Cleaning up

“Well how’s everyone’s hangover?” Chloe asked as the girls sat around the Delta Mu kictchen. It was a bit before noon. Everyone had been allowed to sleep in, which Blair was thankful for as she rubbed her temples as her head pounded. She took another sip of coffee. The caffeine was helping.

“Not great…” Mary Roslyn had barely gotten the words out before she stood up and took off for the bathroom again. By Blair’s unofficial count this would be the third time this morning she’d puked.

“Bacons ready!” Pearl said as she laid a plate loaded with bacon down in front of the assembled sisters and pledges. “Pancakes will be ready in just a few minutes.”

“You know typically it’s supposed to be the pledges cooking us breakfast you know that right?” Monica said as she strode into the room and immediately snatched a piece of bacon.

“Are you kidding me? After the disaster that was last year? Nu uh. They didn’t produce anything that was edible till 3 in the afternoon. No. I cook. Y’all will clean tho.” She finished with a laugh. Blair didn’t mind that arrangement.

An hour later everyone had eaten and the pledges had set to work on cleaning the house. They had been informed that the Deltas were hosting a party that evening with several of the on campus frats attending. The chapter room downstairs as well as the sisters rooms upstairs were not for the public to gather in but Monica had been clear that everywhere else had a standard of cleanness to meet. And if it didn’t meet them by the time she gathered them for that afternoon’s pledge task they’d all be punished.

Cleaning the house wasn’t fun, but Blair didn’t mind. Most of the older sisters had left the house for various other activities around campus. It was giving her a chance to bond more with her fellow pledges.

After the previous night her and Maria hand formed an unspoken bond. The Latina was quite but was far from reserved. Originally Blair had mistook it for her being shy. It was in fact the opposite. Maria wasn’t going to say anything unless it needed to be said. It wasn’t worth the energy.

Blair also found she really liked Hope who she felt had a lot of wisdom as a Junior to offer. And she was impressed by how much optimism she’d found in the face of her injury.

“Yeah it sucks not being able to play this year… but it means I get a medical redshirt. Which I already redshirted my Freshman year so in athletics terms next season I’ll still be a sophomore next year… which means I’ll still have two years of eligibility left after I graduate… which means 2 years of grad school here or somewhere else if I want to transfer that’ll be fully paid for.”

Mary-Roslyn was in fact as sheltered and shy as she came across. In addition to last night being the first night drinking in her life she also revealed to the group that her religious upbringing had Also meant that last night was the first night anyone had ever seen her as undressed as she had been last night.

Elissa was hilarious. She made the cleaning bearable by her constant goofing off and jokes. Europe and Alannah feed off of her comedic energy with sarcasm of their own.

Mimi was brooding and business like. Blair found she was being very friendly with everyone but her. Maybe it was in her head but it seemed like the Asian girl had decided that being opposing captains in the first challenge made them rivals. Blair hoped she was just overthinking things. Because she found that she really only had one word to describe Mimi. And it was cool.

Overall the group was positive and went about the work with a determination. With two notable exceptions. Gemma didn’t seem very interested in cleaning. Or even socializing with the other girls really. She was grim but not in an outwardly way that effected the rest of the group. That was where Bruna came in.

“I can’t believe we have to do this.” The thin brunette complained for what felt like the 100th time in the two hours they’d been cleaning.

“Bruna c’mon…” Europa bemoaned stopping the mopping of the kitchen she was doing to face the girl who was supposed to be dusting the blinds. “I know it’s not fun. But it’s part of the process.”

“How many other pledges on campus are currently cleaning their sorority houses?” She shot back.

“Well if you wanna join them you should’ve.” Now it was Mimi getting in on the argument. Blair could sense the tensions in the room starting to rise. She caught Maria’s gaze who simply rolled her eyes and went back to cleaning the top of the stove.

Bruna was about to fire another shot back when Monica walked in. Closely followed by Heather.

“What seems to be the problem here?”

“Nothing!” Bruna said perhaps a tad to aggressively. She followed it up with a quick correction, “Nothing Sister.”

“I didn’t think so. I’d hate to hear that anyone had been complaining about doing their pledge chores. Have you been complaining Pledge Larsen?”

“No Sister.” Her response lacked conviction.

“Pledge Tran.” Monica turned to address Mimi, “when we walked in it sounded like you had something to say to Pledge Larsen. What was it?”

Mimi looked momentarily taken aback. Blair wondered if she was actually considering snitching on Bruna.

“I didn’t say anything Sister.”

Monica gave a soft smile “Hmmmm while I appreciate the pledge unity I’m not buying it. How bout you Heather?”

The curvy dark haired senior gave a smile. “Nope.”

“Pledge Larsen. As penalty for complaining I dock you one article of clothing for the rest of the cleaning session. Pledge Tran same thing but for not being able to come up with a better lie than ‘I didn’t say anything’.”

Mimi gave a small shrug before simply removing the t-shirt she had on, revealing the same sports bra from the night before. Monica accepted it before turning to Bruna. “Is there a problem pledge?”

“But… I don’t have underwear on?”

“As you shouldn’t since you were on the losing team last night.”

“So if I take something off I’ll be half naked!”

“Well you should’ve thought about that before you started complaining. Now take something off before I decide to take more than just one article.”