Clarke slowly opens her eyes to stare at her darkened room. She glances at her nightstand and reads 5:00 AM. She groans loudly, but pushes the covers off her body and throws her feet over the side of her bed. Her bare feet touching the cold stone floor, causing her to wince from the quick loss of heat.
She stands and quietly exits her room to go downstairs to the kitchen. The sound of nothing but silence is a melody to her ears. Grabbing a banana from the strewn leftover snacks on the counter, from the ride over, she heads back upstairs, eating on her way up. Taking the stairs two at a time, she enters her room again, closing the door behind her.
She reaches down and grabs a pair of black and white running shorts, a white tank, and a light gray pullover hoodie out of her dufflebag where she dropped them last night. She walks into her bathroom and grabs a gray towel out of the hanging cabinets across from the porcelain sink and toilet. She places her clothes onto the counter next to the sink, and her towel on the rack, then turns on the granite walk-in shower. She strips off the clothes she wore yesterday, having slept in them, and and hops in. She takes a quick five minute shower and shuts the water off. Quickly grabbing her towel, and drying off, she dresses and ties her hair into a ponytail.
She heads downstairs, grabbing a pair of socks and her running shoes from her duffle as she passes by. She sits in the foyer, methodically putting on her socks and shoes. She opens her front door, and does some light stretching on the porch before taking off down the dirt road at a decent pace.
Morning fog makes it hard to see, but gives the view a better tranquility. The sound of waves crash in the distance while seagulls fly high over head. To her left and right are nothing but trees and bushes, their branches and leaves so closely linked that the other side could be a sheer cliff and she wouldn't even know. She heads down the dirt road for awhile until she sees a small break in the trees to her right. Might as well, she thinks to herself. When she came here as a child, she was never able to explore, or get out from underneath her parents ever so watchful eyes. She turns into the path big enough for two or three people and softly gasps. I'm going to have to come back here with some pencils and paint.
The fog is thick, but not as thick as out on the road. It makes it so that for the first few feet she can see the trees and their branches perfectly, but further out she can only see the outline of them, like no matter how fast or how far she runs, she'll never fully be able to see them. She glances upwards and sees the parts in the leaves where sunlight will dance through, and make her forget while warming every inch of her body and soul, in the later hours of the day. The path winds on, turning left and right, but never forking. Taking a deep breath, she closes her eyes. She can feel her feet each time they strike against the earth and her heart pounding against her chest. She feels the blood in her veins as she tries to not think about-
Something hard hits her chest and the air in her lungs expels outward as she opens her eyes in time to see a flash of dark green. Her eyes automatically close as again as she feels herself falling backwards. She lands hard on her ass, what little air she had left in her lungs now gone from the impact. She groans slightly, mostly out of annoyance, and opens her eyes to see a tall, beautiful girl with long brown hair wearing a dark green t-shirt and shorts. Her hair is tied up much like Clarkes, showing her startling eyes. She, however, is already standing and reaching down to Clarke to help her up. Clarke glares at her hand, but accepts it nonetheless.
The girl pulls Clarke up effortlessly, so much so that Clarke stumbles a bit when finally up. She immediately bends down to brush off the thin layer of dirt on her legs and bottom, her chest filled with annoyance and anger.
"Maybe you should watch where you're goi-" Clarke says as she stands up straight to find herself talking to air. She whirls around and stares at the body already far away. "Hey!" Clarke yells after her, but she doesn't turn around. Clarke stares in disbelief and huffs before brushing the rest of the dirt off.
"What a bitch." Octavia says.
"I know right! She didn't even say sorry!"
Raven flops down on the couch between Octavia and Clarke.
"Well, she did help you up. Maybe she's just not a talker, or was having a bad day. Or maybe she met O here." Said Raven.
"Hey!" Octavia grabs the nearest pillow and hits Raven in the head.
"Well she did look like she had something on her mind." Mentions Clarke.
"See!" Raven says as she tries to wrestle the pillow from Octavia.
"Was she cute at least?" Asks Octavia.
Clarke blushes and turns her head so they can't see her face.
"Aw Clarke's blushing! What did she look like?" Continues Octavia.
Clarke scoffs and heads towards the kitchen so she can escape the onslaught of embarrassing questions Octavia will surely ask.
She hears a thwack, which she assumes was Raven finally winning the fight for the pillow. She chuckles and grabs a water bottle from the fridge then returns to the living room and plops back down in her spot.
Octavia starts to ask a question directed at Clarke, but Raven decides this is the perfect time to attack her with a barrage of hits.
"Clarke," a hit to Octavia's head. "Do," a hit landing square on her nose. "You," another hit on the side of her head. "Wanna. Go. To. The. Bonfire. On. Friday." Octavia asks between hits, her hair frazzled and wild in the aftermath. She leers at a smirking Raven, then turns her attention to Clarke.
Clarke sighs, "Probably not."
"Are you sure?" Replies Raven.
"Yeah. I don't feel like meeting new people. Maybe later in the week or something."
Clarke's phone vibrates and she looks down to see it's from her mom as the doorbell rings. All three of them glance to each other, then Clarke gets up to walk to the front door. She glances out the side window to see two darkened figures blending in with the night sky. The porch light must be out. She grabs the handle and opens the door slowly, the light from the foyer illuminating the face of the person standing in front of the door.
"Aunt Anya?" Clarke says as she is immediately enveloped by her.
"Clarke!" Squeezing tighter and giving Clarke a kiss on her cheek. She pulls back and smiles wide. "How are you doing darling?"
Anya was not actually related to Clarke, or her mom, Abby, for that matter, but she has been in Clarke's life for as long as she can remember. Anya and her mom were actually childhood friends, and knew each other their whole lives. They went to the same schools, all throughout elementary to high school. They worked together for a few years, but Anya ended up leaving and traveling the world, finally realizing her dream to become a marine. They reunited years after was Clarke was born, after Anya was honorably discharged from the military.
"Oh my gosh! I'm doing great, you?" Clarke says just getting over her surprise, and pulling Anya in for another hug. Anya chuckles and hugs her back again. "I've been doing great kiddo. Oh where are my manners! Clarke this is Lexa. I believe she is the same age as you." Anya says as she points to the forgotten other person.
Clarke peers past Anya as she recognizes the girl from this morning. The long brown hair now messily hangs down past her shoulders, and those green eyes seemingly peering into her soul. Lexa takes a few steps forward and puts her hand forward. "We, uh, ran into each other this morning," she says to Anya, but then faces Clarke again, "But its nice to meet you Clarke." Clarke takes her hand and they shake. "You too." Clarke says with a grin, getting a small smile in return.
"Sorry for the quick 'hello' but we've got to get going. I just wanted to let you I'm staying in one of the houses up the road. We'll visit sometime next week. Love you!" Anya says before giving her a hug goodbye.
"Bye, Clarke." Lexa adds before they both turn to leave.
"Bye! Have a nice night!
She watches them go down the stairs and sees Anya throw her arm around Lexa's shoulder, ruffling her hair with the other hand. She laughs when Lexa playfully pushes her away, Anya throwing her head back with laughter. Clarke remembers the text from her mom, and pulls her phone out of her pocket. Your Aunt Anya will be stopping by with a friend soon. She returns her phone to her pocket, and turns around to go back inside. She closes the door and places her back against the door, becoming more curious about Lexa every second.
"Who was that?" Raven and Octavia ask simultaneously