A/N: Hello everyone! This is the first fic I've posted in years and my first Vauseman fic ever! I would love to hear what you all think of the story or my writing (good or bad) so please, please, please review!
Warnings:
1. This story contains mentions of and discussions of rape (not in great detail, but it is central to the plot of this story). If this is triggering to you or will upset you to read about, please do not read this story!
2. This story also contains and depicts the use of marijuana. Again, if this offends or upsets you, please do not read this story!
Even though this story deals with some heavier topics, it is a romance fic overall. The first chapter is a bit dark, but the second chapter will be much lighter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Orange is the New Black. I'm just borrowing the characters
After the Storm
:||:
The first time Alex Vause saw Piper Chapman she was 11 years old.
She was sitting on the front steps of the most recent apartment in a long series of apartments her mother had rented for them, the leases usually only lasting 6 months before they'd have to pack up and move on again. This one, her mother had told her, would be different. More permanent. Diane Vause had recently attained a waitressing job at the local Friendly's in addition to her bartending job in the next town over and had been able to save enough to pay the first and last month's rent and the deposit, which allowed her to commit to a 12-month lease.
Alex had her nose in a book. Her back leant against the railings along the staircase with her legs propped up in front of her, making an upside down V shape. She was wearing a tank top and jean shorts to combat the hot summer day. A tall glass of lemonade rested on the step above the one on which she sat. It dripped of condensation. She was sweating lightly, but was used to the heat since air conditioning was not a luxury Alex and her mother could often afford.
She had paused from reading for a second, resting the index finger of her right hand in between the pages of the book to mark her spot, to take a drink from the slippery glass of lemonade when she saw her.
Golden hair blew softly in the wind, rosy cheeks, pink from light exertion, bright blue eyes sparkling with joy, and legs that went on for days. Piper Chapman was the picture of what summertime should be. At 9 years old, Piper was tall and lanky, all long clumsy limbs, two of which were attached to a pair of in-line roller skates. She wore a light pink t-shirt underneath a pair of cut-off overalls. Her purple helmet was snug against her head, and Alex noticed that she was decked out in all kinds of safety gear; elbow pads, knee pads, and gloves. She wondered if the girl was just naturally cautious or had learned to be from too many previous mistakes that had resulted in scraped up body parts.
Alex watched as she clumsily skated down the street, arms swinging at her sides, picking up momentum. The blonde girl turned her head to glance over her shoulder and laughed joyously to the two boys trailing behind her on their own skates.
"Wait up, Piper!" The smaller of the two boys yelled, attempting earnestly to catch up.
Piper. Alex had never met someone named Piper before. She decided she liked it.
The blonde girl, Piper, shouted back with a laugh, "You're too slow! Try to catch me!"
As the three kids raced to the end of Alex's street and turned onto another effectively taking them out of Alex's view, Alex decided she was going to become friends with this Piper girl before summer ended.
:||:
Piper Chapman sat miserably alone in her fourth period class. Well, as alone as you could be in a room filled with other teenagers. She looked over at the other side of the room, where some of her friends sat together whispering and laughing in lieu of working on the assigned worksheet, and sighed.
She was on the outs with them, and it hurt. She glanced over at the nerdy boy in the seat next to her and smiled slightly. He was not someone she would normally interact with, but he was nice and smart and she didn't mind pairing with him to finish the assignment.
"Why aren't you sitting with your friends?" The boy, whose name was Larry, asked.
Piper looked up from the worksheet frowning. "I don't know. They're pissed at me, so I sat over here instead." She left out the part where they had flat out told her she couldn't sit with them.
"What did you do that made them so mad?" Larry asked with a slight laugh.
Piper's frown deepened. This was no laughing matter. This was her life. "I did the right thing." She practically mumbled. Then clearer, she added, "Now can we please get back to the work sheet? We only have about 10 minutes left of class."
Larry just shrugged and smiled. He seemed very easy going to Piper, and for that she was grateful. They were able to finish the assignment before the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Piper didn't pause to say goodbye to Larry as she quickly gathered her things and hurried out into the crowded hallway.
At lunch, Piper stood in the middle of the cafeteria surveying the groups of people hunched around different tables. Litchfield High School was like any other public high school, made up of various cliques and sub-cliques that sometimes overlapped and interacted. Overarching, Piper labeled the main cliques as the popular kids, the nerds, the stoners/bad kids, and the in-betweeners. Of course each of these main groups consisted of many subgroups. For example, the band kids were one subgroup of the nerds, while the theater kids were another. However, some of the theater kids also fell into the stoner/bad kids group, which shows how some groups overlapped.
