NARRATOR: Previously on 7th Heaven:
This season and this team
- are cancelled. - What?
I heard the whole team was into buying tests and papers.
- That's why he locked them out. - You're kidding.
- Okay, then what happened? - Their grades fell.
Things are out of control at my house.
I'm thinking about moving back home.
I hope you give me some notice when you're done "thinking" about it.
What did you have in mind?
MARY: The last part's a little extreme,
but I can handle the part where we get something to eat.
The girls on this varsity team have continued to allow their grades to fall.
Then for now, we're gonna respect this lockout.
What?
MAN: Hold it, that's enough.
You're under arrest.
[SIGHS]
- Thanks. - Sure.
- If you need help finding a lawyer... - What?
We're releasing her
without bail on your recognisance, but this isn't over.
She's... You're gonna need a lawyer.
Yeah, okay. Thanks.
There's no reason to be nervous. Mom and Dad said Mary was fine.
No, they said that she wasn't hurt, which is not the same thing as fine.
Let me tell you something I picked up from time in student court,
when people start choosing their words too carefully, it's not good.
Let's not get freaked out until we know something.
I mean, right now we don't know anything.
I mean, maybe somebody had car trouble.
That place in between Dad's eyebrows
was knotted up and he wasn't squinting.
And Mom wasn't wearing lipstick.
Well, she always puts on lipstick when she leaves the house.
Even when she goes to Home Depot.
Mom was wearing lipstick that time Mary got detention,
the time she shoved that guy's head in the toilet,
even the time she wrecked the car with you.
No lipstick is no good.
I hate to say it, but she's right.
You better get used to saying it
because I'm older now. I'm in the game.
- What game? - The game of life.
[CHUCKLES]
[BURPS]
RUTHIE: Excuse me.
I wasn't trying to be a guy this time, it was just an accident.
When I'm nervous, my stomach goes crazy and I burp.
- Me, too. - Why don't you all go to bed,
I'll wait for Mom and Dad, fill you in in the morning.
[ALL LAUGH]
[DOOR UNLOCKING]
[HAPPY WHIMPERS]
[DOOR CLOSES]
[HAPPY WHIMPERS]
It's late, we'll talk about what happened tomorrow morning.
[ANNIE CLEARS THROAT]
[TV CLICKS ON]
[SIGHS]
What are we gonna do?
Call around and get a lawyer, I guess.
I didn't see this one coming.
Not this, no.
[VOICE BREAKING] Not in a million years.
We trashed the school gym.
What? Who?
Some of the girls from the team and me.
- Why? - I don't know.
We were just eating and talking about the team lockout
and it just happened.
- And you got busted? - Yeah.
We must've set off an alarm or something,
because the cops showed up.
What's gonna happen?
I don't know, but Sergeant Michaels says I need a lawyer.
This is unreal.
[SIGHS]
I wish.
Remember when we were listening to Mary on the phone?
And she said something about that last part being extreme?
We didn't know what that meant, but we knew it meant something
and we were going to tell Mom and Dad, but--
We forgot.
Because we went to guys' night at Matt's.
Well, I'll bet, whatever that extreme thing was,
Mary did it tonight, and that's why she's in major trouble,
and Mom and Dad are so upset.
If we warned them, this might not have happened.
- But we didn't. - That's it then. We're going to hell.
Don't give me that look. I didn't mean it like a bad word.
- I meant it like the place. - I know.
I gave you that look because you might be right.
[BOTH BURP]
BOTH: Excuse me.
[WHIMPERS]
- I don't have much of a choice now. - About what?
About having to move back home.
My dad's recovering from his heart attack
and things are out of control. They need my help.
I think you should wait until you've heard the whole story
before you make any decisions,
especially major ones like moving back home.
I will, but the writing's pretty much on the wall.
- Will you excuse me a minute? - Mm-hm. Sure.
I'm so sorry.
Me too.
Did Mary look different to you this morning?
Different how?
I don't know, more dangerous?
More like a bad guy?
Mom and Dad didn't look so good either.
