Fate City (Episode 1)

Fate City, September 2007. The sun is shining bright, the temperature is just right, and people are out and about.

         
         Mike Carter, Melanie Brown, Eric Renolds, and Giselle Jones all arrive at the beach. Mike and Eric are already set to go into the water, but Melanie and Giselle have to go change.

“Me and Melanie are gonna go change into our swimming suits. Why don’t you two just go out and have some fun until we get back, okay?” Giselle says.

“Alright, see you ladies in the water.” Mike says.

“Okay.” Giselle and Melanie walk off, while Mike and Eric walk towards the water,

“Can you swim little cousin?” Mike asks Eric.

Eric looks down, “um… no. No, I don’t know how to swim.”

“Really. Well, it looks like you won’t be going out to the deeper ends of the beach with me.”

“Guess not,” Eric laughs.


Melanie and Giselle exit the changing rooms and both head for the beach.

“Hey, how long have you and Eric been together?”  Melanie asks Giselle.

“Oh, for about a year now, which is about how long I’ve lived out here in Fate City.” Giselle answers.

“Do you think it’s time to tell him you secret; the real reason why you had to move to a different town and go to a different school?”

Giselle stops walking and looks Melanie directly in the eyes.
“No! I could never tell him why. I will never tell him why. It will stay a secret.”

…

Alyson Silverstone and Geri Nichols lay in their bikinis on the beach’s floor. They are both enjoying their time away from their families.

“Yes. This is so nice.” Alyson says as she looks towards the sun.

“Yes, I know. It’s like the beach is our escape route from our lives.” Geri says.

“To keep our minds off of…” Alyson stopped.

“What?”

“Look over your shoulder.”

Geri turned around and saw him. Alyson’s crush, Jake Russel, was coming out of the water.

“Oh… Jake Russel.”

“Yeah, I love him so much.”

“Love,” Geri chuckled, “you don’t love him.”

“Yes I do.”

“You like him for his looks and body. You don’t know a thing about him. You don’t even know what he likes to do.”

“Yes, I do. He likes to wear clothes, and I’d like to take them off and…”

“Never mind, Alyson,” Geri interrupts, “you need to either go talk to him and find out if he likes you back or find another boy to drool over. You need a real boyfriend and not the one you see in your dreams.”

“You mean a real boyfriend like yours?”

“Yes, but you can’t have him. You need your own.”

“Speaking of boyfriends, here comes yours now.”

“Hey, ladies,” Jim Clarkson said as he approached the two. “I knew you two would be out here. You two just can’t resist the beach on a day like this.”

“Guilty as charged.” Alyson said jokingly.

“Hey, Jim,” Geri stood up, “do you know if your friend Jake has a girlfriend?”

“Uh, no, no he doesn’t.”

“Great! Could you call him over here, Alyson wants to talk to him.”

“Sure.” Jim turns around and yells out Jake’s name. Jake hears him and runs toward them.

“What? No. Why did you do that?” Alyson asked.

“Because you need to tell him how you feel,” Geri says.

Alyson starts to get more and more nervous as Jake gets closer and closer.

…
         
         Matthew Silverstone and Faith Wilson are walking through the park holding hands. Since the temperature is just right, they both decided to take a stroll through the park.

“So how is everything going at home, Matt?” Faith asked as she looked into her boyfriend’s eyes.

“Everything is fine. We kind of had to readjust to my brother living with us again.” Matthew replied.

“Oh. And why did he move back in with you and your family again?”

“Because someone burned down his home while he was away.”

“Oh, ok. Did they ever find out who did it?”

“No. The investigators couldn’t find any evidence, so they stopped looking.”

“How long did they look?”

“For about a few days and stopped.”

“Uh-huh.” Faith stopped walking and stood still.

“What?” Matthew stopped walking, also.

“It sounds like they didn’t want to look or they knew something and lied about it.”

“What? Where do you get this stuff from? They looked. They saw nothing. That’s that. Although, I do wish they would’ve looked harder, but hey…I can’t do anything about that.”

“That sounds fishy. I think I’ll have to do a little investigating of my own.”

“What? No, Faith. Leave it alone.”

“Leave it alone? No, babe. I can’t let this one slide, this sounds too good to let go.”

“Faith, promise me you’ll leave this alone?” He grabs both her hands and looks her in her eyes.

