Hope tries her hardest to focus on the punching bag in front of her. She punches and kicks, each hit stronger than the last. She's trying her hardest to let her emotions out in this way.
She needs to have control again. To not feel so out of it all the time. And maybe even to shake a certain raven haired witch out of her mind.
Hope stops everything when a loud whistle comes from near the door. There, Penelope stands with a smirk on. Speaking of the devil…
"What's getting you so worked up this early on a Saturday morning Mikaelson? Not that I'm complaining, 'cause the view is totally hot."
Hope rolls her eyes and stops the bag from moving, choosing to focus her attention on Penelope.
"Good morning to you too, Penelope."
The witch chuckles and walks closer.
"Morning Hope." The smirk turns into a smile. "So, what's up?"
Hope sighs. "Nothing."
"Nothing? I think that punching bag would say otherwise." She asks with a raised eyebrow
Hope sighs and wipes her forehead with the back of her hand.
"I just… There's a lot going on right now. I needed to do something to get it out, you know?"
Penelope let's out a little sound in understanding. Of course, how could I forget?
"And where's Dr. Saltzman to help you with that?"
Hope chuckles and softly punches the bag she was holding moments earlier.
"He and Mrs Forbes took Lizzie out. I don't know where though." Hope shrugs. "You know, since Josie's been spending a lot of time with Jade, Lizzie's been feeling… left out, I guess."
"Yeah… Jojo's really whipped this time huh?" Penelope chuckles. "I guess I'll just have to be the one helping you."
"What do you mean?" Hope says with a frown.
Penelope chuckles one more time and turns around, walking back towards the door. Under the eyes of a very confused Hope, the short haired witch walks out of the gym.
Okay. That's just rude. Hope thinks before punching the bag one more time.
After a couple of minutes of punching, Hope feels frustrated. She gives one final and hard kick, and then she stops. The Mikaelson girl catches her breath, and does her best to calm herself.
Just as she's about to turn around and go back to her bag, she hears footsteps into the gym. Hope turns and almost stops breathing when her eyes land on a Penelope Park that is wearing very tight training clothes.
"See something you like?" Penelope says with a smirk.
Hope swallows hard. "I, uh… What are you doing here in those clothes?"
The short haired girl rolls her eyes. "What do you do in a gym, wearing training clothes Hope?"
"Oh… I can leave if you wanna train."
"I'm here to train with you, Mikaelson. I thought I made that clear before I left" Penelope says with a raised eyebrow, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Hope's laughter comes as a surprise to Penelope. It's good to see Hope laugh so freely, but at the same time she can't help but be a little offended.
Penelope gives a glare to the Mikaelson girl, and slowly Hope's laughter dies out. The look the ravenette is giving her makes Hope pause for a second.
"Oh. You were serious." Hope says.
Penelope rolls her eyes. "Of course I'm serious."
Hope frowns. "Penelope… I don't think it's a good idea for me to train with a human."
"You train with Dr Saltzman all the time, and he's human." Penelope frowns, not buying Hope's excuse.
"I mean… Yeah, but he's got training, and I still have to hold back in order not to hurt him."
"Try me, Mikaelson, I think you'll be surprised." Penelope says before wiggling her eyebrows.
"You're really being serious right now?"
"Uhum, let's go." Penelope says, already moving into a fight stance.
Hope shakes her head with a smile. "Fine, let's do this."
Penelope's face lightens up. She honestly thought Hope would fight her harder on this.
They quickly start training, and Hope is pleasantly surprised with Penelope's skills. The short haired girl knows how to throw a punch, and how to protect herself. She even manages to keep up with Hope when it comes to endurance.
After Hope maneges to get Penelope pinned against the mattress, the raven haired girl feels like she has to step up her game.
"Reversio." She mutters and Hope is magicly dragged to the ground with Penelope quickly switching their positions and smiling smugly down at Hope's amusingly surprised face.
The Mikaelson girl decides to play Penelope's game, "Repello," she mutters and Penelope is off of her in a second.
Once they're both back on their feet Hope makes a move to attack Penelope again, but it's met by an invisible barrier that bounces her back, making her fall butt first on the ground.
As soon as Hope gets back on her feet, Penelope attacks. She's focused, her punches precise and her moves are flawless, Hope manages to dodge or block all of her attacks with relative ease, but not without having to back away a little bit.
Hope is thoroughly surprised and Penelope uses this moment to her advantage, she kicks down, swiping Hope's legs from under her, straddling her as soon as the girl hits the ground.
