2. Sometimes you just have to be brave.

AN: Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, followed & favourited. I love you all :)

I present you with more.

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Exactly two weeks had gone by since Piper saw Alex again.

The food hall was once again bustling with students, the cacophony of laughter and buzzed conversation punctuating the air. Piper was sat beside Jessica, at their usual spot at the 'populars' table. Jessica was excitedly reeling off a minute by minute account to the group of the supposed amazing spa date she had gone to with - who Piper now understood was Jessica's on and off boyfriend; Lyle Thomson, a college drop out who was at least six years older than her and apparently showered her with gifts and drove her around on his motorcycle at the weekends.

Lyle had a criminal record as long as their table and rumour had it was recently acquitted over home invasion charges. Apparently rich daddies had a penchant for paying off prosecutors and police whenever their darling children had been 'forced' into crime, that was the argument each time anyway. Piper didn't mention that Jessica and Lyle's relationship was technically illegal since she was underage but that was none of her business.

Piper was too distracted, not really listening, although nodding at the appropriate places in conversation. Her eye kept wandering over to Alex, following her movements ever since she first spotted her - which wasn't creepy at all. She watched Alex shuffling along the queue again, this time she was sporting a massive pair of headphones, silently bobbing her head to whatever was blaring through the earpieces. They must have originally been black but a collection of various sized stickers covered most of the surface. Piper wondered what she was listening to, no doubt either the XX or some similar sounding band.

"Are you even listening to me, Piper?"

Piper quickly turned her head, met by Jessica's disgruntled stare, feeling as though she'd been caught with her hands halfway down a cookie jar, "No, course I am." She sheepishly said.

Jessica seemed to accept the answer and was about to dive back into her stories, but her eyes suddenly brightened, her expression moulding into one of glee. Piper knew that look and a wave of unease had already began settling deep in her stomach.

Jimmy Highton swaggered in flanked by what must be his football practice buddies, two equally massive guys with model worthy girls perched at their sides, whose obvious sole purpose was to be paraded like prizes won at a fair. Judging by their blank faced appearances that had probably never seen the inside of a book- at least not voluntarily, and the dead eyed gazes lazily regarding the scene, it must have been a pretty cheapish fair.

They approached Alex who hadn't heard them enter, still engrossed in her music. Jimmy tapped on her shoulder, all theatrical and and exaggerated. Piper watched her turn around, oblivious to the various eyes on her. Piper could feel that familiar self-loathing making its way up, barely able to watch the unfolding spectacle.

This time when the tray hit the floor it also smashed in half. Food once again littering the floor where it left a scattered mess of squished donut and splashed juice. "Boom! And foodo-disappearo! It's like fucking magic!" Jimmy's insufferable voice rang out, looking mightily triumphant with himself.

It was all Alex could do but to bend over and start picking up the mess off the floor, ignoring the ensuing victorious cheers from the trio towering over her.

"Whaddya listening to?" One of the jocks asked as he casually yanked the headphones off Alex's head, nearly choking her with the dangling cord. "Hey guys!" He turns to Piper's table. "What do freaks listen to these days?"

"Give it back, you fucker." Piper heard her hiss menacingly.

"Hey everyone, she speaks!"

"I said, give it back you fucking asshole."

"Quite a mouth on you, haven't you?" one of them said, dangling the headphones just out Alex's reach.

Jessica stood up from her seat and walked toward a kneeling Alex with all the sense of purpose of someone who knew the spotlight was shining on them, and held the attention of pretty much everyone in the food hall. "Just like her mother...grafting leftover food from her diner customers and taking it home with her for her poor little daughter to feed on." Jessica looked down at Alex whose body looked to be shaking with an internal anger, that was at the brink of breaking out. "What does four day old burger taste like? I'm dying to know."

Without waiting for an answer, Jessica walks on but not before stamping on the still intact orange Alex had just placed back onto the tray. "Let's go, Piper." Jessica nudged her, sporting that sickly smug smile that was perpetually present.

Red hot anger, like a volcano welled up Piper's insides, a lava of fury broke out from her. The bark of her voice, even surprised her, "Get the fuck away from her."

