A Whole New World | Octavia Blake [1]

Chapter 7

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  For as much as Addison hated Solitary, she did develop a fondness of being alone once the bad memories that haunted her were suppressed. Fortunately, no one came to find her, meaning Clarke with her determination and persistence and Finn with his tracking abilities.

  Above all, she was incredibly glad a Grounder didn't decide to take snatch her up and/or kill her.

  Addie stood up from her spot against a fir tree, wiping sticks, dirt and whatever else might've been on her pants before trekking back to the dropship (she hoped), looking for landmarks that pointed the way.

  She snuck in to see the delinquents harmoniously doing, what's likely, assigned tasks based on their skills. Addison drew the navy-blue hood up on her jacket and kept pushing forward. Instead of jumping in to help build a settlement of sorts, she stuck to the edges until she found a fallen log to sit on.

  She found an almost pointed grey rock, the "pointiest" side rounded and chipped. "I was wondering when you'd be back," a voice rang with a little chuckle.

  Addison pulled her hood down as she looked up at them bouncing toward her with a limp. "I see you're not putting your blood, sweat and tears into this place."

  "Neither are you." Octavia sat down beside Addison on the brunette's right-side.

  "I doubt you are obligated to."

  Octavia scoffed softly, "What's that supposed to mean?"

  Addie didn't hide her distaste. "It means your jackass of a brother seems to be running this show."

  "He's just being protective," the youngest Blake defended.

  "If you ask me, I think he's just being a dick because he can. But what do I know." Addison looked at Octavia with a small sigh, "What are you even doing here, Octavia? Bellamy made it perfectly clear that he doesn't want you around me."

  "So? You think that's gonna stop me?"

  "Obviously not, but I don't know you." Addison searched for the man of the hour, and muttered, "You shouldn't be here, Octavia."

  "My brother's not here. He went with Clarke, Finn, Wells and Murphy to find Liam and Jasper." That surprised Addie. Her heart swelled with hope, a little smile on her lips. "But since you want to be my brother's bitch like Atom," Octavia stood, "I'll just find him again. At least he was fun." She limped off, disappearing into a sea of more productive delinquents.

The smile that was on Addie's lips turned into a frown, more confused and shocked by little Blake's outburst than the fact there was a search party out for Liam. "What the hell just happened?"

"I think you just got put in your place." Addison snapped her head in the direction Octavia was sitting in. A blonde-haired girl with kind brown eyes, a black beanie atop her head and an arm full of clothing/tarp-like materials was standing in the goat trail. "I didn't mean to overhear, sorry." Addison just stared at her. "I'm uh, I'm Harper. Harper McIntyre. I would shake your hand but," she gave a little push upwards with the materials in her arms.

Addison dropped the rock and stood, approaching Harper. She took some of the materials, draping them across an arm, "We don't need to be formal on the ground."

Harper pressed her thin lips in a line, "Okay then . . ."

"Lead the way, Harper. I'm—"

"I know who you are." Addison looked at Harper's side profile as they walked. "People talk."