by Tara Brown
“Right. Being second husband is going to be rough, but I understand.” He crawled up the bed and slid his arm under my neck and cradled me to him. “But being serious for a moment, there’s something we need to discuss.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I don’t want to be serious. We were serious all summer. I just want to goof off for these last couple of weeks and pretend we aren’t who we are and life is easy and nothing matters.”
“But this is going to be a busy year for me, school wise, and then I’m going to have my internship, and I’ll have to move, and I don’t want any of that to get in the way of this.” He glanced down at me. “So promise me right now, if you ever feel like things are going wrong or I’m not giving you enough attention or I’m too busy with school, you’ll remind me that I love you almost as much as I love robots.”
“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes. “You love me way more than that.”
He positioned us so I had to stare him right in the eyes. “I do.” He gave me that look, the one I loved. “I love you way more than I love robots. More than anything in my whole life. I love you, Cheryl Kennedy.”
“I knew it.” I kissed him, pressing myself against him. “I mean I suspected as much.”
He kissed me and whispered, “Though it might have been weird, this was the best summer of my life.” He kissed me again.
He made everything right in the world.
Almost everything.
There were things neither of us could fix. That would be left to time, which was working on mending injuries all across the shore. But she worked so slowly.
A knock at the door made me nervous until I heard Ella talking to someone outside.
There were a few people who knew we were here.
“Time for an Ella invasion?” Ashley asked. Fortunately he liked my sister, a lot.
“Yeah, put clothes on.” I dragged on my yoga pants and a sweatshirt and headed down the stairs. “Hey.” I opened the door, smiling at Sarah, Ella, and the girls.
“I have a surprise. I texted you we were coming over, but you didn’t respond.” She pushed past me and hurried inside, grabbing my laptop.
“I was busy.” I chuckled and let everyone else invade our sacred space.
Whatever Ella was doing made her nervous. She paced in front of my computer on the counter as it loaded. She had been coy, secretive even, for weeks.
Rachel gave me a curious glance, but I shrugged. I honestly didn’t know where this was going.
The clock on the main floor started to chime five o’clock, and Ella sprang to life, typing a bunch of things into the computer and pressing one last button. She sighed and stepped back as the computer screen began to play a video.
“Who are the rich elite?” A man we couldn’t see asked as a picture of a bunch of girls at cotillion flashed. They looked pretty and normal and sweet in the photo. Like any of us at a fancy party. “Or rather, what dark secrets are the rich elite hiding?”
My stomach started to hurt. “Ella?” I whispered.
Images began to flash of partying teenagers and important faces I knew.
“Several years ago, an exclusive club was created in the Hamptons—a club every girl wanted to be part of. It was a secret society of young women determined to humiliate young men. A group of girls who bullied and tormented young men as payback for years of imbalance in the elite society. What does this all say about the upper crust, and does this imbalance trickle down into the lower echelons of society?”
“Oh, dear God,” Sarah whispered as an image of the rules of the club flashed, no doubt the copy Rachel had taken and not burned.
“Here are the rules of the secret society. As you can see, it’s labeled ‘Fling Club.’ A fun name for a dark purpose.”
I swallowed hard, scared of what was about to come out. Ella was doing exactly what she had been born for; I just never imagined I would also get taken down by her.
My insides were on fire, but I stared.
“What does it say about society that young women are making up these dating clubs and controlling the young men? What does it say about girls going this far to the other side of feminism? How much is too much? Tonight, we will explore the secret society inside of the Hamptons’ very own Fling Club.” The announcer said it like he was talking about something dreadful. Not summer frivolities.
Ella closed the computer and stared at us all for a moment before speaking. “I took down the club and the rich elite. I didn’t name names. I got statements from groups of guys who belonged and some of the girls. I protected my sources. I used the flash drives, pixelating any images of nudity or faces.”
“Jesus.” I swallowed that down like a bitter pill. “Everyone is going to know Cait created the club and that this is about her. You went this far?”
“I did.” She nodded, no regret on her face.
“Even though you knew what Andy did to her?”
“Yeah. Andy made a single mistake, a disgusting mistake. She hurt him so he hurt her. But she made the choice to spend the next five years hurting the rest of you and tormenting you. It’s not the same; you see how it’s not the same, right?” She was always the voice of reason, but I was also having a tough time swallowing the simplification of Andy’s crimes.
“I guess I don’t.” I glanced at the other girls. “As someone who had sex because of peer pressure while someone filmed it and used it against me, I understand her madness and rage. He let her trust him and then did that to her. I can’t downplay what he did, any more than I can what she did.”
“I’m not downplaying his actions. He lied to us for years, knowing all along how Cait got this crazy. I’m just saying, she took it that extra step.” Ella sounded impassioned. “It’s done now, though. Her Fling Club and rules and twisted games are outed for the entire world to see. The program 60 Minutes has a series of shows about this, all leading back to the abuse of women and the misdirection of feminism against a patriarchal society.”
“Wow.” Sarah nodded. “Guess we’re going to be under the microscope a little.”
“Maybe it isn’t a bad thing, Sarah,” Ella added.
