Georgetown Academy, Season One

by Schwartz, Alyssa Embree

  Her mom inhaled sharply, a tense smile frozen on her face and it suddenly struck Ellie her mother was much more nervous than usual. This was serious high-stakes and the pressure was getting to everyone.

  The Madisons traipsed behind Alan as he approached Marilyn, making the face-off even more dramatic.

  Then almost out of nowhere, Bill and Jackie McKnight were at Marilyn’s side, with Hunter a few steps behind them. Though he looked perfect as usual in a classic black suit, there were a few faint bruises on his face and a solemn look in his eyes. A handful of the photographers granted access to this portion of the event took a break from flashing photos of Marilyn and began clicking away at Hunter, though he studiously ignored them. Ellie really wanted to talk to him about this whole Evan mess. But now was definitely not the time. The Reyes entourage was just reaching them and she was forced to plaster on a broad smile, aware that one telling candid look toward the Reyeses could catapult her into some kind of “McKayla is not impressed” viral photo sensation.

  “Marilyn, good to see you,” Alan said gamely, extending his hand. The photographers around them captured the moment, clicking away at epic speeds.

  “Likewise,” Marilyn said with a grin as if they were old friends instead of rivals for the second-highest office in the country.

  It seemed everyone was watching, including the president and First Lady, who stood nearby with the secretary of treasury and her husband, the president’s eyes fixated on the handshake between Marilyn and Alan. Ellie could almost feel his wheels turning.

  She didn’t have much time to ponder what he might be thinking because that’s when she noticed the Mills family taking their spots behind the Reyeses, physically throwing their support in his corner the way they’d verbally done all week.

  Gabe, in a charcoal-gray suit with a blue skinny tie, his hair just a touch out of place, stood behind Taryn. Ellie’s stomach instinctively dropped at the sight of the two of them in such close proximity. Brooks eyed Gabe, too, a rare look of self-doubt permeating his usual self-assured demeanor, before he subtly moved closer to Taryn himself.

  Gabe remained oblivious to the drama, though, focusing on some miniscule spot on the floor he was scuffing with his left foot.

  Suddenly, his eyes flickered up to hers, meeting her gaze for an instant before returning to the floor, making her hopes of having a private conversation with him tonight seem impossible.

  Thirty minutes later, Ellie had extricated herself from the crowds of people surrounding her mother. Instead of mingling and making small talk, she chose to walk the outer perimeter of the room, using the excuse of checking out the statues not only to stay away from the claustrophobic drama at the center of the hall, but also as a vantage point to search for both Gabe and Hunter, both of whom she’d visually lost in the crowd.

  She reached the statue of Hannibal Hamlin, Abraham Lincoln’s first vice president, and read the small biography on the placard. Should her mother get the position, she’d no doubt be immortalized somewhere in this hall, as well. The thought sent a thrill of excitement and awe up Ellie’s spine, reminding her of how much she truly wanted this for her mother.

  But she quickly told herself not to count her chickens before they’d hatched.

  Even now, Taryn was standing a few columns over, examining one of the statues with First Lady Lydia Goldman, a move Ellie was forced to admit was probably coordinated by Brinley herself.

  Sure enough, Ellie swiveled to see Brinley watching Taryn from a nearby cocktail table, a good-looking, young blond guy at her side. Ellie had seen him with Thomas Madison earlier and assumed he must be Patrick, the intern she’d heard Brinley mention earlier that week. Though Brinley had seemed pretty enthralled in her texts with the mysterious Shane a few days ago, the way she was coyly leaning into Patrick made Ellie wonder if maybe she’d made the wrong assumption about Shane being a secret crush of hers.

  “Elle, there you are,” Hunter said, walking up from behind her and startling her. “I’ve been looking for you.”

  “Me, too,” she said, turning to him, worriedly. “I haven’t been able to get a hold of Evan all day. What happened last night? Are you guys okay?”

  “Neither of us were hurt,” he said. “But is she okay? No.”

