Chapter One
It had been a week since they had left New York and Clarke was exhausted. She hadn't been sleeping. Between trying to absorb all the information Murphy had given her and being terrified that at any moment Finn could be behind them on the highway there was just no way sleep was going to come to her. She had learned a lot from her Friend. How to walk and talk like a boy. Things she never would have thought about on her own. The boy even taught her things she never thought she would need to learn. How to hot wire a car, how to throw a decent punch, and even pick locks. Not that that last one had been much use of her so far, but she had actually successfully hotwired the car they were currently driving in.
"So Bellamy Blake and Lincoln Triku run Arkadia." He explained as she continued to drive. They had spent the first 3 days headed west before they finally stared driving south. It had seemed stupid and pointless to her to go West when South was what they had wanted but Murphy told her they needed to make sure their destination was not obvious. She didn't mind much, just like she didn't mind needing to switch cars every six hours. Being followed and caught before they even got to Arkadia would be a travesty.
"Right, okay and Blake has a sister yeah? The only girl in town that is protected by the gangs because she is under Blake's protection?" She muttered, pulling the information out of her brain. Murphy had been drilling this stuff into her head the last few days. As if arming her with this information could save her life. She didn't see how but she'd trust Murphy. If he thought she needed to know the in and out of Arkadia before arriving she'd absorb it.
"That and she's kind of a bad ass. No one would dare mess with her. She's got the spirit of a fighter and had proved herself in the cage against guys three times her size." There was admiration in Murphy's voice as he talked about the girl, and maybe a little fear. Though with what she had learned about the girl, Clarke couldn't fault him for that. The girl sounded terrifying. Clarke would hate to get on the her bad side. "Pull over real quick." He said suddenly His arm jutting out into her line of vision as he pointed to the side of the road. Her reflexes were shot and the sudden movement nearly gave her a heart attack.
She quickly did as he told. Pulling over on the dusty road. They had left the higway 30 minuetes ago and hadn't seen a single soul on this road since then. It was a bit eerie. She felt like they were headed on the back roads to hell.
"We have 10 minutes before we are in town. It's time." He merely said reaching into the backseat and pulling out a pair of scissors. She stared at them with trepidation. She knew it was necessary and needed but she loved her hair. Loved the long bouncy girls and the soft feeling of it hanging around her shoulders.
"Anyway I can pass it off with a man bun?" She questioned, hopeful. Looking up at him with pleading eyes. He face was all hard lines and a serious tilt. She wondered if it was possible for her friend to laugh.
"It still has to be shorter. It's far too feminine right now. Come on Clarke. You knew this was coming."
He was right. She had known this was coming but it didn't make it any easier. Reluctantly she took the scissors from his hand and began whacking away at her beautiful locks. It was sad to see them go.
"How do I look?" she asked with a sigh when she finished. It was still longer then most boys she had known wore it but short enough that she could throw it up and look like a hipster wanna be with an atrocious man bun.
"You could pass for a dude. Just don't let anyone get too close to you. If someone gets in your bubble they will most certainly notice the boobs we've been trying so hard to hide." He teased. She reached out and punched the boy in the arm. A soft scarlet blush creeping up on her cheeks. She had never paid much attention to the size of her breasts before this whole thing and now she was acutely aware of just how large her chest was. Disguising one's self as a boy seemed so much easier in Mulan and She's the man. Why couldn't it be that easy in real life?
"Now start driving and remember do not stop for any reason until we get to the Drop ship." Clarke turned the screwdriver jammed into the ignition again and the old car sputtered back to life. She nodded her head, one hand on the wheel as the other pulled her hair into a haphazard bun on the back of her head.
The Drop Ship. He had told her about the club the night before. Bellamy Blake bought it about 6 years ago. It had been just a little run down disgusting club in the heart of the city. Everything went down there. It was the place the lowest of the low hung out to conduct business. Prostitutes found their johns, drugs and weapons sale took place in the back rooms. But according to Murphy since Blake took over it had changed. Bad stuff still happened there as it was the head of his operations but it was more dignified. That last remark made no sense to Clarke. How could something be dignified if Illegal things were happening there?
It was easy to tell when they crossed into the city line. Run down houses started popping up. Building with boarded up windows were being walked into by some of the shadyiest people Clarke had even seen in her life. For a girl who had spent the majority of her life on the Upper East Side this place was a culture shock to her. A single cop car seemed to be patrolling the place but it ignored half of the things it probably should have pulled over for. Drugs being sold on a street corner. A fight breaking out in front of the liquor store. Clarke couldn't even imagine the kinds of things that were being conducted in the dark where she could not see.
