The Truth Hurts

"The Truth Hurts" is the 2nd episode of One Less Problem.

Summary
After the mutilated body of Valentina Holmes is discovered, the whole of Roseburn High goes into complete shock and shut down. Josh and Liz struggle to come to terms with the loss of their best friend, while struggling to hold onto the few relationships they have left. Joe's discovery about Josh's sexuality and plans are put on hold and Ben decides to make amends with Liz.

Teaser
It’s a beautiful morning in the peaceful town of Roseburn. As the sun rises in the early hours of the morning, bringing with it the busy chirps of the neighbourhood birds, a black car quietly makes its way down a road through the suburbs. The car pulls into the drives of one of the houses and once it’s parked a married couple and their son emerge from it, happy to be home after a short trip away from the house. The trio make their way into the house and take off their coats on shoes, “Go wake up your sister, tell her we’re home” the mother tells her son. The son nods and quickly makes his upstairs to his sister’s room. As he heads upstairs, the mother and father look around the main living area, pleased by the state it has been left in. “And you were worried she’d get herself into trouble” the father jokes to the mother, who is happy to be proven wrong. With that, a horrific screech is heard coming from their son upstairs. Alarmed, the two parents rush upstairs to see what the problem is. When they reach the top of the stairs they see their son curled up on the ground outside his sister’s room, crying. Confused, they approach their daughter’s room and are met by a horrific sight. Valentina Holmes is hanging from the ceiling by a rope, torso slice open and intestines hanging out, reaching the ground, where the family pet cat, Vissie, is seen playing with its cool new toy - entrails. Blood drips down onto the paws and head of the cat as it bats the swinging intestines around. Valentina’s mother, Lottie, lets out a horrific scream, hiding her face into her husband, Jonathan’s chest. The whole family fall to the floor in utter shock and heartbreak.

Act 1
“You are not going to believe what I found out about Josh” Joe comments giddily to Ben. It’s early hours in the morning, before school has even started or the sun has fully risen. The two boys are hidden under the bleachers that surround the sports track and fields that belong to Roseburn High. “Whatever it is better be worth waking up at five” Ben yawns, rubbing his tired eyes. “Oh trust me, it is” Joe smiles as he begins to search through his bag for his phone. “Couldn’t you have just told me over the phone?” Ben wonders. Joe shakes his head and tells him that it’s better for him to see it for himself. Joe manages to find his phone and begins to search through it for the video file, but before he can get to it, he’s interrupted by the scream of a terrified girl. “Ahhhhh, perverts!!!” the girl calls out, puzzling Joe and mortifying Ben. They peak around the bleachers to see a black hair cheerleader running away from them, onto the running tracks where two fellow cheerleaders are stretching. Distracted, Joe puts his phone away then he and Ben follow the girl to explain the situation. “Oh my God they’re following me!” the black haired girl, Nathalie, screams with genuine fear. The other two girls, Alison and Gina, look over to see what’s happening. “What’s going on Nat?” Alison, a beautiful blonde, asks. “I went over there to take a wee and I saw them both hiding and watching me” she cries, “They had a phone out!! I’m pretty sure they’re recording us” she finishes. Ben is unable to respond as he is in complete shock and fear. “What the fuck? I wasn’t recording you!” Joe states. “You recording my friend?!” Gina, a red head with a temper roars at Joe, “Are you fucking sick in the head?!” she screams. “No!” Joe insists, frustrated. “If you have a fucking piss fetish come over here and I’ll piss in your mouth you little cunt” Gina huffs. “Gigi, please. Leave this to me” Alison orders her friend, disgusted with her attitude, “Go get the Principal. I’ll deal with him” she assures her. Gigi doesn’t move, she simply glares at Joe, but this annoys Alison even more, “You. Go. Do!” she yells at her friend, finally convincing her to leave. As Gina runs towards the school, Alison and Nathalie are left with Ben and Joe. “Do I have to get my boyfriend to teach you a lesson?” Alison says with a proud smile. Joe laughs, asking who her boyfriend is. “Joey Coupe” she smiles, causing Joe to laugh even more, “That faggot?! Please. Please don’t tell on me” he cries mockingly. “My boyfriend is the captain of the baseball team, I’ll have you know” Ali tells him, “And you just recorded my friend having a wee. You’re in so much trouble” she smiles. Behind her, a violated feeling Nathalie tries to hold back her tears. “I didn’t record your flat ass friend” Joe snarls, offending the girls even more. “You are a disgusting pig!” Ali screams. “And you’re a dumb slut that thinks I’m desperate enough to be attracted to that dog excuse of a girl over there” Joe responds, trying to upset them further. Alison and Nathalie are speechless. After a moment of thinking of what to say next, Ali smiles and holds out her hand, asking to see the phone for proof that he hadn’t actually recorded anything. Willing to cooperate, Joe passes her his mobile phone. Ali takes the phone and smashes it to the ground instantly, horrifying Joe, “WHAT THE FUCK?!” he screams, holding back his urge to backhand the blonde. Ali points her finger at Joe sternly, “Do no mess with me or my girls” she says before walking away. “Come. Nat” she orders her friend, who follows closely behind, still crying. When the girls are gone, Joe and Ben share shocked glances at each other.

