Here it is… The "The U" reboot no one asked for but I hope you're excited for anyways. Please feel free to request a character. I may not can work them into this season, but I will get to just about everyone. Love you guys and thanks for your continued support.

Chapter 1: Tinkerbell Flies Solo pt. 1

No matter where in this great country one found themselves for their university experience, one could always depend on one thing; the week before classes start, young men and women from one coast to the other could be found returning to their respective campus houses, their worlds once again shrinking to what was happening only on "Greek Row."

For the ladies of Zeta Beta Zeta, nothing at that moment seemed as important as making sure there were clear lines of communication between the handful of upperclassmen (or women, in this case) who oversaw the distribution of "bids."

It really was no small task. A single pledge class had the power to make or break an entire House's future, and the small council took this responsibility very seriously. Mostly.

"Ladies, let's see 'em," came the slightly slurred urging of ZBZ President Trish Stratus. In this case, the "them" referred to the thirty five out of three hundred or so girls they'd met this week that had impressed the Active sisters enough to warrant a "bid," or invitation to join the prestigious sorority.

"I think Lexi had at least four," came the thoughtful response of a tiny hispanic girl.

"Thank you, AJ," came the lilted, pristine voice of Alexa Bliss. The Junior was this year's Rush Chair, meaning that she had the biggest role in shaping this pledge class of anyone at the two large "Hi-Top" tables in the back room of "Brisco's Bar," a large bulletin board hastily fixed to the back wall.

"These girls are fan… fantastic," Bliss managed to spit out, her inebriation now unmistakable. It was a longstanding ZBZ tradition for leadership to go out drinking on "Pref Night," or the night when the preferred targets of each sorority got "pre-bids." These "pre-bids" weren't committable offers, but the little gifts were a very important step in the process. These gifts also contained an invitation to a Pref Party, where prospective pledges could meet Actives and

Trish rolled her eyes, a bright grin parting her lips. In spite of how intoxicated Alexa was, the tiny blonde was Trish's best friend, and given the ugly breakup Alexa had been through over the summer, the ZBZ president was not going to begrudge her a few extra "Lemon Drop" shots.

"So, these gorgeous young ladies are freshmen on our cheerleading squad," Bliss carried on, pinning four printed pictures that appeared to be pulled directly from social media sites. "I love them and I don't care what you say, I'm bidding them all."

"It kinda sounds like you wanna fuck them," came AJ's dry response, a naughty smirk plastered across her face.

Alexa's own countenance turned to a mask of mock outrage. "A.J. Lee! How dare you?" Bliss let her eyes wander down to the photos she held in her hand. "Well… maybe this one." The table broke up into laughter as Alexa passed the first profile photo to Trish. Stratus flipped the paper, impressed to find little tidbits of information about the young woman.

"Anna Jay," Trish read aloud. "Eighteen years old from Brunswick, Georgia. That's near Savannah I think. Reigning Miss Teen Georgia. 3.9 GPA, 25.2 ACT. full athletic scholarship, mother is a homemaker and father owns several chain grocery stores. I like her."

"I love her," exclaimed a new voice, a confident baritone in the sea of higher pitched timbres. Her name tag read "Charlotte Flair" and she was nursing a large glass that still contained most of a draught beer. "She'll be great for our intramural teams and she'll have a real shot at freshman Homecoming Princess."

"I wish I could adopt her and this one-" Bliss paused to hand Stratus another leaf of paper, printed image on one side and paragraph on the other, "to raise as my own. But I'll settle for bidding them and spending two years turning them into the best ZBZ pledge class since our class."

AJ nodded her agreement as Trish squinted down at the small print. "This is Julia Hart. Bloomington Minnesota." Stratus glanced up at her compatriots momentarily, hoping their attention would still be on her. "Her High School, Hegstrand Preparatory, won a Cheer National Championship last year. She was co-Captain of that team. 20.8 ACT." Stratus sighed, shaking her head slightly. "That score's a little low but she's a 4.0 student so we can work with that. Father is a Youth Pastor at the largest church in Bloomington, and her mother is a teacher." Trish locked eyes with Alexa. "Can she handle Greek life?"

The tiny blonde actually did her dead-level best to ponder seriously this question, before sighing deeply and shrugging. "She approached me before any of the others did. I think she really wants to break away from the 'small town' thing and get a real taste of college life." Bliss looked over at AJ and Charlotte, who'd been her pledge sisters, and then back at Trish. "I certainly understand that."

