Author's Note: Hey, all! This is the first multi-chapter story I've written in ages. Not sure how consistently I'll upload due to life, but I'll try my best to make sure it's not years between chapters (joking!). Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1: Black and White

Being president of the Student Council was such a thankless job. Alexa spent so many sleepless nights planning and organizing - sometimes working until dawn - for a school full of students who didn't grasp the inner workings of what went on behind the scenes. Did they realize how close they were to not having a Homecoming this year, and how much money came out of Alexa's own pocket to make it happen? Of course not. They were too busy yammering on about the hottest new gossip, whatever that was this week. Something about Dana's new nose. Or wait, was that last week? When did Mia slap Liv again? Well, whatever. Alexa didn't have time to pay attention to juvenile gossip.

When elections for Student Council happened, right before the start of summer break, it was only natural that Alexa would run for its top position. It was a rough campaign, having a grand total of zero artistic bones in her body and little tolerance for some of her classmates, but she was ecstatic upon being declared the winner. Barely beating out her competition - somehow winning the vote despite her wide array of nerdy interests and hobbies - the newly elected president was determined to make this year one to remember, changing the face of the school for many years to come. The students would be much happier, the future was set in stone. There was only one, gargantuan problem.

It was a lot of work.

Alexa had a tendency to stay in her own bubble, living her life as drama-free as was humanly possible in a high school. So naturally, it came as a complete shock when she learned just how incompetent the last president was, leaving a lasting legacy of apathy and pitiful excuses in their wake. The school year had barely begun, and she was already swamped with dozens of tedious tasks to take care of. Homecoming was the first - a truly hectic 'welcome back' for the entire Student Council. That was only five weeks ago, yet she didn't have a single moment since to rest her weary eyes - there was still so much to do. Settling the lunch menu debacle, enforcing the 'No leaving school before 3 PM!' rule, and there were already rumbles in the halls of a winter dance.

"Do you own a calendar? It's the middle of October!" she'd yelled when approached about it for the fifth time in a single hour. These new freshmen were so ungrateful.

Then there was the matter of sorting all of these student documents in alphabetical order, fitting them in much-too-small envelopes, and carrying them off to the principal's office like glorified mailmen. Truth be told, this felt too important of a job to entrust with a group of students, but Alexa didn't become president to complain. She wouldn't have a repeat of last year, not if she had anything to say about it.

Which was why she was licking envelopes in the Student Council room on a Thursday afternoon.

School had been let out an hour ago, if the clock hanging on the wall was actually accurate for once, and she was sure that her entire mouth was as dry as a desert. Her tongue continuously circled her lips, desperate to fill the chapped, barren wasteland with moisture.

"Are you sure you don't need me to stay?" Nikki asked, though her body was three-fourths of the way out the door. "I could fold more papers, or-"

"Seriously, it's fine," Alexa responded, shortly followed by a heavy sigh. "There's no reason we should both suffer."

She wanted to beg her friend to stay, but she couldn't do that. As her Vice President, Nikki worked just as tirelessly as she did, offering to stay after the other members were sent home. It was Nikki's positive attitude that kept her afloat when she felt like she was sinking, drowning amidst tidal waves of stress. The least Alexa could do was release the young Scottish girl from this prison and offer her a small taste of freedom.

"Okay!"

Nikki didn't try to argue any further, and Alexa didn't blame her. Instead, with a burst of energy that spawned from nowhere, she practically bounced over to Alexa's side, wrapping her arms around her best friend and squeezing, not unlike an anaconda with its prey. "I love you, Alexa! I'll text you later!" And just as happily as she bounced over, Nikki bounced her way out of the room, leaving the president alone with her pile of disgusting envelopes.

Another twenty minutes passed at a snail's pace - a snail stuck in a pit of glue - and Alexa could feel her sanity slipping away. How many more files were left anyway? Surely not many. She double-checked the list, excited to see the progress she had made.

"A, B… E… Evans?! That's it?!"

