by Vixen Kane
“What the hell?” Lexie spins toward me with her hands on her hips and a pissed off look on her face.
“What?” I have no idea why she’s mad at me, but judging by the look on her face, I’m about to find out.
“That was Connor Lincoln,” she says with a heat-infused tone. “He’s the president of this fraternity.”
“Okay. Who cares?”
“I care!” she shrieks. “Everyone fucking cares, Val. Connor Lincoln is the person who can get you either invited to these parties or banned.”
“We’re not going to get banned. Calm down.” Maybe we will get banned. I really can’t say with any degree of certainty that we won’t. This isn’t my scene, so what do I know?
“Don’t be so sure. I’ve seen plenty of freshmen get booted from these parties for a whole lot less than smarting off to Connor. A lot less.”
“Fine. I’ll steer clear of him, and then there won’t be a problem.”
My eyes dart across the room and land on Connor and his buddies laughing and staring our way. What the hell is he looking at? I glance down at my outfit for what feels like the hundredth time since leaving our dorm room and groan. My shirt has ridden up and I’m now showing off not only my boobs but also my midriff. I try to tug the shirt down to cover myself, but the shirt is so skin tight and tiny that it does no good.
I abandon my attempts at modesty and glance back up at the group of guys and freeze. Connor’s green eyes are locked on my chest and there’s an intensity in them that I notice even from this distance. His head slowly raises, as does his hand with the plastic cup in it, as if to solute me, and the corners of his mouth lift in a grin.
I turn away from his stare and try to ignore the asshole. I am not here to fight with the president of the fraternity. I am here to enjoy the party. That’s it.
“You okay?” Gemma’s voice has me whipping my head to look at her.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Why?”
“You’re face just got red. Like, really red.”
“It’s nothing. Just got hot in here. Must be the alcohol.”
“Uh, Val, you barely drank anything.” Thank you Lexie for pointing that out.
“Just let it go. I’m good.”
I set my cup down on the staircase that’s already piling with litter and turn away from both of them to walk further into the house. As I mesh with a crowd of people dancing, I let the music overtake me and start to sway to the beat.
4
Seth
“You wish,” she says with a laugh. It’s the redhead from my physics class. She’s about one shot away from going upstairs with me.
I smile and give her a wink before lifting my beer to my lips. “Hard to get, huh?”
She shrugs and laughs again as if I said something hysterical. Nope, she wasn’t that hard to get. I saw her looking around the room as soon as she walked in, and when her eyes locked on me, my suspicions were confirmed. She was looking for me. It was cute, but a little too easy. I like a chase.
I glance down her body, pausing where her skirt stops at her thighs. It’s not overly short or anything. From what I could tell from class, she’s smart. An engineering major just like me. She’s almost perfect.
“So what made you come out tonight?” I ask, already scoping the room for something a little more challenging.
“Umm.” She laughs again. I turn my attention back to her and see her twirling a piece of hair. Jesus, how drunk is she? “This cute guy who sits next to me in Physics told me about a party, so I figured I better check it out.”
I smile, but my eyes strain from forcing myself not to roll them. It’s not a date. It’s a setup. Pretend you were bored and had nothing else to do or something. Fuck, this is a turn-off.
I scope the crowd again and lift the cup to my lips, but then someone catches my eye, and I lower it.
I squint in the girl’s direction, certain I’ve got it wrong. They wouldn’t be stupid enough to show up here.
“Well I’m really glad we got to talk,” I say to the redhead—Cherish?—before walking through the kitchen past the beer pong competition going on.
“Seth!” Cherish calls to my back, but I’m not paying attention to her. The girl who I think might be Valerie is dancing and just swayed past the doorway, so now she’s out of my sight. When I exit the kitchen, I see her dancing again. She looks very different, but a few more seconds of staring, and I’m almost convinced it’s her.
She’s got a black top on that’s screaming fuck me and jeans that are tight enough to cut off circulation. What the fuck?
