Guess what! All the stuff leading up to the main part of the story is done! Now, this stuff was really important. You had to see how desperate Piper was, and how she and Phoebe became who they will be later in the story. This is a very AU fic. Because as any fan would know, Piper was never popular in high school. I'm trying to decide where in the seasons I should pick this up. I'm leaning towards somewhere between season 3 and 5. If you have any preference, tell me in your review that you are obviously going to drop for me. Because everyone knows, a writer lives and breathes off of reviews!
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True to the six inch man's word, Piper didn't notice anything different. She felt she still looked the same, the phone never rang for her, which was no change, and some of her teachers still, after a semester, didn't know her name. She regarded everything that had happened that night as just one large and elaborate dream. Grams and Prue, and Phoebe noticed the changes first. Piper would come home, and her face would be just a little clearer, or her hair had a little more volume.
"Piper, you know what facing death made me realize?" Phoebe said at breakfast one morning when it was just the two of them before school. Phoebe was casually finishing her breakfast, as Piper scurried around, trying to fix a science project that she had dropped on the way down the stairs that morning.
"What?" Piper said, just to please her little sister.
"You look a lot like Prue." Phoebe said. Piper blushed. It was what she wanted; it was what she always wanted.
"Thanks Phoebe. Hurry up and finish eating, I get to drive you to school today."
"K." Piper left the room, but paused at a mirror, to look at herself. She could see where Phoebe was getting that from. She didn't look a lot like Prue, but Piper noticed, that she looked more attractive. She thought nothing of it more than she was just growing up. Looking down, at the hall table, she looked through the junk drawer for some glue. There was a duplicate picture of her and Prue, and Phoebe just stuffed in it. It had been taken on the first day of school that year. Grams always made them pose for a picture on the first day of school. Although they always complained, Piper liked to look at the first day pictures lined up nicely in order underneath their school portraits. She didn't know what drugs Phoebe was on, but she knew one thing. In this picture she didn't look a thing like Prue. But before running back to the kitchen where her project lay in eight pieces, she caught another glimpse of herself in the mirror. The resemblance was clear. She did look like Prue. Piper quickly grabbed the picture, and put it in her coat pocket. She figured she would hang it in her locker. But the picture never made it to her locker. Instead, it lay forgotten at the bottom of her backpack.
The first clear sign to Piper that maybe her encounter with the six inch man wasn't a dream was when people would smile to her as they would pass her in the hall. Kids would ask to be her partner for science labs, and talk to her for the few short minutes before classes would start. Piper felt like she was on top of the world. There was a twang of disappointment when she wasn't asked to the winter formal. But after years of no one knowing her name, some recognition was nice, even if it wasn't an invite to the winter formal. The phone rang for the first time for Piper over break. It was the first time in a long time that Grams was beginning to see Piper truly happy. But only Piper knew the truth. People didn't like her because of who she used to be. They only liked her after some little six inch man did some magic trick, and turned her all beautiful, popular, and attention worthy. But she still liked the attention, the beauty, and the friends.
By the end of the year, Piper had become the most popular girl in her class. She was no longer a nameless face in the halls, but someone that people looked up to, and she did it all without being a cheerleader, which made some people even more impressed with Piper.
But there were two people who still had it in for Piper, and Piper knew it. Things didn't get better for Amy and Ashley. While Piper was on top of the world, they were still the only two at their table. On the second to last day of school, Piper watched Amy and Ashley read at their table. Piper remembered what it was like, sitting there, wishing she was popular, or one of the popular people. She picked up her yearbook and pen and walked confidently to Ashley and Amy. They didn't look up as she pulled a chair out for her to sit down. At this point half of the cafeteria was looking at the table dubbed only for losers. "Why did you sit down Piper?" Amy coolly said.
"I want you guys to sign my year book." She said.
Ashley put down her book, picked up Piper's pen and began to sign it. "Why us? We're not friends."
"No, but you used to be. Even before we knew each other by name, I considered you guys my friends."
"Really? You didn't act like it." Amy said.
"Why, because I never said that Prue was my sister? At the time, that was important to me. How I'm related to Prue still has nothing to do with me. She's my sister, I love her, but I like to think myself as very different. If you think otherwise, that is fine with me. Just know that you're wrong. But I'd still like you guys to sign my yearbook."
"Here you go Piper." Ashley slid Piper's yearbook back to her.
"Thanks Ashley. There is a big end of school party at my house tomorrow; would you guys like to come?"
"Really?"
"Its not so much as a party, as me and my sisters are each having a bunch of friends over to hang out."
"Prue and her friends will be there?" Amy said.
"Yeah."
"I'm not going near your house tomorrow."
"That's fine. Ashley, you're still invited."
"I'll come." Ashley weakly said.
"Great! I'm glad you decided to come." Piper smiled as she picked up Ashley's year book, and her pen.
Ashley~
I wish I had talked to you more. For the short time we did talk, you seemed so nice. I hope that next year, I will get to know you better. Promise me this; you will never loose your sweetness. Hope your summer is full of fun and sun!
~ Piper Halliwell
Ashley gaped as she saw the most popular girl in her grade signing her year book. Amy just snubbed her nose. As Piper emptied her backpack the next day, a single picture fell out from the bottom. Crumpled beyond saving it, Piper slowly tried to unfold it. As the she was able to make out the first person, she recognized the picture immediately, as the first day of school picture. The last person to be flattened was herself. "Magic really is real." She said to herself as she saw herself. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Piper had transformed from the shy and timid girl in the picture, to the bold, and daring teenager that she was that day. She stuck a pin through it, and put it on her bulletin board, to remind her of magic. As the weeks passed, the open window let the breeze blow through. Without her realizing it, the picture fell off, and flew into Piper's trash can.
Over the summer, Piper and Ashley became fast friends, again. Even though she was always surrounded by friends, Piper relied on Ashley the most when she had a problem that she needed a friend to help fix. Ashley had become, in a summer, and to her luck- no magic, the most popular girl's best friend. When they started their senior year, Piper went into it as the most popular girl in school. No longer did she have Prue as competition. Prue still lived at home, and her friends would come by to visit more often than not, but Piper ruled the school. Class president, homecoming queen, winter princess, prom queen, all titles that had once been attached to Prue. Now, they all belonged to the next Halliwell, that and chief editor for the newspaper. She didn't know what was in store for her.