Page 16 of Seeds of Friendship
“Graduate?” Troy suggests.
“No—well,yeah, but mainly to enjoy the company of many lovely females and have a fucking brilliant time partying before real life sets in.”
Ethan nods sagely. “A noble pursuit.”
“And that can't happen if we're the fucking pariah house,” I continue. “We need to fix this shit. The first few weeks set thetone for the entire year. Maybe all four years. Oh god. This could ruin our college experience.”
“But how?” Troy runs his hand through his hair. “I had no idea Connor’s brother was an Alpha Pi. He’s the fuckin’ president of the frat and he’s just as pissed with me. Alpha Pi basically runs the social scene for freshmen. If they say we're off-limits...”
“Then we make being off-limits the coolest fucking thing on campus,” I say.
They both stare at me.
“Hear me out. What do frats have that we don't?”
“Everything?” Ethan suggests. “Money, reputation, a house that doesn't rely on a stolen Einstein poster for decoration?”
“They have rules,” I say. “Pledging, dues, hierarchies, all that structured bullshit. What if we became the anti-frat? The place where you can party without the politics?”
Troy's leaning forward now. “Keep talking.”
“We throw a party. But not just any party—the kind of party that makes Alpha Pi look like a church youth group. No lists, no bullshit about who's cool enough, just a fucking rager that people can't ignore. Project X style.”
“But people won't come—” Ethan starts.
“Then we get creative. Free drinks—and I mean the good stuff, not just warm beer. Real food, not just chips. Music that doesn't suck. Make it so good that people are willing to risk the social suicide.”
“That sounds expensive as fuck,” Troy points out.
“So we invest. Pool our money, do this right. One shot to change the narrative. If it sucks too…I don’t know if we will be able to redeem ourselves.”
Ethan's getting into it now. “We could make it themed. Like, something that sounds too good to miss.”
“No themes,” I say quickly. “Themes are trying too hard. We just make it clear this is the party whereanythingcould happen. The place without rules.”
“The Anti-Frat,” Troy says slowly, testing it out.
“Exactly. We can't beat them at their game, so we change the fucking game.”
“When?” Ethan asks.
“Next week. Enough time to build hype, not enough time for Connor to completely poison everyone against us. It’ll be legendary, guys. People will be asking for years to be invited to our start of the year party. We could set a tradition.”
Troy pulls out his phone, already making notes because, of course, he is. “We'll need alcohol—lots of it. And we can't get caught by campus security.”
“Fake ID, baby.”
“This could actually work,” Troy says, looking up from his phone.
“It has to work,” I correct. “Because, otherwise, we're spending the next four years jerking off alone in our rooms.”
“Alfie would probably prefer that,” Ethan mutters.
“Alfie doesn't have a dick,” I say. “I’ll bet he reproduces asexually through pure contempt.”
Troy snorts coffee out his nose, and Ethan starts choking on his muffin from laughing.
“But seriously,” I continue once they've recovered, “we make this party legendary, or we're fucked. No pressure.”
