Thank you for beta'ing, thecharmedwerewolf and nnicholsnlyonne!
"I am investigating what happened to Piper Chapman around Labor Day of last year. You four were very close to her, correct?" Mendez asks.
"Yes," they say altogether.
"I just want to let you know that I will work as hard as I can to find out if your friend is dead or amongst the living. I will speak with each one of you since I want to know what kinds of relationships you had with her. I'm not sure if she didn't get along with one of you, or if she preferred one friend over the other-"
"Are you saying one of us could've done something, because we didn't!" Daya interrupts him.
"Not at all. I just need everything she gave you, like gifts. I'll speak to Ms. Morello first."
"Shouldn't you be questioning us with an adult present?" Flaca asks while folding her arms across her chest. "We're like, minors."
"I didn't feel the need to. Ms. Morello, follow me, now!"
Lorna gulps and does as he says. They go into a private conference room and she sits across from Mendez at a table.
"Do you remember how Piper was feeling the night she vanished into thin air? Was anything out of the ordinary?"
"No, it was just like any other night. We were just five girls at a sleepover...my place. She enjoyed playing tricks on us, so when she left the house, we knew she'd come back...but she didn't. Alex went outside to check on her, but then she came back and said Piper was nowhere to be found. That's when we filed the police report."
Mendez scribbles something on his notepad. "Did she have any enemies who might have taken their revenge too far?"
Lorna nods. "Yes, a few. She was a bit of a bully...but I can't think of anyone besides Tiffany Doggett who would actually...commit murder. I thought you already caught her."
"Oh, no, she's getting released tomorrow. There was evidence that she didn't do it. They got into a little fight, but Piper didn't die from her injuries. How did you get along with Piper? I know you tend to fly off the handle at times."
"Well, she was one of my besties. We didn't even so much as argue," Lorna lies straight through her teeth.
"Really?" he asks, standing up.
"It's true. Everything was cool between us."
"You're not even looking at me."
"That's because you manhandled me, you creep! Why would I wanna stare at someone who touched me without my permission? You're gross!"
"I know the four of you are hiding something, but don't worry, I will find out what it is."
Lorna leaves when he dismisses her. He calls Alex in next.
"How was it?" Daya asks Lorna.
"He asked me stuff...similar to the questions we all got last year. He's very suspicious of us."
"Why? We didn't do nothin'!" Flaca says.
"Well, we were her friends...and we got the same story to tell the cops. Just don't nobody mention that she was popular, otherwise he might think we were jealous of her and simply..." Lorna makes a slicing motion across her neck with her finger.
Alex's mother comes up to them. "Hi, girls. Alex texted me about the inappropriate cop. He isn't allowed to interrogate minors without an adult there." She opens the conference room door and storms inside, just when Mendez is screaming at a crying Alex about a love letter she'd written to Piper.
"What was this, huh? Did you two have a lover's quarrel? You must have realized she would never go for you because she's straight, so you shot her dead!" Mendez starts to read the letter out loud in a falsetto voice. "Dear Piper, I know you think of me as just a friend, but I love you so much more than that. I apologize if that makes you feel awkward, and you don't need to do anything with that information. You don't even have to talk to me for the rest of your life. I want you to be happy with whoever you end up with, even if it isn't me." Alex tries to grab for it, but he doesn't let her have it.
"Excuse me?" Diane yells. "What are you doing, accusing my daughter of murder? She'd never do such a thing! You know you're supposed to question kids with their parents or guardians around!" She pulls Alex into a hug. "I will call your supervisor! I want you off this case!"
Mendez smirks. "Too bad, Mama Bear, I'm already on it."
"God, what an asshole," Daya grumbles.
"I'm going to stab a voodoo doll of him," Flaca adds.
"Excellent idea," Lorna compliments her.
"Let's go, girls, we're leaving," Diane says, ripping the letter out of Mendez's hands. She points at him. "Get ready for a lawsuit and a restraining order to be put against you if you bother these poor girls again."
Alex looks humiliated as she walks away from them quickly, but they have to run to catch up with her. "Sweetie, having a crush on your best friend is nothing to be ashamed of!" Diane tells her.
"Well, I'm out, now you all know!" Alex sniffles and wipes her eyes under her glasses. "I knew you'd accept me being a lesbian...but I didn't want you to find out like this. It...it wasn't just a crush. We kissed, and I...I felt things. Then, she told me she was into guys."
