Chapter Three
The next week flew by as Lizzie was swamped with work and homework. Lizzie had taken an extra shift at the college bookstore this week so that she could get Sunday morning off. The Xi Chi elections were not until Sunday afternoon, but Lizzie had promised Jane that they would get coffee to calm each other down before the elections.
Before she knew it, it was Friday morning therefore only one class and a four-hour shift at the campus store separated Lizzie from her bed. There were plenty of high school seniors touring campus with their family so her shift at the campus store was relatively busy. Hertfordshire University was a well renowned school; so many young students eagerly bought school related apparel in hopes that they would be attending the school themselves next fall. Lizzie loved talking to the young students about Hertfordshire, and it was one of the reasons she stayed in this job.
Lizzie had an extremely good chat with one young high school junior in particular, Georgia. Georgia was both visiting her brother who attended Hertfordshire and touring the school as a possible future student. Lizzie and Georgia briefly talked about her older brother, but Lizzie responded that she didn't know him. Georgia at one point mentioned his name, but once Lizzie realized that she didn't know him she quickly forgot it.
Lizzie and Georgia ended up chatting for about a half hour, and both women quickly felt a strong bond between the two of them. However, Georgia explained that her stepmother was waiting for her outside and that she needed to leave soon. Georgia and Lizzie quickly exchanged phone numbers and Lizzie promised to answer any other questions Georgia may have that she didn't want to ask her brother about. Georgia left the store with a smile and a new Hertfordshire University hat.
The rest of Lizzie's shift passed by quickly and rather uneventfully. Before she knew it, it was time to go to class: Critical Issues in Criminal Justice. The class was usually fairly interesting, but Lizzie just could not seem to pay attention in class. Lizzie felt herself drifting towards sleep a number of times, much to her own embarrassment.
As class came to an end Lizzie made plans to grab a quick bite to eat and then head straight to bed as soon as possible. However, those plans were soon ruined when her professor called her to the front at the end of class. "Are you alright, Lizzie? I couldn't help but notice that you nodded off quite a few number of times in that class," Professor Gardiner eyed Lizzie while she packed some of her papers into her bag.
"I am so sorry, Professor, this week has been a little hectic – " Lizzie began but Professor Gardiner waved her off and smiled.
"Don't worry about it Lizzie. You know that you are one of my top students and I know that whatever reason you have for your behavior today is fine and that it won't happen again," Professor Gardiner turned to Lizzie for confirmation. Lizzie nodded emphatically. Professor Gardiner began packing up her bag and continued, "Well, I would like for you to come to my office hours next week, I have an opportunity that I think you would be interested in and I wish to discus it with you."
"Yes, of course, professor! I will definitely see you next week in office hours," Lizzie replied excitedly.
"Good, oh and Lizzie, why don't you get some sleep tonight? I'd hate to walk out of my office next week to see you asleep in the corridor waiting for me," Professor Gardiner joked over her shoulder with a smile as she walked out of the room.
Lizzie quickly grabbed her laptop and shoved it in her bag on her way out of the classroom. She headed towards her house and planned how quickly she could microwave her popcorn, throw on some sweatpants and turn on some mindless television.
Lizzie turned the corner onto Greek Row, the street lined with all of the houses of Greek life on campus, and headed towards her house. Just as Lizzie turned onto the walkway leading to her house her phone went off, signaling that she had a text. She checked her phone and saw that it was a text from Charlotte. As soon as Lizzie saw the text she instantly remembered that she had invited Char to go the Kappa Psi party with her that night. Charlotte's text read, "Be there in an hour and a half!" and began thinking of excuses she could make to Charlotte to get out of going out tonight. As Lizzie began debating the pros and cons of bailing, Lizzie remembered how upset Charlotte seemed last time they hung out. She knew that she could not bail on her friend, no matter how tired she was. After all, Lizzie was the one who had invited Charlotte to come with her tonight, and it would be incredibly rude to cancel last minute on her, especially after Charlotte actually seemed excited to go out.
Lizzie calculated that she had roughly enough time to stuff her face with some crackers, and take a power nap before Charlotte came over. So Lizzie made a quick stop in the kitchen to grab some crackers before running up the stairs to her and Jane's room to take a nap.
