Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for you all! I had my first day back to classes today, so I figured it was only right to give you a chapter where it's our favorite delinquents first day of school as well. :) Not a very exciting chapter, but I like to think it helps set the scene.

Enjoy!

*September 1, 2020*

Pulling his car up to the front curb of the familiar two-story home, Bellamy smiles to himself as he shifts the gear into park and shuts off the engine. He glances in the rearview mirror to check on his sister in the backseat; thankfully she's still occupied by the book in her lap.

Climbing out of the car, he makes his way up the sidewalk to the house, quickly searching his key ring for the correct one. He easily finds it and slips it into the lock, pushing the door open to step inside.

"Good morning, Bellamy."

He turns toward the living room off to the left and smiles politely at the man sitting on one of the couches, multiple documents laid out on the coffee table in front of him. "Marcus, good morning. How are things?"

"About as well as they can be when you're in politics."

Bellamy chuckles. "Right. Stupid question."

Marcus laughs quietly. "It's alright. How was your summer? Bookstore still treating you well?"

"Yeah. I was able to pick up a lot of shifts this summer. And I had football practice too, so that took up a lot of my time. It felt weird not being here half the time."

Marcus smiles. "I know the feeling. It was weird around here as well; it was way too quiet. Abby and I are so used to all the noise you and Clarke always make. I think she hung out with Octavia a few times, but I know she would have had much more fun if you'd been there as well."

Bellamy looks down, shifting on his feet and rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah. I feel a little bad about not being around as much. But if I want to be able to afford gas and other things, I've gotta work."

Marcus holds his hands up. "I completely understand. And I'm sure Clarke does too, even if she won't admit it."

"That does not surprise me. Clarke is just about as stubborn as they come."

Marcus nods. "That she is." He breathes deeply. "So, are you excited for your first day back?"

Bellamy shrugs. "Relatively speaking, yes. It's just another year of high school, though, so it's not like anything too exciting is going to happen. But it is my junior year which means I have to start looking at colleges. So that's going to be something."

"Well, if you ever need any help or advice, or a letter of recommendation, I'm always here."

"Thanks, Marcus. I appreciate that."

"Anytime." Marcus glances at the watch on his wrist, letting out a small sigh. "I was hoping Clarke would be ready by now, but feel free to have a seat while you wait for her."

Bellamy goes to move into the living room when the sound of feet on the carpeted stairs draws his attention. He turns to see his best friend making her way down, dressed for the day ahead with her backpack hanging off one shoulder.

"Well, it's about time you got down here."

Her head snaps to him and her eyes go wide. She grins a second later and then drops her backpack as she runs at him. She launches herself into his arms and throws her own around his neck, holding tight.

Bellamy smiles into her hair, encircling his arms around her waist in a hug, purposefully ignoring the way his heart jumps and his stomach flips. He lifts Clarke off the ground for just a second and then puts her back down. "I missed seeing you this summer."

"I missed you too," she replies. "I hate that work and football kept you too busy to hang out."

"Hey, we hung out a few times. And we still texted a lot."

She shakes her head. "It's not the same as having you available all summer. Which could have been possible if you weren't so busy all the time."

He sighs heavily, crossing his arms casually over his chest. "How many times do I have to apologize?"

Clarke nods. "Yeah, I know, I know. Doesn't mean I have to like you being so busy. You're my best friend and we hardly hung out all summer." She frowns deeply. "We didn't even get to have our back-to-school sleepover."

Bellamy frowns, reaching out to rest his hands on her shoulders. "I know, and I'm sorry. I know school has technically already started, but how about you come over this weekend and we can have our back-to-school sleepover?"

Clarke's eyes light up. "You mean it?"

He nods and smiles. "I mean it."

She throws herself at him again, hugging him tightly. "You're the best."

"Would you mind telling O that? I still don't think she believes it."

Clarke laughs as she pulls away, brushing some strands of hair out of her face. "Well, I'll do my best to convince her. She does seem to listen to me more than she listens to you."

"Unfortunately for my sanity, that is the case."

Clarke laughs. "She's ten, Bellamy, and you're her big brother. Of course, she's not going to listen to you."

"Well, it'd make things a whole lot easier if she did." He takes a deep breath and shifts on his feet. "Are you ready to go?"

She nods. "Yeah. Just let me get my shoes on."

"So you're not ready to go," he teases.

She rolls her eyes, shoving his shoulder as she moves past him. "Shut up." She easily slides into her shoes and hikes her bag up a little higher on her shoulder, checking the screen of her phone and then sliding it into the side pocket of her bag. She smiles up at Bellamy and takes a deep breath. "Okay. Now I'm ready to go."

