It was late on a miserable Friday afternoon, the rain was pouring down outside the school and if the lightning didn't set the roof on fire the wind would blow it off. Most of the schools students and faculty members were either in the main hall enjoying free food and hot drinks or in the gym listening to loud music and screaming with laughter. All except Lizzie, who was sat curled up on her bed after a bad fight with her sister. Things hadn't been good between them since the miss mystic falls and was only made worse when they found out about the merge. Lizzie felt weaker and more alone then she had in a long time. So she sat wrapped in a blanket, with darkness filling the space around her as she watched the lightning flashing outside her window.
Back in the gym Hope Mikaelson sat with her friends drinking and laughing. Josie and Penelope were officially back together and Hope was happy for them, yet disappointed since Josie had been treating her sister badly ever since. She somewhat understood where Josie was coming from, she knew Lizzie could be selfish and sometimes obnoxious but she wanted control, especially since she felt she couldn't control herself. As for herself and Landon, they broke up not long after Miss mystic falls, apart of her loved him but he didn't feel like he could trust her and she understood he needed to be alone to figure things out for himself.
It wasn't until Hope went to grab her second drink that she realised someone was missing, she returned to her group with one important question, "hey guys, wheres Lizzie?" Everyone in the group looked around for a second before Josie replied, "Probably wasn't getting enough attention" before returning to giggling with Penelope. Hope couldn't help her eye roll before she excused herself to see if she could find the other twin. She knew how hard Lizzie had been taking Josie's distance and blame, and she didn't want Lizzie to feel completely alone.
—
she was freezing, even with heating in the room and a blanket wrapped around her there was this constant chill that didn't seem to want to leave her body. She just wanted to disappear, she knew there was a party going on but everyone was now obsessed with the new Josie so they wouldn't notice if she was there anyway. She guessed she deserved it, she wasn't afraid to admit she was selfish or felt the constant need for attention and to be the best. So seeing her best friend back with satan, along with everyone now obsessed with her was difficult when Josie couldn't go two sentences without insulting Lizzie. She sighed as she laid back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling, fresh tears prickling her eyes as she silently cried into the darkness.
Hope wandered around the gym for about 20 minutes before finding herself in the main hall where most of the adults were, she was seeing if maybe Lizzie just needed some quiet or went to see her dad, but she was no where to be seen. "Hope, i thought you'd be at the party?" she heard Alaric walking up behind her and spun around to meet him, with a smile on her face she replied, "i Was Mr. Saltzman, i just needed some fresh air" before turning around and walking towards the dorms. Alaric seemed slightly suspicious but didn't investigate any further and went back to talking to the faculty members.
Hope reached the twins dorm room door and paused for a minute when she heard quiet sobs coming from inside the room. "oh no" she sighed quietly before knocking and opening the door. "Hope, aren't you supposed to be at the party?" Even in the dim lit room hope could see the hurt in Lizzie's eyes and the tear marks streaming down her face were evidence that she had been crying. Hope didn't reply before walking over and joining the blonde twin on her bed, quietly encircling her arms around Lizzie as the girl broke down into tears again.
Neither knows how long they sat like that, hope patting down Lizzie's hair as she drenched her shirt in fresh tears. Though Hope didn't mind, it physically hurt her to see Lizzie this upset over something. Hope wasn't sure how or why but in the short period of time they'd been friends, lizzie had made such a big impact in her life. From helping her deal with some of her issues to just basic school work that confused her. "Ugh, I'm sorry, your shoulder is drenched." lizzie said quietly when she had finally settled down, "Its fine, Lizzie, really." With a small smile the blonde turned away from her to stare out the window again. Hope wasn't sure what to say at that moment, so she sat in silence with her watching the lightning crash into the forest behind the school. Lighting up the room with every flash. Before deciding enough was enough, With a flick of her finger the lights in the room were on and brightened up the room immediately. "Hope, WHAT THE HELL" Lizzie practically yelled covering her eyes from the sudden blinding light. "Sorry Liz, but if we're having a pity party we're gonna do it right" with that she walked out the room and shut the door, leaving one blonde teen sitting on her bed, staring at the door in utter confusion.
—
Hope returned about 20 minutes later, with popcorn and soda. Lizzie just kept staring out the window and by the time she turned her head around, there were pillows and blankets on the floor, set up around the TV and hope was staring at her impatiently. "Come on you sad soul, get your butt down here" Lizzie wasn't really sure what to say but did as she was told. With in ten minutes the girls were curled around each other and wrapped in blankets watching cartoons.
They stayed like that for about an hour, laughing and throwing popcorn at each other before Lizzie suddenly threw herself into a hug with hope "Thank you." Hope smiled into Lizzie's neck and hugged the girl back with everything she had. They seemed to get lost in each other for the millionth time that night before pulling apart and bursting into laughter for no apparent reason. It was nice to see Lizzie smiling again, but Hope knew it wouldn't last long unless Lizzie got everything out of her mind. She was right, after a few minutes the laughter died down and it was back to silence, with lizzie looking at the ground before whispering "she hates me" and looking right into hopes eyes with the most devastated look the girl had seen. Hopes heart broke in that moment, the pure devastation and heart break evident on Lizzie's face was too much to handle.
"Lizzie" Hope started as she put her finger to Lizzie's chin to make her look at her again. "She doesn't hate you, she's mad at you, but she could never hate you. She wants to put the blame on someone for everything thats been going wrong in her life, and for her its easier to blame you. She almost lost Penelope, and i know you don't like it but she loves her. Its not fair to you, not in anyway possible but its normal for people to place the blame anywhere but themselves. I blamed so many people for things that happened in my life, even when half of it was caused by me. You cant let yourself believe that your family hates you, otherwise it'll eat away at you until theres nothing left, until you start blaming yourself to the point you refuse to be yourself, and that'll be a sad, sad day Lizzie Saltzman because you're incredible." Once she was finished everything seemed to stop, the tears running down Lizzie's face were gone and she was smiling. Hope removed her hand from Lizzie's chin and grabbed a hold of her hand instead "you're incredible," she repeated with absolute sincerity as she squeezed her hand.