At the Anderson household, Josh is sat in the kitchen eating his breakfast, fried egg, bacon and hash brown, cooked specially by his mother, Aliza, who enters the kitchen. “Morning” she smiles as she enters the room, but Josh simply gives her a quick forced smile. Clearly he’s upset about something. “Something up?” she asks, but Josh simply responds with a silent shake of the head. Unsure what to do, Aliza ponders for a moment and then asks him how his party last night was. “Was good” Josh says meekly, not even making eye contact with his mother. Aliza simply looks at her son with concern for a few seconds. As Josh eats, he looks up at his mother and notices she’s been observing his behaviour. “Okay…maybe I’m not okay” he reveals, causing his mother to ask him what’s wrong. “It’s Val and Mary” he explains. Aliza gets a look of confusion on her face, “Mary? As in Mary Rosales? I thought she moved away”. “She did, but now her family have moved back” Josh tells his mother, who responds by saying that that’s great news. “Yeah…apart from the fact that she and Val hate each other” he says. Aliza lets out an awkward chuckle, “Ahh, girl problems” she sighs happily, “You know, if you father was still alive he would have been so much better at this than me” Aliza says, unable to stop smiling as she’s filled with memories of her late husband. Josh doesn’t know how to respond to this, he just gets a look of sadness on his face. “Oh I miss him” Aliza sighs, with a hint of sadness now, “But never mind that! I’m a woman…I know how women work, so trust me when I say that Valentina and Mary won’t stay mad at each other forever” she adds. Josh looks at her with a pinch of hope, “You sure? They seemed pretty against each other when their fists were in each other’s faces” he explains to his mother, shocking her slightly. “I’m sure of it” she smiles, “They’ll come to realise that sharing you as a friend will be a lot better than neither of them being friends with you” she finishes. Josh smiles thankfully, understanding what his mother is saying. “Alright, I’ll give them time” he tells his mother, pleasing her. He then turns back to his breakfast proceeding to eat it, but he’s suddenly interrupted when the doorbell rings. Mother and son are confused, “Who could that be?” Aliza wonders, looking towards the front door. She walks to the door and answers it - Joanna Morfitt is on the other side. “Joanna?” Aliza asks, confused. Jo gives a smile to Josh’s mother and asks if Josh is ready for school. Aliza explains that he’s just finishing his breakfast and invites the girl inside to wait. She leads the blue haired girl into the kitchen, and when she enters the room Josh looks at her with bewilderment, “Jo? What’re you doing here?” he asks. Joanna gives Josh a serious look, “We need to talk”.

