Chapter 2
The next time Josie saw Hope wearing glasses, they weren’t in the privacy of Hope’s room, but in the library.
Both Hope and Josie decided to study for their finals there for easy access to the books they needed to study.
Hope went to the library first, as the brunette was held off because of some issues within the Witch faction. As their representative, she needed to talk to her father, the headmaster, to raise the issues.
She was in a hurry to the library as she was running an hour late already. When she reached the entrance of the room, she looked all over the place to find her friend. At the furthest table, she noticed the auburn-haired girl, all alone, writing something in her notebook.
The brunette smiled at the sight of her friend. With all the constant monster fighting, studying together became the normal activity they both enjoy to do.
As she was about to come over, she noticed something different from Hope.
Hope was wearing her eyeglasses again, but this time, her hair was down.
She stopped walking, her heart stopped beating once again, and she forgot how to breathe. She thought, by this time, she would already be accustomed to seeing Hope with spectacles.
But nope.
It still surprised her. It caught her off guard.
It wasn’t just the eyeglasses. Hope, having her hair down, the impact of that look was twice more powerful than the last time Josie saw her with glasses.
She was beautiful.
More beautiful than ever before.
A Goddess. And all of the students, including her, were just mere mortals compared to her beauty.
Josie was so entranced by Hope’s beauty, she didn't notice the table in front of her.
“Aww.” She painfully expressed as she collided with the table, which resulted in her books falling to the floor and her crunching down in shame. All of the students in the library looked at her weirdly. She embarrassed herself, once again, for being too distracted looking at Hope.
As she tried to gather her books, someone went near her and helped her. She looked at that person, and she was welcomed with blue ocean eyes behind pretty framed eyeglasses looking at her. “Do you need some help?”
Josie was speechless once again. Hope was too close to her, “I, uuhh...” Panicky, she moved slightly away from the tribrid, which caused her to hit her head at the side of the table. “Ouch,” Josie’s head was in pain.
Of course, this would happen to her.
Hope tried her best not to chuckle at her friend for being clumsy, “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Josie sighed as she held her head where the pain was coming from.
"Let me," Hope reached out to Josie’s hands and removed them from her head. She replaced them with her own and muttered a spell, it was a healing spell. The pain Josie felt in her head was then gone. “Thanks.”
Hope grins at her, “Your welcome.”
The tribrid continued to help Josie with her stuff, and afterward, both of them went to their table.
“So, what class are we studying today?” Hope was looking at the brunette expectantly. Josie, on the other hand, looks straight at her books, trying not to be distracted with how attractive her friend is in front of her, “We could study about Lycanthropy today, I’m still having a hard time understanding a lot of its lore.”
Noticing how strange the brunette was behaving, Hope furrowed her brows in concern. But she let it go, “Okay.”
After a few hours of studying, they were on break.
“You seemed distant today.”
“Huh?” This made Josie look at Hope.
Brown meets blue. Josie immediately looked away from her friend. This action made Hope confused.
Hope slowly asks the brunette, while she tries to read Josie’s expressions, “Did I...do something to you?”
Josie forced a laugh, “What are you talking about, Hope?”
“You barely look at me, Jo.” Hope expressed.
This made Josie flinch, “Josie, Is something wrong?”
Josie closed her eyes, tried to collect herself, and hopefully be able to talk properly at her pretty friend.
She looked straight at Hope, with confidence, and smiled, “Nothing’s wrong.”
Hope tilted her head to the side, still observing Josie’s face, reading her, “You’re lying.” Josie curses internally, she hates the fact that Hope knows her too well.
The brunette sighed, decided to be honest with her feelings, and said, “It’s your glasses, Hope.”
“Huh? What about it?”
“You’re wearing it in public.” She inferred.
Hope smugly answered, “You said I looked pretty with my glasses on, so I wore it.” This made Josie blushed. Hope actually wore her eyeglasses publicly, just because she complimented her a few weeks ago.
“You’re not worried what other people would say?”
The tribrid just shrugged, “I really don’t care what others would say. It’s not like I tried to hide this from the world.”
Josie looked at her in awe, amazed by her confidence. “You looked beautiful,” she carelessly said. This made the tribrid stutter, “Wha- what?”
Realizing she just called her friend beautiful, Josie tries to explain, “Beautiful, I mean, well, you are already pretty. And your eyeglass is pretty. I said that before, but it's true. Your eyeglass is pretty, so are you. It made you look more beautiful.”
Hope was shocked by this. It made her blush so hard.
All her life, she’s used to being complimented by other people, but she can’t help but feel things when it’s the brunette who compliments her.
Josie wasn’t done blabbing, though. “Now with your hair down, it made you even more and more beautiful. Is that even possible? I mean, you are already beautiful, but with glasses on and hair down, you’re one hell of a distraction.” She clasped her mouth immediately. Eyes wide and a shock on her face, she literally exposed herself to her friend how much she’s attracted to her.
“Oh,” Hope clears her throat, tries to shake off the awkward atmosphere between them, “thanks.”
Josie, so ashamed, she looked around, trying to find something to help her escape. She then saw the grandfather’s clock on the side of the library, “Oh, look at the time,” She loudly expressed, ”I still need to help Lizzie with her assignments.”
The Gemini twin gathered all of her belongings so fast, Hope wasn’t able to react, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Hope.”
Then she’s gone, leaving Hope dumbfounded.