Piper was only distantly conscious of what she was walking into and the consequences that would lie before her but right now that was overshadowed by a hate burning her up. Piper's second voice, the one that governed everything in her life, the one that told her to only colour between the lines, to never stray outside of them. The one that her parents had ingrained to her, the one that told her to fulfil people's expectations at the expense of her own happiness. That second voice was pushing her to stop, to not get involved. But this. This was an eruption that could not be stopped, no rewind button, no water to dampen it with. Piper's every word was clipped, slamming into the air. "Get the fuck off her and find something else to occupy your pea-sized brain with."

"What did you say?" Jessica spat who seemed to have finally recovered from the initial dumbfounded shock.

"Are you deaf as well as stupid?"

Jessica, her step brother and everyone else really, just stared in open mouthed disbelief, it was as if their brains had jammed, couldn't turn fast enough to take in the information from their wide eyes. These people clearly had never been defied and it was as much of a new experience for them as it was for Piper.

Alex's eyes, large behind her glasses, lasered into Piper's. There was something solemn saturating them, their deep green held an admiration that made Piper momentarily forget where she was. For a full minute they both stood there, staring at each other.

"Piper...don't."

It was the first time, Piper heard Alex say her name.

"Just go...honestly it's not worth it."

Instead Piper knelt beside her, ignoring the countless eyes on her, and picked up the last of the food remnants off the floor. She tilted her head up, her gaze sliding over Alex's, their faces so close to each other, they were breathing in the same patch of air.

Alex had a sort of disarmingly understated beauty, all florid cheeks and awed eyes, tendrils of dark hair falling over her eyes. Piper felt herself falling into a heady trance, Alex was a blend of sweet charm she just couldn't get enough of.

Not entirely sure if it was of her own accord, Piper placed her hand over Alex's, "I've got homemade pizza." She said into her ear. "School dinners are overrated anyway."

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It was the nearing the end of the week. Alex was sat in her social science class. She hadn't seen Piper for pretty much the whole week, their classes not clashing with one another so that the only form of communication were silent nods and curved smiles.

The class had been tasked with some painfully politically-correct task on writing about feelings and their weak points and how they would cross the streets at the traffic lights and obviously never ever jaywalk. It was just more bullshit government sponsored propaganda, and having to read from an equally standard government issued manual that was full to the brim with bureaucratic nonsense was the final nail in the coffin for Alex - who had all but given up on the fruitless lesson and instead busied herself with finishing off the sketch of Romy from the XX.

Suddenly the thick silence was shattered by a voice bellowing through the PA system; "Alex Vause, Alex Vause to Ms Durant's office!"

Alex slowly dropped her pen onto the desk, shoving the sketch into her jean pocket, her long weary sigh half-drowned out by the dramatic ooh's that rang around her.

She caught Jessica's self-satisfied face from the corner of her eye. It struck Alex how unattractive the action was and it set her teeth on edge even more than usual. No longer able to bear the visual she turned her back, not turning around until she heard left the room, silently cursing the brunette all the way to the principal's office.

A few minutes later Alex sauntered into the principal waiting room, where a few nervous looking kids were already sat waiting. Alex nodded to all them in a kind of silent camaraderie - kids in trouble always bonded together, all sharing the same common goal of avoiding harsh repercussions for their troubles. That Alex had learned from the many detentions she had been sentenced to throughout her high-school career. She recognised one of the guys sat in the far corner rubbing his hand together over and over, it was Jason: a baby-faced freshman who always sported dark dishevelled hair and had a weird tendency to burst into fitful laughter for no apparent reason.

"Hey Jase, how are you?"

"Al man, I totally got caught smoking a few joints before class."

"Fuck, that sucks."

"Tell me about it." He brushed a lap of hair behind his ear, "Dude, I gotta tell them that shit relaxes me...it really helps me concentrate in Fernandez's Spanish class. No racist man, but the dude's accent is so fucking hard to understand."

Alex chuckled, "You can cite medical reasons or something?"

"You think that'll work?" His eyes turning into saucers as though Alex had just given him the solution to global poverty, "I don't know, Jase, but it's worth a try."

"Hmmm, thanks man." They shared an awkward fist bump before he continued, "What's your charge?"

"I actually don't know. One way to find out, I guess." Alex murmured as another wave of anger directed at Wedge roiled through her.

"Alex Vause!" The burly secretary shrieked out, waving Alex through towards the principal's office without looking up from her computer.

"And hi to you too, Sarah." Alex grinned as she walked past.

