Chapter Text
Clarke grabbed her black leather jacket, her helmet, slipped her backpack on her shoulders and opened the front door. With a look around the house, she smiled and headed out.
First day of school of Junior year on this summer, August day meant she was already sweating. It was hot outside but perfect riding weather for a teenager and motorcycle. A few clouds, a soft breeze, and Clarke had been dreading school starting but at least today it was looking like a good day. She may not learn anything she doesn’t already know, but the ride will be nice.
So she locked up the empty house, walked out, and headed down the stairs of their suburban home. The neighborhood was the kind with trees lining the sidewalks, people walking their dogs, children and teenagers smiling and joking at the bus stops as you drove past, and the typical two story, three bedroom and two bathroom houses that typical American families grow up in.
And Clarke loved it.
She smiled at her bike too, her sixteenth birthday present from her father. It wasn’t anything special. In fact, it was actually something that most bikers would laugh at but her dad made her a compromise to get her a bike if he got to choose which one it was (Mom was not happy about it). So she got a Buell Blast with black and red paint. Something that’ll drive fast enough to get her places but not to the point to get her in trouble.
When she had turned sixteen at the time, she wasn’t complaining.
So she strapped on her helmet, and started the bike, backing out of the short driveway and heading off to school. As usual, on the drive every year, there were new bus routes, new students, old students. Sometimes, the simplicity of it was nice.
Ten minutes later, she pulled into the school zone and into the parking spot that she had last year. Same old same old. She pulled her helmet off, running her fingers through her blonde hair and looked at the huge two story building that her school was.
Polis High School. Best school in the country, but maybe she was a little biased.
“Yo! Griffin is in the building!”
She turned and smiled at Raven and Octavia, two of her best friends as they jumped out of Raven’s 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, one she fixed up herself for the past 3 years, since eighth grade when her dad surprised her with it as a Christmas gift. It didn’t run back then and was missing some essential parts, but that’s what Raven loved about it. Her talent helped her fix it up herself and make it her own. That girl loved that car, genuinely.
They all three group hugged like they didn’t hang out all summer, which was absurd since they saw each other last night. But this is how the years always started, with unnecessary group hugs.
“So,” Octavia said as they all pulled back. Her dark hair and tanned skin was something that Clarke envied sometimes but she loved her friend just the same. “I know Raven is excited about classes but you’re with me, right, Clarke?”
“I go to school for the socialization,” Clarke said with a smirk. “We all know the education here is below us anyway,” she chuckled.
Raven groaned. “Definitely. God, I just want to go to MIT already. Or get to Houston. I need to build some rockets and go to the moon. I need to meet Elon Musk. I need to go to NASA. I want to build a rocket in Texas. I want to blow something up. I want it all.”
“Texas is a trip you can make on your own,” Octavia chuckled. “I’m not coming with you. That’s not my kind of fun house.”
“Me either,” Clarke included with a smile. “Love you, but med school is calling my name according to my mother.”
“I’m just going to go to the military and kick ass,” Octavia shrugged. “Or I could be a cop. As long as I get to shoot something. Maybe I'll be a part of some secret service.”
Both other girls looked at her with a nod, Raven especially. “Maybe I’ll build cool weapons for you.”
“And Clarke can fix me up when they explode in my face.” Octavia beamed.
The blonde one of the group rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to be your personal ER doctor.”
“Let’s just go inside before we get in trouble on the first day. My mom would kill me,” Clarke said. She fixed up her backpack and looked at her two best friends, two beautiful brunettes that made Clarke be the best that she could be. And she wouldn’t have it any other way.
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The start of school was easy, as usual. Some honor classes with the science courses, Raven ragging on her teachers in her AP courses and proving she’s smarter than them. Octavia being the brat that she is, basically excelling in Spanish class and thinking about taking some kick boxing courses after school. They all had a few classes together here and there. It was simple, there was a routine. Their friends knew their routines too.
