Chapter Two

Back to School

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or anything charmed-related, but I wish I did.

I toss and turn the whole night until my alarm clock buzzes at 6:00 a.m., and it's time to get up. Another school day awaits, but I resolve to as least try to be in a good mood as I get up and take a shower before waking up Phoebe and Prue. I don't know why Prue can't get her own self up considering that she's 17, but when ever I don't wake her then we're late because she drives me to school. Well, when she feels like it, sometimes I have to take the bus when Prue gets a ride from friends.

"Wake up, Prue." I call, knocking on her door. I hear a mumble in reply and assume that means she's up. "Pheebs" I say, walking back into my room "wake up, it's time for school." "Go away" Phoebe groans from under the covers. I roll my eyes "Phoebe, get up" I tell her and walk out, I still have to make breakfast and I don't have time to deal with Phoebe at the moment. I can hear Phoebe clomping around upstairs, so I guess she's up too. The phone rings and Prue runs down stairs grabbing it before I can answer it. "Hi Alex" she purrs into the phone and my heart sinks. Prue's not going to drive me today she's probably getting a ride from Alex. Great. The kids on the bus hate me just as much as the kids at school. Phoebe's lucky that she gets to take a carpool with her friends to the middle school. If I had friends I'd do the same thing. I wish that I could at least ask Grams to take me to school, but she leaves for work just as we get up in the morning, so she's already gone.   

"Piper, Alex is driving me today" Prue tells me. "Okay" I reply, it's not a big surprise anyway. "So, are you dating him now?" I ask "Not yet" Prue says, grinning "But soon".  Can't help but smile too, I like hearing about my sisters' love lives since I have a definite lack of my own; I've never had a boyfriend. A car horn honks out side and Phoebe runs down stairs and out the door to her car pool "see ya" she calls once she's already halfway out the door. I look at the clock and realize that I'd better go to, so I don't miss the bus.

As I get on the bus I look around at all the other faces ignoring me and take my usual seat up in the front. The seat right next to the driver that no one else will take because it's only cool to sit in the back. But that's the only seat left, and I notice that some other girls are sitting three to a seat just so someone doesn't have to sit next to me. But, it's okay, I tell myself, I mean at least I have a place to put my back pack since I always sit alone, and my stop is the last one, so the ride isn't long.

Once I get to school, I go straight to my first period class, Biology. The halls in Baker are so crowed with kids hanging around and talking that it's hard to even move. Of course they never move for me, I just get shoved aside and I then accidentally bump into Aaron Stevens, who's a football player. "Get out of my way, freshman" he says and his friends laugh as he knocks the books out of my hands. "I'm not a freshman" I mumble, picking them up. "What did you say," Brian Thorson, Aaron's friend asks me. "I-I'm not a freshman, I'm a sophomore" I say louder, standing up. "Well, I'm a senior, and don't really care, just watch where you're going, loser" "Sorry" I mumble back, rushing away quickly before they pick on me any more. I wish Prue was here, no one dares to pick on me when she's around. When I get to biology I'm almost late after my confrontation with Aaron and Brian, so I take my seat quickly as my teacher, Mr. Colburn takes role and starts his lecture on microorganisms. I tune out, thinking. Aaron thought I was a freshman, I think miserably and wish I was taller. I'll always be small, even Phoebe's taller than I am and she's in 8th grade! I know I shouldn't care what jerks like Aaron or Brian think, but I can't help it, as dumb as it seems, I want them to like me, their popular. I was to impress them, like I'd ever be able to. I know I really should pay attention to Mr. Colburn, but I just can't concentrate, and thankfully, the class is over soon enough.

