Chapter Text
“Hey mom,” I smiled as I stepped into the kitchen. I walked over to her, kissed her cheek and grabbed an apple from behind her.
My mom smiled at me with her coffee in one hand and a bagel in the other. “Hi sweetie. You headed off to school already?”
“Yeah, the bus will be here soon,” I said, leaning against the counter.
My mom looked at me, her expression a little concerned. She looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t quite find the words.
“Hope,” she finally said, setting her bagel down on a napkin and her coffee on the counter, still keeping her fingers around the handle. “Your father and I need to talk to you about something later.”
I gave her a questioning look and tilted my head to the side slightly. “Is everything okay?”
She gave me a comforting smile and placed her free hand over one of mine. “Fine. Just come home right after school, okay? We want to talk to you before your sister gets home from soccer.”
“Why don’t you want Mia to be here?” I asked, finding the request a little odd.
“Look, we will explain everything later,” she said, looking over at the door when we heard the bus honk. She looked back at me and sighed with a tired smile. “Have a good day at school. I love you.”
“I love you too.” I hugged her and walked out the door, grabbing my backpack on the way out.
When I got on the bus, I scanned the seats until my eyes landed on a familiar face. Josie smiled and waved me over. I made my way to the back and sat down next to her, receiving a kiss from her as soon as I took off my backpack and got settled in.
“Morning,” I smiled when she pulled away.
“Morning,” she said sweetly. “How has your morning been so far?”
“Honestly? A little weird,” I sighed, thinking back on the conversation I just had with my mom. Josie gave me a questioning look.
“Why’s that?” she asked.
“I had a weird conversation with my mom right before I left,” I responded. She raised her eyebrows at me and I continued. “She said she wanted me home right after school so her and my dad could talk to me about something, but she stressed that I needed to be home before Mia got out of soccer practice because they didn’t want her to be there when they did talk to me.”
“That is weird,” she commented. “What do you think they want to talk to you about?”
“I don’t know,” I said with a slight shake of my head, “but it can’t be good if they really don’t want my sister to be there.”
I looked around when I said that, remembering that I wasn’t the only one with a sibling and also recalling that there was a serious lack of ‘ews’ when Josie and I kissed earlier. “Hey, speaking of sisters, where’s Lizzie?”
Josie rolled her eyes and smiled. “Lizzie didn’t want to come to school, so she convinced my mom she was having really bad cramps. She just wanted to skip the test in history today because she forgot to study.”
“Dammit, I knew I was forgetting something!” I whisper-yelled. Josie chuckled and pulled out her flashcards from the small pocket of her backpack, shaking her head at me in the process.
“Here, I’ll quiz you,” she said as she flipped through the color coded cards. I gave her a thankful smile and listened intently as she started to ask me a series of questions about the industrialization.
Throughout the entire day, all I could think about was what my mom had said this morning. I came up with thousands of scenarios in my head about what they could possibly have to talk to me about. Were we moving? Did my dad get a new job? Were we going to have to move schools? Were they planning her birthday party? Were they getting a divorce? That one particularly stuck out in my mind. But no, that couldn’t be it. They hadn’t even been arguing lately; sure they had their disagreements, but nothing that would constitute a divorce. My parents had their differences, but they loved each other. That’s why they’d gotten married in the first place.
But no matter how much I wanted to believe that that wasn’t happening, I couldn’t come up with another explanation for why they wouldn’t want my little sister home when they broke the news, or why my mom had looked so distraught when she asked me to come home right after school let out. Mia is six, so it would make sense that they would want to talk to me alone first, just in case I reacted badly. And thinking about it now, I don’t know how i’ll react if that is what they’re going to tell me.
When the lunch bell rang, I wandered to the cafeteria in a daze. I grabbed a tray, picked out some food and made my way to our usual table where I found Josie, MG, Kaleb, Rafael, and Landon already eating and talking loudly over the even louder noise of the other students. Landon waved at me when he saw me, making everyone else look in my direction.
“Hey Hope,” he said before taking another bite of his hamburger.
