a/n: maybe the real high school musical was the friends we made along the way

Lexa had not been expecting the question when she stayed over at Clarke's house for the night after a long day of studying. Really, she should have expected it - Clarke was the type to do these things without much warning - and yet she was still surprised.

"Lexa?"

"Hmm?"

"Would you . . . would you want to go camping over writer break?"

"My closest- my only friend from back home is coming down here for the holidays. I can't just abandon her." The lights were off, Lexa couldn't see anything but Clarke's form loosely moving around in her bed.

"You could invite her along, too," Clarke mused, her voice heavy with sleep.

"Anya? I doubt that she would enjoy being the third wheel to our relationship in the middle of the woods."

"I'm asking the rest of the group, not just you and her. She wouldn't be alone in being the third wheel, at least."

"You make a compelling argument, but what about Aden? I can't leave him alone."

"Hell, bring him too. The more the merrier, that's how I see it." Lexa hadn't noticed it before, but Clarke had dozens of glowing plastic stars on her ceiling, casting the room in a sort of dim, surreal light. She figured that they would be shining more brightly if Abby hadn't insisted on keeping the door open.

"I'll ask my uncle."

"Mmf . . . cool . . ." Clarke let out a snore, and Lexa smiled to herself. Heda fell off of Clarke's bed a few moments later, landing squarely on Lexa's head, but she simply set the stuffed animal aside, gingerly giving her a small pat before drifting into sleep herself.

Clarke awoke the next morning with her blankets thrown askew, half of them covering Lexa and the other half tangling Clarke in her own bed.

"Crap," she whispered, hoping not to wake Lexa as she slowly pulled herself from the nest she seemed to have made in her sleep. Lexa quietly stirred, making a muffled hrm. Clarke's expression softened, watching Lexa sleep in peace. This moment of peace was abruptly interrupted when Clarke moved forward slightly and suddenly found herself toppling onto Lexa. "I'm sorry!" she yelped. Lexa blinked.

"Clarke?" Lexa, surprisingly, seemed unaffected by the awkward position she was in.

"I was just trying to untangle myself from the blankets," Clarke said in one breath, wondering briefly why she felt herself getting warmer and more embarrassed by the second when she and Lexa were dating, when they had nothing to hide, when-

"What are you girls doing?"

Oh. That's why.

"Clarke rolled over in her sleep, Ms. - erm, Abby," Lexa mumbled, pushing Clarke off of her sleeping bag with what seemed to be a forced smile. "We certainly weren't doing anything that could be considered non-PG-13. Not at all."

"She isn't convinced," Clarke whispered, nervously looking to her mother. Lexa didn't seem to hear her, though the fact that she was currently on the floor probably contributed to that.

"You're a great kid, Lexa, really, but please understand that I don't want Clarke getting into anything she's not ready for." Clarke was, to say the least, mortified. "You know, she just broke up with a guy a little under a year ago. I hated him, but still." Clarke snatched Heda from her spot at the edge of the carpet and smushed her face into the stuffed animal.

"Finn Collins?"

"Yeah, him. He was Raven's closest confident for years, her best friend, and then he just up and cheats on her because he thought she had moved away. Unbelievable." Clarke wondered if it was possible for carpets to swallow people whole, and if so, if this one could do that right about now.

"Yes, she's told me that he wasn't a particularly good person."

"Ha, that's an understatement! Anyone who won't own up to the fact that they have a secret that could hurt people isn't the kind you'd want to be around, in my opinion."

My mom and my girlfriend are discussing my love life. This can't be happening.

"In any case, Abby, I should probably get going. My uncle will be expecting me home soon." Lexa took Clarke by the hand, and Clarke practically dragged her downstairs as soon as the two passed her mom.

"I thought I was gonna die," Clarke muttered, blankly staring at the floor. "I think I'm traumatized now."

"Your mom didn't kick me out." Lexa sat down. "She wasn't even particularly mad."

"That's my mom for you. She's protective, sure, but she knows what's going on. She's a good person."

"Yeah." Lexa reached for Clarke's hand again. "I think . . . I think I'd like to go camping with you, if that's alright."

"That'd be great." Lexa, still seemingly half-asleep, leaned on Clarke's shoulder with a smile on her face. "That . . . that would be amazing."

Lexa: anya

Anya (cell phone): You do realize that you don't need to say my name every time you're asking me for something, right?

