Piper let out a sigh and closed her notebook over, homework completed. Her eyes hurt from writing in the dim light of her desk lamp. She would have been done hours earlier if she hadn't snuck out in search for Phoebe with Prue. Leave it to Phoebe to take off and stay out for hours on a school night, Piper thought angrily to herself and padded over to her bed and slipped in.
She took off her glasses and placed them on the bedside table next to her book, the one she started last week and had yet to find time to read it. As she glanced at the clock she concluded that it was too late to even try and it would be hard to get up in the morning as it was.
Piper switched off her lamp and settled down under the covers. The ceiling above her creaked with footsteps that were in the attic. She frowned up at the ceiling in confusion. Was someone in the attic? No, Piper thought to herself, Grams said the attic was locked up. Probably mice.
After another ten minutes of careful listening, Piper dozed off to sleep, unaware of the conversation taking place just above her head.
In her room, Prue was brushing out her long black hair when she suddenly heard voices that sounded as though they were coming from above her. She slowly stopped brushing her hair and glanced up in the same confusion Piper did, wondering if someone was up above her.
"No," Prue said to herself aloud, smiling back in the mirror in self-relief. "Don't be silly Prue, no one's in the attic."
She walked over to her bed and slipped beneath the covers. Just before dozing off to sleep a thought suddenly hit her with the force of a dump truck.
Phoebe.
It would be just like Phoebe to sneak up into the attic in the middle of the night with some friends and a joint just to party. Prue angrily slid out of bed.
"It better not be her," she snarled to herself, opening her door and going down the hall where music was playing softly from a stereo. "Phoebe?" Prue called, knocking on her door. There was a pause and then: "WHAT?" Prue sighed.
"Never mind," she said, walking back down the hall. She stopped outside Piper's room and peeked in, seeing her sister fast asleep, as usual. "You're gonna drive yourself crazy, Prue, just go to sleep."
She walked back into her room, turned off the light and went to sleep, the voices no more.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Up above the girls, unbeknownst to them, Penny Halliwell was pacing back and forth in front of her daughter and the girl's white lighter, Leo.
"So, we're all in agreement?" Penny asked quietly. "We give the girls their powers now and have them kill the Source this year, to save Prue?"
"Yes, mother, I think it's best," Patty said quietly. "It wasn't in her destiny, their destiny. I can't let her die."
Penny nodded and looked over at Patty. "You know what this means, don't you?"
"Yes," Patty said. "We'll have to get Paige also. I'm aware of that, mother."
"What I don't understand," Leo interrupted, "is where I fit in to all of this."
"Well," Penny said with a smirk, "it's obvious, isn't it?" Leo raised his eyebrows and didn't answer, still unaware of the answer. "They'll need protection and you will be their white lighter, won't you?"
"Yes," Leo said slowly.
"So, you'll be enrolling in San Francisco High tomorrow morning," Penny said grandly. "We'll make sure you get classes with each of the girls-"
"Penny, are you insane?" Leo snapped. "I'm twenty years old! Don't you think some people might think that a bit weird?"
"Of course someone would think it was weird for a twenty year old man to enroll in high school," Penny snapped, "not a seventeen year old."
"Mom, what are you suggesting?" Patty asked quickly. "That Leo pretend to be seventeen and go back to school? No one will believe it, especially not the girls."
"Then we'll just have to do a spell," Penny said waspishly. "You've seen the future, Patty, what they'll become if we don't help them. If not for them, for your future grandchildren." She looked over at Leo, who hadn't caught on to what she meant. "Leo, I'm going to perform a spell on you that will allow you to transform into a seventeen year old. Go get me the book-"
"Mother, are you sure about this? We are dabbling in dangerous waters," Patty said, glancing over at Leo, trying to code her words. "What about later, when they get their powers later and meet…him? They'll already know who he is!"
"We'll do a memory charm," Penny said distractedly. "Easy peasy-Leo, get me that book!"
Leo let out a defeated sigh and grabbed the book from the shelf, bringing it back over to Penny, who snatched it from him and began flipping through the pages.
"Do you need anything?" Patty asked, walking around the room with wistfulness. She decided that before she left she would at least peak into the girl's rooms, as she always did.
"Yes, I need something from each of the girls," Penny said, biting her lip. "Wait here, I'll be right back." She walked towards the door and turned back to Patty. "Make sure he doesn't leave, will you?"
