17. The Kringle #2
A second later, the door opens again—and Simone gets goose bumps. Charley emerges in a skintight white silk dress with a black lace deep V. Her hair flows down over her shoulders. She has ditched her glasses. Her makeup—smoky eye, glossy lip—is worthy of a supermodel. She’s breathtaking.
All the girls in the hall turn around. There’s one second of pin-drop silence—and then they cheer. Simone feels herself choking up. Charley Hicks is a total smokeshow, and although Simone believes that the only beauty that matters comes from within, she couldn’t be happier.
Simone pulls Davi aside. “You worked some kind of magic,” she says. “Charley should be going to this thing with Prince Charming.”
“Hotter than Prince Charming,” Davi says. “She’s going with East.”
Simone jerks her head back. “What?”
“Charley,” Davi says. “She’s going to the Kringle with East.”
“Wasn’t that service magnificent?”
Simone is darting from the chapel over to the Teddy for the soiree in the Egg when she turns to find Honey Vandermeid at her elbow.
Honey is wearing opera-length pearls and a camel hair coat; her hair is in a chignon.
She emits a timeless elegance that Simone will never achieve.
Honey must have left the service at the first possible opportunity and moved at quite a clip to catch up with Simone.
“Magnifique,” Simone says dully. Her eyes are blurred with tears, which could easily be blamed on the bitter cold.
Simone barely paid attention to the service.
She only remembers the choir singing “Angels We Have Heard on High,” and the handbell choir, predictably, chiming out “Carol of the Bells.” Ding-dong, ding…
dong. Chaplain Laura Rae recited the entire Christmas story according to the Gospel of Matthew while Simone stared across the aisle at Charley Hicks and Andrew Eastman sitting side by side.
East occasionally leaned in and whispered in Charley’s ear and Charley smiled each time. Once, she swatted East’s leg.
Simone was consumed with a sick green jealousy.
She would never have put East and Charley together, but now she realizes that out of any girl in the school, it’s Charley she’s most envious of.
If East had chosen someone beautiful but silly like Tilly Benbow or someone too-cool-for-school like Davi, Simone wouldn’t mind quite so much.
The problem with Charley Hicks is that she’s quality.
She’s brilliant and hardworking and self-possessed.
Girls like Olivia H-T call her a “freak” because she doesn’t care about the things other teenage girls care about.
She’s mature, more mature than Simone herself.
Simone should be glad that East likes Charley. This is how it’s supposed to be—students dating students. But Simone replays the scene in her classroom: Simone on the Harkness table, East’s head between her legs.
As the choir sang “Silent Night” and the congregation passed a flame from one handheld candle to another until the sanctuary was aglow, Simone thought, East is mine. He’s mine.
Simone attempts to escape from the chapel in order to be alone with her agony, but Honey seems intent on chitchat. Where is Simone spending her Noel ?
“At home in Montreal with my parents.”
Will she ski? Honey loves Mont-Tremblant. Does Simone’s mother make any traditional dishes at the holidays?
“My father cooks a goose for Christmas lunch,” Simone says.
“On Boxing Day, we have the neighbors over.” For a moment, Simone is comforted by thoughts of home.
Her parents were scandalized by what happened at the end of Simone’s senior year at McGill, and they barely tolerated her presence at home the years after she graduated when she worked as a barista.
But now she’ll be able to regale her parents with all her Tiffin successes: She taught a full semester of l’histoire des états-Unis; she has become a beloved dorm parent.
Simone should be glad nothing else happened between her and East, and relieved that they didn’t get caught. East and Charley together is a blessing, she thinks. A Christmas miracle.
Simone enters the Egg, which exudes tasteful Christmas: green-and-gold tartan tablecloths and hundreds of electric pillar candles.
The mocktail bar serves cranberry-ginger shrubs, honey vanilla cider, and “Grinch punch,” which is bright red with a green sugar rim.
Servers pass trays of mini lamb chops with mint aioli and filet mignon sliders.
In the middle of the high-top tables is an elaborate cheese fondue set up with chunks of baguette, veggies, and sausages for dipping.
DJ Radio is back. After the kids get mocktails and dunk pieces of bread into the bubbling fondue, they hit the dance floor.
Simone keeps her eyes pinned to East and Charley.
She tries to catch East’s eye; she wants him to know she’s watching him, but he seems to be studiously avoiding her.
Or maybe she’s flattering herself. Maybe he isn’t thinking of her at all. He seems locked in on Charley.
Honey appears at Simone’s side, offering a gingerbread latte, which Simone has no choice but to accept. “I’ve been trying to catch the kids sneaking alcohol,” Honey says. “But I haven’t seen any suspicious behavior. They’re probably afraid of Zip Zap.”
Yes, Simone thinks. It’s a little disconcerting now that Zip Zap seems to be watching them.
Simone feels a tap on her shoulder. It’s Rhode. “You owe me a dance,” he says.
Simone blinks. She probably owes him something for the fiasco at the Wullys’ cottage, but his smug expression and his bow tie printed with snowmen hit exactly the wrong way.
She lowers her voice. “I don’t owe you a thing.
” She nearly adds that he’s a terrible dancer, his shameless pursuit of her is off-putting, and if he wants to get laid, he should go on the apps because he’s fifteen years too old for Simone, but even if he was younger, she wouldn’t date him because he’s smarmy and reeks of desperation.
