Alpha Beta Geeka
The next Tuesday, I was on my way out the door to the class Bella still hadn’t been back to after nearly two weeks, when something caused me to pause. Molly and Peyton were sitting in the living room staring intently into Molly’s cell phone screen, their eyes wide. I stopped in my tracks and stared at them, waiting for some sort of explanation.
“George!” Molly yelped. “Have you seen the OSU Secrets Twitter?”
“God, no,” I replied. “I’m lucky I haven’t ended up on that thing, as scandalous as my semester has been.”
“Well, you might want to take a look at it today.” Peyton took the phone from Molly and held it out to me. “And don’t worry, it’s not you. They blurred the picture, but I think it’s pretty clear which sorority sister this is about.”
That was enough to get my attention. I took the phone and glanced at the tweet. Even blurred, it was graphic enough. I would know that head of perfectly highlighted brown hair anywhere. I didn’t recognize the guy in the porn-tastic photos with her, but the first few comments seemed to suggest he was the boyfriend of the sorority president. I seemed to remember that her name was Letitia, and from what little I had seen of her at that party, I knew I never wanted to get on her bad side. If I thought Bella was a bitch, Letitia was on another level entirely.
“Oh…. Shit,” I breathed out.
“Doesn’t he remind you of anyone?” Molly asked.
“Huh?” I scrolled back up to the photo. It was hard to tell, given the photoshopping, and I couldn’t say that I really had any clue who the Tri Delt president was dating.
“Skinny, shaggy blonde hair?” Molly replied. “That doesn’t ring any bells? His name is Nate. I’m sure you’ve seen him around campus. You don’t think he looks like your future brother-in-law and former fuck buddy?”
I tilted my head to the side, then shrugged. “I guess there is a little bit of a resemblance to Taylor, now that you mention it. Can she really be that obsessed? I mean, if this is even real. It’s not like Bella is exactly that well liked even within that cadre of cunts.”
“I wouldn’t put any level of batshittery past that bitch,” Peyton replied.
“Well, I’m off to the class she used to share with me, so maybe I’ll hear some more juicy gossip. I’ll catch you girls up at lunch,” I replied, handing Molly’s phone back to her.
“Looking forward to it!” Molly called after me as I walked toward the door.
Somehow, even with that little diversion, I was still early for class. I made my way across campus to the lecture hall and down the stairs to Dr. Marley’s classroom several minutes early. To my surprise, I saw that same familiar head of wavy brunette hair coming out of her office and heading straight toward me. I veered to the side, and she paused right in front of me, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.
“Georgina, I—”
I shook my head, hoping to let her know that we had nothing at all to talk about, but Bella had never been one to take hints. “What are you even doing here? I thought you must have dropped this class.”
“I was turning in some late work. But I don’t think I really want to show my face, not today,” Bella replied.
With a heavy sigh that almost seemed believable and sympathetic, she added, “Look, I know… maybe this is too much to ask, but if my old room is still empty…”
I stared blankly at her, not hardly believing the words coming out of her mouth. “Are you… are you really asking to move back in? After everything?”
“After everything?” She repeated. “Georgina, do you even understand? I’m being kicked out of Tri Delta because of this. I don’t know where else to go.”
“I don’t understand? No, of course not, it’s not like I’ve had my sex life be the butt of jokes and scandals this semester. Oh wait. I have.”
“So you of all people should understand,” Bella replied. “I mean, honestly. I know what I did, but where am I supposed to go now?”
I shook my head. “It’s really not my problem. But if you’re going to act like there’s some similarity between me sleeping with Taylor and you sleeping with some other girl’s boyfriend, then I really don’t have any sympathy for you.”
“Oh, Georgina,” Bella replied, that familiar sickly sweet tone coming back into her voice. “Honestly, don’t try to act so innocent. We all know you’re dating Zac. Like one Hanson brother wasn’t enough for you?”
“I could say the same for you!” I spat out, hardly believing what I was hearing. “Do you think I’m so stupid that I don’t know you set me up for Zac to see me with Taylor? And I think everyone can see that this Nate guy might as well be a Taylor clone, although god knows a clone of him is the last thing the world needs.”
“You know, I have tried to be nice to you, Georgina,” Bella replied. “But honestly, you and Zac deserve each other. What you never deserved was Taylor. But if Zac is so desperate that he’s still willing to be with you after you somehow tricked Taylor into fucking you, then good for him. Good for both of your pathetic little asses.”
“How fucking dare you make me defend Taylor,” I replied. “I’m not even going to touch the things you said about me or Zac, because it’s pretty damn clear that you look at us like the dirt on the bottom of your shoes. And why not? You can’t use two dorks like us to climb the popularity ladder. But guess what? You can’t use Taylor either. Even he has standards, and he deserves better than you. And unfortunately for you, he knows it. So you screwed Zac over for nothing, Bella. You’re single, never getting with Taylor, soon to be homeless and none of it is my problem at all.”
