Stepping over to the table where Leina, Aleah, Courtney, and Lauren sat, I dropped a thick folder onto the surface and opened the cover.

“It’s all here,” I said as I met Leina’s gaze. The tension was thick here; she literally held the fate of GAT in our hands, though at this point I was beginning to wonder if it was even worth the effort of saving. I mean I liked my room and everything, but I could always get a dorm. Aleah would be pissed but at least she had her job. The other girls? Well, who cared about them? Then again, it would look really, really bad on my student record to have a sorority dissolved for abusing a trans girl, even if it wasn’t entirely true.

“What are we looking at?” Leina craned her neck, peeking at the folder.

“This is actually a folder we made up for Audrey, she doesn’t know about it yet,” I explained. “There was really no reason to tell her, but it’s information on GAT’s national equality policies and information for trans girls. We wanted her to join, but she has to meet certain standards, like she has to present a woman 24/7, she has to be actively pursuing transition…she hasn’t done any of those things, so we can’t talk to her about rushing or joining. We just…keep this around for when she finally comes out of her shell.”

“That’s great and all,” Leina said smugly, folding her hands on the table and leaning forward. “But why would my little sister want to join your little club?”

“Okay real talk,” Aleah interrupted. I glanced over at her. “Being part of a sorority is more than just a little ‘club’. If you’d bothered to look into statistics you’d know that two percent of Americans are involved in Greek organizations, but eighty percent of that two percent are Fortune 500 executives. Seventy-six percent are involved in congress. The list goes on, all but two presidents have been involved in fraternities, it’s not just some after-school activity, it’s a way to prepare us for the next step in life. It teaches us to work together, it teaches us the rules of business, management, competition, you name it. The bullshit we do here translates into the real world and if Audrey wants to be a part of that, then why shouldn’t she?”

“That’s great and all,” Leina said, rolling her eyes. “But even if Audrey were going to go Greek why should she be in THIS sorority. You’ve put her through hell, probably on purpose, and you know what? There are better options for her.”

“There might be,” I confirmed, drawing a glare from Aleah as I nodded. “But the fact is, Audrey keeps coming back here. She doesn’t go out and look at other houses. She likes it here, and if she does, then none of us have the right to stop her, short of dinging her out at pledge initiation.”

“That’s so adorable,” Leina laughed. “But she hasn’t had a CHANCE to look at other sororities. She can’t just go knock on doors and say “Hey, I’m a girl, let me tour your house!”

“You’re right,” I smirked. “That’s why I dropped her off at Tri Pi and left her there for a few days.”

I could hear the muscles in Aleah’s neck creak as she slowly turned to fixate her piercing glare against my skin.

“See something you like?” I asked, turning toward Aleah whose hardened expression didn’t change in the slightest.

“Do you want to elaborate on that?” Leina demanded. “What do you mean you dropped her off at Tri Pi?”

“Wait,” I laughed. “I thought you knew everything.”

Leina started at me with even more vitriol than I could feel coming from Aleah. So there WAS something she didn’t know, and that made me slightly more comfortable.

“We pranked Tri Pi,” I explained slowly, trying to savor the moment. “I arranged to leave Audrey there so she could talk to the Greek council. If she had anything to say about us, she would have said it. We’d all be in hot water right now.”

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Leina demanded.

“Yeah,” Aleah said, still glaring. “Why didn’t I know about this?”

“You were busy,” I shrugged to Aleah. “and I’m sorry, but it was the right thing to do. I know I’m not always the most upstanding person but I’m not going to watch another human being suffer.”

“She wasn’t suffering,” Aleah said flatly. “She was perfectly fine, you didn’t have to sic the Greek council on us.”

“We’re still here, aren’t we?” I pointed out. “Obviously everything went fine. We’re not as bad as people think, not by a long shot.”

It was either that, or Audrey had lied her ass off when Shawn and the rest of the council questioned her. I was inclined to think it was the latter. A silence hunger over the room as we sat there, contemplating what had been said. Beyond the conference room I could hear murmuring from pledges and other members against the hum of the television. I could briefly discern a newscaster, his words broken, but a singular phrase made its way to my ears: “—a faith based fraternity, Theta Kappa introduced by Garron to uphold the morals—’

I turned my attention back to Leina.

“You can believe us, or not,” I stated. “But if you want the truth, go find Audrey and ask her. If you’re wrong, and if we’re not as bad as you think we are, then you’re going to get this house shut down, and Audrey is going to be lost. Believe me, when the year started, none of us expected to be doing this. I thought it was going to be a normal year. You know, homework, boys, the occasional prank. I didn’t expect to help a trans girl come out of her shell, and I certainly didn’t expect to lose our charter, but we’re here, now, and Audrey has plenty of opportunities if she transitions and if she rushes our sorority. We have work-study programs that can reduce her tuition, we have tutoring programs, she can put us on her resume when she applies for a job after college. If that’s what she wants, then it’s not up to you, or I, or this bitch over here to take it away from her.”

“Maybe you could not call me a bitch,” Aleah suggested.

“Whatever you say, bitch,” I said smugly, drawing an even more intense glare from Aleah.

“Alright, look,” Leina said finally. “I’m willing to entertain the idea that maybe you want some good for Audrey, and maybe your little disaster house here has some redeeming qualities to it.”

“Then help us,” I said insistently. “Get Audrey back here, and help save the house for our sake and for hers.”

“I would love to,” Leina smiled.

“Okay then?” I raised an eyebrow, leaning forward.

“Just one problem,” Leina sighed. “I don’t know where she is.”