Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Piper wanted to teach. Ever since prison, ever since she had applied to teach in the GED program, she hadn't been able to get it out of her mind. In her four years of prison, she hadn't taught. She had looked at the books in the library longingly and spent many a lonely night on her bunk dreaming about teaching, what she would say, how she would express herself, how she would connect with the other prisoners over Shakespeare and Wilde. She didn't mind even teaching grammar, which would have helped them write their letters.
The day she got out of the halfway house, the day that she was finally a free woman, she had gone to Polly's house and googled teaching programs. Unfortunately, there were none that would take an ex-con as a teacher. She had gone back to waiting tables and living in one room of a matchbox apartment. She had been living out of a suitcase for a year as she had no closet and living in Queens was no joke. As she wandered the lanes of Central Park, one Spring afternoon, she came across this tutor talking to kids about the age of twelve. She sat on a bench nearby and listened, her heart aching. Her entire life before prison had been ripped out with that one statement "Piper Chapman carried drug money". Now it seemed that she couldn't get her life back on track after prison either.
She looked at the attentive faces of the children as the tutor described something and imagined herself talking to them about how Yates wrote to Maud Gonne to tread lightly on his dreams. She hadn't allowed herself to want anything or anyone after being rejected on both counts numerous times. She remembered her last date with Ryan, a seemingly nice guy she had met at a bar who literally bolted when she had identified herself as an ex-con. She missed Larry sometimes, especially when she watered Polly and Pete's plants when they were on vacation. She hadn't been on vacation since before prison. She sometimes understood why Taystee had come back. Life in prison seemed purposeful. You woke up, you had a job, you survived. Life outside – days merged into weeks which merged into months.
Soon, before she knew it, it was New Year's Eve and the entire City was bundled up in snow and lights. She worked in an upscale restaurant and was of course called in to work that night. She usually didn't mind it much because holidays gave her excellent tips. Tonight was another story. She saw all the couples and families and it hurt. It hurt that she was making a choice to not go down that road, it hurt that she knew that it was the right choice and it hurt that sometimes, just sometimes, when she tried, she couldn't have it. She shook off her depression and made her way to the kitchen to pick up her order for table 16. As she made her way to table 16, she heard a familiar voice that shocked her. She hadn't heard this voice in a very long time. She served her table and walked back passing the other table and saw him.
Larry Bloom was sitting there with a beautiful red-head. She watched him notice her, recognition bloom on his face and a small smile curve his lips. She grinned back and went over to say hi.
"Hey! Fancy seeing you here." Piper said, shaking his outstretched hand.
"Yeah. We've been in the city for about three months now. Oh Piper, this is Jessie, my wife. Jess, this is Piper… an old friend." Larry said. Piper frowned at being called an old friend but let it slide.
"I've been in the City for more than a year now." Piper said, not really knowing what to say.
"Oh that's good. Yeah, I'm working with the Journal now, full-time and Jess runs an outreach organization for kids who don't have access to proper schools." Larry said, looking at Piper, taking in the changes to her face, her hair, her body shape. He noted the freckles, the extra lines, the lightened blonde. She was still in great shape though.
"Oh that sounds amazing Larry. Congratulations. That's nice that you work with kids Jessie. I've wanted to teach for a long while now, but things just haven't seemed right." Piper said.
"What do you mean?" Jessie asked
"Well, people aren't thrilled to be letting their kids be taught by an ex-con. I was in prison for almost five years." Piper said, explaining. She felt embarrassed about this, though she knew she shouldn't. It was just a life experience, her life experience, society be damned. But unfortunately, she still cared for what society taught. She was no more the nice blonde lady her mother wanted her to be and that seemed like her biggest failure.
"Oh. Well, Piper, if you could give me your number, my office will get in touch with you. We need an English tutor. But the only thing is that the kids come from broken homes and are socio-economically unstable, so their context is rather different from ours. But catually, with your prison background, you could be someone who can relate to them" Jessie said, contemplating the scenario.
