Kat threw her backpack straight across the room. It landed right on top of the kitchen counter, sweeping a lone orange off the edge. “Score! 1 point for Kat Kim. Everybody else, zero.” Lilia and Ruby slowly trudged into the living room where the girls simultaneously collapsed onto the couch. “I’ve never been more tired in my life.” Lilia moaned. “I feel the pain. And the sad thing is I know it’s gonna hurt even more tomorrow.” She dug her face into the nearby pillow and started to whimper. “Look guys, I know its tough, but insanity isn’t called insanity for no reason. Let’s get up at seven tomorrow and go back again. I don’t like working out at night. It doesn’t make me lose weight.” Ruby took off her jacket and slid to the floor, leaning her head against the corner of the couch. “Man, if I wasn’t so bored today, I would not have gone with you. I am literally about to pass out in my bed right now,” said Kat as she grabbed the water britta from the fridge.
They hadn’t planned on being that tired. Kat and Lilia only agreed to Ruby’s insanity workout session, which she was trying for the first time, because they were bored to tears. They didn’t want to admit it, but it was Friday night and yet Kat and Lilia had nothing to do. Kat usually had food parties to go to where a bunch of people just went to someone’s apartment and ate food. But she wasn’t feeling hungry after that ginormous burrito she decided to try for lunch. In retrospect she decided to never try it again. Only her stomach knew the painful truth.
As for Lilia, she usually spent her Friday nights sipping tea at Madison’s lovely studio room, or watching Animal Planet with her “Animal Appreciation Club” that she started at their school. They had four members. Most of them were also biology majors. But tonight, all of her club members decided to go to the woods to try and catch a raccoon. Even Lilia knew how dangerous raccoons could be. The furry little creatures had claws as sharp as swords. It was foolish to try and catch one. But nevertheless, the club members were feeling a little stuffy from only watching movies that they decided to go for an adrenaline rush and try to catch one. This was the only reason why Lilia did not have plans for Friday night. Racoons were not a favorite pastime.
Ruby usually hung out with all her literary friends over at the writing center. They would talk passionately about the projects they were working on. And usually someone would bring over snacks. Then they would all go to a concert or a poetry slam event. Those were the best. Sometimes Ruby could even see the spit coming out of the artists’ mouths as they spoke with such beat and conviction. But this morning she looked at herself in the mirror and decided that her thighs were becoming less like thighs and more like tree trunks. So she took the initiative and rented the insanity workout video.
This was how the three of them ended up spending their Friday night at the gym. It ended up being a session where Ruby was the only one really trying. Kat would imitate some of the moves and then start dancing off on her own. Lilia tried as best as she could, but the workout was not what she was used to. In fact, workouts were something she never did. By the end of the workout, the three girls ended up collapsing on the gym floor groaning and moaning. Ruby thought their night was harsh but successful. Kat decided she would never follow Ruby’s lifestyle ever again. Lilia just really wanted to sleep.
Slowly, one by one, they all mosied over to the bathroom after changing into their pajamas. “Seriously guys, do we really have to be in here at the same time? I’d really like to have some privacy.” Ruby said. “With what, your teeth?” Kat said as she started laughing. The laughter caused some of her toothpaste to come flying out of her mouth and onto the mirror. Ruby sighed. This was not the perfect bedroom preparing regimen that she was used to. But today was an exception because all the girls’ brains were vacant. They were all too tired to function properly. Like an assembly line, they finished brushing their teeth and drifted back to their rooms. “Goodnight Kat, Ruby. Have a good sleep.” Lilia smiled drowsily and waved. “Seeya tomorrow.” Kat yawned and closed the door after Ruby. They all got settled in and began to sleep almost instantaneously. Never had the bed felt so good.
Then it happened.
At first, Kat didn’t realize that her feet were slowly twitching. Then she realized that they weren’t actually twitching, but moving to a beat. A beat that was very loud, very crisp, and could be felt through her bed. She jerked up and propped an ear up to the wall. She could hear laughing male voices, snarky female voices, and the sound of people eating all over the incredibly loud sound of a dubstep beat. Kat wasn’t a huge music person, but she especially hated dubstep. And she rarely hated things or found things annoying. But when people disturbed her deep sleep, Kat found that her chipper, comedic personality could turn drastically to that of a lioness making the final death blow to her captured prey. But she was too tired to get worked up.
She leaned her neck out to see that Ruby was beginning to wake up. “What in the world is this heinous music playing in the middle of the night?!” Ruby rubbed her eyes and looked at her clock. It was two am. She groaned loudly and grabbed the thickest book she could find. Kat could see the anger boiling inside the girl. Things were about to get real ugly. She sighed. The guys that lived next door were freshman who decided to ditch the dorm scene to have cheaper housing. She also forgot that both of them were rushing to be frat boys. One of them also had a giant sound system. They called it The Monster. The base was so big that it was about the size of a pizza pan. Kat didn’t think that the boys would actually bust out dubstep hits in the middle of the night though. “This is ruining my already bad opinion of frats and sororities.” Ruby muttered. Book in hand, she began smacking their wall as hard as she could. It did absolutely nothing as the boys kept laughing and the beat kept buzzing painfully in Kat’s ears.
