Next Semester (19 page)

I didn’t have too many options. With $38.75 in my account, I knew I’d need to borrow some dough, quick. And something told me coming up with three pair of panties wouldn’t be easy—especially now that the word was out that I was on the DL.

“Damn!” I screamed in frustration, slamming my book cover shut.

After venting alone for about two minutes, then feeling sorry for myself for another three, I snapped into it. First, I called Leslie. I figured she probably hadn’t seen the posters since she went to Elman and I knew she’d let me borrow the money if she had it. Thankfully, she picked up.

“Hey, baby,” I said. “What you up to?”

“Baby?”
she asked. “Don’t
baby
me right now, J.D.”

“Huh?” I asked, confused. “What you talking ’bout? What’s wrong?”

“You’ve got some explaining to do,” she said. “What’s all this talk I’m hearing
again
about you being gay, man?”

“Here you go with that shit,” I said. “You of all people should know better than that by now, Leslie.”

“You would think, right?” she said. “I don’t know though, J.D. I mean, I’m walking down campus minding my own business, and I see one of Howard Harrell’s posters with you hugged up this dude with no shirt. And to make matters worse, I get to my computer, and I see the damn thing posted all over Facebook! Not to mention the guy who you’re hugged up with in the picture—Larry or
Lawry or whatever his name is—just happens to be the same guy I heard about you being on the DL with when I met you. And you denied knowing even him. And on top of all that, I heard there are pictures floating around on the net of that same guy giving head to Howard Harrell. And you’re all hugged up with this guy on the poster. I feel some kind of way about that, J.D. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck—”

“Look, Leslie,” I said, cutting her off. “I don’t need this right now. Of course Howard Harrell and his camp are going to drum up lies and whatever else they can to win this student government election because we are on the verge of beating him. So you can believe all this if you want to, but I’m telling you, none of it’s the truth. I’ve been going through a lot with school, this election, and just life in general. I just really need you to be in my corner right now.”

Silence followed. Cemetery-at-night silence. I looked down at my watch. I had approximately thirty-eight minutes to be at the Kappa house.

“Look, I really need a favor,” I said. “When you needed me to be there for you, I was.”

“That’s true,” she said, still sounding disappointed. “What’s up?”

“Okay, this is gonna sound really weird,” I started.

I should have stopped there.

“But I need to borrow one hundred bucks,” I continued.

“That’s not a problem, J.D.,” she said. “I can loan that to you.”

“
And…
I need three pair of your panties,” I said.

“Three pair of my
what?
” she asked, inflecting her voice in disbelief.

At that point, I knew I’d shot myself in the foot. I couldn’t even bring myself to ask her again.

“Did you just ask me if you could have three pair of my
panties?
” she asked. “What the…? Why would you ever in your entire life feel the need to ask me for
one
pair of my panties? Let alone three! I’d
really
like to hear you explain this one.”

At that point, I started to just tell her that I was prepledging. But her hatred of frat guys was at an all-time high, plus I didn’t want to risk even more backlash with one more person finding out I was prepledging. I figured Lawry was going to rat on me. That was bad enough. But I certainly couldn’t risk word of that from a second person.

“You know what,” she continued. “Don’t bother explaining. This is crazy! I’m so done with this whole situation. ’Bye, J.D.”

The dial tone hit me in the chest like an uppercut from Mike Tyson in his prime. It was bone-jarring. It took my breath away. It hurt. Especially after I’d gone to battle with her ex, and jeopardized so much just for her. It was like a slap in the face. I had just under thirty minutes left, when I decided to call the only other girl on campus I was sure would have my back.

“Hey, Kat,” I said.

“J.D?”
she asked, startled.

She had good reason to be. I hadn’t called Katrina all semester. She was my last resort.

“Yeah, it’s me,” I said.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?” she asked. “I haven’t seen your name pop up on my cell phone all semester. Is it about the campaign? I spoke to your mom earlier today and she was helping me prep for the debate. You know, sometimes I think she’s more into this election than I am.”

“It’s not about the election,” I said. “Remember that day
in the library, when you told me if I ever needed
anything,
you’d be there for me?”

“Uh-huh,” she acknowledged. “I remember. What about it?”

“There’s something I need from you,” I said.

“I said anything,” she said. “And I’m a woman of my word. What do you need, J.D?”

“I need a hundred bucks and three pair of panties in the next ten minutes,” I said. “Can you help me?”

“Oh my God!” Kat said. “I am so stupid. I’ve been so wrapped up in this campaign, I didn’t even notice.”

“Notice what?” I asked.

“That you’re prepledging!” she said excitedly.

For a second, I wondered how the hell she knew I was prepledging with the little information I’d just shared with her. Then I remembered she was in a sorority. Maybe it was an inside thing or something. I didn’t have time to bullshit her.

“Kat, please don’t tell anybody,” I begged.

“C’mon now,” she said. “I pledged! I promise not to tell a soul. I’ll meet you out back by the parking lot in ten minutes. Is that cool?”

