"I'm so excited, I'm so excited!" Foggy said as he threw himself down onto the bed in their room the next afternoon. "They accepted out bids! Oh, Matt, this is going to be amazing. Thank you so much for doing this with me. You won't regret it, I promise."

"You may not want to promise that, Foggy," Matt said resignedly. He'd tried to talk Foggy out of pledging the night before, but he'd been too late. Foggy had put his bid in the the moment he'd had the opportunity to.

"It's true though," Foggy said. "My dad has told me so many stories about being a Beta. The camping trips. The girls. The friends he made. The girls."

Matt chuckled. "Just because your dad liked being a Beta doesn't mean you will, Foggy. Have you thought about what it will be like if you don't get in? Are you really willing to subject yourself to being humiliated for the chance to be in a frat? They didn't seem all that great to me."

"Great enough that you changed your mind about pledging," Foggy said. "Don't think I didn't see you surrounded by beautiful women in the kitchen letting them paw at you last night. Why are you so set on this being a terrible idea?"

"I'm not," Matt told him. "I just..." Why did he care so much? Foggy was a grown man. He could handle himself, right? "I'm nervous," he lied.

Foggy continued to imagine potential futures for them in which they and their frat brothers sang acapella songs and toasted each other at their weddings, which Matt actually found himself smiling at even knowing how misguided the fantasies were. Meanwhile, Matt contemplated the best ways to make the Betas understand exactly who they were messing with and regret ever underestimating him.


The first pledge event was milder than Matt was expecting, but certainly set the tone.

He and Foggy were instructed to show up to the frat house at 8pm that evening. When they got there, the house seemed empty, with the other pledges in their class milling around, confused. Matt knew that the brothers were all in the basement of the house, preparing whatever trial or ritual was traditionally conducted with new pledges. But nobody else knew, and so Matt tried to look similarly befuddled.

Finally, a brother appeared.

"Alright, pledges, listen up!" he yelled. "I'm Vince, but as far as you worms are concerned for the next week I'm sir, and so are all the other brothers. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" they all said back in unison, all of them ready and prepared to do whatever was asked of them to be a part of whatever was about to happen.

"Excellent," Vince told them. "Now Luke is passing around blindfolds. You're all going to strip down to your underwear, then put them on and make your way downstairs. Sound good?"

"Yes, sir," they all yelled again. How they were all supposed to make it down a flight of stairs while blindfolded was not explained, but Matt wasn't worried in the slightest about that part in his case.

The brother distributing the blindfolds, Luke, stopped in front of Matt, hesitant. "Ummm..." he said, unsure what to do. Matt took the blindfold from him and put it on, folding his glasses and tucking them carefully into his pants pocket before stripping down as requested. He leaned his cane against the wall next to his clothing. Once ready, he reached out to find Foggy's arm, guiding him over towards himself and not letting go.

"Are you alright?" he asked Foggy.

"Yeah," said Foggy, but Matt could tell he was nervous. "I guess you're doing just fine too, huh?"

Matt chuckled. "Yeah, I'm good. Don't you worry about me."

They made their way downstairs, with some of the other pledges stumbling and all of them except Matt clutching onto the railing for dear life. They were asked to stand in a line and told to do jumping jacks, stopping only to step forward when their name was called.

Matt knew, again, that he would be fine. He was in great shape. His training saw to that. But Foggy, on the other hand, was sweating and panting within the first few jumps.

The first pledge's name was called. Eric Davis. He stepped forward, relieved to be able to stop exercising, but breathless and shaking. The crowd, easily 30 men, surrounded him. It was a clear attempt to physically crowd and intimidate with their presence, and Matt knew it was working.

"Why do you want to be a Beta?" they asked the focus of their attention.

Eric answered. He thought that they were the coolest guys on campus and wanted to be a part of their brotherhood. He wanted them to make him a better man.

They mocked him. "What makes you think you're strong enough? You look like a strong wind could blow you over!" they told him. "You know, I bet you've never even kissed a girl before. You're not queer, are you?"

Finally, Tom stepped forward. "You know, I think that Eric's nickname should be Psycho. Because he looks Norman Bates. You don't have your mommy's bones hidden in your dorm room, do you Psycho?" The crowd chanted the nickname.

"Let's help you remember your new name," Tom said, and Matt heard a rustling. They were clasping a collar shut around his neck, presumably with a name-tag hanging down announcing the new moniker to the world. "And make sure you use it from now on."

He was then shoved towards a wall and instructed to get onto all fours with his ass in the air and listen while the ritual continued.

Matt kept jumping, focused on controlling his breathing, and listened to several other pledges step forward and get the same treatment. Be mocked and insulted, then renamed and told to accept it like a gift. Next to him, Foggy was slowly turning into a wheezing, panting mess, his sweat puddling underneath him on the basement floor.

Matt's name was called. He stepped forward. and immediately could sense a dozen of the brothers closing in on him, practically breathing down his neck. He calmed himself, put his hands behind his back, and waited for whatever was coming next.

"Matthew," Tom said, "why do you want to be a Beta?"

"I think it would be a good opportunity for me to make new friends, meet women, and get the full college experience," he said.

"Really?" Tom said. "You know, the other brothers were hesitant to accept your bid. I mean, we've never had a disabled brother before. It could be quite the burden on us, having to look out for you, you know? I mean, I know you can't see yourself, but you must know that it's embarrassing to watch you stumble around with your arms out in front of you, tripping over things like Mr. Magoo. What makes you think you're worth all that trouble?"

Matt seethed, but he'd been expecting something like this to happen. "You're right that I can't know what you see when you look at me, but I know that I get around just fine. And the ladies certainly like me. Besides, you know as well as I do that it looks better on you to accept me than reject me. After all, diversity is important."

