A/N: Hello beautifuls! :D you may or may not recognize this story - if you do, it's because you've been following me on Ao3. Now, I know it seems probably weird that I'm posting this here after being so adamant that this story was going to stay on Ao3, but the fact is, it's done, and I want to have it over here, just like how I wanted Molihua on Ao3.

I will do my best to update this daily, but there will be no author's notes, and no shoutouts, though I will OF COURSE answer any reviews I do receive. So if you've already read this, yes it will be exactly the same as the one on Ao3.

I don't know where I want to end up writing... okay, that's a lie. My endgame for writing is NOT online - my goal is to be a published book author. That's what I want. However, while I am online, I can't pick a favorite place to write, so writing on one place or another and then reposting it onto the other location when I have time is what's working for me right now. :)

So if you haven't popped over to Ao3 to read this... well, here it is. Hope you enjoy! XX Love you guys!

Clarke hoisted her bag up further on her shoulder, like that would somehow make it any lighter. What kind of summer camp had rules on the number of bags someone could bring? It was complete bullshit. Though, it was hot out, and had Clarke brought a second bag, she would probably be swimming in a pool of her own sweat by now.

Approaching one of the white, fold out tables that were lined up in front of the camp's entrance, Clarke didn't even try to smile at the woman beaming up at her. "Hello! What's your name?"

"Griffin," Clarke answered. "Clarke."

The woman shuffled through her list, and then she nodded. "Got it. Seventeen, right?"

"Yep."

"Alright! You'll be in Pod One, Red Cabin! Here's your cabin key! You've got a couple of hours to unpack, so make yourself at home!" the woman said, still too enthusiastic for Clarke, who nodded, flipped some of her loose blonde hair over her shoulder and stepped past the table as she grabbed her key.

The place was huge, though she'd already known that. With the number of teenagers that came to it every year, it had to be pretty big. As summer camps went, it was supposed to be actually pretty decent. But Clarke wasn't big on sweating outside, and so far, that's all she'd experienced since she left her house an hour away.

She wandered around a bit until she saw a big wooden sign that said POD ONE in big letters, and she exhaled, hoisting her bag up again and making a beeline for the pod.

There were four cabins in the pod, each painted a different color, and she went straight for the red one. The door was open, so there was no need for her key, and she slipped it into her bag as she entered.

Two girls were already in there, talking loudly and excitedly like this was going to be the best summer of their lives. They were sitting on two of the bottom bunks in the room – there were eight beds total, four on top of the bottom bunks. Clarke immediately gravitated to the opposite side of the room from where the other two girls were, climbed up one of the bunk beds and set her bag on the blanket. The ceiling was kind of low when she was on the bed, but it didn't bother her.

The next question – how exactly was she supposed to "make herself at home"?

"Blake," Octavia answered, for both her and her brother. "Octavia and Bellamy."

"I can sign myself in," Bellamy reminded her.

"Alright, guys," the man checking them in said, retrieving two keys from the little metal box next to him. "Sixteen and seventeen, right?"

"Yep," Octavia and Bellamy answered simultaneously.

"Bellamy, you'll be in Pod Four, Green Cabin. Octavia, Pod One, Red Cabin," the man said, handing them each their respective keys. "Enjoy."

Octavia slipped around the table. "See you, Bell!"

"Don't get into trouble on the first day, O!" Bellamy called back to her, and she just laughed.

"Don't count on it!"

The brunette knew exactly where she was going, and she immediately made her way to her cabin. The door was open, of course, because no one knew how to close doors in this place. Four of the eight girls were there already – two them talking animatedly, one of them on her phone, and the last was doing something in a sketchpad. She had one of the top bunks, all the rest of the girls so far had claimed a bottom bunk.

Octavia climbed up onto the top bunk next to the girl drawing. "Hey," she greeted, loud enough for the girl to hear her over the sound of the two other girls talking across the room.

The blonde looked up skeptically. "Hi."

"First time here?" Octavia asked. If there was one thing she'd learned from Camp Unite, it was that you couldn't go a whole summer without getting to know the person in the bunk next to you.

"That obvious?"

"I promise, it's not bad. Don't have to look so glum. You got me as a cabin mate, for one thing," Octavia piped up, grinning. "What's your name?"

The blonde finally looked up from her sketchpad and made eye contact with the brunette. "Clarke."

"I'm Octavia. This is my third year here," Octavia explained, "and I promise it's not that bad."

"Why would your parents make you go to the same summer camp three years in a row?" Clarke asked, sounding like the idea made her want to vomit. "Isn't it just the same shit every summer?"

