Sorority Sisters (14 page)

“What can’t we help you with?” Chancey asked. “Cajen, you have to tell us.”

Cajen realized there was no way of getting out of telling them. If they think I’m gross, then who cares anyway, she thought.

She lifted her head, took a deep breath, and said, “I’ll tell y’all, since you want to know so badly. But go back to where you were sitting, because I need to have some breathing room before I can talk. Plus, I don’t think that I can talk with everyone staring a hole through me like I’m some kind of weirdo or something.”

Relieved she was finally going to talk, they eagerly cooperated and went back to the living room, wondering what could possibly be going on with someone as young and innocent as Cajen.

She took a deep breath and started talking. “I had one boyfriend in high school. He was really good to me, and we had sex maybe four times. The first time was on our prom night. Then three times after that. I distinctly remember every time, just like it was yesterday. We broke up two weeks before college because we were going to different schools and decided that if we stayed together we would hold each other back from the full college experience. I should have never let us break up. Then my life would not be like it is now.” She stopped talking and put her head on her knees again.

“So you talked to him today. What did he say to you? And why were you yelling at him?” Chancey asked, trying to figure out what was so bad about that story and why Cajen was so distraught.

“It really has nothing to do with him,” Cajen responded, “but if I hadn’t broken up with him, I wouldn’t have met the bastard that I’m gonna kill at the auction.”

“Wait a minute. Who are you talking about? ’Cause whoever it is, I got yo’ back. He’s outta the auction just like that,” Tiara said, and snapped her fingers.

“Calm down, Tiara,” Malena said. “What did the bastard do?”

“I didn’t even like him at first. I wasn’t even trying to like him, but he kept persisting and insisting that I give him a chance. Why didn’t I trust my instincts?”

“Did he hit you, Cajen?” Stephanie asked.

“Well, no. After I got to know him pretty well, but I guess not well enough, I had sex with him and he, he . . .”

“What?” Tiara asked. She could barely sit in her seat, so she stood up to get a closer look at Cajen.

“What?” Chancey asked. “What did he do?”

“I haven’t talked to him in three weeks, so I haven’t even been able to confront him. I hate him. I have never hated anybody in my life. But I hate him!” Cajen said.

“Hate is so strong, Cajen,” Chancey said. “What did he do to you?”

“You know what?” Cajen changed her mind. “It’s not even worth talking about. Forget it. Who cares anyway?” She was literally drained and exhausted from thinking about this situation.

“Cajen!” they all yelled.

“Dang!” she sighed, and continued. “Well, after we had sex, I went to the doctor a few days later and she told me that he gave me a disease.”

“So y’all didn’t use a condom?” Malena asked.

“I guess not, Malena. If they did she wouldn’t have a disease,” Tiara said, kind of annoyed with Malena’s stupid question.

“Cajen, I’m pissed for you,” Stephanie said. “I’ve been burned myself. It’s not a good situation. I cussed his ass out, and after I got treated and broke up with him, he had the nerve to try to call me to get me back. That jerk. I know how you feel. It took me a while before I could even trust being with another man. You just have to make sure that the next time you have sex the brother uses a condom,” Stephanie said. “Once you give him a piece of your mind, you’ll be all right.”

“No, I won’t be all right, because I read the literature, and there is no medicine that I can take to make herpes magically disappear! I am stuck with this disgusting shit for life,” said Cajen.

They were all speechless.

Cajen wasn’t expecting silence. She thought that maybe somebody would tell her she was gross, but not silence.

“Wow!” Stephanie said. This was more of a blow than she was expecting. “Who did this to you?”

She debated answering the question, then decided that since her secret was out, there was no use in holding back. “Jason Gray.”

“What?” Malena screamed. “That low-down, dirty, no-good bastard!”

“Oh, he’s X’d from the show!” Tiara added. She didn’t know what else to say. None of them knew what to say to comfort her. They couldn’t imagine themselves in her shoes, and didn’t want to.

“What am I supposed to do?” Cajen began to cry. “What the fuck am I supposed to do?”

Stephanie put her arms around Cajen and said, “You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna be just fine.” She shook her head in disbelief. Just a few weeks ago she had made a list of all of the men that she had been with, but none of them had ever given her herpes. Cajen got herpes from her second sexual partner, she thought. She doesn’t deserve that.

