Chapter Thirteen: I'll Admit, You're Not a Dick
Jasper paused and inhaled deeply as he stepped out onto the field.
The last game had been canceled due to dangerous weather and the game before that he had missed for a doctor's appointment so it felt good to be back on the grass in his somewhat smelly jersey and cleats. He got much too antsy whenever he missed a game and missing two made him even more restless.
Most of the other players were already performing warm-ups; some were running drills around orange cones while others did stretches and breathing exercises. Sterling juggled the ball like a professional for a solid minute before the ball bounced away.
Jasper glanced around the field, keeping his eyes open for a perky brunette, but Octavia wasn't to be found at all. He did, however, spot Clarke sitting up in the bleachers several rows up from Bellamy who was sitting closer to the fence line. It was kind of weird because Jasper had been pretty sure that the two were making headway in their friendship, especially now that Finn proved himself to be a two-timing twat.
Who Jasper hadn't be expecting among the faces in the spectator crowd was Monty; his friend was standing at the fence, almost directly below Bellamy, and he had a panicked expression. His knuckles were gripping the bars.
What was Monty doing here? It wasn't uncommon for him to stay for soccer games after school, but it was a Saturday morning! Something bad must have happened to have dragged him out at the crack of dawn on a weekend. Scenarios of nuclear apocalypse and warriors spearing him through the chest flashed through Jasper's brain as he jogged over to the fence.
"Dude," he greeted once he was in earshot. "What's up? What's happened?"
Monty's grip on the fence loosened a smidge, but his expression remained intense. "You never answer your phone."
Guilt clawed at Jasper's stomach. He had been pretty horrible at responding to texts ever since he started hanging out with Octavia. "Yeah, sorry about that, man. I lost my charger."
The lie came off smoothly, and even though he hated lying, it was a more legitimate excuse than what the truth offered. Monty focused in on Jasper, making him wonder if he bought the lie. Probably not; he seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to things like this.
Jasper swept his curls to the side, clearing his throat in the process. "So, what did you have to tell me buddy?"
"Regionals for the robotics competition is this coming friday and we haven't gotten anything done," Monty deadpanned. His grip on the fence tightened once more.
Slight panic creeped into Jasper's stomach, pushing away the guilt he felt earlier. Now he understood why Monty had been looking a shade paler earlier. "Why didn't you warn me sooner?"
Monty scowled at him, making Jasper furrow his eyebrows in surprise. "I have!" Monty exclaimed, angry. "I've reminded you everyday for the last two weeks! But you never answer your phone! And every time I mention it to you in person, you happen to be busy with something else!"
Jasper frowned. He knew that he might have been a little busy, but Monty should have gone to a further extent to try to get his attention. "Okay. I'm sorry," he conceded. Even if he wasn't at fault, it was better to give the apology and just move on—Monty was the stubborn type and Jasper didn't have time for arguing with the game about to start. "I have some notes and stuff that I've been working on solo."
"Me too."
"Did you want to stay after school on Monday in the physics lab and put together a kick ass robot?"
Monty cracked a smile. "I was hoping to hear you ask that."
Jasper grinned, clapping Monty on the shoulder playfully. "Great. I'll see if Octavia can—"
"—hold up a second," Monty interrupted.
Jasper stiffened slightly, eyes narrowing slightly. He didn't like the sudden change in the atmosphere; the switch from easy lighthearted bonding over the prospect of Monday night bot constructing to the slight annoyance in Monty's eyes as soon as Octavia was mentioned.
"What's wrong?" He asked carefully, watching Monty carefully.
Monty's eyes wouldn't meet his for a moment. Then they locked in on Jasper's with startling focus. "You don't seem to perform your best when she's around, okay?"
Jasper felt his face darken. "What's that supposed to mean? You don't like us being together or something? Is that what this is about?"
Monty's nose bunched up, as if revolted by the mere thought. "Of course not! I'm happy that you and Octavia have a mutual interest in each other. All I'm saying is that you get distracted when she's around."
He paused for a minute and the two boys watched each other intensely until Jasper said, "Okay. That's fair." He noticed how much more calm Monty seemed now, how a weight seemed to have been lifted off of his shoulders. "Besides," Jasper continued, "we haven't really hung out in a while, have we? It'll be good for us. Just a couple of bros building robots."
Monty laughed. "Sure, dude."
"Hey Monty?" Monty looked up at Jasper through his bangs. Jasper's grin widened. "We're gonna kick ass at the robotics tournament."
"Hell yeah we are."
The two boys high-fived themselves simultaneously before Jasper was called back onto the field for the game to start.
…
Bellamy tried to focus on the game.
He knew that the only reason he even bothered with showing up to West Arke's soccer games was to support Octavia, but at the moment the Delinquents were down by three goals and the odds were not in their favor. Even Octavia was having a off day, making horrible attempts at passes and goals alike.
