Authors: Taylor Bell
“Thanks,” Leyla replied quietly.
“You're welcome.”
“Jonah is my best gay. We went to high school together.”
Jonah arrived just at that moment looking tired, angry, and annoyed, wearing a down jacket, gym shorts, socks, and Adidas sandals.
“I didn't know you were gay,” Leyla blurted out.
Jonah just stared at Leyla. Without saying a word he held his hand out for me to give him my phone. We all stripped down, hopped in the water, and Jonah took a few different angles. We all tried to cover up as best we could.
While Jonah was snapping photos, I got a good glimpse of Jane's tits and they blew me away. I thought they were man-made.
Like, actually, they were the best boobs, real or fake, that I'd ever seen. They sat high and perky (but not pointy) and her nipples were perfectly nickel-size. No wonder she had no issue getting naked. I really wanted to touch them just to feel what they felt like. There we were standing in the middle of the fountain at 9:30 in the morning, posing naked.
Holy shit, this is really happening.
The pictures looked good enough, so we all threw our clothes back on. Jonah kissed us each goodbye and vanished, but not before saying, “I'd fuck all of you.”
“Thanks, you're the best.” I smiled. “Now go back to sleep, you look like shit.”
The three of us ran back to my room to shower and warm up before heading to Alpha for the various shit we needed to complete over there. As tired as I was, and as horrible as the scavenger hunt seemed, I was kind of having fun. Leyla and Jane were keeping me entertained and I'd probably never do this type of thing again, so I figured I might as well eat it up.
I showered first then got to work on hollowing out the eggs while they got ready. Once the eggs were empty and we were all semi-presentable, we walked over to Alpha house. I knew Jane would take the lead on getting the cum and pee from an Alpha brother, but we each had to make out with one random brother. It felt weird to me because I'd just started feeling like Jack was my boyfriend. I knew he'd be fine with whatever (within reason) I had to do to complete my pledge duties. I mean, he was the one who'd said that “sometimes the chapter just has to come first,” but I honestly did not feel like finding some
hungover Alpha asshole and putting my tongue in his mouth.
The plan was for Leyla and me to grab the first two kissable guys we saw, snap a photo, and get out of there, while Jane snuck into Will Boyle's room and did her thing. We unlocked the front door and let ourselves in. The house was fucking sick (in a bad way). I mean, the Omega Sig house was disgusting, but compared to this shit hole, it was the Plaza Hotel. Alpha house looked and smelled like the inside of a homeless man's ass. Red cups everywhere, and overflowing trash cans populated every corner in sight. I was terrified. Not just for me, but for the future of the world.
“I'm just gonna find a guy who doesn't look like he puked on himself, and kiss him while he's sleeping,” I told Leyla.
“Okay, great. Just let me know when you're ready. I'll probably just do the same.”
I looked around to see what my options were. I was not impressed.
“How about this one,” Leyla said, pointing to a shirtless, hairless freshman, who was passed out with his ass up on a Ping-Pong table.
“How about this one . . . for what?” boomed a strong voice from behind us.
I turned around and locked eyes with a giant of a man in nothing but a pair of gym shorts, standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Dirty blond, piercing brown eyes, sexy as fuck in a dumb-jock kind of way.
“Oh, hey. Sorry.” I struggled to get the words out.
“That's fine,” he replied, “but
can you answer the question?”
“We, um . . . the thing is . . . um, we're pledging Beta Zeta and we have to make out with an Alpha brother for this stupid scavenger hunt thing.”
“Sounds chill.”
“Yeah.”
“You guys should make out with me,” he added.
“Really? Would that be okay?” Leyla asked.
“Yup. Both of you. Absolutely.” He grinned.
Leyla and I each took a turn kissing this dude. His name was Kenny, he played on the hockey team, he was six foot seven, and he wasn't even that bad a kisser. We locked lips for a total of four seconds. I was completely relieved when it was over, because I felt nothing tingly while it was happening. Leyla, on the other hand, ended up making out with him for at least three minutes. They actually could have made a really cute couple.
