Chapter Text
It’s only the second week of classes and Clarke is running late.
She sighs and pulls her blue military jacket tighter over her cream coloured camisole. It was only early September but there was already enough of a bite in the air that Clarke had to consider switching up her outerwear to something less fashionable and more practical. Her messenger bag slipped down to her elbow and she struggled to balance her coffee in her hand and shoulder her bag at the same time. She promised herself that this semester would be better than last semester. That she would be better than last semester.
Clarke had started her first year of pre-med at Atlantic Royal King’s University one year ago. She had been warned by the faculty of her high school that there would be an adjustment period once she entered university.
She took heed of this warning and had spent all her time during her first semester at the ARK studying, studying and studying some more. Her 4.0 GPA after finals had boosted her confidence to the point where she felt she could loosen up a little. She started skipping classes just to stay in bed and joining her roommate, Raven, at parties on the weekends.
Before Clarke knew it, she had made a whole new group of friends. Her new support system made her feel at home and Clarke felt happier than she had ever been.
Her new social life, however, had a negative effect on her grades and she finished her winter semester with more Bs than As. Bs weren’t that big a deal, that is, unless you want to get into Med school.
Which Clarke did.
Sort of.
Technically her mom wanted her to go to Med school and Clarke didn’t hate the idea.
At the very least she didn’t have a better one at the moment.
So here Clarke was, vowing to find a balance between her social and academic life, and failing miserably.
She had planned to have an early night last night, but when she returned to her dorm room she found her roommate visibly upset.
It turned out Raven had called it quits with her High School boyfriend, Finn, and had been in desperate need of a girls night in. Both Finn and Raven agreed that the break up was long overdue but that didn’t stop Raven from feeling sad. She and Finn had been friends their whole lives and had started dating sophomore year of high school. Finn had gone West after they graduated and Raven had headed East towards the ARK. The distance had grown to be too much for their relationship to handle and the two had simply grown apart.
Clarke was secretly pleased that Raven was finally single. Clarke was tired of waking up after parties with a hangover and the added knowledge she was the only one with the regret of having made out with some random stranger the night before. Raven would tease her about it but Clarke could tell Raven wanted to experience the single college life.
And if single Raven cutting loose took some of the heat off Clarke for her many drunken hook ups, then that would just be a plus.
The two roommates had stayed up until 2am watching movies, eating ice cream and vowing to stay single until they were 30. Clarke had a blast just laughing and talking with Raven but when her alarm went off at 8 in the morning, the sleep-addled girl had snoozed her way into her current predicament.
Said predicament being: Clarke hustling to her first class of the day, already 5 minutes late.
English was a required course for all programs of study at the ARK and Clarke hated it. She had been terrible at English in high school and thought that picking a science major would free her of the world of synonyms, symbolism and shakespeare.
She was sadly mistaken.
Clarke had put off the requirement in her first year but her academic advisor had warned her that if she failed to complete the course she wouldn’t graduate. Clarke had tried to argue that English majors didn’t have to take biology to graduate so the reverse shouldn’t be true. She had been shut down.
Something about professionals in every field needing to be able to form a proper sentence.
Whatever.
Clarke burst into the Thelonious Jaha building (who were the jack asses that got university buildings named after them anyway?) and took a moment to suck air down her dry throat and into her lungs.
Another aspect of her life that being a party animal had altered was her physical fitness. Not that she was extremely active before, but she could certainly speed walk for 15 minutes through campus without seeing spots. And what was with the copper taste in her mouth?
That couldn’t be good.
Is she dying?
Clarke eyes the art majors milling about on the couches near the entrance. Of course she’d die in the fucking Jaha building, surrounded by hipsters, art she didn’t understand, and 10$ coffees. Clarke had coffee too but that had been two dollars at the kiosk outside her dorm.
Much less pretentious.
By the time Clarke had finished casting judgement on her surroundings she realized she had caught her breath and wasn’t dying. She started towards her classroom and glanced at the clock.
8 minutes late.
Could be worse.
