AFRA ALEX ALL APPLE APPLE_VO BACKUP_SINGER_VO CARMEL CASSIE DANISHA DINO DOCTOR_1 DOCTOR_2 DOCTOR_3 DUSTY FR_MARKS GIRLS GIRL_1 GIRL_2 GIRL_3 GIRL_4 JAZZIE JOANNA JUNE JUNE_VO KATHY MAN_1 MAN_1_VO MAN_2 MAN_3 MAN_4 MAN_5 MARIE MATERNITY_NURSE NICKY NURSE_1 NURSE_2 NURSE_NICK OFFICER_GANZ PRINCESS SINGER_1_VO SINGER_2_VO SINGER_3_VO SINGER_4 SINGER_4_VO SINGER_5_VO SINGER_6_VO SINGER_7_VO SINGER_8_VO SINGER_9_VO TAWANA TAXI_DRIVER THEN_TOM TINA TOM WOMAN_1 WOMAN_2 WOMAN_3 WOMAN_4 WOMAN_5 WOMAN_6 MAN 1 VO Hello. MAN 1 VO Baby, I put it right over here. JUNE VO No, you did not. MAN 1 VO See MAN 1 VO baby, it's right there. JUNE VO Oh...baby. MAN 1 VO You know I take care of you. JUNE VO Yeah. MAN 1 VO I give you everything. APPLE VO I'm okay. JUNE VO I have this idea. APPLE VO I can do this, I can do this, I can do this. I'm not scared. APPLE VO I'm not scared. I'm not scared. APPLE VO I can do this. It's okay. APPLE VO I'm not scared. APPLE VO I can do this. SINGER 1 VO Put your hands in the air... APPLE VO I'm okay. APPLE I'm not scared. I'm not afraid. SINGER 1 VO ...for a week SINGER 1 VO in Puerto Rico in this. Had to recline into my ride so I can keep my feet. I grab my PhD, crawl in the backseat unless you're talking 62 JUNE Oh, my god. JUNE No. No, man, let me try that out. MAN 1 You know you my girl? JUNE Let me try that out. SINGER 2 VO Envy is groomed full above . JUNE Where you going, baby? SINGER 2 VO These white girls staying on them white curls MAN 1 Toothpick. SINGER 2 VO And I'm still wanting to cry. staying SINGER 2 VO on my mind. Don\t be start asking no Lord on what . APPLE Uh, yeah, I'm at 14811 Jefferson. Yeah, I want to go to, uh...77 Oak Ridge Road in Saddle Ridge, New Jersey. Yeah, New Jersey. JUNE Have you seen my daughter? JUNE Hey. JUNE Yo, what you do to your hair, sweetie? JUNE Uh, Agnes. Open up. Yo, I ain't got time for your crap. APPLE I'm getting out of here. JUNE What? APPLE I said I'm out. JUNE Yo, you ain't goin' nowhere, you little JUNE bitch. JUNE Open JUNE up. Open up! APPLE Ah! TAXI DRIVER You going to Jersey? You got the money? APPLE Yeah. TAXI DRIVER Okay. TAXI DRIVER Hey! JUNE Slut! TAXI DRIVER Back off the car! JUNE You slut! You useless slut! JUNE You owe me! You owe me. TAXI DRIVER Back off the cab, lady! JUNE You ain't going nowhere. TAXI DRIVER Back off the cab! JUNE You're gonna get me my money, you little bitch! JUNE Honey? JUNE Baby, I'm sorry. Mommy loves you. Okay? JUNE Come on, baby. Come on. TAXI DRIVER Back off the car! Back off the car! JUNE You're nothing but a dumb, useless whore! You'll be back! JUNE You hear me? You need me! TAXI DRIVER Where's the money? Show it to TAXI DRIVER me now. That's not enough. TAXI DRIVER Get out of my cab. Get out of the cab. TAXI DRIVER Get out of the cab right now! APPLE No! TAXI DRIVER You little piece of trash. OFFICER GANZ Back away from the house. Get down on the ground. Down on the ground. Down OFFICER GANZ on the ground. OFFICER GANZ Down! OFFICER GANZ Down! APPLE No, get off me! OFFICER GANZ Easy! OFFICER GANZ This is a girl, not a boy. All right OFFICER GANZ Let's get her up. APPLE No! OFFICER GANZ What is this? Do you know the people that live here? TOM What's going on? OFFICER GANZ We're sorry to disturb you, Mr. Fitzpatrick but we received a call from your housekeeper. TOM Who the hell is that? OFFICER GANZ We don't know. We found this on her OFFICER GANZ and she said she knows you. TOM She said she knows me? OFFICER GANZ That's what she said. TOM Where was she? OFFICER GANZ In the back trying to break in. TOM She was trying to break into the house? TOM Did you pat her down? Did she say anything? What's her name? OFFICER GANZ She has nothing on her. Nothing--nothing else. No ID. TOM Inside, guys. Come on. ALEX A police car, mom. JOANNA I know, let's just go in the house. ALEX But who is it? JOANNA I don't know. TOM Show me. JOANNA Let's go. OFFICER GANZ Do you know her? TOM Yes. TOM Let her out. OFFICER GANZ Come on. TOM How old are you now, 14? TOM 15? APPLE 16 TOM 16 ALEX Say, "Thank you." APPLE It's a nice place. You work in real estate or something? TOM No, Wall Street. TOM How's your mother, Agnes? APPLE It's Apple, remember? APPLE You gave the name to me? APPLE Here's what's up. I need APPLE a place to stay for a little bit. That's why I'm here. I ain't asking you to feel guilty and stuff like that, so let's not even go there. I just need a place to stay for a little bit. I'll get a job, I'll get my own place, and then I'll be gone. TOM Um... ALEX I'm gonna get you! TOM Here. APPLE I knew I couldn't count on you. APPLE Have a nice life. Nice to finally meet you. TOM Wait, where are you going? You just TOM showed up. The police said you tried to break in. APPLE I didn't try and break in. They're lying. TOM All right, look. TOM Maybe there's something we can work out. Maybe I'll have a word with my wife. DUSTY Were you DUSTY in jail? TOM No TOM Dusty, she wasn't in jail. It's just a misunderstanding. We figured it out. ALEX What kind of misunderstanding? TOM Alex TOM it's not a problem. It's all better now. JOANNA Uh, Agnes, where are you from? APPLE A lot of places. APPLE And it's Apple, not Agnes. JOANNA Hmm? APPLE You can call me Apple, not Agnes. JOANNA Oh. JOANNA I thought you said it was Agnes, but Apple is a JOANNA beautiful name. ALEX Apple? That's ALEX a funny name. APPLE And Alex is a boy's name. ALEX No ALEX it's not. Yours is stupid. DUSTY She smells and she's weird, mom... JOANNA Dusty, shh. DUSTY And why does she DUSTY have to stay with us? APPLE Tom? TOM All right, you guys. Time for bed. TOM Cece, bath time. TOM Come on, give me a hug. JOANNA Good night. DUSTY Good night... JOANNA Oh, honey