Chapter 2

Lily

The grip on my books started to loosen as I made my way to the front of my dorm. Just a few more steps and I could make it. I knew I would hear it from Amber when she saw the seam on both the straps on my backpack ripped from the bag. I was only halfway home from the library when it happened. She always told me I carried too many books, but it was unavoidable. With her loud music and boy-crazy attitude, our room was full of distractions.

The only way not to offend her was to say I needed complete silence when I studied which was why I went to the library every day after classes to finish my assignments. Little did she know I plugged my earbuds into my laptop and worked to classical music blasting as high as my ears could take it.

My grandmother was the one who introduced me to that particular genre of music, and it helped me study throughout high school. Considering I was coming out at the top of each of my classes, I knew I was doing something right.

Two girls, I recognized from a few floors down rushed out of the dorm laughing about something.

“Can you—” I said as the door slammed in my face.

I glared at them over my shoulder. “Thanks for nothing,” I mumbled under my breath.

I balanced my books in one hand while attempting to grab the right key from the lanyard around my neck. I fell against the door, shoving the key inside the lock. I turned it, pulled, and grabbed onto my books again as I opened the door the rest of the way with my foot.

I was sweating by the time I made it to the second floor. With barely enough energy to knock on the door, I kicked it hard with the toe of my shoe.

Amber was inside. She sang along with the pop music coming out of her massive computer speakers. They were bigger than her computer.

When she didn't answer, I kicked the door again. “Amber!”

The door flung open, and I gawked at the person standing in front of me.

The small pieces of white fabric stretched over her chest, giving the illusion that her already giant boobs were much bigger. She turned around slowly, showing off what looked like a slutty nurses’s uniform, the bottoms of her butt cheeks peeked out from the hem of the skirt.

“You like?” she asked, fluttering her eyelashes over her deep brown eyes.

“What are you wearing?” I asked, entering the room. I flung my books onto my desk and shoved the broken backpack behind the furniture. I had a sewing kit somewhere in the room.

I went to my dresser, almost tripping over a pile of Amber’s books.

“I’m a sexy nurse,” she said. “Duh.”

“Why are you a sexy nurse?” I asked.

“Well,” she said with the biggest grin on her face. It was the same one that got her in trouble all semester. Most of the time, it involved a guy. “I was invited to a super exclusive frat party tonight.”

“Congrats,” I said, stacking my books in alphabetical order and sliding them to the edge of my desk.

“I know right?” she squealed.

Amber has been angling all semester for an invite to a frat party. At least I’d get some quiet tonight that was until she came home drunk off her ass. I made a mental checklist of the assignments I needed to complete before she got home and I had to perform my official duty as hair and hand-holder as she puked.

“It’s to AKA!!!” she said jumping up and down.

I gave her a look. I couldn’t keep track of the egotistical fraternity and sorority kids at school never mind the acronyms for their groups.

“Cool,” I said, dragging the word out.

“You have to come with me,” she said grabbing my arm.

“No,” I said, almost laughing at the request. Other than the school assigning us to be roommates, Amber and I were on opposite ends of the social ladder.

“Come on!” She whined. “I need my wing woman.”

“When have I ever been your wing woman?”

“Okay, never, but now is the time to start.”

“I need to get some work done,” I said.

“What you need is a break,” she said.

“I have no interest in frat boys and binge drinking,” I said. “I’m not the one who should go with you.”

“Pretty please?” she said.

“Amber—”

“If you come, I promise to finally clean up my side of the room and the closet.”

My eyes hurt to look at our shared closet. I supposed shared was the wrong word. Amber’s clothes exploded out of the space and filled every nook and cranny of the rail, shelf, and floor. My clothes were always wrinkled since I stopped hanging them up in the closet. I’d rather that than risk fighting the clothes that seemed to multiply by the day on her “side”.

Amber finally cleaning up before the semester was over was a tempting offer. Was it worth my soul? I didn’t want to end up a part of a group that I despised so much every weekend when I was trying to sleep. The annoying drunken people wandering home at two in the morning were the bane of my existence all semester. Didn’t they have any courtesy for others? Of course not.

“Come on, Lily,” she said, practically begging. “Live a little.”

In the back of my mind, I did wonder what these frat houses looked like on the inside. It was a curiosity that only a few were selected to see. Would it be right to deny myself a sneak peek? It wasn’t as if I was going to get blasted drunk and stumble home. I could be Amber’s designated-walker, and that was that.

“Fine,” I said.

Amber clapped her hands and jumped up and down a few times.

“You will fulfill your promise to clean by Sunday.”

She pursed her lips. “How about Wednesday?”

I gave her a look.

“Okay! Okay! Monday at the latest.”

“Deal,” I said, and we shook on it.

“Now we need to find you an outfit!” Amber said, turning up the volume of her music.

I grated my teeth at the sound level but made an effort to relax. I was about to go to my first college party, I needed to chill out. This was the fun part that everyone was excited for when leaving for school. Even though I never had the urge to go to a wild frat party, I already agreed to do so. One night couldn’t hurt me, right?

