My pulse pitched. Already? Everyone knew about the prankalready? The first bell hadn’t even rung yet. Who was in the yearbook office?
Another buzz announced we were in a group chat.Not about the prank, Alex clarified.Everyone knows about you and Tag, Lily. Not his trip to the infirmary or anything, but they know you were caught “hooking up” by Admissions. They know you have hearings this morning.
Naturally, I thought. Naturally, because student gossip traveled at lightning speed around Ames. Faculty gossip too, though most students didn’t know it.
“Lily!” My mom waved. She was almost to the building’s door while I still stood by the car.
Fuck off,Peoplemagazine, was the last message I saw before shoving my phone back in my blazer and hurrying after her. Together we entered the airy atrium, and I thought about asking my mom why Mr. Hoffman would’ve slept here butdidn’t. She’d been livid when I’d wordlessly returned her keys several hours ago because she’d sure as hell noticed they were missing once Campo had called with the breaking news that I was not asleep in my bed. I suspected she knew that Tag and I’d used her ID to sneak into buildings.
I will tell her the truth and nothing but the truth, I resolved once we started up the atrium’s winding staircase. I would tell her absolutely everything, like I always did—everything from being tapped by the Jester to hiding the final clue in student council’s conference room.
But first, I had to face the consequences of getting caught right afterward.
The only way to describe Penny Bickford’s office was “delightful.” It sunnily sprawled across Admissions’ third floor with soft spring green walls, all-white furniture, and a vase of freshly cut flowers seemingly on every surface. Floor-to-ceiling windows showcased Ames’s stunning ocean views, but I especially loved her tasteful art collection. Several pastel pieces were mine, my favorite being a lakeside landscape from Montana. Josh and my mom had gone on a hike while I’d worked all day on it, and after Penny had unwrapped it on her birthday, she’d kissed my cheek and said it would go perfectly in her office. I remembered my heart filling with such warmth.
Today, though, I couldn’t bear to even give the pastel a glance. Headmaster Bickford was already seated at her desk while Dean DeLuca stood near the windowsill. Anthony’s father preferred standing to sitting. “Good morning, Leda,” Headmaster Bickford said as my mom and I sat in the cushy chairs across from her. She nodded at me. “Lily.”
“Good morning, Headmaster,” I said feebly, and then no one spoke. We were waiting for one more person.
“Pardon, pardon!” Madame Hoffman hurried into the office a few minutes later. “My sophomores are in the language lab this morning, and I needed to get them set up before leaving.” She sighed. “There were a few technical difficulties.”
“I’ll notify ITS later today, Camille,” Dean DeLuca said before gesturing for my academic advisor to take the empty chair on my left.
She sat.
But still, nobody said a word. My blueberry Pop-Tart turned in my stomach. WasIsupposed to kick off this party? Just dive right into my wrongdoing? I had no idea.
My palms had grown clammy by the time Headmaster Bickford folded her hands on her desk and made eye contact with me. “Quite frankly, Lily,” she said, her voice level, “I’m shocked that we’re sitting here under these circumstances.”
All I thought to do was nod.
Dean DeLuca cleared his throat and consulted his iPad. “According to Roger Harvey’s report,” he said, “you and TaggartSwell were found together outside Admissions at approximately 5:47 this morning. Is this correct?”
My heart twisted. “Yes.”
“And you are aware that students are not allowed outside their dormitories between their curfew and 6:30 a.m.?”
“Rob, Lily doesn’t have a dormitory,” Madame Hoffman gently reminded him. “She’s a faculty child.”
“Yes, well,” Dean DeLuca said, “faculty children are officially categorized as day students, and unless they have permission to sleep over, day students must be off campus by boarders’ curfews.” He looked at me. “Lily, since you are a senior, you should’ve left main campus by 10:30.”
I did, I thought.I always do.
But this time, I’d come back.
Meanwhile, my mom had the gall to roll her eyes. “My daughter knows the rules, Rob,” she said. “Can we skip reviewing the school handbook and cut to the chase?”
“I don’t want to be here either, Leda,” Dean DeLuca muttered, then put down his iPad and refocused on me. “Lily, you snuck out, right?”
“Well, of course she did,” Headmaster Bickford answered before I could. “And I would sincerely appreciate being enlightened as towhy.”
So I told her. I took a deep breath and told her that over the last couple days, Tag and I had talked about having a final hurrah together. “We met up at midnight,” I said, “and thentook our own campus tour to reminisce about the last four years. All we did was walk around for several hours.”
Because at the bare-bones level, that was exactly what we’d done. There had been plenty of stops along the way with an imperative mission to accomplish, but the scavenger hunt was truly a tour. Even though I was omitting the greater story, I wasn’t lying.
“It was the wrong decision,” I concluded. “Neither of us should’ve snuck out; we could’ve saved our walk for daylight instead of darkness.”
“Yes, you absolutely could have,” Headmaster Bickford said. “You absolutelyshould have.” She sighed. “After my many years here, I understand that there’s a certain…”
