The Years Between

Part 1

“Hi!” Lizzie’s face popped up in Hope’s field of vision. “I’m Lizzie. This is my sister, Josie.”

The brunette standing next to her raised a hand and waved shyly. “I’m Josie.”

“I just said that,” Lizzie hissed, poking her sister in the ribs as her cheeks flushed pink. She turned back to Hope, smiling wide again and showing off her straight rows of tiny teeth. “We can show you around the school if you’d like! We know all the cool places!”

“I …” Hope looked over at her mom, talking to Dr. Saltzman. “I better get back to my mom. It was nice to meet you.”

Hope started back across the yard.

“Wait!” Josie said suddenly. Hope turned. “I can show you a fire spell! Daddy says we’re not supposed to, but he doesn’t have to see.”

Hope shook her head. “No thanks. Maybe another time.”

She left the twins bickering between them about who embarrassed who in front of the new girl.

…

“Would you like to eat with us, Hope?” Lizzie came out of nowhere, taking up one side of Hope as Josie filled the other. They both stared her down expectantly. Hope felt trapped.

“Actually, I was going to eat in my room.” Hope dodged them both and disappeared up the stairs with her lunch. 

"We have to try harder," Lizzie said, stomping her foot down.

…

“Psst.” Josie poked Hope and set a piece of paper on her desk. Just beyond her, Lizzie watched impatiently, sticking her head out around Josie’s and motioning to the note.

Hope unfolded it carefully, trying to keep her eyes on the teacher. Just as she started to read it, the note was snatched out of her hands. 

“No passing notes in my class,” the teacher said sternly, taking it to the front of the room and dropping it in the trash. Hope hung her head shamefully while Lizzie started whispering to Josie about how she knew a note was a stupid idea. 

…

“We were going to watch a movie tonight!” Lizzie sprang out from a corner of the hallway, stopping Hope in her tracks. Her eyes were wide and eager. “Did you want to come?” 

Hope looked around nervously, waiting for the second twin to pop up. “I was actually going to study in the library tonight,” she said quietly. “But thank you.” 

Josie popped up as soon as Hope stepped around Lizzie, sticking out her lower lip. “Pleeaase.” She even clasped her hands under her chin.

Hope just shook her head and stepped around her. 

…

Hope half-expected the horror twins to be waiting to ambush her in the library, but it was their dad there instead, hunched over a book about some magical dilema or another. 

Hope picked her book from the tall shelves and sat on the other side of the library. 

She had lied to the twins. She wasn’t studying; she was just reading for fun. But she knew both of them would taunt her for it. 

A few pages into her book, she frowned down at it. She slowly got up and walked over to Dr. Saltzman's table, climbing up into the chair next to him. She pointed at the paper.

“What does this mean?”

“Middlings?” Dr. Saltzman said. “It’s something in animal food. I don’t know much about it.”

Hope shrugged, happy with his response. “Okay!” She skipped off back to her reading corner. 

She came back several dozen times over the course of the evening, always with more hard words and always overjoyed when Dr. Saltzman had the answers. Hayley got a phone call that night about how bright and eager her daughter was. She was pleased to hear that Hope was adjusting so well to her new school.

…

It became a routine thing for the two of them to read in the library together. Dr. Saltzman always knew what the big words meant, and a few times, Hope even recognized something from his books from reading her Aunt Freya’s grimoires. 

When Hope astral projected to see her father and found him tearing hearts out, Dr. Saltzman was the person she went to for answers. He always knew everything.

When Hope tried to invite the twins to her own movie night to take her mind off it, she was met with the same brush off she’d been giving them. They shot her down and went off to whisper between themselves. Turns out Alyssa Chang turned them purple and their dad was nowhere to be found. They had to find their mom to cry to.

…

Alyssa Chang got them again not too long later. The four of them worked on the float for witch week together, Lizzie and Josie gossiping with each other and ignoring Hope and Alyssa. Hope tried to strike up a conversation with Alyssa, but she shut it down every time with a coughing fit.

Hope kept her distance and came out fine, but Lizzie came down with pneumonia and Josie developed a mysterious cough she said came from their twin bond but that magically went away when their parents were gone and worsened when they tended to Lizzie.

That spring break seemed to be the final nail in the coffin. Lizzie told everyone that Hope blew up an orphanage with her brain. Josie changed seats anytime Hope sat too close to her in class. Hope tried not to let it hurt her feelings. She spent her time in the library instead, devouring books and pestering Dr. Saltzman with endless questions. Once, she even swiped Lizzie’s jade butterfly clip off her desk when she wasn’t looking, thinking that she could pretend she found it and use it as an excuse to talk to her again. She never did though, and none of that made it feel any better that the twins suddenly disliked her.