"Did you know my brother and Ms. G ate lunch together twice this week?" It was the first thing Octavia said when she sat down at the lunch table, moving Monty over so she could squeeze between him and Lincoln.
"Yeah, they had Taco Bell and then Bellamy made her eat at that diner down the street because he says Taco Bell will kill her one day," Jasper replied casually as he peeled apart the sandwich Clarke made so he could eat the meat first. Clarke insisted on putting lettuce and tomato on it even though he never actually ate the lettuce and tomato.
"You knew and I didn't?" Octavia squeaked. "How did that happen?"
"He lives with her," Miller said quietly and pragmatically while he picked at Monroe's chips.
"I live with Bellamy!"
"Clarke doesn't keep secrets. Ever," Jasper replied. "Plus, why would she? She has lunch with Monty's mom all the time. And Monroe and Miller's new foster parents took all of us out for dinner a couple days ago. Our parents, and guardians, like to know how we're doing. They like Clarke and they like talking to her. Maybe Bellamy just jumped on the band wagon."
"My brother doesn't jump on band wagons," Octavia snorted. "Bellamy likes two people in the entire world. Me, and himself. His ego's the size of a dump truck."
"Well, Clarke has a way of making people not be themselves," Monty informed her. "Look at us. We were delinquents, now we're ARC kids."
"Still a delinquent," Atom chimed in.
"Barely," Monroe snorted. "Octavia, what's your point in all of this?"
Octavia shrugged and said, "I just think my brother likes her, and I want my brother to be happy."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, O," Jasper said softly, "but Clarke doesn't date. She hasn't dated since everything happened with Finn. Her life is us now."
"That's a sad fucking life," Octavia retorted. "Come on, Jas. You love Ms. G. You don't want to see her sad and alone."
"She's not sad, or alone," Jasper argued. "She has us. Trying to force Clarke into a relationship isn't going to make her happy."
"I'm not talking about forcing her," Octavia argued back. "I'm just saying that Ms. G and Bellamy had lunch twice this week, and my brother came home and made me lasagna, which means that he was thinking about Mom, which means that he was talking about Mom."
Pasta was cheap and easy to steal when they were young, and when their mom forgot to buy groceries, Bellamy would get what he could and make lasagna because it would last them a few days. Whenever he was thinking about their life growing up, he always made pasta.
"She makes everybody want to talk about their lives," Lincoln replied, shrugging so that his elbow brushed against Octavia's shoulder.
She glared up at him, and then around the table at the other delinquents. She said stubbornly, "I'm just saying. It wouldn't be an awful thing for the two of them to get together and be happy, now would it?"
"Don't play match maker, Octavia," Jasper warned. "Clarke's got a needle point focus. She doesn't like people meddling in her life."
"I'm not saying I'm going to play matchmaker," Octavia grumbled. "You guys are just a bunch of sticks in the mud."
"Hey, you have somebody that loves you, and cares if you make it home at night," Jasper warned, pointing his plastic fork at her. "Some of us don't have anyone except Mom, so we try to make sure that we take care of her as much as she takes care of us."
"I'm not trying to kill her," Octavia growled again. "I'm trying to help her find love."
"O, you know what happened with Raven," Monty sighed. "I know you think we're being stupid, but we're not. I don't know if Clarke has ever gotten over it. We don't want to drag it back up."
"I don't know what happened," Lincoln said slowly.
"Okay," Jasper sighed and Miller and Monroe rolled their eyes in synchronization. They'd been there for the entire incident and they'd heard Jasper talk about it a thousand times. "Three years ago, it was me, Monty, and Raven in the program, right before Miller and Monroe joined us."
"Got arrested," Miller interrupted.
"Got arrested," Jasper allowed. "Raven was with us and she was fun. She was really smart and she was nice and everybody loved her. Clarke was working on getting all the paperwork ready to adopt me, so I was living in the house in the boy's wing, and the girl's wing was under construction at that time. Something about the walls, I don't remember."
"They were adding walls so that there would be more rooms, but smaller rooms. Clarke wanted to take on more people," Monty corrected, rolling his eyes at his best friend.