A soft gasp leaves the tribrid's mouth when her back meets the ground rather unexpectedly and the first thing she sees is the smug smile on Penelope's face.
"You're good there Mikaelson? Need a break?" The raven-haired girl teases with a fake pout.
Instead of replying Hope mentally casts "Dimiterre" throwing Pen off of her, and quickly gets back to her feet.
That's when Hope notices Penelope catching her breath. For the first time, the raven haired girl doesn't immediately get up, so Hope decides it's time to end their session.
At a speed that is far from human, Hope straddles Penelope and with a single hand at her chest, she holds her down before the girl has the chance to get up again.
For a second the short haired girl looks pissed, and tries to push Hope off, but when she understands it's no use, Penelope gives up. Her head fall on the mattress again.
Penelope knows Hope is smirking smugly, and it makes her want to wipe it off from her lips. But right now, she doesn't know if she'd rather use a punch or a kiss to do that. Instead of either of those things, Penelope decides to use her words.
"I should be mad right now but I think this view is worth losing for." She says with a smirk of her own. "I knew you were badass Mikaelson, but damn…"
Hope chuckles before getting off of Penelope.
"You're not bad yourself, Park. I'm seriously impressed." Hope says while helping the girl get back to her feet.
Hope turns her back to Penelope and walks over to her bag. She seriously needs some water right now. After taking a huge sip from her water bottle, Hope throws it at Penelope. The short haired girl barely catches it, but she still gives a grateful smile to her new training partner.
Penelope plays with the bottle in her hand before taking it to her lips. Just before she takes a drink, she decides to tease Hope one last time.
"Well… You didn't think that I looked like this by doing nothing did you?" Penelope winks, and finally takes a drink.
She feels Hope's eyes on her, and the way the tribrid looks at her feels good. When she takes the bottle away from her lips, Penelope smirks at Hope, and the girl quickly looks away.
Hope grabs her bag and quickly moves to the door. She's totally panicking a little about the thoughts that went through her mind as her eyes traveled on Penelope's body.
"Hope! Your bottle…"
"Keep it!" Hope says as she walks out of the door.
Penelope's lips stretch slowly in a knowing smile.
Hope has been locked inside her room ever since she came back from training. She closed the door behind herself and leaned on it. Her heart was beating fast and she felt like a total mess.
Now, she's painting in her room. Vibrant colors are being used to paint a beautiful sunset. Hope knows where this image comes from, but she doesn't want to think about that. Painting was supposed to keep her mind off of Penelope.
Now that she let her mind slip to the short haired witch, Hope can't stop from thinking about her. Her hair, her eyes, her smile… Penelope is invading her mind.
That's why she's so relieved when her phone rings, and she sees her aunts name.
"Hi aunt Rebekah!" Hope answers quickly.
"Hello sweetheart. How are you?"
"I'm, uh, good. And you?" Hope answers anxiously.
"You don't seem sure. What's going on?" Rebekah says back, worry clear in her voice.
"I ran into some troubles with one of dad's old enemies." Hope says with a sigh. "I fought him and hurt a guy I consider my friend. Penelope keeps saying it's not my fault bu-"
"Wait a minute. You got attacked? And no one thought to call your family?" Rebekah says, sounding angry.
"I asked Dr. Saltzman to keep it quiet. It was nothing, really. The guy wasn't even that strong."
Rebekah sighs on the other end of the line, knowing all too well that she was hiding something. That is why she called in the first place, they were getting close to that tragic date once again, and she knew how that would affect her niece.
"Don't do this sweetheart. I know you well enough to know when you're hurting, and don't think I forgot about the time of year we're in… Please, tell me what happened so I can help you."
Hope knew her aunt would bring it up, but hearing the concern in her voice made her think of all the times her mom talked to her like that. And just like that her whole resolve broke and all the feelings she was trying to get under control came rushing back to the surface.
It takes a little more caring words from her aunt to break Hope. That motherly care Rebekah used was so familiar, and yet so far away to the tribrid. As soon as her mother comes to her mind, Hope can't control the tears spilling on her cheeks and she finds herself telling everything to the older Mikaelson woman.
Rebekah is quick to try to give some comfort to her niece.
