Chapter Nineteen
Unkempt is Unacceptable - Grace
Ilook around our chapter room—a space filled with eighty girls, all sitting here while our executive board gets ready to start the meeting.
With this being the first one of the year, it’s going to be long.
It’s the general’s first one as president, too, so I have no doubt it’s going to be exceptionally dragged out as she sets the standard for her tenure as sorority president.
Maddie is sitting next to me, typing on Snapchat. McCall is eating a burrito bowl as big as her head from our favorite Mexican restaurant, since she had a late lab and missed dinner at the house. Sofia comes down our row, and McCall moves her Phi Mu Phi tote bag off the seat she saved for her.
“Danke!” Sofia says.
“You’re welcome, however you say it in German,” McCall says before dipping a chip into some guacamole.
Sofia’s last class of the day is German, so obviously she’s still practicing.
I see my sorority big sister enter the chapter room, and I smile. Allie is a junior, and we get along very well. I know some big/little sister relationships are disappointing—McCall’s big sis rarely wants to do anything with her—but Allie and I exchange messages.
She spots me and grins. She makes a beeline over to where I’m sitting, and I get up out of my row to greet her. “I’m so sorry this is the first time we’ve seen each other since school started!” she says, throwing her arms around me. “I’m such a crap big sis!”
I hug Allie and then take a step back. The general declared that we needed to be “dressy” tonight, so she’s wearing a cute little black dress with a cropped black cardigan over the top. Her dark brown hair is cut right above her shoulders, and her hazel eyes sparkle at me.
“It’s totally okay. It’s been so busy,” I say.
“Yes. And you already have a boyfriend—Wyatt Freaking Jacobs!”
I feel my face grow warm. My first instinct? Why, yes, yes, Wyatt Freaking Jacobs is my boyfriend.
Then I remind myself it’s fake.
I shouldn’t be allowed in college. It’s obvious my adulting skills are complete crap because, one, I asked Wyatt to BE a fake boyfriend, and two, I actually let him do it.
“Yeah, it’s amazing what can happen when you open your mind from … previous expectations,” I manage.
Allie smiles brightly at me. “Like no interest in stupid frat boys?”
My cheeks now feel like they’re on fire. “Well, yeah.”
“Allie!”
She turns and looks over her shoulder, where Morgan and Charlotte, fellow juniors, are waving at her and pointing to a vacant chair. “Let’s grab dinner or coffee this week. I want to hear EVERYTHING about Wyatt Freaking Jacobs,” she says with a wink before joining her friends.
I swallow hard. The sad thing? I could fill an entire dinner hour talking about Wyatt.
I could tell Allie what a good guy he is.
How he stands up for people. That he’s a hard worker and funny and sweet.
He not only listens but remembers things I say.
Wyatt’s observant. He makes me feel seen and heard in a way nobody else ever has.
And when his lips brushed against mine here at the house yesterday? And against my forehead in the dining hall?
I can’t get those kisses out of my head.
“Ladies! Please take your seats!” Kaitlyn bellows from the front of the room. I walk back around to my row, making my way to my seat. I sit down and cross my legs and watch as Maddie stares at her phone screen.
“Did you hear from Thad?” I ask quietly.
She jerks her head up. “What?”
“I know you planned to talk to him tonight. Did you get him?”
Maddie bites her lip. I think she might be on the verge of tears. “Um … no. But he’s really busy, you know,” she says, forcing a smile on her face.
My heart squeezes. I think Thad is keeping her dangling, and I hate this so much. He’s never around for scheduled chats, and Maddie is initiating all of them from what I’ve witnessed this week. Who knows what he’s doing off in Las Vegas?
My stomach sinks. I have a good suspicion of what he’s doing at UNLV, but I don’t know how to have this conversation with Maddie. I’ll ask Wyatt what he thinks tonight. Maybe he can give me some advice.
“LADIES. I will say this once because this is the first chapter of the year, but I’m not a FLIGHT ATTENDANT,” Kaitlyn shouts. “I will not be asking you to turn off your electronic devices every week! SHUT OFF YOUR DAMN PHONES.”
I bite back a laugh. If Kaitlyn had left off that last sentence, and said it in a pleasant way, this room would love her sense of humor. But that’s not the general’s way. As in being pleasant OR humorous.
Everyone grows quiet and I see phones being put inside tote bags or turned face down on laps.
