I looked up at him with wonder. “You’re not what I expected you to be,” I admitted.
“No? What exactly did you expect me to be, Karla?” He nuzzled my neck as his words since delicious shivers down my spine.
You are what you hang with, I wanted to say. But I also wanted to be more tactful. “I thought you’d be like your-”
I was interrupted by fireworks going off. My head turned towards the commotion, and I admired the gold and silver and blue sparks shooting into the sky.
“Wow,” I breathed, thinking that this night couldn’t have ended any more perfectly, other than Derek laying me down on the grass right there and having his way with me now that I’d gotten mine.
“Wow is right,” Derek responded through gritted teeth, glaring at his fraternity house. “Fucking idiots. I told them to keep the fireworks locked.” My stepbrother was already half-running towards his house, and it took me a moment to realize the issue here: fireworks are illegal in Arizona.
I slipped my stilettos off and did my best to keep up with him, “Derek, hold up!” I cried, not wanting the night to end so soon.
He paused for a moment, turning to me. “I’m sorry, Karla. I really am. The lease is under my name, so I have to get back there ASAP before they do anything else stupid… Or before the cops show up.” Derek stroked my cheek tenderly with the backs of his fingers, looking as regretful as ever. “This isn’t over,” he confirmed, before turning around and sprinting as fast as he could back to the frat house.
I stood watching him, watching his frat house, from a distance. I couldn’t help but wonder how exactly he’d been the one to sign the lease on this multi-million dollar home. We didn’t exactly have a wealthy upbringing… Unless there was more that Derek was keeping from me. I guess there was only one way to find out: we were due for another heart-to-heart, and this time I was determined to keep it hands off.
4
Saturdays Mona tended to cook all of the sisters a pancake breakfast. There were only 30 of us living in the house, but it was still quite the battle. One that I was really thankful of this particular hungover morning.
After Derek left me, I’d returned to my room and proceeded to finish the the booze I had locked in my room while browsing through his Fbook pictures. Darcy had sent me several text messages throughout the night, wanting me to come back to the party, wanting to talk. I deleted every single one.
But I knew I had to see her this morning. The Tabby sisters didn’t normally skip out on the pancake breakfast: it was complete with strawberries, blueberries, and loads of whipped cream. Exactly what we needed after a night of heavy drinking. (Let’s be real: it was exactly what we needed after a regular night.)
I slipped on my sweatpants and trotted groggily downstairs. The girls were already at their excited chatter, talking about which boys they had claims to, who was off limits, who made a fool of themselves last night and who they wish they saw more of. Derek’s name came up more than once.
Jealousy bubbled inside me as I loaded my plate with pancakes and a healthy serving of strawberries and whipped cream. I headed back to my room before I could snap at my sisters to not talk about Derek that way, but Darcy stopped me on my tracks.
“Can we talk?” she asked, her tone sombre and serious.
I shrugged my response. “Depends, are you going to try to use me some more?”
Her small hand grabbed my arm. “Karla, I’m serious. I don’t want to lose you as a friend,” my sister pleaded.
My jealousy flared, remembering why we were fighting to begin with, remembering that she had a crush on Derek. Mine. It was wrong, but I knew it in my body, in my bones: Derek was mine. As much as Darcy had been a wonderful friend these past few months, if I was going to pick between my sisters and Derek… Well, there was no competition.
Shaking her arm off me, I continued upstairs. “Were we ever really friends to begin with?” I bit back, wanting to hit her where it hurt. A small part of me also wanted her to back off of Derek, but I knew if she did then I’d wonder if Derek chose me just because there was no other competition or because he actually liked me.
“Karla,” Darcy whined. “Please!”
Glaring at her over my shoulder, I finished the friendship. “You were never a good sister, Darcy. And you have terrible eyebrows.”
5
It had been four days since I last spoke to Derek. My heart ached, wondering if he thought what we did was a mistake, praying that he didn’t think it was. Darcy had avoided me in the halls every time I passed her. After our last confrontation, she wasn’t having any more of it. Honestly, I think she was mostly sad that I wasn’t putting a good word in for her with Derek as opposed to the fact that she was losing one of her sisters.
I’m so stupid, I thought to myself sadly. With every passing moment, I was more and more convinced that I needed to drop out of Tau Beta Mu. Greek life just wasn’t for me, it was increasingly obvious to me. I was the type of girl who needed her own apartment with occasional social contact, not constant social contact with a house full of 29 other girls.
In my mind, it was settled: I would relinquish my rights as an active sister come Monday.
I chewed on the rubber end of my pencil as I eyed the clock on the wall. It was almost 3:20 PM, seconds before class was over.
I’d already packing up my notebook, ready to dart out of class as soon as it was over.
“Hey, Karla!” An unfamiliar male voice called to me as I rushed out of class.
Confused, I gave him a moment of my time, glancing over at the golden-skinned boy with the blond hair.
“Yes?”
“You’re Derek’s sister, right? I was hoping you could come with me.”
I furrowed my brows, but followed him, confusions getting the best of me. “Um, why? Why am I following you, I mean?”
“You don’t have any more classes today do you?” His eyes almost looked concerned as they glanced over at me, as if me saying yes would get him in trouble.
Swiftly, I shook my head no.
“Well, don’t worry about it, then.” He shot me a sly smile. “Hey, you’re kinda cute,” he added, pinching the top of my exposed cleavage.
Mortified, I pulled myself away from him all while covering myself up, making sure there was enough distance between us. “Sorry, what the fuck is this for?
”
I hadn’t meant to sound so heated, but I couldn’t help it. It seriously pissed me off when boys thought they had free reign of my body. Fucking asshole.
“It’s just a game,” he said sheepishly, but his eyes roamed over my curves even as he said it.
Suddenly, I felt two pairs of strong arms lifting me up. You’re so stupid, Karla, my mind yelled at myself. As I examined the boy who lured me here, I realized I’d never even seen him in any of my classes before. Guys like that were hard to miss.
His blazer flapped open, revealing the letters of a rival fraternity.
Oh, shit.
“What do you want with me?” I cried.
He shot a sly grin my way. “We want your brother to stop being so stupid.”
Throughout the next few hours, I learned that Derek had rushed for all of the fraternities and Mu Beta Alpha had extended a bid to him in addition to the Zetas. Derek had accepted the Zeta’s bid instead of the Mu Beta’s, and this had thoroughly pissed the Mu Beta’s off--since their fraternity was considered the more prestigious one on campus. Essentially, it was an insult that my step had chosen the lesser fraternity over the more prestigious one. What use I was to them, I had no idea.
I looked around their luxurious living room. The blond, tanned guy who got me into the mess sitting across from me in a leather lounge chair.
“Look, I have homework to get to. I really don’t have time for this,” I started, getting up from my seat.
Strong hands pressed me back in my seat.
“You’ll wait here until your brother shows up. We know he wouldn’t resist coming for you.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, hoping I kept most of the panic out of my voice. They didn’t know, did they?
Just then, my phone vibrated. I pulled it out of my jacket pocket. There were several messages from Darcy I’d missed, and I swiped right to remove them from my notifications list. The last one, though, that’s the one my eye scrutinized.