Rumors

August 23, 1988

The tiled hallways of Trigeda High School filled once more with sleepy students for the 1988-1989 school year. As usual, the majority of teenagers spent their entire summer staying up late and sleeping in until noon, completely ignoring their parents' suggestions of adjusting their sleep cycle before the first day of school.

Clarke Griffin was one of those students. She couldn't be bothered to style her blonde hair today, instead opting to put it up in a bun and tie a bandana around her head as a headband to keep the stray locks in place. The dark circles beneath her eyes matched perfectly with the black leggings and oversized grey sweater she threw on just minutes before hopping in her car. Luckily, she hadn't been reassigned a new locker, at least that was one less tedious task for what would very likely be a long, long day.

7...26...14. Click!

The maroon door swung open with a push of the handle, revealing the decorations that went untouched for 4 months; that is, if a mirror and a small poster of a golden retriever puppy were considered "decorations."

"Damn it," she mumbled, catching a glimpse of her own face in the mirror. The dark skin beneath her blue eyes didn't jump out so much in her dimly-lit bathroom at home... dimly-lit indeed, as she also missed a streak of blue paint down the side of her left cheek.

"I know you've been wanting to make your eyes pop a bit more, but I don't think this is the look for you."

Clarke peered behind herself in the mirror to find her best friend, Octavia, standing right behind her. "O!" She whirled around and pulled the girl into a tight hug, purposefully rubbing her cheek on the brunette's out of spite.

"Hey, hey, hey! Blue isn't my color!" Octavia laughed and pushed Clarke off of her, picking the dried flakes of paint off her face while Clarke scratched the remainder off her own cheek.

"Damn, you look like Farrah Fawcett with that hair," Clarke laughed and dodged a playful nudge from the brunette. "Not a bad thing, by the way! Lincoln probably thinks it's choice style."

Octavia rolled her eyes and huffed. "Not even."

A glint of mischief flashed through blue eyes before the blonde lowered her voice to imitate Lincoln's. "What a bodacious babe, I bet she's wicked in the sheets!"

Octavia squealed and used her Lisa Frank trapper keeper to slap Clarke's arm. "Stop! You sound like such a val when you do that," she giggled. "Have you seen Raven?"

Clarke shrugged just as the bell rang, turned around one more time to check herself in the mirror, and slammed her locker shut. "This must be a new record, she usually waits until the second day to ditch."

"Oh eat my shorts, I'm here now!" Raven wheeled down the hallway to her two friends before heading to class. "I couldn't get my fucking hair done in time," she muttered and pulled her half-crimped black hair back into a ponytail with a bright blue scrunchie. "The one time I even care about my looks."

"You look nice anyway, though. Almost like you just rolled out of bed after a one night stand," Octavia teased. She grabbed Raven's elbow and towed her away to their shared first class.

"Good luck, Griff!" Raven called out over her shoulder.

Clarke readjusted her backpack on her shoulder and clutched a bare binder to her chest, already shaking with nerves on her stroll down the hallway to calculus. She switched between imagining embarrassing herself in class and glaring daggers at what felt like twenty different students as they bumped into her, heading the opposite direction.

"Stand along the walls, please" stretched in large writing across the chalkboard at the front of the classroom.

"Clarke!"