Octavia shrugged. "Like I said, it's not that bad. Anyway, if you're going to spend your whole summer here, you might as well suck it up early and try to enjoy yourself. If it makes you feel better, they always serve pizza on the first day. You like pizza right?"

Clarke nodded lamely.

"Good, so you're human! We'll get along just great!"

"Wood. Anya," Anya told the woman smiling up at her. Lexa was waiting patiently behind her friend checking in.

"Seventeen?"

"That's right."

"You'll be in Pod Three, Blue Cabin. Dinner is in an hour, so better hurry to settle in!" Anya nodded in response, received her key and made her way around the table.

She glanced at Lexa, who gave her a smile and a wave. "Don't wait up!"

"Don't get beat up!" Anya called out, before hurrying off to her pod.

Lexa rolled her eyes, and then smiled at the woman in front of her. "Woods, Lexa."

"Ah, here you are!" the woman said, smiling widely. "Sixteen?" Lexa nodded the affirmative. "You'll be in Pod Six, Red Cabin. Here's your key!"

"Thank you," Lexa said, taking her key and then heading into the camp. She wondered if she maybe should have had Anya wait for her – the other girl had been here before, anyway. Lexa followed the crowd of people who had just signed in, and saw the pod signs as she walked. One, two, three, four, five, and, finally, six. The last one, she guessed.

When she walked into the red cabin, she immediately registered that she was the last one in her cabin to arrive. She tossed her bag onto the single empty bed.

The other seven girls in the cabin were all talking to each other about why they were there. Camp Unite was supposed to be this big deal summer camp, where teenagers from every different type of extra curricular and interest "united" to make the world more accepting, or something like that. No one ever really went in under a specific interest, officially, but everyone had something they preferred.

Lexa had a few, as it seemed. She danced some, she liked to fence, and she could hold her own in a soccer game. She was also a swimmer, like Anya, so if anyone asked, that might be what she was "here for".

"Hey, you," someone called to her suddenly. "What's your name?"

"Lexa," she answered.

"I'm Echo," Echo replied, and immediately Lexa was taken up into the conversation.

"Reyes," Raven told the person in front of her. Hardly anyone was lining up, and that meant that she was definitely late, so she didn't even bother with her first name.

"Raven?" Apparently, the woman wanted to bother with it.

"Yes, Raven. There's no other Reyes there."

The woman just smiled at her – of course. "Seventeen?"

"Yes."

"Pod One, Blue Cabin. Better hurry, dinner is soon!"

Raven grouchily grabbed her key and rushed into the camp. Her gaze was jumping all around, looking for any indication of where to go, and then she saw the sign labeled POD ONE, and let out a grateful breath. She headed for the sign, and as she made her way into the pod, she saw everyone else – a half and half mix between boys and girls - leaving the cabins.

"I'd hurry if I were you!" some brunette called to her from the red cabin, and Raven rolled her eyes.

"No shit!" she yelled back to whoever it was, before pushing past someone to get into the blue cabin. Every bed but one had a bag already on it, so she tossed hers on the last one and immediately rushed out of the cabin. She followed everyone from her pod, obviously clueless of the layout of this place.

She found herself walking alongside the brunette who had yelled to her. "Hey there, slowpoke," the girl said, nudging her. "What took you so long?"

"Seeing as we aren't allowed to drive ourselves here since we can't leave cars, I'd say it's not really my fault that my ride was so slow getting here," Raven growled.

"Hey, chill, I'm messing with you. I'm Octavia," Octavia greeted, smiling a wide smile now. Raven didn't say anything. Octavia looked at her expectantly. "And you are...?"

"Raven," Raven answered, sighing as she gave in. She couldn't be frustrated about being late forever, she supposed.

"What is with people being so grumpy today?" Octavia asked, shaking her head.

The blonde walking in front of her turned her head over her shoulder and said, "Maybe because not all of us enjoy losing all of our water weight in a day."

"Oh come on, the outside is nice," Octavia insisted.

"It's really not," Raven agreed with the blonde, who had slowed a little to walk alongside Octavia. "What's your name?"

"Clarke," she answered. "Yours?"

"Raven."

"Ugh, I'm surrounded by pessimists," Octavia groaned, though her tone was joking. "Remember the pizza guys, and it'll all go smoothly."

"Pizza?" Raven asked, her tone picking up considerably.

Octavia smirked. "That's more like it."

Clarke rose up on her toes a bit to see over the group of people in front of her. "Where are we going exactly?"

"Mess Hall," Octavia answered, grinning.

"They call the cafeteria here a mess hall?" Raven asked, sounding bummed out. "That makes it feel military or something."

