'i'll take that explanation now'

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Georgie mostly spent the next ten minutes trying to stop Number 17 from flirting with her AND getting the ball. She seemed mostly capable of stopping him from getting the ball - but sadly the flirting just didn't stop no matter how much she told him she wasn't interested. She could slowly feel herself getting more frustrated with him but she was sure that she was able to keep control for once.

Just as Kaleb scored another touchdown for them, Lizzie gathered the team for one last huddle before the game was over. Georgie noticed that they were at 42 points while the Timberwolves were at 48, which meant they only needed to score this last touchdown to beat Mystic Falls High School.

"Okay, guys. Last play of the game. It's Hail Mary time. Everyone but Josie, go long," Lizzie told them all, before seeing the confused look on Georgie's face. She paused as she considered explaining the play to the hybrid before remembering she didn't even know the rules of the game. "Georgie, just keep doing... whatever it is that you've been doing."

"Wait, what do I do?" Josie asked, interupting her sister as the rest of the team started to jog back out and on to the field. Georgie could hear their argument from across the pitch, but her attention was snatched away as she felt the presence of Number 17 again.

Georgie rolled her eyes as she cast him a slight glance, noticing that he had a wide grin on his faec as he stared at her. She took the bait, spinning around to properly face him as he looked her up and down while pretending to lick her lips. Her rage was beginning to rise again, but she was managing to keep it down for now.

"What is your problem?" She snarled, making a few heads turn to look at the duo while the rest of the team continued their argument about not passing the ball to Josie. She noticed MG and Kaleb turn to look over in her direction having heard her voice raise a little and noticing the anger in it.

"Let me take you to our afterparty tonight and I'll tell you all about it," he told her, causing Georgie to fake gag before turning back around and ignoring them. Kaleb sent her a worried look but she nodded to show him that she was fine, and that the teenage boy wasn't going to get a rise out of her anytime soon.

As the final play of the game burst into action, Georgie could do nothing but watch as Lizzie launched the ball down the field and towards Kaleb. She watched with held breath as the ball almost soared straight into his hands, before it somehow tumbled straight out of them at the last second.

She turned her head, noticing Josie on the ground looking slightly guilty and Georgie realised that the girl had siphoned some magic from her when they had all been talking minutes prior.

The Mystic Falls Timberwolves and their fans started going wild as the buzzer sounded, having won the game for yet again another year in a row. Georgie looked around to see her team devastated that they would be able to tease them with this for another year, but she understood why Josie had done what she did. If her father was alive she would have done anything to make him proud of her and she couldn't hate Josie for wanting to do the same for her own.

Georgie walked over to stand in-between the twins as they formed a line to shake hands with the Timberwolves, ignoring the crude comment that came from Number 17 as she shook hands with him. Lizzie and Josie both shared a glance with her but backed down as they noticed Georgie wasn't bothered with it at all.

"Good game," Josie said from beside her as she shook hands with Dana, the blonde that Lizzie had been bickering with the entirety of the match. The girl simply rolled her eyes and sneered back at Josie, a cruel smile on her lips as she looked at the twin.

"Suck it, loser."

Everyone watched in shock as Lizzie reared her fist back suddenly, slamming it into Dana's face as she screamed at the girl. "Not now, Dana!"

Georgie laughed slightly, watching as Dana rose to her feet and aimed a similar punch straight back at the girl. Her fist connected with Lizzie's own face and sent the girl stumbling backwards, wiping the smile straight off of Georgie's face too.

As Dana went to move in for another punch, Georgie felt her protective side rise up as she turned to look at Dana. The hybrid saw it coming and moved in front of Lizzie, shoving the twin backwards as she took the full blow of the punch. There was a sickening crack that came from the side of her face as she took the full blow, sending the hybrid stumbling back to her knees.

Everyone launched into a mob at that point, Dorian rushing over to try and pull Lizzie and Dana off each other from where they were fighting. Josie crouched down in front of Georgie, making the girl look up at the witch and causing her to gasp as she noticed the yellow shimmer to Georgie's eyes as the girl breathed heavily.

