Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The tall, white building stood before Prince as his dad, Neil, pulled up to the front entrance, with several pairs of stairs leading to the front door. Above it displayed the logo “B&R” with the full words “Burgmeister & Royce” underneath it. Several students were walking together as a couple strolled past the entrance while holding hands. Two jocks were near the front conversing with each other, a male student with glasses and short black hair was sitting on the stairs as a female student walked past him into the building, and an older looking faculty woman stood outside, surveying the area.

“Here we are. Burgmeister & Royce,” Neil announced, impressed by the display. “It sounds so fancy!”

“It's not that big of a college, dad,” Prince replied, trying to downplay his excitement.

“Ah! An elitist college, then!” Neil remarked.

Throughout the car trip, Prince had been reminiscing on the previous day when he had kissed Josy in the forest, only to find out right after that she was in a relationship with someone. He knew that it was probably the right thing to cut his losses and move on from her, but a part of him couldn’t help but still think about how happy he would have been if he could’ve taken the next step with her. She had been his longtime crush who made working at that store and putting up with Steve much more bearable, so for him to just completely let go of her like that was…

He wasn’t entirely sure what it was.

Once Neil parked in front of the entrance, they got out of the car, with Neil taking out Prince’s luggage full of his clothes and Prince carrying his prized guitar.

“Take care, my son!” Neil proudly smiled at his son. “Don't forget to call.”

“Thanks, dad! I won't forget,” Prince smiled back.

Neil threw his arms out wide. “Come, give your old man a hug.”

Although Prince felt a bit embarrassed at doing this in public, he took the moment to give his dad one last embrace before he had to get back in the car and drive back. As they were hugging, one of the jocks saw this and cupped his hands around his mouth while yelling at the top of his lungs:

“HA! GAAAAAY!!!”

“Why don't you grab his dick while you're at it?!” the other jock hollered, loud enough for everyone walking by to hear.

The student with glasses narrowed his eyes at the jocks while Prince ignored them and headed onward to the entrance. After getting inside, he walked up to the receptionist at her desk, trying to figure out where he was supposed to be. She informed him that he was an hour late and had missed out on the first part of the campus tour.

Well, that already made things awkward.

Once he received the key to Dorm 66, he thanked the receptionist and headed down towards the east wing where his dorm was located. The maps all seemed to blend in with each other, as none of them had a “you are here” indicator. The thought of asking someone for help crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it, not wanting to make a fool of himself. After around 10 minutes of searching here and there, he finally found the door to Dorm 66. He noticed that an extra 6 was scrawled on, and he chuckled to himself at the crude joke.

He wasn’t chuckling for long, though, as when he opened the door and entered the room, a guy with black hair, a pair of shorts, and a black striped tank top with white edges jolted up from his bed.

“Hey hey hey! You can't just barge in here!” the guy shouted. “Who the fuck are you?!”

Prince was initially taken aback at the guy’s rude attitude, but quickly recovered. “Hi, I’m Prince. I believe I'm your dorm buddy.”

“Not another one! I fucking told them yesterday…” the guy grumbled. “I don't wanna share this dorm! Find somewhere else to sleep.”

“I don't think it works that way…” Prince took a deep breath before responding. “What’s your name?”

“Why would I tell you that, shithead?!” the would-be roommate fired back with a scowl. “I'm not gonna live here with you.”

“You don’t have to yell at me. I'm sure we can get along,” Prince urged, trying to calm him down.

The guy turned away and muttered to himself, “Fucking morons are running this place...“

After a moment of silence, he turned back to Prince, still scowling. “I’m Troy. If I have to share this dorm with you, here's the deal. You're allowed to sleep on that bed. But daytime, when I'm in here, you're not. Got it?!” he growled those last words out.

“I guess,” was Prince’s only response. He wasn’t in the mood to start something with someone who for some inexplicable reason hated him at first sight.

“Good. Now drop your shit off and get out before I change my mind,” Troy barked.

Prince silently placed his bag and guitar next to his bed and started to head out. Right before he exited the dorm, he turned back to Troy. “Can we start over and try to get along? I could use someone to help me find the campus tour group.”

“Oh, you could?” Troy snarled before slamming the door in Prince’s face.

“What a shitty start this has been…” Prince thought to himself.

**********

The next set of hallways proved to be just as daunting for Prince to navigate through. As he turned a corner, he stepped on a flier that was lying on the ground, causing him to cry out in surprise, lose his balance, and fall on his butt.

“Dammit…” he cursed his slip-up.

He heard someone gasp in front of him before asking, “Do you need a hand?”

Prince looked up to see a girl with blonde hair, a white shirt, a plaid skirt, and concern etched across her face.

“Sure,” Prince accepted her offer, holding his right hand up.

The girl took his hand and pulled him up to his feet. “That was quite a fall,” she noted. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I was too busy figuring out where I was going,” Prince responded.

“Ah, that must mean that you're a freshman?” she asked.

“Yeah, that's right. I'm Prince, by the way,” he introduced himself, holding out his hand.

“Cool. I’m Maya,” she smiled and shook his hand. “So, what are you doing here? Today's orientation day!”

“Yeah, I know…” Prince sighed. “But I arrived too late and missed the tour.”

Maya gave a sympathetic frown. “Well, that sucks. Shit, now I feel bad for you. How about I show you around instead?”

Prince’s eyes lit up at her offer. “Would you do that?”

Maya smiled warmly. “Sure, follow me.”

“I take it you're not a freshman yourself?” he asked her while walking towards the main entrance.

“Actually, I am,” she clarified. “But I'm also a local, so I've been here at high school events. It's not a big campus, really.”

“What are you going to study?” he inquired.

“I've applied for a social work degree,” she answered.

Prince scratched his head. “Ok...I don't really know what that means.”

“Hah, that's ok,” Maya smiled. “Besides, I think most freshmen have the same general education classes the first year anyway.”

“The selection was pretty poor…” he stated.

She shrugged. “That's small colleges for you.”

**********

Once they reached the main entrance, Prince and Maya exited through the doors, walking past several students. One of them was a black guy with an orange and black jacket with the logo B&R on the front.

“How much do you know about this place?” Maya asked him.

“I know the history of the campus, but not much else,” Prince replied as they stepped down the stairs.

“Cool. So, on this campus, we have four fraternities and one sorority; the rest of the students live in co-ed dorms,” Maya began. “There's the nerd fraternity, the tri-betas…”

“The nerds?”

“Yeah, I know it's kind of insensitive, but they're very smart. I think they take pride in being called nerds, too,” Maya continued. “Anyway, they don't have a house. They just hang around the library most of the time. Not having a house helps a lot with their expenses, too.”

Maya led Prince to an enormous mansion surrounded by a brick wall with closed gates at the front. Two students dressed in business suits were talking to each other.

“Over there, you have the rich kids' club, ‘the preps’, or whatever you want to call them. They go by the acronym alpha nu omega,” Maya explained.

Prince nodded. “Alpha and Omega...that's clever. Is it a biblical fraternity?”

“Haha, no way,” Maya chuckled. “I think it means that they put themselves first and last, with no room for others.”

She pointed at a blonde-haired guy in a fancy blue suit and tie on his phone. “That guy over there is Tybalt, their fraternity president. Every year, his family donates a lot of money to B&R. It's always a big deal in the local newspapers.”

They walked onward to a regular sized house displaying a banner with three alpha symbols. A basketball hoop hung from one side of the front yard with a stereo speaker on the other side. Two muscular guys were engaged in a conversation together, while two other guys were sitting on a couch leering at a Japanese girl who stood in front of them, trying to tell them something. The girl had black hair, black lips, black stockings, and was dressed in all black. Her right arm had numerous tattoo patterns adorned all over it, her shirt was ripped and low cut to the point of exposing her underboob, and she wore a skirt so short that it almost seemed like underwear at first glance.

“Then we have the jocks, the tri-alphas. A bunch of meatheads in that house. Unless you're a jock...you should probably stay away from them,” said Maya.

As if to illustrate her point, when the Japanese girl turned around, one of the alphas groped the Japanese girl’s butt, causing her to grimace before walking away from the house.

Retracing their steps, they arrived at a large pink house with several girls sunbathing topless on the tanning beds outside. One of them had messy scarlet hair, another had undercut silver hair, and the third was a Latina with black hair and a tattoo resembling a bird on her body.

“That’s the only sorority on campus, Eta Omicron Tau, also known as HOT. The jocks and the HOTs have a long history; they usually party together,” Maya explained.

The scarlet haired girl laughed at something the silver haired girl said, while the Latina looked at them with confusion on her face.

“Uh-huh. What are your thoughts on them?” Prince asked.

Maya lowered her voice. “This is just between you and me, but they seem like a bunch of sluts. That said, I'm still gonna pledge their house.”

Prince gave her a puzzled look. “Huh? It sounds like you don't like them. Why would you want to pledge?”

“It's kind of unofficial, but rumor has it that the HOTs pay for your entire tuition if you fit their criteria,” Maya answered.

“Oh! Can I pledge, too?” Prince joked.

“I'd like to see you try!” Maya giggled. “Jokes aside, though, I really need that money…”

“Yeah, I understand. I had to take student loans to be able to afford the tuition here. Those are going to be a pain to pay off down the line, but I’ll manage it,” Prince sympathized.

Maya’s expression faltered. “I'm doing that, too, but it's not that simple. That money won’t come so easily for me as it is.”

Prince thought to ask her why that is the case, but decided not to pry, given that they had just met.

“So what about the fourth fraternity?” he changed the subject.

“Oh right! I almost forgot about them. It's a new frat house, called the Delta Iota Kappa, or DIKs. It's right over there,” Maya indicated the huge mansion with a banner spelling out their frat name across the side of it. The black guy with the orange and black jacket was walking back towards the mansion, greeting the other guys there who also had the same jacket as he did. “They have only been around for a couple of years, and their name goes hand in hand with their personalities.”

“That's a huge mansion, though!” Prince pointed out.

“Yeah, I have no clue how they can afford that place. You'll have to ask them about it,” Maya replied. “So...that's about it. Are you thinking of pledging a frat house?”

“I'm not sure…” Prince answered. “I didn't really think about it before coming here.”

“Yeah, I hear ya,” Maya said. “You can do like the rest and just stay in your shared dorm.”

Prince shook his head. “Yeah... I'd rather not. My dorm guy...he doesn't like me.”

Maya lightly chuckled. “Damn, Prince. You've barely been here an hour and are already making enemies?”

“I really was trying to be friendly with him, but he hates me for some reason,” Prince clarified.

“Well, you can consider me a friend at least,” Maya reassured him.

“I really appreciate that, Maya,” Prince smiled at her. “You seem like a fun person.”

Maya gave him a smile in return and pointed towards a crowd of students standing in front of a woman with red hair and a business casual outfit. “Oh, look! I think that’s the tour guide, Professor Cathy, by the entrance! I think you should go tag along and meet some new people.”

“What about you?” Prince asked her.

“I'll join you for the first class after lunch,” Maya answered. “I need to chat with the HOTs.”

Prince took the moment to hug Maya. “Thank you for the help!”

“Aw! You're welcome!” Maya hugged him back before heading off, winking at him. “Later!”

**********

Professor Cathy Jones stood in front of a small group of students, one of which was shirtless and had brown hair. Next to him was the student with glasses, listening intently to the professor’s speech. When she asked for any questions, the shirtless student immediately raised his hand.

“Yes, you again…the shirtless one…” Cathy addressed with a hint of exasperation to her tone.

“When does this tour get interesting?” the shirtless student asked impatiently.

The student with glasses rolled his eyes at the sheer bluntness of the question.

“Young man, you are free to leave if you don't wish to hear about the campus history,” Cathy sternly replied.

The bespectacled student tried to whisper something to the shirtless student, who ignored him and continued to speak, undeterred. “It just seems so weird that you would spend all this time talking about some dead dudes when you could tell us where to buy liquor and where the best parties are at.”

The student with glasses took them off and facepalmed himself while the other students laughed.

“Alcohol is strictly forbidden on campus grounds!” Cathy reprimanded.

“Define campus grounds,” the shirtless student pressed on.

“This is campus grounds, Derek,” the student with glasses spoke up. “We live and study here.”

Cathy turned towards him. “Thank you for clarifying, mister…?”

“SB. It’s my preferred name, Professor Cathy,” he responded politely. “Please pardon his bluntness. He was just a little…confused, to say the least.”

“Yeah! You really should put that in the brochure,” Derek complained. “I feel cheated.”

He turned around to address the rest of the group. “Don’t you all feel cheated?”

“Anyways, if we find you in possession of alcohol or narcotics on campus grounds, there will be repercussions,” Cathy resumed.

“Narcotics, too?!” Derek shouted.

“Is that really a surprise?” SB muttered under his breath.

Cathy led the group inside the building, where a security guard stood watching the place.

“In this building you'll find each lecture hall and classroom; there are helpful maps on the walls if you ever get lost,” Cathy spoke.

Prince thought otherwise, given how much time it took for him to find his dorm.

“And this college is filled with helpful students,” she continued.

A jock from across the main hall chucked a plastic bottle towards Cathy’s head.

“Eat shit, Cathy!” the jock jeered.

The security guard ran after the jock. “Stop right there!”

“Ah, yes. Our campus security is always vigilant and close by to help you if you need it,” Cathy addressed as they walked onwards to the cafeteria.

“Here is the campus cafeteria. Most students come here to buy their lunch or afternoon snack,” she explained. “And that is the end of our tour. Just in time for lunch. I suggest that you eat your lunch here and then we'll meet up in classroom 5K, at 1 p.m.”

Once Cathy left the cafeteria, the group dispersed, with Derek going to chat up a short red-haired girl and SB heading to the food counter. Prince looked around and saw that everyone seemed to have someone else to talk to. Trying not to let the awkwardness of being alone get to him, he went to order a burger with french fries and apple juice. He quietly surveyed his surroundings again before walking past a large jock arguing with the messy redhead who now wore a green crop top and a pair of ripped jeans that were cut all the way up to her thighs.

Right as he was about to sit down at an empty table in the corner, SB came up and took a seat opposite him.

“Is this table taken?” asked Prince, unsure of what the other student’s intentions were.

“Actually, you got here first,” SB answered. “I can move if I’m making you uncomfortable.”

“Don’t worry,” Prince said. “You don’t have to do anything like that.”

“Alright then,” SB acknowledged.

Once Prince took his seat, they started to eat their lunches in silence, both of them having to take their time to chew the rather low-quality food that they had ordered. After getting through a quarter of his meal, SB broke the silence. “My name’s SB. What’s yours?”

“I’m Prince. What does SB stand for?” Prince asked.

“Son of a bitch.”

“...what?” Prince asked, baffled at his answer.

“Just kidding,” SB chuckled. “It’s just SB, nothing more, nothing less. Besides, my middle name doesn’t start with an O since I don’t have one.”

Prince didn’t respond, unsure of what to say to that.

“I think your name is pretty cool by comparison. Were you named after the famous musician?” SB asked with curiosity.

Prince nodded. “Yeah, he’s my dad’s favorite, so he named me after him.”

“I see,” SB remarked. “I’m a freshman, so I’m new here at B&R as well.”

Prince hesitated. “You could tell?”

“You seemed unsure of your surroundings like myself, so I felt more comfortable approaching you,” SB clarified.

Prince relaxed. “Oh, I appreciate your offer, then.”

“No problem,” SB replied. “Want some of my food?”

Prince glanced at the broccoli on SB’s tray and pulled a face at how mushy it looked. “No thanks.”

“Oh, it’s just that your plate looks, uh…”

“Yeah, I know,” Prince cut him off. “Yours doesn’t look that much better, to be honest.”

“You can say that again. They put about as much effort in this food as they would in one of those copypasta Clucks,” SB joked.

“RUDE!!!” the cafeteria worker shouted, giving SB the stink eye.

Prince winced at how shrill her voice was, while SB appeared to remain unfazed. “Hm. She heard that, it seems.”

“So…what exactly are ‘Clucks’?” Prince asked, trying to steer the conversation back on track.

“You haven’t heard about Rooster? It’s the–”

Before SB could finish his sentence, the scarlet haired girl plopped down at their table, rubbing her forehead. Both of the guys stopped talking, waiting to see if she would leave. Just then, the large jock rushed to the table, trying to pull the girl back up.

“What the fuck, Sage? I wasn’t done talking to you!” the jock shouted at her.

“For the last time, Chad…FUCK OFF!!!” the girl named Sage shouted back at him.

SB looked at Prince and brought his voice down to a whisper. “Prince, let’s go somewhere else. Anywhere else.”

However, Prince stood up to face the jock named Chad. “Hey, let go of her! You’re hurting her.”

Chad stared down the freshman. “This doesn’t concern you,” he responded with a scowl.

“It does,” Prince stood his ground. “You shouldn’t ever grab someone with that amount of force.”

The large jock stepped forward, leaning over Prince. “I said this doesn’t concern you. Now leave us be or else…” he warned.

SB darted his eyes between them, worried that either of them would start swinging if things continued to escalate. To his relief, Prince turned towards the security officer standing at one of the cafeteria’s entrances and called him over.

“What is going on here?” the officer asked.

“Ask this guy that question?” Prince gestured to the jock.

Chad stepped back and let out a frustrated grunt before leaving with the officer. A moment of silence passed between the three students.

“Thanks…” the girl named Sage trailed off.

“Sage, huh?” Prince noted. “I’m Prince.”

“And I’m SB,” the bespectacled student followed up. “Were you named after the herb? Or the color, perhaps?”

“Did you find your voice just to make that shitty joke?” Sage deadpanned.

Another moment of silence.

“So…what was that all about?” Prince inquired.

“Just another stupid argument with my even stupider boyfriend,” Sage grumbled.

She let out a sigh before continuing. “He thinks he’s so smart that he can hide the fact that he’s cheating on me. After I found the fucking panties in his gym bag, no less! Then he tries to pretend like it’s a new gift for me, when he so knows the truth,” she ranted.

“Yeah, it does sound like a bullshit excuse,” Prince agreed.

“He’s so full of shit,” Sage seethed.

“Then why do you date him?” Prince asked.

Sage shot Prince a glare that could melt ice. “Mind your own fucking business.”

“Hey, drop the hostility,” Prince fired back. “If you don’t want to answer my question, that’s fine, but I wasn’t trying to be nosy with it.”

Sage averted her gaze momentarily before looking back at Prince.

“...sorry,” she apologized.

Another moment of silence passed between the group.

“I haven’t seen either of you around here. Are you two freshmen?” she asked.

“Yeah, we are,” SB replied. “And we just met as well.”

“I see. Which frat are you guys pledging then?” she inquired.

“Hmm…I don’t know if I’m going to pledge,” Prince replied.

“Come on, you gotta pledge! You’re gonna miss out on a lot of parties otherwise,” Sage insisted.

“Well, I came here to study,” Prince responded.

SB adjusted his glasses. “I wouldn’t say I’m opposed to partying, but I am here to figure out what I want to do later on in my life.”

“Ugh, the tri-betas would fit you two the most then,” she groaned. “All they ever do is study.”

“Are you part of the Eta Omicron Tau sorority?” Prince asked. “You seem to like parties and I think I saw you there while I was touring the houses earlier.”

Sage raised an eyebrow at Prince, who quickly realized his mistake.

“Uh…I made sure not to stare as soon as I saw you and the others,” he hastily added in.

“Well, first of all, I’m actually their president. Second of all, we just call it HOT, no need for the full name. Third of all, us HOTs can get a lot more wild than what you just saw,” she smirked.

“Okay then…” Prince trailed off.

“That was…a lot to digest,” SB commented.

Sage got up from the table. “I gotta run. Thanks for the help back there, Prince.”

As she walked out of the cafeteria, SB briefly glanced at her before turning back to Prince. “She’s rather–”

“Holy fuck!” The shirtless student interrupted, having taken a seat and propping his feet up on the table. “Hey, bros! Did you see the tits on that one?”

Prince and SB turned to face Derek. “That’s pretty rude, dude,” Prince reprimanded.

“Thanks!” Derek grinned. “What about you, other bro?”

“Perverted as always…” SB tersely noted.

Derek’s grin grew wider. “Ha! I totally saw you staring at her ass back there. Never would’ve taken you for a bona fide ass man.”

SB facepalmed himself. “I wasn’t talking about myself, you dunce.”

“Where’s your shirt?” Prince asked him.

“I know! Right? I probably lost it,” Derek answered. “You almost gave it to that jock, huh?”

“Almost…” Prince trailed off.

“Yeah, he would have crushed you head on,” Derek acknowledged.

“I know how to fight if I really need to, but I’m not here to make enemies,” Prince said.

Derek’s expression fell in disappointment as he dragged his legs back down. “Whaaat? Come on! You beat up a jock, and the DIKs will let you in, no questions asked!”

“Those guys…” SB spoke up. “From what I heard, they give the alphas a run for their money for how, for lack of a better word, dickish they can be.”

“Dudes, are you crazy?” Derek gasped. “I just talked to some students, and they know that the DIKs is where it’s at! They throw the best parties, and lately, the HOTs have been partying with them a lot, too!”

“I thought it was the alphas who the HOTs would always party with,” Prince remarked.

“Which is why beating that jock up would have been your golden ticket to the DIKs!” Derek proclaimed.

“Then beat him up yourself,” SB retorted.

“Ass man…look at me.” Derek gestured to himself. “I’m not a fighter. I’m a lover and gentleman.”

Right after he said that, Derek spun around and pointed at a blonde professor with black lipstick who was sitting next to a short haired professor. Across them were Cathy and a brunette woman sipping on her drink.

“Holy fuck!” he exclaimed. “Would you look at the milk machines on that one! What do you say, bro and ass man?!”

Prince looked at the adults for a few moments before answering, “If I had to choose, I guess I’d prefer someone like Cathy.”

“Flat and boring, huh? Got it,” Derek snarked. “Now what’s ass man’s kind of milf?”

“This is nonsense. I’m not answering that,” SB sighed.

“Man, of all the roommates I’d get, it had to be a stick in the ass…man,” Derek frowned.

SB let out an exasperated groan.

“You two are roommates?” Prince questioned.

“Loathe as I am to admit it, yes,” SB sighed.

“I’d rather have either of you over the one I’m stuck with,” Prince followed up. “He just hates my guts for no good reason.”

“Darn, that sucks,” SB replied. “I tried talking to the receptionist, but she told me that I can’t change roommates unless things get extremely bad.”

“The betrayal!” Derek loudly gasped before turning to Prince. “Anyways, you're not planning on pledging the DIKs? Think about it! Their parties are next level!”

“Well, as I said to Sage just now, I came here to study, not to party,” Prince answered.

“Oh yeah. Sure, sure. Me too,” Derek replied.

“Oh really?” SB rolled his eyes.

“Nah. I’m just here for the pussy,” Derek stated.

“Figures,” SB quipped.

“At least you’re honest,” Prince remarked.

Derek stood up and whipped out his phone. “Here, take my number! Let me know if you change your mind.”

“See ya later, bro and ass man!” Derek waved off Prince and SB.

“...he is not going to let that nickname go, isn’t he…” SB muttered under his breath as he took his leave, with Prince following them shortly after.

**********

Once Prince reached the classroom for English, he noticed Derek sitting on a table talking to Maya and SB sitting near the front, listening to what Cathy was saying.

“So, you're going to do it or what?” Derek asked.

Maya shook her head. “In your dreams!”

“Aw, come on! Why not?” Derek begged.

“Just because I'm pledging, I'm not going to hook you up with HOT chicks,” Maya rebuffed.

“Not cool,” Derek pouted. “Not cool at all.”

Derek turned towards Prince. “Hey, bro. Don’t try your luck with that one,” he pointed towards her. “Total cockblock.”

Prince ignored his remark and went to sit next to Maya. “Hey, Maya. Thanks again for the tour.”

“No sweat,” she smiled.

“What have you been up to?” he asked.

“I went to the HOTs and chatted with Quinn about pledging. She wasn't totally against it,” Maya answered. “So, now I'll have to wait for her to call on me.”

“Who’s Quinn?”

“The vice president of HOT. A total hardass.”

“I see you’ve met Derek,” Prince indicated.

“Haha, met him?” Maya laughed. “No, we-”

“Simmer down, students,” Cathy announced. “It's time to start.”

“Let's chat later, ok?” Maya whispered.

Cathy proceeded to go over the available courses for freshmen, stating that most opt to take "Writing and Communication" for English credits and “Gen. Ed. Mathematics” for math, then she announced that she would begin the year with a couple of tests, prompting Derek to boo out loud and SB to shake his head at Derek.

“Now, now. Don't be scared,” Cathy reassured. “These tests will not count toward your final grades. They're just tests that will show me what level you all are on. You may begin.”

The first pretest went by without a hitch. Once the time was up, Cathy called everyone up to turn in their tests and dismissed class.

“Hey, Maya. How did it go?” Prince asked her.

“I think it went all right,” she responded before asking “So, what are you up to?”

“I'm going to check out the tri-beta fraternity. Wanna come with me?” he asked.

“Sorry, I can't,” she replied. “ I need to call my boyfriend.”

“Ok, have fun,” Prince waved her off.

As he walked out of the classroom, he couldn’t help but reflect on how abrupt his conversation with her ended.

**********

Prince was about to head towards the library when he suddenly felt something strike his head from behind.

“Hey! What the hell?” he cried out.

“Haha!”

“You got a problem there, tattletale?”

He spun around and saw Chad staring him down across the main room, along with several other alphas behind him.

“Heheh, yeah!” one of the alphas laughed.

“Shut up, Anthony!” Chad shouted back at him.

Annoyed as Prince was at the alphas for harassing him, he knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea to provoke them, especially while they had him outnumbered. “Relax, I have no beef with you,” he spoke up.

“‘No beef’, my ass,” Chad glowered. “It seems to me like you’re making a move on my girl.”

“Who, Sage?” Prince questioned. “You’ve got it all wrong.”

“You do realize that campus security won’t always be around to save your pretty little ass?” Chad threatened.

Prince took a deep breath, trying to look for a way out. “Come on, I’m not looking for a fight.”

“I’ll be watching you, freshy,” Chad spoke lowly. “And your little friend, too. If you guys don’t stay the fuck away from Sage…”

While Prince was still looking towards Chad and the alphas, one of them snuck up behind Prince without him noticing.

“Dawe, here, will show you what happens to freshies like you,” Chad finished.

“Take this, bitch!”

Dawe lunged forward, intent on grabbing Prince’s boxers and pulling them up. But before he could reach the new student, he felt a hand tightly grip his arm, twisting it behind him. He was stopped cold on the spot, crying out in pain as Prince got knocked down amidst the sudden intervention.

“OW! What the fuck?! Lemme go, you fag!” he yelled.

“Leave him alone. Now,” SB ordered, gripping tighter on his arm.

Dawe felt the strength leave his body all at once, and he turned his head to see Chad gesturing towards him to stop what they had started. Right before Dawe felt himself about to collapse, SB let go, leaving him clutching his arm in agony.

“You just messed with the wrong alpha around here! I’ll remember this!” Dawe shouted back as he and the rest of the alphas stormed off.

“Hey! Are you hurt?” a light, feminine voice called out nearby.

Prince saw a girl with black hair and a gray dress rush over to him. “No, I’m–”

The boy in the fancy blue suit walked up near Jill, cutting Prince off. “You there. SB, was it?”

“Uh, yes, that would be me,” SB replied.

“I’ve reported you to Professor Burke for assaulting a fellow student on campus,” Tybalt accused.

“What?!” SB exclaimed. “He was about to–”

“Spare me your excuses. You’re a disgrace to Burgmister & Royce, starting fights on the first day,” Tybalt interrupted condescendingly. “I would suggest you not to keep Professor Burke waiting.”

“Hey, you really don’t have to do this to him,” Prince defended. “That jock started it.”

But his words were ignored by Tybalt, who turned back to Jill. “Jill, we’re going to be late.”

“I'm ok, thanks. I’m pretty sure I was about to get wedgied there, but SB saved me from that,” Prince replied to Jill.

“It seemed kind of violent on his part, but I guess he didn’t have much of a choice…” Jill trailed off before letting out a sigh. “I just can’t believe there are still bullies in college. Some boys never grow up.”

“Yeah, I certainly learned that the hard way,” Prince responded. “I’m Prince. Nice to meet you, Jill.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Jill smiled. “I think you got some dirt on your clothes,” she pointed out.

“Ah...well, nothing that some good old saliva won't get rid of,” Prince added, just before realizing how gross that sounded out loud.

“Haha! Euw! I'm glad you're not hurt,” she giggled.

“Jill, what's the hold-up?” the boy attempted to cut in.

“Oh! This is Tybalt. Tybalt, this is-” Jill started.

“We're going to be late for our economics lecture, and I want to exchange some words with you before that,” Tybalt cut her off.

“Sorry, Prince. I have to go,” Jill informed him.

“That's ok. I need to go dislodge something from my ass anyway,” Prince spoke. Then he mentally berated himself for saying something incredibly stupid again.

Jill laughed. “Stay safe, Prince.”

Prince watched Jill leave with Tybalt as SB came up to him.

“Thanks for saving me back there,” Prince told him.

“You’re welcome. It’s just a shame that I’m being punished for that…” SB sighed.

“I totally get where you’re coming from, dude,” Prince emphasized.

“Oh?”

“That’s a story for another time. I don’t want to make you late for him,” Prince responded.

“Yeah. Hopefully he’ll go easy on me given the circumstances. Bye, Prince,” SB told him.

With that, he turned around and walked away, leaving Prince to resume his journey to the library. However, he was stopped by a brown-haired boy who also had glasses.

“Oh, that was a close one and then some. If ass cracks could get callouses, mine would be hard as marble by now,” the boy remarked. “I feel for you. I really do.”

“I'll be fine,” Prince told him. “Hey, you...you wouldn't happen to know someone who can tell me more about the tri-betas?”

“Why would I know about that? Because of my glasses?” the boy raised an eyebrow.

“Uh…” Prince trailed off.

“Just pulling your leg,” the boy smiled. “You're in luck. I'm the current tri-beta president. The name's Magnar.”

Prince followed suit with his own introduction.

“Are you thinking of pledging our friendly fraternity?” Magnar asked.

“I don't know, to be honest. I wasn't really going to pledge any fraternity, but I didn't want to say no before checking them out,” Prince replied.

“Mhm. Follow me.”

**********

“This is the campus library. Where we tri-betas usually spend our free time. It's pretty small, but within these walls, you'll find a vast amount of knowledge,” Magnar explained. “Please, be seated.”

He sat down at a table with a blonde girl with glasses, with Prince moving to sit across from him.

“Prince, this is my girlfriend, Sally. Sally, this is Prince,” Magnar introduced.

“Nice to meet you,” Prince held out his hand.

“Nice to meet you too, I guess,” she spoke tersely, not bothering to shake it. Prince awkwardly brought his hand down back to his side.

“To join our fraternity, you must love to study, but it must also show on your grades. Tell me, how did you do in high school?” Magnar inquired.

“I did ok. Look, I'm not the smartest guy, but I got into college here. And I did come here to study, after all,” Prince answered.

“Yeah, that’s not enough to qualify you,” Sally dismissed.

“I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss him. With a proper amount of commitment, he could very well become one of us in due time,” Magnar politely disagreed.

“Just for clarification, you guys don’t have an actual house, right?” Prince asked.

“Correct. If you’re looking for a house to room in, then unfortunately, we don’t have the funds for that,” Magnar answered.

“Dang…I’ve been having roommate issues, so I was looking for a different place to stay at.” Prince informed. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be able to pledge you guys.”

“Oof…that sucks, but I understand,” Magnar sighed. “I hope I'll be seeing you around. I need to make haste. We are playing Dungeons and Gremlins this evening. Come, I'll walk you out.”

They walked up to the front desk where a brunette woman was organizing some books.

“Who is that?” Prince wondered.

“Ah! I see that you've spotted Isabella, also known as the Ice Queen,” Magnar lowered his voice.

“The Ice Queen?”

“Oh. You're not familiar with role-playing games, are you? Well, think of her as the protector of knowledge. For keeping our books and territory safe, I applaud her...but I applaud her in silence. She has no tolerance for shenanigans, and if you don't keep quiet, she will scold you,” Magnar warned.

“Good afternoon, Isabella,” he greeted her. She barely glanced up at him before going back to the books.

“I should probably get a library card to check out books, right?” Prince asked.

“Yeah...very smart idea. Go ahead,” Magnar responded, quietly snickering as he departed.

Prince thought that her nickname was pretty harsh, so he thought of an icebreaker to tell her. “What did the librarian say to the student?”

“Shhh!”

Prince’s expression fell. “Oh, so you've heard that one already?”

A moment of silence followed as she coldly stared at him, unimpressed.

“Sorry…I'm really here to apply for a library card,” he continued. “Can you help me with that?”

Isabella continued to stare at Prince. “No.”

“…ok…how does this work, then? I'm guessing I need a library card to check out books, right?”

“You use your student ID,” she stated.

“Oh, I haven't got one of those yet. I think I'll get mine later this week,” he replied.

Unnerved by her cold attitude towards him, he lost track of what he was about to say.

“So...erm...I...nice chatting with you,” he hastily added.

He exited the library, feeling Isabella’s eyes staring into his back.

**********

“Thank you for coming. Please take a seat over there.”

SB entered the counselor’s office and sat down at a chair facing towards the desk that Professor Stephen Burke was sitting at.

“I got a report that you allegedly assaulted a student on campus on your first day here,” Burke stated, getting right to the point. “Care to explain your side of the story?”

“Yes, I will,” SB took a breath before continuing. “What happened was that I saw one of the alphas, Dawe, sneaking up behind Prince, so I stepped in and grabbed his arm to stop him from giving Prince a wedgie.”

“Hmm…I see,” Burke kept his expression neutral. “Tybalt told me that you left the student howling in pain afterwards. Did you think it was necessary to go that far if you were acting in self-defense?”

“It’s true that I twisted his arm,” SB admitted. “However, at the time, I felt that he would have broken free and assaulted me or Prince had I not done so. Also, he called me a homosexual slur, so I might have been a bit more forceful than I intended in the heat of the moment.”

Burke folded his hands on the desk. “SB, do you know why you were accepted sooner than the others?”

“Is it because of my GPA?” SB guessed.

“Correct. Very few students who apply here have achieved a 4.0 GPA in high school. Due to your outstanding academic record, we’ve offered you a special scholarship opportunity. So to hear that you got into a fight on your first day left me disappointed.”

SB remained silent, not wanting to interrupt the professor.

“At B&R, we have a zero-tolerance policy for violence on campus. Since this is your first day, I’ll let you off with a warning, and I will also make sure that the tri-alphas receive this warning as well. If I hear that either you or the tri-alphas are causing trouble again, there will be consequences. Understood?” Burke warned, laying out his terms.

“…understood,” SB replied.

“I expect that you don’t jeopardize your scholarship opportunity going forward,” Burke finished.

Once he was dismissed, SB got up and left the office without looking back.

**********

Prince headed back towards Dorm 66, opening the door and putting his stuff down next to his bed. Across, Troy was lying down on his bed with his hands behind his head and his feet on the wall.

“Hi, Troy!” Prince greeted.

“Shut up,” Troy barked.

Prince remained quiet for the next few minutes as he tried to think of a way to get through his roommate.

“So…Troy…” Prince trailed off. “You seem dead set on hating me. Any way I can change your mind?”

“I don't know what you think you're doing right now but stop it,” Troy growled. “I don't want to be your friend.”

“We don't have to be friends, but we should at least be able to tolerate each other when we're living together,” Prince insisted. “Don't you think?”

“If that's so, then shut the fuck up and stop bothering me,” Troy hissed. “I can tolerate that.”

Prince didn’t say anything else, having gotten the message loud and clear. He checked his phone and noticed a message from his dad.

Neil: Hey son! Just checking in. How's college treating you?

Prince: Hey dad! Honestly, it sucks... It's not how I'd imagined it.

Neil: Give it a “college try”, son. I'm sure it will be better soon. Love you!

After that, he brought up Josy’s number, preparing to call her, but he stopped right before hitting the green call button. He wondered whether it was worth it to reach out to her after finding out that she was already in a relationship. Just then, he was caught off guard by his phone ringing.

“Hey, take it outside!” Troy shouted.

“Yeah, yeah…” Prince muttered as he stepped out and answered the call. “Josy?”

“Prince? Hi!” Josy greeted.

“Hey...how are you?” Prince asked with a smile.

Josy’s face brightened up. “Hey! That was my line! I'm great, but enough about me...how's college?”

“It's...ok,” Prince wasn’t sure how else to describe it without outright lying about it.

“Just ok? Did you meet a lot of new, fun people yet?” Josy asked.

“HEY SHITHEAD! GO AWAY! I CAN STILL HEAR YOU!” Troy yelled at the top of his lungs.

“Some interesting ones, indeed,” Prince remarked as he walked away from his dorm. “It's funny; I was actually about to call you.”

“Haha! No way!” Josy exclaimed.

“Yeah, I was standing here holding the phone when you called,” Prince confirmed.

“What a coincidence!” Josy smirked. “So, why were you almost calling me? Do you miss me or what?”

“Yeah...I miss you, Josy,” Prince told her.

“Oh!” Josy paused. “...I miss you too.”

Prince decided to shift the topic to avoid making things awkward. “Did you hear anything about the waitlist yet?”

“No, that's kind of why I called, too. I think I will cut my losses already and just move on. I'm actually thinking of quitting my job and moving to the east coast...maybe start working in a mall or do volunteer work, I don't know…” Josy rambled.

“That far away?” Prince asked. “...what about me?”

“I...erm...sorry, this was a stupid idea,” Josy backpedaled. “I shouldn't have called you.”

“Hey, don't hang up…can I come to see you soon?” he asked.

“Soon? You just left…” she trailed off.

“Yeah, I did. But you saying that you're about to move even further away...it feels weird,” Prince remarked.

“I just...feel like I need to get away for a while. It's been tough lately…” Josy said with a hint of sadness.

“How about I come back home this weekend?” Prince offered.

“This weekend? It's your first weekend in college! You should be partying! Would you give that up for me?” Josy asked, hopeful.

“In a heartbeat,” Prince smiled.

“Ok. See you Saturday...or Sunday?” Josy asked.

“I'll let you know.”

“Bye…”

After Prince hung up, he re-entered the room and sat on his bed. He got his guitar out and started playing it, reminiscing on his 12th birthday when his dad gave him the most precious gift he could have asked for.

“That sounds pretty sweet…” Troy spoke up.

“Thanks…” Prince said, surprised at how Troy wasn’t being overly hostile to him for once.

“You wrote that?” Troy asked.

“No, my dad played this song on the radio when I was twelve. I…forget it, it’s stupid,” Prince retracted his words.

“It probably is,” Troy grumbled.

Well, that moment didn’t last long.

Once Prince finished his song, he set the guitar down and prepared to call it an early night.

**********

In the hallway of the east wing, SB approached his roommate Derek, who was waiting outside of Dorm 69.

“Hey hey! Ass man! What's up?” Derek called out, reaching out for a high five.

“Is that supposed to be your nickname for me?” SB frowned, leaving him hanging.

“Yep!” Derek said as he brought his hand back.

“Both crude and uninspired simultaneously,” SB sighed.

“So, what have you been up to?” Derek asked.

“I got sent to the counselor’s office after saving Prince from getting wedgied by Dawe,” SB explained. “Burke let me off with a warning, but that’s the only one I’ll get.”

Derek dropped his jaw. “Damn dude! I heard that you really gave it to that jock, but I wasn’t expecting that you would get in trouble for it.”

SB looked at him with mild surprise. “How did you hear about that so soon?”

“Word travels fast around here,” Derek replied.

“Well then…how about you?” SB changed the subject.

“I'm trying to find out who's really in charge of this place,” Derek responded.

“Please clarify,” SB stated.

“Well, rumor has it that there's more to this place than what it appears to be,” Derek added. “I'm trying to find out who's calling the shots and how to get in on the action.”

“Oh really? And what makes you suspicious, if I may ask?” SB asked with interest.

Derek leaned in and cupped a hand around his mouth, lowering his voice. “Open your eyes, I think you'd see that there's something weird going on if you just look hard enough. I mean, how can the HOTs afford to pay tuition for the freshies? Why do the security guards treat some people differently?”

“...he asked while walking around half-naked,” SB snarked before turning serious. “I’ll give you a shirt if you really need one, by the way.”

“Haha! Fuck off! I'm not bullshitting you!” Derek laughed. “But enough about that...how did the English test go?”

“Eh, pretty good,” SB shrugged. “I'm sure I passed it.”

“Tests don't have to be that hard, you know. If you want, I can give you some pointers to ‘pass’ tests easier,” Derek suggested.

SB gave him a disapproving look, knowing exactly what Derek was getting at. “So you’re offering me cheats, basically.”

“Cheat? ME!?” Derek exclaimed. “HAHA! Well, I'd never–”

A student momentarily glanced at Derek before walking past him.

“Look, ass man, trust me. I have some pointers for you...not for free, of course; a dude’s gotta eat,” Derek offered, lowering his voice again.

SB shook his head. “Yeah, that is so not happening,”

“Okay, that’s cool,” Derek said.

SB turned his back on Derek and walked off. “Well, I need to use the bathroom. See you back at our dorm.”

“Later, ass man!” Derek called out after him.

SB let out a frustrated grunt as he headed off to the all gender bathroom. He passed by the vending machine, which had a student vigorously shaking it back and forth. He was about to tell the student to quiet down when he noticed two girls in scantily-clad clothing coming out of the bathroom together. One of them appeared to be Japanese, while the other had silver hair with an undercut. Ignoring the noise that the student was making with the vending machine, he whipped out his phone and started scrolling through his phone, fixing his eyes on his phone while keeping his ears wide open.

“Camila, Maya, and Mona, I think,” the silver haired girl stated.

The Japanese girl glanced at her doubtfully. “If you say so, Quinn.”

The girl named Quinn hardened her expression as she stared back at the Japanese girl.

“Yeah, I know,” the Japanese girl spoke up. “But you have to admit it was easier last year.”

“That was because of you, you know,” Quinn reminded her.

“Fuck, I'm bored,” the Japanese girl sighed. “Wanna get your groove on?”

“Shh. That guy over there might be making a lot of noise, but these hallways have ears,” Quinn whispered. “Follow me.”

Once the sound of their footsteps faded away, SB put his phone away and proceeded to the bathroom.

“What a perplexing state of affairs…” he thought.

He entered one of the stalls and was about to sit down when he noticed a hole in the wall to his right. The phrase “eat up” was scrawled across the top of the hole, and he heard someone whistling on the other side.

“Why is there a hole in the wall?” he wondered, perplexed at this discovery. “Is it for sharing food?”

Once he was done washing his hands, he headed back to his dorm room, hoping that his first night with Derek wouldn't be so bad.

He was wrong. He was so very wrong.

The first sign to SB was the stench of body odor that permeated from Derek’s side of the room. The second was his snoring, which was about as easy to listen to as a buzzsaw slicing through wood.

It was going to be a long night, that’s for sure.

**********

Prince found it tough to fall asleep in his bed himself. It had been a long day between meeting a lot of new people, the call with his longtime crush Josy, and having to put up with his utter asshole of a roommate. Just as he was about to close his eyes and try again, he heard the sound of footsteps, followed by the door opening and closing.

“Huh? Where’s Troy going?” he wondered.

Prince thought over whether it was a good idea to follow him, since if he got caught doing so, Troy would likely kick him out for good. However, he was still curious as to why Troy was such a jackass to him to begin with. With that in mind, he decided to take the risk and slowly crawled out of his bed. He put on a shirt and shoes and snuck out of his room, making sure that he was as quiet as he could be with the door. From there, he caught a glimpse of Troy turning a corner, and he continued to follow his roommate while walking lightly. Eventually, Troy exited the building with one of the side exits, and Prince followed suit.

Down the stairs waiting was a familiar face that surprised Prince.

“Hey, Troy,” Chad greeted. “Did they come back again?”

“No, and thank fuck for that,” Troy drawled. “But now I’ve got this annoying dipshit of a roommate hogging up my place.”

“Who is it this time?”

“Prince.”

“Ugh,” Chad groaned. “Of all the possibilities, it had to be him.”

Prince felt his heart race as he hid behind the wall. It would be bad enough if he got kicked out of his dorm for spying on his roommate; now the president of the tri-alphas would have a whole new reason to make his time at B&R a living hell.

“At least you’re not the one who’s stuck living with that guy,” Troy grumbled.

“Troy, I know what happened to you wasn’t fair at all. But we’ve been through this before. All I can do is continue to be their president and her ‘boyfriend’ while I can,” Chad reiterated.

“I know, I know,” Troy muttered.

Troy suddenly froze, whipping his head around. “Anyone around?”

Chad checked behind him. “As far as I can tell, nope.”

Troy relaxed his posture and gave a small smile. “I’ll make this one quick then.”

Troy then did something Prince never would have ever expected. He leaned into Chad and kissed him on the lips.

Prince had to clench his hand over his mouth to stifle out his gasp.

“When are we meeting again?” Troy asked.

“I’ll be busy for the next few days,” Chad replied. “I’ll let you know when I’m available as soon as I find a good time for us.”

“Got it,” Troy acknowledged. “Sweet dreams, mate.”

Prince realized that he absolutely needed to get back to his dorm before Troy spotted him, so he turned around and speed walked his way back. Thankfully, he had memorized the directions to his dorm, so he got back without a hitch, making sure that the door was closed behind him and that he was lying down on his bed with the covers pulled over.

Not only did he find out who Chad was cheating on Sage with, but he also knew that Chad swung the other way. He placed a hand on his rapidly beating heart and took deep breaths to steady himself. Just when he thought he had calmed down, he heard the door open, and his heart rate quickly accelerated once again.

Still on edge from what he had just witnessed, it took what felt like an eternity before he finally drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

“WAKE UP!!!”

“AHHHHH!” Prince shrieked, startled awake by Troy’s hollering. His eyes popped open and he saw Troy looming over him, clearly frustrated.

“Finally! What took you so long, dipshit?!” Troy barked.

“Nothing…” Prince grumbled, now irritated from his rude awakening. “What do you want?”

“You need to leave; I’m getting company,” Troy ordered.

Prince sat straight up in his bed. “What, now ?”

“Yes, now! Don’t you have classes to be at or some bullshit like that?” Troy snapped.

“Yeah, yeah…just give me a moment,” Prince muttered as he got out to put on the rest of his clothes.

As soon as he stepped into his shoes, Troy dragged Prince by the arm and practically threw him out before slamming the door again.

“This is not sustainable…” Prince mused to himself.

**********

SB awoke to the sound of the alarm on his phone going off and stopped it. He still felt groggy from having to put up with his roommate’s snoring and his body odor overnight, but he didn’t want to be late for his classes, so he fought back the drowsiness and got up from bed.

“Ugh, your alarm is way too loud, ass man,” Derek groaned, having been forced awake.

“And you snore way too loudly,” SB grumbled in return.

“Can’t help it, dude. Go get some ear plugs next time,” Derek suggested.

“I’d have to turn the volume up in that case,” SB pointed out.

“Eh, forget it. I don’t want to fight over this,” Derek sighed before putting on his pants while still leaving himself shirtless. “So, have you decided on whether you’re pledging the DIKs tonight or not? Cause I sure am!”

“Why would I do that?” SB asked.

“The parties, dude! The parties! Plus, you gave it to Dawe, so that’s your perfect chance to go for it!” Derek grinned.

“I didn’t–” SB started before cutting himself off, thinking things over. “Hmm…you know what? I’ll give it a shot.”

“Really? Awesome!” Derek cheered, reaching out for another high five.

SB turned around and opened the door, on his way out. “I’ll see you for math class.”

**********

Prince and SB were on their way to math class when Sage approached them, with Quinn and the Japanese girl standing a good distance behind her.

“Hey, it’s you guys again!” Sage pointed at them.

The two freshmen stopped and turned around. “What business does Eta Omicron Tau’s president have with us?” SB asked. “Mage, was it?” 

“It’s Sage! Fucking learn to listen!” she scolded. “And you really don’t need to say the entire name of our sorority.”

“Sarcasm,” SB quipped.

“Anyways…” Sage sighed, calming down. “You guys hate Chad, right?”

“Hate him?” Prince repeated, trying to think of how he should respond to her. “No, not really.”

“Yes, you do,” she disagreed.

“You mean the…” SB started before deepening his voice and overdramatically flexing with his next words. “‘Sup bitches! I’m such a gigachad that I instigate fights just to show off how much of a jackass I am!’ guy?” His voice returned to normal upon that last word and he stopped flexing as well. “Then yeah.”

Sage couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “HAHAHA! You’re fucking mean! I like that.”

SB noticed that Quinn was smiling at his mocking impression of Chad and the Japanese girl was giggling while whispering to Quinn about something.

“I saw what you did to Dawe yesterday,” Sage continued. “That takes balls.”

“Oh, that? It was just me thinking on the spot to save Prince from a wedgie,” SB brushed it off. “And Tybalt reported me for ‘violence’ even though the alphas clearly started it.”

Sage looked aside and grit her teeth upon hearing that. “Ugh…same as always, that motherfucker…” she muttered.

“Did you want something from us, or…?” Prince trailed off.

She turned back to the freshmen. “I have a proposition for you two. It's simple, really. I want you to find out who Chad's been fucking behind my back.”

Prince couldn’t muster up a verbal response, reminded of what he had witnessed last night.

“Why?” SB spoke up.

“Well…if you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours,” Sage hinted.

“That’s a pass from me,” SB declined. “I don’t think the scars would be worth it.”

Prince, for his part, felt uncertain about her request. “Yeah, I don’t know…”

“Well, think about it. Talk to you later, Prince and ‘S. O. B.’, was it?” she winked at them before heading off.

“I sure haven’t heard that one before, ‘Mage’,” SB retorted, but the three sorority sisters were already gone.

************

Once the clock struck 9:30 am, the chatter in the classroom died down as Cathy called for everyone’s attention.

“Good morning, class. Are we ready for a math test today?” Cathy asked.

“Yes, I stayed up all night studying for it,” Derek declared with a straight face, the redhead girl next to him resisting the urge to snicker.

Cathy rolled her eyes before announcing to the rest of the class, “Best of luck to you! You may begin.”

After 30 minutes had passed, Cathy collected everyone’s worksheets and announced that pretests were over and lectures would begin tomorrow. She reminded the class to sign up for their other classes online before dismissing everyone for the day.

“Hey, Maya and SB. Did you sign up for any classes yet?” Prince asked them.

“Yeah, I did. Gender studies 101,” Maya confirmed.

“Same here,” SB added. “Discussing gender roles and how double standards are formed from them sounded interesting.”

“How about you?” Maya asked.

“No…nothing yet,” Prince replied before following up with “So...gender studies, huh? What's that about?”

“Well, it's a-” Maya started.

“It's a fucking feminist class, bro,” Derek cut in. “Trust me; it's bullshit.”

“Shut up, Derek! It's not bullshit!” she fired back at him before turning back to Prince and lowering her voice. “It's easy credits.”

“Easy credits?” Derek questioned. “For real?”

“Yeah, if you're into that sort of stuff,” Maya responded.

“Define stuff.”

“Women's rights.”

“Nope.”

“Gender equality.”

“Couldn't care less.”

“Vaginas.”

“No-” Derek began before stopping himself. “Yes!”

Maya smirked. “That was a test. You just failed.”

“So, no vaginas?” Derek asked.

“Why yes, Derek, of course there are vaginas,” SB quipped. “Technically speaking, that is.”

“He’s not wrong about that, I suppose…” Maya trailed off. Then the ridiculousness of the topic dawned on her. “Wait, why are we discussing vaginas? No, Derek, I don't think it's a class for you.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Derek dismissed before heading out of the classroom.

“You on the other hand...are you up for it?” Maya asked Prince, who shook his head. 

“I don't think it's for me…”

“Come on! It will be fun! If you don't like it, you can just sit there and pretend to listen,” Maya insisted. “Like I said...easy credits. Plus, it will look good on your resume.”

“Hm…” Prince thought it over momentarily. “Ok, what the hell. I can give it a shot.”

“Great!” Maya smiled. “Do you guys wanna eat lunch together?”

“Sorry, but I’ll be busy studying in the library at noon,” SB declined.

“Sure...but tell me...Is there anything else to eat around here besides cafeteria food?” Prince asked.

“Ah, you want to eat healthier too! We'll have to go outside of campus. Are you up for it?” she smiled.

“Lead the way.”

**********

Prince and Maya seated themselves at one of the round tables in the restaurant.

“Oh, I’ve been there. It’s very close!” Maya remarked, her face brightening up.

“Yeah, it’s just 30 minutes by train. I will probably go back and visit my dad a lot,” Prince commented. 

Looking through the menus, Prince decided to order a crispy duck with carrots on the side, while Maya picked out a salad with nuts for her lunch.

“You said you’re a local. Do you live close by?” Prince asked her.

“I live on campus, silly,” she reminded him.

“Well, I kind of meant your parents,” he clarified.

Maya’s cheerful demeanor momentarily faltered. “They live uptown; it’s not far from here.”

The food arrived, and while they were helping themselves to their meals, Prince wondered if he had touched upon a sensitive issue with his words earlier.

“But enough family talk,” her smile returned. “Let me see what kind of person you really are!”

“Erm…ok?” Prince gave her a confused look. “What do you have in mind?”

“I’ll ask you a few questions, and after that, I’m going to figure you out,” she challenged.

“I’ve never done such a thing before…but alright. Fire away,” he accepted.

“Which do you prefer…being indoors or outdoors?”

That one was easy. “I’m an indoors kind of guy.”

“Interesting…” she lightly nodded her head. “Which sounds nicer? Cuddling up with a blanket or taking a bubble bath?”

Prince took a few moments to think before answering. “Cuddling up with a blanket sounds nicer…but I’m not sure I would do that by myself.”

“Aha…” she trailed off before moving on to her next question. “Do you drink alcohol?”

“Yeah, it happens,” he told her. “But I haven’t partied a lot in my life…yet.”

“Would you rather spend the night with friends getting drunk at a party or at home with a bottle of wine?” she followed up.

“I wouldn’t be against partying, but I’d prefer just staying home chatting and casually drinking with them,” he answered.

“I see…how many relationships have you been in?”

Oof. This one was a lot more personal than the previous ones. Prince squeezed his hands together on the table as he spoke up. “…just one. Listen, I don’t want to talk about that.”

“Ended poorly, huh?” she wondered.

“Don’t they all?” he sighed.

Maya glanced away. “I wouldn’t know.”

There was a moment of silence between the two before she resumed talking. “Ok, I’m not gonna push you on that for now. Do you play any instruments?”

Thankfully, it was back to easy questions for him. “Yeah, I do. I play the guitar.”

“What got you into playing it?”

…never mind that. 

“Hm…” Prince had to stop and think once again for this one. “I guess it all started when my dad first named me. You see, he’s a big fan of the late musician Prince, and he thought it would make for a pretty cool name for me. Then I started going to junior high, and let’s just say that I learned the hard way that it was just about the most ironic name he could have chosen,” he answered.

Maya didn’t say anything, her face shifting into an expression that left Prince unsure of what she was thinking about.

“When my dad got a guitar for my 12th birthday and I started teaching myself on how to play it, that’s when I realized two things. One: that I could take pride in my name in spite of being bullied for it. Two: that I loved playing and listening to music. If I wasn’t pursuing an Engineering major, I would have gone for a music related major instead.”

Prince took a swig from his glass of water as Maya kept her eyes on him, still silent.

“Maya?”

“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking how sweet it is that you got into music like that!” she complimented, her smile returning to her face. “Maybe you could play for me sometime?”

Prince felt his heart race a bit at her words. “If you have time after lunch, sure! Once we get back, I can go get my guitar from my dorm.”

“Let me check my phone…” Maya said as she reached into her purse. “Wow, time really flies chatting with you! But sure, I’ve got a bit more free time before I have to do other stuff. Come, let’s leave.”

Once the waiter arrived with the bill, Maya was about to take out some cash. “Hey, keep that. It’s my treat,” Prince offered.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yeah, I want to,” Prince nodded.

Maya perked up at his offer. “Thank you so much!”

After Prince paid for both of their meals, they walked out of the restaurant and started heading back towards the train station.

“Remember what I said in the beginning?” she asked.

“Beginning of what?”

“That I thought I could figure you out,” she reminded him.

“Ah, yeah,” he acknowledged.

“I just did.”

“And?”

“You’re…different.”

Prince looked at her, unsure as to what she meant by that. “Different?”

Maya gave Prince a playful nudge. “I’m different too. And I’m looking forward to hearing you play your guitar.”

**********

The library was notably less quiet than it was yesterday due to the absence of the no-nonsense librarian. At one of the tables near the main entrance, the tri-betas were engaged with a session of Dungeons & Gremlins. Between the bookshelves in the west were several female students having a private conversation with each other. In the northeast corner, the Japanese girl wore a high-cut black shirt with black sleeves, a black fishnet around the top, black shorts, and a frown on her face while trying to focus on the problems in her textbook.

SB found himself among the bookshelves in the east, searching for a specific book. Eventually, he came across what he had been looking for for the past 15 minutes: “History of B&R: 2010-2014”. He took the book and carried it towards a table near the northeast corner. Skimming through the pages, he hoped to find some information on the DIK fraternity, but soon found himself reaching the end without finding what he had sought after. Disappointed, he returned the book to its shelf, headed towards an empty table, and pulled out his math homework.

It didn’t take long for him to solve all of the problems assigned to him. As he set his pencil down, he heard the Japanese girl let out a frustrated grunt. He looked up and saw her drop her pen on the table, lean forward, and cross her arms on top of it.

He recognized her as one of the girls he saw in the east wing yesterday and in the main hall today. From what he remembered, she had mentioned wanting to “get her groove on” with Quinn. It made him wonder if she had dancing as one of her hobbies.

Thinking that she could use some help on her assignment, he started to pack up his items, but before he could stand up from his seat, a purple haired girl stormed up to her.

“There you are,” the purple haired girl addressed her with contempt. “You're the one who made my Jam-Jam cheat, aren't you?”

The Japanese girl looked up at her, immediately on the defensive. “I don’t know who you are or what you’re talking about.”

“You know exactly what I’m getting at, you bitch!” the purple haired girl exclaimed. “I heard that you seduced him last week and stole his money, too.”

“Who told you that?” the Japanese girl asked.

“Still refusing to admit to it, huh?” the purple haired girl accused. “This is why you and all those so called HOTs are nothing but a bunch of gold digging sluts.”

The Japanese girl stiffened at the insult, but kept her voice calm. “Are you done? I’m busy with my homework, you know.”

This enraged the purple haired girl. “That's it! You are so gonna–”

SB stepped forward, cutting the furious girl off. “Hey, stop harassing her.”

She wheeled around, directing her rage towards the guy. “And who are you to tell me what to do?!”

SB winced at the volume of her voice, but nevertheless stood his ground. “I don't know what your problem is with her, but calling her that word is uncalled for.”

“Shut up!” she shouted. “Degenerate males like you need to learn to stay out of girl talk!”

“Not when said talk involves blatant verbal harassment,” he countered, fighting the urge to cover his ears. “Now if you don’t want to embarrass yourself any further, leave her alone.”

He pointed back to a group of students who were staring at the commotion the purple haired girl started. Her eyes widened and she froze up as she seemingly realized the situation she had gotten herself into.

“Fine…but this is far from over, bitch!” the purple haired girl spat out as she stormed out of the library.

“Are you alright?” SB asked.

“I'm fine, thanks,” she answered, relaxing back into her seat.

“Just making sure,” he said. “She was the one acting like a…well, you know.”

“Don't worry about it,” she dismissed. “That's just how the extremist feminists around here behave whenever they're pissed off. As long as you’re not taking Gender Studies, they’re easy to avoid.”

“Oh…I’m actually taking that class,” he admitted.

The Japanese girl snorted. “You are, huh? Good luck trying to put up with them.”

SB stood there, trying to think of what he should say next.

“You can sit across from me if you want, by the way,” she spoke up. “I’m Riona.”

He pulled out the chair somewhat hastily and sat down. “Riona…isn’t that an Irish name?”

“Yeah?” she cocked an eyebrow. “What of it?”

“I think it’s pretty cool, but is it actually your real name?” he asked.

She shrugged. “It’s just a name like any other, dude. What’s yours?”

Her words got him to realize that he hadn’t properly introduced himself to her yet. “I’m SB.”

“What does it stand for?” she asked.

“Son of a bitch.”

“No it doesn’t,” Riona smirked.

“Yeah, that would truly suck,” he chuckled. “But SB’s just what everyone around here calls me.”

His eyes darted down to her homework, which looked like she had a long way to go in finishing it.

“Would you like my help with that assignment?” he offered.

“Oh, this problem? I can handle it myself,” she answered.

“Right…it’s just that I couldn’t help but notice that you seemed to be struggling with it for a while,” he brought up his observation from earlier.

“…ok, I’ll admit it. That one’s been giving me more trouble than I expected since I’m supposed to solve it without a calculator,” she acknowledged.

“May I have a look?” SB asked.

Riona gave a slight nod. “Sure. Go ahead.”

She turned the book around, letting him read the problem she had been stuck on. It looked to be a problem that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Calculus AB class, so it wasn’t something he couldn’t handle.

“…and that’s how you find out what X is,” SB explained.

“Huh. I guess all I had to do was rewrite the equation to equalize both sides,” Riona realized.

He turned the page. “With that done, let’s move on to the next one.”

They spent the next 30 minutes studying together before Riona took a breather. “I think that’s enough studying for today. Thanks for the help, SB.”

He shifted in his seat and stretched his arms and legs out. “You’re welcome.”

“Say, are you planning to pledge any of the fraternities here?” she inquired.

He took a sip from his water bottle to clear his throat. “Well…right now, I’m torn between the tri-betas and the Delta Iota Kappas,” he answered.

“The DIKs?” she raised an eyebrow. “Can’t say I expected someone like you would want to pledge them.”

“Yeah, I’m only planning to go through their initiation process because my roommate wanted me to,” he mentioned.

“It sounds like you’re not too thrilled about it,” Riona pointed out.

SB glanced away briefly. “It’s more like I’m uncertain of what to make of them. I mean, they’ve only been around for a few years and they party like no one’s business. That’s basically all I know about them so far.”

“They certainly have their wild moments, that’s for sure,” she agreed. “But between them and the alphas, it’s no contest; the DIKs have them beat when it comes to their parties. Hell, the only reason why we party with the alphas to begin with is because of these stupid traditions of theirs.”

“Traditions?”

“It’s basically just an excuse for them to score in the sleaziest ways possible,” she sighed. “At least the DIKs know how to keep things interesting and fun.”

