In this new reality, there were a lot of things Clarke Griffin didn't know.
She didn't know what her place was in the new school. At Arkadia, she was pretty much the unofficial leader of the student body, but since the three schools had come together, there seemed to be no shortage of leaders to go around.
She didn't know how to act around her mom. That was nothing new, but it didn't seem to be getting any better.
And, perhaps most confusing of all, she didn't know why she woke up this morning with the name "Lexa" on her lips.
She rubbed her face and swung her feet out of bed, shaking her head a little to clear it.
When she went downstairs after a quick shower, Abby was about to head out the door. "Morning, honey," she said with a tight smile. "I have to run to the office early, but I made you an omelet if you want it."
Clarke nodded and returned the tight smile. It was a Griffin woman trait – Clarke's dad Jake had always had an easygoing grin that lit up his whole face.
"Is R– are your friends giving you a ride today?" Abby asked.
"Yep," said Clarke.
Abby hesitated at the door. "Clarke – are you doing okay with the new school and everything? I know we haven't really had a chance to talk…"
"I'm fine, Mom," Clarke said.
Abby nodded, a little sadly. "Okay. Have a good day at school. Maybe we can talk later?" And then she was gone.
Clarke ate half the omelet and threw the rest away.
About 30 minutes later, she was dressed and had just finished brushing her teeth when she heard Raven honk out front. "CLARKE!" Raven hollered. "Get your ass down here!"
Clarke stuck her head out the window. "Thanks, Raven! I figured that was what you meant by all the honking!" She could hear Octavia and Raven laughing.
She closed the window and grabbed her bag, then ran down the stairs and went outside. Raven was drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, and Octavia was riding shotgun. Clarke tilted her head, and Octavia rolled her eyes, but climbed into the back seat.
Clarke slammed into the front seat and sighed. "Hey girl," said Raven. "How's it going?"
"Oh, fine," said Clarke. "Just, things are still weird with my mom."
Raven cleared her throat. "Well…I mean….Abby is Abby." She changed the subject. "So, how did it go at school yesterday? Sorry I couldn't give you guys a ride home after field hockey, I had to work."
"Yeah, how dare you be gainfully employed?" said Octavia, thumping the back of Raven's chair.
"Yesterday was okay," Clarke said. "Classes were fine and everything, the Rosewood kids are a little cold but some of them aren't so bad."
"Like that girl you used the old 'sorry for spilling my drink on your boobs' routine on the other night?" Raven grinned at her mischievously.
Clarke smiled at the mention of Emily. "Yeah…she's pretty cool. And that actually was an accident." She remembered then. "Oh! There's this one girl who's also super cool, she's in a lot of my classes and we get along pretty well." She looked in the backseat. "But then Octavia pounded the crap out of her during field hockey tryouts and now she probably hates all of us."
"Pssh, whatever," said a voice from the backseat. "She had it coming."
"Dang, O!" Raven laughed, putting up her hand for a high five. Octavia smacked it.
"Yes, please high five her for being a jerk to my only new friend," grumbled Clarke. Raven and Octavia laughed at her a little more, but Clarke was only half listening.
Spencer had actually been the biggest surprise of her first day at Rosewood. Clarke hadn't been expecting to make a friend, and it was nice to meet someone she respected (because Spencer seemed like pretty much a badass, getting knocked down by Octavia notwithstanding).
And, let's be honest…it didn't hurt that Spencer was good friends with the lovely Emily. Clarke smiled as she looked out the window. She needed to make good on her promise to visit Emily at work. What did she say the place was called again? The Brew?
It had been a long time since Finn, and Clarke was finally feeling ready to move on. It would be fun to flirt with someone again.
"Hey, Clarke, come down to Earth!" Raven was saying. "Are you even paying attention? We're here."
Octavia was already halfway up the steps to school. Clarke hadn't even noticed that they were stopped. "I don't know what's going on with me today!" she said as she hopped out. "Thanks for playing chauffeur."
"My pleasure," said Raven as she peeled out.
