The past week was a busy one. Hope traveled back to Mystic Falls, had multiple run ins with the Gemini twins, trained with Dr. Saltzman, hunted a werewolf, and kicked off the new semester of school by trying out for the Timberwolves football team. Tryouts ended about an hour ago. It's late Friday afternoon now, tonight is the night of the party that Lizzie and Josie invited her to, for Raf's recent enrollment at the Salvatore School. Hope was happy for him. She's known him for a while, since they ran around with the same group of people. Hope always thought he was a great guy who deserved something nice to happen to him for once in his life. She's at home getting ready to go help Josie and Lizzie study for a bit before the party when her Aunt Rebekah knocks on her door. "You can come in Bex."
Rebekah opens the door and leans against the frame, she holds Hope's car keys in her hands, "Do I need to give you the 'no drinking and driving' lecture again? Freya handled it quite well last time, maybe I could give it a shot."
Hope chuckles at her aunt, who has always prided herself on the fact that she's the 'cool aunt'. "My body heals quickly Auntie Bex, it would take a lot to get me drunk, but I promise to be careful." She observes her appearance in the mirror before turning to make eye contact with Rebekah. "Are you okay with this?" Hope is still anxious about being around other supernaturals, especially the wolves who can sense other werewolves, and the siphoning twins who she knows can sense her magic.
"Hope, darling, you've isolated yourself for your entire life, always pushing anyone away who dared to get close to you. I understand that you're trying to protect these people, but it's okay to let loose every once in a while." Hope sighs and sits on the edge of her bed, Rebekah takes a seat beside her, "What's got you worried, love?"
Hope hesitates before looking at her aunt again, knowing that she's practically transparent to all of her family members. Each of them seem to see right through her, "I think all of this is just a lot to take in. Raf knows I'm a witch now, I'm spending a lot of time with Dr. Saltzman's daughters, which is great but it also makes me think of what they did for me...They saved my life when they took the Hollow from my body, and they don't even know that it was me...The other night on Raf's first full moon, he tried to attack them. Luckily I got to them first, but when Josie thanked me for saving her...I don't know, I just felt the urge to tell her everything. Explain to her that I owe her my life because she saved mine." Hope looks down at her hands and Rebekah places her own hand atop them.
"You can't put that kind of pressure on yourself sweetheart." Rebekah knows that Hope struggles with coming to terms with her father's sacrifice, she carries the weight of grief everyday she lives. "I'm proud of you, you know? It takes a lot of courage to break out of the little bubble you've built yourself at Mystic Falls High. Those friends you have there are great, but I think it will do you well to spend time with these new students. Your mother liked the Salvatore School for a reason," Rebekah gives her niece an encouraging smile, "She would be proud of you." Hope finally looks up from her hands, she studies her aunt's expression for a moment. A tear slips from her eye and Rebekah gently wipes it away with her thumb.
"Thank you, really, for everything." Hope gives her a tearful smile. Before getting up and looking in the mirror, making sure her makeup isn't messed up.
"You look great, love. Just one more thing to complete this outfit," Rebekah gets up from the edge of the bed and leaves the room to retrieve the item of clothing. Hope looks down at her leather pants, black shirt, and boots. She's got nice earrings in and her Mikaelson crest necklace. Nobody ever questions that. Marshall starts with an M too, so they assume it stands for that. Hope looks puzzled, wondering what she may have forgotten. Rebekah enters the room once again, this time holding up her own leather jacket. "It might get cold, and this has always looked better on you." She hands it over to Hope and receives a 'thank you' in return. Rebekah returns to her spot on the edge of the bed as Hope puts on the jacket. "So this witch... Josie," Hope raises an eyebrow at her aunt, "she invited you to this party?"
"Yes...? Why?" Her aunt gives her an insinuating look and Hope crosses her arms, "Bex it's not like that, okay? She's just being friendly."
Rebekah holds up her hands in defense, "Forgive me dear niece, I'm just not accustomed to you changing your usual Friday night plans with your human friends to make time for your new witchy friends." Rebekah's voice takes on a slightly accusatory tone.
"Well Ethan's sort of pouty right now because I got offered the QB1 spot right after we walked off the field today and that was his spot last year. I haven't accepted it yet, but he's still upset." Hope changes the subject. Rebekah nods her head.
"Well don't let that put a damper on your night. You deserve to have some fun, just no funny business or I'll have to report back to Freya." Rebekah jokes, instantly lightening the mood. Hope is grateful for that. "Are you staying at the school tonight or should I expect you back home?"
Hope thinks back to earlier when he was texting Raf about the party, "I'm not sure yet, Raf offered for me to stay in the extra bed in his room so that's the plan, if anything changes I'll call you." Rebekah nods and escorts Hope to her car.
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Once at the Salvatore School, Hope makes her way inside and toward the library, where Josie wanted to meet her. She sees Josie sitting at an empty table, a few textbooks laid out around her. She is so focused on what she's doing that she doesn't notice Hope until she's sitting down in front of her. She jumps slightly at the sudden movement, "Hope, you came!" Josie's smile is warm and contagious.
