A strange noise broke the otherwise calm morning at Harrison University. The sound consisted of heavy breathing and a constant stream of curses as a young red-haired girl sprinted across the campus. She carried a bag of art supplies and a heavy backpack. The girl didn't know how she hadn't toppled over yet.

"This is Hailey's fault," Barbara Conrad thought as she ran. Her fraternal twin sister had an earlier morning class. Barb could have slept for another hour, but her sister created too much racket.

"Hail! You're doing this on purpose," Barb had mumbled from her bed while her sister got ready.

"No, I'm not. I'm trying to be as quiet as possible."

"Liar," Barb said, chucking a pillow in her sister's vicinity. She tried to go back to sleep. The problem was that she no longer had a pillow and lacked the desire to pick it up. Plus, she hit the snooze button three times, making her late for the new semester's first class. Sophomore year was supposed to be her year. This wasn't a good start.

Barb's bad mood only increased as she dodged another swarm of crickets. A biblical plague had cursed the campus since she returned to school. One had infiltrated their dorm room, further hindering her ability to sleep. As she ran, a few leaped onto her pants leg. She stopped to brush them away, only amplifying her need for speed.

The fine arts building came into view just as Barb's side felt like splitting. She wrenched open the door and hurried through it. Barb focused on her classroom and almost ran over a small brunette girl in glasses. She might not have stopped if it wasn't for an odd squeak. Did she step on a mouse? What was that? "Sorry," Barb said breathlessly to the girl.

"It's okay. I was in the way. Sorry," the girl said and hurried along without making eye contact.

Barb finally reached the room and tried to open the door as quietly as possible. She eased inside, hoping everyone's focus lay elsewhere. This delusion died the moment she made the first step. Every head turned to look, and Barb muttered, "Shit."

"Miss Conrad, I hope your painting will be as colorful as your language," Professor Rodriguez said with a raised eyebrow. "Please take a seat," he said as he gestured toward an open easel-of course, it was at the front of the class.

The only saving grace was it sat next to her good friend, Hana Park. She greeted Barb with a smile and a wave, so Barb failed to realize what was in front of her. Barb didn't glance at the subject they were painting until she put her bag down. This wasn't a bowl of fruit. A naked man sat on a stool. Who started the semester with a nude model? Barb couldn't think of anything to say. She stared at him for too long, earning a grin from the model. Barb said the only thing that came to her mind.

"Very impressive," Barb said and gave the man a thumbs-up. This drew laughter from the classroom, making Barb hide her face. She imagined it looked as red as her hair. Before she began her work, Barb placed her hair in its usual ponytail. She hadn't had the time before she rushed out of the dorm. In fact, she wasn't sure she even brushed her teeth. Thankfully, Hana had her back and gave her a stick of gum.

"Sup, B?" said a voice from Barb's left.

"Hey, Tommy," Barb said. She almost laughed when she looked at him. His half-opened eyes and grin told her he started the day with the old wake-and-bake method. Then, the laughter grew louder when she saw his easel. The only image on his canvas was a large dick. "Well, at least he got the proportions right," Barb said to herself.

Professor Rodriguez was a laid-back teacher. He allowed conversation as long as you kept it to a low murmur and did your work. Once everyone settled into their painting, Rodriguez turned on some music. Barb heard Rodriguez's usual mix of classic rock begin, and she began her outline while talking to Hana.

"So, are you gonna pledge this year with me and Hailey?" Hana asked.

"I don't know," Barb said with a shrug.

"Come on. It will be fun."

"That's really more of Hailey's thing."

"Yeah, but this won't be as fun without you. I'm surprised your mom didn't convince you. She was in Phi Omega Sigma, right?"

"Yeah. Mom pledged Phi-O."

"And your friend Keisha is a member."

"Hailey and Keisha put you up to this. Didn't they? This sounds way too rehearsed."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hana said, but she became more interested in a speck of dust on her canvas than looking at Barb.

"I'll think about it. Okay?"

This seemed to appease Hana, so she changed the subject.

"Did you hear about Annabelle?" Hana asked.

"No. What happened?"

"Someone found her Fanservice account and snitched to her parents. They pulled her out of school."

"Fanservice?"

"It's one of those sites where you can sell nudes and stuff. I swear half the school has one. You can make good money, and tuition is expensive."

"Wait. Do you..." Barb began, but she felt bad about asking.

"No. Of course not. I'm not pretty enough for that."

"Bullshit, Han," Barb said. This brought a smile to Hana's face.

"Again, with the language, Barbara. Try to keep it down. You are becoming a little loud," Professor Rodriguez said.

"Sorry."

"This is coming along nicely. It looks good," he said after examining Barb's progress. It was still an outline, but Barb worked quickly once she started. Then he turned toward Tommy and did a double take. "Mr. Kincaid, I asked for a full-body portrait. Please don't focus on one body part!"

Barb and Hana stifled their laughter the best they could until Rodriguez moved on, but they found this difficult.

