Better Off Red
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Better Off red
Vampire Sorority Sisters Book 1
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Better Off red
Vampire Sorority Sisters
by
Rebekah Weatherspoon
2011
better of red: vampire sorority sisters
book 1
© 2011 By ReBekah WeatheRspoon. all Rights ReseRved.
isBn 13: 978-1-60282-610-6
This ElEcTronic Book is PuBlishEd By Bold sTrokEs Books, inc.
P.o. Box 249
VallEy Falls, ny 12185
FirsT EdiTion: noVEmBEr 2011
This is a Work oF FicTion. namEs, characTErs, PlacEs, and incidEnTs arE ThE ProducT oF ThE auThor’s imaGinaTion or arE usEd FicTiTiously. any rEsEmBlancE To acTual PErsons, liVinG or dEad, BusinEss EsTaBlishmEnTs, EVEnTs, or localEs is EnTirEly coincidEnTal.
This Book, or ParTs ThErEoF, may noT BE rEProducEd in any Form WiThouT PErmission.
CRedits
EdiTor: cindy crEsaP
ProducTion dEsiGn: susan ramundo
coVEr dEsiGn By shEri ([email protected])
Acknowledgments
I must thank the following people:
My parents and my brothers and sister for letting me be myself.
The boys of Cilley Hall and the girls of Amen, Dunbar, and Bancroft; the other Five Heartbeats and the ladies of the Upsilon Xi Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., for helping me lay the foundation.
Ellee, Jenny, and Ariana for sharing their experiences with me, and Jordan for showing me around the house.
Ari, Kim, and Carole for the dance parties and the makeup lessons, even though they didn’t stick.
Erica and Rosana for finding me and encouraging me to keep going, and the readers who embraced my online stories. Your support has been phenomenal.
Summer and Tecora for holding my hand through every chapter of this book and beyond. To Aiden and Zac for existing, Steph for the chubbles, I.T. for introducing me to so many things, and Weebs for keeping me awake. Vanessa for being you.
The entire Bold Strokes family for their warm welcome , Cindy Cresap for her amazing eye, and Sheri for the fantastic cover art.
And lastly, many, many thanks to Radclyffe for giving this story a chance.
To my mother, Jackie, who taught me how to swim and my father, Russell, who never let me drown.
And to T. I love you, baby. Wanna go have lunch?
Better Off red
I have an idea.” Amy threw her bag on the floor and perched on the edge of her mattress. I put down my pen and turned around.
“What?”
“Let’s rush.”
“Where?”
“No, no. Rush, stupid. Like join a sorority.”
“Hell no.” I had just gotten used to sharing a broom closet worth of space with another human being. Our entire hall had a single shower. I was even getting over the fact I had to plan my masturbation me time around my roommate’s class schedule, but this was asking too much.
“Ginge, come on.”
“Amy, my darling, you are more than welcome to auction off your brain in exchange for endless amounts of upbeat to the highest bidder. I won’t stop you,” I said. “But there is no way in hell, no way, I am joining a sorority. I already have a ton of studying to do.”
“You’re majoring in gym,” she said with a condescending glare. “Just hear me out.”
“Ugh, fine. And I’m not majoring in gym.”
“Right. Anyway. Here’s what I’m thinking. We’re too young to get into any of the good bars downtown, and all the eighteen and up places will just be packed with people from our gen ed classes.
There are parties on the Row all the time. Parties I want to go to.”
• 9 •
reBekah WeatherspOOn
“The Row? You’re already into this. You’re in deep, using the lingo and everything.”
“Just let me finish. My sister said the parties on the Row are the best and they’re ‘invite only.’ If we rush, we get to meet all of the people who throw these parties. So even if we don’t actually pledge, we’ll meet tons of guys. Guys who will invite us back when it’s all over.”I chewed the inside of my lip, thinking over the nonsense she was talking. I didn’t give a crap about meeting guys. There were thousands of them on campus. I even sat next to a few in my classes. I had worked hard to get into Maryland University. Their exercise science program was one of the best in the country, and my workload this semester was more than enough to keep me busy.
Getting involved in Greek life was not another slice of pie I wanted to add to my plate.
Even if I had all the free time in the world, there was still no draw. I didn’t have anything against sorority girls, but I never considered myself to be that kind of a joiner. If Amy asked me to go out for the Frisbee golf team, then sure, that was the sort of group activity I could handle. The thought of slapping on a smile for the next however many days, pretending to be perfect just so some girls I didn’t know and had no real interest in getting to know, could tell me I was cool enough to walk around with them wearing matching shirts, well, it made me want to roll my eyes at Amy and dive right back into my chem notes. From the eager look on her face, I knew that type of blow off was not gonna fly.
