Chapter 14-Darlin by Avril Lavigne
18 Years Old/20 Years Old
Graduation Day
It seemed that it had taken forever to get to this day, but finally, Josie was graduating this afternoon. She was extremely excited and couldn't wait for it to be over. Not that she wasn't happy about graduation and hadn't enjoyed all of the festivities of the past week, but what she really wanted was on the other side of graduation.
Hope!
Josie couldn't help but miss her girlfriend while she was gone. She was just trying to make it through the next hour until Hope got home.
What Josie didn't know was that Hope was on her way home to her, with thoughts of her running through her head. It had been an eventful trip, but she was so happy to be coming home to the girl that she loved.
The past few years have been amazing, and Hope couldn't wait to start the next chapter. With so many changes in her life, she was glad to know that some things would always stay the same.
Hope had graduated two years prior and now worked for the Salvatore School as a recruiter with Caroline. She found the students that would be best suited for the school and went to talk to them, or in some cases the parents, to convince them of why they should come to the school.
After Hope had turned eighteen and the school along with all of her parent's and uncle's holdings were turned over to her, she had sat down with her aunt and Alaric to work out exactly how things were going to be moving forward. They had to figure out where they were together.
Hope assured Alaric that she didn't want his job, at least not yet. For the time being, she wanted to leave most of the business in the hands of her Aunt Freya, as she had just graduated herself and wanted to be able to go to college and get a job and in general, life experiences outside of monster fighting and the supernatural. She had already talked to her aunt about how everything would be handled and what Hope would be taking an interest in and when she would have to be responsible.
For the most part, Freya would handle everything just as she had been. When she had to have a signature from Hope, she would let her know what was going on and they would talk through everything as they always had. This suited both of them, as Freya knew what she was doing and this was a job that gave her freedom not only to do what she wanted, as Hope fully trusted her, but also the freedom to be with her family.
Hope had truly only taken over one holding in full, the school. This is where she saw her future. She knew that no matter what else she did in her life, she would always feel that this was her place. She had put too much of herself into this place.
It didn't hurt that Josie wanted to get her teaching degree and be a teacher here. That was all Hope needed to hear to know what her plan was. With a plan in her mind, and knowing all the players, Hope sat down with Alaric the week after she graduated.
"Alaric, thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I would like to make this a short meeting. Josie wants to get going soon."
"Ah, you two leave for New Orleans today. That's right. I guess this means that Lizzie is leaving for Europe today too."
"Actually, we convinced her and Caroline that we should all spend time together this summer. So Caroline is coming to New Orleans for six weeks and then we are all going to Europe for six weeks. I emailed you about this last week, you know, inviting you to come and spend time with your family."
"Yeah, I really should check my email one of these days. Or maybe I can get a student secretary, offer it as an elective."
"I think that would be good, especially if that student were on the Honor Council. You want to make sure that you can trust the with sensitive information."
Alaric nodded his head. Already lost in thought. Hope smirked and shook her head. The man was a great headmaster and teacher, but how he survived basic life she would never know.
"Well, I wanted to meet with you today to go over some basic information on the school. As you know, now that I am eighteen and have graduated, I have officially taken over all the holdings that have been left for me. My aunts and uncle have also informed me that I will be receiving everything that they have in their portfolios so that I can also get familiar with that."
Suddenly the older man started to have an expression of worry on his face. He knew that if everything was now turned over to Hope, that this relationship between them was going to be different.
"As for the most part, Aunt Freya will still control the day to day. I have access to everything now if I want, but she is the best of us, so I think that she has it well in hand. I have access to my full funds now, which also means that I have the ability to pretty much do anything I want."
"And what is it that you want to do Hope?"
"Well, I want to get a job here in Mystic Falls so that I can stay close to Josie. I am taking online classes and will wait to attend a university until after Josie graduates. We can figure out where to go from there."