JOANNA can you please wait? I think maybe now would be a good time for us to have a little talk JOANNA together. APPLE Why don't you stop calling me "honey"? TOM Hey, Apple? TOM You're in my house. TOM Look, we want to help you, but we don't know how to. We're gonna have to get in touch with your social worker or someone assigned to your case TOM and let them know that you're here. APPLE When I was eight, I was taken away from my mother when she was arrested for drugs. APPLE I was dropped off at a mental hospital where they kept me in a steel room APPLE all by myself because I didn't fit in with the other kids. APPLE From there, I was put into another temporary shelter. TOM Apple... APPLE Every few months I'd be assigned some new caseworker and APPLE we'd start all over again. TOM Apple, look APPLE by the time I was APPLE 12, I was in my 10th foster home. APPLE Seemed like good people this time APPLE until the husband would come into my room at night and start touching me and feeling all up on me. APPLE I told my caseworker and she got the police involved. He told them APPLE that I was making it all up because that's what "troubled kids" do, and they believed him. APPLE I was too scared to even open up my own mouth. APPLE I ran away, went to find my mother and APPLE tried to stay with her for a while. Things got real bad and I had to go. In all that time, that letter was the only thing I ever got from you. APPLE Now, I'm just asking you for a little time APPLE because I am done being passed off as someone's case number. APPLE I want out of the system. APPLE So, are you gonna help APPLE me out so I can get back on my feet? Or do you and Joanna still have to talk about it? SINGER 3 VO Raw poetics, what's good? SINGER 3 VO Get up and get down. Jump up and move around. SINGER 3 VO Tell the sound man, "Turn it up." Word of mouth, this song is legit, this song is a hit. Tell the DJ, "Turn it up." Yo, yo, pump this into your car, live the life of a star. SINGER 3 VO Adjust the volume. Turn it up. Yeah, get up and get down. Jump up and move around...tell the sound man SINGER 3 VO "Turn it up." Word of mouth, this song is legit, this song is a hit. Tell the DJ, "Turn it up." Yo, yo, pump this in your SINGER 3 VO car, live the life of a star, adjust the volume, turn it up. Yeah, yeah, let the bassline go till the speakers blow, crank the radio, turn it up... TOM You sleep all right? TOM You need some help there? APPLE No. TOM You sure? APPLE Yeah, I'm fine just by myself. TOM Just--oh. TOM Ow! Damn it. TOM Apple! Where are you going? TOM Come here, wait. TOM Hey, I'm talking to you. Wait. APPLE Look... TOM Where are you going? APPLE It was a stupid idea for me to come here APPLE okay? It's never gonna work between us. Never. So why don't you just turn around and go back to your life and leave me and mine alone? TOM Where you gonna go, huh? TOM Look at you. You don't even have any shoes on. APPLE Who cares? TOM Here. Here. Come inside. JOANNA Are you pregnant? TOM What? TOM What are you talking about? JOANNA What am I talking about? TOM She's just not feeling well. JOANNA Why don't you let her answer that? TOM She's not gonna answer anything. JOANNA I'm gonna ask you again JOANNA are you pregnant? JOANNA I knew it. TOM You knew what? JOANNA I knew APPLE Look, I don't know. TOM See? She doesn't know. She doesn't know anything. JOANNA Oh, I know. TOM You don't TOM know. JOANNA I know and I'm not TOM Calm down, will you? JOANNA We're not having this baby in our house. TOM What baby? JOANNA "What baby"? Where's the dad? Is he in jail? APPLE I don\t know. APPLE We only did it once. JOANNA I need to talk to you right now, alone, please. JOANNA You want her in our life? I don't know why you need me here. TOM I will take care of it. We need to find JOANNA I want her out! APPLE Come on, no. No, come on. No. APPLE No. No. JOANNA Hi, we're here to check in. Apple Bailey. Thank you. Here. DOCTOR 1 Hear that? That's the heartbeat. APPLE Are we almost done here? DOCTOR 1 Just a few more images. DOCTOR 1 Here you go. These are for you. Good luck. APPLE Yo, see the woman I came in with? JOANNA Where have you been? You're all wet. TOM Where are you going? Where were you? Hey, wait, where did you disappear to? APPLE Look, I didn't disappear anywhere. She left me there. She left me! TOM Hold on, nobody left you anywhere. Stop! Stop! JOANNA I left you there? APPLE You're a liar. TOM Whoa! APPLE You're a liar! TOM Whoa, whoa! JOANNA I waited for her. She's--she's trying to get in between us. APPLE See? Do you see what I mean? A liar! TOM Hey, just cool it. Maybe you should give us a minute? Now? TOM Hey! Hey, hey, hey. Look at me. Look at me, look at me. Apple, what are you TOM Hey, hey. Hey, Apple? Apple? TOM It's about time. How are you feeling today? APPLE Hungry. Yo, shouldn't you be at work or something? TOM I took the morning off. I had a few things to do with the construction and all. And I wanted to check in with you. APPLE Yeah, well APPLE I'm fine, so I guess you can go. TOM You know...today is an important day for my firm. TOM And especially for me. One of our biggest clients TOM asked to meet with me personally to sign a deal. Do you know why? TOM Mutual respect, trust, and confidence. This is what I've earned from my peers. It's taken me years to build this. TOM These are the same words that I want to speak about with you. Mutual respect TOM such as I respect you, you respect me. That means when I tell you something, you stop ignoring me. TOM Trust--such as when this conversation is over, I'm going to leave here and I'm going to trust TOM that you are not going to get into a street brawl with my TOM wife. And confidence