Plot outline for Taken For Granted

 

            It starts out pretty normal, well as normal as you can get with an alternative school, but I have experience in what that’s like so I’ll be able to help describe it and whatever. The four main characters are Monica Edwards, Liz Conner, Ray Odlin, and Kyle Mackey. Kyle and Ray are two of the biggest stoners in the world, Liz is a straight A student and Monica is a trouble maker, a slacker, and a free spirit. So I had it start during lunch on the day after spring break ended and they came back to school. Then there is Lilly Anderson. She is the art teacher, her and Monica are having a secret affair in the art room after school. Somewhere in the first scene I want to try to have a little chemistry between Lilly and Monica, like Lilly asking her if she’s going to stay after school to help with the prom decorations. Then Monica goes to class, here we show what kind of a smart ass she can be with the teacher Cynthia Brady. She makes some smart ass comments and gets kicked out of class and is then apprehended by the principal, Peter McMillan, and is called into his office. Once again we establish that Monica is a smart ass because she talks back to him and whatever while she’s in his office. Then school ends and Monica meets with Lilly in the art room for their secret affair and things get hot and steamy.

            The next day Liz asks Monica if anything is going on between her and Lilly. Monica says she’ll write Liz a note and then goes to class. After that Monica writes the note in class and has a run in with Lora Andrews (Lora Andrews needs to be seen as the enemy here because, well you’ll see in a minute) after the class is over Liz meets Monica in the student lounge and gives her the note. Somehow it falls from Liz’s pocket without her knowing and into the couch in the lounge. Lora comes and gets it and reads it of course. Liz finds out that Lora has the note and gets it back from her after threatening her with the beating of a life time. (We can change the name Lora to Cora but I need it to have like an “ORA” name cause I am going after a girl who was a nut case in school with me). SO then later Monica is at home and Liz calls her and tells her that the school is up for grant money (Which they REALLY need cause their school is a crap shack) Liz tells Monica that she needs to break it off with the art teacher. She tells Liz that Lora somehow got the note and made a copy of it, and if it gets out that Monica is sleeping with the art teacher then the grant money is as good as gone.

            The next day at school Peter calls a conference with all the students to announce that the school is in the running for the grant money. Peter is a vindictive son of a bitch so her makes it totally clear that he’s not going to tolerate anyone screwing up. Then after the announcement Monica and her friends have a discussion about how fucked up Peter is and how he would do ANYTHING to get the grant money, and I mean ANYTHING. After school that day Monica goes to the art room and Lilly breaks the relationship up because of the whole grant money thing. Monica goes gets pissed and goes home, talks to Liz and tells her what happened.

            Later that day, after school, there is a teacher’s meeting and Lilly explains to them all that she’s been having an affair with Monica but she broke it off. The teachers then all talk about what they can do to keep Monica quite. The only one in the meeting that speaks highly of Monica is Karen Tucker. All the other teachers seem to have it in for Monica. They leave the decision open ended, Peter tells everyone to go home and sleep on it. Lilly goes home and has a nervous conversation with her boyfriend, Scott Truman, and he says he’s going out and she says she’s going to stay in. Later that night, Monica is killed, she is shot in the head.

 

            The next morning Liz is getting ready for school when her radio comes on and she hears a report of a murder on a street near Monica’s house. When they reveal the name, Monica Edwards, as the victim, she freaks and goes downstairs and turns on the TV. She finds out what happened, that Monica was killed, and cries. Then she shows up at school and gets in an argument with the principal because she doesn’t know why he’s even bothering to have school after one of his students just died. Lora steps in and says that people die all the time and she should get over it. So Liz starts to beat her ass and gets suspended for two days. Kyle has a crush on her so he offers to take her home even though that means getting a cut.

            They go back to Liz’s place and discuss Monica for a little bit. When Liz’s mom comes home she explains to her why she got in a fight and her mom sort of agrees with her but tells her not to do it again. That’s when detective Lovett shows up and asks Liz some questions about her friend Monica. Basic questions, did anyone have it out for her, blah blah blah. Liz mentions Cynthia, Peter, and Lora. But she also says that she doesn’t think that any of them would do anything.

