[sarahsarah]

Chapter 3

The culling period arrived and although Mia slept in her dorms, went to her classes, ate breakfast and lunch in the canteens she spent every other moment at the sorority house. The house was incredible, everything that she’d dreamed it could be and more. Mia was already increasing her desire to live in it. The floors were hard wood and the walls coated in yellow paint gave the place an eloquent glow. The large bay windows helped bathe the place in natural light. The ground floor was entirely a communal living area.
Just off the foyer was a large living room area with a huge mounted television and plenty of sofas. Normally the sorority would consist of 40 girls and the living room could probably accommodate the vast majority of that number. The far wall had a large fireplace only used throughout winter. The foyer also led to a set of stairs which led to the three upper floors made up of the sororities living areas.

The opposite side of the living room had a double door which led to a large dining room. This was made up of 4 ten person tables, one for each year group. A door led off into the large kitchen and the ground floor bathrooms. The top three floors as aforementioned were the living areas. Each floor consisted of ten bedrooms, five on each side of a long hallway. The first floor was shared by the freshman and sophomores. The lower two classes would have to share bedrooms. At the end of each hallway was a large bathroom with five cubicles, five sinks and five showers. The actual bedrooms were quite small but very homely. The next floor was for Juniors who got private bedrooms and the top floor for the Seniors. The top rooms came with large windows and walk onto balconies, the benefit of moving up a floor. From the first day that Mia took the tour with the other prospective pledges, she wanted one of those ten rooms.

Mia was given plenty of time in the culling month to pine after those rooms as well, with every moment not taken with other activities spent in the house. They were all expected to have dinner every day with the sorority as well. Mia had been anxious that the culling period would be rough, that each moment would be a test of a potential pledge’s resolve. In fact it was nothing like that; Mia was completely uncertain what they were being judged on. The sorority and potential pledges just seemed to spend most days hanging out.

Getting to know all of the 30 sisters hadn’t been straight forward, well 29 as she already knew Steph but it had been enjoyable to find out about them even if she struggled to learn all the names. Mia resorted to getting pictures and flash cards to remember them but within a few days she knew them all. She spent time watching TV, playing games in the garden, having conversations and just getting along. Everybody seemed nice and welcoming, each wanting to know more about her.

Everybody except one person that is, Steph. Mia hadn’t spoken properly with her sister since the day she’d arrived and although Steph hadn’t been outright aggressive towards her, there was a cool atmosphere around them. Steph treated all the other pledges with a warm, affectionate and inviting manner but Mia was given the cold shoulder. She wondered what her sister might be saying behind her back, but whatever it happened to be Mia noticed no difference in the way the other sisters treat her.

As the days stretched into weeks, Mia did start to observe the odd few things in passing within the sorority. They seemed like isolated, harmless things and as they were happening they were barely even noticeable. Often she noticed a sister might give a perspective pledge a playful swat on the behind after doing them a favour. It was almost jock like behaviour but seemed slightly odd. The other strange occurrence over the month is that she’d noticed absolutely no girls bring home a boy. It might be because of the culling process but it caught Mia as strange. As well as this the girl’s compliments were a little out of the ordinary. They would comment on someone’s looks but in a way which wasn’t, ‘I love what you you’ve done with your hair’, but more like ‘You look so good I want to run my fingers through your hair’.

Again this wasn’t as if they happened every second but just the rare occasion. These things occurred over a period of month, when taken in isolation Mia might have expected something more but in small doses they passed completely under her radar. Most of the time it was completely chilled, without any possible underlining current; Mia only thought the girls were comfortable, and she liked it that way.

In fact Mia loved being there; it was everything that she hoped it possibly could be. The warm atmosphere, the friendship and camaraderie, the fun, sense of purpose, people to talk to and people with a knowledge of the college which she could learn from. As every day passed, Mia knew more that she wanted to stay, dreading the day when they would find out for certain, hoping she’d overcome any speed bumps that Steph was providing her with. The month passed in an absolute whirlwind, each day making her tension grow, wanting to know but fearing it. One month to the day that Mia received her first invitation Alexis gathered the girls together in the dining room for an announcement.

It was Sunday afternoon and the 18 pledges remaining after two dropped out stood against the back wall of the dining room. Mia was stood in the middle of them, her stomach rolling and tying knots, she felt sick completely with nerves. Mia looked for Steph for any indication but her Sister looked completely formal, next to Alexis giving nothing away. The three officers stood against the opposite wall with all the other sisters sat at the tables. Mia felt as if she were lining up for a firing squad.

Alexis hushed the room. “Alright ladies, I want to first of all thank each and every one of you for coming out the last month. It has been a complete pleasure to get to know each and every single one of you. Can we get a round of applause for our prospective pledges?” The room erupted into clapping and whooping from the sisters. It ran on for nearly a minute loudly before Alexis once again silenced the room.

“Fortunately now the month long culling period is over. Unfortunately that means nearly half of you won’t be returning after today. This year’s class was incredibly strong and we could easily have let in thirteen or fourteen of you but we are restricted to ten.” Every second that Alexis spoke brought more nerves in Mia. She looked down the line or girls standing next to her, each looking anxious and scared. She’d got to know a lot of them and wondered if she made it, which of her friends might be forced to leave. Mia snapped herself back, telling herself not to jinx it.

