“I didn’t go to the prom,” Faith said. “No one asked me. I bought this for this party.”
“You didn’t miss anything,” said Heather, who was wearing a lacy black number. “This was my prom dress and no one could even see it in the dark room. I thought, what’s the point of dressing up?”
“Sorry to hear that,” Faith said, forcing a conciliatory smile; she didn’t like Heather very much. “But hey, if I had gone to more stuff like that in high school, maybe I wouldn’t be so nervous now!”
“It’s nothing to be nervous about,” said Kathy. “You can always say no if you don’t like the guy you get matched with.”
“I know,” Faith said. “I’m just hoping it’ll be someone I do like, you know? It’s been at the back of my mind ever since pledge week.” She gulped down most of her punch and then helped herself to another serving, and spotted a few more of the guests arriving at the door. “Well, I’m going to go mingle with our guests,” said to Kathy only, hoping to avoid another of Heather’s condescending retorts.
That retort did in fact come, as soon as Faith was out of earshot and exchanging compliments with a couple of the seniors. “She has no clue, poor baby,” Heather said.
“Oh, go easy on her,” Kathy said. “Some of the nerds are probably nice guys underneath it all.”
“Yeah, but be honest,” Heather said. “If you could choose between Barry and one of the guys we really are gonna get matched with?”
Kathy laughed. “No contest, you’re right. But who knows what Faith likes? She’s such a nerd herself, after all.”
“I wouldn’t feel sorry for her if she’d dressed like herself,” Heather said. “She might as well be wearing an ‘I don’t get it’ sign around her neck!”
Kathy glanced over to see a couple of goofy-looking freshmen stepping in. “Right now I wish I didn’t get it either,” she confessed.
Faith had no trouble catching the eye of a dapper looking guest who was chatting with Emily, a sophomore and one of the few others who had dressed up almost as much as Faith had, and Mary Beth, her favorite of her senior sisters. “Well hello!” the man said, shaking her hand. “I’m Will.”
“I’m Faith. Lovely to meet you.” She felt as pretentious as she sounded, but she was coming to realize she enjoyed playing that part.
“Faith, Will is the orchestra concertmaster,” Mary Beth explained.
“Concertmaster?” Faith asked.
“Lead violin,” Will explained.
“Oh, okay! I guess tonight someone will find out if you can play a woman like a violin, huh?” As soon as the words were out, Faith could scarcely believe she’d said it. But once again she found she rather liked it.
Will howled with laughter. “Oh my!” he said. “Faith, I definitely need some of what you’re drinking!”
As soon as he was gone, Emily said, “I wouldn’t get any designs on him, Faith.”
“I have as much of a chance as anyone, don’t I?” Faith said.
Mary Jane poked Emily and shook her head furtively. “Of course you do, Faith,” she said. “It’s just that our chances with any one guy are one in…twenty or whatever.” There were 24 women in the house, but a few always made a point of being elsewhere for the Fuck Valentine’s Day party.
“I guess,” Faith said. “But those chances aren’t too bad, are they?” Then she spotted a guy she knew, Ben from her political science study group, standing awkwardly on his own just inside the door. “Oh, I should go say hello to Ben there,” she said, and was off.
“She doesn’t know, does she?” Emily asked Mary Jane.
“You’re not supposed to know either, Emily,” Mary Jane pointed out. “None of the underclasswomen should know.”
“Oh, leave her alone, Mary Jane,” said Lindsay, who had sidled up with Nancy a step behind her as usual. “Didn’t you know about it freshman year?”
“No, as a matter of fact,” Mary Jane said.
“Me neither,” Nancy reminded Lindsay. “Faith’ll figure it out soon enough. Let’s not spoil it for her just yet.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Mary Jane said.
“Fine,” Emily agreed. “But I don’t believe for one second that Will’s heart isn’t marked for some senior.”
“Oh, it is all right,” Mary Jane said with a wicked grin. “Don’t worry, if he really can play a woman like a violin, you’ll all hear it from my room.”
Ben, looking shy and awkward in a dark green sweater that was more attractive than he was, didn’t even recognize the beautiful woman approaching him until he heard her voice. “Hi, Ben! I didn’t know you were invited!”
“Oh, Faith!” He covered his mouth to mask his nerdy laugh, but it rang out all the same. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you!”
“Yeah, well, I never wore this to poli sci, did I?” Faith acknowledged, looking down at herself. “And I don’t suppose you thought I…”
“Would be at a party like this?” Ben asked. When Faith nodded, he said, “Well, no. But I never imagined I’d be invited either.”
“Who did invite you?”
“Barry. He said it was my reward for improving so much in cross country last fall. I guess most of the guys didn’t think I’d make it, but I did.”
“I see.” Then an unpleasant thought came to Faith’s mind. “Can I ask, the other guys on the team…”
“No one knows anything about it, at least not officially,” Ben said. “Barry swore me to secrecy when he invited me.”
“Oh good.”
“But you know, everyone on campus knows KKG does this every year,” Ben said gently. “Unofficially, word gets around. But I haven’t told anyone I was invited and I don’t know who else was, except Barry. Sorry.”
“No, it’s fine.” Faith felt her lips curl into a naughty grin. “To tell you the truth, I finally realized tonight, I’ve really been looking forward to this! For months I told myself I shouldn’t, but…”