Joy searched the crowds for her sister and Angel in the crowded Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. There were people everywhere, and it took a few minutes before Joy spotted her sister’s dark red hair.
“I thought I’d lost you!” Joy said as she caught up to them.
“This place is crazy,” Libby said.
“It’s a snap compared to flying in, which would have been awful,” Angel said.
“Where do we go from here?” Libby asked.
“Just a sec, I’ll try and find those directions,” Angel said, digging in her backpack.
“Why don’t we just take a cab? It’ll be faster,” Joy suggested, heading for the doorway. When she got outside there wasn’t a taxi in sight.
“Isn’t this the city with a billion taxis?” Joy asked.
“Uh, I don’t think so . . . ” Libby said, pointing towards a newsstand, with the front page of the New York Times displaying the headline “Taxi Strike Stalls City”.
“Great,” Joy sighed. “I guess it’s the subway then.”
“I found them!” Angel said triumphantly, pulling out a balled up piece of paper. “We get on the E line, then get on the Green Line Six.”
“Doesn’t sound too hard. The subway station is right here,” Joy said, ushering them towards the entrance.
“There it is!” Libby said, pointing towards a train pulling into the station. They pushed with the crowds onto the car, and held on as it pulled out from the station.
“This is so cool,” Angel said. “I’m riding a New York Subway train.”
“Ain’t so cool when you’re sittin’ here with drunks and pickpockets all day,” an old man responded. They all raised their eyebrows at each other and tried not to laugh.
“This is our stop coming up,” Angel said, wheeling herself close to the door.
“There’s the six, we’ll have to run,” Joy said breaking into a sprint. Libby ran behind, pushing Angel in her chair. They dashed inside just as the door closed.
“Whew. I really thought we’d get left behind,” Joy said laughing as she sat down in one of the chairs. “How far do we go?”
“We get off at Eighty-Sixth Street station,” Angel said. “Then it’s just a block to Kim’s townhouse.”
Kimberly Eamon had allowed the sorority to use her parents’ townhouse on the Upper East Side. They were excited to see all of their sisters for the first time together since the school year had ended.
“I can’t wait to see Yvonne,” Joy said. “I wonder if she’s having a boy or a girl?”
Yvonne Berchick was serving as rush advisor since graduating in the spring.
“Apparently there’s going to be lots to do,” Libby sighed. “Kaylee was saying national headquarters sent a ton of info on conducting rush properly.”
“It’ll be so cool being on the other side this time,” Angel said. “I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since we were the rushees.”
* * *
They got off the subway at Eighty-Sixth and walked down a block to Eighty-Fifth, and then down the street. It was lined with brick townhouses.
“It looks like the set of the Cosby show,” Libby remarked.
“That’s set in Brooklyn,” Angel said matter-of-factly.
Joy looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “And how would you know?”
“TV marathons in the lounge,” Angel said.
“Here it is!” Libby said, turning towards a walk-up townhouse.
“It reminds me of the Back Bay,” Joy said.
The townhouse was four floors and red brick. A stairway led up to the double front doors.
Before they could help Angel up the stairs, the door open and Kim Eamon ran out.
“Hey guys!” she said, the normally quiet blonde said as she came to hug them.
“How was your summer?” Joy asked.
“Boring. I can’t wait to get back to school,” Kim said. Her blonde hair was stick straight and cut right below her ears and short bangs fell across her forehead.
“Is anyone else here?”
“Yeah, most of the senior girls . . . I can’t believe they’re seniors now! Yvonne is coming later tonight, she’s getting a ride down from West Point. Nadine’s been in and out all day. She lives down in the East Village.”
They helped Angel up the stairs and into the foyer.
“Wow, this place is so big!” Joy said, looking around. A dining room was off to the right, and the left side was a living room.
“What else is down here?” Libby asked.
“The kitchen, a bathroom, stairs to the basement, which is like a big recreation room. A small family room,” Kim said.
“How many bedrooms?”