Stratus nodded before pinning Hart's picture next to Jay's under a label with the word "pref" etched crudely in black Sharpie.

Bliss slid Trish another photo. This time, it was the older, more buxom blonde's turn to geek out. "Holy shit," Stratus blurted as another of their friends sidled up to the tables, a tray full of libations perched haphazardly in one hand.

"They're running a special on SoCo Kamikazes, so I got a bunch," the new girl intoned enthusiastically. "Drink up, ladies. 'Dry Week' starts Monday."

"Ugh," came the groans in unison as each of the girls took one of the tiny plastic cups from the bunch and downed the light green liquid inside.

"Thanks, Dana!" AJ called over her shoulder to the girl who'd brought them the latest round of drinks. Returning her attention where it belonged, AJ snickered at the ZBZ President, who hadn't moved her eyes at all from the latest picture.

"I didn't know Zelina Vega was coming to Stamford," Charlotte remarked, peering over Trish's shoulder.

"Ladies, you all have heard of Zelina Vega. She's the socialite from New York whose father represented John Layfield in that whole thing last year." She trailed off with a dismissive wave. "PEOPLE Magazine described her family as 'the East Coast Kardashians.'" Stratus snickered to herself. "Let's just hope there's no sex tape."

"Speak for yourself," AJ muttered, though it was loud enough for Alexa to hear.

Trish finally turned her gaze from the picture of the breathtaking latina to each of the girls at the table, one at a time. "I want this one badly. Every House on campus will be desperate, and since Alexa here we haven't had a celebrity rushee and I am just dying for another one." The women at the table laughed, save for the aforementioned Alexa, who gave Trish the finger and rolled her eyes.

"She's in. One hundred percent," Trish continued, pinning Zelina's picture to the board beneath the first two.

AJ grinned and nodded. "I'm looking forward to getting to know her."

Alexa rolled her eyes before turning to another girl. This one had chestnut hair, the fairest skin of anyone in the room, and was perched on a high-backed chair just behind the table where Alexa and the ZBZ brain trust was sitting. "Sarah, remind me not to leave AJ alone with the pledges."

The young woman Bliss was speaking to scoffed knowingly. AJ wasn't predatory with the other sorority girls. To any of their knowledge, she wasn't even gay, though she would tell you she was at the very least "bi-serious." AJ simply had no moral compass when it came to her urges, carnal or otherwise. What (or who, as the case might've been) she wanted, she did her level best to get. She also very much enjoyed making those she cared about most as uncomfortable as possible with "jokes" that no one was ever sure were actually jokes or not.

"No problem," Sarah Logan fired back, before nodding at the final headshot in Alexa's stack. "Who's that?"

"Oh yeah," Alexa blurted, returning to the moment. Handing over the picture, the waifish blonde continued. "She seems really excited. I can't always tell because her accent is pretty thick, but she's a super athlete."

"Taynara Conti," Trish read aloud.

"She goes by Taya," Lexi asserted.

Stratus nodded, making a note on the leaf of paper. "Taya it is, then. From Orlando, Florida, but born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Moved to the states at ten with her mom to pursue modelling. Graduated Salutatorian from Buena Vista Academy, 4.0 GPA, National Honor Society, Beta Club." Trish paused again, reading on. "Oh wow. She played Maria in her school's production of 'West Side Story.'" Nodding slowly, Stratus attached the picture underneath the other three.

Alexa gave a disappointed "ugh!"

"What?" Stratus fired back.

"You didn't read the best part. Under 'other skills.'"

Stratus rolled her eyes again. As the evening went on and the young women became more intoxicated, they each began to exhibit signs that their inhibition was waning. Trish flipped the paper back up, turning her head to read the small typing.

"Black belt in judo. Blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu."

AJ gave a low whistle, shaking her head slowly. "I pity the first guy that gets 'handsy' at formal."

Charlotte fixed her gaze on AJ, giving her a skeptical star. "AJ, you're just glad you heard that before YOU tried to get 'handsy' at formal."

The entire table laughed, even AJ, though she did give Charlotte a playful middle finger. Trish, the unofficial "Emcee," pushed the group discussion on, with Dana Brooke, Charlotte Flair, Sarah Logan, AJ Lee, and Trish herself all presenting girls they wanted to extend "pref" gifts to. To the tattooed girl with jet-black hair trending bar, however, there seemed to be something "off" with the tiniest and blondest of the flock of Sisters.


