Laila POV

She was never one for public speaking, but she pushed herself to do better. That's why at the first Black Student Union meeting of the year, she wanted to be in the forefront, so she came up with the introductory topic.

"Welcome to the first Black Student Union meeting of the year, I'm the Vice President, Laila Flynn, and to welcome everyone back, old and new faces, we wanted to do a get-to-know-you discussion." She looked around the packed room, nervous, but not letting it show. "After we introduce the executive team, we open the floor to every one of you to talk about yourself, whatever you would like to share."

"I'll start. I'm a sophomore, I'm twenty almost twenty-one in two months. I took a gap year after high school and am so glad of that. I'm from St. Louis and I'm studying history and French education. And uh..." She had nothing else to say, now she felt weird. "That's all for now, I think I will let someone else speak."

Soon as she took her seat, her sister jumped up. "That's my sister. She's the quiet one, they say I'm the talkative one. My name's Marketta Flynn, I'm the President of BSU, so welcome." Marketta did a pageant wave to everyone that garnered a few laughs.

"So what's up, why are we here? The Black community at BSU is small, but we are tight ." She clasped her hands together for emphasis. "When we see each other, a "Heeey!" or a head nod is appropriate. Got it!"

Her sister always knew how to pump up the crowd and she was proud of her for that.

"For all the freshmen here, just relax, this is some of the best years of our lives, right? Have fun! So I'm only nineteen, almost twenty as my sister says. We're eleven months apart which is pretty cool. Since she took a gap year, we were able to start college together and she's my best friend. We're not twins! Everyone asks that, but no."

"I'm studying marketing management, I'm a boss ass bitch, and what else do you need to know?" She smiled and looked around. "Oh, let's have a wild time this year."

"Okay, okay," Jade said and stood up. "You see us four, two sets of sisters. And I am a twin. I'm Jade, and this is my twin Amber. Don't get us confused, we are not identical."

"Who said y'all wasn't?" someone in the audience shouted out. "Look like it to me."

"And both fine!" someone else shouted out.

"Oh, y'all too much!" Jade stated with a laugh. "Anyway, back to me. I'm Jade McCormack, a sophomore business management major. Treasurer of BSU so talk money to me, honey. I'm nice and friendly, so just come say hey to me anytime."

Amber stood up next. "As my sister stated, I'm Amber. I serve as the secretary of BSU. I'm undecided major. I have no clue. We're from Kansas City, Missouri."

One person in the room cheered at that while others laughed.

"Okay, I see we're always low numbers from KC. But our football and baseball teams stay winning."

"Fuck that! Cardinals baby!" someone shouted out.

"Boohoo! Cubs!"

"Hey, settle down, sheesh," Amber said with a laugh. "I would love to know where everyone else is from."

She looked around the room, unsure of how to start. In order one by one, or have them raise their hands when they were ready to share. She quickly stood up to decide.

"Let's pick whoever wants to share and go first."

Several hands shot up. She picked a guy in the back, that would be better to break the ice.

"Yo, my name is Cortez," he stated. "I'm a junior, and I been up here all this time but never come to BSU meeting. But lil shorty up there..." He nodded his head toward Jade "Invited me to come, so I said, let's see what they are all about. I just came for school, keep my head down, and try to graduate in four years. I'm from Chi-town, so I'm used to big city life and seeing all walks of life daily. But I love being around my people."

"I gotta say, I love an organization like this getting Black students together, working together, like a shoulder to lean on. I look forward to being more active with the group."

It was good that Jade was a good recruiter because she had none of those skills. At their board meeting a week ago they all said they would reach out to new students and try and get them into the meetings. BSU always was a large group, but also some people never attended the meetings.

All four agreed this year, they wanted BSU to grow bigger than it was.

She picked a girl up front next.

"Hello. My name is Carmen Peterson. I'm a freshman. I came to ISU because my cousin graduated here a few years ago. I'm from Chicago so it's close to home, so here we are. It's okay so far, nothing great. I haven't met many people yet..."

"And that's why you're here," Marketta interjected. "Welcome Carmen. Keep coming to meetings and letting yourself be known around campus."

