Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Josie stepped out of the car with a deep breath and a content smile. She grabbed her sports bag and ball from the trunk, laughing as Penelope complained about getting her car dirty. 

“Oh please, as if you don’t drive home with grass stains all over yourself after practice.”

Penelope rolled her eyes, locking the car behind her as they walked across the school parking lot. They met up with a few of their teammates on the way, all of them expressing their nerves and excitement for their first day of tryouts, along with some gossip that’s happened recently.

“Can you believe Coach Williams quit?” Jade said, referencing their coach from last year.

“He had to, he got caught on a date with the school psychologist, Miss Tig. The school has some stupid rule that the faculty aren’t allowed to have relationships.” Penelope explained.

Josie frowned. “How did you know that?”

Penelope only winked at her, the conversation already moving onto a new topic.

All the girls’ excited chatter died down when they got to the top of the small hill overlooking their field, seeing the boys soccer team in the middle of their own tryouts.

Josie spotted the coach for the boys team, an umbrella and posh outfit making the british man stick out like a sore thumb. 

“Professor Vardemus, we have the field reserved for tryouts.” 

He tilted his head with an expression that was far too innocent to be genuine. “Oh, really?”

Josie had to bite her tongue from giving a comeback. She never liked the boys soccer coach. Her boyfriend, Connor, was captain for the boys team, and he’s talked about how the man would encourage them to do dirty tricks during the game. She also found it baffling that they all had to refer to him as ‘professor’ instead of just ‘coach’. 

“I was under the impression that there would be no girls team this year.” The man shrugged, unbothered, acting as if he didn’t just drop a huge bomb to the girls in front of him.

“What?!” 

“Why?”

“You’re kidding.”

“And I was under the impression that you’re just a pompous-”

Connor jogged up to them with a few guys behind him, cutting off Penelope from getting herself detention before the school year even started. “Hey, what’s going on here?”

“Is it true that the school is cutting the girls team?” Josie asked him directly. Connor’s dad was the school’s activities director.

He winced. “Yeah.” He scratched the back of his head, avoiding eye contact. “Not enough girls signed up this year, and they’re having trouble finding a replacement for Coach Williams. The school decided it wasn’t worth it, and they’re saving a lot of money by doing so.”

This was all new information to Josie, which stung because she was hanging out with Connor just the day before, and he had said nothing . “Not worth it?!”

“Perhaps Connor is struggling to say that the girls team has not been performing at such high praise as the boys team.” Professor Vardemus interjected, not that anyone asked for his haughty opinion. 

She looked to Connor for confirmation. He pursed his lips. “He’s not wrong.”

Josie closed her eyes temporarily, taking a deep breath.

“Okay.” She turned to Professor Vardemus. “Let us try out for the boys team.”

The man blinked. Then laughed. 

The girls just stared at him. 

He composed himself. “Oh. Was that not a joke?”

“Listen here you sexist Gary Poppins-” 

Josie held out her arm, silently telling Penelope to shut up. “Why would you think we were joking?” Josie said with gritted teeth.

“Women are not as capable as men. Simply put, men are just better.” 

Outraged cries rang out from her teammates behind her. 

“That’s ridiculous.” Josie turned to her boyfriend. “Connor, back me up here.”

He looked at her with an incredulous expression. “Are you kidding? None of you would even hold a candle against our freshmen.”

“What? Yesterday you told me that I was better than half the guys on your team!”

“That never happened.”

Her mouth dropped. “Why are you lying ?”

“Josie, just leave it. End of discussion.” He said with finality. 

She scoffed. “Fine. End of relationship.”

A chorus of “ooh’s” echoed around them. Josie shook her head, turning around and leaving the field without another world. Her girls followed in suit, some of them smirking at the soccer captain’s devastated face. Both Penelope and Jade flipped him off, not caring if the coach saw them.

~

“Good riddance. You were too good for that David Beckham wannabe, anyway.” 

