Chapter Two: Schools Out

Well we got no class
And we got no principals
And we got no innocence
We can't even think of a word that rhymes
~ Schools Out – Alice Cooper ~

A few hours later I was quite surprised to find I was enjoying the party. Clay had allowed me a couple of beers drank slowly, but at my age and size they'd definitely made me tipsy. Each one of the Sons had greeted me and so had many of the women around the club. I was passed around like a precious commodity and I was surprised to find that Gemma was right- I did feel loved. I knew that the party was tamer than usual because I was there, but I was glad for that for now. I'd take more in in small doses. Jax introduced me to his girlfriend, Wendy. She seemed sweet, but she had that slightly dosed out look of an addict. This made me rather uncomfortable, so I was glad when she and Jax disappeared off, though I'd much rather have spent more time with my brother.

Luckily, Chibs, the Scotsman who'd helped pick me up, seemed to take it upon himself to keep me company instead.

"How're ye doing, Little One?" His accent was definitely stronger thanks to the alcohol.

"Christ, not that question again," I joked. He laughed.

"Sorry. Let me rephrase- how's the party?" Chibs amended, slinging an arm around my shoulder.

"Good. Everybody's been really nice," I added truthfully. He nodded.

"They're under strict instructions. Ye seem like yer having fun though, lass. That's good." He looked at me a little closer than he had done before. In the background I could see a couple of croweaters eyeing him up. I bet their friendliness wouldn't last if they thought I was taking attention away from them too much. Chibs seemed to know what I was thinking. "Don't worry about them. Yer Clay's daughter- they'll learn to show ye some respect." It seemed absurd that they'd give a teenager any respect. I didn't say that though.

"It'll take a while to get used to," I admitted. It was easy to talk to Chibs.

"Aye. Charming is it's own little unique town. Own little unique set of people here too." Of course. His obvious foreignness couldn't have made adjusting all that easy. I looked at him. I wondered where and how he'd gotten his scars. He was quite good looking, even with them. As I was surveying him, with Chibs looking out at the party, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder that Chibs wasn't covering with his arm and I looked around. My eyes met blue.

"Come on, Chibby, don't hog the new girl," Tig teased. He was grinning at me playfully. One hand, covered in rings, was wrapped around the neck of a bottle of Jack Daniels. "Sorry, doll. I'm Tig," He added, "In case you forgot." How could I forget?

"Watch yerself, Tigger," Chibs warned, letting go of me, "Jax is only up on the roof."

"Not me you need to worry about." Tig glanced off towards the bar and Chibs and I both followed his gaze. Another one of the Sons, the one called Kyle, was looking towards me but he looked away when we caught him. His facial expression was… predatory. I recognised it.

"Dirty old man even likes his sweetbutts to look like high schoolers. Creep." I was kind of surprised to hear Chibs talk about one of his brothers like that but I was good at keeping my face neutral.

"Surprised his old lady didn't leave a long time ago," Tig added.

"Do you two always gossip like old women?" If I wasn't tipsy then this never would've come out of my mouth. Both men looked at me in shock but then Tig burst out laughing, almost doubling over.

"Shit, she's funny too! God. We gotta keep this one," He said, looking at me once he'd recovered a bit. I smiled, embarrassed and strangely speechless now that Tig was talking directly to me. "Don't worry, doll. We'll look after ya. And if we don't, Jax'll kill us all."

"God knows he will," Chibs agreed, taking a swig of his drink, "He's worse than Clay."


"Hey," Juice greeted me as I came through the doors of the clubhouse. I'd been in Charming almost a week now- today was my last grace day before I'd start at my new school, and Gemma had taken me along to TM for the day but I was pretty bored. Juice was a relatively new Prospect, but Jax had known him for a while. He was a little younger than the other Sons, and had a sweet face. He also had tribal tattoos etched onto his scalp, which I found pretty interesting. He was unpacking bottles of beer which'd evidently been delivered. I started to help by putting them in the fridge behind the bar. "You don't need to do that," He told me.

"I don't mind. I'm bored," I shrugged, continuing. Juice worked beside me for a while without saying much. He was pretty easy to be around- comfortable but not imposing.

"You start school tomorrow, right? I remember Jax saying." I was surprised that'd stick in his head, to be honest. I smiled at him.

"Yeah. Hey, did you go to school here? I mean, are you from Charming, or…?" Jax and Opie were not the best people to ask for opinions on the schooling here in Charming. Being who they were, they'd been delinquents who'd spent more time out of school than in it. Saying that, Jax was a bit of a bookworm and I knew he'd done pretty well in spite of this.