            On Monday it’s Monica’s funeral and Liz, Kyle, and Ray are at Monica’s house for sitting Shiva, it’s a Jewish thing. Liz talks to Mrs. Edwards and goes up to Monica’s room and looks at pictures and starts cry. Enter Karen, who talks to Liz for a moment and then they both go downstairs together after Liz asks her if she knows anything about Monica’s death.

            Lilly is more involved in the death then we think. It’s hard to explain here WHY or HOW but I’ll tell you on the phone or over IMs. Anyway this leads Detective Lovett to ask Lilly some questions. Lilly flashes back to a few instances where she saw Peter fighting with Monica and Cynthia fighting with Monica. Now “Camera Girl” makes her first appearance. Monica and her friends are teasing “Camera Girl” tossing her camera around and whatever when Peter intervenes. “Camera Girl” is important so keep that in mind.

            So then the next day after school Liz asks for Kyle for a ride home. Kyle, Ray, and Liz pile into Kyle’s junky car and head home. On the way Kyle and Ray say that they are going to get stoned that night and then go spray pain a memorial to Monica somewhere. They ask Liz if she wants to come but she says it’ll be too weird and she’ll hang out with them next time. She gets dropped off at home.

            That night while Kyle and Ray are painting a memorial they are both shot in the head and killed. Since they don’t show up at school the next day Liz decides to go check out the memorial and that’s where she finds Kyle’s dead body. She calls the cops and they search the surrounding area and find Ray’s dead body too. Because it was in a bad part of town and Kyle and Ray had records for being druggies the police chalk it all up to a drug deal gone bad.

            Liz goes to school the next day and has a talk with Karen and finds out that her mother is going away on business for a few days and won’t be home. She says she’ll leave money for prom tickets and food on the counter. While Liz is going through her locker she finds an envelope. Before she can look inside she gets called away to do something else so she puts it in her back pack. At the end of the day then, Liz has a run in with “Camera Girl” and breaks her camera. 

            The next day she comes into school with the envelope and shows the contents to Karen. The contents are 4 pictures. The first is a picture of Monica with a bullet through her forehead, the second is one of Kyle with a bullet in his head, and the third is the a one of Ray with a bullet through his head. The fourth picture is of the four of them hanging around together and each person, except Liz, has a red dot in the middle of their foreheads. Karen calls the detective and Lovett decides that it’s best if Liz just goes home and they station a police car outside of her house.

            Before this whole picture thing, no one though the deaths were connected, but now it’s apparent that whoever is doing this has a motive to take out all four of them. Liz goes home and is sitting in her room when she gets a phone call. “Camera Girl” is calling her. She says that she has some pictures of Liz and Monica together and asks if she can bring them over. Liz says fine and hangs up the phone.

            “Camera Girl” Comes over and shows her the pictures. In the stack of photos that “Camera Girl” has Liz sees copies of the pictures of Ray, Monica, and Kyle’s dead bodies. She then realizes that it was “Camera Girl” who killed them all. After Liz sees this “Camera Girl” Pulls out a gun and aims it at Liz. Liz asks why she’s doing this, more specifically she asks, “WHY are you doing this? I never did anything to you!” and that is true, because in the flash backs although Liz is THERE with Monica, Ray, and Kyle, she’s not teasing her but she’s not doing anything to stop it. That’s why Liz was last on her list because “Camera Girl” was trying to decide if she should kill her or not.

            Somehow, (And I haven’t worked out how yet) the detectives figure out that the killer is with Liz because maybe they trace the gun back to “Camera Girl” or something. Anyway they bust down the door, “Camera Girl” Gets startled and shoots Liz in the arm, the detective shoots “Camera Girl” in the head. That’s the end of “Camera Girl”

            I’m not exactly sure how to end it but I was thinking we could end it where Liz is at prom by herself, and she’s sitting alone having a cigarette when Karen comes up to her and hands her the crown that would go to Prom Queen. Liz says she doesn’t care if she won or not and Karen says that the students voted Monica prom queen even though she wasn’t there. Liz takes the crown. End of Movie? What do you think?