I shifted uncomfortably as I looked at myself in the mirror. I was wearing my new cadet uniform which consisted of black skinny jeans, black combat boots, and a black jacket with the Ark's symbol on the back. I zipped up the jacket and pulled my hair up into a tight ponytail. It was my first day as an official cadet, and I was a bundle of nerves.
Commander Duke had met with me to hand over my uniform and explain how the training would go. Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays were physical training. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I would be put on some kind of guard duty with a few other cadets and a commanding officer at a certain place on the Ark.
He told me that guard training was very demanding and competitive. There would be boys twice my size that I would have to prove myself to, but I wasn't too worried about that part.
The last thing I put on was my black pearl necklace. I gripped tight to it for a few moments wondering what my mom would say to me if she was there for my first day as a cadet.
My eyes wandered down to the watch on my wrist. Training started in fifteen minutes, and it took ten minutes to get to the training room from the apartment. I quickly grabbed my bag as I walked out of my room to find that my dad had left early for another emergency Council meeting. They were having a lot of those recently.
Every time I asked him about it, my dad would shrug me off and change the subject. I knew something very serious was going on. Maybe even something dangerous. Bellamy had told me in one of our training sessions that people in Factory Station were fed up with being mistreated. They were discussing riots and all sorts of ways to improve their situations.
I shook off the thoughts as I arrived at the training center. When I stepped through the door, a group of cadets was all gathered in the middle of the room joking around and laughing. Commander Duke told me that there were seven other cadets. I was one of only two girls.
All six guys were in the group towards the center of the room where all the sparing mats were located. Bellamy was one of them, and my pulse began to race as the memories from two days ago washed into my mind. The feeling of his lips against mine; his hands on my skin.
My stomach churned with anxiety at the idea of facing him. I had no idea what the kiss meant to him besides just making out in a janitor's closet.
I wasn't even paying attention to the two guys approaching me. I didn't even know they were standing in front of me until one of them spoke up.
"When they said we were getting a new cadet I didn't expect the newbie to be so..."
"Hot?"
My head snapped over to the two voices. I glanced over the two guys who looked to be nineteen or twenty. My eyes fell to their metal nametags: Walker and Dallas.
Cadet Walker's blue eyes taunted me. His brown hair was in desperate need of a trim, "How did you get the training spot? I expected it to be Miller."
I didn't even flinch, "So did Miller. Until I knocked him on his ass."
Dallas chuckled, "I think you'll fit in fine here, Winters. Maybe you'll knock some sense into these crazy idiots."
Dallas seemed like an ok guy. His ass hats friend, however...Not so much.
"These clowns aren't bothering you are they?" Well crap. So much for trying to avoid him.
Slowly, my eyes shifted over to Bellamy. As soon as our eyes met, my heartbeat picked up. For some odd reason, he looked extra attractive in his uniform. Damn him.
"We were just getting to know the new cadet," Walker replied as he gave Bellamy a friendly slap on the chest. "Careful man. She's as feisty as she looks."
I rolled my eyes as Bellamy glanced over me, "I know." Walker and Dallas made their way back to the other guys leaving Bellamy and I standing alone. I refused to look him in the eyes as he tried to read my expression. '"We need to talk about it, Harley."
"About what?"
Annoyance covered his face, "Seriously? You know what. We made out in the freaking janitor's closet, and from my understanding of the situation, you enjoyed it very much-"
I stomped on his foot angrily causing him to wince in pain, "Keep your voice down."
A flash of anger hit his pretty eyes, "Why? You afraid your boyfriend is going to find out?"
"I'm not doing this with you right now, Bellamy," I replied as I turned away from him. "We can talk about what happened later ok?"
"I'm not the only one you need to talk to about the kiss, princess," I knew Bellamy was talking about Wells, but that was another topic I was trying to avoid. Suddenly, I felt Bellamy grab my wrist. He pulled me close to him just shy of roughly. A small gasp escaped my lips at his random action, and he spoke in a very low tone. "You need to start figuring some things out because I'm not sharing you with the mini Chancellor."
It took all my strength, but I didn't let my eyes wander down to his lips. Instead, my eyes danced with his as he dared me to challenge him.
I ripped my arm from his firm grip, "I'm not an object, Bellamy. I don't belong to you or Wells, and whatever I decide to do isn't up to you."
A sense of pride filled my body as I turned away content that I got the last word. I quickly walked over to where the other cadets were standing as Commander Duke began barking out orders. I had forgotten how much I hated him. he was so annoying, and he had a stick up his butt.
For a while, all we did was do push-ups and sit-ups until Commander Duke got tired of watching us do them. He made us run around the training center until my side was cramping horribly. Sweat drenched my whole aching body.
