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- [Girl] Daddy, the sun is setting.
Aww, it's so pretty.
[children giggling]
- You're horrible.
Who did your hair?
Who did your coat today?
And look at your dirty shoes.
Like, you could have did better than that.
Man, you stink, like, come on.
Go take a shower.
You're so ugly,
- Please don't touch me.
[kids laughing]
- Hey, where you going?
If you ain't wanna be picked on,
you shoulda never been born ugly.
[kids laughing]
- Gimme that back, my daddy gave that to me.
- No.
- Give it!
- This is mine now.
- Stop, give it!
- No!
- Give it.
- No, this is mine now.
[metal rattling]
- Please, stop acting like you really hurt.
Get up.
Come on, stop playing, get up.
Come on, get up. - Bruh,
I don't think she's moving.
[whistle blowing]
[ominous music]
[soft piano music]
- Peter?
Honey, how you hanging in there?
[soft piano music]
- [Woman] Yeah, that was his only child.
His wife died while giving birth to his daughter.
- [Woman] That's so sad.
- [Woman] I heard he's not even planning to press charges
against the kid who killed his daughter.
- [Man] What?
No way in the world I could have done that.
He would be a jail,
and his parents should have some kind of responsibility.
- [Woman] Well, apparently,
his parents weren't in his life, so.
I think I heard that his dad passed away years ago.
[soft piano music]
- Baby.
Oh, sweetie.
You know, you should really consider getting away from here.
You need a fresh, new environment,
and Virginia has nothing left for you.
And it doesn't have to be right away.
But you really should go.
[man weeping]
Oh, baby.
[hip hop music]
♪ My mind is going a million miles a second ♪
♪ If it don't stop
♪ I'm afraid that I'm gonna wreck it ♪
♪ I'm the type yeah it's hard to learn the lesson ♪
♪ No GPS I follow my direction yeah ♪
♪ You suggest a fraction
♪ The light of my reflection
♪ Standing in the mirror
♪ Looking good man I'm smiling for my selfie ♪
♪ Trying to capture my best moments ♪
♪ Searching for the best I ever had ♪
- So I just wanted to speak to you.
My chemistry professor,
he told me I needed to speak to you directly
about getting an extension on a project.
Really, I'm just a little overloaded
with some work right now,
and I wanted to speak to you about getting an extension.
[door knocking]
- Come in.
- Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt you guys.
Are you principal Hanway?
- [Principal] Yes.
- I'm Peter.
I was supposed to meet you earlier.
- Oh, I have to take this, okay?
We'll talk about this later, okay?
- I'm so sorry to interrupt you guys.
Sorry, brother.
- Peter!
Pleasure to meet you.
So, tell me, how long have you been working with Evolve?
It seems to be a fantastic organization.
- It is, I love it.
I've actually been there, what, three months now
and they got me focused on the bullying portion of like
the school programs and things.
So, I'm enjoying it, can't complain.
- Excellent.
So, what made you want to get involved
in the after-school program to help victims of bullying?
- Ooh.
Wow.
Wow, that's kind of a big question.
It started with, actually, my church.
I was youth director there for, what, a few years,
and I loved it so much that I went back to school,
got my degree in social work,
and I was a social worker for about 10 years.
And the rest is history.
Plus I'm passionate about the topic of bullying,
so it worked out.
- Well, we're very grateful for your service.
- Thank you.
- You mentioned youth pastor.
I just want to remind you
that this is a public school and we have to keep our
religious and political beliefs personal.
- Absolutely, 100%, I agree with that.
And you know, plus,
there's ways to share God
without even actually saying His name.
- I know what you mean.
- Oh, do you?
- I'm a Christian, too.
- Really?
Okay, cool.
Cool.
- Well, let's get back on track here.
- Yeah.
- So, this is a volunteer opportunity for the students.
So there's no guarantee that anyone will even show up.
- I understand.
I mean, come on, they're teens.
I get it, that's fine.
- Yeah, but that being said, our counselor, Jane,
has been talking to some of the students
since the beginning of the year
and it looks like we have about six signed up,
so we'll see if they show up.
- Cool.
Sounds good.
- All right.
So, we'll have you start tomorrow
and you'll actually be in this classroom right here.
- Really?
Nice, perfect, I like it.
- All right, so we'll see you tomorrow.
- Of course, yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for your time, I appreciate it.
I appreciate it.
All right.
[upbeat music]
Hey, actually, Principal Hanway,
nevermind.
I'm sorry, I kind of answered it in my head already.
Sorry about that.
- Okay.
- All right, you have a good day.
- You too.
- All right.
- See you tomorrow.
- Alrighty.
[upbeat music]
- Peter, you still there?
- Yeah.
Yeah, ma, I'm here.
- Well, I'm just glad that you got up out of Virginia
and went out there for a fresh start.
- Yeah, me too.
You know, I think it was needed.
- How do you think working at that new school
is gonna go?
- I think it's going to be all right, you know?
The principal seems pretty nice.
- Well, I just hope he's not one of those pushover types.
- So, he is a she, Ma.
[Peter laughing]
- Oh, okay.
Well, I hope that she's not one of those pushover types.
- Nah, nah, she's pretty cool.
She's real nice.
She's actually good with the students, too.
- Oh.
Pretty nice, huh?
- Mm-hmm.
- She cute, too?
- Come on, Ma.
- What?
I'm just curious.
- Yeah, she's beautiful, actually.
- Oh.
She got rings on?
- Nope.
[Peter laughing]
She sure don't.
I was looking hard, too.
I ain't see nothing.
[Ma laughing]
But look, you gotta stop that, Ma.
You gotta stop it, all right?
You know, I'm not in any way ready
for any kind of relationship right now.
- Well, it's been eight years since your wife passed, Peter.
- Ma, this has nothing to do with Tameka.
- Oh.
Well,
you just take your time, baby.
You know that Brianna was very special to me.
- [Peter] Don't do that.
- Don't do what?
- Don't bring up Brianna, okay, Ma?
Like, look, I'm trying my best
to just get this out of my mind.
I can't, I don't even want to think about it.
- It helps to talk about.
- It doesn't help me, Ma.
Okay?
Look, what helps me is just not thinking about it at all.
Okay?
That's what helps me.
- No, you just can't go running away from dealing with this.
- Well, you the one who told me to run, Ma.
You the one who told me to pack up, come to Maryland,
get away from all this.
You told me that.
- Oh, oh, no.
No, I told you to leave so that you could heal,
so that you could deal with everything.
I didn't say run away.
And don't you dare take out your anger on me.
You didn't just lose a daughter.
I lost my grand baby.
- I'm sorry, Ma.
I'm sorry.
You know, this stuff just ain't easy.
- Yeah, well, it's not supposed to be.
[soft music]
- Oh, hey.
How are you?
I'm Mr. Ryans.
What's your name?
- Hello, I'm Wanda.
- Wanda.
Nice to meet you, Wanda.
Wow.
So I'm the counselor that's gonna be
talking with you guys today.
By any chance, did you notice anybody else coming in
when you were here?
- No, I'm the only one.
- All right, no problem.
So we'll just go ahead and get started
just as soon as a few more people get in here, all right?
- Cool, awesome.
- All right, guys, just take a seat.
Oh, hey.
- [Peter] Hello.
- I'm Jane, school counselor.
And you must be Peter?
- Mr. Ryans, that's me.
- So nice to meet you.
- Thank you.
- Okay, well, I rounded up three more for you.
They had all expressed interest in this group,
but apparently they had gotten a little distracted
in the hallway on the way over.
- That's all right, they're teens, you know?
Let 'em live.
- That's true, that's true.
If you need anything, I'll be in my office till about 5:30.
And if you don't, just make sure you turn off the lights
and lock up on your way out.
- Will do. - All right?
- Thank you, uh, Jane, right?
- You bet.
- All right, thank you.
All right, well, hey, good to see you guys.
I'm Mr. Ryans.
I'm from Evolve.
As you guys can see here,
we're a nonprofit organization
and they sent me here as a counselor,
partnering with your school
to talk with you guys a little bit about bullying.
So I'm glad to be here, glad to see your faces.
Excuse me, ma'am?
Are you supposed to be in here?
- Yeah, but I can go?
- No, no, no, come on in, come on in.
Please, have a seat.
Empty chair right there.
Come on, come on.
Yeah, we're just talking a little bit about the program
and everything else,
kind of the intro to the class.
But I'm curious, do any of you guys know each other?
- I don't know anyone here.
I mean, I've seen them around school,
but we don't talk or anything.
- Okay, well, hey, nothing wrong with that.
That's the best place to start, you know?
When you don't know somebody, we get to know each other.
And, hey, why don't you kick us off
since you started talking?
- My name's Carson Palmer.
I'm here 'cause the school counselor
suggested me to come here so I can be around people
I can better relate to.