The headmaster nodded. That actually sounded like a well thought out plan. He was glad to know that Hope wasn't going to throw away her future waiting for his daughter. No matter what, the man valued education.
"So, I am going to be the school's new recruiter. This will allow me the flexible schedule that I want and the freedom to stay here at the school. When I am not on the road, I will be the new instructor, not teacher, just instructor. For the wolves, I will be instructing on hand-to-hand combat and ways to handle aggression and especially helping with the changes for first time shifts. For vampires, we are going to work on bloodlust. Something my family knows a lot about. The witches, ah, well it is time that they learned offensive magic."
"Absolutely not! I will not allow that at my school! It isn't safe!"
Taking a deep breath so that she was able to maintain her composure, she allowed for the edge to enter her voice as she spoke. She didn't want to insult the man before her, but she would make he see first his place and then reason.
"First off Alaric, this is my school, not yours. Secondly, what isn't safe is that we have deadly and dangerous monsters attacking every week and I am the only one that is absolutely able to handle them. Yes, my Super Squad stepped up and are now better equipped, but if I left today and didn't come back, what would happen?"
Alaric was at a lost on what to say to that. The whole reason that he built this school was to protect his girls and the students that came after them. But teaching them how to actively fight had never been what he was planning. Defend yes, but never to fight. He had seen too many people that he loves lose their lives one way or another and he just couldn't do it.
With no answer coming, Hope took this as a chance to drive home her point to the man behind the desk. He needed to understand why there needed to be more classes and the students needed to learn to control themselves completely.
"Look Rick, I don't want to do this, but let's be honest, if only between us. We are going to do whatever I want because this is my school. I would rather that you understand and agree with me, but I will do what I feel is best to protect students. If we don't teach the kids control and how to fight, then we are going to have to watch them die. Look what happen when those paramilitary guys stormed the school and cut us off from out magic. What would have happened if we weren't able to get the magic back? You weren't here and the teachers weren't able to do anything, they had no magic either."
The headmaster was sitting there and just couldn't bring his way of thinking around. All he saw was that the girl in front of him wanting to put his daughters in danger.
"Look, how about we compromise for the first semester. We offer the classes only to the higher-level students. Junior and Seniors only. We see how it goes and check the progress. If it works, we keep going. If it doesn't, we reevaluate. See what is wrong. But Dr. Saltzman, you know that we can't protect them forever. The closest that we can get is teaching them how to protect themselves."
It took a while, but Alaric eventually agreed to the proposal. After two years, the program is going strong, and they have brought in other instructors and teachers as well. It is one of the most popular classes and they are working on bringing it to some of the lower classes in more theoretical situations.
Hope has been going out into the field a few times a month, she never stays away more than a few days typically and more often than not, she brings the potential students back with her. Since Hope started to recruit for the school, the student population had almost doubled. They were adding an extra dorm annex for next Fall semester to accommodate.
Hope was just now returning after being away on one of her longest trips yet, this one lasting a week. She hated being away for so long, but this was a special case. Caroline had called her in as back up. She had found a group of teenage vampires that had all been changed within a month of each other and the one that turned them had been killed. It had been a rough time, but in the end, they convinced all ten of them to come and give the school a try.
Hope was so happy to be home. She had a few things that she wanted to do, first of which, she wanted to find Josie.
"Hope!"
Speaking of her angel. Hope turned in just enough time to catch Josie as she jumped into her arms and wrapped her arms and legs around the shorter girl. Hope slipped her hands under her girlfriend's thighs to support her weight.
"Hey babe. Miss me?"
Josie leaned over and crashed their lips together. Using her tongue to open the other girls mouth she wanted to get her fill of her girlfriend's taste. She had missed her so much.
"I swear, why is it that every time I see you two you have your tongues shoved down each other's throats?"
Pulling back slowly and leaving little kisses in their wake, Hope, never letting go of Josie, turns her head and smiles.
Josie continued to kiss on Hope's neck. Leaving little nibbles and licks in a trail.