Josie took an angry bite of her fries, still heated from what happened earlier. She had Penelope drop her off at the Mystic Grill, meeting up with her sister Lizzie. Josie was a stress eater, and Lizzie had just finished shopping nearby.

Penelope went home to draft a petition to keep the girls team, as well as create posters encouraging girls to sign up. That, along with the fact that her and Lizzie still didn’t get along, prevented her from joining the sisters for food. 

Josie had just finished recapping the events, and Lizzie seemed to be focused on the wrong part. 

“At least you were the one who broke up with him. I mean, he was just your palate cleanser after your disaster relationship with Satan.”

Josie frowned. While she wouldn’t have worded it that way, Lizzie was right. Josie and Penelope dated for a couple months, the relationship becoming awkward as soon as it became that- an official relationship. It was a mutual breakup, both of them realizing that they were better off as best friends who flirted with each other with no real commitment behind it. Josie wouldn’t have been surprised if they got into a friends with benefits situation in the future.

Connor was one hundred percent a rebound, not meant to last that long.

“Oh look, your mystery girl is here. Eight o’clock.” Lizzie nodded in the direction.

“What?” Josie’s eyes widened, and she spun her body to the left, quickly spotting a head of auburn hair at a table not too far away. The rapid action caught the attention of the other girl sitting at the table, and Josie turned around, putting her hood up as her cheeks flushed.

“God, you’re so obvious.”

“Shut up!” Josie hissed, pouting as she took a sip from her drink. 

The girl in question was someone that Josie has been seeing around town during the summer. The first time Josie saw her, Josie stumbled on her feet and got a nice scrape on her knees. They’ve never actually talked, but Josie thinks she’s the prettiest girl she’s ever seen.

She was a couple inches shorter than Josie, though she had a tendency to wear heeled boots. Not that Josie remembers every outfit she’s seen the girl in. 

(She had a very simple fashion sense, usually pairing skinny jeans with a loose shirt and combat boots.) 

She had auburn hair and pale skin, her hair usually curled and falling freely around her shoulders. Her shirts were usually more low cut, showing off… one of her best assets, in Josie’s respectful opinion. It also showcased the necklace she always wore. Josie’s never been close enough to see the details, she just always noticed the glare of the sun shining off it. 

The girl’s name was a mystery, but she was Josie’s crush throughout the summer. And Josie regretted ever telling Lizzie about it because her twin would always point her out whenever they saw her, causing Josie’s brain to panic. 

Josie took a more subtle glance this time, a pout taking over when she saw that the waiter was attempting to flirt with the girl. Thankfully, the girl didn’t even seem to realize his intention as she just smiled politely, taking the milkshake with what looked like a ‘thank you’ on her lips. The girl’s friend was smirking, her eyes lighting up with mirth at the waiter’s fallen expression.

“Luke!”

Lizzie wrinkled her nose in disgust, but Josie was too busy staring back to realize or even register the yell. It wasn’t until she felt her hood get pulled back when she turned her head to see a frustrated face, framed by obviously bleached blonde hair.

“Can we help you, Dana? Or do you just get off on manhandling defenseless girls?”

Josie frowned at Lizzie’s words. She could defend herself.

Dana rolled her eyes. “Sorry-” she didn’t sound sorry, “-you look like Luke from the back. Can you tell your cousin to call me when he has a chance?”

“Does he even have your number? Oh, let me guess. One eight-hundred b-”

“We’ll let him know.” Josie said. As much as she didn’t like Dana, Josie wasn’t in the mood to start another argument in public that day. She just wanted to finish her food and go home.

Dana gave her a tight smile, glared at Lizzie, then left. This prompted Lizzie to go into another one of her tangents about Dana, complaining about how entitled she was and questioning their cousin’s mental stability for dating her. 

Josie just nodded along, munching on her fries. 

When they got up to leave, Josie took a glance at the table on the other side of the room, looking away with a blush when she made eye contact with the girl with no name.