Piper was astonished. She couldn't believe what was happening. Larry's wife was offering her, her dream job. She held her breath as she wrote down her name and number on a slip from her waiting pad. She handed it over to Jessie who promised to get in touch with her. The night progressed and midnight came and went. She hugged herself at the possibility of a dream coming true and dared to think about it as she sipped on champagne in the kitchen at 1am. They had been allowed one glass and she smiled as she thought about visiting an old bookstore. At 5am, she was dead-tired. She collected her tips for that night which were more than a $1000. She laughed giddily as she walked to the subway, thinking that this year had a promising start. She went home and crashed, sleeping like the dead till 7pm. It was her night off and she used some of her tips to indulge in some wine, ciabata bread and a sweater she found at a bargain store. Even though the sweater was only $8, it was a lot to her. She remembered the times when cashmere graced her skin and she would toss it aside like a rag trading it for Alex's skin on her. She hadn't thought about her in a long time, let alone sex with Alex. She decided tonight was a night of indulgence and turned on her laptop to some horrible downloaded porn.
She leaned back on her bed and slipped her hand inside her pants, feeling her clit as her thoughts of Alex took over. She remembered her smell, the way she tasted, the way her skin felt and in that fevered state as she worked herself, she remembered the way her green eyes darkened and her husky voice. She came with her former girlfriend's name escaping her lips. She collapsed onto the bed, with a smile, feeling a mixture of emotions. She wondered what Alex was up to, if she had even gotten out of prison. Today, she decided was an ex-filled day. Meeting Larry, cumming to the thought of Alex, she remembered her life. Boy had she lived. At 33, how many people could say that they had a lesbian lover who she travelled the world with, gotten engaged to a nice Jew boy, thrown into prison, almost killed someone and was now dealing with trying to survive without anything inside? She debated going to a bar and hooking up with someone for the real deal but decided that she was too comfortable in her sweats.
The next two days passed painfully slow, with Piper being aware of every ticking second. She checked her phone almost ever 10-15 minutes, hoping that she wouldn't miss Jessie's call. She woke up at the crack of dawn, determined to not sleep through any call. It was one evening, on January 4th as Piper was getting ready to go to the restaurant that her phone rang. She leapt for it with a breathless "Hello?" and waited for the voice on the other line to identify themselves. She crossed her fingers as she gently sat on the bed.
"Hi, is this Piper Chapman?" Asked the voice, sounding young.
"Yeah. This is she." Piper said, sounding a little apprehensive.
"Hey. I got your number from Mrs. Bloom. She said that you were interested in the Bronx project, to teach. Is this a good time to speak to you? Oh I'm Melissa by the way." The voice said, sounding cheerful.
"Hey Melissa. Yeah I'm interested and this is a great time." Piper said, fishing out a notebook and a pen to make notes. She didn't care if she was late, she hoped she would be quitting soon anyway.
"Okay, so the job is in the Bronx. They need an English and a drama teacher. The hours are from 4 to 7 in the evenings, 6 days a week with Sundays off. Would you be up for that? I trust that Mrs. Bloom has explained the background of the kids you're dealing with. The classes are at the local Y." Melissa said, sounding like she was mentally ticking off points from her head.
"Yes. That sounds perfect." Piper said, making notes.
"Okay then. We'll need you to come into the office where you will be given an ID and some mandatory counseling and training after you fill out the paper work. Would tomorrow at 10:30am work for you?" Melissa asked.
"Yup. That's fine" Piper said as she noted the address that Melissa gave her for the organization. She was so excited. She figured that she would go tomorrow, fill in her paperwork and then quit the waitressing job.
The night passed by uneventfully and the next morning, Piper made her way to 87th West Street to the office. She met with Melissa who was a graduate student at NYU, working part-time and she filled out her paperwork and took a photo for her ID. She met Jessie after and thanked her for giving her a chance. She really liked the woman and was happy for Larry. Once done with the first session of training, which would span for 5 days and 4 hours a day, she made her way to the restaurant and told then that she would be leaving at the end of the week. The staff was sad to see her go, but made her promise to meet on Sunday for a drink.
