Episode 5

Your translatress today is IAGSW. Please don’t expect any funny remarks from me…I leave that part to our boss ;) because unfortunately I’m not a funny person at all ;)

And as your editor, you’ll get hephylax (who managed to slowly climb out of the abyss translating the last week and especially the finale put her into and who likes to think that she can be somewhat funny if she has a good day or a good subject. But no guarantees.)//Love you guys!! ami

 

 

Episode 5

 

Previously on Hand aufs Herz

 

Luzi: You’re just so conniving because you know deep down inside that at some point you’re going to cower unhappily in your crummy single-family house – big, fat and flabby!

 

Caro: Beschenko must be totally mental!

Sophie: Nobody cares about the drivel of our crazy cow anyway.

Caro: She is going to get a real pounding!!

 

Mrs Krawcyk: I would like to talk to you about the party at the swimming pool.

Luzi: Unfortunately I can’t tell you anything about that.

Götting: I think you can.

(He shows a picture of her at the pool)

Luzi: F**k!

 

Intro

 

 

[At Pestalozzi, Krawcyk’s office]

 

Götting: Well, this matter seems obvious to me. Luzi has nothing to say in her defense; why are we wasting any more time with this?

Mrs Krawcyk: Luzi, talk to us!...Think about the consequences!...Besides the costs for the material damage we’re also going to have to take disciplinary actions, of course. And if the worst comes to the worst, you will have to face a complaint to the police and expulsion from school. A trespass isn’t a bagatelle, Luzi!

Luzi: I’m getting expelled from school?

Mrs Krawcyk: What exactly you will have to face still has to be discussed by the staff. And you should take this time to think, too. Think about if it’s really smart to be the scapegoat for your classmates!

(Luzis has a flashback from the party showing Sophie taking the picture.)

Mrs Krawcyk: I’m expecting your answer later today.

(Luzi leaves the office)

 

Luzi: F**k, dammit!

 

Götting: I don’t understand why you are still giving her some time for consideration! This picture clearly convicts her! She doesn’t want to talk? Okay! Then she will get the bill! Her parents are going to pay for sure! Done!

Mrs Krawcyk: Just like that? Luzi’s mother is a single-mother and is working as a cleaning lady to make a graduation possible for her daughter! Apart from that I would really like to know who the real ringleader behind all this was! And who is trying to put the blame on Luzi.

 

 

[At Pestalozzi, hallway]

 

Luzi is thinking about Mrs Krawcyk’s words.

 

Mrs Krawcyk: Think about the aftermaths! Besides the costs for the material damage we’re also going to have to take disciplinary actions of course…a complaint to the police and expulsion from school.

 

 

[At Pestalozzi, Mrs Krawcyk’s office]

 

Götting: I think that the later you are brought back down to earth, the harder the landing is going to be, right? Either she’s going to pay or we’re going to pass this on to the police. But now I don’t want to bother you any longer.

 

 

[At Pestalozzi, class room]

 

Luzi comes into class with everybody starring at her.

Teacher: Luzi, are you ok?

Luzi: Yes, thanks.

(Luzi sits down.)

Caro: I hope you were smart enough not to give any of us away. Otherwise, if I were you, I would think about whether you’d rather want a cremation, a burial in the earth or a burial at sea.

Luzi: It was you?

Caro: Because in that case you’ll be dead at our school. Done for. Nobody is going to talk to a traitor.

Luzi: The picture was from you?

Caro: You’d better not mess with me ever again!

(Luzi leaves the classroom)

Teacher: Luzi!

(The last time I watched two girls being that mean to each other (getting the other fired, using Hotte as a means of getting to the other, yelling things at each other like “I have had it up to here with this stupid cow!”) it turned out that they were completely into each other. Just saying.)

 

 

[At Pestalozzi, Auditorium]

 

Bea is waiting for her students for the rehearsal but nobody shows up.

