Chapter - Four

Lizzie Saltzman

Lizzie woke up to see that her sister had disappeared early in the morning. Maybe she didn't want to see her face after the argument they had the previous night. Even so, she missed having Josie in the room. Hers was the first face she saw, and it always brought her luck, or so she believed. In the beginning, she had shrugged it off, but events went awry whenever she didn't see Josie's face the first thing in the morning. Incidentally, those were the days she usually had her episodes.

Regardless, she rubbed her eyes and got ready for the classes ahead. It took her a while. She had always had the need to be perfect. Perception was important to her, and dressing good was a necessary part of it. However, if it was up to her, she would wear beautiful gowns and dresses. Everything would be medieval or Victorian, even Gothic, because she believed they were the best type of clothes seamstresses could ever make. But she could do with jeans and a tee as well. Basically, she took pride in the fact that she could rock just about any kind of wear.

Unfortunately for her, she had to wear uniform to the classes. White shirt with a dark green blazer on top, a red Salvatore school logo etched onto it. And then a deep blue skirt to go along with. A colour combination she would go bleh about. She had suggested to her father to changing it to something interesting, but he had said something on the lines of "Going to school is about learning something interesting, not about the colour of the uniform you are wearing."

It seemed like hypocrisy to her. If going to school was really only about learning something, why wear uniform at all? When she had retorted with that question one time, her father had fallen quiet and then gave her a long lecture about perception, something she felt she had done a treatise on.

She looked into the mirror and adjusted her uniform so it would look perfect on her. She combed her hair and let it down. There was no way she was going to go to school with pony-tails like Josie did. Thoughts of Josie reminded her once again that her sister was absent. Where had Josie scampered off to so early in the morning?

Just then, her sister strode into the room, looking all troubled and frowning. Lizzie wondered if this was about last night's fight.

"Where were you?" she asked, her tone demanding. "I've been looking for you… you know how I see not seeing you as bad luck, right? Where the hell have you been?"

Josie turned around and glared at her.

Lizzie knew that look pretty well. Her sister was angry, though who she was angry at, she couldn't pinpoint. "Listen, if this is about last night…," she started, mellowing her tone. "… you know how Penelope is like… she gets on my nerves… and she dumped you… with so much melodrama, I might add,… and then you went around and forgave her for what she did…. I was angry at that… so I am… sorry?" She wished she was a teddy bear so her sister could immediately hug her.

Josie's mouth twitched and she slumped onto her bed. "It's not about Penelope!" she mumbled, her tone one level above a whisper.

Lizzie heaved a sigh of relief. It wasn't about Penelope, thank God!

"It is about Hope!" Josie added.

Lizzie rolled her eyes. She had thanked God too soon. "What about Hope?" she asked, trying not to get her irritated self flare up inside her. If there was any girl besides Penelope who irked her, that would be Hope Mikaelson. The girl did ruin everything for her… in a school created for her.

"She's hiding something," her sister said, thoughtful.

"She's always hiding something!" Lizzie started her rant. "Don't get me started on that… she is not entirely a honest person… all she is… she's mean… and a freakin' know-it-all."

Josie nodded, meekly. "Father met with her today early morning. They discussed something, and he came out, looking troubled… I confronted her about it, but she didn't tell me anything… Ask Dad, she said. As if Dad is more honest than her… he too hides many things from us."

"But he shares them all with Hope… I get it."

"I know… I have also seen Hope in the library searching the books… something that's restricted to students…. only Professors can read them… but Hope gets to read?"

"You know what… we should call Dad out on this hypocrisy, don't you think?" Lizzie suggested. "Why does he care so much about Hope anyway? That bitch has to make things bad for us. She didn't even care about me… she knew I had these episodes and she leaked them to the school anyway… that was supposed to be private."

"Agreed!" Josie bobbed her head. "I'm gonna find out what Hope has been up to… she went out, you know… missing classes more likely… she gets more holidays than the rest of the students… I wonder why that is… Does Dad think that Hope has learned it all?"

Lizzie shrugged. "Let's go find out, shall we?"

A couple of seconds later, both the sisters stormed out of their room and made their way downstairs. Witches of the Salvatore School greeted them as they passed by, although some of them were downright antagonistic to her, especially Penelope's cliche and that girl with the ginormous attitude.. what was her name again? Alyssa Chang.

Young Pedro was playing with the kids his age, and he smiled at the sight of the two sisters approaching. Lizzie brushed her fingers through his air and greeted him with a good morning. The small kids danced around them and made merry, impeding their moment, softening them for a moment. Lizzie bent down on her knees and told Pedro to go to their classes. Pedro told her there was no class and the kids were asked to wait in the common hall for Ms. Emma, the School's resident counselor.

Lizzie nodded and wished him a sweet goodbye. Then, taking Josie's hand, she walked away and entered Hope's room, only to find her sprinkle some mud on the floor.

"Dark Magic!" Josie mumbed under her breath.

"Well… well… well…" Lizzie shouted, drawing Hope's attention to her. "Looks like I'm going to get you expelled after all."