Hey babes! Back with a new chapter for you! I think it's a pretty fun one, and there may be a hint about what's to come in future chapters.
Enjoy!
*October 14, 2020*
Bellamy smiles at the sight of Clarke descending the stairs inside her house, multiple reusable grocery bags on her arms and a carrying case specifically designed to hold two dozen cupcakes settled in her hands. He doesn't have a good look at the cupcakes, but he knows from years of experience that they're going to look and taste amazing.
"Let me guess, you stayed up all night to bake the cupcakes."
She rolls her eyes at him. "Obviously. Here, take this." She hands the tray to him and then moves to slip into her shoes sitting by the front door.
"Couldn't you still have done that while holding the cupcakes?" he asks curiously because she didn't even bend down or squat to put her shoes on. She just stood there and easily slid into them.
She looks at him and shrugs. "Maybe."
He chuckles. "Alright. Well, are you ready to go? Need me to carry anything else?"
She looks around like she's actually thinking and then smiles at him. "Nope. I think I'm good. Let's go." She walks ahead of him out the door and toward his car.
He follows after her, stopping at the passenger door to hand the cupcakes back to her, and then walks around to get into the driver's seat.
"Ooh! Are those cupcakes?" Octavia asks from the backseat, her eyes wide and a grin on her face as she leans forward.
"You don't get one, O," he tells his baby sister as he buckles himself in, starts the car, and pulls onto the road.
Clarke rolls her eyes at his comment, turning enough in her seat to look at Octavia. "If there's any left after school then you can have one. But they're for Jasper's birthday today since we're throwing him a little party during lunch."
"There's no guarantee that there'll be any left, though," he remarks, glancing through the rearview at his sister. "This is Jasper we're talking about. He may be as skinny as a twig, but he can certainly eat."
Clarke laughs. "Yes, he can."
Octavia huffs. "Fine. If I can't have one, then can you make some that are just mine sometime?"
"You want an entire batch of cupcakes for yourself?" Clarke asks in amusement.
Octavia shrugs. "I'll share some with you and Bell. And Mom too. And maybe Marcus. And my friends from school."
Clarke smiles. "Alright, sounds like a plan. I can't promise them right away, but soon, I will make you those cupcakes."
Octavia grins. "Awesome." She sits back in her seat quietly, a smile still on her face as she focuses on whatever task she has to keep her entertained until they get to her school.
The rest of the short drive to Octavia's school is fairly quiet except for the music coming through the radio that Clarke had turned on. It's not a song that he's familiar with, but clearly Clarke is because she's lightly bobbing her head and moving her lips along with the lyrics. It's certainly a sight he loves; seeing her so relaxed and carefree.
As he's waiting and watching until his sister gets inside her school safely, out of the corner of his eye he catches Clarke wincing and shifting in her seat.
His brows furrow together as he slowly pulls away from the curb and toward the parking lot exit. "Hey. Are you okay?"
She looks at him and nods. "Yeah, I'm good. Just some cramps."
"Have you taken anything for them?"
She smiles sheepishly. "I think I might have forgotten in my rush to make sure I had everything for Jasper's party."
He sighs heavily, not at all surprised, and leans over to open the glove compartment, ignoring whatever look she's giving him. He pulls out a small bottle of ibuprofen, hands it to her, and then sits back upright in his seat. "There should be a bottle of water on the floor there too," he tells her as he pulls out onto the main road. "I really need to clean my car out. O loves leaving her garbage everywhere."
"Make her do it, then," Clarke says back, opening the bottle of medication.
Bellamy snorts. "She's ten, Clarke. If I ask her to do something that even remotely sounds like chores she acts like I'm asking her to perform brain surgery."
"I don't know what to tell you, then." She tosses a pill into her mouth and then downs the rest of the water in the bottle she found. It's probably lukewarm, despite the chilly weather that's slowly starting to make itself known.
He lets out a breath. "I'll figure something out. In the meantime, remind me again what the plan is for today?"
"Didn't I already go over this with you last night?"
He shrugs. "I may have forgotten a few details."
She takes a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. "Okay, fine. Indra's going to let me keep all the stuff for Jasper's party in her room since I have her class right before lunch. She's also going to let me leave a little early to set everything up in the cafeteria before Jasper gets there."
He nods along. "Right. Do you need any help with that? I might be able to duck out of class a little early too, I think we're just reviewing stuff for the test, but I'm pretty solid on all that."
"I'm not going to force you to, but if you come down early to help, I won't turn you away."
He smiles. "Good to know. What else?"
"I've already set a reminder on my phone so I can make sure to order the pizzas with plenty of time, and Marcus offered to pick them up and bring them here so we don't have to pay the delivery fee. I've got party hats for everyone, though I'm sure Murphy will protest very loudly about having to wear one."
Bellamy snorts. "Sounds about right."
"We'll eat pizza, have cupcakes, and Jasper can open presents if there are any."
