean that.
Yeah, I do.
I can't take it anymore.
I understand that but when you start talking about actually blowing people away We've moved ten times and every time, it's the same.
They're all the same.
All of them.
Shooting people won't solve your problems.
Right.
So I should just let What's it called? Their teasing.
Yeah, I should just let all their teasing roll off my back.
That'll work.
It's better than shooting people.
- Not for me.
- For everyone.
Come on, you know you don't wanna hurt anyone.
You know, I do.
The only way these guys are gonna shut up is if they can't talk anymore.
But, look, I just wanted to call and say thanks.
And don't worry, you won't get hurt.
That's it? You took the wrong bus? You're angry about having to take the bus and you can't wait to grow up and get out of here? - Yes.
- No, that's not it.
You can stand here all night and try to make it more than that, but it's not.
Well, you realise why you're taking the bus? Yes.
I'm taking the bus because I wanna be treated like a man.
So I'm acting like a man and being responsible for my own transportation.
- What makes you angry about that? - Have you ridden a bus lately? You know, it's not fun.
So you're angry about the role of public transportation in your transition to manhood, but not angry with your mother or me? Please, I can't talk any longer, okay? I've just had a bad day.
And nothing outside of getting on the wrong bus made it a bad day? Simon, my gut tells me that you got on the wrong bus because you weren't paying attention, because you were already upset about something and that something had to do with someone teasing someone, since that was the subject of your speech at dinner.
Maybe you should have your gut checked out.
Had it checked out last week.
All systems are go.
Look, I have a lot to do here, okay? And if you don't leave soon, I'm gonna be up until midnight doing homework.
All right.
Well, if you change your mind and you wanna talk Why don't I just go? Yeah.
Glenoak Police Department.
This is Simon Camden.
May I speak to Sergeant Michaels? One moment.
Simon, is everything okay? Thanks for taking my call.
And no.
Look, I have a serious problem.
And I'd talk to my dad about it, but the last time I had a serious problem like this, he nearly got killed.
- Hello? - Hey.
Sorry I'm so late.
We were just working on the annual report.
- Just wanted to say good night.
- Good night.
Is everything okay? Yeah, considering I nearly burned down the house.
What are you talking about? I set the curtains on fire with a candle.
- Was anyone hurt? - No one was hurt but the fire department came.
I know you're smiling, and it's not funny.
Okay, it's not funny.
It's just a very interesting way to see how the fire department works.
And that could be very useful in your interview with them tomorrow.
Okay, you have to see some humour in this.
And if I don't see any humour in this? Well, then the guy who's interviewing you tomorrow is gonna see that you don't have a sense of humour - and that might not be so good.
- And why is that? Because as a woman in a firehouse, you're gonna need to have a sense of humour.
Again, why? Because you're gonna be the only woman, surrounded by a bunch of guys, and guys like to kid around.
About what? They can't kid me just because I'm a woman.
That's called harassment and that's illegal.
Look, this is my fault.
The fire was probably very scary, and I shouldn't have been joking around about it, because now I've got you way ahead of where you should be.
I mean, you're hired, you're in the firehouse, you're being harassed and you're ready to take legal action, when you actually haven't even had the interview yet.
So let's just back up and let's get through the interview first.
And I'm supposed to do that with a sense of humour? That would be my advice.
Don't be mad at me.
I love you.
I love you too.
- Good luck tomorrow.
- Thanks.
- Good night.
- Good night.
I feel a little guilty because I kind of laughed when I found out.
Just because I was surprised.
But, believe me, I'm really proud of you.
And you should really be proud of yourself.
Thanks.
I appreciate that.
It's hard.
I know.
But you'll do fine.
You will.
So don't be mad at Simon for telling everyone.
I'm not.
It's not his fault.
If I didn't want people to know, I shouldn't have told him.
Come on, tell snookie your deep, dark secrets.
It'll help you sleep.
Quit calling yourself snookie.
I hate that.
You hate that I refer to myself in the third person? Or you hate that I have a nickname and you don't? What, I offended you, Lady Liberty? - Oh, shut up.
- Hey, that wasn't very nice.
Well, you're not very nice.
Well, I just wanna know what happened.
The way you sneak, I'm surprised you haven't been able to sneak the information, sneaky.
Yeah, that's what your name should be.
Sneaky.
Not snookie, sneaky.
- I'm not sneaky.
- Yes, you are.
And I think that Robbie was trying to tell you in a nice way.
Snookie's a nice name.
He wasn't criticising me, he was teasing me.
Yeah, but why was he teasing you? Maybe he was trying to point something out to you.
Good night, sneaky.
Why are you staring at me? Can't sleep.
