The dining room on Phi-Delta's first floor is for formal house dinners -- dressy events with servants that are held once or twice a week. But breakfast, lunch, and most evening meals are buffet-style around small tables in an alcove off the 2nd floor kitchen.
The next morning, there's laughter, banter, and chatter about the fundraiser as sisters dash in and out, grabbing bites and caffeine jolts before rushing off to classes.
Though I do my best to conceal it, I glow with pride. At $3700, my price topped the other 'virgins.' I mean, how vain is that? Still, I don't kid myself -- pride rules and rides me.
Anais -- 'Revels' -- reminds us babies that Phi-Delt's fixed calendar begins next week.
Special events like the fundraiser are always on Tuesdays. Second and fourth Fridays are the regular social with both undergrads and grad students (none of whom are allowed above the second floor).
Salon night with deans, professors, and other guests (mostly men, but a few women) are first and third Thursdays. Sisters are free to take them upstairs -- if we wish.
By now I know that dhampirs never participate in our public events. Revels arranges their visits by appointment. A thrill of excitement surges through me when she mentions that both Nathaniel and Raphael will be 'received' next Monday evening in the small lounge.
Nathaniel!
* * *
Later that afternoon, Ysabeau and I are in one of Phi-Delt's cars headed to an upscale mall in a tony suburb of the city. It's almost an hour's drive, but Phi-Delta has accounts at two of its very, chic boutiques.
Ysabeau has those dark Mediterranean looks, olive skin, large brown eyes, and long, straight black hair that cascades down her back like an ebony waterfall. She's a second-year -- in other words, a Junior -- and the
Big Sister
assigned to me. I know we're going to become the best of friends.
Our goal today is to start building out the wardrobe that I'll use during my three years at Phi-Delta and then grad school or the working world. Phi-Delt covers the cost of a sister's basic collection. Two or three outfits appropriate for several different kinds of occasions -- but not a new outfit for every occasion.
For Phi-Delta,
appropriate
means classy and elegant, alluring yet not boy-toy, sex-kitten, and definitely not slutty. Eye-catching, but never
outre couture.
In other words, clothing I'll be able to wear to Phi-Delt salons, socials and other campus occasions and then in times to come, job interviews, office cocktail parties, trade-show receptions, and (I hope and assume) formal balls and dates to the symphony and ballet.
For salon, I find a simple but sensuous chiffon cocktail dress in a navy blue so deep that in dim light it might almost seem black. V-neck, with a form-fitting, lace-overlay bodice that flares out at my waist into a flowy, A-line skirt to just below my knees.
It comes with a narrow, side-tied white sash that accents my slender waist, matching stiletto heels, and a small clutch purse. For my Sweet-16, Grams gave me a pair of white pearl earrings that will stun with it.
As a Freshman, I joined the ballroom-dance club -- which I now completely adore -- and this cocktail dress can serve for dancing at any event short of a formal ball.
I also try on an expensive, smoking hot, sheath in bias-cut red silk, that, amazingly, they have in my size. It's one-shoulder, tight across the chest, ankle-length, with a long side slit up to my thigh with matching elbow-length opera gloves. No frills, no ruffles. The kind of gown that makes hetro-males between the ages of 13 and 66 want to grab me, strip me, and take me right then and there.
Ysabeau gives me a look, so I know I'm pushing Phi-Delt's
appropriate
boundaries a bit, but she says not a word. I haven't told her about Nat. I just smile as I say, "Wrap it up," to the clerk.
* * *
Monday afternoon I skip class for hair salon and spa, turning myself into a vision of desire for Nat.
Dinner is formal that evening and there's an odd vibe at the dining room table. Quieter than normal. No one says anything specific, but it isn't the casual and friendly type meal I've become used to. Like me, some of the sisters are obviously preparing to 'receive' the dhampirs at 9:00. The others -- clearly -- are not.
Mrs. Makeda is also at the table. I'd met her earlier, she's the OB/GYN nurse who staffs the house infirmary two mornings a week. She's in her forties, solid, dignified, and coal black. She speaks with a slight foreign accent I can't place. An African nation I think, rather than Caribbean. She doesn't smile much, and has that kind of no-nonsense attitude that is
tres tres
intimidating.
This is the first time she's joined us for a meal. Apparently her presence is SOP when dhampirs are being 'received.'
The small lounge is on the second floor. My tight, red-satin gown and matching four inch heels require some getting used to, so I take it slow in the hallway. I notice one of the security guys stationed in their nook.
