3. Chapter Three
Chapter Three
Alex
My smile lingers as I watch her cute butt walk out through the library doors. If she was as shocked as I was to be seeing each other again, she didn’t let on. In fact, she insulted me. Which shouldn’t turn me on, but apparently it does. It’s rare that I have to chase a girl and honestly, it’s about time I get my running shoes on again.
Before I can stop myself, I find my way back at the help desk.
“Edith?” The older woman looks up at the sound of my voice.
“Yes, Mr. Prescott?”
I roll my eyes playfully. “How many times have I told you to call me Alex?” She blushes, as she always does and then nods. “What was the name of the girl who just left? I, uh, feel bad that she didn’t get a study room.” I say quickly as an excuse.
Edith doesn’t miss a beat, as usual. “Oh, that sweet girl is Margot. I do feel bad her usual room was taken. She practically lives in this library during the year.” Edith busies herself again with whatever she’s working on and I look out the glass front door at the back of her head.
Margot. It’s a beautiful name. A name that definitely fits a beautiful girl like her. Based on Edith’s assessment of her, I seem to bring out the feisty side of her, which I could hardly complain about. I love a girl with some zest. I need a challenge. And I think my newest challenge is standing directly outside the front door of this building.
Making my way down the stairs to the study room I booked online this morning–because apparently you can do that now–I promptly ignored a call from my father. It is the third time he’s called this morning, and knowing him, he’ll probably show up to the house next.
Using the key Edith gave me, I unlock the room and make sure it closes tight behind me. The silence is immediate. While I’m not always a stickler for doing my assignments, I do enjoy coming here to relax and get away from the noise of the Kappa Alpha house. Don’t get me wrong–I love my frat brothers. Drinking and watching sports in the living room with everyone is one of my favorite pastimes but sometimes it’s just nice to get away from it all.
Noticing one more text from my dad, I silence my phone and shove it into the bottom of my backpack. He’ll get to me eventually. Oliver Prescott doesn’t let anyone ignore him, especially not his sons. He’s been calling me to talk about the fraternity alumni gala next Sunday and I just can’t be bothered.
As a Tomlin University alumni, my father takes every opportunity to flaunt his success on campus, especially on Greek Row. While I’m happy to have made him proud by continuing his legacy in KA, it still bothers me when he parades me around as his little trophy son.
Mom would’ve hated that.
Shaking my head, I turn my thoughts away from my father and grab my laptop from my bag. Since the semester started, I’ve fallen behind on my fitness posts on Instagram. I don’t care much about graduating with honors but I do care about using information from my exercise science classes to help boost my personal trainer Instagram account. I’m no influencer by any means, but I’ve got a decent following. Enough where, if I don’t post for a few days, people start to worry. That all seems ridiculous to me, clearly I have life outside of my fitness account, but I do enjoy creating routines and posting videos for my followers to use as tutorials in their own workouts.
While I don’t have any plans to use my exercise science degree once I graduate in May, I entered the program for a reason. It’s nothing more than a hobby at this point but it’s nice to have something to do that’s all mine, not touched by Oliver Prescott.
After thirty minutes and about fifteen fitness post ideas planned, I send a text to a couple of my KA brothers. Now that we’re seniors, it’s time we get cracking designing an epic Greek prank, another thing my father won’t stop hounding me about.
It’s tradition that the senior members of the frats plan a prank on their rival house. It’s all in good fun but it’s slightly hush-hush on campus. The tradition has been going on since the school was founded and the administration has always turned a blind eye as long as no one was hurt, but there’s always pressure to up the stakes from the year before.
My father loves to brag about how they got the Delta Epsilon house good when he planted a stink bomb in their pipes. And that was over thirty years ago. The stakes have risen much higher than that and this year, it’s my job to pull out all the stops.
And soon. Before DE does something first.
Within minutes, the crew shows up at the door of my study room.
“Why did you want us to meet in the library? I didn’t even know this floor existed,” my housemate and pain in my ass frat brother Devon groans as he walks in, followed by Kai, one of the twins that also lives with us in the frat house. He shuts the door behind him and they both join me around the table.
“We’re going to the gym anyway and I was already here.” I shrug.
Kai groans, “Okay, so are you going to tell us the plan now?” Devon mutters his agreement.
“I would,” I start, “but it’s not fully formed yet.” The boys gawk and I laugh at their expressions. “Relax, gentlemen. Things are falling into place. There’s just one thing missing.”
Kai speaks up in between bites of his croissant. What a prick for not bringing me one. “What’s missing?
“We need an outsider. Someone not in KA, who can’t be traced back to us. Probably a girl, for good measure.”
Devon scoffs. “That shouldn’t be hard for you to get. Just ask one of the many on your roster.”
“That’s not going to work. It needs to be someone new. Someone that no one in the frat world knows.”
Kai laughs, “Devon’s sister just started this semester.”
Devon is on Kai before he can even get another breath in. “Shut your fucking mouth about my sister, prick.” Devon starts pounding on Kai who hasn’t stopped laughing.
“Enough,” I mutter, and Devon sits back down but not before giving Kai an extra shove for the fun of it. “Just keep your eyes open for an innocent, okay?”
The boys nod while the wheels in my head keep spinning and spinning.
Kai looks around. “Wait, where’s Keith?”
“You only just noticed your twin brother isn’t here?” Devon rolls his eyes.
“Right now, Keith should be checking the perimeter of the DE house, for hidden cameras and stuff.”
