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Clarke met Octavia in preschool. They instantly became best friends over the fact that they both are dressed up as princesses on Halloween. She met Bellamy when elementary school ended and he came to walk Octavia home.
“Bell, meet my friend. This is Clarke.” Octavia pulled her brother over to where Clarke sat waiting for her mom. “She’s Cinderella and I’m Snow White. We’re both princesses, Bell.”
“That’s great.” It was easy to tell that even though Bellamy loved his sister he didn’t want to spend time with preschoolers. “It is nice to meet you, princess. O, we have to go now.”
That was the first time she met Bellamy but it was far from the last. Octavia and Clarke became practically attached at the hip. Clarke skipped kindergarten, so she and Octavia made up for the fact that they didn’t have class together by spending practically every moment out of school with each other.
“Don’t you two get sick of each other?” Bellamy asked. He was in fourth grade now and actually had homework. He was bothered by the fact that the two girls could just play the whole time.
“Never,” both girls told him together.
Clarke is in third grade when she tells Octavia her secret. “I think I like Bellamy,” Clarke told Octavia.
“Thanks, princess, I know I’m hard to resist.” Of course Bellamy chose that exact moment to walk past Octavia’s open door. The only course of action was for Clarke to bury her head and deny what she just said.
Clarke skips the eighth grade so she enters high school when Bellamy is a junior. He is a star on the football team and all the girls were after him. Clarke however finally had a boy show interest in her for the first time. Finn Collins was a sophomore and told her she was the prettiest girl ever. Octavia helped Clarke get ready for her date so Bellamy was the one to open up the
door for Finn. Clarke only caught the last of the conversation. “If you hurt her, I will kill you.”
Clarke took Finn’s hand and led him out of the house. “Ignore Bellamy. He’s just practicing his big brother act for when Octavia starts dating.”
A year and a half later when Bellamy gets back from prom with bloody knuckles he simply tells her, “You need to break up with Finn.”
“I am not going to break up with Finn because you have some strange suspicion about him,” she told him. She did however make sure the cuts on Bellamy’s hands were cleaned and disinfected.
“It’s not a suspicion anymore,” he murmured.
“What do you mean by that?!” Bellamy tried to shrug it off but Clarke would not let it go. “I am not going to stop bothering you until you tell me.”
“He was cheating on you, princess,” he tried to keep his voice calm and level as possible. “He went to prom with Raven Reyes.”
“Yeah he told me that,” Clarke said. “Raven is his ex, but they are still friends. She didn’t have anyone to go to prom with so she took him.”
“Clarke, I saw them making out,” Bellamy told her sadly. He spent the next few hours eating ice cream and trash talking Finn with Clarke. She falls asleep on him and he doesn’t have the heart to wake her so he carries her up to his room and sleeps on the couch.
The next morning when Octavia asks why he’s making blueberry pancakes, Clarke answers before he gets the chance. “I broke up with Finn and Bellamy is being a big brother.” She doesn’t look anything like she did last night. She looks put together and ready to conquer the day. He thought she would be lounging around in sweatpants for the rest of the day.
“Brave princess,” Bellamy comments with a smile.
Bellamy decides to stay local for college, but that still means going two towns over to Mount Weather University. His job keeps him from coming home on the weekends, but he does however find a girlfriend, Roma. One on particularly unique occasion where he doesn’t have work on the weekend, he decides to bring her home for the weekend to introduce her to Octavia and Clarke.
“Roma, this is my little sister Octavia and my basically other little sister Clarke.” Octavia gave her a once over before pursing her lips then finally pushing out a fake smile. She and Clarke were lounging on the couch when he and Roma walked in.
“It’s nice to meet you, Roma,” Octavia recites.
“So what are you studying, Roma?” Clarke actually sounds genuinely interested.
“Women’s Studies,” Roma responded.
“So what women inspired you into that course of study?” Clarke asked.
“Um well I guess… my mom,” she stuttered out.
“She’s a keeper, Bell,” Octavia commented sarcastically.
“Have you read the work of Benazir Bhutto?” Clarke asked. “I know she’s not the most well-known name in the women’s rights movement but I think her contribution-“
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Roma said with a giggle.
“Real keeper,” Octavia repeated.
Bellamy breaks up with Roma three weeks later. He is forced to come home (by Octavia) the next weekend because of homecoming. He hears Clarke and Octavia talking in Octavia’s room together. He figures they are going to wait till the last minute to make a grand entrance. Which would probably be happening in the next few seconds because one of their dates just rang the doorbell. Bellamy opens the door to find an only slightly young kid standing there.
Bellamy leans against the door frame in an obvious attempt to appear intimidating, but it does seem to be working. “Who are you?”
“I’m Atom,” the boy musters. “Octavia’s date to homecoming, um, sir.”
“Bell! Stop bothering him!” Octavia screamed from her room. “If you scare him off I will tear you limb from limb.”
Bellamy turned back to the boy who was now fiddling nervously with his fingers and looking anywhere but at him. Octavia glided past him with a simple, “don’t worry big brother.”
As the two walked out, Bellamy could see a black mustang pull up into the drive. The boy, no definitely man, had on a full suit. “Princess, who exactly is your date.”
