Chapter 4
“You sure you’re up for school today?” Ric asked as they pulled into the parking lot.
“Yeah, might as well go.” She sighed, opening the car door and slinging her borrowed backpack over her shoulder.
“Alright. Well, if you need anything…” He trailed off, his eyes fixed on something in the distance.
“Uh, see you later, Hope.” He walked off quickly, obscured behind a few other parked cars. What the fuck was that? Another monster? Hope really had no choice but to follow him.
She crept along behind the cars, then peered around slowly when she got to the last one in the row. She found Ric not 5 feet away, in a conversation with the new sheriff. He looked absolutely terrified.
“Is everything alright here?” Hope asked protectively, marching over to the two adults.
“Everything’s fine, honey. We’re just talking.” Sheriff Mac reassured her with a smile. She looked to Ric for confirmation.
“We’re all good here, Hope. Get to class.” He told her, his face pinched awkwardly in… what was that, embarrassment? Weird. But he didn’t seem to be in any sort of trouble, so Hope acquiesced. She turned to move towards the school, when one of the windows in the back of the patrol car was rolled down.
“Hey, Hope!” The boy she had met the morning before called, resting his arm on the window and his chin on his elbow charmingly.
“Oh, fuck off, Ethan.” She saw Maya stroll around the squad car straight to Ethan’s window and shove him playfully back into the car by his forehead.
“Maya!” She greeted her with a smile, but her face quickly contorted into confusion. “Why are you two…” She trailed off, gesturing towards the cop car.
“Our mom’s the sheriff.” Ethan interjected.
“Our mom?” Hope repeated.
“He’s my brother.” Maya explained, linking her arm with Hope’s and dragging her towards the school.
“My brother that CAN’T HAVE YOU!” Maya called over her shoulder. Ethan just shook his head and chuckled playfully, but Hope was blushing furiously at the implications of that statement. Maya was just being a good friend, right? Who wants their friend to date their brother? That was all that this was about. But then…
“You look cute today.” Maya commented casually, her eyes raking up and down Hope’s body.
“Thanks.” The flustered tribrid responded. These are Josie’s clothes, she wanted to add, but she was determined to forget about Josie, and Maya didn’t even know her anyway.
Forget about Josie, she reminded herself once more. Move. On.
“You look cute too.” Hope blurted out, after an excessive pause. Maya just smirked to herself.
“You know, you should join the football team.” Maya mentioned, poking the redhead’s bicep with her opposite hand, her closer arm still intertwined with Hope’s. “I can tell you work out.”
“You guys need more players?” The tribrid asked.
“Nope. Just wanna spend more time with you.” Maya told her, as nonchalant as always. Hope felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. How could such simple words leave her completely speechless?
Hope didn’t play sports. Hope didn’t do social things. Hope was a lone wolf. No exceptions.
But for some godforsaken reason, she found herself nodding with a little too much enthusiasm, still unable to give any coherent verbal response.
“Great! First game’s today at Salvatore, 4 o’clock. I’ll talk to Coach for you.” Maya beamed, letting go of the tribrid’s arm and planting a quick kiss on her cheek.
“See you later!” She called out, making her way down the hall towards her class. Hope just stood there, frozen on the spot, a smile spreading across her face as she brought her hand up to her cheek. 4 o’clock couldn’t come fast enough.
*
“Hope? Are you okay?” She heard a soft voice in her ear, and felt a gentle hand cradle her cheek and turn her head. She locked eyes with Maya and was snapped out of her stupor.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” She muttered weakly.
She was not fine, far from it, in fact, because the moment she had stepped off the bus, she had locked eyes with Josie from across the Stallions’ football field. Josie, who didn’t know her, didn’t remember her, and was probably wondering why she was making such intense eye contact with a stranger. Josie, who had dropped her gaze and continued on like it was nothing.
It was the first time she’d seen the girl since the night she escaped Malivore, ready to profess her love, only to find her locking lips with her ex-boyfriend.
She really didn’t think this whole football thing through.
“Hope. Hope!” Maya was waving a hand in front of her face. “Sorry. You spaced out again. Are you sure everything’s alright?” She was suddenly very aware of the way Maya was cupping her face, brushing her thumbs soothingly across her cheeks. She could feel the other girl’s breath on her face and suddenly, she was panicking for a whole different reason.
“I’m fine!” She squeaked out, cringing at the embarrassing pitch of her voice.