"That's okay. I mean, I'm sorry that she did that to you...but I'm sure she cared about you a lot as a friend," Lorna murmurs and puts a comforting hand on Alex's arm. "It doesn't make you a bad person. You're still the same girl you were two years ago."
"Yeah," Flaca agrees. "You love Hot Topic and you're into chicks, just a couple of the many facts about you."
"We don't care who you date, as long as you're happy," Daya chimes in.
"Thanks," Alex says and they each give her a hug.
"Flaca, where are you?" Maritza whispers to herself. It's been twenty minutes of Mr. Humphrey droning on and on about dissecting frogs later for a project. He's describing it so graphically that it grosses her out. She wishes her best friend was there so she could make funny faces at her to distract them both from the lecture.
"Today, I'm going to talk about how babies were made and demonstrate it. I need someone to be my little helper, so who will she be? This is a new game I'm playing." Maritza glances around the room in confusion as the teacher walks down the aisles, patting each of the girls' heads while saying, "Duck...duck...duck..." When he gets to her, he shouts, "Goose!" while sifting his hand through her hair. It makes her extremely uncomfortable, even though it only lasted for a second.
"What?"
"Come on up to the front of the classroom, newt." He sniggers. "That means newbie."
"Uh...okay."
"Everyone knows that a man and a woman fuck to make a baby!" one of the boys interjects. "What, are you gonna take her clothes off and rape her in front of us or something?"
"Pete, you're such a moron!" a girl hollers. She glares at Mr. Humphrey. "If you're going to do something like that to her, we'll call the cops."
"Miss Harper, be quiet!" Mr. Humphrey snaps at her and Maritza begins to get nervous. She stands up on shaky legs and lets the teacher lead her to his desk. He turns her around to face him and starts pushing himself into her. She backs as far away from him as possible, but he's still way too close to her with his rock-hard stick inside his pants. She wants to throw up. "That's how you do it, boys and girls. Then, she gets fat for nine months. My sperm will connect with her egg, create a fetus, and come out of her cunt as a screamin' banshee!" Finally, he lets her return to her seat and Flaca comes in the second Martiza sits down. The taller Latina hands a piece of paper to Mr. Humphrey and he barely looks at it.
"Hey, what did I miss?" Flaca asks Maritza in a hushed voice. "Are you okay? You look like you're gonna pass out."
Maritza's eyes water with tears as she tries to hold them in."Humps is a creep. I hate him."
"Ladies, shut up and pay attention!" the teacher barks at them.
At the end of Geometry class, Daya goes into her English classroom to talk to Mr. Bennett once everyone is gone. "Why didn't you tell me you were a teacher?"
"I thought you were one."
"What? Yeah, right."
"No, really, I did. You look very grown-up for a fifteen-year-old."
"Well, I assumed you were eighteen. My bad!"
"We can't do this, Daya...it's...it's wrong."
"Yeah, I know, but I'm not really a kid anyway. I haven't been one since I was like, twelve, because I'm the primary caretaker of my siblings. My mom is almost never home, and when she is, she's...not being a parent. Besides all that, I like you. I don't care how old you are. Butterflies dance in my belly when I so much as think about you. Don't you feel the same?"
He looks outside and closes the door quickly. Daya takes this as a good sign. "I'm twenty-three and you're not even at driving age yet! Fig and Caputo will have my head and I have worked so hard for this job!"
"I'm almost sixteen. Come on, we can sneak." Daya nibbles on her bottom lip and puts her hand over his. She stares into his eyes and gives him her cutest smile.
"Damn it-" he begins to say, but then he slams her into the wall and starts making out with her. "Supply closet? I've got five minutes til my next class."
"Yeah," she says through gasps of air. "Sounds good."
Flaca and Maritza walk together to Ms. Vause's room since Flaca is being overprotective and taking Maritza to wherever she needs to go. "I should tell Fig that Humps touched me, right?" Maritza asks.
"You can try, but she won't see it as aggravated sexual assault."
"It's coercion and he made me physically sick! Remember when you held my hair back while I was bent over the toilet? That was just five minutes ago! I still have the taste of bile in my mouth, and not just from the vomit!"
"He'll just give her the excuse that it was part of his lesson plan and you have to do what he says because he's the teacher. I hate being controlled like this, and believe me, if I was there with you, I would've taken your place."
"You're the best friend anyone could ever have, but I don't want you to go through it either. No one should."