Faith sighs, “I promise.”

“You promise what?”
“I promise I’ll leave this whole thing about investigating alone.”

“Thank you.” Matthew grabs Faith’s left hand and they begin to walk again.

Faith’s fingers are crossed on her right hand, which she placed behind her when she made her promise to Matthew.

…

Mimi Carson and her boyfriend Cortez Cruz sit together on the park bench. The two are having a good time together.

“Oh, Cortez this is so great isn’t it?” Mimi says as she laid her head on his shoulder.

“Yeah, this is pretty cool,” Cortez puts his arm around her.

“Yeah. Usually, my little cousin is around. I mean I love her, but sometimes I just want to be with my boyfriend.”

“Yeah, I understand. Sometimes she can be a handful.”

“I swear sometimes I think she is trying to break us up.”

Cortez starts to laugh, “Yeah, that’d be crazy.”

“I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes I think she is really trying to break us up sometimes. But I know she really isn’t. I think I’m just not used to having her around all the time, that’s all.”

“You know that’s probably it. She a good girl, she wouldn’t do that to you.”

“Yeah she is. Thanks, baby for not thinking I’m crazy” She turns her face to give him a kiss.
They didn’t know, but someone was watching them from afar. The person is a female who is madly in love with Cortez Cruz, Mimi Carson’s boyfriend. She will do anything she can to get Cortez to herself.

“No, you’re not crazy, Mimi. You’re not crazy at all.”

…

         Nathan Silverstone (Nate) wakes up in his bed. He looks around until he’s finds the clock to see what the time is. As he gets up, a girl greets him with a kiss.

“Good morning, Nate.”

“Good morning…uh…”

“Ashley, my name is Ashley.”

“Right. Ashley.”

“I swear if you weren’t so cute, I wouldn’t let that slide.”

“Yeah, well if you weren’t so sexy, I wouldn’t let you treat me like this.”

Ashley laughs and sits down beside him.

“I had fun last night… and this morning.”

Nate smiled, “me, too. But look, I have to go. I have stuff to do today.

“Alright.”

After they both got dressed, they got into Nate’s car and Nate drove her home.

“Thanks for the ride, Nate.” Ashley said

“No problem. Here we are.” Nate said as he stopped the car.

“Thanks.” She gave him a kiss and handed him a tiny sheet of paper.

“What’s this?”

“It’s my number.  Call me sometime and maybe we can do this again.”

Nate smiled and grabbed the paper, “Okay.”

“Bye,” she exited the car and walked into her house.

Nate drove off.

“I don’t call for seconds.” He rolled down his window and threw out the piece of paper with the girl’s number written on it.

…

Jackson Renolds and his wife Nina Renolds are both sitting on the living room sofa watching TV and drinking tea.

“Honey, I was thinking…”

“Yes.”

“I was thinking that maybe we should have like a family dinner.”

“That sounds nice. Who are we gonna invite over, your side of the family?”

“No. I was thinking more of your side of the family…like your brother.”

Jackson’s mood changed. “What! My brother? No. No, no, no, Nina. You know I can’t stand him.”

“I know, I know, but don’t you think you two should just forget your differences and just be brothers and not enemies? I mean, come on, Jackson. You two both have sons who are like best friends, but their fathers are completely opposite.”

“No, Nina…”

“Please...do it for me.” She wraps her arms around his neck.

“Alright, just for you. But don’t expect me to like it.”

“Thank you.”

The doorbell rings.

“I’ll get it.” Jackson gets up.

“No, no. I’ll get it. I’ll get it.” Nina walks toward the door.

“Okay.” Jackson sits back down.

Nina opens the door and gasps, “What are you doing here?” she whispers.

…

Destiny Williams and her nephew Nick Johnson are in a car, they are on their way to the beach.

“Thanks for taking me to the beach to be with my friends, Auntie.”

“No problem, Nick. Besides, I want to go to the beach myself. See some of my friends.”

“No offense, Auntie, but do you even have friends?”

“Very funny, Nick. Yes, I do. Just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean their not there.”

“Oh, so you have imaginary friends. Okay, I get it now.”

“Stop,” Destiny said laughing.

“I know what you mean, auntie.”

“When was the last time you went the beach?”

“Oh, when I was 14 and…” Nick stopped.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Talk about what? What happened when you went to the beach when you were 14?”

Nick starts to breathe heavily.

