Chapter Text
Whoever decided the hierarchy of a college campus must have been an absolute sadist.
There was just no world in which someone like Melissa King should have been putting up with a gaggle of twenty-year old boys who were probably barely passing Chem 2 (and taking up perfectly good seats in the 10 a.m. lecture, leaving her no option but to enroll in the 8 a.m. lecture), and yet, that was the case as she slid into one of the few empty seats for the first prospective rush meeting of the University of Michigan’s pre-med fraternity.
Her fingers closed absentmindedly over the pen in her hand, circling it over and over in a loop as the drone of voices got louder and she was entirely zoned out. Someone to her right tapped her and she shook herself out of her haze long enough to understand that there were introductions happening.
“M-Melissa King, junior, uh, I’m a bio major, and this is my third year in Epsilon Delta Mu,” she got out quickly, trying her best to make it seem like she’d been paying attention. A quick glance at the project screen told her she needed to mention hometown, so she added, “And I’m from a suburb of Detroit.”
The guy next to her started speaking, and she went back to twirling her pen, only faintly making out that he was from North Carolina and a biochemistry major. She didn’t recognize him, meaning he must be a prospective member (but honestly, who rushed a pre-med frat as a junior anyway?).
“Okay, current members!” Samira Mohan, president of Epsilon Delta Mu, clapped her hands, “I’ll have you all line up for our speed dating round against that back wall. Introduce yourselves, get to know what on and off-campus activities everyone does, and remember, this is a super casual informal meeting! Our official rush sessions will be taking place over the next few weeks before we do final interviews and initiation!”
Samira had her shit together more than almost anyone Mel had ever met. She was a senior, had been president for two years, was nominated for the homecoming court (an exceptional feat when you weren’t part of any traditional Greek life), and had gotten a 520 on her MCAT score, meaning she would have her pick of medical schools all across the country.
Mel would never call herself average or dumb, but with her own spring MCAT looming over her, she had resigned herself to staying in Michigan to be close to her sister no matter how good a score she got.
She lined up against the back wall, saying a passing hello to Trinity Santos, a sophomore who had rushed last year and was sweet, but a little argumentative and someone Mel did her best to not engage in hard conversations with.]
Samira started a stopwatch and there was a buzz of chatter as everyone started talking, making all too polite small talk and awkward conversation as the freshmen yet again had to introduce themselves, their major, hometown, and the dorm they had been forced to live in.
“I’m Kayla,” smiled the girl in front of Mel, and she smiled back, as the girl went on, “I’m a biology major, I’m from Houston, and I’m in—” she grimaced, “Markley.”
Mel had actually never been to that dorm, but everyone told her it was the worst one on campus, so she forced a matching grimace and said, “I’m so sorry. I hope you brought shower shoes?”
Kayla laughed, and as awkward as the whole encounter was, Mel was glad she was at least a good sport about it, “I think I need to buy shower shoes for my shower shoes at this point.”
They chatted for a bit more, and Mel learned Kayla was interested in going to med school because of her childhood battle with cancer and wanting to give back. In Mel’s opinion, people with close personal experiences in the medical field tended to be the most passionate about it (and yeah, she was including herself in that), so she made a tiny note in her head to tell Samira she really liked Kayla.
A few more faces and three minute conversations passed as she talked to a boy from Nebraska and a girl from Pittsburgh who both seemed almost too eager to be there before she noticed Michael Robinavitch, MD, their advisor, slide in through the side door and start to talk to Samira. Their advisor tended to be a little too hands-on sometimes, but he meant well and was great about getting them funding when so many other student orgs dealt with decreased funding year over year, so he wasn’t half bad.
“All right everyone! Last round with the person in front of you, and then we’ll hear a few words from our advisor, Dr. Robby!” called Samira, cupping her hands to make her voice echo over all the talking.
Mel snapped back to the person in front of her when a male voice started speaking. “I’m Frank, but most people just call me by my last name, Langdon, I’m a junior majoring in biochemistry, and I’m from North Carolina,” offered one of the frat bros Mel had seen all walk in together earlier in the hour.
“Oh, hi,” she replied. Curiosity was something she’d never quite gotten along with, so before she could stop herself she was blurting out, “Why are you rushing as a junior?”
If he was taken aback, he didn’t show it other than raising an eyebrow just a little. “I wasn’t super serious about going to medical school until last year, and honestly I’ve just been too busy with all my frat stuff. But I’m taking the MCAT in the spring, so I figured no time like the present, you know?”
She didn’t know, actually. She’d been obsessing about getting into medical school and becoming a doctor since her mom had died a few years back, but bringing up the dead mom trauma seemed like a terrible way to make an acquaintance with a new person, so she just nodded and said, “Uh, yeah, totally get it dude. What makes you interested in EDM?”
“You guys seem chill,” he shrugged, then glanced around, “Plus, my girlfriend Abby’s dad is like, best friends with your advisor or something, so her dad spent the summer pushing her to join too, so I got roped into that too.
