He patted the top of the spike and headed into the barn. Clark still laughed to himself when he finished his morning chores. He still had to laugh at the fact that he was able to simply push a wooden spike into the ground without really much of an effort. It was a surreal event, when he witnessed it, and when he watched his dad take a hammer and force it into the ground he could help but chuckle to himself and shake his head.

It had become clearer to him over the past year why he was able to do these amazing things. His parents had told him since he was little that they were not his real birth parents, and that they had adopted him. But only recently did they tell him who they had exactly gotten him from, or rather what. They showed him the spaceship in which he had arrived on earth and the piece that Jonathan managed to pry from the craft before it closed.

Clark had taken the news very hard, feeling an ironic sense of alienation, and he had secluded himself to the limits of his bedroom. But Jonathan had raised Clark to be a confident young man, bold in his appearance to the world. He had always told him that no matter where he came from, he would never mean anything less to his parents. He had also helped Clark develop a self achievement that he could be proud of. He taught Clark the importance of self assurance and Clark had learned, and accepted, it quite well.

It was because of these lessons that Clark emerged from his room two days later with grief on his face and an apology on his lips. He apologized that he had freaked out and that he knew his parents would love him no matter what planet he was from. His parents understood, of course, and expected nothing less of his behavior.

Clark laughed at the memory, he was really taken by surprise when they told him and didn’t know how to react. He had spent the two days locked in his room reading magazines about the solar system. That was probably why he had such a big attraction to it, he was from there, out there somewhere. He grabbed a rag off a hook and cleaned off his soiled hands, then he looked around again, trying to remember his next chore.

He walked over the tractor, his dad had said something about an axle being loose, a bolt maybe had been loosened jarring the axle out of place. He got down on his back and slid himself underneath it. Using his x-ray vision, he scanned the bottom of the vehicle and looked for the loose bolt. His parents were most surprised with that ability. He had gained it one morning at breakfast, he was innocently eating his egg when he looked up at his mother and was seeing the tissues and bones of her face. He laughed at that one too.

Clark had developed a great relationship with his parents, especially his mom. His mom had chosen to home school Clark for his elementary years of school, and when he had reached the point that he could go to junior high, he had asked to remain home schooled. To be honest, Clark didn’t really mind, he didn’t really know anyone his own age anyway. He remembered meeting a guy his age when he was about ten or eleven. The guy’s name was Peter Ross. They had played in a hardware store while their dads were picking up supplies. He was a really nice guy and hoped that he would run into him again some day.

He had never been much of a city boy. He had gone into town with his dad maybe a dozen times in his entire life. He preferred to stay on the farm with his mother, he felt comfortable there and didn’t feel like he would have to be judged because of his difference to everyone else. His parents insisted that he was no different when it came to being around him, he was normal. He spoke English, not some other WhizchYaSaki language, which they had all gotten a laugh at several times, he was tall, dark and, as his mother put it, handsome. He never really like his mom to tell him that, it was embarrassing, but she kept saying it was a part of her job.

Most importantly of all, Clark just enjoyed being on the farm. He knew he was helping out a lot with the extra hand he was able to lend his dad. Without his abilities, the farm would never survive, and Clark was proud of that.

He fixed the bolt, screwing it back into place with his fingers and adjusted the axle. Standing up, he grabbed the rag again and wiped off his hands. Now his chores were finished so he headed inside for breakfast.

Upon entering the house, he heard his parents discussing the bills. It wasn’t uncommon for him to walk in on them talking, but today was different.

"Jonathan," Martha was saying, "even with Clark’s help we won’t be able to come up with enough, you know that. We’d have to take out another bank loan."

Jonathan grimaced as he opened the refrigerator and took out the orange juice carton. "Then maybe we’ll have to. Martha, I don’t want you to have to go to work. What about Clark?"

Clark made his presence known at that time. ‘Don’t worry about me. Dad, mom, whatever you need to do to keep the farm going, I can adjust. Really."

Jonathan and Martha looked startled and slightly embarrassed, they hated it when Clark heard them talking about the bills. "How long have you been standing there, son?" Jonathan asked as he poured the orange juice into a glass.

Clark walked over to the island in the center of the kitchen. "Long enough to know you’ll have to take out another bank loan unless mom gets a job."

Martha sighed, "I’d like to work again, I just don’t want to stop teaching you. It has been as much fun for me as it has been for you." She looked sadly up at Clark and took his hand in her own.

"Mom, really," Clark said sincerely, "if you want to get a job and it can work, I can adjust."

Martha looked at Jonathan, who hadn’t said another word, and then looked back at Clark. "How do you feel about public school?"

Clark shrugged, "I guess it could be fun. I have to get out into the real world someday."

They both looked at Jonathan. Looking very skeptical, he finally said, "Fine. We’ll try it. But if anything, and I mean anything, doesn’t work out, I’ll take out a bank loan faster than Clark can run to the bank."

Clark grinned, "Yeah. And if things don’t work out I’ll quit school and work here full time!" Both his parents gave him an evil stare. "Or," Clark suggested dryly, "I could just come home after school and help out then."

His mother smirked, "I’ll make you some eggs."

Chapter Two

Clark pulled a black t-shirt over his curly black hair. It hung on his shoulders and covered his muscular upper body as well as the top of his jeans. He ran a hand through his messy hair and shook it back and forth trying to make I look decent.

He was nervous, and rightly so. He had persuaded his parents to let him go into town today by himself. It was two days before his first day of public school and Clark felt that the need to go and check it out. He wanted to see it for himself and maybe, if he was lucky, meet some kids his own age. He needed a backpack regardless.

His hair wasn’t working for him so he picked a comb up off his dresser and combed through it a couple times. He finally decided that it was as good as it was going to get.

Looking back into the mirror, he noticed that his mom was standing in the doorway of his room, staring at him. "Mom?" he asked turning around. She looked weary, almost sad.

Martha sighed, realizing her gazing was over. She had slipped into the past and Clark woke her up. "Oh Clark, you’re just growing up so fast." He rolled his eyes at her, she walked in and stood in the middle of the room. "I know, I know. But it’s a part of the job."

Clark rolled his eyes again, but smiled. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "I’m starting to think it’s really weird that I haven’t been to town in five years, and now all of a sudden I’m going to school there."

Martha nodded, "I think it’s strange that you never wanted to go in. As a teenager I couldn’t have imagined not going into town a single day." She looked up curiously at him, "How do you feel about this?"

Clark’s face showed Martha an expression that she had never really seen before, it was giddiness. "I’m actually really excited!" Clark exclaimed, "You and dad have been amazing and very good to me, but now I think it’s time that I went out on my own and made some friends. It feels like an adventure." He looked genuinely happy.

"That’s good," Martha said smiling, "I’m excited for you. I feel guilty sometimes, like your dad and I have been keeping you from making friends."

Clark shook his head, "You and dad were only doing what you thought was right. Besides, look at me now!" Clark hesitated when he saw a smirk ride across his mother’s lips, "Wait...don’t answer that." She laughed.

Martha dug into her pocket and produced the keys for the truck, handing them to Clark, she said, "Be careful." She smiled and turned to leave.

"Mom?" Clark called out. Martha stuck her head back in the door. "Thanks." She smiled and blew him a kiss.

Clark looked in the mirror one last time. For whoever he saw, he really wanted to make a good first impression.

He ran out to the truck and hopped in, started up the engine and was on his way. The road leading from the farm to town was long and boring, Clark made sure the radio was going so he wouldn’t fall asleep. He wasn’t tired, but he wanted to be alert so he could keep his driving privileges. It took him a good ten minutes to reach the limits of the town.

Approaching the busy streets, he began to subconsciously slow down as he looked at the sights. The shops were bigger and brighter than he remembered them and there were hundreds of more people. He noticed an outlet for school supplies in a shopping strip, but decided to do that later. He wanted to be around people his own age for a while.

He started looking for a place with the most teens, around his age, gathering. There were several little kiosks, but the place that caught his eye drew him to it. It was called the Talon, it looked like an old movie theater, but he could see inside and it looked like a coffee shop. That was where he wanted to go.

He parked the truck across the street and jogged over to the building. He stood in front of it and looked up and around. Flowers decorated the exterior of the building and it was a very nice setting. He smiled and then remembered what his dad had told him numerous times, be confident in who you are, don’t let anyone intimidate you before they know you, make them know that you are comfortable with yourself. He held his head up and put a curious grin on his face and opened the door.

The noise flooded through him. There were kids laughing, adults conversing and waitresses busing tables. He smiled and thought to himself, this is so cool. He walked in and looked around. The decorator really has taste, he thought, it was interesting and yet very homey.

He saw an open table. It was small and round but had a newspaper laying on the top. He walked over to it and sat down. He picked up the newspaper, called the Torch, and flipped through it.

Chapter Three

Chloe Sullivan stood facing Lana Lang at the counter of the Talon. They were talking and laughing when Lana looked up and saw a boy about their age walk in the Talon doors.

She stared at him for a minute, when Chloe waved a hand in front of her eyes. "Hello? Lana? Can you hear me?" Chloe asked, a little offended that Lana hadn’t heard what she said. She turned to look where Lana was staring. Together they watched the incredibly handsome young man look around smiling and sit down at one of the tables that Lana was busing.

"Looks like you’ve got another customer!" Chloe said giggling. "Have you ever seen him before?"

Lana shook her head, "No, I was hoping you had. He’s...he’s..." She couldn’t seem to say it.

Chloe finished for her, "Hot?!"

Lana smirked and nodded. "Hmm..." Just then they were joined by Pete Ross.

"Hey girls, who you staring at?" He asked, looking in the general direction of where Clark was, but wasn’t seeming to pick up that they were staring at him.

Chloe had to do the speaking, Lana was still trapped in her own thoughts. "Do you know who that is?" Chloe asked, nodding towards Clark, who was looking the an issue of the Torch.

Pete stared at him, "He looks familiar." Chloe and Lana both looked surprised, Pete continued, "But I can’t put my finger on it. Are you going to make him be thirsty all night? Go find out!"

Lana shook her head, clearing her mind, "Oh, of course." She grabbed a mug and a pot of coffee and started over towards the boy. She approached his table and tried to start a little conversation. "Hi! Would you like some coffee?"

The guy looked up at her and smiled broadly. He was incredibly cute, especially when he smiled. "Yeah! That’d be great. Thanks." Lana set the mug down in front of him and poured to cup.

He picked it up and took a sip. "Hey! This is really good. My mom doesn’t even make this good of coffee."

Lana laughed, "Well thank you." She stared at him and he looked up at her with a questioning look. Not that he was bugged by her presence, but of the weird look she had on her face. It looked like she kept trying to say something, but kept changing her mind. "I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before. What’s your name?" She asked him.

The guy rolled his eyes, "Oh, stupid of me. My name’s Clark, Clark Kent." He stuck out his hand and Lana shook it, amazed at the large warm hand that held her grip. Clark, too, was amazed at the soft dainty hand that he shook.

"Nice to meet you Clark," Lana said, "I’m Lana Lang. I kinda own the place. I’m a co-owner with Lex Luthor." She nodded and motioned towards the chair, gesturing if it was okay for her to sit down.

Clark nodded, "Wow! I really like it. It’s amazing."

Lana laughed, she couldn’t stop looking at him. "So, are you new around here? Do you go to Smallville High?" she asked him.

"Yes, actually I’m starting at the high school this year. I’ve been home schooled for the last ten or so years. My mom has to go back to work so she can’t teach me anymore." Clark was wondering if he was rambling, but Lana seemed to follow.

"Home school, huh? Wow, I don’t think I could ever do that. Did you enjoy it?" Lana asked.

Clark nodded, "Yeah, it was great. My parents are real cool, but I was starting to realize that I wanted to start going to a public school. Our farm is in need of money, so when my mom said that she might have to go to work, it was a perfect opportunity for me to go to school." He was nervous about his rambling, but he remembered his father’s voice again, be confident.

Lana looked sympathetic, "Oh, that’s too bad. I go to the high school, it’s usually pretty fun. You’ll enjoy it." Then Clark’s last name popped into her head again. She had to ask, "Didn’t you say your last name was Kent? Like, Jonathan and Martha Kent?" He nodded, she continued, "I didn’t think they had any children?"

Clark looked at her sheepishly, "Well, actually, I’m adopted. I think that’s why they wanted to home school me." He grinned, and Lana knew he was half joking.

"Can’t bear to get rid of their kid, huh?" she asked. They both let out a little laugh.

Chloe had had enough by this time and was dying to meet the guy. She walked over. "I’m feeling left out and I needed to come over." She looked at Clark and introduced herself, "Hi! I’m Chloe Sullivan."

Clark stuck out his hand, "Clark Kent. Nice to meet you." They shook. "Do you want to sit?" Chloe nodded. He turned and grabbed a chair with one of his hands and lifted it over to Chloe.

She laughed, "Well thank you." She sat down. "So what brings you to Smallville?"

Clark smiled and looked her directly in the eye, which made Chloe a little nervous. She always hated it when guys, especially the cute ones, did that to her. It made her feel like they were zoning everyone else out and only cared about them when they answered her question. "Believe it or not, this is the first time I’ve been here in five years and I live ten miles down the road." Chloe and Lana stared at him in shock. He laughed, "I wanted to check it out before I went to school here."

Chloe nodded, "Ah, you’re going to Smallville High?" He nodded. "Cool! It’s not really that bad of a place, its pretty fun sometimes too. Unless some meteor enhanced freak..."

"Chloe!" Lana shot out, Chloe pushed her first impression too far sometimes. She tended to talk about meteor freaks more than anything. "Sorry, girl reporter here is a motor mouth."

Chloe looked offended, and covered her hand over her heart. Clark laughed, "That’s alright. But if you both say that it’s a good school, than I can’t help but be anxious." He picked up his mug and took another sip. The coffee out of the pot was steaming, and his mug was still giving off a little too, but he didn’t feel it as he chugged it down.