"Dorian!" Josie called out, the man instantly hearing the panic in her voice from where he had just managed to pull Lizzie off of Dana and turning around to look at Josie. He instantly noticed the yellow in Georgie's eyes and pushed Lizzie gently towards her sister and friend, his eyes wide as he tried to also stop the rest of the students from brawling.

"Take her up to your dorm and calm her down before anyone else sees!" He ordered, knowing that if anyone could calm her down it was the twins or Hope, and since Hope wasn't here he just hoped that they would manage to do it themselves.

_____

Lizzie lightly touched the bruise forming under her left eye as she stared into the compact mirror, her eyes widening as she prodded it gently and wincing at the stab of pain that spread across her face from the contact. Her head shot up as Josie closed the door behind her, two bags of frozen peas in her arms as she smiled sheepishly at Lizzie.

She passed them to her sister as a peace offering, looking at her black eye with a slight grimace. "You mad at me?"

Lizzie sighed at hearing the worry in her sister's voice, putting the mirror down and looking back up at her sister as she thought about the past twenty minutes since they had left the playing field.

"No. I'm mad at the world, and you just happen to be in it," Lizzie told her before noticing the second bag of peas in Josie's hand. "About those peas..."

"Well, you're about to be..." Josie cut her off, not realising what Lizzie was about to tell her. She sat the second bag down as she moved to stand in front of Lizzie's bed with guilt covering her face as she looked at her twin. "I did a little spell at the game-- I made Kaleb drop the ball. And I totally did black magic with Hope."

There was a moment of silence as Lizzie's face dropped at the news, a mixture of emotions going through her as she studied her twin with ultimately disappointment. She had forgotten what she was needing to tell Josie about the second bag of peas as she furrowed her eyebrows from where she sat on her bed.

"Well, let's just call this what it is. You betrayed me," Lizzie told her, feeling more attacked as Josie doing black magic with Hope than her throwing the match.

"I was worried about disappointing Dad. So, I disappointed you instead."

Both of the girls sat there in silence for a moment, each of them with tears in their eyes as they waited for the other to say something else. Lizzie broke first as she let out a deep breath before wiping at her eyes and turning back to look at her twin.

"I'll forgive you if you promise not to keep secrets about doing black magic with Hope. You're my sister-- my best friend-- and she spent the last ten years making us feel like we don't matter. And I don't like feeling that way. Not from Hope, and not from girls like Dana... Not from Dad, and not from you.""I promise. Okay? I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I mean, betrayal and all aside, you had my back today."

"And you had mine," Josie replied, a small smile on her face as they both laughed at the memory of Lizzie punching Dana. They both chuckled loudly, knowing that they certainly did have each others backs.
Just before either of them could say anything else, a loud whine from the floor next to Lizzie's bed echoed throughout the room. Josie sat up straight in confusion while Lizzie simply lifted one of the pillows on her bed and lightly threw it down to the floor beside her.
"Yes, we know you had our backs too," she rolled her eyes, hearing a small huff from the floor next to her bed as Josie continued to stare at her like she was crazy. Her eyes fell on the second bag of peas and she suddenly understood exactly what the noise had been, her eyes widening in annoyance as she turned to look at Lizzie.
"You were supposed to keep Georgie human while I got the peas!" Josie exclaimed, hearing a moan from the wolf that was resting down the side of the bed. She heard some shuffling before its large head poked up from the side, resting on the edge of the bed as bright yellow eyes glimmered at her for a moment.
"I think she'd still like the peas," Lizzie shrugged, watching as the wolf ripped open the bag and began to eat the raw, frozen peas. The twins both grimaced slightly before Josie shook her head and turned back to look at Lizzie.
"So... what are we gonna do about Dad?""More like, what is he gonna do to us?" Lizzie replied, causing both of them to laugh. The girl's laughter only increased as Wolf Georgie started making short barking noises that they identified as laughs too, all three of them breaking out into hysterical laughter as Josie started icing Lizzie's eye while they waited on Alaric returning from his mysterious trip.

