“You two are such pussies!” Gregg snorted scornfully. “‘Oh God, Ry, what am I going to do?’” he mocked in a high pitched imitation of Danny. Then he deepened his voice, “I don’t know, Kid. Let me talk to him.” He laughed again.
“Fuck you, Mcarthy!” Jesse took a step in his direction, but Sean yanked him back.
“Don’t you start!” he snapped.
“You just love playing the hero, don’t you, Sanderson?” Gregg continued to needle Ryan. “So fucking spoiled! Look at me, look at me! I’m the president’s brother! I can do what I want!”
“Shut the fuck up!” Sean’s temper flared as some of Gregg’s friends laughed. “He is not like that!”
“Well, it doesn’t matter!” Gregg jeered. “He’s not going to be able to do jack shit this time and he knows it! Look at him!” Gregg sniggered again. “It’s about time too! At least one of Steve’s cocky-ass brothers will finally get what’s coming to him!”
“All right, Gregg! You made your point! Just drop it!” Sean warned. Gregg was not about to let this go, though. This was the most fun he’d had in a long time.
“I can just see it now!” he continued gleefully.
“Shut it Mcarthy!” Andrew threatened, and Sean looked at him nervously. Andrew was the biggest and strongest of the group. If he decided to go after Gregg, nobody would be able to stop him.
“‘Come on, Bro! Let’s get it over with!’” The stillness of the room deepened as Gregg imitated the fraternity president. He sounded just exactly like Steve, and Ryan and Danny’s friends looked at them in dread. Ryan had so far suffered the insults quietly, but now as his little brother clung tighter, he balled his fists in an effort to control his anger. “‘No, Steve! Please! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!’” Gregg imitated Danny again now and laughed. “It’ll be just like last year!” he leered. “All the drama. Sanderson begging and pleading on his brother’s behalf. Such a touching scene! How I wish I could be there; I’d bring popcorn . . . .”
“You fucking bastard!”
Gregg broke off mid-sentence as Ryan flew at him.“Ryan!” Andrew shouted, but Ryan had already sent Gregg sprawling with a solid blow to his jaw. Sean, Patrick, and Jesse rushed to restrain Danny, and it took the efforts of all three to keep him from following his brother.
“Fuck!” Gregg brought his hand to his mouth as he felt it beginning to swell. “God, that hurt!” he glared up at Ryan.
“Shit, Ry! What did you do?” Sean looked back at him, horrified, still trying to keep Danny under control. Ryan looked away as he cradled his hand and cursed under his breath.
“Damn it, Ryan! You’ve really done it, now!” Andrew admonished.
“I don’t care!” Ryan scowled, still nursing his hand. “It was worth it!” His stomach turned violently despite his words, however, and his cavalier attitude didn’t fool either Andrew or Sean. He continued to evade their eyes, and the eyes of his other friends. Instead, he looked back at Danny and the two brothers locked eyes. This was a moment they knew they would have to pay for.
“What in the blue blazes is going on out here?” Steve’s bedroom door opened and he stepped out, peering down into the common room from the railing above.
“What’s going on is, your smart ass younger brothers just attacked me!” Gregg returned hotly.
Steve felt the blood drain from his face, and he shifted his gaze to Danny and Ryan. Reluctantly, they looked up to meet his eyes. “Is that true?” Steve demanded.
Both of his brothers swallowed, unable to answer right away, and Sean took pity on them. “They were provoked, Steve!”
“That’s the understatement of the year!” Jesse growled as he too found his voice.
“Yes, they were provoked!”
“It’s not fair!”
“Mcarthy should learn to mind his own fucking business!” Similar cries of protest and a few in support of Gregg’s point of view were raised throughout the room, but Steve ignored them all, staring stonily down at his brothers.
“IS- IT- true?” he asked again.
“Yes,” Ryan finally managed in a tiny voice, and both he and Danny hung their heads to avoid Steve’s scolding eyes.
“All right, then, we will have to talk about this later! In the meantime, if you cannot control your tempers, it will be best for you to stay away from other people. Both of you get upstairs, now!”
