West Ark High

Aftermath

The betrayal hurt.

Clarke most often carried herself in a manner of strength and authority; sometimes people wondered if she even had feelings, but the truth was that she had become an expert at steeling away her emotions ever since her parents got divorced so many years ago. It broke her. And Clarke refused to let herself feel that way ever again.

Unfortunately, she made the horrible mistake of developing feelings for her best friend, Wells. He'd always been cute, but slowly and steadily, Clarke found herself becoming more attracted to the way he smelled like fresh laundry and how he sounded when he excitedly explained the latest science developments, no matter how boring she thought it was. And then one day, he broke her heart and Clarke had steel away her emotions again.

She had even promised herself that she wasn't going to bother with boys, at least not until she had finished her schooling. Clearly they were a distraction. But then Finn Collins, the mysterious guy with rugged good looks, swept her up off her feet. He was smart, funny, and kept Clarke on her toes. All in all, he had been perfect.

Almost perfect. Now she was subjected to another broken heart. If she wasn't careful, she might not have one to even break anymore. A shattered heap of miscellaneous emotions would just be sitting her chest like a junkyard. At this point Clarke was ready to swear off love; it was a messy business that only seemed to screw her over.

Normally, Clarke would treat Finn's blow to her heart as any other one—she'd hole away her anger and sadness and use it as her driving force to accomplish some sort of objective. But this struck something deep inside of Clarke. She'd felt certain that Finn was something special.

Too bad it took another crack at her heart for her to realize that Finn was just another guy who wasn't worth her affection.

Upon returning home, Clarke ignored about three dozen texts from Finn as well as four phone calls. She tried keeping busy with homework, but finished early leaving her with nothing to do but listen to the constant dinging of her phone as it lit up with another text or voicemail. His efforts dimmed around midnight, but at least one new message appeared every half-hour.

Clarke tried to sleep, but her mind kept drifting; what was she going to do when she saw him now? What about Raven? Wasn't she supposed to be starting at West Arke on Monday? Who was she supposed to go with to Homecoming now? Not Finn, certainly not Wells!

Her thoughts momentarily drifted to Bellamy as she watched the ceiling. Jasper may have been her initial hope to pick her up, but why had Bellamy been her first choice afterward? It's not like they were friends. Why hadn't she called up Harper? Or Fox? Or even Monroe? Bellamy of all people.

Eventually Clarke had enough of her inner worries and tried clearing her mind. She felt herself relaxing for a little while, but couldn't quite fall asleep. Around two in the morning, she decided to grab a snack from the pantry. On her way down the hall, she heard muffled gunfire coming from Jasper's room.

Easing the door open, she saw her brother curled up in a teal blanket while he played Ps4. "You're still up? It's two."

"You're up too," he pointed out without looking away from the screen. Clarke sat down on the bed beside Jasper and leaned her head against his shoulder. "A thousand thoughts at once?" His voice was soft, almost soothing, reminding Clarke of another reason why she loved him so much.

"Maybe closer to a thousand."

"That's rough."

"Yeah."

Jasper shot two rounds and a character on an opposing rooftop fell over the side. "You came home from your date with Finn early. Wanna tell me what happened?"