Chapter Four: Violet

As we walked further away from campus to the row of fraternity houses, I felt the excitement build. After the party last year, I knew that I couldn't get carried away, but I would still enjoy myself.

When I was on campus, there were always eyes on me. It was an unspoken rule that when a member of the staff had a child enrolled, that the rest looked out for them. Unfortunately for me, even though I was 20, it also meant that everything that I did was immediately reported to my father.

Good thing that The Row was just off of the main campus and away from any staff.

It didn't take long before we saw other people walking around in their costumes, all headed toward the sounds of the muffled bass and screams. The costumes around me were all the same. There were so many "sexy" professions that I never knew existed.

Chloe walked next to me in her adorable and very short Alice in Wonderland dress, with her long blonde hair curled down her back. She wasn't too pleased with my lack of effort, but I didn't care. It was easy, and it worked.

I had grabbed a black shirt, cut a strip off large enough to tie around my eyes, and carved out two holes for me to see through. It wasn't much of a costume, but when I added the black and white striped shirt and the black skinny jeans I had on, I could get away with claiming I was disguised as a bandit.

The further we walked, the louder the music got, coming from each house as they all had a different DJ or playlist blaring through the speakers.

"This shit is going to get crazy!" Chloe shouted with glee as a girl stumbled out of the house in front of us and began to projectile vomit onto the grass.

I grimaced from the sight and bit back my own bile. Not tonight, Satan.

Our hands were stamped by the bouncer after we flashed our fake I.D's and paid the fee, allowing us to come and go from the house all night without having to pay a new cover charge each time.

It was packed, wall to wall, as people yelled over each other and ground their hips together on the makeshift dancefloor. A wet liquid spotted my face as I walked by a group of guys who were shot-gunning their beer, and I wiped my cheek dry with a laugh at their cheering.

"Teresa said that she would meet us here," Chloe yelled before she resumed her scan of the room. She was oblivious to the groan I let out at the mention of the bitch. Teresa was an awful person.

It wasn't that she did anything outrageous. She just didn't know how to keep her judgmental thoughts to herself, and her negativity had a way to ruin anyone's good mood. I started to make my way to the kitchen to grab a drink when Chloe grabbed my arm.

"Wait," she said as she looked down at her phone, "She went to the Kappa House instead." Her hand still wrapped around my wrist, I reluctantly let her drag me out of the crowd and onto the street once again. I grumbled in anger at the waste of our cover charge, as we started down the street.

If I didn't care about Chloe, I would have left her on her own to find Teresa while I went for a drink. She wasn't the strongest girl, and she didn't believe in violence. Being surrounded by drunks, well, it just wasn't safe to leave her alone when she was unable to defend herself.

Luckily, I had more than enough training and muscles from my upbringing to defend both of us, if needed. After we paid the entrance fee and collected our second stamp of the night, we made our way inside the Kappa fraternity house. I smirked at the way this one was set up. It was more of a game night and less of the chug-fest that the Alpha-Phi's had going on. This was more my style.

I blanched at the sight of the obnoxious pixie-like woman who barreled towards us through the smoke-filled room, passed the rowdy group playing Craps on a beaten-up old table. My head desperately moved from side to side, causing my ponytail to swing behind me. Bar! Where the fuck was the bar?

"Teresa!" Chloe yelled as she latched onto the terror of a woman that stood before us in her dangerous five-inch heels.

"Chloe!" Teresa's shrill voice yelled back, and I winced as she rounded to me. "Violet! You look like you didn't even try! Where is your costume?" She yelled at me with an exaggerated look of disappointment.

"I'm a bandit," I stated deadpanned as I looked at her outfit, or rather her lack of one. She was primarily covered in body paint... besides the booty shorts and green bandeau bra that left nothing to the imagination. The flowers painted all over her body definitely took some time though, and as much as it pained me to admit it, they looked awesome.

"I'm mother nature." She said as she did a twirl. I blinked at her a few times, not responding.

I turned to Chloe, who was admiring the flowers painted on her friend's body. "Alright, now that you found her, I am going to grab a drink." Chloe knew of my dislike of Teresa, so she didn't mind when I walked away to the bar.

It wasn't too hard to find once I located the open door that led to the backyard. The makeshift bar outside had a few pledges manning the area in typical waiter garb, a black button-up with black dress pants.

"What can I get you?" The young guy shouted, and I leaned over the table so that I didn't have to yell back.

"A hurricane, please."

It only took a moment before I had the cold drink in my hands.

A voice came from my right, and I turned to see a cowboy press his denim-clad hip against the bar. He wore a pair of Levi jeans, boots, and a cowboy hat with no shirt.

"Hey, we have a game of Blackjack starting! My friend over there wants you to come join us!" He yelled, and before I could respond, he grabbed my hand and pulled me toward a table on the other side of the yard. The red bandana tucked into his back pocket caught my attention briefly while he walked ahead of me.

I glared at the back of his head as I pulled my hand free from his forcefully just as we passed a keg stand on one side of us and a tumbling tower of Giant Jenga on the other. Everyone at the table watched us with amusement except for one man, who wore a mask similar to mine.

I glanced him over and gave a small laugh at the plain black t-shirt and jeans he wore. A bandit. How original.

I began to shake my head to decline the offer to play, but when I saw Teresa and Chloe approach me from the house, I took a step closer to the table.

"Vi!" Chloe yelled, but I barely heard her over the music as she got closer. "I heard there was a haunted house. Want to go?" We had just gotten to this house, and at this rate, I would be out of cash before the hour was up. I looked past her to Teresa, who was close behind.

The guy next to me put up his pointer finger towards the table to signal it would be a moment, and I gave him a guilty look. I didn't really want to play with them but spending the evening with Teresa sounded like Hell.

"Sorry, Chloe! I promised that I would play a few rounds, but I'll catch up with you later, yeah?" She nodded with a wide smile as she looked over the shirtless cowboy next to me before she sent a wink my way.

Teresa didn't get the chance to say anything before I turned and took off towards the group of card players, leaving the guy who invited me behind. I slid into the empty chair across from the green-eyed, masked man before I downed my drink. The cowboy walked over and lifted the bottle of tequila from the table, and he refilled my cup before he sat down with a wink sent my way.