Prologue

Arkadia is quite frankly my home away from home.

Especially since I get to see my family friends, the Blakes! We own the house next to them, but sadly, only go there during the summer.

At least I thought...

Chapter One: Arakdia

My name is Clarke Griffin, and I just turned sixteen years old. My family and I live in Santa Barbra California, with all its' fame and sun. You'd think that living right near the beach would make anyone happy, but that's not the case. You see, I don't really fit in here as I don't have many friends. My favorite time of the year is Summer, not because I get to go to parties and get super drunk, but because I get to go to Arkadia, my home away home from home.

"Clarke? Can you come down here?" I heard my mother yell from downstairs. As I walked down the steps I expected it to be because she wanted me to go ahead and start packing for our summer vacation, but as I turned the corner to the kitchen she and dad had some very serious looks on their faces.

"Hey, Princess," my dad said as he pulled into a hug "we have something we need to tell you".

To say the least, I was terrified at this point, so I did what anybody else would do as I blurted out, "I didn't do it!"

My parents just chuckled as they sat down at the table. There was a very long, awkward, painful silence until I heard my moms voice, "How would feel about moving?" she asked solemnly.

I was surprised. but I didn't really care too much so I uttered, "Depends where were moving to".

"Arkadia," my dad spoke as my mother shot a rather displeased look.

As I stood there, processing what my dad just said my mother must've noticed my puzzled expression, she clarified " I got another job to be a surgeon in Arkadia, but before we said yes to anything we decided to ask you first".

A big grin formed on my from ear to ear as I screamed, "Yes, yes, yes! A million times yes!" jumping up and down while pulling them both into a hug.

I just had a couple more days in my sophomore year so my mom left to Arkadia before my dad and I did. I was so excited I couldn't wait and the moment we got to our house, I noticed a certain brown haired girl with a cheerful look on her face running to the the car. Octavia Blake, she was the same age as me and we've been best friends for years. We had both grown so much over the past few years with her long, straight, brown hair and brown puppy dog eyes to my blonde, curly locks and ocean blue eyes.

"You're finally here!" she said as she pulled me into a tight bear hug. "Also, why did your mom get here before you, a fight i'm guessing?"

"Actually," I said making her even more curious with widening eyes, "we moved here"!

Octavia didn't say anything, but I could tell from the expression on her face that she was internally screaming. She opened her mouth but was interrupted by a deep scratchy voice, "Clarke Griffin, is that really you? No braces, no glasses, i'm impressed" he said mockingly.

"Bellamy, looks like you finally grew out of being an ass, oh wait, you haven't" I hissed. We didn't hate each other, but he always insisted on being asshole. We both smiled as he hugged me for what seemed like a little too long. I pulled back keeping my head down because i knew my face would be red due to the fact that I may or may not have a slight crush on Bellamy.

Octavia cut the silence by telling me, "let's go inside and get some outfits for the party this weekend".

"Party?" I raised an eyebrow because she knew I had always been an introvert.

"Yes party. This is so you can get to know new people because you're in all those smarty pants classes," She stuck here tongue out at me as I chuckled.

Octavia never really had a strong suit for academics or the performing arts unlike me, but she did excel in two places where i lagged: sports and being outgoing.

She dragged me upstairs to my room where most of my clothes had already been sent and hung up. When we reached the door, Octavia bolted to the closet frantically searching for the perfect outfit.

Having been here nearly every Summer of my life, you'd think i'd of made friends. In reality, I stayed inside the house for most of the Summer, occasionally going outside to play with Octavia and Bellamy. I preferred the indoors, so it wasn't too bad, I got a lot of time to draw and paint which made the Summer even better.

Lost in thought, I finally looked up to Octavia a tight fitting, backless, black dress."You can never go wrong with a little black dress," she chuckled, throwing the dress into my lap. All it took was one look and she knew I was against it. She stared into my eyes making herself cry to get my sympathy, and it worked.

"Fine," I muttered, "i'll wear the stupid dress, happy"?

"Yes I am," she said trying to catch her breath from all the light squealing she was doing from when I said I would wear the dress.

As each day passed, I found myself getting even more anxiety than usual. I was excited, but also felt like I was going to puke. The day of the party finally came and my dad had already said goodbye to me, I didn't see my parents that much anymore, but that was to be expected. I made my way next door to the Blake's house to get ready with Octavia.

An hour and a half later along with some seriously boring prepping and primping done by Octavia, we made our way downstairs to find Aurora and Bellamy at the kitchen counter. She gasped as we walked, but was looking mainly at me. I guess it makes sense, I never dressed up unless I had to. She walked up to me as I felt there were more than her eyes on me, Bellamy's were too.

"Let me get a good look at you," She sighed as she slowly turned me around taking in all of what the dress could give. She gave me comforting smile and said, "you look gorgeous, don't ya think, Bellamy"?

"Uh... Uh yeah, she uh looks good," he sounded nervous which surprised me since he was always so straightforward.

Aurora took picture after picture so she would have enough for herself as well as my mom. We made our way to the party and finally pulled up to the huge house right on the beach. Stepping out of the car, I thought to myself what could go wrong?