Thank you for beta'ing, thecharmedwerewolf! This is my new story and first high school AU for Orange is the New Black. It's loosely based on another show called Pretty Little Liars, which is about four best friends who receive anonymous texts after the leader of their clique mysteriously disappeared and supposedly died. You don't need to watch the show to understand what this is about, but the events that happen in this fic are similar to some things that are in Pretty Little Liars and you will also recognize parts of Orange is the New Black. Without further ado, read on, kids.

The tenth grade girls are all at Pizza Hut, their favorite hangout spot from seventh grade until the end of time. It's the first year the most popular group of friends at Martin Van Buren High aren't so talkative. One could even say they've drifted apart, but on this night, something led them all to the same spot and they decided to sit down and have cheeseburgers, fries, and chocolate milkshakes.

"I can't believe it's been a year already," Lorna Morello says somberly, breaking the silence.

Alex Vause bows her head like she always does when she's going to cry. Daya Diaz slurps her drink and Flaca Gonzales takes a huge bite out of her burger. Alex sniffles. "She's still missing. The cops have not found her body."

"The news report said they're ready to give up, basically, and say she's dead...presumably," Daya tells them. "Fucking incompetent assholes."

Flaca swallows her food. "Do you girls think something happened to her that night?"

"We were all at my house. Franny was there watching us. She would've noticed Piper leave," Lorna murmurs.

"No, she was an expert on climbing up and down fire escapes like the one outside your house," Daya counters the brunette Italian.

"She always wanted to scare the shit out of us," Flaca says. "At our last sleepover with the five of us, that worked. She loved to play jokes-"

"It would just be easier to say she was raped and murdered," Alex grumbles. "It doesn't take this long to find a young blonde girl, especially if the reward is fifty thousand dollars."

Lorna sees the pain in her best friend's eyes. "Don't lose hope, hon. Piper's gotta be alive."

"Yeah," Daya agrees.

"Man, I wish I had your optimism," Flaca mumbles.

"So do I," Alex agrees.

"I cannot believe you're still a virgin, Al," Piper says while handing them all red cups of Coke laced with alcohol in them. "All of us have done it, why not you? Oh, I know! It's your endless fantasies about Cate Blanchett, right?"

The girls chuckle awkwardly and Alex looks down at herself shyly. "Haven't found the right person, I guess..."

"Come on, who cares, sex is just sex," Daya tells her.

"I'm shocked that you haven't tried stuff with your mom's boyfriend," Piper answers.

Lorna ignores Piper's comment and scoffs. "Maybe to you, Daya! God, the next guy who fucks me for money is so going down!"

"What, you haven't gotten your revenge yet?" Flaca asks. "If Ian did that to me-"

"You'd curse him, we know, you goth freak," Piper finishes for her. "Lorn, you should do something."

"Mess with his car," Alex suggests, giving Lorna a wink.

"Don't give her any ideas," Piper mutters. "We all know Looney Tunes Lorna is a little crazy."

Lorna glares at the blonde and her mood changes from cheerful to furious. "Don't call me that ever again."

A few seconds later, Piper apologizes and then the group is back to gossiping and giggling like the best friends forever that they are.

"Daya!" Aleida Diaz screams from the kitchen. "That better be you who just came through the door!"

The young Latina sighs. "Yes, Mom, I'm home."

"You were supposed to put Emiliano and Christina to bed a half hour ago! They're in your room, probably flushing Barbies down the toilet or something! Get the fuck in there! We have to go out soon!"

"Sorry, sorry, my bus was late," Daya mumbles. She knows her mother is too busy getting high with her latest man, Cesar, to bother taking care of her baby sister and brother. Aleida uses her pregnancy as an excuse, but she's been like this ever since Daya was born, probably even before that.

"Daya!" Christina squeals excitedly when the fifteen-year-old walks into her bedroom. She wraps her arms around Daya's legs. "Look, I drawed all over 'Miliano! He sleepin'." She giggles and Daya shakes her head at the sight of her brother covered in markers. A tube of lipstick was on the floor and Daya recognizes it as hers. She kneels down next to her sister and wraps her in her arms.

