In a while, the soro sisters had finally decided to release the new member, or should we say the applicant, yet, and that gave Ella a sense of relief. She was thankful that, finally, they had considered releasing them from their tie and raising us up from lying on the floor.
That position the new members just had was daunting. At least when they were standing, they were given a chance to see the others.
Just from the corner of the room, Ella spotted Leira, beside their sophisticated golden-haired classmate, Dennise, who had been bossing up to her and Zara during their first meeting.
Dennise was also displaying an excited expression on her face, and Leira was obviously simply trying to build rapport with her. Ella didn't know that the golden-haired girl, Dennise, and Leira were friends. Zara and Leira are already friends, and she is not sure that Zara to be comfortable with it since the two girls were not having a good impression of each other to start with.
Ella thought that it was just her who had noticed Leira with the new girl. However, Zara did too. Zara elbowed Ella and pursed her lips, pointing to Leira and the golden-haired girl.
"Yes, I saw it," Ella whispered as she was not sure yet what the sanction was for being caught talking and not listening to the master initiator.
"Really? Like she mingled with that socialite girl? I swear, I'm never gonna be talking with Leira again." Zara rolled her eyes, and Ella abruptly nudged her with her elbow after she noticed the master initiator looking over them.
Ella got jitters and was praying that her gaze would just pass over them. She was far from being ready to be sanctioned.
The first show was even dreadful when it was just simply welcoming the applicant and introducing their world. They were tied and snatched like a kidnap victim. How much more if it was a sanction. What could possibly be done to compensate for the wrongdoing? Those are the words that came out of Ella's mind.
And, even if they were still not told about the roles, she would be more cautious. Well, people can't blame her. She was always freaking out about hazing, the main reason she was hesitant to join the sorority.
"Okay, applicants, I want you to walk in a line to the kitchen, and please don't break the line." The initiator commanded them as the others guided them. Give them the feeling of being in kindergarten in school or maybe convicts in the jailhouse.
While they were walking in line to the kitchen, Liera noticed them, and she smiled at Ella while giving a small wave without raising her hands. Ella also noticed her whispering to Dennise while pointing at her and Zara.
Ella glanced at Zara since she could sense the awkwardness it is gonna make between her and the golden-haired girl.
As expected, Zara rolled her eyes and looked away from them. Dennise also raised an eyebrow towards Zara, simply making everything worse and more awkward.
Moving to the kitchen, there was a big table and a lot of red-colored plastic glasses on the table with a transparent yellowish liquid inside. Ella's first instinct: her first guess is it could be beer or a rum. Worst-case scenario, it could be urine because they all looked that way.
All of the applicants were standing, surrounding the table filled with cups. While waiting for the instructions.
"Five cups for every person. You just have to drink it without any excuse," the initiator said.
Most of the girls abruptly took their first cup, then one after another without stalling. Zarra already got her third one. However, Ella was about to grab her first. Since she was worried about being left behind for the next initiation, she immediately gulped it, feeling the raspiness of her throat after the tangy alcohol slid through her gullet. It tasted a bit burnt and sweet, with some hints of wood.
If not only for the burning sensation inside her mouth, it would surely be easy for her to gulp one cup after another, or maybe she's only used to it. However, she's not used to drinking liquor.
However, being in a sorority with a party almost every night, she thinks that she really needs to get used to drinking alcohol. Which she's actually not sure if she'll be enjoying it.
Yet, she was aware that being in a sorority also means being sociable and a socialite as well, which in the first place was supposed to be out of her league. Yet there she was, trying her best to be part of them, for the noble cause of having a free house to live in and a free tuition fee. This would be just until she graduates.
With her mantra on her mind, she didn't hesitate to gulp another glass again.
Then another…
Then another...
Finally, she finished her five whole cups, and most likely, she was the last one who picked the last cup, and everyone was already staring at her. Probably waiting for her to put her last cup down, so they could proceed to the next step. At the same, she was also praying that there would be none for the reason that the rum seemed already hitting her. She was feeling dizzy and wobbly, waving her hand once again to get everyone's attention. Ella shook her head a bit to focus on what she was saying as mostly all of the excited girls were making clamors for a moment. She even wondered if some of them felt what she felt too.
She was afraid that if it was only her who felt that dizzy, then she feared that this would be the reason that she will be kicked out of this endeavor with just the first part of the initiation and lose all her dreams of staying in the University more comfortably and a chance to get the scholarship.
"Are you okay, girls? How was it?" The initiator said with a little smirk.
And everyone was feeling so excited that they were talking, answering the question in chorus. Making every word they said sound like gibberish and just noises, but most of them were yeses.
"Next, we need you to go outside this time; cars are waiting, and since there are 20 of you, we will divide you into four groups, which makes five girls in every car. So here I have a list for the first group. Mari, Chany, Nisha, Perla, and Yam. You can move ahead and go inside the car. Next group, please get in the car… Liera, Denise, Ella, Yden, and Zara…" The initiator continued reading, but this time, Ella and her group stopped listening to what she said and started moving towards the car.
Since they already had their own group, she was at least happy that her two friends, Liera and Zara, were with her and hopeful and pretty confident that everything would be fine.