“Why the long face?” MG asked when he looked at me. I sat down next to Josie and smiled when she kissed my cheek, making me feel a little better.
“No reason,” I sighed. MG gave me a look that said ‘BS’ so I sighed and said, “Fine. My mom said she and my dad needed to talk to me when I got home.”
“Why’s that so weird?” Rafael asked, taking a drink from his milk carton and setting it down when he was done.
“Because she said they didn’t want Mia there when they did and she looked very concerned when she said it.”
They all seemed to give that some thought and nodded in agreement.
“That does sound kinda shady,” Kaleb said. I nodded and picked at my burger, not really hungry at the moment.
“Well, maybe it’s not a bad thing,” MG said, “Maybe she wanted to throw you off by making you think that it was bad news and they’re really planning Mia’s birthday party or something.”
I smiled at his optimism. “Could be,” I said, “But I really don’t think so. She looked really worried.”
“Got any theories?” Landon asked.
“A lot,” I said. They all waited for me to continue. “I don’t know, maybe we’re moving? Or maybe they’re getting a divorce? Those are honestly the only two things that I could come up with that would explain my mom’s face this morning.”
Josie grabbed my hand and smiled at me. “Look, I’m sure everything’s gonna be fine. But whatever it is, we’re all here for you.”
They all gave me sympathetic smiles, which made me relax a little. I squeezed Josie’s hand and whispered a small, “thanks, guys,” before I started picking at my food again, actually eating some of it.
“How about we get your mind off of it for the time being?” Josie suggested. “Quick game of ‘Would You Rather’?”
“Oh yeah,” MG cheered along with Landon and Raf. “I’ve been coming up with good ones all day. I’m ready.”
I laughed and said, “Fine, but no dirty ones! I just got my appetite back.”
“Fine,” Kaleb sighed. “Go, MG.”
“Alright, would you rather be able to see ten minutes into your own future, or the future of everyone else but yourself?”
We played the game for the rest of lunch, laughing at some of the ridiculous questions that got asked and getting into long debates about why one answer would be better than the alternative. And for the rest of the lunch period, I didn’t think about what awaited me when I got back home.
As I walked down the aisle of the bus, my heart started pounding. I thanked the bus driver and got off, noticing my dad’s car in the driveway. Here we go, I thought.
I walked through the gate and opened the door as slowly as humanly possible, trying my best to avoid the inevitable. But of course, you can only put things off for so long.
As soon as my parents heard me close the door, they both walked out of the kitchen and looked at me with their serious faces on. I hung my keys up and walked over to the couch, dropping my bag off to the side.
“We need to talk to you,” my father said, slowly making his way over to one of the couches.
“Yeah, that’s what mom said this morning,” I responded, sitting down across from him. My mom walked over next, sitting next to my dad but with a few inches of space between them. “What’s going on?”
They looked at each other, silently communicating with their eyes. And in that moment, I knew I was right. I knew what this was about before he even said the words.
“Your mother and I have decided that it would be in everyone’s best interest if we got a divorce,” my dad said hesitantly, looking everywhere but my eyes when he said it. When he finished his sentence he looked up at me, waiting for my reaction. When I didn’t say anything he continued. “Hope. I know this is difficult, but you have to understand that, sometimes people simply fall out of love and there’s nothing to be done about it.”
“I don’t understand,” I whispered, making myself look up at them. “Why? What made you fall out of love? I mean, I know you’re not as crazy about each other like you were before, but you haven’t been fighting lately. You guys have been making it work, so what changed?”
“We haven’t been fighting because we’re past that,” my mom said. “We had been fighting. For a long time. I know you remember. At some point we just decided that we had said everything we needed to say and there was just no point to arguing anymore. Now we just don’t talk at all. That’s why we haven’t been yelling. But we’re just not happy anymore, sweetie. And that’s not good for anyone.”
I felt the tears start coming, but I wiped them away as quickly as they came. “So what now?” I asked, sounding angry, but feeling even more furious
My dad sighed and looked at me. “This house,” he started, “while it may belong to my family, I would never force your mother to find another. So you and your sister will stay here with her while I stay with Elijah; just until I find a place of my own.”
