Pledges Ch. 05

Luci sat there mute as tears began to well up in her eyes.

Sierra hesitated before continuing. "Actually, I'd like for you to hang out with us for a few months. Get to know us better. And, actually, we'd like for you to apply next year. Or at least consider it."

Sierra paused to see if Luci had any thing to say, but the girl remained silent. Sierra sighed. "And please don't consider this a 'no.' It's more of a 'not quite yet.' Can you understand?"

Luci hung her head as she struggled to hold her tears inside. "Ok," she whispered.

"Ok," Sierra said as she rose from the couch. "I'd better go now. But please think about re-applying next year, ok?"

Luci nodded.

"And, like I said, keep in touch with us. Monica Knight's in your chemistry class. Feel free to talk to her, or myself or any of the other Sisters. It's just that we'd like to see you gain a stronger sense of yourself. Of who you really are. Then you'll be ready to take over the world."

Sierra walked toward the door. With her hand on the doorknob, she turned once more to see Luci still struggling not to cry. "Again, Luci, I'm so sorry." Sierra whispered as she mercifully let herself out.

Several long moments passed as Luci sat in shock. "I'm not in," she said. Suddenly, a rush of tears spilled from her eyes.

"What the hell happened!" she cried as she ran to her bedroom and collapsed on her bed. Loud, painful sobs racked her body. She wept long, sorrowful tears into her pillows until she was nearly delirious. Her breathing was ragged and she nearly hyperventilated with the intense emotion she felt.

However, after twenty minutes or so, she finally lifted her head. Then she spied the small, black videotape on her desk. Wiping her eyes, she stared at it for a moment. Then she made a decision.

She walked to her phone and dialed quickly.

A sleepy voice answered. "Hello?"

"Hi. This is Luci. I'm on my way over."

Not waiting for a response, Luci quickly hung up. She wiped her eyes, grabbed the tape off her desk and ran out to the closet near the front door. She snatched her jacket, took one last look at her newly-cleaned apartment, all for naught, snorted in disgust and sprinted out the door.

~~~

At 7pm sharp that evening, in the Rho Sigma Tau Sorority House, a long table had been placed in the second-floor library's conference room.

Behind that table sat the full Rho Sigma Tau Executive Board.

From right to left, each of the ladies was present in their official roles in the Chapter. In the first chair sat Miko as Parliamentarian, then Candace as Secretary, Lina as Dean of Pledges, Sierra as President, Tamryn as Vice President and finally, Brandi as Treasurer.

In front of them sat the first of the four potential pledges, Nadia Coleman. Though visibly shaking, she remained calm and answered all of their questions with as much grace and class as she could muster under such pressure.

Tamryn even brought out both barrels, grilling her especially hard, but Nadia kept her cool and used every verbal challenge as an opportunity to highlight another one of her positive qualities.

Sierra tried her best to hide her smile once she realized that Nadia was passing the first round of interviews with flying colors.

Thankfully, the rest of the potentials' Executive Board interviews went as well.

Two hours later, each of the four potentials faced the roundtable composed of the remaining sixteen Sisters. One by one, the Sisters grilled them, taking no prisoners. However, the four girls kept their cool and eventually impressed the ladies with their intelligence, focus and determination.

Several hours later, once they sent the girls home, Sierra called for a Sorority Meeting. She quickly called the girls to order.

Standing at the podium, Sierra held up her hand. "Is there any discussion about the four ladies we've seen tonight?"

"I loved them all," Angela said. "They did an excellent job!"

"Me too," Kathryn and Donyelle said in unison.

"And they were nervous as hell," Miko added. "But they all kept their cool. And that's pretty impressive. I mean, that situation can be pretty intimidating."

"I know," Trina quipped. "'Cuz you were trying to trip them up every chance you got!"

"Yeah, I was," Miko chuckled as the other girls joined in.

"But on the real?" Raelynn said. "They did a great job. They'd all make great pledges, and hopefully, even better members."

All of the other Sisters agreed. Even Tamryn nodded her assent.

"Good," Sierra said. "Now, all in favor of accepting Roxanne Baker, Nadia Coleman, Michelle Erwin and Kara Scott as our potential pledge class?"

Every hand went up.

Sierra sighed as the final vote was completed. "Congratulations, ladies," she announced. "It looks like we have our brand-new pledge class!"

~~~

"Very good. Very good, indeed," Jade smiled as she stared at her television. Jade, Luci, Mya and Brianna stood in the middle of Jade's room, viewing the videotape of Luci's encounter with Tamryn.

Mya and Brianna were visibly uncomfortable but Jade failed to notice. Luci just kept her head down, totally mortified by her recent actions.

After several long, embarrassing moments, Luci couldn't take any more. With a sudden urge to leave, she cleared her throat. "Do I get the rest of my money now?" she whispered.

"Sure," Jade said. "Mya, hand her the envelope from the desk."

Mya shook her head, picked up the small, white envelope and handed it to Luci.

"Now, leave," Jade commanded. "And I don't want to see you again. Just act like we never met."

Luci walked to the door and turned, about to speak. However, she caught Jade's eye and the woman's stern look quickly made her change her mind. Luci slipped out of the room without another word.

"This is perfect," Jade cooed as she focused back on the TV. "A member of Rho Sigma Tau Sorority, on tape, fucking a potential pledge! And telling said pledge that that's the only way she'd get into the organization."

Then she looked even closer at the images on the screen. "Ok. I need to edit that last part out," she said. "I don't need Tamryn's last outburst about not letting Luci into Rho Sigma Tau. But the rest of the tape is perfect. Pure gold!"

She looked at Mya and Brianna with a wide grin on her face.

"It's official! As of right now, those bitches are officially done!"

To be continued...

Stephanie Rose Entertainment © 2008. All rights reserved.