Clarke's POV

There are certain laws on the Ark that everyone, no matter where you come from, what your status may be, must abide by. Of course there are the common sense laws, murder, theft, burglary…blah, blah, blah. But then there are strange laws as well. Teen pregnancy is illegal; or it was. Fifteen years ago Dr. Jonathan Reed (now deceased) created a serum, of sorts, which girls are injected with once they reach childbearing age. They must get this injection once a year until they are married and it is deemed okay for them to have a child. It is also illegal for a couple to live together if they are not married.

It is illegal to have abnormal piercings on the body, such as tongue, eyebrow, nose, or lip piercings. Of course there are other areas as well, but I'll not mention those places. Tattoos are illegal as well. All hair colors must be natural is another law of the Ark. Strange laws. There are plenty more and they are, for the most part, followed. Nobody wants to be floated for petty reasons like that But there are two major laws on the Ark; the two most important laws: 1) Only one child allowed per family and 2) Everyone is assigned a life partner at birth (circumstances may vary depending on population and gender majority).

Nobody is allowed to choose their own partner. They cannot love anyone, but their assigned partner.

I'm pretty sure I was assigned my partner, Wells Jaha, before either of us was born. Our parents were best friends and our mothers gave birth to us within days of each other. He is only two days older than me, which our parents were thrilled about. And because Wells' father is the Chancellor he has the final say on who is paired with whom. So, that's how it is.

Wells and I grew up as best friends. We were inseparable. Neither of us knew that we were arranged to be married. Nobody is told who their partner is until they are a certain age. Basically, they are not told who their partner is until they reach adolescence. When the child is 13-years-old they are taken to the council to find out who their partner is whether they like the person or not. Usually, you are paired with someone who is in the same social stature as you. On rare occasions you might be assigned to someone of higher or lower status, but not often. The last time it happened was 20 years ago I think.

We are told who our partners are at 13 because that is when hormones and all that kick in and the council doesn't want anyone to screw up their system. We have our partners and are not allowed to be with anyone else. Ever. It's not fair at all. Yeah, Wells and I are friends, but I'm not in love with him. I don't think I ever could be. I don't know how he feels about me, exactly, but I don't like this whole arrangement. I would much rather find someone myself. That's how it's supposed to be. That's how it used to be.

Whatever. People anger me. Stupid laws anger me.

A few months ago I was walking home from the rec room after pretty horrible day. School sucked and then I had my apprenticeship, which I was not into at all after the day I had at school. So after that I went to the rec room to chill out for a bit. I just sat alone, not alone I guess, Wells was there with me, but I sat by myself and read a book. I wasn't paying attention to anything when I bumped into one of the Ark's guards. He was young, just out of training probably. He had olive toned skin, dark, chocolate colored eyes, and black hair; freckles decorated his face. Everything I was carrying in my arms, my sketchpad, my notebook, my art supplies, and my copy of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' scattered all across the corridor and I fell to the ground.

"I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed and got back up on my feet, "I didn't even see you there. I'm just not having a great say today am I?" I said the last part to myself and begin gathering my belongings, "I'm Clarke Griffin, by the way," I introduced myself after the silence became too much.

"Bellamy Blake," The guard introduced himself, "Nice to meet you, Miss Griffin," He said.

"Oh, you don't need to call me that," I told him, "It's just Clarke," I said, "And it's nice to meet you too Bellamy Blake, but I should get going."

"Alright, well, I guess I'll see you around then," He said and handed me my book, which I didn't realize I had dropped. I thanked him and turned to leave. I was about to turn the corner when I heard my name being called, "Hey, Clarke!" I turned to see Bellamy behind me.

"Yeah? What's up?" I replied.

"Your notebook," He handed it to me, "You dropped it back there," He told me.

"Oh," I smiled and take it from him, "I thought I grabbed it," I looked down at the items in my hands and see that I was, indeed, missing my notebook, "Thanks."

"No problem," He smiled, "I hope to see you around Clarke Griffin," He told me before turning and walking back down the corridor.

Later, when I got home I walked to my bedroom I set my stuff on my bedside table, well attempted to, and it all fell on the ground. I sighed and bent down and pick up my notebook, which had fallen open. On the inside cover was some writing that wasn't there before –Smile, you're beautiful-B

Since that day Bellamy and I have been passing each other notes. I have taken that same route home every day since then, but Bellamy isn't always there. We found a small sliver in the wall where we could fit the notes and every morning I put one there for him and every afternoon there was one waiting for me.

We both know what we are doing is wrong, but I can't really help it. It's not something I planned on happening. After he left me that note in my notebook I felt compelled to write something for him, just as a thank you or something and from there it just went downhill. The notes we have been exchanging have become more personal and I think that if we were ever to get caught, we'd be in some trouble. We know we can't be together.

Bellamy wasn't paired with anyone when he was born because the gender majority on the Ark, at that time, was male and, of course, they would not pair him with a male. That would be breaking the law as well. So, he wasn't assigned a partner until he was four years old. When he was four years old he was assigned to a girl called Raven Reyes. They have a mutual hate for each other. And Raven would rather be with someone else, the boy who lives next door to her; Finn Collins. I've never met him before. He is a year older than me and was put into lockup last year after wasting a month of oxygen on an illegal spacewalk.

