A/N:

Not 100% sure where I want to take this yet but the idea was floating around in my head. Leave a review and let me know what you thought to make my day :) I'll continue depending on the response.

Nervous didn't even begin to describe how Piper felt stepping off the old school bus onto the worn sidewalk outside of her new high school. Attending private school had been great. From preschool through middle school she was able to learn at her own accelerated pace. Her teachers were kind and always answered questions in depth, and she had the same classmates since she was 3 years old and they were all best friends. The only problem that there was no private high school in the area.

So here she was, about to walk into the first public school she had ever step foot in, not knowing anybody except her older brother, Danny. The school districts were broken up by location and she wasn't able to attend the same school as any of her childhood friends. Danny had made it clear that since he was a senior and sat with the jocks at lunch that she wasn't welcome at his normal table in the cafeteria, but he said he would introduce her to some of the football players girlfriends.

14 year old Piper Chapman was a nervous wreck. The bus ride had been an awful start to the day. The students in the front were talking about advanced physics that was way over her head. The kids in the back were swearing and shouting and tampering with lighters, increasing the flame size until they were essentially flamethrowers. She sat somewhere near the middle, leaning her head against the window and resting her arm on the metal bar against the side of the bus. At one point she felt a sharp jolt starting at her elbow and tingling through the tips of her fingers. She whipped her head around and saw an older boy with long hair and looked exactly like a depiction of a stoner in a movie. He had a creepy grin on his face and was holding a disposable camera that had been MacGyvered into some sort of taser.

She felt her chest swelling with sheer panic as her new classmates brushed past her in a hurry to see their friends. She pulled out her crumpled schedule and remembered that her first class was Geometry. Most students her age were in Algebra but private schooling had given her a leg up and she was taking a class meant for Sophomores. She walked through the maze of students, frequently looking back at her schedule even though she had already memorized the room number.

The seating was assigned so she thankfully was able to avoid the awkward new-girl-can't-find-a-seat scenario that she had seen so many times when she watched Mean Girls. She was seated next to a skinny girl with brown hair who she learned was named Danielle when the teacher took role. It was weird to have to be checked off a list when her entire life her teachers had known her on a first name basis. The class was easy and the teacher was nice. When they broke into groups to do a worksheet she was paired with Danielle and another boy whose name she learned was Spencer. The two must have been friends because they spent the whole time joking around instead of doing their work. Piper was focused on the worksheet when she was interrupted by Spencer.

"Look she's actually doing the worksheet." He sounded like this was unheard of and she heard Danielle giggle. "What's your name?"

"Piper." Her voice came out strangled and she realized she hadn't spoken since she first woke up. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Piper."

Spencer looked her up and down before continuing.

"You know, she doesn't even check if we finish these. She just gives us these worksheets so she can check her email."

"Oh..." Piper felt dumb when she looked around and noticed that she was the only one doing the worksheet.

"So what classes are you taking, Piper?" It kind of sounded like he was taunting her but his face looked friendly.

"Umm... World Geography, Spanish 3, English, and P.E." She squinted her eyes trying to remember if that was all of her classes but was pretty sure she didn't miss anything.

"Nice, you got P.E. 5th period, that's the best time to take it. Wait, Spanish 3? What grade are you in?"

"Uhh, I'm a freshman." She figured this would cause them to lose interest in her, the nervous 14 year old that was nerdy enough to be in Geometry and Spanish 3.

"Wow, that's pretty crazy. You must be super smart." Danielle spoke up, sounding pretty impressed.

"I uhh, I went to private school and they taught me a lot of Spanish." Strike 2, now they knew she was a private school kid.

"Wow, really? I thought kids that went to private school were all weird." Spencer was implying that she wasn't weird, so she figured that was a good start. Danielle punched his arm.

"Spencer is kind of an asshole sometimes. So do you like, not know anybody at all then?"

"No... I mean my brother goes here but he's a senior. His name is Danny."

"Oh." This was the only response from Danielle and Piper regretted saying anything at all.

