A/N: In amends of me abruptly and sloppily ending 'Lesson's Learned' I stayed up super late writing this while I still had a plan for the first chapter in my head. (I was also up with this really horrid cough that prevented me from getting any kind of sleep. Yeah guys, I'm still sick.) Anyway, this story is a different kind of AU, but I hope that you all will enjoy it. I think it'll be a fun write/read.
Disclaimer: I don't own any unoriginal Law and Order character in this story. All the original characters, I do claim.
"Daddy, you cannot be serious about this!"
Alex glares deathly at her father, disagreeing completely with what he has just told her. There is just no way this can be happening to her.
Robert Cabot sighs and leans back in his chair. "Honey, I think its time that we expand your horizons. Don't you think this would be a good learning experience for you? Your mother already thinks so."
Alex folds her arms tightly and once again continues to glare burning holes into her father.
"But Daddy, its public school! What if I get kidnapped, or bullied, or infected with some deadly disease that they haven't found a cure for yet because it's been only known to grow in the infectious realms of publicized schools?! You can't do this to me!" she shouts once again.
Robert sighs and rests his elbows on his desk. Usually he is a very busy man, especially with what he does, he wouldn't have time for such an argument. But he finds, despite his job, he always has time for his little girl…even if she is being overly difficult.
"Alex sweetie, your mother and I think that this would be a wonderful experience for you. It would give you a chance to make new friends, to get out more. Don't you get bored just being here all day, everyday? We just want what's best for you and we believe that this will be what you need."
Alex scoffs and folds her arms as she realizes that she's losing the argument with her father. She knows that once he and her mother make up their minds, there is absolutely going to be no turning back.
"…do I have to Daddy?" she pouts, making one last ditch effort to change his mind.
Robert smiles, showing off his perfectly whitened teeth. He shakes his head at how his daughter is trying to use her charm to get him to change his mind. Unfortunately, it's a tactic she's used so often, he's kind of become immune to it.
"Yes Alexandra, you have to. I honestly do not think that it will be as bad as you are making it out to be. Who knows, maybe you will meet some amazing new people and have some amazing new friends. I'm sure you'll enjoy it once you get used to it." he says nicely.
Alex rolls her eyes and averts her eyes to another corner of the room. She cannot believe that her father is doing something like this, and for what reason, she will never be able to understand.
Honestly, and for her mother to agree to it! She just can't come to any conclusion on why her parents all of a sudden hate her and want to punish her by doing such a thing like send her to a public school with…other kids.
"Fine…but only because you said that I have to, and sitting her continuing to argue with you would be completely pointless. But I hope you don't expect me to be happy about this, because I most definitely won't be." She says spitefully.
Robert sighs and stands up from his chair, walking around his desk to where Alex is standing. He places his hands on her shoulders and looks down at her, feeling her anger just radiating off in waves.
"You'll be fine Alex, I promise. There will be men all over the school watching you, and making sure that nothing will happen. You'll be fine sweetheart."
Alex sighs before she gives in and wraps her arms around her father. She knows that he would never do something that would put her in any kind of danger, but that still doesn't mean that she has to be in favor of his decision making.
"I love you Daddy…even if you do make me angry sometimes." She says tightly holding on to him.
"I love you too sweetheart. And don't you ever forget, no matter what this job requires, I will always have time for you." he responds, kissing the teen on the forehead. Alex gives her dad one last smile before she exits his office, heading back to her room. She still is upset about her parents' decision to send her to a public school, but she knows that there isn't anything at all that she can do about it.
Alex has been pretty much sheltered her entire life, but with her father now being the most powerful man in the entire country, her upbringing kind of makes a whole lot of sense.
While Robert was a senator for the longest of times, Alex was always shielded by her mother from the possible dangers of the outside world by making sure she was home schooled, and keeping her as far away from corruption as possible.
But now, as she is now sixteen, and her father has been elected President of The United States, everything changes completely for her.
Her parents suddenly felt the need to expose her to the rest of the world and put her out there to quote unquote 'interact' with other kids her age; their words, not hers.
