Chapter Text
“Listen I know that because you’re not a scaring major you’re a little skeptical about joining EKO. But I know that they asked you for a reason!” Lily encouraged, clutching her friend's hands in front of her tightly.
“You’re scared to go in alone aren’t you?” Rosa deadpanned, looking Lily dead in the eye.
The purple monster nervously tugged at her collar, her eyes darting around nervously. She let out a nervous chuckle. “Maaaayyyybeeee?”
Rosa sighed shaking her head. “Y’know it’s a wonder you’ve made it as far as you have with these social skills of yours.” Her lower hands rested on her hips like a disappointed mother.
Suddenly a voice called out from the front doorway of the sorority house. “Hey! Are you two gonna stand there all day? Or are you coming in!?” The two girls jumped at the sound, turning their heads to see a fish monster with pale green scales leaning against the doorframe impatiently.
“Oh! Right away!” Lily called, jogging inside. Rosa let out an exasperated sigh before following her in.
The inside of the house was a lot nicer than any of the dorms. Lily had not had a chance to examine it the night prior considering the massive party. But from how clean the house looked as she stepped in, one would not have even known the party had ever happened.
It was surprisingly cozy despite how large the house itself was. The smooth wooden floor was a smooth maple, which complimented the sea salt grey of the walls. There was a long plush rug leading down the hall from the entryway.
Lily looked over to the left of the entryway, seeing Thalia lounging on a couch with her feet propped up on a coffee table. She casually waved over to them. “Ladies! Welcome! Have a seat.” She gestured to the couch across from her.
Lily sank onto the suede couch. Her hands rested stiffly on her lap as she did her best to keep the straight posture she had been practicing. Rosa took her seat far more casually.
“I’m glad to see you’ve decided to consider my offer. I haven’t seen too many girls this year that I considered worthy of recruiting for our sisterhood.” Thalia began, putting her feet down as she leaned forward, pyramiding her hands.
“You see, I’ve become determined to net EKO a win in the scare games before I graduate, and this year is my last shot. We have been consistently getting second place the last three years, but we have always just barely lost to ROR.” Her face scrunched in disgust at the mention of the fraternity.
“So I felt that we needed both a change in strategy and a real heavy hitter.” As she made the statement she gestured to Rosa and then to Lily. “Something the RORs will never see coming.
Rosa cautiously raised a hand. “I’m not entirely following. I’m not exactly sure how I fit into this? I’m majoring in psychology, not scaring. I don’t really see how I can be of much use.” She nervously rubbed the back of her head.
“Psychology, I figured something like that based on your people skills.” Thalia nodded. “You’re exactly what we need. We need someone who can read the others well enough to inform our strategy for the games, someone who can get inside their heads.” Thalia tapped her temple to emphasize her point.
“Lily here’s job is much simpler. You’re our dark horse, a heavy hitter they won’t see coming. You’re especially important this year, because I’ve heard this year's crop of freshmen are especially talented, there’s even someone from a very important family pledging.”
Lily swallowed nervously. No pressure! She looked over to Rosa for emotional support, but the moth monster was deep in thought about what Thalia had told her.
“I know it’s a lot to ask of you two, especially as freshmen, so I won’t fault you for refusing my offer to join. But if you do, you can become a part of MU’s scaring legacy.”
Rosa looked up at Lily, a determined sparkle in her eyes. All at once, Lily’s nerves washed away as she nodded to her with a smile. They turned to look at Thalia. “We’re in!”.
Despite their excitement to begin sorority life, new entries into EKO would not fully move in and be initiated until the end of the first semester. So for the bulk of the fall semester, their job would simply be to hone their scaring and lie low until after finals.
Going unnoticed came easily enough to Lily, she was never the type to initiate a conversation with strangers or raise her hand much in class. She had always been more of the only speak when spoken to type unless it came to people she liked.
When her face was not buried in her Scaring 101 textbook, which she had read cover to cover at least 5 times by that point. She was tutoring Rosa on the basics of scaring, fortunately, Rosa would not have to take any sort of exam like Lily did, so she could focus on just learning the physical act of scaring rather than having to memorize all the different techniques and phobias.
If cramming did have an upside, it was that it can be difficult to notice how fast time passes by. One day the leaves had just begun to turn orange for autumn, the next a thin layer of snow blanketed the ground as the beginning of winter also heralded the end of the semester, and with it the scaring final.
Lily paced around the dorm room like a caged animal, her side of the room looked as though a tornado had passed through, if a tornado was named Lily Blake.
“Where the hell is it!?” She cried as she lifted her bed as if checking under it for the third time would magically make her missing textbook appear.
