Shadows Cast Pt. 1

It was a long walk for the platoon sized group of Sigma Pi pledges from their off campus site back to the various residence halls they called home. The vast majority of the Freshmen lived in Steamboat Hall, a vast, sprawling red brick relic of the classic age of collegial architecture meant to shelter over a thousand students over seven floors. For Brian Pillman Jr, Griff Garrison, JAck Perry, Austin and Colton Gunn, and Rex Steiner, Steamboat Hall was the runway to the dreams they all harbored of football glory and unprecedented success with the myriad co-eds offered by "The U."

"That shit was terrifying," Pillman mused to no one in particular.

"I don't think anyone got it as bad as my man Rex over here though," Brock Anderson chimed in from the rear of the pack. He was along for the group walk as far as Steamboat, but he actually lived in Anderson Dormitories, a far nicer and more modern residence named for any of a number of his forefathers who'd made "the U" their personal stomping grounds.

"Fuck off," Steiner mumbled, his face again growing red by the moment.

"Bro, you pissed yourself!" Garrison exclaimed, pointing down at the slightly stained khakis Steiner had been as yet unable to get rid of.

"No! No! I spilled beer on myself, dick!" Steiner retorted sharply.

"Used beer maybe," Jack Perry shot back, though his voice was so low that not everyone heard.

"Fuck y'all," Rex muttered, The large group erupted in laughter again, before resuming their mass migration back to East Campus.

Their route took them past most of The U's most sacred landmarks. The most noteworthy of those landmarks was the renowned Wahoo McDaniel Field. The stadium, which held upwards of seventy thousand people on any given game day, was the pride and joy of the U, its student body and the millions of alumni around the world.

What peaked the group's interest this time, however, was a particular statue in the garden of marble erected personages known affectionately as "Monument Grove." Here, ten or so likenesses carved in marble or granite portrayed the very best to have ever plied their trade on the hallowed ground of McDaniel Field.

Reading the names off slowly, Jack Perry detoured from his path home to take in the sites.

"Ron Simmons. Defensive lineman… yada yada," he murmured, causing several eye rolls amongst his pledge brothers. Perry had already earned something of a reputation for his curious, inquisitive nature, and this latest exhibition was no different. Moving down the line of marble figures, Perry began again.

"'Big Cat' Ernie Ladd, Defensive End, 1972-76, first team All American…" Perry trailed off again, now moving through the monuments more rapidly. "'Sputnik' Monroe, Defensive Halfback, 1947-50…" Perry was almost hanging off of the statues now, ignoring calls from his pledge mates to rejoin them. The diminutive young man stopped reading the next few plaques out loud, content to internalize the information. One player's likeness, however, stopped the inebriated young man in his tracks.

"Brian Pillman, linebacker, 1993-96…" Perry read aloud, before glancing back at the young man who shared the statue's namesake. "Is this….?"

"That's my dad," Brian Pillman Jr confirmed.

"Your dad has a statue in Monument Grove?" Griff Garrison exclaimed aloud. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Pillman Jr rolled his eyes. "Because the last thing I need on this planet is to spend one more fucking second in his shadow."

Bryant Anderson spoke up from the back of the pack. "Still, it's pretty cool your dad has a statue here."

Pillman Jr shook his head again. "Yeah, until he died before I was old enough to spend any time with him. Or until I spent my entire childhood hearing about what a fantastic athlete my dad was, or how great a man he was, or-"

Perry cut him off. "I get it. My dad's great, and I talk to him every day, but it's not easy going to get breakfast with your dad when he's on the set of a shitty CW show in Canada 7 months out of the year."

Griff Garrison snickered. "Whatever. It rules ass that your dad plays Archie's dad on Riverdale." A few surrounding pledges nodded their agreement. Suddenly, Griff's face lit up, an indication that an idea had crossed his inebriated mind. "Hey, you think your dad would give me Camila Mendes' number?"

The group erupted in laughter again. Jack Perry gave Griff the finger, before shaking his head and snickering. "No fuckin' way, man." The wry grin on Perry's face grew wider. "He won't even give me her number."

