The Academy

The Academy (2025) is a young adult fiction novel written by Elin Hilderbrand and her daughter, Shelby Cunningham. It is the first book in a planned two-book series, with the second and final book planned to be released in 2026. The novel follows an academic year at Tiffin Academy, a prestigious boarding school in New England that gains attention when it moves to #2 in America Today’s rankings of top boarding schools in the country. When the app Zip Zap, an anonymous way for students to post about gossip, appears, neither students nor staff are safe as everyone’s secrets become public knowledge. As the school descends into chaos and drama, Head of School Audre Robinson desperately tries to maintain control, balancing the needs of her students, support for her staff, and the desire to keep the school’s top donors. The Academy explores themes of The Impact of Secrecy and Gossip, The Value of Friendship and Support, Privilege as a Source of Protection From Consequences, and The Struggle Between Invisibility and Exposure.

This guide uses the first hardcover edition of the novel published by Little, Brown in 2025.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of bullying, sexual harassment, disordered eating, death by suicide, substance use, addiction, sexual content, cursing, and death.

Plot Summary

At the prestigious boarding school Tiffin Academy in Massachusetts, Head of School Audre Robinson welcomes the new students. She is nervous about the new year, as a student named Cinnamon died by suicide at the end of last term. However, when the national rankings for boarding schools are released, Audre is shocked to learn that Tiffin has moved up from #19 to #2. As a result, the entire school seems more optimistic about the year ahead.

The narrative shifts between several different students and faculty members. Davi is a famous social media influencer and the most popular girl at the school. Cinnamon was her best friend, and Davi still struggles with her death.

Charley is a new student, having come here to get away from her mother and her mother’s new, younger husband after her father’s death. She prefers to remain isolated from the other students, spending her time reading.

Simone is the school’s new history teacher and is only 24 years old; she feels like a fraud as she tries to understand the curriculum. Rhode, the school’s new English teacher, pursues her romantically and this makes her uncomfortable as he is 14 years her senior.

In the administration, Cordelia is the director of admissions and Honey is the counselor. The two have had a romantic relationship for several years, but they keep it secret from everyone. Cordelia feels as though Honey is growing distant from her and wonders if it has anything to do with Honey’s attraction to Simone.

Meanwhile, Audre works with the head of the school board, Jesse “Big East” Eastman, to deal with the school’s new ranking. She knows that much of their recent success is owed to Big East, who made large donations to the school when his son started attending. As gossip begins to spread about the new rankings, Audre secretly wonders if Big East used his influence and money to get them to #2.

As the school year progresses, Charley grows close with Andrew “East” Eastman, Big East’s son. He is 19 years old as a junior because he was held back a year. East shows Charley a hidden bomb shelter beneath the school’s dormitories. With the help of the school’s chef, Haz, East begins renovating the bomb shelter into a speakeasy. Although Charley is nervous about getting caught, she agrees to help him because of her romantic attraction to him.

As the head of the dorm floor for the juniors, Simone becomes concerned when Charley does not show up to the school’s First Dance. She searches for Charley and discovers that there are stairs leading beneath the school. Unbeknownst to her, she stumbles upon Charley and East discussing the speakeasy. East sends Charley out the other tunnel, then confronts Simone alone. When she questions him, he kisses her. Instead of resisting, Simone kisses him back.

Because she is forced to do an activity, Charley joins the school’s newspaper. She meets the editor, Ravenna, and its only other members, Grady and Levi. Ravenna longs to expose the truth of life at Tiffin to counteract what Davi and others put on social media.

On Welcome Weekend, the parents of all the students visit. Charley struggles with her mother, who brings along her new husband, Joey. She refuses to engage with him, especially after all the girls at the school comment on his attractiveness. Davi also struggles with her parents, as they have brought a new woman into their relationship as their girlfriend. When Charley goes to the library bathroom to get away, she discovers that Davi is vomiting into the toilet, purging her body of what she ate. She agrees to keep it a secret.