“Three. All upstairs. No one’s home by the way, so don’t worry about disturbing my family. My parents went up to White Plains for my mom’s high school reunion, and they’ll be there all weekend,” Kim said. “Come on, everyone’s downstairs.”
They went down the hallway, passing a kitchen, and down a floor into a finished basement. Downstairs they found Sarah Jane and the other senior girls, as well as a few alumnae advisors.
“Big sisters!” Joy said, flinging her arms around Kaylee and Sage.
“We’re waiting for most of the junior girls and three of the sophomores,” Sage said.
“I can’t believe we’re the sophomores,” Joy said. Going around the room, she greeted all of her sisters, most of whom she hadn’t seen all summer.
“Dayna! How’s the hotel?” Joy asked.
“Great. Mom and dad said to thank all of you for your work this summer,” Dayna said. “We have a ton of new guests.”
“That’s so great. Maybe we’ll be able to come down for spring break or something,” Joy said.
“Yeah, you guys haven’t heard what happened with Joy and Libby this summer,” Angel announced.
Everyone gathered around as Joy told the story of their insurance money and the impostor.
“Wow, you guys certainly were busy this summer,” Bridget said admiringly.
For the next few hours, the doorbell and the phone were ringing at a consistent pace. By seven o’clock everyone was present and accounted for, including Yvonne Berchick.
“I swear if I hear, ‘is that a watermelon in there?’ I am going to scream,” Yvonne said smiling, sitting down and resting her hands on her round stomach.
“Do you know the sex?” Lisa Reyes asked.
“We decided to find out when he or she comes out. I’m getting antsy though,” Yvonne said. “I can’t wait to meet the baby.”
“Do you have everything ready?” another girl asked.
“Yeah, we finished the nursery, and everything’s in order,” she answered. “I just wish the Braxton-Hicks contractions would stop.”
“When are you due?” Joy asked her.
“September twenty-eighth,” Yvonne said. “Not soon enough for me.”
“That’s almost my birthday,” Angel said.
“I bet you’re glad to be back with us though,” Sage said.
“I can’t believe I’m an alumna,” Yvonne said. “I don’t feel old enough. But it is nice to have a weekend away.”
“I say tonight we order some pizza and sit around and catch up,” Sage said. “Then I’ll let Nadine take over. We’ve got a lot of stuff to practice the next few days!”
* * *
An hour later they were munching on pizzas and talking. Nadine was trying to hold a meeting to go over some of the stuff nationals had sent.
“I’d love to see some of the sights,” Joy said during a break in the conversation. “Will we get a chance to sightsee?”
“Well, it depends on how much we get done tonight and tomorrow. Maybe on Sunday we can hit the Empire State Building, Central Park and other attractions. We have rush meetings set up for the school week, too. For all you sophomores you’ll get to see how stressful rush is from this side now,” Sage said.
“I can hardly wait,” Angel said sarcastically. “I had my fill of stress last year.”
“We’ll be drawing straws for beds. There are two twin beds in the guestroom, a foldout couch in the family room, and a couch in the living room, and the two couches down here,” Kim said. “Anyone who doesn’t get a bed, you can sleep on the floor either down here or upstairs.”
They drew straws, with Angel getting a couch, and the twins getting the floor, then Nadine separated everyone into what she called “bump groups.” Each bump group had a team leader. One member of the group would pick up a rushee at the door, then another member would relieve that girl and talk to the rushee until she was bumped. It was a way to get as many people as possible to meet the rushees.
“Get some sleep guys,” Nadine said. “Tomorrow we’ll practice some rush scenarios.”
* * *
The next morning Joy woke up early, the sounds of everyone tossing around in their sleep waking her up. She lay in her sleeping bag for awhile, thinking about the things she’d most like to see while in New York. A few minutes later Autumn was awake and soon their talking woke everyone else up.
“We need to get organized, so I want everyone in their bump groups in twenty minutes,” Sage said. “Bump leaders, I need to meet with you now.”
The girls started to move, lining up for shower and bathroom privileges and finding places to get changed.
