Chapter 8: ... Stays in the House

Student Affairs turned out to be a busy place. I hadn't realized so many other students would be there, but maybe I should have expected it on a Monday morning. The girl working the information window didn't really want to know what my problem was, she just wanted to give me a number.

"I want to change my housing assignment and..."

"Take a seat," she said, sliding a number under the glass between us.

I wondered why a university needed windows between students and the people who were supposed to help them. There wasn't time to ask her as a chubby oriental girl pushed me impatiently out of the way. Everyone seemed to be unhappy and I could feel the frustration in the air, but I guess that's how it is in a place like that. I mean, nobody goes to Student Affairs unless they have a problem.

There were a lot of chairs, most of them occupied, and I had to slide past six people to find a seat. The girl on my left ignored me. She had an anthropology text book on her lap and a green highlighter between her teeth. Every now and then she'd make a soft humming sound and mark something important. I wished I'd thought of that. The guy on my right had a book as well, a dog-eared paperback that he pretended to read while checking me out. I crossed my legs self-consciously and wished I'd worn a longer skirt.

College was like that, you know? I wanted to look good and so I tended to wear nice clothes, even sexy clothes, but that wasn't unusual. This was college, after all, and a lot of girls went out of their way to show off their youth and beauty. I'd waited my whole life to be a pretty girl, except I didn't always like the way some people looked at me. The guy next to me wasn't especially attractive. He smelled like cigarettes and made me feel naked. Probably because he kept pretending to read his book. It would have made me much more comfortable if he'd just stared at me. I could deal with that and I'd have an excuse to tell him to stop.

"Hi," I said, smiling brightly even though I didn't feel like it very much. I'd been sitting for almost an hour waiting for my number to come up.

"What do you need, honey?" a heavyset woman asked. We had to speak through a round hole cut in the glass, so I wasn't sure if I had to talk real loudly or not.

"I was wondering if I could change my dorm assignment?" I said, making it sound like a question about a question.

"Freshman?"

"Me? Uh ... Yeah." I nodded as her thick fingers tapped her skinny keyboard.

"Name?"

"Brandy," I replied without thinking, and that only got me a bit of annoyance.

"Your full name, Brandy," she said. "Let me see your student ID card."

"Oh, uh ... Brandon Cooper." I dug through my purse and my ID didn't look like me very much. The picture had been taken a year ago back in Kansas and mailed along with my college application.

"Thank you." The woman seemed very brisk, as I suppose she had to be with the place being busy like it was. "You're at Hereford Hall?"

"Yes," I agreed. "Room 212, but I really want to move into one of the female dorms and ... What?"

"You're a man?" She sat up in her chair, like she wanted to see my legs for some reason. She hadn't looked at my ID very closely.

"Not really," I said. "I mean, technically, I guess, um ... I'm sort of..."

"Wait a minute." She held up one hand and reached for her phone with the other.

The woman didn't seem very happy to me and I wondered why she'd want a job like that if she didn't enjoy it. Probably she just didn't like having a boy who looked like a girl come in first thing Monday morning asking for a new room. I wasn't exactly sure what the university's policy was when it came to transgender students, and as it turned out, neither was she.

"Are you transgender?" she asked a minute later, momentarily pressing her phone to her shoulder.

"Yeah," I said, even though I wasn't totally sure if I was or not. I mean, I didn't actually plan to go all the way and get surgery, but... "I'm a transsexual."

"She says she's a transsexual," the woman said into the phone. "Uh-huh ... Hold on ... Are you being treated by a physician for your, uh ... condition?"

"My condition?" I giggled nervously. "I'm taking hormones, um ... I see a doctor every month. Does that count?"

"She's undergoing treatment," she decided, and then listened for a moment. "Okay ... What's the PRN for that? Got it ... No, Cooper, Brandon ... Right. Thanks Cynthia. Bye."

"Is it okay?" I wondered, sort of holding my breath.

The woman opened the top drawer of a small filing cabinet, gathering a bunch of forms. She stapled them together and slid them across the counter.

"Fill all these out. Make two photocopies, okay? Keep one copy for yourself and bring the originals and a copy back to me."

"Um ... Okay." I frowned because that sounded sort of complicated and I was half tempted to ask her to write it down for me.

"You're going to be number twenty-two," she said.

"Twenty-two?"

"On the waiting list," she explained. "You should be able to get in a female dorm next semester."

"Next semester?" I really frowned then. "But what about now?"

