Chapter 1:

The harsh gleam of his flashlight hit her eyes, "License and registration, please." She scanned his rigid composure, the way his lips twisted in anger as he looked down at her. The police officer repeated his request, raising an eyebrow when she shifted uncomfortably in the seat. "Have you been drinking?"

"Are you fucking serious?" She asked before biting her lip and deciding to play nice. You're a dick. She decided this with one glance in his direction before she reached towards the glove department. The second she pulled out her registration, he was rudely tapping his flashlight against the frame of her white car.

"Ma'am, please step out of the car." She rolled her eyes at another one of his ridiculous requests. Just to be an ass, Clarke slammed the door into his leg. Her heels connected with the uneven pavement as he ran his eyes over her. She was wearing a tight black skirt, well tight by his definition, and a white shirt. Her lips were stained red with lipstick and her blonde hair was freshly curled. He'd already decided that she was either coming from somewhere, or going somewhere. She crossed her arms and leaned against her car. "You weren't going to tell anyone you were back in town."

"It hardly seemed important."

"You can't be serious…" He claimed, "Does your mom know you're home? Maybe I should give her a call right now."

"You wouldn't!" She stomped her foot as she straightened her position. "Bellamy Blake, so help me God, if you call my mom…I will have you demoted so far down the food chain, you're going to have to reach up to feel your—"

"I see that fancy law school you went to didn't clean up your mouth any." Bellamy said pointedly—still holding a grudge, I see… "So, I suggest you visit your mom, Princess."

Clarke refused to visit her mom. "I'm not breaking any laws, Bellamy. You can't order me around…and stop acting like this is a small town. There are nearly fifty thousand people here. Now, later if you want to arrest me on the grounds of killing Miller—" Their high school friend…"—go right ahead. Until then, leave me the hell alone and stay out of my life."

She opened her car door again, climbing in and starting the engine. "Yeah, well stay the hell out of mine!" What the hell? You pulled me over. "After you visit your mom, of course."

Clarke walked into her friend's apartment, slamming her purse down on the masculine table made out a keg and a circular glass disk. She pulled out her "emergency" lighter, igniting it so she could catch a piece of their mail on fire. The smoke detector started to excessively ring, successfully waking up her three sleeping high school, as well as college, friends. She tossed the paper in the sink before running water over it. She exited the kitchen to greet her sleepy roommates. Monty Green was the first to emerge, his bedhead fully radiant as she turned on every light she could. "What's wrong?" He asked nervously, clearly gathering there wasn't a fire.

Nathan and Jasper didn't get the message.

They bolted out of their separate bedrooms towards the doors, grabbing their boots in a fumbling manner, strings of profanities running through their lips, before halting. "Son of a bitch…" Miller groaned as he realized the place was completely intact, "What the hell is this, Clarke?"

"You told Bellamy I was in town!" She yelled in her signature, 'you're about to be sued', 'you're going to die', and 'I hate every part of you' voice. "What did I say? Specifically, what did I say?" She pointed her finger at him, clearly upset.

Jasper raised his hand after rubbing down her neck, "Don't tell anyone I'm here…blah, blah, blah especially Octavia because she'll just tell Bellamy and I don't need him in my business right now." Jasper let out a small yawn at the end of his summarized version of her speech.

"Listen, Clarke, he wanted to know why he couldn't come over. He broke me down. We work together, it's not like I can avoid him." Nathan groaned, scrubbing his hand across his face before he walked over to the couch and collapsed. "Bellamy was going to find out you moved back to town regardless. You can't hide in this town." Okay, Summercreek wasn't that small.

"I could have."

"We run in a small circle, Clarke." Monty said as if she were an idiot. In truth, she was being a complete idiot. There was no running from Bellamy Blake once he was on your trail. She knew that, they knew that—hell, Bellamy knew that without a doubt. "He would have found out."

She sighed, "I'm not ready for people to know, okay? I'm supposed to be getting married tomorrow in Chicago. I've moved back here, of all the goddamn places to move, so I can practice law in Charleston. Charleston? I went to one of the best schools, got glowing recommendations and now I'm in fucking purgatory due to the fact that I've been exiled by my former fiancé's family!"

It wasn't the first time they were hearing her rant but they listened anyway. Clarke hated Summercreek, a small town fifteen miles from Charleston. She was born and raised in the backwards, southern place. She fell in love with a bad boy (who ironically became a cop) and then she fell "out" of love with him after he made a "mistake" around the same time her dad died. Just like any scared teenage girl, she refused to face her problems head on and hid behind the comforting veil of education. She moved to Columbia, studied Pre-Law at a top university and then, when she could have gone to a Charleston law school, she ran off to Chicago. Eventually, she fell in love again with her life as well as a charming man. She was handling high-stakes litigations in Chicago until her fiancé made the same "mistake" as Bellamy. His family blacklisted her even if he was in the wrong, forcing her to return. "I'm just…Bellamy is…"

"Bellamy." The boys said at the same time. Jasper followed up, "What did he want?"

"He wanted me to visit my mom." Clarke groaned, "She doesn't even know that I was engaged, let alone that I quit my job and moved back home to take Kane's offer. Seriously, she's going to have a heart attack."

"At least she'll be able to revive herself." Miller offered with a slow laugh but no one humored him. Everyone knew Clarke and her mother didn't get along. No one knew why, they just knew that they once had a great relationship—and then, they didn't have a relationship at all. "Listen, I'm sorry I have a big mouth."

"I forgive you." Clarke said calmly, "So, uh, if Bellamy calls…tell him you're alive. I might have mentioned I was going to kill you in passing and don't tell him about me. Please."

REVIEW—tell me if you hate it. I just got inspired watching Reckless.