Daya walks out of Mr. Bennett's class, looking flushed. "I, uh, had a question for the teacher," she explains while rushing past them.
"That was weird," Flaca mutters. "Oh, well...enjoy Ms. Vause's class! She's my friend Alex's mom. You'll like her."
"Awesome! Bye!" The girls hug and then Maritza goes into her class.
Flaca heads over to Woodshop as the bell is ringing. Luckily, the teacher doesn't give a shit if she's late or even shows up. He's rude, but he's lenient. Mr. Luscheck is so lazy that he gives them terrible instructions and sleeps while the students work. She was in this class with Piper last year, and it doesn't really hit her until she sees Piper's empty seat. She may have been frightened of her numerous times, but that doesn't mean she wanted the blonde dead.
"Hey, you, the ghost is still here!" Luscheck gestures toward where Piper used to sit. He laughs at his own awful joke and hands Flaca a wooden birdhouse with written instructions taped to it. "Make something like this and get it to me by Friday."
"Alright," Flaca mutters.
She hears Janae Watson chuckle behind her. "For once, the cracker was funny. She's always gonna haunt us, that Taylor Swift knock-off."
"Hey, you start talking like that, and I'mma think you're the motherfucker who killed her! I mean, you've hated her ever since she beat you in that one race," Flaca hisses. "This is a sensitive subject. She was my friend since seventh grade, so piss off, why don't you?"
"I can't feel sorry for your loss because that bitch was not friendly. She was as fake as they come!"
"Yeah," Poussey Washington agrees. "She cheated, by the way. She tripped Janae and that's how she won. Everyone knows that, and when Janae called her out on it, guess who got sent to detention? Not your white friend, that's for sure! They actually thought my girl was gonna beat her ass up!"
Flaca could've seen that happen. Piper was unfair, but she had never cared to top Janae in track. "You both better shut up before I pull out your weaves!" Flaca threatens them. "How would you feel if someone in your clique died, huh?"
"Why are you sticking up for somebody that made fun of you for being emo? That doesn't sound like a friend."
Her eyes burn with tears because Janae is speaking the truth. Flaca really can't bring herself to miss the person who Piper was, but rather, the person Flaca wishes she was. "You just stay out of it."
"Whatever, let's leave her alone," Poussey mutters.
"Thank you," Flaca says.
"Wow, I thought I was gonna have to put that catfight on YouTube, but it never happened," Luscheck tells them. "That's too bad."
At lunchtime, Alex meets up with Flaca and a shorter Latina, who introduces herself as Maritza Ramos. Lorna and Daya join them a few minutes later and sit across from them at their table. Alex honestly isn't surprised, since they don't really have other friends to eat with. They don't talk about the interrogation or the text they all got because Maritza doesn't need to know about this. It really could've just been someone playing a mean trick on them.
"So, how do you guys know Flaca?" Maritza asks. Alex notices she's barely touching her food. "My name's Maritza."
"We all met each other through Piper," Lorna answers before stuffing a bite of macaroni and cheese into her mouth. "I'm Lorna, by the way."
"Nice to meet you. Are you doing cheerleading tryouts today?"
"Yeah, but I know I'll win head cheerleader. I'm already the it-girl!"
"Where's your rival, Brook?"
Lorna scowls and points at an Asian girl in glasses who's seated with Poussey, Janae, and Cindy. "She thinks she's so cool, but she's wrong! Everyone knows I'm the best."
"I like you already." Maritza gestures toward Daya. "Did I see you coming out of Mr. Bennett's room earlier? I recognize you."
"Yeah, you looked familiar. Uh, that was me...but like I told Flaca, I was talking to him about an assignment...um, like what to expect in his class. Did I tell you my name? It's Daya."
"Cool."
Alex shares a confused look with Lorna, who smiles widely and mouths, She's blushing...
"Hello, girls," someone says behind Alex, Flaca, and Maritza. The girls turn around and Lorna and Daya appear to be shocked. "Oh, don't look so surprised! I go to this school, too, you know."
It's Leanne Taylor, who Piper used to bully for being Amish and pimply with greasy hair. Leanne is no angel, either. She's homophobic and the leader of a hate group at school called White Lives Matter. Even so, Alex feels a twinge of guilt for her, and the others do as well. It's written all over their faces, except Maritza's, who has no idea what's going on at the moment.
