Hope sat on her usual spot on the sofa in the living room with her box of drawing pencils on the coffee table in front of her. She leaned forward to go through them and didn't look up as she called out, "Take a seat, big brother." Hope just knew Brandon had come into Grey House.

Brandon had just finished closing the front door when he heard Hope's words. He'd swear she was more in tune to people's arrival than even Cassie was at times. Since he hadn't had a talk that ended well with Lori he hoped that this conversation would go better. Hope was already calling him 'big brother' so that was a step in the right direction.

Brandon entered the sitting room and sat down beside her. "What are you working on?"

"Something for art class. It's kind of like a 'then and now' thing. We're supposed to draw something of meaning from our childhood beside the item now that reflects the same meaning." Hope had found the pencil she was looking for and put the finishing touches on her piece.

"Can I see it?" He looked over to see what it was but moved back when Hope glared at him. "I can wait."

"Smart," she replied with a smile then looked over her picture. "I think that's it." Hope tossed the pencil back into the box and handed over her sketchbook.

Brandon carefully took the book from her and almost couldn't believe his eyes. Hope had sketched her father in his police chief uniform standing with his arm wrapped around Brandon wearing his own uniform. They were both smiling with joy and pride and Brandon couldn't even express what seeing that meant to him. "Hope, this is incredible."

"I meant it when I said you looked just like Dad." Hope scooted closer to Brandon and rested her head on his shoulder. "Is this what you really want to do?"

"It is," Brandon assured her. "I wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't."

"Then I support you. I'm going to worry about you a lot – which is a given – but I support you." Hope sat up and let out a deep breath. "Promise me you'll be careful?" She held out her pinky for him to swear upon.

"I can't remember the last time I did a legit pinky-swear," Brandon chuckled then wrapped his pinky around hers. "I promise I will be careful." Once his vow was made, he hugged his little sister. "Thank you."

"I try," Hope sniffled back some tears then remembered something else. "I've got something for you." She reached into her pocket and handed Brandon a small black stone that had a white snowflake-like pattern upon it.

Brandon accepted the stone and looked it over but didn't recognize it. "What is it?"

"Snowflake Obsidian," Hope answered. "It's to bring balance in times of change, soothe and resolve internal conflict, and to provide protection against emotional and physical harm. Just a little something to carry around in your pocket."

Brandon appreciated it a lot, not only because it'd ease Hope's worries a little but because he believed it'd work for him. After all, Hope had a magic all of her own. "It's perfect, thank you." Brandon wanted to talk to Cassie as well so he stood up to head into the kitchen where she likely was, but he wanted to make sure of something first. "Hope, are we good?"

Hope nodded affirmatively as she picked up her sketchbook and closed the cover. "Yeah, big brother, we're good."

The entire way to school Hope had this strange feeling and it bothered her because she couldn't place what it was, or who it was about, or…anything. She hadn't had a feeling like that before and it was unnerving her to no end. Hope was, well, hoping that she'd be given some clarity as the day went on but none came. At least none came until she went to her locker before going down to lunch.

Hope was swapping out some books and accidentally dropped her sketchbook on the floor. Just when she was about to pick it up another hand appeared and beat her took it. Hope accepted it with a quick, "Thanks," before looking up to see who it was. And she certainly did have to look up since he stood about a foot taller than her.

"You're welcome," he replied with a smile as he extended his hand. "I'm Lance."

Hope shook his hand for a moment longer than she probably should hand before clearing her throat. "You're the Mayor's nephew?" She heard Martha talk to her mom about the arrival of her teenage nephew.

Lance smirked at the news. "You've already heard of me? Good things I hope?"

Hope tilted her head a bit in thought. She wasn't sure what he was yet. While she could tell he was the source of the unknown feeling, she still couldn't figure him out. "We'll see." She closed her locker and walked away.

Lance turned around and called out to her in a laughing manner, "Now how is that fair? I didn't even get your name."

Hope turned around long enough to reply with, "You should have asked." When she resumed walking in her desired direction, Nick match pace with her. "Hey, neighbor."

"Who was that guy?" Nick didn't recognize who was just talking to her.

