“Y’all need to check with a real professional on that,” Annie Laurie says in a condescending tone. “Someone besides Ellie’s dad. If my mom thought it was a smart business decision for Alpha Delt, she would have done it already. She only has our best interests at heart, y’all.”
“Best interests? Seems like taking care of your people is in your best interests,” Jasmine says under her breath. “But what do I know?”
As awkward and weird and uncomfortable as this is, I pretty much can’t take Annie Laurie anymore. All the mean comments she’s made since school started, and the snobby way she’s treated me—not to mention her mother snooping into my past and lying to my grandparents—all of it has pushed me to my tipping point. She’s just like her mother. I step toward her. “What is it with you and your mother, Annie Laurie? I mean, seriously.”
Her shoulders rear back, but I step closer. Now I’m only a few feet from her.
“Y’all’s main concern is how Alpha Delt looks on the outside, not the inside. It’s obvious you don’t care that our staff barely makes enough to survive, as long as the house looks pretty and has a Southern aristocratic image—with only black people working there.”
When a look of shock passes over Annie Laurie’s face I have to admit I’m surprised at myself, too. But I keep going. “Have y’all ever stopped to think abouthowthe House looks as nice as it does? Or about that delicious home-cooked meal you eat every day now? Maybe y’all think a genie lives in the kitchen and… abracadabra,poof!Four hundred fifty dinners appear on the tables by magic!”
I hear nervous laughter behind me, but I don’t care. “Our staff work their butts off.” When I say this my voice cracks because I can’t help thinking about Miss Ophelia dead in the ground, and Miss Pearl missing her so much. And all the other things she told me about working there. “Don’t you and your mother think they deserve to be compensated for the hard work they do?”
“They get paid holidays and perks you don’t even know about,” Annie Laurie says. “They rack in a ton of Christmas presents.” Straight from her mother’s lips to hers. But the way she said it seems like she was just quoting her mother. Her arms are no longer crossed. And she’s rubbing the insides of her palms anxiously.
“Surely you don’t believe that makes much of a difference for them, do you?”
Instead of her signature smirk, she gives a slight shrug with an uncertain gaze.
“You shouldwantto help the Alpha Delts make a difference. You’re a part of the sisterhood.”
Now she’s staring at the floor.
“Do you know why everyone in our sorority wants this change?”
She doesn’t answer, but I sense she’s paying attention.
“Because it’s flat-out wrong. You say your mom has Alpha Delt’s best interests at heart? If that’s true, then you tell me what’s good about paying our staff less than we get for babysitting jobs. Especially when they’re the ones doing work most of us wouldn’t be caught dead doing. Like cleaning all those toilets.”
Her breath catches.
“It seems to all of us in this room”—I turn around to look at my friends—“and I’m betting most every sorority girl and fraternity boy on this campus would agree… providing benefits for the staff is well worth the fifteen-dollar-a-month sacrifice.”
“Amen,” Hannah says behind me.
“I wholeheartedly agree,” Tara adds.
“Look. I know it’s hard to go against your mother, but you don’t have to be like her. Trust me. I know that firsthand.” I shift a quick glance toward Ellie. “Wouldn’t it be the right thing to make sure that when the people on our staff retire they have a few extra dollars to live on?” My voice softens. Now I’m pleading with her. “We should be the kind of sorority that goes the extra mile for people. We should be the kind of sorority that makes sure the people who work for us don’t have to sit up all night worrying about how they’ll feed their children or how to keep their lights on. We should be the kind of sorority that places a high value on those sweet people.That,Annie Laurie, is what it means to have Alpha Delt’s best interests at heart.”
My heart is beating super fast. Saying all this to her has taken every bit of courage I can muster. I’m trying to psych myself up for whatever nasty comment she’s about to regurgitate, but the truth is I don’t care what she says to me anymore. I know I’m right.
Instead of slinging another of her normal mud-coated remarks, Annie Laurie bursts into tears. Hands fly up, covering her face. It’s not at all what I expected. I glance at the others to see what they’re thinking, and their mouths are pretty much hanging open, too.
“Y’all don’t understand,” Annie Laurie says through genuine tears. “You have no idea what it’s like to… She’s not… My mom might not think the way y’all do, but I have Alpha Delt’s best interests at heart. I love my sorority.” Her eyes plead with us, like she’s sorry, but instead of saying so she turns and runs off toward her room, leaving us all with our eyes popping out of our skulls. For a long, stretched-out moment everyone stays perfectly still. Then we hear a door slamming shut.
“That was so random,” Tara whispers. “I never saw that coming.”
We all look at Ellie, who holds her palms up. “Don’t look at me! I don’t know what’s in that head of hers.”
“Maybe you got to her, Cali,” Jasmine says.
I stumble back in shock as my friends look at me in admiration.
“You were awesome,” Bailey says.
“No joke. I’m so proud of you right now,” Ellie says, hugging me from behind.
Bailey grips her forehead. “Seriously, though. What’s wrong with her?”