"It's Miss Holden to you." She spat and hissed, "The day you're excluded from this school couldn't come any sooner."

Alex simply laughed, knocking onto the door and without waiting stepped in.

"I never asked why your office is situated right at the back of the school." Alex smirked as she sat down opposite the principal, Ms Durant. She was a woman in her mid-forties, with a soft, candid face, a full mouth, and steely grey eyes. She always wore her blouses tucked underneath a figure-hugging pencil skirt and always accessorised with a massive piece of jewellery - and today was no exception. Alex continued, "Is it to make sure nobody spots the depressives and delinquents coming in and out through your door?"

The principal frowns at the flippant nature of the question "Are you a member of one those groups you're referring to, Alex?"

"I don't know, what do you think?" She threw back.

Durant opens her mouth to say something but clearly thinks against it and closes it again. A silent moment slides between them as Alex patiently waits for the her to say something. Meanwhile, Alex takes the opportunity to survey the surroundings. The room was small and modestly furnished. The large oak desk the main piece of furniture dominating the space. Alex could practically see the level of effort that had gone into making the room appear calm and inviting. From the mixture of fake and real flowers resting on the desk, the off-beige colouring of the surrounding walls to the oversized lava lamp changing colours every few seconds. There was an off-brightness to the room that would discourage anyone from ever confessing their thoughts. Alex could count on her fingers how many times she had frequented this office and really it was actually beginning to feel like her second home, and by count on her fingers, she really meant square rooting any given number of fingers.

"Do you know why you are here?"

"Isn't that your job to know?"

"I mean I can only help you if you help me as well. I'll just lay it clear now, so that we're on the same wavelength because what I'm about to say is quite serious and has serious implications on the future you hold here."

Alex looked up. Her voice tight and curt, all humour dissipating from her tone "What do you mean?"

"It's been brought to my attention that you were involved in a forced sexual assault on one of our students several days ago."

The shock was like a vise crushing her chest. The sentence structured itself in her head, slowly taking on meaning. Alex near enough jumped out her seat, it was so abrupt her chair toppled backwards "Sexual assault? That has nothing to do with me."

Durant just stared at her, and Alex couldn't help but see the accusation flashing in her eyes. "Alex, please sit down."

Alex didn't like that look. That look - as if she was being scrupulously examined under a microscope and being stripped down – layer by layer. She uncomfortably shifted in her seat before quickly sitting up straight, angry at the principal's pre-set judgment. Wasn't she as a principal supposed to be free of that judgy shit and be totally impartial? Granted, Alex's track record didn't exactly strike precedence to be given the benefit of the doubt at any given occasion, but this went far beyond simple high-school shenanigans and into serious police involving stuff.

Alex pushed her glasses up into her hair and leant forwards, "If this is about Jessica Wedge, than she's telling you a pack lies, that bitch has had it in for me since day one."

Durant nods slowly, "She reports that you grabbed her front and forced yourself onto her."

"That's not true! Do I look like someone who forces themselves onto people?" She retorted, "And she's not even my type!"

"It's your word against hers."

"Well my words should take priority in this instance since I'm the one being accused of bullshit I didn't do plus you can ask her stupid little chums to corroborate my version of events."

"And what exactly did happen?"

Alex glowered, "You've already made your mind up." Before humourlessly adding, "I thought it was supposed to be innocent until proven guilty and not the other way round?"

"Why would anyone make something so serious up?" The principal asked.

Alex frowned her brows together, clenching her teeth. "Because they're Jessica Wedge and they have no concept of what it means to be a decent human being."

"And how do you feel about that?"

Alex let her anger spark at the ridiculously forced question. How did she feel about it? She almost wanted to burst out into pained laughter at how textbook and clichéd the questions were.

"How do I feel about it?" She echoed back.

A loud bang cut through the room. It was only when a sharp pain radiated through her hand did Alex realise the sound was her fist connecting with the surface of the desk. The action took them both by surprise. She avoided the principal's gaze and continued, "It's pretty fucking obvious isn't it?" She mirthlessly laughed, "It's pretty clear how any normal person would feel when they are systematically humiliated and tormented and just the general pincushion for everyone to use." The words felt like acid leaking out of her mouth – polluting the air between them, but she couldn't stop. The lock had been destroyed and it unleashed with it a torrent of bad that had been rotting inside her. "For starters you can address the fucking homophobia in this place. I can't imagine what it'll do the reputation of this already crap school when shit like that gets out."

