Under the Rose (16 page)

“That may be a reason to avoid it on its own,” I added.

Thorndike continued. “I was reading up on the ingredients the other day, and I think—”

Lil’ Demon paused in her efforts to wriggle into a mermaid costume and pinched her thumb and forefinger together. “Zip it. Are you a medical professional? No. You’re not even studying the sciences. Last I checked, you were majoring in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration.”

“And what’s your major this week?” Thorndike asked. “You know you do have to declare it sometime before graduation, don’t you?”

“American Studies.” Lil’ Demon smiled sweetly. “And I think I may actually have a thesis topic. Even Errol Flynn over there will like this one.”

Juno looked up from the floor, where she was strapping on a pair of thigh-high, Three-Musketeer–style boots. A cutlass hung from her hip. She twirled her silent-screen mustache. “Oh, do tell!”

“I’m writing about the development and spread of collegiate organizations,” Lil’ Demon said. “I’ve been doing a lot of reading in our own history books, and it’s fascinating. Phi Beta Kappa gives rise to Rose & Grave, gives rise to other societies, gives rise to fraternities and sororities throughout the…” She trailed off as she took in our expressions. “What? I’m not going to tell any of the
secret
stuff!”

“Of course you aren’t,” Angel said, but she sounded far from convinced.

“Exactly how much research have you been doing?” I asked. My eye had landed on several pieces of faux Pilgrim wear, and I was busy constructing a wardrobe for Hester Prynne—if Hester Prynne had been a bit more of a sexpot. Long skirt, warm hooded cape, and a corset top emblazoned with the requisite “A.” “And what does our noble Secretary think of your efforts?”

A nervous giggle ran through the room.

“He’s getting more paranoid than you are,” Lil’ Demon replied to me. “It’s quite impressive, really. But I refuse to change my behavior because of all this nonsense. We start letting it affect how we run stuff in this tomb and the terrorists really
have
won.”

This time, the laugh was genuine.

“Seriously, though, you should see some of the stuff I’ve found. Maybe, if I have some time, I’ll do a report on the secret, historical stuff for the rest of the club.”

“That’s a great idea,” said Juno. “What kind of stuff are you talking about?”

She shrugged. “Past scandals, stuff that would make the shit that went down last spring look like child’s play. You think the patriarchs are up in arms now, you should see what kind of crap they tried to pull when clubs started tapping minorities. The factions almost tore this place apart.”

Angel pulled on a high, powdered wig. “The jury’s still out on seeing how together we’ll be by the end of the year.”

On the way out, we ran into Lucky, who appeared to be making a beeline from the Grand Library to the front door.

“Hey!” I called. “Wait up!” She stopped and turned, her expression carefully neutral. “I’m getting the impression, Lucky, that you’ve been making yourself scarce recently. Come on, let’s go get you a Halloween costume and you can come out with us.”

“I don’t participate in Halloween,” Lucky said stiffly.

“Why?”

“Why do you care?” she snapped.

I held my hands up. “Whoa, there. Chill out. I just thought it would be fun. You never hang out with us anymore—”

“It’s devil worship.” She glared at me. “So you go ahead and honor demons. I’ll pass, thanks.”

“Okay, fine. Then how about we meet up tomorrow? We can get some coffee or something.”

“I said, I’ll pass.”

The other Diggirls, clustered on the landing, began to rumble with protestations, and I leaned in closer. “Lucky, are you angry at me? I really think we should talk about this. I honestly didn’t mean to overhear what you were talking about with that guy. So if you want me to keep my nose out of it, I will, no matter how much I would rather do otherwise. But please understand I’m only trying to help.”

“Help me do what?” she cried. “Turn into the kind of people the rest of you are? No thanks.”

At that, the other girls gasped.

“Look here!” I shouted back. “I’ve never judged you, and believe me, if I wanted to, I could. I could say plenty of stuff about how narrow-minded you’re being, and how rude, and what poor decision-making skills you seem to have…”

“Oh, yes,” she replied in a voice dripping with disdain, “go ahead and attack my morals from
your
position in the gutter. You were looking plenty high-minded in the
kitchen.
”

“Me?” I cried. “You started it. This has nothing to do with different values. I respect yours. Lucky, all I ever wanted to do was talk to you because I thought your boyfriend was pressuring you into something you didn’t want to do.”

