Chapter Text
Clarke let out her breath as the door to the art room slammed shut behind her and the silence of the room greeted her.
Today was exhausting and she looked forward to the next two hours working on her latest art project.
Too many people wanted something from her today. Too much attention was demanded, so she needed time for just herself again first. To calm down. To be able to breathe again. And since nobody at this school took art as seriously as Clarke, she almost always had the room to herself after school.
It wasn't that Clarke couldn't get along with other people at all. There was just a certain line that shouldn't be crossed or her breathing would become rapid. Her hands would start to shake. She would become nervous and wouldn‘t know how to act further. And this limit was quickly reached. There was nothing wrong with that. There was nothing wrong with her. Right?
Clarke had a hard time reminding herself of that. She had her father for that. Her father was her best friend and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
So for the next few hours Clarke hid in another world. In a world that she created herself with paint and brushes. Where she could forget her real world problems. Even if only for a short time.
But then her art teacher opened the door and reminded her that it was time to go. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Vos. I'll just wash everything off real quick and then you can lock up. Thank you for letting me use your room after school.”
“Clarke, I told you not to thank me anymore. Anything for my best student.”
A short time later, when Clarke was walking to her car, she suddenly stopped in the middle of the parking lot. Standing right in front of her car were none other than Lexa Woods and Costia Green. And it looked like the two of them weren't having a happy conversation. At least that's what Clarke suspected from Costia's hasty hand movements and Lexa's annoyed expression.
Clarke didn't know what to do. It would be awkward to directly approach them but standing in the middle of the parking lot was just as awkward. If not even more. And at some time she had to get to her car and it didn’t look like Lexa and Costia would be done arguing soon.
So Clarke took a tentative step forward. And another, while nervously playing with the strap of her backpack. Soon she was within hearing distance to the most popular couple at school.
“No Lexa you don’t get it! You never have time for me!”
“I told you I have a lot going on with my family.” Lexa crossed her arms in front of her.
“Since forever! But guess what Lexa, I won’t be here waiting for you forever.”
"I've never asked you to."
“And that’s the problem! You act like you don’t care about me!”
“I don’t care about you?!” Lexa took a threatening step towards Costia and Clarke faltered to a halt. “Because I don’t run after you every fucking time and you don’t like how things are going, means I don’t care about you?!”
“You dumping me almost every time, means you don’t care about me!”
Lexa rolled her eyes. "I don't have time for this." Lexa turned on her heel to storm away, landing directly across from Clarke. Lexa raised an eyebrow.
“Enjoying the show?”
"I-" Clarke stuttered. Her eyes darted from one thing to another. Lexa's eyes, the tree, the ground, Lexa again, Clarke's car, Costia-
Clarke's eyes widened at the sight of an angry Costia rushing towards her. “What is this?! We’re you spying on us?!”
“What? No. I-“
"Unbelievable." Costia stepped into Clarke's personal space. "Listen, freak, you better-"
"Stop it, Costia." Lexa sighed as if she was tired of this. Clarke quite felt for her. Even though she was more confused about what was happening than everything else.
“You’re on her side now?”
"There are no sides," Clarke and Lexa said together, but Costia ignored them. She took another step towards Clarke, which made Clarke herself take a step back.
"If I ever see you near me or Lexa again, I will-"
“God Costia. Are you even listening to yourself?” Lexa groaned as she ran her hand through her still damp hair. Oh, right. Lexa just came from soccer practice. Clarke swallowed. Now wasn’t the time to bi-panic Griffin.
"Is it my fault she's staring at us like idiots?"
“This is my car,” Clarke said, but her voice was so quiet that Costia overpowered it. Lexa only gave her a quick glance before Costia grabbed her hands, drawing her attention back to the loud girl in front of her.
Clarke cleared her throat. “This,” she pointed to her car behind them, “is my car.”
That made Costia close her mouth. Finally. She turned her head to said car before returning to Clarke. "Whatever." She rolled her eyes. "Doesn't give you the right to eavesdrop." And with that she stalked past Clarke. Clarke didn't even turn to look where she was going. She was so done with this day.
Apparently Lexa was too. Because she just gave Clarke one last look before turning around and heading to her own car. Clarke stood there staring after her for a few seconds before she shook her head and finally got into her car.
The next morning came all too quickly and Clarke found herself back at school in the back row of psychology. Contrary to the well-known prejudices against the people in the back row, Clarke was not a troublemaker. The opposite actually. Clarke was one of the best students in the entire school. It's just that she felt more comfortable in the back row. Here she didn't feel like anyone was watching her from behind. She could watch the others.
“- I’ll give you three minutes to find partners yourself. If you can’t do that, I’ll choose the couples.”
Clarke blinked and slowly the sounds around her came back into focus. She rolled her eyes at herself. It was often that Clarke would disappear into her thoughts and would no longer notice anything around her. Find partners. Partnerproject.
She turned to Raven and Octavia, but they both just smiled sweetly at her. Traitors. Clarke looked around the class, but it looked like everyone had found a partner. Clarke groaned and sank deeper into her seat.
"Miss Griffin," came the teacher's voice and Clarke quickly sat up again. “Trouble finding a partner?”
“There’s no one left anymore, I think,” she murmured.
“Well then, you’ll work with the one person who didn’t show up today.”
Clarke's eyes widened. She knew exactly who wasn't in class today. Because after their little encounter in the parking lot yesterday, she was the first person Clarke had looked for when she entered the classroom this morning.
"Who is that?" Clarke asked. Maybe there was a miracle. Maybe there was someone else who didn't come to class today. Maybe-
"Lexa Woods."
Shit.
Clarke sank deeper into her chair again.