The Years Between

Part 4

The day Alyssa learned how to do a linking spell was a dangerous day. Grateful Lizzie hadn't learned her lesson on hiding her diary after Josie read it to the class, Alyssa swiped it while everyone else was eating breakfast.

The linking spell was a little challenging, but she made it through easily enough, and when she lit the match under the diary, she could hear the screams from down the hall.

…

Hope watched from the edges of the crowd as Lizzie was rushed to the infirmary, reminded all too much of the crowd that gathered when it was her dorm that was lit on fire. So much had happened since then - Henry, her mom, the Hollow, triggering her curse, her dad, her uncle. So many more traumas, but that one still remained. Hope caught Josie’s eye on the other side of the crowd and Josie turned away quickly. 

Hope remembered the last time she'd spoken to her a year or two ago when she thought she’d liked her, in spite of all the things she’d done to her in their childhood. It was fleeting, especially since Josie didn’t seem too keen on even being friends, let alone girlfriends. On Monday, Hope decided she liked the way Josie laughed and the way her shampoo smelled. By Friday, Hope came to her senses and realized there wasn't much else she liked about her and those weren’t very good reasons to have a crush on someone.

It was for the best anyways. Hope’s real last name had gotten out after all the Hollow business and she was dealing with all of the schoolyard drama that came with that - no time for girlfriends. And shortly after that, a new girl had shown up - Penelope Park - and she and Josie became inseparable. 

...

Hope noticed, as she hid on the sidelines of the dining hall and the classrooms, that Penelope didn’t like Lizzie very much. She always had a name to call or a flaw to pick at on the girl. But in spite of how much Penelope bullied her or how many mean comments she made or faces she pulled, Lizzie still fell for her. If anyone else had treated Lizzie that way, Lizzie would’ve incinerated them on the spot. But not Penelope. Lizzie let Penelope walk all over her and say horrible things about her with no repercussions.

It made Hope angry, watching it all go down. It wasn’t that she wanted to treat Lizzie like Penelope did, but it felt wildly unfair that Lizzie hated Hope for no reason but didn’t hate Penelope for the million reasons she gave her. Hope was a little too happy when Penelope and Josie started dating officially and it all blew up in Lizzie’s face. 

The twins barely hung out after that. They used to be glued at the hip, Lizzie the loud leader and Josie the nervous follower, but now that Josie had Penelope, all of that changed. 

Lizzie tried to make new friends, but none of them ever stuck. She was too over the top in her grand gestures, too over eager to please. One of the witches who sat next to her in class mentioned she liked to sew, and Lizzie got her dad’s permission to start an entire sewing club. On top of that were the lingering rumors of Lizzie being crazy and the new rumors that Penelope sent around whenever she felt Lizzie had wronged her.

Needless to say, Lizzie remained just as much of a loner as Hope until another new kid showed up.