Anya (cell phone): Nobody else uses my phone.

Lexa: do you have any plans for winter break this year?

Anya (cell phone): I'll check.

Lexa sincerely doubted that Anya would actually go along with the plan, but she figured that it would be best to try anyway.

Anya (cell phone): Nope.

Anya (cell phone): Aside from visiting you.

Lexa: that was what i was going to ask about

Anya (cell phone): What, you want quality time with your girlfriend or something?

Lexa: in a way

Lexa: but it wouldn't just be the two of us

Lexa: clarke is inviting me on a camping trip

Lexa: along with three of her friends and aden

Lexa: she said it would be fine if you came along too

Anya (cell phone): Well, that /is/ an appealing offer . . .

Anya (cell phone): Who's driving?

Lexa: i don't know

Anya (cell phone): They can't be worse than you, though.

Lexa: is that a yes

Anya (cell phone): Are you kidding?

Anya (cell phone): I wouldn't miss that for the world.

The semester closed out with a sentimental speech from Principal Kane (he was on the brink of tears, Clarke realized once her mother had politely escorted him from the stage), and Lexa nervously looked out the window, down at the playing field.

"Are you worried about something?" Clarke asked after most of the students had left, yelling "freedom!" and running for the buses with whoops of joy. Raven, Octavia, and Lincoln had already left, promising to save her a spot whoever they went to lunch.

"I've been thinking about what you said a while ago."

"You'll need to be more specific." Clarke hopped onto the cushion next to Lexa, watching tiny snowflakes float down outside.

"About the laws of equivalent exchange. What if something terrible happens soon, all because we've been happy?"

"Is this about Ontari? Because that was unbelievably brave, you know. You shouldn't worry about that."

"No, it's not just her. Things have been going so well, I'm beginning to wonder if someone's going to turn on us or I'll die or Aden will get hurt. It would only be fair, after all."

"Hey, so what if something bad does happen? We'll still have the good times to look back on, and if there really is some invisible scale determining whether we'll be happy or not, then doesn't that mean we'll be happy again soon enough? You should save the worrying for the bad times, that's the way I see it." Lexa chuckled.

"When did you become a philosopher of the highest order, Clarke?"

"Probably around the same time you became the cornmander."

"Please stop bringing that up, our group still hardly has any kind of functional government in place."

"Does anyone's, though?"

"Probably not."

The two didn't end up going to lunch, instead just talking the day away as the staff dropped off leftover folders and hats in the lost and found.

"Hey, did someone order a tired, jaded college student for the holidays?" Lexa perked up, dropping her worn-out copy of The Price of Salt (now even more battered) to rush to the door. "It's cold as hell out here, you know." Lexa flung open the door to see Anya on the porch with a crooked smirk on her face, bundled in what looked to be at least two trenchcoats.

"Anya!" Aden shrieked, barreling past Lexa to hug Anya's leg. She ruffled his hair affectionately, setting down her bags.

"Hey, kiddo," she chuckled. "You've grown a ton since last time I saw you."

"Yeah, I'm getting super strong!" Aden squeaked. "Lexa says I'm gonna be taller than her soon!"

"I'll believe that when I see it."

"Just watch me!"

"Oh, yeah, I got you something." Anya dug through her bag to find a tiny box wrapped in old newspapers. "It's nothing fancy, but I think you'll like it." Aden didn't even pause to take off the wrapping, simply running through the house as he held the gift above his head in triumph. "That'll get him out of our hair for a while."

"It's a little cube thingy!" Aden yelled from the other room. "Thanks, Anya!" Anya plopped down on the nearest chair.

"Doesn't he ever wear you out?" she asked. "It can't be easy with someone like Titus as his only other caretaker." Anya spat out the name Titus with disgust, and Lexa couldn't really blame her.

"I'm all he has," Lexa murmured. "I don't want him to get hurt, and that's enough motivation for me."

"Yeah, well, give yourself some time to yourself once in a while, alright?"

"I do, and I will. Speaking of which, you haven't mentioned the camping trip once since you arrived."

"I've been here for five minutes, I was getting to that! But, yeah, the camping trip. If I remember correctly, you're going with your girlfriend, your brother, and three of your girlfriend's friends?"

"You're coming as well."

"Any adult supervision?"

"You're the adult supervision, Anya."

"And you're going camping in the beginning of winter."

"Yes."

"You're not worried about . . . freezing to death, or something?"