Chancey, as well as the other girls, was dumbfounded. “Nobody thinks badly of you, Cajen. I only hate that this happened to you.”

Chancey walked over to Cajen, knelt down, and gently put her arms around her. Cajen trembled, and Chancey hugged her tighter. Cajen took a deep breath. She felt relieved to finally be able to share this with her sisters. “Tiara, don’t kick Jason out of the show. I can handle it.” The rest of her sisters moved closer and assured Cajen that they shared her heartache, and they too were upset at the disrespectful way in which Jason was treating her.

FIFTEEN

The five line sisters planned to meet at the auditorium an hour before the scheduled practice time, to make sure they had everything prepared so the rehearsal would run smoothly. It was important to impress Dean Big Sister Nina and the rest of their big sisters, who were skeptical about their idea of having an auction as a fund-raiser.

Stephanie and Tiara arrived early, and sat and talked in the front row. When Chancey came in, she felt like she had walked in on something, because as soon as they noticed her, they abruptly stopped talking. She didn’t ask what they were talking about, because she figured if they wanted her to know, they would share it with her.

“Hey girls!” Chancey said, as she plopped down next to Tiara.

“What’s up, Chancey?” Tiara responded.

“Hey girl,” Stephanie said.

After a brief silence, Tiara couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Chancey, I’m gonna have to fill you in later because I don’t have time to start from the beginning, but we have to finish this before everybody else gets here.” She looked at Stephanie and continued. “So, my friend Gina is set and ready. She knows exactly what to do.”

“You didn’t tell her why, did you?” Stephanie asked.

“No, of course not. Give me some credit.”

“Oh good, Tiara. Cajen is going to be so grateful.”

“Well, I figure it’s the least I can do,” Tiara said.

“But how is she gonna get out of practice?” Stephanie asked.

“Well, I’ll ask her if she’ll pick up the microphones for me a few minutes into practice. But I’m not gonna let her know she’ll run into Jason because she may not go through with it.”

“I can’t take it anymore, somebody’s gotta let me know what’s going on!” Chancey said.

“Well, I guess we can fill you in, but you’ll have to settle for the abbreviated version,” Stephanie said, while looking behind her to make sure no one was coming. Then she filled Chancey in on Tiara’s plan to make sure Cajen ran into Jason on his way to the rehearsal.

“What?” Chancey yelled. Just then Cajen and Malena walked in.

“Hey girls!” Malena said. While everyone else said their hellos, Cajen didn’t say a word. She just waved. She was not in the mood to be away from her dorm room. It was hard enough for her to be there in the auditorium, knowing that in about an hour she was going to be in the same room with Jason. Her mind was on making it through the next hour and a half while watching him not care about how he ruined her life.

“Y’all are gonna love this intro. I went over it a million times in my head while in class today. Tammy took good notes for me so I could work on memorizing the monologue,” said Malena.

“Good, Malena. How is Tammy?” Stephanie asked.

“More in love than ever.”

“Good for her, but I still don’t think she should’ve dropped line. Do you have your costume ready?” asked Stephanie.

“Yes. It’s out in the car.”

“Go get it!” Chancey said.

“You think I should?”

“Yes!” everybody replied in unison.

While Malena was going out the door, Stephanie noticed that Cajen looked worried about the night’s practice. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Cajen. Everything is going to work out just fine. Jason is not going to be in this practice tonight.”

Then Tiara asked, “Cajen, do you know where that empty room is on the third floor of this building?”

“No. Is that where the microphones are?”

“No, but the entire third floor is generally empty during this time of the evening. Most night classes are held on the first and second floors.”

“So, why are you telling me?”

“Because people who are informed generally make better decisions,” Tiara said, hoping Cajen would remember her bit of advice when she ran into Jason.

“Why are you ragging on my decision-making skills? And what does the third floor have to do with anything?”

“Nothing, Cajen. My bad, I was just giving you a fact about this building.”

“Tiara, you are bugging!” Cajen said.

Tiara didn’t respond. She just bent down and looked in her book bag, and got out her folder with all of the contestant information.