Kaitlyn composes herself and smiles brightly.
“Thank you. Welcome to the first chapter meeting of Phi Mu Phi this year. We have a lot to talk about tonight! I’m so excited about the year to come.
We’ll hear from each executive officer an—” She abruptly stops talking, her eyes scanning the room, and when she lands on McCall, her eyes narrow.
“Ladies. If we could please stop eating so loudly it sounds like a racoon digging in a metal trash can for its next meal—MCCALL—I would be SO appreciative. Thank you, love you!”
McCall stops with her fork midair as people turn around and stare at her. She puts it down in her bowl, and I know what she’s thinking. She’d like to fling her burrito bowl at Kaitlyn’s head.
At least that’s what I’d like to do.
Kaitlyn goes back to her script, talking about how Phi Mu Phi is top tier, the BEST sorority on campus, and she intends to keep it that way.
We’re reminded not to post “questionable” photos to social media—i.e.
drinking—and to make sure our clothing and makeup meets guidelines set by national.
She raves about our equally top-tier fraternity partner for football season this year, and how we want to make sure they’re happy, so our “asses better damn well show up to every function unless you are missing a limb.”
I can’t see my mom acting like this when she was president.
I would love to ask her about it, but my guess is if she knew Kaitlyn was like this, she’d be talking to the leaders at national in two seconds flat.
Mom is all about sisterhood. So is my sister.
Natasha and I are very different people, but we check in with each other every week.
Of course, her first question for me on our Sunday night call was, “How is your sisterhood journey going?”
I smile. Natasha is very big on the journey this year. Her journey has led her to do marketing for a luxe spa in Napa Valley, and I hope she stays on the journey long enough for me to enjoy a trip there over winter break.
But Kaitlyn? She’s all about image and being top tier.
Phi Mu Phi has the best-looking girls, and the girls who are most fun—while retaining a good reputation.
Our grades are good, and we always kill philanthropy fundraisers.
We’re the girls everyone wants to be at OCU, according to our fearless leader.
“Because our image is not only important now, but to entice PNMs—potential new members who might rush in the second semester—there will be a mandatory activity this Wednesday night with a professional brow artist to learn how to shape, tweeze, and pencil properly. Because some of you … well, the brows are looking a bit rough, and that’s being generous on my part. Unkempt is unacceptable.”
“Wait. Are my dues going to pay for someone to teach me how to do my brows?” McCall whispers in my ear.
“I’m not gonna lie, I’m excited about this one,” Maddie says at the same time. “Brows are hard to do—well, I mean.”
I remain silent as my friends debate eyebrow shaping, and I totally tune Kaitlyn out as my thoughts shift to Wyatt. This is going to feel like the longest chapter meeting ever, simply because I get to study with Wyatt when it’s finished.
“We will also be shooting a partnership video on the beach next Thursday at sunset. Because Beachy Shimmer has provided all of us sun-kissed glowy highlighter as a gift and we’re going to do social for them in return.”
Everyone immediately begins clapping and talking, and I’m excited about this one, too. I love getting free swag, and the videos are fun to do. I only got to do them with my member class last year, and a big video will be fun. It’s another opportunity to get to know girls better, too.
Wow. Mom would be super proud of my feeling of sisterhood. I’ll have to text her later and tell her all about it. If I bond with a new girl, I can also tell Natasha I’m working on my sisterhood journey and enriching my bonds.
I grin. Wyatt might be right. I am a wordsmith outside of a Jane Austen-type literary work.
“Emily, our marketing partnership chair, will go over the details, and you have gift bags waiting on your way out the door,” Kaitlyn says as we all grow quiet again. “But more on that later. First, I want to introduce our executive board, and then each VP will give a summary of what is going on … “
Now our marathon session is truly about to begin.
Everyone has things to say, questions will be asked, people who aren’t paying attention will ask them again.
But all in all, I’m kind of getting excited about what’s to come.
I see some opportunities for new experiences.
Having fun while doing it. In our philanthropic efforts—which I have to admit, Mya, our VP of philanthropy, has some great ideas—we’ll be able to raise money for a food bank, zeroing in on the local chapter here in Southern California.
I glance over at Maddie, who is biting down on her lower lip. She’s staring straight ahead, but I can see inside her head. She’s practically radiating how bad she’s hurting. Her head is with Thad and wondering what he’s doing at UNLV.