Fall Girl

Prologue

Piper can't remember a time when Alex wasn't around.

Piper was only three-years-old when her parents hired Diane Vause as their housekeeper and nanny to Danny, Piper, and baby Cal. Piper's dad was a higher-up in some big insurance company, and while her mother didn't work, she needed her days free to run errands, keep up appearances by going to the salon, and socialize with the other wealthy housewives of Litchfield, New York. Thus, Diane Vause entered into Piper's life bringing her young daughter, Alex, along with her.

At first, Piper, Danny, and Alex play well together, as kids tend to do, oblivious to pressure society would soon place on them, illuminating perceived differences due to class, or skin color, or gender. Diane takes care of the house and makes them grilled cheeses for lunch, while Danny, Piper, and Alex build towering castles out of blocks. At 5pm every Monday through Friday, Alex gets to go home with Diane, and Piper and her brothers are left with their parents.

Over the years, Piper can't help the jealousy that manifests around this fact. Because Diane is a good mother. Diane is caring, and involved, and all the things her own mother isn't. And Piper comes to resent the fact that Alex gets all of that while she doesn't.

It's not until middle school begins that Piper and Alex attend the same school. The students who attended the various elementary schools that make up the school district all came together into one middle school and one high school. Alex, of course, came from one of the poorer elementary schools, while Piper came from the wealthiest.

Piper, due to her family's affluence and the elementary school she came from, molds easily into the popular crowd; and Alex, due to her lack thereof, finds herself near the bottom of the social hierarchy. Piper's friends tease Alex relentlessly. They call her pigsty and make fun of her clothes. Piper never joins the teasing, but she doesn't attempt to stop it either. She watches from the sidelines as Alex gives her confused looks at her lack of help.

Piper doesn't join in, because she loves Diane and doesn't want Alex to tell her mom anything that will make Diane think badly of her, but she feels the tiniest fluttering of pleasure when her friends tease Alex, so she doesn't stop them either. It gives Piper perverse enjoyment to know that even though Alex has a perfect, loving mom, she doesn't have everything. She won't have Piper's popularity, or the clothes Piper's parent's money can buy, or an easy time in middle school and high school.

Piper feels like maybe she should feel guilty for feeling this way, but she doesn't.

Piper was always the bystander, never the bully. Until the day things changed. Piper and Sarah had tried to sneak into a movie the previous weekend, but Piper had got more than she bargained for when she saw her dad with another woman. Her mother all but ignored the information and Piper was punished for sneaking into a movie she wasn't supposed to see. That's when Piper began to learn the true dynamics of her family.

On the bus the following morning, Piper sat next to Sarah in the seat assigned to them by the bus driver, recounting to her friend what had happened with her mom. Sarah wasn't really paying her much attention, too focused on her own drama with the boy she had a crush on, and kept trying to change the subject. Piper's frustration and anger had grown to new heights by the time the bus pulled to the stop in front of Alex's apartment complex.

As Sarah prattled on about how Toby was "dating" Melissa instead of her, Piper watched through the window as Diane hugged and kissed Alex goodbye. She watched Diane's lips form the words "Have a good day! Love you, kid."

Alex climbed onto the bus with a smile on her face, and that was the final straw for Piper. She was annoyed that her mother planned to sweep her father's affair under the rug. She was frustrated that one of her best friends was too self-involved to listen to her problems. But most of all, she was overcome with anger and jealousy toward Alex and the relationship she had with Diane.

She needed an outlet for her pent up fury, and everything seemed to snap into place as she heard Sarah snicker and say as Alex walked by them to her seat, "Good morning, pigsty."

Alex ignored the remark as she took her assigned seat behind Piper and Sarah. As the bus accelerated, Piper watched the pouring rain outside the window as an idea began to form in her head. She got up onto her knees on the seat, turning her body to peer down at Alex, who was reading a book, in the seat behind her.

"Hey, pigsty," Piper said, causing Alex to look up from her book, surprised hurt flickering across her features at being addressed this way by Piper. Piper didn't allow herself to dwell on it. Instead, she focused on the all the things that made her angry and said, "I think you need a bath." Piper unlatched her window, the speed of the bus and the wind causing rain to blow in at an angle, right onto Alex's seat.

Piper laughed along with Sarah, who had watched the scene unfold. Alex shivered as the icy rain pelted her skin. She scooted all the way to edge of her seat, practically in the aisle-way of the bus, and shot Piper a hurt, but angry glare. "Seriously, Piper?" she said with a slight shake of her head, disappointment clouding her features.

Piper felt guilt rush through her at the look Alex gave her; however, as she turned back in her seat and was met with the gleeful eyes of Sarah, guilt was quickly replaced with a rush of pride and exhilaration. "That was awesome, Piper!"

Piper wore a smile for the remainder of the ride to school, all thoughts of her cheating father, in-denial mother, and Alex's relationship with Diane forgotten for the time being.

That was how it all began.

A/N: Hello everyone! I'm back with a new (and much longer) high school AU! I was so pleasantly surprised with the response I got for After the Storm, that I got inspired and decided to start writing a second story. This one will be quite different from the previous one, as we'll get to see quite a bit of Popularbitch!Piper.

The next chapter should be finished soon and I will post it as soon as it is, but I figured I'd go ahead and get this out there to gauge the interest in this. The rest of the story will take place in high school and start with Piper and Alex beginning their junior year and follow them through graduation.

Anyway, please let me know what you think of this idea and anything you'd like to see me try to incorporate into this fic!

Love you all!

Helena's Mangos :)