Written by my favorite CM author, ficdirectory! Features the entire current team (plus Seaver) as high-schoolers in the late '90s. They attend the same church where Erin Strauss is their youth pastor, and also their mission trip leader.
Title: Brave New Life Author: ficdirectory Warnings: Eating disorder, physical abuse, implied self-harm, implied sexual abuse, mentions suicide & abortion. http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7514070/1/Brave_New_Life
Excerpt: It's Halloween, and Penelope can't stand the stupid headband with cat ears. The thing is, she can't summon the energy to get out of bed and throw it or destroy it. She doesn't have the energy. She is too tired. She needs the dark. She needs to disappear, like her parents, but she can't make herself do it.
September 30th, 1998. The day her whole world changed. She remembers being at church and whispering some dirty French to Derek. She remembers the praise songs they sang and the small groups they broke into. She made sure Emily was included, and that she not only participated in the discussions but also that she got to play the games.
Then, she drove home to find a police car in her driveway. The cop got out and told her he was so sorry… There was an accident… The other driver was intoxicated… Her parents… The hospital morgue… Could she come and make an identification?
The last person she had expected to find was Ashley, weeping like a crazy person in the waiting room. That should be me, Penelope remembers thinking. But it wasn't.
What's this? A good high school AU?
Title: Brave New Life
Author: ficdirectory
Warnings: Eating disorder, physical abuse, implied self-harm, implied sexual abuse, mentions suicide & abortion.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7514070/1/Brave_New_Life
Excerpt:
It's Halloween, and Penelope can't stand the stupid headband with cat ears. The thing is, she can't summon the energy to get out of bed and throw it or destroy it. She doesn't have the energy. She is too tired. She needs the dark. She needs to disappear, like her parents, but she can't make herself do it.
September 30th, 1998. The day her whole world changed. She remembers being at church and whispering some dirty French to Derek. She remembers the praise songs they sang and the small groups they broke into. She made sure Emily was included, and that she not only participated in the discussions but also that she got to play the games.
Then, she drove home to find a police car in her driveway. The cop got out and told her he was so sorry… There was an accident… The other driver was intoxicated… Her parents… The hospital morgue… Could she come and make an identification?
The last person she had expected to find was Ashley, weeping like a crazy person in the waiting room. That should be me, Penelope remembers thinking. But it wasn't.