Handpicked

by Dani Oden

  "Hey, Jill," she greeted smoothly, as if she'd been waiting for me all along. Her tone was sweet, which was my first indicator that something weird was going on. An open laptop, as well as a stack of loose papers, sat in front of her.

  I cautiously stepped in the room, leaving the door open behind me. "Hey, Kayla."

  "Studying?" she said.

  I had nothing on me that could pass as a study aid. "Oh, no. No studying this morning."

  "Oh?" she said inquisitively. "Just...hanging out in the library?"

  Adrenaline pulsed through my veins. "I just put in a load of laundry and came to see if there was anything in here to help me kill the time," I said, watching to see if she flinched or reacted to the word 'kill.' She didn't seem to notice.

  "Good luck with that."

  I cleared my throat. "Do we keep any magazines in here?" I went over to the bookshelf nearest to the door. "Or any good books?"

  "I'm pretty sure it's only school stuff." She said, keeping her eyes on me. "You know, those washers take forever, I usually wait back upstairs since there's nothing to do down here."

  Was she trying to get rid of me? "How long do they take?"

  "I'm not sure exactly, maybe forty-five minutes?"

  "There's a TV room down here though, right?"

  "Yeah, just down the hall. It's always really cold in there though, I hardly ever go in."

  "Good to know. So, what are you studying?" I tested her.

  "Comparative Literature," she said simply.

  "Cool," I tried not to show my skepticism.

  "Yep," she nodded slowly, pursing her lips. She turned back at her computer screen, pretending to read the text on it and slowly moving her mouse around, a subtle yet clear way for her to tell me she wasn't going to talk anymore.

  She was clearly hiding something. Just as I was about to leave and report to the others, a soft thud echoed from behind the fireplace. Kayla pretended not to hear it, and remained calm at her desk. I, on the other hand, felt my pulse begin to quicken and sweat begin to form on my forehead.

  She looked at me like a mother tiger stalking tourists at the zoo. And, like a visitor with only a fanny pack and a camera to defend myself, I inched away.

  "Maybe I'll go read upstairs while I wait for my clothes.”

  "Good idea," she said, her gaze lingering on me before she turned to her laptop.

  Once I was through the door, I stood outside, trying to catch my breath. I stood there, my chest heaving, for so long that eventually I heard more voices in the library. It had to have been Sister President and Tammy coming back through the fireplace. I could picture the three of them in there, and Kayla telling them I was still standing outside, like one of those super villains from old Saturday morning cartoons who can see through walls. Before they could find me, I darted up the stairs two at a time, making it back to my closet room in seconds.

  Lindy and Hannah were waiting for me in the hallway. As soon as I made it up the stairs, they grabbed me by my wrists and pulled me in, closing the door behind us in one fluid motion.

  I leaned against the couch, collecting myself, as they stood by. Neither of them dared to say anything until I did.

  When I finally had control of my breath, I pulled my phone out from my bra and examined it. Our call was still active, the ticker read just over eleven minutes. I ended the connection and tossed the device onto one of the seat cushions. "Did you hear all of that?"

  "Yes," they said.

  "You were panting like a dirty hooker," Hannah said. "Were you that freaked out?"

  I glared at her. "Yes. Yes, I was."

  Lindy asked, "What happened at the end? It got muffled once you started moving around more."

  I relayed the whole scene to them, right up to when I heard a noise from behind the wall, and to when I hid outside and heard more voices enter the room.

  "Are you sure they came in from the chapter room? Are you positive?" Hannah asked.

  "Well, since I was standing in front of the door, yeah, I'm pretty sure no one went in that way."

  "And they weren't in there when you were?"

  "I would have seen them," I said, pulling my hair into a ponytail. I could think better when my hair wasn't in my face.

  "So, now we know they were in the chapter room," Lindy said. "This is good. I mean, it's not good that they were in there, but it's good we know about it. We'll have to watch closely to see if there's some kind of reaction."

  "Reaction to what?" I asked.

  "To the mess we made, they had to have noticed."

