Chapter Text
Hope is standing over a body. There's blood surrounding her. She doesn't know what just happened. She's breathing so loudly with tears running down her face. She looks at her hands, there's blood on them.. blood. Hope can't feel anything but sorrow, she doesn't know what to do except cry. She's angry, and all she can do is stare at the body on the floor.
It takes her a second to realize that she's inside the school's swimming pool room. Police start to arrive, she wonders how they got there, but then she also remembers that she was the one that called them. Or at least tried to call them, she couldn't really find the right words because she was paralyzed with seeing... No. She can't let herself think of... her. Not now, she's so close to breaking down, and she doesn't want to do that with police around her. That doesn't matter because the minute a police officer assesses what's going on, she breaks down, and there's no stopping her.
Hope drops to her knees and bawls her eyes out. She doesn't care anymore. Police swarm the crime scene, and nobody except them is allowed out or inside the room.
Hope's world just crumbled right in front of her. And there was nothing she could do to save herself or save...
///
Josie was a smart girl, kind, and overall just genuine. Today was her first day at the Salvatore Private School since her old school had collapsed horrifically, injuring many students. Luckily she was not one of them, and neither was her friend Jed.
Unfortunately, Jed didn't get to have the privilege of going to the Salvatore Private School, he was not offered a scholarship like Josie and two other kids were. Josie was nervous, but she was excited to see what her new school would be like. It's a fancier school than her old one, with fancy uniforms, fancy classes, fancy lunch, and fancy people. She really wishes that Jed was going with her.
Her father calls her to come to get breakfast before heading off to school. Her father is a professor at Whitmore College, he teaches Occult Studies, which Josie thinks is a bit weird because everyone knows werewolves, vampires, witches, etc. aren't real. But if they were, Josie thinks she would totally be a witch.
There's a voice on the intercom, Josie recognizes the voice, and she rolls her eyes because she knows it's Jed. He wasn't supposed to be here this early in the morning, but there he is. Josie lets him in, and in like five seconds he's already on the second floor of the apartment they live in. Josie opens the door.
"Morning loser." He looks Josie up and down in her new uniform and tries not to die of laughter. "Don't you look preppy in your new uniform, especially in that tie!"
Josie rolls her eyes, and says, "Morning to you too Jed. I actually like the uniform for your information. It makes me look presentable, all though I wish it had yellow on it." Josie frowns a little bit. She really likes wearing the color yellow.
"Hey Ric, do you have any coffee, I'm beyond tired from last night."
Josie raises her eyebrows.
"Ew, not like that you weirdo, I stayed up really late trying to figure out easy shortcuts to my new school."
Josie has a face of relief. Josie also forgot how far Jed had to walk now that their school was completely destroyed.
"There's coffee in the kitchen, and also it's Dr. Saltzman, not Ric. I'm your best friend's father, not your best friend Jed."
Josie smirks. Jed always called her father, Ric, it was just normal for him to say it, and for her father to correct him. Josie didn't finish all of her breakfast, because she was feeling a lot more nervous than she had felt before. It has definitely hit her that people might not like her. She says bye to her dad and walks out the door with Jed.
"So... how are you feeling?" Jed asks.
"Honestly a little nervous, I wish you were coming with me, I'm still not sure why I was even chosen for a scholarship."
"Well, you are kind of a straight-A student, and you should be happy that you can finally leave the public-school system. You'll be with new people, even if they are a bunch of spoiled preppy kids. I'll be fine Josie, you'll be fine. Everyone who meets you loves you, I know that for a fact."
Josie smiles and then hugs Jed. He really is the greatest friend anyone could ask for. They part ways, Jed walking, and Josie riding her bike to school.
Josie arrives at the Salvatore Private School. She locks her bike on the bike racks and watches the students enter the school. She's still nervous, but her excitement trumps her anxiety.
She sees a black van pull up, with the name Salvatore Private Transportation. Damn this school even has its own transportation. She really is lucky to have gotten this scholarship. Six students get out of the van, and she recognizes two of them. They went to school with her, she was kind of friends with them. Josie watched both Rafael and Penelope walk up to her.
"Yo Josie! How have you been?" said the muscular boy.
"Hey Raf, I've been good, a little nervous for today, how are you?" Josie says a bit too loud that she gets strange glares from people.
Just when Raf is about to answer, Penelope interrupts, "What about me? I'm not invisible, am I?"
"Sorry Pen, hi, how are you?" Josie smiles.
"I've been good, thank you. This school seems huge, and these people seem judgy. I think we've entered hell."
"The people can't be that bad, I'm excited to meet the girls," Raf says with a playful smile.
They all enter the school, seeing each other's schedules, and realizing they all have the same first period. They seem relieved, and also a bit confused because they have no clue how to get there. Luckily, they make it there on time, and walk into... well like Penelope put it... hell.
///
"Hope. Hope. Hope! I need you to tell me what happened."