If Alex were to have it her way, she would definitely not be attending any kind of public school. Hell, she isn't sure that she would attend a private school. She just doesn't like the idea of coming into contact with other kids.
All in all, she still does love her parents deeply, even if she does feel like their logic is flawed. She would be lying to herself if she thought that they never wanted what was best for her. She just hopes that the decision isn't as bad as it's appearing to be.
A Week Later
Alex stares at the school begrudgingly, as she begins to regret letting her parents do something like this to her.
"You sure that you want me to do this…" she mumbles, glancing at her mother as she doesn't want to remove herself from the limousine.
Laura Cabot smiles at her daughter, sensing the teen's resentment for wanting to put her in public surroundings.
"Alex, we've already discussed that it will be a good experience for you. You'll like it, I promise." She says sweetly.
Alex rolls her eyes and kisses her mother on the cheek before she mumbles a quick 'love you' and exits the vehicle.
As soon as she steps outside of the vehicle, she is joined by a woman in a dark suit, sunglasses, an ear piece, and no down a gun hidden somewhere on her.
"You know, you really don't have to be here. I'm sure that it's less interesting for you as it is for me." Alex mutters as they begin making their way towards the school.
Secret Service Agent Eliza Castor lifts her sunglasses and gives Alex a 'really' look. "Alex it's my job to protect the president, and right now, it is my job to protect the president's daughter. You know this."
Alex sighs and shakes her head. "I know Liza…I just feel awkward with all of you guys watching me all day."
Liza shrugs and glances at their surroundings before she opens the door for Alex to enter the school.
"You won't even know we're here. I'll be like…invisible." She jokes, following the teen as she makes her way through the unknown halls of the school.
"Right. Well, if I order you to shoot someone will you?"
"…it doesn't work that way Ali, sorry."
Alex clicks her tongue in defeat. "Darn, I was hoping it did." She mumbles indignantly as they come upon what looks like the main office.
As soon as she steps inside, the secretaries all look up from what they were previously doing. They all seem to take in the intimidating looking woman who seems to be analyzing them all with in a matter of seconds, until their eyes fall on the president's daughter.
"You must be Alex." One of the ladies says as she begins rummaging for something on her desk.
Alex rolls her eyes and makes a face. 'Well duh, I'm the daughter of the President, who DOESN'T know who I am…' she thinks to herself.
The secretary produces a paper and holds it out for Alex to take. Liza quickly takes the paper and reads over it quickly before she hands it to the young blonde.
"Um….we are so glad that you'll be attending school here. I'm sure you are well aware of all of your security details." The woman says, becoming nervous under the steely gaze of the secret service agent.
"Thank you ma'am, and yes I'm well aware." Alex replies as she begins reading over her schedule.
"Right…well now that all of that is settled, I can show you to your first class." The woman says as she walks around the desk to lead the teen and the agent to Alex's first class.
"I'm sure that you will really enjoy going to school here. It really shouldn't take you long to fit in well. You're first class is AP U.S. History, after that, I'm sure that you'll have no troubles finding your way around. I'm Ms.…"
"Charlotte Banks. Secretary for this school for ten years." Liza cuts in, knowing everything about anything pertaining to the school staff.
Ms. Banks pauses and nods her head in confirmation, still feeling extremely intimidated by the agent. Alex snickers quietly at the exchange.
"As I was saying, I'm Ms. Banks, and I'm always in the front office, if you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to let me know." she says again as she steps into a room with Alex and Eliza trailing not to far behind.
As soon as she steps into the room, Alex can feel everyone's eyes on her. She isn't sure if it's because they know who she is, or if they just look at everyone like that.
Ms. Banks whispers something to the teacher, who quickly nods her head as she looks over Alex's schedule herself. In the meantime, Liza is taking the time to make sure that she makes eyes contact with every student in the room, strictly so she can remember their faces.
"I'll just be right out side." She whispers quietly into Alex's ear as she and Ms. Banks make their exit.