My next period in English, which is an even easier class, and the best part is that Prue is my English teacher, Mrs. Ericson's student aid, so I get to see her. "Hi Prue" I greet her, immediately happier now that she's here. "Hi, guess what? Alex asked me out this morning!" Prue tells me excitedly. "That's great Prue" I tell her, but her cell phone rings so I take my seat and get out my homework as Prue talks to someone, most likely Alex. To my disappointment, once Prue gets off the phone, class has started so she has to go make copies of our next English test and I have to do an assignment, so we don't get to talk any more. Near the end of class Prue drops a note on my desk as she hands the tests to Mrs. Ericson. I pick up the note, wondering what Prue could want to tell me. It says: Piper- I have cheer practice after school, so you'll have to wait for two hours if you want a ride.-love Prue.

Great, I have to sit around for two hours and wait or take the bus again. I guess I'll just wait, anything's better than the bus and I'll have a chance to do my home work, so it's not all bad. The bell rings and it's time to go to lunch. I'll just go to the library like I always do and read as I eat since I have no one to sit with. As I walk to the library I notice that people are laughing me, more than usual, I mean. I hope no one put another sign on my back, that really gets old. I bend my arm to reach the back of my shirt, but there's so sign there. "Piper", someone calls my name and I turn around, surprised that someone is going to talk to me. But my heart sinks when I see who it is, Kelley Jacobs, Tina Roberts and Mira Johnson, the three most popular and meanest sophomore girls in my school.

"Yeah?" I ask nervously. "Got gum?" Kelley asks me as Tina and Mira giggle. What? Gum? "No" I tell them not understanding what's so funny. "I think you do, reject, look in the mirror." Tina sneers and my hand immediately files up to my hair. My fingers stick to a big wad in my ponytail. Gum, someone stuck gum in my hair! Probably Mira, she was in my last period class. The girls' just laugh and walk away as I run to the bathroom to see how bad it is. A giant pink gob of it is matted in most of the bottom of my ponytail. Oh god. Tears start to run down my face before I can sop them and I go into a bathroom stall so no one else will see me and laugh more.

What should I do? I wonder before pulling out my cell phone to call Prue. "Hello" Prue asks a few rings later. "Prue, someone stuck gum in my hair" I tell her, my voice quivering. Prue sighs, "Oh, Piper" she says and I can't tell if she's sympathetic or annoyed, but she says she'll meet me in the bathroom so I guess she can't be too mad. "Piper?" Prue asks walking in a few minutes later. I open the door to the stall and walk out. "Prue, look" I say holding up the bottom of my ponytail. Prue cringes looking at it, and tries to pull the gum out. "What happened?" Prue asks, as she pulls on my hair, getting some of the gum out. I sigh "I don't know, someone put gum in my hair, I don't know when." I wince as Prue pulls on my hair harder "Ow. Prue!" "Stay still" Prue orders "I'm getting most of it out. Do you know who did it?" I shrug "No, not really, I think Mira did though." "Well, I guess I'll just have to have a little talk with Mira Johnson, then" Prue says, and I smile, Prue always sticks up for me. "Piper, I think I'm going to have to cut your hair" Prue says washing her hands to get the rest of the gum off of them. "What?!?" I exclaim "No way Prue". "Piper the rest is stuck in I can't get it out, do you have any better ides? Anyway it's not that much that I'll have to cut," Prue says "but you'll have to wait until after school because I don't have any scissors here and we don't have enough time to go home before lunch ends." "Why can't you get a pair from the art room?" I ask, desperate to just get this over with and get the gum out of my hair.

"Because there's an art class in the art room right now." Prue answers and I can tell she's losing her patience with this. "Prue" I whine, but I can't help it, there's gum in my hair, lunch is almost over and now Prues getting mad and I'm about to cry. "Piper, just, I don't know, try to wash it out" "Gum doesn't wash out! Take me home, please" I beg her. "Piper, don't whine, it makes you sound like Phoebe. Okay! Fine I'll take you home, but only to cut your hair, then you're coming back. You're just lucky that Alex and I took my car this morning" Prue tells me, taking me by the arm and dragging me out of the school and into her dark blue Honda Civic.