"That's the Mayor's nephew. His name is Lance and he just transferred in so you're officially not the brand new kid anymore." Hope gave Nick a curious look. "Why so intrigued?"

"I don't usually see you talking to a lot of people." Correction – Nick didn't usually see Hope talking to a lot of boys.

"You should come by my Mom's shop when I'm working. Then you'll see me talking to a whole bunch of people." Hope turned the corner to head down to the cafeteria and found Nick was still walking with her. "Don't you usually leave for lunch?"

Nick shrugged, "Don't feel like it today."

Hope wasn't going to argue with that. "Alrighty then. Hey, do you like the strawberry Starbursts?"

Nick gave her an 'uh, of course' expression. "Uh, yeah. All the other flavors suck."

"You can have them then. I can't stand the strawberry ones." Hope's face cringed a bit as she opened her pack and popped out all the pink ones.

"You're not normal," Nick joked as he popped an unwrapped Starburst into his mouth.

"Oh, neighbor, normal is but an illusion." Hope placed her hand on Nick's shoulder as she continued, "What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly." She grinned before getting into the lunch line.

And Nick, well, he wasn't sure how to even respond to that so he just went along with her.

Later that day Hope realized that she had accidentally taken Grace's notebook which likely meant her own was in Grace's locker so she got a pass to quickly dart out and get it. Hope and Grace knew each other's locker combinations so it wasn't going to be an issue to swap the notebooks out.

Just like Hope thought, her notebook was there and after she placed Grace's where her own was she realized there was something else in there; Harry the Falcon statue. "What?" Suddenly it hit her for no explainable reason. "Nick." She reached in and grabbed the statue to return it before anyone realized it was missing - if they hadn't realized it already. Only she hadn't gotten very far before someone spotted her – The someone being Lance.

Lance was on his way to the restroom when he spotted Hope holding the statue and couldn't help but go over and find out what was going on. "I'm guessing you're not supposed to have that."

"Neither is my sister, but I'm guessing someone stuck it in her locker because no one would think to look there." Hope looked up and down the hallway to see if any authority figure was coming.

Lance reached out and took it from her. "I'll put this back. It's Harry, right? I heard some kids talking about this being missing earlier."

Hope couldn't tell if there was an ulterior motive to his kindness or not. She tilted her head to the side as she tried to figure him out. "Odd."

"Ditto." Lance winked at her before heading down the hall with Harry the Falcon, saying to her as he went, "Maybe the next time we meet I'll actually get your name."

Hope shook her head with a smile made a mental note to ask her mother why there was someone she couldn't get a read on, but first she had to get to class.

After school, Hope went to the Bistro to meet up with Grace. She had a feeling that Nick was about to come out so she stayed outside for him to make his appearance and he soon did. "Not cool, Nick. Whatever shenanigans you want to get yourself into that's on you but leave my sister out of it."

Nick scoffed at this. "Grace told you?"

"She didn't have to." Hope waved her hand around in a general manner. "Merrick Magic remember?" This time she scoffed. "Doesn't matter. By now Harry should be back where he belongs and this time he's going to stay there."

Nick tried to defend himself. "It was a harmless prank."

"Pranks always start out as harmless but in the end there's always someone who ends up getting hurt." Hope took in a deep breath as certain memories filtered into her thoughts. "Trust me, I know." With nothing left to say, she went straight into the Bistro.

Hope didn't say a word to Grace or Anthony as she sat down on the sofa with them. At least she didn't say anything until the words, "Sometimes life just sucks," came out of her mouth.

Grace and Anthony couldn't argue with her there and both raised their cups of coffee, saying, "Cheers to that."

Hope thought that everything with Harry the Falcon had been settled but it was far from it. She found out that Lance had been caught putting the statue back in the display case – the display case in which the glass had been broken in order for the statue to be retrieved. And since Lance didn't mention Hope or sway from his truth that he was just putting it back, he was in hot water with the school and potentially the police since the broken glass was an act of vandalism.

Suffice to say, Hope was fuming when she went over to Nick's house after hearing everything that had happened from Grace who heard it from Anthony who overheard it from the very unhappy Mayor at the Bistro.

