by Sherry Soule
He walked away again and I clutched his bicep. He turned and glared. “Let go.”
“Wait. Let me explain.” My eyes stung with suppressed tears.
“Explain what?” he shouted, jerking his arm from my grasp. “How you let the ZBs tell you what to do? Why you kiss their ass? How you’re hooking up with random dudes to get a bid?”
“No! That’s not it at all,” I said, my voice sounding thick and hoarse. “This is just a huge misunderstanding.”
He laughed bitterly. “You just don’t know when to quit, do you? The ZBs control you, Serena. Have you no pride, no self-respect left? They own you.”
“That’s so untrue! And unfair.”
“Wake up. Those Zeta Betas are conniving, deceitful, and obnoxious. Why any girl would want to join that evil sorority is beyond me.”
Tears dripped off my chin and blurred my vision. “You don’t understand anything.”
“Oh, I understand more than you think, sweetheart. But the difference between you and me is that I have always known exactly who I am. And I never tried to hide who I was from you or anyone else. Never tried to be someone I wasn’t. With me—you’ve always known where you stand. You pretended to be my friend, pretended to care about me…and all along, you were lying about everything. Then when you get caught, you just make up more freaking excuses.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry—”
“Just stop with the apologies. And don’t bother making up more lies. Remember there are consequences to your actions, Serena. You should’ve stayed true to yourself. I don’t even know who you are anymore.”
Nothing around me stayed in focus, none of it made sense. My chest felt hollow as if someone had punched a hole right through it. I swallowed hard. Looked into his eyes. His gaze was cold and unforgiving. I searched his face. Only hatred and disgust stared back at me, but I made myself hold steady.
“I’m still me, Cole! Please, can we just go somewhere and talk?”
“Look, before you go and use whatever lies you’ve prepared, think hard.” Placing both of his hands behind his head for a second, he bit his lip as if trying to think of something to say. Tears lined his eyes, and I sensed a mountain of hurt had crushed his heart. “Zeta Betas aren’t allowed to date an ATO? Well, I no longer want anything to do with that sorority or you. Thanks for breaking up with me the other night. We’re done.”
“Don’t say that!”
“You’ve hit rock bottom, Serena. And you’ve hit it by the Zeta Betas throwing you to the wolves. At least you won’t be lonely in Hell.”
I thought I had experienced sorrow after my ex-boyfriend had broken my heart, but this ache in my chest was nothing compared to how I felt back then. I hated to admit it to myself, but spending all this time with Cole had only made my feelings for him so much stronger. The way he always stuck up for me, the way he gently kissed my lips, believed me about the STD rumor, tried to make me laugh when I was feeling discouraged—all of it made me fall hard for him.
I tasted bile in the back of my throat. I couldn’t take it anymore. I was a naive, stupid girl from SoCal who the Zeta Betas had humiliated for the last time. Bursting into sobs, I stepped around Cole and took off for Stevenson.
REVELATIONS
Just as I was passing the Zeta Beta house, Jade appeared as if out of nowhere and blocked my path. “Are you okay?”
“Ha!—no thanks to you!” I screamed.
The skin between her eyebrows wrinkled. “Why are you pissed at me?”
My chest heaved and my pulse raced. “You think I don’t know what you bitches did? You drugged me!” I stepped closer into her personal space. She didn’t back down or blink. “Un-freaking-believable. You’ve got the nerve to look all innocent like you don’t know what I’m talking about.”
I swallowed back the millions of insults, questions, and accusations that crowded my mind. I just wanted to get back to my dorm and sleep for a year.
“Just stop it,” Jade ordered, looking every bit the yuppie sorority girl in her form-fitting Pucci dress under a stupid cropped cardigan with an even stupider Lambertson Truex micro-hobo bag. “I got a call from Kellan saying that you had crashed in Ethan’s room last night, and that Cole showed up this morning and you two were fighting in front of the house. So I left class and hauled ass over here to see if you were all right.” She blew out a breath, fluffing up her long bangs. Her tone softened. “And I did not drug you, Serena, but if you’re claiming someone did, then we need to find out who did this to you.”