Clarke looked up at the front steps and saw Lexa standing there. Their eyes instantly met – Clarke could swear she felt an actual click. There were a bunch of other kids milling around, but as the moment stretched on, they all blurred into the background and it was like Clarke and Lexa were the only two people on the front lawn.
Despite the distance, Clarke could see every detail of Lexa's features: her green eyes with their generous ring of eyeliner, her pursed lips, her regal bearing. She could see the surprise in Lexa's eyes as she absorbed Clarke's gaze, too.
Ah, she thought to herself. Maybe that's why I woke up whispering her name.
And then the moment was broken. Clarke saw a flash of red hair come between her and Lexa, and then Lexa was walking into the school with a girl Clarke vaguely remembered from the assembly the other night.
Clarke sighed and went to her first class.
In the AP Calc classroom, Spencer groaned, stretching her leg out into the aisle and wincing. Clarke smiled at her sympathetically. "On behalf of my savage little friend, I want to apologize for any and all bodily harm you sustained yesterday."
Spencer smiled despite her obvious soreness. "'Sokay," she mumbled, waving away Clarke's apology. "Goes with the territory. She was pretty great out there." Then she turned to the front of the classroom as the bell rang and their teacher started talking.
Clarke was relieved. Still friends, then. Besides Raven and Octavia, it was hard for her to feel that kind of camaraderie, of easygoing connection, that other kids seemed to find so effortlessly.
She was very grateful for Spencer Hastings.
At lunch, Octavia and Clarke were sitting together at a table outside when a dark-haired boy plopped down next to Octavia. "Hey," he said.
Octavia gestured at the courtyard. "I don't know if you've noticed, but the families aren't exactly mingling yet."
Clarke looked around them. Octavia was right – she could easily spot little groups of Rosewood kids, Arkadia kids she knew, and the mostly quiet and stoic Polis kids. But they were keeping to themselves so far.
"I don't care what everyone else is doing," said the boy. "I want to sit with you." He took out his lunch – a microwaved burrito. "And – since this happens to be a free country – I'm going to do exactly that." He took a big bite of his burrito. "Hey, I'm Caleb," he said to Clarke through a mouthful of tortilla.
"I'm Clarke," she said, smiling. She liked him – he had an easygoing way about him that she thought played off of Octavia's intensity kind of nicely.
"So, what are you guys doing after school?" Caleb asked. "We have practice," Octavia said quickly.
"No, we don't," said Clarke, grimacing when Octavia stomped on her foot under the table. She fixed Octavia with her sweetest smile and said, "Remember? The coaches are getting together today to decide who makes varsity based on yesterday's tryouts. So we are free as a bird after school, my friend."
"Cool," Caleb said. "So, Octavia, do you want to do something?" Then he seemed to remember his manners, quickly adding, "Clarke, you should come too."
"I don't know…" said Clarke, trying to think of a way to get Octavia to give this sweet kid a try. "What did you have in mind?"
"Well, there aren't a ton of options," he said. "But there's this place I used to go a bunch called The Brew–"
"We're in," Clarke interrupted. Caleb looked at her, a little surprised. "Oh, Clarke has this thing for a hot girl who works there," said Octavia helpfully. "You said you 'used' to go there? Why'd you stop?"
"Um…" said Caleb. "It's not a big deal, it's just that I used to go there with my ex-girlfriend, and then I left town for a while, and I just haven't really been back since."
Clarke saw how his eyes darted over to where Spencer sat with her friends. She filed that away for later.
"Okay, apparently we'll see you later then," said Octavia, dragging Clarke away from the table.
"Let's meet out front and walk over together!" Clarke called to Caleb, who nodded and dove back into his burrito.
"What. The. Heck." seethed Octavia once they were a little distance away.
"What?" said Clarke innocently. "He's nice. And cute."
"So date him," Octavia said, "and stop trying to hook me up with him or whatever you're doing."
"I like him for you," Clarke said simply, "not for me."
Octavia looked at her for a second. "I hate how rational you are."
"I know," grinned Clarke. "But look – my rationality just got us both hot dates for the afternoon, so suck it up." She turned and walked into the school.
"It's not a date!" Octavia called after her. Then she followed her inside, and Clarke smiled as she heard her grumbling to herself the whole way.