~

When they got home, Lizzie took her shopping bags and went inside, excited to show their mom her new clothes. Josie lagged behind, having to open the trunk to get her soccer stuff out. She was about to enter the house when she heard a small thud from around the corner

She creeped along the side cautiously. Taking a peek, a confused frown filled her expression. Was that a luggage case? She walked closer to inspect it.

“Watch out!” 

Josie let out a shriek, barely moving out of the way of the teenage boy falling out of the sky. 

“Luke! What the hell?”

“Sorry, Jo.” He popped up with a goofy grin, dusting off his jeans. His messy brown hair fell into his eyes, and he ran a hand through it, doing nothing to help his vision.

“Are you… running away?”

He hummed, patting down his pockets and double checking the contents of the luggage case. “Kind of? Not, like, running away. More like sneaking out for two weeks.”

“What?”

Luke continued looking through the luggage, mentally checking off things on a list. “My band got this gig in London, and it is a huge foot into the industry if we play well. I told Ric that I’d be with Aunt Caroline for a while, and I told Aunt Caroline that I’d be hanging at Ric’s. You know how they don’t talk to each other, it’s the perfect plan.”

Josie just shook her head in disbelief. Ever since her uncle Kai died, her cousin Luke has been put under the care of her dad, Alaric Saltzman. Alaric just lets Luke choose between his house and her mom’s, like he does with his own daughters. As long as they don’t go too long without visiting him, there was no need for any court mandated visitation hours for either parent. It was an amicable divorce, and Alaric and Caroline respected each other enough to allow their daughters to move freely between the two houses.

“Okay, Paul McCartney. Where’s your guitar?”

“That’s where you come in. I set up this pulley system to carefully get my guitar out here, but it’s a little finicky. Now, you can go operate it from my room and I’ll stay down here to catch it if it falls.”

Josie nodded, then paused. “Why didn’t you just let it down while you were up there and had me catch it?”

His face dropped for a second. The carefree smile came back with a shrug. “Oops. So, what do you say?”

She knocked his shoulder with hers. “Duh, I’ll do it.” 

“Yes! Oh, and I’m supposed to be moving into my dorm for school in the next few days. Can you call the Salvatore School and let them know that I won’t be there for the first two weeks?”

“Of course, dummy. Go live your dreams in London while we rot in Mystic Falls.”

He gave her a tight hug, her laughs muffled in his chest. She went around the side to go through the front door, telling Luke to give her a few minutes to put her stuff away, first.

Josie walked through the front door, instantly hearing Lizzie and her mom chatting in the kitchen. She tried her best to sneak past them and go up the stairs undetected, but Lizzie came and pulled her into the kitchen, making Josie drop her bag at the base of the staircase.

“Hey!”

Lizzie sat her down at the dining table, right across from their mom. “This is important.”

“Can I at least put my stuff away?”

“No, this is urgent.”

Caroline rolled her eyes good naturedly, used to her daughter’s antics. She smiled at Josie, and Josie already knew that she wasn’t going to like what she had to say. There was a binder on the table. Josie knew that binder.

“Jo, honey. How would you feel about competing in Miss Mystic Falls this year?”

“No.” Josie shook her head, familiar words making it out of her mouth before she could think. “I have soccer.”

“Ha! Not anymore. I already told mom.”

Josie internally groaned. So Lizzie was actually listening to her. 

“It could still happen. Penelope’s starting a petition.” Josie said, defensively. She turned to Lizzie with narrowed eyes. “Why can’t you do it?”

Caroline Forbes had a reputation, and she made sure that her legacy continued with the beauty pageant. Lizzie was the one who’s always wanted to compete, and Josie always had the excuse of focusing on the soccer season.

“Mrs. Lilien is on the board this year, and Lizzie does not get along with her daughter, Dana.” Caroline explained, giving Lizzie a tight smile. 

Lizzie just rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Dana’s a bitch, no one gets along with her.”

“Elizabeth, language.”

Josie blinked. “So why do I have to do it?”

“Because Dana will definitely sabotage me, so I have no chance of winning this year.” 

