Chapter Text
“This is a terrible idea.”
“Come on, Peez. You can do this! Besides, it’s my birthday so you really don’t have a choice.”
If you asked anyone, they would tell you Penelope Park was one of the strongest, most cunning, most intelligent witches they’d ever met. She was never one to back down or throw in the towel, but for some reason, the thought of having to get through tonight made her uncharacteristically hesitant.
Milton Greasley had officially turned seventeen today. And he’d decided, in typical teenage fashion, that the only appropriate way to celebrate his birthday was with a party. He’d invited a few people he knew he wanted to be there, but word quickly got around that a party was happening outside of school grounds, and Salvatore kids were never ones to miss a party. If you managed to slip away without the headmaster noticing, without stirring up any trouble or drawing unwanted attention, you were more than welcome to crash.
The two were standing just outside of the spot MG had chosen in the woods, secluded enough from both the school and the town, and protected with a concealment charm that the witches cooked up just in case.
“You know she might not even be here yet.”
Penelope felt her stomach flip.
This was ridiculous.
“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just get this over with.”
The pair stepped beyond the threshold of the charm and studied their surroundings. They saw familiar faces spread all over the place. The werewolves were the easiest to make out because it only took finding one to spot the pack and as a general rule, wherever the alpha went, the pack followed.
Rafael was standing with his back against a tree, beer in hand, absentmindedly staring into the distance as if waiting for something, while the rest chatted excitedly around him.
At the far right, a few vamps had gathered and were already doing shots. MG quickly spotted Kaleb and turned to Penelope.
“I’m going to go do my rounds. Are you good?”
“I’m fine, MG. Just go, have fun.”
He observed her hesitantly, opened his mouth as if to say something, then turned around and headed to meet up with his friends.
She felt bad. Parties used to be her thing. Everyone knew a party without the resident head-witch-in-charge was no party at all. She would drink, flirt, dance, and then as if on cue, disappear when the party started showing signs of dying down.
It was just that lately, things couldn’t have been more different.
She scanned the area, quickly finding the witches gathered around a bonfire to the back; an empty spot at the head of the circle. They knew she was coming, and their eyes quickly lit up when they saw her. She did her best to avoid eye contact, not wanting to get sucked into the gossip and drama just yet. She decided she needed a drink.
Penelope had only taken a couple of steps forward when she heard it.
That laugh, she could recognize it anywhere.
Josie Saltzman was standing near the drinks table, her back to Penelope. She was with her twin, and Rafael had apparently just joined them. Penelope could only assume the wolf had been behind that laugh, although she really couldn’t understand how.
She allowed herself the freedom to stare for a second. Josie always looked beautiful, only an idiot could say otherwise. But something about the way she looked tonight made Penelope’s breath hitch in her throat.
Salvatore had loose rules when it came to the dress code, and students were often encouraged to make the school uniform their own as a form of self-expression.
Josie dressed like the perfect student, the perfect daughter, the perfect sister. She worked hard to build this image in people’s minds, almost as if she couldn’t bear for anyone to think differently of her. To her credit, nobody ever did. She needed people to overlook her, to think she was happy being in Lizzie’s shadow. She didn’t know how to be perfect in the spotlight.
Penelope had long since understood why.
Lizzie Saltzman took up too much space for Josie to be anything other than an afterthought.
Penelope first found it strange how nobody ever noticed that underneath all of that perfection, Josie was constantly on edge, waiting for something to go wrong – almost expecting it to. And the more time Penelope spent watching Josie pretend she was fine, the more Penelope’s heart ached.
She could tell something was different about the girl tonight though. She wore a black sweater, jean jacket, and dark jeans. Her hair was down. Her smile was soft. She looked happy.
Penelope thought she never looked more beautiful. And she couldn’t take it.
She was about to step back and leave when a voice snapped her out of her daze.
“You are still so whipped, it’s adorable.”
“Shut up, Mikaelson. This isn’t funny.”
“You know everything would be much simpler if you just told her the truth, right? Instead of pining over her like a sad puppy like you’ve been doing for months.”
Penelope had given up feigning indifference around Hope. She knew she was too intuitive to buy into the act.
“You know I can’t do that, Hope.”