"Sweetie, you know you can't do that to your brother. You gotta help me clean him up. Are you guys hungry? I fed you enough before I left, right?"

The four-year-old shakes her head no. "I want more macaroni and cheese!"

"I used the last of it...I guess Cesar has to get us more food tomorrow. I'm sorry I didn't pick up anything for you."

Christina pouts and sighs sadly. She looks up at Daya with round, curious eyes. "Where you go, sissy?"

"I needed to get myself something to eat. I was starving."

"Ohh...you okay?"

Daya doesn't realize she has tears in her eyes until Christina asks her that question. She'd be lying if she said she was fine. Her living situation definitely isn't the dream. As much as she loves her kid siblings, she wants a mom who knows her inside and out, who would hold her as she cries. Someone who is much older, smarter, and braver than she is. Sometimes, she dreams that Aleida actually gives two fucks about her and then when she wakes up to reality, she bursts out sobbing.

Her friends made her life so much easier, but now that Piper's gone, they'll never have that same closeness again. She remembers when Alex's, Flaca's, and Piper's moms and Lorna's big sister, Franny, would each take a turn lifting her responsibilities off her shoulders and babysit Christina and Emiliano so she could have a night out with the girls. The mothers had also tried to help Aleida get clean, but it was no use. She just enjoys packing heroin and taking it way too much. She'd snapped at them to mind their own damn business, and that was the end of it.

Daya blows out a huge breath and takes out her hoop earrings. "I will be, hopefully soon, baby." She gently wakes up her brother and washes him off in the tub, and then Christina wants to join him. She gives them both a bubble bath and then after drying them off, she changes them into their pajamas and puts brand new diapers on them. Christina gets a Barbie onesie while Emiliano wears blue pants and a red long-sleeved shirt. "Wait here, I'll get you something to eat." She gives them a coloring book and crayons. "Keep it on the paper, not on each other, please."

When she gets into the kitchen, she sees that it's empty. There's a note from either her mom or Cesar. We'll be back whenever, probably morning. Here's a twenty for groceries.

She opens the cabinet and finds nothing, so she tries the refrigerator. "Bingo," she whispers to herself as she pulls out a box of pizza. There's two slices left, so she takes one. She heats it up on the stove and blows on it until it cools down enough as to not burn Christina's little tongue. She plops the piece on a paper plate and brings it to her bedroom.

"Hey, please stop jumping on my bed, that's dangerous. You could fall off. I have some pizza..."

"Yay!" both children shout happily.

"Where Mommy?" Emiliano asks innocently as Daya tears the pizza in half and hands them each a tiny slice.

"She went bye-bye," Daya answers.

After they finish eating, Daya gives them water and then she places them inside their respective cradles, kisses them good night, and then gets into her own bed.

"Love you," Christina calls out.

"Love you," Emiliano echoes his sister.

"I love you too, angels," Daya murmurs while smiling.

Diane Vause comes into her daughter's bedroom on Saturday morning and strokes her raven locks until Alex's eyes flutter open. She blindly reaches for her glasses and accidentally knocks them off her bedside table. "Shit," she groans under her breath. "Mom, can you-"

"I've got them, honey." Diane hands Alex her glasses. "Watch your language, young lady."

Alex rolls her eyes and smirks. "Sorry, Mother, but you try dropping your glasses like a loser."

"You're not a loser! Remember what I told you a long time ago? You're a winner. You're the coolest girl in the world."

"Yeah..."

"So, you saw your friends last night, huh?"

"Mm-hm."

"How was that, after a year of being apart?"

Alex rubs her bleary eyes open and puts her glasses on while sitting up in her bed. "Weird, I guess...but it was good to kind of reconnect. Without Piper, it's just...it feels like something's missing. She was the glue that kept us all together."

"You should arrange something with them and just bond."

"It's strange...all of us were friends with Pipes in our own way...it's not the same. I'll see how we do on our first day back at school."

"Why don't we go shopping before I have to work at Friendly's, just you and me? That'll be fun, huh?"