The group Piper belonged to, the popular crowd, occupied a cluster of three tables in one corner of the cafeteria. She began hesitantly walking in that direction, gaining confidence when her best friend Polly met her eyes and smiled at her. She was just about to sit down when she heard the whiny high-pitched voice of Litchfield High's prom queen, head cheerleader, and all around queen bee, Jessica Wedge, from behind her.
"Um, excuse me Piper, but you can't sit with us anymore. I thought I had made myself perfectly clear."
Piper's face immediately turned red as everyone turned their attention to her as the scene unfolded. Piper looked helplessly to Polly, who averted her gaze to the floor in shame.
"Fine." Piper whispered. She grabbed her tray and rushed past Jessica- but suddenly she was face first on the ground, tray and all its contents flying out of her hands and onto the linoleum tile of the cafeteria. Piper held in her tears as the laughter began. She didn't look back as she hauled herself up off the floor and raced away, hardly paying attention to the direction she was going. Her only thought was that she needed to get out of there.
:||:
Alex hurried discretely down the hall to her favorite bathroom. It had taken her a few months to learn the rotations the hall monitors took and this was the only bathroom that was free from monitoring during her assigned lunch period. It also helped that it wasn't near the cafeteria, which meant it stayed pretty empty during her midday smoke break.
She was so eager (She'd had a particularly shitty day, getting into an argument with her English teacher and earning herself a detention), she had the cigarette to her lips and was lighting it before the door even closed behind her. She headed straight for the window, hurrying to prop it open so she could exhale outside. Alex was so focused on what she was doing that she completely missed the fact that there was another person in her bathroom. It was so rare for someone else to be in this bathroom at this time, that Alex hadn't even bothered to check. She ripped the cigarette out of her mouth and hid it quickly behind her back, turning to face the other girl.
She was even more surprised to see that the bathrooms second occupant was Piper Chapman. The surprise and fear Alex felt for getting caught were forgotten the moment it dawned on her that Piper was having some sort of mental breakdown and hadn't noticed her presence. Her former best friend was sobbing quite hysterically while scrubbing furiously at something written in sharpie on the stall door with hand soap and the shitty school paper towels. "It won't come off! It won't come off!" She was mumbling to herself in despair.
Alex tossed her cigarette to the ground and stomped it out. She took a cautious step forward. "Piper?"
Piper startled, not having realized someone else had entered the bathroom. She looked up at Alex with tear filled eyes. "I can't get it off, Alex!"
That's when Alex saw what had upset Piper so. In big black letters, someone had written Piper Chapman is a fucking whore!
Alex came closer awkwardly. It had been a few years since the two of them had talked. "Take a few deep breaths, Piper. We'll get it off. I promise." She reassured the younger girl. Piper did as she was told and eventually calmed herself. Alex dried the mess Piper had made on the door and then pulled a sharpie out of her backpack. She quickly covered what had been written, so that all that was left was a long black rectangle. "See. It's gone."
Piper's lips turned up in a minuscule smile. "Thanks."
"Do you know who wrote it?" Alex asked. "We could write something even worse about them."
Piper just shook her head. Now that she had calmed down, Alex could tell she was embarrassed. The situation was awkward and neither of them knew how to handle it. So Alex turned away, back to the window to light up a new cigarette and give Piper a moment of semi-privacy to collect herself.
After a few minutes, Alex heard Piper begin to gather her things. She blew her nose and flushed the used toilet paper, threw her backpack over her shoulder and walked over to the sinks. She ran a paper towel under some cold water and blotted at her face. Finally, she reapplied her eyeliner. As she turned to leave the bathroom, Alex could feel Piper hesitate. Alex remained silent, staring out the window as she finished her cigarette.
"You know," Piper spoke, her voice steady once again. Alex turned from the window to face her. "You really shouldn't smoke, Alex. Lung cancer and all that."
"Cigarettes cause lung cancer?!" Alex exclaimed in mock surprise, before her signature smirk appeared on her face. "Thanks, Piper. I'll keep that in mind."
Piper smiled at her and shrugged. With a small wave, she was gone.