“Steve . . .,” Ryan protested.
“Now!” Steve barked and tears stung Ryan’s eyes as both he and Danny beat a hasty retreat for the stairs. The house shook as one after the other they slammed their bedroom doors, and Steve closed his eyes. It was going to be a long night. Without another word, he turned quietly back into his room, shutting the door softly, and leaving the rest of the stunned fraternity members to sort things out for themselves.
File Four
The Plea
"
A faithful friend is a strong defense; And he that hath found him hath found a treasure."
-Louisa May Alcott
The remainder of the afternoon passed in heavy silence, broken only by the whispered conversations of the sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The freshmen came and went, never staying for long, repelled by the eerie atmosphere, and determined to avoid it until the mandatory meeting later that night.
Ryan, Danny, and Steve all remained in their rooms. Ryan and Danny would talk to no one, not even Jesse and Sean, and as nine o’clock rolled around their friends felt compelled to seek Steve’s assistance. They stood in front of the president’s door now, and Sean knocked softly. Jesse glanced at him, uncomfortably. Aside from Steve’s younger brothers and his friends, fraternity members normally visited the president in his room for one reason and one reason only. Sean too seemed nervous as Steve opened the door and regarded them silently. “They’re not coming out,” Sean informed him quietly. “We thought you should know.” Steve sighed and stepped aside to let his brothers’ friends in.
He motioned to the bed, inviting them to sit down, but with nervous glances towards the door just to the bed’s left, they shook their heads, and chose to remain standing. Steve raised his eyebrows at them, smirking at their silliness. A moment later, however, he fixed them with his most serious expression and inquired, “What happened out there, today?” Sean glanced at Jesse. Jesse shifted his weight and looked at the floor, and neither of them spoke. “I need to know, guys,” Steve encouraged gently after a minute.
Sean shrugged. “Gregg was goading them,” he finally responded.
“Yeah, well, that, I got!” Steve returned sarcastically. “But that’s nothing new. What was it about this time?”
“Kevin,” Jesse responded sourly.
“What else would push them over the edge like that?” Sean demanded.
Steve nodded as the pieces of the puzzle began to come together.
“Go on,” he encouraged Sean and Jesse calmly. “How did it concern Kevin?” Sean glanced at Jesse as he continued, and Jesse shifted uncomfortably again. This room brought back bad memories, and he just wanted out as quickly as possible.
“Well, Kevin has apparently gotten it into his head somehow that tonight’s meeting is a surprise party for his birthday.” Steve paled as Sean continued. “Danny had just come to the realization that Kevin had this idea, and we were all trying to cheer him up. He was informing Jesse of the situation when Gregg picked up on the conversation, and after baiting Ryan and Danny for a considerable period of time, he finally alerted the whole common room to Kevin’s predicament. That’s when they lost it,” Sean finished quietly.
“I see,” Steve replied, turning away and doing his best to mask his emotion. “So, what you’re telling me is that Kevin thinks we are throwing him a surprise party tonight, and that now, due to careless conversation and Gregg Mcarthy’s mean streak, the whole house knows that’s what he thinks. Did I get it right?”
Sean and Jesse looked down, guiltily. The rebuke concerning their “careless conv
ersation” had not been lost on either of them. “That about sums it up I guess,” Jesse replied sullenly.
‘Christ almighty, this is going to be just as bad as last year,’ Steve thought. “All right guys,” he sighed after a minute, “thanks for telling me. It’s good to have the whole picture.” He still wasn’t looking at his brothers’ friends and Jesse and Sean traded glances.
“You won’t be too hard on them, will you?” Sean whispered and Steve finally turned to look at him. “I mean about this afternoon?” he clarified, unable to read Steve’s expression.