She straightened. “You don’t know me, you clearly don’t know my boyfriend, and most of all, you haven’t the slightest idea what it is
I want to do.
So stay out of my life, Bugaboo.”

With that, she left. The other four joined me.

“You guys have some sort of issue I don’t know about?” said Thorndike, looking after Jenny’s retreating figure.

“Same old story from a few weeks ago,” I said. “I accidentally saw her in a fight with her boyfriend”—and she saw me getting cozy with George—“and I don’t think she’s taking it too well.”

“I’m going to go out on a limb here and figure the rest of us would get similar treatment?” Angel asked. “She practically tore your face off. I didn’t know she had it in her.”

“Better you than me,” said Lil’ Demon. “I’ve been in a couple of catfights in my time, but that girl? She’d have Lindsay Lohan cowering.”

“She’s not usually like that, is she?” Juno asked. “I always got the impression she was sweet and quiet.”

“Yes on the latter, not so much on the former,” I grumbled.

“Don’t worry.” Angel put a brocade-clad arm around my shoulder and squeezed. “She’ll calm down by the next meeting. You two can patch things up.”

“You think?”

“Sure. You’re Diggirls.”

We left the tomb and headed to Clarissa’s apartment to put the finishing touches on our hair and makeup (Odile is a master at eyeliner). Some of the party vibe had worn off after my altercation with Jenny, but the other girls did their best to lift my spirits. Mara, especially, seemed in a great mood, but she was probably just celebrating the fact that, for once, she wasn’t the odd Diggirl out. And yes, I have to admit Mara was growing on me. I still found her blunt opinions and truculent nature a bit irritating, but who was I to hold that against her? If the other knights could put up with my conspiracy-theorist leanings, then why couldn’t I give a free pass to the Queen of the Eli Political Union? (Also, Clarissa popped a bottle of Krug, and really, that just makes everyone friendlier.)

Unfortunately, I’d already promised to spend the evening attending the annual Eli Symphony Orchestra’s Halloween concert with Lydia, so I took my leave of the other girls and, all costumed up, began to hoof it home through the cold but clear purple twilight. My roommate and I had hardly been spending time together at all in the last few weeks. She was busy with Josh, I was busy with George, and we were both ridiculously busy with the demands of our classes, not to mention our respective societies.

Our secret society radio silence still held, but I was beginning to see chinks in the armor. My best friend had been dropping a few hints about planning a trip for our last spring break (when all Diggers historically hold a retreat on our private island), and when I’d demurred, things had grown a little chilly.

For the two weeks following, she’d taken all of her phone calls in her bedroom, left the suite early on society evenings, and made several references to Eli “traditions” I’d never heard of. They could only pertain to society-specific activities. I’d have to remember to ask Greg or Odile if, in their research, they’d come across a mention of any campus society that incorporated into their initiation rites the raw-hamburger “blood” or feathers I’d found on our suite floor last spring, or if they even knew any of the terms Lydia had been throwing around. I myself have been guilty, upon occasion, of letting Digger jargon slip in the barbarian world. (See? There I go.) Perhaps the words were clues to her society’s still-secret identity.

W
EIRD
T
ERMS
L
YDIA
D
ROPS

1)
Packing, as in, “We should pack that Politics in Prose seminar together next semester. It’s supposed to be really hard to get in, but we’re seniors and it counts for both our majors.” ? My theory is, it means band together and take it, or not, as one.

2)
Jolling, as in, “I can’t believe he’d actually make a statement like that in a class full of women. We almost jolled him on the spot.” ? My theory is, it means jump someone.

3)
Gunned, as in, “The dining hall was gunned tonight. Did you like those potatoes?” ? My theory is, she thinks the cooks were on their game.

Either that or it was the new hip-hop slang. Still, I wanted to get to the bottom of it. After all, she knew I was in Rose & Grave; it seemed only fair I at least learn what society she’d joined. And how funny would it be if the tomb we broke into for our annual crooking expedition was Lydia’s?

