Clarke did get lucky the next year. As she entered her new classroom on the first day of school, the first thing she noticed was long brunette hair, with a single small braid dangling on the left side of her face. Lexa sat at her desk across the room, conversing and giggling with the girl on her right.

The year prior, Clarke did get to see Lexa after the cafeteria incident, but only from a distance. Clarke could recognize Lexa's wavy brown hair from halfway down the hall. When their separate class lines crossed in opposite directions, Clarke would offer a smile and short wave, a gesture that Lexa always returned. Lexa's lunch table was two tables down the length of Clarke's, but rarely could Clarke catch Lexa's attention across the sea of children. Octavia once nudged her on the side, curious as to what her friend was trying to get a look at. Clarke would blush at getting caught but would return her gaze down the length of the table, more subtly this time, or that's what she liked to believe. They didn't share any other classes and Clarke's class would go to recess just as Lexa's would finish. This was the case for the remaining school year, and Clarke found that she was saddened to know that she might also not see the green-eyed girl during the summer either. So when that became the case, Clarke was excited to go back to school the following year.

But summers can be long and Clarke suddenly felt shy; the courage to say even a simple "hello" somehow became the most difficult task she's ever come across. Doubts flooded her mind. Would Lexa even remember her? But before she could make a decision, Lexa's eyes found Clarke's. Clarke slightly blushed at the realization of getting caught and quickly averted her direction.

"Clarke!"

Clarke returned her gaze to Lexa's direction.

"Clarke!" Lexa was now walking towards her, her right arm waving from side to side, a smile on her face and joy in her eyes.

Clarke suddenly felt ill prepared and thought she was going to explode.

"Hey, Clarke!" Lexa stopped a few feet in front of Clarke

"Hey-" Clarke was cut off by Lexa lurching forward, giving her a hug.

Clarke was surprised, but pleasantly so. If she felt lucky before, she felt even more so now.

"How was your summer?" Lexa didn't give Clarke a time to respond to her question before reaching for her right hand and pulling her across the room to the girl who she was talking to earlier. "I'm so glad we're in the same class! C'mon I want you to meet my best friend!"

"Clarke, meet my friend Costia. She's lives next door to me." Lexa motioned to the girl once they got close enough.

Costia smiled towards Clarke, wide enough to reach her eyes and show her teeth. Clarke couldn't help but smile in return.

Costia's hair was jet black, a little frizzy but mostly well kept and it's length barely reached the tops of her shoulders. Her skin was darker than both Lexa and Clarke's, almost an olive tone. Her eyes were a soft brown, and Clarke was almost in awe of this young girl's beauty.

"Costia, this is the girl I told you about. The one I met in the cafeteria. She's my new friend."

Clarke turned to the girl next to her. Friend? She liked the sound of that. It made her heart feel warm and before she knew it, she was smiling.

"I'm Clarke. Nice to meet you." Clarke turned back to Costia once more and stuck her hand out, remembering what her mother taught her about being polite.

Costia shook Clarke's hand from her seat, "Nice to meet you, too! I'm so happy we're all in the same class."

And with that, all three girls smiled at each other. Clarke doesn't remember being this happy before. Not even in Indianapolis with her old friends. She thinks that maybe moving to Baltimore wasn't so bad after all and that this year will be a good one.


Second grade did turn out to be good. That year Clarke learned more about Lexa. She learned that Lexa didn't live inside the same gated neighborhood as some of her other friends did. Instead she lived outside the gate, but still within Arkadia.

Once, Clarke visited Lexa's house and discovered that Lexa's dad left before she was born and her mother died during Lexa's birth and she has since lived with her uncle Gustus and his daughter Anya. Lexa never knew her parents, and sometimes she does wonder what they were like, but Gustus always treated Lexa as his own, and Anya, being a few years older, was happy to take Lexa under her wing.

Clarke felt sad for Lexa for never having met her parents. But even after just one visit to her house Clarke could understand that she at least still had family. Lexa was happy with Gustus and Anya. There was rarely a moment she didn't see Lexa smile. Even after Anya would tease her about being reckless, Lexa would smile like she was proud of it. Clarke got to experience some of Lexa's recklessness first hand.

