"Matt, you can't remain mad at me forever." She yelled through the door. Her senses told her that he was standing just a few feet away from the door, listening for her to leave. The door swung open quickly, revealing an angry Matt Donovan, something she's never faced.

"Like hell I can't! Hope, you left town and I called you so many times, texted you, EVERYTHING. You didn't even have the decency to text me back or let me know anything. And now you're back, and you can't just expect to waltz back in here like nothing ever changed. It's been eight months Hope. And you know what? You missed a lot. I lost my sister, and when I needed you the most you couldn't even call me, I've been on my own for six months now. I can't handle this." She was heartbroken.

"Matt, I couldn't call you back. My father forbade me." She grabbed his hand to keep him from turning back into the house. He froze.

"What?"

"My dad didn't even let me have my phone half the time. He let me listen to the voice mails and read the texts but I was not aloud to respond. Matt, do you know how hard it was to hear your voice and not be able to talk to you? How many times I replayed those messages? Reread those texts? God, you didn't even wait to listen to the whole story! You just...you just blew up in my face! I don't even know why I came here anymore." She turned now, the sorrow she felt from Matt's outburst long gone, replaced with irritation. She stormed to her car, yanking the door open. She spoke softly now, though loud enough for him to hear.

"It killed me being away from you for so long, Matt. I don't know why, but it was unbearable having no contact with you." She slammed her car door and revved the engine. She peeled away and raced to Caroline's. She didn't want to risk bumping into her dad right now.

Parking, she quickly got out of the car and jogged to her house. She knocked a few times and smiled as Caroline opened the door and pulled her in with glee.

"God, you don't know how happy I am that you're back!" She squealed before pulling her towards her bedroom. Hope could see that she wasn't the only one who had changed over the last eight months. The insecurity seemed to have slipped out of Caroline, leaving a confident, self-assured and beautiful young woman in its place. Hope smiled and pulled her friend into a long hug.

"I missed you so damn much Caroline." She whispered as the blonde's arms wrapped around her waist. They stayed like that a few moments before they pulled back with warm smiles on their faces. They sat down on the bed and Caroline filled her in on everything that had been going on in Mystic Falls. Hope had cried when she was informed Caroline had won Mystic Falls, had ignored the small pit in her stomach when she brought up her relationship with Matt that she could feel falling apart, and how she was working on a new fundraiser for the Student Council. The smile never left Hope's face.

"Caroline, I couldn't help but notice, and God please don't take this the wrong way, but you're almost a different person that when I left. It's wonderful, I'm so proud of you, you look and just sound amazing. What happened and how do I get some?" Hope joked. Caroline scoffed.

"As if you need any. If anyone has changed, Hope, it's you! What were you doing the last eight months? You look, and talk, and act so different than when we spoke last. I'm kind of intimidated by you, if we're being honest." Caroline watched as Hope's face fell a little at that.

"Intimidated?" Hope had never wanted to intimidate any one. She only ever wanted to be able to protect herself and those that she cared about. She didn't want to come off as a hard ass that wanted to hurt people.

"No, Hope, that's not what I meant. I was just trying to say you look like some bad ass demon hunter off of Supernatural." Caroline hoped the reference would soften her earlier words. Hope smiled and looked around the room like she was being watched.

"Is your mom home?" Caroline shook her head and Hope grabbed the flowers from the vase on Caroline's bed side table. Hope took a deep breath and thought over what she was going to do. Caroline was her best friend in the whole world beside Elena and Matt, but she felt guilty about showing her this. She knew she could trust Caroline with her life, but her father had drilled it into her head that she should never share her abilities with anyone. She shook her head and stroked the soft petals in her hands. She closed her eyes and whispered a few words and opened her eyes to see the pink roses and freesias weaving themselves into a flower crown. She looked up at Caroline shyly, watching as Caroline's eyes shone with awe and glee as the flower crown rose and settled atop of Caroline's golden hair.

"You're a witch?" Caroline asked after reached up to pet the flowers sitting on her head. Hope nodded with a pleased grin on her face as the blonde clapped her hands and squished Hope in a hug.

"That's fantastic!" Hope raised an eyebrow at the Doctor Who reference. Caroline might not look it, but the bubbly blond was the biggest Doctor Who fan she had ever met, besides herself. Hope watched Caroline's eyes fall to the silver ring on her finger. The jewel was the same sea-glass green color as her eyes, square cute and only a centimeter or two big, set into a braided silver band.

"That's a beautiful ring, where'd you get it?" Caroline asked as she reached out for it.

"It was my grand-" Caroline recoiled and hissed as her finger came in contact with the ring. Hope's stomach dropped, tears springing into her eyes. No, it couldn't be. The ring was soaked in vervain, and Hope could see the smoke rising from Caroline's fingertips.

"You shocked me." Caroline said shakily, but Hope stood up from the bed.

"Oh, Care, what happened?" Hope shook her head as she took a few steps away from her friend. Caroline stood up and cocked her head nervously.

"Hope, are you okay?" Hope squeezed her eyes shut as the tears leaked out.

"Caroline, my ring is soaked in vervain. How did it happen?" Hope opened her eyes to see the blonde biting her lip. Caroline was freaking out on the inside. She should have known Hope would know about vampires. Her dad was a vampire encyclopedia, she was a witch, she should have connected the dots. She hoped to God that her best friend was not going to try and kill her. She took a deep breath.