“You and Mia will stay with your dad on the weekends when he finds a house and we’ll figure out holidays later on,” my mom continued. “Nothing else is really going to change. You’ll still go to the same school, nothing’s gonna change with your friends. You’ll just have two homes instead of one now.”
I nodded, not really knowing what else to say. I didn’t feel like there was anything to say.
My dad took my hand and I looked up at him with tear filled eyes. “You have to believe that we are doing this because it’s what’s best for you and your sister. And for us. While we may not be in love anymore, we still care about each other, and it’s because of that that we simply can’t do this anymore. But there’s no one to blame here. These things just happen.”
“Why didn’t you want Mia here?” I asked, letting go of his hand and ignoring everything he just said on purpose to avoid yelling at him. I knew he was right, I knew there was no one at fault, but I couldn’t accept anything that they were telling me at the moment. I wasn’t ready yet.
“We wanted to give you some time to process this alone,” my mom said. “Mia is still too young, she’s probably going to have a harder time coping with the change. We didn’t want you trying to process this while also trying to help her deal with it.”
“Well, thanks for being so considerate,” I said, getting up from the couch and grabbing my backpack before heading upstairs.
“Hope,” my dad called, getting up from his place next to my mom, but she grabbed his arm and stopped him from coming after me.
“Klaus. It’s okay,” she said softly. “Let’s give her some time.”
I didn’t hear him coming after me anymore, so when I got to my room I slammed the door shut and locked it, throwing my backpack across the room and dropping myself onto my bed, sobbing quietly into my pillow for what seemed like an eternity.
Eventually I fell asleep, only to be woken up a few hours later by the sound of Josie’s ringtone coming from my phone, signaling that she wanted to FaceTime.
I answered, feeling the need to hear her voice. When her face appeared on my screen she was smiling her bright, sunny smile.
“Hey you,” she said, squinting when she realized she couldn’t see me. “Why is it so dark? Were you asleep? Did I wake you? Oh babe, I’m sorry.”
I chuckled at her rambling. “It’s okay,” I whispered, clearing my throat when I heard how raspy it was from all the crying I’d done earlier. She seemed to pick up on that and her face went from happy to concerned in the matter of seconds.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “What happened? You sound like you’ve been crying.”
I let out a shuddering breath. “I was right. They’re getting divorced.”
Her mouth fell open and she gave me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, babe. Did they say why?”
“They said they just weren’t in love anymore; that they’re not happy.”
“That makes sense, sometimes things happen that way. Doesn’t make this suck any less, but sadly that’s life.”
I felt another tear escape from my eye and quickly wiped it away. “I know,” I said, my voice sounding weak and broken. “I know it’s not their fault or mine or my sister’s, but that just makes it harder. I want to be angry with someone, but I can’t.”
“It would make things a lot easier if the circumstances were different,” she said, reading my thoughts. “If someone was at fault.”
“Exactly,” I sighed. “If one of them had cheated or something, then I’d have someone to blame, someone to be angry with. But in this case, I can’t blame either one of them for not being in love with the other. They can’t necessarily control that; they can’t help what they feel or don’t feel.”
“Yeah, I understand,” she said. “Are you okay? I mean, clearly you’re not, but you know... Are you?”
I smiled, finding it endearing how hard she was trying. “Yeah,” I said, “yeah, I think I’ll be okay. I just really wish you were here. I could use one of your world famous hugs right about now.”
“My hugs are pretty epic,” she said with a little shrug of her shoulder. I laughed and her smile softened; she was really worried about me, I could see it in her eyes. “I could come over if you want? Pick you up, go to the park for a little while. I’m assuming you probably don’t want to be home right now. It’s only six thirty, I could have Lizzie give me a ride. I’m sure my parents would be cool with it if I explained the situation.”
My heart beat a little faster at the suggestion. I really needed to see her. “Yeah, that’d be great. I really need to get out of here.”
“Okay, I’ll text you when I’m on my way,” she said. “I love you.”
“I love you more,” I replied and then she hung up.
