"Hey, hey." Jeremy nudged the boy sitting in the passenger seat with his elbow. "Hey, John. Wake up."
Feeling someone touching him, John opened his eyes. "I wasn't sleeping in the first place." The boy replied, looking at one side and the other.
Listening to his words, Jeremy gave him a questioning look. "Just like you couldn't sleep the entire night?"
"Unfortunately, yes." John nodded, looking through the window to have an idea of where they were now. By his estimations, he should've spent roughly almost half a dozen hours in his mind. "Where exactly are we?"
"It's been more than twenty minutes since we left Lynchburg." Jeremy replied. "We should be arriving in Mystic Falls soon." His eyes were kept on the sunlit road. "And contrary to you, the two back there really fell asleep." He jabbed his thumb at the back seats of the car.
Taking a look at the back, John looked at the pair of grandma and granddaughter who were sleeping by now. One still tired from the night of her first transformation and the other due to reasons of exhaustion as well.
Turning his head back forward, John looked at Jeremy from the corner of his eye. "Why did you wake me up, then? We are still at least half an hour away from the school." The boy whispered, not wishing to wake up the other two.
Jeremy shrugged. "I was bored." He said.
"You woke me up just for that?"
"Yeah." Jeremy nodded.
"Tsk…" John sighed in mild annoyance. "I was doing something important, you know?"
"Now you aren't, so-" He glanced at the young man. "satiate my curiosity a little. What exactly do you do when you are not sleeping?"
John rolled his eyes as he leaned on the door, his eyes observing the trees that were constantly being left behind. "I was working on an ability of mine. Something important."
"And what exactly is this something important?" Jeremy asked. "Or you can't tell me?"
For a moment, John thought if there was some problem in revealing this kind of information to Jeremy. Well, it's something different from the realms mentally created from this world, but not something completely out of existence here. As long as I don't reveal much, it must be fine. "Have you ever heard of… an inner world?" He asked the hunter.
"Nope." Jeremy said, keeping his eyes on the road. "But the words kind of already give a certain idea, right?"
"Yeah. An inner world is basically an amalgamation of everything that makes you you and takes the shape of a world." John explained. "Your emotions, memories, inner nature, thoughts and everything else that belongs to you is molded into this world–a world residing within you."
Jeremy narrowed his eyes slightly. "It sounds like something complicated." He muttered in response to the boy's explanation.
"Not really. It is… a great and cool thing to work around with." John said. "When I am not doing something, I spend most of my time on this word."
"I see… And what exactly are you doing in this inner world of yours that you spend so much time in there?"
"Nothing much." John casually replied, bordering the nonchalance. "I just organize a few memories of mine. One of the perks of an inner world–mine at least–is that every memory you have that your brain didn't completely erase is there, you just need to find it. What I do is find these memories and reinforce them, basically making them an everlasting memory that I won't ever forget and can easily recall whenever I want."
Jeremy widened his eyes and raised his brow in surprise. "That sounds like a really awesome thing." He said in genuine wonder as he averted his eyes off the road and gave a look at the young man.
Keeping his right side of the head resting on the window, John smirked in response. "Yeah, it is." He agreed. "There were certain things in my life that I didn't remember that I finally recalled through this method. For example, I once lost a toy of mine when I was younger and didn't find it. I recall spending days trying to find it and crying at the end of each day for not finding the toy. That is, until mom one day gave it to me, saying that a fairy found it and gave it to her." As he recounted the short story, a bit of melancholy and fondness crawled up to John's voice. "I found this exact memory–hidden in the corner of my mind–of how I lost it yesterday night."
"And where did you lose it?" Jeremy asked.
The young man laughed when remembering. "I left it in the garden, amidst the flowers. I never thought of searching it around there."
"Why?" Jeremy asked, trying to keep the conversation.
"I didn't even remember getting close to the garden. So I ended up searching for it under every crank and corner of the house, but never there." John shrugged while answering. "But yeah, that's one of the perks of having an inner world. I read there are others, but… I still have to work around them."
"Where did you read?"
"The internet. Works of fiction and such."
There was a bit of silence from Jeremy's part. "You are learning to manage the world inside you through babble from the internet?"
The boy laughed again. "Not really learning. More like getting ideas off it." Huh, if you only knew. John thought. "Didn't try anything yet, so I don't know yet how effective these ideas can be." And they are ideas from my world, so the chances of them working are higher considering they are replicated in other worlds. I just have to figure out how to make them work.
