I Hate That I Love You

Chapter 12

Not sure if anyone's going to be reading this since it's literally been two months since I posted a new chapter but here you go anyway; Sorry I haven't been able to update frequently, I know my updating patterns are really stupid :( 

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"Welcome to the Salvatore School. I'm Lizzie."

"And I'm Josie. We're twins."

"Fraternal. Obviously," Lizzie said as practiced.

Josie and Lizzie began guiding the Mystic Falls students throughout a tour of the school.

"This is the library."

"This is the gymnasium.

"This is the cafeteria."

All in all, it was a very boring tour, but the Mystic Falls kids seemed fascinated, nonetheless. Even if they tried with all their might to hide it.

"You're welcome to share all the facilities with us, of course," Josie smiled. "Except for the East Wing, that is. I'm sure the headmaster- our dad, already told you about the renovation situation we've got going on there?"

Most of the students nodded, but a couple of the rude ones pretended not to have heard Josie's words.

"Hey! My sister's talking to you!" Lizzie snapped at a burly boy in his junior year.

"Whatever," the boy rolled his eyes.

It took all of Lizzie's willpower not to light his stupid Mystic Falls Timberwolves hoodie on fire.

"We usually hold tryouts for our football team every semester- the upcoming one is exactly a week from today, if any of you are interested in joining," Josie said.

Lizzie glanced at the back of the crowd, where Ethan Machado was avoiding her gaze. It was obvious that their breakup had been messier than Lizzie had planned it on being, and after seeing Hope move on from her so easily, Lizzie was filled with regret at having broken up with Mystic Falls's star quarterback.

"Lizzie here is our star quarterback, actually," Josie said.

Lizzie whipped her head around and stared at her sister. Sometimes, it really seemed that the whole 'twin telepathy' thing existed.

"So I'm sure if you have any questions about tryouts, you can just come to her-"

"Hey, Jo-Jo," an all too familiar voice said.

Lizzie rolled her eyes. Penelope Park waltzing in to ruin their perfectly boring tour was the last thing Lizzie needed right now.

"Hey, Penelope," Josie grinned.

Penelope gave Josie a quick kiss on the lips before hooking her arm around Lizzie's shoulder. "I'm just gonna borrow your sister for a sec, okay?" Penelope said.

"Oh," Josie frowned. "But the tour-"

"-Is something you are more than capable of doing by yourself," Penelope interrupted Josie. "Come along, blondie," Penelope said, leading Lizzie away from the group of students.

"The hell do you want?" Lizzie scowled, shoving Penelope off of her when they were a distance away.

"The bomb at Mystic Falls High," Penelope said. "I know who did it."

Lizzie blinked. "You do?" she asked.

"Yes!" Penelope hissed. "And you do, too!"

When Lizzie continued to look puzzled, Penelope let out an exasperated sigh.

"Don't tell me you're deaf, Saltzman! I knew you were color-blind, since that can be the only explanation for the absolutely grotesque outfits you choose to wear every day, but I didn't know you were deaf!" Penelope whisper-shouted.

Lizzie had half the mind to smack Penelope upside the head.

"Hope! Hope Mikaelson!" Penelope said.

"Wha- You think Hope did this?" Lizzie sputtered in disbelief.

"Since you clearly have the memory span of a goldfish, let me repeat her exact words from last night for you," Penelope said. She cleared her throat, and said, "You think you can ignore me? Go ahead, then. Let's see how long you're capable of keeping this up. Test me. Let's see what lengths I'll be willing to go to."

The words reached Lizzie's ears, but even so, she refused to accept what was most likely the truth.

"You know I'm right," Penelope said. "That- That Marina person that Hope was calling yesterday, she delivered some kind of awful news to Hope. And that news made Hope mad. Furious, even. Somebody is ignoring Hope, and Hope announced that she would be willing to do whatever it took to get their attention. What better way than to draw focus than by blowing up a school?"

"No," Lizzie shook her head. "No, that can't be right."

"It is," Penelope insisted. "And I'm going over there, right now, to get some proof."

"Proof?" Lizzie questioned.

"Yes, proof! Hope was at Mystic Falls High last night, meaning there must be some trace of her around there. Proving that Hope was the one who did this will prove to the biased Mikaelson siblings that she really is an out of control monster. They'll finally see what we've known all along- that Hope can't stay in Mystic Falls, for the sake of everyone else's safety," Penelope said.

Lizzie's heart sank. Penelope was right, of course. But still...

"What's wrong with you? Isn't this what you've always wanted?" Penelope asked. "A way to get rid of Hope for good? Come on, I thought you hated her!"

"I do," Lizzie said. And it was true. She did hate Hope. But underneath all that hatred, that resentment... There was something else.

"Then help me. We'll sneak our way past the police, and use magic to find a clue of some sort," Penelope said.

"Sure," Lizzie said in the most confident voice she could muster. She needed Penelope to believe that she was agreeing to help only because she wanted to see Hope come crumbling down.

The real reason that Lizzie was going, however, was to make sure that neither Penelope nor any of the officials found proof of Hope's involvement in this horrible crime.

Why? To this question, Lizzie had no answer. She didn't know why she was so hell bent on making sure Hope stayed out of trouble- But last night had shown Lizzie a whole new side of Hope. She had seen Hope cry. She had learned that even the Original Tribrid, what with her haughtiness and nastiness, had a human side. A side that could feel, a side that could care... 

A side that could love.