"Listen to me very carefully Hope Mikaelson. None of what happened is your fault. That man wanted revenge over something that happened way before you were even born. If anything, it was my fault. All of our fault actually. We failed you in so many ways. I'll never tell you enough how sorry I am about this. But that didn't gave him the right to say those things to you. I can't even imagine how much that must have hurt you... I'm so sorry darling."
Rebekah takes a deep breath before going on.
"Now, about your friend MG. That wasn't your fault either. I'm sure you never meant to hurt him."
"Penelope said the same thing..."
"Okay. I've heard that name twice in like ten minutes, and I'm pretty sure I never heard it before. Who's Penelope?"
"A girl." Hope deadpans. "A pain in the ass actually."
"I'm not gonna get more than that?" Rebekah asks, really curious about this new girl in Hope's life.
Hope sighs. She didn't mean to let Penelope's name slip. Now, she needs to explain something she doesn't even understand to her aunt Rebekah. So, she decides to go with the basic informations.
"She's a witch. A little younger than I am, she's seventeen." Hope thinks about other things she could say about Penelope Park. "She's annoyingly confident, cocky and a little arrogant. But quite-"
Hope stops what she was gonna say next when there's a soft knock on the door.
"Who is it?" She calls out.
"Hope, it's Caroline. Can I come in?"
Hope swallows with difficulty before quickly saying goodbye to her aunt.
"Auntie Bex, I gotta go, Caroline's at my door right now."
"Okay, sure… But we're not done with this yet darling." Rebekah warns. "Oh, and tell Caroline I said Hi."
Hope sighs, knowing full well her aunt isn't going to drop it. "Will do. Bye."
The tribrid quickly hangs up and tells Caroline to come in. The blonde woman opens the door and walks in with a soft smile and two cups, and the smell of blood quickly invades Hope's nose.
"Hi honey." Caroline says warmly.
"Hi." Hope replies, giving the vampire a smile too. "Oh, my aunt Rebekah wanted me to say 'hi' to you. So… double hi."
Caroline chuckles and moves closer to Hope, handing her one of the two cups. The tribrid takes the cup and quickly thanks the woman before immediately taking a small sip of the red liquid. The thirst was awful, but she kept it down. Caroline taught her well, she needs to take her time as she drinks blood. This way, she stays in control.
"Oh… So she called you already then?" Caroline starts.
Hope nods. "Yeah, we were on the phone when you knocked."
"Well, I'm glad she was faster than me on this one then." Caroline says with a soft smile. "I'm sorry I didn't come check on you earlier, I really wanted to. But there was a bunch of concerned parents calling yesterday."
Hope waves a hand dismissively.
"Don't worry about that. I know you'd be here if you could." She says with an understanding smile.
"I assume she most certainly already checked on you. So I won't make you talk about that again. You probably talked about it enough with her."
Hope feels grateful in this moment. Caroline's thoughtfulness never seemed to falter.
"Thank you…" Hope thinks about a way she could give something back to the woman. Just something that would cease Caroline's worry a little. "You know… I've been making friends."
Caroline's eyes brighten and a big smile appears on her lips. The woman takes a seat on Hope's bed and looks at the tribrid expectantly.
"Oh yeah?"
Hope nods. "Penelope Park. She came to train with me this morning actually."
"Oh… And how did that go?"
"Surprisingly well actually… She's a pretty good fighter."
Hope is happy to move on to lighter subject with Caroline after that. She's happy the woman stopped by actually, and it shows as they spend nearly half an hour catching up. Then, Caroline receives a text and quickly excuses herself. Hope is a little down about her leaving, but she doesn't let it show. Instead, the tribrid smiles and thanks her for stopping by.
Caroline is almost out of the door when she stops and turns to look at Hope one last time.
"I'll drop by later to leave you some blood bags. Elena and I went to the blood bank earlier today, so we're stocked up again." She informs her softly, then playfully adds; "Thank god! Because If I had to drink anymore of that animal blood I think I would've lost my mind"
Hope chuckles at her "Yeah… That stuff is awful isn't it?." She says with an honest smile, and gratefully adds "Thank you."
When Caroline closes the door behind her, Hope sighs and lets herself fall on her bed. Why did she talk about Penelope Park to two of the most important women in her life?
Penelope walks into Potion class with Josie and Jade. They've spent lunch together since they all had the same class after. The short haired witch is starting to really like the couple's company. She gets a little distracted as she sits down though, since she caught sight of Hope from the corner of her eyes. The tribrid is sitting alone in the back, scribbling down on some piece of paper.