"Oh, and what are you thinking of trying?" Jeremy asked, curious.
"Hmm… One which interests me really is something related to a domain."
…
The Salvatore School was enjoying a peaceful moment right now.
Different from yesterday, when students and staff feared an accident or worse could happen as a result of the possibility of the werewolves escaping the bunkers, they now were experiencing positive emotions since the beginning of the day.
When the werewolves woke up even before the sun had risen, they sighed in relief for not opening their eyes and feasting on the sight of having their hands drenched in blood.
For those who slept in the school, they experienced similar emotions when they awoke by themselves. They felt a quiet gladness in them for the night going unperturbed.
And as the day went on, these positive emotions just reinforced themselves–spreading to every corner of the building.
"It seems like things are way better than yesterday." John commented, still sitting on the passenger seat. His eyes went through the school gates and locked on the building behind them.
Despite a few dozen meters separating them, the boy could hear the echoes of the voices from within the building. He could hear their low cheers of happiness and the excitement in their voices. Something about a celebration later.
"What did you expect?" Jeremy rolled down his window, stretching his left arm outside the vehicle. "It is a day to celebrate. Everything ran smoothly, no one got injured or worse." He pressed a button on the intercom.
After a moment, a voice came from the device he just touched.
"Hey, Gilbert."
"Good hearing from you, Jackson." Jeremy smirked. "Could you open the gates? We've got visitors."
"Right away." The man from the other side of the intercom replied.
Following his words, the metal gates opened up slowly, permitting the car entrance into the school.
The hunter drove slowly, taking some moment to reach the school's entrance. A purposeful delay. Just as they parked in front of the steps, the double doors opened and Alaric walked out.
He was in his casual attire. A formal shirt, a pair of jeans and leather brown shoes–nothing extremely fancy, but good enough for meeting a possible student and their family.
As John stepped out of the car, he weakly waved at the headmaster's direction. "Good afternoon, Dr. Saltzman." He greeted the man.
Alaric nodded his way. "To you too, John." He walked in the young man's direction at slow steps. "Sorry for all the trouble and thanks for listening to my request." There was the phantom of a smile on his face after these words. "Although I guess we are even about that, right?"
"I guess so." John nodded in agreement, walking to the back of the car and opening its trunk. "Anyway, it wasn't much trouble in the end, so I am more than happy to get paid like this by only spending a night outside." He said while taking out the things he bought from the trunk. They levitated out from it and circled around him.
As they talked, Jeremy calmly woke up the two women on the back seats, both of them slowly opening their eyes and welcoming the sight of the school.
When they were about to get out of the car, John had already taken all his things out of the trunk. "I will be going. Gotta find somewhere to put all of this."
"I don't recommend storing it in the kitchen if you don't want it to disappear overnight." Alaric casually suggested.
John nodded, walking up the steps and heading for the doors.
When he had just opened the doors and was about to step into the school, the boy was interrupted by a voice.
"Hm… John?"
Hearing his name being called out, John slowly turned around. His eyes fell on the girl who called his name and he unconsciously offered a gentle smile. "Yes, Laura?"
"I just wanted to thank you… for everything." She said through a warm smile, trying her best to deliver her sentiment of gratitude.
And her words perfectly worked, for the boy's smile broadened in response. "It was my pleasure to help, Laura." John said, turning around and walking into the building.
[Line Break]
Now that he had no other worries for the day, John was now walking back to his bedroom. Although the sight of him bringing boxes and bags of food and drink worth a few hundred dollars attracted more looks than he expected, the boy continued to walk towards his room.
However, when John was taking the last steps at the staircase–which immediately gave him sight for his bedroom's door–he was surprised to see that there was someone in front of his room, knocking on it and asking him if he could come out.
Well, few people were aware that I left the school yesterday. John thought, walking down the corridor leading to his room. But what does she want with me? He asked himself, approaching the girl.
When he was just a few steps away from her, John parted his lips and called the name of the girl standing before his door. "Lizzie?"
In a quick movement, Lizzie Saltzman turned around. She glimpsed at the young man's figure before looking back at the door she was just knocking and then looking at him again. "I-I thought you were there." She said, pointing at the room. "I didn't find you anywhere in the school. For a moment, I thought you were ignoring me…" She shyly muttered.
"No, no, none of that…" John shook his hand in the air, offering her his usual smile. "I just spent the night outside." He said, walking around her.
