Faith was
laid on Lacey’s bed, using her legs as a pillow of sorts. She had been crying,
evidenced by the obscenely large pile of used tissues on the bed. Her eyes were
red and its doubtful that she’s gotten any decent sleep in the last few days.
Lacey was running her hand through Faith’s hair as she continued to cry. The
Alarm on Lacey’s phone went off, sending her phone into a noisy fit. She grabbed
it and quickly silenced it. “Ok, one hour till meeting, into the shower with
you.” Lacy commanded.
Faith
rotates and gave Lacey a comical pout. “I can’t just skip it?” She asked.
Lacey
looked down at her friend. “The shower or the meeting? Because at this point I
honestly wouldn’t recommend skipping either of them.” She couldn’t help the
smile from showing. Faith stuck her tongue out. “Well that’s mature. Look, you
and I both know that if you don’t do this now it’s going to eat you up inside
for a very long time.” She was trying to sound as matter of fact as possible.
Faith
rolled over to face the crappy romance on the TV again. “Or I could just move
as far away from this school, my family, and boys, as possible.” She grumbled.
Lacey
started to poke at her friend in an attempt to get her to move. “Uh huh, and
when you find this mythical island of Amazon’s, what do you plan on doing
there?” She asked sarcastically.
Faith
held out her hands and made a wave motion with her right hand. “Weave baskets.
Pretty ones, with shiny shells threaded in them.” She explained.
Lacy
moved her legs out from under Faith plopping her on the bed by herself. “Well
then, shall we take a basket weaving class first or you do you just wanna pack
and jet?” She asked.
Faith sat
up grumbling. “No, I can’t run away from my problems for the rest of my life. I’m
a big girl, I’m getting in the shower.” She got up and grabbed her towel and
stopped near the bathroom door to turn back to her friend. “You’re making me
adult, I’m never going to forgive you for this.” She said with a smile.
Lacey
pointed at the bathroom. “SHOWER, NOW!” She was trying not to laugh.
Faith
opened the bathroom door. “RUDE!” She said as she walked into the bathroom and
closed the door behind her.
Forty five
minutes later Lacey and Faith were standing outside the Nu Tau Delta house.
Faith had really cleaned up. Her makeup was perfect, she had her favorite Nu
Tau Delta letter shirt on, her shoes matched the letters in the shirt. Sisters
passed the pair and headed into the house. Faith watched as the last of the
sisters headed into the house. She looked at Lacey to her left. “Whatever
happens in there, we’re still friends, right?” She asked.
Lacey
nodded and they headed into the house together.
In order
to be a sister in good standing with the sorority you only had to attend ten
hours of sorority functions a month, including weekly meetings. There were
rules and regulations from their own organization as well as school that kept
them from demanding a larger mandatory time commitment. The result was that
these weekly meetings were often only ever attended by the girls who lived in
the house, or were trying to become more involved in sorority politics. Tonight
however the house was standing room only. Every active sister had arrived no
less than five minutes early. Faith knew instantly that her sister had
leveraged some very serious threats to get the entire sisterhood to be in the
same place at the same time, and that it was supposed to embarrass and
humiliate her.
Tanya and
the other five girls on the sorority council were sitting at the only table in
the room. Set right in front of the fireplace. Tanya rapt her gavel three times
before she spoke. “I call this meeting to order. Before we get on with our official
business we have a sister who would like to address the chapter.” She said with
a smile on the verge of predatory. Some of
the girls turned to look at Faith, others were polite or reserved enough to
wait for her to reach the front of the room, crawling over and stepping in
between the girls filling every available space in the gigantic living room. Once
she reached the front of the room there was no denying that every set of eyes
was on her, many staring angry laser beams into various areas of her body,
attempting to turn their mental judgement of her crimes into physical punishment
by way of their eyes. Faith looked
around the room and realized that she couldn’t name even ten girls in the room.
She cleared her throat. “Sisters of the Beta Sigma chapter of Nu Tau Delta. I
come before you tonight to ask forgiveness. I come before you to clear my
conscience. I come before you tonight, to admit my faults and failures.” Her
opening did little to lessen the intensity of the stares she was receiving. Never
the less she persisted. “Some of us thrive in this, class based society. Where
it’s not what you do, it’s the image of yourself you present to the outside
world. It’s not about the quality of your life, it’s the size of your bank
account. It’s not how you make other people feel it’s all about how many people
worship you.” A few of the glares had softened. Many soured and she could feel
the silent wave of acidic rage washing over her from behind. “I am here to apologize
because I thought I was immune to the realities of that system. You see, I had
friends and a life before I became this, person.” She pulled the pins out of
her hair, letting it fall messily to her shoulders. “I let my Sister warp and
distort how I saw myself. They say you can become a brand new person in College
and I was so afraid of who I might become that I somehow convinced myself to
become the person I hate most.” She lifted her feet one by one and pulled her
shoes off tossing them gently to the floor. “I’m not saying this world is wrong
for everyone, or that it’s a horrible reality that destroys more decent human beings
than it creates. Many of you will go on to become outstanding and exceptional
people. But for me it means becoming a carbon copy of my sister. “She pulled
off her Nu Tau Delta Shirt revealing a plain black tank top underneath. “And honestly
I’d rather die.” She turned and tossed the shirt at her sister. Her fist picked
it out of the air like a bear trap snapping shut. “So, Tanya, I quit.” She spun toward
the door and stepped her way out of the room. Girls practically diving out her
way this time.
Tanya
stood up, barely controlled fury in her eyes. “You walk out of this house, I tell
our parents everything. “ She
threatened.