Yeah, I feel so lucky. I'm going home so Prue can cut my hair and for some reason, she's mad at me, like it's my fault Mira stuck gum in my hair. Prue pulls into the driveway and I follow her into the house silently, wiping away tears before they fall down my cheeks and Prue sees them. " Okay Piper, I'll try to cut off as little as I can." Prue says starting to cut. "Thanks" I tell her, staring to feel better, Prue will take care of this, just like she takes care of everything. Prue laughed to herself "This reminds me of when I got gum stuck in my hair at camp. Remember, Piper? I fell asleep chewing gum and when I woke up it was in my hair." I nodded, I did remember, but barely, I was only about 6 and Prue 8 at the time. "Yeah and you tried to get it unstuck by putting peanut butter on it. And when that didn't work you tried to freeze it and break it off" "Right" Prue laughed "So then, not only did I have gum in my hair but peanut butter and ice to, then one of the camp councilors had to cut it off anyway." "Yeah" I agreed, laughing too. It was a dumb story and I'm sure Prue just told it to cheer me up, but it worked. "All done" Prue said, combing my hair and pulling back up into a ponytail. "Okay, Prue, thanks, it doesn't look too bad, does it?" "No" Prue insisted and we drove back to school, only a little late to third period.

We pulled into the parking lot and as I was about to get out Prue grabbed my hand holding me back. "And Piper, I know Mira and her friends are mean to you and that's not fair, but you need to stand up to them. Don't let anyone ever make you feel like you're worth less than you really are." I just nodded. I can't believe that Prue just said that to me, maybe she understands me better than I thought. "Okay Prue, but do I really have to go back to school today? Maybe we could just hang out together." "Nope, go to school, honey. Love you" Prue says, getting out of the car and walking confidently back into the high school. Wow, Prue's being really nice, the least I can do is to get to class like she wants me to.

The rest of the day wasn't so bad and it ended quickly. After school I see Prue in a group of her friends and decide to walk up to say hi, since Prue was so nice earlier then maybe she'll even talk to me in front of her friends. "Hi Prue" I say walking up next to her and all of her friends stop talking to stare at me, I guess this is the first time I've just gone up to talk to her with her friends around. I freeze as I see Aaron and Brian standing in the group. "Oh look, its little loser who bumped in to me this morning" Aaron says with a laugh. Prue rolls her eyes and playfully hits him in the chest "That's just Aaron being a jerk" she tells me breezily and he laughs and wraps his arms around her. "So, what are you doing here, Piper?" Prue asks me. "I just wanted to say hi" I answer feeling self-conscious as Prue's friends stare at me. Prue cringes "Okay, hi, but I told you that I had cheer practice for two hours, so I'll find you when I'm done. Okay?" "Okay, bye Prue" I say, realizing that I'd better just walks away and that Prue obviously doesn't want to talk to me now. "Yeah, bye" Prue says turning away from me and back to her friends and Aaron, who's practically mauling her. "Hey, Prue," I ask, seeing Aaron kiss her "I thought you were dating Alex." Prue freezes in Aaron's arms and turns around and I realize what I just said. "Oh my GOD, just go away already" Prue hisses. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-  "BYE Piper" Prue interrupts me saying as she wriggles out of Aarons arms and stares me down until I walk away.

I can't believe it, that's the same girl, who, just hours ago told me to not let anyone pick on me, the same girl who laughed with me over her dumb camp story. Buts she's not the same not really. It's like Prues; two different people, my fun and loving sister and other one, the bitchy cheerleader when she's with her friends. I hate that Prue. But I should have known better, I shouldn't have talked to her. I don't know what I was expecting really. Oh well, she has two hours to cool down before she sees me again so hopefully she won't as mad when she drives me home. Hopefully.

