Life for Alex wasn't easy growing up. Her mother had met her father whilst on student trip, 18 years ago. The two of them had met and fallen in love, much to the dismay of their families. Her mother had a difficult upbringing and her father's parents weren't keen on their son falling in love with someone from such a shitty background. They had worked at the relationship, and for many years it had all gone well, but her father's parents resented the fact that Alex had been born out of wedlock, and the strain had been too much for her mother.

Her mother had left when she turned 11, one minute she was there and the next she wasn't. Vanished, almost like she had never existed. Her father on the other hand was almost never in the country. The strain of his strict parents had taken its toll, and eventually he rebelled and got involved with a group of people who weren't to be messed with. He'd joined the drug cartel when Alex was only 5 years old and although he was rarely in the house with his wife and daughter, he sent money back to them which meant that they were always well looked after. As a child, Alex was oblivious to her father's job and never understood that all of her belongings had been bought with drug money. Growing older, her father's ways were eventually brought to her attention and that's when the trouble started to happen. Her mother had grown sick of the risks that came with her father's job, and so one day while Alex was only 11 years old, she left in the middle of the night without a trace. Not long after, a warrant was put out for her father's arrest and she was taken into care at 14 years old. Her foster family were kind and caring, normal parents. They did everything they could to make sure Alex had a normal upbringing, and hoped that her birth parents wouldn't influence any of her future choices.

High School had always been something she hated and often, she would skip class and hang out somewhere else. Alex found it easy to take care of herself and when she was 16, her foster parents began full time work which meant that she was often in the house on her own until the evening.

She was in her final year of school, the year which would decide her future. She was a smart kid and her grades were higher than average when she put in the effort, but her lack of interest meant that she often skipped class, getting her into trouble.

Today was Monday morning and the first day back after Thanksgiving. Like many mornings, she weighed the pros and cons of not going to school, but there was something in the back of her mind that was telling her to attend today. Her alarm clock read 6:30 and so she dragged herself from her bed and made her way to the bathroom to take a shower. After showering, she took a look at herself in the mirror whilst brushing her teeth. She wasn't big headed, but she was attractive, and was thankful for her biological parent's genetics, even though she resented them both for leaving. She had been blessed with long, dark brown hair and thick brown eyelashes, as well as green eyes and pale, porcelain skin.

Once she was ready and dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans that were ripped at the knees, a white V-neck t-shirt and a pair of converse, she pulled on a hooded denim jacket and slung her book bag over her shoulder before texting her girlfriend good morning.

'I'm about to head to school. Do you want a ride?' Alex hit send and waited for a reply.

'Pick me up in the usual place; you know how my parents are.'

She'd been with her girlfriend, Ellie, for a little over 6 months. When they'd first met each other, Ellie was shy and didn't really talk much - the exact opposite of Alex. Alex was the type of girl that parents would typically warn their daughters away from. She was tall, confident; she smoked; skipped class and was always getting in to trouble. Ellie's parents didn't like Alex, and Alex didn't like Ellie's parents. They had argued countless times and although they couldn't stop the two from dating, they refused to have Alex anywhere near the house.

"Hey I'm off to school now, see you later." Alex shouted as she left the house.

"Okay sweetie, be careful!"

Alex had scored a job at a local bar when she was 16 and even though she wasn't legally old enough to work behind the bar, she looked older than her age which meant no one knew, other than her boss. The bar was a shit hole anyways so it wasn't like anyone would even care if they did know how old she was. But they gave her a good wage, and that was all Alex cared about. She'd scraped enough money together, along with the secret stash of money her father had given her when he was still around, and she bought herself a car. It wasn't much, but it was enough to get her around when she needed it.

She flung her bag on the back seat and started up the engine, heading for her girlfriends house. 'The usual place' meant a parking lot around the corner from Ellie's house. They had enough trouble accepting the fact that her daughter was dating a 'bad girl', and would probably freak if they knew that Alex was driving her to school.

"Morning." Alex smiled as Ellie got into the car and put her bag onto the floor.

"Hey you." She leaned in and gave her a kiss.

They talked the whole way to school, much like every other day.

"So, how come you actually decided to come to school today? What's the occasion?"

Alex smirked. "You know, just thought I'd make an appearance you know after thanksgiving break." She laughed, and Ellie shook her head.

