Chapter One
Sarah
Sarah stared into the face of a girl who mirrored her completely. She was of medium height, possessed a slim build, and had dark brown hair and muddy green eyes. Her nose, teeth, arms and legs were identical to Sarah's. She was the same down to every last detail.
"Hello," she smiled brightly. Sarah wondered if the girl had even noticed their exact similarity or if she was just choosing to ignore it. "I'm Beth Childs and I'll be showing you around Pearson High. You're Sarah, right?"
She just stared blankly at Beth. Was she a relative? A long lost twin, perhaps. It was possible; Sarah had never met her biological family.
Beth's smile became more of a grimace. "I hate this part." she muttered.
"What 'part'?" Sarah asked trying to avoid Beth's gaze. She looked idly around the empty corridor. Brightly coloured lockers lined the white walls.
Beth sighed. "The part where you ask questions that I don't have answers for. Cosima is much better at explaining this than I am. But she got assigned to a new exchange student. I hear she's from France."
"Better at explaining what?" Sarah was beyond confused.
"Can I just show you to your first class and do this another time?"
"Beth?" a girl poked her head out of a classroom along the hallway. She too, looked just like Sarah. "Miss Marks wants to know how long you're going to take. She wants to start-" she eyed Sarah and her face became stony.
"Bloody hell." Sarah muttered. Two look-alikes? That was a little more than odd.
"Tell Miss I'll be two secs, Alison."
Ignoring her, the girl named Alison whispered; "Another one?"
Beth nodded almost solemnly.
She hissed before returning to class; "Good grief, that makes seven. This is getting out of control."
"What was she talking about?" Sarah asked. "Seven what?"
"Seven of us." said Beth. "Now, your first class is English in B block, room 23. I'll take you there now and give you the rest of the tour at recess. At lunch you can meet the club and we'll answer your questions as best we can. Sound good?"
"Not really. Are we related?"
Chuckling a little Beth headed for B block, Sarah reluctantly in tow. "No. Not as far as I know. You from England?"
"Yes. Brixton."
"I knew I heard an accent. So what brings you here?"
Sarah shrugged. "My foster mum wanted a sea change I guess."
She could see that Beth didn't want to pry from the sheepish look in her eye but she seemed curious for some reason. "Is it just you and your mom?" she asked.
"Foster mum," Sarah corrected, "and no, I have a brother. He's in year ten."
"At this school?"
"Yeah."
Beth stopped in front of a classroom. 'Room 23', it read on the wooden door. "Well, here's your class. I'll see you at recess, okay? We'll meet where we did just then."
"Yeah." Sarah said, having no actual intention to meet Beth again.
"See ya." she waved before turning to leave.
Sarah was tempted to cut class and hop on the next flight to England. Instead, she opened door and walked into class. After an awkward introduction to her new classmates, time ticked by at a painful pace. When the bell rang signalling recess, Sarah bolted out of class to find her brother. Not knowing her way around the huge campus, Sarah decided to call him.
"Hello?" Felix answered.
"Where are you, we need to talk."
"I'm in D block. I'll meet you in the cafeteria." he said.
Sarah sighed. "And where's that?"
"Next to the big gym. Weren't you listening to your guide? Mine was a real cutie. Said he'd been-"
"Fee, we'll discuss this later, yeah? Meet me in the caff, pronto."
"Yeah, whatever." he said before hanging up.
Sarah began to push her way through the herds of students hustling either to their lockers or to the lunch room. It was a large school with thousands of students, much bigger than the one she attended in Brixton. It was a sharp looking place that gave off a cold vibe. Sarah didn't really like it too much; the high windows and ceilings made her feel exposed and its faint smell of sanitizer reminded her of a hospital. Guessing her way through the endless hallways she finally reached the big blue doors of the cafeteria.
The lunchroom was in pandemonium. It looked more like a small warehouse than a school eating destination. Rows of tables occupied by restless students gossiping about their summer break filled most of the cramped space. The end of the room held the canteen area where rowdy teens waited with silver trays in hand for their food. Sarah was unsure if she could find her brother amongst all the chaos. She did, however, spot her look-a-like by the name of Alison sitting impatiently at a lunch table off to the right and talking to a brown haired boy. Sarah was about to call Felix again when she spotted him behind Alison's table sitting alone. Dodging the foot traffic, Sarah braved her way through the masses to her brother.
"Took you long enough." he greeted.
"It's a big place." Sarah replied, sitting down. "Do you have money for food?"
"Yeah but it's mine. Why'd you want to see me anyway? I have another tour with the cute guide to be on so make it quick."
Sarah shifted uncomfortably in her seat, not sure how to explain herself. "I met a girl today who looked just like me."
Felix raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Finally found your biological family? Mrs. S'll be delighted."
"I'm serious, Fee." she said. "This girl was identical to me in every way. It was bizarre."
"Show me her then."
Sarah pointed over to where Alison was sitting. She was in clear sight, only four tables in front of where they were sitting.
Felix stood up to get a better look. "Holy shit," was his response. "It's you with a fringe and wearing an awful lot of pink."
"I know. And you know what's stranger?"
"What?"
"That wasn't even the girl I was talking about. There was another one who showed me to class. This is weird, Fee."
Her brother just smirked. "You've got sisters, that what this is. Orphan Sarah is actually a triplet."
Sarah gave an unsure look. "Alison, the one over there, said something 'bout me being 'another one' and that I made seven. And Beth, the one that showed me to class, said we weren't related."
Felix shrugged. "Doppelgangers? Clones? Versions of you from alternate timelines? There's got to be an explanation."
"Something like that…" Sarah said. "Hey, what do you think I can get to eat for three dollars?"
