Chapter 3: Breaking up
Hope's Break up
"Hi Landon."
Hope gave a small smile. This was going to be bad. She had to get him back to her room. She was not going to have a scene in the hallway.
Just as he made it to face in front of her, Hope saw Josie walk by with Penelope. Good, so at least if a scene was started then it wouldn't completely ruin both plans.
While Hope wasn't paying attention, Landon leaned in for a kiss. The tribrid only had a second to react. She turned her face in time to avoid the lips but not the kiss. It was the first kiss the two had shared since Hope and Josie had started. Hope had truly used every excuse she could to avoid Landon at all cost.
"Hey, um, can we go to my room? I want to talk to you."
Hope took Landon by the elbow to lead him to her room.
The look on Landon's face told Hope that he wanted to say something. She just kept pulling him with her until they were at her room. Hope unlocked the door and pushed Landon inside.
"Hope, what's going on? You've been avoiding me for weeks and now you push me in here like its life and death."
Not as stupid as people think. That could be a good or bad thing. Okay, like a band-aid.
"Landon, I want to break-up."
The mop-headed boy looked at Hope in shock and anger.
"What is this bull-shit? You've been avoiding me for weeks and then you just break up with me?"
Hope knew that this wasn't going to be this easy. Nothing for her ever really was. And especially not when she wanted it to be.
"I don't love you and I would have done this two weeks ago, but Josie didn't want you to fail your midterms just because you were upset because we broke up."
"What does Josei have to do with this? Wait, are you dumping me for her?"
Hope knew that she was expecting a reaction, she just hadn't expected this one, but she wouldn't deny Josie, not ever.
"Yes. I love her and she loves me. We want to be together."
"That whore! Have you been fucking her? Have you let her fuck you?"
Landon was pissed and had fire in his eyes, but so much for him being smarter than he looked.
Hope's eyes glowed golden fire, showing the control that she was quickly losing. She grabbed the boy and pressed him against the door a good foot or so above the ground.
"Don't you dare call her that! If it wasn't for her being so sweet and actually caring about your feelings, I would have dumped you in a second! I didn't give a flying fuck that it was right before midterm and wouldn't have given two shits if you would have failed! Now, you will leave my room and never go near Josie or me again without an invite to do so. The next conversation we have will not be this nice. And yes, before you ask, I am being extremely nice to you right now."
With that, Hope opened her door and threw the boy out on his ass. Making sure to give one more golden eyed glare for emphasis that she was serious, before slamming the door in his face.
'Hope Josie is having better luck.' With that thought, Hope took stock of her room to ensure that it was ready for her and Josie's night.
She headed out to get everything from the kitchen so that she would be ready to meet her soon to be official girlfriend in the common room once she finished her own break up.
Josie's Break up
After leaving Hope, Josie went straight to where she knew Penelope's class would be letting out soon. It had been really hard the last two weeks avoiding her soon to be ex-girlfriend.
She didn't want to lead her on, but she also didn't want to stress her out before her midterms. She knew that there was no way that Penelope hadn't noticed the lack of time or the lack of intimacy between them.
But she couldn't help it. When Pen tried to hold her hand, kiss her, or anything, she felt like she was cheating on Hope. She knew it was backwards as the raven-haired girl was her official girlfriend and she knew, logically, she was in fact cheating on Penelope, but in her heart, she knew the truth and the brunette refused to deny her feelings any longer.
She has wanted Hope since she was eight, even if it took her a year to realize that she had a crush on her. When she was eight Hope smiled at her for the first time across the playground and without her knowing, her heart gave itself over to the tribrid. When Hope and she finally kissed, she was done for and she was never going to be the same again.
The only thing holding her back from ending things two weeks ago was midterms. Josie cared about school and wanted everyone to do well. She would never forgive herself if her and Hope's happiness came at someone else's expense.
She already felt bad and selfish enough, as she knew that Landon and Penelope would be hurt with the breakups, but at least they wouldn't flunk too.
"Hey Jojo! Waiting for me?"
Smiling her best fake smile, Josie nodded.
"Yeah. Now that your midterms are over, I was wondering if you wanted to come to my room. We can talk."
"That sounds like a great idea." The shorter girl smiled. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."
"Yeah, I've been really busy with midterms... and everything else."
Josie hated lying. She wasn't bad at it, she had to know how to lie to make sure to protect the secrets of the school and everyone in it, she just really didn't like doing it.
The two girls walked up to Josie's room together. As they passed by the main hallway, Josie saw Landon walking up to Hope.
It appeared the girl was lost in thought. 'Well this should be fun. I can't wait for this to be over.'
"What's going on Jojo? You have that look that you get when you're trying to solve a really difficult math problem." The shorter girl looked at her girlfriend with concern.
"I sort of am." Josie knew that she had to do this. She just hated to hurt people.
"Maybe I can help you. I aced my math midterm." The older witch smiled.
Josie turned to the other girl and shook her head. She just had to do this. Waiting and going slow wasn't better.
"Ok, so I have to tell you something and you aren't going to like it. Please just let me get this all out first."
"Let me stop you there. I know what you're going to say."
"You do? How?" Josie was confused.
