Monday Mornings

The following morning came too early for the Halliwell girls. Their alarms went off around 7:45. Prue hit the snooze button and rolled over. She pulled the blankets over her head to block out the sunlight streaming through the curtains. In the next room, Piper was sitting on the edge of her bed, sliding her feet into her slippers. She looked over at Phoebe. She was still sound asleep. Piper couldn't blame her. The eight-year-old could only imagine what it was like to have premonitions. As quietly as she could she opened the door and padded down the hallway and into the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later Piper was searching through her drawer in search of clothes. She glanced at the clock and realized that she needed to get Phoebe up.

"Phoebe, time to get up," she called to her baby sister, shaking her by the shoulder. The five-year-old groaned and tried to roll over.

"Phoebe, come on. We have to go to school," Piper reminded, turning on the light.

"I don't want to go," Phoebe whined.

"Dad said we had to go to school," Piper chided. With a loud sigh, the five-year-old crawled out of bed and headed towards the stairs. Piper finally found something to wear and followed her sister downstairs. Victor was nowhere in sight but Piper managed to get Phoebe and herself bowls of cereal and juice. By the time 8:30 rolled around Piper had gotten Phoebe dressed and was about to knock on Prue's door. Just as the eight-year-old was about to knock, the door was pulled open and Prue walked out.

"Morning," Piper greeted.

"I hate school," Prue grumbled as she shut the bathroom door. All of the noise brought Victor out of his room.

"What's going on out here?" he asked.

"Nothing. The bus will be here soon," Piper answered as Phoebe emerged from their room with her backpack.

"Oh…oh why didn't you tell me? Did you girls eat?" he questioned, feeling embarrassed.

"Yes. But Prue just got up," Phoebe answered, struggling to pull the second strap of her backpack onto her shoulder.

"Ok. What time does the bus come?" he wanted to know just as Prue came out of the bathroom.

"At 8:45," Piper answered. He looked at his watch and saw that it was 8:35. He looked at Prue.

"You need to eat before you catch the bus," he told her. She merely shrugged and grabbed her backpack.

"Prue, I'd like a verbal response when I talk to you," he called after her. She stopped on the stairs, turned around and glared at him.

"Fine. I'll grab toast," the ten-year-old said through gritted teeth. She turned and stormed down the rest of the stairs. Victor ran a hand through his hair.

"Why don't you girls go wait for your sister downstairs," he instructed the two younger girls. Piper nodded and she and Phoebe joined Prue in the kitchen. Prue looked at her siblings as she waited for the toast to pop up.

"Remember, Leo said we can't tell anybody about magic," she reminded her sisters as she pulled the toast from the toaster and spread butter and jelly on it.

"Why not?" Phoebe questioned.

"I don't know. He just said we can't," Prue answered, taking a bite of her toast.

Shortly there was a honk outside and the girls headed down the front steps and onto the bus. Victor watched them go from the upstairs window. He hoped that nothing supernatural happened today. Prue sat down in one of the seats and Piper and Phoebe across from her. The bus began to move away from Prescott Street and picked up several more elementary school aged kids. A boy around Piper's age sat behind Phoebe and Piper. His messy brown hair was falling in his eyes which were fixed on Phoebe. Thinking no one was looking; he reached around the edge of the seat and pinched the five-year-old's arm.

"Ow!" she squealed, jumping in her seat. Prue turned and faced the boy instantly.

"What did you do?" she demanded, moving to the edge of her seat.

"I didn't do anything," he answered.

"He pinched me," Phoebe murmured, rubbing her sore arm.

"Don't ever touch my sister again you little brat," Prue hissed at him.

"I'm not scared of you," the boy shot back.

"You should be," she countered, narrowing her eyes. Piper saw what her sister was about to do and grabbed her by the arm.

"Prue, don't. He's not worth it," Piper told her sister as firmly as she could.

"You ok, Pheebs?" Prue questioned. The youngest Halliwell nodded. The boy scooted to the inner edge of the seat where he was soon joined by another boy his age. The rest of the bus ride was uneventful for the Halliwells. Prue waited for the two boys to get down the stairs before she squinted her eyes and tripped one. Both of them toppled over.

"Prue," Piper gasped as softly as she could.

"Maybe he should watch where he was going," Prue answered, giving her sister a 'don't say anything' look. She ushered her siblings into the building and dropped Phoebe off at the kindergarten room.

"Bye, Phoebe," Piper said, giving her sister a hug before heading to her own class. Phoebe looked around at her classmates. She hoped she wouldn't get any premonitions while she was at school. She wouldn't be able to call for Leo or go to her sisters, especially because the third and fifth graders didn't have recess at the same time as she did.

Prue headed for her classroom, hands wrapped around the straps of her backpack. She had just reached the door when she heard someone calling her name. She turned around to see the vice principal.

"Prudence," she said. Prue winced slightly. She was in trouble.

"I need you to come with me," the vice principal instructed. She caught Prue's teacher's eye and nodded. She led the ten-year-old down several hallways and to her office. The boy from the bus was sitting in her office.

"Please sit down," the vice principal told Prue. The ten-year-old slumped into the chair.

"Justin here says you tripped him," she informed Prue.

"I didn't trip him. I didn't touch him," Prue protested.

"She threatened me on the bus," Justin interjected.

"I did not! You hit my sister," Prue accused.

"She's a baby," Justin shot back.

"Yeah well you're a jerk who picks on little kids," Prue ground out.