She felt like her entire mouth was going numb, and she was only at the fifth letter. She wanted to crawl under a rock and hide forever, or at least get a few hours of sleep underneath it's dark interior. Her eyelids giving her little choice, Alexa folded her arms across the table, laying her cheek gently atop them. Before long, she could feel herself drifting off, giving into her body's desire for rest. She would only be a few minutes, she told herself as the beautiful darkness overcame her. She needed this - no, she deserved this, for working herself to the bone. Just a few-

"Wakey wakey!"

At the sound of someone's voice, Alexa quickly sat upright, cursing the universe for disturbing her three seconds of sleep. It took a moment for her vision to adjust to the waking world, but when it did, she was none too pleased with what, or rather who, she saw.

"Becky?"

Standing over her was the last person she would ever expect to see in the Student Council room. Seeing Becky Lynch actually attending school was a sight to behold in and of itself. She wasn't even following the dress code, substituting their mandatory blazers for a gaudy leather jacket. What era was she from?

"That's my name, don't wear it out."

God, Alexa was already starting to become increasingly agitated. From the way she dressed, to the way she talked as if nothing phased her, to the way she walked as if she owned the place. Well, she didn't own the place. Alexa owned the place!

The students. The students owned the place, she mentally corrected.

"Why are you here?"

"Can't a lass just stop by and see her favorite president?"

"No," Alexa deadpanned. She was clearly not in the mood for one of Becky's stupid stunts.

Becky smirked - that awful, awful Becky smirk that made Alexa's stomach churn - and casually plucked one of the many papers off of the table. "Evans? Oh, Lacey. Any dirt on her in here?"

Alexa could only watch in horror as Becky perused an incredibly confidential student file that she wasn't meant to be reading. "Give me that!" Alexa demanded, reaching out to snatch it from the taller girl's grubby mitts. Unfortunately, she was too slow, and from her seated position, Becky was able to effortlessly hold the paper high above her head.

"Relax, ya dope. Lacey's about as interesting as a piece of toast anyway." With that, Becky flung the paper back at Alexa, bopping the latter in the nose with it, much to her frustration.

"I am going to ask you one more time," Alexa said, her jaw tensing so tightly that she was sure it would give out. "Why. Are. You. Here?"

The Irish girl paid Alexa no heed, instead choosing to look anywhere instead of her person.

"Hello? Earth to idiot." The now-extremely-vexed president waved a hand to catch Becky's attention.

"Sorry, didn't hear you. Could you say that again?"

If Alexa was a foot taller - and perhaps another thirty pounds of muscle heavier - her palm would be slapping the smirk right off of that dumb, moronic face. She didn't know faces could be moronic until Becky Lynch was introduced into her life.

She had known Becky since their first days of high school. She was always such a slacker, and skipped so many classes throughout the years that Alexa was surprised they allowed her back for her final year. Their interactions involved a myriad of height jokes, a number of sarcastic jabs, and some unflattering faces made behind the other's back. Nothing malicious, but nothing overtly friendly either. She knew nothing about Becky's life though, not that she needed to. Becky's reputation preceded her - she didn't know anything about her personal life, but she knew of it. Every cliché rumor that one could think of was attached to Becky, like she was some kind of horrible magnet for trouble.

"Did you hear that Becky fought a guy twice her size and won? It was on the news and everything!"

"I heard Becky stole a cop car and they had to chase her down on the highway! It was on the news and everything!"

"Becky once robbed a bank and held the entire place hostage! It was on the news and everything!"

Ridiculous - none of them would ever watch the news!

Alexa never gave any credence to the gossip that floated around this school, and Becky was no bully, but when said gossip was ongoing over the course of three years, it was hard not to be exposed to some of it. Not that she honestly thought any of it was true. Heck, for all she knew, Becky spread those rumors herself to convince the other students that she was a 'badass,' or something just as stupid.

And sometimes it was maddening, being near Becky. She wanted to do good and tackle her responsibilities head-on, but some part of Alexa - a small part, a big part, she wasn't sure herself - wanted to live like Becky. To be carefree, to throw caution to the wind, to take a vacation from life because she felt like it and nothing more. But she couldn't. She was too much of a goody two shoes, too preoccupied with worrying about the future instead of living in the present.

So when Becky, the embodiment of the things that she secretly wanted out of her own life, woke her up from the world's shortest nap, it was impossible to hide her irritation.

