Chapter 6- The Hardest Week of Hope's Life.
It had been a week since Lizzie left to go visit Caroline. It had been the longest week of Hope's life. Hope walked around the school with a face like a smacked arse. She was irritated all the time and people were starting to piss her off more than usual. She had been training with Alaric, like she usually does, but that wasn't satisfying her anymore. She would catch herself looking for Lizzie whenever she walked into a room but then feel defeated when she realises the blonde isn't there.
It was early Sunday morning and she had just finished her training session with Alaric. She picked up her phone and finally gave in, she sent a text to Lizzie.
Hope: What time is your flight?
Hope shoved her phone back into her pocket and headed back to the school for a shower. When she entered her bedroom, her phone vibrated in her pocket, she quickly pulled it out, unlocked the screen and read the message.
Lizzie: I don't have one. Not coming back yet.
Hope read the message over and over again. She couldn't believe it. Anger coursed through her body and she threw her phone at the wall, shattering it. "ARGH!" Hope screamed. She gathered her shower caddy and headed to the bathroom, slamming every door she walked through closed behind her. When she reached the bathroom, she turned on one of the showers in the far corner and set the temperature to freezing. She stood under it fully clothed. What the fuck is wrong with you Hope? Why am I being such an arsehole. Fucking Elizabeth Saltzman! That's why. Fuck you Lizzie. Fuck you and your perfect fucking body. Hope punched the wall, full force, leaving a fist-sized indent in it. Blood trickled down her hand and mingled with the water as it disappeared down the drain.
After a few minutes of watching her blood trickle down the drain, Hope finally got undressed and showered. She got out and got dressed then went back to her room. She dropped her wet clothes into her hamper and walked over to her phone, sighing as she picked up the broken pieces. She laid it all out on her desk and picked up her SIM card, placing it in her pocket before she headed out the door. She now has to go and buy a new phone, which isn't surprising given that she breaks one every three months or so. But she has to trek all the way to Richmond to buy it.
Hope walked down to Alaric's office. She knocked on the door and walked in. Alaric was sat at his desk talking to Josie. They stopped talking when she walked it, both staring at her, which didn't help her anger levels much.
"What?" Hope spat.
"I was just about to come and find you. There's two thing that I need to talk to you about." Alaric replied.
"And they are?" Hope asked.
"Can you sit down?" Alaric asked.
"I can sit down. It's a skill I learned as a child. But thanks for asking." Hope deadpanned.
"Don't be a smart-arse Hope. Sit down." Alaric stated. Hope groaned as she sat down next to Josie. Hope looked between the father and daughter. Josie recoiled slightly when Hope looked at her.
"What?" Hope asked, turning her attention back to Alaric.
"There's been some concerns raised about your behaviour this past week. Some of the students seem to think that you've been … threatening… towards them. And then this morning it was raised that you punch a hole in one of the shower cubicles." Alaric started. "I make allowances for you Hope, given your situation. But threatening students isn't a good thing. So you need to stop it."
"Fine. What else?" Hope said.
"It's about Lizzie." Alaric said. Hope tensed up at the mention of her name. "As you know, she is currently staying with Caroline. She was meant to come back today, but she told Caroline that she doesn't want to come back here yet. When Caroline asked her about it, she just shut down and said it had something to do with you and Josie. But she didn't give any details. Do you know what she's talking about?"
"She hasn't said anything to me. I haven't spoken to her." Hope replied. "The only thing I know is that Josie was pissing her off, constantly telling her that she was having an episode… "
"I didn't say that." Josie replied.
"Yes, you did. You got into a massive fight with her like three weeks ago. You told me to go and find her because you thought she was self-harming and hurting herself when she wasn't." Hope retorted.
"Oh. Yeah, I did." Josie said sheepishly. "How do you know that she wasn't hurting herself? You don't even talk to her."
"I know her better than you think I do." Hope replied. "Is that all? I only came down here to see if I could borrow the car? I need to go into Richmond."
"Why do you need to go to Richmond?" Alaric asked.
"I broke my phone. Need a new one." Hope shrugged.
"Fine, but Josie needs to go to Richmond as well. So you can both go together." Alaric stated.
