CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Adrian, his friends, and a few classmates sat in a small classroom for a study group thing that their teacher had come up with. The group had been sent there instead of detention for yesterday's events but much to all of their dismay, all of them were stuck with at least one person they disliked. The Aquilo boy sat with his girlfriend in the corner while Lizzie and Owen watched Josie and Penelope converse or to put it simply— Penelope conversing with Josie while the Saltzman girl did everything in her power to ignore her.
The Park girl nudged the brunette beside her, "Look at us, study partners again" She winked, "Fate just keeps throwing us together"
The brunette siphoner rolled her eyes, finally facing her ex after ignoring her for half an hour, "Not really, you hexed all my other options"
Lizzie rolled her eyes at the Park girl, "You're like the herpes virus. You just keep coming back"
The Aquilo boy was talking to Hope when Elizabeth left her seat at Penelope and Josie table to occupy one at the couple's table. She sat down, her eyes wandering from Adrian to the girl next to him before she sighed, "Look, I know we've always had this unspoken rivalry and—"
The Mikaelson girl furrowed her brows, she glanced at her boyfriend before she faced the pale blonde, "It's not a rivalry, you're just always mean to me. And it's not unspoken, you talk about it all the time"
The alpha sighed, looked up from his book for a moment, "Look if you want a chance to reconcile with Hope, why don't you stop digging at her and fuck off?"
Lizzie gaped at the boy's words and rose from her seat to go back to her sister. The tribrid watched the siphoner leave before she faced her boyfriend again, "That was a little aggressive of you" Noticing that something was off, she placed a hand on his arm to gently pull him away from the math problems he was trying to solve, "Are you okay?... You didn't sleep at all last night"
Adrian nodded, "Yeah. I'm fine. I got a solid eight minutes. Not consecutively but I'm okay and, uh, you're not even that blurry"
Hope's eyes widened in alarm and the male laughed at her reaction, "I'm kidding... I'm totally not seeing four of you" The girl hit his shoulder, playfully rolling her eyes at him.
Penelope let out an exaggerating groan as she slumped down on a chair in front of the couple, "I just want someone to take me out"
Owen turned around, "What, like on a date or with a sniper?"
The Park witch faced him and shrugged, "You know what? Surprise me"
✶
Later in the day, the Aquilo boy, the Whitaker boy, the Mikaelson girl, and the Saltzman twins had all been pulled out of class and ordered to meet Doctor Saltzman in the library after the eventful occurrences of the day before. The five watched Alaric collect relevant books off the shelves as they waited for the man to give them answers about the punishment they were receiving.
"This is bullshit!" Lizzie was the first person to object, "This makes no sense, Dad, why are we being punished?"
"Because, you guys started a brawl at a charity football game that risked exposing what we really do here" Doctor Saltzman answered, only referring to the reason to do with the boys and twins.
The pale blonde furrowed her eyebrows, "But you weren't mad last night—"
"I was mad last night," Alaric disagreed, positioning the books he had taken out of the shelves in his hands, "My undying love for my daughters just happened to trump my rage" He finally stopped at the bottom of the stairs and put the books down on a table, "I volunteered everyone in the game, so stop complaining. You're lucky that it's just community service and not actual jail time"
Lizzie and Adrian were the only ones who hadn't descended the small staircase, "Can I at least offer a rebuttal in my defense if it pleases the court?" The blue-eyed Saltzman girl asked.
The father sighed and gestured for her to go ahead and defend herself, "First of all, I was provoked. My response was totally proportional considering the levels of abuse that I was forced to endure, just ask Adrian and Owen"
The boys nodded, the three of them may have started the fight but only because the Timberwolves wouldn't keep their mouths shut. Hope bit her lower lip, trying not to chuckle as the siphoner continued, "And secondly, if anyone should take the blame it's Josie"
A look of betrayal spread across the brunette siphoner's face, "What?"
It only took a millisecond for Lizzie to realize that the comment hurt her sister, "I'm sorry, I totally cracked under cross but if you had just let Kaleb catch the ball—"
"You'd still be in trouble," Alaric said, cutting his daughter off before she could finish her sentence.
"But nice job throwing your sister under the bus" The tribrid smiled, obviously amused by the scene unfolding before her.
"Thank you, Hope," Josie mumbled, her arms crossed as her sister glared at the Mikaelson girl before giving the brunette a look.
Alaric let out a sigh before attempting to end their conversation and send the teens off, "Speaking of, the bus leaves in ten minutes, and I expect all five of you to be on it, working together today, harmoniously and without drama. End of debate"
Owen shook his head, he had no intention of getting stuck doing community service for something that he believed had been done right. He thought it fair that the Timberwolves had finally gotten a taste of what the Stallions were made of, "Dude, no"
"'Dude', yes" Alaric replied before he faced all of the teenagers, "I don't want to hear about you starting another brawl with the locals again"
The auburn-haired girl scoffed, crossing her arms, "I wasn't even at the game. Why am I being punished?"
