Nina's Story - Appendix A
Aristippus's course director tells her story.
"Nina... Nina," I heard someone calling my name as I was making my way across the campus of Ball State University. Turning to face whoever was calling my name, I spotted this guy I knew, Jeff. He was racing to catch up with me, and two of his buddies were just a few steps behind. I think I'd met one of them before; I just couldn't remember his name. I'd never seen the third guy before, but they must have all been frat brothers, as they were all wearing Sigma Alpha Epsilon sweatshirts.
I didn't realize Jeff was a Sigma Alpha, but I wasn't surprised. We've had several classes together over the last three years, and he always seemed like a typical frat rat. Arrogant, conceited, and generally a textbook narcissist. And as his two buddies were wearing similar shirts with the Greek letters ΣΑΕ emblazoned on them, I assumed they were all frat brothers and that the coming request had something to do with their house.
As they caught up with me, Jeff was the first to speak. "Nina, where are you heading?"
"To check my mail," I said, with a noncommittal tone to my voice.
"Have you had lunch yet?" Jeff asked.
I rarely ate lunch. I was always just too fucking broke. My parents divorced when I was in elementary school. As far as I know, my dad paid his child support, but never a penny more. He generally sent me a birthday card once a year, and sometimes it would include a gift card for $40 or $50, but that was it. I haven't seen him since my sixteenth birthday. My mother worked the proverbial two jobs to support my two younger siblings and me. She gave me five hundred dollars when I graduated high school and wished me luck. I know that sounds cruel, but she had probably been saving nickels and dimes for years just to scrape together five hundred dollars seed money for me to start my life with.
I had already been accepted at Ball State University, and I did receive respectable student aid, but I had no money, no car, no off-campus job, and had to rely on student loans for the rest. I lived at the Noyer Centre dorms because they were the oldest and the cheapest. And to keep my student loans as low as possible, I only took the Ten-Meal plan. That meant that I only got five breakfasts per week - Monday through Friday. And five dinners per week - Sunday through Thursday. The assumption was that you would go home on the weekends, so you wouldn't be eating in the dining hall.
So, when Jeff asked if I'd had lunch yet, my first thought was that I might be able to get a free meal out of this. "No," I said. "Why?"
"Can we buy you lunch?" the guy said that I couldn't remember his name.
I knew they were setting me up for something, and I was pretty sure it had something to do with their fraternity. After all, it was Rush, and every Greek organization on campus was looking for new members. "Sure," I said nonchalantly. I didn't want to appear too eager, but I was always up for a free meal. Generally, I only had a sweet tea and a bag of chips for lunch. Not because I particularly liked either one, but they were both cheap and high in calories. And I needed the calories. In college, I was what many would say was a
tall drink of water
. I was almost six feet tall (5' 11" actually) and generally weighed under 126 pounds. Giving me a Body Mass Index of only 17.6. I was skinny, and if I lost any more weight, I'm sure people would think I was anorexic or something. So, I took it any time a free meal was offered.
Standing in line at the Cardinal Grill, Jeff introduced me to his two friends. "Nina, this is Ted," the guy I couldn't think of his name. "And this is JR." As both guys reached out to shake my hand, I remembered Ted's name. I think I'd met him at a party the year before. As for the new guy, what's with the initials? I've always thought that was weird. Did it stand for junior, or was he just too embarrassed to go by the name his mother gave him? But in any event, he was younger and never said much anyway.
Since I wasn't paying for this, I ordered a cheeseburger, large fries, and a milkshake. All loaded with calories, and I was starved. Once we were seated and I had dug into my burger, Jeff opened with his request - as I knew he would. "Nina," he started slowly. "As you know, it's
Rush,
and we're booking as many new members as we can get our hands on."
And before he could say another word, Ted interrupted with, "And there is this guy we really want, but there's a problem."
"A problem?" I casually questioned as I picked up my milkshake and held the straw to my lips.
"Yeah," Jeff said, trying to regain control of the conversation. "How can I put this?"
"Just say it," I calmly said, halfway knowing what was coming.
"He's a virgin," Jeff said, as all three boys stared directly into my eyes for my reaction.
"And that's a problem?" I said, trying not to laugh.
"Yeah," Jeff continued. "You see, we really want this guy, but we've had this long-standing tradition of no virgins."
"It's a rule," Ted added.
"It's tradition," JR said, trying to add something to the conversation and correct Ted at the same time.
There was an awkward pause for a moment as the three frat brothers waited anxiously for my response. I was honestly fighting the urge to burst out laughing, but they had bought me lunch, so I was trying to take them seriously. "So, what's in it for me," I finally said, still just toying with them.
"Sixty bucks," Ted blurted out again.
"Yeah," Jeff said as he tried to shush Ted. "We all pooled our money together, and we can offer you sixty bucks to bring this guy up to Sigma Alpha standards. If you know what we mean?"
"So, sixty bucks for a mercy fuck," I said in a deadpan voice.
"Yeah," JR blurted out, to the dismay of his companions.
"Nina," Jeff said, trying to rephrase JR's rapid response. "I wouldn't exactly say that. I would just say it's more of friends helping friends. I know you're always a little short of funds, our pledge is in need of a little female companionship, and we're in need of him pledging Sigma Alpha. This could be a win-win-win for all of us."