"Well at least one good thing about all of us getting up at different times. We all get to take hot showers."
"Sure Pheebs, make any excuse to sleep till noon."
"Very funny. I'll be starting school soon enough, so might as well take advantage of the easy days while I still can."
Phoebe made her way into the kitchen, while Piper continued to read the paper. Just as Phoebe passed the phone, it rang.
"I'll get it. Hello. This is. Sure, I can help out. No, I'm sure it's no problem. Give me about a half an hour, and I'll be right there. You're welcome. Bye."
Walking back into the den, chewing on an apple, she made her way toward the stairs.
"Who was on the phone Pheebs?"
"That was the hospital. They need some of the volunteers to come in and help out. Their having a party for the kids on the cancer ward, and their short handed."
"Well, I'm going to be heading off to the club in a little while. If you hurry I can give you a ride."
"No problem, give me fifteen minutes to change and I'll be ready to go."
Phoebe ran up the stairs, and pulled out her most comfortable jeans, t-shirt, and tennis shoes. Running into the bathroom, she washed up, applied some makeup, got dressed, and headed back downstairs.
"Here I made you a sandwich; I don't think the apple will hold you till lunch."
"You are a life saver Piper."
Phoebe kissed her sister on the cheek as they made their way out to the car. As Piper started up the car, and fastened her seatbelt, Phoebe reached over turning on the radio. Cranking the volume, she took a bite of her sandwich, and then fastened her own seatbelt.
"Phoebe, come on now…"
"Piper, you should be used to loud music by now. I mean, you own one of the best clubs in town. You have live, very loud music playing there almost every night. This shouldn't bother you."
Piper rolled her eyes, turned the volume down slightly, and then put the car in gear to back out of the driveway. Phoebe tried to sneak her hand over to the volume control, only to receive a slap on the hand by Piper. Backing out of the driveway Phoebe bounced around to the music, while eating her sandwich. As their car hit the street, they could hear the phone ringing inside.
"Figures, people always call when we are on our way out."
Piper said as she switched the car into drive, and took off to take Phoebe to the hospital, before heading to the club.
RING-RING-RING
HI, WE'RE NOT HOME RIGHT NOW TO TAKE YOUR CALL. LEAVE A MESSAGE AND ONE OF US BEAUTIFUL HALLIWELLS WILL GET BACK TO YOU AS SOON AS WE CAN….
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP
"Hi guys its Prue. You must have stepped out for a while. I'm going to be working late, and don't know when I'll be home. An important auction is coming up, and Caldwell has thrown some new items my way. He ordered a rush job on them, so they can be added to the auction. Make sure Nancy gets her medication, and eats something. I'll see you guys in the morning. Tell Nancy I want to hear all about her first day in the morning. Love you guys."
BEEP
At 4:30, the bus pulled away from the school, with Susan, Jill, and Nancy on board.
"That was close. This was the last bus. We almost missed it."
"Thanks for coming with us to see Carol. You know you didn't have to help wash the uniforms."
"Believe me, it was better then going home and explaining how I got this."
"Are your parents going to be really pissed?"
"I'll come up with something. Don't worry."
Nancy felt funny not correcting her new friends, and telling them she lived with her cousins. They had spent the rest of the lunch period, and their detention talking about their lives, and getting to know each other. Nancy kept avoiding the subject of her parents, every time the subject came up; she gave a general statement, and then quickly changed the subject.
She also didn't want anyone to think that Prue was her real mom. She remembered her real mom, she was a wonderful woman, and she wasn't ready for someone to take her place. She was just starting to like Jill and Susan, and they were warming up to her, she didn't want their pity. She could and didn't want to explain to them how her parents died; too many questions.
Jill and Susan were looking out the window when the bus stopped in front of a huge house.
"This is where I get off."
"Wow, you live here? Your parents must be loaded. Your house is huge."
"Yea, well, um….bye."
"Bye Nancy, see you tomorrow."
They replied, not even taking their eyes off the house. Nancy made her way off the bus, almost falling going down the stairs. Turning to wave goodbye to her new friends, she waited till the bus rounded the corner, before she made her way up the manor stairs, sitting down at the top.
She still didn't know what she was going to tell the girls. Everything she had come up with sounded fake and telling the truth would be dangerous for everyone. Realizing that maybe a half-truth would work, she stood up, took out her key, and opened the door.
"Hello, I'm home."
She placed her bag at the end of the stairs, and made her way into the kitchen. She wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.
"Prue, Piper, Phoebe? Anyone home? I'm home."
Getting no response, and finding the kitchen empty, she headed back into the main entryway, pausing when she noticed the message light flashing on the answering machine. Pushing the button, she leaned against the wall as she waited for the tape to rewind.
Hearing Prue's voice on the machine, she smiled to herself realizing that she wouldn't have to deal with her at least tonight. Prue would be angrier then the other two, now all she had to do was deal with Phoebe and Piper. As the message ended, she waited for the next message.
BEEP
"Hi guys, I'm not going to be home until late tonight. I'm going over to some friend's house. Their student nurses from the hospital, they said they'll le me get the low down on the program. Classes will start before you know it, and I want to have a leg up. Sorry I'm not going to be home to hear about Nancy's day, tell her I hope it was great. See you guys in the morning."
Even better Nancy thought. Phoebe would be angry to. Now she just had to deal with Piper, who would be more concerned about the bruise itself, then how it happened.
BEEP
"Hi guys, I'm not going to be home until after the bar closes. I'm swamped with paperwork, and can't even come home to change before the club opens. I really wanted to be there to hear about her day, tell her I'll be up bright and early tomorrow to hear all about it. Love you guys."
"Wait a minute. It can't be this easy. No one will be home till really late? This is great; I'll be asleep by then. Maybe by morning, the bruise won't look so bad, and then I can tell them I slipped at school, and they'll know I'm fine. I'm in the clear…YES! Ouch, oh my God that hurts."
Getting way too excited Nancy had started to jump up and down, causing sever pain to shoot through her body. As she made her way to the stairs, she picked up her backpack, and made her way up the stairs. Each step she took felt like she was climbing a steep cliff, she found herself almost crawling on her hands and knees by the time she reached the top.
Arriving in her room, she threw her backpack on her desk, walked over to the dresser, and got out a clean shirt. Walking over to her mirror, she removed her t-shirt, and once again turned to face the mirror to see how her back looked.
With all the scratches and scrapes on her back, from her former foster parent, her back looked even worst then before. For a moment, she thought that the doctor wouldn't notice. She thought by the time the appointment came around, the new bruise would be faded, and just look like the others.
Deciding not to dwell on it now, she put on her shirt, and sat down at her desk. She looked at her bed for a moment, and thought about lying down for a while to take a nap, but knew she had to get her homework done first. She didn't think it would take to long. She did her Algebra first, since it was the easiest, and then began to read her History homework. As she stared at the pages, she could feel her eyelids starting to close. Her body was in so much pain that she was almost numb. After battling with herself for over an hour, her face fell forward, as exhaustion took over, and she fell fast asleep.