A long minute went by as Steve collected his thoughts and emotions, but finally he looked once more at Ryan’s friend. “I’m going to do my best to be fair, Sean,” he answered gently. Then as he looked at Jesse’s taut face he assured, “I am not going to do anything about it tonight. Tonight is going to be hard enough without that.” They were still eyeing him disconsolately, and resignedly Steve added, “I will try to wait until the after effects of this whole thing blow over, but I can’t promise more than that.” Sean bit his lip and looked away and Jesse looked quickly at the floor again. Steve waited a moment for them to gather their emotions, and then spoke again softly, but firmly. “Go on now,” he urged, “and let me talk to them.” Jesse and Sean didn’t look at him and Steve waited patiently. “This is not your fault, guys,” he said. “Nothing you said just now has influenced in the least my thoughts about this afternoon. Nor is there anything you could have said to change my mind.”
Again Jesse and Sean were silent, and finally Steve urged them more firmly. “Go on. Don’t you each have things you need to do?” They nodded glumly, and Steve opened the door. Silently, Danny and Ryan’s best friends turned to leave, and Steve watched them go. His brothers had both been wise in their choice of friends, he reflected. It would be hard to find anybody more loyal than those two are.
File Five
The Meeting
"We are all in the same boat, in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty."
-G.K. Chesterton
“Those things that hurt, instruct.”
-Benjamin Franklin
Even for Steve, coaxing his brothers out of their rooms turned out to be no easy matter, and it was not with gentle persuasion, but with commanding authority that the task was ultimately accomplished. He went to the younger of the two first, anticipating a tougher battle in that quarter. His expectations were not disappointed. “Dan, it is your duty!” he asserted through the closed door. “Just as it was Ryan’s last year! It’s going to happen, Man, whether you like it or not. Kevin will take it best with you beside him to support and encourage him. Do not deprive him of that.”
Finally, Danny opened the door. He’d clearly been crying; his eyes were puffy and his face tear streaked. Steve looked at him quietly for a moment and then stepped into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him as Danny went completely to pieces again. “You’re going to have to try and pull it together, Danny. It’s almost time. Sean is rallying the troops. Jesse is instructing the freshmen. You need to be there for Kevin, Man. As hard as it is, that’s your role.”
“He’s not going to see it as support!” Danny choked. “He’s going to blame me!”
“Maybe at first,” Steve acknowledged gently, “but he will eventually come to see that this is bigger than you and him, that it’s a tradition, and a good one at that.” Steve waited, but when Danny did not seem to calm down, he added, “You know he has it coming, Dan, and regardless of how he takes it, it is your duty to be there with him. Let him lash out at you. These are hard lessons to learn, and that’s what big brothers are for. It will make you closer in the end,” he promised quietly. “Trust me.”
“Why couldn’t we move the meeting?” Danny sobbed.
“We’ve been through that, Dan, a hundred times.” Steve did his best to remain patient as his second youngest brother raised this tired subject for what seemed like the millionth time this week.
“Well, it’s not fair!” Danny seethed.
“We looked for a better time, Danny,” Steve reminded gently, “and there wasn’t one.”
Danny seemed at a loss. He knew what his oldest brother was saying was true. He just hated this. “Did you fix things with Ryan?” he inquired brokenly, at last.
“That’s where I’m headed next,” Steve replied softly. “You guys really put me in a bad spot this afternoon.”
“I know,” Danny returned ruefully. “I’m sorry. Everything just happened so quickly.”
“Well,” Steve returned in the same soothing tone, “what’s done is done. We will have to deal with it, but not tonight. Tonight, we all need to be there for Kevin, ok?” Danny nodded, but he was too broken up to respond and Steve left him in peace to collect himself as he moved on to Ryan.
That had been nearly forty-five minutes ago now, and Danny had rallied tolerably. At least he was no longer crying. He had washed his face, rubbing his eyes hard to try and erase the redness and puffiness and only succeeding in making them redder. Finally he gave up and made his way downstairs. Now, he sat sullenly between Ryan and Jesse on the couch, not talking to either of them and avoiding everybody’s eyes as people threw curious glances his way. In his lap, lay the heavy fraternity paddle of which he was now the keeper. He ran his fingers over the engraved names, nervously. His own, at the moment, was last, to be followed shortly by Kevin’s, and he tried to forget how painful every smack had been, the shock he had felt, the betrayal, and how he was about to pass those feelings on to his little brother. This was harder than he had ever imagined it could be.
