A/N: Sorry it took so long. Writer's block! Blah. Anyway, thanks for the reviews guys!
Rose01: Glad you liked it!
Anonymous: I feel bad for her, too! Believe me, Piper's one of my favorite characters. But she fit this role best.
Alyson Teague: I know. Teenage girls can be so horrible. I have to admit, I almost cried, too, and I wrote it!
PrudencePiperHalliwell: Lol. I wish, but no powers, remember? Plus, Piper's the Non-confident nerd who gets picked on. She's not one for revenge.
And now, as per my usual, I'm going to be evil! Read on to see why, and I'll try to update sooner next time. But it's hard. I'm doing four fics right now, and itching to start another!
Kay, anyway, please enjoy and please review!
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
Piper sat in the Nurse's office, where she'd been sent right after the commotion in the cafeteria had died down. She'd been instructed to wait while they discipline the people responsible and call her grandmother. Piper had gone berserk and begged them not to, to get her sister Prue instead. Prue could take her home, and then Grams would never know. She didn't want Grams to know,
So now she was waiting for someone to go get Prue and bring her here.
Piper was numb and could barely think. All she could think about was the red paint falling on her and some of what happened after. The teachers on duty had come over and easily figured out Debra and Jennifer – plus some junior boys – had been responsible and had been taken to the principal right away, then she'd been led, among jeering and laughing, to the nurse's office where Phoebe sat with her for awhile, until Piper couldn't stand it and told her to go to class.
Now she was waiting.
Tears were pooling in Piper's eyes and she had trouble containing them. But she wasn't going to start crying. No way. Not at school, in the nurses office, covered in red paint.
After what seemed like hours, the door into the nurses office opened and Prue ran in, her raven black hair shining perfectly and contrasting perfectly with her perfect tan (in other words, Prue was perfect).
"Oh god, sweetie," Prue exclaimed upon seeing her younger sister. She was at Piper's side in an instant. "What happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Piper said through gritted teeth. "Can you just take me home so I can shower and change before Grams gets back from work?"
"Why before- You are going to tell her what happened, right?" Prue asked, eyes wide.
"No. And you and Phoebe better not, either," Piper hissed.
"But Piper-"
"Prue just take me home," Piper said gruffly, saying each word as clearly as she could. She avoided eye contact because she knew if she looked at anyone, she would cry.
Prue glanced at the nurse, who nodded at her in a 'Take her home' kind of way.
"Okay," Prue said. "Let's go home, Piper."
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Piper threw away the clothes with the paint. What else could she do? She had loved the outfit, but Grams would ask her about the paint and there was no good excuse she could use. So she did the only thing she could do and threw them away.
Then she got into a nice hot bath and sunk underneath the water, letting it engulf her. She stayed under as long as possible, until she couldn't hold her breath anymore. Then she surfaced, gasping for air, eyes shut. She rubbed her eyes and opened them. Red paint was all over the bathroom tile, floor, and tube and the water was completely red.
Piper took a scrubbing brush and some soap and began to scrub away at the paint. Most of it had dried hard as a rock already and it took several dunks under water and two bars of soap before she got it all off. Then she drained the tub and stood, turning the spouts back to the shower setting and taking a hot shower to get rid of the rest of the paint and to wash her hair.
Two hours later, Piper emerged from the bathroom, wrapped up in two big fluffy towels. Prue was waiting for her. Not in the mood to talk, Piper made a beeline for her bedroom right away.
"Piper please talk to me. What happened?" Prue asked, following Piper.
"I don't want to talk about it," Piper snarled. She walked faster.
"Piper, you have to tell Grams, Somebody's bound to at some point," Prue said, walking faster to keep pace with her sister.
"No one is telling Grams anything," Piper snapped, slamming her door shut and locking it behind her. She heard Prue knocking and begging to be let in. Piper ignored her.
