Beauty

Chapter 1

I walked down the steps of my dorm building with a backpack slung over my shoulder. I had just arrived on campus and I wanted to see what was going on around the university. Apparently, the answer was a lot. Tables with representatives from various clubs lined the edges of the sidewalk. Off to the side, kids threw frisbees and drew portraits and read textbooks. A girl a by older than me with her hair in a tight bun approached me giddily.

"You look like you'd be interested in Reading Club!" she squealed. I recoiled a bit from her approach. "No thanks," I said, scratching the back of my neck. She frowned, turned on her heel and returned to the table. There were so many clubs that all seemed stupid to me: drama club, art club, movie club, even a slow jazz club. I shook my head and kept walking down the sidewalk where I was greeted by a crowd of friendly guys.

"You must be Chris!" said one guy. He grabbed my shoulder. "Hey everyone -- Chris Jackson!" he hollered. The crowd responded with a chorus of cheers.

"So the new pledge is here?" said a voice from the crowd. He came closer. It was a kid a few years older than me with dark, curly hair. "Andy Osborne. Welcome to Gamma Delta Chi. Initiations tonight. Think you got what it takes?" "Course I do!" I said nervously. "I have to go get my stuff from the car. See you guys."

A multitude of goodbyes echoed behind me as I turned to leave. Faster than I could react, my head slammed into something hard and I fell to the ground. Disoriented, I looked up from the sidewalk and saw a girl about my age had collided with me. She was a work of beauty: thick brown hair and dark green eyes. She sat up gently and clutched her head. I rushed to her side.

"I'm so sorry, are you okay?" I cried. She looked at me nervously, stood up quickly and backed up a few steps before rushing away. What did I do wrong?