Chapter One: Lexa

Part 1

"We're moving again." Uncle Gustus told Lexa when she got home from her last day of school. She just stood there, speechless. They had moved around a lot, being a military family. She's been living with her uncle Gustus and aunt Anya since her parents died. She had really grown to like Ton-dc though. She felt at home in this small town and this has been a huge slap in the face for her.

"I don't want to move again." She replied coldly.

"You don't have a choice. You still have one more year of high school, I can't leave you here by yourself. I promised to protect you." Uncle Gustus answered, as genuinely as he could.

"I like it here!" Raising her voice a little louder to get her point across.

"We're leaving next week." He said as he got up and walked away, thus ending the conversation.

Lexa stomped to her room, only to find a bunch of boxes laying in the floor waiting to be packed. She kicked at them and stormed out of her room again and out the front door, not meaning to slam it the way that she did.

Anya hurried into the corridor at the same time Gustus did. Anya shot him a fierce look.

"I had to tell her." Gustus defended himself.

Lexa ended up at their tree. The tree where she had her first kiss. She traced the initials inside the heart that was carved there to signify the moment.

"I miss you, Costia." She whispered to herself.

She had met Costia when she first moved to Ton-dc. Lexa loved her so much so that she's convinced herself she can never love anyone the same again. They only broke up because Costia was moving to Iceland. Her family was also a military family, which is why she and Lexa connected so easily, and they were being stationed in Iceland for a while. Lexa still has hope that one day they'll meet again.

She sat down against the trunk of the tree, relishing in the memories she made with Costia at here. All the nights they snuck out to meet at this tree, sometimes just to talk, sometimes talking all night long. The night Costia told Lexa she was moving to Iceland they were there all night, even when the sun came up they were still sitting there.

Tears began to stream down Lexa's cheeks, causing her to realize just how cold it was getting. This will always be our tree she thought.

Lexa tried to be as quiet as she could while sneaking back into her own home. Anya and Gustus must have already gone to bed. She made it to her room safely, only to find that most of her room had been packed up. She sighed as she plopped down on her bed, looking around her room at all the things left unpacked. She was tired, but her mind was racing too much for her to sleep, so she packed up the rest of her room.

Part 2

Lexa climbed out of the car, taking in the new home in front of her. Sure it was nice, but it doesn't have the memories she's made in Ton-dc, there was nothing of her parents or Costia here.

Her neighbors down the street were causing quite a commotion. Lexa hoped all Fridays weren't going to be like this. She sighed and headed to the front door.

"Which room is mine?" she called out, really to anyone that would know the answer.

"Upstairs, right hallway, door on the right." Anya called back from the kitchen.

Lexa made her way to the room that was designated hers. It was a nice size room. The moving company had already gotten all of their stuff there prior to their arrival, so all that was to be done now is unpack. She peeked out the window and watched as the moving trucks pulled away. While she was at the window, she looked down the street at the teenagers, who she'd guess she'll be going to school with in the fall, as they were playing football. She noticed a dark haired girl in the mix of shirtless boys, being the make-shift quarterback.

She turned back to her room full of boxes. She sighed as she thought about the time it will to take to unpack all of her things. She decided to start with her clothes and began pulling boxes open til she found them.

A knock on the front door pulled Lexa out of her unpacking-trance. She looked out her window, but couldn't see the front door from there. So she quietly left her room and peeked around the corner of her hallway and down there stairs at the doorway stood her aunt Anya talking to a woman of about the same age.

"Hi I'm Abby Griffin, I live just down the street." She spoke as she stuck her hand out to shake Anya's.

"Anya," she said as she shook the hand being offered to her, "Just moved in with my husband, Gustus and our niece, Lexa."

"Oh great," Abby smiled, "we're having a cookout at our house, we'd love to have you guys over."

"Thank you," Anya replied, "I'll make sure to stop by in a bit when we get a break."

"Okay, see you then." Abby smiled and turned to go back to her own home.

Lexa scurried back to her room so as to not get caught eavesdropping. She so did not want to go meet her neighbors. She heard footsteps coming down her hallway, she was sure she had been caught anyways.