The "meeting," if it could really be called that, went on another hour or so, with some thirty girls making the cut. Each of the women present at the party had received their visitation assignments for the next day, and they'd each be taking a ZBZ sister that had returned to campus with them to drop in on the freshmen dorms on official "move in" day. Some of their choices, namely the ones from the Cheer squad, were already on campus, but Panhellenic rules dictated that ZBZ members couldn't do anything other than answer their questions until midnight that night.

All of that could wait. With the business part of the meeting over, Trish had retired to her presidential suite at Chez ZBZ, with the goal of being up just after dawn to begin her "pref" drop-ins. Dana and AJ were playing pool. Well, Dana was playing pool. AJ was brazenly trying to grope Dana every time she bent over, or stood up, or walked to the other side of the table.

"AJ, stop!" She admonished the tiny Latina, though the smile was still as bright as ever across her face. The pair had a very complicated history that began the night they both accepted ZBZ bids. Each of them had consumed entirely too many "Long Island Iced Teas" on bid night, and they'd ended up making out in a vacant upstairs storage room. Neither of them remembered what happened after that, but Dana had awakened the next morning with the scantily clad body of AJ Lee pressed against her. Both participants insisted they had no idea if they'd had sex or not, but they'd been pretty well inseparable ever since. AJ had a long history of mental health issues, and Dana's sweet and nurturing personality made them natural foils.

"Fine, but you owe me a back massage when we get back to the house." AJ pouted, though Dana was pretty certain she wasn't really sad. The taller, more muscular of the two women grinned and nodded.

"Fair enough."

Across the room from this pairing, Sarah Logan and Charlotte Flair were fiercely competing at darts. Both girls, in addition to their Greek status, were Varsity athletes at the University, and their desire to win bled over even into their leisure time.

Alexa Bliss, however, didn't feel much like partying. Now that the business of being ZBZ was done, the tiny blonde was content to drown her sorrows in whatever cheap lager the Brisco was featuring. There was, however, one more ZBZ in the dive bar. She wasn't one of the half dozen or so one the "Leadership Committee." She was actually one of the more conspicuous members of the Sorority, made so by her myriad tattoos and body piercings that stood out like a room full of sore thumbs against the mostly pristine Zeta Beta's. She was also a "townie," which was normally a pejorative term used to describe young locals who weren't University caliber. Except she was. She'd worked incredibly hard to overcome her meager upbringing to win a full academic scholarship, even though she worked part-time tending bar for spending money. And now she was present for what would end up being one of the most important interpersonal conversations of the entire semester.

"You doin' okay, Lexi?" Ruby Riott inquired, noting her dear friend's rough appearance.

The waifish ZBZ sighed deeply. "I'm fine. Just thinking about all the plans for the semester I have to change now."

Ruby furrowed her brow, her concern for her friend showing through.

"I mean, you had a couple months to process, didn't you?"

Alexa nodded, taking a long drink of whatever murky concoction was in her highball glass before rattling around the remains of what was once an impressive display of ice.

"Yeah. Darby left for international tour in June. We broke up right before then. I guess it just didn't really sink in that we were done until I got back to campus today and looked around my room. There's pictures of us EVERYWHERE in there."

Ruby snickered knowingly. "I bet. Weren't you guys on like magazine covers and shit?"

Alexa nodded before letting out a small giggle, wiping a stray tear from her almost azul eye. "Are you kidding me? Former Olympic Gold medalist and daughter of Ohio Congressman Portman Bliss?" For a split second Alexa looked like she might break down into tears. "And three time X-Games Champion Darby Allin? We were in US Weekly at least once a month for like two years." Lexi snickered a second time. "They did a half-page on our breakup, but not until TMZ had a whole segment of him cheating on me in Monte Carlo with that 'dick garage' Nikki Bella."

Riott made a disgusted face and shook her head. "I saw that. I wasn't gonna say anything."

Alexa gave a grunt of irritation and a long, angry eye roll. "A fucking reality tv star. Her whole reason for being famous is that there's two of her and they're equally slutty."

Ruby really needed to get back to work, but that last comment tickled her funny bone. She turned, poured between half and three quarters of a light lager, and slid it in front of her friend. "No more liquor. Nurse this and I'm gonna bring you some fries."

Alexa shook her head. "Can I have onion rings instead?"

