Chapter 29 25–27 May 2017
On the Thursday evening before prom night, Hannah sat at the small desk in her bedroom, clicking through pages on the NYU website for the third or fourth or eighty-fifth time.
Displayed on the wall above her desk, where her college pros and cons list had once hung, was a large format wall calendar, counting down the days until graduation.
Beside it was a framed photo of little Hannah with her dad and stepmom at the winery where they’d held their wedding reception, a smaller framed photo of Hannah visiting her mother in Big Sur last summer, a photo collage of Hannah with her friends from home, and a signed Hozier concert poster.
Outside her window, three storeys down, traffic was backed up on Spring Street.
Someone, then several someones, laid on their horns.
She rose and slid the window shut, fastening the latch.
Her phone buzzed. Hoping it was Grace, finally ready to forgive her, she rushed to open her messages.
Oliver.
Sure I can’t persuade you to come out tomorrow?
She sat again. Gut check. Nope, she felt no regrets about skipping prom, a lavish, black-tie affair to be thrown at the Metropolitan Club just off Central Park.
In fact, if she could speed up time, hurry things right along to graduation, she would.
With her future glistening bright before her, she was more than ready to leave Prescott, and everyone who went there, behind.
Thx but my mind’s made up. See you in seminar on Monday!
True, she wasn’t the only member of the senior class to be staying in the area.
A few of her classmates would even be joining her as first years at NYU.
But it was a big school, its open campus smack dab in the middle of the Village, and she wasn’t worried about avoiding anyone she didn’t want to see.
Summer was mere weeks away, and then the rest of her life would begin.
A quick knock on Hannah’s door. Before she could respond, Yoko stuck her head in.
Hannah looked up from her laptop to give her stepmom a small smile. ‘Hey.’
‘Hey, you. Your dad and I are just about to start the latest Ken Burns. Join us?’
Hannah shook her head. ‘No, thanks.’
‘It’s on the Nazis.’
‘Yoko. You’re really selling this.’
She laughed. ‘Okay, fine. I went to Trader Joe’s this afternoon. Snacks in the pantry.’
Hannah grinned. ‘That is worth getting up for.’
Leaving her laptop open, she changed out of her uniform and pulled on a Florence + The Machine T-shirt and a pair of plaid boxer shorts. Then she started down the hall, in the direction of the kitchen. Hopefully, Yoko had picked up the popcorn she liked.
She’d barely made it five feet when the door to her sister’s room flew open, and Ami leaned out. She’d changed out of her school clothes too, into an ankle-length, pale pink nightgown and a long grey cardigan that was far too warm for the late May evening.
‘Hannah,’ she hissed.
‘You watching TV with Dad and Yoko?’
She shook her head. ‘Nope. I need to tell you something.’
Hannah glanced down the hall. ‘Snacks?’
Ami nodded.
Five minutes later, the sisters were sitting in the middle of Ami’s bed, a variety of salty and sweet options laid out in bright ceramic bowls between them.
Ami leaned forward. ‘I’m not supposed to say anything. To anyone.’
Hannah frowned. ‘But whatever this is, you’re going to tell me?’
Ami nodded, chin bobbing animatedly up and down.
‘Alex only told me because he still feels like garbage about the promposal. He thought, I don’t know, that I might still change my mind and go with him tomorrow night.
But just because she’s graduating doesn’t mean I’ll be free of her.
I still have to go to Prescott next year.
It’s only a thirteen-minute cab ride from Columbia.
Less, off-peak. Maybe Alex is ready to say fuck it, and I get it, he’s been dealing with this shit his whole life, but I have two more years of high school left.
That’s like, an entire lifetime. And I can’t do it, not with Madison breathing down my neck. ’
‘Okay.’ Hannah placed a gentle hand on Ami’s knee. ‘I hear you. I hate that you’re missing a fun night because of Madison, but you’re right. She’d only make it miserable for you and Alex, and it probably wouldn’t stop with prom.’
Ami sniffled and crammed a Way More Chocolate Chips cookie in her mouth.
As soon as Ami swallowed, Hannah continued. ‘But… what exactly are you not supposed to tell me?’
Ami reached for her water bottle, eyes glistening.
‘I’m getting to that. Madison is in a secret relationship.
Alex says it’s been going on for months, maybe the entire year, but he only found out about it after winter break.
She doesn’t know that he knows, and I definitely shouldn’t know, but you know what?
I don’t care. It feels so flipping good to finally have something on her. ’
Hannah crunched down on a mouthful of popcorn. ‘With who, though?’
Ami shrugged. ‘Someone from Prescott.’