:||:
The rest of the week was terrible for Piper. Her so-called friends continued to harass her daily. Most of it was just ostracism and name-calling, which was annoying and indeed made her life hell, but was all stuff she could handle. It wasn't until Friday that the worst happened.
Piper was sitting in her third period history class, blinking sleepily as she tried to focus enough to take notes. The week had been long and she felt drained. She had never been bullied before; Piper had always been well-liked by her peers and made friends easily. Therefore, it was entirely stressful for her to have to put up with all the taunting, and until now she had been doing her best to keep her shit together. But it was Friday, which gave Piper a light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel feeling. After today she'd have two full days away from all of it, and she could recharge and be ready when Monday rolled around. She was confident that if she just powered through, she could ride this wave out and things would eventually go back to normal. That's how high school worked, eventually the vultures would move onto a new, more exciting kill.
The PA system buzzed to life and the secretary's voice could be heard through the static crackle. "Mr. Jackson?"
Her teacher paused in his lecture to answer, "Yes?"
"I need Piper Chapman to come to the principal's office." The secretary replied in her bored, monotone voice. Piper's heartrate sped up as her classmates turned to look at her and whispered amongst themselves.
"She'll be right there." Mr. Jackson said, making eye contact with Piper and nodding his head toward the door, excusing her. Piper knew her face was red as she gathered her things and left the room.
When she arrived at the principal's office, the secretary ushered her quickly into his office. Mr. Healy was an intimidating man when he wanted to be, but he generally liked Piper. She was a good student, one of the best runners on the cross country team, and rarely got herself into trouble.
"Piper," He said as she appeared at his doorway. "Come in and shut the door."
Piper did as she was told and took a seat in front of Mr. Healy's desk. She was nervous. She had never been called into the principal's office before without her knowing why. She had been in his office quite a bit two weeks ago, when all of this (her current situation with the social hierarchy) had begun, but she thought all of that had been taken care of.
Mr. Healy cleared his throat. "I'm just going to get straight to the point here, Piper. Someone brought it to our attention that you have an open container of alcohol in your car, which is currently parked on school property. I had the security guard take a look, and he confirmed there is an open bottle of beer in your car."
Piper was so confused. She knew she didn't have any alcohol in her car, but she didn't know what to say. "Are you sure you checked my car? I swear, Mr. Healy, I don't have any alcohol in my car!"
"It was your car, Piper. We are going about trying to handle this in the best way possible. You're a good kid, and you've been through a lot recently. We don't want the police to get involved and would like to try to handle it through the school. If we can do that, your punishment will be a week suspension."
Piper's mind was racing. How could this be? Could someone have planted the alcohol in her car and then tipped the administration off?
Piper couldn't hold the tears in. She had never been in trouble before, much less suspended. She didn't want to think of what could happen if the police became involved. "Mr. Healy, I think someone set me up. I think someone is trying to get me in trouble. They're all upset with me for what happened to George Mendez and they've been awful to me all week."
Mr. Healy seemed to give that some thought. "If it were anyone else, I wouldn't believe them. Did you lock your car this morning?"
Piper shrugged hopelessly. How was she going to get out of this one?
Mr. Healy picked up his phone and dialed someone. He asked whoever was on the other line to check if Piper's car doors were unlocked.
"If they're unlocked, then the argument could be made that someone set you up and we will look into it. Honestly, Piper, this looks bad, and I can't see you getting off without a punishment, unless we can prove that someone else did it or someone else confesses."
Piper nodded and wiped the tears from her cheek.
:||:
Later that night, Piper sat in her bed surfing the web. She had noticed her anxiety had been off the charts this week (Obviously, given all that she had been through) and was searching for natural ways to lessen it. She kept coming across websites that touted the miracle of marijuana for treating anxiety and depression.
Piper had never smoked pot before. She had been around it at a few parties, but for the most part her friends weren't really into it. They preferred alcohol. She wondered if she knew anyone who would know where she could buy some to try it out. At this point, she was desperate and what she was reading online was really convincing.
She opened up her contacts in her phone and began scrolling through them. It wasn't surprising that most of these people were no longer speaking to her, and the few who were wouldn't have the first clue how to locate drugs.
With no luck her first go through, she decided to skim through them one more time. Her eyes settled on a contact very near the top, one that hadn't been used in years. Alex Vause.