"Don't think of that way," Octavia insisted. "Think of it like an actual mess, because it is. They say that people clean it every night, but that's bullshit."

"Great," Clarke muttered under her breath. "This is exactly how I wanted to spend my summer."

"Lighten up!" Octavia exclaimed. "You're already here, get used to it!"

They reached the mess hall and saw people sitting down, all intermixed. There didn't seem to be any rules on sitting with your pod or cabin or anything, but Clarke really had no one to sit with besides Octavia and Raven, so she followed the former to a seat at a random table.

Once everyone was seated, a man got up on the stage at the front of the mess hall and began to welcome everyone to the camp. He talked about the camp's mission – to unite youth from different groups of people in order to better the next generation of adults. In the hopes, evidently, that the business world could become more united and fair.

Not that that would ever happen, Clarke thought, but she thought the premise was definitely good. At the very least, there definitely wasn't anything wrong with it.

When he was finished talking, he mentioned pizza and the entire mess hall went crazy. It was, after all, full of a bunch of teenagers who had spend the day sweating off all of their weight.

Plates of pizza were handed out, and as soon as Clarke got hers, she was already digging in.

"You've been here for two hours," Octavia said, breaking Clarke out of her pizza zone, "how are you already that hungry?"

"Leave her alone," Raven defended the blonde, "you seem to be enjoying your pizza, too."

Octavia shrugged, taking a bite of hers and not saying anything else as Clarke resumed her mission of devouring her pizza.

An hour later, people were starting to leave the mess hall, and Clarke wasn't exactly sure what was going on. "Is there something else, or is everyone going back to their cabins?"

"Oh, there's something else," Octavia answered, grinning widely. "It's not mandatory – they don't really start throwing mandatory things at us until about a week in – but it's tradition that on the first day, we all go down and swim at the lake."

"Of course it is," Clarke muttered.

Raven nudged her. "C'mon on, that doesn't sound too bad."

"You brought a swim suit, right?" Octavia asked, getting up from her seat and looking pointedly down at the blonde, who groaned.

"Yeah," she muttered.

"So get your ass up, we're going swimming."

"Swimming?" Lexa asked, as soon as she heard what they were doing.

Echo and the other girls around her nodded. "Yep. You swim?"

"Yeah, since I was little," she answered.

"The whole camp does lake parties every couple of weeks, because no one doesn't love them. I mean, come on, it gives everyone a chance to see the opposite sex half naked. And we don't get that often here," one of the girls – Caris – pointed out quite seriously.

Lexa raised her eyebrows a little bit, not responding to the statement, because personally, she didn't care much for the opposite sex.

Nonetheless, when they got to their cabin, she slid into one of the two bathrooms it had – which had plumbing, but wasn't the cleanest thing ever – and changed into her bikini. She waited up only for Echo, and then the two of them started down to the lake, following the crowd of other half dressed teenagers.

When they reached the lake, people were already swimming through the water, intermixing and looking quite happy. No one seemed very standoffish, but Lexa guessed that anyone who would've had stayed back at their cabins.

"See anyone hot yet?" Echo asked, her eyes scanning over the many guys speckling the edge of the water. "Ooh, he has abs."

"Mm," Lexa hummed.

"Hello ladies," someone said to them suddenly, drawing both Lexa and Echo's attention. It was a guy with brown, kind of long hair, and a charming smile plastered onto his face. "I've gotta say, crowd gets better every year."

Lexa didn't blush, though that's what she suspected the boy wanted her to do. Echo, however, did quite the opposite as she scoffed. "Come on, Bellamy, I've been here as long as you."

"Maybe I wasn't talking to you," the guy – Bellamy? - quipped at her, narrowing his eyes.

"You did address us as ladies," Lexa sided with her new friend, raising an eyebrow at the boy. "And it doesn't look like your charming smile is really working over here."

"Not even a little?" Bellamy asked, feigning a hurt ego, though Lexa was sure she'd hurt it at least a little bit.

"Not in the slightest," Lexa answered, giving him a sympathetic smile. "I'm sure you can find someone to fall for it, though. Good luck."

Bellamy gave Lexa a slightly irritated once over, then looked to Echo, before turning and walking off. Yeah, his ego was a little bruised, but it was only because that new girl was with Echo that he actually lost his shot. Echo was probably one of the most competitive people who came to Camp Unite every year, and she wasn't really friendly with anyone unless they were directly in her little group.

Bellamy was sure, though, that had that second girl been away from Echo, he could've at least gotten somewhere.

"Aw, did someone get rejected?" Octavia suddenly called over to him, appearing out of nowhere.

