Hi !

Here's a story I've been writing for a while. I had the idea a couple weeks before Trump's election. I really hope things won't get worse for illegal immigrants.

It may seem obvious but I still have to say this story is fictional. I tried to make it as realistic as possible and I hope it is, but there's still gonna be a lot of drama, anger and angst.

I have written enough chapters to post twice a week for a while, so I'll be posting on saturday and tuesday.

Tell me what you think of this beginning ! Enjoy ! :)

It was raining outside and Clarke was staring at the window beside her desk, hoping it would stop before 5pm : the end of her long day of work.

It was 3:42pm and Clarke had been bored for at least three hours now. She had checked files, answered a few calls from silly clients and had played games on the computer. It was not the best job ever, but it was the only one she could get. She could not lose it, as she knew no one would employ her. There was an obvious reason to it : she didn't have the papers necessary to stay in town, if not to say to live in the country.

Clarke had been living in the USA for nine years now. She was twenty-one and the only reason she had been able to stay was because her mother had an important job in California. Her daughter had had the authorization to stay with her mother, but then Clarke turned eighteen and left the southern estate to fly away to the east coast.

She could not forgive her mother for letting her father being sent away by the authorities.

She sighed. How could she think about it yet again ? The answer was another question : how could she forget ?

Her father had been sold out by its own boss. He was brought by force into a plane. And that plane had crashed.

How ironically terrible was that ?

And now – even more ironic – his daughter was working for the same company as he did. Woods Enterprises.

When she arrived in this town without any money – having struggled for three years in the country – she started looking for a job. No one was willing to employ her as she didn't seem trustworthy, not giving enough informations about herself.

So Clarke made up a whole cover, fake ID, and finally decided to apply for a desk job at Woods Enterprises' main company when she heard they offered payment in cash. The company had its own bank and liked to show how powerful it was.

Being paid in cash was her only possibility as she didn't have any bank account. She didn't have the right to open one. To the authorities, she was an illegal immigrant. She could not be discovered.

Clarke often thought about how her life could have been. She would have grown up in her father's country, France, or her mother's, Australia, and she would have had a normal childhood. Maybe she would've been studying in college right now. Something she liked, arts, or maybe something she hated. But at least she would've been giving herself a chance for a better future.

She rose. Raven had called her again, probably needing a hand on something, or just wanting to make fun of her because she was hella bored too. Whatever it was, Clarke was glad someone had gotten her out of her painful boredom. The one which always got her to think about her past and how it affected her present life.

''You're bored too, aren't ya ?''

Clarke wanted to yell 'HELL YES' as an answer to her colleague's question but contained herself. The room was huge and many people were sitting at their desk whether working or waiting for this eventless day to end.

''Not much going on, today. Tell me the first five weeks I've spent here weren't exceptional and that I'm gonna have things to do soon enough.''

''That's the first time I actually hear someone asking for work, but hell I feel you !''

''Do you know why is today so calm ?''

Raven hesitated a bit and finally got closer to Clarke to whisper :

''There was an important meeting this morning. Everyone was waiting for it up there. We weren't told because it's none of our business, but you know, birds are chirping.''

Clarke laughed, knowing what Raven was talking about. Birds were girls, and girls were Woods Enterprises CEO's favorite. Clarke knew deals were made between certain employees and the CEO, whether to get something for the first ones or to keep something a secret for the others.

Not that Lexa Woods, the most effective CEO Woods Enterprises had since its creation, had anything to fear from anyone. At the contrary, she was the one to be feared.

Clarke had never seen her in real life, but she knew how she looked like because her face was at least once a week in the newspapers. And let's not talk about TV, radio, or even the internet. Lexa Woods was so famous even the stars seemed to be looking at her.

Clarke didn't know her very well, and she clearly didn't want to. Working for her already outraged her. Woods' father had denounced Clarke's father and forced him into a plane straight to France.

And if only it had been just that, maybe Clarke would have let her anger go away. She could have joined her father after graduation. But it never happened, because the damn plane the Woods had put her father in had crashed into the Atlantic ocean.

Consequently, she wished to never have to meet her boss. If most employees adored Lexa Woods, as amazingly strong and gorgeous as she was, Clarke could not face her. Woods' face haunted her, not in the way that she would have liked.

''Hey, Clarke on Earth !'' Raven called.

Clarke nodded, not knowing what had been said, but still pretending to be following her.

''Clarke...''

''I'm listening,'' the blonde said, slowly getting back to reality.

Raven sighed and repeated what her recent friend clearly didn't listen to.

''I was saying Ontari wants it.''

''What ?'' Clarke blinked. Were we talking of 'it' it ?

''You heard well. Ontari wants to get our dear CEO in her forbidden place.''

''What does she want ? The pride of having slept with Lexa Woods or a promotion ?''

''Both, obviously.'' Raven winked and grabbed her phone, offering Clarke to play a game with her.

No one was paying attention to them anyway. Not today.

It was finally 5pm and Raven and Clarke had just walked out of the building.

''Hey Clarke, I'm going out with friends tonight, wanna join ?''

Clarke wanted to say yes. Raven was really nice and she liked her other friend and colleague Octavia too. There was also Bellamy, that she had met, but he seemed to like her a bit too much and that was making her uncomfortable. Then there was Monty, always fixing some computer and talking to Jasper at the meantime. All of them worked at Woods Enterprises too, and that's how Clarke knew them. She couldn't tell whether Raven was talking about them or other friends because she had never accepted the brunette's invitation.

She always pulled out whatever excuse to refuse.