"Nice to see you to Lizzie. How have you been doing?"
Lizzie gave a little smirk and crossed her arms. She shook her head and gave a short little laugh.
"I'm good. Ready to graduate and get out of this place and off to California and USC. It is going to be so nice to be somewhere that I can get a tan year-round."
"Oh, you know you are going to miss us blondie."
"I'll miss Josie that's for sure."
Hope smirked and reached out a hand to pull the blonde in to a side hug.
"Unhand my woman! Or at least let me in on the group hug."
The three girls all laughed as they heard MG behind them. Opening their arms, MG was welcomed into the hug between Josie and Lizzie.
"Ok, this is getting too mushy for me."
Hope pulled back from the group and held her hands up in the air.
"You guys continue your mush fest. I need to check in with Alaric anyway. I have to debrief after this last trip."
Josie turned to her girlfriend with a pout firmly in place. She hated that Hope had to run off already. She wanted some alone time with her after being separated for a week.
"Do you have to do that now? You just got home, and I will be tied up with graduation activities all day. I only have free time until lunch."
Hope pulled her girl into a hug and held her close. She had missed her so much and wanted nothing more than to spend the morning with her. Maybe she could just meet up with Alaric after lunch.
Just as she was pulling back and going to tell Josie that she would spend the morning with her, she felt a hand fall on her shoulder.
"Hope, I'm glad I ran into you. I need to talk to you about that new group of kids that are due to arrive with Caroline later today."
With one last longing look at the brunette in front of her, she turned and followed the headmaster to his office.
As the students were filing into their seats, their families were snapping pictures of their children's every move. Alaric stood at the podium in the regalia as headmaster waiting to start the ceremony. Emma and Caroline sat on the stage behind the podium as well as Josie.
Josie was extremely nervous to be where she was, as she had to give the closing speech as the valedictorian. Looking out in the crowd, brown eyes met blue, and Josie felt her whole body relax. With Hope watching, she knew that there was nothing that she couldn't do.
"Families, teachers, students. Thank you all for being here today to celebrate our graduates. The road to get to this day has not always been an easy one, however our graduates faced every challenge head on and ready to fight. We gather here today as these children walk out of their childhood and into their adulthood."
There was a collective cheer from the gathered audience from these words. The applause sounded like a thunderclap it was so loud.
One by one the students turned graduates walked on to the stage and accepted their diplomas. Shaking hands with the headmaster as they flipped their tassels before going to take their seats. Once everyone was seated, and had calmed down, Alaric called their attention again.
"To end our ceremony, we have a speech from our valedictorian, Josette Saltzman."
As Josie stood up to take the podium, she took a deep breath knowing that, while this was not a life-or-death moment, it was one of those important moments. One where they set their childhood into the past and welcomed their future.
"I have always disliked endings. No matter what kind of ending, being happy or sad, it is never enough, and I am always left wanting just a little bit more. However, no matter how much I don't want things to be over and for them to keep going, endings are inevitable. Of all endings, good-byes are always the hardest for me. But then I remind myself, the most worthwhile things in life are often the most difficult. Just because we are leaving the safety of the school that we have come to think of as our home, doesn't mean that we are leaving behind everything that matters. Yes, it is hard and scary to move forward into the unknown but those that have shaped us and helped to make us who we are will always be with us. They are our solid ground, our North Stars, those are the ones that we will carry with us no matter where we are. We keep the part of them that has changed us and the memories we made with them. Today we leave this school, and we say good-bye to the world that we have known, but we are moving forward to new adventures and new memories. This isn't an ending, it's our new beginning."
The room erupted in cheers. Caps went flying into the air and thanks to the witches in the group, they came back down with a shower of confetti.
Josie hugged her father on stage and then ran to her sister and hugged her as they jumped up and down in celebration. They were engulfed in another hug as Caroline lifted them off the ground.
"Mom! Put us down! We aren't five anymore!"