The Drop ship was different though. She could tell even before she pulled into the parking lot. Everything around it seemed to come out of a movie about Detriot. Scary and abondened but the Drop Ship was shinny. It seemed like it didn't belong in this dinky town but somewhere else. Not New York because it wasn't quite that fancy but maybe Chicago.
The dark glass reflected the sun and pulled your attention but it was modern architecture that challenged Gravity that was most impressive. The swoopy lines that made Clarke think back to high school biology and parts of a cell. Mitochondria, the word popped into head. The building reminded her of that and she couldn't help but smile softly at the meaning. The mitochondria was the power house of a cell and The Drop ship was the power in this town. She wondered if that was intentional.
"Hurry. Blake and Lincoln will know we arrived." Murphy said. With a last deep breath, Clarke took the baseball cap she had bought at a truck stop a day ago and shuffled inside. Careful not to walk too gracefully, limiting the shake of her hips that she hadn't realized was automatic until Murphy pointed it out 2 days ago.
She longed to reach for her friends hand. To Quell the nervous energy she was feeling with his touch, but that was not something a boy her age would do and the squashed those feelings deep inside.
A skinny little man stood at the door. A hardened expression on his face as he stared down at the 2 of them. For a place that was supposedly well-guarded, the guard dog didn't seem so scary.
"Bellamy is expecting you." His tone conveyed nothing and his words were a little more creepy then Clarke had been expecting. Bellamy was expecting them. She couldn't imagine the type of network the big bad Blake had if he already knew they were there after driving through town for five minutes.
"Thanks Monty." Murphy grunted as he pushed the big glass door open, ushering Clarke inside first. He always did that. For the past week he made sure to always be at her backside. She couldn't even start to imagine why, but there had to be a reason for it right?
The 2 of them weaved through the opening. Moving around the interior like a maze. She was actually pretty disappointed. The inside did not match the outside. It was dark of course, and nice but it lacked the flair she thought the exterior promised.
Then they turned the corner and the room opened up into something else. Her eyes widened. She couldn't focus on any one thing long enough to take it all in. It was magnificent. She could almost ignore the seething rage that was threatening to come up. Almost.
It hit her in the face though. This place was gorgeous and well furnished. Whoever had built this place certainly had expensive tastes and she couldn't stand it. After driving through that town and seeing the people struggling this place felt indecent. If they had all this money to put in a fricken Crytsaline chandelier they could afford a bit to fix up the city they resided in. This kind of blatant display of money had always bugged her. She would never understand the need to wave money around like it made you a better person. The only reason her apartment in New York had been decorated as it had been was because of Finn. She would have been happy with minimal furniture and only keeping things that were useful.
"Hey." Murphy muttered under his breath as they walked further and further inside the club. "Whatever is going through your mind right now, let it go." He warned. Clarke tried but it wasn't easy. This type of ostentatious behavior was why she had never fit in with the debutantes and children in her childhood her parents tried to get her to be close to. She couldn't stand it.
She glanced around looking for the Illustrious Bellamy Blake. If he had been expecting them it would stand to reason that he would actually be around. Her searching for the man didn't last long once she saw the fountain in the corner. How had she missed that.
She walked over to it, a hard line set on her face. God it looked like it belonged in some Italian city. She turned and opened her mouth to complain to Murphy when she saw him. He came out of nowhere. Appearing in the middle of the room like a spirit summoned by a Ouija board.
He didn't look like the Devil, as Murphy had described him.
"Bellamy, My man." Murphy said in greeting. Approaching the new man with open arms. So that was Blake. He wasn't at all what Clarke had been expecting. He didn't look like he belonged in a place like this. He wasn't polished or put together. His dark hair was unrulily and there was a definet 5 o'clock shadow gracing his features. If she looked hard enough she bet she'd see dried blood on his knuckles. He looked like the type of man who didn't shy away from a fight. Which made sense considering what Murphy had told her about him. Wicked Temper but fiercely loyal. Loyal she could handle, the tempura she wasn't so sure. Finn had a tempura and the 2 of them had seen how well she handled that.
The boys hugged the way boys do, awkward and fumbling and the moment they broke apart. Blake's eyes landed on her. This was it, a make or break it moment. She felt like his dark eyes were searching into her soul. Oh God, he was going to know before she even said anything. He was going to know she was a girl.
"Who's this Murphy? Your boyfriend?" The man smirked, teasing her friend. Clarke Kept quiet, remembering another thing Murphy had told her on the drive up. 'Don't speak unless spoken to' that would be a rule easy enough to follow. Finn had a similar rule. Though she never followed it to his satisfaction.
Murphy just laughed, it was light and airy. Clarke felt like she was seeing a different side to her friend. He had always been stoic and serious but now he actually seemed light hearted. Maybe coming back here wouldn't be as bad for him as she thought it would.
