Page 96 of The Academy
“But the reason I wanted to talk to you,” Simone says, “is because of what happened last weekend.” She takes a swallow of her new drink, which is—eeeee!—even more potent than the first two. “I came back to Tiffin early from break. I was out for a walk, fully believing I was the only person on campus. It was getting dark and all of a sudden I heard footsteps and heavy breathing and I saw someone chasing after me. It was Rhode.”
“No!” Honey says. “What was he doing there?”
“Stalking me!” Simone says. “He asked where I’d been, what I was doing, if I wanted to go out with him. He followed me all the way back to Classic South under the guise of ‘walking me back.’” Simone’s eyes brim with tears. “I wasn’t sure what he was capable of. I did not feel safe with him. He’s such a… predator.”
“That’s exactly the word I was about to use,” Honey says.
“Later that night, he texted me all of these ugly, accusatory things.”
“I hope you saved the texts,” Honey says.
“I didn’t,” Simone says. “I deleted them immediately. I couldn’t have his voice lurking on my phone.”
In reality, Simone deleted them because of how they implicated her. She was lucky she’d left East’s room when she did. They had split a bottle of wine—Simone had four glasses to East’s two, or possibly five to his one—but when it became apparent East wasn’tgoing to even kiss her, Simone stormed out, hoping he might change his mind. But he hadn’t—and as soon as Simone got down to the first floor, she bumped into Rhode. It was, absolutely, the worst-case scenario: Nothing had happened between her and East, but she had brought alcohol into his room and drank it with him.
“Do you want to talk to someone about this?” Honey asks.
“I’m talking to you,” Simone says.
Honey covers Simone’s hand with her own. “It’s safe with me.”
She motions to Jefferson for the check… but instead he shows up with two shots of tequila. “From the gentleman at the end of the bar,” he says. “He’s picked up your tab as well.”
Honey peers down to the end of the bar, afraid she’ll see Rhode Rivera himself, or Mr. James, or Jesse Eastman. But the “gentleman” in question is a stocky, bearded guy wearing a flannel over a stained gray T-shirt. Some Alibi regular who wants a couple of new friends. Honey holds her shot glass up to him and says, “Thank you! My kid got into Princeton today!” Then she and Simone throw back the shots and Honey says, “Let’s get out of here before he comes over to ask what she got on the SAT.”
Maybe it’s the safety of the dark back seat of the Uber or maybe it’s the mix of bourbon and tequila, but Honey starts blabbing on the way home. She compares the guy at the end of the bar to Rhode: Men can’t just do something nice, it’s always transactional. They expect a return and that return is access to women’s bodies.
“I say ‘men,’ but it’s not just men, it’s people.” Then, in a roundabout way, she tells Simone about Cordelia.This person I was in a relationship with feels differently for me than I do for them, which has put me in an awkward spot. I’m not sure how to tell this person to back off without hurting their feelings.
Simone grabs Honey’s forearm. “So you do understand. Youunderstand exactly.” Simone holds Honey’s gaze and Honey senses Simone’s face moving closer. Of course this is where the night was headed from the very beginning, it’s Honey’s dream, if she’s being honest. Honey closes her eyes as she brings her lips to meet Simone’s.
There’s a gasp, then a firm hand planted on Honey’s chest as Simone pushes her away.
“No,” Simone says. Then, a bit softer, “I’m sorry, was I giving that kind of energy? Because I’m not… I don’t…”
Oh god,Honey thinks.What have I done?
Honey pulls her lipstick out of her clutch. “No need to be sorry,” she says. “Simple misunderstanding, is all.”
Simone rests her forehead against the cool glass of the car window. When she closes her eyes, her head spins.
April
24. Zip Zapped
“Laurie Hummel is on the phone for you,” Cordelia Spooner says, and Audre thinks,Finally.Over a week has passed since they returned from spring break, and although there have been no additional Zip Zap posts, Audre hasn’t heard from the so-called computer forensics expert that Jesse Eastman hired.Did she even come?Audre asked Jesse in a text.Yes,Jesse responded. Laurie Hummel had been to campus, she was able to download the Tiffin Zip Zap app on her phone, and she got down to business.
Now, Audre hopes they have some answers.
“Good morning, Ms. Hummel,” Audre says. “This is Audre Robinson, Head of School.”
“Ms. Robinson, hello,” Laurie Hummel says. “First, my apologies for taking so long. I spent a few hours at Tiffin, but then I had an emergency call from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and I had to hightail it back to DC. I realized last night that I’d neglected to connect the dots between the app administrator’s IP address and the academy’s server.”
English, please,Audre thinks.
“Were you able to identify the perpetrator?” Audre asks.
“Oh sure, that only took a few minutes,” Laurie Hummel says. Audre feels like Ms. Hummel is treating their very serious Zip Zap issue like a dress she forgot to pick up at the dry cleaners.