"Fine." Hope stated as pushed herself up from the chair and grabbed the keys from Alaric's desk and headed out the door. "Are you coming then?"
Josie smiled tight-lipped at her dad before she turned and followed Hope out of the room. They walked in silence to the car and got in. The drive to Richmond was quiet, neither girl spoke, and they didn't have the radio on either. Josie was too busy texting away to pay attention to Hope anyways. Eventually Josie spoke. "What did you mean when you said you know Lizzie better than I think you do?"
"Why don't you ask her." Hope replied.
"I did. She told me to ask you." Josie stated. "Have a look for yourself." Josie passed her phone to Hope. Yup. It definitely says to ask Hope. What the fuck is she playing at? Hope handed Josie back her phone and her hands gripped the steering wheel tighter than necessary. "Does it have anything to do with that picture you took of her last week?"
FUCK. That picture. Hope groaned. "No."
"Then what's it about?" Josie prodded.
"Josie, seriously. Just drop it. And tell Lizzie to actually message me herself instead of doing it through other people." Hope seethed. Hope didn't talk again after that, well, she didn't talk again until they reached Richmond. Hope pulled into a carpark and got out the car. "Do what you need to do, and I'll meet you at Starbucks at 2pm." Hope stated, locking the car behind her as she walked away.
She headed to the phone store and brought a new phone. She walked to Starbucks and ordered a coffee before she found a table in the back and sat down. She spent about an hour setting everything up and downloading all her photos, music, calls and texts from her online backup storage. Thank God for modern technology. She said as she scrolled through her photos as they were downloading, and she came across a photo she hadn't seen in a while. It was of her whole family. It was taken just before her Mom, Dad and Uncle Elijah died.
Hope stared at the photo for about ten minutes before she closed the app and pulled up her contacts. She called her Aunt Freya. It rang for a few seconds before the calm reassuring voice she had not known she was craving answered.
"Hey Hope. Is everything okay?" Freya asked.
"Hey Aunt Freya." Hope spoke softly.
"What's going on?"
"What do you mean?" Hope frowned.
"You don't call that often and when you do, you usually want something." Freya laughed.
"I'm sorry. I should call more often."
"It's fine, Hope. So what's going on?"
Hope sighed before she spoke again. "I'm just having a really tough week, which has just got a whole lot worse. And I'm kinda losing it to be honest."
"That's fine. I'm here for you Hope. If you want to talk about it, you can. You know that."
"Thanks Aunt Freya. It's just… hard to talk about because I don't really understand what I'm going through. But… I've sort of been sleeping with someone, then she left. She was meant to be coming home today, so I texted her to find out what time she was due back. But she told me that she wasn't coming back. And I flipped, I threw my phone at the wall and it smashed. So I went down to Dr Saltzman's office to ask him if I could borrow the car to drive into Richmond. He let me use it, but not before he started interrogating me. He was asking what I've done to Lizzie because apparently Lizzie told him to ask me why she wasn't coming back. Lizzie keeps telling everyone to talk to me but she's not talking to me herself. And it's pissing me off, a lot. And I just don't know what to do anymore."
"Lizzie, huh?" Freya laughed. "I thought you would have got with Josie. I guess I owe Keelin $20."
"You bet on me? Seriously?!" Hope seethed.
"Well there's not much else to do here at the minute, seeing as Keelin is on bedrest because of the pregnancy… So, are you in a relationship with Lizzie?"
"No. We were just sleeping together. It wasn't that many times either. Like three or four times. It was only meant to be a one-time thing, Lizzie wanted it to continue. So it did. But we kept it a secret and it made Josie and her friends think that she was having an episode and they wouldn't leave her alone; they were constantly around her and we never really got chance to talk. We had some time together the day before she left. She asked me what I wanted. And I told her that I wanted to be with her, but not just yet. When I asked her what she wanted, she just changed the subject. Then she left town and I've been on edge all week waiting for her to come back… I miss her more than I thought I would." Hope sighed, defeated.
"Why don't you call her and talk to her?"
"I don't think she will answer me."
"You won't know until you try Hope."
"Ugh, fine… Thanks for listening to me Aunt Freya."
