“Pledges!” I shouted out in my most convincing drill sergeant voice as I paced the floor in front of the lineup. We hadn’t quite replenished our ranks yet, but Tiffany and I had managed to wrangle three new pledges for the house. I couldn’t remember their names. “Today we have a very special challenge for you, and those who successfully complete it, will remain as a GAT pledge and will also be well on their well to becoming a full sister. Those who fail will face the possibility of immediate expulsion, do I make myself clear?”

“Yes Miss Aleah!” The pledges shouted in unison. From the corner of my eye I glanced at Tiffany who stood against the bannister with her arms folded, eyes forward and looking a bit nervous. The past few days with her had been weird, she’d been acting completely different, especially around Audrey. I had to kind of dismiss it as her being nervous over Audrey being a new pledge, or maybe she was constipated. I looked around the room, saw the ceremonial candles lit, the Greek letters above our fireplace properly illuminated; the rest of the room covered in a subtle yellow glow. The setting was right, and this was one of the last big tests for the pledges.

“Today’s challenge will be very simple, each one of you will enter the conference room, and on the table there will be two items. An apple, and an onion. You choose one to bite, and remember, whichever one you choose, your pledge partner will enter the room after you and bite the one that you didn’t. How do you pick the right one? Reflect on your time in our house and come to your own conclusions. Choose what you should be leaving behind for your pledge partner. It’s all pretty simple if you think about it. So, with that being said, the first pair, um…Victoria and…whoever you are. Pick whose going in first.”

It went faster than I thought. I watched Courtney checking the room each time a pair of pledges left, taking a tally of who ate what, and Lauren would swiftly return to set up the room again. All in all it only took about an hour, and as I surveyed the pledges, I saw an awful lot of people in tears and utterly miserable. Shaking my head, I took the sheet from Courtney and addressed the pledges.

“Now, that you’ve gone through THAT,” I said to them. “The idea here, is teamwork. As the first pledge to enter the room, you should have bitten the onion. Why? Because taking one for the team is what GAT is all about. We’re strong women as individuals, but together we’re invincible. Now, let me see which of you got this right.”

I quickly scanned the sheet and nodded, noting that everyone had managed to complete the challenge successfully except…

“Audrey,” I said sharply, lowering the sheet and holding it against my hip as I stared at her. “Conference room, now.”

Without another word, I turned and made my way past the bannister and to the left, storming into the conference room. I could hear the others behind me. Tiffany, Lauren, Courtney, and of course, Audrey who entered last. She had a smug look on her face. God, what was that about? She looked pretty cute today, I would at least admit that. Her hair was definitely more feminine now, maybe her sister had helped with it? On top of that she’d finally gotten her wardrobe coordinated after maybe half a dozen trips to different thrift stores in the area. I couldn’t really approve of her buying from thrift stores but I also knew she wasn’t rolling in cash, so there was that. Good enough, right? Today she was dressed in a white skirt that stopped just above her knees and a tight blue top with a scoop neckline. Kind of 80’s. I would have to talk to her about that.

“Audrey,” I said, keeping my tone as even as possible while Tiffany and the others looked on. “Why did you bite the apple? You went in first.”

“Um, I thought the point was to come out on top,” Audrey shrugged. “I mean, the point of this house is to be a complete bitch, right?”

“The point is to work together,” Lauren said helpfully. “It’s about sacrificing yourself for your sisters. If you can’t do that then-“

“What have you ever sacrificed?” Audrey looked directly at me, cocking her head. Tiffany stared at her hard, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Audrey, I swear to god-“ I started.

“You’re singling me out because I have a dick,” She said to me in an accusatory tone. “If one of the other girls had-“

“If one of the other girls had done this,” I snapped. “They wouldn’t be in here talking to us, they would be out on their ass. Yeah, I’m singling you out, I’m giving you a second chance.”

“Nothing I do is fucking good enough,” Audrey protested. “Last week with the horse thing, this week with the apple, how am I supposed to measure up to your standard if you’re singling me out because I’m trans?”

“No one is singling you out, you silly bitch!” Lauren said, stepping in. “That’s the problem, you’re being treated like every other girl in this house and for some reason you can’t handle it. What happened to you? You suddenly get what you want, you’re out of the closet, you’re in a sorority, and now you’re turning into ‘Little Miss Thing’? Someone needs to take you down a few notches because the last few weeks have been absolutely unbearable.”

“I’m just acting like myself,” Audrey said angrily. “Maybe you need to lighten up and-“

“Screw this,” I said, crossing the room and reaching toward the door; Tiffany moved abruptly out of the way as I snatched the pledge paddle, hanging on the door handle. “Audrey, bend over that chair.”

“Um,” Tiffany finally spoke. “We…don’t actually paddle…pledges with the pledge paddle. That’s more of a ceremonial thing…I mean…”

“There’s a first time for everything,” I huffed. “Audrey, turn around, grab the chair and assume the position.”

“Excuse me,” Audrey said, standing her ground. “I’m not letting you spank me.”

“Yeah, you are,” I nodded, laying the paddle across my opposite palm as I glared in her direction. “Let me just put it this way. You pull your skirt up and bend over that chair, or you’re done. I don’t care what Panhellenic has to say about it. I don’t care what your sister has to say about it. You’re making life in this house unbearable because you’re having trouble adjusting and I’m going to put a stop to this crap RIGHT now. I get it, I really, really do. You’re trying to figure yourself out, you’re trying to fit in, but let me tell you something, you’re not fitting in, you’re acting like a self-righteous bitch and that stops today. Bend over, or walk, your choice.”

At that point, Audrey looked around the room, from Tiffany, to Lauren, to Courtney as if she were asking for help. It was understandable, these were normally sources of support for her, but now they simply stared at her, stone faced. They’d had about enough of her, maybe they were just as fed up as I was. A moment ago, she’d been arrogant, her expression smug, but now it was started to fall away, her eyes were filled with fear. Yeah, it was getting through. Slowly, but surely, she turned and grasped the conference chair, her body trembling.

“Feet back, come on, stick your butt out,” I instructed. She did.

“Aleah I’m sorry,” She said quietly. “I’m sorry okay?”

“You’re about to be,” I muttered. I stepped forward, took up a position behind her, and swung the paddle. I didn’t do it hard, not really, but she yelped like she’d been shot and nearly fell to the floor. “Oh my god, Audrey, be a big girl, would you?”

I waited patiently for her to straighten herself, sticking her ass out once again, her body still shaking.

“A sorority is about sisterhood,” I said, taking another whack and delivering it right to her bare ass. “We work together, or we don’t work at all. We sacrifice for eachother, or we die alone. That’s what it’s about, that’s why we’re here. We might seem to be snobbish, and stuck up, but at the end of the day, we function as a unit.”

“Okay, I’m sorry Aleah,” I heard her start to sniffle. Was she actually crying? “I won’t do it again, I promise-“

I cut her off with another smack, a little lighter this time. She still screamed, loudly. The girls out in the living room probably though I was torturing her.

“If you’re having trouble adapting, if this is all a bit too much for you, you need to talk to us, or to a therapist, whichever you can afford. Do NOT act like a little bitch, are we clear?”

“Yes,” She said, her voice cracking. I rolled my eyes and began to speak again, but was cut off by the sound of a text message, my phone vibrated across the conference table. I leaned over, glancing at the screen.

“Great,” I muttered. “Mr. Derringer wants me at the office. Tiffany, guys? Hit her like ten more times, would you?”