My heart was beating out of my chest as they starting calling passengers to board the plane. I did not like flying, anything that put me in a position of not being in control was something that displeased me very much.
"Looks like our princess is afraid of flying." I heard the heckling coming from behind me, but I did not have to turn around to see whom was responsible for it. I thought I was doing good keeping my nerves under control, turns out they were more apparent than intended.
"Or is it cause you're flying economy with the rest of us peasants." After two year I would have hoped that Bellamy Blake would have found a new target to annoy, but it seemed he could not get enough of me. After my family and I moved to the small town of Arcadia two years ago we had become the source of many hushed conversation. My mother was a famous surgeon and my father an engineer, so everyone was curious as to why we had moved away from the city to this small town in the middle of nowhere. Rumors varied from us being Russians spies to being on the run from the mob. I had heard everything, but the rumor that got the most of my nerves and that never died down was that I was a princess escaping persecution. Bellamy had of course been the source of that particular rumor and from the day I started at Grounder High he had called me princess and most people stayed away from me not wanting to get involved with the strange girl with a secretive past. Truth was my parents needed a break, they were always working and barely had time for each other even less for me, so when my father started feeling depressed they decided to move here and take jobs that would allow us more time as a family. I was glad to see them happier, but I could not wait to leave this town for college and go back to being a faceless person in the crowd.
"Blake don't you have anything better to do, leave Clarke alone."
"Just leave him Raven, after this trip I never have to see him again." Raven had been the one good thing to come out of this place. She had dismissed all the rumors and come up to me to ask why we had really moved here. I told her the truth and she believed me, we have been friends ever since. She didn't take any nonsense from people and I loved that about her. I had also made friends with Monty and Jasper, who said they didn't care what had brought me here, that I was cool and that's all they needed. I tried numerous times telling them the truth, but they always told me to stay quiet, not wanting to bring the mob down on the town. I could never figure out if they were serious or just playing along. It didn't matter, the three of them had allowed me to have an amazing senior year. We were on our way to Scotland for our senior trip, one week away from Arcadia to enjoy the last few days I had with my friends before I moved away for school. If only Bellamy could have stayed behind it would be so much better.
"You know Clarke I've told you before he only teases you because he …"
"Wants me… I know Jasper so you keep saying. But if and that is a big if, that were true that would just prove how much of an idiot he is. Picking on the one you like is what five-year-old's do."
Thankfully once we were seated I was at the opposite end from Bellamy so despite being nervous about flying at least I did not have the added annoyance of having to deal with him.
I managed to sleep a few hours, but I was glad when we finally landed. A bus was waiting to take us to our final destination and it was hard to miss the excitement in the air as we drove through the Scottish Highlands. It was a breathtaking place to be. The inn we were staying in was really charming, we were 22 students from Arcadia so we basically took over the entire place.
Since we were only going to be here one week, the trip organizers had booked as much stuff as possible in a very short amount of time. Tomorrow we would be walking through the mountains and I could not wait.
The next morning, I woke up very early, Raven was still sound asleep next to me as I got ready for my morning run. The Inn was located in a small village just at the base of a very impressive mountain, there was a trail leading all the way to the top. The trail was perfect for running. Just as I was about to set off the backdoor to the inn opened, and Bellamy walked out dressed in sportswear.
"Princess fancy meeting you here, I did not take you for the running type." Just my luck of all the people to come interrupt me it had to be him.
"Don't you have someone else you could be annoying right now."
"Clarke how can you say that you are by far my favorite person to annoy, why would I bother with anyone else when you're the only one that gets this particular shade of red on her cheeks every time."
"You are infuriating."
"Please if I hadn't been around the past two years our boring little town would have driven you mad. I'm just keeping things interesting. Now are we going to stand here all day or are we going to find out who runs faster." And just like that Bellamy took off, not one to backdown from a challenge I sprinted after him. As he was much taller than me it took more effort on my part to catch up to him and keep up.
"So have you picked were you're going to go to college yet?"
"Why do you need to know? Are you planning on following me there so you can continue to torture me?"
"Come on Clarke I'm just trying to be polite and make conversation."
"That would be a first." Bellamy chuckled at my joke and then we fell in a comfortable silence, running side by side. It was strange to not be at each other's throats for once. I guess it really was the end of an era. I stole a few glances in Bellamy's direction, as much as I despised him there was no ignoring how good he looked, especially in those shorts. If I could keep him quiet for a few minutes I would love nothing more than to run my fingers in his silky hair.