"We're going to go meet our neighbors down the street," Gustus told her, with Anya at his side, "do you want to come along?" He was more expecting her to go, but would at least allow her to say no if she really didn't want to go.

"No, I don't." Lexa replied, without even looking up from the box she was unpacking. They stood there in silence for what felt like hours to Lexa, but in reality was only a few seconds. "Okay." Anya replied, a little bit of disappointment in her voice. Gustus and Anya turned and left, to go meet their neighbors.

Lexa used her time alone to quickly explore her new home. In the same hallway her room was, she found a bathroom right across from her room and a small bedroom at the end of the hallway, above the garage. She walked past the steps she came up earlier and to the hallway around the corner on the other side. There was only one bedroom down that hallway, which would be her aunt and uncles' room, and a bathroom with a door that led directly into the room. Across from the wall of the room, there's a window overlooking the backyard, which Lexa noted was kind of small.

Downstairs, to the right of the staircase was a kitchen and to the left was a living room. Through the kitchen there was a doorway that led to a dining room and a doorway on the other end of the dining room leading to a hallway. The hallway had a door on one wall before it continued to connect to the living room. The door led to the backyard. She glanced out the window and was still disappointed in the little amount of space back there.

Lexa went back to her room, found sheets and blankets for her bed, and found her headphones. She laid down and listened to music, trying to shut out the memories of having just moved.

Lexa spent the rest of the summer avoiding everyone and spending as much time in her room as possible. She wasn't usually like this though, she used to spend time hanging out with her friends and just as much time with the only family she really had, Uncle Gustus and Aunt Anya. She suspects one day she'll get back into that rhythm after she's made some friends, if she makes friends.

She woke up to her alarm blaring, signaling that she needs to get up and get ready for her first day at a new school. She groans and hits the snooze button. It's going to be a long day. After wasting away a few more minutes in the warm confines of her bed, she gets ready and grumbles down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Good morning." Gustus shoots to a grumpy Lexa, as he starts cooking a quick breakfast for her. "Anya is going to drive you to class, figured you wouldn't want to ride the bus on the first day at a new school."

"Thanks." She mumbles through arms that her head is now resting on. She eats quickly, once the food is placed in front of her, and is out the door behind Anya.

Lexa watches as a car full of teenagers speeds off from her neighbor's house down the street. She just barely catches a glimpse of blonde hair, bright as the sun, flickering through the window. She dismisses the sight and climbs into the passenger seat of Anya's car. "When am I going to get my own car?" Lexa wondered out loud.

"Soon." Anya replied, causing Lexa to realize she had asked the question out loud. She has asked this question many times before, and already knew what answer she would get. They always told her soon, but they've been saying it since her 15th birthday. She's going to turn 18 soon, and she would like to have her own car to get around, rather than rely on her aunt or uncle.

They rode in silence the whole way to the school. Anya didn't want to pry, and Lexa didn't want to answer any questions of why she's been so distant. Anya did mumble a goodbye though as Lexa climbed out of the car, to no avail because Lexa still didn't say anything to her.

She was there early, classes wouldn't start for another hour. Lexa needed to go to the front office to get her schedule and use some time to wonder around this new building to find where her classes would be.

She walked into the front office and informed the lady sitting at the first desk of her name and that she was new there. The lady needed no further explanation and directed her to Principal Griffin's office. Why does that name sound familiar? Lexa wondered to herself. She walked back to his office and went through the steps she's gotten used to by now to switch schools.

"I'd have my daughter show you where your classes are, she's the student body president, but I've yet to see her this morning." He told her. Lexa dismissed his offer, telling him that she's gotten pretty good at finding her classes pretty quickly, having moved around so much.

Lexa left the front office and looked at the first room listed on her schedule and looked at the room numbers listed at the start of the nearest hallway. She found the hallway that contained the room number she was looking for and started walking down it.

She had gotten there early so she wasn't really expecting many other students to be there yet. She was carefully reading over her schedule while she walked, so she didn't notice the girl standing at a locker. It all happened so quickly. Lexa only remembers being on the ground, staring at the blonde she had just run into.