"Yes, mom," Patty said, rolling her eyes. Penny left, closing the door over with a final snap, her footsteps slowly beginning to fade away.
"So, how exactly did you find out about all of this?" Leo asked, sitting down on the couch opposite where Patty stood. "I mean, you don't usually get information up there, do you?"
"I was down here visiting my mother and got a premonition," Patty said, frowning. "I wasn't even going to come down here last week, I can't remember why I decided to. It's a good thing I did, actually. I would have missed it if I didn't and then…well, you'll see."
"When was I supposed to become their white lighter?" Leo asked.
"When they received their powers," Patty said. "Which is whenever my mother died. I'm sure you would have been told just exactly who you were dealing with and what your undercover alias would have been. Leo, you don't have to do this, you know. I don't want you to feel obligated to this. We could probably do this without you-"
"No," Leo said, "I can do it. I'll watch after them."
The attic door opened and Penny entered, carrying three items in her hands. Patty glanced over at them and saw a pair of eye glasses belonging to Piper, a hairbrush with long black hairs attached which was Prue's and a set of headphones, which belonged to Phoebe.
"Patty, hand my Paige's thing from under the couch cushion, will you?" Penny asked, placing the items on the table in front of the basin. Patty grasped a retainer and handed it over to her mother who grimaced. "Lovely," she muttered and tossed it into the basin, followed by Phoebe's, then Piper's and finally Prue's. "Alright, Patty the spell?"
They stood next to each other, hands clenched, chanting the spell four times until with a sudden whoosh, the windows blew open, pushing papers out of the way. They chanted louder over the roar of the wind until the potion in front of them began to bubble and hiss. Suddenly, four white orbs began to rise from the basin. One flew out the window, heading for Paige. The other three sank into the floor, heading towards their owners.
"Now what?" Patty asked.
"Now we say the spell in the front of the book," Penny said grimly, walking over and reading from the book. There was another whooshing, then a long silence.
"I hope we did the right thing," Patty whispered.
"Me too," Penny whispered back.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Prue, Piper and Phoebe all awoke with a gasp, none knowing what had just happened to them. Phoebe sank back down into the covers, frowning. At fifteen she already knew that she was a problem to everyone she ever encountered, but that wasn't her fault. If they couldn't keep up it was their own problem.
She sighed and reached for her headphones, thinking some music would calm her nerves, only to find a blank surface. She sat up, anger flowing through her. Had someone used them without asking her permission? Prue and Piper both hated if she did that to them, how dare they do it to her?
She flipped on her light and shoved her feet into the slippers by her door. Phoebe flung the door open, peering down the empty hallways, wondering when her sisters could have snuck into her room and taken them. She had only fallen asleep ten minutes ago. Now, her body was tingling all over, energy flowing through her.
She knocked loudly on Prue's door, waiting for a reply. A moment later her older sister opened the door, polite annoyance on her face as she glared down Phoebe.
"Yes?" she snapped, her tone cold. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Yeah," Phoebe barked, "you can give me my god-damn headphones!"
"I didn't take your headphones," Pure retorted, going to shut her door, only to have Phoebe stop her with her arm.
"If you didn't then who did?"
"Maybe it was Piper, you know, your OTHER sister," Prue snarled, pointing to Piper's door. Phoebe looked over it with a snarl.
"I highly doubt Piper took my headphones," Phoebe retorted angrily.
"Well, then, let's go! We'll just see for ourselves, now won't we?" Prue said, giving Phoebe a shove and striding down to Piper's door, giving it a sharp knock. They both waited in tense silence. The door swung open a moment later, a tired looking Piper standing in the doorway.
"What? What's the matter?" Piper asked.
"Did you take Phoebe's headphones?" Prue asked sarcastically.
"No," Piper said, shaking her head. "Do you need help looking for them-"
"If the "both" of you didn't take my headphones, then who did?" Phoebe demanded.
"Grams," Piper said.
"What?" Prue asked.
"What would Grams need my headphones for-"
"What are you three doing up so late on a school night?" Penny asked, coming down the final stair and surveying her granddaughters, wondering what they had heard or seen. "You three should get to bed, it's late."
"We were just settling something, Grams," Prue said, going back down the hall to her room. She gave a sarcastic smirk to Phoebe just before closing her door over.