Now the pledge group was roaring with drunken, joyful laughter. As quickly as Brian Pillman Jr's parentage had come up, the matter was dismissed with the same whimsical pace. The pledges moved their mobile party down the street, heading for the residence halls that would shelter them from the elements and allow them to properly nurse the following morning's hangovers. Only Pillman Jr himself stayed, staring up at the immaculately carved likeness of his father.

"At least it's a good sculpture," Jack Perry's voice cut through Pillman's deep contemplation.

Pillman smiled. "Yeah. Mom always said he would've liked that they got his hair right."

Perry snickered, before pulling a fresh "road beer" Pledgemaster Ambrose had given him before they'd departed. Popping the aluminum top, Jack offered his new friend the first pull. Accepting gladly, Pillman took a long pull from the lager.

"Sorry," Brian muttered, realizing how much of the can he'd consumed with that one sip.

"It's okay," Perry shot back, loping slowly down the sidewalk thirty or so paces behind the rest of their group. "My dad helped me sneak a twelve pack into my dorm room on move-in day. You wanna go up to my room and help me polish them off? I'm not trying to get caught with beer on a Freshman floor."

"You're in Steamboat too, right?"

"Yeah," Perry nodded, finishing the lager in one long nip. "Room 315."

Pillman grinned. "Me and Griff are one floor up. 419."

"Oh shit," Perry joked. "Only one room away from the granddaddy of 'em all."

Pillman shook his head. "Yeah. The fucked up thing is that 420 is two girls. Billie & Peyton. They're loud as shit and I don't even think they smoke. They're absolutely choice, though, so I can deal with it."

Perry smiled even wider. He was about to fill his pledge brother in on some of the girls he'd seen leaving Steamboat to go to various sorority events that night, but his breath was taken from him by the sight of a group of six or so of those very same young women, who all appeared almost as intoxicated as the boys themselves.

"Holy shit," Pillman muttered.

"Right?" Perry shot back under his breath. "I saw them leaving earlier."

"Fuck it," Brian asserted, almost inaudibly. "Shooters shoot, right?"

Perry grinned. The rest of their cohort had dissipated through the ancient glass front doors of Steamboat Hall, dispersed to pursue whatever sleep and other respite could be found at that hour of the night. By some manner of divine providence, Jack and Brian found themselves in the path of some of the most attractive co-eds either had ever seen.

"Ladies," Pillman began, his trademark shit-eating grin plastered across his face. "Adventurous night?"

A tall, athletically built young woman gave each Sigma pledge the once over. She appeared to be the ringleader of this small coven of freshmen, and she didn't appear to be as drunk as some of the rest of them. "Bid night at ZBZ. Drinking games and gifts from the actives. You two out trolling for handjobs under the freeway overpass?"

Pillman appeared too stunned to answer. Inwardly, Perry chuckled, though he only let the slightest smile show externally. "Bid night at Sigma Phi," he allowed. "They fucking threw axes at us."

"Sounds like fun," the tall girl retorted. "You gonna stand there or open the door for us like a couple of grown ups?"

"Tell me your name and I'll open the door," Pillman teased, finally recovering his senses.

"Fine. Move," the suddenly annoyed young woman barked, reaching for her key fob and stepping toward the doorway. Before she could progress through the egress, however, there was a commotion from the back of her huddle.

"Oh fuck!" A tiny blonde girl jumped from the pack, throwing her hands over her head in shock and disgust. "Liv fucking threw up!"

"I'm sorry!" The voice from the back of the loose huddle was sobbing, clearly coming through tears and mild body convulsions.

"I told her to stop drinking," a fourth voice, this one accented with a lilt neither boy could place but both found enrapturing. "But she wanted to keep doing shots with that one active with tattoos."

"Ruby," the sobbing voice fired back. "Please call her. I don't feel good at all. I need to lie down."

"We'll get you inside," the first girl, the one who'd caught Jack's eye and facilitated this evening's sudden surreal turn, commanded.

"No time," the shapely blonde stammered, though her response was somewhat muffled by her being bent over at the waist, her hands on her stomach, tears streaming down her cheeks. Again and again she convulsed, though she appeared to have nothing left to expel from her stomach.