I know. It scares me when they look like that.
Me too.
None of this would've happened if I would've remembered
to tell Mom and Dad what we heard last night.
This whole thing is my fault.
Well, I helped it be your fault.
Does your stomach feel like it's kind of sick?
- Guilt gut. - What's that?
When you feel so bad about something your stomach hurts.
- Should we tell Mom and Dad? - They've got enough to worry about.
And Dad's heart is under enough stress right now.
If he found out this whole thing could have been avoided,
it'd probably explode.
And that would just mean more guilt for us.
- Will we never be free? - I don't know.
That's not good enough. We have to do something.
I don't want to have guilt gut and go to, well, you know where.
Yeah, I do. And I don't what to go there either.
Okay. I got it. God.
Well, he helped us get Happy,
and twin brothers, he made sure that Dad was okay after his heart attack.
Well, let's give him a whirl. What do we have to lose?
Nothing but our guilt gut.
[BURPS]
RUTHIE AND SIMON: Excuse me.
[FOOTSTEPS]
Did Bill Mays return my call?
Yeah, he did better than that, he said he'd be over to see what he could do.
A lawyer who makes house calls. That's unbelievable.
Well, you baptised all of his children, helped two of them get summer jobs,
and talked one out of an ill-advised piercing,
so he felt it was the least he could do.
[DOORBELL RINGS]
Hi, Bill.
Can't thank you enough for coming over.
It's no problem.
- Mary? - Hi, Annie.
Sorry this couldn't be just a social call.
Oh. Me too.
Mary, you remember Mr. Mays from church?
- Yeah, hi, Mr. Mays. - Hi, Mary.
He's gonna help us with everything.
Have a seat.
He's gonna try.
Now, I spoke with Miss Russell, the school principal,
and she said you and the others will have to appear in student court,
but the worst that can happen there is expulsion.
Sorry, but that's just the school side of it.
I haven't spoken to the prosecutor yet,
but after reading Sergeant Michael's report,
I'm pretty sure you're gonna be charged
with wanton destruction of property and vandalism.
Now, that means a fine of 1,500 dollars,
or three times the value of the damage, whatever's more.
It also means no more than two and half years in jail,
no less than two and a half months.
Maybe you've forgotten, Bill, but Mary's only 17, she still a minor.
At 17 she's almost an adult,
and she's not gonna be viewed as a minor child in the eyes of the court.
But there's one other course of action I'm going to pursue on your behalf.
It's called the Diversion Programme.
Now, the programme is designed
as a way to divert some people from the criminal justice system.
It involves probation, community service,
weekly counselling sessions, classes on victim impact,
and whatever else the probation officer wants to tack on.
It's a one-time shot. If you get into any trouble in the future,
the Diversion Programme will not be an option.
But if you successfully complete the programme,
your conviction will eventually be erased.
It'll be like it never happened.
How do we get her in this programme?
I'm gonna talk to the prosecutor
and see if I can get the judge to hold off setting a trial date
while I walk Mary's application through the Diversion Programme's red tape.
ERIC: But there are no guarantees?
I mean, if she doesn't get in the programme...
There's a very real chance she could go to jail.
[SIGHS]
- Okay, I never did anything like this. ROD: Oh, man.
I did not imagine this.
I can't believe my own sister could do something like this.
Yeah, but she didn't do it alone. She had a lot of help.
I know, but still...
Yeah. This is bad.
[SIGHS]
SIMON: Hi, excuse me. - Hi.
We did something wrong
and we thought if we talked to God and made it up to him,
he might make us feel better.
Yeah. And we don't want to go to, well, you know where.
It's hot. Not summer vacation hot, too hot.
- If you know what I mean. - Yes, I think I do.
And I hear that a lot.
- What happened? - In a nutshell,
we eavesdropped on our older sister because she was in a super bad mood.
Although, sometimes we do it because we're bored or, to tell you the truth,
because we like to. Her life is very interesting.
Really, I'm not kidding.
