Chapter Text
The first day after Christmas Break was always the most stressful for Josie. She usually made it her mission to keep up with her work, but she’d found herself unable to this time. So while her sister and their friends enjoyed their breakfast, Josie scrambled to catch up on her notes.
“Jo, it’s the first day back,” Lizzie said, “No one’s gonna care if you’re unprepared.”
“Well I will,” she said as she scanned through the pages, “Besides, Mrs. Featherwood is notorious for giving pop quizzes on the first day back, I don’t wanna fail.”
“Who cares?” Lizzie asked, “It’s History of Magic. All you need to do is make some comment about Uncle Kai that Featherwood has no way of fact checking, and boom, easy A.” Josie’s jaw dropped, as did the jaws of everyone else at the table.
“No way in hell that works!” Their friend Jed said.
“I’m asleep in that class half the time, and I still have an A,” Lizzie said, “Do the math.”
“Damn, I might need your help with any of the vampires you used to know growing up,” another friend MG said, “Because I am failing My Bloodline and You.”
“Well if you want to know about bloodlines,” Lizzie said, and Josie looked up from her notebook, and followed Lizzie’s gaze towards the auburnette on the other side of the dining hall. Hope Mikaelson wasn’t their friend. She was barely an acquaintance. She stood at five feet and two inches, but she still had the ability to make someone tremble with so much as a look. She made Lizzie nervous-in fact, she made Josie’s whole family nervous.
“It’s not a good idea,” Josie heard her dad say. It was past curfew, and she was supposed to be in bed, but she’d gotten thirsty and had gone to get some water, only to hear her parents arguing in their office. She knew it was rude, but she stopped at the door to listen in.
“She lost her father,” Mom was saying, “She doesn’t have anywhere else to go, plus she just triggered her vampire side-”
“Exactly,” Dad said, “That alone makes her one of the most powerful predators on Earth-”
“She’s seventeen-”
“That doesn’t matter!” Dad exclaimed, “Some of the most dangerous vampires in the world were the same age, or even younger. And they didn’t have a werewolf and a witch side-”
“ Are you even listening to yourself? This school was built to help vampires, witches, and werewolves. We can’t possibly turn one away.”
“ We can when her father has a kill list longer than the Constitution.”
“You’re really going to judge a child on the sole basis of her father’s mistakes?”
“Our daughters go to this school-”
“I know that,” Mom said, “And I also know that they have an Uncle who wasn’t that different from Klaus. Would you want them to be reduced to that?”
“Of course not-”
“So why should Hope face the same judgment?” It was at that moment Josie cursed her summer allergies, because she ended up sneezing very loudly.
“Who’s there?” came her dad’s cross voice. Crap. Josie reached for a wall to siphon so she could do an invisibility spell, but the door opened before she could get the incantation out.
“Josette,” her dad said, crossing his arms, “What are you doing here?”
“ I was thirsty,” she said quickly, “I didn’t mean to-”
“The kitchen is on the other side of the hall,” he said, and his voice was starting to raise. Her mom came outside, and got in between them.
“Ric, calm down,” she said, then she looked at Josie, “Honey, how much of that did you hear?”
“All of it,” Josie said, “Why don’t you want to admit Hope?”
“This isn’t your concern,” he said, “Go back to bed.”
“It’s not like you to give up on anyone,” Josie said, ignoring him, “Why her?”
“ There are things going on that you wouldn’t understand.”
“Okay, explain them to me.” He shook his head, “So there are none?”
“ Alright,” Mom said, “Don’t talk to your dad like that.” Typical. Her dad usually needed someone else to fight his battles.
“I’m not giving up on her,” Dad said, “I’m protecting you and the other students.”
“Has she hurt anyone before?”
“Not that I know of,” he admitted after a second. She raised an eyebrow at him,
“So you’re just making an assumption-”
“I’m being a headmaster and making a call to keep you safe,” he said, “And your mother and I are having a private conversation.”
“Go upstairs, honey,” Mom said, “I’ll come talk to you in a bit, okay?”
“But-”
“ Go, Josette,” she repeated, her voice hardening just a little bit. Her mother rarely got angry, or full named her, so Josie was smart enough to take the hint. She didn’t go back to her room though. If she went back inside, she’d end up pacing, and that would wake up her sister. So she sat in the hallway by the door, and waited. Her mom came up a good twenty minutes later, and asked,
“What are you doing out here?”
“Waiting for you,” Josie said, “What did dad say?”
“He’s going to admit Hope,” she said, “But he thinks you and Lizzie should keep your distance, and I’m going to have to back him up.” Josie’s face fell.
“You think she’s dangerous?” she asked.
“It’s not that,” Mom replied, moving some hair out of her face, “Hope has been through a lot, and while I know you love to take care of others, I’d like you to focus on yourself this year.”
“I focus on myself just fine!”
