Red didn't need an orange jumpsuit to know when new prisoners were added to the general population. She just had to take one look at their wide terrified eyes when they walked through the cafeteria. When the chaos of the morning breakfast rush slowed down she sometimes liked to just stand and watch the new inmates. Most of them were scared little lambs with their shoulders hunched and their heads down as they paid way too close attention to the food on their trays.
She could almost smell the fear radiating off them.
Most of the women here weren't career criminals like she was. Most of the them were victims of circumstance. One bad choice, one bad turn, one bad friend had led them to this fucking mess of a life and for most of them, they were stuck here forever in this stupid fucking cycle of serving prison time and then their pseudo-freedom as felons and criminals in the 'real world.' Struggling to find jobs, struggling to make money and struggling to find their place in their world again.
There were the occasional women who came through here that had support on the outside. They were usually the white middle class women who had the comfort of a hefty savings account and the luxury of a support system and a family that gave a fuck. Red could sense those bitches from a mile away. Usually serving some time for a DUI or something equally stupid, they walked through the halls like a city girl at summer camp. To them prison was just a bad vacation. A trip that was "going to be a great story one day."
Red couldn't stand they way they walked around the cafeteria on their first day. Observing the tables like they were in some sort of twisted theme park, like the girls were here strictly for their amusement.
When Piper walked through the Cafeteria on her first day at Litchfield Penitentiary, Red could swear she saw a hint of a fucking amused smile on her face. She was out to teach the privileged girl a lesson the second she landed eyes on that smirk, the insult to her food had just been the perfect opportunity.
Red looks down at the order request for next week as she plans out the menu. It feels like she has to work magic every week having to feed new mouths with an ever decreasing budget. It is getting harder and harder but somehow she still manages to pull it off and this week isn't going to be any different.
"Ya know." Red heard Murphy say from across the kitchen. "Nicky has said worse things about your food when she was new. You never gave her a Tampon McMuffin."
Red looks up to see Murphy's back is to her. She is standing in front of a rolled out piece of tin foil, a freshly used tampon is hanging from the string in her hand. She drops it lazily in front of her. Just by that simple action, Red knows she's done it wrong.
Red pushes herself up from her stool and walks across the kitchen with three long steps before she sees Murphy's work. A Bloody tampon is sticking three-quarters of the way out from the sandwich. She shakes her head and lets out a disappointed tisk.
"Make sure nothing sticks out. It's like you never made a sandwich before." Red says before she turns around, walks back across the kitchen and sits back down at her stool. She lifts her pen and studies the numbers again.
"Don't you think starving her out has taught her enough?" Murphy says. "I don't understand why we need to do this too. All the new ones say stupid things."
Red looks up to see Murphy working at the sandwich.
"Everyone needs to learn their own lessons, in their own ways." Red says as she taps her pen impatiently against the notepad. "Not everyone is going to be as forgiving as I've been."
"This doesn't seem very forgiving." Murphy mutters underneath her breath.
Red pretends she doesn't hear it as she adds another bag of rice to one column and removes a box of peppers from another.
When Red watches Piper march around the cafeteria in her first week back from the SHU she can't seem to find the same woman she saw walk in here for the first time few months ago. Of course, when she first got here she was scared and stupid but now she just seems so different. So guarded and so ready to pounce and if Red's being honest, it scares her a little bit.
Red's eyes cross path with Piper's and she gets caught in them for a moment. Even from her position behind the counter in her kitchen she can feel a little chill run up her spine and she sees the emptiness in them. Ever since Piper had been forgiven for her stupid remarks and given her first tray of food Red had always caught Piper giving her this stupid grin whenever they locked eyes. Like some foul-smelling back cream has somehow made them the best of friends.
Red had found it endearing in a strange sort of way. But now all she's found in Piper's eyes is anger and hatred for anything that crosses her path. Red kept her eyes locked with Piper's and her back straight and stiff even though she feels the chill running up her spine.
She was afraid of Piper. She was afraid of the deadness inside there and most of all she was afraid of what she might do. She had taught Piper that lesson when she first came here to protect from those inmates that might slit her throat for insulting their haircuts but now...now it seemed like Piper might be one of those inmates she had to protect her people from.
What the fuck has happened to this girl?
Red saw a smile creep up Piper's face. It was as if she could see right into Red's thoughts. She turned away from Piper's glance, using the excuse of inspecting the trays on the dwindling food line as a reason to look away.
She walked the line of the trays and when she saw nothing she could occupy herself with she looked up and was relieved for a second to see something else had attracted Piper's attention. Piper's smile had faded to an angry scowl and when Red followed her glance she felt her stomach drop.
Nicky was seated at the table across from Alex. Alex's head was thrown back in a fit of laughter and Nicky was grinning from ear-to-ear. Red wasn't sure if she remembered ever seen Alex legitimately laugh like that.
She felt the hair on the back of her hand stand up and she looked back across at Piper, they locked eyes again, the corners of Piper's mouth turned upwards into a terrifying smile. Piper stood and marched her way out of the cafeteria. Pushing two orange jumpsuits practically to the floor as she went.
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