Three weeks after Prue was granted custody, Jamie, Nancy's Physical Therapist, decided that it was time for Nancy to return to school She was still weak in a lot of areas, and would get tired after long walks, but knew that she could handle walking the halls of a school, since she would be sitting down for her classes.
It was early Monday morning when Nancy got up, excited that she was finally able to go back to school. At 6:30, knowing that it was hopeless to try and sleep anymore, she took her shower and got dressed. She knew it was very early, but she just could wait.
Prue woke up at 7:00, and headed to Nancy's room. When she opened the door, she found the room empty, and the bed already made. She also noticed that once again, several of Nancy's new cloths were laying on the floor. Prue headed downstairs and found Nancy sitting in the den, on the couch.
"Nancy, what time did you get up?"
"6:30, I couldn't sleep anymore."
"Have you eaten anything?"
"I'm not hungry, I'm to excited to eat."
"Well, you have to take your medication, and you have to eat something with it, you know that. Come on, I'll make you some breakfast."
"Your going to cook? Can't I just skip the medicine today?"
"Very funny. I know I'm no Piper when it comes to cooking, but I think I can handle scrambling a few eggs."
Nancy let out a small giggle as she watched Prue walk into the kitchen. Nancy got up slowly and headed to kitchen herself. She took a seat at the kitchen counter and watched as Prue turned on the stove, before scrambling the eggs. Prue handed Nancy a glass of orange juice, along with some toast, while the eggs were cooking.
After finishing the eggs, Prue went to the upper cabinet and took out one of Nancy's pills, handing her a little bit more orange juice, then the pill. Ever since Nancy had tried to take her medication without food, Prue had insisted that they be kept out of her reach, and out of her site. They supervised her every time.
By the time she finished eating, it was a little after 7:30, and she knew the bus would be there soon. Nancy jumped off the stool, and made her way to the stairs. Picking up her backpack, she double-checked that she had everything, then zipped up the bag, placing it over her shoulder.
She was just about to yell goodbye to Prue, when she noticed a half awake Phoebe walking down the stairs with Piper close behind. Prue came out of the kitchen, and grabbed one of Nancy's jackets out of the closet, handing it to her.
"What are you two doing up?"
"We wanted to wish you luck on your first day back."
"Thanks, I'll see you guys later."
"We'll wait with you."
"You don't have to."
"We know."
Prue said as she opened the door and headed outside. Phoebe and Piper followed close behind, with Nancy bringing up the rear. She couldn't decided if she really wanted them to wait with her. Only little kid's parents waited outside for the bus, not high school kids. Not wanting to hurt their feelings, she sat down on the steps next to them.
"Are you nervous?"
"A little, but mostly just excited. I love school. I know it sounds crazy, I mean what kid really likes school. I spent most of my life with grownups, and never got to socialize with other kids, I became grateful any chance I got."
At 7:45, the bus pulled in front of the manor, and Nancy got up. Not wanting to give the kids any reason to pick on her, she simply said goodbye, without giving a kiss or hug to any of them.
"Nancy, wait a second. Here, you need to give this to the Physical Education (P.E.) teacher. Remember, Jamie said that you could go back to school, but no P.E. Your body isn't ready for that yet."
"But Phoebe.."
"Listen, you can either give her the note yourself, or I'll do it for you."
"OK, it's a small price to pay. At least I get to stop wasting my days hanging around here, doing nothing."
"Have fun, one of us will be home when you get back. And you will clean your room tonight. Your new cloths do not belong on the floor."
"Right, sorry about that. I couldn't decide what to wear today."
Nancy turned quickly, and walked away, as Prue made a step toward her putting her arms out for a hug.
"What was that about?"
"Prue, she's in high school. How often did you hug Grams, or us, in front of your classmates?"
Getting the picture, Prue watched as Nancy got onto the bus, with a big, brave smile on her face. Once on board, Nancy's excitement changed to fear. She noticed all the faces that were looking at her like she was an alien. Taking a deep breath, she made her way to the back of the bus. As she passed each seat, she tried her best to ignore the whispers and glares that she got from the other students. Noticing a girl sitting alone she stopped.
"Can I sit here?"
She asked as politely as possible. Without saying a word, the girl rolled her eyes, and moved her books out of the way. Knowing that Prue was still outside, waiting for the bus to leave, and not wanting to draw any more attention to herself, she sat down.
The bus ride seemed to go on forever. The other kids were talking and joking with each other, while Nancy just sat quietly trying not to make eye contact with anyone. She noticed that a eerie silence came over the bus.
"AREN'T YOU A LITTLE YOUNG TO BE ON THIS BUS? SHOULDN'T YOU BE ON THE KIDERGARDEN BUS?"
Came a voice from the front of the bus. Laughter filled the bus as more jokes were said. Nancy cracked a smile with the first few jokes, they were kind of funny, and not really hurtful. As the kids kept up the jokes, it became more annoying then hurtful, and Nancy just became content with her own thought of the past.