"Bitch," Phoebe whispered, stomping off to her room and slamming the door open. Penny winced before turning back to Piper with a forced smile they both knew looked fake.
"Hello, dear," Penny said.
"Hi, Grams," Piper replied.
"Why don't you get to sleep?"
Piper nodded and kissed her grandmother's cheek before turning and going back into her room and slipping under the inviting sheets. She flipped off the light, thinking about the dream she had had moments before being woken up by Phoebe and Prue. She dreamt someone had come into her room, leaned over at her, whispered something about "it being for the best" and leaving again. Piper shivered and closed her eyes, going back to sleep.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Paige Matthews sat up in bed, her sheets damp from sweat. She wiped her forehead and rubbed her temples. At fourteen years old she was no longer afraid of the dark but suddenly felt uncomfortable keeping the light off. She flipped the light on leaned against the headboard in her new room.
It had been two months since her father and mother sent her to live with her aunt and uncle as they cared for his mother in Paris, where she had been staying for the last three years. She desperately whished they would have taken her with them, or flew his mother back with them, they refused. It was her grandmother's final wish to die in Paris, where she was born.
Paige was now enrolled in a new school in San Francisco, a place she despised compared to Napa valley. There were too many hills and too many new things and people to worry about. She hated it here and hated her parents for making her move here, with her aunt and uncle. They were good parents to their own children, it was just hard for Paige to adjust. Technically, she wasn't even related to these people, not really. It was all very uncomfortable in her opinion.
Her parents had started her in school a year earlier then all the other kids her age. While every other fourteen year old was in eight grade, she was in ninth, with all fifteen year olds. Another reason she was angry with her parents, the big age difference between her and everyone else. She was finding it hard to make friends with people at school, especially those who were older then her. At least back home she had had friends, now she had nothing. She didn't even have parents.
When she felt she was up to it, she flipped off the light and went back to sleep, feeling as though she were being watched.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
The next morning Prue woke at the same time she always did, this time feeling incredibly tired and worn out from being up so late last night. Even though she was up until nearly twelve, she still shouldn't feel THIS tired, should she? She'd had seven hours of sleep! It felt as though something had drained the energy from her and replaced it with a tingly feeling.
She got up and walked into her bathroom, running the shower and washing her hair. When she got out, she dried off and headed over to her vanity, picking up her brush and preparing to brush out her long black hair. Instead, she let out a cry of disgust and looked at the gloopy stuff clumped around the bristles of the brush. It was a salmon color that smelled of rotting rubber. She tossed the brush into the trash and began to get dressed, reaching into her bathroom drawer to take out another of three backup brushes she had.
Piper too woke up feeling drained and tingly. She couldn't place it, but something felt very different, something wasn't right…or something was different. She reached for her glasses and pulled them on, frowning with disgust. Her glasses were streaked with some sort of gross substance that looked like dirty water and vomit. She rushed out of the room and down the hall to her bathroom where she hurriedly washed them off, slipping them back onto her face. She frowned, still disconcerted.
"I guess I'm up, better take a shower," she said to herself, closing the door over and turning on the water. She stepped in, washed her hair and got ready. She passed Phoebe on the way to the bathroom.
"Did you find your headphones?" she asked kindly.
"Yeah," Phoebe snapped, holding them up showing off the same gloopy gunk on Piper's. She frowned but didn't say anything, not knowing what to say.
Piper headed down the stairs, meeting Prue halfway down, Prue dressed in her cheerleader's uniform.
"You look like hell." was Prue's greeting to Piper as they stepped into the living room. Piper rolled her eyes and threw her backpack down on the table next to her books.
"Thanks. You don't look so hot yourself, you know."
Prue glared at her and nonchalantly made her way over to the mirror were she proceeded to check for smudges and bags.
"…just be nice and open. Don't be too flashy or cocky, they don't like that-well, Phoebe does, but don't you dare touch Phoebe!"
"Don't worry, I'm only here to help."
"You better go, they'll be down any minute."
A blue light lit up the kitchen. From where Piper was standing, which was in the dining room, it seemed like blue lights were being emitted. Who was her grandmother talking to and what exactly were those lights?
She edged into the kitchen, seeing her grandmother making breakfast, a rarity.
