America 1982-Chapter 92 - 10: New Members’ Welcome Party
If last night’s recruitment party was the fraternities bringing in alumni heavyweights to show off their brotherhood’s heritage and strength to the Stanford freshmen,
then tonight’s 8 o’clock induction party is the first time the selected newbies get a taste of the insanity and indulgence of fraternity parties.
Moreover, getting an invitation to this party doesn’t mean you’re already a full member of the fraternity; it means you’re qualified to participate in the fraternity’s upcoming selection process. This party gives you a taste of the fraternity’s perks, and then you have to face the impending hellish pledging process, which typically lasts four to six weeks. Only after passing the grueling tests can you consider yourself a formal member of the fraternity.
For Sparta, also known as the SSD fraternity house, tonight’s setup was completely different from last night’s. The entire hall had been transformed into a huge dance floor with various lights, glitter, champagne, beer, and even a pole dancing stage set up in the center at man’s height.
At this moment, Tommy, along with ten other freshmen, was stationed at the entrance, merely able to gaze from a distance at the stage where several blonde babes in high school uniforms and miniskirts were dancing heatedly. Below the stage, the fraternity brothers, holding their beers, only needed to look up slightly to see the girls’ thighs and more, eliciting various exclamations from time to time.
"The hotties on stage are BDP’s new chicks of the year, and you losers are our SSD newbies. Know what the difference is?" The SSD party manager said sternly to the eleven people in front of him.
Next to him, someone was using a handheld camcorder to film the newbie’s performance tonight, clearly intending to record their actions.
Jason was the first to raise his hand, and the party manager motioned for him to speak up. "They have thirteen girls, and we have eleven guys, which means someone has to put in extra effort. I’m willing to take on that responsibility, sir!" Jason blurted out immediately.
"Not bad at math, kid. You made an impression on me right off the bat!" The party manager laughed and pointed at Jason, before turning to everyone else:
"Do you know what the first test for a newbie is? Make us remember your name. Tonight, we’re going to party hard. Two societies combined, sixty to seventy people, assessing the twenty-four of you. You need to make sure we remember your names when we wake up with a hangover the next day. So, whether you play the fool or show off, find a way to make everyone remember you. If you can’t even get the attention of sixty to seventy people, the twenty thousand living alumni of SSD have even less interest in some nobodies like you! So, if you’ve really got the goods, spread your charm, get three girls to sleep with you, and make people remember you! Welcome to SSD!"
After finishing his speech, the party manager stepped aside, opening the door behind him, and the eleven newbies stepped in, all but Tommy appearing as excited and nervous as elementary schoolers on their first visit to the White House.
BDP, rightfully called the Blonde Society, lived up to its name at that moment with thirty-some beauties, all with full heads of blonde hair. Tommy picked up a beer bottle and moved to the front of the stage to relax and enjoy the dancing girls, just like the other fraternity members.
About fifteen minutes later, those new chicks from the Blonde Society stepped down as the music ended, and SSD’s president, Charles, hopped on stage, grabbed the mic, and called out to the crowd below: "BDP’s new chicks showed off themselves; now, let’s welcome the queens of BDP to the stage, to teach those little girls what temptation is all about!"
Several mature-looking young women from BDP made their entrance amid cheers and started to dance provocatively. The moves performed by the previous new girls could only be called vibrant dances, but the gestures of these ladies now were clearly more alluring. A few simple yet skillful touches to their breasts, hip thrusts, and leg lifts had the boys below gaping.
After Charles made the announcement, he returned to the second floor. Perched on the balcony railing alongside Eric, he peered down at the dance floor: "I hope your country bumpkin doesn’t get drenched in champagne by the chicks."
"I don’t think that will happen, and I bet this guy will get to know one of BDP’s new chics intimately tonight," Eric said with certainty.
The reason Charles made that comment is due to the obvious class segregation in the United States. People like Tommy Hawk and those seemingly outgoing blond hotties might all possess blond hair, but in reality, their education from birth was utterly different. It was fine for these girls to dance and drink with Tommy at the same party, just showing themselves off and expanding their social network. But to get them to become friends with someone from a rural public high school, to bond physically, it all hinged on whether this Tommy Hawk had enough personal charm to make the girls overlook his family background.
After the stage saw a switch to even more alluring and sensual women, Tommy, unlike the other newbies who watched intently, turned away from the stage and headed for the sofas in the distance. Several new chicks from the dance had seated themselves there to rest, occasionally chatting with some guys coming up to hit on them.
"Catherine Winters?" Tommy looked at them from a distance, finally settling on a girl with a sweet smile and an innocent look. He carried two glasses of champagne over to her, handed one to her, and then said kindly, "We’ve met before, remember? At a Nick Children’s Channel recording. Unless I’m mistaken, you’re from the Manchester private high school in New Hampshire, right?"
