H8RZ

- Commercial fire within city limits at Archer high school.

Be advised, we have reports of gunshots at at the scene,

possibly inside the building.

High school, with fire showing

on the second floor inside and the roof of the building.

We have a fire.

Go, go, go!

Oh, my god.

Can you get up?

I can't feel my legs.

Line to the main door.

Here we go, move it, move it!

- I can't believe I never saw it before.

What I did was wrong.

- Take that line out that way, over there.

Gary, you hold line somehow.

- This whole place is about to blow.

- I didn't think it would end this way.

Wait.

- Be advised, we have an explosion,

possible chemical fire, second floor, "a" side.

Upgrade to second alarm.

- After what you've just been through,

you're lucky to be alive.

I'm not so sure you can say the same about your friend, though.

Huh?

I'm sorry.

Uh, if you remember anything more,

just, uh, have your foster parents

get ahold of me, okay?

According to chief Irwin,

it was one of the worst chemical fires he's seen in many years.

The weather wasn't cooperating, either,

forcing the firefighters to work in subzero temperatures.

Lucy Vander, a substitute teacher,

was also one of the volunteers helping put out the Blaze.

- It was heartbreaking to see the school like this, uh,

but I mostly think about the families

and, uh, their loved ones at this time.

- The mysterious fire has left Archer high school shut down

pending an investigation.

- That Tammand girl's suicide last year, and now this.

I mean, you see these things happening at other schools.

You just...

You just never imagine it happening at your own.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, well, we're doing the best we can under the circumstances.

- Oh, it's right there? - Thank you.

Principal Donato?

Hold on one second.

You shouldn't be here. We'll be issuing a statement later.

It's the press.

I'm from Phil Benson's office.

- Teresa, I'm gonna have to, uh...

I'm gonna have to call you right back.

Well, uh, where's... Where's Phil?

He's tied up with the mayor.

Who... who are you?

- I'm the associate counsel under Mr. Benson.

Really?

What, are you fresh out of law school?

This is a big deal, you understand?

- Principal... - Yes?

I am here to take care of this,

and I need you to cooperate, understand?

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I shouldn't have said that.

Uh, I'm a little out of sorts

with everything that's going on here today.

Uh, let me just go get the files.

Great, I'll be right here.

- I don't even want to think about the settlement.

When they're done with us, Archer's bank account

is gonna make us look like we're located in the projects.

Will the parents sue?

- The parents are out of the picture.

Foster care.

But you better believe that once this thing leaks,

every ambulance-chasing, blood-sucking attorney

in the state is gonna be calling this kid.

No offense.

- I'm here to build a case that Alex's own poor decision-making

led us to this situation.

As a result, any publicity or threats of lawsuit will go away.

In here?

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you.

Hello, Alex.

Is my paperwork done yet?

Not yet.

Alex, this is Laura Sedgewick.

She, uh...

She wants to talk to you about last night.

I already talked to the police.

I-I work for the school board.

It, uh, won't be a problem

if we talk here in private for a little while, will it?

- No, I'll check with the detective, but, uh...

there won't be a problem?

No, no.

The, uh, phone lines are down,

so if you need me, I'm... On channel 2.

I'll just leave you two alone, then.

- I already told the police everything I know.

I doubt that.

- When my paperwork comes through, I'm allowed to leave.

I see you're in foster care.

That means that every aspect of your transfer

has to go through social services,

and I'm sure you're aware of how efficient they can be.

I need you to tell me every single detail,

even the ones you didn't tell the police.

- I told you, I told the police everything.

- How do I even know you're not a cop?

Here's my card.

Other than that, you're just gonna have to trust me.

I'm gonna be blunt.

The sooner you're out of the school system, the better.

But before I can allow that to happen,

I need to know everything.

Everything.

Off the record.

And what if I don't have anything to say?

- Well, that's your prerogative, but I will warn you

that it could make the rest of your formative years extremely difficult.

W-what exactly... Do you want?

- We can start from the beginning.

It all started a few weeks ago.

Looking around that detention room,

it was as unlikely a group as you'd ever find.

A class president, his popular girlfriend,

two of the biggest troublemakers in the school...

And me.

This is all your fault.

No talking.

- Then it's gonna be hard for her.

I said, no talking!

Very nice, guys.

Just great.

Really.

No defense, no pleas of innocence?

Is someone gonna at least try?

Yes, Cameron.

- I have no idea what this is about, Mr. Connor.

"A" for effort, Cameron.

You see, the answer key to the midterm was stolen last week.

Now, when this was brought to my attention,

my first thought was, great,

now I have to write a new 250-question test.

But then I realized that if I kept the same exam,

I could nail whoever stole it and either passed it out,

or, more likely, sold it to his buddies.

If you are going to cheat on a multiple-choice test,

at least get a couple wrong, you know?

Aim for a b-plus tops, especially you two clowns.

- How do you know we did not just study extra hard?

Save it, Putin!

Now you're all getting zeros on the midterm.

- Wait, you can't do that! That's gonna ruin my GPA!

- I've never done anything like this before.

You cheated!

You all just cheated on one of the biggest tests of the year.

You're lucky I don't bring this to the principal.

I need to speak to you outside for a minute.

- Well, win some, you lose some, right, guys?

- Do you realize how screwed we are?

No, I don't.

Do you feel screwed, Ricky? - Nyet.

- It's easy not to care when you don't plan on going to college.

- Tell your boyfriend that elitism

is no way to get me to help him out of this jam.

You think we can fix this?

We?

Who are you again?

Alex.

I don't need some loser making things even worse for me.

So, do you have a plan?

After a day in I.S.S.,

Cameron and Ricky told us their plan.

They'd been thinking about it since their freshman year.

It was actually a good idea,

considering that these were the guys

that thought setting up a stink bomb was a revolutionary act.

Their problem was that they were always in trouble,

so they needed students with access to things

that they couldn't get to.

I guess us getting caught on that test was their lucky break.

It's the perfect plan.

What do you think, Mr. president?

I think you're all idiots.

Come on, Carla.

- This isn't fair, Jack. - I've already gotten in enough trouble.

I'm not about to get in any more just because you're telling me to.

- Why? Whatever, then you'll just fail Connor's class.

How's that going to look to Dartmouth? - It's not gonna look pretty.

- Exactly, so why don't we do something about it?

- I am. I'm gonna study.

- If you were any good at studying,

you wouldn't have bought the test answers in the first place.

If you really cared about me, you would do this!