UPDATE 5/5/15:Just letting everyone know that I am finally finding some time to write again and the next chapter of this story is in progress! I'm soo sorry for such a long delay! Keep an eye out for Chapter 3! Xoxox
Chapter II: Hope Rivers
(Hope Rivers POV)
Authors' Note: Sorry it's been so long, but thank you to those who have reviewed and are still reading. Hope you enjoy :)
"Hope!"
The words seemed to seep through the comfort of my deep sleep, and I could feel myself fighting against it. The best place in the world was underneath those blankets, tucked all around with the top of my hair just barely peeking out of them.
"Hope, I'm not going to say it again, you need to get up for school! Let's go!"
And there it was… I was awake. Mamas' voice always had a tendency to completely rip me away from my happy peacefulness of slumber.
"Alright, I'm up" I groaned from underneath the covers as the smell of freshly cooked eggs and ham seeped through the opened bedroom door.
"Well, hurry up and get dressed, you're going to be late" she yelled from the hall.
School was torture, utter and complete torture. I didn't even understand why anyone had to go anyway. It wasn't like we were going to use any of it in the real world; I mean square roots, equations, what was the point? Unless I wanted to be some world renowned architect or some mad scientist or something, it was completely pointless to spend all that time learning it.
My feet were always the first things to drop off the side of the bed, my toes on an urgent search to find the warmth of my cozy brown slippers. I hated the cold on my feet, and the floors of my bedroom were always freezing.
Pulling myself up, I barely lifted my head forward before a huge yawn escaped my mouth. I was so tired and I immediately brought my hands to my eyes to block the sunlight beaming through the window across from me. The curtains were pinned up on the sides and the blinds spread open as wide as possible, another one of mama's very irritating tactics to get me out of bed in the morning. I instantly wanted to drop backwards and hide myself away from the cruel, cruel sunlight; but then I'd really hear mama's wrath.
Sluggishly peeling myself from the bed, I made my way towards the bathroom and took a long look at my bed ridden, mascara stained face. I always said I was going to start washing my makeup off my face before going to sleep at night; but the idea always seemed great when it wasn't actually time to do it.
I splashed my face with cold water, grabbing a hold of the rag hanging next to the sink and gently wiping it against my skin to remove any residue of makeup from my skin. Leaning back up to towel dry my face, the red blotches began to appear as they did every morning. I never really understood why I was the only one in my family to have such sensitive and fair skin. I always assumed I'd gotten the shit end of the stick when it came to it, because everyone else had such nice tanned color, a true Native American skin tone. But, nope, not me, I was always the black sheep.
Grabbing my makeup bag from the drawer, I slipped my dark eyeliner out and carefully began applying a thick line across my eyelid. I'd always liked wearing darker eye makeup, because it made my eye color really stand out. That's another thing I had that was very different from the rest of my family, although this attribute I enjoyed. My eye color was very light, a mix of yellow, green, and gray, and sometimes even a hint of blue. My friends often told me they reminded them of the great white wolf eyes, the ones that glow when the sky is dark enough. It was actually a pretty cool comparison, being that I thought wolves in general were simply beautiful. Their long silky coats, and the way they would stand with such confidence, they were unbelievable creatures. Most people were scared of them, but not me, not in the least. They were just like everyone else in this world, all other animals and humans alike. They protected their packs and their passion derived from family and yearning to survive. There was nothing that made them more evil than anything else in this world.
After applying the last stroke of mascara to my lashes, I quickly ran a brush through my hair and slipped back out of the bathroom, returning to my bedroom to get dressed.
Mama was waiting for me as I finally finished and approached the kitchen. "Here baby", she handed a plate of eggs and ham to me, following with a small glass of orange juice, "eat up".
I took a seat at the table and began sipping some of the orange juice into my mouth when a cold burst of wind blew through the half-opened kitchen window, causing goose bumps to spread across my arms, "I hate the cold" I muttered and Mama quickly moved towards the window to shut it.
"It's very windy out today", she said as she pushed it down tightly, "make sure you wear extra layers". I nodded, but I instantly noticed the concern on her face as she gazed out the window at the freshly grounded snow that seemed to fall the night before.