"Park?" Jade says, and Penelope quickly turns to look at her. "Damn, you have it bad. You realize it won't happen, right?"
Penelope rolls her eyes at Jade's playful teasing, and Josie's light giggle. But just as she's about to say something back, something weird catches her attention. The whole class is looking as Alyssa Chang walks over to Hope with the same hate on her face as the week before.
"How dare you show your face up here, pretending like nothing happened, after almost killing MG?" The witch spits at Hope. "You know what Hope? That man was right. You're just a fucking mistake."
Hope keeps her calm. "I already said I'm sorry, what else do you want from me Alyssa?"
"I really hate you, and I want you to get out of here, get out of our lives. You're like a plague, only bringing pain to those around you."
If Hope winces at her words, she doesn't show it. She wouldn't give Alyssa that satisfaction.
Suddenly, Alyssa's anger turns into a smirk as she looks at the empty seat besides Hope.
"But I guess people already realized that, due to the fact that you're sitting here, all alone. Exactly how a freak like you deserves to be."
Hope stays there, frozen as Alyssa walks back to her chair. The tribrid doesn't even know how she feels anymore.
On the other side of the room, Penelope is fuming. Again, she stood there doing nothing as someone brought Hope down. She should have stopped Alyssa. She'll clearly have to do something about that stupid wanna be.
"Jade, change partners with me." Penelope asks quickly as she gathers her books.
"What?"
"You want to spend more time with your girlfriend, and I want to spend time with Hope." Penelope shrugs. "Everyone wins."
Jade looks at her girlfriend, and Josie just shrugs. It is a win-win situation, Penelope is right.
"One condition…" Josie says. "Just make sure Hope is okay. She took her distance from Lizzie and I, but we still care."
Penelope's smile softens and she nods. Then, she stands up and quickly walks over to Hope. Without a word, the short haired witch slides into the seat next to the tribrid's.
"What's up Mikaelson?" Penelope says, acting as if she noticed absolutely nothing.
Hope sighs, but she still forces a smile. "Hi Penelope." Confusion gets the best of her so she decides to add something. "Shouldn't you be with Josie? The class is about to start."
Penelope shrugs with a smile still on. "It's fine, I'm your new partner."
"What do you mean? I thought Jade was supposed to be my partner." Hope asks with a frown.
Penelope's smile softens as she thinks about how cute Hope's little frown is. Then she scrunches her nose with a little smile.
"I might have convinced her to sit this one out." Penelope adds a wink.
Hope sighs. "Why would you do that?"
"She wanted more time with her girlfriend, I wanted more time with you. Win-win situation." The raven haired witch nudges Hope's ribs with her elbow, receiving a glare from the tribrid.
"Oh come on Mikaelson, don't look at me like that. I know you like me. Deep down."
Hope rolls her eyes, but she can't contain her smile. "If you say so."
It's just then that the teacher walks in and starts class. Penelope watches her new partner with wonder. Hope seems to be studious. She listens to the teacher, takes notes and looks genuinely interested. After a while, they start a new project and get to talk again, but Hope doesn't talk about anything but the class. Penelope follows, willing to go with the flow.
They both lift their heads when Josie's laugh erupts from in front of them. Jade made the brunette laugh with a joke or something, but the teacher is quick to tell them to knock it off. As soon as he turns around though, Jade and Josie exchange a loving look.
Penelope catches Hope's soft smile as she turns back to their work and it gets the ravenette curious.
"Josie seems really happy with Jade."
Hope looks up. "Uh, yeah. She deserves it."
Penelope nods. "Yeah she does. You know what's funny though? I had the biggest crush on her last year."
Hope chuckles. "Me too, honestly. A few years ago, I mean. I think I was... 14?"
Penelope knew her curiosity would pay off.
"Oh, did you now?"
Hope shrugs. "It didn't last long, though. I realized she's more like a sister to me. I couldn't date her, and she deserves way better anyway."
Penelope frowns and quickly covers one of Hope's hand with her own. "Hey, stop this, okay? You're a total catch."
Hope quickly decides to change the subject when she feels her cheeks heat up. She gently takes her hand back as she speaks, her voice sounding more shy than she intended to.
"How about you? Not crushing on Josie anymore?"
Penelope feels a little frustrated that Hope decided the subject was over, but she still accepts it.
"We dated for about a week actually." Penelope chuckles and adds an ingredient to their potion. "It was terrible. It didn't feel right, so we decided to stay friends. She's been my best friend ever since."
