“Is this about what happened at Greek Council?” Ruby asked.
“Has to be.” Cass got to her feet and held out her hand. “Come on. If we’re leaving, then we might as well enjoy a bit of drama for the road.”
Down in the dining room, they found empty chairs at almost every table. Allison Reed, Courtney, Aimee—plus at least a half dozen other Killer Bees—were nowhere to be found. Apparently, the alums had been working fast to kick people out.
Now, a group of older women stood shoulder to shoulder at the head of the room, wearing ominous expressions. Sophia, Cass noted, was not among them.
Also noticeably absent: Delia.
The alum who’d posted the meeting sign cleared her throat and the sisters fell quiet.
“By now you may have heard,” the woman started, “that this morning we learned several sisters were involved in a situation that goes beyond dirty rushing into cruelty and outright misbehavior. We’re still investigating and are by no means certain we’ve disciplined everyone who deserves it.” She scanned the room while several people squirmed in their seats. A couple of girls had red eyes, and one even wept openly.
“Because of what happened,” the woman continued, “Sigma will have to forfeit its first-round pledge picks. Anyone who made it to First List last night will be moved down to Third. The only way those girls could pledge with us is if they received no offers from any other houses, which I’m sure you can imagine is unlikely. If we’re lucky, we’ll get the majority of our Second List picks.”
To Cass’s surprise, nobody groaned at this news. Looking around, she realized that the majority of girls who were still there had either been Second List themselves or had managed to stay away from the Killer Bees and their scheming.
“I want to make clear that this is NOT what recruitment is about,” the alum said. “And this is NOT what we stand for at Sigma Theta Kappa. Recruitment isn’t perfect. Perhaps someday there will be a better way to evaluate all of the women who want to be members, and whom we want as well. But for now, it is to be fair and friendly and as uplifting an experience as possible.”
Another alum stepped forward. “Bids are being distributed as we speak,” she told them. “Our new pledge class will be here within the hour. At that point, we’ll know who we will be welcoming as new sisters. Before they come, though, we have some business to take care of. Because of what’s happened we no longer have a president or a vice president.”
This did get a reaction. Apparently no one had heard about Delia quitting, and now the mood in the room got even darker. Every other girl seemed to be crying, and Cass felt like she might burst into tears herself.
“Are there nominations?” asked the woman at the front of the room.
Silence. The sisters looked at each other, trying to size up who might make a good president and who would even want the job. A couple of Fourth Years nominated Marina, who looked thrilled at the chance to come out from behind her computer. The vote went quickly, Marina was confirmed and then the floor was opened to vice president nominations.
Violet stood up.
“I nominate Cass Ryland.”
“What?” Cass looked over at Ruby. “No!” she whispered. “I can’t be an officer. I’m leaving.”
“You’re not leaving,” Ruby whispered back. “This is your chance to try and make things like they were. Remember? When we were real sisters?”
“But it won’t be like that if you’re gone.”
“Even if I have to leave the house I’ll still be around,” said Ruby. “What do you think, I’m going to just disappear from your life? Don’t be stupid.”
The woman cleared her throat. “Do you accept the nomination?” she asked.
Cass stood up. “Can I say something first?”
“Of course,” said the woman.
Cass cleared her throat. “A couple of days ago—actually, just a few minutes ago—I was ready to quit Sigma. This is a great house. At least I think it could be great, but we’ve lost a lot over the last year, and I know I’m not the only one who feels like that.”
She looked out at Violet and Megan and all the other girls who had once been so close. “In a little bit we’ll be getting our new pledge class, and we’re going to be getting our second-round picks, which I guess some people would say was a bad thing. But if you decide you want me to be vice president, then you need to know this: If I hear about anybody harassing any of those girls, or hazing them, or telling them they were a second choice, or making them feel like they aren’t worthy in any way because of that, then I am personally going to give you hell. Count on it.”
