OUR OBLIVION | BELLAMY BLAKE

ONE| another day in paradise

Seven minutes.

It took exactly seven minutes to get from the apartment my father and I lived in to where the boring classes I was forced to take part in were located. Three times a week, my extremely annoying alarm would go off at seven o'clock, and my dad had to practically drag me out of bed to get ready, but no matter how hard he tried, he never could get me to leave the apartment on time. Being punctual was never one of my strong suits, especially when I was heading somewhere I didn't want to go in the first place.

"I don't understand why you hate it so much," My dad would say as I complained about my classes for the millionth time. "You used to always love to learn about Earth and history."

I would always respond with the same answer, "I do love to learn about those topics, Dad. It's the people I can't stand, not the subjects."

It was true. I loathed almost everyone in my class. Most of them were the exact same. Maybe it was the fact that they were all moody teenagers with raging hormones, or maybe all of them were just naturally irritating drama queens that didn't know how to shut up. Out of the twenty teenagers I was shoved into a room with for two and a half hours, I liked exactly three of them.

Person number one was Clarke Griffin. She had been one of my best friends for a long time, and her mother worked in medical. She was the doctor that saved my dad's life when he got really sick, and Clarke was there for me when I thought I might lose him.

Then there was my life long best friend Archie Smith. He was the funniest person I knew, and he could always make me laugh even when I was in one of my worst moods. He was the kind of guy with a nice heart and goofy smile, but if you messed with someone he cared about he wouldn't be afraid to deck you. Basically, he was there for me through everything in my life; the good and the shitty.

Lastly, there was my boyfriend, Wells Jaha, aka the Chancellor's son. I would be lying if I said that I was in love with him, or whatever it was all those lovesick teenage girls said about the guy they were obsessed with. To be completely honest, I only started dating him because I knew what it would do for my family. Dating Wells meant getting invited over for nice meals and being thought higher of. It even got my dad a seat on the Council.

My mother died of cancer when I was ten, and it broke my dad in every way. He stopped showing up for his job, all he did was drink, and I was forced to try and provide for us. I managed to get him back on his feet, but we were still living in a pretty poor part of the Ark. Then, one day I ran into Wells, got close to him, and my dad ended up meeting the Chancellor. Wells's dad helped us and eventually got us into a better living situation. He and my dad became best friends, and before I knew it, Jaha was offering my dad a place on the Council. So, maybe love wasn't what mattered in a relationship. Maybe it was all about loyalty, duty, and benefiting from circumstance.

Besides, living in a floating space station as everyone was waiting for the earth to be survivable again after a nuclear war had left it simmering in radiation didn't exactly boost my hopefulness for an amazing life or anything. What was the point of going to a class to learn about this wonderfully intricate and beautiful planet when I was never going to get to see it anyway? What was the point of learning how to survive on the ground if I was never going to use any of the skills I learned?

What was the point of anything on the Ark?

"Miss Winters, how great of you to bless us with your presence."

My hazel eyes flicked up from the metal floor to meet the she-devil standing in the middle of the classroom in front of me. All of the seats were filled but one, and all heads were turned right where I was standing with my arms crossed over my grey, leather jacket.