Leighton and her brother Nico, were largely raised by an au pair from Marseille named Camille. Leighton's father dropped her off at Essex. She was eager to room with Esme Schaffer and Francesca Bromley , her friends from high school, though he worried about her not branching out to meet new friends as he didn't think Esme and Francesca were very nice. When she arrived, she was shocked to find herself rooming with Bela Malhotra , Whitney Chase , and Kimberly Finkle instead and went to find Esme and Francesca.
They said they showed up and were assigned Siddhartha as a roommate. Leighton promised to fix it, but went back to her assigned dorm for the night. The next morning, Leighton went to check on the housing situation and found out that Esme and Francesca had specifically said not to put them with Leighton. She confronted them about this and they said they never felt like they really got to know her because she was so closed off, which she denied.
She went back to her assigned room and hid in her bed until her brother, Nico , pulled her out and consoled her. He encouraged her to get to know her new roommates and show them she could be a good roommate despite how she'd treated them. She bought each of them an iPad as an apology. Nico tried to hook Leighton up with his friend, Cory , and invited her and her roommates to a frat party. They all got dressed up, but after getting them into the party, Leighton pretended she left her phone in the room and left.
She went to a bar, then used an app to meet and hook up with Jillian. Leighton's father called to wish her luck on the first day of classes. She went to her first class and saw Esme in the class with Siddhartha. Esme asked her how she was doing and Leighton said she loved her new roommates and pretended to have made many friends.
After an assessment on the first day of class, Professor Tocchini approached Leighton and said she'd gotten the highest score in the class and invited her to join his seminar. She agreed only on the condition that he announced this change in front of the whole class, including Esme. Meanwhile, Leighton continued to meet and hook up with women using an app.
