ENTER: EDIE LEE, standing in the doorway to her apartment as she drags two enormous luggage pieces in after her. After lugging them across the floor and into her bedroom, she tiptoes across the hall and knocks on FAITH KANG's door.
FAITH, muffled: C'mon in.
EDIE opens the door. FAITH is buried in a pile of blankets. Only the tip of her nose and a few stray wisps of hair are visible. EDIE folds her arms.
EDIE, teasingly but not really: Had fun, did you?
FAITH groans.
FAITH: 'M hungover as fuck.
EDIE: That's not good.
FAITH: How was Milan?
EDIE: Good. Great.
FAITH: Sorry we couldn't make it.
EDIE: Don't be. It's just my first time walking for a major fashion house. No biggie.
FAITH sits up. Her face is pale and her eyes are watery.
FAITH: Edie -
EDIE, abruptly: Save it. I need to offload all the freebies I got from Louis Vuitton. My pocket dimension's full to bursting.
She pivots on her heel and slams the door behind her. Stricken, FAITH watches her go.
CUT TO: EDIE, FAITH, MINNIE KIM, HAILEY CHANG and MAX NGUYEN in HAILEY's convertible. The silence is stifling. As the convertible rolls to a stop, EDIE opens the door and stalks out, her long legs carrying her forward at a pace that none of them can hope to match. Faces turn as she passes. A particularly weak-chinned freshman swoons as she steps on his foot mercilessly. Behind, MINNIE, HAILEY, FAITH and MAX get out. HAILEY taps the window, sending the convertible gliding off, and they begin moving as one, crossing the Shiketsu campus, trailing whispers as they pass.
MINNIE: I'm worried.
MAX: She'll get over it.
FAITH: Easy for you to say. You haven't been getting the silent treatment for the past two weeks.
HAILEY: She should've put her foot down if she didn't want us to stay in Japan for the winter. I mean, what the fuck? This winter was our last winter in Japan. It's special.
MAX: Clearly she thought Louis Vuitton was even more special than that.
MINNIE: We shouldn't be bitching about her behind her back.
MAX: Oh, what do you suggest then, huh? Wanna ask Faith to make a new groupchat?
FAITH: I'm not doing that unless she really goes and -
BOBBY SAMSON - tall, blonde, almost aggressively American - comes thumping up the stairs behind them. As they reach the landing, he wraps one long, muscled arm around MINNIE's shoulders and lowers his face to hers. HAILEY and MAX make gagging sounds. FAITH giggles.
BOBBY, catching his breath as he disengages: Sorry, coming through.
MINNIE: Apology accepted.
They continue on towards their classroom. The sign above the door reads "3-D". EDIE is already in her seat, tapping at her phone. She doesn't look up as they enter. BOBBY sidles to the back of the class as HAILEY and FAITH make eye-contact with their significant others. Their teacher finishes shuffling her papers and clears her throat as they sit down.
CUT TO: EDIE in her bedroom, slouched against her headboard. Music blares from her headphones as she stares at her phone - until something makes her look up. She removes her headphones and hops off her bed. The sound of violent retching reaches her ears as she opens her door. Without thinking, she crosses the threshold into FAITH's room, past her perennially-messy table, and stares at the other girl from where she's bent over her toilet bowl.
EDIE: You okay?
FAITH, thickly: I think I ate something wrong.
She heaves herself upright, legs trembling with the effort. EDIE helps her to her bed. FAITH buries herself beneath her pile of blankets and blows her nose.
EDIE: You didn't tell any of the others?
FAITH: Nah. I can handle myself. 'S probably a bug or something.
EDIE: Don't pull a Minnie. I'll let them know.
FAITH opens her mouth, but EDIE is already texting. The light from her phone glints off her tastefully-designed spectacle frames as she stares down at it uncomprehendingly.
FAITH: What?
She slides over to stare down at EDIE's phone; her own device is charging.
FAITH: What? You know not to take Max seriously, right? She's just kidding.
EDIE: It's not that. When was the last time Minnie puked?
FAITH: Like, fifth grade?
EDIE brandishes her phone at FAITH.
FAITH: It's a bug. You lucked out, I guess. H's private chef probably messed up when preparing the food for -
EDIE: Fine. Whatever. I don't want to know.
She stands up and leaves the room. FAITH watches her go, burying her face in her hands for putting her foot in her mouth.
CUT TO: HIFUMI TAKEDA, sitting in a private room above the Kyoto skyline. He is visibly ill-at-ease. A moment later, the door slides open, admitting HAILEY, who seats herself opposite him.
HIFUMI: You okay?
