Beverly Hills: Season 3

Season 3, Episode 5: I Learned to Live Half Alive

~~~(Elastic Heart by Madilyn Bailey)~~~
   Harrow leads the dance team in their routine to a Sia song in the gym for rehearsal before school on Thursday morning. The gym is dark and single spot lights follow the girls in every move they do. Harrow is wearing a loose white dress, the same as the others. She moves gracefully across the floor, the expression on her face serious and calm. The other members of the dance team move just as gracefully, their tumbles perfect and every pointed toe looking identical.
   Harrow twirls around, her long reddish brown hair spinning with her until it flips over her shoulder. She feels something warm on her leg as she leads the girls to the left. She glances down, noticing dark red blood trickling down her long. Harrow's heart sinks into her chest, slowing down her moves as the blood reaches the floor. The front of her dress is absorbing blood too. Harrow almost falls to the floor when she sees it. She's never seen such dark blood before. What is she even supposed to do? This obviously has something to do with her pregnancy.
   "That's it for today." Harrow holds her stomach, quickly running for the hallway. Blood continues to trickle down her legs and into her dress as tears form in her eyes. "Oh my God." She cries when she closes herself into a bathroom stall. She struggles to breathe as she looks down at mess leaking from under her dress.
   Harrow didn't bother changing into any other clothes before heading into the parking lot with no permission. The wind blows her hair across her face as she heads towards her convertible towards the back. She need to see a doctor or something because something does not feel right. Did she push herself too much? She had asked her daughter if she could still dance and the doctor said yes. So why is she bleeding all of a sudden? Did she do something wrong? Did she somehow kill this baby?
   After getting to her doctor's office, Harrow waits for her results on the brown leather chair high off the floor. She stares straight ahead at the picture of a meadow on the wall across from her. Her hands are in her lap as she studies the picture, only imagining what the doctor will say when she comes back. Probably not something good.
   "Alright, Harrow." Dr. Tepice returns to her office with paperwork in her hands. Her smile is no longer on her face like it was when she greeted Harrow earlier. It's gone.
   "I lost the baby, didn't I?" Harrow looks over at her for an answer.
   Dr. Tepice slowly nods her head with a sad expression on her face. "I'm sorry. But you did nothing wrong. This is fairly common in younger women like yourself."
   Harrow looks away from the doctor and then to the painting on the wall. There's no longer a little fetus inside of her. She puts her hands on her empty stomach, processing the information and not really sure what she's feeling.
~~~(END SONG)~~~

   Meanwhile, Israel leaves his street law class, glancing up and down the hallway for any sign of Tatiana. The two of them have been seeing a lot more of each other for this past week. She was kind of all over the place during his interview for The Insider but that didn't change the way he felt about her or anything. He actually kind of finds her interesting, intriguing. He hasn't had a real relationship with anyone since Harrow so this is almost new territory for him. He almost forgot what it was like to be excited about someone.
   "Tatiana." Israel finds Tatiana on the bottom floor at her locker. She's wearing her hair in two braids and her striped shirt is tucked into a neon green skirt that nearly blinds Israel's eyes.
   "Hey." Tatiana chirps with a smile. "How are you?"
   "I'm doing good." Israel shrugs, trying to devise a way to ask her out. They've had marathons of documentaries on Netflix together but they haven't labeled anything as a date yet. Would it be weird to bring up that word or does Tatiana only want to hang out as friends? From the looks of what she said on his porch the other night, she wants to be more. Screw being friends.
   "Good to hear." Tatiana closes her locker door as they start down the hallway together. "Everyone loves reading about you in The Insider. Girls are raving over it."
   "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing." Israel scratches the back of his head.
   "Good thing for you because you're basically the new it boy but bad for me because now I have competition." Tatiana grins when they stop walking at the door to her language arts classroom.
   "So you don't want me with anyone?" Israel asks, wondering if that's her way of telling him that they're on the verge of dating. Why is this so difficult?
   "Not really." Tatiana looks at him with a worried expression on her face. "Do you not want me with anyone?"
   "Of course not." Israel shakes the jitters out of his body. "Okay, I haven't done this in forever."
   "Done what?" Tatiana wonders aloud.
   "This whole dating thing." Israel answers. "Especially one that doesn't involve a whole bunch of family drama."
   "You haven't met my family yet." Tatiana grins and then adjusts the books in her arms. "I'm okay with that. You don't have to treat this like some hands on exam."
   "You're right." Israel realizes. He already knows that Tatiana likes him back so why worry about things. "Go on a date with me."
   Tatiana raises her eyebrows in surprise. "Persistent. I like it."
   "So tomorrow night around seven?" Israel asks her hopefully and Tatiana nods her head. "See you then." He walks away with a giddy smile on his face, not caring if people are looking at him weird. For the first time in about a year, he finally has a date.