Pages from my heart

Chapter 1

Hope and Josie have been best friends since they were five years old. It was an unlikely friendship to say the least. They met on the playground when Josie went flying off her swing and a group of boys started laughing at her. Little Hope heard the commotion and ran over to see what was happening, only to find a crying and bleeding Josie Saltzman. Jed was the leader of the group of laughing boys. The one boy that drove a tiny Hope Mikaelson insane with rage.

Hope puffs her chest up and pushes her way through the group of boys to get to Josie, making sure to land an elbow to Jed's ribs on her way.

"Leave her alone!" Hope yelled more pointedly at Jed.

Once the boys moved away, knowing not to mess with Hope, she turned her attention to Josie who was still on the ground in pain.

"Hey, are you okay?" Hope asked, looking at Josie's leg.
"I slipped off the swing and cut my leg. It really hurts." Josie explained with tears in her eyes.
"Here. Let me go get a teacher. I'll be real fast." Hope says as she wraps her sweatshirt around Josie's cut.

Hope takes off running in the direction of the nearest teacher to explain what happened. She's back in less than a minute, breathing heavily, while a teacher follows slowly behind her.

"Miss Saltzman, what happened to your leg?" The teacher asked.
"I was swingin' and I slipped off. The wood chips cut my leg." Josie explained with a sniffle.
"Ahh and I see Miss Mikaelson has come to the rescue." The teacher said with a smile, looking at Hope.
"That stupid Jed boy was laughing at her Mrs. Johnson." Hope mumbled.
"Hope Mikaelson, we do not call others stupid, and you know that." Mrs. Johnson corrected.
"Well he is..." Hope mumbled.
"Mrs. Johnson, is my leg broken?" Josie cuts in.
"I don't think so Josie. But just in case, Hope, how about you help me get Josie to the nurse's office." Mrs. Johnson said.
"No, I don't want her to miss out on recess." Josie panicked.
"Nah, that's okay Josie , I'll come with." Hope said with a smile.

Neither of them could have predicted that that one instance would have made them best friends, let alone friends that would last until high school. Hope had gone to the nurse's office with Josie and insisted she stay by her side until she felt better. Josie hadn't broken anything, she just needed to have her leg cleaned up and bandaged and she was good to go on with her day.

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Since that day, Hope has gotten into her fair share of trouble with her temper being as short as it is. Josie is always there to calm her down and never on the receiving end of said temper. Because of Josie, Hope has avoided being suspended on multiple occasions, she's even kept her calm during her soccer games.

Hope was there for Josie when her parents went through a divorce. Josie's father had been caught having an affair with his secretary from work. He had left pretty quickly after he'd been caught, resulting in Hope spending a lot of time at Josie's to make sure she was okay.

Josie's mother Caroline was more then open for Hope to spend as much time as she wanted with Josie and Lizzie. So when Hope came out, Caroline had been there for her to support her. Hope, having bounced around foster homes, hadn't had much of a home life to come out to, so she came out to the Saltzman family. Josie's twin sister Lizzie had been the most excited about it.

Josie hadn't had much to say about the news, just telling Hope that she loved her no matter what and that she would always be there for her. Not yet ready to tell Hope that she was also gay. Not ready to tell anyone that she was gay.

While in high school, their friend group had grown. Their small little group had grown to include MG, Lizzie,Penelope, Kaleb, Landon, Rafael, and Jade. Penelope and Hope had become extremely close. So much so that Hope was often staying at Penelope's house instead of being at her foster home. Josie found herself slightly jealous of the fact that Hope was giving her time to someone that wasn't her. It was irrational, she knew that, but she couldn't control it.