Getting back to normal

Chapter I

Hope's POV:
Her freshman year wasn't even over yet and Hope already wanted to leave. She had just lost both her parents as well as her uncle in a tragic fire three months ago. Hope was so devastated, she was only fifteen and was now an orphan. After the fire, Hope had gone back to New Orleans and stayed in her family home with her aunts Freya and Keelin as well as their son, baby Eli. If she could have chosen, Hope would have preferred to stay in New Orleans and never come back to Mystic Falls but her aunts made her go because education was very important to the Mikaelsons.

Hope had settled into her designated room at the Salvatore boarding school for the young and gifted and since it was a Friday night, she didn't have classes until Monday morning. She was kind of happy about that but she would never remit to it. Hope had decided that she wouldn't show her emotions ever again because she was already the outcast and the loner girl at school so she didn't really see the point to be the emotional girl too.

     Nobody at the Salvatore boarding school really knew the reasons behind Hope's absence of three months except for the adults that ran the school, which included both headmasters, Mr.Saltzman and his wife, Mrs.Forbes-Saltzman as well as her teachers, Mr.Williams, Miss.Tig, Miss.Bennett and Mr.Gilbert. Caroline Forbes-Saltzman, the headmistress, also doubled as a substitute teacher sometimes.

     Hope found it kind of soothing not to have everyone throw sympathetic and apologetic looks her way. She found that way more annoying than people just avoiding her because she was a Mikaelson. Mikaelsons weren't the most popular people around Mystic Falls. Klaus, her father, was well known for being a rich business man with a bad temper and her mother, Hayley, was seen as nothing more than a gold-digger who had a one-night stand with Hope's father and got pregnant. Her father's siblings weren't very well-liked either, even though nobody really knew much about them. They were disliked because of their affiliations with the GREAT Klaus Mikaelson.

What people didn't know, however, was that her family was actually amazing. Sure, her parents had a one-night stand and got pregnant, but they actually feel in love not long after finding out about it. And her mom was anything but a gold-digger, she was kind, brave, passionate about her work and a great mother. And as for her dad, yes he was a great business man, and yes he had a bit of a temper, but he never hurt them. He was kind and generous, understanding and talented. He was the one who taught Hope how to paint and how to make her own paint with natural elements when she was nine years old. She got her love as talent for painting from him.

And as for her aunts and uncles, they were all caring and kind. Her aunt Freya taught her how to bake, her aunt Rebekah was the one that taught her how to dance and dress appropriately, her aunt Keelin gave her her love for herbal medicine, her aunt Davina showed her how to properly take care of a garden, her uncles Marcel and Kol taught her how to fight as well as self-defense and her uncle Elijah taught her how to play the piano as well as to sing with his friend Antoinette, whine he had met while traveling in the South of France.

The only thing people really got right was the fact that the Mikaelsons were indeed rich. In fact, they were te richest family of all of the United States.

Hope was tired now. A month had passed since she came back and people had learned about what had happened to her parents and her uncle because it finally came on the news. She really hadn't missed the weird looks even though she half expected them. What she hadn't expected however, was the whispers. Whenever she was close enough to hear them, she would hear students shamelessly talking about all the inheritance she must have gotten, even though she was only 15, and that, right there, broke her. Hope didn't care about the money, all she wanted was her parents, she didn't understand how people could be so insensitive to death.

Josie's POV:

Josie was worried, she had known about Hope's loss from the beginning because she had blackmailed her parents, together with her twin sister, Lizzie, to tell them the truth when they noticed that Hope wasn't in class for a whole week, which was very un-Hope like. Since their parents were actually the headmasters, she knew that they knew why Hope hadn't been in class. Josie felt horrible for Hope, sure they weren't exactly friends ; because Hope never let anyone in, but Josie liked the girl. More than she would like to admit. She found her very pretty with her auburn hair and ocean blue eyes. To Josie, Hope was amazing. She was a talented artist and musician, good at school, so kind and even though she didn't smile very often, when she did, it lit up the room. If you'd ask her, Josie would deny having a crush on Hope, but it was oh so evident.

Not liking one bit the way that everyone looked at Hope all of the time, Josie decided to brave her fears and went to the girl's room. She was so nervous, she wanted to be Hope's friend ever since they first met when they were little kids, but she was always scared of rejection. Lizzie would always tease her by saying that the reason behind Josie wanting to befriend Hope was because of her massive crush on her but Josue always shut her comments down. She would just say that the only reason behind it was because she simply cared for people in general.

     Josie finally arrived in front of Hope's room and hesitantly knocked on the wooden door. A few seconds passed and Josie couldn't hear a single sound in the other side, but then, just when she wanted to leave, the door opened and out came Hope, in al of her splendid glory, looking as beautiful as ever with her hair still a little damp from what Josie assumed was a shower. Josie couldn't help herself, she just had to stare at Hope like a total creep. After a few seconds, Josie got out of her daze and finally told Hope that she wanted to talk.

Hope's POV:

     Hope was just finishing getting dressed after her shower when she heard a knock on her door. So while drying her hair a little with a clean towel, she went to open it and saying that Hope was surprised to find Josie on the other side was an understatement, as well as Josie's facial expression when she looked at her. Hope could clearly see that Josie was checking her out a little and smirked her perfect Mikaelson smirk, which always made Josie blush.