Erica Versus The House

"Awesome," added Jacqueline. "So, think Sigma Delta Psi might be something you may be interested in?"

Erica made herself hold off from leaping from her seat and hopping up and down with joy. She kept cool.

"I think I would absolutely be interested," she cooed, boasting a warm grin, "...If the sorority may be interested in me."

Jacqueline opened a drawer on the sisters' side of the desk and removed a packet of documents and information, identical to that with which they'd presented Tabitha. "Fantastic!" she exclaimed. "Here's your recruitment kit: everything you'll need to know about us, and more. We hope you'll come to our parties, and try to meet as many people as you can. Talk to everyone, Erica. Talk as much as you can. We encourage a wealth of socializing and hold it in the highest regard."

"That's right," added Carole. "In fact, you may wish to have some water with you just to keep your voice in shape."

Erica was so stoked she thought she was going to burst. Still, she forced herself to stay under control until she and the sisters had parted ways. "Oh, thank you so much!" she exclaimed, enthusiastically accepting the recruitment packet like it was Christmas morning. "So...what do I do now then?"

"Well, right now, you can do anything you want," said Nancy. "We're just about through with the interview, so you may stick around for a tour of the Sigma Delta Psi house if you like, or you can go to class, or you can go home and relax." She and the other sisters stood. "For now, you just concentrate on putting that studious, diligent mind to work with the kit, and we should probably be in touch with you sometime between now and the end of the week."

Hooray!! Erica cheered inside. She stood herself and shook the sisters' hands one by one. "Wow, thank y'all so much again!"

She departed the sorority lobby, all but literally walking on air.

October 10th, 5:00 p.m.

The bids were mailed. Needless to say, when Erica received hers, she was thrilled. She was equally delighted to find her pal Tabitha had also been invited. They and all of the other girls asked to pledge were assigned a semi-furnished dorm room and a schedule of sorority events. Starting the following Monday, they began attending parties and meeting everyone they could. Familiar, appropriate songs like Sister Sledge's "We Are Family" played over the stereo system amid the newer sounds. Erica wouldn't speak for Tabby, but she couldn't overemphasize how serious she was about making it into this fantastic organization. She expressed to sisters and fellow pledges how intent she was on this goal, and that she was willing to do anything it took.

It had been explained to her that pledging Sigma Delta Psi lasted roughly three months, the latter half of which involved something called "hazing." The sisters hadn't gone into it in a ton of detail, and given the basic idea, Erica wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but felt she could live up to the challenge. After all, she was prepared to go to any and all lengths to make this happen. The sisters admired her perseverance. She threw herself into the opportunity. She learned everything she could, she hit the books and focused hard on her studies, and she committed herself to the tasks she was assigned.

As the weeks went on and the holidays were approached, the tasks the sisters gave the pledges gradually grew both more demanding and demeaning. Erica, Tabitha and their fellow pledges did not yet realize that they were being gently, subliminally eased into the hazing process. One of the first projects they were given to complete, for example, was sorting coins. They sorted piles and piles of change, for no visible purpose other than to simply sort it, but they were not allowed to wash their hands. The catches such as this were vitally important; if any girl broke a rule, even via genuine forgetfulness, she was drummed out. A few unlucky ladies, such as Erica's other lobby acquaintance Arlene, unfortunately learned this lesson the hard way.

Shortly after, the pledges were presented with very exciting obligations such as cooking, cleaning, dishes, garbage and laundry. They essentially began working as maids for the sisters for free. Soon, these duties also branched off into secretarial, making and taking phone calls on the sisters' behalves and bringing them snacks or drinks.

The ante continued stepping up each week. It was not long from here before the sisters sent their pledges to do their personal grocery, midnight or Christmas shopping, and what was more, to pay with their own money—while still not being compensated in any way themselves. This challenge in and of itself was heightened by the additional responsibility of wearing nothing more in the November/December outdoors than their SDP skirts, and a pair of high heels—or yet less than even this.

