A Love Split in Three

Chapter 18

Hope decided to start up a conversation as her and Rafael walked down the hall together to head to their next class, "So, Lizzie's acting weird." Hope said casually

"She's not the only one." Raf said

"Who?.. Me?" Hope asked confused

"No the Easter Bunny."

"Please, the Easter Bunny doesn't exist." Hope rolled her eyes as they continued walking

"What's up with you and Lizzie, Hope?" Rafael asked concerned

"Nothing.. It's just kind of personal."

"Okay. But you know if you need anyone to talk to.."

"It's fine, I have Penelope." Hope interrupted, before opening the door for their next class

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Hope sat on the stairs alone, sipping on a milkshake waiting for Penelope to show up, since she was her only friend. Not including Josie, because wherever Josie sits, Lizzie sits as well.

Josie walked into the room trying to find the canes for their talent show performance and saw Hope sitting alone and decided to ask her, "Hey, do you know where they moved the stupid canes for the talent show? Lizzie was asking me to find them." Josie said now standing in front of the steps where Hope was sitting

"You seem very anti-cane." Hope said standing up

"No. Uh, just anti- doing the same exact thing every year." Josie sighed crossing her arms

"Penelope seemed anti that too." Hope laughed softly, which made Josie quirk an eyebrow, questioning when they became friends

"I'll keep an eye out. But, um... I think someone has an eye out for you." Hope said smirking, pointing behind Josie, to Penelope who just walked in to meet Hope but stopped and stared when she saw Josie

"Oh, dear god, hide me." Josie said crouching down behind Hope, Hope took the milkshake straw out of her mouth and mumbled an, "Okay." and looked behind her to check if she was in place before quickly looking back up in front of her where Penelope now stood.

"Hi." Hope smiled, Penelope smiled back before pulling the note out of her pocket to give to Josie. Hope recognized it as soon as she saw it, and her smile quickly faded away as Penelope reached behind Hope and gave Josie the note.

"Just make sure you read it in private." Penelope said, trying to hide the pain in her voice

Josie took it, "I'm not gonna read it at all." she said standing up. Penelope looked at Josie trying to hide the hurt in her eyes and keep her face expressionless before looking at Hope and walking away.

"Okay, are you seriously not going to read it?" Hope asked

"I'm seriously not. I gave her a chance after my party, I thought we were going to start over again, but she avoided me for a week afterwards. I don't care what she has to say anymore. I'm done." Josie said

Hope knew what Josie was talking about, Penelope told her all about it. It hurt Hope to know why Penelope was acting the way she is towards Josie and not being able to tell her or defend Penelope. It's hard hearing all the things Josie is saying about her when she knows the whole truth and Josie doesn't, but Hope knew she had to keep her mouth shut.

"I got to get to class but your day is gonna get so much better, Jo." Hope said giving Josie a hug before leaving

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"Five, six, seven, eight!" Lizzie yelled and watched as the witches rehearsed the same dance they have done every year. Lizzie needed a distraction from, wondering why Hope left her party early and why she avoided and ignored her ever since. Her mind just couldn't help but wonder what happened?

The witches crashed together, but continued doing the choreography they remembered. Lizzie snapped her fingers and the music stopped, "Looks like we haven't been practicing. And some of your outfits must have shrunk. Or maybe too many late night visits to the caf-" Lizzie was interrupted by the painful shock in her wrist, that came from her bracelet, "But it's fine." She gasped through the pain

"We'll adjust. From the top. Josie? Where is Josie?" Lizzie asked looking around, as Josie walked in, with a milkshake in hand

"Oh. Am I late?" Josie asked

"Where are the canes?"

"I don't know. I actually went to go find them, right? But then I was thinking, I really don't feel like stressing about it." Josie said stepping around the witches

"Y-You didn't want...? Okay. That's fine. Why don't you just take your usual place?" Lizzie said getting stressed out again. This talent show was the only thing keeping her in check at the moment, without it she would probably walk up to Hope and demand to know what happened two weeks ago.. And that would not be good.

"Ah, yea about that. I was actually thinking, I really don't feel like being in the back row." Josie said

"Uh, well I know you haven't been practicing. But if you want to be in the front, you.."

Josie interrupted Lizzie, "I mean honestly, I just think we should scrap that lame routine, right? Do something totally different. It'd be super fun, right?" Josie said walking by Penelope and pointing at her to which she nodded smiling surprised by Josie's sudden burst of confidence

"And without the canes. It'd be fun." Josie finished

"But, my beloved sister, this is the routine we do every year. Because we win. Every year." Lizzie emphasized, trying not to snap at her twin

Josie took in a deep breath before speaking once again, "I think I should sing a new song. And then everybody can contribute some choreography, and it can just be a real.. Collaboration." Josie smiled now standing beside Lizzie

"Doesn't that just sound.. Nice?" Josie asked looking at Lizzie before giving her a side hug to which Lizzie smiled forcefully, seriously not wanting to do something different because this was one of the only consistent things in her life and she didn't want that to change. To others it might seem silly to care so much about a talent show performance but then again Lizzie wasn't like others