"Fuck off, O!" he yelled back, not even looking at her before heading straight for the water.

Octavia let out a loud laugh, getting confused looks from her two new friends, Clarke and Raven. "Who's that?" Raven asked.

"No one," Octavia answered, smirking. She and Bellamy played this game every year to see how long it took people to figure out that they were siblings with all their bickering. Usually it took people about a solid week. Aside from the people that already knew them, of course, but they generally helped with the game as well. "Better question is who is that new girl with Echo that just blew him off."

"Who's Echo?" Clarke asked. Octavia stopped in her tracks, nodding to one of the two girls with the long, flowing dark hair. She was referring to the one with the lighter colored hair, though. The second one was a mystery to Octavia.

"She and I have never been put in the same pod," Octavia explained, "and anyone not in her pod is her enemy. See, despite this camp being all about unison – which it is, in the end – we do a lot of competitive things. Some are official, some are underhanded. And Echo is queen of competition here."

"Bet I could take her," Raven said.

"Well same," Octavia agreed, shaking her head, "if she wasn't always surrounded by her little body guards that she recruits every year. They're actually usually the same people – don't ask me how she manages to get them all in the same pod every year though. That one, though, the one who just rejected that guy. She's new."

Clarke looked at the girl that Octavia was referring to. Her body was slim, and it was the first thing Clarke noted, since she was in a bikini after all. The second thing she noted were her eyes. She couldn't pick out the exact color from the distance away, but she could see a certain feeling behind them. Like the girl felt slightly out of place in her present company. It was curious.

"Do you know her or something?" Raven asked Clarke, nudging her.

Clarke looked to the brunette. "No."

"So quit staring," Octavia insisted, "or else Echo is going to-"

"What's wrong, Octavia?" Echo yelled suddenly, raising her eyebrows. "Wishing you could sit with the cool kids?"

"Fuck you, Echo!" Octavia yelled back. "Come on, we're getting in the water."

"Since when is this a we thing?" Clarke muttered, eyeing the lake water suspiciously as she followed Raven and Octavia closer to its edge.

"Since you got lucky enough to get the bunk next to me. You see, Clarke," Octavia started, smiling slyly over her shoulder at the blonde, "this year, I am the girl who is going to crush Echo."

"Oh really?" Raven asked.

Octavia nodded surely. "I've thought it all through already. First of all, Echo is a year older than me – so this is her last year. And if I only get a title spot next year because of her leaving, that's pathetic. The goal is, this year I'll wipe her off of her throne, steal it, and hold it next year for someone else to try to steal from me in my last year."

"Are you sixteen?" Raven asked Octavia curiously.

The other brunette nodded as she began to wade into the lake water. Clarke rolled her eyes. "Well that explains the insanity then." Raven nodded in agreement, but after a shared look of hesitation, both girls voluntarily followed Octavia into the disgusting lake water.

Meanwhile, Lexa was still with Echo, though she wanted slightly to escape. The other girl had begun flirting with some guy and, well, Lexa wasn't the most comfortable she'd ever been. Finally, her eyes caught onto Anya, about to get into the water, and she quickly stole away from Echo to catch up with her.

She caught up with Anya just as the other girl was getting in the water, and devilishly poked both of the girl's sides, causing her to squeal uncharacteristically and jump forward, and Lexa broke out into laughs.

"This is why I have to warn you not to get beat up all the time," Anya growled, going further into the water to avoid Lexa. The brunette just followed her, though.

"Hey, that was one time, and I wasn't beat up," Lexa insisted. "The bitch just slapped me for no reason. Wasn't my fault."

"Keep telling yourself that, Lex," Anya said, rolling her eyes. "How's your cabin?"

Lexa shrugged. "I don't know, they seem nice enough..."

"Are you with Echo?" Anya asked knowingly. Lexa tilted her head and nodded, confused as to how Anya had guessed that. "Yeah, figures. She's a little intense. I was in her pod last year. She's probably the most competitive one here."

"Are there a lot of really competitive people here?"

"No, usually just a couple," Anya answered. "This year, I'd guess it's just Echo and Octavia."

Lexa's eyes scanned the water, finding the brunette that Echo had yelled to. "Her?" Lexa asked, nodding to the brunette. Anya nodded. "She seems less threatening than Echo."

"Yeah, that's why Echo's pod has always crushed hers," Anya agreed. "You're in for a fun summer, Lex. Looks like you're gonna get all the wins this year."