As Leyla and Kenny were finishing up, Jane came running down the stairs with her T-shirt and jacket in one hand, and two red Solo cups in the other.
“We gots to go, kids,” Jane said, trying to put the shirt on, but having difficulty because of the cups.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah. I'm fine. We're done. Got it all. Scavenger hunt complete!” Jane yelled as she rushed out the front door.
Leyla gave Kenny the hockey man a last lingering smooch on the cheek, and we sprinted out of the house to catch up with Jane.
“Holy shit that was fucking crazy!” Jane screamed.
“You got everything?” I asked.
“Will
Boyle was the jackpot. Dude was dead asleep. Found Ken's shit in like ten seconds, no joke. Then kissed him, while taking a pic of us. He woke up, I told him that I'd show him my tits if he jerked off into this cup, which I did and then he did, but not before pissing into this cup. All in all took me about six minutes. You guys get what you needed?”
“Amazing. You are amazing. Yeah. We both made out with the same guy and took pics. We're done!”
We had a fun group hug, careful not to spill any of Will Boyle's fluids.
“Can we go eat?” Jane asked, “I'm fucking starving.”
The three of us went to the dining hall and scarfed plates of eggs, pancakes, and bacon. And the best part was that it was only 11:30 a.m. We barely talked. We just stuffed our faces and were back at the BZ house with all of our “Scavy Hunty” items before 1:00. Fuck. Yes.
“Well, that's a house record,” Colette said as we walked in the door. “Are you sure you got everything?”
“We're sure,” Jane replied.
“Well, good for you. Be back here tonight at eight wearing an all-white dress with your pledge pin, nude underwear, and flats. Also, no makeup. Cute?”
“Crystal cute,” we answered.
“Oh. And come sober. Seriously. You need to be here with your hearts and minds completely pure.”
A
fter the craziness of the weekend, and all the rumors and secrecy about
sorority initiation ceremonies
, I didn't know what to expect when I came back to the house that night. I was nervous, but I'd come this far, endured so much, and spent so much time in pledge hell already that I wasn't about to drop out now.
When I walked up the front stairs, Meg was already waiting for me with what looked like my paddle, wrapped in green, pink, and silver wrapping paper.
“Open it.”
“Now?”
“Yes, bitch.”
I
started to pull off the paper and ribbons.
“Disclaimer: I'm not naturally crafty, and wrapping this was a fucking challenge. So, sorry it looks like a blind kid with no arms wrapped it.”
“It's great,” I lied. “I fucking love it. You are crafty, this looks amazing. Thank you so much,” I gave Meg a huge hug. The paddle was pretty much a sparkly hideous mess, but I guess all sorority paddles are, by nature.
“You can't bullshit a bullshitter.” She squeezed me back.
“Well, it looks like you put a lot of effort into it, anyway.”
Meg took the paddle out of my hands and threw it in a bush to the side of the stairs.
“I'll get that back to you later. We need to go inside.”
I joined all of the other pledges in the backyard.
“I have to pee so bad,” Jane whispered in my ear a bit too loudly. She was smiling and her eyes sat low.
“Are you drunk?” I asked Jane.
Her grin got wider across her face.
“Just hold it. I'm sure you can pee when we get inside.”
Colette came out to the backyard wearing a beautiful white dress, which I think was from Alice + Olivia, and I made a mental note to try and find it online later. She looked stunning. Her hair was wrapped in a tight, high braid and around it was a crown of white daisies. She glided toward us, holding a glowing, white candle.
“We officially welcome you, the Beta Zeta Fall 2015 Pledge Class, into our home, into our lives, and into our hearts.”
Colette gave us a little smile as she turned and led us back into the house. Inside, all of the lights were off and the entire
chapter was standing in the dark, also wearing white dresses. Each one of them held a candle or two. Once we'd all filed into the living room, each Big approached each Little and handed her a candle. It had all been choreographed meticulously. Meg handed me my candle and ushered me into position.