After school, Clarke was headed to the front door to meet Caleb and Octavia when she overheard someone say the name "Lexa."
Like some kind of creeper (what was up with her today?), she peeked around the corner and saw Lexa talking with the red-haired girl.
"Hello, Paige," she heard Lexa saying, and her voice was just as captivating up close as it had been in that gym full of people. (There hadn't been any opportunity for her to talk with Lexa at field hockey tryouts yesterday, as most of Clarke's time was spent trying to pull Octavia off various people.)
Clarke quickly retreated around the corner, still listening. She heard Paige say, "So, are you settling in okay?"
Lexa said, "It will be a process. But I am confident in the abilities of the Polis High crew to adjust. Many of us have faced worse."
Her voice was even and calm, thoughtful, but Clarke could hear the intensity simmering beneath her words.
Paige said, "Sounds like quite a story." She hesitated for a moment. "Would you maybe want to hang out after school sometime? Ever since you made that speech at the assembly, I've been wanting to get to know you better."
Clarke heard a door bang open and peeked around the corner. A couple of lacrosse boys were loudly exiting the gym.
Lexa and Paige were both leaning against the lockers, casually close to one another. Clarke had to admit, Paige had game, boldly asking Lexa out on the second day of school. There was no way she could even be sure Lexa was into girls – Clarke had respect for the redhead for taking that kind of risk.
As the lacrosse boys passed the two girls, one of them groaned. He was almost beautiful, Clarke thought, with features that looked like they'd been carved from marble. (He was a little short for her, though.)
"Damn, McCullers!" he said. "Please tell me you're not taking yet another hot girl off the market. Leave some for the rest of us!"
In a heartbeat, he was thrown up against the lockers, Lexa's arm across his throat. Her eyes blazed but her voice remained calm – cold, even – as she simply said, "Apologize."
"I – I'm sorry?" he stammered. His friend was too stunned to move, and Clarke stayed where she was, realizing that the boy was in no real danger and interested to see how this all played out.
But Paige moved, placing a gentle hand on Lexa's arm. "Lexa – it's okay," she said in a confident, calming tone. "Noel was kidding." She looked at Noel and smiled. "He likes to give me a hard time, but he's just jealous."
Lexa relaxed her arm, and Noel straightened the front of his shirt. She looked at Paige. "You would let him show you disrespect like that? Because of your choice of partner?"
Realization dawned on Paige's face then. "Oh – Noel's not a homophobe. He's just a moron." Noel and his friend both nodded in agreement at that. "My favorite cousin is gay!" blurted out the other boy.
Paige, maintaining control of the situation, looked at them and said, "Bye, guys." They took the hint and walked down the hall hastily.
Paige turned to Lexa. She was still holding Lexa's elbow and they both realized it at the same time. Paige let go, a little awkwardly. Clarke darted back around the corner. Paige said, "Lexa – I don't know what things are like at Polis High, but around here the students are actually pretty accepting. It's like, there are bigger things to worry about here than who someone dates, you know?" She paused for a minute, then continued. "Some of our parents are less than cool about…things. But whatever."
Clarke could imagine the look on Lexa's face – pursed lips, pensive gaze. "So your parents know that you're…"
"Into girls, yes," said Paige, light amusement in her voice.
"And they were…less than cool about it?"
Paige said, "Well, you remember my dad's little performance at the assembly. That's pretty much Nick McCullers's go-to response to surprises." Then she said, more shyly, "So, you bus it here, right? Can I walk you to the bus stop?"
As they walked away, Clarke heard Lexa say, "You must tell me sometime about all of these other 'hot girls' you took off the market." Paige laughed and said, "Did you actually just make a joke?" And Clarke swore she heard Lexa mumble something about 'the competition' as they walked out the front door.
She sighed and waited a second there before making her way to the door herself, feeling mildly guilty for the eavesdropping but not as guilty as she probably should feel. She had gained a lot of useful insights in those few minutes.
Outside, she could see Lexa and Paige on the sidewalk, headed toward the bus stop, heads close together as they talked.