"Anytime, Hope. You know that. And let me know how it goes. Okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Love you."
"Love you too, Hope. Bye now."
"Bye." Hope sighed as she ended the call. She ran her phone through her fingers a few times before she picked up the nerve to call Lizzie.
"Hey Hope." Lizzie said.
"Oh! Erm… Hey Lizzie." Hope was surprised that Lizzie picked up the call.
"Look, Hope… I'm not ready to come back yet. I've just got a lot to deal with. I need to come to terms with it myself before I can think about coming home." Lizzie's voice was soft and steady.
"That's fine. I understand that. Just… keep in touch? Please. I want to know that you are safe." Hope replied.
"I'm safe, Hope." Lizzie stated. There were a few minutes of silence between them. Hope could hear Lizzie's breathing.
"That's good to know. Right I think I need to go, Josie's just walked in." Hope finally spoke.
"Where are you and why are you with Josie?" Lizzie frowned, a slight tone of jealously resonated through her voice.
"I'm currently sat in a Starbucks in Richmond. I broke my phone this morning and I needed to get a new one. Your dad would only give me the car if I drove Josie up here as well." Hope smirked.
"Oh." Lizzie's voice was small. A part of her knew that she was the reason why Hope broke her phone, even if Hope didn't say it.
"Right, I really should be going now. Unless you want to talk to her?" Hope said as Josie sat down across from her.
"No. I'm good thanks. I'll talk to her in my own time. Bye Hope."
"It's been good to hear your voice." Hope stated, realising she doesn't want the call to end.
There was a minute of silence before Lizzie spoke again. "Yours too."
"Can I call you again sometime?" Hope asked weakly, immediately regretting it.
"I won't say no, but you only call once a week." Lizzie replied. "Right, I need to go now. My mom just walked in and gave me a funny look."
"Okay. I'll call you next Sunday, if that's okay? And It's okay, I'm think I'm getting the same look from Josie." Hope laughed.
"That's fine. That doesn't surprise me. Goodbye Hope." Lizzie replied.
"Bye." Hope smiled.
Josie stared at Hope as she ended the call. "Who was that?" Josie asked.
"None of your business." Hope replied as she placed her new phone into her pocket. "Ready to go?"
"Yes." Josie frowned as she stood up from the chair and headed out the door. Hope hurriedly pushed everything into her bag and stood up, then followed Josie out the door. The journey back to the school wasn't as tense as the drive up here. Which was partly due to Hope having spoken to her aunt and to Lizzie.
Hope allowed herself to relax into the driver's seat before she spoke to Josie. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for acting like a complete bitch lately."
"Oh… Erm… It's okay, well it's not okay but I accept your apology. What's brought this on?" Josie startled at the sound of Hope's voice filling the car.
"I spoke to my Aunt Freya. She gave me some advice and I took it. I think it might work out. I just have to wait and see now." Hope shrugged.
"Good for you." Josie replied, a little bit more sarcastically than she wanted to.
Hope shook her head as she kept her concentration on the road. They drove back to the school in silence after that.
Five weeks had passed since Lizzie left. Hope called her on Sundays. It was the best part of Hope's week. The thing that she looked forward to the most, hearing Lizzie's voice always seemed to make her feel better. When they did talk on the phone, it was civil between them. If someone heard their conversations, they might have thought that they were friends. Hope would ask Lizzie what she got up to that week and Lizzie would ask the same. Neither of them mentioned their feelings or their history, but both girls felt the tension of it, like an unspoken truce. Sometimes Hope would try to slip in a 'babe' or 'beautiful' every so often that would make Lizzie smile, even though she would never admit it.
A few hours after they had phone call number three, Hope was sat on her bed watching TV when she received a picture from Lizzie. The picture was of the blonde lying on a bed with her hair covering half her face, but she was smiling, and she was in a matching red-lacy underwear set. Hope's eyes couldn't believe the photo in front of her. She pinched herself a few times to be sure. Yep. Lizzie's just sent me a sexy pic. God damn, I miss that body. Hope whined to herself as her fingers traced the outline of the blonde's figure on the screen. She debated with herself for a few minutes before she decided to send one back. It was only fair, considering Hope now had two compromising photos of the blonde and Lizzie had none of Hope.
