Josie
Josie made her way out of school. She was not looking forward to the next three hours. She had been hired, by CEO Niklaus Mikaelson, to be an English tutor for his daughter Hope. Niklaus Mikaelson had called her two days ago asking if she could help his daughter with her English papers. Josie wanted to tell Mr. Mikaelson that she could not be a tutor for his daughter but when he told her how much he would pay her she could not refuse.
The Mikaelson family was well known for the company they had. Mikealson hotels were all over the world, they were known for being extremely luxurious. Mikaelson hotels were the hotels that actors used, hospitals used for their events. Along with other successful branches, the Mikaelsons had enough money to live comfortably for the next four centuries.
Josie knew she could not judge the family based on that but she knew that her best friend Lizzie wasn't a big fan of the family. Josie always paid attention to the stories that Lizzie told her about Hope Mikaelson, the girl had a reputation for being a queen of broken hearts. From what Lizzie told her and Josie read in the local magazine and news Hope really didn't have a preference when a came to dating.
Josie thanked the taxi driver. She took out money to pay him but the man told her that the ride had already been covered. Josie deciding she did not have time to figure out how that happened ran into the mansion. She made her way to the front door and knocked.
"Hi," Josie was greeted at the door by a blonde woman. "what can I do for you today hun?"
"My name is Josie Forbes," Josie told the woman. "I was hired by Niklaus Mikaelson as a tutor for his daughter."
"Right, Klaus mentioned you last night at dinner. I'm Rebekah Mikaelson, nice to meet you." Josie smiled at the woman who she now knew was Rebekah. Josie entered the mansion, she listened carefully as Rebekah told her how to get to the study room.
As Josie made her way to the study room she took in the mansion. She had never been in such a huge house. The study room was located upstairs. As made her way upstairs Josie looked at the photos mounted on the wall. Upstairs, it took Josie opening three wrong doors for her to make her way into the correct room. Josie was not surprised at how big the study was. Josie was sure the study was bigger than her apartment.
She placed her bag on the table that was in the center of the room. Josie wanted nothing more than to go explore the bookshelves and see what books they had, but she knew it wasn't her home, she could not be fired on her first day for being nosy. Not seeing anyone in the room Josie decided to start on some of her homework until Hope came.
"Hope's running late." Josie looked up to see the blonde. "Can I get you a snack or anything to drink?"
"Water if that's not a bother." Josie was starving but she did not want to impose. She could eat at night when she got home. She continued working. When Rebekah did bring her the glass of water she thanked her.
Josie waited two hours until Hope Mikealson showed up. Josie wanted nothing more than to yell at auburn-haired girl about responsibility but she knew wasn't her place. Josie introduced herself. She was relieved that the girl was at least respectful towards her. Josie could not help but think that the magazine pictures did not do the girl justice. Hope Mikaelson was beautiful, Josie would be a fool not to recognize that.
"Look in my defense I told my father this was a bad idea." Hope defended herself. She had told him that she was too busy to get a tutor. "I have a paper due this Friday, I only have a paragraph written."
Josie assures Hope that was okay. She asked Hope to let her see the paragraph along with the prompt for the essay. Josie looked over the prompt then over what Hope had written. Josie recognized that there was potential in the paragraph but it needed work. Josie wrote on the paper a bit.
The silence was interrupted by the sound of Josie's alarm. Josie turn off her alarm and stood up.
"Where are you going?" Hope whined. "If you don't help me with this paper I will fail and not be allowed to play in Saturday's game."
"Your father only hired me for three hours," Josie informed the upset Mikaelson. Josie was offended when Hope offered to give her more money. "I appreciate the offer Miss Mikaelson, but I have another job to get to. Your father hired me to help you once a week for three hours. You wasted two and half of those hours god knows doing what. I will help you, this once on my own time, but it can't be today. Your paragraph isn't bad. You have a strong view of what you are arguing for. My advice, use that paragraph as your introduction but don't forget to add your thesis. Also, don't forget since it's about arguing for what you believe is right explain why the people against you might be right. On your paper, you will find my phone number and email. Send me an outline tonight and I'll get back to you tomorrow afternoon."
Josie could tell by the dumbfounded look on the girl's face that she has not heard the word no much in her life. Josie would have stayed but if she was late one more time to her second job she was sure her boss would fire her.
Josie made her way out of the mansion. She let Rebekah know that she was leaving and left the mansion. Josie was grateful that when she told Penelope, her roommate, about the job in the Mikaelson mansion she agreed to get her a taxi back to the bar.
When the taxi came to its stop Josie rushed out and ran into the bar. Josie would be handling the night portion of the bar/restaurant. Mystic Rainbow was known for being the best restaurant from 9 in the morning to 6 in the afternoon, and the best bar from 6 in the afternoon to 3 in the morning.
"I will see you at home." Penelope told Josie. "They have already begun setting up for the night. You just need to tell the girls their position."
"Get them to bed early please." Josie begged Penelope. She was not in the mood to be the bad guy for the night.
"No promises." Josie let out a sigh when she heard Penelope's words. She knew very well the Penelope was responsible but sometimes she let her inner child get the best of her and on those days Josie hated having to be the mature one.
Josie talked to her team and let them know where they would be. When Josie worked she had one rule for herself. Always stay behind the bar. She was safe there from the men with curious hands, it was also a rule Penelope put to agree to let her work.
