18. Resolutions
The Tiffin Academy brochure shows the campus in high autumn when the foliage is at its peak—campfire orange, buttery yellow, deep crimson—and in late spring when the wildflowers in the Pasture bloom like pastel fireworks.
There are, however, no photographs of Tiffin in January when the students return for second semester: colorless skies, barren trees, dead grass, Jewel Pond brown and muddy with a patchy skin of ice.
The Thoroughbreds are facing three months of frigid wind and a new semester of academic rigor without much to distract them.
For sports, it’s either squash or basketball, and both basketball teams are historically dreadful.
Not even Hakeem Pryce’s natural athleticism or Annabelle Tuckerman’s occasional luck behind the three-point line can save them.
Despite this, the Thoroughbreds are happy to be back! Charley races up the steps of Classic South, nearly slipping on the ice. She lugs her duffel—filled with new, slightly more stylish clothes—to her room and seconds later, Davi appears. “Let’s go to the Grille.”
Charley is supposed to meet East in the tunnel as soon as it gets dark; he wants to show her the work he did over break. It’s quarter to four; Charley has an hour until the sun sets.
“Okay,” she says.
At the Grille, Charley gets a birthday cake milkshake even though it’s twenty-two degrees outside, and Davi orders a grilled cheese with bacon on Texas toast and a side of onion rings.
The morning of Christmas Eve, Davi texted Charley out of the blue, asking if they could FaceTime. Davi was barefaced and Charley had her hair down and her contacts in, so for a moment it was as though they’d switched roles.
“I’m just going to tell you what’s going on with my family,” Davi said—and she explained about Saylem, her parents’ third, who was now sleeping in the primary suite with her mother while her father slept in the guesthouse out back.
“It feels like my father and I are living with a couple of newlyweds. My mother and Saylem are all over each other all the time. So now everyone at Out of Office knows, and it’s all over Annabelle’s. ”
“Annabelle’s?” Charley said.
“Their club,” Davi said. “Have you never heard of it?” On the FaceTime, Charley watched Davi shove a lamington into her mouth. “What are things like at your house?”
Charley told Davi about her father’s death, then about her mother and Joey and Joey’s possible fascination with her best friend, Beatrix. “I hate him,” Charley said. “I stay in my room and read.”
“Notice the look of surprise on my face,” Davi said.
But whereas things stayed miserable for Davi—Saylem accompanied Davi and her parents on their annual ski trip to Courchevel—the situation at Charley’s house improved on December 27 when Joey announced he was driving up to Connecticut to spend the new year with friends and wouldn’t be back until after Charley left.
This came as a surprise not only to Charley but to Fran Hicks as well, who said, “You’re doing what ? ”
With Joey gone, Charley could breathe again, though she spent just as much time in her room because she wanted to avoid her mother’s sighs and barbed comments. “I hope you’re happy. You drove him away. He knows you hate him.”
Charley was happy! She did hate him!
On New Year’s Eve, Charley and her mother celebrated the way they used to celebrate when Charley’s father was alive: with pizza and sparkling cider while watching the ball drop in Times Square on TV.
At midnight, Charley received a text from East that said, I wish I was kissing you right now. Happy New Year, Charles.
Her mother called Joey and got his voicemail. She left a message that started out angry then devolved to weepy and pathetic. Fran Hicks had by then switched from sparkling cider to prosecco, and she refused help when Charley tried to get her up to bed.
It was Charley’s first lesson in Be Careful What You Wish For.
Now, in the Grille, Davi says, “I made a resolution. I’m going to do less posting and more studying.”
Charley says, “My resolution is to lighten up.”
When the two of them leave the Teddy, they lean into each other like real friends. Charley can’t get over how the start of this semester differs from last semester. Everything has clicked into place.
But then Davi peels off when they reach the Sink, saying she’ll see Charley back at the dorm. Although Charley is relieved—she’s going down to the tunnel to see East—she’s also concerned because she knows Davi is going to the third-floor bathroom to puke up her grilled cheese and onion rings.
Suddenly the new year seems slightly less promising.
Simone Bergeron’s New Year’s resolution is not to obsess about East, or about East and Charley together—but by the end of the first week back, she has broken this resolution 114 times.