Every time the opposing team made a goal Bellamy found himself being sucked deeper into his novel. There was no point watching his friends and sister fail when he could be immersing himself in a historical fiction novel. He was just about to start the fifteenth chapter when he felt a presence loom behind him.
At first Bellamy figured it was someone trying to get past him, so he moved his body out of the walkway. When the figure didn't move, he tried to ignore it and carry on with his reading. But he was too distracted by the ever looming shadow and he had to re-read the same paragraph three times.
Finally he turned around to confront the figure only to find Clarke standing on the bench one up from him. She was dressed in warmer clothes than he was used to seeing her in at soccer games—this time she had on skinny jeans, knitted boots, and a figure hugging coat. On top of that, her blonde curls were hidden in a hat and a big blanket was wrapped around her shoulders. She was looking out at the field, but when she felt Bellamy watching her she looked down at him.
Bellamy scowled at her and turned his attention back to his book. He tried to focus again, but he knew she was still watching him and it made him nervous. Why couldn't she mind her own business? She had already made it clear that she didn't want him poking his nose in what she had going on so why couldn't she return the favor.
Clarke sat to his left. Bellamy continued to fake reading for another minute. Neither of them said anything. Bellamy was about ready to snap at her for ruining his concentration when she said, "We're getting our asses kicked today."
He glanced up from the page. The score now read that the opposing team had eight points to West Arke's zero. "That's one way to put it," he snorted. He let his eyes fall back to the page, but he was obtusely aware of the way Clarke was analyzing him from off to the side.
Couldn't she just back off?
"What are you reading?" She asked.
Bellamy clenched his jaw. "A historical fiction about Pompeii," he answered, showing her the title. She nodded, barely looking interested. "Satisfied?"
She made no effort of acknowledgement, but instead stared out to where Jasper missed an open pass on the field. Bellamy was pretty sure her eyes were stormier than they were and he noticed that her jaw was firmly set, but he wasn't sure if it was because he had offended her or if it was because Jasper missed the pass.
Bellamy wanted to leave. He wanted to get up and leave Clarke sitting alone on the bleachers in the cold as he sat in his heated car with his book while he waited for Octavia to wrap up her game.
But for some reason he couldn't find the motivation to get up and move. It was like he was glued to the seat. He wanted to make a nasty jab at her as revenge for the other day, but nothing menacing came to mind. What was wrong with him! He always had a good insult to pull on Clarke!
Instead he found himself breaking the silence by saying, "I saw your Asian friend down here earlier."
Clarke knit her eyebrows together. "Monty?"
"Kid who sat with us at lunch that one day? The one who's always hanging around your brother?"
"Yeah," she said, "Monty. I wonder what he was doing here."
Bellamy shrugged. "I couldn't hear what they were saying. I just saw him is all."
She pursed her lips to the side, looking mildly offended. "I wonder why he didn't come say 'hi' to me."
Bellamy easily thought up a number of reasons as to why someone would ignore her, but he kept them to himself. He shrugged for her sake, although he wasn't sure why. She was the one who burned him, not the other way around.
They sat in silence for another minute before the suspense was enough to drive Bellamy to stab someone. "Okay, Clarke, what's the real reason you came over to talk to me? I know that you're not actually interested in my book and seeing as you made it clear that we're not friends, you don't really have an excuse to be bugging me."
Clarke pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her blanket around them. She kept her eyes fixed on his. "No, you're right. I just wanted to apologize for how I treated you that one day you came to check up on me. It's just—"
"—just going through the phases of a break-up," he finished for her. "I get it."
"Not even that," she said. Bellamy regarded her curiously. "I think I was just shocked when you said you were going to forfeit your claim to president of student council."
"Well, co-president."
"Whatever." Clarke shoved him; though it was a playful shove, it back a lot of force and Bellamy had to keep himself from falling off of the bench. "But the deal is that the kids in this school look up to you, Bellamy."
Did he just hear her correctly? There is no way that Clarke Griffin was complimenting him. "They look up to you a hell of alot more, Princess."
She sighed. "Bellamy, I know we might have our differences, big differences no less, but I can't do this by myself. It's super stressful as it is already so I don't even want to imagine how horrifying it would be to run it by myself."
This time Bellamy closed his book and set it in his lap. This whole getting-cheated-on thing must have been affecting Clarke's brain more than anyone had initially thought because she was complimenting him and admitting that she needed him. This was harder to believe than seeing an elephant fly.
(Just kidding, but it's in the same ballpark."
"So you're saying that you were a major dick the other day because you surprised?"
"Well you make it sound really horrible when you put it like that."
He wasn't sure if it was a joke, but Bellamy laughed. Clarke quickly joined his chuckles. It was odd, because for as long as he could remember, Bellamy would stop at nothing to bring a scowl or frown to Clarke's face. And yet, here he was laughing with her while their siblings (who happened to be dating, go figure) failed miserably at soccer.
Hopefully they'll be able to stay on good terms for longer than a couple of weeks this time.
...
next chapter is gonna be homecoming! I'll try to have the next one up this week sometime
4/9/16
