Welcome to Springtide University. Springtide looks like your ordinary college campus; dorms, quad, cafeteria, and library. But if this was your typical university, you wouldn't be reading a story about it. What make Springtide special are the people who attend. I'm pretty sure you have heard of one or two of them. Oh look there is Rapunzel, she's hard to see without her long golden hair; or how about over here is Merida, firing away on the archery field; and there goes Professor Belle Livre, probably heading to the library to get ready for her literature class.
Ah, here is Greek Row.
The first house we arrive at is Sigma Kappa Gamma. The Sigma House is a brilliant foray into modern house design. The front wall is nothing but glass, with the two front corners being round swimming pools enclosed in three stories of glass. At each of the upper floors above both pools is a diving board. The front door leads into a round glass foyer the height of the building. Spanning the foyer, at levels 2 and 3, are a series of catwalks leading to balconies on either side of the glass foyer. The students live on the upper floors; girls on the second floor and boys on the third. Tables and chairs are provided on the roof for those residents that would like to study in the open air, but want the security of the fraternity.
Across from Sigma is the house of Pi. The Pi Iota Chi House stands out from all the rest as it is painted several different bright colors. It is a victorian style home with its front porch painted pink, the bay window a lemon yellow, all the trim is a nice bright teal, and lets not forget the dormers which are a stunning shade of lime green.
Next on the row is the Delta Beta fraternity. This house is quite simply a mansion, with a colonial air to it. You can tell that in its heyday it was just magnificent, 2 stories of traditional wood siding stained a pretty blue. The top floor has a balcony all the way across the front and a patio on top of the east wing of the lower floor. The front porch is just begging for some nice outdoor seating areas. However, as the popularity of this fraternity has declined, so has the beauty of this house; the wood stain is fading to a gray, the paint on the railing is peeling, and no one in the house has the time to sit on the front porch.
The last house on the row was actually the first greek house on the row, Alpha Delta Sigma. Sitting on a hill overlooking all of Greek Row, this house is not really a house but more like a castle! Four stories made of cream stone work and a roof the color of terracotta. Turrets and dormers extend from several points on the roof line. The two story front porch wraps all the around the building, and is always decorated with bunting and lights. At night, all the residents' rooms are lit with a different color. The stone steps ascending the hill are made of the same stone as the castle itself. At the bottom of the stairs is a two-tier water fountain that is often colorfully lit. Although you can see tonight it is … spewing bubbles!?
And this, ladies and gents, is the start of our story.
On the wondrous campus of Spingtide University, where our story begins, a long-standing rivalry between two fraternities begins with a new tenacity. What has long been a war of pranks and seemingly lighthearted fun will soon turn into violent fights and attempts of sabotage.
People come flooding out of the Alpha House in multiple manners of dress; jeans and t-shirts, PJs, sundresses, even a girl in a bathing suit.
"What in the world?"
"Who did this?"
"Had to be those stupid Sigs!"
"Oh, We SOOO have to get them back for this!"
"Hey, here come some now!"
"Oy mates, looks like you have some trouble with your fountain. Looks like someone put dish soap in the water." Says a tall fellow with a thick aussie accent.
"I wonder who could have done that, you piece of poo. Do you know how much trouble it is going to be to clean this up!" Yells a boy with black hair, a white shirt, and blue jeans.
"Does it look like I care?" Replies the aussie with more than a note of disdain in his voice.
"Do you know who you are talking to, you son of…"
"Eric, come on hes not worth it! Just let it go, we will go to the Dean tomorrow." The girl in the swimsuit pleads.
"Go ahead Eric, listen to your girlfriend. You wouldn't want to get into trouble. Not that you could beat me…OOFFF"
Eric had gotten out of his girlfriends grip and punched the aussie in the stomach and that was all it took. The tension broke and both sides were swinging. Fists were flying, hair was pulled, and clothes got torn. Finally campus police showed up, someone had the foresight to call when the fight started.
"ALRIGHT, you lot break it up!" Bellowed the head of police, a man known only as, Sheriff. "Sarge, Mator break 'em up!"
With only a few other groups still fighting the Sheriff and his lackeys were able to restore the peace in short order.
"Now you lot listen. If I have to come back down here, or anywhere else for that matter, because the likes of you can't get along, I'm going to go to the Dean and see about disbanding ya'll's groups."
"BUT, sir we have been here forever and they started it. Look what they did to our fountain!"
"I DON'T CARE. I have up to here," he holds his hand above his head, "with ya'll's silly rivalry. Now you guys get on back inside your houses!"
Everyone heads back toward their respective houses, muttering and glancing back at where Sheriff stood staring at the Alpha fountain, which was still overflowing with soap bubbles.
"Eric, we are so going to one-up them on this. What can we do to get back at them?" asks Ariel, the girl in the swimsuit.
"Don't worry my little mermaid, I have an idea, but I need to work it out first."