The girls' phones suddenly chime and Alex looks down at hers. Gee, I hope she doesn't still hold a grudge against you, but I wouldn't blame her if she did. This shit always comes back to you. -P
"Why so pale over a text message?" Leanne asks with a slight smirk on her now scarred face. "I just wanted to see if I was finally allowed to sit here at the cool table."
"Oh...that's...that's fine," Lorna murmurs without even glancing up. The girl plops down between the small brunette and the Latina, who probably wished they'd sat closer together so there would be no room for Leanne.
"New girl?" Leanne wonders aloud and jerks her thumb towards Maritza.
"Yeah," Flaca answers.
"Maritza...Ramos," Maritza says and stretches her hand out to Leanne. Alex senses that Maritza's just trying to dissipate the budding tension and weirdness.
"How is everyone?" Leanne asks while ignoring Maritza, who draws her hand back.
"Fine," the girls say in unison.
"You four are in synch...and with your fifth squad member, it's like as if Piper never left," Leanne says smugly. "Not so chatty now, are we? I bet you miss her a lot." With that, she gets up and struts away.
The five friends are all trying on Piper's clothes while dancing to music in the blonde's bedroom. They're also laughing and talking.
"This would look so cute on you, Lorna," Piper says while handing her a pink tank top.
"Thank you!" Lorna responds. She removes her shirt and slips the top over her head while looking into the mirror.
"Hey, Pipes, can I borrow these?" Alex asks, holding up a pair of black ripped jeans.
"Yeah, but you'd have to wear them as capris. You're getting taller every time I see you!"
"Check out this belt!" Flaca exclaims. "It's black and studded and everything!"
Piper takes a bag of Doritos out of Daya's hands. "Hey, if you want to have a chance of fitting into anything in my closet, hold off on the snacks, okay?"
"Sorry, I'm just hungry," Daya mumbles, appearing to be ashamed.
"She can wear a scarf of yours," Alex says to Piper, trying to make Daya feel better. Even though Alex had a thing for her, Piper could be harsh.
"Sure! How about my purple one?" Piper offers Daya.
"Thank you," Daya answers while slipping it on. "It's pretty."
"Oh my god, that is disgusting!" Piper suddenly yells, making them all jump. "Pennsatucky's creepy little brother, Donny Doggett, is spying on us!"
"Really? He's like, nine, isn't he?" Lorna asks, moving away from the window. Flaca rolls her eyes and Daya looks at Alex uncertainly.
"He's still being gross! Didn't his mother teach him anything? Where's his big sister? I bet Pennsatucky the holy devil put him up to this and he's getting enjoyment out of it! Come on girls, let's get out of here." Piper storms out of her bedroom and the rest of the girls follow her down the stairs and out of the Chapman house. "I'm gonna teach him a lesson he'll never forget!"
"Piper, he's a kid!" Alex yells. "Plus, isn't he intellectually challenged? He probably doesn't even know that it's wrong."
"That is no excuse! I'm at least ratting on him to his mother!"
"You are so dramatic!" Flaca groans.
"Ha, says the girl who threw a fit over not being able to see The Smiths in concert!"
"They are the best, okay?! You wouldn't get it," the tall Latina snaps at their leader.
"Slow down, I can't keep up," Daya grumbles while jogging.
"It's only next door, Daya the Dinosaur. Oh, look, I made a rhyme." Piper marches up to the Doggetts' front door and knocks on it. Tiffany Doggett opens it. "Pennsatucky, your kid brother is being a perv! We're in my house in our underwear and I see him...watching us! Get your mom. She should give him a little spanking!"
"No way, idiot." Pennsatucky tries to slam the door in Piper's face.
"Oh, Debbie!" Piper sings, but it seems like Pennsatucky's mother isn't home.
"Nice try," Pennsatucky says. Leanne Taylor appears behind her and Piper stifles a laugh.
"Don't worry. I'll get you some other way." Piper walks away from their house with the girls in tow. "You should've joined us when you had the chance!"
"What are you gonna do?" Lorna asks once they cross the street and go into Piper's house.
"Not just me...we are going to play a little prank on them!"
"Uh oh..." Alex says worriedly.
"I'm going to shit in a bag, light it on fire, leave it on their porch, and ring the doorbell. It's fucking classic, man!"
"That's gross!" Flaca and Daya exclaim at the same time.
"I don't think we should do that...like, you can, but I don't really want to," Lorna murmurs.
