Page 17 of The Academy
“Everything okay here?” Audre asks.
Cordelia whips around. “Hello, Audre.”
“I’m going in to dance,” Honey says.
“Please do,” Audre says. “You can go too, Cordelia. I’ll take over here.”
“I’m sure Honey wants to dance with Miss Bergeron,” Cordelia says.
“Do you hear yourself?” Honey asks.
Audre turns to inspect the dance floor and spies Simone Bergeron by the mocktail bar, talking to Rhode Rivera. He takes her hand and leads her to the dance floor.
Hmmm,Audre thinks. She knows the kids love it when the teachers dance, but she wouldn’t want any rumors circulating about Miss Bergeron and Mr. Rivera.
“Looks like Simone is busy,” Honey says. “Come with me to get a daiquiri, Cord.”
“No, thanks,” Cordelia says. “I don’tneedone.”
“Suit yourself,” Honey says, and she marches off.
The song changes to “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran, and Audre watches the kids pair up. She asked DJ Radio to keep slow songs to a minimum, so someone must have requested this. Audre sees Taylor and Hakeem mash together as Dub Austin slinks away. Audre wonders if Davi might come to the rescue and ask Dub to dance, but Davi and her squad are slow-dancing in a neon clot. Rhode Rivera leads Simone out to the dance floor. She looksextremelyuncomfortable, maybe even a bit ill, as she and Rhode shuffle in a tentative circle while third-form girls film them from a nearby table.
Suddenly, Audre gets the Feeling. Something is wrong, something more than Dub’s lonely heart, or a burgeoning romance between her two new faculty members, or Honey and Cordelia in a lovers’ spat—but Audre can’t figure out what it is. Something she’s neglected or forgotten? It’s a left-the-iron-on kind of feeling, though Audre distinctly remembers turning her iron off and leaving it unplugged on her granite countertop in the kitchen of the Manse.
Then it hits her. She snatches up the clipboard. On the first two pages, every name is followed by a check mark, except for one name at the bottom of the second page: Andrew Eastman. This Audre ignores. But when she flips to the next page, she sees another blank space: Charlotte Hicks.
Gah!Audre thinks. How is it that neither Simone Bergeron, Charley’s dorm parent, nor Cordelia Spooner, who shares Audre’s concern that Charley isn’t fitting in, noticed that Charley isn’t at the dance? Well, Audre supposes, the answer is they’re both distracted.
Audre sighs. First Dance isn’tmandatory;skipping it doesn’t countas a missed commitment—though not attending is a red flag of sorts. The idea of Charley sitting in 111 South by herself while everyone else is here is unbearable to Audre. She would go check on her, but an unexpected visit from the Head of School at nine thirty at night will no doubt make Charley even more uncomfortable than she already is.
Audre has a better idea, one that will kill two birds. She strides onto the dance floor and taps Simone Bergeron on the shoulder. She and Mr. Rivera come to a standstill.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Audre says. “Would you go to the dorms, please, and check on Charley Hicks?”
“Of course,” Simone says. If Audre isn’t mistaken, Simone appears relieved. “For the record, I begged her to come. Davi lent her a dress. But she said to me, and I quote, ‘I would prefer not to.’”
Mr. Rivera barks out a laugh. “She’s pulling a Bartleby,” he says. “We read it this past week in class, and Charley had a fair amount to say about Bartleby’s self-expression through passive resistance.”
“That’s all fine and well,” Audre says. “But I would still like you to put eyes on her, Simone.”
Miss Bergeron nods, and Mr. Rivera says, “Should I go too? Charley and I have a rapport.”
“Just Miss Bergeron, please,” Audre says. “We need you here.” Taylor and Hakeem have started making out (forbidden: page 12 ofThe Bridle). There’s no kissing permitted, no fondling, and certainly no grinding. Why does Audre have to be the one to police this? She sees Honey and Cordelia still bickering.
The slow song ends, and DJ Radio plays something with heavy bass next that makes the kids cheer. Taylor and Hakeem pull apart; Dub rejoins them on the dance floor. Miss Bergeron heads purposefully out the door, with the gaze of at least a dozen boys following her. Her dress is quite short and her heels quite high. Will Audrehave to speak to her about appropriate wardrobe choices? Oh, she hopes not.
Simone inhales the cool night air as though she’s a woman drowning. Rhode is a nice guy, he’s even kind of cute for someone his age, and Simone desperately needs an ally at this place, but she gets the sense that he’s into her, and that makes thingsmal à l’aise.Their conversation by the mocktail bar started out okay. Simone complained about her hangover, but this somehow led to Rhode telling Simone about his ex-girlfriend, Lace Ann, back in New York. She hit it big with her croissant business and left Rhode for one of her investors. Simone responded in the appropriate way:Oh no, I’m sorry, I can’t believe she did that,though Simonecanbelieve it, because why would Lace Ann stay with Rhode when she could bed some finance bro who had a standing reservation at Torrisi and could helicopter her out to the Hamptons?
I have this recurring fantasy where I do something extraordinary and she realizes she was a fool to leave me,Rhode says.It’s not that I even want her back. I would just like a moment of triumph.
Did he realize he was chaperoning a high school dance? Simone wondered. And was his desire for this kind of revenge a red flag?
Simone was horrified when the DJ played a slow song. Every muscle in her body tensed, and she hoped she and Rhode could just gossip about which kids were pairing up. But as she feared, he said, “Let’s go show them how it’s done,” and reached for her hand. It wassucha cringey, Dad thing to say (because Rhode isold!Four! Tee!Nearly twice Simone’s age!), but to turn him down felt unnecessarily churlish, and so Simone let him lead her to the dance floor. It was a textbook example of a woman agreeing to something that made heruncomfortable simply so she didn’t hurt a man’s feelings, ruffle feathers, or seem like a bitch. Simone would have counseled any of her students to say, “Thanks for the offer, but I’m not feeling it right now.”
What, then, is wrong withher?
Simone was relieved that Rhode wasn’t a flashy dancer, but it was nearly as bad that he had no moves at all. He put his hands on Simone’s shoulders, and they turned in a slow circle like a couple of zombies. The kids took videos of them, and Simone wanted to vaporize.