HAILEY: Yeah. Of course. Why haven't you eaten?
HIFUMI looks down at his plate. It holds a delicately-arranged assortment of expensive-looking food. A great deal of thought has clearly gone into the arrangement thereof.
HIFUMI: I feel bad eating this.
HAILEY: Don't feel bad. It's meant to be eaten.
She spears a sliver of meat with her fork and sticks it in her mouth, chewing and swallowing. Her eyes widen.
HAILEY: Oh, wow. This is good. Unusually good.
HIFUMI: Don't you think you've been going to the bathroom unusually often lately?
HAILEY: Why do you care?
HIFUMI: I - I don't know. Just odd, is all.
Shamelessly, HAILEY reaches across the table and steals some food from HIFUMI's plate.
HAILEY: Waste not, want not.
CUT TO: MAX, browsing the shelves at her local convenience store surreptitiously. She's wearing a loose hoodie and sweatpants, and the street outside is dark. Glancing over her shoulder, she bumps into someone and draws back before realizing that she's run into JUNICHI TAKAGI. The two of them look at each other.
JUNICHI: What are you doing here?
MAX: What are YOU doing here?
JUNICHI: I asked first.
MAX: Man, fuck off. You're in the wrong zipcode.
She turns, but JUNICHI grasps her forearm.
JUNICHI: No. Wait. What happened at -
MAX jerks her arm out of his grip.
MAX: None of your fucking business.
She storms out into the night. JUNICHI throws his hands in the air and follows. He's taller than her, and easily catches up. She stares straight ahead, jaw clenched.
JUNICHI: What are we, really?
MAX: We're nothing. There's nothing between us.
JUNICHI: Says the girl who tried to climb me like a tree.
MAX: Says the guy who made out with me for thirty seconds.
JUNICHI squints at her.
JUNICHI: Have you gained weight?
MAX: OH MY GOD, FUCK OFF!
She veers to the side and darts into the shade of her building. JUNICHI watches as she pulls one of the security guards aside and gestures in his direction before giving up.
CUT TO: The interior of HAILEY's pink convertible. MINNIE and MAX are sitting on opposite sides, arms folded. HAILEY is on her phone. FAITH's eyes are closed. EDIE looks around, eyes narrowed.
EDIE: Are any of you still virgins?
FAITH jerks. HAILEY shouts as one of MAX's limbs pokes her in the chest. MINNIE's eyes go comically wide.
HAILEY, at full volume: WATCH IT!
MAX, also at full volume: YOU WATCH IT!
MINNIE: Guys -
HAILEY and MAX: SHUT UP, MINNIE!
MINNIE shuts up. After a few minutes, she starts to cry soundlessly. FAITH passes her a pad of tissues. HAILEY and MAX start to argue at full volume, prompting EDIE to slide on her headphones. At some point, MAX gets out of the car. After a while, EDIE removes her headphones.
HAILEY, viciously: Too loud for you? This car was getting too crowded anyway.
CUT TO: EDIE entering the female bathroom. The sound of crying is audible from one of the cubicles. A small gaggle of freshmen primping and gossipping at the mirrors take one look at her and leave. Coming to a stop before the sole occupied cubicle, she knocks on the door. It opens, revealing FAITH. Her face is puffy and her eyes are red-rimmed. Her clothes are visibly rumpled.
EDIE: What happened at that party?
FAITH, hoarsely: I don't know.
She blows her nose noisily. Her voice sounds awful.
FAITH: We're falling apart. Chris is avoiding me. I'm too fat and sick to cheerlead. We should've just - gone to Milan with you.
EDIE: You should've.
FAITH: Are you just here to rub it in?
EDIE: Not really. I also came to give you this.
She hands FAITH a package. FAITH looks down at it, her blotchy face going pale with horror. She shakes her head.
FAITH: No. No, no, no.
EDIE: Humor me.
FAITH: It's not - I'm not -
EDIE: Just give it a try. It's just a hunch.
FAITH: But me and Chris, we didn't even -
EDIE: Who's to say it was Chris?
FAITH: Don't even joke about that.
EDIE: How much alcohol did Hailey supply?
FAITH: I don't know. I lost count around the seventh shot of vodka.
EDIE: We're literally already in the bathroom. Lunch is gonna be over in fifteen minutes. Just do it. Or I'm going to sneak into your toilet and -
FAITH: Okay, okay, okay. No need to be gross. Jeez.
She closes the door. EDIE leans against the sink, arms folded, and waits. When the door opens, FAITH joins her at the sink, passing her the package, and starts to reapply her makeup. She's applying her lip gloss when EDIE shows her the result. Her lip gloss falls into the sink.