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The girl groaned under her breath as the deep tone declared another point for their opponents. They were already in the second half of the game and the blue wearing team from Grounders University was ruthless.
Clarke knew she had to step up their game right away. They didn't need to win this match to get a place in the nationals, but that didn't mean her girls could just play as sloppy as they were.
"Harper, Fox, hold it together! Stronger on the left side!", she grumbled to the girls passing her while waiting for the game to go back to action.
"Geez, Princess. We'll obey, don't worry", the brunette to her side gave back, but actually moved away from her captain, like ordered.
Once again she saw the captain of the Grounders jump - and damn, that girl could jump high. She scored. Of course she did. Clarke knew she would score before the girl with the curly hair in a neat pony tail even threw the ball.
She saw Octavia curse under her breath even from across the hall. The girl had been under attack from the blue captain and her players for the last minute before losing the ball to them. And Octavia really didn't go well with being fooled in one-on-one actions on the field.
The blue captain's teammates cheered, but she kept on her stoic expression that Clarke was sure could get grown man to fear her. Something she was sure she could never achieve, no matter how angry she got.
Without much of a gap, the game continued. She went for the ball with Harper on her side, who got it and passed it to Octavia. That was one of their best working tactics. One side of the field was preoccupied, Clarke stepped back to the side, where the crowed wasn't as big, just at the point she was supposed to be when Octavia threw the ball in a high arch to the blonde.
She saw the blue captain crossing the distance between them with just a few steps - how did she even get there that fast? - and running directly at Clarke and the point where the ball was about to come down. Clarke looked out and located the balls flight as precise as she could manage in such a short amount of time. She couldn't miss it just because she was rushed. She stepped back to it quickly.
Then there was the moment. The ball, nearly above her, the other girl right in front of her. Only a second after the brunettes feet left the ground, Clarke jumped up. Her fingers stretched in direction of the flying object. No one could do anything now, because this goal was between the two captains alone.
Both of their hands reached out, ready to collide with the ball, but the girl in the blue tricot was higher in the air than Clarke was. She hit the ball, while Clarke's spread arm passed between the other one's shoulder and head.
She had missed.
Their bodies crashed midair and brought both of them off balance in their jump.
And they went down.
The Grounder had no way to return to a standing position. She had been too high. She fell backwards. Clarke landed on her feet first, but the momentum of their crash and her coming down was too forceful and she felt her legs give out beneath her. She saw herself tilt in the same direction her opponent was coming down as an blue streak in her blurred view.
When Clarke opened her eyes again, her breath heavy and her heart pounding fast from adrenaline, she first realized that nothing hurt. She got lucky. She had seen more awful injuries from simple downfalls than one would expect. And even if it wasn't critical, she had hurt herself in training and in actual games more often than she could count and could easily renounce another set of bruises.
Second was that her face was close to the other girl's. The blue captain with the curly hair's face. Staring up at her. Closer than appropriate, but Clarke couldn't move right away.
Her mouth was slightly open, she was catching her breath, same as Clarke. Green eyes stared at her and caught all of her attention. For some moments, everything seemed to vanish but her body trying to get air into her lungs and the look of those intense eyes.
Clarke's mouth went dry with the look on the girl's face, especially as she saw a blush forming on her cheeks.
The girl bit her lip slightly - a move which made Clarke swallow instantly - before parting her lips to speak.
"So... are you going to remove these?" she asked in a serious voice, still holding Clarke's gaze. Way too serious for the pink of her cheeks and the way her eyes had focused on Clarke's stare the entire time since they went down.
Clarke froze slightly, surprised and confused by the girl's words. Not what she had expected. Then the green eyes broke their eye contact by explanatorily looking down. Between them.
The blonde on top followed the gaze just to see her hands laying on both breast of the brunette, where apparently she hold herself up on since they landed on the ground.
She hadn't even realized their inconvenient position before, but fell out of her trance now, feeling the softness in her hands and the warmth of a body pressed against her in more ways than expected. She let out a 'shit' and shot back. But she didn't just kneel in front of the girl. She was basically kneeling between her legs. Her cheeks were burning up instantly. The girl's legs were at her thighs, one on each side of her.
"Sorry. Next time I'll buy you a drink first" she said in an attempt to dissolve the awkward situation with a laugh and quickly got up.
As soon as she had the head in the air and the feet on solid ground again, she hold her hand out for her opponent.
"You bet you will" the blue captain said before taking the offered hand and standing up in a smooth move.
Clarke hesitated shortly before turning back to the game, trying to figure out if the serious expression showed a hint of either anger or flirtation, but she couldn't make it out.
Her legs felt a bit shaky. Her heated cheeks just didn't want to cool down. The Grounder girl stretched and was soon out of sight in the competing crowd of both teams in front of the yellow teams goal. Clarke shook her head and run towards the place of action, too.
The game went on around them like it had been before.
---
"Not bad of a move back then, Princess" were Octavia's first words to Clarke after she left the locker room and joined the captain on the sideline with the other chatting girls. "I wonder why Commander Stonecold let you live though" Her smile was suggesting and mocking.
Clarke sighed and continued to make her notes without giving O the benefit of an answer. It was always the first thing she did after a game, even before going to change: Write down what worked out the way they wanted and what moved didn't, what they'd need to work on and whom to set for which position in the future.
"Maybe she just didn't want to make a scene and will be back to end her later" another one giggled. "Or she's now afraid of the Sky Crew for our attempt on her life and bra." And a few more started to throw in comments about Clarke's ungraceful downfall and with that, throwing herself onto the lap of a poor unsuspecting maid - while standing around the person in question.
Sometimes she thought she really should be meaner to them as captain to gain some respect. But then again, they already respected her for her strategic talent. They just liked to gossip more than they liked to be tactful with their friend.
"Shut up" said Fox then from the side in a harsh whisper. "She's coming over here!"
Clarke froze in her action. The girls turned in shock and saw the slim figure of the blue captain cross the middle line of the field, heading towards them. The rest of her team was just leaving the hall through the east entrance on the other side, where their changing room was located.
Octavia cleared her throat.
"Alright everyone, our captain can finish this on her own. Let's go." she stated loud and clear and with a wide grin on her face. Her hand gave Clarke an encouraging slap on the back.
And with that all of them just turned and walked away. Some of them at least waved goodbye at Clarke or said they'd wait for her outside of the gym, but she groaned internally anyways.
The brunette stopped only a few steps to her left.
Clarke wasn't looking at her at first, even though she was nearly painfully aware of the blue captain's firm presence. She kept her eyes busy on the clip board on her lap and the pen between her fingers, but somehow the important moves she wanted to memorize from the game were vanished from her mind.
"Wouldn't have taken you for the kind of player to write reports after every game."
"I'm the captain after all. It's on me to make sure we kick your Grounder asses next time, isn't it?" she answered without hesitation and looked up.
The blue captain nodded earnestly.
"I never got your name, Sky Girl." she finally said before their silence got too awkward.
Clarke swallowed and stood up to turn to the girl.
"It's Clarke."
The blonde hold out her hand out of reflex before her mind could remind her body that they already did that. Kind of.
"Nice to got to meet you, Clarke" the girl said with a little smirk and they shook hands firmly. "I'm Lexa." A wave of relief rushed over Clarke. The stoic expression had actually loosened a bit and now the yellow wearing captain could definitely find a flirtatious note in it.
"And I'm actually gonna hold you on that drink you mentioned."
Clarke laughed. Lexa smiled. And Clarke knew, this smile would be worth all the mocking she'd get in the next few months from her teammates.
"I'd like that. I mean, I already got to second base with you. It's the least I can do."