[mhayes2410]

Sorry this post is late, but here it is. Enjoy!
******************

“Um, well…” Leila thought, trailing off as she contemplated her options. Both Emma and Britney watched on, waiting for Leila’s response. “Sure, yeah, I guess I’ll go with you,” Leila said, in a voice barely louder than a field mouse. She shifted uncomfortably again, becoming more and more demure with every passing moment. Emma smiled slyly, knowing she could use this to her advantage, if she played her cards right.

“I think you’ll love the place, we have one of the best sorority houses on campus,” said Emma, gently pulling Leila in her direction by the arm. Emma turned toward Britney as they walked away. “I’ll text you when we are all finished with the tour.” Britney nodded, smiling at Leila.

Leila was suddenly being pulled away, quite literally, from the one person she knew and trusted on the entire campus. Not only that, but she was headed right into one of the most prestigious sororities in the entire school, by someone who she met just five minutes prior. It was becoming too much for the poor young girl to handle.

A cool breeze blew past Leila, making her light sundress sway slightly, and sending a shiver down her spine. Leila was on edge, and not in a good way. She hadn’t felt this nervous in forever. Leila knew, though, that if she was going to get the most out of her college experience, she’d have to take leaps like this one. She just hoped that she could trust Emma…

As the girls walked along, Leila was growing more and more unfamiliar with where they were. She had yet to explore this side of the campus, so everything seemed almost foreign to her. Emma aimlessly chatted about her life to Leila, before turning her attention to the shy freshman.

“So, how do you like OCU so far?” Emma asked.

“Oh, I love it so far,” Leila said, relaxing ever so slightly. “Such a pretty campus.”

“Hopefully it’ll get to see more of you soon,” Emma replied, smirking slightly.

Emma’s phrasing was odd to Leila, but ultimately Leila paid no attention to it, as now they had arrived at what appeared to be their destination. Leila looked up to see a beautiful brick building with the words Booker Hall engraved into the façade. To the left were the symbols ΚΔ in bold, black type. The building was large, three stories tall, and looked to house at least 100 students.

“Welcome to Booker Hall, home of Kappa Delta,” Emma said as she opened the main door. “The building is empty right now since all of the sisters are down at rush.”

The two girls made their way into the entryway. Leila was stunned by the beauty of the building. It looked more like a mansion than a sorority house. The floors were made of a tan-colored marble, with large white pillars extruding from it up to the ceiling around the edges of the room. Directly ahead of them was a large staircase, flanked by two doors that led into a corridor of rooms on the first floor.

“What do you think?” Emma asked, smiling.

Leila was too stunned to speak at first. She was struggling to take it all in. “It’s beautiful,” she said, once she could finally speak again.

“Come on, I’ll take you around a little,” Emma replied, again leading the shy Leila on through the building.

The two girls walked through the halls on the first floor, first looking at some of the rooms for the other girls in the sorority. More spacious and luxurious than her own dorm room, Leila thought, but nothing overly spectacular. Leila was more impressed, though, when they came across the common room.

The common room sat at the center of the building, and extended through all three stories, with railings wrapping around the upper two floors so people could look down to the first floor below. Up on the ceiling was a gigantic skylight that shined light down onto what appeared to be a circular stage of some kind on the bottom floor.

“This is where we hold some of our events during the school year,” Emma explained, making the room sound much duller than it looked. Leila was in awe of the beauty of the architecture, which was well above that of the plain, boring dorm she currently called home.

Emma continued to show Leila around the other parts of the building, including the upper floors, which were essentially identical to each other. Eventually they made their way back to the common room, where Emma suggested they both take a break.

“So, what do you think? Pretty nice place, huh?” Emma asked, trying to sell the building as much as she could to young Leila.

“It’s incredible,” Leila said, looking up into the upper reaches of the common room in awe.

“Could you see yourself living here?” Emma asked, diving right in to her pitch to get Leila to pledge.

“I… I don’t know,” Leila said, laughing nervously. “I don’t know if the Greek life if really my thing.”

“Well, like I said before, our normal pledge process is tough, most girls never make it,” Emma said. “But… I really like you, so I could maybe make you an offer. Of course, you’d have to keep this quiet, we almost never do this.”

Leila paused for a moment. “Do what?” she asked quietly.

“Well, I could give you a sort of… personalized pledge process,” Emma said, deliberately taking her time so Leila could process all the information. “Basically, instead of pledging for the entire sorority, you would just pledge for me. Then, if I feel you’re up to it, I could then decide whether or not to accept you as a sister.”

Leila was slightly taken aback by this development. A personalized pledge process? Why was she being offered this? What did she have that made Emma believe she was sorority material? Emma, watching Leila interpret her comments, stepped in.

“Of course, it goes without saying, that you’d have to do everything I tell you too, no exceptions,” Emma explained. “I can’t make you pledge, but if you start and don’t finish, I’ll be very disappointed. And I don’t think either of us really wants that.” Emma smirked again slightly at her last comment.

“What would I have to do?” Leila asked.

“I can’t tell you unless you decide to go for it,” Emma said. “Basically, you can take my offer, or pledge like everyone else. Or, I suppose you could just leave and forget about it all together, but that would be such a shame, such a waste of someone who has so much potential.”

What does Leila decide to do?

A) Take Emma’s deal and pledge for her
B) Pledge like everyone else
C) Turn down both offers and walk back home