“I don’t mean to suggest you don’t have a future in photography, being on the creative side,” Mr. Winters says, too fast, like he’s worried he’s offended her. “I just know Ryan was the driving creative force behind this project, behind the camera, so I assumed, but I certainly don’t think that’s all you can—all you’re capable of—”

“I’m not sure what I want to do yet,” Lulu says.

“Well, that’s fine too, of course. And truly, if you ever want to talk—you know I’m happy to—”

“I know,” Lulu says.

Mr. Winters isn’t done with her for the day, though. He starts class with an announcement. “Usually Cinema Studies is a general survey,” he says. “But a general survey, as many of you know, tends to be a general survey of the history of white men.”

“Mr. W, so woke!” Isaac Levine pipes up from the back of the class.

“Woke Winters,” Doug Anderson agrees. “Winters woke.”

Mr. Winters laughs. “I’m not trying to earn any brownie points,” he says. “Or—what is it on the internet now—cookies? I just feel like, as one of the few teachers at this school not bound to get you to pass any kind of standardized test, maybe it’s my responsibility to broaden your curriculum a little bit. And I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how women are depicted on screen.”

The hand that’s been lingering, loose, at Lulu’s throat tightens its grip. It’s hard not to imagine his smile is directed at her.

“We’ll still be watching plenty of the classics—don’t worry, no one is taking A Clockwork Orange or The Usual Suspects off the syllabus,” he says. “But I wanted to start the semester with a little clinic on feminist filmmaking. So that when we watch the men, you have something to compare them to.”

Lulu’s hand is in the air before she can stop herself. Has she ever volunteered a comment in class before? Much less an opinion? But that was Lulu before, she thinks. This is Lulu after. This is scorched-earth Lulu; Lulu scorned. Lulu who isn’t going to get to say what she thinks about so much stuff, so she may as well say what she can, where she can.

Mr. Winters doesn’t exactly call on her, but Lulu starts talking anyway. “So the women are just, like, context,” she says. “For the work that the men have done?”

“I wouldn’t say that, exactly,” Mr. Winters says. “I think they’re both context for each other. You’ve been watching cinema made by men—”