Sorority — Wars

Chloe’s stomach dropped. She could already hear, in the distance, a triumphant whoop from the Psi Deltas—racing toward the boathouse. A trap.

She did the only thing she could. She tied the flag around her waist like a cape, climbed onto the sill, and jumped into the hedge maze below.

She arrived just as Margot kicked open the door. Inside, there was no purple flag. Only a dozen Theta Tau seniors, armed with supersoakers filled with neon green slime. The Psi Deltas walked right into an ambush.

Silence. Then chaos. Psi Deltas tackled Chloe in a muddy, slimy hug. Thetas threw their supersoakers to the ground in disbelief. Sorority Wars

“Not bad, yellowbird,” she said. “Next year, I’m recruiting you.”

“You’re lost, yellowbird,” the Theta said. Her name tag read Lena. President.

Chloe nodded, her mouth dry. She’d rushed Psi Delta for the alumni connections, not for guerrilla capture-the-flag across seven acres of manicured lawns, frat basements, and one very suspicious hedge maze. But the “Sorority Wars” was tradition—a brutal, semi-legal obstacle course where the only real prize was bragging rights. And the flag: a silk banner of deep purple, embroidered with the Theta Tau owl. Chloe’s stomach dropped

“They’re moving the flag to the boathouse,” hissed a voice. It was Sarah, a sophomore who’d gone undercover as a “study buddy.” “Repeat: boathouse.”

Chloe Vance learned both rules in the same breath, ten minutes before the game began. She stood on the dewy lawn of Blackwood University’s Greek Row, shivering in a bright yellow jersey marked ROOKIE , while her new sorority sisters of Psi Delta stretched in perfect, terrifying synchronicity.

But Chloe didn’t stop. While the others shrieked and slipped in the goo, she sprinted the long way around the lake, up the fire escape of the Theta house, and into the attic. There, hanging from a chandelier like a taunt, was the purple owl flag. She did the only thing she could

Trapped. No phone. And somewhere below, Lena’s laugh echoed up the stairs.

“I know where I’m going,” Chloe lied.