[sarahsarah]

Chapter 2

The week passed by in a blur and Jade had made sure that she and Iris had attended every single one of the rush events they could. She had met some really nice people, sisters and potential pledges, had a great time and knew that she had done everything she could to secure one of those twenty spots available. Despite her slightly shy persona, Jade tried to put herself out there and get noticed by as many of the sisters as possible during the five days. She had remembered every name she was told, talked to anyone who would listen and importantly, left an impression.

Jade spent the entire evening worrying and hoping, daring to dream. Right next to her on the sofa was Iris; the two were sat in silence, completely nervous. Today was the day that they found out if they had made it into the top twenty pledges and would go to the month culling period. If they had made it, a golden envelope would appear through the door at some point in the morning. Jade anxiously checked her watch again, as she had been every five minutes for the last two hours. It was half past nine and she was beginning to assume it wasn’t to be, that she hadn’t done quite enough to impress the sisters.

The rattling noise made both sisters jump and shoot to their feet. Jade peered around the living room door, looking down the corridor towards the letterbox. A single gold envelope sat on the floor underneath it. She stared at her sister and was met by an equally worried glance. There was only one envelope. It was blank on the front but there was no mistaking it was from the sorority; for Jade it only meant that either Iris or she had failed to make it in. Iris picked up the envelope and slowly took out the message inside and read it to herself. Jade didn’t know what was written in the message but she watched as Iris’ face dropped into a glum, disappointed expression.

“Congratulation, you made it in,” Iris stated bluntly before shoving the letter into Jade’s hand and shoving past her. Jade stared bluntly at the back of the paper, scared to turn it over. Had she made it in, at the expense of her own sister? Unable to resist any longer, Jade turned over the envelope and read the message. She was so confused that she read it a second time as well. ‘We hereby invite both Jade Miller and Iris Miller to join us at the sorority house for a chance to join the sisterhood. The address is below and we will expect you as soon as your lectures are finished on Monday.’

The confusion didn’t change for Jade; why did Iris seem unhappy? She quickly turned to find out and was met by a beaming smile from her sister. Iris rushed forward and hugged her tightly and Jade felt herself squeezing as well. They jumped, cheered and celebrated. It was actually happening; they were getting a chance to join the sorority they wanted, and they could do it together.

“I can’t believe it Iris,” Jade said, struggling to form words through the excitement, “Both of us.”
“I know, just need to impress them more now,” Iris replied, smiling. Jade knew her smile was stretching wider than ever. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this happy. Her expression quickly turned to annoyance though.
“You bitch!” Jade shouted, “You let me think you hadn’t made it in. I was so disappointed. I can’t believe you pulled that old trick.” Iris burst into laughter.
“I know, but I couldn’t resist it. Shall we crack open a bottle of bubbly? I think we deserve to celebrate,” Iris asked before heading to the kitchen, not waiting for an answer. Jade looked back down at the envelope in her hands; it didn’t feel real. A tear formed in her eye, one of happiness.

Monday arrived in no time and the minute that her midday lecture had finished, Jade was out of the door in a flash. She couldn’t wait to get to the sorority house. Only ten minutes later, that’s where she stood, staring at the sorority house just a few weeks after starting her university life. Jade had barely been able to listen in the class; she knew that her entire focus was on this moment. She wished that Iris was stood beside her but knew her sister was fortunate enough to have no lectures on a Monday and was probably already inside.

All her and Iris had talked about the last few days was what they thought the house would be like. Would it have a big kitchen? How many bathrooms did they get? How big was the TV? They were pointless questions whilst fantasising about what was to come. Jade knew there was still a long way to go and she was trying not to get ahead of herself. The house was already overwhelming; it was huge, four stories high, detached and wider than any building on the road. A long garden with a winding path led to an old fashioned front door.

Jade knocked on the large wooden door and it was opened shortly after by Monica. As the president looked her over, a smile grew wide on her face in a friendly welcoming expression. “Jade, I’m so happy that you made it. Your sister is already here in the living room and I’m sure everyone can’t wait to meet you again.”
“Thanks, I can’t wait to see everyone,” Jade replied happily before walking inside. She took off her shoes and started to follow in the direction Monica had disappeared, presumably towards the living room. She bumped into a sister she wasn’t sure she had met before.

“Oh, sorry Iris, I didn’t see you there,” the girl stated quickly.
“Actually, it’s Jade,” Jade replied, smiling.
“Oh… I’m so sorry. I could’ve sworn you said your name was Iris. I wasn’t at the rush events so struggling to work out all the names,” the sister apologised. Jade giggled.
“Actually, I think you might have met my twin sister who is already here. Don’t worry though, it happens all the time,” Jade stated friendlily. The girl looked slightly confused for a second before returning the smile.
“Oh, that’s cool. We’ve had sisters in the sorority before. It was a couple of years ago but one of them is still here. Not sure we’ve ever had twins before though. I’m Chloe by the way.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jade replied. There was something strange about Chloe’s response in Jade’s opinion. She knew twins were uncommon, particularly at the same school, but there was almost a shock at the thought of it from Chloe. It was almost as if she seemed to be hiding something.

The two girls wandered into the living room and Chloe instantly glared towards Iris when they entered. Quickly Iris saw them and waved Jade over hurriedly. Jade rushed over to her twin sister who was sat with a mixture of pledges and older sisters. “Glad you finally made it Jade,” Iris stated.
Jade quickly said hello to everyone and introduced herself to the few girls she didn’t recognise. Most she had been fairly friendly with during rush week.