"Morning, Grams," Piper said cautiously. "Who were you talking to?"
Penny turned to Piper, her eyes wide with fear.
"Me?" Piper nodded. "Me? I wasn't talking to anyone!"
"I heard you," Piper replied, frowning with suspiciousness. It wasn't good if her grandmother was keeping it from her. "It sounded like a man…"
"Oh? That?" Penny asked, forcing a laugh. Piper nodded. "I was talking to our new neighbor."
"Oh," Piper replied with ease. A nagging voice in the back of mind reminded her that no one entered or left the kitchen through the back door and she would have seen him passing her. "Ok."
The rest of the morning passed by quickly. Piper missed the bus and managed to get a ride with Prue and Andy, who kissed more then watched the road in front of him. All in all, she was pleased to reach school and leave them to another ten minutes kiss and grope before final bell.
"Thanks, Andy," Piper muttered, hopping out of the car red faced. She raced up the steps seeing Phoebe hop of the bus down the way. She quickly turned around and met a group of kids. "Shit," Piper muttered to herself. She was supposed to watch her and make sure she didn't skip school to go smoking again. She was about to go after Phoebe when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and came face to face with one of the best looking people she had ever seen in her entire life.
He had blond curly hair and giant blue eyes that took Piper's breath away. He gave her a smile, displaying all of her shiny white teeth.
"Hi," he said, his voice coming out deep and velvety, "could you tell me where I could find Mrs. Parson's room? English III Honors?"
That's my room! Piper squealed to herself. She managed to keep a calm face as she directed him down the hall.
"If you reach the bubbler you've gone too far," she said, trying to give him a winning smile, which she thought failed miserably. Why couldn't she be more like Prue who never had any problems with boys, or even Phoebe who was never dateless? Why was she doomed to awkwardness for the rest of her life.
"Thanks," he smiled at her again and began walking down the hall. She watched him go, a faraway look on her face.
"What're you gaping at?" Prue's voice shook her from her thoughts.
"Nothing," Piper mumbled, feeling herself blush. She walked away from her sister down towards her locker, which as usual was covered in people. "Excuse me? Could you just-Hey!" They looked over at her. "Thank you. Can you please just, move for a second?" They muttered something and moved off a little ways down the hall. Piper rolled her eyes and did her combination. A moment later books were tumbling out at her. She went to raise her hands when someone caught them for her.
"Looks like you could use a little help." It was Leo.
"Oh, er, yeah, I mean yes, I guess I do," she stuttered, taking the books from him and placing them back in her locker.
"I see you have Mrs. Parson also?" he said, eyeing her schedule taped to the inside of her locker. "Great, we can walk there together." He waited patiently while she gathered her things together. "Ready?"
"Yeah," she said, unable to control her blush.
They walked down the hall in awkward silence that was only broken as a girl came up to them looking harassed.
"Hi, sorry to be a pain, but do you know where Mr. Ellis is? He teaches English? I just got switched into his class and I have no idea where the east building is," she said, her brown eyes were pleading with them to help her.
"Yeah, you go down the hall and take a right. It's room 303. You can't miss it, there'll be a big bald man waiting outside for all of his students to come in," Piper said immediately. The girl looked relieved.
"Thanks," she said, walking away. Piper stared after her in confusion. That girl seemed incredibly familiar, Piper just couldn't place her face.
"Here we are," Leo said, "English Honors."
Piper smiled and walked in.
Paige rounded the corner and sure enough a big bald man was waiting outside. She took her seat and waited for class to begin. She couldn't understand why the girl and that boy seemed so familiar…
Just before class started, she reached into her bag and extracted her retainer, plopping it into her mouth without looking at it.
"Ugh," she cried, spitting it out and looking at the congealed mess on top of it. She glanced around to see some people looking at her. They must think I don't wash my retainer, she thought miserably. Great.
Ten minutes after the late bell Phoebe strode into Mr. Ellis's room waving a late notice with the forged signature of Penny Halliwell.
"Sorry I'm late," she said sarcastically and took her seat next to Paige. They glanced at each other once and felt something of a pull towards each other.
What is going on? Phoebe thought.
A/N Please read and review. I know some ages and the time frame is a little warped but it was the only way I could add Paige without having her and Phoebe being eight and four. So, just pretend that's how it happened. Thanks.+