Lexa just gave her friend a thin smile, not sure how she felt about it all yet. Echo seemed to like her enough, though, which she figured was a good thing considering the sort of reputation that Echo had. Or perhaps it was a bad thing if it portrayed Lexa similarly. She would have to figure it out, she supposed.

A ways away in the water, Clarke dodged another splash from Octavia. "So," the brunette was asking, "where are you from, Clarke?"

"Caelum," Clarke answered, "it's about an hour out from here."

"Wait for real?" Raven asked, her eyes widening a bit. "Same!"

"Lame," Octavia mumbled. "I'm from Terra. It's only about half an hour from Caelum though, I think."

Clarke shrugged. "Never been."

"Isn't that the place where all the roads are curvy? Like, there aren't any straight ones?" Raven asked. Octavia nodded.

"Something about protecting wildlife. I don't know," she said, waving her hand. "Ooh! Speaking of straight ones, how are you two on sexuality?"

Clarke blinked. "I don't think I understand your question."

"Are you straight?" Octavia asked, glancing between the two. The question came so casually from the girl that it was almost more surprising.

"Bi," Clarke answered, shrugging. It wasn't a really bit deal to her, sexuality, or any of its complexities and ins and outs. It was pretty straight forward to her, really. She liked guys, and she liked girls, but there were specific things that she liked separately about each.

Raven shrugged. "I don't know," she answered. "Are you?"

"Mostly," Octavia answered. "And holy shit now I am. Look over there." She nodded behind Clarke, and the blonde looked over her shoulder to see who she was talking about. She spotted a guy with a relatively good build, shirtless of course to swim, with tattoos on his upper arms.

"Tattoo guy?" Raven asked.

"Yes, oh god," Octavia answered. "Fuck, he's hot."

"He's not bad," Clarke agreed, though she definitely wasn't fawning as much as Octavia was. "Go talk to him."

"I might be outgoing," Octavia stated, "but I'm not that outgoing. I'd probably pass out."

Raven and Clarke shared an amused glance. "Whatever you say," Raven said, smiling to herself. "Hey, he's talking to that guy from before."

Octavia's head snapped up to look at what Raven was talking about. Sure enough, the hot tattoo guy was speaking to her brother. "Maybe they're in the same pod," she murmured, mostly to herself.

"Maybe," Raven agreed.

Clarke stretched her arms a bit in front of her. "Hey, I think I'm going to head back to the cabin. Feeling tired."

"Sure," Octavia replied, still caught up in staring at the two guys.

"See you tomorrow," Raven said to Clarke, giving the girl a smile. Clarke nodded in return, and began to wade back up to the edge of the water.

As she walked back up to the path back to the pods, someone called out to her from not too far way. "Hey, blondie!" She stopped and turned around to see Echo looking at her. "You with Octavia?"

"I'm in her cabin, if that's what you're asking," Clarke replied slowly.

"Cool, so maybe you can do me a favor and tell her that she'll have more fun this summer if she gives up."

Clarke raised an eyebrow. "You know, I think you're being a little too intense for a summer camp."

"If you think I'm too intense right now," Echo said, raising an eyebrow, "just wait."

Clarke rolled her eyes, though her eyes bounced between the girls who were looking at her around Echo. She didn't recognize any, and none of them were the mystery girl that they'd seen earlier. "Right well," Clarke said, breaking the silence, "I'm going to bed."

"So," Lexa said, looking to her best friend as they started back up to the pods, "any last words of advice for Camp Unite-Or-Die?" She'd just decided on the replacement name, since the strange intensity of the people there made the place seem beyond normal.

"Stay on your team's side," Anya said. "Can't imagine living with Echo for two months if you weren't on her side."

Lexa rolled her eyes. "Sure, noted. See you later, Anya."

"Yeah, see you, kiddo."

"Less than a year younger than you," Lexa called as a reminder as she headed into her pod. She went straight for her cabin, the red one, feeling tired and ready to sleep. She had gotten back before Echo, and she had a feeling that if she was still awake when the other girl got back, they'd somehow end up in conversation. Lexa, feeling far too tired to get into conversation with Echo, quickly changed and then slid into her bed, letting the heat and the first day excitement and exhaustion take over her body.

Clarke was curled up in her blanket, trying to sleep, when Octavia came back, talking to one of their other cabin mates. "No," Octavia was saying, "pepperoni is disgusting. Hey, Clarke, you awake?"

"Yeah, but if I hadn't been before, I would've been now anyway," Clarke muttered.

"Sorry," Octavia said, grinning up at the blonde. "Goodnight!"

"Yeah."

After half an hour of other people shuffling in, changing, and crawling into their beds, Clarke finally fell into the lull of sleep.