“I see…” he trailed off.

“If you do decide to pledge, you’ve got an advantage over the others,” she said.

“And what’s my advantage?” he asked.

“I heard you took on Dawe and came out on top in a matter of seconds. The DIKs will love hearing that,” Riona explained, smiling at him.

“Hm. Maybe Derek really was onto something after all,” SB quietly mentioned, more to himself than to her.

He looked at the clock, noting the amount of time that had passed. “It was nice talking to you, Riona, but I need to get going before the cafeteria closes. If you’d like my help with your assignments again, feel free to let me know,” he offered.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she nodded. “And SB?”

“Yes?”

“I’ll be at the DIK mansion partying with them tonight.”

**********

Prince approached Dorm 66, with Maya following behind him. “Wait out here, I don’t want Troy snapping at you.”

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” she agreed.

He got his key out and put it in the lock, only for him to realize that the door was left ajar and had slowly swung backwards. Cautiously entering the room and closing the door, he saw that Troy was lying on his side, facing the wall, and the chair at his desk had been knocked over.

“Hey. Safe to come in?” Prince asked.

Troy remained silent and didn’t move a muscle.

“Are you ok?” Prince asked.

“Leave me alone,” Troy spoke in an almost defeated tone.

Prince looked towards his bed and saw that a certain prized possession of his was not where it should be. “Hey...where's my guitar?”

A tense silence filled the room at his question. “...it’s gone.”

All the color drained from Prince’s face. “SAY WHAT?!”

Troy sat up in his bed, a bruise on his left eye. “There was nothing I could do.”

The sense of dread building in Prince gave way to anger. “Are you fucking kidding me?! That's MY guitar! Did those jocks barge in and steal it?!”

The grumpy roommate sprung up to his feet and got in Prince’s face. “Fuck off! I told you to leave me alone...you...you dick!”

“Not until you TELL ME WHO STOLE IT!” Prince hollered back at him.

“Those fucking jocks took it and gave it to Chad, ok?!” Troy snapped. “Now shut the hell up and quit bothering me!”

“... Chad has it?”

Prince let out a mirthless laugh before continuing. “…I thought that the one thing you liked about me was my guitar. Now I see. You were just using me all along.”

“What the fuck are you getting at?! You think I wanted this?!” Troy hissed.

“Don’t you fucking lie to me, you asshole! You let those jocks steal my guitar just so that Chad would serenade you with it!” Prince accused.

Troy’s eyes suddenly widened in horror. “...no.”

Prince froze up, now confused. “What?”

“NO!” Troy yelled.

He shoved Prince with all his might into the door behind him. “GET THE FUCK OUT!!! There's no fucking way that you're staying here anymore!!!”

Prince was on the verge of snapping right then and there, but just in time, he realized that if he threw the first punch at Troy, not only would he risk getting in serious trouble, he would no longer have the moral high ground to stand on. So he darted past Troy, snatched up his belongings, and yanked the door open, barely holding himself back from completely losing control of his emotions.

“WELL, FUCK YOU TOO, TROY!” Prince yelled as he stormed out of the dorm and slammed the door shut.

He ran in the east wing hall until he thought he was far enough away and collapsed against the wall, exhausted and still upset. He heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see Maya heading toward him with a worried look.

“Hey…are you ok?” she asked.

“Maya…” Prince trailed off, remembering what had just transpired. Then the anger came flooding back once again. “Do I look ok?! This guy…this fucking guy! It’s not enough that he’s always yelling at me and kicking me out, no, he lets those jocks steal my guitar just so that he can impress Chad! It was the one thing that I thought would let us get along for once, too! And then things were about to get physical, meaning now I gotta go find a place to stay for the night. What am I supposed to do now?!” he ranted.

Maya was taken aback, but kept her composure intact. “Prince…breathe,” she advised.

Prince took several deep breaths, feeling himself calm down a little with each one.

“Feeling calmer now?” she asked.

“Yeah…sorry I snapped at you like that,” he apologized.

“It’s ok. You weren’t yourself,” she replied.

She sat down next to him, placing an arm around him to comfort him.

“Does this help?” Maya asked him.

Prince felt a bit warmer from her contact. “Oh…that’s nice,”

“I’m glad…” she trailed off. “How about we go talk to the receptionist before she has to leave for the night? Perhaps she can help arrange something for you,” she suggested.

Unfortunately, said conversation didn’t go too well, as the receptionist informed them that there was a process that couldn’t be undertaken overnight when changing dorms. This forced Prince to think over the other options he had for a different place to stay at. The nerds didn’t have a proper house, the preps were too high-class to let someone like him in, and the jocks…

If they hadn’t stolen his guitar, he would have chuckled to himself at the mere thought of that.

“The DIKs…” Prince spoke.

“Huh?” Maya wondered.

“They’re my only option at this point,” he sighed.

“Actually…” she began. “What if I let you stay in my dorm for the night?”

Prince did a double take. “For real? Would your roommate be ok with that? Or you, for that matter?”

“She hasn’t arrived yet, and I’m not sure if she’ll even make it,” Maya stated. “As for me, as long as you promise not to act like a pervert, I’m fine with that.”

He tensed up at her words. “Is that what you think of me? That I’m a pervert?”

“No, I…” her hand went up to her neck. “Sorry. You’ve been nothing but nice. It’s just that I’m usually not comfortable around most guys, so I’m placing a lot of trust in you to let you stay over for tonight.”

“Oh, like 100% trust?” he asked.

“More like 80%,” she joked. “Which is still a lot.”

“Of course. I’ll make sure to respect your boundaries,” Prince agreed.

“Thank you,” Maya responded.

“I should be the one thanking you for tonight, Maya,” he added.

She gave him a warm smile. “In that case, you’re welcome.”

They walked towards Maya’s dorm, Prince feeling immensely relieved that he wouldn’t be stranded for the night.

**********

The DIK mansion was quite the hell house, to say the least.

In the main room, the strobe lights above flashed brightly as loud punk rock music played from the speakers. Upon the table stood two of the DIKs downing beer bottles while a guy and girl in just their underwear sat on the couch, excitedly watching the drinking competition play out. The rest of the members were standing in front of the drinking DIKs, with Riona and a blond girl hanging around in the back.

“CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!” the DIKs cheered.

“Rusty! Who’s the winner?” the blond girl asked.

“Ladies and not-so-gentlemen! The winner is the reigning Massive DIK...TOMMY!!!” the brown-haired guy named Rusty announced.

Everyone applauded as Tommy, the DIK with spiky black hair, let out a huge burp. “Fucking learn how to drink, Jacob!”

“Man, fuck you,” the black-skinned guy with dreadlocks retorted. “You probably were breastfed beer as a kid.”

“Get fucked!” Tommy bragged as the blonde gave him a kiss on his cheek. “I get more tits in my mouth these days than I did back then.”

“HEEEY!” a voice called out through the music.

Tommy turned towards the direction of the voice. “Hey! Hold the fuck up! Who's that?! Is that a jock?!”

The rest of the DIKs and the girls looked towards the newcomer, who was…

“No, I’m, SB.”

Rusty sized SB up. “He’s definitely not a jock. They wouldn’t be caught dead wearing glasses.”

“Guys!” Jacob chimed in. “That’s the freshy I was telling you all about. He gave it to Dawe in the main hall!”

“Wow!” the blonde gasped, impressed.

Tommy didn’t feel the same way as her. “Dawe, huh? He probably just got lucky that he didn’t get kicked in the nuts first.”

“SB, right?” Rusty addressed. “What brings you here to our mansion?”

SB cleared his throat, making sure that he was speaking loud enough. “I’m here to pledge the Delta Iota Kappas. I heard that you guys hate the tri-alphas, and since I do as well, I could help you guys get revenge on them if you let me join.”

“Nice!” Rusty grinned. “If he can come out on top against Dawe, then he can certainly do the same against the rest of those jocks!”

“Meh…I say we send him back to where he came from,” Tommy frowned. “This fucking goober’s totally a nerd.”

“No he’s not,” Riona spoke up, stepping forward. “This guy was hitting on Sage before. No nerd would have the balls to do that.”

SB looked at her, surprised at her stretch of the truth. “Uh…right.”

“HAHA! That fucking seals the deal for me!” Rusty laughed. “This guy is totally DIK material!”

“Yeah, I don't know,” Tommy narrowed his eyes. “If we’re really doing this, he must be tested.”

“Gah, this is tough. But rules are rules! A test it is,” Rusty conceded.

“Alright…what do I have to do?” SB asked.

“Oh, it's really simple. You need to bring us one small item from the HOTs, and we'll consider your pledge,” Tommy instructed.

“And what is that ‘item’ you speak of?” SB wondered.

“A pair of panties, dude,” Jacob added. “We've all done it. Think of it as an...initiation.”

“How you go about and do it, that's up to you. But you must enter their house and leave with a pair of panties. Those are the rules,” Tommy explained.

SB simply nodded at the instructions. “Acknowledged.”

Once the bespectacled student left, Tommy pulled out his phone from his pocket and dialed a number.

“Hey. Fresh bait on the hook,” he informed the callee with a smirk.

**********

SB walked under the indigo sky, trying to keep his nerves steady. Before he knew it, he was standing at the fence surrounding the HOT house. He passed through the opening in the front and glanced towards his right, the sight of a tree with peaches growing from its branches having caught his attention.

He approached the tree, getting a good look at the ripeness of the peaches. It was tempting to pluck one of them and bite into it, but he didn’t come here to be a fruit thief. So he continued onwards, walking around the house until he found the back door. He tested the doorknob, and to his surprise, it opened up. 

He barely got to take a few steps before a girl with striking red hair rushed down the stairs to his right.

“Ooh la la…” she greeted.

SB froze up completely. Already he was caught with his hand having just finished opening the lid to the cookie jar. “Uh…hi.” 

“You’re a new face! Or are you Jamie but with glasses?” the girl asked.

“No…I’m just SB,” he replied, trying to keep his voice steady.

“So mysterious…I like that!” she giggled giddily. “Say, wanna come to my room and do me?”

“Do you? What?” SB gasped, utterly flabbergasted.

“Yeah!” she said, grabbing his arm and dragging him up the stairs.

SB didn’t fight back, still bewildered at the girl’s behavior. Soon, they reached her room, and she let go of his arm…before proceeding to strip until she was completely naked. He tried to move towards the door, but she stood in front of it, getting down on her knees clasping her hands in front of her.

“What are you doing?” he questioned, averting his gaze.

She stared at him with lust in her eyes and drool from her mouth. “You, of course! I wanna blow you like a xylophone before you fuck me like a sea star!”

“…sorry, but I can’t do that,” he politely refused, the realization having caught up to him.

“Awwww, why not?” she asked while trying to make doe eyes at him, which instead resulted in her eyes crossing.

“I…uh…” he trailed off before finding his words. “I wouldn’t be able to satisfy you.”

Foot, meet mouth.

“Sure you will!” she brightened up. “I bet you’re bigger than Dawe!”

She reached her hand towards his crotch, causing him to take a step back and put his hands up defensively. “Okay, well, how about we slow things down for now? I’m, um, more of a tortoise than a hare. Slow and steady wins the race, you know?”

“Playing hard to get, huh? Ok, I’ll play along too! Here’s a gift from me to remember me by!” she answered.

She took her panties from the floor and shoved them right in his hands. He stood there momentarily before immediately speedwalking out of her room.

“One day, we are so gonna exchange our body fluids!” she called after him.

He bleached her out of his mind as he exited the HOT house and returned back to the DIK mansion. After a ring of the doorbell, Tommy answered it.

“I got the panties,” SB held them up.

“What the hell is this?” Tommy demanded, doing a double take upon seeing them.

“I did what I was told, Tommy. Getting the panties for you guys,” SB indicated.

This made Tommy more frustrated. “No, this is wrong! All wrong!”

“Hey, what’s the hold…up,” Rusty stopped himself once he arrived at the front entrance with a DIK member with a bald fade haircut.

“This wanna-be maggot fucking sucks at following directions!” Tommy snapped.

This left SB confused. “Huh? How exactly did I fail that? I went into the HOT house, got the panties, and brought them back to you guys. Those were the instructions I was given.”

“I’ll give him this: he did manage to come out of it completely unscathed. That’s something no DIK pledge has done before,” the DIK complimented.

“You’re missing the point, Nick!” Tommy argued. “I don’t know how he did it, but this whole thing is a total buzzkill now.”

“So…will you guys accept my pledge to join the Delta Iota Kappas?” SB asked.

“Well…” Rusty trailed off.

“Nope! Denied! Go back to your dorm or whatever and go the fuck to sleep!” Tommy refused.

Nick looked at the freshman apologetically. “Yeah, uh, sorry about that, but we gotta follow the DIK code, so…”

Tommy slammed the door in SB’s face.

“...well then.”

**********

In the bushes of the parking lot, Derek was hiding from the guard that had been searching for him. His initiation to the DIKs had certainly been an experience. Between getting cornered by two of the girls, one of which was a mole rat named Quinn and the other one being a sexy Latina with a bouncy ass and an exotic name in Camila, he thought he was about to get laid.

Then the mole rat insulted his dick size and kicked him out while calling him a pervert.

He looked around, seeing that the guard was now nowhere to be seen. Finally, he could make his way back to his dorm. Making a mad dash towards the main entrance, he ran past a black car, not noticing Isabella approaching said car. An iron-like grip latched onto his ear, ceasing his momentum entirely.

“What the hell?! Boy! Are you out of your mind?!” Isabella reprimanded.

Suddenly, getting caught by security seemed merciful by comparison. “Ouch! The Ice Queen’s got me frozen solid!”

“The name’s Isabella!” she scolded. “And why are you running around naked outside?!”

“I got bamboozled! Quinn stole my clothes and left me in my birthday suit,” Derek rapidly explained, hoping that she would let go already.

“What?!” she exclaimed.

“But it’s fine,” he added. “I’ll just go back to my dorm and–”

“No. You’re coming with me, boy,” she ordered. “And make sure you cover yourself up with this.”

The librarian shoved a towel into his hands, waiting for him to cover his genitals with it. Once he did, she dragged him by the ear towards the library before letting him go.

“There's no one here at this hour,” she informed him.

“The library? I thought I wasn’t welcome here,” he stated.

Isabella frowned. “Save the attitude, boy. I'm not interested in seeing your penis again.”

“So you did see it before, huh?” he teased.

Her eyes narrowed and her head lowered as her lips formed into an unamused scowl.

“The lost and found is over there,” she indicated with ice in her tone.

Derek swallowed. “I got it.”

He picked out a T-shirt and pair of shorts, but accidentally dropped his towel when he tried to put the shorts on.

“TOWEL!” she shouted, reflexively turning around.

“Whoops!” he said, quickly dragging the shorts up and putting the T-shirt on. “Well, see you around…Isabella.”

“Not so fast,” she stopped him. “Where do you think you're going?”

“Back to my dorm, of course,” he pointed out.

“Where are your manners, boy?” she accused.

“Look, I’m sorry about the crude joke this morning. There, I said it. Can I go now?” he asked.

She pointed towards a nearby table. “Over there! Sit. Down. NOW!” she snapped, her patience wearing thin.

That got Derek to shut up and do what he was told to do.

“Tell me why you ended up in that bush naked, boy,” Isabella ordered.

“Speak for yourself! I’m an adult too, not some boy!” he defended.

“‘An adult’, he says. Does an adult sneak into young girls’ dorms?” she continued grilling him.

“There’s more to it than that, actually,” Derek admitted.

“Then you will explain yourself to me…BOY!” she snapped.

Derek took a deep breath, knowing that he had no other way out of this one. “Alright…I was out pledging the DIKs, since I’m a party guy, and they throw these really badass parties. They had me sneak into the HOT house to steal a pair of panties from them, and–”

“You what?!” she cut him off.

“Hey, I’m not finished yet! And no, I don’t mean that kind of finished,” he said.

Isabella glowered at Derek. “Continue.”

“Once I got the panties, two girls came into the bathroom, and I tried to hide in one of the stalls. They found me, forced me to strip, made fun of my dick which is not tiny by the way, stole my clothes, and then they kicked me out,” he continued.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that part,” she deadpanned. “So, they stole your clothes?”

“Yeah! That’s why I was running around naked and trying to hide. Some cop was tailing me and I didn’t want to get arrested,” he explained.

She crossed her arms, glaring at him again. “Are you some kind of pervert?”

“I know I am one and all, but I draw the line at panty sniffing. That’s just plain disgusting,” he admitted.

“What's wrong with you, boy? Didn't your mother ever teach you that you don't go sneaking around in women's showers?” she reprimanded.

Derek went quiet, his eyes looking elsewhere.

“Seems like I struck a nerve,” she observed.

“…my family matters are none of your business,” he spoke without his usual bravado.

“Hm. Then we are done here, it seems,” she relented. “Now, is there something you have to say for yourself?”

Derek sighed, not having the energy to mess with her anymore. “Thank you for the clothes…Isabella. And I’m Derek.”

“Good enough,” she nodded. “You may leave.”

He didn’t have to be told twice. He walked out of the library without another word.

**********

Maya flicked on the light to her room. “Welcome to my dorm.”

“This dorm is a lot nicer than my old one,” Prince observed before setting his sights on an empty desk. “May I borrow that desk to study?”

“Sure. Make yourself at home,” she said.

She picked up a book from her bookshelf and sat down on her bed while Prince unpacked his English notes and got to studying. Once he felt caught up with the material, he let out a long sigh, thoroughly exhausted.

“What’s wrong?” Maya asked, looking up from her book.

Prince turned to face her. “It’s just…it sucks that I was about to play my guitar for you, but now I can’t.”

“Yeah…that really sucks,” Maya sympathized. “I know what it’s like to have something precious stolen from me. Thankfully, Derek managed to get it back for me.”

That got Prince to remember something from their conversation before class yesterday. “Oh yeah, what was that thing you were going to say about Derek?”

Maya put the book she was reading down. “Right…I guess I didn’t tell you this yet. We’re fraternal twins.”

“Whoa…I never would’ve guessed,” Prince sat straight up, his eyes widening. “You and Derek are like polar opposites.”

“Yeah, well, you can say that again,” she remarked.

“When it comes to looks, I know who got the better part of the deal,” he praised.

“Yeah, Derek’s a real looker,” Maya responded with a straight face.

“No, I meant–” he started.

“I’m joking, silly,” she smirked.

“Is that why you put up with him?” he asked.

“Well, not only because of that…say what you want about my brother…but he didn’t give up on me,” she replied.

“Who gave up on you?” he followed up, now concerned.

Maya turned her face away. “Er…never mind.” 

Prince wondered if that person was someone in her family, but kept that thought to himself.

Maya got up from her bed. “Wanna go to bed?”

“What? Not together, right?” he joked.

“Haha! No, silly,” she laughed. “To clarify, I’m sleeping over there…and you’re sleeping all the way over there,” she pointed towards the bed opposite hers.

Prince lightly chuckled as Maya moved to flick the light switch off before opening up her closet.

“I’m about to change now,” she informed him.

“Oh, I got it,” he acknowledged, turning around and closing his eyes.

Once she felt certain that he wasn’t about to go back on his word, Maya changed into a pink tank top with light blue shorts.

“Ok! I’m ready,” she spoke up.

Prince found himself drawn to her outfit. “That’s very beautiful on you.”

Maya lightly blushed, unable to look directly in his eyes. “Prince…”

“My turn!” Prince announced, before immediately proceeding to undress down to his underwear.

“Haha! Whoa!” Maya gasped. “I thought you would ask me to turn around!”

“Oh…well, it doesn’t matter to me,” he shrugged.

“Haha, you’ll have to teach me how to be that comfortable with myself some time,” she said.

“Well, you should feel comfortable with your body. You’re beautiful,” he complimented.

Maya blushed harder than before, at a loss of words at his sincerity. She climbed into her bed and dragged the covers over her.

“Good night, Prince,” she smiled, her face cheeks still pink.

“Good night. Thank you for letting me stay here tonight,” he smiled back at her.

“No worries. Hope you’ll dream sweet dreams,” she yawned.

Prince hoped the same as he felt the drowsiness overtake him.

Chapter Text

Prince slowly opened his eyes, feeling quite relaxed. It was a nice change of pace from his first two days at B&R.

“Er…good morning, Prince,” a familiar voice called out to him.

He turned to face Maya, who had tied her hair back and changed into a sports bra and shorts. “Good morning…” he yawned back at her.

“So…uh…did you sleep well?” she asked, looking off to the side.

“Much better than yesterday,” he responded.

“Did you dream about…anything in particular?” she hinted.

Prince sat up, not quite understanding what she was getting at. Then he looked down at the covers, and it hit him. 

“Oh shit!” he realized. “Sorry, I don’t know what to say…”

“Don’t worry. These things happen,” she acknowledged. “Listen, I’m going out for a run before classes. It was nice having a roommate for the evening.”

“I know I’ve said this before, but I seriously can’t thank you enough for letting me stay here, Maya,” he smiled gratefully.

She nodded, a light smile of her own forming on her face. “No worries. I hope that everything gets sorted for you today.”

“Me too,” Prince remarked, now determined to get his guitar back.

Before he left her dorm, he checked his phone and saw that he had one missed call from Josy, so he sent her a quick text before heading out:

Prince: Hey! Sorry I missed your call. I was going through a rough moment at the time.

**********

He didn’t even have to try locating the alphas, as they stood in his path towards the cafeteria.

“Look who’s back for more!” Dawe declared with a wide grin. “And guess what? Your little four-eyed fag ain’t here to save your ass this time!”

“You…you’re the jocks who stole my guitar,” Prince glared. “I want it back.”

“Too bad for you!” one of the jocks, a bald guy with a beard and mustache, jeered. “It belongs to us now thanks to that traitor Troy!”

“It’s just a piece of wood,” Anthony commented dismissively. “Why are you so mad over it, anyway?”

“It’s my guitar. Not yours,” Prince demanded.

From a distance, a guy in a DIK jacket stopped to watch the scene as Dawe took a step forward. “So poor wittle fag’s gonna whine about losing his pwecious wittle guitar, huh?”

Prince raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Baby talk? Really?”

“Only fitting for a fag who still gets hugged by his dad!” Dawe taunted.

Prince clenched his fists, but remained still. Despite the rather cutting insult, he didn’t let it cloud his thoughts. Looking at the alphas in front of him, he realized that one of them wasn’t there anymore. Remembering the trick they pulled on his first day, he instinctively shifted his stance, narrowly avoiding a wedgie from the alpha who had snuck up behind him.

“Goddammit, John!” one of the alphas shouted. “You couldn’t have been faster?”

“I was fast, Jimmy!” the alpha named John retorted. “Faster than the time it takes for me to finish!”

Prince could feel his blood pressure spike as he mentally debated on whether to stand his ground or to look for an opening and run for it. Just then, Chad suddenly walked up to the alphas, displeased. “That’s enough, guys.”

“The hell, Chad?” Dawe looked at him with annoyance. “You kissing up to this fag now?”

“No, this is my order ,” Chad emphasized. “From now on, you are not to fight with this freshy unless he starts it first. Got it?”

“Oh, uh, sure thing, I guess,” Anthony hesitantly complied.

Dawe pulled a face as he stormed off. “Pfft, fine…”

Once the other alphas left the scene, Chad approached Prince, still displeased. “As for you, freshy…we need to talk.”

Prince was left confused at this sudden turn of events. “Why?”

“If you’re smart, you’ll follow me to the bathroom over there,” Chad replied as he walked towards his destination.

Realizing that he didn’t have much of a choice, Prince followed Chad in and closed the door behind him.

“I got a call last night from Troy about something you said to him,” Chad stated. “He told me that you accused him of letting me steal your guitar so that I would, quote unquote, ‘serenade’ him.”

“What are you getting at?” Prince asked.

“Cut the crap,” Chad scowled. “You know about us , don’t you?”

Prince went silent as he realized that he had very poorly chosen his words last night. Just when he thought he could set things right, his mistake came back to bite him hard. Figuring that he didn’t have much to lose at this point, he decided to tell the truth. 

“...yes, I do.”

If looks could kill, Prince would be roadkill now. “How the hell did you find out in the first place?” Chad demanded.

“I was curious to see where Troy was going and I just so happened to see you two together,” Prince confessed.

Chad stepped forward, putting his face close to Prince’s. “Listen here, freshy. If you tell anyone about us, I will kill you with my bare hands.”

“Whoa! You don’t have to threaten me like that!” Prince immediately stepped back and put his hands up. “I’m not going to tell anyone else about you two.”

“And you’re sure you mean it?” Chad asked, remaining doubtful.

Prince swallowed and looked Chad in the eye, his throat having gone dry. “I mean it.”

The faint humming of the ceiling lights was all that could be heard as Chad stood there, silently considering Prince’s answer. Then he walked past Prince, pushing the bathroom door open. “Wait here for a minute.”

“Huh? Where are you going?” Prince called out to him.

He didn’t get an answer back, so he stood there, puzzled as to what Chad was up to. Would he bring back those alphas to make good on his earlier threat? That thought brought back some nasty memories from several years ago, back when he was a teen just trying to survive school. And even in college, he felt like he was right back where he started.

At least he had met several students early on who he could trust this time.

The sound of the bathroom door opening pulled Prince out of his thoughts. Chad entered, bringing back something that he never in a million years would have expected.

“You can have this back,” Chad held the thing out towards Prince.

“My guitar!” Prince exclaimed, grabbing ahold of the instrument and hugging it like it was a long-lost love.

“Consider this a deal between us,” Chad continued. “You don’t tell anyone about me and Troy, and I’ll make sure the alphas don’t bully you.”

Prince stopped hugging his guitar, feeling confused now. “Why are you doing this?”

“Like I said, I’m offering you a deal,” Chad repeated. “And considering how happy you looked back there…”

Prince gave a hesitant nod. “It’s a deal, then.”

Chad walked off, but not before turning back to Prince with one last glare in his direction.

“And you better make sure you keep your word.”

And just like that, he was gone, leaving Prince feeling a combination of bewilderment, anxiety, and hope.

**********

In the cafeteria, Prince arrived for his lunch, picking out some sausage and spinach. He spotted Derek sitting at one of the tables waving him over.

“Yo, bro!” Derek called out.

“Hey, Derek,” Prince greeted, sitting down across from Derek. “How have you been?”

“Last night was crazy, dude!” Derek grinned. “I went to pledge the DIKs, and hoo boy, it was one hell of an initiation! I’d do all of it over again, minus the part where the librarian ripped me a new one, of course.”

Prince nodded along before asking, “Isabella? What did you do to piss her off?”

Derek let out a slight chuckle, but looked elsewhere. “I tried to get a little too spicy for the Ice Queen, if you know what I mean.”

“I can see why she’d freeze you out like that,” Prince commented.

“You can say that again! The Ice Queen and jokes go about as well together as jizz in a milkshake!”

“...sure,” Prince left it at that.

“What about you? How did your night go?” Derek asked.

“It wasn’t nearly as fun as yours,” Prince frowned. “My roommate, or should I say, my former roommate let my guitar get stolen and kicked me out afterwards. Thankfully, Maya came through for me and let me stay in her dorm for the night.”

“My sis, huh?” Derek stopped smiling. “She let you stay over?”

“Yeah. It was very nice of her to do that for me,” Prince continued.

“And you didn’t do anything to her…right?” Derek questioned, his eyes now full of suspicion.

“Wha–no, of course not!” Prince hastily answered.

“Good…” Derek trailed off.

They ate in silence before Derek changed the topic to something less touchy. “So are you gonna pledge the DIKs?”

“About that…I’ve been thinking about it,” Prince replied. “I still need a place to stay, and the process behind changing dorms takes way too long for me, so…”

Derek’s face brightened up. “Have you seen the size of that mansion? It’s so big!”

“Yeah, it seems like a nice place to stay at,” Prince acknowledged.

“Hell yeah!” Derek gave a wide smile and pointed his finger at Prince. “That’s another one who’s come around!”

Prince blinked. “Another one?”

“I got ass man of all people to pledge the DIKs!” Derek proclaimed.

Prince’s eyes slightly widened. “SB? I wouldn’t have expected that.”

“He told me this morning that they rejected his pledge, though. Which leaves you to be my maggot bro!” Derek replied.

“Why me?”

“I heard that the DIKs only accept two pledges per year, but they haven’t been getting too many pledges this year,” Derek explained. “Me, ass man, and some other guy were the only pledges so far, and today’s the last day that they’re accepting pledges.”

Prince gave a nod. “Well, I guess it can’t hurt to try, then.”

“I believe in you, bro!” Derek beamed. “Just remember that tonight’s your last chance to pledge. Catch you later!”

**********

Next stop for Prince was the library. He noticed that Isabella was currently in the middle of a conversation with Professor Stephen Burke and Jade, the latter of whom was less focused on what was being said and more on the student who had just arrived and was waiting for them to finish.

“Well, that settles it. Friday night it is. If you don't mind, you can bring a bottle of wine,” Burke told Isabella. “Ah, enough chatting. We're keeping you from customers,” he gave a friendly smile to Prince. “Hey there, sport.”

Prince felt a bit insulted at the term. “Sport? I’m not a kid, sir.”

Burke’s smile fell. “Ah…”

Once Burke and Jade had left, Prince turned his attention towards Isabella.

“Hello, Isabella,” he greeted. “I’m Prince. It’s nice to meet you…again, actually.”

Her only response was to give Prince the usual stare that still unnerved him before returning to her computer.

“...I’ll see you later, Isabella,” he added with haste as he walked away, his conversation with her coming to an abrupt halt again.

Prince wondered if there was something he could do to get her to warm up to him. He happened upon a cart full of returned books, an idea forming in his head. Picking out a book at random, he found a tag that displayed numbers that belonged to the Dewey Decimal system, and he located the shelf with those books. Returning back to the cart, he found another book, one that was titled “The Myth of the Male Orgasm”.

“What kind of human being would write a book about this, let alone read it?”

Prince, startled at his thoughts seemingly being voiced aloud, looked up to see SB reading the title of that book with confusion on his face.

“SB! When did you get here?” Prince asked, louder than he intended.

“Shh!” SB held up a finger to his lips. “Isabella won’t like it if you don’t keep your voice down.”

“Yeah, I got it,” Prince lowered his voice.

“I was going to help out with those books, but it seems like you beat me to it,” SB remarked.

“You can still help me if you’d like to,” Prince offered. “There’s still plenty of books remaining.”

“Don’t mind if I do then,” SB accepted, taking the vulgar book and looking at the spine of it. “This book doesn’t have any tags.”

“I guess we should just leave it there, then,” Prince decided, not wanting to think about that book any longer than he had to.

Together, the two freshmen wrapped up organizing the rest of the other books. 

“All done,” Prince commented. 

“Hey, I just realized that we haven’t exchanged numbers yet,” SB realized. “I’d like to stay in touch with you.”

“Same here,” Prince replied, glad to have found a male friend who was more normal than Derek. Not that he disliked the guy or anything, but Derek was…unabashedly perverted, to put it mildly.

Just as they finished exchanging numbers, an angry voice cut through the air, coming from the direction of the tri-betas. “Wait, what?! I’m dead? Just like that?!”

SB glanced at the guy shouting and recognized him as the student who was shaking the vending machine on his first day here.

“You uninstalled your OS chip. What did you expect?” Magnar gave the student a dumbfounded look.

“I didn’t want to be stuck with something that was ‘old style’, so I thought I’d get rid of it,” the student answered, still frustrated.

“That was your ‘operating system’ chip, dumbass,” the blond tri-beta spoke, trying not to burst out in hysterics.

Sally let out a laugh. “Is that the fastest record for someone dying? Because I’m pretty sure that record was broken just now.”

“He’s a robot, remember? So he technically doesn’t count,” the blond tri-beta snarked.

“I knew this would be bullshit! Screw this!” the student shouted, standing up and throwing his pen down at the table. He then ripped up the paper in front of him, not bothering to clean up the mess of scraps as he stormed off.

Isabella stormed up to the tri-betas, annoyed. “Hey! Keep that noise down!”

The tri-betas gave her a “wasn’t our fault” look as she walked back to her desk.

“Well, that was something,” SB blinked. “At least it means I won’t miss out on the game the tri-betas are playing.”

“You’re gonna play with them?” Prince asked. “That game they were playing sounds too weird for me.”

“I’ll agree to disagree on that,” SB refuted. “It’s a game where you can be whoever you want as you embark on a journey with the others. One person, the Dungeon Master, makes up a story and decides on what obstacles stand in your quest to accomplish whatever you need to accomplish.”

“Uh-huh…” Prince wasn’t quite following along with that, having noticed Jill reading by herself at one of the tables.

“There’s a lot more than that, but I don’t have much time left before they start up a new game,” SB cut himself off. “Goodbye for now, Prince.”

“Bye,” Prince waved him off and headed towards Jill to talk to her.

Magnar saw SB approaching his group and gave him a welcoming smile. “You look like someone who might not die before the first encounter, sir. Care to join us for a new game of Dungeons and Gremlins?”

“That’s what I came here for,” SB replied. “But isn’t that supposed to be Dungeons and Dr–”

“It’s Gremlins , dude,” the blond tri-beta corrected. “You heard him the first time.”

“…right,” SB said, taking a seat. “I’m SB, by the way.”

“Good! The name’s Magnar, Dungeon Master of the game,” Magnar introduced himself, along with the others. “That’s Sally, the Witch, and Bert, the Spearman. It seems like you know how this goes, so let’s get down to creating your character, SB.”

Magnar handed him a piece of paper, and SB got to writing down who he wanted to be right away. “I’d like to be the Captain. He who wields a sword and a hook and commands his own ship.”

“The Captain? You’re aiming too high for your first time,” Sally objected.

“I have to agree with that,” Magnar added. “But I’m willing to compromise, so you’ll get to be a pirate with just your two weapons.”

“So be it,” SB conceded.

“Let’s start the game!” Magnar declared, settling into his role as SB tapped into his imagination.

“You are all mercenaries in a village, hired to protect the common folk from bandits. For the past few weeks, the village has been under attack from Tarukaja, aka Taru the Terror, and his gang of bandits. Today, it’s quiet around the town, as the scout has reported that the bandits have been spotted setting up camp within 5 miles. The villagers have locked their doors while the scout continues patrolling the main entrance. Sally, you have the first move.”

“I spend my turn greeting the party,” Sally stepped forth, swishing her scarlet red robe and pounding the blunt end of her long flame staff into the ground. “Greetings, fellow mercenaries! I’m Sally the Witch! Fate has brought us together to this village today.”

“ Sally greets the party and increases their morale. Bert, you’re next. ”

“I use my turn to intimidate SB,” Bert spoke, approaching SB and pointing his spear at him. “You’re a sword user, huh? Better not get on my bad side, cause I’ve got you outreached with my spear here.”

“Bert’s intimidation tactic raises SB’s agility, but lowers his defense. Last but not least, SB.”

“Hmm…” SB was trying to think of how he could, or rather should, spend his turn.

“Time does not wait for mercenaries. If you spend too much time thinking without deciding, your turn will be automatically skipped.”

SB took a breath, feeling pressured by the warning. “I…I ask the scout if they think that the bandits will attack today.”

“The scout says that there is a 99% chance that Taru the Terror will attempt to pillage this village.”

SB mentally berated himself for asking what was a pretty obvious question in hindsight.

“And right on cue, the bandits rush the village! The scout retreats, leaving the mercenaries to handle the bandits.”

“I swiftly cast Flamethrower!” Sally declared, brandishing her staff.

“Sally rolls for casting the fire spell.”  

Magnar grabbed the die and tossed it. It rolled around on the table before stopping with the number 4 face up.

“ Success! One of the bandits bursts into flames! ”

SB envisioned the other bandits beginning to hesitate at one of their own being immolated on the spot.

“I wait for the bandits to approach and counter with my spear!” Bert spoke with pride.

“Bert goes into a defensive stance and rolls for the damage taken.”

The die this time landed on the number 3.

“Bert manages to block the first bandit’s attack and stabs him in the neck with the spear. However, another bandit strikes him with his sword. Bert loses 5 health.”

“Dammit…” Bert muttered.

“ Taru the Terror is furious. He expected an easy slaughter, only to find several of his men dead. He charges forward with his sharp steel axe, mad for blood. What will SB the pirate do? ”

SB decided to go all in. “I parry the axe with my sword and finish the job with my hook.”

“ Bold move. Success will require a 6. Any lower than that, and you’ll be cleaved in half. ”

The die was rolled once again, and the die spun around, settling on the number 5.

“ SB manages to parry the initial blow and sink his hook into Taru the Terror’s side, but the bandit leader uses the last of his strength to strike SB’s back with his axe. Both fall to the ground, breathing their last. Without their leader, the bandits lose their will to fight and quickly retreat. ”

“Another one bites the dust,” Sally chirped mockingly.

“Oh, right…” SB realized, ignoring Sally’s quip. “My defense was lowered from earlier.”

“Well, at least you knew that swords beat axes and you managed to last longer than that dumbass,” Bert acknowledged.

“If you’re up for another session, let us know, and I’ll revive your character,” Magnar offered. “Heck, we might even let you–”

Magnar cut himself off upon seeing Isabella return to them with her arms and expression crossed.

“Aaand that’s our cue to leave,” Magnar stood up, the rest of the tri-betas and SB following suit.

Meanwhile…

“So...I hope you've been doing okay since last time,” Jill said with concern.

“Ah, I'm guessing you're alluding to the almost-wedgie? I was just knocked down to the ground when SB intervened. I’ll be fine,” Prince reassured her.

“You seem to take it pretty well…” Jill noted. “I don't want to pry, but...that's not the first time you've dealt with bullies, huh?”

Prince went quiet, looking elsewhere. Just then, his phone started ringing, so he pulled it out and saw that the caller was Derek. But before he could answer, he saw Isabella looming over him with a scowl that he still could never get used to. She was about to tell him to keep his ringtone down when she caught a glimpse of the caller ID.

“Derek?” Isabella questioned, her scowl deepening. “You know that boy?”

“H-hey, Bella!” he stammered.

The librarian blinked. “Bella?”

Prince silently watched her look at Jill, her face softening up a bit. “What did you tell him?”

“Just that friends call you Bella,” Jill replied.

“Meeting someone only twice doesn’t automatically make us friends, Jill,” Isabella bluntly stated.

“Bella!” Jill gasped.

Prince stood up, wanting to leave as soon as possible. “All right... I'm leaving. Bye…Jill.”

“I...ah...bye,” Jill uttered as Prince hurried out.

She turned to Isabella, disappointed. “That was kind of rude.”

“…perhaps. But if Prince knows Derek, he could be a troublemaker as well,” Isabella replied.

“A troublemaker? He may have gotten into trouble before, but I don’t think he’s the type to cause it,” Jill objected.

“What exactly was the trouble that he got himself into?” Isabella questioned.

“I saw him get bullied by the tri-alphas yesterday,” Jill recalled. “They were ganging up on him and tried to pull his underwear up.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.”

“Where you're coming from...I understand,” Isabella sympathized.

“Also, I saw him and SB spend around 10 minutes or so putting books from your cart back into their shelves,” Jill pointed towards the cart which only had one book left. “And Prince has been nothing but nice to me.”

“Is there something going on between the two of you?” Isabella wondered.

“What? No!” Jill denied. “I just...we've barely talked to each other...but I have to admit that it's nice to socialize with someone who doesn't talk about their successful parents or economics every single minute.”

“Just...be careful, Jill,” Isabella softly spoke, offering her an embrace. “You know I want what's best for you.”

Jill let Isabella hug her. “I know, Bella. I love you for that.”

**********

In the park nearby B&R, Prince was walking around, breathing in the fresh air and catching up with his phone’s messages, starting with Derek.

Derek: hey, if u ever need help with tests and whatnot, gimme a call

Prince: And if you ever need a shirt, I’m your guy.

Derek: this guy…3===D

Prince: That’s real mature, Derek.

The next one was from SB.

SB: Hello Prince, this is SB. I’m typing this to see if this number works.

Prince: Yep, it’s me.

SB: Okay, that’s good. Also, I wanted to ask: Do you have a Rooster account?

Prince: What’s Rooster, again?

SB: Right…I didn’t get to explain it to you yet. Rooster is a social media website where people share what’s going on in their lives by making posts, uploading pictures, and commenting on their posts and pictures. Each of their posts are called “clucks”, and each cluck can only have 140 characters, so you might see multiple clucks in a row. Personally, I don’t use Rooster all that much, but I just thought I’d let you know what it is.

Prince: Cool. I’ll download the app and set up my account then. Thanks for the explanation, SB.

SB: No problem, Prince.

And finally, Josy.

Josy: Oh, I’m sorry to hear that! What happened?

Prince: My former roommate happened. We got into a huge argument, things got physical, and he kicked me out.

Josy: That must have been rough…I can certainly relate to that. Were you able to find somewhere else to stay for the night?

Prince: Thankfully, yes.

Josy: That’s good!

Prince: Anyways, what were you going to call me for?

Josy: I just wanted to say that I was looking forward to seeing you again this weekend! It’s been on my mind all week while working at that store.

Prince: Me too!

Josy: And I wanted to ask you something. It’s probably stupid, but here it is: do you like wine or beer better?

Prince: That's not a stupid question. I like wine. Why do you ask?

Josy: Haha! You'll see this weekend.

Prince: What about you, then? Do you prefer flowers or chocolate?

Josy: Oh, flowers, for sure. Why?

Prince: You'll see this weekend.

Josy: Haha! You're such a TEASE!

Prince chuckled to himself as he began setting up his Rooster account, going by the username “Tremolo”. Once that was taken care of, he looked at the three most recent posts on the front page.

Rusty@DIKPresidentRusty

Last call for DIK pledges tonight! Stop by the DIK mansion if you want to get tested! #DIKs

Underneath the post was a picture of the President and the Vice President holding a banner that said “DIKs 4 Life!”, while the rest of the DIKs were posing in the background.

Becky@InStyle

Check out this new top I bought! It’s like hotter than the HOTs, amirite? #Hot #CheckItOut

This one had a selfie of a girl with long, brown hair wearing a bright pink shirt with giant black letters that spelled out “PARTY”.

Phanto@Phantomastic

Greetings. I am the ghost who lurks where the sun doesn’t shine. I am the spirit of the undead, which is to say, not actually dead. I…am Phantomastic. #Phantomastic

The picture was a lavender theater mask that curved outward while having openings for the eyes. The mouth was neither happy nor sad, but instead a straight line that conveyed neutrality.

Having gotten a glimpse of what some of the students were up to, Prince closed the app and continued on with his walk around the park.

**********

SB was wandering around in the east wing of the dorms when he overheard two male students, one with red hair and the other with a red hat, discussing something.

“Hey, I know of a restaurant that’ll be much more satisfying than the cafeteria,” the red haired student said.

“You do?” the red hatted student asked.

“It’s a fast food restaurant of sorts. We could get some spicy or Japanese food, if you know what I mean,” the red haired student winked.

“Oh, I see what you mean,” the red hatted student seemed to catch on. “Where did you hear about this place?”

“Shh…this isn’t the place to talk about it. I can just show you the place. It’s not far from here,” the red haired student walked off with the red hatted student in tow.

Curious, SB waited until he thought he was a safe enough distance away before following them. He saw the red capped student enter the public bathroom while the red haired student walked away. When he went inside the bathroom, a part of him felt like something was off upon noticing that one of the bathroom stalls was now locked. However, his curiosity won out, and he proceeded to the rightmost stall, seeing the hole in the wall with “Eat up!” scrawled across the top.

Something did end up coming through the hole, but it was not a roll of sushi, or a hot dog. It was, unmistakably, a penis.

“WHA–”

His hands were scrambling to unlock the stall door and fling it open, while his feet carried him forward, far, far away from the bathroom. He sprinted his way down the hall, disregarding his surroundings until he arrived at Dorm 69, and he collapsed onto his bed, out of breath.

Derek straightened up on his bed. “Whoa, ass man, why are you out of breath like that?”

“Just…give…me…a…moment…” SB panted.

Once he steadied himself, he explained what had happened to Derek. A chuckle escaped his lips, followed by him bursting out into laughter. “Hahaha! You seriously thought that it was real food that was getting served?”

“I didn’t realize what the hole in the wall was actually used for, ok?!” SB groaned.

“Those are gloryholes, dude.”

“‘Glory’ holes?”

Derek made a circle with his index finger and thumb and jabbed his other index finger through the hole several times.

“...sorry I asked,” SB frowned, getting the message loud and clear.

He took out a textbook, a notebook, and a pencil from his backpack, placed them on his desk, and flipped the books open.

“What are you studying?” Derek asked, peeking over SB’s shoulder.

“Gender Studies 101,” SB answered, keeping his eyes on the textbook.

“Hey, I’m taking that class, too!” Derek excitedly replied.

SB turned around and gave Derek a dumbfounded look. “Are you serious?”

“Sure am, ass man!” Derek confirmed. “That class is gonna have a lot of vaginas, right? And Mrs. Milk Machine’s teaching it too!”

“Why am I not surprised,” SB muttered dryly.

“You’ve got me so excited I could just run out of this place right now!” Derek exclaimed, before proceeding to do just that.

SB leaned back into his chair and let out a long sigh. At least he finally had the dorm to himself for once, even though he expected that it wouldn’t last for long.

**********

Once dusk had settled, Prince arrived at the DIK Mansion and rang the doorbell.

“Who’s–” a guy in a DIK jacket answered, freezing upon seeing Prince and turning back towards the main room. “Stop the music, guys! Look who’s here on our doorstep!”

“What’s got you so excited, Jacob?” another DIK called from inside.

Soon, four additional DIKs joined Jacob at the front door.

“That freshy really gave it to Chad today!” Jacob said.

“Huh? I didn’t–” Prince tried to object.

“I saw it with my own eyes! Chad got those jocks to stay away from this guy, and he even gave back his guitar!” Jacob relayed the news.

“…yeah, that’s right,” Prince finished, not denying what was technically the truth.

The DIK president’s eyes went wide. “Whoa, are you serious? Chad never struck me as the kind of guy who’d back down like that.”

“I know, right? But believe it or not, it’s true!” Jacob grinned.

“That’s so badass, uh…” the DIK who was just in his underwear trailed off.

“Prince.”

“That’s so badass, Prince! How did you come out on top against Chad?” the DIK in his underwear asked with a smile.

“I, uh, I’m not sure how it happened. He just had a change of heart, I guess?” Prince tried to give the best answer he could think of.

“Bullshit,” the vice-president spat, unconvinced. “Those jocks are all the same, fucking us over left and right and acting like they own the place and the HOTs. No way did President Meathead just suddenly decide to bend over to the new kid around here.”

Jacob kept his grin up. “In any case, this guy is DIK material in the flesh!”

“Oh yeah, about that…” Prince spoke up, remembering why he had come here to begin with. “I was looking for a place to stay since my roommate kicked me out of my dorm.”

“Who’s your roommate?” the DIK with the bald fade haircut asked.

“Troy. He’s been nothing but a jackass to me from day one,” Prince answered.

The president held up a finger. “That’s another jock he’s got issues with!”

“The other jocks called him a ‘traitor’, though,” Prince added.

“Former jock. They kicked him out due to some drama between them,” the bald fade guy explained.

“That’s just semantics, Nick! A jock’s a fucking jock!” the president replied.

“Rusty. Anyone who pledges the DIKs must be tested. Those are the traditions we’ve set in stone,” the vice-preisdent reminded him.

“Alright, Tommy…” Rusty looked back at him with reluctant understanding.

“Prince, do you wish to pledge the DIKs?” Rusty asked to be sure.

“If it would get me a place to stay, then yes,” Prince answered.

“Then you will be tested,” Tommy said.

“What’s the test?”

“Sneak into the HOT house, steal a pair of panties, and bring them back to us,” Tommy instructed. “And make sure you enter through the front. The back door’s tighter than Heather’s.”

“It’s like an initiation, to say the least,” Jacob commented.

“Ok…I’ll try.”

After Prince walked off, Tommy whipped out his phone, just like he did yesterday.

“Hey, you ready?” Tommy asked. “We’ve got another one coming for ya tonight.”

**********

He thought it would be a quick in-and-out heist, but boy, was he wrong.

Prince had just gotten his hands on a pair of white lace panties on a bench when he heard the door open, followed by footsteps. He jumped into one of the showers and pulled the curtain across, praying that they didn’t hear the sound of metal sliding across metal. Backed up and shaking against the wall, he was already on high alert, but the voice that spoke practically froze the blood in his veins and took his breath away.

“Hey, Quinn…is this something that you girls always do for these initiations?”

“Stop asking questions and get over here, Maya,” Quinn ordered with a sharp voice.

They walked in front of the shower he was hiding in, and Prince realized he could see the girls through the curtains, who were in their towels. Maya kept her arms close to her chest, seemingly nervous as well. Things were eerily quiet before Quinn cut through the silence. “Good girl. I’ll take over from here.”

Prince had so many questions right now. What the hell was Maya doing here? Who was this Quinn girl? Why were they in towels? Were they going to catch him? Even if they didn’t, how was he going to escape? Why did he agree to sneak into a sorority to steal someone’s panties when he hated being labeled as a pervert?

And why was his dick starting to get hard upon seeing Maya in just her towel?

“Huh?! Is somebody there?” Quinn exclaimed.

Prince lightly bit his tongue, staying as quiet as a firefly.

“You behind the curtains! Speak up!”

Before he knew it, the curtain was yanked wide open, leaving Prince face to face with Quinn and Maya, the latter of whom let out a gasp and jerked her arms forward, causing her towel to collapse.

“Prince?!”

“What do we have here? A fucking perv!”

It took Prince longer than he should’ve to avert his gaze from Maya, who quickly realized her wardrobe mishap and pulled her towel back up to cover herself. Quinn snorted at Maya’s flustered reaction, amused.

“Please, I can explain!” Prince found his voice.

Quinn wasn't having any of it. “Yeah, go ahead and explain why you're standing here holding a pair of panties with a hard-on.”

He went quiet once again, unable to think of an explanation, let alone a plausible one.

“Please. I'm all ears. Were you enjoying yourself watching Maya lose her towel in front of you?” Quinn asked. “Seems like you two have got some history together.”

Prince gulped. “I'm so sorry; I'm leaving.”

“Whoa! Whoa! Not so fast there, pervert!” Quinn shut him down. “Maya showed you hers, so you better show us what you hide in those shorts. Strip!”

Maya turned her head and body away from Prince.

“Why would I do that? Can’t you see that Maya’s right there?” he pointed out.

“Strip, pervert, or I'll make sure that everyone hears about how you snuck into our showers trying to jack off to us!” Quinn demanded.

“Come on, that's not the truth!” Prince begged.

“It will be. Strip!”

With extreme reluctance, Prince undressed until he was naked. “Fine! There! You've seen me too now. Can I leave?”

Quinn looked at his dick in brief awe before turning back to Maya. “Maya. Take a good look at what he’s packing.”

She refused to move, and Quinn snapped her fingers. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”

Just as reluctant as Prince was, Maya forced herself to look at Prince’s fully erect penis, hoping that this “ritual” would be over as soon as possible.

“Bet you’ve never seen any this big in real life, huh?” Quinn mocked. “Now get over here. Show him the goods again.”

Maya shuddered, her voice vulnerable. “I…”

Seeing and hearing Maya break down due to Quinn gave Prince the courage to shut this hazing down. “Stop it! This is going too far! I’m leaving.”

Quinn scoffed, disappointed. “Tch. Have it your way, then.”

She yanked Prince by the arm and shoved him out of the bathroom, not giving him any time to protest. 

“PERVERT! SOMEBODY CALL SECURITY!!!” she hollered.

Prince was in full panic mode as he ran, faster than he had ever ran before, out of the sorority. He ran past two HOT girls, completely disregarding any attempts at stealth.

“AHHH!!!”

“I'M SO SORRY! FUCK!” Prince yelled back at them.

“OH MY GOD! PERVERT!”

“NO, I'M REALLY NOT! SORRY!” He yelled again as he forced the door open.

The two HOT girls watched him practically fly out of the house and shared a laugh at his plight.

**********

Why did college have to fucking suck so much?

Prince had arrived at the DIK mansion, still with the panties and freezing his butt off, and he desperately needed to get inside to find some clothes. What he ended up getting instead was Tommy laughing in his face and the other DIKs expressing various degrees of laughter, bafflement, or disgust before the door slammed shut in his face.

His clothes were back in Maya’s dorm, she was the only one who still had a key, and after what had just transpired, she definitely wouldn’t let him sleep in the same room as her now. And with Quinn having his phone as well…he was as good as screwed.

Left with few options, Prince hid behind one of the bushes, contemplating calling a security guard, even if it meant getting arrested for public indecency. If he could just find one to begin with…

By some stroke of luck, he saw Derek in the distance and called out to him. “Derek! I need your help!”

“Bro?” Derek ran up to Prince and noticed his condition. “Did the mole rat bamboozle you too?”

“Mole rat?”

“It’s what I call Quinn since her shaven undercut’s ugly,” Derek clarified.

“Ah…she sure tricked me, alright,” Prince sighed.

“She did the same to me last night! Using that hot Latina to bait me before kicking me out…” Derek recalled.

“Listen, Derek. Do you have any clothes I can borrow?” Prince asked, desperation creeping in his voice.

Derek flashed him a thumbs up. “Sure thing, bro!"

He proceeded to take his pants off and handed them over to Prince. He hesitated, before remembering that he was starved for options and stepped into the pants.

“Thank you so much,” Prince breathed a sigh of relief. “And would you mind if I stay in your dorm tonight?”

“Sure, but what about Maya?” Derek asked. “She still needs someone to share it with. I could call in a favor and have you stay there for months!”

“Well…it’s just for tonight.”

“Alright then. Follow me, bro!”

**********

SB wrapped up his studying and sat down on his bed. He rummaged through his luggage until he came across a book tucked underneath his clothes and laptop. The book contained instructions on how to make and bake several different treats, one of his favorites being chocolate chip cookies. One thing about it that stuck with him was that it suggested substitute ingredients for those who were allergic to gluten, dairy, eggs, etc. Knowing that applesauce could be used in place of butter was not something he expected, but it was something he was very grateful to have imparted on him. The book took up more space in his luggage than he expected, which made having to fit in the rest of his stuff rather tricky, but he refused to leave that book behind.

His father wrote that book for his family, after all.

The sound of the door opening snapped SB out of his thoughts, and he rapidly put the book back in his luggage as Derek and Prince walked in.

“Ass man! Prince is gonna be staying with us tonight,” Derek informed.

SB didn’t waste time addressing the elephant in the room. “Derek. Why are you in your underwear?”

“Long story short, bro was pledging the DIKs and got fucked over by Quinn, so I bailed him out,” Derek explained.

SB scratched his head. “You too? That’s weird. When I pledged, I ran into this girl with red hair instead. She was all over the place, but somehow, she gave me the item I needed for the DIKs. Maybe going through the back door instead of the front had something to do with it?”

“Haha, ‘ass man’ went through the ‘back door’!” Derek smirked.

“Did I say something funny?” SB asked, wondering what Derek was getting at.

“Don’t mind him, SB,” Prince spoke up before sighing. “I’m so fucking fed up with all this bullshit. Coming to this college was just one big mistake..”

“Are you crazy? You're giving up? You just got here!” Derek objected.

“Yeah, but it feels like everyone's against me. Quinn tricked me, the DIKs fucked me over, the jocks hate me, I got into a fight with my former dorm mate, and now my wallet and phone are gone and everyone’s gonna think I’m a pervert…” Prince let it all out.

“So what? You were naked and everyone hates you, but you got to see two girls bare it all for you. That's some cool fucking stories in the making there, bro! That's the real college experience if you ask me!” Derek encouraged.

Prince had his eyes downcast, suddenly very uncomfortable.

“And not everyone hates you. I like you! Ass man likes you! Even sis likes you!” Derek continued.

Prince brought a hand up to his face. “Not anymore…”

“What was that?” Derek asked.

Prince immediately wished he had kept his mouth shut. “Nothing…” he tried to play it off.

“You definitely said the words ‘not anymore’,” SB commented. “What did you mean by that?”

“Did something happen between you and my sis?” Derek asked, his voice now quiet.

“No! I mean…we didn’t actually fool around or anything like that. What happened was that when I was trapped in the bathroom, Quinn brought Maya in, they caught me, and Quinn forced me to strip. She was about to force Maya to take off her towel, but I ran out of there as soon as I could,” Prince explained his side of the story, leaving out the part where Maya accidentally dropped her towel.

Derek stared at Prince, not saying a word.

“That’s the truth! I swear!” Prince added with haste.

“…someone’s got a lot to answer for this…and that someone is Quinn. We’re going to have to get her back and then some one day,” Derek responded.

“I just don’t know how I’m gonna face Maya after all of this. That’s the real reason why I asked to stay with you guys instead of her,” Prince confessed.

“Maybe if you try talking to her about what happened and explain that it was just a misunderstanding, you’ll be able to clear things up. The way I see it, neither of you are to blame for the initiation fiasco,” SB suggested.

Prince took a deep breath, pondering SB’s advice. “I’ll give it a shot tomorrow morning,” he responded, having made up his mind.

SB took his luggage off from his bed and set it aside. “Anyways, this place is going to get pretty crowded with all three of us. Prince, would you be ok with sleeping on the floor?”

“I’ll take Derek’s side if he’s ok with that. I don’t want to wake up with a sore back,” Prince answered while undressing himself.

“Scooch on in, bro,” Derek shifted closer to the wall.

“Are you sure about that? He’s not exactly the most hygienic guy, to put it lightly,” SB warned.

Prince took off his shoes and pants and settled into Derek’s bed, lying down opposite of him. “Eh, I'm sure it will be fine. I’m tired and I just want to go to sleep already.”

SB closed his eyes and laid onto his back. “Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Big spoon or little spoon?”

“No spoon.”

“It’s only gay if you get a boner.”

“I don’t want to find out if you get one.”

“Guys, keep it down. I’m trying to sleep here.”

“Earplugs, ass man. Sleep tight, bud.”

SB didn’t have the energy to find his earplugs and just let sleep overtake him. The other two freshmen soon fell asleep together as well.

Chapter Text

Something foul was in Prince’s mouth, causing him to jolt awake. Right in front of his face, he found out what exactly that foul thing was.

“Eww! I had your fucking toes in my mouth!” Prince exclaimed, shoving Derek’s foot away from him. “When was the last time you showered?!”

“Stop sucking on my toe like it's a pacifier!” Derek retorted. “That's on you, bro!”

SB pounded his fist on the wall, having been forced awake by the shouting. “Be quiet, guys!”

“Earplugs, ass man!” Derek shouted back at him. “For fuck's sake!”

The argument between the three freshmen eventually died down, and within 15 minutes, they had gotten themselves dressed and were walking out of their dorm, with Derek still going shirtless.

“I’ve been thinking about what happened during your initiation, and there’s something that stood out to me,” SB mentioned.

“What is it?” Prince asked.

“Quinn forced you to strip before kicking you out, right?” SB recounted.

“Yeah,” Prince nodded.

“She did that to me, too,” Derek added. “Making us strip for shits and giggles.”

“And you still had the panties with you afterwards?” SB continued.

“That’s right,” Prince agreed.

“Why didn’t she force you to hand them over?” SB questioned.

“Now that you mention it…that was pretty odd that she didn’t do that,” Prince realized.

SB put his right hand underneath his chin. “I get the feeling that we were all being set up.”

“How so?” Prince wondered.

“The DIKs may have planned for us to end up naked as part of our initiations. And somehow, things didn’t go as planned for my initiation, so Tommy rejected my pledge,” SB theorized.

“You might be onto something here,” Derek held a finger up, before giving SB a smirk. “For a guy who doesn’t know what a glo–”

“Nope!” SB cut him off. “Derek, you are not finishing that sentence.”

“I’m going to talk to Maya. See you guys later,” Prince said, starting to walk off.

Derek winked at Prince. “Oh, you’ll be seeing me a lot sooner than you think.”

Prince slowed down and turned around. “What do you mean?”

“He’s–” SB started.

Derek put a finger up to SB’s lips. “Shh! Just you wait and see!”

“Hey! What the heck?!” SB exclaimed, shoving Derek’s arm away. “Don’t touch me!”

“Chill, ass man! It was just a finger.”

“Well, don’t do it again, ok?”

“Alright, alright…”

Prince kept on walking until he found Maya’s dorm.

“Maya? It’s Prince,” he called, knocking on her door. “I’m sorry about last night. Can we talk?”

Maya opened the door, hesitating when she saw him standing there. “Hey…can we just pretend that night never happened?”

“Huh?” he blinked.

“It’s all in the past. If I think about it too much, it’ll just make things more awkward between us,” she answered, looking directly forward. “So…please try to forget about last night.”

Prince couldn’t hide the surprise on his face. “Uh…ok then.”

“I’ll see you for gender studies,” Maya said, closing the door.

“See you,” Prince responded, turning to head outside.

That conversation could’ve gone a lot worse…but at the same time, he was now left feeling more puzzled than ever. She may not have been outright mad at him like he feared she would be, but there was definitely still a lingering feeling of something unresolved there, especially when considering SB’s theory.

For now, though, he had other things to take care of first.

**********

Prince arrived at the front entrance of the HOT House, with Quinn sitting on one of the tanning beds, wearing what can best be summed up as vapor wear while keeping her legs crossed and sucking on a lollipop.

“Hey! Quinn!” he shouted.

Quinn gave an amused smirk at his presence. “What's up, perv boy? I almost didn't recognize you with clothes.”

“Speaking of clothes,” Prince wasted no time in getting to the point.  “Can I have mine back? My phone and wallet were in there.”

“Oh, yeah! That's right; there was a phone in there,” she offhandedly mentioned while uncrossing her legs. “Poor Maya must have been worried sick when she tried calling you last night.”

“...what did you tell her?” he demanded.

Quinn popped the lollipop in and out of her mouth. “Oh, nothing.”

Seeing that he wouldn’t be getting any clear answers out of her anytime soon, Prince returned to the main topic at hand. “Ok, you had your fun. Please, give it back now.”

“You'll have to talk with Sage. I got bored with it,” Quinn informed, standing up and pointing behind her. “Go on in. I'm sure you're familiar with our house already, pervert.”

Prince bit back a retort and opened the front door, finding Sage in the lounge. “Sage!”

“Ah! I knew you would come, eventually,” Sage spoke, her eyes lighting up. “Follow me.”

She opened the leftmost door, letting Prince get a glimpse into her room before they walked in. “Ok, we can talk here. So, will you spy on Chad for me?”

Prince shook his head. “That’s not why I’m here. Give me my belongings back.”

“Your belongings?”

“Yes! My clothes, wallet and phone.”

