From Upper East Side to ZBZ

Synopsis: After being wait listed from Yale, Blair Waldorf applies to Cypress Rhodes University. During the summer before college, Blair reunites with her childhood friend, Evan Chambers. Evan views his blossoming relationship with Blair as a chance to set things straight with the ZBZs. Will Blair get hurt in the process? Is she meant to be with Chuck Bass? With Evan "tied up" and Max gone, will Casey and Cappie finally get together? A Greek/Gossip Girl crossover. (Blair/Frannie/Evan, Blair/Chuck,Casey/Cappie, Rebecca/Rusty).

From Upper East Side to ZBZ

Disclaimer: I do not own Gossip Girl nor do I own the rights to Greek. I am just a dreamer, who wishes that Chair and Cappie/Casey would happily get together.

Chapter 4: This Modern Love

The inspiration for this chapter comes from the Bloc Party song, "This Modern Love":

Baby,you've got to be more discerning

I've never known what's good for me

And baby, you've got to be more demanding

Jump left

What are you, holding out for?

What's always in the way?

Why so damn absentminded?

Why so scared of romance?

Casey Cartwright was having a very, very bad day. She and her brother, Rusty, had encountered two road closings and numerous detours on their trials from Chicago back to North Carolina. Even though they took turns driving, Casey was willing to drive for the majority of the trip. Secretly, she didn't trust her brother's driving. The summer had come and gone in the sort of world wind that only occurs after a bad breakup. She had accepted a prominent internship in Washington D.C., during the summer that made it virtually impossible to maintain contact with her boyfriend. Also, he was in the process of transferring into a doctoral program in engineering in California. It was only inevitable that they would have to break up. Still, returning to the campus of Cypress Rhodes, was not as exciting as it once was.

While Casey was driving, Rusty kept sneaking looks at his sister. Even though few of her friends saw past her cheerful exterior, Rusty knew his older sister was hurting. She had lost her position as president of her sorority, due to that bitch Frannie Morgan and her asshole boyfriend. It wasn't enough that Evan cheated on his sister with another girl; he had to be part of her social downfall, as well. Generally, Rusty did not get involved in the often frivolous politics that surrounded Greek life. He was now a member of Kappa Tau, a fraternity at Cypress Rhodes that mimicked the lifestyle of Animal House. He was looking forward to the school year, but was sad for Casey.

When they arrived at the school, there were torrential downpours. Periodically on the drive they would listen to the weather forecast; none of them had predicted rain. Prior to the downpour, Casey had removed most of her belongings from the back of her car. Since she would be graduating in June, her parent's had purchased a Honda Element, which had much more space for moving into her room. Unfortunately, it meant hauling her brother's items, as well. Now, Casey, looked forlornly at her stuff which was becoming increasingly more water logged.

From seemed like a distance, she heard a muffled voice ask,"Hey, Case! Do you need help? Your stuff is about to be ruined." Casey turned and saw that the voice belonged to Cappie, her ex-boyfriend.

"Sure, Cap. It would be great to have your help! My little brother is over at the dorms, helping Dale move in", she stated.

Casey was dismayed by her current situation. She was soaking wet, as were most of her belongings. It would take days for her shoes to dry out. Even in her nightmares, she didn't think her first day back on campus would be spent looking like a drowned rat.

"Why don't you go inside the Kappa house to warm up, maybe get dry? You can take some of your clothes out of one of your bins, with you. I will bring the rest of stuff into the foyer of the Zeta house and help you move it upstairs, later. ", Cappie asked.

"Thanks, Cappie, I will take you up on the offer. It would be better than having the ZBZs see me like this. I need to look confident if I am going to help Ashleigh get out of the mess we are currently in. ", said Casey , thoughtfully.

Casey appreciated Cappie's help. Max did not understand the magnitude of the whole Alpha Omega mess. After the events of last semester, Casey knew that things at the ZBZ house were going to be more difficult than ever before. Their chapter was going to get heat for losing most of their pledge class to the fledging sorority Alpha Omega. One of the most humiliating things that could happen to a national sorority was to have a local upstart take it's members. Their were rules and regulations that kept Frannie from joining another national; local sororities were often a free for all. The only way to truly stop them for recruiting more new members was to find that they were committing unfair practices such as discriminatory recruiting or hazing. However, knowing Frannie, she would make sure all her bases were covered. Trying to figure out loop holes in panhellenic law was going to take time.

