Page 6 of Ink & Ambition

After thirty minutes and about fifteen fitness post ideas planned, I send a text to a couple of my KA brothers. Now that we’re seniors, it’s time we get cracking designing an epic Greek prank, another thing my father won’t stop hounding me about.

It’s tradition that the senior members of the frats plan a prank on their rival house. It’s all in good fun but it’s slightly hush-hush on campus. The tradition has been going on since the school was founded and the administration has always turned a blind eye as long as no one was hurt, but there’s always pressure to up the stakes from the year before.

My father loves to brag about how they got the Delta Epsilon house good when he planted a stink bomb in their pipes. And that was over thirty years ago. The stakes have risen much higher than that and this year, it’s my job to pull out all the stops.

And soon. Before DE does something first.

Within minutes, the crew shows up at the door of my study room.

“Why did you want us to meet in the library? I didn’t even know this floor existed,” my housemate and pain in my ass frat brother Devon groans as he walks in, followed by Kai, one of the twins that also lives with us in the frat house. He shuts the door behind him and they both join me around the table.

“We’re going to the gym anyway and I was already here.” I shrug.

Kai groans, “Okay, so are you going to tell us the plan now?” Devon mutters his agreement.

“I would,” I start, “but it’s not fully formed yet.” The boys gawk and I laugh at their expressions. “Relax, gentlemen. Things are falling into place. There’s just one thing missing.”

Kai speaks up in between bites of his croissant. What a prick for not bringing me one. “What’s missing?

“We need an outsider. Someone not in KA, who can’t be traced back to us. Probably a girl, for good measure.”

Devon scoffs. “That shouldn’t be hard for you to get. Just ask one of the many on your roster.”

“That’s not going to work. It needs to be someone new. Someone that no one in the frat world knows.”

Kai laughs, “Devon’s sister just started this semester.”

Devon is on Kai before he can even get another breath in. “Shut your fucking mouth about my sister, prick.” Devon starts pounding on Kai who hasn’t stopped laughing.

“Enough,” I mutter, and Devon sits back down but not before giving Kai an extra shove for the fun of it. “Just keep your eyes open for an innocent, okay?”

The boys nod while the wheels in my head keep spinning and spinning.

Kai looks around. “Wait, where’s Keith?”

“You only just noticed your twin brother isn’t here?” Devon rolls his eyes.

“Right now, Keith should be checking the perimeter of the DE house, for hidden cameras and stuff.”

“How come?”

I settle into my seat. “Well, for what I’ve got planned, we need to know what areas to avoid in order to not get caught.”

Kai finishes his croissant with a flourish. Checking his phone, he nods a few times before crumbling up the pastry wrapper. Leaving his trash on the table, he heads toward the door. “This place is boring. Can’t we wait on the quad?”

“Sit your ass down. Keith should be done any minute and then we’ll meet him by the gym.”

With reluctance, Kai sits back in his seat and Devon chucks the pastry wrapper in his face. It’s hard to believe I’ve been best friends with this band of delinquents for over three years.

Kai and I met at freshman orientation and we vibed immediately, bonding over our love of exercising and our excitement to move away from home. Obviously with Kai came Keith, who is very different from his brother, but still we found hobbies to connect over. We became roommates in a suite for our first year at school and I convinced them to rush Kappa Alpha with me.

Soon after, we met Devon at frat rush and the rest is history.

I always knew I was going to be a member of Kappa Alpha, being a legacy and all. My father graduated from Tomlin University as the president of KA and he made it very clear since I started high school that I would be graduating the same way when my time came. I didn’t mind. Being a part of something like a fraternity always appealed to me. Having my brothers around made me feel larger than life. It’s one thing I have to thank my father for.

Can’t think of much else though.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out to reveal a text from Keith. Just one word. “Gym?”

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