"Do you live to make everyone's life as miserable as possible, or are you just a moron?" All bets were off when someone interrupted her precious beauty sleep.

"Little of column A, little of column B." Before Alexa could literally throw her hands around Becky's throat and throttle her, the redhead quickly spoke again. "Relax, Short Fuse. I'm supposed to be helping you."

At this, Alexa could only chuckle. She would ignore that short joke. For now. "Help me? Yeah right."

"Hey, I'm not exactly thrilled about this either." Becky walked over to the corner of the room and grabbed a chair, before clumsily dragging it over. The screeching of metal across the floor made Alexa ear's want to fall off. The blonde was apprehensive as Becky took a seat opposite her, a little worried that the troublemaker would reach over the table and stab her with a pen, hidden within the depths of her leather pockets.

So maybe some of the rumors freaked her out a teeny, tiny bit.

"I got sent here as punishment."

"What? What do you mean?" Alexa asked, failing spectacularly at hiding the panic in her voice.

"Ask the principal. Said I had to learn the value of 'hard work' and 'dedication,' and all that other crap. It was either this or get expelled."

"Expelled? Oh, how terrible. What would this school ever do without you?" Alexa held a hand over her heart, her lower lip trembling in an epic display of acting expertise.

"Yeah, yeah," Becky replied, shrugging off the blatant sarcasm. She rested her head against her palm, not making a single move to help whatsoever. "You can't even key a car without getting in trouble around here."

"You keyed someone's car?"

"Sure did!" Becky replied, brimming with cheer as if it was an accomplishment to be proud of. "Vanessa won't be forgetting that she's a bimbo anytime soon. Ah, the look on her face. I tell ya, there ain't many things sweeter."

It didn't surprise Alexa in the slightest that Becky would key someone's car, but it did speak volumes about the type of person Becky was, that she was so ready and willing to share her acts of vandalism. Not only that - she was practically bragging about it! This probably didn't touch the top fifty of the school rules that she had broken, undoubtedly approaching a record. Considering Becky's history, being sent to work for the Student Council was a slap on the wrist, as far as Alexa was concerned.

"You're the worst."

"She started it! Knocked my lunch right out of my hands for no reason! Serves her right."

Alexa wasn't entirely sure if she fully believed Becky - Vanessa was a member of the Student Council, after all. It wouldn't have been the biggest shock in the world, though. Not every member of the council shared in her ideals and vision for the future of the school.

Suddenly, like a car that had recently been keyed by a future inmate, a grim thought came speeding around the corner and sent her flying.

"Um. Exactly how long does this punishment last?"

Becky's smirk returned with a vengeance, a wicked twitch of the lips that wouldn't stay dead. It came back like a zombie, ready to feast upon a poor, unsuspecting girl. "I skipped a lot of English classes, so I'm kind of slow with words and all," she joked, a bad sign for Alexa. "But I think the word he used was 'in-def-i-nite-ly.'"

Alexa wasn't sure if a woman was trapped in burning building nearby, or if that high-pitched screaming was coming from inside of her own head.

"I can tell by your blank stare that you're just as excited as I am!"

She didn't know how to respond to Becky's fake cheerfulness - didn't know how to talk anymore. Everything that she worked so hard for was now in jeopardy of crumbling beneath her feet. This was supposed to be her year, but now she was stuck with this. With her. If there truly was an otherworldly force out there, they must have the most sadistic sense of humor imaginable. Either that or Alexa was an assassin in a past life, paying for her forgotten sins in this new timeline.

The worst timeline.

"You alright there, lass?"

"Just. Just give me a second." She put a hand to her head, attempting to alleviate the headache that was beginning to form. It was impossible - the real headache was sitting right in front of her in a tacky leather jacket. "I can't believe this is happening."

Becky chuckled. "Believe it, sister. I'm part of the Student Council now!"

"Let's make one thing clear here," Alexa nearly shouted, shoving her finger so forcefully in Becky's direction that it could have pierced a sheet of metal. "You're not 'part of the Student Council,' got it? You're just here until they find some other poor sucker to take care of you."

"Your imitation of me needs practice."