"I swear it didn't mean anything. As soon as I realized that I had feelings for you, I called it off. Then, after you left that party a couple of weeks ago I got really drunk. I didn't know what I was doing until I woke up in her bed again."
The younger girl looked in shock. Was she hearing this correctly? This could make things easier.
"So, let me see if I understand what you are saying. When we started dating, you were sleeping with another girl until you decided that you actually had feelings for me. Then, after I left a party, you drank so much you ended up in that same girl's bed again. Is that right?"
Penelope looked both ashamed and confused at the tone Josie was using.
"Yes, I figured you found out and that was why you were avoiding me. But now, you can forgive me and we can move past this."
The taller girl burst into a laughing fit. This was just too perfect. She had been feeling so guilty. Turns out that she would have ended things with Penelope anyway.
"No Pen. We will not be doing a forgive, forget, and move on. But I have to thank you. You just made what I wanted to tell you that much easier."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm breaking you with you. I don't want to be with you anymore."
"Come on Jojo. I know that it was bad, but I love you."
Josie shook her head. A few months ago and she might have believed her. Not now. Not after Hope.
"I'm sorry Penelope. I don't love you. I haven't felt the same for a while. And then there is Hope."
"What does that tri-bitch have to do with anything between us?"
It took a moment, but everything seemed to finally fall into place.
"How long Josie?"
"Since the night of that party. We kissed. We decided that we wouldn't break up with you and Landon until after midterms. We didn't want to upset you and cause you to fail."
"You're such a hypocrite!"
"How? I'm not blaming you. I knew nothing about you and whoever it was you were with. I never knew. I am taking responsibility for all of this. I am doing this because I want to be happy. How does that make me a hypocrite?"
"Whatever! I hope that you and the mutt are happy. I was tired of waiting for you to be ready to come back to my bed anyway."
Josie couldn't believe that she had just said that to her. Of all the things that she could be upset about. She was going to pick the fact that Josie stopped sleeping with her months ago!
"Are you honestly telling me that you are mad at me because of our sex life?
"You mean our lack of a sex life? Yes, I am!"
"You act like we have never done it."
Penelope looked at Josie as if she couldn't believe that she didn't understand why she was upset.
"When we started dating, I told you that I would wait and I was perfectly ok with you setting the pace. You had never done it before, and I didn't want to pressure you. Then when you were ready, it was amazing. In the last three months, we haven't made it past first base. So yes, I was getting tired of waiting for you to get over whatever was going on."
The younger girl froze in shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Then suddenly a thought struck her.
"How long?"
"How long what? I just told you. You've been off for months."
"I started to hold back on being intimate when I felt a change in you. So I will ask you again, how long?"
The shorter girl shifted slightly, looking anywhere but at her ex. You could see her squirming not to answer the question.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Let me see if I can make it clear for you. You weren't drunk at the party. You had been seeing that girl for a while. What I want to know, is how long have you been sleeping with her?"
"Fine! I've been seeing her on and off for the past year. I called things off with her when we got serious, but then about four months ago we were talking again. You had been spending all of your time making Lizzie your priority and ignoring me. She made me feel special and wanted."
Josie just shook her head. She had told herself that she was imagining things. The feeling was all in her head. She thought that is she just gave it a little time. She thought that she just needed to take a step back from the physical to focus on the emotional and that things would get better. Little did she know how wrong she was.
"I don't want to hear anymore. Here you are, rightfully upset for being dumped. But you have no right to call me a hypocrite and to take out your frustrations this way. If you didn't want me, you should have told me."
"You're one to talk! You've been seeing Hope for weeks!"
"Yes, and I would have ended things that first day like she wanted if I would have known that you didn't care! I thought that I was keeping you from getting bad grades. I thought that you still cared about us. I didn't want to hurt you any more than I had to!"
"I do still care! That's why I stuck around waiting for you! I was waiting on you to stand up for yourself with Lizzie! I wanted you to pick me for once!"
Josie sighed. This was pointless. She didn't have it in her to keep fighting. She just didn't care enough anymore.
"It doesn't matter anymore. We are done. I'm with Hope and she cares about me. You can go and be with her since she makes you feel special. I hope you find your happiness. Now get out."
Penelope couldn't believe it. She had waited all this time for Josie to stand up for herself and when she finally does, it's to break up with her.
"Goodbye Jojo." Penelope left without further words.
Josie felt drained. All she wanted now was to go and be with Hope. So that is what she did.
Finding her girlfriend in the common room as planned. Josie smiled seeing her sitting there with their dinners, waiting for her.
"Hey. You single?"
"Nope. I have an incredibly sexy, beautiful, amazing, kind, and loving girlfriend. You?"
"Same, but mine is also brave, strong, and fearless."
Hope smiled. "Mine is too. Amazing. We should absolutely get those two to team up. They would be unstoppable."
Josie leaned in and gave Hope a sweet kiss. Happy to be able to do this out in the open without hiding.
"How about we team up in your room?"
Without a word, Hope picked up Josie bridal style and grabbed the supplies with the hand under the brunette's legs. With Josie squealing and laughing, the tribrid was off with increased speed to get her girlfriend to her room.
T.B.C.