Sorority Sisters (6 page)

EIGHT

“Hey, Tiara, girl. What’s up?” Sandra asked, as she danced through the door into Tiara’s dorm room. One of her favorite songs was blasting from her mini stereo system that sat on top of her bureau. Sandra was carrying a small bag and wearing tight black pants that stopped and cuffed at her ankle. Her rayon blouse was wrapped in the front and tied on the side, showing her navel and just a hint of cleavage. She always dressed sexily for campus parties. The look worked for her because she never wore her hair too wild and her body was so petite that nothing ever seemed to be out of proportion.

“I’m just trying to figure out what I’m gonna wear tonight. You’re here early.”

“Girl, my roommate was getting on my last nerve. Mindy’s boyfriend is over, and they were blasting that Pearl Jam shit and smoking cigarettes. I hate to be smelling like cigarette smoke. And you know what? She only smokes in the room when he’s over, and she didn’t smoke at all until she met him.”

“Umph!” Tiara responded.

“So I got dressed as quickly as I could, grabbed my curling iron and makeup, and came straight over here. It’s okay, isn’t it?”

“Of course it’s okay! You know that,” Tiara said. “But what kills me is when men try to be so controlling, and I hate women who change their entire lifestyles just to keep a man. If Mindy gets lung cancer, she’ll only have herself to blame. Because once her boyfriend walks out of her life, she’s going to be stuck with a nasty habit.”

“True,” agreed Sandra, “and I hope we won’t still be roommates, ’cause I refuse to spend every day of my college life breathing secondhand smoke.”

“But you won’t have to because you’ll be getting a private room next year, right? You did know they were available for second-semester sophomores in January. Why didn’t you apply then?”

“My parents were so insistent on me having a roommate, at least during my first two years. I guess they figured I wouldn’t get in as much trouble with a roommate. Like that makes sense. Anyway, I envy you and Gina . . . sophomores with private rooms. Why can’t I be so lucky?”

“Girl, all you have to do is apply for a single in the fall. This year is almost up and next year it will be your decision. Right?”

“I hope so, but you know how my parents can be. They try to control me from home,” Sandra complained. “Believe me, there will be a message on my answering machine tonight asking me to call them as soon as I get in, no matter what time. Is that ridiculous or what?”

“I couldn’t begin to imagine,” Tiara responded. She wanted her mother to be more responsible, but by no means did she want her to be that overbearing.

“And if I don’t call them tonight, they will assume I spent the night with ‘one of those nappy-headed rascals,’ as my dad calls them.”

“Nappy-headed what?” Tiara screamed and laughed at the same time.

“Rascals, girl!” She laughed. “They call every Friday and Saturday night like clockwork. Some nights when Mindy is in the room, she’ll act like she’s trying to wake me and I won’t budge. She’ll tell them she couldn’t get me up and that I’d spent most of the night in the library studying and came home and crashed, and that she’ll be sure I call them as soon as I woke up in the morning.”

“Does it work?”

“Like a charm!” They both laughed and gave each other a high five.

Then, somebody knocked on the door.

“I bet it’s Gina just now getting off work,” Tiara said, as she answered the door. It was Gina, still dressed in her Hardee’s uniform. All three girls had part-time jobs, but she was the only one who had to work Friday nights.

“We figured it was you.”

“I just wanted to let y’all know I’m off. I’m going to take a shower, then I’ll come over here and put on my makeup. Is that cool?”

“That’s cool!” Tiara and Sandra answered in unison. Gina left to go to her room, which was right across the hall. The friends stayed on the seventh floor of an eleven-story dormitory. The three girls were night owls, and met their freshman year. Their friendship grew close after forming a late-night study group. They met three to four days a week at midnight and studied until three or four in the morning. During finals, they didn’t sleep. Although they spent a great deal of their study time gossiping and talking about pledging a sorority, they all managed to maintain above-average GPAs.

“I don’t know what I’m gonna wear tonight,” Tiara complained. She stared into a closet full of nice clothes, most of which she’d bought with money earned from her part-time job. Others were new and used pieces given to her by Rhonda.

“I can’t believe you. You should have had that picked out at the beginning of the week,” Sandra said. “Let me see what I can hook up for you.”