"Fuck you Bells." He said with a grin, pushing the older man back a few feet. Blake didn't seem to mind. He ran a hand through his hair and smirked again, his eyes still on Clarke. "This is my cousin, Clark."
"Clark Murphy?" He asked dumbfounded. Still Clarke Kept her mouth shut. She just nodded. It was something She and Murphy had discussed. Clarke was a male name and it would be easier for her to respond to then thinking up a brand new one just for this. "And I thought My name was bad."
She couldn't help but crack a smile. Luckily the dark hair man's attention wavered. His searching gaze no longer on her but on Murphy instead. "What are you doing here Murphy? The mountain men ran you out of here after that incident with Cage's sister I thought." The information peaked Clarke interest. She had known Murphy hadn't exactly left on the greatest terms but he never talked about the exact reason he had to leave.
He glanced over her shoulder giving her a look that told her not to ask. It killed her inside. She so needed to know what had happened but she'd never do anything to make her friend uncomfortable. He had done so much for her, it was the least she could do not to dig into his past. It didn't matter anyway. She knew who John Murphy was. Dangerous sure, but he was her friend.
"Yeah well, something came up and we need some place to lay low."
In an instant the playful gleam left Blake's eyes. His expression hardened and he glanced between the 2 of them.
"Got anything to do with why he looks like someone used his face as batting practice?" Suddenly self conscious, Clarke pulled the hoodie up over her head in an attempt to hide her face. Days may have passed since Finn had done exactly that but her face was still a mess. Bruises and cuts spread out across her features. The eye that had swollen shut she could actually see out of again but it still throbbed and looked gross. If these were woman talking infront of her they never would have mentioned it. Just another way people here in Arkadia were different then the people on the east side.
"It's a long story Bells." Murphy said simply. That seemed enough for Blake. On the ride up Clarke didn't realize what kind of relationship Murphy and this Blake guy had. Nothing had been disclosed by the way he had spoken about him. It had seemed like a vague acquaintance but watching them now it was clearly more then that.
"Okay. I'm guessing the 2 of you need some place to stay and you want your old job back?"
"You know I was the best second hand you ever had." The confidence dripping from Murphy's voice was laughable, but Blake seemed to eat it up. Clarke wasn't sure what being Second hand to Bellamy Blake entailed but she was certain it couldn't be any good. Not if he was half as scary as Murphy had made him out to be.
"You are going to be the death of me Murphy." Blake said with a shake of his head. "Lincoln isn't going to be happy you are back you know."
"I know. That's what I have you for. Smooth things over for me while I do your dirty work."
He barked out in laughter. The sound making Clarke jump. She fought the urge to place her hand over her heart to still her rapidly beating heart. A motion that was not missed by the boy standing in front of them. He eyed her suspiciously, a quirk of his brow as she pretended not to be so shaken by the sudden loud noise.
"Everything done in this town is dirty work." He quipped. Clarke couldn't help but feel like an outsider to this conversation. Which wasn't surprising considering this was her first time ever in this town. She was by all means an outsider. She just hoped she didn't stick out too much. "What about him. What can he do."
Murphy drew his attention away from Clarke with the flaring of his arms. Clarke was thankful for it. Not that she'd be thankful for what he said next.
"Clark is good with cars. And a quick learner. Show him something once and he can do it better then you the next time." She tilted her head, hiding her face under the cover of the hoodie. She could feel her cheeks burning. It couldn't be true, she just picked things up fast. Especially when there was motivation to learn.
"Except how to take a punch apparently." That was the second time he had brought up how her face looked. God it must be worse the she had. Not that she would really know. She'd been avoiding a mirror the last couple days.
"Yeah, No one ever taught him to fight." Murphy muttered.
"We can change that." There was a vindictive promise in his words and that terrified Clarke more then anything else had so far. To be fair the whole exchange had been pretty tame compared to what she had been thinking. There were no unconscious bodies littering the floor and the blood stains seemed to be minimal at most. "Go on upstairs to my apartment while I talk to Lincoln. Don't get too comfortable though. The moment I talk to him I'm putting you two somewhere dank and dirty."
Murphy smiled, putting his hands on Clarke shoulder and twisting her around. She had no idea where she was going but luckily Murphy did.
"Thanks boss. See you in a few."
A/N: So this fanfiction was actually inspired by a book series I really like. Welcome to The Point by Jay Crownover. I hope you like where this is going as much as I do. I'm weak for the whole disguises self as opposite gender trope. Also I doubt I'll be able to keep updating it as fast as I am today, I've just been on a roll since I started writing it 2 days ago. I might even have another chapter to update today. Get Ready for Bellamy's POV guys!