I was constantly trying to figure out why Allison never wanted to be in the group pictures. Or really have any pictures taken of her at all. I wondered if she had had a secret life I didn’t know about. The more she started to refuse to being in pictures, the more stories I made up about why she was always behind the camera instead of in front of it. She was in the Witness Protection Program because she had witnessed a mob boss kill her neighbor. She was on the run from her parents because they had been abusive. Allison never talked about her family so I knew nothing about where she came from.
The two of us had met our sophomore year of college when we both decided to pledge to a sorority. Greek life had not been a huge ‘I-have-to-do-this’ like it seemed to be at larger universities so it wasn’t unusual for older students to become pledges. I was glad to have another sophomore with me, especially since she didn’t quite fit the same mold as many of our pledge sisters. I didn’t own a pair of high heels and I don’t think Allison did either. I had more running shoes than real shoes and preferred to be outdoors instead of at the mall. At the end of our pledging days, I was determined to figure out why Allison wouldn’t take pictures. It was just a matter of time. Time I didn’t know we didn’t have.
Standing Room Only 