Page 7 of Freshmeet
I had rarely found myself so attracted to a guy, and I’d blown it.
“Did you guys see that email from campus security?” Mona asked, her gaze following Blake Sheffield, the president of Beta Sigma Beta, as she walked past us to the bar that was recklessly covered in open-flame candles.
Kat bumped her shoulder and frowned. Blake and Mona had history, and Kat took it upon herself to hold the grudge for her best friend.
“Yeah. Pretty scary stuff,” I said, pulling the duo’s attention from the preppy girl grimacing as she took a shot of clear liquid.
Kat shrugged. “It didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. You can’t trust these bastards.”
“Things do seem to be getting worse though. A girl is missing, and a few others have been assaulted.” Mona said as she scanned the room. “Too bad that besides that email, the university has done nothing.”
“Fuck’em. We’ll just keep watching each other’s backs. No sister left behind.” Kat said, glaring at her ex, Duncan, who was posted up across the room with the last girl he had cheated on her with. “Of course,” she scoffed and took a step toward them, only to have Mona hold her back.
“We’re up!” Rae shouted over the loud music. Olivia caught my hand and led me to the back of the Barn. The Epsilon Chi party spot was a big open space with a tiered dance floor on one side, a bunch of beer pong tables on the other, and two nasty bathrooms. So, not an actual barn, but who was I to judge the name of a place when Beta Alpha Epsilon had houses called Nuthouse and Frattic?
The guys had gone all out on the funeral theme. Flower wreaths hung on all the doors, decked out with sympathy sashes. A potluck of party snacks lined the far wall as if we were truly at a wake. What pushed the whole party solidly into tasteless territory was the foam tombstones propped in “the graveyard”—aka a pile of dirt in the corner. In the center, the largest headstone read Emma Miller.
The four of us stopped and watched Andy, an Epsilon Chi, pour out a little jungle juice on the dirt as if paying tribute.
We’re all going to hell.
“That’s just fucked up,” Kat growled, stomping right up to the display and plucking Emma’s tombstone from the bunch.
“Hey! I worked really hard on that!” Andy yelled, trying to snatch it back.
Kat dodged his hands and stuck out her combat-boot-clad foot. Andy stumbled over it, falling face-first into the booze-soaked dirt.
“Why don’t you workreally hardon being a decent human being?” Mona said, taking the tombstone and putting it under her arm. She looked at us, then back at the tasteless prop. “What should we do with this thing?”
Olivia eyed it carefully. “Feels wrong to throw it away.”
“But if we keep it, are we asking for trouble?” Mona asked, lifting it up to inspect it.
Kat scoffed, purposefully stomping on Andy’s hand. As he howled in pain, rolling into the other tombstones and knocking them over, she said, “Oh, but doing a blood ritual on a full moon wasn’t asking for trouble?” She cocked her head and gave Mona a mocking smile.
“That was different,” Mona dismissed. “That was a bit of sisterly bonding.”
“Was it?” I said softly. “Emma died that night.”
We stood there silently as the party raged around us.
“Guys! If you don’t hurry, we’re going to lose the table!” Britta shrieked from across the room.
“Let’s go.” Olivia stepped around Andy, who was trying in vain to brush dirt from his face.
Kat took the tombstone from Mona and snapped it over her knee.
“Kat!” I yelled, snatching the pieces from her.
“What? It’s just foam and markers. It’s not like I desecrated her burial site.” She took the halves back and broke them down until the headstone was a pile of bits.
The same unease I’d felt the night we pricked our fingers for Emma settled in my belly. Something about the occult and death spooked me to my nondenominational Christian raised core.
“I guess that’s one way to deal with it,” Mona murmured, frowning at her best friend before walking away.
“Everyone is so fucking touchy,” Kat said, stomping toward our roommates.
I reluctantly followed.
