Madeleine Christopher made good on her promise. At 6:00 a.m., four hours before bids were due to go out, Cass got a call ordering her to be at the Greek Council offices by 7:00. She arrived to find a creepily silent receptionist waiting for her in a creepily silent foyer that looked more like the entrance to a church than an office. The woman opened a heavy bronze door to reveal a room with a long table, at the head of which sat the council president, a severe-looking fourth year named Monica, and the campus Greek Affairs adviser, who introduced herself as Elizabeth Andrews. Delia was seated at the table, too, along with Sophia Kensington.
Elizabeth invited Cass to have a seat.
“You had contact with two rushees last night?” she asked.
“Not by choice.” Cass glanced at Delia, who stared back, one hand playing with the lavaliere around her neck. “I don’t know what anybody told you, but those girls were already out—God knows why. I was on my way home from helping my friend at his dad’s bar and I just ran into them. The whole thing was a misunderstanding.”
“That’s exactly what it was,” piped up Sophia. She beamed across the table as if Cass were suddenly her favorite person in the world. “Delia explained it all to me. I’ve already explained it to all of you. It was nothing more than a miscommunication.”
“Still, these are serious allegations,” Monica said. She turned to Delia. “You were supposed to have no contact whatsoever with any of the rushees. We’re already dealing with one dirty rushing incident . . .”
“Dirty rushing!?” Now Sophia looked outraged. “I can’t believe you’d imply something like that in relation to Sigma Theta Kappa. Especially not this year. No one has been more conscientious about the rules than Delia.” Sophia placed a protective hand on Delia’s arm. “Dirty rushing. How ridiculous. What happened last night was a chance encounter with two girls who should not have been out of the dormitory. Nothing more.”
Monica and Elizabeth nodded. They seemed almost willing to accept this, but then Monica hesitated.
“Why were the rushees out, though? That’s what I don’t understand. They were supposed to be on lockdown. I know Miss Christopher said she left because she suspected Miss Ash of sneaking out to meet with the Sigmas. But if that wasn’t the case, then why was Miss Ash out? Did anybody ask her that?”
“I’m sure she had a good reason.” Sophia seemed to have designated herself the official Sigma spokesperson, since Delia still wore the stunned look she’d had when Cass had left her at the door to the president’s suite the night before. “There’s no need to blow this any more out of proportion than it already has been.”
As much as she hated Sophia, Cass had to agree on that point. It was pretty clear to her that Imogen’s motives for being out of the dorm had more to do with Ben Sherman than they ever did with rush.
Madeleine Christopher, however, had certainly seemed to think otherwise. And why shouldn’t she? Something was going on, although it had nothing to do with Imogen Ash.
Cass slid her hand into her purse. She’d planned to turn in the iPhone first thing that morning anyway. And now, all the key players were there. She pulled out the phone and cleared her throat. “Delia wasn’t dirty rushing last night. But I can tell you who was.”
All heads turned as Cass handed the phone to Monica. Elizabeth got up and looked over Monica’s shoulder as Monica scrolled through the text messages. Every now and then, one of them would gasp.
“This is horrible,” Monica murmured.
“I can’t believe anyone would do this,” said Elizabeth.
They passed the phone to Delia, whose face went white as she read the messages. Sophia grabbed the phone away and read, too, her mouth thinning into a line of rage.
“Delia,” Elizabeth Andrews said softly. “This goes against everything we stand for in the Greek system. How could you let this happen? Courtney Mann is your vice president.”
Sophia handed the phone back to Delia, who looked up from the screen. Her gray eyes welled with tears.
“I didn’t know,” she said.
“She didn’t,” Cass agreed. “I can tell you for a fact that Delia didn’t know.”
Monica regarded her coolly. “And how do you know that?”
Silence. Cass realized that she’d talked herself into a trap.
“That’s a good question,” Elizabeth said. “How do you know that Delia didn’t know about this?”
Delia’s features had taken on an expression Cass couldn’t read. Not desperation or panic—but more disbelief, tinged with resignation.
“Cassandra?” Elizabeth pressed. “I asked how you knew that Delia was ignorant to the fact that something like this was going on inside her house.”
Cass swallowed hard. There was no way around it; she had to tell the truth. “Because I told her I thought something like this was going on.”
“Oh God.” Sophia sank into her chair and began rubbing her temples.
Monica and Elizabeth both turned back to Delia, who was now staring out the window.
“How do you explain that?” Monica asked. “You were warned and you chose not to act?”
“But I didn’t know for sure when I told Delia,” Cass went on. “I didn’t know the details. It was just a hunch. It’s not like I had proof yet.”
Delia’s gaze flicked over to hers and she smiled, the tiniest of smiles before looking out the window again. This small girl with the hollow eyes wasn’t the Delia Cass knew.
Monica and Elizabeth regarded each other regretfully, then Monica spoke.
“I’m sorry, Delia, but I don’t have a choice. Sigma Theta Kappa will have to forfeit its first-round pledge picks. As will every other house whose members participated in this . . . I don’t even know what to call it. This scheme.”
“And we expect every sister who participated to be disciplined,” Elizabeth added. “We’ll leave it up to your individual chapter’s discretion, but my personal recommendation would be that their memberships be revoked immediately.”
Delia nodded like she was letting the situation sink in, absorbing the weight of it. Cass waited for Sophia to come to Delia’s defense. Delia called this woman a mentor; so shouldn’t she do something mentorly?
