♪ Let me know ♪
♪ Aah‐aah ♪
♪ When I feel what I feel ♪
Zoey: Birthdays.
Traditionally, they're a time of celebration,
a moment to reflect on who you are,
who you were,
and where you're going.
And when it's your 21st birthday,
the moment takes on a whole new meaning.
It's the official milestone that ushers you into adulthood.
But in that moment,
all I really wanted to do
was make that one big wish for my future.
So I closed my eyes and took a deep breath...
and another...
and then another.
And suddenly, it dawned on me.
What does someone wish for when they already have it all?
[ Music slows, distorts ]
[ Crowd gasps ]
[ Crowd murmuring ]
♪ Watch out, world, I'm grown now ♪
♪ I'm grown ♪
♪ Learn something new every day ♪
♪ I don't know, so I'm‐a feel my way ♪
♪ Got the weight of the world on me ♪
♪ But no regrets, this is what I say ♪
♪ Watch out, world, I'm grown now ♪
♪ I'm grown ♪ ♪ You can tell me ♪
♪ My heart beating so loud ♪
♪ Mama, look, I'm grown now ♪
♪ I'm grown ♪
Deep breaths, Zoey.
In [Inhales deeply] and out.
Ooh. Mm, girl, you got it.
Zoey, I really think you need to go to the Health Center.
No! I don't!
I promise you, it was ‐‐
it was just a little panic attack.
But what if it wasn't?
My Great‐Aunt Debra would have fainting spells all the time.
Just blacked out at Chuck E. Cheese one day.
Turns out she had fibromyalgia.
Girl, goodbye. Zoey does not have fibromyalgia.
Zoey has Lyme disease.
First of all, I had Lyme disease.
Thank you for finding that tick, Ana.
And second of all,
you know, I'm already feeling much better.
Zoey, you need to rest.
You're obviously exhausted.
Between prepping for Joey's tour and studying for finals ‐‐
Planning your own birthday party ‐‐
Someone had to do it.
And not to mention Aaron not speaking to you.
Look, if you won't go to the Health Center,
will you at least please go lie down?
Please?
Fine.
But only because the soundtrack to my childhood
was "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom."
My greatest hit.
♪♪
♪ Here we go, here we go ♪
♪♪
Oh, shit.
It's my new favorite black couple
dressed as my old favorite white couple.
Y'all look amazing!
Thank you.
But just so you know, technically,
this Britney/Justin look is early 2000s,
and this is a '90s party.
Wait, what are you talking about?
This isn't a costume.
This is from my line ‐‐ Anti‐Muse.
It is?
Hey, it's all good.
Y'all are still #YeehawGoals.
Have fun.
Yee‐haw!
Javi, no! What if someone sees us making out?
You mean if they see Vanilla Ice making out with Selena?
Who's gonna believe that?
[ Chuckles ]
Hey, guys.
Hi.
Everything okay?
Oh, no. Did Zoey take a turn for the worse?
No, no, no. She's fine.
It's ‐‐ I'm just upset because Aaron and I
were supposed to coordinate our "Pulp Fiction" costumes,
but he's obviously not showing up,
so now I'm just a well‐dressed man in a wig.
I have no context.
A girl asked me if I was Tina Fey.
Ohh. I'm sorry.
♪ What, what, w‐w‐what, what ♪
Why is your sister staring at us?
Hold up. You been keeping track of your drinks?
We have practice tomorrow.
Yeah. This is my third one, and after this, I'm done.
'Cause after three drinks, I turn into a freak,
and me and Rodney are trying to take things slow.
We've only done mouth stuff.
Why are you lying?
[ Chuckles ] I just do that sometimes.
[ Chuckles ]
I'm‐a holla at Jazzy Jeff.
Okay.
[ Chuckles ]
What's up, love? How you doing?
Doug!
You look great!
Thank you.
Where you been, stranger?
I been trying to give you a little bit of this Doug passion all night.
Oh!
You know, I've been, um...
I've just been chillin'.
Yeah. Mm‐hmm.
Y'all look nice.
You should've told me you was doing "Poetic Justice" Janet.
I would've...came through with "Poetic Justice" Tupac.
I mean, you're still 'Pac. It works.
Yeah. Alright.
Ooh! I really feel those drinks catching up to me.
I should hit the ladies' room.
See you in a minute?
Yo, is something wrong? Not at all.
