Second Lanark

Initiation - Part 10

We were blindfolded, and we weren't supposed to be able to see anything. We'd been taken to the off-campus house of one of the senior female swimmers. We couldn't know who because everyone could get in a lot of trouble for what we were doing tonight. 

"Can anyone see anything?" Ashley called out to all of us. "You need to be honest ladies or you'll spoil the fun."

I assumed that we all shook our heads or made some sort of action that satisfied her. Honestly, I could see my feet and if I tilted my head just the right way, I could see a lot more. Did anyone ever tell the truth when they were blindfolded? I highly doubted it. 

"Alright, rookies. Listen up. I've said this before and I'm saying it again. If we ask you to do anything or start to do anything to you that you find humiliating, offensive or, I don't know, anything bad, you can say no," Ashley droned on. She was the Team Captain and she could be expelled for this, but she didn't seem too worried.

If it was possible to hear someone roll their eyes, I was hearing it now.

"You all have white shirts on that you didn't pay for, and we will be writing things on these shirts. Later, when you are no longer blindfolded, if anything on the shirt makes you feel humiliated or damages your ego, feel free to remove it before we leave the house." She paused for dramatic effect. "Welcome to your initiation to the Varsity Swim Team!"

We all cheered and hooted. We'd been told multiple times by everyone that tonight would not be taking place. Then, we'd been kidnapped straight from swim practice tonight. My hair was still wet. Faith, another rookie and one of the girls on the team I'd bonded with, leaned over to me.

"Can you see?" she whispered.

"Of course not," I said. 

"Right." She laughed. She sniffed the air. "I smell tequila and sambuca. We're in trouble."

I took a whiff of the air. "You can smell alcohol?" I was impressed.

"Of course," she said. "Wait, can't everyone?"

I laughed. "I think it must be your super power. All I can smell is chlorine and fear."

She laughed again and then we were being manhandled into chairs. We were given shot after shot before I felt something wet in my hair. 

"Ah, what's going on?" I asked. I hadn't yet had enough shots to just go along with anything.

"We're dying your hair red," Ashley said casually.

"What?!" I almost jumped out of my seat. "My hair," I moaned.

"Relax. It's not permanent. Maybe a slight pink tinge for a while after a few washes," she continued. 

Her gloves squished, working the dye into my hair. My parents would freak if they saw me with red or pink hair in a few weeks when I went home for Thanksgiving. I really hoped she was telling the truth. 

There were more shots and then they were working something else into our hair. I didn't even bother to ask this time what they were doing. Just keep drinking seemed like a good motto for this occasion. I felt my t-shirt being pulled away from my body and out of the bottom of the blindfold, I saw the writing going on to the shirt. They were whispering and giggling while someone else continued to feed us shots.

"I'm getting really drunk." 

I turned my head slightly to see whether I could figure out who spoke. The only other rookie I knew well so far was Faith, but it sounded like it might have been Cathy.

"Stop giving her shots," Ashley's reply was sharp and right behind me. "Stop giving everyone shots. We don't want them puking before we even leave the house."