Page 87 of The Academy
Is there a more romantic way to lose her virginity than in the bomb shelter with East on a Head’s Holiday while the rest of the school is having a snowball fight?
She pushes off her jeans, then her underwear. She keeps her eyes open because this moment happens only once in a person’s life and she wants to remember everything.
Dinner Service, Snow Day!
Tuesday, March 10
Cheesy breadsticks and frosted garlic bread
SALAD BAR
Tonight’s additions: grapefruit and blood orange segments, fresh sliced avocado, chili-crunch cucumbers
SOUP OF THE DAY
Vegetarian chili
ENTRÉES
Chicken pot pie with herbed pastry, beef stew
DESSERTS
Snow cones (grape, cherry), Baked Alaska
When Rhode and Simone enter the Paddock for dinner, Simone scans the room for East. She finds him cozied up in the Booth with Charley. Simone immediately senses something different about the two of them. A new intimacy. East buries his face in Charley’s hair; the two of them are sharing a bowl of stew, a plate of salad. The Booth is high-profile seating. They’re Tiffin-official.
“The chicken pot pie sounds amazing,” Rhode says. “Where should we sit?”
“I’m going to sit with my girls,” Simone says.
“But…” Rhode says. “We had such a nice day together.”
“We did,” Simone says. “Thank you for inviting me skiing, it was just what I needed.” The snow day made Simone feel like her younger self. In college, Simone used to cross-country ski up Mont-Royal, then go for a beer andfriteson rue Bishop. She enjoyed Rhode’s company while they were skiing—why can’t that be enough? Why does he always have to act like she owes him something more?
She watches East feed Charley a section of orange with his fingers.
“Actually I think I’m going to take dinner back to my room,” Simone says. “I’m beat.”
Rhode’s expression is one of barely concealed annoyance. “Have a good night,” he says.
Oh, she will, she thinks. The wine in her boot awaits.
Zip Zap post:When Andrew Eastman asks Charley Hicks to “go down,” she likes it.
When Charley gets up to pee in the middle of the night, she bumps into Tilly Benbow in the bathroom. Normally they would ignore each other, but this time, Tilly says, “Hey.” Charley turns to look at her in the mirror. Tilly makes a lewd hand gesture while poking her tongue into her cheek.
This is a new low even for Tilly, who is famous for being vulgar, but it’s two in the morning, so maybe Tilly is sleepwalking, or Charley is dreaming.
But after Charley wakes up and reads the new Zip Zap post, it makes sense.When Andrew Eastman asks Charley Hicks to “go down,” she likes it.
Zip Zap has seen the downward arrows East texted her, and her response of thumbs-upping them, and Zip Zap thinks it’s a reference to blow jobs. Charley knows she should be embarrassed, but all she feels is relief that their real secret is safe.
Then the comments start rolling in.
I knew that girl was a freak in the sheets!
I’d love her to polish MY knob.