"Me neither, it sounds dumb," Alex agrees. "What if we get arrested or hurt someone?"
"I can't go to jail," Flaca chimes in.
"I'm not gonna be responsible for any heart attacks," Daya adds.
"If you girls don't watch me do it, you're wimps!"
The four friends sigh while rolling their eyes, and Alex could tell Piper knew they finally gave in.
Fifteen minutes later, they come out of the house and Piper's holding a bag of shit and a cigarette lighter. They tiptoe to the Doggetts' front door, set down the bag, and Piper lights it on fire. The girls jump back as the flames rise higher and higher. The leader of their circle rings the bell and then they run away as fast as they can.
"Uh...why isn't anyone answering?" Lorna wonders out loud.
"I dunno, maybe they're busy?" Piper guesses.
"Well, they better hurry up. The house could catch on fire!" Alex lets her know.
They see Leanne coming out of the front door. "Bye, Tucky, see you-" She's cut off by her own frightened screaming as the flames wrap themselves around her. The girls watch in horror as Pennsatucky rushes to her aid and sprays her with a fire extinguisher.
"Okay, what was that all about?" Maritza asks.
"Nothing, it was just-"
"You know I won't judge you, Flaca."
"She doesn't like us because she's jealous," Flaca says. "You know, typical high school drama."
"I can tell that you're lying. You're not looking in my eyes."
"I don't wanna talk about it!"
"Y'all have some kind of secret that you're sharing. I'm really good at keeping my mouth shut about things like that. If you hide things from me, then I don't know if our friendship is real."
Flaca sighs loudly. "Okay...can we go somewhere in private?"
"Fine."
As Maritza and Flaca walk away, Alex puts her head in her hands. "Does anyone else have butterflies in their stomach?"
Lorna and Daya nod and raise their hands. "Do we trust Flaca's bestie?" Lorna asks.
"I don't know her well enough to determine that, but if Flaca really likes her, then she's gotta be willing to spill her guts."
"We permanently scarred Leanne," Daya whispers. "That changed us. We could've been charged with arson, but the cops blamed Pennsatucky."
"Technically, we didn't do anything wrong. Piper put the plan into action and we couldn't stop her," Lorna murmurs.
"We just let it happen," Alex mumbles. "There's no going back from it. Do you think Leanne's the one sending the texts?"
"She could be..." Daya answers. "Let's just block anything anonymous on our phones and laptops."
"Okay," Alex agrees, and Lorna nods. "We'll fill Flaca in on our plan once she gets her butt back here!"
"It wasn't your fault, Flaca," Maritza says, and Flaca breathes a sigh of relief through her tears. "You didn't mean to hurt her...and like you said, you girls didn't even wanna do it. You were just shocked and couldn't move, that's all. Leanne's a homophobic, racist bitch anyway, that's what you told me." Maritza wipes a tear off Flaca's cheek.
"Yeah, but we...we made Leanne's skin condition worse and got her friend in jail!"
"I thought she was arrested for murdering Piper."
"Well, yeah, that too, but...no one should have to go down for a crime they didn't commit...and Leanne didn't deserve to get...burned. She didn't do nothin' to us. I'm surprised none of this fazes you."
"That's what true love's about, ain't it?"
Flaca nods. "Yeah. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Maritza says and then hugs her taller friend. "Did you ever tell your boyfriend, Ian?"
"We didn't say nothin' to nobody. We couldn't."
"I understand. I'm glad you told me, though."
"Me too."
Later that day, it feels like a brick has been lifted off the girls' chests when they're not receiving strange messages anymore. Lorna sees Christopher MacLaren by the gym. She smiles craftily at her friends. "Watch this, girls. I'mma make him go out with me. He's cute!"
"Good luck!" Alex says, giving her a thumbs up.
Flaca and Daya clap their hands with glee.
Lorna strides over to Christopher and crashes into him on purpose so they both drop the books that each of them are holding. "Oh, shit, I'm so sorry!" Lorna cries dramatically. "I totally didn't look where I was going...silly me!"
"Don't worry about it, that's okay," Christopher says. He gives her back her textbook and she grins up at him. She gazes into his soul. "Are you Lorna?"
"Yep! Lorna Morello. I'm in your drama class. There's so many people in there, though, you probably didn't recognize me. Oh well."
"No, I know you. I've seen you in the room. You're gorgeous...and Morello, that's Italian, right?"