Hope is completely out of it, she doesn't even acknowledge what the inspector is asking her, the moments leading up to the one she's in now keep replaying in her head. She was just gone for a second, what could have happened in a second? She thinks if she never left, then nothing would have happened to her. How could she just leave, knowing something could have happened? How could she be so stupid? All Hope could do was blame herself, and how she could have prevented this from ever happening.
"Hope!"
"What?! I arrived and she was on the floor, she was dead right in front of me! What do you want me to tell you?!"
"I need you to tell me what happened, and where you were?"
"I don't know, you can't speak to me without a lawyer present, isn't that right?" Hope says angrily.
"Yes that is correct, you're lawyer can be present when we're at the station, for now just stay put while we contain the body."
Hope's eyes stare at the lifeless body in front of her. If only she didn't leave, if only she just stayed with her, just stayed with...
///
Rafael takes a seat next to a curly-haired boy, or at least he tries to. He says, "Sorry, someone's sitting there."
"Sorry man, I didn't realize."
"Yeah, my invisible friend would be really mad," the kid says while smirking.
Raf rolls his eyes when he realizes that this guy is being plain rude. He tells him, "Well, I hope you enjoy their company." Raf takes a seat next to where Penelope had sat, feeling a little bit humiliated. Josie sat at the table right in front of them, not paying attention to the glaring judgy eyes on her and her friends. Thankfully the teacher interrupts the glares and goes on to welcome the students back for a new year.
He says his name is Mr. Martin, but they can just call him Martin. Then the worst possible thing happens for the three brand new students. Mr. Martin says with a smile, "Would the new students like to introduce themselves to the class, just state your name and what you plan on doing in the future."
There's silence in the room for a good minute, and it's very awkward. Then Penelope stands up and says, "Hi, I'm Penelope Park, and I have absolutely no clue what I want to do in the future." She sits back down with a grin on her face.
A dark-haired girl snickers, and makes a snarky comment after Penelope finished talking. She notices that but decides not to say anything. Raf decides to stand up and introduce himself. More rude comments come up, but he chose to not say anything
It's Josie's turn. She was nervous, it took a few seconds for her to catch her breath, and then she spoke. "Uh, hi, my name's Josie Saltzman, and I want to be a teacher in the future." She tries not to make eye contact with the rest of the class. But Josie's eyes catch a girl's eyes. She's staring intensely at Josie. Josie feels a blush come on, so she sits back down and turns away.
After class, Josie bumps into the dark-haired girl she had noticed making snarky comments at Penelope.
"Watch where you're going pouty mouth," the girl says.
Josie was a little hurt by the comment, but she wasn't going to get upset over a little thing like that, so she just apologized. "Sorry, my bad, I didn't mean anything by it." The girl walks away, but not without looking Josie up and down with a little grin.
///
Hope is sitting in the interrogation room. There's a glass of water in front of her, and she's waiting for her lawyer. Lucky for her, she was a Mikaelson, so she was loaded with money. Her parents got her the best lawyer money could offer, but Hope wasn't happy. She wasn't happy because she felt as if they thought she had committed the murder. As if she could hurt...
///
Josie got through her classes all the way to lunch. Her classes were very boring, and her classmates were rude as ever. She wasn't as nervous as she was before, but it was about to change once she realized that she had no clue where to sit to eat.
Unfortunately, she chose a table right in front of another table with the same kids that were making fun of her and her friends during her first period. She was about to get up and move until Raf and Penelope both sat right next to her. Damn it. "Hey Jo," they both said. "Hey, how are your guys' day going so far?" Josie said hoping that their day was better than hers had been.
"Terrible, all the spoiled rich kids think they're better than me, and they make weird glances at me any chance they get. I hate it here," Penelope said. She slumped back in the chair she was sitting in.
"I feel ya Pen, I haven't been able to get any girls' attention, and I've actually been trying. They always find a way to shoot me down," Raf says with a disappointed look on his face. Raf was a pretty attractive guy and he never really had to try when he was talking to girls. They all kinda just fell for him.
Before Josie could say anything, she sees a notification pop up on her phone. It's a text from Jed.
Jed:
Hey, how's the new school going? Find anyone worth being friends with?
Josie's about to text back before Raf gets up abruptly. Josie quickly turns to him and asks what he's going to do. He says he's going to talk to the girls at the other table. Josie panics when she realized which table he's talking about. Yup. The same table with kids who hate their guts. Perfect. Josie tries to grab a hold of Raf but he takes off like the Flash.
The kids at the table are slightly murmuring, and a girl says, "When's the party?"
Raf then finds a great way to slide into the conversation, "Did someone say party? Hi, I'm Raf."
"Oh hi, you're the guy from my first period, right? My name's Jade.”
Before Raf can say anything, an auburn-haired girl says coldly, “I was talking to my friends. The party’s private.”
“Hope! Just chill, Raf isn’t some kind of alien, he can be my plus one.” Jade says with a flirtatious smile.
