For most universities, the first Saturday of October is no big deal, it’s just a day. For the new freshmen who walk the halls of the University of Missouri, or Mizzou, that very Saturday is the day where he or she finds out if they got accepted as a pledge for the sorority or fraternity of their dreams. Most sororities and fraternities post the results of the new pledges online, but the fraternity for Alpha Theta Pi does it differently.

A sudden, high pitched squealing sound awoke Caysen Daniels from, what was supposed to be, his deep sleep.

“Dudes, seriously?” He moaned, sluggishly running a hand through his curly, sand colored hair.

“It’s a Saturday, and like normal people, I want to sleep,” he mumbled as he slammed back down into his pillow.

Just as he was about to shut his eyes, the source of the squealing barged into his room, and started to knock things around, causing even more noise.

“Seriously!” Daniel said, now even more irritated. As he was about to get out of his bed, the thing bounced onto his mattress, and landed, not too softly, on his stomach.

“Ow,” he groaned, looking up to see the source of the liability. What he saw shocked him.

Instead of a noise making ball, he was met with soft, light pink fur with dark spots. It was a small pig looking at him with big, mud colored eyes.

“Where did you come from?” Daniel asked, lifting it up, which caused it to squeal some more.

“Wait a minute,” he said, narrowing his green eyes when he saw a familiar fraternity logo with an envelope attached to it.

Caysen Michael Daniels,
You are now a pledge of ???; we have a few tasks for you.
This is Porky the Pig, we just let him out. You must escort him back to his home where the studies of life are performed.
Be sure to hurry, and hurry fast, for when it’s 8:21, the class will begin.
Brother Sharkmaster
Checking the time, Caysen cursed under his breath realizing that he had less than an hour to get Porky back to his home in the biology department.

“Come on, Porky,” Caysen said, herding the little pig out the door, “let’s go.”

Letting out another high pitched squeal, Porky made his way out the door, and into a random direction.

“Crap, crap, crap!” Caysen yelled, chasing after the pig. “Get back here!”
Ten minutes later, Caysen had made it to the courtyard of the campus, and no sight of Porky anywhere.

“Curse my poor athletic abilities,” He groaned, kneeling into the slightly wet grass.
“That’s what I get for playing video games and eating nothing but chips.”

Ignoring the stares he was getting from his fellow classmates, he slowly laid down onto the grass; breathing deeply, and suppressing a scream of frustration.

A few minutes into his pity party, he heard the same little pig come up to him, and lay by him.

“Looks like I’m not the only one who hates exercise,” he muttered, getting up, and taking the pig with him.

“I have less than ten minutes! Crap,” he moaned, checking his watch again.

Looking around, he noticed a building that had ‘DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY’ in big, chrome letters.


“Please be unlocked! Please be unlocked,” Cayson said, silently praying as he made his way to the door.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he opened the door, and made his way to Porky’s classroom.
“Okay, buddy, time to go back home,” Caysen said, putting the pig back in the cage. Looking up at the clock in the room, he let out a sigh. “Barely made it,” he said triumphantly.

“Excuse me,” A mousey looking red haired girl said quietly, tapping his shoulder. “I found this, and I think it belongs to you,” she continued, putting an envelope adorned with AO’s initials in his hand.
If you received this letter, hooray and well done. You have just completed task number one.
Now don’t cocky, don’t get a big head of air.
For there’s lots to be done, and there’s no time to be spared.
The next task we give is not one to be laughed at; it is one to be feared.
For the Paddle for Pledges has just disappeared.
We have a clue of where it may be hidden.
It’s where laughter and sadness can be combined; where people go to memorize lines.
Unlike your previous task where there was no audience at all, this next task guarantees being watched by all.
Brother Sharkmaster
“‘Where people go to memorize lines’,” Caysen murmured to himself, “where could that be?”
After thinking about it for a few more seconds, his eyes widened in realization. “The Drama department!”
When he made it to the new area for his task, his confidence started to drain as he realized that the drama department was at least twice the size of the biology department.
“This is getting ridiculous,” Caysen muttered, sitting down on one of the smooth, wooden benches.
“Wait a minute,” he said quietly, narrowing his eyes toward a group that held something that looked like a wooden cutting board.
“To spank or not to spank! That is the question,” one of the drama students in the distance yelled, holding up a black and gold paddle adorned with the symbols ‘???’.
“Bingo!” Caysen said to himself, doing a fist pump.
Making his way toward the drama department, he mentally strategized how to get the paddle back.
“State your reason for trespassing, freshman!” an older student, maybe a junior, said with authority, pointing a stick at Caysen.
“How did you- never mind. I need that paddle; it belongs to A??, “Caysen replied, trying to get past the upperclassman.
“Sorry, no can do, freshman,” He replied.
“Please, I need it!” Caysen said, getting more irritated.

“There might be a way,” Junior said, stroking his brown goatee in thought, “but it’ll involve unimaginable forms of self humiliation. Only those with too much dignity or none at all will be able to handle this intense task.”