Instead, she changed into gray sweats and comfy socks and, hair still wet, got into bed and snuggled up under the blankets. The tears that had been threatening to escape finally broke free and she sobbed into her pillow for what seemed like hours, until she couldn't cry any longer.
After that, she fell asleep.
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
When she woke up, it wasn't because she was finished napping. No, if Piper had had it her way, she'd still be asleep. But the arguing outside her room was too loud to ignore.
"Prudence, I demand to know why you brought her home early, and I want the truth this time. The school wouldn't allow you to bring her home and not call me if it were simply a case of not feeling well."
Grams. Grams was home and she sounded mad.
Piper looked at her clock. It glowed 2:15. Piper had forgotten that Grams usually got home around two o'clock and Piper and Prue and Phoebe didn't usually arrive home until after three. Phoebe was still at school.
"She just wasn't feeling well, Grams. I swear, that's all. It wasn't major and Piper didn't want them to bother you at work, since you're just starting out and all. I had a free period, so they agreed to let me-"
"Prudence," Grams snapped, "I know well that you don't have any free periods to spare. And, seeing as you are not eighteen yet, they wouldn't let you simply bring Piper home. Now, I'm going to go in there and ask her myself."
"But she's asleep. You can't just-"
But apparently, Grams could. Because next moment, Piper's door was being shoved open (hadn't she locked it?) and Grams was inside her room.
"Piper," she said, gently but harshly, "Are you okay?" She sat on the edge of Piper's bed and put her hand on Piper's forehead. "You aren't warm, but you don't look well. Have you- Piper, were you crying? What's the matter?"
Piper couldn't speak. She didn't dare speak. If she opened her mouth, she feared she'd vomit or worse: tell Grams the truth.
"Grams, I'm fine," Piper croaked. Her throat was dry. "I just want to sleep, okay?"
"Piper, you aren't okay. You never miss school. You never come home early from school. What ever is the matter?" Grams asked – okay, demanded.
"Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing!" Piper cried. "Just get out and leave me alone!"
Grams looked so taken aback that she got off the bed and nodded. She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly shut it and stalked out.
Piper felt tears prick her eyes. Prue took Grams spot on the bed, frowning slightly.
"She just wanted to help. But I didn't tell her. I kept my promise to you," Prue informed Piper, if only to keep her sister from going Exorcist on her.
Piper said nothing.
"You know, you bring it on yourself," Prue said suddenly. "Those kids, they'd be nicer to you if you tried to be nice to them. You're such a loner and so-so weird. D'you know how many people tell me that if you weren't so weird-"
Piper mumbled something.
"What?" Prue asked, unable to hear what Piper had said.
"I said get out," Piper said louder.
Prue frowned. "But Piper-"
"Just get out, Prue," Piper said, feeling a fresh wave of tears coming on. "Just get out."
Prue frowned but stood and went to the door. She was half way through closing it when Piper called her name and she stopped.
"Yeah?" Prue asked hopefully. Maybe Piper would apologize for snapping at her.
"Don't come back in here again. Stay away from me, okay? " Piper said coldly, staring at the ceiling.
Prue gulped, but nodded. She turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Piper put her head back down on the pillow and stared at the ceiling as tears fell onto her cheeks and dripped onto the pillow.
Her heart was pounding painfully in her chest and she wished all her pain would just stop. School had been like this for sixteen years of her life. Except today had been the breaking point for her. She had feared for her life today, more so than ever before.
And she didn't think she could make it through the rest of this school year, let alone another two years of high school and four years of college.
She had to stop it. She had to end it or she'd crack.
The sun shone brightly into her room and caused something on her night table to shine into her eyes.
Squinting, Piper looked at the shiny item. It was a scissor that she had been using the day before to cut out pictures from her teen magazines. One of the magazines still sat on the table.
Piper glanced at her closed door, then at the scissors.
She had top stop the aching in her chest, the torment at school. She had to.
She reached for the scissors.