Anyone who's never seen your belly button is in for a real treat.
I‐I'm talking about with Jazz.
Yo, everything's been off.
Our communication, our interaction.
Has she told you anything?
I really think you need to talk to my sister.
I've tried, but for the past two weeks,
she's been super‐distant.
Like, I know she's stressed out about track,
but if I could just help her,
maybe she can open up to me about what's going on.
Look, could you please be honest?
Please? [ Sighs ] Alright.
Okay?
Yes, the reason why she's been acting a little weird
is, uh...
it's you.
Me? What the hell did I do?
It's just you and her, your relationship,
it ‐‐ it really just steals her focus away from track,
and right now, she's just been trying to figure it all out.
God, you should really be having this conversation
with my sister. No, man, forget that.
I already feel like a clown for being at this party
when she's barely even been speaking to me.
I mean, look at me.
I got on a [bleep] bald cap, man.
♪♪
So, even after a little rest,
I still couldn't stop my head from spinning.
Trying to make that one wish got me thinking about
who I was and where I was going.
♪♪
Samuel L. Jackson?
Are you okay, Freshman?
I am now.
[ Sighs ] I gotta admit,
you had me pretty worried there for a second.
Well...I had to find some way to get you to my party, yeah?
I did hear
that you basically nosedived into your birthday cake,
and that just doesn't sound like
the right way to blow out candles.
Yeah, well, you're a really good friend,
and certainly a much better one than I've been to you.
Aaron, I am so sorry.
I really should have come through for you for that interview,
and the fact that I ‐‐ Zoey, stop, stop, okay?
I know.
That's one thing about you.
Y‐You're self‐absorbed, clueless,
you don't see yourself, like, at all,
but you're never malicious.
Even though you mess up, like, 99.99...
.999...
[ Laughs ]
...9 percent of the time, okay,
you go above and beyond to fix it,
and that means a lot.
Wait, so, does that mean that you forgive me?
For now, yeah. Sure.
So, how's it going? How you feeling?
Um, good.
I'm just a little tired, probably a little overwhelmed.
Overwhelmed with what?
Everything.
I mean, finals, school, work,
you ‐‐ until you showed up.
Well, you can take me off your plate now.
Oh, that's good, 'cause it'll free up some space
for this huge tour Joey just dropped in my lap.
I honestly don't know how I'm gonna balance it all.
So don't balance it. W‐Who's forcing you to do that?
No one, but what's my alternative?
To just quit?
Sure. You know?
I‐I mean, you're being unrealistic.
You're doing too much.
Isn't that just what it means to be an adult, though?
Zoey, you just became an adult literally
less than 24 hours ago, okay?
[ Chuckles ] Right.
You have your ‐‐ your whole entire life
to do all the things that you want to do.
You can't attack everything at once.
You know?
Royale with cheese?
♪♪
Hey. Hey.
Have you seen Doug around? I can't find him anywhere.
Do you think I drove him away?
Uh...
I think I might've.
What are you talking about?
He pulled me aside earlier to ask, uh, what was up with you.
Okay.
And what did you say?
Nothing. Nothing.
I ju‐‐ I just told him that part of the reason
you might have been stressed lately is because of track.
And?
And...also, that he's the main reason
you've lost sight of your life's passion
because you're so consumed by his penis.
I'm so, so sorry. I know I probably overstepped.
I've just ‐‐ I've had one too many drinks.
This is so messed up. I know!
But you're the one who hasn't been straight up with him,
which is why he came to me...
not wearing a shirt,
looking so vulnerable, yet thuggish.
I'm ‐‐ I'm sorry, okay?
I just ‐‐ Sky, please, stop!
Just do me a favor and back up!
You have been all in my shit lately,
from my relationship to my times.
From now on, please just stay in your lane
and I'll stay in mine.
♪ Don't give me no bammer weed ♪
♪ We don't smoke that shh in the SFC ♪
♪ Three, two, one, comin' in with a bang ♪
♪ 2 Paso Robles, not a Frisco thang ♪
♪ Pimps with limps, never known as simps ♪
♪ We smoke dank 'cause bammer ain't legit ♪
♪ Damn, that bamm‐‐ ♪ [ Record scratches ]
[ Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell" plays ]
♪ It was a teenage wedding, and the old folks wished them well ♪
♪ You could see that Pierre did truly love the mademoiselle ♪
♪ And now the young monsieur... ♪
Dude, what is all this?
