I'd done it. For the past two weeks, I was officially a pledge of Alpha Rho Epsilon-the best frat on campus.The guys in it were all popular, and later successful in life. And the parties they threw? Legendary! We were early October and tonight was the first official party of the frat, to start the new school year. They had a few parties before, but it was smaller- mostly for members, friends and pledges. They had decided the theme tonight to be 'Rodeo Night', they even rented a mechanical bull to put in the backyard.
That's where I was headed, hauling my 6 feet ass off with a cowboy hat on my head. I was wearing Wrangler jeans and a tight, dark blue dress shirt. I probably looked ridiculous but I didn't have a choice, it was the mandatory dress code for all 8 of us pledges. I didn't mind that much anyway, not to toot my own horn but I am pretty good looking. Although I'm not sculpted like some guy, I'm athletic with good muscle definition and green eyes. Girls would usually say that I am adorable and I never had any problems charming them. I'm not a guy who runs after a girl and tries to sleep with as many as I can, but if I met a cute girl I wouldn't be shy about flirting with her. And that night, I knew there would be plenty of girls.
When I arrived at the frat house, the party was already in full swing. I was a bit late because I spent all afternoon preparing it with the other pledges. The music was loud--some ironic country music playlist nobody liked, just there to fit the theme. People were still dancing to it, or at least trying to, with drinks in their hands. I started to make my way through the crowd. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be doing anything or just blend in. That's the thing about being a pledge--you're always waiting for someone to yell at you or hand you a task.
"Evan!" someone shouted behind me. I turned to see Brad, one of the frat brothers, making his way through the crowd with a cup in his hand. "You're almost late dude, the game is about to start. Here take this," he said as he handed me a beer. I instantly gulped down half of it. I was feeling both nervous and excited. The game had pledges paired with a senior member of the frat, doing random games all throughout the night with a ranking system. Basically, if you performed poorly or didn't get along with your teammate, you could kiss goodbye to being initiated into the frat.
"YEEHAW!" someone yelled. The room quieted down, and like everybody else I looked for the source of that sound. I found Craig, the pledge master and judge of tonight's games, standing atop a table surrounded by two frat brothers.
"Welcome to the first Alpha Rho Epsilon party of the year!" he shouted, and the room erupted in applause and cheers. "Tonight we've got a bunch of games for our new little pledges! You can recognize them by their cowboy hats."
I saw people looking around and their eyes settled on me, and in an effort to try and look cool, I tipped my hat to them. It must have worked because I saw a couple of girls smiling at me.
"The games will be done in pairs, with a member of the frat, and you can keep track of the scores on this board. Feel free to cheer... or egg them on! Anyway, let's make the teams!" And once again, everybody cheered. He started listing pledges and pairing them up. I was getting nervous waiting for my name, a drop of sweat dripping down my face. "And finally, our last pledge, Evan will be paired with...." He paused. My heart was beating so fast I thought it might stop. "Our incredible president--Grayson!" The cheers got even louder. Then the music returned, and just like that, everyone went back to talking, flirting, and dancing.
I was even more nervous. Being paired with the president meant I could get dismissed on the spot if I did something he didn't approve of. As a pledge, I had mostly seen him from afar, but there was no doubt Grayson was a natural-born leader. He was a senior, charismatic, as well as respected and admired by everyone in the fraternity, by everyone in general as he was one of the most popular guy on campus. I moved through the crowd to find him, and finally spotted him on the porch outside, talking to a couple of hot girls who were around him, hanging on his every word and laughing at everything he said.
I stared at him for a short time, he was tall--maybe an inch or two taller than me--with broad shoulders and that kind of build that made shirts look custom-fitted. Dark hair, cut short and always perfectly messy, and a jawline that could slice through wood. I had to admit it: the guy was handsome. Too handsome. Movie star handsome. It added to his reputation, he was known in the frat to be able to get any girl he wanted, his smile could charm anyone. I felt intimidated looking at him, but I was determined to join the frat as a full member so I made my way to him.
"Ah! Pledge," he said as he saw me approach. "I hope you're ready for the games because I don't lose."
"Yes, sir," I immediately said and I felt myself blush. I don't know why I added the sir, I just felt like I wanted to please him.
"Don't be mean Gray!" said one of the girls, lightly hitting his strong arm. "Look at him, he looks like he's going to piss himself."
"Yeah, relax Evan," he said, in a gentler tone. "Here, drink this and call me Grayson." He handed me his drink, and I took a sip, coughing up right after. I was expecting beer but he was drinking a much stronger mixture.
"OK, we'll keep you on beer," he said, taking his drink back from my hand. I tried to catch my breath, to protest and say I could handle it but Craig interrupted me by calling us over.
"Gray, it's you guys turn."
"Let's go pledge," ordered Grayson, going into the backyard and I followed behind.
The backyard of the frat house was usually pretty big, but between the people in it, the couple of activity stands and the big mechanical bull in the back, it felt small. Nevertheless, Grayson and I made our way to where Craig was standing.
"Welcome to your first trial, Lasso! Yeehaw!" shouted Craig. Behind him was a small setup: five objects of different sizes placed at various distances, with a looped rope and a hula-hoop circle on the ground. "The rules are simple: stand in the circle and try to lasso a maximum of objects. You only get one try per object. Good luck!"
"Watch how it's done, newbie," said Grayson with confidence. Being the frat president, a lot of people had surrounded us to watch him throw, and they cheered him on as he stepped into the circle. I observed how he threw the lasso, adapting the size of the loop to the object each time. He managed to lasso four out of five, only missing the last one, which was the most difficult by far. People applauded and he waved and flexed to the crowd in glory, he knew how to give people what they wanted.
"Make me proud," he told me as he handed me the lasso.
I stepped up to the circle, nervous, my hand shaking. I threw the rope at the first object and missed. I steadied myself, took a deep breath, adjusted the size of the lasso and threw--and nailed it! The crowd erupted in a cheer, and I grew more confident. I shouldn't have, because I missed the next two shots. Luckily, I slightly redeemed myself as I successfully lassoed the last, most difficult, object. I turned around, all smiles, ready to celebrate with Grayson. But when I saw him, he looked hard, serious.
"Two out of five is nothing to cheer about, pledge," he told me as I made my way to him. My smile vanished, I felt a little sad--like I'd let him down.
"OK, you guys were the last to have a go and you ended up ranking..." Craig paused for suspense. "Second!" and the crowd went back to cheering.
"Alright, I'll let it slide this time," Grayson told me. "But you better bring your A-game for the next games, pledge."
