Chapter Text
"She lives!" Clarke recognized the voice as Octavia's and spun around in her chair to greet her with a smile. She was followed by long haired man who'd spoken to her at the meeting yesterday.
"I live!" she spoke through a mouthful of her sandwich. She had spent her planning period earlier this morning unpacking boxes of art supplies that had arrived this morning and hadn't gotten a chance to rest since. The teacher's room had been empty when she walked in and settled down to eat her lunch.
Octavia and the man pulled out chairs and joined Clarke at the table. She stared curiously at the man in front of her, awaiting Octavia's introduction.
"We thought you got canned! Raven stopped by your room before class this morning and didn't see you there, so we figured she just fired you on the spot. Thank god she didn't though!" Clarke just stared back at her pointedly. "Oh! This is Finn, history teacher and most recent newbie until you showed up!"
He was undeniably attractive, and the way his smile lit up his eyes as he reached his hand out to meet Clarke's made her smile back twice as bright. "Hi, I'm Clarke, art teaching extraordinaire!"
Octavia's eyes widened slightly at the interaction. "Him and Raven had a thing when he first started here last year, but now we're friends."
Clarke's smile dropped slightly at the hint Octavia was trying to drop to her. He was off limits unless she wanted to alienate the only two friends she had made so far at this job. Which means he was off limits, period. Finn, obviously also picking up on Octavia's hint, dropped his eyes to the ground.
Octavia broke the silence. "So, tell us what happened! Did she stick a knife through your hand? Make you get on your knees and cry for forgiveness?"
Clarke paused, rethinking the brief conversation she had had with her boss yesterday. "Actually...I think she went easy on me." Octavia opened her mouth to call her insane. "I'm serious! She probably should have fired me after I mouthed off to her. I would have fired me. But she just gave me detention duty with her for the next week. I mean, it's not my idea of a good time, but it could be worse, right?"
Finn and Octavia gaped at her. "By mouth off to her...do you mean got on your knees and crying? Or do you mean...telling her off?" Finn asked, staring at her intently.
"I just told her that if she wanted me to be on time to the meeting, she should have better prepared me for the first day of school." She was met with wide eyes. "Am I not right? She didn't even meet me till that meeting, let alone tell me there was a meeting to begin with."
"Oh believe me, I know. What I'm having a hard time accepting here is that she accepted that." Finn's questioning and Octavia's disbelief was starting to grind on Clarke's nerves.
"Can you guys just tell me what exactly she has done to get such a bad reputation? She seemed reasonable enough to me." Sometimes good people get bad reputations from stupid rumors, that's something she learned when she went to high school herself.
"Let's see. Her record for firing is five teachers in one year, two of which were for the same subject. Two years ago, our state test score ranking dropped and she made every teacher in the school go to workshops every day over spring break last year. My brother, Bellamy, was a janitor here till some kid slipped on some spilled milk in the cafeteria and she fired him for not having it cleaned up. Face it Clarke, you cheated death."
Clarke stared at the serious expressions on the two faces in front of her. "This is ridiculous. She can't be that bad. Besides, why me? All I did was show up late and interrupt her. She had no reason to go easy on me."
Finn rolled his eyes. "Two simple facts. You're hot. She's gay." Octavia smacked his shoulder, causing him to turn and glare at her. "What? You know it's true."
"You're trying to tell me that the reason I still have my job is because the stone faced, cold hearted principal has the hots for me?" She turned to Octavia for some sense, receiving only a shrug. "You think that's more likely than her just being nice?"
"Yes," the teachers across from her answered together.
Clarke shook her head. "Okay, you guys are insane and my lunch is over in five, so I'll see you tomorrow." Clarke gathered her garbage, throwing it out on her way out of the room.
"Have fun on your detention date!" called Octavia as the door shut behind her.
--
The last bell of the school day rang just as the last student handed her their assignment for the day. Clarke brought them back to her desk and flipped through them. She had told the students to draw anything that they thought would show her their artistic abilities. So far, most of what she'd received had been stick figures. She'd gotten a few shockingly good drawings, but for the most part, they were disappointing. It wasn't possible that none of these kids had a shred of artistic talent in their bodies, they just didn't want to put forth the effort to show it.
A knock on her open door startled her out of her reverie. "So I got a text earlier today that says, and I quote, 'Clarke is alive and fucking the boss'. Care to explain?"
Clarke's head snapped up from the papers and her hands. She gaped at the smirking tech teacher standing in her doorway. "She told you that? It was my first day, she let me off the hook, end of story."
Raven rolled her eyes, her smirk remaining on her face. "Octavia just desperately wants the principal to get laid. She thinks it'll make her less of a bitch."
