Before You Go

let my walls come down

Clarke sighs heavily, propping her chin up on her hand. Her eyelids drop and she shoots a glance at the clock. 2:17 am. Clarke groans and stretches her arms above her head, her back cracking as she bends from side to side. Her test is at 10, which means she has less than 8 hours to sleep. So, she closes her textbook and grabs her purse off the table, pushing back her chair and standing up.

She's often wondered if the 24-hour library was a blessing or a curse, as it makes it insanely easy to get carried away late into the night- or very early morning- reading. On the other hand, it's a quiet place she can escape to on nights when her roommates are especially crazy. She grins at the thought of them. Clarke and Octavia have been practically inseparable since kindergarten, quickly enveloping Monty and Jasper, who refer to themselves as Jonty now, into their group come 7th grade. Then, in high school they met Raven. And that was their group.

They couldn't believe it when they all got accepted to Arkadia University, where Octavia and Clarke had planned on attending since the 4th grade, partially because of how close it is to their hometown. Raven and Jonty had decided to apply as well. When they were accepted, Raven almost didn't go. That was, until she discovered that Becca Franco, her idol, was a Ark U alumni. That sealed the deal. Ark U was the only school that both Jasper and Monty got accepted into, so there was no real choice there for them.

Raven, Octavia, and Clarke all applied for a room together, and were granted exactly that. Since the dorms at Ark U are coed, Jonty somehow managed to get the room right across from the girls. Since each dorm is meant for three, the boys were supposed to have someone else with them, but their third roommate took one step inside the dorm and saw Jasper, hamster in hand, trying to connect a maze of plastic tubes together in an effort to make Tube City, The Office style. He had turned around and requested a transfer. Finn, the Junior dorm parent, had decided to let the boys have their own room after that.

So they had a new group- Clarke, Raven, Jasper, Monty, Octavia, and occasionally Finn. That was a year ago. Now, two weeks into sophomore year, they were getting readjusted to college life after a summer of lounging by the pool at Clarke's mom's house and long days at the lake.

Clarke pushes open the door to the library, stepping out into the dark night. The moon is barely a sliver, providing little light on the quiet campus. With a sigh, Clarke shifts the book under her arm so she can grab her phone from her back pocket. She pauses on the path as she opens her phone and turns on the flashlight. She takes a second to check the missed messages from her friend, grinning at a clearly drunk Octavia arguing with a just as drunk Jasper in the groupchat about nothing other than what came first- the chicken or the egg? In Octavia's words, "Well if the chicken was first then where the fuck did it come from?"

A pair of arms wrap around her waist and Clarke yelps, nearly dropping her phone on the sidewalk. She relaxes when she realizes it's just Finn, the familiar scent of his cologne enveloping her as he presses a soft kiss to her neck. She shies away as his scruff tickles her, giggling. She uses her free hand to cover his, and looks up at him, grinning.

"You scared me," Clarke scolds lightly. Finn grins and kisses her, releasing her waist and taking her hand instead. He grabs the book from her, tucking it under his other arm. She turns off the flashlight on her phone and slips it into her back pocket, stepping closer to Finn as they walk down the path.

"You didn't really think I was gonna have you walk all the way to our dorm in the middle of the night alone, did you?" Finn teases lightly. Clarke rolls her eyes but smiles at him. "Never, Princess." Upon learning Octavia's older brother, Bellamy,'s nickname for her, Finn had adopted it as her own. Which annoyed Bell to no extent, and therefore Clarke accepted it. Anything to piss off Bellamy , she had thought with a grin.