Hope's hard raps upon Nick's front door finally got his attention. As soon as answered she seethed, "You are unbelievable! I told you someone was going to get hurt!"

Nick had no clue what she was going on about. "Hope I have zero clue what you're talking about."

"I found Harry in Grace's locker, Lance found me with Harry and offered to return him, but he got caught and now he's in trouble. You need to come clean, Nick. Things are only going to get worse all around if you don't." Like Hope had said before, she was speaking from experience.

"Does your boyfriend know I'm the one who took it?" Nick shot back.

She couldn't even process why he was asking her that. "He's not my boyfriend! I literally just met the guy!" Hope placed her hands on her face and groaned because they were getting so far off topic. "This is about doing what's right. I know you're capable of doing it so the only question is whether or not you're actually going to." Hope intended on leaving right then and there but she had one last thing to say. "I can't control who you hang out with or what you decide to do with your life but I hope one day soon you'll take a hard look at yourself in the mirror and decide whether or not you like the person who's looking back at you."

Now that is where she left him with her words and she didn't stick around long enough to find out if they made a dent or not.

Hope somehow managed not to see either Nick or Lance the next day at school, but afterwards was a different story. Hope was on her way home when Lance caught up with her saying, "Not sure what got into that Nick guy but he admitted to stealing Harry."

Hope allowed herself to smile at this information. "Good to know."

Lance chuckled at her smile before letting her in on some more information. "Bonus, Aunt Mayor is laying off a little bit. Can't blame her for being tough on me. I'm in Middleton for 'rehabilitation'." He made sure to use air quotes around that word.

Hope raised a brow of intrigue which made Lance say,

"I got into some trouble at my old school. Fighting trouble. Since it wasn't the first time my mom gave me the choice of military school or coming to live with her big sister for the rest of the school year. Bet you can guess what I chose." Lance wanted to clear something up so Hope wouldn't get the wrong idea about him. "I'd get into fights when kids who couldn't defend themselves got targeted."

"So you were a fighter of the bullies? That's noble but there are other ways to help."

Lance nodded in agreement. "True, and at first that's the route I took but a lot of times a 'good talking to' just made things worse. The creeps at my old school remember fists better than words. So I used what worked."

Hope tilted her head a little as she looked at Lance and a little smile appeared on her face.

Lance noticed this but wasn't sure what she was smiling about. "What's that for?"

"I just realized why I can't figure you out – You're an enigma." Her smile grew a bit. "This is going to be fun."

"Since I'm providing so much entertainment for you, can I finally get your name?" Lance could have easily asked around but wanted to hear it from her. "I know you're not Grace, we've been introduced."

Hope laughed before introducing herself as well. She held her hand out for him to shake, "I'm Hope. It's nice to meet you, Lance."

Lance shook her hand and replied with, "Nice to meet you as well."

Hope almost couldn't believe the weekend was upon them and the dedication for their father. She stood in front of the full length mirror in her bedroom and looked at herself. Hope didn't like wearing skirts or dresses but for that day she made an exception. She decided to wear a simple black dress, flats, and a sweater. Hope was finishing tying up the braid in her hair when her sisters came into the room. "I feel like I'm going to his funeral again." Hope shook her head and sat down at the foot of the bed.

Lori and Grace sat on either side of her. Lori started by saying, "I'm not sure how I should feel – whether I should be happy or sad."

"I think a little of both," Grace replied as she took Hope's hand in hers. "This day is to remember Dad. Whether we're happy about what we remember or mourn him being gone I don't think it matters. Just as long as we remember him, you know?"

Hope nodded as she sniffled back her tears. "I miss him so much."

"We do, too," Lori assured her, despite knowing that Hope already knew that. "Everyday." She stood up and held her hands out to her sisters. "Let's go."

As much as a huge part of her didn't want to go because it honestly made her heart ache, she took Lori's hand and stood up with Grace. At least she wouldn't be going alone. Hope didn't think she'd be able to handle if she was alone. With a deep breath and a hand squeeze to both her sisters, she said, "Let's go." And so they did.

End Season 1 Episode 2