Hope stripped off to her underwear, she was wearing a matching dark blue-lacy set. She messed her hair up slightly as she lay down on the mattress, smiling at the camera as she snapped the picture and sent it to Lizzie. She wasn't surprised when Lizzie didn't message her back. Hope smiled to herself as she changed into her nightwear. Yup, definitely going to ask Lizzie about that next week.
Today was Sunday and it meant that Hope could call Lizzie today. (Phone call number four, but who's counting.) She got up early and did her training with Alaric, like she did every morning. Then she went for a run in her wolf for about 4 hours before she had a shower and watched some TV. It was around 5pm when she headed down for dinner. She usually called Lizzie at 8pm. But that's when her day was interrupted. Alaric came rushing into the dining room looking for Hope.
"Hope. I need your help. There's a new werewolf in Mystic Falls. We need to go and get him this evening." Alaric said.
"Can't you take someone else with you? I've got a da… I've got something I need to do this evening." Hope replied, quickly recovering herself.
"Hope, I'm glad that you're no longer tearing up the school so whatever you are doing is helping… But this can't wait. You know you're the only one that can help."
"But there are plenty of other witches, werewolves and vampires at the school. Why don't you take Josie and MG with you? Or Jed? Literally anyone else." Hope said.
"Hope, I don't want to put Josie in any danger. She's not old enough to deal with it."
"That's bullshit and you know it."
"Watch your language Hope. Fine, you're practically invisible and you know how to protect yourself without my help." Alaric stated.
"Ugh fine. What time do you want to leave?" Hope frowned.
"I'll let you have your dinner, but we need to leave by 7pm at the latest." Alaric stated before he quickly turned on his heels and left. Hope sighed as she headed over to the food line and got herself something to eat. She piled her plate high and took it over to her table in the corner. She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Lizzie.
Hope: Can't call you tonight babe. Your dad needs me on a mission. New werewolf in town x
It didn't take long for Lizzie to reply, which surprised Hope, but then again, she hasn't texted Lizzie in a while, so she forgot that that girl is constantly on her phone.
Lizzie: That's fine. Take care of yourself out there. You will call me tomorrow instead.
Hope: I always do ;) Just wish you were here for after… And I will, will I?
Lizzie: No you don't. If you did then we wouldn't be in this current… situation. And you will ring me tomorrow.
Hope: Oo, demanding. I like it ;) x
Lizzie: Fuck off.
Hope: I'll ring you tomorrow. I hope you have a good night x
Hope smiled at her phone before she placed it back into her pocket. She ate her dinner in peace before she headed back up to her bedroom for an hour or so. Alaric came and knocked on her door around 6:30pm. Hope picked up her bag from the floor and threw it over her shoulder as she exited her room, following Alaric down to the car.
They arrived at the church just after 8:30pm. Alaric had taken a quick detour to the police station to see Sheriff Donovan. When the two of them got out of the car, Hope walked over to the church but stopped momentarily when she saw a familiar face sitting there. "Landon?"
"Hope?" Landon replied.
"You two know each other?" Alaric asked as he walked up to Hope.
"It's a long story." Hope replied. They were interrupted by screaming coming from inside the church. "Dr. Saltzman."
"Yeah I'm on it." Alaric stated as he walked over to the church doors, pulling on them. "The doors are locked." He said as he moved away from the doors.
"Dissera portus." Hope said, causing the doors to fly open. "You're gonna want to stay out here, Landon. Trust me."
Alaric and Hope walk inside the church and Landon isn't far behind them. Hope silenced the priest and sent Landon's and Rafael's foster parents flying to opposite sides of the church hall, knocking them out. Rafael was transitioning in front of them and Alaric quickly secured Rafael in place with a collar and chains.
Alaric sat with Rafael for a while, whilst Landon pulled Hope to one side. "What are you doing here Hope?" Landon asked.
"I'm here to help your friend obviously." Hope frowned.
"Rafael's not my friend. He's my brother, but that's not what I meant. I didn't think I'd see you again. The last time I saw you, we had sex then you left before I woke up." Landon frowned.