Felix shrugged. "Dunno. Look at the menu board or something. Now, if you'll excuse me I have a tour of the upstairs floors with Colin. See you later."
"Yeah, see ya." Sarah replied and watched her bother as he trekked his way across the giant mess hall. At least he's enjoying the new school, Sarah thought as she walked up to join the tuck shop line. She was browsing through the list of hot food when someone grabbed her from behind.
"Hey-"
Alarmed, Sarah struggled from the embrace and sharply turned around to see a boy her age with light brown hair and faded green eyes. "What's the idea!?" she exclaimed.
The boy looked extremely confused. He studied Sarah for a moment and then his eyes widened with embarrassment. "I'm so sorry." he said. "I thought you were someone else."
"Beth or Alison?" She asked bitterly.
"Beth." he said. "Though I should have known you weren't Beth. She'd never wear something like that. So, looks like you're the newest member of the 'Clone Club'."
"The what?"
The boy chucked. "It's what Beth and Alison and Cosima call themselves. You all look so similar Cosima reckons your clones. She's joking, of course. I think. It's hard to tell with her."
Sarah nodded like she knew what the boy was talking about. She was about to say something when the actual Beth came up to them.
"I see you've met Sarah." she said to the boy.
He smiled. "Yes, we've become close friends in the awkward thirty seconds after I mistook her for you."
Beth laughed a little. "You really think I'd wear that." she turned to Sarah. "Oh, um, no offence.
"None taken."
"Why didn't you meet me at the lockers like we arranged?"
"I, um, got lost." she lied.
"Well that won't happen after I show you around." Beth smiled. "Come with me." She turned to Paul, "Mind if I take your new friend away for a couple of minutes?"
"Be my guest." he said to Beth. "I'm Paul, by the way." he said to Sarah. "See you 'round."
"Nice to meet you," Sarah muttered and then followed Beth through the rows of tables. "He your boyfriend?" she asked as they reached the exit and headed down the now empty hallways.
"Yes," she smiled, "we've been together for almost a year now."
"He said something about a 'Clone Club'. Are we clones you and me and Alison?"
She laughed but there was a hint of uncertainty in her expression. "No. That's just what we call ourselves. Everything will be explained at lunch. Just don't get lost on me again, okay?"
"Alright."
"Now, this is the library." Beth said, coming to a stop. "We'll meet you in here in one of the study room towards the back. Okay?"
"Yeah, okay." Sarah wondered how much time the little gathering would take out of her lunch. She really wanted to buy something to eat after her first attempt had been foiled.
"Next I'll show you the hall." Beth continued. "It's straight ahead."
Sarah walked into the back study room of Pearson High School and was met with three identical faces looking at her; Beth, Alison and a girl she had not yet been introduced to but assumed was the one named Cosima.
"Hey, Sarah." Beth greeted, smiling.
"Hey," she replied, cautiously sitting down across from the three at the study table. She felt like she was on trial.
"This is Alison." Beth said gesturing to the girl she had seen earlier.
"Hello," Alison muttered dryly. She held herself differently to the way Beth did; she sat upright with her shoulders back. She was dressed differently, too. She wore a pink cardigan, blue jeans and a gold cross necklace.
"And this is Cosima."
"Hi," Cosima smiled. She too looked different to Beth despite the fact they shared the same appearance. Cosima had thick rimmed glasses and her hair was done in cornrows.
Sarah sighed at the strangeness of it all. "So what are you all here to tell me?"
"What do you want to know?" replied Cosima.
"Tell me… Tell me what you all are to me. Family?"
"Um, no." was her response. "To be honest we don't really know who we are to each other, just that we look alike. And that our fingerprints are all almost identical."
Sarah gave a bitter laugh. "Well, that was helpful. Thanks a lot." The she added; "Are there more of us?"
Alison answered that one. "Yes. Seven of us now that you're here."
"Who are the others?"
Beth thought about that for a brief moment, "Well, there's me, you, Alison, Cosima an in addition to us there's Rachel Dunncan- she's the evil twin if you ask me-, Katja who moved here from Germany last year and Helena. We don't talk to Helena much but she was in Ali's religious studies class in tenth grade."
Alison nodded. "She's weird. And I think she might be Russian."
"Why aren't the rest part of the 'Clone Club'?" Sarah asked.
"As stated before Rachel is evil. And Helena's a little psycho." said Cosima. "Katja seems nice, she's in my biology class, but she hangs with Rachel's posse because we didn't get to her in time."
Sarah took all this in. "Right, so there's seven girls in our grade who are identical and nobody's raised an eyebrow?"
Beth shrugged. "People just assume we're related."
"So," Alison began, "Sarah, are you in or are you out?"
"In or out of what?"
"The 'Clone Club'."
Sarah sighed. "I don't have to make a pledge or anything, do I?"
"We're not a cult." Alison said seriously.
"What does being in the club involve?" she asked.
"Sacrifices, summoning, chants at midnight… that sort of thing." Cosima laughed.
"We're not a cult!" Alison snapped.
Said Beth; "We're just a support group, really. This thing is weird and we help each other through it. I think we're more of a family than a club."
"That's really lame." said Sarah. "Alright. I'm in."
So, this is my attempt at an 'Orphan Black' high school AU. Most chapters will be around two thousand words or higher and there will be roughly thirty chapters. Most of the main pairings will come into play later in the story. Chapters will be in the POV of Sarah, Beth, Cosima and Alison (I've been reading the 'A Song of Fire and Ice' series lately and I liked that setup so I decided to use it here). To give any constructive criticism and/or positive feedback please leave a comment.
Anyway, I hope the hiatus hasn't been too painful so far (not long now and we got a pormo picture so that'll keep me happy for a few days).
proclone