Fair-Weather Friends (4 page)

The note was written on plain white paper and I wondered who wrote it. Just then Jasmine and Angel walked up.

“By the look on your face I see you got the same note we did,” Jasmine said, unenthusiastically.

“Yeah, who do you think it's from?” I asked, reading it again. It had been a week since the Theta interest meeting and we were supposed to get a formal invitation to join, not some anonymous letter in our locker. Which is why I wasn't sure about it.

“It's from your local neighborhood welcoming committee,” Jasmine replied sarcastically. “I swear, you can be so
slow sometimes. It's from the Thetas, girl. I don't know what they have planned but I ain't meeting nobody at no park.”

I turned the note over in my hand as reality set in. “Come on, Jasmine, don't be like that. If you are going to be accepted into the Theta Ladies you've got to have a better attitude than that.”

“Look, this was you and Alexis's idea in the first place. I'm only going along with this nonsense because y'all are my girls,” Jasmine said.

“Angel, you're being really quiet. What do you think? Are you going to go?” I asked her.

Angel, who looked like she had been deep in thought, shrugged. “I guess so, but I'm not gonna lie, I am a little nervous. We haven't even been accepted yet, and already they're trying to scare us.”

I was about to respond when my purse began blaring the song “I'm a Flirt.” I dug out my cell phone, then glanced at the caller ID. “It's Alexis,” I said. “I wonder if she knows about the meeting. Hey, girl,” I said, after I pushed the Talk button.

Alexis immediately began rambling. “Girl, I just got the strangest text message to meet at Brentwood Park at seven. I think it's from the Theta Ladies.”

“We know. We got the same message, but your scaredy-cat friends over here don't want to go,” I told her as I cut my eyes at Angel and Jasmine.

“Well, tell them that they are going whether they like it or not. Remember, we said we were all in this together. So … I'll see you guys at six fifty-nine. I gotta go, the tardy bell just rang and I'm late,” Alexis said quickly as she hung up.

At exactly 6:59, me, Jasmine, Alexis, Tameka, and Angel walked up to the park. We immediately saw nine other girls, all lined up, all in black. Tori and Claudia were yelling in their faces. All of a sudden, Tori looked up and saw us.

“Well, thank you for joining us, ladies,” she snidely remarked. “You're late. Get in line.”

I glanced at my watch. “But I thought the note said seven. It's just now seven.”

Tori raised her eyebrows, then walked over to me. She got so close I could smell the fruity apple Jolly Rancher she was sucking on.

“Number one, little girl,” she spat, “don't ever talk back to me. Number two, and listen to me when I say this, to be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is totally unacceptable! Now get … in … line!”

We scrambled into line next to the other girls. Shocked doesn't even begin to describe how I was feeling. They had all been so nice at the interest meeting. And even Raquelle, who was on the drill team with me and pretty cool, was standing there with her nose turned up at us.

I glanced over at Jasmine, who was biting down on her
bottom lip, something she did when she was trying to calm herself down. I knew she couldn't appreciate having anyone, especially Tori, screaming at her.

“I knew Tori was just frontin', trying to act all nice,” Jasmine hissed at me.

I didn't respond as I began listening to the girls barking orders at us.

For the next thirty minutes we had to do push-ups and sit-ups, and run laps. From the look on Jasmine's face, I could tell she wasn't feeling this whole scene at all. She looked like she would punch someone in the jaw if they said anything to her. I thought about pulling her to the side to try to calm her down, but knowing Jasmine, she wouldn't think twice about going off on me, friend or no friend. I might even end up being the person who got punched.

As we were running the last of our five laps around the park's track, Jasmine caught up to me, Tameka, and Alexis.

“Y'all bustas owe me big for this one. I didn't sign up for all of this. If I wanted to work out, I would go get a membership at 24-Hour Fitness,” she said, panting, as she jogged alongside us.

“Quit complaining. It's really not that bad,” Tameka said, and she took off, leaving us in her dust.

“Yeah,” Alexis replied as we all slowed down just a bit. “We're all tired—well, most of us,” she added, eyeing
Tameka's overzealous behind, “but it's almost over. Would it make you feel better if I promised to stop and buy us all ice cream on the way home?”