As promised, in two hours Prue finds me in the library. "Piper, time to go home" she says and I can't tell if she's mad or not. "Prue, I'm really sorry about what I asked you about Alex, I didn't know you broke p with him." "What?" Prue asks, as we walk out of the library "I didn't, He's my boyfriend. You're so naive, I can't even believe it. I'm dating Alex and Aarons just…Aaron, I don't know what we are, but Aaron doesn't need to know about Alex either." Prue explains "I mean I'm not really dating both of them but, in a way I am." "I can't believe you're dating two guys" I tell her and I can't even get one, I add silently. Prue shrugs "think of it this way, Aaron's my school boyfriend and Alex is my home boyfriend. Not like it's any of your business anyway, but whatever." Prue says, walking ahead of me, her cheer skirt rustling behind her.

 Once we get into the parking lot Alex is there waiting for Prue in his red convertible. "Hey, you" Alex says grinning at Prue, his light brown hair falling into his eyes. I think he's the hottest guy I've ever seen and I all but melt when I see his smile. "Alex!" Prue kisses him "what are you doing here?" Alex shrugs "You told me cheerleading got done at 5 so I decide to surprise you. Surprised?" Alex laughs. His laugh is perfect, just like him. How did I not notice how great he was when he was a senior here last year? "Very surprised" Prue answers. "Come back to my house" Alex says getting out of the car and holding the door open for Prue. Wow he's even chivalrous. "I can't, I have to drive my little sister home" Prue says regretfully. "Then I'll drive you home" Alex offered. "Both of us?" I ask excitedly. I can't believe I'm about to ride in a convertible, with Alex Bradford! "Sure" Alex says smiling "And who might you be, Prue's beautiful little sister?" "I'm- "Alex, you're such a flirt" Prue says laughing as he starts the car "That's Piper, remember? I told you about my sisters, I have an annoying 13-year-old sister too, named Phoebe." "Oh yeah, Piper and Phoebe, I remember you mentioning them."

Alex turns around to look at me "Well, It's nice to meet you, Piper." He says and pulls out of the parking lot. "Mind if we go to Burger King first? I just got out of class and I'm staving." Alex asks. "I don't care what we do; I don't have to be home until dinner to baby-sit." Prue tells him. "What about you Piper, hungry?" Alex asks. "Um, yeah sure" I answer awkwardly. I'm not used to Prue's boyfriends being so nice to me, he's treating me like I'm…normal. We go into Burger King and eat, while Prue sits on Alex's lap, and they actually talk to me. "Alex, let me drive" Prue begs, after we get done eating and she trys to pull his keys from his hand. "No way" Alex laughs as he holds the keys above Prues head jokingly. He's at least two feet taller than she is. "Jump for them, Prue" I say , laughing too. "Yeah Prue, Piper's right, you need to jump for them. If you can get them, you can drive" he adds as I laugh at the idea of Prue ,in her varsity cheerleading uniform, jumping for Alex's car keys like a puppy. "Jump" I laugh again.

Prue glares at me and sits down on the hood of Alex's car, pouting. "Oh, come on Prue, we're just joking" Alex says putting the keys in his pocket and sitting down next to Prue. Prue turns her head to other way so she's not looking at him and shrugs off an arm he tries to put around her. "Prue, it's a fully restored 1967 Jaguar Roadster, I don't let anyone drive it. I was just joking with the keys anyway, don't be mad." "You know what Alex? You're an ass" Prue snaps, still pouting. I can't believe Prue just called him that. "Well, you're a bitch" Alex answers and Prue gasps. "Jerk" Prue fires back. "Slut" Alex counters. "Loser" Prue replies and breaks into a grin. "You're the loser" Alex answers putting an arm around her. "No, you are" Prue says leaning into him as they kiss.

No wonder I've never has a boyfriend, I didn't understand how that fight got resolved at all, but I get in the car and wait until Prue and Alex finish making out. "Oh," Prue said pulling away "Piper, you're still here" I shrug. Where else would I be? "Sorry, I guess we sort of forgot about you, kid" Alex answers sheepishly. "It's okay, it happens a lot" I tell him. "So, keys?" Prue asks holding out her hand. Alex drops them into her hand "Be careful" he warns. "Uh-huh" Prue answers, "let's see how fast this thing can go". Apparently, very fast, very, very fast, we're home in about four minutes and I feel sick to my stomach.

