Disclaimer : All definitions are from Merriam Webster, and belong to them. & I own nothing OITNB.

Teenage Vauseman AU, Summary: Piper Chapman, the Litchfield cheer captain from a WASPy upbringing, believes she's living life how it's supposed to be lived as the schools most popular girl (given her circumstances), until a stranger at a party turns that upside down in a matter of moments. Rated T but future chapters will be marked 'M' for mature themes.

This is very loosely based on the one-shot 'The Swimming Pool' that I wrote a few weeks ago. Some excerpts from that will be used in this chapter only.

Enjoy.

Strangers and Ladyloves

pop·u·lar·i·ty

state of being liked, enjoyed, accepted, or done by a large number of people : the quality or state of being popular

Growing up in the Chapman home, love wasn't to be professed, emotions weren't to be shown, and punctuality was crucial. Seeing her father's infidelity and her mother drink herself into oblivion first hand at the young age of eleven had been ingrained in her mind for the past six years and counting, causing her to wonder what a normal family was like or if a normal family was just something of a fantasy.

The Chapman residence was two stories, and everything looked opulent inside and out. Gleaming wood floors that were constantly waxed and polished were laid throughout each floor, accenting the white wash walls that were adorned with pictures of various times throughout the Chapman's life. The furniture was lavish and expensive, and were never to be sat on unless it was for mid-morning tea or visits with people from the country club. In the living room, delicate settees sat on either side of a vintage coffee table, and a fireplace that was only lit on special occasions was proudly standing in front. Any recreational activity had to be done in the living room, bedrooms, basement, or the game room.

The game room was where all the magic happened. It was the focal point of each jumping party that was held, and was also where Piper liked to scope out the quarterback, but that was a different story. She had Larry Bloom, a former member of the tennis team and her boyfriend of a year. Larry had graduated a year previous when Piper was a sophomore. Their relationship had been Piper's first serious one, and her parents had highly approved of this boy considering his father was a well-known lawyer. Larry was sweet, gentle, and kind, and also not much of a risk taker. For their first anniversary, he had taken her on a picnic by the New York Harbor that overlooked the scenic view of the Statue of Liberty.

Piper Chapman wasn't a risk taker unless you really pushed her over the edge, hence why she didn't jump out of the back of the bus the day school had let out for Christmas break in elementary school, but she was a firm believer in defending herself or others. Her whole life she had services coming in and out of her home to clean it, country club visits, and holiday party's that all of her parents rich, and stuck up "friends" came to. They were friends in front of their face, but as soon as they all left, Carol Chapman had nothing good to say about them. It was always, "Don't you think her dress was a little too tight on her, honey?", or "She needs to go get a face lift, those hideous earrings just attracted that much more attention to her." Bill always just stood back, trying to ease away so he could go be with his awaiting lover and get away from the madness of his home. As for Danny, Piper's older brother, he had moved out two years ago, and never looked back. Calvin, or "Cal", was the youngest and was the most colorful out of the three. He wasn't afraid to speak his mind or try new things, something his parents often frowned upon. Attending these superfluous parties wasn't in Piper's blood. She would much rather curl up with a good book or spend her time doing something more enjoyable.

These parties held by her parents were the first type of parties that the Chapmans were known for, the second type of party were the kind where no one left the house sober and someone's pants always ended up getting stolen, but the cops were never called. Those parties had been started thanks to Danny and his athletic capabilities of leading the football team to the state championship during the fall of his junior year, but since he graduated, Piper was the one to have to uphold the Chapman name until she graduated, and then it would be up to Cal.

Everyone knew Piper and constantly said hi to her in the hallways. She had been Litchfield's best cheer captain in years. Piper was about giving fair chances,

"Hey, Chapman."

Lorna Morello, Litchfield High School's cheer squad co-captain, approached the blonde while they were taking a quick water break. Lorna was of the short nature and very much Italian. Her boyfriend Christopher was the senior, point guard for the varsity basketball team, and they had been together for almost four months. The Italian was heavy into the candy red lipstick to contrast her pale skin tone.

"Hey! Lorna, great back hand spring a second ago. I think we're starting to really come together."

"Oh, thanks. I just hope it will still be as good on Friday as it is now."

"I'm sure it will be." Piper smiled.

Piper was trying her best to keep a cheerful face and a positive attitude, but English had been hell today after Mr. Healy assigned a two page paper that was due Monday. No student's mind was in a state to write a two page paper over the theme of Romeo & Juliet, they were thinking about homecoming, and the raging after party. Like normal teenagers.

"Are you okay? You've been a bit of a downer today?"

"I'm fine. It's just a new school year, we're seniors, so the pressure's on now."

Lorna grinned, "Just sounds like you're a little nervous. Is Larry coming to homecoming tonight?"

Piper laughed, "No, no homecoming date. How crazy is that? The cheer captain doesn't have a date?"

It didn't bother her one bit, that she didn't have a date. Sure she missed Larry, and wished he was coming to the game, but it was one less thing on her plate to worry about.

Litchfield High School was just the average high school. Students could be caught having sex in the back hallways, stairwells, and in the parking lot when they thought no one was looking. There was what seemed to be a fight daily, which the whole school would quickly flock to, despite where it was to record and post to social media, not thinking they could get in trouble for it later. Not everyone who recorded got caught if they were smart, but it was rare that someone would think about themselves and not the kind of attention they wanted from their peers over a fight that wouldn't matter in a year. The cafeteria was dull and the food was tasteless, but the room served as the social hub to get the news on who was dating who, who was pregnant this week, who held the answer key to which test, and who was being a backstabber. The high school was home to a little over two thousand students, and Piper was sure she had met them all.