Lizzie cried in indignation at being lifted and held by her mother.
Caroline looked at her daughters and you could see the sheer delight and pride that was shining through her eyes.
"I am so proud of you two! My babies all grown up and ready to take on the world."
As much as Lizzie and Josie wanted to be adults, there was just something about Caroline that made them smile and glow at the fawning.
"Thanks Mom."
Hope smiled as she took a few pictures of the three of them together. After giving them their moment of family time, the tribrid walked over to her girl and wrapped her in a tight embrace.
"Congratulations Josie. Your speech was amazing and very moving."
Josie leaned in and kissed her girlfriend. She had been missing these lips and wasn't given any time with her before now, so she was taking the opportunity.
"Here they go again. So, disgusting."
"Oh, hush Lizzie. Leave your sister alone."
The two girls pulled back from each other sharing a goofy smile with each other. Leaning foreheads together and enjoying the moment.
"What do you girls have planned for your night? Your father and I were hoping that we could take you out to dinner to celebrate."
"Well, there is a graduation party out at the Old Mill tonight. Other than that, I think I'm free."
Hope had to think fast because she had wanted to be alone with Josie tonight, for at least a while. It seemed that Josie was of a similar mind and the quicker thinker.
"Actually, Hope just got home, and we have a tradition for when she returns that we have dinner together."
"Well, she is more than welcome to join us."
Caroline was smiling and all three girls could tell that she really wanted to have this dinner with her girls and she was not one to take 'no' for an answer.
Hope not wanting to be the one to cause the issue thought fast to come up with a solution.
"How about we have dinner a bit later. Give us about an hour or two. That will give Lizzie time to get ready for the party tonight and Josie and I can spend a bit of time together before."
Caroline was so happy she pulled Hope in for a hug.
"I'll go get your dad and we will meet you at the entrance. Text me when you are on your way there."
Caroline walked away, waving to students and graduates as she went. The three girls smiled at each other.
"I'll leave you two to your alone time. See you out front in about an hour."
Hope turned to Josie and gave her a loving smile. She had missed her so much and was so glad that she was home for the Summer to spend it with her girl before they went off to college.
"Hey, take a walk with me?"
The taller girl leaned over and brushed a kiss onto Hope's cheek. Leaning further over, she whispered into her ear.
"I would love to take a walk with you. Maybe we can find a quiet spot."
The older girl smiled and took a hold of Josie's hand, tugging on her slightly to have her follow.
The girls walked, seemingly without destination for a few minutes They were wrapped in each other and enjoyed the quiet that they so rarely got to experience. The moment was perfect.
Within a few minutes, they had ended up at the lake. Avoiding the dock where Hope knew most people were likely to find them, she turned them towards a little alcove.
Before walking into the alcove, Hope stopped and turned to take both of Josie's hands. Looking into the deep chocolate pools that she loved so much she felt warmth take over her and leaned in to share a sweet kiss.
"I love you so much Josie. I can't even image what my life would be without you in it."
"Well, then I guess it's a good thing that you will never have to find out."
A smile spread on Hope's face and the butterflies in her stomach erupted and a warmth engulfed her entire body.
"You trust me, right?"
"Of course."
"Close your eyes and don't open them until I say."
Josie gave Hope a curious look but did as she asked. Closing her eyes, Josie reached out her hand to take Hope's hand.
Slowly, Hope started to walk forward slowly. Walking only a short distance before stopping. She gave a squeeze to the hands that she was holding and then released them.
Josie turned her head when she could no longer sense Hope next to her.
"Hope? Are you still here? What's going on? Hope, where are you?"
"Open your eyes and see for yourself."
Opening her eyes, Josie nearly fell backwards from the sight in front of her. There were candles and flowers everywhere. Petals raining down genteelly like snow. The most stunning sight of all, was Hope, the woman that she loved more than life, down on one knee with a ring in her hand.
