"There she is again!" I suddenly burst, pointing to a girl sitting in a folding chair by the fire, talking with another group.

"The weird one that's been following you?" Raven questioned as she scanned the beach looking for the girl I was talking about.

"Yes! She's right there don't you see her?"

My friend Raven and I had taken the night off from studying to go to a bonfire that Bellamy, a local frat brother, was throwing at his parents' beach house. The place was scattered with other college kids, some I knew and some were complete strangers. Raven and I had grown up together in Connecticut, and when we both got into the University of New Haven last year, we had promised to be each other's guide dogs from then on. And we had been. We went everywhere together, which was the only reason I had agreed to go out that night. I'd had a rough week of classes and wasn't really feeling like being social, but Raven guilt tripped me into being the designated driver for the evening.

"Can't you just go with Octavia? You know I don't do parties, Rave," I had told Raven earlier that night.

Raven had remained silent and narrowed her eyed sternly at me.

"Remember the pact," she had said.

In a huff I had given in, not knowing the interesting turn the night would later take. I now found myself staring through the orange glow of the fire at a face that, although distorted by smoke billows and heat waves, was familiar nonetheless. The girl in question was tall and slender with long, brown curls that seemed to move in waves that matched the ocean behind her. Every so often I would look over and catch her staring at me, like she was waiting to tell me something.

"What a night to be out on the town!" came a shrill voice from behind us.

Both Raven and I turned around in time to see Octavia bounding up the walkway between the beach and Bellamy's driveway, her boyfriend Lincoln stubbornly in tow behind her. The hood of Lincoln grey jacket was pulled up and he looked more repulsed with the scene than I did.

"Hey guys," Raven and I sang in unison.

"Have you guys been here long?" Octavia asked, her smiley mood in stark contrast to Lincoln's mopey expression.

"About 20 minutes. What have you guys been doing?" Raven asked suggestively.

"Driving," Lincoln said sharply. "She got us lost. Again."

"Well, maybe if you hadn't wrecked your car I wouldn't have to be your personal chauffer for the last three months," Octavia retorted with a whip of her shiny, black hair.

"Oh, we're going to start this again?"

"Guys! Chill!" Raven yelled, annoyed. "Go get a drink or something, geez."

Octavia and Lincoln headed toward a collection of coolers overflowing with beers on the back porch of the beach house, still bickering as they walked away. It was then that I noticed the girl was staring at me again.

"Do you see this?" I elbowed Raven to get her attention. "Please tell me I'm not crazy."

Raven huddled closer to me so she could spy on the strange girl without being seen.

"Oh, shit. She's totally gonna kill you in your sleep, Clarke," Raven laughed taking a big gulp of her beer.

It had been several weeks since I first started spotting the strange girl. Our encounters since then had only gotten more common and more unusual. The first time I saw her it was like a dream almost. I even thought I might have dreamt about her the night before but my dreams were always so fuzzy that I couldn't be sure.

I was sitting in my Intro to Art class barely awake and wishing I had just hit the snooze button and skipped for once. Out of nowhere she floated in and took a seat a few rows ahead of me. The course was held in one of the many large auditoriums on campus because the class size was larger than most, so no one besides me even noticed her. The only reason I did was because she looked back and tossed a little smile at me, and because she was wearing a Shins t-shirt that I was totally jealous of. I thought she had dropped another course and picked up mine, but after that Tuesday she never came back. Two days later I ran into her in my dorm. Raven, Octavia and I were heading out to get pizza and crowded into the elevator like a bunch of chattering sardines, Octavia ranting on and on about a mean-spirited text conversation Lincoln and her had had earlier. The elevator had stopped on the third floor and as the doors opened there had stood the strange girl. The rest of the ride down we kept making eye contact that was so uncomfortable it made me want to press the emergency button.

I saw her everywhere. In my dorm, at the local café on campus, in the hallways, and even at some of the parties Raven dragged me to. It had been an entire week since I'd seen her though, until now. I had started to wonder about her more than anyone should wonder about a stranger, curious about how she seemed to show up everywhere I went and more curious about why. Was she really following me? Or was I being completely paranoid? Raven seemed to agree with me, but then again Raven loved controversy so it wouldn't surprise me if she was just playing along with my delusion.

