Georgetown Academy, Season One

by Schwartz, Alyssa Embree

  Brinley nodded sadly as the reality of the situation fully hit her. She was going to have to start being nice to Taryn Reyes.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Wednesday, 7:52 a.m.

  Word of Vice President Tellman’s resignation was all Evan Harnett could hear anyone talking about as she strolled down the halls of Georgetown Academy with Hunter McKnight. Yes, with Hunter McKnight, who’d earned the moniker “JFK of Georgetown Academy” because of his golden-haired, all-American good looks, his family’s powerful position in this city, and his own impressive leadership both as president of student government and captain of the basketball team.

  Oh…and the Hunter McKnight she was now officially dating.

  He rested his hand on her shoulder, lightly guiding her through the student traffic and a shiver of nerves and exhilaration went down her spine until a disturbing thought slammed through her brain. Had she remembered to put deodorant on that morning?

  Almost immediately, she began to feel anxious sweat pooling under her arms. She resisted the urge to tuck her light brown hair behind her ear, a nervous habit of hers, for fear that moving her arms from her side would emit a wave of unpleasant odor to Hunter, completely turning him off to her forever.

  “Are you okay?” Hunter asked, looking down at her and obviously taking note of the frantically worried expression on her face.

  “Oh, yeah,” Evan said with a quick smile. “Totally.”

  But as soon as he turned away, she swallowed, realizing yet again, that as thrilling as it was to be dating Hunter McKnight, it was also perpetually intimidating.

  The problem was Evan had spent so long focused on how to get Hunter, she’d never given much thought to what would happen after. She always kind of assumed if she ever got that lucky, life would be perfect. And she had to admit, in a way, it definitely was.

  But her nerves about being around him hadn’t dissipated just because they were dating. If anything, the increased amount of time they were spending together meant more opportunity to prove to him that he’d made a huge mistake. There were tons of girls at G.A. far more popular and pretty than Evan who were dying to be with him. Part of her felt like it was only a matter of time before he woke up and realized that fact.

  “Hi, Hunter!” Hillary Watson, a perky brunette from their history class, called out as they walked by. “Hi, Evan!”

  Evan gave Hillary a small wave and smile. The school had caught wind of her relationship with Hunter on Monday, and Hillary and hundreds of other G.A. students, who would’ve never stopped to say hello to her before now, enthusiastically greeted her each day. Hillary, like most of the population of G.A., viewed Hunter McKnight as a good friend. And if Evan was dating him, Hillary considered her a friend now, too. Though all the extra attention could be nerve-wracking at times, it was better than everyone hating her and issuing Selena Gomez style death threats against her like Justin Bieber’s groupies had.

  Still keeping her arms at her sides, she managed to give a quick tug to adjust the short corduroy skirt her gay best friend, Luke, had insisted on buying for her during their emergency shopping run on Monday. Luke had told her if she wanted to look like she belonged with Hunter McKnight, she needed to step up the wardrobe choices from her usual favorite of plain white tees and jeans. Luke had paid for the skirt, as well as several new dresses, tops and a black-and-white plaid coat they’d spotted in the window of the Georgetown Anthropologie. Despite Evan’s protestations, he insisted he owed it to her after she had been such a good friend to him on the recent ski trip when he almost got publicly outed—something he could never let happen while his father was still a congressman from Utah with thousands of Mormon contributors. Evan didn’t love the whole notion of changing her appearance for a guy, but sometimes with Luke it was easier to give in than to fight. Especially because she had a sneaking suspicion her new look might at least keep some of the G.A. students from whispering about her being a mismatch for Hunter.

  "You have English next, right?" Hunter asked as they turned a corner. He almost knew her class schedule by heart. Pathetically, Evan had Hunter's entire schedule memorized back in September before they were ever dating, her little way of finding him in the hallways and surreptitiously passing him whenever she could. Or her official stalking method as Luke had referred to it. Not that she could ever tell Hunter that. He’d seriously think she was crazy. So instead, she played along.