“Well without torturing you all further, let’s get on with it.” An intake of breath could be heard among the pledges and Mia could sense the excitement in all the sisters who weren’t the officers. “I will read each name in no particular order until we have our full pledge class.” At that point Alexis began to read, one name and then two. Three then four, five then six, seven, eight, and nine names all read out. Girls heard there name said and smiled in ecstasy, but kept calm, not wanting to rub it in to the girls waiting as there odds shortened by the second. Each name made Mia more certain that Steph had achieved exactly what she wanted; she had done what she set out to do. Mia could feel tears forming in her eyes as each name passed by.

“Our final pledge for this year,” Alexis continued after giving the ninth person a moment to bask in her excitement, “should really feel at home in this sorority. Not only will she get a new family with the sorority but she actually has family in the sorority. Mia Close!” Mia’s head started to spin, she was in, her name was called, and she made it. She saw Alexis who was beaming at her and then looked across to her sister. Steph was refusing to make eye contact with her but the expression was strange. It didn’t look like anger, not even disappointment, but almost like she was scared.

As Mia thought it through, the girls who weren’t selected slumped out of the room. As Mia looked back over the people who had gotten in, miraculously it was most of the girls that she had gotten close with. Somebody began to cheer, and soon everybody joined in. Mia was hugging the girls who had made it into her pledge class and the sisters who decided to join them. After a while Alexis eventually called the group back to order. Everybody intermingled turned to look back at her.

“Now that you are here, and it is just the sorority, I want to welcome you all and say congratulations.” Everybody cheered again. “As you all know, we voted on this last night and have coordinated it with the school authorities. All of your items have been moved throughout the day; if you were unable to get into your dorms, this will be why. Your rooms have your names on them so feel free now to go upstairs, put your items away and meet your new roommates.”

Some girls started to file out the door quickly, but although Mia wanted to see her room she quickly spoke up. “What about pledge week, do we have any info on that yet?” Some of the girls smiled, everyone paused, but Alexis grinned before replying.
“Worry about pledge week when it arrives. You will have plenty enough to keep you busy then.” A lot of the upper classes began to laugh and Mia was confused about what the joke was but as she saw the other pledges rush to find their rooms she hurried to follow them.

Mia immediately cleaned any thoughts of pledge week from her head, as she bounded up the flight of stairs. All the doors on the freshman side were wide open, some girls already there. Mia looked for her name and finally found it on the last door before the bathroom. She saw her name next to her brand new roommate, Becky.

Becky was already inside, sat on her bed. The items were scattered randomly around the room except for the bedding already made on the two beds. As Mia walked in, Becky smiled widely, jumped up off the bed and ran to hug her. “Oh my god Mia, we made it, we’re in.”
The excitement of her was huge and Mia found that she couldn’t help join in, they were both, hugging, giggling and smiling together. “I know, I can’t believe it.”

Mia was extremely happy to find Becky as her roommate. They lived in the same dormitory before rush, but had really become close in the last month. She was so much fun, surprisingly smart considering first impressions, coming out with witty comments that would take you a while to understand for its subtlety. She remembered what everyone liked, and what they didn’t, she made a point of diffusing any hostile atmosphere. She seemed loyal, and a great friend. It was a perfect match, although Mia would happily have shared a room with any of the girls.

“So Mia, or is it Amy now?” Becky asked a little confused.
Mia laughed. “Still Mia, I’ve grown to like the name.”
“OK Mia, I was thinking we just leave the beds as they’re made but we can change if you want to but I don’t care. There is a closet for each of us, and I was thinking of putting my desk against this window as I like to look out when doing homework but that means you have to put yours against the other window as it’ll be the only place big enough. If you don’t want to we’ll work out something else. We could try it and move it differently if it doesn’t work, that was just my first thought. Also what do we do if someone brings a boy back? I was just thinking about that but don’t really know.”
Mia was struggling to keep up with Becky who was travelling a mile a minute, though she would happily admit that Becky would have little trouble luring a boy back if she wanted to. Becky was absolutely stunning. She was slightly taller than Mia at five foot six inches and a little slimmer. She had long red hair and large soulful eyes. She had a round slim face, small nose, red lips and wide smile. Her body was incredible; she had perky 34B breasts, flat stomach, toned behind and shapely legs. Mia wouldn’t be surprised to see many socks on doorknobs this year.
“So what do you think?”

“I have no idea.” Mia replied honestly. “I’m too excited to think, but whatever we do I’m sure it’ll be amazing.” Becky beamed even brighter and they hugged again. They started to arrange the room exactly as Becky had suggested and Mia couldn’t deny that the girl had a good eye for it, plus she was still just happy to be here.
They were interrupted by Hannah calling everybody down for dinner. A chef came twice a day to cook meals paid for by the sorority, but the girls were allowed to cook for themselves if they preferred. Nobody mentioned pledge week through the whole meal though.
Each of the officers gave a speech but despite how warm they were, educational on the sorority history it gave the pledges little clue as to anything.

After dinner all the pledges quickly departed to finish their rooms and eventually fall asleep.

Mia awoke to the sound of crashing and slamming. It was like thunder in the bedroom, almost as if it was right in her head. It was incredibly loud, disorientating and Mia forgot where she was for a second. She shot up instantly and glanced at the clock seeing it was three in the morning. Her eyes shot around the room until they rested on the senior girl, Michelle, in the doorway. She was holding a metal bin and smashing a metal spoon against the end of it. She could hear more girls doing the same thing in the hallway. She finally put her finger on what was going on. Pledge Week.