7 Book Scenes We Need To See in 'Off Campus' Season 2

1 week ago 12

Published May 21, 2026, 5:53 PM EDT

Jessica is a journalist, editor, TCA critic, and multimedia storyteller with a decade of experience covering pop culture, film, TV, women's sports, lifestyle, and more. She earned her degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington with a focus in creative writing before moving to N.Y.C. and getting her start at The Huffington Post. (She still misses those nap pods.) She's covered multiple film festivals, recapped some of your favorite series, worked too many red carpets to count, and even yapped on a podcast or two. When she’s not interviewing your favorite showrunner or ranking Ryan Gosling's best roles for places like UPROXX, Teen Vogue, Marie Claire, The Daily Beast, and Cosmopolitan, she’s busy being a full-time hype woman to her cat, Finn. You can find her on Bluesky and, sadly, Twitter.

Spoiler Alert: This list contains spoilers for Elle Kennedy's Off-Campus book series.Prime Video's adaptation of Elle Kennedy's Off Campus series is built like a hockey-themed Bridgerton, with five interconnected books and a new lead couple per season. Season 1 made the rare move of giving viewers two romance arcs in the time most streamers limp through one. Hannah (Ella Bright) and Garrett (Belmont Cameli) got the official slow-burn from The Deal. But somewhere along the way, the show smuggled in a sizable chunk of the third book, The Score, the one starring Allie Hayes (Mika Abdalla) and Dean Di Laurentis (Stephen Kalyn).

Showrunner Louisa Levy has been open about the seeding being deliberate: she likes to introduce the next season's leads mid-current-season, so viewers don't lose interest in the handoff, and Allie and Dean's secret-relationship structure in the book made it easy to slip in. With so many key scenes from The Score already teased in Off Campus Season 1, we're scratching our heads as to what the writers could possibly add to pad out the couple's story. But hey, we're being put on ice for an entire hiatus, so why not make a list of BookTok's biggest demands, so fans can theorize about where these two lovable dummies are headed? Here are the book scenes Off Campus Season 2 has to nail.

The Mid-Hookup Near Miss

Allie and Dean dancing at a party in 'Off Campus' Season 1.

In the book, Dean and Allie are mid-hookup in her bedroom when Hannah makes a surprise appearance. What follows is a frantic, whispered scramble with Allie trying to act normal in a very compromised position and Dean doing his best to get them caught. It's a classic rom-com set-up and something both Abdalla and Kalyn already proved they could pull off in Season 1. (Remember the bathtub scene?)

Off Campus is at its best when it lets its cast be silly. Season 1 leaned on the tension and tenderness of Allie and Dean's situationship, but the most memorable moments allow both characters to just be funny. Plus, watching Dean obsess over Allie's favorite French soap opera might just solve toxic masculinity for an entire generation of men.

The Thanksgiving Carpool

Dean, Allie, and Beau in a car in 'Off Campus' Season 1.

The show condensed Allie and Dean's Thanksgiving rendezvous into its own modified version. But it totally skipped the part where, in Dean's car, somewhere on I-95, he finally explains why he's allergic to monogamy. Miranda was his high school girlfriend. They agreed to break up before college, but when the time came, she didn't take it well. She initiated a drunk hookup, then threatened self-harm after he ended things for real, which torched his relationship with her father, who happens to be a hockey coach with a long memory.

Dean's playboy reputation has done so much narrative work in this show that it desperately needs a counterweight. With Miranda, the playboy becomes a guy who has been protecting himself against a specific past. Levy already said that the Hunter twist exists in part to "tee up a mystery for what Dean has going on in his backstory." Miranda is likely part of that mystery, so maybe this reveal won't happen on the road, but it needs to happen somewhere.

The "Imprinted" Scene

Beau, Dean, and John standing at table in 'Off Campus' Season 1, Episode 2.

In the book, Dean confesses to his bestie Beau Maxwell (Khobe Clarke) that he physically can't get aroused by anyone but Allie. Not even his trusty spank bank streaming videos are doing it for the poor guy these days. Beau, blessedly, compares his very particular case of erectile dysfunction to, what else, Twilight. Specifically, when Jacob (Taylor Lautner) imprints on Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy) in Breaking Dawn. The metaphor sticks. "Imprinting" becomes Dean's word for what's happening to him, and the chapter has been BookTok shorthand ever since.