But Sophia seemed to have forgotten Delia was even in the room.
“What about Imogen Ash?” she said. “She’s a quadruple legacy! Her family will be furious if she isn’t invited to pledge Sigma. I’m sure you can imagine the ramifications for everyone involved if a family like that chose to retaliate. Can’t we work something out?”
“Not possible,” answered Monica, as cool now as Sophia was out of control. “Imogen Ash is expelled from recruitment. Even if she wasn’t sneaking out to meet the Sigmas, she violated the lockdown. We have rules for a reason, and breaking those rules brings consequences, no matter who a person is or how much power her family has.”
Sophia turned on Delia next. “How could you be so stupid? How could you be so blind, Delia? You failed me and you failed Sigma. If we lose the chapter, it will be your fault.”
A shocked silence fell over the table as everybody waited to see how Delia would respond.
Delia looked calmly at Sophia and said, “How did you get Imogen Ash to come back to Sigma?”
“Excuse me?” said Sophia.
“She’d turned us down already. I know because I had Marina check, and Imogen Ash definitely declined our invitation to Pref Day. So how did you get her to come back?”
“What are you suggesting?” said Sophia, incredulously.
“I think you called her family. You said she just made a mistake, but how often does that really happen? I think you called them and they called her and talked her into reversing her decision.” Delia now looked across the table at Monica and Elizabeth, and Cass was relieved to see some steel returning to her eyes. “And then someone from Greek Council decided to let her go back to Sigma, which I’m also sure is against the rules. If any other girl had asked to change her schedule, would you have let them?”
Sophia leaned over and took Delia by the chin. Cass could see the woman’s fingernails digging into Delia’s cheeks.
“How dare you make accusations?” Sophia snarled. “I’m not the one who’s in trouble here, and if you say anything more about it, I can assure you I will get you kicked out of Sigma Theta Kappa—if they don’t decide to get rid of you on their own, since you obviously are incompetent and probably unethical to boot.”
Sophia let go. Delia didn’t move.
“Do you want to be kicked out, Delia?” Sophia pressed.
“No,” Delia replied. “I’m resigning.”
She stood, looking more and more like the old, confident Delia, and addressed the table.
“My father always said integrity is a person’s most valuable possession, and I have done everything I could to guard my own. I may not have known about some of the things that were happening in the house, and I’m sorry for how Courtney and some of the other sisters behaved. But not knowing is not unethical. I certainly didn’t contact a rushee’s parents to have them influence her decision. Nor did I bend the rules to allow that rushee a second chance. I don’t have the handbook memorized, but I’m almost certain that all declines are final—or they should be.”
She looked pointedly at Monica, who squirmed in her seat.
“We’ll look into it,” Monica said. “I don’t know who would have done that, but you’re right. They shouldn’t have let her change her schedule.”
Delia nodded, then turned to Sophia. “I’ve given too much to Sigma over the past three years to let you drag me into Standards and Discipline. After what’s happened today, I don’t feel like I should stay the president. But I also don’t feel like I need to be punished or have my name kicked around. So I am going to leave. And if anybody asks why, I’ll tell them it’s because Sigma failed to live up to my standards.”
Sophia sputtered and reached for her purse, looking desperate to make a fast escape. Just then, a phone rang and everyone jumped. They all looked at the iPhone, which was now, for all practical purposes, a crime scene.
But it wasn’t the iPhone ringing. It was Cass’s phone. She checked the ID: It was Ruby.
“Are we finished here?” she asked. “Can I take this?”
Elizabeth Andrews nodded and Cass went into the hall.
“What’s wrong?” she asked a sobbing Ruby
“I just got a call from home,” Ruby said. “The bank’s taking our house.”
“Wait right there,” said Cass, running for the exit. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Maddy rolled over, awake way before her alarm went off, and stared at Imogen’s empty bed. For an hour or two, when she’d been able to drift off, what had happened the night before seemed like a dream. But the empty bed reminded her how real it was. She’d come back to the dorm to find Alex cleaning up pizza boxes in the commons. She’d told her about Imogen and the Sigmas, Alex had called Greek Council, and Imogen had been kicked out of rush on the spot. Maddy hadn’t even seen her roommate because Imogen had spent the night in Rachel’s room.
Maddy got up, showered and did her hair, trying not to feel nervous about the bids that would be handed out in just a couple of hours. She told herself she’d done everything she could. She’d followed the signs and now the situation was out of her hands. Whatever sorority she ended up pledging, she would be happy and make the most of it.
Deep inside, though, she knew there was still only one she really wanted: Still and always Sigma.
The rush hacks had all said she’d spend Bid Day doing getting-to-know-you activities with her new sisters, so Maddy put on comfortable shorts and shoes. Someone knocked on her door as she was pulling on a plain white tank top.
“Come in,” she said, thinking one of the other rushees might be looking for breakfast company. Instead Alex walked in, followed by Imogen and a woman she’d never seen before.
Imogen stood behind the other women, near the door. She didn’t say hello, and Maddy didn’t say anything either; she didn’t care if she ever spoke to her soon-to-be ex-roommate again.
“Maddy,” said Alex. “This is Monica, from Greek Council.”
Alex seemed so serious and Monica looked even more grim. She motioned for Maddy to sit on the bed and then sat next to her.
“I want to know more about what happened last night,” said Monica.