Lorna nods while blushing furiously. "Mm-hm! So, uh...would you wanna go out with me sometime? I think you're very handsome." She squeezes his huge bicep and winks flirtatiously at him. "I adore your sweater."
"Well, thank you, that's very nice of you to ask, but...didn't you destroy Vince Muccio's car?"
"Come on, I don't bite, those were just rumors...and he did cheat on me."
"I've never met a hot girl who was so forward! You are way too sexy to be cheated on. I'll take you out for some coffee, how's that?"
Lorna beams. "That sounds delightful! Oh, I'm so excited! Let's go...tonight!"
"Actually, I have football practice and then a lot of homework. I'll pick you up tomorrow at five!"
"Okay, here's my address. Don't lose it," she says while writing it down on a piece of paper in her notebook, ripping it out, and handing it to him. "See you later, snookums!" She pats his cheek and walks away while swaying her hips from side to side. As soon as she joins up with her girls, she announces, "I've got a boyfriend!"
"Wow! That fast?" Alex asks doubtfully.
"Yeah! I'm like a guy magnet," Lorna states proudly.
"Congratulations!" Daya squeals.
"We're really happy for you," Flaca chimes in.
Lorna's friends watch the cheerleading tryouts and root for her and Maritza. The new girls on the squad have to make up some cheers and those who were already on it, had practiced theirs for about a month. They all do cheers with partners. Lorna and Ella go up first.
"You might be good at basketball, you might be good at track, but when it comes to football, you might as well step back!" They kick nice and high and their cheer is very loud, which is exactly what the coach wants. They sit down as everyone watches the rest of the girls. Tiff and Lily go up next.
"We are the Bumblebees, we couldn't be prouder, if you can't hear us, we'll shout a little louder! We are the Bumblebees, we couldn't be prouder, if you can't hear us, we'll shout a little louder! We are the Bumblebees, we couldn't be prouder, if you can't hear us, we'll shout a little louder! Whooooo!"
Then, Amber and Kay cheer, "Let's go Bumblebees, let's go, clap clap, let's go Bumblebees, let's go, clap clap, whoooooo!"
The fourth pair is Caitlin and Ines. "The Bumblebees are the best, better than all the rest. Let's go, fight, win! Whoohoo!"
"Bumblebees, Bumblebees, hear our roar, we will beat you more and more!" Brook and Maritza chant.
Last up are Liza and Tia. All of the girls are really good dancers and the coach says they all did well. They cheer, "We don't care what you say, we're gonna win this anyway! Gooooooo, Bumblebees! Whooooo!"
At the end, they all have to do a dance to Cha-Cha Slide.
"Wow, you all look really good cheering! You'll find out the results next week," the coach says.
When Lorna and Maritza come up to their friends, Flaca says, "You're probably gonna make it!"
"Oh, I know we will!" Lorna exclaims. She and Maritza smile at each other and giggle. "I'm totally gonna be the flyer because I'm the shortest girl here!"
As soon as she gets home, Lorna hears her sister yell, "Leave and don't come back!"
"Fine, you want me to go?" Mendez shouts back.
"Yeah, if you're gonna be questioning my sister without me there and trying to go through her room!"
"I'm just doing my job, Franny, and we both know that Lorna is a bad seed!"
"Hey! I don't wanna hear more garbage come out of your filthy mouth!"
"What did you do to my shit?" Lorna demands to know.
Mendez backs out of the house and she flinches away from him. "Nothing, your sister wouldn't let me touch anything."
Once he's gone, Lorna says, "Thank you, Franny."
"Yeah, you're welcome."
"How far did he get, really?"
"Well, I was doing laundry and he snuck into your room...I couldn't find him, so I searched the house while callin' out his name...and then I saw him goin' through your closet and sniffing a pair of your undies."
Lorna gasps sharply. "What? That dirty bastard! You gotta take him down!"
"Oh, hon, you know, I wish I could. The best we can do is hope he goes away."
Alex and Flaca are walking home from band club when they see a bunch of ambulances across the street, at Sylvia's house. "That's where Piper used to live," Alex murmurs while running toward the scene. She has to see if Sylvia is okay.
Paramedics are digging a hole in Flaca's backyard, and Sylvia stands there and watches with Flaca's mom behind her. "We found something!" a man yells. "Step back."
The girls gasp as they lift an unmoving blonde girl out of a hole, check her pulse, and slide her into a body bag. "She's dead," another man announces.
