Clarke wondered, not for the first time, why she had chosen to give up her summer of freedom to start her first college classes. It was mostly due to her mother's encouragement; she had this vision of Clarke graduating early at the top of her class and eventually coming to work for her. And maybe she would, she wasn't sure yet. But she couldn't tell Dr. Abigail Griffin she wasn't sure, ever.
So, here she was. Summer session was officially over, but she was lingering on campus, anyway, getting in some early reading for her fall session. The house was empty, as usual, without her mom around, and she wanted to be somewhere where there were people. Maybe not a lot of people, but she was hardly the only one on campus. She'd even become acquainted enough with some of her classmates to wave or stop and chat for a couple of minutes.
She decided to settle under a tree not too far from the soccer field. It was isolated and quiet and easy enough to zone into her reading. She barely even noticed when a few girls came out onto the soccer field. She vaguely heard the ball being kicked around, some yelling here and there. It wasn't until the black-and-white ball flew over her book and smacked her right in the chest that she really noticed them.
She let out a surprised gasp as the ball bounced off in front of her. "Jesus," she exclaimed to the girl approaching. "Who the hell kicked that? I'm almost impressed."