  “I can’t believe she would’ve driven a car high. That’s just not her.” It wasn’t Hunter for that matter, either. Having high political aspirations for himself, Hunter rarely let himself get too out of control and always followed the driving laws. Just because George W. had a DUI and ascended to the presidency didn’t mean Hunter wanted to risk it.

  “She didn’t,” Hunter replied, a determined conviction blazing in his eyes. He looked both ways before turning back to her. Ellie’s heart rate accelerated. Whatever he was about to unload on her was serious.

  “Evan accidentally took Taryn’s coat when we left Sarah’s party last night,” he began. “They have the same one and she didn’t realize. There were some candies in the pocket and Evan assumed they were hers. She ate a few and the next thing you know, we were wrapped around a telephone pole and the police are telling her she tested positive for marijuana.”

  “You think the candies were laced?” Ellie asked, her mind reeling.

  “I know they were,” he answered as he began to lay out his case for Ellie in the same crisp manner his attorney father was famous for. “They were edible pot candies. There were still two left in the coat pocket. From what I could tell online, it looks like it came from one of those medicinal marijuana dispensaries. Like they have in California.”

  He said that last part emphatically and it suddenly clicked.

  “They were Taryn’s?”

  His light blue eyes met hers. “Exactly.”

  The enormity of the situation hit Ellie head on.

  “What are you going to do?” she asked in a hushed whisper.

  “I don’t know. That’s why I left Evan to come here tonight. There’s no way I would’ve walked into this circus otherwise. I wanted to talk to you in person. You’re the only one I trust on this. You know all the players. You know what this info could do.”

  “What do your parents think?” Ellie asked, still trying to wrap her brain around this scenario.

  Hunter sighed. “I haven’t told them about the Taryn part yet. I mean, I explained Evan had no idea the candy she was eating was laced with pot. That she saw it at the party and just popped one. I don’t want them to think she’s that kind of person.”

  “Then why not just tell them the real truth?” Ellie pressed.

  “Because Evan doesn’t want me to say anything to the police or the media,” Hunter said in a tone that suggested he didn’t necessarily approve of that decision. “And there’s no guarantee if I tell my parents that they won’t. It’s not like my dad won’t immediately see the political benefit for your mom if Taryn’s caught in a marijuana scandal.”

  Ellie bit her lip. She would be lying if she didn’t admit the thought had quickly crossed her mind, too. “But why doesn’t Evan want the truth to come out?”

  “She’s convinced no one will believe her. That it will sound like a lame excuse and only make her look worse. If she stays quiet, she just has to pay a fine and do some community service and it will go off her record when she turns eighteen. I think she’s got some huge complex that no one will take her seriously because Taryn’s family is so powerful and her family…well, isn’t quite in that category,” he finished diplomatically.

  Evan’s logic was most likely, sadly, correct, but Ellie hated that it meant she’d take the blame for something that wasn’t her fault.

  “She made me promise I wouldn’t go public with it.” Hunter paused for a beat. “But you didn’t promise her that.”

  “You want me to say something?”

  He looked her straight in the eye. “I’ve been thinking about it all day. I know what Evan’s worried about, but I can’t just stand by and let her take the brunt of this. If it came out from someone other than me o
r her that the mints were Taryn’s, it could kill two birds with one stone.”

  As he took a small step back, Ellie realized this was the final point he’d been building toward this entire conversation. And she had to admire the logic of what he was suggesting. Calling out Taryn could potentially prove Evan’s innocence and pave the way for her mother to ascend to V.P. in one fell swoop. But there were a few nagging thoughts in her head throwing it out of perfect alignment.

  “Do you know for sure those mints were Taryn’s?”

  Hunter blanched. “I mean, I guess not. She could potentially argue they weren’t hers either. I’m sure that’s what Brinley or Thomas Madison already told her to say if anything comes out. That someone planted them.”

  “Maybe they did,” Ellie said, just to play devil’s advocate, testing all sides of the argument.