“Okay.” Maya relented, eyeing her suspiciously. She wrapped an arm around Hope’s waist and walked her to the field, while Hope just tried her best to breathe normally and keep her face from turning the color of a tomato. They dropped off their bags quickly, and Maya dragged her by the hand to the coin toss.
“What? Why am I doing this?” Hope hissed at the other girl.
“You’re QB1.” Maya answered, simply.
“I’m what?” Hope exclaimed, eyes as wide as saucers.
“Yep. Ethan can’t risk blowing his knee on a pickup game, and you seem…” Maya interrupted herself to rake her eyes up and down Hope’s toned body. “…more than qualified.” Hope’s mouth dropped open in protest, but before she could get a word in, some wrinkly old British dude she was sure she’d never seen in her life was telling them to ‘call it in the air’.
Josie was staring Hope down, a bit more aggressively than was probably appropriate for some pickup match, but Hope chalked it up to the competitive streak that she knew the siphoner possessed, despite her attempts to suppress it.
Hope called tails, so, of course, the coin landed on heads. Timberwolves were receiving first.
The team quickly huddled up, all looking expectantly at Hope.
“What?” She asked dumbly, not quite sure why all eyes were on her.
“You’re QB1, you call the plays.” Maya reminded her. Hope chuckled nervously, racking her brain for some kind of football term.
“Uh, everybody go long?” She decided hesitantly.
“Works for me!” Maya announced, starting towards the end zone for Salvatore’s kick. She must have noticed Hope’s complete lack of movement, because she grabbed her by the wrist once again and dragged her with her.
“You’ve never played football before, have you?” Maya whispered, her breath ghosting the redhead’s ear. Hope couldn’t contain the shiver that ran down her spine.
“Oh, uh, um…yeah, no. Never.” She stuttered out, nervously. Maya quickly brushed her hand over Hope’s back, hoping to reassure her a bit.
“Don’t worry. You’ll do great.” Maya was looking at her with a bright, sincere smile, and Hope couldn’t help but give a small one back.
“Okay, I got this.” She mumbled to herself, under her breath. “Let’s do this!” Hope shouted to her team, clapping her hands together once. You know what they say, fake it ‘till you make it. Hope imitated the stance that all of her teammates had adopted, then shifted her eyes towards the Stallions, who were positioned similarly. Her gaze drifted to Josie, who was, once again, glaring at her. What was her deal?
Whatever. The game was starting. She didn’t know Josie, Josie didn’t know her. They were nothing but strangers playing football. It was fine. This was fine.
*
Who the hell was this girl?
She had never seen her before, and she’d been on the Salvatore football team since the minute she was old enough to play.
Whatever. She didn’t know, and she didn’t care. Except for the fact that her boyfriend was unabashedly staring at her, his eyes following her every move.
“Landon!” She hissed, snapping her fingers sharply in front of his face.
“Wha-?” He mumbled, turning to Josie with a dreamy look lingering in his eyes.
“Who the fuck is she?” She spat in a whispered tone, trying her best to avoid making a scene.
“Dunno, I don’t know her.” Landon mumbled, looking like a chastised toddler.
“Good, and you never will, so stop looking at her like she’s your long-lost lover and focus on me. Your girlfriend.” Josie’s blood was boiling at this point, and it was everything she could do not to Ignalusa them both into oblivion on the spot. They deserve each other. They can rot in hell together for all she cares.
So, when MG blasted the ball to the Timberwolves’ end of the field and straight into that girl’s arms, she saw her opportunity and she took it.
She took off in a dead sprint towards the girl, and watched as she launched the ball to one of her teammates. Josie didn’t even break stride, because frankly, she didn’t care if the girl had possession or not. She was going to pummel her into the ground, consequences be damned.
She hit the auburn-haired girl hard, taking them both down to the ground on impact. She glanced down at the girl beneath her, ready to throw out some random threat or maybe just sink a fist into her face, but she froze at the sight of the already-exhausted girl flushed and panting below her, clutching at her waist to steady her.
She felt a wave of heat wash over her body- that’s what anger does, right? It sets a flame in the pit of your stomach, it takes your breath away, makes it so you simply can’t look away.
Josie must be really angry, then.
“Fuck, Jo.” She snapped out of her trance and followed the other girl’s eyes to her own hands; Her hands that had somehow landed directly on the girl’s chest. Oh god, that’s really awkward. She quickly grabbed onto the girl’s black and red jersey, yanking her closer in what she hoped was a very threatening manner, in an attempt to play off her poor hand placement.
