CPOV
Bellamy opened his mouth to say something, and I held my breath. Then, seeing something behind me, he stopped, and smiled. "Matt!" He exclaimed, as I turned around and saw someone I didn't recognize. He seemed to be about Bellamy's age, which meant he was slightly older than I was. He must've been the one who came with my mother to earth.
"Bellamy!" He said, just as enthusiastic as Bellamy was. "I know you missed me, but getting yourself stabbed is not the way to get my attention." He clasped Bellamy's hand and shook it. The light air around them seemed to evaporate as Matt noticed me.
Bellamy, seeing where Matt was looking, explained. "This is Clarke."
"Yeah, I know who she is," He said, and I couldn't help but notice the animosity in his voice, that almost seemed like hatred. That was weird since I've never seen that guy before.
"She's the leader of our camp here, and a very good friend of mine."
He observed me in a way that made me want to puke. Or punch him. Or both. Neither of us reached out to shake hands. I guess his hatred became mutual.
"Clarke, would you mind coming outside with me for a moment?" There was nothing that I could think of that I wanted to do less than that. But my curiosity got the best of me, so I followed him outside. On my way I saw Bellamy raise an eyebrow at that. I couldn't say that it bothered me.
"I see that you and Bellamy have gotten really close." He waited for me to respond, but I didn't feel like admitting anything to him. So I just looked at him impatiently, waiting for him to continue. Seeing that I wasn't going to provide him with a conformation, he continued. "I'd hate for anything to get in the way of that." He was like a villain in a bad Disney movie. It was so lame. But, again, I had to know what he was referring to.
"What are you talking about?"
"Do you remember, a few years back, when you triggered a false alarm, because you saw someone suspicious at a party?"
"Yeah, so?"
"You're the one who got Bellamy's mom killed, and his sister in jail."
"What?! That's horrible..." I said, and then something else came to mind. "How do you even know that?"
"I saw you. And yours is a face one can't forget, Clarke. The face of an angel, on the devil incarnate." His tone changed from mockingly charmed to genuinely hateful.
"I never meant for any of that to happen!" For some reason, I felt the need to defend myself to him. "I didn't want anybody to get floated! I was just following the rules."
"I don't care" He said, and I didn't mind his rudeness. More important matters were on the table.
"Are you going to tell Bellamy?" I asked, suddenly feeling very vulnerable.
"Not if you do exactly as I say." He waited for me to respond, as I took this in. He mistook my considering his statement with agreement, and added: "You're gonna be my little bitch."
I couldn't express with words how much I hated him. Hell if I was going to be anyone bitch. At the same time, I knew that nothing mattered more to Bellamy than his family, and if he knew this about me, then whatever happened or would've happened between us would be over for good. Octavia saved me from having to come up with a simple answer to that.
"Clarke, I need you..-" She stopped as she saw Matt. "What are you doing here?"
"Am I sensing a little animosity in your voice, Princess?" That nickname, for once, was aimed at Octavia, not me.
"You're sensing full on hatred. How the hell did you get here?"
"The launch pod," I provided. I was so glad to see that Octavia hated him too. Why was Bellamy friends with this guy?
"Makes sense to send the self-serving, arrogant scumbag after the criminals." Turning from Matt to me, she said: "Clarke, could you come with me for a second? I need you."
"Sure," I said, gladly leaving Matt behind.
Even with my back to him, I could hear him yelling to me: "I'm looking forward to finish this talk, Clarke!"
Octavia led me away from the infirmary until we were near the wall, where no one could hear us. "I need you to cover for me with Bellamy. Tell him I'm having girl trouble or something."
"Wait," I said, as she started to leave through a hole in the wall. "Where are you going?"
"To meet a grounder." She tried to escape but I caught her arm and pulled her back to me.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Don't make a big deal out of this, but I'm kind of.. Friends with one of them. His name's Lincoln."
"He saved you, didn't he? When you were attacked? That's how you killed three grounders?"
"Yeah. And, by the way, he's the one who released you and Bellamy at Lyanna's court". Whoa. I didn't see that coming. A grounder helped us because he knew Octavia? Well, he ended up causing more damage than good, but he had no way to know. "We said we'd meet today and I have to go, but Bellamy can't know about it. He'll flip." I wasn't going to argue with that.
