Shampoo powdered some rouge on her face and combed her long purple hair. She added some eyeliner to the tips of her deep purple eyes. She walked back into her closet. Her tall, white walk-in closet. What to wear? She pulled out a silky blue peasant shirt with lacy ribbon and put it on. The smooth silk clung very firmly and wrapped around her breasts. She also tossed on a really tight pair of Lei* pants. She looked at herself in the mirror. Yeah, this will do.
She dashed down the stairs. Suddenly a woman with long dark black hair came up to her. Ling was pretty cute for a girl. She was part Korean with beautiful slim dark eyes and soft facial features. She was wearing a white peasant shirt with tight blue pants. She also had a very coy smile. "Hey girl!" Ling said sweetly. "Where were you last night?"
"I went out with a bunch of friends," Shampoo replied.
"The new rushees are here," Ling said. "They look so cute. Don't you remember when we used to be freshmen?"
"Yeah, good times" Shampoo replied warily. "How many do we have this year?"
"Fifty," Ling replied. "Can you just totally die? Speaking of die, you know May Yim is going to kill you later."
"That's a risk I'll take," Shampoo
replied.
They entered the white living room of the house Kappa Alpha Omega to the sound of girly chatter and giggling. Shampoo looked around. The young girls were everywhere. Shampoo suddenly felt very old.
One young woman stood up. She had short black hair, rimmed eyeglasses. Her curt Asian lips painted with L'Oreal Lusty Red. She wore a mini pink-shirt with silver sparkles in the form of KAO, the Greek letters for the sorority and a black mini skirt which revealed her smooth tanned legs. "Welcome to Kappa Alpha Omicron, we are a national Asian-American Christian sorority," May-Yim said. "My name is May Yim. I'm a communications major and your president!"
"Hi May Yim!" the girls all replied with aritificial perkiness. Shampoo felt like she could puke.
Another girl stood up. "My name is Candice Tokugawa and I am the vice president of KAO!"
"Hi Candice!"
"I'm Ling Lai and I am a Design major and your pledge mistress!"
"Hi Ling!"
"Hey, my name is Shampoo Chen," Shampoo said coldly. "Food Studies- Women and Gender Studies double-major and Asian American studies-minor. And I am the treasurer of Kappa Alpha Omicron"
Silence. "Gooo Bears!" Shampoo sang.
"Hi Shampoo!" the girls chortled. May Yim gave Shampoo a cold glare and then resumed her aritificial perkiness. "We excited that you are continuing on with the pledge process and within a month, we will see several of you as our brand new sisters."
"Horray!" the mindless drones replied.
Shampoo twirled her glass of pink lemonade at one corner. Normally she would be her perky little self, shaking hands and finding the most perkiest girl and give her a total makeover. It worked when she was rushing into the sorority. But something else was on her mind. She didn't want to play the mind games that her friends would normally play anymore. Around her, the sorority girls flocked onto the rushees like a bunch of wild hyenas to a wounded antelope. It seemed strategic. Three sorority girls clad in their perky pink shirts would gather around a group of five rushees who were nervously chatting about boys, make-up, Christianity, and studying. Some of the girls nodded joyously. Moreover, they would not include lesbians because Shampoo knew that May Yim, the pious perfect Korean Christian girl, was also a homophobe.
Across from her, another girl also twirled her cup of pink lemonade. She had short black hair cropped to the top of her neck, dark brown eyes and she was wearing a black tanktop and tight black pants. Shampoo walked up closer. "You don't look like you're having any fun."
“Well, neither do you,” the other girl snapped.
“I surely don’t,” Shampoo said quietly. “I get bored from these girls talking about which make-up foundation matches their mini-skirts." The girl laughed. "My name is Amy by the way."
"Shampoo Chen," Shampoo reached out her hand and smiled. "So what brings you to our neck of the woods?"
"I really don't want to do this," Amy said. "My friend Kate is rushing." She nudged to toward the ponytailed Asian girl chatting with May Yim. “I’d rather spend time with my girlfriend.”
“Your girlfriend?” Shampoo’s eyes widened. Here was this Asian girl who almost looked like Akane Tendo, who could definitely pass for a normal Asian girl and she’s…a lesbian! She doesn’t look like Ellen or Melissa Etheridge or the typical white lesbian girl like Jane Dunway does. She’s just like…me?
"Yeah, my girlfriend," Amy replied. "I am going to go see her tonight.”
“That’s wonderful,” Shampoo replied.
“How’d you meet her?” Shampoo
and Amy talked for a while. Amy was a Biological Science major with a minor
in Woman Studies. She also learned of Queer and Asian, an Asian American
gay support group and UC Berkeley. Shampoo was trying not to hide her excitement.
“It’s just that I’ve never met gay people,” Shampoo stammered. “Since I’m from
China or Japan or something like that.” Amy likewise was fascinated about China
and was interested in an exchange-student program at Berkeley. Amy told her
about how Q&A became a support group for her when she was coming out
of the closet. In fact, Amy met her girlfriend in Q&A and they were
celebrating their six-month anniversary next week. Shampoo couldn’t help but
smile. “I love it when two people, any two people find romance,” Shampoo replied.
Amy smiled for the first time since she was in the rushee meeting.
“All the girls were really nice except for that creepy one in the corner,” May Yim said as the last of the rushees left. “I think she’s a dyke or something.”
“Actually,” Shampoo corrected her. “She’s a lesbian.”
“I just knew it!” May-Yim replied. “There’s just something, you know, weird about her. And you actually talked to her, that is amazing!”
Yeah, Shampoo thought. Sure it is. She turned around and saw Amy walk out. But Amy wasn’t alone. Another cute Asian girl with long, black hair, who definitely did not look butch, met her and held her hand. Shampoo stared at those two girls for a moment. She wished that she could do the same thing too.
While Shampoo was looking longingly at the door, she did not notice that Ling was looking subtly at her.