“Oh, nice. Yeah, it’s definitely nice to get involved with friends! My roommate Cassie and I both joined as freshmen and it’s been really nice to make a lot of cool friends in here,” she agreed. She realized she’d been absentmindedly playing with her sleeve again, so she quickly dropped her hands to her side.
“I heard you guys also have service hours opportunities? I’m kind of super behind on my required hours for my frat and I probably have to stop faking them, so this is a nice way to get two birds with one stone, y’know?”
She nodded again, and thanked whatever higher power there was when Samira called for them all to head back to their seats. “Nice meeting you, uh, Langdon,” she said and started darting back to her seat.
“Wait, I never got your name,” he pointed out.
“Melissa. My name is Melissa.”
“Nice to meet you officially, Melissa,” he said, outstretching his hand. She took it, and was shocked at how firm his grasp was for someone who seemed so easygoing.
She started back toward her seat again, and almost died of mortification when she realized that the person sitting next to her was Langdon, the person whose introduction she’d almost entirely ignored earlier.
“Long time no see, Melissa,” he joked, sliding into seat besides her. She forced another smile (wow her jaw muscles would hurt after today), and turned towards the front, where Samira was introducing Dr. Robby.
“Medicine is not for the faint of heart,” he started, leaning against the podium. “I know you all know that, but like every other doctor you meet over the course of whatever medical career you decide to choose, it’s my job to constantly remind you of all of that.”
“Some of you are brand-new to college and are coming in with a fifty-step plan and a target MCAT score, and some of you are seniors ready to coast off to some elite Ivy medical school and never step foot in the Midwest again.”
Say what you would about Dr. Robby, but he definitely knew how to capture a crowd. Years of working as an attending in a trauma hospital in Pittsburgh, before settling down and deciding to (despite honestly any reasonable logic) teach college juniors the intricacies of human anatomy probably did that to a person. Every single person’s eyes were on him as he continued his speech.
“I’m here to tell you to throw that damn fifty-step plan in the trash, and that your Ivy education won’t save you from the realities of the medical field.” The room was so silent, you could hear a pin drop, and Mel knew several of the prospective students staunchly disagreed with what he was saying.
“That plan won’t save you when you’re in your intern year with your hand literally holding the heart of a GSW victim, or talking with a family during the hardest moments of their lives. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do everything in your power to prepare before—definitely try and do good in medical school and in your college courses while you’re here, but remember that all the planning and studying and test-taking in the world won’t prepare you for the reality of caring for people on their darkest days.”
He pushed the sleeves of the blue hoodie he always seemed to be wearing (even in the blistering August heat) up, and stepped back from the podium, “However, the best ways to do that, honestly, are getting involved within your local communities before it all becomes real. What this fraternity does is expose you to opportunities with doctors and patients in a way that lets you see the burnout, the mundane day-to-day in a way all your MCAT prep books won’t ever prepare you for. This is a great organization and Samira,” he shot Samira, who was standing by the computer at the front of the room controlling the projector slides a smile, “Does a great job of finding opportunities for people to really get involved in ways most undergrad students don’t ever get the chance to. This is an excellent organization with excellent members, and I encourage you all to take advantage of them.
He stepped back again, throwing his hands up in an I’m-done mannerism, and walked to the back of the small auditorium-style meeting room to a healthy smattering of applause. Samira started talking again, about expectations, dues, study group calendars and all the other fun stuff that gave EDM weight as a medical fraternity instead of a club for people who thought they could maybe go to med school.
Then the meeting was over, and people were streaming out, stopping to scan the GroupMe QR code for all of the updates. She briefly caught Langdon and the boy from Nebraska calling a goodbye to her by name as they streamed out, but that was all echoed out by the sound of Theo Okafor, the rush chair and friendliest person Mel had ever met, calling, “Yo, Mel-bourne! C’mon, we’re meeting!”
Melbourne was a new name, and she knew he had to have spent the entire summer work-shopping that one. “Coming!” she called, and stopped by the table at the front of the room to grab some of the leftover cookies they’d brought for the prospective rush class, then made her way to the back of the room, where the rest of the executive board was either stood, sat on the plastic auditorium chairs, or (in Theo’s case) dramatically slung over two seats with his feet resting on a backpack.
“So, that was pretty good turnout. What do you guys think?” asked Samira, always the person to get down to business. John Shen was on his phone, scrolling through pictures he must have taken during the meeting and already thinking up a caption to post. As social media chair, he ran their Instagram like a professional account, making graphics and posts like a Fortune 500, and their Instagram followers reflected all his hard word back.
“I counted forty-two non-members when I did my attendance count,” said Brendan Kowalski, the secretary, and a junior who was quieter than even Mel had been, even three years into his membership in the fraternity.
“Let’s goooo, everyone! 42 is awesome!” exclaimed Theo, who had his laptop out with a massive Excel document open on it.