Anyway, her friend said something,
we don't know what, because we were eavesdropping with a baby monitor,
and, I mean, it's not like we had a wire tap or something.
I wish.
[SIGHS]
RUTHIE: Well, I do.
But we heard Mar-- I mean, our sister,
say something that didn't make sense to us, but it meant something.
- You know what I mean? - Oh, yes.
You're preaching to the choir now.
Well, we were going to tell our Mom and Dad, but we forgot,
and our sister did something bad, and it might not have happened
if we would have just remembered to tell them.
Oh, and I gave the finger, but I already got in trouble and apologised for that.
Me, too. But I was just trying to get someone to tell me what it meant.
Now I know. Yikes.
You're not Catholic, are you?
- No. - No.
SIMON: Is it okay that we're in here? - Of course.
Oh, good. Because we have bad enough guilt gut already.
Well, I'm sorry to hear that. But the way I see it,
you've confessed your sins, and seem truly sorry for them,
and anyone who asks for God's forgiveness shall have it.
You're kidding. Just like that?
Well, there's one more thing.
Oh, sure. This whole thing was way too easy.
You should perform an Act of Contrition.
Okay. What is that?
A task that'll help you get back on track.
Oh, yeah. That's exactly what we're looking for.
One of the Ten Commandments is honour thy mother and thy father,
so you must honour them by being truthful and upfront with them
about everything you've told me. You'll also feel better if you do.
In the name of The Father, and The Son, and The Holy Spirit,
I bless you. Go in peace.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
They should make those rooms bigger,
you almost poked my eye out with your hair.
Sorry.
I heard that confession is good for the soul.
And I have to say, it gets my thumbs up.
My guilt gut's still killing me.
[SIGHS]
[MOUTHS] Thank you.
[ROCK MUSIC PLAYING OVER STEREO]
Hey. See you.
- Hey. - Hey, John.
- Who's that? - Just a guy from my Econ class
interested in taking over your half of the rent.
That's if you decide you have to move back home.
I'm not pushing you out or anything, I just have to cover my bases,
make sure my business is being taken care of.
Same way you're making sure your business is taken care of
- with your family. - I understand.
- So, is Mary all right? - She's in major, "get a lawyer" trouble.
Oh. I'm sorry. I guess that means you're done thinking about moving out.
Yeah.
Well, it's been great.
Tell your family hi for me and I hope everything works out with Mary.
Thanks, I will. I'll see you around.
[EXHALES]
That's probably for the best.
Things have been a little strained around here lately.
Well, you dropped the moving-home bomb on him,
what, twenty-four hours ago?
It's not like I planned this stuff with my family.
I know. Part of the reason I think you're so great
is because you love your family so much.
But if you spent one fourth the time at the grocery store
that you do at your parents' house, you might not be so frustrated. Or hungry.
With everything that's going on with my family, that's what you say?
I get the stuff with your family, I really do.
I love your family, but I know what you're going through.
It's tough living on your own.
I felt the same way when I first moved out.
I just didn't have a family like yours to fall back on.
Not having a family to lean on meant you didn't have a family to worry about.
You didn't have anybody to worry about except yourself.
That's not true. I worried about my mom and my brother,
but there came a point when I realised
that there was nothing more I could do for them except worry,
and that's not the same as being helpful or constructive.
- Yeah, our situations are different. - Yes, they are.
And now I have you to worry and care about.
And I do care. A lot.
I care about you too. But right now, after this conversation,
I don't feel like you know me at all.
SIMON: Wow. How cool is that?
Pretty cool.
Hello, hi.
We're sorry to bother you.
- Is it okay if we're in here? - Of course.
Good. Because we feel terrible enough already about everything else.
Including giving the finger, but not as much as the thing with our sister.
Nutshell, we forgot to tell our parents about something
that we overheard our sister say that didn't make any sense to us,
but it meant something. And not a good something.
Yeah, and now we have guilt gut
and we don't want to go to-- Well, you know where.
You know, it's like a really hot, hot tub only it's not relaxing for your muscles?