''I can't tonight, I'm sorry'', she simply said, hoping Raven wouldn't ask why.

''Again ? You must be a pretty busy woman !''

Raven looked at her seriously before bursting into laughter.

''I'm kidding. Relax, Richards ! I'll see you at work tomorrow. Enjoy your busy night !''

Raven left, without knowing she had just reminded her of the huge lie she was.

Clarke Richards, huh ? She couldn't have applied as Clarke Griffin to get a job at Woods Enterprises. At first she had thought of naming herself Clarke Kent, but her cover probably wouldn't have lasted long.

She laughed, alone in the street. She started walking, as if there was somewhere special for her to go. But there wasn't. She barely had a somewhere, as she barely was a someone.

Parked near the beach, the only thing she had. It was an old car she had bought for a few hundred bucks. She had bought it recently, at the end of her first month of work. She had used all the money she had gotten from her job, leaving herself with nothing to survive this month.

But it would be okay, because she wouldn't sleep in the street anymore. Every night, she drove until somewhere she judged safe and fell asleep on the back seat. These past few days, she had awaken in the middle of the night, tortured by hunger or cold.

Winter had showed itself a couple weeks ago, and pushed Clarke to buy this old car which could barely roll for ten miles. But it was okay. Clarke wasn't complaining about it. It was her car. Her something after having nothing for what had started to become a 'bit too long'.

She walked to the car. She couldn't wait to park somewhere safer and get a few hours of sleep. She was exhausted. But when she arrived to the car, a silhouette suddenly appeared from the other side of the car.

''Surprise !''

Clarke couldn't believe it. It couldn't be...

''Finn ?!''

He approached her and took her in his arms.

''Finally. I found you.'' he whispered near her ear.

Clarke couldn't move. She had gone so far away and he had found her. Finn noticed her reaction and stepped away to look at her in the eyes.

''It's okay, your mom doesn't know you're here. I've been here since last tuesday for work and I saw you parking this old thing on the other side of the bridge. At first I thought I had dreamt but...'' He slipped a hand on the blonde's cheek. ''But here you are. I missed you Clarke. I want you to come back home with me. We can live together ! I swear your mother won't know anything !''

''Finn...''

''I love you, Clarke, I can't let you live like this.''

''Finn, I can't.''

Finn suddenly stopped talking. What ? She couldn't ?

''But, Clarke... we were happy together...''

Clarke knew she couldn't get rid of him like this. So she agreed.

''Okay. I'll come home with you.''

A wide smile appeared on the boy's face.

''I have to go back tomorrow, we'll leave the car somewhere and we'll go to the airport together. I love you, Clarke.''

''Love you too'', she said without thinking a word of it.

They had been together since junior year until graduation, and Clarke had really liked the boy for a year before he started to get on her nerves. He was too possessive and always needed to be right about everything. He enslaved Clarke and was one of the reasons why she had left. First her mother. Then Finn.

She almost slapped him when he laid his lips on hers and pushed her against the car, but she let him. There was only one way to get rid of him. And saying no wasn't an option.

So she let him grab her by the waist and take her inside the car. She let him do as they used to.

And a few hours later, when the boy was heavily asleep on the back seat, she slipped off of his arms and slowly pulled him out of the car, laying him down in the grass.

When he slept like this, nothing could wake him up until he had slept enough.

Clarke knew it and used it to escape him. She took the car and drove to the other side of the city, parking the car in a dark alley where she couldn't be seen. In a few hours, Finn would be gone.

He had to go back to California. Work had always been more important than her.

The car keys still in her hands, she closed her eyes and fell asleep on the driver's seat.

Daylight harshly woke her up. She looked at the clock. 8am. Shit. Clarke jumped out of the car, knocking her head on the door she hadn't opened fast enough. Shit. Where was she ? Too far away from her usual parking spot. She had at least fourty minutes of walking before getting to the town's highest building. Shit. Shit. SHIT.

She had never been later than five minutes. And today she was going to be nearly an hour late.

She didn't have time to shower this morning. Everyday, she would go to the beach and use one of its showers. The water was cold but at least she could clean up a bit. Then she would change clothes. She had three outfits, as she had run away from home after spending a night at Finn's. She had decided it at the moment she had woken up in Finn's arms.

She couldn't bear it anymore. Escaping her mother by spending nights at Finn's. Escaping Finn by staying at home. She just couldn't do it anymore. She had to go as far away from them as possible. And so she had left.

She entered the building an hour and twenty minutes later than she shoud've had. She tried avoiding everyone but she got busted by a tiny group of office workers.

Oh, no. Not them again.

''Look at that !'' Murphy shouted. ''Richards is running late again.''

''But really really late this time,'' Ontari added with a devious smile. ''A few minutes weren't enough, Richards ? You had to take an hour and a half ?''

Murphy took a step and Clarke's jaw clenched. If only she wasn't trying to stay as invisible as possible, she would punch each one of them already.

''Are you planning on sleeping with your boss to erase each hour of work you've missed ?'' he whispered, and Clarke couldn't keep herself from pushing him away from her.

Ontari seemed content about Clarke's reaction, because while the rest of the group was watching in silent, she approached Clarke with her lips forming a huge scar on her face. Was it supposed to be a smile ?

''Sorry, honey,'' she whispered unapologetically, ''but I'm afraid you haven't got a chance with our boss. I'm just saying... don't harm yourself trying.'' she turned back and left, Clarke giving her an expected glare.

The others followed her, except for Murphy who had to add :

''Not even the trash would want you.''

When they were all gone, and she was finally alone in the corridor, she let out a long sigh.

Just a normal day at work.