She waited to see how people would respond. Megan started clapping first, then Violet, then everybody else in her pledge class, and then the upperclassmen until nearly every sister in the room was applauding. Ruby even put her fingers in her mouth and whistled, threatening to spark the mother of all giggling fits in Cass. She sat down, biting her cheeks until they hurt.
Marina tried out the president’s gavel. “All right, we have a lot of work to do to get ready for the new pledge class, so how about we—”
“Wait a minute.” The voice that cut Marina off belonged to Kimmie Conover.
“Yes, Kimmie?” said Marina.
Kimmie looked over at Ruby and winked. “One of our sisters is having a hard time with money, and I wanted to talk about it before house bills are due.”
Cass shot out of her seat. “We don’t need to talk about that. It’s private!”
“Why shouldn’t we?” said Kimmie, who must have heard more than they’d thought the other night during voting. “We’re supposed to be supporting each other, right?”
“That’s true,” said Marina. “But we’re pressed for time. Can you just tell us what you want to say?”
Kimmie nodded. “I’m not going to name names, but one of our sisters is having some family problems, and it’s the kind of thing where money is tight.”
“Oh God . . . ,” said Cass, sinking back into her seat. Next to her, Ruby sucked in a breath.
“So I was thinking. If we all put an extra thirty dollars into our next house payments, we could probably cover her for the semester. It could help until everything gets figured out, and then maybe she could repay the general house fund whenever things get better.”
To Cass’s complete and total shock, the other girls were nodding, too. Cass looked over to see a tear roll down Ruby’s cheek. If they’d ever had any hope of keeping her identity secret, it had gone out the window.
“All in favor?” said Marina.
The ayes were overwhelming.
“Okay,” said Marina. “We’ll try to respect this sister’s privacy—at least a little bit—and make the donation anonymous. Just add your contribution when you turn in your house payments and we’ll have the treasurer put it in a special fund. And now . . . ,” she said, banging her gavel with more authority, “we really need to get ready for the new pledges. I want everybody at the door, in their places, in thirty minutes—no exceptions!”
“I told you you needed to have more faith in people,” said Ruby as the other girls started filing out of the dining room.
“I’m just glad I still have you,” Cass answered. Obviously she’d underestimated Kimmie and the others. Sigma was worth saving and she would find a way to do that—even without donations from rich legacies. These were amazing girls. They would find a way.
She threw her arm around Ruby as they headed upstairs to change before the new sisters arrived. “Sisters forever?” she said.
“Sisters for eternity.”
FORTY-SIX
Imogen opened her eyes and stretched her toes until they touched the foot of the bed. She fumbled for her phone and checked the time: 10:17. After Maddy’d left for the bid ceremony, she’d lain down in Rachel’s room and fallen asleep. Even though she’d only snoozed a few minutes, she still felt like she’d just clawed up from the bottom of a deep pit.
Groaning, she rolled over and pressed her face in
to her pillow. The whole thing with Sigma and Maddy and Ben and the Greek Council—it was a mess, the fallout being that while every other girl in their dorm was heading out to the front lawn to get their pledge bids, Imogen was stuck inside trying not to think about how pissed off her parents were going to be when they found out she’d been kicked out of rush.
Crap. She kicked over to the side of the bed and stood, unable to sleep anymore. Dragging herself to her feet, she went to the window and looked out. The room had a great view of the front lawn, which was crawling with girls. And there were the buses again, this time waiting to take everybody to their new homes. Imogen rested her forehead against the glass, surprised how lonely she felt. Four days ago, when rush started, she’d thought she’d rather die than become a sorority girl.
Amazing how things change.
“Hey.” A voice pulled Imogen out of her thoughts. She turned to see Rachel standing in the doorway, looking fresh and happy in capris and a tank top.
“I didn’t hear you get up earlier,” Rachel said. “How’re you doing?”