Why not? Well, it's selfish of me to bring this up, especially after you entertained my friend tonight, but I got my feelings hurt tonight when you said I have a weak heart.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Oh, I don't know why I said that.
I feel terrible.
No, no, no.
I don't wanna make you cry, Annie.
I can't help it.
I really am weepy.
Well, no.
I'm I shouldn't have brought it up.
Yeah, you're right, you shouldn't have, because now I feel just terrible.
Sorry.
I'm really uncomfortable with your arm like that.
I thought Bird was very nice.
Yeah.
Yeah, I just I'm not sure what she wants to talk to me about.
Well, I don't know, but whatever it is, I'm sure you can handle it.
Thanks.
Okay.
Hey, would you kindly hang up? I have to make a call.
I gotta go.
Good night.
Glenoak Police Department.
- Sergeant Michaels, please.
- One moment.
Simon, I've been waiting for you to call.
I went over to Mick's house, I had a talk with him and his dad.
I told them we had several anonymous calls from students who were disturbed about other students harassing Mick, and we wanted to offer our help.
- And? - And his dad invited me in.
I had a long talk with both of them.
From everything I could gather, however, Mick doesn't exhibit any of the usual signs of being a shooter.
He doesn't abuse animals, he has a few friends he's stayed in close contact with, even though he's moved around a lot.
He's not violent, he's not into music with violent lyrics, he's not up in his room drawing weird pictures.
He has no prior arrests.
Never been expelled or suspended from school for any reason.
Great.
So I've falsely accused him? You did the right thing, Simon.
You heard what you heard.
And despite the way things look, I'm not absolutely certain he doesn't have the potential for violence, because he did make that threat.
I want you to do me a favour.
I want you to talk to your dad.
- But the last time - Every time is different, Simon.
But you said you didn't find anything, so everything's fine, right? I didn't say that.
I said every time is different.
So talk to your father.
Okay, I'll talk to him in the morning.
In case anyone wants to know, I am now entering the kitchen.
Good morning, snookie.
I'll see you later.
Bye.
- What's up? - He thinks I'm sneaky.
What? He does.
And instead of just saying so to my face, he thinks he can just laugh it off by calling me snookie.
Well, you can tell him I got the message.
I don't want him calling me snookie anymore.
- Why don't you tell him? - Because I'm not talking to him.
Sorry I'm late, Rev.
Had a few things to do.
Doughnuts.
I'm Roland Rogers.
My boss sent me over? What can I do for you? Well, it's nice to meet you.
I'm Eric Camden.
- Rev.
- Or Eric.
Or Rev, huh? So I talked to a guy who works for you yesterday.
Oh, no.
This isn't about the arm, is it? It's more about the person the arm belongs to.
My boss actually conned me into coming here to talk to you about that arm? - Apparently.
- It's a joke.
Yeah, it seems like there's a lot of joking going on in your office.
Exactly.
There are jokes about me and there are jokes about Jackie the short guy, jokes about Ellen with the fat ankles, Lisa with the buck teeth, and about George and his big ears.
It's a laugh fest up there, I'm telling you.
So no one is picking on the one-armed guy.
Tim.
I understand someone took his arm.
The guy takes it off all the time.
Someone took it.
If he hadn't gotten so upset about it, they would have given it back by now.
Oh.
He wants to be one of the guys.
This is what happens.
Many people don't see the humour in hiding a prosthetic arm.
Tim needs the arm back, today, as soon as you get back to the office.
What? Do I answer to you now, Rev? You answer to the same guy I answer to.
But it was your supervisor who sent you here in an effort to avoid some legal problems.
Come on.
The guys didn't mean nothing by it.
Yeah, they did, Roland.
And they mean something when they call you fat.
They make themselves feel powerful and you feel like you're nothing unless you're in their group.
Do I really have to explain this to you? I've been teased my whole life.
If I don't wanna be teased, then I should just drop a few pounds.
Or 50.
Yeah, it's one thing to have a sense of humour about yourself.
It's another to cooperate with people who are humiliating you.
And that's what these guys are doing to Tim and to you.
But you're the boss, you're in charge.
So take charge.
You have the power to make a change here.
So go make that change.
Be a man, Roland.
Speak up.
Seize the day.
Hi.
Mary Camden, pyromaniac.
Perhaps we met at my recent fire? Hi, I'm Mary Camden.
We know I can start fires, now I wanna put them out too.
Hello, Mary Camden.
Pleased to meet you.
Do you smell something burning? Morning, Luce.
Can we talk? You've been home a week and we still don't know what happened.
Your dad and I would really like to know.
It's just too embarrassing, okay? I can't talk about it.
- Did he break the engagement? - No.
