THE LOVE SIMULATION

Brianna Rogers has been a chronic underachiever compared to her high-powered siblings. She loves kids but drifted through several jobs as a teacher and counselor before finally landing a position as a vice principal at a Houston middle school. She clashes with her principal, a difficult and condescending man. What’s worse is that the most attractive teacher at the school, Roman Major, is the principal’s son. Roman also applied for the vice principal job, and she suspects that’s why their interactions are chilly and adversarial. Then, in the final weeks of the school year, she discovers that the principal redirected the money meant to renovate the library into a football field upgrade. Brianna is outraged but helpless to do anything about it, until she decides to join four of her colleagues, including Roman, on a six-week-long NASA Mars simulation they’ve been recruited for. There are cash rewards for individual teachers, but Brianna is more interested in the $500,000 grant the school will win if the team successfully completes the simulation. The award could fund the library upgrade without the principal’s interference. Once Brianna and Roman enter the simulation, she begins to suspect that Roman was planted on the team by his father to sabotage their progress and prevent them from saving the library. Brianna’s journey is both professional and personal. She struggles with the expectation that she will keep herself separate from her colleagues since she’s a supervisor. She must learn to trust her own instincts, and eventually decides Roman is not there to ruin their chances of winning the grant. In comparison, Roman is underdeveloped to the point of feeling like an afterthought. There is little tension or conflict outside of the simulation itself, and the resolution is simple and uncomplicated.

Mar 4, 2025 - 07:23

Brianna Rogers has been a chronic underachiever compared to her high-powered siblings. She loves kids but drifted through several jobs as a teacher and counselor before finally landing a position as a vice principal at a Houston middle school. She clashes with her principal, a difficult and condescending man. What’s worse is that the most attractive teacher at the school, Roman Major, is the principal’s son. Roman also applied for the vice principal job, and she suspects that’s why their interactions are chilly and adversarial. Then, in the final weeks of the school year, she discovers that the principal redirected the money meant to renovate the library into a football field upgrade. Brianna is outraged but helpless to do anything about it, until she decides to join four of her colleagues, including Roman, on a six-week-long NASA Mars simulation they’ve been recruited for. There are cash rewards for individual teachers, but Brianna is more interested in the $500,000 grant the school will win if the team successfully completes the simulation. The award could fund the library upgrade without the principal’s interference. Once Brianna and Roman enter the simulation, she begins to suspect that Roman was planted on the team by his father to sabotage their progress and prevent them from saving the library. Brianna’s journey is both professional and personal. She struggles with the expectation that she will keep herself separate from her colleagues since she’s a supervisor. She must learn to trust her own instincts, and eventually decides Roman is not there to ruin their chances of winning the grant. In comparison, Roman is underdeveloped to the point of feeling like an afterthought. There is little tension or conflict outside of the simulation itself, and the resolution is simple and uncomplicated.