At that point, Pete joined the group and began to introduce himself. "Okay, now I’m feeling left out." He turned to Clark, "Hi, I’m..."

"Pete Ross!" Clark interrupted him, he stood up and shook his hand. "Wow! I didn’t think I’d be able to recognize you, but I did."

Pete looked really stunned, but then looking at him harder he said, "Clark Kent?" Clark nodded. "Wow! You’ve grown about three feet since the last time I saw you! How long has it been man?"

Clark laughed, "At least five years. That was the last time I was here." Pete pulled up a chair and sat with them. "How have you been?"

Pete opened his mouth to say something, but Chloe cut him off. "Whoa...how do you two know each other, but Lana and I have never seen him before?"

Pete grinned, "Our dads used to drag us along to their trips to the hardware store and we would play together. Cops and robbers! Yeah! Remember that?!" Pete and Clark laughed, Clark nodded. Pete continued, "You were always able to outrun me. Girls, this guy is freakin’ fast!"

Clark shrugged, "Hey, I have to round up the cows everyday. My legs get pretty strong."

So does the rest of your body, Lana thought, looking at Clark’s muscular arms that were showing under his black t-shirt. His hair isn’t all that bad either, in fact, Lana pondered, it goes right with his personality. He is confident, and the curly hair just satisfies that.

Clark took the last swig of coffee in his mug. "I need a backpack. Anybody have any suggestions to where I should go?" The girls giggled and Pete rolled his eyes.

"Dude, you don’t have a backpack? Go to Al’s, he’s got some nice ones for pretty cheap. In fact," Pete said, "I’ll go with you. I need some notebooks for Tuesday anyway."

The two guys stood up to leave, Clark handed Lana a five dollar bill and smiled, "Thanks for the coffee. Call my mom and give her the recipe." Lana laughed.

The girls stood up too and looked at Clark. "It was really nice meeting you, Clark," Lana said, "we’ll see you on Tuesday!" Chloe said her goodbye and the guys left. Lana and Chloe walked back over to the counter where they just stood there and looked at each other.

"Wow!" Lana said finally.

Chapter Four

Clark and Pete left the Talon and headed over to Clark’s truck. It felt like they had been friends forever, and the both felt an immediate connection.

"So you’re coming to Smallville High?" Pete asked curiously.

Clark nodded, "Yeah. My mom has to go to work so she can’t teach me anymore."

Pete snorted, "I’m glad my mom has to work, I would hate her teaching me." Clark laughed. "The girls seem to really like you," Pete said, a little self consciously.

Clark raised an eyebrow, "You think? They are really the first girls I’ve ever met." Pete’s mouth dropped open and his eyes were wide. Clark laughed again, "They are very pretty."

Pete shook his head, "Wow. That’s hard to believe. You chose the right two girls though, or rather, they chose you. Lana has about a hundred guys tailing her since her boyfriend left, and Chloe is just amazing. You’ll really like them."

"Boyfriend?" Clark asked curiously.

Pete nodded, "Yeah. Her boyfriend left for the Marines at the end of last year, they established right before he left that they were just friends. She hated him going, and I think she’s still in love with him, but she doesn’t want to work on a long distance relationship. I think she really felt like she no longer had that connection with him any longer. He was a little upset, but he agreed to it."

Clark heaved a sigh, "Wow. So you two must be pretty close?"

Pete shrugged, "Yeah, fairly. We talk a lot. We have a brother sister type of relationship, it’s pretty cool. I was good friends with Whitney before he left, we played football together."

"Football? My dad played football. Cool. What about Chloe?" Clark asked.

Again, Pete shrugged, "We went to homecoming together last year. I really like her, but she sees me as more of a brother too. I guess I’m cool with that." He grinned, "I guess I’m gonna have a little competition now, huh?" He gave Clark a light punch on the shoulder.

Clark smirked, "I don’t even know how to talk to girls, I’ve only been around my mom my entire life. This is all know and strange to me." They reached his truck and he opened it. They both hopped in.

Pete made himself comfortable as Clark started up the car. "You didn’t seem to have much trouble talking to them just now. I’d say you’re a shoo-in." He smiled.

Clark sighed and pulled out of the parking lot. "I didn’t even know what to expect coming here this afternoon, I was just hoping to make a couple friends, and now you’re telling me I have two girls tailing me." Pete laughed out loud and it made Clark laugh too.

"You, my friend, are going to have no problem making friends," Pete said, "you are very approachable."

Clark smiled and looked at him, "Thanks." They drove in silence for the next couple moments, until Pete started giving directions to Al’s.

They did their "shopping" and said goodbye, saying they'd see each other Tuesday. Clark dropped Pete off by his car and drove home, eagerly anticipating the first day of school.

Chapter Five

Clark woke to the sound of his buzzing alarm clock. Hitting it softly, remembering the numerous times he hit it just a little too hard and all the springs popped out, forcing him to get a new one, he jumped out of bed with a big smile on his face. He’s barely slept a wink last night, but he was as awake as if he’d slept for three days.

He stretched out his arms and felt a surge of energy rush through every fiber in his body. He was excited, and nervous and anxious and giddy and all the other emotions that went along with it.

He quickly threw on some clothes and super sped downstairs and outside. He rushed through his chores, which took about five minutes. He just couldn’t rush milking cows, fearing he might hurt them. When he finished, he super sped back upstairs and took a shower.

A silent observer sat at the kitchen table watching him zoom back and forth. Martha laughed quietly to herself. Jonathan came in behind her and kissed the back of her head. "Morning sweetheart."

Martha felt his hand on her shoulder and reached up to pat it, "Good morning Jonathan." Just then, Clark came bounding down the stairs with wet hair and a white t-shirt on. "Looks like somebody’s excited to be alive!" Martha smirked.

Clark grinned from ear to ear. "Hey! Can you blame me?" He walked over the fridge and pulled out the milk. He started to drink straight from the carton and Martha got all huffy and started scolding him.

"You and your dad. What! Did you two grow up on a farm?" she asked sarcastically. Jonathan and Clark chuckled.

"Ah mom, it tasted better that way. So what time does the bus come?" He asked excitedly. Jonathan could not figure out how Clark could be so excited about riding the bus, but awaited Martha’s answer.

"Oh no!" Martha gasped. She ran over to the drawer where she kept all her important papers and started rummaging through. She produced a small rectangular card and her shoulders heaved. "I forgot to send this in!"

Jonathan walked over and stood behind her. "Looks like I’ll be driving you for a week or two, son." He gave a sympathetic nod towards Clark.

Clark shrugged, "Why? I can run." Jonathan and Martha stared at him like he was crazy.

"Twelve miles to school? I don’t think so." Martha said.

Clark started back up the stairs, "Why not? I need the exercise." His parents rolled their eyes, Clark was the last one that needed exercise. Clark disappeared up the stairs and came back down a minute later wearing a blue and white plaid shirt. It was his favorite one, and his mom loved it too.

"I need to get going." He suddenly appeared in front of his mom and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, patted his dad on the arm and disappeared. His parents sighed and turned back to their life.

Clark stood on the road before going into super speed. He wanted to make sure that no one would see him run off. There was no one around, not that it surprised him, so he took off. He whizzed by cows and horses, rows and rows of corn. Then it started to get tricky. There were people around so he decided to start moving through the corn fields. He finally reached the edge of the parking lot and slowed down to a jog.

He was running up to the school entrance when he heard his name. "Clark!" it was Pete. He turned around and saw Pete and Chloe walking towards him. "Hey man! You weren’t on the bus!"

Clark nodded, "Yeah, my mom forgot to send in the little slip thingy, so I had to get here on my own."

Chloe stared at him like he was crazy. "What’d you do? Run?"

Clark nodded, "Yeah." Pete and Chloe had to shake their heads, trying to absorb the information.

"Are you telling me you ran twelve miles to school this morning?" Chloe asked again.

Clark nodded, "Yeah. I like to run, I get my exercise that way." Then it suddenly hit him, he was going to have to keep his abilities a secret, and this could have given it all away. On the first day, no less.

Pete shook his head, "See! I told you, this guy’s a runner!" He patted Clark on the back and the three of them headed inside the building. "So, Clark man, where’s your locker?"

Clark pulled out his schedule sheet of paper and looked at it. "I dunno how to read this. What does B2203 mean?" Pete took it from him.

"B means you are in ‘B’ hallway, that’s the English hallway. 2203 is the number, you know how to count, right?" Pete teased. "Hey! You’re right next to mine! Weird."

Chloe laughed, "And a world away from mine. If you boys will excuse me," she started to whisper, "I need to use the lady’s room." Pete laughed and Clark just grinned.

Pete led Clark to their lockers. "Dude, you’re locker is the one that always gets jammed. Hope you’re strong." He started to open up his locker, Clark had to do everything he could to keep from laughing. Clark spun the combination for the lock: 35-21-7. Good thing he had "super memory", as his mom put it, or he’d never remember it.

He felt the strain that Pete mentioned. By exerting very little force, Clark popped the locker open and started rummaging through. "I guess that answers my question..." Pete mumbled. He shut his locker and Clark did the same. "Now, my friend, for your lucky tour of the Smallville High School."

Clark rolled his eyes and sarcastically waved a flag, "Yippee!" But in reality he was more than siked. Pete showed him the different areas of the school, the English wing, the math wing, the science wing, the Phy Ed wing. They walked around for nearly fifteen minutes before they got to the interesting stuff.

Pete walked into a door off to the left and stopped in the center of the room. Clark looked around, very impressed. The room was filled with computers and filing cabinets, papers scoured every desk. Pete smiled at the look on Clark’s face, "This is the Torch office. It’s my favorite place, I work for the paper."

Clark walked in further to the room and picked up a newspaper. "This is so cool! I would die to work in a place like this."

"Please don’t kill yourself! You can have a job!" Chloe responded teasingly. She had walked into the room behind them and dropped her backpack by a desk.

"Clark, meet the editor of the Torch!" Pete knew they already knew each other, but he doubted Clark knew she was the editor.

Clark stuck out his hand, "I thought your name was Chloe?" Chloe rolled her eyes, but stuck her small hand into his firm grip.

"Funny boy. If you’d like you can get a trial run, a practice article to see what you’re made of," Chloe offered.

"That would be awesome!" Clark responded lightly. He would really enjoy being able to write for fun, he loved to keep a journal, but there was no way he was going to write something about himself. Chloe handed him a small fold out and he flipped it open.

"You can start by interviewing the principle for the first issue of the year. It should be enlightening," she said dryly. "It’ll let you get to know the principle too."

Clark stuck it in his backpack, "Thanks! This’ll be fun. So, uh, isn’t it about time for classes to begin?"

Pete nodded, "Except for girl reporter here, yes. She has two free periods this semester, namely the first one. But you and I unlucky ones must cope with that and move on." He patted Clark on the back and motioned towards the door, "Let’s go."

Clark looked back at Chloe, "Bye Chlo, see you later." Pete laughed, "One day and you’ve already given her a nickname. Boy you move fast."

Clark laughed and punched Pete on the shoulder. Then, for the second time today, he heard his name again.

Chapter Six

Pete and Clark turned to the sound of a female voice who called out Clark’s name behind them. "Clark! Hey!" Lana said, she walked casually up to them with her jacket slung over one arm and a select assortment of books in the other.

"Hey Lana!" Clark said, genuinely happy to see her. He wanted his new friends to know how happy he was to be around them, especially the girls. He would be as friendly as he needed to be to keep them, which wouldn’t be too hard considering they are incredibly nice people.

Pete suddenly smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Oh ****! I forgot the football team had a meeting this morning. I’ll catch up with you guys later." He nudged Clark and turned and started running down the hall. "Oh, Clark!" he turned around and pointed at him, "lunch?!"

Clark waved, "Yeah Pete! Lunch." He turned back to Lana and smiled. "I just got a full tour of the high school, now I feel special."

Lana smiled and laughed, looking up at him. She was amazed at how tall he was. She really didn’t see that when they first met because they were sitting. But he was really tall, had the most amazing eyes and a gorgeous smile. "Wow! Full commentary by Smallville’s own Pete Ross, I’m impressed. So," she asked, "what’s your schedule?" She slipped a small rectangular piece of paper out of one of her notebooks and held it up.

Clark shifted his backpack and produced his schedule from his back pocket. He handed it to her and she began comparing the two. She smiled and then let out a little laugh.

"What is it?" Clark asked, a little worried.

Lana shook her head, "Nothing. Except you are taking all honors courses! Wow, that’s crazy." Looking back down at them she continued, "But hey! We have first, third and fourth periods together. And gym. Wow! I have never had so many classes with one person." Then she gave him a look, "Did you fix these?"

Clark rolled his eyes, "Yeah. I’m stalking you. Watch out." Lana laughed.

"Three classes and gym, that’s a lot of time to spend with me, do you think you can handle it?" Lana asked sarcastically.

"What?!" Clark asked, returning the sarcasticness. "Doesn’t gym count as a class?"

Lana giggled, "No. You have to change out of your regular clothes to do it, I don’t know about you but I do not change out of my clothes for English class, so I don’t count it as an actual class."

Clark sighed, "I suppose. But you get credit for taking the class, so whether or not it is an actual class I’d rather be in it than in Biology." He wrinkled his nose.

Lana grinned, "Yeah, I guess so." They started walking off to their first class together when a couple of senior boys stepped in Clark’s path.

Without looking at Lana, one of the boys, Jerry, snarled, "Looks like you move on pretty fast don’t you Lana." The guy was a little shorter than Clark and not nearly as broad shouldered, but he sized Clark up anyway. He pushed Clark backwards, but Clark barely moved.

Clark just stood up straighter. "Dude!" Clark said, "you ever heard of the new term ‘friend’?"

The senior snarled again, "Not when it comes to my man Fordman." He looked down at Lana now, "Just be careful what you get into." Lana looked at him with an annoyed expression. He was obviously the leader of the little pack because the other guys followed suit, each sneering at Clark and walking away slowly and cockily.