“I’ll do anything!” Caysen pleaded, already regretting his decision.

Every minute Caysen looked at himself in the mirror, he could feel his self respect and dignity decrease by each second.
“I look ridiculous,” Caysen scowled, pointing to the overly pink dress coupled by a neon green wig so bright that it nearly put the sun to shame.

“What are you talking about?” A girl said, barely containing her giggles as she added the finishing touches to his makeup. “You look pretty.”
“Miss Tooty, you’re on!” Goatee yelled from behind him, trying to suppress laughter of his own.

“Sir, please!” Caysen said, raising his voice an octave higher, “I need a good smack to my buttock for I have been bitten by the dragon of Spanksolot, and getting hit is the only cure!”

“As you say, Maiden Tooty,” A knight said, raising the paddle, and making contact with Caysen’s rear.

“As a token of my gratitude, Sir Noblestien of Handsomevill, I offer you this,” Caysen said, handing him a handkerchief.

“And to you, Maiden Tooty,” The knight replied, bowing and handing Caysen a paddle with an envelope attached to it.

Taking those, now sacred in Caysen’s mind, items, he made a bolt to the inside of the dressing room, and quickly removed himself from his horrid attire.
“This better be the last thing I have to do,” Caysen muttered angrily, opening the next envelope.
Congratulations freshman, for it is you who remains in this long and fun (for us) game.
Very few pledges make it this far.
Be warned though, for the initiation’s just begun.
If you thought this was hard, then beware the next one.
For what will be involved will be considered quite cruel.
The next task will take place in the heart of the school.
You must take the dear mascot of our beloved Mizzou.
Now be warned, this is much harder than you probably think.
“I have to steal the mascot,” Caysen said to himself warily, “I could get expelled for that.”
“Should I really go through with it?” He asked himself.
“You should,” a male voice said from behind, startling him.
“Who are you?” Caysen asked, turning around to the olive skinned boy.
“Rajesh,” The boy replied, shaking Caysen’s hand in a friendly manner.
“Are you a pledge for AO, too?” Caysen asked.
“Yep, and we’re now the only ones left,” Rajesh said, closing his brown eyes in thought.
“AO selects a number of freshmen as pledges, they start out with at least twenty, and as they progress in the initiation tasks, the pledges get weeded out one by one, and soon only two pledges remain. The final task determines who will get chosen as the new AO brother.”
“So if I don’t do this task, I’ll get eliminated,” Caysen replied, feeling his stomach drop to his knees.
“Exactly,” Rajesh replied. “I got lucky though,” he said, smiling.
“I got an easy task! Speaking of which,” he continued, glancing at his watch, “I have to get started! May the best man win!”
“He seems a little weird,” Caysen muttered to himself, leaving.
“This is it,” Caysen said to himself quietly, making his way to the school.
“It’s weird that they would have me do it at night,” he realized, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
“Hey! What are you doing out here!?” A security guard demanded, shining her flashlight on the sandy haired teen.
“I-I w-was,” Caysen tried to say, stumbling over his words.

“If you don’t answer in the next few seconds, I am taking you to the dean,” she said once more, “Now, spit it out!”

Without saying anything, Caysen shakily handed the security guard the letter.

“So you’re an AO pledge, they don’t usually give initiation tasks like these,” she said, narrowing her eyes in thought and suspicion.
“Come on, we’re going to their house to see what’s going on, you’re lucky it was me who caught you, otherwise they wouldn’t have hesitated to send to the dean,” she said in a stern voice.

After about fifteen minutes of walking, Caysen and the security guard reached a large, old oak house with ‘???’ at the roof of the house.
“Someone probably cheated. It happens every year,” the officer said in a tone much friendlier than their first encounter as she knocked on the door.

“What’s up?” A much taller male with spiked up hair asked, looking at Caysen and the officer.
“I found this young man trying to break into the school to steal the mascot claiming that it was one of your initiation tasks,” The officer said, pushing Caysen in front of her.

“I was given this,” Caysen said quietly, giving the guy the letter.

The guy’s brown eyes widened in surprise mixed with frustration as he read the letter.

“I think one of the brothers did this to eliminate one of the pledges. I’m this year’s house president, James Masterson, what is your name?” The guy known as James asked, shaking Caysen’s hand.

“Caysen, Caysen Daniels,” Caysen replied, feeling a little more at ease. “What’s going to happen now?”

“Well, first,” James said, looking at the letter, “I have an idea of who might be the person who sent this fake letter, and once he is kicked out, you are going to be the newest AO brother.”

Looking at the officer, he smiled, “sorry for the trouble we put you through,” he said.

“I’ll find the kid who did this and get him to you. Come in, Caysen,” He said again.

A few minutes later, James came back with Rajesh, carrying him by the collar of his shirt.

“Rajesh Coopla,” James said in an annoyed voice, “for cheating your way into the AO brotherhood, I hereby strip you of your AO status, and you are banned from this fraternity.”
“Welcome to the fraternity, Brother Caysen!” James said, clapping Caysen on the back.