"You've got a room, right?" The woman actually smiled at me. "Don't complain, dear."

"But..." I sighed and turned around, giving someone else a chance to be frustrated.

I slipped into my Literature class late, but the professor wasn't there anyway. One of her grad students was stammering his way through a lecture about Lord Byron or somebody. I wasn't in much of a mood for poetry, although I kind of liked that class. I sat in the back of the small auditorium, pushing the seat cushion down and sort of collapsing on it. The place resembled a movie theater more than anything else, except the floor wasn't sticky.

They were going to make me wait until next semester? I couldn't believe that! How many girls wanted to change their rooms anyway? I had real issues. It wasn't as if I didn't like the wallpaper or something. I was a girl living with two dozen boys, for crying out loud. Handsome boys. Hunky boys. Dangerous boys for a girl with a serious boyfriend.

Stu had given me roses!

And Keith would be next, I just knew it. They loved me just as much as Dave did and I sorta almost kinda loved them, too. I mean, I could have fallen seriously in love if I'd let it happen, but I didn't because I wasn't supposed to. Except I tended to forget if I wasn't careful, and a girl can't be on her guard and still relax at the same time. I had a dorm room so I could loosen up and not worry, but that's all I ever seemed to do. Worry. God! If I had to spend four more months in that place, I'd probably end up with three boyfriends, if not more, which would really mean I didn't have any boyfriends because they'd all dump me as soon as they found out I was a slut!

A slut? I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Yeah, what else do you call a girl like that? I had to change my evil ways and that meant getting away from all those boys. All that temptation, you know? I could be a great girlfriend, like a supergreat girlfriend if I had the chance, but only to one special guy and I'd made up my mind. Right?

Right! I had to call Krystal. I mean, what other choice did I have? I'd join the sorority and live with a bunch of girls, and go out with Dave and have awesome sex with him all the time and ... Krystal had sucked my cocky. Like, I'd cum in her mouth and everything! Girl fun? She'd sort of made it sound like they did that kind of thing all the time, except not blowjobs since they didn't have dicks, but still ... Would I end up with a girlfriend? I didn't want to be queer! I liked boys!

Obviously I had issues, but what girl wouldn't be worried after her first gay experience? I told myself I was just overreacting. To a blowjob? Is it even possible to overreact to that? I'd wanted to tell Dave about it, to confess everything, but I'd felt too nervous, even frightened. What if he dumped me because I'd let someone else suck my penis? I'd be pretty mad if some guy at the Lion's Den sucked him off. Although, I have to admit that even an innocent transgender girl from Kansas knows that boys love lesbians. Krystal swore that Dave had known she was going to try and suck me and I sort of believed her, but...

I had to tell Dave. I couldn't do anything until I knew what was going on.

Luckily, I had a really cool phone and the only one number in it. I decided to send him a text, since I could do it without anybody even knowing. Half the class seemed to be asleep anyway as I glanced around the auditorium. The people who weren't all seemed to be doing something else, besides listening, I mean. Like that guy in the army jacket who smiled at me? I looked back down with a frown. There was always someone, it seemed, who had nothing better to do than stare at me for some reason. I felt kind of naked for a minute or two, until I forgot about him, you know.

"Hey," I tapped into my phone. "I love you."

I hit the Send button and looked up, smiling innocently at the professor's grad student as he stammered happily away. Lord Byron had a child with his own half-sister? That's so amazing! I rolled my eyes. What did that have to do with anything? And then my phone rang!

"Shoot!" That woke everyone up and the rule was, no phones in class. "Hello?" I whispered, standing up. "Dave? What are you doing? I'm in class ... Excuse me ... Sorry ... It's an Emergency ... What?"

"I said, I love you too, baby," Dave replied. "Where are you?"

"My lit class," I pouted, slipping out of the auditorium. "How come you didn't text me?"

"Cause I wanted to hear your voice," he sighed. "I miss you."

"You dropped me off three hours ago!" I laughed.

"Feels like last year."

"Yeah, me too," I decided, leaning against the brick wall. "I'm missing my lecture now. It's all your fault."

"Want me to hang up?" he teased.

"No!" I said. "I sorta wanna talk, but not on the phone."

"Uh-oh."

"What?"

"When a girl wants to talk..." Dave chuckled. "My dad warned me about that."

"He did?" I giggled, too, but I felt pretty nervous inside. "It's not really bad, okay?"

"Just sorta bad?" He got serious. "What's the matter, baby?"

