Hope, and her twin sister Faith, were generally the people to 'know' at Holy Savior Menard Central High School, and had a small clique which formed the 'in-crowd'. Faith was the shyer of the two, and though she was loud, and outspoken about things she truly believed in, Hope easily made friends enough for the both of them. Being nice and friendly to everyone had its advantages, and led her to meet Tripp Reynolds on her first day of seventh grade. Tripp became an important person in Hope's life, one that she and her sister both came to trust and fight over on occasion. The three of them became nearly inseparable, and it wasn't at all odd for Tripp to join the Tyler family on short vacations or excursions in the summer months.
School went, as school normally does. There were a few mishaps and dramas, but such is the life of a teenager. Nothing major, aside from a bit of sibling rivalry over boys. Hope became captain of both the gymnastics team and the cheerleading squad, while Faith stuck to swim team. Graduation came and went, with the girls starting at Louisiana State University Alexandria - Hope choosing to major in education with a minor in English, and Tripp leaving to head to the University of Phoenix in Dallas, Texas. Even though the trio was separated for the first time in years, they maintained a good, steady friendship.
Everything in life was perfect, so far as the twins were concerned. The summer they turned nineteen, Tripp was scheduled to come home for a visit. The girls worked together with a few of their friends from the 'in-crowd' to set up a party for his return. They saved up enough to rent a small hall, as well as hire a disc-jockey. While setting up for the party, Hope came to the realization that she cared for Tripp as more than a friend. She went to share the news with her sister, but stopped just outside the door of Faith's room when she heard voices. She cracked the door open, she found Faith and Tripp leaned in close together as he kissed her. Feeling somewhat betrayed and heartbroken, she quietly went downstairs to wait. The incident was not mentioned at all on the way to the party.
While still remaining mostly silent, Hope enjoyed her time at the party. She didn't purposefully avoid her sister or Tripp, she simply made sure she was constantly surrounded by old friends as well as new, keeping up a happy facade. The night wore on, and she saw no other signs of affection from the two people she was closest to. Still, Hope graciously bowed out when they offered to take her home to her parent's place. Her excuse was that she needed to stay behind to ensure that the hall was clean. Faith protested that they should all stay, but Hope shoo'd them out the door.
It was the worst mistake in her entire life.
Hope had cranked the music up loud, so that she could slip away into her thoughts as she cleaned up the hall, so she missed the first strains of the altercation taking place outside. It wasn't until she was taking a bag of garbage out that she became aware of the situation. As Faith and Tripp had left the hall, they were accosted by an extremely oddly dressed woman that Hope had never seen before. She stood on the steps a while, trying to make out what was happening, but it wasn't until she heard Tripp's pained cry that her brain adjusted to the situation. What was happening wasn't real, was it? The vampires had come out of the proverbial coffin, that was all over the news, but they had that synthetic blood so why would they be chowing down on Tripp?
Frozen to the spot, she did nothing to try and save her friend. If it really was a vampire, she had no hope of defending herself or the others. Had that been all that happened, things probably would have been fine. Unfortunately a group of people from the party chose that moment to return, startling the female vampire, which caused her to turn swiftly, tearing Tripp's throat. Faith didn't scream, but as the vampire fled, Hope did. Then she dropped the bag of garbage as she ran down to assess the situation and call for help.
Little good it did. The vampire had glamoured Faith, only it was a quick, poorly done glamour and left holes in the girl's memory. Tripp was bleeding profusely, and though she pulled off her pantyhose and tried to put pressure on the wound, by the time the paramedics showed up it was too late. Tripp died on his way to the hospital, and Faith was left addle-brained.
The time immediately following the death of Tripp, and the 'loss' of her sister became a hard, dark time for the once vibrant and vivacious girl. Not only was she heartbroken by the death of the boy she had come to love, and the loss of the constant companionship of her sister, but she felt that it was entirely her fault. Hope began to spiral into a deep depression, that was made worse as her parents virtually ignored her existence as they tried to cope with the changes in Faith while getting her settled into Green Oaks Psychiatric Center in Dallas, Texas.
While her family was away, Hope ran into a family friend who had recently left their congregation. He told her of a church in the Dallas area that might be able to help her through everything. She signed up for one of their leadership conferences, and was completely sold on everything they stood for. If they were going to help people like herself protect themselves from the evil in the world, she knew she had to be a part of it.
The Tyler's had gotten Faith institutionalized in Dallas, and that was Hope's cue. Telling her parents that she wished to transfer her credits to SMU so that she could be close enough to the hospital to visit Faith whenever she wished to, and so that they wouldn't have to worry about traveling back and forth so much, she set everything in motion. After giving herself a month to get back into the swing of things with school and her part time job in the food court at the mall, she sought out the Fellowship of the Sun and became a member of their congregation. Over the next several months, she became more and more determined to do whatever was necessary to prevent others from suffering the fate of her friend and her sister.
In the month's since Faith was first institutionalized, she's become part of the girl she used to be — though not entirely the same. She started calling herself 'Rose' (her middle name), and took to the center quite a bit. She's now allowed day passes, most of which are taken with Hope while they go shopping and try to get Faith used to doing daily routine stuff.
UPDATE
Faith has since gotten out of the facility and living her own life, allowing Hope to once more go out and actually live her own life as well. Hope met Robert Cornett in January 2005, and the pair started dating shortly thereafter. Since then their lives have been pretty much turned upside down, with Bobby's parents being attacked by a wolf, his father dying, his mother becoming a werewolf, and a brief breakup.
It's not all been Bobby's family that has been the issue either, as they've had to survive their own attacks by a wolf, a visit from Mr. & Mrs. Tyler, an old friend returning as a vampire, a kidnapping, and Hope being bit by one of the demons.
Still, they managed to get through it all and were married on August 28th, 2005.