"Clarke knows how to build a fire."

"When do we leave?"

"Well, I was just about to tell you that-" Lexa was interrupted, rather suddenly, with the loud screech of a car outside. She rushed to the door, praying that she wouldn't find Fish lying dead in a driveway. A silver minivan was haphazardly parked on the street, and Raven slowly got out. "We leave now, apparently."

"Hey, Lexa!" she yelled, waving frantically. "Are you ready? You're the first house I've stopped for, you know!"

"Who is that?" Anya whispered. Lexa smiled.

"I suppose you could call her my friend." Aden was already halfway out the door with Fish running behind him, a small backpack on his shoulders. Lexa and Anya weren't far behind.

"The dog doesn't get a ride," Raven said.

"If he doesn't get to go, then I won't go either!" Aden squeaked.

"Aden, I'm sure that Fish will be fine without you for a few days," Lexa murmured. Fish thumped his tail on the pavement.

"I'm not going anywhere without him. What if Uncle finds him and sends him to the pound? He'd be really scared without us!"

"The kid's got a point," Anya flippantly said, still appearing somewhat stunned at how fast the trip was progressing.

"Fine," Raven muttered. "Only if Fish here promises to behave, though, okay? And he needs to sit in the back, I don't want dog fur on my seats."

"Yes, ma'am!" Aden hopped into the back of the car with Fish in tow. Lexa was just about to join them in the back when Raven grabbed her arm.

"I need to make sure that my brother is safe," Lexa hissed. "I'm sorry if I can't sit closer to the front." Raven blinked.

"What?"

"I figured that was the reason why you grabbed me, because-"

"Lexa," Raven murmured, looking Lexa dead in the eye. "Why didn't you tell me about your attractive best friend before this?" Lexa looked to Anya, who was at the moment fiddling with the car's cupholders as she tried to shove three mugs of coffee down one of them.

"Anya?"

"No, your brother's dog. Of course I meant Anya."

"It never came up?" Lexa phrased it like a question, though she wondered why she had done that as soon as the words left her mouth.

"You could've said something like 'oh, my best friend happens to be really goddamn pretty, some kind of warning, anything. I'm compromised, Lexa."

"I'm sure that you'll survive," Anya said dryly, clearly hearing everything. Raven didn't seem to take much notice.

"I want her to murder me with her cheekbones," Raven whispered. Anya had succeeded in shoving the mugs into the cupholder, and she let out a triumphant hmph as Raven climbed into the driver's seat.

"You're the driver, huh?" Anya raised an eyebrow. Raven took a deep breath.

"Yep," she said. "I'm also the oldest of this group of nerds, so it'd be best if you stayed on my, ahem, good side." Lexa could hardly hear the conversation from her position at the back of the car, squashed between Aden and Fish, but she could figure out what was happening easily enough. "Next stop, the Blake residence!"

"I feel like I've heard that name before," Anya mused. Lexa was trying, unsuccessfully, to get Fish to stop licking her face as the minivan sped down the road.

"Who hasn't heard of Octavia, honestly?" Raven sighed, and Lexa desperately wished that she was sitting just a bit closer so that she could tell Raven to stop dreamily staring at Anya and to keep her eyes on the road. "Anyway, what kind of stuff do you do?"

"Well, I'm a college freshman suffering through a group of roommates who might've been placed on this earth solely to annoy me, for one."

"Great! I'm only a year and a half away from that, so do you have any tips?" Anya stopped watching the road for a moment to look Raven dead in the eye.

"Don't die," she muttered. Raven blinked.

"Okay! I'll keep that in mind!" Lexa let out a sigh as Fish settled in her lap. "Hey, what do you know? We've reached O's house already. I'll go inside, wait here, okay?" Raven turned off the car and opened its door, carefully getting down onto the rough sidewalk.

"What happened to her leg?" Anya asked as soon as Raven was out of earshot.

"I don't know," Lexa truthfully replied. "We're friends, but she isn't particularly willing to tell me things about her life."

"Hey, O!" Raven yelled. Octavia shoved open the cracked glass window of her house, hopping out with a small knapsack and the ever-present sword hanging on her shoulders.

"I'm here!" Octavia yelled back, and Lexa wondered why the two were still yelling despite standing just a few feet away from each other. "Lincoln's here, too!" Lincoln stepped out the door, giving a small wave when he saw the car. Anya nearly fell out of her seat.