"You know what you did," Doctor Saltzman answered which peaked Lizzie and Josie's curiosity about the occurrences of the previous day. Alaric swiftly evaded the twins' matching inquisitive stares to avoid having to answer any questions about what happened when they went on their Landon Kirby hunt, "Alright now go, all of you. Come on" He clapped and the twins cleared out along with Owen.
"Seriously?" Hope questioned once she, her boyfriend and the headmaster were left alone in the library.
"What part of what I said needs translating?" The adult sighed, facing the tribrid again, "Go, the others are waiting"
The Mikaelson girl rolled her eyes, turning on her heels and leaving to get ready for the day. Adrian, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke up once everyone except for Alaric had left, "Question, if I don't go... does it mean that I have to spend my day cleaning up here?"
"Do you want to be locked up in the cellar?" The older male questioned.
The Aquilo boy furrowed his brows, "No?"
"Then I suggest you go," Doctor Saltzman said, "But before you do Adrian, we need to talk about something. I talked to Emma and she told me what happened. You gotta react when someone cries, otherwise, it's rude. And no, rolling your eyes is not an acceptable reaction. And neither is laughing"
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JEEZ, SOMEONE'S CRANKY
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The alpha sighed, he hadn't slept at all due to his nightmares and honestly? Community service wasn't doing it for him, he needed to stay inside and in bed, "Look, party pooper, I'll just leave because I'm way too sleep-deprived to deal with your negativity right now"
✶
Adrian and his classmates had boarded the school bus that took them into town with Dorian as a supervisor. But in the process of getting out of the bus in the middle of the town square, Lizzie, who trailed behind Hope, took the opportunity to poke at her in hopes of getting information about what horrible thing she had done.
"So what did you do?" All of the Salvatore pupils who had participated in the game the previous day wandered down towards the grass as the pale blonde Saltzman talked to the tribrid, "My dad never gets mad at you. Must've been juicy"
The auburn-haired girl pursed her lips, trying her hardest not to tell the siphoner— who kept bugging her even after her boyfriend told her off— to fuck off, "Sorry, no time for girl talk. Public service awaits"
Dorian excited the bus with a trash picker and trash bags, "Alright, listen up" He tossed the trash bags to one of the students, "It's a beautiful day. You got options: Litter, weeds, graffiti. Your choice" He handed the picker to Kaleb who refused it at first but then took it when he realized that the older male wouldn't leave him until he accepted it.
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I DON'T THINK SO
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"It's bad enough we get punished while the humans get a pass. But there ain't no way in hell I'm picking up their garbage" Kaleb said, handing the picker to Lizzie who stood beside him.
The blonde immediately scoffed, holding up her hands in rejection, "Uh, I don't do trash either"
"I love trash" Hope, not in the mood for an argument, interrupted before she took the picker from Kaleb, "As of this moment"
"Perf, it suits you" The blue-eyed Saltzman girl faced her sister who seemed unimpressed with her attitude, "Looks like we're scrubbing paint today"
"Dad told us to work together, okay, harmoniously" Josie reminded her.
Lizzie rolled her eyes, "Yeah, and he also said without drama, and I am feeling a rage attack coming on, so I will be remaining drama-free over by that wall of graffiti," She explained shortly motioning her head towards the place she was mentioning, "Are you coming or not?"
Adrian narrowed his eyes, unable to tolerate the female's behavior, "I don't know Lizzie, is there another bus you want to throw me under?" The brunette Saltzman asked. The alpha silently chuckled in surprise as Josie left her sister's side and walked to stand beside him and Hope.
"Hey, she doesn't throw people under buses" Owen objected and Elizabeth smiled, grateful that someone could take her side.
Penelope snickered as she approached the group of teens, "She throws people at them"
"Fine," Elizabeth spat, obviously irritated, "Anyone else?"
All of the students else except for Owen, Adrian, Josie, Penelope, and Hope made their way towards the walls of graffiti. Lizzie turned around, glancing back at her sister one last time before she crossed the town square to scrub some paint off walls and windows.
✶
The curly-haired brunet alpha stood to the side, watching his classmates attempting to scrub purple spray paint off of a window in the town square. He looked at it, reading the words that had been sprayed and shook his head at how much of a small brain the person who wrote that had to have. Hope glanced over at him, noticing that he had stopped picking up trash. She walked over to him, taking a break from the trash picking, "What are you doing?"