Maddy gulped. She told the story again, feeling a little like a bug under a microscope.
“I went to the Sigma house,” she finished, “and Imogen was there on the sidewalk with the president and another sister. She said she was going to a Beacon party, but obviously that wasn’t where she went.”
“I did go to a Beacon party,” Imogen broke in. “I was with Ben Sherman, my editor.”
“I didn’t see any guys with you,” Maddy snapped back.
“He left right before you showed up.” Imogen rolled her eyes. “God, Maddy, I get that you don’t trust me. But you do not know everything, okay?”
“That’s enough.” Monica gave them both a stern look. “I think I understand everything now. There’s no need to fight.”
“I know what I saw,” said Maddy. “It was dirty rushing.”
“It might have been. But what you don’t seem to grasp, Maddy, is that you were out of the dorms without permission, too.”
Maddy pulled back, surprised. “I was trying to keep someone from breaking the rules.”
“Yes, but you also broke the rules. Whatever your motivations were, you violated the lockdown by leaving the dorm.” Monica folded her hands in her lap and gave a final-looking nod. “You’re disqualified from recruitment as well.”
Maddy gasped. “What? I don’t . . . That’s not . . .”
“Fair?” said Alex, looking scarily different from the peppy recruitment counselor of the day before. “Actually it’s totally fair. You were both out of the dorms when you weren’t supposed to be. So you’ll both receive the same punishment.”
Maddy couldn’t even find words to answer that. In just a few seconds her world had turned a complete 180. How could she be kicked out of rush? She’d never been kicked out of anything in her entire life!
Tears began to slide down her cheeks as she thought about going through the school year with something like that on her record. How would she explain it to her parents? How would she tell Logan? Or Miranda?
Forget Sigma. Suddenly, just being able to pledge a house—any house—seemed like a gift she would be happy to take.
“Don’t do that.”
At first Maddy thought Imogen was telling her not to cry. Then she realized Imogen was actually talking to Monica.
“Excuse me?” said Monica.
“Don’t kick Maddy out,” said Imogen. “I’m disqualified, I accept that. But don’t kick Maddy out, too. She thought she was doing the right thing.”
Maddy stared, not believing what she’d just heard. Monica, meanwhile, got to her feet, looking more than a little offended.
“I don’t know who you think you are,” she told Imogen, “but it’s not up to you to tell me how to run things.”
“I don’t think I’m anybody,” said Imogen. “I don’t have any power here and I don’t want any. I’m just asking. Please, let Maddy stay.”
Maddy held her breath. Everything she’d worked for hung by the tiniest thread. If she moved, she was afraid it would break.
“Let’s say I really was going out to meet the Sigmas,” Imogen went on. “Shouldn’t somebody have told you that that sort of thing was going on? Maddy has high standards and she cares so much about things being done right that she was willing to go out and chase me down. It might not have been the best decision, but it shows real dedication, right? That’s the kind of girl you want in a sorority. Someone who really cares.”
Imogen glanced over at Maddy with a hopeful smile. Maddy shut her eyes. She couldn’t handle knowing that if everything turned out okay, she’d have Imogen to thank—Imogen, whom she’d yelled at and stalked and gotten kicked out of rush. She’d thought she knew who Imogen was and why she’d done the things she did, but maybe she’d been wrong.
“Maddy.” Monica’s voice startled her into opening her eyes. “What do you think about this?”
Maddy let out the breath she’d been holding. “I think I shouldn’t have made assumptions. I should have just stayed in and left the whole thing alone.” She was crying now, so hard that she could barely get the words out. She gulped, getting mascara down the front of her tank top as big tears rolled off her cheeks.
Monica handed her a tissue. “It sounds like you’ve learned quite a bit.”
“I have!” Maddy pressed the tissue into her eyes but the tears wouldn’t stop.
“Hey. It’s okay. Calm down now.” Monica’s voice turned softer, almost motherly. “Because I can see how much this means to you and to Imogen, I’m going to make a very, very rare exception and allow you to pledge. But I want this to be the last time we have to speak, Maddy. Several houses are going to be under tighter scrutiny going forward, so if I hear about any other problems that involve you in any way I can still have you removed from the Greek system. Understand?”
Maddy swallowed hard. “Yes.”
“Okay then,” said Monica. “Take a minute to freshen up and then come downstairs. Bids will be here soon.”
Alex made a disgusted grunt, then followed Monica out of the room without saying another word.
“Alex is pretty pissed,” Imogen said when it was just the two of them. “She got in trouble for not seeing us leave last night.”
“I don’t blame her for being mad,” said Maddy. “I never wanted anybody to get in trouble.”
“Except for me.”
Maddy pressed fingertips into her cheeks to keep the tears from welling up again. “I didn’t want you to get in trouble so much as I just wanted to not feel stepped on all the time. God, I should have just left it alone . . .”
Imogen lingered by the door as an awkward minute went by. Finally, she asked, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.” Imogen took a step toward the door but then turned. “Look, you’ll probably never believe me about what really happened. I know it looked weird, and even I don’t really get all of it. But I don’t want us to be enemies.”
“We don’t have to be.”
“Can we be friends?”
“We can try. Maybe when all this is over?”
Imogen nodded. “Speaking of which, I figured while you were out getting your bid I could pack up a few things in here. I’m not sure where I’ll end up after all this. Maybe I’ll stay in this room if you move into whatever house you pledge, but until we know for sure, Rachel said I could keep sleeping over there. So is it okay if I come back in a few to get my stuff?”