I crossed Chapel Street and headed under the Art History building arch spanning High Street. And that’s when I saw him. Micah Price, standing right beyond the arch on the tomb side of the street. I froze and flattened against the wall, thankful for the dark cape that no doubt shielded me from his sight. What was he doing there? As I watched, the door to the tomb opened, and Jenny stepped out. I thought she’d gone ages ago, and it was so not kosher to have your boyfriend waiting right outside like that. He watched her come down the steps and met her on the pavement. They kept their heads together for some time, whispering to each other, but I couldn’t make out a word they said.

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, she was definitely using an imaginative interpretation of the secrecy oath. And I would definitely be bringing this up at the next meeting. I didn’t care how angry she was at me already.

I arrived back at the suite to find that Lydia and Josh had started the party without me. Even more surprising: George was also in attendance.

“I assume you don’t mind that he showed up at our door?” Lydia asked me slyly as she handed me a shot glass. “Drink up, we’re running late.”

Lydia was dressed in riding wear, complete with velvet hat and a crop, which apparently amused Josh to no end. For his part, Josh had chosen the time-honored James Bond costume (i.e., tuxedo, martini glass, and plastic Walther PPK), and George, who never missed an opportunity to be a) disaffected or b) dirty, was wearing a T-shirt that read, I A
M
T
HE
M
AN
F
ROM
N
ANTUCKET
.

Together, we made our way across the campus to Memorial Hall, warmed only by our suite’s official drink of Gumdrop Drops and (in my case, at least) flimsy costumes. The whole way over, George entertained himself trying to lob candy corn into my corset-enhanced cleavage, and I did my best to ward him off with flicks of my cape.

“I’ll fish them out later,” he promised in a whisper.

The concert hall was a zoo, the way it was every Halloween. The enormous mezzanine was already near-bursting with students who, drunk and costumed, were running from aisle to aisle, showing off their outfits and sharing inebriated conversations and dramas. Above us, two successive balconies teemed with people in devil outfits, Princess Leia costumes, streetwalker-wear (whorish togs being an evergreen Halloween choice at college campuses across the nation), and obscure interpretations of abstract ideas. This last is an Eli special. The point is to dress as a sort of walking rebus in hopes of inducing everyone around you to marvel at your brilliance and beg you to tell them what the hell you’re dressed as. These clever little toolboxes were dotted about the audience, puffing out their chests and trying to stump passersby. I spotted four singing-group types wearing aprons and holding clippers and hair dryers (Barbershop Quartet), a chick with a pair of stilettos hanging around her neck (Head Over Heels), a man in a velour suit with numbers stuck all over him (Fuzzy Math), and a woman—who had me stumped for three straight minutes—wearing a bikini made out of two dining hall dishes and a computer keyboard, and carrying a bottle of Schweppes. Finally, I nailed it: Plate Tectonics.

We were trying to squeeze past a freshman in one of those purple balloon bunch-of-grapes getups I thought no one wore outside Fruit of the Loom commercials and a guy in full Mark Rothko body paint (and little else) when I felt a hand on mine.

“Amy!” Brandon cried. I turned to find him seated at the end of an aisle, dressed in a really kick-ass rendition of Alex from
A Clockwork Orange
—bowler cap, fake eyelashes, and all. At his side, Felicity looked as if she’d just stepped out of a U2 video in her belly dancer/genie outfit. A belt made of gold coins clinked around her hips and her long dark hair was piled artfully on top of her head. “Are you looking for a seat?”

He tried to scoot down the row a bit, but Felicity appeared to need more room than one would have imagined, considering how slim she was. I saw her take in my outfit, her eyes lingering extra-long on the scarlet letter on my chest.

“Amy.” George appeared at my side. “Lydia found us seats. Come on.” He looked over my shoulder at the space Brandon had created and shook his head. “I don’t think that place is big enough for all of us.”

Brandon only stared at me with mismatched, heavily made-up eyes and nodded slowly.

George leaned over the seat. “Hi there, I think we met last year. I’m George Prescott.”

Felicity’s eyes widened, though whether it was at the name or the corresponding reputation, I wasn’t certain.

Her boyfriend took George’s hand and rallied. “I’m Brandon, and this is Felicity.”

Dimmesdale, meet Chillingworth.

“Well, have fun at the show.” George put a hand on my waist. “C’mon, Boo. It’s about to start.”