Ah. Yes. You're not Jewish are you?
We don't believe in hell.
Really? May we sit down?
For us, God is like a giant pool
filled with the brightest light you'll ever see.
And we all come from that pool and have some of God's bright light in us.
But every time we sin, that light gets a little dimmer.
And eventually, at the end of our life, everyone goes back to God's pool.
Yeah, but we don't wanna have the dimmest lights in the pool
when we get back.
And then everyone would know that we were major losers.
How pathetic and embarrassing would that be?
No, we definitely have to get our lights bright again.
Okay. Well, traditionally, Jewish people atone,
or make up for their sins, once a year, during Yom Kippur.
And I hate to be the one to tell you this,
you've already missed it for this year.
We can't wait a whole year to make up for this.
I mean, our dim lights are giving us guilt gut.
I'm sorry, but, you know, you can't control other people's free will,
even if you could see these things coming,
which most of the time, you can't.
In the meantime, talk to your parents.
You'll feel better.
Thank you very much for everything.
You're welcome.
I feel better already.
This place is beautiful. I wish I had a camera.
Thank you.
[DOOR CLOSES]
More laundry? Are you taking in other people's now?
- Not exactly. - What's going on?
Well, with everything that's been happening lately,
I've decided to move back home. You know, to help out,
- keep an eye on things. - Oh.
That's very thoughtful. Thank you.
Yeah, listen, don't worry about it, I'll take care of all the arrangements.
[SIGHS]
I just got off the phone with Mr. Wolf.
Mr. Wolf from the group that gave me a scholarship.
Apparently word of what happened has gotten around,
and in light of everything that's gone on,
including my recent subpar academic performance,
Mr. Wolf said the scholarship committee felt
that there were better candidates out there
for the limited funds that they have to donate for college next year.
I lost my scholarship.
Exactly how long are you planning to visit?
I'm not visiting, Simon, I'm moving home.
But what happened to independence?
Not always having to remember to put the seat down?
And partying it up in your own pad?
Yeah, what about the chicks?
What happened is Mom had two babies,
Dad had a heart attack, you got suspended for giving the finger,
you offended the world by trying to be a guy,
and Mary? Well.
So, I mean, this Mary thing is really bad,
but what are you going to do about it?
I'm going to be the big brother again.
I'm gonna try to help Mom and, especially, Dad out
by keeping my eye on things.
But, weren't you living here with your eye on things
when Mary snuck out and went to a frat party,
skipped school, shoved a guy's head in a toilet, wrecked the car?
I mean, no offence, but we were doing okay, or at least as bad without you.
If I were here, I might have seen this Mary thing coming.
We've been told that it's not always possible
to see these things ahead of time.
All that means is that sometimes it is.
[BOTH BURP]
SIMON AND RUTHIE: Excuse me.
Are you okay?
No. I stopped by the gym.
I did the same thing earlier
and from the look on your face, we had the same reaction.
I know the criminal justice system's options,
and I know the school's,
but what are we supposed to do? Ground her?
Take away her phone and TV privileges?
Of course, if by some miracle she doesn't go to jail
and just gets expelled, some of those things might be more relevant.
But until then...
- I have some other news. - We won the lottery?
I love your sense of humour. No.
Mr. Wolf called, Mary lost her scholarship.
Well, I know this is bad, very bad, but none of it much matters
compared to the possibility that Mary might go to jail.
Of course, if she does go to jail,
she could probably pursue a nice vocational skill,
so that losing the scholarship might not seem so bad.
I thought I was an okay parent.
[TEARFULLY] I thought I knew my kid, but I didn't.
[PHONE RINGS]
I'm afraid to answer it. Do we know where all our kids are?
Approximately.
Hello? Oh, hi, Bill.
You're kidding.
Okay. I'll tell her. Thank you.
Bill called in a lot of favours
and he walked Mary's application through the red tape.
The head of the probation department will meet with us tomorrow.
Tomorrow?
- You're kidding? - No.
So then, Mary has a chance at the Diversion Programme?