That wasn't the worst part though. The worst part was when the guys decided to take their shirts off because they were soaked with sweat. Dallas or Walker or any other guy wasn't exactly the problem. The problem was Bellamy Blake and his stupid perfectly tan, toned abs.
I also noticed that his freckles were not limited to his face. Damn him.
I ogled over his beautiful body shamelessly. Well, it was shamelessly until he caught me staring. That infuriating cocky smirk tugged at his lips, and my gut inflamed with anger and a hint of embarrassment.
"Alright, cadets time for the hard part."
The hard part? Didn't we just do that? Commander Duke motioned to the back of the room, and dread entered every part of my body. In the back of the room stood a very intimidating obstacle coarse. It had a climbing wall, a wall with ropes hanging down that you had to climb up using your arm strength, boxes to jump over, and about a sixty-yard sprint to the finish.
"We all have to place bets on who we think will win," Dallas whispered from beside me.
I raised my eyebrows, "Why?"
"Because, whoever wins gets to sit out for thirty minutes of the next conditioning day, and if you play your cards right you get to join them," Dallas was looking at Commander Duke with a surprising amount of respect. "Duke says it teaches us to have faith in people besides ourselves, and it helps us rely on each other as a team."
I glanced over at Duke as he passed out small pieces of paper and pencils, "At least he does one thing right."
"He bets too, you know," Dallas added. "If he gets it wrong, he joins us for conditioning."
"How often does he get it wrong?"
Dallas grinned, "Hardly ever. He knows his cadets better than anyone."
Commander Duke stopped and held out a pencil and paper to Dallas and me. His eyes glanced over both of us, but they stopped on me.
He spoke to everyone in the group, "Place your bets wisely, cadets. I have a feeling we're all in for a surprise today."
I grabbed the two objects from him, "You got that right."
I looked at all the other cadets as my pencil lingered over the paper. I stopped thinking back to Dallas's words about how Commander Duke wanted us to have faith in our team, but how could I have faith in the other cadets if I didn't even have faith in myself? I believed that I could win. I knew that I could win. Why would I place my bet on someone else just to be nice and considerate?
I made up my mind as I wrote out the name on my paper: Harley Winters.
Once all the pieces of paper were turned in, Commander Duke led the group towards the obstacle coarse.
"I wish we could place bets on who we think will come in last," I heard Walker say from beside me as he threw me a taunting look. "I think we all know who that will be."
I could've lashed out with some snappy remark, but I decided beating him on the coarse would be more satisfying than beating him with words.
"We'll see," Was all I replied.
All eight of us lined up at the starting line with Commander Duke beside us. I made sure to be between Walker and Bellamy. The two people that I wanted to beat most out of all the cadets. Bellamy gazed down at me with a grin. He was still lacking a shirt.
"Are you sure you won't get too distracted if you stand right there, Princess."
I was one hundred percent done with just about everything that day, "Actually, you know what. I'm feeling kind of hot too."
Bellamy's eyes widened as I yanked my shirt over my head and threw it behind me leaving me in only a black sports bra. All the cadet's jaws dropped in shock and I gave them all a giant smirk. Bellamy's eyes wandered down to my chest as he clenched his jaw.
I leaned over to whisper, "Who's the one distracted now?"
I took my starting stance without another word as Bellamy, seeming completely flustered, managed to tear his eyes away from me. Commander Duke told us all to get ready, and adrenaline began racing through my veins as I waited for him to say go.
The room went silent as a few seconds ticked by. My eyes were trained on the climbing wall about twenty yards away from the starting line.
My heart pounded in my chest, and then, Commander Duke yelled out, "Go!"
Most of the cadets tore out as fast as they could, but the coarse was long and tiring so I held back a bit of my speed as I ran towards the middle of the group. I made it to the climbing wall, and a few of the taller guys struggled to move with agility up the little fake rocks poking out of the wall.
I moved like a cat as I scaled the wall with ease, catching up with Dallas as I landed on the other side of the wall. The only two in front of me were Bellamy and Walker. I picked up my speed a little as I ran to the next obstacle. I grabbed the thick rope with two hands as I began pulling myself up with my feet on the metal wall.
Bellamy made it look easy as his arm muscles bulged out. Determination overtook me as I pushed the burning in my arms away. I forced myself to climb faster and faster until I reached the top.
The next obstacle was a tall, long row of monkey bars. There was a single thin mat below us, and a fall would probably result in a sprained ankle. I guess it was a good thing I didn't mind heights.