“Cage Wallace.” He turns around to find her in a floor length black dress and a diamond necklace. Her hair is actually in an updo even though Bellamy knows she has an aversion to putting pins in her hair. “You might know him he’s a sophomore studying Poli-Sci at the same university as you.” She says it so nonchalantly like she isn’t about to go on a date with a twenty year old.
“Isn’t that dress a little fancy for a high school homecoming?”
“It would be if we were going to a high school homecoming.” Bellamy spins around to find that Cage Wallace is now in his doorway. Bellamy is about to question, but Cage explains before he does. “Ark hospital is having a benefit and our parents both guilted us into going again. Her mother just made Chef Surgeon and my dad has invested boatloads of money into a new blood fusion cancer research.”
“But how did you two meet?” Bellamy was not grasping this really.
“At the last benefit,” Clarke told him.
“Don’t worry I’ll take good care of her.” The thing that unsettled Bellamy was the wink that followed that statement.
“What do you mean you’re engaged?” Bellamy shouted. “You are only twenty two. You cannot possibly be getting married.”
“I’m not getting married right away,” Clarke tried to calm him. “Cage and I are going to wait until after I finish med school.
“He is five years older than you,” Bellamy argued.
“So is my boyfriend,” Octavia quipped.
“Don’t even get me started on that we are focusing on the fact that Clarke is going to get married and I simply forbid it.”
“So is that a no to giving me away at the wedding?” Clarke asks all innocent. She knew saying something like that would make Bellamy stop in his tracks. “I understand if you don’t want to. I could just get Marcus to do it.”
“I’m sorry, princess. I might be overreacting a little bit, but I just want what is best for you.”
Two years later Clarke looks beautiful in her wedding dress. Octavia is simply ecstatic over each new detail of the wedding she finds with a constant “I’m going to do that in my wedding” or “I want to do that but in blue.”
“Oh, Cage forgot his vows,” Clarke says holding up a notecard. “I’m going to go give it to him.”
“But Clarke that’s bad luck,” Octavia chastises her.
“You know I don’t believe in superstition,” Clarke responded.
Clarke walks the two doors down to the groom’s room. When she opens the door she is blinded by the image of her fiancé with his pants around his ankles and his hands busy divesting his assistant of her dress. They are so busy with their activities that they do not even notice when Clarke opens then promptly shuts the door.
“Hey Bellamy!” He was sitting on a bench outside of her dressing room and immediately perks up at the sound of his name. “The wedding is cancelled. Could you do me a favor and tell the groom?”
“But you were just-“ Bellamy starts. But then he slowly begins to connect the dots and his jaw ticks. She puts a hand on his chest before he can get too far into his rampage. “Princess.”
“If you don’t have bruised knuckles the next time I see you I am going to be disappointed.”
When Clarke comes back into the room with the notecard still in her hands Octavia asks her about it. Clarke’s response “I guess I am superstitious now.”
The next time Bellamy sees Clarke is at the reception. She has changed into a little black dress and is laughing and dancing on the middle of the floor with all her friends around her. When she spots him, she heads straight toward him. He can tell she’s way past drunk before she’s even halfway to him, but he can’t say he blames her.
“Bell, you’re here. I love you. You are my hero.” This declaration does not really surprise Bellamy. Clarke will tell everyone she loves them when she is drunk. “Did you hurt Cage as much as he hurt me?”
“Yes, princess, and he won’t hurt you every again.”
She looked him dead in the eye. “You promise.”
“I promise,” he told her sincerely. “Now go get back to the party.”
“You’re coming, too.” Bellamy let Clarke drag him to where the rest of their friends were dancing.
“You need to tell Clarke.” Bellamy takes a break from grading papers to look up at his sister.
“Tell Clarke what exactly.”
“That you love her,” Octavia stated as if that was the only possible answer.
“She just found out that her fiancé was cheating on her. Probably not looking for love right now and I don’t want to spring that on her.”
“That was eight months ago. And I’m pretty sure that she got so drunk on her wedding night that she doesn’t even remember who Cage is.”
Bellamy knew that wasn’t true. He knew that even though Clarke hid the pain well, she was still hurting. “I’ll tell her. Just not yet, O. Give it time.”
Octavia never was one to listen to her brother. Two hours later he gets a text from Clarke. ‘Octavia told me. We need to talk. Heading over right now.’ He keeps rereading the message. Is this a good thing? Is she just going to tell him that she needs time? Or worse, that she doesn’t actually feel that way about him? He debates sending her a message to say that he isn’t home, but he knows that Clarke would find him eventually.
“Bellamy Blake, why didn’t you tell me?” She yells as she barges into his apartment.
He tries to form an argument but before any words can make it out of his mouth she has her lips on his. Clarke Griffin is kissing him. He stands frozen for a moment just trying to process that. It is not till she starts to move away that Bellamy finally reacts and moves to recapture her lips.
“Clarke was in the third grade when she told me she liked my brother. I have no idea why it took them this long.” Everyone cheered as Octavia ended her speech.
“I told you she would work in an ‘I told you so’,” Clarke told Bellamy.
“I think she earned it this time, Mrs. Blake.”