"I'm sorry, but what happened again?" Hadley Durk asked, squinting at Olivia.
"I met Massie Block this morning," Olivia explained for the sixth time. "You know, that new girl that we're inexplicably trying to rush? So I was just talking to her this morning, trying to be nice, and she says that she's heard a lot about me, but none of it was nice. I mean, who says that to someone they barely know? Rudeness is so unbecoming of a Tri-Theta."
"And yet I heard that you told Kori Gedman the other day that if you wanted to be friends with her, you would have given her a bid," Hadley said, casually examining her cuticles as though she were already so over this conversation.
"So?" Olivia huffed. "She's not even a legacy. She's here on scholarship."
"Olivia, what are our three highest aims?" Hadley barked.
Olivia immediately straightened up and looked Hadley dead in the eye. "Service, spirit, and sisterhood!"
"Exactly," Hadley said. "And our sisterhood extends to those who are less fortunate than us as well as those we're rushing. According to Claire, you started this. You told Massie that you had never heard anything about her, so she retorted in self-defense. I'm giving her a gold point for a good comeback, and a black point to you for being rude to a girl we're trying to recruit."
"But—" Olivia protested.
"Just stop," Hadley snapped. "The girl's father and grandfather were both on Scout Team. Her grandmother was a Doll at Briarwood. She's in. So stop acting like a little shit, pledge scum."
Hadley strutted out of the girl's washroom, leaving Olivia with her mouth hanging open in shock.
-x-
Massie had to admit, rushing Tri-Theta was not nearly as bad as she thought it would be.
She had been officially tapped about a week after she had arrived at OCD. She had arrived at her locker on a Tuesday morning only to find it covered in purple streamers and bursting with purple confetti.
"That's it! You're in!" Kristen had squealed, hug-attacking her best friend.
Massie had spent the rest of the week lunching with Hadley Durk, the pledge chair, and Sydney Applebaum, the rush chair, in OCD's pristine refectory. She spent afternoons poolside in the Westchester Country Club's indoor heated pool, lounging with her future sisters. On the weekends they drove her up to the city in private cars and told her to get anything she wanted from Bloomingdale's. Claire, Dylan, and Kristen had been beyond jealous, as they were still stuck in pledge hell, anxiously doing menial tasks for their sisters in exchange for gold points.
The star treatment had only lasted for two weeks, though. On February 1st, Massie had officially gotten her Tri-Theta acceptance, painted her nails royal purple, and started baking brownies for her soon-to-be sisters.
The worst part of all of it, though, was not the fact that she had to pick up Hadley's dog's poop or clean Fawn Grace's room, but that Olivia, her pledge leader, seemed determined to send Massie running back to Orlando faster than she could say, "Mickey Mouse." Time and time again, Olivia had 'accidentally' given Massie the wrong pledge assignment, or told her the wrong location for pledge meetings. Massie had taken to ignoring Olivia's texts altogether and relying on Claire to get her to the right place at the right time.
"She's just jealous," Kristen explained. "She's had to work at her popularity for years, and it doesn't help that a lot of the neighbors judge her father for going through so many wives and mistresses. Meanwhile, your granddad has got this town in the palm of his hand since he anchors for News 12 and does correspondence for the Today Show. It just annoys her that it's taken less than a month for everyone to love you while she has to convince people on a weekly basis."
"People don't love me, they barely know me," Massie murmured, blushing.
"Oh, please," Dylan snorted. "You're the talk of the town."
"Not if Olivia has anything to do with it," Massie muttered, glancing over at the north end of the refectory.
-x-
Olivia's attempts to knock Massie off her pedestal had been futile so far. But, as always, Alicia had delivered, and Olivia finally knew how destroy Massie for good.
Alicia stumbled up to their lunch table, her eyes glazed over.
"Olivia," Alicia whispered. "That plant knows I'm high."
Olivia glanced over at the potted plant next to their table and sighed. Alicia had gotten her wisdom teeth out over winter break, and instead of selling her hydrocodone to the highest bidder like a normal person, she had taken to popping it in between classes in order to cope with the stresses of her honors coursework and pledge assignments. Most everyone was just casually looking the other way.
"I'm sure it does, Alicia," Olivia sighed, picking at her California rolls.