"That's enough. I don't know what is going on here but both of you are going to stay after school for a half hour for detention," the vice principal said firmly. Both students groaned but got up and headed back to their respective classes. Prue slumped into her seat and picked up with the lesson her teacher had started. She couldn't believe that little snot had gotten her in trouble. Victor was going to kill her.

The rest of the morning seemed to pass uneventfully for the Halliwell girls. Piper had almost tried to freeze the snack of the girl sitting next to her as it fell to the floor but she didn't want to disobey Leo. Just as the teacher h ad finished cleaning up the mess; the girl leaned over and stared at Piper's notebook.

"Who's Leo?" Cassie asked, noting the little hearts drawn around the name.

"Nobody," Piper answered covering up the notebook.

"Yeah, sure. You like a boy," Cassie whispered.

"I do not," Piper denied.

"Then who is he?" Cassie probed.

"Nobody," the middle child answered again and got up, lining up for recess.

Five minutes later Piper's class was released outside and onto the playground. The eight-year-old spotted her older sister sitting on a swing by herself. Prue never really did like recess. Piper joined her sibling on the unoccupied swing to her right.

"You look mad," Piper commented, kicking off from the ground, dust flying up.

"I have detention," Prue muttered darkly.

"Why?" Piper asked, sounding shocked. Prue never got in trouble at school.

"That stupid kid who pinched Phoebe on the bus. He said I pushed him. So we both got detention. You'll have to make sure Phoebe gets on the bus," Prue answered.

"But Prue…what about Dad? Won't he be mad?" Piper asked after a moment of silence.

"I don't care. It's not my fault. And I didn't even use magic on him," the eldest grumbled.

"So how will you get home?" the eight-year-old queried, gaining some altitude as her small legs pumped back and forth.

"I'll walk," the ten-year-old answered.

"You can't walk. You're not allowed," Piper reminded her. It had been one of Grams' rules. None of them were allowed to walk home from school alone.

"I'm ten not two, Piper. I can walk home if I want," she retorted. She was about to add that Grams wasn't around to enforce the rule anymore but she didn't. She knew how close to Grams Piper was.

"You could ask Leo to take you home," Piper suggested.

"I'm walking home. Don't say anything to Victor," Prue answered with a note of finality in her voice. She leapt off the swing and headed back inside. Piper watched her sister leave and heaved a sigh. She didn't want to make her sister more upset but she couldn't lie to her father. Realizing that recess was over, she headed inside as well. Little did either she or Prue know but Phoebe was not having the easiest of days back at school either. She was sitting at her desk, practicing her alphabet when a boy reached to steal her pencil. She brushed hands with him and she was pulled into a premonition, inhaling sharply. This time it wasn't about Grams.

She was looking down from the stairs on the second landing. She saw a figure, a man with his back to her. She couldn't tell who it was but she could see him moving away from her. She heard a voice. She didn't think it was the man's. Suddenly the man was lying on the floor with an arrow sticking out of his back.

"Phoebe," her teacher said softly, bending down next to the five-year-old. Phoebe slowly turned to face the woman. She could feel herself shaking slightly from the images. Miss Peterson laid a comforting hand on Phoebe's shoulder.

"Do you need to go to the nurse?" the young woman questioned.

"No. I'm ok," Phoebe lied. She couldn't tell Miss Peterson about what she had seen. She could get in trouble.

"It's almost snack time. Why don't you get something to drink," the teacher offered. Phoebe nodded and got her lunch box from her backpack. She sipped on her juice box and she felt a little better. She would feel much better if she could talk to her sisters. She only hoped that whatever it was she had seen didn't happen while they were in school.

The afternoon dragged by for both Phoebe and Prue. Phoebe was itching to find her sisters and tell them about the premonition. Prue on the other hand was dreading detention. She'd never been in detention before. She wasn't scared; she didn't get scared that easy. She was just annoyed. The final bell of the day rang and students poured out of all the doorways and into the halls. Phoebe waited inside her classroom for one of her sisters to arrive. Piper maneuvered her way through the throngs of students and finally reached the kindergarten room. Phoebe pulled her backpack on and walked towards her sister.

"Ready to go?" Piper asked, extending her hand. Phoebe nodded.

"Where's Prue?" Phoebe replied, looking around but seeing no sign of her oldest sister.

"She has to stay after school for detention," Piper explained as she led her baby sister towards the bus.

"What did she do?" Phoebe pressed. This was unexpected. Prue never had to stay after school.

"It was about that boy pinching you this morning. She'll be ok. Come on, we don't want to miss the bus," Piper replied and pulled her sister through the crowd of people and onto the bus. Fifteen minutes later Piper and Phoebe stepped off the bus. The eight-year-old had to retrieve the key from under the mailbox. She didn't have her own. She let them in and found that Victor was not yet home from work.

Prue walked slowly towards the room marked with the large 'Detention' sign. She pushed it open and took a seat in the back. She pulled out her math homework and began to work on it. She figured she could at least use the time to get homework done. A few other students, including Justin, wandered and took seats. The gym coach walked in and closed the door.

"This is silent detention. Do your work," he informed them, sitting down at the desk at the front of the room. Prue kept her eyes on her math book and after what felt like an eternity, they were allowed to leave. Prue hurriedly packed up her books and headed for the front door of the school. She was halfway home when she felt a strange feeling wash over her; the small hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end. She was about to turn around when she felt a hand cover her mouth with a cloth. She inhaled the chloroform and blacked out. Her assailant, after looking around to make sure no one saw them, disappeared.