“Josie-”
“I do!” she said, “I just didn’t want dad to turn away a student in need, that’s all.” She didn’t even know Hope yet. There was no need for her mom to get all weird.
“Okay,” she said, “Promise you’ll stay away?” She nodded.
“I promise.”
Josie looked up from her notebook and saw Lizzie tapping on Jed’s shoulder eagerly. Josie frowned and she asked,
“What are you guys doing?”
“Shh,” Lizzie said, “I’m daring Jed to go talk to Hope.”
“About what?” Josie asked. Jed snickered and said,
“I’m gonna try a pick up line on her and see if it works.” Oh God.
“Do you even like her?” Josie asked.
“Of course not, she’s not really my type,” Jed said, “But Lizzie bets I won’t make it back with both my arms. I’d like to prove her wrong.”
“You two are ridiculous,” Josie said, flipping her notebook to the next page.
“I’m doing it,” Jed said, and Lizzie giggled. Josie held in a sigh. This wasn’t going to end well. She did her best to focus on the history of the Travelers, but her eyes kept wandering over to Jed. He was trying to look cool as he walked towards Hope, but he honestly looked like someone who was walking with two left shoes. Hope was in line, getting some eggs, and Jed tapped her shoulder. She turned to him, her face expressionless.
“What?” she asked.
“Hey girl,” he said, puffing out his chest. If Hope decided to drop her plate of eggs, and murder Jed right on the spot, Josie would have supported her.
“Again I ask, what?” was all she ended up doing.
“Are you eleven protons?” he asked, leaning against the counter. Dear God , “Because your so-dium fine.” Yep, Hope had her full support. Hope was quiet, and Jed was quiet. The only sound was Lizzie’s quiet laughter. Hope took a deep breath, then placed her eggs down on the counter. It was quiet for about one more second, then she was grabbing Jed’s hand, and pulling it back.
“You think you’re so funny, don’t you?” she asked. Jed was panicking now, and his face was getting red.
“Hey, hey,” he said, “It was just a joke, I’m sorry!”
“Really? I’m not laughing!” Hope exclaimed, pulling harder, and the minute Josie heard a crack, a loud,
“Hey!” echoed through the dining hall. Hope stopped what she was doing, and she let Jed go. The boy almost whimpered as he held his hand.
“You broke my wrist!” he exclaimed.
“It’ll heal,” Hope said, and he shook his head. He opened his mouth to defend himself, but he was stopped by the woman who saved him in the first place.
“Mr. Tien, why don’t you head to the infirmary,” Josie’s mother said, “I’ll have you excused from classes for the day.” Jed didn’t argue, and he left the room. Her mom turned to Hope, “Ms. Mikaelson, come see me in my office, please.” Hope rolled her eyes, but she went with her. She passed Josie’s table as she did, and they made quick eye contact, only for her to immediately look back down at her notes. Lizzie laughed and murmured,
“Sucks for you.” Hope obviously heard, and she snapped,
“Suck my di-”
“Enough!” Mom snapped, clearly in a bad mood, “Let’s go.” Hope left the dining hall, and Josie glared at her sister.
“You and Jed shouldn’t have done that,” she said.
“Whatever, it was funny,” Lizzie said. It really hadn’t been. She grabbed her bag and said, “I’m done eating, I’ll see you in class.”
“Bye,” Josie murmured. Kaleb excused himself too, and Josie was left alone at the table with her notes and her waffle. She was halfway through it when the chair next to her was pulled away from the table, and someone sat down.
“Oh hey, Raf,” she said when she saw who it was.
“What’s up, Jo?” he asked, putting his plate of eggs down.
“Just studying,” she said. He laughed,
“It’s our first day back.”
“I like getting a head start,” she said, “How was your break?”
“Landon and I went fishing by the lake.”
“Oh yeah,” Josie said, “He mentioned that to me last night.” Rafael smiled,
“How are you two?”
“Good,” Josie said, “We’re actually going on a date tonight. There’s an arcade in town.”
“That sounds cool, maybe I’ll check it out later.”
“Yeah, it should be fun,” Josie said. She and Landon had been going out together for the past six months. He was…nice.
“You and my baby brother,” Rafael said, “It still doesn’t feel real.” Josie had known Landon and Rafael since she was six years old. She’d met Landon in a Tunes for Tots class. He’d liked guitar, and she’d play the piano. They wrote little rhymes together, and they’d gotten close enough to the point where he’d invited her over and introduced her to his mother Seylah, his stepfather Walt, and Walt’s son Rafael.
Josie never told them she was a witch. Not until she was fifteen, and Rafael had turned into a wolf on the full moon. Rafael had transferred from Mystic Falls High to the Salvatore School, and Josie came clean. Landon was cooler about it than she thought, and he would still visit Raf occasionally, but their parents didn’t know. Through some research, Dad learned that Rafael’s birth mother had been a wolf, so there was no need to tell them.