"Something wrong?" I asked, taking another bite of my breakfast.
She didn't look back towards me, just seemed to continue her gaze. "The weather today… it seems strange, like a new moon is approaching"
I rolled my eyes without her seeing. I knew my heritage was very into the whole 'the earth sends signals to warn you of troubling times' stuff, but to be honest, I thought it was all a bunch of crap. "It's nothing different from the weather we get everyday" I said, with a bit of sarcasm, I really did hate the cold.
Mama gave me a sideway stare and then shook her head instead of responding, "you should get to school Hope, finish up".
I shoved the last bit into my mouth and downed the remaining orange juice before getting up and grabbing my coat off the hook behind me. Mama walked over and gently placed a kiss on my forehead before collecting my dishes from the table, "Have a good day, and keep warm"
"I will" I said simply as I pulled my coat on, wrapped my big wool scarf around my neck and face, and slipped on my very warm sheep skinned boots. Mama took another look out the window and I could tell she had some kind of bad feeling, but to be honest, I didn't really care, and she was always so overly superstitious.
…
Slushing through the cold snow on my way down the hill was pretty annoying. The outsides of my boots were getting more and more soaked with every step and I could feel my socks beginning to dampen. Thankfully I brought an extra pair in my book bag, but that didn't help that my shoes were going to be completely drenched by the time I got to school. The walk wasn't always that bad, and the school wasn't too far from home. It was all within the reservation; but my boots were just so worn from all the winters snow this year that I really needed to get new ones. Thankfully I was stopping at Ty's house on the way there, so hopefully his younger sister would have an extra pair of boots or something I could borrow.
Ty was my closest friend on the reservation, hands down. His real name was something crazy, with close to ten syllables in it, but to make things easier, everyone just called him Ty. It was less frustrating for us and him both. Thank goodness my parents didn't give me some crazy Native American name, I would've hated it.
As I finally turned the ben towards Ty's house, my feet were so cold they felt like ice. I knocked on the door in desperation and waited until his younger sister Kayla opened the door.
"Hey Hope, Ty said he'll be out in a sec" she said before beginning to step out the door, probably leaving to head to school herself.
"Hey Kayla, can I please borrow a pair of boots? I'll put them on when I get to school so they won't get wet; but mine are soaked"
Kayla looked down at the darkened boots on my feet and raised her eyebrow, "Yeah, sure" she said before quickly returning back to the house to get a pair. I wasn't waiting long before she returned with a nice brown pair of wool lined boots, "Here, just don't ruin them. I just got them" she handed them to me and I began stuffing them into my schoolbag.
"Thanks Kayla, I won't" I said, and she smiled before heading down the steps.
Ty appeared in the doorway seconds later, "Are you ever going to get new boots?" he joked as he shut the door behind him and I swung my schoolbag back onto my back.
"Shut up" I snapped back as we headed down the stairs, "I will, eventually"
Ty's chuckled briefly, but eventually turned a little more sympathetic, "Your dad's still having a rough time at work, I take it?"
I just shrugged, not really answering and Ty knew not to keep the conversation going. See, Papa was an auto maintenance worker, kind of like a mechanic; but with all the snow we'd had over the last five months, business was slow. I could tell he and Mama were struggling financially, so I really didn't want to burden them with the cost of new boots, when they technically just bought mine not too long prior. Micco, my older brother and Sierra, my sister in law, were trying to help them out as much as they could; but they also just had a baby a few months before, so they could only do so much.
"The first tournament of the Ice Hockey games are tonight, you going?" Ty broke the silence that seemed to seep up momentarily.
"I don't know, you really want to go to that?" I said without any excitement what so ever, "A crowd of jocks screaming 'go left, go right' in my ear all night? Not really my idea of a fun time"
"Ah, come on' Hope, it's the first game of the season! We always go together!" Ty pleaded.
