Chapter 19

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Addison sighed heavily in frustration and tossed her hands up in the air. "This is pointless. How are we supposed to find a radio in a section of water this big?"

"Are you always like this?"

Addison's brows knit at Raven's question, "Like what?"

"Pessimistic," she replies, glancing at the girl.

"Sometimes." Liam states from Addison's other side, continuing to kick his feet around in the water for the radio.

"Am not." Addison defends sharply, her eyes narrowing at the boy.

"Are to," he banters back with a small smirk when he glances at her.

Addison scoffs softly, "I am not a pessimist."

"Really? You sure act like one," the taller brunette girl replies, moving her eyes back to the girl from the edge of the water.

She narrows her eyes at her, too, like she did with Liam. "Why are you guys so adamant on assuming I'm a 'pessimist' ?"

"Because you are," Liam counters with a small laugh, Raven smiling with a small chuckle, too.

"I can see where they're coming from." Dawson pipes up from behind them, their eyes landing on him. "You have your moments. Or so I've heard," he says simply.

"Why is everyone calling me a pessimist?" she groans with an annoyed shake of her head, remembering the first night she and Octavia snuck out.

Liam chuckles under his breath, glancing at Addison. "Who else has been calling you that?"

The memory of her and Octavia slips back into her mind, hearing Liam's question. "Besides you three," she points to her best friend, Dawson, and Raven, "Octavia."

"Ohh, I see...you don't want her to be right because you hate being wrong," Liam draws out with a wave of his finger and a teasing smile.

Raven chuckled the loudest at his comment. She flickered her eyes to Addison, "I think we'll get along great."

Raven chuckles the loudest at his comment, flickering her eyes to Addison. "I think we'll get along great."

"I totally feel like I'm being ganged up on," the short brunette mumbles, rolling her eyes at them. "And I don't hate being wrong...I just don't like it," she says shortly with a small shrug, averting her eyes back down to the water and continues kicking around for the radio.

"She totally hates it," Dawson teases with a smile, hitting the back of his hand on Liam's shoulder. Addison lifts her head and narrows her eyes at him, scrunching her features up in a mocking face. "Real cute, Anderson."

She scoffs, ignoring the way her heart fluttered for a second at his comment. "Whatever, Hale. You two can go back to camp," she tells him and Dawson.

The soft running of the water over the rocks underneath her feet drown out their soft laughters and the commotion of other delinquents Bellamy brought from camp to help look for Raven's radio. Charlotte's the first thing that's comes to her once blank mind, her death flashing through her mind. It's like she's on the cliff again, fighting with Bellamy and Clarke to keep Charlotte from going with Murphy. The past few days has been a mess for Addison—Atom's death, the death she tried taking so Bellamy nor Clarke had to deal with. Charlotte's suicidal jump to save herself, Clarke, and Bellamy. Her hanging that almost signed her own death, alongside Murphy.

The only thing that's gone good for Addison is Octavia. Their friendship has increasingly peaked, sneaking out every night after everyone's asleep to the butterfly field and staying until the sun starts rising. Her and Dawson even got closer, hanging out during the day and doing their own assigned tasks around camp together. She so desperately wants to turn back time to before the chaos with Charlotte happened, when she was sneaking off at night and paling around with Dawson and, most of the time, Liam during the day.

"Hey, I found it!" a boy shouts, snapping Addison out of her thoughts.

She, Dawson, and Liam jog after Raven, coming to her side. Addison eyes the soaked radio that's now in Raven's hands with a raised brow, "Is that thing even gonna work?"

"See, pessimist." Raven replies with a teasing smirk, the other girl narrowing her eyes playfully.

"Whatever. Just answer the question," she nods to the radio, glancing at Clarke and Bellamy as they form a huddled group in the shallow water.

"It'll take half a day just to dry out the components to see what's broken." Raven replies, moving some pieces of wiring out of the way so she can inspect it further.

"Like I said, it's too late." Bellamy states, his eyes staying on Clarke.

Clarke quickly walks forward, bumping into Addison's shoulder as she gets in Bellamy's face. "Do you have any idea what you did? Do you even care?" the blonde's voice raises.

"You asked me to help. I helped," he responds matter-of-factly.

"300 people are gonna die today because of you!"

Addison moves forward, resting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Clarke—"

"Hold up!" Raven interrupts, Addison flickering her eyes to her. "We don't have to talk to the Ark. We just have to let them know we're down here, right?"

The girl from Factory watches the wheels turn in Raven's head just by how her eyes light up. "Yeah, but how do we do that with no radio?" Finn questions, Raven's lips forming into a smirk.

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The wheels had definitely turned in Raven's head, the delinquents Bellamy had brought from camp getting to work on what Raven assigns them to do to get the flares ready to shoot off by tonight.

"You two," Raven grabs Liam and Dawson's shoulder. "Find some wood to make three stands for the flares. Build them at camp," she commands.

