Maya, Zayna, and Keshondra went back to school before my birthday, but Maya gave me her present before she left and Zayna and Keshondra were going to go out to a club to celebrate when I returned to LA. Cass and Carol also took me out for drinks in San Francisco following a fun day in Golden Gate Park over the weekend afterward.
The day before I turned 21, I had to sign for a package. It was small and I wasn't expecting anything. I was talking to Zayna--there'd been a mixup with her roommates and her new ones were kind of crappy, she needed to vent--as I casually sliced through the tape and opened the box. There was a small package, plain white paper sealed on one end with red sealing wax, which I broke impatiently. There was a gold-stamped leather box inside which I flipped open as we chatted, and my voice stuttered to a stop.
"What's wrong?" she asked alertly.
"I opened that package," I said stupidly. "There's diamond earrings in there." I shook out the packing box and a tiny card fluttered out. "Wait, there's a note." I had to clear my throat. "Happy birthday, Delphinia. Always--Will." Wedged under the packing material was a certificate of authenticity. From Cartier. Zayna started squawking and I snapped a picture; they were simple diamond studs, set in ..."Holy shit, platinum," I read. "My god, they're a half carat each."
Zayna gasped. "Those are seriously sparkly. They must have cost a mint, hold on... the website makes you request the price."
"I don't think I wanna know," I said. "The documentation doesn't have a cost on it, even for insurance."
"Put them in," Zayna urged. "Lemme see."
"I don't--I don't know if I should accept them," I said slowly. "It's way too much money for him to be spending on someone he's not even with."
"Well, they're a present, and it's rude to turn down a present," Zayna said after a moment, probably wondering if I needed my head checked. "But the guy's signing bonus was over nine million dollars, he can afford them. And secondly, or is it thirdly? He wants you to have them. You meant a lot to him." She sighed. "Look. Text him and ask."
So I did.
DK: Beautiful earrings. Thank you, you shouldn't have.
About an hour later: WH: Wanted you to have something beautiful to remember me by. Don't you dare return them, Delphinia. Happy birthday.
OK, then.
I texted Zayna quickly: So I guess I'm keeping them. But keeping them to myself for now; family will freak.
They would, too. I put them in and looked at them in the bathroom mirror, gorgeous. I took a selfie and sent it to my friends who were at school already with the note that this wasn't public information, then took them out and put the box away. Still stunned, I put on sunscreen and headed out to weed the flowerbeds. Because I was home for only about six weeks, I didn't have a job this summer and it made me itchy, so I'd taken over weeding and lawn maintenance as well as cleaning. It was the least I could do. Grandpa was progressing in his studies to become a rosarian and wanted to add several different kinds of roses in the spring. His flowerbeds were already crowded with all kinds of flowers, a riot of colors, shapes, and scents. I had to be sure something was in fact a weed and not just an intentional plant. After an hour, during which I also neatened up the border of the biggest flower bed, my astonishment and shock had faded to bemusement. Another problem reared its head: what was I going to do with them at college? There was no way I was going to leave such expensive earrings just sitting around, even in my lockbox. I put the problem aside for now when Grandpa got back from his meeting.
The next day, I got a phone call from the manager at the rink. Paul and John were both quitting early to go to China for their visit with their grandparents and he was a little desperate for workers. Could I fill in? He was hiring to replace them but it hadn't been done yet. I certainly could, and I would start the next day. So that was good, it would keep me busy until I went back to school. Grandpa made me a celebratory birthday dinner and was glad that I had something to do. I think my cleaning was making him a little nuts. Certainly the kitties were; they scattered anytime they saw me with a piece of cloth.
Cass and Carol took me to lunch and Paul texted me happy birthday; they were paused in Hawaii and he was wandering around the airport terminal. Stan came over late in the afternoon; he'd been the one to tell the manager that I had some time on my hands. I was getting antsy, wanting to get back to school for my final year. I wanted to talk to my faculty committee and advisor about grad school. There was also recruitment to worry about, but that would be done during Zero Week and I'd be done before classes. It was a lot of pressure; I wanted recruitment to be successful and I worried that we'd get a tiny new member class and it would be my fault. So it was good to have distractions. The parents showed up with presents; we had a nice dinner out on the patio, enjoying the pretty garden. And some bees, but they're necessary pollinators. I was appreciative of the presents; everybody had put a lot of thought into them. Shuri and Invisible Steve were allowed to come out on their harnesses for awhile, and it was a really pleasant evening.
I started at the rink the next day and was greeted enthusiastically by Krista and Marc. They had big news to share; they were moving in together. I asked if they needed help, but they were mostly moved in. I was really excited for them both. Given the high price of real estate, this was a great move. The center had a lot of land and was in the early phases of planning a housing development for the coaches and other personnel who worked there full time; there would be affordable long-term leases on houses for those who had signed contracts to provide services exclusively to the skaters at the center, but this was still in the early stages. They were starting to think about whether they wanted a family--I hoped so!--so the timing would be really good. I was really glad that their relationship was solid; Marc had been really hurt by his previous girlfriend and I wanted him to be happy again. Krista is just such a nice, positive person and exactly what he needed.