I weighed my options. I could've just gone to Bellamy with that. That's what he would've want me to do. But seeing Octavia, and how much she wanted to see Lincoln, I realized how wrong that would be. Everyone had a hard time on earth, and if anything made her that happy, it was worth it. I really did want to help her. Even if that meant hiding it from Bellamy, because honestly, I was with her on this. He really was overprotective. Having said that, I still couldn't just let her go. Bellamy just wanted her to be safe, and I was damn well going to keep her safe.
"Wait here," I said, and left. I came back a minute later, and was relieved to find her waiting for me. This time I had a loaded rifle with me. "I can't just let you go see him. That's too dangerous. But I can come with you, and I will."
The amount of gratitude in her eyes was indescribable. She seemed like she really cared about him. I was so happy for her. I, on the other hand, wasn't that naive, and still didn't trust him. Helping us at the court earned him a few points but that was far from enough.
We made sure no one saw us, and left through the breach.
"Why do you hate Matt so much?" I asked. That wasn't an accusation, of course. He was very detestable. I just needed to know what he did to trigger it.
"Everyone in jail knew him. He was the one who slept with girls and then dumped them. The jerk of the ark. And still, somehow, many girls fell for him. Idiots. They also said Bellamy was like him, but I don't think that's true." I could see why she'd think that. But I could also see Bellamy sleeping with girls and never calling them again. "My friend and I knew better than that. Her name was Emily and we were pretty close, even though she was older than me. Almost eighteen. Anyways, I was off limits, because I was Bellamy's sister, but Matt kept trying to ask Emily out and she refused him every time. One time they both got really drunk and he started kissing her. It took her a while to understand what was going on, but when she realized what he was doing, she told him to stop, but he wouldn't. She kept yelling at him to back off and he wouldn't. I heard her and pulled him away. He was so angry. I was keeping him away from fulfilling his latest conquest. He pushed me against the wall, and was about to say something witty and obnoxious. I screamed, knowing that Bellamy was nearby. Matt backed up, and when Bellamy came, he said I attacked him, and that nothing ever happened between him and Emily. Emily agreed, because she was too embarrassed to admit to Bellamy that anything happened to her. I think she had a crush on him. Bellamy believed them, and thought that I was just trying to get him to hate Matt, because I hated him myself. And Matt hadn't come clean to him even since."
"That's intense," I said, not knowing what else to say. "What an ass!"
"The worst. I was so mad at Bellamy for not believing me."
"Well, I have to admit it does make more sense to listen to Emily."
"He shouldn't listen to logic. He should listen to me." I saw her point.
When we got there, Lincoln was already waiting. She ran to him, and he held her in his arms and turned her around. Then they kissed. It was so damn romantic. It was like Romeo and Juliet. 'I guess Octavia and I have different definitions for "friends"' I thought. When they were done, he approached me, and we shook hands.
"Thanks for the help," I said, not really knowing what to say to a grounder.
He smiled half a smile and said: "I think killing Bellamy would've been a bad way to get peace." The look he gave Octavia implied that something else, way more important to him, would've been lost.
"I don't think we can get that," I said honestly. "We don't trust each other at all."
"We need to start talking again. As crazy as it sounds, Lyanna actually trusts you more after everything that's happened." That did sound crazy. "You did good by letting her live, and avoiding casualties as much as you could."
"You seem to be very high up in the command chain."
"I'm influential," He said vaguely. It made sense that he wouldn't want to expose his position to a stranger.
"How about you and I coordinate a false truce?" He looked very confused, so I elaborated. "As long as we don't run into each other, I don't think any party is going to attack. We both want to recover and no one wants to go to war. So, you and I can make sure that we in fact don't run into each other."
"That could work," he said. "I can make it happen."
We worked on that for the next couple of minutes, and decided that we'd meet daily and set the terms for the next day. That worked fine for me and great for the two of them. When that was done, I gave them some privacy. I couldn't just leave, but I made sure we were within shouting distance, and looked their way once in a while, to make sure everything was okay. And it was. It was great. When we came back to camp later, I noticed that I've never seen Octavia that happy before.
We made sure no one saw us, again, and entered the camp. She thanked me one last time, and then went to do whatever it is she did. Probably write about him, or think about him, or anything to do with him. She was the perfect picture of a girl in love. Thinking about that made me think about Bellamy, which brought up Matt. I was filled with disgust and resentment. So, in a desperate attempt to avoid talking to him again, I went to do the next item on the list of things I really, really didn't want to do. I went to talk to my mother.