Sage eyed Prince with suspicion. “Quinn told me that she confiscated them from a pervert who barged in last night. Were you that pervert?”

“Hey! I’m not a pervert!” he objected.

She put her arms on her hips. “So it was you then?” 

“…about that. Were you and the other HOTs in on the initiation with the DIKs?” Prince questioned.

“Me? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sage denied, her tone growing annoyed. “And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell a stranger like you. We don’t turn on each other.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he wondered.

“It’s the HOT code. All fraternities and sororities have those,” she explained.

“Alright…” Prince sighed. “Look, I’m sorry about what I did last night. Can you please give me my stuff back?”

Sage remained impassive. “What’s it worth to you?”

“What?”

“Will you spy on Chad for me?”

Prince was starting to lose his patience with her. She was making things a lot harder than she needed to, and he still had a deal to uphold with her boyfriend. “Is this supposed to be your way of ‘propositioning’ me?”

Sage didn’t respond, her eyes shifting off to the side.

This was all Prince needed to see, and he was now shaking while keeping his voice low. “It’s my wallet and phone we’re talking about. Maybe I’m not one to talk, but withholding my personal belongings just to get me to spy on Chad…that’s low, Sage.”

“That’s not what this is!” Sage shouted, visibly angry. “It’s…”

She stopped herself and let out a frustrated grunt. Then she picked up Prince’s belongings and shoved them towards Prince. “You know what? Forget my proposition. I’ll find someone else to do it instead. Just take your stuff and leave.”

Prince put his wallet and phone in his pockets and carried the rest of his clothes in his arms. 

“Thank you…Sage,” he turned back momentarily before walking out of her room and exiting the house.

As he exited the house, he saw Quinn stand up from the bed. “Wow, she gave you your things back? She must really like you.”

Prince refused to dignify that with a response, continuing to walk towards the gate.

“Hey, hold up,” Quinn called out to him.

“What is it?” Prince paused.

“I'm not going to say I'm sorry, because I'm not. What you did was a fucking scumbag thing to do,” she replied.

“Speak for yourse–” Prince was about to retort.

“Shh!” Quinn interrupted. “I like to fuck with people. Some like that, some don't. So, no harsh feelings?”

“You’ll have to do better than that,” he shook his head.

“You’re a single guy, right?”

“What if I am?”

“Yeah, you’re a single guy,” she deduced. “Do you get laid a lot?”

“That’s really none of your business,” Prince dismissed her before exiting the gate, not in the mood for her trolling. “Have a nice day, Quinn.”

“So that’s a no then. Bye pervert!”

**********

The bulletin board in the east wing had several posters detailing several of the clubs at B&R. These clubs were for chess, debate, film, and cooking. The last one caught SB’s eye, with the tagline reading as follows: “The best meals are the ones you make yourself. The cafeteria is open from 5-6pm today for anyone up for a cooking lesson from us.”

Another student approached the board, taking interest in the chess poster. “Man, the chess club sounds fun. ‘Students and staff are welcome?’ Most of the staff here are a bunch of dipshits; why the hell would they be invited?”

SB saw that the student just so happened to be the one who rage quit the D&G game and violently shook the vending machine. He also noted that the student’s breath reeked of smoke, causing him to wrinkle his nose in displeasure

“I don’t know why I keep running into you, but since you’re here, I may as well ask this,” SB addressed him. “Do you think I should join the cooking club? I thought I could try to help improve the quality of the cafeteria food here.”

“Why would you want to do that?” the student crossed his arms. “The kitchen is where women belong, not us men.”

Oh. He was one of those types. 

“How totally not misogynistic of you,” SB grumbled under his breath.

“What about you? Do you think I should join the chess club?” the student asked, not hearing what SB said.

“Do you like chess?” SB asked.

“Hell yeah I do! The staff can fuck right off, though,” the student grumbled.

“Then do as you please. Just make sure you remain civil if you lose, ok?” SB answered.

“Eh, like that’s gonna happen,” the student shrugged. “But you’re right! Thanks! I’m Ben, by the way.”

SB departed from the east wing, not wanting to deal with that student anymore than he had to. Seeking fresh air outside, he wandered on the sidewalk around the campus building. It was nice to take the time he could to clear his head before gender studies. He took a deep breath…

And found himself inhaling the scent of more smoke in the air.

“Hey.”

He looked up to see Riona leaning against a street light with a blunt in her hand. Now that he knew about what was “supposed” to happen for his initiation, he’d have to exercise a lot more caution around Quinn and anyone associated with her.

“Oh, hello Riona,” he greeted.

“How’d your initiation go?” she asked.

“It was…weird,” SB replied with a pause. “Very weird.”

“Did you run into Arieth?” she followed up.

“Who’s Arieth? And what makes you think that I ran into her?” he raised an eyebrow.

Riona dragged her right foot up against the pole behind her. “She’s a HOT who gives Dawe and Anthony a run for their money for her stupidity. Bright red hair, held back for several years, and an absolute motormouth. She was going on and on about that guy with the glasses who showed up at the house, and since you’re the only pledge who wears them…”

“Oh. You got me there,” SB realized. “I remember that she wanted to, her words, not mine, ‘blow me like a xylophone’ before, uh, ‘effing me like a sea star’.

“That sounds like Arieth, alright,” Riona exhaled the smoke from her blunt.

“Seriously, you don’t blow into xylophones to play them! And sea stars are asexual creatures!” SB sighed.

Riona chuckled, putting her foot back down on the ground, and SB let out a slight chuckle of his own.

“There’s something I’d like to know,” Riona spoke, her tone becoming serious. “How exactly did you end up running into her for your initiation?”

“Hmm…” SB pondered. “I don’t know. It just happened.”

“You’re not going to tell me?” she questioned.

“There’s nothing interesting for me to tell,” he insisted.

Riona frowned. “So you don’t trust me, then.”

SB brought an arm up against him and glanced away before turning back to her. “I’ll tell you this; the DIKs ended up rejecting my pledge. A bit of a shame since they say it’s a good place to get your groove on at their parties, but alas.”

She held out the blunt to him. “You could get your groove on right now.”

“...I don’t smoke,” he held out his palm in refusal.

“Suit yourself,” she took another puff of her blunt as he stood there, running out of things to say to her. He looked at his phone and noticed that he had only two minutes left before gender studies began. 

“Oh jamblasted! I'll be late for classes at this rate!” he exclaimed, dashing off towards the main entrance of B&R.

Riona watched him hastily depart, unsure of what to make of the freshman, before discarding the blunt in the nearest trash can. Her free time chilling outside was up, and now it was time for another history lesson that she wouldn’t expect to remember a few weeks afterwards.

**********

Prince stepped into a very large room for his gender studies class. There were multiple levels with several long tables, and most of the female students had already taken their seats on the higher floors. He thought of Derek and how he was missing out on the opportunity to–

“BRO! OVER HERE!”

…oh.

He carefully stepped down the floors, moving to seat himself in the center of the table Derek was at. “I'm loving this class, bro! Look at all the girls! Sure, some look like peacocks that escaped from the zoo–”

“Oh my God! You did not just say that!!!” a feminist right behind Derek yelled.

“–but there are several who actually are packing some serious front and back load,” Derek held his right hand up to block her.

SB ran into the room just before the professor, Dr. Jade Burke, walked in. He took some breaths as he sat down on Prince’s right. “Made it.”

“NO WAY!” Derek shouted. “That's our teacher! Mrs. Milk machine!”

“Derek, be silent! She can hear you!” SB angrily whispered, leaning over Prince.

Jade stepped to the front desk, preparing her course material for the first day. Her eyes swept across the entire room, settling on the three boys in the front. This was a surprise, as most of the students who took gender studies were not only girls, but also hardcore feminists who misunderstood what feminism was really about. The boy on her right cupped his breasts with his hands, making her wish that she had doubled up on expresso beforehand.

The last student to arrive was Maya, who did a double take upon seeing her brother in the front row. “Derek?! No...don't tell me you signed up.”

“You weren't lying about the vaginas, Maya!” Derek beamed.

Maya held up a fist to her chest and closed her eyes. “Give me strength…”

“Hey, Maya,” Prince greeted.

“Hey, Prince,” she nodded at him.

Jade looked up from her course material once the clock struck 1:00 pm. “Ok, my clock is on the dot. Let us begin. Welcome to Gender studies 101. I'm Dr. Jade–”

“Females can be doctors?” Derek cut in.

SB wanted to lay his head down on the table in exasperation, but looked up to Jade instead. “Don’t mind him, Dr. Jade. He’s just…excited, is all.”

Jade continued on with her introduction of the course, highlighting the difference between sex and gender.

“Maya, you didn't tell me there will be sex talk, too!” Derek grinned at his sister, who closed her eyes and turned her head away from him.

“Hey, shut up!” another feminist shouted.

Jade stepped up to the front row. “You three. I'm happy to see three male students in my class. That's a first-time occurrence.”

“You’re welcome!”

“Ugh…”

“I'm going to have to ask you to put on at least a t-shirt next time, though,” Jade warned Derek.

“...fine,” he relented.

“But, I'm curious, why did you sign up for this class? What was it that piqued your interests?” she questioned.

Prince spoke first. “Nothing special, really.”

“Well, hopefully, you'll be more motivated soon,” Jade encouraged.

“Easy credits and v–”

“NO!” Maya instantly slapped her hand over Derek’s mouth.

SB let out a drawn out sigh. “ I would like to learn more about women's struggles in real life and the real meaning of feminism.”

Jade’s eyes widened in surprise. “The real meaning of feminism? A very interesting point! Welcome to the class...?”

“I’m SB. It’s my preferred name.”

“Welcome, SB,” Jade smiled approvingly before instructing the students to pair up with someone they didn’t know to get to know each other better. Prince walked up several steps, looking for someone aside from the guys and Maya to speak to.

“Hey! Wanna partner up?” a girl with neat purple hair asked him.

“Sure,” he accepted, sitting down across from her.

“So, my name's Danielle, but they call me Dany for short. I hate when people call me Daniel! Come on; I don't look like a boy!” she introduced herself.

Dany continued to ramble on and on about her pet rabbit, a fat friend of hers named Linda, female orgasms, and glasses.

“Speaking of orgasms, do you think I should wear glasses? I prefer to wear lenses because glasses make my cheeks look fat. Like that degenerate male over there,” she pointed towards SB.

Up to that point, Prince had completely lost track of what she was ranting about, but now he was paying attention. 

“His name is SB. Not ‘degenerate male’,” he corrected her.

“Don’t interrupt me! Or are you a degenerate male, too?” she retorted.

“...no?”

“Then tell me, what name do I hate being called?” she asked as though she was quizzing him.

Prince had a dreadful feeling that this class would be a lot more taxing for what was supposedly “easy credits”.

Meanwhile, on the row below, SB and the red-haired girl named Ashley were having a more standard conversation by comparison after having introduced themselves.

“Are you familiar with Derek by any chance?” SB inquired.

“Derek? Why do you ask?” Ashley wondered.

“I saw you hanging out with him during lunch and in our English and math classes several times,” SB recalled.

“Oh, I wouldn't exactly call him a friend, but yeah, I know him,” she answered. “Are you his friend?”

“I’m just the same. I definitely know him, but not as a friend,” he replied.

“Yeah, he can be pretty wild, but I think he’s pretty funny at times,” Ashley admitted.

SB gave her a puzzled look. “How come?”

“Well, it’s because…wait,” she paused. “I think we’re getting off topic here.”

“Ah, right,” he acknowledged, getting things back on track. “So I ran into a student today while looking at the bulletin board, and he said something very sexist regarding the cooking club.”

“Let me guess, he had one of those ‘women should stay in the kitchen’ attitudes?” Ashley surmised.

“Indeed,” SB nodded before continuing. “It’s sexist to women and also to men, in a way. If a woman wants to take a more active role in her life, then I believe that should be her choice to do so. But also, the notion that it’s not manly for a man to enjoy cooking is simply wrong to me.”

“Yeah, I totally agree with what you’re saying,” she smiled. “Say, are you looking to join the cooking club? I’m planning to go to their first meeting today.”

“You want me to join?” he asked.

“Mm-hm!” she nodded in affirmation.

It didn’t take him long to decide on his answer. “I suppose I have nothing to lose by going there, so sure.”

Down another row, Maya and a HOT girl named Sarah were engaged in a debate.

“I believe that women should hold themselves to a higher standard and not have to rely solely on their looks to get by in life,” Maya stated.

Sarah casted a look of doubt towards her. “Oh really?”

“Really,” Maya affirmed.

“Then why are you pledging the HOTs?” Sarah asked.

“ …that is irrelevant to our discussion here,” Maya folded her arms.

“I’m pretty sure it is when you’re willing to act like the sluts you claim to disapprove of,” Sarah spoke bluntly.

Those words cut through Maya like scissors through paper. “That’s…!”

She didn’t get to finish what she was saying, as two loud voices rose up from the bottommost row.

“Why are you even here?! You're like the worst person I've ever met!”

“Not a PERSON! It's called a MAN, Wendy! Men have penises; women have vaginas. What the fuck does X-gender even mean?! What do its genitals look like?!”

“I HATE YOU!”

Maya rested her head against her hand, now having a different reason to be embarrassed as Wendy, a feminist with lavender hair, furiously stomped away from Derek, who simply shrugged his shoulders.

“Women...am I right?”

**********

“I don't know about you, but I just can't sit with him in that class. I know I said it's easy credits, but I also want to learn something from it,” Maya told Prince as they exited the classroom.

“I don’t blame you,” Prince agreed. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like having a relative like Derek around. Then again, he was an only child.

“I'll see you later, Prince,” Maya waved.

“Wait, before you go,” Prince stopped Maya. “I just wanted to ask, would you let me stay in your dorm until I find somewhere else to stay?”

“Can’t you just stay with Derek and SB? Derek texted me that you stayed with them yesterday,” Maya mentioned.

“That dorm’s too small for all three of us. And I’ll just say that I’m never making the same mistake of sleeping with Derek again,” Prince groaned.

A snort escaped Maya’s lips. “Hahaha! You slept with Derek?”

Prince mentally slapped himself for his slip-up. “Wait, no! That’s not what I meant! I slept in the same bed as Derek, but absolutely nothing happened between us. He’s…unhygienic, as SB put it.”

“Yeah, I get that. I just thought your choice of words was pretty funny,” Maya giggled.

“Heh, well, me sleeping with Derek is something that’s never, and I do mean never , happening,” Prince reiterated.

“Anyways, I’m cool with letting you stay in my dorm,” Maya said. “But you’ll need to find somewhere else to stay if I get a new roommate.”

“Your dorm is almost twice the size of Derek’s and SB’s. Perhaps I could ask the receptionist if I could share this dorm with you?” Prince offered.

Maya’s eyes widened. “You didn't tell them that, did you?”

“That your dorm mate is a no show? No, I didn't.”

She let out a sigh of relief. “Good! It's just that I hit the jackpot for once, and I don't want to lose the privilege of having my own room here.”

“Anyways…thank you!” Prince smiled. “And just know that I’ll always make sure to respect your boundaries.”

“No need to worry about that. I trust you,” Maya smiled back briefly, her smile turning into a concerned look. “By the way, did you get your phone back? After…you know.”

“Thankfully, yes.”

“That’s good! Here’s my number in case you get locked out or something,” she held her phone out to exchange numbers.

With that taken care of, he parted ways with her. “See you later, Maya!”

**********

SB opened the cafeteria doors, seeing the brunette cafeteria girl from the first day standing behind the food counter in front of an auburn hair girl with glasses. There were several girls he recognized from gender studies seated in the tables, one of them being Ashley. It occurred to him that there were absolutely no male students present, which made him rather uncomfortable.

Nevertheless, he found an empty seat for himself, one that was next to Ashley.

“Welcome to the cooking club, everyone! We are honored to have you young ladies join us,” the brunette announced.

Her wording was definitely not helping matters.

“Any questions?” she asked after giving a brief overview of the club.

One of the students pointed towards SB. “He’s not a lady.”

The brunette whipped her head around and spotted him, her smile twisting into a scowl.

“Well, if it isn't Mr. Funny man!” she glared with hostility. “You got a lot of nerve showing yourself here after talking shit about the place I work and the food we cook, you know that?!”

SB took a breath, knowing that things were already going south. “First of all, I don’t even know who you are. Second of all, I didn’t make that joke at your expense. Third of all, you’re seriously still bothered by that joke?”

The brunette did not like that answer. “Oh so that’s how you want to play it? Swallow this, you bastard!”

She picked up one of the drinks on the table, preparing to throw it at him.

“Beth, wait!” Ashley called out to her.

The brunette named Beth stopped herself, perplexed. “Ashley? Why are you defending him? I was about to flush this asshole out of our club.”

“He’s not a bad guy!” Ashley defended. “I talked to him in our gender studies class, and he wants to join this club.”

“‘Join’, huh?” Beth turned to the girl behind her, still doubtful. “Karen, what do you think?”

The girl looked down at the ground as she spoke. “…it doesn’t matter to me.”

“You gotta speak up, Karen,” Beth snapped her fingers.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Karen repeated.

Beth faced down SB, her hands on her hips. “In that case…you, Mr. Funny man. Leave before I throw a drink at you.”

“Beth!” Ashley objected.

SB, for his part, knew that it was a lost cause at this point. “It’s fine, Ashley. I know that I’m not welcome here. I’ll leave.”

He walked out of the cafeteria before Beth could make good on her threat.

**********

Prince sat down on the other bed in Maya’s dorm, taking a glance at Maya lying down on her bed in a pink crop top and black shorts and idly scrolling through her phone. He checked his phone and saw a message from Derek. Opening up the message, he saw that Derek had sent him a picture of…something.

Derek: what do u think? ;)

Prince: Dude…are you really sending me dick pics?

Derek: SHIT! i'm sorry! ass man had my phone

Prince: So SB is taking pictures of your cock?

Derek: sorry! it wont happen again. btw, how did it go with my sis?

Prince: We’re good now. It was just a misunderstanding. Also, I’m going to be staying with her for the time being.

Derek: alright

Prince hastily deleted the picture and moved on to SB, opting not to ask him about what Derek was up to.

Prince: Just letting you know that things are good between me and Maya, so I’ll be staying with Maya tonight.

SB: That’s good to hear. Thanks for letting me know.

He put his phone away and found his guitar, which was still next to the empty bed from yesterday.

“Hey! I just remembered that I haven’t played my guitar for you yet,” he told Maya.

She looked up from her phone towards the guitar. “Oh yeah…it looks like you got it back!”

“I was gonna play it for you yesterday, but I didn’t see you back here,” he mentioned.

“I was out…doing stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“Just pledge stuff. So, ready to play for me?” she asked, sitting straight up.

“Yeah,” he took a breath, warming up his fingers. “Here goes…”

Prince strummed the strings, playing a simple tune as Maya silently watched and listened. He typically practiced for himself, as the only other people he ever played the guitar for were his dad and his ex. This made him a bit nervous, but soon, he got into the zone of continuing the tune up to its conclusion.

“So what did you think?” he asked.

Maya smiled softly at Prince and gave a light applause. “Beautiful. Just beautiful.”

“Thanks, Maya,” he smiled back at her. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“I want to show you something fun in return,” she added. “Just gimme a few minutes to pull it up…”

While he waited for her, he checked his phone and saw another message from Derek, which contained…

Oh.

Derek: what do u think? ;)

Prince: IT'S STILL ME!!! LOOK AT THE NAME BEFORE YOU SEND IT!

He sighed as he deleted the picture again and put his phone down.

“Here it is!” Maya announced, showing him her phone. “I had to wait a bit before I could skip the ad.”

“Is that a movie on your phone?” he asked.

She laid down on her side. “Yeah, do you see a TV in here?”

“It's just that the screen is so small,” he indicated.

She shrugged. “You get used to it. Besides, I couldn't give up watching movies.”

“Ah, so that explains your Rooster tag,” he realized.

“You’re looking at Maya the Movie Buff, alright!” she grinned. “Are you a movie buff too?”

“No, growing up, we didn't have…” Prince stopped himself. “No, I'm not into movies.”

“What was that first part?” Maya asked.

“I was going to say that we didn't have a TV when I grew up...but I stopped because it's both personal and embarrassing…” he trailed off.

“You don't have to feel embarrassed about that,” she reassured him. “Look at me! I don't have a TV now.”

“Yeah…” he trailed off.

“Hey, I'm glad you told me. Maybe you're into movies, too,” she suggested. “You just don't know it yet.”

“Heh, maybe,” he lightly chuckled.

Maya rolled over on her back to the wall, rested her head on the pillow, and patted her hand on the bed. “Here, Prince.”

“Huh?”

“Lie next to me, silly. We can watch it together.”

“Oh, ok,” Prince replied, lying down next to Maya on her bed. Now close up to her, he could smell her vanilla perfume, and he tried to focus on the phone screen. “What are we watching?”

“It’s one of my favorites, an old horror movie called ‘The secret in his closet’. There’s this older man living alone who has a routine of always going into his closet every night,” she explained.

“Into it?”

“Yeah! The kids next door watch him through their bedroom window every night and become obsessed with it. Like, why would he go into a closet? So, they sneak into his house when he leaves to run an errand and try to find out what's in there,” she finished.

“That sounds pretty scary,” Prince commented. “But also really interesting.”

“Yeah, let's watch! I'm not going to spoil what happens for you,” Maya replied as she tapped the play button.

Prince watched with wide eyes as a kid yelled at another kid named Johnathon to hide. The dramatic music gradually rising in pitch along with the sound of footsteps building up in the distance kept him further on edge as the kids frantically scrambled to find places to hide.

“Are you ok there, Prince?” Maya asked.

“Yeah, I just haven't watched a lot of scary movies…” he replied, much more quietly than he intended.

“It's the best feeling, huh?” she smiled with excitement.

The kid who he had forgotten the name of screamed out for Jonathan, causing Prince to tremble slightly and shut his eyes.

“Hey! You're missing the best part!” Maya objected.

“Sorry, it's just too scary for me,” Prince admitted, slowly opening his eyes.

“Aw…here, hold the phone,” she offered, holding out the phone for him.

Prince took the phone with his right hand, still trembling.

“How is this supposed to–” he began before Maya snuggled up closer to him. “Oh…are you comforting me?”

“Yeah, I thought you could use it. Feeling better?” she asked.

“Yeah…this feels nice,” he felt himself initially relaxing at her touch.

The problem was that Prince’s left hand was now resting on Maya’s back, causing his breathing to accelerate. It wasn’t just the movie that was making him nervous anymore. Prince had to take a deep breath to calm himself, inhaling the scent of her hair in the process.

“Are you…smelling my hair?” she asked, now concerned.

“No...I was just breathing,” Prince replied. “This is so scary!”

“Yeah! This is where it gets real good, I tell you!” Maya commented with excitement.

Maya’s left leg moved over Prince’s left leg, and he found it harder than ever to focus on her phone’s screen.

“Wow, your heart is beating really fast!” she remarked. “I had no idea that you were this scared.”

“Yeah, those sound effects really get under my skin,” Prince replied.

“I know, right?”

Her leg dragged higher up, resting over his crotch, and he felt his blood start to rush down there. 

“Maya...your leg is a bit too high up…” he hinted, trying to avoid showing it.

“Oh!” she lifted her leg up and set it down away from him. “I wasn't touching...you know?”

“No, it's fine.”

“Ok. Thanks for telling me.”

He suddenly remembered something else that she had told him a while back. “Maybe this is weird to ask but...didn't you say that you have a boyfriend?”

“Er...yeah...I...why?” she hesitated.

“I just think that it's a bit weird lying like this with you if that's the case…” Prince addressed.

“Well...it's...complicated...I…” Maya caught the words in her throat before asking, “Can you keep a secret?”

“Yes, of course,” he nodded.

“I don't have a boyfriend,” she admitted. “I tell guys I have a boyfriend because I'm not interested in attracting them. It may sound weird...but that's the only way that seems to work.”

“Ok, so you don't want me to be attracted to you?” he wondered.

“It would probably be for the best if you weren't,” she answered.

“…I think it's too late for that.”

The words slipped out of Prince’s mouth before he could take them back. Between Maya letting him stay overnight, that brief moment where she accidentally dropped her towel, playing his guitar for her, and their movie night together, he couldn’t deny that he felt some attraction towards her at this point. However, he still had his feelings towards Josy to sort out over the weekend.

“Oh…”

“But don't worry...I'll be respectful.”

“Thank you, Prince…”

Once the credits started rolling, Maya turned to face Prince. “Tell me! Did you like the movie?”

“It was scary, but watching it with you made it fun,” he answered.

“Yeah, this was really nice,” she agreed. “Maybe next time we can watch something more lighthearted?”

“I'd love that.”

“Now, unless you wanna sleep in my bed, get out.”

“Was that an offer?”

“Haha, no, it was a joke, silly.”

**********

In the east wing’s public restroom, SB was thinking things over. The tri-betas hadn’t outright rejected him, but that didn’t exactly mean much when he hadn’t officially pledged them yet, and most of the other clubs didn’t catch his interest. He had procrastinated pledging the tri-betas, as while there were a few members who seemed to take a liking to him, there were also several rotten apples in the bunch, like with Sally, the vice-president named Ron, and a guy who was downright obsessed with “The Bloominaughti”, whatever the heck that was supposed to be.

A loud male grunt from the stalls sliced through his thoughts.

“Hey, this is a shared bathroom! We don’t need to hear your moans when you take a shit!” a student at the urinal yelled.

SB now had a precise feeling as to why whoever was in that stall grunted, unable to remain blissfully ignorant due to having learned the truth the hard way.

As he walked back to his dorm, he came across Quinn and two other girls waiting outside of Maya’s dorm, whispering to each other and laughing. He turned the other way and found himself face-to-face with someone in a DIK jacket. He recognized the DIK as Nick thanks to the bald fade haircut he had.

“Are you SB?” Nick asked.

“Uh, yes,” SB confirmed.

Nick handed SB a blindfold. “Put this on.”

SB stared at Nick, baffled. “Why? Didn’t you guys reject my–”

“No time for questions,” Nick interrupted. “Now put it on.”

SB cautiously wrapped the blindfold around his eyes, wondering if this was supposed to be a prank. “What happens now?”

“Hold out your hand. I’ll guide you to the DIK mansion,” Nick instructed. “Be prepared. It’s going to be one hell of a night for you and the other maggots.”

“Uh-huh…”

SB held out his hand and felt Nick take it, slowly following him into the darkness. He heard doors being opened, followed by cool air chilling his face and the sound of crickets chirping. Then another voice.

“Holy shit! Is this what I think it is? Are we gonna do the cu–mmph!”

He knew that the voice belonged to Derek, who had just been silenced by what he presumed to be a gag. 

“Quiet, dude!” a male voice ordered.

The journey continued for several minutes until he was told that they were about to go upstairs. He stepped up with prudence, not wanting to stub his toes, and he heard another door being opened. Taking several more steps forward, he felt the atmosphere turn sticky and moist around him. All he could hear were footsteps now as he continued onwards into what he assumed was none other than the DIK mansion.

**********

Maya tiptoed her way into her dorm, not making a sound as she crept towards Prince. She had gone outside and texted Quinn that Prince was fast asleep. Now, with just an orange bra and matching panties, she stood next to his bed on pins and needles, trying to muster up the will for what she was about to do next.

This was wrong. She wasn’t about to deny that. But her future was at stake here. If she could just get her hands on that free tuition…

Maybe she could finally escape from the living nightmare that was her financial status.

She gently slid the sheets off of his body until his black underwear was showing. Her eyes looked down, and she caught the sight of a large bulge poking through his underwear. She brought a hand to her mouth to muffle her gasp, as even though this wasn’t the first time she saw his erection, it didn’t stop her from being surprised at how big it was.

Swallowing her dignity, she started to climb onto the bed, putting her hands on the bed and raising her body above his. Slowly, she started to lower herself…

“Huh, Maya?” Prince’s eyes abruptly opened. “What are you–”

She lost her balance and fell onto his chest, jumpscared by his voice. Crap.

“Shh!” Maya shushed, trying to salvage the situation. “Don’t say a word!”

That did not have the effect she expected, as he sat up and stared at her, alarmed.

“No, seriously, what’s gotten into you?!” he asked, bewildered by her behavior. “Weren’t you the one setting boundaries between us?”

Her initial shock was gone, and in its place, an immense amount of shame. She got off of him and buried her face in her hands, unable to look him in the eye.

“…fuck…you’re right,” she muttered. “What was I thinking? I–”

“Pathetic. You call that an initiation? I’ll have to salvage this myself.”

Double crap. She had forgotten that Quinn and her friends were supposed to watch her.

Maya turned towards Quinn, Sarah, and a HOT girl with black hair and a tan, and her eyes went wide at seeing what Quinn was holding in her hands.

“PRINCE LOOK OUT!”

Her warning came much too late, as the taser connected with Prince’s neck. A zapping sound pierced the air, and soon after, he slumped over, knocked out.

Chapter Text

Two and a half years ago…

Josy sat down on her bed, applying pink nail polish to her fingernails and trying not to think about what she had to do for today. Her parents had recently divorced when her mom found out about her dad’s affair with this woman named Monica, and now that they had gotten engaged, she and her son Tommy were going to be moving in. Josy had refused to go with her dad to meet them, and while her dad was willing to accept her decision to stay behind, he made it clear that he expected her to help him with the moving process once he got back with them.

That nail polish helped her relax in her stressful moments, and today was no exception. It was a birthday gift from her best friend for her 16th birthday, and she’d worn that nail polish ever since. And with her best friend’s birthday coming up soon, she knew exactly what she'd get in return. 

She heard the keys turning the lock on the main door, realizing that her free time was up. She stood up, set the nail polish down on her cabinet, and held her head up high. For her dad’s sake, she would try to be as polite as possible for her new family members.

Stepping down the stairs, she saw her dad, Pete, enter their home with Monica around his arm, with Tommy not too far behind.

“Sweetie! We’re back!” Pete announced.

“Hi, dad!” Josy smiled at her father before turning to address the two newcomers. “Hey, Monica and Tommy. Dad told me you two are moving in today.”

“Uh, no shit?” Tommy glared at her.

Josy was about to call him out for immediately acting rude, but kept her mouth shut.

“Where’s my room? I got shit to unpack here,” Tommy demanded.

“Don’t you want to stay for our first dinner together? I made salad with strawberries for everyone!” Pete offered joyfully.

Tommy waved him off. “Eh, fuck that shit. I’d rather order a pizza instead.”

“Tommy!” Josy gasped, offended. “That’s my dad’s cooking!”

Pete took it in stride. “If he doesn’t want to join us, that’s fine. Come, Tommy. I’ll show you your room.”

Once Pete and Tommy headed upstairs, Monica spoke to Josy. “Let him be. He’s just having trouble adjusting to his new home.”

“Ugh…” Josy groaned, having a sinking feeling that he was going to be an absolute nuisance in the making.

“What’s the matter, Josy?” Monica questioned.

“Nothing…” Josy grumbled as she headed towards the kitchen. “I’m just hungry, that’s all.”

Dinner with her dad and Monica was also unpleasant to sit through. Every time her dad flirted with Monica or vice versa, it just served as a constant reminder of why her parents were no longer together.

At least the strawberries were her favorite fruit, letting her focus more on the sweet flavor spreading in her mouth instead of what her dad and Monica would likely end up doing with their mouths.

Once she wrapped up her last portions, she made a beeline towards her room. Her eyes landed on the top of her cabinet, as something precious to her was now missing.

“Uh…where’s my nail polish?” Josy asked out loud to herself.

The next fifteen minutes were spent turning her room upside down for her nail polish, and yet it was still nowhere in sight. Growing more frustrated by the minute, she exited her room and across the hallway, she saw Tommy taking a whiff from an all too familiar small pink bottle.

“What the hell?!” she cried out, storming into his room. “TOMMY! Give me back my nail polish right now!”

“Get out of my room!” Tommy retorted. “Didn’t your daddy ever teach you to respect privacy?”

Okay, that one hit way too close at home for her. 

“Are you fucking stupid?!” she screeched. “You’re the one who barged into my room to steal it!”

Josy tried to snatch the bottle away from him, but Tommy yanked his arm away, holding it up too high for her to reach. “Quit bitching at me! Don’t you have plenty of other bottles to fuck around with?!”

At that moment, she heard footsteps from behind her. “Sweetie, what’s wrong?” her dad called out.

She spun around, seeing her dad and Monica. “Dad! Tommy stole my nail polish and is trying to get high from it!”

“Josy, stop it. Let’s hear what Tommy has to say first,” Monica insisted.

“I found it in the bathroom and was just curious on what the scent was,” Tommy lied through his teeth.

“No you didn’t!” Josy shouted. “You went into my room without permission, stole my nail polish, and now you’re trying to smell it for whatever stupid reason!”

“Josy…” Monica warned.

“Oh…sweetie…” Pete looked at his daughter calmly. “Why don’t you go to your room for now? We’ll have a talk with Tommy here.”

Josy reluctantly obliged, walking off to her room and shutting the door behind her. She locked the door just in case Tommy tried something again and let herself fall onto her bed.

Soon, she heard someone knocking on her door. “Sweetie? Can I come in?”

Josy propped herself up from her bed and unlocked her door. “Yes, Dad…”

Upon opening the door, she saw her dad alongside Tommy, and her anger flared up once more. “Dad! Why the hell is he still here?!”

Tommy made a frustrated face, while Pete took a breath, keeping his composure intact. 

“Calm down, sweetie,” Pete spoke soothingly. “Here’s your nail polish.”

He handed the pink nail polish to Josy, who unflinchingly took it back. Then he gave Tommy a meaningful look. “Now, is there something you have to say to my daughter, Tommy?”

Tommy was looking off to the side. “...sorry.”

“That’s the most half-hearted sorry I’ve heard in my life, but alright…” Josy grumbled.

“I understand how both of you are feeling, but we’re all going to be a family together. So I would like all of us to get along with each other, ok?” Pete asked.

“Whatever,” was Tommy’s only response as he stormed off to his room, slamming the door behind him.

Josy raised her hands to her forehead. “Ugh, am I seriously going to have to live with this asshole for the next few months?”

“Language, sweetie,” Pete reminded her.

“Sorry. It’s just…” Josy took a breath and laid down across her bed. “Why, Dad? Why did you and Mom have to get divorced?”

Pete’s eyes were downcast, and he remained silent as he thought of the best way he could explain himself to her.

“…I’m not proud of myself for what I did to her. But we weren’t the most…compatible with each other. And Monica…she gave me a spark in my life that I haven’t felt for ages. It was either pursuing someone new who made me happy or constantly arguing all the time with my ex,” he explained.

Josy shook her head in denial. “It didn’t have to end like that! It’s just…I don’t know what you see in Monica, Dad.”

“Someday, you’ll see,” he responded.

She smiled at her dad. “Thanks for getting my nail polish back. That gift means a lot to me…”

He knelt down and kissed his daughter on the cheek. “Good night, sweetie.”

**********

Note to self: never trust Tommy to do anything nice. Ever .

Several miserable months of living with him later, it felt like nothing had changed between Josy and her new “family”. Today was no exception, as she was currently stranded outside with her clothes soaked, locked outside of her own home because she had forgotten her house key when she left for school, and Tommy refused to open the door for her despite him straight up skipping class today. 

Just her rotten luck.

She stood under the roof next to the door, avoiding the rest of the rain that had materialized while severely regretting that she didn’t bring an umbrella with her. Checking the weather daily was a habit she hadn’t quite developed yet. It was going to be quite a while before her dad and Monica would get back from work.

After what felt like several hours of waiting, her dad finally pulled up to the driveway in his car and opened the garage. He saw Josy rush towards the opening and his eyes widened upon seeing the state of her clothes.

“Sweetie?! Your clothes are soaked…what happened?” Pete asked, concerned.

“It was raining outside, I forgot my key to the house, and Tommy wouldn’t let me in!” Josy exclaimed.

“Again? Just when I thought everyone was getting along, this happens…want me to talk to him?” he offered.

“Forget it…he never listens to me or you, anyway,” she muttered.

She headed off towards her room and changed into some dry clothes, having the long-overdue opportunity to relax after this miserable day.

Or so she thought.

Before she had the chance to boot up her laptop, she heard Monica call out, “Tommy! Josy! Guess what came in the mail!”

She really wasn’t in the mood for this, but the alternative was Monica giving her yet another talking to down the line, so she went downstairs, seeing her dad, Monica, and Tommy gathered in the living room.

“What is it?” Tommy asked.

“It’s a letter from B&R!” Pete answered with excitement.

“Could it be?” Monica wondered.

“Well, lemme open it!” Tommy declared as he grabbed the letter and tore it open from the center, resulting in the contents getting torn in half.

Josy facepalmed herself at Tommy’s display of idiocy. It was only the second worst thing about living with him.

She watched Tommy put the two sides together, and he let out a loud cheer upon seeing the contents. “WHOOOO!!! FUCK YEAH!! I GOT IN!”

“I’m so proud of you, Tommy,” Pete grinned, a tear forming in his eye.

“My son’s going to be a college freshman!” Monica smiled approvingly.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tommy replied, his tone rather dismissive.

“Your stepsister is proud too! Right, Josy?” Monica added.

Josy took one hard look at her so-called stepbrother, resisting the urge to ruin the moment. His grades turned out well enough for him to be accepted to college, according to his third quarter report card. But knowing him, she wouldn’t be too surprised if he had cheated his way through his classes, and he’d likely do the same for college as well.

“Things’ll be different with you gone,” she responded, the sarcasm evident in her tone.

“Hell yeah they’ll be different! College life, here I come!” Tommy whooped.

End of flashbacks.

**********

Rusty double-checked the main room of the DIK mansion. Everything had been set up according to plan for the annual tradition for the pledges. However, things were going to be a little different…ok, a lot more different this time around.

Tommy walked in, clutching his left arm with his right arm. “Rusty! Is everything ready?”

“Yep! The girls are here and the chairs are in place,” Rusty affirmed.

“Awesome,” Tommy grinned.

“Yeah, well. Just four pledges this year, though,” Rusty remarked.

Tommy let out a grunt of annoyance. “You know how I feel about letting that guy pledge. And what about the…stuff?”

Rusty frowned. “Hey, that’s your business. I’m not going to be responsible for that.”

“Come on!” Tommy insisted. “Just ask Quinn or Riona for me.”

“I know I can’t stop you from doing it, but I want no part in it. That’s all on you,” Rusty warned.

“Whatever…that can wait,” Tommy scoffed, a grin returning to his face. “Time for the fucking ceremony!”

**********

When Prince came to, he heard voices chanting in the darkness. His neck was still aching, he couldn’t see anything even while his eyes were open, and he had absolutely no idea where the heck he was.

“Brothers. Before us, we have a new generation of maggots. A DIK is not something you become overnight. DIK is the title you earn through sacrifice and loyalty. Will any of these maggots before us be worthy?” a loud voice echoed through the room.

So this was some kind of test he had to pass?

“Do you, maggot, wish to rise and become a DIK?” the voice asked.

“I do!”

“Then you will be tested.”

Prince didn’t recognize the pledge’s voice and didn’t have time to contemplate on who that person might be.

“Do you, four-eyed maggot, wish to rise and become a DIK?”

“...what?”

He recognized the second pledge’s voice as SB’s, which only left him with even more questions.

“And of course this fucking guy has to ruin it…” the voice grumbled. “Well fuck you! You’ll still be tested! How about you, maggot? Do you wish to rise and become a DIK?”

“Fuck yes!”

“Derek?” Prince gasped.

“Bro?”

“Then you will be tested. Now for the last maggot!” the loud voice announced as he felt someone jab him in the side.

“Do you wish to rise and become a DIK?”

Prince swallowed and gave his answer with one word. “Yes.”

“Then you will be tested.”

The voice continued on with the announcement. “The path to becoming a DIK is both long and hard. And tonight, you will take your first step on that path! Brothers! The time has come! It’s time for the annual…”

All at once, everything lit up in a rainbow glow as Prince felt someone yank the blindfold off of him. 

“...CUM-petition!!!”

He saw Tommy raise his hands in the air as loud party music started blaring from the bass boosted speakers around the room, with several other voices cheering on the DIKs, matching the volume of the party music. Through the overwhelming surges of light and noise, he looked down and saw that he was still in his underwear. Craning his head to the right as far as he could, he saw that SB was also only in his underwear. He presumed that Derek and the other pledge were dressed down to their boxers as well.

“Ensure that these maggots are tied up real tight!” Tommy instructed.

Nick, John Boy, Jacob, and another DIK arrived with ropes, binding the pledges’ hands to the chairs they were sitting in.

“Hey, what are you doing? That’s way too much!” Prince objected.

“Wha–ow! That hurts!” SB cried out.

Derek was so ecstatic that he didn’t attempt to resist. “This. Is. Awesome.”

“Bring in the girls!” Tommy called. “Tonight, the 4 of you will become 3!”

From the door to the right, four girls strode into the main room, the first three of whom were dressed in various styles of black lingerie, all of which left little to the imagination. Riona donned a strapless bra with stockings and flats, Camila wore a push-up bra and went barefoot, and Quinn merely had nip slips to go with her high heels and her own stockings. The fourth girl was a striking redhead who opted for a short dress that matched the color of her hair and highlighted her cleavage and legs.

“The DIK tradition of pairwise testing lives on, but with a twist!” Tommy declared. “Not just two, but three maggot brothers! We’re not accepting more and we’re not accepting less!”

The redhead walked towards the unnamed pledge with a confident smile on her face, Camila waltzed onwards to Derek with curiosity, Riona cooly and calmly strutted her way to SB, and Quinn sauntered over to Prince, pressing her knee against his chest with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

“The rules are simple! If you cum…you lose!”

Tommy paused momentarily, letting his words hang there before giving the four women the green light. “Ladies, they are all yours.”

Another round of cheers ensued as they got onto the guys’ laps and started grinding on them.

“Hey there, perv boy. I’ve called dibs on you,” Quinn smirked as she moved her hips. “I’ll make you my bitch in no time.”

Prince remained silent, focusing on maintaining his composure so as not to finish too soon. SB felt like he was going to lose himself in all of the chaos, the prospect of which kept him on high alert. Derek simply let himself go and embraced the delightful sensation, moaning out unabashedly.

“What’s the matter? I don’t grind you as good as Maya?” Quinn mocked.

Prince’s eyes widened. “What?”

Quinn laughed menacingly. “You know…she wants to be a HOT so badly…I just wonder how badly?”

“Stop playing your fucking mind games!” Prince demanded. “Leave Maya alone.”

“Leave Maya alone? Hah, listen to you. Pathetic.”

Quinn dug her nails into Prince’s back, causing him to wince from the pain.

“For the record… I’m not the one who asked her to join. That was all her idea.”

“What’s up with the girls in that sorority, anyway?” Prince wondered. “Are you–”

“Shut up and enjoy this, pervert,” she interrupted, pressing harder with her nails.

The unnamed pledge let out a cry that cut through the music. “Ahhhh!!! NOOOOO!!!”

“Looks like we got ourselves a fast shooter!” Tommy announced.

“He’s out! We can’t have a floppy DIK in the house!” Rusty followed up.

The crowd cheering intensified as the redhead girl stood up and posed with her hands on her hips, flashing a triumphant smile at the audience while Nick escorted the other pledge out of the mansion.

“And there we have it, ladies and gents! Our new maggot brothers!” Tommy declared.

“Phew…thank god it’s over now,” SB let out a breath he had been holding for the past minute.

Tommy shook his head. “Yeah, you wish. Now we raise the stakes.”

“Mine’s already up,” Derek remarked.

“Haha! That's good,” Tommy smiled approvingly. “Because on comes the condom.”

A flash of panic crossed SB’s face upon hearing those words. He felt himself starting to sweat, all sense of composure rapidly slipping away from him. He couldn’t muster up a verbal objection, his breath having run short, and his chest felt as though it was about to collapse on itself.

Quinn winked seductively at Prince, removed his underwear, and fit the condom over his erection. Camila followed suit with Derek, but Riona remained still and utterly confused, her eyes darting between SB, Tommy, and Quinn.

“The losers…have to eat it,” Tommy dropped the bomb.

“What?!” Derek gasped.

“Uh, brothers?” Nick called out. “What’s the hold up with that maggot over there?”

SB sensed that he had become the center of attention now as Tommy stormed up to him. This was not good. Very much not good.

“What’s the matter, four-eyed maggot?” Tommy taunted. “Afraid that you’ll shoot your load too quick?”

“I can’t do this,” SB forced out, having found his voice.

Tommy’s jaw dropped, completely aghast. “Are you shitting me?! You’d rather eat a condom than fuck a HOT tonight?!”

SB faced Tommy head on and nodded. “…as long as it’s not made out of plastic.”

The crowd let out a collective gasp at SB’s response.

“BOO! Such a pussy maggot…” Tommy hissed before reaching his hand out. “Well, you know what to do, Riona!”

SB opened his mouth wide, waiting for the inevitable moment. Riona snapped out of her baffled state, taking the condom in her hands and putting it in his mouth. He initially struggled to swallow it, having to wait before it wasn’t quite as dry. But soon after, he managed it with one big gulp, hoping that his stomach would be able to handle what he presumed was latex and nothing else.

“Anyways…let’s get down and dirty, shall we?” Tommy returned to the remaining contestants.

“ Now the real game begins…” Quinn whispered, bouncing herself on Prince’s lap as Camila did the same with Derek.

The next few minutes were incredibly tense for the two pledges, in more ways than one.

“How are you holding up? You've gone all quiet on me, pervert,” Quinn teased. “Tell me how much you wish that my panties were off, right now. I bet you'd love to slide that cock into my tight, wet and cleanly shaven pussy.”

The two pledges stood their ground, neither of them willing to give in so easily.

“Haha! You're good, I'll give you that,” Quinn smirked smugly.

“One Mississippi, two Mississippi…” Prince counted aloud.

“Counting Mississippi's? How childish,” Quinn mocked. “You need tricks to not cum, huh?”

She motioned towards the redhead and Riona. “Mona, Riona, cover us up for a second.”

“Wait what are you-?” Prince asked as the two girls stood in front of them.

He heard the sound of something being peeled off, quickly realizing what Quinn intended to do to him.

“That condom was a distraction anyway,” Quinn flashed an intimidating smile.

He was having none of it. “Oh!!!!!! I came!!!!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Quinn’s face scrunched up in surprise, followed by frustration. “What?!”

“We have a winner of the CUM-petition! Derek!” Tommy declared.

“FUCK YES!” Derek shouted with triumph.

“Time for the second loser to eat the condom!”

Quinn practically shoved the condom down Prince’s throat. “Swallow it, you bitch!”

A rousing cheer from the DIKs and the audience ensued as the DIKs untied the three pledges. Prince and SB shook out their arms, trying to rid themselves of the sensation of pins and needles in them.

“The annual CUM-petition has ended and three new maggots have emerged victorious! Maggots! Take a real good look at the ones standing next to you.”

Prince looked towards SB with uncertainty, who looked towards Derek with bewilderment, who looked towards Prince with excitement. Then all three of them faced each other.

“Those dudes are your maggot brothers. And we all know what the DIK code is...?”

“Family comes first!” the DIKs pumped their fists in the air.

“If you can't prove to us that you can care for your brothers...none of you will become DIKs.”

SB blinked. “What.”

“Survive your time as maggots together and you all will become DIKs. It’s either all of you…or none of you.”

Tommy jerked his head towards the audience and pumped his fist to the air. “Enough of this! Time to start the fucking party!”

With one last boisterous cheer from the DIKs and the audience, the three pledges gathered near the countertop, with SB putting his shirt and pants back on with haste.

“So, can someone please tell me what the serious heck was that all about?” SB started, having managed to regain his composure.

“Your guess is as good as mine, SB,” Prince answered.

“Bro! Ass man! We're so in! Right?” Derek asked with a bright smile.

“I'm not so sure about this…” Prince trailed off.

“Yeah, I have to agree with Prince on this one,” SB affirmed.

“Come on! Think about it! As soon as we're DIKs we can just move from our shitty dorms to this awesome mansion!” Derek persuaded.

“If I look past the whole ‘leaving me outside naked’ part…they still fucking stunned me, put some hood on me and dragged my ass over here! And this CUM-petition...that's pretty demeaning,” Prince rubbed his neck.

SB held his index finger up. “Wait, back up. They stunned you?”

“Yes, they did. Trust me when I say that it hurt ,” Prince winced.

“Wow…that’s not what happened to me and Derek,” SB replied. “All they did was blindfold and lead us to this room.”

“Hey, you're still alive, though...and just think about it…you wouldn't have to share a dorm with my fugly sister anymore,” Derek mentioned.

“Hey, don't say that,” Prince defended. “I like Maya.”

Derek’s smile vanished, a familiar look of suspension in its place. “…what did you do to my sister?”

“Derek, calm down. I don’t think it’s as bad as you think it is,” SB sighed.

“He’s right! I didn’t do anything to her, I swear!” Prince agreed.

“Nothing…yet?”

“No, just nothing!”

Derek gave a slight nod, the suspicion disappearing from him.

“See? No need to get so worked up over this,” SB threw his hands up in exasperation.

“You promise that you will see this through with us? You're not gonna grab your bag and leave again?” Derek asked.

“I know you want this, but if I have to do a lot of crazy things, I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to do it. I'm having a real hard time overlooking what they did so far…” Prince trailed off.

SB folded his arms. “I never thought that they’d come around on my pledge to begin with. How am I supposed to decide what to do on the spot?”

“Come on, bro! I got you clothes when you were bamboozled and let you stay in my dorm!” Derek insisted. “You owe me this!”

“Really?”

“And ass man! You’re my roomie, for fuck’s sake!”

“If you could stop calling me–”

Derek got down on his knees, raising his arms behind his head. “I really want this...this is the only reason I came here.”

“Derek,” SB stated.

“Please don't take it away from me...please!” Derek begged.

“Derek.”

“I BEG YOU MAGGOT BROTHERS! PLEASE!!!” Derek hollered, hugging his arms around Prince’s and SB’s legs.

Prince glanced around the room, seeing the strange looks the DIKs were giving them. “Dude, p-people are looking.”

“I WANT THEM TO SEE!” Derek shouted.

“ Derek .”

“BROTHERS? IS THAT YOU?!” Derek screamed.

At that moment, Prince knew that the best thing to do was to give Derek the answer he wanted to hear the most. “Yes, my maggot brothers. It's me.”

“…me too, maggot brothers,” SB spoke, resisting the urge to strangle Derek.

The DIKs gave a cheer for the pledges’ oath of loyalty to each other.

“Awesome! You won't regret this. If it gets too much for either of you I will carry the load myself,” Derek smiled with elation. “Just don't leave my side, ok?”

**********

The three DIK pledges went their separate ways, with Prince heading west to see the DIK President standing in front of the DIK with the bald-fade haircut, who was sitting on the couch with a cup of beer in his hand.

“Yeah, I saw him last week. He's doing fine...sort of…” the latter spoke solemnly.

“Tell him I miss him next time,” Rusty sympathized.

They noticed Prince, halting their conversation. “Hey! The new maggot! I don't believe we've been introduced yet. The name’s Nick,” the DIK held out his hand with a friendly smile.

Prince shook his hand. “Nick the DIK, huh?”

“Ain't that the most obvious joke there is?” Nick lampshaded.

“Nick is one of the first batch of maggots. He's been with us for the two years we've been at it,” Rusty explained. “Did you have a look around the place yet?”

“I'm planning to,” Prince replied.

“Some rooms are off-limits tonight, but make sure you take a look around,” Rusty informed.

“Will do,” Prince nodded.

“And go get yourself a drink, maggot. You've earned it!” Nick smiled.

Prince walked past them towards the black DIK with dreads guarding a door.

“Hey, man! Sorry about that CUM-petition. It's a tradition, but I hate it,” the DIK waved at him. “And to be real, I don’t blame SB for backing out like that.”

“You did it once, too, right, uh…?” Prince realized he didn’t quite catch his name yet.

“Haha, no worries. I’m Jacob.”

“Nice to meet you, Jacob.”

“Anyways, I did it last year with my maggot brother John Boy.”

“Who's John Boy?”

Jacob gestured towards a shirtless boy sitting on a small sofa with a girl in just her underwear lying against the arm. “That dude! He who always parties in his underwear with his nympho girlfriend, Elena.”

“Oh, him. Funny...he reminds me of Derek,” Prince commented.

“Ah, one of your maggot brothers. Yeah, I can see that,” Jacob nodded. “You kind of remind me of myself. I lost my CUM-petition, too.”

“That sucks to hear.”

Jacob looked aside. “It's not my proudest moment. That and a lot of other bullshit almost made me quit before I started.”

“Was it worth it?”

“This shit we do...it's crazy as fuck. But, yeah, it's worth every single second when I think about it. Also, looking around us now…man, I love this mansion. There've been so many great parties here. Such great times. How 'bout you? Are you excited or what?”

Prince didn’t quite feel the same way, still bothered by the fact that he was tazed and brought here against his will. Plus, the rowdy atmosphere of the place still had him on edge. “Nope. I think I'm just how you were before becoming a DIK...I don't really want to do all of this crazy shit. But I have to admit that this house is great,” he was willing to admit that much.

“Just push on, brother...oh, I'm not supposed to call you that yet. Push on, maggot son,” Jacob encouraged. “When this is over, I'm sure you will have a different outlook on the experience.”

The door behind Jacob opened up, and he stepped aside to let Tommy into the main room.

“What's in there?” Prince wondered.

“Tommy's room, for one. It's off-limits tonight.”

“DIKs only, huh?”

“Tonight, it's more like Tommy and John Boy only.”

“What about you?”

“Nah...I mean we do have some parties in there, too. But today it's kind of my shift. You know...family comes first.”

“Alright…see you, Jacob.”

Prince waved Jacob off, the fridge nearby John Boy catching his attention. While the beer cans packed inside were no surprise to him, there were many other types of drinks in there, with fruit juices, milk, and sodas all present, presumably for mixing with all of the alcohol this place had.

“Hey! Don't feel bad about losing that CUM-petition. No one's gonna hold that against you.”

Prince turned around, seeing the half-naked DIK address him. “Thanks, I guess. I'm Prince. You’re John Boy and Elena, right?”

“You got that right!” John Boy confirmed, with Elena grinning alongside him.

“An elephant in the room kind of question...what's the deal with you two? Why don't you wear clothes?” Prince questioned.

“We wear clothes. We just don't wear them at parties. It's our thing,” John Boy replied without a hint of shame.

“Why party with clothes when they will come off during the night? You should try it,” Elena followed up.

“Well, I just did that tonight. I think I prefer clothes.”

“Haha! Prude!”

“Welcome to the mansion, maggot!”

**********

On the second floor of the mansion, SB was watching two DIKs engaged in a conversation. The DIK with black hair was leaning against the wall while the DIK with blond hair had his hand on the other DIK’s shoulder.

“I just can't do it, Leon,” the DIK with black hair groaned.

“Come on, Jamie! I'm sure you can!” Leon, the DIK with blond hair insisted. “Just close your eyes when you're back there.”

“It's not that…” Jamie sighed.

“Then what is it?” Leon asked.

Jamie glanced at Arieth, who was staring back at them with lustful desire. “She's just kinda…”

“Kinda what? Fat? Ugly?”

“Stupid.”

SB was certainly not going to disagree on that one.

“Yeah, of course, she is,” Leon acknowledged. “You're not gonna write an assignment together with her. It's the devil's threesome we're talking about.”

Jamie shook his head. “You know I'd love to do that with you. But I just gotta have some integrity. You can't even have a normal conversation with that broad.”

He let out a sigh before continuing. “Also...I think Dany is getting wiser. Someone told her that I hooked up with Riona last Friday.”

So that explains why Dany was so hostile to Riona back at the library. Though SB couldn’t help but wonder who told Dany that Jamie was cheating on her to begin with.

“Well, all right. I guess I have to do it by myself then...again,” Leon frowned.

Jamie stared back at his fellow DIK and pushed his hand off of his shoulder, displeased. “Dude, are you really gonna make me feel guilty for that?”

“You always do this, though. Backing out at the last minute,” Leon replied.

“That's bullshit!” Jamie disputed.

“Really?! Remember Hell Week?” Leon reminded him.

“You're not doing that to me! Don't you forget who wore that stupid helmet for four days!” Jamie exclaimed.

“Still...you backed out, dude,” Leon pressured.

Jamie’s eyes briefly went downcast before he looked up and reached his hand out towards Leon’s shoulder with a smile. “I'm sorry...you're right. Hey…let’s do it.”

“Do what?”

“Let's go bang that moron together.”

“You mean it?!”

“Yeah.”

Jamie and Leon walked together towards Arieth, who threw her arms around their shoulders with Leon grabbing her butt, more than eager to get down to business.

“Well then. Seems like he hasn’t learned a thing from last time,” SB thought to himself.

He opened the door to his left and spotted Ashley and Beth drinking from their cups. It was nice to see a familiar face around here, though one of those faces was someone he could certainly do without.

“Hello, Ashley,” SB greeted.

“Hi, SB. I guess that competition was too much for you as well?” Ashley asked.

SB held his left arm against his chest. “Yeah…I’ll just leave it at that.”

Beth glared at him with resentment. “Well deserved. Maybe you’ll know now that our cafeteria food doesn’t taste like shit.”

“Oh, you’re here, too,” SB sighed. “Is this the part where you threaten to throw a drink at me again?”

Beth held her drink up, clenching her fingers around it. “Wanna find out? I’m not on duty, you know.”

“Okay, okay! Geez, I’m sorry about the joke,” SB relented, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice. “Now could you please stop?”

Ashley tugged on Beth’s arm, and she held the drink up to her mouth, downing the rest of it in one go.

“Well, since you apologized…I was thinking that I’d give you a second chance at our cooking club,” Beth spoke up, having calmed down a bit.

“Oh?”

“Ashley kept insisting on it, so I figured, why not?” Beth shrugged.

“Well, as long as you don’t threaten me like that again, I would like to help out,” SB replied. “I have experience with cooking and know some tasty recipes for that.”

“Cool. Our next meeting is this Saturday at 11am,” she informed.

“You meet on weekends?” SB wondered.

“Is that going to be a problem for you?” she asked.

“Not really. I was just curious, that’s all.”

“Guess I’ll see what you got in store for us then.”

SB walked off, looking back just in case Beth’s temper suddenly flared up again. To his relief, nothing happened, and he entered the small hallway, which had three doors in it. He tried the rightmost door, and it opened up to reveal the villa. Currently unoccupied, it contained multiple rooms along with a preset dining table beneath him.

He figured that didn’t have enough time to keep exploring the villa, so he retraced his steps back. Along the way, he saw a blond girl standing near the door with a black string dress.

“Hello. How’s the–” SB started.

“Go away,” the blond girl spat. “I don’t talk to maggots.”

“I was just greeting you,” SB frowned. “No need to be so rude.”

“Get lost, maggot,” she hissed.

SB ignored her and stepped down the stairs, meeting up with Prince and Derek at the countertop.

“Bro! Ass man! This place rocks!” Derek cheered. “Look at all the booze! And the girls! I'm ready for round fucking number two!”

SB looked at Derek doubtfully. “If you say so.”

Derek grabbed two cups of beer and held them out for Prince and SB. “Come, my maggot bros! Have a drink with me!”

Prince accepted the cup. “Cheers!”

“Cheers, bro!” Derek cheered.

SB folded his arms in refusal as Prince and Derek drank from their cups.

“Ass man, you have to live a little!” Derek spoke, disappointed. “Don't be such a pussy!”

SB pushed his glasses up. “I’m not being a pussy, Derek. I’m staying sober, and for good reason.”

Derek wiped a tear from his eye. “Fuck...that hit the spot!”

“Dude, are you crying?” Prince questioned.

“I'm just so...happy!” Derek looked up to the ceiling with closed eyes.

“Haha, I'm happy for you, Derek,” Prince smiled. “Party like it's the weekend!”

“There’s a school day tomorrow, you know,” SB reminded them. “Let’s try not to get carried away more than we already have.”

After he said this, two HOT girls approached the three DIK pledges. “Hey, you guys,” Sarah greeted.

“Hey, babes!” Derek winked.

“Hi,” Prince waved.

SB took a seat and silently watched the two girls, trying to get a read on them.

“So, silent boy, you’re the one who threw the CUM-petition, eh?” the other HOT girl asked.

“You had the opportunity to fuck Riona right then and there and you just threw it away? What gives?” Sarah followed up, perplexed at his actions.

SB shifted warily in his seat. He lamented that he didn’t think of the idea to fake an orgasm like Prince did. That competition was like a quick time event, one that he simply wasn’t prepared for.

“Could you drop the questions?” Prince came to his rescue. “You’re making him uncomfortable.”

“Fine…” the other HOT girl backed down. “Prince, was it?”

“Poor guy. Quinn really made you cum fast,” Sarah smirked.

“Hey, go easy on my bro! I wasn't far behind him. That Latina really knew how to grind!” Derek chimed in before looking around the main room. “Speaking of her…where did she go?”

“Camila went off with Quinn. They had some pledge stuff to prepare,” Sarah answered.

“I see. What are your names?” Prince asked.

“I’m Melanie,” the other HOT girl introduced herself.

“And I’m Sarah. Heh, this guy never seems to wear clothes,” Sarah teased.

“That's so true! He really is a pervert,” Melanie snickered.

“How many times must I say it?! I'm not a pervert!” Prince denied.

“Hahaha! I can see why Quinn likes this one.”

“Yeah, he's so easy to tease!”

“Easy to tease, my ass. I just faked cumming so I wouldn't have to fuck Quinn,” Prince clarified. “She took the condom off and wanted to put it in, but I wasn’t about to let that happen.”

“Say what?!” SB blurted out, disgust spreading across his face.

“Haha! No way?” Sarah laughed.

“She's such a slut!”

“You gotta love her.”

“Now I recognize you! You're in our gender studies class!” Derek realized.

Sarah rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I only take that stupid class because it's a fuck off class.”

“A fuck off class?” Prince repeated.

“Yeah, you know...a class that you just have to walk in through the doors to pass. Shit's so stupid. All we do is sit and talk about bullshit and we get credits for it,” Sarah ranted.

“If you find the right people to talk to, it’s really not that bad,” SB disagreed.

“Sure. If you enjoy getting verbally spanked by those feminists, that is,” Melanie snarked.

“Sit and talk? You're lucky; I had to listen to someone named Dany yell at me for being a ‘degenerate male’,” Prince sighed.

SB snorted upon that phrase being mentioned.

“Hah! Exactly!” Sarah agreed. “Like this new HOT pledge...what's her name again?”

“Maya,” Melanie reminded her.