Clark let out a little chuckle, "Great first day, huh?" He looked down at Lana with a smile.

"Oh God, I’m sorry Clark. Those guys are just jerks anyway. I can explain..." Lana said.

Clark cut her off, "Hey, it’s okay. I know about it, it’s all good." He smiled with a knowing glance.

Lana lifted an eyebrow, "You do?"

Clark nodded, "Yeah, Pete told me about it. That’s alright isn’t it?" He began to be a little nervous, as if he shouldn’t have said anything.

Lana shrugged, "It’s no secret, I just didn’t want you to find out like that. So I’m glad Pete told you." Looking curiously up at Clark she asked, "So what about you? Any girlfriends I should know about?" A little smirk crept up to her lips.

Clark shook his head, "None. Your like the first girl I’ve met, besides my mom, so I’m just lucky to have you as a friend. And Chloe."

Lana laughed a little, "You’re serious?" Clark nodded and she shook her head, "What planet are you from?" She was teasing him, but Clark responded with a pondering stare.

"Haven’t quite figured it out yet." He smiled and she knew he was kidding.

"Well let me know when you find out," Lana said, and they walked into class together.

Chapter Seven

Clark and Pete walked out of the school building together. They bounced down the steps and Clark got ready to run, "Well, I’ll see you later!"

Pete grabbed his arm, "Whoa man! Were do you think you’re going?" He smirked, in his Pete Ross kind of way.

Clark rolled his eyes, "Home. To do homework."

Pete laughed sarcastically, "Ha! On a school day?" Clark looked at him curiously. "You don’t have to do homework until the last minute. No, you see, we go to the Talon after school’s over and hang out there until our parents come looking for us? Comprende?"

Clark smiled, "Yeah, ok Pete. Sounds fun." He shook his head and Pete led the way. They were walking towards the Talon and Clark was glad Pete was leading because he wouldn’t have been able to find it, he had found it in the dark the other night.

Pete, for the second time that day, hit himself over the head. "Arg! I forgot to pick up something at the hardware store. Clark, do you want to come with?" He looked up at his newfound buddy.

Clark shook his head and looked around, "Nah, I wanna look around" He pointed to a bridge off to their right, "I’ll be over there."

Pete nodded, "Okay, I won’t be long." He slapped Clark on the shoulder and then ran across the street to the hardware store.

Clark walked over to the bridge. It shouldn’t really count as a bridge, really, it was more of a connector, so people didn’t have to drive through the water. He looked over the edge and his stomach felt a little queasy, he was afraid of heights and just looking over the bridge made him sick to his stomach.

He kept looking thought, concentrating rather on what was down there than how far down it was. It would be cool if no one was looking sometime to be able to test his abilities. He had no idea really how strong or how invulnerable he was, he only knew he could bench press a tractor and run a mile in three seconds. Sometime he would test it, just for personal satisfaction.

Clark was so absorbed in his own thoughts he hadn’t heard a truck drive past. It was carrying barbed wire and it hit a pot hole and one was jarred loose. It bounced off the ground and rolled into the lane of oncoming traffic. A silver Porsche was barreling towards the bridge at seventy miles an hour, right towards the barbed wire.

The young man driving the Porsche was no other than Lex Luthor himself. Distracted for a moment, he reached for his cell phone as it rang and took his eyes off the road. He was the most reckless driver in Smallville, ever since his arrival to hicksville he had been given numerous speeding tickets and totaled his fair amount of cars. He finally got his cell phone and put it up to his ear to answer it at the same time that he looked back at the road.

"Oh ****!" he yelled and slammed on the brakes. It was no use, his tires blew out from the barbed wire and the back end of his small car spun and he was headed for the edge of the bridge. That’s when he noticed the young man standing on the bridge. The boy had turned around and the two locked eyes, Lex could see the terror in the boys eyes and had to shut his own. He was going to hit him!

Clark watched in horror as the car spun and barreled into him. He had locked eyes with the driver of the car who had, no doubt, averted his eyes because he was afraid about what was about to happen. The car slammed into him at full speed and sent them both flying over the guardrail.

Clark felt the impact of the car landing on top of him on the water below. The car started to sink and Clark raced up to the surface. Taking in a huge gulp of air he plunged back into the water and went into super sped over to the drowning car. He punched through the windshield and tore the hood of the car backwards.

The man inside could be no older than his early twenties. Clark noticed his numerous electronic equipment floating inside the sunken car, his cell phone was starting to drift out of the man’s hand. The man’s lips had already started to turn blue, so Clark didn’t hesitate in getting him out. He pulled him out and super sped to the surface. Remembering the survival techniques his father had taught him, he carefully swam with the man’s head above water. They reached shore and Clark hoisted him up onto the land.

Bending his head backwards and plugging his nose, Clark began mouth-to-mouth reciprocation. "Come on! Don’t die on me!" Clark muttered.

Finally, the man coughed and sputtered and opened his eyes. He spit out the water that had gotten lodged in his throat. Looking up at Clark he squinted, and Clark noticed for the first time that the man was bald, completely bald. Not a single trace of any sort of hair on his entire head.

"I thought for sure I’d hit you," the man said, still breathing hard.

Clark looked up at the guardrail, which was bent open from either Clark or the car that had hit him. He looked back down at the man, "If you did...if you did, I’d be dead."

Meanwhile....

Pete shoved his wallet into his back pocket and jogged out of the store. He looked around for Clark, he had said he was going to be by the bridge. He turned around and saw Clark standing on the bridge, but that wasn’t all.

At the same time, a car, no doubt Lex Luthor, was barreling down the street. He hit the barbed wire laying in the middle of the road and his car spun, now it was heading straight for Clark! The car hit Clark and sent both of them flying over the guardrail.

Pete ran back inside the warehouse. "Call an ambulance! Hurry! A car just went over the bridge!"

The man at the counter opened his eyes wide and frantically grabbed the phone off the hook and dialed. Pete didn’t want stick around to see if he really would call, so he ran out and as fast as he could got over to the guardrail. He looked over and saw Clark dragging Lex to shore.

"What!?" Pete muttered. He started to find his way down to the bank where Clark and Lex were. How was Clark dragging Lex to shore when the car just hit him at sixty miles an hour, at least, sent them both flying over the guardrail and into the water? This was crazy!

Chapter Eight

Clark stood up from the ground he was kneeling next to the stranger. Once on his feet he looked around, the lake was creating bubbles from the sunken car and the guardrail was dangling from the side of the bridge. The man walked around Clark and stood in front of him, staring up into his eyes.

"Kid, I don’t know how to thank you. You saved my life." He stuck out his hand, "Lex Luthor."

Clark inserted his hand in Lex’s hand and shook it, careful not to grip too hard. "Clark Kent."

Lex lifted an eyebrow, "Kent? As in Jonathan and Martha Kent?" He looked hard at Clark.

"Yeah," Clark chuckled, he’d gotten that a lot today. "I’m adopted." Almost no one knew that the Kent’s had a son.

Smiling, in his own arrogant way, Lex said, "Well, Clark, I didn’t know that the Kents had a son, but apparently he’s a hero." Then he narrowed his eyes and pressed, "Are you sure I didn’t hit you?"

"Lex," Clark said politely, "would I be standing here if you did?" He looked back up at the guardrail, he was starting to freak himself out. He had just been thinking about wanting to test his abilities when Lex drove into him. He was trying to look sure of himself, like his father had taught him, but he was frightened.

"Clark!" Pete came hurdling down the path on the side of the bridge leading to the water. He was frantic, "I called an ambulance when I...when I..." now Pete wasn’t sure of what he saw. He was sure he had seen the car hit Clark, but Clark was standing there like he hadn’t the care in the world. There was not a scratch on him. But Lex had a cut over his eye, a bruised cheek and his jacket coat was ripped in several places.

"Pete?" Clark asked, wondering what he had seen and why he was hesitating.

Pete shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts that were preventing him from answering. "When I saw Lex’s car go over the bridge, I ran back into the store and made the man call an ambulance. They should be here soon." He looked back and forth from each guy nervously.

"You know my name," Lex said to Pete, "but I don’t think I know you." He stuck out his hand in a friendly gesture.

Pete smiled, "Oh, uh, Pete Ross. Everybody knows you’re name, I guess I just though..."

Lex smiled, "Hey, it’s okay Pete. I still have yet to learn everybody’s name. But I think you’re wrong, Clark didn’t know who I was. I’m sure if he did, he wouldn’t have jumped in after me." Lex smiled slyly in Clark’s direction.

Clark grinned, "I doubt that, you seem like a pretty nice guy." As he said that, an ambulance and two police cars came roaring down the street and stopped by the guardrail. Three medics filed out of the ambulance and four police men followed them. All together they rushed down the path to where the boys were.

"We go a call that a car went over the guardrail...Mr. Luthor!" one of the policemen, Sheriff Ethan, stopped short when he saw Lex.

"Good afternoon Sheriff," Lex said, "my car went over the guardrail. But this young man jumped in after me and pulled me out." He nodded towards Clark. Two of the medics walked over to Lex and told him to sit down, they would patch up his wounds. Reluctantly, Lex finally agreed.

Sheriff Ethan walked over to Clark. "So you jumped in after him and pulled him out?" he asked inquisitively.

Clark nodded, "His car hit some barbed wire and his tires blew out. It just barely missed me and went flying over the guardrail. After the car hit the water I dove in after him." He looked at Pete through the corner of his eye, somehow he knew that Pete had seen what actually happened. Pete was standing there and staring at him, open mouthed, but he didn’t say anything.

The sheriff jotted down some notes on his notepad. "What’s your name, son?" the mad asked. He was a good foot shorter than Clark, a little heavy and had a crude brown mustache.

"Clark Kent, sir." He smiled and then rolled his eyes at what the Sheriff was about to say.

"Kent? As in Jonathan and Martha Kent? I didn’t know they had a son," he rubbed his chin. <>P "Yes sir. I’m adopted. I just started going to public school here in town," Clark said. It was almost rehearsed now and didn’t sound real, but the sheriff seemed to accept it.

"Really. Well, Jonathan’s a good man. We went to school together, played football. Good man." He nodded at Clark and then walked over to Lex. "Mr. Luthor, couple questions please..."

When the sheriff was a good distance away from Clark, Pete walked over to him, completely shocked. "Dude!" he whispered, "That car hit you! I saw it!"

Clark averted his eyes and started to walk up the path to the road. "You were pretty far away Pete, you probably didn’t see it well."

Pete grabbed Clark’s jacket by the sleeve, it was still sopping wet so he let go. "No. I saw it, it hit you and you went flying over the guardrail with it. You just told Ethan that after it hit the water you jumped in after it! The car freaking hit you!" He was starting to get excited, in a bad way.

Clark grabbed Pete this time and brought him in front of him. "This is not the time or place to talk about it, let’s go." He turned back to Lex and the Sheriff, "If you don’t need me anymore, I think I should get home."

Ethan waved at him, "No, that’s all. Thank you Clark."

Then Lex stood up and brushed the medics off him, "Clark!" He walked over to Clark and stuck out his hand, "Thanks again Clark, I owe you my life. Hope to see you around."

Clark shook his hand, and bowing slightly he answered, "My pleasure." Lex patted him on the back and turned back to the medics.

Clark noticed, while walking up the path, that a crane had arrived to pull Lex’s car out of the water. He and Pete stopped and watched them dig around for it. Finally, the car emerged from the water. The hood was bent backwards and the windshield had a hole in the corner where Clark had punched through to peel back the roof. Clark looked away, embarrassed and continued walking up the path.

Pete stared at it dumbfounded, it looked like Clark had peeled the roof back with his hand. And the hole in the windshield was pretty obvious. He looked at Lex, who was looking from the car to Clark. They locked eyes and shared a look, both very confused.

"Pete?" Clark called, "Are you coming?"

Pete took one last look at the car, and nodded. He continued his way up to the road where Clark was.

Chapter Nine

Clark and Pete parted at the Talon, Clark saying he should get home to talk to his parents. Pete really wanted to ask him more about the accident, but he understood his eagerness to get home. Clark jogged off and then once on the outskirts of town turned it into a full blast.

He stopped outside of the farm house and casually walked inside. The only thing not normal about him was that he was still damp. He had hoped his run home would dry him off, but it hadn’t completely.

"I’m home!" he yelled, once inside.

His mother came rushing out of the living room and set the phone on the kitchen table on the way past. "Oh Clark! What happened? We got a call from Sheriff Ethan, is everything alright?" Jonathan heard Martha’s voice and came bounding down the steps, with the same look of concern and buttoning up his shirt.

"Yeah, everything’s fine. And yes, I had a great day at school," he added sarcastically.

Martha sighed, "I’m sorry. I guess I was just paranoid about something happening to you. We’re really glad you had a good day, Clark, but we’d like to know what happened."

Clark set his backpack down by the stairs and then walked over to the fridge, he opened it at stared inside. "Nothing, really. Lex Luthor hit some barbed wire laying in the street and then went over the bridge. I dove in after him and pulled him out." He grabbed the orange juice out and set it on the table. He turned to the cabinet and reached inside for a glass.

"Lex Luthor? Son, do you know who that is?" Jonathan asked, he walked over to Clark, who had begun shaking the orange juice container. Clark shrugged and shook his head, then he poured himself a glass. "Clark, Lex Luthor is the son of Lionel Luthor, the multi-billionaire who practically controls this town."

Clark took a long swig of the juice and then sat it back on the counter. He contemplated, "Yeah, now that you say it, the name does ring a bell." He poured himself some more juice and then walked towards the stairs. "I don’t know why you’re so worried! I couldn’t just let him drown!"

Martha turned as Clark walked passed her, "We know that sweetheart, we just want to make sure you didn’t reveal your abilities in the process."

"Now that I’m going to public school," Clark said, "you need to trust me. It may take a while for me to fully understand secrecy, but I know that I’d get into a mess if I revealed myself to the Luthor’s. Don’t worry so much!" He grabbed his backpack in his free hand and jumped up the stairs, four steps at a time.

