“Woooo,” one of my frat brothers ran past me wearing a bedsheet as a toga. I had to laugh. He was already drunk, as well as most of our potential pledges. I lost track of Kam an hour earlier. Since the point of the party was to build trust and friendship between potential brothers, I had to leave him on his own.
Rina came up beside me with a bottle of water in her hand. “I see Frankie is giving everyone the introduction to Greek life they deserve,” she said, amused.
“Yeah. I doubt he’ll be the only guy racing through the party wearing very little,” I said back. “You and your sorority sisters did an awesome job setting up.”
Rina shrugged. “We just reused the same shitty stuff from last year for decorations, and
“Allright, pups! Tonight we party and have fun!” Jake was giving all of us potential pledges a pep talk before the party got into full swing. “I don’t want you guys to worry about anything. Your future brothers and I are going to make sure you will be taken care of, and that you trust us. So,” he lined up shot glasses in front of us, “I’m asking you all to get shitfaced, and have fun. If you don’t want to get shitfaced, it won’t count against you. Well, unless you keep a stick up your ass, but I don’t think any of you have one of those.”We all chuckled at his lame joke. I had never drank before, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to now. What would my mom think? She’s not here. What would Rose think? I looked at the shot glass in front of me. There was a first time for everything, Ray and Kimi seem to handle alcohol fin
A knock sounded at our apartment door while I was studying in Nate’s room. It was pretty fun to just be there and have his scent surround me, but we’re way too young to be moving in together for a long term thing.I got up and went to answer the door, and found my sister on the other side. “Rose,” I called down the hall, “Rina is here!”I let Rina in, and we settled on the couch in the living area. She pulled out her laptop and set it up on the coffee table. Rose came staggering down the hall yawning and stretching. She was wearing a pair of sleep shorts and one of Kam’s t-shirts. “Did you find them?”“Yup,” Rina said, popping the “p.”
“Now that Sarina has graced us with her presence, we can begin the process of selection!” I burst into the media room to find everyone else already gathered, and Chelsea at the front with her laptop connected to the television. There was an image on the screen with pink background, and the words, “Potential Sisters,” was surrounded with various flowers and vines. It was cute, and very basic. Just like Chelsea.“By all means,” I said with a smile, “Thanks for waiting.” I took a seat on the floor next to Andrea, a senior majoring in history with dark red hair, and gray eyes. I’m pretty sure we’re distant cousins, but we haven’t figured out which ancestor we have in common.“Where were you,” she whispered.
Saturday morning came, and I was comfortably sleeping in with Kimi next to me, probably for the last time for a while since she was accepted into Gamma Lambda Eta, when my phone started ringing. I was not happy about that. Who the fuck calls someone on a Saturday morning?Kimi murmured next to me, and nudged me to answer the ghastly thing. I groaned and rolled over to reach my phone. “This had better be my mother or an emergency, because if it’s not, I’m hanging up,” I grumbled with my eyes closed.A low chuckle greeted me from the other end of the call. “Don’t hang up on me, kid. It’s not an emergency, but I do need to talk to you without your dad around.”“Uncle Micky? What’s going on?” I rolled out of bed,
“So, it was close for both of you,” Rina said as she drove us to the sorority house for the bid dinner. Kam was riding with us as well since his dinner was across the street from ours. “Chelsea has recruited a few bitchy wolves the last few years.”“We’ll manage,” I said, and squeezed Kam’s hand.Kam smirked at me. “Besides, Nate and I would love to have you two back with us if things get too much.”“Are you sure you don’t regret not living in the frat with Ray?” Kimi asked from the front seat.“Yeah. They only had six beds available, and they accepted almost three times as many people, according to Ray,” Kam answered. &l
My alarm went off at three in the morning, and I hadn’t been to sleep yet. It was bid night, and after we’d set the pups up in the living room to sleep, I’d gone back to my room and had been texting back and forth with Sue since. I was letting her know the plans for the pups since Kam was one of them. Sue is pretty twisted, so she would get a kick out of some of the trials we had in store for them.A knock sounded at my door shortly after my alarm went off, and I had to get moving. I pulled on a pair of sweats and moved out of my room, and down to the living room to wake up our new brothers. Jake was already there with an air horn. When all the guys were gathered, including those that were visiting from their own apartments, Jake blew the horn to wake the pups.“Good morning, pups,” he called. &ldq
Was I worried about what Matty might try on Rose? Sure. Was I actually worried about Rose now that she mostly had control of her shifting? A little. I just couldn’t let everyone else see that. Rose needed confidence to shift, and by hell or high water, I wasn’t going to let her down in that area.After the “family meeting” Ray had called, Rose and I gathered our shit and moved it into the Cock Blocker for transportation, and she and Kam disappeared into his room for a goodbye fuck. I was tempted to do the same with Nate, but I had to voice my concerns to someone.“She needs people to believe in her abilities,” I told Nate when we were waiting for the lovebirds to come back.He nodded. “I know. I’ll try to have my co
“What are you watching?” Heather asked as she came into our room and set her bag down by her desk.“It’s an Asian comedy,” I said, not taking my eyes off of my computer.Heather laid on my bed next to me, and began to watch with me. “What’s it about?”“Okay, so that girl has a crush on that guy, but his roommate keeps getting sent to help her by him,” I began.“Why does he send his roommate to take care of her?” she asked.I sighed. “Because he’s an idiot who doesn’t want to admit he likes her, too, and he thinks she’ll just always be there. She gets sick o