- Just one. - I'll take it.
Oh, yeah.
Oh.
[SNIFFS]
Thank you, Mom.
You can thank me. I did a couple of colour loads yesterday
and Mary went to the grocery store last week.
- But I've moved on to whites now. - Thanks. Where's everybody?
Ruthie and Simon went over to the park
as soon as we got home from church.
They were too nervous about Mary's interview to sit around the house.
Mom and Dad and Mary left already?
I was gonna go with them to kind of help out.
They seemed under control when they left.
[WHISPERS] Oh.
[NORMAL VOICE] Can I help?
With what?
Nothing.
[DOOR OPENS]
- I'm assuming you're Mary. - And these are my parents.
Nice to meet you. Make yourselves comfortable.
You're with me.
I know she's your baby and always will be to you, but she's not to me.
She's 17, and she isn't in your house anymore.
She's in mine.
[DOOR CLOSES]
Someone must really like you, because you can't begin to imagine
what kind of favours it took to get me to come in today to review your case.
So, Mary, what happened to your grades? Drugs?
- No. - Booze?
Boyfriend you couldn't get enough of?
No. None of that.
No? Did you see something on TV or at the movies that you had to copy?
Did Marilyn Manson hypnotise you with one of his songs?
Your parents just not love you enough?
- No. - Well, then,
I heard about the team lockout and everything,
so I'm guessing that the coach and the school did you so wrong
you had to get back at them. And basically they had it coming.
- No. - Come on, Mary.
There's gotta be some reason you did this
that has nothing to do with it being your fault.
[EXHALES]
Why should I consider you for the Diversion Programme?
I'm not sure. I've made mistakes,
but for the most part, I've always been a pretty good kid.
Pretty good kids don't trash people's property.
What else have you got?
[KNOCK ON DOOR]
Uh... Can I come in?
It doesn't matter who was right or wrong in our argument,
because the bottom line is, my family doesn't need me anymore for anything.
What?
I'm like the appendix of family members.
Take me out and not only does everything function without me,
it's like I was never there.
There's no role of any kind for me in my family anymore.
That's not true, you'll always have a role in your family,
but roles change when people grow up.
You'll just have to figure out what your new role is going to be.
You were right about the rest of what you said, too.
I was so busy trying to be a man by taking care of my family,
that I was trying to duck out on the part of being a man
where you take care of, and claim responsibility for, yourself.
That's easier said than done,
especially when your mom's a great cook.
Thanks.
And I'm sorry.
Really sorry.
[SIGHS]
And now I'm off to John's to apologise for being such a loser
- and to kick his new roommate out. - That's the spirit.
[CHUCKLES]
I'll call you later.
[BELLS JINGLING]
You're not Buddhists, are you?
Okay.
Look at it this way,
if you jump into a lake to save a drowning man,
but don't get there in time, it's not your fault.
And that's what happened with your sister.
So, there's no reason for you to have guilt gut.
You meant to do the right thing, but you can't control what happens.
Sometimes, you can't even see what might happen.
If you mean to do the right thing and try very hard to do it,
your lights won't get any dimmer.
- And that's it? - Oh, well,
that's only a tiny part of Buddhism,
but maybe you should meditate on what you can do
to avoid making the same mistakes again,
so you can become a better person,
not only in this life, but also in the next one.
So you mean we get more than one chance at this?
We believe that the soul moves on from lifetime to lifetime
looking for enlightenment.
Now that is good to know.
Well, thank you very much for everything.
There is one more thing.
We believe that we're all connected
and we're most connected to our families.
So you need to talk to your parents about this. You'll feel better.
Okay, so if I don't get it right in this life,
- then I'll just get it in the next one. - You feel better in every religion.
I can't help it. His mysterious ways really work for me.
[MOUTHS] Thank you.
I don't know what kind of year you thought you were going to have,
but now it belongs to me.
I'll let you know later how many of them after that
are going to be mine, too.
She has to process my paperwork and assign me to counsellors
and classes and stuff, but I made it. I'm in.
