The Mafia

**The Mafia** is the first episode of *The Savages'* first season and the first episode overall. It premiered on May 10, 2015. The episode was originally meant to be released on May 9, 2015. The episode introduces the main characters and most of the recurring characters of the fanfiction series. It was written by REBƎLReloaded.

A reckless high school clique tries to establish themselves in a strict, wretched school environment. To expand their headquarters, co-founder Trae and the group hesitantly recruit new members, such as a smart, prudish Gina and blunt, yet mysterious Joe. Meanwhile, Trae finds himself conflicted with maintaining his social status and academic reputation when his teacher gives him a major opportunity.

Read the episode here!

## Plot

Trae Ventura, a junior at James A. Masters High School, stands apart from the normal crowd with his crew, The Savages. As The Savages walk down the school hallways, Trae narrates and introduces the cliques that are present in the school: The Jocks, led by quarterback Rufus King, Red Hot Cheer Peppers, the cheer leading squad who do not often compete, but are still popular, The Sexxx Symbols, a group of young men who "think with their screwdrivers more than their brains," The Moneybags, a group known exclusively for their wealth around the school, and ultimately The Savages. He introduces Sydney Prescott, the vice president of the group, Nate Osbourne, the third member and secretary of The Savages,Alex Herrera, and Carl Touché, who all have distinctive backgrounds that led to their involvement in the clique.

Trae proposes the idea of recruiting new members of The Savages despite Sydney and Nate's uncertainty. Realizing that their popularity as a new clique has gone down, Trae considers adding new members and showcase their reputations more. The clique hesitantly goes forth with the decision. Meanwhile, Trae struggles with his academic reputation after Mr. Baxter express concerns about his tardiness in the class, despite convincing him to take AP Literature courses. Trae agrees to think about it, but doesn't seem interested in the offer.

The Red Hot Cheer Peppers skip class to perform *Pass That Dutch*,with Sena Demir and Lily Blossom taking lead on the performance. Alyssa Tanner causes a performance mishap, and Sena lashes out at the cheerleaders. Lily regrets not getting chosen as captain, knowing she would have been a better head cheerleader.

The Savages regroup at lunch, looking for new members. They realize that the cafeteria is heavily divided amongst cliques, they look around at the different people, but are stopped at the Moneybags table. Felix Winchester mocks The Savages, which leads to Trae defending his group. Meanwhile, The Savages feel defeated after not finding anyone, but Trae quickly realizes that Gina could be part of the group.

At the end of the day, Trae convinces Gina to meet with the rest of the Savages. As the group looks her over, Gina reveals her past - at her eight grade graduation, she got in a fight with a girl named Abcde, who made her life a living hell. Sydney is impressed by the story, and Alex's attraction to Gina grows. Sydney admits that she thinks Gina has what it takes, but she still needs a makeover. Trae assigns jobs to the Savages - Sydney and Nate will make Gina over, and Alex and Carl will teach Gina how to be badass. The next day, Gina is made over to her song *Bang Bang**,* Sydney does her makeup, Nate steals her some "Savage" clothes, Carl makes sure that she can talk shit as well as a Savage, and Alex and Trae make sure that she can fight like one. After Gina's fight, Joe comes up and makes fun of The Savages for inducting Gina and not him. As Joe calls out the group for being posers, Sydney, Carl, and Gina lash out with words to Joe. As Alex asks Trae to beat Joe up, Trae says no and realizes that The Savages do need to take action, and admits that the best way to do that is to add Joe into the group.

However, Sydney is very vocal about not trusting Joe. Trae says that to be a group, they have to act like one, and admits that he paid the girl Gina fought $20 and a make-out session to lose to Gina. Sydney and Trae both agree that they don't trust Joe, but Trae wants to see Joe's status.

On the bleachers by the football field, Alex sits alone and watches the football team practice, disgusted. Gina comes up and asks him why he is alone. Alex reveals that he was once on the team, but was kicked off and replaced by Rufus King after the fight he was involved in. Gina apologizes, but Alex says that apologies don't really help, and that people have to let go of the past and move on into the future. He then states that the football team will lose without him anyway. Gina reminds him that he does have a team of people that will defend him, and Alex smiles. Gina then asks him to come get ice cream with her and offers to pay. Alex accepts, and the two walk off without realizing that Sydney was watching.