“Nick? Nick!” Destiny pulls the car over to the side of the road.

Nick continues to breathe heavily.

“Oh my God!’ Destiny pulls out her cell phone and dials 9-1-1. “Hello! I need help! My nephew is short of breath.

…


“So are you boys ready to swim?” Melanie asks as she and Giselle approach Mike and Eric.

“Yeah, I am. But Eric here has a little problem.” Mike says.

“Really? What problem does he have, you know besides the usual problems.”

“Funny.” Eric says.

“Um, Eric doesn’t know how to swim.”

“Oh. It’s okay. We don’t have to go out far.” Giselle says

“It’s okay, baby, you can go. You’re not the one who can’t swim, I am.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Okay,” Giselle gives Eric a kiss. “Let’s go!”

“I’ll stay with you,” Melanie says.

“Melanie. I’m okay; I don’t need anyone to stay with me.”

“No, that’s not it. I can’t swim either.”

“So, I’m guessing that it’ll just be me and Giselle.” Mike’s mood changed.

“I’m sorry, baby. I don’t want him to be the only one left out. So you two go ahead.” Melanie said.


“Okay, babe,” Mike gives Melanie a kiss and he and Giselle head for the water.

“Thanks for staying here with me, Melanie. You didn’t have to do that.”

“It’s no problem. Besides I didn’t feel like swimming anyway. I’d rather just look out and watch everyone.”

“I thought you said you couldn’t swim.”

“I know that’s what I said, but I lied so you wouldn’t have to be alone.”

“Wow. Thanks. But why didn’t you just tell him the truth.”

“Because we haven’t been able to spend a lot of time together and if I told him that he would have thought I was just trying to get out from spending time with him.”


“I see. Well, he has been missing spending time with you. He thinks you’re avoiding spending time with him.”

“Oh.”

“Well, are you?”

“Am I what?”

“Are you really avoiding him?”

Melanie pauses.

…

Jake stopped beside Jim. “Hey, man what’s up?”

“My friend wanted to tell you something.” Jim said.

“Your girlfriend or the girl lying on the towel?”

“Uh, I think it was…”

“Geri,” Alyson interrupted, “it was Geri who wanted to talk to you.”

Jake and Jim turn to Geri.

“Geri?” Jake says.

Geri quickly gives Alyson an evil look.

“Uh…uh…yes, I wanted to know if you could… teach me and Alyson how to swim.”

“Oh, yeah sure, I don’t mind. Just tell me when. Okay?”

“Okay. Bye now.”

“Bye, ladies…and Jim,” Jake walks away.

Alyson exhales.

“I’ll be right back, Geri” Jim said.

“Alright,” Geri says.

“Why didn’t you tell him? I was so sure you were gonna tell.” Alyson asked.
“I don’t know.”

“Thank you, Geri. Thank you so much.”

“Thank me later, because remember you and I have swim lessons with him and I’m pretty sure I’ll have other opportunities to tell him.”

Alyson’s facial expression changed.

…

Matthew and Faith are now sitting down on a bench by a water fountain.

“So when do I get to meet your brother, anyway?” Faith asked

“So, I guess. He’s always out somewhere so you may have already seen him, but just did know it.”

“Yeah, maybe so; does he look anything like you?

“I don’t know I guess.”

“Probably not, because If I saw someone who looked as good as you I would’ve remembered.”

Matthew smiles, “Thanks.” He gives her a kiss, “Faith, I want you to stay right here. I’ll be right back. I have a surprise.”

“Okay. What could it possibly be?”

“Well, you’ll just have to wait and see. Be right back.”

“Okay,” Faith said eagerly.

Matthew hurries away from Faith to retrieve his present for his girlfriend, Faith.

“Hey, pretty lady.”

Faith turned to see a male stranger.

“Um…hello,” Faith said.

“I’m Nate,” he said as he sat down next to her, “and you are…”

“Uninterested.”

“Oh. You don’t have to be like that, baby. I just want to be your friend.”

“I have enough of those, so would you mind and just leave. I already have a boyfriend.”

“Who said anything about being your boyfriend? I just want us two to have some fun. You know…in my room. You and I both, nak-”
Faith slapped him in his face.

“Get away from me you jerk. I don’t want anything to do with you, so just get away from me.”

Nate put his hand on the side of his face that was slapped.