I went over to the bathroom and cleaned up a bit, fixing my makeup and my messy hair. My eyes were swollen and my nose was still a little stuffy, but I made myself somewhat presentable before I headed downstairs.
I walked into the kitchen to get a cup of water, since I'd cried out about half my body weight, and found my little sister sitting at the table with her homework laid out in front of her. She was still in her uniform, so I assumed she’d just gotten home.
“Hi Hope,” she smiled, looking up at me when I walked in. She frowned when she saw my eyes. “Are you okay? You look sad.”
“I’m okay, Tiny,” I said, doing my best to give her a reassuring smile.
“Did you and Josie get into another fight?” she asked. That seemed to really concern her.
“No, Josie and I are fine,” I said, walking over to the table and sitting down next to her. “I just got some bad news earlier and I got upset, but everything’s okay. Nothing you need to worry about right now.”
“Okay,” she nodded. “Are you going out?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna go see Josie, actually.”
She smiled at that; she loved Jo. Sometimes she liked her a little more than she liked me. Josie found it adorable, I always pretended to be offended. Okay, I actually got a little offended, but that’s not the point.
“Good,” she said, “Josie always makes you happy. That’s why I like her.”
My heart swelled at the comment. Sometimes I didn’t know what I did to deserve her.
“Where’s mom?” I asked, redirecting the conversation.
“Umm, I think she’s in her room with dad. They were talking about something when I got home. I don’t know, they didn’t look mad, but they were really serious. And then mom made me food and dad helped me with math and then they said they were going to go upstairs to keep talking.”
I listened to her explanation and nodded. “Can you tell them I’m with Jo if they ask, please?”
“Why don’t you just tell them before you go?” She said, cocking her head to the side.
Just then I got a message from Josie telling me that she was almost here. “Because she’s here and I have to go,” I responded, flashing her the screen so she could see the name, but not the text.
“Fine,” she huffed, returning her attention to her paper. “Give her a hug for me.”
“Will do,” I said, hopping off the chair and depositing a kiss to the top of her head before I grabbed my keys and walked out the front door.
I stood out in the street for a few minutes until I saw Lizzie’s blue Camaro pulling up with Josie in the passenger’s seat. Lizzie rolled down her window and gave me a soft smile.
“Come on, Mikaelson,” she said, “i’ll take you guys to the park so you two can make out in peace behind some trees.”
I laughed as Josie slapped her sister’s arm, getting a ‘hey!’ from Lizzie as a response. I slid into the back seat and shut the door. Josie turned around and gave me her hand, flashing me a warm smile in the process.
“How are you holding up?” she asked.
“Fine,” I lied. “I, uhh, I saw my sister before I left.”
Her face got a little worried. “What happened? She doesn’t know, does she?”
“No, that was the whole point of my parents talking to me without her there,” I said, shaking my head. “She asked me why I was sad and I told her I got bad news, but I didn’t tell her what the bad news was. She thought you and I were fighting, actually.”
Josie groaned. “Argue in front of a six year old once and you’ll never hear the end of it.”
I chuckled and squeezed her hand. “It’s okay, I told her we were okay and that I was coming to see you. She was glad. I believe her exact words were ‘Good. Josie always makes you happy. That’s why I like her.’”
Josie’s cheeks turned red so she turned forward to try to hide her face.
Lizzie pulled into one of the parking spots in front of the park, then. She shut off the car and looked over at us.
“You two are disgusting, please exit my vehicle,” she said, her tone serious, but the smile playing at her lips wasn’t fooling anyone.
“Our vehicle,” Josie corrected her, emphasizing the ‘our’ in that sentence.
Lizzie snorted. “Until you get your driver’s license, it’s mine.”
Josie rolled her eyes and opened the door. “We’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere.”
“No promises,” Lizzie said, taking out her phone and immediately pulling up instagram, double-tapping the first post that came up.
Josie and I got out of the car and walked towards the playground. The top of the monkey bars was our favorite spot. It was where we used to hang out when we were younger. We’d sit on top of the structure, sometimes upside down, and talk about life and school or whatever else was bothering us. It was where she first confessed to me that she liked everyone, not just boys. It was also the first place we kissed; we were fourteen and I had just told her that I liked her when she just leaned in and laid one on me. It was just our place now, so it seemed fitting that we would come here to talk about this now.
