If Brian has an answer for that, we don't know it, because the next scene has him walking dejectedly out of the office and into the hall, where Rayanne greets him: "Hey, Brian, how're you doing?" Brian snorts, "You actually know my name," and Rayanne chirps, "'Course I know your name! How're they treating you, Bri? Baseball bats? Electrodes attached to various parts of your anatomy?" "Excuse me, I have a class," Brian sniffs, and Rayanne tartly says, "Just remember what happens to snitches." Brian passes a couple of random, older-looking guys in a doorway, who give him the upraised fist of solidarity. If this incident has the power to bring jocks and dorks together, then that bottle of soda won't have been spilled in vain. Sharon suddenly appears at Brian's side and asks him if he's okay. Brian wearily replies, "Yeah, sure." Sharon says she's sorry he's the person who has to "deal with this," and Brian impatiently snaps, "It's no problem." Sharon continues obliviously, "Because you know, if you saw something -- like, somebody really had a gun -- then you should tell them, because if you don't, then you would be, like, part of it, and people are really scared, Brian. So you should tell them if you saw anything, and you shouldn't feel bad about that, because -- because people will thank you." I know that speech was really repetitive and inane, but I didn't think I could convey exactly how repetitive and inane without transcribing the entire thing. Brian is dazed by Sharon's incessant yammering and nearly collides with Gina, who tells him that the incident with the gun "would really make an important article for the paper," and that Brian and she should "do an interview sometime." Is that what the kids were calling it in 1994? Brian's witty response to her proposal is: "What?" Gina wanders off, beaming. Brian looks even more dazed after all this female attention.

And then there's a little more, as he rapidly declaims to the counsellor, "Has the threat of violence changed the quality of my life at school? No, not really. What do you mean?"

Then Angela is on the couch, back in her black leotard with the flowered something over it, saying, "I just don't see the point of talking about it." The counsellor suggests that sometimes talking makes people feel better, and Angela replies, "And sometimes talking gets people into trouble. You know, people say things about people, and it doesn't always mean it's true." She looks askance, and the counsellor prompts her, "You mean about who might be carrying a gun?" Angela says, "About anything." "Any weapon?" asks Dr. Tunnel-Vision, and Angela snaps, "No! Just about anything anybody says about people. It's not always true." The counsellor regards her, and Angela goes on, choking up, "I just think people want to believe things about people, and so they decide certain things are true, and they don't even ask, and it's not fair. Because you have to live with it anyway." Dr. Tunnel-Vision doffs her glasses in order to underscore her brilliant insight: "But if it's not true, the person could always say that, couldn't they? I think if something is false, people aren't going to keep on believing it! Usually people latch onto things when there's a kernel of truth, and that's when they get into trouble." Angela looks away, chin trembling. Geez, where did this woman get her credentials, DeVry?