Finn is assigned to a girl called Trista. Of course neither of them want to be together either. I think the only one who is happy with their pairing is Monty Green. He is paired with Alexa Hon. They, too, grew up next door to each other as best friends. Their parents are best friends and I don't think they mind being together. Monty is a pretty attractive guy and Alexa is beautiful. It worked out pretty well in their favor, unlike the rest of us.

One of the rules Bellamy and I have about these notes is that we can't read them when we are with each other, which is rare. We don't see each other often. It's hard to believe that two people can grow so close to each other when they don't even spend more than five minutes together. I've never felt anything like this with Wells and I spend so many hours a day with him.

One day I am walking home from class and see that Bellamy is nowhere in sight, which isn't unusual. There is a note waiting for me. I unfold it and am kind of taken aback. It is kind of cryptic and the writing isn't normal. I can tell it's his handwriting, but it looks like he was frantically writing-Everything will be okay. I love you.

The last three words are what hit me the hardest. We have been sending each other these notes for months and had never said, well written, that before. I don't understand any of this. Why was he so frantic when writing this, and why tell me he loves me while he's so anxious? I sigh heavily and take the note, just hoping that I get a reply to whatever note I decide to leave for him in the morning.

It isn't until later that day, when I go to visit my mother in the Earth Monitoring Center, that I find out they have sent the 100 juvenile prisoners to Earth. All of their information is being sent to the Ark from wristbands. The bands are showing their vitals and whatnot to show if it will be okay for the rest of us to go down to Earth. The council wants to monitor them for two months at least before making a decision.

I am looking at all of the kids' vitals when I hear the doors slide open and Callie Cartwig walks in. She is my mother's best friend, "Not now," Kane basically shoves his hand in her face as he walks over to Sinclair.

"Total system failure; that's what we're looking at," Sinclair tells him, "All we know for sure is that they were off course when we lost contact."

"So, tell me about communications," Kane orders. I am still standing over with my mother, but am listening to Kane and Sinclair's conversation.

"Other than the wristbands we have nothing. No audio, no video, no computer link. Everything that we've programmed in to help them is gone," Sinclair tells him, "They're completely on their own now."

"Have they landed yet?" I ask my mother, "Why are those two dark?" I ask again.

"Clarke, you should probably go home," Mom tells me, "You probably have schoolwork to do, yeah?"

"No," I respond, "And I don't want to go home. I want to know what's going on. Why did you send all of them down there today?" I ask. She doesn't say anything, "Is it because of what Dad found out last year? Did you send them down to spare us all more oxygen?"

Oh, yet another reason I really don't want to, inevitably, marry Wells. He turned my father in after he promised me he wouldn't. Yeah, I really want to be married to someone who can't keep their promises. That would be an amazing marriage.

"Clarke, you need to be quiet," She scolds, "Nobody is aware that you know about that," She says, "They'll lock you up if they find out."

"Or I could wait a month and they could just float me," I say sarcastically.

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of humor, Clarke," She doesn't even look at me as she says this. I roll my eyes and spin around in the chair beside her. We sit in silence for a few minutes before Mom's phone rings, "This is Dr. Griffin," She answers. She listens for a moment before replying, "On my way," She says and hangs up the phone. She shouts orders to Dr. Jackson. All I hear is something about getting to the OR and a lot of A- blood.

"Abby!" I hear Callie call after her, "What's going on?" She asks.

"The Chancellor's been shot," Mom answers, "Clarke, you need to go home," She tells me before the doors close.

"Come on, Clarke," Callie pulls me up from the spinning chair, "I'll walk you home," She says.

"But I like it in here," I tell her, "It's interesting," I gesture to the wall with all of the kids information on it.

"Okay, well, your mother wants you home," She says, "So, let's go, darlin'," Sighing heavily I stand up and follow her out of the room.

Callie only walks me about halfway back before she is dragged away by someone I don't recognize and as I continue my walk home I see Kane and Shumway standing across the hall. Hmmm, I thought they were back in the Earth Monitoring Center.

"The Chancellor is still in surgery, but we have identified the shooter," I hear Shumway say to Kane, "Bellamy Blake is the only person on the Ark unaccounted for."

What? Bellamy shot Jaha? Why would he do that?

"Who is he?" Kane inquires looking at the profile.

"A guard," Shumway tells Kane, "He's only been a guard for a few months, though," He says.

"And why would he shoot the Chancellor?" Kane asks.

"To get on the drop ship, I believe," Shumway informs him, "He has clear motives for wanting to go to Earth."

"A sister," Kane says looking at a different profile. Bellamy never told me anything about having a sister, "I remember. Her mother kept her hidden for almost 16 years; nearly a record."

Well, I guess that explains the cryptic message he left me. He shot the Chancellor and then got on the drop ship. I walk the rest of the way home and walk into my bedroom. I pull out the small box under my bed where I keep all of the notes Bellamy has written me, except for the first one, which is still in my notebook. I take the note from my pocket and add it to the rest. There are hundreds in this box. I put the box back under my bed and climb under the blankets.

Bellamy's gone. I'm not going to see him walking around anymore. I'm not going to get anymore notes from him. He tells me he loves me and he's gone. So, Bellamy's gone, all of my friends are down on the ground and I'm up here, on the Ark, alone. On the bright side, I do have Wells (note the sarcasm). This is just great.

New story!

I'm not really sure if I am going to continue with this story. I just want to see if any of you like it at all. So, please comment and let me know what you think!

~Thanks