Alex huffed as she ran, feet pounding the floor in a harsh rhythm, sweat causing her black hair to stick to her forehead. It was still dark out, but she couldn't sleep, a run had always cleared her head. She could feel the growing pain in her ribs of a stitch, every breath of the chilly autumn morning air icing her lungs over. She knew she was pushing herself, but there was no other way to stop the worry in her head.

She preferred the pain of overworking her lungs to the pain of overworking her mind.

The only thing she allowed to run through her mind was the sights of her town around her as they blurred past. A movie theatre showing a movie that was at least 3 years old, more bookshops than people, and twice that amount in churches. As she ran past the marker of the huge stand-alone oak tree that alerted her she was halfway home, she paused briefly. The sun was beginning to rise over the hill in the distance, and she let her hand scrape the bark of wood as she had done every day since…

"No," she panted to herself, shaking her head and pushing herself to run faster through the cornfield, and before she had even realised it, around the corner of the tiny house she called home.

Closing the door behind her, Alex sighed as she filled her bottle with water from the sink, chugging it down and resting herself against the kitchen counter. Eyes closed, head back, she tried to even her breathing, feeling her heart steadily start to calm down as she relaxed. Breathing in slowly, then out again, she opened her eyes and wiped her forehead on a paper towel by the side before finding some bread and slotting it into the toaster.

Hopping onto the counter, she looked up as someone ghosted into the kitchen, and grinned as the light switch was flicked on, bathing the kitchen in light,

"Alex Vause, what on gods name are you doing down here? You gave me the fright of my damn life,"

Alex shrugged at Julie. As her father's best friend, she was like a second mother to Alex. smiling and swinging her legs as the toast popped up, she moved over to get the butter,

"I went for a run," she stated, as though running through town at 5am was the most normal thing a 17 year old girl could do.

Julie huffed as she watched Alex take a bite of her toast, frowning at her dishevelled state. She cared about that girl as though she was her own daughter, when her father passed away she swore she would keep her safe, but recently she knew something was troubling the young girl, something surely more than the first day of senior year.

"How are you feeling about school?" She asked, watching the brunette's reactions carefully.

Alex shrugged,

"Same old, same old. A new year, same people, only another school year till I can get the hell outta this town,"

"Amen to that," Julie chuckled,

Alex hopped down from the counter,

"I'm gonna take a shower," she muttered through her last bite of her toast, dipping a kiss on Julie's cheek as she made her way to the bathroom.

After her shower, Alex threw two more slices of bread into the toaster, putting books into her school bag, and checking her reflection in the toaster. Sighing, she adjusted her glasses and ran her hand through her dark hair,

"Mom?" She called as she buttered the toast, "mom?" She called again, knocking on the door of his office, "mom, I made you some breakfast!"

When no answer came, Alex let her head drop against the wood, food limp in her hand.

She hadn't seen her mother for longer than 10 second intervals ever since her dad died, and it just seemed to be getting worse and worse. She stayed, locked up in her office, away from everyone including her.

Turning to face Julie, she opened her mouth to say something when a car horn outside stopped her. Placing the untouched toast on the counter, Alex shook her head,

"That'll be Nicky," she muttered, and Julie placed a hand on her shoulder,

"Have a good day, you hear me?"

Alex nodded again, swallowing back a sudden rise of emotion in her throat, and left the house, a grin on her face at the sight of Nicky in her beaten up car,

"Hey slick, hop in," she called through her window, "senior fucking year!"

Sliding into the car next to her, Alex grinned as she grabbed the bottle of coke by the seat, taking a swig, she looked to Nicky as they pulled out of her driveway and down the street,

"So did you hear?" Nicky asked, tapping the ash of her cigarette out of the window as she turned to look at Alex,

"Hear what?"

Nicky's eyebrows raised in shock,

"We've got a new edition to the class," she grinned evilly, and Alex rolled her eyes,

"Another one of the Lord saviour preppies ready to make 'good old Lichfield great again'?" She answered, putting on an exaggerated southern accent towards the end,

"Nah-uh," Nicky grinned, "one of old Ravenwood's family, she just moved here from Boston,"

Alex shook her head and frowned, leaning against the car window,

"Why would anyone wanna move here?" She asked, and Nicky laughed,

"I dunno, but if she's as freaky as any of the other Ravenwood's, it could get exciting,"

Alex shook her head again as they moved into school, she couldn't have cared less about a new edition to their class if she tried. She was in Litchfield for one reason:

To graduate, then get as far away from it as she could.

Alex picked up her book as she sat in her seat in class, waiting for the teacher to arrive. She imagined herself as one of the characters, far away from this class and this town, having adventures with people less stuck in their religious ways and more open to the world around them.

She could hear Nicky in the seat next to her, leaning back to talk to one of the other girls in class, she couldn't remember her name, but she knew that that her best friend had hooked up with her a few times but they had kept it hidden. The people in Litchfield weren't the kind to accept the preferences she and Nicky held, but it didn't stop rumours from surfacing.

