Georgetown Academy, Book One

Chapter Six: Taryn

Tuesday, 9:02pm.

Taryn walked up the path toward the front door of Anton Saratov’s massive estate, full of trepidation, an enormous mason jar of coconut water under her arm. Her first day at Georgetown Academy had not exactly gone according to plan and she wasn’t sure what to expect at her first party. She tugged nervously at her outfit, an Elizabeth and James tent dress she had layered over her favorite black J Brand bell-bottoms.

A few girls Taryn recognized as seniors, all dressed in skinny black pants and camisoles, smoked cigarettes on the front porch and watched Taryn as she passed, tracing their eyes down Taryn’s outfit with horrified smirks. Taryn could see, just like with the Joie dress from this morning, she wasn’t fitting into the school’s narrow fashion mold.

Oh, well, she thought as she surged forward, giving the snarky girls a pointed friendly smile. Nowhere to go but up.

She entered the crowded foyer, the grandiose crystal chandeliers twinkling overhead. Whoa. Taryn had been to some pretty amazing houses back in L.A.—hell, Taryn’s family had a pretty amazing house themselves back in L.A.—but this was on another level. Anton’s dad was a Russian ambassador, and Liesel had explained that cops couldn’t step foot on his property due to diplomatic immunity. Taryn was pretty sure that when the foreign heads of state had devised that system hundreds of years ago, they weren’t imagining it would one day be used as a loophole for teenage partying.

Taryn wandered past the crazy-long dining room that looked exactly like the one in Batman, until she saw a large group of students crowded around the wall of televisions (yes, multiple) in what looked to be a ballroom that had been converted into an enormous game room. It contained two pool tables, an air hockey table, Pop-a-shot, a dozen old-school arcade games like Pac-man and an enormous saloon-style bar, fully stocked, with swivel bar stools. Anton Saratov’s parents had definitely gotten it right in here. Why have a ballroom, which no one would ever use in this day and age, when you could have a cool room like this?

Suddenly, she zeroed in on a group of students playing some sort of drinking game. One of the guys, a freckly redhead, threw a pair of dice crazily, sending them spinning across the room.

“Sorry, guys,” he said, standing to go get them and finding himself face to face with Taryn. “Hey, there I’ve never seen you before. You a rookie?”

Taryn nodded, though she hated the term.

“I’m Harrison, by the way,” he said, before going in search of the dice.

“What’s that?” one of the girls in the group asked Taryn suspiciously, eying the mason jar of clear liquid still in her arms.

“Coconut water,” Taryn replied, “I always bring it to parties.”

Taryn held up the jar for the group to see. “Baby coconut water has tons of natural electrolytes. It’s super hydrating. So if you use it as a mixer, you never get a hangover. We drink it all the time back in L.A.”

Smiles spread across a few of their faces.

“That’s kind of cool,” a cute guy with shaggy hair said.

“Go ahead, there’s plenty,” Taryn said expansively. “I personally like it with rum.” She reached onto the table where dozens of assorted liquor bottles stood and began mixing him one. “Here, take a taste…um…” She realized she didn’t know his name.

“Thatcher,” he told her, taking the cup. He took a sip. “Mmm. It’s actually pretty good,” he pronounced.

“I want one!” three different people in the circle said at the same time.