Stephanie knew why Tiara had given Cajen information about the third floor being empty. She knew it was the only way to let her know where to go and talk to Jason when she ran into him on her way to pick up the microphones for the practice, without letting her know the plan. Chancey and Cajen, on the other hand, thought Tiara had lost her mind.

Stephanie stepped in, as usual, to change the subject and get to business. “All right now! Let’s get started. We don’t have time to talk about the third floor of this building. Dean Big Sister Nina will be here in less than an hour, and who knows who she’ll bring with her.” Everybody groaned at the thought of all their big sisters critiquing their rehearsal.

Stephanie continued. “I hinted to her that we would like the practice to be as closed as possible because we really want the big sisters to be surprised by our presentation tomorrow.”

“So what did she say?” Chancey asked.

“Well, she said our big sisters will be able to give us constructive criticism if they come to practice and prevent us from making fools of ourselves tomorrow. But I assured her we were on top of things and she said, ‘We’ll see.’ ”

“We’ll see?” Tiara shouted. “Y’all, we are gonna be bum-rushed by a gang of big sisters in a few minutes, and we’re not gonna get anything accomplished tonight. The auction is gonna be all messed up tomorrow.” She was worried that all their hard work would be purposely ruined by their big sisters.

“No, it won’t be messed up, because no matter who comes in here tonight there is no way they can find fault in our presentation. It’s going to be tasteful, entertaining, and a class act all the way around,” Chancey said. “I’m not worried.”

“She’s right. We’ve got our act together. Did everybody see the backdrop Cajen and I put together?” Stephanie asked. “We have plants coming tomorrow at noon, which will add effect to the stage. Plus Mel, the deejay, is going to be here for practice. He’s gonna set up everything tonight so we’ll be able to practice with the music. We are way prepared.”

Malena walked in with her costume in one hand and a box on her hip. Chancey ran to help her. “Are these the flyers?” she asked, as she grabbed the box from her. “I hoped you’d remember them.”

Chancey walked over to her line sisters and opened the box. “Malena and I came up with a plan that will hopefully get all of us out of session tonight and allow us to do some last-minute advertising for the auction tomorrow.”

“You can tell we’re gonna be crossing soon, because we are all getting hip to the ‘whatever it takes to get out of session’ game,” Tiara said.

“Oh, Malena, they look good!” Chancey said, as she pulled the flyers out of the box. “When did you find time to get our sketches on the computer?”

Malena draped her dress over a chair and explained how she’d created them on her computer earlier that morning. Because her printer was out of ink, she had called Ray, and he met her before class, took the disk to the computer lab, and printed an original. Also, he was thoughtful enough to go have copies made.

Ray met her out front when she went to get her costume. Malena took the box from him and asked him to wait until practice officially started to come in. He kissed her on the cheek and took off to grab a quick bite to eat.

“I don’t know who has the better man, you or Chancey,” Stephanie said, then put her hands together to send a quick prayer up. “Dear Lord, please send that same blessing my way.”

“You’ll get a man sooner or later,” Chancey said.

“I’m hoping sooner.” Stephanie pouted.

“So what’s the plan for after practice?” Cajen asked in a dry tone. She wasn’t the least bit interested in talk about getting or keeping a man. She had one thing on her mind—settling her problem with the man who had never been hers: Jason.

“We’re going to slide these under doors in all of the girls’ dormitories, and hit the two coed dorms,” Chancey replied.

The line sisters finished preparing the stage. Malena went through her monologue a couple of times, and they discussed the rest of their plans for the auction. Soon it was time for the big sisters and contestants to come for the scheduled practice.

Dean Big Sister Nina and the assistant dean, Big Sister Kendra, walked through the door. The line sisters were always glad to see Big Sister Kendra because she was especially considerate of them. Like clockwork, the girls stopped what they were doing, jumped into line according to number, and began to greet their big sisters.

“Greetings, Most Honorable Big Sisters. We are so pleased to be graced by your presence. We work hard, both day and night, striving to become what you already are. May we be privileged to address you, please?” they said in unison.

Dean Big Sister Nina seemed to get a rush when they greeted her. She was cool as far as big sisters went, but she loved for the pledges to greet her. Once, she made them greet her seventy-five times before she finally granted them permission to stop greeting her. This time she responded, “No, I didn’t hear any sincerity in your voices.”