A short while later, Josh and Joanna are walking through the streets of Roseburn, making their way to school. “Rena said what to you??” Josh asks in a shocked tone. “	He pretty much told me not to trust you and that you’ll end up hurting me one day” she explains. The further mention of Renato Belmiro sends a shiver down Josh’s spine, “Oh my God… he’s unbelievable” Josh snarls. “Obviously I didn’t listen to him and I told him to shove his fist where the sun doesn’t shine” she assures Josh, making him laugh, “Really?” he asks, amused. “Well, no…but I wanted to” she says, “Knowing him he’d actually do it” she finishes, causing Josh to laugh further. A moment of silence ensues Joanna looks at Josh, clearly wanting to ask something, “W-Why would he tell me all of those things?” she wonders. Josh asks Joanna why Rena does anything that he does, “You should probably stay away from him. He’s dangerous” he advises his friend. “Oh trust me, I’ll be fine. If that slimy cunt tries to touch me I’ll bite his dick off” she snaps, making Josh smile, “Or not…maybe he’d like that too” she cringes. The two continue to walk, chuckling, “So you’re sure it’s nothing to do with when you fell out? I know you used to be good friends with him” Joanna points out. Josh simply shakes his head, “That was a long time ago. And I’d rather not talk about what happened. He got out of line, let’s leave it at that” Josh tells Joanna, hinting that he wants the conversation to move on. She nods in agreement and then they continue to head to school.

The school bell rings in Roseburn High and all the students begin to enter their first class of the day. Josh enters his classroom to find almost everyone in their seats and Miss Trellar preparing for the upcoming lessons. Josh and Miss Trellar greet each other and then the former makes his way to his seat. As he walks down the aisle he notices Mary in the seat next to his; she has cuts and bruises on her face from the fight with Valentina. Seeing this causes Josh to instantly be upset with her, and he walks straight past her, even when she cheerfully says “Hey Josh, how’re you doing?”. When he walks past Mary, ignoring her question, she gets a look of sadness and guilt on her face. Josh continues to look around the classroom for a spare seat and finally sees one next to Tyson. He sits next to the nerdy boy, almost shocking Tyson as he is practically in the presence of a school celebrity, “Hey Josh” the boy gulps nervously. “Hi Tyson” Josh says kindly as he begins to unpack his bag. Tyson smiles with relief, commenting that he’s much nicer than Valentina was when she sat next to him. Josh suddenly remembers that this was Val’s seat and he gets a look of confusion on his face. He looks around the room to see where Val is, but he cannot find her. “Did Val transfer classes?” he asks Tyson, puzzled. Tyson says it’s unlikely that she’d have been able to transfer so quickly, “Well have you seen her around school?” he asks, but Tyson says he hasn’t, apologising. Josh glances at his phone and notices that he’s got no missed calls or messages from Val, something he finds odd. “Do you need her for something important?” Tyson wonders, but Josh simply explains that he thinks Val is mad at him. “Oh that sucks” Tyson tells Josh, “I know what it’s like to lose a friend…I used to be best friends with Ben Porter…but then he met that jerk Joe and I never talk to him anymore” he explains sadly. However Josh is hardly listening to what Tyson has to say as he’s more worried about Val. “Yeah that’s great…” he says, disconnected. Tyson looks uncomfortable having practically just been ignored. “It’s just that it’s not like Val to not turn up for school and ruin her perfect attendance over a stupid argument…” he says, getting more and more worried. Tyson supposes that Val is simply late, but Josh doesn’t agree with the nerd, stating that he doesn’t think so, “Something doesn’t feel right” he states. With that, the school’s intercom switches on, “This is Principal Sannse. Would all teaching staff please make their way to my office immediately”. And the message is over. Confused, Miss Trellar tells her class to wait a moment while she goes to see what the fuss is about, “Please don’t get too rowdy” she asks of them, leaving the room. All the students in the class begin talking to one another, excited and confused over the situation. Josh sense that something is very wrong and he makes his way to the door of the classroom. He opens it and looks around the corridor as dozens of teachers make their way to Principal Sannse’s office. Soon enough all of them arrive and the door closes behind them with the sound of a click as it locks. Josh looks with fear and bewilderment at the door of the office which is being guarded by the janitor, Brandon Rhea, to make sure no students come close to it. Josh’s imagination begins to go wild and his heart starts racing. He goes back into the classroom slamming the door behind him. “I need to get to that office door” he thinks to himself.