Things were finally looking up in Piper's life as she made her way home the next morning after her shift. She saw some pretty flowers that she got as a celebration and went home to catch a few hours of sleep before she had to report in for training at 11am.
The next five days whizzed by, with Piper learning what to expect, understanding some of their background and trying to figure out how to deal with them. She sat with Jessie after her training to draw up lesson plans and try to sort out a syllabus for them. She thought of Suzzanne as she went through Shakespeare and smiled at the thought of the woman. She missed her friends, but hadn't been able to keep in touch with them.
That night, she went to Polly's to give her best friend an update on her life. She told Polly who listened in shock at who had brought about the change in her life. Polly asked if Jessie knew who Piper was and Piper said yes. Both Larry and she had told her and Piper had told Jessie the flat truth, owning up for her shit and tossing Larry like a dishrag. She said it was incredible that he actually spoke to Piper.
Polly was amazed that Piper was now mature enough to own up to her shit and not get defensive about it and about the fact that Piper was on her way to actually being friends with her ex fiancé's wife! Polly asked about Jessie, having cut off from Larry when he and Piper had broken up. Piper said that she was a really nice woman. She was the nice blonde lady that her mother wanted to be and she was happy for Larry and Jessie. Polly was really happy that Piper was finally getting to do what she wanted to do now and that she had suffered enough at the hands of society as a whole.
In two weeks, Piper was taken to the YMCA at the Bronx and introduced to the kids who would be her students. She had agonized about what to wear and had finally decided on an ACDC t-shirt and jeans. She looked out of place, but not someone who was charitable. Melissa had expressed approval at her outfit when she had shown up at the office. They sat at the back as they watched a young man take mathematics classes for them and Piper found herself wishing she was one of them. He was charming, he made maths fun and he looked adorable in baggy jeans, an oversized t-shirt and glasses. The epitome of a geek trying to look cool. He had caught Piper staring a couple of times and laughing with the class as he cracked a lame joke.
He came up to them after the class was over. "Hey. I'm Joe." He said to Piper and he gave Melissa a small hug hello. "Hi Joe. I'm Piper" Piper said, smiling shyly. "Piper is going to be teaching English and Drama here" Melissa said, looking at them. "Can you show her the ropes? I gotta get back. I have a massive psych paper due day after and I haven't even started." Melissa continued.
"Sure kid. Run along. I'll sow Piper around and get her set up." He said, smiling at Melissa as she ran out and he looked at Piper "So when do you start?" He asked as they started walking towards the back of the room towards his bags and books.
"I start on Monday, so it's my last weekend as a free woman." Piper said, her eyes twinkling.
"What does that mean?" Joe asked, as he collected his belongings in a book bag that had seen better days.
"Well, as a teacher, I gotta be an example. So I guess, I should do all the drinking I can right now." Piper said, with a hint of a smile.
"There's a bar down the street that's pretty nice." Said a voice, interrupting Joe. Piper spun around, looking stunned to see Alex Vause walk up behind her.
"Hey Alex! Are those the violins?" Joe asked, indicating to a carton behind her.
"Yup! You really think the kids will want to learn Joey boy?" Alex asked, grinning, while Piper watched stunned.
"I'm sure they would. Um, why don't the two of you go to the bar and I'll maybe catch up later. I want to sort through this and put it away." Joe said, almost ignoring the two women, oblivious to the obvious tension. He opened the box, peering inside and gasped. "Alex Vause, you are my Goddess. Just let me know where you'd like your shrine! Thank you so much!" He hugged Alex awkwardly as she laughed.
"It's all cool. It's the least I can do for you Joe. " She said smiling. She looked at Piper, who was still standing at the back, watching the interaction.
"You wanna go? To the bar?" Alex asked, gesturing to join her.
Piper nodded, looking at Joe and then hurried to join Alex.
A/N: This is something that I just randomly came up with at work. I was bored. Let me know if you want part two. Not beta-ed so mistakes are mine. Thanks for reading!