  "Do we need to update our plans for leaving?" Hannah asked, her voice shaking. "Let's not fuck around with this."

  "I'm not sure," I replied honestly. "Kayla didn't seem riled up at all, she was mostly just trying to get me out of there. I think she was standing guard. If they were in some kind of panic in the chapter room, or if there was some kind of emergency, I think they might have pulled her in. She was definitely just sitting watch."

  Lindy asked, "What about when the others came back through the fireplace? Could you hear them at all?"

  "No. I mean, I could hear talking, but not specific words.”

  "And how did the talking sound?"

  "Not panicked or anything, if that's what you're asking,"

  Lindy considered my answer. "So, this is good. They found it and they aren't freaking out. If they're calm, we can be calm."

  "This is good," Hannah said. "So, we're keeping our same plans? I'm still dropping for Evan, Lindy's leaving for family, and Jill's going to go find herself?"

  "I think we should keep them," Lindy said.

  "Me too," I added, feeling relieved that my library findings didn't complicate things further. I sighed heavily. "Was it only yesterday that we found it? I'm so tired already."

  "Me, too," they both said. For the first time, I noticed their exhaustion mirrored mine. Lindy's eyes were saggy and grayish, while Hannah was pale and twitchy.

  "Did you still want to grab coffee?" Lindy yawned.

  "Not unless you do."

  "I kinda want to nap, to be honest," she admitted.

  "Me, too," Hannah said.

  I didn't want to brag too much about the night of sleep I had, so I simply agreed to nap with them. We skipped breakfast and instead took blankets and pillows to the upstairs TV room, which was empty, thank goodness. We piled together onto the huge purple sectional, dimmed the lights, and put on a romantic comedy on a low volume so other girls wouldn’t know we were napping on purpose. We agreed to take turns sitting up and standing guard, and I offered to go first.

  Hannah dozed off immediately, and I thought Lindy had followed shortly after. Though, a few minutes into the movie, she nudged me. "Hey?" she whispered.

  "Yeah?" I murmured.

  "How was last night?"

  "It was good."

  "You told Hannah you didn't do it," she prompted me.

  "Cause we didn't."

  "Did anything happen at all?”

  "Yeah...he loaned me his sweats, we watched a movie in his bed, and we made out.” Normally, I would have given her more details, but I didn’t want to rub it in.

  "Nice. Are you going to see him again?"

  "I think so," I said.

  "Do you know when?"

  "Nope, we didn't get that far in planning."

  Lindy paused and said, "I'm happy for you, he seemed great."

  "Are you really? You're not mad I stayed?"

  "I was never mad. A bit jealous, but I'm over it."

  "I'm glad," I yawned. I waited for a reply, but her heavy breathing came instead.

  I let my eyes close. The next thing I knew, my body did that thing where it jolts you awake right as you doze off.

  My friends were sleeping comfortably next to me. Onscreen, the credits were rolling, signaling the end of the movie. At first I didn't know why I woke, then I saw an eerie silhouette in the doorway back lit by the bright hallway. It was Sister President.

  "Jill," she w
hispered. "We've been looking for you."

  SEVENTEEN

  Sister President entered the TV room and moved slowly toward me. I was frozen, unable to speak or move or even wake my friends.

  Her blond hair was falling loosely over her shoulders and the designer yoga pants she wore glided smoothly over the carpet. She leaned over where I laid on the couch, putting her face just a few inches from mine.

  "Your laundry is done," she said softly.

  I blinked at her, unable to process her words.

  "Did you hear me? Your laundry is done¸" she repeated.

  The fear left my body like water from a wet towel getting wrung out. "My laundry is done?" I repeated loudly, trying to nudge Lindy without Sister President noticing.

  "Mmph?" my friend said, still not opening her eyes.

  "Oh, shoot, I was trying not to wake them," Sister President said, her voice cheerful like a cartoon princess.

  "Too late," Hannah said, too sleepy to realize who had disturbed her.

  "Thanks for letting me know, I'll be right down to change it," I finally responded.

