I've always wanted you.

Chapter Twenty- Three

Considering everything she'd been through, Hope woke feeling alot better. ..physically. Everything these past few months just felt like alot, but she had Josie. That should be enough.

Josie had slept with Hope tightly in her arms, she was scared of losing her again. When Hope awoke Josie smiled and kissed her cheek.
"Good morning. Did you sleep okay?" Josie whispered as Hope fought the urge to close her eyes again.

Hope nodded her head which was rested on Josies chest and Josie giggled at Hope almost falling back to sleep.
"You're not much of a morning person are you my love?" Josie chuckled.

Hope moved her head so she was facing Josie and glared at her jokingly.
"We have class in an hour, but you don't have to go if your not up for it," Josie said as she stroked Hope's hair. Just Josies touch was sending her back to sleep but she fought the urge.

"No I'll go. I need to catch up on stuff seen as I've not been in for like a month," Hope chuckled. Hope hadn't really been in since her parents died, she was marked as present but generally spent her lesson time truanting in the woods.

"Come on then," Josie smiled as she sat up bringing Hope up with her. She laughed as Hope flopped back onto the mattress without her until she dragged her out of bed.
"Come on you just have one lesson without me and then we can sit together in geography if you want okay?" Josie offered.

This made Hope feel alot better but having class without Josie would be torture.

The girls got ready and Lizzie met up with Josie on the way to their chemistry of magic class. Hope's first lesson was advanced civics.

She walked in and rested her head on a desk at the back of the classroom just hoping the hour went by quickly. Hope didn't even bother getting out her equipment as she knew she wouldn't be writing anything. She had no energy.

It was times like these, when she was alone, that she felt the worst. It allowed her thoughts to spiral.

"Hope did your parents like ..die? I thought your dad was supposed to be unkillable," Alyssa said turning around from her chair.

Alyssa Chang. Hope's worst nightmare. At least when her and Lizzie hated eachother they never brought personal problems into it, it was purely surface level hate. But with Alyssa, she had no empathy.

The words she said didn't necessarily hurt Hope. They just made her remember. And feel... empty.

"Yeah. They did," Hope said still not making eyes contact with her peers. She heard the class mutter things like 'good riddance', 'he deserved it', 'she's probably going to become as evil as him'. Hope had heard it all before ...she she was numb to it.

But it hurt to be numb.

"I heard you got drunk and had sex with some guy too. I thought you were a lesbian?" A boy at the front of the class shouted so everyone could hear.

Thats the problem with school. No privacy. One event gets changed and twisted across person to person until it comes right back to you. Hurting you.

Hope didn't respond to that question. And it only made the class pry more into her personal life.
"Did you make Penelope leave?"
"How did your dad die?"
"Why did you go missing?"
"She's probably just doing all this for attention,"
"Her family is going to kill us one day,"
"I can't believe Josie picked her over Penelope,"

The words spun around the classroom, the teacher had given up on quieting the class down so by the end of the lesson Hope had her head buried in her arms blocking out the sound. She was crying. Not sobbing, but crying.

She waited until the rest of the class left to go to their next lesson until Mg came over.
"Hey Hope. Are you okay? I know we aren't the best of friends but what they were saying was wrong. I just want to make sure you're okay," he said politely.