"Lincoln?" she said. "You're here too?" Raven clambered back into the minivan as Octavia and Lincoln found their places in the backseat.

"Anya?"

"Wait, you two know each other?"

"Yeah!" Anya replied, surprisingly enthusiastic. "We used to hang out all the time when we were kids, remember? We've kept in touch over the years, but I haven't seen you in forever! How have you been?"

"I've been doing well." Octavia hadn't let go of Lincoln's arm since entering the car, casually tossing her things into the back. Lexa ducked to avoid the sword, only to get hit squarely in the face with Octavia's knapsack.

"I can see that," Anya sighed, adjusting the car's mirror. "And I'm guessing that the sword-wielding kid is the legendary Octavia Blake, then?"

"Yep!" Octavia chirped. "The one and only!"

"Yeah, well, now that we're done with the introductions, I guess we should head to the last stop and finally get on the road, huh?" Raven said. Anya raised an eyebrow.

"The last stop? There are more of you?" Lexa would have been insulted at the comment if she hadn't been busy keeping Octavia's sword away from Aden.

"Yep. Lexa's dear, darling girlfriend, actually," Raven replied in a sing-song voice. "Oh, man, you haven't seen how smitten those two are. They're even fluffier than the strong pair back there, believe it or not." Octavia was resting on Lincoln's shoulder, occasionally letting out little noises whenever the car hit a bump. "It's a hard life, being single in a group of painfully adorable couples. It's hell, really."

"Oh, I can relate," Anya chuckled. "I can't tell you how many idiots my roommates have dated this semester alone. I've been keeping a whiteboard with an 'it has been this many days since Anya found a frat boy in her bed' counter on it, and the record is five days. I found someone hiding underneath the couch in the middle of that week, too."

"That's rough, buddy." Raven hit the brakes as Clarke's neighborhood came into view, and Lexa had to steady herself against Fish to not be knocked forward. Clarke was already sitting on the porch, waving goodbye to Abby as she headed to the minivan.

"I thought you didn't have a license!" she yelled to Raven, tossing her things into the back.

"I just told you that so you wouldn't ask me for rides all the time!" Clarke let out an indignant huff.

"I only would've done it if there was a real emergency," she muttered.

"Sure, Jan," Anya deadpanned. Lexa stared at her. "What? I hear that dumb meme every other day, I figured I could at least claim it for myself." Clarke jabbed a finger in Anya's direction.

"Who's she?" Anya bristled.

"I'm Lexa's best friend, and if you hurt her, I'll take you to the tallest building this side of the country and buy you a private tour to the top so that I can kick you off."

"Nice," Raven whispered. Lexa managed to reach far enough to hold Clarke's hand, blushing when she squeezed it. Octavia had woken up and was starting to readjust her position, curling into Lincoln's oversized coat. "So, that's everyone," Raven continued. "Ready?"

"Aye aye, captain," Clarke said. Lexa gave her a nod, Aden pumped his fist in the air, Anya grunted, and Lincoln pointed to Octavia, who seemed to be trying to go back to sleep.

"Let's go, then!"

Raven really should have expected this, Clarke thought as the minivan inched forward in the wintertime traffic. It was the beginnings of the holidays, of course there would be people traveling to visit their families, to go on vacations and leave their homes. Of course. Octavia was still fast asleep, Lexa had been holding onto Clarke's hand for so long that it had gone numb (not that she was complaining) and Anya and Raven seemed to be the only people actually enjoying themselves, in their own way.

"What happened to your leg?" Anya asked about a half-hour into the midst of the traffic jam. Raven shrugged.

"Accident. Nothing horrible. I try not to let it bother me too much."

"That's admirable." The car would return to complete silence for a while after that. It continued like this for about three hours, and Clarke was very close to snapping.

"Hey!" Aden squeaked, pausing in his efforts to telepathically communicate with Fish. "You guys have phones with you, right?" Clarke nodded. "What if we watch one of those ann-uh-mays that cool lady friend likes and-" Anya turned around to fix Aden with a death glare. Clarke couldn't help but be reminded of an owl.

"There will be no anime in this vehicle," she whispered hoarsely.

"I'm going to marry this woman someday," Raven said, almost too quiet to be heard.

Lexa would have been lying if she had said that she wasn't unbelievably relieved when the traffic let up and the minivan soared down the highway, snow lightly falling outside.