Noticing that she was impeding his way, Lizzie quickly stepped to the side, clearing the way. "Outside? But dad prohibits everyone from leaving during full moons."
"I know. But I was outside by his orders, so it's fine." John said, putting the key into the door. He turned it and opened the door, the smell of his room from this world hit him–a smell that was starting to become familiar to him by now.
As he walked inside his room, John gestured for the girl. "You can come in."
"Ah? Okay…" Lizzie weakly nodded, walking slowly as she stepped into the room. Her attention was drawn so much to the details of her surroundings that she didn't notice the dozen boxes floating into the room right after her.
His invitation held no hidden reasons, John just didn't want to let her wait outside as he organized things around.
As he put the boxes on the floor, John opened one of them and took out a can of soda from it. The aluminum used to make the can was relatively warm, as it had been a bit long since the cans were taken from a refrigerator.
However, by just holding it, the can in John's hand started to cool down. And in just one moment, the soda within the can was now at the perfect temperature to drink it.
"What can I help you with, Lizzie?" John asked as he opened the can. "Want my help in something?" He took a sip from his drink.
"Yes. I mean, no! Actually, I…" As she stumbled at her own words, Lizzie took a deep breath to calm herself down. Her anxiety and shyness were forced back as she attempted a confident smile, changing her posture and behavior for one she wished to show the boy. "I came here to see if you would go to the party today."
"Party?" John blurted, not knowing what she meant.
"Ah, right! You are a new student, so you don't know about it yet." Lizzie said, rolling her eyes at herself for forgetting about it. "The day after every full moon, we throw a party to celebrate. To commemorate one more full moon without troubles and such." She explained.
I guess that's what they meant for celebration. John thought. "I see…" John put his can off to the side, kneeling on the floor to open a few more boxes. "And where is this party? How does it work?"
"Well, we just take a good amount of drinks and go to an old abandoned mill in the forest." Lizzie kept her eyes on the boy, expecting to see how he would respond to her words. "We party basically all night! We put out some loud music, get some weed the vamps plant and-"
Before Lizzie could continue her words about how fun the party would be, John raised his hand to stop her. "Thanks for the invite, Lizzie. But from how you picture it, that's not my kind of party."
"No, no! It will be fun!" She quickly tried to say something that would change his opinion. "I'm just not wording it better! Believe me, it will be super fun!"
John thinned his lips at her attempt with more words. "Sorry, Lizzie. But I will pass, okay? How about something different at a later date?" He said, quickly dismissing the topic.
As he opened up another box, John casually referred to her again. "Could you close the door after you leave?"
"Yeah…" She weakly affirmed, walking away from the room and closing the door after leaving.
After he was left alone in his room, John waited a few moments before letting out a long sigh.
"Tsk… She is a good girl. Just not exactly on the right track yet." John muttered, taking out the items from the boxes.
However, he couldn't finish emptying the first one before he heard a knock on his door. And from the steps he just heard, John was pretty sure who this person was.
"It's open."
Following his words, John listened as the door to his room was opened. Turning his head, he watched with a certain fondness the girl standing right outside of it.
"Where has the chivalry of men gone these days? Not even opening a door for a girl." Hope said, the teasing in her voice obvious as she stepped into the room.
That's how you wanna play? John inwardly grinned. "Oh, I'm sorry." He hastily said, standing up to his feet and straightening his back. "I should make sure the entrance of such a noble character as yourself is heard, Miss Mikaelson. Let me announce your titles." He exaggeratedly said, putting his right hand above his chest and the left on his back.
John took a long breath, and his voice was about to be heard throughout the whole school. "Be welcomed, the Princess of-!"
The girl widened her eyes. "Okay, okay, stop!" Hope quickly said, walking towards him and trying to cover his mouth with her hands. "I was just playing. No need to make me embarrassed!"
"Hahaha…" John laughed at her reaction, grasping her hands before they reached him. He brought both their hands down. "Hey, Hope. Good seeing you." He warmly smiled at her, and then he pulled her into a hug.
A little flabbergasted by his actions, Hope quickly settled in. "Likewise, John." She said, her arms going around his torso and reciprocating the hug.
They enjoyed each other's comfort for some time before John leaned back a little, getting some sight at Hope's face. "So, how coincidental was it for you to appear right after Lizzie left my room?"
"None at all." Hope said. "I heard everything from my room."
