Authors: Stephanie Perry Moore

Work What You Got (8 page)

BOOK: Work What You Got

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GONE

P
enelope found a way to evade her line sisters and keep our line happy at the same time. One of the requirements for becoming a Beta was passing a comprehensive test covering the history, purpose and mission of the sorority. She had given us an impromptu practice test and all sixteen of us had failed it. This was harder than any college exam I had ever taken. The three-hour exam was comprised of multiple choice, matching and fill-in-the-blank questions, and an essay section.

We received a Beta Gamma Pi manual at the beginning of the process. We were supposed to know it front to back, which was virtually impossible without adequate study time, and if we had to do this underground foolishness there was no way we could study that and finish our school work. So for the last four days, Edythe, the Chapter President, and Penelope, the Vice President and leader of the line, kept us away from their sorors who wanted desperately to distract us.

“You guys hurry up. Get inside,” Penelope said, as we got to a new location none of the Betas knew about. “Nobody followed y'all, did they?”

“No, nobody followed us. We checked,” I assured her.

Edythe asked, “Because they're getting real antsy. You sure nobody followed you?”

“No, nobody was following us,” Bea confirmed.

We all sat down and pulled out the manuals to begin studying. But then Dena started rustling around, looking for something. No one could concentrate.

Dena got up and said, “Aw, I left my manual in the car.”

Before Penelope could stop her, she fled outside. Suddenly, all craziness broke loose when Big Sister Keisha Mean Machine stood in the doorway with ten other not-so-happy Betas.

“Edythe and Penelope, I need to speak to you right now,” Keisha hollered out.

We were scattered all over the room. Instinctively, we dropped our pens and books and fell in line. Second nature was in and logic was obviously out.

“Yeah, y'all better get up and show some respect,” Keisha said to us with a mean stare that scared me. “Penelope, I thought you knew where they were, girl. I've been calling you. You won't answer your phone. Stupid little pledges can't even think for themselves. We were following them, but were lagging so far back that we lost them until one of your girls came outside. Just dumb! Obviously they want a butt whipping.”

Sharon was in front of Trisha, her regular spot, and she said, “Y'all, if they touch me, I'm out of here.”

“Just hold it together,” I said. “Ain't nobody gonna have to go nowhere.”

“Is Penelope going to handle this?” Bea said from behind me.

“We wouldn't be hiding out in the first place if she was able to tell Keisha what part of her body to kiss and mean it,” Trisha said.

“Just stay cool, guys,” I said.

“I don't understand the two of y'all,” Keisha said as she pulled Penelope and Edythe to her face. “Y'all supposed to want what's best for the sorority, not stand up for these little hussies.”

“You went too far last time, Keisha,” Edythe said, surprising us all by standing up for us.

“Girl, get out of my way,” Keisha said, pushing her to the side. “Bring in the stuff, y'all.”

One of the old heads said, “Yeah, we got it right here.”

“See, pledges, we figured you guys were studying so hard that y'all were hungry. Now it's time to eat a Beta sandwich. You jerks have a minute to get rid of these peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I don't know how you're going to do it, but you better make sure that everyone has some.”

“They don't have time to do this.” Penelope snatched the bread as Keisha tried to hand it to Dena at the front of the line. “They're studying. They have an exam to take. Or they won't be Betas at all.”

“Whatever girl, please, that is not as important as them passing
my
exam. This is Alpha Chapter. We have history here that cannot be ignored. Everybody has to eat the Beta sandwich in a minute and this line is no exception. Y'all don't even want to know what the consequences are if you don't comply.”

“I'm allergic to peanuts,” Sharon wailed, surprising us all.

What a good idea,
I thought. Three more girls on the line said they were allergic as well. Keisha looked as if she wasn't having it.

Then Sharon started shaking and said, “No, I'm serious.”

Trisha said, “Did you hear that, Hayden? Tell them that she is allergic for real.”

I raised my hand. Sharon wasn't a kidder. If she was allergic, Keisha needed to back off.

“What?” Keisha responded, looking like she wanted to throw the peanut butter and jelly at me.

“Sharon really is allergic to peanuts, Big Sister Keisha Mean Machine.”

“That's a cop-out. I don't believe you guys. Now hush up and get ready to eat this. You all do not want a beat-down. Go!” she said, as everybody except Sharon started scrambling over to the peanut butter.

There wasn't even a knife. We had to use our fingers to put the peanut butter and jelly on the bread.

“Just don't eat any,” I said to Sharon. “Fake it. Make it look like you are.”

“Okay, okay. I can do that. But I can't touch the stuff,” Sharon said.

Unfortunately, Keisha and the rest of the Betas were watching every move we made. Keisha went over to Sharon with a sandwich and stuffed it in her mouth before any of us could stop her.
What had she done?

“Chew it, darn it. Telling me you're allergic. I don't have time for that foolishness,” Keisha said, as she shoved the remaining bread into Sharon's mouth.

Within an instant Sharon started choking. Her lips turned bright red and several bumps appeared on her face. She fell to the ground and no one else in the abandoned building moved. This was far worse than the girl who had choked. Sharon lay still. We were going to lose her.

“We've got to call the paramedics,” Dena shouted.

None of us had cell phones except the leader of our line. The Betas always collected our phones so we wouldn't be disturbed while on line. Dena was right. We needed help immediately.

“Whatever, stand back,” Keisha said. “Give her a second. No one is calling the paramedics. That's out.”