Later pledge missions proved more embarrassing and just plain unpleasant than tedious, or solely for the sisters' amusement. Once hazing had officially begun, certain pledges were to wear, say, a huge set of buck teeth—or even a full-fledged chicken or penguin costume—then approach and hit on a handsome guy (or even better, a hot girl) until the sisters were satisfied. Others were clad in an equally unusual outfit, placed in the center of campus and belted show tunes at the tops of their lungs. Others were required to walk barefoot on glue and make it to the other side of the room within a certain amount of time, or on hot coals for a certain amount of time. Others were stripped to the bra and panties and forced to mud wrestle while being hose-sprayed. Yet others were to step in honey and stand motionless on an anthill. Still other less than fortunate lasses were taken outdoors, head and hands placed in a stockade, and publicly degraded through any means fathomable by their fellow pledges. The sisters forced the girls to tease and taunt one another just to rub salt in the wounds of humiliation, with no apologies allowed.

By the time 1989 rolled around, Erica, Tabitha and a number of their friends had endured everything that had been thrown at them, but were starting to wonder just how much more they could take. They only had a couple of weeks left, but, oh, how LONG a single week seemed by this point. Another couple days of fetching the sisters' slippers on all fours and being doused in viscous slime, tarred and feathered, and tortured a hundred other different ways, and they might just start going insane.

They did not even want to begin contemplating what Hell Week would entail.

January 9th, 5:00 a.m.

The sun was still making its way somewhere around Eurasia as three of Sigma Delta Psi's more notorious hazers—Sandra Matthews, Barbara Tate and Danielle Bixby—silently turned the knob to open the door to Erica Smith's dorm room. They crept inside with a flashlight, shadows shuffling along darkness, the dull wattage guiding them along the floor to her bed. Actually, only Sandy and Babs wandered over to her sleeping body in bed; Danielle stayed by the door to flip on the light at their signal.

Barbara, who held the flashlight, discreetly shone it upon Erica's face, as she was sleeping on her side. Babs had to hold herself back from bursting out laughing at what she saw.

"Oh my God!" she whispered to Sandra, quiet giggling escaping her. "OH, MY, GOD. You have got to be kidding me!"

"What?!" Sandy hissed back.

"'What?'? Look!"

Sandra peered down at Erica's hair and face poking out from under the covers. Upon closer inspection, she saw what Barbara saw. The girl was lying in bed, hugging a stuffed Care Bear...with her thumb in her mouth.

Sandy threw her own hand over her mouth to keep from guffawing as well. Now she understood.

"What the hell??" she whisper-laughed to Babs. "What is she, four??"

Barbara shook her head. "Oh, we are going to enjoy this," she grinned sneakily.

Sandy lifted the blanket at the foot of the bed and folded it up, uncovering Erica's feet in her ruffly pajamas. She gently tickled each of them with a single finger. "Wakey, wakey, little pledge," she lightly sang. Erica merely stirred and giggled in her sleep.

This was not the way they intended to bring her to consciousness anyhow. Babs removed the air horn from her pocket.

"Okay, well, what the hell are we waiting for, right?" She threw Danielle a thumbs-up, Danielle flipped on the lights and at the same moment, Babs positioned the air horn a few inches above Erica's head, and ever so politely awoke her.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Erica shrieked, reflexively thrashing the bed before she bolted upright. Her stuffed slumber companion went flying a few feet away. The sisters broke out laughing at full volume.

"Well, and good morning to you!" announced Danielle, prancing across the room to join Sandy and Babs.

Erica was quite disoriented on only five and a half hours' sleep. "Wha—...what in..." she uttered, trying to collect her bearings.

"Welcome to Hell Week, bright eyes!" Sandra greeted her, holding out her hand. "Put 'er there!"

Still trying to fully wake up, Erica heard someone say "welcome" and saw a hand extended to her. She reached to shake it.

Gasp. "Ow!" she cried, yanking her hand away as Sandy waved, showing her the joy buzzer in her palm.

"We hope you've enjoyed being hazed and confused!" Barbara added, blowing the air horn a second time. Erica let out another small screech and threw her hands over her ears.

"That's right," said Danielle. "It's a hazy shade of winter!"

"It's a brand-new haze of life!" Sandy chimed in.

"Ah, the good ol' haze!" sighed Babs.

"If you work hard enough, we'll think about giving you a haze!" Danielle tossed in.

"High haze indeed!" chuckled Sandy.

"Hey, y'know what they say: it haze to get out of bed in the morning!" Babs added.

"We hope you're getting straight haze on your report card, young lady!" chided Danielle.

"Okay, up and at 'em!" ordered Sandra, clapping her hands. "Exercise time! Gotta keep our pledges in shape! We're gonna teach you the newest, hippest dance haze!"

