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I was siting in the cafeteria, minding my own business like any other day, when Octavia sat down beside me. She didn't say a word as she started unpacking her lunch; acting like this was an every day occurrence. Her actions didn't go unnoticed, I could hear the people around us whispering and sending worried looks towards Bellamy. I also turned my attention towards him wondering if he was glaring at our table; however I only found Murphy and Miller looking towards us clearly discussing the situation. I was too far to be able to hear anything, but Bellamy's demeanour was completely relaxed unlike the rest of his friends. Her lunch unpacked she finally turned her attention to me.

'So, Clarke, now that it's just us girls do you want to tell me what's really going on with my brother or do I have to interrogate you until you crack?'

What the fuck! I hadn't spoken to her since dinner at Bellamy's and she had given away no sign of being on to us.

'What do you mean?'

'Clarke I'm not an idiot; first I've never seen my brother this happy before. Then out of the blue you show up at our place when he normally doesn't bring girls over. He tends to keep his conquests apart from his private life. And now he's hinting that the two of us would probably get along if we hung out. He would never push me towards associating with you unless he genuinely believed you were a good person. So I'll ask again what is going on between the two of you?'

'You're reading too much into this, we don't have a choice to meet at your place if he wants to keep the tutoring secret.' I was caught too off-guard by her line of questioning, it was probably written all over my face that I was trying to come up with an excuse.

'It's more than that, he could have found a tutor from another town, it didn't have to be you, something is going on. I mean look at him, I haven't seen him smile like that in a long time.' He did look happier than I'd ever seen, he looked incredibly relaxed and at ease, despite the entire cafeteria eyes being focused on his sister and well me.

'Please don't say anything.' I wanted to deny it, but Octavia knew her brother, the smartest thing was to come clean and hope she would keep it to herself.

'Oh my god, I was right he's totally falling for you.'

'Octavia what part of please don't say anything did you not understand.' I didn't intend to sound angry with her, but panic sometimes pushes you to the edge.

'I'm sorry Clarke, but this is huge, my big brother finally found his match. I can't wait to rub it in his face.' I sent her a frightened look; it wasn't about people finding out, I was afraid Bellamy would run from what was happening between us if it got too real. And what could make it more real than his sister teasing him about a relationship. 'But I won't, I promise, not until you're ready, both of you.'

'Octavia I know you're excited, but you need to understand we're not, I mean, I don't know how to explain what we are, but we're not in any kind of relationship, it's more physical than anything else if you catch my meaning.'

'Clarke you don't have to explain, I know my brother and it's going to take more than a pretty face to get him to abandon his womanizing ways, but trust mesomething's there. He might not be ready to admit it to himself, but it's there, just give him a chance ok, he needs someone like you to push him to be the best of who he can be.'

I pondered her words seconds while trying to secretly look up towards Bellamy, could she be right. Was it possible that despite our beginning we were heading towards something else? We hadn't really talked about the possibilities since that night in the car when Bellamy admitted he wasn't sure what we were doing anymore and I had admitted to liking the change in our relationship. He had looked at me with this huge grin on his face, clearly he wasn't totally opposed to the change.

'Plus the bracelet is a pretty big give away, just saying for someone trying to keep his relation with you on the down-low he's throwing out pretty big signs that something happening.' I looked down at my charm bracelet gently caressing the letter B. Bellamy still refused to comment on his choice.

'He denied it had any meaning.'

'He wouldn't have gone through the trouble of picking out a bracelet, with two specific charms meant just for you, I mean the crown is a dead give away, only to settle for a third one void of meaning. Trust me, even if his not telling anyone about the two of you that B is marking you as his. His claiming you Clarke and probably still trying to deny that he has feelings.'

'How does any of that make any sense, he either likes me or not.'

'My brother is a complicated man and has lived a certain way for so long it's just taking him some time to come to terms that their actually might be someone that he wants to be serious about. Trust me, he'll get there; it just might take him some time. If you like him back, and judging by the way you look at him when you think nobody's paying any attention to you I would say you do, just be patient with him.'

Still thinking over her words I didn't trust my voice not to tremble at the possibilities they could mean, so I nodded to acknowledge I understood what she was saying.

'And I think he's right, we would get along pretty well, so what do you say Clarke Griffin, friends?' She held out her hand towards me and I gladly took it.

Just like that I had a friend, and from that day on Octavia started siting next to me at lunch, people still talked about the change, but since Bellamy never made a big deal out of the situation the rumours eventually stopped. I caught two freshmen saying that I was paying Octavia to be friends with me, unfortunately for them Bellamy had also been within hearing distance and had angrily yelled at them for accusing his sister to be taking bribes to speak with someone. They ran off terrified, after that incident made its way through the school most people just stopped talking about it, afraid to anger Bellamy. We fell into an easier routine, I even accompanied her to her karate class a few times, and initially Bellamy had grumbled about us losing quality time together but as I reminded him of how we ended up hooking up in the first place he agreed knowing how to defend myself would be a smart move.