"I think she has alcohol poisoning," Perry assessed. "It happened to my buddy Marko over the summer. Let me look at her."

"Easy, shitheel," the tall ringleader cautioned, holding her hand up to stop Perry's motion. "We don't know you."

Scanning his eyes across the group of young women, Perry inhaled deeply. Ninety nine percent of his consciousness was telling him to allow the tall girl to blow him off, go upstairs to his room, and drink beer with his new friend until they both passed out. On the other, the girl apparently named "Liv" was shrinking closer to the sidewalk with every second, having dropped to her knees and shaking more markedly. It didn't take Jack but a few seconds to decide that Liv's condition had made the decision for him.

"My name is Jack Perry. I'm a freshman. 315 Steamboat. I'm a Sigma Phi pledge and I play receiver on the football team. If I do anything that makes any of you feel uncomfortable, feel free to report me to the RA. But your friend is about to pass out if we don't get her some Gatorade and find her a place to lie down, so let's handle that and then you can curse me out for whatever it is I did that put you in a foul mood, ok?"

The tall girl was taken aback at Jack's direct nature and apparent desire to help. At first, she remained silent, simply motioning with her hand for Jack to pass. Brian, still at a loss as to what to do, kneeled by his friend next to Liv.

"Brian," Jack began, with a tone Pillman hadn't heard from his fellow pledge yet. "In my fridge in my room I've got a shit ton of Gatorade. Go get me four. One for me, one for you, and two for Liv-" he paused here for one of the girls to confirm the affected's name was in fact Liv. When one did, he continued. "Liv's gonna need electrolytes fast. She's probably cramping up, and if she hasn't yet she will soon." Without looking at him, Perry handed Pillman the key fob to his room. "We'll meet you in the lobby. Go."

Pillman nodded, before springing to his feet and striding briskly toward the door.

"Julia, go with him," the tall ringleader shot toward one of her companions.

The shortest of the group, a cute platinum blonde with a hair bow and cheerleading warmups, gave a stoic "okay" and followed the rushing Pillman into the building.

"I'm Anna," the statuesque ZBZ pledge finally allowed, her South Georgia twang marred with concern for her friend.

"Anna, do you know anyone sober we could call for a ride to the Student Health Center if we need one?"

"There's a shuttle," Anna shot back quickly. "They gave all the girls the number at orientation. We can call if we need a ride so we don't get attacked or whatever."

"I'm okay," Liv offered weakly. "I just need to drink something and lie down."

"I hope that's true," Jack replied, trying his best to sound calm and friendly. "But we're gonna take you inside where it's cool and find you a spot to lie down until Brian gets back with something to drink, okay? Do you live in Steamboat?"

Liv nodded, now in a seated position on the sidewalk. "I'm in 505. My roommate's name is Sarah. She had to leave Bid Night early. She might be asleep."

"Do you have her number?" Anna asked, her mind now working as fast as Jack's.

Liv nodded. "In my phone under 'roomie Sarah.'"

Anna nodded, before gently sliding Liv's phone from her jacket pocket and beginning a series of lightning fast thumb swipes.

"I'm gonna put her number in my phone, okay?" Anna asserted, speaking clearly so Liv could hear and process in her enfeebled state.

From somewhere behind him, Jack could hear the accented voice he'd noticed earlier talking loudly into her cell phone.

"Ruby! Something's wrong with Liv! Get to Steamboat Hall, now!"

Perry sighed inwardly. Whatever was going to happen now, there was no stopping it. Pausing for a moment to collect his thoughts, Jack wondered how his night had taken such a serious turn. Before he could fall too far into his reflection, however, Liv Morgan groaned again. More loudly this time.

"Ughhhhhh," the blonde grunted through gritted teeth.

"Liv, we gotta get you inside," Perry spat, trying not to let the panic bleed through. "Can I pick you up and take you in?"

Rather than expend precious energy answering him audibly, Liv nodded her approval, though her eyes still remained closed tightly. Without another word, Jack slid his arms underneath her, allowing the picture perfect ZBZ pledge to slide her arms around his neck.