The girl had just been whispering to a friend, but she looked up at Tommy and accepted the champagne when she heard him speak: "No... I mean... I did record at Nick Children’s Channel, but I don’t think we’ve met, and I’m quite sure my name isn’t Catherine Winters, nor am I from New Hampshire."
"Tommy Hawk, I worked as a program producer for Nick Children’s Channel in high school. Sorry, I might have heard too many names and got yours wrong, but I’m pretty sure I saw you at Nick Children’s Channel." Tommy reached out his hand smoothly, introducing himself.
"Renee, Renee Moore," the girl shook hands with Tommy politely and replied.
"You’ve worked as a producer at a TV station?" a blonde girl next to Tommy asked with some surprise, "That’s cool, I’ve only been on-set for recordings at most, which show?"
"Buccaneer Caribbean, a summer variety show, performed pretty well, and there should be a second season this year, but I won’t be producing it, because I’ve come to Stanford to study computer science and turned down the job at the TV station." Tommy smoothly took a seat on the sofa, extending his hand, "What may I call you, miss?"
"Holly Kina, Stanford University, social engineering," the girl replied, shaking Tommy’s hand.
"I remember now, the summer camp show, right? A bunch of high school students living in a Caribbean summer camp." At the same time, a girl named Renee, having heard Tommy speak, finally recalled some details and looked at Tommy Hawk with newfound admiration, "Wow, you produced that show? I’m actually classmates with a television producer?"
"I guess you guys don’t pay attention to the end credits, if you check the co-producer section, it’s got Tommy Hawk, no mistake." Tommy looked at them both, smiling, "Actually, I’m not here to hit on you, well, I guess it is hitting on you, but not in the way you’re thinking. Even though I won’t be involved in the production of the second season, the network hoped I could provide some ideas, so actually I’m doing a survey report. I thought Renee was an old friend, so I wanted to ask her to participate in a survey. Holly, if you’re interested, you’re welcome to join in. I need a lot of people’s opinions."
Renee perked up, "What survey? I’d love to help with the show, but it’s a pity, I was too busy attending various summer camps back then, I didn’t watch it closely. If you’re asking about the first season, I’m afraid I won’t be able to answer."
Holly nodded along, even worse off than Renee, as she hadn’t watched the show at all.
"You don’t need to have seen the first season, just some general questions." Tommy said to both of them with a smile, "First question, tell me your most vivid impression of the Caribbean in just two words."
...
"Ghost!" Tommy Hawk sat on the sofa, spreading a napkin flat, his hands above it as if summoning something, the napkin moved at Tommy’s call.
Renee and Holly among six or seven girls from BDP covered their mouths, giggling at the side, Renee’s cheeks slightly flushed, she then spoke up, "Tommy, you’re too much, that’s obviously not a ghost, we all know what it is, right?"
"Oh? You already know what it is?" Upon hearing Renee’s words, Tommy didn’t wait for her to finish and swiftly flipped the napkin away.
When the answer was revealed, Renee covered her face with her hands and bowed her head deeply, mumbling something quietly, while the other girls laughed even harder seeing their friend get the answer wrong. Holly loud asked from the side: 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
"Renee, what is it then? We don’t know what it is?"
Renee leaned her hand on Tommy’s shoulder, resting her head against it, whispering with a giggle, "Help me out, Tommy. Explain to them that I actually know what it is. I don’t want to be embarrassed by them for the next four years."
"OK, I’ve got another game that’s guaranteed to make them forget what you just said, but I need you to cooperate with me as my assistant." Tommy grinned as he stood up and extended a hand invitingly to Renee, who grasped Tommy’s hand in turn and stood up from the sofa.
Tommy turned to the girls with a mysterious air, "Ladies, this magic trick is called ’Disappearing’."
Charles rubbed his face at the second-floor railing, pulling out twenty bucks from his pocket and handing it to Eric next to him, then looking down at the rookies in the hall below who still hadn’t managed to successfully talk to any girls, "You won, comparing with this guy, our picks look like country bumpkins who’ve never seen the world. This guy here is having a blast with six or seven girls all by himself, so what exactly did he learn in those four years of high school?"
As the clock struck eleven, the others finished dancing and returned to the sofas to drink and rest, casually starting conversations, while by that time Renee and Holly had already turned red-faced from drinking, dragging Tommy Hawk and several bottles of booze, insisting on finding a quiet place to play truth or dare.
Watching Tommy leave with the two hotties, Jason, who just finished dancing in a sweat, swore Shit to the other rookies, "I thought the real chatting up was just beginning after dancing, but Tommy already managed to take two girls off. Does anyone know how he did that?"
"Seems like that guy took a napkin..." One rookie tried to recollect and said to Jason, "I’m not sure, I was watching the hot girls dancing, I only saw a bit, it looked like that."
Jason’s eyes lit up at once, looking at his rookie pals, "Guys, we’ve gotta step up! Come on, let’s show the ladies what we’ve got!"