During the summer after second grade, Lexa visited Clarke's side of the neighborhood and they biked to the nearest playground. Lexa was a show-off. Clarke learned that early on. Lexa climbed on top of the monkey bars and hung from them by her knees.

"Clarke look!" Lexa grinned in pride at her accomplishment.

Clarke turned around from her position on the swing and immediately felt worry seeing Lexa hanging upside down a few feet off the ground, "Lexa! Get down before you get hurt."

Lexa let out a soft giggle at her friend before moving to reach for the monkey bars with her hands. Her face was red, gravity bringing the blood to concentrate at her forehead and cheeks.

Clarke jumped from her swing and called out to Lexa, "Lexa! Be careful!"

"Don't worry, Clarke! I got it. Whoa-" Just as Lexa had positioned herself upright, sitting on the bars, one of her hands lost grip and she was sent falling to the ground. She heard an audible gasp coming from Clarke before using her arms to shield her face from the mulchy impact.

"LEXA!" Clarke rushed over to her friend, quickly kneeling beside her on the ground before carefully turning her over to her back. Lexa grimaced at the movement.

"Lexa, are you okay?" Clarke was beyond worried but relieved to find Lexa still alive. Clarke quickly observed Lexa to see if she had any serious damages. Both Lexa's knees were red from impact and her left one was bleeding. Clarke helped Lexa sit herself up.

Lexa tried to use her left hand to support herself on the ground, but immediately pulled it toward her chest when she felt a sharp pain shoot up her wrist and along her forearm. Lexa winced and raised her left arm to look at it. Clarke gently took Lexa's left wrist in her hands, worried eyes and knitted eyebrows focused. Lexa's wrist was slightly blue. Clarke thought it might be broken.

"C'mon. My house is just around the corner. My mom's a doctor, she can fix your arm." Clarke slowly lowered Lexa's hand and turned to look at her face. The corner of Lexa's lips were still curled upwards although she was obviously trying to hide her amusement over her blonde friend's worry.

"Lexa! Why are you smiling? You almost died!"

Lexa couldn't help but let out a soft laugh, "You're being silly, Clarke. I'm okay. And did you see me? That was pretty cool, right?" At this point, Lexa was grinning, eyes almost closed and teeth bare.

Clarke rolled her eyes so hard, they almost got stuck, "No, Lexa. That was not cool. You fell."

Lexa was still grinning when Clarke helped her up to her feet. Lexa kept her left foot bent at the knee, not allowing to put her weight on it. Clarke began brushing off dirt that stuck on to Lexa's shirt before placing Lexa's left arm over her shoulder like she saw in the movies when someone got hurt.

Clarke and Lexa left their bikes in the park and began their walk to Clarke's house. Their journey was short but slow. Clarke taking her time to make sure Lexa would remain in one piece. Lexa kept telling her friend to stop being such a worry-wart. But Clarke only huffed in defiance, which earned a snort of laughter from the brunette.


Abby made quick work of Lexa's injuries. Glad that she only had a small scrape on her knee and a mild wrist sprain. Lexa was seated on top of the Griffin's kitchen counter. Abby just finished cleaning Lexa's knee and Clarke placed a Star Wars band-aid over the wound. They only had Star Wars and Barbie band-aids, and Clarke thought Star Wars was more Lexa's style.

"Cool! Star Wars is my favorite." Lexa exclaimed, happy to see the lightsaber decorated band-aid covering her knee.

Clarke smiled at Lexa's excitement, practically brimming with pride to be sporting the bandage on her wrist and a lightsaber on her knee.

"Can I do anything else, mom?" Clarke was always eager to help. Abby always told her that being an such a great artist gave her steady hands.

"No, sweetie. You did great." Abby offered her little assistant a smile. "Okay Lexa, you're good to go. Just be careful next time okay, girls? I really don't wanna have to take one of you to the hospital next time."