"Nothing," I said. "I'm just, um ... Do you think I should join that sorority thing?"

"Absolutely."

"Really? But, um ... Last night, Krystal and me ... I mean..."

I frowned because I wanted to tell Dave in person, you know? He deserved that much and I wanted to see his face, just so I'd know if he was totally mad or just kinda mad and maybe he wouldn't break up with me and...

"You're worried about your try-outs?"

"Try-outs?"

"Krystal, yeah ... She didn't give you a try-out?"

I didn't know what he meant at first, but then I got it.

"Oh!" I gasped, and my boyfriend laughed. "You already know?"

"She told me you're gonna fit right in," Dave said, and while I pondered that pun: "It's all cool, Brandy. I know what goes on in that house. Maybe it'll loosen you up a little."

"What does that mean?" I frowned.

"You're too tight," he told me, gently. "Like you're all wound up sometimes. This is college, you gotta have fun. Don't worry so much, okay?"

"I don't want to cheat on you though," I explained. "And Krystal, and the things she said ... I love you."

"I know you do," he sighed, sounding happy. "That's why I'm not worried about it, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed, but I didn't really understand how he could not care. Did he love me that much? I thought he did, but did that mean I didn't love him enough?

"I just want you to be happy, that's all," Dave promised. "Having a little fun with your friends is all cool. You can't get rid of me that easy."

"A little fun?" I laughed, thinking this conversation hadn't gone like I'd expected at all.

"Just don't tell me you got some boy on the side," he said, and his voice was teasing, but I thought it had an edge to it as well.

"I don't," I said. "I don't want anybody else, Dave."

"Neither do I," he said. "What are you doing for dinner?"

"I don't know yet," I sighed. "I'm waiting for my boyfriend to ask me out."

"Heh! I'll pick you up at six, okay?"

"Yeah." I smiled. "What should I wear?"

"Something nice," Dave said. "I have to meet a guy tonight."

"What guy?"

"Just a guy," he said with a verbal shrug. "I better run."

"Yeah. I love you."

"Me too," Dave said. "You're okay, right?"

"Uh-huh. I'm fine."

Except I kept thinking about my boys on the side. Stu and Keith. At least I had a pretty good idea what my boyfriend would think if he ever found out about them. That made up my mind even more than Dave's assurances that he had no problem with me having 'girl fun' with Krystal and the other sorority members.

I decided to grab a little lunch in the Commons again, since the Indian Summer we were having wouldn't last forever. Darla had met me there, but she'd joined some lunchtime study group for one of her classes. Probably because there were like six guys in it, and only two girls, including her, and my best friend was eager to find a hunky study buddy, which made me laugh. I wondered if I shouldn't try and hook her up with Keith, since she liked him anyway, but he had a girlfriend back home, so it probably wouldn't work. Plus, I wasn't sure if I wanted to think about Keith having sex with Darla, you know? That might be kind of awkward.

"There she is!" Krystal found me before I could find her, and I looked up from my peach yogurt to see her and a seriously leggy oriental girl.

"Hi! Brandy, right? I'm Mina," she said, holding out her hand. I guessed she was Japanese, she had the accent anyway, but weren't they supposed to be really short or something?

She must have been almost six feet tall, I thought, and most of it came from her legs. Or maybe it only seemed that way because she wore a pair of small denim shorts beneath a pink t-shirt that said, "Want Some Pi?" across her smallish breasts. She had a pretty face, too, although I think all oriental girls are kind of cute anyway, even the ones who aren't. She had a nice smile though, and her seriously slanted eyes seemed friendly enough as we shook hands.

"We were hoping you'd be here," Krystal said as they sat down beside me. "So? Did you think about it?"

"You have to join," Mina told me, nodding her head seriously. "It'll be so much fun. Everybody's talking about it."

"They are?" I tucked some loose hair behind my ear.

"We're really excited," she said. "It's a big deal for all of us, you know?"

Krystal smiled at me, arching an eyebrow, and I remembered looking into her eyes as she swallowed my cum. I tried not to blush and looked down at my yogurt instead, but that stuff sorta looked like cum. So I decided to look at Mina, since she liked to talk so much anyway.

"It's a big decision, we all know that," she continued. "But you have to remember, once you're a Lambda Pi, you're part of a sisterhood. Like a family, you know? We take care of each other."

"In more ways than one," Krystal added, teasing me with a soft giggle. That really made me blush.

