Jordan POV

Marketta was all that and he wanted to spend a lot of time with her.

After they left his room, they went to hers and they immediately started to make out. She was beautiful and knew she was. She knew what she wanted, him, and was not afraid to go all in. He thought he was going to get lucky the first night the way they were rolling around in the bed.

When his hand slid up her shirt, she pulled his hand away.

"Wait Jordan, stop."

"My bad, I thought you...I thought we-"

"No, I mean, I like you a lot, but I'm not just going to sleep with you like that." She sat up in the bed, fixing her shirt and looking away from him.

The way they were kissing and sucking on each other's neck, he thought she wanted to go all the way. But if she said no, he knew right from wrong and he would stop.

"Okay, it's cool. We can just hang out, we don't need to do anything."

"You're mad I don't want to have sex?"

"What? No!" He moved closer to her and put an arm around her. "We like each other and you're going to be my girl. I can wait till you're ready"

"Ummm...Jordan, I've never..."

"Never what?"

"Never had sex."

"You're a virgin?" Do they still exist? The girls around the way at his high school were giving it up as early as fourteen. He was sixteen himself when he first had sex. Nothing meaningful either, something to do and to get it out of the way because his so-called friends teased him about still being a virgin.

It was admirable Marketta still was at eighteen.

"Do you...not like virgins or something?"

"No! I mean, it's cool. You're waiting...for someone special or something?"

She shrugged, looking down at her hands. "I don't know, I guess. Our parents were pretty strict, it wasn't like we could date much. Being away at college is the first freedom I've had."

The way she went in on him in their make-out session, was shocking.

"Look babe, I got you. We cool. In fact, we can just chill and hang."

She smiled and then gave him a tight hug. The rest of the night they just hung out talked and got to know each other. He would have stayed all night, but then Laila came so he left. He had a girlfriend now, so that was that.

But he also had his eyes on something else.

The Epsilon Upsilons were hot. He had never really considered pledging, but watching them at the party last week, he wanted to know more about them.

He spent a couple of hours researching them nationally and locally. They were small, but they had done a lot since the years they had been founded. He liked what they stood for, Black Power and justice for the people. Many of the members were in the legal field, or in a field that made a difference in the world.

He wanted to work in the legal field, but not as a lawyer. He wanted to help underprivileged kids, like himself, do better in life. Right now he was focusing on learning Criminal Law and working in a youth center or juvenile detention center. Having been himself a couple of times, many of those kids deserved a fair chance.

"Manny, you want to come to this informational meeting with me tonight?"

Slowly but surely he was getting his roomie out of his shell. He was one of those people that was quiet until you got to know them, then he could talk your ear off.

"What are you trying to drag me to? Not interested."

"Man, I told you about the Eps and how dope they were at the party. I just want to hear what the brother has to say."

"A fraternity?"

"Sure, why not."

Manny nodded. "Okay, sounds fun."

"Boy, don't say it like that. I'm not saying you have to pledge with me, just come to this meeting with me."

"I said ok."

He did not know what to expect. Maybe they started hazing immediately, making him go on stupid errands and buy them things. If one of them laid a hand on him, it was a wrap. He heard fraternities played dumb drinking games, hit them with wooden paddles, and humiliated them in other ways.

"Miss me with that bullshit," he mumbled to himself. But he made his way to the Student Union meeting room with Jordan.

Surprisingly, there were several guys there. That many were interested in pledging Epsilon Upsilon?

"Fellas!" the President of the Eps greeted them. "I am not going to bullshit you in any way. We're not one of the bigger fraternities on campus. We don't have that strong network, those famous members. What we do have is true brotherhood. If what you are looking for is fun, parties and oh, they strolled real nice at the party last weekend, kindly leave, this is not the fraternity for you."

Jordan looked around to see if any guy would honestly step out just because of that. Of the ten or so guys that were there, after the cowards got up to exit, there were only two left. His roomie and him.

Damn!

"Now that we got those dumbasses out of the way," the Vice President, Brian, walked closer to the two of them. "Why are you two still here?"

He knew he had good intentions, but he was scared of his roommate's reaction. He dragged him there, he never had an interest in pledging.

Manny stood in front of Brian and they were eye to eye.

"The Eps are about their business. I'm about mine too."

He said what? His roommate wanted to pledge with him? He was all geared to do it on his own if he had to.

"What do you know about my frat business?" Brian asked.

He stood so he could help his roomie out since they were trying to pre-pledge them.

"Founded by six pre-law students on the campus of the University of Illinois in 1979. Three of them were best friends and they needed three more to be recognized as a chapter on campus. Tommy Martin, Jonathon Turner, and Brandon Cornwall were best friends. Wayne Kerr, Darion Williams, and Eddie Benson were the other three that became Founders."

He knew that information was just basic and anyone could know that, but he was still proud of himself that he made a point to memorize it.

"Also," Manny jumped in. "To not compete with the well-established fraternities, Epsilon Upsilon did not participate in any social functions like parties or step shows. They focused on social and political change. Some of their requirements were doubled what the other fraternities were asking for, including community service hours, letters of recommendation, and their GPA requirement was then and even now the highest of all the organizations."

Daaaammmmn! Did his homie just do that?

Brian looked back at Taj and they both had grins on their faces.

"All right you two. There's an application process and letters of recommendation as you stated, so feel free to apply...or not. This will not be playtime," Taj stated.

They took a sheet of paper with all the information they needed to do and a website to download all their things once they had it. This was not going to be a cakewalk for sure.

"Dude, you didn't have to stay after they made all the other guys leave," he told his roommate as they walked back to their dorm.

"Naa, it's cool. I figured you needed me and the Eps are pretty cool," Manny said.

"But pledging a fraternity is serious, I don't want you doing it just because I want to."

"Naaa, I said I'm good. I think this is what I need. The right fraternity can get you in the door. Hey, let's find out all we can about them now so we will know if we make line."

Already one step ahead of him.

They spent the rest of the evening trying to get organized for all the paperwork they had to turn in. Community service hours, letters of recommendation, official school transcripts, and application and essay. He was so amped that his roomie was doing it with him.

A/N: I'm having to dig deep into my memory bank on what I know about fraternities and pledging. I was pledged by guys when I joined a little sister organization (illegally, but that's another story). They were nice to us...but the stories they told...

My "little sister" name was "Silent But Deadly." I loved that name!