“Valerie?” The music is so loud in here I have to cup my hands over my mouth and yell just for her to hear me. Her eyes meet mine and then narrow. Like I’m the one who shouldn’t be here.
I scan the crowd for her boyfriend, Josh, and am already balling my hands into fists. It’s a frat party. It’s my frat party. Nobody would even bat an eye if I beat the shit out of this guy, and all of a sudden, I’m glad they were stupid enough to show.
When I don’t see him, I walk over to Valerie who’s dancing has lost its energy entirely. She might as well be a robot now.
“Where is he?” I ask, not bothering with her first.
“Where’s who?”
“You know who,” I say, or more like yell with the music. I’m glancing around but notice her shaking her head.
“Josh and I broke up.”
“What?” I snap to her, my eyebrows pinching together like I’m pissed at her for it. I kind of am. Now I can’t beat his ass.
“We broke up!” She yells. “So you can just leave me alone now.”
I tilt my head and study her. She’s not swaying. A heavy scent of cheap perfume fills my nostrils each time she moves, but there’s no trace of alcohol. Of course not. She was Josh Conoway’s girlfriend. She doesn’t drink. And she doesn’t belong here.
“You need to leave.”
“What? No.” She purses her lips like she’s insulted and turns from me. Just like that, she’s done talking. My face warms, and I force my clenched fist to unwind and my fingers to stretch. I should probably just leave her alone. Let her drink punch that’s without a doubt spiked because she’s an idiot. She’ll probably end up having her first one-night-stand with some random guy in my fraternity, and I probably shouldn’t care. But Goddammit, I do.
“You’re not welcome here, Valerie. This is my fraternity.”
She pauses her movement and spins back around. “Really? Because five minutes ago, it was that guy’s fraternity.” She crooks her thumb and I follow to where she’s pointing. Connor is across the room with a grin on his face talking to Nate, his VP, and Tanner. He glances over at me and winks. The three of them are turned this way, and it’s hard to tell if it’s because they’ve been watching us or the people dancing.
“I’m next year’s president, but even if I wasn’t, every member gets a say in who’s here and who isn’t. I could throw you out forcefully if I wanted to, so just go on your own.”
Her face pinches and her mouth opens, but she’s interrupted by a blonde who shuffles up next to her. She throws her arm over Valerie’s shoulder and smiles. “Hey Seth. What are you two talking about?”
I pause a moment, staring at the girl because I have no memory of her and no idea why she’s talking to me like a friend, then I turn back to Valerie. “We were talking about how Valerie was just leaving.”
“Leaving?” Blonde asks, her smile falling as she turns to Valerie.
“No,” Valerie assures her, putting on way too confident a smile. “We’re not.”
“No?”
She shakes her head, and I don’t hold back the laugh that bubbles in response. This isn’t the way I remember her. I’m surprised she didn’t run from me when she saw me. I spot a couple of this year’s pledges walking past, and I grip one of their collars and yank him toward me. The other stumbles my way, fear and surprise covering both of their faces, but I ignore it and nod to the two girls in front of me. Another girl
seems to join them so I include her as well.
“The three of them need to be escorted out.”
“Seth, what the fuck?” Blonde asks, still holding onto the assertion that I know her. Shit, maybe I do, but not well enough obviously.
The pledges don’t hesitate. They take the girls by their shoulders and push them backward, shoving Valerie into another girl. The other girl turns around, her mouth open and brow creased.
“Watch where you’re going, freak!” The pissed girl yells over the music. It’s loud enough to draw attention to a large portion of the room, so when the girl tilts her beer over Valerie’s head, the room erupts into laughter.
My lips part as I trail the liquid from Valerie’s hair to the floor. She’s not facing me, so I only have my imagination to see the surprised and horrified look on her face right now. Holy shit.