TOM these are the positive results of a relationship that can begin to happen once the first two things start to happen. TOM Now, Joanna and I had a long talk last night, and it's... TOM clear that you are not ready to assume the responsibility of motherhood. Think about it. You have no means TOM of support, you have nowhere to live, and you have no one willing to TOM help you. Except me. Apple, it's time that you turn the page on this, put it all behind you TOM so that you can move forward. Just turn the page, and before you know it TOM you'll have forgotten that it ever happened. APPLE Mm. Just--just turn the page? TOM Yes. APPLE And forget about it? TOM That's right. APPLE Like you did with me? JOANNA Thank you, Cece. Ahem. JOANNA Apple? Look, I know that you must hate me, and I just wanted to say I'm sorry JOANNA about the misunderstandings. Hmm? No one's perfect, right? JOANNA How'd your talk go with your father? Did he tell you? APPLE Tell me what? JOANNA I made an appointment for you tomorrow morning at a clinic. APPLE Wait, what? JOANNA You're not gonna be able to take care of this child by yourself. We're not gonna deal with this, and if you JOANNA don't cooperate, we're gonna have no choice but to ask you to leave. APPLE No. No, look, I don't want to do that. JOANNA It's not about what you want, honey JOANNA unless you want to end up just like your mother. JOANNA You don't have to worry about anything. I will be with you to hold your JOANNA Hi, Tom. Not yet. Okay. NURSE 1 I'm sorry. No cell phones, please. JOANNA Okay. Okay, I have to hang up. Honey, I think I'm gonna wait in the waiting room. NURSE 1 Can you hurry up, please? The doctor's on his way. SINGER 4 VO Feet, don't fail me now. SINGER 4 VO Take me to the finish line. Oh, my heart, it breaks every step that I take SINGER 4 VO but I'm hoping at the gates they'll tell me that you're mine. SINGER 4 VO Walking through the city streets is it by mistake or design SINGER 4 VO I feel so alone SINGER 4 on the Friday nights. MAN 2 Got a man with you? SINGER 4 VO If I tell you you're mine? It's like I SINGER 4 VO told you, honey. Don't make me sad, don't make me cry. Sometimes love is not enough and the road gets tough. I don't know why. Keep making me laugh. Let's go get high. The road is long, we carry on, try to have fun in the meantime APPLE I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay, I'm not scared. I'm not scared. It's okay. APPLE Oh please, God. Oh, protect me. MAN 3 Yo, shorty. Shorty, we got some business we need to discuss. Yo, shorty, let me holler at you. MAN 3 Yo, you gonna make me come over MAN 3 there? I said get in the car. Come on. Yo, you ain't hear me? I said get in the car. We got some business to discuss. Come on, get your ass in the car. MAN 3 That's what I'm talking about. MAN 3 Get out! I'm gonna kill you, you little bitch. Girl, I'll kill you! Know what I'm saying? APPLE No! FR MARKS Rest easy. FR MARKS You're in the security ward, Newark City Hospital. I'm Father FR MARKS Frank McCarthy, chaplain here at the hospital. FR MARKS Do I have your permission to be in this room with you? FR MARKS No, no. I'm not here FR MARKS about that. Your baby's all right. The doctors had this taken when they found the one in your shoe. FR MARKS Can you try talking? APPLE Look, I don't need a priest. God don't care about me. Don't waste your time. FR MARKS You're mistaken. God is ever near and with us always. APPLE Last time I asked for his help, he put me here. FR MARKS He's a tough C.O. at times, but FR MARKS maybe you're exactly where you were meant to be. FR MARKS "Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there's hatred, let me sow love. Where there's injury, pardon" FR MARKS "Where there's doubt, faith" APPLE You're still here? FR MARKS This is still here, I'm still here. FR MARKS You were sleeping, so I didn't think you'd mind if I used your john. FR MARKS I found out that the authorities will probably FR MARKS drop all charges against you, but they're gonna FR MARKS keep you here until they can get in touch with your family or find FR MARKS you a temporary home. APPLE I didn't ask you to talk to anyone for me. Why do you want to help me? FR MARKS It's my job. APPLE You're a priest. If you were a good one at that, you'd be at your own church right now, not here. FR MARKS This is my church. I'm not just thinking about you. What'll happen if you leave here by yourself? Where'll you go? FR MARKS Here. I want you to have this. Being young and pregnant is like being a pinwheel. FR MARKS Whenever the weather changes, you have no idea FR MARKS what way your life is gonna go. But a pinwheel is supposed to bring good fortune. Go ahead. FR MARKS Blow it. FR MARKS I did some research for you. It led me to a special FR MARKS shelter for teens who want to have their babies, like your baby. APPLE Don't try and tell me this. you think I'm stupid? I've been in shelters and foster cares my whole life. I ain't going back to no shelter. FR MARKS Don't make your child suffer because you're suffering. God put you here for a reason. APPLE Leave! Now! APPLE You talk about suffering. Where was God when I was getting abused and suffering all these years, huh? You can't help me. You think you know me? You don't know anything! Now get out! APPLE Leave! WOMAN 1 Doctor, please dial 1-8-2, please. Dr. Garrison, please dial 1-1-8. NURSE NICK Just press the nurse's station on the phone when NURSE NICK you want me to come and get you, okay? JUNE Oh, Agnes. about you JUNE baby. APPLE What are you doing here? MARIE Agnes MARIE I'm Marie Abeanni, your social worker. MARIE I will be handling your discharge when the time comes. MARIE I had a long