“How the hell do you know my name?” Josie hissed at the girl below her, fists still twisted into her jersey, her face mere inches from the other girl’s. The girl’s eyes widened in panic, her mouth falling open wordlessly, then closing once again.
“Your friend, he said it a minute ago.” She squeaked, gesturing towards Landon.
“He’s not my friend, he’s my boyfriend. So stay the hell away from him.” Josie growled at her, releasing her shirt and shoving her back to the ground with a single hand. She attempted to climb off of her while the auburn-haired girl shifted underneath her, clearly trying to remove herself from the situation as well, but she only succeeded in bumping her knee between Josie’s legs, making her gasp involuntarily. The brunette jumped up as quickly as she could and stormed away, trying with every ounce of willpower she had to ignore the persistent throb between her legs. That stupid clumsy bitch.
The play was long over and her teammates were all lined up once again, ready to resume the game.
You know what? Screw the game.
She marched directly over to Landon, grabbing him roughly by the hair and dragging him in for a kiss, shoving her tongue unceremoniously into his mouth. That’ll show her. Landon is hers.
After a moment, she shoves Landon away, scanning the field to find the other girl. But apparently, she hadn’t even noticed, she was too busy talking to some random raven-haired girl. They were standing WAY too close together, and apparently the dark-haired girl just couldn’t keep her hands to herself, because she was all over the auburnette: Fixing her hair, grazing her shoulder, cupping her face. It was disgusting. They might as well just be ripping each others’ clothes off in the middle of the field, with the way they were acting. Like, come on, have some decency! Football is not the time for PDA.
When the two of them finally decided they were done eye-fucking each other, the play started again, and the still-fuming brunette was itching to take someone down.
Luckily for Josie, the dark-haired girl received the ball and decided to try to run it down the sideline, straight into her line of defense. The brunette ran alongside the girl for a moment, not even attempting to pull a flag. She simply pretended to reach for the ball and thrust an elbow right into the girl’s nose. The girl crumpled to the ground, clutching her face, blood already coating her hands. Good.
“Josette!” A sharp voice called from behind her. Vardemus.
She jogged over confidently, expecting to be thrown out of the game at the very least. Not that she cared, that was totally worth it. Instead…
“You have got to learn to be more subtle! You’re a witch for heaven’s sakes!” Her headmaster chided her. “Here.” He thrust a slip of paper into her hands. “Use this next time. It will have the same effect, but you may be able to avoid some…responsibility, if you know what I mean.” There was a devious twinkle in his eye. Josie nodded determinedly, repeating the incantation to herself as she walked back onto the field.
As she resumed her position, she saw the auburn-haired girl jog back onto the field, blood spotting her jersey. Great, she must have been helping her stupid fucking girlfriend deal with her nose.
A tall, athletic-looking guy followed her onto the field, presumably the injured girl’s replacement. Good, at least she wouldn’t have to be subjected to any more… oh my god, was he checking her out too? Why was everyone obsessed with this bitch?
And why was her entire team looking at her like she was crazy? What did she do?
“Jo, are you okay?” Lizzie whispered subtly as she pulled her into a hug.
“What are you talking about?” Josie snapped back.
“You just made…like…an angry pterodactyl noise for no reason.” Lizzie explained cautiously, her eyebrows furrowed in concern and confusion.
“Get off me, I’m fine.” She gave her sister a shove in the other direction, and turned her attention to the game. The whistle blew, and before she knew it, the annoying replacement was clearing every defender in his path, arm raised to throw the ball straight to one of his teammates in the end zone. Without a moment’s hesitation, Josie whispered Vardemus’ incantation, and in an instant, the boy’s arm snapped and he crumpled to the ground, screaming in pain.
Holy shit.
“What have I done?” She mumbled under her breath. Her legs felt like jelly and her knees collapsed beneath her, leaving her sobbing in the grass. She felt a pair of arms wrap around her, shushing her gently in an attempt to calm her down.
She couldn’t.
She didn’t even know who she was anymore. She had tackled a girl to the ground and threatened her for something she hadn’t even done, elbowed another in the face for reasons she still couldn’t really articulate, then broken another boy’s arm without a moment’s hesitation.
And she had enjoyed every second of it.
“Lizzie…” She looked up at her sister, still hiccuping and choking down sobs. “What’s happening to me?”
