***
The Princeton field hockey team congregated in Forbes’s dining hall for dinner. Shelly had introduced me to everyone, and it felt amazing to be with people who cared about the sport as much as I did. Eventually, the girls started asking about me, myself, and I, and I couldn’t help but smile as I talked about my family and where we lived. “She’s also going to have a sister soon,” Shelly added when I said I just had one brother. “Austin is getting married this December.”
There was a moment of silence before an electric current seemingly zipped through the room, everyone bursting with questions.What is it about girls and weddings?I wondered.
“Do we like Katie?” Lois Hansen, the player from the Netherlands, asked. Her English was accented, but nearly perfect. “I sense there’s avibethere.”
I sighed, not very eager to talk about Katie. Lately, she’d been working her way into everything, but I didn’t feel closer to her at all. “She’s Katie. My brother loves her.” I shrugged. “I’m a bridesmaid.”
More enthusiastic squeals. “That’s so sweet!” a junior said. “Has she picked your dresses yet?”
“Actually, yeah,” I said, perking up. “I have a photo.”
When Amanda had emailed me my bridesmaid dress, I’d been shocked at first. Our dress was, in fact, the gown Courtney had modeled at the bridal salon: cranberry velvet with a tastefully lowcut neckline and ruffled sleeves.Katie has decided she wants us all in a uniform style, her sister had written.Please see theattached document with more information about sizing, ordering, etc. Let me know if you have any questions!
Mrs. Gallant must be thrilled,I thought. She’d loved that gown.
And itwaspretty, but I wondered what happened to the dresses it seemed Katie had actually wanted.
The conversation shifted after I said I knew nothing about Katie’s wedding dress.
It shifted to the famous eating clubs’parties.
My stomach started to squirm as the girls talked. Were we going to a party?
“It’s Tiger Inn tonight,” Shelly told me, sipping the last of her chocolate milk. “The theme is State Night.”
My eyebrows knitted together. “What does that mean?”
“Party like a state school,” someone said. “Which roughly translates togo as wild as you possibly can.”
I stayed quiet, on the brink of having an internal panic attack. Even though Princeton’s coach hadn’t explicitly said anything, I knew Shelly and the team weren’t supposed to take me to a party. There were rumors in the recruiting circuit that unofficial visits involved parties, but no one on my club team had ever proven them true. Plus, we were going to be playing field hockey tomorrow! Right after classes!
Lois nudged me out of my spiral. “Were you imagining a night in?” she whispered.
“Sort of,” I whispered back.
She smiled. “Trust me, it’s going to be fun.”
“Okay.” I tried to smile back. “If you say so.”
***
Princeton’s eating clubs were all grand old mansions lining idyllic Prospect Street, no two looking alike. The sun had set, but thanks to the streetlights, I still recognized Tower Club’s imposing brick exterior and limestone arch over the hulking mahogany front door. Its tower reminded me of a medieval castle, and I wondered if Marco was there. The lights were on inside, but otherwise, all was calm.
But at the Tudor down the street, things were decidedly not. An American flag and Tiger Inn’s orange club flag rippled in the evening breeze, and music pulsed from the house. Some students had clustered on the front lawn, all in various state school apparel. I spotted a few guys in mesh gym shorts and hideous muscle tees. PENN STATE, a blue and white one read.
And us field hockey girls?
Well, I supposed we had come dressed to impress. Everyone on Tiger Inn’s guest list had congregated in Shelly and Lois’s room to get ready and pregame. “Don’t worry, we’ve got an outfit for you,” Lois had told me after taking a pull of strawberry Smirnoff. She’d opened their wardrobe, and sure enough, clothes came spilling out. We’d all ended up more or less wearing the same outfit: crop tops, neon blue biker shorts, Converse, andhigh ponytails. My orange FLORIDA GATORS T-shirt had been cut so high that if I raised my arms even a little, you’d see my bralette. I admit Iwasa little envious of Shelly’s makeup collection—it looked like she’d robbed Sephora—but I’d wrinkled my nose when she pulled out tubes of body glitter. It was called “Unicorn Snot.”
Now, Shelly peeled off Prospect and confidently sauntered up to Tiger Inn’s bouncer to confirm we were on tonight’s list—everyone got a thumbs-up. The mansion’s front door had been propped open, and the foyer’s old wood floors creaked under our feet. Its sconces had been dimmed, but I made out the grand staircase ahead of us. A couple people were sneaking up its steps. Whatever was happening up there probably wasn’t good.
We turned neither left nor right into the house. Instead, Shelly led us toward the music, which turned out to be banging in the basement. I tucked my arms across my chest, immediately uncomfortable. The lighting was even worse than the foyer, nearly nonexistent unless you counted the flashing multicolored lights from the dance floor, and the whole room was steamy from all the body heat. “Drink, Mads?” Shelly called, but it sounded less like a question and more like a command.Drink, Mads!
She pointed over to the bar, where two burly upperclassmen manned legitimate beer taps. “Uh, sure,” I stuttered, if only because I desperately wanted something to do with my hands.
“And until then…” Lois winked before she magically produced a small silver flask from her bra. She took the first pull.