Truthfully, she didn't know if Alex smoked pot or did any other kind of drugs, but she assumed that Alex would know someone who did. She could probably point her in the right direction at the very least. Alex's crew definitely seemed like the type.
She thumbed open the contact, wondering briefly if the number still belonged to Alex. She typed out a quick message anyway.
To Alex (8:14pm): Is this still Alex's number?
She received a response almost immediately.
From Alex (8:14pm): It is. Who's asking?
Piper sighed with relief. At least she was one step closer. Since she had never bought drugs before, she wasn't sure exactly how it was done. She figured being discrete would be better, just in case.
To Alex (8:17pm): Piper Chapman.
To Alex (8:17pm): I was wondering if you knew where I could find Mary Jane?
Piper continued to surf the web while she waited for Alex's reply. Minutes later, her phone buzzed.
From Alex (8:22pm): Who the fuck is Mary Jane?
Piper had counted on Alex understanding what she meant. She thought out a response and replied.
To Alex (8:25pm): I'm new to this, ok? I've been having a lot of anxiety lately and was told spending some time with Mary Jane might be able to help.
Piper thought putting Mary Jane in italics might help get her point across. She didn't think buying drugs would be so confusing.
From Alex (8:26pm): Lol I knew what you meant, Piper.
From Alex (8:26pm): You can say pot.
From Alex (8:26pm): It's not like anyone is monitoring our texts.
From Alex (8:27pm): If they were, I'd be screwed ;p
From Alex (8:27pm): And they'd probably also know what you meant.
Alex's texts came in a stream one after the other. Piper couldn't help but laugh a little at Alex's joke. Her nerves eased slightly.
From Alex (8:28pm): Aren't you worried smoking will give you cancer?
To Alex (8:28pm): Ha Ha. Isn't pot natural?
From Alex (8:29pm): It is, but I'm not sure inhaling any kind of smoke into your lungs, natural or not, is good for you.
From Alex (8:29pm): When do you need it?
To Alex (8:28pm): ASAP
From Alex (8:32pm): I don't have any to sell right now. If you want, you could come over and smoke some of mine with me.
Piper froze. She hadn't hung out with Alex since she was thirteen, three years ago. It was strange, really. They didn't have a falling out or a big fight or anything like that that ruined their friendship. They had simply lost touch, started hanging out with different groups of people, drifted apart.
But now Piper was devoid of friends, and she felt she could really use one right now. Alex had always been fun and a bit wild. Sometimes it was too much for young cautious Piper, but now… now maybe it was what Piper needed.
To Alex (8:40pm): Sure. That sounds fun! What's your address?
From Alex (8:40pm): Same place. Do you remember how to get here?
Piper smiled. Of course she remembered. She practically lived there for three summers.
To Alex (8:41pm): Be there in 10 :)
:||:
Ten-year-old Piper was sprawled on the floor of the living room of Alex's apartment, fanning herself with a fan she'd made by folding paper so that it looked like an accordion. Alex had showed her how last summer, and she was somewhat proud of their innovation. Sometimes they'd draw intricate designs on the paper prior to folding it up and argue over whose drawing was better.
This was what their summer days consisted of. Piper and Alex hung out every day. Sometimes Cal and Danny and a few of the other neighborhood kids joined them. Other times it was just the two of them.
Alex was currently on an Indiana Jones kick, so the two of them were sitting through The Temple of Doom for what Piper believed was the fifth time this week. She could have been exaggerating, though.
"Come on, Alex. I'm so sick of this movie! We've watched it so many times we can practically recite the entire thing. Let's do something else."
"Okay," Alex agreed pretty easily. "Like what?"
"Um, I don't know. We could ride our bikes or roller blade? Or go jump on my trampoline." Piper named off some of their usual activities.
Alex groaned. "Nah. We always do those things. Let's do something more exciting."
The two thought for a minute. Exciting wasn't really Piper's forte. She preferred to stick to what she knew.
"I know!" Alex exclaimed. "We can go on our own Indiana Jones adventure! I was walking around the apartment complex last night, and down by the basketball courts a little ways into the woods, I saw a cave. We should explore it."
Piper looked skeptical. "Couldn't that be dangerous, though? What if the roof caves in on us?"
Alex looked at her as if she were a child and shook her head condescendingly. "It won't, Pipes. But if it did, think of the story we'll have!"
"Not if we're stuck!" The blonde girl insisted, then added in a whisper, "or dead."
