Page 14 of #PhiThetaForever

"Look at Mr. GQ, boys! This is a face we need on our party flyers. The ladies will flock to this house in heat something fierce."

Everyone chuckles, myself included. Bo comes over and drapes his arm around my shoulders. "Though, I saw that picture you posted earlier on your Instagram of Lena at dinner. I gotta say, brother, I totally get you not wanting to be here tonight. If I had a girlfriend that looked like that, I'd spend all my time buried so deep in that, she wouldn't walk for weeks."

My entire body goes rigid. No one, and I mean no one, has ever made comments like that about Lena. It pisses me off, and I shrug his arm off me. "Bo, I like you, man, but don't make comments like that about my girlfriend."

His eyes widen a little, his eyebrows shooting up. "No offense meant, D-man. Seriously. Just saying that I envy you. Your girlfriend is a beauty."

Taking a deep breath, I calm myself a little. "Thank you. I know she is."

"Seriously though, not being rude, but I have to ask. How have you managed to be with her for over a year, and she not be pregnant yet?" He chuckles as his own humor, but my face is blank. There's nothing funny about making comments about someone else's significant other. I can only imagine what Lena would think if she heard what he was saying.

"We're not sleeping together, that's how. And even if we were, I wouldn't ruin her education by doing something that stupid while we're in college."

Bo stops in his tracks and turns to look at me. I can't even describe the look on his face. "Wait . . . you two have never slept together? Have either of you ever slept with anyone?"

His tone makes it seem like what he's saying is a bad thing, but thankfully, after dealing with what people thought in high school, this is the type of ignorance I can deal with. "No and no. And while you may think that's crazy, Lena and I both believe in waiting until marriage. So, save whatever shitty comments you have for someone else." I give him a very pointed stare.

He seems to think about my reply and then smirks at me. "Very interesting." Turning away and walking to the other side of the table, I stop at the end next to Matt, and he nods toward me. "Alright, gentlemen. As we all know, part of pledging Sigma Nu is introducing our pledges to the high life and party world that we all enjoy every year. Let's be honest. If you can't keep up, then you have no business being here. We can't have underclassman rocking our name but making us look bad."

Bo looks at each of the pledges, in turn, his eyes boring into mine a little longer than I'm comfortable with. A few of the upperclassmen hoot or whistle until Bo holds his hands up to shush everyone. "So tonight, we're going to see how you all handle some super dust fun!"

The crowd of members cheers so loud I almost want to cover my ears. Super dust fun? What the hell is he talking about. Bo's two best friends walk up to the table, and one of them sets down a small duffel bag before reaching inside it and tossing out three softball-sized while bundles. Bo grabs the closest one, pulls out his switchblade, and cuts a large slit in the side of the plastic. A smile over takes his face as he sets the white package down, and powder spills from the opening onto the table.

Mike cusses under his breath and his eyes, full of panic and fear, meet mine, making my blood run cold.

"He's got to be kidding?" I say under my breath.

Bo and his two lackeys start making lines on the table. Five rows, each line about two inches long. I watch in horror, not fully comprehending what is requesting of us. After the lines are all set up, he turns to the pledges. "So, here's the challenge. You do a line, then go mingle with your frat brothers for an hour, come back and do another line, go mingle for an hour. You've got three lines each. Once you do the third one, you're welcome to stay and kick it here for the night or go back to your dorms. The catch is that you can't miss your first class tomorrow."

All five pledges, myself included, look between each other in confusion.

Bo claps his hands to get everyone's attention again. "You see, to handle school and the party life, you have to be able to party and still make class. When you start missing class, your grades drop, and people start getting suspicious. You've got to learn to balance both. So, let's see who's got what it takes."

My hands fist in my pockets as the first pledge—Matt— steps up and stares at the line of drugs he's meant to do. I jump a little when Bo claps me on the shoulder. His voice is hardly above a whisper as he leans in toward my ear. "What's running through your mind, D-man? Talk to me?"

"Lena will kill me if I do this. Seriously, man. Have you lost your mind?"

When I turn to look at Bo, the grin on his face is sinister and gives me the chills. Someone clears their throat, and I realize it's already my turn. Bo holds and tightly rolled dollar bill up in front of me and chuckles. "Then make sure she doesn't find out."

16 Lena

Candice and I sit next to each other on the plane, heading to our away game. Missing a day of classes sucks, but all the professors excuse the sports team for stuff like this. I'll spend most of tomorrow afternoon catching up on the class work I miss, though. Declan was surprisingly at our dorm room with Jackson this morning to see us before we left. I wish they wouldn't have missed class, but he beat me to class on Thursday, so I can't really complain.

He's had a little trouble focusing the last few days, but nothing has seemed overly off since his impromptu pledge event after our date Wednesday, so I'm trying not to worry too much. The football team is flying out tonight for their away game tomorrow, and they're supposed to be back Sunday afternoon. It bothers me that Declan is missing so much church lately, but because of his scholarship, he doesn't have a choice when it comes to games and such.

Leaning my head back against my seat, I take a few deep breaths. Sandra is sitting with us, but she's still getting the rest of the team situated on the flight first. A warm hand covers mine, and I open my eyes to find Sandra next to me, a sad smile on her face. "You look exhausted, Lena. You okay?"

I try to smile. She's right. All this stress with classes and Declan has sucked the energy out of me. "Yeah. Just a little stressed."

"Want to talk about it?" Sandra moves her hand to buckle her seatbelt, and Candice lets out a dark laugh from the other side of me.

"Other than her boyfriend is pledging to a terrible frat that is going to do nothing but get him in trouble?"

Sandra looks over at Candice and then back at me, and I can't help by roll my eyes. "It's not that bad, Candice. Don't be so dramatic. He's been fine for the last week."

"Oh, a whole week without a screw-up. I'm so impressed."

Sandra's eyebrows rise in confusion. "What fraternity?"