Martha turned and looked at Jonathan. "Do you think he’s telling the truth?" she asked.

Jonathan sighed, "I don’t know. But I guess we have to trust that he’s doing the right thing." Martha nodded in agreement.


Clark closed the door to his room and took off his jacket. He looked at his shirt, the part his parents hadn’t seen. It was torn and there was a hole at the bottom of it. His favorite shirt had been ruined. He took off his shirt and set it on his jacket.

He looked at his chest in the mirror. He ran his fingers over the places where the car had hit him. There was not a bump, scratch or bruise anywhere on his chest. He wasn’t really surprised, he had fallen on a pitchfork once and bent the prongs backwards, but this was different. A car had hit him at at least sixty miles an hour and there was not a single bruise on his entire chest!

He turned around and sank down on his bed. He kicked off his shoes and laid down, staring at the ceiling. He had wanted to test his abilities, but he didn’t think it would be like this. This was shocking and perplexing and he didn’t even know what to do. What could he do? It wasn’t like he had seen a crime committed, he couldn’t report any reckless driving, what was more, he didn’t want to.

He started thinking about Pete. Pete had seen him get hit by the car, he had told him so. Clark had tried to convince him tat he was too far away to see, but Pete had shot back with the fact that Clark had told the sheriff that after seeing Lex’s car fly over the guardrail he had dove in after it. Pete had him in a fix and he had no idea what he would say if anybody asked him about it.

Clark sat upright. Pete would probably tell people about the accident! What would he say? What, more importantly, wouldn’t he say?

Clark had to go find Pete. Maybe if he told him the truth and asked him to keep in a secret, he wouldn’t say anything.

He quickly threw on a black t-shirt and grabbed a different jacket. Maybe Pete was still at the Talon, if he was lucky he wouldn’t have to ask around for where he lived.

Clark bounded down the steps and called out, "I forgot a book at school! I’ll be back in a while!" He didn’t wait for his parents reply and bolted out the door, leaving two very concerned parents sitting at the kitchen table.

Chapter Ten

Clark was nervous. He didn’t know what he should be doing, he had never been in this situation before. He had never had anybody witness him using his abilities, and now, the first day of his coming out into the public, he had revealed himself to a new friend.

It was an accident, of course, he had not told the car to hit him. But it was a new feeling, the feeling of being exposed, which worried him. His parents had always been able to keep Clark eating or reading while they had company over, which was not often at all. Clark had been good about not telling anyone, especially while playing with Pete as a young boy.

Was it inevitable for everyone to know his secret? Was it going to be public news? Was it something he could not control? Was his destiny intertwined with the public knowledge of his superiority?

As Clark raced to town, for the second time that day, he could not stop the horror stories that were racing through his head. He dreaded finding Pete, because he knew what was going to happen. He knew that there was no way to avoid this, but he still dreaded it.

How would Pete react? I’m an alien for God’s sake! Clark thought to himself, even I don’t believe it. Then he stopped in mid stride, skidding and tearing up dirt behind him. He couldn’t tell Pete.

In a way, he wanted to. But everything else told him no. It was almost dangerous having a secret as big as Clark’s, and he didn’t want to put Pete at a risk. Everybody had already suspected something about him, he told them he had ran twelve miles to school this morning for exercise. That was his first mistake.

Besides, if Pete really thought that Clark had been hit by the car, he would tell everybody. Clark needed to find out first if Pete had told anybody and if he did, what he told them.

It had only been about twenty minutes since Clark left Pete at the Talon, he was pretty certain he would still be there. Maybe he could get a coffee while he was there and hang out with his new friends. He smiled at the thought, maybe he should just put this behind him and pretend like it never happened.

"Yeah, that’s what I’ll do," Clark muttered, in a half smile. He continued to run.

Stopping on the outskirts of town, once again, he started a slow jog to the Talon. His long strides made it quicker to get there, and it felt good, just slowly passing people who were walking their dogs or pushing strollers. Many people waved at him and smiled, Clark smiled back but never stopped jogging.

He reminded himself of a book he read back when he was little. His mom had gotten a book out of the library for him called "Maniac McGee". It was about a kid who loved to run, and always ran, no matter where he went. The kid liked to run, and so did Clark. It was funny and Clark didn’t even know why he thought about it.

He stopped jogging when he reached the doors of the Talon. He wasn’t breathing hard, but he hesitated before walking in anyway.

He opened the door and casually walked in. He looked around and saw Pete sitting at a table reading a book. He headed over to Pete and slapped him on the back. "Hey, can I sit?" he asked.

Pete looked up at him, almost blankly and nodded. "Dude, didn’t you just go home?" Pete asked curiously.

Clark nodded, "Yeah...I uh...hitched a ride. I changed my shirt and thought I’d come back for a little coffee. This is where the youth hang out, isn’t it?" He looked around sarcastically.

Pete rolled his eyes, "Yeah. I thought you’d need to recuperate though, what happened this afternoon was pretty huge." <>P Clark shrugged, "You have to do what you have to do." He looked around for a waitress, but they all had their hands full at the moment. He sighed and looked back at Pete.

Pete was staring at him, "You have to do what you have to do? That’s all you have to say about it? Dude, you saved Lex Luthor’s life. Without even knowing it, for God’s sake. That isn’t something that we here in city life Smallville pass up man, this is big news. Even if I don’t tell anyone, Lex Luthor has more sources that the CIA. Not to mention the cops..."

"Okay okay!" Clark laughed and put his hands up, "I get it!" He smiled, Pete was a funny guy and he had just told him that he didn’t tell anybody. "So does that mean you didn’t tell anyone?"

Pete shrugged, "Yeah. I figured the word would get out sooner or later and I knew you wouldn’t want to be hounded by the public, either rioting or carrying banners."

Clark raised his eyebrow, "What’s that supposed to mean?"

"People have a somewhat difference of opinion here about Lex. Most people say that since his father is the way he is, Lex is the exact same and nothing can change that," Pete said.

"Sounds like my dad," Clark said, lifting the corner of his mouth.

Pete nodded and continued, "Others, such as Lana, prefer to let him make his own impression on them. That’s how they formed the Talon. Lex was so impressed by her willingness to accept him in the first way he presented himself, that he listened to her plea to turn this old junk shack around." He spread his arms and sort of looked around like he had just told the story of the century.

"Impressive," Clark said, nodding in approval. He too looked around and soaked in all the colorful aspects of the building.

"Hey Clark! Hey Pete!" Lana was standing on the side of them with a notepad.

"Lana! I was just telling our friend Clark here how you got the place," Pete said smiling.

Lana blushed, "Well it was nothing big and exciting, just a matter of getting on Lex’s good side. Once you’re on his good side it’s almost impossible not to be."

Pete and Clark looked at each other with a knowing glance, Clark felt a little giddiness rise up inside of him. What would Lex do for him? Or to him? Or with him? Clark was a little nervous at the thought, not because he didn’t like the guy, but because his parents wouldn’t like him.

Lana looked confused. The two had been friends for, what? Three days and they were already sharing looks? These two were made for each other, it was so weird for Lana to watch them. It looked like they had been friends forever, which they had, but in a more indirect way. "What was that for?" she asked.

"Nothing," Clark said quickly, he didn’t want to draw attention to himself.

Brushing off Clark’s hurried comment, Lana asked, "Can I get you anything, Clark?"

Clark smiled, showing off his big Kent charm, "Yes. I would love some coffee, unless you have a better suggestion."

"One coffee coming up," Lana smiled. She leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Unless you want to end up like Pete, don’t drink the espressos." She patted him on the back and walked towards the counter.

"What’d she say! She said something about me, didn’t she?" Pete asked, getting worked up. Clark just laughed.

Then, on the other side of them, Chloe appeared. "Hey guys, what’s up?" she asked, pulling up a chair and sitting down.

"Hey Chloe. We were just talking about Pete’s caffeine addiction," Clark said, smiling wryly at Pete.

Chapter Eleven

Chloe finished brushing her teeth and rinsed her brush in the sink. She checked her face to make sure she didn’t have any toothpaste on her lips and stuck her toothbrush in the cup holder.

Walking out the door she headed down the hallway to her room at the end of the corridor. She walked past Lana’s room and saw that the light was still on. Soft, low music flowed under the door.

She knocked and heard Lana’s high pitched voice, "Yeah?" She opened the door and stood in the doorway. She smiled. "Hey Chloe," Lana said, she was sitting on her bed reading. "You want to come in?"

Chloe nodded, "Sure, why not." She came in, closing the door behind her and sat on the end of her bed. "So, what did you think about the first day of school?" she asked pleasantly.

"Oh God, Mr. Turner is no different than last year," Lana complained rolling her eyes, "can you believe we have him again this year for Chemistry?"

Chloe shook her head, "He really needs to coil up and die. How old is he now? Seventy?"

Lana laughed, "At least."

A silence followed and they both knew what was going on in each other’s minds. "Do you want to say it or do you want me to?" Chloe asked, with a smirk. Lana smiled giddily and looked down at her hands. "He’s really nice," Chloe said, starting up the unavoidable conversation.

Looking back up at her, Lana nodded, "He is. He’s also really smart."

"Really? Home school boy, huh? Who woulda thought? He wants a job at the Torch," Chloe said.

Lana grinned, "Really? Was it Pete’s influence?"

Chloe shrugged, "I don’t know, but they sure seem to be hitting it off."

Lana laughed, "Yeah, I’ve noticed. Today while I was working, he and Pete shared a look after I said something. It was weird, it was like they had been friends for a long time."

"What did you say?" Chloe asked.

Lana looked off to the side to try to remember, "I think I said something like, when you get on Lex Luthor’s good side, its almost impossible to get on his bad side. They were talking about how I got the Talon."

Chloe raised an eyebrow, "Huh, I wonder what that was supposed to mean. "

Lana shrugged, "I don’t know." She hesitated and then searched for words, "Have you noticed how...how unwilling he is to talk about himself? Like, anything you ask him, he starts to change the subject."

"Maybe he’s just not used to all the attention," Chloe suggested, "he said this was the first time he really ever hung out with anybody his own age."

Lana nodded, "Yeah...maybe."

Chloe shrugged, "I guess we’ll see."


Clark slipped out the door early the next morning, he wanted to avoid talking to his parents about yesterday and hoped that if he got to school early enough he could interview the principle. He left a note on the counter so they wouldn’t worry.

He began running at a steady pace down the dirt road towards town, the sun was still rising and he breathed in the brisk air of the morning. Birds flew overhead and squirrels were chasing each other up and down trees. It felt like he was in a book, everything was perfect...he wondered why.

He picked up the pace and blasted towards school. He watched the corn field’s whiz behind him and the houses disappear into the distance.

He approached the school and saw that kids were already starting to file inside. The parking lot was half full. "I must have taken longer than I thought," he said out loud, but quietly.

He walked across the parking lot and noticed that people were stopping and pointing at him. Some were saying, "That’s him!" And whispering to their friends. Some girls were giggling and waving at him. He waved back, a little embarrassed at the attention he was getting, and he didn’t even know why.

He walked inside the school doors and headed towards his locker. He reached it when his English teacher, Mr. Ritenburg, stopped him.

"Clark, my boy, you are a fine young man! Keep up the good work," Mr. Ritenburg said and patted him on the back. He left as abruptly as he approached him.

Clark looked confused, "Uh, thanks." He said to the disappearing man.

He quickly opened his locker and stuffed his things inside and grabbed a blank notebook. He rummaged through his back pack for a pen and produced one, smiling. It would be bad if he didn’t use his own pen for an interview.

As he walked towards Principle Kwan’s office, he noticed the same type of gestures being made towards him. More people were whispering and pointing, and he actually heard a negative comment. Some senior guy said, "He should have left the little bastard die."

Now he was really confused.

He knocked on the door to the principle’s office and he heard a voice bellow from inside, "Come in!" he turned the knob and walked in.

Looking around he saw nothing surprising. A few pictures here and there, many books lined up along a book shelf and some honorary notions framed on the walls. He finally looked at the principle, who was smiling broadly.

"Clark Kent! What a surprise!" He said as he stood up and walked over to him.

Clark smiled, "How do you know my name?"

Principle Kwan scoffed, "Oh please. For one, I’m the principle, I’m supposed to know everyone’s name. Secondly, how could anyone not know you after yesterday? Mr. Kent, you are truly going to be an asset to this school."

"Yesterday?" Clark asked curiously.

"Yes, of course, yesterday. You were the one who dove in after the young Luthor and pulled him out of his sinking car, were you not?"

A realization suddenly hit Clark like a tidal wave. So that’s why everybody had been acting so strange, everybody knew what he had done. Well that was just great, exactly what he wanted. He wanted to come to school and have everybody know who he was the second day of school. What would his parents say now?

"How do you know about that?" Clark asked.

Principle Kwan turned and picked a newspaper up off of his desk. "Do you not think the Daily Planet would run an article about the heir to the LuthorCorp enterprises near death experience?" He cleared his throat and read, "Local Teen Rescues Luthor From Sinking Car. Pretty big stuff, it was even on the front page."

Clark took the article from him and looked at it. The article was the center of the newspaper, thank goodness, but it was down near the bottom, still on the front page. He read it.

Smallville teen Clark Kent rescued Lex Luthor from his sinking car yesterday when the young Luthor hit some barbed wire over the bridge on Smallville’s main road, sending the car barreling over the guardrail and into the river below. Kent claims that he jumped in after the car, when it narrowly missed hitting him. More on C7

"Wow," Clark exclaimed, "news sure does travel fast." He looked up from the newspaper and smiled, handing it back to Principle Kwan.

Kwan smiled back and took the newspaper from him, setting it back on his desk. He sat on the edge of his desk and folded his hands in his lap, "Was there something you needed to see me about, Mr. Kent?"