The boy couldn't help but smirk at her bluntness. "Well, I won't blame you. I guess something the school could improve surely would be the walls. They can break most sounds, but surely they could improve it considering it is a school for supernatural teenagers." He said, breaking the hug.
"Don't even try to bring that topic to Dr. Saltzman. He has some paranoid reasons for not allowing it." Hope took a few steps back, looking at the boy up and down.
She wasn't subtle about it, so John noticed it. "Verifying if I am fine?"
"Yeah." Hope nodded, looking up at his eyes. "What? Expecting me to not worry over you?"
"I'm pretty sure I told you I was fine." John walked to one of the nearest boxes.
"I like to confirm things with my own eyes." Hope said, observing his movements. It was then that she paid more attention to her surroundings and noticed the piles of boxes. "What is all of this?"
"My payment for helping Jeremy." John replied. "Maybe I got a little bit carried away in a supermarket and added a lot of stuff into the cart."
"A little bit, you say." Hope approached one of the boxes and ripped it open, revealing the products. She picked it up and raised the object to her eyes level. "Are these magnets?"
"Yup." John nodded, opening a box with some smaller boxes of candy in it. "I brought it to test a few things out."
"Related to your powers?"
"Yup again." Where will I put all of this? "It's just some basic things, like improving minute control and such. I probably didn't spend fifty dollars on that. Most of the money was spent on food." John rose to his feet.
Hope nodded in understanding, putting down the magnets. She cast a long look over the room and noticed a problem while doing so. "Where exactly do you plan to store all of this, in your closet? Or you will simply leave these in a corner?"
"My line of thoughts didn't get there when buying all of this." John said. "I thought I could use the school's fridge and put my name in it to protect from picky hands, but after a warning from Dr. Saltzman and Lizzie's words, I now know today is not a good day to leave anything in the fridge." At the end of his words, a thought crossed the boy's mind. "Maybe I could put some magical barrier around them, that doesn't sound so bad." He muttered, giving the idea some real consideration.
"Do you know how to cast a magical barrier?" Hope questioned.
His answer was a smile directed at her. "No, but that's why I have you." John said. "Mind helping a friend?"
"You know that I don't." Hope said. "Need help to carry them?" She looked at the boxes.
"No, it's fine." John replied. With a bit of intention, the boxes started to float in the air again.
As he walked up to the door, John opened it gently as he slightly bowed his head. "Ladies first."
Hope just humorously snorted as she walked out of the room, momentarily waiting in the corridor for John to close the door before proceeding to walk down the hallway again by his side. "So, Lizzie's invite didn't pick your interest?"
"About the party? No. Definitely not my thing." John shook his head, directing a look at the girl. "What about you? Will you go to this old mill thing?"
"No chance. I don't have friends there and these kinds of parties are not exactly the best when you don't have anyone to enjoy it with." Hope ran her hand over the handrail as she walked down the staircase. "I will probably spend the night watching something or getting ahead on homework."
"Please, will you need the nerd here to advise you to not spend your Sunday night doing homework?" John expressed a bit of indignation. "The idea of watching something sounds much better. What do you think?"
"Are you suggesting something?" Hope softly said, slowing her pace.
The corners of John's lips curled up slightly. "I am." John halted his steps, turning around to face Hope. "How about this? The school has some projectors, right? I will ask Dr. Saltzman for permission to use one of them and a classroom. We can spend the night marathoning some movies or series, it's your call."
Facing him up, a light of curiosity crossed Hope's eyes. "Are you… asking me out?"
The question made John eat his words momentarily, thinking over his words while Hope giggled at his expression.
"I guess it is." John said, snorting in realization at the end of his words. "What do you think?"
"I believe this will be a great evening." Hope smiled broadily, resuming her walk down the stairs.
John did the same. "I am of the same thought." He said, following her. "So, what are we gonna watch?" He walked, not for a moment his eyes averted Hope's figure.
"Do you want to choose the movie?" She asked.
"Nope. You gave the idea at first, you choose." John said as they reached the ground floor. "And while you choose the movie, how about I prepare a few things for us to eat? It could be anything you want."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Since I'm deciding what we'll watch, you will decide what we'll eat." Hope said, the corner of her lips still curled up. It wasn't the same broad smile from a moment ago, but just enough to show her happiness. "Well, then I will make use of your courtesy, okay?"
"I'm here to serve you, madam." John said, not holding his smile as well.
Hope laughed at his words. She walked ahead as the young man was right behind her, the boxes following right behind as silent spectators.
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A/N
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