"Are you sure that's Piper Chapman?" Alex asks worriedly. She blinks back tears. "I wanna see her face...say goodbye."
"We're positive. I'm sorry, miss, we can't show you."
Alex takes a few wobbly steps back, covers her mouth, and falls into Flaca's arms while sobbing. Theresa hugs them both and Sylvia appears to be in shock.
"Was that..." Sylvia asks, and Alex nods. "I'm so sorry."
Once Alex and Flaca get time to themselves, they go into Alex's room and close the door behind them. "So...Piper wasn't sending the texts...but then who could know all of our secrets? We only told our deepest, darkest ones to Piper," Flaca says.
Alex wipes her eyes with the palms of her hands. "It doesn't matter. We got rid of them."
"No, we didn't. Check your phone."
Someone was in my room and they wrote on my mirror that that they're still here and they're not leaving in jungle red lipstick. If it's Leanne, we have to report her! -Daya
She's gone, but I'm not, bitches! Enjoy trying to figure out who I am, because you'll never guess. Of course, if you tell anyone about me, someone's blood will be on my hands. -P
"That's fucking creepy! This person must have known that Daya doesn't have attentive parents. Our moms and Lorna's sister would've spotted them in an instant," Alex comments. "Leanne doesn't know us that well, or so I thought..."
"Whoever it is, why are they not leaving us alone?"
"I guess our stalker has an ax to grind."
"Do you think we should just confess to the Leanne thing?" Flaca asks. "Maybe that will make them stop. We could tell the police we never wanted to..."
"No! We'll still get in trouble for aiding and abetting."
"Okay...I'm desperate here. Maritza knows about it...I don't want her to get hurt because of this."
"You don't have to mention P to her if you want to keep her safe."
"I know. I won't. It's just between the four of us."
It's late at night when Taystee finishes working. She drives herself, Nicky, and Tricia back home, and knocks on the door. Vee opens it right away. "Hey, babies, you missed dinner!"
"We ate at Shake Shack," Nicky says sourly and they walk inside the house.
"Who's this?" Vee asks and nods her head towards Tricia.
"I found her on the street...she's homeless and I...you have to take her in, Vee. She's only eleven..." Nicky trails off. "No kid should be alone out there. It's fucking scary."
"That's fine. You can share a room with Nicky and Taystee, child," Vee tells Tricia. "One of you, fix her ratty hair!"
"I'm alright, yo," Tricia murmurs. "It's neater than Nicky's."
Nicky chuckles. "I'll kick your ass for saying that," she teases her younger friend.
"Get ready for bed. Nicky, come with me."
"Okay."
The older blonde follows Vee to her bedroom where a pile of bags filled with heroin are sitting. "My, would you look what I found dumped in the kitchen? What did I ask you to do?" she growls while grabbing a fistful of Nicky's hair and shaking her. "Huh?"
"I...I'm sorry, Vee! I couldn't...no one..." Nicky stammers. She's terrified because of the way Vee is glaring at her.
"What? Speak in full sentences, you brat!"
"They weren't interested," Nicky murmurs. She tries to make her voice not waver. "One girl was, but she didn't have the money. She'll get some tomorrow morning, I promise...and I'll do better next time. Let's face it, no one expects to pass someone selling drugs outside their school! This girl's friend said I was sketchy, so...and I don't do bad stuff!"
"If this happens again, you will be back on the streets again for good, do you understand me?" Vee threatens her.
Nicky gulps. "Loud and clear."
"Now go on and bring Tricia in here. I'll have her be with you. People love children, they're like bait."
"She shouldn't be around drugs. She needs to go to school. She's eleven! They'll call Child Protective Services on your ass."
"Excuse me? That wasn't a suggestion. You invite her to live with us, she needs to do something in this family."
"She can help Taystee at Shake Shack, not-"
Vee slams Nicky's head into the wall. "You are not listening to me! That girl is your ticket to you getting customers!"
Nicky gasps in pain. "Fine, but if she gets addicted, it's on you."
"She doesn't need to take the drugs, idiot! Besides, they're all over the house."
"Okay, you have a point..."
"Thank you. I'm glad we understand each other."
Thank you for reading and reviewing, A Star In My Universe, HannahMiley1fan, Boris Yeltsin, haleypadilla229, peanut-brained, nnicholsnlyonne, ladyglorificus, cornedout, and thecharmedwerewolf!