They momentarily ceased with the wordplay. Erica looked back and forth at each of them, dizzy and puffy-eyed. She had no idea what time it was, but she didn't remember getting very much sleep at all.

When she didn't promptly arise, they upped the stakes on her.

"Come on, we said!" snapped Barbara, almost shouting. "Get up!"

"Did you not hear us?!" demanded Sandra, vigorously grabbing and tickling her feet again, making her squirm and yelp. "Don't understand English?! Get the hell outta the bed!"

Erica threw the blanket off herself. "Okay! Okay!" she complied, pushing herself up from the comfortable mattress. "Just please don't touch my dang feet! I hate bein' tickled!"

Oh, DO you... the sisters thought wickedly.

Tired and dizzy as Erica still was, she had to struggle a bit to maintain her footing. Danielle took hold of the whistle around her neck and commanded, "A'right, pledge-face, let's start with some jumping jacks. Stop when we say. Ready? Go."

She blew the whistle. Erica pawed at her eyes, blinking at them repeatedly. Her legs felt stiff. But apparently she was being commanded to work them out. She started to stretch them. The sisters' voices loudened and intensified again.

"HEY! Are you deaf?!" exclaimed Barbara, aggressively snapping her fingers an inch in front of Erica's face.

"We said now!" overlapped Danielle.

"DO it!" ordered Sandra.

Erica, still barely completely awake, panicked. "O-okay!" she obeyed, immediately throwing her muscles into gear, an awkward and difficult feat without the benefit of being permitted to stretch first. "Ow," she wheezed. "Ow...ow..."

The sisters nodded, squeezing malevolent satisfaction out of Erica's discomfort as she performed the calisthenics.

"That's it, that's a good girl," said Babs.

"Yep, now you just keep up that pace," Sandra instructed. Erica's eyes opened in alarm to see the sisters heading to the door.

"W—...wait, wher—...where you g—...goin'?" Erica wheezed out between breaths in the midst of her jumping jacks. The sisters stopped for just a moment to turn around and answer her.

"Oh, we just have to go wake up the other pledges, Scarlett," grinned Barbara.

"But don't you worry," smiled Sandy with a wink. "You just continue those jumping jacks!"

"Remember, you stop when we say so," Danielle pointed, as Sandra and Babs began departing. "And we'll be back in just about..." She stopped to check her watch. "...Oh...who can say, really? But you just keep it up, Miss Smith. And remember," she grinned as well, "Don't wanna do what we tell ya, you know where the door is!"

The sisters left. Ostensibly, they had been thoughtful enough to wake her up earlier than everyone else, at...whatever the hell time it was right now, she thought. Erica kept up the jumping jacks for about another thirty seconds, then began to slow down.

"What am I doin'??" she asked herself, swimming in vertigo. She couldn't keep this up. She couldn't function on this little sleep. Her head was spinning and her tummy ached. Her balance abandoned her and she collapsed back into bed.

She'd just barely fallen back to sleep seventeen minutes later when the sisters returned. Fortunately for her, they had shut and locked the door. Erica might've been 95% unconscious when they came back, but she heard the key enter the door and turn the lock. Suddenly remembering what was going on, she gasped, awoke and sat up. She hopped up to resume her jumping jacks, but she misstepped. One of her very fragile, sensitive bare feet came down on a hair clip she'd dropped on the floor last night.

"OUCH!" she cried. "Oh, DANG it!" She hopped a couple of times on her non-injured foot, rubbing the other tenderly.

Sandra, Barbara and Danielle reentered her room.

"Gosh, that's the strangest-looking jumping jack I've ever seen," she heard one of them say.

Erica stopped hopping and reflexively went on with the exercises, even though they'd already caught her.

"A'right, a'right, kiddo," said Sandy. "We'll let'cha off the hook this time. You don't have to do any more jumping jacks."

Erica settled down. "Oh, thank ya," she exhaled in relief.

"But, eh, in return, I think we're gonna need you to make a little concession to us," Danielle told her.

She stopped in the middle of rubbing her eyes. "...Huh?"

"Yup," added Babs. "Off with the p.j.s, and give 'em to us."

"My...jammies?"

"That's right," confirmed Danielle. "You'll get 'em back...if we let you in."

Erica looked around for a second.

"O...kay," she agreed, a bit bewildered. "Let me just get some clothes and I'll go in the bathroom and change, and—"

She started to open one of her drawers, but she was interrupted.