Bellamy and Walker were only a few feet away from me as I slung my body to each bar as fast as I could with a strong grip on the metal. I felt my hands begin to get aggravated with the tension, but I continued until the end.
The last obstacle was a series of tall boxes that we had to jump over. There were four rows of them, and I began jumping the ones right between Walker and Bellamy. I was even with them when suddenly, Walker's foot got caught and he tripped leaving Bellamy and me in the lead.
As we hurdled the last box, we arrived at the home stretch; a sixty-yard sprint. I mustered up every ounce of strength I had left in my body, and I pushed myself to run faster than I ever had in my entire life.
With about twenty yards left, I found myself beginning to break away from Bellamy because unlike him, I had saved some of my energy.
I ran through the finish line, a wave of relief hitting my body. I was breathing heavily, and I heard clapping. Even though the noise was all around it me, it seemed distant.
I felt someone pat me on the back, but then, the room started to spin. I stumbled slightly into someone's arms.
"...alright?"
"What's wrong...."
"Harley?"
"I think she's just dehydrated."
"Get her to medical."
"Yes Sir."
I felt someone pick me up off my feet. I leaned my head into their warm chest. I knew who it was by his familiar scent.
"I'm fine, Bellamy. Put me down."
Bellamy ignored my words as he began to walk down the halls of the Ark. We were both still shirtless and getting strange looks from people. Bellamy didn't seem to care as he hurried towards medical. My head was pounding. I felt dizzy and nauseous and like my head was just going to roll off my body.
"Just hang in there, Princess. We're almost there."
What happened next was sort of a blur. Mainly because I passed out for a few moments. I remembered Bellamy carrying me to a bed, and Doctor Griffin trying to talk to me. I heard her speaking with Bellamy about what happened, and I heard the concern laced within Bellamy's voice as he asked if I would be ok.
Doctor Griffin brought me a glass of water. For a long time, I just laid in the bed drinking fluids and taking deep breaths as Bellamy stayed beside me refusing to leave.
"She's just extremely dehydrated. She'll be fine in a couple of hours. You don't need to stay with her," Doctor Griffin told Bellamy. "Besides, I don't really want a half-naked man walking around medical."
Bellamy glanced down at me, and I gave him a reassuring nod, "You can go. I'm feeling better already."
He let out a long sigh, "Ok," Bellamy stepped closer to the bed, and seemed to forget that Doctor Griffin was in the room as he gingerly brushed a piece of hair behind my ear and caressed my cheek. "Do you need anything? Do you want me to get your dad or your friends?"
I was shocked by how gentle he was being. One minute he was aggressive and flirty and the next he was so...soft. I blinked in surprise a couple of times as Doctor Griffin eyed him with suspicion.
"Thanks, but I think I'll be fine."
His deep brown eyes looked into mine. They were filled with so much concern and gentleness that it made me want to melt. A small smile appeared on his lips as he dropped his hand.
"And just so you'll know," His eyes were still locked with mine. "I bet on you."
I was overwhelmed with those warm feelings again as Bellamy and I seemed to be stuck in each other's gazes. Everything else around me faded away. There was only Bellamy.
Until Wells came barging into the room.
"What the hell is this?" His angered voice yelled loudly as he took in Bellamy and I. We were both shirtless, which probably gave him the wrong idea.
I spoke up first, "Wells, it's nothing."
"Nothing?" He let out a scoff as he turned to Bellamy. "I think you should leave. I don't want my girlfriend anywhere near you." I hated the way he spit out girlfriend in Bellamy's face.
And so did Bellamy, because he took a threatening step towards Wells, "I don't think you can tell her what to do. Trust me, I tried. She doesn't listen at all."
Wells gave Bellamy a look of rage. It was the angriest I had ever seen him. He shoved Bellamy aggressively, "You stay the hell away from her!"
Oh God.
Bellamy shoved him back with equal force, and before Abby could step in. I forced myself to stand up out of the bed, "Enough! That's enough!" Bellamy and Wells gave each other one last hateful glare before turning towards me. I shot a look over at Abby. "Could you please give me a moment with these two idiots?"
"Of course."
Doctor Griffin walked away from the bed in a hurry, and I crossed my arms over my chest as I looked at both of them, "I am way too exhausted right now to deal with your bullshit. Stop acting like dramatic little girls, and stop acting like I'm some kind of toy to fight over. Neither of you own me so quit pretending like you do!" They both reached out to apologize, but I moved away. "Just get out. Both of you. You're pissing me off."
Bellamy and Wells lingered for a few seconds in surprise. They gave each other another glare full of absolute rage and hate before walking away.
I fell back onto the bed, and didn't know how I was going to deal with those two drama queens.
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