Best I Ever Had | Hope Mikaelson

"We're Being Punked, Pedro"

I walked into the pantry, looking for my sour gummy worms, everyone on campus knew they were mine.

Grabbing a few bags and some sour skittles, I turned around and was met by Hope, crossing her arms.

"We should get going, the bus is about to leave," I said, trying to walk past her but she blocked my way.

"I don't care about the stupid bus, Alexius. Why have you been ignoring me?"

"You would know if I was ignoring you, Hope." She closed her eyes and brought her head down when I called her by her first name.

"I'm sorry, Alexius." She lifted her head up and I could see the tears forming. "You were right. I was in revenge mood and wasn't thinking clearly. I'm sorry for drawing power from you to fuel myself for the spell. I'm sorry for everything."

"The bus is about to leave." I walked around her and left the pantry, making my way to the front of the school where the bus was.

Entering the bus, I made my way to the back not wanting to talk to anybody. After a few seconds, Hope came on the bus, the tears gone from her eyes and sat in a front seat.

"What are you doing here, Alexius?" MG turned around and asked me. Him and the new vampire, Kaleb, were sitting in front of me.

"I am here to make sure you misfits don't start any more trouble," I answered him as I opened my bag of sour gummy worms.

He chuckled when I called him a misfit and turned around in his seat.

"Alexius." I ignored her voice and tried to block her out of my head, but it didn't work seeing as she called my name again. "Alexius." Ignoring her, I began to eat my sour gummy worms.

This went on for the entirety of the bus ride to the town square. Thanking Zeus when the bus finally stopped, I got up from the seat and exited the bus wanting this day to be over. I threw the wrappers of my snacks in one of the trash bags I saw on the ground.

"So, what did you do?" Lizzie asked Hope as they walked down the stairs of the bus. "My dad and Alexius never get mad at you. You're the prodigal daughter and amazing lover. Must have been juicy."

"Sorry. No time for girl talk. Public service awaits," Hope replied, dodging Lizzie's question and leaving the bus.

Dorian left the bus, standing in the middle with me by his side and the teenagers gathered around.

"All right, listen up!" he called out getting their attention. "It's a beautiful day. You got options-- litter, weeds, graffiti. Your choice."

Dorian offered Kaleb a litter-picking tool. The vampire stared at it and Dorian as if he'd lost his mind, but he did take it to get Dorian off his back. He waited until Dorian had walked away before joining the others.

Kaleb walked up to Lizzie. "It's bad enough we get punished while the humans get a pass, but there ain't no way in hell I'm picking up their garbage."

He gave the tool to Lizzie, who scowled and raised her hands in rejection.

"Uh, I don't do trash either," Lizzie told him.

Hope walked up behind the vampire. "Alexius and I love trash." She took the tool. "As of this moment."

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard my name. "Supervision, not pick up trash," I explained my role to her.

She rolled her eyes and turned to walk away but Lizzie was still able to make a comment.

"Perf. It suits you." I looked at her with a hurt expression. "Not you, Alexius." I smiled but the look Hope gave me made me drop it.

Lizzie shifted her gaze to Josie, who seemed unimpressed with her behavior. "Looks like we're scrubbing paint today."