____

The twins were almost asleep in Lizzie's bed when the door to the room stirred them fully awake, Josie sitting bolt upright as she watched him shut the door behind him while Lizzie rubbed at her eyes and slowly sat up too. He smiled warmly at them as he entered the room, while both of them tried to find an explanation into what had occurred that day.

"Dad, I can explain..."

As Josie began to try and explain, she was cut off by Alaric shushing her and simply sitting on the bed with them. He pulled them into a tight hug, just glad after everything he had witnessed that day - especially a dragon - that they were safe and sound. He rubbed their heads as he held them close, a smile on his face as he thanked the heavens that he had been blessed with them.

Just as he was appreciating the silence it was broken by a small snort from across the room. Josie and Lizzie shared a sheepish look with each other, forgetting to have mentioned to their dad that Georgie had turned and then hadn't turned back and until he came in had been sleeping on Josie's bed rather peacefully.

Alaric almost jumped ten feet into the air as he noticed the yellow eyes watching him, a large black tail now thumping against Josie's covers as the wolf stretched itself out and moved towards him. He narrowed his eyes as he jumped to his feet, turning to look between the girls and Georgie in annoyance.

"I'll take that explanation now, I think."

____

"Hey, where were you last night? I didn't hear you come in," Hope asked Georgie the next morning as the girls both got ready for the day ahead. Alaric had called an assembly that morning about urgent matters, and Georgie just prayed for once it wasn't going to be about something that her and her friends would need to get involved in.

Georgie paused as she tied her lapel tie, not sure how to explain to Hope that she had stayed in Josie's bed as a wolf all night while Lizzie and Josie had shared the blonde twin's bed. She opened her mouth once or twice before eventually turning to Hope with a sheepish look on her face.

"I stayed with the twins," Georgie said as she noticed Hope's face fall slightly. "But it wasn't like that, I would have came back but I was kinda... furry?"

Hope gasped slightly at the news, before letting out a loud laugh at Georgie. "You stayed the night as a wolf?"

"I couldn't turn back, I swear! Josie left the room and told Lizzie to calm me down and I couldn't control the shift at all and next thing I know I'm acting like a literal puppy all night and watching them sleep!" Georgie rambled, making Hope just laugh even harder at the fact the Lockwood had watched the twins sleep all night. "Honestly, I'm starting to make Edward Cullen look like the boy next door at this point."

"Are you sure it was both of them you were watching? Or just Josie?" Hope asked, wriggling her eyebrow at Georgie as the tribrid pulled on a sweatshirt, before rummaging through her own wardrobe and picking out a spare oversized Salvatore branded sweatshirt for Georgie who was having trouble finding her own.

Georgie thanked the girl as she threw the sweatshirt on, admiring it in the mirror with her plaid skirt and vans before turning back to look at Hope, trying to act like she had no idea what the girl was talking about. Her facade immediately fell as she gave in, throwing her hands in the air as she started tying her shoelaces.

"Okay, I am not having this conversation with you today as I'm currently very angry at you for keeping secrets from me about whatever you, Alaric and Rafael were up to during the game, so we can continue this conversation once you can be bothered to stop hiding things from me."

Hope's mouth dropped open in disbelief as Georgie's mood changed so suddenly, watching as the girl rolled her eyes and stormed out of their shared room. The hybrid felt slightly bad for sudden exploding on Hope, but she was getting fed up with all of the secrets that everyone had been keeping - and even though she was hiding her own in the fact she clearly fancied Josie, hers wasn't exactly life or death like everyone else's seemed to be.

Her entire plan was to simply avoid everyone for the day and take some time to herself, maybe help the younger kids with their gardening skills later on and go for a fat nap to avoid having to talk to anyone but that came tumbling down not even an hour into the school day as Emma appeared in the common area, informing her that Alaric wanted to see her in the library.

