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THE SKY WAS SEARED with jets of orange against a backdrop that was awash with a golden pink, like the epicentre of a budding flower. Jinny sat by the edge of the stream, dipping her toes in the cool current with Octavia beside her. She couldn't help smirking to herself as the younger girl tried every tactic possible to get her to talk about her sudden feud with Clarke. Apparently, that was all anyone was talking about back in camp.
"Please don't tell me there's a love triangle involving my brother," Octavia said as she washed her clothes.
"I swear you delinquents are worse than the gossiping housewives back in Phoenix," Jinny commented. "Who's going to debut next, what dress is she going to wear, peacocks or swans?"
"Yeah, I bet you know all about that, huh?" Octavia nudged her and wiggled her eyebrows playfully.
"I've never had the pleasure of tasting a peacock or a swan yet," Jinny replied. "But if I do, you'll be the first to know."
"Is food all you ever think about?" The girl shook her head, wringing her shirt between her hands to remove the excess water from the thin clothing.
"I'm so hungry," Jinny whined like a hurt puppy as she clutched her stomach. "I only ate a squirrel yesterday and some berries this morning. I really miss chicken broth, even if it was fake chicken."
"Ugh, don't talk to me about chicken broth!" Octavia cried out loud. "And fluffy bread from Anderson."
"No, shut up! We must never talk about Anderson's fluffy bread!" Jinny splashed some water onto the girl.
She laughed, tossing her freshly cleaned clothes in a pile on top of a canvas sheet. "Hey Jin," she started. "Do you miss the Ark?"
Jinny inhaled deeply through her nose and sighed. "I miss some of it. Running electricity and water, for one. The cold. It's way too humid here."
"That's it?" Octavia looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"And computers to mess around with." Jinny shrugged. "Other than that, I hated everything about it. Especially the Council and the entire system. I love space, but I didn't love the Ark."
"I think I know what you mean." The girl fiddled with a lock of her brown hair. "I never knew the Ark, I never existed up there. Earth accepted me, and it's the first place I can really call home. Where I can be free."
"I'm glad you're free now." Jinny smiled at her.
"I'm glad you don't hate Bell anymore!" The girl patted the dirt from her pants before turning to Jinny slyly.
The older woman scowled darkly. "What are you talking about? I still hate his guts."
"Mhmm. Miller told me that the entire time during their training yesterday, the both of you kept making heart eyes at each other."
Jinny made a mental note to kill Miller that night.
"I think you need to get checked by Clarke because you must have hit your head worse than we thought when you fell in that ravine the other day."
"Deny all you like," Octavia smirked as she made to stand and picked up her bundle of wet clothes. "But everyone in camp knows that the both of you are meant to be."
Jinny scoffed in disbelief as she watched Octavia sashay away into the forest towards the direction of the dropship. Did the girl eat some bad nuts or something? She was clearly not in her right mind.
"Ah, whatever!" Jinny threw a stone into the river, watching it skip twice across the surface, then got up to head back as well. As she drew closer to the dropship, she could hear the unmistakable orotund voice of Chancellor Jaha. She went over to join Miller and Raven as they stood in front of the screen transmitting the Chancellor's speech from the Ark.
"My friends, this is a historic Unity Day. Every year, we mark the moment our ancestors of the twelve stations joined to form the Ark, but this is the last time we do so while aboard her. Next year, on the ground." The audience on the space station started to applaud as Jaha smiled widely at his own proclamation.
"Right," Miller scoffed. "After we did all the work. Someone shut him up."
"You shut up, Miller," Raven retorted. "No one's forcing you to watch."
"He's got a point though," Jinny said. "They did send us to the ground to die after all."
Raven shook her head but decided not to argue the point as they continued to watch the broadcast. Jinny had always looked forward to Unity Day because of the parties, but it was the biggest sham in their entire history. She thought it should've been called 'Blasting the thirteenth station out of existence' Day. Just as she was silently rebuffing every word that came out of Jaha's mouth, a long drawn out cheer came from the direction of one of the tents.