Clark nodded, "Chloe Sullivan is letting me do a probation article for the Torch, to see if I’m worthy of her glorious newspaper. She gave me the privilege of interviewing you for the next edition."

Kwan smiled, "Ah, yes, Ms. Sullivan. Bright young girl isn’t she. Alright then, do you want to do it now?"

"Yes, if you have time," Clark said.

"I will make time. Please make yourself comfortable."

Chapter Twelve

Clark thanked Principle Kwan for the interview and left the office. Now all he had to do was write the story, which shouldn’t be too hard. Maybe Chloe would let him use a computer in the Torch.

Walking back to the Torch he noticed more people looking at him once again, there were more people in the school now and he looked for a clock. Fifteen minutes until the first bell rang. Hopefully that would be enough time to write the story, and if it wasn’t, he could do it during study hall.

He was heading into the Torch office when he ran right into Pete, who was coming out. Pete flew backwards and landed against a chair. Clark rushed over to him and helped him up.

"Pete! I am so sorry! Are you okay?" Pete took Clark’s hand and Clark easily pulled him to a standing position.

"What do they feed you on the farm, man? Spinach?" Pete asked, brushing himself off. He looked okay from what Clark could see, but he kept touching the back of his head. When he brought his hand around, there was no blood, so Clark figured that it was just a bruise.

"Yeah, once in a while," Clark joked.

Pete smiled, "Why aren’t you playing football?"

Clark averted his eyes, "My dad says it’s too dangerous."

Pete laughed out loud, "Dangerous?" Then he lowered his voice, "Dude, that car hit you, don’t try to hide it. I’m keeping your secret because everybody would think I was crazy if I told them. And just now, you were walking inside when we ran into each other and you sent me flying back, what? Twenty feet?" He stared at Clark, and straightened up again, not quite coming to Clark’s chest, "Dude, what is up with you?

Clark was beginning to answer when a voice rang out behind them, "Hey, there’s our local teen!" It was Chloe. She strode into the office and set her backpack down on her desk.

Clark blushed, "Hey Chloe."

"You know," Chloe said, "you could have told me the real reason you didn’t get that interview done." She crossed her arms and put a smirk on her face.

Clark rolled his eyes, "Oh yeah. You want me to just blurt out ‘Lex Luthor almost hit me with his car and I dove in after him to pull him out. I was too wet so I needed to go home to change.’?"

"Sure," Chloe shrugged, "there aren’t that many exciting things that happen around here, Clark. This is the first news-worthy story we’ve had in weeks."

Clark tried to change the subject, "Oh, I got the interview done. Do you think I could use a computer in here during study hall to type up a story?"

Now Chloe rolled her eyes, "That’s what the computers are here for. If you’re doing work for the Torch, you’re free to use the computers inside the Torch." Clark smiled, pleased, and was about to say something when Chloe added, "But. Only on one condition today."

Clark raised an eyebrow, "What’s that?"

"You give me a personal interview about the accident," Chloe smiled wryly.

Clark sighed, and searched for words, "I’d...I’d rather not, Chloe. I really don’t want to be the center of attention."

Chloe sighed too, "I guess it was worth a try. I don’t blame you, if that helps any."

"Thanks," Clark smiled half heartedly, "I’ll see you guys in English." Chloe waved and Pete reluctantly said his good-bye, he was still wanting to know more about Clark’s mysteriousness. Clark turned and headed out the door.

He turned the corner and ran smack into Lana, to make her the second person he’d run into today. She started to flail backwards but his hand shot out and caught her before she fell. "Lana! I’m so sorry!"

His hand had slipped behind her back, so he wouldn’t hurt her gripping her arm. She stood still, feeling his strong grip that held her tight. He pulled away, making sure she was steady.

"You’ve got great reflexes Clark," Lana said, smiling a little. "Whoa, think I’ve had my excitement for the day. Are you ready for class?"

Clark nodded and they started walking towards the biology wing, "I just ran into Pete before I ran into you. I guess I’m still getting used to the fact that there are a lot of people here."

Lana laughed, "Yes, there are a lot of people here." She looked up at him, "I read the newspaper article about you."

Clark rolled his eyes, "Who hasn’t? I’ve been getting everything from evil stares from pats on the back from Mr. Ritenburg."

"A lot of people have a difference of opinion about Lex. But what you did was really cool, Clark," Lana said smiling. "When I saw you and Pete exchange a look yesterday, I was like, what was that. But I understand now, you’ve gotten on Lex’s good side."

Clark smirked, "I have to admit, I don’t know what to expect."

Lana shrugged, "Lex will deal with you in his special Lex way."

"Yippee," Clark said sarcastically.

"Did you really jump in after him? That’s a long ways down," Lana asked curiously.

Clark hesitated, "Yeah, I jumped in."

"Was the water cold?"

Clark shrugged, "Not really." He tried to get off the subject, "Aren’t we going towards the Biology hall?"

Lana hit herself, "Oh yeah. I was going by last year’s schedule. Sorry, turn here." They turned down the next hall and began walking towards the Biology hall. "I’m sure the teachers will be impressed with you."

Clark sighed, he didn’t succeed in changing the subject. I’d better get used to it, Clark thought, because this is how the rest of the day is going to go.

Clark ran all the way home and stopped in his tracks when he reached the driveway to his farm. There, in the driveway, was a shiny red truck. It was bigger than the family truck and had two white strips on the roof and hood of the car. There was a big red bow on the windshield.

His mother looked out the window and saw that he was home. They rushed out the door and Clark turned to the noise. His father was feeding wood through a wood chip machine and also saw Clark, he turned the machine off and walked over to him, in Martha’s footsteps. He slung his eye protector down under his neck and took off his gloves, stuffing them into his back pocket.

"Clark!" Martha rushed over to him and fell into his arms. "Leaving a note does not count. You have to tell us where you are going."

Clark hugged her and then pulled away and set his backpack on the ground by the steps. "I’m sorry, I just didn’t really want to talk about it and I knew you guys would." He looked back at the truck, "Who’s the truck for?"

"You." Martha said and she pulled out a card from her back pocket and handed it to him. "It’s from Lex Luthor."

Clark took the card and opened it. Hope you like the truck. Always in your debt, the maniac in the Porsche "Wow! Cool! Where are the keys?"

"I have them, son," Jonathan said sternly.

Clark realized that his father was objective to the truck. "Can I keep it?"

Jonathan shook his head, "Son, you know our policy on the Luthor’s."

"But dad! I save the guy’s life!" Clark argued.

"So you think that because you saved his life you deserve some kind of special treatment?" Jonathan asked hotly.

"Dad, that’s not what I meant," Clark said, softly.

Jonathan calmed down, "Clark, it’s okay. This is normal."

"Normal? Dad! I’m an alien! Nothing will ever be normal!" He zipped over to the chipping machine and flipped it on. Over the roar of the noise it made he yelled, "Is this normal?" And stuck his hand into the machine. The machine groaned and Jonathan ran over to his son, trying to pry his arm out. He finally succeeded and shut the motor off with his free hand. He carefully inspected Clark’s arm.

The length of his shirt up to his elbow was gone, the torn edges showed the sign of the chopper cutting them off. Other than that, there was not a scratch on him. Not the tiniest dent, bruise or cut was on his arm.

"I didn’t dive in after the car! It hit me at seventy miles an hour!" Clark yelled. "That isn’t normal! Nothing will ever be normal!" And then he was gone.

Martha walked up to Jonathan, and touched him on the shoulder. He flinched slightly, but allowed her to keep her hand there. "Jon, we didn’t know the extent of Clark’s abilities. But he’s right, nothing will ever be normal around here."

Jonathan turned around, "He still can’t keep the truck."

Martha nodded, "I agree with that, I don’t like where the money came from either, but you can’t just tell him he’s normal. No matter how much we tell him he’s normal, he knows differently. We just have to be careful, we don’t want to drive him away."

"I suppose you’re right," Jonathan agreed. "Once we find him, I’ll talk to him."

Chapter Thirteen

Clark ran off into the distance of the fields owned by the Kent’s. He knew his father’s reasons for not wanting him to keep the truck, and he understood them, he just was hurt by his comment.

Of all people, his father should know best of why this situation was not a normal situation. Although none of his family had ever witnessed the extent of his abilities, they knew darn well what he was capable of. He was the farm boy that could lift tractors and see through walls, that was not normal.

What bothered him even more was that he felt he had to hide what actually happened at the bridge from his parents. He didn’t feel like he could just say that the car hit him and seventy miles an hour, he felt like his parents might not believe him. But then again, why wouldn’t they? They had no reason not to trust him.

He slowed his pace down to a walk as he entered the back woods. He strode along the crude paths cut out along the bank of the creek. The creek was a narrow flow of water, so small it would barely be recognized as any source of water. When Clark was a little boy he used to take his pup down here and let him drink from it. Then they would roll around in the mud and make his mother angry. She hated it when he came home looking like a pig, but then she would always take him up to the bath and wash him right up.

He never forgot the times when his mother would do that. She would take him up to the bathroom after she had finished dinner and clean him up. He had often been out in the barn, helping his father work on the tractor or dig holes for the fence posts and would be filthy by the time dinner came around. But never once did Martha not clean him up. She would always sit on the edge of the bathtub and hum a song to him while scrubbing his back. That was one of his favorite memories of his mother.

She still tried to help him clean up even as a teenager. She would put his hands in the sink and scrub them, and he would complain, saying he wasn’t two years old anymore. She would sigh and go back to cooking, mumbling something Clark could never quite make out.

Those memories flooded back to him as he walked along the creek bank. He stopped and looked at his reflection in the water. His eyes were red and his hair was messy. Not that he really cared, but he bent down and took some water up in his hands and splashed it into his hair, feeling the cool water drip down his face. He ran a hand through his hair and straightened it out. Sometimes, by just taking care of his appearance, he could lift his spirits a little bit, it was just a matter of doing something to take his mind off his problems.

He never really looked at his abilities as problems, his parents had always told him they were gifts and special attributes who made him who he was. He knew that he was the only one out there with the same abilities as he had, now that his parents had told him he was an alien. He didn’t know whether to look at that as a good thing, and he was set apart for a reason, or if it were a curse, something that would separate him from society forever. He had not been able to test that question, which he had told himself many times over the years, and more often after he came to know the real reason for his being, until now.

His thoughts drifted back to the accident with Lex Luthor. The face of Lex still haunted him, as he replayed the scene in his mind over and over. He still remembered Lex’s face right before the car barreled into him. He and Clark had locked eyes, coming to the realization that they knew what was coming, or at least Lex thought so. Clark had done a pretty good job of contradicting him. Lex had, in fact, averted his eyes right before impact with Clark, so he did not know exactly what happened, leaving Clark to write the rest of the story.

It was too surreal to Clark. It was exactly what he had been wanting, something to test his ability to survive things unknown to man. A cliff drop of over one hundred feet was what Clark had in mind, nothing that actually involved another person.

But maybe this was the answer to his question. Maybe, the whole incident with Lex, was what fate was trying to tell him. Maybe his abilities weren’t a curse after all, maybe he was meant to help people. Maybe he was meant to be in the right place at the right time. He was not certain, but he was fairly sure that this was something he would want to do, something that would benefit society and let him use his abilities for good, rather than hide them and keep them locked away.

It was getting dark now and Clark watched the sun setting in the distance. It was beautiful, but his heart just wasn’t in it. His walk had been wonderful. Spectacular. Great for his mind to release it’s energy and for him to look inside himself and discover the true depth to his problems. But the tears in his eyes still remained. He could not escape the fact that his father had blatantly told him he was experiencing normal feelings. He had no idea what it was like to keep things locked up inside of him and want to unleash them at all times. It hurt.

He came to a small bridge that allowed a passageway over the creek. He walked over it, not remembering that it was there. He followed the path it directed and came upon an unknown territory to him. It was a graveyard.

He walked blankly along the coarse path and looked at the head stones as he passed. So many people, humans, dying. It was inevitable, he knew of course, but it was painful to feel for those people who had lost these relatives.

He stopped and stared off into the darkness that had now befallen the graveyard. He saw a figure kneel down by a grave and place flowers into a holder in between two headstones. He realized it was a girl, and subconsciously took another step towards her to try and figure out who it was. The girl stood up abruptly and looked at him, a little terrified.

"Clark?" she asked

He recognized the voice, it was Lana. Sniffing and holding back his tears he said, "Hi, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m interrupting, sorry." He turned to leave, but she called him back.

"No, Clark, it’s alright. You just scared me," Lana said, walking towards him. "Are you okay?"

Clark shrugged, "I’m in a graveyard at the dead of night, you answer that."

Lana smirked, "Hey, I’m here too."

Clark turned back towards her, "So what’s your excuse?"

"I was just bringing flowers to my parents," Lana said, looking back at the grave. She turned back to Clark, "I try to do it at least once a week."

Clark’s eyes widened, "Your parents?"

Lana nodded, "Yeah." Her eyes saddened, "They died in the meteor shower."

Clark’s face turned downcast. He had killed her parents. That was great, just great. His first friend and he already had killed her parents. He tried to hold back the tears, "I’m sorry."

Lana smiled, despite herself, "It’s not your fault." Clark looked away, knowing the truth, but not daring to say anything. "How about you?" Lana asked.

Clark shrugged, "My parents, I guess. They were a little upset with me for not telling them about...about what happened with Lex." He winced as he realized he brought back the very subject he was trying to avoid.

Lana looked shocked, "You didn’t tell them?"

"No, I was scared they’d flip out," Clark said, a little numbly. "I didn’t want them to worry or anything."

"So instead they read it in the paper," Lana said, nodding her head knowingly.

"Yep," Clark shoved his hands into his pockets. "So did you walk out here?"

Lana giggled, "Oh no. I drove, my car is just outside of the graveyard. I live way too far away to walk here anymore."

"So you used to walk out here?" Lana nodded. "Where do you live now?" Clark asked.