Alex paused; knowing the lasting impact the words would have as she felt a pent-up anger rattle her insides. She leant back in her chair, her whole body so electric with rage, the air around her seemed to crackle. "I know you and the piss poor management ignore everything that little bitch does...just because Papa Wedge pays for your salary doesn't mean you can be slacking at your pastoral duties."

Durant seemed to take this in, nodding more to herself than to Alex, "Very well, you set for a very convincing detailed account for a lot of things and I'm inclined to believe you...but that's not to say I won't be fully investigating this."

"It's convincing because it's the goddamn truth and while you're investigating...can you investigate her brainless stepbrother as well. You might miraculously find all that money that went missing from the admin a while back."

"Jimmy Highton?"

"Are there any more brainless stepbrothers she has that I don't know about?"

"Don't push your luck."

"Anyway." She pushed her chair back, intent on leaving. "Are we done here now?"

"No, we're not." The principal paused, sighing, "How are your parents?"

The plurality of the word 'parents' stung Alex unexpectedly more than the sudden turn in conversation. She only ever had one parent. "What about them?"

"What was it like growing up?"

Alex did not like where the conversation was heading. "What has this got to with anything?"

"Am I not allowed to get know to my students?"

"If you're trying to find some dark hidden past from me that had the potential to turn me into a present day sexual predator - you won't find fuck all."

Ignoring the profanities, Durant just repeated, "Just answer the question."

"Just the standard childhood shit." Alex answered in a bright voice that was as false as the flowers resting on the desk. Except for the roses. Those were real. All of a sudden all she could think was how much her mom would fucking loves roses. She should really buy her some when she got home today.

"Describe your relationship with your parents."

"My parents..." Alex began, before bitterly correcting herself, "Parent. My relationship with my parent is good." She listlessly answered. "My other parent... father is dead."

The title of 'father' was more than Lee Burley would ever be, his mere association with the word somehow diminished its value. Although the answer wasn't strictly true - Alex allowed herself the technicality since Burley might as well be dead for all the difference it made to her life. Dead seemed much more glamorous and respectable than outdated, drug-addled "rockstar" who abandoned his family in search of fame. He'd even failed at that, and instead had become best of friends with drugs and alcohol. How disgustingly dated.

Alex could see Durant hesitating, so obviously thrown off by the answer. For a conceited moment, it made Alex feel like she was back in control of the conversation.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"It's fine." Alex shrugged her shoulders just as her mind's eye conjured up the photo she had always kept of her mom in her pocket.. It had been an unexpected gem of a photo that somehow managed to capture the concept of happy spontaneity: all goofy smiles and crinkled brows that had defined the word 'laughter'. She fixed her gaze on the window over Durant's shoulder just as as she harshly pressed her lips together.

The principal seemed to sense the change in atmosphere and mercilessly dropped that line of conversation, "Brothers and sisters?"

"Only child."

"How was that growing up?"

"Fine."

"Did you ever wish for siblings?"

"Not, particularly no."

Alex's answers were becoming more and more blunt.

"You never felt lonely?"

Alex falters.

The question fell on her like deadweight. Suddenly she was thrown to a scene of her twelve year old self desperately trying not to cry when her mom had asked her how many of her friends were coming to her birthday party. Diane had been so excited in the few weeks running up to the big fucking day. Alex had hated every single second of it. She didn't even want a birthday party. The false pretence of being equally excited and emptily nodding along to stinging remarks like; 'Are you excited?' 'Can't wait to meet those friends of yours' 'you'll have an awesome time' had been exhausting to say the least.

Her head had threatened to burst at the mounting pressure of bitterness – worsening every time her mom obliviously mentioned 'friends' or even worse, prospective 'boyfriends'. How could she tell her mom that she had none? That the fact she wore two striped shoes rather than three was laughed at. That sewing mismatched strips of cloth over holes in her clothes made her the target of that callous cruelty children possessed. No one wanted to be associated with the class misfit. The one weird kid whose mom wore the local diner's uniform more than she wore her normal clothes, and drove the circa 1980s car with the different coloured doors. She hated them. Alex hated them even more for making her embarrassed of her mom.

How could she tell Diane that she had no fucking friends because they were poor. Unless she counted Miss Foster who used to teach English in middle school– she had been nice.

