A/N:

Hey everyone! Welcome to the first fanfiction I've written in years. Hope you enjoy! :) Review if you like it! Review if you don't like it! Review if you just want to say hi! All feedback is great.

Chapter 1 - Senior Year

Out of all the seasons, if Clarke had to pick one, fall was usually her favorite. She loved the way the warm nights of summer slowly gave way to the crisp bite of the later autumn months. Even though it was the last half of the year, there was something new about fall after the stagnation of summer. It was like a fresh start.

This year was a little too fresh for her, however. They had moved over the summer, for a start, farther away from her home than she had ever been. Clarke had lived in Boston in the same house with the same furniture, and squeaky floorboards, and wallpaper, and grape juice stain on her carpet for her entire life. She had been sure that she would bring her children back to sleep in her old room and to play on the swing set her father had built her when she was five, but all of that had changed in an instant. Now they lived in dreary, cold, Seattle, Washington, where it rained nine months out of the year and nothing was familiar. It wasn't the fresh start Clarke had been hoping for in her senior year of high school.

"You know, if you aren't careful your face might stick that way," her mother chastised her lightly as she brooded over her bowl of cereal.

She still hadn't forgiven her mother for leaving her job as Boston Medical to move them across the country. Abby had insisted that what they both needed was a fresh start, but Clarke couldn't have disagreed more. She should be surrounded by her friends, the ones who had known her all her life, not a bunch of strangers. Her friends back home would understand not to ask about the scar on her face that was still pink and healing, they wouldn't ask questions about who she was, or where she came from, they would just know. That was what she needed right now.

Her mother had needed something else, however, and that was how they ended up here. Abby had decided she couldn't continue to live among the reminders of her husband's absence. Clarke would have been less upset if they hadn't gotten rid of most of her father's things before moving, but they had downsized to a two bedroom apartment in the University district. She had fought her mother on every little book and trinket until one day she had come home and her mother had tossed everything her father used to own save for a few items.

"That's what I was hoping for," Clarke answered. Maybe if her face stuck this way people would just let her fade into the background instead of asking questions she wasn't ready to answer. "This is stupid, can't I just get my GED and do community college?"

"Absolutely not," Abby replied, not even looking up from the article she was reading. Clarke went back to picking at her cereal. It had been worth a try. "Come on, Clarke. It's only one year, and then you can go off to college, and never speak to me again."

"Sounds like a great idea," Clarke grunted, getting up to put her bowl in the dishwasher. "I'm glad you've got my whole life planned out for me. Let me know how that goes, okay?"

Abby put down her newspaper to shoot her daughter a serious look. "I'm going to pretend I didn't just hear that. Just give it a chance, okay? Polis Academy is supposed to be a terrific magnet school for the sciences, and it wasn't easy to get you in. Plus, they have a great soccer team, you love soccer!"

Clarke gave her mother deadpan look. She had loved soccer, up until she had gotten in the car accident that had left her on crutches for months. Now she didn't even know if she could play anymore, not that she even wanted to. Soccer had been her and her father's thing. "Seriously? When was the last time you saw me kick a soccer ball around, mom? I'm not joining their team, especially not for the last year of high school."

"Well that's too bad because I signed you up already," Abby said briskly. She stood up after checking her watch, and began gathering the things she needed for her first day at work.

"Mom!" Clarke couldn't believe her mother had gone behind her back like that. Was that even legal?

"As much as you like to pretend, you are still my daughter," Abby said as die stuffed papers into her briefcase. She fixed Clarke with a serious look again. "You will go to all of your classes today, you will go to tryouts after school today, and I will not be receiving any phone calls from your principal saying otherwise, do I make myself clear?"

Clarke groaned. Her mother was such a hardass sometimes. "Fine."

"I'm serious, Clarke." Abby said. She grabbed her travel mug, and hugged her daughter, planting a kiss on top of the blondes head despite her protests. "I know the last year has been hard for you, it's been hard for both of us, but I won't just stand in the wings and watch you waste your life away. It's time to live again."

Clarke sighed, and hugged her mother back finally. She also had this annoying habit of being right most of the time. "Okay Dr. Phil, I promise. No skipping class, or your wholesome after school activities. I'll show up okay, but I can't promise I'll make the team."

Abby gave her daughter one last squeeze before grabbing her keys and bag. "I can't wait to hear about it tonight, I'll be home late, but I still want to hear about, okay?" She pulled a crisp twenty from her wallet and handed it to Clarke on her way out the door. "Get something healthy for dinner, no junk food."

"Sure mom."

"And don't be late for school!" Abby called from the hallway as the door shut behind her.

"Lex. Lexa! LEXA!"

"What?" The brunette answered curtly. She pulled an earbud from the ear closest to Octavia, and eyed the other girl. Raven and Octavia both ogled back at her from across the table. She had been sitting in the quad waiting for classes to start at one of the picnic tables that were spread across the grassy area. The weather was fair today, not too warm, but not raining either. A perfect day for tryouts in her opinion.

"We've been trying to get your attention forever," Octavia wined.

"You just sat down," Lexa pointed out. She looked back down at the playbook she had been pouring over earlier.