*
“Hope?” She heard a small voice in front of her ask.
“Maya.” She whispered, standing quickly to meet the girl.
“What are you doing here?” The dark-haired girl asked in a voice that could only be described as... broken.
“I-I wanted to come check on you after the game. You and Ethan.” She added as an afterthought, cupping Maya’s face and gently wiping her tears away.
“He worked so hard for that scholarship.” Maya choked out. “And now it’s over.”
“Oh, come here.” Hope whispered, pulling the other girl in for a hug, rubbing her back soothingly. It made her heart hurt to see her friend, who she had always known to be so confident and well put together, so utterly distraught.
“He has to get s-surgery. He-he’s gonna be here all night, maybe even t-tomorrow night too.” Her words were broken by hiccups and sobs, and she leaned further into Hope, letting the girl hold her tighter.
“Do you want me to stay here with you?” Hope offered, pulling her head back slightly so she could see the other girl’s face.
“I really can’t ask you to do that, Hope. Hell, I don’t even want to be stuck in the hospital for two days straight.” She said with a small smile.
“Come stay with me, then. You shouldn’t have to be alone right now.” Hope assured her.
“Thank you.” Maya whispered.
“Come on, we’ll have to walk. It’s not far, though, I promise.” She said, finally pulling away from their embrace. “I’m gonna call home just to make sure it’s okay. I’m sure it’ll be fine, though.” Hope added, pulling out her phone.
“Hey! Uh, is it okay if Maya stays over tonight? Ethan’s still in the hospital.” She explained.
“Yeah, that’s fine. I’m still doing, uh…damage control with my girls, so I won’t be back until later.” Ric replied. “Do you girls need anything?”
“Nope, I think we’re all good. Thanks.”
“Okay, well, I guess I’ll be there when you wake up. Goodnight, Hope.”
“Goodnight.” She hung up, then turned to Maya. “He’s fine with it.”
“Perfect.” Maya gave her a small smile, which Hope easily reciprocated. They walked the rest of the way in comfortable silence, both choosing not to comment when they laced their fingers together, swinging their joined hands slightly in time with their strides.
“This one’s mine.” She gestured to the house, voice barely above a whisper. Hope guided them through the front door, slipping off her shoes while Maya did the same.
“Are you hungry? I could make something really quick, or we could order in.” Hope offered.
“I’m kind of in an ice cream mood. You have any?”
*
It was already late when they had gotten home, so after the two of them devoured a pint of ice cream each, they took turns taking quick showers, then retired to Hope’s bed.
Hope had lent Maya some of her clothes, which were technically Josie’s clothes, and didn’t fail to see the irony in it.
But seeing the other girl in a big, baggy sweatshirt with sleeves that stretched far past her hands and nearly reached her knees admittedly made her heart flutter a bit, and she decided that there were definitely worse things in the world than settling for Maya.
“How are you feeling?” She whispered. The girl had curled into her side, resting her head on the auburn-haired girl’s shoulder. Hope had wrapped an arm around her and interlaced their fingers once again, their hands resting on Maya’s chest.
“Better. Thanks to you.” Maya raised her head and smiled at her. Hope just beamed back, gazing at the girl beside her with pure adoration. The dark-haired girl laid her head down once again, nuzzling into Hope’s shoulder.
“I didn’t know Principal Saltzman was your dad.” Maya commented, using their joined hands to gesture in the direction of one of Josie’s picture frames. “I get it, I don’t particularly love telling people my mom’s the sheriff, either.”
“Oh, he’s, uh… he’s actually not my dad. I’m just staying with him for now.” Hope admitted. “My dad died when I was 15. My mom, too.”
“I’m really sorry.” Maya whispered back, her thumb starting to move over the back of Hope’s hand soothingly. “What happened? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, of course.”
She had never really had to explain this before. Everyone in the supernatural world knew what had happened before she even had the chance to tell them. Not that she would’ve wanted to, anyway. She couldn’t think of anything more painful than recounting all the gory details of her parents’ deaths.
But somehow, cuddled into bed with Maya, Hope felt so at peace with everything that she just started talking.