"The plant isn't mad at me though," Alicia said. "But…you'll never guess what I heard in French today."
"What'd you hear?" Olivia asked gently, knowing that if she fiercely demanded anything, Alicia would get upset and make a scene.
"So," Alicia let out a giggle. "So, uh, Kuh-laire was saying that Massie might not be able to go to the Legacy?"
"Why would she say that?" Olivia snapped, abandoning her gentle approach. "And how would she know anything about that?"
"Cookie Elson is her neighbor," Alicia said, naming Tri-Theta's social chair. "Kuh-laire said that Massie might not get initiated with the rest of us. So she can't come to the Legacy. So she was trying to think of boys who could take her anyway."
"That's so interesting," Olivia murmured, an idea cooking behind her icy blue eyes. "Hey, tomorrow can you cover for me during Bio lab? I have to make a Starbucks run for Hadley."
"No problem," Alicia said.
-x-
Olivia had casually managed to slip out of science about 10 minutes before the bell so that she could make a stop in her favorite washroom to collect herself and reapply any smudged makeup. As always, her flawless complexion and piercing blue eyes stared back at her in the mirror. Every silky strand of her blonde chignon was in place. She gave her infinity scarf a final tweak and declared herself perfect.
The bell sounded. It was go time.
Olivia casually sauntered into Language Arts, scanning the room for Massie. She found the girl sitting near the front of the room next to some B-lister who kept trying to talk to her, oblivious to the fact that Massie's head was buried in The Great Gatsby.
"Move!" Olivia hissed at the B-lister, whose already wide brown eyes got wider. The girl scrambled away and Olivia gracefully slid into her seat next to Massie, who put down her novel and stared at Olivia.
"Hey, Massie," Olivia said, trying to sound as friendly as possible. Massie's unusual amber eyes narrowed.
"Uh, hey Olivia," Massie coolly replied. "What's up?"
"You like to read, huh?" Olivia asked, tapping a glossy purple nail against the cover of Gatsby.
"Leticia wasn't sure about the symbolism in Gatsby, so she wanted me to read through it again so she could be double-sure," Massie explained.
Olivia twitched. Leticia had given a personal assignment to Massie? She adjusted her infinity scarf again and continued on.
"So sweet of you," Olivia cooed insincerly. "You know, Claire and Kristen and Dylan, maybe even the soccer boys, have probably told you a lot of crap about me, but I just wanted to let you know that it's not all true. I am nawt a cold-hearted, er, female dog, and I really think we should get to know each other. And be friends." Olivia widened her eyes and tipped her head ever-so-slightly to the left, trying to seem as innocent as possible.
Unfortunately, Massie saw right through her.
"Yeah, you really wanted to be friends when you told me that my pledge assignment last week was to stand on the quad and wear a t-shirt that said, 'Sarah Palin for President,'" Massie snapped. "Well, cut the bull-crap, Olivia. Just tell me what you want."
Olivia's blue eyes turned icy.
"I heard that you're a little concerned that you won't be able to get into…" Olivia's voice dropped to a whisper. "…the Legacy because you won't be initiated in time."
"I neither confirm nor deny it," Massie said.
"Well, Kuh-laire is right," Olivia lied. "Leticia said you won't get initiated until April. No Legacy for you."
"Okay," Massie said with a shrug.
"But you can't get a Scout Team boy to take you either," Olivia said, and Massie's face fell ever so slightly. "Leticia said that wouldn't be fair."
"I figured this would happen," Massie sighed, throwing her book onto her desk.
"But…" Olivia began. "I have a little proposition for you."
Massie stared at Olivia suspiciously.
"I can talk to Leticia for you," Olivia offered. "I can convince her to let you go as someone's plus-one."
"What's the catch?" Massie asked, knowing better than to trust Olivia at face value.
"Massie Block and Olivia Ryan!" Mrs. Dinkel called across the room. "No matter how boring diagramming sentences are, I still want you two to pay attention!"
"Yes, Mrs. Dinkel," Olivia and Massie called back in unison, using their sweetest voices. As soon as the teacher wasn't looking, Olivia grabbed a sheet of pink paper notebook paper and scribbled a single sentence on it.
"Get Cam Fisher to dump Claire Lyons."