"Be quiet. If you're going to take up space, stop talking and make yourself useful." Lifting half of the pile of work that sat on the table - the pile of work that was still much bigger than the completed pile - Alexa unceremoniously dropped it in front of the Irish girl. "You take one of these." The blonde grabbed one of the student files, wagging it around in the air, to confirm that Becky was paying attention. "You make sure that it's in alphabetical order. You fold it - neatly! - and put it into the envelope." Picking up a nearby white envelope, Alexa demonstrated the entire process, her movements stiff and forceful due to excess rage still coursing through her body. When she was finished, she slammed it down atop the 'finished' pile. "So easy, even a caveman can do it."

Becky rolled her eyes at the emphasis on 'caveman,' and it was clear that she wasn't taking Alexa seriously in the slightest.

"Well?"

The delinquent refused to move, or acknowledge Alexa's existence at all.

"I swear, if y-"

"Do you ever stop talking?"

"Me?" Alexa could not believe what she was hearing. "All you've done in the past fifteen minutes is annoy the living hell out of me. But I talk too much? You ar-"

"Keep it down. I get enough lectures in class."

Alexa's very short fuse was becoming shorter. She fought every natural inclination to scream, deciding that it wasn't worth the effort. She didn't have the spare energy to waste. Not on someone like Becky.

"If you think about it," the woman in question continued. Much to Alexa's shock, she was actually beginning to do some work, carelessly grabbing at student files without much thought. "That's probably why everyone else left."

And right when Alexa was going to commend Becky for doing something productive, the insults came flying back in - a pesky mosquito that she just couldn't swat.

"FYI, they didn't leave. I sent them home."

"That wasn't very smart of you, was it?" Becky replied between licking envelopes. She was doing everything completely wrong, and those envelopes were never going to stay closed, but Alexa didn't care at this point. At least the caveman was doing something. She would just have to grin and bear the slew of insults. "What, you think being president makes you some kind of superwoman?"

"Get real. They were tired."

"You were practically in bed when I walked in."

"What's your point?"

"That maybe you're taking this a little too seriously. You're going to make yourself sick."

Alexa didn't have any snarky remarks for that. She was taking this seriously, because it was serious to her. Sure, being president of the entire student body was rough, and it did have its downsides, but Alexa genuinely wanted to make the school a better place. It was her last year - her final chance to leave some kind of mark on the place that she spent so much time at. That mark needed to be a positive one.

Of course, she didn't mention any of that to Becky. It was people like her - troublemakers - that were making her job harder. Alexa knew that she could be uptight, and sometimes a little rude, but she wasn't keying people's cars because she'd been slighted in some obscure way. No, someone like Becky could never understand her desires.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Becky joked, yet again.

"I don't have the mental energy for you, okay? Keep working."

Her head now buried in her work, Alexa couldn't see the bewildered stare she received from the girl in front of her. Relief washed over her like a warm shower when no cheeky remark left Becky's lips. Instead, they sat in somewhat-awkward silence as they busied themselves.

She could hear Becky lazily slapping envelopes into the pile of finished files. Deciding that it was safe to take the tiniest of peeks, Alexa glanced upwards from her own work to look across the table. Becky was clearly bored out of her mind, and Alexa wasn't entirely sure if she would survive this boredom either. She was feeling it herself - the unrelenting boredom that accompanies doing mundane tasks. She checked what was left of the pile and instantly regret it. There was still about half of the work left to be done.

Reaching for a few more papers from the bunch - taking care to avoid touching Becky's hand like the plague - Alexa quickly skimmed them over, mumbling to herself as she did.

"Lewis. Linn. Logan. Lynch."

Lynch? Becky Lynch?

Before she fully realized that she was holding Becky's student file between her fingertips, it was promptly snatched from her grasp.

"Hey!"

"I'll be holding onto that, thank you very much."

Alexa couldn't believe the gall of this girl. How could she just snatch it like that? Did she have no sense of manners or decency at all?!

A devilish plot suddenly crossed Alexa's mind. A smirk - perhaps a little too Becky-ish for her liking - played across her face. It was her turn to have a little fun.