I was still lost in thought when Octavia and Lincoln returned to mine and Raven's place by the fire. Lincoln was chugging a Bud Light, probably trying to numb the pain from his and Octavia's quarrel, and Octavia was scolding him about some girl that was flirting with him.

"Clarke, you seriously need to stop staring, you're only fueling her."

"Only fueling who? What'd I miss?" Octavia's eyes grew wide like an excited puppy.

"Clarke's got a stalker," said Raven giving me a silly grin.

"You don't know that," I huffed, a tinge of irritation in my voice.

"Ooh! Where is he?" Octavia ogled.

"She is over there."

"Clarke, I know you're a lez and everything, but you seriously need standards," Octavia's comment even made Lincoln laugh a little through his beer.

"The brunette in the red shirt? She's not bad," Lincoln said, pursing his lips.

Octavia scoffed and punched him playfully in the arm. "Don't even think about it."

Raven leaned over and put her arm around me. "You have been single for a while. Maybe you should lower your standards and let me talk to her for you!"

"Um, no thanks," I shrugged Raven's arm away and headed toward the beach house.

"Aw, come on! I didn't mean it, Clarkey!" Raven whined, her words starting to slur.

I rolled my eyes back at her and kept going. I needed a few minutes alone to clear my head and get away from the obnoxiously loud music. Bellamy had a thing for Fetty Wap and hadn't stopped playing his new album on repeat since the party started. I was into stuff like Halsey so to me it was just noise.

I made my way past the hoard of drunken people on the porch and slipped through the back door into the kitchen. I let out a little "whoa" after taking in my surroundings. The inside of the place was more elegant than any regular house – let alone a summerhouse – I'd ever seen. Bellamy and Octavia's parents were rich, so it made sense that they could afford such an extravagant place. But with the inside so deserted like that it felt a little creepy to be there alone.

I quickly walked through the kitchen and living room and managed to locate the bathroom on the other side of the house. Closing the door behind me, I turned on the bronze faucet and washed my face with warm water, which felt good considering fall had really started setting in the past couple weeks. Suddenly, I felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket and, with a deep, tired sigh, I pulled it out to check the notification.

Raven: Yo, Liam Neeson. Stalker's MIA. Watch ur back.

Clarke: Good riddance.

I sent the text quickly and threw my phone on the counter in frustration. Gripping the edges of the sink, I hung my head and closed my eyes.

College hadn't exactly been what I expected, mainly because I felt more lost than I ever thought I would at this point in my life, and because of, well, Finn. Finn and I dated junior and senior year of high school and he'd even been accepted to New Haven U along with Raven and me. We were going to be the three musketeers before everything went straight to hell. I came out to my parents senior year, even though I'd know since I was a freshman. I realized then that my relationship with Finn had been a lie that I'd kept up only to prevent myself from accepting the truth. Let's just say Finn didn't take the news so well.

I was learning to accept my sexuality, adjust to my classes and living away from home for the first time, and although I had Raven to help keep me grounded, I still felt really alone.

I let out a heavy sigh, not noticing I was crying until a single tear rolled down my cheek and glazed the base of my chin. I wiped the length of my face with the sleeve of my jacket and took a long hard look at myself in the mirror.

"Come on, Clarke. Pull yourself together!" I huffed under my breath.

This transition might have been hard, but I wasn't going to let it ruin my night. I brushed my fingers through my wavy, blonde hair, took a deep breath, and went to open the bathroom door. The moment the door flung open my jaw nearly dropped to the floor. There, in the darkness of the hallway, stood the strange yet beautiful girl, her arms crossed and her eyes curiously calm.

Lexa's POV

"What the hell?" the blonde girl said in disbelief. "It's you!"

I attentively straightened up and uncrossed my arms.

"Who, me? I'm just waiting my turn," I said, pointing warily at the bathroom.

"Why are you following me, you psycho?" she inched closer to me, her words growing angrier with every step.

"What are you talking ab–"

"I see you in my classes, my dorm, every party I go to, even the coffee shop! The coffee shop."