Then a hand grabbed her arm. "Where have you been?" Octavia hissed. Clarke saw Caleb lounging on the steps, looking amused. "I had to talk to him!" Octavia continued.
"I'm sorry," Clarke said, biting back a smile. "That must have been torture." She looked at both of them. "Ready to go?" And the three of them headed to The Brew, Caleb leading the way.
Emily was right – there wasn't much to the town of Rosewood, pretty much just one main drag. The Brew was a cute little coffee shop, though.
The late afternoon sun slanted through the windows as Clarke, Octavia, and Caleb filed through the door. "We should probably grab a table," Caleb said. "It gets pretty crowded in here this time of day."
The girls nodded and followed him to a table near the back. Clarke spotted Emily at the counter. "What do you guys want?" she said. "It's on me."
"Thanks!" said Caleb. "Small Americano for me, please."
"Same for me, but I'll come with you," said Octavia, hopping out of her chair.
"No, that's okay," said Clarke. "Stay. Get comfortable. I got this."
Octavia looked at the front counter and saw Emily there. Then she looked back at Caleb, who was sitting comfortably, one ankle crossed over his other knee, grinning. "I hate you," she mouthed at Clarke.
"But I love you!" said Clarke cheerfully. She started making her way through the tables as Octavia sat down grumpily.
Emily was at the register, chatting with a customer. She laughed at something the man said as she handed him his change, and her entire face lit up, and the sunlight gleamed off of her shiny hair, and Clarke actually froze on her way to the counter.
And of course Emily happened to turn at just that moment, and she saw Clarke staring like an idiot. She looked delighted to see her, though, and waved her over. "Hi!" she said, a little breathlessly. "You came!"
"Hi," said Clarke, grinning as she recovered from her slightly embarrassing moment. "Yeah, I dragged a friend of mine here." She gestured to the table where Octavia and Caleb were sitting. Emily's eyes widened a little, another thing for Clarke to file away for later.
"Hang on a sec," Emily said. She went in the back and came out with another employee in tow. "I'm going on break. Can you take this nice lady's order?" she said. Clarke ordered the Americanos for Caleb and Octavia and a chai tea latte for herself. "Do you want anything?" she said to Emily, but Emily waved her off: "No thanks, I'm all coffee'd out."
She came around the counter. "So, how was your second day?" she said. There wasn't a lot of room in the small coffee shop, so she and Clarke were forced to stand almost nose to nose.
Clarke thought about it. "You know, it was okay," she said. "Classes are fine. I even made a friend!" she joked.
Emily grinned. "Your principal mom must be so proud!" Clarke looked at her quizzically. "I noticed when she talked about you during the assembly, and anyway it wasn't that hard to make the 'last name Griffin' connection," Emily explained. "So, who's your new friend?"
"It's your friend Spencer," said Clarke. "She's in a bunch of my classes and I don't know, we just kind of hit it off."
"That makes sense," said Emily. "I can see how you two would click. Oh, there are your drinks!"
She grabbed Clarke's chai latte so Clarke could get the two Americanos. Clarke deposited them in front of Octavia and Caleb, winking at Octavia as she and Emily continued to a table a short distance away. Octavia's eyes shot daggers at her, but Clarke didn't care.
She and Emily slipped into an easy conversation, asking each other questions about their lives at Arkadia and Rosewood. Clarke learned about how Emily became friends with Spencer, Aria, and Hanna (another girl named Alison had brought them together), and she told Emily about how inseparable Raven, Octavia, and Clarke were despite being in different years.
Clarke observed that Emily was a toucher, often putting her hand lightly on Clarke's arm or hand when she laughed. Once, Emily tucked her hair behind her ear, and Clarke blurted out, "I like that thing you do with your hair. It's adorable" before she could stop herself. She smiled as a blush crept up Emily's cheeks.
It was the best non-date she'd had in ages. The first time she'd really let her guard down with anyone besides Raven and Octavia since – well, since Finn.
Emily must have noticed Clarke's wistful expression, because her eyes instantly looked concerned. Before she could say anything, though, Octavia walked up and brusquely said, "I texted Raven to come pick us up half an hour ago, but she hasn't texted me back."
