Hey Princess

Doesn't Affect Us

Clarke POV

Oh, the mind splitting, ear deafening, brain cell killing sound of the school alarm blaring over the mind splitting, ear deafening, brain cell killing sound of teenagers shouting in the cafeteria. It's the kind of thing that rips you out of a happy daydream of going to a party with your hot crush, your best friend, and your hot crush's sister and instead places you back into your gross reality. 

I look around at the teacher's faces and what I see shocks me a little. Mr. Rothenberg is barking questions at any teacher in sight and even Mr. Kane seems shaken up. Kids are still laughing and talking over the alarm, calmly drifting outside like all the other evacuation drills. Some are still seated, nonchalantly grabbing a few last bites of lunch. I hurry through the crowd, looking for Lexa. I feel like she's the only one who will take my observations seriously right now. I find her and pull her to the side.

"There's something wrong here," I hiss urgently.

"What do you mean?" she asks, concerned.

"The teacher's look worried too, I don't think this was a planned drill. I think something actually happened."

"Maybe some idiot just pulled the fire alarm?" she suggests clearly trying to calm me down. 

"Maybe..." I say, not convinced or calmed in the slightest.

"Just in case, stay near me. I am not going to insult your... princess fighting skills but in case something is up it would make me feel better if you had proper protection," she says. I nod, biting back remarks about how I can defend myself. Two is better than one, so I'd rather she stayed. 

We walk out of the building, slightly ahead of all the bored kids. I stand anxiously on the grass shifting from leg to leg and cracking my knuckles. Lexa stands tall, letting her presence form a protective shield around us. It's amazing what she can do and what she can make the student body do.  

We've been standing outside for a solid ten minutes and I'm starting to relax. Lexa has drifted slightly away to have a conversation with Lincoln, but I can see her constantly looking back to check on me. I'm starting to think that I was just overreacting when all of a sudden I hear the sound of sirens.

They wail louder and louder, signaling that they have indeed just entered the school parking lot. I turn my head to notice that there is an ambulance, with a team already hopping off and rolling out a stretcher. A few seconds later a police car also drives in and a team of four men in uniform march out and head straight for the school.

I feel someone near me and I see it's Lexa. She seems tense, prepared for anything. I see Anya, Aden, Lincoln, Indra, and some other close friends of hers come towards us. I almost back away out of how intimidated I feel but something about Lexa's stance keeps me glued to the spot as if this is my only safe zone. They begin speaking rapidly, trying to piece together who the ambulance is for and who the police are here for. From what I can pick up, there's a freshman boy from their table who is unaccounted for but Murphy was spotted in the crowd when the alarms went off so their main suspect is ruled out. 

Then the crowd starts to buzz. I hear whispers flow through the groups of kids.

Oh my god, it's Artigas.

Oh wow, he looks really beat up.

Can anyone tell if he's actually breathing?

Who would do that? He's such a sweet boy!

By now I've sort of picked up that there was a young, seemingly innocent boy on that stretcher. It's also apparently the freshman that Lexa was talking about. Everyone's very anxious to see who the police come out with.