Caroline reached out, laying her hand on top of Josie’s. “Please, Josie. Just this once. And if your team does end up playing, I have full confidence that you can balance both, along with your schoolwork.”

Josie sighed. She knew how important this pageant was to both her mom and Lizzie. And she wasn’t sure if she was even going to have a soccer season at Mystic Falls. 

“Fine.” She smiled when her mom squeezed her hand in excitement. “Can I go upstairs, now?”

“Of course, sweetie.”

Josie left the room, leaving Lizzie and her mom to start planning out everything. They were probably going to need a new binder.

She dropped her stuff off in her room, making her way to Luke’s room at a steady pace. That was more than a few minutes, Luke was probably doubting if she was going to actually help him. 

Sticking her head out the window, she gave a quick apology to her cousin, who waved it off like it was no big deal, but Josie caught his nervous look before she called out to him.

Spotting the guitar case, she took a second to figure out how the pulley system worked. She hooked the case onto one end, making sure it was secure, before she started slowly letting the rope go, gradually lowering the guitar closer to the ground. 

Once Luke had it safely in his hands and untied, she pulled the rope back up and disassembled the small contraption. A car pulled up to the front of their house, probably an uber for that Luke called. 

“That’s me. Thanks Jo! I owe you one!”

Josie waved back with a smile, genuinely happy for him. She remembered the favor that Dana asked, but she shrugged it off. Her cousin had more important things in store for him than to worry about a bitchy girlfriend.

The car drove away, and Josie turned around. She took her phone out to call the Salvatore School, the dialing tone ringing as she looked around Luke’s room. She reached out to feel the soft Salvatore hoodie hanging off his desk chair. Her attention roamed around, landing on a picture frame of her, Luke, and Lizzie smiling at the camera. Josie picked it up with a chuckle.

Her mind flashed to Dana’s small comment from earlier. 

You look like Luke from the back .

A seed of an idea planted in her brain. She remembered that Connor felt nervous about the boys first soccer game this year because they were facing their biggest rival.

“Salvatore Boarding School, how may I help you?”

Josie hesitated. There’s no way she could pull it off. Was she really considering this?

After a quick moment, she decided that yes, this was the way to go. She can prove to stuffy Vardemus that women are just as capable as men - scratch that, better . And Josie could admit that seeing Connor’s slightly panicked, hurt look made her feel pretty powerful. 

“Hello?”

She smiled. It’ll take some work. But she can pull it off.

“When are tryouts for your boys soccer team?”

Chapter Text

“Maya, you’re exaggerating.”

Hope’s best friend gave her an incredulous look “You’re joking, right?” At Hope’s shrug, Maya sighed. “You may be smart, Mikaelson, but sometimes I really question your social skills.”

“You mean lack thereof?”

They shared a smile as they continued unpacking in their dorm room. 

It was moving in day for the Salvatore Boarding School, and the two of them were lucky to be roommates again, one final time for their senior year. Well, maybe lucky wasn’t the right word, seeing as Hope’s family basically ran the entire school.

Speaking of. 

“Okay, I can understand why everybody knows about me. But that’s just because my aunt is the headmistress, and my dad is the soccer coach.” Hope couldn't believe she was even entertaining Maya’s claim. “That doesn’t mean that everybody has a crush on me.”

Maya just rolled her eyes, muttering something along the lines of “Why am I friends with you?”

Before the auburn-haired girl could take offense to that, Maya stood up. “Come on, let’s grab something to eat. Your refusal to acknowledge the obvious is making me famished."

It was Hope’s turn to roll her eyes, but she said nothing and simply followed her best friend out the room. As they were walking, they passed by one of the boy’s dorm halls, entertained at all the chaos that was happening. One poor student seemed to be having a tough time getting through the obnoxious guys passing a football and jumping on top of each other.

They finally got to the cafeteria, both of them grabbing a plate and making small talk as they waited in line for their food. Once they got to their table, the same one they’ve been sitting at since freshman year, Maya turned to Hope with curiosity in her eyes.

“Was that a new kid that we saw?”