Sandra helped Tiara find something to wear. “Now this will look good on you. Plus, I’ve never seen you in this.” It was a black miniskirt and a tight, long-sleeve, scoop neck black top. Both still had tags on them.

“That’s because I haven’t worn it yet. Rhonda picked out that outfit for me when we went shopping over the Christmas break. I haven’t built the courage to wear it yet.”

“She’s got good taste, and you need to be stepping out in this. Girlfriend, the winter is about over. You’d better wear it tonight because you may not get to wear this until next winter. And who knows how much weight you’ll put on by then. I know you’re familiar with the freshman fifteen. They haven’t hit you yet, but they will some time before you graduate.”

“You’re not the only one holding on to your shape, Miss Thang. I, too, am one of the few sophomores who still has what she came in with as a freshman,” she bragged. Tiara hadn’t gained any weight, mainly because she had a work/study position at the school’s weight room, and worked out for thirty minutes to an hour every day after work. She was five-foot-seven and weighed 145 pounds. She was an attractive girl, and her build made her look a few years older. When she was all made up, she could pass for twenty-five or twenty-six. Her hair was cleanly shaven in the back and on the sides, which made her neck seem even longer. She stacked the top in layers going toward her face.

Her old hairdresser cut it that way before she left for school and promised her it would be a low-maintenance cut. He was right. She grew to love her short cut—she had few bad hair days.

“Are you going to try on the outfit or am I gonna have to wear it myself?”

“Okay, I’ll try it on, but I’m not going to guarantee you I’ll wear it.” She tried on both pieces and looked at herself in the mirror.” Sandra was right. Tiara looked gorgeous and extremely feminine. Her long legs looked even longer in the mini.

“Girlfriend, that looks good on you,” Sandra said, and turned to look on Tiara’s desk for a pair of scissors. “Now, what kind of shoes and pantyhose do you have?” She found the scissors and began to cut the tags off the new clothes.

“Well, I have some black tights and these black shoes.” Tiara pulled out shoes with a thick, tall heel.

“Those are sharp. What are you waiting for? Put them on.”

Tiara put on the tights and shoes. She looked like a model. She had to admit it to herself. She looked pretty good. She loved to dress and always made a fashion statement when on campus. But this time she looked good in a different way.

“I don’t know why you don’t dress like this more often.”

“Because I feel like I’m exposing myself too much when my clothes fit too closely.”

“You wear that spandex shit when you go to the gym.”

“That’s different.”

“Whatever!”

“Whatever,” Tiara sassed back. “Gina’d better hurry up!”

“That’s right. If she’s not here in five, we leave her.” Just then Gina knocked and walked through the door. She was wearing loose black bell-bottoms and a cut-off long-sleeved top to match. The sleeves flared and hung slightly over her hands. But it was her black stacks that made the outfit sing.

“You are sharp as usual. And where did you get those shoes?” Sandra asked, and bent down to get a closer look.

“I’m not gonna tell you, because you’ll go out and get the exact pair, and that would decrease the originality of mine,” Gina said. “Tiara, you know that you’re gonna be killin’ ‘em with that ‘fit.”

“I told you, Tiara,” Sandra said. “I know what I’m talking about.”

“We need to hurry up and finish getting our makeup on so we won’t have to be standing at the back of the line,” Tiara said, ignoring her friends’ compliments.

“You’re right,” Gina responded, “but go on girl, anyway, with your bad self. And you don’t have to say thank you, because I mean it. You’re a diva tonight.” They all laughed and put on their makeup and danced in the mirror while getting ready for the party.

Once their makeup and hair were perfect, they walked out of the door, leaving Tiara’s room a disaster, but they looked good. Because the campus party was only about a two-minute walk from their dorm, they walked, as most students did. They were feeling good and joking and singing along the way because they all knew it was going to be a good night.

After the party, they came back to Tiara’s room to recap the excitement. They joked about how all the men were checking out Tiara and how she got asked to dance more times than Gina and Sandra combined. Tiara denied their accusations, but they were telling the truth.