Adrian looked at her and gestured towards the window he had been staring at. The female furrowed her eyebrows, finding it difficult at first to see what had been written, "Salvatore is for losers with a four and two o's" She sighed, she didn't want to shame a whole faction just because of one small-minded human but humans were stupid.
"I'd like to meet the idiot who wrote that" The male chuckled, turning away to fully face his girlfriend, "So, how's it going over there?"
The duo watched as Josie picked up the trash around her, a trash bag in her hand and a picker in the other. She stopped and dropped the picker to sort the bags and place them all down next to each other, "You know, she has a future in waste management"
Hope giggled, "At least someone does" The boyfriend furrowed his eyebrows at this, he didn't understand until the tribrid pointed at Owen who looked like he was considering dropping dead while Penelope watched.
Adrian nodded, watching his miserable friend try to talk to the brunette, "It's not him, it's her. He wants to ask her out but he thinks she's still hung up on Josie. And now he's just cleaning up to avoid her"
The tribrid looked at the alpha, "Well, at least he's trying to clean up. I don't see you pitching in"
The brunet rolled his eyes and picked up the trash pick he had left on the ground, beginning to clean up in the area he had been assigned, "That's because this is stupid. We get punished for wanting to win a game. We didn't do anything wrong"
The auburn-haired girl crossed her arms, a challenging smile on her lips, "You started a brawl with the locals"
The Aquilo boy licked his lips, the corners twitching as he tried to suppress a smirk, "You almost made shish kebab out of Landon Kirby"
Hope's smile fell when the human was mentioned, "That's not the same thing"
"Sure" The male spoke, returning to the work he had cut out for him. He scanned the trash-filled area and caught a glimpse of brunette Saltzman, "Hey! Where the hell are you going? All of us are supposed to do this together" This caught the girl's attention, she stopped walking when she saw the wolf borns heading towards her.
Josie suddenly doubled over and clutched her abdomen, "This is twin pain. I have to get home. I think something happened to Lizzie"
Adrian furrowed his eyebrows at this, he had just seen the blonde Saltzman girl waltz around the town, ordering people to clean up for her, "Back to the school? But she's just over the—"
"She left and I need to find her before I—" The siphoner doubled over in pain again, "I really need to go, this is twin pain. Something bad happened to her"
The couple looked at each other, nodding in agreement before they faced their classmate once again, "We'll go with you"
The brunette Saltzman girl rolled her eyes as she and Hope walked in front of the boy, making their way across the town square, "You're just looking for an opportunity to boycott your community service"
"To be fair, we wouldn't have been here if you had been meaner to Dana"
✶
Adrian and Hope had gone with Josie to inform Dorian that they were heading back to the school but they found out that he had been ordered to be keeping the Salvatore students— specifically the one's Doctor Saltzman had sent into town— away from the school and that while the teen had been cleaning up, he had been researching gargoyles because, apparently, one had invaded the school, which must've been what Josie had felt, that something was wrong.
Hope took over and talked to Dorian, telling him that there was no way she was staying in town if there was a freaking gargoyle in her school and that was how the three supernaturals ended up back at their school, nightfall already upon them. Josie entered the school, frantically searching for her sister. She looked around in the hallway before descending the steps that led to the great room, "Lizzie?" The Saltzman girl received no response and it worried her.
"We'll check the library," Hope told the siphoner in a reassuring way. She and Adrian turned around walking down the hallway, in the opposite direction of Josie. The two walked down the hall, passing the administration's office when a voice called out to them, startling the teens, "What are you two doing here?"
"Oh my god!" The tribrid exclaimed, flinching as the voice of her headmaster had frightened her in the silent hallway, "You scared me"
"What are you two doing here?" Alaric repeated, "Dorian was supposed to keep you away"
"He tried. He lost" Adrian stated. He handed his headmaster a book that he had been carrying since they left town. The title read Medieval French Folklore, the book was thin and looked to be over a century old with a triskelion printing on the front, "How to kill Gargoyles 101. He thought you could translate it"
Doctor Saltzman opened the book, just skimming through the first few pages, "Gaulish. Son of a bi— " He almost swore but stopped himself before he could. He glanced up at the teens who watched impatiently as they waited for him to read the book.
It wasn't long before the tribrid sighed, ready to redirect Alaric to the task at hand, "So are we on our own or did the Gauls provide clear instructions?"
Alaric closed the book and exhaled, "In a nutshell, it says hit it hard, repeat as needed"
As that was said, the teens and their headmaster were left startled when they heard stomping footsteps and growls coming from the gargoyle that roamed the school. The stomping steps caused the overhead lights in the hallway to swing around.
