When a 12-year-old trust fund child learns of her surgically enhanced intelligence, she must punish those who exploited her before her IQ returns to normal and her first love seizes her trust fund. Optioned, No longer available.

SYNOPSIS:

AVALON CARNAGE-ZENT (12), a trust fund child and near-genius is kept isolated for her own protection in a gated beach estate owned by her once rich and royal parents, CONSTANCE (mid-40s) and BRIGHTON (late-50s). Avalon’s parents are obsessed with her IQ, which falls just below Mensa standards, and declines further each year. Avalon and Constance have weekly sessions with an attractive psychologist, ELLEN (40). On Avalon’s birthday, she also learns that her intellect benefited from an experimental injection of stem cells into her brain when she was an unresponsive two-year-old. Nowadays, for Avalon, there is no unconditional love except from her gay uncle, THURMOND (40s), her trust fund executor. Avalon’s only confidant, and her first love interest, is her ninth successive tutor, MAX (22), who is referred to as “NINE” to discourage familiarity. Nine secretly obtains and shares with Avalon her medical records, which sets her quest for honesty, true love, and justice.

Avalon confronts her mom and later finds her shot in the head of apparent suicide. Avalon feels responsible. However, the crime scene clues don’t add up for streetwise DETECTIVE THERESA RAMOS (40s). Ulterior motives slowly surface, suspicions rise all around, and surveillance videos have been tampered with. The next day, the doctor who operated on Avalon ten years earlier, dies under mysterious circumstances. Avalon convinces Nine to burn her blood-stained birthday dress and gloves, destroying evidence. However, Nine is watching out for himself by recording damning conversations with Avalon and safeguarding them at a friend’s home.

Avalon learns of her father’s affair with the deceitful Ellen, who exploits Avalon’s trust fund through Brighton. Detective Ramos, who is “following the money,” suspects Brighton, Thurmond, Ellen, and even Avalon, who behaves more like a deranged killer by the hour. Avalon is infatuated with Nine. She demands Uncle Thurmond transfer trust executorship to him, which would bankrupt Brighton, Ellen, and Thurmond.

In the end, Avalon and Detective Ramos anticipate the next moves of the real killers. Soon Brighton, Ellen, and a stranger are in handcuffs. The stranger is EIGHT (23), a beautiful computer programmer and Avalon’s previous tutor. Eight could sneak into the house and erase security tapes. Eight, a Mensa member, conspired with Brighton to take Avalon’s official Mensa IQ test after drugging her. To make matters worse, Nine expresses his love for Eight, the penultimate betrayal to Avalon. With a twist at the end, Avalon, despite her now near-average IQ, proves Nine and Eight conspired to murder Constance, implicate Brighton, and gain executorship of the trust fund. Detective Ramos makes the arrests. Avalon has her bags packed and smiles as she exits the estate with Uncle Thurmond.

S.T.E.M. CELL