As Casey ran into the Kappa, Cappie began to happily bring her stuff into the Zeta house. After all of last year's confusion and his break up with Rebecca Logan, Cappie realized one important thing. Getting back together with Casey was one of the first things he wanted to do. He knew about her precarious situation in the sorority and knew that Evan Chambers was greatly at fault for it. Now that the douche bag was out of the picture, he could take his rightful place next to his favorite girl in the world. As he was musing over his newfound luck, he spotted a girl who had just wandered into the Zeta house.

She seemed way too over dressed, even for a ZBZ, and Cappie had never seen her around on campus. Perhaps, she was one of Rebecca's friends. Standing in the foyer, with a box of wet books, she looked like completely forlorn. The girl was pretty, but the sadness in her eyes made her appear like she had lost her favorite puppy.

"Hey, you look lost. My name is Cappie. This the ZBZ sorority house. Are you a friend of Rebecca Logan?", he questioned.

"No, actually, I am a friend of Evan Chambers. He was supposed to help me move into to my dorm room, but he was held up in the storm. When he didn't show up, I started looking for my room. Since this is the nicest, most palatial house on campus, I just assumed this was where I would be living. My name is Blair Waldorf.", the mystery girl stated.

"You know...I am friends with a few of the girls, here. Normally, you would never be able to just move in, but maybe we can pull some strings. I am sure the ZBZs would be happy to meet you. I will talk to Ashleigh and Casey", said Cappie.

"It is nice to meet you, Cappie. I appreciate you contacting some of the girls who run this sorority. Before the rain, I went to my dorm room, and the living conditions were deplorable. No walk in closet, another roommate with had tiny miniature version of a refrigerator. She was already drinking, which is alright, but she was drinking Budweiser. I cannot live like that. My father would have endowed the college money to build me a new dorm, but this was not my first college choice.", Blair said in a very rushed tone.

"Really? Are you sure you aren't also friends with Rebecca Logan? Somehow, I have the feeling you two would either love one another or totally hate each other. At any rate, you wait here," he said with utter amusement.

"Cappie seems like a nice guy, despite everything Evan said about him", Blair whispered to herself. During their dinner date, Evan had been very explicit about who she should avoid socializing with. Cappie was definitely on the avoidance list. At dinner, it seemed like Evan was hoping to make amends for his past transgressions. He admitted that he was getting tired of his current girlfriend, Frannie, because she was mean spirited. Blair understood mean spiritedness, but had learned a valuable lesson about revenge. Often, you ended up much worse than you ever were in the first place.

College would be a chance for her to turn over a new leaf. Without Chuck, S., or even "Cabbage Patch" around, she could move on and reinvent herself. She wondered what it must be like to be one of the carefree girls she had seen as her driver brought her onto the campus grounds. They seemed to actually be enjoying their lives, even though it was obvious that most of them probably couldn't afford to even live in Brooklyn. Southern suburban life seemed to create a different type of girl. Maybe, moving here wouldn't be such a bad thing, after all.

With Cappie gone, Blair continued to remain downstairs, thinking about the possibilities Cyprus Rhodes could bring. From atop the grand staircase, Rebecca Logan watched Blair with great interest. Since attending Cyprus, she had seen very few girls that she knew she could truly be friends with. Although incredibly nice, most of the girls did not understand what it was like to be a jet setter. She constantly took a ribbing for her wardrobe, which consisted of clothing articles that were worth more some of the other girl's second hand cars. Even though Rebecca knew this girl was lost, she knew that having someone like her around bring the ZBZs back to the rightful place at the top.

Rebecca swiftly walked down the stairs, stating,"I am Rebecca Logan. Who are you?"

Grateful to be acknowledged by someone who obviously lived in the house, Blair said,"I am Blair Waldorf. I am an incoming freshman. I went to move into my dorm, but the living conditions were awful. I was wondering if I could stay here, until alternate arrangements could be made?"

