Page 64 of The Academy
Later that night, as Dub is climbing into bed, he gets a text from Taylor.I want to lose my virginity to you.Dub stares at the text for a long while, but he doesn’t respond, and although he knows he should, he doesn’t delete it.
The days pass quickly. Dub and Taylor return to their usual routine: They sit together in English, history, and Spanish, they eat lunch together, once even claiming the Booth. Dub practices hard after school—if there was ever a year they can beat Old Bennington, this is it—and then he meets Taylor in the Paddock for dinner. A couple of nights they go straight to the Sink to study. But they don’t Intervis and Dub is careful not to touch Taylor, even casually. He pretends she never sent the text and she doesn’t bring it up.
Hakeem is due back to school on Saturday at nine; kickoff against Old Bennington is at noon. The rest of the school has been gearing up all week, making posters that sayPULVERIZETHEPOETS!(Old Bennington is where Robert Frost is buried. Their mascot is, yes, a white-haired dude in a suit.) Dub used to dread Rivalry Weekend not only because he was embarrassed to be consistently whupped by a team called the Poets but also because he didn’t want the season to be over. (In the winter, Hakeem plays hoops and, on advice from Coach Bosworth, Dub does strength and conditioning.) But this year, Dub is pumped! They could win. Theywillwin!
When Dub wakes up on Saturday morning, he sees the alert:New post on Zip Zap.He thinks Zip Zap is as annoying as hell, but he clicks into it anyway.
Fifth-former Taylor Wilson wants QB1 to pop her cherry.
Before they dress for the game, Coach Bosworth calls both Dub and Hakeem into his office. “We’re not going to have a problem on the field today, are we?”
“No, sir,” Dub and Hakeem say in unison.
On the way back to the locker room, Dub says, “Bro, you know that app is bullshit.”
“The funny thing is?” Hakeem says. “It has yet to be wrong.”
“I haven’t touched her, bro.”
“But you hung out all week.”
Hakeem had spies,Dub thinks.People texting him, sending videos.“Nothing happened. We studied, we ate, we went to Piano Bar.”
“You sang a duet, I heard.” From Benj, the offensive lineman, Dub thinks, who was only masquerading as an ally.
“Hakeem.”
“She’s saving herself foryou,” Hakeem says. “You, not me.” He runs a hand over his head; somehow, Dub is only now noticing that Hakeem got a fresh cut while he was away, his number, 62, shaved into the side fade. Dub also notices the puffiness around Hakeem’s eyes and that he reeks of alcohol. “But it’s no big deal. I fucked that Dartmouth chick.”
Dub flinches. “You did?”
“I did,” Hakeem says. He holds out a fist. “So we’re good, bro.”
But they’re not good. Hakeem misses two catches in the end zone and blames both on Dub’s throws. (Dub’s throws were perfect.) Then, in the second half, Hakeem catches the ball but fumbles it running; it’s recovered by Old Bennington and returned for a touchdown.
Tiffin loses 7–0.
Win some, lose some,Audre thinks as she strides across the field to shake hands with the Old Bennington Head, Mikayla Ekubo. Mikayla is the newest and youngest Head in ISNEC—like Audre, she took over from a long line of staunchly conservative white men. In Mikayla’s case, taking the helm was more daunting… because Old Bennington has long been ranked the number one boarding school in the country.
Audre has done her best to serve as a mentor to Mikayla; she counts her as a friend.
“Good game!” Audre says, opening her arms. “Are you ready for Thanksgiving? I know I am.”
Instead of embracing Audre, Mikayla offers a stiff hand.Hmmm,Audre thinks as she shakes it. She gets the Feeling.
“You should know, Audre, that I signed the inquiry letter,” Mikayla says.
Audre drops Mikayla’s hand. Why would Mikayla sign the letter? Old Bennington was ranked number one, so why would anyone else’s placement on the list matter? Is Mikayla worried that Tiffin will claim the top spot next year? Does she prefer to be the sole female Head in the top five? (So much for women polishing one another’s crowns.)
“It’s a witch hunt,” Audre says.
“You have to admit, Audre, a seventeen-spot jump is puzzling whenthere have been no discernible changes here in the past year,” Mikayla says. “Everyone knows the head of your board is problematic.”
“Why?” Audre says. “Because he’s rich?”
“He’s a robber baron,” Mikayla says. “He got his start buying up low-income housing and transforming it into luxury apartments, displacing thousands of innocent tenants.”
Did Mikayla do a deep dive into Jesse Eastman’s business? Or is this something Douglas Worth dug up and shared with everyone on the council?