“I’d say at least thirty of them were solid prospects for full membership, just by looking around,” said Mel, and Samira nodded.
“Could’ve been more if Robby didn’t scare them away,” muttered Trinity, her own Excel document open on a laptop in front of her.
Samira ignored her, but Mel secretly agreed. She loved this organization, the people, and what it added to her resume and med school applications, but Robby definitely wasn’t for everyone (and her brief stint in student government had shown her not everyone’s advisors were as hands-on as he was).
“Okay, all of that aside, this is awesome! That’s a way higher number than last year,” said Theo. He turned his gaze to Mel, “If by some miracle, we managed to pull more than 30 of them as members, could you figure out service hour opportunities for that many people? You killed it with the new partnerships last year but I don’t want to overwhelm you if we can’t scale up that fast.”
She nodded, “I think we could make it work. I’m still waiting to hear back from two of the memory care facilities just outside of town to see if they’ll work with us, but I think we can squeeze that many in. If not, we can always organize another blood drive for hours. I’m sure with homecoming, they’ll need a lot of volunteers.”
“She’s right,” added her roommate. Cassie threw her a warm smile and Mel smiled back. The two of them weren’t the best of friends, but they were close enough, and worked great as roommates, so she always appreciated her having her back during e-board meetings, especially because Cassie knew all too well how anxious Mel had been when running for the position of Vice President of Community Service last year.
“She’s always right, Cassie that’s like her whole—”
“Okay, can I get everyone’s attention for literally just thirty seconds,” Samira started, her voice not raising more than it had previously. “John, how are the photos?”
John was in the middle of taking a sip out of his signature Dunkin’ iced coffee before he replied, “Fairly usable, but seriously, Samira, this lighting is criminal. I’ll do what I can for this recap post but I’m going to need an outdoor event at some point, I’ve been asking since April—”
“Got it. Trinity?"
Trinity looked up from her laptop. “If I actually had time to finish catching up on all of our previous financials it’d be fine but seriously, Heather was not up-to-date with the IRS on our status as a student organization with a bank account. Dues for initiated members are due soon so I’ll have a better picture then, but we got our funding from the Student Affairs office and we might actually have enough to send us to two conferences this year.”
“Cassie?”
“Once Trin gets the financials down, I can get in on the early-bird room block for the UC Davis Pre-Health conference, so I’ll plan that out, and I’ll need everyone’s recurring commitments by Labor Day so I can get that to Mel and we can assign shifts to oversee the bigger volunteer events. Also, that means actual commitments.” She looked over at Theo with a (mostly) playful glare. “Not your intentions, or the weekly trivia you do at Los Comales with a margarita, Theo. Actual commitments.”
“I intend to send you my commitments.”
“Mel?”
Mel turned her binder so the grid was visible to the table. Color-coded by site, by day, by hour requirement and by member specialty and preferences. She heard John take a photo of her binder, which made her a bit anxious, but she stayed quiet about it.
"The volume jump is the main issue. If we take on thirty-plus new members that's significantly more bodies than we placed last year, and the November hour-tracking deadline doesn't move. I’ll have to get those all entered at least before finals week to count for anyone in a organization that requires service hours besides ours."
She walked them through it efficiently: Eastside Food Pantry on hold until October, the library literacy program, the free clinics at Ann Arbor Regional and UMich, and Cedarbrook Senior Living on Marsh Road, along with the two memory care facilities she was working with. “There’s also the Red Cross but after blood-gate last year, I don’t really know if it bodes well to keep working with them.”
Their meeting broke fifteen minutes later, with plans about the next few rounds of rush, talk of scheduling the rooms for initiation, supplies they needed, and tasks for all the executive board members. Overall, a very productive meeting, and one that had Mel feeling like she was finally sliding into her place in the frat. John was the first one out the door, already on his phone heading to the bars (despite it being a Wednesday), and Trinity and Cassie had fallen into a sidebar about the budget that Mel made a mental note to look at later. Samira and Brendan had followed shortly behind John, since they lived in the same apartment complex and were planning on catching the last shuttle back before they had to Uber.
That left Theo and Mel, and the two of them cleaned up the room in comfortable silence, discarding napkins and picking up cookie crumbs from just about everywhere. “You did great, today, Mel,” he told her as the two went to turn off the lights and walk out into the setting August sky. “I know you were nervous about taking this position on, but you’re killing it and everything will be okay.”
She smiled. Theo had a way of making everyone he talked to comfortable, and despite her general awkwardness in situations involving lots of people, he made her comfortable too. “Thanks, Theo. Want to come over for dinner tomorrow? Cassie and I are making pasta and I think we’ll have enough to feed a small village with how much she bought last week.”
“Oh, and get to experience the Cassie McKay’s famous marry me chicken? I’ll be there, Melbourne.”
“You know I’ve never been to Australia, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. See you tomorrow, Mel.”
“See you, Theo.”