“Okay.” Imogen hoisted her butt onto the radiator, turning her back on the scene outside. “Aren’t you supposed to be downstairs with everybody else?”
“Eventually. But I’m not in a hurry. I decided I’m going to suicide.”
“What?” First Tippy and now Rachel—Imogen didn’t think she could handle having two friends on a self-destructive streak at once.
Rachel laughed. “It means you go with one house or none at all. If the house you want doesn’t give you a bid, then you turn down the rest.”
“So which house are you suiciding?”
“Kappa Alpha Beta. It’s the one thing that kept me from bailing after all those other houses cut me. I knew if I ended up there, then it’d be worth staying in.”
There it was again—the surprise pang in Imogen’s chest, of sadness and envy and an inkling that she’d been wrong to look down her nose at the Greeks. Because while she undoubtedly would have been miserable at most Baldwin sororities, there were a couple where she could see herself belonging.
Instead, she was stuck at the dorm alone, living the real-world equivalent of “careful what you wish for.”
“You’re perfect for that house,” she said, reaching for her purse and pulling out a box of Cracker Jacks she’d stashed there the day before to ward off marathon-party-day hunger. “If all that crap last night hadn’t happened, maybe we’d be sisters.”
As soon as she said it, though, she realized it wasn’t true. If she’d been able to stay in rush, then she wouldn’t have pledged Kappa Alpha Beta, she would have joined Sigma just like her parents wanted.
Maybe it worked out for the best after all.
“I wonder,” Imogen said. “Could I go through rush again? Maybe as a second year. Do they allow that?”
“Not sure. You can always ask. And in the meantime you could come visit me. I’m sure Tess and everybody would like to see you.”
The offer sounded nice. Even though she’d yearned to get out on her own at Baldwin, when the reality of it stared her in the face, Imogen had to admit that she wanted someplace to go and feel safe with friends.
“I’ll probably end up hiding over there,” she said. “Classes’ll be starting in a couple of days, and then I’ll have to face the Beacon . . .”
“You’re still going to do it? Even with Ben there?”
“Of course I’m still doing it. I’m not quitting something I love just because of some guy. We’ll have to work it out. Maybe if I’m lucky, it won’t be too weird.”
“Have you told your parents yet?”
Imogen put the Cracker Jack box down. Her dad had said he’d cut her off if she didn’t pledge Sigma, but she was pretty sure her parents had never thought about her getting kicked out of rush completely.
“I haven’t told them. And I don’t know what they’ll do when they find out. I’m sure it won’t be pretty.”
“But if they quit helping, how can you stay at Baldwin?”
Imogen puffed out her chest. “I’m Imogen Ash. I’m a National Merit Scholar, an Olympic-level equestrian, trilingual, and the captain of a patent-winning science team. They’ve got to have scholarships to keep people like me around, right?”
Rachel laughed. “If you even tried to leave, the dean would probably attach himself to your leg and cry like a baby.”
“And if that doesn’t work, there’s always blackmail. I know all the family secrets, and I’m a member of the media now.”
Imogen winked to let Rachel know she was only kidding. She wouldn’t really try to blackmail anybody.
Well, not unless things got really bad . . .
“I’m glad you’re okay and everything,” Rachel said, “but I better go. Time to see whether KAB wants me or not. I’ll text and let you know what happened.”
She hurried out of the room and Imogen turned back to the window. After a bit of searching, she found Maddy in the crowd down below. Alex the rush counselor was handing out envelopes, and Maddy ripped hers open as soon as she got it. She screamed and threw herself into the arms of another girl, both of them jumping up and down.
Imogen put her forehead against the glass again.
Looks like Maddy got her wish.
And Imogen was happy for her. Maddy belonged at Sigma; Imogen didn’t, and the sooner everybody got used to that fact, the better off they would all be.
She watched her roommate get on a bus, then turned and went back to her old room. Time to start packing. But first, she opened her laptop and logged on. Maybe she could smooth the way with her mom and dad by sending an e-mail—let the news about rush sink in before she tried talking voice to voice.
