“Oh my gosh. Totally. I’ve been waiting on this day for years.” She twists her ponytail into a bun on top of her head, secures it with her ponytail holder. “Are you gonna rush?”
“That’s my plan. What about you?”
“Yes!” When she smiles, I notice her dimples.
“Do you know which sorority you want?” I ask.
“Not really. My roommate’s mom and my mom were Alpha Delts together, like, way back when.” She pulls her legs up, sits cross-legged. “Anyway, her mother says she can’t pledge if she doesn’t choose Alpha Delt.” Ellie snickers when she says it.
My eyes grow wide.
“Right?”
“Yikes.” We both grimace at the same time.
“My mom doesn’t care which one I join. She just wants me to be happy.” She makes little quote marks when she says “happy.”
“Your mom sounds awesome.”What must that be like,I wonder.
“She is. My parents are, like, older than most of my friends’ parents, but they’re awesome.”
“I totally get that. I live with my grandparents, and—” I stop abruptly.Don’t go there. No need to overexplain.“So, what about you? Do you wanna be an Alpha Delt?”
She shakes her head, shrugs. “I don’t care all that much. I’m open. But I amgetting a little freaked out about it. Some of the girls from my high school who are sophomores this year are, like, ‘Stay out of the Grove. Don’t go to bars. Don’t do anything that someone in a sorority might hold against you. Don’t even go to a fraternity house till Rush is over.’”
“Oh, wow, I had no idea. Thanks for telling me.” This information is super helpful. Any information about pledging a sorority is super helpful.
“Yeah. I hear it’s getting much harder to get the House you want. With so many girls rushing and all. My mom heard there are, like, over two thousand rushees this year. And that even legacies will be cut. Are you a legacy?”
I knew legacy meant kinship to someone in a particular sorority. That’s one of the things I learned when I thoroughly researched all the Ole Miss sorority websites last year. I shake my head, purse my lips together. “Unfortunately not.”
“Oh, no big deal.” She swipes her hand through the air. “I’m sure you’ll be fine. Is there a certain sorority you want to be in?”
“Not really,” I say. “Alpha Delt would be nice. Or Chi O, Pi Phi, Kappa, maybe.” The last three were a few of the Houses I had been able to secure recs for. But at this point I know every sorority by heart and something about all of them. “Any of them really. I’m open, too.”
About that time another girl pokes her head inside my room. Ellie waves her in. She’s super pretty. Another blond with hair hanging down her back. Her makeup is thick—lots of base, eyeliner, and eye shadow—and she’s wearing what I now assume to be the official Ole Miss uniform: black workout shorts, a big T-shirt, and Nike tennis shoes. Ellie’s wearing the same thing, but she’s not wearing makeup.
Ellie hops up, hooks her arm through the girl’s arm. “Annie Laurie Whitmore, meet Cali… what’s your last name?”
“Watkins. Nice to meet you, Annie Laurie.”
“You, too,” she says with a stark white, toothy grin. For some reason I can’t tell if her expression is real or not. Probably because she’s got wandering eyeballs, studying every inch of my room like she’s the Inspector General. When she touches my comforter I can’t help but notice the beautiful ring on her right hand and the one on her left, similar, yet with different color gemstones. The same style jewelry is around her neck.Andon her wrists.
“I love your jewelry,” I say. “It all matches.”
Annie Laurie glances at Ellie, smiles that smile again. “Thanks. It’s Yurman.”
“I can’t say I know what…Yurmanis, but it sure is pretty.”
“Yurman is the designer,” Annie Laurie explains. “DavidYurman.” I catch her looking at my bare fingers before she touches her earlobes. I shrink.
“You have matching earrings, too?” I say. “That’s so cool.”
“Thanks,” she says again, and continues looking around. “Did y’all move in today?”
I nod. “After waiting three hours. How about that line? Wasn’t that crazy?”
Annie Laurie’s eyes dart over to Ellie then back at me. “I don’t know. We didn’t move in today.” Then she pulls out her phone to answer a text.