They walked in to school together and met up with their friends. They both shared the same 4 classes with each other, but after lunch only Alex and her friend, Nicky were in the same history class. English, Algebra, Free and Science all went by quickly and soon it was time for lunch. The group took up their usual seats in the cafeteria and began gossiping about things that'd happened while they had been off for thanksgiving.

Alex was lucky to have a close group of friends, all of whom looked out for each other. There was Alex, Nicky, Bennett, Ellie, Poussey, Lorna, Sophia and Mendez. Most had been through school with each other, but Ellie, Bennett and Poussey had met the group further along in high school. The group hadn't taken to Alex's girlfriend well in the beginning, as they knew how much her parents disliked her. However, after much persuading, the group came to and began to treat Ellie like one of their own.

"Hey, did you know we're getting a new History teacher?" Nicky spoke whilst trying to chew through his sandwich.

"No way...Mrs Harris finally left?" Alex almost jumped for joy. Mrs Harris had been their old History teacher, and it seemed that she hated every single student in the class.

Nicky nodded. "Apparently she got sick over Thanksgiving break so they got a new teacher in for us."

"Is she a sub or permanent?" Alex stood up from the table and chucked her rubbish in the bin.

"Permanent figure, they don't know how long Mrs Harris is gonna be sick for."

"Awesome. Do you know who the teacher is?"

"No idea, but I'm sure they won't be half as bad as our old one."

Alex smirked. That was true. No one could ever be as bad as Mrs Harris was.

When the bell rang, Alex gave Ellie a kiss goodbye and the group went their separate ways. The cafeteria was on the other side of the school which meant that the walk to History would have to be made quickly otherwise the two of them would be late. The large crowds of students heading off to their lessons meant that Alex and Nicky had to shove their way round.

They had gotten used to their old teacher giving them detentions for being late, and they weren't willing to take that risk again as they had no idea what their new teacher would be like. 3 minutes after the bell, they made it to their classroom. The door was already closed which meant that the new teacher assumed no one else would be arriving.

"Shit. Rock, Paper, Scissors and whoever loses has to knock and go in first."

Alex rolled her eyes. Nicky was so childish. "Save it, I'll go in first."

She straightened out her t-shirt and jacket and raised her right hand, knocking slightly on the door. A few seconds later, the door opened and they were greeted by a young blonde woman who looked like she was in her early 20's.

"You're late." She spoke, flicking her piercing blue eyes between Alex and Nicky.

"The cafeterias on the other side of the school, we tried to get here as fast as we could." Alex spoke, trying her best not to sound cocky in front of the new teacher which she had to admit, was incredibly good looking.

"Don't make this a habit." The blonde replied, raising her eyebrow slightly. She moved aside and motioned the two to come into the class.

Sitting down at her desk, Alex kept her eyes firmly on the new teacher.

"She's hot, man." She whispered to Nicky.

"No shit. You have a girlfriend remember, I'm the single one."

"Yeahh." Alex dragged out, more interested in the woman that was stood at the front of the class.

She was tall, slim and had shoulder length blonde hair. She had on a pair of black trousers that showed off her long legs, a white blouse and a black blazer. Alex couldn't deny that she was attracted to her, and if she wasn't her teacher she probably would've tried chatting her up.

"Now, as I was saying before I was interrupted." She flashed her eyes at Alex. "My name is Ms. Chapman. Your old teacher had to leave due to illness, so I'll be taking over her class. Now just because I'm young, don't assume you can have your way with me and pull the wool over my eyes."

"I'd like to have my way with her." Alex whispered in Nicky's ear as the teacher continued speaking. Nicky smirked and Ms. Chapman's eyes returned to the two of them.

"I have the schedule on my desk so I can assure you that your learning will not be affected. I assume you all have your books with you. Any questions before we begin?"

Alex stuck up her hand. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

A hum of quiet laughter spread across the classroom and Ms. Jackson folded her arms across her chest, looking unamused.

"I don't think that's any of your business..."

"Alex Vause" She butted in, realising that Ms. Jackson was waiting for her to reveal her name.

"Well then, Miss Vause, I don't think that's any of your business, do you? Now do we have any work related questions before I begin the lesson?"

Nicky elbowed Alex in the arm and she smirked. Winding up the new teacher sure was going to be a lot of fun.