Chapter 1
Chapter 1
She was running, the rain was pouring down on her, her shoes were soaked in mud, the crowd was going crazy yet all she saw was the goal keeper lounging at her in his last attempt to stop her. She knew it was too late for him, nothing could stop her now as she side stepped him and ran the last few feet. The referee looked at his watch just as she kicked the ball right into the net.
She heard the whistle go off.
She had scored the winning goal, the championship was hers, and suddenly she was being lifted into the air. Looking down on her teammates she saw Bellamy shouting at her over all the screams "YOU DID IT". She finally looked around; the crowd had gone wild they were shouting her name
"LEXA LEXA LEXA LEXA"
"ALEXANDRIA ELIZABETH WOODS WAKE UP OR YOU WILL MISS THE BUS"
"WHAT" Lexa jolted up from bed. It was all a dream, her mother, had just interrupted one of the best non real moments of her life, she was so pissed.
"Mom, you did not have to do that, I have my alarm set, I’m not gonna be late."
"Yes the alarm that went off 15 minutes ago, that YOU slept right through" her mom replied to her with a smug face.
"WHAT, no" Lexa quickly turned her head looking to her nightstand for the clock that read *7:10*
"OMG, I'M GONNA BE LATE" the 15 year old brunette practically flew from her bed into the bathroom and started getting ready as fast as she could.
"Try not to hurt yourself honey" Sara Woods said as she made her way out of her daughter’s room and into her son's room. Aden sat in front of his mirror all dressed up and ready for his first day of middle school.
"Well I guess I can say one of you takes after me".
"BEEP BEEP BEEP"
An alarm clock went off in the griffin household on a sunny September morning. Clarke griffin ran from the bathroom to turn it off. She had already been awake for about an hour now, having fallen asleep early the night before in anticipation for her first day of high school. The first day of high school meant to her a step further in her journey to graduate and go off to med school. It had been her dream ever since she accompanied her mother to her job at the hospital and the blue eyed 10 year old at the time became fascinated with all the doctors running around her saving life after life.
"Clarke breakfast is ready" she heard her father say from downstairs. Clarke hurriedly grabbed her stuff and made her way down to the kitchen, the smell of pancakes and bacon quickly filled her senses and she spotted her parents at the stove bickering over whose pancakes were better. She shook her head and got onto a stool where a plate was already set out for her.
"Good morning children" Clarke said sarcastically
Her parents finally noticing that she was there turned around looking sheepish but quickly her father recovered and confidently said,
"CLARKE, sweetie, would you please tell your mother that, while her pancake making abilities are anything but average, they don't even come nearly as close to mine"
"YES that's because MY pancakes are insanely better" Abby returned with a roll of her eyes.
And the bickering ensued.
Clarke continued shaking her head, but in truth she loved seeing her parents still acting like teenagers after all these years of marriage, especially after all the years her father spent working on assignment for NASA until finally deciding that his job wasn't worth being away from his family, so he quit, came home and got a job as a physics teacher at Polis high and now here they were arguing over pancakes and Clarke couldn't be happier.
«While I love hearing your very convincing arguments, if you guys don't wrap this up, dad and I are going to be late" Clarke said knowingly.
As if suddenly realizing where they were both Abby and Jake looked at their watches
"Oops, gotta run honey" her dad finally said kissing his wife and stuffing a stack of pancakes into his mouth before grabbing his keys and heading for the door.
"Have a good first day you two" Abby exclaimed
"Bye mom, love you" Clarke returned as she went out the door and into her father's car.
"How excited are you?" Jake enthusiastically asked as she sat down.
"As excited as any girl is to have her father teach one of her classes"
Her father fake gasped "I feel offended"
Clarke rolled her eyes at him; her father could be the biggest drama queen sometimes.
"No but seriously, aren't you excited? Meeting new people, making friends, and learning new things..." her father trailed off
"Dad you know I need to focus on school in order to get into premed, having friends would just distract me"
"Clarke you're being way too hard on yourself, I’m not saying you shouldn't work your hardest, but you should also be able to enjoy the next 4 years of your life before going off to college... just think about it"
"I will" Clarke relented
Clarke knew he was right, but it wasn't just about not wanting a distraction, Clarke always found it hard to make friends growing up, all the kids were either outside kicking around a ball or inside playing dress up, while she was in her room working on her next painting. She never fit in and to this day she's never had someone she would call a real friend. She didn't think this was going to change in high school so she would rather blame it on getting good grades so her father wouldn't worry about her.
finally the car stopped and in came the view of Polis high, it was a relatively big school with lots of classrooms, a sports field and numerous halls Clarke was sure to get lost in for at least the first couple of weeks.