Impressed with how he'd responded to this situation, Anna Jay reminded herself to get Jack's number before they dispersed that evening. Even now, as he clasped her pledge sister in his hands, Anna was taken aback by how attractive she found his bravery and assertiveness.

"I wonder if this is what my mom meant when she talked about college being 'a new experience,'" Jay wondered aloud as she trailed closely behind this handsome newcomer.

At the same time as this traumatic escapade across campus, Alexa Bliss and Ruby Riott found themselves in a quiet corner of the ZBZ house, Both young women were basking in the internal glow of a successful Bid night, with every girl who'd been offered membership in Zeta Beta accepting their invitation. Now, they took some time to enjoy their triumph, with Ruby sipping luxuriously from a cold lager and Alexa taking small nips from a rocks glass with what Ruby would guess was either a high-end vodka or an anejo tequila.

"We officially rule," Alexa crowed, causing a giggle from Ruby.

"We do," Ruby agreed, nodding slowly and grinning. It wasn't often that the orange-haired Junior got to gloat, and she was clearly in her moment.

"So many great girls," Bliss continued, her stream of consciousness betraying her level of intoxication. "Who gave that one girl a bid? Viper? Piper?"

"Piper Niven," Ruby reminded Alexa. "Loved her. She was Bayley's bid."

"I loved her too!" Alexa chimed in, almost shouting due to her decreased inhibitions brought on by consumption of alcohol. "She had the most gorgeous eyes and her accent was amazing."

"She really did," Ruby reflected, staring off into the distance while going over the night's events internally.

Alexa sighed, a deep sense of satisfaction washing over her, before reaching down next to the overstuffed chair she occupied and producing a handle of Ketel One, refreshing her glass.

"Mmmm," she moaned with pleasure after another long drink of libation. "Best pledge class ever?" She asked no one in particular.

"Absolutely," Ruby replied, raising her beer bottle for Alexa to toast her rocks glass again. The tiny blonde snickered amiably and obliged her, before polishing off the rest of her cocktail.

"That bid night was so good I almost forgot about how no one loves me and I'm gonna die alone," Bliss continued, a mild slur beginning to form in her voice. Alexa had a taste for quality vodka. The miniscule beauty had once told Ruby that she liked vodka particularly because there were almost zero calories to be found in an entire bottle, and Alexa's appearance obsessed stepmother had always had a vodka tonic or vodka cranberry on hand, and Bliss had found herself following in the footsteps of the woman she claimed to despise. The stress of being an Olympian had at times taken an unhealthy toll on her mental stability, and Alexa didn't always have a good sense of managing that pressure in a healthy way.

"I actually… I kinda wanted to talk to you about that." Ruby began cautiously, not really sure that she knew Alexa well enough to broach a subject as personal as her dating relationship.

"Oh yeah?" Bliss replied, her brow raising in almost sultry curiosity. "You wanna go upstairs and do weird stuff? A couple more vodkas and I could get into that…"

She trailed off, before scooting her body to lounge perpendicular to where the normal fit was, hanging her legs at the knee over one armrest with her back against the other.

Ruby snickered, shaking her head at the brazen nature of her intoxicated friend. Alexa Bliss was a study in contradictions at times, mostly due to how her daytime public persona was so well put together as though she had an in-home 24/7 publicist putting together her outfits and carefully crafting pre-programmed responses to her everyday reality. Then she'd get back to the ZBZ House and become a typical college party girl, albeit a very wealthy gold medal winning typical college party girl.

"No, but keep that idea in your back pocket if you don't like what I have to say."

Alexa laughed loudly. Before Ruby could continue, AJ Lee crossed through the sitting room, giving both girls a friendly pat on the shoulder before continuing.

"AJ?" Alexa called, causing the latina to stop dead in her tracks.

"What's up, babe?" Lee asked.

"Will you grab us a couple of bottles of water, sweetie?" Bliss asked sweetly, referring to AJ with her personal favorite "pet name."

"Of course," AJ agreed. From the time they were both pledges, AJ had harbored some confusing feelings about Alexa. She felt about the tiny blonde the same way she felt about her close friend Dana; that her sexual attraction to her was outweighed only by the immense fear of losing her friendship were she to make a move and Alexa didn't feel the same way. Having dealt with those feelings during Bliss's long, public relationship with Darby Allin, AJ now seemed content to be one of Alexa's closest confidantes. Power Walking to the kitchen, the tiny Puerto Rican strode purposefully to the task before her.

