Page 6 of Love Legacy

“We shared a kiss once or twice, but he never let it go much further than that. I remember the one time we accidentally kissed with tongue, he went to confession the day after. So yes, I would like to have the normal college experience of kissing and making out.”

Alex chuckles. “Well, the normal college experience goes a little further than that, but we’ll start out slow,” she says, addingmake-out seshto the list.

“I’m going to leave this list on the fridge. If you can think of anything else you’d like to add, just add it. And that goes for you too, Maeve. And then Naomi, as you do the things on the list, just cross them off! It’ll be cool to see how many new things you try this year before we graduate.”

“About that… Since I’m transferring in so late, I have to take an extra year. Pinebrook won’t let me graduate until I’ve completed thirty credits here, and I can’t do that in one year,” I say.

“Well that’s fine, just more time for you to try out new experiences,” Alex says with a wink as she tapes my list to the fridge.

I’m optimistic. Already, I’m feeling more at ease with my two new roommates than I had felt in a while at High Valley University. Maybe moving from Georgia to New York to attend a brand new university wasn’t such a crazy idea after all. I’m excited for what Pinebrook University might have in store for me.

3

Sage

“Get up, Oregano. It’s time for Day One of Rush!”

I roll my eyes, twisting onto my back in bed. Like normal, I’ve been awake for the last hour. I always have a hard time sleeping coming into Rush Week. Call it nerves, call it excitement, but alarms are pointless during this week. That never stops my roommate and sorority sister, Gabby, from dubbing herself my personal alarm system. She gets a kick out of the fact that my name is an herb, so any time she’s messing around with me, she starts going down the spice rack for inspiration.

I lay in bed for a couple minutes more before getting up and heading down the hall to the bathroom. “Gabs, let me in. I just need to brush my teeth and wash my face.” The deadbolt slips back into the door as she unlocks it, and then I hear the shower curtain move. I enter the bathroom, walking over to the sink to freshen up.

“Are you excited? First day of Rush as president,” Gabby projects from behind the shower curtain.

“Eh, mixed emotions, honestly. I’m excited, sure, but nervous. And kind of sad. It’s our last Rush Week,” I say, garbled, my mouth full of toothpaste. I rinse my mouth before I start to wash my face.

“Word on the street is that we have at least one upperclassmen PNM,” she says, turning off the water and sticking her arm out the shower curtain. I roll my eyes, handing her a towel from the hook on the back of the door. “Do we know anything about her?”

Gabby steps out of the shower, wrapped in her towel, grabbing a smaller one from the linen closet and towel drying her short, curly hair. “She’s a late transfer, Maeve’s roommate. Her name’s Naomi. Maeve said she transferred from High Valley U,” she says, giving me a mischievous grin.

“No fucking way. Isn’t that one of those uber-religious universities run by a mega church?”

Gabby nods, putting mousse in her hair before finger-styling the short locks. “Yup. She says she’s basically been living under a rock. Didn’t know whatStar Warswas and never had sushi.”

I gasp, drying my face off. “How is that possible?”

“That’s what I said when she told me. She’s from Georgia apparently, here on a scholarship and taking an extra year. Might be worth extending her membership if she gels well with us. She’ll be able to put at least another year into the organization before graduating.”

“A church girl? I don’t know. The way we do things might not mesh well with her beliefs. Especially our sister bonding night.”

“Maeve said Naomi’s trying to branch out from her religion and have a bunch of new experiences this year. Who knows, she might surprise us,” Gabby says, finishing off her hair with a little oil and styling butter.

“Well, we’ve got maybe twenty minutes before we have to head to the house. Go get dressed,” I say, heading back to my room.

“Back at ya!”

I grab one of the outfits Cora set aside from me in my closet, throwing it on the bed. A white halter v-neck bodysuit, camel-colored tapered dress pants, and black ankle strap heels. I get dressed, putting on a gold chain, a thin watch with a small face, and my dad’s gold class ring I had resized to fit my middle finger. Looking in the mirror, I run a brush through my previously straightened hair, pulling the top half of my hair back and twisting it into a smaller-sized claw clip. I apply some light natural makeup before grabbing my phone and purse and heading out into the living room.

“Okay, let’s go meet some underclassman!” Gabby says, standing up from the couch. She is wearing a red short sleeve button down blouse, white dress pants and tan gladiator sandals.

On the first day of Rush Week, we usually dress in business casual for members. Tradition states that to make a good first impression on potential new members, we should dress to impress, so we’ve kept this tradition up through the years, even as we’ve modernized some of our recruitment practices.

Some people regard sororities as sexist and archaic cults, but joining Kappa Theta Alpha was honestly one of the greatest decisions I made when I came to Pinebrook University. As a foster kid, I always wanted to find some sort of community, a family, and KTA gave me exactly that. Granted, I met my twobest friends through a freshman housing lottery, but my KTA sisters are my ride-or-dies.

Over the years, we have acknowledged that our practices were a little outdated, and since have updated our policies. We got rid of some of the more cloak-and-dagger traditions, bowed out of the whole preference system that our Panhellenic Council used, created new traditions, and removed any of the religious and “traditional” wording in our bylaws and rituals. We’ve been trying to make the sorority a more inclusive organization, and I think we’ve been doing a good job. I mean, where else do you get to see an out-and-proud lesbian serving as president?

Gabby and I drove over to campus, heading to the Kappa House. We did the bulk of our setup the night before, decorating the house for the group of young women who were about to show up. But we still had to set out our refreshments and make sure all the sisters were ready.

We head into the sorority house, entering the kitchen. The house is decorated from head to toe in our sorority’s colors: pale pink, yellow, and white. There are balloon arrangements, streamers wrapped around the banisters, and arrangements of pink carnations, our flower, set up in the house.

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