The newly aware freshmen sat in shocked silence on the other side of the room with the sophomores, their big brothers, hovering nearby. The juniors and seniors were scattered about the room. Some of them talked amongst themselves in low voices and the atmosphere was once again clearly divided between those who couldn’t wait to see the cocky freshman get his just desserts, and those who acknowledged the necessity of the act, but were fond of Kevin and dreading the night ahead.
Steve, meanwhile, was upstairs, having one more cigarette on the balcony off his private room. He too was having a difficult time. This was going to be hard, harder than he had imagined also. He crushed out the cigarette with his foot. He’d put on a brave enough face for Danny and Ryan’s benefit, but could he maintain it? He wondered. That little squirt had really gotten under his skin, and tonight he would have traded his private room to anybody just to avoid doing what it was his duty to do. He leaned on the rail and looked out into the night sky. He didn’t think he could go back in until it was really time.
Ten o’clock came and went, and then ten fifteen. Now it was twenty after ten and Ryan looked at Danny, nervously. “You’re sure he’s coming?”
Danny shrugged. “He said he would,” he responded nervously.
“Danny, you know what will happen if he doesn’t show in the next half hour.”
“I know, Ryan,” Danny replied, feeling queasy. “He said he’d be here, though. He’ll come.”
“I hope so,” Ryan returned, his stomach flipping as he thought about last year’s meeting. His own little brother had paid a severe price for antics similar to those that had Kevin in hot water this year. Now, if Kevin didn’t show, Danny would be in trouble again. It was his responsibility to see that Kevin attended tonight. If he failed in this duty to produce his little brother, not only would he stand in Kevin’s stead tonight, but the meeting would be rescheduled, and Kevin would still be forced to face his own inquisition at a later date. Danny‘s sacrifice would therefore not benefit his little brother at all. Ryan‘s brow puckered.
“I didn’t tip him off,” Danny whispered, reading his thoughts. “I promise.”
“I know,” Ryan met his eyes but his tone lacked conviction.
“At least I wouldn’t blame you this time,” Danny rejoined in a small voice, clutching the paddle tighter. Ryan regarded him silently for another moment, and then placed
an arm over his shoulders. He knew exactly what his little brother was going through. Another ten minutes went by before they finally heard voices coming down the hall. Three of them were identifiable as James’, Alex’s, and Kevin’s, and Ryan and Danny both breathed a sigh of relief. They sounded drunk, but not as drunk as Danny had been afraid they’d be. The next moment, however, horror struck Danny’s heart as he heard a female giggle and then a voice that was clearly not male. The three freshmen were bringing girls into a restricted meeting when they, along with everyone else, had been explicitly warned not to.
Ryan looked quickly at Danny, his eyes reflecting all the panic Danny was feeling. “He didn’t!” Ryan hissed.
Danny shrugged wearily. “I guess he did,” he acknowledged dolefully.
Ryan and Danny were both paralyzed, now, by the feeling of dread that had overtaken them, but Jesse was not rendered quite as immobile. “Here! Give that thing to me,” he indicated the paddle and Danny handed it to him. Jesse lifted the blanket hanging over the back of the couch and stowed it just as the door opened and the seven students stumbled in. Four girls had accompanied the young fraternity members back to their house. Three of them were freshmen, but one was a sophomore and Danny’s lip curled as he recognized her.
The room, which had been quiet before, now fell completely silent as everyone stared at the newcomers. “Well, this is a rousing party,” quipped James.
“They’re probably just waiting for the guest of honor to arrive,” one of the girls tittered. Kevin and Alex were staring in shock at the faces around them, some of them horrified and others trying to contain their amusement. At last Kevin’s eyes found first Ryan’s and then Danny’s and he felt stung by the silent rebuke he saw there. He felt all of a sudden that he had broken some major taboo. He knew girls weren’t supposed to be here tonight, but it was his birthday, his party, wasn’t it? He was no longer sure as he passed his eyes over the room once more.
The Fraternity Files Page 4