"Well, considering that's not happening, I better head to detention before I'm late to my punishment for being late." Clarke shoved the students' papers into her briefcase and walked to the door, only to meet Raven blocking her from leaving, her face furrowed in confusion. "What?"
"Did you say you're going to detention duty?"
"Yeah, she told me that I had to help her with it for the next week. Which, the more I think about it, the more awful it sounds. So really, I don't think I got off that easy. Now excuse me, before she adds on another week." Clarke pushed past Raven into the hallway and started walking in the direction of the cafeterias, where the detention was held.
She walked away from Raven's call of "She never makes people help her with detention duty!", ignoring the unsettled feeling that rose in her gut at the words.
Walking into the first cafeteria, she found it to be almost completely empty, save for one sullen looking student seated near the door and Principal Grounds sitting at a table at the front of the room. She walked over to the table as quietly as possible, afraid of disturbing the silence in the cafeteria. Approaching the table that the principal was sitting at, she hesitated, unsure of where to sit.
"Just take a seat, Miss Griffin," she said, without so much as a glance in her direction. Clarke pulled out the chair across from her and sat down. She tried to avoid looking directly at the principal in front of her, afraid to antagonize her further.
Clarke had never actually been to a principal's detention in high school, so she wasn't sure what exactly it was that the teachers running it did for the hour that they were stuck here. Risking a glance at her boss, she saw that the principal appeared to be filling out some paperwork.
"I suggest you find some work to occupy your time." Still, no glance up from the woman sitting across from her. Clarke pulled out the drawings that she had collected from her students today and continued to flip through them.
From this assignment she could already tell that she was going to have to put in some work to get these kids to put in a little more effort into their work. When she had been in high school, art was her solace. She'd go to art class and jump right into the assignment, blocking out the world and letting all of her emotions out onto the paper. It never occurred to her that other students wouldn't have the same reaction to it as her.
She flipped to the last piece of paper in the stack and saw that it was yet another stick figure, standing next to what looked like a stick figure version of a dog. Sighing, she put the stack of assignments back into her briefcase. She decided to give everyone a hundred on the assignment. She didn't want her students thinking that she was going to grade them based on their artistic talent alone. Even the least talented student could get a good grade if they put some thought and feeling into their piece, and she wanted them to know that.
A glance at her phone screen told her that it had taken her all of fifteen minutes to look through the only work she had brought with her. With forty five minutes to go, there was nothing for her to do.
"Do you have a blank sheet of paper?" Silence followed her question, the principal slowly raising her head to look at her. She started at Clarke for a second longer and let a breath out of her nose before fishing around in her briefcase.
Upon finding a piece of paper, she pulled it out and set it down in front of Clarke. "I suggest you bring your own supplies from now own." Following a brisk nod from her Clarke, her gaze dropped back down to the paperwork that she had been so diligently working on.
Clarke stared at her paper for a few moments, considering what she wanted to draw. She hadn't had a chance to draw since she started the job, which was unusual because for most of her life, she couldn't remember a day that had gone by that she hadn't drawn at least something.
The thought of the job made it come to her. She started with the straight outline of a doorway, then began on the curves of a body leaning against it. With the time that she had left here, she figured she could give it to Raven tomorrow morning, as a sort of thank you for taking Clarke under her wing and introducing her to her friends.
As she concentrated on getting the curve of the other woman's smirk just right she could have sworn she felt the eyes in front of her glance at her work. She fought back the small smile threatening to form on her face and focused on trying to draw Raven's facial features from her memory alone.
The picture was starting to take form under her pencil as she shaded areas of her face to highlight her high cheekbones. A quick glance up at the woman in front of her confirmed her suspicion that she was in fact staring at her drawing as it took form on the page.
Noticing she'd been caught staring, the principals eyes shed their look of curiosity and wonder and slipped back into a cold glare. "I recommend that rather than waste your time on your personal artwork, tomorrow you bring more school related work to occupy your time."
"It's only the second day of school, what work could I possibly have to work on?"
Clarke's question was met with no answer as Principal Grounds took a look at the clock on the wall and turned to the lone student that occupied the cafeteria with them. "You may go."
Furrowing her eyebrows, a glance at the clock told her that an hour had already passed. It was 3:10, and she could finally head home. She rose from her seat, seeing that the student had left the room as soon as the principal had allowed him to.
She shot a small smile to her boss before walking away and calling out a "See you tomorrow!" over her shoulder. Her bed was calling her name for a nice, long nap.
--
"Y'know, I imagined that your room would look just like mine, but with a big saw on every table." Clarke stood in the doorway of Raven's classroom the next morning, looking around at all the machines lining the back wall. The room was twice the size of her own, if not double.