And lunch was the same as it was last year.
Jasper, the class clown. Monty, the computer genius, he sometimes called himself a hacktivist. Harper, the good girl. Bellamy, the protective older brother. Freaking Murphy, John Murphy… the jerk. He wasn’t always around. He was in and out of the group depending on who he pissed off, which was mostly Bellamy.
Clarke loved them all though.
“Still don’t want any improvements on that bike of yours?” Jasper asked as he sat down between Murphy and Monty. “Because, Raven and Monty could hook you up, my friend.”
“It’s fine,” Clarke rolled her eyes, plopping down between Raven who was on her phone and Bellamy. Octavia still hadn’t showed up yet. “My dad bought it that way. I want it that way. So it stays that way. Stop trying to improve it. It’s fine.”
“Someone is settling,” Jasper said in a teasing tone.
“Let her be, man,” Bellamy warned.
“Alright, alright.”
“How’s classes going?” Harper asked the group. “Anyone already piss off their teachers?”
Everyone but Monty and Clarke and Harper raised their hands, all smirking. Harper looked around and rolled her eyes. “Wow. Of course. Why should I ask anyway?”
“Can’t expect too much from this group,” Clarke laughed.
“Never.”
“So, anyone see the new pieces in town?” Jasper asked.
Everyone turned and looked at him with raised eyebrows. No one seemed to know. “What?” Clarke asked.
“The new kids. They showed up on my bus ride this morning. They live right by you, Clarke,” Jasper said, pointing at her. “Like, next door, kind of. Where old Jack Johnson used to live. So a few houses down.”
Clarke frowned. “Yeah, a new family moved in a few days ago but I didn’t see any kids, or whatever. There was a woman and a man that my mom met, seemed kind of stoic though, they didn’t mention any kids.”
“Well, that’s definitely where we picked them up this morning.”
Bellamy leaned forward. “What’d they look like?”
Jasper paused. “Hot. Attractive. Gorgeous. Sexy. Athletic. And that’s just the guy that was with them.”
Murphy laughed and Monty chuckled as Jasper shrugged with a teasing smile.
Raven finally looked up from her phone and looked over. “What? Someone say my name? I heard Sexy.”
Clarke rolled her eyes. “Now she gets torn from her phone.”
“Excuse me. NASA has an announcement and it’s in my best interest to stay looped in with my future colleagues. Besides, I heard someone was hot, correct?”
Jasper held up a hand with his pointer, middle, and ring finger up. “Three someones actually.”
“A threesome? With who? You?” She asked.
“Clarke’s new neighbors,” Monty interrupted, rolling his eyes. “And Jasper seems to be pretty obsessed at the moment.”
“I’m not obsessed with them. I’m in love.”
Bellamy chuckled. “With the guy or the girls?”
“All three.”
Raven raised an eyebrow. “So it’s a foursome?”
Jasper sighed dramatically, head falling to his hands. “In my dreams.”
Clarke perked up. “Speaking of Jasper’s obsessions, where’s Octavia? She’s normally last but usually here by now.”
They all looked around a moment until Raven and Bellamy hit Clarke on opposite shoulders at the same time, causing the girl to jump slightly, and pointed across the cafeteria tables. The other entrance had four people, Octavia among them. One male, tall and handsome, two females. Both had brunette, long hair but while one had her hair down with mixes of blonde it with some waves and looked like she’d kill you, the other girl had her hair in a braid to one side like Katniss Everdeen almost. Her clothes, some jeans and v-neck with a jacket and combat boots were a lot less intimating than the leather that the other girl wore. And she was definitely… not unattractive. .
“There’s O,” Raven stated with intrigued interest.
Jasper turned and saw Octavia with the three new students. “That’s them!”
“Shut up,” Murphy hissed as he reached around Monty to slap Jasper in the back of the head. “You moron. We’re trying to stare discreetly.”
Jasper’s hands went to where Murphy slapped him. “Ouch.”