Hope bit into her apple. “The one that was getting pushed around?” 

Maya nodded.

The Salvatore School wasn’t the biggest school, despite hosting kids from 6th grade all the way to senior year. Most new students came from the younger years, it wasn’t often that they had a new kid that was older.

“I’m pretty sure. Aunt Rebekah told me that we were getting a new junior this year, Luke Parker. His dad died recently, and his aunt thought it was best for him to get a new change of scenery, or something like that. Apparently his aunt and my dad used to have a thing.”

“Tea.” Maya commented. “He looked kind of familiar.” She added as an afterthought. 

~

When Hope asked Maya if she wanted to get some air, she did not think that they’d end up on the bleachers watching soccer tryouts. 

“I should’ve grabbed my sketchbook.” Hope said, looking at her nails in boredom.

“Come on, I gotta support Ethan.”

“What do you mean? He’s already captain, I’m pretty sure that means he’s made the team.”

“Okay, fine. That’s not why we’re here.”

Hope looked at Maya with a tilt of her head. “Then why are we here?”

Maya just smirked, looking back to the field. Hope’s dad, Klaus, was barking orders at the boys. Half of them looked ready to shit their pants, terrified of the British soccer coach. 

They did a couple drills to test their different abilities. Most of the newbies were doing fairly well, and Ethan, being the good person that he was, kept encouraging everybody throughout the entire way. Meanwhile, Klaus seemed unimpressed.

“You guys got this! Only a little more to go, keep pushing!”

“I’m sorry, I thought this was the boy’s soccer team? All I see are lazy sods who don’t know their left from their right!”

Maya leaned into Hope. “What does that mean?”

“Useless idiots.” Hope explained, having grown up hearing her dad insult anybody and everybody in a variety of ways. His fallback was usually British slang.

“Got it.”

Hope found herself actually paying attention. The contrast between Ethan’s positive reinforcements and her dad’s scathing insults was entertaining.

Her eyes started gravitating toward the new kid, Luke. He was the only one wearing full long sleeves and sweats, while the other guys were in simple shorts and a t-shirt. It was obvious that the outfit was making him uncomfortable, seen by the heavy breathing and sweat dripping down his face. Hope had no idea why he wouldn’t just take off his shirt.

“Alright, you pansies. Time for a scrimmage, shirts and skins!” Klaus went around and made the teams, pointing at certain guys to strip off their shirts. 

Maya nudged Hope. “This is why we’re here.”

Hope nodded in agreement. “Your brother does have some nice abs.”

“Gross!” Maya fake gagged, ignoring Hope’s laughter. 

They looked back to the field, seeing the new kid talking to Klaus, telling him that he needs to be on the shirts team. 

Klaus raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I’m allergic to the sun.” The teen grimaced. “Sir.”

Klaus stared him down, causing the boy to shift on his feet. 

“Alright.” Klaus shrugged, not finding it in himself to really care about the real reason.

The scrimmage started off decently, but Hope was getting bored. Maya had her eyes glued to the field, more specifically to one of the senior boys on the skins team. What was his name? Rafael? 

Hope could admit that she allowed herself to indulge in her teenage hormones for a little bit, checking out the guys. She wasn’t kidding when she said Ethan had nice abs. She could feel her ex-boyfriend, Roman, keep trying to catch her eye, but Hope purposefully avoided him.

At some point in the game, the new kid glanced up, accidentally making eye contact with Hope. She smiled, and he immediately tripped on his feet. 

The sight made Hope feel a sense of deja vu. She didn’t know why.

~

“Hope Mikaelson and Luke Parker to the headmistress’s office.” 

At that announcement from the intercom, everyone’s head turned to the back to look at her. Hope rolled her eyes. 

As Hope made her way through the hall, she tried to think of the reason. It was only about half an hour into the first day of school, and Hope hasn’t done anything wrong (yet). Maybe her aunt was just being impulsive, again.

Sometimes her aunt liked to have fun with her position of power. There have been a couple times in the past when Rebekah called Hope to her office, only for both of them to skip school and go on a shopping trip. 