"What were you saying?" Alexa asked Ruby, the blonde's train of thought now completely off the rails.

"Where are you with all the dating stuff?" Ruby redirected.

Alexa sighed deeply, rolling her eyes and rubbing her forehead with her palm. "Fucking horribly," she moaned. "My stepmom's already got this like, list of eligible guys that would 'maintain my public profile,' like my romantic endeavours are only to, like, make her and dad look better." She shook her head, biting her lip with irritation. "'It's an election year, Alexa', " she continued, mimicking her stepmother's words. "'We need all hands on deck. Make good choices!'" She continued, stopping to smile sincerely as AJ handed Ruby and her both water.

"Thank you sweetie," Alexa cooed playfully at her friend. "Sit with me," she ordered AJ, straightening her posture in the huge white overstuffed seat and patting the cushion. Eagerly, Lee parked herself next to Alexa, trying not to let her heart flutter completely out of her chest as Alexa looped her arm inside Aj's and rested her pristine blonde head on AJ's shoulder.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Ruby comforted her friend. "Maybe this is a bad time to bring this up."

Alexa snorted. "No, it's okay. Honestly, if you know of someone who's interested, I trust you more than my stepmom and her stack of fucking resumes." Alexa wiped away a single tear as she finished, her emotions doing their best to play havoc with her composure.

"There is a guy," Ruby admitted, though she wasn't sure it was a good idea to try to talk Dean up when Alexa was clearly drunk and emotional.

"Who is it?" Alexa fired back, taking another big drink from her water bottle. She'd abandoned her rocks glass to a small table next to her chair, and the melting ice and spent lime signalled to Ruby that Alexa's night was done from an alcohol perspective.

"Dean Ambrose. He's a Sigma Phi on the football team."

"Jock frat boy?" AJ asked, trying to hide the disdain in her voice.

"I know it sounds like the same shit," Ruby continued, trying to keep the conversation from derailing again. "But Dean is… very different from the stereotype."

"How so?" Alexa inquired, sitting upright for the first time in minutes.

"He and I go back a long way," Ruby shared, her face emoting an air of slight sadness. "We were in the same group home for a while. We grew up not far from here."

"I knew you did," Alexa responded.

Ruby nodded. "Dean became like a big brother to me. There were a lot more guys than girls in our home, and some of those dudes used to leer at me with bad intentions. Dean used to sit outside the bathroom door when I would shower or get ready for school so no one could get to me. He slept in the bunk closest to the door to my room. He protected me until I got taken in and adopted. A few weeks later he actually got adopted, too. We kept in touch all the way through school." Ruby's grin returned, this time with a hint of fondness. "He took me to my prom. It was the same night as his and he gave up his night so I wouldn't have to go by myself or with some dipshit that was gonna try to feel me up in the limo. He's a really, really great guy, and if he weren't so much like my brother, I'd have made an honest man out of him already."

AJ and Alexa both giggled at that idea.

"Believe me, we gave it a shot," Ruby continued. "It didn't work. Our first semester here at 'The U'." She shook her head, her reminiscence surfacing. "We're not right for each other. But I think he might be right for you."

Alexa pondered this a moment. "Wow," she finally breathed, unsure of how to proceed. "He sounds… not real?" She laughed, still not really in grasp of what she wanted to say. "Like, if he's that great a guy, how is he not taken?"

Ruby nodded. "I'm really not sure. I wondered if he was, like, not into girls for a while? But I have since confirmed that he one hundred percent IS into girls."

"How'd you do that?" AJ wondered aloud.

"I guess he and Penelope Ford had a little thing for a while, but they broke up over some bullshit."

Alexa nodded. "Do you have a picture?"

Ruby shook her head in the affirmative. "He doesn't really do social media, but I have a picture of us from prom. I'll go get it."

"Let's all go upstairs," Alexa suggested in response. "I need to stop pouring vodka down my throat and we can continue this conversation in my room."