Lana smiled awkwardly, "I’m, uh, living with the Sullivan’s actually. My aunt Nell moved to Metropolis on business at the end of last year and I had to beg to stay here. I was ready to drop out of school and work full time so I could get my own apartment, but luckily Chloe and her dad kindly offered to house me."

Clark smiled, "That was nice of them." An awkward silence followed his statement. "Do you want me to walk you back to your car?" he asked.

"That would be nice," Lana smiled. They began to walk, Lana leading the way to her car. "You know, you don’t like to talk about yourself very much." She looked up at him and Clark lifted an eyebrow. "Every time I ask you a question about yourself you change the subject."

Clark shrugged, "I guess I’m not used to people wondering about me. My parents have always known what’s going on and I always had to ask them stuff. I’m better at asking about other people than answering questions about myself."

Lana nodded, "That’s a great quality. I kind of set apart in my mind that everyone only cared about themselves and were all too happy to answer questions that dealt with their own being. You proved me wrong, thank you."

Clark smiled, "Happy to help."

They came up to the fence that divided the graveyard from the small parking lot outside of the morgue building and Clark unlatched the fence and opened it for Lana. Lana smiled and stepped outside, Clark following her. Her car was the only one in the parking lot, so they walked right up to it.

"Do you want a ride home?" Lana asked. Just as she said that, it began to rain, slowly at first, but it soon came down into a steady pour. She laughed and held out her hands, catching the rain.

Clark laughed as well, "No. I think I’ll run."

"You sure do like to run," Lana smiled. Clark smiled back. Lana took a step towards him and stood on her tip toes and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. "Thanks for talking with me, it helps when I can talk things over with somebody."

Clark smiled, "Anytime." She looked at him one last time and then got into her car and started it up. She waved and then drove away, leaving Clark to soak up the rain by himself.

Chapter Fourteen

Clark walked in the door, sopping wet. He had ran home from the graveyard and the rain had not let up. In fact, he thought it was raining harder now. His jacket and shirt were soaked and clinging to his muscular frame. He stopped and stood in the doorway, letting the door swing shut behind him. His parents were sitting at the kitchen table and drinking coffee. They slowly stood up and walked towards him.

He looked at them solemnly, "I’m sorry. I overreacted."

Martha shook her head, "Not in the least, dear." She helped him off with his coat and took it into the laundry room to rinse it out and dry it for morning.

"Son, I’m sorry. You know that you didn’t tell us that the car hit you, so we were just thinking that you had simply jumped in after it, like you said," Jonathan said.

Clark nodded, "I know dad. It just hurt when you said that this was normal, I guess for you to think otherwise you would have to know what really happened."

The two men looked at each other awkwardly. "We were both in the wrong," Jonathan said, breaking the silence, "but that means you need to be more honest with us, okay?"

Clark nodded, "Yeah, okay." Then he smirked, "Does that mean I get to keep the truck?"

"No," Jonathan frowned, turned and walked towards his room.

Early the next morning, Clark took the truck keys from his dad and did as he instructed. He drove the truck back to the Luthor mansion to give it back. He clutched the wheel tightly, but not too tightly for fear he would bend it in half, he loved the truck. It was really cool and very classy and he dreaded giving it back, but disobeying his parents was the last thing he wanted to do right now.

He drove slowly along the dirt road that led to the main road which would bring him to the Luthor Mansion, he was savoring every minute he had with his precious truck, while it was still his. He admired the features of the truck. There was a CD player, a tape deck, heat and air conditioning, automatic windows, leather interior, it had it all. The drivers seat even had an seat warmer for the winter when it was freezing cold. It was way too cool.

He began to see the mansion in the distance and started to slow down again, trying to get as much time as he could in the truck. But he was all too soon in the driveway and had to finally shut off the engine. He sat one more minute in the car and then pulled the keys out of the ignition. He climbed out of the car and stared at the humongous building. It was certainly spectacular, Clark wondered what it looked like on the inside. He would find out soon.

He walked towards the front door, admiring the plants and bushes that lined the outer walls. Huge ivies ran up and down the course of the wall spreading their leaves into the vast space of bricks. The early morning sun showed the building in it’s utter splendor, making up for the rainfall that hit them last night. The flowers looked healthy as well as the other plant and wildlife around the mansion.

Clark rang the doorbell and a man in a black tux answered. "May I help you?" the man asked.

Clark looked the man over, slightly subconsciously. He was old, gray hair that was cut close to his balding head. His eyes were burrowed into his head showing off yet another sign of old age. He was tall and thin and wore white gloves. Clark had to try not to laugh. "Yes, sir. My name is Clark Kent and I..."

"Clark Kent? Oh, sir! Please come in!" the man smiled and his blubber gathered around his glands and bulged out. He opened the door wider and allowed Clark entrance. "Do you wish to speak with Mr. Luthor?"

Clark nodded, "That would be great." He did not expect to get this kind of treatment. The butler began leading him down a dark hallway and Clark looked around, a little nervous. The inside was spooky. Knights in armor stood tall on platforms against the wall and ancient weaponry was displayed in various ways. The butler stopped at a set of double doors and knocked. They heard a "Come in" echo from inside.

The butler opened the doors wide and announced, "Mr. Kent is here to see you sir." He bowed slightly and turned to Clark.

"Thank you, James," Lex said. James left, closing the doors behind him. Clark stood in the center of the room looking around. "Clark, what a surprise."

Clark smiled slightly and looked around, "This place is incredible."

Lex snorted, "Incredibly ancient. It’s dumb if you ask me."

Clark laughed, "Not too fond of it are you?"

Shaking his head, Lex walked over to Clark, holding a glass of wine in one hand and shoving his other into his pocket. "This was my father’s idea of exiling me, but I try not to let it get to me."

"Yeah, I heard about that. You’re father sent you here to run a plant, what was it? A year ago?" Clark asked.

Lex nodded, "Yes. He thought I wouldn’t grow enough staying in Metropolis. Personally, I’d say it’s another one of his control freak motives. He visits me so much, why doesn’t he stay here?"

Clark nodded, still looking around. Then realizing that he had a mission, he took the keys out o his pocket. "I really like the truck, but I can’t keep it."

Lex looked confused, "Why not? It’s a gift!"

Clark shrugged, "Well, my parents..." He dragged the sentence on, not knowing what to say exactly.

But Lex knew where he was going. "Ahhh, parents. They don’t like me, do they?"

Clark shook his head, "I don’t think it’s you, I think they don’t like your dad. I’m sorry..."

Lex stopped him and walked back over to his desk, "It’s alright, you didn’t make the judgment. I’m used to people judging me before they get to know me." He looked into a mirror on the side of his desk and rubbed his head. "I’ve been bald since I was eight."

Clark smiled half heartedly, then he stuck out his hand with the keys and handed them to Lex. "Thanks for the truck, I better get going."

"You’re welcome. But I hope you know this means that you haven’t gotten rid of me," Lex said wryly. He looked at Clark hard, "Clark, do you think man can fly?"

"Sure," Clark shrugged, "in a plane."

Lex shook his head and walked back towards Clark slowly, "No, I mean just man. No wings, no parachute. Just yourself, flying through the air."

"It’s impossible Lex," Clark said, doubting.

"I flew," Lex said, looking intrigued by his own statement. "After I hit the water I started to fly over Smallville. I flew with the birds, way above the limits of what is known to man." Clark looked bemused and Lex continued, "This time when I was near death, Clark, I didn’t see a dead end. I saw a new and promising future...together." He stuck out his hand, "I hope you take this to mind. I want to be your friend, Clark. You saved my life. And if you don’t want the truck, maybe I can offer my friendship instead."

Clark shook his hand.

Clark would have been late for school if he hadn’t super sped the entire way there. He raced into the building, at a slower speed, and found all the students filing to class. He hurried to his locker and pulled out his books, stuffing them into his backpack. He slammed the locker shut and shuffled, even a bit slower, to his biology class.

He walked into the classroom about thirty seconds before the final bell rang and saw that there were still students coming in to class. He was not late at all, in fact, he was probably one of the first students there. Among them were only about five to eight people.

Clark looked around noticed that Lana was sitting at a lab table about halfway back towards the far windows. She waved at him and motioned for him to come. He smiled and walked over to her.

"Hey Clark! Want to be my lab partner?" Lana asked.

Clark’s hopes rose and he smiled broadly. As he was about to answer, someone grabbed him from behind. "Yo, Kent. You think you can just come to our school and think you can take over all our girls?" The guy spun him around and Clark laughed, realizing it was Pete.

Pete was smiling, and Clark grinned, "Dude, you had me going for a second."

Pete frowned, "What makes you think I was kidding?" Clark’s face turned down as well as he thought his friend was telling him off, but then Pete couldn’t contain it any longer. "Man! You shoulda just seen the look on your face! It was like you’d seen a ghost!" He slapped Clark on the back, "No worries man, I’m partners with Elsa." He pointed to a blonde haired girl sitting two rows behind Lana. Then he leaned in and whispered to Clark, "We are going to have a little talk later, you and me. I’ve got some things I need to straighten out with you."

Clark nodded, solemnly. He couldn’t believe he had fallen for Pete’s sarcasm two times in a row. Then he remembered that Pete wasn’t in this class. "Wait, Pete," Clark said turning around. Pete stopped and turned back to look at his as well. "Why are you in this class? I thought you had PE this hour?"

Pete nodded, "Kwan switched me. I have enemies in my PE class and he doesn’t want any trouble." Pete laughed and Clark joined him with a little chuckle. Pete having enemies?

He turned back to Lana who was slightly confused and disoriented. "Anyways," she said with a smirk. "You think you can stand being my lab partner?"

Clark smiled and sat down, suddenly feeling a little queasy, "It will be so much fun."

She looked at him a little worriedly, "Are you feeling alright? You look like you’re going to be sick." She reached up and started playing with her necklace. It was the first time Clark noticed it. It looked like an emerald, it was small and sparkled in the sunlight. It was attached to a silver chain and the green crystal looked like it was glowing. She noticed Clark was looking at it, "I haven’t worn it yet this year." She lifted it up in her fingers and looked it over. Then she looked back at Clark, "It’s made from the same meteor that killed my parents."

Chapter Sixteen

Meteor rock, Clark thought, those are the same ones that fell out of the sky when I came to earth. Why haven’t I ever seen one? He looked at it more closely, but the more he stared at it the more his stomach became upset and he started to sweat.

"Clark?" Lana said, still worried, "Do you need to go see the nurse?"

"No!" Clark said, a little too quickly. "I’ll be fine, just a passing moment." He tried to smile, but he was experiencing a great deal of pain. He looked away from her necklace and he felt a little better. He kept a smile on his face and tried to pay attention to what the teacher was saying.

"I’m passing out a clipboard," the teacher was saying, "please write your name next to the seat you are sitting in. This will be your seat for the remainder of the semester, if anyone wants to back out, please do so now." A boy in the front of the class pretended to get up, creating a low chuckle from the rest of the class. The girl he was sitting next to slapped him lightly on the back of the head and he sat back down, laughing.

The time began to pass and Clark realized that the less he concentrated on the necklace the less he felt sick to his stomach. There was something about it, he didn’t know what, that made him feel like he was going to be sick.

He and Lana held a little conversation in between the teacher telling them to be quiet, always ending with Lana giggling or giving it away. Clark thought it was really weird how she kept laughing at everything he said. Well, not everything.

Class was finally over and they walked out of class together. Turning into the English wing they saw the student council putting up posters and banners. Clark and Lana looked at each other, as if the other knew what was going on.

Lana walked up to one of the boys hanging posters, "Hey, Chuck, what’s going on?"

Chuck turned and smiled pleasantly, "Principle Kwan is moving up the date of Homecoming this year. It’s going to be in three weeks instead of in the middle of October."

Lana smirked, "He keeps doing that every year."

Chuck laughed, "Yeah, before you know it, it’s going to be on the first day of school." He waved and walked away.

Lana turned back to Clark, "Wow. The third day of school and we already know about Homecoming."

"That’s a football game and a dance, right?" Clark asked. Lana nodded. "What’s the date and times?"

They both turned to the poster hanging on the wall and looked it over. Lana let out a groan. "No way! That’s the weekend Nell has us going to a play in Metropolis!"

Clark raised an eyebrow, "So does that mean you can’t go at all?"

Lana shrugged, "I guess not." Then, trying not to be too obvious she added, "Well, if someone asks me, I’m sure that Nell wouldn’t mind exchanging the tickets. She understands my high school life." She smiled up at Clark, hoping that was big enough of a hint.

Clark nodded, "That’s cool." He looked back at the poster, "Does the game always start that early?" He pointed to the time on the poster. It said that the game would start at four and the dance would start at six.

Lana shook her head, "No. I don’t know why he changed the times. Maybe their were too many parental complaints from last year."

Clark chuckled, "What happened last year?"

Lana rolled her eyes, "A bunch of the football players were caught tying up a freshman in the corn field as a scarecrow. Kwan said that if the game would have been earlier, the boys wouldn’t have been able to do that without being detected."

"Whoa...scarecrow? Corn field? What’s that about?" Clark asked, incredibly confused.

Lana sighed, "Every year, as a homecoming tradition, the captains of the football team pick on a sophomore or a freshman and tie them up in a cornfield. I don’t know the details, but it’s supposed to be good luck. Pete can fill you in."

Clark nodded, understandingly.

Chloe silently watched Clark and Lana look at the poster of the Homecoming announcement. She dreaded what they were discussing. She really wanted to go to Homecoming with Clark, but the way he looks at Lana...she didn’t know if she stood a chance. She walked back to her desk in the Torch office and sat down, holding back the tears. It really wasn’t that big of a deal, she didn’t know why she was taking it so seriously. She had only known Clark a couple of days, but she felt a connection to him. Whether he returned that connection or not, she didn’t know. She hoped so, but it looked like he felt a stronger one towards Lana.

Lana and Clark said good bye and Clark headed for the Torch office as Lana walked towards her locker. She spun the combination and jerked it open, she hated her locker. It always seemed to get stuck.