  “And you have…math?” she asked, cocking her head and feigning like it was a lucky guess. Hunter gave her another odd look.

  “Yeah. I just told you I had a quiz today. Remember?”

  Evan blushed. He’d literally mentioned it two minutes ago. Great. She was so worried about not seeming like a stalker that now she was acting like a total airhead.

  They passed another large group discussing Vice President Tellman’s resignation. The fact that Ellie's mom and Taryn's dad were allegedly the two top contenders to take his place was naturally driving everyone into a frenzy over the story.

  “So even though Taryn’s putting on a happy face today, I heard she totally begged her father to bow out,” Portia Davies, known as the school “Press Secretary” for the speed she delivered gossip, announced to the group. “I’m thinking she might have some skeletons in her closet she’s scared are going to spill out Bristol Palin style.” Her raven curls whipped around excitedly as she spoke.

  “Well, you know how close Ellie and I are after she slept in my room during the ski trip,” Liesel Biermann jumped in proudly, her blue bug eyes almost jumping out of their sockets, “so I’m totally Team Marilyn.”

  Liesel and her best friend, Nora, were two of the school’s “Power Groupies,” obsessed with becoming friends with whoever was highest on the G.A. totem pole (and whose parents could help theirs politically). Evan happened to know for a fact that Ellie had not spoken more than two words to Liesel since she accidentally passed out in her room over the weekend.

  "I never thought I’d see the day where Liesel Biermann and I were in agreement on something,” Hunter whispered into Evan’s ear as they moved past them.

  “Me, either,” Evan replied, glancing up at him with a smile. Evan had nothing against Congressman Reyes, who seemed perfectly capable, but she’d known Marilyn personally almost her whole life, ever since she and Ellie became friends at the age of six. There was no way she’d support anyone over Ellie’s mom. And Hunter felt the same way because his father and Ellie’s mother were close confidantes.

  “How good do you think Marilyn’s chances are?” Evan asked Hunter, feeling a surge of confidence now that they were onto a conversation topic she felt completely comfortable with. Their mutual love of politics had been one of the things that initially brought them together.

  “Maybe I’m just being biased, but her odds are better than his,” he said. “Only because she’s put in the time in D.C. and she’s tight with the administration. Reyes is more of an outsider because he’s been in California all these years.”

  “But sometimes people think that’s a good thing,” Evan countered. “They say it brings in a fresh POV. You know the whole thought process that goes with that.”

  Hunter nodded, listening seriously to everything she was saying, the same way he used to do in student government meetings before they were dating, treating her opinion as if it was the smartest one in the room. “When I get home, I’m going to ask my dad if the president’s given him any indication yet,” he told her with a grin.

  All it took was a comment like that to remind Evan just how different she and Hunter really were. His dad was one of the president’s closest advisors and, meanwhile, neither of Evan’s parents worked in the government. True, Evan had been surrounded by classmates like this her whole life, but now that she was dating Hunter, her different socio-economic status seemed like it was on an even more magnified display. Oddly, Hunter seemed somewhat oblivious they were such a mismatch, which made it all the more stressful. Was he really so nice of a person that their soci
al differences, both in and out of school, had never registered to him? Or if he did notice them, did it bother him? Would he prefer to date someone more like Ellie, whose family’s status was on par with his?

  “By the way,” Hunter began, “my older brother’s not coming home this weekend after all, so we have an extra ticket for the Dedication Party…”

  “Really?” Evan squeaked, immediately excited.

  “So I asked Narc if he wanted to go.”

  Evan turned so red she might be purple. “Right,” she said, forcing an airy tone. “That’ll be nice.”

  “Yeah,” he replied casually, “he’s a pretty good dancer, so it should be really fun.”

  Evan began to nod until she realized how odd that sounded. When she glanced up at him, he was grinning.

  “Ev, I’m kidding. Will you come with me?”

  Her cheeks slowly returned to their normal color as she started to laugh herself. “I would love to.”

  “You’re pretty cute when you get embarrassed,” he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “I might have to try to do that a little more often.”