“You have nothing to wear!” Amber groaned from across the room.

I clamped a hand over my mouth. The entire contents of my dresser drawers were on the floor.

Amber smiled sweetly at me. “I swear I’ll pick everything back up. We don’t have a lot of time, though. I want to get there as soon as possible, so we can make the most of the part-ay!”

“I have a few dresses,” I said.

“Nothing in your wardrobe will do,” she said. “The theme is Freaky Friday, not Frumpy Friday, no offense.”

I scoffed. “Offense taken.”

She opened her mouth wide and sucked in a breath. “I’ve got it!” She raced over to her dresser and flung a black satin bra in my direction. I allowed them to land on the floor next to me. She came over to me with her lab coat and a pair of black boy short panties, handing them to me.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Your costume,” she said, picking up the bra.

“I’m not wearing underwear to a party,” I said.

“I guarantee you that other girls will be wearing less, besides, you have the lab coat to wear over it.”

“A lab coat isn’t clothes,” I said, slightly mortified about walking down the hallway in this get-up, never mind a party!

“It has buttons,” she said. “Oh! And wear this.”

She lifted her plastic stethoscope over her head and placed it around my neck. “I’ll be the naughty nurse to your sexy doctor.”

I stared at the lack of clothes in my hands. Was I really going to do this? I scanned the room. It would be nice to walk around without tripping over Amber’s stuff all the time. I hoped she was right about other girls wearing less than me. A prime example was my roommate who didn’t hide any part of her curvy body. At least the lab coat would cover up most of my bare skin.

“Alright,” I said and tossed the clothes on my bed. “Now turn around so I can change.”

She preened at me and twirled around, jumping up and down squealing with glee. “A-K-A!” she chanted over and over until I started to do it too.

“Isn’t it the most beautiful house you’ve ever seen?” Amber asked.

That squeal made another appearance, coming from the back of her throat. If that was any indication, she wasn’t going to have a voice at the end of the night.

I supposed that was a good thing. Maybe I could actually get some sleep in my room for a change.

“It’s nice,” I said, downplaying my feelings. I didn’t want Amber to think I was actually impressed with the Victorian-style house that was in fantastic condition. The turret reached into the sky as if it were waving a large hand at me, beckoning me inside. The many shades of blue accented different parts of the house, and it even had the Victorian era fish scale shingles at the peak of the house.

Amber had been right about one thing, the girls passing us on the sidewalk toward the house were dressed in much skimpier clothing than we were. I secured the buttons hiding the rest of my “outfit”, making sure they were clasped tightly as we walked up toward the house.

“I can’t believe I’m here,” Amber said for the fifth time in two minutes.

“Me neither,” I said for an entirely different reason. My hands were damp and clammy, and I tried to swallow around the lump lodged in my throat.

We walked up the couple steps onto the porch where several shirtless guys were checking out the people entering. They had the letters, “AKA” written across their chests in paint. Two of them were in a few of my classes so they must have been pledges this year. I heard rumors about the hazing process in college Greek societies, and I wondered if they had been subject to any of that. Though they seemed happy enough tonight, getting the first glimpses of the girls coming to their party.

I let out a shaky breath. If I felt out of place already, I wasn’t prepared for going inside.

The lights were off, yet the main room was aglow with tiny twinkle lights all over the place. There were random strips of black lights that made the people standing underneath appear out of a nightmare, their green glowing teeth menacing in the dark. As “Freaky Friday” was the theme, they nailed the “freaky” part on the head.

“Come on,” Amber said, tugging me along. If she weren't there with me, I would have turned around and run back to my dorm. But with her by my side, I allowed her to bring me around deeper into the house.

We walked through the kitchen into the backyard. We stepped out onto a patio, the heels I borrowed from Amber scraped along the stone.

I stumbled over my feet when I caught sight of him.

“Oh my god,” I said.

“What?” Amber asked, leading the way to the keg.

I took a second look and made sure it was him.

“Alex Fuller,” I said, my cheeks burning.

“Who is Alex Fuller?” she asked.

“The President of AKA!” some guy yelled.

I ducked out of the way so that Alex wouldn’t look in my direction after being called out.

“You know the President of the frat?” Amber asked, her eyes sparkling.

“I don’t know him,” I said, gnawing on my lower lip. I peeked out from behind several bigger guys to see Alex standing with a group of his friends. He had that charming smile on his face, the one that said he was better than everyone else. Even though I usually didn’t go for guys like him, he was hard not to drool over. “He’s in my accounting class.”

“The senior accounting class?” Amber asked. “You really go all in don’t you?”

“I’m not in,” I said, unable to hide the smile from my face.

“You should go talk to him,” she said, nudging me with her elbow.

“No way!” I said. “He has no idea who I am.”

“Maybe you should introduce yourself.”

“I’d only embarrass myself,” I said. I was too shy to talk to him. Besides, I was way out of his league.