I shoved past her then, not waiting to see if she could formulate a response for that. For a moment, I really had almost felt sorry for her. Sure, she had done it to herself, but I couldn’t even imagine how awful she must feel. Then I realized that she had no empathy for other people whatsoever, so why should I care what happened to her?
But no, I couldn’t bring myself down to her level like that. Especially not when I actually heard her sniffling from behind me. I spun back around, and sure enough, she was crying.
“Okay, so you actually are capable of human emotions,” I said. “But it doesn’t change anything, Bella. You still only care about what hurts you, and you don’t realize that you’re only doing it to yourself. I actually feel sorry for you. I feel sorry that you’re apparently so broken inside that you are incapable of treating other people with basic human decency. I’m not even mad at you anymore, because everything that happened this semester has all somehow worked out okay for me. But I’m not sorry enough to give you another chance, because I just don’t think you’ve learned your lesson yet. I hope you do someday, but I’m done being a part of your drama. I’m just really, really done.”
With that, I turned away again, sure that Bella wouldn’t have any clue what to say to that at all. I could hear the voices of other students coming, so I knew Bella wouldn’t be sticking around for them to gawk at her. I could only hope, though, that something I had said would get through to her, but I wasn’t holding my breath for it.
I really couldn’t blame her for not showing her face in class that day. I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to be seen if, for example, photos of me and Taylor had been shared all over the internet. Luckily, only a select few seemed to know or care about it; I supposed my lack of popularity kept the story from being all that interesting to anyone. Whatever the reason, I was thankful not to be such gossip fodder.
I really did feel sorry for Bella, but it still didn’t change anything, least of all her nasty disposition. And I doubted anything I said would make a bit of difference to her, even though I spent all of class replaying the conversation in my mind, trying to figure out if I could have done it differently.
After class, I scurried off toward the student center to meet Zac for lunch. Not paying enough attention to wear I was going, I nearly collided with some girl, her bleach blonde hair nearly blinding me in the process.
“Oh, sorry,” I mumbled, then took a closer look at her. She looked familiar. Then it dawned on me. “Kenley, right? Delta Delta Delta?”
“Not anymore,” she replied. “I mean, I just… washed out. But it’s fine. I was starting to feel like the whole thing wasn’t really for me anyway. Guess I just wanted to be popular, but the climb to the top of the totem pole is brutal.”
“No kidding,” I said, chuckling a little. “I guess you heard about Bella, huh?”
“I think everybody in the state of Oklahoma has heard,” Kenley said. “Needless to say, she’s not a Tri Delt anymore, either. I really don’t know what she was thinking, but honestly, this rivalry between her and Letitia was only going to end in disaster. Something had to give, you know? They couldn’t keep fighting with each other, pushing the stakes higher and higher, without there being some sort of consequences.”
“I can’t imagine Letitia wanted the stakes to be that high,” I replied. “I mean, nothing really justifies sleeping with another girl’s boyfriend. Although I’m not really in much of a position to take the moral high ground here.”
“Compared to Bella, you definitely are.”
I stared at Kenley. Maybe I had misjudged this girl. Okay, so she obviously disliked Bella. That was a big point in her favor. She seemed to like me, for unknown reasons, so that was another point. And she wasn’t actually a sorority girl, so I couldn’t hold that against her.
Biting my lip, I asked, “Do you think you would want to get lunch? I think you would like my friends better than the Delta girls. We’re big dorks, but we’re not backstabbers.”
“If by dorks you mean you won’t judge me for having Gryffindor bedding,” Kenley replied, “then I am definitely in.”
“Oh you are so in,” I said, grabbing her arm. “Come on, it’s time you joined the newest Greek group on campus. Alpha Beta Geeka.”
Kenley laughed as she let me lead her toward the student center. I didn’t even care at all what people thought about the two of us together—if anybody even cared enough to have an opinion on someone like me hanging out with a former sorority girl. Emphasis on former. It was pretty clear that I had misjudged at least one of the Delta Delta Deltas, although I would probably never admit that. It was possible for me to be wrong once in a while, I supposed, but why advertise it? In any case, I couldn’t really fault Kenley for envying and wanting to be part of the popular crowd. I understood that feeling; I just knew it wasn’t remotely in the cards for me, and that was absolutely fine by me.
As we neared the student center, another thought occurred to me.
“So, hey,” I said. “Now that you’re not in the in crowd anymore, I’m guessing you’re going to need a place to live. And I’m going to need someone to take up residency there fast so Bella can’t keep begging for her old room back. Win win for all of us—well, except for Bella.”
Kenley smiled. “I think that sounds like a great idea.”
I smiled back. If this wasn’t proof that things had changed for me this semester, I didn’t know what was. Just a few months ago, I had dreaded the thought of living with one of the popular girls—now here I was inviting one into my inner circle. I was either growing up or going crazy.