"Okay fine, I've been trying to get your attention for the last thirty seconds. Who cares about the semantics?" Octavia said, rolling her eyes. "Either way, put your little black book away, and talk to us."

"I'm kind of in the middle of something," Lexa protested. She scribbled a note in the top corner of one of the pages.

Both Raven and Octavia scoffed in unison, and Raven reached out to flip the book closed on the other girl before she could protest. Lexa frowned, and looked back up.

"What could the wonder twins want that is more important than letting me plan our victory at state this year?" She wondered out loud. She wasn't looking for an answer, but she was sure she would get one. She put the playbook in her bag. She had known Raven and Octavia since they were twelve, and she knew there was no getting rid of them. It had gotten even worse once they had started dating, they just teamed up on her now.

They had all met at a soccer camp one summer and, as Octavia liked to put it, had been the best of friends ever since. It only made it harder to get rid of them when they all ended up at the same High School. She was just glad she had ended up with Raven as her roommate, instead of Octavia. She was far less annoying. Lexa supposed they were the closest thing she had to real friends, though, which made it even harder to get rid of them once they had gotten her to admit it. She was fairly fond of her teammates, she had to admit, even if they drove her up the wall most of the time. They were a few of the only other dormers who stuck around for the summer too.

"Oh, give it a rest," Raven said. She gave Lexa a playful shove from across the table. "You know with O and I around, we'll never lose." Octavia nodded along with her girlfriend's words.

"That's right," she added. "Plus, you have all year to plan that shit."

Lexa rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth. "I suppose, but it never hurts to be prepared. Besides, we have a lot of spaces to fill. I want to know what we need to look for when picking newbies this year."

Raven and Octavia exchanged a knowing look before looking back at Lexa. The grins on their faces made her feel uneasy, they looked far too happy about something. "What? Did I miss something?" She asked, beginning to get exasperated. "Is there something on my face? Why on Earth do you two have those stupid grins on your faces?"

"There's a new girl," Octavia finally let slip.

"So?" Lexa was surprised she hadn't strangled Octavia at this point in their friendship. "Is it Brandi Chastain, and is she trying out? Because I don't really care otherwise."

"She is trying out," Octavia continued. She ignored Lexa's obvious exasperation.

"We looked her up," Raven said, getting to the point. She knew Octavia loved getting under Lexa's skin, but she'd rather not run extra laps when Lexa took it out on them later. "Her team won state for the last two years in Massachusetts, and she was voted team VIP both years."

"Position?"

"Midfield." Raven replied, that same obnoxious grin back on her face. There was definitely something going on, and Lexa had no interest in finding out what it was. She generally tried to steer clear of Raven and Octavia's schemes, although she was rarely successful in avoiding them. No matter how hard she tried to not be involved, they always managed to pull her in one way or another.

Lexa hummed under her breath. They needed a decent midfielder, though. They hadn't had a good one one since ﹘ Lexa's eyes narrowed, she hoped they weren't planning to set her up.

"Games started? Shooting percentage? Points, shots, ejections?" She asked.

Whatever their plan was, she was going to make sure it wasn't successful. They knew she had sworn off dating until after she graduated. This was the year to throw herself into soccer, and there was no way in hell she was going to let the two of them distract her. She was going to take the team to state, and then on to win nationals, and then she was going to get scouted by the school of her dreams, that was it. She needed the scholarship money if she was going to go to college at all.

"Uh, 25?" Octavia said, looking to Raven for support. Raven just shrugged at her. "We may have gotten distracted by the time we look at her stats…"

"Unbelievable," Lexa muttered. Raven at least had the decency to look slightly embarrassed. Octavia just grinned wickedly. "Does this mysterious midfielder have a name?"

"There she is now," Octavia answered. She nodded her head in the direction of the parking lot.

Lexa noticed she didn't actually answer her question, but she casually glanced over her shoulder anyway. She was mildly interested, if only for the purpose of sizing this mysterious new girl up before tryouts later. Her eyes fell on a scowling blonde wearing a black jacket. Interesting. She looked back at Raven and Octavia.

"Well?" Octavia said, drawing the word out like she had gotten stuck on the E. She looked far too eager in Lexa's opinion.

"Well, what?" She said. She looked at the time on her phone, and began packing up her school bag. Class was going to start soon, and she still needed to stop by her locker before first period.

"What do you think?" Octavia demanded. She was leaning so far forward across the table that if Lexa were to lean forward just a little, they would be nose to nose. Raven laughed, and pulled her girlfriend back into a seated position.

"Give her a break, O," She said. Lexa sent a silent "thank you" across the table.

Lexa finished packing up, and stood up. She glanced back towards the parking lot to try and catch another glimpse of the blonde but she was gone.

"Interesting," she responded finally to Octavia's question She was still staring at the spot the blonde had been standing.

Raven laughed as Octavia groaned in frustration. "Seriously? That's it?"

She spun on her heel without another word and walked away from her friends, a small smirk on her face. Let Octavia stew over that all morning, she had other places for her mind to be, and there was no way she was going to let anything distract her. Not even the cute new girl.