Revenge of the sdreN
Chapter 1
Catherine had hoped that college would mark the end of being looked down on for being geeky and plain, but she had had no such luck. Guys still seemed to gravitate to the girls with impressive bodies and less impressive minds, and ignore smart, passionate girls like her in spite of her best efforts. Her IQ scared a lot of potential mates off, and her beanpole of a body lacked any of the womanly curves that might have had guys flocking. The one solace she had was her sisters in Nu Epsilon Rho.
Catherine had been nervous about joining a sorority, since years of Hollywood and television had painted a picture of sororities that didn’t interest her in the least. However, Nu Epsilon Rho had been a pleasant surprise. All of the girls in it were geeks like her. They all preferred reading books and studying to putting on make-up and partying. Everyone’s GPA was 3.75 or above, and nobody’s looks were more than a 4 out of 10. Catherine’s life was almost bearable thanks to Nu Epsilon Rho, but the whole world couldn’t be like her cozy, supportive community. Some days Catherine was brutality reminded of that fact. Days like today.
It was the first day of Junior year, and Catherine had been roped into staffing the table for Nu Epsiolon Rho at the Student Involvement fair. Her partner in crime was Sai Akiyama, a spectacled Asian girl who was about 30 pounds overweight. Catherine and Sai were both majoring in physics, and were close friends. Several hours in the sun trying to attract new recruits might almost have been fun, except for the table directly to the right of them.
That table was for Beta Iota Mu. If Nu Epsilon Rho was a pleasant defiance of Hollywood stereotypes, Beta Iota Mu was the perfect embodiment of them. The two girls manning the table looked like the had just walked off a runway. Both were blonde, and had toned, athletic bodies that betrayed the fact that they were probably involved in cheerleading or volleyball. They wore big fake smiles, and enthusuastically greeted any girl who came to their table to sign up for their mailing list or take a brochure. However, Catherine noticed that whenever an unattractive girl would provide her contact information, they’d put it in a different pile from the rest. On any other day, Catherine would have let it slide, but today she felt pushed to act.
When they put yet another girl’s contact information into the reject pile, Catherine walked up to the table and confronted the girl on the right, whose nametag said “Jennifer.”
Crossing her arms, she tried to make herself look more confident than she felt. “Why are you sorting some of the girls into a different pile?”
Jennifer looked Catherine over, sizing her up. Her eyes lingered on Catherine’s drab shirt and baggy pants, before she responded. “Why do you, like, care?”
“Because, it seems like you’re sorting them based on attractiveness, and... and that’s not okay!”
Jennifer rolled her eyes. “Look, I totally understand your, like, sympathy for your own kind, but some people are Beta Iota Mu material and some aren’t.” The last words were almost sneered towards Catherine. “Besides, we’re still going to let them rush. They won’t get in of course, but they’ll at least have the illusion they could have been one of us. Most of them will probably end up in loser sororities like yours, along with all the other socially handicapable.”
Catherine was furious at this point. She was about to start yelling, completely oblivious to the Student Involvement Fair going on around them, but she felt Sai trying to drag her away.
Sai was normally shy in the face of confrontation, but she did manage to get out a, “L-let it go, Catherine...”
Catherine managed to control her anger a bit more than before. “I’m tired of letting it go, Sai! I’m tired of girls like that getting everything, and girls like us getting nothing.”
Jenny just shook her head, and gave a malicious grin. “Listen to your fat friend, there. What she lacks in self control around food, she more than makes up for in common sense.”
Sai looked like she had been stabbed. Warm tears began flowing down her face, and she turned and began to run to the nearby dining hall. Catherine wasn’t done with these bitches, but she knew her friend should take precedence. She gave a last dirty look to the two girls, and ran to find and comfort her friend.
Catherine found Sai crying in one of the stalls in the women’s restroom. Catherine wasn’t the best at comforting people, so she just hugged Sai and spoke the most comforting words she could think of.
When Sai was done crying, she looked into Catherine’s eyes and spoke. “C-catherine, are you superstitious?”
Catherine was surprised by the words. “Sai, what has this got to do with anything?”
“Well, are you?”
Catherine shook her head. “No, not really.”
Sai gave a sad smile, and pulled off the necklace she always wore. It had a red gem, with a Japanese symbol on it. “Do you know what my mom told me when she gave me this necklace?”
“Sai, where are you going with this?”
Sai just continued. “She told me that on the day you recieve this necklace as a gift, any wishes you make before midnight come true.”
Catherine was still having trouble understanding where her friend was going with this. “It’s a nice story, Sai, but you don’t really believe it, do you?”
Sai frowned. “Of course not. I’m too smart for that. When my mom gave it to me, I just wore it and didn’t even bother making a wish. It felt too hokey and silly to even consider.” Sai tightened her grip on the necklace, “It’s just... sometimes I want to believe in magic, Catherine. Because the alternative is this mundane, crappy world we live in.”
Catherine didn’t know what to say.
Sai held out the necklace to Catherine. “I want you to have this. I-i know you’re probably not going to make a wish, but if you do, could you make a wish to make life better for people like us?”
Catherine took the necklace. No words came, but Sai seemed to understand. After some time passed, they both walked back to the Student Involvement Fair in silence. In spite of the dark cloud hanging over things, they actually managed to get some girls interested in joining Nu Epsiolon Rho, and avoid looking at their neighboring table for the most part.
When everything wrapped up, Catherine and Sai went back to the sorority house. They studied for a few hours together, and after they said good night to each other Catherine found herself alone in her room. She began to disrobe in preparation for bed, when her hand touched the necklace she had almost forgotten she was wearing. She looked at the clock. 11:57.
She appreciated her friend’s gift, but the whole thing was too ridiculous... Wasn’t it? Catherine sighed, even though she prided herself on being rational, she had to admit that it was fun pretending that there was magic in the world. 11:58.
If she was going to make a wish, she’d have to make it soon.
“I wish... I wish that the members of Nu Epsiolon Rho were the epitome of attractive.”
She might have imagined it, but for a moment it looked like the red gem glowed. Could it have worked? She went to the mirror, and was disappointed by what she saw. The same curveless, unappealing body she always had. Oh well, so much for magic. She went to sleep disappointed that she had considered magic plausible, even for a second.