"well here we are, you wanna have a 5 minute head start so the other kids won't see you walking in with your old man?" her father joked.
"oh no, I’d much rather have you give me a piggyback ride right into first period, that way I’d make sure no one talks to me for the next 4 year" she smiled at her dad kissed him on the cheek and got out of the car.
"See you later" her dad shouted out the open window.
Clarke made her way to the school's entrance quickly checking over her schedule, she had English lit for first period *class 307* her schedule read. Looking at her watch it was still early; she had time so she started looking around noting all the new faces around her. Some were fairly at ease standing at their lockers with their friends others were just as lost as she was. She contemplated the idea of asking someone for help but decided against it knowing that she'd be too shy to go through with it.
Finally, after what felt like hours she turned a corner and there it was *307* she immediately walked towards the door stopping just before reaching the threshold. Taking a deep breath in and gathering up her courage 'here goes nothing' she thought as she took a step in.
First thing she noticed was that the teacher was not there yet, so she glanced around noting an empty place a bit further back in class but not too far so she'd still be able to concentrate. She sat and waited, class was supposed to start in 5 minutes. As the minutes ticked by more students came in, until finally the teacher arrived and everyone fell silent and took their seat.
"good morning class, my name is Mr. Kane and I will be your English literature teacher this year, I know this is your first day so we will start off lightly but I expect every one of you to take this course seriously and work hard in ord-" *DOOR OPENS*
The whole class turns towards the door as a girl makes her way into class seemingly out of breath. She looks to the teacher trying to come up with an excuse.
"I um, well Mr..." she looks to the board trying to find the teacher's name, she doesn't.
"Kane" the teacher supplies.
"Right Mr. Kane, my apologies, see, I kinda got lost and then..." she tried as her hands were frantically moving along.
"Save it miss..."
"Woods, Lexa Woods" she stumbled.
"Miss Woods, tardiness isn't something I tolerate" he said looking to the entire class "however seeing as it is your first day, I’ll let it slide"
"Thank you sir" Lexa smiled awkwardly at him and just stood there.
"You can take a seat now Miss Woods"
"RIGHT, yes right" Lexa suddenly realized and made her way to the first empty seat she saw.
finally relaxing Lexa took a look around her, trying to find a familiar face, she spotted Monty and jasper silently mimicking her entrance and laughing while looking at her, she simply glared at them, they've been her friends since middle school and she's gotten used to their teasing over the years, however as they continued she heard a soft giggle come from beside her, quickly turning, a girl with blonde hair was covering her mouth with her hand trying to keep from laughing.
"Something funny?" Lexa asked expectantly.
The girl looked embarrassed to be caught "I’m so sorry I just" the girl looked at her with a small smile and Lexa couldn't help but notice how blue her eyes were.
"It’s okay I was just teasing" Lexa smiled at her.
the girl suddenly became shy, nodded and turned her attention back to the class just as mister Kane started explaining what they'd be learning this semester.
Clarke wasn't sure what had gone over her but the first thought that came to her head as she saw Lexa babbling off to the teacher was that Lexa woods was the biggest dork ever, and then seeing the two guys trying to imitate her was the cherry on top of the cake. She couldn't help but be amused, so she'd laughed and Lexa had heard her and she felt embarrassed. Lexa was only teasing her, and when she smiled at her, Clarke relaxed momentarily. FOCUS CLARKE she thought.
Mr. Kane was announcing that each of them will stand up, present themselves and say one thing they plan on accomplishing this year, in order for everyone to get to know each other.
Clarke was already feeling anxious from the prospect of having to speak up in front of class, so she blocked everything out trying to calm herself enough to be able to accomplish the task at hand.
Half the period must have passed, and Clarke had barely heard any one of her classmates’ introductions, she was too wrapped up in her own head, until suddenly she heard.
"My name is Lexa woods I am 15 years old and I plan to be the first girl to get a spot on the school's soccer team"
If Lexa hadn't said her name, Clarke probably wouldn't have recognized that that was the same girl who had come in mumbling frantically at the start of class. Instead her voice was calm, collected and she was so determined and sure of herself.
The two boys that were mimicking her earlier started whistling and clapping, other guys looked at her like she'd just grown two heads.
Clarke was awestruck, she wished she could be this confident when it came to doing what she loved, the teacher calling her name made her realize she had zoned out, it was her turn. Oh shit...
