Jacquette had never experienced anything like this. She was flattered and petted, her “beautiful braids” envied, her “lovely colour” raved over, while she was being presented to this and that girl, and yielded reluctantly by one to the other, until she had met about twenty.
There the introductions stopped. Plenty of other girls and boys were standing about, or passing in and out of the school building, but it was evident that she was to meet no one outside of this particular set, to-day. She was satisfied, though, for she had begun to believe what Marquis had said about these being the nicest girls in Marston High.
As she stood there in the warm September sunshine, she found herself taking notes of the silk and muslin gowns worn by these new friends, and of the elaborate styles of hair-dressing. One richly-dressed girl, who had been introduced as Blanche Gross, was describing a forty-dollar hat that she had bought “just to wear in the house, at teas and receptions.” Jacquette, fresh from Brookdale, wondered what Aunt Sula would say to that. She wished Quis had told her that hats were not worn outdoors in Channing. Not one of the girls had any covering on her head.
The chatter about her went on merrily. Now and then a new girl was brought into the charmed circle, and passed around, just as Jacquette had been, but no one seemed to think of going into school. Jacquette did not quite understand; she was only sure that it was all fascinating, and that she was glad to be a part of it.
“Don’t we go in to see about our classes, pretty soon?” she asked, presently, of Louise Markham, a jolly, stylish-looking senior in a white linen suit, who seemed to have taken her especially under her wing.
“Oh, no!”—Etta Brainerd, the talkative girl of the crowd spoke before Louise could answer—“Sorority girls never register until second day.”
“But we may have to reform our ways in that respect, girls,” laughed Louise. “Did you know the Board of Education took off five teachers from Marston faculty, last year, because the enrollment of pupils on the first day was only a thousand? Next day, you know, after the rest of us had registered, there were nearly fifteen hundred, and the teachers didn’t like it a bit. It made their work so much harder.”
“Oh, they always fuss about something,” said Etta, carelessly. “We have to take care of the interests of our sorority, first day. Guess we aren’t going to let the Kappa Delts run off with the best girls, while we’re registering!”
Etta was the tallest girl in the group. Her brown hair was drawn to the top of her head in a fluffy knot, and her skirts almost touched the ground. As she spoke, she was readjusting the sorority pin on the front of her white lace waist. “It has to be exactly over the heart,” she explained, with a smile, as she saw Jacquette watching her.
“We’re going to have a spread after a while, and we want you to come,” Louise murmured to Jacquette. “That’s what ‘rushing’ means. Quis said I should tell you. We pick out the girls we think we may want, and give them a good time—spreads and so on—and then, if we find they’re all right, we bid them Sigma Pi—ask them to join, you know.”