Brian POV

The baby wasn't his.

Besides her being too far along for it to be his, the prenatal paternity test proved without a doubt he was not the father.

He was off the hook, this time. Maybe every other time because he was done. No more random girls. Not all the girls, just the random ones.

Besides schoolwork keeping him busy, now he was in charge of bringing in new guys into the fraternity. As Dean of Pledges, he took his responsibilities seriously.

"Welcome Gents to your first set. Now the first thing I will teach you is how you show respect to your Big Brothers. You always greet them."

Manny and Jordan looked at each other and then back at him.

"Good evening, Brian," Manny said.

"Hey, what's up man!" Jordan chimed in.

Brian chuckled, "Cute, but no. A more formal greeting that states your place and gives us the respect we've earned. Remember, you want into my fraternity. You are on the outside looking in. I've been in your shoes last year, all by myself I might add, and Taj has been on this shit for almost two years. Respect that."

Both the guys nodded.

"So think of it as you're glad to be here and you're happy to learn more and get on this level of brotherhood."

"Bri man, just teach them the greeting!" Taj said.

"Patience!" Brian wanted to do things his way. He enjoyed his process last year and wouldn't change it, but he was a different breed than most. He had to feel out Manny and Jordan. It was a good thing they were friends and roommates, that would help. They had each other when things got rough.

"So you guys will walk into any set, stand before us, and give this greeting, Greetings Big Brothers of the Almighty Epsilon Upsilon Fraternity, Double O-3 Chapter at Illinois State University. Thank you for taking time out of your day, to enlighten our minds, and lead us into your tried and true brotherhood."

"Got that?" He looked at them and they both stood there looking lost. "Okay look, somebody better write it down then."

Manny grabbed his sack and pulled out a notebook and pen. "Uh...can you say that again, uh, Brian?"

"And another thing," Brian stopped to glare at Jordan, knowing he would be the difficult one. "I'm Big Brother to you, not Brian, Dean Big Bother Boy Genius to you. And you will greet me properly. Any questions?"

"Greet you like how?" Manny asked.

He already liked Manny, at least he asked the questions and put forth an effort like he had last year.

"Well, My Bro over here happens to have one of the finest Greetings ever, Big Brother Black Magic, why don't you give them your greeting."

Taj stood, standing at attention in front of them. "Greetings Big Brother Blaaaaack Magic!" Taj leaned back and added emphasis to the Black.  "You fuck him once, you all right. You fuck him twice, he might not be nice. You fuck him three times, you might as well forget it because you done bullllll shitted!" Again, he added a lean back to the Bull-shitted.

Brian laughed. "Now that's my dude right there. Every single time you walk into the room, you say our formal greeting, and then our individual greeting."

"And yours?" Manny asked.

Brian looked at Jordan. "I want him to come up with it?"

"Me?"

That was the first word the boy said all night.

"Yes. Come up with a greeting that you think reflects me and have it ready at the next set. Now, since Manny likes to take notes, you're the scribe and Captain of this ship. Jordan, obviously you're the anchor, you hold this ship together."

"Let's see what else these Gents know. Beyond the history you read on the website, tell me something about Epsilon Upsilon that you know," Taj stated.

They both stood there quietly.

"Well come on, just spit it out!" Taj yelped out.  

"I don't know what you want us to say-" Manny started but Jordan cut him off.

"Double-O Two chapter was chartered at SIU-E in 1982. Double-O Three was chartered here in 1984. The first Alumnae Chapter was Chartered in Springfield, Illinois, in 1985. There are seventeen undergraduate chapters of Epsilon Upsilon and six Alumnae Chapters."

That was impressive, still things that could have been researched online, but that was going the extra mile.

"Gent Manny, do you have anything to add?"

"Highest G.P.A. on the yard."

"Oh great, you were at the BSU meeting and heard that fact. It's not hard to do when I have a 4.0 and Taj has a 3.8."

"And y'all clowns not going to bring it down either." Taj stood in Manny's face. "What's your major again?"

"Education."

"And your GPA?"

"3.6."

"And what's your hardest class this semester that may bring your grade point average down?"

"Uh...Biology..."

"Ding, ding, ding!" Taj grabbed him and put his arm around his shoulders.  "My boy, the Boy Genius got you covered there. Science is his thing. You two can be Bond Brothers."

He wanted to match up and be Bond Brothers with Jordan because he was so much like him, but he respected how Taj wanted things to go down.

"So I guess you're stuck with Black Magic." Taj stood before Jordan. "And next time you come with the knowledge to set, make sure your brother has the same knowledge. There is no I, there is a we. Y'all about to be closer than y'all ever were before. That's something Brian did not get to experience because he pledged solo, but having someone to have your back makes you a better man."

Yes, he did miss that. But what he lacked, he built in the extra confidence in himself. It taught him to work harder because he could not depend on anyone else. Though the bruhs always treated him with respect, it was a lot of mind control going on.

"Next session, I want more EU history, more of what we do. On your own, before we give you more. I want you to know all seventeen chapters and what schools they are located in. You, Gents, need to be able to recognize the Greek alphabet, forwards and backward, so that when you run into another Greek, no matter the shade, race, gender, or other, and give them that respect and recognize them. Understand?"

"Yes," they both mumbled.

"Oh hell no!" he yelled out. "Put some respect on that when you answer to me."

"Yes, Dean Big Brother Boy Genius."

"Sir."

"Sir!" they shouted out.

"No, repeat it all over, correctly."

"Yes, Dean Big Brother Boy Genius, sir!"

"Now they're learning," Taj said.

"Any questions?" he asked them.

"Uh, sir, Dean Big Brother Boy Genius sir," Manny timidly stated. "Can you go over that greeting thing one more time?"

He liked Manny. He was going to get along with him just great.

A/N: This brought back memories of me being pledged by a bunch of loud dudes. I was seventeen! I'm currently visiting my college town and the memories are flooding in.

The "Black Magic" greeting is an actual greeting of one of the fraternity guys, and the only I remember that we had to do. He went on to become a Congressman.