“Yeah. Definitely.” Instead of the carefully orchestrated events the girls had, the guys just threw parties. It was a much nicer system for all involved, but the sorority system wasn’t going to change.
I decided to give Juliet a hard time. “Reed, you wouldn’t have recognized Juliet today. She was all about the Delta Mu spirit.”
“Oh yeah, babe? I’d have loved to see it.” He bumped his shoulder against hers.
Juliet stuck her tongue out at me. “I might start clapping in my sleep.”
“Just wait until the end of the week. It’s not over yet.”
“I know.” Juliet leaned back into Reed’s arm.
I sipped my beer and enjoyed being back with my friends. Sophomore year was starting off well.
Chapter Six
“Was rush this exhausting when we did it?” I collapsed on my bed after the final night of rush. It was pref night, or preference night if you wanted to be formal. That was the night when the freshman ordered their top houses and the actives made a bid list of the girls we wanted. I hated it. I absolutely hated knowing we’d probably be hurting a lot of girls the next morning. Juliet and Cara hated it too, and that’s why we were meant to be friends. People say sorority girls are callous and mean, but they don’t know us. Stereotypes are dangerous.
“This was worse.” Cara lay down next to me. Her bed was a few feet further into the room.
“Agreed.” Juliet kicked off her black heels and squeezed in on my other side.
“It was hard not knowing, but at least it wasn’t in our hands.”
“You didn’t mark anyone negatively did you?” Juliet asked.
“I did.” I put my arms behind my head to prop myself up, careful to avoid elbowing either of the girls.
“Really?” Cara and Juliet both turned their heads to look at me.
“I didn’t want to poison anyone’s chance, but I had too.”
“Why?” Juliet narrowed her eyes.
“I saw her making fun of another girl. That shows bad character. She doesn’t belong in our house.”
“And that’s why we love you.” Cara patted my arm.
“Yeah, what can I say? I’m awesome.”
Juliet laughed. “And modest too.”
I yawned. “What do you say we go to sleep?”
“We can’t.” Cara yawned next.
“You guys go without me. I don’t need to meet the Kappa pledges tonight.”
“Yes, you do.” Juliet sat up and tugged on my arm.
“I kind of miss bitchy, moody Juliet.”
She rolled her eyes. “Come on. When else do you get to hoot and holler at a bunch of hot guys?”
“Wow, you’re right. My life dream is about to come true.”
“Did you two switch bodies?” Cara looked between us. I’d been a half-full kind of girl freshman year, and Juliet was the sarcastic moody one. Things really had changed. I needed to snap out of my funk.
I laughed. “Seems that way, huh? Sorry. I’m just out of it.”
Juliet slipped her shoes back on. “It’s because you’re thinking about your Colt, admit it.”
“The guy from back home?” Cara reapplied her lipstick in front of the mirror. Juliet made me recount the story once more when Cara showed up.
“I’m not thinking about Colt.” I hadn’t been at that exact moment. Guilt over hurting him still gnawed at me though, and I was surprised he’d stopped calling so quickly. It had been over a week since we last spoke. I guess that’s just part of being a girl. Even when you wanted a guy to leave you alone, in some small place inside, you kind of wanted him to keep trying.
“Then is it Tanner?” they asked in unison. Of course this made us all laugh.
“It’s not a guy.”
Juliet pulled me up off the bed. “Sure, sure.”
I straightened out my long hair with my fingers and followed the girls out of the room.
The fresh air woke me up. I felt reinvigorated as we walked down the block toward the Kappa house. We’d been so busy with rush that I hadn’t been back over there much. I knew my friends were still scheming of ways to make sure that changed now that rush had ended.
The crowd outside would have deterred some people, but Juliet pushed through them, and I followed behind. I guess it’s easy to be that confident about it when you’re dating the president of the frat.
We walked right inside, and Juliet and Cara immediately began their perusal for their other halves. I’d like to say I wasn’t jealous, but I was. I wasn’t into either of their guys, but the idea of having a hot older guy fawning over me sounded pretty nice.
“Hey, Mallory.” Tanner held up his hand in greeting.
“Hey.” We’d talked a few times that week, but we’d been too busy to really do anything.
“Reed!” Juliet giggled as Reed surprised her from behind.
“They’re sickening, aren’t they?” Tanner whispered in my ear.
Although I hadn’t seen Tanner much during rush, he always managed to send messages to me through my friends. I wasn’t sure what to make of his interest, but I decided to see where it went. “Yes, but it’s better than when they were broken up.”
“They were broken up?” He put an arm around my shoulder. I wasn’t certain if it was so he could hear me better or because he wanted an excuse to touch me.
“Yeah… for months. It’s a long story.”
“Gotcha. Hopefully they had good make up sex.” His hand moved down my back slightly.
“Yeah…”
“I like this on you.” He gestured to my spaghetti strap black dress. It fell just below the knee but had a small slit up the side.
“Thanks.”
“But I wouldn’t mind seeing you in something sexier. You’ve got a great body. You might as well show it off.”
“It’s better to leave some things to the imagination.” I was all about looking sexy, but Mom had left that message with me loud and clear. The best rule of thumb is to just go sexy in one spot. If you’re showing cle**age, no short skirt and vice versa.
“Classy. I like it.”
“So how’s the new pledge class?” I wanted to move the spotlight off my dress.
“They’re pretty cool. Young though. You know? I feel old.”
“Well, you are a senior.” I laughed. “I felt that way too during rush though, and our girls are only a year younger than me.”