"How long do you think it'll be until we arrive?" she asked, nearly yelling in order to be heard by Raven.

"Another hour!" Raven yelled back. "The good news is that nobody goes into the middle of the forest in the winter, so we'll have the whole place to ourselves!"

"Do we have tents?" Clarke asked, significantly quieter so not to wake Octavia. Raven snorted.

"Of course we have tents," she scoffed. "Why wouldn't we have tents?"

"You forgot the tents, didn't you?" Anya muttered.

"Well . . . yes and no."

"That's not ominous at all."

"Okay, so I might have tried to test whether they were fireproof . . . by lighting one on fire . . . and it wasn't fireproof. On the bright side, we still have one tent that's unscathed!"

"Ah, yes, that makes everything better," Anya retorted. "Seven people and a dog in one tent. That won't be a problem at all."

"They're big tents!"

"Some of us could sleep in the car," Lincoln suggested.

"I volunteer," Anya said. "I'd rather be kind of uncomfortable than end up wedged between six other people."

"Does anyone else want to join our brave, selfless leader here?" Raven asked.

"Can I volunteer Fish?" Lexa said.

"I don't see why not."

"Lexa," Aden whined. "I don't wanna sleep without Fish! What if he gets lonely?" Lexa rested a hand on her brother's shoulder.

"Fish will be fine," she said. "He'll have Anya with him, I don't think that anyone would be lonely with Anya." Aden seemed to mull over this for a moment before modding eagerly.

"Okay!" he squeaked. "It'd be like a sleepover for him, right?"

"Sure." Clarke let out a chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, it's just . . . you're really cute, you know that?"

"I doubt I'm as cute as you."

"If I wasn't driving right now, I'd slam my face on the steering wheel," Raven muttered.

There was a collective sigh of relief from the car when it left the highway, suburbs and trees replacing walls and pavement.

"We're almost here!" Aden cheered. Fish licked Lexa on the cheek, earning him a glare from Clarke.

"I could do you one better," she whispered, giving Lexa a wink. Octavia was beginning to wake up, though she still wasn't moving very much - somehow, over the course of the ride, she had wrapped herself entirely in Lincoln's coat, giving the impression of a peaceful burrito. At least, a peaceful burrito until she gained full awareness of her surroundings and started frantically wriggling out.

"Are they always like this?" Anya wondered.

"Yep," Raven answered. "Regrettably."

"Hey, we're not that bad!" Octavia snapped.

"Says the one cocooned in her significant other's coat." Octavia started burrowing again.

"Wake me up when we actually get to the campsite, okay?"

"Your wish is my command, great Ontari-slayer," Clarke muttered. "The second-in-command to the legendary cornmander."

"I thought that you were the cornmander's second-in-command," Lexa said.

"Is this some kind of weird roleplay thing?" Anya asked. Raven shrugged.

"If it is, this is the first I've heard of it."

As it turned out, Octavia didn't end up sleeping for very long. The minivan reached the campsite hardly ten minutes later, screeching to a halt at the entrance to the forest.

"Alright, everyone, we're here!" Raven yelled, flopping back into her seat. "God, that was stressful."

"You could've asked me to take over," Anya said.

"It's an honor thing." Aden pushed open the trunk, jumping out with Fish hot on his tail. Lexa followed, picking up some of the camping equipment as she did so. Octavia, still wrapped in Lincoln's coat, hopped out as she finally managed to untangle herself from it. Lincoln and Clarke left next, both carrying as much as they could, and Raven was the last to leave after Anya took her three coffee mugs from their place in the cupholder. "If I remember correctly, there's a pretty nice clearing up ahead. I'll lead, you guys can follow. Don't carry more than you can handle, we'll be coming back anyway!" Anya fell back, keeping pace with Clarke and Lexa.

"Your friend is pretty energetic," she said. "Especially considering the fact that she's been driving for four hours."

"That's Raven for you," Clarke sighed, taking a deep sniff as the scents of the forest wafted through the air. "She's never let anything get her down. It's pretty admirable, really. I'm more or less convinced that she would probably be the only one of us who could actually survive the apocalypse." Anya raised an eyebrow.

"That's . . . a very specific thing to think about."

"Oh, we've talked about it in depth."

"You've talked about what you'd do in the event of the apocalypse?"