(Alicia Keys’ ‘Never felt this way’ is playing)

 

 

[At Pestalozzi, hallway]

 

Hotte: You think Luzi having to see the principal had something to do with the video of me?

Emma: I think it was all Caro’s idea!

Hotte: Nonsense!!
Emma: Hello?? First the thing with the video in which she made a fool of you, and then this thing with Luzi! There is method behind it!

Hotte: The video was surely…just a mistake.

Emma: Huh??

Caro: Hi, Hotte!

Hotte: Hi!

Caro: Will you sing for me again (she starts making fun of Hotte by dancing like he did) ‘Oh baby baby…Oh baby baby’? 

Bea: May I ask what is going on here?

Caro: Well, we’re just performing a song. That should meet with your approval, Ms Vogel.

Bea: Absolutely. That’s why we should go to the Auditorium together now. The AG has already started.

Caro: Sorry, but unfortunately we have some beach volleyball practice now. (to Sophie) Are you coming?

(They leave)

Bea: Why didn’t you show up for the rehearsal? Is it about that stupid video? You’re above such things, aren’t you?

Emma: I’m sorry, Ms Vogel, but we’d better not mess with Caro. Otherwise we will probably be in the same boat as Luzi.

Bea: What happened with Luzi?

Hotte: She has a real problem now.

 

 

[At Pestalozzi, Mrs Krawcyk’s office]

 

Mrs Krawcyk is drinking her coffee-vodka-mix when Götting suddenly comes in.

 

Mrs Krawcyk: Are you red-green blind?

Götting: Excuse me? Oh, have I overlooked the red light? Sorry!

Mrs Krawcyk: And apparently you haven’t heard of knocking either.

(Has anyone, except Frau Jäger, ever knocked before entering the principal’s office? Helena had this problem too. I haven’t seen enough of Götting’s stint as principal yet to say for sure. But it’s no wonder the traffic light disappeared. Nobody paid any attention to it anyway. It probably ended up in the attic to regulate the “traffic” up there.)

Götting: I thought I did knock. Has little Beschenko remembered by now who was at the pool with her?

Mrs Krawcyk: (shakes her head) And I don’t believe she’s going to sell out her classmates.

Götting: Okay, then I’d say I’m going to forward the bill to her home and give her a reprimand.

Mrs Krawcyk: Not so fast! I gave Luzi some time to think and we’re going to stick to that!

Götting: But you were just saying that…

(Bea storms in)

Bea: What…What’s up with those absurd accusations against Luzi Beschenko?

Götting: Bravo! Braaavo! What a performance! Maybe you should initiate a drama club, too!

Bea: Luzi is supposed to have vandalized the swimming pool? That’s totally ridiculous!

Götting: Really? And what do you think about this? (He shows Bea the picture of Luzi sitting at the side of the pool with a bottle in her hand)

Bea: Where did you get this picture?

Mrs Krawcyk: It was passed on to us anonymously.

Götting: A student seems to have gotten a bad conscience and didn’t want…this vandalism to go unpunished. Very decent.

Bea: So you think it’s decent if students are denouncing each other?

Götting: If it serves the establishment of the truth.

Bea: Oh really? And what about the truth concerning YOUR decent student? He must have been at the party, too! Or how are you going to explain to me the way this picture came into existence, dear colleague??

(Götting doesn’t know what to answer and storms out)

 

 

[At Pestalozzi, class room]

 

Bea: That’s it for the homework. Before you leave now I would like to tell you something. Maybe you’ve heard that Luzi had to see the principal today. It was about the party at the swimming pool. Don’t worry, Luzi hasn’t revealed any names. But that also means an expulsion from school, a possible complaint to the police and especially the fact that the Beschenkos have to pay for the damage all on their own.

Caro: Is this an ethics class now, or what?

Bea: In case anybody has seen something or was there him-/herself…this is the opportunity to turn yourself in now.