"Don't want me reading your file, huh?" Alexa asked, barely holding back a sinister laugh.

Becky narrowed her eyes as she stared Alexa down. "What're you getting at?"

"Oh, nothing. Just that there must be something extra awful in there that you don't want anybody seeing, you know?"

"Knock it off, blondie."

"I wonder what it could be," Alexa put a hand to her chin, pretending to be deep in thought. There was a sharp intake of breath, so sharp that it startled Becky. "You really did steal a cop car, didn't you?!"

"Wha- You're deranged."

Becky seemed to be caught off-guard by Alexa's interest in her past.

Perfect.

"Ooh! I got it!" Alexa stated, all too gleefully, as she ran down her mental list of ludicrous crimes. "You robbed a bank, right? How big was the diamond?"

"About as big as the bruise I'm gonna leave on your arm if you don't stop talking."

"No, that's too plain for someone as big and tough as you!" Alexa teased, disregarding Becky's threats entirely. "You ran a crime syndicate! That's gotta be it. Shaking people down for money, catching people in alleyways. That sounds like you. How about it. Am I close?"

Alexa nearly let out a shriek as Becky rose out of her chair, slamming her palms against the table. She realized just how much bigger the redheaded menace was - the size of her well-toned arms was enough to make Alexa gulp in terror as she towered over her. She could swear that Becky's nostrils were emitting smoke. She struck a nerve. It was her intention, but she wasn't prepared for this reaction.

"Go ahead, keep making fun," Becky practically dared. "You have no idea what I've had to go through."

Neither woman moved an inch, and Alexa was growing more uncomfortable with each passing moment. Hours passed in seconds, and breathing was becoming uncomfortable. Finally, after an eternity of angry glaring, Becky relented, taking her seat once more. It was only when Alexa was sure that the tension had calmed some that she felt it was safe to speak.

"You're being way too dramatic."

"Yeah," Becky scoffed. "You would think that, wouldn't you?"

Alexa was confused. What did she mean by that? She asked as much, and received another scoff in reply.

"Come on. Look at you. Living your fancy, preppy life. Coasting on by as mommy and daddy pay your troubles away. Being happy about some dumb job that means nothing."

Becky laughed again, preventing the blonde from cutting her off. "'President.' You couldn't be the president of a bunch of preschoolers. Hell, you're about as tall as one. Why don't you give it a shot?"

At this point, Alexa had gone from annoyed to furious. It was one thing to poke fun at her height, but to act as if she knew anything about her - like her whole life was sunshine and rainbows. Like she worked for nothing and got handed everything. This position meant everything to Alexa. It was the first time that all of her hard work felt like it amounted to something. She wasn't going to let some future criminal take that away from her!

"Mommy and daddy? I worked for everything I ever got!" Alexa was unable to keep from shouting. She tried, she really did, but Becky's poking and prodding led her into pushing the wrong buttons. "I sacrificed so much for this. You could never understand what it's like! Being alone, having my parents constantly asking me if I'm okay, missing birthdays and weddings and everything else! You don't know me!"

"And you think you know me? You don't know anything about me!" Becky shouted in response.

"I know that for the past three years, you've been a complete nightmare that everyone around you has had to put up with," Alexa countered. "So yeah, I don't 'know' you. No one does. Who the hell would want to?!"

She was proud of herself - proud for being able to stand her ground against Becky Lynch. She didn't know where this surge of bravery came from, but she wasn't going to let Becky push her around. She was proud, she felt proud.

That was, until, she noticed how crushed Becky looked.

Becky, the girl with a smirk glued on her face, and an omnipresent playful attitude looked crushed. She looked vulnerable, something that Alexa Bliss had never seen before. Holding her arm like a wounded animal, like she was trying to keep a shattered wall from falling to pieces, like she was trying to keep herself from falling to pieces. Alexa didn't know how or why her words had the effect that they did, but whatever it was, it hurt Becky, somehow.

And Alexa was disgusted with herself.

How could she, even for the briefest of moments, have felt proud? There was nothing to be proud of. Hurting people wasn't something to feel good about. It wasn't like Alexa to stoop so low, just to get under someone's skin. That wasn't the type of person she was. That wasn't the type of example that she wanted to set.