"Uh, no, li'l' gal, no, ya don't," corrected Babs. "Y'see, that's not exactly what we meant."

"Right," Sandy jumped in. "Here's the deal, dudette. You're not gonna change clothes for us...

"You're gonna strip 'em for us."

Erica took a couple of moments to just blink at them.

"...Huh?" she repeated.

"You heard the lady, Smith," said Danielle, gesturing to her pajamas. "Get 'em off. Right here, right now."

She looked back and forth between them. "But...I'm...I'm not wearin' any underwear."

They crossed their arms. "That's not our problem, chicky," Babs leered at her.

Erica was bemused, and a little scared. She did nothing. Danielle addressed her next.

"What're you waiting for, Christmas?!" she demanded, hands on her hips. "You do wanna be a Sigma Delta Psi, don't you? You want in this sorority or not?!"

"Of-of course I do!" Erica nodded enthusiastically.

"Then surrender those jam-jams, kid!" ordered Barbara.

Erica was skeptical, and now more than a little intimidated, but she desperately did, as they said, want to be accepted. She pulled off her top over her head first, and the sisters smiled at the sight of her naked breasts dropping out. She bent over, slid her bottoms down to the ankles and stepped out of them. She modestly covered herself and straightened back up to face them.

"Um...can I, uh...can I please go to the bathroom, just to...just to go?" she asked them.

The sisters nodded. "Sure," one of them allowed. "Go ahead."

Erica wandered around the bed and took a couple steps towards her bathroom, but as she did, Barbara, who was standing closer, slipped her foot out into her path. Erica tripped over her shoe and fell on the floor, almost peeing herself in the process.

"OOOHFF!" she shouted as her body tumbled onto the carpet. She heard the sisters share a malicious chortle at her expense.

"Ow! Hey, what'd y'all do that for?!"

"To illustrate a point, 'Daiseh,'" Babs mocked her Southern accent, standing over her, also with her hands on her hips. She lightly but firmly placed a foot on Erica's back before she let her get up. "First rule of Hell Week: it's the house...against you."

"And, uh, second rule," Danielle added right away. "The house...always...wins."

Sandy kneeled down behind her. "Which brings us right to the third rule," she promptly appended, again sliding her nails down the bottoms of the girl's feet, solely (pun intended) to tease and annoy her. "Only the toughest survive."

Erica took her time pushing herself to her feet with a groan once they let her, heading to the bathroom. She had a feeling this would not be the most pleasant experience of her life.

January 9th, 6:06 a.m.

Once the sisters had rustled all the pledges up from out of their warm, cozy beds, they were ordered to appear together nude in the main multipurpose room. Quite loathe as they already were being only in nature's own by themselves, being in the presence of their fellow naked young ladies did not give the girls a great deal of comfort. They tried not to make eye contact. The rest of them were of course also sleepy, groggy and trying to maintain their balance. But had Erica looked up, she would have seen her friend Tabitha as well, in her own birthday suit.

Danielle blew her whistle again. "A'right, bimbettes, line up!" she commanded.

The pledges began to look up.

"And yes, that's right, freshies, that means you!" she added.

The girls didn't exactly follow the command immediately.

"Let's go, she said!" barked Barb, clapping her hands impatiently. "Line up!"

The girls formed a reluctant row in front of the sisters. There were only six of them left altogether, reduced from the couple dozen they'd started with a few months ago. The rest had gradually been blackballed, or left of their own volition.

"All right," said Sandra, "Count off. Starting with you." She pointed to the girl furthest to the left.

"One," timidly murmured the first girl, whose name was Elaine.

"What?!" she heard one of the sisters demand.

"One!" she repeated, raising her gaze to face them.

"Two," said Madeline, the girl beside her.

"Three," continued the next girl, who was called Tiffany.

"Four," said Erica.

"Five," counted Tabby, noticing with reciprocated observation that Erica was standing beside her. They were happy for each other being invited to pledge, but more preoccupied with their compromising current state. Erica knew Arlene wouldn't be here, and was disappointed about this, but hoped she'd get to see her again.

Well, not this much of her.

"Six," finished Alexandra, the girl on Tabitha's left.

"Very good," said a sister named Helen. She approached them and ambled by, giving them each a once-over. "Now, since you're new...we're gonna start...by going a little easy on ya. But don't get used to it; it won't last long. Now!" She passed Alexandra and turned to address all of them together again. "Even numbers, turn to your right. Odd numbers, to your left."