“No, it wouldn't. What? Am I five years old or something? You offering to buy me ice cream.” Jasmine stopped and bent over to catch her breath.

“Come on,” I said, pulling her arm. She continued jogging, but it was obvious she wasn't happy.

“Ladies, you must need an extra lap since you've got enough energy to talk!” Tori screamed as we passed her. “Jasmine, it probably wouldn't hurt you to do an extra lap anyway.”

Uh-oh.
That was a big mistake. Before I could say anything to her, Jasmine had stopped in her tracks and did a quick about-face.

“Oh, this girl has lost her mind,” Jasmine said as she marched back toward Tori.

I knew if I didn't do something quick, this would turn into something very ugly and none of us would ever stand a chance of being Theta Ladies. By the time I reached Jasmine, the rest of the girls had noticed her stomping toward Tori and had stopped running to see what was going on.

Jasmine got up in Tori's face. “No you did not just go there. Girl, I will—”

“Jasmine!” I yelled. “Let me talk to you for a minute.” I looked at her and pleaded with my eyes to please not say
anything else. She must have picked up on the desperation in my face because she slowly backed away, never taking her eyes off of Tori.

“Yeah, Camille, get your little pit bull under control before she gets herself hurt.” Tori was talking all tough, but I could tell she was afraid of what Jasmine might do.

“Well, if it isn't the Theta Ladies and the wannabe Theta Ladies.” We all turned toward the husky voice that had literally saved Tori from getting a beat-down.

It was this guy named Vincent, the president of the fraternity at my school, Gamma Men. They were the big brothers to the Thetas. He was surrounded by a group of boys, who were all dressed in white T-shirts and black jeans. I'd heard they were having a line and judging from the scared-looking boys standing behind Vincent, the rumors were true.

“My boys here are on a scavenger hunt,” Vincent said, pointing to the eight dudes behind him. “And they need some Theta help.”

Tori grinned flirtatiously as she strutted over to Vincent. “And just how can my girls be of service?”

Vincent licked his lips and grinned back. “My boys here have been ordered to get a pair of Theta—or wannabe Theta—panties.”

Tori busted out laughing. “Boy, you are so stupid.” She looked over at the other Theta members. They were laughing, too.

“I say do it,” Claudia offered.

“Me, too,” Constance added. “As long as it's some wannabe panties.”

Tori turned back to Vincent and slowly nodded. “Cool. We can do that.” She turned back to us. “Jasmine, go in the bathroom and take off your drawers so you can give them to the Gammas,” she said, fighting back laughter.

Jasmine looked at Tori like she'd lost her mind.

“Are you crazy?” Jasmine replied. “That's nasty.”

The smile left Tori's face. She rolled her eyes then pointed a finger in Jasmine's face. “Look, I'm about sick and tired of you always having something to say. Give him your funky panties. Now!”

Jasmine put her finger right back in Tori's face. “I ain't giving him nothing, especially not my panties! Give him yours. Shoot, everybody else done had 'em.”

Several people's eyes grew wide, including mine, at Jasmine's dig at Tori's reputation for being loose.

“Jasmine, it's no big deal,” Tameka interrupted. I knew she was trying to keep this from blowing out of control.

Jasmine spun around. “No! This is stupid. Explain to me how giving somebody my underwear builds sisterhood. How does that make us better? Is that what the Thetas are about? Huh?”

Everyone got silent as Jasmine went off on her tirade.

“The running, the push-ups. None of it makes sense!”

“You know what?” Tori finally said as she glared at Jasmine. “You are really getting on my nerves.”

“You know what?” Jasmine coldly replied. “The feeling's mutual.”

“Hey.” Lynn anxiously tugged at Tori's arm. “Isn't that Mr. Washington, the chemistry teacher?” She was pointing at a man jogging toward us on the track.

Tori studied him for a minute, then quickly turned to us and said, “Y'all, act natural.”

We tried to stand around casually.

“Just act like we're talking,” Tori whispered as Mr. Washington slowed his jog.

“Hello, ladies.” He looked at Vincent and the other guys. “And gentlemen. What are you doing out at the park so late?”