Giving Becky another minute to compose herself, Alexa took a deep breath, preparing to say what she knew she had to.

"Sorry."

Time stood still. Alexa's hands felt around her own throat, wondering where that sound came from. She realized that the apology didn't come from her own mouth. It came from Becky's.

"What?"

"I said sorry. Geez, are you deaf?" Becky's insult didn't have the same tone as before. She sounded defeated. "I shouldn't have said what I did. It was too much."

A thick silence filled the air - so thick that Alexa was sure she was going to choke on it. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what she could say to remedy this… whatever it was. She couldn't believe that things had escalated this much, but something about Becky had a tendency to make her emotions run haywire. How a single person could make such a jumbled mess of her feelings was beyond her understanding.

"I'm the one that should apologize. I crossed a line."

"I deserved it."

"No one deserves that."

Becky, once she heard Alexa, gained a little more life, her smirk rising from its grave once more. It was the only time that Alexa was happy to see it.

Happy? Why was she happy? Her feelings really were a mess.

"Are we cool then?"

"We're cool. Well, one of us is. As for you," Alexa gave Becky a once-over, eyeing her up and down. "You need to work on it. Leather? Really?"

"Don't go dissing my jacket!"

This silence, unlike the last, was comfortable - Alexa could feel the tension making its way out, the atmosphere slowly changing for the better as the uneasiness lifted from the room like a heavy smog.

"It feels like we're having some kind of a 'moment' here. Like a… weird sitcom."

"How can you call me deranged and then say something like that with a straight face?"

Becky smiled at her. Not a smirk - no, this was an actual smile. Alexa had to admit, that charming smile suited her far more than a smirk ever did. She was a fan.

"Maybe we really don't know each other," Becky said, out of the blue. "I guess not everything is so black and white. There's some, like, gray spots in there. In the middle. Erm, between the two. You get what I mean."

"You're not very good at being profound."

"I-I'm trying my best here. I'm not used to this stuff."

"I appreciate it anyway."

The two exchanged another smile, before silently continuing their work. Alexa wasn't sure what this smile was - one of forgiveness, of mutual respect? - but even though she didn't know much about Becky, she could definitely understand her a little better now. She had judged Becky harshly based on the everyday gossip that floated down the river of rumors, wrongfully assuming she was some callous jerk, but there was always more to it than that. There was always more beneath the surface. As president of the Student Council, and - more importantly - as a human being, she needed to give people a chance. Becky, despite how crude and irritating she could be, needed to be afforded that chance too.

She wondered if Becky would offer the same chance for her.

Lost in a sea of thoughts, Alexa didn't realize how rapidly the work seemed to be getting done now. With a noticeable change in attitude, Becky was moving twice as fast as before. Better late than never, she mused.

It was amazing how fast a menial task could go by when the afternoon's banter was all but exhausted. After another few minutes, Becky practically leapt from her seat, stretching her aching limbs once she was certain everything was finished.

"It's over! Sweet Jesus, it's over!"

Alexa wanted to celebrate too, but her mouth muscles were too tired to function. She gave Becky a nod, thanking the universe that she could go home.

"Well," Becky began. "I'd say my first day of Student Council was a success, wouldn't you?"

First day.

The words hit Alexa like a brick.

"S-so you weren't joking about this being an indefinite punishment."

"On the bright side, at least now we'll get to know each other better, huh?"

The line between seriousness and joking was nothing but a blur. Whether or not Becky was being sincere, Alexa didn't care. She was too tired to care.

"I'll be up bright and early for the next meeting. Try not to miss me too much."

The meeting. Oh god. Oh no. Oh god. How was Alexa going to explain this to the rest of the Student Council? What could she say? She wanted to pull her hair out.

"The meeting. Right," Alexa said, stuck in a state of permanent disbelief.

"See you then… Madam President."

With one last toothy grin, she walked away, out of the room, leaving a physically and emotionally drained president to slowly come to terms with her new reality - the reality that Becky Lynch really was part of the Student Council.

Things might not always be so black and white, but there was no room for a gray area in this battle of extremes.

This was going to be an unmitigated disaster.