"I promise I won't let it happen again, mom." Clarke said, shooting an accusative glare in Lexa's direction.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Griffin. I promise I'll be more careful." Lexa apologized.

"It's alright, Lexa. Just maybe stay away from the monkey bars for a while. I'm just glad Clarke was there to help you out."

Lexa gave a smile in Clarke's direction, "Me too."

Lexa somehow never failed to make Clarke blush, and this time was not an exception.

Abby smiled at the girl's interaction before looking to Lexa, "I'm gonna call your uncle and let him know what happened." Abby stated before reaching for the telephone near the edge of the counter.

Lexa nodded, "Thanks, Mrs. Griffin."

That evening, Costia and her parents drove by the Griffin residence to pick Lexa up. Gustus was still working late at the police station, and asked his neighbors to pick up his niece. It was a rare occasion to see Costia and Lexa apart, but Costia promised to go grocery shopping with her parents that afternoon.

Costia was on the front porch when Clarke opened the door. Lexa was quick to show her best friend the aftermath of the earlier incident. Costia took Lexa's wrist and placed a soft kiss on top of the bandage. Clarke could've sworn she saw the brunette's cheeks flush a slight shade of crimson.

Clarke had felt jealousy before, but this was almost an envy towards Costia. Not because Lexa called Costia her best friend and not because Costia could elicit a reaction from Lexa that caused her to blush, but Clarke was envious of their friendship. Clarke didn't just learn more about Lexa, she also learned more about Costia throughout the past year.

Clarke found Costia to be absolutely lovely and she had become Clarke's friend as much as Lexa had. But Clarke could never shake the feeling of desire to be as close to someone and mean so much to someone as Costia did to Lexa. And although she'd never admit it, Clarke didn't just want to be relevant and important in someone else's life, she wanted to be relevant and important in Lexa's life.


Clarke believed it was fate when throughout the rest of their elementary school years, Clarke and Lexa always shared the same class. Their bond and friendship grew beyond what Clarke could've imagined.

During 5th grade, Octavia and Costia also shared the same class as Clarke and Lexa, and the amount of trouble those girls could get themselves into was more than enough to count on both hands. Clarke was always the hesitant one, but the odds were never in her favor as the other three girls could always convince her to join in on the "fun".

That year, the girls made plenty of memories together. One of Clarke's fondest ones was defeating the boys at an indoor soccer match during their PE class. It was boys against girls, and Clarke learned that Octavia and Lexa had a knack for sports. The boys didn't stand a chance against Lexa's quick feet that never seemed to stop moving. Both Octavia and Lexa earned many high praises from the PE coach, something they both were endlessly proud of. Clarke could never forget the amount of joy and triumph in Lexa's expression with her chest jut out. This wasn't the first time Clarke saw this and it wouldn't be the last.

Clarke tried desperately to hold on to these memories when she learned that after this year, the girls would no longer be sharing the same school.

"I don't get it. Why can't Lexa go to the same school as me?" Clarke sat at the dinner table with her parents, disinterested at the food in front of her.

"I don't know, honey. It's just the way the district is set up. They built a new middle school and this side of Arkadia gets to go to Arkadia Middle School and the other side gets to go to Forest Oaks Middle School ." Abby had just come home from work. She was tired and still in her scrubs, but she couldn't rest knowing her little girl was glum. "I'm sorry, sweetie. But you can still hang out with Lexa and Costia! You can bike to their house on the weekends, it's only a few minutes away."

Clarke was picking at the food on her plate now and she was hearing her mother, but she wasn't listening. She just kept thinking about how there would be no more group projects together and how there would be no more sharing lunches together and no more art class together.

Clarke reminisces at the art class she previously shared with Lexa. Art, of course, was Clarke's favorite subject. Ms. Gordon never lacked in compliments for the talented girl and neither did Lexa.

"Wow, Clarke. That's so amazing." Lexa's eyes widened at her friend's natural talent. Lexa doesn't remember anyone being this good at drawing and she felt a sort of pride knowing that Clarke was her friend.

