grown-ish

College is a minefield. There's so much to juggle.

Classes, homework, and parties, obviously.

A wise man once told me that to balance it all,

everyone has their thing.

I didn't know what he was talking about at the time,

but it was so true.

For college kids who like to party,

the baseline is beer, weed, questionable Jell-O shots.

- - Then it gets interesting.

You've got your pill poppers.

- They love their Oxy, -

- their Vico, their Norco. -

You know, girls raised by their nannies

who hate themselves as much as the calories in alcohol.

Then there's people who do Molly, poppers, coke...

My thing? I dabble.

I like a nice buzz, but I don't get, like, White-girl wasted.

But the tricky part to having a thing

was knowing how to balance it all,

and I hadn't been doing so well.

- -

Ana, why didn't you wake me up?

I missed class!

Oh, hey.

What's good with your roommate?

- - Oh, no!

Zoey! Where are you going?

I don't know.

You missed our class.

Yeah.

Don't worry though. I got you covered.

Told the professor you were getting an abortion.

Wait, what? Why would you do that?

I'm already stressed as is.

How about, "Thank you, Luca"?

Okay? You need to loosen up.

Let me get you right.

You know that's not my thing.

Well, you got to find your thing,

'cause whatever your thing is dead-ass isn't working.

And you also literally have your pants on backwards.

Well, smoking weed at 11:00 AM

isn't gonna solve my problems.

What's, like, good with you?

Like, when I first met you, I really vibed with you.

You were on some official shit.

Now you're kind of just, like,

every other kid running around here.

What's that supposed to mean?

It means, like, you act like you have it all together,

meanwhile none of us have it all together.

You just need to chill out and medicate your situation.

I don't have time for this, so can you go?

Because I need to turn my pants around

and make it to my next class.

Whatever.

But our project.

What's good with that? It's due Friday.

We got to get working on it, so...

You want to stay up tonight?

Yeah. No, damn, no, I can't,

um, because I have a James Baldwin exhibit thingy.

Th-That's cool.

- I-I don't want to go. - Oh, sucks.

Well, we could do tomorrow or the night after that,

I just can't be pinned down right now.

Fine. Can you just please come up with ideas tonight?

'Cause I don't want to be behind on this project

while you're at this James Baldwin thing

that I'm totally not invited to and totally don't want to go to.

Dude, do you want to come?

Nah, I can't. My mom's in town.

But you're sweet, though.

Thanks?

These are some fun pictures.

I used to have that hoodie.

Oh, my God.

You reek!

How much weed did you smoke?

Clearly not enough

to be at a whack-ass student photography show.

If this is an "experimental art" exhibit,

then where are all of the dicks?

This is socially conscious photography

based on the work of James Baldwin.

Is it? Or is it just a bunch of sad photos

of little Black kids holding melting ice cream?

Mm.

Well, I also saw a couple sad photos

of tiny Black hands holding onto chain link fences.

You did not bring us here to look at those.

- Mm? - You brought us here to look at that.

Wait, what? What's Aaron doing here?

Oh, my God. I see him everywhere.

I know. I think it's 'cause you're stalking him.

I'm not stalking him.

I'm totally stalking him.

- Hey. - Oh, hey.

What's up? How are you?

Hey.

What are you doing here?

Um... Okay.

Uh, I-I kind of helped set this whole thing up.

- Wow. - Yeah.

I didn't know you were into Baldwin.

That's pretty deep for a freshman.

Of course.

And you act like you're so old yourself, grandpa.

Just pull out the slippers and tell us what Y2K was like.

Oh, wow, okay, I see.

So you got jokes?

Look, we're going to Papa K's after this.

You should come.

You heard that, right?

He just invited me to Papa K's.

Papa K's, he basically just proposed

and so, of course my answer is...

Yeah, we'll see what happens.

Well, okay, freshmen.

Maybe I'll see you there.

Maybe he'll see you there?

I mean, what kind of stalker would you be

if you decided to take off the night

to do the homework you've been talking about

for, like, three weeks?

My God, I'm not a stalker.

This place is packed.

I don't see anything in here

worth cracking open a new box of Plan B.

Guys.

- Guys. - Mm-hmm?

I see Aaron and he sees me.

Are you guy seeing us see each other right now?

- You see that, right? - Kind of.

- Ooh, okay. - Okay.

- You know, you go. - Oh! That's my bad.

- Hey. - What's up?

- You made it. - Yeah.

Um, grab a table.

Oh. Anywhere?

Oh, you want me to scooch? I can scooch.

Hey, you, homeboy.

Uh, could you scooch or get that to go?

- It's just a salad. - I'm begging you to stop.

I actually see a table open by the bathrooms.

Okay. Well, that's where... that's where we'll be.

By the bathroom where all the action happens.

Tally ho.

- All right. - Okay.

Hey. Hey, I didn't know you guys were gonna be here.

Oh. Yeah, well, Aaron invited me.

Us, too!

Ooh.

Yeah, he invited a whole gang of people. Yeah.

Is there anyone he didn't invite?

I don't think he invited that guy

who's fixing the TV over there.

- Oh, no, he did. - Oh, he did?

- Mm-hmm. - Oh.

Zoey, I thought you knew that

this was, like, a group invitation?

Uh, no.

He said, "Okay, Freshman. Maybe I'll see you there."

- Yeah. - Freshman.

That's what he calls me.

We have cute nicknames for each other.

Freshman, Sophomore?

Yeah, but he said freshmen with an "e."

Not freshman with an "a."

Okay, freshmen.

Freshmen.

Let me grab a round of calzones

for those Tri-Pis over at table four.

Tell them V-Digital the Great's in the building.

I will not.

So, the night was a total bust.

Turns out Aaron wasn't checking for me.

He was checking for the entire student body,

and I still had a ton of work to do.

I had a fashion project with Luca,

not to mention a 25-page paper

on this woman who I thought was Judge Judy.

This will change your life.

Oh, my God, those are drugs!

Those are illegal drugs!

Dude, you want to get me arrested?

I really hope Aaron didn't see you offer that to me.

Zoey, it's just Adderall.

I know what it is.

My little brother should be on it.

My dad, too.

No, this is what half the student body is using