"Cooney, Linda A - Freshman Dorm 09 - Freshman Schemes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cooney Linda A)

Freshman09 - Freshman Schemes - Cooney, Linda A.

One.
Every time sorority rush rolled I around, Courtney Conner got the [feeling that something extraordinary was going to happen. She'd gotten the feeling during fall rush, even though nothing special had ended up happening. But now it was spring. The whole University of Springfield campus smelled like wild flowers, and the snow atop the surrounding mountains was melting. That something-incredible-is-going-to-happen feeling was there again, and Courtney couldn't ignore it.
She approached the edge of Mill Pond, an
old logging area on campus that had been turned into a lake for swimming and paddling canoes. On this bright morning all the sororities had taken over the pond. Each house was making an elaborate float on a canoe as a way of promoting their sisterhood.
"Hi, Courtney!" called a pretty freshman, who was rushing Courtney's sorority. "You look beautiful as usual."
Courtney smiled and looked down at her red gabardine skirt and white, silk blouse. Like all the other girls, she was immaculately dressed. Rush was the time when new girls were selected by campus sororities. It was a week of traditions and rigid rules, and one of those rules was to look terrific at all times. "Thanks. Are you already finished with our float?"
"Well, we're almost done, but we need more tape, so I'm going to the campus store. See you in a little while."
Courtney smiled and walked closer to the pond, taking in all the rush activity on the main dock. Girls chattered softly. They sewed and tacked and took breaks to check their makeup. The Gammas were putting up a float with a sports theme, and the Alpha Delta
Omegas were doing something with rope and pieces of felt. Although both floats were coming along, Courtney had seen it all before.
Stalling among the crowd of overdressed, excited girls, Courtney thought back to her freshman year. She was a junior now, and even though she was president of the Tri Betas, the most prestigious sorority at U. of S., she could still remember her freshman rush so clearly that it made her tremble all over again. Rush was a grueling week where girls had to attend parties and interviews, open houses, and special events to promote the Greek system-like that morning's float parade. The rushees were checking out the various sororities, deciding which one they might want to join. More importantly, the sororities were keeping a keen eye on the girls, deciding who they wanted to ask to pledge. The week ended with the final selection of pledges and a big welcome party for the new girls.
"Courtney!" Diane Woo suddenly cried, appearing from behind the boathouse. She ran across the dock to give Courtney a rather frantic hug. A bright, dark-haired beauty, Diane was the Tri Beta's secretary and Courtney's second-in-command. She was usually the essence of efficiency and calm. Tm so glad you're here!"
"I wasn't about to stay away," Courtney said, looking around for the Tri Beta canoe and wondering why Diane looked a little crazed. "Where are our girls?"
"On the other side of the dock," Diane said, biting her lip.
"Is something wrong?"
Diane sighed. "A couple of freshman girls who aren't rushing have been helping out with our canoe. I tried to tell them it wasn't a good idea, but they didn't want to listen."
"Who are they?" Courtney asked, following Diane past the Theta canoe, which was being decorated to look like a pale, skinny whale. Technically rush was only for girls who were trying to get into a sorority. Courtney wondered why girls would want to intrude into the rigid rush customs if they weren't interested in joining.
Diane suddenly broke into a run. "I don't know them. "You decide what to do. I'll just run ahead and tell everyone that you're here."
"Okay." Courtney hurried across the dock, past piles of poster board and a bucket of felt-tipped pens. When she took another step and
came around the corner of the boathouse, Courtney gasped and brought her hands to her face. Finally she sensed that this rush might be special after all.
"KC!" Courtney cried, staring at rushee KC Angeletti, and KC's two non-sorority friends.
"Hi, Courtney!" KC said.
"Yo, Madame President. What do you think?" grinned KC's friend, Winnie Gottlieb.
The third of their trio, Faith Crowley, spoke up, too. "We just wanted to help KC. I hope you don't mind."
"Mind?" Courtney repeated. She began to laugh. The Tri Beta canoe had been made to look like an old-fashioned sailboat. Two wooden frames held blue bed sheet sails, on which clouds had been painted, aloft, while orange streamers and silver tinsel pinned to the wood fluttered in the cool breeze.