When she entered the room, Lizzie saw it was empty and rejoiced. She loved living with Jane, but sharing a bedroom with another person could be extremely difficult, especially when one person wanted to sleep and the other wanted to study or have someone over. This usually meant that roommates had large confrontations at some point during the year. However, since it was probably poisonous for Jane to be harsh to someone, Jane often bent to whatever Lizzie wanted. Lizzie always felt terrible about it and tried really hard to never put Jane in a position that would make her uncomfortable. So when Lizzie saw that the room was empty she decided to take full advantage of it. Lizzie turned off the light, pulled the covers over her head, and closed her eyes.
Lizzie was eventually awakened by the sound of voices coming from a few feet away. At first the voices sounded muffled but eventually she could make out what they were actually saying.
"Well, how should we wake her up? I am thinking some cold water and watermelon," Charlotte stated seriously.
"Oh, Charlotte, I don't think that would be – wait a watermelon? What exactly would you need that for?" Jane replied with a look of confusion and terror evident on her face.
"I'm up, I'm up," Lizzie replied as she slowly adjusted her eyes to the bright lights in the room. "What time is it exactly?" Lizzie questioned the two girls standing over her.
"It's eight o'clock, sweetie, Charlotte got here about forty-five minutes ago, but we decided to let you sleep for awhile. We won't need to leave for the party for another two hours, but I figured we would get some takeout delivered before getting ready for tonight," Jane explained while rubbing Lizzie's back in big, comforting circles. "We knew how tired you were and wanted to let you get some sleep before going out tonight," Jane further explained.
"Can we get Chinese pretty, pretty, please? I would kill for some sesame chicken!" Lizzie practically begged looking at Charlotte and Jane.
"We already ordered it Lizzie, it will be here in about thirty minutes. I know, I know, you love us and we are so great," Charlotte laughed, "Let's turn on some Netflix while we wait and then we can get ready for the party."
The girls put on an episode of some mindless comedy and laughed and cuddled in Lizzie's bed until Jane's phone rang, signaling that the Chinese food was there. Jane quickly returned from downstairs with the food and the smell of the food made Lizzie drool. Lizzie quickly devoured her sesame chicken, and then some of Jane's leftover vegetable chow mein. Another two episodes of television later, and it was already 9:30. There was a sudden knock on the door, which interrupted a joke on screen.
"Lizzie! Jane! I need your help! I'm coming in!" Lydia yelled from the other side of the door and promptly burst into the room. "Oh, hi Charlotte, I didn't realize that you were here. Are you coming with us tonight to Kappa Pi?" Lydia eyed Charlotte.
Charlotte and Lydia did not get along very well, and every time they were in a room together everyone in the room could feel the tension between the two of them. It's not that they necessarily hated each other, and deep down Lizzie even thought that they even cared about each other, but every time they spent a lot of time together they would always get into small fights. Charlotte thought that Lydia was too concerned with the reputation of people's organizations, which perhaps was a little true. Meanwhile, Lydia thought that Charlotte was too practical to be in Greek life and didn't let loose enough.
"Yes, I am going out with you guys tonight to Kappa Pi. I certainly hope that I don't make the night too boring," Charlotte responded, dripping with sarcasm while she stared down Lydia.
"Somehow I don't think even you could make this night boring! Oh Charlotte, I am too excited about this party to fight with you tonight! Can we just be happy tonight instead? Except I can't be happy yet because I cannot get my eyeliner right," Lydia huffed. "I have done it and redone it like five times now and I just cannot get it. Actually, Charlotte your eyeliner looks so good tonight, who would've thought? Do you think you can do mine?" Lydia questioned while looking at Charlotte intently.
"Ignoring the fact that compliment you just gave me was the epitome of a backwards compliment," Charlotte began while narrowing her eyes. "I will do it for you if you agree to sit still and not say anything rude to me for the rest of the night," Charlotte stated. Lydia agreed and Charlotte forced her to sit down so she could get a better angle.
Lydia handed over her eyeliner to Charlotte, and Charlotte quickly did her eyeliner. "You guys haven't even started getting ready yet? You know that we are all having pre-drinks downstairs in a half hour right? It's already 9:45. Please ladies let's try and look nice tonight, alright? This is most important thing that our sorority has ever done, like ever," Lydia explained seriously while specifically looking at Lizzie.