  "Oh, no need. We dried it for you."

  "You did?" I nudged Lindy again, and this time she opened her eyes. As soon as she saw Sister President, she sat right up, rubbing her face.

  "Hi, Lindy," Sister President greeted her. Back to me, she answered, "Yep, me and Tammy were down there on house business, so we just did it for you. It was no problem. Your clothes are back in your hamper, next to your closet."

  "Thanks?" I said, unable to think of a better response.

  "Oh, you're very welcome. What are sisters for, right?" She practically skipped out of the room.

  Hannah rubbed her eyes and spoke first. "Did she just come in here to tell you that she did your laundry for you?"

  "I think so," I answered slowly.

  "Do you think they, like, did anything to it?" Hannah said, propping herself up on her elbows. Her hair had a kink, making it flow off her head like a bird wing, and her pastel pajamas were wrinkled from her nap.

  "I don't think so, it’s not like they were planning for me to leave it down there," I said.

  "They must have really not wanted you to come back downstairs," Lindy noted, staring back at the empty doorway.

  The three of us managed to do what we later called "group napping" for another two hours. It was a simple solution for us to catch up on rest since, we realized if we were all in the room, it would be a lot tougher for one of us to get a limb chopped off without the others at least stirring.

  When we woke up again, we half-heartedly tried to catch up on studying. It was Sunday afternoon, and none of had cracked a book in days. Sitting and staring at a few academic words was better than none at all, right?

  By the time dinner was served there was a steady stream of girls coming in, dropping the overnight bags they'd taken home for the weekend. Some had on jeans and sweaters, signaling that they'd spent the day with their parents, while others (including Lindy, Hannah and I), were in yoga pants and hoodies, showing that we'd stayed on campus for the weekend.

  The dining room was full of energy, with everyone else seemingly happy to be reunited after forty-eight hours apart. I was glad to see a number of members of our pledge class again too. Not because I'd grown particularly attached to them, but because the more girls sitting around our table, the less I had to talk. Plus, the other pledges seemed quite focused on our etiquette test, scheduled for the next night.

  Their conversation swirled around me, while I chewed my chicken and peas, listening intently.

  "...how was your weekend?"

  "...where'd you get your sweater...?"

  "...studied for our test..."

  "...parents asked how it was going..."

  "...saw my high school boyfriend..."

  "...cute boots..."

  "...this chicken is too chewy..."

  "...jell-o shots..."

  "...didn't study at all..."

  "...the guys from Beta Omega Lambda..."

  "...next party night..."

  As soon as dinner was over, Lindy and I went to Hannah's room and kept her company while she got her stuff organized to go spend the night with Evan again. I was envious that she was able to go back to their house so calmly, confidently. I had my phone on me for nearly the entire day, and I still hadn't heard from Tad.

  "You will," both of them said, when I voiced this.

  "You guys are good friends," I replied.

  "I really think you will. We're not just saying that," Hannah said.

  "We're so not," Lindy agreed.

  I wasn't sure whether or not I should believe them, so I simply opted to because it felt better. Though, the text message I got when Hannah arrived at their house was enough to help. It said, T asked about you as soon as I got here. Sd he's going to txt you once he's done w quiz tmrrw.

  That message was the single reason why I was able to sleep that night.

  On Monday, I tried to pretend my life was normal, at least for a few hours. I walked to class with leaves crunching under my feet, stopped to pick up coffee from the stands on campus, and sipped it anonymously next to my classmates while my instructors spoke. None of them knew who I was, what I did that weekend, or what I found. It was awesome.

  And to top it off, as predicted, I got a text from Tad just after lunch. How's your day? Thinking of you, it read. The fact that he actually took the time to spell out "your" and “you” gave me confidence that he actually cared.

  Good yours?

  Good just finished a quiz.

  We continued trading messages all afternoon, which my friends didn't appreciate when we were trying to cram for our etiquette test.

  "Tell me again why are we bothering to study?" Hannah asked through a mouthful of roast beef and potato. We had skipped formal dinner, opting to bring our plates upstairs to my closet room where we could keep working.