  “Maybe,” Hunter agreed, worry still etched on his face. “I’ll be honest. I don’t know what the right thing to do here is, either. I don’t like the idea of throwing Taryn under the bus. But isn’t that what she’s doing to Evan?”

  Ellie nodded, wondering what her mother would say if she told her about this.

  “I want to make sure Evan is protected.” He stopped for a second. “Especially since this wouldn’t be such a big story if I wasn’t in the car.”

  There was nothing she could say to that. Apparently, Hunter was just as good at making points even when he was arguing against himself.

  “So, what do you think, Elle?” he asked, raising his eyes back to hers.

  Ellie stared into the serious face of Hannibal Hamlin, hoping he could somehow provide the answer. Then again, according to what she’d remembered from history class earlier this year, he’d supported Joseph Hooker’s appointment as commander of the Union Army, which proved to be a dismal failure, so maybe he wasn’t the best advisor.

  Like Hunter, she wanted to help Evan however she could. But Evan was the one who was worried telling the truth would backfire on her. And it was a fairly valid concern.

  Plus, Ellie had her own secrets to cover, too. Gabe might be ignoring her right now, but they’d hooked up just days ago. How would she feel if the roles were reversed and Taryn exposed that?

  At the thought of it, memories suddenly flooded her of the original photo leak of her and Gabe at the Rookie Party weeks ago. The public humiliation she had suffered. The privacy invasion. The horrible guilt she’d had at messing with her mother’s career.

  And she didn’t love the thought of taking Taryn down in the same very cruel, public way. Even if she deserved it. And even if it would help her mother and Evan.

  “I’m not going to say anything,” Ellie told Hunter. Disappointment flashed across his face and he opened his mouth like he was about to say something—some last-ditch closing argument to somehow convince Ellie otherwise—but she continued talking.

  “I’ve been there, Hunter. At the center of a media storm.”

  Ellie colored slightly as she said this, realizing as the words came out of her mouth that the “media storm” she was referring to involved the reaction to her cheating on Hunter. But he had the good grace not to comment.

  “I would never wish that on anyone,” Ellie continued. “It’d be one thing if Evan wanted to expose this. But I don’t know that it’s my place to expose it. Or yours.”

  Hunter nodded, but Ellie could see his eyes were still full of doubt and regret. As if he were beating himself up for not somehow convincing Ellie more persuasively.

  “I get what you’re saying,” he told her. “But it still feels wrong sitting on this. Letting this happen to Evan.”

  “But it’s Evan’s choice. If she changes her mind, that’s a different story. But it’s up to her.”

  Hunter exhaled, now slowly accepting his defeat. “I know.”

  “I’m sorry,” Ellie said simply, exhaling as well, the weight of the conversation still lingering between them.

  “Thanks for listening, Elle,” Hunter said, pulling her into a hug.

  “Of course,” she murmured into his shoulder as she returned the embrace, closing her eyes to avoid the bright flashbulb of a photographer who had just walked over.

  They pulled apart and Ellie gave him a small smile. Despite everything, she was happy Evan had someone like Hunter looking out for her now.

  “Tell Evan to call me if she needs anything.”

  “I will,” he said, giving her hand another squeeze before walking away.

  Ellie let herself have one more minute at the statue before walking to the next.

  But when she finally looked up, she saw Gabe watching her, from halfway across the room, an inscrutable look on his face.

  Their eyes met. This was the chance she’d been waiting for. The chance to talk to him, however brief.

  She began to walk in his direction, but immediately lost track of him when the secretary of defense surged before her with Bill Clinton, bringing with them a flurry of security and looky-loos. She sighed, looking for a detour, and finally opting to go right, weaving around the dozen tables, past where her mother was holding court, five people deep on each side of her.

  She reached a small clearing and stopped, looking in all directions for Gabe’s telltale dark hair.

  “Hey, Ellie!” Brinley’s voice rang out above the din of the crowd.

  Ellie turned to see her at the same cocktail table she’d been at before, but instead of Patrick, it was Brooks who stood beside her, a frown on his face. Ellie pivoted on her heel and strode to Brinley purposefully.

