"Alone In The Crowd"

Doris answers her cell phone excited that her daughter has found a way to contact her

Doris: "Hello?... Jenny?... Hello?"

She is frustrated that all she can hear on the line is static. She shakes the phones hoping that may improve the signal.

Doris: "Jenny? Hello? Are you there?"

Through the static a faint voice can be heard

Jenny: "Mom? Can you hear me?

Doris becomes more excited: "Darling, yes I can hear you!"

Suddenly, the line goes dead and all that can be heard is silence. Doris tries returning the call but the phone shows no signal again.

Doris becomes frustrated: "Dammit!"

She signs deeply wondering what she should do next. Then at the end of the corridor she sees movement. She looks up and sees Jesse enter one of the classrooms. She is just about to call his name when someone calls out her name:

"Doris Schwartz"

She turns wondering who it can be and sees Troy excitedly rushing towards her.

Troy: "I did it Doris, I did it. I got into the school".

Doris smiles: "That's great Troy, I knew Mr Shorofsky would like you."

Troy notices the cell phone still in Doris' hands and becomes intrigued by it.

Troy: "What's that?"

Doris ponders for a moment on what to say. She decides that honesty is the best policy with Troy.

Doris: "This is a phone."

Troy is amazed: "Wow! I...I...I've never seen a phone like that before, it's so small. How does it work?"

Doris: "Troy, do you ever watch "Star Trek?"

Troy nods excitedly: "Yep, I love that show."

Doris: "Well this is like the communicators that the crew use."

Troy's eyes widen: "Cool! Can I hold it?"

Doris smiles: "Sure" as she hands him the phone.

Troy is mesmerised by the phone he's holding when suddenly it starts to vibrate and make a noise. The sudden movement and sound startles Troy causing him to let go of the phone, which drops to the floor. The back cover comes off and the battery falls out.

Troy becomes upset: "Oh No! I, I, I'm sorry. I, I didn't mean to break it. Am I in trouble?

Doris bends down and picks up the pieces of the phone. She places the battery back in place and puts the back over it.

Doris: "No need to worry Troy, it's all fixed. That was just someone trying to send me a message."

Doris looks at the phone and sees there is a text from Jenny saying:

"Mom I'm worried about you!"

Doris looks frustratedly at the phone as it still shows no signal.

Troy: "Are you okay?"

Doris nods: "Yes, I'm fine Troy. It's just a message from someone important to me, only I have no power to contact them."

Troy: "Is it a friend? I, I, I have a friend, his name is Bruno Martelli. He goes to this school.”

Doris smiles: "Yes, Bruno is a good friend."

A thought crosses Doris' mind that she'd really like to talk to Bruno and as her phone has received calls and text from the future that maybe it work better from someone who was actually in the current time period.

Doris: "Listen Troy, could you do me a favour?"

Troy nods eagerly: "Sure I'd like to help."

Doris pulls a pen and some paper from her bag and writes her cell phone number on it and then hands it to Troy.

Doris: "Give this number to Bruno and tell him it's very important, a matter of life and death that he phone this number. Tell him he must keep trying until he gets through. Can you do that for me Troy?"

Troy nods: "Yes, Yes, I can do that. I like that I have a secret mission to do. I won't let you down."

(He repeats what Doris has Said.) “Tell Bruno it’s a matter of life and death! He must keep trying until he gets through!”

Doris smiles: "Thank you Troy, this means a lot to me."

Troy hurries off: "I'll go and find Bruno now."

Doris watches him go until he reaches the end of the corridor, turns the corner and is out of sight. She then hears music coming from a nearby classroom followed by the familiar voice of Danny singing:

"Finding a way to get through each day,

Was hard enough to figure out .

Hopes and dreams and lots of plans,

Were all you ever thought about.

Didn't wanna give up,

Never wanted to say,

You couldn't keep going on.

Didn't find it fitting,

To be admitting,

So much had passed you by and was gone.

Don't throw away your dreams,

Don't get lost in yesterday,

Feeling down is nothing new,

You pay in funny ways.

Don't throw away your dreams,

Think about tomorrow .

Don't look back anymore,

Stop looking back, go on.