When we got to the top we sat there for a moment, looking out at the few people that were still there. There was a family of four, two parents, a son and a daughter, and they were all playing catch. I watched them thoughtfully, thinking about the last time my family did something like that. The last time we had a normal day out together. And I couldn’t remember.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Josie said, gently bumping into my shoulder. I looked over at her and sighed.
“I was just thinking about all the signs that I missed,” I explained.
“Like what?”
“Little things. Like the fact that they’re hardly ever in the same room. Or that sometimes I’d come home late and my dad would be sleeping on the couch and when I would wake him up he’d say that he fell asleep watching tv or reading or doing some paperwork because he was exhausted, but in reality he probably just didn’t want to sleep in the same bed as my mom. Then there was the months of constant fighting and yelling followed by the eerie silence of them just not speaking to each other. I took that to mean that they were okay again, but they were just avoiding each other. They haven’t had a meal together since Christmas, my dad started throwing himself into his work, my mom has been super focused on me and my sister and trying to run the bar… there were just so many signs… I feel stupid for not seeing it before.”
“You’re not stupid, Hope,” she said, taking my hand and making me look her in the eyes. “Parents are very good at pretending. I mean, my parents put on a hell of a show for Lizzie and I. We actually believed they were in love at some point when they weren’t in love at all. You’re not a mind reader or a fortune teller; you couldn’t have known that this was coming. You have to stop beating yourself up about it. Nothing good is going to come out of it, you’re just going to be hurting yourself even more and I don’t like to see you suffer.”
I sighed and looked down. “I know… I know, I just hate feeling so… useless. So powerless. There’s nothing I can do to help them fix this because it can’t be fixed. And I don’t know how I’m going to deal with trading off weekends and holidays and my dad getting a new place and having two houses and all of that.”
Josie gave me a genuine, yet sad smile. “Welcome to my world.”
I looked over at her and smiled. “Right. You are pretty much an expert on this, aren’t you?”
“Yes I am,” she said, intertwining our fingers. “So I will help you through all of this. I’ll help you with the move when your dad gets a new place, I’ll help you during the holidays when you’re probably going to hate it most because you’re going to want both of them, but they won’t want to be in the same house, much less the same room. I can’t lie, it’s going to suck big time, but I will be there for you through all of it. You and Mia.”
I covered my face with my left hand. “Oh my god, they still have to tell Mia. I wasn’t even thinking about how she’s going to feel about all of this. I’ve just been thinking about myself and how miserable I am,” I groaned. “I’m a terrible sister.”
“No,” Josie said, scooting closer to me and letting go of my hand so she could wrap her arm around me and rub my back. “You’re not a terrible sister. You’re a girl who just got some of the worst news a person could get and you’re trying to deal with it as best as you can. You deserve some time to process it on your own, you can worry about your sister later. Right now you just have to focus on you, otherwise you’re no use to her.”
I looked at her and she smiled, her eyes shining as the setting sun hit them just right. I closed my eyes and leaned in, brushing my lips against her softly, yet passionately in an attempt to express my gratitude. She moved her arm from around my shoulders to cradle my face with the palm of her hand, brushing her thumb across my cheek when she did.
“What the hell did I do to deserve someone as amazing as you?” I asked when we pulled away, a little out of breath from the kiss.
“You were the greatest friend to me before we started dating and you’ve been the greatest girlfriend in the world since we kissed that one day, I’m just trying to pay you back for being so great to me,” she responded. I leaned my forehead against hers and we just sat there in silence for a little while.
After, she wrapped her arm around me again and looked out at the few kids that were there, running around with their friends and families. A few tears occasionally escaped my eyes when I saw kids and their parents, wishing that I could have that again and hoping that they would never have to experience what I was currently going through. Josie would simply hold me tighter when she noticed, kissing my temple and whispering to me that everything would be okay.
And I believed her.