BELLA: The macaroons are delicious, Nance!

NANCY: Are they? They taste stale to me. 

BELLA: We’ve had six girls show interest so far.

NANCY: That’s two less than last year.

MORTIMER: Oh, the two of you are a sight for sore eyes.

NANCY: What do you want?

MORTIMER: Eliza’s interested in your sorority. She’d like one of your sign up sheets.

BELLA: Oh well—

NANCY: Here.

ELIZA: Thanks

BELLA: Wh—Nance?

NANCY: You can go away now.

MORTIMER: Cheer up, Nancy. It’s supposed to rain next week.

EMMETT: Hi Bella.

BELLA: Hi.

EMMETT: I didn’t hear much from you over the summer. Your number is still the same, right?

BELLA: Oh. Yeah, it is. I’ve just—well, Emmett to tell you the truth I’m seeing someone.

EMMETT: Oh.

BELLA: But we can still be friends! You’re the best date I’ve ever had for the Sigma Spook.

EMMETT: No that’s ok. I—uh, I’m gonna go. See you.

NANCY: Tell me you’re not.

BELLA: What?

NANCY: You know what.

BELLA: I don’t. I just watched you hand a flyer to a redhead, I’m not too sure if you’re in your right mind.

NANCY: There’s no rule against handing out flyers. There is a rule against sleeping with a married man and acting like you’re in a relationship.

BELLA: I’m not doing this with you. You don’t know what you’re talking about.

NANCY: I know he’s probably said something about leaving her. He’s not going to. He’s never going to. 

BELLA: Whatever. He loves me.

LILY: Nancy, the girls ar—You’re doing homework?

NANCY: Uh, yeah. I don’t want to fall behind. 

LILY: We’ve only had one week of lectures, babe, I don’t think that’s likely. It’s not like you’re failing or anything, are ya?

NANCY: No, I’m not. I thought the girls were getting here for three.

LILY: It’s half past. Clara’s been stalling. 

NANCY: Oh.

LILY: Listen, I know you saw Victor the other day. For now I think me and you are cool so I’ll go along with what you want to do when it comes to initiating more people. Whatever goes on between us, I’d appreciate you not trying to get my boyfriend involved, babe.

NANCY: I . . . (slack jawed) Lily, that wasn’t my intention at all.

LILY: Was I missing something with that redhead being there? I wasn’t sure if it was a joke or not.

BELLA: Nance.

NANCY, grimfaced: She’s rushing just like the others.

LILY, goading: So Katrina’s moving back in. 

BELLA: (splutters) What? No!

CLARA: I don’t think she’d want to come back. (harried) Eliza did seem nice, though, she met some of the core competencies. 

BELLA: I thought she was boring. So was Supriya.

NANCY: Of course you did. You were attached to Zoe the whole time. 

LILY: Zoe’s the one with the laugh, yeah? Went straight through me.

CLARA: Alice was sweet. 

BELLA: The party girl? She had like, three glasses of prosecco. 

LILY: That’s only weird because the prosecco was so bad. I thought you’d get better refreshments, Nancy.

NANCY: You’ve had better? I didn’t know you could afford it with your student finance.

BELLA: Nanc—

LILY: (laughs) No, actually. Your brother got us a bottle of Dom when he came by on Saturday.

NANCY: What?

CLARA: He—he came here when you were out with Mortimer. He took us all to dinner.

JUNIPER: Geoffrey! Geoffrey, wait!

GEOFFREY: What do you want, June? What are you doing here? Did they tell you to follow me? Is Perry with you?

JUNIPER: No! Is that seriously what you’re worried about? Your mom is sick—she’s dying.

GEOFFREY: So? I’m not going back there.

JUNIPER: You’re fucked in the head, you know. I only agreed to come out here cos if it was Mick, you’d have a serious problem.

GEOFFREY: I wish it was Mick. He’d listen when I tell him to fuck off.

VIRGINIA: Sigma Zelta means the world to me.