Josie was thankful she made it through her shift peacefully. The only incident that night was one of her newer team members accidentally dropped an order of wing on a customer. Josie being the night leader had to step in apologize to the man and gave him a new order of wings with the rest of his beer on the house for the night. When three in the morning rolled around the girls left together.
The six girls, three cooking, and two security had a system. Those that could drive did and gave a ride to those that needed. The security guards lived across the street so they kept each other company. The two that would walk home were Josie and her friend Maya who lived next door to her. To make sure everyone made it into their place alive they would text the group chat. If one forgot and did not check in the following day they would send someone to check in on them.
"You turn to text the group chat." Josie reminded Maya as they went their separate ways into their own apartment.
"Text just sent." Maya informed her. They exchanged a final goodbye and each girl went into their apartment.
Josie was not sure if she should be excited or disappointed when she heard the television. Josie made her way farther into the living room of her small apartment. Josie smiled when her eyes landed on a sleeping Penelope and a sleeping child. The girls had knocked out. Josie placed her bag on the coat hanger. She went over to Penelope, careful not to wake Penelope or the child. Josie gently picked up her daughter and walked over to the bedroom. She placed her daughter next to her sleeping brother. Josie made her way back to the living room and covered Penelope, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.
Josie made her way back to the room and laid on the bed. Usually, her, Penelope, and the kids would all sleep on the bed but Josie knew better than to wake up an exhausted Penelope. Josie could never truly thank Penelope for all the help she had given her in the past. Josie had been in and out of foster homes her whole life. When she found out she was pregnant Josie knew she could never go back into the system.
When the twins were born Josie's world completely changed. She went from believing she needed no one in her life to believing that family will always be the most important thing in the world. She knew she could lose anything but her kids. Elliot, her daughter, and Emerson, her son, were the light of her world they were the reason Josie stopped limiting herself to the life she settled for. They were the reason why Josie was working so hard on graduating and going to college.
Seven in the morning came quicker than Josie would have liked. She was grateful that in the mornings she did not wake up by an annoying alarm clock, Penelope would wake her up. After showering and changing into some fresh clothes Josie made her way out of the bedroom to the living room. She thanked Penelope for the oatmeal and coffee she made.
"I have bad news." Josie looked at Penelope. What else could go wrong her already messed up life. "Daycare wants to have a parent-teacher conference. They didn't tell me much. The only thing they mentioned was your volunteer hours."
Josie let Penelope know she would take care of it. She would of course add it to the list of long things she needed to do. Since it was her day off she knew she could go to her kids' daycare and figure out what she could do. The twins were in a private daycare and the only reason for that was that Penelope managed to pull in a favor and the terms they put for letting the kids in was that Josie would have to volunteer in at least one of the events. For the year that her kids had been in that daycare, Josie had not gone to one event.
School went by pretty quick for Josie. During her lunch break, Josie used the school computers to look over the paper that Hope had send her. Josie was surprised that Hope actually sent her the paper she thought the girl would just throw in the towel. The paper was decent, she could tell that Hope rushed it based on the spelling errors of simple words. Josie sent Hope back an email telling her to fix the spelling errors, cut her run-on sentences, and to change her third and fourth paragraph to make the argument stronger while at the same time having the essay flow better.
After school, Josie asked MG for a ride and was thankful that the boy had a forty-minute break between his last class and the start of flag football practice. Josie and MG had been in the same school since elementary school. MG was the reason Josie met Lizzie during her freshman year. Josie went with MG to one of his games at the Salvatore School, Lizzie thought they were dating but Josie made it clear her and MG were just friends. After that night Josie's and Lizzie's friendship began and the relationship that MG and Lizzie now had as well.
Josie thanked MG for the ride and the food that he bought her. Josie went inside the building and made her way to the classroom where her kids were. Josie tried to pick up Elliot and Emerson as much as she could but sometimes her responsibilities made it impossible. It was usually Penelope who picked them up considering that daycare closed at eight in the night. Josie walked into the class, she was greeted by the teacher.
"Miss O'Connell," Josie said when she saw the blonde. "Penelope told me that you wanted to talk with me."
"Yes, you're actually right on time." Miss O'Connell informed her. "This is Keelin Malraux her son Henry goes her. She is in charge of the fundraising event going on. She needs a partner to help her plan this event."
Miss O'Connell left them alone. Josie smiled and looked over at the curly-haired, older woman. She properly introduced herself and both women pointed out which kid was theirs.
"My wife's family is actually one of the donors for this school. I talked it over with my wife we thought it would be a good idea to rent out a restaurant and use the money we make that night for the daycare." Josie was surprised that Keelin had already planned most of the event. "We just need to find a restaurant."
"I think I might know one," Josie answered. "However, if you don't mind Mrs. Malraux. I do have to run some errand could we possibly exchange numbers and I will give you a call tonight if I have an answer from the restaurant owner."
Josie and Keelin said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Josie signed her kids out and put them in the stroller. Emerson had fallen asleep, and her daughter was set on staying out of the stroller and walking. Josie did not want to have her daughter throw tantrum so she decided to let her walk until she tired out. Josie was going to be making dinner for her and Penelope tonight considering they had some free time together tonight. It was rare when they were both home and awake at the same time. They usually ran on very opposite sleep schedules and days off.