Gene Tierney is visiting the school. She used to go here. It’s a fancy school. One of Cary Grant’s wives, the one related to Tilly, is an alumna. All the Bouvier Beales, too. Lee was here until last year. She’s Jackie’s sister.
I didn’t like Lee much, I can’t quite put my finger on why, just something about her, and, seriously, who am I to judge? I’m a floozy, sneaking around with a working-class Southern boy whenever I get the chance. —That’s something Lee Bouvier would never do.
I don’t know how Tilly gets away with her affair. She’s been reclusive this past year, mixing mostly with the seniors. I hope Miss Mary’s right. I hope Tilly comes back around.
“Gene Tierney is the most beautiful movie star who has ever lived,” says Barbara, who wants to be an actress too. Everyone’s excited she’s here. We’re peeking through the windows as she arrives with her publicist.
Cornelia and I walk past her and Mrs Johnson in the hallway, both of us curtsying before we catch ourselves. We burst out laughing as soon as we’re outside.
“Why on earth did we do that?” Cornelia asks.
“I don’t know,” I giggle. “She’s like a queen, isn’t she?”
“Those Hollywood people are lit from within,” Laura sighs.
“Like gods,” Elise adds.
We all agree, untouchable, unreachable stars.
Tilly sits next to us in the auditorium.
“Hey, ladies,” she greets as she takes her seat.
“Oh, her ladyship has decided to join the lowly peasants,” Cornelia quips.
Tilly shoots her a dark look.
“What’s the matter? Didn’t Lizzy and her crew want you with them?” Cornelia won’t let it go.
“Oh, do be quiet,” Tilly mutters. “Birdie’s happy to see me, aren’t you, Birdie?”
“Of course I am,” I say. “We all are.”
And just like that, on the day one of the Olympians visits, Tilly is back with us. She’s ended her affair.
“It all went a bit wrong in the end,” is all she’ll say. “I can’t go into detail, to protect the guilty parties.”
I’m so relieved she’s back I don’t press her. If she wants to share, she will. Cornelia wants to push, and she doesn’t understand why I don’t interrogate Tilly.
“Connie,” I tell her, “Tilly will share what she wants to share. Leave it.”
“It’s highly irregular to push someone into saying more than they wish.”
“Well, call me irregular, then,” Cornelia rebels.
***
Letters from home become less frequent. The boy is juggling school and after-school jobs.
In April, he writes to say he performed Till I Waltz Again with You in a talent show, he says it was for me, but since I wasn’t there, it’s my fault if he ends up waltzing with someone else. I laugh out loud, but I do miss him.
He continues: “No one knew who I was before, but they sure do now.”
Mabel says she’s seen him out with more than one girl. “None as pretty as you,” she assures me. I wonder why that matters.
I’m not great at writing anymore, either. I stay up East for weekends and school breaks, visiting New York or the seaside with friends.
Tilly is back as my number one best friend.
I kiss Topper at a summer ball in the Hamptons and feel terrible about it. When I return home in August, 1952, I tell the boy. He says he doesn’t mind. Then he asks, almost as if he’s testing me, if I’ve really only kissed one other boy.
He seems very busy these days.
“Well, I have to work,” he says, sounding distant.
I play tennis with Mabel, feeling a little disheartened by everything. Miss Mary tries to cheer me up with her usual wise words and tender loving care.
***
The last year of high school rolls around. We all work hard to finish Top Girl. Tilly is valedictorian; Cornelia and I make the honours list, making us eligible for the best colleges. Now, I just have to decide which one to choose.
Before leaving Farmington, I receive an unexpected letter from the boy. It isn’t long, but it’s sentimental, he apologises for being distracted, says he’s missed me, and asks me to please come back home. And I want to. I really do.
The past year at school has been so intense; I need to step outside my bubble and taste real life again.
My World of Interiors 