Alex barked out a laugh. "The fact that we could die is what makes it an exciting adventure! We're going."
It was decided, and Alex knew Piper would go along with the plan and follow her, because that's what Piper did.
:||:
Ten minutes later, Piper was surveying Alex's living room.
"It still looks exactly the same," Piper said, and Alex chuckled and nodded. "Your mom working?" Alex hummed the affirmative. Piper looked disappointed and said, "I was hoping to say 'hi.'"
"Oh yeah," Alex started with a laugh, "'Hi, Diane. Long time no see. Yeah I'm just here to smoke some pot with your daughter. See you later."'
Piper blushed. "Does she know that you do it?"
"Smoke? Yeah, she knows I do it on occasion, and she says she's okay with it as long as it doesn't lead to harder stuff."
"And do you? Do harder stuff?" Piper asked shyly, eyes downcast as she posed her question. Piper was curious about his version of Alex, so unknown yet still so familiar to her.
Alex's eyebrow raised as a smirk appeared on her lips. "Let's just say I've tried a few different things here and there, but don't do anything regularly. I mostly just stick to weed and alcohol."
Piper nodded and said, "That's good."
Alex barked out a laugh, "Why? You worried about me or something?"
Piper had forgotten how deep and husky the brunette could make her voice. The sound of it alone caused heat to rise to her cheeks.
"No. Well, I guess I would be if you were hooked on drugs or something," Piper mumbled.
Alex laughed again. Piper wasn't used to Alex's teasing, and it caused a thrill to shoot through her. After a week of very little positive social interactions, Piper realized she was happy to be here with Alex, who was obviously in a good mood.
Piper made herself relax a bit and came to a conscious decision to enjoy herself tonight. She and Alex had once been very good friends, and there was no reason they couldn't become friends again.
"Come on. We can smoke in my room." The brunette led the way down a short hallway to her room and ushered Piper inside. Alex sat on her bed and began packing a bowl for them to share as Piper surveyed her surroundings. While the living room was exactly how Piper remembered it, Alex's room had changed significantly. Gone were the childhood trinkets and in their place were items more suited for an eighteen-year-old. Her desk, which had once been covered with their drawing supplies, was now neatly organized with Alex's school books. Piper could tell just by looking at it that it was used often. Alex's bookshelves were full, her collection having grown over the last few years. She remembered Alex's love for books, and one summer in particular where they had passed many days reading aloud to each other. When Piper had last been in Alex's room, her older friend had had only one band poster hanging on her wall. It was a poster of her father's band Death Maiden. Piper noticed the poster was still hung in the same spot, but the corners had begun to come loose where they had been adhered to wall. Alex now had a collection of band posters hung around the room, replacing the artwork and drawings that had once been proudly displayed there.
The blonde sat next to Alex on her bed. Her eyes met Alex's as the brunette took her first hit. Piper watched intently as she inhaled the smoke into her lungs, held it there for a few seconds, and then finally exhaled a large cloud of smoke. The blonde noticed how Alex almost immediately relaxed; her head rolling back slightly, eyelids becoming heavy, shoulders slumping. Alex offered the bowl to Piper.
Piper took it hesitantly. Helplessly, she said, "I've never…"
Alex smirked. "Hold the bowl like this in your left hand, with your thumb covering this hole here. Now bring the bowl to your lips and suck in slightly as you light the weed to bring the smoke into this part here. Then when you see that this part is filled with smoke, release your finger from the hole and inhale the smoke. I always try to keep it in my lungs for a few seconds before exhaling."
Piper took the bowl from Alex and mimicked her actions. She had barely inhaled, when the smoke was ejected violently from her lungs in a painful coughing fit. Piper struggled to breathe in between cough after cough after cough. Her throat felt like it was on fire, and heat rose to her cheeks due to embarrassment.
Alex handed her a glass of water from her nightstand. She had the courtesy not to laugh. Piper gulped the drink down and was finally able to breathe.
"That was terrible!" Piper voice sounded scratchy and raw. "Why do people do this?"
Alex got a dopey grin on her face and reached for the bowl. Piper handed it over, their fingers brushing. Alex took another hit and replied, "Because it makes you feel like this."
Piper smiled at how relaxed Alex looked. Alex offered her the bowl again, and after another brief hesitation, the blonde grasped it. She coughed less on this hit than the first, and actually thought she felt something that time. She didn't know if she was just imagining it though, since she knew she was supposed to feel different.