I found out her real motivation for taking the class the first time I accompanied her. She had a crush on the assistant teacher, a guy named Lincoln who was in his first year of college. He was also the reason she refused to let Bellamy attend, if he found out and I quote he'll kill me and never let me leave the house, just as she had agreed to keep my secret, I agreed to keep hers. It was clear that even if Lincoln had initially been the cause for her signing up, she fell in love with the sport and she was clearly a natural at it.

The situation with Bellamy hadn't changed much in the past weeks, we were almost in December and despite the fact that we spend almost all our free time together we were still avoiding discussing anything in regards to us. A few times Bellamy had started saying something only to back peddle and change the topic. Octavia was right there was something there, but he needed to figure it out without me or her pressuring him into accepting that he had feelings for me.

My relationship with my mother hadn't improved much, she seemed pleased about how my grades were looking and the fact that I would most likely be named valedictorian, but she shoved application after application to fill out for all the top colleges in the country down my throat. I was starting to get really nervous, because I didn't know where Bellamy intended to attend and I was nervous bringing up the subject without pushing him away. Actually I was afraid of hearing similar words he spoke to me when I asked about his grades; you're not my girlfriend why do you care what school I go too.

I was surprised when he brought it up while we were working on his physic homework.

'So Clarke how are the college applications going?'

'Ok I guess my mom had me applied to like twenty different colleges all over the place.'

'Is there a front runner, or you just waiting to see where you get accepted too?'

'Well my mom's really pushing for Yale, that's where she went.'

'What about you? Don't you know where you want to go?' I was starting to get freaked out, but in a good way. Bellamy never asked about my personal life, apart from asking when my mom was going to be at the hospital so he could come over. Did this mean that he cared and wanted to maybe go to a college in the state as me?

'Hell I don't even know if I want to go in medicine like she wants me too, so choosing a college hasn't really been on my mind, honestly I've been more curious about where you were going to go.' I saw him tense up a little, which was weird I mean if he was allowed to ask so was I, but he quickly relaxed again.

'Well for obvious reasons Yale is not among my choices, but I'm sure they have community colleges in Connecticut. Since you've helped get my grades back in shape I shouldn't have any problem getting into those schools.'

'Bell, what are you saying?' What did this mean? That he wanted to keep me around to help him study or that he wanted us to continue once we leave for college. I needed to know, no more hiding or waiting. Bellamy didn't answer right away; instead he got up and started pacing around the room.

'Do you really need me to spell it out for you, aren't you supposed to be the smart one?'

'Bellamy please.' He sat back down in his chair staring at me; he took my hands in his hands.

'I don't know how the hell it happened, but somehow you got under my skin. I've got feelings for you, it's not just physical anymore, I would like it, I mean would you consider…God dammit Clarke Griffin will you go out with me. I feel like such a middle schooler, could I be any more lame.' I didn't think so, actually the moment was perfect and so was Bellamy. When he look up into my eyes, which he had been avoiding during his confession, the tears were obvious. I know Octavia had told me he felt more for me than he lead on, but to actually hear him say it melted my heart. He wanted me.

'Yes, I will, nothing would make me happier.' His worried look vanished and his lips found mine. How he could ever think I would turn him down I would never know, I wouldn't trade this moment right here for anything. When we finally broke apart, he leaned his forehead against mine taking in my scent.

'Will you go out on a date with me this weekend?' I couldn't help the giggle that escaped my mouth at the prospect of Bellamy actually taking me out.

'There's this ancient Rome exhibit at the museum, plus I'm sure we won't bump into anybody from school.' I took a sharp intake of air, so I was to remain a secret. I guess it didn't really come as a surprise, but still I thought he was passed being embarrassed by me.

'Clarke no don't be angry, it would just be simpler that way, we're almost done with school and we probably won't see any of them once we leave for college. It would just cause drama, believe me I'm just trying to protect you.' If we were going to do this for real I needed to have faith in Bellamy and his feelings for me, if he said it was about protecting me I would believe him.

'Ok, but tell me this, did you pick this as a date just so you could show me up?' History was the only class where Bellamy had always excelled and he took every opportunity to rub it in my face. He laughed and winked at me.

'Perhaps.'

As expected when he went to the museum he acted like a kid in a candy store, giving me expert information on everything we saw. He was an incredibly cute sight, and he never let go of my hand the entire time we were there. Even kissing me out in the open in every dark corner the museum had to offer. He took my breath away every time his lips met mine, the feel of his hand in mine thrilling me to no end. When he were finally done looking at the exhibit I wasn't ready to go home. Still high on emotions from our first date, so he drove me back to his place.

I had told Octavia about the date, actually I'm pretty sure it would have been impossible for me to hide it from her I had been so happy the days leading up to it. But she had promised to wait until it was over to tease her brother. As soon as we got to his place she jumped all over us.

'Finally! I've been holding this in forever.'

'You knew?' Bellamy wasn't angry, just surprised he hadn't noticed his sister had found us out.

'Your like the less stealthy person I know, I'm surprised nobody else had caught on, the looks you guys send each other in the cafeteria are impossibly cute.'

'We do not!'

'Deny it all you want Bell, but you do.'

'Octavia come back here this conversation isn't over.'

If this wasn't happiness, being with Bellamy and having Octavia as a friend, I didn't know what was. My heart was full of love for the first time in a long time.