“Please. There’s this mega cute guy from Chi Nu in my econ class. I would love to see him in his natural habitat.”
I had only known Amy for a few weeks. She was cute. A perky blonde. Perky in every way. We got along great, except for moments like this. It was obvious she wasn’t used to taking no for an answer.
I, however, had no problem saying it. I just wasn’t sure if telling Amy to shove it was a good way to keep the air peaceful between us.
I took a deep breath and squeezed my eyes shut. Maybe it was the right moment to tell Amy I was seventy-seven percent sure I was a lesbian, but that might create a whole other problem. The last
• 10 •
Better Off red
thing I wanted was a roommate who was scared I was going to feel her up in her sleep or check her out while she was getting dressed in the morning.
When I opened my eyes, Amy started clapping. I watched the dopey grin on her face stretch to full capacity and then stared at her as this weird squeal came through her clenched teeth. Apparently taking a moment to get my head together was the same thing as saying yes in her book.
“Fine.”
“Fine?” Her voice pitched higher than I’d ever heard it before.
“Yes. I will go through rush with you, but that’s it. I’m not pledging.”
“Stop sulking,” Amy said. “I’ll do everything. You just come with me and pretend you’re having a good time.”
“I said fine.” I snatched my pen off my notebook and turned my back on her. She finally dug out her books and settled down to study.
“It’ll be great,” she squealed again.
“Yeah. I bet.”
❖
Amy managed to let me get my chem notes done without mentioning rush again. The next morning was a different story.
While we got dressed, she told me about each sorority’s dedication to particular charities and causes. Apparently there was more to the ladies’ side of the Greek system than bake sales and bikini car washes.
I listened as patiently as possible. I wanted to change the subject, but I figured I’d just let her get it all out, then move on to music or current events once she’d tuckered herself out. By the time we made it over to the cafeteria for breakfast, she was already talking my ear off about rush week etiquette.
“Why do I have to wear white?” I asked.
“Either white or black. Every sorority has colors,” Amy told me, the poor clueless fool that I was.
“I know that.”
• 11 •
reBekah WeatherspOOn
“Well, if you show up parading around in teal and yellow or purple and pink, you’re sending a message.”
“What, that I like to mix my pastels?”
“No. That you have Xi O or Mu Phi on the top of your list.”
“Okay, what else?” I asked. This was all so stupid.
“They’ll each have tables set up on the quad today, so we can cruise by and meet a few of the girls from each house.”
I took a bite of my eggs and spit them right back out into my napkin. “Ick. Those are off.” Amy reached across the table and took a forkful.
“They taste fine to me. Here.” She handed me her untouched bagel and snatched my plate of eggs and fruit.
“You have any faves yet?” I asked.
“Xi O actually.” She didn’t seem bothered by the eggs. “My mom’s a Xi O.”
“Oh. Isn’t being a legacy an automatic in?”
“Yeah, I guess, but I don’t know. I kinda want to do my own thing.”
“Nothing spells independence like joining a sorority.” I ducked just in time to dodge a grape.
“I just want to see what else is out there. We have to check out the Tri Pis and ABO.”
“Why ABO?” I knew that Pi Pi Pi was one of those old school sororities everyone had heard about, but I knew nothing about Alpha Beta Omega.
“I heard their house is gorgeous and huge. The guys in their brother fraternity are smoking hot and they have a reputation for only picking pretty girls. I know it sounds shallow.” She tried to save herself before I called her out.
“Um, yeah.”
“I don’t know. It would be cool if they asked me to join.
Knowing they think I’m foxy.” The tip of her tongue stuck out as she wiggled her head a bit. I had to laugh. Admitting girls to your sorority based solely on their looks was the definition of shallow, but I figured that’s how sororities worked. They were sanctioned cliques set up on prime real estate, hiding behind the guise of good
• 12 •
Better Off red
deeds and sisterhood. It would only make sense to have the hottest girls on campus at your side when you walk into the local soup kitchen. Accepting my fate, I bit into my newly acquired bagel. This week was going to suck.
❖
I met up with Amy again before lunch, and just like she said, every fraternity and sorority on campus had tables and booths set up around the huge lawn between the library and the Liberal Arts building. I followed Amy from table to table, feigning interest in what each of the recruitment chairs had to say, growing more and more annoyed that terms like “recruitment chair” were becoming a part of my vocabulary. I was a little disappointed to have most of my assumptions confirmed.