“Is this what it’ll be like sharing a bathroom in the sorority house?” Libby asked.
“You’d swear there’s fifty people living in the house the way the bathrooms are always full,” Melanie Rooney said.
Soon Joy was dressed and her hair was done, and she joined some of the other girls in the kitchen for breakfast.
“I think I’m going to like living in the house,” Joy stated.
“Why?” Lisa Reyes asked.
“It reminds me of when I was little, there was always a crowd in our house,” Joy said.
“Well, it’s not usually this crowded,” Yvonne laughed, lumbering into the kitchen. “Tell me the truth. Do I walk like a duck?”
Everyone laughed.
“No. But you’re getting there,” Joy joked.
“Are you sure you aren’t having twins?” Bridget joked.
“Don’t even say it! I’ve had nightmares about having multiples, and they’re never good dreams! The doctor said he or she was a bit big. I’m hoping they just got my due date wrong, and I’m not going to deliver a twelve pound baby,” Yvonne said.
After a quick breakfast, everyone gathered in the living room.
“First things first, we’re going to do a trial run to show the sophs how we bump,” Nadine said. “I want all the sophs over here to play rushees, and we’ll show you how it works.”
“This is going to be a long day,” Joy sighed.
* * *
Joy was exhausted after just an hour.
The bump groups seemed to work like a finely tuned machine, although adding the sophomores into the mix sort of broke that machine. Joy would pick up a “rushee” and bring her into the room, talking about the typical things—school, classes, dorms—and then introduce her to another sister.
After the party ended, the sisters would fill out a ballot on each girl she had met. Panhellenic was providing them with information sheets on each rushee, with information to remind them about each girl, from their hometown to major, what kinds of things they were interested in and other personal information. The profiles would help trigger their memories, hopefully. Each rushee would then be ranked by private ballot, which was handed to the chapter advisor.
“All of this happens in the ten minutes between parties?” Joy asked. “That’s not enough time!”
“It goes by so fast,” Leslie Sullivan said. “But the info sheets are invaluable. You meet so many people at the end of the day you can’t keep them straight. Thank God Panhellenic takes pictures of the rushees now.”
“The ballots are the most important,” Nadine said. “You must fill one out for each girl you meet! That’s how we determine who gets invited back.”
“When is rush anyway?” Sonya asked.
“Good question,” Sage said. “Sign up begins the first day of classes and goes until the morning of the twelfth. First Rho Chi meeting is the eleventh, Tours are the twelfth, Philanthropy on the fifteen, Invites on the nineteenth, Pref on the twenty-second and Bid Day on the twenty-third.”
“At least I’m familiar with that part,” Libby said.
“House tours are only twenty minutes long, Philanthropy is thirty-five minutes, Invites are forty-five and Pref is an hour and a half,” Nadine said.
Krystal Ma, the Rush chair, stood up to address everyone.
“Our Philanthropy activity this year is going to be banner painting. YouthWorks has a basketball tournament on the twenty-sixth of September, so we’re going to paint banners encouraging the team for our Philanthropy party,” Krystal said. “It will definitely be a messy party compared to last year.”
“How do we decide how to rank girls on our ballots?” Joy asked.
“That will be the new part for all of you sophomores,” Krystal said. “The ballots are simple ranking from one to ten, there are a few key questions to answer, you just circle the number, higher is better. There are some keywords in one section, you just circle what applies.”
Nadine handed out copies of the information sheets to everyone.
“You just circle the adjectives that describe the rushee. There’s everything from shy to outgoing, disinterested to enthusiastic. Don’t worry if someone else circled something totally different from you, we want your honest take on her.”
Joy wondered what would have been circled about her.
“Do all the sororities do this?” Libby asked.
“In some form,” Liz Bettencourt said. “No one’s supposed to know anything about how we narrow our members.”
“I’ve heard the Theta Alpha’s actually have a blackball system and use real marbles. If a girl gets over twenty-five percent black marbles they don’t invite her back,” Ashley Ellsworth said.