talk with your mother. MARIE She's very concerned about your well-being and assured MARIE me that this was an isolated incident. That things at home are okay between you and her. MARIE Is this true? JUNE Yo JUNE I already told you we good. Why you JUNE asking again? MARIE Excuse me. MARIE I need to talk with Agnes now and hear from her. Agnes, look at me. MARIE Your mother has custody, so it is MARIE better if we work this out together. MARIE If you run away again MARIE we may have to place you back in foster care. MARIE Going home is the best solution MARIE for you. MARIE Your mother wants to talk with you now, to settle your differences. MARIE Do you think you can do this? APPLE Yeah, whatever. MARIE Good. I'll be sitting right outside the room if you have any other questions. JUNE Now you got people asking all types of questions, coming around my place, looking around. You crazy? JUNE Huh? JUNE She said you carrying a baby. JUNE And I gotta hear JUNE about it from a stranger. That's nice. That's real nice. Humiliate me like that. What's wrong JUNE with you? JUNE Yo, yo, come on. JUNE Why you think I'm here, huh? State's gonna take care of us. You, me, and baby, that makes three. That means when that baby comes out JUNE they're gonna be paying us more money. JUNE Yo, we got another chance, all right? We're gonna be a real family now, sweetie. For real. JUNE Come on. JUNE Look at you. Taking me JUNE back. You know, I wasn't that much older than you. You know, 17. JUNE Don't look at me like that--like you all high and mighty. JUNE You know, I didn't have no social worker caring about me. Nobody wanted me to have you. JUNE Come on, wait a minute. Wait, wait JUNE wait. You think I always looked like this, huh? Like I born in the streets? JUNE You don't know what I wanted out of life. You don't know who I was, who I could've been. JUNE You're so stuck up. You think you so much better than me. JUNE Like you so different. JUNE Baby, you are me. JUNE You'll see. You know, when you're fighting for your baby and you're so young, and you ain't got nobody to take care of it, take care of you. You can't even take care of yourself. And all you want to do is JUNE protect your baby. You know, that's all I wanted to do. Hold my baby. My little baby girl. JUNE You don't know. You don't know what I did. JUNE I did everything that I could, Agnes. I did. JUNE And I messed up, okay? That's right, I did. I messed up. And then when they took you away JUNE from me, that was the worst day of my life. I hurt so much right here. JUNE I just--I just wanted the pain to go away, baby. I didn't want to feel nothing. I didn't want to feel anything. JUNE Look at me. JUNE Look at me now. I deserve a second chance. JUNE A second chance. JUNE Please, baby? Please just give me one more chance. APPLE Um JUNE Please? APPLE I don't know. JUNE Come on, baby. I'm your mother. I'm your mother. APPLE I just can't do this anymore. JUNE Just one more chance. APPLE I can't do APPLE this anymore. JUNE Oh, please, baby. APPLE You've gotta let me go. JUNE Just JUNE one more NURSE NICK You ready? APPLE Yeah, we're done here. JUNE Agnes. FR MARKS "As men rejoice when" FR MARKS "they divide the spoil. For thou art broken the yoke of my burden." APPLE Father APPLE I just--I just wanted to come here and to tell APPLE you that I probably shouldn't have yelled at you. I mean, I know why I did. I just--I just didn't think that you would-- would FR MARKS Are you apologizing to me? APPLE Uh-uh. FR MARKS It seems like it to me. Never apologize FR MARKS for your true feelings. Now that you're here, grab a book. Make yourself useful. Page 72. FR MARKS We'll talk later. Go on. FR MARKS "And" APPLE "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for evil." APPLE VO "To give you--give you a future" APPLE VO "And a hope. And then you will call upon me and come and pray" APPLE VO "to me, and I will hear you.'" AFRA Father McCarthy? Hi, I'm Afra, one of the house mothers here. Welcome to our shelter. AFRA I'll let Kathy know you're here. FR MARKS That's Kathy right there with FR MARKS Mother Teresa, and that's her in that one there at the White House with Ronald Reagan. KATHY Oh, hello, Father. Good to see you. Please bear with me, we were having a little incident. FR MARKS Is everything okay? KATHY Yeah, everything worked out just fine. FR MARKS Well, thank you for meeting my friend, Apple. KATHY Hello, Apple. FR MARKS Kathy's the founder. She started this shelter, what, 20 years ago, KATHY Mm-hmm. FR MARKS Taking young mothers into FR MARKS her own home. APPLE This is your home? KATHY Well, it's grown quite a bit. KATHY Afra will give you a tour. I'm gonna wrap some things up, and then you and I will meet in the morning and we'll have a chat about the rules, okay? APPLE Yeah. KATHY Okay. See you suddenly, Apple. AFRA Hey, everybody. This is Apple. She's staying with us. PRINCESS Her name is really Apple? AFRA You all will get to know AFRA her better later. You'll be AFRA sharing a room with Tawana. PRINCESS Uh-oh. JAZZIE Tawana. AFRA And she'll show you to your room. And I'll be on duty if you need AFRA something. TAWANA Stay out of her room. PRINCESS Goes well with caramel. CASSIE Carmel, caramel. PRINCESS Nah, I'm just saying. We just playing. She can't take a joke? DANISHA Another one? CARMEL Oh, my god DANISHA About time. CARMEL Shut your mouth. For real. TAWANA You can put your stuff in here. APPLE I don't have any stuff. TAWANA Oh, don't worry. You will. TAWANA Would you mind holding her for a second? APPLE Um TAWANA Thanks. TAWANA Okay, Isaiah. TAWANA I hear you. Shh, I hear you. CASSIE What's your name? APPLE What the CASSIE Where you from? APPLE Get that