Wonderland

Chapter Five: Auditions

Their cease fire last approximately two days. Two and a half, really. The first night is calm enough. Lexa helps her edit her AP Lit paper. Nobody complains about the music. Nobody argues. Nobody turns their AP Lit paper in past it's 10 p.m. deadline. Clarke spends most of the second night in Raven and Octavia's dorm and only stumbles in past curfew. It was a peaceful cease fire, while it lasted.

Now they're yelling about something – who is responsible for which side of the room, what is none of Lexa's business, and what justifiably is. Sometime between Clarke asking her if the stick up her ass needs medical attention and Lexa reprimanding her for turning a legitimate discussion into a petty argument, there's a knock on their door.

Clarke's eyes go wide and she cringes. "Shit."

"Answer it."

"Why me?"

She doesn't know why. Clarke's been at this school longer, maybe she knows how to get out of trouble. Lexa doesn't have a solid reason, all she knows is she can't get in trouble.

"Clarke, if they call my parents and say I got in trouble–"

She seems to understand that, because she softens. "I'll handle it. Just... sit down. Play dead."

She hopes Clarke is joking, because she's certainly not about to legitimately play dead in front of a teacher. She takes a seat in her desk chair and shuffles a few papers on the table as Clarke swings the door open.

"Headmaster Jaha. What brings you to our room on this... lovely Friday night."

Lexa watches the man outside the door out of the corner of her eye. He's tall, imposing, and well dressed. The kind of man that demands respect with everything he does.

"I believe I heard shouting, Ms. Griffin."

"Shouting?" Clarke feigns ignorance and then slaps her hand to her forehead. "You mean our audition practice?"

"Audition practice..." He repeats.

"For the play. We don't have the actual script, of course, so my roommate here wrote one of her own as a replacement. So we could practice before audition night, you know?" She takes a few steps into the room and picks a pile of papers off of their dresser. Lexa knows it's a bluff, but the way Clarke scans the sheet of paper and shrugs makes her want to believe it. "I mean, it's a work in progress, and frankly a little dull. I thought I'd liven it up with some emotional turmoil between the characters. I didn't realize how loud we were."

The headmaster narrows his eyes. He doesn't buy it. She expects he must to be used to Clarke's usual shenanigans by now.

"I'd have us reenact the next scene for you but uh, I'm not sure it would be appropriate. It was really written for the part of a boy and a girl. It's..." She turns the pages on their side in her hand and runs her fingers down the side of the page. "A little passionate, if you get my meaning." Lexa feels her blood run cold at the implication. Clarke raises her eyebrows and waits for him to admit defeat. He does.

"No need." He nods at them. "Just keep it down." After a moment of thought he adds, "And maybe skip that scene."

"Will do." Clarke smiles brilliantly at him and moves to shut the door. "Say hi to Wells for me."

The headmaster looks almost dazed as she waves goodbye to him, but Lexa knows the effect Clarke can have. She almost pities him.

The wooden door shuts behind Clarke and she leans up against it, laughing softly. "You're welcome for that."

"That was unbelievable."

Clarke pushes herself off the door and flops down onto her bed. "I know, right? Hard to believe there's anyone left in this school that thinks I'm actually straight."