“Just hanging out,” Tori quickly said.

I know we all looked suspicious. I was nervously digging my foot in the gravel. Angel and Alexis were playing with their fingernails and the other nine girls wore guilty expressions. Tameka was the only one of us who didn't look like she was trying to hide something.

Mr. Washington eyed us skeptically. “And you're hanging out in all black? As hot as it is?” he asked.

“No, we were practicing for a step show. And we have the black on because we were just trying to see how the outfits would look,” Tori said.

“Oh, okay. Well, you all be careful out here. And stay
out of trouble.” He nodded knowingly before jogging away.

As soon as he took off, we all breathed a sigh of relief.

“Okay, that was close,” Lynn said after he was gone. “We could've gotten in so much trouble. I think we need to call it a night.”

“But we're not finished with them,” Tori whined.

“Y'all do what you want. We're out of here,” Vincent said as he motioned for his boys to scram. “I graduate in May. I ain't trying to get in no trouble.”

“Tori”—Lynn put her hands on her hips—“do you see how close we almost came to getting busted? I don't know about you, but I'm not trying to get kicked out of school for hazing.”

“I agree,” Raquelle added, stepping up next to Lynn. “This is enough for tonight.” She turned to us. “We'll see you guys tomorrow.”

I was actually relieved and said a mental thank-you to Mr. Washington. Jasmine was on the edge. I could tell she was still upset. I was about to say something to her as we walked back to Alexis's car, but she glared at me.

“Don't. Don't say one word to me.” She climbed in the backseat, closed her eyes, and didn't say a thing for the rest of the ride home.

W
e hadn't even been accepted into the Theta Ladies yet, but they were still making us do things that I knew we had no business doing, especially after the advisor gave us that whole “no hazing” speech. After last night, especially, I would have thought they'd take it a little easier. But it seemed like things had only gotten worse.

“Camille, be a doll and go run get me a Coke,” Tori said. Me, Angel, Tameka, Jasmine, and two other girls who were interested in the Thetas were sitting at the back cafeteria table with several members. I had to promise to pay for Jasmine's lunch for the next two weeks just to get her to agree to sit and have lunch with us.

“Sure,” I said, standing up. I didn't mind playing the fetch-it girl. I knew it was all part of the process. The members got to order around the girls who were interested. I'd read up on hazing on the Internet, and knew it was totally
illegal, but to me, that was the fun part of it all. Well, except for the running and push-ups.

I made my way over to the soda machine and reached in my jeans pocket to fish out a dollar—since of course Tori didn't give me any money. I got the soda and sprinted back over to the table.

“Here you go.” I handed the soda to Tori.

She frowned up at it. “Oh, no. I said a Diet Coke.”

I looked confused. “I could've sworn you said Coke.”

Jasmine, who had started eating her pizza, looked at Tori, then at me. “She
did
say Coke.”

Tori turned up her nose as she looked at Jasmine, then at the Coke can that sat in front of her. “Look, I know what I said. Some people may not care how regular Coke makes them blow up like an Amazon, but
I
do,” she stressed.

I cringed because if it was one thing I knew Jasmine couldn't stand, it was somebody talking about her size. Even though she'd lost some weight, she was still the biggest of all of us.

“It's no biggie. I can run get a Diet Coke,” I quickly said, silently pleading with Jasmine not to go off.

“No, I want Miss-I-got-something-to-say-even-though-nobody-is-talking-to-me to go get me something to drink,” Tori said, cutting her eyes at Jasmine.

Jasmine threw her half-eaten pizza down on her plate and sat up straighter. She was so about to lose it.

“Really, I don't mind,” I interjected.

“Camille, have a seat,” Tori said, her voice getting forceful. “Jasmine, go get me a Diet Coke. Now!”

Angel closed her eyes like she was praying for Jasmine not to go off as well. Tameka sat with her eyes wide like she couldn't believe Jasmine wasn't up and moving. I slid down in my seat as Jasmine bit down on her bottom lip. I was overjoyed when she finally smiled and stood. “Fine. I'll go get you a Diet Coke.” She held out her hand toward Tori. “I'll need one dollar.”