Beverly Hills: Season 2

Season 2, Episode 4: The Safety Dance

   Cambridge sits in the hospital waiting room, biting his fingernail as he waits to hear about Dana's condition. His parents sit next to him in their own cushioned chairs but he refuses to say anything to them. He almost wants to blame them for this entire thing but knows that it's not right. But if he didn't have to prove to his parents that he and Dana were going to stay together, then he wouldn't have had her over for dinner.
   "She should be fine, Cam." Mr. Brightwell breaks the silence. "Her tongue and throat probably swelled up a bit but I'm sure she'll be okay."
   "Why are you trying to comfort me?" Cambridge snaps. His parents have been incredibly unsupportive throughout his relationship with Dana so why is his dad all of a sudden trying to tell him that things will be okay?
   "Because I know that you liked her." Mr. Brightwell responds.
   "Exactly." Cambridge shakes his head at him. "Is that why you tried pulling her away from me too?"
   "Cambridge Brighwell?" A wide set cop enters the waiting room, his gold badge shining in the light.
   Cambridge rises. "That's me."
   "We'd like to ask you a few questions about the deceased." The officer fixes the buckle on his belt.
   Cambridge's lips part as he stares into the cop's deep brown eyes. Did he just say 'deceased'? But that means death. That means Dana... died. He closes his eyes, trying his best to tell himself that the cop made some sort of mistake in his words. "I'm sorry, I think you just said deceased."
   "I did." The cop blinks, his long eyelashes looking somewhat girlish. "Did you not know yet?"
   "Can you please give him a minute?" Mrs. Brightwell shoos the cop out of the waiting room and then puts her hand on Cambridge's shoulder.
   "Get off me." Cambridge jerks his shoulder away and storms out of the waiting room. Once again, he's the cause of someone else dying. First Terrence, now Dana. He is the reason Dana is dead. He put the onions in the salad. He killed her.
   Without telling anyone where he's off to, Cambridge shoves the door to the staircase open and slides under one of the staircases. He hugs his knees and leans his head against the wall, just needing a minute to be by himself.

   The Thursday before homecoming, Case stares at the flyer hanging on the wall by his locker at school. The homecoming letters are in gold cursive writing and the date is underneath. The silhouette of a guy and a girl is dancing with lights around them. The theme for this year's dance is A Night to Remember, which is basically just silver and black everything.
   "Homecoming can suck it." Case rips down the poster.
   "Someone's feeling a little salty." Israel gathers his binders from his locker. "You don't want a night to remember?"
   Case shoots him a look. "I think I've had enough of those lately." He crumples up the paper, thinking back to when things ended between him and Eric. He never pictured Eric to be the one to post their sex tape online and he never would have thought he'd betray him the way he did. Case was LIVING with that creep. But the entire time Eric just wanted him to help pay the bills. "Want to do something that night? We can set off fireworks on the beach or something."
   "I was kind of planning on going." Israel scratches the back of his head.
   "Why would you go?" Case's face falls.
   He shrugs. "It was fun last year."
   "How was it fun?" Case kills the mood again. "Harrow's dad found you and her on the roof and you couldn't spend time with anybody like a normal couple."
   "It was still fun." Israel shuts the door to his locker and then looks at him curiously. "How about the two of us go?"
   "You're asking me to homecoming?" Case tilts his head.
   "You've been in a bad mood since Eric." Israel states the obvious. "It could be fun to just let loose for the night. And why not do it with your best friend?"
   Case thinks about it. He was really looking forward to spending Saturday night with Israel and fireworks but maybe homecoming wouldn't be so bad. Maybe this might help him not be so damn moody all the time. "Okay. I'll go."

   Harrow walks out into the courtyard before first period, looking around for Tabby, who had texted her to meet her out here. She looks at her phone again to see if Tabby had texted to cancel but her inbox is empty.
   "Will you go to homecoming with me?" Someone asks Harrow, bringing her attention away from her iPhone. She looks up to see some Asian girl she has never even talked to before.
   "Uh, no." Harrow looks around for Tabby again.
   "What about me?" A boy with thick rimmed glasses appears in front of her.
   "I don't know you." Harrow walks pass him and composes a message to Tabby: Where R U?
   "Hey, homecoming?" Another guy appears in front of her, his letterman jacket making him look muscular than he probably is.
   "I don't know any of you people." Harrow looks at the three of them in annoyance. She waits for one of them to speak up and explain why they're asking but they stay quiet.
   "Harrow Evans, will you go to homecoming with me?" A guy's voice asks from behind her. She turns around to see a guy that she has seen around in the hallways but she's never talked to him before. He has short dirty blonde hair that covers up some of his forehead and his jawline is so pronounced that it makes him look ten times more attractive. He has white skin and his lips are full. He leans in. "This is the part when you say yes to the real person asking you."
   Harrow blinks and shakes her head. "I don't even know you."
   "That's the romance of it." He smirks, holding out the bouquet of roses for her to take. "So what do you say?"
   Harrow eyes the roses and then looks at him. Nothing can be as worse as last year's homecoming. She and Israel had gotten caught together by her dad- which basically started the downfall of their relationship. Will going to the dance with a guy she doesn't know be worse than that? Probably not. Harrow takes the roses from him. "What's your name, mysterious boy who asked me to homecoming?"
   "Emerson Crawford." He introduces himself. "Is that a yes?"
   Harrow smells the roses and smiles at him. She hasn't had a romance since Jake Shocklee- the online weirdo who tried to rape her in a hotel room. "It's a yes."