“So,” Ms. Trace said, folding her hands atop the conference table as she regarded us smugly. “You’re telling me that after all of this, you’re not unable to produce Audrey, you’re just unwilling.”

“Correct,” Aleah nodded.

“She’s going through a lot right now,” I added. “If the chapter can’t stand on its own, without her, then so be it.”

“I see,” Ms. Trace nodded and shuffled through some papers on the table in front of her. “Then, unfortunately, or rather fortunately I think, it will be my recommendation to the board, and to Panhellenic, that this chapter be dissolved immediately. Honestly, I think you made the entire thing up to cover whatever kind of orgies you’ve been having in the house and that’s just not acceptable. Despite the actions of this chapter, Gamma Alpha Tau has an impeccable reputation on the national level. You shouldn’t be allowed to soil it any more than you already have.”

“That’s your opinion,” Aleah said as she pursed her lips. “Do what you need to do, and so will we. I’m sorry that you didn’t believe us.”

“To be honest,” Ms. Trace remarked as she gathered her papers and closed the binder. “It wasn’t that believable of a story in the first place. GAT, this chapter, doing that kind of philahtrophy project? You guys don’t care about progressive causes, you care about clothes, makeup, seeing how many positions you can fuck DEM jocks in. I’m going to give you a piece of advice, if you’re going to come up with a fabrication in the future, try to make it one that actually makes sense.”

I saw Aleah’s knuckles turn white as Ms. Trace stood from the table and shouldered her messenger bag, I thought for a moment she was going to launch herself across the table and rip her head off, which I can admit would be pretty awesome to see, but it never happened. The three of us turned our heads as we heard the conference room door click, and open slowly. Who the hell was that? Why would anyone actually burst into the conference room during a meeting? My jaw dropped, it was Audrey, but she didn’t…look like herself. Before when we’d dressed her up there was always a hint of that boyishness in her face, we could always tell, though I’m not sure if the rest of the world could. This time I barely recognized her; she was gorgeous, kind of geeky really. Her contour was in point, her long hair was pulled back into a ponytail with a few strands hanging down in front to give her that girlish look. She was dressed in a blue cami, a lot like the ones I wear, covered with a black cardigan and complimented with a knee-length black skirt. Who the hell made her up?

“Um, hi,” She said, waving nervously. “I’m Audrey.”

Ms. Trace stopped in her tracks and stared at her for a moment, blinked and then looked back to us, a frown forming on her face. Aleah nodded and gave a partial shrug.

“How do I know that’s true?” Ms. Trace demanded. “You don’t look…you don’t look like a transgender…woman.”

“I…put a lot of work into my appearance today,” Audrey smiled.

God damn right she did. Ellen sighed and set her bag down.

“I need to talk to Miss Audrey, alone,” She said, motioning us out of the room. Aleah and I both gave her a glance as we stood and brushed past her, entering the hallway and closing the door behind us.

“Should we stay and listen?” I motioned toward the door.

“I don’t really care,” Aleah shrugged. “We make it through this, or we don’t. I’m more worried about my new job.”

“Yeah, right, for Mr. Derringer,” I nodded. “What’s that like?’

“I’m an administrative assistant mostly,” Aleah shrugged but couldn’t hide the look of concern that was creeping onto her face. “But sometimes he’ll ask me to…deliver a package, or send e-mails that just…the whole thing just sounds weird, you know?”

“Weird how?’

“I just…I don’t know how to explain it,” She shrugged.

“Well when you do, will you let me know?” I suggested. We began to walk from the conference room, toward the living room where several of the remaining GAT members were either watching TV or doing homework. Courtney gave us a bitter look as we emerged from the hallway.

“So, here’s the situation,” Aleah said, addressing them. Lauren closed her book, Courtney straightened up in her chair, and another girl switched the TV off. “We thought the end was here, but Audrey burst in at the last minute, so maybe, just MAYBE there’s hope.”

“You know,” Courtney said. “Even if by some miracle the chapter survives, you’re going to have to make some changes around here. You can’t just keep lying about your philanthropy hours, you can’t constantly break the rules. We’re supposed to be representing Gamma Alpha Tau-“

“Aren’t you supposed to be applying to Omega?” I snapped, interrupting her. She looked back at me with a smirk on her face. I shook my head. Aleah wandered into the kitchen, I took a seat at the dining room table, scrolling through my phone and checking for updates. Nothing seemed interesting anymore, not compared to the drama that was unfolding in the house. I sighed, dropped it onto the table and placed my head in my hands. I didn’t have to wait long, I heard the door open, down the hall, and Audrey walked past. I opened my mouth to speak to her, but she was out the door before I could say anything. Shortly after, Ms. Trace appeared and called Aleah and I back into the conference room.

“I hate to say it,” She said to us. “But the story you told me SEEMS to check out. For right now, your chapter is safe, but there are other issues you need to address immediately.”

“Such as?” Aleah asked, as I stared in disbelief. What had Audrey told her?

“Such as you not meeting your member quota. Half of your members walked out it seems, and you’ve also lost quite a few pledges. I have no idea why, at this point I don’t care to find out but it has to be fixed.”

“We can’t do anything about it until next year,” Aleah pointed out. “We’re only a month into the school year, rush isn’t until-“

“Aleah, you have continuous open bidding,” Ellen pointed out. “You can still bring members onboard.”

“Where are we supposed to find members this late?” Aleah practically demanded. “All of the other houses have-“

“You have one new member, actually,” Ellen smiled. “I wanted to see how serious you were with your little project. If you actually consider Audrey to be a woman, then you’ll have absolutely no problem accepting her into your house. You have no choice actually, I’ve already had her sign the paperwork, it’ll be processed when I get back to Panhellenic.”

“What?!” Aleah’s jaw dropped. I facepalmed.

“And after you get done welcoming your new pledge, you can start looking for others. Also, Tiffany,” She said, looking directly at me. I raised my head and looked back at her.

“This house needs an external vice president, you’re the interim, until new elections can be held. We’re cleaning this house up ladies, get ready for a ride.”