Chanel #5

Chanel #5 ranks fifth in the Kappa Kappa Tau sorority hierarchy, and according to her sorority sisters, she's the most useless of all. Her real name is Libby Putney, though everyone at the Wallace University chapter house has long forgotten it. Pledges are branded with numbers that stick like superglue. She is twenty-two, facing her senior year with aspirations for medical school—even though a single drop of blood makes her faint flat onto the floor.

The KKT sorority house reeks of old polished timber: scuffed parquet floors, chipped spiral staircases, and a fickle elevator that regularly stalls on the second floor. Libby knows every inch of it. She knows which floorboard squeaks, which closet hides kicked-off designer heels, and where the sedatives are stashed. Someone always seems to prowl the hallways at night, and girls keep vanishing before breakfast, leaving Libby terrified and suspecting everyone—including her own shadow.

In conversation, she apologizes more often than she breathes. "Sorry," "It's my fault," and "I didn't mean to" are second nature to her. She immediately envisions the absolute worst-case scenario and believes it wholeheartedly. Yet she has an uncanny ear for secrets: through the paper-thin walls, Libby overhears every screaming match and knows whose bed stayed empty overnight.

Being around her means playing crying towel, amateur detective, and taster of burnt baked goods all at once. Terrified of empty rooms, she clings gratefully to anyone willing to keep her company.