Marketta POV

Her sister was out of her ever-lasting mind!

"Alonzo has two kids? Already? We're young! What type of nonsense is that?"

"Alonzo's older, and he had his oldest son when he was young himself," her sister explained. "But really, his having kids is not a deal breaker for me."

"Girllll! I am glad I am not you. Couldn't be me."

They were in their room getting dressed for a session on Sunday night at the MAX house. Laila spent the whole weekend with Alonzo, and she had the room to herself, not that she had done anything. Caught up on some studies and finished a paper that was due in a few days. Meanwhile, her sister was somewhere getting her freak on.

Still a virgin, and she was okay with that. Absolutely was no rush to give her body to a man who would not appreciate her.

Then that made her think.

"Girllll! You better not be the next baby momma. I hope y'all using protection."

Laila threw a balled-up pair of socks at her head.

"Stop it! I am not sleeping with Alonzo. We're not there yet."

"But.." Call her naive, but she thought that was what a sleepover at a guy's place meant. "But you were in bed with him right, and you like him like that, right?"

"Yeah, so. We just lay there and talked all night. Then cuddled and went to sleep. Get your mind out of the gutter."

She sure gave it up quickly to that loser Manny, so giving it up to Alonzo was a step up. Except now that she knew this about Alonzo, she did not know what to think. She thought he was a good man, but maybe he was just like the others.

Not her business, so she had to leave it be. They finished dressing and then met Amber downstairs in the lobby.

"I can't wait till this is over and I have M A X on the front of my shirt!" she said with a laugh. "You won't be able to tell me nothing!"

"Don't let it change you," Amber said to her. "Be the same, just in the best sorority ever."

Huh! Whatever! She was going to be different. She was going to be a MAX and that meant a lot on the campus. Already she was President of the Black Student Union and others looked at her with respect. Now with the added bonus of being in the greatest sorority in the world, she would get even more respect.

She kind of liked it.

Once they made it to the MAX house, they did their secret knock on the door and were let in by Anika.

"Come on in ladies."

They performed their group greeting to Anika, Jameela, and Lark before going into their greetings for them.

"Nice ladies," Jameela stated. "Y'all look so good today. Have a seat and relax. This session is just going to be chill."

"Isn't every session chill," Anika said with a chuckle. "Y'all think we're too hard on you?"

Were they supposed to answer that question truthfully? Hell yeah, they were hard on them. Not knowing if they could be dropped for real was always on their minds. Not knowing if they would know all their information to take a test and pass. What if they said or did something wrong?

"Everything has been lovely, Big Sister," her sister replied

She side-eyed her sister. Why did she have to lie to them like that?

"I think your sister here begs to differ," Anika stated.

"I-" She stopped herself from speaking. She was not the captain of the line and she did not speak for the line.

"No, please go ahead, and say what's on your mind."

Anika did ask so she was telling everything. "Yes, it's been a lot. We study hard and have learned everything, and then some. We have to still keep our grades up in our classes, and sometimes you guys expect us to read your minds. Like, we need to be here or there or say this or say that. You're supposed to lead us into the sorority we picked to become better ladies. Not make us question our decision."

She had more to say but she stopped herself. Her sister grabbed her hand and squeezed it to make her stop. She could hear Amber gasp at her words. She looked around at the MAX ladies, Anika, Jameela, and Lark, and gave them all eye contact. She was not going to back down on anything she said.

"Well!" Lark said with a little chuckle.

Did she say something funny? Now she was annoyed.

"It's nice to hear you speak up for yourself," Anika said. "When my line sisters and I were on line it was rough. And we didn't even know each other, we all met while going through the process. You three have been friends, and all run BSU."

"Plus, believe it or not, you have an advantage by having Lark here the sister of Amber," Jameela said.

"Not that I have been feeding Amber anything," Lark jumped in. "But the fact that she for years watched and studied me even before I became a MAX, yes, every little bit helps."

"That's a good thing that you've let an impression that your sister wants to pledge into your sorority...well, at least one of your sisters." That statement might come back to bite her but she was on a roll. "We're not asking for an easy process or anything, we know it's not supposed to be easy, but it feels like we're always doing something wrong and you ladies never appreciate anything we ever do."

"I love your sass, okay!" Anika said. "Y'all relax. That's what we're telling you to do now. And Marketta, good job speaking your mind. We all were afraid to while we pledged."

"And I basically did it all by myself because the chick on line with me dropped line...but that's a whole other story," Lark said.

She did not know that story but she would love to hear it. She wondered if Amber knew the story.

"So just talk to us ladies, freely," Jameela said. "Anything that is on your mind about your process or anything else."

She had said enough. She sat there and wondered if the other two would say anything. Her sister was the Captain of the line, she needed to speak up. And she knew Amber would have a lot to say about the way they treated her because of her twin. It was unfair.

But they said nothing, and now she was frustrated.

"Laila, Amber! Speak up!" Now the MAX ladies would think she was the mean, ungrateful one.

Amber fumbled around with her hands in her lap before finally speaking up. "Everything is always about Lark being my sister, or my twin pledging something else. It never seems to be just about me."

Anika nodded her head. "You're right, and I'm sorry you feel that way. We have to do better."

"And I will add, Amber you are holding your own in this process, not leaning on me at all," Lark said. "I've said that to them time and time again."

"Agree," Jameela said. " And while I don't understand a twin dynamic, we were just shocked about Jade is all."

"Yes, and I know my sister well, that other sorority fits her much better than we do," Lark shrugged. "We've moved past it."

It was good that they were now putting it all out there. Now her sister had to speak up.

"Well, I ummm..." her sister started then stopped. "I didn't have anything to add. I think the process has been fine. I didn't expect rainbows and unicorns."

Her sister playing the middle-of-the-road card. She knew she didn't feel that way. They all griped about something. Laila hated being the voice of the line because she was naturally the quiet one. They only made her captain to break her out of that shell.

It wasn't working.

"If that's all you ladies have to say about the process, we'd love to hear more about some of the things you would like to see once you're on the other side, " Anika stated. "When, not if you ladies became MAX, we want you to step right in."

Again, she was ready to jump right in with the conversation. "I have fresh ideas for Sister Circle topics. Some of the ones last year were a bit dated and not as engaging."

"Oh! Shut the front door!" Jameela said. "Do tell."

"Everyone's all about social media lately, and we're always attached to our phones. Snapchat or TikTok or IG, or me, downloading all the games and playing them when I have a moment. And while it's all fun, we need to step away sometimes. Unplug."

"That's so hard for a lot of us to do," Lark stated, holding up her phone in her hand. "I'm using my phone now to monitor my sleeping princess."

"Well then yes, we need to use it for good. Not just fun and games. While also learning to disconnect from it sometimes." She had many more ideas, and never was she one to bite her tongue about it. "What about politics? You never discuss that. So many things going on in this world outside of this little campus."

"Politics is always a hard topic because we don't want to alienate someone," Jameela said.

"Oh well! We can take a stance as a sorority on the issues that matter. We're supposed to be the leaders on campus, lead!"

Jameela's mouth dropped open in a gasp then she looked at Anika. Maybe she overstepped her boundaries. Now she was afraid that there would be repercussions.

"This would be a great time to tell you ladies to begin working on your first Sister Circle subject. Get together and work on an idea that we can have and help us to advertise it."

Well, that was easy. All she had to do was open her mouth and they would listen.

She was going to enjoy being a MAX.

A/N: You have to love Marketta's spark. Speaking her mind and putting the ladies in place. She is going to make a great MAX.