an incredible spark

the rumor

Hope walks into the cafeteria on Monday with a frown. She sits down in front of Maya, letting out a loud sigh, attracting the attention of all of her friends. Her best friend looks at her with a confused frown.

"What's bothering you?" Maya asks, sounding almost bored.

Hope rolls her eyes at her friend's lack of empathy. "Wow, thanks for caring Maya."

"Just spill Mikaelson."

"So, after the little moment I shared with Josie on Friday night, I thought it would be acceptable for me to look up her social medias-"

Kaleb stops eating and interrupts her. "You've been crushing on the girl for three weeks now and you didn't look her up online before that?"

Kym hits her brother with a glare, and Hope glares at the boy too, but a faint blush still appears on her cheeks.

"No, Kaleb, I didn't. I thought it would be rude..." She says, then clears her throat before she keeps speaking. "Anyway... She doesn't have any."

Maya, Ethan, Kaleb and Kym all look at the head cheeleader like she's totally crazy.

"Maybe you just didn't find her accounts." Ethan says suddenly. "Some people don't use their real name, you know?"

"No, Ethan." Hope shakes her head. "She's nonexistent online. I looked through every app, and tried to look in Lizzie's accounts to find her... Hell, I even looked at her mother's Facebook page."

"Well, maybe-" Maya starts.

Kym quickly interrupts her. "She's coming our way!"

Hope's head quickly turns in the direction Kym is looking, her eyes immediately falling on her crush. However, her eyes grow big when she sees just how furious Josie looks as she's speed-walking to their table. Hope stands up, and moves around the table to meet the brunette, quickly getting worried.

"Hey Jo, what's wro-" The cheerleader nervously starts.

"You know, for a moment, I really thought you were different." Josie spits, cutting Hope off. "I should have known you're just like every other popular kid... Just a pathetic HBIC."

At this point, no one is talking in the cafeteria. The hundreds of students sitting down to have lunch are completely silent. Everyone is stunned by the scene they are witnessing since Hope Mikaelson has never been at the center of a scandal before.

Hope can't hide the surprise and the hurt she feels as she hears the words Josie says to her. She doesn't really understand what is happening, but the fire in those brown eyes tells her that it's not a small thing. Hope can't seem to say anything though, she just looks Josie in the eyes, words getting stuck in her throat. The Mikaelson girl realizes she stayed silent for too long when the brunette sends her a look that could kill before turning around and leaving the cafeteria.

As soon as Josie's gone, the whispers start. Hope seems to unfreeze, and she quickly turns to her friends with a distressed look. She has no idea of what to do now.

"Run after her, idiot!" Maya says.

In that moment, Hope is really grateful her best friend is always there to knock some sense into her, even if it's sometimes brutal. Maya's words shake the cheerleader, and soon enough she's running out of the cafeteria under the eyes of all the very curious students of Mystic Falls High.

She ends up in the hallway leading to the lockers, but Josie's nowhere to be seen. Hope wonders how the brunette managed to walk away so fast, but she quickly pushes that thought away.