[EXHALES]
[SOFTLY] Thank you.
[ROCK MUSIC PLAYING OVER STEREO]
[KNOCK ON DOOR]
Hey, sorry about just dropping in.
It's all right, it's still your place. At least until the end of the month.
Hey, listen, I'm sorry about everything
if it's okay with you, I'd like to go on living here.
You know what, heh, this is not gonna work, heh.
I'm sorry, it's just not. Thanks.
And I got us a little something to celebrate.
[CHUCKLES]
I'm sorry for being such a jerk. You're one of my best friends
and a really good guy
and you deserved more respect and consideration than I gave you.
Thanks, and that's cool. I thought about moving home a million times,
so I can't blame you for doing the same thing.
[CHUCKLES]
[SIGHS]
What do you say we go talk to those guys about their music?
Mary got in the programme.
[BOTH BURP]
BOTH: Excuse me. - What's wrong?
None of this would've ever happened if it weren't for me.
Us.
We eavesdropped on Mary while she was on the phone,
and we heard her say that something was pretty extreme,
we didn't know what that meant, we knew it meant something,
and we were going to tell you, but we forgot,
because we went to guys' night at Matt's,
and then Mary went and did the extreme thing.
So this whole thing's really my fault.
RUTHIE: We would've told you sooner, but you were too busy with Mary.
- And we didn't want to get you mad. - And there's my bad heart to consider.
- I'm really sorry. - Me too.
And we both got guilt gut. Bad.
We talked to a bunch of God's people and tried to do what they said
so God would know we were sorry and maybe make us feel better.
And not make us go to, well, you know where.
Like a campfire where you have fun making s'mores,
but it's not so fun when you're the s'more?
I know you've been doing some questioning.
People you talked to are friends,
they called to let me know you were out repenting.
Nothing we said worked. We still have quilt gut.
Yeah, well it's one thing to say the right words,
and it's another thing to live them.
It's kind of tough to do that in a couple of days.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES]
Mary got in.
[SIGHS]
You didn't do anything wrong.
Except a little lying about your destinations.
What if something happened to you coming back from the temple?
Nobody would know where to look
because you told Lucy you were going to the park.
It was my idea and my responsibility.
- Ruthie only did it because I did. RUTHIE: Uh-uh.
I made my own choices and helped out with the lying all by myself.
- I'm sorry. ANNIE: It's okay.
The road to salvation is a bumpy one.
By the way, how's that guilt gut feeling?
It started feeling better after I
talked to you.
- Man, those guys are good. ERIC: And for the record,
Mary's situation was never your fault okay?
MATT: It wasn't your fault because it was my fault.
I knew Mary was mad, and if I hadn't been so into my life,
my classes and my apartment, I would've seen it coming.
No, sorry. It wasn't your fault either. It was mine.
Okay, this wasn't your fault, or your fault, or yours.
It was mine.
I knew the choice I was making was wrong, and I did it anyway.
- Oy. - Ooh. Bad karma.
- You've got other fish to fry. MARY: And I'm sorry.
I'm sorry that I did it. And I'm sorry for the way I've been acting
and I am sorry for everything
that everyone's gone through because of me.
And it kills me to know that "sorry" doesn't make a difference.
And it doesn't undo what I did,
and it doesn't make my family like me again.
- Hang on. - Look, I know that you love me.
But how could you like me. I don't even like myself.
And I don't know what to do to make things better.
Be very sorry, then do an Act of Contrition,
like meditate to get you light bright again,
learn from your mistakes, and just be normal.
- Okay. - Do you feel better now?
Not really.
Maybe you'll get it in the next life.
Look, I'm sorry for everything,
including putting more stress on your heart.
Because I know losing my scholarship made it worse.
- I'm really sorry too. - Yeah, me too, I didn't meant to...
Oh, save it!
See? Nothing.
My voice is strong.
My pulse is steady and I feel great.
So you can just stop worrying.
But if you can't, if you feel you have to keep secrets from me
and end-run me with your problems, fine.
