Charming by Haig Moses (1st Draft)

Chapter Twenty-Six

ROUND THREE

I wasn't mad because Tatiana kissed Elliot.

This was a distinction I had to make clear to her as we made our way to the Kappa House. I was just annoyed that she had lied to me after insisting for so long that she was over Elliot and his seemingly hot and cold attitude towards her for two years now. The moment he gave her the slightest of attention, she was back in his orbit.

"All I'm saying is that you seem a bit jealous," she hummed beside me as we walked up the pathway of the white sorority house.

My neck almost broke as it whipped around to her out of pure disgust. "Jealous!"

"That's what I said," she sang. "I mean, it's fine if you are. I was totally jealous for a while, Elliot's had a thing for you ever since you transferred here, but now he sees what I'm worth and he's finally taking notice."

I wanted to breathe fire, rip my hair out, or slap Tatiana until she came to the realization that what she was saying was utterly ridiculous. Elliot did not have a thing for me and more importantly he wasn't seeing Tatiana for who she was, nor did I believe that he liked her in any way. Elliot was a player, the entire campus and his sixteen thousand social media followers were all aware of that. The chances that he had matured enough to appreciated Tatiana for who she was in just the past week when he was slumming it with another girl was a big fat no.

Teeth sinking into my bottom lip I groaned out my frustration. "You're joking right?"

"No," she said in all seriousness as we arrived at the door and she did a rhythmic knock. "You like Elliot, but obviously you didn't realize it until he finally chose me. That's fine, I just don't want this to come in between our friendship. You're too important."

I opened my mouth to try and pull her out of this rose tinted world she was living in, but the door swung open and Ana's grim face looked at us. "Welcome ladies."

Unlike the other times I had stepped foot inside Kappa House, the atmosphere was heavy. Lights dim and a shiver ran down my spine as I rounded the corner into the living room and saw the small group of eleven pledges standing together.

"Tatiana, go help the other sisters prepare for tonight's occasion," Ana said as her hand ushered me to the other girls. "Harriet, if you would please join the other pledges."

Joining the girls like a sheep to a pack I found Inez instantly. She looked slightly terrified, much like Kappa house dimmed and exhausted. I wanted to ask her if she was alright, maybe pull Ana aside and suggest that Inez step this round out, but didn't want to overstep any boundaries not given to me. "Do you know what we're doing tonight?" I asked instead garnering her interest as she shook her head.

"I tried asking a few other girls, but they were just as clueless as I was," she huffed. "I just hope it's nothing crazy a few years ago I heard that they made all the pledges drink cow blood.

My face scrunched up. Oh God, I thought. I hope they're not thinking about making us drink cow blood.

"Attention Pledges," Ana announced her voice silencing us all. "Congratulations on making it all the way to this round of Kappa recruitment. Look around, the people that stand beside you is the only obstacle in the way of you and being a sister of Kappa Kappa Theta and while usually I endorse some... friendly competition. Today we have to be more united than any other, because a few weeks ago the very ideology of Kappa was attacked. By one person. And while usually I'm not one for bending the rules, but tonight is about a justice that only we can bring forth."

Once she was finished, speaking it was as if Ana had sucked all the air in the room and filled it with electricity. The buzzing of what was going to happen next all through the halls of Kappa as well followed in the wake of Ana's effortless walk. And the deeper we got inside the house, the heavier the atmosphere became until it was almost suffocating and we were standing at a familiar entrance. The open door lead down to what I could only guess was a basement.