The Academy

At Tiffin Academy, Head of School Audre Robinson helps the students unload their cars as they arrive for the first day. She is worried about how some of the students will handle moving back in after student Cinnamon Peters died by suicide at the end of last year.

Audre checks in with Webber “Dub” Austin, who is Tiffin’s quarterback and was Cinnamon’s boyfriend, and Cinnamon’s best friend, Davi Banerjee, a social media influencer with 1.3 million followers and several sponsors. To Audre’s surprise, Davi has cut off most of her hair, now wearing it in a short bob. Davi asks about the new student in fifth-form with them, Charlotte “Charley” Hicks, who will be moving into Cinnamon’s old room, but she has not arrived yet.

Audre receives a message from Jesse Eastman, known as “Big East,” who is the president of the board of directors at Tiffin. He asks if the national ranking for boarding schools, published yearly by America Today, is out yet. After recent renovations, made possible by Big East’s large donations, Tiffin has slowly moved up the rankings from just inside the top 50 to #19 last year.