The Divide

Chapter II

      Clarke sighed and walked out of the school, ready to head back to her dorm. Her mother was worried initially about her going to a school so far away she had to sleep there, but she wanted the best for Clarke. If the best meant moving to another state in order to be in one of the best schools on the West Coast, so be it.  Washington wasn't too far from California.

It was ironic that after her father's death, a time when a family should be together, Clarke was sent away. Dad she thought wistfully. Memories tinted in shades of rose floated pleasantly through her mind, only to be consumed by fire-like guilt.

Her day had been more eventful than her previous three weeks, mostly because she had actually talked to someone she didn't need to.  Jasper and Monty were nice, if not a little quirky. But, she appreciated their gall to be themselves in this school infested with cliques. Uniquely, there really only seemed to be two of them : Eye Liner girl's group and Raven's group. If you weren't in either, you were just a drifter lying in between the two massive conflicts. It made Clarke's head hurt, she didn't understand why they couldn't both just coexist. That was her wishful thinking, with differences as big as crevasses people were bound to be lost in between.

Back to Eyeliner Girl. Clarke hadn't been able to stop thinking about her. She had a tough yet gentle beauty about her and it showed. Clarke was too shy to ask Jasper and Monty about Eyeliner Girl. The butterflies stood in the way.
          Outside on the lawn, mostly everyone laid laughing and talking. They already seemed so established into their friendships and worlds.
          For some reason, in the blink of an eye, Clarke hit the ground with a thud.
          "What the hell?" She said to herself. A football bounced away from her head.
          "Oh shit, I'm so sorry." A deep voice said sincerely. Clarke felt a strong hand at her wrist, pulling her upright. "You don't have a concussion or anything, I hope?" His brown eyes were  warm enough to melt gold and his cheekbones were at a perfect angle His slight curly hair framed it all like a painting. Clarke screamed internally.
         "No, no, I'm good, I'm fine." She nervously brushed the dirt off her jeans. He smiled.
"Who'd you hit this time, Bellamy?" An annoyed voice from afar called. Clarke and Bellamy turned their heads to a girl striking enough the be a model. Isn't that Octavia from my English class? She strutted over to Clarke and Bellamy effortlessly.
"Oh hey, Clarke." She smiled. It was polite of her to pretend that they were friends. "Sorry, my ass of a brother can't aim for his life." Bellamy gave her a dirty look.
"Ha, ha, tell it to Whitehall's star quarterback." He smirked, obviously referring to himself.
"Oh, where is he?" Octavia over exaggeratedly looked around. Bellamy rolled his eyes while Clarke stood awkwardly in the middle of their feud. Other voices from under a tree beckoned them back, one of them being familiar. Raven and Finn as well as some others were gathered under a tremendous oak, loud hip hop being played from a wireless speaker

"You can come hang out with us, if you want." Octavia offered and Bellamy smiled warmly whilst Clarke's oh-so-exciting plan of five hours of studying were thrown out the window.

"Sounds good." She shrugged, trying to look casual. Awkwardly, she sat down in a huge group of the popular crowd, nervously tugging at her blonde hair. I feel so out of place. . . she thought to herself. Raven and Finn cuddled with reckless abandon as Bellamy told some story about a wild party he'd been to over the weekend. But soon, the conversation lulled and suddenly everyone was looking at her. Bellamy felt prompted to end the awkward silence.

"So, uh, Clarke, is it?" He asked. Clarke smiled and nodded, "You're new, what were you doing before you came to Whitehall?" She almost hated him for putting her on the spot, but her hatred couldn't get past his big, dumb, brown eyes.

"Umm, well. . ." She began. She didn't know if she should tell these strangers about the real reason she came: the death of her dad. "Neither my mom nor I were happy with the education I was getting at my old school, so I applied here."

"Booorrriiiing." Finn sighed. "Tell us the dirty details, not the college application." He smirked and Raven nudged his side.

"Maybe she has something she doesn't want to say." Raven protested, looking at Finn with appeasement.

"Drugs? A wild party life? A boyfriend your dad didn't like? That's why we were all sent here." He gestured to the crowd and everyone laughed in agreement. Octavia and Raven rolled their eyes and Clarke was filled with more and more frustration

"Actually, my dad's dead." She  spat. The group quickly became dead silent with stone faces to pair.

"Jesus," Finn apologized and his head fell into his hands. "Look, I didn't mean to pry-" He didn't need to explain, Clarke decided. She got up, books in hand and started heading away from them. What was his deal? He acted like the whole world was his to be some snarky antihero in. His lack of consideration for the feelings of others was sickening.

The car accident came back, all at once. She was just driving with her dad in the passenger seat and out of no where-

"Clarke," She turned around to see Bellamy, hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I don't want your stupid pity, I know I'm just some freak and I'm sorry for intruding on your little popular fest." She fumed. Bellamy crossed his arms and scowled, but soon his face softened and his eyebrows turned downwards.

"I know you're mad, Clarke. Mad about your dad, mad about Finn, I get it." He continued, uncrossing his arms and putting them shyly into his pockets.

"What do you know about me?" Her voice turned away from anger and plunged into sadness. "It's a very cliche thing to say, but no one really gets it, alright?"

"Octavia and I, we're on our own." He sighed. Clarke's face turned from disgust to guilt. "Both of our parents died two years ago. We live with our Uncle Jaha."

"I'm sorry." Such was Clarke, the whiner of lesser griefs.

"Look, me saying that shouldn't belittle your grief. You have every right to feel sad and upset. I just want you to know that there always is someone who 'gets it'. Okay?"

"Okay." Clarke tried to pull a smile to hide her feelings of guilt. Bellamy playfully patted her shoulder.

"Hey, our bonding's not too shabby after I hit you in the head with a football." He laughed, trying to lighten the mood. Clarke smiled.

"Just don't let it happen again." She sighed.

From that moment on, everything was Bellamy. Bellamy, who was a year above her, helping her study. Bellamy, eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner with her. Bellamy, staying up late talking about life with her. Bellamy, kissing her softly when she cried.

She should've been perfectly content with this, a gorgeous boy in love with her, but something tugged at the back of her mind every time she and Bellamy kissed. The girl with the eyes as green and clear as oceans, and the braids that intricately decorated her.