They turned their attention back to the board where the teacher was now standing and talking about triangles. The class ended and Spencer and Danielle told her they would see her around.

Her Geography class wasn't too bad, the teacher was an old hippie who seemed really cool. It went by fast too, mostly because he talked the whole time and didn't force her to interact with the people around her.

Spanish was interesting.

She had to sit in the back because it took her so long to find the class. She knew she should probably be in AP Spanish because she was practically fluent at this point, but didn't want to stress out too much in her first year.

They were paired into groups of two and instructed to get to know their partner using only Spanish. She was paired with Alex. Alex was tall enough that even from her slouched position in the desk she was taller than most of the class. Her hair was dark and pulled up into a messy bun on the top of her head, stray strands held back by her black glasses. She was wearing grey sweats that were folded over at the waistband and a tight white tee shirt. She must have been a junior or senior as the younger kids always dressed up and wore too much makeup on the first day, while Alex just had simple winged eyeliner decorating her face. She definitely gave off that I don't give a fuck vibe.

"So what's your name?" Alex was speaking in English so Piper responded in English as well, not wanting to make it awkward.

"My name's Piper. What's yours?" She already knew since when the teacher paired them up she looked at Piper and told her to be partners with Alex. She just wanted to keep conversation flowing, even though she had no hopes of becoming friends with someone so much older than her.

"Alex. Didn't she just say that?" Alex smiled at her amusedly.

"Oh. Uhh, yeah I guess I already knew that." Alex let out a short laugh at this but it didn't feel like she was mocking her, just entertained.

"You seem a little young to be in Spanish 3. How old are you?" She debated lying but that quickly decided that was a bad idea if she didn't want to make an ass out of herself.

"I'm 14. I took a bunch of Spanish when I was younger so..." She trailed off, feeling nervous under the attention of her partner. The brunette simply nodded, as if her age didn't matter.

"I'm a Junior."

Piper didn't get a chance to respond before they were interrupted by their teacher who was speaking at the board again so Piper paid attention, not wanting to make a bad impression on her teacher on the first day.

"Adios, Piper." Alex's Spanish accent was perfect and the blonde watched from her seat as the brunette weaved through the desks and out the door.

It was lunch time now. There were a few food options in different areas of the cafeteria but Piper decided on a slice of pizza since it seemed like a common choice among the other students. She didn't bother going over to Danny because she didn't want to walk through the sea of people, so she took her plate upstairs and walked along the skybridge that hovered over the other students. There were a few small groups of students but she found a vacant bench and sat down by herself. She ate slowly, hoping the break would go by quickly.

She heard a husky voice looked up. There she was, Alex, walking with a wild haired girl who wore a similar outfit to the brunette.

"Dude I'm just saying there's no point in getting caught sneaking off on the first day. You know Robinson is going to be up there in his fucking truck waiting for people to try to get out of here."

"Fuck. This place is like a prison, man." The other girl sounded exasperated. They were walking down the skybridge leisurely toward Piper's bench. She quickly averted her gaze to her phone and scrolled through her Facebook feed, not wanting to seem like she was eavesdropping.

She glanced up once they were in front of her and Alex's was already looking at her with a large friendly smile on her face before returning her gaze forward.

5th period was the longest, but she enjoyed being active so she wasn't too bummed out. I mean, how can you mess up P.E.?

She went into the locker room to change into her gym clothes and immediately felt uncomfortable. Most of the girls were younger like her but they also had friends near them. She always thought it was weird that they were just supposed to take their clothes off in the same room but apparently that was just how public school worked. She looked around for her locker and found that it was in the middle of the room. Great. She continued looking around until her eyes stopped on a familiar tall figure. If the dark hair wasn't a giveaway, the girl's outfit was the tipoff. It was Alex.

Alex changed pretty quickly but Piper lacked that much confidence and grabbed her pile of clothes and rushed to change in the bathroom stall.

