Chapter Text
It was the first day of freshman year at Arkadia Academy and Clarke was terrified. She knew it was a bizarre feeling to be terrified of a place she was already familiar with, a place that she had been attending for years, but last time she was there things were different. Her and Finn were still together, and whilst she was sure that none of her friends would turn on her for breaking uo with him she knew that seeing him everyday was going to be hard. It wasn’t that she didn’t have feelings for him, because she did. It was just she didn’t get that spark in her stomach when she saw him like she used to. When she looked at him she felt the same love and fondness she did when it came to Bellamy. And when he started pressuring her to move faster than she was ready for she knew that it was time she ended things, not just for his sake but for hers as well. She knew it was the right thing but now standing staring at herself in the mirror she started to second guess everything, Maybe pushing those feelings aside and just being with him until the end of high school would have been better. Shaking her head at her own thoughts, she looked herself over one more time looking at the time seeing it was 06:45. Raven and Octavia were picking her up in 15 minutes, they had suggested that they get coffee and breakfast on the way to school to celebrate the new school year. Taking a deep breath she scanned over her outfit, she was wearing dark blue skinny jeans, a dark grey fitted t-shirt, with her apple watch on her right wrist and a charm bracelet that matched the ones Raven and Octavia both wore.
Deciding that she looked fine she grabbed her hairbrush brushing her hair back so it was half in a ponytail and half down. She then grabbed her phone taking it off charge and placing it in her pocket. Turning and seeing her backpack sitting on the bed she put a spare notepad inside and through in some extra pens just in case. Checking the front and making sure she had some spare sanitary products just in case as well as a small bottle of perfume she carried around with her. Turning and grabbing the perfume from her cabinet side she gave herself a few sprays before placing it back in its place and throwing the bag over her shoulder, leaving the room, closing her door behind her descending down the staircase and into her living room, dropping her bag on the couch in front of her before turning and walking into the kitchen, as she did she say her parents in the middle of a make out session.
“Gross, do you guys have to this early in the morning”
“Morning Munchkin” Jake laughed walking over and hugging his daughter “We’re sorry, we can’t help how much we love each other, and we haven’t seen each other in 72 hours”
“Your father is right Clarke, love like ours is uncontrollable” Abby laughed out moving towards her daughter who was still making a disgusted face. Seeing the face her daughter was making she quickly moved over to Clarke wrapping her arms around her daughter who didn’t try and break free. Placing a kiss on Clarke’s forehead she squeezed her softly, “You’ll know what we mean when you meet the one, I promise” Hearing those words Clarke wrapped her arms around her mom taking in the small time she got with her before she headed to bed to sleep before another night shift,
“I know mom, I love you both”
“We know you do Munchkin” Jake added wrapping his arms around them both. The three of them standing there for a minute or two just enjoying being a family and having all three of them in the same room. Something that was sometimes hard with Abbys Hospital schedule, Jakes engineering schedule and Clarke’s School schedule. After a few minutes, Jake let out a breath looking at the time “Right, time for us to get moving Clarke, I’m sure Raven and Octavia are waiting impatiently for you. And my amazing wife needs to get some sleep” They all broke apart, Clarke giving her mom a kiss on the cheek before doing the same with her dad and heading back through the living room and grabbing her bag, opening the door.
As she opened the door she looked through into the kitchen shouting out a soft and loving “I love you both, have a great day” before she could hear their response she closed the door, seeing Raven’s car waiting for her, her best friends in the front seat looking at her tapping their wrists as they laughed trying to fain anger. “I’m sorry my parents were being mushy again” She let out as she jumped in the back seat.
-Woods Café
The three girls made their way inside the café they had been coming to for years. The café was run by an older couple who were in their 70’s. They had their granddaughter Echo working in the café with them and a bunch of younger people. Meaning they were able to talk to all their customers and really get to know everyone. The one thing they all loved about this café was even though it was run by an older couple it catered to the younger generation. Nothing was old school as it was considered. The décor was upto date but they also had a bunch of old school booths that groups of friends could sit in. As well as a massive screen that would play and local football games that aired as well as any sporting events. The effort the older couple put into keeping the café up to date and modern worked as the place was always busy and always had a line.
As they joined the queue a group of dark haired tanned and toned girls walked past them, one of them with the darkest green eyes Clarke had ever seen, Unable to stop herself her eyes followed the woman, their eyes connected and a smile spreading across both their faces. Clarke had no idea what came over her but for some reason she felt like she couldn’t take her eyes off the green eyed beauty, like she was being pulled in her direction by a force more powerful than she could describe. Her heart speed up and she felt insanely warm all of a sudden. Her eyes pinned to the girl she didn’t even know she didn’t hear Raven calling her name. She kept her eyes firmly watching the brunette walk away until she felt a slap on her arm. Shaking her head she turned looking to her friends, “I’m sorry I zoned out”
“Yeah we noticed weirdo, what do you want?”
