Episode 21, Season Premiere
MALIBU BEACH, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Alex and Taylor walk with each other along the beaches of sunny California. A steady breeze blows against their faces as they flip through a catalog of apartment listings.
"1400 Dollars?!" Alex exclaims, staring wide-eyed at a pamphlet in his hands, reading an apartment listing.
"It should be illegal to pay that much money a month. In Colorado they would have banned that!" Taylor says, standing at Alex’s side.
"Right. But we’re in Los Angeles now. You have to admit this place is awesome." Alex says, drifting from the initial dilemma of renting out an apartment.
A year has passed since we last left Alex and Taylor. Since then, they have moved to California together to attend the University of Southern California, a very prestigious private school in which they’ve both been accepted.
Alex’s role in the television drama ‘CRYSTAL COVE’ had been graciously pink-slipped for reasons un-known, and having left Pine Valley, the brief insanity he was experiencing disappeared. Majoring in Psychology, Alex’s freshman year at USC seems to be promising.
Taylor, on the other hand, had mourned for the end of his relationship with his pregnant girlfriend Amber for some time. After the graduation he had gone to look for her, only to find that she had ran away, without any money, clothing, or support. To this day he regrets the decisions he had made.
Jeff is now residing in Boston, Massachusetts. He attends Brown University, majoring in Musical Arts, yet his intentions in re-uniting with his dear friends, whom he has not seen for a year, are unknown for the time being.
Devin attends the University of California, San Diego, which is but an hour and a half’s drive from the USC campus. Since the graduation, Devin has also been laying low, and for a year now he has not seen his dear friends.
"What’s wrong with the dorm?" Taylor asks. Taylor and Alex had requested to be roommates, a request that was easily granted.
"I don’t know. I guess I want to try being independent or something." Alex reasons.
"Listen, let’s just call it a day. We can do this another time, plus I have to study for my Bio Exam, and Lyndsay is coming over to help out with dorm utilities." Taylor says, try to snivel his way out of house hunting.
"Oooh, who’s Lyndsay." Alex implies a romantic relationship.
"She’s just the resident advisor," Taylor says, lowering his head, "You know I don’t date anymore."
"Taylor, I know you’re still upset over the whole Amber thing, but maybe its time you started seeing other people. Living like this just isn’t healthy. It may be hard, but just move on."
"How can I move on, Alex? She was the love of my life. I made a huge mistake by rejecting her when she needed me the most. And now, she’s homeless in some god-awful corner of the earth and there’s no way I can take back my words."
"Alright! You win. You can take as much time as you need." Alex says, defeated.
The two make their ways back to the parking lot, and get into Alex’s car. It is a beautiful white Ford Explorer. They drive off.
USC CAMPUS, PSYCHOLOGY 101
Alex takes a seat in the large auditorium, as the professor enters with a suitcase and prepares to start the day’s lesson.
"I hope you all rested well over the weekend, because this week we’re going to be focusing strenuously on behavioral habits between gender, beginning with child development"...
As the professor speaks, a girl hurries into the classroom and struggles into the aisle, looking for a seat. There is an open spot next to Alex, which she takes hastily.
"Whoa now, a little late are we?" Alex says in a quiet voice, trying to be unheard by the professor. The girl smiles and lets out a brief giggle.
"Yeah, I had to fill out a drop slip in the Admissions Office." She replies.
"What are you dropping?"
"Business Management. I don’t know why even signed up for it. I have such a busy schedule, it’s pretty hard to maintain hard classes like that."
"So what year are you?" Alex asks.
"Oh, I’m a freshman." Candice passively says, as she reaches down into her book bag and pulls out her Psychology book.
"Yeah? Me too."
"Cool. Where are you coming from?"
"Oh, I’m from Colorado. My friend, Taylor, and I both got accepted here so we’re sharing a dorm. We actually went apartment hunting today."
"That’s convenient! I’m from San Diego. It’s the California life for me!" Candice replies.
"San Diego? Really? My friend Devin is going to college down there!" Alex says, astonished.
"Tight. It’s a pretty good school but I just wanted to get away from home, and have a taste of independence, you know?"
"Definitely."
The girl smiles and puts her hand out to Alex. "I’m Candice Rogers."
Alex shakes her hand. "Well, hello Candice Rogers. I’m Alex Harrison."
ALEX AND TAYLOR’S DORM ROOM
Taylor walks in, wiping sweat from his forehead as he sits down at his nightstand and clicks a button on his phone.
The robotic statement, "You have three new messages." , is followed by a loud beep. Taylor listens passively as he kicks his shoes off and lies back on his bed.
"Hi, I’m calling for Taylor and Alex. This is Lyndsay Schofield, the Resident Advisor," Taylor rolls his eyes with impatience, "and I wanted to let you know that I’m going to be about an hour late to explain your dorm utilities. Ok, bye."
BEEP.
"Alex? Taylor? Um, hey this is Devin," Taylor’s eyes light up at the sound of his friends voice, "I’m calling long distance from San Diego. Where are you guys? When you get back give me a ring. Late."
BEEP.
A mysterious breathing resounds through the speakers of the answering machine, followed by a click and a dial tone. Taylor’s eyebrows are furrowed in fear and confusion as the robotic voice returns. "No more messages."
Taylor ignores the final message, as he picks up the phone and dials a number. After a few moments of silence, "Devin?"
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO, DEVIN’S DORM ROOM
"Hey!" Devin says, his eyes lightening up as he turns away from making a sandwich to talk to Taylor. "What’s up? How’s life in Los Angeles? Good, good! How’s Alex? Great! Are you guys having fun living with each other?"
Devin laughs. "No, at least you have a cool roommate. You should see the shmuck I live with. Yeah, it’s going great. Yeah, I do have a girlfriend, her name’s Anna. Oh, definitely, I’m over Meredith and Stephanie. I’m doing great! No, Jeff hasn’t really kept in touch."
A knock from the door interrupts Devin’s conversation. "Hey can you hold on? OK."
Devin walks to his door and opens it to be greeted by the barrel of a gun.
Devin grunts in terror as he drops the phone and stumbles back, falling to the floor. Before him, a powerful red-headed woman walks into the dorm, aiming the gun at Devin. "FBI! Freeze!"
Next Week: Episode 22 of Friends and Foes
