Travenna State University

"Chapter 2: Application & Lies"

"Tyrone finally arrived after 40 minutes."Yo where the hell you been at?" I yelled. He looked at Zaveon and I like we were crazy.

Then replied, "I been busy with that crazy ass bitch Keisha."

"My classmate Keisha?" I said with a puzzled look on my face.

Tyrone nodded then pulled out a blunt.

"Yo bruh, we ain't got time for that, we gotta get to Spring Lake Apartments in like 10 minutes." Zaveon said in his ATL southern voice.

"Aight aight." Tyrone replied.

We got in the car hitting 90 miles per hour on the interstate. Spring Lake Campus Apartments was only 15 miles away from the school via interstate and 25 miles driving up North East Street. Tyrone told me to go in the glove department and get the yellow envelope tucked in the side under his car registration papers.

I opened it and and told him, "Thank you bruh."

He simply nodded and replied, "no prob bruh, we bout to be Nu's yo" he yelled out in his thuggish tone while almost hitting everything in sight on the interstate.

"Tyrone was also a freshman who was from Dunwoody, Georgia. He was considered the pretty boy and the "over the top" guy within our crew. He would always have the freshest gear and he talked to the baddest chicks on campus. I mean my dude was the man on the yard so it was obvious that he was leaning towards crossing Nu Nu Psi."

"I first came into contact with Tyrone during the freshman class orientation. At TSU, every incoming freshman must take a placement test. It's the HBCU mandatory requirement when entering the system. Me and 240 other freshman's where divided into sections of A, B, C & D.

Tyrone and I were in section C because of our last names started with the letter "S" for Simmons and Stevens. I sat down in the near corner by the window when suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder. A voice replied, "Yo do you have a pen or pencil?" I looked up to see this dude hovering over me. I replied, "Yeah bruh."

"When I first seen Tyrone, I automatically thought he was gay because he had blue eyes. I mean, I thought the dude was wearing contacts or some shit. On top of that, he looked as if he was so into himself, but after really getting to know him, I realized that my perception of him wasn't true. Don't get me wrong, that nigga is a pretty boy, but he's definitely metro-sexual. Oh yeah, dude wasn't wearing blue contacts by the way. What I found so ironic about the test taking is that we both finished at the same time. When we walked out of testing, we introduced ourselves. We instantly clicked and after chatting about what we were major in at TSU and we found out that we were roommates together in Ducket Hall. We've been bruhs ever since. Tyrone and Zaveon met in an English class. One day I saw him and Zaveon in the cafe together and we all instantly became broskii's.

"We pulled into the entrance of the campus apartments. Zaveon got a text from one of the brothers of Nu Nu Psi informing us to drive in front of building B4 and stay in the car until further instructions. I admit, Tyrone, Zaveon and I were scared as hell. We've heard about the things guys went through to get into Nu Nu Psi. I even heard that boy was hit by a car for wearing Nu Nu Psi colors while on line. What made us more nervous was the ticking clock in the car. Five minutes later, four more cars arrived and parked in a line behind us. One of the brothers of Nu Nu Psi came out and walked around each car. He had a paddle in his hands with Nu Psi Beta Fall 2009 on it. He looked at me and shook his head disapprovingly while walking off to the apartment door '401.' The other cars behind us were"

"all other candidates hoping to get the chance of joining. I even saw my RA Daniel Jackson in the back seat of one car. As we looked out the window we saw two more cars pulling up. In those cars stood the other Brothers Nu Nu Psi.

All 10 of them walked out in a straight line from shortest to tallest in their blue and yellow crossing jackets. They were all line brothers. LINE BROTHERS/SISTERS are Individuals who are members of the same intake class. Almost every guy on campus wants to pledge Nu Psi, but only a few are chosen. A really tall, light skinned guy came to the car informing us to follow him. Each candidate stood on line while waiting to get to the apartment door. The Nu Brothers seemed pissed off from the jump. I was last in line because I was 6'2". Tyrone and Zaveon were in the front of the line. A brother by the name of Jermaine walked in the apartment and up stairs to the living room.

"We were all told to sit on the floor "Indian style." All of the men of Nu Nu Psi stood in front of us. One of the Nu's actually lived there; his name was Cyris Pringle. He was fat, brown skinned, tall and had a loud mouth. "Y'all niggas need to take y'all fucking shoes off in my apartment!" He yelled angrily. He demanded us all to leave our shoes down stairs. We all ran down stairs to put them by the door.

"Quickly quickly," one of the Nu's said as some of us stumbled upstairs.

"Oh hell fucking no! What the fuck is that smell?!" One of the Nu's said holding his noise causing his other fraternity brothers to laugh.

Cyris swiftly got his fat ass up from his chair and yelled at us once more, "I want all y'all niggas to put y'all fucking shoes outside of my apartment!"

"We were all in shock and nervous. We all ran down stairs quickly to put our shoes outside. The Nu's stood upstairs laughing. When we all got back upstairs we were interrogated one by one. There was about 40 of us in the room. Bryon Kennedy, secretary of the Beta chapter, walked back and forth around the room yelling and screaming at each of us, while the President of the chapter, Brandon""Lewis, stood there walking around the room with his paddle, tapping our shoulders one by one.

I could feel my stomach falling dropping to my feet and my head feeling like it was about to explode. The intensity level in the room was not good at all. We all knew this was hazing, but it didn't matter to us. We just wanted to be in. After 1 hour of yelling at us and throwing paper in our faces, the Nu Nu Psi brothers gave us their numbers and other contact information. Lance Walker, Treasurer of the Beta Chapter, went around the room to get our applications along with the $250 fee. Cyris offered us something to eat and drink. "I may be hell. but I do feed you," he said in a friendly voice. We all passed.

As I walked out the door to get into Tyrone's car, Brando Lewis tapped my shoulder, "Yo come here for a sec" he said. "You Jacob right?"

I nodded, "yes."

"Well I want you to come around us more and get to know us," he said in a friendly way.

"I asked if we were picked for membership and does the money need to be turned in that same day of acceptance?

He replied, "No, you have three days to turn the money in." He dapped me up and said, "keep it easy."

I nodded and replied, "Aight."

I was the first to enter the car, then, Zaveon and Tyrone got in.

"Yo those niggas cray as hell," Zaveon said in a serious voice.

"I know man, but we just gotta get through this bruh... we got this." Tyrone explained in low tone."

"I was scared out of my mind. I started to have second thoughts about this fraternity thing. I began questioning in my mind, "Is it really worth it at the end of the day?" Then an image of my father popped into my head. I know how proud he would be to grip me at my ceremony as a Nu Psi Bruh. Therefore, not joining this fraternity was out of the question. I knew in my mind that this was only the beginning and a lightweight of hell to come... indeed, I was right."