They took turns passing the bowl between them until Alex finished it off, setting the piece onto her nightstand. She laid back across her bed, legs dangling off the edge, arms folded under her head and stared up at the ceiling. After a minute, Piper followed suit. Alex reached over for her phone and turned on some music.
Piper didn't know how long they laid beside each other like that listening to Alex's music. It felt like an eternity and Piper was lost in her own thoughts. She felt relaxed though, not paranoid like some of the websites she had read earlier had warned.
After a while, Alex turned her head to face Piper and asked, "You doing okay, kid?"
Piper nodded and said, "Yeah. I don't even know if I'm actually high. I can't tell if I feel different."
"It can be hard to tell the first few times you smoke. You look high though."
"I do?" Piper sat up suddenly and brought her hands to her face. What does high even look like?
Alex sat up and laughed at how confused Piper looked. And once the laughter started, she couldn't stop. Piper joined in and the two laughed hysterically. The laughter would die down every few minutes until one of them started laughing again and the whole cycle would repeat.
Piper laughed until her face hurt and then she stopped. She forced herself to take a few deep breaths to try to stay serious and not fall into a fit of laughter again.
She got a hold of herself, then asked Alex, "Hey. What ever happened to all those drawings we did when we were younger? You know, the ones we hung all over your walls?" Piper gestured the surrounding walls, now covered with posters.
Alex smiled excitedly. "I still have them in my closet somewhere. Wanna look at them?"
Piper nodded enthusiastically and the two laughed again as Alex went to dig the pages out. Alex returned, sitting on the floor this time and spread the lose papers out in front of her. Piper slid off the bed and onto the ground across from Alex and reached for the nearest sheet.
Many of the drawings were of cars and trains, done by Danny and Cal. Danny was a pretty good artist and was often the one who wanted to draw when they all played together as children.
"Oh my god. Jessica Wedgie!" Piper exclaimed in a fit of giggles. Alex's eyes lit up and she crawled over next to Piper to examine the drawing.
Jessica Wedgie was a satirical character Alex had made up based on none other than Jessica Wedge. Piper and Alex had thought up many stories that featured her always ending up in the most awful situations and usually involving a massive wedgie. Sometimes one of their fictional stories ended up being depicted in a drawing like the one Piper currently held.
The two girls spent the next hour laughing at their childhood drawings and reminiscing. They wound up back on Alex's bed, sitting with their backs to her headboard with their legs stretched out in front of them. It had been a few minutes since either girl had spoken, but they were content to sit in comfortable silence.
Piper smiled and nudged Alex's shoulder. "Thanks for letting me come over tonight. It was fun to hang out with you again."
Alex nudged her back and said, "Yeah, it was."
Piper was quiet for a moment, debating on whether she wanted to say the next thing that came to her mind. "The past few weeks have been really tough and I guess I just really needed a night like tonight to feel normal again."
Alex met her eyes with a curious expression. Piper was surprised to find that she actually wanted to confide in Alex about what had happened. The blonde had grown up in a family where bad things weren't discussed, they were simply swept under the rug; forgotten. You didn't talk about these sort of things, in case they changed the way others viewed you. And her family, especially her mother, believed you shouldn't do anything that would increase the chance of your reputation being ruined; of changing the way people perceived you as the perfect family, the perfect daughter.
Alex sighed and lightly touched her hand to Piper's limp one that rested on the bed between them. They both focused their gazes on their touching hands as Alex spoke. "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, but I've heard some things around school, and I just want you to know that if you want to talk about anything, I'm here." She paused to lock eyes with Piper. "I know it's been a while since we were close, but I think that when you have a connection with someone it never really goes away. I'll always be here for you, whenever you need me, Pipes."
Piper felt the tears well up in her eyes as she gazed into Alex's sincere green ones. She knew that Alex meant what she said, and an overwhelming feeling of being cared for washed over her. She trusted Alex, and probably always would. After spending a few hours together that night after three years of no contact, it was like nothing had changed, like they had fallen right back into old rhythms and being important to one another again. She linked her fingers with Alex's and took a deep breath, ready to bare her soul.