"Nah. I grew up in Queens. My high school was a shithole," He laughed. "You'll be okay. You're nice and pretty and smart..." He trailed off somewhat awkwardly. It was the first time I'd felt awkward at all around Juice.

"Thanks?" I said it like a question, trying to placate him even though I wasn't sure why. He grimaced.

"Sorry. Uh… Clay and Jax pretty much said if we said anything out of line they'd have all our balls." I was not in the least bit surprised to hear this. Both of them were overprotective of me, but especially Jax. Clay, for some reason, had more faith in my ability to take care of myself and be smart than Jax did.

"You said I was nice and pretty and smart," I pointed out, "It's not like real flirting or..." I didn't have the first idea how to flirt, anyway. I still couldn't get a sentence out around Tig.

"Yeah, I know. I just didn't want you to think..." He was so honest. I smiled.

"Don't worry, Juicy. You're okay." He smiled back.

"Thanks," It was his turn to say.


My locks had been chopped to a more manageable length just below my shoulders. For once in my life I was going to school not looking pasty and underfed- though still thin, I was already looking healthier. I looked like I'd actually gotten some sleep, and my mother's junkie reputation wasn't following me around like some ball and chain. The morning I was due to start school, I looked in the mirror and didn't hate what I saw. My brown eyes were bright, my hair was shiny, and I was free.

Gemma dropped me to school but I went in alone. It was only as I walked down the corridors a little uncertainly that I realised I had a whole other reputation attached. Charming was, after all, a small town- and I was Clay Morrow's daughter here. Whether that was better or worse than being the daughter of Ellen James, though, remained to be seen. I collected my timetable and managed to find my way to my first class, glad the school wasn't very big. It was an Algebra lesson. I was terrible at math, but the teacher was pretty nice. He sat me next to a boy with a mop of dark hair that slightly fell into his eyes. As we were set to task, the boy turned in his seat to me.

"Hey, you're Eliza, right?" He questioned.

"Yeah," I replied, trying not to act like I found it weird he already knew my name. Small town, small school, I reminded myself. "What's your name?"

"Michael," He replied, "Michael Quinn." He held out his hand and I shook it. "You any good with numbers?" He wanted to know. I shook my head.

"Not at all," I admitted, "I always sucked at this."

"It's cool. It's the one class I'm good in," Michael informed me with a smirk, "We'll make a good team." He was one of those confident-in-himself types. It was ridiculous coming from a teenage boy, in my opinion, but then all the men that I knew were tough as nails. They didn't need to put on an act whereas this boy- he did. Still, he was the first person I'd spoken to and he was friendly.

It turned out, throughout the day, that I shared most of my classes with him. But in the ones where his friends were in there too, I was left to my own devices. A few of the girls were nice, but most of them in my grade stayed away. I kept my head down and decided I was going to stay out of trouble. The day was nearly over, and hadn't gone too badly, when it happened.

"Hey, Eliza Morrow, isn't it?" A very pretty blonde girl and a short skirt came hurrying to catch up with me in the hallway as I was about to head on out the door.

"Yeah," I said, a little tiredly. The whole day had been a constant whir of new faces. I doubted I'd remember all the names any time soon.

"I'm Dana Peterson," She informed me, "I'm a senior."

"Oh," I responded, for lack of anything else to say.

"How was your first day? Did it go well? The whole school has been talking about you since we heard you were gonna come here," She informed me. I hoisted my bag onto my shoulder a little higher.

"I caught that vibe," I admitted. We'd gotten outside now and I kept walking towards the gates.

"Anyway. Your step-brother is waiting across the street to take you home. I just saw him." Clay and Gemma had told me I'd get picked up from school on my first day but it depended on who was free to do it. I would've been happy that it was Jax who was picking me up if it wasn't for this: "Do you think you could introduce me?"

"Why?" I said listlessly. Her silence had me looking around. She was staring at me in complete disbelief.

"Jax Teller, right?" She said, "I mean, he's hot. I thought since we're friends..."

"We're not friends," It slipped out a little more harshly than I'd intended, "I just mean- I met you five seconds ago."

"I always see him around town. I've always wanted to meet him." She couldn't have been more sickening to me if she had actual hearts springing out of her eye sockets. I stopped walking and so did she. I mean, don't get me wrong, Jax was good looking. He was as good as a blood brother to me so the idea made me want to puke, but I wasn't blind.