"Ehh..." Alex isn't much of a shopper, except for when it comes to Hot Topic. She loves their band tees and dark blue jeans. Her mother insists that she gets her love of rock from her dad, Lee Burley. He supposedly used to be a musician who threw awesome concerts, but she wonders why he's not famous anymore.

"We'll go to your favorite store!" Diane promises her.

"Okay, then!"

They eat pancakes with eggs on top and then watch a few movies before Diane takes them to Hot Topic. The music is so loud that they can't hear each other.

"I'm going to step out, this is not my kind of place!" Diane shouts. "I'm still gonna keep my eye on you, though, so don't you steal anything!"

"I won't!" Alex knows that her mom isn't worried about her shoplifting. It's more the fact that her best friend vanished and Diane doesn't want the same thing to happen to her daughter.

The tall black-haired girl sifts through the clothes and looks at a few. She grabs some jeans, a dark red shirt with a white skull and crossbones on it, a gray leather jacket, and fishnet stockings.

"Alex Vause in her natural habitat," a Spanish accented voice says behind her. She turns around to face Flaca, who's dressed in a black and white striped shirt, ripped jeans, and gray boots. She has a few blue stripes in her hair. Last night, the stripes were purple. Alex has always admired Flaca's fashion sense, and vice versa.

"So we meet again, it must be fate," Alex answers with a grin. "Nice highlights! They match your lipstick."

"Thanks. I love your makeup," Flaca says.

"Thank you." Alex looks outside and notices Diane talking to Theresa Gonzales. "Your mom doesn't like it in here either?"

Flaca shakes her head no. "Nah. She's gotta find a dress to sew for this lady's wedding, so I can't stay for long. We can catch up for like, five minutes while they chat, though."

"Yeah, it'll help take our minds off..."

"Mm-hm."

"How are Marco and Pedro?"

"I've caught them watching porn twice."

Alex laughs. "They should be friends with Mikey and Cal. I swear, the number of times they've hit on me..."

"I'm sorry," Flaca apologizes.

"No, it's cool...hasn't Mikey tried to get with you before?" Alex doesn't want to mention anyone in Piper's family since it'll just remind her of the blonde. It hurts too much. She has no idea how Flaca can do it.

Flaca nods. "Lorna punched him when he hit on me."

"It happens when you have little brothers who aren't that much younger than you."

"Yep...hey, are you getting all that?"

"Of course, hello!" Alex holds up a red corset. "You should totally wear this for Ian."

Flaca grabs it from her while chuckling and puts it back. "Ay dios mío, Alex, you're dirty! My mom would kill me!"

"I know, dude. I was joking. So...what did you do this summer?"

"My mom sent me to camp like always, but it wasn't boring this time. You know how you make a friend and they live so far away from you and it's like, really depressing, because you'll never see this girl again?"

"Oh, yeah?"

"I met this chick, Maritza Ramos. We roomed together. We got each other's numbers and found out we live near each other and even go to the same school! She's hella nice. She's also into punk like us."

"Awesome! I was thinking...we should totally do band together."

"Oh, yeah, that would be fun!"

"Also, lunch, you and me?"

"I actually planned to eat with Maritza...we got close over the summer...but you can totally join us!"

"Wait, your bunkmate from camp?"

Flaca scoffs. "She's so much more than that. We're like sisters."

"Okay, well...I get it. Did you tell her about...?"

"It's all over the news, so she knows. She comforted me a lot."

"Marisol, vamanos!" Theresa waves Flaca over.

The tall Latina rolls her eyes. "Mama's callin'."

"Well, it was cool seeing you," Alex says as she and Flaca quickly hug each other.

"Yeah, same. Bye!"

Alex pays for her clothes and then walks out of Hot Topic. "Hey, Mom. Funny running into them, huh?"

"Yeah, but they always go here. So do we. It's a coincidence. What did you get?"

"I'll show you at home."

When Flaca and her mom get back from shopping, she realizes something. Out of their old group of friends, she and Alex are the only two who have dyed parts of their hair blue, they both are being raised by a single mother who loves them deeply, and they share a favorite music genre, which is rock. She wonders why everyone fell out of touch just because Piper isn't here. It was so easy talking to Alex, just like it is with Maritza, but somehow, it felt different.

