"Zar, guess what?" Ella asked Zara as they walked out of the classroom that it was their last class and for the whole time while the class was ongoing, Ella had been excited to spill out the news to Zara..
"Hmm, what? You sound excited," Zara's eyes sparkled while looking at her. She actually looked more excited than Ella herself. You can tell just by her expression that was also anticipating something.
"I had decided to join the sorority," Ella whispered since somewhat, she still can't hide the pessimism on joining it. She was pretty determined before not to join but three people are already pushing her through it, which also made her think that they are probably all right. Since they are saying mostly the same thing, Zara, Adam, and her boyfriend Dane.
"Really!" Zara suddenly yelled, Ella never thought for Zara to react that way. Actually, she never thought even seeing herself joining the sorority with and that probably what made Zara that happy. "O...M...G… my prayers had been answered." Zara jumped up and down and pulled Ella down the stairs.
"Wait! Where are we going?" Ella tried to keep up with Zara because she never let go of her hands and dragged her downstairs.
"Celebrate, I will treat you to a hamburger dinner because I'm happy," Zara exclaimed.
While munching over their snack in the cafeteria Zara and Ella talked about how Ella came up to the decision of finally joining the sorority.
"You know what and why I am so happy? Because, I badly want to join this sorority, although I'm still afraid to join alone. I'm also scared you know," she rolled her eyes and added, "But, now that you are here and I'm pretty confident and less scared because I got someone's hand to hold on to."
Ella grabbed Zara's hand and gave her a comforting press, "Don't worry, I'll be joining you and we will get this together, we will be sisters."
After having some burgers, together they walk out of the campus and when they are about to split way, suddenly, something blocks Ella's view. The feeling was like her head was stocked in a wall. Then, a strong and suffocating smell met her nostril as a soft cloth-like thing was pressed over her nose and mouth.
Someone was holding her, supporting her body as she turned weaker with that chemical-like scent, that at the same time was making her dizzy and weakened her knees. She could feel her body about to flop down before she lost consciousness.
*****
Ella gained back her cognizance with the blinding glare, that's hurting her eyes. She squinted while trying to perceive the surroundings. Then came into her view the familiar faces of those girls. They were surrounding her, while she was lying on the floor.
But, then in a while, Ella started to feel another body beside her when the one on her right was moving and groaning. She turned her head towards it and found an unfamiliar girl, then another one on her left moved a little too. She turned her head towards the other side and it was Zara. Her body refused to anticipate yet what happened but she couldn't keep her heart steady as it hammered hard under her rib cage.
She was terrified and the fact that it was probably too late for her to go home and the bus last trip was probably gone, she frowned.
She can't also help being worried thinking about her boyfriend Dane, who was probably waiting for her in the bus terminal. He would be angry or worried that she failed to ride the last trip of the bus.
"Zara," Ella muttered, while at the same time her eyes were secretly glancing over the people in the surrounding area.
'There must be quite a lot of us lying down' when I noticed the girls' eyes roamed around almost every part of the floor. Ella thought. Suspicions reached her mind when she recognized some of the girls that surrounded them. She had indeed seen some of them, they looked familiar. She realized that they were those sorority girls, who barged into classes, distributing forms, recruiting for the sorority.
"Ella? Where do you think we are?" Zara whispered distinctly when she finally realized that Ella was just beside her.
"It seems this is all about the sorority. Those girls, I saw some of them during the recruitment," Ella muttered as she slid her body a little and tried to move her lips closer to Zara. That was the least she can do since they are all tied with both hands and feet, like a kidnapped victim.
"Then, we should not worry about this, It surely was just their way to make excitement with their activities. In fact, maybe this was the first part of our initiation already," she grinned excitedly.
"Oh my G, are you sure? Then why do they have to do this? This is scary," Ella's voice was starting to tremble, she was beforehand pessimistic about sororities and hazing, and by this moment it seemed to show her that she was actually right, on being scared.
"They, for god sake, just snatched us from somewhere and let us wake up on the floor, hand-tied, this act is savage," Ella complained.
"Stop being a scaredy-cat, their way is even cooler. I love it! This is exciting," Zara giggled in a restrained voice.
"Listen up girls!" The tall girl whose features were mostly similar to a barbie doll, raised her hand as she spoke. She must be the leader or the president of the sorority. "This will be just simply the introduction activity for you. If you want to be in the sisterhood you need to be used to living on the edge. However, stay calm because that won't always be what's going to happen, you may live on the edge while you are still aiming to be part of the sisterhood.
You need to undergo initiation and stuff and to tell you the truth we are sure that only a few of you will reach the end. For this… is not just a piece of cake. So you better gear up, be ready for anything that could happen in this journey to sisterhood. There's excitement, pain, and sacrifices. Know that anything could happen, so you better prepare…" The president, which they assumed that she is, just kept on talking while Ella and other girls were still laying uncomfortably on the floor.
"Zara, pst," Ella called Zara as she was busy and intently listening to her (the speaker). She couldn't understand why Zara looked so happy and excited, not even bothered that they were actually in their least comfortable position as of the moment.
Ella was not comfortable and at the same time, she wants to know why Zara acted the way contrary to what she felt. Ella nudged her to get her attention.
"Hey, stop bothering me. Can't you just focus and listen?" Zara rolled her eyes before ignoring Ella again.