“That’s perfect!” I said. “Thanks, Kat.”

AGAINST ALL ODDS

My
kneecaps felt like someone was continuously tapping them with the sharp end of an ice pick. The pain was torturous. It was a stinging, unrelenting, throbbing pain that shot from my hamstrings to my knees all the way down to my toenails then back up every few seconds. Both of my elbows felt like they were broken. I didn’t even know it was humanly possible to break an elbow until now. But it felt like two grown men were taking turns kicking me in each one with steel toe boots. In reality, I was just on all fours—my elbows and kneecaps—leaning forward, with my ass up, holding my chin in my hand. Fresh was in the same position, just in front of me. My face was directly behind his ass, less than one foot away. We were wearing nothing but our underwear and wifebeaters. Every time I inhaled, I smelled his stankin’ drawls. I tried to keep my nose angled
to the ground, but Fresh’s ass was unfortunately the exact opposite of his name.

“You could’ve changed your draws, my nig,” I mumbled, trying to keep my lips as close to shut as possible.

“I didn’t know I was gonna have my ass in your face all night,” Fresh said.

The other two guys prepledging with us busted out laughing. I was in so much pain, at that point, I laughed to keep from crying. Fresh laughed so hard, he pooted.

“Damn, blood,” I said. “You ain’t have to do it like that! Gaaaaatdamn!”

We’d been hovering in the same position, on all fours, for over two hours in a hot-ass, musty basement at the Kappa House. Meanwhile, they were having a party for the graduating seniors upstairs. Every fifteen minutes or so one of the Kappas would come downstairs to make sure we hadn’t moved. A few times, they came in through the side door in the basement to surprise us and make sure we weren’t cheating. It was our last night prepledging for the semester, so they were trying to make it as hard for us as possible. And they were doing damn good job of that. We’d already been forced to lie on our backs with our hands at our sides while we held our feet up six inches off the ground for thirty minutes at a time. We’d done damn near 500 push-ups and just as many sit-ups. We’d sat in that damn imaginary chair for over an hour. And we’d been stuck in this all-fours position for what seemed like eternity. I was hoping one of the Kappas would come downstairs and ask us to do something different. Anything. But each time one of them came in and saw us agonizing, they all basically said the same thing.

“Oooh!” one Kappa said. “Looks like that’s painful. Y’all stay there for a little while longer!”

“Ouch!” another Kappa said. “I remember these days!
Can’t feel your arms anymore, can you? Don’t trip. You’ll be okay in a few days. Just stay there for now.”

“Whooooo!” Konceited said. “Man! That’s fucked up. Your knees and your elbows feel like shit, huh? They’re probably all black and blue by now and all that. You’re sweating. One of y’all funky asses farted. That’s messed up ’cause I’m about to go outside and get some fresh air, but y’all gon’ be down here all night! We’re kicking it upstairs, too. The baddest chicks on campus. All the liquor you can drink and wings you can eat, thanks to you guys kicking in so generously. As much as I’d like to stay down here and listen to y’all whine, I got about three chicks upstairs who wanna get freaky with me…at the same time! Ha! I’m out. Dex will be down to deal with y’all in a few minutes.”

We hadn’t seen Dex since we’d been there. I was actually hoping I wouldn’t have to. I wasn’t sure if he’d gotten over getting hit by my surprise haymaker. I figured since I’d gotten invited to come back, maybe he’d had time to think things over and realize he was wrong in the first place. But with Dex, you could never really be too sure. And after a few drinks, there was really no tellin’. I hoped for the best, but expected the worst. When Dex came down the stairs, he brought about eight or nine other Kappas with him.

“Damn, you guys stink!” one of them said. “Y’all some ol’ funky boys!”

“And pitiful, too,” another said. “Look at ’em, shaking and sweating like they’ve really been doing something. Groaning and wimpering and shit. Y’all ain’t even officially on line yet! This is like a three on a scale of ten. Y’all ain’t seen nothing yet.”

All of the guys were standing behind us talking, so I couldn’t see who was saying what. Not until Dex made his way to the front. He was standing right in front of me. He was so close, I could damn near smell his feet through his
loafers. For a second, I thought he was gonna do something crazy, like kick me in the face or something. Then it was gonna have to be royal rumble up in that piece. I braced my face for the impact, just in case.

“Y’all can stand up now,” Dex said. “You’re embarrassing me in front of my bruhs.”

It was a struggle just making it to my feet. And standing up straight was even more excruciating. When I finally got my balance, I was looking Dex right in his eye. He stared me down, obviously trying to intimidate me. But it didn’t work. I didn’t flinch. I did however notice that he was holding what looked like a nightstick in his right hand. Although I couldn’t see the Kappas behind me, even with the loud thud of the bass coming from the speakers upstairs, I could hear them murmuring to one another.

“That’s the guy who stole on him in Miami,” one of them said.

“Yeah, the one he’s standing in front of,” another confirmed.

“I’d knock him out if I was him,” a third said.

