Not All Fun and Games

Chapter 56

Clarke's P.O.V.

"You stayed at her house last night?" I almost shout, my eyes burning with hot tears.
After Chloe so sweetly returned Bellamy's shirt, he begged me to come back to our cabin to talk in silence. I didn't want to cause a scene, so I agreed.
"Clarke, I promise you that nothing happened," he answers. His voice is strained. "She invited me in and I needed to sleep, but I took the couch.
"So why did she have your shirt?"
He sighs. "I was telling her about our fight and she was trying to comfort me, but I think she got mixed signals from me because she took off my shirt. But I stopped her right away. I promise you, nothing happened."
I force myself to swallow the lump in my throat as I think to myself. When he kissed Chloe a few weeks ago, he told me right away. It wouldn't make sense for him to lie now. Besides, he knows I could just ask Chloe, and she would have no problem telling me if something had happened.
"You believe me, don't you?" His voice comes out a whisper, and his face is so full of emotion that I feel like I would break him if I said no.
"Yes," I respond. I do believe him. "But we still need to talk about yesterday."
He nods, looking down at his feet.
"You can't just shut me out whenever you're upset," I begin. "This isn't going to work if you don't let me help you. Your problems are my problems, if you'll let them be."
He meets my eyes and smiles. "You're right. I won't push you away anymore," he promises. "I don't know why I do that," he sighs, running a hand through his dark locks of hair. "I think it has something to do with my mom dying when I was young. I always had to fend for myself. There was no one there to help me out, so I grew up thinking I didn't need anyone else's help. But I was wrong." Bellamy pauses for a moment, and just looks at me with an expression that seems to hold a thousand words. He looks at me as if I were the only thing that mattered in his life. There is so much adoration in his gaze, it makes me forget how he acted last night. "I need you."
One step towards him closes the space between us. I wrap my arms around him and rest my head on his chest. I can hear his heartbeat as he kisses the top of my head.
"I need you too," I whisper.

***

I run the soaked cloth over my legs, and place it on the edge of the tub.
Behind every house is a big tub filled with water, from the river, used for cleaning. We were told to refill it once a week. The river is just outside the fence of Polis.
I haven't cleaned myself since we were back at Camp. The cold water feels nice on such a hot day.
Every backyard has a wooden fence, so no one can see in. I look around anyway, making sure no one's there, before pulling off my bra and underwear and dropping them into the tub, where the rest of my clothes already float.
Tuscany made sure we were each given an extra set of clothing when we got here. I pull on the plain black shirt and pants, and then a brown leathery jacket. The pants seem to be a bit tight, but they're all I have to wear until my other clothes are dry.
Just as I'm heading back inside, the horn rings for lunchtime.
I walk to the bedroom to wake Bellamy up from his nap.

We sit at our usual table, where Jasper and Monty are already sitting. They both smile when they see us.
"All good?" Jasper whispers while Bellamy's not looking. Last time they saw us was at breakfast, when Chloe was dropping off Bellamy's shirt. I nod, smiling at his concern.
"We're supposed to learn about the jobs we're getting," Monty says. "They told us that after you guys left this morning. They're explaining our different options, and we get to choose from those."
"That sounds kinda cool," Bellamy says. "What kind of jobs are—"
He's cut off by a loud voice, coming from the front of the room. It's Zuko, the man that spoke here last night.
"As I told you, you will all be given jobs. There are different options, and you will choose for yourself."
As he goes on, we are served our food.
Zuko names the different jobs and explains them while we eat. By the time he's done talking, most of us are done eating.

We have until dinner to decide what job we want.

As people start to clear out of the room, I realize that Octavia never joined us.

"Where's Octavia?" I ask, but Jasper shrugs.

"She's probably with Lincoln," Monty says, looking at Bellamy warily. Bellamy's jaw clenches, but he nods slowly.

"It's fine. O can take care of herself."

I smile and hold his hand under the table. 

"Let's get out of here," continues Bellamy. "We have a lot of thinking to do."

We say goodbye to Jasper and Monty, and we head downstairs.

Bellamy and I discuss what jobs we're interested in on the way out. We're both pretty excited about it. As we walk out of the tower, I almost don't notice the gasps and screams coming from the people around us. I follow a woman's gaze up to one of the tower's large windows, on what's probably the 10th floor. There's a figure standing in the window. Murphy.