"Josie, I have loved you since the day I met you. When you were in trouble, I wanted to be your hero. When I was at my darkest, you were my light. You kissing me when we were kids was the best thing to ever have happened to me, and every day with you has only gotten better. Please, won't you make every day for the rest of my life the best day? Josie Saltzman, will you marry me?"
Speechless and with tears streaming down her face, Josie nodded her head. This was everything that she could have ever dreamed it to be.
Standing up, Hope walked over to her love and placed the ring at the tip of her finger. Giving her a smirk, that only the tribrid could produce.
"I won't put it on until you verbally, tell me."
"You're a jerk, but you're my jerk and I love you. Yes Hope, Yes I will marry you."
Slipping the ring on, Hope turned to capture Josie's lips in a kiss full of yearning, and love and promises of the future.
The girls barely made it to the met-up spot in time to leave for dinner. They were so absorbed in each other that they couldn't think of anything else. If it hadn't been for Lizzie calling Josie when she was heading that way, they would have completely forgotten.
When they arrived to meet Alaric and Caroline for dinner, the girls were smiling so much that there was no way that everyone wasn't going to notice.
"What are you two so smiley about?"
Lizzie was starting at her twin hard. She knew that there was something going on and it was something big.
"We'll tell you once we meet up with your parents. It's something the whole family should hear."
Lizzie smirked at her twin and Hope. She had a feeling that she knew what the announcement was going to be, but she would let them have their moment.
Caroline had gotten reservations, how no one would ask, at the nice Italian restaurant on the outskirts of the town. When you wanted to celebrate with a little bit of fancy, this was the only place in town to go.
After being seated and having their drink orders the waiter left the small group to themselves.
"I am so proud of you girls! I can't believe that my babies are all grown up and graduated from high school. The pride that your father and I feel for you today is nothing short of bursting."
The twins accepted the complement in their own unique ways. Josie blushed and turned her head to Hope. Lizzie, well Lizzie never was shy. She preened and sat up a bit straighter acting as if she deserved nothing less.
Throughout the dinner, everyone was having a wonderful time. Laughing and sharing stories about high school and what they were looking forward to most in the future.
"So, you two said that you have something to tell us, but you wanted to wait for the whole family. Well, we are all here."
Josie shot a glare at her sister. Sometimes that girl could be so annoying and pushy.
"Yes, we do have a small announcement. Honestly, we wanted to wait, but Lizzie never could wait for anything."
The blonde smirked at her sister knowing that she was going to get what she wanted. Caroline perked up and turned her full attention on the two girls sitting across from her.
Hope looked at Josie and nodded to her letting her know that it was perfectly ok with her if she wanted to tell them. She wanted the world to know that Josie had agreed to be hers.
Turning back to her family, Josie smiled as wide as her face would allow as she held out her hand to show of the ring that she was wearing.
"Earlier today, Hope asked me to marry her, and I said yes."
"Oh my goodness!"
Caroline screamed and was so excited for her older daughter. She reached across the table and hugged both girls tightly.
"Cutting off my air mom."
As Caroline loosened her grip, Lizzie started to ask questions, wanting to know everything.
"OK, tell us every single detail! How did she propose? Was it romantic? Did she screw it up?"
Josie giggled like the girl that she was and happily replayed every moment
Lizzie and Caroline were already trying to get the girls to talk about dresses and flowers and when they would have the wedding and all of the millions of little details.
Everything was going perfect. This night couldn't be going any better, except for one thing, Alaric. He was being even more quiet than normal. He had made no comment about the engagement, in fact, he had barely spoken at all and he wasn't eating. The most astonishing part of all, he wasn't drinking anything.
He had been like this all night. The longer that he sat there like a zombie, the more that Hope just knew that there was something wrong. She was trying to write it off as he was just doing that dad thing where he didn't want to think about his daughters being all grown up. However, she just knows that isn't what this is. She had seen this look many times on this man. There was something that he was trying to hide and fighting to do it.
"Ok Alaric, out with it."
