Work What You Got by Stephanie Perry Moore

glad the night after our party didn’t deter you.” I reached over to hug her and she backed away. “I’m not that glad. I’m not just gonna hand you my letters. You’re going to have to work for them. You ready to work for them, Hayden?”
    I nodded.
    â€œCool.”
    I hoped it was.
    Â 
    The next evening, I was home working on a paper for my psychology professor, Dr. Griffin. The dude was so rigid, he needed a female to loosen him up. It felt like school had just started and I was already weighed down with work. Then my doorbell rang, giving me the break I needed. “Come on, we gotta go!” a familiar voice said to me as I opened my apartment door and got yanked out of it.
    â€œWait a minute. I don’t have my purse, my wallet or my keys. What’s this about?”
    â€œOkay, I’m Trisha. I’m trying to pledge Beta. We’ve been instructed to come and pick you up. You in this or what?”
    Now, I understood. I guess the crazy rollercoaster ride of pledging was on. I held up my finger to say one minute. Part of me was excited. At least this time I wouldn’t be around the crazy girls alone.
    â€œI’ll be at the car,” Trisha said.
    â€œSounds good. I’ll be right out.”
    When I went inside to get my purse Chandra yelled out, “Hayden, who’s that at the door?”
    â€œIt’s nobody,” I said quickly, truly not needing her to act like a parent.
    â€œI know you not going underground,” she said as I looked away. “All right, hard head. Don’t get your head smashed in.”
    â€œI’ll be back later. Don’t worry,” I said to her.
    â€œTake your phone!”
    â€œAlright, alright, I’m straight,” I said, as I opened the front door.
    â€œI’m writing down the license plate of this girl’s car. You don’t even know her!”
    I blew a kiss and she smiled.
    I went out to Trisha’s car and got in the back. It was tight. But I wasn’t going to complain.
    Trisha’s trying to pledge too. I mean how much trouble could I get in, really?
    When I got in the car with the other three girls, no one said hello. Maybe we all had knots in our stomachs.
    â€œI can’t believe you had to pick me up. It’s tight back here. I could have driven,” the plus-size girl sitting with me in the backseat complained as I strapped in.
    Trisha was driving and replied, “You can get out of my car and walk for all I care. But I’m the one with the instructions and directions. They said follow them completely and that’s what I’m doing.”
    The two of them argued back and forth. It was madness. One thing I learned from psychology class is how to analyze people. It looked like both Trisha and this other girl were strong people. Sitting beside Trisha in the front passenger side of the car was a girl who introduced herself as Kellie.
    I responded by introducing myself as well, and then said, “Hey guys, don’t we all want the same thing? If we’re about to walk into the lion’s den with the Betas, shouldn’t we all be on the same side?”
    â€œAnd she speaks,” Trisha said.
    â€œYeah, how can you be at the rush and not try to meet anybody? I’m Bea, by the way,” the larger girl said to me.
    â€œThat was the advice I got,” I said to them. “Listen and stay low-key.”
    â€œWell, the President, Edythe, likes me and she told me that I should have allies,” Bea said.
    Thinking about this I took a deep breath and said, “So, now we know that it’s not just what they tell one of us that matters. We now have to compile what they say to a few of us and decipher what it all really means.”
    â€œOh yeah, I see,” Bea said, “they’ll tell each of us something different and we gotta put it together to make sense of it. They’re forcing us to work together.”
    I nodded. This was going