“Yeah, Maya! I sat and discussed with her...what a friggin' moron,” Sarah scoffed. “She went on and on about how women use their bodies instead of their minds to get ahead.”

“Yeah, she's such a fucking hypocrite,” Melanie mocked. “Considering how she got this guy to come here.”

“Hey, easy! That's my sister you're talking about!” Derek shouted.

“Save the attitude, Sarah and Melanie. She’s nothing like that,” Prince defended.

“You two are just plain mean,” SB scowled. “Not that I expected more from the likes of you.”

Sarah and Melanie walked off with a huff. “Whatever!”

“Hey...thanks, you two. It's not easy turning down pussy like that...I appreciate it,” Derek admitted.

Prince nodded. “Anytime, Derek.”

“I don’t make a habit of conversing with jerks like them. Simple as that,” SB replied.

**********

Tommy approached Prince with a smug grin. “Maggot! There you are! I forgot to tell you...I'm your father.”

Prince raised an eyebrow. “Did you adopt me?”

“Shut up! This is not a joke,” Tommy snapped. “Rusty got Derek, Nick’s handling SB, and I’m stuck with you.”

“That's one way to look at it,” Prince noted. “So, you're responsible for me now?”

“Fuck no!” Tommy stomped his foot. “I'm not responsible for shit! This just means I'm in control of you and get to punish you when you disobey.”

Tommy slapped Prince on his back. “You better fucking behave.”

From the door to the right, Sage, Quinn,and Riona entered the main room in their pink and black HOT outfits, while Camila and Mona followed them in. Maya slowly stepped in, staying closer to the door than the others.

“Ok, boys! Now the party can start for real!” Quinn declared. “Listen up, you manly DIKs and floppy maggots. You DIKs have your nasty traditions to keep and us HOTs have ours.”

Prince’s eyes landed on Maya, who looked like she’d rather be anywhere else.

Quinn and Riona stepped aside, extending their arms out towards Camila, Mona, and Maya.

“May I present to you, the fresh batch of HOT pledges,” Quinn announced.

A wolf-whistle sounded from several DIKs.

“They look good, don't they?” Quinn grinned approvingly. “Now as you all know, we usually do our ritual with the jocks…”

“BOO! FUCK THE JOCKS!” Leon hollered.

“Yes, fuck the jocks!” Tommy shouted.

“But your always-so-nice vice president Tommy, here, made us an offer we couldn't refuse,” Quinn continued.

“That's right, baby! Woooo!!!” Tommy cheered.

Sage pulled Quinn aside, surprised. “What?”

“I’ve got this,” Quinn whispered back before turning back towards the rest of the students. “So tonight, we're making our ritual into a HOT DIK tradition!”

“FUCK THE JOCKS!” John Boy bellowed.

“FUCK THE JOCKS IN THEIR TIGHT MUSCULAR ASSHOLES!” Jamie yelled.

Cue awkward silence from everyone else in the room.

“NO HOMO!” Jamie added with haste.

“Ladies...you've been told what the ritual implies,” Sage instructed. “Go find yourself the cutest DIK at the party and make out with him.”

“Hey, redhead! Come here!” Jacob reached out towards her.

“You, Latina! What about me?” Leon asked, his question more of a demand.

Mona and Camila approached those two DIKs with flirtatious smiles, while Maya stayed frozen to her spot. Her eyes met Prince’s, and she walked up to him.

“Hey…would you like to…you know?” Maya hinted.

“To help you?” Prince asked with tact.

Maya nodded. “Yes.”

“Sure...but we need to talk,” he informed.

“I know…”

Quinn saw the exchange between them and marched towards Maya, annoyed. “Stop it. You fucking suck at following directions. Didn't you hear what Sage just said?”

“Yes, to go find the cutest DIK to make out with,” Maya nodded.

Quinn crossed her arms and scowled. “So you can listen! I guess you're just stupid, then.”

“Too far, Quinn. Can't you see that she's uncomfortable?” Prince urged, taking a step forward.

Derek barged in, having overheard the conversation. “Yeah, back the fuck off, Quinn!”

“You’re so angry, lil dicky!” Quinn smirked mockingly. “You've got a soft spot for barbie here, huh? Wanna be her Ken doll?”

Quinn stared at Derek’s crotch, while Prince, Derek, and Maya stared at her with widened eyes, utterly appalled.

“A shame you’re a limp noodle down there, though,” Quinn insulted.

“What the FUCK is wrong with you?!” Derek yelled. “Do you have some kind of fucked up incest fetish?!”

Upon hearing those words, a brief look of shock crossed Quinn’s face, the realization hitting her in the face. “Oh. Good to know.” 

She turned back to Maya, back to being annoyed. “Either way...this maggot here is not a DIK, yet. So, go find yourself another pretty boy and make his night. Ok?”

“I…uh…” Maya stammered.

In an instant, the entire room went pitch black as the speakers suddenly cut out. Gasps of surprise rose out from the crowd, followed by murmurs of confusion. SB and several others whipped out their phones and turned on the flashlight function, and the bright lights popping up caused Prince to wince.

Then the sound of shattering glass pierced the room, and all hell broke loose.

“AH!” Mona shrieked.

“What the hell?!” Rusty cried out.

The students were all scrambling in the darkness, trying to avoid the glass shards that they couldn’t see. Some of the phones were dropped, cutting out their sources of light, and many of the guests bumped right into each other, resulting in even more cries of fright to go along with the sounds of breaking glass not letting up.

SB kept his composure intact this time. After the competition earlier, he was not about to freeze up like that again. With his phone, he could see that what busted through the windows were dildos of various colors and sizes. He gripped his phone tightly, trying to find the main door. Once he pointed the light in the correct direction, he saw someone frantically dash towards the door and out of the mansion.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist for the DIKs to figure out who was behind this attack. “ALPHAS!”

Rusty, Tommy, Jacob, Jamie, Leon, Prince, Derek, and SB gathered outside the front to see the alphas all standing with anger, with John sporting a look of triumph on his face.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!” Tommy screeched.

“Giving you DIKs a party-wide black eye,” John jeered.

One of the alphas turned towards John, dumbfounded. “Dude, did you seriously just out yourself like that?”

“What, I go through all that trouble and that’s all you have to say to me?” John complained. “I was totally the man this time, Alex! Where’s my goddamn respect?!”

“So you’re the one who caused the blackout!” Rusty realized.

“How the fuck did this douche get inside so easily?!” Tommy seethed.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” John answered with smugness dripping from his tone.

“Anyways…” Chad slapped John’s back before wheeling towards the DIKs. “We know the HOTs are in there with you! SAGE!”

“So what? Are you jealous because they'd rather party with us than watch you bench at the gym on a Thursday night?” Tommy retorted.

“Monday is chest day! Thursday is leg day!” Anthony interjected.

“Then go squat on each other's cocks!” Tommy taunted.

Jimmy hurled a dildo towards Tommy, striking him across the chin.

Derek recovered from his initial shock and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Yo, Chad! You got yourself a personal stash of dildos or what?”

Chad glowered at Derek, but that only made him smile back, unfazed. “Oh, my mistake. You must have pulled them out of Dawe’s ass.”

“Ohhhhh!” the DIKs let out a collective gasp.

Dawe curled his hand into a fist. “Look, Chad! See who it is?”

Chad did a double take upon spotting Prince and SB among the crowd of DIKs. “Prince?! And that son of a bitch, too?! What the hell are you two doing with those DIKs?!”

Prince opened his mouth, but nothing came out, unable to think of what to say.

“Typical fucking dickheads!!! Always stealing what's ours!” Dawe shouted.

“Dawe.” SB stepped forward, making his voice loud and clear among all the shouting between both sides. “The women from Eta Omicron Tau are not your property, or anyone else’s for that matter. They made the choice to party here themselves.”

Dawe looked ready to start charging towards SB, but Chad set his hand down on Dawe’s shoulder as a silent warning. 

“I never thought I’d agree with the four-eyed maggot, but yeah, you alphas can get fucked!” Tommy denounced. “Times are changing! You guys are out, we're in.”

Jimmy shook his head in denial. “Doesn't look like that to me.”

Sage rushed out of the mansion, making a beeline towards Chad. “Sage!”

“Yes, I hear you, Chad. Jeez!” she huffed out. “What the fuck were you thinking? You could have hurt someone!”

“Stay the fuck away from the HOTs or next time it won't be dildos coming through the windows!” Dawe seethed.

“What the fuck does that even mean?” Rusty demanded.

John flipped the bird with his right hand. “CUNTS!!!”

All together, the other alphas flipped the bird as well, save for Anthony, who held up his index finger instead, before they proceeded to storm off.

**********

“Fucking jocks!” Tommy growled as the DIKs returned to the mansion, the main room now lit up again.

Nick arrived from the door to the left. “Hey, the girls left. And I got the power restored as well.”

Jacob held his fist up to Nick. “Thanks, bro. We owe you one.”

As Nick returned the fist bump, Rusty let out an exasperated sigh. “It's been getting worse every week since last semester.”

“This time they went too fucking far!” Tommy ranted.

“What's the deal with you guys and the jocks?” Prince questioned.

Rusty raised a finger. “Well it's-”

“Hey! That's my story. I'll tell it,” Tommy cut him off. “Gather around, maggots. It's history time! For thousands of years-”

“One year,” Rusty corrected.

“…the alphas and the DIKs have been at war-”

“Been mad at Tommy,” Jacob clarified while holding back a snicker.

“Hey, shut up!” Tommy barked, prompting a laugh from the rest of the DIKs. He cleared his throat before proceeding to recite his story, poem style.

“ It all started a cold Friday night. In a dark muddy alley, a local bar shone bright.

Arieth the HOT sat alone and so bored. Her tri-alpha boyfriend had passed out on the floor.

In came a charming and valiant DIK. He said ‘Come follow me and I'll show you a trick.’

He made her laugh, he made her cry, he made her orgasm twice. But what he had done wasn't proven so wise.

The jock soon found out and gathered his pals. They beat the poor DIK and told him ‘No one fucks with our gals.’

That marked the start of the thousand year war. And it all started in that small local bar. ”

“Tommy fucked Dawe's girl and he beat Tommy for it,” Jacob summarized.

SB put a finger up to his chin. “So what you’re saying is that it’s all his–”

“Enough chatting! Maggots! You have work to do,” Tommy ordered. “These plastic cocks aren't gonna pick themselves up.”

The DIKs left the pledges to pick up the dildos.

“Man, what a weird fucking party. I've never seen this many dildos before,” Derek spoke, grabbing one of them from the floor.

“Me neither...I haven't even seen one before,” Prince admitted.

“I knew a girl who said ‘everything's a dildo if you push hard enough,’” Derek imitated while holding up a giant black dildo.

Prince laughed while SB shook his head in annoyance.

“Where do we put these…things, Rusty?” SB hesitated.

“Give them to Jacob. He will save them until we plan our revenge,” Rusty replied.

“So, we're getting them back?” Prince asked.

“Of course!” Rusty smiled.

After collecting the rest of the dildos, SB and Prince approached Rusty.

“Rusty. Can we talk?” SB spoke first.

Rusty nodded. “What’s up?”

SB stood straight, looking Rusty in the eye. “Prince told me that he got tased before the party tonight. Do you have an explanation for this?”

“You guys are so fucking mean,” Prince groaned. “You left me standing outside with no clothes...and you used Maya to fool around with me and stun me! It hurt like fucking hell and I almost pissed myself!”

“Was all of this really necessary for our initiation?” SB inquired. “Having to steal panties and do this ‘competition’ and using the HOTs even when one of the pledges was clearly uncomfortable?”

“What? Hold up,” Rusty held his palm out. “First off, that naked thing...yeah it sucks, but it's tradition. We take traditions very seriously around here.”

SB cast a look of doubt towards Rusty. “Traditions, huh?”

“Just ask Jacob how it is. When he did his initiation, he was arrested. He was mad as fuck and wanted to beat the shit out of us. But he sucked it up and if you ask him today, it's one of his fondest memories of this place. It gets tough at times, especially early on, but we're not evil. We're a family. And just like real brothers, we occasionally give each other a hard time. But we still love each other. Once you're a DIK, you'll be treated as an equal and you'll get friends for life,” Rusty explained.

“I see…” SB trailed off.

“So, sorry about the tradition rubbing you two the wrong way. It's a way to thin out the herd. If there's a slightest part of you who wants this, just shrug it off and push on. I think you'd look really badass in one of these jackets,” Rusty continued. “Oh, and that Maya thing. I've no clue what you're talking about. We asked the HOTs to bring you guys here. That's all I know.”

“Oh...well, there's a part of me that wants this...and it's a great way of thanking Derek for helping me. And if SB’s in, then I’m in,” Prince admitted.

“I also have no intention of quitting this early on,” SB clarified. “I was just curious, that’s all.”

“Just enjoy it, dudes!” Rusty beamed. “You'll remember these days for the rest of your life.”

“Oh! And also…I was wondering, since I'm a pledge-” Prince started.

“A maggot.”

“Since I'm a maggot and all…” 

“I know you want to, but you can't stay in this house,” Rusty denied.

Prince’s face fell in disappointment. “Why not?”

“You know. DIK rules.”

“But after I become a DIK, I'll get a room, right?”

“It's a small house...so there aren't really any rooms left.”

“What are you talking about?” SB questioned. “This mansion is rather enormous.”

“Yeah, but all the proper rooms are kind of taken. But…hm…there's a janitor's closet…” Rusty recalled.

“That will do!” Prince cut in.

“...that Derek already called dibs on,” Rusty finished.

“Hey, if you don't mind spooning, feel free to stay with me. I’m very gentle,” Derek proposed while holding the black dildo up to his crotch.

Prince vehemently shook his head at Derek’s offer.

“And an old shitty library,” Rusty replied, pulling a face. “But dude...to be honest...it's disgusting. No one ever goes in there...you know...except for when the bathroom is occupied.”

“I'll take it. I know how to use a mop,” Prince answered.

“I'll think about it. But rules still apply...it's a DIKs only house.”

“Ok. Let's discuss it when I'm a DIK, then.”

“I think the maggot here meant to say ‘if’ I become a DIK,” Tommy butted in. “Hell Week is coming up. I expect you to fail miserably.”

“Hell Week? What’s that all about?” Derek asked.

“If you thought running around naked on campus was bad...prepare yourselves,” Tommy warned. “All right! That's it for tonight. Time for you maggots to get the fuck out of here.”

**********

Prince, Derek, and SB began their journey back towards the east wing. Dusk had long set in, and SB involuntarily let out a yawn. Having realized how tired he was, SB checked the time on his phone.

“2 am…” SB read out loud. “Holy moly, we’ve been up extremely late.”

“Isn't this exciting?” Derek chimed in, having brought back a dildo with him.

“Why didn't you leave that thing with Jacob?” Prince grimaced, feeling the exhaustion catch up to him.

“Just think about the parties we will have in there! Booze all over! Girls everywhere!” Derek perked up.

“And who could forget the delightful scent of piss?” SB rolled his eyes.

“…you’re weird,” Derek remarked.

“Says the persistently shirtless guy,” SB fired back.

“Did you see that new HOT girl, Camila?” Derek wondered. “I know you're the ass man, but man...I wouldn't mind using her ass as my own personal bouncy castle.”

“No I’m not. And for the record, I didn’t even talk to her,” SB answered, growing irritated.

Derek turned to address Prince. “Maggot bro, do you have a plan for Quinn?”

“What do you mean by that?” Prince asked.

“A plan for our revenge! Nobody treats my sister like that and gets away with it!” Derek declared.

Prince and SB shook their heads.

“I have the perfect idea for her. But I'm not sure how we should go about doing it,” Derek suggested.

“What’s your idea then?” SB inquired.

“It's really simple! I call it tits for tat,” Derek replied.

“You want us to steal her clothes,” Prince translated.

“Yes!” Derek gave a wide grin and made a fist with his other hand. “Maggot bro, ass man, and D-boy are operating on the same fucking wavelength!”

“Not quite me, though,” SB refused.

Derek’s face fell flat. “Whaaat? Why not?”

“Out of the three of us, he didn’t get his clothes stolen, so…” Prince reminded him.

“It’s not that, Prince,” SB refuted. “Stealing her clothes wouldn’t exactly be a very effective revenge prank.”

“Come on, ass man! This is the perfect way to get back at her!” Derek pressed on.

“That woman has no sense of shame. Do you really think stealing her clothes will make her feel it?” SB pointed out.

“Now that I think about it…she’d probably just laugh and call us perverts. And I really don’t need to hear that bullshit coming from her or her posse any more than I already did so far,” Prince groaned.

“Alright…but we’re still going to find the perfect way to prank her, you hear me?” Derek insisted.

“In due time, Derek, or as you say, ‘D-boy’,” SB relented.

“You call yourself D-boy? Is it because you talked to John Boy at the party?” Prince wondered.

Derek gave a slight chuckle as his answer.

“You’re an idiot,” Prince sighed.

“Hah! You sound just like sis,” Derek snorted.

SB yawned again, this one going on longer than his previous yawn. “Okay guys, I am well past my usual bedtime. Don’t blame me if I’m a bit cranky tomorrow morning, ok?”

The three maggot bros arrived at the east wing, and Prince parted ways with the other two to find Maya’s dorm. After everything that transpired tonight…they needed to talk.

Chapter Text

Prince found that the door to Maya’s dorm was left slightly ajar, and he entered to find the lights off. 

“Hey? Are you here?” Prince called out, looking around the room until his eyes landed on Maya sitting on her bed, pressed up against the corner.

Maya slowly raised her head towards him. “I was hoping that you wouldn't notice me and just go to sleep…”

“Then you should have hidden in the closet or something. I’m not like those nosy kids, snooping as usual, you see,” he joked.

She gave a light chuckle in response.

“I'm sorry for what happened…” she apologized.

“Are you going to tell me why you did it?” he questioned.

She turned her head away, taking a breath. “I can’t…”

Prince gave Maya a meaningful look. “Maya, I hate to say this, but we need to talk. Not just about tonight, but yesterday night as well.”

He took a few steps closer towards her, stopping in front of her bed. “I don’t think our living arrangement is going to work out if we can’t be 100% honest with each other about this.”

Several moments of tense silence passed as Maya curled up into a ball. Prince was about to break the silence when she lifted her head up, her eyes still focused on the bed beneath her.

“Initiation…that’s what Quinn called it,” she explained. “You know that rumor about the HOTs giving out free tuition?”

“I remember that, yes,” Prince nodded.

“She said that she might have an offer for me, if I passed the initiation. The first thing she had me do was go into the bathroom in just my towel. After that…you know the rest,” Maya continued. 

She turned her head towards him with a look of curiosity. “Why did you have those panties, anyway?”

“It was the same for me. Sneaking into the HOT house to steal a pair of panties for the DIKs…that was my initiation,” Prince clarified. “I really didn’t do it to be a pervert or anything like that.”

“But you still went through with it, didn’t you?” Maya followed up.

Prince’s eyes glanced down briefly. “…yeah. It was stupid of me to go through with my initiation, and I didn’t think that you would be there.”

He hesitated, suddenly finding it tough to look at her as well. “Did I…hurt you?”

Maya patted the other side of her bed down. “Come here, Prince.”

Prince sat down on her bed, waiting for her response.

“What you did was pretty stupid…but you couldn’t have known that you were being used. The mishap with the towel wasn’t your fault, either. And more importantly, you stopped Quinn from forcing me to strip,” she answered. “So…no, you didn’t hurt me.”

“That’s good to hear…” Prince let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding.

Now that they cleared the air on his initiation, there was still hers to address. “So what about you?”

“Huh?”

“Why did you wake me up like that?”

Maya went quiet momentarily before beginning to speak. “Quinn told me the DIKs had made a deal with the HOTs. They asked the HOTs to have their new pledgers go wake up the DIK pledgers.”

She brought a hand up to her face. “I found out that the other girls actually just woke them up. Not in the way I had to do it.”

“So she told you to go grind on me and stun me because of that ‘free’ tuition?” Prince wondered.

“ Told me to go do it? No way!” Maya objected. “She and her friends wanted to watch me do it. I only saw the taser at the last moment…I didn't know that she planned to stun you! I swear!”

Prince sat there in silence, trying to process her words.

“And about the tuition…it’s more like it was the hope of getting free tuition,” she added.

“Quinn didn't even offer you it?” he questioned.

“She said that she might have an offer for me, if I passed the initiation...but not what for,” she answered.

“You shouldn’t trust her, Maya,” he warned.

“Why?”

“She’s seriously messed up. During the CUM-petition, she tried to remove the condom, so I had to fake an orgasm to get out of it,” Prince grimaced after recalling that moment.

Maya’s eyes widened, and she shifted warily on her bed, disturbed. “Wow…and here I thought that joke she made with Derek was fucked up. Maybe I could talk to Sage, instead? She seems kind of cool.”

“I guess,” was Prince’s response. “Personally, I don’t trust her myself, but maybe she’ll be able to help you out.”

“Anyways…” she took another breath before continuing. “I can't believe I used you this way...can you forgive me?”

His expression hardened. “Just so we’re clear, you didn’t do anything else to me before I woke up, did you?”

“No! Nothing beyond that!” she exclaimed instantly.

He relaxed his posture upon hearing that. “That’s a huge relief…and I understand that it’s not your fault that you got used as well. Plus, you let me off the hook for what I did, so it wouldn’t be fair of me to hold it against you. I forgive you, Maya.”

She gave a light smile. “Thank you…”

“So you're being 100% honest with me now?”

“Maybe 90%...”

Prince chuckled before moving on to something else that had been on his mind throughout the conversation. “Seriously, though...are you really that desperate?”

Maya shifted uneasily. “What do you mean?”

“That you would do anything they tell you for money?” he asked, not beating around the bush.

“No...I don't know,” she muttered, turning her face away. “You just don't understand where I'm coming from.”

“Well, I want to understand,” Prince replied. “And I promise I won’t tell anyone about it, ok?”

Maya let out a quiet sigh of frustration.

“Maya?”

“Please, don't press me on this,” she spoke, her voice shaking.

“Why won't you let me? What is it you're afraid of?” he insisted.

She bit her lip and clenched her fists on the mattress.

“If you think I’d judge you, I would never do that!” he spoke, a bit louder than he intended.

Maya slammed her fist on the frame of her bed with an intensity that took him aback.

“I KNOW!” she snapped. “I want to trust you! I do! But all my life, everyone else always judges me! ALL THE FUCKING TIME!”

Her breath hitched as she continued to rant. “They say, ‘Maya, why don't you do that? Maya, why are you like this? Maya, why do you feel like that? Maya, why can't you be fucking normal?! Maya, you’re a disappointment to the Baileys!’”

She stopped herself, realizing what she blurted out. “I…”

“‘A disappointment?’” Prince repeated.

She curled up at her side of the bed. “Please...forget I said that.”

He wrapped his arm around Maya to comfort her. “Maya...you'll never be a disappointment to anyone. And if they feel that way, they’re wrong. You’re amazing the way you are.”

Maya looked up at him, his face blurry due to the tears in her eyes. She blinked several times and took several breaths until his face cleared up and she felt herself calm down.

Then she leaned in and kissed him on the lips. He froze, surprised at her kiss, but soon kissed her back, enjoying the taste of strawberry on her lips.

Eventually, they broke off the kiss, and Maya looked aside sheepishly. “I...um...I'll count that as a successful HOT ritual.”

“A what?” Prince asked.

She let out a light giggle. “Making out with the cutest DIK.”

“Oh…but I’m a maggot. A disgusting little maggot who eats raw meat for breakfast,” he stated with a straight face.

“Haha! Quiet, silly!” Maya burst out laughing.

Prince smiled contentedly, the sound of her laughter music to his ears. Her giggling eventually died down, and all that was left was the sound of crickets chirping outside. She looked down at her bed, her reserved demeanor having returned to her.

“What are you thinking about?” he inquired.

“That I shouldn't be doing this. I've used you enough,” she sighed.

“It's not using someone if it's mutual,” he affirmed.

“Yeah...but still…” she trailed off.

“I get it.”

“It's getting pretty late...or early I should say.”

“Yeah...good night, Maya.”

Prince got up and laid down in his bed, too tired to check on the time.

**********

“Hey, you guys awake?”

SB forced his eyes open upon hearing the knocking on the door. He had, at best, only gotten five hours of sleep given that it was now 8 am.

“Yes, Nick–er, father,” he yawned out.

“What about you, my maggot son?” Rusty called out.

“I slept like a baby!” Derek piped up with gusto.

“Good. We need you two right now outside the prep mansion gates,” Rusty instructed.

“Huh? But we need to get dressed first,” SB replied.

“That won’t be necessary. Come on, let’s go,” Nick demanded.

SB saw that Derek was already about to open the door, and he got out of bed, annoyed at not even having the time to put on a shirt.

**********

Outside the Alpha Nu Omega mansion gates, Prince, Derek, and SB were doing pushups while Rusty, Tommy, and Nick were sitting on their respective sons’ backs.

“You fucked Heather again last night?” Rusty asked Tommy.

“Yeah, but sometimes, I just don't know...I tell her to deepthroat me and she just goes halfway before she starts to gag,” Tommy scoffed.

SB lamented not having ear plugs right now. To say that this was too much information was an understatement.

“Ah. Yeah, some chicks can't do that,” Rusty nodded.

“From what I’ve heard, the only HOT who can go all the way is Riona,” Nick commented.

“Oh, last semester there was that girl...what was her name, again?” Rusty tried to recall.

“Judith?” Tommy guessed.

“No, not Judith... Jo-...”

“Joanne?”

“Yes! Thank you! Man...that girl really knew how to blow that whistle.”

“Must have been nice,” Nick added.

“Yeah, she really was-” Rusty started before feeling Derek collapse. “Hey! Did I say stop?”

“Dude, I'm so tired!” Derek groaned.

“I'm not your ‘dude’. Who am I?”

“Father…”

“That’s right.”

“How are you holding up, my maggot son?” Nick asked.

SB panted, trying to keep up the pace. “Just fine…father.”

“Good.”

Tommy sat down harder on Prince’s back. “What about you, maggot? Are you quitting, too?”

“No, father,” Prince responded.

“Damn straight!” Tommy spoke in approval.

“Why do we have to do this in our underwear?” Prince wondered.

“Yeah! I don't get why that's a punishment,” Derek complained.

“Well, maggots, this was just your warm up. Time for your first real assignment,” Tommy replied.

Rusty, Tommy and Nick stood up, letting the pledges catch a break.

“See that mansion over there?” Tommy pointed at the white building in question.

“Yeah, I do,” Prince acknowledged.

“Good boy. You probably already know what greedy cunts those rich boys are,” Tommy jeered.

SB stiffened. “Do you have to use that word to describe them?”

“Shut up.”

“We have this tradition in the DIK house, and today, we're passing that torch to the three of you,” Rusty informed.

Nick pulled out three masks from his bag, each of them a different color. “Here. Take these. They’ll mask your identities.”

“I see what you did there,” Derek winked as he grabbed the blue mask, eager to put it on.

Prince took the red mask, leaving SB with the white mask.

“Their president, Tybalt, is a royal cunt. And we want you to have a bit of ‘fun’ in his room,” Tommy ordered.

SB bit back a retort and instead asked, “What’s the ‘fun’ thing this time?”

“Get creative. But we need photo proof,” Rusty explained.

“I got my phone with me, so we're all good,” Derek smiled, tapping his crotch.

Prince stared at Derek, surprised, while SB pulled a face and looked away. They turned towards the brick wall surrounding the mansion and began scaling it. Once they reached the top, Prince and Derek jumped down on the grass, while SB slid down the wall with his hands.

“Oh man!” Derek grunted. “This is so exciting! I feel like a secret agent.”

“You look like one, too,” Prince joked.

“Come on, guys. Focus. I don't want to get caught,” SB frowned.

“Don't worry! They won't see us coming,” Derek boasted. “Now, if I was a rich president...where would I live?”

Prince and Derek slowly approached the mansion while SB lingered behind, pointing to the second floor above.

“Ah! Of course! The penthouse!” Derek realized.

Prince spotted a rope hanging from one of the white pillars. “There’s a rope we can use for that.”

“That’s too dangerous,” SB objected. “Perhaps there are some stairs we could use instead?”

Derek quickly surveyed the area. “I don’t see any fire escapes around here.”

SB sighed, shaking his head. “I’ll go first then. Don’t stare at my butt.”

“Hey, you're the ass man!”

“Stop it.”

SB climbed up the rope first, followed by Derek, and then Prince.

“Almost…there…”

“How's the view from below?”

“Your ass is so fucking sweaty…”

“Is it dripping-in-your-face sweaty?”

“Shut up and let me focus.”

Everyone stepped onto the second floor balcony, with Derek turning left, SB remaining at the center, and Prince heading right. Derek peeked into the leftmost window, staring into Tybalt’s grandiose room. SB tried the center door, only to find it locked. Prince saw that the rightmost window was open and caught a glimpse of Jill lying in her bed, dressed only in her underwear. He quickly turned around and pressed himself against the wall, not wanting to creep on her.

Jill heard the sound of someone knocking on her door. “Just a second!”

She put on some clothes and opened the door. Tybalt was eagerly waiting on the other side with a wide, white smile. He seemed to be asking her to join him to discuss their career paths, as far as Prince could tell, but Jill politely declined his offer and headed out of her room.

“Bro! Ass man! He went back into his room,” Derek notified the other two.

He saw Tybalt open up one of the drawers on the side of his bed, gazing upon whatever was inside of it. Afterwards, Tybalt rushed out of his room, calling out for Jill.

“The coast is clear! But we can't get through here,” Derek informed.

“Let's go through this window. It's open,” Prince suggested.

“And break into her room? Are you out of your mind?!” SB exclaimed.

“Relax! It’s not like we’re going to steal her money or anything. Tybalt’s our target, remember?” Derek reminded him.

SB let out a drawn-out sigh, taking his glasses off and dragging his hand over his face as Prince and Derek entered through the window. Feeling his dignity melting away by the moment, he put his glasses back on and followed them in.

They ignored everything else there and went straight for the door leading out of her room. Creeping along the wall, they located Tybalt’s door. Prince slowly and carefully opened it, and the three boys infiltrated Tybalt’s room.

“Man, this is so exciting! It's showtime!” Derek declared. “What do we do? What do we do?!”

“I have no idea...they told us to get creative,” Prince replied.

Derek took the initiative and laid down on a nearby couch on his side. He whipped out his phone from his crotch, handing it out. “Hey! Photograph me like one of your Dutch whores.”

“Yeah...that's not how that one goes,” Prince remarked, taking the phone from Derek and mentally reminding himself to wash his hands as soon as he was done.

“Cheese!!!” Derek gave a wide smile as Prince snapped the photo.

“Are we done here?” SB asked.

“No way! We're just getting started,” Derek answered.

SB looked around the room, not impressed by all the lavish items strung around. His frown deepened upon spotting a deer head hanging over the fireplace. “That deer head is as fake as it looks.”

“Are you thinking what I'm thinking?”

“No.”

“Dude, that thing is begging to be ridden. Gimme a hand!”

Prince helped Derek onto the deer head while SB stood and watched in disbelief.

“That thing is absolutely going to break,” SB warned.

“Relax, it won't break!” Derek pumped his fist in the air while grabbing onto the antler. “Whoo! Sometimes a guy's gotta ride the moose, am I right?”

“It's ‘the bull’ and that's not a moose,” Prince remarked, taking the photo.

The deer head began to creak and tip forward, and before Derek knew it, the deer head fell out, sending Derek tumbling face first into the carpet below.

“Shit! Are you ok?” Prince gasped.

“Moose 1 - Derek 0,” Derek replied, pulling himself up from the carpet.

SB shrugged in an “I told you so” manner as Derek laid his eyes upon Tybalt’s bed.

“Who should do it?”

“Do what?”

“Make sexy poses in his bed.”

SB crossed his arms. “I’ll pass.”

“Same here,” Prince refused.

“I’ve got this!” Derek spoke as he climbed onto the bed and made an overly shocked face while lying on his side and pointing with his finger. “Yes! I'm so sexy!” 

Prince followed his cue and took a picture of Derek. The rowdy boy rolled onto his back and flailed on the bed. 

“Look at me! I'm a rich boy in a rich boy bed!” Derek exclaimed as Prince snapped another photo. “My farts smell like cinnamon and my cum tastes like cotton candy!”

“Is this how you imagine rich people?” Prince asked dryly.

SB folded his hands together. “No comment.”

“Great! We have the photos!” Prince affirmed. “Let's go, I don't want to waste any more time here.”

“Nah, not yet! Let's do something else,” Derek insisted.

SB held his palm out in refusal. “Nope. You guys can keep stoking the flames if you want, but I’m out.”

“Ass man…are you a pussy?” Derek teased.

SB blinked.

“And you thought I was going to feel insulted enough to keep going? Not gonna work on me,” he reiterated.

“Guys, we don’t have time to argue,” Prince spoke up.

By the time he said this, though, Derek had already walked over to the bathroom.

“And he’s gone…great,” SB groaned.

He peeked out of the door and saw Tybalt walking back towards his room while holding a pair of underwear up to his nose. An unpleasant feeling of disgust ensued, followed by a harrowing sensation of dread spiking up in him.

“It’s Tybalt. Get Derek out of here now,” SB urged, instinctively locking the door.

“I’ll go get him,” Prince responded, rushing over to the bathroom.

Once he was alone, SB looked towards the window in the room. He found the locks and twisted them, letting him open up the window. With his heart racing by the moment, he pushed himself through the opening, landing on the balcony and making his way towards the pillar with the rope.

Upon looking down over the edge of the railing, SB suddenly stopped in his tracks. He tried to reach out and take that crucial step forward, but his limbs wouldn’t budge. It was as though the blood in his veins had undergone flash freezing.

If only he could just empty out his mind right now…this wouldn’t be such a huge problem.

He heard Prince and Derek rush out of the now-open window, the latter carrying the deer head in his arms.

“I got Derek,” Prince said. “Let’s get out of here.”

SB didn’t respond, still staring at the distant ground beneath him.

“Hey, you okay?” Prince asked, now concerned.

“We don’t have the time for last minute stage fright!” Derek insisted, throwing the deer head over the railing and climbing over it to reach the rope. “Hurry up, bro and ass man!”

SB continued to remain silent, his feet glued to the balcony.

“Look, if you don’t move, Tybalt’s going to catch you,” Prince urged. “I heard him trying to open the door to his room, so he knows that something’s up now.”

That seemed to snap SB out of it, and he leaped over the railing, grabbing onto the rope and sliding down the pillar. Prince rapidly followed him, with Derek rushing on ahead with the deer head. He tossed the deer head over the brick wall and began climbing it. Prince and SB soon reached the wall and scaled it, the former helping Derek up. They landed on the grass outside of the mansion gates and took off their masks. With the coast clear, Prince let out a laugh, the adrenaline still running amok inside him.

“That shit was crazy!” Derek laughed along.

“Holy crap! Haha! My heart is beating so fast!” Prince spoke in between laughs, having to lie down on the grass to compose himself.

“Such a fucking adrenaline high!” Derek chuckled, leaning back against a tree.

SB let out a breath he had been holding for the past minute and noticed the deer head on the grass. “Petty theft, huh?”

“Oh, hey there, ass man,” Derek replied, now a bit annoyed. “Dude, what the hell was up with freezing up like that? You could’ve gotten us caught!”

“You’re not one to talk, Derek!” SB refuted. “You’re the one who continued to play with fire by going to the bathroom to do…whatever you were planning on doing there.”

“Let’s just say that it involved toothbrushes,” Prince mentioned.

“If only I could see the look on Sir Fuckboy’s face when he brushes his teeth…” Derek grinned.

“I for one hope that we won’t have to do something this brazenly asinine ever again,” SB sighed. “Though I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t want to see his reaction to what you did to the toothbrushes. That guy’s not just a tattletale, he’s a flat-out creep.”

“A creep?” Prince questioned.

“I saw him come out of the girl’s room with a pair of underwear up to his nose,” SB explained, his face twisting into a grimace.

“Oh…now that’s just disgusting,” Derek frowned.

“Hm. Seems like you do have some standards, after all,” SB snarked.

“That girl by the way...her name is Jill,” Prince brought up, wanting to change the subject.

“You know her?” Derek asked.

“We've talked a couple of times. She's really nice,” Prince answered.

“Seeing how she went out of her way to make sure that you were okay, I’d imagine she is,” SB nodded.

Prince turned towards Derek. “You got the pictures we need?”

Derek gave a thumbs up as he stuffed his phone back in his underwear. “Yeah, they will love these shots.”

“Do you always keep your phone there?” Prince had to ask.

“I like the vibration it makes when someone calls me,” Derek grinned.

“…remind me to never call you again,” Prince groaned.

“Ah, come on! Don't act like you haven't tried it. Just put it between the balls and the asshole. That's why they invented the vibrating effect,” Derek continued.

“Why would you even…you’re impossible!” SB snapped.

“We should get to class before we’re late,” Prince mentioned.

“Right,” SB stated before taking off towards his dorm in search of his clothes.

“That was quick,” Derek quipped before waving Prince off. “See you in English class, bro.”

**********

Prince and Derek arrived at their English class, with SB sitting at the front. While Prince and SB had made sure to put on the rest of their clothes, Derek continued to remain shirtless.

“I heard the DIKs were up to something this morning...did you guys have fun?” Maya wondered.

“It was a very rich experience…” Prince smiled.

Derek puffed his cheeks out while SB slowly turned his head around.

“We had some ‘homework’ to do,” Prince continued.

“Yes…you can almost say that my ass was swamped with homework,” Derek lampshaded.

“If homework was a toothbrush,” Prince finished.

Derek couldn’t contain himself any longer and laughed like a hyena.

“You guys are imbeciles,” SB muttered, prompting Derek to give him a knowing wink.

“Haha, what?” Maya chuckled, confused.

The last two students to walk into the classroom were Dawe and Anthony, who had to take the remaining seats at the very back of the class.

“Look who it is! Dawe! Welcome back! I see that we will be blessed by your presence for another year. And you brought Anthony with you. Marvelous. I hope you pay better attention this time,” Cathy spoke, not even bothering to hide the sarcasm in her tone. 

She turned to address the rest of the class. “Let's do some exercises today. You may begin.”

SB was the first to finish his assignment for the day, so he put his pencil down and waited patiently for Cathy to be done with the two alphas at the backmost table.

“No, that's not correct, Dawe. Please, try again,” she frowned.

Dawe slammed his palms on his book. “Why the fuck do I need to learn how to spell this shit?!”

“I'm with Dawe! Our phones have auto-correct! No one writes on paper!” Anthony complained.

“Sometimes a class is not about learning a skill that you will remember and have use for, but for showing that your minds are capable of passing it,” Cathy suggested.

“That doesn't make any goddamn sense!” Dawe retorted.

“Yeah! I don't remember the skills I learned in this class last year...and I already showed that I could pass it,” Anthony followed up.

“You didn't pass it, Anthony. You failed,” Cathy reminded him.

“How would you know?” Anthony muttered under his breath.

She let out an exasperated sigh, knowing that getting through those two was going to be as easy as finding a needle in a haystack. The sound of a ringtone broke out, and she turned to see that the sound was coming from Prince’s direction.

“Prince, please turn off your cell phone,” she warned him.

“Sorry, it's my dad. I have to take this,” Prince replied, getting up from his seat and exiting the classroom with his phone in his hand.

SB raised his hand, getting Cathy’s attention. “Professor Cathy?”

“Yes?” she asked, walking towards him.

“Could I ask for you to check my work?” he asked.

“Sure thing,” she replied, taking a look at SB’s sheet of paper.

When she was done reading it over, she looked at SB with a bright smile on her face. “Great job, SB. I’m very impressed with how insightful your answers are. If I had the power to let students jump ahead of their courses, I’d consider offering you to skip ahead to the next level of English.”

“Huh…” SB trailed off. “This college doesn’t do that for its students?”

“Unfortunately, there’s rules against that. They expect all students to go through the same General Education courses for their first year,” Cathy explained. “To be honest, I wish things weren’t like that, but there’s only so much I can do around here.”

“I see…that’s a shame,” SB remarked. “But I appreciate your praise all the same.”

“Keep up the good work,” Cathy nodded.

When the end of class came, SB walked out, finding Prince about to wrap up his call.

“I love you, dad,” Prince said before hanging up.

Right after he said that, Dawe and Anthony left the room, sending a glare towards Prince’s way. SB watched Dawe like a hawk, waiting to see if he was going to spout some kind of homophobic insult again, but to his surprise, Dawe and Anthony turned around and walked off without a word.

Perhaps Professor Burke’s warning actually got to them after all.

Prince, for his part, realized that Chad hadn’t broken their deal in spite of their unexpected meeting last night.

“Bro! Ass man! Did Tommy and Nick text you?” Derek went up to the two guys.

“Uh-huh. We’ve got a party at 8 pm tonight, right?” SB reiterated.

“That’s right!” Derek beamed.

“Oh…I didn’t know that,” Prince admitted.

“Did Tommy not text you about this?” SB inquired.

“Nope.”

“What a sucky father you have...if it weren’t for us, you’d miss out on the big fucking party!” Derek stated proudly.

“At least now I know. Thanks for keeping me posted, guys.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Now let’s go stuff our bellies!”

**********

Jill uneasily looked around her room in the Alpha Nu Omega mansion. One of her underwear had gone missing, and she was very unnerved that someone would do such a thing. All of the residents of the mansion were well-mannered, so it couldn’t have possibly been any of them. At least…she hoped it wasn’t any of them.

Someone knocked on her door, and she wasn’t exactly surprised to find Tybalt waiting outside. Only this time, he appeared to be distraught.

“Jill!” Tybalt exclaimed. “A bunch of thieves broke into my room and stole my stuff!”

“Huh? What happened?” Jill asked out of concern.

“I tried going back to my room, but I couldn’t open the door for some reason. So I had to get one of those servants to fetch the master key for me. When I opened the door, it was a disaster! My precious heirloom was gone, and I bet those poor scumbags stole my money from my wallet, too! My money! They must have busted my window to get in, because I never open mine to keep those bugs out. Grr…I swear when I find those dastards, they’ll know what it means to cross Tybalt Archibald Stewart Burke!” Tybalt ranted.

“I’m sorry to hear that…” Jill trailed off. “The thought of someone breaking in here is just…”

“Don’t worry, Jill,” Tybalt tried to reassure her. “I’ll save you from those dastards if they are fool enough to return.”

He stepped forward and put an arm around her. Jill suddenly smelled something awful and gently pushed Tybalt away. “Tybalt, what’s that bad smell?”

“What smell? My cologne doesn’t smell bad in the slightest!”

“It’s not that, Tybalt. It’s coming from your mouth. Why does your mouth smell like someone, er, farted in it?”

“What?” Tybalt hung his mouth open. “I just brushed my teeth before coming to see you, Jill! These pearly whites need to stay shining bright! Maybe my toothpaste has expired?”

Tybalt walked back to his room, and Jill returned to hers. While she didn’t outright dislike the guy, she found Tybalt to be rather…intense, to say the least. Then again, it’s not like she could blame him for acting up just now. The break-in had her on edge, too.

**********

It seemed like a long time since he had the time to relax, but that was just what Prince needed right about now.

He laid down on his bed in Maya’s dorm, scrolling through his phone to see if there were any messages he had yet to reply to. There was one from his dad and one from Derek.

Neil: I just sent you some money for that train ticket. I hope you didn’t buy it yet.

Prince: Don’t worry, dad, I already bought it.

Neil: Ah, keep it for your next trip, then. Love you!

He moved onto Derek’s message.

Derek: bro, u gotta check out tybalts cluck on rooster! hes flipping his shit over the missing moose!

This prompted Prince to open up the Rooster app and log in, checking out the new clucks there.

(No picture displayed. 5 likes.)

Nick@NickTheDIK

Not much I wanted to say other than congrats to our three maggots! That’s right, not just two, but three. Will they all make it through Hell Week? #DIKs #NotYourUsualThreesome

Jacob@DIKJacob: Welcome, maggots.

JohnBoy@CookingPapa: Welcome maggots.

Jamie@DIKJamie: Welcome maggots.

Derek@BigBootyLover: Thanks guys!

Quinn@QuinnOfHearts: That hashtag though…

Tommy@DIKTommyTheDestroyer: What’s with the overly welcoming attitude? We haven’t even reached Hell Week yet! 

Tommy@DIKTommyTheDestroyer: @NickTheDIK And that last hashtag is way too gay!

Nick@NickTheDIK: @DIKTommyTheDestroyer Oh, were we not supposed to do that? My bad. And I didn’t mean for it to come off that way.

Leon@DIKLeon: That’s a new Rooster tag, @CookingPapa. Why the change?

Elena@CuteButt: @DIKLeon You can thank me for that.

(Picture of the spot where the deer head is now missing. 1 like.)

Tybalt@PresidentTybaltBurke

I’ve been had! A bunch of poor thieves have stolen something precious to me. Thieves, if you’re reading this, you dastards won’t get away with your crimes! #PoorScum #AlphaNuOmega 

Gordon@Diamonds: Someone broke into your room? That’s awful!

Christian@PlayOnPlayer: What did they steal from you?

Tybalt@PresidentTybaltBurke: @PlayOnPlayer My heirloom! A deer head that I bought for $500 or so! 

Trent@LordTrent: I thought you’d have the sense not to post this on Rooster…

Rich@IAmRich: @PresidentTybaltBurke Are you alright? Jill told me that your breath smelled like a fart this morning.

Gordon@Diamonds: @IAmRich Yeah, it did smell really bad for some reason. Almost like feces.

Tybalt@PresidentTybaltBurke: @IAmRich @Diamonds Do not insinuate such things! My toothpaste is 100% pure mint to cleanse my mouth from foul germs.

Tyballs@PresidentTeaBagBukkake: @PresidentTybaltBurke Maybe you should look into some mouthwash to wash out that potty mouth of yours. #FakePosh

This cluck has been flagged as harassment.

Tybalt@PresidentTybaltBurke: @PresidentTeaBagBukkake I do NOT have a potty mouth! And I will not have the likes of you harassing me on Rooster.

Prince snickered to himself at the second post. If only Tybalt knew the truth about his toothbrush…

“What’s so funny?” Maya looked up from her book.

“Oh, nothing too noteworthy,” Prince dodged the question.

Upon noticing the time on his phone, he got up from his bed. “Ok, I'm heading out. I guess I'll be seeing you over there.”

“Over where?”

“You know? At the DIK's house party.”

“Nope, not tonight,” she shook her head. “Sage told me that the HOTs were taking the night off.”

“Hmm...it won't be as fun without you,” he noted. “So what are you going to do?”

She shrugged. “I'm thinking about having a movie night or something.”

Prince turned around, an idea popping in his head. “That sounds so much more fun. Mind if I join you?”

“You seriously would rather spend the night with me than going to that party?” Maya asked, surprised.

“Without even second guessing myself,” he affirmed.

“Wow...I...all right,” she responded, the book slipping out of her hands.

Maya jumped up from her bed, an idea of her own lighting up in her head. “Oh! You know what we could do? We could run out, get some beers and snacks, and have a fun party of our own!”

“Yes! Let's do that!”

“Yeah!”

Prince’s phone rang, and he whipped out his phone to answer it. “It's Derek.”

“Hey, where are you?!” Derek asked in an urgent tone.

“I'm still at Maya's. Hey, listen, I-” Prince started.

“Dude! Hurry up! They are waiting for you!” Derek cut him off.

“I was thinking that I would stay home tonight…” Prince told him.

“NO! You can't! Dude, don't do this to me!” Derek begged. “You promised me! Rusty, Tommy, and Nick will throw all of us out!”

Prince sighed, but complied. “Ok, but I can't stay for very long.”

“Just hurry up. They have something planned for us.”

He hung up the phone, a bit disappointed at the outcome.

“Everything good?” Maya asked.

Prince gave her a look that had bad news written over it. “Listen, I have to…”

“No worries. I understand. Another time, then,” she acknowledged.

“I can come back early. It's just that I have to do some pledge stuff,” he suggested.

“Don't worry. Look who you're talking to. I know what that's like,” she winked. “Have a nice night!”

“I'll see you soon, ok?” he told her before heading out of the dorm.

**********

Prince entered the DIK Mansion and found his maggot brothers along with Rusty, Tommy, and Nick waiting for him.

“You’re late,” Tommy glared at Prince.

“Sorry about that,” Prince apologized.

“Maybe I should’ve just dragged your ass here instead…” Tommy grumbled.

“It won’t happen again, I promise,” Prince quickly replied, trying to diffuse Tommy.

They headed on through a door and walked down the hall until they came across Tommy’s room. Tommy swung the door open and entered, with the rest of the guys following him in. In the northwest corner was a dance floor where several guests, one of them being Sage, were dancing freely.

“By the way, great job on those photos,” Rusty praised the pledges.

“Did we pass?” Derek asked.

“We'll see when it's time for your evaluation,” Tommy answered.

SB did a quick survey of Tommy’s room. “Hmm…a lot of people showed up tonight, it seems.”

“Of course! It's Friday, maggots,” Rusty added.

“One of the big party nights!” Tommy declared.

Prince spotted Jacob kissing Arieth’s neck. “Hey...the HOTs are here.”

“You're fucking right they are. Those jocks can jack each other off tonight. The HOTs want some DIK!” Tommy bragged.

“So you’re going to set them off even more then,” SB stated.

“No shit, four-eyed maggot! There's no way we're giving up partying with the HOTs just because some fucking asshole ticklers are thrown through our windows,” Tommy boasted.

“Don’t forget the blackout they caused, too,” Nick frowned before turning towards SB with a smile. “Smart move using your phone back there, SB.”

SB blinked in surprise. “Uh…thanks? If anything, you deserve thanks for getting the power restored.”

“Maya's not here tonight,” Prince brought up.

“Yeah, you're right!” Derek realized.

“Who’s Maya?” Nick asked.

“I told you about Maya, she's-” Tommy started.

“She's my sis. She pledged the HOTs...she should be here,” Derek answered for him.

Rusty rubbed the back of his head with his hand. “Hm...beats me.”

Tommy stared at Derek, surprised. “Maya's your sister?”

Sage barged in, all eyes on SB. “Heya, ‘S.O.B.!’ Come, I wanna dance with you!”

“Huh? Why?” SB questioned with a hint of suspicion.

“Hold on, Sage. These three have some maggot business to attend to first,” Tommy dismissed.

“Come find me after that, ok?” Sage asked before striding her way back towards the dance floor.

Tommy turned towards SB with a lecherous grin. “Dude...are you banging that ass?”

SB crossed his arms. “Not interested.”

“Pff…still a pussy as ever,” Tommy scowled before opening the green striped curtain behind him. “Follow me. It's time for another challenge.”

The guys walked in to find Sarah, Melanie, and Riona dressed in their HOT tops, wearing just a pair of black panties, and lying on their backs on a wide table. Riona was positioned at the center of the table, facing the opposite direction of Sarah on her left and Melanie on her right. Rusty, Tommy, and Nick poured several shots of beer and carefully balanced the glass cups on the HOTs’ mouths, hands, and stomachs.

“Are you three maggots ready?” Nick asked once all the glasses were set up.

“I suppose I am,” SB readjusted his glasses.

“Fuck yes!” Derek jumped for joy, pointing his fingers in the air.

“Sure,” Prince nodded.

“The first one to down all shots wins. But you can't use your hands when you do the shot,” Tommy explained the rules.

Prince stepped towards the long side with Sarah while Derek took the opposite side with Melanie. This left SB having to contend with one of the short sides of the table.

“Ready, set…GO!” Rusty announced.

The three pledges got to work, starting with the shot in the hand. Prince used his teeth to grab onto the edge of the glass, tilting it to let the beer fall into his mouth.

“YES!” Tommy shouted.

Not far behind, Derek used a similar strategy to gulp down his first shot as well.

“GO! GO! GO!” Rusty cheered.

SB tried lapping up the beer with his tongue, which proved to be not quite as efficient, but he still managed to finish it off.

“You can do it!” Nick encouraged.

The next shot Prince and Derek focused on was the one on Sarah’s and Melanie’s stomachs. It dawned on SB that trying to reach for the glass on Riona’s stomach was going to be much harder for him due to it being dead in the center, so he went towards the glass on Riona’s mouth instead. He got a close-up view of Riona’s face this way, and something about her eyes seemed…unique? With her tattoos and her nose piercing, she was–

He quickly shook off the feeling, remembering that he had a competition to partake in.

By the time SB wrapped up his second shot, Prince and Derek were already in the middle of their third one. Feeling the pressure from having fallen behind, SB bent over the table and tried to lick up the beer, but he overextended himself and tilted the glass over, spilling the beer over Riona’s body.

“Agh! Dag nabbit!” SB exclaimed.

“Welp, the four-eyed maggot just got himself disqualified!” Tommy jeered.

The dirty look Riona gave SB rubbed salt in the wound.

Soon afterwards, Prince and Derek drank the entire contents of the third shot.

“Done!” they announced simultaneously.

Nick was left wide-eyed. “I don’t believe it…Prince and Derek finished at the same time!”

“So is there a tiebreaker?” SB asked, trying to move on from his mishap.

“Of course there is, loser! We’ve got one more shot coming right up!” Tommy pumped his fist triumphantly.

Riona got up from the table with beer still dripping down her stomach while Rusty and Nick prepared the fourth shots. Then the guys placed the shots on Sarah’s and Melanie’s crotches.

“Go ahead, sexy. Don’t be like that loser maggot. Lick it up good,” Sarah cooed seductively at Prince.

Melanie didn’t say anything to Derek, feeling worried at his now nauseous expression.

Prince dragged the glass with his teeth up from her crotch without missing a beat, but when Derek opened his mouth in an attempt to slurp his tiebreaker shot up, he ended up throwing up the alcohol all over Melanie’s legs.

“AHHHHHH!!!!!” Melanie shrieked, jolting up from the table, which caused some of the liquid to scatter over Sarah’s body

“Oh my God! Mel, what the fuck!!!” Sarah yelled. 

“HAHAH!” Tommy snorted.

“FUCKIN' A!” Rusty joined him.

“Damn…that’s gotta suck,” Nick cast a pitiful glance towards the two HOTs, who left in complete and utter disgust. Riona followed them out as well.

“Hey, are you ok?” Prince asked Derek.

“Yeah, I'm good,” Derek raised his head up from the table. “How about you two?”

“I’m fine,” SB spoke up with a straight face, holding back a snort of his own.

“…don't worry about me,” Prince answered.

“Great work, maggots! You're relieved from your duties,” Tommy grinned.

“Join the rest for the party! Have a great time tonight,” Rusty smiled.

“A job well done for all three of you,” Nick nodded.

Derek stood up straight, having seemingly recovered from his earlier state. “It's time to get down and dirty, bro and ass man! You guys are up for it, right?”

“I think I’ve had more than enough tonight, thank you very much,” SB declined.

“Same here. I'm gonna grab some beers and head home to Maya,” Prince answered.

“You wanna hang out with my sis instead of partying?” Derek gave Prince that familiar glare of suspicion. “You're up to something.”

“Relax. I feel bad for her staying home alone tonight. I have no clue why she wasn't invited, but it kind of sucks,” Prince sympathized.

“When you put it that way...it sounds less sleazy,” Derek slowly nodded, accepting Prince’s answer before jabbing a finger at him. “Go ahead. Have fun with her...but watch your hands!”

“I promise to wash my hands,” Prince joked.

“No! Not wash, WATCH!” Derek insisted.

“Haha, I'm just fucking with you,” Prince laughed, holding out a beer towards Derek, who clinked his beer against his in response. “Have a fun night, bro.”

Prince and SB departed from the DIK mansion, the former carrying several beers in his arms, and the latter carrying several stressful thoughts in his mind.

Chapter Text

Maya had changed into a pink shirt and matching panties, ready to go to bed. Right before she was about to close her closet, she heard someone knocking on her door.

“Maya, I’m back!” Prince called out from the other side.

“Oh...you're back already?” Maya asked, opening the door for him. “Sorry, I didn't think you were getting home this early so I got myself ready for bed.”

“Yeah, I wasn't lying when I said I'd rather spend the night here with you,” he smiled.

She returned his smile with a wink before walking back to her closet. “Let me just put something more on…”

“Oh, come on! That doesn't matter!” he replied as he handed a beer bottle to her. “Look! I brought beer!”

“Haha, you really smell of alcohol,” she smirked, taking the bottle from him. “Did you drink half of it?”

“Yeah, there was some pledge stuff I had to do. But I'm not that drunk,” he insisted.

“It's ok. I'll just have to catch up with you,” she replied, tilting the bottle up to her lips.

After her first sip, she asked, “How was the party?”

“It was fun, but I don't know why you weren't invited. The HOTs were there,” he mentioned.

“The pledges too?”

“Hm...no. I don't think I saw any of them. Quinn wasn't even there.”

“Well, it doesn't matter,” she shrugged before grinning. “I get to have beer and movie night with you.”

“Actually, why don’t we have our own party?” Prince suggested.

Maya set the bottle down on her dresser next to the radio. “You'd want that?”

“Yeah! Like this,” he demonstrated, flicking the radio on, turning the volume dial up, and pushing the play button.

“We have beer and now we have music, too! All that's missing is some dancing!” he declared, drunkenly dancing by bending his knees outwards and bouncing on his feet while rocking back and forth.

She bursted into giggles, placing her hand on her chest. “Haha! My God, you look stupid!”

“Of course I look stupid. I'm drunk and I'm dancing alone,” Prince extended his arm out to her. “Come join me!”

Taking his hand, Maya laughed cheerfully as she let him spin her around until he was behind her with his hand on her side. Then she pivoted on her heel to face him, her eyes bright and full of delight. He felt his heart rate accelerate as she pushed her hands onto his shoulders, prompting him to lift her off the ground.

“Woooo!” she cheered, ecstatic from the feeling of weightlessness.

Soon, Prince gently set her back down on the ground, giving her a moment to catch her breath. Once she did, she went over to the radio and powered it off.

“Whew! That’s enough dancing for me!” she plopped down on her bed. “Come join me, Prince.”

He laid down right beside Maya, who had brought out her phone. “We're doing movie night?”

“Nah, let's skip that for tonight,” she answered. “Let me show you something else instead.”

She scrolled through her photo gallery until she found a picture featuring herself as a kid in a Santa outfit alongside someone else with a similar outfit, but with a knight’s helmet.

“This is me and Derek when we were younger,” she explained.

“Wow, you were so young,” Prince noted. “And what is Derek doing?”

Maya snickered softly. “Derek wanted to be a knight and not Santa Claus. Mom was willing to compromise, but when my dad saw this picture...he was pretty pissed at Derek.”

She swiped left, leading to a picture of her posing with her hands in the air while lifting a foot up in a wooded area.

“This place right here is where my family took us when we were kids. I have so many fond memories of the wildlife. We used to go on caravan holidays every summer,” she reminisced.

The next photo displayed an older man with his arms around Derek and Maya, with the man and Derek in black suits and Maya in a black dress. Everyone was smiling for the camera, but Maya's face didn’t appear to be looking straight ahead.

“This was taken the day of my graduation. I graduated Magna Cum Laude,” she informed.

“You don’t seem as happy in this one?” Prince gave her a concerned look.

Maya flinched. “I…it wasn’t one of my finer moments.”

“How come?” he asked.

“It just happens,” she dismissed. “We can’t all look our best for every photo, you know?”

Something about her response felt off to Prince, but he silently nodded, not wanting to risk ruining the night with her.

She scrolled to a photo where she was in the same wooded area, this time posing with her arm bent up to her forehead while Derek was jumping in the air and kicking his right foot forward. To her left was another girl striking a pose with her left foot forward and her arms in an L shape.

“And this...this is me when I'm at my happiest,” she smiled at Prince.

“Hey, isn't that the same place as in the picture from before?” he observed.

“It is,” she confirmed. “The photo is not the best.”

“I like it,” he complimented “Who's that girl?”

“Oh, she’s one of my friends who Derek had a crush on. He got together with her that night and was so happy,” she chuckled. “It didn't turn into something, though.”

She set her phone down on the floor and plugged in the charger. “And that’s all I wanted to show you for tonight.”

“This was nice,” Prince blinked, trying to fend off the feeling of drowsiness. “I felt like I got to know you a lot more tonight, Maya.”

“One day, I want to work my way up to 100% trust with you,” she smiled, before taking on a more pensive look. “But right now, there’s still some things I’m not quite comfortable telling you about. Are you ok with taking things slow between us?”
“Yes, of course,” he nodded in understanding.

Maya tilted her head to face the ceiling with her eyes closed.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“It's nothing. I…” she hesitated before continuing. “We shouldn't be kissing...and I just know that if I look into your eyes like that, it's going to happen...again.”

Prince swallowed, feeling a flutter in his chest. “Do you want to kiss?”

“I mean…if I’m being 100% honest with myself…there’s a part of me that screams ‘Yes, just do it!’” Maya confessed. “But then there's this other part...that just…”

What followed was an awkward moment of silence between the two.

“Yeah…I think I get why you feel that way,” Prince spoke up. “I won’t force you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with.”

Maya wrapped her arms around him, feeling a bit more at ease. “Thanks…”

“I really appreciate what you did for me tonight,” she whispered in his ear.

“Anytime, Maya,” he whispered back.

**********

When Prince opened his eyes, he saw someone who appeared to have Josy’s hairstyle right beside him. He blinked rapidly several times in confusion, only to realize that he had fallen asleep in Maya’s bed. The sound of raindrops echoed from the window, relaxing him.

Personally, he had more fun with the laid back hangout with Maya than competing in the drinking challenge. It almost made him wish that his attendance at the DIK house last night wasn’t mandatory.

Suddenly, he remembered that it was now Saturday, the day when he was planning to head back to see Josy and his dad. He was about to muster up the will to get out of bed when Maya roused from her slumber, her eyes abruptly going wide.

“AH!!!” she shrieked.

“AAAH!” he yelped, falling off the side of her bed.

“Oh! Fuck! Are you ok?” Maya clutched her chest, watching Prince push himself up from the floor.

“Hahaha! Fuck!” she let out a nervous laugh. “You scared the crap out of me!”

“I’m fine!” he answered. “Not used to waking up next to someone, huh?

“It's been a while.”

“Thanks for last night.”

“You too. I had a blast.”

She got up from her bed and drew the curtains, revealing the ongoing torrent of rain.

“Wow, it's really pouring outside!” she observed.

“Yeah, I didn’t expect it to sound this peaceful,” he noted. “I could get used to this kind of rain.”

“What are you up to, today?” she asked after getting dressed.

“I'm going back home until tomorrow,” he informed.

“Visiting family?” she guessed.

“Yeah, and this girl, Josy,” Prince replied. “I used to work with her this summer.”