Everyone at the table turned to look at Hope, who's eyes never left Alaric, who for his part was trying to not look at anyone.
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"No, you don't get to do that. What is going on? What's wrong?"
"Hope, this isn't the time or place. We can discuss this later."
The tribrid was having none of it. She wanted to know what it was that was causing the look on the man's face. He should be celebrating with his girls right now. The look that he had said that he was worrying about something instead.
Before anything could progress, Caroline broke the tension. She was always good at that, but this time if fell a little short. She knew what was going on, Hope saw the look that she was shooting to Alaric.
"It's not something that we want to talk about in public. We would have preferred to keep this as a happy occasion, however, since it appears that we can't, why don't we all head back to the school. We can talk about it there."
The fact that Caroline and Alaric weren't brushing this off just let Hope and the twins know that there really was something happening. This was enough to cause all three of them to start to look back and forth between themselves.
After paying the bill the group headed back to the school and after arriving headed straight for Alaric's office. Everyone taking a seat, the sides seem to be clear. The twins sitting on the couch with Hope holding Josie's hand, while Alaric and Caroline were standing behind the giant wooden desk.
"Before we begin, I just want to say that you girls mean the world to your mother and me. There is nothing in this world that we wouldn't do if it meant protecting you."
"We can protect ourselves dad. We are strong and this is what this school has taught us to do."
With sad eyes, the headmaster looked to the woman at his side. Together they had spent eighteen years protecting their daughters from the past and the future. Keeping them safe behind the walls of the school that they built for just this purpose.
Caroline squeezed his shoulder and took over for the next part.
"Do you girl know why I have been recruiting so heavily for the school all these years? I mean, with the donation from Hope and her family, we really don't need to take in new students for the tuition. The years, through all of the students that we have helped and sent back into the world, we have built the kind of reputation that brings students to us, for the most part."
"I thought that you were working on getting the students that may not have heard about the school. Or the ones that needed to have a little convincing to come. Isn't that why Hope has been helping you?"
Hope was curious about this herself. She thought this was what was happening. When Caroline had talked to her about becoming a recruiter for the school, she wasn't sure about it at first. She had wanted to stay close to the school and to Josie. Caroline had explained that this would allow her to build relationships with the students that would be attending the school that she was going to run, that helping her with the recruiting after graduation would be good. Also, she had told her that there would always be those few that didn't have parents that wanted what was best for them. Some would need someone to show them the way.
"How much do you know about your biological mother's coven?"
Lizzie and Josie looked at each other, sharing a twin moment, talking without words.
"We know it was the Gemini Coven and that it is the only one that creates siphon witches."
"And we know that they are all dead because of our psycho uncle who murder everyone and tried to murder us."
Taking a deep breath, Alaric stood up and leaned on the desk steading himself. He really was hoping to never have this conversation.
"The Gemini Coven is also the only coven that picks it's next leaders from twins using a ritual called The Merge."
Hope is not liking this at all. This didn't sound like anything good. Instinctually, she moves closer to Josie and wraps her arm around her shoulder and takes her hand in her free one.
"The Merge determines who the stronger of the twins is. The stronger will absorb the weaker. They will then be the new leader of coven. which will determine who will lead the coven, and only one will survive. That's why your mother's always traveling the globe. Trying to find a solution."
"And we haven't found anything in eighteen years."
"So, on your 22nd birthday, we will lose our daughters."
"So, what you are saying is that for eighteen years you kept this to yourself instead of asking for help and now we only have four years to solve this or one of the twins die and the other has to live with the fact that she killed her twin?"
Alaric and Caroline looked at each other with sadness and fear on their face. Not knowing what to say since, in fact that is exactly what was happening.
"I won't allow it! We will stop this!"
All eyes in the room turned to Hope in that moment, though her eyes were only on Josie's. Looking into those deep brown eyes that she loved.
"I promised you an eternity together. I always keep my promises."
T.B.C