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T h e   H o l l o w s   I n
O U R  F R E E D O M
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"Okay," I announced, "here we are." I hung my clothes and towel from a branch, laying a plastic sheet down by the 'entrance' to the river and taking my shoes off, standing on it.

Jace did the same, before asking, "now what?"

I threw him a confused glance. "We take our clothes off and wash?"

At this, Jace went silent.

I, on the other hand, had always flaunted my body around and so couldn't care less if a therapist saw it. This was a mission, and often a naked body is the least of our concerns.

Though, as I slipped off my joggers, I did feel a bout of self-consciousness hit me. Maybe it was because I was in front of him, and I didn't want him to think I didn't look as good as I thought I did.

Well, egoistic people get demoralised sometimes.

"Are you watching me?" I asked him suddenly, after pulling off my top. I had only my underwear left.

He didn't respond, so once I was fully stripped, I turned to see if he was.

"Christ, Lex!" He shouted, jumping and turning away, almost as if I was a disease.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "You were."

He didn't respond, and instead stood with his back against me, hunched over slightly as if he was curling up.

I huffed. "I don't look that ugly, Jace." I said, taking off the rest of my clothes before slipping into the river, hanging around near the edge so that I could reach my toiletries.

Jace turned, and he started to watch me. It wasn't weird though, the water pretty much covered everything. You could see slight cleavage, but when could you never with me?

"Are there any fish?" He asked, making me pause shampooing my hair to give him a weird look.

"I can't tell if you're being serious." I said, watching him inch closer to look over the edge cautiously.

He didn't respond, and instead asked another question, "is it a muddy floor?"

I covered the rest of my hair in shampoo with a frown on my face. "No, it's kinda like stone." I said, before closing my eyes and dipping under to wash out the shampoo.

I returned to see Jace right in front of me, crouching down at the edge.

"Crap, Jace." I said, holding one hand over my chest, the other brushing water off my face.

"I thought you'd drowned!" He responded, drawing back from the water, looking actually shocked.

I rolled my eyes, becoming impatient with him. "Take off your clothes and get in here." Jace was taken aback by my directness, but soon started to shed his clothes.

I didn't really watch, partly because I got some of my face wash in my eye, but also out of decency. I dipped into the water once more, washing the suds from my face.

I surfaced to see Jace in front of me once more, however this time, he was in the water.

And boy did I like the view.

Since he was taller than me, his chest showed more than mine did. I won't lie, he had a pretty toned chest. He must've got it from his genes; I don't remember him working out vigorously enough to get that kind of tone. Unless...he had been.

I smiled at him. "How does it feel?" I said, drowning my hair in conditioner.

He scrunched up his face. "I don't like it."

I rolled my eyes, turning around to grab my body wash and sponge. I turned back around to see Jace begin to wash his hair. I was trying not to be too amused by the sight of him cringe at just water.

Soon, it was time for me to dip again, washing off the soap from my body and hair. I rose, after running out of breath, to Jace look slightly confused.

"What?" I asked, peeling strands of hair off my face.

"So I just...go under?" He asked, looking around him with nerves.

I smiled. "Yeah, unless you brought some sort of bowl to dish the water out?" He shook his head, so I waved my hand around as the answer.

Jace took a breath.

"Are you scared of water?" I asked him suddenly, having watched him have the same expression on his face since he entered the water—and even before that.

He shook his head. "No," he told me, eyes focused on the water, "this is just weird."

I took his hands in mine, surprising him slightly. He looked up at me, his eyes fixed.

"We'll go down together." I told him to reassure him. He thought about this, and then nodded.

"Okay, close your eyes." I told him, watching him hesitate before doing so. "Take a deep breath." He did, and then I said, "let's go."

I gave him a seconds notice before pulling him under. I squeezed my eyes shut as we submerged into the water. Jace held onto my hands with tight iron grip, but I managed to rip one away and place it on his head, prompting him to rinse out his hair.

I took my free hand and did the same with my hair, until Jace started to tug on my arm. Guessing he had run out of air, I immediately hauled him up to the surface. He fell into me slightly, but I caught him. We were skin to skin for a moment.

