"I don't think anyone will force you," Hope agreed. She was the last person to tell someone to go to school if they didn't want to. She had never gone to school but that was because she was jumping through the timestream to escape from Bishop and all of the other people that wanted her dead. If Hope could go back and go to school, she would. But she felt that at eighteen years old, it was too late to remedy that particular issue. Maybe one day she would take a class or two at Salem State University.
"But if you don't go to school, you won't learn more about this world. I can't teach you everything, Toph. I'm new to this world too."
Hope wasn't quite as new to this world as Toph was. She had almost a year in New York before she had ended up getting pulled into Salem. She wondered if she would even go back if she could. Because even back home Hope didn't truly believe she could be normal. She was still worried about Scott and The X-Men would always find a way to pull her back. She knew that. There were too many people she cared about there, not to mention those she felt responsible for like Idie.
"And hey, maybe you'll make some friends. That wouldn't be so bad, right?" Hope smiled. She knew that Toph couldn't see it but maybe she would hear it in her voice.
The little girl had a chip on her shoulder but Hope didn't mind. She used to have one too and sometimes still did. She was bitter about what happened Nathan and the general cruelty of the world but she didn't want to be closed off anymore. It was that openness that had allowed her to make a connection with Toph.
She finished off her waffle cone and tossed the wrapper in a nearby trash bin on the sidewalk.