She reflected back to the conversation she just had with Clark. She had only known him for a couple days and yet she still felt like she’d known him her whole life. She felt a connection to him, and she was fairly certain he felt the same connection to her. He said nothing about the dance though. He didn’t ask her to go with him. But did she really expect him to? He’s only been in the school a couple days, she thought, maybe he just isn’t ready for the first dance.

She felt like she made it pretty obvious that she would work around her schedule with Nell if someone asked her. She knew he acknowledged that, now it was up to fate to decide if he would ask her.

She slammed her locker shut and began walking for her class, not knowing that her necklace dropped from her neck, dropping to the ground. It hit the ground and rolled off to the side, hiding itself from oncoming students.

But one student didn’t notice. He picked it up and looked it over. He was Whitney Fordman’s best friend, and Whitney’s ex-girlfriend had just dropped the necklace she was known for.

"Hey, Chuck," called a friend. "What you got there?"

Chuck smiled and dangled the necklace in front of his eyes, "Oh, nothing." Chuck turned to his friend, Will and smiled crookedly, "I know our next scarecrow."

Will’s face brightened, "Oh yeah? Who?"

Chuck grinned, "Clark Kent."


Chloe stormed into her house, slamming the door behind her. She pounded up the steps and threw open the door to Lana’s room.

Lana was laying on the floor reading a book and looked shooken up when Chloe made her grand entrance. She sat upright and got to her knees, "Chloe? What is it?"

"Oh please," Chloe said rolling her eyes, "do you really think I am that pathetic?"

Lana stood up and walked over to her, completely confused. "What are you talking about?" "I know that you are going to Nell’s the weekend of the Homecoming dance! Don’t you think I’d get it? I do not need your cast offs!" Chloe was almost screaming, a tear rolled slowly down her cheek. She took the back of her hand and wiped it away.

"Chloe! I know you know that I’m going to Nell’s! What’s the big deal?" Lana asked, a little defensive.

Chloe sighed and plopped herself on Lana’s bed, "Clark asked me to homecoming."

Lana gasped, and tried really hard to hide her disappointment. She regained herself and asked, "What’s wrong with that?"

"I saw you two talking, I know that you were telling him that you were going to Nell’s for the weekend. That’s probably why he asked me." Chloe said, sadly.

Lana was still a little shocked, "No, I’d have to disagree with that." Chloe raised an eyebrow, Lana continued, "I told him I was going to Nell’s, but I also told him that if anyone asked me I’d be able to work around it. I was trying to get him to ask me."

A smirk crept up to Chloe’s lips, but she wiped it away. She just went to feeling like the scum of the earth to the stratosphere. "So you didn’t tell him to go ask me or anything? You actually were hinting for him to ask you?"

Lana nodded, "Yeah." A little silence followed and Lana asked, "What did you say?"

"I said yes, of course," Chloe said, a little embarrassed. "I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, for one, and for another, I like him, even if he was your cast off."

Lana smiled half heartedly, "That’s good. You guys will have fun."

Chloe smiled, "Thanks." Then she noticed that Lana’s necklace was missing, "Hey, where’s your necklace?"

Lana touched her neck where the necklace should be, but it wasn’t there. She gasped and started looking around on the ground for it. "I don’t know!"

Chloe started helping her. They searched the entire room, where she had been last in the house and couldn’t find it.

"Where do you last remember wearing it?" Chloe asked.

Lana thought back, "Well, I remember explaining it to Clark."

"Alright, we’ll start there."

Chapter Sixteen

Clark picked up his book and walked across the room to the couch. He was in his loft, the one his dad built for him when he was little. He always felt safe going up there, not that he had anything to worry about. But whenever he was up there he could go places that no one dreamed, he could experience things that were only figments in other’s imaginations.

It usually happened while he was reading, but it also seemed to happen when he was gazing through his telescope. When he’d looked through his telescope in the past he always wondered what was out there, wondering, are any of them like me? Now he knew. Yes! There were. He was from out there...somewhere. Where, he was not yet certain of.

He roamed the unknown galaxies with his eyes and mind and could see things that he never dreamed of. There were planets out there that had yet to be discovered and galaxies yet to be entered. He wished that he could do that.

But now it was time for a little transportation in a different way. He wanted to get a little reading in before his mother called him in. He didn’t know why she still did that, he was a teenager now, well past the age that he needed to be acknowledged. He’d rather just stay up in his loft anyway.

He was opening to his bookmark when he heard his name.

"Clark?" it was a young female voice. He jumped off the couch, almost inhumanly and stood erect and saw his two female friends walking up the steps. Lana and Chloe were grinning, as they saw him jump.

"Hey girls. How did you know where I live?" Clark asked, a little suspiciously.

Chloe scoffed, "Oh please. Lana lived in the house right next door for at least fifteen years."

Clark raised his eyebrow, "You did?"

Lana smirked, "Yeah. Don’t you remember?" Clark didn’t know what to say. Lana smiled, "I’m just kidding Clark. I didn’t know that the Kent’s had a son, or else I would have come and investigated for myself." And I would have if I had known he was you, she added to herself.

Clark smiled, "Well I’m glad you found it."

Chloe and Lana started roaming around the large open room and looked at the different things Clark had lying around. He had a some books on a desk and some CD’s piled on top of a stereo. They giggled and looked through his CD’s.

"You like Bob Marley I see," Chloe said with a smirk. In fact, Clark loved him. The whole reggae genre really sparked his enthusiasm for music. He had at least four of his CD’s, which was why Chloe noticed.

Lana turned from the CD’s and looked back at Clark. "What is this place?"

Clark laughed, "Well, my dad calls it the Fortress of Solitude." The girls laughed. "But I prefer ‘Clark’s Loft’."

"It’s really cozy," Lana said. She walked over to the telescope and looked through the eyepiece. "Oh cool! I’ve never really looked through a telescope before." She moved it around and giggled, "Hey! You can see my old house from here!" She stood up straight again and turned around, getting more serious. She had to get down to business. "Clark I have a question." <>P Clark got a little nervous, but nodded, "Okay..."

Lana smiled, "Don’t worry, it’s nothing like that. I was just wondering if you’d seen my necklace."

"The one I saw in Chemistry?" Clark asked. Lana nodded. "Well you didn’t have it on in gym, or English, if I can remember. I thought you had just taken it off," he shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Chloe nodded, "Yeah, I remember that too. You weren’t wearing it in second period either." She tapped her chin with her index finger, "I forgot about that."

Lana sighed, "I guess I’ll look for it at school tomorrow." She tried to hold back the tears. Come on girl, get a grip, she told herself, it’s just a necklace. Yeah, just a necklace, she scoffed, it was from the meteor rock that killed my parents. Her mental warfare was excruciating, she had to do all she could to fight it off.

"Lana, are you alright?" Clark asked.

Lana nodded and brushed it off, "Yeah, I’m fine. Well, thanks anyway Clark." In a way she wanted to actually blame him for it, but she knew it wasn’t, in anyway, possibly his fault. She was still a little shocked that he had asked Chloe, maybe there was something he was trying to say. Or, maybe he just liked Chloe and just liked her as a friend. Whatever the case, she wasn’t going to think about it in his loft.

"Yeah, sorry I’m not much help," he said, showing his sympathy for her. "Thanks for dropping by."

Lana smiled, "Yep, it was fun getting to see your loft. Well, see you tomorrow." Chloe smiled and said her good-bye and the girls left. Lana, a little downcast, and Chloe feeling giddy.

Chapter Seventeen
The next day at school

"Pete! Wait up!" Clark called out as he jogged to catch up with Pete.

"Hey man, what’s up?" Pete asked, slapping Clark’s hand as the boys exchanged their greetings.

"Nothing, I guess. Hey, guess what?" Clark smiled, Pete looked up at him questioningly. "The girls came by my house last night."

Pete smiled, "Hey hey! That’s my man! Just joking. What did they want?"

Clark shrugged, "I guess Lana lost her necklace and they were wondering if I’d seen it."

Pete’s eyes widened, "Whoa! Are you serious? Dude, Lana is like in love with that necklace. Her aunt made it for her after her parents died. She used to wear it all the time, not so much anymore. It reminds her of Whitney."

Clark raised his eyebrow, "Her old boyfriend? Why would it do that?"

Pete smiled, "Whitney loved that necklace almost as much as she does. She let him borrow it for practically every football game, she said it was good luck."

"Does she not like the memories?" Clark asked, a little unsure if the reminder was a good thing or not.

Pete shrugged, "I’m not sure. I think that she worries about him, and when she wears it she is reminded of what he’s actually doing."

Clark nodded, "Fighting in the Marines." Pete nodded, agreeing. "Well that’s too bad. I wonder where she lost it."

"Was it at school?" Pete asked.

"Yeah, I think so. Chloe and I remembered not seeing it after second period. It would be right after first...or on the way to second maybe."

Pete grinned, "Are you going to help her find it?"

Clark’s face turned pale. He didn’t, in all honesty, really want her to find it. Whatever it did to him was really painful, and why it did that, he was still confused. "Uh, yeah...I mean...I guess I’ll keep an eye out for it."

Pete looked at Clark curiously, "Okay...Well me and Chloe want to show you something, so let’s go!" Pete led the way into the building and the two of them headed towards the Torch offices.

Chloe was typing furiously at her desk when they entered. She jumped at their entrance, "Oh, God. You scared me."

Pete laughed, "Big story?"

"Yeah," Chloe said as she stood up from her chair. She saved her file and then pushed in her chair, trying not to look too long at Clark she asked, "What’s up guys?"

Clark turned to Pete, "Well, Pete says there’s something you want to show me."

A huge grin spread across Chloe’s face. She turned around and motioned for him to follow her, Pete took up the end, also smiling broadly. She opened a door in the back of the office and yanked on the cord that was attached to the light bulb.

She spread her hands out, "Since you are now inducted into the crazy office of the Torch, we decided it was time to let you in on our obsession." Clark walked into the small room, having to duck his head a little bit coming through the door frame.

There was a tack board that covered the entire back wall, full of newspaper clippings, magazine articles and photographs. Clark’s eyes widened and he frantically looked from picture to picture to article, soaking it all in as fast as he could. It was inhuman the way he looked at all the clippings so fast, absorbing so much information at once.

Chloe’s smile faded as she noticed the horror expression on Clark’s face. "Clark, what is it?"

Clark gulped, "Uh, what is this exactly?"

Chloe smirked, "Well, my hypothesis is that all the strange phenomena that happens around Smallville is linked to the meteor shower. All of these people, animals and plants and whatever else is up here, I believe, was caused by the meteor rocks."

Clark couldn’t believe his eyes. There was a two headed cow in one article, a dog giving birth to an unknown species of animal in another. There was a man who grew an extra finger on one hand, and lost the finger on his other. There was a girl who could change her appearance by just concentrating and her entire body would morph into someone, or something, else. All these terrible things were happening to these people because of the meteor shower?! No! It can’t be.

"No," Clark whispered, "it can’t be!" He could barely be heard, Pete and Chloe couldn’t make out what he said and they exchanged glances. Clark knew that all these people were suffering because of him. He was the reason that the meteor rocks affecting these innocent people!

"I did this?" He again barely spoke above a whisper, but Pete heard him.

Chloe got Pete’s attention, "What did he say?" she mouthed. Pete just shrugged, not knowing what he should say.

Clark turned around, "I gotta go!" He ran out the door.

Chloe started to follow him but Pete grabbed her arm, "Wait, give him some time." Chloe nodded.

Clark ran out the Torch door, hitting the door frame with his elbow and knocking a piece of the wood off. "Oh, crap," he mumbled, but didn’t stop to fix it. He kept walking, fast. He didn’t know where he was going but he knew that he just needed to get away.

He reached the front doors of the building when he ran smack into Lex Luthor. "Whoa, Clark! Why are you in such a hurry?"

Clark tried to smile. "Hi Lex. Sorry, I’ve got to...uh...go...somewhere," he stuttered.

"Shouldn’t you be going in to school?" Lex asked.

Clark shrugged, "I think I might’ve dropped my notebook on the sidewalk, I’m going to...go look for it." Then he stopped, before going, "What are you doing here?"

Lex smiled, "I’ve got a meeting with your principle about a donation for the new computer lab."

Clark nodded, "Oh, cool. Well, bye." He turned and left, leaving a dazed Lex watch him go.

Pete ran down the hall after Clark. He wasn’t sure which way he went, but they had seen him go to the right, so that was the direction he followed. He held in his hand the piece of wood he had seen Clark knock off with his elbow while leaving. Chloe was so absorbed in her confusion that she hadn’t noticed, and Pete picked it up before she could see.

He was going to get to the bottom of this.

He walked past the big school entrance and saw Clark, talking to Lex Luthor. Then Clark suddenly turned on his heels and hurried out the door. Lex watched him leave and then shrugged, and walked into the office.

Pete ran towards the door and opened it. Clark was gone. He was nowhere in sight. He ran down the steps and looked around. Suddenly, Clark appeared running towards the back of the parking lot, he was jogging slowly. Then all of a sudden he was gone again.

Pete started to run in his direction. "CLARK!" he called out. He ran faster down and through the maze of cars. "CLARK!"

Then, he saw a lone figure emerge from the cornfields at the far end of the parking lot. It was Clark, his head was hung, and it appeared that he was waiting for someone.

Pete ran to him, out of breath and bending over to catch it. He looked back up at Clark with his hands on his hips, still recuperating. "Man, what is with you?" he asked, still huffing. "One second, Lex Luthor’s car is barreling into you, the next your swimming him to safety, then you act like nothing happened. Now, you say to Chloe’s wall that you did this. Did what exactly? And what was just with you running, and then not running, and then you’re gone?" he squared himself up, not reaching nearly to Clark’s height, but making himself bigger. "Dude, what is it?"

Clark looked away, "You wouldn’t understand."

Pete narrowed his eyes, "Try me."

