Reborn in 1994: Internet Empire

15 Undercover at a party

       Max, Jules, and Trae all stood side by side looking up at the imposing Iota Rho Fraternity house, which was off-campus by a few blocks. It was located in a townhouse, very near their school. In this townhouse sat a large white mansion, which was home to the Iota Rho Frat. One could hear them from a mile away, as their signature chant echoed through the whole townhouse. This party was a police bust waiting to happen, as stoned students lay on the lawn, while piss drunk frat boys and sorority girls partied on the inside. They took a taxi here because as a rule, the frat only lets people in if they are able to take two hard shots right off the bat, and wash it down by chugging a beer. God help someone who decided to partake in pregame. 

       “Are you sure about this Max?” Trae asked, clearly concerned as he jumped in shock due to the frat boy being thrown through a window. 

       “Don’t worry, you’re popular in school. And so is Jules. No one should mess with you guys if you stick together,” Max said.

       “But what about you man?”

       “I’m gonna look for our prospect, Charlie. He isn’t in the Frat itself, but he loves to drink. Anywhere that serves free-flowing alcohol is kinda like his sanctuary,” said Max. 

       Gathering their courage, they finally approached the door, which was blocked off by two big frat boys. Max and his crew had to look up at one of them. 

       “Welcome to the Iota Rho back to school party! You guys go to NYIU right?” one of them asked, giving a less than a sober smile.

       “Yeah, we do,” Max said, making sure to keep eye contact. 

       You can’t show any kind of weakness to frat boys, otherwise, they proceed to mess with you the entire party. 

       “Alright brothers and sister! What year you guys in?” he said, as he gave them all emphatic high fives. 

       “Oh, we’re freshmen!” Max said.

       “Max no-” Trae tried to cut him off but it was too late. 

       The frat boy in front of him gathered all of the air he could muster into his lungs and proceeded to yell at the top of his lungs. 

       “Fresh meeeeeeeeat!!!”

       Jules shook her head and proceeded to take a step back. Suddenly, all eyes were on them, as the rest of the Frat their partygoers started to chant. 

       Rho. Rho. Rho. Rho. Rho. Rho. Rho.

       With that, the two guys brought out a large keg, with plastic tubing hooked up to it. He slammed it down before the two freshmen, showing them that it was filled to the brim with alcohol. The frat boy looked at them both and gave them a more sinister smile. 

       “Alright meat! We have a policy here! If you’re a freshman, we have to make sure you can hang! So every freshman has to do a keg stand before they enter!”

       Violent cheers came from all over the house, as nearly the entire crowd was by the front lawn, hoping to catch a view of freshmen spewing their guts out. 

       Max looked back nervously at Jules, who only shrugged her shoulders, as she proceeded to down her easy two shots and a beer. With that, she looked back at both of them and smiled triumphantly. 

       “Good luck boys!” she said, as she stood back and waited for the show to begin. 

       Trae nudged Max. 

       “You really gotta be more careful with these things, man!” he said, in a loud whisper. 

       “I’m sorry I didn’t know!” Max replied. 

       “Alright enough talking boys! Who’s first?” the frat boy said, as he tapped on the keg rig. 

       With a sigh, Trae volunteered to go first. 

       “Yes! That’s my boy!” the frat boy said, as he had a few of his frat brothers come out to help. 

       With that, they hoisted Trae’s legs up, while he held himself up with his hands. They brought the tube to his mouth and loosened the tap. Shining golden beer rushed through the hose, filling Trae’s mouth in seconds. 

       “Remember freshman, we only let you in if you can go for a full minute!”

       With that, Trae focused on pacing himself, chugging as little beer as he could with every gulp. However, this proved exceedingly difficult as the gravity of the liquid pushed against his throat, forcing him to gulp more. Max watched as the nerves started to kick in a little harder. The crowd cheered and chanted as Trae was downing so much beer in a single go. Soon, the minute was up, and Trae was clearly shaken. Jules approached him and checked to see if he was ok. 

       “I’m f-fine! *burp* Uh, yeah Max, y-you, y-you can do it… my friend!” he said, as he attempted to pat Max on the shoulder, but missed and swung his arm straight down. 

       “You’re already drunk, man!” Max replied. 

       “That’s kind of the point freshman!” the frat boy yelled to a cheering crowd. “Now it’s your turn!”

       Max gulped and prepared himself for the trial of his life. He thought his life’s hardest obstacle would be to fight off a criminal organization or hacking into some sort of internationally encrypted database. But as he looked upon a massive fifty-pound beer keg, he realized that this would be the biggest test of his mind and will.

       “Ready freshman?”

       “Y-yeah!” Max said, taking his last breath of air. 