"Princess it's not polite to stare." Oh shit, caught. Dare I admit that I was checking him out. That would make his ego even bigger than it already was and nobody needed that. Lying was the best course of action to get me out of this embarrassing situation.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, I was enjoying the scenery."
"You keep telling yourself that, but I'm sure you wouldn't mind getting a piece of this." As Bellamy was showing off his body I lost my balance tripping over a small rock. Being right on the edge of the path that's all it took to start tumbling downhill. I could hear Bellamy yelling my name as I tried to grab on to anything to slow down my fall, lucky it was grass all around me and it did not seem like I had any apparent injuries when I was finally able to stop tumbling down the hill. I checked myself over, and apart from a hurt pride and multiple bruise that were sure to appear in the morning I was fine. Bellamy was still calling for me, and his voice was getting closer, he was coming down the hill to make sure I was ok. I had half expected him to leave me here and continue with his run.
"Clarke are you alright? Let me check your foot to see if it's bruised or broken. Do you think you can walk? Should I go get help? My god say something."
"I would but you're hardly giving me a chance, I think you're worried enough for the both of us." I smiled back at him, trying to hold my laughter back at his face full of worry.
"Well yes, sorry for being a little worried at seeing you fall down a hillside, next time I'll just leave you to take care of yourself. It's what you do best anyway, isn't it?"
"What's that supposed to mean. I didn't mean to upset you Bellamy, my god just when I was thinking we could get along you go and overreact. I should have known better." I tried getting up, which was harder than it looked after the fall I took, there was no way I was climbing back up to the path, I would have to find another way to get back up there. I turned back at Bellamy waiting to see if he would just leave me here, but he was not moving. As soon as I started walking away he seem to come back to life and catch up to me.
"Do you want me to carry you?" He asked shyly.
"I thought you had made it clear that I like to do things on my own and don't need anyone's else help."
"Look I'm sorry I just, you caught me off guard and I don't quite know how to act around you right now."
"Let's just forget about it and get back to the inn." We walked for what seemed like hours, my foot was causing me great discomfort and everywhere I looked everything was the same. We continued walking in silence for maybe another 10 minutes when Bellamy voiced what we were both thinking.
"I think we're lost."
"That sounds about right. I'm sorry I got you into this mess, maybe you should have just left me and continued on your own."
"Well I did distract you with my sexy body so I'm partly at fault." I burst out laughing and so did he. Between him joking around to make me feel better and the absurdity of our situation, I couldn't help it. We both calmed down after a few minutes and I think slowly started to realize that this could quickly become a dangerous situation if we didn't find help quickly.
"How are they going to find us? We are way off the path."
"We'll figure something out."
"Bellamy." I gently pulled on his arm to make him stop. "You might have to leave me here."
"Clarke I can't. I might act like a jackass half the time, but I could never leave you out here all alone."
"Just consider it ok, you'll have a better chance of finding help on your own." He remained quiet after my proposal, it was obvious he did not want to leave me behind, but I think he also feared what would happen if we were stuck spending the night outside exposed to the elements.
The sun was starting to set when we truly realized how desperate our situation was. We were going to have to spend the night outside.
"Let me run up ahead and see if I can't find a spot for us to rest." As I watched him get further away from me I couldn't help to worry that he wouldn't come back. I knew I had proposed something similar before but seeing the sun go down I really didn't want to be left alone. He was only gone a few minutes but it felt like hours. When he did return he had a smile on his face.
"I found a cave, come on we can rest there for the night and tomorrow morning find our way back, I'm sure by now they've sent people to look for us."
It wasn't perfect and the air was beginning to feel much colder as the sun went down but we would at least be safer than outside. Bellamy had insisted that we sleep next to each other to preserve as much heat as possible. I could not find it in myself to be disgusted by the idea as I once would have. I finally managed to get a little sleep, only to be woken up by this weird drumming sound. At first, I was thinking it might be a rescue crew, but the drumming was drawing me further into the cave, I continued to follow it until I reached some kind of underground pool of water. How could the drumming be coming from there I wondered? Whatever it was it was drawing me nearer. Just as I was about to plunge in, a hand held me back.
"Clarke what are you doing."
"Don't you hear it Bellamy, the drumming? It's like it's calling me." The water was shinny and felt so inviting, I pulled my weight forward trying to reach it. Bellamy was still holding onto me, but he must have lost his footing, because as I hit the water his hand was still holding onto my wrist.