Act 2
In the classroom, Josh ponders over the situation that he’s in for a moment and finally decides to leave the room, walking down the corridor to the Principal’s office, where Janitor Rhea stands vigil. As Josh gets closer to the janitor, he’s stopped “Where do you think you’re going?” Janitor Rhea asks. Josh lies and says that he needs the toilet, which coincidentally is next to the Principals office. Rhea demands that Josh head back to his classroom, “There’s an important meeting going on and all students must remain seated in their classrooms” he says, clearly reciting instructions he’s been told. Josh freezes for a moment, looking at the office and the toilets, contemplating to just run past the janitor and get the answers he so wants, but he finally agrees to head back when Rhea shouts “Now!” in an assertive tone. Josh heads back to his classroom and is instantly met by Joanna at the door, “Josh! There you are, I’ve been looking” she says excitedly. A confused Josh asks what she’s doing in his class, as she’s supposed to be in another. Jo explains that she was bored and wanted to see her friend during this exciting time. “Yeah well I don’t think it’s as exciting as it seems” Josh points out, causing Joanna to ask what he’s talking about. He says he’ll explain later, adding that he has more important things to worry about. “Like what?” Joanna pesters. Josh thinks for a moment and then suddenly an idea pops into his head. “Like how to get revenge on Tyson” he says, turning to the nerd and smiling at him. Tyson smiles in return. “Why? What he do?” Joanna wonders, “He made some really sexist comments about you” Josh explains, “Saying that you’re a dumb girl who and that’s why you’re not in this class. He said you’ll never amount to anything!” he finishes. Joanna is in complete shock and then a rage begins to build up inside her, “He said what?” she asks, biting through her teeth. “But he did mention that he’d love to get a grab of your breasts” Josh tells her, in hopes of making things worse. “Don’t worry” Joanna tells Josh, “You won’t need to get any revenge” she assures him. Josh questions what she’s talking about, but before she can give out a response she finds herself charging at Tyson and pushing him to the ground. She begins screaming in his face like a crazed lion, “YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN ME BECAUSE YOU HAVE A TINY COCK?! HUH?! DO YOU?!” she screams, clenching her fists. Tyson is scared out of his mind, unable to respond. Josh simply watches, feigning shock, when in reality he’s pleased this his plan worked. “I have bigger non-existent balls than you do!” she continues screaming in poor Tyson’s face, “HAVE NOTHING TO SAY YOU FAGGOT?!” she roars. “I-I do-don’t know w-w-what you’re talking about” Tyson says, almost crying. “Don’t play dumb with me you filthy cunt flap, I KNOW WHAT YOU SAID! Just remember this, a woman brought you into this world. SO A WOMAN CAN FUCKING JUST AS EASILY TAKE YOU OUT OF IT!” spit flies out of the blue haired beauties mouth as she yells this. Most of the students in the classroom circle around the two students and begin chanting for them to fight, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” they scream in unison. With that, Janitor Rhea, the only staff member not in the office, bursts into the room to see what the ruckus is about. “Stop this instance!” the janitor yells, moving towards the fight to break it up. As he’s distracted, Josh sneaks out of the classroom, rushing to the toilets, which are right next to the Principal’s office. Once inside, he looks around for any type of ventilation that will allow him to hear into the room next door. Soon enough he finds one above the cubicles. He opens one, but is met by the sight of Gina Dawson sniffing some sort of drug off of the toilet bowl, “Fuck off, loser” she grunts, slamming the door in his face. Josh moves onto the next cubicle and is pleased to see it’s empty. He climbs onto the toilet bowl and reaches for the ventilation cover, happy to see that it simply pulls off with a bit of force. He climbs higher up, putting most of his body inside the vent, hoping to hear as much as he can as well as he can. Josh listens for a while, unable to make out what the teacher’s conversation is about, but several things stick out in his mind. “It’s just awful” Miss Trellar says, almost in tears, “Who would do this to a student?” she asks. “There are some sick and dangerous people out there” Principal Sannse explains. “How do we let the children know?” a teacher asks, leading Sannse to say that they’ll hold an assembly with every student to inform them of the unfortunate murder. With that, Josh’s world collapses. The moment he hears the word murder his whole world collapses, he knows what it means. He knows who it was. He climbs down from the toilet seat and sits with his back against the cubicle door. He drops his head into his knees and he begins to cry, mourning for his friend. “Shut the fuck up, faggot” Gina groans from the cubicle next door.