Someone turns the music down, and several people have moved away from Valerie, including the blonde, making a sort of spotlight situation going on with several people laughing and hollering. The other friend is right beside her, but she’s clearly ready to bail, glancing around at all the people in a panic and gripping Valerie’s arm.
Valerie peers over her shoulder and at me, and I immediately spot the tears in her eyes. I’ve imagined them so many times. Imagined what she looked like when she’d been humiliated before for what I’d done, but never could I have guessed the sinking feeling it’d give me now.
She stands up straight and pushes through the crowd, friends one and two hanging their heads beside her. I spot what’s about to happen, but already know I can’t stop it.
“Valerie!” I shout out anyway, but it’s too late. My voice is drowned in the room erupting with laughter and taunts as people dump their beers over Valerie’s head as she passes. Plenty of liquid gets spilled on her friends as well, but it’s clear who the target is.
They shuffle out as fast as they can, and I stand there running a hand through my hair while I wait for it to stop.
Holy fucking shit.
“Not much of a firecracker anymore, is she?” Connor slaps my back and appears beside me. They’re gone, but I’m still watching the door, stunned. That was not my intention.
I give my head a shake before turning too Connor and Nate. “Guess not.”
“So what’s up there anyway? She reject you?” Connor takes a swig of beer, but I catch the veiled interest. She mentioned she’d been told this was his fraternity earlier, so my guess is she’d rejected him. I could see that. She looks like Connor’s type in appearance. Average height. Nice rack. Dirty blonde. Pretty face. If he could see the seven layers of good girl underneath, he’d lose all interest
“Pretty much.” I glance toward the door again before stepping into the kitchen away from the loud as fuck music that just got cranked back up. Connor and Nate follow me.
Connor’s eyebrows lift, and he looks to Nate. “That one’s a challenge, that’s for sure.”
“Yeah,” I agree, even though I have no reason to lie. They wouldn’t care that I had a somewhat history with Valerie. They don’t give a shit about my past, so why lie? Why not just say she’s the ex-girlfriend of a guy I fucking hate and that I may have embarrassed her a time or two because of it.
But then they might ask about the why of it all, and the last thing I want to talk about tonight was Josh fucking Conoway.
I roll my neck to ease the tension and clear my thoughts. When I look back to Connor and Nate they’ve both got shit-eating grins on their faces that stand the hairs on the back of my neck up.
“What?”
Connor laughs and looks between Nate and me. “I think we just found your next challenge.”
5
Valerie
“Val!” Footsteps crunch on gravel behind me, but I keep running, ignoring the pleas for me to stop. “Val! C’mon. Wait up!”
I swipe at the tears on my cheeks before coming to a halt and resting my hands on my thighs two blocks from the frat house. I’m soaked with beer and the chilly night air has my lungs burning. Almost as much as the humiliation burns.
“Val?” Lexie’s voice is right next to me, but I don’t look at her. “Val, I’m so sorry. It’s not normally like that.”
I stand up straight and face her. Gemma is standing next to her, and both of them look at me like they’re afraid I’m gonna bolt again.
“Oh no? Then what the hell is it normally like? Because that wasn’t anything too unfamiliar to me, especially when it comes to Seth Carnes.” My tears are gone, replaced with vein-searing anger.
“What do you mean ‘when it comes to Seth Carnes’?” Lexie’s looking at me like I grew a second head. I guess her confusion is warranted. She knows nothing about me or my past.
“Nothing. Just a beef he had with my ex. Forget I said anything.” I clench and unclench my fists and take a deep breath, trying to calm my anger. I don’t want to talk about the most embarrassing moment in my life, and Lexie’s sure to push it if I keep letting my emotions get the best of me.
“Well, that sucks. But that was a long time ago and surely he’s forgotten about it. Besides, the parties are normally just a good time. I’ve never seen them do that to someone before. Well, at least not to a girl. They treat pledges like shit, but you’re not a pledge, so it makes no sense to me.” Lexie glances down the street toward the house we just left. Well, the house I calmly walked out of before sprinting to sanity.