out of my face. AFRA What is going on in here? CASSIE I like your PJs. AFRA Cassandra AFRA you missed curfew again tonight, and you didn't tell anybody where you were going. AFRA I'm writing you up, it is not gonna be good AFRA for you. Who is responsible for letting her in here after curfew? AFRA Was it you, Apple? APPLE Look, I don't APPLE even know her, okay? She's crazy. CASSIE Apple? AFRA This is not gonna look good for your first night. CASSIE That's a really nice name. AFRA We will deal with this AFRA tomorrow. CASSIE But you shouldn't call people crazy around here. I actually prefer Cassie. AFRA It is 5:00 a.m. AFRA and I want everybody back in their rooms now. KATHY What happened with you two last night? KATHY Cassie, why were you late for curfew? CASSIE I went for a walk. out. KATHY I'm sorry? You got CASSIE I went for a walk. out. APPLE Look, it was nothing, really. KATHY Goodbecause I'm gonna put you both in the same room temporarily. You're gonna be roommates. APPLE With her? KATHY Mm-hmm. APPLE Why? KATHY It'll give you a chance to work out your differences. We have a 24-hour rule in this house. Whenever two girls are disputing KATHY they need to work it out right away. Do you have a problem with that? APPLE No. CASSIE It's exciting. KATHY Good. Cassie, would you excuse us, please? I have something to talk KATHY to Apple about. KATHY Apple, we have a serious problem. KATHY Your mother will not give her consent for you to be here. APPLE No. KATHY I'm very sorry. KATHY I tried everything I could. APPLE How could you call her? She will never let me go. APPLE Not as long as Welfare keeps sending her money. Why would you do this to me? KATHY Because she threatened to call the police and charge us with kidnapping. APPLE KATHY What do you have against your mother? Did she ever abuse you? KATHY What did she do? APPLE I don't wanna talk about it. KATHY You can tell me what it is. APPLE I can't. KATHY Well, then, I can't help you. As much as I like you and care about you and your baby, I won't go to jail for you. KATHY Because you're a minor, I need the support of the state or consent from your family APPLE, THEN KATHY - And I'm supposed to believe that? - Or some legal KATHY stop talking and listen to me. Or some legal reason why you have to stay here. APPLE You said you was gonna help me out. You're a liar. KATHY Apple, here you become a mother. And that means you take responsibility. KATHY Don't cast your immaturity on me and then ask me to risk everything KATHY including the future of this shelter, on your foolishness. KATHY Stop dancing with your demons. Look at me. KATHY Learn to cooperate. CASSIE Shine the light on the lock. GIRL 1 Shh, shh, shh. JAZZIE Whoa. GIRL 2 Look at all this. JAZZIE This is like a shopping mall. DANISHA Shh, shut up. NICKY Check this out. DANISHA I don't think he's gonna be able to fit in that anytime soon. NICKY You calling my son fat? You're a huge jerk. PRINCESS Wow. CARMEL Shh, guys. DANISHA Wow, Kathy needs to clean up her office. JAZZIE There's a lot in here. CARMEL I know. JAZZIE Gosh. CASSIE Hurry up. Close the door. CARMEL Look. Who's that? NICKY Who's that? APPLE Is that Kathy? PRINCESS Let me see. No, it's not. NICKY Yeah. DANISHA Yeah, it's Kathy as a little girl. JAZZIE Wow, she's cute. DANISHA She ain't all that, Jazzie. She a'ight, she a'ight. CARMEL Don't open it. Who said that? GIRL 3 Shh. GIRL 4 Seriously. CASSIE All right, what is this? Oh, wow. Carmel Nickerson. CARMEL Hmm? CARMEL What's that? CASSIE Nicole Lotito. NICKY Yep. APPLE Lotito. CASSIE Destiny Morell. PRINCESS It's Princess. Thank you. CASSIE Danisha Dormer. DANISHA Don't put my government out like that. CASSIE Apple Bailey. CASSIE Jasmine Colon. JAZZIE It's Colón. PRINCESS All right, check this. It says "Compulsive, anxiety, and personality disorders." PRINCESS What's compulsive? CASSIE It means you ask too many questions. NICKY Shh. DANISHA What about you, Pink Friday? NICKY Don't call me pink friday. DANISHA Ooh. DANISHA Meow-rr, girl. NICKY "Drugs, prostitution, criminal record, personality disorder. No family on record." JAZZIE Prostitution? CARMEL Are you serious with the prostitution? DANISHA Damn, girl. DANISHA You got a record. PRINCESS No joke. NICKY I ain't got nothing on you. JAZZIE "Rape victim, runaway. Family does not want her back." PRINCESS It's okay, we're your family. CARMEL It's CARMEL okay, Jazzie. We want you. DANISHA Mine says DANISHA "Mental and physical abuse as a child, chronic depression, and must overcome" DANISHA "fear." What the what? PRINCESS No fear. DANISHA What about you, Apple? APPLE Um, it says APPLE "Severe physical abuse, runaway, parental drug/alcohol abuse, multiple shelters and foster care, aggressive behavior" APPLE "lack of trust." CARMEL Oh, you can trust us, though. JAZZIE You can trust us. CARMEL Yeah, you're not aggressive. APPLE That's what it says. KATHY Hi, can I help you? JUNE You must be Kathy, right? KATHY Yes. JUNE I'm Agnes's mother. Where is she? Agnes? KATHY Oh, yes, why don't you come in? JUNE Yeah. Where's my daughter at? Agnes! KATHY Okay. JUNE I'm taking her home. Agnes. Yo, I missed you. come on, baby. Baby. Yo, little Agnes? KATHY Can I get you something to eat or drink? You must be very tired from the drive. JUNE Uh, nah. come on, grab your stuff. We're going. APPLE I ain't going anywhere with you. JUNE What? Shut up, all right? You coming. KATHY Okay, I'm just texting my associate to have her things brought down. JUNE Nah, you know what? We don't need anything from you, all right? JUNE Come on. KATHY No, no, I'm sorry. No, I can't JUNE Oh KATHY No, you may not take her. JUNE What? KATHY I am required by law JUNE I am her