"I don't even really know how to say it." Piper's voice wavered slightly, but was mostly strong. "Two weeks ago, at a party, I was raped." She paused, letting the confession sink in as she watched the emotions flicker across Alex's face. Alex squeezed her hand supportively, and Piper continued. "It's one of those things you never think will happen to you, you know? I guess I'm still kind of in shock, but I think I'm handling it okay."
"Oh, Piper." Alex said softly. This caused Piper to lose her composure, face crumpling as the tears finally escaped down her cheeks. Alex pulled Piper into a gentle hug, rubbing her hand softly, comfortingly up and down her back.
Piper cried. "I just don't understand how someone can do that, can keep going, when the other person is crying and saying 'no' again and again and begging him to stop. I begged him to stop, but he just kept going."
Alex kissed the top of her head and continued rocking her back and forth until Piper calmed down. Piper pulled back slightly, not far enough to break the embrace, but just enough to look into Alex's face. She saw anger there, and sadness, and she knew it must be killing Alex to keep her anger at bay. Alex had always been protective of Piper, but Alex's anger wasn't what Piper needed at this moment, and somehow Alex knew that.
"I'm so sorry that this happened to you, Piper. I don't know what to say to make it better; I don't know if there's anything that can make it better," Alex said hopelessly.
Piper buried herself back in Alex's arms, enjoying the feeling of releasing her pent up emotions and basking in the feeling of being cared for. "You're already making it better. Just being here for me; that's helping so much. You know, all my friends are pissed that I told the principal what happened. He ended up expelling Mendez, which is what I wanted him to do. I couldn't stand the thought of having to see him around school, but he's got a lot of friends and he plays on the football team, so everyone is angry with me. They've been bullying me all week. Someone even planted an open beer bottle in my car, and got me suspended for the week." More hot tears trailed down Piper's cheek, adding to the wet patch already soaking through Alex's t-shirt.
"What?!" Alex abruptly pulled away. "You're saying your friends abandoned you to side with that fucking asshole?!" Piper nodded. "Not even abandoned really. They're harassing you? Who is doing it?"
Piper shrugged. "I don't know who left the beer bottle or wrote that thing about me in the bathroom, but I think it was Jessica. She's been the most vocal about it all. I think everyone's scared to stand up to her."
"Piper, I can't believe you've been going through all of this alone. I'm sure your mom hasn't been very supportive."
That earned an eye roll and a shake of the head from Piper. "No. She won't talk about it. Won't let me talk about it. It's the Chapman way to keep these things secret. We can't let anyone know we're not perfect and invincible."
Alex chuckled. "What about Polly?"
Piper shook her head. "I think she's afraid of what will happen if she goes against Jessica."
Alex pulled away angry. "Seriously? Isn't she your best friend? What a fucking cunt."
Piper took her hand to calm her. "Polly walked in on us at the party. If it hadn't been for her…" Piper shook her head. "Polly is my best friend. She took care of me after. She backed up my story to Mr. Healy. She was there for me, but she's scared of Jessica. I don't blame her and I'm not mad at her."
Alex still looked pissed. "But she's supposed to be your best friend. I can't believe she'd just leave you to deal with this all on your own."
Piper just shrugged. The truth was, if their roles were reversed, she didn't know if she would have done anything to cross Jessica Wedge either. "I'm glad we're friends again. At least I have you now."
Alex smiled at her. "Yes you do. Call me anytime you need anything, okay Pipes? If one of them tries messing with you again, tell me. I won't stand for it."
Piper would have laughed if Alex hadn't looked so serious. Piper felt relieved that someone now had her back. "Thanks, Al. As soon as some new scandalous gossip appears, I'm sure all of this will be forgotten and things will go back to normal."
"I know you're upset that your perfect record will be tarnished," Alex began jokingly, "but maybe this suspension will actually be good. Give you some time away from those bitches and by the time you return I'm sure they will have already moved on to their next unsuspecting, undeserving victim."
Piper knew Alex was probably right, and she couldn't help feeling that the worst of everything was over. She had suffered a week of torture by herself, but even if the bullying continued she now had Alex on her side.
Piper left Alex's that night feeling much happier, calmer, and more hopeful than she had in a long time.
A/N: As I said above, this is the first fic I've written in a long time and I am a bit rusty! I'd really appreciate any comments/criticisms/things you liked/things you didn't like about this story!
There is at least one more part to this, but depending on how long that part gets, I may split it into two! The next part should be posted in about a week.
Thank you for reading!