"It's Jasper, Clarke. There's going to be presents."
She nods. "Right. And I've already spoken to my teacher for fourth period and they know I might be a little late because I'll be cleaning up everything and taking it back to Indra's classroom until after school."
"Solid plan. What about any presents that Jasper gets? Where's he going to keep them until school's over? Because I don't think he can carry them around with him for the rest of the day."
"I already talked to his final teacher of the day and asked if I could drop the presents there so Jasper can just grab them when he leaves."
Bellamy smiles over at her. "You know, I really shouldn't be surprised that you've put this much thought into Jasper's party. Again. But yet, here we are."
She laughs quietly. "It's really not that impressive. I just talked to a few people and bought a bunch of party supplies from the store."
"I know that. But I think it's mostly the fact that you did it at all. Most high school students wouldn't put in that much effort."
Clarke shrugs. "Everybody should be celebrated on their birthday, no matter how big or small the celebration is. I just happen to like going a little bigger for the birthdays of my friends."
Bellamy smiles at the memory of all the birthdays he's shared with Clarke since they met. "Yes, I'm well aware of that. You never fail to make any of us feel like we're important."
"Because you are," she says, tilting her head to smile at him. "You're all important to me. Especially you. If everything else in my life were to go tragically wrong, as long as you were still by my side, I know I'd be okay."
Thankfully he pulls up to a stop sign and no cars are waiting behind him, so he's able to look over at her for longer than a second and smile softly back at her. "You're important to me too. And do you really think I'd stop being your friend for any reason?"
"No. I know deep down that you're not going anywhere."
He chuckles. "Like you'd actually let me try." He turns his attention back to the road with the smile still on his face and pulls forward through the stop sign, continuing toward the high school.
.
.
.
Making his way into the cafeteria five minutes before lunch is set to start—his teacher wouldn't let him leave any earlier —Bellamy smiles as soon as he spots the table where he and his friends typically sit. Clarke is bustling around it, a plastic tablecloth already spread out with enough paper plates, cups, plastic utensils, and paper party hats for everyone in their immediate friend group. Everything, save for the utensils, have a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme to them.
"Well, this is certainly looking festive," he remarks, approaching the table and dropping his backpack onto one of the chairs.
Clarke turns and beams. "Thanks. I had a feeling Jas was gonna ask for Ninja Turtles, but I think he forgot to tell me, so I just went with my gut feeling. Let's hope it pays off."
"I'm sure he'll love it either way. Jasper's pretty easy to please." He takes a deep breath and looks around. "Anything I can help with?"
Clarke opens her mouth to respond when her cell phone buzzes in her pocket. She pulls it out and looks at the screen, taps out a response, then looks up at him. "Actually, yes, you can help. Marcus just got here, he's out front with the pizzas. Can you go grab them?"
"I certainly can." He flashes her a smile and then moves toward the front doors. He spots Marcus through the glass doors, standing just outside with a small stack of pizza boxes in his arms.
Pushing open the doors, he smiles and waves, catching the older man's attention. "Marcus."
The man turns and smiles. "Bellamy, hey. I believe these are for your party."
Bellamy chuckles and then takes the pizzas carefully from Marcus. "Thank you."
"Of course. Do you kids need anything else while I'm here?"
"Uh, no, I think we're good."
"Alright. Well, have fun, then. Tell Jasper I said 'happy birthday'."
"Will do." He nods once with a smile and then turns to make his way back into the cafeteria, being careful not to jostle or drop the pizzas. He walks by a few students who are passing through the cafeteria, chuckling when they eye the pizza boxes with hungry longing.
Approaching the table again, he smiles brightly. "Delivery."
Clarke turns around and smiles just as brightly back at him. "Awesome. Just put them right there, please," she tells him, gesturing to one area of the table as she sets a wrapped gift box in the center.
He sets the pizzas down and then stands back, resting his hands on his hips as he admires the decorated table. "Well, I guess there wasn't much need for me to come down and help. You've got it all covered."
Clarke glances over her shoulder at him, smiling and letting out a small laugh. "Yeah, well, Indra was more than willing to let me out of class early enough to get it all done before you got here. I also wasn't sure if your teacher would let you out early enough to help."
The bell rings a second later, signaling the end of third period and the start of lunch.
Clarke's smile widens and she claps her hands together once, looking up at him. "Here we go. Guard the pizzas so no one else tries to sneak a slice.
He nods. "Got it." He stands near the pizza boxes, guarding them with his body as his eyes dart around the cafeteria for all of their friends. He knows they're all going to be there, seeing as Clarke had sent out a group text the day before to remind them all about Jasper's lunchtime birthday party.
As students slowly start to trickle into the cafeteria, he can see as they all slowly start to recognize the smell of pizza, and not the premade square stuff the school serves, but the actual good stuff from the local pizza place. He spots when the older kids, the ones they've all gone to school with for years, recognize where the pizza is, and the look of the table, and all sag their shoulders, realizing they're not getting in on it.
