It was 5 am, and two empty bottles of red bull and his fourth cup of thick black coffee framed the stack of papers on Bellamy's desk. Tomorrow was the deadline, and so far, the group project had been a complete pain in the ass. To be precise, Clarke had been a pain in the ass. Bellamy couldn't wait for it to be over.
He had agreed to phrase and edit the final case study, partly because it wasn't something a group could write together, but mostly because he didn't trust the others. Clarke was the only one who knew anything about anything, he had to admit that, and normally he would have preferred to work on this thing with her, but she was still unbearable. So there he was, drowning in coffee and thousands and thousands of words. He smacked his face on the table. "Tomorrow, it will all be over. Tomorrow I'm free. Free of college, free of everything." It was his new mantra. Now he really couldn't wait for Christmas.
2 hours and another cup of coffee later, he jumped in the shower. The hot water ran down his body, and he felt like it was the first shower he had taken in days. The steam filled his lungs and he felt his breathing calming down, until he knew he had to get out of there, or otherwise he'd fall asleep. He rubbed his hair dry and was just contemplating whether or not he had enough time to take a nap when he saw his phone vibrating on the table. He walked over and grabbed it, but it was too late. 4 missed calls, all from Clarke, all in the last 5 minutes. He sighed and called back. "Thank you, finally", she greeted him. "Good morning to you too, sunshine." "Shut up. You said you'd sent me updates. You haven't. How are you still not done with the final draft?" Bellamy rubbed his eyes. "No, no... I'm done. Relax, I'll send it over." He was about to hang up, when Clarke called out: "Wait, don't you dare hang up. We'll go over this together." Well, there went his nap. "Clarke, really? I like, haven't slept." "Is that my fault?", she snapped back. "Stop complaining, we're law students, not like we're not used to pulling all-nighters." Moaning, he sat back down and scrolled to the top of the case study.
An hour and a lot of bickering over little wording-issues later, Clarke was finally content and hung up. Bellamy could barely keep his eyes open, and he just sat there and stared at the wall for a bit. Finally, he pulled himself up and hurried to class.
When he got there, he let himself sink into the seat next to Clarke. "You printed it out, right?", he asked her. She turned around and stared at him. "You look like a corpse", she noticed. He squinted at her. "Thank you." "Yes, I printed it." Jasper sat down next to Bellamy, visibly giddy. "Oh man oh man, I can't wait for the party tonight." Bellamy raised his eyebrows. "What party.", he grunted. "Lincolns warehouse party! Don't tell me you forgot!" "No, I suppressed it. Big difference." "But you'll be there?", Jasper had an annoyingly worrying look on his face. "Yea, I guess I gotta make an appearance." "Sweet!", Jasper exclaimed. "You're coming too, right Clarke?" Clarke shot Jasper that exact same look she had been giving Bellamy for weeks. "No thank you." Bellamy couldn't help but chuckle. "Of course, our princess here is way too goodie-two-shoes for a party, how dare you even suggest such an impertinence." Now the familiar look on her face was fixed on Bellamy, once again. "I go to parties.", she snarled. "Yes, maybe dinner parties.", Bellamy grinned. Clarke faced the board again, Mrs. Stevens had set up her power-point presentation.
She collected the papers pretty early and dismissed them. Bellamy had never been so grateful to leave the classroom, being clamped in between Clarke and Jasper for a whole hour had definitely qualified for one of his most uncomfortable moments of 2014.
When he got home he threw himself into bed and didn't wake again until Lincoln sat on top of him. Bellamy screamed. "The fuck dude?" Lincoln just laughed. "We need liqueur", he said. "I'm not 21, and i do not have a fake ID. Go ask someone else.", Bellamy soughed. "I got a fake ID. Just come with me, I need some fun before the party. It's stressing me out." "Fine" Bellamy heaved himself out of bed and spent the next hour explaining to Lincoln why mixing liqueurs throughout the night wasn't the best way to go.
It was already 8 when they got back, so they left for the warehouse right away and helped set everything up. The next hour they spent drinking and waiting for people to arrive. At 11, the place was pretty packed already. Bellamy was surprised by how many people he knew, having thought that Lincolns wide-spread popularity couldn't possibly have had an effect on him. But there he was, greeting someone new every five minutes or so.
Honestly, he was having quite a good time. His vision was a bit blurry and he was a bit shaky on his feet, but that was okay. Suddenly, two arms wrapped around him, and a voice laughed in his ears. "Sup, my most favourite brother in all the world." He swung around and hugged his sister. "What are you doing here?", he screamed." "I brought you cookies," she grinned, holding a filled plastic box under his nose. Bellamy took one. "Oh nooooo, you burned them," he smiled. "No I didn't!", Octavia screamed, grasping the cookie out of Bellamy's hand. "Well, maybe a little," she admitted. Bellamy laughed. Another hand reached over Bellamy's shoulder and grabbed the cookie from Octavia." "Well well, Octavia, you really know how to get the party started, huh.", Lincoln breathed. Bellamy and Octavia shot each other a look. Then Bellamy leaned over to whisper into Lincoln's ear: "They're, ehm, spiked. You know, drugs." Lincoln's mouth hung open. "What? Jesus, how old are you?", he asked Octavia. She narrowed her eyes. "Old enough." Lincoln shrugged and danced off again. Octavia rolled her eyes. Then she looked at Bellamy again. "I really missed you, you know.", she sighed. Bellamy hugged her again. "Seriously though, you're ok, right? I mean you're not losing control, right?" He grasped her by her shoulders. "Peer-pressure is a serious issue, I don't want you doing anything stupid." Octavia suppressed a smile "I'm good, don't worry." Her eyes scanned the crowd. "Hey, Bellamy, there's a blonde chick staring at you." Bellamy raised his eyebrows. "Like, sending me death stares?", he whispered. "No, just staring. Intensely. Oh, ha, she noticed me. Awkwardly turned away." Bellamy shook his head. Couldn't have been Clarke, then.
