The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus

Alice has embarked on an affair with Julian and meets him in his office every Tuesday afternoon. He also meets her after rehearsals and at random times throughout the week, taking her to his apartment. She knows that he is married and that his wife assumes he is working late, but she doesn’t let this situation bother her. However, she is beginning to chafe at his controlling nature. She feels that he wants more than she does, and she keeps reassuring herself that she will leave the affair when she is tired of it.

She is reluctant to speak about the affair to Pen, worried that Pen will believe Alice to be reenacting her parents’ marriage, which has been marred by her father’s frequent affairs.

At dinner in the cafeteria, Flossie sits with Pen and shows her some gossip magazines that include photos of Sasha skiing with his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Lady Charlotte “Lottie” Rutherford. Pen feels a wave of self-pity.

Increasingly isolated from her friends and now cramming for exams, she finally downloads chat on her computer one night. Both Chet and Sasha reach out, and Sasha says that they have missed her. He adds that George thinks she has met a boy. Pen tells Sasha that she has (meaning Fergus), and ends the chat abruptly. She calls Jo and Alice but receives no answer. When she falls asleep, she has a dream in which she is carrying her father’s suitcase. Upon awakening, she is annoyed by the heavy-handed metaphor that her subconscious invented.

Pen finishes exams, feeling a sense of calm and relief. She, Jo, and Alice dress carefully and attend the Reeling Ball. She dances well, and towards the end of the night, she kisses Fergus. After dinner, they go back to his room, and this time she intends to have sex with him. However, they are interrupted when Hugo and some other friends burst in with drinks. Fergus kicks them out and locks the door, but Pen is now nervous and feels that the moment is ruined. She is relieved when she realizes that Fergus is struggling to maintain an erection, so she gently ends the evening, happy to escape but not realizing how embarrassed he is.

While on the bus to the airport, Alice is saddened to feel a new distance between herself and Pen. The night before, Hugo and the other boys had reported to everyone that they caught Pen and Fergus making out, and rumors continued to fly all night, becoming more and more salacious. Alice doesn’t tell Pen about the gossip because she doesn’t want to worry her, and she hopes that by the end of the winter break, no one will remember or care.

She also reflects on how much she cares about Charlie and his friendship. She worries that his idea of her would change if he knew about Julian. At the airport, she and Pen hug goodbye. Pen is travelling home, and Alice is meeting her family in Mexico, hoping that some time on the beach will help her to forget her troubles.

Ted picks Pen up from the airport, and she is relieved to see him. He drives her to Anna’s house and leaves without coming to say hello. She is happy to see her mother and their dog and relaxes into life at her childhood home. She tries to talk to her mother about the Lennoxes but realizes that the subject is painful to her, so she stops. They kiss goodnight.

Over breakfast, Anna apologizes for being evasive about the Lennoxes. She tells Pen that when Ted was establishing his career and spending a lot of time in London, she suffered the first of several miscarriages. Anna’s foster father also died, and she didn’t get to say goodbye to him. She also tells Pen that they had chosen the name of “Elliot” for the son they lost. Although Anna is happy with her life now, she still finds those years difficult to reflect upon.

Pen spends the next weeks in a blur of festive activity. When she visits her father, she doesn’t learn any new information, but she does notice signs of a woman’s presence in his apartment cabinets, and she realizes that he is seeing someone. She also gets texts from George and Sasha and realizes that she misses the Lennoxes. She decides that she is not the wronged party in her previous visit and realizes that she barged in during an awkward weekend for the Lennox family. She and Sasha share a brief, flirty text exchange, and she feels happy and hopeful.

When Anna bids Pen goodbye, she gives Pen her old diaries from when she first met Ted, saying that although she no longer remembers what it feels like to be Pen’s age, the diaries might bridge the gap. At the door, Ted arrives to pick Pen up, and to her surprise, he and Anna exchange a formal but friendly greeting.

Back in Edinburgh, Alice is determined to focus on engaging in normal first-year activities. During her vacation, she saw a photo of Julian on Facebook with his pregnant wife under a sign that read “It’s a Girl.” Horrified by his behavior and her own, she texted him to tell him that their affair is over, and she resolves never to see him again.

She has lunch with Jo, and the two confess their secrets to one another. Alice admits the truth about Julian and declares that she is through with him, to Jo’s relief. Jo tells her that she has reconnected with Sylvia and has been meeting her during the times when she told everyone she was studying. Jo also says that the rumor mill is flying about Pen and Fergus as well as Pen and Sasha; Alice angrily defends Pen’s reputation.

After lunch, they meet Pen at the dorm and tease her about her suitors while she unpacks.

Avoiding Julian, Alice goes to the TV lab, which is dark and abandoned. She is shocked when he finds her there and tries to force himself on her. She fights back, and he leaves, but not before insulting her by declaring that she won’t last long with another man. Alice runs towards the French building to find Pen.

Julian is fuming and cannot believe that Alice has rejected him. He feels that he is owed sex. Also, because he is not attracted to his pregnant wife, he is angry that Alice no longer wants to continue their affair. He also suspects that she might have gossiped about him to her friends. During the tutorial, he is surprised when Pen seems to be flirting with him. She gives him her phone number, and the two exchange some texts. Later, Pen meets Julian at a bar and slips some underwear into his pocket, telling him that she has been jealous of Alice. She leaves early, before he can kiss her.

In Alice’s dorm, Pen explains her plan to Jo, telling her about Julian’s attack on Alice and their lack of evidence proving that the incident occurred. Pen decided to make sure to get enough evidence of Julian’s behavior so that she and Alice can go to the dean and report him.

The other girls help Pen to flirt with Julian via text until he sends her a dick pic, thus sealing his fate. They all fall asleep in Alice’s dorm as they watch Audrey Hepburn’s War and Peace and comfort Alice, who does not want to be alone.