Years and years spent in school and the only 'friend' she had was the teacher. If that wasn't the definition of loser, Alex didn't know what was.

Alex had pointedly ignored the niceties were partly due the English teacher taking pity on her. The awkward conversations that no - her mom was not coming to the parent-teacher conferences because she was working her third job that evening, and no she couldn't buy a new set of glasses on whim, one day during seventh grade after some asshole kid had snatched it off her face and stamped them into smithereens.

Or the feeble excuses when permission slips for school-organised trips were due. (She didn't even bother telling her mom about impending school trips - it spared them the tense conversations over their lack of money.)

It was fucking sad and pathetic. If there ever had been a first prize for who most represented the poster-child of the failed American Dream, Alex would have won a thousand times over.

"No I never felt lonely." Alex eventually answered, the insincerity of the words ringing loud in her ears.

Unaware of Alex's growing disquiet, Durant continued, "It has been stated that children who are an only-child make up for the lack of siblings by widening their circle of friends."

Alex cut the woman in two with a look of incredulity - that familiar resentment bubbling just beneath the surface. For a wild second she convinced herself the principal was antagonising her, trying to extract a response from her with what seemed like some reverse psychology bullshit. That she had somehow read a part of her file mentioning the largely solitary childhood she had lead.

Alex shot her a darkening glare, eyes narrowing with silent warning but the principal whose expression betrayed nothing but genuine sincerity appeared completely oblivious - those grey eyes rimmed with honest concern.

"I guess." Alex answered, trying hard at appearing nonchalant

She slowly nodded, "How has your school-work been? You keeping up?"

Alex exhaled a long held breath, embarrassingly glad they had moved back to more neutral grounds and away from the unchartered territory of 'parents' and 'family'.

"Fine."

Alex neglected to mention school was becoming more and more like trying to dig her hands into solid concrete but she didn't have to know that.

"You making any friends yet?"

Alex all of sudden felt herself relax back into the chair, distantly sure her expression had taken on a dreamy quality. Inadvertently, the image of a smiling Piper materialised in front of her, her form so startlingly real it took all of Alex not to raise an arm and gently stroke those soft, soft cheeks. She could feel her heart swell with pride when she thought back to the canteen incident, sure that for a girl like Piper that couldn't have been easy.

Piper did this thing with her eyes. This sort of upward crinkle that caused the dimples in her cheeks to show up and make her appear much younger than her years. Or that other thing: her cheeks flushing into a sort of strawberry hue whenever Alex responded with a half wink or a teasing smirk. She hadn't allowed herself to think of the motives behind her actions but Alex had found herself ( sometimes desperately) trying to bring out that smile or that nervous thing she did with her hands at every given occasion they bumped each other.

The principal fixed her with an bemused stare and laughed softly, before she jokingly crossed her arms, "I'll take that as a yes then."

Alex smiled back. The first genuine smile she had given anyone for a very long time. And it felt strange but good. It felt good not to have an immediate thing to worry about or feel tense for no apparent reason for no other than to feel tense.

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It was Friday. The last class had finally ended. Piper made her way to the school bus that stood idling, throngs of students climbing on, filling up the bus in a rapid mass of bodies. Lost in her thoughts she was about to climb on when someone harshly shoved her backwards, nearly causing her to fall down the steps.

"You're not getting on this bus."

Regaining her balance, Piper looked up, it was Jessica, flanked by Tom and Liv, the three of them effectively blocking her way into the bus.

"So you can just turn around and walk back the way you came from." Jessica said, looking disgustingly full of herself.

"Sorry?" Piper asked, narrowing her eyes as she looked to the bus driver for some solidarity but he remained steadfastly focused on the road ahead, either pretending he hadn't hear her or just didn't care.

"You heard. We don't allow dyke lovers on." Jessica said in increasingly smug overtones, loud enough for practically everyone on the bus to hear. The murmurs of assent ringing through as she said this. Piper noticed Melissa and Anna sat a few seats back, vigorously nodding their heads, the same girls who had been sharing girly stories with her not even an hour ago.

"I don't know how things work down in Connecticut but here when someone tells you to get the hell out, you're supposed to… get the hell out."

Piper felt a blush sear through her cheeks and for a minute she thought her face was on fire, tightening her hands around the straps of her bag, she stepped off the bus.