ANDROMEDA: Sigma Zelta changed my life, it made me a woman.

MAGNUS: I really don’t see any benefits to all that sorority hogwash. Always seemed like a waste of time. A lot of arm waving nonsense.

HUGH: Well Nance does like the colour pink.

MAGNUS AND HUGH: (laughing)

VIRGINIA: I think Nancy will do a proper job of making the sorority her own.

ANDROMEDA: Don’t get too many bright ideas. Judith’s way worked well, I think. It’s not just your name is it, Nancy? Whatever you do, make us proud.

    CLARA: Nancy! We’ve been waiting for you. Right so, I don’t know what happened when you were handing out leaflets but a redhead has turned up. I don’t know what to do, surely she has to b— 

    NANCY: Where is she?

    CLARA: I’ve kept her outside for the moment, I wasn’t sure what you wanted me to do about it. Bella wasn’t very helpful.

    NANCY: You’re going to let her in. She’ll do the Q&A like the others.

    CLARA: Sorry? Is this like a hazing thing? I thought you wanted to leave those rites behind.

    NANCY: No, I’m serious. Let her in, apologise about the mix up, get her a glass of prosecco—the works. I’ve just got to run to the bathroom, I’ll be back in a minute.

GEOFFREY: You sure you don’t mind waiting with me? I can meet you outside.

BAAKO: It’s fine. I wanted to ask you something, actually.

GEOFFREY: What?

BAAKO: Do you think I’m funny?

GEOFFREY: What sort of question is that?

JUNIPER: Hi, how can I help?

BAAKO: Uh, he wants to post a letter.

JUNIPER: Ok. Can I have it?

BAAKO: Do you know her?

GEOFFREY: Wh—no. She just has one of those faces.

BAAKO: Like she’d punch someone who looked at her the wrong way? I guess. Hmmm.

GEOFFREY: What?

BAAKO: Nothing. That was just really weird. Anyways yeah, I’ve got an open mic night start of October. Figure it’ll give me something to do in the city whilst you’re at your grad job or whatever. That your last application then, yeah?

GEOFFREY: Yeah, last one. So you and Katrina are good then?

BAAKO: I guess so. I mean it’s weird, obviously but I’m just following her lead. Taking my feelings out of it, yeah, I actually put her in a difficult situation cos we’re living together so I just wanna respect where she’s at d’ya know what I mean? It’s mad cos now I don’t even wanna get with her I just want to be good friends again.

GEOFFREY: That’s good. Is, uh, Marcus still looking for me?

NANCY: Dear Diary, 

    I suppose it would be awfully dramatic of me to propose the idea that my life is falling apart. Yet that seems to be where all the evidence is pointing. As I’m finally handed the authority and prestige of becoming President of the Sigma Zelta sorority, life takes the certainty of graduating away from me. Filling the shoes of my grandmother, and all the women who came before her is certainly humbling, but I can barely spare the breath to care when faced with the monstrous actions Mortimer has taken against me. 

    Trusting Mortimer isn’t my biggest regret, though it seems it should be. 

    If I were to compose a list of the things I regret, falling in love with him would be ranked lower when I remember dying my hair black to impress Jacques Villareal. 

    Maybe I am to blame for the misfortune my family is heading towards. Maybe I should have noticed his insistence, his reassurance, his complete conviction that I could trust him, that he was mine, that he’d never hurt me. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so desperate to be seen, but the moment has passed, the deed is done and now we’ve got to live with the consequences. 

    It felt intimate, like we were growing closer in ways we hadn’t yet allowed ourselves to, like I had let someone special inside of me; let someone see me bled out and raw and still put me back together anyway. 

    I loved him. The question of whether or not he loves me offers very little consolation. I’ve seen the things people do to people they love. This will be all my fault, anyhow, as most things end up. I trusted the wrong person and now my brother and father’s decision to skim some money is my burden to bear.

    I’ll continue on as I always do, though this time I’ll let Hugh play the hero. Let him do something right for once.