LOL, Boyfriend did turn out to be the lamest of losers. It happens to the best of us, I guess
At least he motivated me to go out for recruitment (even if it was for totally the wrong reasons, and filled with misinformation).
Anyway, on the day of pref, Lilly got her call first. She took it in the hallway (one of her many qualities that I found slightly annoying, as she was just going to tell me anyway. Why put on the show?). She didn't come back, but before I could go after her, my RC called. I had been invited to preference at Tellin and Scallop. While the loss of Murex stung a little, I was more embarrassed at having to tell Boyfriend that they'd dropped me than sad that I wouldn't be a part of their chapter. (Predictably, Boyfriend had nothing but unhelpful and rude things to say: "(Expletive) them! I guess you weren't (insert bad offensive thing here) enough for them." Le sigh.) Tellin was where I felt I belonged all along, and I was begrudgingly excited to see the Scallops again, even though I fully intended to suicide Tellin.
After calling Boyfriend, my mom, and my best friend from home, I realized Lilly had still yet to return. I went to the hallway: no Lilly. Lounge: no Lilly. She wasn't in any of our friends' rooms either. I finally found her sitting on the bathroom floor, sobbing.
She had been invited to Conch. Only Conch.
I was floored. To be honest, to this day I am still floored that this happened to her. In the interest of full disclosure, Lilly and I are no longer close friends, due to a tense situation between her, myself and our suitemates sophomore year, involving the constant presence of Lilly's very own lame loser boyfriend. So I'm saying this as someone who doesn't even really like her anymore: it was SHOCKING that this happened to her. She's a pretty girl, and extremely put together. She really wanted to be in a sorority because she had grown up around Greek women and respected the institution. She made a great first impression and had been prepped for rush seemingly since birth. I still just simply don't get it.
To be honest, in that moment, I wanted to quit. The whole process seemed so upside down and unfair: I had gone out somewhat on a whim and done reasonably well, while this girl who had been born into Greekdom and faced pressure from her family had seemingly gotten royally screwed.
(Small aside: after I got into my own organization, I asked a few sisters about Lilly. I never got details, and I really don't want to tread into membership selection territory, but I was told by a few sisters that Lilly had said offensive/off putting things about meeting boys at parties. I know for a FACT that Miss Born to Rush would never never ever have said anything she shouldn't have said. Was there maybe a lookalike PNM with a similar name who was going around asking inappropriate questions? I'll never know and neither will Lilly. But I thought it was interesting.)
I felt terrible leaving Lilly to go to pref, but I decided that I did want to go through with it. First up was Tellin. Their ceremony was beautiful, and very personal. A girl I played instamurals with in the fall preffed me. I left that room feeling 100% confident I would be a Tellin. Frankly, I was just excited to get my shirt the next day.
Scallop was an entirely different experience. I was preffed by the girl I LOVED. I didn't want I admit how much I liked it there and how comfortable I felt. I went in there thinking I was already a Tellin and while Scallop's pref was very nice nothing in there changed my mind.
My excellent RC talked me out of suiciding by explaining to me that they only advised listing one chapter if you'd rather jump off a bridge than join the other. (I don't know how politically correct this is, but it worked on me.) I ranked, and then went back to my room, which was NOT a happy place to be. Lilly's mother had tried to persuade her to go to Conch's pref, but understood why she didn't want to. She was supportive of her decision that she'd rather not be Greek than be a Conch. Lilly's sister also understood, but also spent the better part of their conversation bashing the school, the Greek system at our school, and telling Lilly that had she gone to Big Southern U she would have had her pick of the sororities. (Not to be offensives, but I just couldn't believe someone took something that was supposed to be fun SO seriously. Cultural differences I guess.)
When I didn't receive a call the next morning, I went to pick up my bid.......
Hybrid Mode