For a brief moment, Maya’s eyes widened. “Oh…is that a date?”

“Well...it kinda is,” he admitted.

She folded her arms. “Hm. Good for you…”

He picked up on the change in her tone. “Do you know her?”

“Josy? Well…she’s one of my friends,” Maya answered. “I’ve known her since high school.”

“I see…does that make you jealous?” Prince inquired.

“Jealous? Me? Haha, why would I be jealous?” she shook her head and shrugged. “It's not like you and I date or something. So it would be pretty weird if I was jealous, you know?”

“Oh…” he trailed off. “Maybe this will make you feel better?”

He walked up and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

“You’re an idiot,” she chuckled.

“What about you? Any plans?” he changed the subject.

“It's Saturday, so probably some pledge stuff.”

“Don't do anything your brother would do, then.”

“Haha! I won't.”

“Time for me to catch a train. I'll see you tomorrow.”

Prince headed over to the door, but stopped when he heard Maya call out to him. “Wait!”

He turned around, and before he had time to react, she embraced him and planted a kiss directly on his lips.

“Maya?” he stared at her, surprised and confused.

She returned to her room with a huff. “Have a nice date.”

**********

SB took a large sip from his water bottle as he strolled towards the cafeteria. Despite getting a bit more sleep this time, his head still ached from the drinking game last night. But he wasn’t about to ditch the cooking club after agreeing to attend it, so he pushed open the doors, seeing Ashley, Beth, Karen, and several other students from his gender studies class there.

“Here I am,” SB greeted, noting that everyone was wearing hairnets and gloves.

“Good that you’re here early,” Beth gave a curt nod. “Today, everyone’s going to partner up to bake cookies.”

“Baking? I see.”

“Your partner will be the VP, Karen, over there,” Beth indicated the brunette girl with glasses.

He went over to the table Karen was sitting at and introduced himself. “Hello, I’m SB.”

“Karen.”

SB tucked his hair into a hairnet, put on a pair of gloves, and read the sheet of paper on the table. “So this is the recipe for the chocolate chip cookies. First, we’ll need to gather the ingredients and tools. I’ll go get them from the countertop.”

He departed towards the location in question to pick out everything he needed. While he was doing so, he overheard a conversation between two of the feminist students.

“Hey Suzanne, did you hear about that student who just got expelled this morning?”

“Some guy named Ben, right? What did he do, Linda?

“I heard he smashed a chessboard into a teacher’s face after he lost a chess match.”

“Geez, salty much? And we’re the ones stereotyped as hyper-emotional.”

“Men really are nothing more than angry pigs at the end of the day. Speaking of which, why the hell did Beth let a guy join this club?”

“Shh! He can hear you!”

“So what? I bet he only joined to be a pervert, so it’s not like it matters.”

Trying to shake off their disparaging gossip, he returned to Karen with haste, bringing the flour, butter, brown sugar, and chocolate chips with him in a large bowl along with a tray wrapped in aluminum foil and two cooking scoops. “Here’s everything we need.”

Karen peered into the bowl. “What about the baking soda?”

“Oh…whoops,” SB darted his eyes downward before rushing back to the countertop and returning with the missing ingredient. “ Now this is everything.”

The two students mixed the food ingredients together in the bowl until the chocolate chips were dispersed evenly, then got to rolling the dough with the cooking scoops. Once they had made 36 chocolate chip cookies, SB took the tray and set it in the mini oven for 10 minutes.

While they were waiting for the cookies to bake, SB tried to think of something to break the silence between them. “So…you’re in my Gender Studies class, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Would you want to partner up for the next discussion?”

Karen silently averted her gaze.

“I guess I’ll take that as a no?” SB wondered.

The cooking club’s vice president jolted her head up, startled. “No! I mean…”

She had to take several breaths to compose herself. “Sorry for being like this. I have social anxiety disorder.”

“There’s nothing wrong with–”

He was cut off by the mini oven’s alarm going off. “Oh, looks like the cookies are done. I’ll go get them.”

With an oven mitt, he took the tray out, catching the delicious scent of baked cookies. On his way back, Beth called out to him.

“Just so you know, you’re only allowed to eat one cookie for today,” she ordered.

SB found that to be a peculiar demand from her. “How come?”

“We’ll need those cookies for our next meeting,” she informed.

He opted to not press the matter, giving her a slight nod and heading back to the table to sample a cookie with Karen.

“They taste good,” she commented after finishing her cookie.

“I like how they’re more savory than sweet,” SB complimented. “I’d love to have more, but rules are rules, I suppose.”

With everyone else having finished baking their cookies, Beth adjourned the club meeting. Right before he was about to exit, SB turned around. “So before I go, did you want to be partners for Gender Studies?”

“Sure,” Karen accepted.

“See you on Monday, then,” he waved her goodbye.

**********

SB returned to his dorm, spotting Derek lounging around on his bed. Underneath it was several empty beer bottles.

“Hey, Derek. Did anything interesting happen at yesterday’s party?” SB asked.

“Yeah, but not in the way I would’ve liked,” Derek answered. “I wanted to bang this moronic, but hot redhead, and I was about to ask Jacob if I could join in.”

SB gave a displeased look. “Is this the part where you add too much information to your story?”

“Heh, I wish,” Derek rolled over, sitting straight up on his bed. “Right before we were about to get hot and heavy with that chick, he suddenly called it off. Said something about a red light that was flashing in the upper corner of the closet.”

“Huh. Why would there be a red light there?” SB inquired.

“Beats me. In any case, that light cucked me real good,” Derek lamented before opening up a beer bottle and guzzling it down.

SB let out an annoyed sigh. “You’re still drinking?”

“It’s the first big weekend of college, ass man!” Derek grinned. “And you know what that means!”

“...what does it mean?” SB decided to bite on that one.

“A party even bigger than yesterday’s, of course!”

That left the bespectacled boy stunned. “What?! Nick didn’t let me know about that…”

Then he realized something. “Does Prince know?”

“Yeah, I texted him about it…I think.”

“You think ?”

“I’ll call him right now just in case, ok?” Derek whipped out his phone.

“Bro! Party. Tonight. DIK house.”

“Man! Check your phone! I sent you like 10 messages about it already!”

“You know what must have happened? I think I sent them to someone else. Don't drink and text…”

SB grit his teeth and held his palm against his forehead.

“It's Saturday, dude!”

“What?! You have to come! We're gonna get kicked out!”

“Hm...it could work. You're really just going home to see your family?”

“Which is?”

“Does she have a friend?”

“I meant for me.”

“Does she swing?”

The line went silent, Prince presumably having hung up on Derek.

“Well, I sure hope they buy that excuse then,” SB stressed.

“Don’t worry about it, ass man. They’ll understand,” Derek insisted.

“Also, ‘Does she swing?’” SB scowled. “You’re one of those types, huh?”

Derek put his hands up defensively. “Dude…it’s not like that. It really isn’t.”

“And how do you expect me to take your word for it?” SB remained unconvinced.

A tense moment of silence followed between the two DIK pledges.

“...let’s just drop it, okay?” Derek asked.

“Alright…” SB conceded.

**********

Having made it back to his hometown, Prince took a detour to the store he used to work at. He searched through the aisles until he found a single red rose for his date with Josy. Right before he was about to pay for it, a former coworker, Tina, greeted him. She mentioned that Josy had abruptly quit her job at the store yesterday, and he took it as a grim sign that this might be the last time he’ll get to see his longtime crush.

With butterflies in his stomach, he brought out his phone, seeing a message from her.

Josy: Hey, are you in town?

Prince: Yeah, I just arrived.

Josy: Cool! I'm thinking dinner at my place. I'm home alone for the night.

Prince: Sounds great.

Josy: See you at 6 p.m.!

Once he paid for the red rose, he was about to leave the store behind when he heard someone crying behind one of the doors. Concerned, he entered the door to find…

“Steve?”

“What?! G-go away! You...you fucker!” Steve lashed out in anger, only for tears to immediately trail down his cheeks. “Leave me…alone…”

Despite how much of a jackass Steve had been while they were working, Prince was willing to hear that guy out. So he asked, “Hey...are you ok?”

“Why the fuck would you care?” Steve’s breath hitched in disbelief.

“I know you and I don't get along that well, but I'm not that narrow minded or evil that I'd enjoy seeing you cry. So, what's up?” Prince asked, keeping his tone gentle.

Steve faced away from Prince. “It's my mom and dad...they are getting divorced.”

Prince’s face fell in pity. “Man...that sucks.”

“My dad is the one who fucking sucks,” Steve pounded his fist against the floor. “He fucking cheated on my mom and now he's leaving her for his new whore.”

“And what about you?” Prince wondered.

“I'm gonna stay with my mom…so I just told my dad I'm quitting,” Steve mumbled out the second half.

“Wow, that's a really tough choice.”

“It's the right thing to do.”

“You staying there by your mom's side...? Yeah. That's what I would have done, too,” Prince admitted.

Steve slumped further down against the wall. “I just don't know what to do now.”

“Sure, you do. You find yourself another job and be a better person than your dad is,” Prince advised.

Steve looked up to see Prince reaching his hand out as an olive branch. “Make your mom proud, Steve. You can do it.”

Hesitantly, Steve took Prince’s hand, letting himself be pulled up to his feet. Prince was about to leave, but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey…thanks,” Steve spoke up. “I’m sorry for being such an asshole to you and Josy.”

Prince nodded, accepting his apology. “Stay strong, Steve.”

**********

The door to Prince’s home opened to reveal Neil with wide open arms.

“Hey, dad! It's me!”

“Hey, me! It's dad!”

“...really?” Prince groaned as he embraced his dad.

“You'll understand that one better when you get older,” Neil grinned. “How was the first week? Come, tell me all about it!”

What followed was Prince giving a brief recap on his first week at B&R along with his dad asking several questions that he didn’t quite know the answer to, but gave the best answer he could think of anyway.

“I'm just happy you're happy, son. Remind me, you aren't staying for dinner tonight?” Neil asked.

“No, Josy's making me dinner,” Prince replied.

“Hehe. A homemade dinner date at your age? I think this Josy is quite smitten with you.”

“I'm gonna find out tonight…”

“Did you bring a condom?”

Prince let out an exasperated sigh. “Why do you keep talking about condoms?”

“STDs aren't fun to have, son. And unprotected sex is like a candy shop full of them. You try to resist, but once you're done in there, you'll be leaving with more than you came for,” Neil rambled.

“...what?!” was Prince’s only way to respond to that.

“I'm just saying. Here, I’ll get one for you,” Neil handed his son a condom from one of the cabinets.

“You don’t have to–” Prince objected.

“Please, my son. Better safe than sorry, remember?” Neil insisted.

Though reluctant, Prince took the condom, not wanting to argue any further about it. “…ok. Anyways, I gotta get ready for my date. Thanks for the chat, dad.”

“Anytime,” Neil smiled.

**********

SB could feel his ears ringing upon entering the DIK mansion alongside Derek. The music was somehow even louder than the previous times he was there, and the humidity felt more intense, too.

“Yo, maggots!” Tommy shouted. “Where the fuck is my son?”

“He had to head back home for a family visit,” Derek replied. “Family comes first, right?”

Tommy scowled, clenching his fists. “Not that kind of family, dipshit!”

“Tommy, you didn’t even tell him about today’s party in advance. Just like with yesterday’s party, too,” SB had to raise his voice to be heard.

“Well, the three of you were expected to be here tonight,” Rusty remarked. “It’s the first weekend of college after all!”

SB faced Nick with a frustrated expression. “In that case, why didn’t you tell me about the party, Nick? I could have let Prince know about this!”

“Sorry, maggot. I forgot to text you in advance,” Nick apologized.

“Maggots, you’ve got until 8 pm before we need you back in the main room. Until then, go get ‘em!” Rusty snapped his fingers with a grin.

“Oh yeah…” Derek pumped his fists ecstatically, then struck a pose with his hands in the air. “The Big Booty Lover is in the HOUSE!”

With Derek rushing off into a room further in the mansion and the DIK fathers departing as well, this left SB to his own devices. He wandered around the main room, silently watching the other students either dance away without a care or converse with each other. Retracing his steps from yesterday, he found the stairs leading down to the lower floor. It was quieter downstairs, as there was seemingly no one else around. But behind the green curtain, SB picked up on the sound of an ongoing conversation, and he tiptoed his way to the curtain.

“You know what’s great? Not having to deal with Josy’s bullshit,” he heard Tommy’s voice.

“Josy?” a voice that sounded like Quinn’s asked.

“My stepsister. B&R’s never gonna accept a reject like her.”

He could hear the smugness in Tommy’s tone, and Quinn had something to say to that, but he couldn’t quite make out what it was. Deciding that he pushed his luck far enough, he tiptoed his way back up to the first floor. He grimaced at the resurgence of the loud music, feeling a headache encroaching upon him.

To clear his head, SB exited the mansion, taking a stroll through the backyard. He whipped his phone out and began typing into an app titled Not Ability. The air outside was cool and crisp, helping him focus on the words he was typing out.

It was a few minutes before the smell of smoke broke his concentration. He pocketed his phone, looking around to find the source of the smoke, but found nothing noteworthy in the backyard. A hunch occurred for him to look up, and there, he found Riona, lying on the rooftop with a blunt in her hand and dressed in her HOT outfit.

“Whoa…you’re pretty high up there,” SB called out to her, masking the anxiety in his voice.

Riona looked down at him and chuckled. “Heh. In more ways than one.”

“It’s not safe to be doing that. You should come down,” he stressed.

“Nah, I’m good,” she refused, taking another puff. “This is the best place for me to have a smoke without stinking up the house.”

SB rubbed his head, confused and worried. “Why do you smoke, anyway? It could give you lung cancer down the line.”

“It’s relaxing. Helps me calm down,” Riona answered.

“I’m not sure how that’s supposed to help, but alright…”

“It might help you keep your cool as well.”

SB flinched, raising an eyebrow. “What are you getting at?”

“Dude, I’ve seen you back out of the Cum-petition and fail the drinking game,” the gothic HOT stated bluntly. “You’re not gonna make it as a DIK at this rate.”

“Ugh…I had my reasons for backing out, ok?” he groaned. “And if you’re mad about me spilling beer on you, I’m sorry that I messed up with the drink.”

“I’m not mad,” she shook her head. “I was annoyed at first, but considering how the bonus round went, it was actually a good thing I wasn’t beside Sarah and Mel.”

“I guess I inadvertently saved you from getting thrown up on, huh?” SB remarked.

“When you put it that way, I suppose so,” Riona agreed.

SB tried to think of something to say, but came up short.

“So what about you?”

“Me?”

“What brings you out here instead of in the house?” Riona asked.

“Hmm…” he glanced down briefly before tilting his head back up. “If I’m being honest, it’s too rowdy in there for my taste. I felt like I was going to get hearing damage from all the noise.”

“I feel you, dude,” she tugged on a strand of her hair. “Sometimes, we just need a break from all the chaos, but…”

“But what?”

“You’re still a pledge right now. Staying outside for the rest of the night won’t do you any favors with the DIKs,” Riona advised.

That reminded SB of what Rusty told him, and he checked the time on his phone to find that it was 7:58 pm.

“Yeah…guess I should head back for whatever they’ve got in store for me, then,” he waved her off.

Still not quite shaking off the uneasy feeling within him, he promptly returned to the main room.

**********

Prince parked his bike outside of Josy’s house, clicking the lock in place. With a deep breath, he rang the doorbell.

“Come in! The door’s unlocked!” Josy called from inside.

He locked the front door behind him and took off his shoes.

“Fuck! Sorry, I'm in the kitchen!” she shouted. “Shit! It's not going that well.”

“Oh, ok. Do you need any help?”

“No, just a sec…”

From the door to his left, Josy emerged with a blue crop top, a plaid skirt, and stress written all over her face. “I wish I were better at cooking...I almost set the kitchen on fire just now.”

“Are you ok?” Prince asked.

“Don't worry about it,” Josy reassured, a smile spreading on her face. “Hey!”

“Hi! Great to see you,” he smiled back, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“You too…” she blushed.

Prince pulled the red rose out of his pocket. “I got you this as a thank you for making dinner. It's not much…”

“You remembered…” Josy took the rose with her other hand on her heart. “It's beautiful. I just love it.”

She brought out a bottle of wine. “I got us some wine for dinner.”

“That's so sweet of you. Thank you!”

“I gotta admit I was surprised that you also like wine. Most people our age would go for beer or other drinks.”

“Yeah, I don't know why I like it. My dad let me taste some red wine once and I just loved it.”

“Come, let's eat before it gets cold.”

The food Josy cooked for dinner, however, left a lot to be desired, and she knew it.

“I really hope you can eat this. I tried following the recipe, but it doesn't look like the picture at all,” she frowned.

“I can really tell that you put a lot of effort into this, Josy. That's what matters,” Prince acknowledged.

“I really did...thank you for noticing.”

Prince chewed down a lettuce leaf before opening his mouth to keep the conversation going. “I love your home.”

“It's not so much my home as it is dad's...and Monica's,” Josy clarified.

They continued to talk about Josy’s parents, with Josy revealing that her dad had cheated on her mom with Monica, but surprisingly, Josy didn’t seem as upset over it as Prince thought. According to her, her dad ended up with someone who made him a lot happier than before, which explained why Josy felt differently than Prince did regarding the infidelity.

“Even though my dad hurt my mom...you know...emotionally...he's my dad. I love him so much...I'd pick him over my mom any day,” Josy looked down at her food as she talked.

She then frowned, her tone turning annoyed. “But I'm not sure if he would pick me over Monica and my stupid step-brother…”

“Ah, yeah. That's right, you have a step-brother. The one who cheated his way through high school, right?” Prince asked before biting off from a chicken leg.

“Yes, that's right. Maybe you'll meet him if you'd ever pledge the DIKs. His name is Tommy.”

Prince abruptly stopped chewing the dry piece of chicken and his fork clattered on the table.

“What's wrong?” Josy asked with concern.

He did a big gulp before blurting out “Tommy's your step-brother?!”

“You've met him?”

“I'm a DIK pledge! Tommy's my father and I'm his maggot son.”

Josy’s jaw dropped. “No way! For real?”

“He is so fucking evil!” Prince spouted.

“I know! I hate him!” she agreed before laughing at the revelation. “Hahaha! I can't believe this!”

“Right?!”

“So, now you get to live through the torture that is Tommy; the same that I have been living with for months?”

Another exasperated groan followed from Prince. “Not once, but twice he has forced me outside nude or almost nude.”

Josy let out a snort at that. “I can't relate to that...but you know what he did the first time he and Monica moved in?”

“I don’t know, but it couldn’t have possibly been worse than that, I hope?” Prince replied.

“He stole my nail polish because he thought he could get high from it,” she answered.

“Geez…that sounds about right for him,” Prince frowned.

“I could go on and on about all the bullshit he’s pulled on me…” Josy trailed off.

“I wonder what he would say if he knew I was sitting here across from you right now, eating dinner.”

“Oh my God, he would so beat you up. He has the shortest fuse ever! He probably gets that from Monica.”

They took a brief break to continue eating, realizing that they had forgotten about their food and it had cooled off.

“You're really going to be a DIK?” Josy spoke up.

“Yeah, I think I am. If me and my maggot brothers pass the tests, that is,” Prince answered.

“I would never have imagined you joining the DIKs. You're too sweet for them,” Josy remarked. “Are you full?”

“I am. Thank you for the dinner.”

They got up from their seats to relax on the couch together. The conversation shifted toward Prince’s time at B&R, and when he got to the part regarding gender studies, Josy uncontrollably giggled in disbelief, wondering what on earth got him to sign up for that class.

“Maya convinced me to give it a shot,” Prince answered.

Josy’s expression subtly shifted. “Maya, huh?”

“Do you know her?” Prince asked, wondering what was up with the change in her tone.

“Yeah…she’s a friend of mine from high school,” Josy replied. “Do you like gender studies?”

“Not really…it seems to be a class where we're supposed to discuss things, but I didn’t even get the chance to talk on my first day,” Prince shook his head.

“I would love to watch you take that class,” Josy grinned.

“Maybe you will. Did you hear anything from B&R?” he asked.

Her grin dropped from her face, replaced by a resigned look. “The only thing I heard was that one of their students just got expelled. So there’s an open spot…but it's not gonna happen, Prince. It just won’t.”

“Well, that means there’s a chance. A small one, but still a chance,” Prince hoped.

Josy slouched into the couch, her vision starting to blur up.

“What’s the point in holding out hope? Every time I kept telling myself that I would get accepted to B&R and that everything would be great again, it just never happened. I’d psyche myself up for that acceptance letter, only to get blown apart. And now…just thinking about it gives me anxiety attacks. I can't breathe when I think of being stuck in this hole, living with dad and Monica for another year! I just have to get away from here and do something new and start all over,” she let everything out all at once. 

“That’s why…” Josy looked Prince in the eye with tears. “That’s why I quit my job at that minimart.”

“Yeah, Tina told me about that when I went there today. I was wondering what happened, but I had no idea you’ve been this upset,” he spoke, putting an arm around Josy to comfort her.

“Meeting you made me feel different about this. It was exciting...I felt that spark that's been missing in my life for quite some time now,” she leaned her head further into his arm. “Relationships when you can't be with each other every week suck, by the way. Never do that with anyone.”

“You miss feeling loved?”

“More than anything...and now...I think of just cutting all ties and moving away. Great solution, huh?” she chuckled humorlessly.

“It’s that big change in your life that you want so badly, right?” 

“Staying here does nothing for me. I would have to put up with Steve every day and have no friends to hang out with, because they all moved away. Growing up sucks!”

“I know what you mean…” Prince sympathized. “You know, I ran into Steve today at the minimart. He was crying because his dad cheated on his mom, so he also quit his job there.”

“No way…” Josy gasped.

“And you know what he did? He apologized for being such an asshole to you and I. That’s something I never would’ve expected him to do,” Prince explained.

She let out a bitter sigh, glancing at the ground beneath her. “Yeah, well…it doesn’t excuse all the times he’s hit on me and groped me.”

“Yeah,” Prince agreed. “But hopefully, he takes the opportunity to turn himself around now that he’s with his mom. And on that note, I almost quit college this week.”

“Say what?” she blinked.

“If it wasn’t for Derek and SB, I would’ve gotten on that train and headed back home. There was a lot of change happening all at once for me, and it made me feel lonely trying to adjust to my new life there. So I know full well how much loneliness sucks.”

She hugged him tightly again. “I'm so happy you wanted to come over this weekend. It's been on my mind every day since you called…”

Her body tensed up. “Well...that feeling split with guilt...because of–”

The doorbell suddenly went off, startling them both.

“What?!” Josy gasped with wide eyes. “Don’t tell me my dad and Monica are back!”

Prince glanced out the window, seeing the “X Press” logo on the vehicle outside and breathing a sigh of relief. “It’s not them. It’s a delivery.”

“A delivery?” she repeated, feeling a surge of hope rising up in her. “Then that means…”

She rapidly shook her head and placed a hand on her heart, trying to suppress that feeling.

“I can’t do this,” Josy blurted out. “This is going to sound weird, but can you go see if it really is what I think it is?”

“Sure, I can do that,” Prince nodded.

She watched him exit through the door, and once he was gone, anxiety began to rapidly creep up on her. Was it true that she actually made it past the waiting list?

No. I’m not good enough, she mentally cursed herself.

Prince returned with a letter in his hand, way sooner than she expected. Her eyes almost popped out upon seeing her full name listed on the address and the B&R logo in the corner. He gave her a silent, reassuring smile before handing over the letter.

Josy realized how much her hands were shaking as she mustered up the will to tear open the letter that would determine her future.

Chapter Text

“Dear Josephine Taylor,

You are hereby accepted to B&R…”

Josy had to reread the first sentence multiple times to be absolutely sure that it wasn’t a scam. Because there was just no way that she was seeing what she was seeing right now.

And yet, miracles do come true after all.

“I made it…” she whispered.

“Huh?” Prince asked.

Her expression turned into one of pure joy as she crushed him in a tight hug. 

“I MADE IT! PRINCE, I’M GOING TO B&R!”

Prince gasped out of initial disbelief before grinning. “It actually happened! Congrats, Josy!”

“Holy…shit…” Josy breathed several times in succession. “Getting accepted into college seemed too good to be true, but I couldn’t be happier that I was wrong.”

She released him and fell back on the couch. “I just need to pack my stuff, break the news to Dad, buy a train ticket…”

Prince didn’t say anything, letting Josy gather her thoughts.

“All of that can wait, though,” the ecstatic girl stood up, opting to set those thoughts aside for now. “We need to celebrate this miracle of a letter. Prince, will you please stay the night?”

“For you? Absolutely.”

**********

Prince stretched his legs out on the large bed, having dressed down to his underwear. He gripped the sheets with his hands, hoping that they would dry his palms. Up until now, he hadn’t been nervous during the date, but if this was going to lead to what he thought it would…

The door opened up, and in stepped the girl of his dreams in a white robe. Only this time, it was reality. With a single motion, Josy dropped the robe, revealing her red lingerie underneath.

“You're beautiful in that…” Prince complimented, keeping his voice steady.

“Do you mean that?” Josy blushed.

“Yeah.”

“Thanks…”

Josy climbed on to the bed, clinging onto the pillow beside Prince.

“Is this really your room?” he wondered.

“No...it's my dad's and Monica's room. My bed is too small for both of us,” she explained.

A moment of awkward silence passed between the two young adults.

“Good night…” 

“...good night.”

He watched her turn her body to face away from him, wondering why she suddenly seemed hesitant to take things further. Perhaps she was feeling guilt now that they were this close to each other?

If that was the case, then it was up to him to make the first move. It had been such a long time since he had been intimate with a girl, but that was in the past. Now it was time for him to follow his heart.

(Even if it meant that she would be cheating on whoever she was in a relationship with.)

Prince closed the distance until he was pressing against Josy, feeling her soft and smooth back against his chest. As he moved his hand down her thigh, he inhaled the sweet, vanilla scent of her hair. The petite brunette moaned softly, enjoying the feeling of someone touching her intimately since…

Her fingers instinctively grasped her left boob, eliciting a quiet, yet sharp breath from herself. Prince followed suit, cupping her right boob with his hand. He could feel her nipple poking through the bra, admiring how soft it was to the touch. Josy brought her hand down to her panties, unable to resist relieving herself.

“Prince…please touch me down there,” she requested with a soft whisper.

His hand felt much more intense against her pussy than hers did, causing her body to tremble. She reached behind, rubbing against the tip of his erection through his underwear. He closed his eyes, focusing on how good they were making each other feel with just their hands.

“Let me remove my panties for you…” her voice grew more aroused by the moment.

Now that Josy could feel his fingers directly caressing her pussy, she was growing more and more sensitive. He was teasing her, bringing her ever closer to the edge, way sooner than she expected. Unable to resist getting a good look at his face, she twisted around and mashed her lips against his, wrapping her arm around his neck loosely. With her other hand, she unclasped her bra and loosened the waistband of his underwear. 

For Prince, this was a dream come true.

He squeezed her ass and slid his dick against the outer edge of her pussy, coating it with her juices. The way his cock stimulated her clit almost made her cum right then and there. She climbed on top of him to take control, hoping to draw things out further, but still found herself on the verge of losing it.

“Prince?”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s just stop for a second…”

“Is something wrong?”

“Shh…” Josy hushed, sliding down his chest. “Let me take care of you for a while…”

“Huh? What are you do–”

A jolt of pleasure interrupted Prince’s words, causing him to moan in delight. Josy had slid underneath the sheets and began running her tongue across his shaft. Her hair brushed against his balls, sending small jolts of electric pleasure through them. He lifted the sheet, desiring to watch her fellicate him, and she gazed straight into his eyes in return.

“Do you like it, Prince?”

“It feels amazing, Josy…”

“Do you want me to use my mouth more?” she asked in a tempting tone.

“Yes…please…” Prince immediately breathed out.

Josy sucked on the head of his cock, flicking her tongue across the underside. Then she lowered her head, and Prince clenched his fists from just how good her mouth felt with how warm and tight it was. It didn’t matter that she had to stop once she was halfway down, for that the mere sight of her blowing him was enough to bring him closer to the edge.

She popped her lips off his dick and took in a breath before mounting him, the tip of his cock pressing against her pussy. “Did you like it?”

“I loved it…”

Then Prince remembered something. “Wait, I have a condom. Want me to put it on?”

But Josy shook her head, too horny to interrupt the flow. “Don’t worry about that. I took the pill before you came over.”

Words couldn’t express how relieved and excited Prince was to hear that.

“I want to feel you inside of me, Prince,” she cooed. “Slide into me…slowly…”

And with his hand resting on her ass, he penetrated her pussy with one swift thrust.

“Oh my GOD!!!” she squealed from being filled to the brim.

“You’re so tight around my cock…” he gasped.

“Oh, Prince…fuck me,” she shuddered. “Fuck me as much as you want!”

Her horniness had reached its peak, and any prospects of keeping quiet to avoid disrupting the neighbours had vanished from her mind.

“YES! YES!!!” she shouted, bouncing on top of him and impaling herself over and over on his erection. Prince wasn’t even doing most of the work, for that Josy was just that consumed with desire.

“FUCK ME!” the ecstatic brunette yelled, prompting him to tighten his grip on her back and increase the frequency of his thrusts.

“HARDER!!! HARDER!!!” Josy hollered, her thoughts consumed by getting fucked deep and hard by her summer crush. Prince wasn’t sure if he could go any faster or harder at this point, but he clenched his ass and gave it his all, pounding her pussy with the full length of his dick.

All at once, she began to shake uncontrollably, and her pussy spasmed, clenching onto the base of his cock with a vice grip.

“OH GOOOD!!!!!” she screamed, letting her cry of pure pleasure hang there as her eyes rolled back.

Seeing Josy completely lost within the throes of her orgasm brought Prince very close to cumming himself, and he quickly pondered over whether to let loose inside her or to pull out and finish over her tits.

Just then, they heard the front door to the house open up.

“Oh fuck! My dad and Monica are back already!” Josy jolted straight up with widened eyes.

Prince’s heart was now racing for all the wrong reasons. “What?! You said they were gone for tonight!”

“Fuck this is bad! So bad!” she scrambled off of him and out of the bed, rapidly whipping her head around. “Hide!!!”

He ducked underneath the sheets as a voice called out to her. “Josy? Are you home?”

“Just a minute, Monica!” Josy shouted back.

They then heard the sound of the doorknob to the bedroom being twisted. 

“Sweetie? Why have you locked yourself in our bedroom?” Pete asked.

“What are you doing?!” Josy whispered frantically to Prince.

“I'm panicking!” he whispered back.

“Exit through the window!”

Prince rolled off the bed, forced the window open, and jumped out in a hitch, landing on his feet. It took him a few seconds for him to realize that he had forgotten to make himself decent.

“Here! Your clothes!!” Josy tossed them out of the window.

Once he had swiftly dressed himself in his clothes and shoes, he ran as fast as his legs could take him, though not as quickly as he thought he would due to his feet still being in pain from the fall.

Upon hearing a key being twisted into the lock, Josy froze in place like a deer in headlights, as Pete and Monica stood in the doorway, the former still looking confused, while the latter had a disapproving glare carved into her face.

“Josy! What the hell is this?!”

**********

When SB arrived in the main room of the DIK mansion, he had a hunch that there would be something big happening. The music, while still fairly loud, had been turned down a notch. Several guests were standing on the second floor, eagerly watching from above. Many glasses filled with beer decorated the countertop, and a basket filled with dildos was positioned underneath. Over the next few minutes, the rest of the DIKs, HOTs, and the HOT pledges all gathered in the main room, forming a giant circle.

“Welcome, brothers, HOTs, maggots, HOT pledges, and guests! Are you all enjoying the first weekend party?” Rusty announced.

The crowd of guests let out a cheer in response.

“I didn’t catch that. Are you all enjoying the first weekend party?!” Tommy bellowed.

An even louder cheer followed, eclipsing the music in the room.

“Now we’re talkin’!” Tommy smirked as the cheering died down. “I’m sure y’all are wondering why everyone is here in this room. And that’s because…”

The hedonistic vice president drummed his palms on the countertop, then pumped a fist in the air. “IT’S TIME FOR THE BIG TRUTH-OR-DARE-OFF!”

Oh boy.

“WHOOOO!”

“YEAAAH!”

“For those who don’t know, you ask someone to either pick Truth to make them tell something about themself, or Dare to challenge them to do something, well, daring,” Nick explained.

Tommy rolled his eyes at the explanation. “Nick, I’m pretty sure everyone here, four eyed maggot included, knows how this game works.”

“Oh, well, I was just making sure,” Nick added, glancing aside.

“If you back out of the truth or dare, you must down five shots in a row!” Rusty informed the participants.

Tommy indicated several beer bottles beside the glasses on the countertop. “And don’t think we’ll be out anytime soon.”

“Without further ado, I’ll get this game started!” Rusty snapped his fingers.

The jovial president pointed towards the HOT president. “Sage! Truth or dare?”

“President versus President, eh? Gimme a dare,” Sage flashed a smile that oozed confidence.

“All right!” Rusty grinned. “Sage, I dare you to stuff a dildo between your boobs!”

Sage gave a short laugh. “Hah! Nothing I can’t handle.”

Rusty fetched a medium green dildo from the basket and tossed it to the fiery redhead. Without breaking a sweat, she caught the dildo and stuffed it into her cleavage.

“That’s Sage for ya. Never one to back out of a dare,” Quinn smiled approvingly.

“You know it,” Sage grinned. “Just wondering: how long do I need to hold onto this?”

“Oh, I’d say for the next three truths or dares,” Rusty replied.

“Alright, who to pick next…how about Nick?” Sage’s eyes landed on the DIK in question.

“I’ll go with truth,” Nick decided.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the hottest HOT of them all?” Sage asked.

SB was tempted to correct her by pointing out that it was “ magic mirror on the wall”, but he held his tongue. Maybe the others would forget that he was a participant this way.

“I’d say Heather is,” Nick answered.

Tommy shot him a fierce glare in response, while Jacob gave him a side-eye.

“No disrespect! I just think she’s cool to be around,” Nick held his hands up amicably.

“Thanks, I guess,” Heather chimed in.

“I’m gonna pick Riona,” Nick followed up. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Is it true that you’re the only HOT who can ‘go all the way’, as they say?” the bald-fade DIK asked.

Derek snapped his fingers and winked. “Nice.”

“I think you should already know the answer to that question,” Riona answered with a straight face.

“Pffft, I would’ve dared her to actually show her skills with the dildo between Sage’s boobs,” Sarah rolled her eyes in disappointment.

Riona looked towards her target in the eye. “Anyways…SB.”

SB, who up to this point had been silently observing the other participants’ reactions, jolted up at his name being mentioned. “Huh? Me?”

“Yeah, you. Truth or dare?” Riona addressed.

“Uh-oh,” he gripped his arm while his eyes darted around. “Umm…”

“You gotta choose, four-eyed maggot. Or those shots are going right down your mouth,” Tommy glared impatiently.

“Uh…dare!” SB blurted out.

“Dare? Interesting…” the gothic HOT raised an eyebrow. “I dare you to go stay in the janitor’s closet with me while the next seven truths or dares take place.”

“Ooh, this is getting good!” Melanie giggled. “Just a shame we won’t see what’s gonna happen.”

“Ok,” SB nodded, turning towards the stairs. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Hold on, you gotta pick someone to truth or dare first,” Jacob reminded.

“Right. I’ll pick…Mona,” SB made his call.

“Oh yeah!” Mona winked excitedly. “Hit me with a dare, baby!”

“I got it. I dare you to answer this question–” he started.

“Hey, no cheating!” Rusty objected. “You can’t dare someone to tell the truth, otherwise, it’s not really a dare.”

“I can’t? In that case, I dare you to, uh…” SB had to pause and rethink.

Tommy let out a frustrated sigh. “It’s no fun when this fucking guy is constantly hesitating like that.”

“I dare you to pick someone in the circle to kiss,” SB decided to go easy on her.

“That’s easy,” Mona faced her fellow Latina pledge. “Cammy, come here.”

While Camila and Mona made out to the excitement of the guests and most of the participants, SB took his cue to leave and hastily headed up the stairs, with Riona following behind him. He was on edge while walking to the closet, remembering that Derek had mentioned a red light flashing in a corner.

Sure enough, once he entered the janitor’s closet, there was a red light, flashing brightly in the dark, enclosed room. He peeked his head out the doorway and saw Riona about to catch up to him.

“Hey, Riona…there’s something weird going on with the closet,” he brought up.

“Really? What is it?” she wondered.

He waited for her to enter the closet and shut the door behind her before pointing towards the corner with the flashing light. “Do you see that?”

Riona’s eyes widened, and not just from having to adjust to the darkened environment. “Yeah, what’s with that red light?”

SB dragged his phone out of his pocket and activated its flashlight. “I want to know what it is.”

Once he directed the flashlight towards the upper corner, they spotted the red light coming from one of the ceiling’s spotlights.

“It’s coming from that spotlight up there!” she indicated.

The curious DIK pledge placed his phone on the ground with the flashlight pointing up and stood on his toes. He tugged on the spotlight, and they heard the sound of something snapping apart. Holding the suspicious object above his phone, he peered into the glass dome, and what he saw hidden inside completely threw him for a loop.

“This…this is a camera.”

Those words made Riona gasp, just as surprised as SB was. “What. The actual. Fuck.”

“Exactly! Why the heck is there a camera hidden in this closet?” he had to ask.

“I think it might be some creep out there trying to record whoever’s in here for their personal enjoyment,” she theorized.

“What should we do with this camera?” SB held it up in front of his face. “I think it stopped working at some point.”

“I say we destroy it or throw it out. Knowing that it was in here for god knows how long makes me sick,” Riona grimaced.

“I feel the same way, but this is crucial evidence that there’s a creep out there,” the bespectacled pledge pointed out. “I don’t want people to start accusing each other over this, so I’ll hold onto it for now.”

After he pocketed the camera, the intensity of their discovery and the DIK parties crashed down on him. He backed up against a wall and slid down until his back and legs were aligned at a ninety degree angle. Taking a deep breath, he glanced to his right to see Riona sitting beside him. Their eyes met, not saying a word as the sounds of more cheering echoed from outside.

“So now that we know we’re not being secretly recorded…” Riona broke the silence between them. 

“It's just the two of us, in a dark closet together,” her voice turned soft and seductive.

SB felt chills on his skin as his breathing hastened. He saw her lean her head forward with her lips pursed…

And he found himself pulling his head back apprehensively. 

She brought her head back, confused and a tad bit disappointed. “You don’t want it?”

He took in a huge breath, considering whether he should tell her the truth on how he had been feeling these past few days.

“It’s not that, it’s–”

He stopped himself, having to take another breath to reword his thoughts. 

“Can I let you in on something?”

“What is it?”

“I’ve never kissed a girl before. And I’m a virgin,” SB confessed.

Riona’s eyes widened ever so slightly. “That…explains a lot.”

“That competition on my first night here went too far for me. Prince even told me that Quinn outright removed the condom during the last round,” he admitted.

“Well, that’s just Quinn being Quinn. She’s always looking to spice things up at the parties,” she shrugged.

SB personally didn’t agree with that sentiment, but kept that thought to himself.

“I guess,” he remarked. “And also…”

He closed his eyes, tilted his head downwards, and pressed his palm against his forehead, trying to repress a nasty memory from taking form again.

“I don’t deserve intimacy from others,” his voice wavered. “Not after–”

He cut himself off, leaving only silence behind.

“Hey…you don’t have to feel that way around me,” Riona’s voice cut through his inner turmoil. “Sometimes at a party, you just need someone to make out with. And you look like you need it.”

SB’s eyes snapped open and he stared at her. “I do?”

She took his hand and squeezed it tightly. He hadn’t realized just how much his hands had been trembling until now.

“This isn’t the CUM-petition. No one will know about what we do here,” Riona reassured, gently stroking his cheek with her other hand. “So…want to make out?”

SB looked at her meaningfully, considering her offer. He had gone from wanting to help her to feeling wary of her to being intrigued by her over the course of this week. It would be a lie for him to say that he completely trusted her, as she was one of Quinn’s close associates, and after hearing about the things Quinn pulled on his maggot brothers, he knew that the silver-haired snake was not to be trusted. At all.

But there were three things that mattered. Riona was giving him a choice, no one else was around, and he found her to be truly fascinating. And cute, too.

(Okay, make that four things.)

With all of that in mind, he found his answer.

“Yes.”

Riona smiled, tilting her head and leaning into SB’s face in the dark. She touched her lips to his, causing his heart rate to accelerate and his face to heat up. He tasted the blackberry lipstick on her lips, noting how sweet they were. With an audible smooch, she brought her head back to let him catch his breath.

“Wow…” SB was left shocked, both figuratively and literally. “That was–”

“Just a kiss. This is making out.”

She kissed him again, running her tongue across his lips and wrapping her hand around the back of his neck. The gothic HOT pulled back slightly for a few moments before resuming the kiss, this time entering his mouth with the tip of her tongue. He felt something metallic brush against his tongue, and, surprised by this sensation, he suddenly jolted his head back.

“Sorry!” SB immediately apologized. “I didn’t expect to feel your piercing against my tongue.”

“Heh, no need to apologize,” Riona chuckled. “Want to go at it again?”

“Sure,” he nodded with a slight blush.

Now that he was more prepared, he found the feeling of her tongue piercing rubbing against his tongue to be rather intoxicating. It was exhilarating, getting to experience her kissing techniques firsthand. He felt her hand slowly moving up his thigh, and this gave him the idea to wrap his hand around her waist, eliciting a moan from her that deepened their kiss.

Soon, they broke their kiss to catch their breath.

“How was it?”

“Incredible…”

“I’m glad,” Riona gave a satisfied smile. “Even though the glasses got in the way at first, you did surprisingly well for your first kiss.”

Her eyes glanced downwards to the bulge in his pants. “That got you pretty turned on, didn’t it?” 

SB’s face reddened, and he darted his eyes away from her.

“You’re cute when you blush like that,” she giggled.

He brought a hand against his forehead, overcome with embarrassment.

“How did you get your tongue pierced?” he asked in a haste attempt to change the subject.

“I’ll tell you some other time. Those seven rounds of truth or dare are likely over now,” she addressed.

“It would be nice to do this again,” SB found himself smiling at her. “Not just making out, but studying together, just the two of us.”

“Aw…you’re smiling,” Riona grinned back at him. 

His smile vanished, replaced by a puzzled look. “I…am?”

“You are. And now I know you got what it takes to become a DIK, SB,” she encouraged.

“Thanks, Riona. You’re pretty cool. And pretty, too,” he complimented.

As they left the closet together, she turned around and gave him a kiss on his cheek before whispering in his ear:

“I’ll let you know when I’d like you to be my teacher .”

**********

“I dare you to suck your cock!”

There were a bunch of crazy things Derek was up for doing tonight. This particular dare from Arieth was not one of them.

SB, having just overhead the dare as he followed Riona downstairs, looked like he was trying to sputter something out, but gave up on trying to articulate his response.

“What? I hear the alphas say ‘suck my cock’ all the time, so I wanted to see if it was possible!” the stupid redhead continued, confused at seeing the others’ bewildered expressions.

“Arieth…maybe consider the context of what that phrase is supposed to mean?” Elena chimed in helpfully.

“Yeah, I think this is officially the most awkward I’ve ever felt in Truth or Dare, and that's saying a lot,” John Boy commented.

“…I’ll just have the five shots,” Derek decided. “Hangovers are nothing to me.”

After downing his shots seemingly effortlessly, he pointed towards someone who he knew all throughout his life. “Sis! Truth or dare?”

“Uh…truth,” Maya answered, surprised at his choice.

“Video games or movies?”

“Movies. No contest.”

“Yeah, I’d know cause you suck at video games,” Derek chuckled.

Maya folded her arms across her chest. “No I don’t!”

“Yes you do! I’ve beaten you every time in Super Trash Bros Legacy!” he boasted.

“Fine, fine,” she conceded. “Hey Mona! Truth or d–”

“Dare all the way!” Mona winked.

The blonde pledge nodded, getting an idea from her brother. “You have to post a cluck on Rooster showing off your legs with the hashtag #LegISee, but I’m the one who types out the hashtag.”

Mona took out her phone and snapped a selfie with her legs on full display. “And done!”

Once Maya typed out the hashtag, Mona read it over. A brief look of amusement crossed the redhead pledge’s face before she pocketed her phone.

“Jamie! Truth or dare?” Mona returned to the game at hand.

“I’ll stick with truth,” Jamie shrugged.

“Big mistake,” Mona grinned. “When was the last time you masturbated?”

A collective “ooh…” went up from the crowd.

“I have a girlfriend,” Jamie brought up.

“A girlfriend who is a feminist,” Leon added.

Jamie sighed. “I get that you don’t like her, but I have my reasons for staying with her…”

“Can we get back to the masturbation question?” Jacob cut in. Immediately after he said that, a look of disgust crossed his face. 

“And now I wanna slap myself for how stupid that sounded…” the black DIK muttered to himself.

“Okay, fine! It was a few days ago when I did it,” Jamie confessed.

“Trouble in paradise?” Mona asked, twitching her eyebrows flirtatiously.

“Now that that’s done, Leon,” Jamie dodged the question. “Truth or dare?”

“You’re not making me answer any questions tonight! Dare.”

“Then I dare you to blindfold yourself with your own underwear.”

A round of laughter from the crowd followed suit.

“Oh fuck you! Now I have to drink five shots back to back,” Leon gave the stink eye to his pal.

“What’s wrong, Leon? Is the dare too gay for you?” Quinn mocked.

Leon ignored her taunt as he finished off his five shots. “JB! You’re up!”

“Truth.”

“Was Elena your first?”

“First, as in my first love or the first time I got laid?” John Boy asked.

“Both, I suppose,” Leon shrugged.

“She wasn’t the first girl who I fucked. But she sure is my first love, and I only have eyes for her,” he gave a meaningful glance towards his girlfriend.

“He’s a real sweetie, isn’t he?” Elena smiled sweetly at him.

“On that note, what’s my girl gonna pick?”

“Same as you, my dear.”

“If you could pick one of the DIKs to have a threesome with along with me, who would you pick and why?” John Boy wondered.

“That’s a tough call…but I’d pick Jacob. He’s pretty down to earth and seems like he wouldn’t make a big deal out of it afterwards,” Elena answered.

“Bro, I’d never fuck your girl. Don’t get me wrong, she’s hot, but I ain’t about to violate the DIK code,” Jacob raised a worried eyebrow.

“All good, bro. Just knowing you find her hot means I’m doing really well with her!” John Boy grinned.

“Getting back to the game…Heather!” Elena snapped her finger at her.

“Truth.”

“What’s your cup size?”

Heather let out an exasperated groan. “Ugh, really? 

“Hey! Lusting boyfriend over here!” Tommy catcalled.

“They’re double Ds, ok?” Heather huffed. “There, now you all know.”

“Why feel so shameful about those assets when you can simply flaunt them?” Sarah rolled her eyes.

“Maybe because I’d like to have actual decency?” the blonde HOT fired back. “Tommy.”

“Dare.”

“I knew you would…I dare you to get down on your knees and swear your oath to me as your queen!”

Tommy knelt before his girlfriend, holding back a smirk on his face. 

“I swear on behalf of my meaty penis that you are my one and only, Queen BJ,” he proclaimed.

The DIKs let out a roar of laughter at his “proclamation”.

“Wh–HEY!” Heather protested.

“Don’t like being called that? Must be because you don’t actually live up to that title,” Tommy dismissed.

“Shut up!” she shouted.

Tommy ignored her, facing towards the HOT vice president. “Quinn!”

“Dare.”

“I dare you to flash your titties!”

Heather grumbled in annoyance as Quinn wordlessly smirked and lifted her top, showing off her tits for everyone to see. Her eyes landed on her target, a predator scouting out her prey.

“So, Maya…truth or dare?”

Maya swallowed, mentally weighing whichever would be the less humiliating option. “Truth.”

“Would you fuck Prince?”

“W-why would you ask me something like that?!” Maya sputtered, feeling the intense gaze of everyone’s eyes on her.

“It’s just a question. Now answer it,” Quinn insisted.

The intimidated HOT pledge brought her arms against her chest. “...no.”

“Really?” Quinn smiled devilishly, preparing to fire her coup de grâce. “You’ve seen firsthand how big Prince is down there.”

To say that the horrified look on Maya’s face gave her away was an understatement.

“You lied, so you gotta drink up,” Tommy ordered. “Rules are rules.”

Trying to fight off the huge wave of embarrassment, Maya got to drinking her shots with haste. After the first two, however, she struggled to swallow the third shot, gagging at the burning sensation from the alcohol. She was forced to spit it out, lest she incur the risk of throwing up right while everyone was still watching.

“Guys, I think Maya’s had enough to drink,” Derek spoke up, having caught the nauseous look on his sister’s face. “I should take her back to her dorm.”

“You’re taking off already, my son?” Rusty asked.

“Three words: family comes first,” Derek recited.

“I’ll help too,” SB offered before remarking, “You’re also drunk, so I wouldn’t want you to do something stupid on your own, Derek.”

Maya, grateful for their assistance, leaned onto her brother for support as they led her out of the mansion.

**********

Prince laid down in his bed at his home, checking his phone multiple times to see if there were any messages from Josy, but to no avail. Ultimately, he came to the conclusion that she got in trouble with her dad and stepmom. In hindsight, he should’ve just waited for a better opportunity to take the next step with Josy, but he got caught up in the heat of the moment, and now, here he was, feeling rather troubled over the situation he got himself into. The worst case scenario would be if her dad and stepmom barred her from attending B&R…

Fuck , he mentally cursed himself.

What also troubled him was the matter of Maya, especially when she kissed him right before he left her dorm. It wasn’t the first time they had kissed, and at this rate, if he didn’t do something about it, it wouldn’t be the last time, either.

To try to take his mind off of this, he opened up the Rooster app, feeling the urge to see what was new there.

(Picture of the DIKs, HOTs, and their pledges in a giant circle together. Thirty likes.)

Rusty@DIKPresidentRusty

Tonight was one hell of a truth-or-dare showoff! #DIKs

Jacob@DIKJacob: @DIKPresidentRusty I know, right? Redheads truly are wild!

Tommy@DIKTommyTheDestroyer: @DIKPresidentRusty If only a certain maggot son didn’t chicken out of this…@Tremolo

Nick@NickTheDIK: @DIKTommyTheDestroyer Hey, it was still a fun night.

Prince@Tremolo: @DIKTommyTheDestroyer Sorry, but I was paying my dad a visit. Family comes first, after all.

Tommy@DIKTommyTheDestroyer: @Tremolo Truly a disappointment, this one. Look forward to a nice punishment for you and your maggot bros soon.

(Picture of Mona posing with a wide smile in her red dress at the DIK mansion with the other guests in the background. Sixty-eight likes.)

Mona@MonaLisa

What a night this was, getting to put this dress to good use! #HOT #MindBlown #LegISee

Camila@Cammy: @MonaLisa You’re absolutely gorgeous in that!

Mona@MonaLisa: @Cammy Aw, thanks!

Derek@BigBootyLover: HAHAHA! Those are some nice “legs” I see!

Riona@HOTRiona: @MonaLisa No offense, but that third hashtag is pure cringe. You, on the other hand, are absolutely rockin’ that dress.

Maya@MayaTheMovieBuff: @HOTRiona That was because of my dare.

Quinn@QuinnOfHearts: @MayaTheMovieBuff And the award for the world’s most forced pun goes to…

Arieth@AriethPassword1234: Ooh, another redhead! You and I were made for each other!

John@MilkMan: HOT DAYUM! That ginger’s ass is begging to be tapped. By me, of course!

Jimmy@Chevy69: Are you a devil? Because I’ve died and gone straight to hell.

Dawe@BigDickDawe: youd look beter witout that dress on @MonaLisa 3======D

Heather@HOTHeather: And here come the sleazy jocks like clockwork…smh.

Mona@MonaLisa: Thanks, girls! By the way, are those jocks always like that?

Elena@CuteButt: @HOTHeather @MonaLisa Just ignore them. They’re not worth it.

(Picture of the same mask from the previous cluck. Two likes.)

Phanto@Phantomastic

You may wonder: why do I cover myself with this very mask?

A scar? Privacy? Or just for style, perhaps?

All shall be revealed upon this time lapse. #Phantomastic

Prince laid his phone down on the ground, giving in to his drowsiness.

**********

Maya awakened to a pounding in her head. At least her brother and SB managed to get her out of last night’s party early. Judging by the hangover that had kicked in, she wouldn’t have been able to handle having to drink the remaining shots.

Thankfully, after she drank some fresh water and waited things out, the dull ache in her head seemed to fade away. Just in time, as she heard someone knock on the door and opened it to find Prince.

“Hey! Welcome home!” she greeted him with a smile and a hug.

“Home? Huh...I never thought of it that way,” he remarked. “But I guess you're right, it kinda is my home...well...until you find a new roomie, that is.”

“Haha, all right, smartass,” she chuckled. “How was your trip?”

“It was nice seeing my dad again,” he released her from their hug.

“And what about your date?”

“It didn't go as expected. I'm not sure what will happen now, really.”

“So, Josy…how do you two know each other?” she inquired.

Prince proceeded to recount his story while leaving out certain details. “I met her this summer, and I've had a big crush on her since I first saw her. And just before I left to go here...we had this moment that said that there was something more between us. That's what I wanted to find out by coming back home to her. To see if there was something worth fighting for, or if I should try to forget her and just move on.”

He let out a worried sigh. “I may have just fucked things up with her big time, though,”

“How so?”

“Josy…she got accepted to B&R last night.”

Maya softly gasped, surprised. “She did?!”

“Yeah, I was there when she got the acceptance letter,” Prince confirmed. “But I think she got in trouble with her dad and stepmom because of me. I’ve been worried that they might not let her attend this college.”

“Wow…this is a huge bombshell for me,” Maya placed a hand on her heart. “For one, Josy’s actually my missing roommate.”

“Oh…she is?” Prince blinked in surprise.

She tilted her head down, thinking things over. Once she looked back up, her facial expression had turned serious.

“There’s another thing about Josy. Something important that you should know,” she stated.

“Huh? What about her?” Prince asked, still unsure as to what she was getting at.

“She’s–”

Maya’s ringtone suddenly went off, prompting her to check on who was calling her.

“Such bad timing...oh…I really have to take this. We'll talk later!” she exited her room hastily.

Before he knew it, he was left alone in her dorm, pondering over the important news that she was about to diverge.

Then he heard someone knocking, and, presuming that it was Maya having forgotten something, he opened the door, only to find someone completely different.

“Josy?!”

“Prince?!”

After getting over their initial shock, Josy dropped her bags on the floor, and they embraced each other tightly.

“Wow, I didn’t expect to see you here this soon! After, well…you know,” Prince hinted.

“Yeah…Monica kept yelling about how she wanted to ground me, but thankfully, Dad talked her out of it,” Josy explained. “Heh, you should’ve seen how happy he was when I showed him the acceptance letter.”

“So it all worked out? That’s great!” Prince smiled, feeling relieved at the good news.

“Kinda. Things needed to be said first, and my dad got to hear an earful about Monica,” Josy clarified, letting go of Prince. “But now that I’m here, that doesn’t matter.”

“Is this the dorm you got assigned?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Oh. I’ve actually been living here with Maya for the past few days, so I guess this means I need to move out,” Prince realized.

“Huh?”

“That’s what I agreed to do if her roommate showed up, and since you’re her roommate…”

Josy’s eyebrows faltered ever so slightly. “Right…that makes sense.”

“I’ll ask Derek and SB if I can stay with them for now,” Prince stated, bringing his phone out to initiate a group chat with his maggot brothers.

Prince: Hey, so I need to move out of Maya’s dorm since her roommate showed up. Could I move into your dorm for the time being?

While he was waiting for their responses, Josy proceeded to unpack her belongings, while Prince gathered all of his stuff together.

Derek: sure thing bro!

SB: Alright. I felt bad asking you to sleep on the floor, so you can have my bed if you want. I’ll make a note to buy an air mattress.

Prince: Nah, it’s your bed. I’ll take the air mattress.

SB: Ok then.

“They said it was ok,” Prince looked up from his phone. Then he realized that he needed to let Maya know about this as well.

Prince: So it looks like your roommate did show up after all. I’m gonna stay with Derek and SB now. I’ll miss having you as a roommate, Maya.

“What are you up to this afternoon?” he asked, having wrapped up his packing duties.

“Not much, other than getting adjusted to life on campus. Maya wanted me to pledge the HOTs along with her, so I’ll probably do that at some point,” she answered.

“There’s a park near this place. Want to go for a run together once you’re done unloading your stuff?” Prince offered.

Josy smiled happily. “Sure!”

**********

Having changed into a tank top and shorts, Prince met up with Josy in the park, who was sporting a crop top and her own pair of shorts. Soon, they were breaking a sweat, running side by side.

“Look at you, Prince! You’re quite fast on your feet!” Josy complimented.

“I could say the same about you, Josy,” Prince praised.

“Me?” she doubted. “I have to try harder to keep up the pace. Probably has something to do with my height.”

“You wish you were taller?” he asked.

“Yeah…I wish I didn’t have to wear heels to match the height of most girls,” she lamented.

“Well, I like you the way you are,” Prince looked meaningfully at her. “You don’t have to change yourself for me.”

“You’re sweet…” Josy smiled, a light blush creeping up on her cheeks.

Up ahead, they came across Maya in the middle of sparring with Sage. The fiery redhead was grunting and shouting in rage as her fists collided against the coolheaded blonde’s palms.

Josy’s expression shifted ever so slightly before her smile returned. “I’m gonna go talk to Sage about pledging the HOTs. Catch you later, Prince!”

Prince waved her off and walked onwards. He was surprised that Maya had apparently gotten closer to Sage to the point where they were sparring against each other. Maybe he had been too harsh on the HOT President?

His thoughts were interrupted when he found Jill in the middle of holding a cobra pose while Isabella stood in front, watching her posture.

“Looks like we have ourselves a spectator,” Isabella commented upon noticing Prince’s presence.

“Oh, me? No, I wasn't looking,” he denied.

“Hi, Prince!” Jill gave a friendly wave.

“Hey, Jill!” Prince greeted.

Isabella cleared her throat, not wanting to be ignored.

“And hey, Be–Isabella,” Prince corrected himself. “Practicing yoga?”

“Yes, we do it a couple of times every week,” Jill replied.

“It's a good way to stay in shape,” he nodded.

“And how would you know that?” Isabella raised an eyebrow.

“Well, you said you do it a couple of times a week and are both in great shape,” he complimented. “Also, I've done yoga before, too.”

Isabella crossed her arms. “Oh really?”

“Yeah, I’ll do the pose Jill just did,” Prince answered, getting onto the yoga mat to demonstrate.

What followed was Isabella bluntly pointing out the mistakes he made with his poses, with Jill being nicer in instructing him how to do the cobra and the bridge poses correctly. His body ached from having to stretch his back and straighten his legs further than he had anticipated. Eventually, Isabella excused herself to refill her water bottle.

“That woman really scares me,” Prince remarked.

“Haha! Come on!” Jill giggled. “She's not scary, she's nice.”

“You two seem so different...how come you're friends?”

“We're not that different. We share a lot of common hobbies, such as books, yoga and wine tasting. Give her a chance. I think you would see that there's much more to her than you think.”

“I get it…it’s just that I wanted to show her that I'm thankful for the help.”

“She knows that you're thankful. She just doesn't let people in that easily. Don't take it personally.”

Suddenly, Tybalt burst on the scene. “Jill! I thought that was you! Hi!”

“Oh...hi!” Jill waved at him, surprised.

Prince grimaced, remembering that SB had told him that he saw Tybalt stealing and sniffing her underwear. He wasn’t really paying mind to whatever Tybalt was rambling about, and before he knew it, they had already left together to discuss the campaign Jill wanted to start.

Isabella returned with her water bottle with a scowl. “Ugh…”

“Hey, I’m not the one who scared her off like that,” Prince shook his head.

“Tybalt…that manchild is trouble,” the librarian spoke icily upon mentioning his name.

“You don’t like him? Guess what! I don’t, either!” Prince agreed.

“So, you’re into Jill?” Isabella asked.

“Uh…no? We’ve only talked a few times, not enough to really know each other,” Prince clarified.

“She seems to like you.”

“She does?”

“Jill is...special...to me,” Isabella sipped her water bottle, her eyes still having a doubtful look to them. “If you don't get along with me, you won't get along with her. I can assure you that.”

“Isabella, I just said that I’m not into Jill. We’re just friends. You don’t have to be so suspicious of me just because of that,” Prince insisted.

“That’s not the only reason why I think you might be trouble.”

“And that is?”

“Derek. Boys like him are only after one thing,” she frowned. “He’s a bad influence on you, you know.”

“So you’re saying that just because he’s my friend, I’m just like him?” Prince asked, getting defensive.

Isabella remained silent, tilting her head slightly.

“I gotta say, that’s rather judgmental of you to assume that without knowing what I'm looking for or where I'm coming from,” he spoke bluntly.

The librarian continued to stay quiet for a few tense moments.

“…very well. I’ll give you a chance to change my mind. Meet me at Luigi’s for dinner at 8pm tonight, and don’t be late,” Isabella proposed with a neutral expression.

“Fine. It’s a not date!” Prince accepted.

“It’s not a–”

Isabella stopped herself upon seeing Prince’s smirk, an annoyed frown reforming on her face.

“Hmph.”

**********

SB sat at his desk in his dorm, laying his phone across the wooden surface. On display was the note he had taken yesterday in Not Ability:

“The DIKs seem to be a fraternity like none other at B&R. From what I’ve seen so far, they go absolutely all out with the parties that they throw. As their mansion isn’t considered to be on campus grounds, alcohol is plentiful there. However, I am still uncertain as to whether–”

Before he could finish rereading his sentence, he heard someone knocking, and he closed the app and pocketed his phone before opening the door up.

“N–Father? Do you need something?” SB wondered.

“Tommy’s about to punish you and your maggot brothers,” Nick informed.

“For…what?” SB raised an eyebrow.

“For Prince not showing up at the party yesterday. He’s also not happy you and Derek left the party early,” Nick answered. 

“We had a good reason for that.”

“I get it. But Tommy doesn’t feel that way.”

The bespectacled pledge drew in a short breath.

“Just think of it as the practice round for Hell Week,” Nick suggested.

SB followed Nick out, having a bad feeling about this so called “practice round”.

Chapter Text

As it turned out, this “practice round” was way too much the real deal, as Prince, Derek, and SB were forced to lay down underneath keg stands in the DIK mansion.

“CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!” the DIKs chanted as alcohol poured from the spouts into their wide open mouths.

“That’s fucking right, you maggots! All three of you are gonna make up for what shitface over here missed out on this weekend and for the other two ducking out early. Trying to use the DIK code to wuss out on the first big weekend at campus…I’ve never been this disappointed before!” Tommy ranted.

“Is this really necessary? You’re gonna give us cirrhosis!” SB protested after choking down the first batch.

“You’re damn right it is! Now shut up and DRINK!” Tommy snapped.

Prince felt his mind clouding up more and more with every chug. “Hey, I’ve had enough…I’m gonna be late for dinner…”

“You’ve had enough when I say so! DRINK! You don’t see your other maggot brother complaining now, do you?” Tommy pointed towards Derek.

“Derek? Are you ok?” Prince managed to ask.

“Yesh, yeshhh! I’m totally fine,” Derek replied, before his head slammed back against the floor.

“Now that’s how it looks when you’ve had enough. DRINK!” Tommy barked.

SB felt his stomach violently heave, and he shot up like a bullet, making a beeline towards the nearest bathroom with his cheeks puffed and his hand pressed against his chest. Meanwhile, Prince and Derek clumsily slithered towards the couches.

“DEREK?!” Prince shouted.

“Haha…yeah?” Derek giggled.

“WHAT TIME IS IT?! HOLY SHIT! I’M GONNA BE LATE FOR DINNER! DEEEEREEK! I’M GONNA GO EAT DINNER WITH THE ICE QUEEN!”

“Haha…ice cream…”

“DEEEEREEK! DO YOU WANT SOME PASTA FROM LUIGI’S?!” Prince yelled as he stumbled to his feet and fumbled his way to the main entrance.

Derek pushed himself up, wobbling with every step he took. “I wanna drink ice cream instead! Ice cream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!”

“I NEED TO GO AND EAT DINNER WITH LUIGI!”

**********

Isabella frowned as she stood outside Luigi’s, noting that it was currently 8:15 pm with no sign of Prince. Just when she was about to get in her car and take off, she spotted him from the corner of her eye, struggling to maintain his balance. Not too far behind him was another boy who appeared just as intoxicated, if not more so.

“Heeeeey! Is a Bella out of order? I had to come knocking!” a voice called out from behind Prince.

The librarian was fighting every urge to facepalm right then and there. “Prince. You’re late. And why the hell did you bring this boy?”

“I'm so sorry. Something came up. And I had no idea he was following me here,” Prince apologized.

“You’re both drunk.”

“It's not my fault. They forced us to drink. I kept telling them that I had enough, but you know how it is…”

“Disappointed doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel right now,” she shook her head in disbelief before walking away from them.

“Is it immeasurable? Have we ruined your day?” Derek butted in.

“Wait, don't leave! Isabella! Are you hungry? Let's eat,” Prince insisted.

“No.”

“Don’t leave us, Bella!” Derek begged.

“Isabella.”

“But Bella–”

“Isabella!!”

The two maggot brothers slipped and fell flat on their faces.

Isabella gave in to the urge and facepalmed herself. “Dear God. Neither of you can stand up straight.”

“But we can lay down flat! Here, come join us...the stars are beautiful tonight,” Prince reached aimlessly out to her general direction.

The strict woman squeezed her eyes shut and continued to walk away from the drunk boys.

“Belladonna! Don't go! I need you!”

“Haha! Oh look, a quarter! I could fall asleep like this…”

She stomped her foot down, whipped her head around, and gave them a glare that could freeze the blood in their veins. “Get up!”

“Hey! Balla!”

“Isabella! Get up! You're going to get yourselves arrested. Is that what you want?” she seethed.

“Arrested?!” a suddenly horrified Prince exclaimed. “Nononononono, we’re too young to rot away in prison!”

“You are such a mess.”

“Your eyes sparkle.”

With her hand forced, Isabella opened the rear door to her car. “Get in the car.”

“Oh my God! So bossy…” Derek whined as he plopped down in the back, taking up the entire back.

“What about me? I can’t sit on Derek now, can I?” Prince asked, trying to avoid slurring his words.

“Just use the passenger seat.”

**********

SB emerged from the first floor bathroom in the DIK mansion, clutching his stomach with a queasy expression. He forced his eyes to look up, and he saw Nick waiting nearby with concern written on his face.

“Hey, you alright there?” Nick asked.

Another wave of disgust abruptly surged up within SB and he had to run back in the bathroom before it was too late.

“Oh…still at it?”

Once SB returned, his nauseous demeanor was replaced by a thoroughly annoyed look in his eye. “Nick. Why did we have to risk getting cirrhosis just because Prince missed out on a party and Derek and I left that party early?”

Nick took in a sharp breath. “I’m not supposed to be saying this, but…fuck it. I also thought this punishment was too excessive.”

“You too?” SB raised an eyebrow. “Not what I thought I’d hear since it seemed like you were in on it like all the others.”

“I may have been one of the first pledges alongside Vinny, but I’m not the one who makes or enforces the rules here,” Nick explained. “Rusty and Tommy were the founders, so they’re in charge as President and VP respectively.”

“But you’re my father! Don’t you get a say in how I’m treated, too?” the bespectacled pledge argued.

“That’s just how it is, son,” Nick sighed. “I can’t do much besides encourage you to stick it out.”

SB clenched his eyes shut and pinched his forehead. “Whatever…ugh, I have a pounding headache right now and I hate that.”

“Can I get you some coffee?” Nick offered.

“No. I don’t drink it,” SB refused. “I’ll get some water for myself.”

**********

Isabella pulled her car into the driveway of her home. Derek had passed out in the back, so at least she only had to deal with one drunk boy constantly talking throughout the drive instead of two of them.

“Hey, this isn't the DIK mansion,” Prince pointed out.

“No. This is my house,” Isabella explained. “And bring Derek with you.”

Prince got out and opened the rear door of her car. “Derek! Wake up!”

“Huh?” Derek opened his eyes. “Whoa, that mansion is so big!”

“It’s Isabella’s house! We’re sleeping over there tonight.”

“A sleepover party?! Yippie kai yay!”

The two maggot brothers entered the house and arrived at the kitchen, where Isabella had prepared meals for them.

“Here you go. Eat this,” she offered.

“This tastes very good. Did you cook this?” Prince wondered.

“When you're done eating, you may sleep on the couch upstairs. Goodnight,” Isabella told them before walking off.

“This gourmet is da bomb!” Derek cheered before realizing something. “Oh…the Ice Queen has dematerialized.”

While Derek marched off in search of the librarian, Prince got the brilliant idea to bring his phone out and text Josy:

Prince: Hey sexy. I'm thinking about you…

Dad: Son...is everything ok?

Prince: Dad? WRnog nunmber!

Oops. Guess he may as well check up on his unread messages while he’s here, starting with Maya:

Maya: Hey...are you ok? I just saw SB walking back to his dorm and clutching his head in pain. It got me worried about you and Derek.

Prince: Yuarthmstbutiflglivesen. Irlythnkthweshuldgt2gthertnight

And finishing with SB:

SB: I just realized I forgot to buy the air mattress for you today. Sorry about that. 

Prince: aw goo!

SB: What?

Prince: I sai aw goo!

SB: I have no idea what the heck that’s supposed to mean. Also, where are you and Derek? You guys haven’t returned since we were forced to binge on alcohol.

Prince: Iduno! sum bigaf hows?

SB: …are you still drunk?

Prince: 3

Leaving his phone on the table, Prince thought to clean up the dirty dishes, so he put them in the sink and poured what he believed was dish soap all over them. Once that was done, he made his way to the main room, where Derek was standing at the trio of doors, not so secretly peeping through the middle one.

“Oh my God! Would’ve thought the Ice Queen would be so hot? Her melons could warm up my hot dog any day!” Derek proclaimed.

“Hey, moron. You do realize that I can hear you talking?” a stern voice echoed from behind the door.

Prince gave an exaggerated frown towards the horny boy. “Dereeek! A gentleman doesn’t perv on his ladies!”

“Bro! This mansion is haunted as fuck! There was an army guy and an intruder in that room over there!” Derek pointed to his right, not acknowledging what Prince just said.

Derek attempted to twist the handle open, but it wouldn’t budge. Soon, Isabella emerged from the bathroom with a scowl etched across her face. “If you’re done perving around, it’s time for you to go sleep upstairs on the couch.”

“But Isabella! I’m not a pervert!” Prince protested.

“And I dunno where upstairs is!” Derek whined.

Isabella drew in a sharp breath, her patience wearing thin. “I wasn’t talking to you, Prince. As for you, boy, have you seen staircases before? That one over there would likely be what you're looking for.”

The boys clutched the handrail as they climbed up the stairs. Afterwards, they were directed to one of the bedrooms.

“I found the couches, Isabella! I found it.”

“There. Go to sleep, we'll talk in the morning.”

Prince and Derek collapsed onto the couches as the librarian left to clear her mind.

**********

Somewhere in the dark, Prince heard two familiar voices talking amongst each other.

“Are you starting to sober up?”

“Me? Yeah. Yeah.”

“Well, you seem to be able to actually answer questions now without breathing close to my face, so you shouldn't be far off.”

“You seem to catch me at my worst, every time. If I'm not drunk, I'm naked…”

“Or both…”

What followed was a snicker.

“Yeah, you're not sober, yet.”

“Tommy made us binge on alcohol tonight. I saw my bro going out for some ice cream and I wanted some, too.”

“Even with peer pressure, there's always a choice. Like how you chose to peek at me in the bathroom.”

“Well, for an Ice Queen, you’re really hot.”

A drawn out sigh followed this time.

“Didn’t your mom ever teach you any manners?”

“This again, huh?”

For the next few minutes, Prince’s ears couldn’t pick up on anything that was being said. Finally, he caught the sound of another sigh.

“Let’s go downstairs. You can sleep on the couch down there if you want.”

Footsteps echoed in the eternal darkness before they faded out, leaving Prince to fall back into his slumber once more.

Was it just him, or did Isabella seem to soften up at the end there?

**********

The next morning, Prince and Derek sat at the kitchen table with Isabella.

“Good morning.”

“Morning…”

“Morning, bro and Isabella!”

“There's breakfast if you want it.”

“Thank you.”

“Are you two fully sober, yet?” Isabella checked in.

Derek flashed a grin. “Never been better!”

Prince pressed a hand against his forehead and squinted. “Really? My headache says yes...I don't feel very good today.”

“Oh, I don’t get those. I’ve never had one,” Derek replied.

Isabella folded her hands on the table. “I have a question.”

“For who?”

“You, Prince. Why did you drink all my white wine?”

“Your...wine?” Prince uttered as the realization dawned on him. “Oh shit...I...I think I used it when I did the dishes…”

“Bruh…imagine wasting fine wine just because you couldn’t be bothered to turn on the sink,” Derek snarked.

Isabella shifted her interrogation to the other boy in the room. “As for you, Derek…why is almost every photo frame in my house tilted?”

“What?” Derek looked confused. “Those frames were tilted. I was just trying to help!”

“If that was the case, why is my antique African mask lying on the floor in the study?” the librarian followed up.

“Uh…rain dances?” Derek looked at her sheepishly.

“And speaking of the study...can you think of any reason why you decided to block the door with my plants?”

“Of course! There was an intruder and I was keeping him from the treasure!”

Prince held back a grin. “It was just a mannequin, dude. Where are we, by the way?”

“In my house,” she stated.

“Yeah, well, duh. I meant, where do you live?” he restated the question.

“About 15 minutes by car from campus.”

“Yikes...that's a long walk back.”

“If that's supposed to be reverse psychology to give you a lift...it failed,” Isabella looked unimpressed.

“Thank you for breakfast...and everything else,” Prince acknowledged. “If you don't mind...I'll grab a shower before I start walking back.”

“Ditto. You can go first, bro.”

“There’s another shower upstairs, you know.”

Once the two maggot brothers were outside and ready to head out, they heard Isabella’s car revving up.

“Huh?”

“Get in.”

**********

SB dragged his feet into class with a sore throat, clouded vision, and a grating headache. Plopping down in his seat, he took several sips from his water bottle and mustered up the willpower to avoid face planting on his desk. If he got caught falling asleep during class, that wouldn’t exactly end well for him, to say the least.

He felt someone tap on his shoulder, and he looked to see a girl with tanned skin and brown hair with white highlights. It seemed like she was trying to get his attention.

“What do you want?” he asked somewhat irritably.

“There’s this math problem that I’m stuck on, and Cathy is busy right now. Would you be able to help me?” she asked.

“Ok, I’ll see what I can do,” he looked over her paper.

While this was going on, Prince walked in with uneven steps, and Maya pushed out the chair for him with a concerned look. “Where were you and Derek last night?”

“Just…don’t ask…” Prince groaned.

“I was a bit worried…”

“It was just some…pledge stuff…”

“And about the message you sent me…” Maya brought up her phone and showed him his text from yesterday. “What does this mean?”

“Uh…I have no idea,” Prince could only stare at the incomprehensible mess of letters.

That reminded him of the other message he had sent her, the one that was actually coherent. “Did you get my text about me moving out of your dorm?”

“Yeah, I did. I’ll miss having you as a roommate as well,” Maya gave a melancholic smile at him.

He looked around the room and spotted SB sitting next to Josy and writing something down. “Oh, it looks like Josy’s in our class. I’ll go say hi to her and check up on SB.”

Prince got up from his seat and approached them. “Hey, Josy. Hey, SB. Are you well?”

“Hey, Prince!” Josy smiled at him.

“Don’t interrupt me,” SB didn’t look up from the paper.

“I’m just checking up on you, since, you know…” Prince hinted.

“I’m fine,” SB curtly responded. “And I’m in the middle of trying to solve this problem.”

Josy faced SB with a frown. “Hey, don’t be rude to my friend.”

“It’s fine, Josy,” Prince replied. “We were forced to binge on alcohol last night because of the DIKs.”

“Oh,” Josy realized. “I guess he doesn’t handle hangovers well.”

“He’s a nice guy otherwise,” Prince reassured before waving them off. “I need to get back to working on those exercises. See you later.”

After a few minutes, SB wrapped up his work, and Cathy was ready to attend to Josy. “Ok, now I’m free to help you. What do you need?”

“Oh, I needed help with this problem, but SB helped me with it already,” Josy answered.

“SB helped you? That was nice of him. Let me have a look,” Cathy reviewed SB’s work.

The professor smiled at him. “This is a really good solution…in fact, it’s excellent. Perhaps I should hire you as my assistant.”

Josy giggled at that while SB simply sighed.

Maya set her pencil down, stretched her arms, and let out an annoyed groan. “Gah…I can’t wait until this class is over and done with…”

“What’s the matter?” Prince wondered.

“I just really don’t like math.”

“I thought you did ok on the test.”

“Yeah…I did, but I just don’t like it,” Maya complained. “I just wanna skip these Gen Ed classes and start learning what I really came here for.”

“I heard that a lot of students drop out early because of the feeling you have right now. Look at it this way…each day you’re here, you’re one step closer to completing the class,” Prince encouraged. “After that, you don’t have to retake it…you know…unless you’re someone like Dawe.”

The homophobic jock slammed his fists on the table. “FUCKING SHIT! Algebra sucks cock!”

“Language, Dawe!” Cathy scolded.

“I have no fucking use for this shit in my life!” Dawe whined.

“I’m with Dawe! Our phones have calculators! No one does math on paper anymore!” Anthony piled on.

Maya shook her head at the jocks’ blatant display of idiocy. “Yeah, that’s all the motivation I need to take this class seriously.”

She shot a concerned look towards her brother, who had shown up to class with a shirt this time. It was bright purple with a mouth in the center and the caption “Professional cunt muncher” underneath.

“What’s wrong?” Prince inquired.

“I have a feeling that Derek will be the new Dawe next year. Unless he cheats, like he always does…” Maya sighed.

“You know about that, huh?”

“Sadly, I wouldn’t turn him in for it, you know…because I love him. But I’ve been trying to make him understand how it may end up hurting him in the long run. He just shrugs it off…”

“I understand that you care a lot for him…it’s not fun feeling helpless.”

“You don’t have any siblings, right?”

“Nope, just a dad.”

“No…mother?”

“She passed away during childbirth.”

Maya reached out and gently squeezed Prince’s hand as a silent gesture of sympathy.

“I’m fine. I’ve lived my entire life without knowing her,” Prince added.

“Anyway…I care about my brother. It hurts when he does stupid things,” Maya remarked.

“You do stupid things, too,” Prince pointed out.

“I know what you’re getting at…”

“What do you think Derek would say if he knew what you did for them?” 

“He would feel the same as I do for him…he would hate it and want me to stop,” Maya acknowledged before glancing aside briefly. “But…I can’t.”

“You two are more alike than you think. Only that you don’t walk around nude outdoors…right?” Prince joked.

“Haha! Right!” Maya let out a chuckle. “Thank you. That strangely makes me feel a little bit better.”

**********

“So, you have no idea what they are planning for tonight?” Prince asked his maggot brothers as they walked towards their Gender Studies class.

“Nope, not a clue. But it seems big, because they're all excited for it,” Derek answered.

“Derek…why the heck are you wearing a shirt with that caption?” SB asked in a disapproving tone.

Derek’s only response was to chuckle and grin at him as they entered the large classroom and took their seats.

“Ah, Derek. How nice to see you in clothes for a change,” Jade remarked.

Derek put on a straight face, resisting the urge to corpse on the spot. “Yeah, I remembered what you said and you were right. I was being indecent. It's just that clothes are so restricting to me. I feel much more like myself without them.”

“Derek...your shirt is sending out a very strong sexist statement. Perhaps you should have chosen a more appropriate piece of attire for this class? Or in general?” Jade frowned.

Derek rolled his eyes. “Men can wear purple, too. Now who's the sexist...?”

Jade grunted before taking her spot at the front desk and instructing everyone to discuss a topic close to their hearts and to come up with arguments that challenge their partner.

Prince went up to a fat female student this time. “Hey, there. I’m Prince.”

She immediately scowled at him in response. “My name is not ‘there’. It’s Linda.”

“So...um...what's a topic that's close to your heart?” Prince asked, wanting to move on from that awkward introduction.

“Why don't boys like me?” Linda grumbled.

And so began another session of Prince’s partner ranting about all the personal details in her life that he frankly had no interest in remembering.

There was one thing she said that stuck out to him, though.

“My mom says if I watched my weight as much as I watch TV, I'd be a supermodel. That skinny cunt. No surprise that my dad left her when I was five years old.”

…what the hell was this woman’s problem?

Down below, Maya and Ashley had paired up together this time.

“I heard you’re pledging the HOTs. That’s pretty cool!” Ashley beamed.

Maya had a pensive look on her face. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

“What do you think about them?”

“The HOTs? Why do you ask?”

Ashley dragged her leg up and rested her foot on her thigh. “Derek recommended that I pledge the HOTs, and I was considering it.”

“Haha, he did?” Maya chuckled before lowering her voice. “They’re…wild. Too wild for my liking.”

“Wild?” Ashley repeated

“They like to party, drink, and hook up with others. And if you’ve seen their outfits, you’d know that they show a lot of skin, more than most cheerleader outfits, actually.”

“I’ve been to some of the DIK parties, so I know that.”

“I won’t stop you, but I’m just letting you know that these are the kind of people you’d be associating with,” Maya warned.

That wasn’t the kind of response the short redhead expected to hear. “It sounds like you don’t like them, even though you’re a pledge. May I ask why?”

The blonde pledge darted her eyes across the room, worried about someone overhearing them. When she felt sure that no one else was paying attention, she leaned into Ashley’s ear.

“I know it’s just a rumor, but there’s apparently free tuition if you pledge and become a HOT. That’s why I’m doing it,” Maya whispered.

“Oh…I wouldn’t be pledging for the money,” Ashley admitted. “I’d be doing it for Derek. And for you, too.”

Maya let out a quiet sigh of relief. “Thanks. That’s nice to hear.”

In the middle section, SB kicked off his discussion with Karen by taking his glasses off and setting them down on the desk.

“Um…what are you doing?” Karen gave a baffled look.

“Do you think of me differently without my glasses?” SB asked.

“…not really?” Karen answered, still confused. “You look more or less the same to me.”

“I see. Glasses have a stigma where people who wear them are considered ‘nerdy’, or at least, smarter than those who don’t,” SB began articulating his thoughts.

“Yeah.”

“From what I’ve experienced, a male with glasses isn’t seen as conventionally attractive, and he is more likely to be ridiculed for it. I’d know that, given how many times I got called ‘four-eyes’ as a kid.”

“And even now, it’s still happening to me,” the serious DIK pledge muttered to himself.

He looked toward his partner, resuming his argument. “A female, on the other hand, tends to get labeled as having a ‘sharp and stern’ look, for better or worse. Sadly, it’s one of many things that perpetuate the stereotype of valuing appearance over character for women.”

“I don’t know about that. Kids made fun of me for having to wear glasses, too. That, and my hearing aid,” Karen disagreed, touching her left ear.

“I’ll make sure not to raise my voice around you, then,” SB promised, receiving a grateful nod from Karen in response.

“Women are also more likely to wear contacts than men are, and I think it’s because society as a whole sees women without glasses as more conventionally attractive. Personally, the thought of putting objects in my eyes freaks me out too much to consider contacts.”

“Appearance isn’t the only reason why. It might be more comforting for someone to not have to deal with the weight of the frame on their nose.”

SB nodded, taking her words into account. “Good point. However, the fact remains that people are always going to be judgemental, even if they refuse to admit it.”

He had to stop and take a sip from his water bottle, as his throat was now dry from all the talking he just did.

“‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’ Unless the book calls you a ‘four-eyed maggot’ first,” he quipped.

A quiet giggle escaped from Karen’s lips. “I meant what I said earlier, by the way. Whether you’re wearing glasses or not, I don’t see you differently.”

“Thanks. And I feel the same way. No matter what the others may say.”

Later, Jade called Prince over to have a word with him after class. While this was going on…

“No! You are wrong! Meat is murder!” Wendy shouted.

“You just told me you eat fish! That would be murder, too!” Derek retorted.

“No, it isn't! Fishes don't suffer!”

“You can't just choose which animal suffers or not, Wendy! Either it's all wrong or nothing is!”

“I can too! I read about fishes online! As long as I don't eat meat, I can have a clear conscience. So, I can and I will eat everything else!”

“The only thing you won't eat is ‘less’.”

“Derek, remember this is a class where we discuss sensitive issues...NOT a roast,” Jade scolded.

“Easy credits, my ass...my ears are bleeding,” Derek whined.

Once all the other students except for Prince had left, it was just him and Jade in the classroom.

“I've been paying some extra attention to you...what do you think of this class this far?” Jade inquired.

Prince figured he may as well be honest. “Yeah...this class is not for me. I'm beginning to feel that it was a mistake signing up for it.”

“May I ask why?”

“These ‘discussions’ we have are pretty one-sided.”

“So I've noticed. That's twice in a row now.”

“Sorry, I can try to do better next time.”

“Oh, stop it. I wasn't looking for an apology. Maybe you just need to find partners who actually understand what they’re supposed to be talking about,” Jade suggested. “Or perhaps there's an itch to get something off your chest that your study partners haven't been able to scratch.”

“I wouldn't mind being allowed to contribute more to the discussion, if that's what you're getting at,” Prince replied before asking, “Which study partners would you recommend?”

“I’d say either Maya, SB, or Ashley, to name a few,” Jade answered. “And of course, you can talk to me if there’s no one else for you to partner with.”

“Yeah, I can imagine that you would like to discuss things, too,” Prince replied. “You're kind of like me in this class. Just someone who listens.”

“Well, I'm your teacher. It's my job.”

“So, you never want to join in on the discussion?”

“Of course I would...I'll tell you what...if there's ever an odd couple in the class you and I could pair up and have a good...back and forth,” Jade’s tone turned suggestive.

“…I guess,” was all Prince had to say to that.

“Shall we?”

Feeling somewhat intimidated by Jade’s change in behavior, Prince departed from the classroom.

**********

It was another louder than average day at the library, as Isabella was absent from her usual spot at her desk again. SB hoped that this wouldn’t be a recurring issue as he took a seat at a table and laid his study materials out. He did a quick sweep of the room with his eyes, but the one he was hoping to see wasn’t there.

At least the hangover that had persisted throughout the morning had finally passed. Now it was time to get down to business.

Approximately 25 minutes later, SB leaned back into his chair and shut his eyes, feeling worn out after having wrapped up his English homework. He usually didn’t tire out this quickly after a study session, but with all the partying he had to do recently, it had left him with less energy to spare.

“Hey, SB.”

A voice whispering in his ear instantaneously shocked him out of his lethargic state. He scrambled out of his seat to see who would have the nerve to jumpscare him like that.

She was none other than the one he had hoped to see earlier, dressed in an off-shoulder black crop top with long sleeves and black pants.

“Riona!” he gasped. “Geez, you scared me.”

The gothic HOT giggled. “You should’ve seen your face just now.”

SB took a deep breath to calm himself. “Please don’t do that again. I have sensitive reflexes, and if it were anyone else, I’d be a lot more upset right now.”

“Sorry. I just thought it would be fun to startle you,” she apologized.

“So did you come here to study with me again?” he wondered.

“Yeah, sure,” she nodded. “There’s a quiz coming up for my history class, and it’s gonna be a pretty annoying one.”

“How so?”

“I can’t use my notes for these quizzes. So I have to memorize everything beforehand.”

“If that’s the case, then here’s what we’ll do. We’ll start with definitions, and I’ll read off the words while you describe them as accurately as you can. Then we’ll move on to the true/false questions and take it from there,” SB proposed.

“That sounds tough, but alright,” Riona plopped her history book onto the table and took a seat opposite SB.

He proceeded to read out many different keywords from the Civil War era, while she did her best to describe what those words meant. Several times, she either had to skip the words, or she’d seem unsure if what she was saying was correct. Eventually, he looked up from the book to grade her performance.

“That was a decent effort,” SB commented.

Riona pressed her elbow onto the table and propped her head up with her hand. “In other words, I bombed that attempt.”

“Come on, it wasn’t that bad. Want to try again?” he encouraged.

Before she could give her answer, Dany stormed up to them with two other girls behind her, those being Linda and a feminist with piercings on her eyebrow, nose, and lip.

Riona sat up straight with a sigh at their unwelcome presence. “What do you want? We’re trying to study here.”

“You got a lot of nerve still trying to pretend like you’ve done nothing, you stupid bitch,” Dany pointed at the gothic HOT accusingly. “Corrupting my Jam-Jam into cheating on me and stealing his money…what the hell is wrong with you?”

SB got out of his seat, just as annoyed as Riona was. “Didn’t I tell you to stop bothering her?”

“Shut it, you son of a bitch!” Linda spat out with saliva flying from her mouth. “First, you think you can barge in on our cooking club, and now you think you can tell us what to do?”

“And this bitch needs a privileged male to mansplain history lessons to her? Don’t even bother, you’ll never amount to anything beyond being a reject,” the feminist with piercings mocked.

Riona bristled at that last word, glancing down at herself briefly, while SB narrowed his eyes at them.

“Yeah, you tell ‘em, Minny,” Linda snorted.

“If you’re still gonna be a two-faced whore, I got proof of what you did,” Dany retorted, presenting a photo that showed a certain black-haired girl sitting on top of Jamie’s lap inside a familiar looking closet.

Neither Riona nor SB said a word, still trying to process what was going on.

Minny caught the look of surprise that crossed Riona’s face. “And there it is…you can’t lie to us now, bitch.”

“Where did you get that?” Riona uttered.

“I’d tell you, but you’re too stupid to understand that, let alone pass college,” Dany sneered. “Because that’s all you are. A filthy cu–”

“Hey. Quiet down, girls. You’re being disruptive,” Magnar interjected from across the room.

Dany spun around, irate at the interruption. “No one asked you to butt in, nerd.”

“Don’t you feminists have better things to do than disturbing the peace here?” Sally rolled her eyes.

“Pfft. Like you’re one to talk with all your hooting and hollering whenever you play your stupid games!” Linda fired back.

“Stupid?!” Bert was aghast. “We’re just having fun doing what we love!”

“As expected from a typical nerd who sits around playing games all day like the loser he is while we are actually out there making a difference,” Minny insulted.

Ron slammed his fist onto the table. “Oh shut the fuck up, you feminazi bitch! Nobody cares about your asinine squawking noises that you call protesting!”

“I think we should leave while we can,” SB whispered, closing the textbook and carrying it in his arms.

While the feminists were distracted by the tri-betas, SB led Riona towards the entrance, and they passed by Isabella on their way out. 

“Everyone, calm down,” Magnar stressed. “The last thing we want is for the Ice Queen to–”

The librarian, having overheard the commotion, stormed up to the two groups with a frosty glare.

“All of you. Out. Now. ”

“W-what did we do wrong?!”

Dany’s indignant response prompted the tri-betas to stare at her in disbelief as Isabella latched onto the purple haired feminist’s ear and shoved her out of the library. Linda and Minny were booted out as well, with the tri-betas having followed an escape route to avoid the Ice Queen’s wrath.

“HEY! That is female on female assault! Assault, I say!” Dany yelled.

**********

SB opened the door to his dorm, letting Riona inside. 

“Ok, we should be safe here. Are you ok?” he asked.

“I’m fine.”

“You didn’t seem fine when they started ganging up on you like that.”

“I told you, I’m fine,” she insisted.

“It’s not fine that they called you a reject and all those other nasty words!”

A moment of silence followed with SB taking a breath to calm down from his outburst.

“…if you want to talk about it, I’ll listen. And I won’t tell anyone,” he promised.

Riona’s eyebrow rose in surprise. “Do you mean that?”

SB gave an affirmative nod, and she sat down on his bed, with him following suit.

“What they said about me being a reject…it’s true. When Quinn and I first applied to B&R, we didn’t make the initial cut. Neither of us had the best grades in high school, to say the least. We had to wait until it was several weeks into the semester before we finally got accepted. Until then, we were rejects, just waiting to see if other students would drop out or not show up first,” Riona explained.

“Aren’t they actually called replacements?”

“Tomato, to-mah-to.”

“Well, I don’t think any of that puts you beneath anyone else here,” he shook his head. “We’re all taking the same classes here at the end of the day.”

“I guess that’s true,” she agreed.

“There was another thing I was wondering about,” SB began, trying to find the best way to word it. “Specifically, when Dany showed that photo of you and Jamie…well…”

“You don’t have to beat around the bush. You saw exactly what was going on there,” Riona stated.

“I’m not here to judge you for that. What’s important is that whoever installed that camera must have given Dany that photo to sabotage you or Jamie. Or maybe both of you,” SB theorized.

Riona laid down on his bed with a groan. “God, this is all so fucked up. I was under the impression that he broke up with that control freak. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have hooked up with him.”

SB hunched over, crossing his arms. “This goes beyond a creep spying on others without their consent. Someone was recording the things that go on in the closet and using it to ruin other peoples’ lives, and that’s completely unacceptable. If I find out whoever’s behind all of this, you’ll be the first one to hear from me.”

The gothic HOT closed her eyes, feeling worn out. “Maybe I really am too stupid for my own damn good.”

“What makes you say that?” SB pivoted to face her directly. “You couldn’t have known that Jamie was still in a relationship. He should’ve told you that in advance.”

“It’s not just about that, SB. I’m not cut out for college. I’m gonna fail my quiz, and then I’ll be stuck having to retake my stupid history class. That’s just the way it is for a reject like me,” Riona lamented.

“That’s not true, Riona!” he denied. “You’re smarter than you give yourself credit for.”

“Really?” she doubted.

“You’ve been here longer than I have, for one. And look at it this way. If you don’t try at all, you’re setting yourself up for failure from the beginning. So the least you can do is to give it a shot,” he advised.

He paused to catch his breath before resuming, “And here, we won’t be disturbed by those feminists. So what do you say we get back to studying for your history quiz?”

Riona laid there for a few moments before sitting up straight. “When you put it that way, I suppose it can’t hurt to try.”

They repeated the same method they were using back in the library with the keywords, and this time, she didn’t hesitate as frequently with defining them.

“How do you feel about it now?” SB asked.

“A little better.”

“That’s good. Do you want to keep going?”

Riona laid on her side on his bed. “No. My brain is too fried to handle more facts right now.”

SB let out a yawn as he lied down as well. “Come to think of it, I’m feeling tired, too.”

They remained there in silence, taking the moment to decompress.

“You know something, SB?”

“What is it?”

“I’ve been thinking about that truth or dare game we all played last Saturday. In spite of everything, it was fun making out with you in that closet.”

SB turned his face away, trying to hide how bright his face had gotten.

“And with how you’re looking like a peach right now, I know you had fun, too,” she smirked knowingly.

“…yeah,” he admitted, willing himself to look into her eyes. “I’ve been thinking about it, too. It felt…unique.”

Riona stroked his cheek with her hand. “Want to pick up on where we left off?”

“Here?”

“I’m feeling up for it.”

“If you are…then sure,” he accepted her advances. “Making out with you again sounds fun.”

She brought her hand away from his face. “I had something extra in mind. Close your eyes.”

“Uh…how come?” he wondered.

“Trust me, you won’t regret it,” she answered.

“Ok, I guess.”

“Don’t worry, this won’t take long.”

While SB shut his eyes, he heard the sound of clothes being ruffled around.

“You can open them now.”

What he saw left him stunned, for Riona had taken her crop top off, leaving her small, perky boobs on full display for him.

“What are you doing?” he asked, now feeling a tad bit confused.

“Exactly what it looks like I’m doing,” she answered.

“Is it hot in here for you?” he wondered, trying to think of a plausible excuse for why she would do that.

“Well…you could say that,” she humored him. “But really…like what you see?”

“I-I think I do, yes,” he stammered.

“Good. You can touch them if you want,” she offered.

SB hesitantly reached out and touched her boob, not quite entirely sure how to describe how it felt in his hand. After pulling his hand back, he mustered up the courage to cup his entire hand around her boob. Riona let out a soft moan, savoring the different feeling of a guy who took his time when touching her body. Feeling turned on by this, she went in for a kiss, and SB froze in place, surprised, but not pulling away.

“Mmm…” she smacked her lips against his, prodding her tongue into his mouth. “Now that I’ve shown you mine, I want you to show me yours.”

He blinked. “What?”

“I mean the thing underneath your pants,” she clarified.

If their foreheads weren’t so close to each other, he would’ve facepalmed himself. “Oh…I’m so stupid.”

Riona let out a few playful giggles at that. “Hey, that’s my line!”

SB chuckled as well, feeling a sense of connection to her self-deprecating humor.

“We’re both young and dumb…but is this love?” he wondered.

“No offense, but it’s too early to tell,” she answered.

“Fair enough,” he acknowledged.

“Now are you gonna whip it out for me?” she asked.

SB, not wanting to keep her waiting any longer, loosened his pants and pulled his underwear down. He realized that he still had pubic hair surrounding his erection and felt ashamed that it was still there.

“If I knew this was gonna happen in advance, I’d have shaved down there. Sorry about that,” he apologized.

“It’s fine, SB. Seeing you this hard for me is enough to get me horny as hell,” she replied, licking her lips.

“Really?”

“Really. Now I’ll show you the beginning of what I can do.”

She softly gripped his cock and slid her hand up and down the shaft, feeling it pulsate with each stroke. SB let out a short gasp, as it was unlike anything he’d experienced before.

“How does my slutty little hand feel, wrapped around your cock and jerking it off?” she asked in a sultry tone.

“This is…this feels good,” he softly moaned.

Riona smiled, getting a kick out of watching SB try to maintain his composure while she teased him.

To try to keep himself distracted, he brought his hand up and rubbed his finger against her nipple.

“I like how perky your breasts are, Riona,” SB remarked. “They fit right into my hand.”

“So does your dick in mine,” she responded in kind.

“Is that a good thing?” he tapped his cheek with his other hand. “Most people seem to operate on a ‘bigger is better’ mentality.” 

“And I know I’m definitely not big down there,” his voice wavered on that sentence.

“I’ll let you in on something,” Riona leaned into his ear and whispered. “The other HOTs may say otherwise, but I like my cocks just the right size.”

SB’s eyes widened, and not just from the pleasure of her hand. “I…did not expect that from you.”

“That just means we’re both different, aren’t we? You like my small, perky tits, and I like your just-right cock,” the gothic HOT complimented with a smile.

A smile of his own spread across his face, his heart warmed by her words. Deciding to take the initiative this time, he pressed his lips against hers while squeezing her boob with his hand. She moaned eagerly into his mouth, tightening her grip on his dick while sliding her tongue piercing across his tongue. Before long, he felt something building up in his groin, and he broke their kiss to try to warn her.

“Riona, I–I think I’m close to–”

He didn’t get to finish, as the sound of the doorknob being twisted cut him off.

“Shoot! Derek’s back! Quick, get dressed!” he whispered frantically.

SB dragged his underwear and pants back up haphazardly while Riona dragged her off-shoulder crop top over her head. Almost immediately afterwards, the doorknob twisted, and Derek barged right in.

“Ass man! We need to be at the–” Derek started, pausing when he took notice of the other guest sitting right next to SB in their dorm room.

“Well, damn! Turns out ass man’s got some game after all!” Derek snapped his fingers and gave a thumbs up.

“‘Ass man’, huh?” Riona raised an eyebrow.

“Ugh, we were just finishing up our study session, Derek,” SB diffused. “Now, what were you saying earlier?”

“Oh…well, we need to be at the DIK mansion now! Hell Week’s about to start,” Derek informed.

“Hell Week, huh? Good luck with those tasks. Some of those can get pretty nasty,” Riona brought up.

“Right…I guess it’s about time, then. See you later, Riona,” SB waved her goodbye.

Riona gave a flirtatious wink at SB as she strutted off. “Later, SB.”

**********

Prince was the last one to arrive at the DIK mansion, having stumbled across Jill practicing the piano in the auditorium earlier. Right in front of him and his maggot brothers was a covered up board, with Tommy wearing a Diablo mask alongside Rusty.

“Maggot brothers! The time has come to prove your worth! You don’t become a brother overnight and this weekend was just a simple warm up,” Tommy announced.

“One week! One week is what you must endure,” the DIK’s vice president held up his index finger. “But not just any week. Dear brothers, it’s that time of the year again. It’s time for…”

“Hell Week!” the DIKs chanted in unison.

“One week of trials to test every fiber of your beings. One week to test if you and your maggot brothers are worthy to join the true brotherhood,” Tommy declared.

“If you can’t prove to us that you and your maggot brothers can work together, fighting alongside, enduring hell…we can’t expect you to live by the DIK code,” Rusty reiterated.

“Family comes first!” the DIKs recited.

“And now it’s time for the grand reveal! Rusty!”

“Let me proudly present…THE DEVIL’S PLEDGE BOARD!”

The DIK’s President yanked the cloth off, revealing what appeared to be a grand total of 15 different tasks displayed on the whiteboard.

“HOLY FUCK!” Derek shouted at the top of his lungs.

“We’re supposed to do all of that ?” Prince gaped, his jaw hanging wide open.

“In one week too?!” SB uttered with widened eyes.

**********

Late at night at the tri-alpha’s residence, the doorbell rang out. Chad opened the door, but all he saw were two letters down at his feet, one addressed to himself, and the other to Dawe. Confused, he tore open the first letter, and what he saw chilled him to his very core.

“ Is this the secret you’re hiding? ”

“No...no…” the tri-alpha’s President trembled, first out of fear, then out of rage.

“Prince…you’re dead .”

Chapter Text

One year ago…

Maya darted her eyes as she stood outside of the tattoo parlor besides Josy. It had been several weeks since they began dating after camping out together with Derek and a girl named Lynn, and Josy had talked her into doing something that was absolutely outside her comfort zone.

“So, Maya! Are you ready?” Josy flashed an eager grin.

Maya gripped her elbow with her hand. “Is it too late to back out now?”

“It’ll be fun, I promise! I can’t wait to see how our pierced tongues feel against each other…among other places,” Josy winked knowingly.

“Haha, ok,” Maya nervously giggled. “Question is, who’s going first?”

“Let’s settle it with rock, paper, scissors,” Josy suggested.

Josy made a fist while Maya stuck out two fingers sideways.

“Damn…best out of three?”

“Nope. It’s too late for that.”

Maya swallowed. “In that case…let’s do this. Together.”

“Before we go in…” Josy brought her phone out. “Let’s take a picture together!”

Although Maya would’ve liked to hold Josy’s hand as they walked in the parlor, she was wary about the wrong person seeing them do this, so she kept her hands to herself.

“Welcome! How may I help you two?” a female tattoo artist greeted.

“Excuse me! We’re here to get our tongues pierced,” Josy requested. “I’m Josy, and this is Maya.”

“What kind of tongue piercing are you looking for?” the tattoo artist asked.

Maya flinched, intimidated at the poster depicting several types of piercings. “Uh…nothing too extreme, I think.”

“I recommend a standard midline piercing in the center of the tongue. It will hurt, but it’s the least painful kind we have to offer,” the artist suggested.

“Sure, I guess I’ll go with that.”

“Great! There’s mouthwash at the sink over there. After rinsing your mouth with it, lay down on the table while I fetch my tools.”

Once she had thoroughly cleaned her mouth, she took several uneasy steps towards the table before laying on her back, with Josy not far behind her.

“Josy…I’m so nervous right now. What if it goes wrong and it hurts like hell?” Maya’s voice wavered.

Josy took Maya’s hand and squeezed it. “Don’t worry, Maya. I’m here for you.”

Before long, the artist returned with gloves on her hands and her tools, consisting of a flashlight, a marker, forceps, a barbell, metal beads, and a needle.

“Open your mouth wide. I need to check your tongue’s blood vessels,” the artist instructed.

Maya opened her mouth, letting the artist shine the flashlight on the underside of her tongue and use the marker to indicate the center of her tongue. She closed her mouth to swallow down the saliva that had been building up.

“What happens next?” she asked.

“I’ll use these forceps to clamp your tongue and keep it in place. Then you’ll need to take a deep breath. The needle will go right through the center when you exhale, followed by the barbell and metal beads for the piercing itself.”

After the forceps were applied to her tongue, she took a deep breath, bracing herself for the part that she had been dreading the most. When she worked up the nerve to exhale, she shut her eyes and clenched her fists.

The pain that she felt when the needle punctured her tongue was acute, but boy, did it hurt . She couldn’t stop herself from crying out while the artist threaded the barbell in the hole and twisted on the metal beads. By the time it was finally over, her mouth was a bloody mess.

“All done! Give it a few days at most and your tongue should be healed by then. Drink something cold or use ice to reduce the swelling. I would also suggest returning here after a month or so to downsize your barbell,” the artist advised.

Maya nodded in acknowledgement while the artist turned towards a now queasy looking Josy. “Now it’s your turn.”

“Er…on second thought, I’ll pass.”

“Oh, changed your mind?”

Maya’s eyes went wide at hearing her girlfriend back out at the last moment.

“There was just so much blood! And it looked incredibly painful, too,” Josy shuddered.

The artist collected her tools and stowed them away. “That will be $50 for the piercing then.”

Feeling guilt over her choice, Josy pulled out her wallet. “The bill’s on me.”

After Josy finalized the payment and Maya did her best to rinse out the blood, they left the parlor. The petite girl whipped out her phone and opened up the camera, trying to think of something to cheer her girlfriend up. “Say cheese!”

While Josy gave her usual smile in the selfie, Maya had a hand on her cheek, and her “smile” was quite lopsided.

**********

Dinner with her brother and father that evening was awkward.

Sure, Maya was typically quiet during her meals, as she always kept her mouth closed while eating, but with how swollen her tongue was from the piercing, she had to take her time to chew in a way that wouldn’t cause mouth pain. It didn’t help that some of the broccoli pieces were too crunchy for her to handle.

A ringtone went off, prompting her dad, Patrick, to get up from his seat. “Excuse me, I have to take this.”

While she and Derek continued to eat, he leaned in towards his sister with a worried expression that matched hers.

“Sis, I don’t like the sound of this,” he spoke quietly, as if their dad was still in the same room.

A few moments of silence passed until Patrick returned to the dining table with a mix of frustration and exhaustion on his face.

“I’ve got terrible news for us. Our health insurance company just denied coverage for Helen’s treatment,” Patrick sighed.

Derek stopped chewing on his food and blurted out “What?!”

Maya pressed her arms against the table and bowed her head. “No…”

“Those greedy bastards…” Patrick muttered to himself, his fists clenched. “All those years of insurance premiums only for this to happen.”

“What’s gonna happen now?” Derek had to ask.

Patrick took in a sharp breath. “I’ll find a way for us to get through this. We’re not giving up on her, no matter what.”

“We need to break the news to Mom,” Derek realized. “Even if she lashes out at us.”

“Before that…Maya, we need to talk,” Patrick’s tone took on a stern vibe.

“Dad?” Derek looked confused as Maya stood up, leaving the rest of her broccoli untouched.

“Finish your dinner, Derek. I need to have a word with Maya.”

Patrick took Maya aside to the living room, the latter having a bad feeling about where this was going.

“I’ll get straight to the point,” Patrick stated. “What is that thing on your tongue?”

“It’s um…” Maya held her elbow, trying to think of the best possible explanation. “A piercing.”

“Why exactly do you have a piercing there?” he asked, his tone making it sound more like a demand.

“I just felt like trying something new,” she answered, slurring her words somewhat.

“I’m disappointed in you, Maya. Making these kinds of body modifications goes against our oath to God,” Patrick reprimanded.

Maya turned her head away, ashamed and worried.

“We’ll discuss this later. For now, I can only pray that Helen won’t take the news too badly…” Patrick trailed off.

Though Maya just had dinner, the pit in her stomach grew ever larger as she followed her dad to her mom’s room.

End of flashbacks.

**********

“Gay guard catcher! Streak in front of at least one security guard and have him chase you. Watch as he dies inside trying to catch you.”

“Fucking a teacher! Simple…but impossible.”

“Prank the Alphas! A good prank that effectively pisses them off is all that's needed.”

“Having sex outdoors! Perhaps with the aforementioned teacher?”

Rusty continued to list off each task on the left side of the pledge board one by one, all while the maggot brothers watched in disbelief, awe, and disgust respectively.

“Have a stripper sign your cock!”

Tommy slapped his hands down on Prince’s and Derek’s shoulders while SB kept his distance from the vice President. “An erect cock is simpler to autograph.”

“If you’re not tactful while doing that, maybe you’ll end up fulfilling the goal of being slapped by five girls.”

Tommy shuffled his way to the right side. “This week will be a very special week, maggots. You’re pretty much gonna be buzzed constantly since you must finish 100 beers during Hell Week.”

“And all tasks are of course going to be completed while wearing the traditional 24/7 dildo helmet.” 

“Being drunk is a great way to muster up the courage and egg the preps!” 

“And don’t forget to book some time for that sexy car wash. Maybe a granny or two wanna see some hot college boy ass while getting her car sparkling for her bridge tournament.”

“If you thought fucking a teacher was hard, how about you try to bang a feminist. Watch out…they tend to bite.”

Nick stepped up, reading off the tasks that looked to have been recently scrawled on near the bottom. “Skinny dip in the park’s lake! Whoever does this must stay in the water for at least 6.9 seconds.”

“Get 4 matches on Swyper! Luckily for you guys, whichever way you or the women swipe doesn’t matter.”

“Challenge a HOT to a banana duel. Good luck with whoever does this one…win or lose, they’ll never hear the end of it,” the bald fade DIK’s tone took on a more serious edge for that one.

“And finally! We can’t forget about those who society always forgets about…the nerds!” Tommy snapped his fingers.

“Wrap up Hell Week by giving a wedgie so far up that his ass crack gets extended,” Rusty announced. “And yes, maggots! You’re going to do all of that!”

Tommy gave Prince’s and Derek’s shoulders another slap. “Fifteen tasks! One week…sort of.”

“The following rules must be followed!” Rusty declared. “Rule number 1: Proof or DIK witness is needed for every task. Rule number 2: You may choose who completes the tasks or you can cooperate. But to give you some motivation, the maggot who pulls the most weight during Hell Week will get a special prize, if the list is completed. And finally, rule number 3: Hell Week ends at 8pm on Saturday. On average, that means you must complete at least 3 tasks per day.”

Leon and Jamie arrived, the latter wearing a helmet with a dildo attached on the front.

“What better way to start Hell Week than with the traditional 24/7 dildo helmet?!” Tommy rubbed his hands devilishly. “This helmet right here has been worn by each and everyone in this very room. Now, it’s your turn. Wear it, at all times.”

“You may take turns wearing it and you can only take it off when you pass it to either of your maggot brothers,” Nick clarified.

“24/7? Wouldn’t it be 24/5 since we only have 5 days?” SB interjected.

“Shut up. Just for that, you should be the first one to wear it,” Tommy scowled from behind the Diablo mask.

SB’s frown, on the other hand, was on full display for everyone to see. “Absolutely not.”

“As expected from the four-eyed weakling of a maggot,” Tommy sneered. 

“I want it!” Derek stepped up to take the dildo helmet.

“Looks like someone wants to win that big prize!” Rusty smiled.

Tommy faced Prince and crossed his arms. “Son...I'm disappointed in you.”

Jacob, John Boy, and Leon brought in three coolers containing a huge amount of beer bottles. 

“Ah, another fun part of the week. The 100 beer challenge,” Tommy indicated.

“These beers are yours. Finish them by Saturday to complete the task,” Rusty reiterated.

Once the DIKs departed, Prince, Derek, and SB sat on a couch, the former two helping themselves to a beer bottle.

“What's our strategy?” Derek asked.

“To complete it?” Prince wondered.

“Simple. We split up the tasks among the three of us,” SB stated.

“I don't know, dude...I think it's better to cooperate,” Prince objected.

Derek flashed a grin towards his way. “I never thought you'd want to do that with me…”

“To cooperate?”

“No, to double team a teacher and a feminist.”

SB pinched his forehead. “Are you always this stupid or what?”

“You know it, ass man!” Derek proudly declared.

“What I meant was that we try to help each other out and do the tasks together...except for the ones that include fucking,” Prince explained.

“Cheers, bro and ass man,” Derek held his beer bottle out. “To Hell Week!”

Prince clinked his bottle against Derek’s. “To Hell Week!”

“As I see it, the hardest one by far is the teacher one,” SB brought up.

“Hm…I think Jade was trying to flirt with me after class today,” Prince mentioned.

Derek and SB were stunned into silence.

“Yeah...that's pretty much my reaction to it, too.”

“You think you could do her?” Derek eagerly asked.

“Nuh uh,” Prince refused, still feeling uncomfortable at the prospect of that.

“Dammit!” Derek sighed frustratedly. “Then I'll have to do it myself. Maybe I can find another teacher and feminist?” 

The shameless maggot brother paused, taking on a more serious attitude. “And before you get any ideas, bro…don’t.”

“What ideas?”

“You know…my sis.”

“I wasn’t going to do that.”

Prince stared at the sheer number of beer bottles remaining in the coolers. “Man...six to seven of these per day, each...we're going to be drunk constantly…”

“If we spread it out evenly over the day, it might work,” Derek suggested before addressing his other maggot brother. “You should drink with us right now so you don't have to binge as much later on, ass man.”

“I’ll drink them when we get back to our dorm,” SB sighed. “Can’t risk ending up like you two the last time you were drunk outside.”

“How are we going to do that, when we have classes and all? You know they have that stupid rule about alcohol on campus,” Prince pointed out.

“We can always chug a lot before bedtime,” Derek shrugged.

“Yeah, we’ll figure it out,” SB commented, mentally conjuring up his plan for how he was going to handle his share of the beers.

**********

The HOTs and their pledges were hanging around in the pool room, with Quinn and Riona laying on floats, Sarah and Melanie lounging around on the chairs, Camila and Mona floating in the water, and Josy and Maya sitting at the edge. While most of the HOTs and pledges were in bikinis of various colors and sizes, with Quinn’s in particular being see-through, Maya had elected to wear a one-piece swimsuit.

“Sisters and daughters! We’re still waiting for Sage and the rest before we can kickstart the HOT scavenger hunt,” Quinn spoke up. “And while we wait, as a vice president, I wanted to take the time to shine the spotlight on Camila for her excellent performance during the DIK’s CUM-petition.”

Camila averted her gaze, embarrassed at Quinn’s praise.

“A very nice job indeed. She wasn’t quite up to par with Mona and yours truly. But I think she really deserves applause, ladies.”

The HOT vice president’s expression shifted into something far less pleasant as she leaned into Camila’s ear and lowered her voice. “Offering someone more than they paid for, though…that deserves punishment.”

She left the Latina reeling from that threat as she pushed herself off the float and swam to the edge.

“Seriously? Applause for grinding on a loser? That’s ridiculous!” Melanie mocked.

“You call that ridiculous?” Sarah piled on. “Not only did that other loser maggot wuss out right before things got exciting, he couldn't hold his beer to save his life. Five dollars that silent boy dips out before the end of Hell Week.”

Maya lowered her head and glanced away from those two HOTs. From the corner of her eye, she could see that while Riona seemingly continued to maintain her stoic expression, there was a slight twitch of annoyance that crossed her eyebrows.

“Oh, you mean sisters! Stop it…” Quinn spoke dismissively before exiting the pool and approaching Josy and Maya from behind. “You might not realize it, but one of those maggots and the DIK vice president have wannabe HOT relatives. Isn’t that right, buttercup and shortcake?”

“That’s right! Derek did mention that,” Melanie recalled.

“You’re Tommy’s sister?” Sarah asked.

“Not quite. I'm his step-sister,” Josy corrected.

Quinn plopped herself down between Josy and Maya and wrapped her arms around them. The latter tensed up, silently praying that Quinn would let go soon.

“Interesting. And his maggot son…oh, what am I saying? You know him. Your midnight booty call…he really seems to like you, Maya,” Quinn teased.

Maya stared ahead, keeping her eyes off of Quinn as much as she could while Josy sent her a surprised glance.

“You’re cute,” Quinn winked, touching Maya’s nose with her finger before facing the Latina pledge.

“Camila?”

“Yes?”

“You’ve had the luxury to get closer to the HOTs than the others. Do you like the opportunity you’ve been given?” Quinn hinted.

“Yes, Quinn. I…love it,” Camila answered, having recovered from the threat.

“Good answer. You see, I’m beginning to think that Maya, Mona, and Josy here might be suitable as well. Would you agree?”

“I guess,” Camila shrugged. “Sure.”

“...what’s the offer?” Maya wondered.

“Oh, you will like this,” Quinn had a shit-eating grin plastered all over her face. “I’m aware that you ladies have heard some rumors about the HOTs, right?”

“I heard something about…free…tuition,” Maya replied, hesitation evident in the way her words wavered.

“Did you two hear about that as well?” Quinn asked.

“Yeah, I did.”

“It’s been mentioned in whispers.”

“Ah! The grapevine…seems like there’s a HOT among us who can’t keep her trap shut,” Quinn remarked. “You know how the saying goes…loose lips, sink ships.”

She swung her legs between Josy’s and Maya’s and forced them to open wide. “But loose hips, get tips. So, girls…are you interested?”

“Free tuition? Sign me up! I’m not passing on that offer,” Mona accepted.

“And you, buttercup and shortcake? Are you in?” Quinn asked. 

“What do we have to do, exactly?” Josy inquired.

Sage, Heather, Elena, and Arieth all arrived together in their bikinis. “All right, sisters and daughters! Sorry for the delay!”

“Zip it,” Quinn commanded the pledges before shifting to a pleasant attitude. “No worries, sister. I’ve been teaching our new daughters about the tradition.”

“Awesome. Then our daughters are aware of the tasks at hand,” Sage smiled. “Much like fraternities have their Hell Weeks and hazing rituals…the HOTs have an annual scavenger hunt.”

The HOT president continued her speech as Elena dove into the pool and Arieth got a running start. “You have two weeks to complete your list and you’ll work in pairs. These pairs will be Camila and Mona, followed by Maya and Josy.”

Arieth slipped on the edge and tumbled into the pool, splashing water over Sage’s feet.

“Each of your mothers will prepare your tasks for later. For now, let’s just take some time and relax down here,” Sage concluded their meeting.

The HOTs and their pledges broke off into their own groups, with Camila and Mona lollygagging around on the floats.

“Hey Cammy! You’ll never guess who my HOT mother is,” Mona’s eyes teemed with eagerness.

“Oh really? Is it the one who slipped and fell into the pool just now?” Camila guessed.

“How did you know that?!” the redhead pledge gasped.

“I saw her reply to your cluck and figured she’d want to have you.”

“Well, she certainly did. Who’s yours?”

Camila pointed at the blonde HOT standing aside with Quinn in a private discussion. “Heather.”

“Oh, her?” Mona’s expression fell. “Yikes. She’s got a bitchy attitude, that one.”

“Shh…keep it down,” Camila urged. “The others might think you’re breaking the HOT code.”

“Oh, whoops,” Mona brought her voice down to a whisper.

“Besides, Heather can’t possibly be worse than getting stuck with the most brain dead HOT of them all,” Camila whispered back, a grin forming on her face. “Did you see her Rooster tag?”

“Haha! Sure did!” Mona quietly snickered. “Who the hell uses ‘1234’ as a password, let alone has it on full display like that?”

Meanwhile, Maya was chilling in the water by herself when she felt a splash hit her face. Startled, she twisted around to see the culprit. To her surprise, it wasn’t Quinn continuing to mess with her as she had expected.

“What was that for?” Maya wondered.

“Just wanted to see how you’d react to me fucking with you,” Riona shrugged.

“Oh.”

“Maya, was it?”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t think that the only girl here who’s in a one-piece would have a tongue piercing,” Riona commented. “But as your mother, I 100% approve. A little pain goes a long way for style and a lifetime of pleasure.”

Maya seemed puzzled at the compliment, unsure if the gothic HOT was being sarcastic or not. “Thanks?”

“What’s the story behind it?” Riona wondered. “I’ll tell you how I got mine if you tell me about yours.”

Maya resisted the urge to glance at Josy and stared off aside. “I…I’d prefer to keep it to myself.”

“Noted.”

Unfortunately for the reserved pledge, she had caught sight of Sarah licking up alcohol from Melanie’s body, and she quickly looked away in disgust. It made her wonder if the HOTs were always like this.

She set that thought aside, for there was a more important question on her mind. “Just wondering, do you know what kinds of tasks I’ll have to do for the scavenger hunt?”

“You’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to see,” Riona kept her response vague.

Near the doorway, Josy had pulled Sage aside for a quick conversation.

“Could I talk to you for a moment?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Is it ok if I change mothers?” Josy requested.

“You don’t like Quinn?” Sage raised an eyebrow.

“Oh not at all!” Josy deflected with a friendly smile, hoping that she wasn’t laying it on thick. “It’s just that I don’t like the way she’s been treating–”

“Treating who, exactly?” Quinn barged in.

“Er…” Josy’s eyes drifted towards the pool.

“Say it,” Quinn demanded.

Josy swallowed, pushed into telling the truth. “I don’t like how you’ve been treating Maya so far. She seemed really uncomfortable with you getting in her personal space.”

“Pff. I know what this is all about. That maggot, Prince, is trying to manipulate her, and he’s doing the same to you as well by proxy,” Quinn scoffed.

“Prince, huh?” Sage frowned.

“Yeah, he's the one giving Maya these ideas,” Quinn told her before facing down the petite pledge. “This is how we do it in the HOT sorority. We don't tell the DIKs how to handle their traditions, and they can't tell us how to handle ours. Especially not a maggot.”

“When you asked me about pledging, you told me that you like to make new friends and that you’re fun to be around, right?” Sage asked.

“Yes, I did,” Josy confirmed.

“More importantly, what’s the HOT code, Josy?” Sage prompted.

Josy’s confidence faltered. “Don’t turn on each other.”

“Spend some time getting to know Quinn,” Sage ordered. “I’m sure you two can find something to bond over.”

Quinn leaned into Josy ear while Sage headed off. “On that note, I’ve got some tasks to amend for the scavenger hunt.”

**********

Outside the Alpha Nu Omega mansion, the air was crisp and cool as Prince strolled underneath the starlight sky.

Then a fist collided with his cheek, shattering the peaceful atmosphere with it as Prince reeled back to see who ambushed him.

“Argh!! You fucking asshole! You think you can just break our deal like that?!”

“Chad?!”

The tri-alpha President threw several more punches towards Prince, who jerked his head out of the way to dodge them. Instinctively, he retaliated with his own punch, striking Chad on the cheek and throwing the large jock off balance.

“ARRGH!” Chad yelled out, both from pain and in fury.

“HEY! Calm the fuck down and stop hitting me!” Prince shouted back.

Before he had a chance to react, Chad whacked Prince on the nose. The DIK pledge recoiled from the blow as blood began to drip onto the ground beneath him.

“You fucking snitch bitch! What the fuck do you want from me?!” Chad pointed accusingly with his eyes wide open.

“What are you talking about?! I have nothing to gain from telling on you!” Prince exclaimed.

Chad lowered his arm, but kept his glare intact. “I thought you were the one who was trespassing in the gym’s locker room and spying on me.”

“Someone was doing that?”

“Dawe and the others caught someone in the gym who tried to pass themselves off as his girl. Had a red wig on, too.”

“Dude…” Prince uttered in disbelief. “How stupid do you think I am to not only go back on my word, but dress up as Arieth of all people?” 

A cold surge of annoyance crept into his voice. “If anything, you’re the one who broke our deal just now.”

For the next few moments, neither Prince nor Chad moved a muscle as they stared at each other in silence. Then the tri-alpha President turned his back on the DIK pledge and walked off. Prince followed suit, pinching his nose shut as he headed back to the east wing.

From behind the gates, a girl was covering her mouth while frantically dialing a number on her phone.

**********

SB walked to the east wing’s bathroom with a backpack, keeping his movements as normal as he could while trying not to make too much noise. Once he was inside, he unzipped his backpack and pulled out three beer bottles. He popped the cap off the first one and tilted it over the sink, watching the alcohol pour down the drain.

From the moment he saw just how much beer he and the others were supposed to consume over the course of several days, he knew from the beginning that he was not about to stake his liver on the line. Not to mention that having to constantly deal with hangovers during his classes and the cooking club would be a recipe for disaster.

After the next two bottles were emptied of their contents, SB packed them up and was about to exit when the door swung open, and in came Prince with a hand on his nose.

“Prince? Your nose…what happened?” SB inquired.

“I was outside trying to get some fresh air and got ambushed by Chad,” Prince answered nasally.

“He did that to you?”

“Yeah. Give me a few minutes to stop the bleeding.”

“I’ll go set up your air mattress,” SB called out as he exited the bathroom.