“Idiot,” Raven murmured.
“O didn’t waste time,” Bellamy said, obviously sizing up the one guy in the group. “She’s got those stupid googly eyes with that guy.”
“And that guy looks like he could kick your ass,” Clarke said with a smirk. “I wouldn’t be going big brother on him anytime soon if I was you.”
“He doesn’t look that strong.”
“Ehhh,” Monty said. “I wouldn’t exactly doubt him, Bellamy.”
Raven raised her hand. “I’ve got twenty bucks on the new kid.”
“I think Bellamy could handle him,” Harper inputted. “He takes those boxing classes at least.”
“Thank you,” Bellamy said, giving Harper a high five.
A few moments later, the three new ones left Octavia and walked down the hallway, and Octavia made her way to the group of friends. She shoved Bellamy and slid between him and Clarke, giving them all a beaming smile and didn’t say a word.
So everyone stared at her. And stared.
And everyone waited.
Until Octavia finally broke. “His name is Lincoln.”
“Powerful name,” Jasper teased, giving Bellamy a look. “Good luck with a former president.”
Octavia looked at her brother. “Don’t try to fight him. He’d put you in a hospital faster than you can say ‘don’t mess with my sister’.”
Bellamy puffed his chest out a little bit. “Well, he better not mess with my sister.”
“Seriously? I dropped my books, he picked them up, and he walked me to the cafeteria with his sisters. That’s it.”
“So, those two are his sisters?” Clarke asked, eyebrow raised intriguingly.
“Yeah, Lexa and Anya. The whole family is built with genes to make them…”
Raven interrupted. “Gorgeous?”
Octavia snapped her fingers. “Exactly. Not sure how but they’re all blessed with the gifts from Aphrodite.” Octavia and her Greek geekiness.
Clarke chuckled, not going to deny that fact. One of the sisters, she’s not sure if it was Lexa or Anya, one of them had a way about her. And that was just based on a quick 10 second distant glance of her looks.
Because the girl was hot. That was for sure.
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Clarke pulled into the driveway of her home later that day, seeing her dad’s car in the garage made her smile. He was in and out of town all the time being one of the major engineers for an international company. It was always difficult when he was away but amazing when he came home. He knew how to make the most of a situation. She beamed as the front door opened up as soon as she got off the bike, her father standing there.
“I see you haven’t wrecked it yet.”
Clarke pulled her helmet off, rolling her eyes. “You know I’m obsessed with this thing. I’ve kept her spotless for over a year.”
“You definitely keep it shiny.” He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and held his arms out. “Now come give your old Papabear a hug.”
Clarke rolled her eyes at the dramatics but ran forward and wrapped her whole body around her father.
He lifted her off the ground and she smiled at how he could hold her like a child and make her feel like a little girl again. She missed him a lot when he was away.
“How was Canada?” she asked as he set her down. “Did you convince the morons to do what they need you to do?”
“I fixed the calibration on the machine after they decided to break it and then proceeded to try to fix it after they made the first mistake, made the problem worse, and then blamed tech support so the problem is temporarily fixed until they break again inevitably in the next six months and fly me back up there because apparently everyone in that area of the company is incompetent with computers. They are nice people though.
Very generous with gifts.”
“They just like having you up there.”
“Or they enjoy torturing me…” He paused and smirked. “Like your mother.”
Clarke rolled her eyes. “How was the plane ride?”
“Atlanta security is that bad, actually. They have every right to be cautious but it cuts years off of my life, let me tell you. But I’m home now.” He stepped back, spreading his arms wide and beaming with the pearly whites that his dental insurance pays for. “And that means it’s time to party.”
“Mom would die if you try that.”
