[LOVEinZTA]

Prefs

I waited outside Cappuccino towards the back of the line as we slowly inched forward. Finally it was my turn to go in and a girl at the door announced, "The sisters of Cappuccino welcome LOVE." A cute little blonde girl whom I had not met before took me by the arm and led me to a table in the middle of the room. There were little fish bowls with red flowers coming out of them and pebbles surrounding them on each of the tables around the room and the sister took a pebble and one of the flowers and gave them to me to hold. I listened as several members stood up and spoke about their experiences in Cappuccino and how much their sisters had meant to them. They sang a few songs and finally my rusher escorted me down a red carpet to the front of the room to place my flower in a vase with the rest. Then we walked towards the door where there was a bowl filled with water. She told me to throw my pebble in and make a wish. I did and she leaned over and whispered to me "I hope your wish was the same as mine." I left feeling a little underwhelmed. These girls were very sweet, but I felt like there was something missing.

I had about 20 minutes before pref at Mocha. I saw girls lining up outside Espresso for their pref party and looked away to keep myself from getting emotional. I had felt so strongly about them after their last party - and I had just gone to pref at another chapter, which was supposed to be incredibly touching, and didn't feel anything special. I started wondering if I was going to fit in anywhere. I even debated not going to my second pref and just rushing again the following year. Just when I was starting to psych myself out, Amanda happened to walk by and she could tell I was upset. "You really liked Espresso, didn't you?" she asked and I nodded my head. She, in more words, told me that sometimes the chapters have a better idea of where you're going to fit in then you do. Sometimes you meet one person in a chapter that you connect really strongly with and it turns out they're the minority. She calmed me down and I got in line outside Mocha.

I was welcomed at the door as I had been at Cappuccino and greeted by another girl I had not met before. As we walked in I saw my rusher from the day before across the room and she gave me a discreet wave hi. My rusher sat me down in a chair and knelt next to me. She asked me if I was nervous and I told her a little. She just had a very calming presence. She told me why she had chosen Mocha and all of the wonderful people she had met and experiences she had over the past year. After a little while everyone got quiet and we moved to another set of chairs that were arranged in a semi circle facing the front of the room and my rusher stood behind me. She gave me a white flower to hold as we listened to a member play the piano and 3 girls sing a song. A sister stood up and gave a little speech about Mocha and then the girls behind the PNMs started saying a poem line by line. After that was finished, a girl at the front of the room started singing - and she was singing the same song that Espresso had sung at the end of their skit! But this time it had an even deeper meaning to me. I started bawling, and the girl behind me rubbed my shoulders a little bit to calm me down. Finally, we walked to the front of the room and I returned my flower to the vase before my rusher escorted me out.

There was no doubt in my mind who I would list first on my preference card, and I turned it in quickly:

1 - Mocha
2 - Cappuccino

I saw Lady on the way out - she had pref'ed Mocha first as well and Macchiato second which surprised me. Amanda told me I'd get a call by around midnight if I hadn't received a bid.