“Yes,” said Maddy.
“Great,” said Imogen. “Thanks.”
She left then, leaving an emptiness in the room and inside of Maddy—emptier than she’d ever felt before because she had nothing to fill up the space; no rules, no advice, no certainty.
The only thing Maddy Christopher knew for sure was that she didn’t know anything at all.
Cass talked to Ruby on her cell all the way back to the Sigma house. Ruby’s parents had been given fifteen days to get out of the house they’d lived in for almost ten years.
“I feel like I should be home with them,” Ruby sobbed into the phone. “They want me to stay here like everything’s normal, but I can’t stay if I can’t pay the house fees. I’m basically homeless!”
“Where are you now?” Cass asked. She checked her watch and walked faster. Bids were going out and the new pledge class would be arriving soon.
I haven’t been out of my room. I’m scared. What’s going to happen to me, Cass?”
The Sigma house came into view and Cass broke into a run. “Just stay where you are,” she ordered. “And don’t talk to anybody.”
She’d just rushed through the front door when Megan stopped her in the foyer.
“Did you hear?” Megan said, breathlessly. “Courtney’s gone and Allison and Aimee Wu, too. People are saying they got kicked out. And more people might get kicked out, too.”
Cass looked around to see groups of sisters whispering in the parlor and sunroom. All eyes were on the house mother’s suite. The door stood half open, and milling about inside were official-looking women Cass had seen maybe once or twice during her time at Sigma. Before she could tell Megan what had happened, a woman she recognized from a Founder’s Day luncheon emerged and posted a sign at the foot of the grand staircase.
Mandatory All-House Meeting, 10:00 a.m. Dining Room
Ten a.m. Cass checked her watch: that was just ten minutes away. She bounded up the stairs, past more groups of whispering sisters, and burst into their room to find Ruby on her bed, clutching her cell phone.
“Oh, Roo . . .” Cass ran to her friend and pulled her into a hug. They sat that way, Ruby sniffling and Cass wondering just how much more surreal the morning could get, until Ruby lifted her head.
“I’m going to talk to somebody about the money,” she said. “Do you think they’ll let me work something out?” For the first time, Cass saw doubt in her friend’s eyes.
“I hope so,” said Cass. “Everything’s such a weird mess, at this point I wouldn’t be surprised by anything. But I’ll leave, too. If you’re not here, then I don’t want to be, either.”
Outside in the hallway they could hear one of the alumna going room to room, banging on doors. Within seconds, their own door thudded. “Mandatory meeting, downstairs now!” the woman barked.
“Is this about what happened at Greek Council?” Ruby asked.
“Has to be.” Cass got to her feet and held out her hand. “Come on. If we’re leaving, then we might as well enjoy a bit of drama for the road.”
Down in the dining room, they found empty chairs at almost every table. Allison Reed, Courtney, Aimee—plus at least a half dozen other Killer Bees—were nowhere to be found. Apparently, the alums had been working fast to kick people out.
Now, a group of older women stood shoulder to shoulder at the head of the room, wearing ominous expressions. Sophia, Cass noted, was not among them.
Also noticeably absent: Delia.
The alum who’d posted the meeting sign cleared her throat and the sisters fell quiet.
“By now you may have heard,” the woman started, “that this morning we learned several sisters were involved in a situation that goes beyond dirty rushing into cruelty and outright misbehavior. We’re still investigating and are by no means certain we’ve disciplined everyone who deserves it.” She scanned the room while several people squirmed in their seats. A couple of girls had red eyes, and one even wept openly.
“Because of what happened,” the woman continued, “Sigma will have to forfeit its first-round pledge picks. Anyone who made it to First List last night will be moved down to Third. The only way those girls could pledge with us is if they received no offers from any other houses, which I’m sure you can imagine is unlikely. If we’re lucky, we’ll get the majority of our Second List picks.”
To Cass’s surprise, nobody groaned at this news. Looking around, she realized that the majority of girls who were still there had either been Second List themselves or had managed to stay away from the Killer Bees and their scheming.
“I want to make clear that this is NOT what recruitment is about,” the alum said. “And this is NOT what we stand for at Sigma Theta Kappa. Recruitment isn’t perfect. Perhaps someday there will be a better way to evaluate all of the women who want to be members, and whom we want as well. But for now, it is to be fair and friendly and as uplifting an experience as possible.”
Another alum stepped forward. “Bids are being distributed as we speak,” she told them. “Our new pledge class will be here within the hour. At that point, we’ll know who we will be welcoming as new sisters. Before they come, though, we have some business to take care of. Because of what’s happened we no longer have a president or a vice president.”
This did get a reaction. Apparently no one had heard about Delia quitting, and now the mood in the room got even darker. Every other girl seemed to be crying, and Cass felt like she might burst into tears herself.
“Are there nominations?” asked the woman at the front of the room.
Silence. The sisters looked at each other, trying to size up who might make a good president and who would even want the job. A couple of Fourth Years nominated Marina, who looked thrilled at the chance to come out from behind her computer. The vote went quickly, Marina was confirmed and then the floor was opened to vice president nominations.
Violet stood up.
“I nominate Cass Ryland.”
“What?” Cass looked over at Ruby. “No!” she whispered. “I can’t be an officer. I’m leaving.”
