Synopsis: Allison is introduced to the other pledges and she has an unexpected visitor.

It was Sunday afternoon, the house was all set up, almost like it had been during rush. I had helped, a lot. Maybe more than I should have? I just knew I was exhausted from the previous night; we’d stayed up until four in the morning cooking, cleaning, and making the house absolutely perfect. I’d finally been allowed to sleep and hadn’t even made it up to my room, I’d awakened this morning on a couch in the lounging area with Laura nudging me to open my eyes. Cassandra applied my makeup, assuring me she’d teach me how to do it myself when it was less important. Now pledges were piling through the front door, talking laughing, smiling. They knew they belonged here; I didn’t feel the same way. I felt out of place, I was terrified to talk to anyone. I was pretty grateful that I was unremarkable, with my neatly combed wig, and a simple blue dress that was low cut, but not so much that it revealed the breast forms that still hadn’t been replaced.
“Hi,” A girl said to me. I jumped about ten feet in the air. She was a cute nerdy kind of girl but still way, way out of my league. I don’t think we were even playing all on the same continent. “I’m Veronica.”
“I…hi,” Responded smiling sheepishly. I had no idea what to say. She had this long black hair, it went down maybe an inch past her shoulders, perfect skin and these black cat eyed glasses that kind of made her look like a sexy librarian.
“Are you okay?” She looked at me intently. “You’re nervous aren’t you. Me too, it’s my first time doing anything like this.”
“Oh yeah,” I said, my eyes wide as dinner plates and my hands shaking. “Uh…me too.”
“Wow you’re really strung out,” She laughed. “Calm down, you made it, it’s going to be okay!”
“I guess I did,” I laughed. I was starting to calm down a bit but at the back of my mind I couldn’t help but wonder how it would turn out if she knew what I was.
“What’s your major?” She asked curiously. “Me? I’m taking social work; I REALLY want to work with non-profits like the ACLU or Human Rights Campaign…one day anyway.”
Okay maybe she’d be fine.
“I’m majoring in Journalism,” I said, hoping my female voice was up to par. She didn’t seem phased so maybe I was fooling her after all. “I kind of want to be a reporter, that would be cool, right? Maybe a news anchor or a war correspondent.”
She nodded. We talked a bit more after that and then we moved on. I talked to a few other girls and was starting to feel more comfortable, finally.
“Hey. How are you fitting in?” Remy walked up me and asked.
“I’m really nervous,” I admitted. “I don’t…really think I fit in here.”
“Everyone here is really nervous,” She reassured me. “I’m about to do an announcement, we’ll do the ceremony and then we’ll go clear your dorm out, okay? Then you can get some rest. It’ll be fine.”
“Remy,” I said, trying my best to make eye contact with her and failing miserably. “I can’t do this, I’m…not a real girl.’
She sighed.
“Look,” She said firmly. “You think I’m not apprehensive about this whole thing? I have nothing against trans people, I really don’t, but I didn’t want to go through the hell of trying to integrate one into my house. You know why I like you? Because you’re terrified, and you’ll do whatever I want. That’s why I feel safe with you in the house. Is that messed up? A little, but this is my house and whatever makes me comfortable is what I like. Now, you keep shaking like a leaf and concentrating on your impending doom and I’ll get this show on the road. Deal?”
“Deal,” I tried to smile but it just came out as some sort of half-grin. She shook her head and made her way to the stairs where she stood two heads above everyone and clinged a champagne glass with a fork.
“Attention everyone!” She called out. “My name is Remy, I’m the Alpha Gamma president and it’s SO nice to see all of you new pledges here today! We’re going to get the ceremony underway here in a minute and we’ll get to the pinning. As you know, we put a heavy emphasis on sisterhood and in the coming days you will all get to know eachother. Before that, there is one little matter I want to bring to your attention. As we’ve told you probably a million and one times before, Alpha Gamma might be the oldest sorority on campus but we pride ourselves on being progressive. That being said, tonight I want welcome our first transgender pledge into our midst.”
I think I choked my entire heart up. I hadn’t been expecting this; why hadn’t she told me?! Oh my god! From the back of the crowd my eyes met hers, I violently shook my head and she kind of smiled at me. All around me I could hear muttering. What were they saying? What was going to happen? What if they didn’t like me? There was so much riding on this, my entire family would disown me, seriously.