“You know what, just get out of here. I see my boyfriend coming back now anyway.”

“Alright, but this isn’t over pretty lady.” Nate gets up and leaves.

“Hey, baby…what’s wrong?” Matthew asked a she re-approached his girlfriend.

“Nothing really, this jerk just tried to get with me. I told him no, I have a boyfriend and he continued anyway and I slapped him. He left right before you came.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have left you here alone.”

“It’s okay, now what’s my gift?”

“Here it is.” Matthew reached his hand in his pocket and pulled out a golden box.

He passed it to Faith and she opened it to find a golden bracelet. Faith smiled in joy.

“Oh, thank you, Matthew!” She stood up and gave him a hug and a passionate kiss.

…

Mimi and her boyfriend, Cortez continues to cuddle and kiss, while someone watched the two.

“I’m gonna make him mine. I swear on my life that he will be mine.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” a female voice said, coming from behind.

The female turned around to see Mimi’s best friend, Tara.

“Hi, Jane, I see you’re still trying to take your cousin’s man.”

“Yes, I am. She doesn’t deserve him. He should be with me.”

“Why would he want to be with you when he has Mimi? He doesn’t love you, he loves her. You’re like a little sister to him.”

“Well, this little sister wants her older brother.”

“Ew, please never say that again. It’s already bad enough you’re trying to steal your own flesh and blood’s happiness.”

“Tara, don’t you have a life? Shouldn’t you be minding your own business?”

“I could, but then I wouldn’t be able to help keep you away from Cortez.”

“Look, Cortez and I are meant to be together. Mimi is just in the way, so I just have to remove her.”

“If you do anything to hurt my best friend, I swear to you I will bring you down”

“Is that a threat, Tara Benson?”

“No, that’s a promise.”

Tara and Jane both look at each other with rage in their eyes.

…

“Well? What are you doing here, Terrence?” Nina asks.

“I just wanted to come over to see if you needed any help with preparing dinner tonight.”

“That’s great, but you shouldn’t be here. You know your brother doesn’t like to see you here.”

“So, how exactly is he gonna deal with me being here tonight at dinner?”

“I don’t know, but I do know that if he saw you right now he would try to kill you.”

“Alright, I’ll go. I’ll see you two tonight.”

“Okay, bye bye bye,” Nina quickly shuts the door and walks back into the living room.

“Who was that, babe?” Jackson asked.

“Oh, no one, honey, they just had the wrong house.”

”Oh, okay,” Jackson started, “Nina, I was thinking. Maybe we should go out instead. I mean, I don’t want to be mean or anything, but I don’t want that man in my house.”

“Oh, come on Jackson. Let’s try to have a family dinner without going out and without you and your brother’s constant arguing and fighting.”

“There is just no way I can talk you out of this thing is it?”

“See, there you go. You finally get it. Now, I’ll be in the kitchen and you just sit here and do whatever you do.”

“I have to anyway, baby. I told my boss I would work today for some extra money.”

“Okay, I’ll see you later.” Nina gives her husband a kiss on the cheek.

“Okay. I love you. Later.” Jackson exits the house.

“Okay. Now, I have to figure out what I’m going to cook.”

…

Destiny looks at her phone and she has lost her signal.

“Oh, God no; Nick please breathe. Breathe correctly for your auntie.”

Nicks breathing starts to decrease and he suddenly stopped breathing.

“Nick! Nick, honey, talk to me…talk to me! Nick! Nick…Nick!”

Nick suddenly wakes up.

“Nick, we’re here. We’re at the beach, honey, let’s go have some fun.”

Nick looked around in confusion. It was just a dream. But it felt so real to him. He has never had a dream like that before and now he was scared. Scared that maybe his dream was a sign. A sign saying that he was going to drown today and he didn’t like the thought of that.

“Okay.”

Nick and his aunt, Destiny both exited the car.

“Are you ready to get into the beautiful beach water?”

“No,” Nick answered, “I’m not getting into the water.”

Destiny looked confused, while Nick was shaking his head in fear.

…

“Are you gonna answer my question?” Eric asks as he looks at a silent Melanie.

“Of course not,” Melanie answers.

“Then, why did it take you so long to answer?”

“Because…I just couldn’t believe you actually asked me something so ridiculous. I love Mike. I love to be around him.”

“Are you sure? You can tell me. I won’t tell Mike if that’s what you are worried about.”