Sharon was already a light-skinned girl but now she was deathly pale. Something was severely wrong and there was no way her fifteen line sisters were going to let her die on our watch.

Without caring about the consequences, I got up from Sharon's side and went to Penelope and said, “Give me your phone. NOW!”

Penelope hesitated for a minute. I didn't know Trisha and Dena were behind me. None of us were playing.

“You heard her,” little Dena said, coming to my side.

“God don't like ugly,” Audria shouted out.

I leaned over to Penelope and said, “If something happens to her I'll testify in court. Give me the phone.”

Quickly, she reached into her pocket and handed it to me. I dialed 911 and gave them all of the information. Audria knelt down to take care of Sharon. Bea and the rest of the girls on the line started crying and praying.

“She can't breathe. She doesn't have air. Tell the paramedics to hurry, they've got to hurry,” I said to the operator. “It might take them too long to get here. We need to get her into the car and get her to the hospital now.”

Without worrying about what any Beta thought, we tended to our girl. I couldn't believe this was happening. Was not being a paper line so important that intelligent young women would threaten another woman's life?

When we got to the car, Penelope said, “Just stay on the phone with the operator. When you get to the emergency room, please call Edythe and let us know that Sharon's okay. Edythe's number is stored in my phone, but I can't go with you, I need to stay here.”

Keisha came out of the door and said, “Y'all are letting them go to the hospital? This line is over.”

“Well, if you wouldn't have come here, then this would have never started,” Edythe turned to her and said.

I got in the driver's seat and Trisha sat beside me. In the back were Audria, Bea and Dena holding Sharon the best they could. I had driven fast before, but never as if I were trying to win the Indy 500 or something. Trisha looked out to my left and right when we got to stoplights. When she told me it was clear, I kept on going. We couldn't lose Sharon.

When I pulled up to the emergency door, Trisha ran to get help. Audria had Sharon's head in her lap and she was praying. All of us were glad she had such a strong connection with God. He had to help us.

“It's all my fault,” I said, with my head on the steering wheel. “Sharon wanted to quit. She wanted to get out. I told her it was going to be okay. I thought we had it settled. She wouldn't be going through this if I hadn't talked her out of it.”

Bea stroked the back of my head and said, “Like you can blame yourself. This is Keisha's fault. She came over and stuffed a peanut butter sandwich in someone's face, when they said they were allergic to it. I mean, even if she didn't believe Sharon, how could she take that chance? They need to lock her tail up in jail somewhere.”

It seemed like it was taking Trisha forever to come back with help. Sharon's body had no movement. So we opened the door and carried Sharon in.

Bea screamed, “Somebody has to see her now! Help her now! We called on the phone, we spoke with the operator. HELP!”

“Okay, okay. We're here,” one of the nurses said, as a doctor followed right behind her.

“She's critical! Let's take her back,” the doctor said after checking her pupils.

Her face was so distorted, she clearly was allergic to peanuts in the worst way. All of us stayed around in the waiting room and held hands, praying. I had wanted to be a Beta more than anything these last few months, but if it meant losing Sharon, I would trade that dream for her being okay. Penelope's phone rang. I hadn't even realized that it was still in my hand.

“Hello,” I answered.

“Hey, this is Edythe. How's Sharon? Please tell us that she is okay?”

“We don't know anything right now. She's in with the doctor,” I said half-heartedly, not wanting to talk to any of them.

“Well look, we called Cynthia Berry, our advisor, and she is going to meet all of you at the hospital. If you don't want the line to drop, please be smart about what you tell her,” Edythe said.

“Edythe, are you kidding me? Sharon is fighting for her life, and you're telling me to watch what I say to the advisor? I'm sorry, I can't even talk to you right now.” I hung up the phone.

Tears started streaming down my face. I really needed to know how Sharon was doing. She had to be alright.

“Okay, what did Edythe want?” Bea said, breaking through my tears.

“Our advisor is going to be here in a second and Edythe wanted me to lie to her about what happened with Sharon.”

“Wait!” Bea said. “Edythe has a point. We'll lose everything we worked so hard for if we tell the truth. Why don't we think about this?”

I could have smacked her as well. This had gone too far, we couldn't keep this under wraps. I just walked away, before I did or said anything I would regret.

“Hayden, did you hear me? We need to get our stories straight. We've gone through too much work for it to end now and have nothing to show for it,” Bea said.

Trisha came over to rub my back. She wiped away a few of my tears but that didn't stop more from streaming down. How could wanting to be a part of a public service organization go so wrong?

“I know this is hard to think about right now, and I know you don't want to hear this, but I agree with Bea,” Dena stood up and said.

I yelled, “You guys don't even know if she's alive or not and all y'all care about is still being in someone's sorority?”

“Do you think Sharon would want us to quit?” Trisha asked.

I almost laughed, “Are you joking? Sharon wanted to quit herself.”

“I know everybody thinks differently,” Audria said, “and that's okay, but maybe we should put all of our focus on Sharon right now. We can worry about what happens with the line later.”

“That's good in theory,” Bea said, “But, if Ms. Berry asks us what happened and we don't all share the same response, then those of us who weren't thinking about throwing in the towel will be messed up anyways.”

“Ladies! I got here as fast as I could,” Cynthia Berry said, rushing toward us.

The five of us looked at each other. We knew we were in trouble.

BOOK: Work What You Got

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