Beverly Hills: Season 5

Season 5, Episode 15: Over It

   Kai twiddles his pencil between his fingers on Monday morning as he listens to his journalism professor go on and on about the stories they have to cover this week for class. Mrs. Lindsey Fliger isn't the best instructor, in Kai's opinion. She's usually late, she sometimes admits to having no clue what she's talking about and the assignments she gives the students are pointless. For example, Kai has had to cover a story about missing garbage cans in a neighborhood in West Hollywood. As much as that might seem like a concern to some, Kai was quite disappointed. He's not in this class to cover amateur stories that he should've been doing in high school, he wants to cover bigger stories, larger ones that can actually get him further to his goals of becoming a journalist.
   "School shootings are a huge problem in this country." Lindsey is standing at the front of the classroom, her black pants looking almost baggy around her plump figure. She has brown chin length hair and square glasses that are always halfway down her nose. She blinks a lot when she speaks and this whole semester, Kai has been trying to distinguish if she's pregnant or not. "What do we think of when we hear about shootings in schools?"
   "Sadness." Someone raises their hand.
   "Death." Another pipes up.
   "Insanity." A boy in the front row answers.
   "Confusing." Gabby Wilson answers from next to Kai. The two of them don't talk often but from Kai has seen, she's a pretty nice girl. She seems just as determined as he is for the future of their careers.
   "Good." Lindsey nods. "Now, I want you to take all of these things and tap into why we think these ways. Why do we think they're sad and confusing? What does insanity have to do with any of it?" She pauses but the students glance around at each other, unsure if she's actually waiting for an answer from them. "For this assignment, you'll be digging up interviews, articles, video footage, whatever you can find. I want you to write a paper as if the shooting just broke out. As if it happened yesterday and you're the journalist covering the story."
   "Does it have to be a school shooting?" Kai raises his hand, the tip of his pencil aimed towards the ceiling. Kai himself was involved in a shooting two years ago during his spring break junior year. He found himself hiding under a lounge from Emerson Crawford while in the process of calling his boyfriend at the time, Aaron. That day changed everyone's lives, there's no doubt about it. So much happened that day and even after it happened, there weren't many news articles or anyone talking about it. It was simply another shooting in the U.S. "Um, I know a few people that were caught up in the Palm Springs shooting years ago."
   "Let's just focus on schools." Lindsey answers.
   "Please?" Kai straightens up, feeling more eyes from his classmates turn on him. He'd love to do a story about something that he actually went through. Something that his friends actually experienced. "I think it would make an awesome piece, especially since a lot of people don't even know what happened-"
   "I said stick with schools." Lindsey cuts him off. Kai shrinks down in his chair again, biting the middle of his mechanical pencil. It was worth a try to ask but just because Lindsey said no, doesn't mean it still won't make a great paper. "Any other questions?"

   Alice opens the door into the courtyard at Seaview to take a shortcut to her cooking class. She holds her books to her chest with her right arm, her other one still in the sling. The stares from her classmates have moderately dropped and the whispers about her seem to be fading. She kind of expected everyone to talk about the school's queen to be run over and all banged up. Rufus is now in jail and she feels like she can finally breathe fresh air without having him walking the streets. Things with Lamar are... okay. That night she woke up in the hospital, all she wanted to do was feel close to him but the more she thought everything out, the more she can't help but remember that Lamar is kind of the cause of Rufus running her down. If it weren't for Lamar's gun business, Rufus would've never wanted money and Alice would've never had to step up to him.
   "There you are." Lamar appears in front of her as if on cue. There are bags under his eyes and his jaw looks extra sharp this morning. But he still looks irresistible.
   "Here I am." Alice adjusts the books against her chest, not really in the mood to speak with him right now. If she talks to him, their conversation will be everything she thinks about while in class. She needs to keep her focus and not think so much about if she should forgive her boyfriend for being the reason her shoulder was dislocated.
   "You've been avoiding me." Lamar notices.
   Alice takes a breath but avoids eye contact with him. "I have?"
   "You're not texting me back, you don't answer my calls." Lamar explains. "You pretend you're not home when I go to your house."
   "I just have a lot on my plate right now." Alice finally looks him in the eye but it's not for long. She looks away again after wondering if he's been drinking. She doesn't want him falling back on the alcohol but she wouldn't doubt it if he picked up another bottle since her accident.
   "Look, I know that you might blame me for what happened and I can't really say that you shouldn't." Lamar goes on after a second of silence. "I hate myself for letting what happen go down. I hate that you were the target and I wish it could've been me in front of that car."
   "Thanks." Alice replies dryly.
   "I want you to forgive me but I know that it'll be hard to do." Lamar goes on. "I haven't even forgiven myself yet."
   Alice stares at him in the face. If this was the other way around, she'd be feeling just as guilty as Lamar is feeling right now- if not more. She doesn't know how strongly he feels for her but she knows that the feelings she has for him are strong as hell. It might even be love, at this point. Alice has never even been in love before so she's not going to jump the gun on that one but she definitely needs some time to think about this before fully forgiving him. "I'll talk to you soon, Lamar."
   Lamar goes to say something else but before he can get any words out, Alice quickly hurries pass him to the other side of the courtyard.