“Probably,” he shrugged. “But what’s life without a little fun and teasing of a significant other? I’m thinking, a neighborhood party this weekend. Invite some of the kids from your school, like a back to school pool party. I’ll grill out, we’ll have non-alcoholic root beer and grape juice so we don’t get in trouble, and,” he snapped his fingers excitedly, “we set off fireworks to end the night or not because we’d get in trouble. Who knows. Soccer, the pool, maybe? Huh? What do you think? I can paint a small soccer pitch in that extra space between the pool and the tree house.”
For an instant, Clarke was ecstatic. Stoked actually, another party. But then realized something.
Her new neighbors.
Her new… hot and attractive neighbors.
And she knew how her dad just loved to meet people, loved it a little too much. He met them before he flew out earlier, so there was no hiding them.
“Who – who would we invite actually?” she asked hesitantly.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “The usual crew, and maybe the new neighbors that were your age? The parents seemed nice enough I think.” Dammit. “If it’s cool with you,” he added at her sudden tenseness. He cocked his head to the side as he looked at her. “You… do you not like these kids?”
She bit her lip as she hesitated. “It’s not that. More like I don’t know them. I haven’t actually met them.”
“Do they seem off or weird? Like the people that eat all the marshmallows from the Lucky Charms without telling people? Or like serial killers?”
Clarke rolled her eyes. “Dad, no. It’s nothing bad.”
“So why’d you tense up like that, sweetheart?”
“I just don’t know them,” she shrugged.
“Hence the party!”
Just then, the bus came through behind her driving past and Clarke paused and turned. Jasper, of course, had the window down from the back of the yellow vehicle and yelled “CLARKY, AND JAKE! JAKE IS BACK! MY MAN! THE TRUE BURRITO KING!”
Jake chuckled and waved back, whistling at him as the bus pulled to a stop two houses down.
“I love that kid. He’s hilarious,” Jake smirked.
“He’s an idiot.”
“You’re still friends with him.”
Clarke didn’t respond. Because he was right. She was friends with him. But also because just then, the three new neighbors stepped off the bus.
The guy came first, Lincoln, his black backpack slung over his shoulder as he looked tall and strong and intimidating. Basically everything Octavia every dreamed of. Clarke definitely didn’t fault her friend’s infatuation with him. She loved Greek mythology and he looked like a tanned Spartan from The 300.
The next girl was Anya, according to Octavia. She explained who was who over many Jasper questions at lunch. A brooding looking soul, with a scowl but seemed to be closed off because of it. Her dirty blonde/brunette hair still looked gorgeous and flowed as the wind blew around her slightly with the breeze.
And then Lexa.
The one that caught Clarke’s attention in the cafeteria. Something about her strong yet soft features really had captivated Clarke and she didn’t mean to stare as they walked up their driveway. Lincoln and Anya talked as Lexa had her hands in her jeans pockets a few feet behind them and seemed to be staring at the concrete as she made her way towards the house with them.
“They definitely don’t look like serial killers but look like the good kind of trouble,” Jake said teasingly, hitting his daughter’s shoulder lightly with a squeeze of his hand. “In fact, that girl trailing behind the other two seems to be your type.”
“I don’t have a type,” she shot back with a blush and a warning.
“You’re right. She’s nothing like Niylah, but you have a look though,” he said high pitched and beamed, backing up towards the house. “And if you keep staring, she’s going to see that look first hand.”
“Dad,” she threatened, glaring at him as she walked away from him. “Shut up or they’ll hear you.”
“Ha!” He said loudly, immediately clamping his hand over her mouth and looking over to see if the other three heard them. They didn’t and walked into their new house, out of sight a few seconds later. Jake turned back to his daughter, a mischievous look in his eye. “They’re coming to the party.”
“Dad–”
He turned, hand up to cut her off. “Call me Cupid.”
“Don’t you dare,” Clarke threatened.
He opened the door to the house, gesturing Clarke inside. “Come on in, sweetheart. We have planning to do.”
She sighed, knowing how ridiculous her dad is. “I can see why Mom says and acts like she does when you get in these moods. If you embarrass me at all, Dad…”
“Never,” he said with a bright smile.