[door knocking]
- Hey.
- Yeah, yeah, this the after school bullying program?
- It is, yeah.
- James.
- Okay, cool.
- How y'all doing, how y'all doing?
[Peter laughing]
- How you doing, brother? - All right.
- All right, I'm Mr. Ryans.
- Sure, sure.
- We're just kind of getting to know each other
a little bit.
I mean, since you so graciously decided
to show up late and everything,
why don't you kick us off next?
Tell us a little about yourself.
- All right, well, obviously I ain't no weird nerd,
nothing like that.
But
basically, I sent a provocative picture to my girl, right?
We broke up later on.
She ended up sending it to the whole school,
and, yeah, so.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Listen, James,
that is tough,
but let me give you a little bit of encouragement, okay?
There's actually people in our world
who really have a large platform
and they've made mistakes, just like you did.
And, unfortunately,
their mistakes have cost them a lot more.
So they've came out on top.
I believe you'll be able to come out on top.
All right, we'll talk more about this later,
but just be encouraged, man.
This is not a forever thing.
You're gonna be all right.
Let's keep it going, this is fun.
How about you, Sir, in the blue shirt?
Tell us about yourself.
- My name is Darren.
- Okay.
Do you want to share anything else, a little more?
- I'm pretty quiet.
- Really?
- James, no, stop.
Okay?
There's absolutely nothing wrong
with being a little bit introverted, okay?
So tell us a little bit more.
- I'm,
I'm used a lot at the school.
People, they'll pretend to befriend me
just so that I can help them with their school work.
- Why would they want to befriend you
just so you can do their schoolwork?
- Uh, Mr. Ryans?
This guy is like the smartest in our entire school,
like top notch smartest.
- Really?
Okay.
Well, I mean, that's a good thing, right?
I mean, there's nothing wrong with being
obviously one of the smartest kids in class.
That should make you very desirable as a friend.
I have a question, though.
I would want to know why in the world
would you just allow yourself to be used like that?
I mean, what would happen
if you just stopped all together doing their work?
- Poof.
- Poof?
Okay, what do you mean by poof?
- Then I'd have no friends.
- All right, wouldn't that be a good thing?
I mean, who would want to be friends with someone
who's pretty much fake anyway?
- A fake friend is better than no friend.
[James laughing]
- I'm sorry, I've been talking a lot, Mr. Ryans,
but I'd rather be alone.
I don't want no fake people around me
ever.
- Well, I'm Maria.
- Hi, Maria.
We're glad you joined us.
Why don't you tell us a little bit why you're here?
- Yeah, why did you decide to join us, Maria?
- I'm sorry, do you guys know each other?
- Everybody in here knows her.
She's the pretty,
popular,
light-skin Instagram model with like 500,000 followers.
- What, you jealous?
You sound jealous.
What that got to do with anything?
- Shut up, boy.
- Stop, stop, stop.
You guys, relax, okay?
It's all right.
You said Instagram.
I mean, what do you mean Instagram?
- Well, Mr. Ryans,
it means she gets half naked
in front of hundreds and thousands of people for some likes
and maybe a free makeup sponsorship.
Hmm?
- Anyways, I'm just here to see
if speaking in a group setting
with other people who've also experienced bullying
would be helpful.
- Girl, what kind of bullying have you ever experienced?
- Your kind.
When jealous, unkempt females always got something to say.
- Girl, unkempt?
Who are you calling unkempt?
- I'm calling you unkempt.
What you gonna do?
Huh, huh?
- Stop, stop, stop, hey, sit down.
- [Girl] Looking all stupid.
- First of all.
- First of all, nothing.
- You need to get out my face.
- Hey, stop.
- You don't know me?
No, she don't know me. - I don't wanna know you.
- I'm frickin' outta here.
I don't got time for this. - Ha ha.
- No!
- Have a seat, don't leave.
- Nobody wants you here.
- Nobody want you here.
- Look at me, okay?
Please, do not leave this class right now because of her
or anybody else in here, okay?
If you're gonna leave here, let it be because of me,
because I failed you.
Give me a chance, come on, have a seat.
Give me a chance, give me a chance.
We're not gonna do this, okay?
That's not what this program is about.
Okay?
This is really an opportunity for us to actually connect,
come together, okay?
I understand, you know, we can have hostility,
you know, you may not like each other.
You may even be enemies, but here today,
I need you to understand that by the end of this class,
you're gonna be friends.
[girl laughing]
Listen, whatever your issue is today,
just understand that there's hope,
there's an opportunity for you guys to have a better life.
All right?
And I'm gonna teach you that, okay?
Yeah, yeah, James?
- Mr. Ryans, yeah, Stephanie smell good.
[class laughing]
I'm not trying to be funny.
She just smelled good to me.
Y'all know, like the Jergens,
cherry almond Jergens?
Oh, so y'all don't moisturize y'alls skin?
[class laughing]
Okay, whatever.
[class laughing]
I'm sorry, everybody.
Stephanie, you smell good.
That's all I was trying to say.
- All right, all right, cool.
Listen, I appreciate that.
You guys, I'm excited to be here, man.
Come on, put on those smiling faces.
Let's kick things off with a little activity.
All right, come on, let's get loose.
Stand up outta your desk.
Stand up, stand up.
Come on, stand up, stand up, stand up, stand up.
All right, just move your desks out of the way.
We're gonna get in a circle
and we are going to have a nice time, all right?
[hip hop music]
- Hey, you still here?
It's almost five o'clock.
- I am.
[Peter laughing]
You could have warned me about these kids, you know.
- I wanted to surprise you.
How'd it go today?
- It actually went pretty good.
I can't complain. - Good.
- A lot went on, you know, some rough patches,
you know, fun moments,
but at the end of the day, it, oh, actually,
there's a student named James.
You heard of him?
- James?
Yes, of course.
- Hmm.
By the look of your face,
lets me know it's true.
- Unfortunately, yes.
It got out to the entire staff.
- Wait, you saw it, too?
- Yeah.
- Oh my.
[Peter laughing]
Poor kid.
Dang.
Well, I mean, hey, look,
out of all the kids that were here today,
he seems like the one
that's probably gonna be just fine very soon.
- Yeah, he'll be all right.
- Absolutely.
Well, look, I gotta hit the gym.
I'll finish cleaning up right here
and lock the door on the way out and be good to go.
- Okay, well, I'll let you do your thing.
- Okay.
- Look, I really appreciate you.
- Thank you.
- I'll see you tomorrow.
- All right.
Hey,
sorry, nevermind.
I'm good.
I'm sorry about that.
- You know, this is the second time you did this to me
in two days.
What's going on?
- I know, I'm sorry.
My fault, I got a lot going on.
These kids was crazy.
I'm just, I'm good, though.
Everything's fine.
- Okay.
Have a good night.
- All right, you too.
[Peter sighing]
Yeah, I gotta go work out.
♪ Rockefeller over
♪ Now I'm going to war like a soldier ♪
♪ Plus they tried to count me out ♪
♪ Thinking that it's over
- Push, push, push, push, push.
Here we go.
Good work, good work.
- Yo, you killing me, Marshall.
- Hey, well, that's music to my ears.
- Oh my gosh, that's not, man.
This was supposed to be a light workout.
- Light? - Yes.
- Man, come on, man.
We ain't put no toe in the water around here.
[Peter laughing]
No, but so,
how's the bullying program with the new school treating you?
- Great.
Yo, them kids is a trip, man.
- Mm-hmm.
- I like the sign of what you're doing overall.
- You, hey, how's wifey doing?
- She's good, she's good.
She's great.
Don't be mad.
We have, you know,
we've been keeping it under wraps for the most part,
but she's,
we're pregnant.
- Shut up. - Yes sir.
- Oh my.
Come here, boy!
- Thank you, thank you, thank you.
- Congrats, man.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- How far along is she?
- So she's in her third trimester.
Actually coming down the home stretch.
So, with that being said,
I'm gonna need a little administrative help
for the personal training business,
mainly scheduling, payments, cold calls.
Like back office stuff.
So if you know any high school kids
looking for something part-time, something on the weekends.
- Got you.
I'll actually put out a word at the school I'm at now.
- Okay. - Yeah.
- I appreciate that.
- Yup, yup.
- All right, that's enough intimacy between us for one day.
All right, come on, let's crush this last set.
- Come on, bro.
- Nah, nah, nah, let's go, let's go, let's go.
- You said that three sets ago.
- I saw that, I saw that.
Not gonna work, not around here.
- Yo, next time when you say light, make it light, man.
- Light?
This is light.
♪ I'm in the biz
♪ Tell her don't miss me
[students laughing]
[Wanda sighing]
[ominous music]
- Wobbly Wanda in the building.
[class laughing]
- Wobbledy, wobble, wobble.
