Arcadia Academy

Chapter 7

Clarke woke up in a slightly elevated bed looking at a white ceiling. She looked around and recognized her surroundings as a hospital room. She panicked a bit wondering why she was in the hospital. She tried to sit up but the fast movement made her brain feel like it was being stabbed by a bunch of tiny needles. She rested back holding her head in her hands. She could feel that it was wrapped in a bandage so she knew she had stitches somewhere she just hoped they didn't have to shave any of her hair off for them.

"You're awake!" Lexa was looking at her in surprise from the chair next to her head.

"My head is killing me." Clarke complained.

"You have a concussion." Lexa explained.

Clarke nodded having no problem believing that explanation.

"How long has it been since the game?" Clarke asked.

"The game was a few hours ago." Lexa answered.

Clarke nodded, okay with that number. "That isn't too bad, I half expected you to say a few days ago."

"I'll go get a nurse so they can examine you." Lexa stood up and left before Clarke could say anything else.

Lexa left to go back to school while Clarke stayed overnight in the hospital. She informed her that Miller was on suspension now. Clarke couldn't really remember the incident so she couldn't tell if she should be mad or not and Lexa mainly just seemed concerned about her so she hadn't learned anything from her. She knew that if she asked Raven or Octavia they would both probably be furious. Clarke drifted off into a restless sleep.

Healing from a concussion at the school was strange. Clarke was staying in the infirmary until her symptoms started to get better and she didn't really participate in anything. She mostly sat in a dark room trying to sleep all day between the sporadic visits from her friends. Lexa hadn't come to visit since the day in the hospital. Clarke didn't think she expected her to wake up that day and that she hadn't really planned on Clarke knowing she was visiting her.

It was about to be Halloween and Clarke was doing better, but not good enough for Dr. Jackson to let her out of the infirmary. She was drawing in her sketchbook. It had been a good day so far. No headaches. She just needed the rest of the day to go smoothly and for a couple more good days.

There was a knock at the doorway and Clarke turned to see Lexa standing just outside the open door.

"Hi." Clarke said.

"Hello, how are you?" Lexa asked without moving to step into the room.

"I'm feeling good today." Clarke answered. "You can come in if you want to." Clarke offered.

Lexa nodded and stepped into the room and sat on the bed across from Clarke's. "They told me you should be back within the week." Lexa commented.

Clarke figured that must be why she was here. "Yeah."

"That's good, I'm glad you recovered well it was a hard hit." Lexa said casually.

"So, what brings you down here tonight?" Clarke asked curiously.

"I came to see you." Lexa answered.

"Why?" Clarke asked before she could stop herself.

Lexa looked a little surprised, "why not?" she questioned.

"I- um-" Clarke fumbled over her words.

"I am your unit lead after all, I have a responsibility to make sure you are doing okay even when you aren't staying with the unit." Lexa suddenly turned very professional and Clarke realized that her shot at the soft Lexa was fading and the commander was taking place. Clarke had noticed that Lexa would occasionally open up or say something sweet, but that was usually quickly followed up by the cold aura of the commander as she quickly rebuilt her walls.

"Sorry, stupid question, concussions get you like that." Clarke tried to cover up the awkward moment.

"Hey, you're never stupid." Lexa gently placed her hand on Clarke's and squeezed it for a second before taking her hand back. "Is your head hurting? I can leave you." Lexa offered with a small smile.

Clarke shook her head. "You can stay and hang out if you want. I was just drawing, I have extra paper."

"Oh, I don't know, I don't really draw." Lexa started to step towards the door.

"Hold on!" Clarke called her to stop. Lexa turned back to look at her. "Just because you aren't good at it doesn't mean you can't do it, you watch me suck at stuff all week during training, why don't you let me turn the tables and show you I'm actually good at something." Clarke said with a grin.

Lexa smiled and sat next to Clarke on her bed so they could both use the table. Clarke handed her a piece of paper and a pencil.

"You don't suck by the way." Lexa said as she stared at the blank paper trying to figure out what to draw. "I've seen much worse from students who have been here far longer than you."

"Well I'm glad to hear I'm not the worst." Clarke laughed.

"Your parents being in the military definitely helped you. Students with civilian parents struggle a lot more because the whole military culture is foreign to them and the level of discipline is a bit of a shock. You weren't shocked at all." Lexa started sketching some lines on her paper.

Clarke and Lexa worked in silence next to each other. Neither of them was letting the other peek at their drawings before they were finished.

"Okay, I'm done." Clarke said.

"I've been done for a while, I was just shading." Lexa looked up ready to see what Clarke had been working on.

"You went from not knowing how to draw to shading?" Clarke asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't say I didn't know how, I said it wasn't my thing." Lexa corrected. "You first." She nodded to Clarke's picture.

Clarke flipped it around to reveal a pretty detailed sketch of a lighthouse.

"It's beautiful." Lexa admired the drawing. "Where is it?" she asked.

"It's in Maine, my parents and I went there on vacation one year and my dad and I went to this lighthouse every night." Clarke explained the meaning. "Let me see yours." She said trying to distract herself from how much she missed her father.

Lexa turned her picture around with a look on her face that said she wasn't impressed with her work. Clarke couldn't imagine why. Lexa had drawn an old plane with an open cockpit. It was actually very impressive.

"That's amazing!" Clarke exclaimed.

"I did my best going off of memory, I haven't seen it in a while." Lexa reminisced.

"Whose plane was it?" Clarke asked.

"Mine." Lexa answered. "It still is, but it's currently at an air hanger being stored because I'm here and can't fly it right now."

"That's so cool. I've never been in that type of plane before." Clarke thought about all the cool planes her parents had taken her on and never one of those.

"Being in the open air like that is such a rush. You should come with me someday, I could teach you how to fly." Lexa offered.

Clarke nodded excitedly. She hadn't dreamed of flying all her life or anything but she still thought it would be really cool to try.

"I have to go back to the barracks, I'm on patrol tonight and I have to close everything down." Lexa said goodbye to Clarke.

"Goodnight, Lexa, Thank you for coming." Clarke thanked her.

"Thank you for inviting me to draw, it was more fun than I expected." Lexa said. "Goodnight Clarke."