When the girls first met in middle school, they had nothing in common, really. Nobody cared for Flaca's How Soon is Now obsession, Lorna was insistent on finding love and even naming her future children and picking random boys as her soulmate although she was only twelve, Alex was always getting picked on by Jessica Wedge just because she had glasses and wore what the kids called bobos, and Daya was reserved and described as a coconut. Piper had many friends, made up of white girls with blonde hair and blue eyes, just like her.

One day, she ditched every single one of them and invited Flaca, Lorna, Alex, and Daya to sit with her at lunch. It was so strange. None of those girls, except Flaca, had a friend in the world, and Piper chose them. To this day, Flaca has no idea why.

Flaca's former friend from seventh grade, Cat, had moved away, and she always tried to impress a guy named Arturo and his friends, but she was for some reason, on the outskirts of their circle. That's when she knew she needed new kids to hang out with, so of course, when Piper started a conversation with her about pink panties and how she could develop a business of selling them around school, Flaca latched onto her desperately.

Then, Piper sought out the rest of the girls. She gave Lorna some good flirting tips, told Alex she looked cute in her glasses, and offered to babysit for Daya's new baby sister. It felt like she was collecting the girls who sat by themselves and weaving them together. Slowly but surely, she got them to come out of their shells and form a connection that could never be broken. Separately, they were the weird loners, but together, with Piper as their leader, nobody dared to speak one nasty word about them.

Piper sat back and watched the four girls have their own conversation. They found out they were all poor and sometimes got made fun of, even though Lorna believed that everyone loved her, but they were just too afraid to show it.

The girls would link arms while talking and giggling as they walked through the halls at school. Piper would sometimes tease people. Even though she could be downright mean, they still looked up to her. Nobody wanted to get on her bad side.

Flaca and Lorna are the only ones who have stood up to her, and once, Flaca was dangerously close to being kicked out. She had to persuade Piper to let her back in, and from that moment on, she never defended herself again. Lorna was really who Piper was terrified of, and Flaca loved her for it. Lorna was the tiniest of them all, but she sometimes got a look in her eyes that says she meant business and she wanted to kill someone, as in seriously harm them.

Thinking back on this while lying on her bed, Flaca's confused on how she feels about Piper's disappearance. She should be sad and probably mourning, but she's accepted that Piper isn't going to come back. It's been an entire year, and she's a bit tired of grieving. She just wants them to give her a funeral and a proper burial once they finally find her body. Some girls at school last year said Piper probably had it coming and that she may have pushed someone off the edge.

Flaca and Maritza had played with an Ouija board at camp and they asked it if Piper was still alive. They'd stared at it until Maritza thought she saw the pointer move and accused Flaca of pushing it toward the letter Y.

"I never did such a thing!" Flaca exclaims.

"Look, it went to the E!"

The taller Latina rolls her eyes at her bestie. "You did that, Maritza."

"Nah! I'm tellin' you. Now the S."

"Okay, if she's alive, then what ghost is moving the pointer? This is stupid!"

Maritza gasps sharply. "I just saw her!"

Flaca shoves her and she laughs. "Don't play like that!" They giggle together until Flaca starts crying and Maritza holds her and rocks her back and forth.

Lorna shrieks and Franny Morello comes running into her room. "What's wrong?"

"My lipstick is missing! I need it for my date with Vinnie tonight! Oh, I've looked everywhere and I still can't find it!" Lorna continues to rummage through drawers. "Who the fuck took it?"

"He loves you with or without-"

"No," Lorna insists. "Amber Rose, where is it?"

"Don't you have a thousand others? How do you even remember the name of-"

"I gotta have this one, Francine. It's enchanting."

Franny rolls her eyes. "Lorna, you're-"

"What, you got something to say?" she asks, offended. She stands on her tiptoes so she appears taller than she is.

"You can borrow mine."

"No, no, you don't understand. See, Amber Rose is what draws a man in. It's seductive. I can feel it in my heart. He'll go nuts over it!"

