Hello, and welcome to Chapter Two! Next week I’ll try to get a post up earlier in the week with the Christmas scene, and then it’s only one week until I can post ~sekrets~ from the New Year’s Eve Party scene, arguably one of the best scenes of the book do not @ me. 

Until then, soothe yourself with entries 1-3, and I’ve got the first half of Chapter Two for you, starting right now!

Entry 4!

-Pg 21:

Early notes for Zahra said “Amy Brookheimer + Olivia Pope + Michaela Pratt + Huma Abedin

-Pg. 22:

“It’s not exactly that he’s afraid of Zahra, his mom’s deputy chief of staff and right-hand woman.”

I love Zahra so much – New Orleans girl who went to DC to get her masters & had every politician in DC dying to hire her but she went through a list of every female politician in American until she found one she thought she could get to the White House & returned to the south. 

-Pg. 23:

“As your mother, I can appreciate that maybe this isn’t your fault, but as the president, all I want is to have the CIA fake your death and ride the dead-kid sympathy into a second-term.”

This joke was ALMOST cut for being too dark. 

-Pg. 23:

“I don’t have time to deal with this right now, so here’s what we’re gonna do,” Ellen says, pulling a folder out of her padfolio.

Big Leslie Knope energy.

-Pg. 24:

Ellen goes on, ignoring him. “I have about five hundred meetings right now.” She gets up and heads for the door, stopping to kiss her hand and press it to the top of his head. “You’re a dumbass. Love you.”

June kissing her own hand on Nora’s head is a callback to this–it’s definitely something she picked up from her mom. 

-Pg. 26:

“You’re going to memorize this so if anybody tries to catch you in a lie, you know what to say,” she says. Under HOBBIES, it lists polo and competitive yachting. Alex is going to set himself on fire.

A line cut for space was Alex using the mnemonic device “repetitive snotting” to remember this.

-Pg. 27:

“The lists help.”

Big ADHD Energy.

-Pg. 27:

I felt it was important to set up early on that Alex & his family have a different relationship with the tabloids than other first families–evolved for modern celeb culture. 

-Pg. 28:

“Alex and Nora are, technically, just past the Gen Z threshold, but the press doesn’t find that nearly as catchy.

Love my Gen Z children. The staff had to ban Alex from Tik Tok. 

-Pg. 28:

“Alex pushes them. June steadies them. Nora keeps them honest.”

One of my fave lines.

-Pg. 29:

“You left out the investing in Apple in the nineties and getting stupid-rich part,” June reminds her.

Nora is a trust fund baby but we love her anyway. 

-Pg. 31:

Inspirations for Pez include John Boyega, Jung Hoseok, Freckle from The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo

-Pg. 32:

“Age of first filibuster: nine, at SeaWorld Antonio, trying to force an orca wrangler into early retirement for, quote, ‘inhumane whale practices.'”
“I stood by it then and I stand by it now.”

Me trying to squeeze in as many Texas references as possible.

 

Next week, Christmas! The week after, New Year’s Eve! The week after THAT, back to the second half of Chapter Two, the first time Alex and Henry are forced to spend time together in England!