“You’re not leaving,” Ruby whispered back. “This is your chance to try and make things like they were. Remember? When we were real sisters?”
“But it won’t be like that if you’re gone.”
“Even if I have to leave the house I’ll still be around,” said Ruby. “What do you think, I’m going to just disappear from your life? Don’t be stupid.”
The woman cleared her throat. “Do you accept the nomination?” she asked.
Cass stood up. “Can I say something first?”
“Of course,” said the woman.
Cass cleared her throat. “A couple of days ago—actually, just a few minutes ago—I was ready to quit Sigma. This is a great house. At least I think it could be great, but we’ve lost a lot over the last year, and I know I’m not the only one who feels like that.”
She looked out at Violet and Megan and all the other girls who had once been so close. “In a little bit we’ll be getting our new pledge class, and we’re going to be getting our second-round picks, which I guess some people would say was a bad thing. But if you decide you want me to be vice president, then you need to know this: If I hear about anybody harassing any of those girls, or hazing them, or telling them they were a second choice, or making them feel like they aren’t worthy in any way because of that, then I am personally going to give you hell. Count on it.”
She waited to see how people would respond. Megan started clapping first, then Violet, then everybody else in her pledge class, and then the upperclassmen until nearly every sister in the room was applauding. Ruby even put her fingers in her mouth and whistled, threatening to spark the mother of all giggling fits in Cass. She sat down, biting her cheeks until they hurt.
Marina tried out the president’s gavel. “All right, we have a lot of work to do to get ready for the new pledge class, so how about we—”
“Wait a minute.” The voice that cut Marina off belonged to Kimmie Conover.
“Yes, Kimmie?” said Marina.
Kimmie looked over at Ruby and winked. “One of our sisters is having a hard time with money, and I wanted to talk about it before house bills are due.”
Cass shot out of her seat. “We don’t need to talk about that. It’s private!”
“Why shouldn’t we?” said Kimmie, who must have heard more than they’d thought the other night during voting. “We’re supposed to be supporting each other, right?”
“That’s true,” said Marina. “But we’re pressed for time. Can you just tell us what you want to say?”
Kimmie nodded. “I’m not going to name names, but one of our sisters is having some family problems, and it’s the kind of thing where money is tight.”
“Oh God . . . ,” said Cass, sinking back into her seat. Next to her, Ruby sucked in a breath.
“So I was thinking. If we all put an extra thirty dollars into our next house payments, we could probably cover her for the semester. It could help until everything gets figured out, and then maybe she could repay the general house fund whenever things get better.”
To Cass’s complete and total shock, the other girls were nodding, too. Cass looked over to see a tear roll down Ruby’s cheek. If they’d ever had any hope of keeping her identity secret, it had gone out the window.
“All in favor?” said Marina.
The ayes were overwhelming.
“Okay,” said Marina. “We’ll try to respect this sister’s privacy—at least a little bit—and make the donation anonymous. Just add your contribution when you turn in your house payments and we’ll have the treasurer put it in a special fund. And now . . . ,” she said, banging her gavel with more authority, “we really need to get ready for the new pledges. I want everybody at the door, in their places, in thirty minutes—no exceptions!”
“I told you you needed to have more faith in people,” said Ruby as the other girls started filing out of the dining room.
“I’m just glad I still have you,” Cass answered. Obviously she’d underestimated Kimmie and the others. Sigma was worth saving and she would find a way to do that—even without donations from rich legacies. These were amazing girls. They would find a way.
She threw her arm around Ruby as they headed upstairs to change before the new sisters arrived. “Sisters forever?” she said.
“Sisters for eternity.”
Imogen opened her eyes and stretched her toes until they touched the foot of the bed. She fumbled for her phone and checked the time: 10:17. After Maddy’d left for the bid ceremony, she’d lain down in Rachel’s room and fallen asleep. Even though she’d only snoozed a few minutes, she still felt like she’d just clawed up from the bottom of a deep pit.
Groaning, she rolled over and pressed her face into her pillow. The whole thing with Sigma and Maddy and Ben and the Greek Council—it was a mess, the fallout being that while every other girl in their dorm was heading out to the front lawn to get their pledge bids, Imogen was stuck inside trying not to think about how pissed off her parents were going to be when they found out she’d been kicked out of rush.
Crap. She kicked over to the side of the bed and stood, unable to sleep anymore. Dragging herself to her feet, she went to the window and looked out. The room had a great view of the front lawn, which was crawling with girls. And there were the buses again, this time waiting to take everybody to their new homes. Imogen rested her forehead against the glass, surprised how lonely she felt. Four days ago, when rush started, she’d thought she’d rather die than become a sorority girl.
Amazing how things change.
“Hey.” A voice pulled Imogen out of her thoughts. She turned to see Rachel standing in the doorway, looking fresh and happy in capris and a tank top.
“I didn’t hear you get up earlier,” Rachel said. “How’re you doing?”
“Okay.” Imogen hoisted her butt onto the radiator, turning her back on the scene outside. “Aren’t you supposed to be downstairs with everybody else?”
“Eventually. But I’m not in a hurry. I decided I’m going to suicide.”
“What?” First Tippy and now Rachel—Imogen didn’t think she could handle having two friends on a self-destructive streak at once.
Rachel laughed. “It means you go with one house or none at all. If the house you want doesn’t give you a bid, then you turn down the rest.”
“So which house are you suiciding?”
