<< OUTSIDE - UNIV. OF MARYLAND CAMPUS - MCKELDIN MALL -- DAY >>

It's a bright, sunny day on campus at UM College Park. R.E.M.'s song "Shiny Happy People" is playing loudly. Students are walking by in front of the large beautiful reflecting pool on McKeldin mall.

It’s 3 MONTHS AGO.

Some guys are playing Frisbee. A few people are kicking around a hacky sack. All over the lawn students are laughing, studying, talking, wading in the water, and even sunbathing. A few fall leaves grace the ground.

<< INSIDE - CENTREVILLE HALL - 5TH FLOOR - HALLWAY >>

"Shiny Happy People" continues to play lowly, coming from one of the dorm rooms.

Someone's big, pink, fluffy, bunny slippers walk purposefully down the hall.

The owner of the slippers is a pretty, dark-skinned, black girl. She wears cute denim overalls, a pink baby tee, and a necklace with a small silver crucifix. ERIKA. She looks a bit frustrated as she peers into the lounge door.

<< INSIDE - CENTREVILLE HALL - 5TH FLOOR - LOUNGE >>

A pretty Asian girl, ROSIE, and a sweet-faced brown-skinned girl TANEISHA are feverishly studying and talking at a large table. Several books and notes are spread out all over the table, nearby couch, and floor in front of them.

A girl with long black hair is reading a book at a table near the window. Erika's shoulder-length hair graces her face as she leans in from the hallway holding onto the door.

ERIKA

“Hey Rosie, is Sheila in your room?”

          Rosie looks up, removing a pencil from her mouth.

ERIKA

“I need to borrow her notes, but I heard some noises in there and I wasn't sure if I should knock.”

ROSIE

“Oh, yeah... she's in there alright, with contestant number three this week.”

          Erika laughs.

ERIKA

“Oh... Sorry.”

ROSIE

“No worries. I'm used to never seeing my room anymore. I think she's going for a record.”

TANEISHA

“She's in there with Jared.”

(big grin)

“Might be a while…”

          Rosie turns back to her books shaking her head trying not to laugh.

TANEISHA

“Y'all have the same KNES two-sixty right? Niveen takes that class, maybe she has notes.”

ERIKA

“No, same class, different professor. She takes it with Kleese. We have Dr. evil Adams.”

          Giggles and talking noises are coming from down the hallway.

ERIKA

“There she is.”

          Erika turns to leave.

TANEISHA

“Ooh, Erika wait, can you hook my hair up before y'all go out tomorrow? I can't see Shawn looking like this.”

          Taneisha gestures toward her loose messy ponytail.

ERIKA

“Yeah, no problem, Taneisha.”

          Erika nods as she turns around and heads into the hall. Taneisha smiles.

<< INSIDE - CENTREVILLE HALL - 5TH FLOOR - HALLWAY >>

Erika walks, then hesitates near the wall a few feet from Sheila's door. "Could You Be Love" by Bob Marley plays quietly from Sheila's room.

A tall muscular Asian guy with messy dark hair, and a devilish grin comes walking out of the room with a tall thick caramel-skinned girl with long wild dreadlocks. JARED and SHEILA.

Her red silk kimono robe waves as she tickles him playfully, and touches his muscular bare chest. He's wearing nothing but cargo khakis, sport sandals, and a smile.

JARED

“You better call me for round two girl.”

SHEILA

(soft island accent)

“Baby. I'm highly offended you think I'm the type of gal who wouldn't call.”

          She pouts feigning hurt feelings.

JARED

“Well, you better.”

          She caresses his ear between her thumb and forefinger, then hands him a tee-shirt, which he puts on. Sheila turns her face to the side and points to her cheek, grinning.

SHEILA

“Plant it, babe.”

          He kisses her on the cheek, and she smacks him on the butt with a wide grin.

SHEILA

“Nice!”

          He laughs and walks off toward the elevator.

JARED

“Don't mess with me, unless you got another hour girl.”

          He smiles and nods as he passes Erika, who smiles back trying not to blush as she walks up to Sheila.

SHEILA

“Hey Erika, what's up?”

ERIKA

“Hey, Sheila, do you have the notes from last class? I swear I'm going to fail Adams' two-sixty if I don't catch up.”

          She looks at Erika nodding in agreement.

SHEILA

“Oh yeah, she prides herself on how many students fail her class. Warped witch, thinks that makes her a good teacher. I think I have them.”

          Sheila goes into the room. Erika stands, arms loosely folded, looking up and down at the door. The door is covered in so many condom packages that the small name tags labeled Rosie and Sheila are barely visible.