He twisted his head around to have a look. Indeed, there was a head full of blonde hair greatly resembling Clarkes. And the girl was with Jasper, he noticed a second after that. Bellamy decided to go talk to them, and left his sister with the friends she had brought. He wasn't going to see his classmates until after winter-break anyways, so he might as well inquire to know why Clarke hated him so much right now. When he had gotten through the crowd though, only Jasper was left. "Hey, Bellamyyy! How you dooin'", he slurred. Bellamy could smell the alcohol in his breath and tried to wave it away. Bellamy was drunk too, but he wasn't that drunk. That drunk was embarrassing. "Have you seen Clarke?", he asked. "Uhhhm, bathroom, I guess?" Bellamy gave Jasper a pat on the back that nearly made him fall over. Then he climbed the stairs up to the bathrooms.
Clarke
She wanted to go home. Why had she even come? Jasper was wasted, Monty hadn't shown, and all her other friends had blown her off, too. Did that Bellamy-kid really have so much power over her that she had seriously decided to come just to show him she wasn't as lame as he thought she was? She couldn't believe it. She needed a drink.
She smacked open the bathroom door and almost ran into Bellamy. She felt the anger bubbling up inside her stomach again, unable to hold back. "What," she spat. Bellamy peered at her. "I had a question." "Did you wait here for me?", Clarke couldn't believe it. What the hell was his problem? "I repeat: I have a question." Clarke folded her arms. "Fine."
Bellamy's stare didn't loosen. It made Clarke feel as though he was stripping her naked, revealing all her flaws and doubts. "Why do you hate me?", he asked nonchalantly. She exhaled sharply. "Are you serious? You can't be serious." He looked at her, irritated. "I am completely serious."
"What you did to Monty?!", she noticed her own voice rising. "Who's Monty?", Bellamy wondered. He could not be serious! Clarke was already angry, but he managed to just completely enrage her. "Monty?! My friend! The one you ratted out, the one you got expelled?"She was basically fuming now. "Ratted out... I didn't rat anyone out!", Bellamy was screaming now, as well. Clarke just laughed. "Yeah. Remember the legal institutions finals? Where someone managed to get us the test questions? The ones you had no shame making good use of, if I remember correctly?!" Bellamy chuckeld. "Oh, my god! You mean your little Asian friend who hacked into Professor Jenkins laptop? Are you fucking kidding me? That is why you're mad at me? You think I'm the one that ratted him out?" Clarke held her breath for a moment. Wait. That couldn't be. She knew it had been Bellamy.
"Don't try to deny it, I know it was you!", she shot back. "I didn't rat anyone out!", Bellamy bawled. "Well, you must have said something!"
"Yes, okay, fine, I admitted I had cheated! I admitted I had gotten access to the test, but didn't actually use it. I had gotten a look, true, but I didn't study with it, and I had only seen the first few questions. That must have shown in my answers, because I got off with a warning and they let me retake the test. That's it."
"Well, that's all they needed! They needed proof from a student that the test was circulating, they already suspected Monty, you complete moron! That's why we told people to keep their mouth shut!" Bellamy shrugged indifferently. "How the hell was I supposed to know that?" Clarke waved about with her hands. "Come on, you were just saving your own ass. Admit it." Bellamy snickered, biting his lip and shaking his head. "So what if I was? It was Monty's own risk?"Clarke had to let that sink in for a moment. "What's wrong with you? He was just trying to help us all, you asshole! It's called loyalty!" "It's called survival of the fittest" With that, Bellamy turned around and left Clarke on the verge of exploding. She couldn't believe what had just happened. She couldn't believe he didn't show the least bit remorse! Monty didn't even need the test himself, he was just trying to help everybody else! Clarke decided not to think about it anymore. I wasn't going to help, and it certainly wasn't going to give her any closure.
When she finally found Jasper, he was completely infatuated with that girl she had seen hugging Bellamy before. When he saw Clarke, he pulled her towards him.
"Octavia, this is Clarke. You'll love her. She can drink, I'm telling you." Octavia snapped her fingers at her. "You're the one who stared at my brother! You guys dating?" Jasper broke out laughing, Clarke tried to hide her anger. "Not really", she grumbled. "Oh, a shame.", Octavia noted, her gaze fixated on something across the dancefloor. Clarke's eyes followed her glance, and landed on a tall, well-built and quite good-looking guy. He was a bit darker and his hair was almost completely shaved off. She faced Octavia again, raising her eyebrows. "You like him?", she asked. Octavia shook her head, pulling her eyes away. "Oh god, please don't tell Bellamy.", she almost pleaded. "Why would I tell Bellamy?", Clarke wondered, but the girl had already stormed off. "Of course she's into the huge bulky-hot guy", Jasper noted wistfully.
"Hey, Jasper, I'm going home." "What? Why? Come on, don't. You just got here. "I just want to sleep, I think. Didn't really get any last night." Clarke shrugged apologetically, and hugged Jasper good-bye. She didn't really want to tell Jasper about Bellamy's reaction, she was still kind of pissed off at him for forgiving him so easily. Monty was his best friend, after all.
It was a long drive to Anya's, but she just needed someone to blow off steam with.
I hope you liked it, sorry it took me so long. I'm always grateful for comments!:-)
And happy belated Christmas. And New Years. And hanukkah. And all the things!:)
