Alice Moore, an eighteen-year-old student newly arrived from Scotland, attends a party at a blue co-op near campus with her suitemates Jana, Rachel, and Lizbeth. Feeling out of place and disconnected, she lingers against a green wall, clutching a cup of harsh liquor and using her phone as a shield while she scans for familiar faces. She reflects on differences in accents and the awkward dynamics with the other girls on her floor, particularly Hannah, Sam, and Elle, and recalls a strained exchange about attraction that she avoided by not disclosing she is gay.

Overwhelmed by the noise and social pressure, Alice considers leaving, then remembers her sister Catty’s past reassurance that panic can feel like excitement. Seeking a reset, she slips down the hall to a dim bedroom with an en suite bathroom to collect herself. In the harsh light, she confronts her reflection and her uncertainty about her looks and presence, smudging her eye makeup into a deliberate mask that briefly lets her imagine a more self-possessed version of herself.

Inspired, Alice invents a game with rules: when she exits the bathroom, she will turn right back into the party, not left toward the door, and play the part of a confident “New Alice” for one hour. She sets an internal deadline at eleven o’clock, kisses the mirror as a marker of intent, and switches off the light, newly determined to step into a bolder role.

She throws open the bathroom door, ready to reenter the party with this renewed persona—only to be stopped short by the sight of a girl sitting on the bed in the darkened bedroom, an unforeseen encounter that halts Alice’s momentum at the threshold of her transformation.