The Alpha Bet (16 page)

“What is she? Ten?” Jentry laughs, pulling me away.

“It doesn’t matter. I couldn’t date him anyway,” I lie, trying not to cry.

“It does matter because you liked him. And he liked you. He’s probably just trying to get back at you.”

It made me feel a little better to hear Jentry say she knew Charlie liked me. At least I hadn’t imagined it after all. Not that it really matters.

“So what did my creepy little boyfriend have to say?” Jentry changes the subject as we walk across campus to the Alpha house.

“I think my mom is getting a life.”

“I think she always had one, she just forgot for a little bit,” Jentry adds. “She’s not so bad. And I kind of like her inspirational emails.”

“She sends those to you, too?” I ask, amazed.

“Every morning like clockwork.” She laughs, but something tells me she wasn’t lying when she said she enjoyed them.

“This is a good thing, GK,” Jentry reassures me again, squeezing my arm, before opening the front door to the Alpha house.

All the active sisters are here already. They must  have had an actives only meeting before study hours. I really can’t wait until initiation to find out all the Alphas secrets. All the girls are sprawled in various positions on the furniture and the floor. I love the nights when we all get together and study. Being in the house has such a calming effect on me, unless one of the sisters brings up Edwina Fay. Jentry and I settle down together and rest our backs on an overstuffed pillow.

“Okay, there’s just a little bit of business tonight then we have to get busy studying so we can keep showing Dean Stone how smart the Alphas are,” Lindsay says, winking at me. “First off, everyone has done an excellent job fulfilling their volunteer hours. The staff at the animal shelter wanted you to know how much they appreciate all your hard work.” She pauses to give the sisters time to let up a little cheer.

“I also wanted to point out that our three pledges only have eight more tasks to complete. If you haven’t discussed your task with them, please do so soon. And last, I just accepted an invitation to the Omega Tau Nu’s Monster Mash.” The sisters go crazy with excitement but I’m a little less enthused thinking about partying with Chloane. Hopefully I won’t recognize them in their costumes.

“Does anyone have new business?” Lindsay asks. I notice someone’s hand dart up energetically out of the corner of my eye. I glance over to see Sloane sitting cross-legged and bouncing around like she has to pee.

“Yes, Sloane,” Lindsay says acknowledging her.

“I hope this is okay but I ordered Double Happy, my treat,” she says giddily.

Cheers go up from everyone but Jentry and I because we know Sloane is just trying to kiss up to the actives by buying Chinese food.

“The only thing is,” Sloane continues. “I forgot my driving glasses so I was wondering if Grace Kelly would mind taking my car to get the food.” Her eyes seem to twinkle with evil as they meet my panic-stricken ones.

“Sure, no problem,” I force out, ignoring the jolt of ephephrine to my heart at the thought of not having a drivers license.

A few minutes later, I’m in the Alpha parking lot behind the house. I click the unlock button on the keypad and a beep and flashing lights come from a luxury SUV that rivals the size of the bus I rode last year. This is going to be bad. Very bad.

I always meant to take Drivers Ed and get my license but more interesting class choices always seduced me away. I have been perfectly fine letting Mom chauffeur me around.

I slide into the buttery leather of the drivers seat and hunt around for the seat adjustment. I can do this. If Tommy Crawley can learn how to drive, so can I. Tommy was the only eighth grader with a driver’s license because he had flunked so many times. This cannot be hard. I put the key in the ignition and turn it. The radio blares nearly giving me a stroke. I fumble with the knob to turn it down. I find the lights with no problem.

I jam my foot on the brake and move the control thingy from park to reverse. I hold my breath while I gently ease up on the brake. The SUV seems to leap backward so I jam on the brake again nearly giving myself whiplash. I can do this. I can do this. I ease up on the brake again and slowly crawl out of the parking space. I crank the wheel too quickly almost crashing into Lindsay’s VW. I slam on the brakes just in time. I hear one of the back door’s opening then see Jentry diving onto the floorboard.

“What are you doing?” I exclaim.

“Saving somebody the trouble of scraping you off the pavement,” she says ducking down. “Now stop talking and drive us down to the Zeta house,” Jentry demands, staying hunkered down.