You needed a costume partner.
I can't believe you did this for me.
All I did was put on a white shirt
and cut my Selena wig.
Yeah, but now I'm not just a man in a wig.
Like, I have context!
Thank you so much.
Of course! You're my roommate.
You're always so generous with your drug money.
It's the least I could do.
[ Chuckles ]
Oh, my gosh. He came.
What?
My Jules is here.
And he brought me a Royale with cheese!
What?!
♪ "C'est la vie," say the old folks ♪
♪ It goes to show you never can tell ♪♪
♪ Monica, Monica, Monica, oh, Monica ♪
♪ Stalkin' and hawkin' and jockin', and she follow ya ♪
♪ What she don't know is that I went and followed ya ♪
[ Sighs ]
Hey, sunshine!
Mm. How you feeling?
[ Laughing ] So much better.
My head finally feels clear of all the noise,
and I actually owe the clarity
to Mr. Samuel L. Aaron Jackson over here.
Really? Yeah.
No, you helped me realize that I need to stop
with all the back‐and‐forth and trying to juggle everything.
And as difficult as it is, I am an adult
and I need to start making some adult decisions.
So, um... guys, uh...
...I think I'm quitting.
Wow. This is ‐‐ This is good. Good for you.
I mean, I know right now, it may seem a little difficult,
but you have your whole life to become a stylist,
and I'm sure Joey will understand.
No, Aaron, I'm not quitting my dream job of being a stylist.
I'm quitting Cal U.
♪♪
Hmm?
♪♪
Zoey, when ‐‐ when you fell...
did you hit your head?
Are you concussed? No.
I just feel like right now, I may have outgrown Cal U.
Hold up, Zoey. I never, ever said "Drop out of college."
Sure, you didn't, but you pointed to all the reasons
why I should,
and the most natural thing to eliminate
feels like college.
Really?
That feels more natural
than quitting a job as a stylist for a rapper
that spells his name with two dollar signs?
Think about it. I have my dream job right now.
What's another year at Cal U really gonna get me,
except wasting more of my parents' money
and losing momentum on a career I've already started?
I just think you're setting yourself up for failure.
But why?
Plenty of creative people
can be successful without degrees.
Big facts. Mark Zuckerberg, Diddy, Kanye ‐‐
Dude, stop. Those are all outliers, okay?
I don't know anybody personally without a degree
who's ballin' on that level.
Unless we're talking about drug dealers.
Then I know like three.
Uh, Slippery Jeff... um...
oh, Fat Hakim... and Dave.
You know Dave. I love Dave.
O...kay, come on. Jillian, back me up.
Remember when I missed my cover shoot, and you said
that you would drop out of school in a heartbeat
if that meant that you could direct a film?
Nah, see, I actually said that I would miss the final,
not drop out of college altogether.
I'm sorry. There's just no way I wouldn't get my degree.
[ Smacks lips ]
But that's just me, though, you know?
I don't know what it's like to be a black woman in styling.
I just know how hard it is in my industry,
and I don't want to give people any reason to keep me out.
Bigger facts, okay?
Aside from education, college is about proving to ourselves
that we can see something through, you know?
Zoey has seen something through, though.
I mean, she got a magazine cover in six months.
Imagine what she could pull off if she wasn't here.
Yeah. Yes, but also think
about how disappointed her parents will be
to have two college dropouts in the family.
That's the beauty of being 21.
For once in my life,
I don't have to answer to anyone except myself.
So...how about we go enjoy the final hours
of my 21st birthday party?
Yeah?
Aaron: Okay. [ Laughing ] Come on.
Yeah. Come on.
Whoo‐hoo!
Whoo!
[ Knock on door ]
Doug, I am so, so sorry about what Sky said.
Why are you so, so sorry?
Apparently, I‐I'm the one that should be so, so sorry,
being that I'm the problem.
You're not the problem.
So, what the hell was Sky talking about?
[ Exhales sharply ]
I guess I've just been feeling like these past few months,
I have been so consumed in this relationship
that it's been affecting my focus.
W‐What, and you didn't think I was mature enough
to understand that?
You just wanted to push me away?
I was pushing you away for me.
When I saw you at that party earlier,
you don't think I just wanted to grab you and ignore everyone else?
Then you should've.
No, I couldn't!
Because we would've had an amazing night,
and in the morning, I would've had to distance myself
all over again,
and I don't want to keep putting us through that.