“No, no. I’m telling the truth. I’m not avoiding Mike. Honest.”

“Whatever you say, Melanie.”


“Are you really okay with Melanie staying back with Eric?” Giselle asked Mike as they came up for air.

“Yeah, I guess I’m okay. I mean, I have to be,” he answered as he wiped his face.

“Are you sure?”

“I guess so. I’ve just been feeling like she’s been avoiding me lately; like she doesn’t want to spend time with me.”

“Do you think she is?”

“That’s the problem, I don’t know.”

“Well, maybe you should ask her.”

“I could…”

“But…”

“Then she’ll think I’ve been questioning her love for me and I don’t want to go down that road.”

“Oh, okay. Well when Eric and I have anything we want to know we just ask each other and give out truthful answers.”

“Yeah, but I’m not Eric and your definitely not Melanie.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Giselle asked with a smirk.

“It means that you aren’t as hot as my girl.”

“I am offended. You deserve to be punished for that.”

“Oh, yeah? Then How?”

Giselle pauses for a second before quickly putting her hands on Mike’s head and pushes him under water.

“Like this,” she giggled.

…

Alyson and her friend, Geri, both enter the home of the Silverstones, Alyson’s home, and they sit on the sofa.
Joan Silverstone enters the room.

“How was the beach girls?” She asked.

“It was great, mom,” Alyson answered.

“Yes, Mrs. Silverstone, it was great.” Geri answered after Alyson.

“Did anything interesting happen?”

Geri started, “Y…” Alyson interrupted, “No! No ma’am, it was just like any other day at the beach.”

“Okay, well get cleaned up, dinner will be ready in a few minutes.”

“Okay!” Alyson exclaimed.

Joan exited the room.

“Why did you interrupt me?” Geri asked angrily.

“Because, I didn’t want my mother to know about Jake Russel.”

“You mean, she doesn’t even know who he is?”

“She knows who he is, but she told me to stay away from him. She told me he is trouble, so I never told her that I have a crush on the guy.”

“Oh, okay. Well, I guess that makes since.”

“You bet it does. I will see to it that my mother never knows.”

“You will see to that your mother never knows what?” Mark Silverstone, Alyson’s father and Joan’s husband, said as he entered the room slowly.

Alyson turned around to see her father standing behind her and Geri.

“Um…” Alyson started.

“Well?” He asked.

“Um…”

“Hey, everyone how’s it going?” a voice said.

They all turned and saw Matthew and Faith entering the room.

“Oh, everything’s fine,” Alyson blurted out.

“Okay, cool.” He said.

“Look what Matthew got me!” Faith showed the girls the golden bracelet on her wrist.

“Oh my God, this is so beautiful. This is so sweet. I wish I had a boyfriend to give me jewelry.” Alyson said as she looked the bracelet on Faith’s arm.

“You could,” Geri mumbled.

“Hey, where’s Nate? I want him to meet Faith.” Matthew asked.

“Nate?” Faith asked as she looked up.

“Yeah, he’s my brother. I want you to meet him.”

“Nate? Nate is the same name as the guy from the park,” Faith said to herself.

“Oh, here he is. Nate, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend Faith.”

Faith turned and saw the same Nate from the park; the exact same guy who tried to talk her into getting into bed with him.

Nate smiled and put out his hand for her to shake, “Hi! I’m Nathan, but everyone calls me Nate.”

Faith could not believe the guy from the park is her boyfriend’s brother.
...

CHARACTERS (alphabetical order)

Ashley (Guest)
Tara Benson
Melanie Brown
Mimi Carson
Mike Carter
Terrence Carter
Jim Clarkson
Cortez Cruz
Nick Johnson
Giselle Jones
Geri Nichols
Eric Renolds
Jackson Renolds
Nina Renolds
Jake Russel
Alyson Silverstone
Joan Silverstone
Mark Silverstone
Matthew Silverstone
Nathan “Nate” Silverstone
Jane Summers
Destiny Williams
Faith Wilson


- - - - - - - ----- - - - - - - - - - - ------

NEXT TIME ON FATE CITY

Nick has another crazy dream.

Alyson and Geri take swim lessons from Jake.

The Renolds and the Carters have a family dinner.

Melanie admits to secretly avoiding Mike.

Jane plots to get Cortez away from Mimi.