Season 1 gave the conversation a blink-and-miss nod. Season 2 has the room to let it actually land. Or, hear us out, the show could blow it up into a locker-room scene with the whole team riffing on Dean's Stephenie Meyer situation?

The Call About Beau

Beau and Dean in 'Off Campus' Season 1, Episode 2.

This is the moment The Score breaks us (emotionally). Beau dies in a car accident, and Dean's new identity as a guy who is actually figuring out how to love someone comes apart at the seams. He spirals into drugs and withdraws from Allie while the rest of the group absorbs the loss without him, and the book stays inside his head for most of the disintegration. The show has to find a way to put all of that on screen without shortchanging grief like so many romance adaptations often do.

Off Campus was smart to position itself as a romance show that is willing to flirt with darker themes in the name of storytelling stakes. Hannah carried that weight in Season 1, and even Garret got a more serious, trauma-informed arc before the end. Beau's death is Dean and Allie's equivalent: the moment where the banter stops mattering, and the relationship has to actually hold up under conflict and tragedy.

Collider Exclusive · The Sorting Hat Awaits Which Hogwarts House Are You? Gryffindor · Slytherin · Hufflepuff · Ravenclaw

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ACourage — I act even when I'm afraid, because what's right matters more than what's safe. BAmbition — I know what I want and I have the drive and cunning to get there. CLoyalty — I show up for the people I love, no matter what it costs me. DWisdom — I think before I act and I'm always hungry to understand more.

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A friend is being treated unfairly. What do you do? How you protect others says everything about who you are.

AStep in immediately and confront whoever is responsible — I won't stand by. BWork out the best strategy to address it — a smart move beats a rash one. CBe by their side, support them, and help them through it however they need. DAnalyse what's actually happening and find the most reasoned, fair solution.

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What does success look like to you? What you're working toward defines who you're becoming.

ABeing remembered as someone who fought for what was right, whatever the odds. BAchieving the goals I set for myself — influence, status, and earned respect. CA life where the people I care about know I was there for them, always. DMastering my field, contributing something meaningful, and never stopping learning.

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What is your greatest fear? Fear is the most honest thing about a person.

ABeing a coward when it mattered — looking back and knowing I did nothing. BMediocrity — fading into obscurity without making my mark on the world. CLosing the people I love or letting them down when they needed me most. DIgnorance — being wrong and not knowing it, or never reaching my potential.

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The rules say no. Your gut says go. What do you do? Every institution has rules. What you do with them is a choice.

ABreak the rules — if it's the right thing to do, no rule should stop me. BFind a way to get what I want without getting caught. Rules are guidelines. CProbably follow the rules — but I'd find a way to help within them if I could. DThink it through carefully — is the rule unjust, or is my gut just impatient?

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What kind of friend are you? Who you are to the people you love is who you really are.

AThe protector — I will go to the ends of the earth for the people I care about. BThe strategist — I give sharp advice and I'm the one who figures out how to fix things. CThe constant — I'm always there, always reliable, and I never make it about me. DThe guide — I help people think things through and see perspectives they've missed.

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You look into the Mirror of Erised. What do you see? The mirror shows the deepest desire of your heart.

AYourself standing victorious, having faced the greatest challenge and won. BYourself at the height of your power — respected, successful, and in control. CYourself surrounded by everyone you love, whole and happy and together. DYourself with all the answers — every book read, every mystery solved.

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The Sorting Hat pauses. It whispers: "You could do well in any house. But what matters most to you — truly?" This is your tiebreaker. The Hat always listens.

ABravery. I want to be the kind of person who acts when others won't. BGreatness. I want to leave my mark and be more than ordinary. CBelonging. I want to be part of something good and never let my people down. DUnderstanding. I want to know the truth of things and keep growing forever.

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The Sorting Hat Speaks Your House Has Been Chosen

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You have nerve. Not the reckless kind, but the deep, quiet courage that shows up even when you're terrified — especially then.

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You stand up for people when it would be easier to look away.
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Harry, Hermione, Ron — the heroes of Hogwarts's greatest chapter — all called the tower with the scarlet and gold home. And now, so do you.

🐍 Slytherin

You are driven, sharp, and utterly clear-eyed about what you want and how to get there.

