"Clarkey, why did you want me to meet you in your office?" Raven asked as she flew through the door. "We haven't set foot in here since you won your election."
"I asked her the same thing when I got here. She said I had to wait for you and Monty to get any answers." Jasper replied from the floor where he was sprawled out.
Monty entered the room just behind Raven. He waited for Raven to take a seat before he sank into the chair next to her. "Well we're all here now, so I guess we'll know soon enough."
"Jasper, have a seat please." Said Clarke.
"I'm comfortable here."
"I didn't ask. Sit in the chair and be an adult for a few minutes please." Clarke snapped.
She waited while he pulled himself up off the floor. He sat in the empty chair next to Monty and slouched down. Clarke glared at him until he sat up straight.
"I've talked to Jaha about the events that have occurred over the last few days." She started. Her friends immediately began launching questions at her. She just shook her head and held up a hand. "I met with him yesterday afternoon and dodged pretty much all of his questions. Then today I met with Heda and Anya and Lincoln. During that meeting I realized something. I haven't been a good leader. Like at all. You guys have pulled prank after prank and stunt after stunt and I've barely given you so much as a slap on the wrist. Polis tried to retaliate for your latest pranks and for whatever reason, Lexa made them stop."
"They could have ended my future!" Raven interrupted
"I really don't think you want to go there," Monty whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
"Listen to Monty. Monty is smart." Clarke nodded. "So today, after having my eyes forced open by Lexa and the others, I went to see Jaha again. To say he wasn't pleased with me would be a gross understatement. I offered to resign as Student Body President, he wouldn't let me. Continuing on as your leader is apparently my punishment."
"So what about us then?" Jasper sighed, like he was bored.
Clarke narrowed her eyes, "I'm sorry Jasper, did you have something more important going on? Am I interrupting big plans?"
"As a matter of fact – " He leaned forward.
"Don't even think about it Jasper." Monty nudged him back into his seat. He waited until Jasper relaxed a bit before turning to Clarke. "What did Jaha have to say?"
"He didn't say much about you three. He had plenty to say about Finn. And even more to say about me." Clarke grimaced as she remembered the shouting.
"So what are our punishments?" Raven asked.
"You're suspended from all school sponsored activities and functions until further notice. Jasper is banned from the chemistry lab unless he's got a professor or TA with him, same goes for the robotics and computer labs for Monty, and Raven, you're banned from pretty much every lab we have on campus." Clarke rushed to get it all out. Her friends' jaws were on the floor. She hurried on, wanting to be done with all of it. "I need your keys. Any keys you have for the school."
"Banned?" Raven repeated. "I'm banned from the mech lab?"
"Unless you have a TA or professor with you, yes." Clarke said. She knew that meant Raven would need to ask Wick to sit with her. Raven was going to hate her life until the ban was lifted.
"And no school sponsored activities. So no robot club?" Monty asked.
"What about the science competition? We're in the finals." Jasper asked.
"All you are permitted to do is go to class." Clarke replied.
"What about sporting events? O's games?" Raven questioned. Clarke shook her head. Raven's jaw clenched, she never missed Octavia's games. "And you said indefinitely?"
"Yes."
"Jaha is harsh." Jasper slouched in his seat again.
Clarke shook her head. "Considering I told him I thought he ought to suspend you three for the rest of the semester, I think he went pretty easy on you."
"Suspend us?" Raven jumped up out of her chair and slammed her hands on Clarke's desk.
"You wanted to suspend us?" Jasper whispered, his eyes bulging out of his head. "I thought we were your friends?"
"Just because you're my friends doesn't mean you get out of being punished. You guys all went so far beyond the line of what is okay I don't even think you can see it anymore." Clarke said. She rubbed her forehead, trying to ease the headache she'd had since leaving Anya's apartment. "He thought since you'd corrected the grades and apparently most of the Polis alums who were turned green thought of it as a joke, suspension wasn't necessary. But if any of us even gets close to the line again, I'm pretty sure he'll expel us."
"You let him do this?" Raven growled.
"Like I said, he took it easy on you." Clarke replied. "And I've got to start actually doing this president thing right. I can't look the other way anymore. I need your keys please."
"You've pulled pranks too Clarke." Jasper pointed out while he and they others removed various keys from their key rings.
"I don't think stealing their mascot is quite on the same level as what you guys did." Clarke shot back. She couldn't claim to be innocent in the war with Polis but at least she had always stuck to the tradition pranks. "By the way, I talked to Trina. She said Tris is doing okay. I missed the part where she told me it was a medically induced coma. Apparently they're going to start reducing those meds tomorrow so she should wake up sometime this week. In case you were at all curious."
"She'll be okay?" Raven asked. She eased away from Clarke's desk and sank back into her chair.
"They don't know yet. They'll have to run tests when she regains consciousness. But they think it looks good." Clarke replied. "Which leads me to Finn. Like the police, there isn't much Jaha can do to him without proof. And my word isn't enough. Jasper and Raven, you'll need to go and talk to the detective and Dr. Jaha about what Finn told you."
"You want us to turn him in?" Jasper looked shocked by the idea. "He's our friend."
"He purposely tried to hurt an eighteen year old girl because he has been taking a prank war too seriously." Clarke said. "He could have killed Tris or those EMTs."
Jasper shook his head. "Can't it wait a few days? He's been through enough with the surgery and all."
"What surgery?" Clarke asked. "I'm his emergency contact and no one told me about a surgery."
"Yeah, he changed his information. He said you weren't thinking clearly and shouldn't be making decisions when you were so upset about his accident." Monty said quietly. "He made my mom his contact instead."
"What did he have surgery on?" Clarke asked again.