“I agree.” Rachel shrugged. “We all know it needs to end, the arranged marriages and fake love and leaders and their wives.”
“Exactly.” Ella clapped her hands together.
“You are one badass bitch, Ella.” Laura shook her head. “I thought you might make a web page and out Cait for her bullshit and her lies. But this, this might actually change a few things.”
“And if it doesn’t change them, it doesn’t matter; the whole thing has changed us.” Rachel gave us all a smile. “This summer has changed me.”
“Me too.” Cora spoke up, louder than normal.
“How’s Andy?” Sarah asked, like she might actually care.
“Sick with himself,” Ella said flatly. “Like he deserves to be. He’s holed up in Boston, back on campus early, avoiding everyone. I don’t know that we’ll see him before Christmas at this rate. I’m okay with that.”
“Me too.” I wasn’t really. I hated him for the moment, but he was my brother, and I would miss him. Eventually.
Maybe.
Or maybe I wouldn’t ever forgive him.
Or maybe I already did but didn’t want to admit it to myself.
A lot of maybes.
“This has been the weirdest friggin’ summer I’ve ever spent. You girls know how to party.” Rachel laughed.
We all laughed.
Some of us even sounded like we thought it was funny.
Ella’s use of the USBs had been a ballsy one.
“Where are the USBs now?” I was not okay with any of this.
“I hand delivered every single person’s USB to them with an explanation that Cait’s well-timed nervous breakdown was because she was caught,” Ella answered, completely justified in her actions.
She’d done exactly the thing she had wanted to from the start. She took down Fling Club. She took down Cait. She was savage an
d ruthless and outed Cait for all her bad behavior. She took the secrecy we thrived on here and outed everyone.
My brother suffered silently along with Cait, though never named as the reason she’d started it all. The shore was going to be lit with rage and gossip and a fire Ella had started, all based on assumptions. Ella was determined to take down the patriarchy and the old blue-blooded way of doing things, and she’d started here in her own backyard.
Had anyone known who was really behind it all, the ramifications would have been dire.
My mom would have been devastated.
Dad would have been concerned about the results it would have on business.
I would have been proud.
As it stood, I was proud. Quietly proud.
Ella would always hate it here.
And Andy might not ever come home again.
But he’d made his bed, and I had to let him lie in it. Another thing time was working on.
“Want something to eat?” I asked my friends.
“Yeah, I’m starved.” Ashley came down the stairs and kissed me softly. “And I imagine Ella is starving after all the work she’s been doing.” He winked at her. “I like it.”
“Thanks.” Ella beamed. “Who cooks?” She glanced around, worried.
“I do.” I smiled back, still recovering from the shock of Ella’s revelation. “That’s how we’ve lived here. No service. No staff. No one but us.”
I didn’t know that about myself before, but it was how I preferred to live.
I was more like my dad than I thought. Luckily.
And I was grateful for Ashley showing me that too.
Epilogue
Cherry
My dad leaned in, speaking softly over the sound of the family Christmas we were in the midst of. “Ashley’s mother just called your mom an antiquated relic, and your mom thought it was a compliment.”
We chuckled. Ella gave us a look from where she was sitting, then got up and sauntered over to us. “Why do you look like you’re laughing at us all?”
“We are.” My father nodded. “I’ve never seen your mom laugh as hard as she has.” He said it like he was enjoying the night. “Ashley’s father has to be one of the funniest men I’ve ever met. Highly intelligent as well. Much smarter than he lets on with his jokes.”
“Yeah. He lets his wife win a lot.” I folded my arms and watched Ashley chatting up Rachel and Ryan. “Where’s Andy?” I asked.
“Hiding in his room still,” Ella scoffed. “He’s such a child.”
“He hasn’t come home in months, and when he does he hides up there. He left early this summer. Do I dare ask when you two will forgive him?” Dad asked. Ella had eventually revealed to our parents what had happened, I suspected as a means to torment our mother.
“No,” we said at the same time.
“Fair enough. I won’t make an excuse for his behavior.” He nodded, not pushing. That was our dad. He kissed us both on the cheek and headed back into the snake pit, where Mr. Jardine clearly needed some help.
“How’re things with Ry?” I asked, as if I didn’t know the answer. My sister was dating; that meant it was going well.
“Meh.” She shrugged but smiled, her eyes twinkling.
“Liar.” I nudged her.
“And things with Ashley?” she pried, giving me a nosy look.
“Meh.” I stole her answer, also lying.
“It’s okay for real? With him being so busy with school and you being so busy finishing a degree you don’t want?”
“Shut up. We spend almost every night together. He sleeps in my apartment or I in his dorm. It’s getting a bit pathetic. The train employees are recognizing me, calling me by name. I brought coffees the other day for the morning crew and knew everyone’s order.”
“Wow. That’s bad.”
“Should we forgo the small talk and go ahead with attacking Andy?” I gave her a look.
“I was waiting for you to bring it up.” She linked her arm in mine, and we headed up the stairs. “It’s time to finish his punishment so we can allow him into regular society again.”
“Sounds good. But you better come up with something fitting the crimes.” I was being serious, where she was joking.
