Arcadia Academy

Chapter 3

Clarke woke up blinded by the sun rays coming through the window next to Luna's bed. She rolled over with a groan and saw that Octavia's bed was just one foot to the right of the bright rays. Clarke could understand why her bed was the last one chosen. She made a mental note to ask Luna if she could close the blinds tomorrow so she could sleep in.

When Clarke walked out into the common area Lexa was sitting on the couch tying her sneakers.

"Do you want to go on a run?" Lexa offered.

Clarke's first instinct was to say absolutely not. It was early on a Saturday and she knew that the next week was going to kick her ass. Then she thought about it for a second and figured it might be good to ensure she was on Lexa's good side.

"Yeah sure, I just need five minutes to get ready." Clarke replied.

"Okay, I'm ready whenever you are." Lexa smiled at her.

Clarke was a little surprised. Lexa didn't seem like the type to smile often. She wondered what had her in such a good mood compared to yesterday.

Lexa didn't say anything on the walk down the stairs and outside. She led Clarke through some stretches before leading her towards the start of a running trail in the woods. Clarke was struggling to keep up, she wasn't entirely out of shape, but Lexa was really fast and she could tell she wasn't even going full speed.

Finally after running for half an hour Clarke started to slow down. She didn't know how long the run was going to be, but the trail showed no sign of ending soon and Lexa's pace was definitely not faltering.

Lexa noticed that Clarke had fallen behind and stopped running. "We can take a break if you want." She offered.

"That would be nice, thank you." Clarke gasped as she tried to catch her breath.

"You kept up well." Lexa commented.

"Thanks, I usually don't run on such uneven terrain, it is definitely an adjustment." Clarke leaned against a tree.

"You'll get used to it, we do this pretty often." Lexa shrugged.

"How often?" Clarke asked a slightly panicked look crossing her face.

"Twice a week." Lexa replied. She cocked her head to the side and looked at Clarke curiously. "Do you not like running?"

"I wouldn't say I hate it, I just am not in good enough shape for these hills." Clarke replied blushing a little bit.

"You'll get there. Also, just because I'm your lead doesn't mean that you have to come on runs on your morning off." Lexa reassured Clarke.

"I guess I'm just trying to make a good second impression." Clarke said with a grin immediately realizing that her response was more flirty than she thought it would be.

"Well I can't say it isn't working. Although the first one was good too." Lexa said with a quick smile before turning away. "You ready to keep going?"

"Yeah." As soon as the words left Clarke's mouth Lexa was running again. Clarke was slightly confused. She hadn't expected Lexa to say anything about her making a good second impression, let alone bringing up her first one.

Clarke trailed Lexa by about ten feet for the rest of the run and by the time they got back to the dormitory her legs felt like jello. Lexa definitely noticed that she was going up the stairs slower but she didn't say anything about it.