“Hamburger, soup, or what the fuck do you want?” I asked the next man in line, an older guy in a scally cap with a worn army jacket. He glared back at me.

“Young lady, you need to work on your attitude,” He lectured me.

“You need to work on your fashion choices,” I said, gesturing to his outfit ensemble. “Soup or burger?”

“I’ll take the fucking burger,” He growled. I reached into the pan on my left and slapped a hamburger onto a plate, handing it to him.

“Don’t you think you ought to wear gloves?” The man asked me, glaring at me intently.

“You should feel privileged to have my hands all over your food,” I snapped. “Maybe later I’ll breathe on you. NEXT!”

It had gone on like this for three hours, and while I was beginning to see the end of the line, I was exhausted, angry, and feeling utterly betrayed. Beside me I could tell that Aleah was feeling exactly the same way but down the line, Kari was having an excessive amount of fun.

“Oh wow, I love your hat, it’s soo cute!” Kari said to the man gleefully. “Did you make it yourself?”

“No, I dug it out of the trash,” The man laughed. “I ain’t got the skills to make a hat.”

“I could teach you! We could make hats together!” Kari said happily. “Oh my gosh, you should try the mayo on that burger. You know over at Maris’s, the burger place they use Miracle Whip and it’s a sin against god and nature, but we actually have Hellman’s here. It’s in a huge tub in the back. It’s less fluffy and has a tinge of like…acidity when you bite into it but I think that’s because it’s old.”

“Young lady, are you on drugs?” The man laughed.

“No, I’m totally high on life!” Kari laughed. The line moved along, I rolled my eyes as it finally came to an end.

“Are you fucking done?” I growled to Aleah.

“I think so,” Aleah nodded. “Now we just need to-“

“Not so fast,” Leina laughed from behind us. “Someone’s gotta do these dishes.”

“No, absolutely not,” Aleah protested. “We have to get to Audrey and-“

“Last I checked,” Melissa said, folding her arms. “You had more than twenty-four hours before Panhellenic made a decision. I think you have time to do some dishes.”

“Okay but I have to get to class too,” I shook my head. “When am I supposed to sleep-“

“Since when have you cared about class?” Melissa laughed. She brushed a strand of hair away from her face – perfectly dry hair. She’d been working just as hard as us, yet her hair and makeup were perfect while I looked like a melted snowman with my hair literally just matted to my head. It was like she’d done this before. A lot.

“Oh very funny,” I snapped. “Fine, we’ll do the dishes but then-“

“And then we’ll go to the theater and find Audrey,” Melissa confirmed. “Now, scrub scrub.”

Leina threw a wet dishcloth in my direction; it spattered against the side of my face, sliding down onto my shoulder and landing on my shoulder. Jesus Christ; I’d just bought this top.

“Leftover food,” Melissa instructed. “Put it in those Tupperware containers and put them in the fridge in the back. Trash goes in the cans, take the bags out when you’re done. You need to leave this place clean when you leave.”

“What did we do to deserve this,” I muttered as Melissa walked away and we began to empty the food from the huge industrial steel pans.

“Um, a lot,” Courtney informed us. “Do you remember when you made Audrey fix that laptop? Or when you forced her to cater the pledge event for no reason? Or maybe the time we literally hazed her?”

“Excuse me,” I said, staring daggers at Courtney. “You were involved in the hazing, you dumped the crap all over her.”

“Because you told me to,” Courtney said, shaking her head and placing hamburger patties into a Tupperware container. “You’re not an officer, but Aleah listens to you, and I didn’t want to get booted out. In spite of how shitty this place is run, it has some great scholarship opportunities that I don’t want to miss out on. You have more influence than you think and it’s problematic.”

“What and you’re not worried about getting booted out NOW?” Aleah asked from behind, a threat suddenly looming in the air.

“I’m starting to care less and less,” Courtney acknowledged. “If you keep acting like a little shit, maybe I’ll find another house to join. I hear there are some openings over at Omega Psi.”

“Maybe you should go talk to them,” Aleah snapped.

“Maybe I will,” Courtney nodded. “But I tell you what, if I leave, I’m going to make sure Audrey has a place over there, it’s a co-ed house, and they’d take her next year in a heartbeat.”

“Why do I care if you take her?” Aleah demanded, making sure that Leina was out of earshot.

“Oh don’t play stupid with me,” Courtney smirked. “If you have Audrey you have your little vanity project. You can make it look like GAT cares about diversity, and you can ease your conscience over the friend you lost. Best of all? Audrey does exactly what you say. She’s a broken, little lost lamb that you’re taking advantage of and I’m fucking tired of it. You get your ass in line or I’ll not only take her away from you, I’ll get her to tell the Greek council EVERYTHING that you’ve done to her, to the pledges, to your own sister. The lies you’ve told to Panhellenic, the philanthropy fraud, everything. Be careful, or fucking judgement day is going to come down on your head like the wrath of god, except Instead of god, it’s going to be me, and I’m a lot less kind.”

“Just one question,” Aleah folded her arms and leaned against the counter, staring at Courtney amidst the sound of Kari chattering with the patrons in the dining room, still enjoying their means. “When did you grow a pair of ovaries?”

“Always had them,” Courtney said. “Just never needed to use them until I got sick of your shit. Let’s finish the dishes.”

It took another hour, but we managed to clean the dishes, stack them, and even mopped the floor. As we finished, Melissa and Leina walked over to us. They must have been having a grand old time somewhere while we cleaned.

“How did it feel to do some honest work for once?” Melissa asked us.

“At least we DID the work,” Aleah, pointed past the counter, toward Kari who was bouncing around the dining room, socializing.

“That’s low,” Melissa shook her head. “She’s making them happy, there are lots of different types of philanthropy. So, are you ready to go to the theater, or what?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Let’s go to the theater.”

“Great,” She said, smiling. “There’s just one more thing you need to do first.”