J'Nae sat next to her so she picked her to speak.

"Hello, my name is J'Nae Sullivan. I'm a sophomore, although, in my first year, I transferred in the second semester from Maryville University in St. Louis. My parents wanted me to stay home for college and I wanted to get away. Anyway, my boyfriend attends here, so we finally convinced them to let me go. I love it! ISU is so big, but I feel like I know everyone and this is where I belong."

The funny thing, J'Nae ran for Secretary against Amber, but members barely knew J'Nae. She kept to herself a lot or was always with Brian. Maybe she would stand out more this year and not stay under Brian's shadow.

After nearly everyone introduced themselves, she felt as if the meeting was a success. She put names with faces, met a lot of the freshmen, and felt that was a great start to building a better BSU. Their second meeting of the year was always the fraternities introducing themselves, but by then, most that were qualified would already have started the process of pledging.

She knew several of the Greek organizations already had their RUSH, and she was excited to attend her first and only Rush for MAX this week. Never did she think she would pledge, but after seeing what the ladies were like, it was her and her sister's only interest.

"Girllll, so many cute guys I'm about to get their number," Jade whispered to her when the meeting ended and everyone talked amongst themselves.

She was not looking to meet a guy...but, she was right. Several cute guys perked her attention. She told herself she was not ready to date, and finding a guy attractive meant nothing.

"Have fun then," was all she could say to Jade. The girl was wild, and she knew Marketta loved hanging out with the twins.

She walked over to J'Nae to talk with her while she talked with Carmen.

"Hey, you two know each other?"

"Yes, Carmen stays on my floor," J'Nae said. "I'm trying to meet and talk to everyone so we came to the meeting together."

"Yeah, my roommate is a white girl, so I need to be with more of us," Carmen said.

"Same," J'Nae stated.

"You know you can invite your roommates. Even though it's called Black Student Union, we support all students. Maybe they need to learn from us, build better relationships."

"Oh for real?" Carmen stated. "Now when I talked to my cousin's girlfriend, she ain't say all that. She said BSU was Blackity Black."

She frowned, never knowing BSU to dismiss nonBlack members. "Who is your cousin's girlfriend."

"Zavrina DeCosta."

"The Zavrina DeCosta!" she said with a chuckle. "Oh well, that's different."

Not only was Zavrina DeCosta President of BSU for two years straight, but she also went on to become student body president over the entire student body. She was a member of Mu Alpha Chi and she was legendary. Her aunt was The Jossie Decosta-Smith, Dean of Admissions, Founder of Mu Alpha Chi, and the current advisor.

"Who is Zavrina DeCosta?" J'Nae asked.

"My idol," Carmen said with a smile. "Quite honestly, the reason I'm here more than my cousin. I'm studying law, I want to be just like her."

That was interesting. That meant she may want to pledge MAX as well. The unwritten rule was, you did not ask people what they wanted to pledge unless you were cool with them like that. And you never told anyone. What if you didn't make it? Then everyone would know you were rejected. She kept her mouth shut.

But then J'Nae went, "Who's going to MAX Rush this week?"

She said nothing. She looked at Carmen. With her being a freshman, she knew she did not qualify to even attend Rush. If she knew J'Nae better, she would have told her she was interested, but as is, she was going to keep quiet.

"Well, good luck to you then," was all Carmen said, already knowing the deal. "I'm going to go mingle with some other people while I'm here."

Carmen walked off and J'Nae looked confused. "Did I say something wrong?"

Laila smacked her forehead. "J'Nae, you're dating a whole frat guy, he should have warned you not to discuss if you're going out for something."

"Why not?"

"It's not the way they do things." She looked around at everyone else engaged in conversation. "But yes, I will be at the MAX meeting this week. See you there."

A/N: I know, I know! There are so many "unwritten" rules regarding pledging. If you don't know, talk to a member you are familiar with. If you know no one in the organization you choose find one and get to know them FIRST, before asking questions. Research all you can online. Nowadays everything is online, even things that shouldn't be. Make a wise decision before you choose to pledge