Several weeks into the school year, a new app is released called Zip Zap. It allows the students to post anonymously, then comment on and upvote their favorite posts. Someone immediately starts posting gossip about the students and staff. One post calls out Cordelia on the fact that she bases admission decisions on how people look, while another points out that Chef Haz has a gambling addiction.

The school’s quarterback, Dub, and wide receiver, Hakeem, get into a fight over one post. Because Dub was Cinnamon’s boyfriend, he still struggles with his grief. He finds comfort in his friendship with Hakeem’s girlfriend, Taylor. Despite Taylor’s insistence that they are just friends, Hakeem breaks up with her. While Taylor tries to pursue Dub romantically, he insists that he is not yet over Cinnamon’s death.

After Thanksgiving, Charley returns to find that East has begun to transform the bomb shelter. He has an ornate chandelier installed while redoing the flooring and the bathrooms. He plans to install a granite-top bar. East then invites Charley to Kringle, the school’s holiday dance, despite continuing to have illicit, increasingly sexual encounters with Simone.

When Davi learns that Charley is going to Kringle, she offers to give her a makeover for it. Charley reluctantly agrees and is transformed. From there, she and Charley become best friends. At the same time, Charley’s relationship with East develops. The three spend much of their time together at school.

Because of Charley’s relationship with East, Simone grows increasingly jealous. She also begins to drink alcohol more and more frequently. She forces Charley to undergo a room check, hoping that she will find contraband, while constantly tracking Charley and East on campus.

When Simone returns from Christmas break early, she finds East with a load of wood in his truck. She questions him on it, but East distracts her by inviting her up to his room. When Simone leaves East’s room, she runs into Rhode in the hall. Although she insists that she was just out for a walk, Rhode deduces that she was drinking with East.

Shortly after Christmas, East and Charley have sex for the first time in the bomb shelter. After, it is reported on Zip Zap. However, they both ignore it, relieved that no one knows about their work on the bar.

As Charley continues to pressure Davi about her disordered eating, Davi agrees to get help. She sends an email to the school’s psychologist. However, the next day, it is reported on Zip Zap. Convinced that Charley told someone, Davi ends their friendship, causing all the girls in the school to mistreat and isolate Charley.

When Audre reaches out to Big East for help with Zip Zap, he sends an IT specialist to the school. The specialist discovers that someone has hacked the school’s Wi-Fi to steal information. She tracks the IP address back to the newspaper office. They learn that the two students on the paper, Levi and Grady, are responsible for the posts.

After the use of Zip Zap comes to an end, Charley and Davi mend their friendship. At the same time, East finishes renovating the speakeasy, now called Priorities, and invites his closest friends to drink there each Saturday night. The group includes Charley, Davi, Hakeem, Taylor, Dub, and a few others; they all grow close.

Suspecting that something is going on and jealous that she was not included, Olivia, Davi’s former best friend, begins investigating where the students go each Saturday. When she finds they are not in their beds in the middle of the night, she reports it to Simone. Simone realizes that East is taking them to the basement.

On Sunday morning, Simone drinks an entire bottle of wine. She then goes to East’s room and confronts him, stealing the key to the basement. Unbeknownst to her, East records their interaction as they openly discuss their inappropriate relationship and kisses. He then sends it to Roy Ewanick, an old professor at the school.

When Rhode finds Simone in East’s room, she defends herself by telling him about the bar. She takes him to the basement to show him, but all the alcohol has been removed. He urges Simone to consider that she was drunk in East’s room and that she stole from him, but Simone ignores him.

The next morning, Audre is called to meet with Ewanick. He plays the voice memo for Audre. Audre then goes to Simone, who admits to her relationship with East. She tries to blame him for what happened, but Audre is insistent that Simone should have acted differently and reported it. She then fires Simone.

On the day of graduation, all the students are still speculating about what happened with Simone. They hear rumors of her relationship with East, and Charley breaks up with East over it. He tries desperately to explain that he was only doing it to protect his bar. At the same time, Audre repurposes Priorities with hopes to use it for school events in the future.

After the ceremony, Davi pulls Charley into the library. They go to the couch reserved only for seniors, which they are now. They find the other members of their Priorities group there. When East arrives, Charley hesitates, then invites him to join them on the couch.