She had been through this type of behavior before. At her old school, nobody would talk to her for days. It wasn't until her chemistry teacher handed out a group assignment, and others were forced to work with her that kids started to warm up to her. It turned out that most of them thought that she would be a up-tight snob, who thought she was better then the rest. Little by little she became more involved with the kids at school, even started to get invitation to football games, and parties.
Nancy was confident that given time, the same things would happen here, she just had to be patient, and give the kids time to get to know her. She knew she had to show she wasn't any different from them. By the time she arrived at the school, the kids had stopped making comments, Nancy wasn't sure if it was because they ran out of things to say, or they just became bored with teasing her.
Nancy waited patiently in her seat, and allowed everyone else to go by her, not wanting to be knocked over, or bumped into. Getting off the bus, she received a sympathetic look from the bus driver who told her to 'Stay Strong', as he closed the door, and drove off.
Nancy took a moment to look up at the huge school that stood before her. She was grateful that Prue and Phoebe had brought her to the school weeks before when they were registering her for classes. They showed her around the school, and told her the cool places to hang out, and stressed the places to avoid. Nancy pulled a piece of paper out of her backpack, then looked at her watch. Classes started at 8:30, and it was now 8:05, she would have to hurry if she was going to make it to homeroom on time. Her first stop would be the library, to pick up the books she needed for her classes.
Not wanting to give the kids any more ammunition to pick on her, she studied the notes she took from Prue and Phoebe, visualized where she need to go, then put the paper in her back pocket. Taking a deep breath, and lifting her head up high, she started her long walk up the steps of the school.
Once inside she made her way down the long hallways of the school, taking care not to get bumped into by the other students who lined the halls talking to each other before class. She kept repeating over and over in her head,
'First floor, end of the hall, turn right, second door on the left'
Trying to remember the directions to the library. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the door marked Library, and entered the room. She surprised, for a school this large, it wasn't very big, and thankfully there were no students around.
She approached the counter, gave the librarian the list of books she needed, pulled out her student I.D. card, and began to put as many books in her backpack as possible. She didn't want to walk the halls with an armful of books that kids could knock out of her hands.
While waiting for the last of her books, she looked at her watch again, and saw that it was now 8:12. She still had to get to her locker, drop off her books, and then get to homeroom. She pulled the paper from her back pocket, grabbed a pen, lifted the sleeve of her shirt, and wrote down some numbers, before the librarian returned with the last of her books. Thanking the kind man, she left the library and paused at the door for a moment to get the directions straight in her head.
"End of this hall, take the elevator to #2 get off second row of lockers on the left, #2006.'
Once she was sure she was right, she opened the door and headed to the elevator. She was stopped by a teacher telling her to use the stairs, but she quickly pulled out her I.D. that showed she had permission to use the elevators. After a brief apology from the teacher, she got on and headed to the second floor. Getting off the elevator, she found her locker with little to now problem, however students were standing in front of her locker, talking up a storm. Nancy had considered waiting patiently, but knew if she did, she would defiantly be late for homeroom.
"Excuse me please, but your standing in front of my locker."
The students looked at her with questioning looks, and continued to talk without moving. It wasn't until she cleared her throat several times before they moved.
"Whatever! Ten to one says she can't even get her locker open."
One of the kids replied to his friends as they moved out of the way, and stood facing her to watch her open her locker. Nancy put her backpack on the floor, and turned her back to the kids. She carefully lifted the sleeve of her shirt, and without missing a beat turned the dial of the lock without a moment's hesitation. When it popped open on the first try, she looked at the kid with the big mouth, giving him a sarcastic grin.
"Sorry about that. Guess you loose."
She watched as the kids walked away, before she started to pile her books into her locker. Once she was sure they were out of sight, she carefully buttoned the cuff of her shirt, and thanked God she had taken the extra second to write her combination down on her upper wrist.
By the time she was done, she looked at her watch again and realized she had plenty of time to get to homeroom, it was only 8:20. She didn't even need to look at her notes, she knew that her homeroom was right at the end of the hall, number 226. Entering the room, she noticed that many of the students were already sitting down, while others were standing in the a isle talking to their friends before the bell.
A few of them she had seen on the bus, and to her surprise the boy from the locker was sitting in the back. This time she didn't let nay of the whispers and giggles get to her, as she approached the teacher, who shook her hand and told her to take a seat anywhere. Nancy quickly found a seat, and had just got settled when the bell rang.
"Alright everyone, let's settle down so I can take roll."
As the teacher called out the names, Nancy took a look around the room so that she could try to put some names with the right faces, should she see them later in a class or something.
"Nancy Halliwell, well, I know that you're here and welcome to Baker High. I'm sure you will be very happy here."
"Thank you."
After the rest of the roll was taken, Nancy pulled out her class schedule, studied the notes she had taken, and by the time the bell rang she was confident she knew where she need to go. She headed to her first class, Advanced Algebra, which was her first love. She loved anything that had to do with numbers. When she entered the room, for the third time that day, she got looks from all the students. She knew it was going to be a long day, but she planned to make the best of it.