Being a cheer captain had quite the list of responsibilities. Handing out programs at every award ceremony, musical concert, and graduation. Standing at the registration desk, awaiting to show freshman around the school and to their classrooms. Cheering at every sporting event whether it be in town or out. Plus, maintaining C's or better in order to stay eligible.

Submerging herself into academics and cheerleading was Piper's emotional getaway from her unethical and WASPy parents, but her own bathroom in the far right corner of her light pink room, right up the stairs and just to the left was where her physical getaway was; The shower. Cheerleading and school took her mind away from the corrupted family she had at home and the baggage that came with it, although cheer was a whole stress of its own. In her shower, surrounded by two streams of hot, steaming water, the haven allowed her to block out all the heated arguments her parents continuously had, the whispered professions of love she heard being breathed into a hidden, prepaid cellphone by her father, and her mother's bitching at the housekeeper for leaving streaks on the bathroom mirrors and Cal for not being more like his older brother.

Piper was never home it seemed like, due to cheer practice and study groups, but it wasn't enough to be completely oblivious from the chaos. She longed for Larry to not be at Penn State in Pennsylvania studying Journalism to aspire to his dream of writing a column for the New York Times, she wished Polly wasn't so far up Pete's ass, the Australian foreign exchange student that played forward for the boys soccer team, all she wanted was for someone or something else to take up more of her time so she wouldn't have time to be at home. The only time she enjoyed her house was when she was surrounded by her school's student body, enjoying the socializing and the compliments of how great a party it was.

Nothing ever seemed good enough to the elder Chapmans. It was as if they were replicating the way their parents treated them during their teenage years. If they weren't happy out mingling with their rich colleagues, they were at home miserable, but if they were at home miserable, they still weren't happy. There was no way to win in the Chapman Household.

The whole night during the Homecoming game, Piper forgot about Larry, her family, her homework, and focused on being the captain she needed to be.

The rancid smell of weed and liquor had infiltrated the loud, sweaty atmosphere of the large house and the party had only started an hour ago. Sounds of pop music were reverberating heavily off of every pristine surface that Carol Chapman took the utmost pride in. Teenagers were dancing closely to one another. So close that their sweat dripping down their bodies mingled and the body heat between them was near burning capabilities. The front door was wide open practically allowing anyone to enter unlike the upstairs bedrooms where teenagers had slipped away with their lovers.

If it wasn't for the monthly vacations that Carol scheduled to keep up the appearances that and she and Bill were still very much in love and to keep herself out of denial, these parties wouldn't be happening. Plus, Carol didn't like attending sporting events, stating that they were much too loud and didn't suit her type of person, so the vacations served as a great excuse to not participate in the school activities. She had only seen Piper cheer twice in the five years she had been cheering, but still bragged about Piper being the captain. Typical Carol Chapman move. As for Bill, he attended the football games and basketball games when he wasn't being coaxed away by his mistress or ordered around by his wife. One time when the football team was on the road he had scheduled a business trip in the same town just to see his daughter cheer. It had very much been a surprise to the blonde. The man tried to be there for his kids, something Carol didn't know how to do.

The football team had won by a nail-biting touchdown. The referees were hesitant to confirm it due to not being sure if the wide receiver had actually crossed the goal line, but as soon as the official's arms went up next to his ears, the whole stadium rumbled from the amount of excitement that roared through it.

After the game cheerleaders were taking the cliché pictures with their football player boyfriends, and Piper found herself standing wishing she had someone to take those types of pictures with. Her mind had been on Larry for the better part of the day after she received a cryptic text message from him after lunch talking about how down he had been feeling and so forth, but she tried her best to push it away for the time being. Piper could essentially have any football player on the team, but she chose to stay faithful to Larry.

Shouting could be heard coming from the game room that held a vintage pinball machine and a professional pool table.

"What's everyone cheering about?" Piper nudged the nearest shoulder, which happened to be John Bennett, the football teams leading running back. He was a senior, and already had four major colleges looking to sign him to play at the next level. The running back had a little girl with his girlfriend, Daya, who was three months old. Their relationship had been the only one that had ended up in a pregnancy and lasted. They made it work, unlike other people Piper went to school with. John never attended parties and he insisted on staying home with his family, but his girlfriend and baby had gone to New Jersey to visit family.

"Oh, hey. It's Alex. She's insanely good at pool and she's been showing off all her trick shots for the past half hour, practically scaring every one of her opponents away."

"Who's Alex?"

John's face scrunched up in confusion.

"Alex Vause, she goes to school with us. Surely you know her."

When the running back moved out of the way, Piper felt her breath hitch in her throat.

She hadn't seen this one before.

A/N: I couldn't stay away for too long and my insomnia is still running rampant. Just a little intro so I can get my mind in the right perspective before I dive all the way in. This is proving to be harder than I thought it would be.

Larry will be gone soon, no worries there & More on Alex next chapter.

Some of the things you'll read will be based on true stories from my experiences in high school, but other's not so much.

This is giving me mixed feelings, like a lot of mixed feelings, so let me know how you felt about this.