“Sorry right, my bad, can I have a Decaf Cappuccino and a Danish pastry please”
“Was that so hard huh?” Raven let out laughing at her best friends sudden zone out, turning her attention back to the counter she told the person serving them that was all they wanted. The cashier told them to wait to the side and it would be with them soon. As they waited Raven tapped Clarke on the shoulder asking “What made you zone out huh?”
“Nothing, my brain just went into zone out mode I suppose”
“Sure it did….. Speaking of zone out mode it might wanna go there now” Raven motioned to the entrance of the café, where Finn Collins and Wells Jaha were entering. They both looked over in their direction gently waving over at the three women. Thankfully the two boys made no effort to come over to the three women. “Thank god they didn’t come over here”
“Yeah, I don’t think I can deal with him this early”
“He still being a dick to you?” Octavia asked Clarke, knowing that Finn hadn’t reacted the best to Clarke ending things with her. “Cause I’ll go over there and punch him for you right now”
“O, its okay. He hasn’t messaged me in over a week so that’s a good sign, lets not reverse that by punching him”
“Okay, only if your sure, but you know I’ll do it in a split second no questions asked”
“I know O” Before Clarke could continue someone called out to them, handing over a bag and a paper cup holder with three cups inside it. Reaching forward Clarke grabbed them both off the cashier “Thank you, Have a great day” She responded before turning and heading towards the entrance/exit closely followed by her two best friends. As they walked past Wells and Finn, they all said a small polite hey before continuing onto Raven’s car. Jumping in they headed towards the school, their normal place to sit was on the bleachers near the football field, they’d sit there every morning and catch up on what they’d missed with each other the next day.
As they made their way up the bleachers to sit at the top like normal, Clarke could hear Raven and Clarke whispering back and forth about something, she was pretty sure she knew what it was but she let them whisper laughing to herself until she reached the spot they normally sat. Sitting in her normal spot, she watched as Raven and Octavia sat in their normal spots. Giving them both their coffees and breakfast sandwiches, she saw them exchange a look as she took a bite out of her pastry. “Okay what the hell is it you two?, the looks as entertaining as they are, are getting a little annoying now”
“What do you mean?” Octavia nervously asked, taking a massive bite out of her sandwich
“I know you guys wanna tell me something, so just do it? Like yes I love spending time with you both, but we NEVER meet on the first day of school, your both barely able to get up in time, let alone get to mine on time”
“Okay those are valid points…” Raven started, being looking to Octavia who save her a puppy dog look that said ‘you do it’. Shaking her head at Octavia and letting out a small laugh, a more nervous laugh than anything she looked at Clarke and took a deep breath before she began speaking “So you know that me and O spent loads of time together over the holiday break, like loads of time with you as well, but we spent way more time together than before, and we kinda realised that maybe we like each other in a way that wasn’t friendship…..you know?”
Clarke knew exactly what they meant but she couldn’t resist having a small amount of fun “So what like you ahte each other now…..are you gonna make me choose cause that’s fucked up you know”
“What? No Clarke”
Seeing the panic on both their faces she couldn’t continue on further than that one sentence, looking at them both eh began laughing loudly, when they looked at her confused she stopped her laughter and smiled at them “I’m joking you idiots. I’ve known you two like each other for ages. I’m glad you finally both saw it, though I’m super offended you’ve only just told me”
“We didn’t really know what it was or what we wanted until a couple days ago” Raven explained, her shoulders relaxing at the knowledge Clarke was okay and with her and Octavia being a couple
“Rae’s right, we knew we liked each other but we didn’t know if we wanted to risk losing our friendship, and then we kissed a few weeks ago, and until a couple days ago we had’t spoke about it. But when we did, we realised that we liked each other enough to try”
“That’s amazing O, honestly, I’m super happy for you both. I’d hug you both but that can wait cause this pastry is fucking amazing”
“Wow a pastry comes over support huh” Raven let out when Clarke went to lunge at her to hug her she put her hand out stopping the blonde “I’m joking dude, I don’t want pastry all over me” Seeing the smile on Clarke’s face she couldn’t help but ask “Your okay with this tho right?”
“Rae like I said I’m happy for you both, I can see you really like each other. And as long as you don’t hurt each other then I’m fine with it. Anyway if I wasn’t it wouldn’t matter, because its about you too nobody else”
“Thanks Clarke” Raven and Octavia said in unison as they looked at each other smiling brightly before Octavia leant into Raven her arm wrapping around ravens as she leant into her a little. They continued talking about anything they’d missed in each others life over the next few days. Once they’d finished their breakfast and drinks they made their way into the high school just as the bell for beginning of school rang.
Making their way to their homeroom they walked into the classroom heading to the back of the room as they always did. As she past Finn, Clarke felt his eyes following her, choosing to ignore him she continued to her seat. As she sat down her eyes locked on the door as the Forest green eyed brunette entered the room, she watched as the girl and another woman similar in build and look, made their way to two spare seats at the front of the class. All the students in the class turned their attention to the two girls, whispers filling up the room just as Mr Sinclair came into the room. He walked upto the front of the class clearing his throat to get everyone’s attention;
“Good morning everyone and welcome back, now whilst I know you all, be warned that this year there is a lot more pressure and I will not be as lenient and kind as I have been. You are all sophomore’s now, which means you need to be thinking to the future. What you want to be where you want to go once you are finished High School. Now I know what your all thinking ‘OMG its only the first day sir don’t be so boring’ and I agree, so today is the only day that I will be lenient on any of you. Right, now that is out of the way, you will have all noticed that we have two new students joining us in this homeroom this year. These two ladies in front of me have joined us from a military school in South California, Ladies would you care to introduce yourselves”
Clarke watched with a smile on her face as the brunette she had seen this morning stood up and turned to everyone clearing her throat she softly spoke “Hi everyone, I’m Lexa Woods…” Clarke noticed as the girl next to her nudged her in the side, earning a side role form the goddess she now knew was named Lexa “And this is my sister Anya, we’re both really looking forward to getting to know you all” As Lexa finished speaking her eyes caught Clarke, sharing a smile with the blonde before she was tugged down into her seat by her sister.
“Hey Clarke, stop eye fucking the new girl” Raven whispered into Clarke’s ear, causing Clarke to turn and hit Raven on the arm “Oh, touch a nerve did I” The Latina laughed out as she saw Clarke’s face turn a bright red turning her attention to the notepad in front of her.
The rest of homeroom Clarke kept her head down, not looking up in case Raven decided to tease her even more. She listened as Mr Sinclair went over the expectations he had for all of them as their homeroom teacher for the next year or so. As he continued to talk she just kept her head down, her left hand holding onto her pencil as she sketched out a moon and some of space. As she heard the bell go she grabbed her notepad and placed it and her pencil into her backpack. Standing up looking at Raven who was already standing next to Octavia holding her hand “You guys are too cute” She laughed as they both blushed slightly at their best friends words. “Its nice to see guys honest” She said as they walked towards the door letting a few people go in front of them.
“What class you got first Clarkey?” Raven asked as they manager to get through the door “I’ve got Mechanics. Then American Literature then Calculus and O has Economics, then trigonometry and then PE”
“I’ve got Computer Science, trigonometry and Social Studies”
“Nice…. So should we just meet at our normal table?”
“Yeah” They all said in unison
“Sweet, see you both later” Clarke let out as she waved bye to her friends. Turning to head towards her locker to put some stuff in there she stopped feeling a soft tap on her shoulder. Turning around she saw the green eyed brunette student she knew as Lexa in front of her. Her stomach suddenly started doing somersaults flipping as she took a deep breath. “Hey” Was all she managed to get out before the brunettes smiled stop more words forming
“Hey, I’m so sorry to bother you, I just overheard that you have Computer science, that’s our first class as well any chance we can walk with you?”
“Yeah sure, no apologies needed at all”
“Amazing, thanks……Um I’m Lexa by the way” The brunette softly said her eyes unable to move away from Clarkes “This is my sister Anya”
“Pleasure to meet you both” She smiled, suddenly nervous again she swayed on her feet softly before continuing “Its this way…..” She said leading them towards the classroom they were all due to be in next. Suddenly realising that she forgot to introduce herself she turned around, speaking and walking at the same time “I’m so sorry….I’m Clarke by the way”
“Clarke…. That’s a nice name” Lexa let out getting a nudge in her side from her sister. Causing them to go into the shoving match. One that continued until they reached the classroom. Once they reached the door, she looked back seeing the sisters had stopped and Anya walked past her smiling softly thanking Clarke, who smiled back at her as Anya walked through the door. As Lexa stopped at the door she looked Clarke dead in the eyes, both their breathes hitching slightly, Clarke felt something flip inside her stomach.
“Thank you, Clarke,” Gently turning her head to look inside the classroom, Lexa noticed that Anya was sat at the back of the room next to a dark haired boy with floppy hair. Next to them was a an empy desk with two seats, deciding to just be brave she looked back to the blonde she felt drawn to. Softly smiling she asked “There’s a couple seats near Anya, Do you maybe wanna sit together? You don’t have to…..”