Meanwhile in another classroom, another class are in the exact same situation; their teacher has been mysteriously called to the Principals office. As all the teenagers talk amongst each other, Ben sits alone at his desk, smiling with a smug look on his face as he watches Joe and Liz arguing in the distance. “Are you actually serious, Joe?! Are you kidding me?!” Liz roars at her boyfriend, almost crying. Joe, who is highly frustrated, explains that everything Alison Monroe told her is a lie. “So you’re telling me that Alison would just make up a lie about you secretly watching and recording them as they practice? Why would she do that, Joe? Do you really expect me to believe that?!” she asks angrily. “Yes!” Joe tells her, “Because it didn’t happen! I swear to God I did not watch them practice” he insists. “Then what about Nathalie Reid? She said she saw you holding a phone and recording her as she peed” Liz points out, “Expecting me to believe Alison Monroe is a liar is one thing, but telling me Nathalie Reid is a liar… She’s an idiot, but she’s no a liar. No, Joe. It just doesn’t add up” she sighs. Joe isn’t sure about what he should say, causing Liz to give a disgusted laugh, “Right, you’ve got nothing to say. It’s what I thought” she huffs. “No! It isn’t!” Joe insists further, “I did not watch those girls! My eyes are for you and you only” he promises. “Then tell me, Joe. What possible reason would you have for hiding behind the bleachers at seven in the morning??” Liz asks, not believing his story one bit. Joe begins to get nervous and sweaty, “If I could tell you… I would. I really, really would” he says sadly. Liz gives him a sick glare. “Whatever. I know the truth” she says before turning around and walking away from him. Joe follows her and grabs her, turning her back around. “Liz, please” he begs, “It’s not what it looks like” he says almost desperately. Liz sighs, “Joe, look, there’s only two reasons you’d be under those bleachers. Either you were perving on those girls or you’re into drugs now” she tells him. Joe thinks for a moment, contemplating what he should say next. He finally realises what he must say to save his relationship, but he’s not happy about what he has to do, “That’s it…” he says meekly, “I’ve been taking drugs” he “confesses”. Liz’s eyes open wide with shock, and they open even wider when she finds her hand slapping across Joe’s face. Ben’s smile grows even wider, but then he rubs his cheek, remembering how much Liz’s slap hurt him. She immediately apologises for slapping her boyfriend, but he assures her it’s okay, “I deserved it” he tells her. She asks what drugs he’s been taking, so he assures her that it’s “just marijuana”. Liz still feels hurt hearing this, “I want you to stop. Now. Or we’re through” she tells him, walking away. This time Joe lets Liz walk away and then he smiles with relief, having dodged a bullet.