Rhode opens his mouth to speak, but at that moment, Audre appears out of nowhere and takes his arm. “Mr. Rivera, may I pull you for a quick chat?”
Relieved, Simone turns back to Honey, but she’s involved in some kind of quarrel with Cordelia Spooner.
“Could you be more obvious?” Cordelia hisses.
“Oh, Cord, stop it,” Honey says.
By the time Simone checks the dance floor, East and Charley are gone. Simone spins around. They aren’t at the fondue table, they aren’t sitting at a high-top. Where did they go?
Simone slips out the door without her coat; if anyone asks where she’s going, she’ll say she needs air.
Because her dress is long, she wore sneakers, so she runs across campus, hugging herself against the cold.
She passes the Sink, the Schoolhouse, and the Paddock remembering how she traveled this same path in pursuit of Charley Hicks the night of First Dance.
She was new then, clueless and na?ve, but not anymore.
When she reaches the dorms, she descends the outdoor steps, pulls open the door, and shines her light into the cellar.
Then it’s down the scary steps to the tunnel.
Does she hear anything? No. Did East take Charley somewhere else, maybe to God’s Basement?
Simone heads through the tunnel until she’s pretty sure she’s gone too far, but then she sees a faint stripe of light underneath…
a door? Simone turns the knob and eases the door open just a crack, enough so that she can see a room with a wood floor and a crystal chandelier.
Beneath the chandelier, East and Charley are kissing.
Simone opens her mouth to speak. This is against the rules; they could both be written up for leaving a school event without permission and for being in a place they don’t belong.
But Simone is struck by how beautiful the two of them look.
The kissing is sexy; every second that Simone doesn’t announce herself, she becomes more of a voyeur.
When East kissed Simone, it was never romantic like this. It was, she realizes now, strategic.
The strategy worked: If Simone busts East and Charley, she’ll end up in trouble herself.
Gently, nearly tenderly, she closes the door.
Audre doesn’t want to deal with a school matter during the Kringle. What she wants is to devour the white chocolate macadamia petit fours that Chef has handcrafted. But campus will clear out in the morning, so Audre has no choice but to confront Mr. Rivera in the hallway just outside the Egg.
Audre says, “One of the students brought to my attention that you’re teaching The Crucible. ”
Rhode bobs his head. “I meant to get to it around Halloween, but things took longer than I anticipated.”
“I’m not concerned about the timing,” Audre says. “Though I am curious about the context. The play deals with paranoia and scapegoating.” She pauses. “Which could also describe our campus in the past few weeks.”
He tilts his head. “I’m not sure I follow?”
“This student suggested you might be conducting a high-concept thought experiment. Trying to make a profound statement. I’m aware, Mr. Rivera, that you’re a novelist and therefore quite creative…”
“High-concept thought experiment? Profound statement? What are you talking about, Ms. Robinson?”
“Zip Zap,” Audre says. “Some of the students seem to think you’re behind it.”
“Me?” Rhode says. He looks baffled and almost flattered—then he chuckles, which annoys Audre. Initially, she thought Dub’s theory was preposterous, but the more she considered it, the more she hoped Rhode was the culprit. She would have to fire him, yes, but then the matter would be resolved.
“This student said you require them to keep journals,” Audre says. “Which would make you privy to their innermost thoughts…”
“I encourage them to keep journals for their own edification,” Rhode says. “But I only read what the students want to share. I’m not privy to their secrets, nor would I want to be.”
“So you’re not behind Zip Zap?” Audre says.
“I am not.”
Audre isn’t sure she believes him, but there’s nothing more to be done on the topic tonight.
“Very well,” she says. “I hope you have a safe and joyous holiday.”
“And you,” Rhode says.
Audre returns to the Egg just in time for the biggest moment of the night, the biggest moment of any holiday party across America: The DJ plays Mariah Carey. Students rush the dance floor, hands in the air, singing along. All I want for Christmas… is you!
At that moment, Audre’s phone buzzes. She holds it at arm’s length so she can see the screen; she’s come to the Kringle without her glasses.
It’s an alert from Zip Zap. Update on the Ranking Scandal: It seems Head of School Ms. Robinson believes Tiffin’s board president Jesse Eastman had something to do with our #2 spot.
What? Audre thinks. Then she remembers the text she sent to Big East: Please reassure me again that you had nothing to do with our ranking, Jesse.
Does Zip Zap have access to her phone ? It’s always in her possession; she charges it at night next to her bed.
Audre searches the Egg for Mr. Rivera and finds him attacking the last of the fondue.
There’s no way he could have posted so quickly.
Most of the fifth- and sixth-formers are out on the dance floor, so she has to rule them—her likeliest suspects—out as well.
When the song ends, so does the Kringle. The lights come up, the kids scatter in search of their coats and the few remaining petit fours. It’s Audre’s tradition to return to the Residence, pour herself a glass of wine, and blast the “Hallelujah” chorus to mark the end of the first semester.
But now, Audre feels defeated. All she wants for Christmas, she thinks, is for things to be like they were last Christmas: Before Cinnamon Peters killed herself, before Cordelia Spooner and Honey started quarreling, before Audre hired either Mr. Rivera or Miss Bergeron, before Tiffin was ranked number two and became the subject of an official inquiry.
Before Zip Zap. Is that too much to ask?
she wonders. She fears the answer is yes.