Jace seemed to want to ignore this, and instead shook out his hair.

"You okay?" I asked, after clearing my throat.

After a few moments, he replied, "that was kind of fun." I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"It better have been, because I'm done and I'm not waiting in here—my nipples will freeze." I joked, though kind of wish I hadn't when I saw the scandalised look on Jace's face.

I turned to leave when I felt Jace grab onto my arm. I pivoted, facing him once more.

"Thank you, Lex." He said earnestly, eyes submerged in mine.

I smiled at him, feeling his hand in mine. "It's cool—really, though, what would you do without me?" I joked, leaving him to laugh as I turned to get out.

Just as I was about to climb out, I asked, "are you watching me?"

He didn't respond, so I looked over my shoulder to see that he was. I wasn't sure if he was scared to say that he was, like I'd bite his head off if I found out he was. I didn't really know.

Without a moments notice, I hauled myself out of the water, my body dripping with water.

"God, Lexi—why do you never give me any notice?" I heard Jace yell from the river.

I laughed, wrapping my towel around me and turning around. "You shouldn't have been looking, Clarke."

I watched him respond not with words, but with a pause, and then a shake of his head.

I smiled to myself, watching him begin to wash. I dried myself off and then began to clothe myself as Jace dipped under.

He kind of emerged at the wrong time, though, since I only had my sports leggings and a black bra on.

He froze when he realised.

"Hey." I said, with a short hand wave, before pulling my top over my head. Jace seemed to ignore what just happened, and instead moved over to the edge of the river. I slipped on my boots before moving away from the plastic sheet and turning around, putting deodorant on to occupy myself.

As Jace changed, I wandered off with a small bowl and found the source of the water, which looked relatively cleaner than the rest of it.

I came back to Jace fully-dressed, tying up his shoelaces. When he heard me approaching, he looked up, doing a double-take when he saw the bowl.

"Is that a bowl?" He asked, finishing his laces and rising.

I watched him with amusement. "Yes, but unless you wanted to spend ten years here, I wasn't too keen on using it." I said, referencing it's size.

Jace rolled his eyes, and watched me pull out my toothbrush and toothpaste as he dried off his hair.

I began to brush my teeth as Jace fished around in his bag to find his, producing it and joining me. I finished up and began putting away my things.

When Jace was done, I asked him if he'd brought his flask, which he responded with by producing it from his backpack.

Soon, we left the river and started for the water source, where we filled up our flasks before making our way back to camp.

When we had got there, most of it was dissembled. Our team looked ready, so they'd either found another part of the river to wash in, or just wasn't as filthy as I was. Both are entirely possible.

Soon, the whole camp was packed up and in our backpacks once more, and we took our earlier formation again.

"Okay," Elle began, "do we have everyone?" We yelled out all our names, before Elle smiled, satisfied.

"Let's go, soldiers."

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issa world war 2 pantomime

"do you see Hitler? I don't see Hitler"

"BEHIND YOU!!!"

"What? Be kind to Jews?"

"BEHIND YOU!!!"

"I'm not like Hitler, I am kind to Jews"

Okay fr I'm kinda funny

Questions (if you're not too busy laughing like me)

ALEXI AND JACE????
ALEXI AND JACE?????
A L E X I A N D J A C E ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

(that chu?)

Okay Chloe stop this isn't standup comedy

Bye

-bEHinD yOu

FABULOUS SONGS

Songs that played when I was writing this chapter (in order):
Truth Is a Beautiful Thing - London Grammar
Frozen - Sabrina Claudio
Run and Hide - Sabrina Carpenter
Orion's Belt - Sabrina Claudio
Hearts Without Chains - Ellie Goulding
Night Glo - Foxes
Skylights - Say Lou Lou
Ruins - Ryder
The Fear - Lily Allen
Hothouse - 78violet
bellyache - Billie Eilish

END OF FABULOUS SONGS

Date written:
27/04/18

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Next update: Friday
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CHAPTER FIFTY SPOILER:
😈

Alice was intrigued.

Alice followed her dreams.

And fell.

Alice was in Wonderland.

But that might not be the case for all.