“Yes, you may address me,” Big Sister Kendra replied. Then she looked at Nina, irritated at the power trip she’d been on since they took the new line. “Now, you know the contestants will be walking through that door at any minute, and we want them to be through all of this hazing nonsense by then so they’ll be relaxed during practice.”

“All right. I’ll let them greet me one or two more times, and then I’ll let them off the hook.”

Kendra shook her head, found a row of chairs in the middle of the auditorium, and took a seat.

The pledges went through the greeting two more times, and Dean Big Sister Nina responded, “Yes, you may address me.” Then she asked, “So are you ladies ready for tonight?”

“Yes, Dean Big Sister Nina!” they replied in unison.

“We’ll see about that,” she smirked, and took a seat beside Kendra. “Go ahead. Break up and continue to do whatever it was you were doing before we got here. I need the secretary to come and inform me and your big sister Kendra of what we should expect to see tonight.”

Cajen, who was the line’s secretary, walked over to her big sisters and opened her notepad to all of the notes she had taken pertaining to the practice. She informed them of all the details that had already been taken care of, and of everything that was going to be covered in the night’s rehearsal. Cajen’s notes were thorough, so when she finished with her report, neither of the big sisters had any questions. They didn’t even object to putting their flyers under doors in the dormitories after rehearsal, even though that meant the pledges wouldn’t have to go through a physically and emotionally draining pledge session.

“Oh, yeah,” Cajen remembered. “Dean Big Sister Nina, the microphones are ready to be picked up. May I have permission to get them now? We won’t need them for the first part of the practice, but they will be essential for the second part.”

“Number two,” Nina called to Cajen. Their big sisters often switched between calling them by their line names and their line numbers. “First of all, I just want to let you know that your minute-taking skills have improved drastically. You are really developing. I’m beginning to think you just might make a fine addition to our sorority.”

“Thank you, Dean Big Sister Nina,” Cajen said.

“Second, you can go and pick up the microphones in a few minutes, but first there is something that I forgot to tell you and your line sisters.”

Tiara heard their big sister delay Cajen, and began to worry because she wasn’t sure how long her friend Gina would be able to stall Jason. She knew that when Dean Big Sister Nina got on her pedestal, she sometimes got too comfortable and dragged on and on.

“Everybody, come over here for a minute. You don’t have to get in line, just come over and have a seat. Cajen, I need you to take notes.”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and took seats around their big sisters.

“I hope this show runs as smoothly as it seems like it’s going to, because it was difficult keeping the rest of your big sisters away from this practice, so you really have to be on top of things both tonight and tomorrow,” said Dean Big Sister Nina.

The pledges were relieved that there would be no other big sisters at the rehearsal.

“Remember when I told you all to make sure you get white dresses if you don’t have them?” she asked. “Does everybody have their white dresses and white shoes?”

“Yes, Dean Big Sister Nina, we all have our dresses and our shoes,” Cajen responded.

“Good. You will need to go into your budgets and make sure everybody has the proper panty hose to match.”

“We have those too.”

“Very good.”

Their dean gave them an address and a time, but left out the date. She told them not to lose the address or the time, because she would later give them only a date and they would need to put all the information together. She then asked if they had black dresses, shoes, and panty hose. When they answered yes, she informed them they would also need to make sure everyone had a black sweat suit, black socks, and black tennis shoes. She reminded them they could get cheap ones at Wal-Mart, if they didn’t already have them, and suggested they use some of the money they would make from the auction. Half of the proceeds were to be donated to the charity of their choice.

They looked at one another in anguish, wondering how, with their already full schedules, they were supposed to manage to shop for sweat suits.

“Here’s another address and time,” she continued. “Don’t confuse it with the first ones. You will be using this information before the address I just gave you, and I will later call you with a date.” Big Sister Nina gave them the new location and time and told them to be in their sweat suits. She then instructed them to be at the location at the exact time noted. She warned them that if they lost the information she just gave them, they were out of luck. Chancey always made sure to pay extra special attention to any information that had that term attached.

“Any questions?” Big Sister Kendra asked.

“No, Big Sister Kendra,” the pledges responded.