"Five months ago, I was in a bad car crash. I was fed vampire blood, and then I died." She whispered. Hope was devastated. She should have been here to protect her friend. She held back a sob as her eyes caught a picture of them a few years back. She couldn't stay in there anymore.

Hope picked her bag up off the floor. She strode out of the room and out of the house, the door closing with a soft click. Caroline sobbed. She turned quickly, searching the room for her purse. She had hated the way Hope had looked at her, as if she was grieving for her. She had to help her understand that being turned had helped her blossom, had made her the person she was. She paused, a thought flitting through her mind.

Oh, God...Elena.

Hope heard the voices before she reached the door. She had not seen Jenna or her dad in the eight hours she had been here. The night sky was inky and twinkled with stars, the early summer crisp and cool, spring not yet wanting to let go. She was trying to hold back the tidal wave of emotions she was battling from finding out that her best friend had been turned into a vampire, and let out a small sob before gaining control once again. She opened the door and saw Jon, Jenna and Elena in the kitchen.

"Jenna, I'm Elena's biological father." Or something like that, she could not recall his exact words, but those were the ones that stood out the most. Her heart squeezed in her chest and she could not help the gasp that escaped her lips. All three heads jerked up, everyone's eyes on her. She shook her head, tears brimming her eyes.

"Is that true?" She stalked towards them, throwing her bag on the couch and standing in front of them with her arms crossed. She stared at Elena first, who ducked her head. She turned her glare towards her father, hoping and not hoping he was joking around.

"It's true." Hope's eyes widened a little bit before nodding her head. In a split second decision, she slapped her father in the face, hard. His face whipped to the side, his hand instantly coming up to his cheek.

"You're a bastard, you know that? How could you keep something like that away from me, from us? Stay away from, I mean it Jon." She backed up, her eyes meeting Elena's. She was barely able to control the tears anymore. She was at the door when Elena called out to her.

"Hope, wait!"

"Did you know? When I called you, did you know?" She stopped, her hand on the doorknob. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Elena sighed and nodded, her head hanging low. Hope yanked the door open and slammed it shut, tears threatening to run down her face as she walked away from her car and down the sidewalk.

She wasn't even aware she was heading towards Matt's until she was on his doorstep. Earlier argument forgotten, she knocked on the door twice before sagging against the side of the house, sliding to the floor. She felt the door open, the light from inside spilling onto the porch, Matt's shadow large in front of her.

"Hope? Hope, what's wrong?" Matt knelt in front of her and titled her head up. He felt so guilty about blowing up on her earlier, and now the guilt doubled when she sniffled and rubbed her eyes. He could see the effort it was taking to hold back the tears that magnified the sea glass green in her eyes. They shone like moonstones up at him. "Let's get you inside." She nodded and he helped her up. They had just crossed the threshold and closed the door when she broke down in tears. Her sobs echoed off the walls of the hallway, and Matt swallowed her in an embrace, holding as tight as he could. She wrapped her arms around his waist and sobbed into his chest. A lump formed in his throat at the sounds of her crying, the sobs leaving her torturing him. He swayed gently, rocking her back and forth as she poured out her anger and frustration. She had never felt so betrayed in her life. She cried harder, her throat tightening as she gripped Matt even tighter. Then she felt it.

They were like slight pokes at the back of her mind earlier, but now, they slowly began to probe her mind, their voices slithering through her thoughts. She had to get control of her feelings. She threw her shields up so high and cried out in pain as they rammed against the steel around her mind. She held up though, and was relieved when the pounding ebbed away and was soon just a distant thrumming. Then, it was gone.

She straightened up, unaware she had bent over in pain. Matt's worried gaze never leaving her face, wondering if she had cried so hard she busted a vessel in her brain. He didn't know if that was real, but he had never heard someone cry so hard before. She wiped her face with her hands and pressed the heels of her palm into her eyes.

"I'm okay now." She whispered. Matt shook his head and led her into the kitchen. He set her down at the table and perused the kitchen for hot chocolate contents. He watched her out of the corner of his eyes as he poured the milk into a cup and popped it in the microwave. The room was silent besides Hope's deep breaths and the hum of the microwave. He stopped it before it hit one and mixed in the packet. He set the mug in front of her and watched as she smiled softly at him.

"That beeping is the worst, right?' His laugh came unbidden and sounded louder than it needed to, but if he was being honest with himself, he was afraid that Hope would never stop crying. She laughed too, happy that she was able to do anything other than crying. She felt as if she would cry for the rest of her life.

"Elena's my half-sister." She whispered, her eyes glazing over and falling down to the mug in her hands.

Yay, another chapter! That's three Sundays in a row, yay!:)

Yesterday was my last Homecoming, ugh sad! But no more stress until State Convention in two weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to do some writing this week, and get ahead on chapters. I have the next three already, and I'm just saying now

O.M.G

Major Matt/Hope action coming up!

So please review and favorite, your feedback is the best and I look forward to it:)

P.S. LISTEN TO NIRVANA BY SAM SMITH HOLY ASDFGHJKL ITS MY NEW FAVE SONG