Your teen years are the most carefree years you will have throughout your life. That is, if you make the right choices.  Episode 3 of East Los High seems to be centered on this notion and it is definitely something to take note of.  One bad decision, in one split second, can change your life forever.

The episode starts with Maya’s friend, Sparky, being rushed to the hospital with multiple serious gunshot wounds.  We learn, unfortunately, that he does not recover from his injuries and Maya is devastated.  What was her bad decision? She decided to get herself involved in drug dealing, a very dangerous and, of course, illegal activity.  If made better choices, would she still have her friend? Who knows. Would she actually be going to school every day and preparing for a successful future?  These are all things that were taken away when she made that wrong choice to run away from Jessie’s house and sell drugs.  Once finally returning to the house after this whole ordeal, Jessie’s mom puts Jessie in charge of making sure Maya is actually attending school and following the rules set forth in their home.

Vanessa’s decision to have sex in a public place was risky but is made worse when someone records her act and sends it around to a bunch of people at school.  Was this completely Vanessa’s fault? Not entirely, but she is responsible for her actions.  Vanessa says that Jessie was the one that recorded the sex tape, but we learn that’s not actually true.  It may have been recorded from Jessie’s phone, but it was not Jessie who was behind it.  Remember when Jessie’s phone was stolen during the first episode? It was Ceci who stole Jessie’s phone and recorded Vanessa. Scandal? I think so.  While Vanessa doesn’t know this, we see this happen when Jessie makes the Bomb Squad Team (go her!), but it may be Vanessa’s way of getting back at Jessie.  As Vanessa says, “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”  Maybe she should be worried about her friend Ceci who made a horrible decision to spread this video about her.  Both girls didn’t make the right choices and they are going to see the consequences very soon, if they haven’t already.

Ceci also makes a poor choice when she goes missing from Bomb Squad practice; she is at Abe’s house having sex.  Is Ceci choice to miss practice the worst in the world? Probably not. However, her choice to rely on Abe pulling out instead of using a reliable form of protection was pretty risky. Make sure you know how to stay protected. Check out all of your options at http://stayteen.org/birth-control-101!

Raised just outside of New York City, Alanna is a rising junior at the University of Maryland, College Park majoring in Behavioral and Community Health and minoring in Human Development.  She loves playing tennis, dancing, cooking, being involved in her sorority, being a tour guide on campus, and doing anything else that makes her laugh. Send Alanna an email!