Hope turned the corner, running right into someone and dropping the books in her hands.

“Oh! Sorry!” A voice said, the tone slightly wavering, as if unsure of the natural pitch.

“It’s okay.” Hope bent down to grab a notebook, only for another hand to reach at the same time. They both pulled back, and she looked up with a smile on her face, instantly recognizing who it was. She gathered her books with the help of the other student and stood up. 

She ended up having to look up, being a few inches shorter. She held out her free hand. “You’re the new kid, right?”

“Um, yeah.” He stood there, looking awestruck for a second. 

Hope raised a brow. He jumped a little, rushing to shake her hand. 

“I’m Hope.”

“Hope.” He repeated, testing it out with his voice. “That’s a really pretty name.”

She felt heat rush to her cheeks at the genuine compliment. “Thanks.”

“Uh, you can call me Jo.”

Hope tilted her head. “I thought your name was Luke?” 

He stuttered over his words. “Y-Yeah. My middle name is Joseph, and most of my family calls me Jo. It just sort of stuck.” 

There was something off with his voice, but Hope chose to ignore it.

“Okay. Nice to meet you, Jo.”

“Trust me, the pleasure’s all mine.”

Hope pursed her lips, finding the awkward teenager in front of her oddly charming. She glanced down at their hands, which were still clasped together. 

Jo pulled his hand back. “Sorry.”

“No worries. So, where are you headed? Already skipping school on the first day?” Hope teased.

“No! I was called to the headmistress’s office.” 

Oh yeah. Hope forgot that they were called at the same time.

She bit her lip to hide her smile. With a nod, she gestured behind Jo. “Her office is that way.”

Pink dusted his cheeks, and Hope found it adorable.

“Right! Sorry, I really don’t know my way around, yet. I’m new here,” Jo grimaced. “But you already knew that. And this really is nothing like my old school, I mean how old is this building?”

“Jo.” Hope cut off the beginning of a rant with a chuckle. His cheeks darkened. “It’s okay, just follow me.”

He kept his mouth closed, probably to avoid talking too much, and just nodded. They made their way through the halls in a comfortable silence. After a minute or so, Jo offered to carry Hope’s books. Pleasantly surprised, she gave him half her load. Her phone was on top of the books, and the jostle of being handed over turned the screen on.

Jo glanced at it, seeing the last song that Hope was listening to. “Sweater weather? I love this song.”

Hope found herself pleasantly surprised, again. “Me too.”

They got to her aunt’s office, Jo opening the door for Hope like a gentleman. 

“Bloody hell, I was ready to send out a search party.”

“Nice to see you too, aunt Beka.”

Hope placed down her books on the desk, giving her aunt a big hug. Jo placed down the rest of the books and cleared his throat. 

“That’s my bad, ma’am. I got a little lost on the way here.”

The blonde woman waved her hand. “Dear god, don’t call me that. Makes me feel old. Just call me Rebekah.”

Jo blinked. 

Hope reassured him. “Everyone calls her by her first name, just go with it.”

“Okay.”

Rebekah ushered them to sit, and she gave Jo the typical “Welcome to the Salvatore School” spiel. Hope half-heartedly followed along, still not sure why she was here. She glanced at Jo and found him paying full attention, obviously the type to respect authority. Her mind wandered, thinking about how she finds herself pulled toward the teenager. Maya's offhand comment from earlier echoed in her head, and Hope had to agree. Jo seemed really familiar. 

“It’s a good thing you two have already met because Hope, here, is going to give you a tour of the school.”

“I am?”

“You are.” 

Hope narrowed her eyes at her aunt, knowing that there had to be some other motive behind this. One of the staff usually gives the tours.

“Fine. But don’t be surprised if I’m absent in the rest of my classes. This is a big school, it could take all day.” Complete lie. The school wasn’t that big. 

Rebekah just rolled her eyes good naturedly. “Oh yes, I know. Now, chop chop! Only so many hours in a day.”