“That’s just a rumor,” someone else said.
“I’ve heard Chi Alpha Beta uses a color scheme,” someone said.
“What?” Joy asked laughing.
“Sort of like a stoplight system,” Melinda said. “I accidentally saw them once. They have cards and a ballot box. They pick red, green or yellow based on what they think of the rushee and write comments about her on the card, then put it in a box.”
“It’s all so random,” Libby sighed.
“This is a new system for us,” Nadine said. “In the past we’ve just done a yes or no ballot. A lot of people felt it was too restrictive, so Nationals went to this one to ten ballot to give everyone more room for interpretation.”
“We need a group of volunteers to man the booth at the Stu U for the week classes start and the first two days of the next week,” Krystal said. “I have a sign up sheet here, I expect to see everyone take at least an hour or two shift at some point in the week!”
“Who serves drinks?” Libby asked.
“Alumnae come in to help,” Sage said. “We’re really at a disadvantage since we don’t have a House Director since the last one quit. The alumnae association hasn’t hired one.”
“Anyone who is not rushing can help in the kitchen,” Krystal said. “Okay, let’s do another run through.”
They practiced for what seemed like hours, then took a break and had another meeting.
“For the Invite parties, sororities are allowed to show videos, do skits or have themes,” Sage said. “Our overall theme for rush is ‘DGR is Paradise.’ We need a few girls to work on decorations.”
“Sounds fun,” Joy whispered to Libby. “We could do a Hawaiian theme.”
“Pref will be the hardest. We have two parties that night, a dinner and a dessert. We’re allowed to cater as long as we don’t go over our budget. Krystal and Nadine have a menu planned out, you can check in with them if you’re curious,” Sage said. “I heard the Chi Alpha Betas went over budget for their Pref last year and got fined by Panhellenic, so we really have to be careful.”
“Speaking of the Chi Alpha Betas, did you know Celeste Parsons is their President now?” Joy said. “She was my Rho Chi.”
“She’s really nice,” Kaylee said. “Chi Alpha Beta is going to really benefit having her there. She’s fun, and she’s not looked at as an airhead like some people there.”
Joy giggled, knowing full well Kaylee meant Carly and Paige, two Chi Alpha Betas who seemed to have more capacity for alcohol than learning.
“Theta Alpha is changing, too. You know who they elected?” Kristin said.
“Who?” came a chorus of voices.
“I bet it was Lesley Cabot,” said someone.
“No way. Anna for sure.”
“Wrong,” Kristin said. “Lauren Reims.”
“No way!” Desiree Herman said.
“Yeah, it’s true,” Sage said. “The Theta Alphas are in for some big changes.”
“That is awesome,” Joy said. Lauren Reims was one of the most popular and nicest girls on campus. She was pretty, a cheerleader, on the volleyball team, on the Dean’s List and managed to make friends with everyone.
“She was the nicest person I met in Theta Alpha,” Libby said. “That was one reason I wouldn’t have minded joining them when I was rushing.”
“Oh really?” Sage said, feigning anger. Everyone laughed.
“Let’s take a break for dinner, then we can relax tonight,” Jennifer Sterne said.
* * *
Joy woke up late the next morning, tired from the long night. Everyone had ended up in small group meetings. She and Libby had decided to sign up to help organize the Invite party, and her group had tons of ideas.
“Rise and shine,” Vanessa said as she came downstairs from the bed she had been lucky enough to get. “Today’s the day we see the city!”
Everyone got up as fast as they could and soon the whole group was assembled in front of the townhouse.
“Where to first?” Sage asked.
They took a vote and decided on the Empire State Building. A short subway ride got them there, where they took the elevators up to marvel at the view and take photos. They spent the rest of the morning exploring Central Park.
“I love it here,” Joy sighed as she walked next to Yvonne.
“Yeah, it is nice. Jon’s only going to be at West Point for so long,” she sighed. “That’s the pitfall of marrying a military man I guess.”