"Well…" I didn't know what to say to her. I didn't think Jax would appreciate me dragging up annoying high school girls though.

"Oh come on. I've grown up here, I've always known the MC from sight. You might not get it, but Jax is like, a hero." Her tone was getting clipped and unpleasant now, as if I needed the reminders that I was new here and an outsider.

"I just can't figure out why you think he'd be interested in meeting you," I retorted. Maybe my inner Gemma was coming out.

"All I'm asking is if I can say hi-" She began.

"Well, you can, but I'm not gonna help you."

"Look you don't have to be such a bitch-" I raised my eyebrows at her and dropped my bag by accident, but left it where it was, staring at Dana.

"You are in high school. Jax is a grown man, with a girlfriend too!" I pointed out, thinking of Wendy.

"That doesn't matter, or so I hear." I laughed humourlessly, pissed now.

"So you're just a little croweater in the making then. Nice." I picked up my bag and turned away with a shake of my head. Dana tutted and the next thing I knew she was grabbing my wrist, pulling me around.

"Bitch, you should apologise," She told me, her grip pinching painfully into my arm. She had those horrible fake nails about a foot long attached to her fingertips.

"Bitch, you should let the fuck go of me." She didn't let go. In fact, she held on even tighter.

"Or what?" She challenged. And the next thing I knew- and I didn't remember moving, or losing my temper, but I did- because the next thing I knew, pretty blonde mini croweater, Dana Peterson, was on her ass on the floor crying over a busted nose. As a crowd quickly gathered around us, I stared down at her in shock. I'd never done anything like that in my life.

One of the teachers who I didn't recognise but who'd obviously gotten wind of the commotion came running over, white in the face.
"Oh my god. Dana, are you okay?" He was helping her up, looking at me in fury. "You. Principals office. NOW!" I stared at him. Was he serious?

"No." I should've known my first day couldn't actually go smoothly.

"You have seriously assaulted a fellow student, Miss-?" I wasn't about to tell him my name, but somehow he miraculously had no idea who I was. He clearly didn't live in Charming.

"I don't care," I stared at Dana's tears, feeling nothing. Some of her friends were rushing over to help her, looking aghast at me as they led her towards the school building. The teacher was staring at me in complete shock. "She shouldn't have pretended to want to talk to me just so she could drool all over my brother." A gasp rippled around the other students who'd gathered to watch.

"Miss-"

"She shouldn't have touched me. Shouldn't have called me a bitch." My mouth seemed to be moving of it's own accord and I had no control over it, other than the rush of anger inside me.

"Your behaviour and conduct is entirely unacceptable Miss-" The teacher was spluttering. But there was an interruption and I saw the tides part for Mr Robinson, the Principal, who someone must've called.

"What happened here?" He asked, seeing that Dana was gone but blood was on the ground.

"This student here just assaulted a fellow student, sir! And she is refusing to accept respons-"

"Fuck this. I'm going." I picked my bag up. "I'm tired of this shit already. If anyone else only wants me to introduce them to my brother, do me a favour and stay the fuck out of my way from now on."

"Look, Miss Morrow," The Principal actually managed my name. I interrupted him too. In for a penny, in for a pound at this point.

"Eliza. My name is Eliza." I didn't want to just be labelled as Clay's daughter. I knew ultimately I always would be tied to the MC by reputation, but being addressed formally that way grated on my nerves. It furnished the idea that I was some kind of local celebrity or a useful link to a set of contacts that clueless people thought they wanted to have. I loved the MC, but the reality was different and I had no interest in mixing my two worlds together. I walked away. The teacher who'd tried to tell me off loudly exclaimed:

"Come back here young lady!" But then an amazing thing happened- the second lesson I'd learned about Charming in the past few minutes:

"Just leave her. The last thing we want is her parents coming up here..."

The second lesson was this: in Charming, my connection to the MC was my protection. Protection from danger, from consequences, and from drama if I wanted it to be that. There was no way any more silly bitches were going to mess with me after this. But the first lesson was what proved Charming to be a double-edged sword: my connection to the MC was also my exposure. Outsiders were dicey and I needed to be wary of that, for as long as I was in town. But as I strolled towards Jax, my hand still tingling from breaking Dana Peterson's nose, I actually felt pretty happy- I had a feeling I wouldn't be in a hurry to leave this town any time soon.


A/N: So Eliza made her presence known in Charming pretty early! Thanks for those who favourited.