  "We don't want to piss them off," I said.

  "It would be suspicious if all three of us bombed it," Lindy added.

  "And we don't want to draw attention to ourselves." I concluded.

  "Fine, fine," she raised her hands in retreat. "Thank goodness some of this stuff is common sense. 'What is the appropriate response when a sister sneezes?'" she read to us.

  "It's not common sense," I said. "Common sense would be 'bless you.' The answer is ‘Cherished sister, be blessed.’”

  "It's common sense if it's multiple choice and the other choices are 'Here's a tissue,' 'Gross,' and 'You're welcome,'" she said.

  "Does it say that? What are you reading from?" Lindy asked.

  "The study guide in our book," Hannah lifted it up.

  "That's really in there?"

  "Yep," she said.

  "Let's hope the test questions are all that easy," Lindy said.

  My phone’s text alert rang again, prompting them both to roll their eyes. "Tell him you're busy,” Lindy said.

  "It's not him," I said, glancing at my screen. "It's my mom, asking how things are going."

  "Are you going to tell her anything?" Lindy asked.

  "I don't want her to worry," I hesitated. "Did you tell your parents anything?"

  "Not yet," Lindy said.

  "Hell, no," Hannah replied. "I'm still going to wait until after we've made our smooth exits, so they don't bum rush this place and stir things up."

  "That's probably smart," I said. I texted my mom a hurried note saying everything was fine and set my phone back down.

  Immediately, it jingled again.

  "Did she buy it?" Lindy asked.

  "Now it's him," I reported, smiling at the screen. "He's asking if I want to come by tonight."

  "Tell him you're busy," she repeated.

  "Seriously?" I asked her. "You don't think I should?"

  "I don't think you should spend the night," she clarified. "Make him work for it this time."

  "He worked for it the first time," I said.

  She raised an eyebrow.

/>   "Okay, maybe not,” I conceded.

  Hannah piped up, "She's got a point, you shouldn't be so available."

  I felt myself growing defensive. "I'm not entirely available. I'm really busy and I have a lot going on. I'm plotting how to leave my sorority without getting my hands chopped off, I'm faking my way through an entire pledge period, and I'm a taking three classes. I think it would be very nice of me to try to squeeze him in tonight."

  Hannah laughed, "You said 'squeeze him in tonight.'"

  I glared at her. "What are you, twelve?"

  Lindy interjected, "We're just as busy as you are, we understand. We were just making a suggestion.”

  "It's a good one," I sighed. "I don't think I would have spent the night tonight anyway. Maybe I'll walk over with you to say hi and just hang out for a bit?"

  "Good idea," Hannah said. "Make him walk you back."

  "Oh, yeah, he totally needs to walk you home," Lindy nodded.

  "He already did, yesterday," I reminded them. "Hey, whatever happened to the guy who walked you home?"

  Lindy rolled her eyes. "Davey? Don't ask."

  “That bad?”

  "Don't change the subject," Hannah said, sitting up. "We were talking about this when you were gone. It's different when they walk you home in the morning. Everyone who sees him do it knows you spent the night, they know he got some--"

  "He got a little bit," I corrected her.

  "Fine. But, when they walk you back at night--"

  "People know you wouldn't stay over," Lindy supplied.

  "So?" I asked.

  "It's different. It's an ego thing," Hannah said. "I promise. I've stayed in that house a million times already. It's always sad for the guy when the girl leaves early."

  I considered their suggestion, but before I came to a final conclusion we were interrupted by Kayla's voice on the intercom. "Will all of our wonderful pledges please report to the library for your etiquette exam?"

  "Someone's in a good mood," I closed my notebook and slid my pen back into my bag.

  "Maybe she gets to do the limb chopping tonight," Lindy said dryly.

  Once we left Hannah's closet room, we pretended to care about test material, talking loudly with our pledge sisters about which events required white gloves and which didn't. The answer? None of them, not since the eighties has our formal event dress code required gloves.