“Valerie, I warned you not to go.” Gemma finally speaks up, and it takes all my willpower not to spew some snarky retort because she’s right. She did warn me. But I didn’t listen, too caught up in wanting to experience college life like everyone else. “Please tell me we won’t be going to another—”
“You don’t have to go to another party, but…” I chew on the inside of my cheek while I think of a way to say what I have to say that won’t make me sound like I’ve lost all my marbles. “I’m going back.”
“You can’t be serious. After what just happened, you’re going to go to another party?” Gemma’s voice raises, incredulity infusing her tone.
“No, that’s not what I mean.” I shake my head and my brows pull together as I try to process what I’m trying to say so it makes more sense to them than it does to me. “Lexie, do you have another outfit I can change into?” I glance down at the clothes I’m wearing and scrunch up my nose. “These are a bit… dirty.”
“Of course I have another outfit. We’ll find just the right one for the next party.” She stares at me, and her eyebrows about touch her hairline when it finally registers what I asked her. “You wanna go back tonight?”
“We’ve got time, right? I mean, the dorms are only a few blocks away. I can take a quick shower, and if you help me with my hair and makeup, I think we can be back to the party within an hour.” My eyes plead with her, begging her to say it can be done.
“Well, yeah, I think so.” Her eyes dart back and forth between me and Gemma. “Gemma, you in?”
“No.” Gemma shakes her head before she turns pleading eyes to me. “Valerie, please, think about this. They humiliated you. Don’t go back.”
“That’s exactly why I have to go back.” I allow a smile to form even though the thought of going back makes me want to throw up. “I don’t expect you to understand, but I need to do this. Seth Carnes has already knocked me down more times than I care to admit and I won’t let him do it again.”
“Then I’m sorry, but I can’t do this with you.” Tears well up in her eyes, but she blinks them away. “I just… I’m sorry.” With that, she turns and walks away.
“Wow,” Lexie blows out a breath and then grabs my hand and starts tugging me in the direction of the dorms. “I’m sorry she bailed on you, and I would totally understand if you change your mind and don’t want to go back.”
I chuckle because her words don’t match her actions. We’re another block closer to the dorm before I speak. “You’re nuts, you know that, right?”
“Seriously? Says the girl wh
o’s ready to go back into the lion's den. Who’d have thought there was a spine of steel under all that nerdiness?”
“Never judge a book by its cover.” The words come out easily, despite the twisting anxiety in my gut, and I pray that I can keep up my brave facade long enough to make Seth Carnes and his band of asshole brothers eat shit.
“Damn. This is some of my best work.”
I can’t believe Lexie’s pulled this off. We managed to get back to the frat house in just under an hour and a half. The whole time she helped me get ready, she kept spouting off shit about making Seth Carnes beg for forgiveness. At the time, it helped to calm my nerves but now that we’re standing on the front lawn of the frat house again, the nerves are back. Millions of tiny butterflies swarm in my belly, and I hold my hand over my stomach, hoping to calm them down.
There are people standing around the yard, on the porch, and it feels as if many of them are staring holes into my skin, but when I glance around, no eyes are on me.
“C’mon. The longer we stand here the worse you’re going to make it on yourself.” Lexie tugs me in the direction of the front door.
As we walk by everyone, conversations stop and people stare. I imagine they’re all wondering what the hell the girl who got dumped on, literally, is doing back. None of them know me very well. I may be a nerd and a goody two shoes, according to most, but I’m also just like them. I want to fit in and be normal. Whatever the hell that is.
We cross the threshold into the house, and the music is deafening. I stop in my tracks, bringing Lexie to a halt with me. The events of earlier run through my mind, and I can feel the warm beer sloshing over my head again. She turns toward me, and I see her mouth moving but can’t hear a word she says.
“Huh?” I yell to be heard.
“Why’d you stop?” She tries to tug me farther into the throngs of people, but I resist.