- So you broke the engagement? - I don't wanna talk about it.
- You talked to Robbie.
- I wish I hadn't.
- Can we talk about something else? - Okay.
Let's do.
Do you have any idea why Ruthie's not talking to Robbie? I might.
Thanks a lot.
My car's ready.
Thanks for driving me.
- What, no kiss? - I thought I wasn't allowed to kiss you.
Just not in the vicinity of work until this whole hot lips thing blows over.
And why are you mad at me? I know you are.
Just tell me.
You're insensitive.
In general, or about something in particular? You don't understand how insecure I am about going to college.
But Robbie does.
I heard him on the phone with you last night.
It's just that he's known me for a long time.
He knows my mom.
I can't talk about this right now.
Well, can you talk about it later with me? Yeah.
I know you sent that cop over to my house.
I knew you'd call someone.
You were gonna blow those guys away.
- What was I supposed to do? - I was just joking.
Really? I mean, because you sounded pretty serious to me.
I was angry about those guys teasing me.
But it's not like I was really gonna kill anyone.
Fine.
I'm sorry for the mistake.
If it was a mistake.
Oh, look, it's little preacher boy with the geek.
Hi, this is Eric Camden.
May I speak to Sergeant Michaels? I'm sorry, he's not in now.
- Well, I've been trying to reach him.
Let him know that I returned his calls.
Thanks.
Hey.
Sit down.
I would have been happy to treat you to lunch.
Thanks.
I'm not that hungry.
And Well, maybe I'll feel better after we talk.
I hope so.
So, Eric, I'm just gonna get straight to it.
You remember my little brother, Ben? Yeah.
Yeah, funny kid.
My dad always teased Ben about his foot.
He had a club foot.
So did my dad.
It's a hereditary thing.
My dad always thought that if he teased Ben about his foot, then it wouldn't bother him when the kids in school teased him.
I don't remember your brother having a club foot.
No.
Most people looked right past it because he didn't make it important.
He was just such a nice guy and always did the right thing.
Very sweet, very funny, very kind.
I miss him.
Ben.
What happened to him? Last year, Ben had a son, born with the same foot problem.
My dad just couldn't contain his disappointment.
And the way he expressed it was by making a joke about the baby.
Then when Ben and his wife took my nephew home from the hospital, they left town.
And I've never seen them again.
And then my father died and now I have no family.
All because my father couldn't deal with my brother's imperfection in any other way except to make jokes about him.
Ben suffered his whole life, and so did my father.
To tell you the truth, I don't even know which one was in more pain.
But I do know who could have stopped teasing Ben.
You want some help finding your brother? No, no, I'll find him eventually.
I hope.
What I want is some help in forgiving my father.
That's what my therapist keeps telling me I need to work on, forgiveness, for the way he treated Ben and for driving him away.
But I am having a real problem with that.
Well, forgiveness is a It's a funny thing.
Because when we say we forgive someone, it feels as if, you know, we have the power to forgive, but it's God who has the power.
So as a first step, I would say, turn it over.
Let God forgive him.
You don't have to.
It might not be in your power to forgive.
But it is in your power to let it go and move on.
Keep trying to find your brother.
Focus on that.
You can't imagine what a relief that would be if I didn't feel that I need to forgive my father.
But how do I just forget what he did? You mean, how can you forget about trying to judge him? That is what I've been doing, isn't it? - Judging him.
- Imagine the difference it would make if each of us would stop judging the other.
I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have to get your advice on something.
It's kind of a matter of life and death.
Ruthie isn't talking to you, so I'm supposed to tell you to stop calling her snookie.
I thought she liked it.
What happened? What happened is that Lucy told Ruthie that you calling her snookie is a polite way of telling her that she's sneaky.
That wasn't it at all.
Well, then you better let her know.
She's pretty upset.
She likes you a lot.
Are you kidding? She loves me.
I know.
We all love you.
We do.
Free clinic.
Hi.
Is Matt Camden available to take a phone call? Camden.
It's for you, hot lips.
Now don't come crying to me when you get fired for sexual harassment.
- Am I harassing you? - No.
Phone.
- Hello? - Hey.
I know you're busy, but I just couldn't have this conversation with you face-to-face.
- Are you okay? - Yeah.
It's just kind of embarrassing.
I just want you to know, my mom and her boyfriend used to always call me Blondie and make jokes about how stupid I was.
I tried to prove myself to them by doing well at work, but it didn't matter.
They still call me Blondie when I see them and they still make the same jokes.
I'm not going to college to prove anything to them, but I am going to college to prove something to myself.
And I feel pressure to do well, because if I fail, then I guess that's proof that I really am a dumb blond.