"What do you think?" asked KC.
"It's beautiful," Courtney whispered.
"I know we weren't supposed to help, but we're a trio," Winnie explained. "The three of us stick together. We can't help it. We went to high school together; we're here at college together; we hang out together, fight together, cry on each other shoulders and all that corny
stuff. It's bad enough that we live in separate dorms. Not that we'll all be moving into your sorority house, or anything-don't worry about that. But we had to help KC. Do you know what I mean?" Winnie threw her head back and yelled to the sky. "DOES ANYONE EVER KNOW WHAT I MEAN?"
Faith patted her shoulder. "Yes Winnie, everyone always knows what you mean." She stuck her hands in her overall pockets and smiled at Courtney. "I hope this is okay, Courtney. They let me borrow some stuff from the theater arts department, since I'm a theater major." Faith put her arms around Winnie and KC. "We just wanted to help."
Courtney wanted to cry. KC Angeletti was the one freshman rushing the Tri Betas that Courtney really wanted to become a member of her house. Even though the other rushees hanging around the canoe were richer and better connected, KC was exactly the kind of girl Courtney wanted as a "sister." Recently KC had given up going to a fancy charity ball with Courtney because Winnie had needed help. The three of them enjoyed the kind of friendship that Courtney only dreamed about.
"Anyway," Winnie chattered, shaking a half
a dozen bracelets down her arm and stomping her boots, which were decorated with bells. "We're about done. So maybe Faith and I will crawl back to our dorm rooms and leave the rest of all this ooga booga rush stuff to you experts."
"What Winnie means," Faith clarified, "is that we had a good time working on this. But we both missed some classes last week, and we have to go back to our rooms and study."
"I understand," Courtney said. As much as she admired their loyalty, she knew it was right for KC to be the only one rushing the Tri Betas. After all, Winnie was too offbeat. Her short, spiked hair, electric-blue tights and leopard print jumper weren't exactly up to sorority dress code. And Faith seemed so easygoing and artsy that Courtney couldn't imagine her worrying about her hair.
But KC was another story. She was beautiful and driven, a business major with perfectly coiffed, long dark hair who always dressed stylishly. No one would have guessed that her parents were hippies, who ran a small town health food restaurant.
Courtaey looked around at the other rush-ees, then back at KC, Winnie, and Faith. She
would have liked Winnie and Faith to hang around, but she could only bend the rules so far. "Thanks for your help. I hope to see you both again soon."
Winnie saluted and Faith smiled. They both hugged KC before turning around and starting back to the dorms.
Courtney watched them go. Then she smiled at KC, and looked down, noticing that Winnie had dropped an waning on the dock. Courtney picked it up, dangling the plastic dinosaur with purple rhinestone eyes.
"Winnie!" Courtney called, holding the dinosaur earring up in the air.
Winnie and Faith stopped, while Courtney hurried over to them. She walked briskly across the wooden dock, carefully dodging the Gamma canoe which was being carried by six girls in high heels. One of the Gamma girls started to lose her balance, though, and Courtney swerved to avoid her. The next thing Courtney knew, her high heel was stuck between two pJanks and her ankle had started to turn.
"Ahhhh," Courtney heard herself shout, as the heel on her shoe snapped off. Her body tipped, and before she could grab on to any-
thing, her head smacked against something sharp and metallic. As if in slow motion, Courtney watched the pond water about to engulf her.
"Helllllllllp!" she managed, before her shoulder plunged into the cold water. She gasped. Water pressed against her face and swept over her head. She could feel her hair floating upward, but her body only wanted to sink deeper. She struggled hard, but when she finally came to the surface, it was only for a moment. Instead of air, she swallowed another gulp of thick pond water. She could feel her mind giving away to panic. Courtney wasn't even sure now if she knew how to swim.
"Someone help her! It's Courtney Conner."
"I think she hit her head on a canoe!"
"Who has a bathing suit?"
"I can't get my shoes untied."