All twenty-one pledges formed a circle, each with her Big standing right behind her and her Grand Big standing right behind them. Amazingly, this was all happening in complete silence. It was definitely creepy in a Tom Cruise,
Eyes Wide Shut
kind of way, but I was into it.
“We shall steadfastly love each other,” Colette said, calling the initiation to order.
“We shall steadfastly love each other,” we all repeated.
“Sisterhood is the foundation of our organization,” Colette continued. “It is our reason for being. If you have nothing else in this life, you will always have your sisters from Beta Zeta. The commitment you make tonight will last a lifetime. You may not always agree with every sister, you may not always see eye to eye with your sisters, you may not even talk to your sisters for long periods of time throughout your life. But your sisters will always live in your hearts. Should you ever need the help of a BZ sister, no matter what the circumstance, she will always be there for you.”
Then she began singing the BZ song, which we'd all been learning and practicing over the past few weeks, and we all joined in:
I have met the sweetest girl,
She's as good as one can be,
I've seen the one I'll cherish, she means the world to me,
She holds the whitest daisy,
And the silver, pink, and green,
Beta Zeta I love you,
And to you I will be true.
As we sang the song, Nancy, our house mother, who was wearing a loose linen pantsuit, placed a glass vase in the middle of us. A long table draped in a pink and green tablecloth was carried out of the kitchen by a few older sisters. Just after the table was set down, a huge coffin that had been painted silver, pink, and green, and covered in daisies, was lugged out of the kitchen by four pallbearer Actives. It was all kind of pretty, but still really scary, because it was a coffin and I had no idea what it was doing there. I could feel the room getting tense.
When the song was done, Colette stood and pointed to an object on the table that I didn't recognize.
“This is our member book. I will now call you up here individually to sign it. Once you have signed your name, your Big will hand you a daisy and remove your pledge pin. Then you will walk over to our chapter coffin, get in it, and we will close it. This will signify the death of you as an unaffiliated member. When we reopen the coffin you will be reborn as an
Active
. Your Big will then put on your member pin and help you out of the coffin. Proceed to the vase and as you place your daisy into it, please recite the Beta Zeta motto loudly and clearly. Then return to your position in the circle. Once each pledge has become an Active, we will all march out of the house and into the night, as a united sisterhood. As a family.”
It took about an hour for all twenty-one of us to do the coffin thing. Some girls cried out of fear and claustrophobia, some girls laughed with excitement, and this girl Jenny fainted and had to be taken outside. It all happened in a blur. For some reason Colette saved me for last. There was no specific order that was clear to me, but I thought it was weird that she chose to call me at the very end.
“Taylor Bell.”
Maybe she was sending me a message in some way. But I was trying not to read into it too much. I wanted to enjoy the moment as much as I could. I walked over to the book. It was huge and the names were tiny. As I signed my name I realized that I was the fifth woman in my family to sign her name in this exact book. This was something that we'd share forever. It was strange to think about them doing the exact thing I was doing right now. As Meg removed my pledge pin and escorted me over to the coffin, I thought about running for the door. I fucking hate small spaces, but Meg looked me in the eye and said, “It's worth it.”
And then . . . complete silence and total darkness.
It felt like I was in there for an eternity. Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, the coffin flew open and I was free. Meg helped me out, put on my white daisy member pin, and my eyes filled with tears.
“We shall steadfastly love each other,” I said as I let the daisy slip out of my hand and into the vase. And then it was over. We all filed out into the backyard, still holding our candles, no longer pledges.
We were full-fledged sisters now.
I
was a full-fledged sister now.
A
fter our
initiation was over, it was time to go to the official initiation party thrown by the fine gentlemen of Omega Sig. They'd gone all out. This was by far the most intense party Jack's house had thrown yet. Still unclear as to whether that was a result of personal perception, blood alcohol content, or just plain fact, but everything about it seemed heightened to me. Dubstep versions of Ellie Goulding songs pounded throughout the OS house. It all just felt different now and not just for me. Everyone seemed to feel that way.