mother! KATHY to report any abuse. I'm sorry. JUNE Yo, mind your own business. KATHY No, no, I'm sorry. JUNE You don't come with me right now, I'm calling DYFS and I'm putting you in a home. If you think for one second they're gonna let you keep that baby KATHY Okay, okay. JUNE It's your choice. KATHY No, no. KATHY I have called the police. If you don't want to be arrested, you need to leave right JUNE Nobody cares about us. KATHY No, I'm sorry. You have to leave now. JUNE Don't you know that? KATHY You have to leave now. No, sorry. APPLE I hate you. I hate you. KATHY You--no. Listen to me. You need to leave. You need to leave right now. JUNE You don't even know what you did. KATHY Okay, okay. All right, all right. TOM June? Is that you? JUNE, THEN KATHY - What the hell is he doing here? - No, honey, you have got to go. No, you have got to go. JUNE What the hell is he doing here? KATHY I'm sorry, I'm sorry. JUNE Agnes? KATHY Come on. No, honey, you have got to go now. JUNE I don't wanna be around him. KATHY No. JUNE Agnes, how could you do that to me? KATHY No, no. JUNE I'm her mother. KATHY, THEN TOM - I know, I know, honey. - Stop, stop. TOM I'm Tom. KATHY Hi, Tom. I'm so sorry. It'll have to be another time. I made a mistake. TOM Apple KATHY I'm so sorry, it's not a good time. It's not a good time. TOM But I need to talk to Apple. KATHY I know you do. KATHY, THEN TOM - I'm so sorry, but it'll have to be another time. - Can I help? KATHY No, we're good. Another time, please. TOM Can I just have a word? KATHY I'm so sorry. Okay, honey. Okay. It's okay now. Come on, let's go inside. KATHY I got you. JAZZIE I don't know, but I know I'm craving some red velvet cake. SINGER 5 VO Can you feel that? Yeah we're paying with love tonight CASSIE How many more of these do we have to do? TINA Kathy says the more envelopes we send out, the more donations we can get. CARMEL I got it. I got it. It's gonna be four black babies and four white babies now. DANISHA Uh, Carmel? CARMEL Yes. DANISHA You can't count. You forgot yourself. Just sit down, dum- dum. Sit down. PRINCESS And Tina and Jas are hispanic, not white, so that's another category. Besides, you don't even know what apple's baby is. For all you know, it may be a caramel color like you. Yet another category. CARMEL Okay, well, I tried. APPLE Uh, my baby's father's black. GIRLS Ooh! DANISHA I bet he's fine. CARMEL In your face. PRINCESS See? I told you. NICKY Yeah, I bet you guys were getting it on. SINGER 5 VO to their left. Everybody look to their right. Can you feel that? Yeah we're SINGER 5 VO paying with love tonight SINGER 5 VO It's not about the money SINGER 5 VO money, money. We don't need your money, money, money. We just want to make the world SINGER 5 VO dance, forget about the price tag. SINGER 5 VO Ain't about theuh, cha-ching, cha-ching. Ain't about the SINGER 5 VO Yeah, ba-bling, ba-bling. Wanna make the world SINGER 5 VO dance SINGER 5 VO Forget about the price tag DANISHA You all right, girl? SINGER 5 VO We need to take it back in time SINGER 5 VO when music made us all unite. And it wasn't low blows and video hoes. Am I the only one getting SINGER 5 VO tired? Why is everybody so obsessed AFRA Everybody grab a box or something. KATHY Take the box in. Very good. Can you get the door? Need help? KATHY How about you, honey? WOMAN 2 Thank you. FR MARKS I would like to call up Kathy Defiore, who many of us know FR MARKS to talk about her very special work that she is doing. KATHY Thank you, Father KATHY Marks. FR MARKS Thank you. KATHY Good morning, everybody. Or should I say good afternoon? DANISHA Good afternoon. KATHY I have been--thank you--here eight or nine times at Our Lady of Sorrows KATHY and I thought to myself, "What can I say to you all that I haven't said" KATHY "before?" 20 years ago KATHY I was homeless KATHY and I'm not sure I can really explain what it was like being without a home. KATHY Frightened and alone, and all the while KATHY trying to hold on to my dignity as a woman. KATHY And then my life began to turn around. KATHY I found a job. I had a home. KATHY And then I had the most wonderful inspiration. I opened KATHY my home as a shelter for teenage pregnant girls. KATHY Because, you see, I understand that this may be the only chance KATHY they have. So please open your hearts KATHY take a look at your envelopes so that we can give them KATHY shelter, we can give them guidance, we can give them an education. KATHY So that we can give them a future. KATHY Thank you and God bless. KATHY Thank you, father. It was a wonderful sermon. FR MARKS My pleasure. DANISHA Thank you. KATHY And what a beautiful--hi, how are you? Thank you for KATHY coming. Pleasure to see you. KATHY Father, how are you? Thank you so much. Make sure everybody KATHY can see--and what a beautiful sermon. JUNE Now you're not only a whore, but you're a frickin' beggar, too? JUNE Huh? JUNE See how much they give an ugly beggar APPLE No! JUNE Give me a kiss! JUNE Give me a kiss! APPLE No! APPLE Stop! APPLE Stop! APPLE Get off! JUNE Agnes! It's all your JUNE fault! NICKY Hey. Why don't you come inside? It is freezing out here. You can come and help with the decorations. We're having a party. APPLE A party for what? NICKY Destiny went to the hospital to have Leticia. We're gonna surprise her. She's gonna be back in a few days. It's gonna be okay. Okay? APPLE Mm-hmm. MAN 4 I went down to the store to pick up some food. MAN 5 Oh, my god. What did you do? CASSIE Aren't you sick of this? APPLE What? CASSIE What? Being exploited. The way we're marched around here, the way we're told what to wear CASSIE when to smile, who to be nice to. It all makes me CASSIE sick. I'm tired of