This is my submission for the 2021 Nude Day Contest. Most of the setting is based on things that exist in real life, though the specific fraternities and sororities mentioned are made up. And seeing that this is for a competition, it would mean a lot if you commented and voted after reading. Thanks!
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"OK, so now that we have Dean on the tuition increase story, all that's left is the Alpha Sigma Sigma philanthropy on Saturday."
A collective groan echoed through the newsroom.
"Come on, guys," Wendy pleaded. "I know that 'sorority philanthropy puff piece' doesn't scream journalism, but they raise a shit ton of money every year for St. Jude's. And their philanthropy chair told me that this year is gonna be different, though she didn't say how."
"Why do we even do these? All of Greek life hates the CT." Daniel's tone wreaked of disdain.
"Valid," Wendy conceded. "The truth is that we need to do a piece like this every once in a while to satisfy the school's Greek Life office. If we don't, they'll refuse to speak to us whenever shit hits the fan and there's an ACTUAL story."
"I'll do it." I said, tentatively raising my hand.
"All right! Newbie is ready for his first assignment!" Wendy smiled. "Come see me after the meeting and we can talk about it."
The meeting lasted a few more minutes, but I wasn't really paying attention. I had just been assigned my first story for the Collegiate Times. That was allI could think about. Sure, it wasn't going to get me on the front page or anything, but it was a start.
As Wendy dismissed the group, I walked up to her at the front of the room. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yep! I just wanted to make sure that you feel comfortable doing a story on your own. I know you are a journalism major and all, and you did that one story with Daniel when he trained you, but if you want someone else to tag along and help, we can do that again."
"Based on his reaction, I'm sure he'd LOVE that." I jested. "I think I'll be fine, though."
"This is honestly the perfect first story for you. The stakes aren't that high and the people you'll be speaking to will be excited that you're covering the event."
Wendy gave me the contact info of the sorority's philanthropy chair and reassured me that I would do a great job. She really was a fantastic editor. I looked down at the notecard she had given me.
Gabriella UrÃas
GabUr@VATech.edu
That night, I sat at my laptop and fired off a quick email to Gabriella.
"Hey Gabriella,
My name is Thomas, and I'm going to be covering your sorority's philanthropy event for the Collegiate Times. Do you think you could spare 10-15 minutes before the run to do an interview?
Sending the email wasn't as nerve wracking as I thought it would be. However, waiting for a response was. I did my best to distract myself with some homework, and then when that didn't work, I switched to playing some Madden on my PS4. Thankfully it didn't take long for her to respond
Hey Thomas,
That's awesome! I would love to talk with you. As for the interview, do you think that we could do it the day before the event instead? I'm happy to talk before or after the run as well, but I might be overwhelmed with running everything. I'll be less stressed the day before."
It made sense. And after a little more back and forth, we arranged to meet the next day on the third floor of Squires student center.
I don't know if you know this, but interviewing a college student is hard. The vast majority of the time, the student has never been interviewed before, and they are nervous. It is up to the reporter to ask questions in a way that leads to a good response. If that doesn't happen, the reporter is almost certainly going to get one-word answers that don't help the story at all.
My first story with Daniel was like that. The student quotes I got were awful, and had Daniel not been there to ask follow up questions, the interviews would have been completely unusable. As I walked out of the Squires elevator, I was praying that didn't happen here.
Sitting on the couch on the third floor was Gabriella. God almighty was she beautiful. Smooth chocolaty skin, wavy black hair that went down to the middle of her back, and big brown eyes that were framed by eyelashes so long that they had to be fake. She was wearing pink lip gloss that made her lips shimmer in the light, and a small stud piercing in her nose -- something I'd always found super hot.
Not skinny by any means, Gabriella was curvy in all of the right places. She had juicy thighs, a nice, big ass -- assets that were very on display in her cut-off jean shorts -- and a considerably busty chest.
"You must be Thomas!" Gabriella said with a bubbly smile. She got up and shook my hand. I was overwhelmed by the pleasant smell of her perfume. It was something tropical, though I couldn't put my finger on it.