Slytherin has long been misunderstood — painted as the house of villains when it is, at its best, the house of those who refuse to accept limits placed on them by others.
You are resourceful, strategic, and you play the long game.
You know your worth. You protect your own fiercely.
The dungeon common room with its view of the Black Lake is yours — and the ambitions that will take you further than anyone expects are yours too.

🦡 Hufflepuff

You are the kind of person that makes the world genuinely better just by being in it.

Hufflepuff is not the "safe" house or the "leftover" house — it is the house of those with the greatest heart and the most unwavering integrity.
You show up. You work hard. You don't need glory or recognition — you do what's right because it's right.
Your loyalty never wavers, even when tested.
Nymphadora Tonks, Cedric Diggory, Newt Scamander — some of the wizarding world's finest. And now you join them.

🦅 Ravenclaw

Your mind is your greatest gift, and you've always known it.

Ravenclaws are the thinkers, the questioners, the ones who find a puzzle irresistible and a good book better company than most people.
Ravenclaw is not merely about intelligence — it's about the love of learning, the pursuit of truth, and the rare courage to admit you don't know something yet.
You see the world with unusual clarity and depth.
Luna Lovegood, Filius Flitwick, Rowena Ravenclaw herself — all extraordinary, all original. And so are you.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

"Pretty Boy" Meets Mr. Hayes

Mika Abdalla as Allie in 'Off Campus' Season 1.

Dean and Mr. Hayes first meet over Thanksgiving, when Allie and Dean drive back to her dad's apartment in Brooklyn together. Mr. Hayes is not impressed. There's a great beat in the book where Dean realizes, too late, that wearing Armani in a working-class man's apartment is precisely how one earns the "Pretty Boy" nickname Allie's dad won't stop using. Mr. Hayes isn't worried about the money of it all; he's worried Dean, a guy who has never had to work for anything, won't actually show up for Allie when life stops being easy. That single objection is what makes the back half of the book click.

Allie's father has secondary-progressive MS, and after Beau's death and Allie and Dean's breakup, Mr. Hayes takes a fall. Dean shows up at the apartment and takes care of him. This is where The Score does its actual grown-up work, for both men. Mr. Hayes has to swallow his initial read on Dean, and Dean has to prove that read wrong by showing up when it counts.

The Plane Ticket

Stephen Kalyn as Dean in 'Off Campus' Season 1.

The book ends with Dean returning to campus after a weekend of caretaking duty, one-way plane tickets in hand. He didn't buy them for Allie. He bought them for her dad, so Mr. Hayes can come live in LA while Allie shoots the sitcom her agent just booked. Sean (Riley Davis) spent their entire relationship expecting Allie to bend her life around his, but here, Dean does the opposite. He tells her to take the job even if it means going without him.

By the last chapter, Allie has pivoted to an HBO drama in New York, Dean has admitted that coaching girls' hockey actually means more to him than law school, and their futures slot together without anyone needing a final-act breakup to manufacture stakes. After a season of will-they-won't-they, fans deserve a finale that gives them the cathartic happy ending without a surface-level third-act fight. The plane tickets tell us Dean has grown up, that he’s planning around Allie's life instead of his own, and that he can see her ambitions clearly enough to want to remove obstacles instead of becoming one.

Allie Asks for Dean During a Panic Attack

At some point in The Score, Sean finds out about Dean and Allie's friends-with-benefits arrangement, and within a chapter he's banging on her door looking for a fight. The argument escalates fast. He shames her into a full panic attack on the floor of her dorm room. Garrett throws him out while Hannah stays back to talk her down. But the person Allie really needs, who she eventually asks for, is Dean. It's the first time Hannah and Garrett actually see the Dean that Allie has been privy to all semester, the one underneath the punchline.

By the end of the scene, the secret is over and the four of them are officially a friend group with a new couple added. Off Campus Season 2 needs a moment that forces everyone to reassess Dean beyond his "Pretty Boy" reputation, and this scene is built for it. The panic attack also gives the adaptation room to show the emotional shorthand between Dean and Allie without leaning on the sex scenes to do all the work. Coming after a season of secrecy and Sean's lingering presence, this is the payoff where Dean becomes someone Allie can actually call when things go wrong.