Audre & Bash are Just Friends

Audre Mercy-Moore is the junior class president and debate team captain at Cheshire Prep, an elite school in Brooklyn, New York. Audre plans to become a famous psychologist, and she practices by providing unofficial therapy sessions for her classmates. On the afternoon of the last day of school, the junior class gathers for a party at one of the most affluent junior’s homes. While her classmates vape, drink, and kiss, Audre listens to a girl named Sparrow describe her relationship troubles. Sparrow has a crush on Bash Henry, a Black student who’s a senior at Hillcrest Prep, Cheshire’s rival school. Bash has only been in Brooklyn since February, but rumors about him breaking hearts and having wild exploits have already spread. Audre tries to listen to Sparrow, but she’s distracted by her eagerness for her annual trip to her father and stepmother’s beachside cottage in Malibu.

When Sparrow asks if she should change her appearance to attract Bash’s attention, Audre replies, “Sparrow, there’s someone out there dying to love you. Don’t ‘fix’ yourself before they get a chance to fall for the real you” (6). Sparrow marvels at her classmate’s wisdom, and Audre hopes that Stanford, which has the nation’s top psychology program, will be similarly impressed with her.