"Yeah, thanks for meeting me." I stammered.
We sat down together and I got my recorder out. As I turned to Gabriella, I was struck by the GIANT binder that she had in front of her.
"What is that for?"
"Oh this?" She said, pointing to the monstrosity. "This is all for the run. A lot more goes into planning an event like this than you'd think. You have to get permits from the school, the Blacksburg PD, and your national chapter. Then you have to work with the other fraternities and sororities to coordinate their participation. And there's the caterers for food, t-shirt orders, and a million other things."
"Dang. And you enjoy this?"
"It's a lot of work, but it is worth it. I had a cousin that had leukemia and went to St. Jude's. They saved her life and I'm forever grateful for the work they do. This is how I can give back."
"That's awesome! So you said in our brief back and forth via email that this is a run? So is it like a 5k?"
Gabriella laughed. "You don't know, do you?"
"Know what?"
"This year, we are doing a naked mile."
"Ummmm WHAT?!"
"You know, like streaking? Except for charity."
I was speechless. "And the university is cool with this?"
"It took a lot of convincing, but they approved it on an experimental basis."
"...But why? Why naked?"
"Because it's fun! Anyone can do a 5k. They happen all of the time. But there's something about the idea of going streaking. It's a uniquely 'college' activity." She looked at me and must have read my very skeptical and stunned expression.
"I grew up in a household that didn't make being naked a big deal. We weren't full nudists or anything, but my parents really preached the idea that being naked is a wonderfully natural thing and that people need to appreciate their bodies. This whole event was my idea, and I saw it as a 'two birds with one stone' kind of thing. I want to raise money for St. Jude's, but I would also like to show people that there is nothing wrong with being nude. It took over a year for me to convince my sorority that this was a good idea, so it has to kick ass."
"What has the response been so far? Have a lot of people signed up?"
"There was a lot of hesitancy at first. But the fact that all of my AlphaSig sisters would be there without clothes definitely greased the wheels for a lot of the guys. And slowly the girls in other houses have gotten on board too."
This story had just taken a VERY intriguing turn. Gabriella went on to tell me about the event. The run was to begin at the Holtzman Alumni Center and run across the golf course, ending right in the middle of the Fish Bowl (the area in the middle of the Greek complex that all of the houses look down on. To avoid gawking perverts, no one was allowed in the area unless they were registered for the run. In other words, if you wanted to see naked, you had to be naked. Also, people wouldn't be taking off their clothes until they got to the starting line in the course, at which point there would be very little lighting, And finally, every organization came to a firm agreement that if anyone saw someone recording any of it, they'd be instantly booted from their organization without so much as a discussion.
I had to admit, the whole thing sounded meticulously planned. I was amazed at how much thought she had put into this. As for the interview, she was calm, forthcoming, and didn't sound nervous at all. It was a great interview. It felt more like a conversation.
After we wrapped things up, I thanked her for her time and told her I'd see her there.
"Any chance that I'll be seeing ALL of you there?"
"I appreciate the flattery, but that's not in the cards. I'm reporting on the event, not participating."
She feigned disappointment, saying that she wasn't giving up on me, which boosted my ego, even if we both knew she was joking. I mean, she was a senior sorority girl with her shit together. I was, well, I knew I was decent looking, but I wasn't in HER league. I headed to the newsroom to discuss the new angle with Wendy.
"You hear that Daniel?! You missed your one chance to ever see a sorority girl naked." Wendy was mocking him.
Everyone in the newsroom laughed. Daniel was not amused and grumbled something about how they were nothing but stuck up bitches anyways. In case you couldn't tell, Daniel sucked.
"So are you gonna do it?" Wendy asked.
"As in run? Hell no!"
"Why not? It sounds fun!"
"For starters, it would be unethical from a reporting standpoint. I can't be an unbiased journalist if I'm participating."
"Don't worry about that. We can just turn it into a feature story. If anything, that would be a better way to cover it."
I was uneasy about this now. I really did not want to be taking my clothes off in front of hundreds of my classmates. That's not what I signed up for when I took the assignment.