"Yep. I would help rally people and heal injuries, Lexa would lead us, Raven would build bombs to defend us from the zombies or enemies or whatever the end of the world leaves, and Octavia and Lincoln would fight them off."

"Where would I be in this scenario?"

"We had always assumed that the apocalypse wouldn't reach California," Lexa said.

"Huh." Clarke reached for Lexa's hand, and she took it without hesitation. "Honestly, I'm pretty sure that the Nightblood Corporation would be the ones to cause it. From the way people talked about her, your grandmother seemed to ambitious for her own good, Lexa."

"Your grandmother?" Clarke asked.

"Yes." Lexa looked up at the gray sky, still snowing. "I never knew her personally, but she was a woman who was known to try out things that weren't considered safe by any means. She wanted to go to space, according to the books. She never did, but she really did try."

"She sounds like a badass," Raven commented, hefting at least three sleeping bags over her shoulder.

"She sounds like you," Anya muttered.

"That's fair. What do you think, Lexa, could I be a long-lost descendent of Granny Woods?" Raven flashed a grin before walking ahead to keep up with Aden.

"Your friends are a strange bunch," Anya said. Lexa smiled, and Clarke felt her cheeks warming up despite the cold.

"I used to think that, too," she murmured. "They are, but they're the most wonderful strange bunch I've ever met."

The clearing, thankfully, wasn't very far away from where Raven had parked the car, and the group soon found themselves more or less settled. Octavia had somehow managed to climb a tree and was perching on a thin branch while Lincoln nervously stood beneath her, piling up the sleeping bags in case she fell. Raven had brought a Bunsen burner to roast marshmallows (as well as a copious amount of the marshmallows themselves, which had somehow remained intact and untouched by Fish during the car ride) and Clarke was beginning to set it up. Anya had slipped away at some point, but nobody seemed to have noticed. The tent stood on a shaky foundation, and Lexa was understandably concerned about whether or not it would last the night.

"How can you roast a good marshmallow in this thing?" Clarke muttered.

"You guys should just set some sticks on fire!" Octavia said from her position on the tree. "That's how I'd do it!"

"Yeah, we should definitely risk causing a forest fire to toast marshmallows," Clarke retorted.

"Why don't you ask Raven?" Octavia flopped over on the branch so that her arms hung loosely off of the tree. "She's kinda the 'blowing-things-up' expert, maybe she'd know how to make a safe fire."

"I'll ask her." Raven, however, was nowhere to be found.

"I haven't seen her," Lexa said. "She might have gone back to the car to grab something."

"I doubt it. We have everything here."

"Still, maybe-"

"Fish! Hey, Fish, calm down!" Aden screeched as the dog in question yanked at the makeshift leash he had been tied to for the past twenty minutes, barking frantically. Fish managed to break free and ran through the bushes, followed by a nervous Aden.

"We should go after them," Lexa said. "I wouldn't want Aden to get hurt."

"I'm coming too," Clarke added.

"I'll stay here, thanks," Octavia sighed. "I don't know how to get down." Lexa didn't ask questions about that, simply taking Clarke's hand into her own and running after Aden and Fish. The sun had since gone down, and Lexa idly thought that the stars seemed to be more vivid out here, more clear and beautiful.

"That one's the Big Dipper, you've probably heard of it already." Lexa skidded to a halt as the car came into view.

"Clarke? Did you say that?"

"What? No."

"Who did, then?" Clarke silently pointed to the roof of the car, where Raven sat next to Anya as the older girl pointed out more constellations. Fish circled the car, and Aden circled Fish.

"Hey, I brought my laptop. Wanna watch a movie?" Raven dug something out of her bag, though Lexa couldn't exactly see what it was from this distance.

"She said that we weren't bringing any electronics, the goddamn hypocrite," Clarke growled.

"I think it's kind of nice," Lexa murmured. "Do you think we should say something?"

"Nope. Maybe we should let them have this little private moment. I get the feeling that this could be the, ahem, start of something new." Lexa snorted.

"Have you ever not referenced that film in a situation?" she chuckled.

"Again, nope." Clarke paused for a moment, looking up at the sky. "The stars really are pretty, aren't they?"

"Yeah."

"It feels . . . familiar, somehow. Like I've been here before."

"You believe in reincarnation?" Lexa was feeling as if this conversation had already happened at some point.

