Chapter 2: Weekend Before Classes Start

A week later Matt and Thomas had settled into their dorm room. Matt decorated his side of the room mostly with posters of women in tiny bikinis. The one exception was a picture of an incredibly young-looking Pamela Anderson in a cropped t-shirt and white-washed jeans advertising Labatt Beer.

Thomas’s side of the room had a much different vibe. The primary decorations were two posters. One was Magritte’s Son of Man painting that showed a man in a bowler hat, his face obscured by a green apple. The other was The Persistence of Memory, the “melting clocks” masterpiece by Dali.

When other residents of the dorm stopped by their room they offered very different responses. Most of the guys gravitated to and examined Matt’s posters. The women were intrigued with Thomas and his choice of artwork.

It was Friday morning. The dorm’s official move-in times were listed from Wednesday to Saturday, but the dorm was mostly full. The students seemed to want to arrive the weekend before classes started in order to enjoy two guilt-free nights of partying without worrying about homework or exams.

“Have you heard anything about parties tonight?” asked Matt as he flopped down on his bed. He was staring at a large-breasted brunette whose nipples were clearly visible in the poster.

“Nothing other than the rumors of a few blowouts being planned on frat row.”

“Yeah, I heard those, too, but we don’t have an invite.”

Thomas stifled his laugh. “Dude, I don’t think we need an invite. We’ll just show up and and slip inside. No one will know.”

“But what if we get caught?” Matt had sat up and was looking at Thomas with a truly worried expression.

“Just follow my lead and it’ll be cool.”

Matt looked skeptical, but also relieved that he wouldn’t have to spend his last free weekend in a dorm room.

At 10:00 PM, Thomas and Matt left the dorm and walked in the direction of the frat houses. They only had a generalized sense of where they were going. Thomas walked with a nonchalant gate and led the way as if he knew exactly where he was going and what they were going to find.

“This is so awesome,” Matt was saying. “Going to real frat party to hang with the big dogs.”

Thomas let him babble for a few blocks, then stopped walking and got Matt to concentrate. “OK, we’re almost there. Stop talking and try and play it cool. Don’t go looking around wide-eyed like you’ve never seen a frat house.”

“But I haven’t,” said Matt.

Thomas couldn’t argue with that, so instead he tried a different tactic, “Sure, but you don’t need to walk around with your mouth hanging open and staring at everything like a kid at the circus. Just keep your head down and don’t talk until we get in and settled.”

Somewhat miffed at being chastised, Matt nodded his head and fell in alongside Thomas as they turned the corner and saw the first of the frats. The foot traffic started to increase and halfway down the block they saw a crowd milling in front of a sprawling house with large Greek letters hung over the front door. Thomas kept his pace slow and gently drifted into the yard, then causally headed to the front door.

“Remember, play it cool,” muttered Thomas as they got close. Matt was looking around almost frenetically with wide-eyed awe.

As they got to the door, someone exited and held the door.

“Thanks, man,” muttered Thomas with a nod of his head.

“Yeah, sure. Keg’s in the kitchen.”

Thomas led Matt into the house and tried to quickly steer him through the crowded rooms. Large groups of people were packed into every corner talking loudly. Everyone seemed to be holding a red plastic cup full of beer.

“C’mon, follow me,” commanded Thomas. Matt tried to keep up as Thomas weaved through the crowd.

In the kitchen they found the keg. Sitting next to it were two large stacks of red plastic Solo cups. Thomas took two, filled them, then gave one to Matt. They worked their way back the way they came and stopped in a small landing in front of the steps leading to the bedrooms upstairs.

A few minutes later two frat brothers approached and stood in front of Thomas and Matt. “What’s your story?” they asked.

Thomas finished his beer and wiped his mouth. “I’m Thomas. It’s my third year, but my first year here at Graskin. Just transferred in from LCC. I moved in down the street and thought I’d check you guys out when I saw the party.”

“Cool, cool,” said the older of the two that approached. “I’m Tallen and this is Jones.”

“What’s your major?” asked Jones. It was like they were trying to catch Thomas in a lie.

“Declared accounting when I started here. Kind of floated my first year, but after taking an auditing course last year something clicked. Then I took stats and reporting one-o-one and aced ‘em both, so I figured I found my major.”

“Sounds like you, man,” said Tallen guy as he hit Jones on the arm.

Matt was looking from one to the other with a look of blank naivete on his face.

“What’s your name?” asked Jones with a raised eyebrow.

Matt hiccuped in a surprised panic. Thomas jumped in and smoothly answered, “This is my little brother, Matt. He’s a freshman at LCC. I told him to come over for the night and I’d show him what the nightlife at a real college is like. It’s been a bit of a shock.”

Tallen said, “Huh, OK. But really, kid, you old enough to be drinking that?”

Matt sputtered, beer trickling down his chin. He looked terrified. Before he could answer, Jones laughed, “He’s joking. Drink up.”