"Yeah, and every year I force myself to go, just to shut you up" I said with a sarcastic tone but quickly rolled my eyes and changed it once I saw the disappointment on Ty's face, "Okay, okay, and I'll force myself again this year, just for you"
Ty smiled and then gently nudged my shoulder, causing me to lose my footing for a second before regaining my balance again, "You better"
I just laughed; but inside I knew that Ty's wanting me to go was way more than just an annual tradition of two best friends. He had a thing for me; it was really obvious, although I never pointed it out, only to spare him his embarrassment. But I knew. However, I was never really sure what my feelings for Ty were honestly. I mean, he was my best friend, I knew him since we were five years old, we did everything together and I trusted him with my life; but the thought of being 'boyfriend/girlfriend' with him, kind of freaked me out.
It wasn't that he wasn't good looking, he was. He was actually very good looking, and I heard most of the girls on reservation had a secret crush on him. Between his height of almost 6'2 and his darkly toned skin and deep brown eyes, girls practically worshiped him. But I always seen Ty differently, he was more than his good genes, he was a goofball, and he knew how to mess around and keep me laughing. He knew my moods, and when I was lying. And not to mention, he knew how much of a goofball and a fool I could be. I wasn't sure after all that, that I even be able to bear the thought of actually kissing him or anything… it just wasn't like that.
I discreetly shook the thoughts out of my mind before Ty noticed my silent pondering, and we finally approached the front of the school. It was the only thing on the reservation that actually looked quite modern. Layered with red bricks and white foundation, it was practically foreign compared to the other buildings in the reservation. I was only built like ten years prior and supposedly the only reason the people allowed such a modernized structure is because they wanted to use it as an emergency shelter also during the really cold parts of the dead winter, when others may not have the necessities to keep warm on their own. However, it was school… and nothing was spectacular about school… at all.
"Alright, I'll catch you at lunch?" Ty said as we approached the doorway, right before our usual split off to our classes.
"Yep, see ya' later" I said before turning right and anxiously making my way towards the girls bathroom, so I could get the soaked socks and boots off my feet and switch into Kayla's.
Right as I made it to the bathroom door, I was stopped by a taller blonde woman, baring a very bright white smile and perfectly red lipstick, "I'm sorry, excuse me?"
I turned as her hand gently tapped my shoulder, and I couldn't help the look of confusion I had on my face. I'd never seen this woman in school before, or on the reservation. She was unfamiliarly pale and seemed very, very out of place if you asked me, "yes?" I said with the kindest tone I could find in my voice.
"I didn't mean to startle you" she said, her smile still stuck on her face and a very intriguing English accent escaping her mouth, "I am filling in for a Mr. Dubai today, and I cannot seem to find his classroom. Do you know where that might be?"
I had to admit, her accent was kind of distracting. I felt like I barely processed what she was saying, because I was so concentrated on the unusualness of it. "Um, yeah. It's on the second floor, in the Math wing. I, uh, I'm actually heading there in a second if you want to wait, I can show you?"
She smiled, "Oh, that would be great. Thank you", her eyes traveled down to my water soaked boots, "your feet must be cold in those"
"Yeah, they kind of are" I said, almost embarrassed that she'd noticed, "I'll be out in one second, I have to change them"
She nodded and I quickly escaped into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. Pulling the extra pair of socks and Kayla's boots out of my bag, I quickly made the swap, the entire time wondering what an English woman was doing filling in for a teacher on an Indian reservation… it was really weird.
I finally returned to the hall, where the blonde woman was still patiently waiting for me. I gave a half smile and we began walking, "So are you from England or something?" I asked, not realizing how blunt that came out.
She chuckled a bit, "Yes, originally; but I've been here, in America for a very, very long time", I nodded, feeling a tad uncomfortable as I felt the woman examining me from the corner of her eyes, "I'm sorry, I don't believe I caught your name?"
"Oh, it's Hope… Hope Rivers, and what's your name?" I quickly corrected myself, "I mean, your teacher name?"
Her face furrowed in confusion, "Teacher name?"
"Yeah, you know, teachers only use their last names, like Mrs. So and so"
"Oh" she laughed again, "Well in that case, I am Ms. Mikaelson"
I nodded and we continued on our way up the stairs.
