Page 82 of The Academy
Right,Taylor thinks.It’s the ultimate clickbait: a message from beyond the grave. It has to be a suicide note, right? An explanation? No wonder it’s driving Dub crazy.Taylor would have opened the attachment the minute she saw it. Cinnamon forfeited her right to tell anyone what to do when she took the pills. But Dub, of course, doesn’t see it that way. Dub is a person of honor and integrity who will obey Cinnamon Peters’s final wish.
“Thank you for sharing it with me,” Taylor says. “I’m a safe place.”
Dub nods solemnly and clicks out of his email. “I feel better now that you know,” he says. “I told my mom too, but that’s not the same.”
“You didn’t tell Hakeem? Or Davi?”
“Hell no.”
Taylor grabs Dub around the midsection and presses her head against his chest. His arms close around her just as she hoped, but she can feel the tension in his muscles—it’s restraint, maybe even resistance. The reason he never touches Taylor has nothing to do with some bro code or his devotion to Hakeem. Dub never touches her because this other thing has him all knit up.
He’s obsessed with a ghost.
When Charley walks into the’Bred Bulletinoffice, she sees Grady and Levi huddled together in front of the computer. As soon as they notice her, they click out of whatever they were ogling and try to act casual.
“Where’s Ravenna?” Charley asks.
“She has rehearsal every afternoon from now until the musical,” Levi says.
That’s right, Charley thinks. Ravenna was cast inMean Girlsas the weirdo outsider Janis, a role she’s been coveting since attending theater camp on Broadway when she was ten.
“So it’s just us,” Grady says.
“What were you two doing just now?” Charley asks. “Playing video games?” Both Grady and Levi are regulars at the arcade in the Teddy.
“No,” Grady says.
“Were you… watching porn?”
“Orgasms are In,” Levi says, which makes Grady hoot.
Charley can’t believe she’s been left to babysit these two.
“Do either of you have ideas for articles?” she asks. “We should try to get an issue out before spring break.”
“Ravenna wants a review of the musical,” Grady says. “But she told me she’s going to write it herself.”
“Unbiased journalism is a hallmark of the’Bred Bulletin,” Charley deadpans. The boys just bob their heads. “Anything else?”
“Why dowealways have to come up with ideas?” Levi asks. Clearly, Ravenna’s absence has emboldened him. “We’re third-formers. You’re a fifth-former.”
“Your life is more interesting,” Grady says. “Especially now.”
Charley doesn’t have to ask what he means. He means now that Charley has become Davi’s confidante, now that she and East are hanging out.
Charley can’t very well write an article about herself, although she’ll be the first to admit, her transition from friendless weirdo to a person who is in the company of the two most popular kids at school is newsworthy. And yet, Charley is wary. She knows that at any moment the spell could break—Davi could drop her, or East could. For this reason, she’s tried to remain indifferent to both Davi’s and East’s attention. Charley and Davi study together at the Sink. Sometimes East joins them, sometimes he doesn’t. Some nights East texts Charley the green downward arrow and on those nights she lies to Davi, saying she’s staying in her room to read when really she’s sneaking down to the bomb shelter. Davi never questions this andCharley knows it’s because she’s too busy guarding her own secret. There are now calluses on Davi’s knuckles, which is a bulimia tell. When Charley ran a gentle fingertip over the calluses, Davi snatched her hand back and said, “They’re rough from the cold. They always get like this in winter.”
“Davi,” Charley said.
Charley can sort of understand why Davi likes her. Davi is sick of everyone else on the floor, she’s tired of people like Tilly Benbow and Olivia H-T tracking her every move.
East is harder to figure out. Every night before Charley falls asleep, she wonders,Why me?She knows he likes spending time with her and they definitely have chemistry, but doesn’t East have chemistry witheveryone? There’s nowayCharley is the only girl in his life; she figures he must have girlfriends everywhere—back in New York City for sure, maybe at other high schools and colleges. Charley is just the person he’s passing the time with while he’s stuck at Tiffin.
The only place East ever kisses her is in the bomb shelter. “Are you embarrassed to kiss me aboveground?” she asked him one night. Her tone is light but she wants to know: Why can’t they just Intervis like other couples?
He’d kissed her eyelids, the tip of her nose, and then, very lightly, her lips. “Everyone hooks up during Intervis. Only you and I come down here. It’s our place. It’s special. Do you really want me to take you to God’s Basement and have Mr. James catch me with my hand down your pants?”
Charley had blushed; they haven’t gone that far yet. Tiffin doesn’t have an ice hockey team but East jokes that Charley is the best goalie in the school. She allows above-the-waist touching only, although she’s always wet straight through the crotch of her pants; she can feel East’s erection against her leg and sometimes her belly. She wants him—but she fears that as soon as she gives it up, he’ll dropher. With each passing day, the idea of life without East becomes more unthinkable. For the first time, Charley understands her mother and Joey. This kind of desire changes your brain chemistry. It makes you do stupid things.