Drop it like it's hot.
[kids shouting]
- Hold up, hold up, hold up.
Don't tell her drop nothing.
Mess around and trigger an earthquake.
[class laughing]
Hey, Slim.
Hey.
Hey, Slim
Hey.
- Leave her alone, stupid.
- Mind your business.
Hey, Slim.
What, you been working out, sexy?
Hey.
What, you been working out?
There she blows.
[class laughing]
- What happened?
I saw that.
[class laughing]
- Oh my.
I don't want to do this geometry.
Wait, is that him?
I mean, he looks kinda nerdy.
Like, look at his bag.
It's like a binder with straps on.
- He's not ugly, he's just mad weird.
- I swear. I need someone like him to do my work for me.
- Girl, you can have him after me.
- Ew.
Are you guys?
- No, no.
- You sure?
- No.
Please, stop.
I mean you can have him
after he helps me pass my English class.
- Okay, well, you better handle that
because I need him, like, tomorrow.
- Okay.
Hey, Darien.
- Hey, it's Darren,
but you are AP English with the paperclips and staples?
- Yeah.
- Here
you
go.
- Oh, thank you.
- I was able to finish both papers for you.
- Aww, you're so sweet.
- No problem.
Actually, I have this for the same class
and it's due on Monday.
- Monday?
- Yeah.
- Oh, um,
I'm sorry, I won't have time to do that this weekend.
- Excuse me?
- I'm sorry, I won't have time.
- Find the time.
- I'll probably be able to work on it during my
first period class Monday morning.
- Great.
Thank you.
♪ Calm down before you stress up the groove ♪
♪ The energy a little different when the blessings improve ♪
♪ Hey who you talking to
♪ Just know I aint no
♪ Could be anything in the world ♪
- Hey, Principal Hanway.
- Hey, guys.
Have a good weekend.
Hey, Peter.
- Hey, what's up?
- You headed to your session with the kids?
- Yeah, yeah.
Actually, going there right now.
- Well, great.
Well, have a good weekend.
- Cool, cool.
Hold on real quick.
So,
are you free this weekend?
- Free?
- Yeah, you know what I mean?
You know, you busy with these kids all week.
I figured maybe we can go out
and have some adult time or something.
- Well, I don't think my husband would like that.
- Oh, my bad, I'm so sorry.
- I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding.
- Really?
- Well, what'd you have in mind?
- I don't know.
You know, something fun.
Like I'm cool with anything.
- What about bowling?
- I like bowling, yeah.
I'm a beast, you know?
- Well, let's do that.
- I'm cool with that.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I know you got my number,
so why don't you just shoot me a text?
Text me your address.
I'll come through maybe Saturday night around seven.
- My address?
- Yeah.
- No, I don't know you that well, Mr. Ryans.
- Oh, it's Mr. Ryans now?
[Principal laughing]
I respect that, I respect.
All right, well, cool.
How about instead if you text me a number
and I'll text you the address to the bowling alley
and we can meet there around seven?
- Sounds good.
- All right.
- I'll see you then.
- Cool, cool, cool.
- Hey.
- Yeah?
- I was wondering when you were going to come around
and ask me.
- Okay.
[Peter laughing]
- See you.
- All right.
♪ As long as you're with me
♪ I feel at home
It is so good to see that you actually all came back.
All of you.
This is great, this is great.
I figured, you know, this time around,
we could dive a little deeper and talk about hate.
You know, in high school,
not everybody loves everything, right?
So I figured we could just take a second
and talk about some of the things we hate about school.
Wanda, why don't we start with you?
- Do I have to go first?
- You don't have to,
but we'd love to hear a little bit of your story.
If you wouldn't mind sharing, please.
What's something you hate about high school?
- Going to class late.
- Late?
Who cares about going to class late?
- I do.
And clearly you have no idea what it's like
dreading to go to class
and fear that half of the class is waiting for you
just to try out their new fat people jokes.
- Look, Wanda, you ain't that big, all right?
I know people fatter than you.
- Shut up, James.
- You shut up.
Look, you got some size and all,
but don't worry about that.
And I ain't trying to be rude,
so don't tell me shut up.
You shut up.
- Whatever.
- James, no, we're not doing that, okay?
I know you're trying to help, but we're not doing that.
All right, we want to hear you, Wanda, sorry about that.
Please, please continue.
Tell us what's going on.
- Mr. Ryans,
I hate going to class late because,
[soft piano music]
because when I'm late, I'm noticeable.
- Mm-hmm.
- It's like everyone is watching me as I walk to my seat
and all I feel are eyes as I walk past their desks.
But when I'm early, Mr. Ryans,
when I'm early and seated at my desk,
no one pays attention.
It's like,
I'm either a walking billboard
that everyone can just laugh and point at, or,
or I just don't exist at all.
- I know what you mean.
I guess I have a certain look
that makes people think it's their job
to make me feel terrible about who I am.
- About time white people know how it feel to be treated
just because of how you look.
- Stephanie, no.
- Mr. Ryans, can I say something?
- Absolutely, Carson, you may.
- To be honest, I have no reason to like black people.
- Say what?
- My whole life, it's been black kids who picked on me.
It was a black man who broke into my house
and took everything of value from us.
It's a black guy at my afterschool job
who makes every day I go in there a living
and to be quite honest,
I grew up in a house where neither of my parents
have anything positive to say about black people.
Now, and that all being said,
I don't let my parents influence me.
I don't let any single experience I've had
with any black person
paint a picture in my mind
that all black people are the same.
I just choose to go through life
treating everyone the right way,
even if I get slammed in the way.
- I heard that.
I respect it.
Do me a favor, though, yo.
Don't ever invite me to your house,
[students laughing]
'cause I ain't coming.
I don't care if you got Hamburger Helper,
[students laughing]
baked apple pie, I ain't coming.
[students laughing]
But, nah, for reals, yo,
I respect that.
- Look, look, I appreciate you sharing.
Carson, thank you.
Thank you for sharing your little story.
Wanda, thank you for sharing.
See, the truth is, you know,
we all experience something about school that we hate,
all of us.
All of us have pains and issues we deal with,
but there's ways to cope, so let's take a minute
and talk about some of those things, okay?
[hip hop music]
♪ Yeah I got bad thoughts that make my mind scared ♪
♪ Hold me hostage and they don't fight fair ♪
♪ Who gonna pray for me and wipe all my tears ♪
♪ Who gonna save me if you not right here ♪
♪ Ooh this darkness it make my sight clear ♪
♪ Take me away 'cause I don't like here ♪
♪ Ghosts of my past
♪ They filling the night air
♪ Wake me up
♪ I'm trapped in my nightmares
♪ Wake me up
♪ I'm trapped in my nightmares
♪ Wake me up
♪ Back to life back to life
- What you looking at?
- Nothing.
- Man, you not doing them dishes right.
Don't ignore me.
I said, you're not doing those dishes right.
- What am I doing wrong?
- You're supposed to use the sponge,
not the rag.
- Sorry.
- I don't know why they hired you anyway.
- Why do you have such a problem with me, bro?
- 'Cause you're a punk white boy.
And I'm not your bro.
Man, there's brothers out here who really need a job
so they could feed their family.
And here you come,
just taking up space.
- I need a job too, man.
- No you don't.
Your parents will buy you whatever you need.
- You don't know anything about me or my family.
- Who you talking to you like you about to do something?
Wash that.
- [Woman] Where are my fries?
[video games beeping]
[upbeat music]
- All right, lemme see what you got.
Let's go.
Oh, what up, twinkle toes?
- Twinkle toes.
[Peter laughing]
- Oh my gosh.
What was that?
- You didn't see that.
[Peter laughing]
You didn't see it.
- Everybody saw that.
- No, no.
- I'm just warming up.
- That's the warmup?
- That's the warmup.
- That's the cold up, my gosh.
Like, you know a gutter ball still counts as zero, right?
- Watch it.
Watch it, okay?
- Not everybody can, you know,
get strikes every single time, like your boy, right?
- Okay, see, now you about to strike out on this date
if you keep messing with me.
- Oh, all right.
My fault, my fault, my fault.
I did want to say something, though.
Something kind of been on my mind a little bit.
I find it hard to believe that you've never been married.
- Well, believe it.
I'm just so focused on work
and raising my kids right now.
- Mm-hmm.
Wait, kids?
Hold up, hold up.
All this time, you've never told me you had kids.
- Yeah, I have two.
- Two?
Nice, nice.
And, forgive me for asking,
but is their dad like in their life or?
- They're both adopted.
- Oh.
- Something I always wanted to do, since I'm adopted.
- I didn't know that.
Wow.
- Yeah.
- Wow.
Well, congrats on the children.
- Thank you.
What what about you?
Do you have any kids?
- I did, yeah.
