My Lovely Summer Girl: Chapter One
I don't own The 100
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"So how many kids did you say there are?"
"Just shy of one hundred!" Octavia yelled back at her, jumping out of their car with both feet hitting the ground at the same time. That was Octavia for you – she was absolutely a hit first ask questions later, dive right in, jump first think later kind of girl. And it made Clarke – a think first tentatively step forward later, follow the path, don't hit always ask questions kind of girl herself – love her. Most of the time. Not when Octavia was pulling on her sleeve to drag her out of the car even though she was obviously struggling to unclip her seatbelt, but most of the time.
"O, you're actually not helping," she said but it was only the arrival of Lincoln – tall, broad, tanned, and wow okay shirtless – that saved her from imminent suffocation thanks to Octavia's impatience. "Hey Lincoln." Her greeting was lost. He was far more interested in his girlfriend. Clarke smashed her hand down on the seatbeat clip, narrowly avoiding decapitation from the belt as it whipped free, and slid out of the enormous car down to the ground. Why Octavia had such a large car she did not understand. The girl was three inches smaller than her!
"Oh, Clarke, hey." Lincoln had a smile and a greeting for her finally and he helped her grab her bags down from the trunk of the car. "I'm glad you could make it."
"Give me some time," Clarke said with a tiny smile. "I'm sure I'll feel the same."
"You will. It's really great here." He hoisted her bags up and, with a nod of his head, led the way to her cabin. "You're sharing with Octavia," he said.
"Sort of." Octavia jumped up onto Lincoln's back and he only paused long enough to make sure she was on safely. "I'll actually be with Lincoln."
"So my roomie will be…"
"No one." Octavia hurried on before Clarke could feel any disappointment – not that she would. Two months at a beautiful camp, with sunshine and fresh air and a minor workload as well as her own space? She could totally deal with that. "But I'll be with you all day for the first few days to show you around and we have our meals together and we can hang out after the kids go to bed – I promise I didn't bring you up here to ignore you the whole time."
"No." Clarke smiled properly, for the first time in what felt like forever. "You brought me up here because you're the best."
"Damn right I am!" and Lincoln paused so Octavia could bend down and hug her friend. "Oof. Oh crap. Help me up, will you?" she asked Clarke, and the blonde laughed as she pushed at Octavia's shoulders so she could wrap her arms around Lincoln's shoulders again.
They changed the topic after that – it was inching towards topics too heavy for them to mention – and Lincoln was happy to point out the mess hall, the lines of dormitories, girls on one side and boys on the other side of camp, the art room ("that's where you'll be!" Octavia pointed out helpfully), the stable, the dock, the basketball court, and some strange flat ground that Octavia said was the fencing ring with a strangely ferocious look in her eyes.
"You can unpack tonight," Lincoln said, placing her bags on her bed, "but now we meet with the other counsellors. Is that alright?"
She just nodded easily. She planned to follow the rules and follow along. No thinking for her this summer. Just going with the flow. Of course, Octavia had laughed herself silly when she said that – "you? Miss Uptight? I would pay to see that" – but she'd come round to it. They both knew it was exactly what she needed.
"Sure. Sounds great."
Fun, Octavia's smile promised her. Fun and a wonderful summer. But first – the rules.
Lincoln, already not a man prone to excessive smiling, looked stern as he reminded the gathered counsellors in the mess the rules, mostly for Clarke's benefit but also for a few select others. No smoking, no alcohol, no fighting. Nothing too adult with the kids around. No swearing. Pretty simple rules, she thought, as Lincoln went over them in the mess hall. Then there were the less simple rules. No explosions. No rough housing - definitely no eye gouging and groin attacks. No blackmailing or bribing others to do the allotted chores. No forcing campers to do allotted chores. No experiments - definitely no experiments on the campers. No blackmailing or bribing other counsellors to take allotted classes. No skinny dipping. No poisoning others.
"These are weird rules," Clarke murmured to Octavia, who just grinned.
"We have 'em for a reason."
Clarke nodded slowly. She had to wonder, just for a moment, what her best friend had got her into.