"Of course, I couldn't turn down the opportunity to be around a bunch of alpha-male drunks fighting over who's fangs are bigger." Hope jokes as she takes a look at the books Josie is studying, "Trying to put out a fire?" There are three spells on the pages, all of which are spells to distinguish a flame.
Josie slightly blushes, "Well actually I'm studying this because before you got here, I went to start the fire at the old mill for the party tonight, and I may have gone a little overboard."
Hope raises an eyebrow at Josie. "So I'm here to help a pyromaniac control her mania, this should be interesting." Josie laughs at her teasing. "Is your sister going to be joining us?" Hope spins one of the books around to get a good look at the spell Josie is trying to learn. She recognizes the spell immediately and picks up the salt Josie had on the table, making a circle with it. Then she starts creating ancient symbols inside.
Josie watches her intently as she answers her question, "She'll be at the party, but as far as studying goes, she said and I quote 'I have far more important things to do, like picking out a nice outfit that'll impress Raf.'"
"She likes Raf?" Hope isn't too shocked. He's a nice looking guy with a great personality.
"He's just fresh meat, she'll probably be over it next week."
Hope nods, "Do you like him?" She didn't necessarily mean it in a romantic way, just in general. She continues fixing the salt of the table.
"What? No. Besides, even if I did, Lizzie has dibs." This makes Hope look up from the salt on the table. She sees the dead-serious expression on Josie's face.
"You're serious? You can't call dibs on a person." Hope is honestly amused by this whole conversation.
"Yeah well, tell that to my sister." Josie jokes. "Anyways, I'm not sure she'll have much of a chance, he talks about you a lot. MG said he probably has a crush of his own." Josie watches Hope's face trying to read her expression, see if there's anything between Hope and Raf, but confusion is the only thing Josie sees.
"Raf? No, he doesn't like me. We're just...I don't know, I'm more familiar to him than everyone here. I'm sure it's nice for him to have a connection to his old life, since Landon isn't really permitted to come around." Josie nods, secretly ecstatic that Hope doesn't have those kinds of feelings for him. "Okay I think it's all set up." Josie looks down at all the salt. "This should keep the flames in the circle, just in case you try to set me on fire." Josie rolls her eyes at the joke and takes hold of Hope's hands, which she had extended out knowing Josie would likely need someone to siphon. Josie takes note of the strength of her hands, while also noting the softness of skin, the rings on her fingers. She feels warmer without having even started the spell. "This is a nonverbal spell, so try to close your eyes and imagine a spark appearing in front of you." Hope and Josie both close their eyes as Hope's voice instructs her through the spell. "Focus on the feeling of warmth it brings...the waves of light radiating from it..." Josie opens her eyes to look at Hope, and she's blown away by her beauty and the ease with which she explains the spell. She tries to refocus on the spark, the warmth, a radiant light, and the only picture she sees in her mind is Hope. "Now try to siphon just enough magic to send a small gust of wind toward that spark in your mind." Josie closes her eyes once again and concentrates. She takes a deep breath before siphoning what she thinks is a small amount of magic from Hope, she imagines a breeze blowing on the spark and suddenly she sees light through her eyelids. She opens her eyes and sees a small flame in the center of the circle. She smiles widely.
"Wow." She continues to watch the flame in front of her, still holding onto Hope's hands. Hope watches as she admires the source of light, excitement evident in her eyes. Josie looks up, brown eyes meeting ocean blues. It's a comfortable silence for a moment before Lizzie suddenly rushes up beside the table, causing the two of them to unlatch their hands and turn their gazes toward the blonde twin.
"Hurry! I need your help picking earrings!" She places two sets on the table. Josie glances from her sister to the girl sitting in front of her, when the flame loses control and grows to the edges of the salt circle Hope created, and the table shakes slightly.
Lizzie stands at the edge of the table, confused, while Hope says a Motus spell to put out the fire. She places a hand on Josie's. "Hey, look at me, okay? Take a deep breath." Josie looks deep into Hope's eyes, feeling the table stop moving as she takes a few deep breaths. "You okay?" Hope looks worried.
"I'm sorry. I thought I only took enough for a tiny flame, but then it felt like enough to light up the whole school." Josie looks a little dazed and confused.
Hope shakes her head, "No it's okay. I should've let go when I saw the flame."
Lizzie clears her throat, "Um sorry for interrupting whatever that was, but this is an emergency. Which earrings?" Josie and Hope both study the choices for a moment before pointing toward the same pair. "Okay great! Thanks!" She proceeds to put them in, "So are y'all ready to go or should I leave you to hold hands and stare into each other's souls for a while longer?" Her voice is laced with sarcasm.
Josie rolls her eyes but blushes slightly, getting up from her chair and picking up her books to drop off at her room, "Fine, let's go." And with that they make their way out of the library.
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Next chapter: the party.