I had a daughter, but she passed away last year.
Yeah.
- I'm so sorry to hear that.
Wow.
- It's okay.
You know, for obvious reasons,
it's not something I like to talk about
or bring up that much,
but I'm doing better, I'm okay.
- I won't bring it up again.
I'm sorry.
But if you ever do want to talk, I'm here.
- I appreciate that, thank you.
There is actually something I want to talk to you about.
I was curious if you're really that bad at bowling?
- Oh, you know what?
You know what, you know what?
Let me say something.
You talking about me, you better.
- One pin down?
- You better roll a strike.
You sitting there talking about me,
you better roll a strike.
- You ain't said nothing.
You ain't said nothing, but dang, girl, I got this.
- Talking about me, I need to see you.
- Let's go, let's go.
Here we go.
Show this bad boy right here.
Put a little bit of the booty out, like that.
- Oh my.
- Stick it out.
By God, yeah, yeah.
All right, now see that, that one don't count.
- I mean? - That one didn't count.
That one didn't count, okay?
I just had to reset, you know,
do a little bit different flow.
- Wow.
- I got this one, though. - Four pins?
- I'm gonna pick it up.
- If I just stay focused, I might get out of this school.
- Trust me, you'll get out.
- I don't know, man.
- I got you, man.
- Stephanie!
- All right.
- Take it easy, kid.
- I got it.
- What's up, girl?
- Hey.
- So, you going to Mr. Ryans' after school program?
- Yeah.
- Girl, why you so mean?
- I ain't mean.
- You is mean.
- I ain't mean.
- All right, meanie.
I'm sorry, you almost ripped your book.
[Stephanie laughing]
Yeah, see, I need that smile.
- You're stupid.
- No, you're definitely stupid.
- Who is that girl he talking to?
- What you even doing out here?
- Um, I forgot. - Get it together.
- Hey, James.
- Good morning, Cherie.
- I see you decided not to upgrade.
[girls laughing]
- And who are you?
- Who are you?
- What's wrong with you?
- What's wrong with us?
What's wrong with her hair?
Like, may I suggest a brush? - Stephanie.
- Does she even own a comb or brush?
- A simple wash and brush.
- I don't even know you.
Something wrong with y'all.
You're both ignorant,
and that's why you my ex-girlfriend.
- What's up, ladies?
- Hey, Jay.
[Carson knocking]
- Hey, Mr. Ryans.
- Carson, hey man, you're early.
You know we don't get started for another, what,
30 minutes or so?
- Yeah, can I just talk to you about something real quick?
- Of course, man, please, come on over here.
What's going on?
- Okay, so I have this job
that I work sometimes after school and on the weekends.
And there's this guy there who just hates me for no reason.
I haven't really done anything to him,
he just seems to make every day I come in a nightmare.
- Hmm.
I'm sorry to hear about that, man.
Well, have you told your boss about it?
- No.
- Why not?
- I mean, I don't want to snitch on him.
And I feel like telling my boss
isn't going to do anything, either,
because you know, their families are friends,
so he's not going to fire them, so I'm just an outcast.
- Got you.
Wow, yeah.
Yeah, that sounds like a tough situation, man.
To be honest with you,
it sounds like one that's not gonna get much better.
I just remembered something.
Wow, so I was just at the gym the other day
with my personal trainer and he actually owns the gym.
He was telling me that he's looking for somebody
working there part-time and you might be a good fit.
You know, if it's something you're interested in,
I could maybe set up an interview for you.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Totally, totally, that sounds great, yeah, yeah.
- Awesome, man.
Look, so let's do this.
Let's start with you talking to your parents first.
- Mm-hmm.
- Okay?
Tell them about everything that's going on
and based on what you guys come to, let me know
and I can set up an interview for you guys, all right?
- Okay, that sounds great, Mr. Ryans.
Thank you so much. - My man.
- Thank you so much.
- Appreciate you, bro.
- All right, I'll be back here in like half an hour.
- Sounds good. - All right.
- We gonna have fun today, man.
- Yes, Sir.
[Peter laughing]
- Yeah.
All right.
[Principal knocking]
- Hey, I'm running late for a meeting,
but I just wanted to let you know
I really enjoyed myself last night.
- I enjoyed myself, too.
- And maybe we can do it again soon?
- Of course.
I call you later?
- Sounds good.
- All right.
- See you. - See you.
[students giggling]
Look, look, look, look, look, all I'm saying is
you guys, your generation is just completely spoiled.
I'm sorry, it's true.
You guys are spoiled.
- No, just because you grew up in the stone age.
- What?
The stone age?
- Mr. Ryans, Mr. Ryans?
So my mom, she told me that you guys had
like some kind of machine separate from your phone
that leaves messages or?
I don't know.
- An answering machine, are you kidding me?
Y'all don't know what a box answering machine is?
- Yeah.
- I know what you talking about.
- Do you know what I'm talking about?
- Y'all used to get together as a family and like
sing songs and record y'all's selves
and then sit back and let somebody call y'all
and then y'all ain't even be there for them to sing,
or them to hear y'all singing.
[students laughing]
- Yes.
Yeah, we didn't have your little high tech cell phones
you guys got now with ring tones and stuff,
and app stores.
No, we had to actually press a button,
get around as a family
and do something.
And that's the difference between us
and this generation now.
We came together as a family.
- Mr. Ryans?
That's how it be in class, too.
We be keeping it real, though,
with all that electronic stuff.
- Mrs. Preston took my phone, too, today.
And I didn't even have it out.
- Cougar.
She tried to take my phone, too.
I said, nah, lady, uh uh.
I ain't trying to slide like that.
[students laughing]
- James, James, don't do that.
Don't do that.
That's exactly how rumors start, man.
- I'm playing, though.
- I get it, I get it, you're playing.
But rumors like that
actually can get people in a lot of trouble.
- Yeah, I know about that.
- So do I.
- Girl, what you mean you know about that?
You the type that start them rumors.
- Meda, I don't know what your problem is,
but I don't start rumors about no one.
You need to stop coming for me.
- I just think it's kinda annoying you keep coming here
day after day and you don't belong.
You still don't.
- Wait, ladies, hold on one second.
This is,
I want to create a family atmosphere here, okay?
All right, it seems like you to just have some hostility
and we want to get this right, respectfully, okay?
So, Stephanie, why don't you just share with us,
why are you so adamant that she doesn't belong here?
- Well, because this group was supposed to be
for those of us dealing with bullying,
self-esteem issues and all of that stuff.
She clearly don't got none of those issues.
I mean, she's pretty,
she's popular.
Everything is perfect.
You got everything going on great for you.
I don't get it.
- 'Cause you jealous.
- Shut up.
- I don't have everything.
My life ain't perfect.
My mom's an alcoholic.
And my dad,
he's in prison.
And if you think that having all these followers are great,
man, you got it wrong.
Because with all that comes haters, racists,
comments, everything you could think of.
And then on top of that, I got to come to school
and sit with girls just like you.
[Stephanie clapping]
- What a sad life you have, awe.
- Whatever.
- No, what a sad life you have.
I don't know why you got so much hate towards this girl,
but she has never done anything to you
or anyone else in this group.
There has gotta be some other reason
why you got so much hate inside of you,
but Stephanie,
you got to find another way to let that mess out,
'cause I think everyone in here has had about enough of it.
So, yeah.
- Sure told you, huh?
- My whole life,
I've been picked on and laughed at
because I don't look like all the other girls.
I don't wear the latest fashion.
I don't have the stylish things.
And most of the time,
it's either boys or super pretty girls
who always have something bad to say.
It hurts,
and I build up a genuine hate for most people,
especially girls that look like you.
[inspirational music]
♪ Dirty water
♪ Wash me clean
♪ You'll always be a part of me ♪
You don't deserve to be treated the way I treated you.
None of y'all do,
and I'm sorry.
- Well, look at that.
Y'all finally got along, huh?
I'm happy for y'all.
That was beautiful, I ain't gonna lie.
I was hoping y'all was gonna fight today,
but it is what it is.
Mr. Ryans, you the truth, man.
You the truth.
[students giggling]
♪ And I believe in what my eyes can not see ♪
- I got one more.
- You're on top.
Almost there.
Good work, good work.
- Oh, gosh, you're killing me, dog.
I thought coming here was gonna give me a chance
to get away from that mental list
of the school I got going on.
- What's going on?
- Nothing.
Actually, it's all good, man.
I was just, you know, got these kids
that's on my mind constantly, man.
I think, finally, for the first time,
I'm finally getting through to some of them.
- That's awesome, man.
And I think sometime, bro,
at the end of the day, kids just need to feel
that it's someone out there that has they back, you know?
- Yeah, absolutely.
Except there's one thing I'm not feeling.
The fact they be clowning me.
[trainer laughing]
They be catching me.
