𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 | Hosie ✔️

Chapter 8

The sun had long since disappeared behind the treetops of the fir trees and in the meantime, the crescent had taken its place. Some branches cracked under Josie's shoes as she walked along the forest path with her sister and a group of other students. They were on their way to the party from which Lizzie had insisted that her sister come along. And indeed, Josie had no regrets. At least not yet. At least it brought a little variety to their daily lives.

As they were only a few steps away from the place where the Salvatore Boarding School students were having their parties in the forest, the light was already shining through the trees to her eyes. They had already lit the campfire, which told her that they were quite late.

Silently they took a few more steps and then arrived at the clearing, which was already filled with their classmates talking, laughing and drinking. Interested, Josie let her eyes wander and saw a colorful mixture of witches, vampires, werewolves and everything in between. On evenings like these, the usual rivalry seemed to suddenly disappear and most of them felt a sense of harmony.

"There's Rafael over there", it came from Lizzie, who had stopped next to her and turned her gaze in a certain direction. Josie glanced briefly at her sister and then followed her gaze, which also made her look at the boy a lot. He was, as far as she could tell, surrounded by a group of werewolves, but she thought she could see Landon's black curls between them.
"I should go and talk to him", said Lizzie and her typical flirtatious smile appeared on her lips. Josie opened her mouth slightly, trying to stop her, but before she could say anything, the blonde had already started moving and had disappeared from her reach.

Sighing, Josie sat herself down towards the juice jug where she could get a drink. There she picked up one of the red plastic cups and filled it with the drink. As she sipped her drink, her gaze wandered again to Lizzie, who was talking to Rafael. However, behind the self-confident façade of her twin, she noticed that she was nervous inside. This was exactly what she always noticed when she came near Rafael. I think she had her eye on the new werewolf. However, Lizzie did not always do well when it came to a boy she honestly liked. Maybe Josie should come in and support her.

But before she could think about it and make a decision, she discovered someone out of the corner of her eye who attracted her attention even more than Lizzie. It was Hope who had also just entered the clearing and let her gaze wander as if she was looking for something. Instinctively, Josie lowered her gaze. Surely, she or he would not be the person she seemed to be looking for. After all, they didn't have anything to do with each other.

Despite her lowered gaze, she continued to watch Hope from the corner of her eye. After a few seconds, the searching gaze of the Tribridin disappeared and she started moving. However, contrary to her expectations, she did not approach Rafael and Landon, but disappeared in the crowd and thus completely out of her field of vision.

Instinctively, one of Josie's eyebrows rose. Although she couldn't explain it, she felt the urge to follow her to see what she was up to. Maybe she just wanted to go to the party and have fun just like Josie herself. However, this would be more than just untypical for her as she was otherwise rather a loner.

Without thinking much about whether it was a good decision or not, Josie squashed the cup in her hand and threw it away. Then she pushed herself off the tree against which she had leaned. The brunette moved slowly as she tried to find Hope among the other students. Maybe she was stupid to follow her. Just as stupid as it had been to take the spell out of the book she was supposed to get for her father. But if she had already agreed to make these stupid decisions, she would not back down now. She also planned to watch Hope more from now on and this was the perfect moment.

She also started to move between the other people while she tried to let her eyes wander over the heads of the others. Again and again, she noticed the girl, after she was out of the search, but then she lost her again. However, she thought she could see that the werewolf was moving away from the clearing and heading for the Lockwood Estate. But what could she want there? After all, there was nothing more on the property than the empty mansion and the old cellar of the family who had lived there before, which was somewhere below them.

"Josie?", there was a voice behind the brunette that made her stop for a moment. However, she did not turn around, since she knew who it was as well. Hardly a second later the person to whom the voice belonged also appeared in her field of vision.
"What do you want from me, Penelope?", she asked her ex-girlfriend and looked at her with a firm look. As a result, she noticed an expression on the other girl's face that gave her a firm sting. "Um", she stroked her dark hair with one hand, almost a little nervously behind her ear: "I've been thinking, Jojo. Could we maybe talk for a minute?"
Though it surprised Josie at what Penelope was saying and how she was acting, she couldn't devote herself to it at that moment. Instead, she tried not to lose sight of Hope.
"Sure, say what you have to say", she said and looked at Penelope for a moment, but she didn't seem to be satisfied with this answer.
"I meant in private", she looked at Josie with a pleading look. But she only shook her head: "I don't have time for this right now."

Her counterpart opened her mouth as if she had something to say, but Josie just pushed herself past her.
"I'm sorry", she mumbled to her, but didn't stop, she just moved again. This time, however, she ran noticeably faster as she saw Hope disappear between the trees again at that very moment.