Hope smiles and nods. "I'm happy she's with Jade now. She deserves to be with someone nice, who will care for her. Jade is all of this, and more. Plus, they're like really cute together."
"I know! It's like cuteness overload when they're in the same room. Makes me wanna puke." The short haired girl playfully says.
Hope lets out a little laugh, and Penelope takes it as a small victory.
Penelope joggs until she reaches Alyssa's side. The day's over now, but she still needs to make sure Alyssa knows not to mess with her people.
"Alyssa! Hi, how are you?" Penelope asks with her best fake smile.
The girl looks surprised for a moment, but she soon recovers and puts a fake confidence mask on.
"Hi Pen, I'm okay. What's up?" She tries to act cool.
Penelope sees right through her though.
"I was just wondering if I could borrow that cute skirt you wore on Saturday. I just think it'd be really cute with one of my shirts."
Alyssa's smile widens. "Of course, come with me to my room, I'll give it to you."
Perfect. Penelope thinks. She follows Alyssa to her room and does her best to keep the smirk off her face. She barely listens as Alyssa rants about some stupid thing, instead she smiles and nods. Adds a hum here and there to make sure the other witch doesn't get suspicious.
As soon as they get into the room, Penelope quickly takes a look around to makes sure Alyssa's roommate isn't there. When there is no sign of her, Penelope slams the door, making the other witch jump a little. Alyssa opens her mouth to say something, but the short haired witch is quicker. With a simple spell, she pines Alyssa to the wall.
"I think we need to have a little conversation about boundaries, Chang." Penelope says, suddenly serious, all traces of her previous friendliness, gone.
Then, she slowly walks closer, tightening her invisible hold at the same time. Alyssa's eyes are wide, and she looks panicked and confused.
"What the hell, Park?"
Penelope chuckles darkly before flicking her wrist, effectively locking the door. Then, she goes back to glaring at the other witch. She makes sure to look threatening, and by the way Alyssa gulps, she's doing just fine.
Everyone in this school knew way better than to mess with Penelope Park, she made sure of that as soon as she got sent to this school. She's powerful, and she's not afraid to use that power. She was smart enough not to get caught too.
Penelope is standing a few centimeters away from the other girl, still staring at her menacingly.
"Listen to me, Chang. Listen to me very carefully." Penelope pauses and Alyssa nods. "If you ever speak to Hope like that again, I'll make sure you regret it. Got it?"
"Hope?" Alyssa spits with venom. "Why do you even care about that fucking bitch?"
Penelope smirks, and her next spell makes Alyssa's mouth disappear. The witch's eyes go wide, making the short haired girl's smirk even bigger.
"I suggest that you be very careful with the words you use when you talk about her. Because that mouth of yours could stay gone." Penelope pauses, making sure Alyssa understood her words.
"And, what I do is none of your business, Chang." She says, putting extra venom in her voice as the girl's name falls from her lips.
The short haired witch watches and makes sure her words have the effect she wants them to have. When she sees Alyssa tremble from fear, and tears building in her eyes, Penelope is satisfied.
"Stay the hell away from Hope, 'cause if you don't… I'll make sure you regret being born."
Penelope takes a final step closer, her face right in front of Alyssa's. The girl whimpers as she's being pressed even harder into the wall.
"Have I made myself clear?" The words are said slowly, and menacingly, making Alyssa's tears spill on her cheeks as she nods.
Penelope takes a step back, and lets a smile break on her face.
"Good. I'm happy we made that clear."
As she turns around, Alyssa falls to the ground. Penelope quickly says the spell to unlock the door, but then she turns around again. Alyssa is trying to stand up again, but her head quickly turns to Penelope when she realizes the short haired girl isn't leaving.
"Oh, and don't even think about telling anyone about this." Penelope's smile turns mean. "I have plenty informations about your... "extracurricular" activities. I'm sure Dr. Saltzman and Miss Forbes would both die to hear about those, don't you think?" She finishes with a wink.
Without waiting for any kind of reply, Penelope turns around and opens the door. She walks out of the room, and smiles at some students that are passing by. Meanwhile, Alyssa is still trying to recover on the floor. That's where her roommate finds her a little later. Though, Alyssa is quick to invent a story. She wasn't about to provoke Penelope Park's wrath again.
Maybe giving those pens to everyone was wrong… But right now, I'm happy that I did. Penelope thinks as she walks back to her room.