“Tell me about it. We were so lucky our dad went into the National Guard, and we stayed in Hawaii. I think they took pity on him with a wife and five kids,” Joy said.
“That’s right, I forgot your dad was Air Force. Well, my Army man said we’ll have to go where they send him,” Yvonne said.
They returned to Kim’s house and spent the afternoon in their bump groups, practicing rotation and other things, like what to do when a rushee is rude or disinterested, or how to answer difficult questions they might ask, as well as things to avoid talking about.
“Boys, booze, bank book and beliefs,” Angel said, reciting the four Bs they were told to avoid starting conversations about.
The Exec had made arrangements for the sorority to have dinner at a local restaurant that night. Everyone got ready, and an hour later almost everyone was out the door.
“I’m not done yet,” Joy said, scrunching her curls a bit.
“Well, we’re all ready to go,” Angel said. “Well, except Yvonne. She isn’t feeling so great, so she’s going to stay here and sleep. I think we wore her out.”
“You guys go ahead, I’ll catch up to you,” Joy said. “I know my way. I get on the Green Line number six.”
“If you say so,” Angel said, leaving Joy in the bathroom. “I’m sure there’s a cute waiter somewhere that will appreciate all the time you’re putting into your hair.”
Joy swatted Angel with a magazine, laughing as she rolled towards the front door.
The door shut, and Joy almost felt scared at the silence in the house. After a few more minutes she was happy with her hair and hunted around for her purse.
“God, I lose everything,” she moaned, looking under the couch, in her suitcase and anywhere else she could imagine.
Hearing a noise, Joy looked up to see Yvonne coming downstairs.
“Did you decide to come after all? You can come with me once I find my purse,” Joy said.
“No, it’s not that. I think I’m in labor,” Yvonne said.
“What!” Joy exclaimed, her head shooting up from behind the couch.
“I felt sick earlier, and I thought it might be heartburn, but I think I just passed my mucous plug,” Yvonne said.
“Oh God. I don’t even know what that is, but it doesn’t sound good,” Joy said.
“Calm down. I only felt one contraction, and it wasn’t very bad,” Yvonne said. “We’ll just catch a cab up to the hospital.”
“Taxi strike, remember?” Joy said. “I could call an ambulance.”
Yvonne laughed. “I don’t need an ambulance, and I definitely don’t need the ambulance bill. We can just take the subway. Mount Sinai is on Madison, the subway has a stop right near.”
“Are you sure?” Joy asked.
“Do I look like I’m in labor?” she asked. “I’m fine. Just help me with my bag, and we’ll go.”
“I just want to call and leave a message at the restaurant for everyone,” Joy said.
A few minutes later, after leaving a message with a waitress, Joy and Yvonne were out the door and on their way to the Green Line.
* * *
Joy felt relieved as they sat down in the subway car, waiting for it to pull away from the station. Only a few more stops would take them to Mount Sinai hospital. As the train lurched, Joy saw Yvonne grab her abdomen.
“A contraction?” Joy asked.
“Yeah,” Yvonne managed to squeeze out.
“Well, breathe or something . . . that’s what they teach you, right?” Joy asked, taking her hand and taking deep breaths, more for herself than to coach Yvonne.
“How long?” Yvonne said when the contraction passed.
“How long was it? Like two minutes,” Joy said.
“We better hurry,” Yvonne said. A moment later, she tensed again.
“Oh God,” Joy said, looking at Yvonne’s watch. “It’s bad when they’re a minute apart, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Yvonne said shortly, breathing heavily. “Maybe we should’ve . . . called that . . . ambulance.”
Suddenly the subway car ground to a halt and plunged into darkness.
Someone screamed. It took a moment for Joy to realize it was her.
“What’s happening?” Joy yelled, hoping someone would know the answer.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m thinkin’ the power’s out,” someone with a thick New York accent said.
“Thanks, I think I figured that out,” Joy muttered.
A moment later some dim lights flickered on in the train.
