Page 20

Chapter Twenty

Jemma

I can’t stand another second of singing. The girls in the chapter house are belting out the Kappa Delta song. Their voices are giving me a headache. My skull pounds from the girls next to me, screaming in my ear as they work on designing shirts for the charity event.

One thing I’ve learned about sorority girls is they not only wear sparkly shirts with Greek letters on them, but they also like to design them.

I’m a minimalist, never one to care about what I’m wearing or how much flare is on my clothes.

But not my sisters. They take this whole sorority thing to another level.

When the song ends, they start again, and I want to bash my brains out.

I glance over at Jordan, who’s holding up the shirt she’s just finished and admiring her work.

She smiles at the tee and catches me glaring at her from across the table.

My older sister knows me well enough to see the boredom written on my face.

Jordan sets the shirt on the dining room table and tilts her head toward the kitchen. I push out my chair and follow behind her. The kitchen is empty, the marble counter at the center of the room full of various trays of cookies.

Jordan lifts a cookie from a plate and offers it to me. “You okay, sis?”

I bite into the cookie. “Yeah, I guess. This stuff doesn’t interest me.”

“Even when we were kids, you always had to rip the heads off the Barbie dolls or roll around in the mud and ruin your clothes.” She cups my shoulder with her hand. “I’m proud of you.” Jordan smiles as she says this.

“I didn’t think you would get through the pledging process. I was so sure you’d give up after the first task we gave you, but you handled yourself perfectly, and even though you don’t like baking, decorating, or hosting events, you’re a Kappa Delta now. And I couldn’t be happier.”

“Thanks.” I swallow the last bit of the cookie and smile. “I wish I was in a better mood. But it hasn’t been the same since I returned to school.”

“Because of Trent?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Look, if it bothers you that Trent is part of The Player Auction, I can replace him in a second.”

“No, I don’t mind that they’re being auctioned off. It’s for charity. I’m sure someone will pay a lot of money for him, and at least it’s for a good cause.”

She steers me toward the kitchen table and kicks a chair for me to sit. “You’re afraid to see him? Is that it?”

I lean my elbow on the table, thinking over her question. Am I nervous about seeing Trent? Yes, to some extent, I suppose I am. I made out with his twin brother.

So far this week, I have lucked out and not had the misfortune of running into either of them—not even his friends. But with Shannon dating Jamie, I will eventually run into Trent.

“Maybe I’m overreacting.”

“No way.” Jordan’s tone grows serious. “They played with your head. Those assholes should consider themselves lucky I haven’t murdered them for what they did to you. If you had let me, I would have issued a campus-wide warning to every girl not to talk to them.”

I roll my eyes at her. “I thought you were joking about that. It would be impossible to do that on a campus of this size.”

She leans back in her chair and laughs. “You underestimate our power. With your sisters’ help, the twins would spend their last semester without sex.”

“It’s hard, you know. I don’t know what to do. At some point, I will have to confront Trent.”

“You’ve spent weeks avoiding him. So far, so good, right?”

“We’ll cross paths at the charity auction. There’s no way around it.”

She scrunches her nose as if thinking. A beat passes between us, and she says, “Do you want to be with him?”

“Yes,” I admit. “But I’m still so confused.”

“You kissed Trent at the kissing booth, right?” I nod, and she continues, “He’s also the one you had sex with. And the one who asked you on a date.” She bites the inside of her cheek, mulling it over. “I want what’s best for you.”

“You didn’t think Corey was good for me either.”

“Corey is a good man, but he isn’t going anywhere. He’s a good friend, a hard worker, and a nice guy. It’s just…”

“He’s not the one.”

“I suppose one good thing came from the twins’ incident,” Jordan says.

“Yeah. How was that a good thing?”

“It helped you decide about Corey.”

“That’s true.” I cover her hand with mine, holding it against the table. “Thanks for this. You helped me more than you know.”

She flashes a bright smile. “Good. Let’s get back to work before our sisters notice we’re gone. Abby will have a stroke if she thinks we’re dodging our duties.”

I return her smile, feeling less stressed than before, though still somewhat confused and frustrated about my feelings for Trent.