“Jenny was just talking to me about Cal,” Iris stated to Jade. Jade hurriedly listened in, intrigued to know more about her cousin.
“Yeah, I was really good friends with Cal. We both did gymnastics and were on the team. It helped with certain things quite a lot,” Jenny began. A few girls sniggered at the comment but most of the potential pledges looked confused. “Anyway, it was your cousin who actually convinced me to join this sorority in the first place and I couldn’t thank her more for it.” Jade looked over the very small girl, she didn’t look like a natural gymnast.
“That’s fascinating,” Jade replied, “It was Cal who said that me and Iris should try and join here if we got the chance.”
“I’m surprised you both took her up on the offer,” Jenny replied instinctively, “I mean… we aren’t the biggest of universities.”
“Oh yeah, but Cal seemed so passionate about it. I mean, it was pretty much all she talked about,” Jade replied.
“We couldn’t really resist the temptation,” Iris added.
“That’s cool,” Jenny said. She glanced over the two sisters, surprised by just how identical they actually were. Jenny knew she had almost stumbled at the first hurdle and knew she needed to be more careful so early on.

Jade settled down quickly amongst the girls and enjoyed the different conversations she had with all of the sisters. It almost felt like she belonged already. Once everybody had arrived, they had a tour of the house and it was everything that Jade had hoped for and more. The place was enormous; the living area alone was phenomenal. The fireplace was majestic, the dining room big enough for everyone, the kitchens fitted with anything they could possibly need, and the bedrooms. The bedrooms made Jade giddy with excitement, especially the older sisters’ rooms where they had them to themselves. She knew it was what she wanted.

Jade had plenty of time over the next month to increase that desire even further. She spent at least five hours of every day in the house including dinner every evening as was customary. Surprisingly it had been quite smooth sailing; everybody had seemed very friendly, if not overly friendly at times. Jade had almost expected something to be wrong, something to make her doubt the place, but nothing did. Getting to know all the sisters had been challenging, but Jade had enjoyed trying to do so, trying to get them to open up and talk freely with her. Everybody seemed extremely welcoming to her but one thing surprised her.

Jade knew that the sorority currently had twenty nine older sisters. Apparently one sister had left the sorority for good last year, vowing never to return. At least that’s what a junior sister had told her, but she struggled to find out exactly why that was. Despite this though, Jade had still only met twenty eight of the older sisters and talked to them. No matter when she was around the house, the last sister never seemed to be anywhere in sight. A senior girl had told her not to expect to see her during the month but it was still confusing.

Everything about the house had caused Jade to fall in love with it. There were a few odd moments which caught her out every now and then, like when a girl had casually spanked her on saying goodbye but she passed it off as a strange sense of humour. The whole place had a warm atmosphere about it, a sense that the sisterhood was more than a phrase, but almost a way of life amongst the girls. Sisters here had helped her, had fun with her and she knew that she could probably call some of them friends. It had barely seemed like a day since the month had begun but suddenly it was over. The culling period had come to an end. A month to the day that the Jade and Iris had celebrated receiving the invitation, Monica gathered all the girls for an announcement in the dining room.

It was Sunday afternoon and Jade stood against the back wall of the dining room. Her twin sister stood next to her, gripping her hand tightly. All twenty of the potential pledges were in a long line. Jade glanced from left to right; some of these girls she now considered good friends, others she still barely knew, but she did know, that ten of them were about to say goodbye to what they had spent a month dreaming about. Jade’s stomach was in knots, the tension nearly overpowering her. The three officers stood at the opposite wall, formal and waiting. The seven other senior sisters sat at one of the tables. Nine junior and nine sophomore girls sat at two other tables. One table was empty with ten seats waiting, the ten seats to be filled with the waiting pledges.

Monica silenced the room. “Ladies, I want to thank every one of you for finding the time to come out here over the last month. I can honestly say that you have all been fantastic and it has been great getting to know you. Can we get a round of applause for our prospective pledges?” Monica said. The room exploded into thunderous applause from all of the sisters present. Monica let it run on, allowing the pledges to savour in knowing the impression that they had left. Eventually after a few minutes, she brought it to a halt.

“I’m glad to say that the month culling period is over. Unfortunately that means that we have to let half of you go and those won’t be returning after today. I really do wish I could take the majority of you in as you have all been phenomenal. However, we have rules and restrictions to follow and can only take a maximum of ten.” Every word that Monica spoke increased the nerves in Jade. She could feel her sister shaking next to her as well. This was the moment she had awaited for so long and now she was dreading it. She knew almost all the girls were as deserving as her and that only made it more terrifying.

“I don’t want to keep you waiting any longer ladies. I will read out each name in no particular order until we have a completely full pledge class. The pledges of this year are…” Monica said as a sharp intake of breath could be heard around the room, “Kylie Quinn.” The room cheered as Kylie smiled ecstatically but not celebrating in respect for the other pledges. She walked forward quietly and took a seat at the empty table as Monica gestured her to do so.

“Cat Johnson,” Monica read the second name and let her take her place. She continued to read pledge after pledge. “… Becca Williams… Holly Reid… Kelly Jones… Iris Miller,” Monica exclaimed. Jade couldn’t help but cheer as well as her twin’s name was read out. Iris smiled gleefully and took her seat at the table before nervously turning back to see her sister waiting. Only four pledges were left to be chosen now and the nerves and tension had reached a new level.

“Helen Barker,” Monica continued, reading the seventh name, “… Vickie Anderson… Isabella Santos…” Monica announced the ninth name. Jade knew now that her chances were slim. Only one place remained to be let into the sorority and eleven girls wanted it.

“Our final pledge for this year is… Beth Sullivan,” Monica called out. A final cheer went up around the room and Jade stood motionless, frozen in shock. She glanced at Iris who was sadly staring back at her. Jade reluctantly slumped from the room with the other nine unsuccessful girls. Her spirit felt crushed. She felt tears falling down her cheeks, but these certainly weren’t from happiness.