“Girlfriend?” Cara and Mallory asked at the same time.
Cara let out a surprised noise. “You’ve been holding out on me.”
“We’re kind of dating.” I gave Ryan my deadliest stare.
“I can’t wait to hear this story.” Cara nudged me with her shoulder.
Ryan just stood there with his arms crossed.
“You can go now.” I made a shooing motion with my hand. He really brought out an awful side in me, and we’d just met.
“I’ll tell Dylan you were looking for him.” He stormed off.
“What did you do to Templeton?” one of the guys talking to my friends asked.
“I’m guessing that’s Ryan’s last name…”
“Yes.”
“He isn’t always that pleasant?”
“Usually he’s only like that with the pledges, but that’s his job. He’s pledge master for the third year in a row.”
“Third year? Wow, he must like that job.”
“Yeah…he’s into it.”
“Dave, do you guys live here?” Cara asked, thankfully pulling the conversation off me.
“Yeah. You want to see my room?”
“Not tonight, but maybe some other time.” She gave him a flirtatious smile before catching my eye and Mallory’s. It was time for a memorable exit.
As soon as we reached the street, we busted out laughing.
“Are you ready to tell us about Dylan?” Mallory grinned.
“Our families have vacation homes next to each other’s, so we’ve known each other for years. A few weeks ago, we randomly hooked up.”
“Define hooked up.” Cara looked ready to pull the details out of me.
“What do you think it means? We had sex.”
Mallory grinned. “Clearly, he’s back for more.”
“Maybe…”
Mallory pulled a piece of gum out of her purse. “He’s an upperclassman, right? So he has a car? I hate that we can’t have ours until next year.”
“That settles it. I’ll sleep with him every night if he’ll drive me places.” I shook my head.
“Just saying it might be convenient.”
“And sex is all about convenience…”
Cara laughed.
***
I’d just changed into pajamas when my phone beeped, signaling a text. It was almost midnight, and I knew who the text would be from before I looked.
Get to the house now. Amanda had impeccable timing. I pulled on a zip-up sweatshirt and a pair of flip flops.
Cara waited for me by the stairs. “I might kill Amanda.”
“Remind me again why I wanted to do this?”
“It’ll be worth it. That doesn’t mean we have to like it.”
“Well, at least I wasn’t sleeping yet.” I sighed.
We caught up with a few of the other girls in our pledge class as we reached the porch of the large, white house.
“Let’s go, girls.” Amanda tapped her foot impatiently as we filed in. It took every ounce of effort to avoid giving her the finger. I clearly wasn’t made to be a pledge.
We filed into the pledge room and waited. “I’m sure you’re wondering why we asked you here tonight.”
“Yes,” we all said.
“Our friends over at Kappa need a few of you to help them. Mark and Aaron are here now to decide who.”
“Help?” The word left my mouth before I could stop myself.
Amanda gave me a patronizing smile. “Yes, Juliet. Help.”
“What kind of help could they need?”
I could feel all eyes on me, but I didn’t care. I wanted to be in Delta Mu, but I wasn’t doing any sexual favors or anything.
“Not what you’re thinking.”
We all let out a collective sigh of relief.
“We’re doing a trade. We’re getting some of their pledges to help us with projects around the house. A few of you are going to help them do the same.”
“Did you handpick them too?” Cara asked.
Amanda smiled. “Yes.”
A knock on the door let us know the guests had arrived.
“Stand up,” Amanda snapped. We all obliged and followed her back downstairs. Men weren’t allowed upstairs. Two guys waited for us at the bottom of the stairs. Looking at the Kappas always made me wonder how they did anything but work out at the gym.
They looked over us like predators eyeing prey. My stomach turned. Lord knew what kind of projects they had in mind. I assumed Amanda wasn’t handing us over as prostitutes, but that didn’t mean it would be enjoyable. I hoped I wouldn’t be picked.
That hope was pointless. ‘You.’ The first guy pointed to Cara. “And your two friends.” It was obvious he was talking about Mallory and me. And ‘you,’ ‘you,’ and ‘you’ the second guy pointed out three more girls.
The first guy smiled. “We expect you at the house at nine o’clock tomorrow morning. You will not be leaving until nine o’clock p.m.”
I guess I wouldn’t be having dinner with Dylan after all.
They headed toward the door but then stopped. “Oh, wear black skirts.”
Black skirts? What kind of housework would we be doing in skirts?
Amanda released everyone but the lucky six. “Girls, I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that you will be representing Delta Mu. I expect you to be on your best behavior.”
I bit my tongue to keep my mouth shut.
We walked out and waited until we were almost back to campus to start venting.
Mallory let out a deep breath. “Let’s make a pact right now. If things get too crazy, we all leave.”
“Agreed,” Cara and I said together.
We reached Mallory’s dorm. “Have a good night. We’ll meet you here at eight fifty.”
“All right, see you then.” We hugged her goodnight and walked back to our dorm.
“What do you think your friends at Phi Omega are going to think of this?” Cara asked before we got up to our floor.
I groaned. “Dylan’s just going to love it, especially when I cancel our dinner plans.”
Cara patted my shoulder. “Oh, the drama.”
“Night.” I waved and walked into my room.
My roommate was still out, which was good. I needed to call Dylan. It’s not like we were serious or anything, but canceling dinner with a guy to spend the day at a different frat wasn’t an easy thing to explain to anyone.
I hoped he wouldn’t pick up. The party would still be loud. I took a seat on my purple comforter as I hit call.