Lizzie couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Lydia, not only is a party not the most important thing our sorority has ever done, but this isn't even the form with Kappa Pi. This is just some party that they are hosting. Tonight is about having fun and letting loose a bit, it's not about the future of the sorority," Lizzie countered.
"Well, whatever Lizzie. Can you just please try to look nice and get your ass downstairs? I want to see you as drunk as last weekend!" Lydia cried as she got up to leave. Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Jane, can I borrow your red top? Ok, well I actually still have it in my room so this is more of a polite thing to ask," Lydia asked, already halfway out of the room.
"Well, I suppose that's a sign that we should start getting ready then," Jane laughed, relieving the tension from the room caused by Lydia's unexpected visit. "Charlotte, sit down, I'll do your hair. Lizzie go pick out an outfit while I do Charlotte's hair," Jane instructed softly but firmly.
Lizzie went into her joint closet with Jane and looked at all of the options in front of her. She quickly decided on a pair of ripped black skinny jeans and a green long sleeve shirt that tied at the top. Lizzie thought back to her freshman year days when she used to get really dressed up for parties and she laughed at her old-self. Only freshman get really dressed up for parties, because once you were older you realized that the parties were way too packed and hot to actually look really nice.
Jane quickly called Lizzie over and lightly curled Lizzie's brown hair. "I don't even know why we bother curling my hair anymore," Lizzie laughed and continued, "The frat houses are always so hot that once I am in there for thirty minutes my hair is already flat. I feel so bad that you waste your time doing my hair"
"Oh, Lizzie, who cares? You look so pretty when I curl it that I can't help but do it," Jane waved Lizzie off with a smile.
The girls quickly did their makeup and gave each other a once over. "You both look amazing!" Lizzie exclaimed when she saw her two friends. Jane wore long, blonde hair straight and was wearing a pair of dark-wash ripped jeans and a light pink blouse that made her look like the sweetheart that she was. Charlotte was in a pair of army green jeans with a black long sleeve crop top, which made her look dark and mysterious. "Alright let's head downstairs with the other girls!" Lizzie exclaimed while walking out of the room.
The three girls went downstairs and joined the rest of the Xi Chi sorority for pre-drinks. It was chaotic downstairs with girls all over the house drinking various mixed-alcoholic drinks, taking photos or just chatting and laughing with one another. Lizzie, Jane and Charlotte quickly grabbed some mixed drinks from the kitchen and went into the living room just in time to see Fanny standing up on the table trying to get the young women's attention.
"Ladies! Ladies! You all look fabulous tonight! I am so proud of each and every one of you for looking your best for tonight's big party," Fanny began, "I don't think I need to remind you how important this party is for the future of Xi Chi!" At this Lizzie rolled her eyes from the corner of the room and made a face at Jane. "Elizabeth Bennet! For someone who is a prime candidate for the executive leadership position, I certainly hope I did not just see you belittle the importance of this party!" Fanny shouted accusatorially towards Lizzie, causing all of the girls in the room to look at her.
"No, of course not Fanny. I was simply thinking of a joke that I made earlier and it made me laugh. I am very excited for tonight, look I even did my hair!" Lizzie joked, trying to ease the tension from the room.
"Yes well, you are lucky that Jane is there, I bet she did your hair for you," Fanny dismissed as Lizzie colored at Fanny's blatant favoritism. "As I was saying, before I was interrupted, you ladies all look lovely tonight! I am so excited for you all, oh how I wish I was young again!" Fanny said dreamily as she stepped down from her spot on top of the table.
After Fanny's lecture on the importance of the evening big groups of girls began to leave the house and head towards Kappa Pi. Lizzie, Charlotte and Jane waited until the majority of girls had left until they decided to head out the door. Lizzie threw back her drink, feeling slightly tipsy, but certainly not drunk, as she headed out the door and towards Kappa Pi.
Author's Note:
Hi everyone! Sorry I am a day late, this week has been rather crazy! I promise next week to be on time with my update!
First, I know that this chapter didn't really move the plot forward much, but I needed to lay the groundwork for a huge chapter next week! Next week's chapter will heavily feature some very important and well-loved characters. (Read: Darcy and Bingley!)
Second, I would like to thank IrishJessy, Birdlady57, dary84 and ReadLoverNumber1 for their reviews. Reviews help me gauge if the readers like where the story is going and where I should improve. So reviews are really amazing and hope y'all continue to review!