“My mom and I were kidnapped. My ex-boyfriend’s mom kind of brainwashed him into helping her do it. They tortured me until I was unconscious and my mom knew I was about to die. So she…” Hope paused, due in equal parts to the lump forming in her throat and her inability to tell Maya about her mother’s true cause of death without outing her as a supernatural. “She killed my ex’s mom, but she…she died in the process.” Hope felt hot tears begin to flood down her face. “Once his mom died, my ex-boyfriend gave it up, and they found me in their house. When I woke up, they told me my mom was…was dead.” Hope’s breathing was starting to become uneven, so she paused to take a few deep breaths before continuing.
“She saved my life.” Hope whispered, mostly to herself, as she curled further into Maya for comfort. The all-too-familiar feelings of guilt gnawing away at her stomach.
“My dad, he…” She trailed off, not quite as sure how to twist this one into a vaguely normal story. “I got him sick. My uncle too. I don’t really know how it happened. I recovered, but both of them just…didn’t make it.” Hope choked out.
And it was all my fault. She thought to herself, causing a small sob to escape her. Hope took another deep, shaky breath, and fixed her eyes on the ceiling.
“My family was pretty well-known. Not for… good things…so my parents sent me to a boarding school under my mom’s last name. They wanted to give me a chance to get away from their reputation and build my own life. Everyone found out when they died, though. Nobody wanted anything to do with me anymore, and I didn’t have the energy to care. I lost everyone.”
At that last sentence, Hope broke. Her parents’ deaths would always hurt, but after the past few years, the wounds weren’t so fresh. But losing everyone…that just hit a bit too close to home.
Hope let Maya hold her as she cried…and cried…and cried, until her breathing finally quieted and she just couldn’t cry any more.
“I’m sorry.” Hope whispered. “I didn’t mean to-“
“Hope.” Maya cut her off, gently but firmly. “Don’t apologize. Trust me, I know how much you need that, sometimes.” Maya’s face dropped, as did her voice. “Um, my dad actually died when I was 15, too.”
“How?” Hope asked, softly. “You don’t have to…” She started, sensing the girl’s hesitation.
“No, it’s okay.” Maya assured her. “Um, my mom… she wasn’t always a sheriff. She was actually a high school teacher for most of my life.” The dark-haired girl began, pausing for a moment.
“My dad was an alcoholic. But he was actually a nice guy most of the time. We used to go on all of these trips together. And he was a really good cook. He taught me everything I know about baking. He got Ethan and I into football, too. We used to play in the yard all the time…” She trailed off, and her eyes started to look glazed over. Empty, even.
“Part of me wishes I could just forget about all of that. It would be so much easier to get over him dying if I could just forget all the good things and remember him as the monster he was.”
Yeah, Hope knew all about that feeling.
“But this other little part of me just makes me hold on. Hold on to the idea of him as my perfect father, and blame everything else on the alcohol.” Maya paused again and shifted closer to Hope, if that was even possible. An inch more, and the girl would be on top of her.
“He used to go crazy when he was drunk. He’d scream at us for nothing, hit us whenever he was angry. He even tried to strangle me when he found out I liked girls.” Silent tears rolled down her cheeks, her voice breaking ever so slightly.
“Then, this one night, he came home late…and he walked into the living room, um…pointing a gun at us, screaming all this…this random stuff. And um…Ethan, he went for the phone, to try to call 911. Dad shot at him. He missed, thank god, but my mom started, um…started trying to take it from him.” Maya started to cry harder, her ragged breathing making her nearly incoherent.
“S-she didn’t mean to do it. She was j-just trying to protect Ethan.” The dark-haired girl bawled into her shoulder, and Hope turned to face her, wrapping a protective arm around her waist and stroking her hair gently.
“My mom said she never wanted to feel that helpless again.” Maya continued, once she had calmed down a bit. “She quit her teaching job and started at the police academy. After she graduated, she was offered Sheriff Donovan’s job when he became mayor. So we moved here.”
“I’m really sorry, Maya.”
“It’s okay. I’ve done a lot of therapy since then to work through all the trauma from him getting shot and the thing about liking girls and everything.” Maya said. “I think that fucked me up more than anything. Even his death. I refused to tell anyone else for, like, a year. I was so scared they’d all hate me, like he did.” She confessed.
“You know, you’re the only person I’ve ever told.” Hope admitted.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow.”
The girls lay in silence, both still a bit lost in their own heads.
“Hope?” Maya whispered after a moment.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you. I don’t know how I would’ve gotten through tonight without you.” She nuzzled into Hope once again, her breath ghosting over the auburnette’s neck.
“Goodnight, Hope.”
“Goodnight.”