One of them call me ancient.
- I mean, you got no spring chicken, bro.
- What is that supposed to mean?
You're like two years younger than me, yo.
- Hey, but don't you forget it.
[Peter laughing]
- No, they call me ancient 'cause they was talking about
answering machines back in the day.
You remember answering machines?
- Mr. Ryans?
- Carson, what's up, man?
- How you doing, Sir?
- I'm glad you could come through.
Yo, look, I forgot to tell you.
So sorry.
So, this is Carson.
Carson, this is Marshall.
Marshall, Carson.
Yeah.
- Nice to meet you, Sir.
- So I remember you telling me this a little while ago
you were looking for some extra help
to help around here with administration type stuff.
So, Carson, he's actually looking for
a little part-time gig,
so I thought I'd connect you guys
and see if there's something that might be there for him.
- Actually, I brought my resume for you, Sir.
- Okay.
You'd be surprised how many people come looking for a job,
but not actually prepared with a resume.
How many days a week can your work?
- Right now, just one, 'cause I still have the other job
and I want to give them at least two weeks notice.
But once I'm done with that,
I can do two days a week from five to 8:00 PM,
anytime on Sundays.
- Okay, step into my office.
- Thank you.
- I appreciate you.
- Yes, Sir, man, I'll holla at you.
- Mr. Ryans,
thank you.
- No problem.
- Hey, don't tease me.
- Bro, leave me alone.
Gosh.
All right, I got you Marshall, man.
10 sets, here we go.
One.
Two.
- This tutoring is so boring.
- Yeah.
When am I gonna use this?
- I know I'm not.
- Same.
I'm done with this.
- What?
- Girl, look.
He's looking at you.
- So pathetic.
- You better go over there
and get yourself an A in history.
- I'm not going over there.
Watch, he'll come to me.
- Okay.
- What?
- [Teacher] You have a question?
- You're kidding me, right?
- When were they friends?
- I don't know.
She's better stay away.
- Well, I know, he's yours.
- [Teacher] It says find the lateral.
- Just look at her.
She's not even that pretty.
- [Teacher] Anybody else have a question?
- I just wanna say
thank you so much for sticking up for me yesterday
in Mr. Ryan's program.
- It's no problem at all.
- I didn't know you had that in you.
- I didn't, either.
[students laughing]
- I was thinking,
if you're free later, do you want to study later?
- Yeah, definitely.
- Cool.
Maybe I can help you with your homework?
- Oh, you help me with my homework?
- Yeah, what do you mean?
- Nothing.
I just don't hear that often.
- Yeah, well,
I told you, I'm not like most girls out here.
- You did.
- I did.
But can you walk me to class?
- Of course.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
- Cool, let's go.
- [Teacher] Everybody, please, turn your pages to 17.
This is where we go back over
and relearn everything.
- It was terrible.
I don't know, he just isn't who I thought he was.
Ew.
So disgusting.
I can smell your B.O. from here.
No.
[hip hop music]
- What's up, bro, how you doing?
♪ You protect my house
- Yo, hop up, hop up, hop up.
You know the drill, hop up.
♪ I don't know
♪ I don't know how much longer I can go ♪
[bell ringing]
- So you're trying to solve for the disparity of power.
- Yeah, 'cause it's like I can't get it.
- What's up, Maria?
- Hey.
- I'll talk to you later.
- Yeah, see you later.
- Okay, so,
what's it like to be so popular?
- What are you talking about?
- Everybody knows you.
- Everyone thinks they know me,
but you can't talk.
Everyone knows you, too.
- It's not really in the same way, though.
Everyone knows me for just being that weird, smart kid.
But there's a difference between being popular,
which is you,
and, well, people just knowing who you are.
- Yeah, well,
being popular's not what it's always cracked up to be.
- Yeah, okay.
- For someone who is so smart,
you just don't get it, do you?
We're not that different.
You say everybody wants to get close to you,
be your friend and use you, right?
Well, the same thing happens to me.
The only difference is they think just because I'm pretty
or I have this large social media following,
that they can be my friend.
But to be honest, I don't know who my real friends are.
But I can relate to you, Darren,
more than you think.
[Darren chuckling]
And I like that.
[r&b music]
- You know, you remind me of a Bible verse.
- What?
A Bible verse?
- Well, yeah.
Random, I know.
And I'm not quite sure how spiritual of a person you are,
but I think only words from the Bible
could accurately describe what,
well,
what I think about you.
- Well,
you have my attention.
- Well, the verse is Song of Solomon 4:7,
and it says, "Thous art are all fair, my love.
"There is no spot in thee."
And in not so old English,
you are beautiful, Maria.
- Hmm.
- What's wrong?
- Nothing.
It's just that
I've heard so many guys tell me I'm beautiful.
But when you said it,
it's different.
I really believe you.
- Well, Maria,
you'll always be able to believe me.
- Thanks.
- Well, we should probably get back to the studying.
- Yeah, right.
[Maria laughing]
- So, you're trying to figure out the disparity of power.
- Yeah, that thing.
- So essentially you just gotta take X
and then divide it by the variable and.
[sensual music]
[Wanda beat boxing]
♪ Love stop
♪ Wobbly wobbly
[Wanda beat boxing]
♪ Fight me if you want to
[Wanda beat boxing]
♪ No
♪ Here comes wobbly Wanda
[Wanda beat boxing]
♪ Here comes wobbly Wanda
♪ Wa wa wa Wanda
♪ No no no stop no leave me alone ♪
♪ Leave me alone
[Wanda beat boxing]
- Wobbly Wanda in the building.
[class laughing]
♪ Why do you bully me
♪ I don't know I don't know
♪ Why do you bully me
♪ I am love
♪ I am love love
♪ So why do you why do you pick on me ♪
♪ Pick pick on you
♪ No pick on me
[Wanda beat boxing]
♪ My name is Wanda
♪ And I get get get bullied
♪ Stop it
[Wanda exhaling]
♪ Ooh
♪ It's gonna be all right
♪ Yeah yeah
♪ How can you tell
♪ Yeah yeah
♪ I feel it in my heart
♪ Yeah yeah
♪ It's gonna be okay
♪ The sun is shining
- Hi, papi.
- What's up, mami?
How you been?
- Good.
- How's school?
- Good.
- Well, you gonna graduate this year, right?
- Yeah.
- That's good.
- Yo, that's your daughter?
I follow her on Instagram.
- Man, watch out.
- I'll DM you later, girl.
[inmate laughing]
- I don't know why you think it's okay for you
to put pictures all up on social media
so everybody can see.
- What?
- I saw your page.
- And how did you see that?
- Don't matter how I saw it, I saw it.
Oh, now you ain't gonna talk to me?
- I don't have to answer to you.
- I don't know where you got this new, little attitude from,
but I ain't teach you to be disrespectful.
- You ain't teach me nothing.
Are you serious?
- Ma, look Ma,
I know you ain't a little girl no more,
but you gonna have to learn something for me.
With every decision that you make now,
you're gonna have to deal with
everything that comes with it.
For example, put yourself on blast on social media,
it's gonna come back to haunt you.
It's gonna bite you in the butt sooner or later.
You heard me?
Ma, you feel me?
- Yeah.
- I'm sorry, Ma.
I'm sorry that I just yelled at you.
I love you, nina.
I do.
I just don't want you to end up
on the same bad path that I did.
I miss you, nina.
- I miss you, too, papi.
[soft music]
Hey.
- Hey.
- I was thinking,
if you're free Saturday, you want to come over?
- Uh,
I mean, I know we ain't beefing no more,
but I didn't know we was cool like that.
- Girl, do you want to come over or not?
- What are we doing?
- Well, since you asked,
I was thinking we could do what I normally do.
So I do manis and pedis
and do a full face of makeup, do my hair, take cute selfies.
What you think?
- That's not really my idea of fun.
- Okay, well, I'm not going to force you or anything,
[Maria laughing]
but let me just say this.
You gotta make time for yourself.
We all need that.
Kind of reminds me of being a little girl
and going into your mom's closet, putting on her clothes,
going in her makeup bag, putting on her lipstick
and just feeling beautiful.
- Uh, yeah, I never really did that
'cause I never was considered the pretty girl to anybody
or like myself, nothing like that, so.
- Stephanie,
you've always been the pretty girl
and you still are.
Society makes us believe
that we have to fit into what they call beautiful.
But what really matters is what's inside
and your confidence.
Don't let anyone take that away from you, okay?
- Thanks.
- No problem.
So,
Saturday, girls night, you in?
[girls laughing]
- I'll come.
I'll come, I'll come.
- That's disgusting.
Y'all friends now?
- Shut up, James.
- Nah, nah, nah, y'all friends now.
I watched that whole thing right there.
Beautiful.
About time.
It's about positivity.