Ruby smiled and nodded. "Yeah." The tattooed bartender lazily fingered a few keys on a dirty computer screen, sending Alexa's snack order back to the kitchen. Her tasks caught up for the moment, Ruby stepped in front of the tiny blonde and lightly took the forlorn, inebriated blonde's cherub face between her own hands. "Lexi, look at me." She waited for Bliss's breathtaking sapphires to meet her own. "Normally when I tell some sorority girl this, it's because she's in here crying and drinking and I'm tired and I just want them to leave, but in your case, it's true." She inhaled deeply, hoping that Alexa would understand that Ruby had never been more serious. "You're better than him. Like, a lot. I know your family puts a lot of pressure on you to be in high-profile relationships, but I think this is gonna be a good thing for you. Take this opportunity to just be normal. You're an adult. What your parents want doesn't fucking matter anymore. Meet a fraternity guy or something. Party. Be a college student instead of a socialite."

Alexa nodded, though her eyes were still locked on the wooden bar surface. "I know. I just have no idea what that looks like."

Ruby slid her hand over Lex's. "That's why I'm here. Tell you what," she continued, as an unnamed man in his fifties brought out Alexa's snack, placing it haphazardly in between the customer and the suddenly chatty bartender. "Let me finish up here, and I'll give you a ride back to ZBZ, and then tomorrow, I'll help you get rid of all that shit in your room. Get you a fresh start. Fair?"

Lexi nodded. "That sounds nice." She wiped a tear, scoffed, shook her head slightly because she was crying at the drop of a hat since she'd been back, and dipped one of the fried delicacies in front of her into a small cup of what she assumed was ranch dressing.

"Mmmhmm," she moaned, enjoying the first real food she'd had in hours. "That's good." Noticing that Ruby was still watching her, Alexa turned her head in curiosity. "What's up?"

Ruby inhaled deeply. "So, I know I'm not on the committee, but there's a girl I think would be great for us, but she hasn't been able to come to any of the rush events or come by the house yet. But she's really fantastic and I love her."

"Sounds like it," Alexa fired back. "Who is she?"

The tattooed bartender pulled up a picture on her iPhone, letting Alexa see who she was talking about. "This is Liv Morgan. She works here with us, but she's quitting at the end of the week to go to 'the U' full time. She's kind and funny and she's the hardest worker I know. She doesn't have the resume some of those girls you were talking about have, but she embodies what we say we want in a Zeta Beta Zeta."

Alexa took this in for a moment. She really wasn't allowed to give the "go ahead" without Trish's permission, but if the ZBZ president got mad at her, Lexi could just say she was drunk.

"Tell her to come by the house tomorrow night for 'Prefs.' Bring her yourself if you can. That way she can meet Trish and AJ and Dana and the girls she needs to to get a bid." She smiled brightly at her sorority sister. "You're a really good person, RooRoo." Her grin grew even more mischievous at the end of that statement, knowing how much Ruby hated that nickname. Instead of getting angry, Ruby just snickered.

"Listen, I remember thinking you guys were just messing with me when you offered me a bid. The girl with all the piercings and tattoos getting offered a spot in the most bougee sorority house on campus?"

Alexa laughed, before eating a second onion ring in one bite and taking a long drink of beer. "Hey, you wanted to be bougee with the rest of us."

Ruby nodded. "I did, and I haven't regretted it for a second."

The pair continued their friendly banter another few minutes before Alexa got up from the bar for a moment to visit, as she drunkenly called it, "the whizz palace." Ruby continued her closing duties, wiping down the bar and cleaning liquor bottles and beer taps. After a moment, Riott remembered a promise she'd made to a childhood friend. Shaking her head again at the storm she was potentially about to create, Ruby slid her phone back out from her rear pocket and thumbed through her contacts. Finding the one she was searching for, Ruby began feverishly tapping out the message that would change a LOT of destinies that semester.

Hey bud. Hope you're getting moved in okay. Just wanted you to know that Tinkebell is flying solo. Repeat; Tinkerbell is flying solo.

She pressed "Send" with an air of finality that might've seemed unnecessary to some, then hurriedly replaced her phone in her back jeans pocket as Alexa strode back into view. Ruby hadn't been lying to her friend. She genuinely believed the gorgeous pixie deserved better than the pro skateboarder she'd been attached at the hip to the last three years. But Ruby also knew something Alexa didn't; that there was a guy on campus, one who Ruby had known from adolescence, that the townie was certain would be exactly what Alexa needed. What she didn't know, even as she playd out all the possible outcomes in her head, is how profoundly bringing the pair together would change the trajectories of many lives around them….