First we talked about everything that we needed for our camp. I gave her an evaluation to give the chancellor when they get the chance to talk, and we decided to recommend that the rest of the ark came too whenever they can, the sooner the better. We set a time for Finn to talk to the council, who'll instruct him on how to handle the grounder situation until they arrive. We've also established a time for Bellamy to talk to Jaha about a pardon, once he got better. She also said that the reason Matt came with her is because his father is on the council. But on top of that, he's also a great Mechanic, did well in all his studies, and basically could really help us. I thought that a great mechanic wouldn't be much help if he drove us all insane in the process. After all these, we got to my father.
All in all, the conversation went exactly as I thought it would. I accused her of killing my dad, and she apologized, saying that she never meant for that to happen. I told her that it'd take time but I'd forgive her eventually. It wasn't very exciting because I already lived it in my head a million times, and she said exactly what I thought she would.
But something did surprise me. The resemblance between what she said to me and what I said to Matt about Bellamy's mom was horrifying. It clarified just how much Bellamy would hate me if he knew. Just how much I hated Wells. So, with a new resolve to make sure that didn't happen, I went to the infirmary. Bellamy's eyes lit up as he saw me, but mine probably looked as cold as ice. That was because I came there for Matt, not him.
"Where did you go for so long? I missed you," Matt said, and I nearly shot him. That reminded me that I still had the rifle I took with me when I escorted Octavia. I'd forgotten to put it away. And of course, it triggered questions.
"And what are you doing with a rifle?" Bellamy asked.
"I went to look for more food. Didn't find any."
"Clarke, that's dangerous!" Bellamy said.
"So is starving," I said coldly, and turned to Matt. I didn't want Bellamy to catch me on this lie either. "We have a conversation to finish."
The smile on his face was disgusting and repelling. At least to me. "We sure do." He got up and we turned to leave.
"What's going on here? You're both acting very weird." He really was confused, and I saw how much it bothered him that he couldn't just get up and follow us, or just leave the infirmary, for that matter. He didn't like being in the dark, and it drove him crazy not to be able to do anything about it.
I went to his side and crouched so that we'd look eye to eye. "Everything's fine. But your job right now is to rest, and let me handle everything. Okay? I want you at full strength as soon as possible."
"Okay, I'll let it go. Just promise me that you're okay." His worrying about me when he was like that warmed my heart and melted every shred of anger I felt. It took everything I had not to kiss him right then and there.
"I'm great." Matt. My mom. Octavia and Lincoln. Grounders. Bellamy. Yep, I was super.
I left with Matt, and we set right to business. No pleasantries were required.
"What do you want me to do?" I asked, ready for anything. Again, a smile crept up on his face that made me nauseous.
"I haven't thought about it yet. Whenever I ask you for something, just do it."
"for how long?"
"As long as you want Bellamy to not hate you."
"That's not the way it works. I'm not gonna keep doing this forever. Give me one thing to do, I'll do it, and we'll never have to speak again."
"This works any way I want it to. If at any point you want out, all you have to do is say so. But your secret will come out as well. It's your choice."
"You're a despicable human being, you know that?"
He smiled again. How could someone so obnoxious smile so often? "I've been called worse."
"I'm not surprised."
"I'll see you around then," He said and left, not before whispering under his breath "bitch."
I demonstrated so much self control in not punching him, that I mentally awarded myself with a medal. That son of a bitch. I hated him so much. I turned around, ready to do anything that would keep my mind off my impending humiliation. I saw Octavia standing in front of me, and from the look on her face, it was obvious she heard the whole thing.
"What does he have on you?" She asked, not even bothering to hide the fact that she'd listened to our conversation. Given her relationship with him, I couldn't blame her.
"None of your business," I said, trying to avoid having this conversation with her. After all, I harmed her even more than Bellamy.
She completely ignored that. "What could you possibly do, that would make Bell mad at you? You can do no wrong in his eyes."
"That's not true," I said simply, even though hearing that made me feel better than it should have.
"Well, the only thing that he could be mad at you about is putting me in danger. Did he find out about Lincoln?" She asked, not really scared, since she didn't really expect the answer to be yes. She knew there was more to it than that. Then she realized. "No... We always knew that someone sounded the alarm to expose us... That was you?"