That's what we're here for.
That's what we supposed to be doing.
That's what we does.
But where everybody else at?
[upbeat music]
- All right, guys, see, standing up, I mean, it's important.
That's why we're here, you know?
I mean, if you're standing up for yourself.
- Mr. Ryans, see, that's the problem.
People always say stand up for yourself,
but it's like some people just can't do that.
- Yeah, I mean, I tend to stay away from conflict.
- I hear you, Carson,
but standing up isn't always about initiating conflict,
you know?
Standing up can start with simply just
not letting someone see you cry
or really just ignoring them, you know?
Like, have you ever noticed that bullies,
they just really want attention?
You know, they want an audience, they want a reaction.
That's what they really want.
- But that doesn't always work, 'cause like
just not letting them see you cry
or walking away from those situations,
that don't always be cutting it,
'cause like some people will still continuously attack you.
- True, true, I get that.
But, reality,
at some point,
that's the moment where you have to do a little bit more,
right?
You actually have to say something.
You gotta do something.
You can't just let people walk over you
and have control over you
because that's exactly what they want.
They want control.
There's a famous writer.
He wrote something, I just love it.
I wanna share it with you guys.
He says, "Anyone who is among the living has hope,
"for even a live dog is better off than in dead lion."
Any thoughts on what that means?
- Because the dog still has hope,
but the lion's dead.
He can't do anything,
but as long as that dog is alive,
he still has a chance to do something with his life.
- That's it.
You guys have hope, every last one of you.
Because as long as you're breathing,
you have hope.
♪ It was cold on the night
♪ You were born
♪ But I kept you away from the storm ♪
♪ Wind like a side walk
♪ After the night of nonstop rain ♪
♪ But we slept through the whole thing ♪
♪ It was cold on the night you were born ♪
- Yeah, babe, I'm on my way.
I just have to stop at my mom's job and drop off something.
- Okay, cool.
Yeah, we actually haven't started yet.
We're waiting on Mr. Ryans to get here.
- Oh, okay, cool.
I'll see you soon.
- Okay.
- Excuse me?
Are you not gonna say it?
- No, not right now.
- Babe, you better say it.
- Te amo.
- Te amo tambien, mi amor.
- Bye, baby.
[students laughing]
- I knew it.
I knew it.
You a lover, boy.
He a lover.
Lover boy, lover boy.
[students chattering]
She look good.
- Mm-hmm.
Man got himself a girlfriend.
- Got him a boo boo.
A little boo thang.
[girls laughing]
Y'all gonna get married?
Don't wait too long, she might leave.
[students laughing]
Don't let me catch her.
[students laughing]
Listen, you feel me?
[car horn honking]
♪ Is it gravity
♪ The grace I can't escape
♪ And the trouble with grace
♪ It keeps
- Call 9-1-1!
You, call 9-1-1!
Hello?
Hey, can you hear me?
Where's 9-1-1?
- That's really what y'all just do?
That's what school today is?
You just download apps in class?
Come on, man.
Hey.
Okay.
I'll be right back.
You guys just hang tight, okay?
[ominous music]
- Did you guys see Principal Hanway face?
Must be serious.
I wonder what it is.
[ominous music]
[Peter exhaling]
- So, Maria was in a car accident.
- Is she okay?
- She died on the way to the hospital.
[Stephanie crying]
- I know you guys are,
I know this is a little hard for you guys right now and
I know that,
I know that this is a moment
that we can all just come together as a family.
This is why we're here, okay?
We're here together.
You know?
If you guys just stay after a little longer, you know,
Principal Hanway's here for us.
We can talk further about this, okay?
[somber music]
[Darren sobbing]
- Darren, wait.
Darren.
Darren!
Darren, come here, bro, come here, come here, come here.
Darren!
- Here you go.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
- Ooh.
So, yesterday.
That for me has got to be
probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do
by telling those kids about Maria.
- Yeah.
I can't imagine what they're going through right now.
We're gonna have an extra couple of counselors come in
and just really be there for the kids.
She was so popular.
This is gonna hit hard for a lot of people.
- Yeah.
Oh, you're expecting somebody?
- Oh, yeah, that's my mom.
The kids were with her today and she's dropping them off.
- Oh, snap, so I get to meet the mom and kids today?
- I guess so.
- All right, about time.
- Don't do that.
I've been wanting you to meet them.
- Hi, baby.
- Hi, mommy.
Who's this?
- This is mommy's friend, Mr. Ryans.
- Hi, Mr. Ryans.
- Hi, cutie.
I like your dress, it's so pretty.
- Thank you.
[Peter laughing]
- Go get ready for bed.
- Okay.
- Bye, Michelle.
- Bye.
- Oh my goodness.
She is too cute.
- Thank you.
- Donna, you here, baby?
- Yeah, Mom, in the dining room.
- Oh, I didn't know you had company.
- Yeah, Mom, this is Peter, the guy I was telling you about.
- Oh, hello, Peter.
- Hello, how are you?
- Fine, thank you.
- Yes, Ma'am, nice to meet you.
- Pleasure's all mine.
So Peter, would you like to stay for dinner?
- Sure, yeah, I'd love to.
- Oh, that's wonderful.
Donna, sweetie, Leshon and I
are gonna bring in the rest of the groceries.
We'll be right back.
- Okay.
- All right, honey.
- Hey, where'd I put the?
[somber music]
- Hey, Leshon.
[dramatic music]
What is going on?
Leshon!
Peter, what is going on?
Peter!
[ominous music]
Peter, please tell me what is going on?
Peter!
- That little boy killed my daughter.
- What do you mean
that's the little boy who killed your daughter?
Please tell me, what are you talking about?
- That little boy killed my daughter!
A little over a year ago,
my daughter was outside playing.
There was a bunch of kids circling around her,
and they were laughing at her,
pointing fingers at her, clowning her.
And one of them put his hands on my daughter,
threw her to the ground and her head hit some metal object
and killed my daughter.
And the same little boy that threw my daughter down
just ran out your room just now.
I don't get it.
It doesn't make any sense.
All this happened in Virginia.
How did he get here in Maryland?
- Well, the adoption agency gives you a full report
of the child's history and background.
His dad died when he was a baby
and his mom got sentenced to prison for 12 years last year.
He moved to Maryland with his grandfather,
but his grandfather passed about nine months ago.
The state took him and I adopted him about three months ago.
And everything you said about your daughter
was in his history report.
- Wait, so you knew about this?
- I knew what he did,
but I didn't know that was your daughter.
I had no idea about the victim's family.
- What are you talking about?
What are you, stupid?
It's easy to figure out that, you just look online.
You can easily find out who the victim's family was.
- I didn't care to find that out, Peter.
It wasn't my job to play detective,
it was my job to give him a loving home.
I'm so sorry, I had no idea.
- Okay.
Well, now you do.
- Peter, Peter!
- No!
No!
Peter, nothing.
Do you know what he did?
He killed my daughter, Donna.
Do you understand that the last thing
that my daughter saw on this earth
was the face of that little boy spewing hate in her face?
[Leshon laughing]
She ain't seen the face of her father.
She ain't get a hug from me.
I ain't get the chance to protect her or nothing.
That little boy doesn't deserve a family.
He deserves to burn.
[Donna gasping]
- Oh my.
[somber music]
- It just don't make no sense.
How you gonna end our sessions now?
- Listen, guys,
there's just a lot of things going on right now
that you just don't know about.
- All that you was saying,
don't give up and I won't give up on you,
whatever you were saying, man, you a hypocrite.
Listen, James, you know,
there's just a lot more going on than you know right now.
And I'm sorry, but it's just a little bit too much for me
to be able to be at this school.
- But I thought you said this wasn't about you.
It's about us.
- Yeah, Mr. Ryans.
We're all dealing with Maria's death.
- This has nothing to do with Maria, okay?
Look, you guys, listen.
I know I may be gone, but just look around.
You guys still have each other.
And not only that,
but you guys came here every single day together.
You learn together.
We laugh together.
We cry together.
So you guys are no longer alone.
Now, what I think,
I think it's time for you guys
to put everything that we've learned into practice.
Okay?
It's time to stand up for yourselves.
It's time to stand up for each other.
Those days of bullying,
being harassed and mistreated,
they're long gone.
Remember what I said?
Bullies,
they only can bully people who they have control over.
No one has control over you anymore.
You're free.
♪ They trying to hand me the money ♪
♪ I gotta pick up the pace
♪ They throwing shade but I'm gone ♪
♪ I gotta keep it up in my face ♪
♪ Taking the gang out of space
♪ Best just stay in your place
♪ They ain't hear none of my of my songs ♪
♪ I don't know what can I say
Ma? - Oh!
Don't you come up here and sneak and scare me like that!
- You in my house.
- Oh, baby.
Oh, sweetheart.
