#hope haddon

Starts the season off by going after Otis and Maeve to nip the 2 obvious trouble makers before moving on to focus on the black, queer and neurodivergent students, and there’s a clear intent in how she talks to the 3.

She does not respect Cal as a non binary person and sees them as a women, which makes the continuous assaults clearly misogynoir on top of transphobia and erasure.

She dismisses and then initially sees Jackson as useful particularly for image purposes before dumping him because of Jackson’s own sense of justice getting in her way.

Viv is the most useful for a lot of the season because as a neurodivergent coded character Viv is vulnerable to authority due to how isolating it can be, as well as her desire for structure and good prospects. Hopes treatment of Viv gets so comfortable that she finally says some gross stuff right before the open day. This ultimately destroys her plan cause us neurodivergent folk have a strong sense of justice when rattled, when something is wrong we hate it.

Then there’s the sign hanging scene. Truly monstrous attempt to tamp down on the school, force every student to follow the rules by directly separating the black (cal) queer (cal, lily, Adam) and nuerodivergent (it’s coding but lily and Adam have a lot of coding) students and labelling them as outcasts and freaks.

This all doesn’t work mainly because the students destroy hopes power the only way you can: make clear that you embrace being a loud proud deviant and are not going to be silenced

And right at the end when Hope is attempting to tut tut Otis with her ‘I’m older and wiser and everyone from back when agrees with me’ Otis destroys her logic calmly by saying ‘no, they just weren’t allowed to speak up back then’.

Pro tip: a useful trick to destroying a fascist is to make it clear they’re views are not popular and they are in the minority.

Summary: A rendezvous turns into an unexpectedly tender moment between Hope and Faith.

Word Count: 371

Warnings: Implied oral sex, angst, teacher/student situationship (Faith is of age)

Faith withdrew her head from between Hope's thighs and pulled back, steadying herself on Hope's knees. "Hope? Is everything okay? Did I…do anything wrong?"

Hope shook her head. "No. No, it’s not you," she admitted, not elaborating any further.

Faith swiped at her bottom lip with her thumb and stood up. "Then what is it? You didn’t seem to be enjoying yourself," she stated. There was no blame in her words, only concern. Faith knew Hope wasn’t having the easiest time acclimating to Moordale Secondary.

"I'm not saying I didn’t like it. I guess I’m just a bit distracted."

"Isn’t that what I’m here for," Faith teased. "A distraction?" Hope smiled at the joke, but it seemed a little forced. "Hey, talk to me," Faith urged, shifting her position so she was sat at the edge of Hope's desk.

"I’m not even sure I know what’s wrong. Maybe I’m just feeling sorry for myself. This new job was supposed to fix everything and it’s only caused more of a mess." By the end of her sentence, Hope was nearly in tears.

"That’s a lot of pressure to heap upon a job. You decided to be a head teacher, not a fairy godmother." A brief laugh interrupted the sob that escaped her at the same moment. Faith grabbed a tissue from the box on her right and offered it to Hope. "You’re doing as well as can be expected. Moordale can be—" Faith paused, looking around the room as she searched for the right word. "Challenging," she finally settled on.

"Understatement, but thank you," Hope replied, wiping away her tears.

"Didn’t I tell you I was more than just a pretty face and a good tongue?"

Hope cracked a smile again, albeit a fleeting one. A silence fell between them for the next moment, before Hope spoke up again. "Don’t you have somewhere to be?"

Faith shrugged. "I’m not worried. I have an in with the head teacher."

"Very funny," Hope deadpanned. "Go. I’ll be fine."

"Are you sure? I can stay if you need me to."

"No, I mean it. Go. I’ll see you later." Faith gave a nod and headed for the door, offering a wave before she left.

I really love this moment between Cal and shitty, TERFy Hope.