  “Brinley, we need to talk,” she said directly.

  “What did Brinley do now?” Brooks asked immediately. Ellie couldn’t tell from his expression whether his ignorance was just a show or if he had really been kept in the dark on this.

  “Nothing, Brooks,” Brinley told him in the haughty voice she used when she was trying to cover her own behind, suggesting she had, indeed, avoided telling him. “Now why don’t you deal with your issues and stop meddling in mine?”

  Brooks seemed like he was about to retort, but then he suddenly stopped himself.

  “Maybe I will,” he murmured quickly, extricating himself from both girls in a matter of seconds and dissolving into the throngs of people.

  “Did I tell you I love that dress, Elle?” Brinley said, masterfully trying to change the subject.

  “Listen, Brin. Hunter just told me about what happened with the coat. With Taryn and Evan. He knows the whole story.”

  “What are you talking about?” Brinley asked, wide-eyed.

  “Come on…You’re going to play it that way with me?” Ellie replied, boring her eyes into Brinley’s, trying to remind her that when you took the politics away, they were still supposed to be best friends who deserved to tell each other the truth. Meanwhile, Brinley was looking at her like she half-expected her to be wearing a wire.

  “And by the way, there were other mints in the pocket,” Ellie added, hoping to jolt some sense of urgency to Brinley.

  It seemed to work. Brinley paused for a moment, then finally looked up. “Are you going to say anything?”

  “No,” Ellie replied, though she almost changed her mind after the exaggerated sigh of relief Brinley gave. “But Evan might.”

  She added that last part just to inspire a little fear in her. Brinley might be Ellie’s best friend, but Ellie didn’t love the idea of her thinking she’d gotten away with screwing Evan over.

  “We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it then,” Brinley answered, seemingly unruffled. But then an odd flash of guilt crossed her face.

  “Okay, fine,” Ellie said more quietly, feeling only slightly better and wondering why she’d begun this conversation in the first place. There was nothing that could really be accomplished. There was no way Brinley was going to ever let Taryn come clean about the pot, and from a purely political standpoint, Ellie actually couldn’t blame her, even though her own friend and mother had the most to lose from it. That’s what was hard about having friend
s across political lines. Your personal agendas never lined up and you had to decide how much of a friendship deal-breaker that was.

  “Let’s get some air,” Brinley said, the pained expression still on her face. Ellie nodded, vigorously. Air was exactly what she needed right now. Between her mother, Gabe and the moral dilemma Hunter had gotten her involved with tonight, it was starting to feel like one of the thousand-pound statues was pressing down on her chest.

  “So…any other good gossip from tonight?” Brinley asked, attempting to lighten the mood as they made their way toward the double doors that led to the outer hallway.

  “I don’t know…” Ellie said, playing along. “You seem to be talking quite a bit with your dad’s new intern…” She flashed a knowing smile.

  Brinley flushed slightly before meeting Ellie’s gaze. Ellie raised an expectant eyebrow. It was time to get a few answers out of Brinley.

  “He’s definitely an interesting option,” she finally replied.

  “Option? Is there more than one?” Ellie pushed open the heavy double door to the hallway. “Is that the Shane guy I saw you texting the other day?”

  Now, the faint blush graduated to a full crimson mask working its way across Brinley’s cheeks.

  “Oh, uh,” Brinley faltered. “I just meant…” But she suddenly stopped talking mid-sentence, her jaw dropping. “Oh. My. God.”

  “What is it?” Ellie asked, turning to her right to see whatever it was that had captured Brinley’s attention. "Wow."

  There, in a tiny corridor off the main hallway, Brooks was kissing Taryn. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, the two of them so enthralled in the moment, they seemed completely unaware of anything around them.

  “Ugh,” Brinley said, flaring her nostrils in disgust. “Between this and those rancid oyster shooters, I’m going to be sick.”

  As Ellie took one last glimpse at Brooks and Taryn, her stomach turned, too. Because looking at the two of them, so clearly in their own happy world, made her realize how much she missed Gabe.