(Everybody keeps silence)

Bea: Ok, I’ll propose something to you. I’ll be sitting here during the entire break and wait in case someone wants to talk to me in private.

(The bell rings and the students leave without saying anything. After hesitating, eventually Timo leaves, too.)

(Eminem’s  ‘Not Afraid’ is playing)

 

 

[At Beschenkos’]

 

Timo: Hi!

Mrs Beschenko: Hello, Timo! Come in! Luzi is in her room doing homework.

Luzi: Hi. (to her mom) Is it possible that there is something burning in the kitchen?

Mrs Beschenko: My piroschki

Timo: Your mother still doesn’t know about the swimming pool affair?

Luzi: And I’ve got no idea how to tell her.

Timo: Ey, Caro is such a mean b*tch!

Luzi: Your Sophie isn’t better either! Because it was her who took the picture of me at the pool!

Timo: Yes, but I’m sure it was Caro who sent it to Krawcyk. Sophie would never be that mean!

(That’s true. She might put drugs into your drinking water but sending an incriminating photo to a teacher? She is just not that ruthless!)

Luzi: Dude, she dumped you via text message and you’re still defending her? Did someone show up to S.T.? Or has Caro ‘made a good job’ of that, too?

Timo: Nobody showed up today. After the video of Hotte everybody has learnt their lesson. But Ms. Vogel will get it running again for sure! Today she even took a stand for you! In math she called on everybody who was at the party to report him-/herself.

Luzi: And? Did anyone do it?...Apparently, you didn’t either.

Mrs Beschenko: (from the kitchen) Luzi? Is Timo going to stay for dinner? There’s enough!

Luzi: No! He was just about to leave. (to Timo) It’s always good to have such a great friend like you.

(She closes the door)

(Eminem’s  ‘Not Afraid’ is playing)

 

 

[At Bea’s apartment]

 

Bea: I’ve sat there for 15 minutes and waited for someone to show up. For someone to admit that they were at the party. Nothing.

Miriam: But Krawcyk knows that the girl didn’t party alone.

Bea: But Luzi is the only one there is some evidence against. And Julian Götting wants to find a scapegoat to blame by all means. He wants to become principal sooner rather than later. He would do whatever it takes to get there.

Miriam: I can’t believe that Krawcyk would let him hang a student just so he could distinguish himself.

Bea: Well, as long as the others keep their mouths shut like cowards she doesn’t have a choice.

Miriam: But at least you know for sure that your Ben was there!

Bea: Miriam, he isn’t my Ben. And I cannot say for sure that he was involved.

Miriam: Huh? Didn’t you yourself say that he smelt like beer and chlorine when he showed up here the other night?

Bea: Are you trying to tell me to report him?

Miriam: No! Of course not! But the two of you do have this special connection, don’t you? (Is that what people would call an euphemism?)

Bea: Miriam!

Miriam: Maybe you can convince him to admit it voluntarily. Well, and if someone has finally broken the first ground…

Bea: …then maybe the others are going to follow.

 

 

[In front of Villa Bergmann]

 

Ben arrives with his car and sees Bea standing there.

 

Ben: Hey! Well, this isn’t really a part of what teachers usually do either, right? To ambush their students at home.

Bea: It is if circumstances require it. You know that Götting has Luzi in a vice because of the party at the swimming pool. How many of you were involved? 10? 20? And Luzi is supposed to lay her head on the block for it on her own?

Ben: What do you expect from me?

Bea: I expect you to make the others turn themselves in. I know they are going to listen to you.

(A little blinded by your new almost jail-bait boy-toy, are you Bea? He’s just a newbie, so nobody is just going to follow him in these circumstances. He isn’t that awesome, baby.)

Ben: Yes, sure. And then we’ll all go to Krawcyk together and everything will be forgiven and forgotten.

Bea: Why is that so wrong?

Ben: Ey, who do you think broke in the door? Bea, this is my last chance! I’ll be dead if this comes out! Then I can forget about graduation!