"What about my, um..." I looked down at my skirt.

"That's why we're so excited, Brandy." Mina reached for my hand, giving my fingers a reassuring squeeze. "We're the best sorority on campus precisely because we only accept the best girls."

"The special ones," Krystal said, then hastened to say: "But don't think that's the only reason we think you're right for us."

"Definitely not," Mina agreed. "Even if you weren't, um..."

"Transgender?" I offered.

"Yeah! Thanks!" She grinned. "Even if you weren't transgender, we'd still want you, Brandy. I mean ... Look at you! Wow!"

"And I'm dating the quarterback?" I wondered, ignoring the compliment, even though I liked it a lot.

"Well..." Krystal shrugged. "Who else would a girl like you want to go out with?"

I didn't have an answer for that, but maybe she was only teasing anyway. I wasn't sure. I had a pretty good idea that if I wasn't seeing Dave, my girlish cocky would have made them think twice about asking me to join. But since I was dating the quarterback, for some strange reason having a penis only made me that much more attractive to them. As if my life wasn't complicated enough already?

"So?" Mina gave my fingers another squeeze, as she hadn't let me go. "Are you ready to become a Lambda Pi girl, or what?"

"I can move into the sorority house, right?" I asked, looking between them.

"You can move in right now, if you want," Krystal replied. "You saw the room, all you have to do is say yes."

I took a deep breath, but in truth, I'd already made up my mind. I'd planned on stopping by the House after my last class, which means I'd planned on worrying about it all afternoon. Now I had to make a decision and it wasn't that hard, was it?

"Yeah," I agreed. "I'll join your sorority."

"Awesome!" Mina tugged on my arm, pulling me into a hug. "You're doing the right thing, Brandy."

"I hope so," I breathed, having no choice but to hug the girl back. It was strange because I found my face in her fine black hair and her boobs were definitely rubbing against mine.

"We're gonna be best friends," she whispered into my ear, tickling me with her breath.

"Mina's going to be your sponsor," Krystal explained. "She'll help you get ready for the initiation and all that stuff."

"Oh." I cleared my throat as the girl finally let me go.

"My room's right next to yours," she said. "And right now..."

Mina reached for her purse, but didn't open it. She had a small pin attached to the strap, about the size of a dime, with the Greek letters for Lambda Pi in a silver design.

"This is your pledge pin," she told me. "You have to wear it at all times, okay?"

"Why?" I smiled, tilting my head to see her pinning it to the collar of my blouse.

"So everybody will know you're a Lambda Pi Pledge, silly!" Mina rolled her eyes. "I've got your pledge book in my room. Are you ready to go?"

I glanced at Krystal, but she only smiled.

"To your room?" I asked. "I've got a class starting in..."

"Skip it," Mina said. "This is way more important."

"But..."

"No buts!" She held up her hand. "You're a Pledge now and I'm your sponsor. You know what that means, right?"

"Ummm..." I smiled with some confusion. "Not really."

"It means you have to do whatever I say," she said. "And call me Mistress Mina from now on."

"Really?" I giggled, but she didn't smile.

"Yes, Mistress Mina," she said, rolling her hand. "Say it. Yes..."

" ... Mistress Mina," I recited along with her.

"Good." She stood up, pulling me to my feet with her. "See? You're learning already, Pledge. Carry my books."

"Uh ... Yes, Mistress Mina," I said, wondering if this was some weird sorority joke, or if I'd really joined some kind of cult.

"Have fun kids," Krystal said, standing as well. She grinned at her friend. "Don't do anything I didn't do."

I blinked at that and when Krystal gave me a teasing wink, I knew she'd told Mina about giving me a blowjob the night before. Probably everyone in the House knew about it and I felt my tummy knotting up the way it does sometimes. Usually when I'm in trouble.

"Where are you from?" Mina asked, and we made small talk about ourselves as we walked across the campus.

I answered all of her questions about me, and learned that she'd come to America as a high school student the first time, part of a student exchange between Seattle and Yokohama, since they're sister cities or something. Mina said she liked it here so much, she decided to get a student visa and attend college. She was in her third year, a liberal arts major, which basically meant she didn't know what she wanted to be when she grew up ... Her words, not mine. I told her I felt the same way and we both laughed.

All in all, she seemed really nice to me. Friendly and outgoing, kind of funny in a strange, foreigner sort of way, and I found myself liking Mina quite a lot by the time we reached the Lambda Pi house and her room on the third floor.