Raven looked up from where she was standing at one of the saws in the back corner of the room. Large goggles covered most of her face. Seeing Clarke standing in the doorway, she smiled and took them off, tossing them on a nearby table.
She walked towards the door, waving for Clarke to come in. "I was gonna walk over and ask how your detention duty went as soon as I finished working on that saw." Catching sight of a piece of paper in Clarke's hand, she walked over to meet here where she stood near the door. "What's that?"
Clarke glanced down at the paper she held in her hands. Feeling slightly embarrassed for drawing the other woman, Clarke shrugged and handed her the piece of paper, a tinge of pink coloring her cheeks. "Oh, I was just bored during detention yesterday. Decided I might as well draw you something. You know...as a thanks for helping me out here."
Looking down at the paper she now held in her hands, Raven's face broke out in a huge grin. She reached out and pulled Clarke into a hug. "What are friends for?"
Clarke's smile widened at Raven officially calling her a friend. "But, yeah, detention was boring. The boss did not try to seduce me. Actually, she barely even looked at me."
"Aw, looks like we won't be using you to convince her to raise our funding any time soon."
Rolling her eyes, Clarke made her way back to the door. "Well, I've got some things to set up, I'll catch you later?"
"You have a lunch block fifth period, right?" Clarke nodded her head. "Sweet, I should be there with Finn and Octavia this time. See you then."
"See you!" Clarke waved, walking out the door and back across the hall.
--
Clarke walked into the cafeteria at the end of the day with a smile on her face. She'd had a nice lunch with her new friends, and she'd actually enjoyed giving her lesson for the day to her students. It seemed like maybe some of them had enjoyed it too.
Her lesson today had consisted of her mainly lecturing her students on styles of art and famous artists, leaving her with yet again, no work to do in the hour that she had detention. She had come prepared this time, throwing her sketchbook into her briefcase before she left the house this morning.
Principal Grounds sat at the same table as yesterday, and the boy that had been here yesterday was sitting in the same spot. There were no more students in the room.
"Hello again, boss." Clarke smiled at the principal before plopping herself down in the seat across from her. Pulling her sketchbook out of her briefcase and putting a pencil down on top of it, she looked up to find her boss staring at her, expressionless.
"Hello," came her curt reply. Satisfied with her answer, Clarke opened her sketchbook and set to work on a blank page. Settling into her drawing, the world begin to fade out around her, until her concentration was shattered by a voice breaking the silence. "I see you've brought something to do today."
Clarke looked up at the woman across from her. She still hadn't looked up from her work, but her tone of voice was not the accusatory one she had used yesterday. It seem almost conversational, as if she was trying to make casual conversation.
"Um, yeah. I drew a picture of one of my friends yesterday, and she seemed to like it. Thought I might as well draw some more since I have so much spare time here."
The other woman nodded and the room went silent again. This silence felt vaguely different. Almost comfortable.
Clarke tried not to smile at the paper in front of her as she continued with her drawing.
--
The next two day's detentions went much the same. Clarke would pull out her sketchbook and start drawing something or someone, getting lost in her work. Occasionally, the principal would make some offhand comment about the weather, causing them to exchange a few sentences of conversation before they settled back into silence.
Clarke tried not to dwell on it too much. Detention was long and boring. Anyone would want to start some sort of conversation to break the awful silence.
Despite her best efforts, she found herself looking forward to her quality time with her boss. They hadn't become best friends, or even friends at that, but it made her feel special to be privy to the little facts that Principal Grounds told her about herself.
Thursday, she'd been drawing a forest scene when she caught her boss staring at it. She continued sketching quietly, knowing that the other woman would comment when she felt like it. Sure enough, a few minutes later the woman spoke. "That reminds me of the woods near my campground. Very realistic."
She stared for a few minutes longer, as Clarke drew in the details of the trunks of the trees, before letting out a light sigh and dropping her gaze back to the paperwork in front of her.
When she left that day, Clarke left the drawing of the forest sitting on the table, not daring to turn back and witness her reaction. If she had, she would have seen the stoic principal turn around in her chair and watch Clarke walk away, a ghost of a smile on her lips.
--
There was no detention on Mondays, due to the weekly staff meetings. This time, Clarke managed to show up on time, even beating Raven and Octavia there.
"Trying to impress a certain someone?" came Octavia's voice as she settled into the seat next to Clarke.
Rolling her eyes, she decided not to dignify that with an answer. She knew Octavia was kidding, none of her friends actually thought that she had feelings for their boss, though Octavia was still convinced the opposite was true.