‘Are you sure? She was hooking up with that older British guy at the wedding on Montauk. Barkley Fairfax?’
Ami laughed. ‘Bradley Fairfax. And no, not him. Alex said it’s definitely someone from school, he just doesn’t know who.’
Hannah leaned back into Ami’s pillows. ‘Okay. Good intel. But… why are you telling me exactly?’
‘Because.’ Ami’s face opened into a wide grin. ‘You’re going to go to the after-prom party at Madison’s house tomorrow… And you’re going to find out who it is.’
Hannah shot back up. ‘No.’
Ami grabbed both her hands. ‘Please. I need to know who Madison’s been dating.’
Hannah extracted her hands from her sister’s. ‘First off, I’m not going to that party. No prom, no after-prom party. Second, what exactly do you plan to do with this information if you do find out who Madison’s been hooking up with?’
Ami’s eyes narrowed. ‘Leverage. Madison has been keeping this secret for months. She’s ashamed, or worse. There’s still nearly a month left until school lets out, and as previously discussed, Madison’s staying in New York. I need security – and you’re going to get it for me.’
Ami leaned forward and grasped both Hannah’s hands. Popcorn tumbled to the bedspread. ‘Pleeeease.’
Hannah shook her hands free, then began sweeping the spilled popcorn back into a bowl. ‘No way. I am not going to that party.’
At a little after midnight on Friday, the doors to the Metropolitan Club had been shuttered, and Madison’s four-room wing in the DuPonts’ apartment was packed with Prescott juniors and seniors.
Including Hannah Miller. She’d put on a black satin slip dress and a pair of gold sneakers with fat gold laces and was relieved to find she fitted right in among the sea of prom-goers who had dressed down their black-tie outfits with jewel-tone ballet flats and cosy sweaters.
Almost immediately, the after-party had spilled out of Madison’s suite and down the hall, into the rest of the DuPonts’ vast penthouse.
In the living room, Selena Gomez pumped from the speakers.
Some after-prom-goers danced in their formalwear and Golden Goose sneakers; others were engaged in whispered conversations on the couch.
Alice St Clair sobbed into Elle’s shoulder about how everything was going to change, and Elle gave her a prim, if not especially comforting, pat on the head.
Out on the balcony, Alex and Tyler were vaping with the varsity lacrosse team, while inside, Inez scurried between the kitchen and Madison’s wing, offering the guests snacks and sparkling water.
Alastair and Charlene DuPont had posted up in the dining room, where they were engaged in a heated game of poker with Bash, Theo and Beatrice.
Only the master bedroom, and Alex’s room, were off-limits.
Hannah and Oliver had established themselves in the hallway connecting the living room to Madison’s wing. It was just sheltered enough from the party noise to permit real conversation, while offering a view of the goings-on in the living room and kitchen.
‘I honestly don’t know what I’m doing here,’ Hannah sighed.
She’d been inside a mere fifteen minutes, but the chances of uncovering Madison’s secret beau already seemed dim.
She’d agreed to come for Ami’s sake – grudgingly!
against her better judgement! – but now that she was here, she wasn’t exactly sure how she was supposed to get the job done.
She wasn’t a detective. Or even a journalist, yet.
And whatever Ami had envisioned – Madison dragging her beloved into the coat closet for a clandestine tryst?
– seemed highly unlikely to happen. For the last fifteen minutes, Madison had been in full sight in the living room, dancing first with Elle, then with Ethan and Bruno when Elle had collapsed on the couch.
She was the life of the party – and highly visible – in her second outfit of the night, tailored tux pants and a Celine crop-top with a tasteful splash of sequins at the neckline, her red hair spilling in a gorgeous cascade down her back.
If Alex had been right, if his sister really was in a secret relationship, she’d know better than to show her hand in her own home. For all Hannah knew, the other person wasn’t even here.
‘Well, I’m glad you came,’ Oliver said. ‘Even at this supposedly open-invite event, I don’t exactly feel welcome.
It’s nice to have a friend.’ Oliver was dressed in an open-collar dress shirt in deep eggplant and a pair of tailored pants.
Unlike the Common Projects and Dior B23s now worn by many of their classmates, he’d kept his polished dress shoes on.
Hannah smiled gamely. She hadn’t told Oliver her real reason for coming out tonight, allowing him to believe she’d made the journey up to the Upper East Side for his sake.
‘It feels wrong without Gemma here,’ he said after a moment. ‘I wish…’
She placed her hand on his elbow. ‘Let’s do bubble tea, the three of us. Maybe Tuesday after school?’
He nodded. ‘I’ll send her a text.’