EXT. SOCCER FIELD. DAY Miss Cross is sitting on the bleachers watching her cla** play Capture-the-Flag. She opens a book. It is 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. She puts a cigarette in her mouth and searches in her pocket for a lighter. A lit match appears in front of her. Max is holding it. He is wearing a maroon beret, Miss Cross looks at him curiously. MAX Hello. MISS CROSS Hi. Miss Cross lights her cigarette on Max's match. MISS CROSS I like your hat. MAX Thank you. You're a teacher here, aren't you? MISS CROSS Uh-huh. MAX What subject do you teach? MISS CROSS Well, I teach first grade, so I do all the subjects. Except music. MAX And this is your first year at Rushmore, I take it. Miss Cross nods. MAX I see. How long have you been a smoker, if you don't mind me asking? MISS CROSS (surprised) Hm. Let's see. How old are you? MAX Fifteen. MISS CROSS Since I was your age. MAX (shocked) You're kidding. Miss Cross shakes her head. Max can't believe this. MAX You should quit. MISS CROSS You're right. MAX (going back to his book) And I should mind my own business. Miss Cross laughs. Max looks back up. MAX Where'd you go to school, by the way? MISS CROSS Harvard. MAX Really? That's a coincidence. My top schools where I want to apply to are Oxford and The Sorbonne. But my safety is Harvard. MISS CROSS (smiles) That's very ambitious. MAX Thank you. MISS CROSS What are you going to major in? MAX Well. I haven't decided for sure. But probably a double major in Mathematics and Pre-Med. What was your major? MISS CROSS Latin-American studies. MAX Ah, that's interesting. Did you hear they're not going to teach Latin here anymore? MISS CROSS This was more like Central America. MAX (pause) Sure. Central America and whatnot. But moving on: they're gonna cancel Latin. They've got to make room for Japanese. MISS CROSS Really? That's too bad. All the Romance Languages come from Latin. MAX They do, don't they? (pause) Like French, probably. She nods. She smiles. MISS CROSS Nihilo sanctum estne? MAX That's Latin, isn't it? MISS CROSS Yeah. MAX What does it mean? MISS CROSS Is nothing sacred? Long pause. Looking right at her. MAX Sic transit gloria. Glory fades. I'm Max Fischer. Max slides down the bench and puts out his hand. MISS CROSS Hi. They shake hands.