My dad smiled. “Let me see what I can do. I heard he’s nice, but I’m better.” He winked.
CECILY’S INTERLUDE
It was the day before spring break started, and the board had called an impromptu meeting. The odd thing was that it was being held in my office. I nervously waited for the board members to come in. When the door opened, Robert entered with no one following behind him, so I thought. Moments later, someone else stepped into the room. Right then, I knew that my time was up. “Ms. August,” Robert said to me.
“Cecily,” Clark dryly addressed me.
What bothered me the most was that I wasn’t notified that he had been back. Clark looked at me like I didn’t deserve to be in this seat. I figured he enjoyed having me under him as he did all those years ago when he used my body as his pincushion of pleasure. I stood from the chair and walked around the desk. Robert stepped forward. “We appreciate your time as active dean; however, with Clark’s return, we do feel that he is capable of continuing his role. Your work with each student hasn’t gone unnoticed, but we believe that TSU needs more than a personal therapist for the students.”
I felt insulted. I felt overlooked. I felt that they didn’t see the bigger picture. I nodded slightly. “Robert, this campus needs more than a check from a sponsor. It needs more than someone like Clark, whose only goalis to ignore the code of ethics, to subtract the great things from the school like a math problem, to walk past the students without building chemistry, and to mentally play on their emotions like some type of psychology professor. This school needs its humanity back. Now I may not have displayed it wholly, but rather one student at a time. Today is my last day. I resign. The only ask I have is that you allow me to speak at Black Excellence Day.”
Clark smirked. “Cecily, I think you have made a great contribution to the school, and your resignation is bittersweet. Maybe now you can focus on your nephew and not everyone else.”
I normally didn’t let Clark’s words get to me because I knew he found pleasure in it all, but I needed to remind him and Robert of my time on the campus. “Clark, you know what you’re doing just as you did with Jesaiah. Let me remind you that your grandson came here like a raging storm, and from what I know, your troubles are deeper than this school. Your corrupt ways will catch up with you, and frankly, I can’t wait to see the day. You cannot show what Black excellence is if you are not an example yourself. Gentlemen.”
I pulled myself from the day I faced Clark. It had been years since I placed a drink to my lips, and as the jazz filled my ears, I swigged on my chilled whisky. I hit enter on my laptop and sat back as I watched the different videos play on the website that one of the students emailed me. Nobody knew who was behind filming these students, but if I had to guess, it was Clark. I watched my nephew treat these girls like they didn’t matter. I watched Mercier Hall become the center of the place to be wild. I watched my nephew treat his line like animals. I’ve watched Hawks Chapel become more than a study hall. It was so sad and so disappointing. I knew these students were battling things outside of this campus, and now this. I was trying to figure out how I could serve my purpose better to those around me. I figured my voice would be enough, but it didn’tseem that way. I was beginning to believe that the mission was dead and that I was merely a seat warmer for Clark. It wasn’t me who needed more time, but for the students to see that it was them who needed to show the excellence and not me. Was I right about TSU not having any humanity left? The only way to find out was to make sure we pulled off one hell of a Black Excellence Day.
CHAPTER TWENTY- SIX
The night screamed loudly as we stood at the Dead Zone. I had fucking made it to Initiation Day. The night started with running through the probate show. Our line was clean and on point. We had practiced the entire spring break to be sure we didn’t fuck it up today. We stood there as men who had made it through the storm. This moment meant a lot to me because through it all, I was still standing here. I was in a place some couldn’t stomach, in a place my father probably prayed for me to be. I was a Black man dedicating myself to something I saw the good in, even if Thick Neck tried to destroy it. I had fucking made it.
We glanced East over the lake as the bruhs from other chapters crossed the bridge to meet us on the other side. The very same lake that we had to cross to be purified to become men of the Chi. The sound of the paddle echoed through the woods as Thick Neck’s sinister grin peeked through the dark.
“It’s time to take it for the Chi!” Thick Neck barked.
Each guy bent over, gritting their teeth as we took seven for the Chi. It could have easily been twenty-one for the Chi, but they felt like it was too excessive. If it were up to Thick Neck, he would havedone it. Once the guys got through the paddle, we would cross the lake by swimming to the place we had been killing ourselves for almost the entire semester.
When it was my turn, I was ready. To my surprise, Stay Fly was the one paddling me while Thick Neck watched.
I bellowed as the first swat landed. “If it ain’t about Chi, then why?! We’re strong, we’re solid, and we’re dogs!”
Another one.
That was when Thick Neck squatted in front of me, snarling. “Harder!” he shouted.
Another one.
This time, Stay Fly put a little extra in it.
“Harder!”
Now I was getting pissed because, even down to the last few minutes of this, he was determined to make it hell. There was no humanity in this nigga, and I needed him to remember that when his ass was in the hot seat. So, instead of looking past him, my eyes landed on him.
“Harder!” he shouted again.
Eye to eye.
“You think I’m some bitch, huh, nigga?” I whispered.
Another paddle.
My body bucked forward. A grin eased onto my face as I took my last paddle hit for the Chi. I didn’t waste another second as I ran and jumped into the lake and took my swim across. Tears trickled down my face into the lake water with each stroke of my arm to get across. I thought about Zeus, my dad, my mother, and Samara. I did something I didn’t think I could, and a nigga was happy as I fucking crossed it. The bruhs crossed the small bridge to meet us on the other side with everyone else.
I was given a towel when I got out of the lake, and Big BrotherFreaky Zekey gave us words of wisdom about why swimming across the lake was important.
“Reborn a Chi man now, a neophyte.”
They handed each of us a flaming torch. We held them out as they circled us and went into Chi Kappa Chi’s creed. Each of us had one of the bruhs standing next to us pouring positive words into us, and that shit was breaking me down. They began giving names to each of us, and I was presented with Hades. Big brother Spitta stood next to me, explaining why they chose this name for me.