- What are you doing here?
- I told you I'd come up here in a few weeks to visit you.
- Oh, I forgot about that.
- So I wanted to surprise you.
Surprise!
[Peter laughing]
- I should've known it was you,
watching hip hop and reading the Bible at the same time.
- Baby, you know that the Lord is working on me.
[Mom laughing]
- Oh, I'm so glad to see you.
But wait, hold on, wait, wait, wait, hold on.
I locked both doors,
windows was closed.
[Mom laughing]
Alarm was set.
How did you get in the house?
- I am from Baltimore, honey,
and I've learned a few things over the years.
Ah ha!
- Gotcha.
- So, what's going on?
- Hmm.
Yeah, that's a big question, Mom.
I got a lot to catch you up on.
And,
yeah.
- Peter, so that young child
is living here in Maryland
and he is the adopted child of the woman you like?
So, what are you going to do?
- I got to leave her alone, that's for sure.
And I got to leave that school.
I just got to get up outta here altogether.
This whole city is just.
- Let me ask you something.
Why did you decide not to press charges
against that child and his family?
- I don't know.
I mean, I figured
I'd be able to show myself that I actually forgave him.
- So you haven't forgiven him.
- I tried, Ma.
I tried, I tried.
I tried to drown him out of my mind,
but I can't.
- What you're experiencing,
baby, it doesn't just happen.
Now this is too specific
to be just some crazy coincidence.
See, you haven't forgiven that child, yet here,
here is your chance.
- Chance for what, Ma?
Forgive him?
At this point, I have no desire to forgive that boy.
- Oh, but you have to.
- I don't have to do anything, Ma.
You don't get it.
And I don't even see how
this is coming out of your mouth right now.
Brianna was your granddaughter.
- And you are my son.
And you know that I loved Brianna,
but she isn't here anymore,
and I have to focus all of my love and my attention
on who's sitting right here in front of me.
Peter,
Peter, baby, you are never gonna have any peace ever
as long as you hold onto your hate for that child.
And that poor woman, Lord have mercy.
- Donna.
- Yes, Donna.
And it appears that she really likes you.
And I can see,
I can see that you've really fallen for her, too.
- Yeah.
- She didn't sign up for all of this crazy.
- I know right now she's probably hurt, confused.
- Mm-hmm.
And she's not the only one.
I bet that young boy is feeling the same exact way, too.
And he needs someone,
someone just like you in his life.
- What you talking about, Ma?
This little boy killed my only child
and you're sitting up here
acting like I need to not only forgive him,
but somehow accept him as my own son.
- Well, it won't be the first time in history
that something like that has ever happened.
[hip hop music]
- Yo, you saw that game last night?
- Yes, man.
Over time?
Crazy.
- Man, what?
I thought it was gonna be like a double overtime
the way they were going.
- Yeah, for real.
I was on the edge of my seat.
And those fouls?
- Hey, is Mr. Robinson here?
- Nah, he's not here.
- Okay, well, I'm here for my last check.
So do you know where he is?
- He's not here, so come back later.
- Okay, so do you know where he puts the checks
so I can sign for it?
- Do I look like your office assistant?
I said he's not here, man.
Just come back later.
- Is this for me?
- Yo, you don't work here anymore.
Man, we finally got a brother here
who actually needs this job
so he can take care of his family,
so you can take your white privileged self
and bounce up out of here.
- Okay, I'm gonna call him real quick.
- Yo, I said he's not here.
Just leave.
- Give me my phone back.
- Dang.
You really gonna do him like that?
- Man, you saw what happened.
I had to protect myself.
[bully laughing]
- All right, what you got going on after this?
You gonna watch the game?
- You gonna catch the game tonight?
- I'm a try, man.
I might catch the fourth quarter.
You know, my wife, I got to stop at a grocery store.
My wife, she pregnant.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, man.
- I done told you about betting on those games.
Oh, Carson, hold on.
What happened to you?
Who did that to you?
Okay.
Carson, let's go.
♪ Yeah
♪ I'm about to make it disappear ♪
[hip hop music]
- Hey, I'll see y'all tomorrow.
- Bye, Felicia.
Hey, bro, we actually closed.
- Which one of y'all Rod?
- I am.
- Hey, bro!
- Sit down!
So,
you like to hit people, huh?
Hit me.
- Nah.
- I'm not gonna tell you again.
You feel that?
That fight or flight running through you?
That's how you make this kid feel every single day.
So, here's what we gonna do.
If I even hear you looked at this kid the wrong way,
you gonna see me again.
Do we understand each other?
- Yes, sir.
- Good.
Now, go make me a sandwich.
Club on rye.
Yo, Carson, you want one?
- Yeah, yeah.
- Make that two.
How much is that?
- Darren, hey.
- How you doing?
- Good.
I noticed you were gone from school for like a week.
How are you holding up?
- Doing better.
- Yeah.
I started seeing one of those new counselors here,
but it's nothing like Mr. Ryans' sessions we had.
- Yeah.
- Overall, you're doing pretty okay?
- Yeah.
- Hanging in there?
- Ooh, it looks like you did something with yourself.
You're almost cute.
- Almost?
I'll see you.
- All right.
- What do you want?
- I just want to say
I'm sorry for what happened to your girlfriend.
- Well, thanks.
- Well, hey, now that you're back in school,
I have this assignment that's due at the end of the week.
You gonna help me with it?
- I'm not gonna help you with the assignment.
Sorry, correction.
I'm done helping you with anything.
- You know, if you're still tripping off of Maria,
newsflash, everyone has gotten over it.
- Hey!
Go.
Now.
- You know, the principal's gonna hear about this assault.
- Shut up.
Idiot.
[Darren laughing]
- Ah, man.
- Think I'm gonna get in trouble for that?
- No, no, no, absolutely not.
As a matter of fact, you might be rewarded.
[Stephanie and Darren laughing]
[jazz music]
- Don't worry about your grades, James.
As long as you have your paper in by Friday,
you'll be fine, okay?
- Cool.
- All right, I'll see you in class.
- Yes, Sir.
- James, wait.
I know you're probably not about to believe
a word I'm about to say,
but I can't go another day without saying it.
Like, I'm so sorry.
It was really stupid, childish, immature.
I was so angry when you broke up with me, Jay, like,
and then you started talking to other women.
I was jealous.
I wanted you to hurt just as bad as I was hurting,
but I was 100% wrong.
I get it if you hate me, you never want to speak to me,
you never want to see me again.
However you may feel about me,
it's justified and I probably deserve it.
I made this apology video
and I'm going to post it today
and let everyone know how sorry I am.
I mean, I'll be embarrassed and I'll look so stupid,
but it's nothing compared to
how much I probably embarrassed you.
Here, press play and take a look at it before I post it.
Wait, what?
- All right, class, I'll be right back.
- Hey, Biggie Smalls,
can you pass me my candy bar back?
[students laughing]
- Bruh, that candy bar done already passed through
her bloodstream by now.
[students laughing]
[student beat boxing]
♪ I hate this class
♪ I hate all this work
♪ Dang you want some more candy ♪
♪ Why don't you make that belly twerk ♪
- [Female Student] I ain't never seen
Porky Pig twerk before.
[students laughing]
[Wanda beat boxing]
- You want me to twerk, jerk?
Okay,
but you go first.
But wait, pop a mint because your breath is the worst.
I'm sick and tired of you guys' lame fat people jokes.
So, [Wanda beat boxing]
that's all, folks.
[students cheering]
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey.
I don't know what's going on here,
but I need your attention, please, okay?
All right, everybody, take out your textbooks.
Turn to page 15, please.
- Hey.
Respect.
[upbeat music]
- Hello?
Can I help you?
- I'm Julia,
Maria's mom.
- Oh my gosh.
Hi, how are you?
- As well as can be expected.
I hope you don't mind me catching up with you here.
Principal Hanway gave me your information.
She said she tried to call, but you weren't answering.
And I just, I really needed to talk to you.
- No worries at all.
I'm just on my way to the gym, but I have time.
Please, what's going on?
- I'm not going to hold you long, I just,
me and Maria never really had a great relationship.
And when her father went to prison,
things really got bad between us.
But over these past weeks before she,
I started noticing she was acting different.
You know, she was reading more.
I even saw her praying.
She seemed more at peace.
You know, like nothing could bother her no more.
One day she told me that she's never gonna give up on me.
That as long as she's alive, she still has hope.
And she's no longer with us,
but she did something for me that no one's ever done before.
She gave me hope.
And Mr. Ryans, I just,
I just wanted to let you know
that you have such a big impact on these kids
and I thank you for helping my baby.
Without even knowing it, helping me, too.
- Come here.
[Julia crying]
- It's good to see you guys, too.
- Y'all been good?
- Yeah, I've been good.
