Page 114 of The Academy
When he kneels down, Charley hisses, “Get up off the ground, East.” A part of her wants to buy what he’s selling: He got with Bergeron because he didn’t want to lose Priorities. Priorities was his purpose; he felt about it the way Charley felt about books. Maybe she’s an idiot, she’s only sixteen, what does she know about men? But the truth is, she doesn’t want to be her without him either.
She can’t make it too easy for him; she knows that much.
“Leave before I go get Ms. Robinson,” she says.
“Will you at least take these?” he asks, holding out the roses. Charley imagines him driving to the florist in Haydensboro—the roses are long-stemmed, swaddled in fancy paper, tied with ribbon—and then choosing white roses over the more obvious red.
White, the color of surrender, of apology.
White, the color of hope.
“Fine,” she says. She accepts the roses, closes her window, and drops the shade—though a second later, she peeks out to see East still standing there smiling, and it takes all her resolve not to smile back.
In the final days of school, while we’re all talking about East and Miss Bergeron, and East and Charley Hicks breaking up, Annabelle Tuckerman has another question: What happened to Ms. Vandermeid?
“She just… vanished,” Annabelle says to her roommate, Ravenna Rapsicoli. “When I texted her, she didn’t answer, and my email to her bounced. As editor of the paper, isn’t it your professional duty to find out what happened?”
Technically, yes. But the truth is, Ravenna heard a crazy rumor that Ms. Vandermeid had been sexually inappropriate with Miss Bergeron. Ravenna doesn’t have the heart to share this withAnnabelle. Annabelle was pretty sure that Ms. Vandermeid and Mrs. Spooner were a couple; she was rooting for that, anyway.
“I think we should focus on the future,” Ravenna says. “Annabelle, we’regraduating.”
Annabelle tears up. Yes, she’s Princeton-bound… however, she can’t bear to think about leaving Tiffin.
She’s not alone. All 239 of us (240, if we include Levi Volpere at his family home in Annandale) suspect that we’ll look back on our time at Tiffin Academy and tell anyone who asks that these were the best days of our lives.
30. Commencement
Prize Day at Tiffin is all about tradition: The sixth-form boys wear navy blazers with green-and-gold rep ties, the girls wear white dresses and carry lilies of the valley picked from the rock garden by the Back Lot. Chaplain Laura Rae and Audre run the proceedings; Jesse Eastman is overseas for work once again, so Willow Levy’s father, Ari, helps to hand out the diplomas. For a speaker, Audre has invited Doc Bellamy—who is not only lucid and pithy, but astonishingly brief.Retirement agrees with him,Audre thinks, though at the reception after the ceremony, he says, “I’ve heard you had some personnel shake-ups. Might you need me back?”
Audre erupts in startled laughter. “We’re looking for history, Doc, sorry. And a new college counselor.”
“I still have connections at Dartmouth,” Doc Bellamy says.
Audre pats Doc’s arm, then goes in search of another piece of rosemary shortbread and a second cup of strawberry lemonade. Across the room, Audre sees Chef Haz with East; they have their heads bent down as they talk, and then they shake hands. Audre has been puzzling over how East would have procured alcohol for his so-called bar. He probably has a fake ID, and who knows how strict the package stores in Haydensboro or Capulet Falls are. But something about seeing Haz and East together during her spring walk and then again now puts an idea in Audre’s head. When exactly did Haz get his new truck? Should Audre dig in here? Do some investigating?
She should not, she decides. She can live without many people, but Chef Haz isn’t one of them.
At the Prize Day ceremony, Charley takes a seat as far away from East as possible, but both times she glances over at him, he’s staring at her. The ceremony is followed by high tea in a tent outside the Manse. Charley wants to skip it—she has done nothing about packing and her mother is coming to pick her up in the morning—but because Davi is British, she cannot miss a high tea, and she drags Charley along.
While Davi hits the buffet, Charley wanders among the jubilant sixth-formers and their families until she finds Ravenna Rapsicoli. Ravenna’s parents are in attendance, along with the brother who goes to Pomfret; Charley hopes that today, at least, is all about Ravenna.
“Congratulations,” Charley says. “Thank you for…”
“One hell of a ride?” Ravenna supplies. “You’re going to be editor in chief of theBulletinnext year. Don’t fuck it up.”
“I’ll try not to,” Charley says, though she’s far too addled to think about next year. She can barely handle the next sixty minutes.
Ravenna pulls Charley close. “Remember,” she whispers. “Orgasms are always In.”
Charley finds Davi over by a display of cheddar tartlets. “I have to pack,” she says.
“Okay, we can leave,” Davi says. “But we have one stop first.”
“Where?”
“The Sink.”
Charley sighs. Davi must have fines; she likes to keep library books rather than return them. But when they get to the Sink, Davi bypasses the circulation desk and heads up the stairs. A ceremonial goodbye, maybe, to the third-floor bathroom? Davi hasn’t purged in more than two months. Although Charley is feeling very sorry for herself, she’s proud of her friend.