She was one of the last to arrive to the gym. Alex was the only familiar face as the school was rather large. She was now wearing blue shorts and a white tank top. Piper was wearing a similar outfit, but instead of a tank top she had on a slightly large tee shirt. This was what she had seen people wear in movies so she figured it was a safe bet when she packed her bag that morning.

"Alright everybody. We're just gonna get right into it. We'll be playing soccer for the first 2 weeks. I'll pick a couple captains and they'll make the teams." Piper felt her heart rate pick up. Here comes the cliché where she'd be the last person picked in gym class.

"I'll just make the oldest two of you captains. That'll be..." It was almost like he was pausing for dramatic effect, but he was running his finger down his clipboard. "Alex and Jacob."

Alex was a junior and there didn't seem to be any seniors in the class, so it made sense.

Jacob muttered a complaint under his breath.

"Jacob, you can pick first. Just alternate until there's nobody left." The coach went to the back room to grab some soccer balls and cones while they picked teams. Piper was good at soccer. She had played with her friends since they were young, so hopefully she would get a chance to show that she wasn't just some nerdy private school kid. Jacob must have already picked his first player because Alex's voice brought her back into the real world.

"Piper." The blonde's eyes widened in shock. She expected to be at least close to last pick due to her age and lack of friends so far. Alex was smiling at her and she made her way over to stand nervously next to the girl. Maybe she would make a friend after all. The rest of the class was quickly sorted into teams and they stood with their new teammates waiting for further instruction.

"Alright, everyone just try to juggle the soccer balls for a while for a warm up while I set up the cones." The coach slowly wandered around placing cones around the gym floor. Alex had a mesh bag of balls over her shoulder and tossed one to Piper who bounced it off her knee and began showing off her skills. She alternated using her feet and knees as she kept the ball off the ground, bouncing it off her chest when she aimed too high and hopping on one foot to kick the ball before it hit the ground.

"You're not half bad at that." The ball hit the ground immediately, ruining the perfect tempo she had built up so far. She heard Alex laugh as she passed out the rest of the soccer balls.

"We're one short. Share with me?" Alex was standing in front of her so Piper kicked the ball into the air, aiming perfectly so the brunette could juggle it a few times between her feet before passing it back.

"What position do you usually play?" Alex was just as good as Piper from the looks of it.

"Umm. Usually forward?" She dropped the ball again. Nice. Alex laughed again.

"Awesome, me too."

The whistle blew only feet away from her ear, causing her to jump as the coach told them to take their positions. Alex's team was to wear the red mesh jerseys. Everyone put theirs on and Piper followed suit, glancing at Alex with her peripheral vision as she noticed the tall girl simply tuck the jersey into the side of her shorts. She seemed to like to color outside of the lines. It was interesting.

Piper took her place in the front of the field and Alex stood next to her. The whistle blew and Piper quickly gained possession of the ball, showing off her practiced footwork as she made her way past the opposing team and passed the ball to Alex who immediately passed it back to her. They continued playing keep away from the other team and eventually Alex passed her the ball at the perfect time and she skillfully shot the ball past the goalie into the coned off area. Alex grinned and jogged with her back to center field, gently slapping her on the shoulder with her congratulations. They continued passing the ball back and forth for the entire game, occasionally including their teammates who usually lost the ball which was retrieved by either the blonde or the brunette almost immediately. They easily won the game 6-1, basking in the complaints of their adolescent competitors.

Alex walked back to the locker room with Piper.

Shit. She realized that she would now have to make the choice between changing out in the open or hiding in the bathroom like a little kid. She didn't want the brunette to think she was weird so she decided to grow a pair of lady balls and change like the rest of them. She faced her locker and quickly replaced her large shirt with the tighter one she wore to school. She removed her shorts and tried to replace them with her jeans quickly but ended up hopping on one foot and was forced to sit on the bench with one pant leg on to avoid falling. She looked up and luckily Alex was focused on changing her own clothes and didn't see.

Alex finished at the same time as Piper and they walked out of the locker room together toward the bus pickup area. They parted ways and went to their respective buses and Piper smiled the whole way home at the glimmering hope that she might have actually made a friend on her first day of school.