Foreword
For the most part, that had been the hardest thing that she had to do during her entire initiation, until tonight. All the rest of the things were still, simple, tasks that were more for effect than anything else. One of the girl members, however, had openly displayed her dislike for Janet, and although Janet had never done anything to her, she would make her do all sorts of crazy things every time she saw her. That was Karen, and for the life of her, Janet couldn't understand the other girls dislike for her. Absolutely nothing had ever happened between them before to cause it.
That afternoon at school for example, in the girls' bathroom, she had made Janet strip naked and parade around. Then, with a sinister implication, she had told Janet that she had something special planned for her that night. The way she had said it had made Janet shudder. She could not for the life of her understand why the girl disliked her so much. Several times she had tried to make friends with the other girl, but all she ever got in answer was a look of contempt. Knowing that on initiation night everything went, Janet couldn't help worrying about what the girl might have planned.
The initiation was the culmination of pledge week. Everyone in school knew about the gang, and many had tried to pledge it. Most were turned down for one reason or other, and Janet couldn't help feeling pretty good about being accepted as a pledge. She realized that the main reason she had been allowed to pledge was because of Sharon. Sharon was well-liked, and anyone would almost be a cinch to be accepted as a pledge on her recommendation alone. Janet remembered having heard stories about several girls who had tried to pledge and then failed on initiation night. What had happened to them hadn't been a very pretty story, and none of them had ever dared squeal. They had known that if they did, they would definitely have gotten in a lot of trouble with the gang. And the gang had a well-earned reputation of not being the kind to get into trouble with.