“Why should I believe you? And why would you help me?” I said, lifting my chin and locking gazes with her. “You guys are sick. Did you seriously want me to get Professor Grossman fired?”
“Hell no.” She shook her head. “It was an integrity test to see how honorable you were. We would’ve made sure he didn’t drink from the spiked thermos, Serena. I promise you, Zeta Beta would never do something like that for real.”
“Oh,” I said, sniffling and wiping my runny nose on my sleeve.
“Honesty is a big thing with me,” Jade said. “I’ll do whatever I can to earn your trust back, and I hope you’ll do the same for me.”
My brows drew together as I stared at her. I backed away and pressed my lips together. Part of me wanted to trust Jade and she sounded sincere. Slowly, my blood pressure returned to normal.
I lifted my shoulders and let them drop. “Okay...”
“I’m sorry this happened to you, and I sincerely want to help,” she said, her eyes like two big rounds of coal. “Do you think it was Ethan who drugged you?”
“I-I don’t know. He never gave me any drinks or pills or anything. I only drank one beer and that awful tasting drink that Claire gave me.”
She nodded. “Did you have sex with Ethan?”
I bit my lip, tears welling in my eyes. “I woke up in my underwear…so I’m not sure.”
Jade put an arm around me. “I don’t know what’s going on, but we’ll figure this out together. I know we’re hard on PNMs and the hazing is brutal, but you were doing great.”
I sensed I could trust Jade for some reason. Maybe her dynamic prowess convinced me that she knew how to handle extreme experiences and deal swift justice to those who crossed her. I decided to trust Jade and get her help in figuring out who was out to ruin my life.
“Come inside and get cleaned up. We can’t have a Zeta Beta potential doing a walk-of-shame,” Jade said. Her footsteps were heavy as we stomped over the cool grass into the house. “I don’t know why you ever got involved with Cole, though.”
With every step, the feelings of emotional and physical exhaustion increased. “I tried to apologize to him and explain, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“Give him some time to cool off while we get to the bottom of this mess.” Jade led me upstairs into one of the bedrooms.
My gaze swept over Jade’s room, decorated around a teal color scheme, combined with tangerine and black in trendy patterns. A queen-sized bed dominated the space with a fluffy down-comforter and a stack of decorative pillows lining the headboard. Photos of her and Kellen in different coupley poses hung in ornamental frames over the bed. “I really like Cole and I screwed everything up so badly between us.”
For a second, this horrified look came over her face, as if I’d just told her that I murdered puppies for fun. “You’re making a big mistake with him, Serena. I just don’t get the appeal of those ATO boys. First Brooklyn and now you.”
I shrugged, plopping onto the bed “I just don’t get it. Why would anyone do this to me?” I said, rubbing my temple.
“I’m not sure, but you didn’t do anything to deserve this,” Jade said, her thick hair bouncing back from her face when she moved to a dresser and removed pink ZB sweatpants and a lime T-shirt. She handed me the clean outfit. “Change clothes, then go into the bathroom and wash your face.” She gestured to a door on her right, then walked to a desk in the corner, and sat down. Jade turned on her laptop and signed into her email. “Bru
sh your teeth and hair. There’s an unused toothbrush under the sink.”
I yanked off my clothes and changed, then went into the bathroom to scrub my face and brush my teeth and hair. I felt a million times better when I reentered Jade’s bedroom and sat on the bed again.
I cleared my throat. “Jade?” She swiveled in the chair and faced me. “I have something to tell you…” In a rush of breath and words, I filled her on all the creepy “gifts” I’d received, the threatening notes, and everything else that had happened to me since I started dating Cole. She listened quietly while I talked, nodding her head on occasion. “Then last night happened and here I am…”
“It definitely sounds as if someone is responsible for doing all this crazyass shit to you. And I intend to find out who’s responsible.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
Jade jerked her head back, her eyes tight with emotion. “I’m always nice,” she said, in a tone that made me think she actually believed it. “Right now, we need to figure out who’s behind this and why this is happening to you. Is your roommate at Stevenson trustworthy? Would she be doing this to you?”
