* This is a fictionalized account of some shit that actually happened. All the names, locations, etc. have been changed to protect the innocent as well as the guilty. – JG *
INTERIOR – HOOVER’S HOMEROOM – DAY
Hoover is sitting at his desk in homeroom, headphones on blaring “Hate Paper Doll” by Husker Du. He is drifting off to sleep despite the fact that the music is incredibly exciting and brutally loud. He is shaken awake by GRIFFIN, a freshman with a Beatle haircut wearing a paisley shirt and a Nehru jacket.
HOOVER
(pulls headphones off) The fuck, Griffin!
GRIFFIN
Jesus! I was just making sure you knew, that’s all!
HOOVER
(interest piqued) Knew what?
GRIFFIN
Dude, Hannah Graeber is fucking dead.
Hoover’s eyes trace forward to the desk in front of him, which is empty.
HOOVER
What are you talking about?
GRIFFIN
Hannah Graeber is dead. Somebody killed her in Snakeland.
HOOVER
Jesus! Snakeland?!
GRIFFIN
Yeah, and then they dragged her body out to the railroad tracks
behind it. That’s how they found her – I guess the engineer
stopped the train just in time before it cut her in half.
HOOVER
(stares at the empty desk) How was she actually killed?
GRIFFIN
That I don’t know. Strangled, maybe? Stabbed? I’m not sure.
HOOVER
(shakes head) That’s crazy. First Rand, now this.
GRIFFIN
(puzzled) Rand? Rand who?
HOOVER
You wouldn’t have known him. He was in my
grade, he shot himself last year. In the head.
GRIFFIN
(exhales loudly, looks away) Fuck.
HOOVER
Yeah, right?
GRIFFIN
(whistles) Well, either way I’ll see you at practice after school.
HOOVER
(remembers) Shit! Practice! Yeah, definitely. No problem.
Griffin looks at Hoover, backs away slowly.
GRIFFIN
Yeah, practice – don’t forget.
HOOVER
I won’t!
After Griffin leaves, Hoover’s focus returns to the empty desk in front of him.
FADE OUT AND INTO:
