The 100 Academy

Chapter 8

Clarke

Well, the Grounders are here.  They've been here for exactly eight hours and 45 minutes, but nothing has happened.  Either that means they want peace or they are planning something huge and are just waiting for us to put our guard down.  Either way, everyone has their guard up.  I saw it as I walked through the hallways earlier today.  Every time a Grounder walked past one of us, the Skaikru person would tense up and stare them down, as if daring them to try something.  The only person that had their guard down had been Octavia.  I had seen her talking to a handsome dark skinned Grounder earlier, but I didn't know his name.  All I knew about him was that he seemed to be close to Lexa.

And now, speaking of Lexa, I could tell she was a cool person.  She seemed smart, reasonable, and nice in her own way.  I could feel a friendship growing earlier today in the gym.  She had opened up to me surprisingly, but I wasn't quite ready to open up to her.  Soon enough, though, I knew I would be telling her everything.  I knew for sure that we would become friends.

At the moment I was thinking of all this, I was laying in my bed, on top of my blue covers.  Bellamy lay next to me, looking at the ceiling.  We were both quiet, surprisingly comfortable.  We weren't touching at all, but once in a while our fingers would brush the others and a shock would go through us each.  It had been like this since I kissed him on the cheek.  Scared to touch each other, scared to show emotions.  For me, at least.  Right at this moment, I wanted to just kiss Bellamy.  I wanted him to hold me, to feel his warmth around me like I've never really felt before.  I wanted to feel safe in his arms.  But I knew I shouldn't.  Even though it was obvious to myself that I liked him, we had only known each other for a few days.  I didn't want to rush into anything.  I didn't want to be hurt again like Wells had hurt me just about a year ago.  I wasn't ready for that.

I felt his fingers brush against mine again, but, for the first time, they stayed where they were.  Barely touching, just brushing, fingertips to fingertips.  I turned my head toward him as he turned toward me at the same time.  His dark eyes looked at my blue ones, keeping contact for a few seconds.  Without noticing, our hands were now connected, skin against skin, clasped together.  Our hands seemed to fit together, like two pieces in a puzzle.  He looked down at our hands, seeming to realize what was going on a second after I did.  The hand that wasn't holding mine came up against the sheets.  He reached towards me and placed his right hand on my cheek, rubbing circles with his thumb across it.  My eyes were drawn to his perfectly pink lips, drawing me closer and closer.  We were just an inch away, closer than we had been since I kissed him on the cheek.  He brought his head down towards mine, his right hand still on my cheek.  Instead of holding hands now, my arms were around his neck and his left hand was in my hair.  Our lips were so close, we were so close.  My lips reached up and his reached down and-

Knock.  Knock.  Knock.

We pulled away quickly.  I groaned at the ruined moment, pushing my face into my pillow.  Bellamy sighed and I felt the bed move as he got up and walked towards the door.  Within an instant, the door was open and someone was running in.  Whoever it was sounded angry.

"I can't believe them!  We can't trust any of them!" I looked up at the sound of the familiar voice and saw someone standing in the middle of the room, Bellamy looking at him strangely.  I squinted my eyes and felt mixed emotions.  It was Jasper.  But he was blue.  And when I say blue, I mean like Violet from Charlie in the Chocolate Factory blue.  The only thing different was that he wasn't bloated like a blueberry.  Even his goggles and clothes were blue, the exact same shade as his skin and hair.

"What happened to you?" I asked, my mind full of different scenarios.  Bellamy looked like he wanted to laugh and kill someone at the same time.

"Grounders." Jasper narrowed his eyes, looking up at his hair, which was sticking up everywhere, even more than usual. "I was talking with a girl from Skaikru, Maya, and then, all of a sudden, we walk into the computer room and a bucket of blue paint falls on me.  I know it was the Grounders!" Jasper looked mad, but also ridiculous.  I mean, he looked like a blueberry.  I sighed and gathered the anger I had.  Jasper was my friend and no one was allowed to do this to him.

I stomped quickly out of the room and into the hallway, my footsteps loud and clear.  I heard footsteps behind me and saw Bellamy, already reaching out to grab my arm.

"Let go, Bellamy!" I told him, glaring.  

"Clarke, I don't want you to do anything stupid." Bellamy looked exasperated, looking at me with patient eyes.

"I'm not.  Let me go talk to the Grounders.  Alone." I said, my voice lower than usual.  Bellamy let go of my arm and walked closer to me.  

"I'll let you go.  But I'm going with you." Sighing, Bellamy reached his arm around me, not letting me even react, and knocked on the door behind me.  I didn't know who's room it was, but Bellamy obviously knew.  Sending him a glare, I heard the door open behind me.  When I turned around, I found myself facing Lexa.

Her wavy brown hair was in a half up with the top poofed up a little bit.  Her green eyes seemed questioning.  Her cheekbones were sharp and prominent (but not as much as her friend Anya's) and her skin was slightly tanned, yet still light.  Her face was long and narrow, which was brought out by her usual look, lips set thin, as if she were bored.

"May I help you?" Lexa raised an eyebrow at us, green eyes still narrowed.  She stepped out of the way of her doorway, inviting us in.  I stepped through her doorway, Bellamy following me.  The room was completely bare, surprisingly.  Everyone's dorms had little sentimental objects or things from their old dorms, except Lexa's.  The only thing besides the furniture and red bed covers was a large map of the Academy, names written all over the place.  She must keep track of where everyone's dorms are.  That's pretty impressive that she knows where everyone is, for only being here about eight hours.  I heard the door close and saw Lexa walk in to her dorm, staying near the door, as if she didn't trust us completely.  "What is wrong?"

"You need to keep your Grounders under control." I said angrily.  Lexa looked confused.

"Did something happen?" Lexa asked, causing Bellamy to scoff.

"Yeah, something happened.  Our friend, Jasper, was just drenched in blue paint by your Grounders." Bellamy's eyes narrowed. "Unless it was just you that did it."

"Bellamy," I whispered, "It wasn't Lexa.  She wouldn't do that."  Bellamy stared at me, unconvinced.

"I didn't do this.  If my people did this, I'm sure they had a reason." Lexa kept a straight face, no emotion showing what so ever.  Was that how I looked all the time?  It's not that Lexa looked bad, she just gave off a vibe that pushed people away.  

"We know it was your people.  And Jasper would never hurt a fly." Bellamy said angrily.  His eyebrows were furrowed along with his eyes.

"Very well.  I shall talk to my people.  I want peace as much as you do, but you will need to speak to your people also.  To ensure that peace is not one-sided." Lexa said.  I couldn't believe how well she talked.  She was a natural born leader.  

"We will.  Just promise us that this won't happen again." I said pleadingly.  I knew Lexa was a good person and that she would follow through on everything.

"I can't promise something that I'm not sure of." Lexa said, still no emotion on her face. "But I can promise to try my best."  

"Thank you, Lexa." I nodded at her, showing my respect.  She did the same thing to me.  I slowly walked around her, towards the door.  Lexa moved out of the way for Bellamy, letting us go.  

I knew that everything would work out.  If Lexa could make me respect her after one short talk, I'm sure that the Grounders already respected her, and would listen to her no matter what.