"Good morning, Roy," Audre says. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" Mentally, Audre is already in hiring mode.
She'll reach out to her friend Tamoy Wilbur, who chairs the math department at Spelman College.
Feel free to send me your best prospects…
as long as they don't mind living and working in the middle of nowhere.
Roy opens his phone and slides it across the desk to Audre. "I check my messages only periodically. This one is from young Eastman, sent yesterday afternoon at quarter past five."
Audre reads the message: Miss Bergeron appeared in my room uninvited and she won't leave. I think she's drunk.
Good lord, Audre thinks. Did Simone Bergeron get drunk on her Sunday (against the rules) and then barge into East's room (allowed only in certain circumstances)?
She must have had a reason. She's East's history teacher; maybe he owed her an assignment?
Maybe she'd requested it via email but hadn't heard back?
"There's another thing," Roy Ewanick says. "A voice memo."
Yes, Audre sees it, though navigating Roy's phone is like trying to read Beowulf in Old English.
She clicks on Voicememo1 and hears East and Simone talking.
I have more power, Audre hears Simone say.
I'm a teacher at this school and you're a student.
I will go to Ms. Robinson and tell her everything and see that you're expelled.
You'll tell her what? That we kissed? That we fooled around in your classroom? That you brought a bottle of wine up here and drank it with me over spring break?
That you sneaked into my room back in the fall! Simone says. You're the one who set this whole thing between you and me in motion .
But you let it happen. And, like you said, you're a teacher and I'm a student.
Nooooo, Audre thinks. But yes, undeniably yes. She's embarrassed to meet Roy's eyes.
"Do you mind if I forward this voice memo to my own phone?" Audre asks. "I'll need to have it when I speak to Miss Bergeron."
Roy waves a hand. "Do what you must," he says, then he stands with a chuckle. "I don't envy you your job, Audre. Good luck."
When Simone arrives, she's as put together as she was on the day of her final interview the summer before: pencil skirt, blouse, kitten heels, braids wound into a bun. Lipstick. Audre sighs. If only she'd been this professional all year long.
"Simone," Audre says.
"He's lying," Simone says.
Does Audre want to ask Simone who she means by "he" and trap her that way? No, Audre will cut to the chase. She pulls out her phone and plays the voice memo.
Simone drops her face into her hands.
"You had a sexual relationship with Andrew Eastman?" Audre asks.
"We never slept together," Simone says. "Back at First Dance when you sent me to look for Charley, I bumped into him. He kissed me that night."
"I'll state the obvious," Audre says. "You should have pushed him away, then reported him immediately."
"He broke into my room after a home football game," Simone says.
"Did he… threaten you, or touch you against your will?" Audre asks. "Did he force you?"
Simone waits a moment before answering, and Audre feels like she's teetering on a tightrope. Please say no, she thinks.
"No," Simone says.
"If you found him in your room, you should have reported him." She turns off her phone. "What I hear in this voice memo is enough to dismiss you."
"But it was his fault."
Audre leans over her desk. "Do you hear yourself? You're a teacher at this school, Simone. Andrew is a student. The moment any impropriety transpired, you should have come directly to me." She pauses. "You brought alcohol into his room at spring break?" Audre wants to shout, What is wrong with you?
"So this is all my fault? East won't get into any trouble? Oh wait, that's right, he's the son of the board president. That's how things roll around here, right? He gets off scot-free even though he opened a bar in the basement of the dorms."
"What?" Audre says. She's back on the tightrope. The involvement between East and Simone can be placed squarely on Simone's shoulders: She is the teacher, she is in the position of power. But… a bar in the basement of the dorms?
She recalls her thoughts on Move-In Day when she first laid eyes on East: Don't do anything this year I can't forgive. Please.
Simone holds up a key. "I'll show you," she says.
Simone leads Audre into a part of the school Audre has never been and only vaguely knew existed—the cellar of the dorms. The cellar is Mr. James's domain; it houses the furnace and hot-water heater, all the excess furniture.
What Audre doesn't know is that there's a set of stairs that leads down into an honest-to-god brick tunnel.
The tunnel dead-ends at a door, which Simone unlocks. She turns on the light.
" East did this?" Audre says, spinning around.
The space is magnificent. It's elegant and sophisticated.
There's no way East could have pulled this off, is there?
Audre runs her hand over the granite bar.
She pulls open the drawers on either side of the sink: empty.
The shelves above the sink are empty as well.
She pokes her head into the powder room—gah!
That wallpaper! Audre tries to imagine East wallpapering the bathroom; it's just not possible.
And yet someone did all this. The floors and countertops look brand-new; the copper sink gleams.
"It's a bar," Simone says. "He was running a bar."
"I don't see any sign of alcohol," Audre says. "It would be difficult to accuse him of running a bar without any proof he was drinking down here."
Simone checks the trash can under the sink. Empty. "Olivia H-T came to me yesterday and told me some of the girls on her floor sneaked out on Saturday night."
"Why didn't you report that to me right away?" Audre asks. Then she gets it: Simone went to East's room to confront him herself. So many bad decisions.
"Olivia told me she checked the rooms of several girls and their beds were empty. But I promised her anonymity."
Right, Audre thinks. Because everyone hates a snitch.
Suddenly, Audre's eyes catch on something poking out from beneath one of the suede cup chairs. She bends down to pick it up. It's a red swizzle stick with the word PRIORITIES printed in gold.
Priorities, Audre thinks. Cute name. She'll keep this room just as it is, she decides then.
It'll be perfect for donor events. She imagines everyone's shocked delight when they learn about the new secret hideaway under the dorms. She'll have to change the locks, of course, and install security cameras in the brick hallway, but that's easily done.
Audre chuckles to herself: She can't believe East actually added value to the dorms. If anything, she expected him to burn them down.
When they're back aboveground, Audre turns to Simone. "I'm afraid your dismissal is effective immediately. I'd like you to pack up and leave now, please, while the students are in class."
"So I won't be able to say goodbye to the girls?"
"It's better that you don't," Audre says. "You may write to them once you're gone."
"What about my final grades?"
"We'll handle that. Please don't make this any harder than it already is, Simone."
Simone grabs Audre's forearm, and Audre chastises herself for hiring someone so young. What was she thinking? Well, she was thinking she was just shy of desperate—and, to be fair, Simone had shown so much promise.
"There's something else you need to know," Simone says. "One of the other staff members made an unwanted sexual advance toward me."
Audre's heart plummets. Mr. Rivera, of course. Arrrgh —Audre should never have let those two go on that date this past fall. Her judgment was lacking this year. Next year she's going to crack down; she'll revise The Bridle over the summer.
"Which staff member?" Audre asks. Maybe it wasn't Rhode but rather Mr. James, which would be even worse.
"Honey Vandermeid," Simone says.