Jed stood on the balcony of our common room, just waiting to strike. His heartbeat pounded in his ear as he felt the nerves tingling inside him. This was it. This was going to make or break everything.
Three, two, one...he jumped off of the balcony to try and land in Hope's arms as she was swinging from a rope. She caught him for a second, but as quickly as he was in her arms he was on the floor with a loud thump! Jed let out a groan as he laid there on the floor.
Thank God for supernatural healing.
"Stop the music," I told Wade, "C'mon guys, you need to trust each other! In order for the choreography to work we need to trust each other. That doesn't just go for Jed and Hope's Rewrite the Stars choreography or any choreography. This goes for the acting and everyone else's scenes," I tell them, pinching the bridge of my nose, "It was a good try. Let's just set up for The Other Side,"
"Why are we doing the original choreography from the movie? Zac Efron and Zendaya had weeks of acrobatic training, we're just high school students who can barely sing," Jed complained.
"This is my senior project, guys. There are so many horror stories from the past seniors that Emma and Dorian's grading is tough. Now with Headmaster Bennett also grading, she could be the toughest judge there is. So, we need to make this look as close to the original as possible," I explained and both Jed and Hope let out a sigh.
"I get it," Jed said, "But you're buying me ice packs from all of this falling I'm doing,"
I laugh softly, "Deal. Kaleb, Jed, you're up,"
Everyone else was sitting and watching. It was easy to notice the tension between the two best friends. Ever since they went on that very first stakeout. They wouldn't hang out alone anymore and it was just weird.
They stood there awkwardly, just waiting for instructions. I cued the music to play and everything about it was just awkward. I looked at Hope and she had her eyebrows furrowed as she mouthed the words 'What the fuck?'.
I stifled a laugh, looking at all of them. Even Lizzie and Josie, who looked a lot better than the last time I saw her, all looked confused. Lizzie looked more scared than anything else.
I hit pause on my phone and looked at the two, "What's going on between the two of you?" I asked.
Both of them shook their heads quickly, "Nothing," they both answered at the same time.
"Mhm, why do I feel like that's a lie? Both of you have been acting weird since you got back from the stakeout," I pointed out.
"Yeah, I was there with her when we saw you guys come back. It was definitely a scene," Lizzie added.
"Nothing's going on!" Kaleb snapped, "Can we just end this rehearsal and call it a day?!"
I was taken aback by the way he raised his voice. But nevertheless, I looked at the time and let out a sigh, "Yeah, yeah. It's getting late anyway. Nice job today guys, we'll try again tomorrow,"
Everyone left, giving small waves, and I went backstage to grab some set pieces that needed to be painted. I walked back to the front of the stage and jumped when I saw Hope standing there.
"Jesus, you scared me!" I put a hand against my heart.
She laughed softly, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I was going to ask if you knew what was going on with Jed and Kaleb. You know since Jed's like your brother,"
"Oh yeah, no. I don't know what's going on with them. I've been asking, but he always avoids it," I told her as I started to paint the box in front of me.
"Do you think it's about what we were talking to Kaleb about? His feelings for Jed that he doesn't want to admit?" she asked, grabbing a paint brush herself.
I shot her a grateful smile, "That's what I was thinking too. Especially with him snapping at rehearsal today. Whenever they're ready to tell us or at least open up about it, they will,"
We both sat there, painting in a comfortable silence. The only noise was the soft music playing off of my speakers.
"B?" Hope asked and I looked up at her. There was a sudden cold liquid on my neck. My eyes focused on her with a mischievous glint on her face. Her paintbrush in her hand, pulling away from my neck.
"Oh no you didn't,"
I dipped fingers into the white paint and inched my hands closer to her. She let out a squeal as I ran after her. I chased around the common room, trying my hardest not to use my vamp speed for a fair fight. I finally caught up to her and wrapped my arms around her waist, spinning her around.
I finally let her down, smearing the white paint on her cheeks. She smiled as I squished her face. Hope raised her paintbrush and smeared the green paint along my cheek and I let out a small gasp at how cold it was.
My hands rested on her cheeks, trying to smear it as much as possible, "Okay, okay! I surrender!" she exclaimed, but I left my hands there.
I smiled at her softly, "Say it, you win,"
"You win," she rolled her eyes playfully. My hands were still resting on her cheeks as my eyes shifted from her lips back up to her eyes. The paintbrush was long forgotten as her hands were on my waist.
We both leaned in slowly when someone cleared their throat. We both sprung apart looking at the origin of the noise. I let out a sigh of relief when I noticed that it was Emma, "It's past curfew," she pointed out.
"We're on our way out," I told Emma and she nodded.
"Goodnight girls,"
"Goodnight Emma," we both responded in unison.
The two of us backed away from each other, faces all flushed and painted. I smiled at her, "I'll see you around?"
"Our dorms are right next to each other's," Hope pointed out.
I laughed softly, "I'm going to head to the kitchen. You know, late night snack,"
"Ah, well in that case, yes I'll see you around,"
We both parted ways, giving each other shy smiles. I headed to the kitchen, grabbing my chocolate chip cookies. They are my cookies, I wrote my name on the lid. I was about to take a bit from my cookie when there was a sudden pain in my neck and everything went black.