My stride is long, my hips are wide.
See, God designed me for the long race.
So just remember, when you leave this room, this house,
and this zip code, and you're running around unfettered and free,
you're all my blood and blood follows blood.
So when you finally get to that place behind my back
where you're so desperate to get
don't be surprised to find me already there.
Because I've been a guy who's had a heart attack for a few months,
but I've been your dad for years and I know you people.
Oh, yes, and I know your ways.
So, listen up.
Make room for Daddy, because Daddy's home.
Whew.
[BOTH CHUCKLING]
- I'm back, baby. - Oh, baby, don't I know it. Oh!
You were quite a man, taking responsibility for everything
- and trying to protect Ruthie. - I just did what I figured Dad would do.
Uh-huh.
It might be the light, but is that a chest hair?
[CHUCKLES]
Probably.
[SOFTLY] Yeah.
Yeah, right.
[LAUGHS]
It's probably just sweatshirt fuzz, but hey, why kill his dream?
You're a good man, Ruthie Camden.
Thank you. It's really hard with you being gone, but I do what I can.
[CHUCKLES]
Hey, Ruthie?
- Thanks for missing me. - I can't help it.
Thanks for dinner, the washing machine and everything else.
- I'm gonna head home. - You okay?
Oh, yeah. Thanks.
What happened to his moving back home?
I guess my speech probably reassured him.
It was really something for all of us, dear.
Hey, you.
What's going on?
I can't turn my head off and go to sleep.
I'm worried about coming up with the money to pay the fines.
And then there's college, though if I get expelled,
I guess I could take the GED and then get a full-time job.
- Calm down. - I tried, but unlike Lucy,
I'm worried about what's gonna happen in student court tomorrow.
What if I get expelled?
We just have to wait and see what happens and then deal with it.
I know I blew it,
but up until now I've been a pretty good kid.
And now, it's gone. It's all gone.
Who would've thought one mistake could ruin your life?
Your dad and I.
When you're an adult, you know that one mistake can ruin your life.
But your life's not ruined.
It's going to be radically different,
but only you can decide if that's going to be good different or bad different.
Yeah, me and Miss Williams. And Miss Russell and Lucy.
[SNIFFLES]
[SIGHS]
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
[MAN CLEARS THROAT]
This afternoon's court session will be devoted to dealing with the acts
committed against the school
by some of the members of the Varsity Girls Basketball team.
While I will take all that's said into consideration
the final ruling will be mine.
Now, according to the police report,
those present were caught in the act of vandalizing the gym.
According to the insurance report,
total damage was assessed at 4,350 dollars.
Thank you for sparing the floors.
Any of these accounts in dispute?
- No. - Okay, is there anything else then?
LUCY: There are a couple of things I'd like you to consider.
I'm in the unique position of seeing a lot of the sides of this case.
My sister is, or was,
an honour roll student and captain of the Varsity basketball team,
and even though we fight and argue
and I've never told her this, I've always admired her.
She's also one of the people who trashed the school gym.
And I saw the gym afterwards.
I also saw my family afterwards.
And I saw that my sister's mistake not only screwed up her life,
but my whole family's.
She learned, and because of her, my brothers and sister and I
also learned, that one mistake can ruin your life.
And when I thought about it, it made sense.
What I didn't expect, though, was how much one person's mistake
can ruin other people's lives too.
You trash a school gym for whatever reason,
and everybody in this school, including your innocent teammates,
loses a team, a gym
and the feeling that they're safe at school.
And that makes me mad.
Mad enough to wanna do something.
And it would be easy to make you guys write a cheque and then kick you out.
But this is your school too.
And I want you to make up for what you did to all of us.
If only by showing up every day in the hall
as examples of the best and worst we can be
and reminding us of how close we are, on any given day, to both.
Gandhi said we're supposed to be the change we wanna see in the world,
so maybe part of the way you can make things up to us
is by showing us how.
I know it's probably an unbelievably hard thing to do.
But if anyone can do it,
my sister can.