When we got upstairs he was sitting on his bed with his laptop. He looked bad. He had a beard, and he was thinner. The cocky brother we’d always known was a shell of who he used to be. His eyes darted to us as we walked in, and he flinched. It dawned on me that my brother didn’t need punishment, he’d had enough. He needed an intervention now.
“Can we talk?” I asked, taking the lead.
“I’d rather not,” he said bitterly.
“Well, too bad. We are willing to listen to you grovel now.” Ella folded her arms.
“What can I even say?” He lifted his gaze, his eyes glistening. “Have you ever made a mistake that you knew was off the charts bad, but it was done and you couldn’t take it back?”
“No.” Ella sounded cold.
“What Cait did—what we did to all of you and each other—is inexcusable. I don’t want your forgiveness. I don’t deserve it.” He broke, heaving a little as he sobbed, but only once. “And I am so truly sorry. I’ve been doing things to try to right these wrongs—”
“We don’t care about that,” Ella interrupted.
“I know. And all I can ask is that you give me a fresh start. Please. Let the things from the past stay there. Give me a chance to be the person I am trying to become. The person I’m trying to find through this mess.” He sighed and nodded. “I fucked up. I own that.”
For the second time in my life, someone was asking for a second chance. I felt better odds in the chance I’d denied Griffin than this one, but I said something I hadn’t thought I could. “Okay.” I only agreed because there had been a time in my life when I needed a second chance. And I wouldn’t be where I was now, as happy as I was, without it.
I’d convinced myself second chances were possible, even if the unlikeliest of second chances was staring me in the face.
“Thank you.” Andy sounded genuinely sorry. My brother truly needed my forgiveness. So I gave it.
“I forgive you. For real.”
“Me too.” Ella broke, her crusty exterior flooded with remorse. We ran at him, attacking with hugs and tears.
He sobbed, shaking in our arms.
We held each other for a long time, him crying until there wasn’t anything left.
Then I wrinkled my nose. “What is that smell?”
“It’s me,” Andy said softly.
“Dude, you need to start showering again.” Ella wrinkled her nose. “You get cleaned up and come downstairs. Everyone wants to see you. It’s Christmas.”
“You sure?” he asked, scared of us or what everyone would think.
“Yeah,” we said at the same time.
He smiled, and I swear for a second I saw a glimmer of my brother in the homeless looking guy on his bed.
“I’m glad you’re back.” I smiled and left him there to change.
I needed a minute, so I turned for the back door and headed outside.
It was cold and frosty, but I was in need of some of that real-world intervention I’d learned to find in the solitude of silent benches.
I sat on the cold bench and stared up at the clear sky.
It was vastly different from New York or Boston here in the Hamptons. Here you could see stars.
I shivered and watched them all twinkling as I debriefed from my harrowing last ten minutes.
“And that’s our good deed for the next ten years?” Ella muttered, coming out to see me. “I feel like we rolled over way too easy. But honestly, what should we have demanded as repayment?”
“I don’t know. Blood?” I offered weakly.
“He’s been publicly humiliated. Everyone out here knows Andy’s and Cait’s involvement, or at least suspects them. They don’t have any friends left. She missed the first month of school after she spent that two months in
the center.”
“It wasn’t a bad thing.” I recalled the way she’d looked the last time I saw her.
“No, and it was some fancy place where people like us go to chill for a month or two. Not like she suffered.”
“I can’t imagine the kind of baggage they both have from this.” It was too much for me.
“Yeah. Me either. Did you hear her mom kicked her dad out, after his freak show with Liz was outed?”
“No, Jesus. Gross.”
“Super gross.” She nudged me. “Hey, but on a brighter note, I have big news. I got accepted to MIT. Ashley and I are going to take over the world!”
“No. Oh my God! You’re going to break tradition again?”
“Uh, yes. I’m not going to friggin’ Wellesley finishing school.”
“It’s a good school.” My cheeks reddened.
“Maybe, but it’s still weird. And I’m not down for all that girl-on-girl action, despite popular belief.”
“Shut up.” I pushed her.
“It’s cold out here; you ready to go back in?” she asked.
“No. I’m gonna stay a couple of minutes longer. You go on in.” I smiled.
“Fine. I’ll stay. But I need amusements.” She took my phone from my lap and started playing on it.
“Whoa! When were you going to tell me about this?” Ella held up the screen so I could see my acceptance letter.
“Oh, that.” I laughed at how efficient she was at snooping, considering I’d just changed the password.
“Seriously? That’s all you have to say for yourself?”
“I’m going to grad school for filmmaking.” I nodded. “I’m starting in June with a summer program.” Even saying it aloud didn’t make it feel real.
“Tisch? Seriously? Martin Scorsese went there. How the hell did you even get in?”
“Luck,” I lied.
“Lucky you were born a Kennedy.” She laughed too. “I’m proud of you, maybe for the first time. Like, really proud. This is huge.” She kept my phone and walked back to the house. “But I’m still telling on you,” she shouted as she got to the door. “This is going to save me for my betrayal for going to MIT!”