The teacher, an woman who looks to be in her mid to late forties clears her throat awkwardly. "So…um….do you wish do be called Alexandra or do you prefer…"
"Just Alex is fine…" Alex responds, loathing the unnecessary use of her full name.
"Oh okay, well, Alex, I am Ms. Ford and this here is U.S. History, but I'm sure that you are very well of that. If you would like, you can take a seat right there next to Serena." Ms. Ford says pointing to an empty desk next to an antsy looking blonde girl.
Alex internally groans and makes her way over to her new seat. She takes a seat in the desk, and tries to ignore the occasional glances that she's getting from other people.
"Hi." The girl next to her says excitedly as she beams at her brightly.
Alex blinks several times before she turns to the girl and forces a smile. "Hello…" she responds.
"I'm Serena. You must be new here seeing as I've never really seen you around here before. We really don't get a whole lot of new people all that often." The girl rambles on.
Alex nods her head, forced smile still in place. "Yeah well…I'm Alex…"
"That's a nice name. I can show you around if you want, so you don't get lost. Was that lady in the suit your mom?"
"No she wasn't she's…just a friend. And I think I'll find my way around just fine."
"Oh nonsense. Here let me see your schedule." Serena says, taking Alex's schedule from her hands with out asking for it.
Alex frowns and shifts uncomfortably in her desk. Honestly, why can't this girl take the hint that she really doesn't want to talk to her? She's been more than polite about it, hasn't she?
"Oh cool, you have Physics next! I have that too, oh my god you're going to love it, it's so much fun. I can show you how to get there when we leave from here. Maybe we'll even get to be lab partners!" Serena squeals excitedly.
Alex takes her schedule back and smiles awkwardly once again. "Yeah that'd be…great…"
The class seems to sit in a complete silence before the teacher finishes typing something on her computer and stands up to begin teaching in front of the class.
"Okay class, who can tell me what Revolutionary War battle led to the 'Great Runaway'?" Ms. Ford asks expectantly.
None of the students respond to the question, and the room once again falls into the heavy silence of a dismissive boredom.
Alex glances around the room before she slowly raises her hand to answer the question. Ms. Ford blinks for a moment as she realizes that for once someone is going to answer a question in her class.
"Oh…yes Alex?" she asks, slightly excited to hear an answer from someone.
"Um…well, the 'Great Runaway' came from the Battle of Wyoming, and the Wyoming Massacre. On July 3, 1778 an America militia had a standoff with an invading British army that greatly out numbered them in the Wyoming Valley. This resulted in the American's retreating from the battle to avoid the onslaught of the British soldiers. The invaders destroyed many homes and killed many citizens within the Valley as well as crops, and cattle. The news of the massacre spread quickly along the rive and settles in the Wyoming Valley began to flee in panic from the invasion of the British soldiers, thus gaining it's name 'The Great Runaway'…"
Ms. Ford stares at Alex in complete and utter shock, and her mouth actually opens and closes several times because she has absolutely no idea of what to do, while Serena stares at Alex as if she had just been the one to figure out the cure for the common cold.
"U-um…that's right…" Ms. Ford mumbles, still in shock from usually only receiving blank uninterested stares from her students.
Alex shrugs her shoulders and begins absentmindedly doodling on her notepad. It was an easy question that she could have answered in her sleep, she just hopes that there aren't any more that are going to be just like it, making the period drag on even more.
Unfortunately, her wishes don't come true and the time left in the class period seemed to have been ticking by even slower by the second. In fact, Alex is overly thankful when the bell finally rings, that is, until Serena is literally dragging her out of the classroom.
"Oh my god Alex, you're going to love it here. So, did your parents move here for work or something, or did you just transfer schools?" the other girl asks as they weave their way through the halls filled with students.
Alex blinks and gives Serena a look of disbelief. This girl really does have absolutely no idea of who she is. She supposes that could probably make sense seeing as not everyone follows the world of politics.