"Yeah. That's right. And Raven was staying upstairs in Clarke's hall. She didn't have the rule about the separation back then and her room was in the very back. She was busy all the time so she was tired all the time, but she always smiled and brought us lunch," Jasper reminisced. "Sometimes, if she forgot, she'd call Finn and he'd bring it, or he'd drive for her on Sundays. Raven lived the furthest out, so she got dropped off last. When Finn drove, I didn't ride in the van. I stayed with Clarke so we could fill out the paperwork to adopt me together. I think it started back then. Sometimes he would get back late and he would tell Clarke he stopped to get ice cream or dinner and it was okay, because Clarke loved us and wanted to spend her money on us. It was just like her to smile at him and tell him that he was amazing. She always told him how lucky she was to have him."
Jasper paused and looked down at the table where he was still picking at the sandwich in front of him. He said slowly, "I was on my way to the kitchen one night to get a cup of water when I walked through the living room and saw them making out on the couch. Everybody else was sleeping and we were going to go into town the next day to go to the movies. I waited until Monday morning to tell her, before I got out of the car to go into school. The office told me that she called in sick that day, and when I got home, Finn's stuff was gone. He was gone. For a while, Raven still came around. I think it was really hard on Mom, because she reminded her of everything that was wrong with the situation. She refused to treat Raven differently, but I think the rest of us were probably mean to her."
"Damn right we were," Monroe spoke up from where she was drawing a tribal pattern up Miller's neck, the black of the ink seeming only like shadows on his dark skin. "Loyalty's worth more than a quick fuck."
"When Mom found out that Raven and Finn were still seeing each other, I think it broke her a little more," Jasper continued. "I found her crying a lot, but she'd always pretend that she wasn't and we would sit in the living room and eat Taco Bell and watch stupid movies. I didn't find out until later that Finn blamed Mom adopting me for him cheating on her. He said she wasn't paying attention to him anymore, that she was too busy for him. Mom put me, she put us, over him, and he didn't like that. And it broke Mom a little. She hasn't even gone on a date in the past three years. Raven dropped out of ARC, but Mom kept sending her a stipend until she graduated, because Mom still loved Raven, even after what she did. We do our best not to have that happen again."
He looked steadily over at Octavia and she nodded. Monty changed the subject to the upcoming trip into the city for ice skating. In the November weather, the ice hadn't completely frozen over, but Clarke knew an indoor rink that they could go to after Thanksgiving. After lunch, she was on her way down the hallway when Monty jogged up to her and grabbed her arm, spinning her around and making her draw her fists up before she recognized the jaggedly cut bangs and wide eyes.
"Jesus, Monty. Do you want to get your nose broken? Don't grab a girl like me! I grew up in some rough neighborhoods for fuck's sake," Octavia warned.
"I know, I know. I just wanted to say that Jas doesn't mean anything by the warnings. He just worries about Clarke. She's all he has anymore. But, if you really want to see your brother and Clarke interact, bring him to the Thanksgiving dinner at Clarke's house. She does it every year for all of us. 'Special people' are invited. Miller and Monroe are bringing their new foster parents, I bring my parents and my brothers and sisters, and sometimes Atom brings a girlfriend. You should bring Bellamy."
"I will. And if you think like I do, if you see the way I know my brother is, you have to help me, Monty," Octavia suddenly begged. "I'm in ARC now, Bell's doing those online classes, even though he joined late, and things are going good. I want my brother to have a great life. He gave up everything for me. Just like Ms. G has given up everything for you guys. You'll see it when they get together, that they're perfect, and, when you do, you have to help me convince Jas to help us get them together."
"It's not just Jasper, O. Me and Miller and Monroe and Atom are all worried about her," Monty sighed.
"I know you are," Octavia said quickly. "And, if I'm wrong, I'll drop it, alright? But, just see what you think."
"Fine. But convincing Jas is going to be impossible."
"Nothing is impossible, Monty. I've been a juvenile delinquent long enough to know that. If you want something enough, you can always find a way to get it." She grinned, her blue eyes lighting up brightly and Monty rolled his eyes in return.
"Don't push it, Octavia. We're getting out of that life, remember? I've been a functioning member of society for almost four years now!"
She started walking backwards as the warning bell rang and she sent a wicked wink his way. She replied, "Of course I won't tell Ms. G about your alcohol experiment going on in the basement of the school if you help me."
"Blackmail is not okay, Octavia!"
"See you later, Monty!"
With that, Octavia spun around and disappeared into the crowd. Monty sighed in defeat and headed to class.