I hoped with the start of a new year and Aamee graduated, we could all agree to live in peace.
“My hands are tied, Drew.”
“No way. There’s gotta be something you can do. When my buddy stole my girlfriend in eleventh grade, I filled his whole car with those little Styrofoam pieces that come in packages.” He looked like that was a fond memory, which was surprising considering the transgression he was retaliating against.
“I don’t think filling her car with Styrofoam is the answer.”
“Maybe not. But it would be funny as hell.”
I shook my head, but I couldn’t deny I found the image funny. It was a shame I couldn’t do something like that, if only for the entertainment value alone.
“Anything I do will only make things worse. Aamee’s the president.”
“So?”
I knew this was his first time in a college setting, but the implications of Aamee being president seemed pretty clear to me. “So what?”
“So what if she wasn’t president?”
Chapter Eight
S O P H I A
“But she is president. And she will be until she graduates in May,” I said. This was a pointless conversation because there was no way to go back in time and campaign for someone who wasn’t a power-hungry monster who ruled with estrogen and an iron fist. “I just wish someone had opposed her last year. They probably would’ve won.”
Drew stood abruptly and began walking around pensively, like he was more frustrated than I was at the whole situation. I figured most of his emotion had more to do with being bored in a library while I typed and less to do with his actual concern for me getting back into the house. Unless…
“Wait,” I said. “You want me to move back into the sorority house so you’d get Brody’s room back.”
Not that I wouldn’t understand that. Having his bachelor pad invaded by a pretend younger sister who told everyone he was gay had to be cramping his style. It wasn’t the college experience he’d probably hoped for when he’d agreed to switch lives with my brother.
“No!” He looked momentarily shocked, but the surprise seemed to slide off his face as quickly as it appeared. “I mean, I won’t deny that sleeping in a real bed again would be a nice by-product, but it’s not my main motivation. I’d actually like to help you. What Aamee did to you was fucked up, and I’d love to see her face if we could find some sort of loophole or something that would allow you to move back in.”
Drew looked so determined. I felt bad I didn’t feel the same passion. Well, I had when it had all first gone down, but since living with Drew hadn’t turned out to be a hardship by any means, my initial anger had dissipated quickly. Still, I had to agree that the injustice of it all was difficult to ignore, and I’d love to prove Aamee wrong on principle alone.
“Maybe there is a loophole,” I said. “I never checked the Zeta Eta Chi handbook.”
Drew’s face lit up. He stopped pacing and looked at me. “Is that the one Aamee cited to kick you out in the first place?”
“The very same.”
“And you never bothered to look at it to see if there was some way to get back in?”
When he put it like that, it sounded ridiculous. But at the time, there was no debating what the rule said. Sure it was unfair that I’d been the one to get called out on it, but I’d broken it all the same.
“It occurred to me the other day,” I said, “but I forgot all about it, to be honest. It’s just one of those stupid handbooks that probably hasn’t ever been changed. Every girl gets one emailed to her, but no one ever actually reads it.”
“Except Aamee,” Drew said with that goofy smirk he had.
“Very funny.”
He leaned against a nearby table and folded his arms across his chest. “You think it breaks any rules if I read the handbook?”
“I guess it doesn’t if no one knows about it.”
“Can you email it to me? I’ll look it over while you type.”
“I can barely read your handwriting, remember?”
“It’ll be fine. Just put what you think it says, and I’ll read it over and correct anything before I turn it in,” he said, obviously not letting the suggestion go.
I sighed heavily, shaking my head at him. “What’s your email address?”
D R E W
I picked a computer about five seats down from Sophia so as not to disturb her any more than was necessary. She was doing me a huge favor, and the least I could do was help her find a way to take down Aamee.
As I scanned through the sorority handbook’s Table of Contents, I couldn’t shake the optimism that I would find some way to help her.
My eyes locked on Bylaws and Code of Conduct, but both proved to be unhelpful. Other than Sophia calling attention to Aamee’s transgressions—which would be difficult now that she wasn’t living with her—I couldn’t find anything useful.
Until I began reading up on Officer Transition. “I think I got it!” I could barely hide my excitement, and I didn’t try to.
Sophia seemed less enthused. “What is it?”
“You said you can’t do anything to Aamee because she’s president, right?”
Sophia’s raised eyebrows let me know I should continue.
“Well, there’s a clause here, or whatever you call it, that says if a current president ran unopposed, she can be challenged by another member of the sorority if that member was previously ineligible to run.”
I was reading from the screen, but I couldn’t wait to see Sophia’s expression when I finished. She’d probably be so ecstatic that she’d immediately begin campaigning. Or maybe she’d run over and throw her arms around me in a grateful and much-welcomed embrace.
In reality, she looked like I’d been lecturing her on how to properly install a car transmission or something else she couldn’t give a shit less about.
“Why do you look like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like…not as smiley as I’d hoped.”
“Because I can’t run for president,” she said simply.
“Are you in a sensory-deprivation tank? I just said you can.”
“I heard you. And I’m thankful you’re trying to help me out. I am.”
I wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince me or herself, but she definitely didn’t seem thankful. She seemed…dejected. Defeated. And I hated to see her like that, especially when I thought if she ran against Aamee, it wouldn’t be Sophia who’d experience the feeling of defeat.
“But?” I asked.
“But I have absolutely no desire to be president.”
“Why? You’d be great at it.”
Of course I didn’t know that for sure. I’d only known Sophia for a few weeks, and I’d only been in college slightly longer. But while I admittedly knew little of Greek life, I knew leadership potential when I saw it. And Sophia definitely seemed to outshine Aamee in that department.
“No offense,” Sophia said with an expression like she already felt bad for what she was about to say, “but do you know what it takes to be a sorority president? It’s a ton of work, and you need to know the ins and outs of pretty much everything and everyone in the sorority. I don’t think I’m cut out for all that, and more than that, I don’t want to be.”