As Kyle sat and listened to the annoying bickering, he saw that many of the other kids in the cafeteria were drifting off, getting ready for their next classes.
He dreaded what would come next. He didn't want to be alone with Hope again. His eyes darted around, looking for a way out.
Another girl sauntered up to their table. "Hi, gang." She said, and her voice sounded slightly mocking. She had an olive skin tone, and short, dark, wavy hair.
Both Josie and MG looked away, Hope ignored her, and Lizzie spat "What do you want?!"
The girl's face became an expression of exaggerated offense. "I'm just here to meet the new meat, I mean, boy."
Now Hope's eyes narrowed. "His name is Kyle. Kyle, this is Penelope."
"Hi Kyle." Penelope said. "Do you play football? Lacrosse or something? Nice shoulders."
Everyone grimaced. Kyle didn't know what to say, so he just stared at her.
"Good talk." Penelope smiled a bright smile. Then she turned to Hope.
"Dr. Saltzman says you need to bring this cutie back to his office."
Lizzie started to rise. "I'll take him!"
Penelope laughed. "He didn't ask for you, Lizzie, he asked for Hope."
Everyone was quiet now. Lizzie sat back down.
"Hey, I'm just the messenger." She laughed again, then winked at Kyle right before she spun and walked off.
After she was gone, Hope stood. "Ok Kyle, let's go." She reached for his hand, but Kyle instinctively yanked his hand away, not even looking at Hope.
Rafael stood up with his tray. "Well, we gotta head out. Nice to meet you, man." He directed at Kyle, then Josie said something similar and followed him.
Lizzie snatched her tray up, then stalked off without saying a word, long shapely legs carrying her out of sight within a few seconds. MG shrugged and followed after her, a well-meaning smile on his face.
That left him alone with Hope.
Oh, no. He thought.
She was looking at him. Then without a word she tossed her head to the side to indicate that he should follow her.
He grabbed his tray and did just that. They both put their trays in a return cart, then Hope veered off down yet another unoccupied hallway.
For a short while they were both quiet. Then, still walking slightly in front of him, Hope finally spoke.
"Soooo…you're afraid of me now?" Her voice sounded plaintive. For some reason he felt bad about it, despite the girl's terrifying power.
"Uh, no. Of course not." He lied.
"I'm a werewolf, remember. I can hear your heart beating like a triphammer. I can smell it coming off of you."
He didn't say anything.
"My father was a man that everyone was afraid of. Every time people were around him, they responded just like you. I know what it looks like, what it sounds like, and what it smells like."
She whirled to face him, large breasts continuing to sway and jiggle even after the girl herself had stopped moving. Kyle knew she must have heard his heart surge then, because he was certainly afraid. His eyes darted around again. There was no one else nearby.
"I'm not going to hurt you." She said emphatically. "I only did what I did so you would believe me."
"Yeah, I understand. Completely. Absolutely." Kyle said quickly. He nodded his head vigorously, as if the intensity of the motion would make her believe him.
She didn't. She sighed and seemed to deflate. Then she turned and started walking. Kyle kept after her.
They got to the Headmasters office, and Kyle hoped that he would then be able to spend time alone with the man in charge, but when they went in Hope closed the door behind him and remained in the room.
"Please sit down, Kyle." Alaric said, motioning to a chair.
Kyle sat down quickly.
"So Hope explained everything, right? You know who we are now?"
Kyle nodded and softly answered. "Yeah."
"Alright. Good." Seeing how timid the boy now was, Alaric looked at Kyle, then at Hope. He had a questioning look on his face. Hope shrugged her shoulders.
"Anyway, I thought if we could answer the 'why you?' question, we could find out what that ritual was all about." Alaric moved to his desk and turned his computer monitor around.
"And to find out 'why you', I needed to answer this question: who are you?"
"So I did some research on your family tree…" Alaric began scrolling on a web page he had on the screen.
"Hope, Kyle's family is a first family of their town."
Hope stepped forward. "Kind of like the Salvatores here in Mystic Falls, right?"
"Yes, very similar. It's not reflected in wealth, but it is reflected in their status." He finished scrolling and landed on a photo.
"What that means for us is their family history is well documented. Much more so than other families. I've found news articles and documents going back almost 120 years."
Both Kyle and Hope moved to look at the monitor. They bumped shoulders, then both recoiled quickly. Both of their faces were beet red. Alaric smiled and shook his head.
"Look at that photo there." He said to get them both back on task.
Faces still red, they looked. A look of astonishment grew on Hope's face. She turned to look at Kyle. But Kyle saw what it was and quickly became disinterested.
"That's my great-grandfather on my dad's side. William Carter."
It was a picture of a man, probably a few years older than Kyle, standing with who must have been his wife and child in a portrait.
"I already know what you're going to say. He looks like me. It's brought up in the family all the time. That's how genes work though, right?"
Alaric and Hope shared a look, then Alaric shook his head. "No Kyle, he doesn't 'look like you', he looks exactly like you."
"And that's because, in a way, he is you. Or more precisely, you're him."
Kyle was just staring at the Headmaster now.
"Kyle, you're what we call a doppelgänger."