"It certainly is," Tom said. "But you wouldn't want to be some sort of affirmative action brother, would you? Take the spot of someone more deserving than you just because you walk with that cane and wear those glasses? That wouldn't be fair."

"No, it wouldn't be," Matt said.

"Good," said Tom. "Because if you thought you could just waltz in here and that we would go easy on you, that you were somehow deserving of special treatment, you were wrong. If you want to be a Beta, you've got to earn it. Is that clear?"

"It is," Matt replied.

"Alright," Tom said. "This will be fun, then. Magoo."

The crowd chanted "Magoo!" at him and Matt realized that it was what he would be answering to until he could find a way to humiliate the brothers and convince Foggy to give up on pledging. He sighed and grunted as he was shoved over to the wall. "I don't get a name-tag?" he asked, confused.

"No," said Tom. "People already think you're a joke when they look at you, so we didn't really feel comfortable adding to your misery on that front. But trust me, you'll still have plenty of chances to prove your loyalty before this is over."

Matt seethed inside, but stayed where he was, thinking about all the ways that the Betas were going to get what was coming to them.

Behind him, Foggy's breathing was becoming raspy and desperate.

Matt expected Foggy to be called next. But he wasn't. In fact, they saved him for last, and Matt suspected it was done on purpose. By the time Foggy's name was called, he couldn't even step forward without collapsing at their feet.

"Stand up!" Tom said. "What the hell is wrong with you, Nelson?"

Foggy couldn't stand. The brothers dragged him up by his elbows.

Tom chuckled. "Why do you want to be a Beta, Nelson?"

"Because..." Foggy gasped out. His explanation was cut off when he projectile vomited without warning all over Tom's legs.

"Oh," Foggy said. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Shit." He was still struggling to catch his breath.

Matt couldn't help but smile, even though the smell of Foggy's vomit was vile, like old cheese and spicy sausage. He immediately felt bad for enjoying Tom's misery, though. Poor Foggy.

"Christ, Nelson. You're pathetic. What would your old man say if he could see you here, spewing your guts all over us. I bet even he'd reject you," Tom said. The other brothers were nearly doubled over laughing and there were cries of "Disgusting!" and "Nasty".

Of course, Foggy's nickname was Puke. Tom left to have a shower, but promised that he would be sure to leave his pants for Foggy to hand wash later in the evening, and that he would also be taking a toothbrush to the basement floor.

And the brothers still subjected him to the same paddling and further humiliations that all of the other pledges received. The rest of the night was just as unpleasant, and it ended with the promise from the brothers that the events planned for the rest of the week were going to be worse.

Matt resolved to get his revenge quickly and get Foggy the hell out of this. If things really did escalate, pledging might just kill him.


"I can't believe they did that to you!" Foggy said, groaning from his bed in their room the next morning. They were both exhausted, having not gotten back to the dorm until well into the morning.

"To me?" Matt asked. "Foggy, they nicknamed you Puke. Because they made you puke."

"Well, yeah," Foggy said. "And it was humiliating. But all that stuff about your disability crossed a line. Telling you that you have to memorize the frat's history and the songbook knowing that you can't read any of the materials is just wrong. They're setting you up to fail. That's not fair."

"I think that's the entire point, Foggy," Matt said. "They're clearly uncomfortable that I pledged."

"Which is ridiculous! I don't get it! What does it matter that you can't see?" Foggy said. "Being in a frat is supposed to be about the content of your character. It's supposed to be about helping you to become a better person. At least that's what my dad used to always say."

Matt sighed. "It's fine, Foggy."

"How is it fine? We should go to Student Disability Services and register a complaint," Foggy suggested. "Then, they'd have to take you seriously."

"I can't force them to respect me, Foggy," Matt said. "That's not how it works. Complaining and asking to be treated differently because of my disability is exactly what they want me to do."

"But they're the ones treating you differently!" Foggy said.

"I'm fine, Foggy." Matt replied.

Let me help you, then," Foggy said. "They gave me the same books they gave you. We both have to learn it anyway. I don't mind reading out loud. We'll study together. As I read out loud, maybe you can transcribe it into your computer or something to help you memorize it later?"

"Or we could just forget the whole thing." Matt said. "Why would you want to be a part of a club that would do a thing like that, anyway?"

"Why would you?" Foggy asked. "I'll tell you why. Because being in a frat creates bonds and friendships that you carry with you for the rest of your life, that's why! Do you think that they're just doing this to us to get their rocks off, Matt? No! It's a test of our loyalty, of how far we're willing to go for them so that when the time comes, we can trust that they'll go that far for us. My godfather was a Beta with my dad, Matt. When my dad started out as an investment banker, all of his early clients were Betas, and they helped him network and build his reputation. Imagine having friends like that, people willing to stand up for you and go to bat for you and support you no matter what. That's what a fraternity is. That's what brotherhood is. That's what I was going to say when they asked me why I wanted to be a Beta. Before my speech accidentally came out in solid form all over Tom, oh God, what is wrong with me?" Foggy groaned and muffled it with a pillow.

"I thought it was funny," Matt said, trying to be helpful, laughing a bit.

Foggy sighed, before chuckling to himself. "Yeah, I guess it could just end up being one of those stories that the frat tells someday. Hey, remember when Nelson puked on his first day as a pledge? Maybe someday I'll be telling it to my kid the way my dad tells his stories to me. Do you know he and his friend Marty once put a dead fish in the school mascot's uniform before a football game?"

"Why would they do that?" Matt asked.

"Okay, so here's what happened..." Foggy started, and he proceeded to tell a long, involved story that had Matt in stitches by the end. And then another story. And another. And soon, they were hunched over the frat's history and songbook hard at work trying to prevent future embarrassment and preparing for that night's adventure.