Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Hearing a voice in the middle of the night in a forest isn't bringing me warm thoughts.
I slowly get up, making a few branches snap from my movement. Stupid as it is, I follow the voices. Blame it on curiosity. I know how these very situations go down in horror movies but I'm so intoxicated all my fears have been flushed down a toilet.
The closer I get to the voices, I realize someone is crying. Centimeters away, I see her sitting on the rocks near the river. The sound of water flowing at night was somewhat peaceful.
I guess my presence is noticed because she quickly stands up in shock, facing me with a solid self defense position.
I quickly speak up, "I'm not a rapist!" I shriek before she tries to hurt me, using my arms to shield my face. "I go to the college here, I just came back from a party on campus, I didn't mean to sneak up on you, I swear. I'm not a creeper or anything," I ramble in an attempt to prove my innocence.
Her crystal blue eyes look me up and down, inspecting me. I notice her glaring at my shirt for awhile then came out of her ninja self defense mode.
Wow, she believes me? Just like that?
I glance down to see what she was staring at, realizing I'm wearing a navy blue sweatshirt I got from campus with the initials of my fraternity written in white: KA.
It's dark but the moonlight reflected on her blue dazzling eyes which aresparkling from the dried up tears.
"Sorry uh...," I trail off not knowing who I was apologizing too.
"Jamie," she introduces. She dusts off her pants.
"I'm Holden," I say flashing a genuine smile. "Sorry if I scared you, I heard someone crying and-" she cuts me off before I could finish.
"I'm fine."
We began following the trail that led back to the campus. Minutes past in awkward silence as we walk back. Say something Holden, say something.
She finally broke the silence, "It's my parents."
"Huh?" I ask in confusion.
"The reason I was crying, it was because of my parents..."
"Oh." Oh? That was so supportive. I'm an idiot.
"It's my second year being in a sorority and they think I'm wasting my life," she rants. "They're probably right," she chuckles, probably trying to laugh her pain out.
Wow sorority girl, what are the odds.
I watch as her blonde hair rhythmically flows with the wind's gentle breeze.
"What about you? Why are you here?" she asks waking me up from my thoughts.
"Just came out for some fresh air," I tell her. It wasn't really the full explanation, I did come out for fresh air. That isn't lying, is it? She inspects my facial expression for a second. I think she suspects there was more to it, so left it alone. We stop at the door of a large white sorority house, the one I was at earlier.
"This is it," she declares, breaking the brief moment of silence.
"How come you didn't go to the party?" I ask.
I scrunch my face in embarrassment realizing I had asked the most obvious question. 'Well, she was in a forest crying, you dumb ass,' I thought to myself.
I guess she picks up that I regretasking that the moment it slid out from my mouth, she smiles understandingly.
"Good night Holden," she calls behind her before walking into the house.
"Good night."
***
I wake up startled and only to find myself drenched in freezing cold water.
"Holy crap!" I jump out from my now soaked bed. Still in confusion of the situation, I hear cackling and receive a hard slap on the back. Looking up,squinting my eyes, I see Brett and Mason staring at me laughing hysterically.
"That was so much better than I thought it would be." Mason struggles to speak through his laughter.
"You slept in, pledge," Brett tells me.
Wow I guess those five cups of beer had me sleeping like a baby because I'm not the type to sleep into the afternoon. "It's Holden," I reply restlessly as I rubbed my eyes.
"I don't care. In this house you have to prove yourself worthy to be addressed by your first name," Brett explains.
"How can I prove I'm worthy?" I look up at him, curiosity in my voice.
"Get dressed, come downstairs and you'll find out, pledge." Brett smirks as he walks out, Mason following.
I groan in laziness, forcing myself up.
"I was going to warn you but Brett said I would get a punishment if I did." Chris says.
For a moment I forgot Chris and I share a room.
"Don't worry about it, it's a fraternity thing." I say, emphasizing fraternity.
Chris laughs, sitting up on his bed to face me. "So where did you run off too last night?"
"I went for a walk just to cool off... I met a girl along the way." I smile, reminiscing about last night.
"Tell me more, tell me more!" Rubin exclaims bursting into the room.
"What is this? Grease?" I laugh, with a cheesy grin plastered on my face.
"Huh?" Rubin asks.
"Never mind," I sigh.
"I got the joke," Chris comments.
"Hey Rubin, you know what that meeting is about downstairs?" I ask,removing my soaked shirt.
"No. That's what I came in here for. You're the only one were waiting on to begin." He throws me my black and grey buttoned baseball tee along with my navy blue jeans.
Running downstairs with Chris and Rubin, loads of eyes stare us down as we join the line with the house members.
The living room is a mess. We didn't even have a party so what the hell happened last night? The glass coffee table is covered with several red plastic cups. There were little popcorn crumbs on the black leather sofa, and it smelled like... cow manure?
"Okay, they're here," Mason tells Brett.
"As you know, we've been taking it easy on you guys, giving you space to get settled into the house. Now is the time where things get wild," Brett announces. "Today you will be starting your first pledge assignment."
Oh, great. I've seen how these things go down in the movies, crazy challenges and all. They're probably going to make us walk in our underwear around the campus singing, or shave all our hair off, or spank each other with paddles.
"Your first task is to clean the house," Brett says in a stern voice. "Good luck." He walks off, Mason following like his obedient little poodle..
Well then, I guess television and movies aren't all they're cracked up to be.
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