"Good, come on. Bye, Marcus," he calls to the man in the living room, giving him a quick wave as he walks past.

Marcus looks up from his work and smiles. "Goodbye, Bellamy. Clarke, have a good day. I'm not sure if I'll be home for dinner tonight, but I think your mother will be."

"That'll be a first," Clarke mumbles under her breath, but Bellamy's close enough to hear it.

It makes him frown, though he's not at all surprised.

For as long as he's known her, Clarke's had a strained relationship with her mom. Things only got tougher when Abby married Marcus and Clarke felt like her dad was trying to be replaced, and therefore wouldn't speak to her mom for several months. Bellamy was always there though, to be a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen. And his mom always made sure to have extra bedding and a plate at the dinner table available in case Clarke ever needed to crash for the night. Which was quite often.

"Bye, Marcus," Clarke says aloud as she moves toward the door, Bellamy following right behind her.

He steps down off the porch while Clarke locks up the house, moving toward his car and glancing through the window to see Octavia still occupied by her book.

He climbs into the driver's seat as Clarke approaches, and he makes sure to lean over and pull up the lock of the passenger door. The damn thing still doesn't work properly, despite all of his attempts to fix it. But at least the car gets him from A to B without too much trouble.

"Morning, O," Clarke says as she climbs inside the car, dropping her backpack at her feet.

Octavia finally looks up from her book and smiles. "Hi, Clarke."

Bellamy smiles at the small conversation that starts between the two as he pulls away from the curb and onto the road. He's forever grateful that his best friend and his sister get along so well. There were some days, early on, where Octavia basically worshiped the ground Clarke walked on because she saw the blonde so much. The intensity has definitely lessened a bit over the years, but he knows Octavia still thinks very highly of Clarke.

"So, I know you've said how sorry you are, but I don't think you understand exactly how much I missed hanging out with you this summer."

He glances over at Clarke as he drives, chuckling to himself at the way she sits in her seat, sunglasses over her eyes, and her feet propped up on his dashboard. "I'm sure I can imagine it."

"I mean, I tried to hang out with Nate a few times, but since he's also on the football team, I didn't actually get to hang out with him that much. Jasper and Monty tried, of course, but you know how hard it is to keep up with them on a good day. Murphy was just being his usual asshole self and refused to hang out with me even when I knew he was free."

Bellamy snorts at that, a very clear picture coming to his mind of Murphy outright refusing to hang out with Clarke while drinking one of the beers he stole from his dad's stash. A common occurrence. "Well, I'm sorry you had such a difficult summer."

She shrugs. "It wasn't all that bad. I hung out with Harper plenty, and Finn a lot too, though that mostly consisted of us making out on his couch whenever we got the chance."

Bellamy's face scrunches involuntarily and his stomach twists. "Too much information, Clarke."

She rolls her eyes at him. "Anyways...it sucked not being able to hang out with you is what I'm saying. Which I know you already know."

"Bell?"

He glances at his sister through the rearview as he pulls up to a stoplight. "Yeah?"

"How much longer until we get to school?"

"Uh, about another five minutes."

She sighs. "Okay. Are you gonna pick me up after too?"

"If I can," he tells her, pulling forward when the light turns green. "If I can't, I'll figure something out and call your school so they can let you know, okay?"

"Okay." She turns her attention back to her book and Bellamy focuses on the road ahead.

The next five minutes to Octavia's school are fairly quiet, except for the faint noise coming from the radio that Clarke had switched on at some point. His speakers are so worn that he doesn't always know when the radio is actually turned on.

Soon enough, they pull up in front of Octavia's school, no real sign of life except for the cars in the parking lot belonging to the teachers. Thankfully, they've been able to arrange for Octavia to show up quite a bit earlier in the school day and help any teachers who need it for the last couple of years. Considering their mom is usually a little too swamped with work to be able to take Octavia on time and Bellamy can't risk being over an hour late or leaving for just a few minutes to take Octavia to school, this is the best arrangement they could find. He knows his sister isn't always pleased with having to be at school so early, but the school bus doesn't come near their place since they don't technically live far enough away from her school for her to be on the pick-up route.

He tosses his sister a smile as she climbs out of the back of the car, her backpack sitting securely on her back and her book held close to her chest. "Have a good first day, O," he calls through the open passenger window. "Try not to get too distracted by your friends, okay?"

"Okay. I love you, Bell."

"I love you too."

He waits until she's safely inside the school building and then pulls away, heading for the exit.