“I know this is a bit sudden,” Remy said, surveying the reactions of the crowd in front of her. “But I want to assure you that we have carried out a thorough background check, and to make it even better she’s a legacy, going back many generations with Alpha Gamma. It’s kind of a pilot program. I’m going to need all of your help to make this work. If you see her doing something wrong, correct her. If she’s struggling with something, help her. There’s a lot more to being a woman than just dressing the part, you all know it.
A girl near the front raised her hand.
“So you’re saying there’s a guy in the sorority?” She asked somewhat curiously, partly accusing. the others around her murmured in agreement. You know, maybe if the other members decided that they weren’t comfortable having me here I could just leave and that would be that. It wouldn’t be my fault, I tried, right?
“I think when you see her you’re going to agree that she’s not a guy,” Remy reassured them. “I also want you to know that she’s not just running around loose doing whatever she wants. She’s very carefully monitored and she lives as a woman 24/7. She’s no threat to any of us. Earlier today she was almost killed by a pumice stone.”
The tension in the room was broken up by what I can only describe as hysterical laugher. I rolled my eyes.
“So where is she?” Another girl asked. They began looking around, trying to figure out where I was. Jesus, they couldn’t even see me and I was standing right here in the crowd. Remy cleared her throat, all eyes went to her again.
“Allison, would you come up here please?”
A few of the girls who had talked to me earlier turned to look at me. Veronica especially. She looked at me wide-eyed as if she couldn’t believe it. I pursed my lips and made my way slow and steadily toward the stairs where Remy stood. She extended an arm and welcomed me up onto the steps beside her. I nervously looked out at the faces in the crowd. Some looked curious, others concerned, others a bit worried.
“Everyone,” Remy said. “This is Allison. Some of you have already met her. She’s a journalism major here at Bellcrest and we’d like to welcome her as a sister here—”
Remy stopped suddenly. It wasn’t hard to guess why. I’d lost my footing and sat down on the steps, pretty suddenly with my head in my hands.
“Um, Allison?” A girl at the front of the crowd came forward and crouched down , touching my knee. “Are you okay?”
I didn’t respond, I just sat there holding my head hoping it would all just go away. They hated me. They had to hate me.
“Okay,” Another girl said, coming forward. “Just breathe, we’re all sisters here, right?”
“Come on, pick yourself up,” Veronica took my hands and started to pull me from the steps. “You’re one of us, alright?”
Was I really one of them? Were they really going to accept me? Could they even do that? I suddenly fell forward into Veronica’s arms, she hugged me as I stood there, me eyes closed, drinking in the darkness and wishing it would last forever.
“Ladies,” Remy said. “We have an initiation ceremony to get to, so why don’t we all move to the living room.
I was finally forced to move and Remy directed us all to the living room which was huge with the couches removed. Laura stood at the front and told us to form two lines facing eachother, we did. There was about four feet of space between us, and Remy led us in a sort of responsive reading where we declared our loyalty to Alpha Gamma. After that, the officers, Laura and Remy included began moving down the line. At each girl they would stop, and the pledge would say the words: “I pledge my life, soul, and loyalty to the service of Alpha Gamma.” And it would be met with: “I accept your pledge and welcome you into this sisterhood.”
Did I really want to be here? Did I really want to be doing this? It was going to be my turn soon. I closed my eyes again and started breathing heavily. I felt the girl next to me squeeze me hand. I turned to look, it was someone I hadn’t met yet. She smiled warmly at me and I kind of smiled back. An officer came to her, said the pledge, and moved on. Had I just been skipped? Did they forget about me? Thank god. No such luck. One of the officers came and stood in front of me. I couldn’t even look at her. Instead I just recited the pledge, sort of muttering it.
“I…I pledge my life, soul, and loyalty to the service of Alpha Gamma,” I said as quickly as I could, trying to sound feminine without my voice cracking.
“I accept your pledge, and welcome you into this sisterhood,” She responded to me. That voice. It sounded so…familiar. I looked up slowly and my fear quickly melted away into absolute horror. It was my sister.