They simply nod, scurrying off quickly to find suitable wood. "Impressive thinking," the shorter brunette compliments, watching the boys disappear into the forest.

Raven smirks with a shrug, "I know."

Addison cocks a brow and glances up at her. "Cocky much?"

"Very." Raven's smirk grows, if that was even possible, flickering her eyes to the other brunette.

Addison hums at her response, an amused chuckle erupting from her. "What do you want me doing?" she questions the girl who seems to smart for her own good.

"To chill out. They got it covered," she gestures to the working delinquents.

"I'm perfectly capable of working, too." Addison defends, turning her body to face Raven more. "I don't need special treatment because I look like hell."

"I've seen the way you wince when you turn your head too much certain ways from the bruise," the girl responds plainly, shifting her gaze to the working delinquents. Addison raises her brows, shock written in her face. "How did that happened?"

Addison shakes her head in confusion, her brows scrunching. "Why do you care? We don't know each other," she responds sharply, her tone changing.

"Why do you think I'm asking?" Raven meets her eyes, their eyes staying locked with one another's.

Addison's eyes harden after a few seconds pass, her guard coming back up. "Ask me again when we know each other better," she leaves Raven's side to the river bank, kneeling.

She dips her hands in the frigid water, finally washing the blood that's been tainting her hands since last night. The water stings the opened wounds that rest on her knuckles, hissing as she rubs her thumbs gently over the tender skin to clean the wounds.

"We need to launch those flares ASAP if we have any hope of saving those people!" Addison glances over her shoulder at Raven's demanding voice. "Finn, get that control panel to camp. You, pull out those firing circuits in one piece or they won't work."

Addison sighs softly, turning her attention back to her hands. She brings them out of the water, flicking the water off of them as she stands up, walking back to the pod.

"Raven will you please put me to work," the short brunette practically pleads, coming to a halt between her and Clarke.

"Maybe she's right," the blonde says, gesturing to her neck. "You shouldn't be doing anything while your neck is healing. Like heavy lifting," she clarifies in a doctorly way.

Addison groans, stomping her foot like a child. "I hate being useless," she grumbles, folding her arms over her chest.

"You can help Clarke un-work those bolts," Raven nods to the one's Clarke's starting to take off.

"There's one wrench and two people." Addison responds dryly, "How do you suppose I help if she's got the wrench?"

"Supervise," she replies nonchalantly, walking away to make sure everyone is doing their part.

Addison groans in aggravation, turning her attention to Clarke. The brunette's eyes narrow in confusion at the other girl who's chuckling under her breath, "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing," she attempts to not laugh out.

Unconvinced, Addison raises her brows, humming and leans against the pod, sinking to the ground. "You know, my neck is perfectly fine. It's literally just bruised, not broken!"

"It needs rest. You, need rest." Clarke states, flickering her eyes to her while she un-works the bolts.

"I don't need rest," she mumbles, watching the other delinquents scramble around at Raven's instructions.

Clarke sighs softly, "How long as it been since you've slept?"

"I slept some last night, when I was waiting for Raven to wake up," she responds quietly, her gaze moving to the water.

Addison sighs, standing up. "Where are you going?" Clarke questions with a raised brow.

"To be useful." With that, she walks around the other side of the pod, examining everyone's work and chatting with the more talkative delinquents.

In a few short hours, Raven had gotten everything she needed to make the flares, and the group trekked back to camp. Thankfully for Addison, she became useful and carried some of the smaller parts after begging and bothering Clarke and Raven. Once they arrived, Raven made quick work with the flares, finishing them up in no time.

Addison had helped her, glancing over her shoulder in search of Octavia when Raven would take over most everything, but she tried. With the three flares ready and set in place, they waited until nightfall for the Ark to see them better.

She stands off to the side, waiting for the three flares to shoot up into the sky. Her brown eyes scan the crowd for the hundredth time, searching for Octavia.

Dawson nudges her with his elbow, getting her attention. "You okay?"

Addison quickly nods, "Y-Yeah, just..." she sighs heavily, shaking her head as she closes her eyes. "Something just doesn't feel right, that's all."

"You're looking for Octavia," he says knowingly, not bothering to sum it up in a question. She presses her lips together, and nods. "I'm sure she's looking for you right now. Don't worry," he tells her reassuringly.

She nods, averting her eyes to the flares just as they go off, shooting up into the dark night sky. Everyone shouts in excitement, but she didn't. She couldn't find a way to be happy, even with her father and Liam's parents still on the Ark. They were essential workers, they wouldn't have been among the 300 possible people that would be killed, she knew that.

Despite being born and raised on Factory Station, her father's a doctor, alongside Dr. Griffin. Both of Liam's parents are part of the council, having special treatment compared to Addison and her family on Factory, but her and Liam never let their living style or station difference break their unbreakable friendship.

Her stomach twists in a knot, not in the way it does when she's around Octavia, in a way that made her almost scared—the same way her stomach twisted when she was being lead to the dropship from Sky Box. Something wasn't right.

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