Clarke always grinned in response, "Thanks, Lex. Yours is looking good too!"

"No way! Not as good as yours."

The class was instructed to sketch landscapes that they would later watercolor. Clarke's drawing was coming along, a shallow meadow in the distance with trees surrounding it.

"Here. Can I help?" Clarke offered.

Lexa only nodded once in response before Clarke sat closer and began adjusting Lexa's grip on her pencil.

"You're gripping your pencil too tight. Hold it like this, it helps with the shading." Clarke helped move Lexa's hands across the paper, demonstrating the effect she was trying to teach.

When Clarke released her friend's hand and looked up to smile at her friend, she could've sworn Lexa's cheeks were a slight pink before she coughed, "Thanks, Clarke." Almost refusing to look her friend in the eye.

Clarke could only keep grinning, "Anytime, Lex."

"Clarke. Hey, punkin…" Clarke was shaken out of her memory, her dad glancing over worried expression.

"I'm okay, dad." Clarke tried to resume eating the now cold dinner.

"Hey, at least you'll still see Wells and Octavia. Monty and Jasper too."

Clarke knew this was true and even though Octavia was in her class, she had missed the boys. She makes a mental note to stop by their house in the upcoming summer.

"Yeah, I guess." Clarke tries to be optimistic, but her parent's words of encouragement were not enough.

Abby looks across the table to face her husband, a concerned expression on her face. Jake silently responds with equally worried eyes.


Jake kisses the top of Clarke's head before finishing tucking her into bed.

"Hey, baby. I know you're sad about not going to the same school as Lexa next year. I know you girls have gotten so close, you guys are like best friends. But, it's not the end of the world. She'll still live across the gate. If you want me to drop you off at her house, I'm more than happy to. And as long as you wear your helmet, you can ride your bike over there." Jake was trying his best to help his daughter see the silver lining, something he could tell was fading from Clarke's point of view.

"I know, daddy. I'm just sad about it. I don't want Lexa to think I don't love her anymore."

Jake was almost surprised to hear Clarke use such a strong word. Almost .

Jake believed a child's love for another is one of the purest forms, without the complication and over-thinking that comes with age, a child's love was simple, honest and undoubtful. There was no spectrum of "friendly love" or "familial love" or even "romantic love", there was just love. And Jake knew that even in just the short amount of time Clarke knew the green-eyed girl, she loved Lexa. And Jake knew that his little girl was heartbroken to know that they would be separated.


That summer before middle school, Clarke tried her best to spend as much time as she could with Lexa. Some days consisted of sweaty bike rides throughout the neighborhood, other days were spent at the community pool. One night was spent watching the original Star Wars trilogy at Clarke's house. Monty, Jasper, Wells, Octavia and Costia were invited and all showed up but Wells. He told Clarke that he had to help his dad with something that night and Clarke didn't think much of it. Another night, Clarke and Costia had a sleepover at Lexa's, although none of them ended up sleeping throughout most of the night. Instead, their night consisted of eating junk food, building forts in Lexa's room, and not really paying attention to the movies showing on her TV. Eventually the girls tired out, and Clarke doesn't remember falling asleep, but she wakes up on the floor next to Lexa, sandwiching the girl between herself and Costia. She found it funny that there was a perfectly comfortable bed two feet away, but the three settled for the floor nevertheless.

On the Sunday before their first day of middle school, Lexa was invited to have lunch with the Griffins, something that became a natural occurrence during the past few years. Abby and Jake didn't work during the weekends, but Abby was always on-call, incase the hospital staff needed her for any emergencies. Regardless, she tries to leave work at work and instead focused on preparing the lunch for her husband and the two girls.

"Where's Costia? I invited her, too." Clarke looked around the side of her art easel, directing the question to Lexa laying down on top of the cover's of Clarke's bed.

Lexa was face down on Clarke's bed, her face smothered on one of the pillows, arms on her side, "She's shopping for school supplies with her mom. Uncle Gustus already took me and Anya yesterday." Lexa lifted her head up slightly off the pillow to offer Clarke a smile, "Can I look at the drawing now?"