I'm neither the first nor the last to arrive, but by nine on the dot six of us are
oh-so-casually
lounging there. Just like me, they're all
dressed to the nines,
as Grams used to say, and so gorgeous I almost feel as if I don't belong. Almost.
I'm the only first-year newbie. The others are all Juniors or Seniors, and strangely, four of them sport a bright green dot -- like a Hindu bindi mark -- on their forehead, between and just above their eyes. One of them is DeeDee the Pledge Mistress with her wonderful smile, another is Ysabeau my 'Big Sister.'
The green bindi marks clearly mean something, but I have no clue what.
Without ceremony, the door opens and Nathaniel enters with two other men. All my attention is on Nat. I assume the others are also dhampirs, but I pay them no mind.
Oh. My. God! Nat so totally rocks that tight-black-jeans and T-shirt look.
I flash my best smile and place myself in his line of sight.
He ignores me.
He passes by me as if I don't exist. As if I'm a stranger on the street. As if I'm dogshit on the sidewalk.
Without a word, he looks over the others, then stands before Gamin, one of the sisters with a green dot. Nat leans close to her and exhales into her face. She melts into his arms with a look of ecstatic surrender.
Her real name is 'Dylan,' but we all call her 'Gamin' because, well, she is. Pixie-size petite, laughing eyes, cute as a button, and mischievous to the core. Like all Phi-Delts, she's good looking, sure, but she's no great beauty. Yet Nat takes her wrist and she obediently follows him out of the lounge.
What the fuck!? I can hardly breath, I feel like he's punched me in the gut.
The other two dhampirs silently look us over. One is a bit older, a little gray at the temples, wearing an elaborate bespoke suit. I assume he's Ariel, the second member of the dhampir coven I've been told about.
Without a word, he leans close to Lucma, also a bindi-dot girl, and a moment later she follows him out of the room, her face glowing with anticipation.
The younger one -- shortcut platinum blond hair -- is dressed so stylish that he could be a fashion-cover model. He has to be the Raphael I've heard so many warnings about.
He does that breathing thing they do into DeeDee's face. Then he taps his palms on the top of her shoulders and she drops to her knees, her head bowed.
He's wearing a stylish, black leather manpurse on a shoulder-strap from which he removes a chrome metal collar that he snaps around her neck. He clips a silver chain to the collar's ring and leads her away. She looks nervous -- and eager.
What the hell!? None of them picked me!
Ysabeau, my official Big Sister is one of us rejects, the only one with a green dot. She's odd one out tonight, and I can tell she isn't a happy camper -- or feeling very sisterly -- as she joins me on the couch.
Aiko, the last of the lonely, joins us. She wears no bindi dot. She's a diminutive Asian doll, a psycho-pharmacology major aiming for the Duke or Columbia doctorate program. She doesn't appear at all surprised -- or annoyed -- that she's one of us losers.
Ysabeau perks right up. "Oooh, Aiko, dos't thou come bearing consolation prizes?"
Aiko's smile is complete with a charming dimple. She displays a small pill box containing half a dozen blue tablets. "The latest Nyx variant. The lab's testing it on volunteers."
"I volunteer!" declares Ysabeau "I indeedy-deedy-do!" She quickly snatches up a tablet.
"It's a sleep and dream enhancer," Aiko explains to me. "It causes intense, powerful dreams. Dreams that are remembered in the morning."
"True-true," affirms Ysabeau, "and I'm gonna have the wettest wet dream of my life."
"You can't be certain of that," cautions Aiko. "You could get a nightmare, a real bad one. Like that time..."
Ysabeau waves her off. "Don't remind me! Tonight will be different." She swallows the tablet, washing it down with a half-glass of pinot noir.
I'm a bit nervous. Other than weed I rarely do drugs, particularly 'experimental' ones, but I don't want to seem a wimp or come off like a prude. Without a word I swallow one of the tablets too.
Like a waif abandoned by my one true love, I return to my room feeling woebegon. I strip off the red gown and the black-lace bra & panty set that I had worn for Nathaniel. I throw them on the floor of the big wardrobe closet -- I never want to wear them again! I'm furious, bereft, frustrated and depressed all at once in a confused jumble of misery.
That fucking bastard!
From my dresser drawer I take out the old flannel nightgown that's been my comfort sleepwear since the shock and embarrassment of my first period back when I was twelve. It's now a bit small for me, but I still wear it when I need it.