Rumor Has It

The hijabs were safely tucked away for this event. It was the week before the start of school, and the new Al-Assaf Scholars were in for orientation. They segregated them by sex for the social hours in the beginning. For the men, they were at the mosque. For the women, they were at the stately mansion of Yusuuf and Elizabeth Barre.

The rumors were legion. That the program was basically a facade for putting white women under the thumb of Black and Arabic Muslim men. Even though the rumors were true, it was hard for the women to turn down a fully paid scholarship. And with that benefit on the line, the downsides were justifiable. An African man or an Arab man as a partner wasn't _that _bad, right? Right?

It was a pool party, and after the dinner was over, the women were encouraged to swim in the pool. Elizabeth was particularly focused on her two mentees for the school year: Harper Adams, the valedictorian of a local private school (and busty redhead from years of careful Irish breeding) and Amy Graham, the granddaughter of a governor and niece of a Senator, the last remaining scion of an Alabama family that dated its American heritage back to the pre-Revolution era, but fallen on hard times in the present generation. Each of the selected mentors -- Julia, Allie, Elizabeth and Lindsay and Ramona as 'graduates' of Beta Beta Chi -- would mentor two girls each, subtly directing them to providence.

"Remember, ladies," Elizabeth reminded them as it started to wind down, "this is a pool party."

She took off her summer dress, wearing just a thong bikini. Her tattoo, her haram tattoo, of the great horn of Africa was on full reveal.

"Holy shit," Amy whispered to Harper. "The rumors are true."