“I know,” Josie said, taking a bite of waffle, “Who’d have thought?”
“Definitely not me,” Rafael said, unscrewing the cap to his water bottle. As he took a swig, Brutus, one of the wolves approached them.
“Yo, Raf,” he said, “Jed is out of commission, so you need to lead the workout during gym.”
“What happened to Jed?” he asked.
“Mikaelson,” Brutus grumbled, “She broke his wrist.” Rafael shook his head,
“I try not to jump to judgment, but that girl is definitely bad news,” he said as he gathered his stuff, “I gotta go, but I’ll see you at lunch?”
“Sure,” Josie said. After Rafael left, Josie realized she was running out of breakfast, and she needed to get going. She packed her notebook, and put her plate away. She was leaving the cafeteria when the door to her mom’s office opened. Her eyes locked with Hope’s again. She almost felt like the other girl was staring into her soul. She felt frozen in place as Hope watched her, and she didn’t feel like she could move again until Hope turned to the side and headed down the hall.
They did end up having a pop quiz in History of Magic, which Josie had aced, but Lizzie hadn’t, so she was currently in a bad mood while she ranted about Featherwood. Josie was at her mirror putting on lipgloss, and she said,
“I’m really surprised your system has worked for as long as it has.”
“Oh it still works,” Lizzie said, “Featherwood has a stick up her ass or something. I’m gonna come back from this, you’ll see.”
“Or you could actually do the reading,” Josie said as she put the cap back on her gloss.
“You’re cute,” Lizzie said, “Where are you and Frodo going?”
“Arcade,” Josie said, “And don’t call him Frodo, that’s mean.”
“I wouldn’t call him Frodo if he stopped taking hair styling tips from Elijah Wood.”
“Elijah Wood’s hair does not always look like that.”
“So you agree? He looks like Frodo.”
"I’m refusing to answer that,” Josie said, grabbing her coat from the hook, “We might be out late. Can you cover for me with mom and dad?”
“I suppose,” Lizzie said, looking rather bored. That was good enough for her, so she left the room. Landon was waiting inside in his new Jeep.
“I thought your dad said he was never going to let you drive this,” Josie said as she climbed into the passenger seat.
“He did, that’s why he doesn’t know,” Landon said.
“Wow, such a rebel,” Josie said, putting a hand to her chest in mock surprise. He just laughed and asked,
“Do you have the address?”
“Yeah, here,” Josie said, handing him a sheet of paper. He typed into the GPS and said,
“This is far.”
“I know,” Josie said, “Too much?”
“Nope,” he said, “But Jo, how much longer-”
“Today’s a really bad time,” Josie said, “Please just trust me?” He gave her a slow nod, and he started the car. Most of the ride was spent in silence, then a song they used to love as kids came on the radio. They wore twin grins, and Landon raised the volume, blasting Justin Timberlake’s Sexyback through the speakers.
“My mom would kill me if she found out I still listened to this song,” he said.
“Hey, blame my mom,” Josie said, “She was the one who kept playing it.”
“You know what? I will,” he said, “This song is always randomly stuck in my head…” he pulled into the lot and said, “So, I should get you…”
“I’ll find my own way back, but thanks. What about you?”
“I’ve got a whole campaign planned,” he said, which probably had something to do with D & D “Stay safe, alright?”
“You too,” Josie said. She jumped out of the jeep, and went inside the building. It was a small jazz club. Josie didn’t even know Virginia had jazz clubs.
“You made it,” a quiet voice said. Josie turned and saw her companion sitting at a booth by a wall, nursing what she’d thought was a cocktail, but as she got closer, she realized it was a Shirly Temple. One had been ordered for her as well.
“Of course I made it,” Josie said, sliding into the booth with her, “Have I ever stood you up?”
“No, but after this morning-”
“Jed and Lizzie can be jerks,” Josie said, “Don’t let them get to you.” The other girl looked at her feet, “Hope, I mean it. It’s fine.” Hope turned to her, giving her a soft smile as she ran her hand down Josie’s cheek. She then smirked and asked,
“New lipgloss?”
“It’s cherry,” Josie said, “Want a taste?”
“I do.” Hope kissed her, and Josie grinned as that same feeling overtook her. The same feeling from their first kiss months ago under a tree in the woods behind the school. She wasn’t sure what it was about Hope, but she definitely had a special way of making her blush, and making every kiss feel like it was their first one over and over again. They pulled apart, and Josie asked,
“Do you want to dance?”
“Not just yet,” Hope said, “This song is more upbeat, I want a slower one.” Josie learned early on that Hope preferred slow dances, and honestly, Josie couldn’t blame her. Their hands intertwining, and their bodies being pressed together while a mellow, yet intimate jazz song played in the background? It sounded like the perfect night.