Authors: Stephanie Perry Moore

Get What You Give (21 page)

BOOK: Get What You Give

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ARRIER

“
A
lyx Cruz in the house. I'm a Beta Gamma Pi girlâget out the way! Alyx Cruz in the house. I'm a Beta Gamma Pi girlâI work it all day!” I chanted as I swayed my Latina hips from left to right at the National Convention's collegiate party for my beloved sorority, Beta Gamma Pi.

I wasn't trying to be funny or anything, but as a Mexican in a black sorority, it was not easy. I had it going on. The looks I got from men told me they wanted to get with me, and the looks I got from girls told me they wanted to be me, or they hated me because they weren't. It wasn't my fault that I didn't have kinky hair and that mine flowed more like a white girl's (though, truth be told, some days I wished mine was kinkyâmaybe then I'd fit in with everyone). Though they couldn't see it, I felt like a true sister from my core. But most Betas felt a Spanish girl shouldn't be in a predominantly African American sorority. If they'd take time to get to know me they'd see I was down for the same things they were. That's why I joined Beta Gamma Pi.

However, if another one of my sorors looked at me like they wanted to snatch my letters off my chest, they were gonna be in for warâa real fight. I hated that I'd had to transfer to a new school. I'd finally gotten people to like me for me back in Texas, but because I'd partied just a little too muchâokay, well, not just a little too much, a lot too muchâmy grades had suffered. And I'd put my scholarship in jeopardy. It was a minority scholarship, for which you had to maintain a 3.0 grade point average. I'd had to find another school that would take me with my 2.6 GPA, but I'd wished I could fix my mistakes. I hoped I wouldn't squander another great opportunity.

Now I was gonna have to start all over again winning friends at Western Smith College, my Tio Pablo's alma mater. My uncle helped my mom and me come to the United States from Mexico when I was three. He'd died when I was six, and it had been me and my mom ever since. My mom kept his framed degree in our house to inspire me to do more. So I applied to Western Smith and thankfully got enough financial aid to attend.

I couldn't get an education any other way. I had an opportunity, and I couldn't be crazy with it. I had to make sure I seized the chance. Here I was in America living the dream, and I had been about to waste all that. But now at Western Smith, I had a second chance.

But I couldn't focus on any of that, particularly when my favorite song came on. “Hey, get 'em up, get 'em up!” I started shouting as I turned, swiveled, sashayed, and bumped into that girl Malloy I'd met an hour before.

“I am so sorry,” I stuttered, taken back at seeing Malloy with about fifteen of her buddies all staring hard at me like I'd stolen their men or something.

“Oh, no, you're fine. It's perfect anyway. I was just telling my chapter sorors here about you,” Malloy said in an overly sweet tone.

All these girls were from the Alpha chapter at Western Smith, where my sorority was founded. For some reason the girls in this chapter really thought they were better than everybody else. I could tell by the way they looked at me that they wished I'd go crawl under a rock. But I was on my way to their campus, and I already had my letters, so they needed to get over themselves. I looked at them, my hand on my hip and my eyes fully awake, like, “What ... what you gon' do?”

“
Okayyy,
let's have some hugs and some love,” Malloy said as she pushed me toward them.

The hugs I got from some of the girls made me want to throw up. They were so fake with it. When I got to the last few, I didn't even move to hug them. I wasn't a pledge. They could respect me or keep stepping. A few of the girls turned their noses up at me and walked off. I didn't care, because the sorors I pledged with would always be there for me when I needed sisterhood.

Then Malloy touched my shoulder and whispered, “Wait, please let me introduce you. Please.”

Something in her gesture got to me. I didn't know her from Adam, but she was genuine. I really appreciated her wanting to make the awkwardness dissolve.

“These are my line sisters Torian and Loni”âneither girl standing next to her said helloâ“our Chapter President, Hayden Grant; Bea, our First Vice President, and Sharon.” Those three didn't even put up our sign, which was customary when you met a new soror.

“Now y'all, for real, you're being rude,” Malloy scolded as she turned her back to me and tried to get her chapter sorors straight.

She didn't have to go defending me. I could hold my own. Shoot, they didn't want me in their chapter. Well, too doggone bad. I was coming, and what were they going to do about it?

But then, as I saw them continuously staring, I realized they were seriously feeling threatened. They didn't know me or my heart. I had to make them feel comfortable and let them know I wasn't trying to mess up their game. So I said, “Hey, I know it's tough accepting an outsider into your fold, but in my soul let me say I feel like family. I mean, I am your soror. I know a lot of Betas who aren't really excited about Spanish girls, but trust me, I don't want the spotlight, and my letters didn't come easyâI was hazed. I just want us to be cool, all right?”

Bea smiled and stuck out her hand for me to dap. When the other girls smiled as wellâI guess now they knew I wasn't paperâwe were cool.

“To me, more importantly than how I pledged is why I pledged,” I continued sincerely. “I plan to make a difference in the community and I love this organization. Just give me a chance.”

All the girls finally gave me a real embrace. I didn't know where we'd go from here, but I was excited to find out.

BENEVOLENT

Y
eah, I know I got it going on, and even with all the eyes rolling my way, I'm not gonna feel bad about that. My dark, almond-toned skin is glazed to perfection. My 5'7” body is slim in all the right places. My sassy short do moves the men. I know how to work it. Every guy at this Student Government Association back-to-school party is checking me out, including the fine, commanding SGA President, Al Dutch.

Al Dutchâyes, he wants everyone to use his whole name all the time, saying he plans to run for political office one day and we need to remember him. Al is a lady's man; he looks, walks, and talks like money! You know the type. The one who's confident and cocky and always has a sure smile plastered on his or her face, with a no-worry, got-much-loot look in his or her eyes. Al's that type. His skin glows like he has slept on the best satin sheets and used the finest body oils all his life. All the men wanna be him. All the girls wanna be with himâincluding me. It was game time, and I was flirting hard.

Western Smith is your typical historically black college with even more bells and whistles. We are rich in history in our great state of Arkansas. We have everything at our disposalâa good football team, excellent academics, amazing Greek life, and great cultural campus events. Western Smith even has a first-rate bandâwhich is the place where I fit most.

I was a drum major my sophomore year. Now that I'm a junior, I've switched gears and decided to try something different. Now I'm captain of the dance team. One would think my life is perfect, but my reputation isn't the best. Though I don't care what people think or say about me, I know I want to make the line of Beta Gamma Pi. Three years ago when I first came to college, I was at a probate show where the sisters were stepping, and I remember all the excited oohs and ahhs they received from the crowd. It was then that I knew I really wanted to be a Beta. Plus, their sorors in my hometown of Natchez, Mississippi, helped get me through my high school years and because of their scholarship, I was able to attend Western Smith.

After meeting some Betas in middle school, I had researched the sorority. I found newspaper clippings about the five founders, and I'd even taken a tour of the National Headquarters about thirty miles from campus. The more I looked into what the Betas were all aboutâleadership, sisterhood, education, Christianity, and public serviceâI knew they were the sorority for me. The whole God thing wasn't really my thing, but I knew to be a Beta, I had to either clean up my act and hope they would vote me in or cancel that dream altogether.

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ISBN: 978-0-7582-8159-3

BOOK: Get What You Give

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