Clarke looked up at her. "Octavia! So good to see you!" she said, a bit sarcastically. "Emily, have you met my charming friend Octavia?" Emily smiled at her.
Clarke checked the time on her phone. "I guess we should be getting home," she said. "O, Raven isn't our personal driver. I'll call my mom, she's probably still at the school."
Emily stood up. "I should get back to work anyway. My break was supposed to end ages ago." As she passed Clarke, she put a hand on her shoulder. "This was fun," she said. "We should do it again sometime." Clarke smiled and said, "Totally." She watched Emily walk away.
"Stop checking out her ass and call your mom," Octavia hissed. Clarke smacked her on the arm and picked up her phone to call Abby. "So, how did it go with Caleb?" Clarke said as she dialed.
"Fine, I guess," said Octavia. She looked over at Caleb and he winked at her. She actually smiled a little, unable to help herself, as Clarke got Abby on the phone.
Clarke hung up. "My mom says she'll be here in a few. She was about to leave school anyway."
Octavia headed over to say goodbye to Caleb, and Clarke walked over to the counter, where Emily was back behind the register. "When do you work again?"
Emily smiled shyly. "Thursday after swim practice."
Clarke grinned back at her. "Then I predict that I will have an insatiable caffeine craving after field hockey on Thursday."
"Hey!" said Raven, walking through the door right then. "Sorry I couldn't text O back, my phone died literally the second I got her text." She saw how Clarke was leaning against the counter, smiling at Emily. "Um…I'll just go say hi to Octavia…" But Clarke pointed to their table, where Octavia was standing as Caleb looked up at her, and she saw how they were both looking at each other. "I'll just wait outside in the car," she said finally, turning to leave…
…and running straight into Abby, hard. Raven instinctively reached out and caught her by her upper arms, crushing their bodies together.
"Oh, shoot!" said Clarke. "Mom, we texted Raven but didn't hear back. I totally forgot you were coming."
Abby was still pressed against Raven. They had both frozen in place. "You can let go of me now, Raven," she said. Her voice sounded even raspier than usual to Clarke. Raven let go of her arms and took a step back.
Octavia had sidled up to the front counter. She whispered to Emily, "Oh god, this is going to get weird."
"Why?" Emily asked.
"I have no idea," Octavia said. "Whenever Raven and Clarke's mom are around each other, it just does." Clarke shot her a look, overhearing.
"Does Raven have trouble with authority figures?" Emily said.
"No – I mean, actually, yeah – but I don't know, they like hate each other or something."
Raven was smoothing out her t-shirt. "Okay, so if you guys are all set here, I'm just going to take off."
"Wait up, Raven," said Octavia. "I'll ride with you and Clarke can go with her mom."
Raven shrugged and squeezed around Abby, heading for the door. Octavia followed her, looking over her shoulder to aim a little wave at Caleb.
Clarke was left there with her mom and Emily. Luckily, Emily's natural sweetness meant that the moment wasn't as awkward as it could have been.
"Hi, Principal Griffin," said Emily.
"Hi…" Abby said. "Emily," Clarke prompted. "Emily Fields. She's on the swim team at Rosewood."
"Nice to meet you," said Abby with a little smile. She turned to Clarke. "Well, shall we go?"
They followed Raven and Octavia out of The Brew. Clarke and Emily shared another smile as Clarke left.
When they were outside, Clarke called "Raven!" The other girls paused, and Clarke and Abby caught up with them. "Thanks for coming all the way back here. Sorry for double-dipping."
"No problem," said Raven. "It's Octavia's fault anyway." The smaller girl punched her on the arm. "Ow!" Raven rubbed her arm. "Okay, I'm going to get this violent little misfit home. Later, Griffins." She and Octavia stood there while Clarke and Abby climbed into Abby's car, which was closer. Clarke waved to her friends as she hopped in.
As they pulled away, Clarke could see Raven scrunching up her face like she was concentrating really hard. I wonder what that's about, she thought.
Just one more item to add to the list of things Clarke Griffin didn't know.
Next chapter: Raven!