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LUCY, IT'S HOME
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✶
The three hurried after the sounds and Alaric did his best to recap what happened to Hope and Adrian before they'd come across the creature. They had walked down the hallway and bumped into Josie who had still been searching for her sister and recruited her to their mission to kill the gargoyle.
The loud stomping noises became louder and louder as the four reached the grand hall. They looked around, searching for weapons to use against it as the creature had stolen the knife from Alaric earlier. A loud roar brought their attention to the stairs in the middle of the dining hall where the creature stood. They faced the gargoyle and it roared at them, spreading its wings in a threatening manner. It flew down past the steps and landed in front of Hope.
From the corner of his eye, Adrian could see that the creature raised its arm, about to swing at her. Following his instincts, the alpha shoved his girlfriend to the floor to dodge the gargoyle's attempt to stab her with the knife.
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FUCK!
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The creature quickly readied itself to attempt and stab the Mikaelson girl for a second time but another thoughtless act was performed by Adrian and he moved to shield his girlfriend with his body, preparing himself to feel the burn of the knife slicing through his olive skin.
"No!" Alaric exclaimed, leaving his daughter's side to shove himself between the curly-haired boy and the gargoyle to protect the teens from the monster.
"Dad!" Josie cried out.
The creature stopped his assault just inches away from stabbing Alaric in the heart. The two stared at each other for a long moment, both processing the situation and turn of events. Adrian got up off the floor and helped the tribrid up as they had both been pushed down when Alaric took his place. Everyone soon broke out of their trances when Josie swung her axe from behind the monster, breaking off one of its wings. The creature shrieked and turned around to attack the brunette when Alaric grabbed his axe and hit it in the back causing the gargoyle to roar ferociously.
"Fluctus Impulsa" Hope chanted causing the knife to fly out of the gargoyle's hand. It landed near the staircase as the creature had been struck by the girl's shockwave spell. Realizing that she couldn't do it on her own, the tribrid held her hand out for the siphoner, "Josie, help me"
"How?" The siphoner furrowed her eyebrows but walked over to the Mikaelson girl and took her by her hand, putting her trust in the tribrid.
"Just repeat after me" The Mikaelson witch ordered.
"Fluctus Impulsa" The girls chanted together, repeating the words multiple times. The spell seemed to momentarily immobilize the gargoyle, who struggled to get out of the spell. The witches continued to chant and the spell grew stronger by every word, the gargoyle trembled in its place. The creature suddenly exploded into a shower of small broken pieces of stone, littering the floor, tables, and chairs in the room.
Now that the danger had passed, Hope let out a sigh of relief. She ran a hand through her hair, still in shock when the arms of her boyfriend suddenly engulfed her in a hug. Josie, clearly furious at her father for his earlier actions when he jumped in front of the wolves, faced her father immediately, "How could you jump in front of them like that? You could've died, Dad!"
Doctor Saltzman's expression softened in an attempt to reassure his daughter about his plan, "Honey, I knew it wouldn't kill me because my research said so—"
Before Alaric could elaborate further, Josie stormed off with tears in her eyes. Alaric hung his head as the pair of wolves watched him, neither of them had anything to say about this because they knew that Josie had been right. the least he could've done was to not withhold the information about the gargoyle not killing humans from his daughter so she'd know it wasn't a stupid mistake to jump in front of his students.
✶
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
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ME?
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An amused chuckle escaped the Aquilo boy's lips when his girlfriend shoved him inside her room in anger. He had never seen her so angry yet so worried and definitely not for him. The male sighed and took a seat on the ottoman as Hope paced around her room, trying to comprehend her boyfriend's stupidity after he risked his life for hers.
Adrian sighed. He reached out to grab the girl by her hand and when he did, he pulled her towards him, "Relax, babe, I'm alive"
"So far, that has been the dumbest idea you've ever had" The Mikaelson girl pulled away from her boyfriend, her blood still boiling with anger, "You could have died. And what were we supposed to then, huh?"
The brunet shrugged, rising from the ottoman to pull Hope into his arms again but she backed away, still in the heat of the moment. Another sigh escaped the boy's lips as he almost gave up, "I don't know, maybe what every sane person does: mourn the dead"
"You could have died, Adrian" The tribrid repeated with a more stern voice but noticed that the male didn't seem to care too much about it which only made the witch angrier, "Why are you so unbothered by this? What part of you could've died hasn't registered in your brain?"
"The dead part I guess" Adrian answered, a cheeky grin on his face. He wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, holding her as close as he could to leave her little to no space to escape this time.
A giggle escaped the female's lips but she soon pressed them together to a thin line as she wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's neck, his presence and the warmth of his arms around her calming her down, "You're so stupid"
"That's why you're so attracted to me"
"Yeah, well, I am a morosexual"