“Uh, isn’t that your favorite book? The one with the giant whale?” Kat asked. Ruby took a closer look and gasped. “Oh shoot, you’re right!” She began to rub the book’s cover remorsefully. “I’m so sorry Moby Dick. I didn’t know, I didn’t know.” She wailed. Kat shook her head. “We have to find another way. Desperate times call for desperate measures right?” She searched around in her closet and brought out a long object. “This was originally to scare off robbers, but for tonight, it’ll be for frat boy wannabes.” Ruby turned on the lights and saw Kat holding her old baseball bat. “It’s game time girlfriend.” Kat said grimly. “Oh no. You are not about to go in there and attack them with it.” Ruby did not want the police to get involved. Kat laughed. “I’m not, but I am gonna destroy that monster of a sound system. They must pay.” She tapped her bat against her hand a few times and began walking towards the door.
“Kat, you don’t have to do this. Besides, its the weekend tomorrow. We can sleep in!” Ruby began to feel a little uneasy. When Ruby was upset, it was something that happened way too often and way too common to be taken as a serious matter. But when Kat was angry, it was a whole different story.
Kat had already opened the door and left. Ruby ran after her and found her standing right up against the boys’ door. “Get out of here right now.” She yelled. There was a brief silence in the boys’ apartment before the noise started up again. Then the door slowly opened and a half naked, drunk freshman walked out. “Uh, ‘scuse me, but who are you?” he asked in a slurred voice. “Do you see this?” Kat pointed to her bat. “If you wake me up one more time. I will literally walk in and destroy your precious little sound system before you can cry ‘mommy’,” She said plainly. “Kat, you actually can’t do that. They can call the police you know.” Ruby whispered behind her. “Um, lady you need to chill out. We were just having a couple drinks here. It’s not a big deal.” The frat boy was clearly too drunk to care. “Don’t sass attack me, freshman. Turn off that music NOW!” Kat yelled. The apartment became suddenly silent.
The guys began to get angry. Swear words flew out here and there. Several other tall guys walked up to the door and began to shove their faces dangerously close to Kat’s. “Your breath smells so bad, it makes me want to puke.” Kat plugged her nose and waved them away but they kept coming. Even Kat began to see the error of her anger. If this kept up, things were going to get out of hand. The boys were twice their size and twice as drunk. A little bat did not scare them.
Ruby checked her watch. It was almost four. She had no choice. Ruby grabbed her curls and messed them up to create more volume. More volume, more power, her mom always said. She took off her glasses and gave the guys her best stare.“Listen, you better think twice before you mess with us. I have the police on speed dial and they already know where we live. And I have three brothers who are twice as tall as you. One just got back from jail. So back off before I get nasty.” Ruby growled. The frat boy wannabes started laughing hysterically. Cold sweat crept up Ruby’s neck as she tried to maintain her prowess. You gotta fake it till you make it, she thought. “Yeah, and I will kung fu your butt if you even think about playing that music again.” Kat added. Ruby rolled her eyes. Now was not the time for Kat’s comedic commentary. But the guys kept laughing. “These puny little girls aren’t scary at all,” they said.
Then a small, soft voice spoke from behind. “Jason, is that you?”
The drunk boy that answered the door suddenly stood up straight. It was as if all the drunkenness was shaken out of him.“Lilia, I didn’t know you lived here!” His voice began to shake. Ruby and Kat turned around to see Lilia smiling dreamily in her pale, pink pajamas. “Jason, you woke me up with your buzzing music!” Lilia cheerfully laughed. “I hope I don’t have to see you or hear you partying this late or I might have to report it to our program director. You know how prestigious our program is right? Not even your parents’ good connections will let you back in.” The boy, Jason, quickly nodded his head and turned brighter than the red he already was. “I’m so sorry, this won’t happen again. I promise! Please don’t report me.” Lilia smiled. “Only since you promised!” She yawned and began to walk back. “See you tomorrow Jason!” The frat boy seemed suddenly sober as he frantically started kicking people out of his place. “Look guys, from now on, no more parties! Everyone get out here!” Everyone groaned and slowly walked out, grabbing their beers and random articles of clothing.
The frat boy turned to Kat and Ruby. “Sorry about before. I’m drunk you know. You’ll understand right?” He faked a smile. “Please boy, don’t even. Next time, your program is on the line.” Ruby snapped. “Yeah! We have our eyes on you. I didn’t bring this bat for nothing.” Kat glared at Jason. He nodded and shut the door quickly.
As they walked back to their bedrooms, Kat, having calmed down, laughed heartily. “Man, you got him good. He’ll never bother us again! He didn’t even seem drunk. What a show.” She looked at Ruby. “Also, nice lying. You only have one brother. And he graduated from Cornell didn’t he?” Ruby sheepishly nodded. “But hey, you don’t know kung fu either. So I’m not the only one.” Ruby looked at Lilia. “How do you guys know each other?” Lilia rubbed her eyes. “Oh I’m a program leader for the life sciences honor society. Jason happens to be in my small group. Any kind of bad behavior gets reported to the program director. You get lots of connections and internships if you join. Makes me kind of his boss.” She giggled. As Lilia walked back to her room, Kat and Ruby tried to make sense of what had just happened. “Well, you learn something new everyday.” Ruby said before they turned off the lights. “Yeah, that our roommate is secretly a powerful dictator. And she had me fooled.” Kat laughed mischievously. Ruby sighed. “That’s putting it at a bit extreme.”
The next day, Apartment 203 and 204 were completely silent.
The Truth About Frats, Parties, and Lilia