Trae is walking down the hallway when Dirty Dan comes up to him. Trae, despite feeling a strong attraction, tries his best not to look at Dirty Dan. Dan wants to know why Trae hasn't called him back, to which Trae says he has been busy. Dan fires back that Trae knows wants him, to which Trae says he doesn't want a sex buddy and then walks off. Joe overhears and wants to know what's going on between Trae and Dan. Trae tells Joe that he flirted with Dan, but nothing too crazy happened, then admits he isn't super attracted to guys or girls who act like that. Joe and Trae get into a small argument, and Joe states he knows he isn't innocent, and doesn't care what anyone thinks, and then sings *Bad Reputation*. Trae feels respect for Joe afterwards, but is still cautious. Joe then reveals to the audience that he knows Trae mistrusts him, and plans to manipulate his way into being the head of the Savages.

That night, Gina is over at Sydney's house. After Gina talks for a while, Sydney asks if Gina likes Alex in a romantic way. Gina states that she isn't really ready to be in a relationship, to which Sydney responds that she is glad, because Alex is her boyfriend. Gina gets upset, having developed a small crush on Alex, and quickly leaves. Sydney smiles, happy that her lie worked effectively.

Trae is in his room at his home, and his mother comes in. The two have a conversation about how she wants him to go to the AP classes and have the opportunities that she gave up on when she dropped out of high school. Trae tells her he'll consider it, but he also realizes that he has to consider if he will remain a Savage as well.

The next day, Joe, Nate, Sydney, Carl, and Gina are sitting in the courtyard. Alex walks up and asks Gina out on a date to help her become more of a Savage. Gina gets upset, thinking Alex wants her to be his girl on the side, and tells him to go out with his girlfriend, and moves away from Alex. Sydney watches as Alex gets confused and states that he does not have a girlfriend. The Moneybags, sans Cass, come up and Felix announces that he's happy that The Savages added two of his enemies, which leads to another face off between Trae and Felix. The two trade words, but Trae breaks down Felix's confidence when he mentions that Felix's mother is a prostitute. After that, Trae tells them to stay off of The Savages territory and to not speak to them. As the Moneybags leave, Alex starts off a group number of *Teenagers*, featuring all of the Savages. Trae leads the performance, and Alex and Gina share looks of confusion and angst towards each other as the performance goes on. Sydney watches Joe during the performance, who is watching Trae. The number ends and the cliques around the school begin to cheer. Trae finishes the episode by saying that The Savages are undefeatable, and this school war is not over.

## Songs

### Unreleased Songs

* **Summertime Sadness** by *Lana Del Rey* sung by Sydney Prescott and Watermelondrea Jones.

## Guest Cast

Guest Stars* Kira Kosarin as Sena Demir
* Hayley Kiyoko as Claudia Wu
* Dave Franco as Viktor Nichols
* Adam Hagenbuch as Dan Daniels
* Miles Teller as Glenn Pierce
* Nicholas Hoult as Liam Newton
* Addison Riecke as Alyssa Tanner
* Ryan Kelley as Kyler Chase
* Luke Bilyk as Rufus King
* and Michael Michele as Stacey Ventura
* Tre Melvin as Watermelondrea Jones

## Trivia

* This episode is centered around The Savages.
* Being the pilot, this is the first time we are introduced to the original Savages (Alex, Carl, Nate, Sydney and Trae) as well as the new recruits (Gina and Joe).
* This episode features the first solo, duet, and group number of the series. It also features the first male solo, first female solo, and first female/female duet.
* This episode features the first time that every member of the Savages at the time sings.
* This episode is the first episode that mentions the Alex-Gina Relationship.
* This episode sets up the main rivalries of the series.
* This is the first episode Zachary does not sing.

## Cultural References

* In Sydney's flashback, Watermelondrea spells "B-I-C-T-H," which references a moment from the reality TV show, *Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta.* Other reality TV shows are also referenced such as *Bad Girls Club*and *Laguna Beach.*
* Trae claims that Dirty Dan could be easily considered a "porn star," which references Brent Everett, who portrays Dan, is a porn star himself.
* Sena calls Alyssa "Little Annie," whom Alyssa's portrayer, Quvenzhane Wallis, has portrayed in the 2014 remake of Annie.
* F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel *The Great Gatsby*and S.E. Hinton's novel *The Outsiders*are strongly referenced in this episode.
* Iggy Azalea's song, "Work" is referenced during The Red Hot Cheer Peppers' lecture scene.
* Most insult dialogues between The Moneybags and The Savages were influenced by the sitcom, *Girlfriends.*
* Abcde is a name that is listed as one of the most unusual, "ghetto" names in the world.