She sighed again at the thought of having to go to this stupid fundraiser celebration and putting on a fake smile for the whole evening. She didn't want to do this, but she had to, for her dad. It's not like had a choice anyway, but she liked to put a different meaning on it to keep her going. Having to put up with the upper crust had to have other, deeper sense than just simply going out to make some connections for her future, if not she would've lost her mind ages ago.

Clarke stood up from her comfy position on bed - her second favorite place in the world, 1st being her parent's residency in Long Island - and looked at her unwashed and tangled hair. She decided she had to do something with it, so she went to her bathroom that was only hers as it was joined to her bedroom and took a shower.

Because of the procrastination that she committed for the majority of the day, she had to abandon her dream of standing too long under the shower and letting almost boiling water fall over her hair and back, and hurry up.

With pain in her heart, Clarke got out of the shower after 20 minutes and immediately started getting ready. From moisturizing her freshly shaved skin to carefully styling her curly hair and doing very subtle and delicate makeup, just the way she liked it.

When she was just about to start taking her expensive dress out of it's case, someone knocked on her door.

"Come in." she said after making sure that her silk robe was well tied and protecting her naked skin underneath from being revealed.

After a few seconds Abby Griffin, her mom, was standing in her room carefully examining her daughters' face until she spoke suddenly like she was in a hurry.

"Rush it, please. We're leaving in ten minutes, I expect you to be ready and waiting at the reception by then. Kane is already there." She said and then left. With a stick up her ass, like always.

Clarke left out of her mouth the breath she was subconsciously keeping for the time her mother entered the room.

She hurried up, just like her mother wished her to and was ready in no time.

Ready for another evening filled with fake smiles and laughter from equally fake people, who were just pretending to want to do something for the common good, instead they were only trying to raise their social status.

—

As soon as Clarke stepped into the walls of someone's enormous mansion, she started to look for her best friend, Wells Jaha, who was the only person that was able to help her survive this thing.

She also wanted to find something edible to eat.

But her searching was soon interrupted by her own mother, who wanted Clarke to greet some important people. Clarke wanted nothing to do with them, but she couldn't say no to her mother.

"Clarke, dear. This is Dr. Indra. She's an amazing cardiologist. Why don't you two chat about an internship you could do for her, when you'll be studying at John Hopkins." Abby Griffin smiled with her fakest smile possible. How could she be doing this to her only child?

She knew, damn well, that medicine was not what Clarke wanted at all. But she pushed her, gave her no choice. She made her apply to those stupid med ivy leagues and told her if she won't go there and become a surgeon just like her, she would disinherit her.

Mother of the year. Clarke thought, but put on a smile anyway. Because what could she possibly do?

"Good evening, I am pleased to meet you." Clarke was putting on a show, just like always. Also wearing her fakest smile, which she got from her mother.

After she finally was able to get away from all the people she was supposed to meet tonight, Clarke went to the table with champagne and grabbed a glass.

"Ma'am, looking good tonight." She heard from behind her back and immediately turned to the person who've said that.

"Wells!" She almost yelled, and threw herself at the man, but he was more than happy to hold her tight. "I've missed you so much, it's been a nightmare this far."

"Yeah, I know. I've seen your miserable self talking to all of these people." He laughed.

"Don't laugh! It's horrible." She playfully punched him in the shoulder. " Anyways, I'm glad you've found me, because I'm looking to get wasted tonight." Clarke smirked and his smile almost disappeared.

"Clarke, you know that it's not a good idea, right?" He looked her in the eyes, being very serious.

Clarke shrugged.

"I know, but do I care?" She mocked the consideration. "Not really." With that, she drank all of the liquid poison that was in the glass she was holding and took another one, quickly starting to drink it. If she had to be there and couldn't go home, she should at least have some fun.

"It's not going to end well, but I will support you, my friend." He patted her back and took his own glass from the table.

After a while, Clarke was a bit drunk and was in need of a restroom. Wells just disappeared so she had to be a big girl, find it and then walk herself there and not make an absolute fool of herself in front of her mother, Kane and everyone else.

When she sat on the toilet, which felt like she walked at least a couple of miles to get there, she was smiling with her typical drunken smile. She knew it was a matter of a few minutes until she would start laughing for no reason, but she wasn't able to stop it now. When she walked to the sink and saw herself in the mirror, she suddenly felt a little bit sober.

She looked horrible, she couldn't walk out back there in the state she had led herself to. So she tried to wake herself up a little with cold water, trying as hard as she could to not ruin her mascara, while she already had to ruin her concealer.

Then someone walked into the bathroom and Clarke was petrified. It could be her mother or someone who knows her well and would tell her everything they saw, with it being that Clarke got drunk and now was trying to sober up.

But she sighed when she saw that it was just a beautiful, brunette girl, around Clarke's age who slightly smiled at her and seemed to understand her situation. Then she spoke.

"Hi, I'm Raven. Do you need help?" She asked while walking towards Clarke, already pulling out something out of her bag. "Here, it's makeup remover, mascara and some powder."

Clarke smiled at her, unable to say anything. She was surprised that someone from this circle was this nice. So far, everyone there around her age were just spoiled, narcissistic brats. Not to mention people who were older than her, because they were even worse.

"It's transparent. The powder. Don't worry it'll suit you." She explained, probably sensing Clarke's worry about it being too dark, considering Raven's dark complexion and Clarke's very light.

"Thank you so much, you're literally saving my stupid ass right now." Clarke was finally able to choke out some words. "I'm Clarke, by the way." She said while trying to fix her makeup.

"Oh, I know." Raven said and Clarke was a little surprised. Well, it's not like she was totally anonymous among these people, but she wasn't anyone important, either.

"How?"

"Well, most of these people know who you are, but I'm also Kane's daughter." She explained, but now, Clarke was extremely confused.

"What? My mother's boyfriend has a daughter? How did I not know this?" She stopped doing her previous action and wanted to know more.

"And do you know him well enough?"

"Okay, maybe we exchange a maximum of two sentences every time we see each other, but still."

"Exactly." She smiled. "And I'm not his real daughter. I'm his niece, but he adopted me after my mother died."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't be! The person who birthed me was a real bitch and she never really was a parent to me." She laughed sarcastically. "Marcus practically raised me. Also don't worry, I won't tell any of them that you got yourself drunk."

Clarke smiled in return and when she finished fixing her face up, she returned Raven her belongings.

"Thank you, again. You literally don't know how much I owe you now."

"No problem." She shrugged. "Also, you don't owe me anything, unless you want to and you'll have plenty of time and occasions to return the favor, while we will be on Long Island."

Right. Clarke, Jaha with his father, her mother and Kane were going to their summer houses on Long Island as soon as summer started. Which means that Raven will be there too.

"God, I'm so grateful for your existence. Maybe because of you I will somehow survive this summer, I have to admit that I like you already." Clarke was genuinely happy at the thought that Raven will be there.

"Good, because I like you already too, Griffin." Raven said in response as they made their way back to the party, because Clarke was looking and also feeling better.

Clarke was walking through the massive ballroom with her new friend, laughing at something she said, when she suddenly hit something hard and almost fell to the floor, but a pair of big and strong arms prevented her from it.

While she was trying to understand what just happened she heard a deep, low voice.

"Are you okay?" Strong arms were still holding her and it was for the best, because when she looked up at the person who was holding her, she almost fainted.

---

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