Out of the corner of her eye she sees Eliza hanging back keeping a safe enough distance away from them as she follows them to her next class, and she swears that she passes at least three more agents on the way there. It isn't until then that she realizes that she hasn't answered Serena's question.
"Um….no, actually I just…transferred her. I used to be home schooled but my parents wanted me to get this whole, public school experience." She mumbles as Serena drags her into a classroom.
"Oh, well that's cool. It must be different from your whole home school experiences then huh?" Serena inquires as she takes her seat on a stool at one of the lab stations. "Here, you can sit next to me. Dr. Munch really won't mind if you sit here; I've just been dying for someone to sit next to me. I get lonely sometimes when I don't have anyone to talk to.
'Well obviously, because you seem to never stop talking.' Alex thinks to herself as she sits on the stool next to Serena.
Fortunately, there is a substitute teacher for the day and Alex doesn't have to worry about Eliza scaring the shit out of another teacher. But this unfortunately means that the students are goofing off instead of doing the assigned packet the teacher left for them. The assigned packet that Alex is able to finish in less than ten minutes.
"Why you're really good at everything aren't you?" Serena says noticing how Alex has completed the science packet.
Alex shrugs nonchalantly as she begins checking over her work making sure that she has done every formula correctly. She looks up and rolls her eyes as she sees two brunettes in the front of the classroom, trying to see how many sharpened pencils they can get stuck to the ceiling panels.
"See her over there?" Serena says as she leans in closer to Alex, pointing to the brunette with long, wavy dark haired that's pulled into a ponytail. "That's Abbie Carmichael; she's the captain of the varsity girls soccer team. I also think she is like, super hot."
Alex frowns and looks away from her packet giving Serena a look of confusion. "She looks like an idiot…" she states as she looks back to see Abbie and her friend still laughing at how they're sticking pencils to the ceiling, trying to spell some profane word.
"She's actually pretty smart, she has to be for soccer and all. My friend Kim told me that Abbie wants to ask me out, but I don't believe her. Not that I'd be complaining if it happened though." Serena says day dreamily.
Alex watches as Abbie turns around and winks at Serena who is waving back at her like a hypnotized moron. It's actually something that Alex finds pretty funny.
"Anyway, that's Abbie, and the girl next to her is Olivia Benson. She's on the basketball team." Serena informs, as she begins going through the entire class telling Alex something that she should probably need to know.
Alex listens intently because she literally has nothing better to do for the next half hour. She glances around the room as Serena's talking, and she spots a red haired girl with glasses sitting in the far back corner of the room, with her nose buried in a thick book that looks at least a good few hundred pages.
"Who is that?" she asks curiously. She isn't sure why she's interested in knowing who the girl is, she just felt the need to ask seeing as she's heard about everyone else in the room.
"Oh." Serena says blandly as her eyes fall on who Alex is referring to; the girl with the book. "That's Casey Novak. She doesn't really say much. Now that I think about it, I think I've heard her speak a total of four words since freshman year. She just kinda keeps to herself, reads all the time, stuff like that, so I don't really know anything about her."
Alex hums and turns back towards the front of the class where she now sees Abbie and Olivia messing around with something in some test tubes. If the room explodes, at least she'll know who to blame.
After the terribly long physics period, Alex and Serena part ways because of the differences in their schedules, but much to Alex's slight dismay, Serena vows to find her for lunch so they can talk more.
She makes her way through the halls once more, with Liza once again following not to far behind her, making sure she is navigating through the halls easily with out any issues or disturbances.
Alex is about mid way to her next class when she spots that Casey girl walking the opposite direction on the other side of the wall. She watches as someone bumps into the redhead causing her to drop all of her books and passing students succeed in scrambling them, kicking them to various parts of the hall.
She pauses briefly as she watches the girl on her hands and knees picking up her books and papers, trying to avoiding the onslaught of students in the hall.
Alex glances back at Liza who seems to have paused to keep the distance between them acceptable, and she decides to begin walking again, not wanting to be late for her next class. Maybe she'll find more out about the mystery girl later.
Hope you guys enjoyed the start to this one. Leave a review?