Franny sighs. "I'll help you look."

Mikey stands in the doorway, holding up a silver tube. "Missing this, weirdo?"

"You asshole!" Lorna shouts and jumps up to bop the back of his head. "Gimme that!"

"Michael Morello, don't be a brat!" Franny scolds him as he returns it to Lorna.

"Chill, it's just a prank."

Lorna flips him off and applies her lipstick. "He's so immature! Last week, he was wearin' my bra outside his shirt!"

"He's done that with mine, too," Franny says. "You gotta remember that he is a twelve-year-old boy."

"I'm still annoyed! Now...your opinion, please." Lorna smooths down her red dress and twirls around. "Don't I look like Maria from West Side Story? I did my hair like Rihanna, you know, when she curled it."

"Oh yes, you're beautiful, like always," Franny tells her.

"This night is extra special. It's our one year anniversary."

"I know. Congratulations."

"We're gonna get married!" Lorna says in a singsong voice. "We already did the nasty, if you know what I'm sayin'? He is much better than Joey."

Franny smiles. "He's gonna come getcha?"

"Fuck yes."

Lorna admires herself in the mirror and then the doorbell rings. She quickly goes down to get it. She swings open the door and throws her arms around her boyfriend. "My, don't ya look spiffy in a tux!"

"Thanks, I rented this." He bends down to whisper in her ear, "You don't know how badly I wanna tear that sexy dress off you."

Lorna giggles as he helps her inside his car. "I love you, my Italian stallion."

"I love you too, my little lasagna."

She kicks off her heels. "How about we do it right now. I'm wet already."

"We should eat first, Lorna."

"Come on!" she whines. "We're hungry for each other, I can sense that."

"We're in front of your house!"

"We can go somewhere in private."

Vincent drives them to the restaurant and Lorna sits back, pouting and folding her arms across her chest. "I can't believe this! What, you don't love me?"

Her boyfriend sighs. "Not this again-"

"I'm small and cute. Why are you turning me down? Is there someone else on your mind? I knew I shouldn't have left you alone with my sister that day." Lorna also remembers when Piper used to flirt with him by calling him Vinnie boy and squeezing his muscles in his arms. One time, she got so furious with her that she pounced on her in the girls' locker room and gave her a black eye. Piper didn't say a word about how she got her shiner. She knew she deserved it.

"Lorna, you're insane. I can't..."

"What?" she growled. "Spit it out. I'll kill her."

"I just lost my appetite. I'd never cheat on you, I swear! Why do you always assume that?"

"The girls are always all over you! It's like I gotta fight 'em off!"

"You don't need to. Just because other girls are into me, it doesn't mean that I'm giving into their advances. Don't be so jealous and possessive...it kinda turns me off."

Lorna's seething. She tries to keep her temper under control. "Let's eat," she says in a strained voice.

"I'm taking you home. You need to relax."

She starts crying and gasping for air. "Don't...you...dare..."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not hungry anymore..." Vincent says while shaking his head.

"We're done!" she explodes. She wants to hit something, like his car, for example. All she needs is a bat. He should not have given her those insults. "You broke my heart! Imma destroy somethin' of yours!"

"Shut the fuck up, you psycho!"

Lorna balls her hands into fists as her whole body shakes. "Damn...you...to...hell...loser! I hate you!" she snarls while gritting her teeth.

"What's gotten into you, the devil?" He stops at her curb. "Get out now."

"I'm so glad we used a condom," she says in a calmer voice.

"Out!" he barks. "Your face is a mess with eyeliner and mascara dripping down your cheeks..."

Lorna slides out of the car and holds herself while sobbing hysterically. She runs to her house and almost trips on her porch steps. She knocks on the door until her knuckles hurt. Franny opens it and Lorna dives into her sister's arms.

"He's been runnin' around on me!" Lorna wails. "This ain't happenin'...but it is..."

"Oh, sweetie," Franny murmurs while rubbing Lorna's back in soothing circles.

"We ain't together no more."

"Good, you don't need him."