"Yeah, I do that with a lot of people. Don't think too much into it." Hope shrugged.
"Don't think about it?! You literally fucked me then left. Why?"
"God. You sound like a girl right now. I needed a release, you were there, then I left. It was a one-time thing. I didn't expect to see you again."
"Because that makes everything better." Landon deadpanned. "Why did you do it?"
"Seriously Landon. We are going to be here for hours and I really don't have the strength to get into it. Plus I need to keep an eye on your friend. Dr. Saltzman can only handle so much." Hope replied before she moved away from Landon and back to Alaric.
"Everything okay?" Alaric asked.
"Yeah, it will be fine." Hope shrugged.
The three of them waited hours for Rafael to de-transition. Landon kept looking at Hope, still slightly annoyed by Hope's presence and her blatant disregard for his feelings. Hope just couldn't deal with Landon. She was already in a pissed off state because she couldn't speak to Lizzie today and now seeing Landon just annoyed her even more.
The night rolled into day and Rafael finally changed back around 7am. He was shattered and quickly fell asleep in the back of Alaric's car. He woke up when they got back to the school and Josie was waiting for them. Josie took Rafael on a tour of the school whilst Landon followed Alaric and Hope to Alaric's office. They spent half the morning trying to understand how Rafael triggered his werewolf curse. Hope tried to leave a few times, but Landon insisted she stayed, or he wouldn't talk. Alaric finally let Hope leave after MG tried to compel Landon to forget the events of the previous 24 hours, but it didn't work. So Alaric put Landon in the transition cellars until the next day.
Hope headed up to her bedroom and passed out on the bed for a few hours. She startled herself awake around 6pm. She headed down to the kitchen and grabbed something to eat before she went for a run.
Unknown to Alaric and Hope, Josie broke Landon out because Raf had asked her too. Landon was dragged to the party that was happening by the Old Mill. Hope was running through the woods when her attention was being pulled in another direction, she tried her hardest to fight it, but it didn't work and she ran full speed at Landon, who had walked away from the party. Hope pounced forward but quickly transitioned back to human as she landed on top of Landon. "ARE YOU CRAZY?! I COULD HAVE KILLED YOU!" Hope spat.
"Sorry. I erm… Didn't realise anyone would be out here." Landon replied.
"You're at a school for supernatural beings! Where your brother is a werewolf What did you think would be in the woods?!"
"I don't know! Nothing I guess." Landon stuttered. He looked Hope up and down, before he averted his eyes. "Are you… are you going to get dressed?"
"What are you looking away for? It's not like you haven't seen this before." Hope replied, a little too cocky.
"Here, take my jacket." He said as he shrugged his jacket from his shoulders and held it out for Hope. She groaned as she snatched it from his grasp and placed it around herself.
"Go back to the party and stay there. You don't know what else is out here. I don't really want to explain to Dr. Saltzman that I killed you." Hope instructed before she turned and walked away.
Hope arrived at the spot where she kept her clothes around midnight. Shit! I forgot to ring Lizzie. Fuck. Will she still be awake if I ring her now? Hope groaned as she picked her phone up. She scrolled through her contacts to find Lizzie's name and hit the call button. It rang five times before Lizzie answered.
"Hey sexy, how are you?" Lizzie asked, her voice was soft and full of sleep.
"Hey babe, sorry, did I wake you?" Hope smiled at the sound of Lizzie's voice. She placed her phone between her cheek and shoulder as she started to get dressed.
"Yes. I waited for hours for you to call. I'm very disappointed."
"Disappointed in what?"
"In you… And me…" Lizzie replied. "I'm disappointed in you for not calling when you said you would. And I'm disappointed in myself for actually thinking you would call."
"I'm sorry that I disappoint… Oh, shit." Hope laughed as she fell over trying to jump into her trousers.
"Hope?! Are you okay?!" Lizzie asked, slightly startled when she heard a thud on the other end of the line.
"Yep. I'm fine. I just fell over trying to put my trousers on." Hope laughed.
"What?! Why aren't you wearing any trousers?" Lizzie frowned, some annoyance in her tone.