  “Please don’t,” she said. She already felt like she was living in a permanent state of mortification.

  “I think we’re supposed to be there for the red carpet by 7:30. I could swing by with my parents first and get you on the way.”

  “That would be perfect,” Evan said as if she did press lines every day, though internally she was freaking out again. Limo. Meeting his parents. Red Carpet?! What was she even going to wear?

  Hunter slowed as they reached his math classroom.

  “I’ll see you later.” He pulled her in close, leaning down to give her a quick kiss. When she pulled away, she momentarily felt lighter. Despite the constant anxiety of dating Hunter, she was still absolutely giddy every time his lips touched hers.

  Hunter entered the class and Evan continued her walk to English, mentally scanning her closet for a dress that might work for the Dedication Party. She didn’t really have anything formal enough for an event the president would be attending. Ellie and everyone else she knew had probably gone to Relish to get a dress, but that store was way out of her budget. She didn’t want to show up in something that made her look completely out of place, embarrassing herself and Hunter. Was it possible Relish had a layaway program?

  Suddenly, she spotted Gabe down the hall at his locker, his dark shaggy hair just grazing the soft gray thermal he was wearing.

  “You ready to deal with DeathBreath?” he asked her as she approached him, referring to their oral hygienically challenged English teacher.

  “Yes. Let’s just not sit in the first row today, please,” Evan replied. Taryn Reyes walked by and she and Gabe exchanged a quick nod. If he was upset about his break-up with Taryn, he definitely didn’t show it. Evan wasn’t surprised though—she knew how Gabe felt about Ellie. She gave Taryn a fast hello and smile before she and Gabe continued the walk toward their classroom together.

  “They’re playing North by Northwest tomorrow night at the AFI theater in Silver Spring,” Gabe told her. “You want to go?” She and Gabe had become friends years ago—before he’d even met Ellie—and usually went to a few movies together every month. They had the same taste and neither of them knew anyone who actually liked discussing the films afterward as much as the two of them.

  “Ooh, yes. I’d love to see that on the big screen.” It might take a little juggling on her end, since she’d fallen behind on her Macbeth essay for English class after hanging out with Hunter at Narc’s house the previous night, but if she managed to finish a first draft tonight after her internship, she could definitely make it work.

  “Hey, guys,” Ellie said as she casually strolled up from the other direction. In general, Evan still felt slightly off-balance with Ellie. They’d grown up best friends, and though Ellie had recently given Evan her blessing to date Hunter, Evan wasn’t completely comfortable with the dynamic. Watching Hunter and Ellie walk down these same halls hand-in-hand was still so vivid a memory for Evan. It would take a little time to completely erase those images.

  But that wasn’t what made this moment awkward. Gabe and Ellie’s loaded history wafted between them as they smiled at each other. Though they both separately told Evan yesterday they’d reached a truce and decided to be “friendly,” she didn’t know exactly what that meant.

  “Hey, Elle,” Gabe said, in an overly relaxed tone, belying the fact that he and Ellie’s eyes were locked together.

  “We, um, were just talking about going to see North by Northwest tomorrow,” Evan said, trying to break the sexual tension emanating between the two of them and get them both back onto “friendly” footing.

  Ellie tore her eyes away from Gabe and smiled at Evan. “They’re doing a screening of that? That sounds cool.”

  Was she asking for an invite? Or was she just commenting? Was it even appropriate to invite her or was that not within the bounds of their new “friendly” situation? Sweat prickled Evan’s forehead as a second of slightly uncomfortable silence elapsed. She hated awkward situations.

  “You want to come?” Evan finally asked.

  “I don’t know…” Ellie hemmed. “I mean, I want to see it. And I guess if it’s the three of us going, that should be fine. The media can’t find a way to twist that out of proportion if someone took a picture or anything, right?” She cocked her head toward Gabe as if seeking his opinion.

  “Three friends seeing a movie? Of course not. We’ll have Evan sit in between us,” he added with a smirk, making Evan realize she may have just been relegated to chaperone position. Both their eyes shifted to her, looking for her to say something.