Every F-period, East and Charley enter class together, they sit next to each other, they walk out together, leaving Simone to steep in her envy.
East turns in written responses to the reading for the first time all year.
Simone assumes Charley is doing his work for him—until she calls on East in class and he gives an answer so eloquent and informed about the causes of the War of 1812 that Simone feels defeated.
All it took for East to turn things around academically was the good influence of Charley Hicks.
Simone now hates Charley, though she tries to tamp down her pettiness and treat Charley like the other girls. But one day, as she’s hunting through her desk, she comes across a copy of the ’Bred Bulletin from Family Weekend and she remembers something.
The In and Out list that Charley wrote.
Simone notes the items of the In column that track for Charley: staying in, reading, hating people. Simone’s eyes then drift down to the last two items: orgasms and fifth-form repeats. Charley’s scheme was coded right there in the newspaper back in October.
During Family Weekend, East kissed Simone in the brick tunnel. To think of it now is like a straight pin through her heart.
Also on Charley’s list is vodka Red Bulls.
Which gives Simone an idea.
As if East and Charley getting cuffed isn’t enough, a troubling email lands in Simone’s inbox.
It’s from Jasper Stiefel, a person so problematic from Simone’s past that she’s tempted to delete the email without reading it.
The subject line says: I’m sorry. Out of pure curiosity, Simone clicks on it.
Hey Simone.
I tried sending a letter to your parents’ house in Saint-Henri but I heard nothing back, so I tracked down your mother at her medical practice and she gave me your new email. I hope you read this apology, even though it’s long overdue.
I want to say how sorry I am for being a part of that horrible night in your final semester at McGill.
I heard you were disciplined harshly and lost your position as floor fellow.
Lars told me they let you graduate, but not walk with the rest of the class.
I assume since you’re now working at an American boarding school, everything turned out okay?
I have no excuse other than that I was young—too young to resist the temptation of hanging out with you. Even as it was happening, I knew what we were doing was wrong and I’m sorry you alone had to pay the price.
I hope you can bring yourself to forgive me, and that you’ve dusted yourself off from the debacle of that night in McConnell and moved on.
All best, Jasper
Simone reads the email twice, the first time incredulous, the second time merely enraged.
Jasper must be going through a twelve-step program and this must be part of his amends.
He should be sorry! If he and Lars hadn’t appeared at her room with their mischievous grins and their bulging backpacks, Simone would have graduated with honors, a shining paragon of hard work and leadership.
Instead, she left entaché.
Simone can’t blame anyone but herself; she was the floor fellow. She should have turned Lars and Jasper away but didn’t.
She reads the email a third time and feels a deep mortification.
She would like to say she dusted herself off from the debacle of McConnell and moved on. But she hasn’t changed, not really.
Simone won’t respond right away; she’s learned that much. She’ll think on it for a couple days.
All week, Charley signs out to the Sink, but instead of going on the scheduled trip to the cineplex in Capulet Falls Saturday night—Simone has learned they save trips to the movie theater for the dead of winter—Charley opts to remain in the dorms. She says she wants to read.
Simone isn’t na?ve; she knows what this means. Davi and all the other girls are going to the movies, which means that Charley is planning to link up with East—and Simone will be damned if she’s going to let that happen.
Simone steps out into the hallway as the girls scurry among one another’s rooms getting ready; rumor has it boys from the nearby public schools frequent the cineplex and the Five Guys next door. “Room check!” she shouts.
Everyone freezes. Simone has never done a room check; she has been too intent on winning the girls over, making sure they’re happy, becoming their bestie.
But what did Simone learn that terrible night in McConnell?
She isn’t their friend. She’s a figure of authority. Someone to be respected, even feared.
Simone notices a squeamish expression on Tilly Benbow’s face.
Ditto, Willow Levy. Their mini fridges are probably packed with cans of passion fruit Truly.
Madison J. gives Simone a quizzical look.
As prefect on the floor, she’s supposed to be informed when a room check is about to take place (so she can give the girls a heads-up, which is why nobody at Tiffin ever gets in trouble).