“Wonderful. A generator that powers the damn lights, but not the damn car,” came the same voice, attached to a stout man with a ball cap and beer gut.
“Joy, we have to go. We have to get to the hospital now!” Yvonne said, grasping at Joy’s hand.
Joy looked around. “Can someone help me? My friend is having a baby.”
“Are you kiddin’ me? On a subway train?” the man asked, laughing a little.
“It’s for real. She has a person coming out of her, and I need a little help here,” Joy said, looking around the subway.
“I’ve got a cellular phone,” a businessman said from the back of the car. He walked up to Joy and handed it to her.
“Thank you!” she said. “Will it work in here?”
“It should,” the man said, sitting back down.
Joy dialed nine-one-one.
“Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?” came a female voice.
“Uh, I’m stuck in a subway car on the Green Line, the six,” Joy said.
“We’re aware there is a problem with the Green Line, but we’d like to ask you keep the lines free for emergencies,” the operator said.
“Oh no, this is an emergency!” Joy said. “My friend is in labor. She’s having a baby.”
Joy looked over at Yvonne, who was sitting back in the seat, her head tilted back, breathing heavily.
“Alright, how far along is she?”
“Yvonne, how far along?” Joy asked.
“Uh, thirty-four weeks,” she said, gasping for air. “Tell them to hurry.”
“Thirty-four weeks and you need to hurry,” Joy said into the phone.
“I don’t want you to panic, but the paramedics will take time getting to you if the car isn’t moving,” she said.
“What?” Joy asked, getting up and walking to the other end of the car. “You mean we’re stuck here?”
“For the time being. How far apart are her contractions?”
“Like, a minute! There isn’t any time to wait. I can’t do this,” Joy said, on the verge of tears.
“You have to do this. Someone has to help her. I want you to get her to lie down and see if anyone has blankets, towels or clean clothing to spare.”
Joy ran back to Yvonne, helping her down on the floor.
“Does anyone have towels or something? Anything!” Joy pleaded.
“I just bought new towels,” an older woman said, handing Joy some.
“I feel another one,” Yvonne said.
“She’s having another one,” Joy repeated to the operator.
“I need you to check and see where the baby’s head is,” the woman said.
“Oh, God,” Joy replied. “Yvonne, I need to check the baby.”
“Great,” she said, breathing through a contraction. “All I need is all of New York seeing me like this on the subway.”
“Does anyone have scissors?” Joy asked.
“Here,” the man with the accent said, handing her a pair of shears.
“Garden shears?” Joy asked.
“It’s all I got, you wanna be picky right now?” he asked, gesturing towards Yvonne. Joy sighed and picked up the shears, cutting off Yvonne’s overalls.
“I see just a little bit of the head, just the top,” Joy said.
“Good. On her next contraction she can push. I want you to keep your hand on the head, make sure it doesn’t come out too fast. The baby will be upside down, okay?” she instructed.
“Okay,” Joy said, repeating the instructions to Yvonne.
“Here’s one,” Yvonne said, tensing and pushing.
“Whoa, the head is coming,” Joy said, surprised to see it was actually working.
“Is the head out?” she asked.
“Yeah, mostly. But there’s a cord around the neck,” Joy said, panicking as she saw the gray cord.
“A cord? Oh God, my baby,” Yvonne said, panting and trying to see.
“That’s okay, that’s okay. Just hook your finger around the cord and pull it over the baby’s head,” the operator said.
“Here, someone take the phone,” Joy said, dropping it from her ear. She placed one hand on the baby’s head and another around the cord, gently looping it over the head.
“I did it!” Joy said. The man with the accent who had picked up the phone relayed the info to the operator.
“She’s saying wait until the next contraction and deliver a shoulder. Wipe the face off, too,” the guy said. “She wants to know which way it’s pointing.”
“Which way what’s pointing?” Joy asked.
“The baby’s face.”
“It’s facing Yvonne’s thigh. Is that good?” Joy asked.
“Yeah, that’s good.”
“Is the baby okay?” Yvonne asked.