Lorna can't sleep that night. All she wants is her revenge.

At five in the morning on Sunday, she takes a bus to her ex's house with Franny's keys in her bra, a metal bat in her hand, and an egg in her pocket. She explains to anyone who asks that she's going to baseball practice and they told everyone to bring their own bat. It's heavy, but she's a strong girl. Even though she's little, she packs a punch, is what Franny always says. Her friends would say that too.

She gets off the bus and tiptoes to the Muccio's front yard. The sun hasn't risen and she hopes they sleep like the dead. Piper would be quite proud of her.

Lorna walks up to Vincent's car, plucks Franny's keys out of her bra, and etches a little message into the side of his car, Fuck you! Stay with her, you bastard! She raises the bat over her head and shudders as her heart beats hard in her chest. She brings it down harshly on the windshield, feeling good when the impact makes a boom and creates a spiderweb crack in the glass. She makes some dents on the side of his car, messing up the paint job. She strikes his tires with so much force, air hisses through the now flat tires. She smashes his windows, breaks his side mirrors, swings her bat onto the trunk a few times, beats his tires, and hits his headlights and tailights until they fall off his car. She throws her egg at his totaled vehicle and it's completely covered in yolk, whites, and shells. She steps back and gasps, being careful not to step on any broken shards on the ground or cut herself on the jagged edges of the glass on his windows and whatever is left of his windshield. She's damaged his car big time, but he totally deserves it.

She can't register the sound of the car alarm until she hears Vincent yelling at her, "What the fuck have you done? I'm calling the police!"

"You should've been faithful."

"Oh my god, my car," he mutters while running his hand down his face. "You dumb bitch! You're paying for this, you know that, right?"

"Little boys who don't know how to keep it in their pants when they got a girlfriend don't get a car."

Vincent throws his hands in the air. "I never did anything!"

"My bus is almost here. Toodle-oo!"

A cop car stops by her and a tall man steps out. His nametag reads George Mendez and he grabs Lorna before she can even attempt to run away. He slams her against his car and locks her in handcuffs. She's sweating and trembling with fear.

The next thing she knows, she's at the police station. Franny is talking to the arresting officer as Lorna nervously sits in the waiting room. She keeps trying to tell herself it was worth it and since she's just a child, the punishment won't be too bad. She hopes Franny will be able to afford the cost, because she can't. It was all Vincent's fault for cheating on her.

Franny shakes hands with the cop and walks out. "Come on, Lorna, we're going home."

"What's gonna happen to me, is he dropping the charges?"

Franny doesn't answer. She just takes Lorna to her car and they get inside. Finally, she says, "Mendez is giving Vincent the money to replace his car. Meanwhile, you need to apologize. This is so humiliating. You're grounded! What did I teach you to do when you're mad, huh? You would've been fucked without me!"

"I'm sorry, Franny," Lorna mumbles. "I didn't hurt nobody...just a little vandalism, that's all, to let him know that he can't screw with me ever again."

"You should give him a written apology."

"I'm not gonna. I'll just...say it to his face at school. How did I get away with it? I don't understand, what did you tell Mendez?"

"I explained that we were poor with a sick mom and a crippled dad and you were acting out without considering the consequences, which is all true. He understood and he offered to help us."

"Thank you so much, Franny. You're the best sister ever."

Lorna's taking a nap later that afternoon when she hears banging and moaning somewhere in the house. She groans and stretches as she gets out of her bed to see who Franny's hooking up with this time. Her eyes widen and she feels disgusted when she steps out of her room and sees Mendez pressing Franny up against the wall and kissing her all over like a sleazebag.

"I owe her one," she whispers to herself while going back inside of her room.

A boy and a girl burst out of a complete stranger's house with a load of cash. "Come on, come on, go, go, go!" Nicky Nichols yells at them. "I'm fucking holding the door open for you! The owner is almost here!" As her friends pass her quickly, she slams the door closed behind her and they race down the street. "You wanna hitchhike your way outta here?" Nicky asks. "There's someone selling good heroin on 125th Street. It's not too far."

"You're already high," Drew points out and Jade laughs.