When she pulled up her account, however, she did a double-take.
From: TSINCLAIR Sorry to be a Stranger
Imogen scrambled to click the link, cussing when it took too long to load. Finally, the message came up. Like everything Tippy ever wrote it was short, riddled with typos, and focused more on herself than on anybody else. But it was something, and it made Imogen smile.
Heya Immy! FINALLY sorting thigns out. Life is good—rly. Promise I’ll do a better job keping up from now on. Miss you!! Luv you!! Tip
Underneath the message was a link. Imogen clicked it and up popped a new Wall Street Journal story about Tippy and the producer Imogen had seen with her in those Page Six pics.
“Bad Boy Filmmaker Goes Legit with Help from Heiress,” read the headline over a story about how Tippy and the former porn producer were starting a documentary film company to raise awareness about the effects of climate change on world cultures. Apparently they’d spent the summer in Greenland filming and editing the first movie, which was already getting buzz as a possible prize winner at Cannes. And here was the kicker: the article said Tippy hadn’t used any of the Sinclair fortune to get things off the ground. She’d raised all of the funds herself.
So it was possible. Getting away, making your mark and living your own life—it could be done, with or without the safety net of family.
Tippy did it, Imogen thought as she typed her friend a congratulation. So can I.
FORTY-SEVEN
The sidewalk in front of the Sigma house was pure madness. Everywhere Maddy looked there were girls screaming, hugging, and laughing. When the bus pulled up, she and the other pledges had been greeted by singing, cheering actives, who’d pulled them onto the lawn into a crowd of happiness. Every two seconds, it seemed like, a new person would grab Maddy for a picture or a hug that would lift her off her feet.
“We did it!” one of her new pledge sisters crowed in her ear. “We’re Sigmas!”
“I can’t believe it!” Maddy shouted back. Her voice was already hoarse but she added another scream for good measure.
A sister stood on the top step of the porch and started tossing T-shirts from new girl to new girl. Maddy unrolled hers and smiled. Shine On! it said in red script on a field of silver stars. New Pledge Sister: Sigma Theta Kapp
a.
She put on the shirt, feeling like her heart might burst. This was her home now! On the bus, she’d heard one of the counselors say that there were probably going to be open rooms at the sorority house, so First Years would be invited to move in if they wanted to. Maddy totally wanted to, as soon as possible.
All around her, girls were stopping to text their friends and family, squealing into their phones, taking photos and posting them. Maddy pulled her phone out and dialed Logan’s number. The call went straight to voice mail. She opened her mouth to leave a message . . . only she couldn’t think of anything to say. She couldn’t think of anything she wanted to say. How could she explain everything that had happened that week in just a few seconds? Sure, she could tell him the main part, that she’d gotten into Sigma, but there was so much more to it than that. And now that she thought about it, was Logan really someone she wanted to tell these things to? He was back in Chesterfield—part of her old life, and she was getting ready to start a whole new one in a world he knew nothing about.
She hung up, then dialed her sister.
“Maddy?” Miranda said. “Where are you? What’s all that noise?”
“It’s bid day,” said Maddy. “I made it into Sigma.”
“That’s incredible! Congratulations! We don’t get our bids until three o’clock and I’m dying over here.”
When she’d first made the phone call, Maddy had thought she’d wanted to brag. Instead, she found herself saying, simply, “Thanks. I’m really excited.”
“Does Logan know?”
“I couldn’t reach him.”
Miranda made a disgusted sound. “That doesn’t surprise me. Do you know a girl named Peyton?”
“His Big Sister?” Maddy had a feeling she knew where this was going.
“Is that what they call them now? After we talked the other night I went over to tell him we had to break things off. But turns out I didn’t have to. The two of them were all over each other up in his room. No way to mistake it. He literally had his pants . . .”
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