Bea: And whose fault is it? Obviously not Luzi Beschenko’s!

Ben: Gosh, what’s the worst that could happen anyway?? But for me everything depends on it! If I get busted then I can kiss the surf shop in Australia goodbye! And that’s my damn lifetime dream! Why else do you think I’m going through all this trouble of getting my Abitur / high school diploma? To finally leave this whole crap behind! To live in a place where it’s not always about money, performance and acknowledgment! But apparently you don’t understand that.

(He goes into the house)

(‘Love The Way You Lie’ by Eminem & Rihanna is playing)

 

(“He has matured a lot.” You know, I rolled my eyes in concert with Helena way back in the future, but Bea was right. I just hadn’t realized he started that far down the spectrum of immaturity. Bea, really? Wait for Helena. She’s great, she’s a goddess and her face and sarcasm could launch a thousand ships. You could do a lot worse. In fact, right now, you are!)

 

 

[At Pestalozzi, hallway]

 

Mrs Beschenko is talking to a colleague.

 

Mrs Beschenko: You shouldn’t let your husband treat you like this. It’s your money! God knows, we’re working hard enough for it.

Ms Jäger: Mrs Beschenko! Can you spare a minute?

Mrs Beschenko: Yes, sure, Ms Jäger. For you any time.  

Ms Jäger: I’ll be right back. (She leaves to get an envelope.)

(Michael appears)

Michael: Good morning!

Ms Jäger: This is awkward for me but the vice-principal insisted on this getting forwarded to you immediately.

Mrs Beschenko: What is it? Is something wrong with my work?

Ms Jäger: No. It’s about your daughter. This wild party at the swimming pool the other day…obviously she was involved in it.

Mrs Beschenko: What? That’s not possible.

Ms Jäger: Unfortunately, it is. There is a photo and Luzi also admitted to it.

Mrs Beschenko: Then this is a reprimand? Or an expulsion? (She opens the envelope)

Ms Jäger: No. It’s the bill for the damage. Luzi is the only one who could be convicted. Hence it seems that you will have to bear the costs.

Mrs Beschenko: (reads the bill) Substitution for the door lock…Change of water…cleaning…total costs of 2565 Euros?!? 

 

 

[At Pestalozzi, teacher’s room]

 

(Götting enters the room)

 

Götting: A wonderful good morning!!!

Michael: (talking low-voiced on the phone) Good morning, Mr. Wendland. Uh, of course we can meet. But I don’t really have a lot of news to tell you. It’s better if we talk again later.

(Ms Jäger storms in)

Ms Jäger: Next time you are going to deliver your bad news yourself, Mr Götting! (Go, Jägerbomb!)

Götting: Is this once again something you can’t handle?

Ms Jäger: I just can’t handle watching you drive poor Mrs Beschenko into ruin!

Götting: If she had her daughter under better control, she wouldn’t have to bear the financial damage now.

Ms Jäger: Luzi IS well-raised! She is such a good girl! And Ms Beschenko is busting her back with her job as a cleaning lady so that her girl can have a better life!

Götting: Let’s just consider this as a pedagogical measure. Luzi surely isn’t going to do that to her mother again.

Michael: Though, there are worlds between a pedagogical measure and financial ruin, don’t you think?

Götting: Gee! Then arrange a telethon if you like! (Might I suggest hiring Little Heart away from her rehab as the star moderator and putting her in leather?)

(Mrs Krawcyk enters the room)

Götting: Good morning, Mrs Krawcyk! Could you please explain to Mr Heisig what the clause ‘Parents are liable for their children’ means?

Mrs Krawcyk: I’m sure you’re able do that yourself.

Götting: It would be nice if you didn’t leave all unpleasant tasks to me. After all YOU are the principal.

(Bea comes in)

Mrs Krawcyk: It’s indeed true that Mrs Beschenko is liable because Luzi is still underage.  

Ms Jäger: But where is this poor woman supposed to get two and a half thousand Euros from?