Maybe she wasn't that brave after all.

Standing on the side of the road, she watched the bus disappear into the distance.

The walk to her house was going to take her at least an hour and that was being very optimistic, the glare of the afternoon sun already causing Piper to break into a sweat and it was all she could do not to burst out into tears in the middle of the street. But the irrational thought of Jessica and all the other kids somehow witnessing her like that made her rub her eyes furiously, her face setting into a hard and determined frown.

She realised with a heavy heart she already hated this school. Which really, wasn't that different to the feeling she had when she'd gone to all those other schools. Piper hated the hold school could have over people - the almost animalistic need to fit in and be accepted, be the same like everybody. Sometimes that drove people to extreme measures, becoming horrible and spiteful and everything else she wasn't.

The thing was, Piper had honed a skill that had held her in good stead for as long as she could remember. To be generic and just there in the background because that attitude never drew unwanted attention. Or only wearing minimal make-up and sometimes no make-up at all. Or only wearing clothing that were nude or pastel in colour - it sounded far-fetched and dramatic but if you wanted to survive the high school experience and not be sucked into the social vacuum of it you had to take calculated steps.

Her thoughts fell to Alex, with her mismatched clothes and outlandish choice of colour combinations, it all screamed come at me and it wasn't like she did it purposely to draw attention, that was just her, her personality. Piper wished she could even have an ounce of that confidence, to be so totally unbothered and blasé. She wishes she could grow thick skin that could deflect all those piercing stares and hushed whispers of disapproval.

Her stupid bag began digging into her shoulders and she wasn't even halfway home. Ringing her mother was out of the question, she was probably attending some high society luncheon trying hard to become acquainted with their new neighbours and her father…that wasn't even a consideration.

The books she was carrying were becoming heavier each step she took, feeling as though they were pushing her toward the ground. The muggy heat felt like it was pressing into Piper, the humidity its co-conspirator, causing perspiration to collect over her forehead where every now and again it dripped into her eyes, temporarily blinding her.

Beeeeeeeeeeep!

A car honk blew her out of her heat-encased reverie, startled Piper glanced up, squinting against the almost white light of the sun, barely seeing a familiar red pickup slowly rolling in a parallel line to her.

"You look like you need a lift!" Alex's voice drifted out of the open window, her face flushed and red from the heat, the melodic rifts of Angels by the XX almost drowning her out. Piper never had been so happy to see her, Alex's face the oasis to her desert but an almost out of nowhere shyness kept her from breaking into the too wide smile tugging at her cheeks.

Saying the complete opposite to how she was feeling. "I'm okay, I'm nearly home anyway, thanks for the offer

But Alex wasn't giving up that easily, the car slowly trailing her, "Where'd you live?"

"Out in Ridgeford."

"Are you fucking kidding me? That's like a good half hour trek from here…and that's only if you walk super fast." Alex smiled like she'd won the argument already, her elbow leaning out of the window. "C'mon, you don't want to die in this inferno."

Piper hesitated, before she grudgingly climbing into the car, the cold air from the air-con an almost orgasmic relief. She cast her eyes at Alex who was busy fumbling with the ignition, turning the key a bunch of times. "Just give me a minute, it always does this."

This time she was wearing a black t- shirt with white gothic writing streaked across the front, the letters in an unintelligible font Piper couldn't quite read. She felt Alex's glance her way, briefly halting her movements. Meeting her eyes, Piper realised she looked as though she was ogling her chest area, it was all she could do but to weakly smile back.

Alex returned to her efforts to try and get the truck to start, still twisting the key left and right. "She's a stubborn one, nearly there."

Judging from how ancient the truck appeared, Piper wasn't even sure whether the thing would ever even start. As rude as the thought was, it looked liked it belonged to a scrap yard rather than a road.

"I know what you're thinking." Alex said, breaking the silence as the car thankfully sprang to life, and sure enough slowly began to pick up speed. "I've had this truck ever since I got my license, it's my first and only car and its taken me great places, allowed me to do great things inside it…it's my pride and joy. Where I go, she goes."

Piper nodded and politely smiled. Something felt wrong with her throat, all of a sudden it felt dry and furry. There was something about the way Alex smiled, the lips turning ever so slightly at the corners, about the way she smelt, like sweat and engine oil or the way she was able to carry on conversation as though they had known each other for years.