"Monty strikes again!" Jasper shouted as he stepped out, smoke trailing along in the air behind him. He held up a large sealed container between his hands, his goggles completely fogged up. "Call this batch Unity Juice! Who's thirsty?!"
He ran forwards to the middle of the camp amidst cheers and hollers from the delinquents. Jinny grinned and exchanged glances with Raven. "C'mon, you know you want to!"
"Hell yeah, I want to!" Raven replied and they rushed over to grab a cup filled with moonshine. Everybody crowded around with their arms extended, hoping to get a taste of Monty's creation.
"I freakin' love Unity Day!" Jinny exclaimed as she clinked cups with Raven and Miller.
"To our sons and daughters on Earth listening to this message, we will see you soon. The first Exodus ship will launch in under sixty hours, carrying you the reinforcements that you need, so stay strong. Help is on the way."
"Hey, have you seen Bellamy?" Miller asked and Jinny shook her head. Monty's moonshine was incredible. "He was looking for you and Octavia earlier."
"Oh, we were by the river," she replied.
"He told me to tell you that he was out by the East Wall if I saw you," he said. "Needed to ask you something."
"Is it so important that I have to miss out on our Unity Day's pageant?" Jinny raised her eyebrows and gestured towards the screen.
"I guess so." Miller shrugged when the broadcast suddenly got cut off. She pouted her lips as the screen turned into static. "Guess you don't have an excuse now," he told her.
"Fine," Jinny huffed, grabbing another cup of moonshine from Jasper before heading off to find the man in question. She passed by Monroe who was cooking a boar and grabbed a skewer of meat from the fire pit. There was no doubt that the delinquents were going to party throughout the entire day, and it was barely noon. Jinny slipped through the gap in the East Wall and looked around for Bellamy.
She couldn't see him by the perimeter so she wandered a bit further from the camp, towards the direction of the flower field nearby where she sometimes took a nap in. The ground was covered in an array of multi coloured wildflowers that were starting to dry out and turn pale. Bellamy stood in the middle, staring off at the tree line in the distance. Jinny stopped at the edge of the field and bent down to discard her empty cup, before prowling forwards carefully.
Bellamy must have been deep in thought or completely enthralled by his bottle of drink because he hadn't even noticed her creeping up behind him when she lunged at his back. The man let out a surprised yell as he lost his footing and fell forwards onto a patch of lavender, effectively crushing the poor plants under their combined weight.
Jinny laughed happily as she laid on her back, the blades of grass tickling her skin, and Bellamy pushed himself up onto an elbow. "How did you even sneak up on me?" he questioned rethorically.
She looked up at him with a wide smile, the sun's rays making his brown eyes a shade lighter and catching the array of freckles across his nose. For a split second, she wanted to dust her fingers on them. Instead, she said, "I'm a ninja."
Bellamy shook his head with an amused smile. He reached up with a hand to pluck a stray daisy from her hair before frowning as he sniffed the air. "There's more moonshine?" he asked.
"Monty just made a fresh batch." Jinny shrugged with a small giggle. "It's called Unity Juice."
"Great," Bellamy laid back down and stretched his arms languidly above his head. "It's barely noon and people are already drunk."
She grinned widely, pulling her knees up to her chest and making herself comfortable in the bed of flowers. "Yeah... Unity Day," she chuckled. "Remember that one time we got Tom and Lexie super drunk?"
"Yeah," he laughed. "Tom tried dancing with Teresa, it was hilarious."
"Kane got so mad, he banned us from talking to her for a month," Jinny said. "Man, those were the days."
"Yeah..." he murmured, turning to look at her with his dark eyes reflecting sentiment that she couldn't decipher. "A lot of things happen on Unity Day."
She glanced down at him with a small smile. "Miller said you were lookin' for me?"
"Just wanted to check in on you," he answered. "Are you really okay with what happened yesterday?"