“Kappa Alpha Beta. It’s the one thing that kept me from bailing after all those other houses cut me. I knew if I ended up there, then it’d be worth staying in.”
There it was again—the surprise pang in Imogen’s chest, of sadness and envy and an inkling that she’d been wrong to look down her nose at the Greeks. Because while she undoubtedly would have been miserable at most Baldwin sororities, there were a couple where she could see herself belonging.
Instead, she was stuck at the dorm alone, living the real-world equivalent of “careful what you wish for.”
“You’re perfect for that house,” she said, reaching for her purse and pulling out a box of Cracker Jacks she’d stashed there the day before to ward off marathon-party-day hunger. “If all that crap last night hadn’t happened, maybe we’d be sisters.”
As soon as she said it, though, she realized it wasn’t true. If she’d been able to stay in rush, then she wouldn’t have pledged Kappa Alpha Beta, she would have joined Sigma just like her parents wanted.
Maybe it worked out for the best after all.
“I wonder,” Imogen said. “Could I go through rush again? Maybe as a second year. Do they allow that?”
“Not sure. You can always ask. And in the meantime you could come visit me. I’m sure Tess and everybody would like to see you.”
The offer sounded nice. Even though she’d yearned to get out on her own at Baldwin, when the reality of it stared her in the face, Imogen had to admit that she wanted someplace to go and feel safe with friends.
“I’ll probably end up hiding over there,” she said. “Classes’ll be starting in a couple of days, and then I’ll have to face the Beacon . . .”
“You’re still going to do it? Even with Ben there?”
“Of course I’m still doing it. I’m not quitting something I love just because of some guy. We’ll have to work it out. Maybe if I’m lucky, it won’t be too weird.”
“Have you told your parents yet?”
Imogen put the Cracker Jack box down. Her dad had said he’d cut her off if she didn’t pledge Sigma, but she was pretty sure her parents had never thought about her getting kicked out of rush completely.
“I haven’t told them. And I don’t know what they’ll do when they find out. I’m sure it won’t be pretty.”
“But if they quit helping, how can you stay at Baldwin?”
Imogen puffed out her chest. “I’m Imogen Ash. I’m a National Merit Scholar, an Olympic-level equestrian, trilingual, and the captain of a patent-winning science team. They’ve got to have scholarships to keep people like me around, right?”
Rachel laughed. “If you even tried to leave, the dean would probably attach himself to your leg and cry like a baby.”
“And if that doesn’t work, there’s always blackmail. I know all the family secrets, and I’m a member of the media now.”
Imogen winked to let Rachel know she was only kidding. She wouldn’t really try to blackmail anybody.
Well, not unless things got really bad . . .
“I’m glad you’re okay and everything,” Rachel said, “but I better go. Time to see whether KAB wants me or not. I’ll text and let you know what happened.”
She hurried out of the room and Imogen turned back to the window. After a bit of searching, she found Maddy in the crowd down below. Alex the rush counselor was handing out envelopes, and Maddy ripped hers open as soon as she got it. She screamed and threw herself into the arms of another girl, both of them jumping up and down.
Imogen put her forehead against the glass again.
Looks like Maddy got her wish.
And Imogen was happy for her. Maddy belonged at Sigma; Imogen didn’t, and the sooner everybody got used to that fact, the better off they would all be.
She watched her roommate get on a bus, then turned and went back to her old room. Time to start packing. But first, she opened her laptop and logged on. Maybe she could smooth the way with her mom and dad by sending an e-mail—let the news about rush sink in before she tried talking voice to voice.
When she pulled up her account, however, she did a double-take.
From: TSINCLAIR Sorry to be a Stranger
Imogen scrambled to click the link, cussing when it took too long to load. Finally, the message came up. Like everything Tippy ever wrote it was short, riddled with typos, and focused more on herself than on anybody else. But it was something, and it made Imogen smile.
Heya Immy! FINALLY sorting thigns out. Life is good—rly. Promise I’ll do a better job keping up from now on. Miss you!! Luv you!! Tip
Underneath the message was a link. Imogen clicked it and up popped a new Wall Street Journal story about Tippy and the producer Imogen had seen with her in those Page Six pics.
“Bad Boy Filmmaker Goes Legit with Help from Heiress,” read the headline over a story about how Tippy and the former porn producer were starting a documentary film company to raise awareness about the effects of climate change on world cultures. Apparently they’d spent the summer in Greenland filming and editing the first movie, which was already getting buzz as a possible prize winner at Cannes. And here was the kicker: the article said Tippy hadn’t used any of the Sinclair fortune to get things off the ground. She’d raised all of the funds herself.
So it was possible. Getting away, making your mark and living your own life—it could be done, with or without the safety net of family.
Tippy did it, Imogen thought as she typed her friend a congratulation. So can I.
The sidewalk in front of the Sigma house was pure madness. Everywhere Maddy looked there were girls screaming, hugging, and laughing. When the bus pulled up, she and the other pledges had been greeted by singing, cheering actives, who’d pulled them onto the lawn into a crowd of happiness. Every two seconds, it seemed like, a new person would grab Maddy for a picture or a hug that would lift her off her feet.
“We did it!” one of her new pledge sisters crowed in her ear. “We’re Sigmas!”
“I can’t believe it!” Maddy shouted back. Her voice was already hoarse but she added another scream for good measure.
