And Then There Were Five

First Day Back

Archer

"What do you mean she's not coming?" I shout. "I thought she was just gonna be late."

Before anyone can laugh at the way the words came out in my native accent, I point my spoon at everyone, which I thought was my knife at first, and look everyone in the eyes, waiting to see who will have the answer I'm looking for. 

Kamya obnoxiously stabs her chicken with her fork. "Busy tonight. Didn't you hear? She's one of them, now--"

"Whoaaaa there," Jagger drawls. "Don't be snippy about my people."

Wiley finds his response particularly humorous. "Greek Life is a cultural thing. It's not like being legitimately Greek."

"If you had the balls to pledge, you'd believe otherwise."

Wiley remains unconvinced. "Cut the crap, man. All you guys do it drink, hit on the same chicks, hope you don't have to drive hammered girls home to their dorms during your parties, and hope you never get anyone pregnant."

"Or get brutally hazed," Kamya adds while chewing her food.

I notice that Elinor is particularly quiet today, more so than usual. She's wearing a Harry Styles Fine Line hoodie despite it being hot as hell outside, and the material is draped over her head so all we see of her is her tattered face. I say tattered, but I don't mean she's ugly. She's always had a very gentle face and a kind appearance. Out of the three girls I had come to know through Demarco Hall, she was definitely the least terrifying. Soft-spoken, a laugh like jingle bells, and yet, there was always an edge to her. Then again, maybe it was the septum piercing.

The others are still ranting black and forth about where frat men fall on the spectrum between respectable beings and scum of the earth when I decide to ask Elinor, "How were your classes today?"

That makes everyone else fall quiet, at least for the moment. "Syllabus day is always a breeze," she comments blandly, picking at her salad lazily. "What about you? Any of your classes prepping you to be the next Rupi Kaur?"

"Rupi Kaur," I reply, "while talented, is not the kind of poetry I aspire to write. I'm more of an epic poem kind of guy. Something like...I don't know, maybe a modernized Iliad."

"Well then, here's what your first stanza can be about," Jagger grins. "Why don't you show everyone what you've been hiding under your hoodie?"

Clearly irritated by the remark, Elinor swats him with her free hand. "Stop, dude. You know I don't like how it looks right now."

Now, everyone at the table is curious, and we wait all of ten seconds before Elinor gives in, dropping her hood down to reveal a head of purple hair, that is, until her dirty blonde roots sprawl out from the top of her head. 

No surprise, Kamya is the first to gasp. Then it's mine and Wiley's.

"Look," she starts off. "I've always wanted to do a wacky color, but I didn't want a full head of it. I thought I knew how to section it off, but it just came out...jagged. I'm scared to put more dye in it to even it out and I don't exactly have the money to get it fixed professionally."

To my great surprise, Kamya is the first to try her hand at reassuring her. "It isn't that bad, actually. At lest you didn't try cutting your bang with kitchen scissors."

"Thanks so much," she half snorts. I shouldn't have expected anything good.

The conversation quiets as we stuff our faces full of half-warm half-cold college cafeteria food in the Greenhouse, the best of the three dining halls on campus despite its design looking like a plant sanctuary. Wiley can't seem to get enough of the pasta, and after getting up to get another helping, he also returns with a bowl of blue jello and a dinner roll. Jagger wrestles with a stubborn cut of meat while Kamya seem to have no issues with her chicken, and Elinor no longer seems to have an appetite. 

There's bits of talking here and there, but nothing of much substance, so when I clear my plate, I tell them I'll catch them tomorrow at the campus screening of Avengers Infinity War before Jagger has the opportunity to ask me if I've ever seen it before, and the answer is no. As I begin my walk back to my new dorm, I find it slightly sad that I don't go home to those guys anymore. Crammed into a triple was ass at times, but I never felt alone when I lived with them. Now, going to the library to study or get some writing done only reminds me that I am by myself--which is funny, considering I left the UK to study in America to gain some independence. 

But even though it's the first day of year 2, things feel...off. Maybe Valencia had some sense in her to piss off her parents and or, better yet, to not tell them that she was going to do as she pleased. I'd surely take the latter to avoid any confrontation with my mum--

Stubbing my toe on a curb, I nearly trip over and the only thing that saves me from sprawling onto the sidewalk is the outdated newspaper box that they've plastered a wad of flyers onto. I don't make much of it at first, but just as I leave, a pop of red catches my eye and I turn back to it. Slowly, I read over the words.

The men of Pi Kappa Alpha want you to be a part of the brotherhood. Fraternity Rush begins September 1st at the PIKE house at 7:00pm for a grill out. BYOB.

Tempting...

For all of two seconds.

Still, I laugh to myself, and continue the walk towards my room knowing no one is there to greet me.