       His feet were hoisted into the air just like Trae’s. Immediately he felt the blood rush into his head, making it harder for him to focus. Suddenly, the end of the hose was put into his mouth forcibly without allowing him any more time to prepare. He briefly saw the white hose turn yellow, as it filled with beer. Soon, the liquid entered his mouth and filled it. He desperately tried to keep the liquid from dripping as he took big gulps. He closed his eyes and held his breath as he chugged more alcohol than one should have in an entire night of drinking. The cheers and chants from the crowd barely reached his ears as he slowly became more and more focused on chugging the beer. 

       “Twenty more seconds freshman, don’t give up on me!” the frat boy yelled in encouragement.

       Max was pushed to his absolute limit as he fervently gulped down on the drink that was quickly becoming more and more intolerable. He waited out the time, as it seemed to tick down slower and slower. His vision began to blur, but still he pushed on. He had to be able to talk to Charlie, who sat somewhere in the halls of the Iota Rho mansion. He buckled down and made it to the final seconds of the keg stand. 

       “Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Five… Four… Three… Two… One!”

       The frat boys pulled out the hose from Max’s mouth and flipped him back over. All of them started to pat Max on the back and cheered as they did it. Every pat made him more and more nauseous, but in a spur of the moment, Max threw his hands up in the air. 

       “Wooooooooooooo!!!”

       He incited a loud cheer in return as the party seemed to go even more out of control. Max stumbled back into Jules’ arms. 

       “Alright, come on Max, let’s get inside,” she said, slightly impressed at the feat. 

       With that, the less than sober trio entered the building. When they went into the building, they were greeted with wild cheers. 

       “Jules, w-why are they being so loud?” Max hiccuped as he looked over at her.

       “Apparently, you’re the first two freshmen to pass the Iota Rho Keg rule,” she said, as she led both of them to the nearest couch. 

       “Ah s**t… Trae that’s so freakin’ cool!”

       “Yeah, man! W-we killed that challenge!” he said, as he high fived upperclassmen he passed by. 

       The two sat down on a couch, which was just in front of the main dance hall. Everything was being torn up by drunk college students who were all clearly intoxicated in some way. 

       “S-so! What’re we doin’ here again?” Max asked. 

       The alcohol had already started to hit him very hard. 

       “Oh god, please don’t tell me your tolerance is this weak?” Jules said as she tried to get Max to sit still. “Ugh, and to think I like this guy.”

       “What Jules? You like me? Heehee I like you too!” he said, as he booped his finger onto her nose. 

       “Y’all gotta stop flirting in front of me for god sakes!!” Trae said, his head moving in circles as he looked at the ceiling. 

       Jules chuckled and sat in between the two guys. 

       “Alright, so the plan is you find this Charlie guy and convince him to join our crew so that we can start up this company,” she said in a tone that was reminiscent of a mother talking to a forgetful toddler. 

       He nodded at her and stood up. He wobbled a little and started walking into the crowd of people. 

       “Charlie!! Charlie Landers! Where are you buddy?” he started yelling, as he seemed to become one with the mass of bodies that were partying on the dance floor. 

       “Oh god, you think he is gonna be ok?” Jules said at Trae, who at that point was being offered more drinks. “Hey! Haven’t you had enough?”

       He chugged another beer and looked at her, wobbling as he did. 

       “Listen, I-I don’t tell you how… how to… how to live… life how...”

       “I’m surrounded by idiots...” Jules said, putting her face in her hands. 

----------

       Max stumbled along with the party, taking drinks as they were offered to him. He became drunker and drunker as the party progressed. He checked the dancefloor, the second floor, and the pool, and nobody named Charlie Landers was there to be found. Suddenly, he found another group that was crowding around a beer pong table. He heard something in particular that caught his attention. 

       “So, basically, coding is like, I type buncha stuff into a computer, and I make it show up on the computer! Like a program!” one of them said, surrounded by a bunch of pretty girls. 

       They all nodded their heads at him, but it was clear that they had no idea what he was talking about. He went on about the technological advancements in tech security that would happen soon and bragged about a program that he was developing.  

       “Honestly, these hackers won’t be able to figure out this program that I’ve come up with! *hiccup* I know for sure that the complex hex code encryption I have will be unbeatable.”

       Max walked up to him and in a drunken state, challenged this. 

       “Hex code encryptions are antiquated at best, and are going to be replaced in the near future with more advanced technology, guy!”

       The intoxicated student that Max had just challenged stood up and squared up. They looked at each other in the eyes, as the tension built up between them. They both wobbled and tried to remain standing as they continued to stare daggers at each other. The drunk students were determined to settle who’s opinion stood stronger.

       “You say something, punk?” the student said as he shoved Max backward.

       Max stumbled backward into the arms of a wall of students, who pushed him back up to his feet. In retaliation, Max shoved him back. 

       “Antiquated! A-N-T… uh...E… f**k you! Antiquated!”

       Suddenly a small crowd had gathered as the two tech geeks geared up to fight each other, looking to settle their differing opinions.