"You should be asking Clarke that," she scoffed. "I can't undo what I've done. And anyway, the Exodus ship is gonna arrive in less than sixty hours so we'll get to see everyone else soon."
"Yeah, but—" he started but Jinny cut him off.
"There's nothing left to say, Bell," she snapped in warning.
"Okay, I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I was just concerned."
She turned her head away and huffed. "I don't need your concern. Why do you even care?"
"Because I care about you!" he exclaimed.
Jinny flinched, taken aback by his sudden outburst. She directed her gaze back to him as he pushed himself upright, frustration clearly written on his features. Her heart started to beat just a little faster at the way his eyes pierced through the very fabric of her soul. She was suddenly fourteen again, her heart aching with elation at how much she adored him in secret.
Bellamy took her hand, his voice filled with sincerity. "Ever since we first met to this day... I care about you."
"W-well, just care a little less then! I can handle things on my own—I prefer it that way," she said.
"I can't do that." He took a deep breath, causing her to frown.
"Bell..."
"You mean the entire world to me, Jin."
Somewhere deep inside her, something beautiful stirred and bloomed and pulsed with life. The last two years ceased to exist, an echo that she could barely remember in light of the golden sun that kissed their skin on that meadow. The words were on the tip of her tongue, but they terrified her. So she mumbled an excuse instead, and started to stand.
"Wait," he called, grasping her wrist tightly.
Her voice came out breathless. "What?"
"I love you."
Jinny stared back at him, felt her chest constrict tightly as she lost functionality in her lungs. Bellamy gently pulled her back down to the ground and leaned in close, his fingers tangling through her dark hair. She couldn't take her eyes off his, body shivering at the warmth of his hand on her skin. If there was only one word that she could use to describe him then, it would be incandescent. He was a flame that she was inexplicably drawn to, bright and hot as he seared through her senses.
"I've loved you for so long," he said quietly, his voice so low that she could feel the vibration in the scarce space between them. "And I know you feel the same."
She inhaled a shuddering breath as he drew closer and she almost closed her eyes, if it weren't for her heart racing in her ears. Fear was what drove her actions, an intense terror that she had never felt before seized her. Jinny pulled her hand free from his grasp and stood up so quickly, she almost fell backwards.
"I—uh... need to go," she swallowed before making a dash back to the camp.
Her mind had suddenly become a slew of incomprehensible syllables, as if tied up like a knotted ball of string. The camp was in a state of festivity and chaos, raucous laughter bursting forth from every corner of the site. She jostled between bodies, everything a blur of shouting and motion. It was like her entire body had gone into shock and was now shutting down.
Jinny broke free of the crowd gathered in front of the dropship and stumbled to the side, blindly pushing away the flap of a tent. "What's up?" Monty greeted her, already brewing up another batch of moonshine. She took a step forwards and ran into the edge of the table with a cry of pain.
"What happened with you?" Jasper asked.
Jinny shook her head and ran a hand nervously through her hair. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing." She staggered forwards and dropped onto a chair in the corner of the tent in a mild stupor.
"Are you okay?" Monty frowned. "Was my moonshine too much for you?"
She whirled around to look at them, eyes wide and distraught. "I think I just screwed up big time."
"Wait, what, who, where, how, why?" The two boys leaned forwards eagerly to learn more.
She stared back at them, the answer almost leaving her lips before she shut her mouth. They watched as she reached over and grabbed the container of moonshine sitting on the table and drank a few large gulps. The sour sting of the alcohol burned her throat and she felt the fire in her belly almost immediately. She then buried her head in her arms to muffle a low scream. Monty and Jasper leaned back in their seats and exchanged disappointed glances.
"She's totally gone."
"Totally."
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © KAYE CEE
DO NOT STEAL, COPY OR TAKE ANY PART OF THIS WORK.
[ author's note ]
hahahahaha surprise!! i was listening to "grenade" by bruno mars while writing this and i can't stop laughing at how relevant it is. please leave a vote and comment, it helps out a lot!