"Um, hi my name is Clarke Griffin, I just turned 15. Um I plan on getting good grades..."
That was probably the most basic thing anyone could've said, but she couldn't muster up the courage to say something challenging and draw attention to herself, so she settled, she could get good grades, the best even, she was always first in her class, she could get good grades.
It was the end of the first week of school, and the time had finally come for soccer try outs. Lexa was ecstatic. She’d been counting down the days ever since Bellamy, her best friend for as long as she could remember, told her that the school let girls try out for any sport but no one had ever been able to make it on the soccer team. She knew she could do it; her and Bellamy had been training together ever since they were old enough to run around with a ball at their feet.
Bellamy Blake was a year older than Lexa. His parents became close friends with Lexa’s ever since they moved into the neighborhood before either children were born, and at the age of 5, Bellamy stood up for Lexa when some little boys were picking on her because she liked to play with action figures instead of dolls, they immediately became inseparable and their love for soccer made them even closer.
Being a year older, he had already tried out and gotten into the team last year. His only wish now was that Lexa would join him, and he knew she would. He would never admit it out loud, but Lexa had always been one step ahead of him when they played together. She could effortlessly outrun him, and dribble past anyone that stood in her way, and now was the time to show everyone what she was capable of he thought as he saw her approaching the field.
“LEXA”
Lexa saw Bellamy and hurried towards him, she was so excited .
“IT’S HAPPENING” she said excitedly to him. He laughed and ruffled her hair.
Everyone was looking at her by now, wondering what a girl was doing there, when a whistle blew.
“Everyone get in line, and start running. If anyone stops before I say so, don’t even bother going on”
Everyone started getting in line, as Lexa followed and realization dawned on the others that she was trying out, most of them started laughing but Lexa smirked, she was used to this by now. She was always the only girl on any team she played on and everyone always underestimated her and then proceeded to get their ass handed to them on a silver plate when the game started and she got the ball.
A tap on her shoulder made her turn around, she looked up at the large bald man towering over her, coach Titus was fairly intimidating but he seemed intrigued by her.
“Bellamy Blake says you’re the best soccer player he’s ever been on the field with. Don’t disappoint.” He didn’t give her a chance to reply as he turned and walked over to the other side of the field.
Lexa wasn’t fazed with what happened, if anything she was even more determined to show everyone what she was made of.
Clarke’s first week had been going well, all her teachers had been nice enough to give minimal homework, and she was enjoying all her classes, some more than others.
Biology was her favorite; she could listen to the teacher talk about the human body for hours on end without getting bored.
Introduction to art was the elective she’d decided to take, and it was amazing she couldn’t wait to try out all the new technics the teacher had taught her in just an hour.
Well she didn’t have to wait she thought. The last bell on Friday rang and Clarke knew her father had a weekly meeting with the principle on Friday after school, so she had to wait for him to be able to go home. She took out her sketchbook and wandered around the school trying to find a place she could draw in.
She found herself on the bleachers of the soccer field. It was mostly empty so she sat down and let her pencil roam free.
Minutes later, The sound of a whistle broke Clarke out of her trance, she looked up to see that the soccer field was now crowded with guys running around, most were breathless , some looked to be on the verge of blacking out, And then she saw her Lexa.
Clarke hadn’t forgotten about what Lexa had said to the whole class that first day. But she was still slightly shocked seeing her with all the guys and she had a smug smile on her face??! While everyone else was struggling to keep going, Lexa was completely unfazed by the whole exercise and she had surpassed all of them…
Clarke felt an odd sense of pride watching as Lexa went through all the drills and exercises and came out on top of all of them while her opponents gapped at her.
They weren’t necessarily friends, but every English class they would sit next to each other, and every time Lexa got bored (it happened a lot) she would turn to Clarke and crack a lame joke. Clarke would laugh but quickly revert her attention back to the teacher.
The coach blew the final whistle, and the players who made it through all the drills made their way towards him in anticipation of the results.
Clarke eagerly stood up trying to catch what the coach was saying but she was too far away, however a minute later she saw the coach walk away and a second later Lexa jumped up excitedly into the arms of a tall curly haired boy, they started laughing and screaming. Clarke smiled, it was obvious Lexa had made the team and was celebrating with.. Who was that guy? Clarke didn’t know why but she decided that she didn’t like him. Wait what why would she not like a guy she doesn’t know anything about. Clarke quickly scraped the thought away from her mind and stood up just as her father texted her that he was done.
With one final look out into the field she turned and headed towards her father’s car, “this year is going to be different” she thought…