"Nah. I think it might just be a general feeling of happiness. Like I'm a little kid again, watching the grownups whisper to each other from afar. Except now I have you." Clarke leaned over to kiss Lexa on the cheek. Lexa, gently, turned her head just enough so that Clarke ended up kissing her on the lips instead, and it wasn't quite the explosion of fireworks it had first been - no, it was familiar and comforting, a feeling of home and safety that she couldn't quite describe. Clarke smiled between kisses, and Lexa had never been more in love.

"You know we can see you, right?" Lexa nearly fell into the bushes. Anya had turned her attention away from Raven, and even from this distance, Lexa could see that she was glaring at the two. "Ah, well, I guess the jig's up. It was fun while it lasted, Reyes." Aden had seemed to wait until that moment to actually notice that Anya was there, but his attention was entirely focused on the computer.

"Hey!" he chirped. "How about we all watch a super-cool movie together once we get back to the other friends?" Raven humored him, bending down to pat Fish on the head.

"What movie?" Aden smiled deviously.

"I know exactly what movie," he said.

Twenty minutes and a somewhat awkward trip back to the clearing later, the five (and Fish) settled around a campfire built by a reluctant Anya while Octavia gracefully jumped from the tree directly onto the pile of sleeping bags. The scent of smoke and sugar drifted through the air, and Clarke felt an odd sense of peace stirring in her gut. She didn't have very much time to think about it, however, before Lexa's marshmallow abruptly caught fire. She shook the stick vigorously until the tiny flame had extinguished, leaving a burnt husk in its place.

"Lexa, you're the most beautiful flaming marshmallow I've ever seen," Clarke cooed. Lexa snorted.

"Are you two gonna do the kissing now?" Aden asked, looking away from Raven's laptop for a few seconds. Lexa might have started blushing, though Clarke wondered if it was just the light of the fire.

"This is grown-up stuff, Aden," Lexa called over her shoulder as she snuggled against Clarke. "I wouldn't want you to think about things that haven't happened yet. It may sound a bit cliche, but I think the best piece of advice I've ever received is 'live in the moment.' Perhaps things will go badly in the future, perhaps you'll be forced to grow up, but we're still . . . we're still kids, right now. That's something valuable, I think."

This is happiness, Clarke realized. This, this moment with my wacko friends and my girlfriend and my girlfriend's wacko friend, this is what we're supposed to strive for. This is living, this is some kind of perfect time in our lives. I'm not going to waste it. With that thought, Clarke bent over and kissed Lexa for the second time that night, not wanting to let go of her for even a second. Octavia cheered from her position on top of the sleeping bags. Everyone smiled, looking to each other with shared grins on their faces. This is happiness.

And that was all there really was to it, Clarke thought, watching Lexa's smile set alight by the crackling fire, Anya's knowing nod from the corner, Aden's excited squeals as Raven loaded up the movie on her laptop, Lincoln and Octavia practically joined at the hip. Her life was not some great tragedy, and edge-of-your-seat ending filled with tense I love yous spoken in desperation.

"There's no reception in the woods, you know," Raven muttered. Octavia had burrowed into Lincoln's coat again.

No, Clarke did not exist in a Romeo and Juliet, some tale of utter sorrow. No, she lived in this moment, in a Disney ending, in a blissful type of High School Muscial. It would be impossible for everyone to know this sort of wonderful time - Clarke thought guiltily of Costia, of Finn, of unspoken fears, and yet . . . and yet here she was, happy, with the girl she loved safe and leaning against her shoulder. The movie passed by in a blue of bright images, and the credits rolled before Clarke even knew it.

we could be immortals

Clarke Griffin was very tired, but oh, she thought, we really could.

We deserve that much, at least.

a/n: hey hey friends guess what time it is? it's sappy end-of-fic reflection time! so, yeah. i started writing this out of spite towards jroth - if he won't give these kids a happy ending, i thought, then i will, and it'll be the sappiest happy ending ever and it'll be set in a high school because Why Not. and it was. it never got as much attention as my other multi-chapter fic (the kumirei coffeeshop au) but by god it was fun to write. and it helped give me closure, in a way. in this world, in this alternate universe, these kids had a happy ending. the high school musical motif wasn't something i started using until a while into the fic, admittedly, but i ended up becoming rather fond of during that time, and it sort of ended up representing my feelings towards this project as a whole. high school musical was someone's romeo and juliet au fanfiction, guys. don't be afraid to write your own happy endings, alright? we'll have better representation soon, just keep holding on. i love you nerds.