Winter Spring Summer or Fall

- What's going on over there? - That's Remi's place.

Who? Remi Aguilar?

What, is she famous or something? Yeah. I mean, kinda.

How was I?

- You were wonderful. - Great.

I mean, so calm. And eloquent.

You have a real camera presence.

I didn't sound too pretentious when I called

the other finalists my "peers"?

No, not at all. No, don't be ridiculous.

No, I mean, that's what they are. They are your peers.

I know, but that's such a gross word.

You know, I... I feel like the mere act of using it

makes me sound like some sort of snob.

You make a good point.

Carmen! What? I hear her argument.

- No. Thank you, Mom. - Yeah, yeah.

You are not a snob, okay?

- In no world are you a snob. - No.

She's like the smartest girl at my school.

Perfect SATs, perfect everything.

I heard she won some big Google fellowship thingy.

I bet they're interviewing her for that.

Is she cool? No idea.

I think I've said eight words to her in four years.

Who does she hang out with?

Honestly, I think her parents.

Okay, I think I'm all set.

Okay, well, text us when you get to Penn Station.

Yeah, and when you're safe in Stephanie's dorm.

You know, navigating the city alone could be a little overwhelming.

Yeah. I put some mace in your bag just in case.

- Where? What-- - Honey,

we just want to make sure you're okay.

I know, but I think I've been to New York enough times.

- It'll be fine. - Okay.

Better to have it and not need it, right? Exactly.

All right. I love you guys.

Love you. Love you.

Are you Remi?

Uh, yeah. Okay.

I thought so. I...

This is gonna sound, like, super weird, but I...

I was just talking about you today.

My friend was telling me about this, like, super smart girl

that won this Google award, and she, like,

lives across the street from him or whatever,

and I just saw you on the platform, and I thought, "Wow, crazy coincidence."

Kind of random, but I just thought, I don't know,

I thought it was cool, so I thought I would say hello.

I'm not a stalker.

Who's your friend? Oh, PJ.

Fader? Yeah. He... he lives...

Yeah, neighbor. Mm-hmm.

He's a drug dealer, right?

PJ? No.

Okay, I'm not naive.

There's people coming in and out of his place all afternoon.

Well, yeah, he-- I mean, he--

He sells weed sometimes, but he's not like a drug dealer.

I mean, his cousin lives in Colorado and sends him stuff

sometimes, and then he, you know, resells it to people he knows.

At a profit?

Okay... I see what you did there.

I'm Barnes, by the way.

Did you say "Barnes"? Barnes Hawthorne.

Barnes Hawthorne? Yeah, I know.

It makes me sound like a crusty old author or something.

I'm assuming that you're referring to Nathaniel Hawthorne?

I wouldn't call him crusty. You know...

I know, technically, he was a Puritan and whatever,

but he was really edgy and provocative for his time.

You know, just a direct influence to Emerson and Whitman,

and I don't know, I think there's crustier authors out there.

Right. Right, right, right. Just, yeah.

PJ said you were a genius. No. I'm not a genius.

Oh!

I'm on the floor tonight for the David Byrne show at the Beacon.

Really good seats. You said David Byrd?

David Byrne, like from... Talking Heads.

I'm stoked.

You know Talking Heads? No, I haven't--

I don't. Yeah. Really?

Oh, my God! Oh, my God.

Talking Heads are this New Wave band from the '80s,

and the lead vocalist, David Byrne, he's like the greatest performer ever.

He's such a crazy guy.

They made music, like, 40 years ago,

but it sounds like, it's from the future.

It's incredible. You have to check it out.

Yeah, I never even heard of them.

What about you?

Where are you going tonight? I'm visiting Columbia this weekend.

Okay... Is that where you're going next year?

Maybe, but I just want to see where I get in first.

I'm sure that's gonna be a real nail-biter.

What do you mean? Well, you're gonna get in everywhere.

No, not necessarily, I don't think.

Come on. I'm serious.

You've got perfect SAT scores.

You've got the whole Google thing.

You've got the whole Hispanic thing.

The whole Hispanic thing? Yeah.

You have-- "Aguilar" is Hispanic, no?

Yeah.

I don't see how that's relevant.

You don't? No, I don't.

I didn't mean it like, that you need a leg up or... or whatever.

You know, if you did-- Right obviously, you don't.

That's not what I'm-- I just mean if you did,

having that particular background wouldn't necessarily,

like, hurt your cause, you know?

I think I'm gonna... get back to my podcast.

Really? So, that's it? We're... we're done?

No worries, man.

I will relocate.

Yeah, I'm at the station now.

I'm getting on the second train.

Yeah, I know where I'm going.

Excuse me. Sorry. Sorry about that. Hey, Remi!

Remi!

Sorry. I'm still not stalking you.

Okay. I swear. I...

I made you a playlist.

What do you mean? Yeah, a...

a bunch of Talking Heads tracks that I thought you would like.

I made it public, like on my Spotify, so you can just--

You know, because I thought...

There's only one other Barnes Hawthorne on there,

but he's, like, you know, some old guy who listens to country music

and stuff like that, so I'm the other guy.

Okay.

Also don't shuffle it, because the order is intentional.

I started with the more, like, accessible, mainstream stuff,

and then down near the bottom, it gets into,

like, experimental territory, so it's... it's cool.

Just... yeah, so I don't know. Check it out on the train or something.

Yeah. Or don't.

You know, no pressure whatsoever. All right.

I wish you good luck at Columbia.

Thank you. Good talking to you.

Yeah, you too.

Hey!

Are you-- You're not-- You should take the three instead.

Why?

If you get on the local now,

it's going to make, like, a million stops.

It's gonna take forever.

But if you take the express to 92nd and then transfer to the local.

You're gonna save yourself, like, 30 minutes.

Are you sure? I'm going to the same place.

You said you were going to a concert?

I am. I'm... I'm stopping at my cousin's place first.

It's on 119th, so...

You take the express with me,

you're gonna save yourself a major headache later.

That's all I'm saying.

Sorry about before.

It's fine. You don't need to apologize.

I... I-- It was a little rude. I felt like a dick.

Yeah, maybe it was a little dickish.

Yeah. I hate when people make assumptions about me too.

Apology accepted.

Yeah? All right. Yeah.

Well, okay, so... let me start over.

I know you're not a shoo-in, but just for fun.

You get in everywhere you applied.

Where you gonna go?

Harvard. Boring.

Okay, yeah, whatever.

It's the predictable choice, but...

it's Harvard.

No, seriously, the courses, the professors, the resources...

they're insane.

Their track record for getting undergraduates

into top law schools is unbelievable.

You wanna be a lawyer.

Yeah, it's been, like, the thing since I was five.

Are your parents lawyers? Yeah.

My mom's a litigator and my dad's a consultant.

Who does he consult? Mostly lawyers.

Yeah, but they do corporate stuff.

I... I would do public sector.

So, advocacy and legislation, labor and employment too.

The plan is a circuit judgeship by 40.

Holy smokes.

That's making good time. That's... Wow, man.

Seems like you've got it all figured out.

What about you? What about me, what?

Where are you going? I'm not.

You're not going to college? Correct.

Yeah, but you applied. Nope.

People who don't even think they're going to get accepted apply.

I bet even PJ applied.

Seems like you're struggling to understand here.

Okay, so no college. What's the plan? What are you doing?

I'm taking a gap year. To do what?

What do you mean? How are you using your gap year?

For nothing. That's, like, the whole point.

Is it?