“Fuck,” I swore as Ray kicked my ass at Mario Kart. Ray chuckled with both hands in the air. “Suck it, pup! I finally won for the first time since you were ten!”I tossed the controller and ran my hands over my face. Game nights at the frat house and losing to my brother were the least of my worries. Rose had been officially charged with manslaughter, and bailed out until her trial in a few weeks. At the advice of her lawyer, Rose and her mom signed a temporary lease at another apartment complex. Something about not sleeping with the victim’s family.“You are off your game, bro,” one of my frat brother’s slurred. “Nobody beats Kamron the Machine.”Ray bumped my shoulder. “He’s right. You’re stressing more than usual.”“Maybe because Rose has been avoiding me,” I sighed. Garrett, a sophomore, shook his head. “You must be reading too much into it. That girl is head over heels for you. She’s probably just overwhelmed with her trial and shit.”I shook my head. “I’ve known her my whole l
“Come on back, and we’ll have you give us a urine sample, then Rina will draw some blood samples to make sure your baby is okay,” Deb’s voice filtered through the office to my station. It’d been a little busier this month, but that was to be expected a few weeks after Spring Break. Lots of little surprises.“R-rina?” a familiar voice stammered. “Rina works here?” Elli and Deb rounded the corner to my space, and I had the sample cup ready with the alcohol wipes.“I sure do, Ellie,” I replied. “Congratulations. The bathroom is right through that door, and I’ll be here ready to draw your samples when you’re done.” I pointed to the door of the restroom where our expecting mothers give their samples every time they come in.Deb looked between us. “You two know each other?” I shrugged. “Small school, and we spent Spring Break together in Mexico.”Elli was pale and shaking a little as she grabbed the cup she was supposed to pee into, then made a b-line for the bathroom. Deb leaned over to m
“Now, Kimi,” Dr. Mayfeld started on our bi-monthly telesessino, “have you and Nate talked about finding a couples therapist to help the two of you transition into parenthood?”I shook my head. “Not yet. We will, but between school and my cousin’s demise, we haven’t exactly made it a priority.”“I understand,” she nodded. “I hate to say it, but you and your friends have gone through one hell of a year. Are you sure you aren’t cursed?”I laughed. “If I believed in curses, I might think that too. I mean, it is possible that Kirsten cursed us when she went to prison.”“Seriously,” she calmed down, but still smiled, &ldq
My parents knocked on our apartment door a few hours after we’d come home from the station. I really appreciated Kimi telling off Kam for me. It was the weirdest feeling. I was almost out of my body for most of the afternoon. It was a little surreal. I also both wanted to be hugged and cuddled, but I also wanted to be left alone.I kept thinking that it was my fault a person was dead. Yes, Matty was a horrible person who attacked me, but I didn’t want him dead! Call me optimistic, but I hoped for him to pay for his crimes, then come out a better person who had learned to respect others.I’d spent most of my time in my room, and barely registered when my mom walked in and sat on my bed. “Oh, my sweet Rose,” she sighed and pushed my curls out of my face. “I am so sorry you have to go thro
“Shit hit the fan, and I’m at my sister’s for a few days,” I explained to Elli over the phone.“I can’t believe all that has happened,” Elli replied. “Is Rose okay?”I sunk into my sister’s couch and sighed. “I honestly don’t know. They hadn’t returned by the time I cleared out. I hope her parents don’t find my room disgusting.”“Why wouldn’t they just get a hotel?” Elli asked.The question confused me. “I’m sure they could, but their daughter just killed a guy in self defense. She kinda needs all her family around her now.” Then a thought occurred to me. “Were you thinking about
“I want to see my fiance. I need to know she’s okay,” I shouted at the officer at the front desk of the police station.Kimi put a hand on my shoulder. “Kam, calm down. They have to go through the hoops. Besides, Officer West sounded like someone who is fair.”I spun to face my sister. “My fiance and your best friend is back there by herself, probably scared to death, and the only people available to her are people in our uncle’s pocket. I’m not going to calm down until I know she’s safe!”“Kam, you making a scene isn’t going to get her out here faster,” Nate tried to reason. He turned to the officer. “Is there someone who can come out and tell us what happened?”
Blake finally managed to push the door to the men’s room open. He broke the lock in the process, but the screaming he heard terrified him. He regretted not being faster when he observed the scene.A man was lying under a broken urinal with eye wide open, and unfocused. His jaw was slack, and a shocking amount of blood was pooled under his head. He looked back out into the hall, and grabbed a random student. “Call 911, and get someone here, now!”The student glanced into the bathroom. “Holy shit!”Blake carefully walked around the body to the woman shuddering in a ball against the wall of the open stall. “Hey,” he said gently. “Are you okay?” He reached a hand to her shoulder, and she flinched.
“Welcome back, everyone,” Professor Anderson greeted the class when she walked into the room. “I hope everyone had a fun, safe spring break? I see we’re still missing a few people. Hopefully they return before the next class. In the meantime, please go to the class webpage.”I already had it up, so I just scanned the page looking for what I expected her to click. I found it under the assessments tab. “I would hope you all are intelligent enough to find what I’d like you to do today, but in case you’re hung over, or not up to your best mental state, find the assessments tab, and click on the test titled, ‘Post Spring Break Quiz.’“The password is capital ‘I’ underscore, paid, underscore, too, with two ‘o’s, underscore, much, underscor
The apartment in Gayl was becoming more and more like home to me. Walking through the apartment door Sunday before school started felt like a weight was lifting off my shoulders. Granted, Kimi and I still needed to finish the nursery for our little girl, and we still had school, but we were happiest here. At least I was, anyway.I guess Kimi wasn’t as happy. She waddled into our room, and fell onto the bed on her back. “Ugh,” she grunted, “would you be offended if I said I miss the bed in Boston?”I chuckled. “Not at all. It was a damn comfortable bed..”“Much bigger than this full size one,” she said and rolled over so she could sit up. “I swear if this little girl gets much bigger, we’ll need a bigger bed.&r