A sister stood on the top step of the porch and started tossing T-shirts from new girl to new girl. Maddy unrolled hers and smiled. Shine On! it said in red script on a field of silver stars. New Pledge Sister: Sigma Theta Kappa.
She put on the shirt, feeling like her heart might burst. This was her home now! On the bus, she’d heard one of the counselors say that there were probably going to be open rooms at the sorority house, so First Years would be invited to move in if they wanted to. Maddy totally wanted to, as soon as possible.
All around her, girls were stopping to text their friends and family, squealing into their phones, taking photos and posting them. Maddy pulled her phone out and dialed Logan’s number. The call went straight to voice mail. She opened her mouth to leave a message . . . only she couldn’t think of anything to say. She couldn’t think of anything she wanted to say. How could she explain everything that had happened that week in just a few seconds? Sure, she could tell him the main part, that she’d gotten into Sigma, but there was so much more to it than that. And now that she thought about it, was Logan really someone she wanted to tell these things to? He was back in Chesterfield—part of her old life, and she was getting ready to start a whole new one in a world he knew nothing about.
She hung up, then dialed her sister.
“Maddy?” Miranda said. “Where are you? What’s all that noise?”
“It’s bid day,” said Maddy. “I made it into Sigma.”
“That’s incredible! Congratulations! We don’t get our bids until three o’clock and I’m dying over here.”
When she’d first made the phone call, Maddy had thought she’d wanted to brag. Instead, she found herself saying, simply, “Thanks. I’m really excited.”
“Does Logan know?”
“I couldn’t reach him.”
Miranda made a disgusted sound. “That doesn’t surprise me. Do you know a girl named Peyton?”
“His Big Sister?” Maddy had a feeling she knew where this was going.
“Is that what they call them now? After we talked the other night I went over to tell him we had to break things off. But turns out I didn’t have to. The two of them were all over each other up in his room. No way to mistake it. He literally had his pants . . .”
“I don’t need the gory details,” said Maddy. “But why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t want to mess up rush for you. I should have known if he could do something like that to you, then he could do it to me. But I thought . . .”
“You thought you knew him better.”
“Yeah. I’ve been a crappy sister and I wouldn’t blame you for hating me.”
“I don’t hate you,” said Maddy. Even if it wasn’t 100 percent true, it felt good to say. She was tired of being angry.
“But you’re a Sigma now! You can probably have any guy you want.”
Miranda might be right, but at that moment being in a relationship seemed like a lot of trouble Maddy just didn’t need. She had enough work to do figuring out her regular friendships, let alone dealing with a boyfriend.
“Listen,” she said as she watched the new pledges start into the house. “I have to go. I just wanted to let somebody at home know what was happening. Will you tell mom and dad for me?”
“I’ll tell them. And seriously, Maddy. I’m happy for you. You’re pledging Sigma just like you said you would. Congratulations.”
“Thanks, Miranda.” Maddy felt a pair of arms grab her around the waist and turned to see Violet, the very first girl she’d met on the first day of rush, waiting to crush her in a bear hug.
“Welcome to Sigma!” said Violet. “We’re so psyched to have you!”
Maddy put away her phone as Violet led her up the sidewalk. The crowd was starting to thin as girls went through the red front door, into the house. “C’mon!” Violet said. “There’s a ton of stuff planned for today, and you don’t want to miss any of it.”
By the time they reached the porch they were the last two still outside. Violet stopped. “You can’t come in without this,” she said, taking something out of her pocket. It was a silver star on a glittering chain.
“It’s so pretty!” Maddy murmured, her voice catching in her throat.
Violet smiled. “It’s for you.”
Maddy bowed her head and pulled back her hair so Violet could fasten the chain around her neck. She brought her hand around to her throat, held the little star between her fingers, and made a vow: from that second on, she would do everything she could to be worthy of it.
“Welcome home,” said Violet. She stepped over the threshold into the foyer, where Maddy could hear the other girls laughing and singing. Still holding the star with one hand, she reached out with the other to take the knob.
Maddy shut the door.
When Cass and Ruby reached the first landing of the grand staircase, Ruby turned toward their room, but Cass continued climbing, up to the third floor. The door to the president’s suite was shut, but the door next to it—Marianne McCourt’s door—stood open. Inside, looking out the window, was Delia.
Cass peeked her head in. “Hi,” she said.
“Hi,” Delia answered, keeping her eyes on the sidewalk below.
“I’m sorry,” said Cass, going to stand next to her. She didn’t know what else to say. “I feel terrible. About everything. I just . . . I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
Cass filled the silence with a nervous laugh. “Um . . . I hope this doesn’t come across the wrong way, but you’re making me nervous standing by the window like this.”
“Why?” Delia’s voice was even and calm. “The view is amazing.”
“After last night, though . . . I mean . . . what were you doing up here?”
“Did you think I was going to jump or something?” Delia let out a laugh of her own. “You really think I’d do something like that?”
“Well you have to admit it’s been a pretty surreal week.”
“I won’t argue there.” Delia hugged herself, even though outside it was hot and sunny. “I come in here a lot, when I need to think or be alone. This used to be my room until my friend died. I’m sure you’ve heard all about it—what happened to Marianne.”
Cass swallowed, resisting the urge to glance at the poster behind the bed. “I’ve only heard the gossip. And the people who gossip seem to be going for maximum dramatic effect, so . . .”