***

Meanwhile, on the other side of the campus, Hailey Conrad sat in deep thought as she read from one of her new textbooks. The text engrossed her so deeply that she almost didn't notice her childhood friend Dan sitting beside her.

"Finally, a friendly face," he said. "Been a while since we had a class together. The dream team is back."

"You know it," she said, giving him a high-five without breaking her gaze from the book. This didn't surprise him, but her intense focus made him curious.

"What are you reading?"

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Ever heard of the Bixby murders?"

"No. Forensics is your thing. Are you about to give me some really gross details or something?"

"Nothing gross. The evidence made no sense. For a while, they thought a monkey killed them."

"What!? The book doesn't say that!" Dan said. Hailey turned the text and pushed it toward him while pointing at a paragraph. "Oh, I stand corrected."

"They had a pet monkey, but he didn't commit the murders. The killer just tried to frame the monkey."

"Well, there's the strangest sentence I'll hear all day," Dan said, unloading his backpack and preparing for their class. "So, how has your morning been?"

"Long already. Barb was giving me shit, so I left in a hurry and forgot my stuff for this class. That's why I was reading this instead," Hailey said while putting the book away.

"I've got you covered. Share with me."

"Okay," she said and scooted her chair closer to him. Hailey overcompensated and found herself far closer than she intended. When she looked up, she found her face inches away from his. They stared at each other in silence for a moment, but neither of them moved. Then, both shifted sideways at once and ended farther apart than they wanted. "Okay. You stay still, and I'll move," Hailey said. They took two tries before finding the perfect distance. At this point, their resolve broke, and they both laughed. "Can we pretend all of that didn't happen?"

"Here. I brought something to get your mind off it," Dan said, reaching into his backpack. He pulled out a container of pretzels and sat them on the desk.

"Oh, my god. I love you," Hailey said and grabbed a few.

"Um-yeah. Me too," Dan said. "I mean-oh, look. Class is starting."

***

Elsewhere, Marla Knox stared at the large whiteboard on the wall with annoyance. Keisha couldn't help but notice this wasn't much different from Marla's usual expression. It was also similar to the look Keisha was giving back to her, but Marla didn't seem to spot this.

The whiteboard was Marla's pride and joy. It even said so on the top. Big red letters spelled out Marla's name. If that didn't convince you, the collage of Marla's photos attached to the side did the trick. Keisha wondered how any room remained for the club notices and sign-up sheets. She couldn't understand why Marla didn't switch to using a website like everyone else, but she wouldn't push the issue. They turned it into the club board ever since they elected Marla as the new Phi-O president. Marla's spacious townhome became the unofficial club HQ since the city of Harrison didn't allow fraternity and sorority houses. It was against some ordinance.

"Keisha!" Marla yelled.

"Girl, why are you yelling? I'm five feet away!" Keisha said as she folded her arms and stared at Marla.

"Sorry," Marla said, but it was the most insincere apology Keisha ever heard. She wasn't even sure Marla pronounced the full word. "What's this?" she asked while pointing at a new paper on the board.

"Oh, that's for the upcoming garage sale. I'm getting a list of..."

"I never said we were doing the garage sale."

"We always do it."

"You must run everything by me first because I'm making changes. I have to approve projects before you post them. We aren't doing the garage sale because it makes us look trashy. Did you see the crap people brought last year?" she said and pulled the paper off of the board. "Oh, and can we pick a different charity project?" Marla said, pointing at the calendar of upcoming events. "I don't want to do that Houses for the Homeless thing again. Using power tools makes me nervous."

"It was an electric drill. I don't think you were in danger," Keisha said. This time, Marla glared at her. Keisha could tell she was pushing her luck with the attitude. "Fine. I think there's a soup kitchen..."

"What is your deal with the homeless? Isn't there a children's hospital in town or something?"

"Yeah. I'll look into it."

"Do that!" Marla said, refocusing on the board with her arms folded. "Oh, and ditch the attitude. You won't speak to me that way again. Are we clear?"

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes-ma'am?"

"No one ever taught you any manners, did they?" Marla asked, staring at Keisha coldly. She didn't yell. The words came out emotionless and almost soft. This unnerved Keisha more than screaming would have.

"I'm sorry," Keisha replied, stepping toward the door. "I should go now."

Marla didn't respond. She turned to the whiteboard as Keisha slipped out the door and left without another word.

***

After classes, Barb found Hailey doing her homework at the campus center. She sat at a table in the food court with a stack of textbooks in front of her. Sights like these reminded Barb that she picked the right path. She had far fewer books for her art degree than Hailey did as a forensic science major. Plus, Barb hated science classes.

"Sorry about this morning," Hailey said as Barb sat across from her.

"Yeah, me too. I was kinda mean," Barb replied.

"You called me an early bird and told me to stick the worm up my ass."

"Oh, come on. That one was good. Admit it!"

