Not Another Timeless Classic

'Join the sorority,' she said. 'It'll be fun.'

I'm sure that by fun, my mother meant parties and socializing and the first of many drunken escapades. And it might've been fun if the only other person that pushed me to come were here, but I hadn't seen Sarah for more than a half hour. So, at the moment, sitting by myself with a half empty Smirnoff was shaping up to be the most fun I've had all night.

"There you are!"

I jumped, half-smiling at my obviously wasted best friend. "Here I am. Having fun?"

She pointed a finger at me, clumsily landing on my lap with a giggle. "I've been looking for you forever. The boys are here, and the other girls just started the super secret initiation."

I met her stare with wide eyes, shaking my head with a laugh. "I think you're really drunk, love. Besides, I thought I had, like, a week. I'm too shy for this."

Her expression changed and she climbed off of me. "Calm down, virgin Mary. It's not like that."

I bit my tongue, but decided to make nothing of it, standing up. "Ha-ha." Am not.

As reassurance that I wouldn't run away, I'm sure, she laced her fingers through mine, leading me back into the house. I was being pulled blindly through and past bodies, mumbling apologies when a drink was spilled because of her persistence that we get wherever it was she wanted me to be. I didn't know where it was coming from, but the smell of pot was nearly overwhelming by the time we got to the kitchen. Well, that, and sweat and cheap cologne, courtesy of the boys from the fraternity, I was sure.

Sarah would've called it a miracle that I even knew what weed smelled like, but she knew my older brother well enough to connect the two.

All too soon we were pressed tightly against the other girls' bodies, huddled around the island in the kitchen where Tara was standing with a wicked grin, red cup in her hand. "Girls, as you know, tonight is the start of your lives as sisters and the end of whatever image you wanted to have before you got here."

I nearly scoffed at that, but a voice inside my head was too loud to ignore so I settled for rolling my eyes and attempting to listen to the rest of Tara's speech. Even though the word 'hazing' never left her mouth, that's what I took away from the entire thing. Sarah's eyes were lit up and she was acting like a kid in a candy shop, babbling about how she knew most of the other girls didn't have the balls to go through with it so, according to her, we were basically in.

The task at hand seemed easy, but there had to be a catch. It couldn't have been as easy and stomaching a few mixed drinks, stealing something off of one of the guys from the frat and rolling someone's house.

"There's going to be teams for each 'event.' If one of you fails, you all fail. You can't switch once you've been picked and the teams that make it through are our first picks. Easy enough?"

"What is this? Sorority games?"

"Charlie, lighten up," Sarah whined, tugging on my arm.

"Okay, but only if you're not the one drinking."

She rolled her eyes at me, but I guess she realized I was probably right in asking her not to do the drinking when several liquors were placed in front of us and the rest of the girls. Apparently, each group had to consist of three girls and because I refused to drink something that was going to curdle, Sarah reached for the nearest sober-looking girl. Ashley was the girl's name, and I only knew that because I sat through orientation next to her.

Tara and two of the other upperclassmen helped sort out the cups, pushing them towards each of the six girls around the table. Sarah was encouraging Ashley, and Ashley was trying to wave her off, obviously not as worried as her counterpart. After the first round of drinks, two of the girls were trying to keep their balance. A few more rounds and nearly everyone was okay, with the exception of the girl that threw everything up by the second drink.

Ashley didn't even seemed buzzed by this point, but I didn't know if I was really surprised. The second set of activities proved to be harder, especially when Tara made it clear that the item had to be personal. Half an hour later and only three of the groups had gotten a variety of condoms, a phone and a pair of underwear.

A few minutes later, Sarah met us back in the kitchen with a set of keys and a victorious smirk on her face.

"And then there were four," Tara grinned, leading the rest of us onto the lawn, urging us to be quiet.

With the exception of the house we were in front of, the rest of the neighborhood was quiet, the only light provided by the street lamps lining the ends of the streets. The girls around us were trying to keep themselves together, but kept giggling as we were given rolls of toilet paper, a carton of eggs and tubes of glitter. Everything seemed harmless, but I'm sure egg and glitter weren't exactly easy to clean off things.

"One of you lucky girls get to meet one of our own tonight. The group that manages to...uh, re-decorate the house the fastest gets their letter tonight."

"One of our own?" I finally managed to ask, cradling the rolls of toilet paper in my arms. Sarah only shrugged, squinting at the numbers on the mailboxes. Ashley, who finally felt the alcohol she consumed earlier, laughed, stopping in front of a house we already managed to pass up.

"One of the asshole professors that tries to get our sorority cut from all extracurricular activities every year."

I stopped, glaring at her. "And we're rolling his house why?!"

"Not us," Ashley said seriously, handing me the glitter sticks. "You."

I shook my head, mouth opening and closing in shock as the girls stood by a mailbox. "You can't be serious. Guys, come on. What if one of us has him?"

Ashley snorted, wrapping her arms around herself. "The only one he's gonna see is you, Charlie."

"That makes it so much better," I muttered dryly, setting the glitter down.

"Charlie, he probably won't even see you. Just do it fast. We'll be here to run back with you," Sarah offered with a smile, having sobered up a little by being outside. "Plus, you can always drop if he does."

"Not helping!"

"Wasting time, ladies!" Tara called, clapping her hands at our group.

"Give me the damn eggs."

Standing on the edge of the edge of the man's lawn was completely nerve wracking, but having to hear about how I hindered Sarah and Ashley's shot at getting in for the rest of the semester was not how I wanted to spend the rest of my freshman year.

I found out the glitter wasn't really good for much, and the only thing I thought to do with it was throw it across the windshield of the car in the driveway. I heard giggles behind me and somehow found myself laughing when I managed to crush the eggs underneath the door handles and smear a few across the garage door.

My heart was racing as soon as I was thrown the toilet paper, unsure of what to do with it since I didn't see any trees to speak of. The lawn was really plain, and it was slightly unsettling. Nothing about it was personalized and maybe that's why I found this to be easier than it should have been.

"What the hell do I do with it?!" I half yelled across the grass, raising my arms.

Sarah started laughing before her eyes widened. "Throw it and run, Charlie!"

"I'm not just going to--."

"Who the hell is there?!"

I stiffened, feeling my heart drop to my stomach at the sound of the deep voice behind me. Without thinking, I dropped the roll on the lawn, sprinting across the lawn and the road with the two girls in front of me. Once I was sure we were far enough away, I turned around and caught a glimpse of a very tall, very pissed off man with long hair in a pair of sweatpants.

I hoped that this was all worth it because I knew with my luck, this was only the start of something bad.

But then, maybe I was overreacting.

That was the same mantra I kept repeating the rest of the night, but once I finally lost track of time and Sarah, I decided it didn't matter anymore.