Chapter 4

Nicky waltzed into the shop classroom at least ten minutes after the bell had gone, with Piper anxiously trailing behind her.

"Nicky, we're really late, and I have no idea where Tricia's gone, we're all gonna get detention!" Piper exclaimed.

"Relax newbie, look, Luschek doesn't care what the fuck you do so long as you look like you're working, and he's not even here yet anyway, he's always late. As for Tricia, she'll be skipping to make out with Mercy or something, so don't sweat it, alright." Nicky replied, leading Piper to a workbench.

"Okay, but I don't have anything to work on." Piper said, still feeling nervous. At her old school, this would never be tolerated, and she would be in a lot of trouble, but at Litchfield no-one seemed to care that she was so late.

At that exact moment, a balding, beer-bellied man walked into the classroom. His shirt was undone and he looked as if he had just woken up. "Right class," he slurred lazily, taking his seat at the front desk. "Tool cupboard is open, get your stuff and work, I'm gonna sleep so don't disturb me unless it's really important."

"Is he…drunk?" Piper whispered to Nicky in shock.

"Probably." Nicky responded. "Half the time he's drunk or hungover, and the other half he's high. How he's employed here I have no idea." She walked over to a counter and returned with a number of tools, which she laid on the workbench.

Piper looked around, and saw that everyone was occupied with their projects. Surely this was important, the man hadn't even taken roll call and probably wasn't even aware of her presence in the classroom, let alone the fact that she was new.

"Um, Mr Luschek?" she called, walking up to the desk. "I'm Piper Chapman, I'm new today, so I don't have a project to do."

Mr Luschek lifted his head wearily from the desk and glared at Piper. "I don't fucking care if you're new or not, now get a book and choose a project, then shut up and leave me alone." He said in an annoyed tone, before collapsing back on to the desk.

Piper returned to the bench quickly and turned to Nicky. "He swore at me!" She said, horrified. "I'm sure that's not allowed, should I report it to Mrs Figuerola?"

Nicky laughed loudly, before replying, "It's no big deal kiddo, look, Fig won't care, and that's if she actually believes you. Luschek's alright, you can do whatever you want and you automatically get an A at the end of the semester, because he never bothers to actually check our projects so long as we have something to show when the principal comes in, alright? Now go over there and get a book, you'll find some ideas there."

Piper shook her head in disbelief, before doing as Luschek and Nicky had suggested. Flipping through the pages of the book, she found a project that seemed interesting. "I'm going to make a lamp." She declared, before scrunching her brow. "Hang on…are we allowed to do that, I mean with electricals and all. I don't see any protective wear around here…and we definitely aren't being supervised." She gestured towards Luschek, who was now sound asleep and snoring heavily.

"Goggles and aprons over there, but no-one really bothers with them." Nicky said, hammering away at whatever her project was supposed to be. "Like I said, you can do what you want, just try not to get electrocuted please, it's kind of messy when that happens."

After kitting out in all the protective gear she could find, Piper began to build the base for her lamp. This was nothing like shop at her old school, where the teacher supervised you like a hawk, and you were definitely not allowed to make anything that involved electricity. Just then, she heard a loud bang from the back of the classroom, and looked frantically at Luschek, who was somehow still fast asleep.

"Oh my god!" she said to Nicky. "This is so unsafe! I think that girl just made a gun!"

Nicky just laughed in response. "Kid, you've got a lot to learn about Litchfield."

Piper couldn't help but agree.

After the rather horrifying Shop class, Nicky hurried off to find Lorna, so Piper was left alone. She had originally planned to walk to Chemistry with Tricia, but seeing as the girl hadn't even bothered to make an appearance in shop, Piper had to navigate the school on her own. By pure luck she managed to find the right classroom and arrive there on time. Walking into the room she saw Tricia and Mercy together at a bench, furiously making out once again. Glad to see some people she knew, Piper walked over to the bench, which was meant to be occupied by four people, leaving an empty seat next to her. Piper sighed, hoping someone would come and sit next to her; after all, it would be extremely awkward for the teacher to have to be her lab partner for the semester.

"Hey you two, knock it off, it's not as if you haven't had the whole of fourth period to make out." Piper said jokingly to Tricia and Mercy. "Who sits here?"

"Oh, no-one," Mercy responded. "I'm sure Mr O'Neill will put someone there." She continued, as Mr O'Neill himself emerged from the store cupboard.

"Right." He addressed the class. "I'm taking no nonsense or inappropriate behaviour this year, there will be consequences for anyone who doesn't follow my rules. Now, Miss Washington, will you please hand out the textbooks."

A slim girl with shaved black hair stood up and began distributing the textbooks. Piper was relieved that this teacher actually seemed to take teaching seriously, compared to so-laid-back-he's-horizontal Mr Luschek.

"Right, please turn to page 5 and read the text before answering the questions." Mr O'Neill instructed. "When you're done, you can begin the practical, all the instructions are in the textbook, work in pairs. If you don't understand anything, please come over to me. And like I said, no stupid behaviour or you will be in detention, understood?"

"Mr O'Neill," Piper put her hand up. "Sorry to bother you, but I don't have a lab partner." She blushed in embarrassment.

"Oh, you must be the new girl, Piper Chapman?" Piper nodded. "I see, well actually there's meant to be another new girl, I don't know where she's gotten to, she might be lost. When she turns up, you two can work together, okay."

"Thank you." Piper said, relieved, and began to do the work; luckily she had taken Chemistry in junior year, so it wasn't too difficult for her. She soon became absorbed in the questions, and Tricia and Mercy began to kiss again, so it wasn't a surprise that none of the three noticed when the classroom door opened and the aforementioned new girl walked in, or indeed when Mr O'Neill began to talk to her and assign her a seat.

In fact, it wasn't until the girl sat down at the end of the bench that Piper became aware of her presence. Piper turned around to see who her new lab partner would be…

"Maybe this is a bad time to say hi, huh?" The girl said to Piper.

Upon seeing Alex Vause, the only thing Piper could think to do was to scream.

."