"Also I don't know when it's going to fail on me. Could be tomorrow, could be next month or next year." She smiled to herself. "I like living on the edge."

"That's nice."

"You don't sound too convinced." Alex gave her an amused sideways glance

"No I mean it's obviously of sentimental value to you."

"I sense a but coming."

"No buts."

"Why does that sound so polite but at the same time not?"

"I feel like I'm being interrogated here." Piper laughed to indicate she was joking but Alex was already grinning at her, like she'd said something hugely funny.

After a few minutes of silence , Alex spoke with a tinge of seriousness. "Even an out-of-towner like you knows walking in this heat is guaranteed to earn you a one way ticket onto a hospital bed."

Piper could feel Alex's expectant gaze boring into her every few seconds as she frantically thought of how she was going to answer this but after a few protracted minutes she settled on telling the simple truth, "Jessica and her many friends kinda barred me from getting on the bus."

The car took a sudden swerve before Alex quickly corrected it, her eyes darkening with a silent anger, "Are you fucking kidding me? Why?"

"I guess they didn't like…didn't like what I did in the canteen." Piper hears her voice trailing off not wanting to make a big deal about the whole thing.

Piper watches Alex's face take on a hardened expression, the jaw muscles clinching through her skin. " You shouldn't have done that, you know."

Piper thought back to Alex's forlorn expression in that moment when Jimmy smashed her tray to the floor, the feeling of sudden anger that had raged through Piper, momentarily having forgotten she was supposed to stay in the background and not bring attention to herself. "I couldn't just watch them doing that. It was horrible, Alex."

"You've been blacklisted now…they're going to make your life a fucking hell.

Piper near recoiled at the harshness of the words. She wasn't expecting gratitude or a commentary of thank yous but she wasn't exactly expecting to be berated for it either. With a defiance she didn't know she had, she says "I don't care though. I'm sorry for ignoring it when it happened the first time, that was horrible of me."

Alex seems to nod to this, contemplating, before she eventually utters, "That was really really brave, though." A softness blanketing the words.

There were many words. A whole ream of vocabulary Piper could have guessed Alex was going to say but brave?

Her father called her weak-willed and impressionable.

Her mother called her exasperating and tiresome.

Brave brave brave was not a word that had ever come close to being associated with her neither had anyone ever called her…brave.

"Thanks a lot for the ride."

"No worries."

"No, really thanks."

"I feel it like it should be me that should be thanking you." Alex smirked. "Anyone who stands up against that Wedge bitch is an automatic winner in my books."

Piper could feel a warmth radiating from somewhere beneath her, ignoring it, she could quickly mustered, "I guess I'll see you on Monday at school?"

"Yeah...Do you think you're alright with the whole bus situation? 'Cause I can pick you up in the morning, if you want."

"That's okay, thanks again."

Alex laughed, "I feel like we've trapped ourselves in a cycle of thank yous. Our parents would be proud of our good manners."

"Hmmmm."

"Are you sure, though? It's no big deal, I live pretty close to the school, it's not that long of a detour for me."

"Yes, definitely. Don't worry about it."

They were silent for a while.

Piper suddenly blurted, "Did you really set fire to the library?"

Millions dly surprised, Alex countered. "What do you think?"

"I don't know, I just heard all these things said about you..."

"No, I didn't torch the library, come on you have to be a pretty callous person to enjoy burning a bunch of books."

"So I guess, you didn't get expelled for threatening a teacher, then?"

"Oh no, that I did do." Alex laughed. "But I'll tell you all about that another time."

Piper scoffs at that, briefly looking out of the window, watching the streets whiz by in a blur of grey and green.

"Hey?" Alex eventually asked.

"Yeah?"

"After school...if you want. There's this really cool place that does really good milkshakes..."

"Oh."

"I mean, since you're new and all that, and you did kind of help me." Alex chuckled. "I am Litchfield's social pariah and general object of everyone's hate which was getting pretty lonely and now that you're kind of pariah-ing with me, I think the least I can do is give you a tour of all the ace places in this town, also-"

"Yes." Piper suddenly muttered, cutting Alex off.

Confusion dancing across her face, she asked, "Yes what?"

"Yes, I'd love to go for milkshakes."

"Really?"

"Hmmm, vanilla has kind of always been my favourite."

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