“I would love to be your plus one Jade. Can I have your number?” With no hesitation, Raf pulls out his phone and Jade puts in her number. In the midst of all this Hope can’t help but roll her eyes.
When Hope looks away from Raf and Jade, she sees the brunette girl from her class named Josie. The girl she couldn’t stop staring at and had no clue as to why. Well. She actually knows why. She thought any scholarship kid who came here brought nothing but trouble. But, she would usually give those kids an intimidating glare, and just look away. Looking at Josie was different though, and since Hope didn’t understand it. She got angry.
Josie and Penelope both stare at Raf with disbelief at how he just randomly went up to the group. Josie catches the auburn hair staring at her once again, and she shifts in her chair wondering as to why she was staring. Did she have something on her face, maybe on her teeth?
Raf and Jade are still talking, in fact, they already have gone as far as checking out each other's Instagram pages. Hope has had enough and basically growls at Raf. "Did you have a roof fall on your head or something? I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt because you have no clue how things work around here. Don't bother coming to the party and don't even bother talking to my friends." Just like that Hope is the first to walk out of the cafeteria, having her friends then walk after. It seems as if she's the leader of their group.
Josie can't help but notice that while the angry girl is walking, a curly-haired boy takes a hold of her hand, it seems they're a couple. The girl looks annoyed but then smiles at the boy. Josie then looks away and catches the girl that she bumped into staring at her curiously. Ok, she definitely has something on her face.
///
Raf stares at the table. His eyes are puffy and red. He had been crying a lot. He was completely distraught.
"Rafael, please tell me anything about what happened that night? Did you see anyone? Was anyone angry? Was anyone drinking? Were you drinking?" the inspector said.
"I don't drink, I'm not like that," he responded. He was on the verge of tears again. "I didn't do anything..."
"Drink some water, and please just tell me anything about that night."
Raf looks at the water, grabs the glass, and takes a big gulp. "It was the end of the school party, and everyone was in the gym..."
///
It's the end of the day, and Josie is at her locker. She's so glad that she can go home. As soon as she's about to lock up her locker, the same girl who she bumped into walked right up to her.
She said, "Hi. My name's Maya."
Maya. Huh. Josie never would have thought that would be her name. She had a type of curly straight hair, and she was really pretty. Not as gorgeous as the other girl that was also staring at her today, but that's not important. "Uh, hi, my name's-" Before Josie could say her name, Maya interrupts.
"Josie, yeah I know, we have first-period class together. I was wondering if I could walk you home."
Odd. Josie thought to herself. She had never met this girl before, and she was offering to walk her home. For some reason, Josie said, "Sure." Why the fuck did Josie just say sure. Maya is a total stranger. FUCK. Josie also has a bike, she didn't even think about that. Josie closes her locker. Maya and her walk together side by side to the exit. Josie isn't sure what to say. She feels awkward.
"So... Josie, how was your first day?"
"Um, the school is really modern, and ya know, my day could have been better if your friends weren't so rude."
"I'm really sorry about that, they're just really defensive, and I'm also sorry about calling you pouty mouth. I just didn't like being bumped into, but I realized I was in the wrong after I said that. So, sorry again."
Josie comes to a stop to unlock her bike. Maya gives her a confused look. "Yeah, I have a bike... Sorry, I didn't tell you, I had forgotten when I agreed to you walking me home."
"It's all good," Maya says with an amusing smile. Josie can't help but smile back. Maya takes her eyes off of Josie, Josie turns her head to see what she's looking at. Turns out it's a who. The same girl who wouldn't stop staring at Josie. What is it with people at this school staring? The staring was intense. Like really intense.
Maya looks away. "Sorry Josie, it's just... Hope. She's my ex."
Oh. That's her name. Hope. Josie liked that name. "Did you guys have a bad breakup or something?"
"Yeah, something like that. It's complicated. I had told her I loved her and she didn't say it back, which got me angry. So we argued and I ended up making out with someone else to get her jealous. Not the best thing to do, but it got her talking. Unfortunately, when she started talking, she dumped my ass and got with fucking Landon Kirby. I'm guessing just to make me angry because she used to tell me how annoying he made her."
"Wow, that is complicated..." Josie really doesn't know what to think. She also has no clue what to say and doesn't know why Maya is telling her about this. I mean she did ask but still, Maya could have said she wasn't ready to speak about it.
"Ya know I just remembered I had something to do right now. Raincheck on walking you home?" Maya says.
"Yeah of course," Josie says with relief.
Maya apologizes and walks back into the school. Josie watches Maya leave and turns her head back to Hope Mikaelson. Hope is still staring at them. Josie notices that Hope's with, who she guesses, Landon. He's talking to her, but it doesn't seem like she's listening. Josie feels weird for staring, so she gets her bike and rides off.
Hope watches Josie leave. Ignoring Landon, like always. She's at her tipping point with these new students. She makes it her mission to do whatever it takes for them to leave the school.