Bea: What? That much?

(Mrs Krawcyk leaves for her office)

Ms Jäger: Yes.

Bea: Mrs Krawcyk! (She follows Mrs Krawcyk) Mrs Krawcyk!

(Mrs Krawcyk slams the door in Bea’s face…

Bea: (Bea knocks on the door) Mrs Krawcyk?

…and turns on the red light)

(which indicates that the bar is probably open right now.)

 

(Ben comes by)

 

Ben: Good morning, Ms Vogel.

Bea: Ben! Can I talk to you for a second?

Ben: I hope it’s not about this swimming pool affair again!

Bea: Yes, it’s about that. I just heard that Luzi’s mother has to bear all the damage costs. It’s probably more than the woman earns in two months!

Ben: Well, then I’m going to get her the money.

Bea: It seems that it always works this way for you, right? You fuck up and your father pays for it.

Ben: Unfortunately it doesn’t work all the time.

Bea: Don’t you think it’s about time for you to finally take responsibility for something?

Ben: You’re just as much a coward as me! Or have you told your boss that you slept with a student? Ah see! The paycheck is more important to you, too! Don’t give me that courage of one’s conviction talk and all this conscience bullshit!

(Ben leaves)

 

 

 

[At Pestalozzi, kiosk]

 

Bea: A cup of tea, please.

Michael: You don’t really look like you have discovered a new maths genius just now.

Bea: Pff, no.

Michael: Not every student can be a genius.

Bea: Right. I’m not a genius either.

Michael: Is everything ok?

Bea: My mom always said that one should place the bar so high that one can pass below it easily. Don’t you think it’s a little illogical? I mean when it’s hanging that high it’s even more difficult to meet your own expectations. Now I finally understand why I’m always failing.

Michael: I can’t really imagine someone like you failing.

Bea: But you don’t even know me!...Do you know why I’ve become a teacher? (*Of course he knows…after all he doesn’t even know you…)...Because of Mrs Krawcyk. I’ve made my Abitur here. And I’ve always admired her. She has always demanded something from herself before demanding it from others.

Michael: Yes, but you’re doing the same, aren’t you?

Bea: I’m afraid it only looks like that. 

(Michael’s phone rings)

Michael: Pardon! (on the phone) Yes, hello, Mr Dr. Wendland. Yes, it’s more convenient now. I’m having an off period anyway…Yes, we can do that, too. Where? All right. Could you please wait a second? (to Bea) You know what? Just place the bar so low that you can jump over it. (to Mr Wendlandt) Ok, I’m back...yes.

 

 

[Saal 1]

 

Michael: Well in my opinion, Mr Wendland, the accusations against Mrs Krawcyk are at least questionable.

Mr Wendlandt: Well, the school authority needs to know a little more details.

Michael: Mrs Krawcyk might be a little burnt-out but this is at least partially due to Mr Götting and his permanent attacks. Götting is insanely ambitious. And in contrast to Mrs Krawcyk he obviously doesn’t give a shi.t about the well-being of the students.

Mr Wendlandt: Well, I know what you think of Mr Götting now. But what do you think about the specific accusations he is making against Mrs Krawcyk?

Michael: Well, unfortunately I can’t get a blood sample, but I don’t think she has an alcohol problem. And hence I also think that she is capable of keeping on running this school.

 

 

[At Pestalozzi, Mrs Krawcyk’s office]

 

Mrs Krawcyk is still drinking her mix of coffee and vodka when Bea comes in.

 

Mrs Krawcyk: Aren’t the lights working anymore?

Bea: I’m sorry. But I have to talk to you right now.

Mrs Krawcyk: Fire away!

Bea: I know for sure that another student was involved in that party, too. Ben Bergmann.

Mrs Krawcyk: And how do you know it for sure?

Bea: Because…Because I slept with Ben Bergmann.

(What kind of answer to that question was that!?!)