VIII.

The campers scrambled around her feet as Clarke hurried them away from the attacking grounders. Through the herd of children and counselors running away, Finn stood out like a sore thumb, trying to weave his way towards Clarke. Luckily the swarm of kids was enough to physically restrain him. "Clarke!" He called, as kids mercilessly fought their way around him, but Clarke had already turned away and started for their own paintball range, preparing to defend her camp. "Clarke! Don't do anything stupid!" Finn called again.

That struck a nerve. Stupid?. "What? Like trust you!?" Clarke yelled back, slightly turning around to show Finn the look of disgust on her face.

"Clarke!" Finn yelled again, the path now clear of campers. "You know you can trust me!"

Trust. Good one, you almost got me. Clarke thought as she turned around, while continuing to walk backwards towards the paintball range. "No Finn, I know for a fact, that I can't." That shut him up. With that off her chest she spun back around and started to jog to the Centaire Paintball Base.

The paintball range stood at the highest point in camp away from all the cabins. It backed against a large field equipped with obstacles and forts. Clarke had always thought that having a paintball program at a kid's camp was stupid (even though paintball strategy was one of her favourite activities), but it was far better than the marksman ship and hunting program they had in place before.

As Clarke jogged towards the paintball base, the hollers of the grounder's were on her tail, time was of the essence. She quickly eyed the trail that she ran- and that the grounders would run in a few minutes time- for any loops or strategic moves that could play this battle to her advantage. But with one small blonde, against ten or so grounders, there wasn't much to work with as far as traps go. Her mind raced through strategy after strategy before coming up blank and deciding to wing it.

Clarke quietly neared the base ahead. The paint ball base was a small, one room, wooden shack, that looked like any other cabin if you happened to overlook the wooden sign that hung over the door that read 'Supply Depot' . No one knew the significance to the name, or how it related at all to paintball, but it was a standing tradition.

Clarke whirled through the door of the cabin, only to crash head-on into Bellamy who stood in the doorway, wearing a smirk on his face that only he could wear.

"Fancy meeting you here, Blake." Clarke scoffed. Finn warned her not to do anything stupid, she should have know Bellamy would have had the same crazy idea she did.

"Suit up, Princess," he said passing her his gun, and then turning back into the cabin to grab another for himself. Both counselors entered the cabin and started rummaging through the bins and drawers loading their guns with ammunition. "I didn't think I'd be seeing the princess get down from her tower to fight the battle." Bellamy said as they both rummaged through drawers on opposite sides of the room.

"And what? Let you have all the fun?" She teased, pulling a paintball vest over her head. "You have goggles over there?" She asked, causing Bellamy to turn towards her, tossing her a pair. "Besides," she continued, holding Bellamy's gaze, "it would be breaking tradition if only one of us got in trouble." She smiled.

Her smile lit up the room, catching him off guard, as he tried to look away. But it was futile, like telling a child not to look at the sun; he only got drawn in deeper.

Clarke's eyes fluttered to the ground in embarrassment, bringing a pink tinge to her cheeks, fully aware of the gaze he had locked on her.

The haze of the moment was broken when an excited Octavia came hurling through the door, unaware of the thick air she was pushing away. Both counselors looked up at her in surprise.

"Octavia-" Bellamy started in the most controlling voice he could muster up.

"Aw, common' Bell! Let me help!" She whined, "There is a group of grounders out there who will be here any second, and even the stellar paintball-strategist you have here can't think of a way for the two of you to take down a whole gang of grounders."

"No Octavia, you shouldn't even be here." Bellamy said, holding his ground.

Turning her attention to Octavia, Clarke spoke up. "Bellamy's right Octavia, you shouldn't be here." She took a breath; with three people the strategic potential was much higher. Clarke took a step closer to Bellamy, looking him in the eye. "But we can't do this without her, and you know that."

Her eyes pierced his, trying to sway him. "Fine." Bellamy let out an exasperated breath turning to Octavia, "But if you breath a word of this to mom- I swear."

"Thanks Bell!" She said rushing past him to the gun rack on the wall, quickly ransacking the cupboards for paintballs and goggles. "Alright Griff. What's the plan?"

An excited gleam flew through Clarke's eyes as she quickly turned to a map of both camps that was pinned to the table in the far corner. Clarke quickly flicked on the fight above the map, and pointed her finger down to where they were.

"Alright, the grounders know this camp pretty well from the capture the flag games that get played across both properties, so they know about this base, and they'll be expecting some retaliation because they followed me to this weapons shack." She took a breath, "Now, if they play tonight like they've been playing the last 3 years of capture the flag, they've already staked out this building, they know I'm here, and they know Octavia's here because you came after me. But Bellamy, you were here before they followed me here, so you're going to play as our secret weapon and stay here for now. Meanwhile, I'll lead them out to the mess hall," Clarke drew her finger along the map to the mess hall. "Some of the grounders will follow me as I lead them there, the rest will follow Octavia -who will trail me shortly after, because to the best of their knowledge, she's the last person in this cabin. Octavia, you are going to be my fake reinforcement, when really, Bellamy, will be following behind the last few grounders."

She looked up at Bellamy, his eyes fixed on hers awaiting commands. This is what she exceled at, she was a fair shot with a paintball gun, but strategizing like this took the cake, and it didn't hurt that she knew this camp like the back of her hand. Her golden-blonde hair fell around her shoulders as she turned her eyes away from him and back to the map, her fragile features lit up in the dim overhead light as she went over every loophole. He could see she was worried about a million things going wrong, her eyes pacing back and forth through every situation, but he could also see the hint of a smile she held back, she sheer excitement of putting her plan in motion.

She looked back up at him, sending him back into reality. "Bellamy, remember second year? The mess hall roof?"

A smile hit his face "Yeah, the water balloons we dropped over people's heads as they went inside for lunch." He said as Octavia rolled her eyes.

"You think you could get up to the roof again? O and I lure would them there, you hit them from above."

"Yeah, for sure." Bellamy said, nodding.

Octavia leaned against the wall admiring the view of the pair from a distance. The head counselors debated over the details, as she stood unnoticed. With her out of the discussion the leaders huddled over the map, their bodies drew together like magnets until practically touching. She doubted they realized how close they were, or how they were comfortable being in such a close vicinity to each other.

"You both understand?" Clarke finally asked pulling away from the table and Bellamy.

The Blake siblings nodded, and Octavia pulled her goggles over her face. "Lets go."