"Oh!" Clarke's voice startles him as he's slowly pulling forward out of the lot to check for oncoming cars. "Did you hear about the transfer kid coming this year?"

Bellamy glances over at her with furrowed brows. "I was busy all summer, Clarke." He turns his car onto the main road and starts toward the high school.

She nods. "Right, yeah. And despite what Hollywood wants us to believe, I don't think you football guys gossip about things during practice or in the locker room."

"How do you know we don't?"

She raises an eyebrow at him. "Have you met your teammates? Because I have. And they're not exactly the gossiping type."

"Well, if you're so offended that I don't know about this supposed transfer student, then why didn't you tell me when you first found out?"

"Because I somehow thought that you'd already know. I didn't think you've been living so far removed from technology that you wouldn't hear about this. Honestly, it's astounding that you have an iPhone, yet you don't have that many social media apps."

He shrugs. "You know I don't need all of that stuff. I can easily talk to my friends in person, or text them and find out what's going on in their lives."

"Still, it's strange. But anyway, back to before, apparently there's this girl who just moved here last week or the week before but she hasn't been around town yet because she's been settling in. I don't know her name, which is something I'm going to find out as soon as I can, but I know that she's right around our age."

He quickly glances at her. "That's all you know? I'm surprised it's not more, Miss Sophomore Class Rep."

She just rolls her eyes at him. "Okay, that's not a done deal yet."

"It basically is. All that's left is the formality of actually having the sophomore class vote. Your class loves you, Clarke. And if I was still a sophomore, I'd vote for you in a heartbeat."

"If you were still a sophomore, I'd be a freshman and you still wouldn't be able to vote for me."

He laughs quietly. "I think you're missing the point here."

"No, I know what the point is. The point is that I'm your favorite person ever in the world."

"Don't tell Nate, I'm not sure he'll be too happy."

She waves him off. "Nate will be fine. I think he's well aware by now that I'm your favorite person."

Bellamy chuckles to himself as he pulls into the student parking lot of the high school, quickly finding an open space. Thankfully it's close enough to the school that they won't have to walk too far. He can't wait for next year when he can have a permanent parking space at the front of the lot.

Shifting the gear into park and shutting off the engine, Bellamy looks over at Clarke. "Are you ready for another year?"

She smiles back at him. "Obviously. And I've still got you, so things are looking pretty good this year."

"Glad to hear it."

They both climb out of the car, Bellamy grabbing his backpack out of the backseat, and then make their way up to the back doors of the school. They continue to catch up as they walk, even though they texted as often as they could over the summer. He enjoys listening to Clarke tell him about everything she did; he'll never turn down an opportunity to just listen to her talk about whatever comes to her mind.

"Bellamy!"

He holds back a groan of annoyance at the shout and plasters a fake smile on his face, turning in the direction of the energetic blonde moving quickly toward him. Her brown eyes are lit up with a mischievous smile as she approaches. And with tight fabric and low cuts, her clothes leave very little to the imagination.

"Hi, Josephine."

"Bellamy," she purrs, practically throwing herself at him and looping her arms around his neck. "Where were you all summer? I was getting lonely and hoping you'd keep me company."

"Sorry to disappoint," he says, not at all sorry in the slightest. He manages to pry her slender arms off of his body, gently pushing her back. "I was working. And I had football practice too. Which didn't leave me a lot of time to do much of anything else."

"What a shame," she pouts. "I was hoping you and I could have had some fun together."

"Oh, I'm sure our ideas of fun are very different," he tells her. "Besides, if I had any real free time this summer, I would have been hanging out with Clarke." He gestures to his best friend standing right next to him.

Clarke gives Josephine a tight-lipped smile and clipped wave. "Hi."

"Oh, right," Josephine says sharply. She breathes deeply, looking back at him. "Well, if you're ever looking for a good time, you know where you can find me." She winks at him once before turning and walking away, swinging her hips just a little bit too much.

When she's far enough away, Bellamy lets out a heavy breath, his shoulders slumping. "One dance," he says to no one in particular. "I went to Sadie Hawkins with her last year because I didn't want to be rude and now it's like she won't leave me alone."

"Can you blame her?" Clarke responds. "You are pretty easy on the eyes."

Bellamy's head snaps to her and his brows furrow together tightly, his heart rate picking up just a little. "Don't you have a boyfriend?"

She shrugs. "I may be in a relationship, but I can appreciate a good-looking human when I see one. I think it's the letterman's jacket that does it," she tells him, gesturing to the jacket he's wearing.

"Alright. Well, we better get inside and get our schedules before class starts. Don't want to be late on the first day."

Clarke shakes her head. "No, we do not."

