Ditching Greek | editing

01| Unless There's Blood

*author's note: I wrote this back when I was 17. My writing has improved beyond this point. I'm bringing it back only because of requests to.*

Nebella's name used to be Lane
Hazel's name used to be Hailey
Gideon's name used to be Nathan
I'm still editing this book and fixing the issues
Sorry x

Chapter One

At my age, I've only had one boyfriend my entire life.

"You two are screwed," was what my sister, Sarah, first said when I told her I was going to be in a long distance relationship with my boyfriend, Brandon, of four years. "I don't know why you'd even sign yourself up for something that's got doom written all over it..."

Sarah, unsurprisingly, wasn't the only skeptic when it came to my decision to be in a long distance relationship. And it wasn't like she didn't make any sense to question our decision. She had a point when she said "that's got doom written all over it." I went to East Oregon University while he attended a university in New York. He was born in New York and it was almost natural to go there for school since he had so many family members and old friends there.

Countless incoming freshmen tried the long distance thing and failed miserably. Knowing that we had survived the first year of college with minimal scratches was something many found baffling.

Soon enough, it got easier and easier to adjust my daily life without him at my side. Sure, it took time, but it wasn't impossible to accomplish. Before I knew it, freshman year had flown right by. And within that fraction of my life, I had made incredible friends.

The second semester ended with some great achievements, both for Brandon and I. He had gotten an amazing assistant job with an indie film studio, and I got an internship over at the Portland Tribune.

As the summer's unbearable heat neared its peak, fraternities and sororities students began to return to their houses up On The Hill (I capitalize it for a reason. If I didn't, I'm sure nearly all of the Greek-Life oriented students would pulverize me to a pulp). Even though I no longer lived on campus, I knew what was going on at East Oregon University.

Despite the inflow of a few students, the campus was still super quiet because it was the last three weeks before the insanity of college would pick up again, so many students tried to use their time sparingly as the countdown to the start of classes began.

A couple of fraternities and sororities had all piled into their top of the line lavishly furnished vehicles and drove over to the beach. They carpooled though so I guess that meant they lost snobby points and won earth friendly points.

Yippee.

Ever since I was a kid, I had always had a low tolerance for arrogance so it was a no-brainer that I didn't want to go. Even though I wasn't a sorority member, my two housemates—Monica and Hazel—wanted me to go with them to beach with the rest of their sorority sisters.

I told them that I'd rather set fire to my own head than go into that car with their so-called Sisters. And with that, they departed the apartment we all shared and followed their friends to the beach.

When I told Brandon on one of our Skype dates that I hadn't tagged along with my housemates, who were both part of Kappa Gamma, he made a funny face into his webcam. His expression only worsened when I told him my plans for the day and for the rest of summer break.

"I bet twenty dollars that you're the only girl on this entire planet that's reading instead of hanging out with her friends."

I rolled my eyes. Brandon always had to throw in his two cents whenever it came to something dealing with how I spent my personal time. When people invited me parties, I inform them that I need to study. When Hazel asked if I wanted to go shopping with her last week, I resided in my bedroom, steaming rerun episodes on my laptop instead. Going out wasn't my thing and Brandon was well aware of that. But he always tried and change that, no matter what I said or did.