"I meant that for you, assholes! Besides, a chick can't have too much heroin, right? There's no such thing."

"You're right, man," Drew says. They stand on a street corner under a dark blue sky and hide their money in their pockets and bags. They hold their thumbs up until a car stops by them.

"Please don't be Marka," Nicky mutters, mostly to herself.

It's a man who rolls down his window. "You kids need a ride someplace?"

"Yeah," Jade answers. "Uh...125th Street?"

"That's a bad area...are you sure?"

"Just let us in," Drew practically begs.

All of a sudden, police sirens wail loudly. Nicky's friends take off, leaving her in the dust. She tries to chase after them, but they're too fast. The cops don't even notice her, so she just turns around and gets into the backseat of the vehicle. "I need you to get me to the back alley on 125th Street, please."

"You in trouble, young lady?"

"Nah, I just can't drive, all right? I'm uh...meeting my mom," Nicky replies in a shaky voice. "She doesn't want to go home by herself after work."

"I see."

Nicky buckles her seatbelt as the man drives them down the traffic-filled street. She knows this is risky and she could get killed at any moment, but she doesn't see the point in living if she's homeless. She has no place to go.

"Stop here," Nicky directs him, and he does. She gets out and makes her way towards an African American woman who's smoking while collecting money from haggard-looking people like herself. She combs her fingers through her frizzy hair and hugs her sweater tighter around herself, as it's getting cold.

She hands her wad of cash to the woman, who gives her heroin in return. "Can I have a smoke, too?" she asks.

"Only if you tell me your name, you piece of white trash," the lady responds with a smirk stretched across her face. "You gotta be what, twelve?"

"You're about four years off, bitch," Nicky retorts. "I'm seventeen in April. I've been keeping track. Don't ask me how."

Some guy slaps her bottom and she rolls her eyes when he leaves. "Douchebag!"

"Are you some kind of a whore?" the woman asks rudely.

"Nope, I'm Nicky Nichols. How about you?"

"Vee Parker. Now sit down right over there and I'll give you the best weed I got."

"Thanks." Nicky kneels down into a corner of the brick walls surrounding them and pulls her knees to her chest. She takes the cigarette from Vee and puffs on it slowly. It's great until she starts coughing. "Is this fucking stale?"

Vee chuckles. "No, you just got too excited with it. Positive you haven't taken heroin already?"

"It doesn't matter. I need it all."

"Do you have someplace to sleep tonight?"

Nicky shakes her head. "Hell no."

"I run a very special business and if you join me, I could give you the life you deserve."

Nicky doesn't have much faith in people. Everyone turns on her, even her own family and best friends. It's why she's turned to drugs. "A warm shelter, food, and water is all I need, Ms. Parker."

"Alright, you've got the sad eyes. I'll take you to my house."

Nicky is pleased and grateful. Even though they haven't had the best start, this lady was friendly enough to take her in. Ms. Parker brings the blonde girl to her beat-up shack. There's already one African American boy and girl her age sitting at the kitchen table.

"Hey, babies, happy to see you for dinner! This is Nicky Nichols."

They wave at Nicky and shake her hand. "I'm RJ and this is my sister, Taystee. She works at Shake Shack."

"Hey, there!" Taystee says in a friendly voice.

Nicky smiles. "What are we having?"

"Patience, my dear," Ms. Parker chides her. "You need to all help me."

"Yes, ma'am," Nicky murmurs.

"What are you going to do for a job?" Ms. Parker asks.

"Nothing."

"Then you need to go to school."

"Are you fucking serious?"

"Watch your mouth!"

Nicky jumps at her tone. "Um...I just don't see how it could help me..."

"Ain't you enrolled?" Taystee wants to know.

"I dropped out. It was boring."

"Then you're gonna sell heroin outside of Martin Van Buren High to contribute to the rent, do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Make sure you don't get caught, though, because I'm not bailing you out of the youth center for being an idiot. You better be sneaky."

"I will. I promise. I'm really good at it."

"There's my Nicky girl," Ms. Parker says while patting the top of her head.

Well?