"Hey Alex,"

Alex closed her eyes at the familiar voice of Sylvie, lowering her book with a forced polite smile on her face,

"Hello, Sylvie,"

Sylvie smiled at her, clutching a book to her chest,

"Have you had a chance to think about what I asked you?" She whispered, and Alex smirked despite herself.

Sylvie was the town's biggest Jesus advocate, head cheerleader, top of the class, and had a boyfriend that everyone's mother would approve of, and yet it didn't stop her hooking up with Alex in secret for the best part of junior year. Alex was sworn to secrecy, if anybody found out about them, Sylvie would consider herself ruined, but who was Alex to tell, there wasn't any feelings involved from her end anyhow,

"Sylvie…" she began, but was interrupted once more by the small brunette in front of her,

"I did what you asked, I was a good girl. I gave you the summer, didn't speak to you even though I wanted to-"

"Sylvie!" Alex could her off, "I'm sorry but, nothing has changed, we can't do what we used to anymore,"

Sylvie raised her chin indignantly,

"Those books are banned," she muttered angrily, pointing to the copy of Steven King's IT in Alex's hand, "they'll send you straight to hell,"

Alex smirked,

"So will hooking up with another girl behind the bike sheds every lunch time by your standards, but that's never stopped you before,"

Sylvie's eyes went wide as she looked around the room to check nobody heard. Nicky wasn't looking, but she was smirking so Alex knew she had heard, and without another word, stormed off to her seat.

Alex looked sideways at Nicky, grinning at the loopy motion she made with her finger, and looked up as her teacher began talking.

Five minutes into the start of semester speech, the door to the classroom creaked open, and the most intriguing girl Alex had ever seen entered.

Whispers followed the new occupant as she silently made her way through the classroom. Nicky nudged her elbow, trying to get her attention, but Alex wasn't listening, she was too busy taking in the new member of their class.

She was beautiful.

Shoulder length blonde hair, long legs clad in black jeans, and even though Alex couldn't see her eyes for the hair obscuring them, she was sure they were as startlingly breathtaking as the rest of her. She watched her the whole way, even when she took the seat right next to her and could probably feel alex's eyes stuck to her, she couldn't bring herself to look away.

A harsh kick to her shin beneath the desk forced her to look to her side and at her best friend, who mouthed,

"Ravenwood,"

Alex nodded, and looked back at the girl again as she began to take books out of her bag,

"Ah," the teacher announced, "we have a new student here as I forgot to mention, how nice of you to join us miss…"

Her voice raised in question at the end, but the blonde didn't answer,

"Ravenwood, isn't it?"

Sylvie's voice rang out from the back of the class, and Alex closed her eyes in frustration, tilting her head back,

"Red Ravenwood's niece, or so my momma has told me, you just mov-"

"Chapman, actually," the blonde spoke, and Alex's heart thumped at the sweet sound of her voice,

"Piper Chapman," she finished, raising her head to look at the front of the class.

Piper, Alex thought, Piper Chapman

"Well I know for a fact that's a lie," Sylvie started again, "you're Red Ravenwood's niece, one of those from the old manor on the skirts of town,"

Sylvie's group of girls nodded around her, making agreeing noises as Alex put her head in her hands,

"My momma says you're full of all kinds of unspeakables, witchcraft and such,"

Alex looked to Piper again, she was still staring forward, but was gripping her pencil with such force her knuckles had turned white,

"Your family are evil," she finished, and Piper finally turned to look at the back of the class,

"Oh no," she started quietly, looking Sylvie up and down, "you must have been the last in your litter,"

A chorus of shocked noises spread through the classroom as Sylvie's eyes widened but fell silent, and the teacher quickly turned the conversation back to schoolwork. As Piper turned back to the front of the class, her eyes briefly made contact with Alex's, and Alex felt her heart stop. They were blue, the brightest blue she had ever seen, and she felt the strange notion that she never ever wanted to look away, but as quickly as it happened, Piped turned her attention back to the front, away from Alex's gaze.

The rest of the students returned their attention to the teacher, but Alex's eyes stayed fixed on Piper in awe, a smile across her face,

Piper, she thought again, Piper Chapman.

AN: Hi guys! Had this story on my mind for a while, obviously a lot of the plot for now doesn't belong to me, and if you haven't read the Beautiful Creatures book yet, you really should because they're fantastic. I wanted to put a Piper/Alex twist on it, so obviously the difficulties of their relationship in the kind of place this is set will cause a different kind of plot to that of the original story. I've got plenty of this already written if people are interested, and some chapters will be M later on, but I wanted to write a story that wasn't so heavily centred around smut and included it as part of a bigger plot line and story. More of the OITNB characters will be involved as it progresses. For now though, please let me know what you think!

Laura :)