 Newcomers Amanda Detmer and Chad E. Donella were cast as students Terry Chaney and Tod Waggner , respectively . " When I first read the script , the thing that struck me most was that the characters were well @-@ written and the relationships between them were strong and believable , " Detmer said . " That 's important , because you have to care about these people in order to be worried about what might happen to them " . Detmer defined Terry as " very put @-@ together [ and ] seems content to defer to [ Carter ] – to not make waves . But the stress of what happens affects their relationship and interestingly enough brings out a certain strength in her " . On the other hand , Donella observed how similar his role was to himself . " I believe in fate . I think you come into this life with some things to accomplish and you 're taken out earlier or later depending on the game plan " . 