“How come?”
I settle into my seat. “Well, for what I’ve got planned, we need to know what areas to avoid in order to not get caught.”
Kai finishes his croissant with a flourish. Checking his phone, he nods a few times before crumbling up the pastry wrapper. Leaving his trash on the table, he heads toward the door. “This place is boring. Can’t we wait on the quad?”
“Sit your ass down. Keith should be done any minute and then we’ll meet him by the gym.”
With reluctance, Kai sits back in his seat and Devon chucks the pastry wrapper in his face. It’s hard to believe I’ve been best friends with this band of delinquents for over three years.
Kai and I met at freshman orientation and we vibed immediately, bonding over our love of exercising and our excitement to move away from home. Obviously with Kai came Keith, who is very different from his brother, but still we found hobbies to connect over. We became roommates in a suite for our first year at school and I convinced them to rush Kappa Alpha with me.
Soon after, we met Devon at frat rush and the rest is history.
I always knew I was going to be a member of Kappa Alpha, being a legacy and all. My father graduated from Tomlin University as the president of KA and he made it very clear since I started high school that I would be graduating the same way when my time came. I didn’t mind. Being a part of something like a fraternity always appealed to me. Having my brothers around made me feel larger than life. It’s one thing I have to thank my father for.
Can’t think of much else though.
My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out to reveal a text from Keith. Just one word. “Gym?”
“Let’s go. He’s done,” I say, standing from the table. The boys jump up with me. We leave the library, paying extra special attention to Edith on the way out, and head toward the parking lot next to the fitness center.
Keith is waiting for us outside the gym doors. He nods his head once and I return the gesture but for a moment, my attention is drawn toward a familiar brunette sitting on the bench outside the gym doors. Her nose is stuck in her phone and there’s an uncontrollable feeling in me that needs to know what has her so entranced.
“Pick-up game?” Kai asks, slapping Keith on the back in greeting.
“Let’s do it.”
The boys head toward the large gymnasium doors but I hang out a second. “I’ll meet you in there,” I say, heading right toward Margot before I change my mind.
“Twice in one morning. What are you, stalking me?”
Margot practically jumps out of her seat at the sound of my voice. Her phone goes flying into the air and on instinct, I reach out and catch it.
“Phew, close one!”
Margot reaches out to grab it from me but not before I see the screen. My instagram profile is front and center, and based on the post she was viewing, she is a ways back in my archive. The cheshire cat envies my grin.
“Whatchya lookin’ at, sunshine?” I ask, smugness oozing out of every pore in my body. I almost felt bad for Margot with how beet red her face gets. Grabbing the phone from my hand, she mutters “nothing” before leaning down to grab the bag she left on the floor.
Before I can say anything else, ease some of the embarrassment she is clearly feeling, the gym door swings open and a blonde girl comes out looking peppy and familiar.
“Ready to go, Margot?” She asks the tomato next to me, who nods furiously before turning on her heels and heading directly toward the parking lot without another word or glance in my direction.
The blonde looks at me questioningly but I only shrug, grabbing the door she was holding open and heading into the gym myself. I have absolutely no idea why this mysterious, feisty girl was stalking my instagram but I now have every intention of finding out.
Driving down Greek Row is always a treat. You never know what you’re going to see. From rushing freshman boys streaking down the street to gaggles of girls who look identical to each other. I keep my eyes peeled while I drive, taking in the sights but also ensuring I don’t hit any unsuspecting drunk kids.
We pass the Delta Epsilon house on our way home, noticing some guys standing on the porch, beer in hand. The president, Ryan Walsh, stands front and center, surveying the street like his own personal fortress.
“Prick,” Devon says, noticing the same thing as me.
I wouldn’t exactly call Ryan and I enemies but we aren’t besties either. Being president of our frats gives us a camaraderie of sorts but we are technically rivals and that trumps any kind of kinship we might have.
It also helps that our house is the main hub for campus parties, no matter how hard DE tries to get people to go to their parties. We form a sort of peace treaty on weekends when we allow DE and other frats to come to our parties. Brotherhood and all that. So far, it hasn’t caused any problems. Famous last words .
Pulling into our driveway, I park the car and Keith parks behind me. The twins, Devon and I walk up to our porch, bypassing a group of girls on their way to some sorority event. Kai and Devon stop to look, which is appreciated by the group, while Keith and I just head inside.
I’ve never had to show any interest in girls. They just come to me. I’ve had my pick of the litter since I was a freshman and my reputation has only gotten more notorious. I don’t really do half the things this campus thinks I do, but I also don’t do anything to stop the rumors. If they want to think me a huge player asshole, go right ahead. I haven’t lost a single wink of sleep over the rumor mill and I doubt I ever will.
“Clowns,” Keith mutters nodding toward the guys we left behind. I grab Keith’s neck and pull him into a headlock.
“Like you wouldn’t react the same way if the baseball team walked by,” I dig at him, nooging his head.
Keith laughs, shaking out of my hold. “Please, you know I’m into football players. Those scrawny t-ballers can’t handle all this.” Keith gestures to his biceps, flexing under his shirt. Behind us, Devon and Kai make their way up the porch stairs and Keith and I share a glance before shutting the door directly in their faces, locking it for good measure.
As they bang on the wood, shouting profanities, and searching their pockets for a key that we know neither of them remembered to grab, Keith and I saunter into the kitchen.
“Beer?” he asks.
“Please,” I respond, completely ignoring the shouts of our brothers.