Back in the other classroom, Janitor Rhea has managed to calm down the fight between Joanna Morfitt and Tyson Jepsen. All the other students have been ordered to sit back in their seats and remain seated until he returns. Grabbing Joanna and Tyson by their jackets, he tells them that they’re going to wait in the nurse’s office and teacher’s lounge until the meeting is over and then they’ll be punished for the violence. “That’s not fair” Tyson cries, “She’s the one who attacked me”. Joanna sends a glare across to the nerdy boy, silencing him immediately, “At least I’m not a sexist pig!!” she screams. “Enough!” Rhea yells at them, not wanting the fight to continue. He starts to drag them towards the door, but is stopped when Josh walks through it, face flooded with tears. All eyes go to him, “Josh..?” Joanna says, “What’s wrong?” she asks, concerned. Josh looks at her with his teary red eyes and states “Valentina’s been murdered”. There is uproar in the classroom and everyone begins talking to each other in a panic. Joanna is shocked, “What?! What do you mean? Valentina Holmes?” she asks. Josh simply nods and drops to his knees, crying. Joanna rushes towards him to comfort him and Brandon Rhea, who is just as shocked as everyone else, tries to keep all the students calm. As Joanna comforts Josh she asks how he knows and if he’s sure it’s her. Josh stands back to his feet and nods, explaining he heard the teachers talking about it in the office. There is even more of an uproar in the classroom now because there is evidence. Josh tries to compose himself in front of everyone and wipes away his tears. He then looks around the room and something catches his eye… Rena Belmiro is sat in the corner of the room at his desk, not talking to anyone. He is just sat silently, seeming not to have reacted to the news about Valentina’s death. Josh glares at him with suspicious eyes before noticing something else about Rena…his bandaged hands. Josh begins to get furious.

A while later, Elizabeth Mills has just been informed about the brutal murder of Valentina Holmes. She is sat at the cafeteria table with Nadiah Payne, a friend of hers, and Joe. Liz is crying into Nadiah’s arms, traumatised that her close friend is now dead. Nadiah, however, remains strong for her friend and tries to comfort her during this hard time. “I-I just can’t believe it” Liz sobs, “You hear about this kind of stuff on the news all the time…but you never think it could happen to someone you love” she finishes. Nadiah strokes Liz’s hair, telling her that there’s nothing she could’ve done, “The world is full of awful people” she tells her, “Just think that now she’s in a better place rid of those who want to harm” Nadiah tells Liz, trying to make her happier. It doesn’t really seem to help. “I just feel so awful” Liz explains, “The last thing we talked about was just so horrible and meaningless. She was angry. She died angry” Liz says sadly. “People die all the time” Nadiah explains to Liz, “The sad fact is we can’t do anything about it. We have to be grateful for the life and love we have”. Liz looks at Nadiah and nods, “You’re right”. Nadiah forces a smile for her friend before turning to Joe, “Speaking of… Could you go get Liz a bottle of water? She could use it” she asks him in a cold tone. Joe awkwardly nods before walking away silently to get the bottle. Once he’s gone, Nadiah points out that he’s being awfully quiet. “I don’t blame him” Liz shrugs, “It’s a horrible situation, he probably just doesn’t know what to say” she tells Nadiah. However, her friend is not convinced, “But he’s your boyfriend. He should be helping you when you’re upset” Nadiah points out. Liz smiles and tells Nadiah that she thinks she has it covered. “But I’m not always gonna be there when you’re down. What are you going to do when you and Joe can’t communicate in the future? When he can’t show any sigh of affection” Nadiah points out. Liz ponders for a moment, wiping away her tears, and she realises that over the course of their relationship, Joe hasn’t been very affectionate. “Maybe it’s just hard for him” she supposes. Nadiah rolls her eyes, “Still. You’re his girl. And he needs to take care of you” she tells her, “If he can’t show that he loves you then soon enough you’ll stop loving yourself” she adds. Liz doesn’t respond, she just thinks, taking in everything Nadiah is saying. Finally she just shakes her head, “I don’t want to think about this right now” she states, “I’m just too upset” she says before getting up and walking away. Nadiah follows shortly after her friend. When they’re gone, Joe finally returns with the water bottle, confused to find nobody at the table anymore. Across the cafeteria, Ben is sat watching Joe, having watched and listened to everything that has just happened. And he can’t help but smile over the fact that Joe and Liz’s relationship is deteriorating.

Gallery
This is a gallery of photographic stills released to promote the episode.