“I know.” Delia rolled her eyes. “The last one I heard was that she’d been killed, supposedly by one of us. If you knew anything about how close we all were back then, you’d know how stupid that is.”
Cass took a deep breath and decided to ask what she—and everybody else—had been wondering. “What did happen? Only if you want to talk about it, though. I mean, I can imagine it’s not something you really want to remember . . .”
Delia touched the windowsill, then leaned out just a bit to take in the steep slope of the roof. “Marianne used to like to climb out and sit on the ledge right here to read. I’d beg her not to, but she’d always tell me to quit being so serious.”
“So she fell?” Cass couldn’t help it, she felt a bit let down. “That’s really all there is to it?”
“I wish,” said Delia. “Things would probably have been a lot different if that was all. But this was a different house then, too. We worked hard but we also had a lot of fun. Sometimes the fun went too far, and Marianne wasn’t the only one to pay the price for that.”
“Did she go out and get wasted, then come home and try to sit on the ledge for fresh air?”
“She’d been drinking when she fell,” Delia said. “But she wasn’t out before it happened. We were having a party here at the house.”
The clues Cass had found earlier in the week started to make sense. She went to the stripped-down bed, pulled the bottle from between the mattresses, and put it on the windowsill in front of Delia.
“I hid that,” Delia admitted. “It was bad enough they were going to find out she’d been drinking. She was underage, which goes against the Sigma honor code. But drinking inside university-affiliated residences is illegal. And we were all doing it.”
“That’s why nobody talks about what happened.”
“We swore to keep it a secret, but that was just the beginning. The alums and the older actives decided we needed to recommit to Sigma and all those ideals they thought we’d forgotten. When we came back the next year, it was stricter, harder, and, to be honest, meaner. I thought it was for the best. I swore after Marianne died that I’d never be so stupid again, but now look at me. I was just as dumb for not listening to you.”
Cass thought back to the first day of rush—telling Imogen Ash that she believed the stories about the sorority house being haunted. All this time, there was no ghost; just Delia coming to Marianne’s room to remember her friend.
“But the worst part is what we lost,” Delia went on. “We were so obsessed with being Sigma that we forgot how to have fun. We forgot how to be real friends.” Delia brushed aside the tears that had dampened her cheeks, threw back her shoulders, and pulled herself out of the past. “Isn’t it weird how it happened?” she said. “One minute I’m up here, watching my boyfriend with a rushee, and the next I’m resigning as president.”
“You didn’t have to leave,” said Cass.
“I’m actually kind of glad, though. My whole life I’ve been scared to disappoint my dad, worried I wouldn’t know who I was if I didn’t have a plan for everything. Now that failure’s caught up with me I can finally deal with it. My biggest regret is that the chapter is going to go bankrupt.”
“I won’t let that happen,” said Cass. “We’ll find a way to raise money.”
“I hope you can.” Delia pushed away from the window. “I’m going to go pack. The honors dorm has an opening so I’m heading over there. I’ll go while you take the new girls to lunch—I don’t think it would look good to see someone moving out just as they’re getting ready to move in.”
Cass watched as Delia took the lavaliere from around her neck and let it dangle from her fingers. After a moment, she placed it on the windowsill next to the bottle.
“Good luck, Cass,” she said, and left the room.
The lavaliere glinted in the sunlight, and Cass considered taking it to give back to Delia later. Instead, she put the bottle in the pocket of her hoodie, then leaned out the window, grabbed the panes, and pulled them closed. But just before she did, she spotted a familiar form among the crush of new pledges out on the sidewalk. It was Leo, looking up and waving.
Cass ran back down the stairs and out the front door, into his arms. He lifted her off her feet, hugging her tight, and then there was a short second where they both hesitated, unsure what to do next.
She answered the question by taking his face in her hands and kissing him, right there where anyone and everyone could see. No more wondering, no more weirdness.
Leo beamed when she let him go.
“I had my doubts about Cass the sorority girl,” he said. “But it turns out I really like her.”
“I do, too,” said Cass.
Leo looked past her at the red door, behind which drama from the morning and the night before was still playing out. The alums were back in their meetings, and at least a few other Killer Bees were waiting to hear whether they were going to be kicked out.
“I hope it’s okay that I came over,” Leo said. “Your revolution sounds like it was pretty bloody.”
“You can come over any time,” Cass told him. “Just because I’m here it doesn’t mean things have to change.”
“But I want things to change.” He reached down to take her hands. “At least as far as this is concerned.”
Cass looked at their entwined fingers, remembering all of the times she’d wished she could touch Leo in a way that wasn’t just funny or friendly or fleeting. Her hands in his felt like they’d belonged there all along.
Leo looked nervous, an expression Cass found new and thrilling. “Are we still friends, too?” he asked.
The only way to answer that question was with another kiss. And then another, and a few more after that, until someone on the front porch let out a catcall, which was just fine because they needed to come up for air anyway.
“The new pledges are here,” said Cass. “We’ve got a bunch of stuff going on today, but I don’t think I have plans for later. I never got back to the bar last night.”
“I’ll wait for you,” Leo said. “I’ll even promise not to bitch about it if you’re late.”
“I won’t be.” Cass leaned in for one last kiss. “I’ll be there. We have a lot of catching up to do.”
But first, there were new sisters to meet and old ones to say good-bye to. Cass let Leo go. She watched him get in his car and drive away, then went back into the house to get ready to greet the new girls.