Being able to work made the time fly by and soon I'd packed and given Grandpa one more goodbye hug. I was always sad to leave, but there was just so much ahead of me. It felt weird, when I got to campus, not to be heading to the Hill and my old dorm room but to the sorority house. The president and I were there early with members of the alumnae advisory board to go through the house and make sure everything was in good repair, no damage that needed fixing, that we had the stationery we needed for recruitment, that we had the housing contracts ready to go, all that kind of thing. I'd checked at the end of spring quarter, but it never hurt to be thorough. We moved in quickly and met with my advisor to be sure that we understood the rules for recruitment thoroughly and to go over the plans one more time, then we were free. We went to dinner a little early as I needed to stop by my bank and get a safe deposit box. I felt a lot more at ease when my pearl strand, my great-grandma's diamond ring, and The Earrings were safely stored with a little bit of emergency cash.
After dinner, the house was just too creepy with just the two of us so we went to one of the fraternities to hang out for a couple of hours. It was kind of irritating that the fraternities were all on the other side of campus, it made socializing more difficult. Then back to the house and an early bedtime; from here on out we'd be running full throttle. And we were, too. Members of our advisory board brought us breakfast and we were set up and ready for the girls to start arriving. Room assignments had been made in the spring so there wasn't any fuss about roommates; I felt lucky to be in one of the two-person rooms.
My roommate was Kendra Jefferson, vice president of development; she was fun and liked to have a good time, but she was also very focused, precisely dividing her time and attention between her studies in Film and Television, her spot on UCLA's beach volleyball team, and the house. My kind of gal. We took some time that afternoon to decorate our rooms--Kendra wanted to be a set designer in television, so I told her to go for it, paid my half, and put things up where she told me to. She'd borrowed some of the tiny white lights that were nets placed over shrubbery at Christmas for the school year and we covered the ceiling with these. The walls were painted a pretty gold, and she'd had our first initials put on a black paint-friendly decal for the walls above our beds on either side of the window and above the windows were our Greek letters. I put my comforter with the ivory side up to harmonize with the room; she had a white duvet cover that I helped her put on over her red comforter. She had made two corkboards for the back of our desks that were criss-crossed with black ribbons and I let her arrange my photos, knick-knacks, and desk to make them aesthetically pleasing. We stuffed my surfboard and skateboard into my closet, then she took some photos to use for her portfolio. We had the best-looking room, which would be great for house tours.
Then we buckled down for work. The first day of recruitment was an open house for every woman who wanted to participate, then Chapter Living, where we all opened up our houses for tours, then Philanthropy, where we explained the charitable organizations we volunteered for and raised funds for, then Preference, the last day. Each day the potential new members narrowed down their choices and the houses did likewise, until the lists were matched and the new member classes determined for each house. Getting the girls to agree on the women we wanted to invite back could be a contentious process. Everybody wanted the ones who were obviously stars, but I wanted to make sure we weren't overlooking any diamonds in the rough. I missed the big activities fair for the first time, but that was ok because I had a core group of clubs that I enjoyed. In fact, the only real break I got were my appointments with my faculty committee and advisor. They were all really pleased with my decision to apply for grad school and said that my GRE scores made me very competitive at UCLA and to get my application in early. I knew that the faculty made the first cut of applicants so it meant a lot that they were so encouraging.
At the end of four grueling days of recruitment, we had a new member class of 37 women who we considered to be the best and brightest of the interested women. We had a party for them that included cake and snacks and photographers taking pictures. That evening, before people could split off to do their own things, one of the fraternities came over and serenaded us to congratulate us on our success. After dinner, several of us went to the other side of campus and visited friends in the fraternities who had new member classes of their own. I was hanging out on the porch of one of my favorites--the guys were always really nice to me--chatting, when their recruitment chair brought some guys over for an introduction. I turned, smiling, and grinned to see Paul in the group.
"I didn't know you were interested in going Greek," I said, going over for a hug. "How was China?"
"It sounded fun," he said. "And you sold me when you were talking about why you joined your house. China was good, the pandas weren't as active because it was still pretty hot, but that toboggan thing on the wall was awesome." I laughed. The other guys were interested in knowing how we knew each other.
"We went to the same high school," I said easily. "Paul taught me how to skateboard."
"Oh, so you know his brother, too," one of the older members said.
"Yep. Which reminds me, do you want to learn how to surf, Paul? If you don't have any plans, we could go before classes start."
He was enthusiastic, and some of the other guys were too, so I agreed to meet them on the beach the next day. I hung around a little more, talking to Paul and some of the other guys, then went back to the house and passed the word about the beach. Several of us were coming home about the same time, tired from recruitment, and they thought the beach sounded fun. I posted a notice with driving directions at the mailboxes and went to bed.
I went early like I usually do, bringing a couple of our new members who'd never been to the beach, or at least the beach down here. We missed sunrise, but I got in a good hour of surfing. The others played in the water and swam, so I didn't just abandon them. I came in early and spent some time talking with them before others started to arrive. We had a good crowd by nine, including Paul, who had rented a board. A couple other people also wanted to learn, so one of the guys who surfed helped me with my impromptu class. Paul loved surfing, as I thought he would. I went home around two, taking a few other people who were done too. I'd gotten so that it didn't feel like fall quarter unless it started with a beach party.
I spent the rest of time until classes started getting my books, reorganizing my desk for function rather than show--now that recruitment was over we didn't have to be so neat and the duvet cover came off Kendra's comforter. "Senior year feels like the end of pregnancy," she said lazily Sunday afternoon as we were sprawled in our room, relaxing for the last time this quarter, probably. I looked at her inquisitively. "One more big push and it's all over, but at least the money's all been spent, unlike a kid, where the expenses are just beginning." We laughed like loons. This was going to be a good year.