it, aren't you? APPLE Look, we ain't got much of a choice. CASSIE Well, I know I don't want anyone feeling any pity for me except for me. Wait, do you want me CASSIE to feel bad for you, Apple? CASSIE Because CASSIE you know that you're not the only one around here who never really had a mom. APPLE Why can't she just leave me alone? CASSIE I suffered my whole life because of my mother, and now that she's gone, I suffer even more. You hate her for what she's done to you, but deep down you love her, and that hurts you even more. APPLE Yeahso what about it? CASSIE I'm getting my own place. You should come with me. Think about it. APPLE And what about your baby? CASSIE My baby's all right. Ain't nothing happening to my baby. You sound like them. APPLE Look, I'm just saying that maybe it's CASSIE Everything's set up for after Christmas. CASSIE We're gonna go make our own money. No more of this begging stuff. CASSIE Are you coming with me or not, Apple? PRINCESS My beautiful, healthy baby. WOMAN 3 Hi. WOMAN 4 Take him from me. FR MARKS You're probably gonna need a little more than that. APPLE Father McCarthy. FR MARKS Apple. Thought I'd drop by and see how you're managing. APPLE I'm okay. FR MARKS I heard about your mother. I'm very sorry that happened. FR MARKS She needs help. But you have to think about yourself now and your child. APPLE I caused all this. It's my fault. FR MARKS There's a saying in the bible "All of us, like sheep" FR MARKS "have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way." FR MARKS And that's her way, not yours. APPLE Look, I'm leaving here. One of the girls found a place. She wants me to come with her. FR MARKS Does Kathy FR MARKS know about this? APPLE No. No, she wouldn't understand. APPLE Not until there's an empty bed to fill. FR MARKS If you leave the safety of the shelter FR MARKS you'll put yourself and your child in jeopardy. FR MARKS I gotta go. I'll pray for you. APPLE Don't bother. SINGER 6 VO Give me some of that eggnog BACKUP SINGER VO Hey, hey, hey, hey SINGER 6 VO Come on, come on. Yeah, I know it's Christmas SINGER 7 VO Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus lane CASSIE Why are you putting a binky on the tree? It looks stupid. JAZZIE I kinda like it. PRINCESS Yeah, see that? TINA I like it, too. PRINCESS Thank you. DANISHA Yeah, me, too. We should all put baby stuff on the tree. I think that's a good idea. TINA Good idea. Let's put this one right here. DANISHA Hey, Apple. APPLE Yeah? DANISHA You wanna add stuff to the tree? APPLE Uh, yeah. SINGER 7 VO 'Cause Santa Claus comes tonight APPLE I'll be right back. DANISHA All right. WOMAN 5 Look how cool these sneakers are. SINGER 7 VO Up on the housetop SINGER 7 VO click, click, click, 'cause Santa Claus comes tonight. So gather round APPLE Sorry, excuse me. TAWANA Hey, watch out, watch out. SINGER 7 VO Gather 'round, gather 'round, we're gonna have a good time, celebrate ALL Aw AFRA Way to go! Whoo! DANISHA Good job. SINGER 7 VO So gather round, gather round, until night becomes the day KATHY All right, loves. Just--we're gonna say, "Merry Christmas," okay? Everybody ready? One KATHY two, three. ALL Merry Christmas. DOCTOR 2 Come on now. KATHY What are you trying to do? DOCTOR 2 Well, the baby needs to turn over. KATHY Oh. DOCTOR 2 It can be very stubborn. KATHY You hear that? Wonder where she gets that or he gets that, huh? APPLE Yeah. DOCTOR 2 There it goes. KATHY What? APPLE That itches. DOCTOR 2 See the baby moving around? Do you want to know the sex of the baby? APPLE Uh, yeah. DOCTOR 2 You're having a girl. KATHY Oh, my goodness. CASSIE Hey, what are you doing? Get your stuff. Let's go. APPLE She kicked me. CASSIE What? Come on, we don't have time for this. Let's go. APPLE She kicked me. APPLE Cassie, I'm not going. CASSIE Fine, don't go. APPLE Cassie, don't go. Look, if you leave APPLE I'll never see you again. I know it. CASSIE Don't you get it, Apple? I'm no good here. It's time to go. Goodbye, Apple. KATHY Go ahead, loves, go ahead. What's the matter, honey? Is he hungry? Okay, I need WOMAN 6 Hello? KATHY So here's Dino, everybody. DINO Hi, girls. Hi, everybody. KATHY Hi. Dino has generously donated this very special meal for us. DINO Oh, come on. It's nothing. It's nothing for you girls. DINO Come on, now. TINA He's letting us eat here for free. DINO No, that's nothing. DINO Come on, that's nothing. Enjoy it, girls. DINO Just enjoy it. KATHY Thank you so much. All right, everyone. Let's eat. CARMEL What's this, salad? What is that? APPLE Want some? AFRA Salad. CARMEL Oh. Oh, I don't want that. KATHY Who needs a plate? Passing down. KATHY Ladies, I have a special announcement to make. In just a few weeks, it's gonna be a unique anniversary KATHY for all of us. It was 20 years ago that I first opened my home to start our shelter. KATHY And it's because of the courage of all of you KATHY and all the young mothers that we have survived. KATHY And KATHY I would like to say thank you to you. KATHY And the way I'm gonna do that is I'm planning an amazing trip to the Jersey Shore CARMEL What? KATHY For all of us to celebrate together. PRINCESS Can we bring our babies? KATHY Of course you can bring your babies. AFRA Absolutely. What? APPLE I think my water just broke. AFRA Oh, all right. KATHY Thattagirl. That's it. DOCTOR 3 That's it, that's it. Come on. Good, good, good, good, good, good, good. Yes, there it is. There it is. That's it. More, more, more, more, more, more. DOCTOR 3 And relax. Now I need you to relax. Keep your eyes closed, okay? It's being contracted. KATHY There you are, okay. DOCTOR 3 Yes. DOCTOR 3 Good, good, good, good, good, good, good. That's it. Now stop pushing. DOCTOR 3 Look