Prince followed the standard procedure for stopping nosebleeds by leaning over the sink, pinching his nose shut, and running cold water over it. Once the bleeding subsided, a whiff of alcohol caught his nose, and he wondered where it was coming from, but dismissed it, too tired to ponder over the matter. He returned to Dorm 69, finding SB about to wrap up inflating the air mattress.

“All done. Here’s your air mattress,” SB presented, lying down on his bed.

“Thanks, bro,” Prince nodded as he laid down, exhausted.

“I took care of three of my beers in the bathroom,” SB opted for a half-truth on how he dealt with his beers.

“That’s good.”

“If you don’t mind answering, why did Chad assault you?”

“It was a misunderstanding between us,” Prince replied, his nose still feeling numb.

“Really?” SB doubted. “That’s a rather extreme reason, even for those tri-alphas.”

“He thought I was trespassing in the gym’s locker room, but I wasn’t anywhere near that place. What’s worse, he broke the deal we had between us.”

“You made a deal with him?”

Prince considered whether it was worth continuing to uphold his end of their deal now that he knew firsthand he couldn’t trust Chad to keep his word. In the end, his frustration won out. To hell with keeping it a secret.

“On my first day here, I found out that Chad’s gay. He’s been dating Troy behind Sage’s back.”

“Whoa…” SB sat up straight with his legs crossed. “That’s huge.”

“Chad found out about me though and made a deal that I don’t tell anyone about this. In return, he would keep the jocks off of my back.”

Prince gritted his teeth. “But then he had to go and fight me because he thought I broke the deal by spying on him.”

“That guy’s got some severe anger issues. I can’t blame him, though, given how utterly homophobic Dawe and the other jocks are,” SB observed.

Prince blinked in shock. “I’m surprised to see that you’re sympathizing with him.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not excusing what Chad did to you,” SB clarified. “But if you had to deal with a society that sees you as quote unquote ‘inferior’ just because you grew up a certain way, you’d be constantly frustrated, too.”

“Yeah…I can relate to that,” Prince conceded.

“Oh?”

Prince lifted his head up to look directly at SB sitting on his bed.

“When I was in junior high, it was one of the roughest moments of my life. I didn't have any friends and kids picked on me...a lot. If it wasn’t about how 'ironic' it was for someone with my name to be poor, it was about me not having a mom. My dad was worried about me after I came home one day from school with bruises all over my arms. Those kids had this stupid challenge to see how many times they could punch me before I reacted. I kept trying to ignore their insults and just 'take it like a man', but they refused to stop. It only made things worse, actually.”

SB’s face fell in sympathy. “Dang…”

“That’s when my dad taught me how to fight, and himself as well. We had to practice almost daily since he had never done it before and could barely afford the training gear. And I’m glad he pushed me to my limits like that. Each day, I could feel myself growing more and more confident thanks to our sparring sessions. I promised my dad that I’d only use the skills I learned from him for self-defense, but…”

Prince took in a breath before continuing.

“One day, I couldn’t take it anymore. One of those boys was about to punch me in the cheek like he always did. So I fought back. I made him pay for all those weeks of making my life a living hell with the insults and the physical abuse. I kept striking and striking until my fists got blood all over them, all while the others just stood by and stared. A teacher broke it up…and let’s just say that when you’re just one voice against twenty others, you’ll get drowned out every time.”

SB let out a grunt. “That just sucks, Prince.”

“To everyone else, I wasn’t a victim of violence, but the bully who was starting shit. That boy’s parents wanted to press charges against my dad for teaching me how to fight. The good news? Those charges never came to pass, and I didn’t get sent to juvenile hall. The bad news? Detention. Two whole months of detention. Also known as the single most boring punishment invented by authorities. One good thing did come out of it, though. Zoey.”

“Zoey?”

“She was an outcast, kinda like me. In her case, she was there because she was smoking during class.”

SB’s eyebrows rose slightly. “That’s, uh…”

“Yeah. She had…rugged looks, to say the least. Dirty clothes, messy hair, and a self-pierced nose. Since we were the only ones there most of the time, we got to talking. Or rather, she would do most of the talking while I listened to her, and over time, she became my first real friend.”

“That’s nice.”

“She taught me a lot of things, like how to smoke and stand on a skateboard. I disliked the taste of the smoke and kept losing my balance on the board, but it was fun doing those things with her. And that’s what mattered more than anything to me. Later on, she started bringing alcohol from a friend who had an older brother, and, well…”

“What happened?”

“We were in a tree house partying together, drinking and having a good time, and at one moment, our eyes met and there was this awkward silence. For the first time in my life, I got kissed. And from there, things…escalated, to put it lightly. What exactly our relationship was at that point, I’m not entirely sure. Was it real love?”

“I wouldn’t know the answer to that,” SB muttered, lowering his head and averting his gaze.

“All I know is that eventually, we started doing these things while sober. And it also led to more than just kissing. But then she had to leave town for San Diego to become a surfer, while I stayed with my dad to finish high school. I didn’t think that I’d end up seeing her as my girlfriend, but when we had to say goodbye at the train station…it hurt. A lot, in fact. We kept in touch with each other with our messages, and she seemed really happy with her new life, especially with the new tattoos she got. Over the next few weeks, though, her replies got less frequent…until they stopped altogether. I think it’s been six months or so since we last talked now.”

“...I see.”

Prince collapsed onto his air mattress, sinking into his pillow. “Wow, that was a lot I just shared. Must be the beer talking.”

“Thank you for sharing your story with me, Prince,” SB slowly nodded his head. “I would say that hopefully things get better in college for us, but those homophobic tri-alphas still exist.”

“No kidding,” Prince sighed.

“I’m good at keeping secrets, so you don’t have to worry about me outing Chad,” SB informed. “That’s a fate I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“And your adventures with Zoey have given me a lot to think about.”

“About what?”

“She reminds me a lot of–”

The doorknob twisted open, and in walked Derek with only his underwear on.

“Sup, bro and ass man,” Derek greeted.

“What made you stay out late this time?” SB questioned.

“A chat with my sis,” Derek informed. “She needed my advice on something important.”

SB felt a bit of guilt with the tone he used earlier. “Oh, got it.”

“Looks like we’ll all be rooming together again, eh?” Derek settled into his bed.

“Seems like it. That is, unless we become DIKs. Would be nice to not have to constantly relocate,” Prince hoped.

SB yawned. “It’s getting late. We should all go to sleep.”

This time, SB searched his luggage for his ear plugs and plugged them in, relishing the silence that they brought.

**********

On their way to the main building, Prince and SB were stopped by Jill, who approached them with a concerned expression.

“Good morning, Prince and SB,” Jill greeted.

“Oh, hey Jill,” Prince waved at her while SB gave a nod of acknowledgement.

“May I have a moment?” Jill requested.

“Sure.”

“Listen, Prince, I don’t mean to kickstart your morning or anything, but last night, I saw Chad assaulting you outside.” Jill addressed. “I got you an appointment with the counselors.”

Prince stared at her in shock. “You what?”

“You were being bullied, Prince,” she stressed. “I couldn’t stand by and do nothing about it.”

“This isn’t necessary, Jill. It was just a misunderstanding between me and Chad,” Prince explained.

“Don’t say that. There are effective disciplinary actions to take against bullying,” Jill disagreed. “And they also asked you to attend, SB.”

“Me?” SB gestured towards himself. “What do I have to do with this?”

“I’m not sure. They didn’t say why,” Jill admitted. “Once both of you are there, I’ll join in as a witness.”

Prince felt a pit open up in his stomach. “Ok…”

The group of three headed towards the counselor's office, where Stephen Burke, Jade, and Cathy were waiting.

“Good morning, SB. Please sit down over there,” Burke indicated a chair next to the desk in the room.

While SB did that, Burke turned to face Prince. “And this is the affected student? What was your name, again?”

“Prince.”

“Ah. Prince. I'm Professor Stephen Burke...this is my wife, Dr. Jade Burke...and I believe you already know Ms. Cathy Jones, here.”

“Actually, I know both of them. I attend their classes.”

“Ah. Very well. Jill told us that you're a victim of bullying and physical violence. Is that correct?”

“Well...yeah, kind of…” Prince hesitantly agreed.

“But this student, Chad, assaulted you last night?” Burke continued with his questions.

“Assaulting is a very harsh word...but yeah,” Prince conceded.

“I understand how you must be feeling. You're afraid...and that's perfectly fine. We're here to help you,” Burke stated.

Those words were nothing but false reassurances to Prince, but he didn’t let those inner thoughts show on his face. “I'm not afraid. I just don't want to start any more trouble here.”

“If I may…Prince here is an excellent student. One of the better ones in my classes. It pains me to see people so smart fall victim to bullying. It reminds me of my own young adulthood,” Cathy sympathized. “Let me just ask you this...would it be ok if we brought in Chad to discuss this predicament you've gotten yourself into? Even though disciplinary actions may have some effect...maybe we can truly sort this matter out with a proper discussion?”

“Cathy, you can't be that soft. Bullies will always be bullies. The only way to stop them is through punishment,” Jade refuted. “Being a student here at B&R isn't a right; it's a privilege. If you can't behave as an adult, you lose that privilege. Simple as that.”

“I'm not so sure about this. I think Cathy might be onto something. Maybe we can solve this without having to expel anyone and make their lives more worthy,” Burke considered. “And you know...it's not just anyone we're talking about. It’s Chad. How about if we try to find a middle ground?”

The blonde professor turned away with a barely concealed scowl at her husband’s decision.

“Can we forget about this? I just want to leave,” Prince requested.

“Prince…please?” Jill begged.

“I’m sorry, Prince. Once we get a report about physical violence between students, we can't just ignore it,” Burke refused. “But let's try to do this Cathy's way.”

Cathy brought Chad to the room, the latter sporting a bruise on his cheek.

“Chad, welcome. Please, come in. I hope you're ok with an open discussion like this,” Burke had his hands on his hips.

“I haven't done anything, Stephen,” Chad denied.

“Relax. You'll get your chance to tell your side of the story.”

“There is no story to tell.”

“How about you start by telling us why you assaulted Prince, yesterday?”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Oh, stop it! I saw it with my own eyes!” Jill cried out.

Cathy took Jill out through the door. “Jill, come with me. I think it's best if you wait outside for a while.

“There's an eyewitness saying that you did,” Burke hinted. “Just...come clean with us and this will be much easier for you.”

Chad kept his mouth shut.

“How did you get those bruises?”

“In the gym.”

“Aha…that's right, you train a lot. Being here on a B&R scholarship for athletes and all…”

Chad stiffened. “Is that supposed to be some kind of a threat?”

“Don't be stupid. I don't make threats. But the hard truth is that we have to follow the rules. If you admit to what you've done and promise to not do it again...perhaps we can come to an agreement that mitigates your punishment,” Burke proposed.

“…fine, I hit him,” Chad confessed. “I'm sorry.”

“Great, that's a start. Now, why did you hit him?”

“It was a misunderstanding. I lost my cool over it when I shouldn’t have.”

“Chad...there's got to be a reason beyond a simple misunderstanding,” Burke doubted. “I know you. You're not the type of guy to beat up a guy, unprovoked.”

Chad went quiet again, refusing to elaborate further.

“Well...you did admit your guilt. That's something. You do realize that we could have your scholarship revoked and you removed as President of the tri-alphas for assaulting a fellow student?” Burke warned.

“W-what?!” Chad stammered. “Come on!”

“Professor Burke, if I may…” SB stood up from his seat, having remained silent throughout the hearing up until now. “Would you consider letting Chad off with a warning?

The bespectacled student looked towards Prince, who found himself in agreement, even in spite of Chad breaking his deal with him.

“He’s right about the whole thing being a misunderstanding. You don’t have to do this to him,” Prince spoke up in defense.

Burke did a quick sweep of the room with his eyes, considering the stances that SB and Prince had taken regarding Chad.

“Then it’s settled. You get one final chance as the tri-alpha President. Don't let it go to waste. And consider yourself lucky that we're not going to revoke your scholarship. We’ll talk more about what you’ll be expected to do moving forward, and we’ll be watching you and your fellow tri-alphas very closely. Do you understand, Chad?” Burke delivered his judgment.

The initial look of surprise quickly left Chad’s face as he nodded in acknowledgement. “I understand, Stephen.”

“Ok, Prince. Let us know immediately if this happens again. I want you to be well aware that we're on your side in this matter. You may leave,” Burke addressed Prince before turning his attention to SB, who was still standing up from his seat. “As for you, SB, I must ask that you stay behind. There’s something I need to discuss with you.”

Prince departed from the counselor's room as soon as he could, relieved that it was finally over.

“Hey, Prince! Wait! Don't be mad…” Jill trailed off.

…it still wasn’t over.

“What made you think that I wanted any of this?” Prince demanded.

“I did it because I care,” Jill stressed.

“If you just had asked me, I would have told you why this was a bad idea.”

“Then tell me! Why was it?”

Prince shook his head. “It doesn’t matter now. What’s done is done. Please…just let me be.”

He left those words hanging as he walked off, with Jill feeling a wave of regret wash over her.

**********

Josy was sitting upright on her bed, in the middle of a heated discussion with Maya.

“I didn’t mean for us to get in trouble with Quinn, ok?”

“You should’ve told me that you were planning to ask about switching mothers. I would’ve told you why it was a bad idea.”

“But we both know that Quinn is not to be trusted!”

“I know, Josy. I know.”

“So you’re just gonna let her walk all over you? Even though she’s not even your HOT mother?”

“...what other choice do I have? You know full well why I need the free tuition.”

“...yeah.”

“We just have to do those tasks that Riona and Quinn gave us within two weeks, and we’ll get there.”

“About that…take a look at the tasks Quinn ‘amended’.”

“...you’ve gotta be kidding me. ‘Make out with a girl?’ ‘Give a blowjob?’ ‘Have a threesome?!’”

“I think this is meant to be Quinn punishing us for me stepping out of line.”

“Fuck…how the hell are we gonna be able to do all of that?! Riona’s tasks are nothing compared to all of this.”

“What a mess I’ve gotten us into…and that’s not even the biggest one.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

Josy lowered her head with shame, struggling with what was on her mind.

“Maya…I’m so sorry. But last Saturday, no, it actually started a week ago, but I…”

She lifted her head to look Maya in the eye, willing herself to put all her cards on the table.

“I cheated on you with Prince.”

Chapter Text

Maya’s jaw dropped, utterly shocked at her girlfriend revealing her infidelity.

“Last week, I went on a date with Prince and we kissed. And a few days ago, he came over to my place and we had sex,” Josy confessed.

The introverted blonde remained silent, still trying to process things. Josy cheated on her, but she also did the same thing back by kissing the very same guy. How in the world was she supposed to react to all of this?

“Hey…say something,” Josy urged.

“I…” Maya breathed out. “Why did you do it?”

The brunette’s eyes darted ever so briefly before refocusing. “These past few weeks, we’ve done nothing but argue with each other. And when we weren’t doing that, you were ghosting me.”

“What else was I supposed to say to your texts?” Maya crossed her legs and gripped the side of her bed. “Each of them were meaner than the one before!”

She could feel herself getting more and more upset, but reminded herself to keep her cool.

“I didn’t need that after everything my dad put us through,” she muttered after taking in a breath.

“It would’ve hurt less if you had said anything back, even if it was ‘I’m busy’ or something like that,” Josy sighed.

“I thought it would hurt less if I didn’t say anything I’d regret. Looks like I was wrong about that,” Maya mused.

A harsh silence fell over the two girls as Maya uncrossed her legs and shifted positions in her bed.

“Is this what our relationship is gonna amount to? Fighting and having to apologize, only to repeat the cycle all over again?”

“I sure hope not. Because I give a pretty big fucking diarrhea shit about you!”

A snort escaped Maya’s nose, followed by a burst of laughter that she simply couldn’t contain. Before long, Josy found herself giggling along with her girlfriend, too.

When the laughter died down, however, so too did the overall mood. 

“I...just want to be my old happy self,” Josy deflated. “I can't even remember the last time I didn't worry about us and my life. Right now, I'm definitely not happy.”

Maya dragged her knees up on her bed and wrapped her arms around her legs, trying to think of a way to make her girlfriend happy.

“If you want to be with Prince…go right ahead,” she proposed.

“What?” Josy’s eyes widened. “You don’t have a problem with that?”

“We need a guy for our scavenger hunt, and he’s the only one I trust enough for those tasks, even after all of this,” Maya explained, before squeezing her arm and tilting her head to her left. “And if I’m not making you happy, perhaps it’s for the best.”

“But what about you?”

“I need more time to process my feelings. This is too much for me to handle right now.”

Sensing that Maya wanted to be alone for now, Josy got up and headed out of their dorm, but not without sparing Maya a troubled glance. 

Once the introverted blonde was alone, she collapsed back on her bed, feeling incredibly stupid that she didn’t come clean with her own act of cheating like Josy did.

**********

Next meeting for the cooking club: Tuesday, 4 pm.

SB jotted down the time in his phone upon observing the bulletin board in the east wing. He hoped that whatever he was going to end up making this time would take his mind off of the discussion he just had with Burke. Those last words from the wealthy professor in particular weighed heavily on his mind:

“ Speech is silver, silence is golden. ”

The bespectacled DIK pledge shook his head and returned to his dorm, pulling out his dad’s cookbook from his luggage and rereading several of the recipes. As his family was primarily Chinese, these recipes consisted of rice dumplings, stir fry vegetables, salted salmon, pork hock, roasted duck, and other similarly themed foods.

One dessert in particular brought back a nostalgic memory. It involved his brother’s favorite snack: lychee mochi ice cream, or as his dad liked to call it, “lychee mochi”. It was lychee fruit with ice cream and sticky rice cake packed around it, making for a cold, sweet treat that combined both Chinese and Japanese ingredients. Since the lychees needed to be opened beforehand to remove the skin and the seeds, the dessert couldn’t be preserved for too long. Knowing this, his brother would devour these treats within two days per batch, leaving SB with few opportunities to try them out for himself. When he did get to savor them, the unique flavor the lychees brought to the table were worth it, as lychees were a close second to being his favorite fruit.

(Peaches had them beat in that department.)

SB snapped a photo of the lychee mochi recipe and set the cookbook aside, opening his phone to look up what a “banana challenge” was. He came across a video showing someone attempting to eat two bananas and drink a soda in one sitting, only to end up vomiting afterwards.

Well, at least it didn’t involve alcohol, pranks, nudity, or sex. Just trying to consume too much food in one sitting.

Next up was checking on Rooster to see if there were any new clucks. While he hadn’t felt the desire to make a post or reply to the other users, it was always good to stay informed on what was going on.

(Picture of Jill sunbathing in the Alpha Nu Omega mansion backyard with Tybalt unsubtly watching from behind the window. Sixty-eight likes.)

Jill@Ebony&Ivory

I spent some time in the sun before yoga with Bella. #Sunbathing #Bikini

Tybalt@PresidentTybaltBurke: What a coincidental photo! I realize how weird it sounds, but I was just checking the yard for burglars.

Tybalt@PresidentTybaltBurke: Is that a new bikini?

Tybalt@PresidentTybaltBurke: Say hi to Bella for me!

Derek@BigBootyLover: @PresidentTybaltBurke Stalker alert.

This cluck has been flagged as harassment.

What an absolute creep that Tybalt was.

(Picture of the tri-betas playing Dungeons & Gremlins in the library. Four likes.)

Magnar@SirMagnar

Gear up, minions. We’re on a quest to slash the steeple and nab the treasure within. #TriBetas #D&G

Bert@Thalidomide: Gigighoul won’t stand a ghost of a chance with my Shining Spear!

Ron@MegatRon: @Thalidomide It’s “Gigaghoul”, not “Gigighoul”! Get his name right!

Bert@Thalidomide: @MegatRon Sheesh, fine. I just thought it was funny that they pronounced it with an I instead of an A in the first Ghoulbusters movie.

Eugene@MrDynamite: I remember that Gigaghoul was made up of exactly 100 male and 100 female ghouls and was referred to as “they”.

Ron@MegatRon: @MrDynamite Get that PC crap out of our chat.

Sally@Sallycylic: Oh, grow up, @MegatRon. Nobody likes the guy who does nothing except whine all the time.

Alvin@BloomsDoom: If you see any flowers, burn them with haste! They are secret plants by the tree huggers to take over our minds!

Ah, Ghoulbusters. A true classic the first movie was. Also, wow, he did not envy whoever had to put up with Ron’s attitude.

(Picture of Derek sitting outside and pouring a beer bottle over the stolen deer head. Eighteen likes.)

Rusty@DIKPresidentRusty

I found my maggot son outdoors drinking with a "buddy". When I asked him what the hell he was doing he said "I'm appreciating the little things in life". This one will be a fine DIK! That is if he passes Hell Week. #DIKs #MaggotSon

Heather@HOTHeather: Is that a deer head? Where did you even find that thing?

Rusty@DIKPresidentRusty: Yes... That's DIK confidential information.

Tommy@DIKTommyTheDestroyer: No way these maggots will survive Hell week! I'm betting my left nut the four-eyed maggot chokes faster than Arieth does on cock!

Leon@DIKLeon: @DIKTommyTheDestroyer A priest, a rabbi and a minister walk into a bar. Arieth fucks them all.

Riona@HOTRiona: Derek is fucking hilarious when he's been drinking!

Rusty@DIKPresidentRusty: @HOTRiona Damn straight!

Prince@Tremolo: @BigBootyLover Hey, Moose Father! You better not share any of your 33 beers with that deer.

Derek@BigBootyLover: @Tremolo He looked thirsty! And what do you mean 33 beers? I have 20 left, you’re slacking!

Rusty@DIKPresidentRusty: @BigBootyLover You make me proud, son!

Did Rusty seriously post photographic evidence of the deer head Derek stole? What brain damage…

(Picture of Camila and Mona in their bikinis posing and smiling at the camera in the HOT pool. Eighty likes.)

Camila@Cammy

Just chillin’ in the HOT's pool with my bestie @MonaLisa. So glad to be partners with you for the HOT scavenger hunt! #Besties #HOTs #BurgmeisterAndRoyce

Mona@MonaLisa: @Cammy <3

Derek@BigBootyLover: @Cammy Where do I sign up?

Camilla@Cammy: @BigBootyLover Sorry! No boys allowed! :P

Rusty@DIKPresidentRusty: @Cammy @HOTPresidentSage That pool looks sweet! When's the pool party?

Camilla@Cammy: @DIKPresidentRusty Not exactly sure when, but I imagine it’ll be fun!

Sage@HOTPresidentSage: @DIKPresidentRusty The last time we hosted one, we had to drain the pool because someone pissed in it.

Quinn@QuinnOfHearts: @HOTPresidentSage @BigDickDawe

Dawe@BigDickDawe: @HOTPresidentSage I told you it was an accident! Why the fuck aren't there more bathrooms in a house filled with women?

Sage@HOTPresidentSage: @BigDickDawe This is why we don't invite you to things.

Sarah@HOTSarah:@DIKPresidentRusty You should buy a pool for the DIK mansion!

Rusty@DIKPresidentRusty: @HOTSarah And put it where? In the backyard?

Hopefully her phone was waterproof.

There were no other new clucks, so that was the end of his Rooster session. He still had three more beers to take care of before he had to meet up with his maggot brothers.

After transporting the beers to the bathroom the same way he did yesterday night, he was about to unzip his backpack when a shrill female voice disrupted the silence.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

The moment one of the stall doors burst open, he stumbled backwards, watching in shock as Minny scrambled her way out of the bathroom. So this was deja vu…and thank goodness he hadn’t brought out the beer bottles just yet. The last thing he needed right now was an abrupt misunderstanding on his hands.

He resumed his task in emptying the beer bottles into the sink, and right before he was about to leave, a loud male voice rang out from the rightmost stall.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! I JUST SCARRED A STUDENT FOR LIFE!!!”

SB suddenly wished he had a beer to hold against his forehead. Against his better judgment, he lingered by the bathroom door for a moment longer.

“You fucking scammed me, Quinn!” the stranger yelled. “I thought it was one of your girls coming but-”

Hold the heck up. Quinn ?

He didn’t have time to ponder over that name as he heard the stranger hang up the phone and realized he needed to depart at once. Between that and his own incident with the hole in the wall a week back…

Something was up with this place.

**********

It was a clear sky outside, the perfect kind of weather for Josy as she relaxed on her picnic blanket with her bottle of sunscreen beside her. She liked the way her tan looked on her, as she had gotten it from several rounds of sunbathing. Plus, it helped keep her skin more resilient to getting sunburned. With summer turning into fall in a matter of weeks, the warm sunshine was just the thing she needed to decompress after her tense conversation with Maya.

“You…is it just your job to always ruin my fun?”

Of course someone just had to show up to be an aggravating pest.

“What do you want, Tommy?” Josy groaned.

“To think that you actually got accepted here after all,” Tommy seethed. “And you’re trying to pledge the HOTs, too! Not if I have anything to say about it.”

Josy propped herself up, not about to be intimidated. “You’re not my dad. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

“Oh really? All I have to do is convince Quinn to kick you out, and you’re done! She and I are gonna make history with the DIKs and HOTs!” Tommy bragged. “And even if that fails, just know that you’ll never stand a chance at completing their scavenger hunt.”

“We’ll see about that,” Josy muttered under her breath.

The stepsiblings noticed Prince arriving on the scene in a tank top, to which Tommy directed his attention to.

“Maggot. If you want to be one of us, stay the hell away from her ,” the DIK vice president demanded before storming off.

“I knew this guy was a real piece of work, but geez. Petty much?” Prince frowned.

“That’s classic Tommy for ya,” Josy sighed, laying back on the blanket. “And you’d be surprised to hear that he’s only the second biggest control freak I’ve come across.”

“Huh…does your stepmom have him beat?” Prince wondered, lying down beside her.

“Actually…no. My dad’s usually able to calm her down.”

“Is it Steve, then?”

“Oh, god no. He was a grade-A douche, but I knew how to deal with him.”

“Then who is it?”

Josy silently stared into the sky above her before opening her mouth. “Someone who I hope you don’t ever end up having to deal with.”

“I see…”

“But enough about that,” she deflected. “How have you been?”

“Oh boy…” he sighed. “Where to even begin?”

Prince recapped most of what had transpired with Chad to Josy while leaving out that he knew the tri-alpha president was gay. Behind the Alpha Nu Omega mansion gates, Tybalt and Rich were challenging their members to hold their breaths for as long as they could. Before long, one of the members, Lucas, was the first to exhale.

“We have a loser!” Rich declared.

“Haha! Remember the rules! The loser must spend the week without a jacket and eat a lemon!” Tybalt laughed.

After Prince finished catching Josy up to things, she looked at his nose worriedly. 

“Wow…is your nose alright?”

“Yeah, cold water patches up nosebleeds most of the time.”

She formed a fist with her right hand. “If that jock ever pulls another cheap shot on you, I’ll make sure he regrets it.”

“You don’t have to do that,” he declined. “I just want him to leave me alone.”

“I get it,” she relented, relaxing her hand. “Just know that I’ll always have your back, ok?”

“Thanks. That means a lot to hear,” Prince smiled.

Josy dug her phone out of her pocket. “Is it ok if I take a picture of us kissing?”

“What’s it for?” Prince had to ask, feeling something warmer than the sunshine in his chest.

“One of the tasks for the HOT scavenger hunt. I need to make out with a guy, and there’s no other guy I’d want to do it with than you,” Josy answered with a coy smile.

“Oh, Josy…” Prince couldn’t resist her request.

Once she readied the camera on her phone, he leaned in to kiss his summer crush on her lips. A click of the shutter went off, and they pulled apart to assess the photo, which instead depicted the blue sky and the sun above them.

“Haha! Oops, I forgot to use the internal camera for this one!” Josy snickered at her amateur mistake. “Guess that’s what happens when we’re not looking directly at the camera.”

Prince chuckled along before composing himself. “We can always try again until we get it right.”

“Smooth words, Prince…” Josy trailed off with a light blush on her facial cheeks.

Before she could properly capture the moment of them making out again with her phone, Derek barged in frantically, shirtless as before, but now brandishing the dildo helmet on his head.

“Bro?! What the hell are you doing to Jojo?! This is the same dude who ate his own cum!” Derek shouted.

Josy pulled back in an instant, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward. “Uh…”

“It’s a long story,” Prince hastily interjected.

“Right…Prince was just helping me with something,” Josy tried to play it cool.

“How the hell is he helping you with his cummy mouth?” Derek demanded.

SB arrived on the scene, puzzled at Derek’s outburst. “Uh…am I interrupting something?”

“Give me a moment, bro and ass man,” Derek requested. “I need to have a word with Jojo.”

Prince and SB walked off together to give the other two space.

“Hey, SB. Why did you have to stay behind with Burke?” Prince wondered.

“Well, let’s just say he wasn’t too pleased with me speaking up in Chad’s defense,” SB answered.

“But I did the same thing, too. Would I have gotten in trouble for that as well?”

“No, he didn’t punish me for that. And despite the risk in objecting, I just couldn’t remain silent. After hearing what you had to say about Chad, I realized that letting a walking, talking pile of homophobia take full control of the tri-alphas would be a catastrophe in the making.”

“I’m certainly not going to disagree with that. Though I’m still not sure if I can trust Chad to keep those tri-alphas off our backs after all of this,” Prince doubted.

“Unfortunately, that’s all we can do for now,” SB shrugged.

Meanwhile, with Derek and Josy…

“This isn’t you, Jojo. And I ain’t talking about Tommy. Are you throwing what you have with her away?” Derek hinted.

“No! That’s not…” Josy denied.

She went quiet, trying to think of the best explanation she could offer to her girlfriend’s brother.

“We have these tasks we need to do for our scavenger hunt for the HOTs, and we agreed that I’d handle the more…extreme tasks on our lists,” she answered.

Derek’s doubtful look remained. “Did she now?”

“Can we talk about this later?” Josy asked, her confidence faltering.

“You know I mean well, right?”

“Yeah, I get it.”

With their conversation wrapped up, Josy rolled up her picnic blanket around the bottle of sunscreen and bid Prince goodbye, albeit with a troubled look on her face. “I’ll catch up with you later, Prince.”

“See you, Josy,” Prince waved her off.

“Hey. Look...I'm not the one to cockblock a maggot brother...but she’s Tommy’s stepsister,” Derek mentioned.

“I know that,” Prince replied.

“Then you have to know that if he catches you with her, he’s so gonna kick you out,” Derek warned.

“Yeah, well…what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, right?” Prince insisted.

“Don’t wake the devil in Tommy, dude.”

“I’ll try not to.”

“Ok, screw this. Let's go cross some shit off that pledge board. I already drank four beers this morning.”

“Sweet! I only drank three, though.”

“I was going to deal with those beers later,” SB commented.

“So, what do you guys wanna do?” Prince wondered.

“The gay guard catcher. Let's get that one out of the way early and while we still have beers left to drink,” Derek suggested.

SB shifted his stance apprehensively. “I’m not gonna do that task.”

“Ass man…are you being a chicken again?” Derek teased.

“First of all, how many times have I told you to stop calling me that? Second of all, you couldn’t pay me to risk getting arrested by the police, let alone for public indecency,” SB scowled.

“If you don’t want to do it, no one’s forcing you,” Prince spoke amicably.

Derek flapped his arms at his sides. “Bawk bawk bawk!”

“Thanks for understanding, Prince. I’ll try to see what other tasks I can do to make up for that,” SB offered.

Derek directed his attention towards his not so cowardly comrade. “By the way, bro, if you ever decide to go after my sis, I’m totally gonna fuck one of yours.”

“I'm an only child.”

“Your mom, then.”

“She’s been dead for a long time.”

“Daddy, here I come.”

“What?”

**********

At the local mall, Prince, Derek, and SB were sitting together on a bench, observing their surroundings. Having spotted a girl with her hand on a man’s thigh, Derek thought of something to banter with his maggot brothers.

“What about her?”

“Who do you mean?” Prince wondered.

“The girl in the tight skirt. Totally a 10, right?” Derek smiled.

“Hm…nah, she's more like a 5,” Prince disagreed.

“A 5? That's bullshit.”

“She's good looking, but far from a 10.”

“I don’t do ratings,” SB remarked.

“Buzzkill,” Derek frowned in disappointment.

For the next few minutes, SB continued to stay out of their banter regarding the female passerby in the mall.

“How do you feel about the way the HOTs treat their pledgers?” Prince asked. “Making them do stuff like Camila and Mona did, for one...?”

That got SB’s attention. Between the highly vulgar competition and Quinn being involved with the glory holes, he could sense that there was something unsettling lurking beneath the free-spirited HOT sorority.

“It's part of their thing, you know. They are party girls,” Derek shrugged.

“What about Maya?” SB brought up.

“Come on, she wouldn't do that,” Derek affirmed.

“Yeah…even so, I think she's more malleable than you think,” Prince remarked.

“It all boils down to Quinn,” SB mused. “She humiliated Maya during the truth or dare game last weekend, and I get the feeling it will only get worse from there.”

Prince wore a look of concern on his face. “What happened?”

“My sis had to drink 5 shots in one go, but she couldn’t handle them, so we took her back to her dorm,” Derek answered, sending a look towards SB that told him to avoid going into further details.

“And we were the ones who were forced to binge on alcohol because of that,” SB sighed.

Derek pointed towards two familiar adult women walking side by side. “Oh! Oh! Look at those two! Total milfs!”

“Cathy and Jade?” SB observed.

“Wow, I haven't seen them in casual clothes before,” Prince pointed out.

“Jade is totally the one,” Derek rubbed his hands excitedly.

“The one?”

“Yeah...you know? For our list.”

“Out of the question,” SB swiftly refused. “That kind of power dynamic between a teacher and a student…nope.”

“And I already told you that I won't try to fuck her,” Prince reminded

“But…the pledge board!” Derek insisted.

“I'm not going to fuck someone just because it's on a pledge board. That's not how I work. I need to want it, to do it,” Prince informed.

“I know you're right. But it still sucks, you know? I haven't met a teacher who wants to fuck me, yet! I jiggle my ass in front of Cathy and I get nothing! I've tried looking for other teachers, but I only find male ones,” Derek ranted.

“Dude...are you serious?”

“It's for the pledge board, and I'm pretty sure I'd hate every second of it…then again, it's college. You should be experimenting.”

“Do as you please then. Just leave me out of it.”

Tommy popped up from a fair distance away, eager for shit to go down upon spotting a fat cop keeping watch of the mall. “Maggots! Look alive!”

“Oh, shit! Oh, shit! We got one.”

“He's the guy?”

“He's fat, we're not. We should be able to outrun him. Ass man, this is your last chance to not be a chicken!”

“I am not streaking nude, and that is final.”

The detached maggot brother remained on the bench as the other two headed off to a private bathroom to put on ski masks and strip down to their birthday suits.

“I'm nervous...if we get caught, we're in big trouble,” Prince whispered.

“That's why we have the balaclavas,” Derek’s response came out muffled due to a ball gag in his mouth.

“These aren't balaclavas…”

“Whatever! Ready?”

On the count of three, Prince and Derek burst out of the door and into the main hall where the fat cop was.

“Yoo hoo! Mr. Security Guard! Come and get some!” Derek mocked before sprinting away with Prince.

“Oh, Lord, not this year, too! Have mercy!” the fat cop groaned as he tried to chase after the naked boys. “Y-you...get back here!”

Many of the customers stopped and stared at the commotion brought on by the streakers as they led the fat cop on a chase throughout the mall. The DIKs were hooting and hollering at the chaos, and once Prince and Derek had split up, the fat cop pursued the former while rapidly panting and gasping. SB caught sight of Prince’s chiseled chest as the latter dashed past the bench he was still sitting on. That guy must be incredibly fit to maintain his speed and stamina throughout the chase.

The fat cop soon passed by, and SB rapidly shook his head, berating himself. What was he doing, thinking things like that? There was absolutely no way in hell that he would be accepted as a DIK if they saw him staring and got the wrong impression of him.

Soon, Prince ran right past Cathy and Jade, and the redhead teacher panicked and reflexively slapped the streaker.

“Ahh!!! What's happening?!” Cathy cried out of sheer shock.

“Oh my!” Jade gasped, eyeing the streaker’s well endowed package as the guard stumbled past them. “Hahaha!”

“That's a first!” Cathy followed up.

By the time the overweight guard finally managed to corner Prince, his legs were on fire from how overworked they were.

“Ok…” the guard wheezed out, attempting to reassert control over the situation. “You've had your fun. Put your hands on your head and drop to your knees.”

Unbeknownst to the guard, Derek had trailed him from behind, prepared to make his bombastic entrance. The immature pledge ran up, aimed his ass towards the cop, and blasted a massive fart towards his way.

“Ugh! What the-!”

The cop was left coughing and sputtering from the stench as the two boys made their escape. “Oh my Lord! I can taste it!”

**********

“That was a pretty impressive run. I'd say that my son was the star of that one,” Rusty congratulated, celebrating alongside his DIK brothers and the maggot pledges in the DIK mansion.

“Are you serious? My son even took a slap during that run!” Tommy objected. “And why didn’t we see a third naked maggot running along with the other two?”

The DIK president took on a disapproving tone as he addressed the bespectacled pledge. “SB…you were the first maggot to bail out on that task. Can’t say that I’m pleased to see this.”

“It’s only the beginning, though. Perhaps my son’s the tortoise to his brothers’ hares,” Nick defended.

“Dude, you’re being way too lenient on this flaccid maggot. I say we just kick his weak ass to the curb already!” Tommy countered.

“Hold on, guys. I understand I’ve disappointed you by not doing that task. So to make up for that…I’ll do the banana duel today,” SB proposed.

The room fell silent at SB’s words. Then a pleased smile spread across Rusty’s face. “Now that’s more like it.”

“Are you really sure you want to do this, son?” Nick asked.

“I’ll take the prospect of throwing up over risking a public indecency charge any day of the week,” SB responded. “It’s just two bananas and a soda, right?”

Tommy was grinning eagerly at the more reserved pledge. “Heheh…this four eyed goober has no idea what he’s gotten himself into…”

“Anyways, let's have the coin decide who gets the most credit for the run,” the vice president changed the topic, bringing out a coin from his pocket.

“HEADS!” Derek declared.

“It's not that kind of a coin.”

“I know that design. It’s an ancient Ionian coin, to be specific,” SB commented.

“Get a load of this, smartass.”

Tommy flipped the coin, caught it with his hand, slapped it onto his other hand, and withdrew his hand to reveal the side it landed on. “My son won the toss.”

“Aww…” Derek bemoaned.

“Hey, don't pout! That's one task you can cross off the board!” Rusty informed.

“Hey, that's right! Our first completed task!” Derek fistbumped Prince in triumph. “Nice one, bro!” 

“Ah...what a beautiful moment. Take a picture of those two, Jamie,” Tommy grinned.

Jamie formed a rectangle with his fingers and made a clicking noise with his tongue.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Tommy questioned.

“Oh, I...uh...lost my phone,” Jamie answered sheepishly.

“Hey, I've got this,” Leon stepped in, snapping a photo of Prince and Derek with his phone.

**********

Inside the tri-alpha house, Chad, still bruised from his confrontation with Prince, had called everyone in the main room for an emergency meeting, prompting Anthony to run into Dawe’s room to bring the vice president out. Soon, Dawe emerged in just his jacket and underwear, with Arieth watching the tri-alphas from behind.

“I have an important announcement,” Chad broke the news. “I fucked up. Big time. And I almost got suspended over it.”

Anthony gasped. “They're kicking you out of college?”

“No, I still get one more chance to keep my scholarship and be the president. But when they said that this is my last chance, they meant it,” Chad clarified.

“But what about our big competition next year?!” Dawe exclaimed, irate at being interrupted and the news. “We need you for that!”

“I know. Yesterday night, I lost my cool and beat up that freshy, Prince,” Chad continued.

“What the fuck did he do this time?” Dawe seethed.

“It was a misunderstanding on my end,” Chad presented Dawe’s letter to the rest of the tri-alphas. “I thought he was the one who sent these, but I was wrong.”

“What the hell?!” Dawe shouted, snatching the letter and ripping it open. “This can’t be real!”

The photos inside, one by one, displayed Arieth in various sexual poses with several members of the DIKs, namely Rusty, Jamie, and Leon. 

“Is that my Arieth? It is!”

There was also a photo of Jacob making out with Arieth in the janitor’s closet while a horny Derek watched on, clearly eager to get some.

“Has she fucked all of them? There are just...so many DIKs!”

Arieth, having realized the sticky situation she was suddenly in, retreated to the blind, dragged it up, forced the window open, and climbed out hastily.

“That son of a bitch! First that four eyed fag attacks me, then he sends these photos to mock me?!” Dawe gnashed his teeth together in rage.

“Dawe. What did I say about not using that word?” Chad chided.

“Shut up!” an enraged Dawe yelled. “I don’t wanna hear it, especially from you!”

“Wait, SB? Come on! It can't be him who took these,” Anthony denied. “Those two are clearly selfies. And look at that one! Her hair is different. These are way older than a week.”

“Anthony’s got a good point,” Chad acknowledged. “But with those two freshies ruled out, I have no idea who the hell is responsible for this.”

“I'm gonna kill those dickheads!” Dawe snarled.

“That's the thing...you can't! The counselors will be watching you guys even closer than before from now on. I don't know for how long, but if you beat them up and they hear about it...that's it for the tri-alphas. No more frat house, no more competition, no more parties, no more brotherhood. The only thing we can afford to do now is to lay low and wait things out,” Chad insisted.

“How long is that gonna take?” Jimmy asked.

“It could be months at this rate,” Chad rubbed his forehead. “Hopefully, the counselors back off before the Metal Men competition.”

“What about Sage? I'm sure she could help you with that,” Alex suggested.

“Yeah, maybe...and I’m gonna need to step it up as the president. So from now on, you guys can’t be taking any more of those ‘supplements’,” Chad ordered.

“You gotta be shitting me! That’s way too soon for us to wane off on those things!” John complained.

“Do you want the counselors to find out about that?” Chad shot a glare at the group, who all fell in silence.

“I’ll take that as a resounding no, then,” Chad stated. Then he let a look of regret slip through.

“And also…I’m sorry for fucking up, guys.”

**********

Prince’s decision to have lunch with Derek and Ashley was not one of his smartest choices, as he quickly found himself becoming the third wheel in the group.

“Well I think you look cute in that helmet. You kind of look like a baby seal with your big eyes.”

“* aue aue aue *”

“That was your impression of a baby seal? That's just weird.”

“I'm weird? You're the one watching nature programs with seals growing cocks on their heads.”

As Ashley let out a giggle at Derek’s antics, Prince had his attention drawn towards the librarian purchasing her lunch from the cafeteria worker Beth. 

“See you in math class, something came up,” Prince announced, though his words ultimately fell on deaf ears. “…whatever. Enjoy your date.”

He walked up to Isabella with a twenty dollar bill in his hand. “Here, let me get that for you.”

“Why?” Isabella eyed the student with a hint of suspicion. “You're up to something.”

“I thought I could make up for ruining our not date by buying you lunch,” Prince offered.

“There’s no need for that. I'm sure you can find a better use for it,” Isabella declined.

“I still would like to eat lunch with you.”

“Be my guest.”

Prince turned around to search for a vacant table and just so happened to bump into his old roommate, Troy. “Oh…”

“Sorry…” Troy apologized, guilt written on his face.

“Don’t mention it,” Prince calmly replied, leaving him to his own devices.

While Prince did his best to keep up with Isabella during their conversation, SB had taken a seat at an unoccupied table with a salad along with four bananas and two Popsi Maxes. He was planning to eat a light lunch if he was to undertake this “banana duel” of sorts. Soon, Cathy and Jade entered the cafeteria, the former’s eyes lighting up upon spotting him.

“If it isn’t my favorite student, SB!” Cathy greeted. “Would you like to have a student-faculty lunch together?”

“Professor Cathy? Since when did this happen?” he wondered, puzzled.

“Between passing those pop quizzes with flying colors, helping out a student in need, and your perfect high school GPA, how could I not be impressed by your academic success?” Cathy praised.

“Plus, it’s refreshing to see a young man such as yourself take Gender Studies and take it seriously,” Jade smiled disarmingly.

“Aha…” SB took a breath to compose himself. “Well, I accept your invitation, then.”

The two female professors seated themselves across from him, and Cathy took notice of the large amount of bananas and sodas he had with him. “What’s this? That’s a lot of bananas and sodas to go along with your salad. Does our honored student have a sweet tooth?”

“I usually never drink soda, but this time…it’s for something else entirely. The same thing applies to the bananas,” SB answered vaguely.

Jade took notice of a certain troublemaker with a certain helmet. “Cathy? Look. Is it just me or does that helmet ring any bells?”

Cathy gasped, realizing who one of the mall streakers was.

“Typical Derek! As if walking around without a shirt on wasn’t enough for him. Now he’s going around exposing himself in malls,” Jade chastised.

“We should have a word with him.”

“Yes, and find out who his naked friend was, too.”

“SB, would you happen to know who the other streaker is?”

“We know you’d never stoop to such levels of degeneracy, so you’re off the chopping block.”

“Hmm…sorry, but no one comes to mind,” SB lied, not about to sell Prince out to them.

“Alright. Let us know if you manage to find out who he is,” Cathy requested.

SB silently nodded as he took a few more bites out of the leafy greens.

“How have things been with you since this morning, by the way?” Cathy had a concerned look on her face.

“I hope that husband of mine didn’t give you too much trouble back there,” Jade added with ice on her tone.

“Everything’s good, thanks,” SB gave his answer politely.

The look on Cathy’s face turned to one of curiosity. “I must say, I was surprised when Jade told me that you stood up for Chad, despite his infraction. May I ask why?”

SB took several moments to finish chewing his salad and swallowing it down.

“I know he broke the rules by assaulting Prince last night, and I do think he should be held accountable for that. But, anger issues aside, I think he’s one of the more reasonable tri-alphas. Certainly more so than Dawe.”

“I certainly won’t disagree with you on that. You don’t even know how many years I’ve had to hold him and Anthony back,” Cathy sighed.

“If it were up to me, I’d kick that homophobic boy out of this college in an instant. But nooo, he’s still ‘too important for B&R’s athletic program’,” Jade imitated mockingly before muttering to herself, “Typical Stephen…”

Meanwhile, with just a few minutes remaining for the lunch period, Prince had just wrapped up telling Isabella about his past and about Zoey.

“…was that story what you wanted to hear?”

“That was...very revealing.”

“So, what are your thoughts about Derek?” Prince asked.

Isabella remained as serious as ever. “He’s still a boy. That much hasn’t changed. But there’s more to him than meets the eye.”

“Like what?”

“Despite his highly inappropriate antics, he’s exceptionally loyal to his sister. If you knew what he’s been through, you’d understand.”

“What happened?” Prince followed up, now concerned.

“If you wish to know more, you should ask him. It’s not my place to tell,” Isabella remarked.

Prince was left wondering over how to approach the matter with his boisterous buddy while Isabella’s phone chimed, prompting her to glance at it and leave. “I’ll be off. Something came up.”

The librarian passed by the table with SB, Cathy, and Jade, where the student was also preparing to depart.

“Thanks for joining me for lunch,” SB nodded. “See you soon for class, Professor Cathy.”

“Forgetting someone?” Jade raised an eyebrow.

“And you too, Professor Jade.”

**********

It just so happened that SB managed to spot Riona exiting the bathroom in the main hall. There were a few minutes left before he had to attend math class, so he figured he had just enough time to propose the banana duel challenge to her while the fruits were still fresh.

SB hadn’t stopped to think about why he had agreed to fool around with her in his dorm room until now. He remembered dropping the question as to whether it was “love” or not. Was he already falling for her despite only knowing her for a week?

No , SB chided himself. As she had told him, it was far too early for that. At that moment, it was just for the fun of it without any intimacy involved. That was something he didn’t deserve, after all.

Riona stopped in her tracks upon noticing that SB had a bunch of bananas and Popsi Maxes in his arms…for some reason.

“What’s with the bananas and sodas? You trying to spike your blood sugar to the stratosphere or what?” she wondered.

“You are just the one I’m looking for, Riona. I’m supposed to challenge a HOT to a banana duel for one of the tasks for Hell Week. Would you be willing to accept?” SB asked.

It slowly dawned on the Japanese HOT as to what she would have to do for this “banana duel”. Not that the task at hand phased her in the slightest, but since the maggot pledge was also involved…that certainly made things a lot more interesting.

“If it is what I think it is, then, sure, why the hell not?” Riona shrugged.

“Thank you,” SB handed her two bananas and a soda. “I made sure to only eat a salad for lunch. Hope you’ve got an empty stomach for this.”

…oh dear. He seemed to have completely misunderstood what he would have to do for this duel.

“Aha…I’m pretty sure it’s not that kind of challenge,” she hinted.

“What? I looked up ‘banana challenge’ on the internet, and this is what I found. Eating two bananas and a soda as quickly as possible. It’s dangerous if you push yourself too far, as it carries the risk of throwing up,” the Chinese boy continued.

“Well, you’re not wrong about that.”

“So what is it that I’m missing here?”

“You’ll see soon enough. Give me a moment, I’m gonna contact the DIKs,” Riona whipped out her phone.

“We’re doing this now?” SB sent a concerned glance at the clock on the wall. “I’ve got class in just a few minutes.”

“Better to get it over with before you forget, right?” she encouraged. “A few minutes of tardiness won’t kill you, anyway.”

“This is against my better judgement…but alright,” he agreed, hoping that it would be a relatively quick task.

A ding went off from Riona’s phone. “They got back to me and wanted us to meet them outside.”

“Outside, huh?” SB wondered as they exited the campus building and found Nick and Tommy awaiting them on the sidewalk.

“So, it’s time for the banana duel, huh?” Nick asked.

“Yes, she agreed to do it with me. And I’m going to win,” SB tried to muster up the confidence to see this task through.

“Oh, you naive four-eyed maggot…” Tommy was barely hiding the smirk on his face. “You’ll be eating those words soon enough.”

“There’s no shame in losing this challenge, SB. Which you will,” Riona added on.

“Huh?” SB was still left confused.

“You two are gonna sit down on the steps, peel those suckers wide open, and deepthroat it!” Tommy spelled it out.

The bespectacled pledge widened his eyes, then blinked and pushed his glasses against his face. “Oh…now I see.”

“Hahaha, this is gonna be savage. Nick, you gotta film this!” Tommy suggested.

“But you and Tommy are already here as witnesses, right? So why do you feel the need to film it?” SB objected.

“Relax. This video will only be used for the evaluation ceremony as proof of the task,” Nick tried to placate his maggot son.

“Besides, you don’t get a say in this after wussing out on the gay guard catcher run, four eyed maggot!” Tommy jeered.

SB took notice that Riona had already peeled open her banana and had been holding it in her hand, waiting for him to do the same. Reluctantly, he followed suit with his own banana.

“Be careful not to choke. If the banana breaks, spit it out immediately,” Nick advised, getting ready to record.

Tommy puffed his facial cheeks and made a fist with his hand. “Ready…set…SUCK IT!”

With the duel underway, SB and Riona opened their mouths wide and pushed their bananas inside. The gothic HOT had no trouble whatsoever going deeper, managing to reach the halfway point. Meanwhile, with the reserved maggot brother…

To his surprise, he found that he did not feel the instantaneous urge to gag on the banana, and before he knew it, he had half of it in his mouth as well.

“What the…he’s not gagging on it?!” Nick exclaimed, having to grip his phone tighter as it almost slipped from his grasp.

Even Tommy was taken aback. “I heard that the HOTs call Riona ‘Queen BJ’ and all, but to see this four eyed maggot imitate her style…”

Both the Chinese DIK pledge and the Japanese HOT refused to give in, continuing to relax their throats to swallow further. In the span of a few seconds, they were now three quarters of the way there.

“Holy crap, they’re still going at it!” Nick gasped.

Tommy was left speechless as he watched this development play out. 

The duel did have to end soon, though, and it was SB who had to throw in the towel, yanking his banana out to gasp for air several times. Victorious, Riona slowly pulled the long fruit out of her mouth with a coy smile.

“Looks like Riona won after all, but SB…holy shit, son. I have no words…” Nick trailed off.

The two DIKs departed without another word, leaving SB and Riona together in the aftermath of their banana duel.

“Yeah, uh…either you’ve been secretly practicing for this, or you don’t have a gag reflex,” Riona gave SB a mildly surprised side-eye.

“I have no idea what the serious heck just happened either. I just kept going until I had to breathe,” were SB’s only words to describe it.

“Sounds like the latter, then,” Riona deduced before her voice grew softer with a grin. “Just like me…”

“Like you? What do you–”

Then he suddenly remembered that he had math class to get to. Checking his phone, he saw that it was now 8 minutes past his class’s start time.

“By the Moonmaiden’s light! I’m running late!”

The black-haired boy rapidly gathered the remaining bananas and sodas in his backpack and took off running towards the campus building.

**********

When Prince arrived at the classroom, he noticed that Maya had chosen to sit in the back next to two HOT pledges, Camila and Mona, instead of her usual spot. That struck him as odd, since he was under the impression that Maya didn’t like the HOTs. So he decided to sit next to Josy instead.

Another oddity occurred after two minutes had passed since class had begun. SB, the DIK pledge who took his classes very seriously, was nowhere to be seen. What exactly had him running late?

To pass the time, Prince struck up a conversation with Josy regarding Derek, who was keeping himself busy talking to Ashley again.

“Do you see Derek with that girl Ashley?” Prince pointed out.

“What about them?” Josy asked.

“They’ve been hanging around a lot recently.”

“Well, Derek’s always been a ladies’ man. Or, as Maya would put it, a ladies’ boy .”

“Ah, a ladyboy, gotcha,” Prince joked.

Josy gave Prince a playful nudge. “Pffft…stop it, Prince!”

“Hahaha, I’m just messing with you,” Prince chuckled.

“Derek’s the kind of guy who will try, try, try until he succeeds, no matter how many times he gets rejected,” Josy explained. “I’ll give him credit for having the decency to not pull a Steve on me, at least.”

“Sounds like you know him well,” Prince commented.

Josy couldn’t help but dart her eyes towards Maya, if only for a brief moment.

“Ah, well…he is Maya’s brother, after all. It’s hard not to remember him with that personality of his,” Josy remarked. “And to be honest, things will probably end the same way they usually do with Ashley.”

Derek’s eyes were glued towards Cathy’s rear end while she was talking to another student, to the annoyance of Ashley. Her annoyance only intensified when the insatiable boy whipped his phone out and snapped a photo of the professor’s butt. Josy simply made a gesture with her arms that said “See?”

Near the back of the classroom, Maya had been watching Josy and Prince conversing with each other. She had noticed the glance Josy sent her way and wondered if her girlfriend was having second thoughts about continuing to spend time with Prince.

“Jelly?”

Maya turned her head to see that Mona was talking to her. “What?”

“It’s short for ‘jealous’,” Camila explained.

“Oh,” Maya tried to leave it at that, as she wasn’t exactly in the mood to socialize with her associates at the moment.

“I can tell you’re into that guy, Prince. And not just because of the truth or dare game, either,” Mona mentioned.

Maya crossed her arms and glanced aside with an annoyed sigh. “You just had to bring that up…”

“Maybe you should let it go, Mona,” Camila whispered to her best friend. “She seems upset.”

“I just want to help! It’s not fun seeing someone remain jealous over a crush,” Mona whispered back before asking Maya, “So, Maya, do you like him?”

“Ok, fine,” Maya admitted, hoping that it would get the girls to leave her alone. “If you really need to know, I think I like him.”

“Then what’s stopping you from just asking him out?”

“Multiple reasons.”

“Well, the way I see it, you should let him know how you feel. If he rejects you, then that’s that. There’s always plenty of other guys to go around,” Mona advised.

“Mona’s got a point. Letting that jealousy build up in you is just asking for unpleasant drama down the line. I’ve had to deal with my fair share of that in high school, and it’s one of the reasons why I’m not looking for a serious relationship right now,” Camila discussed.

Maya was left confused at this turn of events, wondering if there was an ulterior motive behind their words. Then she shook those cynical thoughts off. Perhaps they were just trying to be nice as fellow pledges. Plus, it’s not like she was one to talk given her own motives for pledging the HOTs.

“…when you put it that way, you might have a point. Thanks for your advice, Mona and Camila,” Maya slowly nodded her head.

“No problem, Maya!” Mona smiled.

“We’re rooting for you!” Camila grinned.

Maya turned her attention back to the material at hand. Though her mind was less focused on the problems and more so on what she was going to do regarding her situation with both Prince and Josy. When she felt that Cathy wasn’t looking, she discreetly opened her phone and sent Prince a text.

Maya: Meet me in our dorm after class. There’s something important I need to share with you.

Up ahead, Prince checked his phone and saw Maya’s text, taking note that it sounded like something serious. He also saw that there was a new message from her brother. 

…and it was accompanied with a photo of Cathy’s butt.

Derek: dude your right! cathy is hot! maybe u should try 2 fuck her?

Right as he was about to put his phone away, he heard someone gasp from behind him. To his horror, that someone was none other than Cathy herself. “Turn it off…ok?”

Upon seeing this, Derek’s eyes and mouth went wide, remorse written all over his face for his brazen text. While Cathy was distracted, SB managed to slip into the classroom, finding a vacant seat for himself.

“T-time for a pop quiz, today!” Cathy stammered.

“That's fucking bullshit!” Dawe slammed his fists on the table.

“Language, Dawe.”

During the quiz, Cathy was scrolling through her phone, fixated on her dating profile more than usual. Sooner than she would’ve liked, the time was up for the pop quiz.

Dawe was about to jab at Prince on his way out, but Anthony laid a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. The two jocks left the classroom without further incident.

“Bro…sorry about that text,” Derek apologized.

“No kidding?! You got me into trouble with her,” Prince reprimanded,

“Yep, I did. I fucked up. And I'm sorry…” Derek trailed off before piping up with “...but did you see her ass?”

“That’s enough, Derek,” SB glared sharply at the trouble seeking DIK pledge.

“Don’t pull that shit again, ok?” Prince sighed.

“Ok, ok,” Derek resigned with his hands up. “Bro, that’s the second time that those jocks backed off from you.”

“After the counselors meeting this morning, Chad probably told the alphas to back off, since Professor Burke told him they'd watch them closely from now on,” Prince explained.

A lightbulb went off in Derek’s head. “And that means we can fuck with them in the open without being worried about the consequences!”

“I wouldn't take it that far. Who knows how they will act when there's no one around?” Prince asked.

“Also, just because we're not alphas, doesn't mean we're immune to punishment,” SB reminded.

“But we do need to prank them,” Derek insisted.

“Yeah, I know. It's tricky...do you have any ideas?”

“Did you see his shaker?

“What about it?”

“What if we add some extra protein to it? You know...CUM-petition style…”

“I’m out,” SB immediately interjected.

Derek cupped his hands around his mouth and flapped his arms. “Ba-CAW!”

“That would definitely be a prank...but I'm not gonna stick my cock in that shaker,” Prince objected.

“You don't have to! We fill a condom with some love juice...one of us distracts him and the other one just plops it in there,” Derek elaborated on his plot.

“Has anyone told you that you’re the epitome of prudence? Because they'd be wrong,” SB’s tone dripped with sarcasm.

“It's a very risky plan…” Prince remarked.

Derek’s face drooped. “I'm gonna have to do it all by myself, huh?” 

“It’s your idea. Not mine,” SB scowled.

“Not all by yourself. I can get the proof. We still need that, you know,” Prince offered.

“Great. Tomorrow. English class. I'm gonna fill that shaker up to the brim.”

“By the way, SB, why were you late for class?”

“I did the banana duel.”

“No. Fucking. Way!” Derek’s eyes widened with every word. “Are you for real, ass man?”

“Yes.”

“You’re a real trooper taking care of that task, dude,” Prince nodded gratefully.

“Uh-huh. Let’s just leave it at that, guys.”

The detached DIK pledge had remained in the classroom while everyone else headed out, wanting to speak to Cathy privately.

“Professor Cathy, I apologize for being late today. I didn’t bring it up earlier since I didn’t want to interrupt you in the middle of class,” SB brought up.

“There’s no need for that. I’ve had many other students either be significantly more tardy on a consistent basis or ditch these classes altogether,” Cathy stated, willing to let it slide. “While we’re here, I wanted to ask, how is your scholarship assignment going?”

“It’s still pretty early, but I think it’s been going well so far. I still need to do more research before I can craft my thesis statement,” SB replied.

“Let me know once you’re ready to start writing. I’ll be happy to help you with that if needed.”

“Will do, Professor Cathy.”

SB walked towards the door and was about to turn the handle when the redhead professor’s voice stopped him.

“And before you go…just Cathy is fine.”

“In that case, I’ll remember that…just Cathy.”

Cathy let out an amused chuckle. “You know that’s not what I meant!”

Chapter Text

Jill made a beeline towards Isabella in the library, expressing worry with each step. Sensing that something had Jill troubled, Isabella took their conversation to her office for their privacy.

“What happened? You look upset,” Isabella observed.

“It’s Prince…” Jill replied.

“What did he do to you?” Isabella raised her voice slightly.

“He didn't do anything to me. He got beat up last night.”

“He got beat up? I just had lunch with him...he seemed ok.”

“Yeah, I know. I helped him, but I'm not sure I did him a favor. I may have gotten him into more trouble by reporting it to the guidance counselors. The student who beat him up might hold a grudge. Prince wasn't happy about what I did,” Jill elaborated. “I hope I didn't paint a giant target on his back. I just did what I wished people would have done for me, you know?”

“I know.”

“So, what do I do now? I can't just let it be, right? I have to fix this, somehow.”

“You've done enough. Seeing as he got into trouble before you helped him, you did the right thing,” Isabella agreed. “He's been unlucky...or chosen his friends poorly, I should say.”

“Huh?” Jill was taken aback. “I thought you didn't like him. What made you change your mind, all of a sudden?”

“I had a talk with him.”

“And you like him now?”

“‘Like’ is a strong word. But he's not all bad,” Isabella acknowledged.

“Not all bad? You know, that's the nicest thing you've ever said about a guy,” Jill remarked.

“If you want to befriend or even date him, go right ahead,” Isabella gave her word of approval.

“Date him? I'm not sure I'm looking for someone to date. Did you think I was?”

“Well, you're a woman. Stranger things have happened.”

“Haha, yeah, but still...I mean...I can feel how Tybalt is trying to win me over. He seems to believe that we belong together.”

“Prince is a way better choice than Tybalt,” Isabella emphasized. “That's for sure.”

“Prince must really have impressed you,” Jill stared at her friend, still surprised at her turnaround. “I'm stunned.”

“No. I just really hate Tybalt.”

“Hahaha! Never change, Bella.”