Then I am the problem.
No!
No.
[ Exhales sharply ]
This relationship is the problem.
As difficult as these past two weeks
have been without you...
my times have improved.
The reality is,
I can't balance track and this relationship.
I get it.
So, we're breaking up.
No! No, no, no, no.
[ Laughing ] We're not breaking up.
Um...
But...
I've given it some thought,
and...
the only way I'm gonna make it
through Olympic trials successfully
is to take a break.
But just a temporary one while I train.
I'm ‐‐ I'm so confused right now.
What are you saying?
I guess what I'm saying is,
while I train for the next six months...
will you wait for me?
♪♪
[ Digable Planets' "Rebirth of Slick" plays ]
[ Indistinct conversations ]
♪ Cool like dat, I'm cool like dat ♪
♪ I'm cool like dat, I'm cool like dat ♪
♪ I'm cool like dat, I'm cool, cool, cool ♪
You know, I saw what you did back there for your friend
when you changed costume.
Oh, you mean when I played myself?
I don't think you played yourself.
I actually think that was amazing.
Oh, wait! What if someone sees?!
Who cares?
Let 'em see.
♪♪
What up, Chief?
Hey.
Where you headed?
Oh, I'm just headed to the Dean's office
to discuss some options.
So, you're still thinking about leaving, huh?
Mm‐hmm. Just trying to figure it out.
Well, let me just put it out there.
If I got one argument for you to stay, it's that...
Cal U won't be the same without its Zoey Johnson.
Mm.
That's sweet.
Jillian's a very lucky girl.
Really happy for y'all. I am.
Well, thanks.
I'm happy, too.
Mm.
Good luck with your decision, kid.
Thanks.
[ Smooches ]
♪♪
[ Treadmill whirring ]
Dropping out of college...
is an extremely big decision,
and it shouldn't be taken lightly, Zoey.
Do you know...
how...disappointed...
your father...
would be?
Ah!
[ Treadmill beeps, whirring stops ]
[ Breathing heavily ]
Whew!
Look, I get that there's gonna be a lot of people that are...
not in agreeance with me, including my father,
but technically, I don't need his consent.
Well, since we're speaking in technicalities,
technically, you have one more week
to make a final decision.
Now, why don't you take some time to think about it ‐‐
you know, meditate, pray,
even run. [ Chuckles ]
But just make sure you don't run in your church shoes.
I'm pretty sure my feet are bleeding.
Look, it's just that... right now,
I feel like dropping out might be the best decision for me.
[ Exhales sharply ]
Look, I get it.
I do.
I just don't want you to make a decision
that you're gonna regret the rest of your life.
Would you at least give it one week
before you pull the trigger?
♪♪
[ Door closes ]
Hey.
How'd it go?
Good!
Uh, really, really good.
Good.
Yeah. Great.
Um...
so, what'd you decide?
I decided...
I'm officially no longer a Cal U student.
Wow.
Damn. Um...
Congratulations, I guess...
is what I should say.
I don't know. Somehow, I feel like this is my fault
that you're making this decision.
But it's totally not.
If anything, it's ‐‐
your advice gave me the clarity I needed,
like it always does.
So, I guess this means I can't call you "Freshman" anymore.
Okay, I'm always going to be Freshman.
You gonna miss me at all?
Yes. I'm gonna miss you.
[ Chuckles ]
I'm gonna miss you, too.
♪ Can't hit me when you rain so low ♪
Well, I'll catch you.
Zoey, wait.
Hmm?
♪ You make seasons change with no fair warning ♪
♪ How you make seasons change without saying something ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ All these reasons... ♪
Now we're even.
♪ ...lead you to running ♪
The night of my 21st birthday party,
I never did get to make my official birthday wish.
But the truth was, deep down,
I knew exactly what I wanted.
And now all that was left was for me to go out there
and make those dreams come true for myself.
Nomi: I'm really bummed I missed your actual birthday.
Mm‐hmm. I know.
I just can't wait to download you on everything, though.
Okay, but first, I really want party details, okay? Okay.
Did Ana get too drunk and vomit everywhere?
But also, did Aaron get butt naked again?
No.
But he and I, like, kinda, sorta kissed again.
[ Chuckles ] Oh, my God.
I know! And this time, he initiated it.
I mean, it was crazy ‐‐ No, no, no, Zoey.
I think my water just broke.
I mean, I was talking.