If you had asked Clarke on the first day of this new year what her favorite part of college was, she would have said lunch breaks. Which wouldn't have surprised you, because Ancient Greek History, especially with Mr. Brown, bore the hell out of everyone.

But now, on day three, sitting in the cafeteria, Clarke realized that lunch breaks weren't her favorite anymore. Not that she had a new favorite, but the way she was spending her lunch breaks – not engaging in the light conversations her friends were having, not even listening to them at all, instead scanning the canteen for the mysterious new girl whose eyes Clarke couldn't get out of her head anymore –, was definitely not making the lunch breaks enjoyable.

The previous day, Clarke had spotted the brunette again, clutching her meal tray, heading out again, and today, the third day, the brunette obviously hadn't even bothered to find a place to sit in the overly crowded canteen in the first place.

She didn't seem to have made any friends yet, and Clarke, again, felt bad for not having approached her so far to at least offer her a place to sit at lunch.

"Earth to Clarke." Raven's waving hand in front of her face pulled Clarke out of her daydream.

"Clarke to earth." Clarke replied and Raven's face lit up immediately.

"There you are! We've missed you!" Clarke huffed. "What's your next course?"

"Uh." Clarke furrowed her brows, taking a moment to think. "History."

"History with flannel ponytail." Raven corrected her with a shit–eating grin, and didn't fail to notice the tiny smile that appeared on the blonde's face. "You better hurry then."

Clarke checked her watch, two minutes until the class started. "Shit. See ya later guys!" She muttered as she quickly grabbed her bag and made her way to the lecture hall.

When she entered, the room was already crowded with highly motivated students and to her dislike, her usual seat was already taken. She quickly scanned the rows until she spotted an empty seat – right behind the new girl. New day new chance, Griffin.

The blonde got her sketchbook out and scoured her bag for a pen, but no luck. She sighed and turned to the student sitting next to her, "Sorry, you got a pen?" The boy eyed her lazily and shook his head, and the girl on her other side didn't have one, either. She slumped down in her seat in defeat. No pen meant no drawing and no drawing meant paying attention, and paying attention meant either sleep or slow and painful death from boredom. She decided she was too young to die, so she chose sleep and closed her eyes.

Two minutes later, Mr. Brown disturbed her peaceful rest with his ever so monotone voice, and she opened her eyes to glare at him, but her gaze fell on a pencil and an eraser on her closed sketchbook and Clarke furrowed her brows, looking around. The boy to her right was asleep, and the girl on the other side was scrolling through Instagram. "Hey", she nudged the girl, "is that yours?" Clarke asked, pointing at the items. The girl shrugged and nodded towards the girl in front of Clarke. It took the blonde a moment to realize that it was the new girl.

For a second, she considered thanking her, but she seemed deeply concentrated on the book in front of her, so Clarke decided to thank her later. Just as she was about to put her focus on her sketchbook, she noticed a small black something peaking out from behind the girl's ponytail. It seemed to be a tattoo, but most of it was hidden behind thick wavy hair, so today wouldn't be the day Clarke found out what it was, or what it meant.

Clarke was so focused on sketching that she almost missed the end of the lecture. Her pulse slightly quickened as her head shot up because she would finally get to talk to the girl, but the brunette was nowhere to be seen.

"Have you seen where she went?" Clarke asked the other girl, pointing at the now empty seat in front of her.

"She left about a minute ago. Pretty quickly actually."

Clarke furrowed her brows. "Okay, thanks."

She stuffed her sketchbook in her bag and took the pencil and the eraser, then hurried out the room and out of the building but the brunette was gone. Clarke shook her head. When will I get the chance to talk to you, girl?

The next two days were full of art; the only classes Clarke actually enjoyed, and the reason she chose to study in the first place. She wasn't surprised to not find the new girl there, but she was also disappointed, and maybe slightly annoyed, because that meant that she would have to wait until Monday until she could give her the items back, and she prayed to the Gods that she wouldn't lose or break them before Monday.

Friday came sooner than Clarke appreciated, and so did the party. It was the Welcoming Party for new students, as well as the Welcome Back party for the older ones, and it was hosted by none other than Clarke's ex–girlfriend Ontari.

Coming from a wealthy family, that girl had money, and therefore a big house, and boy could she throw a party, Clarke had to give her that. It didn't change the fact though that she was her ex, and Clarke still had no idea why she had gotten together with her in the first place.

But Clarke had agreed on going and her friends were excited, so there was no way out now. So there she was, in her short black dress that left nothing to imagination, with black high heels and her smokey eye make up, looking at herself in the full body mirror, blowing a strand out of her face. You've got this.


When they entered the house, the party was already in full swing, and Clarke immediately headed to the kitchen. She would need a good lot of booze to survive this night. Raven followed suit and opened a beer, shooting the lit across the kitchen, almost hitting a guy's head who glared at her. She shrugged and took a sip, then looked at Clarke.

"That bad?"

Clarke snorted and downed a Tequila shot before answering, "Yeah."

"Well I won't apologize though because these parties are definitely worth it." Clarke didn't reply and went to pour herself another shot, while Raven eyed her suspiciously. "You okay?"

Clarke stopped with the glass at her lips, "Yeah?", and downed another shot. "Why?"

"You look even worse than usually on these parties."

"Thanks." Was all Clarke answered, and Raven knew better than to bug the blonde further, so she decided to change the topic. "How's flannel ponytail?"

Clarke's pulse quickened and she felt like this infamous deer caught in the headlights. "Why are you asking me that?"

"Because you've been quite moody the entire week, and usually I'd say it's because this semester's gonna be a bitch… I've seen you moody about college, but this is something else," she paused to take another sip, "and since I know everything's cool with Finn, ponytail is the only one left."

Clarke raised an eyebrow. "I don't know her at all. I don't even know her name."

Raven winked. "Maybe that's your problem, blondie."


Clarke left the party earlier for even her liking, but the last Tequila shot had been too much. Or maybe the last five. She didn't know, and she didn't care. She strolled down the street and found it was quite the hard task to light her cigarette with a beer in the one hand, and her phone in the other. Screw me for hating handbags, she thought and was just about to give up, when the lighter spat out a flame and her desperately needed cigarette finally lit up. She took a deep drag and looked around. She was drunk, and she was tired, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep yet.

The night had actually been fun, until Ontari had decided to take a try at seducing Clarke for the umpteenth time since their breakup and hadn't it been for Raven, Clarke would probably be entangled in Ontari's sheets by now. The worst part was, she didn't even feel sorry for Finn. He was a nice guy, but that was it. A nice guy. He was her entertainment, and she knew she didn't and would never love him, and if she was being honest, she wasn't sure whether he really felt so differently.

She checked her phone, 3:12am. It was late, but she knew she would have to get her head clear before heading home, and so she let her feet carry her to the park next to the campus. She would finish her beer, maybe have another cigarette and then go home, she decided, and slumped down on the bench near the small lake, admiring how it reflected the stars and the almost full moon.

A few moments passed, until she took the last sip of her beer and got up to throw it in the trash bin, when she noticed a figure sitting on the other side of the lake. She squeezed her eyes and then, her lips curled up into a small smile when she realized who the figure was.