I put the car in drive and pull forward a tiny bit then back up and finally make it out of the space. I drive slowly through the lot alternating the brake and the gas with my left and right feet. I inch out near the main road in front of the Alpha house. Dozens of headlights are coming in my direction.

“I can’t do this,” I whine.

“You just have to wait until its all clear then pull out slowly. The Zeta house is only a few hundred feet away and then I’ll take over,” she says calmly.

“She’s watching,” I say, spotting Sloane peeking out of an upstairs window. “She knows. That’s why she did this.”

“About your age? Nah, how would she know? Besides, Lindsay already knows so it doesn’t matter.”

Jentry’s right. Sloane doesn’t have anything on me. I’m sure she was expecting me to fess up to only being sixteen and not having a driver’s license yet but I surprised her by calling her bluff and taking her car. She’s probably scared now that I’ll wreck her precious car. The street is finally clear so I carefully pull out. I turn the wheel a little too quickly, which startles me so I jam on the brake, then the gas, causing the SUV to buck.

“I’m getting carsick, “ Jentry yells. “Keep your foot off the brake unless somebody runs in front of you.”

I follow her instructions but keep my left foot hovering over the brake, just in case. I continue down the street never going above fifteen miles her hour. Joggers are passing me.

“You drive worse than my grandma and she’s got cataracts,” Jentry laughs.

I ignore her and continue slowly up the road until I see the Zeta sorority house. Several girls are standing outside when I inch into their driveway. I check to make sure the doors are locked because this doesn’t seem like the best place for two Alpha pledges to be.

“Pull to the back of the house,” Jentry says, sitting up.

I follow her instructions, pulling alongside several other cars almost identical to Sloane’s. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding as I put the car into park. I scoot over to the passenger seat and Jentry jumps in the front. She is just about to put the car in reverse when I hear a knock on my window. I scream. I look over to see a brunette with a Zeta tank top standing next to the car. She has a very confused look on her face that quickly turns to anger as her eyes spy my Alpha pin.

“Get out of the car.” She yells at us.

Jentry peels out of the driveway and back onto the main road leaving the girl in her dust. She tries running after us but gets winded pretty quickly.

“Holy crap, those girls are crazy,” I laugh, wondering if my heart can take any more tonight.

“I told you,” Jentry reminds me.

She turns up the radio and before long we are cruising through campus without a care. I’m feeling relaxed for the first time in a few days. Then I see red and blue flashing lights in the side mirror.

Jentry must have noticed them at the exact same time because she is already signaling to pull off the road.

“Oh my God, Jentry,” I say, my palms already sweating.

“Just be cool, GK. I didn’t do anything wrong,” she whispers between gritted teeth. She pushes the button to open her window and smiles at the officer.

“Both of you, out of the car now,” he demands, shining his flashlight into the car. We both do as he says and get out of the car. We meet at the back of the SUV where a second officer is waiting. My heart rate dips a little when I realize these guys are just campus security pulling us over in their soup-ed up golf cart, but it spikes again when I recognize one of the officers from the Alpha party that almost got busted. I keep my head down, hoping he doesn’t recognize me.

“We got an anonymous tip that this vehicle was driving erratically. We have reason to believe you are driving under the influence of alcohol,” he tells Jentry. Those damn Zetas called in an anonymous tip. They do not fight fair.

“I haven’t had a drop to drink tonight,” Jentry defends herself angrily.

“Good, then you won’t mind taking a field sobriety test, will you?” The familiar officer smarts off.

“Bring it on,” Jentry fires back. So much for playing it cool.

“Recite the alphabet. Backwards,” the first cop says. Will these guys never learn?

“Actually Officer Frank, I think we need a different test. Her partner in crime is a crafty one and knows that like the back of her hand so I’m sure this one isn’t much different.” My cheeks explode into flames when I realize that he recognized me.

****

A half-hour later Jentry waves goodbye to the officers and starts driving to Double Happy. The sisters probably think we ran away.

“It’s a good thing I wasn’t driving,” I say relieved.

“Yeah, no kidding. There is no way you could have pulled off walking in a straight line while touching your nose,” Jentry laughs.

I swat her arm playfully then collapse back into the luxurious leather seat. I can hardly wait to get back to the sorority house for a relaxing night of movies and food.