- I wonder why Mr. Ryans want us to
put our chairs like this?
- I don't know, probably a game.
- Something he would have.
Sheesh, Carson, what happened to your eye?
- I don't want to talk about that.
- All right.
Wait, so, each of you guys
got that email from Mr. Ryans, too?
- Would we be here if we didn't?
- I guess not.
But where's he at?
He hasn't shown up yet.
- Do you see him in that chair?
Come on, man, you're supposed to be the smart one.
- He is the smart one.
[students cheering]
- What's going on?
Give me your fire, woman, come on, man.
How you guys doing?
Hey, hey, hey.
Good to see all of y'all here.
Man, look at them smiling faces.
James, you on time?
- Hey, man, it's a new day.
[Peter laughing]
Listen, I just wanted to get you guys here
because I wanted to apologize.
I'm sorry.
You know, I feel like I let you down,
but somebody reminded me
that there's people counting on me to be strong.
And those people where you.
- You know, Mr. Ryans,
you don't always have to be strong for us.
Remember you said that we're all in this together.
I mean, I know that you're here to help us,
but we're all here to help you if you need it.
- I appreciate that.
I really do, from all of you guys.
And with that being said, I got news.
Good news.
- Ooh.
- So the sessions are back on.
- Woo!
- Woo hoo.
[students clapping]
- Absolutely.
So check it out, look,
we're gonna get this thing popping every single day.
I want to make sure that you guys
make it through the school year on top, all right?
- Fantastic.
See, I was hoping something like this was going to partake.
So let me go ahead.
- What's he got?
What's he got?
- Relax, relax, relax.
- Is that an answering machine?
- Indeed, it is.
Let me see that bad boy right there.
What in the world?
Where did you find this thing?
- It was in my father's attic.
- What?
- I know, man.
I couldn't believe my eyes, but I snatched it.
Hopefully he don't know I took it.
But, anyway, so I, my idea was this,
I feel like we should all leave a positive message on here,
you know?
'Cause I feel like we family now, and I don't know,
that's what you said families used to do.
- Well, family still does that today
and it's gonna start today,
right after our little activity.
All right, sessions start now, all right?
- Yes!
- So, I wanted us to get in this little circle
'cause I just wanted to catch up.
You know, it's been awhile.
You know, let's talk about your week.
James, how's it been?
- You know it's crazy, right?
Everybody know I lost my woman,
but I ain't no quitter.
So I ended up getting two.
I said it.
- All right, all right.
[upbeat music]
- Hey.
- So, you met with the kids today?
- I did.
- That's good.
- Listen, I know I already apologized to you
and I just feel like it's not enough.
I wanted to say that I'm sorry again.
You know, Donna, you didn't deserve the way I spoke to you.
I know you were just caught up in the middle of all this.
Nothing is your fault and I'm sorry.
- It's okay.
I understand.
I've been praying so hard for you every day.
- Thank you.
I appreciate that.
And, I mean, God's been listening,
that's for sure.
- I missed you.
- I missed you, too.
So, is he here?
- Yeah, he's coming.
- Okay.
- So, are you sure you're ready to do this?
- Yeah.
He's coming.
Okay, he's coming.
- It's okay.
- Hey, Leshon, listen, man.
Don't be scared, okay?
Relax.
I needed you to be here today
'cause I wanted to tell you something.
I realized that you made a mistake,
a very, very big mistake.
But,
you know, I realized that everybody,
everybody deserves a second chance.
When I look at you, man,
I see in your eyes that you've had a hard life.
I know you've had a lot of bad things going on.
Listen, I wanted to ask you something.
Will you forgive me?
- Forgive you for what?
- Will you forgive me?
- I was the one that was wrong.
I'm sorry.
- Come here, come here, come here.
[Leshon crying]
- I didn't mean to hurt her.
- It's okay, I forgive you.
I forgive you.
It's okay.
[inspirational music]
♪ Father told me to repent
♪ I had to trash my sense
♪ I done did some things before ♪
♪ I'll never do again
♪ Lately I been in the zone
♪ I done come up with some money ♪
♪ That's to pay the rent
♪ Working hard
♪ Sustain the flow
- Don't get mad at me if I strike.
You didn't see that.
- All right, you ready?
♪ I been in my zone
♪ Ain't nothing wrong but you on your own ♪
♪ I ain't mean to bring you down but now I'm moving on ♪
[students laughing]
♪ Ignore the fakery
♪ It was a fantasy
- [Peter] That was good.
Yo, they suck.
[Stephanie laughing]
They can not bowl.
- They really bad.
- Y'all seen one Wanda, though?
I ain't seen here her.
- Mr. Ryans, you didn't know?
- About what?
- Wanda got selected to perform
on America's Talented Teens.
- Shut up?
- Yeah, right?
So this is what she did, okay?
She sent in an audition of her rapping and beat boxing
and she got selected.
So she's in LA already, like right now.
- That's crazy.
You talked to her?
- Yeah, we've been talking, we've been in communication.
So she's doing really good right now.
- Man, well, if you just talk to her,
let her know I said hi.
- I will.
- Cool, cool.
Oh, you up.
- Me?
- You up.
Come on.
- Wish me luck.
- You got it.
Go get it.
Yo, Darren, you all right?
- Yeah, it's just one of those days.
I miss her and I wish she could be here.
- Yeah, man.
You know, we all wish she could be here.
We all miss her.
We all miss her, but hey, you know,
I feel like Maria wouldn't want us to, you know, stay down.
So
how about we do something a little different?
How about we do something Maria style?
- Okay.
- Let's do that.
Hey, yo, hey.
Got an idea.
All right, hold on one, Sir, one second.
Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on,
get in here, get it here, get in here.
All right, whenever you're ready,
you can take a picture, okay?
All right.
What should we say?
Hold on, what should we say?
- Hope lives?
- I like that.
Hope lives.
Hope lives, hope lives, hope lives on three.
All right, one, oh, James, come on, brother.
- Come on, man, this thing heavy.
- On three, hope lives.
One, two, three.
- [Group] Hope lives!
♪ God is good God is good God is good God is good ♪
♪ All the time all the time all the time all the time ♪
♪ God is good God is good God is good God is good ♪
♪ All the time all the time all the time all the time ♪
[upbeat music]
[phone ringing]
[answering machine beeping]
[Wanda beat boxing]
- [Wanda] So, who's going first?
- [Darren] I don't know,
but what exactly are we gonna say?
- [Carson] Just say anything.
- [Wanda] I'm not going first.
- [Stephanie] Well, all the eyes is looking at me,
so I'm a go.
- [Wanda] Mm-hmm.
- [Stephanie] Okay, so whoever just called Mr. Ryans,
he's not here right now.
So you got to talk to all of his favorite people first.
- [Carson] No, that's way too sassy.
Whoever just called Mr. Ryans,
he unfortunately couldn't make it to the phone.
- [Wanda] No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
It's [Wanda beat boxing].
Oh, wait, sorry, I got excited, you guys.
Go ahead.
- [James] That was cool, though.
I wish I could do that.
But, man, look, leave a positive message.
It's all positivity on this side, ya dig?
That was good.
[answering machine beeping]
[hip hop music]
♪ Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
♪ Hello hello hello I'm the man ♪
♪ Yeah yeah
♪ You can't tell me anything else ♪
♪ I see y'all looking real impressed ♪
♪ The way I'm getting more interest ♪
♪ I can't hear it all
♪ Y'all looking up at my ascension ♪
♪ I'm always number one in the liner ♪
♪ Hit after hit after hit boy walk me ♪
♪ Call me big papi with the big hit ♪
♪ Yeah that's low key
♪ You can't knock me down up off my perch ♪
♪ Nah
♪ Big fish on the mantle go to work ♪
♪ Yeah yeah
♪ No catch and release
♪ Man it's cash in and teach
♪ If you try to boy I'll knock you out your seat ♪
♪ You can't tell me nothing
♪ I'm winning game after game after game ♪
♪ I'm never finished.
♪ Cut the competition
♪ Use my feet to walk your road ♪
♪ You are the reason I go on
♪ And I want everyone to know
♪ Wasn't as good if it ain't you ♪
♪ Haven't found anyone more true ♪
♪ Nobody does what you can do
♪ You made this sinner a brand new world ♪
♪ My God is bigger than the storms ♪
♪ My God is bigger than my faults ♪
♪ My God is bigger than the hate I get ♪
♪ My God is bigger than it all
♪ Ooh
♪ Yeah my God is bigger than it all ♪
[jazz piano music]
♪ My God is bigger than the storms ♪
♪ My God is bigger than my faults ♪
♪ My God is bigger than the hate I get ♪
♪ My God is bigger than it all
♪ Yeah yeah
♪ My God is bigger than it all
- [Girl] Daddy, the son is setting.
Awe, it's so pretty.