I shook my head. “Vanessa? No way. She’s chatty, but really nice.”
“Then it must be one of the other PNMs…” she mused aloud. “Maybe Raven or Jenny. Amber dropped out, and Marisa is pledging another sorority now…” Jade crossed her legs and sat back. “But you said it all started after you met Cole, right?”
I nodded, pulling at a thread on the hem of the shirt she’d given me. “A few days after Cole gave me this cute plastic ring, the STD rumor went viral. I remember seeing Claire that day and she gave me such a strange look.”
We sat in silence for several moments. My gaze wandered to the fancy bottles of perfume lining the dresser and the scent of spring flowers teased my nose. All of her furniture was white oak without a dust bunny in sight.
“Oh, god! Why didn’t I remember this sooner!” Jade exclaimed, sitting up and gasping. “I know who’s doing this. It must be Claire Davenport.”
“What’s Claire?” I asked.
She smacked her forehead. “Of course! I’d totally forgotten.”
“Forgotten what?” My eyebrows scrunched together. “You totally lost me.”
“Claire is trying to take you down because of Cole Prescott.”
I tucked unruly hair behind my ear and my lips turned downward. “I don’t understand. What does Cole have to do with any of this?”
Jade scooted forward on the chair and said in a rush, “Okay, I heard this rumor from a semi-reliable source last year that Claire supposedly had this big gooey crush on Cole, and they even went out a few times. Then he broke it off with Claire after a month and started dating a Psi Theta. And, Serena, you’re like the first girl to get him to stop his man-whoring ways.”
I leaned forward and everything became crystal-clear. “It was Roxy. She was wearing Psi Theta colors at that party I went to and she was all over Cole. She must be the girl that Cole dumped Claire for.”
“I think you’re right,” Jade said. “The other girl who supposedly sent an email to one of her professors trading sex for grades was a Psi Theta, which means Claire went after her, too.”
Realization tore at my heart. I stopped breathing. The news was harder hitting than a Nair-tini upside the head. That it was Claire all along now seemed as obvious as a Scooby-Doo mystery. She was all kinds of crazy.
“Ohmygod, Claire liked Cole. Or she still does,” I said, then frowned. “But…the Zeta Betas have this strict no dating ATO brother policy.”
Jade shrugged. “Last year another senior was president and she was besties with Claire. I bet she made that rule after Claire got ditched by Cole.”
My face heated. “I can’t believe Cole didn’t tell me he dated Claire,” I muttered.
“Probably because it was no big deal to him.” Jade turned in her chair and opened a web browser. “I heard Claire was utterly wrecked about the breakup—evidently she’s never been kicked to the curb before.”
“Now what?”
She typed something on the keyboard. “We need a plan of action. I’m going to personally look into this. Don’t say a word to anyone until I have some time to think and talk to your Big.”
“Will Brooklyn even believe you? Claire and her are good friends, right?”
Jade glanced up from the laptop. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll straighten everything out. As your big sis, Brooklyn can play double-agent and get the inside scoop on what Claire’s been up to,” she said. “Go back to the dorms and we’ll talk again in a few days.”
“Just in case anything happens to me, my will is in the closet stuffed into an old Nike shoe box and I want my Pradas to go to charity.”
She shook her head with a tight smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
I stood and moved to hug her, but stopped. “Thank you for everything, Jade.”
“Your welcome. Get some rest and lay low until I can figure out how best to handle this…this situation. The whole thing could cause a major scandal for Zeta Beta, so it needs to be handled discreetly in-house. My first priority is to my sorority sisters, but in this case, if one of the members has acted inappropriately, than I need to know and get both sides of the story.” Jade pushed back her chair and stood. “I’ll get one of the girls to give you a ride back to campus.”
When I returned to Stevenson, Vanessa was out cold on her bed with sticky notes and a textbook under her cheek. I didn’t undress, not wanting to risk waking her up and having to explain where I had been, so I just slipped off my shoes and crawled under the covers.