Hope Mikaelson was her best friend at Salvatore. As much as Penelope adored MG, nobody really knew her as well as Hope did. Her and the tribrid had hit it off pretty quickly when she transferred schools. Something about their family history, the way they just never seemed to fit in completely, their constant need to keep everyone at bay; the two just had too much in common to pretend otherwise.
Hope reached out a hand, touching Penelope’s forearm in a small attempt to comfort her.
“I know. I’m just saying, sooner or later you’re going to have to say something. You can’t keep doing this to yourself.”
“What am I supposed to do, huh? We’ve been going around in circles for weeks. And I’m not an idiot you know; I’ve seen the way she looks at him.”
She turned her attention away from Hope, as if on instinct, and found warm brown eyes staring back into her own.
“I see it because that’s how I look at her.”
Josie had been running around trying to help her twin get ready for tonight.
MG was throwing a party for his birthday and had invited the twins the second his mind was made up on the location. The blonde had immediately asked who else would be going, and MG proceeded to give her the names of the people he’d invited.
“Landon, Hope, Kaleb and a few vampires, Penelope, Rafael…”
Josie didn’t have time to react before Lizzie was dragging her away from MG.
They spent all afternoon trying to find the perfect outfit for her to wear. She’d been trying to impress Rafael ever since he showed up to the school.
The twins had both been in a great mood. They spent the morning with their dad, and he told them that their mom was finally coming back to town after being abroad for over a year.
Lizzie being happy automatically made Josie feel better about tonight, and when they were done getting Lizzie ready, Josie began planning out her own outfit. She was starting to get excited about tonight. Her twin would be too distracted by Rafael to need her, so Josie would be able to drink and let go for a while.
She put together a nice enough outfit, careful not to overdo it, put on some light makeup, and tried her best not to think of who else MG invited.
An hour later, the twins were walking into the woods.
They decided to head for the drinks table near the edge of the area first.
Looking around, they recognized a few people from school, and while Josie was still searching for the person she secretly hoped to see tonight, Lizzie quickly spotted Rafael and called him over.
He turned his head in their direction when he heard his name being called, looked at Lizzie and hesitated, then saw Josie and made his way towards them.
“Um, hey.”
“Hi, Raf!”
“So… what are you girls drinking?”
Josie was careful not to engage too much. She knew her sister wanted to make a good impression after the way she acted when Rafael first came to Salvatore. She also knew Rafael sort of, maybe, had a thing for her. And at one point, she might have actually felt the same. But she never had the heart to tell Lizzie, and she thought she was making it clear enough to Rafael that he needed to back off. If only boys caught up on signals faster.
If only people caught up on signals faster.
Josie was lost in thought when she realized Rafael had said something to her. He was smiling.
“I- I’m sorry, what?”
“I said you seem distracted. Are you okay?”
Josie could feel her sister’s eyes on her, and she couldn’t find a better way to deflect all of the attention off of her than to laugh it off.
“Oh! Yeah, totally fine. A bit buzzed is all. I’m going to try to find MG.”
Lizzie grinned at her sister and turned her attention back to Rafael.
“So, what’s it like to be the new alpha? I’m sure it must be pretty neat!”
Josie smiled to herself as she walked away from the pair. Her sister may be popular and confident, but she really does turn into a mess around a person if she likes them enough. Her eyes scanned the area one more time for MG until they landed at the exact spot her and Lizzie had entered through.
Josie was suddenly frozen in place, her stomach sinking as she watched Hope Mikaelson reach out her hand to touch Penelope’s arm.
She felt like she was intruding, but she just couldn’t seem to look away.
She wondered why Penelope looked so sad. She was reminded of the last time she’d seen her this sad, and she hated herself for not being able to do anything about it. She hated that it wasn’t her place anymore.
Hope is strong. Hope is special. Hope is good.
Hope was all of the things Josie couldn’t be.
Her eyes were starting to sting.
No, this is good. She deserves the best. I’m happy for her.
It wasn’t until Penelope turned and looked her directly in the eyes that Josie lost all sense of rational thought.
And suddenly all she wanted to do was tell Penelope Park that she’s been in love with her since the first time she laid eyes on her.