  “Right. Uh, yeah. Ellie, you should definitely come.”

  “Okay, good,” she replied.

  “Good,” Gabe agreed. They both let out a little laugh, and Evan repressed an eye roll. If they were both going to act this weird tomorrow, it was going to be a long movie…

  “Okay, I need two people on quote confirmations for the first veep segment tonight, a third person on bio confirmation for Representative Reyes, and a fourth for Senator Walker,” barked Maura Ledding, Evan’s direct superior at Today in Politics, the nightly news show she interned at.

  Evan almost tripped over her feet as she struggled to follow behind frizzy-haired Maura, who was leading her and several junior-level P.A.’s, through the long hallway to the news studio.

  As dozens of other staffers and producers rushed back and forth through the hallway buzzing about the vice presidential resignation, Evan let herself soak up the energy. It was always extra fun to be at Today in Politics on a day when a huge story was breaking.

  “Oh, and someone needs to clean up the conference room before the EP meeting at 5:30,” Maura added.

  “I can do quote confirmation,” Evan quickly jumped in before she could be the one assigned to clean-up duty. She’d rather do something directly correlated to journalism in her precious hours there than janitorial grunt work, if possible.

  Maura was about to respond when an envoy including Paul Nelson, the show’s renowned host, exited into the hallway, his tan sweater playing up his cocoa-colored skin.

  “Lee has a White House source who’s swearing the V.P. position is Senator Walker’s to lose. I want to see if he’ll go on the record,” Paul said to the group in the deep, gravelly voice that had made him a household name.

  “I’ll place a call,” Samantha Whitman, the perennially together icy-blond executive producer, replied as she walked briskly beside him, her perfectly tailored black Armani trousers hovering exactly an eighth-inch from the floor. A few weeks ago, to Evan’s complete delight, Samantha had taken Evan under her wing, serving as a mentor of sorts to her. Unfortunately, Evan fell from grace when she lied to Samantha, refusing to corroborate a story that would have publicly outed Luke, who hadn’t come out to anyone but a handful of close confidantes. Evan had tried ever since to get back on Samantha’s good side, to no avail.

&
nbsp; Suddenly, Paul stopped in his tracks.

  “Hello, Evan,” he said, looking her directly in the eye. A faint blush colored Evan’s cheeks as every single person in her group turned her way, including Maura, whose jaw was nearly scraping the wood floors. Paul didn’t exactly make a habit of greeting lower level staff, particularly unpaid interns.

  But then, most interns hadn’t been hanging out in his kitchen the night before. Hunter’s good friend, Narc, was Paul’s son (thus earning him the nickname “Narc”—everyone always joked he was going to tell his father all their secrets), and Narc had invited both of them over last night to study for their Spanish test.

  Somewhere in between reviewing past-tense verbs and watching YouTube videos of the most recent SNL political spoofs, Paul Nelson came home and stuck his head in to say hello.

  “Hi…” Evan said to him now, pausing as she wondered what to call him. Last night, he insisted she call him “Paul,” but she wondered if that applied at work or just in his home. Would a generic “sir” be too formal? Everyone continued staring at her, waiting, so Evan ended up repeating herself. “Hi.”

  “Will I be seeing you after dinner tonight or was the Spanish test a success?” His charcoal black eyes twinkled.

  “It wasn’t too bad,” she replied, a high-pitched nervous giggle escaping from her mouth before she could control it.

  Samantha looked between the two of them astutely before raising an eyebrow at Evan. “I take it you and Isaac are friends?” Evan almost didn’t realize who Samantha was talking about and it took her a second to remember that was Narc’s real name.

  “Uh, yeah,” Evan said. She wouldn’t quite say they were “friends” per se, being in completely different G.A. social stratospheres until just last week, but he was one of Hunter’s best friends, which now made her and Narc pals by association.

  “Well, now that you’re dating Hunter McKnight, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you a lot more,” Paul said.