But no chance of falling asleep, I was too wired.
I kept thinking about what Jade had said. How protective she had become. My whole body relaxed into the mattress. It was nice to have an ally and it was stupid of me not to seek help sooner. Confronting Claire wouldn’t be easy, but I felt better knowing that Jade, and hopefully Brooklyn had my back. A showdown of epic portions was about to go down and I would have a front row seat.
Time for some juicy backstabbing and Zeta Beta bitchery.
TAKEDOWN
Earlier, I’d gotten a text from Jade to come to the Zeta Beta house after my last class. Walking along sorority row had my pulse galloping. It was starting to drizzle and my hair was becoming a frizzy mess. I wiped my muddy leather boots on the doormat, shook the rain off my jacket, then opened the door without knocking, and stepped inside.
I quickly surveyed my surroundings. All the Zeta Beta sisters were either standing or sitting in the common room on the right, and they seemed to be trying to appear welcoming and not judgy. Too bad only a select few were theater majors. I spotted Brooklyn in the back talking to Raven and she nodded in my direction with a wink.
The room had high ceilings and two large windows, giving me a clear view of the immaculate front lawn and the cold rain falling outside. The walls were painted a cream-color and the freshly waxed hardwood floors gleamed under the light of a crystal chandelier. The whole space was pristine, like a showroom, and even the magazines on the coffee table were placed neatly in a stack. Too anxious to sit on the leather sofa, I remained standing in the doorway like a grubby garden ornament.
“Everyone get comfortable so we can get started,” Jade said as she strode through the archway, wearing a black pencil skirt, high-heels, and a crisp, white button-up blouse like she was attending a boardroom meeting. Or a public execution. “I’d like to call this meeting to order. Raven, please make sure to record the proceedings.”
Immediate silence dropped over the room. I sat on the sofa beside Raven and Brooklyn stood behind us. No sign of Jenny or the other pledges.
I whispered to Raven, “I believe the feces is about to hit the oscillating ceiling device.”
Raven made a face. “Huh?”
“The shit’s going to hit the fan.”
Brooklyn glanced down at us with a disapproving squint. “Ladies, please.”
“This is not an easy discussion to have,” Jade said, moving to stand in the center of the room. “However, it has been deemed necessary when it came to my attention that a Zeta Beta sister has been behaving inappropriately.”
That was putting it mildly. I snorted, garnering more than a few censuring stares.
Jade continued with a somber expression. “I’m sure most of you have heard the rumors circulating around campus about Serena DuPont. She’s a legacy and a PNM of Zeta Beta, and I think we should all give her a chance to clear her name. Normally, we would’ve dropped her sooner from recruitment, but I have received strong evidence that she is being harassed by someone in this house.”
The rumblings of the crowd were a combination of startled gasps and shocked whispers. Claire appeared in the doorway with a smirk. Obviously, she hadn’t heard what Jade had said.
“Now I want to show everyone a video recorded on Brooklyn’s iPhone,” Jade said. “Which should reveal the clear intent to sabotage a PNM. Please direct your attention to the flat-screen.”
Jade nodded to Brooklyn, who moved to the flat-screen and flipped some switches after plugging her iPhone into a laptop that connected with the back of the TV.
Claire rushed into the room and approached Jade. “What are you doing? Just have Serena de-pledge!”
Jade gave her a hard glare. “Claire, I suggest that you go sit down and watch.”
Claire backed away, heat rising in her cheeks. She shot a dark glance in my direction, then sat in an empty seat.
Brooklyn flipped on the TV. An image of Claire and Ethan materialized on the screen. They stood outside the Gamma Alpha Delta house, whispering. The camera was shaky and a little out of focus, but no denying it was the two of them huddled together.
“Can you please turn up the volume, Brooklyn?” Jade asked. “The ladies of Zeta need to hear this.”
“I’m on it!” Brooklyn grabbed the remote from the mantel and increased the volume.
My gaze and everyone else’s in the room was glued to the screen.