And the door was still open!
Success.
Clarke breezed into the classroom noting Professor Kane wasn’t here yet.
Another score.
She let out a little victory laugh and pumped her fist before realizing she was in front of the rest of the class. She looked to the back of the room and grinned at Monty.
After her failed attempt at talking her way out of English, Clarke decided to make the best of a bad situation and find a friend in her class. Most of her friends had completed the mandatory course in their first semester, but Monty had put it off as well.
He was, however, planning on doing it in the afternoon instead of the morning, but that didn’t work with Clarke’s courses. She had a mandatory Bio lab at 1pm so it only made sense that she take English in the 9am slot. Clarke gently… coerced Monty into changing around his entire schedule.
It was for his benefit too!
Who didn’t like having a friend in their class?
Exactly.
Clarke’s smile fell a little when she noticed Monty grimace and shrug in her direction. In response to Clarke’s confused look, Monty gestured to his right with his head. Clarke shuffled down the aisle of desks a little bit to see the problem and, as she got closer, a student who had been hunched under her desk digging through her bookbag sat up and came into Clarke’s view.
Ah so this was Monty’s problem! This previously hidden girl was sitting in Clarke’s desk.
Well that’s an easy fix.
Clarke would simply (and politely) ask the girl to move from her desk.
Well, technically, the seats weren’t assigned but this was the desk Clarke had been sitting in all last week. Wasn’t there some sort of unwritten rule of ownership or something?
Yes there definitely was, and this girl was breaking it.
Clarke cleared her throat to make her presence in front of the other girl known.
The girl looked up at Clarke, seemingly a little surprised to see her. The Desk Stealer’s grey-green eyes were wide and questioning as they gazed up at Clarke. The invader was chewing gently on a pen, drawing attention to her full lips.
In a totally non-distracting way that wasn’t affecting Clarke at all.
Who did this parasite think she was? Her hair made up about half her body. Long, brown and wild with curls, billowing down over a loose white tshirt, almost reaching the leggings encasing the girl’s long legs.
Scoff.
Get a haircut, lady.
It was the other girl’s turn to clear her throat. Shit, how long had Clarke been starring?
The girl had her brow furrowed and slowly cocked her head to the side with a small smile on her face.
Right.
Focus.
“This isn’t your seat.” Clarke barked. It was a little louder than she had intended and the other girl looked visibly startled.
Whatever, no reason to waste time with pleasantries.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize there were assigned seats.” The girl apologized. She did it so quietly that Clarke felt herself lean towards her.
To hear better.
Not because of any spontaneous burst of endearment Clarke felt for the timid girl beginning to pack up her belongings.
“Well technically the desks aren’t assigned, but-” Clarke began to explain but she was interrupted.
“So what makes this desk yours then?” The girls voice was stronger than before and she had raised a single eyebrow waiting for Clarke’s explanation. The challenge behind her voice made Clarke’s stomach quiver. Was there any trait this girl could possess that wouldn’t excite Clarke?
Get a grip, Griffin. You have a principle to defend.
“Well, as I was about to say,” Clarke rolled her eyes and looked over to Monty for his support with how unreasonable this beautiful girl was being. The boy had his body angled away from the scene as though he was pretending not to know Clarke at all.
Rude.
“This is the desk I’ve been sitting in since the first day of classes,” Clarke continued. “It’s right next to my good friend, Monty, here.” She said the last part a little louder so that her classmates knew that Monty was her friend.
No matter how desperately he was trying to hide it.
“So, you’ve been sitting here for...3 classes? And you think that gives you ownership over this desk?” The girl was sitting completely straight in her desk, crossing her legs. She was now sliding the pen slowly between her fingers as she looked at Clarke. Her eyes were lit up like she truly enjoyed the debate.
Weirdo.
“Well, no-” Clarke tried again but the girl cut in.
“No? Ok what is it then, did you mark your territory? Carve your name into the wood somewhere I can’t see?” The seated girl made a show of looking all around the desk for Clarke’s nonexistent name. Seriously how annoying could this goddess be?