"His stomach or something. There was bleeding. And then he kept trying to get out of bed and falling, it made it worse." Jasper explained. "I think he said something about a broken rib too."
"And neither of you thought to tell me?" Clarke snarled.
"You've been busy Clarke. We didn't want to bother you. If anything would have happened, we'd have called." Monty replied.
Clarke clenched her jaw and shook her head. She'd been focused on meeting Heda and ending the prank war. She hadn't punished her friends for their stupid pranks, she hadn't remembered to check on Tris, she hadn't even thought of Finn other than to try to figure out when he'd gone so wrong.
"I'm really not good at this leading thing." She sighed.
"Aw Clarkey," Raven said. "You're not that bad."
"You almost destroyed the academic careers of 300 students and then almost killed another and it took me three days to remember to punish you." Clarke shot back.
"You forgot, it happens." Monty said.
"It shouldn't have though." Clarke shook her head. "I can't let you guys get away with this stuff anymore. As of right now, no more pranks. At all."
"But the truce isn't happening yet." Jasper gasped.
"I don't care. If Polis wants to retaliate, let them. We aren't doing anything more to them." Clarke declared. "Spread the word. Any Arkadia student who even tries to prank Polis will be punished. And I am not in the mood to go easy on anyone."
"So you'll leave us as sitting ducks just because this Heda person hurt your feelings?" Jasper asked. "That's lame."
"I'll leave us as sitting ducks because Heda hasn't tried to ruin school careers or accidentally dyed people green or almost killed a girl." Clarke snapped back.
"But Clarke – " Raven sat on the edge of her chair.
"No. I know what happened with Tris was an accident but if we hadn't let Finn go so far time and again, it wouldn't have happened. So no more." Clarke said. "Your professors and TAs have been notified of your suspensions. You can all go now."
Clarke waited until her friends left her office to let out a shaky breath. When she had run for president, she hadn't really considered having to do anything. Of course it'd be her luck to be elected the year the school started the process of merging with their rival. Of course she'd taken on more than she'd thought she had.
She waited another half an hour before leaving her office herself, wanting to be sure her friends had left. She made her way to the parking lot. She looked around for her car, it wasn't in her designated parking spot. She turned in a circle, stopping when she spotted her car.
On top of nearby maintenance building.
She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes, hoping she was seeing things. When it was still there, she pulled out her phone.
Clarke: (3:32p)
Trina, any chance you or Luna
know where Heda is at the
moment?
Trina: (3:33p)
She's at the hospital. She's been
there day and night since Tris
was admitted.
Clarke: (3:33p)
I met with her this morning at
Anya's apartment.
Trina: (3:34p)
That's Lexa's place too. And she
was only there because Lincoln
dragged her home to shower
and change.
Clarke: (3:35p)
Right. That makes sense.
Trina: (3:37p)
Did you need her for something?
Clarke: (3:38p)
{image}
Clarke sent the picture of her car on the roof of the building and waited. She knew Trina and Luna were going to love it.
Trina: (3:42p)
That's the best thing I've seen in
a long time! Luna is crying she's
laughing so hard.
Clarke: (3:43p)
Yeah, I'm happy to entertain
you. Really you ought to thank
those Grounders though. So is
Anya with Lexa?
Trina: (3:45p)
My sides hurt! I'm dying.
Clarke: (3:45p)
Any chance we can get Heda to
order someone to help get my
car down?
Trina: (3:46p)
I'll text Anya. You should
probably just walk home though
Clarke. They won't do anything
while you're hanging around.
They like to be ninjas.
Clarke: (3:47p)
Right. I'll just head home then.
Ask them nicely not to hurt my
baby please. She was my dad's
pride and joy.
To say that Abby Griffin was surprised to find her daughter in her office would be an understatement. She'd seen Clarke just the night before and she knew how busy she was. So when she walked in and saw Clarke sitting on her couch with her knees drawn up and her chin resting on them, she knew something was up.
"Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
"I'm skipping." Clarke sighed.
"Why?"
"Because I already know how the story of Theseus goes." Clarke replied. "Sometimes I wonder why I decided to minor in history."
"Me too." Abby laughed as she sat next to her daughter.
Clarke leaned into her, allowing her head to fall on her mother's shoulder. "I don't like being in charge."
"No one who is in charge likes being in charge. Unless they're crazy."
"You like being in charge." Clarke pointed out.
"I like organizing. I don't like having to make the tough decisions. Then again, I don't trust others to make the tough decisions either." Abby wrapped her arm around Clarke's shoulders. "So what's going on?"
"Nothing. I had to talk to Jasper, Raven, and Monty about their punishments. They took it better than I expected." Clarke replied. "They aren't allowed to do anything but go to class anymore. No clubs, not free time in the labs, no athletic events. Nothing the school is running."
"That's a lot of punishment."
"I wanted Jaha to suspend them for the rest of the semester. He thought that was too harsh."
"Well, maybe it is. Maybe that was just your kneejerk reaction to not doing anything right away. A bigger punishment for a lack of response." Abby said.
"I'm not good at this. I tried to resign but Jaha wouldn't let me. He said the students back me so he needed me. I think they only back me because they think I'll let them do whatever they want." Clarke relaxed further into her mother's arms. "I told Raven and the boys they can't prank Polis anymore. No one can. Even if the truce isn't in place yet, I don't want any more pranks."
Abby nodded. She rubbed up and down Clarke's arm a few times, "Maybe that's for the best."
"I know. But now I can't get Anya back for this." Clarke dug her phone of her pocket and showed her mother the picture of her car.
"Why is your father's '69 Camaro on the roof of that building?"
Clarke shrugged and put her phone away. "I'm guessing Anya thought it was funny."