“That’d be cool…” Clarke kicked herself ‘Cool, seriously Clarke what are you doing’ “I mean, it’d be cool to get to know each other….and learn at the same time maybe” Lexa let out a small laugh at the blonde’s mild humour and obvious nerves. Motioning for Clarke to lead the way, which she did, as they entered the classroom she walked towards where Anya was sat, instantly she swallowed back seeing the one person she wanted to avoid today was say next to Anya……Finn Collins, Her ex. Taking a deep breath and ignoring him she sat down in the seats next to Finn and Anya. Instantly feeling his eyes on her, she ignored the feeling of him looking at her, turning her attention to Lexa as the brunette sat down.
Clarke leant forward on his elbows her eyes turning and catching Lexa’s briefly making her smile. As she settled in her seat she reached inside her backpack pulling out her laptop, opening it up and logging in she blushed when the computer unlocked and the home screen came up revealing a photo of her and her parents smiling brightly. She wished the whole world would swallow her whole, she quickly opened up her emails trying to hide the photo, before she could get the email app to open she felt a small tap on her elbow, looking to Lexa she tried not to blush too much.
“Is that your parents?”
“Um, yeah, cringe wallpaper I know”
“Not really…. nothing wrong with being proud of your family…... Look” Lexa softly let out pointing to her screen, Clarke saw a picture of four people, Lexa and Anya who she knew instantly and then a young blonde boy who was hugging Lexa tight and a young brunette, the young blonde boy a little younger than the youngest brunette. Smiling at the photo Clarke listened as Lexa pointed to the two unknown younger people in the photo “That is my little brother Aden and That is my little sister Ontari”
They both smiled at each other stopping their talking when they heard the teacher clear their throat wanting everyone’s attention. They both kept their attention on the front of the room whilst the teacher explained the assignment to everyone telling them where to find the documents on the schools share point. Opening it up they both set about the task at hand, their fingers hitting the keypads as fast as they could. Clarke had been typing for about three quarters of the class before she became stuck, she kept typing then deleting the programme data, but nothing seemed to work and the final formula stayed in red indicating her data was missing some information. After trying a few times she got a little frustrated and began deleting all the data, she’d only deleted a line or two when she felt a hand on top of hers, she knew it was Lexa’s hand, she didn’t know how but she knew. Her breath caught in her throat slightly at the feeling of Lexa’s hand on hers. Turning her attention towards the girl sitting next to her she noticed the soft expression on Lexa’s face.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry….this computer science isn’t my thing and I have no patience”
“I’m sure you have plenty of patience, sometimes things frustrate us when we don’t understand them…..” Lexa’s expression and voice was so calming and welcoming “What exactly are you struggling with Clarke?”
“I don’t know, this code I’m entering seems fine but keeps saying its wrong”
“Its’ fine look here….” The brunette let out pointing at the screen, fully realising Clarke’s eyes were stuck on her face. Looking back at the blonde she noticed the gentle blush appear on her face before she turned back to the computer “Its just where you’re placing the special characters, like the dots and dashes, the dictate what the programme will run on and what keys will play a part…”
The brunette continued to explain but if Clarke was honest none of what she was saying would really sink in, some pieces of information did but most of it was lost on her. Not because she couldn’t understand, that was only part of the reason, it was mainly because Lexa was leant into her ever so slightly touching their skin together, something she wasn’t expecting to be so distracting to her. The rest of the class flew by with Lexa helping her, explaining things to her as she showed Clarke how to get the data inputted correctly. Before Clarke knew it the bell was going for the end of class, she internally cursed that bell she was so close to Lexa and she hadn’t found out anything about the brunette, she wasted that opportunity to talk to her and now she had no idea if they’d be in anymore classes together.
Packing her stuff away she tried to think of something smooth or not so obvious to say to Lexa to get her number or even to find out what classes they might have together. As she placed her laptop in her bag and closed it, gently swinging it onto her right shoulder. As she turned to look at Lexa she could see the brunette had her bag resting on her left shoulder, it almost looked like she was waiting for Clarke, shaking the thought from her head she smiled at Lexa “So what do have next?” She asked as she took a step backwards not paying attention to anything behind her, not expecting anything dangerous. She smiled as the brunette went to speak, but before Lexa could get the worlds out something hit Clarke’s back with an intense amount of force, sending her forward bumping into the desk hitting her ribs causing her to let out a small gasp of pain, everything suddenly flashing white as she struggled to keep herself up right. Her brain fogging wondering who the hell had pushed her.