Rising almost as one, Ruby, Alexa and AJ stood, stopping to pick up the accumulated clutter around them. Their chatter continued as they returned bottles to cabinets and discarding trash into the closest bin.

Finding their way into Alexa's room, the trio of young women took much more comfortable perches, either sprawled across the ZBZ rush chair's immaculate bed, or on the well worn but still presentable loveseat along the opposite wall.

"He's cute. Like, really cute," Alexa blurted after staring at the framed photo of Dean and Ruby at Senior prom. Ruby nodded, doing her best to hide her excitement that Alexa appeared to be at least somewhat interested.

Even AJ :Lee, who's well-hidden crush on Alexa had threatened to boil to the surface with the news that she was single, had to admit that Dean Ambrose was easy on the eyes.

"He is," Ruby agreed. "He works harder than he wants anyone to know. He makes good grades."

"Now that you mention it, I think I've heard his name called out a lot during the games," Alexa continued.

"He's a good football player," Ruby confirmed. "My dad says he thinks Dean could play in the NFL after next season."

Alexa exhaled deeply. "Set it up," she finally relented. "If nothing else, dating a football player would keep my stepmom off my back. And maybe we'll get along. Who knows," she finished, nudging AJ with her elbow, "maybe I'll end up one of those athlete wives who just gets to be pregnant all the time, spending money and constantly redecorating rooms in our huge house."

All three girls laughed again. Ruby raised her phone, intending to text Dean that she'd managed to sell his interest to Alexa. No sooner had she begun typing, however, before her phone exploded with a cacophony of incoming texts and calls.

"The fuck?" Ruby muttered, completely shocked at this turn of events. Staring into her phone screen, her heart skipped a beat as the name "ANNA JAY" flashed in bright white letters , identifying who was trying to reach her.

Sliding the green icon to the right, Ruby cautiously accepted the call. Glancing over at AJ and Alexa, she noted that Alexa was chattering excitedly at AJ, who seemed less than thrilled at her friend's decision to meet a potential suitor.

"What's up, Anna?" Ruby began, unsure of why a pledge would call her at this hour almost immediately after an event. Listening for a moment, Ruby's pierced eyebrow rose.

"Liv Morgan?" She asked, her heart sinking at the mention of her friend's name. "Where? Okay. Lay her down and make sure she's drinking something. If she's breathing normally, she'll be okay until we get there. She's on a need based scholarship and could get in trouble if she goes to the student clinic for alcohol poisoning. Let me call Gerry," she continued referring to the fatherly old man who owned the bar both Ruby and Liv worked at. "His wife is an ER nurse. We're leaving now."

She hung up the phone purposefully, her face now a mask of determination. "Who's the sober sister tonight?" She asked, though not to either of the girls in particular.

Alexa pulled up a chart on her own phone. "Sarah," she answered. "She should be down in the kitchen."

Ruby nodded. "Liv Morgan collapsed outside Steamboat. Anna thinks she drank too much. She said there's some Sigma Phi pledge doing first aid but that she might need a real doctor."

"Fuck," Alexa spat. "If she goes into the clinic with alcohol poisoning on bid night the Dean will figure out we're not dry rushing."

Ruby did her best not to be annoyed with her friend for thinking of the sorority's reputation when one of their pledges might be seriously ill. "Alexa's drunk," she reminded herself.

"That's why I'm calling Gerry," Ruby countered. "He'll know what to do and where to take Liv that'll be discreet."

Alexa nodded, grabbing her jacket from atop the computer chair next to her bed. "Let's go."

Ruby really wanted to tell Alexa to stay and rest, but she knew her sorority sister's will was too strong to be bent, particularly when she was intoxicated.

"I'll get Sarah," Ruby directed, softly enough not to be offensive but firmly enough to know she wasn't playing around. "Can we take your Escalade?"

Alexa nodded. "Bring blankets."

AJ signalled her agreement, grabbing a small stack of knit afghans from the foot of Alexa's bed. Without another word, the three descended the stairs into the kitchen, collecting Sarah on their way out.

I am aware there is a missing "part 2" to the previous chapter. We will return to that story. I'm trying a little something.

Review.