"Waldorf? As in the Waldorf Astoria and Waldorf Design Originals?", asked Rebecca incredulously.

"Yes, one and the same. My mother is Eleanor Waldorf, the founder of Waldorf Designs.", said Blair proudly.

"Amazing, it is great to meet you. I was at your mother's show during New York fashion week. I must admit that my favorite dress was the green dress worn by that socialite at the end of the show. When I went to order one, I discovered that it had actually been designed by a fifteen year old design student named Jenny Humphrey", said Rebecca. She had been longing for someone to talk fashion with.

"Yeah, there was a bit of a mix up, at the end of the show. The "socialite" you mentioned is my friend, Serena. Jenny Humphrey is just Jenny; I could get in touch with her, to commission the same dress, if you would like. She loves to do special requests.

In the midst of the conversation, Rebecca had a brilliant idea. "Blair, why don't you room with me? At least until you can find accommodations, elsewhere. I would love to have you as a roommate. The other girls from my pledge class joined Alpha Omega, our rival sorority, so there is plenty of room. I am sure the rest of the girls would love having you here", she said happily.

"I would greatly appreciate that. I am just waiting for my friend, Evan Chambers, to arrive. He was planning on helping me move in to my dorm, but he is running late. If I had known the amount of work that went into moving into college, I would have brought Dorota with me", said Blair.

"Is Dorota your domestic? We could definitely use her, here," Rebecca asked, hopefully.

While Rebecca and Blair continued to have their conversation about the Cartier versus Tiffany's, Cappie made his way back to the Kappa Tau house. He knew that the girl he had just met would be a godsend for the girls at the ZBZ house. He couldn't wait to tell Casey the good news. He was sure there may be some antiquated law that would keep Blair from moving into ZBZ, immediately, but that the girls could keep her away from Frannie. Frannie would use Blair in the same twisted fashion that she manipulated Rebecca.

He thought back to the last few days of the spring semester. Casey had turned to him, when she needed him the most. He would never forget how she looked at Dobbler's, while she was playing pool. Cappie was hoping that things would be better, this year. Then, the light would return to her eyes. Once he reached his room, he found that Casey was had settled into a pair of ZBZ sweatpants and a throwaway tee from a ZBZ/Kappa Tau mixer.

"Casey, you will never believe the news I have for you. I think I may have just met the girl who is going to help you girls save ZBZ. Her name is Blair Waldorf", he said.

Casey was hopeful that she and girls would be able to save their sorority from the disaster Frannie led them into. Losing an entire pledge class could destroy a sorority; once a few girls left, it was difficult to make up for that loss. Not only was it a loss in the number of sisters, but it meant less money for the upkeep of the house and programming. Decreasing their number by twenty girls meant that their sisterhood had thousands of dollars to account for. As the former president of the organization, Casey knew that a lot more went into the management of the group. This was a disaster; both fiscally and in terms of publicity.

One of the biggest lessons she learned during her summer internship, was that people often have to put aside their differences in order to get work accomplished. Interning in D.C., meant having a ringside seat for some of the dirtiest political contests. The Zeta girls would need to get to this new girl, before Frannie and Evan ever had the chance. Casey contemplated their situation for a few more minutes, then rose from the chair she was sitting in.

"Cappie, thanks so much for your help. I appreciated your help moving in and with this new girl. I am going to go find Ashleigh, so that we can get to Blair before anyone else can", she said. She had forgotten how nice it was to share moments like this with him.

Cappie looked at Casey with pride. He could see that she was starting to see that this semester did not need to be as hopeless as she once saw it. "Anyway I can help, I would like to . Message me later and let me know how things work out", stated Cappie.

Evan Chambers looked at the time on his Rolex. "Shit! I was supposed to help Blair move into her dorm", he said to himself. She didn't know anyone at Cyprus Rhodes and with her luck, she probably was horribly overdressed for moving in day. During this dinner together, he had promised her that he would stick close to her until she settled in. Evan checked his cell phone; there were five missed calls and three text messages. Two of the missed calls were from Frannie; she was probably wondering where the hell he was. The remainder were from Blair. At least, he was only a half an hour away from the campus.