The Academy

Audre is Tiffin’s head of school. She has served in that capacity for the past six years. As a Black woman, she is one of the few Heads of School at a well-known boarding school who is not a white male. Despite a large portion of the novel being told from Audre’s perspective, she is a relatively flat character with little known about her personal or past life. Instead, she serves largely as a neutral narrator, providing the reader with the perspective of the administration as the events at Tiffin unfold.

Audre’s primary characteristic is her dedication and commitment to the school, something that often serves as a detriment to her. From the start of the novel, Audre’s love of the school and the people there is clear as she helps the students unload their cars for the new year. She immediately notices things like the closeness of Simone and Rhode and the changes that have occurred within Davi since Cinnamon’s death. However, she also repeatedly chooses the importance of the school’s image over the rules she is supposed to enforce and even the safety of her students. She chooses to overlook what East is doing, valuing his father’s donations over East’s academics and his decisions to ignore the school’s rules. She also knows that she should not have hired Simone without checking more closely into her background, a decision that comes back to haunt her, but her desire to have a young teacher outweighed her caution. Audre’s number one concern throughout the novel is the school’s rankings while her primary focus is maintaining that prestige. As the campus devolves into chaos, she focuses on damage control and hiding it from the donors. This fact is underscored by her final actions in the novel: Instead of punishing East, she hopes to use Priorities as another positive that the school has to offer.

East is a junior at Tiffin Academy. His father is Jesse “Big East” Eastman, the school board’s president and one of its largest donors. As a result, East is given much more leeway than the rest of the students, with the staff and students repeatedly noting that he is allowed to skip school functions, return during break, drive to school, and more, all of which are forbidden for others. He is seen by many characters are as extremely attractive, while his stereotypical “bad boy” charm is a draw to many of the female students. He is viewed as one of the most popular students in the school, a fact that is ameliorated by his lack of clear friends and refusal to participate in school activities.

East is defined throughout the novel by his aloof, carefree attitude. He refuses to turn in any homework assignment and was held back a year in school, a fact that makes the students and staff assume that he is unintelligent. However, through his love interest that forms with Charley, it is revealed that the opposite is true: He is extremely intelligent but chooses not to work or participate simply because he can. East often cites “boredom” as his reason for not doing schoolwork, while claiming he is only starting Priorities for the excitement it offers—not for the chance to consume alcohol. Ultimately, East fulfills the “bad boy” trope within the high school drama. He convinces Charley, the new and isolated student, to help him cause trouble, while caring little about what other students think of him, a fact that only increases his popularity. From the start of the novel, East underscores the theme of Privilege as a Source of Protection From Consequences. Because of his father’s money and influence, East is allowed to do whatever he wants with no fear of repercussions.

As a dynamic character, East changes throughout the novel due to his relationship with Charley. By the novel’s end, he has started turning in homework and has grown a small circle of friends. In the final scene, as he sits down with the others from Priorities, it underscores East’s newfound desire to be a part of Tiffin. Through his character, the novel emphasizes the theme of The Value of Friendship and Support. While he will still likely cause trouble for the school, he has learned how important his relationship with Charley and his friendships with others are to his life.

Simone is Tiffin’s new history teacher and one of the novel’s primary antagonists. She is 24 years old, a fact that leads to her troubling relationships with her students. In her last year at McGill University, where she served as the dorm fellow for freshmen students, she was disciplined and relieved from her duties for drinking alcohol with two freshmen in her dorm. She came to Tiffin because it was the only place she found to work that did not look into her past. She has no training as a history teacher, which makes her feel uncomfortable and vulnerable while teaching the students. At Tiffin, she has several sexual encounters with East, admitting to herself how attracted to him she is and justifying it by the fact that he is older than the other students.

Although Simone serves as an antagonist to Charley, as she tries to ruin her reputation and discover her plans for Priorities, she is also portrayed as a sympathetic character. Simone herself acknowledges that she should not be teaching history at Tiffin, as she is unqualified and feels inadequate, making her relationship with Charley difficult from the start. Additionally, Simone has an alcohol addiction that is exacerbated by the secrets and drama at Tiffin. Although she pursues East and does not report his sexual advances, she is also used and manipulated by him so that he has leverage to keep Priorities a secret. It is clear that Simone is in the wrong for pursuing East and intentionally making Charley’s life difficult out of jealousy; however, she nonetheless receives full punishment while East is praised for his work on Priorities by Audre. Ultimately, Simone’s character underscores the theme of Privilege as a Source of Protection From Consequences. As a new teacher with no connections to Tiffin, Audre dismisses Simone and she is the only one punished despite the complicated events that led to her actions in East’s dorm room.