Social Anxiety

Chapter 7: Blind Leading the Blind

Once they blindfolded the pledges, Barb led them into the administration building and stopped at the base of the stairs. They kept most of the lights in the building off, leaving them in the dim glow of exit signs and the fading sunlight through the windows. There was no way the pledges could see anything.

"Our club room is on the second floor, but we won't be using the elevator," Barb said. "You will work together and navigate the stairs."

"Oh, no," Tamara muttered.

"What's wrong, Tamara?"

"I'm a little clumsy."

"It's okay. I've got you," Kennedy said. "Sister Barb, do we have to do this in alphabetical order?"

"No. Go in whatever order works best."

"Tamara, hook arms with me. I'll guide you. The rest of you line up behind her and link arms," Kennedy said.

Barb watched them scramble to form a human chain. Observing them do this blindfolded was amusing, but Barb refrained from laughing.

"Isn't this kind of dangerous?" Claudia asked.

"The sisters will follow behind you just in case, but we won't help you climb. You do that as a unit."

When they finished preparing, Kennedy felt around for the guardrail and grabbed it. Then, she slowly guided them up the first flight. Tamara stumbled twice, but Kennedy had a firm grip on her. They moved steadily, and they reached the top without falling.

"Good job," Barb said before guiding them to a room. She had them sit, and Barb sat behind the teacher's desk at the front. The other sisters went to the club room across the hall and allowed Barb to speak with the pledges. They still sat in darkness because there were no lights, and Barb hadn't told them to ditch the blindfolds. "In a minute, the sisters will come in, and I want you to welcome them when we tell you to. You will say 'Good evening, Sister' and their first name. Try to do it in unison. We are going to discover if you are good at remembering names."

The procession started five minutes later. They left them in silence to allow the anticipation to build. Plus, they needed to fill the time. Having only five members meant the activities would be much shorter than they would with more significant numbers. Soon, they were ready, so Shawna, Felicia, and Keisha entered the room. Shawna switched on the light before speaking. "Remove your blindfolds!" she yelled. Her voice echoed off the walls.

The pledges' eyes squinted as they adjusted to the bright lights, but Shawna didn't let them acclimate. She held her crop over Felicia's head and looked at them. "When I hold my crop over someone's head, you greet them!"

"Uh," Hana said. She couldn't register anything because she was still squinting.

"Her name isn't Uh!" Shawna said.

"Good evening, Sister Felicia," Chloe said, and the others tried to join her as quickly as possible. It created a mess of noise.

"That was terrible. Also, don't look straight at us! Eyes on the wall," Shawna said, pointing her crop at the wall behind Barb.

Shawna made them do it repeatedly until they got it right, but she had more tricks. Next, Shawna circled her crop over the heads and randomly stopped. Sometimes, she would swap to someone else as they started speaking. Hearing them switch gears in the middle of their sentence amused her. Finally, Shawna placed the crop over her head.

"Good evening, Sister Shawna," Tamara said.

"Wrong! I am Mistress Shawna."

"Mistress?" Claudia asked under her breath in an amused tone.