"See, I was careful" Prue says turning of the car and handing the keys to Alex. "Well, I lived" he answers with a laugh, "So did I. Barely" I say, staring to get out. "Don't be a baby" Prue says rolling her eyes at me. "Bye Piper" Alex says "Nice to meet you" "Bye. Alex" I reply and practically skip up the steps into the manor. I spent an entire afternoon with the smartest, funniest, coolest guy in the world. Too bad he's with Prue and she's even cheating on him! If I had a guy like that I'd never cheat, never ever.

The phone rings and I answer it, wondering where Phoebe and Grams are until I see a note written on the calendar in Gram's neat cursive. It says: parent-teacher conference at Phoebe's middle school. So that's where they are. "Hello?" I ask into the phone. "Prue?" Aaron asks. "Uh, no this is Piper" I say, "Do you want me to get her?" "Yeah, boy you're a smart one aren't you Piper?" Aaron asks sarcastically. Jerk. How can Prue date him too? It's not fair to Alex, "Oh, I'm sorry, Aaron, Prue can't come to the phone right now, she's with her boyfriend, Alex Bradford." I tell him triumphantly. "Yeah right, just let me talk to her, now" Aaron snaps as I grin. "Sorry. Can't. Bye" I start to hang up when Prue walk in the kitchen.

"Who's on the phone?" She asks, "no one, wrong number" I lie, hanging it up. "Oh" Prue says walking away as her cell phone rings and I freeze as she answers it. "Hello. Oh, hey Aaron. What? SHE WHAT? No, I don't know, she's crazy. She just talks for no reason. Aaron!" Prue glares at me as she's talking on the phone. "No Aaron, well, you cheated on me to. Yes you did. Un-huh! With Shelby Winters at Homecoming. Well, you took her! Yes! And, oh yeah, you kissed her at Mark Swanson's party in August. Damn right I knew about that." Prue listens into the phone for a second "Yes, I was planning on telling you…sometime. No, Aaron." Prue's lip trembles and she looks like she's about to burst into tears. "He's dumping me" she whispers to me as she listens into the phone. "No, Aaron. Well, who are you going to go to Prom with then, or, or the Luau Dance, that's in two weeks. Oh, Shelby, huh? Well that's just great, Aaron! Come on, I'll make it up to you, at the football game this Friday. Come on, the quarterback and head cheerleader are supposed to date, it's, like, a rule or something. Is too. Fine! I hope you and Shelby Winters are happy with each other, but this is the absolute last time I ever date you, Aaron Stevens! Bye!" Prue clicks off her cell phone throws it back in her purse angrily.

"I'm so, so sorry, Prue I was just trying to get back at Aaron" I apologize to her. "What the hell were you thinking? Do you know that now I don't have a date to the Luau Dance or the PROM? Do you know that Piper, I hope you're happy because you just RUINED MY LIFE." "You still have Alex" I remind her. "Yeah except Aarons going to tell him! Then he'll dump me too and I'll be single! Single! Do you have any idea what that's like, well I guess you do, but damn it Piper, I don't, I haven't been single since…since the beginning of 7th grade!" Prue screams. "I'm sorry Prue, but there must be a lot of other guys who'd date you." I try to reassure her. What have I done? I've never seen Prue this mad before. Ever. "I don't want OTHER GUYS, I want Aaron back. We've been dating on and off since, I don't even remember when. "I'm sorry" I say again, I don't know what else to say, I screwed up, no wonder I have no friends. "He broke up with me." Prue said quietly, shaking her head and walking away from me. "I said I was sorry" I tell her again. Prue turns around and there are tears streaming down her face "How could you do this to me?" Prue asks before running upstairs and slamming her door. I burst into tears too, I can't stand to see Prue so unhappy and it's all my fault. All I wanted to do was get back at Aaron for teasing me, how could everything get so screwed up? Now Prue hates me, what am I going to do?

A/N: Hope you like this chapter and keep reviewing. Please, please, please?