There was a bright light that caused my face to cringe in response. A soft throbbing filled my head as I closed my eyes again. I tugged on my arms to feel my arms wrapped in rope. My eyes immediately shot open to see my entire body bound onto a chair. I forced my eyes shut, trying to remember how the hell I got wherever I am.
I tried tugging on my arms once more using my hybrid strength, but it was no use, "It's not gonna work," a somewhat familiar voice said. I looked up to see Dani leaning against the wall.
"Where am I? What did you do?" I asked her.
She rolled her eyes, scoffing, "Stop with the dramatics, you're fine. You're not hurt. We just have a family matter to discuss,"
"You're telling me to stop with the dramatics? You're the one who's standing ominously away from the light," I shot back, "What do you want Dani?"
"I have a proposition for you," she said. She mumbled a spell under her breath causing the ropes to loosen around me, "Follow me,"
I hesitantly got up from my seat to follow her. It was the same abandoned warehouse that we have been staking out for the last couple weeks. Maybe this was your chance to get more information.
"So, I know you're not doing this for just some sisterly bonding, so tell me what's up?" I asked her, desperate for more information.
She led the two of us into a room full of people. I could sense that they were supernatural. One of them was even the boys who me and Hope saw get turned into a vampire. I looked around to see all of them eyeing me. Some even had blood smeared over their lips.
"I think congratulations are in order. You've been able to defeat Malivore and all the monsters that were terrorizing the school," she says and I just hum in response, "It sucks that Malivore failed his missions, but he was literally dead weight anyway. Now that means this all falls to you,"
Dani shows a pin with a somewhat familiar symbol. A symbol that I've seen in class before, "What do you mean this falls to me?"
"Some that have been dead for centuries and brought back to life. Some of us are newly turned hybrids. We are L'ibrido. All over the world we are starting to pull strings in the supernatural world to ensure that we are still seen, recognized in a world that's so desperately trying to make us feel extinct. We haven't dug our claws in Mystic Falls, yet. So we come with an offer, we want you to join us," she tells me.
I shake my head, "Is this some kind of joke? Why in a million years would I put this town or my friends at risk?! I can call my friends and end all of this right now,"
"Who would answer that call? You don't know who's loyal and who's not. Maybe we've already sunk our claws into the people closest to you. You'll never know. So who could you really trust if they came walking through that door?" I clenched my fist, shaking my head softly.
"We may even have someone close to home. You don't want to go against us, it could end very badly for the Salvatore School and Mystic Falls. This could be our chance to be a family," Dani whispered and I looked at her. There was nothing, but sincerity in her arms, but I know I can't trust a word that she says, "I don't expect to have an answer right now, obviously. I may be a monster, but I'm not that big of a monster. We'll keep in touch,"
I quickly walk out of there and make my walk back to the boarding school. I pulled out my phone with the new Super Squad group chat with Headmaster Bennett and sent a text.
The Super Squad:
Emergency meeting now!
When I arrived back at the school, I beelined straight towards Headmaster Bennett's office. The Super Squad was already there.
"Bentley? What's going on? What happened?" Bonnie asked, her voice laced with concern.
I tell them all of it, who the L'ibrido are, what they want, and especially what they want with me. I grabbed a pad of paper that was on her desk and I drew the symbol that Dani showed me.
"This is the symbol she showed me. It looked familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it," I told them.
"That's the hybrid symbol," Hope told everyone.
"L'ibrido means hybrid in Italian," Bonnie added on.
"So, they're an army full of hybrids wanting to start a revolution? Like a supernatural secret society?" Kaleb asked.
"I know it sounds absolutely insane," I told them.
"Well one thing we know for sure: they want us to suspect and turn on each other. Which we can't do. I don't think anyone here knows about them, right?" Lizzie asked and everyone nodded in response.
But we could all feel the tension in the room. Even if no one wanted to admit it, we were still on edge about who we really could trust. Especially me, what did Dani mean by someone close to home.
"What are we going to do about the offer?" I asked.
"We need to learn more. Get closer to them until we know what their true plans really are and how dangerous they are. We'll have to be smarter than them. Depending on what they're hiding, we might even have to cross lines we've never crossed before. But if we're going to protect our home from these people, protect our school, and our friends...we need to dig deeper," Bonnie told all of us.
"You can't really be suggesting that Bentley goes through with this offer, right?!" Hope asked and I could tell how worried she was. Everyone thought that she was worried because I'm like her best friend, but we both know there's more to it than that.
"We don't have to immediately accept the offer. Ask Dani if you could meet everyone involved. See for yourself what this revolution is going to be like and take the offer. Kind of like an open house," Bonnie offered.
She looks me in the eyes. All of us know how much risk this is going to take. What we're planning on doing is insane, but I nod with a determined glint in my eyes. Hope shakes her head, "Then I guess you have a call to make," Bonnie told me.
Hope scoffs, but shuts her mouth. I pull out my phone and dial, "Bentley," Dani's voice filled my ears.
"I want to shadow you for the day. I want to see what I'm really getting into before I really consider your offer," I tell her, trying to sound as confident as possible.
"Fine, we'll do it tomorrow,"