grown-ish

Whyyyyy?!

My God.

It had only been three days since I left home

and my dad was already 5150.

It hurts so bad!

What hurts so bad, Dad?

My soul!

Dad, stop, seriously.

But you don't understand, Zo-Zo.

The world is a dangerous place now!

College is totally different than when I was coming up.

Okay, dude, you had Freaknik.

Lies!

Propaganda!

Freaknik never happened!

Okay, there are YouTube videos,

one of which I'm actually pretty sure you're in.

Okay, it was amazing.

And there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about it.

But I don't want that for you!

Dad, I don't want that for me.

You know, I got to go.

No! No, no, no, no, no.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Um, when you come home this weekend,

can we watch "The Breakfast Club" together?

Dad, I'm not coming home this weekend.

Aaaah!

But that's our favorite!

Don't forget about me!

That was the song's one rule.

- Bye, Dad. -

Three days.

Shell of a man.

I'd been in college for three days,

and at that moment, there was no way

my dad or anyone couldn't have told me that

I didn't already know everything I needed to know

to completely master this place

the same way I had in high school.

I knew it all.

I knew that Ronald J. Winthrop was our school founder,

and that he dabbled in slavery.

I knew that the Cal U basketball team of 1958

would get bodied by the Cal U basketball team today.

I knew that this was the women's bathroom

and also the men's bathroom.

I knew this was the campus hot spot...

this was the campus lame spot...

and this was the campus dead spot.

Hold on, Mom!

Did you say Dad was gay or game?

Gay or game?

Hello?

Damn it, Mom! Hello?!

Ugh, hey.

This reception is...

But the one thing I didn't know about college,

that I'd never admit to my dad or anybody else,

was that in all actuality,

I would soon discover that I didn't know anything.

Which was obvious because I was enrolled in a midnight class

that no one in their right mind would ever want to be in.

And I especially didn't know that

the same film my dad begged me to watch this weekend,

the same film that ignited our father-daughter bond,

the film that taught me how to apply lipstick with my boobs,

would be way closer to my real life than I ever knew.

Good evening, everyone.

If you're here for the Digital Marketing Strategies class,

you've come to the correct place.

If you're here to inquire about the listing for

a mixed-breed litter of

premature breech terrier puppies...

You've also come to the correct place.

I am Professor Dr. Charles Telphy.

Okay, freeze.

First of all, he's not a doctor,

and the fact that he's a professor

totally blows my mind.

I knew Charlie as the weird guy my dad works with.

All we got to do is plant some cocaine in her desk.

I'm pregnant and I hate you!

- Okay. -

Somehow, he's managed to keep his day job

while teaching this class.

As adjunct professor for the midnight-to-2:00-AM

"after-night-school" program,

I welcome you to a unique, new educational frontier.

Most of our jobs don't allow us to

go to school during normal hours.

Whores.

But the daylight belongs to the meek.

The bold own the night.

And with it, the future.

We're just into tomorrow before anyone else.

Do you hear that?

That's tomorrow happening today.

Now, this syllabus right here

is gonna break down the entire course

starting with week one... drones.

Week two, drones from the past.

Week three, drones of the future.

Basically, this will be an all-drones class.

- Why? - 'Cause they arose me.

So, just like "The Breakfast Club,"

these six losers who I normally

never would have even spoken to,

would not only become my friends,

but some of the closest people to me in my life.

Like Nomi... she's my boo.

What the are you looking at?

But it didn't exactly start off that way.

See, Nomi wasn't your typical Jewish-American princess.

In fact, she wasn't your typical anything.

She liked Rottweilers

and moshing at Swedish death-metal concerts.

She was a liberated woman

who didn't conform to the boundaries or laws

that her family, society,

or 49 of the 50 states deemed acceptable.

And then there were these two.

Hey, I'm Jazlyn! She's Skyler.

Are you guys...

- Twins? Totally.

B.T. Dubs, your hair is everything.

Despite their Simi Valley accent,

the twins from Tyler Perry's "The Shining"

were actually from the hood.

They were also Cal U's hottest track recruits,

which meant they were judged about everything,

just like the young, Black, female athletes

who came before them were scrutinized about

their speed, their bodies, even their edges.

But America's darlings were a far cry from this guy,

who had a different opinion about America.

This one's "Black Lives Matter," I got "I Can't Breathe,"

"Michelle 2020," "Justice for Kalief Browder,"

and "Free Assata Shakur."

Oh, and what's the bracelet for?

Um, that just...

lets the EMTs know that I have a peanut allergy.

Aaron and I met during freshman orientation.

He was a super-hot sophomore with a bunch of forearm tattoos

who somehow, against all odds, made a ducktail work.

Seriously, that should not work, right?

But questionable hair choices aside,

he had big plans to change the world.

Um, BSU's protesting the fact that Cal U

is changing the blackboards to whiteboards.

Why would they do that?

- - Here we go.

This dude.

Uh, is, uh, something funny, bro?

Nah, we get it.

You're, um, "woke."

Baby Basquiat over here is Luca,

the only freshman fly enough to rock the same skirt as me

and make me think about changing.

But not everyone was a fan.

Okay, my bad for caring about the culture.

Maybe I should be more like you

and spend all my free time ring shopping.

But then when would you have time to look for buttons?

Dude, would you keep it down?

This isn't the Magic Johnson Theatre.

But it'd be cool if it were.

He's a community entrepreneur.

So that dude who was about to get "World Starred" was Vivek,

a first-generation Gujarati Indian

born to a devoutly Hindu family.

He was a straight-A student and a National Merit Scholar,

and he had big dreams

of following in the footsteps of his hero.

No, not him.

And thank God not him.

Him.

So, I'm pretty sure you're wondering how a girl like me,

with perfectly threaded eyebrows and J.Law-level charm

wound up in a midnight class

full of puppies and meth addicts.

Well, you weren't the only one.

Uh, apparently some people in the administration