down, look down. APPLE My baby. DOCTOR 3 There's your baby. APPLE My baby. NURSE 2 What's her name? APPLE Her name is Hope. KATHY That's beautiful. APPLE It's Hope. That's my baby. Oh, my baby. My baby. KATHY You did it, sweetheart. APPLE My baby. my baby. My baby. MATERNITY NURSE We'll take her right there. KATHY Your father is in the waiting room, and he needs to be part of this moment. KATHY Can you do this? APPLE He can come see the baby, but I don't want to talk to him. KATHY Okay. Okay. APPLE "I'm sorry it worked out this way. I never really meant for this to happen. Tom." APPLE "I'm your father, but we'll probably never know each other. I just found out you're going to be a girl. June and I barely know each other. We just went out a few times." APPLE "It's not like we planned this. You just happened. You showed up unexpectedly. I'm living at home with my parents. I'm about to start college. I can't disappoint them." APPLE VO "I have no choice." APPLE VO "June is stubborn. I can't talk to her. I'll never see her again, so I guess I'll never see you. That hurts. I would've liked to be your father, but I'm just not ready. I guess I'm hoping that you may someday understand and forgive me. And that maybe" APPLE "You would be the Apple of my eye. I'm sorry. Tom." APPLE Shh. CARMEL Baby APPLE Thank you, guys, so much for coming. FR MARKS Apple! APPLE VO "I have no choice." APPLE VO "June is stubborn. I can't talk to her. I'll never see her again, so I guess I'll never see you. That hurts. I would've liked to be your father, but I'm just not ready. I guess I'm hoping that you may someday understand and forgive me. And that maybe" APPLE "You would be the Apple of my eye. I'm sorry. Tom." APPLE Shh. CARMEL Baby APPLE Thank you, guys, so much for coming. FR MARKS Apple! FR MARKS Congratulations. APPLE Thank you. FR MARKS You look good, too. APPLE Thank you, thank you. FR MARKS Good feet, good foundation. JAZZIE We've got some presents for you. CARMEL And flowers. And I spelled your name right. KATHY Julian, go KATHY ahead and say hi. Come right ahead and walk over to her. APPLE Julian, hi. FR MARKS Play date. FR MARKS Let's have a play date here. APPLE I just love you guys. JOANNA Oh, look at her stretch. She's out. APPLE Yeah, I'm gonna feed her before she really passes out. Come here, baby. Yeah, it's okay. That's a good girl. JOANNA She's out like the light. Want me to take that? JOANNA Oh. I'm gonna go to the restroom and you two can have some quality time. APPLE Shh. APPLE You wanna hold her? TOM Yes. APPLE Here. TOM Sweet little baby. I never got to do this with you. TOM I didn't understand. APPLE Here, let me take her. There you go. It's okay. Thanks. TOM You know something? She was born one day before I was. Which reminds me--we're having a little party tomorrow afternoon. Joanna's put it together. It's at the house. And, um If you're not doing anything TOM we were hoping that maybe you two would come by. TOM Come on. TOM I'll show you the new place. Come on. APPLE Thanks. ALEX How cute. Apple! It's a baby! SINGER 8 VO There is a house built out of stone, wooden floors, walls, and windowsills. SINGER 8 VO Tables and chairs worn by all of the dust. SINGER 8 VO This is a place where I don't feel alone TOM What do you think? Nice? It's all for you and for Hope. APPLE For us? TOM Yes. We want you to come and live with us. ALEX Can I blow out DUSTY I want to! TOM One, two, three! ALL Yay! SINGER 8 VO I built JOANNA Happy birthday, honey. SINGER 8 VO A home ALEX Is that how you cut the cake? JOANNA Who's gonna JOANNA , THEN TOM - butter daddy's nose? - No! Oh! JOANNA No, just a birthday. Just a birthday party. TOM All right, who's got a napkin for me? ALEX Keep it on there as a ALEX midnight snack. SINGER 8 VO disappeared SINGER 8 VO from me SINGER 8 VO from you and now it's time SINGER 8 VO to leave and turn to dust JAZZIE You're really leaving us? PRINCESS What about PRINCESS the Jersey Shore next week? NICKY Yeah NICKY we can't go without you. NICKY It won't be the same. APPLE Look, it's--it's--it's real hard for me to tell you guys how I feel. Thank you, guys, so much for caring and being there for me. You all have been like sisters to me. I'm never APPLE really gonna leave you guys. Friends for life. CARMEL We're CARMEL gonna miss you. APPLE See you suddenly. APPLE Stop the car. Tom, stop the car. TOM What's wrong? APPLE It's just the people there I mean, the girls and the housemothers, they--they make--they make you feel like you're family. Like you're loved. Like you're worth something and you can achieve a lot of things. You know, it's crazy how you can go and live with strangers and feel so much joy and not feel like--like you're any different. And not feel unwanted. And feel like you can go places in your lifeand succeed and live. TOM Appleit's okay. It's all right. It's all right. Come here. It's all right. I understand. I understand. APPLE Look, I know I could be your daughter someday, but I just need some time. Can you give me that? TOM Yeah, I can do that. TAWANA Apple! Apple! DANISHA Oh, my god, Apple! Oh, Apple! AFRA Apple! JAZZIE Oh, Apple! SINGER 9 VO I pray you'll be my eyes and watch her where she goes, and help her to be wise. Help me to let go. Every mother's prayer, every child knows. Lead her to a place. Guide her with your grace to a place where she'll be safe. SINGER 9 VO I pray she finds your light and holds it in her heart. As darkness falls each night, remind her where you are. Every mother's prayer, every child knows. Need to find a place. Guide her with your grace. Give her faith so she'll be safe. Lead her to a place, guide her with your grace, to a place where she'll besafe.