Much to her disappointment, she was met there with Hope who she still wasn't in the mood to talk to and the twins who she knew were still confused as to why she hadn't said goodbye before she snuck out from their room earlier that morning before they woke. Alaric was halfway through explaining to them all that he had signed them up for community service in Mystic Falls town centre before Lizzie finally interrupted the man.

"This makes no sense, Dad. Why are we being punished?" Lizzie huffed, her arms crossed as she pouted slightly at her dad in complete annoyance.

"Because you started a brawl at a charity football game that risked exposing what we really do here!" Alaric exclaimed, annoyed that they didn't understand why he was annoyed at them. He knew that they were teenagers, but he thought they'd have had more common sense during the game.

"Well, you weren't mad last night!"Lizzie pouted, stomping her feet as she looked to Josie and Georgie for backup. Both of the girls stayed silent and ignored her pleading look, knowing that Alaric could easily sign them up for another day of service if they pushed him too far.

"I was mad last night! My undying love for my daughters just happened to trump my rage," he replied, his voice a little softer at the end. "And I was also distracted by the fact there was a WOLF on your sister's bed - who, by the way, last time I checked had bare minimum control of herself when in her wolf form!"

Georgie shuffled sheepishly as everyone turned to look at her, knowing that the man had a point. She had previously shown a significant lack of control when in her wolf form and usually tried to attack everyone that came near her - but for some reason last night she had been completely timid and tame. Hope furrowed her eyebrows at this, not having thought about that when Georgie had mentioned it that morning but now that Alaric had said it she realised that he made a good point.

"I volunteered everyone in the game, so stop complaining. You're lucky that it's just community service and not actual jail time."

"Can I at least offer a rebuttal in my defense, if it pleases the court?" Lizzie continued, not trying to even bother arguing with him about Georgie's presence in their room the night before. Everyone rolled their eyes at her theatrics while Alaric gestured for her to go on and give it a shot.

"First of all, I was provoked-- my response was totally proportional considering the levels of abuse that I was forced to endure," Lizzie started, making Hope chuckle slightly which only seemed to annoy the blonde even more. "And secondly... If anyone should take the blame, it's Josie!"

Josie almost flinched at the accusation, sending Lizzie a betrayed look as she turned to look at her twin in disgust. Georgie rolled her eyes at the same time Hope did, Alaric noting how similar the girls acted probably from all the time they spent together since Georgie arrived at the school.

"What?!" Josie exclaimed, the hurt spread across her face.

"I'm sorry. I totally cracked during cross, but if you had just let Kaleb catch the ball--"

"Yeah, okay--"

"You'd still be in trouble--"

"But nice job throwing your sister under the bus!" Hope interrupted the bickering, watching slightly surprised as Josie turned to look at the girl with a small affectionate smile for defending her against her sister. Georgie saw the look Josie gave Hope and rolled her own eyes, annoyed at the girl she liked being friendly with the girl she currently wanted nothing to do with.

"Thank you, Hope."

"Speaking of, the bus leaves in ten minutes, and I expect all four of you on it, working together today, harmoniously and without drama. End of debate," Alaric said, trying to put an end to the arguing he had caused amongst the teenagers.

"I wasn't even at the game," Hope scoffed, rolling her eyes as she glared at Alaric. The man sighed as he turned to look at her, having thought that this argument would have ended by now. "Why am I being punished?"

"You know what you did."

"What, being a compulsive liar maybe?" Georgie asked as she rolled her eyes, causing them all to turn to look at her as she spoke for the first time. Everyone studied her for a moment before she turned on her heel and stormed away from them, an aura of anger and annoyance following her as she left the library.

"What's up with her?" Josie asked, confused at how hostile Georgie had seemed. Lizzie turned to look at her twin in anger at what had just happened.

"Maybe you should ask your new best friend, Hope."

And with that, Lizzie Saltzman followed in the footsteps of the Lockwood legacy as she too stormed out of the library to begin the worst day imaginable in her opinion. She couldn't help but feel like this was going to be a terrible day from start to finish.