Hey Princess

The Warm Feeling

Lexa POV

I wake up early, as always, and begin to get ready. I find myself struggling to find the best outfit I own. I flip through my closet, but none of the monochrome fabric seems good enough for today. After some struggle, I decide on a tight black tee and jeans so shredded you see more skin than denim. I don't know why I suddenly care about how I look. I mean, if anyone were to say something bad about me I'd just pound them into a pulp or ignore it. Sometimes both. But for some reason today I comb my hair so much that any knot that dares to show it's tangled face is instantly obliterated. And I brush my teeth three times, and I even floss which is strange. I pick up my toothbrush for the fourth time, which I guess might border on excessive, when Aden pounds on the door. I walk out and Anya gives me a strange look. I shrug it off, grab my backpack, and wait for my siblings.

I hear a strange banging noise and I look around for the culprit. I glance down and see it's actually me. My knee bounces rapidly with excitement, banging the desk with each rise and smacking the chair with each fall. Excitement? Who the hell is excited to go to school? Control yourself. I scold myself, and my knee slows in speed but never fully stops. I sigh, just as Anya glides down the stairs with Aden thundering after her.

We climb into the car and speed off to school in silence. Or maybe Aden is rambling the entire time, but it makes no difference to me because I'm just staring out the window. As we pull into the school parking lot, I remove all traces of excitement from my face. We stride into the school, turning heads but ignoring them, and go join our pack.

I can't help but crane my neck in search of her. How she has such control over me in just one short day, I fear I'll never know. I spot the wavy blonde hair and the shining blue eyes. I feel slightly relieved that she's here. We make eye contact for a brief second before we both jolt our heads away. I can't help but notice she looks as guilty as I feel. A weird unidentifiable feeling spreads through my chest, warming me. It's strangely comforting but also unnerving as I try to understand what the feeling is. Unfortunately, I don't get the chance because my thoughts are interrupted.

"So we never talked about how we're going to deal with that Murphy kid that 'threatened' us at lunch yesterday," Lincoln says, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Lexa made her point pretty clear," Anya says. I stand up taller, taking my usual authoritative stance.

"But if it happens again..." Indra jumps in.

"If? Sure, we can play the what if game. IF he dares to commit another idiotic act around us, we make the message quite clear that it shall not be tolerated at this school. Not just for Murphy, any Ark invader who dares to question us," I say. There are lots of nods of agreement, so I take that as an end of the conversation. I drift away from the group, which is surprising because I generally have nowhere else I want to to go.

I look up at the clock and after aggressively squinting at the seconds hand to make it move faster, I decide it's now an appropriate time to walk over to Clarke and escort her to class. I strut over in typical Lexa fashion. Clarke spots me and grins while slightly waving me over. I feel the warmth spread through my chest again and my pace gets a little faster as I get closer to her.

"Hey Princess," I say, smirking. It's like my face is having an argument over the smile I feel on the inside and the frown I usually keep on the outside. A smirk is a compromise.

"I'm going to need to get you a nickname if that's how you're always going to greet me," she says, stepping away from her Ark friends and getting closer to me.

"Feel free to ask any of your loyal subjects. I'm sure they'd have tons of ideas of wonderfully flattering nicknames," I respond. She smiles again and I get the warm feeling again, and I wonder if I can just live in this cycle forever. No school, no responsibility, just me and this smile. Of course, Aden has to come up to us in this moment.

"Hey Lexa. Don't mean to bother you but that Murphy kid is lurking over near us and Lincoln wants to do something about it."

"Crap we have to calm him down, ok Clarke I'll be back just-"

"No way in hell," Clarke interrupts "he's from my school. Trust me I can make him see sense."

Aden glances at me and I shrug. I sweep my arm out in an "after you" gesture, and tail Clarke over to my apprehensive group.

"What's she doing here?" Indra demands.

"Helping is with our little problem over there. Stand down Indra," I say. Indra doesn't say anything else but never lets her guard down. She doesn't really trust many people so she's certainly not going to be very welcoming to a brand new, seemingly "goody-goody". Even if that "goody-goody" is super hot. Which I mean, come on, you can't see Clarke without knowing that.

The blonde that's occupying my thoughts acknowledges my crew and walks over to Murphy. She starts angrily speaking. Her eyes harden, leaving no traces of their prior joking manner. Her mouth tilts into a frown as she lectures him. Poor kid. I sort of feel bad for him. But I don't have time to focus on him, as I'm so entranced with this version of Clarke. How quickly she can change. My eyes are trapped, only seeing her. I barely even notice when she stops talking, abruptly spins on her heel, and strides over. I shake my head slightly, clearing the fog from my brain.

"He shouldn't be a problem anymore," Clarke says, smilingly proudly at herself and speaking only to me. I open my mouth but Indra is quicker.

"How do we know he's not just going to come back with you or other Arkers next time?" she asks suspiciously.

"Well if he does, he knows the price. And trust me, Murphy does not want to pay that price," she says.

"What is the pric-" Aden starts curiously but Clarke cuts him off.

"Sorry, that information is private," she says mischievously.

Indra raises an eyebrow but keeps quiet. The bell rings, startling me. Clarke looks at me, questioning if I'm going to lead her to class. I smirk.

"C'mon Princess. Or maybe you should get a new nickname. That was pretty fierce, what you did back there. Maybe you're not so dainty after all," I say, then turn my back. I turn away so fast I almost don't see her smile widely. Almost.

Damn. The warm feeling is back.