"Okay. That's all for now. As we all know, the campers arrive tomorrow and Octavia and our new counsellor have joined us." Clarke gave a little wave. The others knew each other. Some, like Lincoln, had been there for eight years. Most had joined in the years after that when Camp Jaha had grown and gained popularity – other than Clarke, Octavia was the newest and she had worked there every summer for four years. "Everyone." Lincoln nodded to Clarke. "This is Clarke Griffin. She'll be helping with the arts and crafts." He hesitated but Octavia shook her head no and he continued on. Octavia squeezed Clarke's hand when she felt it tremble just a touch. A reassurance. It felt like 'He's not going to say it'.
"Welcome to Camp Jaha, Clarke. These are the counsellors – Raven. She works on our cars and engines and she's the best mechanic we've ever had."
A woman about Clarke's age lifted her hand. "Best mechanic period, Lincoln. Well, in the northern hemisphere definitely." That gained her a few chuckles and Raven grinned. "Hey Clarke, nice to meet you." She leant back into the crowd and Clarke's eyes dropped from her face – which, wow,was everyone at the camp ridiculously attractive? Maybe it was something to do with being outdoors all the time. Her eyes dropped to the brace wrapped around the woman's leg and then Lincoln was talking and she moved to the next face.
"Finn, he takes hiking groups and teaches tracking and wilderness skills." Finn, next to Raven, smiled kindly at Clarke. He had long hair and, again, an attractive face (kind too, and his smile was welcoming) and, she noted, a hand on Raven's leg.
"Bellamy, I believe you've met." Clarke and Bellamy nodded.
"Octavia's brother, hey" he introduced himself, stepping forward to shake her hand. "Nice to meet you again." His smile was too soft and his hand lingered too long and Clarke tried her best not to rip away from him because the last thing she wanted to do while she was here was have someone treat her like she was soft and fragile. Octavia gave her another squeeze. That one felt like 'I'll talk to him'.
"Bell, don't drag on my coat tails. He takes the kiddies on adventure trails and activities and stuff," Octavia told Clarke. "He's not just my brother."
"I'm also a chaperone," Bellamy said, and Octavia rolled her eyes.
"Please, you say that like it doesn't make you the most lame counsellor." Clarke stifled a laugh when Bellamy feigned offense and Lincoln smiled when Octavia smiled.
"Abby, our resident nurse," he said, and the woman smiled happily over at Clarke,"and her assistant Maya," a younger woman waved, also able to be described as unnecessarily attractive Clarke thought, "Monty and Jasper," the guys raised their hands, knocking into one another and prompting a slight scuffle. "Monty works with plants and teaches the kids how to identify them and he's kind of amazing with technology as well." He blushed and ducked his head and Clarke had to smile. She thought perhaps she might like spending time with him. "And Jasper here is a whiz at science."
"Well, here I mostly like to cook," he said, and Clarke had to smile at his crooked, goofy grin and his goggles and she had the sneaking suspicion that perhaps he was more mad scientist in the kitchen than chef. "Nice to meet you, Clarke," he said, and Monty nodded quickly, offering his own smile.
"And last but not least," Lincoln frowned and searched for the last face in the crowd, finding it sitting behind Monty, "Lexa."
Stupid, really.
Clarke felt her heart stop in her chest – she hoped it didn't really because that was probably an actual physiological disaster – when she saw her face.
She was beautiful.
Achingly beautiful.
She could make out quick moving fingers working with something on the table, she could make out toned forearms with faint scarring dashed across them, she could make out the sweet slope of her neck under braided hair that she ached to dig her fingers into and muss because that would look stunning and she wondered if she could capture it on paper or whether it would escape her – but that thought didn't bother her because if she couldn't the first time then maybe the time after that or the time after that she would figure out how to get it down just right.
"Lexa works with horses and teaches fencing and practical skills," Lincoln was saying, but his voice sounded like so much white noise in comparison to the clarity that was Lexa's face. And then the woman looked up and right at her and Clarke hoped she wasn't gaping, that she had enough control over her body to not make herself into that much of a fool, but she knew that she was staring. How could she not?
Bright green eyes met hers and they were clear and they weren't welcoming, no, not exactly, but they were thoughtful and considering and her eyebrows were bunching just slightly and she was soexpressive oh she was beautiful with white teeth digging down into her lower lip and fingers moving though she wasn't looking at her task and she was intriguing and had she mentioned beautiful and oh dear.
Clarke was in trouble.
Happy reading, Readers :)