Charming by Haig Moses (1st Draft)

Chapter Fourteen

I watched Sebastian's sad eye plead with me and before I could curse myself or be dug even further into a grave I caved. "Fine, but I swear to god if you get caught and I get in trouble, then I'm gonna kick your ass." Sebastian put his hands up in surrender and followed me happily all the way to car I ordered.

I figured there was no way I was going to come out the other side of this unscathed, so why not go down fighting.

As the car pulled up to the white sorority house, I stopped Sebastian from getting out of the car. "No, go around back," I said. "That's where all the service people should be going in and out. And please remember not to get caught or else—"

"I know, I know you'll kick my ass."

I smiled and shut the door behind me as I slipped into my jacket and walked across the lawn, my satchel growing heavy with every step I took. The voices inside were growing louder and when I finally took that last step across the threshold I was greeted with a sea of white.

Every style and cut of dress, jumpsuit, or top and bottom combo was being worn today. Silver pins glittering in the sun's light that seeped through the windows. I took a glass of champagne as a waiter crossed me and downed half of it in one gulp. "Finally you show up!" Tatiana grabbed me by the arm and towed me into the sea of girls. "I was hoping you'd pick that dress, I knew it'd look good on you. Besides, it's a good thing you took from my closet, we've already had to unpin three girls for wearing off-white colors. I mean you can't just walk in here wearing pearl and thinking nobody would notice... Disgusting."

As we found our place amongst the other pledges, I waved at a few of them and returned congratulations to those who had made it this far in the recruitment process.

"The crowd is so thin," I said my eyes flickering over to Sebastian who was now walking around with a tray of appetizers.

"Yeah well with how many we cut last round, there's going to be even less competition for you after," Tatiana grinned as Inez wandered over.

"There's so many people here," she sighed, eyes wandering around to all the girls. "I heard a few of them were so embarrassed they didn't even show up."

Tatiana nodded as she began to recount the story of how three pledges showed up to the house this morning begging for an extension from the Board. Though, the entire time my eyes were settled on Sebastian who seemed even more obvious as she analyzed every detail in the room. Then, as he handed out the last appetizer to Keaton, I watched heart in my lungs as he made a mad dash up the staircase.

I waited a few seconds though heard nobody point him out or complain.

They hadn't seen. I thought in relief, finishing the rest of my drink. "I think I need to use the restroom."

"Well that's gonna have to wait because we're about to start."

Ana took her place in front of us all and before we knew it her voice was ricocheting off the walls. "Attention," she hollered. "I'm going to need all Kappa pledges to get into formation. Sisters stand behind me and board members at my side."

"Don't be nervous," Tati said with a large slopping grin. "You're gonna do great and don't forget to name me as your probationary Big. I do not want to get stuck with any of these other girls."

I allowed a breathy chuckle to fall from my lips before I took my place in the triangle formation amongst the other girls.

"Nervous?" Inez whispered.

I wanted to say no. I wasn't nervous. I was scared shitless about what was going to happen to me. I was disappointed about what would be said and partially I was scared of what Tatiana's reaction would be once I admitted my truth. If you admitted. Something chided in me as my satchel grew heavier. You could move to the next round if you wanted to, it said. What would your mother do?