Summer Fever (a multi-part one shot)

Part One

"Bless you," she said with a sigh of relief. "You startled me."

He nodded his head at her without saying anything. He didn't feel like talking and he knew that if he responded, she would want to start a conversation with him that would never end.

They kept walking, no one saying a word. Clarke wanted to rave about her thoughts more and how amazing the ground was, but she knew that Bellamy didn't want to hear it, although he didn't really want to hear anything that anyone had to say. He was only worried about his thoughts and his actions, a dangerous and selfish way of life down there.

Bellamy sneezed again, louder than before, alarming some of the others. He sniffles and rubbed his nose again.

"Sorry." He said blankly.

He received a few odd looks but he ignored them. He had been fighting that tickle off all day and couldn't curb it anymore.

"You good?" She asked.

"Yeah? I just sneezed. Am I allowed to do that or is that against the rules too?"

The others stared at him for a minute before they continued walking. They knew better than to talk back to him. Bellamy could feel Clarke glaring at him out of the corner of her eye, but he paid no mind. He kept his eyes forward for the remainder of the trip until they were finally at the camp. The doors were promptly opened and they were all greeted with smiles as they strolled through with their trophies from the hunt. It felt good to finally be appreciated, even if it was from a bunch of kids.

"We have returned with food for everyone. For once, tonight; we won't have to go to bed hungry. We won't have to worry about rationing. We can eat enough to be full for the first time in our lives. This may not seem like a lot to some of you, but this is a huge step in the right direction. We will establish a life down here, free of harsh rules and awful conditions."

The crowded cheered. Clarke gritted her teeth. They all loved him for some ungodly reason. To them, he was their savior. Their liberator. Clarke was just the 'naggy mom' who liked to follow the rules. Bellamy on the other hand, was daring and reckless. He offered them things that they had never gotten to experience on the Ark. The kind of wild and carefree life that they so desperately craved.

"Now, the grounder attack is still at our feet. While I'm allowing us to have a few hours of celebration tonight, that doesn't mean that we can let our guard down."

Clarke noticed that he kept scratching at his nose while he was talking. She even noticed it twitch ever so slightly. She honed in on it, watching and waiting.

"All of you still need to be on high alert at all times. We will have the gates guarded, but I advise you to carry your weapons on you at all times. This is not something to take heh....heh.... lightly...."

He could only get a few more words out before the tickle grew even more, stopping Bellamy mid sentence.

"We need to be prepared. We need to fight. And most importantly, we-"

He was interrupted by two sneezes, which he let out over his shoulder, making sure no one saw him wince.

"We need to win," he picked up right where he had left off, unfazed by his interruption. "We have no other option."

The crowd cheered again, giving Bellamy time to quickly turn around and let out another sneeze into his hands. So much for personal hygiene. He turned back around and flashed his award winning smile once more before walking off, but not without Clarke following right behind him.

"That was a nice speech," She said. "And bless you by the way."

She said it both jokingly but also to let him no that his sneezes didn't go unnoticed.

"Thanks. I hope I was able to inspire them at least a little."

He had purposely ignored her blessing. She wanted to press the issue, but she knew that if she did, he would just blow her off and blame it on something else. She also knew that she had to keep a close eye on him. Not only for his sake, but for the other campers. They couldn't afford another outbreak, especially with no medicine.

"Are you going to go get a drink?" She asked. She motioned over to Jasper, who already had campers lining up to get a cup of the disgusting alcohol that he had somehow managed to distill.

"No," He said. "I'm going to bed early tonight. Today's hunt wore me out."

"This hunt wasn't even that hard compared to the others," She raised her eyebrow at him. "And besides, I figured you would be the first one to start drinking away your problems."

"Well you're wrong," He looked her up and down. "Wouldn't be the first time."

"I-"" Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to my tent. Don't follow me and don't disturb me or you'll be sorry."

And with that, he turned around and walked to his tent. Luckily everyone else was too caught up in the high of the celebration to notice that he was gone. He slid back the flaps to his tent and sighed with relief. He had never been so happy to see his lousy sleeping bag before. He hastily undressed and curled up into his sack, shivering slightly as he did. He laid there for a minute, listening to the lively campers talk and mingle with each other. It was a good distraction to say the least. He was actually pretty proud. As he reveled in his ego, the festivities slowly became background noise to him as his body quickly fell into a fitful sleep.