"No! It's not done. I'll give it to you before you leave." Clarke continued on her artwork, focused on the paper.

Lexa only grunted in response before placing her face back into the pillow, "Fineeeee."

Clarke only giggled at her impatient friend, her disgruntled reply muffled slightly by the pillow.

"Clarke, I'm gonna miss you." Lexa's face was still pressed against the pillow, but Clarke could understand what she was trying to say.

"Don't say that like you're never gonna see me again!" Clarke wasn't angry, but frustrated, "Just...don't think about it. I'm almost done with the drawing."

A few minutes later, Clarke finished her masterpiece. She was satisfied with the majority of it. She wishes she had more time to do some finishing touches, but she's a perfectionist when it comes to her art, she'd never finish anything if she kept trying to fix the tiny things.

"Okay! I'm all done." Clarke took the canvas off the easel stand. It wasn't a large piece, but it wasn't small either. It was the length of her arm, and as wide as her shoulders.

Lexa hopped off the bed, "Let me see!"

Clarke was always nervous to show her work to others. It was like a little piece of her that she was letting someone else see. But she already told Lexa it would be a present for her, and it was too late to take that back. Clarke bit the bottom of her lip before flipping the canvas around to face Lexa.

Lexa's eyes lit up. Clarke suddenly felt like she was going to vomit. Lexa still hasn't said a word but her expression said plenty.

"So, do you like it? Is it okay? I knew I should've worked on it more." Clarke's insecurities were setting in, and just as she turned to move the canvas around, Lexa stopped her.

"Clarke," Lexa's voice was soft, "I love it. It's amazing. You're amazing. Thanks so much." Lexa moved to hold the piece in her hand, Clarke let her.

It was a soft sketch of the two of them, a close-up of their faces. The background was of trees resembling those around the neighborhood. Lexa's arm was around Clarke's neck and Clarke's mimicked hers. Their smiles were wide, it was like a photograph that captured them at one of their happiest moments.

Clarke thought she might've seen Lexa's eyes water at the edges, but Lexa didn't let the tears fall. Clarke was caught off guard when Lexa suddenly lunged forward to take her blonde friend into her arms, the drawing still grasped in one hand, "Thanks, Clarke. I love it. I'm glad you're my friend." Lexa's hands tightened around Clarke's neck, letting her thanks flow through the hug.

Clarke raised her arms up from her sides and placed them gently on Lexa's back, "You're welcome, Lex. I'm glad you're my friend, too."

After lunch that afternoon, Gustus pulled up on the Griffin's driveway ready to pick up his niece. Clarke and Lexa resumed their earlier position of a hug, this time to say goodbye rather than as a thanks.

"Have fun at school tomorrow." Lexa whispered to Clarke, still tangled in their embrace.

"You too, Lex." Clarke didn't want to let go. Clarke knew she never liked goodbyes, but for the first time, she thinks she might hate them.

Lexa leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Clarke's left cheek, taking the blonde by surprise. Clarke was beyond aware of the light pink that now decorated her cheeks.

Lexa walked slowly to her uncle's car, canvas in hand, a short wave aimed at Clarke. Clarke returned the wave, and now she fully believed she hates goodbyes.


Notes:

Not gonna lie, I was kinda struggling with this chapter cause I was sooo eager to get to the next one. My girlfriend (who edits these for me) was like, "Bruh, they're kids right now. They wouldn't say that stuff." And I had to kinda go over and take a step back again. So hopefully, it still came out alright. I know it's a lot of back and forth and a lot of flashbacks and memories but I hope you guys didn't get whiplash. The next chapter is *kindaaaa* gonna be sort of a filler. It's definitely gonna be one of the shorter ones, it's gonna go and (a lot like the end of this chapter) skip forward in time a little bit.

Anyways, don't wanna spoil too much! As always...comments and kudos are beyond appreciated and stay tuned!
-April