“Yeah, it’s good. You need to push again, okay?” Joy said. Wiping her forehead with her arm. Yvonne pushed and nothing happened.
“The baby won’t come out,” Joy yelled, and the man repeated it into the phone.
“She’s sayin’ in the next contraction, try and hook your finger into the baby’s armpit. Then you gotta turn the baby counterclockwise. Whichever the hell direction that is,” the man said.
“Counterclockwise,” Joy repeated, feeling for the baby’s armpit and then turning towards her left. “A shoulder’s out!”
“She’s sayin’ the whole baby should come any minute,” he said.
“Yvonne, push the baby out this time,” Joy said, grabbing a towel and wiping the baby so she could get a grip on it. A minute later the baby slipped out, and Joy was wiping it off.
“What now?” she asked, too scared to celebrate like the people on the train.
“She said wipe it hard and clear out the mouth, make sure it’s okay,” he said.
As Joy toweled the baby off, it began to cry.
“Oh,” Yvonne said crying. “Is it okay? What is it?”
“It’s a boy,” Joy said. “You have a little boy.”
“She’s sayin’ you wrap him up and give em to her, and let her breastfeed if she wants, and that’ll make her bleed less or something,” he said.
“He’s perfect,” Yvonne said. “Not even tiny.”
“He’s huge for a preemie,” Joy said.
A moment later the train started up, to the cheers of the passengers. At the next stop the paramedics were waiting on the platform and soon they were at the hospital.
The sorority showed up a short time later.
“Is she okay?” Sage said as she saw Joy, blood on her clothes.
“Yeah, she’s good, so is he. She had a boy!” Joy said.
Everyone started to cheer.
“We got your message and rushed over here as soon as we could. We almost died when we heard you were stuck on the subway,” Dayna said.
“You almost died? I just about had a coronary,” Joy laughed.
“Did you deliver the baby?” Libby asked suddenly, looking over at Joy.
“Yeah, I did. Can you believe it? It was so amazing,” Joy said. Everyone crowded around to hear the story, and a half hour later, they were told Yvonne was up on the maternity floor.
“She’s asking to see you, but please don’t take long,” one of the nurses said.
The group crowded into Yvonne’s room, marveling at the little baby.
“He weighed five pounds, six ounces. He’s perfectly healthy. His name is Thomas Gabriel Berchick-Lahey,” Yvonne said.
“Yvonne, he’s perfect,” Joy said.
“Thank you so much,” Yvonne said. “I hope I never have to do that again.”
“We better let you rest. Is Jon coming down?” Katelyn asked.
“Yeah, he’s on his way now. I probably won’t see you guys for rush. Lousy job I’m doing as an advisor, huh?” Yvonne laughed.
“Don’t worry about it,” Sage said. “You just take care of yourself and this cute little guy.”
They filed out of the room slowly and walked outside into the night air.
“Why don’t we take the subway back to the restaurant and celebrate?” Sage suggested.
“Great idea,” Joy said. “But I’m walking.”
* * *
A week later everyone was busy moving back onto campus. Joe had stored their belongings at his house, and Libby had drafted Ryan, Jamie and Joe into helping them move into the sorority house.
“This has been a wild summer,” Joy said.
“I just wish I knew where Drew was,” Libby sighed. “He avoided my calls all summer. I think Ryan knows something.”
“Look, he can’t avoid you at school,” Joy said, slinging an arm around her sister’s neck. “You’ll talk to him and iron out whatever needs ironing.”
“I can’t believe how fast the summer went,” Angel said. “Just think, we have classes in a few days, and in over a week, we’ll be rushing for new sorority members.”
“It’s been a wild year,” Joy said, thinking about the good and bad things that had happened to her. Her freshman year hadn’t exactly gone as planned.
“Linnea sent us some pictures of everyone,” Libby said, showing Joy the envelope. “It made me homesick.”
“We have a whole new school year ahead of us,” Joy said. “We better get ready.”
She knew as well as they did—anything could happen.
THE END
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