That’s when Dex started stretching his arms, swinging them side to side as if he was loosening them up to punch me. I held my ground. All of a sudden, a much older, larger Kappa wearing a jacket with a Fall ’93 patch on the sleeve came over and stood next to Dex, who was still ice grilling me. The older Kappa had to have been about six-four, at least two hundred and forty pounds. He was twice my size.

“So this is the guy who hit you with the sucker punch out there in Miami, huh?” he asked.

Here we go,
I thought.

“Yeah,” Dex said, still eyeballing me. “This is him. What you think I should do to him?”

“If I was you, I’d whoop his ass!” he said. “Straight up. But you know you can’t do that here, because we don’t mix
frat business with personal business. Plus, you were wrong in the first damn place. You know better than to put your hands on a lady.”

“I know,” Dex said. “I could take him outside and wear him out, though.”

“You could do that, but there are still people coming and going upstairs,” the older Kappa said. “We need to keep our hands clean. You know our chapter stays in enough trouble as it is. Plus, he looks kinda frail. You might break this little dude in half.”

“You’re right, he does look hella frail,” Dex said. “As a matter of fact, all of them do. I hate to see y’all like this. I really do. I remember, back in the day when I was prepledging, I used to be hungry as shit! I was gonna eat this myself, but I guess I will share with y’all. Here you go. Share this with your buddies here.”

Dex handed me what I thought was a baton. It turned out to be an eggplant. This time, since it was our last night, I didn’t even put up a fight. I just closed my eyes and took a big-ass bite. I tried to chew and swallow before the taste set in, but it was no use. It tasted like spoiled milk. The soft seeds inside it tasted like black licorice. The taste made me heave as if I was going to vomit, but nothing came up. It came back around twice. Each time the taste was just as bitter. It felt like a midget was inside my stomach doing cartwheels. All of a sudden, I felt a strong urge to take a number two. Once I gulped down the last of it, I exhaled a sigh of relief. That’s when the older Kappa flinched like he was going to hit me. Instinctively, I threw my guard up in defense. That’s when he leaned in and whispered in my ear.

“I ain’t gonna hit you,” he said. “You are so lucky this ain’t ninety-three, though. I woulda been caved your little bird-chest in. Oooooh, you lucky!”

The older Kappa then walked toward the back of the room, leaving Dex in the front by himself again. I just knew Dex was going to come up with something else crazy for us to do. It seemed like he just sat up thinking of ways to torture us in his spare time. To my surprise, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

“Well, that does it, fellas,” he said. “When you started out, there were eight of you. Now, there are only four. I guess we know who really wants to be here. So far, at least. I know all of you have finals coming up and you need to study for them. And in this frat, education comes first. So we’re gonna let y’all study for them, because without at least a 3.0 GPA, you can’t even apply to become a member of this organization. That being said, all of you in this room who meet the academic requirement will automatically be on line to become a member of Kappa Beta Psi.”

Me and the fellas tried to hold our smiles in, but none of us could. I had mixed emotions. I was elated that this phase of the process was over, but saddened by the fact that we’d done so much, yet we technically weren’t even on line yet. And on top of all that, I still had to pull of a 3.0 GPA without the help of Timothy or Leslie. It would take a miracle. More than anything, I was relieved that my fight with Dex in the club in Miami hadn’t cost me my opportunity to join the frat. I still had a chance.

“All but one of you, that is,” Dex continued. “It has been brought to my attention that we have a snitch among us.”

My heart started beating fast. I hoped he wasn’t talking about me.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been informed that J.D. has told others that he is prepledging,” Dex said. “And as we all know, the first thing I told y’all is that Kappa Beta Psi is a highly esoteric organization and we have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to loose lips. So, J.D., I’m going to
have to ask you not to bother applying for Kappa Beta Psi next semester.”

I felt like I’d just been run over by a sixteen-wheeler. I was hurt bad, but I couldn’t say I didn’t see it coming. I knew Dex had it out for me ever since that fight we had in Miami. Still, the news hit me harder than any punch he could’ve thrown. More than anything, I was pissed he’d waited until now to tell me he’d heard I’d snitched. If he knew they weren’t gonna put me on, they never should have invited me back in the first place. I could have been studying for my finals.

“What you mean, I can’t apply next semester?” I asked. “I ain’t never been a snitch. You got some bad information, man.”

“I can vouch for my guy,” Fresh said. “You know we’re together all the time. Somebody must have lied on him, ’cause I know he ain’t said anything about this prepledging stuff to nobody.”

“That ain’t what I heard,” Konceited said.

“Trust me,” Fresh said. “I know for a fact…”

“Look, Fresh,” Dex said, cutting him off. “Unless you wanna be in your boy’s shoes, you might wanna let this one go. I heard from a very credible source that J.D. was running his mouth, so he can’t be down with us. That’s all there is to it.”

I left the Kappa house alone. I smelled like a mixture of sweat, eggplant and ass. I felt like an idiot. I’d allowed myself to be taken advantage of, so as bad as I wanted to whip Lawry’s ass for telling on me, but in the end, I only had myself to blame.