She was happy to have gotten so much attention, but she was not interested in any of the guys she danced with. However, there was one guy with the deepest dimples and the sexiest smile she had ever seen. She had seen him on campus before, and she thought his name was Ben, but she wasn’t sure. She would have sworn he noticed her too, but he never approached her. And she was not about to approach him. She was a firm believer in men making the first move, giving her the opportunity to not appear desperate or needy. But “Dimples” was fine, and she was going to keep her eyes on him.

The girls also talked about how awestruck they were by the Greek turnout at the party; every sorority and fraternity on campus was represented in large numbers. They appreciated all the sororities, but all agreed that there was only one for them. They all had dreams of joining the “ladies in pink.” The three imitated members of each organization, dancing around the room while throwing up different fraternity and sorority signs. They got in a line and tried to do the sororities’ steps around Tiara’s small room, but it didn’t work because no one remembered the same moves.

Exhausted from the night’s activities, they wound down around five-thirty. Tiara had a king-sized bed, made up of two twin beds pushed together with a king-sized egg crate foam pad on the mattresses, and they all found a spot on the huge bed and passed out in their party clothes.

Sandra was the first to wake up. It was a little after noon. “Oh no, I need to call my parents. First I need to call Mindy.”

Gina looked at her and shook her head. “Let’s go to Shoney’s. I’m starving.”

“That sounds good to me,” said Tiara. “And let’s stop by the mailboxes afterward because I haven’t checked my mail all week.”

“Neither have I. The post office is too far. Let’s meet back here in about thirty minutes. I need to wash my face and brush my teeth,” Gina said, frowning at the awful taste she always had in her mouth the morning after drinking alcohol. She got out of bed, put her makeup back into her bag, slid on her shoes, waved good-bye, and left.

“Mindy, did Mom call last night?” Sandra asked. “Oh, good, I can’t believe it. I’m on my way to the room, but I’ll be leaving to go right back out, so you and Todd don’t have to worry about getting up. See ya in a sec.”

Sandra hung up the phone. “Do you believe they didn’t call me last night? I’d better call them to make sure that everything is all right!” Sandra put on her shoes, followed Gina’s routine, and said that she’d be right back.

Tiara made her bed and picked up the remaining makeup. She had a huge piece of carpet that covered almost her entire room, but it stopped short by about two feet. She swept the part of her floor that the carpet didn’t cover, which was the area close to her mirror. Then she grabbed some jeans, a sweatshirt, and her bathroom bucket, and headed to the bathroom.

The buffet was crowded with students—most had been at the party last night. Shoney’s was the weekend spot. All-you-can-eat breakfast, plus students got a ten-percent discount when they showed their IDs.

“Gina, do you have everything ready for tomorrow?”

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. I have everything ready, and I have the money, but Tiara, I don’t think that I’m going to have the time that it takes to pledge. I can’t quit my job, and you know the kind of hours that I work.”

“Does this mean that you’re not going to write this semester?” Sandra asked in an almost hopeful voice. She hated that her parents absolutely forbade her from pledging until she completed two satisfactory years of college. She hoped, somewhere deep in her heart, her friends would have to wait for her.

“I’m not sure. I mean I want to, but I’d hate to start something and not be able to finish it.”

“Well, no one is guaranteed to be accepted. Both of us may write this semester and not get chosen, and then you won’t have to worry about anything. But if you are chosen, it may not affect your working. Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it. There may be some ways to change your schedule or switch some of your hours. Have you talked to somebody about the possibility of needing to switch hours?”

“Yeah, there’s this guy I have switched hours with before, but I’m not sure that he’s reliable, and I can’t afford to lose my job over somebody else’s negligence.”

“I’m sure you’ll work something out,” said Sandra, “But girlfriends, you know that I hate it that y’all are going to leave me alone in the non-Greek world. What will I do without you two?”

“What do you mean?” Tiara questioned. “Greek or non-Greek, we will always be friends and nothing is going to change that.”

“I needed to hear that,” Sandra said.

Tiara was back in her room going through her week’s worth of mail. There was a letter from her mother. She opened that first because she had only received two other letters from her mother since she had been in college. Both were short and to the point, and usually had a few dollars enclosed. This one was similar. It was a one-paragraph letter with twenty-five dollars enclosed.