# Read the first page of The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham Read the opening of The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham free, no signup. A boarding school app exposes secrets across a year of scandals. - Page: https://uncovered.ink/read/the-academy-elin-hilderbrand-and-shelby-cunningham - Genre: Campus drama - Year: 2025 - ISBN: 9780316567909 - Read it blind (cover and title hidden): https://uncovered.ink/?b=9780316567909&s=read-page - Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/125786/9780316567909 - Borrow: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=9780316567909 ## The opening @@CHAP@@ 1. Move-In Day At nine a.m. on Tuesday, September 2, just as the chapel bells are heralding the start of a new school year, the first vehicles proceed onto the campus of Tiffin Academy. Every student for the past 114 years has traveled the same route: through the wrought-iron gates, down the Pasture lined with shade maples and white horse fencing, past the “Teddy” (the Edward Tiffin Student Union) and the “Sink” (the Mary Tiffin Sinclair Library), around the circle in front of the Schoolhouse, and along the stretch of freshly mowed athletic fields to the dormitories—Classic North (boys) and Classic South (girls). Monogrammed duffel bags, mini fridges, field hockey sticks, guitar cases, snowshoes, beanbag chairs, cross-country skis, wireless speakers, makeup mirrors, LED strip lights, extra-long twin sheet sets, skateboards, scooters, a Frank Ocean poster. Audre Robinson—who is in her sixth year as Head of School—helps unload exactly one item from each vehicle. In her first year as Head, she wore a raspberry linen sheath and stacked heels and stood atop the Schoolhouse steps waving to the processional of cars as though she were some kind of royalty. This was how the Heads of School who preceded Audre—all of them white men—comported themselves on Move-In Day. But Audre found it made her feel silly and uncomfortable, not to mention lonely, and so in year two, she donned a pair of mom jeans and a hunter-green Tiffin Thoroughbreds T-shirt (available from the school store for $17.95) and greeted each student and their parent(s) or guardian(s) with a smile, a handshake or (for the returning students she favored) a hug, and the ceremonial unloading assistance. Audre thinks of each new school year as a blank composition book, a fresh box of sharpened pencils—but this reveals her age. To these kids, it’s… what? An empty Google doc, the cursor blinking at the top of a laptop screen? Audre is also thinking, Nothing bad has happened… yet. For example, no one has appeared at Audre’s residence between breakfast and Chapel to say that the door to 111 South is jammed and Cinnamon Peters isn’t responding to either knocks or FaceTimes. She’s always the first one up, Cinnamon’s best friend, Davi Banerjee, said on that fateful day last spring. It was Davi, the queen bee of her class, who was dispatched to the Residence to alert Audre because the head of security, Mr. James, didn’t come on duty until ten. I think something’s wrong. Something was, in fact, wrong. Hideously, tragically wrong. Audre shivers despite the heat of the day—early September is still full summer; the temperature is nearing eighty even at this early hour—and she forces a smile for the next car, a Hyundai Sonata with Georgia plates, a rental. Audre sees a woman with a graying ponytail wearing a GO ’BREDS T-shirt in the driver’s seat, and on the passenger side, a boy hunched over his knees. That’s what happens, Audre thinks, when you accordion a six-foot-four frame into a midsize sedan. It’s Webber “Dub” Austin, the Thoroughbreds’ starting quarterback. He unfolds himself from the car, removes his massive headphones, and rolls his sunglasses up into his bushy hair, which has gotten a few shades lighter over the summer. He has tan lines on his face where his sunglasses rest. What does Dub do for a summer job? Audre wonders. Park ranger? Ranch hand? The hair will be shaved off by tomorrow. In his cowboy accent, Dub says, “Mornin’, Ms. Robinson.” “Dub,” Audre says, and she rounds the car to give the boy a hug. By the end of the month, Audre will know every student by name, though she occasionally gets tripped up by all the Madisons and Olivias. She tries not to have favorites—but she feels extra protective of this year’s fifth-form. They’ve been through a lot. The mother climbs out. The students have a joke where they call one another’s mothers “Karen,” but Dub’s mother is actually named Karen, Karen Austin. She’s the single mom of four boys, of whom Dub is number three; he’s attending on a full scholarship (athletic, though in his case, need-based as well). Dub’s oldest brother played football at Colorado State; the second brother is a wide receiver at CU Boulder. Then there’s Dub. But the real star is apparently the youngest brother, who is starting quarterback as a freshman for their high school back in Durango. ## Books with a similar feel - [We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter](https://uncovered.ink/read/we-are-all-guilty-here-karin-slaughter.md) - [Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner](https://uncovered.ink/read/freakonomics-steven-d-levitt-and-stephen-j-dubner.md) - [This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page](https://uncovered.ink/read/this-book-made-me-think-of-you-libby-page.md) - [Fat Boy Saves World by Ian Bone](https://uncovered.ink/read/fat-boy-saves-world-ian-bone.md) - [Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup](https://uncovered.ink/read/twelve-years-a-slave-solomon-northup.md) - [In Search of the Castaways by Jules Verne](https://uncovered.ink/read/in-search-of-the-castaways-jules-verne.md) --- Source: Uncovered (https://uncovered.ink). A short sample shown for reading and discovery. Rights holders can request removal at https://uncovered.ink/takedown.