"Oh you know, I just finished having sex and I ran out of the room without getting dressed." Hope laughed.
"Are you fucking serious?! You're seriously calling me after you've just had sex with someone? What am I? Some fucking afterthought?!" Lizzie spat.
"Jeez! Calm down woman! I've been for a run in my wolf. I'm just getting dressed before I head back to the school." Hope laughed.
"Somehow I don't believe you." Lizzie replied.
"Okay, hang on… I'll switch to video chat." Hope said as she pulled her phone away from her ear and quickly switched it video mode. She smiled when she saw Lizzie's face. "Damn, I've missed that face." Hope laughed when she saw Lizzie frowning at her through the screen.
"Fuck off." Lizzie replied. "Why are you still naked?"
"Well someone didn't believe that I was in the woods. So I didn't have chance to put my top on yet. Well technically I'm down at the dock. See?" Hope moved her camera around in a circle to show Lizzie before she turned it back to herself.
"Well you just told me that you were having sex with someone! What do you expect me to believe?"
"You're right. I'm sorry. I won't tell you when I'm having sex in future." Hope laughed.
"I swear to God Hope. You're so lucky I'm not there right now." Lizzie seethed.
"Why? What would you do to me?" Hope flirted, she was distracted by Lizzie that she hadn't seen Landon approaching her.
"Hey Hope!" Landon called as he walked closer to her. "Ah shit, you're still not dressed."
"Shit." Hope muttered. FUCKING LANDON!
"HOPE ANDREA FUCKING MIKAELSON!" Lizzie shouted. Hope quickly muted Lizzie's voice before she shoved her phone into her back pocket.
"Landon! What do you want now?" Hope spat.
"I came to get my jacket back. It's the only one I have and I'm cold." Landon stated.
"Here. Now fuck off." Hope replied as she through his jacket at him.
"Who were you talking to?" Landon asked.
"None of your fucking business."
"Fine, I just wanted to check on you. You seemed annoyed by my presence. I just wanted to make sure we're all good." Landon shrugged.
"Landon seriously. Fuck off. We slept together once! Months ago! I don't care about you, we aren't together. Now fuck off before I make you." Hope hissed.
"Okay, fine. I'll see you later." Landon said as he held his hands up before he turned and walked away.
Hope groaned before she pulled her phone out of her pocket and unmuted Lizzie. "Hey…"
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME HOPE?! YOU TELL ME YOU'RE HAVING SEX WITH SOMEONE, THEN YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T, THEN SOME FUCKING RANDO STARTS TALKING TO YOU AND YOU SHOVE ME IN YOUR POCKET! AND YOU HAD SEX WITH HIM?! WHO THE FUCK IS HE?!" Lizzie ranted, cutting Hope off.
"First of all. I haven't had sex with anyone for a month. You were the last person I fucked. Secondly, his name is Landon, I had sex with him months ago, it was after my dad and my uncle died and I was in a bad place. We had sex once and I didn't expect to see him again. He was at the church yesterday when me and your dad went to get the new student. And thirdly, why do you care who I've slept with? Or sleeping with? Hope returned.
"I don't care who you're sleeping with or slept with." Lizzie replied unconvincingly. "Right. I'm going to try to sleep again, seeing as you've disturbed me."
"Sure you don't." Hope deadpanned. "Fine, Lizzie whatever. I'll talk to you on Sunday. It'll give you a chance to come up with a better answer."
"Whatever. Goodbye Hope." Lizzie ended the call soon after. Hope groaned as she shoved her phone into her pocket and finished getting dressed.
Hope walked back to the school, annoyed. Why does Lizzie care so much about who I sleep with? Fuck her. Why do I care so much about what Lizzie thinks? We're not together. God why is she so annoying?! As she pushed open the doors to the school and walked in, she bumped into Landon. "Watch where you are going!" She spat.
"Sorry, I didn't know someone was coming in." Landon replied.
"Are you following me or something?" Hope stared.
"Erm, no. I just don't know what to do with myself." Landon shrugged.
"Well fuck off." Hope stated. Landon nodded and turned to walk away. Fuck it. "Wait. Come with me." Hope grabbed Landon's wrist and pulled him up to her bedroom.