Cause your dreams are gonna lead you into the light,

The heart will always show you what's right.

So put up a fight ,

Forget all your hard times yesterdays.

Tomorrow is just a place for starting again,

Nobody's gonna care where you've been,

You're ready to win,

But if you wanna score you got to play.

Hey, hey,

Don't throw away your dreams ,

Don't throw away your dreams."

Doris has no idea when this event took place but as the song finishes she thinks to herself what great advice Danny is giving here. The line "Don't get lost in yesterdays" resonates with her as that's how she feels at the moment; Lost in a world of memories.

At that moment Morloch's voice booms over the speaker system.

Morloch: "Jesse Velasquez, report to the caferteria. Jesse Velasquez report to the cafeteria immediately"

Both Danny and Jesse leave the room, so Doris quickly bends down by the nearby water fountain to take a drink, in the hope that they won't see her. As they walk down the corridor to the stairwell, Doris follows at a safe distance behind them. She wonders if there is a way to get Jesse on his own to tell him Nicole's message.

At the cafeteria Doris watches through a door that is slightly ajar and sees a sign saying "Viva Jesse Velasquez" and everyone starts clapping as Jesse arrives.

Morloch: "Mister Velasquez, this is our way of saying how proud we were having you here at our school and How much we are looking forward to the day you come back."

Doris remembers this was the time when Jesse was discovered to be a illegal alien and was going to be deported. She smiles to herself thinking of how she even married him to try and keep him in the country.

Music is playing and one by one people are dancing with Jesse to say goodbye. A lump comes to Doris' throat as she watches Nicole take her turn. She can see the real love felt between the two of them and wonders how they ever broke up in the first place. She realises that as these events took place before Nicole died that even if she got Jesse on his own now, he wouldn't know what she was talking about. So decides to move off down the corridor.

As she turns round she almost crashes into a longer haired Jesse running the other way.

Jesse: "Sorry, I'm late for class."

Doris steps aside to let him pass and is about to call after him but he's already gone. As she walks past the dance rehearsal room she sees Jesse and Nicole in mid performance:

"Oh they took everything they could

But they didn't get it all

You always fight the hardest

With your back up against the wall

Back on the savage street

I'm ready to make my claim

I'll stand on my own two feet

Once again

Back on the savage street

I'm ready to make my stand

I'll stand on my own two feet

Once again

No!

Oh, yeah

I'm back on the street."

Doris watches through the glass in the door. As the song ends Nicole appears to look right at Doris and shakes her head "No". Doris isn't sure if this part of the performance or if Nicole has actually seen her. Either way in that time line Nicole is still alive so again she moves on.

Leroy notices Nicole shake her head and looks towards the doorway Just seeing Doris turn and leave.

Doris moves to the top of the corridor where the doors to 2 classrooms and the cafeteria are open. Jesse appears to be in every room. In the first class he is performing a song for a group of Parents:

Jesse: "Waiting, Waiting, You keep me Waiting and I've waited so patient baby...."

In the second class he appears to be taking some kind of science exam and in the cafeteria he is performing with Cleo:

"Attraction automatic, a simple mathematic, Two to the power of Love...."

Doris is confused and mutters to herself: "Why is Jesse everywhere?"

She realises she’s looking for him but this is ridiculous and she has no idea which one she should try and talk to.

At that moment different versions of Jesse come out of the dance class, down the stairs, out of the locker room and one enters the school by the main stairs in the lobby. Doris anxiously looks from one Jesse to another. All of them seem to be oblivious to the others. As Doris watches more and more versions of Jesse fill the corridors and classrooms and swarm all around her, each singing, dancing or talking.

Doris starts to panic as she feels overwhelmed by the situation. She closes her eyes and takes deep breaths to try and calm down. She hopes that when she opens her eyes again that all the Jesses will be gone. Slowly she opens her eyes, first one and then the other but the Jesses haven't gone, in fact there are more and they seem to be getting closer to her, surrounding her. Doris feels there is no escape. She screams out.

Doris : "STOP!"

Suddenly there is silence as all the different Jesse stop moving, stand still and look directly at her.

To be continued.....