The condoms are individually taped to the door, and numbered 1 through the hundreds in black permanent marker. Lots of numbers are missing. Sheila comes back out.

SHEILA

“Here you go.”

          She hands Erika a small notebook full of papers.

SHEILA

“But, I heard the only way to even pass with a C is to suck up to her during office hours. I've been going like every week.”

ERIKA

“I have to try something because nothing from the chapters she told us to read was on that quiz.”

SHEILA

“Yeah, she'll do that.”

ERIKA

“She said it was “

ERIKA & SHEILA

(together)

“In the book.”

ERIKA

“Yeah, like we're supposed to memorize the whole book. She's psycho!”

          She opens her eyes widely in exasperation, and Sheila laughs.

SHEILA

“Don't stress over it. Life's too short.”

          Erika smiles and shakes her head.

ERIKA

“Thanks. I'll get it back to you tomorrow.”

SHEILA

“No problem. Don't forget to be ready for nine-fifteen tomorrow so we can get to Tracie's by ten. It will be good to de-stress.”

          Erika nods and heads back up the hallway towards the stairwell as Sheila heads back into her room.

Two girls wearing hijab headscarves, walk past her from a room and head into the bathroom, talking very fast in Arabic, and laughing jovially.

<< MOMENTS LATER - INSIDE - KELLY AND ERIKA'S DORM ROOM >>

Erika enters the room and closes the door. The only music that can be heard now is some upbeat song coming from somewhere outside. She puts her keys on her dresser.

The room is adorably decorated in pink and brown on one side and purple and green on the other. Books, supplies, food, and clothes are packed into every corner of the tiny room.

Kelly sits at a desk on the pink and brown side of the room, working at a laptop computer.

KELLY

“Did she have it?”

          Kelly addresses her without looking up, as Erika pushes over the heap of scattered papers and open books covering the purple and green bed, and plops herself down.

ERIKA

“Yeah. Now I just have to figure out the last part she said would count against the next quiz.”

          She picks up Sheila's notes and smells them incredulously.

ERIKA

“Wow, even her notes smell like lavender incense.”

KELLY

“The island seductress of Centreville Hall. You might want to use some sanitizer on that thing. Who knows what kind of transference there might be. CSI doesn't lie.”

ERIKA

“Aw, that's wrong. Sheila's wild, but she's cool.”

KELLY

“Sure... where's she taking you tomorrow night, a strip club?”

ERIKA

“No! It's just a toy party.”

          Kelly gives her a look. They both laugh, then settle back into their work. For a moment, both girls sit in silence working. Suddenly, there's rapid knocking at the door. The girls look up startled.

JASON (O.S. outside the door)

“Scholars colloquium in ten minutes guys!”

          He starts yelling through the hallway and knocking on several doors.

Both girls look at each other and shake their heads exhaling relieved.

ERIKA & KELLY

(together)

“Jason.”

ERIKA

“I forgot about the colloquium.”

          Erika looks over at her bedside alarm clock, which reads in bold red numbers 3:27.

ERIKA

“I only have like half an hour to my shift.”

          Kelly starts to get up and put her papers away. Her bright red University of Maryland hooded sweatshirt seems a few sizes too big, as it falls down past her butt when she stands.

She runs a hand through her long red hair and puts some flyaway strands behind her ears.

KELLY

“Don't worry. You can catch the first ten minutes and know exactly how the whole session will go.”

          Erika gets up and takes a burgundy blouse and black dress pants from the closet.

ERIKA

“I guess if I change now I can just leave from the meeting.”

          Erika kicks off her bunny slippers as Kelly gets her keys and heads out the door.

<< LATER - INSIDE - CENTREVILLE HALL - CONFERENCE LOUNGE >>

A tall dark-haired boy wearing a yarmulke is addressing about 40 students when Erika enters the back of the large lounge.

She ties a black apron around her waist over her uniform, slings a small bookbag over one shoulder, then slides into the back of the group.

JASON

“You'll find lists of your names on the table along with the people that share your major or similar classes. We combined the floors, so you all can connect to more people.”

          A short Latina girl next to him nods in assent as she passes out pads of paper and pencils.

The students walk over and browse two long tables full of blank index cards, pencils, and lists. Small conversations break out all over the room.

Kelly talks to a small girl, whose wavy brown hair barely shows under her hajib headscarf. They hand each other their cell phones and begin to type.

Erika gives a small wave to Kelly from across the room, and makes a gesture of writing on her palm. Kelly nods.

Erika looks down at her watch, which reads 3:47 pm. She grabs a few index cards from a long table, stuffs them into her bookbag, and heads out the door, into the hallway.