“Unless,” the girl continued, “is your name ‘Paul is a shithead’? That’s a really pretty name. It suits you. ” Clarke eyed the vandalism the other girl was gesturing to. The words were marked on the side of the desk with black permanent marker. Clarke heaved a deep sigh. She would have to try a different tactic to convince this visual anomaly of a young woman to move.
“My name is Clarke, actually.” Faux innocence coated Clarke’s tone as she continued, “English really isn’t my best subject and I would really, really appreciate you being an adult and letting me sit next to my friend so that he can help me when I need it” Clarke finished her speech in one breath and flashed her sweetest smile and her best puppy dog eyes.
What she said wasn’t exactly true. Monty struggled with English just as much as Clarke. But this stranger didn’t know that.
Unfortunately, Clarke could tell by the smirk on the other girls face that she hadn’t been successful in swaying her.
“Well, Clarke,” the other girl drawled, taking easily 20 minutes to finish saying Clarke’s name.
Seriously? It’s one syllable how was it possible to draw it out so much? And if this girl’s mouth could handle Clarke’s name so tenderly what else was it capable of doing?
This line of crucial questioning came to a halt when Clarke realized the other girl was still speaking.
“If you struggle so much in this class, maybe you should sit in the vacant seat in the front row so that you can really pay attention.” Clarke was struggling to come up with something to refute that logic when the other girl continued.
“And to be honest you can’t expect to show up 10 minutes late to class and just take a desk that someone’s already sitting in. Especially since you clearly had time to stop for a coffee.” The girl punctuated her point with what appeared to be a mockery of Clarke’s previous puppy dog expression.
Clarke had a funny feeling it wasn’t as adorable on her own face but shook off the idea and looked to the empty seat in the front of the room.
Unacceptable
“To be honest,” Clarke mocked, “how about you sit in the fucking seat you’ve been sitting in for every other class so far?” Clarke had quit her half-assed attempt at winning this girl over with kindness as she felt herself losing this argument.
And her mind.
The girl grinned at Clarke’s clear loss of patience and offered her explanation, “This is my first day, I just transferred from the 1pm slot. My ex-girlfriend is in that class. It was a little awkward.”
Wait.
Clarke’s throat went dry at the mention of an ex-girlfriend. All of a sudden she was assaulted with images of this beauty wrapped up with another woman.
A faceless woman.
A completely anonymous female body.
Definitely not Clarke.
Wait.
Clarke startled as she replayed the rest of what the other girl had said.
“Aha! So you’re the late one! You can’t just show up a week late and expect to steal my desk-”
“Ms. Griffin please take a seat. I’m sorry I’m late, class. No sense in wasting time with excuses, let’s begin.” Prof Kane stated as he made his way to his desk, removing his bag and coat.
Clarke rolled her eyes and headed to the front of the room. How was it okay for Kane to be as late as he chooses but if she showed up late she’d be in trouble?
Well if Kane had been aware she’d shown up late she’d be in trouble.
Regardless.
As Clarke took her seat (front row fucking centre) she heard The Desk Thief whisper to Monty in the back of the class, “sorry about fighting with your friend. It probably would have been easier to just get up and move.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Monty whispered back. “She’s pretty stubborn, she gets tunnel vision when people disagree with her. It’s cool that you stood up to her. She’s the best, but sometimes she needs to be challenged.”
The girl smiled in response. She looked satisfied at Monty’s description of Clarke, like she had Clarke all figured out and she only needed Monty to confirm her suspicions. “I’m Lexa,” the other girl said sticking her hand out towards him.
“Monty” the boy responded, shaking Lexa’s hand. He turned to face forward as Kane started the lesson and was met with Clarke’s furious glare. He sunk down out of sight and Clarke spun around to face the front.
Professor Kane’s lesson went over Clarke’s head as she spent the remaining 30 minutes of class mentally fuming at Monty for fraternizing with the enemy.
And not at all thinking about how Lexa was the sexiest name she’d heard in her entire life.