Wait a minute…

“She set me up,” I blurt out, bolting up in my seat.

“Huh?” Jentry asks confused.

“Sloane called the cops not the Zetas. She wanted me to get in trouble so that the Alphas would kick me out.”

“But how would she know you didn’t have a drivers license even if she did know you were only sixteen?” Jentry counters.

She has a point. “I don’t know.” I admit.

“Plus, you were driving her car so she could have gotten in trouble too, and if you would have gotten caught it would have made the Alphas look bad. She wouldn’t risk that,” Jentry says confidently.

I guess she’s right but I still can’t shake the feeling that there is more to it than that.

“You’re just stressed. You’ll feel better after spending the night at the house,” she assures me.

She’s right. I am stressed. Between my parents, the Alphas, and my classes, I feel like I’m juggling chainsaws. I just hope that none of them come crashing down on me.

The next morning I’m no less stressed. I slam my laptop shut, even though I know I shouldn’t treat it like that. I can’t help it. The deadline to turn in my application for next spring’s science fair is less than four weeks away and I can’t think of a single worthy idea.

“Ron and I are dressing up like ketchup and mustard for the Monster Mash.  I’ve always wanted to be a condiment for Halloween,” Jentry says, obviously trying to get my mind on other things.

“That’s nice,” I say distantly. What costume I am going to wear is the farthest thing from my mind. So far I’ve just been trying to deal with the fact that I will have to spend an entire evening with Chloane. Okay, not exactly with them, but in the same vicinity.

“You’re going as Princess Grace,” Jentry tells me. I laugh at her suggestion. “What? Check out your legs. You don’t have one bruise on them.” She points out.

I look down and realize she is right. I actually can’t remember one accident I’ve had for several weeks. I’ve come a long way since I started school. My cell rings and my parents phone number flashes on the display screen. It’s about time. I’ve left a thousand messages lately. It’s like my family has forgotten all about me.

“Hello, Mother,” I say formally. I might as well start practicing talking properly if I’m going to dress up as a princess.

“Hello, Grace Kelly. How are you?” Mom asks cheerfully.

“Why haven’t you called me back?” I demand.

“I’m sorry, sweetie. My job is keeping me pretty busy.”

“It’s like you don’t even care about me anymore,” I whine. Jentry gives me a strange look, which I ignore.

“Sweetheart, don’t be silly. We are all really excited for you to come home for Thanksgiving.”

“Don’t you even care about my grades or anything?”

“I’ve never had to worry about your grades. Why would I start now?” Mom asks.

I don’t say anything but Mom doesn’t seem to pick up on my silence.

“How’s Jentry?” Mom asks, changing the subject.

“Fine.” I answer sharply.

Jentry makes a swiping motion across her neck but I ignore that, too.

“How’s it going at the sorority?”

Like she really cares. She probably hopes I’ll get kicked out. “You don’t have to pretend you’re okay with it, Mom.”

“I think it’s wonderful that you are making friends. My only concern was that you might get a bit overwhelmed.”

“Well, I’m not,” I huff. Why can’t she just realize that I’m not an awkward little girl anymore? And if she was so concerned about me being overwhelmed, you think she would have returned my call a little sooner.

“It’s getting cooler. I thought maybe we could run your sweaters up to you some night,” Mom suggests.

I grip my phone tight with frustration. She just wants to come up here and spy on me. Wouldn’t she be surprised to see how well I’m handling everything? I don’t even know how to respond. So I don’t. I hang up. I know hanging up on my mom isn’t very mature but she didn’t give me any choice. She has to realize that she can’t control me anymore.

Jentry looks at me dumbfounded. “Did you just hang up on your mom?”

“She was wanting to bring me my sweaters. What a lame excuse to check up on me.” I defend myself.

“It must really suck having people who care about you,” Jentry smarts off, grabbing her Blackberry while storming out of our room.

I sit cross-legged on my bed, dumbfounded. Just when I think I’m getting things right, not being so dependent on my parents, not being such a klutz, fitting in with all the sisters, I go and do something to drive away the one person who has helped me get here. I have a feeling that Jentry’s blowup isn’t completely about the way I talked to my mom, but has something to do with her not talking to her own mom. I’m going to give her some time to vent then try to patch things up. But first, I need to call Mom back.