They both turn and continue making their way up to the double doors, greeting a few different students they recognize as they go. Clarke's a bit more enthusiastic about it, partially stemming from her candidacy to be sophomore class rep, and partially stemming from her naturally nurturing personality. She's always been a bit of a mother hen of their friend group, at least once she came all the way out of her shell. She takes care of everybody, even people she hardly knows. He loves that about her.

Stepping in front of Clarke once they reach the school doors, Bellamy grabs hold of one and pulls it open for his friend, waving her through. "After you."

She smiles softly at him as she steps past. "How chivalrous. Your mother must be very proud."

"I like to think so." He steps in behind her, easily engaging her in conversation as they move through the crowds of students on their way to the gym to get their schedules. Even though they've already received schedules, supposedly their classes could be switched around at the last second, meaning they need to get a brand new schedule on the first day. Thankfully, he's never had to deal with that, and he prays he never has to.

They break off into their separate lines when they reach the gym, Bellamy heading to the 11th-grade line and Clarke heading to the 10th-grade line, waiting behind dozens of other students, only a few of them with their school IDs already in hand and ready to go.

Once he has his schedule, he meets back up with Clarke in a less crowded area of the gym, smiling at and quickly greeting some more familiar faces.

"Any changes to your schedule?" he asks Clarke as she walks toward him, her head bent as she looks over her schedule.

She shakes her head. "Thankfully no. You?"

He glances down at his schedule again. "All the same as the last one. I'm excited to finally have Sinclair for woodshop this year. Who do you have for history?"

"Indra."

Bellamy smiles. "Ooh, I had her last year, she's really good. You're gonna like her class."

"Yeah? You know, I think she actually has a daughter who's a freshman, but she lives with her dad so she doesn't go here."

Bellamy nods, thinking about the history teacher most students favor, one of the few teachers in the school who prefers to be addressed by her first name for whatever reason she's never explained. No one questions it, though.

"Clarke! Bellamy!"

Turning around, Bellamy smiles at two of their friends making their way over, wide smiles on both teens' faces. Harper pushes her hair out of her face as she bounces over, practically dragging Monty along behind her. Monty is giving Harper serious heart eyes the entire way, and Bellamy has to hold back a laugh at how clueless those two are about their feelings for each other.

"I was wondering what was taking you guys so long," Harper says once she reaches them, immediately pulling Clarke in for a hug.

Bellamy gives Monty a quick hug as well. "We had a brief run-in with Josephine in the parking lot," he explains. "Otherwise we would have been here sooner."

Monty grimaces. "That sounds like it was fun."

Bellamy deadpans. "It wasn't. I don't know what else to do to get her to leave me alone, though."

"Enough talk about her," Harper says. "What lunch do you all have? I need to have lunch with at least one of you or I don't know what I'm going to do."

They all look over their schedules, taking a second to find the letter that indicates if they have first or second lunch—before or after fourth period.

"I've got first lunch," Clarke says.

Harper grins. "Me too."

"Same," Monty chimes in.

Bellamy smiles at his friends. "First lunch. Do either of you know if anyone else has first lunch too?" he asks Monty and Harper.

Harper shakes her head. "We haven't seen anyone else yet."

Clarke raises a brow in Monty's direction. "Not even Jasper? You two are always glued at the hip."

Monty opens and closes his mouth a few times, making like he's going to be offended by Clarke's comment. But he just lets out a sigh. "Yeah, I know. He was running late this morning so he told me and Harper to leave without him. He should be here soon, though."

"Well, hopefully he gets here before the bell rings. He doesn't need to start the school year off on the wrong foot."

"I'll text him," Monty says, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. "Hopefully he really is on his way. Unless he's gotten distracted by something."

Clarke laughs. "Wouldn't be the first time."

"Oh! I see Zoe," Harper says excitedly, grabbing the sleeve of Monty's jacket. "Come on." She gently tugs on his jacket, getting him to blindly follow behind her as he continues to text Jasper.

Bellamy chuckles at the sight, leaning a little closer to Clarke. "When do you think those two will finally admit their feelings and get together?"

"When they stop being stubborn."

The warning bell rings a second later, indicating five minutes until first period starts.

Bellamy breathes deeply, holding his arm out to Clarke for her to take. "Walk you to class?"

Clarke smiles, looping her arm through his. "I'd love nothing more." She gently tugs on his arm, and he willingly follows along beside her as they walk through the doors of the gym and out into the hallway. Thankfully, their first classes aren't too far from each other, so he knows neither of them will be late. That would be a hell of a way to start their first day of school.

So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!