Because of that, she'd kept the details of her after school detentions with the principal to herself. She didn't need to give her more of a reason to assume anything. There wasn't anything wrong with a boss making idle conversation with one of her employees. Not even "Commander Bitch", as Octavia loved to call her, could be completely cold-hearted.
The meeting began and, just like the last one, Clarke was bored to tears. She found herself zoned out and thinking about the bubble bath that was waiting for her at home.
Her attention was drawn back to the front of the room when she made eye contact with the principal. The other woman's gaze lingered on hers for a second too long before she blinked and turned her entire body in the opposite direction. Throughout the rest of the meeting, the principal seemed to only be speaking to the other side of the room.
The closing statements were made and all the teachers slowly gathered their things and filed out of the room, Octavia, Clarke, Raven, and Finn being the last ones to leave. They walked to the parking lot together, discussing plans for this weekend. They'd all agreed to go out for drinks Friday night after work and were about to go their separate ways when Octavia spoke up. "Pause, before we all go, I need to address something." Everyone turned to look at her. "We all saw Commander Bitch giving Clarke the staredown, right?"
Clarke gave an exasperated sigh. "Octavia, she was lecturing the whole room, of course she looked at me." She didn't really believe her own words as she spoke them. The memory of the intense stare locking into hers sent a shiver down her spine. It wasn't the same kind of stare she'd gotten when she walked in ten minutes late on her first day. It was almost fascinated. Like the principal was trying to read her in the middle of the meeting.
"I'm with O here, that was kinda weird. One second she was staring straight at you, then she wouldn't even look over at us. Weird." Finn stated, pulling the band out of his hair and shaking it out behind him.
"Both of you just shut up already." Raven glared at both of them as she said this. "I think Clarke would know if there was something more going on here. Now all of you, go home. Go nap. We all need it after that snorefest."
They all chuckled and said their goodbye, heading in their respective directions.
--
Walking into the cafeteria Tuesday afternoon felt bittersweet. On one hand, Clarke knew that this was the last day of her punishment and that she was allowed to go home after school now. On the other hand, she felt like she would miss her quality time with her boss. They'd gotten on each other's good sides in the week that they'd spent running detention together, and she didn't want that to end quite yet.
Lost in thought, it took her a second before she noticed that the cafeteria was deserted, save for her boss, sitting alone at a table, as usual. The one boy that always seemed to be sitting at the table near the door was nowhere to be found.
As Clarke approached the table that she'd grown accustomed to sitting at on a daily basis, her boss spoke. "You can head home, Miss Griffin. There are no students in detention today."
"Oh, alright. Thanks!" Clarke turned to walk out of the cafeteria before it came to her attention that the principal was still sitting at the table, staring over some paper, as per usual. "Wait, what about you?"
The movement of the other woman's pen stopped for a moment, then continued. "Someone must remain in detention even if no one has been assigned detention that afternoon. It's unnecessary for two people to keep watch over an empty cafeteria."
"So, if I go, you still have to stay for the full hour?"
"Yes." Clarke hesitated at the door. She had two options. Accept this newfound kindness and head home, leaving her to sit here alone for an hour, or suck it up and spend an unnecessary extra hour at school.
The answer was obvious, and with a sigh she walked out of the cafeteria.
When she returned ten minutes later, she was struggling to balance a coffee cup on top of the other so that she could use her other hand to carry her briefcase. She regretted not leaving it on the table while she ran to get the coffee from the teacher's lounge.
Walking slowly into the room to avoid dropping the coffee, the first thing noticed was the change in the principal's appearance. When she'd left, she was sitting ramrod straight, hovering over her paperwork. Now, her shoulders were slumped forward, her hands holding her head as her elbows rested on the table.
Clarke felt a spark of pity shoot through her as she realized that the principal must have thought she went home.
She made sure to make her heels click on the ground as she approached the table, alerting the principal to her presence. Her back immediately stiffened at the noise, her head raising, her hand grasping for her pen. Within a matter of a few seconds, she looked exactly as Clarke had left her.
"If we're going to be stuck here, I figured we could use some coffee. I hope black is okay." Clarke set both of the coffees down on the table.
She looked over at her boss, awaiting her response. The woman looked stunned for a moment before falling back into her stoic stare. "Black is fine."
Clarke nodded and took a seat across from her, silently pulling out her sketch pad and a pencil and beginning work on her latest drawing.
A few minutes had passed before heard a soft voice come from across from her. "Thank you." Clarke glanced up to see a small smile on her face as she silently wrote on her papers.
"You're welcome," she said with a bright smile, before turning her gaze back down to her sketchbook.