"Whoa, I think you need to –"

"No! I think you need to stop stalking me."

"Stalking you? Wait a second. Aren't you that art major on the sixth floor? Clarke Griffin?"

"How do you know my name, or my major? What, did you Google me too?"

I began laughing softly, but it grew to the point that my sides started hurting.

"What the hell is so funny," she fumed, her sky blue eyes narrowed into slits.

"You are," I replied, looking her up and down.

I had seen Clarke around campus, probably more than anyone else I'd seen by chance. Costia, my roommate, went to high school with Clarke, and, on several occasions, proceeded to ramble on and on about how amazing Clarke's art was. It seemed like Costia had a thing for the so-called artist, so I let her gloat, not really paying much attention. That is, until one day I found myself wandering through the Fine Arts building's gallery waiting for Costia outside her sculpture class. I ran across a beautiful painting of a woman holding a small, blue flower. It reminded me of a renaissance painting or like the painter Chagal, and I noticed in the corner of painting was a signature that read "C. Griffin." For some reason after that I started seeing Clarke everywhere.

"I'm not a stalker," I said, still somewhat amused. "I live in your dorm, room 625, and I get coffee every day at the Brew just like everyone else."

"What about the parties? I've seen you at almost every one I've gone to. Including this one."

"I'm pretty sure we know the same people, Clarke. Does the name Costia ring any bells?"

"Costia from Middletown High?" Clarke asked, finally starting to calm down.

"She's my roommate. I'm always her DD so she can get wasted. Like tonight for example," I said rolling my eyes.

"Oh. I didn't know that," said Clarke, seeming a little embarrassed. Well, why were you in my art class a few weeks ago?"

"Lewis' class? I just transferred here from Bridgeport, a month ago and they let me sample some courses. Lewis kind of bored me."

Clarke's eyes suddenly softened and she slumped her shoulders, her gaze falling to the floor searchingly. A silence fell between us as I tried to think of something else to say. For some reason I thought us meeting might have been fate, but Clarke didn't seem too sure about it. More than anything she looked like she was ready to take off running in the other direction. I decided to ease the tension as best I could.

"I'm Lexa, by the way, Lexa Wright," I said with a half grin and an extended hand.

Clarke's eyes flicked up with a hint of fear in them before taking my hand in hers and gently shaking it once.

"I don't think I have to introduce myself," she said, quickly pulling her hand away.

"Yeah you are pretty famous. Well, at least around our dorm."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. You're practically Da Vinci," I replied, which made Clarke smile for the first time.

Her eyes beamed at me through the moonlit hallway, and just as she opened her mouth to say something her phone buzzed uncontrollably. Buzz after buzz after buzz. After a few moments of her texting back, she looked up at me with a little bit of a disappointed look on her face.

Clarke's POV

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz

Raven: claaarrrkke I need uoi.

Raven: you

Raven: Octvias beign mean

Raven: shit. being

Raven: She left with Lincoln L

Damn. Raven was blowing up my phone like crazy. I already felt embarrassed enough for yelling at Lexa, but now I was just being plain rude by burying my face in my phone. I knew I was just being paranoid before. I could kill Raven for egging me on, but I figured it was mainly my fault that I thought Lexa had some kind of agenda.

There was this weird tug in my chest whenever Lexa looked at me. Even though she was practically a stranger I felt like we knew each other personally. All those random moments over the past month of bumping into her all culminated into a feeling of familiarity. I didn't know who this girl was… but I wanted to.

"I've gotta go. My roommate's really drunk and –"

"Me too," Lexa pointed to bathroom with a smile. "Been waiting a while."

I turned on my heel to leave but immediately turned back.

"Maybe we'll…meet again?" I was hopeful, apologetic almost.

Her brown hair cascaded over her shoulders so magnificently it was hard to look away. Lexa's hazel eyes glistened in the blue moonlight that was spilling through the hallway. I never noticed before how beautiful she was.

"Isn't that what got me into this mess in the first place?" Lexa joked.

"See you around, Lexa Wright," I ended with a smile.

"See you around, Clarke Griffin."