Stop, okay? Just stop.
Don't let college be about proving anything to anyone.
Just let it be about learning.
That's all any class is ever about, learning.
And, if you knew everything, then you wouldn't need to learn anything.
So don't put so much pressure on yourself.
Don't set yourself up to fail.
College is a good thing.
It is.
And I want you to have good things.
Forget about your mom and her boyfriend.
Forget about what they said.
They don't know you.
They kicked you out of the house at 16 and they stuck you in an apartment.
- I wish I could forget.
- What's stopping you? Letting go of the excuse I'd have if I do fail.
After all, it's their fault, right? They called me stupid.
And I may not be stupid, but I've been an idiot to believe them.
- Thanks, Matt.
- Anytime.
- I'm gonna go study.
- I'll call you later.
Okay.
- Why? - I don't know if there is a "why.
" I don't think that Ruthie is sneaky.
You think that Ruthie is sneaky, don't you? - Maybe.
- You don't want her sneaking around and finding out what happened with Jeremy, do you? If you hadn't come up with that nickname, she wouldn't be going around calling me Lady Liberty.
And I don't like that.
- When are you gonna tell them? - I don't know if I am.
I think you should tell them.
I think they'll understand.
I didn't hear a thing.
I thought you were coming up to talk to Ruthie.
She's downstairs in the kitchen.
Okay, okay, okay.
When you marry someone, you marry their family.
And I didn't want to marry Jeremy because I didn't want to marry his family.
So you quit school and came home? Maybe I'm not cut out for the ministry.
Because? Because his family teased me relentlessly for being a goody A goody two-shoes.
And they called me Mother Teresa.
- She was a great woman.
- I am not Mother Teresa.
I offer what I said to Ruthie as proof.
I should only hope to do one thing as great as any of the millions of things Mother Teresa ever did.
Yeah.
They drink, they smoke pot, and they throw a lot of parties.
And, yet, I liked them.
I don't approve of how they live their lives, but I liked them.
I like everybody.
They just didn't like me.
I kind of got kicked out.
How could anyone tease my baby for being good? It's hardly a Camden world out there.
MARY This is Mary.
Leave a message at the beep.
I know you're there.
I called the Colonel.
Please pick up.
Tell me what happened.
This is what happened.
They turned me down.
They don't think I take the job seriously because of all the jokes I made, trying to convince them I have a sense of humour.
Oh.
I give up, snookie.
I knew you would.
I never said you were a sneaky person.
I said you were sneaking cookies, that's all.
But you still think I'm sneaky.
I don't think you're sneaky.
I think you're cute.
And I think snookie suits you.
And I like the sound of it, even if you never sneaked a cookie.
I like having my own special name for you because, you and I, we have a special relationship.
I never had a little sister.
I think you're great.
Why did I ever listen to that idiot? Hi.
Oops I guess I deserve to be called an idiot.
I was so wrong to hurt your feelings like that.
I know how much Robbie loves you.
And, well, we're all a little sneaky around here.
In a family of seven children, it happens.
I don't know who to hug first.
I am loved.
Hi, Mom.
I'm trying to guess what you're thinking.
You decided not to make him take the bus anymore, didn't you? No.
I still think taking the bus is perfectly fine.
Then what's going on? Simon's speaking to all the social studies classes tomorrow.
- About? - About changing the world.
I don't feel safe at school.
And I'm tired of waiting for everyone else to make our school safe for us.
And every time there's a shooting, we hear that the shooter was someone who felt there was a score to settle.
It's always someone who felt they had to shoot someone to get even.
I mean, that's a pretty weird concept.
Someone calls you a name, so you kill them? The name callers are sometimes relentless.
You know they are.
Like a pack, they engage others in their hunt to search and destroy the already vulnerable students.
They're torturing people.
And you know what? We allow it.
We hear them, we don't speak up.
Or, even worse, we hear them and we join in, if not in the hallways, on the Internet.
The teasing that isolates one student or a couple of students from the rest of us has to stop.
And I think the only way it's going to is if we stop it ourselves.
The issue is not who's to blame.
The issue is who is gonna take responsibility.
Why don't we claim responsibility? We're the ones with the real power here.
We have the power to change people's lives.
We have the power to save people's lives.
So I say we claim that power, seize the day.
There are always gonna be cliques in high school.
There are always gonna be the popular students and the not-so-popular students.
There are always gonna be winners and losers, teasers and the teased.
But I think it's time for the mean and the cruel to be silenced by our insistence, before they or any of us are silenced by a gun.
We don't know who's on the brink.
We don't know who's merely threatening retaliation or who actually is capable of carrying out a threat.
What we do know is that we can make a difference.