Hailey shook her head and smiled. "So, how was your day?"

"Naked man. You?"

"What!?"

"Never mind. Not important."

"Wait! You can't just never mind a naked man!"

"Maybe you can't, but that's none of my business," Barb said, but Hailey didn't laugh. She gave Barb a stern glare that reminded her so much of their mother. "Oh, you're no fun," Barb said, waving her hand at Hailey. "Rodriguez brought in a nude model. Who does that on day one?"

"Rodriguez, apparently. Was he cute?"

"Who? Rodriguez?"

Hailey groaned and threw her hands up in defeat while Barb smiled and leaned back in her chair. She almost kicked her feet up on the table, but something snapped her out of her celebratory mood.

"Uh, oh. Naked man incoming."

"What?"

Hailey looked at a smiling young man with wavy brown hair approaching their table. She felt confused because he wore clothes.

"Well, impressed girl. We meet again," he said with a smile. "Oh, and there are two of you!"

"No, there's not. We aren't identical," Barb said.

"But you are sisters."

"Wow. You're observant."

"I didn't catch your name earlier."

"Well, I didn't throw it," Barb said, but she could see Hailey face-palming out of the corner of her eye. "Sorry. I'm Barbara, and this is my sister Hailey."

"Nice to meet you both. I'm Ben," he said and gently shook their hands. "Barbara, would like to have dinner with me this Friday?"

"Look. You seem nice, but I'm not looking to date right now."

"Fair enough. Perhaps you might like to go then?" he said, shifting his focus to Hailey. When he did this, Barb spotted someone. There was a tall girl bussing tables. This girl had jet-black hair that fell almost to her shoulders and matching black lipstick. She stopped to listen to the conversation, and her expression turned increasingly sour with every word Ben spoke. When the girl caught Barb looking at her, she grinned and winked. Barb stopped listening to what Ben said to Hailey, but it sounded like he struck out with her.

"Hey, meatball! Can't you tell the girl isn't interested?" the dark-haired girl said and poked Ben in the back. He faced her with a scowl, but it faded when he saw the stare she was giving him. Her purple eye shadow only seemed to amplify the glare. "Move along now," she said, and Ben shook his head before saying a terse goodbye. Once he was gone, the girl turned and smiled.

"Thanks," Hailey said. "I'm not good with that kind of thing. I didn't know what to say to him."

"No prob. I'm Shawna, by the way," the girl said.

"Hailey."

"Barbara, but you can call me Barb."

"Good to meet ya," Shawna said. Then she glanced down at Hailey's books and flicked one of them. "A bit of light reading? What's your major?"

"Forensic science."

"Ooh, CSI girl. I like it. Any grizzly crime scene photos in those?"

"No. Nothing like that."

"Bummer. How about you, Barb? What you in for?"

"Art. Graphic design, to be specific."

"Nice!" Shawna replied.

"What about you, Shawna?" Barb asked.

"Computer science," she said, but their surprised looks made her laugh. "What? I like computers," she said with a shrug.

"Nothing wrong with that," Barb said.

"Well, I gotta get back to work. If you ever need me, I'm usually behind the ice cream counter," Shawna said, gesturing behind her with her thumb. "Catch ya later, Barbarella," she continued, nodding to Barb. Then, Shawna turned to Hailey and saluted before saying, "Detective Red."

This seemed to confuse Hailey, but Barb burst into laughter.

***

Later, Hailey and Barb spotted Keisha heading toward them. Barb knew right away something was wrong. Keisha's impressive mane of hair looked disheveled, which only happened when she experienced stress. Barb believed you could read her mood by the frizz level. Hailey called this nonsense.

"Ki-Ki!" came a voice from the ice cream shop.

"Sup, Shawna! I'll get with you in a bit, but let me talk with these two first," Keisha said, sitting at the table with Hailey and Barb. She sighed long and sneaked one of Barb's nachos before speaking. Barb didn't even mind. "I've had about enough of Marla fuckin' Knox," Keisha said once she finished the nacho.

"Who's Marla?" Barb asked.

"Blonde girl with a Karen haircut. She always walks around like she has something stuck up her butt. She's the new Phi-O president," Keisha said.

"You're really selling me on pledging Phi-O, Keish," Barb said.

"She's just one bad apple in a basket of honey crisps. We're not all like her. I promise. Now, I need you two more than ever to keep me sane."

"How did Marla end up becoming president? I thought you said Kelsey was a shoo-in," Hailey asked.

"I thought so, too. Something is off about this. Maybe you can use your investigative skills to figure this out, Hail," Keisha said, taking another nacho.

"I don't have any skills yet," Hailey laughed.

"Don't be silly, girl. Of course you do," Keisha said, patting Hailey on the arm. "Look, I won't pressure either of you to join Phi-O anymore, but at least come to the rush. I want you to see Marla in person. Then you can tell me if I'm crazy or not. This girl will ruin your mama's club if we don't stop her."