Disclaimer: All characters from Sons of Anarchy belong to Kurt Sutter and FX. I own nothing but the original characters and the plot.
Author Note: So this is my first attempt at a fanfic story. I have long been an avid reader, but never had the confidence to write anything. So here's my first try. Be gentle. This will primarily be a romance story between Jax and my OC, Pippa. It begins pre-show about 1 year or so after Tara left Charming to go to college in Chicago. In my story Tara will have graduated early, say November of her senior year and left immediately. Jax will have completely gone off the rails immediately after Tara left (no difference there) and dropped out of high school, but Gemma forces him to go back and get a diploma. Around that time is when this story begins. So Jax will be 19 with Pippa one year younger (18). The characters you know may be OOC, and if you take issue with that I am sorry but I'm writing this for my own enjoyment and to practice my creative writing skills.
Prologue
Driving along on the last stretch of highway before her turn-off Pippa reflected on the changes that came along with her father's new job, other than most likely seeing him even less often than before. She was not leaving much behind in Denver; she had lost touch with most of her friends after her mother died 4 years ago when she was 12. And the friends she had made in the last couple of years were not the type she was very proud of now that she straightened her act out. She was ashamed of the downward spiral that her mother's death led her to. She really doesn't blame her friends for distancing themselves from her, looking back she wouldn't have been friends with her either.
Lo was the only one who stuck through the last 2 ½ years with her through thick and thin, booze and drugs, sex and bail money. Lo had been loyally by Pippa's side through every tear, laugh, pull, drag, mistake, and memory since they met as the only girls in their little league soccer club when they were 7. Though, Pippa should really give a gold medal for being the friend of a lifetime and make her an IOU/coupon book for all the shit she waded through for me. Lo was the sister Pippa never had and she would miss her completely. It was Lo who literally slapped me out of my destructive tendencies once they started going too far for too long. Thank the Holy Ghost for Lauren Emerson!
This new town would be a new start where no one knew her as the sad little girl turned rebellious young woman who went buck wild without a mother to corral her and with a father who, without his wife, spent money on his daughter rather than spent time with her. Pippa always suspected that her daddy distanced himself from her because she reminded him too much of Mom. Those thoughts are what led her to bleach her hair from it's natural red to blonde in an attempt to ease Daddy's pain and in hope that he would look at her again; she didn't know if it helped with the former and it had no impact on the latter. But in the last 6 months Pippa had come to the realization that she was not responsible for her father's absence and that no kind of wild behavior was going to snap him back to the caring Daddy he had previously been.
She had spent the last half year growing up and soul searching, after Lo sobered her up, and had concluded that while she could still be hurt by her father's inattention she was no longer going to let it rule her emotions, thoughts, and life. She was going to embrace the good things and leave the bad behind her as much as possible. She'd read a quote soon after her father had dropped the electronic bomb that was the email informing her of his new job in Oakland. She'd immediately called Lo only to remember she was working after the call went to voicemail, so instead of reverting to her recently discarded vices she took refuge in her mother's books. Which within she found the quote that solidified all of the lifestyle changes she and Lo had been enforcing recently: "The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well." It had been the epiphany that she needed. Lo had to be related to Ralph Waldo Emerson, even though she repeatedly insisted she wasn't, because his words calmed Pippa almost as quickly as her's would have (Lo was the only person still living whose words impacted Pippa so deeply, hence Ralph's words substituted adequately because of the blood relation; it was the only explanation Pippa would accept!). She wasn't happy with the move, but she would roll with it and use it to continue improving her life and pushing herself towards the plans she made for herself. She wanted her life to make a difference to someone, even if it was only Lo, and for that difference to be good if not great. She was going to live and live well she reminded herself as she passed the Welcome to Charming sign, even if it was in a town with a population below 15,000.
AN: So that's the prologue for you. Obviously it's right as Pippa moves to town, so no Jax yet but it'll probably only be 1 or 2 chapters until we see him. Tell me what you think with a review even if all you say is, "Well it had letters that formed words that made sense!" Thank you for reading.