Chapter Text
Hope Mikaelson lives her life surrounded by art and poetry. She likes to give a good purpose to her days and she uses poetry to define the meaning of each day.
Josie Saltzman has a deep spirit, but is not much of a talker. She doesn’t really like people. She prefers to walk the street and public spaces with her headphones on, stay in her comfort zone. Trying her best not to let anyone trespass it. Why? That’s what Hope was curious about. She spent her school hours furtively glancing at the brunette girl, who she thought was so pretty it was impossible not to see her. However no one did and she couldn’t stop asking herself how was that possible.
Sure, she had a hard look most of the time, or even a sad one, but this made her even more interesting. Hope never thought about approaching her. For her it was some sort of way not to cross a line that Josie clearly didn’t want people to cross.
So she didn’t, at first. She just started leaving verses of poems in her locker. Hoping that whenever Josie saw them, they would make her smile. She was desperate to see her smile. She figured her smile would be beautiful, but she never saw Josie showing other emotions except apathy.
When classes are over Josie opens her locker to pick up some books and she instantly notices a piece of paper.
“There’s a single flower growing
who feels very much alone
admist the sea of tall grass.
But little does the flower know,
it’s beauty is just being protected.”
She stares at the note for a moment to take in what it meant. Hope could tell she was frowning but she seemed to appreciate it since se put it in her book instead of throwing it away. So that was something.
The next day Josie went jogging as she usually does in the afternoon before dinner. She was with her headphones on, of course. But while she is running by the neighborhood suddenly she notices a small puppy all alone. She softened and stopped to take a look at him. She took off her headphones and talked to him.
“Hey you. How little you are. What are you doing here all alone buddy?” She smiled lightly and kept caressing the dog. Suddenly a voice behind her made her jump.
“He’s with me actually.”
She turned around to look at the person with a scared face. The girl smiled gently at her.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you. I just thought you should know. So you couldn’t steal him.”
“I wasn’t going to steal him.” Josie looks a bit offended.
“Sure.” Hope wants a reaction from her. Josie is a little annoyed by this girl’s assumptions. So she stands up and tries to leave before the other girl speaks again.
“I’m Hope by the way.”
Josie turns back to look at her a bit confused. Of course she was Hope. She knew her. They go to the same school.
“I know. I’m Josie.”
“I know.” There was a moment of silence before Hope talked again.
“So apparently we both know each other but we never interacted.”
“I don’t do interactions.”
“Why?”
“I don’t really like people.”
“But you don’t know me. You might like me.”
“Maybe. But I’m not willing to take all the risks for someone who will most likely turn out disappointing.”
“Hey! I’m a really nice person. You should give me more credit.”
“Yes I was about to steal your dog.” She changed the subject.
Hope stops for a moment and stares at her as if she was trying to study the brunette’s behavior.
“You were?”
“The thought might have crossed my mind.”
“That’s mean.”
“I guess I am.”
“I don’t think so.”
They shared an intense look for a while. Hope gave her a weak smile at first and kept her gaze locked with Josie’s. The brunette seemed shaken by their staring contest. After a while in fact she looked away and put her headphones back on. She started running again without even say a word more.
She didn’t think so.