To Look Again - Stained

Summary: Whilst Piper is at school her writing is causing the teachers serious concern, it is very depressing and they are worried about her. But what they don't know is that they are worrying about the wrong sister.

            Piper Halliwell headed to the front of the class, it was her turn to present her piece for the class. This was the part of her English class that she loathed; it was a time of ridicule and mocking. However being Piper she was used to this, so she headed to the podium as usual. She looked out towards her class and sighed, her teacher smiled at her encouragingly whilst the rest of her classmates and tormentors waited another thing they could mock her for. She took a deep breath in and began,

            "For the assignment I wrote a poem, erm… its called Stained," she said quietly and then waited for a nod from her class teacher to continue, she looked out to the class and stood for a moment,

            "Hurry up!" said someone in the class, it was indistinct, Piper cleared her throat and began,

            "I tried to hide my inner face,

And wash away the pain,

But all this time I did not know,

That it would leave a tearful stain,

I though that I could cover up,

All the sorrow in my blood,

I thought that I could try and hide,

My tears as thick as mud,

But I am no illusionist,

I cannot make it disappear,

And now forever more,

I will have to live with all the fear,

The fear that lives within me,

The fear the grows much more,

The fear that I am trying,

Desperately to ignore,

My life is smeared with black,

I am forever pained,

My soul once so bright and white,

Has now become so stained," Piper sighed as she finished and uttered a small thank you before heading quickly for her seat. The classroom was silent for a moment, and Piper waited for the mocking to begin. Maybe for once they are going to leave me alone… she prayed. But when she heard the whispers slowly mounting and her name being mentioned she knew that was not the case. After a few minutes the bell rang and the class began to clear, as usual Piper deliberately took longer to pack her things away, she never wanted to be caught in the rush to get out the class. Her teacher, Mrs Hall, walked up to her desk,

"Piper, can you hang around for a few minutes?" she asked quietly,

"Sure," replied Piper, she finished packing her bag and then waited a few seconds until the last student in the class had left, she walked up to Mrs Hall's desk and waited patiently,

"Piper, take a seat?" said Mrs Hall and Piper did so,

"So, what's up?" asked Piper casually,

"Its about that piece, the poem you wrote," sighed Mrs Hall,

"You didn't like it?" sighed Piper, she didn't want to fail this class and have to repeat it the following year,

"No, it was very well written and all in all good writing, but…" Mrs Hall paused for a moment and looked down at Piper, "To be frank, it was a little bit concerning,"

"Concerning?" questioned Piper she was confused,

"Yes, you see the topic of the assignment was to write about something close to you," sighed Mrs Hall,

"I know I didn't really address the task very well," said Piper,

"No, that's not it. You addressed the task just fine. But the thing is, well if you wrote about what you did and this is something very close to you… well, what I'm getting at is. Is everything all right with you? How are things at home?" said Mrs Hall finally,

"Huh?" said Piper, "Everything is fine, at home, at school everything is just average. I'm doing good," replied Piper cheerfully, "The poem," started Piper but Mrs Hall interrupted,

"The poem was worrying, it was a good poem but it made me worry about you, was that its intent? Is this you're way of expressing what you don't want to say?" asked Mrs Hall bluntly,

"What? No, the poem is fiction. Made up, I'm not suffering if that's what you're thinking, are you?" asked Piper,

"Well naturally, wouldn't you if one of your students presented this?" smiled Mrs Hall,

"I get you're concern Mrs Hall, but I'm fine. And I'm running late for chemistry so…"

"Off you go then, see you next lesson," sighed Mrs Hall. Piper left the class and waited till the door had closed completely before letting out a huge sigh of relief, once again she had dodged the bullet.

A/N: Ok so this chapter was quite short, I'll admit that. And I'm not really sure where I'm taking this fic but I guess for now I'll just go with the flow. Hope you liked it, please R&R. Witch xx