Rosa watched from the doorway, hat and mittens already on to brave the cold outside. She froze for a second before grabbing Lily by the shoulders, her other hands reaching into the unzipped messenger bag hanging off of her friend’s shoulder. She plucked the textbook in question from its place in Lily’s bag, making her eyes widen even more before sighing in relief.
“Take a deep breath and clear your head Lil’.” Rosa soothed, gently shaking her. “I know this final is a big deal but you’re gonna crush it! You could probably recite this entire overpriced textbook to me by this point. What have you got to worry about?”
“What if… when I get up on that stage in front of the entire class, I just can’t do it… What if I just freeze up, and fail?” Lily looked down at her feet. “It’ll just prove my dad right… That I’m not cut out for this… I can’t work in the restaurant my whole life, I just can’t.”
Rosa gave her a sympathetic look. “The only person on this campus who doesn’t believe in you is yourself. I know you’re gonna go in there and scare the pants off everyone, and then you’re gonna kill it at the scare games! Don’t worry about your old man! He hasn’t seen what you can do!”
Lily wiped away the tears that had been welling in her eyes before pulling Rosa into a tight hug. “Thank you, Rosa…” Her voice was muffled by the fluff on the monster’s shoulders.
The lecture hall was packed to the brim with anxious monsters fretting about the exam that for many, would determine whether or not they were truly cut out to be a scarer.
But Johnny was not worried one bit. He had always known he was cut out to be, not just a scarer, but the best scarer. He was a Worthington, it was what was expected of him, just like his father, and his grandfather before him.
Despite his natural talent, he still saw no harm in brushing up on his techniques by skimming through his textbook again until he was called up to the front, which would not be a while since they were going in alphabetical order by last name.
Javier sat next to him, looking over some flash cards. Over the past few months, the two had become good friends and had a mutual respect for each other's talents.
The insect monster occasionally glanced over to the front row on the other half of the room. Johnny followed his gaze to see a purple monster pouring over her textbook like it was a matter of life or death, her knee bouncing nervously as her red gaze rapidly scanned over page after page.
“You got interesting taste man.” Johnny teased, jabbing Javier with his elbow.
Javier rolled his eyes before explaining. “Nah, man. She’s a friend of my cousin Rosa. She asked me to keep an eye on her 'cause she’s a bit…” Javier struggled to think of a word for it.
“Wimpy?” Johnny added. Making Javier shake his head.
“That’s a bit strong, no she’s… different. I guess that best describes her?”
Johnny looked back over at her again scoffing. “Well if she gets this nervous just from a simulator she’ll never be able to handle the real thing. But hey, that’s what this test is for. Weeding out monsters who can’t make the cut. She’ll probably switch majors or something after this.”
“Blake!” Professor Knight called.
‘That name sounds familiar…’ Johnny thought to himself
The girl sat up straight closing her textbook and skittering over to the stairs leading up to the stage as the simulator reset for the next test. She nervously flapped her large clawed hands, as if it could magically shake the fear out of her.
She stood in front of the simulator, her large eyes wincing under the bright spotlight.
The professor looked from the file on the table in front of him. “I am a 7-year-old boy in a manor in the English countryside with a fear of ghosts, what scare do you use?”
“That would be a haunting approach with a banshee screech.” She answered, a waver in her voice.
“Demonstrate.”
She went over to the door of the simulator, giving herself one last shake-off before grabbing the doorknob.
As the student entered the room it was as if some sort of switch had been flipped. Every step she took was calculated as she nimbly stepped around the toys scattered across the floor. She crouched at the foot of the bed, pressing her left foot down at just the right spot on the ground to make the floorboard creak. The robotic child’s eyes opened, but it remained lying in the bed.
Next, she brushed the end of her tail across the bottom of a curtain, letting out a whispery sigh as she crawled to the side of the bed, just out of sight as the dummy sat.
The student sprung up and let out a high-pitched screech so loud most of the class clutched their ears. Johnny’s ears were left ringing as he stared in wide-eyed shock, the memory of the party from the beginning of the semester flashed through his thoughts. Professor Knight’s glasses were knocked askew in surprise before he quickly fixed them, looking up at the canister meter next to the simulator to see it full.
“G-grades will be posted outside my office tomorrow.” Knight stuttered.
The girl bowed her head in thanks before quickly leaving the stage, grabbing her things, and darting out the door.
The professor quickly recovered from his shock and called the next student up.
Johnny leaned over to Javier. “Did you know she could do that?” He whisper-yelled.
“No fucking way man!” Javier replied in the same hushed volume.
How did a scarer as good as that not set off Johnny’s radar earlier in the semester? He had always made it his business to associate himself with the best scarers on campus, but she had been right under his nose for months.
How interesting!