Page 72 of The Game Plan

Wendy leads us up the walk, bypassing the line of people clamoring to get in. The guy nods to her and casually inspects the girls. He must like what he sees because he grins and moves aside so we can pass.

“Hold up, big guy,” he says to me, and I don’t like that he’s using Sam’s special nickname for me. “I need to see some ID. You over twenty-one?”

Fishing my wallet out of my pocket, I prove I’m of legal drinking age and he nods again, letting me pass.

Sam takes my hand again and pulls me into the house. It’s opulent as fuck. There’s a crystal chandelier high above us, glittering and sending beams of light throughout the party. My ears are assaulted by the bass from the hip-hop music that’s turned up about five decibels too loud. It’s just past ten, but already the room is thick with the stale stench of body odor.

The living room is packed full of people getting their freak on. Sam tugs me through the house to the kitchen, where a few kegs are set out alongside a wide range of hard liquor.

“Do you want a drink?” she asks me.

I’ll take one to be sociable. It will keep people from asking me why I’m going through the party without one.

“Sure.” I pour a cup that’s mainly Coke, a tiny splash of rum. “What’re you having?”

She considers. “I can only have one more drink before I get flat-out trashed.”

“I’ll carry you home if I have to,” I joke. She doesn’t react. “You don’t have to drink if you don’t want to. Don’t ever feel like I’m pressuring you into doing something you don’t want to do.”

She fills a cup with Coke. “Nobody has to know there’s no alcohol in it.”

I tap my plastic cup against hers. “Exactly.”

She smiles slowly at me. Her eyes are still a little foggy, the alcohol winding its way through her system.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she admits, then takes a quick sip of her drink. “Thank you for coming with me.”

“This is your life. These people are important to you,” I tell her seriously. “I want to get to know them.”

Even if I don’t trust them. Not yet. These aren’t the same catty bitches who gave her shit for being friends with me. I don’t know a lot of sorority girls, but from what I’ve seen in books and movies, they’re nearly as vicious as the cheerleaders my sister competes with.

Hand in hand, we wind our way through the party. Like the Delta party, there’s a game room full of brothers playing video games. There’s a movie playing on a big screen TV that couples are ignoring as they make out. From the way one guy’s hand is moving under a blanket, I’m pretty sure they’re doing more than making out.

In the dining room, there are two separate games of beer pong being played. There are clusters of people watching the games, drinking, laughing, having a good time.

Sam’s fingers tighten around mine as she leads me to a pocket of sorority sisters. There’s Jun and Sarita, who I recognize from the walk over, plus a few others I haven’t met yet.

“So you’re on the football team,” Jun says slowly, looking me over. “I never would have guessed.”

“I’m a linebacker.”

“Cool. I don’t really know what that means,” she says, and I chuckle as I explain the basic duties of the position.

Sarita smiles kindly at me. “I’m sure it must be hard, balancing school and football. Sam said you’re a math major? What do you plan on doing with that?”

“I haven’t decided yet,” I admit. “Maybe grad school. Maybe a teaching degree. There are a couple of career paths open.”

“That’s good,” she says, approval in her eyes. “That you have options.”

“I’m never going to be a professional football player,” I say with a shrug. “After graduation, I have to go into the real world whether I want to or not.”

Jun is an electrical engineering major. Sarita is studying physics. They tell me that Amanda is also a math major, though she has her eye on grad school and being a university professor. Jenn is in the aerospace engineering program. Makayla is pre-law and had an internship last summer with Ashby and Ashby, one of the largest law firms in the state. Wendy, the sorority president, is pre-med and has already been accepted to her top choice Ivy League program.

The Kappa sisters are nothing like what I pictured them to be. They’re all intelligent, driven young women with ambitions. They like to get dressed up and go to parties, yes, but they also know when it’s time to settle down and get serious. They volunteer in the community. They raise money for important causes.

And they also know when to kick back and have fun.

I like these women, the sisters Sam has surrounded herself with. The people she chooses to spend time with rather than being stuck to. She may have only joined the Kappas to make her mother happy, but in the process, she seems to have found some true friends, and I’m glad she has them to fall back on. I have my teammates. She has her sisters.

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