**********

Back in the library, SB had wrapped up studying for his math class. Once again, Isabella was absent, but this time, Riona wasn’t there, either. He found himself missing the Japanese goth girl’s company as he took his glasses off and wiped them with a cloth that wouldn’t scratch the lenses. 

Right before he was about to get back to studying, he received a text from an unknown number. 

Unknown: Hey, SB. Derek gave me your number, and I need to ask you something.

SB: I’m sorry, who are you?

Unknown: Oh, right! I’m Ashley. My bad. 

It had just occurred to him that he hadn’t asked to exchange numbers with Riona yet. He would have to remember to ask her about that.

Ashley: Anyways, we’re planning to make cookie sundaes today, but someone tampered with the chocolate ice cream in the cafeteria. Would you be able to get some of it for the club?

SB: Why me?

Ashley: Beth is too busy working in the cafeteria today, and she said she’ll let you pick your partner if you agree to help out.

SB: Alright.

After making a note in Not Ability to do both of those things later today, he decided to take a trip down Rooster once again, finding it a decent way to unwind after a study session.

(Picture of Maya with her hair in a different style. Thirty-nine likes.)

Maya@MayaTheMovieBuff

Trying out a new hairstyle today. #BurgmeisterAndRoyce

Derek@BigBootyLover: I love it, sis!

Mona@MonaLisa: Super-cute!

Riona@HOTRiona: Looking good, daughter.

Maya@MayaTheMovieBuff: @BigBootyLover @MonaLisa @HOTRiona Aw, thanks!

Camila@Cammy: @MayaTheMovieBuff You've gotta tell me where you bought that cute top!

Quinn@QuinnOfHearts: @MonaLisa @HOTRiona Yeah, if you like to look like wet dogs, more power to you.

Derek@BigBootyLover: @QuinnOfHearts At least she could afford an entire haircut. Why did your barber stop at 50%?

Melanie@CaraMel: @BigBootyLover Not bad…for a wannabe Casanova, that is.

Quinn@QuinnOfHearts: @BigBootyLover Ah, the limp noodle! Does that ever work with ladies for you? It's repulsing, really! Also, barbers are for men, not women. #LilDicky

Prince@Tremolo: @MayaTheMovieBuff Beautiful!

Derek@BigBootyLover: @Tremolo Chill, bro!

Ok, he had to admit, that burn from Derek put a smile on his face.

(Picture of Cathy and Jade at the mall. Forty-three likes)

Cathy@CathyJones79

We went shopping during our free morning and spotted a couple of boys engaged in some...naughty...activities. #BurgmeisterAndRoyce #Shopping

Jade@DrJakeBurke: Naughty activities, indeed! Kids these days are different from when we grew up.

Cathy@CathyJones79: I sure hope that the security guard arrested those boys!

Jade@DrJakeBurke: The news said they got away and that the cameras in the mall weren't even turned on! Can you believe that? What if it had been a robbery?

Those guys were ridiculously lucky to get off scot free. And he, too, was keeping it that way.

(Picture of Sage lying down on her bed with an impatient look on her face. Fifty-nine likes)

Sage@HOTPresidentSage

Bored...waiting for Chad to drop by. #HOTs

Dawe@BigDickDawe: I bet you won't be bored when he finally gets there. 3=======D

Anthony@BigA: HAHA! You beat me to it, @BigDickDawe!

Alex@OnePunchAlex: Be nice to @MadLadChad when he gets there. Something happened.

Sage@HOTPresidentSage: @OnePunchAlex What happened?

Alex@OnePunchAlex: @HOTPresidentSage We almost lost our leader. He’s stepping things up around here now.

Sage@HOTPresidentSage: @OnePunchAlex What the hell happened!?

Sage@HOTPresidentSage: @BigA ???

Dawe@BigDickDawe: I'm sure he'll tell you. If you see @AriethPassword1234, tell her I want to talk to her.

Arieth@AriethPassword1234: @HOTPresidentSage Don't tell Dawe you saw me on Rooster! I'll tell you why later!

What is an Arieth? A walking, talking pile of brainrot who he won’t touch with a twenty foot pole.

With that done, it was time to move onto English. He would save Gender Studies for another time, since there was a meeting with the DIKs he had to attend soon.

**********

Prince knocked on the door to Maya and Josy’s dorm, announcing his presence. After a few moments, Maya undid the lock and let him inside.

“Hey, Maya,” he greeted.

“Hey, Prince. How have you been?”

“Oh, let me tell you, a lot has happened since yesterday.”

Once they had taken a seat on her bed together, Prince proceeded to go over what happened to Chad and what he had to do for Hell Week, with Maya informing him that the HOTs also have a Hell Week ritual via the scavenger hunt.

“We're supposed to work in pairs, and I’m paired up with Josy,” Maya discussed. “Most of what we have to do isn’t that bad, but…”

“But what?” Prince wondered, not liking where this was going.

“The thing is…Josy got us in trouble with Quinn by asking Sage if she could switch mothers,” Maya revealed before reciting the sorority’s code. “Don’t turn on each other.”

“Uh-oh…” he trailed off.

“Uh-oh is right. We now have to do a bunch of sexual tasks in addition to everything else,” she spoke gravely.

“Are they that hard to complete?” Prince asked, hoping for the best case scenario.

“Make out with a guy. Make out with a girl. Give a handjob. Give a blowjob. Give a thighjob.”

“Ok, I get it.”

“Fuck a guy. Have a threesome. Have sex in public.”

“And the list keeps going…”

“Yeah,” Maya pinched her forehead. “So, we’re fucked...no pun intended.”

“Does B&R really allow this?” Prince inquired.

“No clue. But now that we’ve already been punished, asking about the list will pretty much ruin my chances for tuition,” Maya stressed. “And yesterday...Quinn actually offered it to us.”

“Really?” Prince doubted.

Maya let out a drawn out sigh, falling back on her bed. “I feel so conflicted, Prince. It feels within reach, but I don’t want to become someone who, practically, will sell my body to get it. That ‘waking you up’ thingy I did was so humiliating...and I refused to do the CUM-petition. Luckily, Camila and Mona stepped up.”

“I see…”

“It’s not like I can rely on Josy to do all those tasks, either. The scavenger hunt is meant to be a team effort between both of us, so if either of us don’t pull our weight, it’s also highly likely we’ll be rejected for that. As if all of that wasn’t enough, not only is Quinn still Josy’s mother, but my mother is Riona.

“Riona?” Prince wondered, the name not ringing a bell to him.

“She’s Quinn’s right hand woman,” Maya explained. “Her tasks aren’t nearly as bad, as I said before, but if we show our proof to her, she’s gonna send it to Quinn, lickity-split. And as much as I really don’t want that to happen…” she squeezed her bed’s mattress with her fingers. “That free tuition changes everything.”

The blonde HOT pledge took in a breath. “But that list is not easy for me...for many reasons.”

“How come?”

“I've dated guys before...but I've never slept with one.”

“So, you're a virgin?

“...no.”

“Oh...you mean that you've…”

“I've only been with a girl, so far. And this is where I get to the important thing I needed to tell you,” Maya paused before correcting herself. “Or rather, things. Can you promise me that all of this stays between us?”

Prince gave an affirmative nod. “Of course, Maya.”

“So, you know how I have family issues, right?” Maya started.

Prince stayed silent, letting Maya continue with what she had to say.

“My family is...um...well my dad is...he’s very religious,” Maya squeezed her hands on her bed as she spoke. “And when he found out I had a girlfriend, he…”

“Oh…say no more. I understand,” Prince bowed his head in sympathy.

Maya exhaled, feeling a weight lifting off from her chest. “Ok, so now you know. And Derek knows, too.”

“You said ‘things’, right? What’s the other thing, then?” Prince asked.

This was it. The point of no return for her.

“This particular thing…I wasn't ever going to tell this to anyone else here. And I haven’t told you yet because I wasn’t sure of how you'd react, or how to approach the subject. I tried before, but my phone call interrupted us.”

Maya took in a deep breath to prepare herself for the incoming truth bomb she was about to drop.

“So, it all started as the reason why I needed that money. But thanks to Derek and even you, I've realized that I need it for an even bigger reason.”

“And that is…?” Prince prompted.

“Josy…she’s–”

The introverted girl’s head started to tilt downwards, but she forced herself to lift her head back up and take a quick breath to steady herself.

“She’s my girlfriend. And I…no, we cheated on each other with you,” Maya revealed.
Time seemed to freeze around Prince upon hearing those words as he stared at her, completely blindsided.

“…what?”

“Let me explain!” Maya blurted out hastily before continuing. “Things haven't been good between us lately. We were kept from seeing each other and that didn’t do us any good. She was going to come here and we were gonna be together, just like before…but in secret. That's what we agreed upon. But over the summer we drifted apart, and I…I met you, Prince.”

“I-I don’t know what to say,” Prince mumbled, having found his voice. “This is…”

“Yeah…I was just as shocked when Josy told me that you two kissed and had sex with each other,” Maya admitted.

“Oh…” Prince trailed off. “She told you that?”

The blonde girl nodded in confirmation. “She seemed really happy with you. Far happier than I’ve seen her in weeks. I thought letting you two be happy together would fix things, but…”

She went quiet and glanced downward for several moments before steeling herself to look directly at his face.

“I think I have feelings for you too, Prince.”

“What?” Prince repeated, even more confused than before now at her confession.

“When Josy told me that you had sex with her, there was a part of me that felt jealous. But I also felt like shit since I had kissed you as well. Those feelings continued to grow when Derek told me about you and Josy making out while outside and during class when I watched you and her chatting away together. Realizing that I had become jealous of you two…it scared me. It’s the first time I’ve gotten this close to a guy, and it made me seriously question whether I was truly a lesbian or if I’m actually bisexual. And I think this means that I can’t lie to myself and pretend that I don’t feel anything for you, no matter how hard I try,” Maya confessed.

The DIK pledge continued to stare at her in silence, now trying to process her confession to him on top of her family issues and her secret relationship with the other girl that he had been falling for. It was a vicious whirlwind of emotions running around in his head. Confusion at what was going on, anger at being lied to, understanding of why she couldn’t tell him right away, sadness at what this meant for his relationships…how was he supposed to properly react to all of this?!

“Prince?” Maya’s voice brought him back to reality. He had been staring blankly at her for the past minute.

“Look…I get why you were hesitant in telling me about your secret relationship. But I was under the impression that you were single when we kissed. And I never would’ve thought that you were the one that Josy was cheating on,” Prince tried to remain calm as he spoke up.

“Yeah…this is all one giant fucked up coincidence for all of us,” Maya muttered.

“I can’t act like I’m entirely blameless for reciprocating your advances while I had a crush on Josy,” Prince admitted.

He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling something wet build up within them.

“But this…this feels like shit. And now…I can’t say if I still have feelings for either of you after all of this,” he spoke.

Maya didn’t say anything as Prince fought to pull himself together. Then a pressing question popped up in his mind.

“Does Josy know about what we did?” he had to ask.

Her only response was to guiltily avert her gaze.

“Maya…you have to be 100% honest with her. She deserves the truth,” he insisted.

“I know, Prince. I know,” she acknowledged.

Prince’s phone dinged, and, grateful for a distraction, he looked at the message sent from Derek.

Derek: we gotta get 2 the main hall now! the diks need us there asap!

“I have to go. The DIKs need me at the main hall soon,” Prince quickly pocketed his phone and sprung to his feet. “Goodbye, Maya.”

She didn’t reply back as Prince rushed out of her dorm, still confused and upset. Feeling utterly spent, she sunk into her bed, wondering just how she was going to fix this ugly mess.

“How did we get here?” she asked, to no one in particular.

**********

“A strip club?”

“A strip club.”

“Tonight?”

“Tonight.”

“We’re not 21.”

“We’re fully aware.”

“And that's not a problem?”

“Only if you make it one.”

SB raised an eyebrow at Tommy’s responses. “What exactly are you getting at?”

“Just show up, shut up, and watch the naked ladies,” Tommy snapped his fingers with a smirk.

“And get your dick signed,” Rusty jumped in.

“Oh yeah! That, too!” 

“Hey! Hey! Bros! Here they come!” Jacob called out to them.

The DIKs and Derek all gathered near the railing above the main hall while Prince and SB watched Cathy lead several new students into the campus building from a distance. One of those students had huge muscles and a menacing look in his eye.

“What’s this?” SB inquired.

“Shh! Shut up and watch,” Tommy shushed.

“What are we looking at?” Derek questioned.

“This happens every semester,” Rusty replied.

“We call it the march of the rejects,” Tommy grinned.

SB folded his arms. “Rejects, huh? I thought they were called replacements.”

“What you're witnessing right now are the people who weren't quite good enough to make the first cut, but had luck and still got accepted,” Rusty explained.

“Their entire presence here is due to quitters and no shows. These people are happy to accept what wasn't good enough for those who left. The rejects,” Tommy sneered.

“And what makes them any more different than us? At the end of the day, everyone’s here studying the same things,” SB refuted.

“Such a naive nerd of a maggot. The best HOTs are always rejects. Quinn and Riona. Both rejects,” Tommy smirked.

SB let out an annoyed grunt, not appreciating Tommy’s attitude towards Riona.

“How are they the best ones?” Derek wondered.

“You know,” Tommy puffed his mouth and cheeks and moved his fist back and forth.

“Yes, we totally needed you to clarify that,” SB snarked.

“So, rejects are better because of lower inhibitions?” Derek asked.

“Well, yeah! Strictly speaking of the girls, of course. The dudes are all fucking brain dead.”

One of the students from beneath looked up at Tommy with a shocked face, having overhead the insult.

“What are you looking at?! Keep on walking, you fucking reject!” Tommy mocked, before scrunching up his face in disgust. “And to think that idiot stepsister of mine managed to make it…”

Prince silently glanced aside and closed his eyes, trying not to think about her.

“Why do you hate her so much? She doesn’t seem that bad,” SB remarked.

“Pfft. A banana throating maggot like you wouldn’t understand,” Tommy dismissed.

Jacob’s eyes went wide upon seeing the next student who walked in. “Hey! Isn't that…”

“IT IS! LILY!!!”

The girl named Lily was a blonde with pigtails and a lollipop in her mouth. Her outfit consisted of

fishnet leggings, ripped short jeans that went up to her thighs, a plaid shirt that left her cleavage on wide display, pink eye shadow, a pierced nose, and an extensive tattoo on her right arm.

“She's a fucking smokeshow!” Tommy cheered.

“Did she quit The Pink Rose?” Leon wondered.

“Last time I saw her she said she applied for health studies here at B&R. But she's not quitting The Pink Rose,” Rusty clarified.

“Damn...then college will be cheap for her,” Nick remarked.

“Man...Lily's some proper HOT material,” Tommy licked his lips lecherously.

“You think they'd want her?” Jacob had to ask.

“My cock wants her. I'm gonna go convince her to pledge.”

“Wait for me!”

“Hey! I saw her first!”

The DIKs all marched down the stairs to greet the stripper, leaving the three pledges on the second floor.

Derek reached out towards Prince, having noticed that his behavior seemed off. “Hey...everything good? You were pretty quiet back there.”

“And I could tell you were uncomfortable when Tommy brought his stepsister up,” SB observed.

“About that…” Prince glanced around him, lowering his voice. “Can we talk about this in our dorm? I don’t want anyone else overhearing this.”

**********

Prince and Derek took a seat on Derek’s bed while SB remained standing in their dorm.

“What’s going on, Prince? This sounds serious,” SB prompted.

“It’s Josy…” Prince trailed off.

“Jojo?” Derek froze up, his eyes darting towards SB. “Uh…ass man, if this is what I think it is, can you give us some space?”

SB picked up on how unusually serious Derek was being with his request. He was curious to know what was going on, but then he reminded himself that he would be a hypocrite if he kept pushing them on the matter.

“Ok, that definitely sounds serious. But if that’s what you want, I’ll give you two privacy then,” SB nodded.

“Appreciated, ass man.”

“It works out since I’m planning to buy some ingredients for the cooking club today.”

“Oh, could you make sure to get some extra eggs for us?”

“What for?”

“You know! Egging the preps!”

“Alright…I’ll get the eggs,” the Chinese boy let out a sigh. “But I refuse to throw them myself.”

After SB left their dorm, Prince turned to face Derek with the news. “So…your sister...her girlfriend is Josy.”

“She...told you that?” Derek’s voice came out quieter than usual. “Wow…yeah...that's what I've been bugged about...I couldn't tell you...I mean, you're my maggot brother and all, but we just kinda met. She's in a…”

Derek made a sideways peace sign and stuck a finger between it. “...this kind of a relationship. How did you find out?”

“I had a talk with Maya earlier today. She also confessed that she and Josy both cheated on each other with me,” Prince informed.

“Wait wait wait wait! Hold the FUCK up!” Derek shouted, slamming his hand against his mattress. “You need to tell me everything because this sounds fucking nuts!”

One recap from Prince later…

“I can't believe this…” Derek trailed off, having popped open a beer to drink from.

“It's the truth,” Prince confirmed, guzzling down the contents of his own beer bottle.

“How do you feel?” Derek questioned.

“If I’m being real…I have no fucking idea how I should feel,” Prince confessed. “Hurt? Betrayed? Confused? I get that she had her reasons for keeping it a secret, but…all of this still feels like shit.”

“You are a rather impulsive dude; I'll give you that,” Derek stated bluntly.

“What?!” Prince stared at his rowdy friend, taken aback.

“Come on! You know you are! You fell for both Jojo and my sis at the same time, you stole a pair of panties from the HOTs, you wanted to leave when you just got here, and you ran around naked at the mall today!” Derek continued, laying a finger on his friend’s nose. “But it’s fine! You’re channeling your inner Derek. And that's ok.”

“My ‘inner Derek’? I’ll never be as insatiable as you are. And quite frankly, that for the best,” Prince disagreed.

“Well, yeah. Difference is, I'm tough as fuck. Go ahead! Try to insult me,” Derek challenged.

Prince sat still, trying to think of a mean insult. “You look really stupid without a shirt.”

“My emotions!” Derek gave an exaggerated gasp. “Come on. That was weak.”

Realizing that his initial insult had no effect, Prince thought of something that would hit closer to home. 

“You think you're good with women, but I see the way they look at you. They are really not interested in you and you look like a moron when you're trying.”

Derek’s beer slipped from his hand. “You…bitch.”

The wannabe playboy slapped Prince on his cheek, who, after recovering from the shock, returned the favor with his own slap. Their argument quickly devolved into a slap and forth between them.

“Hey!”

“Aargh!!!”

“Fuck you!!!”

“Take it back!”

“NEVER!”

“Okay, stop!”

Both of the maggot brothers started to calm down from their slap off. 

“How’s that for being impulsive?” Prince retorted.

“Sorry, I lost my cool,” Derek conceded. “I know I’m not the best at keeping secrets, but for this one, I absolutely had to. Not everyone is cool with gay relationships.”

“Yeah…your dad certainly isn’t,” Prince remarked.

Derek’s eyes drifted elsewhere as he reached for another beer bottle from his cooler and downed it, his fingers grazing his wrist holding the beer.

“What should I do?” Prince wondered, opening up his second beer to drink up from.

“You're not gonna like it.”

“Tell me.”

“You will just call it a stupid idea.”

“Probably...but tell me.”

“Don't get attached to women this easily. You're young, bro,” Derek advised. “Do you see yourself as the relationship type of guy?”

“Yeah. I want a relationship,” Prince answered.

“Ok, but why do you want it right now? You just started college! It would be like walking into a restaurant when you're already full,” Derek objected.

“I see your point, but I still want a relationship.”

“Why don't you try to date more? Figure out what you want instead of rushing into things.”

“What do you want?”

“I want to bang Ashley. I want to bang Arieth. I want to bang Camila. I want to bang Jade. I want to bang C–”

“You want to bang a lot of chicks, I get it,” Prince cut him off.

“That's what I'm saying! If you have many goals in life, you're bound to fulfill some of them!” Derek smiled. “Tell you what, I’ll let you in on an ocean where you can catch a bunch of fish.”

“Where is it?” Prince asked, biting on that one.

“It’s actually a dating app. Two fishes, one hook,” Derek elaborated.

“Right…one of our tasks is to get 4 matches on Swyper,” Prince recalled.

“I tried it myself, but man…not a single match on my end yet,” Derek sighed disappointedly before flashing an ecstatic grin again. “But I imagine you’ll haul in a big catch! A lot of them may smell worse, some are rotten, some swim away really fast, some just go...*blub blub*, but there are also some really hot ones that you might wanna fuck.”

“I’m confused, are you talking about actual fish or women?” Prince touched his now cold fingers to his forehead.

“Just check that app! Once you’ve set your profile up, swipe in the direction that your cock moves. Up if you get a boner and down if you don't,” Derek explained.

“Swyper, huh? What a stupid name.”

“Maybe all the good ones were taken?”

“I’ll check it out sometime later. Thanks for the talk, Derek.”

“You know it, bro.”

**********

SB exited the campus building and arrived at his designated parking spot where he had parked his Subaru car with a lavender paint job and built in cameras. It had previously belonged to his dad, so it had several years of mileage down its belt by this point. The trip to Wilberts was short and to the point, as he returned with half a dozen eggs and a container of chocolate ice cream in the span of less than 30 minutes.

He entered Dorm 69 and found Prince and Derek drinking their beers, having wrapped up their private conversation. 

“Here are the eggs,” SB handed them over to his fellow DIK pledges. “Will half a dozen suffice?”

“Thanks, ass man!” Derek flashed a thumbs up.

“See you guys later at The Pink Rose.”

Once SB left the room, Derek faced Prince with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Now, what do you say we go fry these eggs on Sir Fuckboy’s face, sunny side up?”

“That guy…he’s such a creep to Jill. And he tattled on SB on our first day here, too,” Prince frowned.

“He had the nerve to block me when I called him out on Rooster as well!” Derek complained. “So what are we waiting for?”

“I’m in.”

“Too bad that ass man chickened out of this one. Heheh, get it? Because the–”

“You don’t have to explain it, Derek.”

“And while we’re at it, want to wear the helmet?” Derek offered.

“Eh…sure, why not?” Prince shrugged, taking the dildo helmet from his companion’s hands and fitting it over his head. 

**********

SB entered the cafeteria, ready to make some cookie sundaes.

“Hey, Beth. I got Ashley’s message and brought some chocolate ice cream for the club,” SB presented the container to her.

“You did? Thanks for your help,” Beth nodded, taking the container and setting it near the chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, syrups, and toppings on the countertop. “Maybe I was wrong in treating you as yet another rude customer.”

“Just don’t threaten me with violence again, and we’re good,” SB stated. “So, I heard the ice cream you originally had was tampered with.”

“Yeah, some idiot decided it would be a good idea to straight up lick it, so we had to throw it out,” Beth grit her teeth.

“Wow…” SB trailed off, repulsed at that act of food tampering.

“You have no idea how much bullshit I have to put up with as a cafeteria worker,” Beth complained. “Minimum wage just to deal with entitled customers, unpredictable schedule changes, and pranksters…”

“I haven’t worked in customer service before, but my dad did. And the horror stories are definitely real,” SB shared.

“Mhm.”

“Anyways, I’d like to work with Ashley this time. She seems more level headed than the others.”

“Cool. She’s right over there.”

SB went to the table that was indicated to him, which, true to her word, had Ashley sitting there.

“Hey, SB!” Ashley waved.

“Hey, Ashley. I bought some chocolate ice cream for this club.”

“I saw that. Thanks so much!”

“No problem. Just as long as I don’t have to work with those ‘feminists’,” SB gestured with his fingers.

“Honestly, they get on my nerves, too,” Ashley whispered.

SB flipped through the instructions provided to them. “It looks like we won’t have to do much since we already baked a bunch of cookies last time.”

Ashley nodded in agreement, as before long, they were heading towards the countertop. SB took a scooper, brought out a round ball of chocolate ice cream, and placed it on top of the chocolate chip cookie. Next, he squeezed chocolate syrup over the ice cream, forming a plus sign with it. The final touch came in the form of chocolate shavings, which he made by taking a dark chocolate bar, shaving it with a peeler, and sprinkling the shavings on top of the cookie sundae.

“That is a lot of chocolate on that sundae,” Ashley commented, having taken a more standard approach with strawberry ice cream, vanilla syrup, and rainbow sprinkles on her chocolate chip cookie.

“If someone was a chocoholic, they’d love it,” SB remarked. “Aside from the dough not actually being chocolate, that is.”

Meanwhile, the feminists were gossiping among each other once more.

“Can you believe that some pig had the nerve to stick his man meat out from the hole in the wall while I was just trying to take a piss?!” Minny raged.

One of the feminists let out a loud gasp. “What the fuck?!”

“Yeah, I’m not kidding, Suzanne,” Minny seethed.

“What has the world come to if men think they can get away with that?” Linda, who was sitting next to Karen, whined.

Karen turned her head away and scrunched her face, clearly uncomfortable at how loud the feminists were being.

“We ought to do something about this degeneracy!” Suzanne declared, slapping her hands against the table.

“Oh, we will. Once Dany puts that slut in her place, we’re gonna give the rest of those HOTs what’s coming to them. And it all starts with our upcoming protest,” Minny vowed.

“I don’t think they’re that bad…” Karen quietly muttered to herself.

Unfortunately for her, Linda had overheard her and was set off by those words. 

“What was that?! You siding with those stuck up bitches now?!” the fat feminist yelled.

“Ahh! Stop shouting at me!” Karen cried out, the feedback noises from her hearing aid ringing into her eardrum.

“Seems like she hasn’t been educated on how stuck up those HOTs are,” Suzanne chimed in.

“I just don’t think they’re as bad as you’re making them out to be,” Karen disagreed, folding her arms defensively.

“Tch. For a nerd, you wouldn’t understand,” Minny insulted.

“Hey! Why are you picking on Karen?” Ashley stepped in, having heard enough of this.

The three feminists stared directly at her and SB, annoyance written over their faces.

“She hasn’t done anything wrong. Please stop shouting at her,” Ashley requested.

“Stay out of this, fellow woman,” Suzanne warned.

SB sighed, feeling dragged into their bickering. “Listen to what she has to say.”

“Oh look, the degenerate male himself is back!” Linda pointed accusingly at the Chinese boy.

“Why are the likes of you still here?” Minny clenched her fist threateningly.

“First off, I’m just here to help out. Second, stop bullying others just because they disagree with your opinions,” SB replied.

“We’re the bullies?! That is our right to free speech you’re intruding on!” Linda slammed her hand on the table, causing Karen to flinch and cringe away.

“Free speech doesn’t cover verbal harassment, you brain damaged idiot,” SB muttered, pinching his forehead.

“How DARE you!!” Minny jumped up from her seat. “Swallow this, you bastard!”

The feminist with piercings grabbed her ice cream and hurled it right towards the bespectacled DIK pledge. He thrust his hands out reflexively, and the glob of ice cream struck his left hand before splattering on the floor. SB wringed his left hand in pain and from the ice cold sensation.

“Enough!” Beth’s voice rang out throughout the cafeteria, putting her foot down. “I don’t have the patience to deal with an incoming food fight today. This meeting is over. Karen, I need you to stay behind for a moment. Everyone else, wrap up your cookie sundaes and get out.”

SB and Ashley wrapped their cookie sundaes with plastic wrapping and headed out, the latter seeming hung up over what had transpired.

“You ok?”

“Not really. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything back there. I feel like I made things worse by speaking up.”

“No. You were in the right to defend Karen. And in hindsight, it was a bad idea for me to trigger them,” SB acknowledged.

“I hope the cooking club can find some more members who aren’t like those bullies…Karen deserves better than that,” Ashley hoped.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that the only members so far are those who are taking Gender Studies.”

“This club could use more guys around here, for one.”

“I could try talking to Prince and Derek, though I won’t make any promises on either of them joining,” SB offered.

“Thanks. I’m gonna head out to pledge the HOTs. They can’t possibly be as bad as the other feminists say they are,” Ashley replied.

“I was thinking of going over there myself,” SB nodded. “Not to pledge them, of course, but for something else I had in mind.”

**********

“How are we gonna find a prep to egg without getting caught?” Prince asked as he and Derek walked around in the campus hallways with the eggs in their pockets and the former wearing the dildo helmet. “They’ve beefed up security at their mansion since the ‘break-in’.”

“There’s always campus grounds, bro! And as for not getting caught…you haven’t seen my greatest disguise yet! Get a load of this!” Derek proudly grinned before pulling out a red haired wig and donning it on his head.

“Ta-da! ‘Something about yourself!’” he imitated.

“Wait a minute…that wig! You were the one who spied on the jocks?” Prince asked.

“Yep!” Derek boasted before suddenly turning serious. “…how did you know about that?”

“Chad ambushed me from out of nowhere last night because he assumed that I had disguised myself as Arieth to spy on him in the gym,” Prince explained.

Derek was left dumbfounded at that. “Oh my god…how the hell did he come to that conclusion?”

“Anger issues.”

“Dude…sorry about that. I didn’t think my shenanigans would end up hurting my bro.”

“It’s all good. You couldn’t have known he’d try to come after me. But now I have to know, what made you decide to sneak around in the jocks’ gym?” Prince wondered.

“Well…it was a favor for my sis,” Derek confessed.

“Oh…”

“Sage had asked her to head over to the gym to spy on her boyfriend and find out who he was cheating on her with, but Maya wasn’t comfortable with facing down a bunch of alphas if they caught her. So she asked me to help, and with the power of my wig, I did.”

“And did you find out who…she was?” Prince corrected himself before he misspoke.

“I was so close. But then a wild broom handle appeared, and I only managed to record him dirty talking to his side chick as proof. Dawe and his cronies ended up catching me, and I had to make my great escape,” Derek finished narrating his tale. “All that matters now is that my sis no longer has the ugly mole rat as her mother for Hell Week.”

“You did all of that for your sister…” Prince noted, recalling what Isabella had told him regarding his fellow maggot brother. “You really care a lot for her, don’t you?”
“Yeah, you could say that. She’s the reason I–”

Derek let out a belch, cutting himself off.

“Ah…all these beers must have gone to my head. And not the one you’re thinking of,” Derek winked.

“Heh. There’s the Derek I know all too well.”

The two DIK pledges suddenly spotted Tybalt heading inside the auditorium and froze up, a perfect opportunity having presented itself. 

“Shh! There he is! Sir Fuckboy, in the flesh!” Derek whispered.

With Prince hesitating every few steps and Derek moving forward with gusto, they snuck into the auditorium and hid in the orchestra pit. Eventually, Tybalt walked onstage with an overly fancy suit and began playing a song on the piano while “singing” the lyrics:

“This one, is for my one and only true love, Jill Royce!

Jill, you’re so cool,

And with my ring, we’re gonna rule.

Jill, understand,

I’m gonna love you to the very end.

Jill Royce, Jill Royce, Jill Royce Jill Royce Jill Royce,

Jill Royce, Jill Royce, Jill Royce Jill Royce Jill Royce,

I love you, oh,

Jill Royce, Jill Royce, Jill Royce Jill Royce Jill Royce,

Jill Royce, Jill Royce, Jill Royce Jill Royce Jill Royce,

I love you, oh,

This poor prince, that pervert, and some other boy too,

A thousand bunch of preppies couldn’t keep me from you,

Jill Royce, at the end of the line,

I’ll make you mine, oh!”

Prince winced at how much Tybalt’s voice was cracking on those verses and how cringeworthy said verses were. “Oh, wow. I, uh…wow.”

“If you’re gonna write a cringe love song, at the very least, don’t rip it off from The Super Weegee Bros Movie! Just for that, I’m tempted to pelt those eggs at him right away,” Derek frowned.

“Not yet, Derek. One of us needs to get the proof first,” Prince reminded.

“I’ll record, you go first.”

“I’m gonna need something to mask my face first.”

Derek brought out the ski mask used for the gay guard catcher task. “I got you covered, bro.”

Tybalt continued to “sing” while Prince and Derek prepared themselves, his voice starting to go off pitch. Once they were ready, Prince jumped out of the pit and launched his three eggs towards Tybalt. One hit the snobby boy’s cheek, while the other two struck his back, staining his suit with egg yolk.

“AAAHHH!!! MOMMY!! SOMEONE’S THROWING EGGS AT ME!” Tybalt flailed his arms and shrieked like a baby throwing a tantrum.

Derek didn’t waste time chucking his own three eggs. His first egg missed and hit the floor, but the next egg managed to strike his arm, and the third egg fell right in his wide open mouth, causing him to violently spit out the shell and its raw contents onto the floor. Just then, Jade emerged from one of the doorways on stage, prompting Prince and Derek to book it.

“My suit! Those dastards ruined my precious suit!!!” Tybalt sobbed while rolling on the floor.

“Calm down, Tybalt. I’ll deal with those troublemakers later,” Jade gave an exasperated sigh.

Once the two boys had exited the auditorium, Prince took several breaths to ride out the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

“Bro…to think that Mrs. Milk Machine was the mother of Sir Fuckboy all along,” Derek pointed out.

“I’m just as shocked as you are, dude,” Prince replied, taking in one last deep breath. “I still can’t believe our disguises actually worked. Those eggs must have hurt for that creep.”

“What can I say? Pain is the best teacher,” Derek flashed a shit eating grin.

**********

Inside Quinn’s room, Riona was assessing the profits made so far from Quinn’s business operations.

“Count it again.”

“I already counted it.”

“That's why I said ‘again’.”

“Then you fucking do it. I'm telling you, we're short.”

Riona faced Quinn with a troubled look. “Fuck.”

“Relax. Once Camila and Mona are fully in...we'll turn it around,” Quinn insisted.

“You're acting like that's a given. What if they bail?” Riona doubted, folding her arms.

Quinn put her hands on her hips. “Didn't I tell you to relax?”

“I was relaxed, until you started bringing in more girls. Things were fine the way it was! Camila and Mona were a gamble...and now you're going to ask both Josy and Maya?! You're getting cocky,” Riona continued to object.

“It's called expanding, Riona,” Quinn stated, annoyance creeping into her tone.

“Expanding? You really think Josy and Maya would be fine with doing what they’ve been tasked with, let alone joining the business? They don’t seem like the kinds of girls who would,” Riona pointed out. “Plus, we're risking it all doing this your way. That's not called ‘expanding’, that's called being a fucking idiot.”

A threatening glint appeared in Quinn’s eyes as she started forward. “What did you just call me?!”

“You heard me the first time, Quinn,” Riona retorted.

A sharp sound cut through the tension in the room as the silver haired HOT slapped the Japanese HOT hard across the cheek, leaving a bright red spot in its wake.

“You know I'm right,” Riona rubbed her cheek, trying to ease the stinging sensation. “You're just scared to admit it.”

“‘Scared’, she says,” Quinn scowled. “You wanna explain to me why my customers have been cancelling their orders on you at the last minute?”

“How would I know why that’s been happening?” Riona asked, genuinely unsure.

“Perhaps they prefer their sushi raw?” Quinn mocked.

Riona gasped, taken aback at how callous Quinn’s words were. “Excuse me?!”

“What goes around comes around, bitch. And while we’re at it, you better find a way to moisten up that dry spell you’ve been under if we’re to expand our business,” Quinn ordered.

“The only thing we need to do is to stop what we're doing, right now. No more new girls. None of this fucking ‘expanding’ bullshit! We stick to the original plan, with the current girls and maybe Camila and Mona, and we just sell what we need to sell, on top of our obligations, then we cut our losses and we move on before this gets harder to keep up with,” Riona protested. “And I'm still fucking concerned about who's been spreading that HOTs give free tuition.”

“Don't worry about it. It's just a stupid rumor. We can dismiss that easily. We just have to make sure that the girls keep their lids shut,” Quinn reassured. “And we can't cut back, we're so close now! Look at Sarah and Melanie! They are paying for themselves and more, at this point.”

Riona let out a frustrated sigh. “Then how the fuck are we short?”

“I don't know...but we're not that short. With the alphas' upcoming big order and some extra efforts from the girls, we can catch up,” Quinn insisted. “Now shoo, I’ve got shit to do here.”

Riona walked out of Quinn’s room with her hand still on her cheek, trying to keep it together.

**********

SB and Ashley approached the HOT house, the former having brought his cookie sundae with him in his backpack. From the front door, Chad emerged, sending a puzzled glance towards SB’s way.

“What brings you here, SB?” Chad asked.

“I could ask the same of you, Chad,” SB responded.

“Just an argument with my girl. I’ll spare you the details of that.”

“Ok then…”

Chad paused momentarily before heading out through the gates. With him gone, Ashley made her way to the front door.

“I think I can take it from here. See you around, SB,” Ashley waved.

“Good luck, Ashley,” SB nodded.

The Chinese DIK pledge had lingered around, having spotted Riona sitting under a tree in the backyard. She was dressed in her off-shoulder black crop top with fishnet leggings and had ditched her black lipstick, leaving her lips in their naturally red state. It made her look rather peaceful (and cute), though the hand on her cheek had him a tad bit concerned. She seemed to be preoccupied listening to music with her headphones, which left him wondering how he was going to approach her. Tempting as it was to pay her back for startling him in the library, he couldn’t bring himself to go through with it.

He didn’t get to think for long, as he caught sight of a basketball flying over the brick wall and right towards the Japanese HOT. His feet moved on their own as he reached out to try to catch the ball, but he made the mistake of using his left hand, which was still feeling numb from earlier. As such, the ball struck his fingers and bounced right off his hand, almost throwing him off balance as it landed in the grass. He couldn’t stop himself from crying out in surprise and the brief burst of pain through his fingers.

“FUCK!” Riona gasped, startled at SB’s sudden presence. 

“Shit!” she yanked her headphones off. “Is this karma for me surprising you in the library?”

“Ah…there was a basketball that was about to hit you,” SB placed his right hand on his heart as he explained the truth. “I tried to stop it, but it hurt my fingers more than I thought it would. I swear I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Oh…thanks. It probably would’ve hit me straight on if you hadn’t shown up,” Riona realized. “So, what are you up to?”

SB took a seat beside her on the grass. “I wanted to pay you a visit, so I figured I’d head over to the Eta Omicron Tau house.”

That’s when he noticed a bright red spot on her cheek, which she was no longer covering up.

“Your cheek…are you ok?” SB asked, worried.

Riona instantly brought her hand back up to her cheek. “I’m ok.”

“We should get some ice for that,” SB started to get up.

“That won’t work. We’re out of ice, and the ice dispenser in the kitchen has always been broken,” Riona informed.

SB sat back down, trying to think of an alternative solution. Then he remembered the sweet treat he had brought with him and unzipped his backpack to pull it out.

“In that case…perhaps this will help?” SB offered her his chocolate themed cookie sundae.

“What’s that? A scoop of ice cream on a cookie?”

“I made this in the cooking club today and wanted to give it to you to show that I’ve grown to appreciate your company.”

“Mmm, I do love me some cocoa,” Riona licked her lips. “I’ll take it.”

“The ice cream’s still cold, so you could hold it against your cheek,” SB suggested.

“Oh yeah!” Riona seemed to brighten up at that. “That could work.”

The gothic girl held the cookie sundae up against her cheek, letting the coldness seep through the plastic wrap and soothe the stinging pain. “Ah…this feels better.”

One of the tri-alphas, Alex, barged in through the gate. “Excuse me, we need that basketball back.”

“You’re the one who threw it?” SB stood straight up in case he tried to start something.

“You guys almost hit me, you know,” Riona mentioned with an annoyed tone.

“Sorry about that,” Alex apologized.

Sensing that the tri-alpha wasn’t hostile, SB found the basketball and tossed it into his arms. “Here. You should be more careful with where you shoot your balls.”

The tri-alpha stared blankly at SB for a moment before turning back and exiting without another word.

“Dude, you’re lucky he didn’t take your phrasing the wrong way,” Riona spoke up.

“Huh?” SB blinked before the implication hit him and he facepalmed himself. “Oh, by the Moonmaiden’s light! I didn’t even think about that.”

“Anyways, what kind of music are you listening to?” he asked, sitting back down next to her.

“Something to calm me down, I think,” she replied.

SB raised a concerned eyebrow. “Did those feminists harass you again?

“No.”

“Was someone else responsible for this?”

Riona’s eyes drifted as her face took on a pensive look. “…nothing happened.”

“I can tell you’re not comfortable talking about it right now. So I won’t,” SB observed.

“I’d appreciate that, thanks. Wanna listen?” Riona offered her headphones to him.

He fit them over his ears, listening to an instrumental track dominated by a drum bass with punk rock blaring all the way. She unwrapped the plastic wrap surrounding the cookie sundae and started eating the chocolate ice cream.

“Whoa…that was loud,” was all SB had to say after the track stopped, returning the headphones to her.

“Haha, I'm weird that way. Do you play any instruments?” she asked.

“I don’t. I’m more of an aspiring chef with a passion for psychology, so I have both a Culinary Arts major and a Psychology major,” he explained.

“That’s a lot of work to undertake two majors,” she remarked. “I’m only pursuing a degree in Game Design.”

The Chinese boy quietly gasped, sitting up straight. “Game design?”

“Yeah, I’m also weird like that. Being into video games and shit,” the Japanese girl shrugged.

“That…is the coolest thing ever!” SB emphasized with more energy in his voice than usual.

“What?” Riona shot him a surprised glance.

“Let me just say, you are not weird at all for enjoying video games,” SB smiled. “I’d love to play with you–wait, no, I meant I’d love to play a video game with you sometime soon!”

“Haha, you’re being awfully cute right now,” Riona giggled. “But yeah, if you’re down for that, I know an arcade we could visit together. Once I’m free, of course.”

“Yeah, let me know when you’re available for that. On that note, what do you say we exchange numbers?” he popped the question.

“It’s about time you asked for my number, dude,” Riona winked. “Here.”

As they exchanged contact information, she popped the entire cookie into her mouth, savoring  the chocolate chips as they melted into her tongue.

“You just gave me something to discuss for Gender Studies. That being the double standards women face when it comes to playing video games.”

“Tell me about it. My mom didn’t approve of my gaming habits. She tried to take away my games and make me play the oboe when I was young, but I hated it. Nothing sounds as bad as an amateur oboe player, so I guess I got back on her that way. Haha!”

SB let out a chuckle upon hearing her giggling. She really was too cute like this.

“Hey…thanks for paying me a visit and cheering me up,” Riona reached her arm out and pulled him closer. “I didn’t realize I needed that today.”

“You cheered me up too, Riona,” he smiled.

The Chinese DIK pledge found himself staring at the Japanese HOT’s chocolate covered lips curled into a happy smile. Should he give her a kiss before having to depart?

He should at least ask her in advance if she wanted one.

But before he could open his mouth, the door leading into the HOT house swung open, and Riona immediately let go of SB. There, Quinn was standing in the doorway, looking irate.

“If you’re done moping around, it’s time for us to get back to business,” Quinn demanded.

Then the HOT vice president’s eyes landed upon the so-called “floppiest maggot”, according to Tommy. Her face took on a suspicious, calculating look as she stared down the DIK pledge who was sitting right next to Riona.

“So, you’re the anti-pervert who got through his initiation unscathed. What exactly are you doing here?”

SB, both annoyed at Quinn for ruining the moment and not wanting her to suspect him of trying to get close to Riona, stood up and turned his back on her. 

“Do not mind me. I was just visiting, and now I’ll be off.”

Chapter Text

All the DIKs and their maggot pledges gathered outside of a building with neon lighting spelling out “XXX” and “The Pink Rose” underneath, with most of them eagerly waiting to be let inside.

“Now maggots, this is important. This place right here, is sacred ground for DIKs. We're only allowed to be in here because they let us. Several of us aren't 21, yet, which means that they are taking a huge risk letting us in. Some ground rules...be respectful to the ladies and don't drink too much,” Rusty instructed.

“And if the bouncer taps you on your shoulder...it means that you must stop sucking on the stripper's titties,” Tommy added. “Got it?”

“Got it,” Prince replied, still wearing the dildo helmet on his head.

The door leading to the club opened, and out stepped a large black man with the strength to back up his position.

“Mr. B!” the man called out.

“Stanley!” Rusty greeted the bouncer. “Thanks for setting this up.”

“You know the boss, man. Money talks. And frankly, the place has been a ghost town since Saturday. I bet the ladies are glad that you guys showed up,” Stanley shook Rusty’s hand with a firm grip before turning serious. “You boys behave tonight. The ladies are waiting for you. Remember, no phones allowed! Or Imma whoop your asses.”

“Maggots and brothers, newcomers and veterans...let me welcome you to…” Rusty trailed off as everyone stepped into a room with several couches and beers scattered around the place, three cages with stripper poles in the center of them, an electronic dance track blaring through the surround speakers, dazzling lights that outshone the ones in the DIK mansion, and four female strippers eagerly awaiting their guests. They consisted of a black woman in a sky blue tank top and white fishnet leggings, a redhead going topless while showing off the tattoos on her arms, shoulders, and chest, the short blonde with pigtails named Lily, now donning a ripped crop top and thigh high shorts, and an older looking woman dressed in a green dress with green arm length gloves and black leggings.

“The Pink Rose!” Rusty announced.

“You guys better get your asses back to the ATMs...because our boy Rusty here got us the club all to ourselves, tonight!” Tommy enthusiastically grinned.

“The whole club?!” Derek’s jaw was left hanging.

“It's just a Tuesday,” Rusty replied.

Derek faced his maggot brothers with lust surging from his eyes. “Bro…ass man…I've already got a boner.”

“You don’t say,” SB quipped.

“Haha! Then go find someone to sign it for you,” Prince laughed, feeling his worries slowly melt away.

“So, you're not up to it?” Derek wondered.

Between Chad’s hearing, Tybalt’s egging, and especially Josy and Maya’s secret relationship, so much had happened for Prince in a single day. And now here he was, in an honest to god strip club, while he was still 18 years old. The temptation to party without limits was overwhelming.

“You know what? Fuck it. I’ll get that cock signed before you do,” Prince declared.

“It's too crazy for me. No offense to the strippers, but I’d really rather not catch an STD here,” SB declined.

“Please, the only thing you might catch from these girls is chlamydia,” Derek dismissed.

“And that doesn't bother you?!” SB pressed his fingers hard against his forehead.

“Meh, what's the harm? My piss already burns. You wanna take a turn with the dildozer, ass man?”

“Really?”

“Look at our bro! He worked up the balls to wear that thing while we egged Sir Fuckboy!” Derek proudly pointed at Prince.

“And there’s no phones allowed here, so you don’t have to worry about anyone recording or taking a picture of you,” Prince reminded.

SB looked at his maggot brothers’ eager faces, seeing how much they wanted him to join in on their antics. He didn’t quite understand how they could put up with the humiliation that came with wearing that thing, but if there weren’t any cameras around…

“Ok, just this once, I’ll try it,” SB conceded. “But only while we’re in this club.”

After SB took the dildo helmet from Prince and put it on his head, three of the strippers got into the cages while all the DIKs and pledges split up into their own groups. Prince put his hands in his pockets, searching for his wallet to see how much money he had to spare.

Well, crap. He had completely forgotten to bring his wallet to the club after leaving it behind in his dorm to make room for the eggs. Now he had no money to spend.

Rusty saw Prince pound his fist against his forehead and walked up to him. “What’s wrong, maggot?”

“I’m such a fucking idiot. I forgot my wallet back in my dorm,” Prince confessed.

“Ah, so you have no money to spend. Tell you what, I'll make you a deal! I'll give you $100 right now...but you're not leaving this club with any of it,” Rusty offered, pulling out five twenty dollar bills from his wallet.

“Wow, that’s a lot of money…”

“Deal or no deal?”

“Deal,” Prince accepted, receiving the twenties from the DIK President.

“Rock on!” Rusty encouraged. “Lily's the best one! But Envy is worth the money.”

With newfound cash in his hand, Prince watched the other strippers from a distance, trying to think about which one he wanted a lap dance from.

“Son! Daddy's gonna buy you a lap dance,” Tommy piped up from a couch. “Who do you want?!”

“You mean it?” Prince asked.

“Yes! You've been a good son and I'm in a party mood. Also, it's not really on me; it's on Rusty,” Tommy mentioned. “So, who do you want?”

“Lily,” Prince determined. “No doubt about that.”

“Ah, like father, like son,” Tommy handed over another twenty dollar bill. “Be gentle with her.”

Prince made his way towards the short, pigtailed, blonde. Outside her cage, Jamie, Leon, and Derek were watching her dance.

“Hey Lily! Remember us?” Jamie asked.

“Of course, how can I forget?” Lily smiled, bending over and peeking through her legs effortlessly. “It's not every day that I get to do a lap dance for two men at the same time.” 

“Hey, don't say it that way in front of our new maggot son. You make it sound gayer than it was,” Leon objected.

“Do I? As I remember it, I asked if you wanted a second girl with us,” Lily recalled.

“We were just a bit short on cash, that's all,” Leon replied.

“Don't make it sound like we were cheap, bro! For me, it was a bonding experience,” Jamie stressed.

Lily gave a flirtatious wink towards Derek, kneeling on the platform. “Do you like to party, baby?”

“Damn…she’s a real hottie, but I’m short on cash,” Derek bemoaned.

“See? He's in the same position we were in last year!” Leon remarked.

“Prince!” Jamie called out to the maggot pledge who just arrived on the scene.

“Hey, guys.”

“Your maggot brother here needs someone to split a lap dance with,” Jamie requested.

“Sure,” Prince offered up two of his six twenty dollar bills to Lily. “I got $40 for both of us.”

“Really?! Fuck yes!” Derek jumped up and down, extremely ecstatic.

The two DIK pledges took a seat on a couch while Lily took her top off, got on their laps, and showed her moves off. Prince quietly watched the stripper with excitement, while Derek openly gaped at how flexible she was as she split her legs apart.

“This is some good shit, isn't it?!”

“You like doing this together with me?”

“Whatever helps cheer you up, bro.”

Eventually, Lily wrapped up her dual lap dance and returned to her cage, happy to have served the maggot brothers. “This was fun, let's do it again sometime…”

**********

Meanwhile, SB was hanging around near the cage with the black stripper in it while Nick, Jacob, and John Boy watched her dance. His eyes, on the other hand, were focused on his maggot brothers from afar.

“My maggot son…having a good time?”

SB turned around, seeing that it was Nick who was speaking to him. 

“Not really,” the pledge spoke truthfully.

“Yeah…” Nick trailed off.

“What about you? You also don’t seem to be having fun yourself,” SB noted.

“Did you ever have a best friend?” Nick asked.

“‘Best’ would be overstating it,” SB crossed his arms.

“This place just brings back those memories for me.”

“How so?”

“Remember when I mentioned my maggot brother, Vinny? He...dropped out last year.”

“I see.”

“Vinny was fucking nuts! They told us to do a keg stand; he did two. They told us to do the gay guard catcher; he did it without wearing a mask,” Nick reminisced. “Everything about him was…it was something, alright.”

“Why did he drop out?” SB inquired.

“A bunch of reasons...he wasn't here to study. That was just a big joke to him,”

“Any other reasons?”

Nick darted his eyes away briefly. “There were…other reasons, yes. But I can’t share those reasons with you, at least, not right now.”

“Why not?” SB wondered, sensing that his story had a dark turn somewhere.

“The DIK code. I had to call it after Vinny left the frat.”

“Oh. That doesn’t sound good at all.”

The bald fade DIK stared off into the distance. “I’ve said enough. More than I should have.”

SB, trying to move on from that abrupt statement, thought of something to ask his fraternity father. “I thought the Delta Iota Kappas only let in two pledges per year. What prompted the change this time?”

“I was curious to see what it would be like to be a father…metaphorically, that is. Rusty granted me that wish this year,” Nick answered.

“That was nice of him. He made sure you’re not without a pairing in that regard.”

“Yeah.”

SB squeezed his thumbs against his fingers. “So, about the video showing the banana duel…can I ask that you please delete it from your phone after Hell Week is over? I really don’t want it being leaked online.”

“Actually, I already did. After I transferred it to the laptop, that is,” Nick informed.

“The laptop?” SB raised a suspicious eyebrow.

“Whatever’s on that thing stays between us. I’ll delete the video there after we’re done with Hell Week,” Nick promised.

“Ok, I trust you,” SB nodded, albeit somewhat uneasily. “For what it’s worth, I appreciate having you as my father. You’re one of the better ones, Nick.”

“You’re welcome, my son. I can see that you’re still sober, but it’s always good to have someone with their senses intact. Good luck with the rest of the tasks,” Nick gave a supportive smile towards his maggot son.

“That reminds me, we’ve got four more slaps remaining. I wonder if I could tip a stripper to do that for me?” SB asked.

Nick presented a twenty from his pocket. “I’ll cover you if you manage to pull it off.”

SB nodded and approached the black stripper with his wallet.

“Hi, sugar. I'm Brandi, with an 'I',” she introduced herself.

“Brandi, if you slap me, would you accept this tip?” SB held out his twenty dollar bill.

“Oh damn…looks like we’ve got someone with a slapping kink here,” Brandi grinned.

“It’s for a task. I don’t have a ‘slapping kink’,” he clarified.

“Well, I won’t say no to an easy tip,” Brandi took the money from him. “Brace yourself, I’ll need to make this one convincing.”

She got up against the bars of the cage and flicked her palm across SB’s facial cheek, knocking his head back.

“She actually did it,” Nick grinned, handing SB his twenty. “Hey, guys! My son just got the second slap!”

“Damn, maggot. That’s what happens when you fuck around and find out with the black beauty herself,” Jacob commented.

“I did no such–” SB tried to deny while rubbing his cheek.

“Haha! Just fucking with you,” Jacob chuckled. “Who's your favorite girl here?”

“I don't have a favorite.”

“You like them all, huh?”

The DIK with hair dreads handed SB two twenty dollar bills. “Here! Take this.”

“What’s the money for?” SB questioned.

“Nick told me that you went through with the banana duel. I know Tommy keeps harping about you being the so-called ‘weak link’ of the bunch, but that takes balls, dude,” Jacob complimented.

“Oh, thanks,” SB nodded, accepting Jacob’s money.

“I remember how tough Hell Week was for me, and it’s only gotten tougher this year for you guys, too. You'll need some relief to pull through. Go ahead and get yourself a lap dance, maggot,” Jacob recommended.

“I’m not doing that.”

“Are you crazy? This is a safe place, dude. What happens here stays here.”

“Prince and Derek are doing the naughtier stuff. And that’s not to say I’m not contributing, either. You saw me get the second slap, and I’m also wearing this…helmet, of sorts,” SB affirmed.

“Hey...I hear you. Use that money to buy some beer instead, then. You really should loosen up a bit,” Jacob advised.

“What’s up, SB!” John Boy jumped into their conversation. 

“Not much. It seems like you and Derek are actually wearing clothes this time,” SB observed.

“You miss seeing me naked? I don't blame you,” John Boy grinned.

“HAHA!” Jacob let out a hearty laugh. “During our time as maggots, he really tried to party without clothes in here. Tell him what happened!”

John Boy’s grin morphed into an embarrassed frown. “No, I don't wanna.”

“It's a funny story, bro! Tell him!”

“It's not funny for me.”

“When John boy stripped his clothes, another ‘gentleman’ asked him for a private dance!” Jacob recounted with a snicker.

“Huh,” SB blinked.

“Shit was hilarious!”

“Hey, fuck you, bro! I thought he was joking! So, I joked back!”

“What did you do?”

“I put my shirt back on as he tried to slip a dollar bill into my undies. One of the girls had called on Stanley, but I managed to dodge that bullet.”

“Did you drink enough beer today?”

“Sure,” SB lied, still unwilling to risk history repeating itself.

“I know Rusty told you not to drink too much, but that's just a thing you say. The best stories always come from being shitfaced. Go drink some more! The more you drink tonight, the less you have to drink tomorrow.”

“I’ll agree to disagree on that.”

**********

The next stripper Prince sought out was the woman in green, who was walking around the club.

“Hi there. I’m Prince,” he greeted her.

“Envy,” the older woman stated.

“Envy, huh. Is that why you dress in green?” Prince wondered.

“No, it's because it gives customers an easy pick-up line.”

“Does it have to do with being a ‘deadly sin’?”

“Make it two pick-up lines,” Envy muttered dryly.

“I'm just glad your name isn't gluttony,” Derek butted in bluntly.

“Derek, maybe you can go talk to another lady?” Prince asked, trying to get rid of him.

“Ah! Splitting up and increasing the odds of getting our cocks signed! Smart move, bro!” Derek snapped his fingers in approval.

“Getting your cocks signed? Don't tell me that's still a thing with you guys,” Envy sighed.

“I was actually gonna ask for a lap dance, if you don’t mind,” Prince corrected.

“That, I can do. And I’ll make it a private one, too. For $80,” Envy proposed.

Prince noted that it would cost him the rest of the money Rusty had given him. “Whoa…that’s everything I have.”

“I’ll make it worth the money.”

“Sure, here you go,” he agreed, handing her the rest of the bills.

Envy led Prince to a private room in The Pink Rose with a pink sofa and neon pink lights shaped into a heart.

“Please, take a seat over there, honey,” she indicated the sofa in the room. “Have you ever gotten a private dance before?”

“No, this is my first time at a strip club,” he admitted, sitting down on the couch and laying his arms on the armrests.

“You chose the perfect lady to show you the ropes,” Envy spoke with a seductive tone, placing her foot on his crotch and touching his face with her hand. “Do you know why they call it a private dance?”

“Because you're dancing on my privates?” Prince guessed.

“Haha! That's actually very cute!” Envy chuckled, exposing her boobs and hugging him tightly against her chest. “No, it's called a private dance because in here, it's just you and me, and that means that you get to touch way more than usual.”

Prince kept quiet, watching Envy face away from him to grind her ass against his crotch. It was undeniably hot getting up close and personal with her, but…

“Rusty paid us extra tonight to make sure we take good care of you,” Envy spun around to look Prince directly in the eyes. “And you're the cutest one of the bunch. Do you want me to give you something extra?”

“Extra?”

“Yeah...extra...just ask what you want me to do.”

And there it was. An invitation to turn things sexual with a woman he just met. It was so very tempting to just let himself go and get laid…

So why was he having second thoughts about it?

“Could you sign my cock after we’re done?” he found himself asking.

Envy straightened herself up, surprised. “That’s it? You don’t want anything else from me?”

“Yeah. The dance is enough for me,” Prince confirmed.

“Then we're done here. I hope you enjoyed it,” she got off his lap. “Sit tight while I go fetch a pen for you.”

Once Prince exited the room with his signed dick, he started to wonder why he had decided to stop the private dance with the stripper before it escalated. Did he still treat sex as something he only wanted with those who were special to him? He had felt that way with Zoey and Josy (and certainly not with Quinn, given that he had little say in how the CUM-peition played out), but Zoey was long gone now, and he still wasn't sure how he was going to deal with the incredibly sticky situation with Josy…and Maya, for that matter.

All of this was hurting his head. What he needed now was another drink.

Meanwhile, back in the main room of the club, Derek was hanging around the cage with the redhead stripper in it, who had bluntly refused his request for a cock signature. “You’re telling me that you’re willing to put your ass against it, but not sign it?”

“‘Sup, Derek,” Leon approached the horny DIK pledge with Jamie right behind him. “I see you’ve run into Rose.”

“It sounds like you don’t like her very much,” Derek picked up on Leon’s annoyed tone.

“A word of advice, maggot…if you’re a MILF lover, don’t get your hopes up if you win Hell Week,” the dirty blonde DIK hinted.

“Why not?”

“Heheh. He’s just salty because the DIKs were hyping up ‘the ultimate MILF’, and since Leon loves his MILFs, he expected to get freaky with ‘Madame Rose’ from the V.I.P. pass,” Jamie recalled with a knowing smile.

Derek was starting to grin as well. “Tell me more.”

“You won’t believe it. After I showed up to the V.I.P. room with my pass, the quote unquote ‘Madame Rose’ appeared, complete with black lingerie and a black mask. But once she took the mask off…” Leon paused for effect.

“Turns out she was just Rose all along! Even though I got to have my way with her afterwards, I still felt cheated,” the free-spirited DIK revealed.

“The DIKs got you good, bro,” Jamie snickered.

“So, there is a Madame Rose lurking in The Pink Rose?” Derek asked, barely containing himself.

“Maggot…I’m saying this once, and I won’t say it again. There is no Easter Bunny, there is no Tooth Fairy, and there is no Madame Rose!” Leon exclaimed.

“HAHAHA!” Derek and Jamie doubled over in laughter.

Just then, Prince wobbled towards Rusty, Tommy, and Nick with his eyes squinted. “Hey guys, I wanna show you something!”

“Uh, Prince? Are you alright there?” SB called out to him with concern.

“Holy fuck, this dude is hammered! Look at his eyes!” Rusty noted.

“I'm so fucking proud of you, son!” Tommy slapped Prince on the back.

“Thanks, dad!” Prince smiled wide before dropping his sweatpants and underwear. “Here, look at my cock!”

“What the fuck?!” Tommy reeled back before a grin formed on his face upon viewing the signature. “Hey! Envy signed it!”

“Hell yeah!” Rusty pumped his fist.

“Nice!” Nick grinned.

“That's fucking awesome!” Tommy cheered.

**********

The party at The Pink Rose continued on, with Derek being flanked by Brandi and Rose while Prince had surrounded himself with Lily and Envy’s company.

“Maggots! Are you drunk yet?” Tommy bellowed.

“YES!!”

“Probably.”

“Wooooo!”

“HAHA! He goes ‘Woo’! Like a fucking girl!” Tommy mocked, the rest of the DIKs laughing alongside him. “That's a great sign! I hope you still are in control of your cocks! It's time for another competition!”

“Get ready to eat more cum, bro and ass man!” Derek declared.

“Not another CUM-petition! The cum stuff was really gross,” Prince groaned.

“My condom was completely dry, as a matter of fact,” SB dryly remarked.

“You make it sound so sleazy! I'm extremely proud of that tradition,” Tommy smirked.

“This competition is a bit different, but it does involve nudity,” Nick explained.

“Male nudity or the proper kind?” Derek questioned.

“Definitely the proper kind. Right, ladies?” Rusty spoke up with the strippers smiling and winking in confirmation. “I hope you have gotten yourself acquainted with our lovely performing hosts during the night.”

“Oh, they have been very kind to us…” Derek trailed off.

“Except for that one! She has a bit of a mood,” he singled Envy out, who shot him an annoyed glare in response.

“That one, huh? Derek...what are their names?” Rusty prompted.

“Names?”

“I've seen you get dances or talk to all of them...surely, you must remember their names?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure, um…” Derek started pointing at all the strippers, one by one. “Brown boobs. Tattooed boobs. Small boobs. Old boobs.”

“Old? I’m 30!” an offended Envy objected.