Most of us stand up and clap. Once the applause dies down, Jessica Olson pops up from the middle and motions for the mic. “Y’all, think about what’s happening here. It’s pretty bad. Don’t you agree?” She looks around to see who’s on her side.
From where I’m sitting it looks like everyone is nodding.
“Right? But there are twelve of us who don’t agree, so I just want to say to them: Y’all don’t have to walk out with the rest of us, but I sure wish you’d change your minds. Maybe you don’t know Miss Pearl yet, but I have a story to tell you. Most of you know my mom died last year.” Jessica’s voice cracks and she closes her eyes to fight back tears. “Miss Pearl checked on me every single morning when she got to work for, like, five months. She let me cry on her shoulder, whether it be morning, noon or night. She’d call me, text me, send me scripture verses. Whenever I needed her, she was there. She so deserves this promotion. And one more thing. Did y’all know she’s a math whiz? Seriously. Give me a show of hands if Miss Pearl has helped you out with math.” She looks around the room and several girls have their handsraised. “See? College degree or not, Miss Pearl is a very smart woman. I’ll sit down now, but honestly, y’all. This is a no-brainer, and I agree with Lizzie, we need to stage a protest. What are they gonna do at the National office? Spank us?”
Everyone laughs and Jessica gives the mic back to Selma.
Another girl stands up. “I’m totally in favor of all this, but when? Let’s get a date nailed down and do it.”
“I don’t think we should wait,” yet another girl says. “Let’s do it next weekend. We have an away game. It’s the perfect time.”
“Okay. That sounds great,” Selma says. “Let’s get back together later in the week and iron out all the details. I’m super proud of everyone for wanting to do the right thing. Y’all are difference makers. You truly are.” Now she’s scanning the room. “Speaking of, Ellie, will you and Cali please come up here,” she says, waving us to the front. Ellie and I leave our chairs and scoot past others on our row. As I’m walking to the front I’m swelling with pride to be an Alpha Delta Beta.
Once we’re next to Selma, she says, “As you know, these two girls have spearheaded our campaign for staff benefits. Ellie’s dad, who’s a lawyer in Memphis, has been advising us as well. And Cali is the one Miss Pearl confided in this afternoon.”
My nerves have dissipated. I’m smiling inside and out. This whole plan is coming together much better than I could have ever dreamed.
“So we’ll adjourn for now. Everyone put your hand over your heart. I want to see a group secret swear that you will all keep this to yourselves.”
The active members place four fingers over their hearts, something we pledges don’t know about yet.
“Oops, my bad!” Selma presses her palm to her forehead. “Sorry, new members. This meeting has left us no choice but to break tradition.”
The handle on the chapter room door jangles. We all can hear someone fiddling with the lock. From where I’m standing in the front of the room I watch every head in front of me whirl around to the back. The door swings open. Lilith Whitmore appears in the doorway dressed in a fancy outfit and high heels, wearing a smirk on her face.
A toe-curling hush falls over the crowd. Only the slow, steady tapping of her heels breaks the deathly silence. All 430 some-odd heads turn towardthe center aisle at once, as our House Corp President saunters to the front of the room. When I steal a sidelong glance at Mrs. Woodcock her entire face has gone white. Ellie reaches over to squeeze her mom’s hand. Selma and Lizzie look down at their toes and gnaw on their bottom lips. Everyone seems scared of her except me. Why would I be afraid of her now? There’s nothing else she can do to hurt me. So I stare right into her eyes, daring her to cross me again.
No one is moving. You could hear a kitten’s breath, it’s so still. When Mrs. Whitmore reaches the front of the room she turns around and makes a purposeful inspection of the crowd. The best I can figure is she’s looking for Annie Laurie. When she’s convinced her daughter’s nowhere to be found, she simply raises her chin and struts back down the center aisle. We all watch as she passes through the chapter room door without uttering a single word.
SIXTY-SIX
WILDA
When I saw Lilith standing in the chapter room doorway sneering at us all—dressed in a light blue suit that must have come from Neiman Marcus’s couture room, and that pin on her bosom—I almost wet my pants. Because I was the only advisor in the room. I would be the one who had to deal with her. All I kept thinking was:You idiot. Why didn’t you resign when you had the chance?As she strutted toward the front, I could feel the blood draining from my face. But when I felt Ellie reaching for my hand I knew I had to be strong. I had to show her what I was made of.
But Lilith left. She saw all of us staring at her wide-eyed and did an about-face. The security guard—well, he was dressed like one—came running in the second she was out of sight. Completely devastated.
“I tried to stop her!” he announced in a panic. “I even pulled my gun. But she barged right past me and used her key. I didn’t think you’d want me to shoot her.”
When I recounted the entire scene to Haynes later that night, he said, “The only reason she did that was to prove she could get past the security guard. Lilith Whitmore was not about to stand up in front of those girls and admit she’s a racist. She cares far too much about what people think.”
Now here we are, ten days later, in a crowd of a few thousand, standing in the street in front of the Alpha Delt House with our eyes locked on Lilith and Gage, who are watching the protest from a safe distance away. Lilith has finally been outwitted. There’s no way she’ll embarrass herself today. Not in front of this many people. And certainly not in front of a television camera.
“I wonder who tipped off Channel Five?” I say to Haynes. Their news truck has been parked in front of the House since ten o’clock this morning.
He shoots me a sly smile.
My mouth flies open.“Haynes Woodcock!”
“Four hundred and thirty-eight college girls walking out on their sorority to take a stand for their beloved housekeeper who’s been denied a promotion because of her skin color? That’s big news.”
I’m staring at him in shock.
“I figured a little help from the media couldn’t hurt the cause.” He winks and smiles devilishly.
“Don’t you know Lilith is furious right now? I’m surprised she’s even here.” I can’t take my eyes off of her. Several times now she’s put her phone up to her ear, then hung up abruptly. Like she’s calling someone who isn’t answering. “How many people do you think are here today?”
Haynes scans the crowd, which has spilled into the street halfway down Sorority Row. “Looks like Bid Day to me. It’s hard to tell, but I’m guessing two or three thousand?”
