trail on forever as she scanned the restaurant, probably to check if sheâd been spotted by anyone she knew. âYou guys look super cute.â
âHey, Steph. Whatâs up?â
âSooooo good, thanks for asking! Olivia wouldâve come in to say hi if it were any other restaurant.â
âOh, because theyâre anti-gay-marriage? I know, Iâm embarrassed to be giving these people money myself, but I was so hungoverââ
âHuh? No. Itâs because we arenât exactly supposed to be seen in fast-food places like this. Itâs like an unspoken rule.â
âWait. What?â
âYeah, we arenât really supposed to go to places like this. Itâs, like . . . an unspoken rule,â she repeated slowly.
âWow. Really?â
âYeah. You shouldnât be in here either. If youâre planning on pledging.â
âAre you serious?â
âDefinitelyserious. Colette is pretty strict about this stuff.â
âUh . . . okay. Thanks for the heads-up.â
âAlso, Meg texted this morning and said that weâre fine with the Panhel or whatever about your situation.â
âThe Panhel?â
âYup.â
âI donât know what that is.â
âYou donât?â
âNo. Am I supposed to?â
âThe Panhellenic Association. All the national sororities fall under its jurisdiction. Basically, girls who are interested in Greek life technically have to go and âvisitâ each sorority on campus before rushing. But since youâre a major, major legacy and we love you so much, Meg said you donât have to go around and meet all the fucking tards at their weird special-ed houses.â
âWow. Cool . . . thanks for the update,â I said as I sipped my Dr Pepper. Jonah was staring at Steph.
âWe just wanted to make it easy on you. Plus, they owed us a favor in the Panhel office anyway.â
âThanks?â
âFuck yeah thanks.â
âAwesome. Well, thanks for stopping by and getting me all up to speed on everything.â
âOh my God, no problem. It was completely my pleasure. Anytime. And just so you know, unless youâre blackout drunk, you shouldnât be eating at McDonaldâs, Burger King, Subway, Taco Bell, Wendyâs . . .You know what? Iâm gonna just go ahead and email you a list of places that are off-limits and Iâll alsoinclude a few salad places, sushi restaurants, and coffee shops that we love. Cute?â
âUm.â
âPerf! See you later.â Steph smiled, turned, and walked toward the door.
âOh! And one more thing,â she added from the doorway. âYou should pre-game with us tomorrow night. Itâs always a blast and our place is amazing. Youâre gonna love. My sister will pick you up at nine. Bye-eee!â she sang-spoke, turning around before I could respond.
Jonah and I stared at each other.
âIâm kinda sad that you donât wanna hang out with them anymore,â Jonah said, finishing his last bite.
âTheyâre psychos, I know. And that was ridiculous. But . . . I donât know. Last night was fun.â
âYouâre obsessed with them,â he said in disbelief.
âYeah, in like an anthropological, ethnographical-study kinda way.â
âOkay, I donât really know what you just said.â
âIt doesnât matter, nevermind.â
Jonah slurped the remains of his drink and started to stand up. âWhatever, Iâm gonna go for a run, you wanna come?â
âNo running for me. My knees are still a mess, plus I have to head to the library to do some research for a paper about current female heads of industry.â
âThat sounds horrible.â
âItâs not as bad as it sounds.â
âYes it is.â
Jonah and I stepped out of Chick-fil-A into the sunny Friday afternoon. It was
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