Everyone in the school—really anyone who's not a freshman or brand new student—knows how close their friends group is. No one else in the cafeteria is going to have a chance at having a slice of pizza until everyone in their group is satiated. It's not that they're elitist or exclusive, per se, it's just how it's always been. Sure, they all have other friends within the school, through various classes and clubs, but at the end of the day, their default is always to hang out with each other.
"Ooh! I think I see Jasper!" Clarke says excitedly, bouncing a little on her heels. "I don't think he's seen us yet, though. Here, put this on." She hands him a paper party hat with an image of Splinter on it. That's when he notices that she's sporting her own paper hat with April O'Neil printed on it.
He lets out a sigh, though still smiling, as he slips the paper hat onto his head and waits for Jasper to approach the table. He skillfully manages to casually redirect a few freshmen who don't know the way things work away from the table and the pizza.
"Ninja Turtles!"
Bellamy laughs when he sees Jasper running toward the lunch table, Harper not far behind him since their classes are in the same hallway. Jasper's grinning and Harper's laughing at Jasper's enthusiasm.
"Happy birthday, Jasper!" Clarke says with a wide smile when Jasper's close enough to pull into a hug. "I hope you like it."
Jasper hugs her back and then pulls away to look at her. "I love it. It's awesome! It's Ninja Turtles! This is what I wanted."
Clarke laughs. "I had a feeling. Well, have a seat, we'll start eating once everyone's here. And...there's a hat you can wear too."
Jasper beams, grabbing one of the hats off the table. "Sweet! It's Donatello." He slides the hat onto his head and then sits down in one of the chairs, bouncing in excitement.
"What the hell is this?"
Bellamy turns toward the voice. "It's a birthday party for Jasper. You know, the one Clarke texted you about yesterday."
"Oh," Murphy says, looking completely uninterested. "Yeah. I knew that."
"Good. Now have a seat, we're waiting until everyone's here before we eat. Clarke said," he adds when he sees Murphy opening his mouth to protest.
Nate joins the group a moment later, taking a seat next to Murphy and wordlessly grabbing a hat to put on. Maya wanders over too, a small smile on her face as she wishes Jasper a happy birthday and then takes a seat and a hat.
"Happy birthday, buddy," Monty announces his presence as he hugs Jasper from behind.
"Everyone's here," Murphy speaks up a second later. "Can we eat now?"
"Put your hat on first."
He shakes his head. "Absolutely not."
Jasper frowns deeply. "But it's my birthday party."
Murphy looks at him with a raised brow. "And?"
Clarke lets out a heavy sigh. "Murphy, just put the damn hat on."
"But I—"
Bellamy cuts him off with a well-pointed glare.
"Fine." He grumbles under his breath as he takes one of the hats off the table and slides it haphazardly onto his head. "Happy?"
Clarke smiles. "Very."
Jasper turns to Clarke with a grin. "I still can't believe you convinced my teacher to let me leave class early for this Clarke. You're the best."
She waves him off. "It was nothing. But now that everyone's here and has their hats on, we can eat. We've got two pepperoni, one cheese, and one with a little of everything. And after pizza, I've got cupcakes."
"Clarke's cupcakes are amazing," Nate says to Maya as he reaches for the pizza with everything, sliding two slices onto his plate. "She whips them out whenever there's a birthday or holiday."
While everyone's dishing up their food and talking amongst themselves, Bellamy finally sits down in the seat next to Clarke, leaning over just a little. "How are you feeling?" he asks in a lower voice so no one overhears them. "Did the ibuprofen work?"
"It did. Thanks again for that."
He shrugs. "No problem." He, of course, decides against telling her that she's pretty much the sole reason for him keeping a bottle of ibuprofen in his car, knowing how miserable she gets when she has cramps. But if it's a school day, she refuses to stay home and just pops an ibuprofen to get her through the day.
"Well, I'm certainly grateful you had it." She drops a couple of slices of pepperoni pizza onto a plate and slides it over to him. "I don't know if I would have survived today without it."
He pulls the plate closer. "You would have figured something out. You're Clarke Griffin. Your backup plans have backup plans."
She laughs around a bite of pizza and then swallows. "I think that's a bit of an exaggeration."
"I'm just telling it how I see it."
"Well stop. Let's just enjoy Jasper's party before lunch is over. But first…" she trails off, pulling her phone out of her pocket and tapping on the screen a couple of times. She holds it up in front of her and smiles. "Say cheese."
He sighs, then holds up one of his pizza slices and smiles goofily for the camera.
Clarke snaps the photo and then puts her phone away. "That's a keeper."
"Do I at least get to see it?"
She shakes her head, taking another bite of her food.
"Alright. Just don't do anything too crazy with that, okay?"
"Promise."
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!