Disclaimer: same as usual

Strawberry Gashes

                Piper sat alone in her bedroom, she was sitting on her bed with the duvet covers wrapped tightly around her petit frame. She looked down at her forearms, and thought about the past few weeks. Her arms where now covered in small, thin red lines. She dragged her finger over them, and stopped at each individual line, This one is from when they got on at me for flunking that pop quiz, she moved onto another line, and this one is from when they tripped me up in the hallway and all my stuff went flying every where, the next one, this is when the kicked my books in the mud, she dragged her had over fours scars at once, these four are from when saw me talking to our school councillor and they assumed it was something bad not about me flunking grades, if only they knew what they were doing to me… if only they knew.

                Piper clambered out of her bed and headed for the bathroom. She shut the door behind her and looked in the mirror, her face was all pale and she looked wiped-out. She turned on the tap and let the water run until there was stream coming from the steady flow, just the way the blood does, she thought. A smile spread across her face as she splashed the water over her cold face and scrubbed her hands clean. She jumped in a quick shower then went down stairs to prepare breakfast. She poured herself some cereal and sat down, as she munched Phoebe walked in.

                "Morning," said Piper in a fake cheery voice, she looked over towards Phoebe who was walking about not really paying attention, she was feeling down because Grams had grounded her last night for breaking curfew.

                "Yeah," said Phoebe in a disgruntled tone, she then went about making some toast. An hour later Prue was waiting in the car for Piper to arrive, they almost always drove to school together. And the conversation was almost always the same, Prue would rabbit on about the current guy she was dating and Piper would pretend to care whilst secretly thinking about how to avoid Courtney throughout the day. But for the past few weeks she had been thinking about the little red slashes that ran up her arm. Thinking about when she would make the next cut, when the next feeling of relief would occur. They stopped outside the school building and Piper's delicate body jolted forward, and the seat belt dug into her shoulder.

                "Well, have a good day kiddo," Said Prue smiling at Piper who was sitting dreading what she was about to do, "I know I will," she said opening the car door after checking her make up and hair do in the small mirror.

                "Why do you always call me Kiddo? You make me sound as if I'm twelve," complained Piper, she wasn't actually bothered but it stalled so she wouldn't have to go into school with Courtney and her gang standing at the entrance,

                "It's just because it's familiar is all, I'll stop if you want," Replied Prue placing her hand on Piper's hand, she rubbed her arm causing the sleeve to run up her arm. Piper caught a glance of one of her thin red lines and quickly pulled her arm away, hoping Prue hadn't seen.

                "I guess we'd better go," she said quickly grabbing her bag and rushing out the car. She looked back and saw Prue check her make up once more then get out, thank goodness, she mustn't have seen or else she would have questioned.  

                Piper walked into her registration class and saw Courtney hadn't arrived yet. She hoped that without Courtney her gang would just leave Piper alone. She sat down and heard the school bell ring, then saw Courtney walk in… making a fashionably late entrance I see. Throughout registration Piper heard many giggles and people talking under their breath Piper took deep breaths in and out, trying to ignore what the people behind her were saying. If she was anyone else, she would dismiss the whispering as not being about her, but she was Piper Halliwell… bullying magnet. As soon as registration was finished Piper stood up and rushed out the classroom. She pulled the door open and ran straight into a shocked Prue. Prue looked down at her,

                "Piper you ok?" she asked, Piper nodded, "Are you sure you're in such a hurry," Piper nodded once more. "Ok, I need to talk to you," Prue led Piper aside and into an empty classroom, Piper sat down in an empty desk and waited fro Prue to start talking. She sighed and let out a deep breath,

                "Piper I know what you've been doing and I want to help you," she said as she sat down beside Piper,

                "What do you mean?" asked Piper hoping that Prue mean something about flunking maths or something like that, suddenly Prue reached out to her wrist and pushed her sleeve up to reveal the gashes.

                "This is what I mean," she said looking at the slits with her eyes then she looked up into Piper eyes. Which at this point were gathering tears…

A/N: Ok I know that you have been waiting like a zillion years but hey this is the next chapter finally. Plz R&R ^_^