Chapter Eighteen

Clark looked hard at Pete, although his eyes were sad his whole body tensed up in defense of his identity. He opened his mouth but no words came out. He shut it, and looked away once again. Looking at his feet he replied, "It’s too dangerous."

Pete jeered, "What? For me to know why you’re so...so...whatever you are?" Then a thoughtful look took over his face, a thought had just popped into his head and he felt like he wanted to take back everything he just said. "Clark, were you affected by the meteor rocks? Is that why you’re, like, invulnerable and how you knocked off this wood with your elbow?" Pete held up the piece in his hand, showing proof that Clark had actually knocked it off the wall.

Clark took it from him and looked it over, not really interested in it, just buying time. He looked back at Pete, "No, I wasn’t affected by the rocks." Pete looked really confused now. Clark didn’t know if he really had a way out of this, so he decided that he should just go for it. "Pete, can you keep a secret?"

Pete nodded, "Man, I’ve kept some pretty dark secrets in my day. I can totally keep a secret." He was getting anxious now, this was something big.

Clark stepped forward, closer to him and stared directly into his eyes. "No, Pete. I really mean it. Can you keep a secret? What kind of lengths would you go through to keep this a secret? That’s the kind of secret I mean. Not something you run off and tell someone else to keep a secret. This is a secret, as in, if anybody found out about it, I’d be lunch meat."

"What did you commit a crime or something?" Pete asked. "Dude, if you want me to keep a secret I will. We may not have known each other for very long, but I can tell that we are going to be good friends. You just gotta be honest with me."

Clark nodded, fearing that was a line that would be used on him a lot. "I’m not normal," he began, looking at Pete, "ever since I was really little I knew that I was different. I could do things that other kids my age would never be capable of, things that my parents would never be able to do. Pete, I said that I wasn’t affected by the rocks," Clark said, and Pete nodded sarcastically. "But I did have something to do with them."

Pete raised an eyebrow, "What? Did you like bring them here or something?" He laughed at the thought, but then turned completely solemn when Clark’s expression didn’t change.

Clark squinted his eyes, as if he were looking directly into the sun, "Sort of."

Pete laughed nervously, "What do you mean, sort of?"

Clark ran a hand through his hair and stared down at his shoes. "My ship did."

"Hahaha! That’s great! Was that the punch line?" Pete was trying not to laugh, figuring it was actually a joke.

"No, it wasn’t. That’s how I got to earth, my ship."

Pete’s face turned straight again and he narrowed his eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Do you believe me?" Clark asked.

Pete looked away and then back at Clark. "I have no reason not to trust you. I witnessed you get hit by Lex’s car, you did get hit by it, didn’t you?" Clark nodded. Pete continued, "If that’s how you explain the way you are, I guess I believe you." He straightened up and looked for a sign of weakness on Clark’s face.

There was none.

Clark nodded, "Yes, that’s how I explain everything."

Pete shook his head, "That’s crazy, man. So that means you’re a....a...an..."

"Alien?" Clark finished. Pete nodded. "Yes, I’m an alien."

Pete smiled, and then tried to cover it up. "Do you mind that that seems very funny to hear you say that?"

Clark shrugged, "You’re the only one, besides my parents, that knows. I guess I don’t even really know how to react. I just found out last year."

"You mean that you’re parents never told you?" Pete asked, shocked.

Clark nodded, "Yeah. I finally got so frustrated with myself because I didn’t know who I really was. I used to search for people with the same abilities as me on the internet, but I could never find someone who had all of the ones I have. My parents decided that then was when I needed to know, for sure, who I really was and why I was different."

Pete’s eyes widened, "Do you mean there’s more to it that what I’ve seen?" Clark nodded. Pete smiled, "Like what?"

Clark chuckled, "There’s not that many things I can do."

"You’re, as it seems, invulnerable. You got hit by Lex Luthor’s car, and you knocked off that piece of wood," Pete said, pointing to the wooden object Clark held in his hands. "You’re really fast. I saw you disappear a couple times when I was running after you."

Clark blushed a little, he wasn’t used to someone talking about his abilities and had always felt them a part of everyday life until Pete started talking about them. Now it was like they were brand new again. "I’ll show you some other time, but I think we better get into class."

"Oh come on!" Pete whined, "Why not now?"

Clark nodded towards the building. "Because Principle Kwan is coming towards us."

Chloe slipped a note to Lana in their second period Spanish class. Lana smiled out of the corner of her mouth and opened it quietly under her desk. Chloe tried not to giggle, this was something they’d gotten pretty good at last year.

Have you seen Clark yet? It read.

Lana shook her head without looking at Chloe.

No, he wasn’t in Chemistry this morning. She wrote back

Chloe sighed. I showed him the Wall of Weird this morning before school started.

Lana gasped. No! You didn’t! You promised you’d wait at least a week!

I know I know, but Pete brought him in saying that "We should show him now" type of thing.

Well what happened? Lana asked.

Chloe stopped what she was about to write when their teacher looked up from her desk. Lana and Chloe hated Ms. Petersen, they had her last year for their first year of Spanish and the woman had developed an evil eye for them from the very beginning. She looked crossly at the two girls, and looked back down at her work.

Chloe let our her breath and wrote more. I just brought him back into the room and he was looking at the thing as if it were a hundred obituaries. I’ve never seen someone look down on it as much as he did. Then he just left, all of a sudden and disappeared out the door.

Lana read that passage over and over. It was weird. Clark seemed like he had taken offense to it almost. She was about to write something back when she heard Chloe cough, and looked up only to see their teacher hovering over her.

"Throw it away," she demanded.

Lana timidly stood up and ripped the piece of paper up and threw it away in the garbage.

Chapter Nineteen

Clark and Pete left Principle Kwan’s office with heavy hearts. They were lucky that they had gotten off with a warning, even when they tried to explain what was happening. They weren’t actually skipping, Pete tried to explain, they were only talking. Kwan actually laughed at them, and they knew it sounded what girls would use as their excuse.

But since Kwan knew Clark was new, and he had been showing excellence in his classroom, he allowed them off the hook with only a warning.

Now they walked out of the door, already missing two hours of class with a lecture of "why its not cool to skip school". They both felt confused, they knew they weren’t trying to skip, but no matter what they said, the Principle could make his own judgments by what he saw.

Lucky them.

Their next period was English, with Lana and Chloe. Clark knew that he was going to have to apologize to Chloe for making such a scene. He was actually sorry, he just didn’t know what he was sorry for. He didn’t really understand his emotion towards the Wall of Weird, as Pete told him what Chloe called it. He wasn’t offended, not at all, there was nothing he could be offended about. He wasn’t angry, there was nothing to be angry about. He decided he was guilty, for all of the people that had suffered from meteor rocks, if that was what it was caused by.

Pete was still running through the conversation they had outside over and over in his head. He didn’t know if he actually believed Clark. The guy had given him no reason not to believe him, he had been fairly upfront about everything else. And if this explained how he survived the hit by Lex’s car, well then it had to be true. He just wished he had some actual proof so that he could know for sure.

He glanced at Clark. Clark was walking with his head up and back straight with his backpack slung casually over his shoulder. He looked barely fazed at the lecture with the principle. Pete didn’t know how he could handle it; being one out of everybody that was in every way 100% different, besides his appearance of course. He started to wonder what else was different about him.

Like, did his hair grow like humans? Or, did he have to shave like a lot of boys his age? Was English his first language? There were so many questions Pete had, but he wasn’t going to ask him now. He didn’t know if he’d ever get the guts to ask.

Clark noticed Pete looking at him and smiled. Pete looked embarrassed, "Sorry, man. I’m still getting used to it."

Clark shook his head, "It’s okay, I understand."

"I’m really glad you told me," Pete smirked, "It gives us a reason to be friends."

Clark laughed, "So you wouldn’t have been my friend if I wouldn’t have told you?"

Pete shook his head, "No, you might not have been my friend."

"Clark! Pete!" There were two female voices shouting at them from behind.

Pete rolled his eyes, "You see that? They’ve known me at least half their lives and they put my name last. I can’t believe this."

Clark chuckled and hit him softly with his elbow.

"Clark! I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to..." Chloe said frantically.

Clark cut her off, "Don’t be, I shouldn’t have reacted like that. I’m sorry. If anything, I offended you."

Chloe smiled. Lana said, "I told her to at least wait a week, but no. She had to do it now." Chloe slapped her arm and Lana giggled, rubbing the spot that Chloe hit her. "Hey!"

Clark shrugged, "I probably would have reacted the same if you would have shown me a week later or even a year later."

Chloe and Lana looked quizzical, but neither said anything.

Clark opened the door to his house and looked around. He didn’t see anybody, not that that was unusual, but it was a little strange that his mom wasn’t reading the paper at the kitchen table, like she had been the last couple days.

He heard the back door swing open and slam shut. "Clark? Is that you?"

"Yeah mom! I’m in the kitchen!" Clark yelled, setting his backpack on the counter and walking over to the fridge. He pulled out the orange juice and then grabbed a cup from the cupboard.

His mother entered the kitchen carrying a basket of tomatoes from her garden. She heaved them up onto the counter next to Clark’s backpack then rested her hands on the counter to catch her breath. "Sometimes I wish I had your strength," she said, looking a little drained.

Clark chuckled and continued to pour himself a glass of orange juice.

"How was your day sweetie?" Martha asked.

Clark looked at his cup of juice and then turned around to face her. He looked a little drained himself and walked to the island in the center of the kitchen. He pulled out the stool and sat down, staring at his cup.

She looked at him worriedly, "Did something happen?"

Clark shrugged, "Sort of." He looked around and his eyes finally locked with her own.

"Martha? Are you in here?" Jonathan yelled. He was out back.

"Yes, Jon! We’re in the kitchen!" They heard him open the door and walk in.

He smiled at Clark, "Oh good! You’re home." Then he looked back and forth from Martha to Clark. "Am I intruding on a mother-son bonding moment?"

Martha shook her head, "No, he says something happened today at school and was about to tell me."

His parents stared hard at Clark and Clark felt uneasy under their gaze. He shifted in his seat and cuddled his orange juice. "Well...today when I got to school, Pete and Chloe showed me something. It was in the back door of the Torch office and this huge wall was covered in newspaper clippings and magazine articles."

"What were they of, son?" Jonathan asked.

Clark shifted again, "They were strange things that happened to people because of the meteor rocks."

Martha gasped and looked at Jonathan. Jonathan looked from Clark to Martha, who turned pale at Clark’s words. "Is it real son?"

Clark shrugged, "I don’t know. Chloe calls it the Wall of Weird and she links all the strange things that happen around Smallville to the meteor shower and, more specifically, the meteor rocks."

"Like what?" Martha asked.

"Like a man grows an extra finger on one hand and loses it on the other. A cow grows two heads, or a girl can morph her figure into anybody or anything by just thinking about it," Clark said sadly, and a little defensively.

Jonathan was a little shocked to say the least, "Does she have any evidence for it?"

Clark shrugged, "We didn’t really get to talk about it, I sort of...ran off."

"Ran off. Like speeding?" Martha asked.

Clark shook his head, "No, just abruptly. I apologized for running away, but I don’t really know why I did in the first place."

Jonathan nodded, "You probably felt responsible. Even though you had no control over it, it was something that involved you, making you a little defensive towards it." Clark nodded, it was weird how his dad could always pick out what he was thinking or feeling.

Clark looked back down at his glass, "That’s not all." Jonathan and Martha both instantaneously raised their eyebrows and their faces told Clark to continue. "Pete knows...about me."

Martha gasped again and Jonathan’s eyes narrowed. "And how would he know about that, Clark?"

Clark got antsy and started to explain really fast, "He saw me get hit by Lex’s car. I told him that he was too far away to actually see, but he knows that I was and then today he saw me run into the wall and knock a piece of wood off the frame with my elbow and...it all just happened so fast. Before I could even think, Pete was counting all of the ways that I was different and I ended up just telling him."

Jonathan looked away and shook his head. Martha just stood there with her hands over her mouth, still shocked. "Clark, we don’t even know Pete that well. You’ve barely begun a relationship with him and you’ve already spilled your guts? How do you know you can trust him?"

"I don’t dad," Clark pleaded, "but I do know that he has been a great friend to me these last couple days and I can’t just tell him that he was seeing things. I want to trust him, and I think that I can."

"You know that you can," came a voice from outside the screen door. Pete was standing there, his hands in his pockets and staring in at the family. Martha rushed over to the door to let him in and Pete nodded to her respectively. "I know that I haven’t known your son for very long, Mr. and Mrs. Kent, and he hasn’t known me as long either. But you can trust me, I promise. It may not have been that big of a deal that I thought I saw Clark get hit by Lex’s car, but I know that that’s not normal," he chuckled a little. Then he turned serious again, "But I swear that I’ll do everything in my power to keep it a secret."

Martha nodded sympathetically towards Pete, but Jonathan walked towards him, very intimidating. "Do you realize how big of a secret this is?" Pete nodded timidly and Jonathan continued. "This is practically a matter of life and death. If anybody found out about Clark they could...they could...you know," not being able to bear saying it.

"Take him away?" Pete asked, knowingly.

Jonathan nodded. He sighed and put a hand on Pete’s shoulder, "I knew the day would come when Clark wouldn’t be able to keep his secret from everybody. Welcome to the family."

A grin spread across Pete’s face, "Thanks, Mr. Kent."

"Are you serious?" Pete asked.

Clark laughed, "Yeah, why would I joke about something like this?" He opened the door to the storm cellar and led the way down the steps. Pete followed him down and stared at the tarp covered figure laying in front of them. Clark grabbed the edge of the tarp and threw it back, exposing his magnificent ship.

Pete’s eyes widened and he walked up to it, running his hand along the flat metal exterior. It was huge, for just looking at it. It, in reality, would only be able to hold a small infant, such as Clark when he arrived. Pete shook his head and laughed, "This is crazy. Absolutely crazy."

Clark smiled half heartedly, "Imagine how I took it."

Pete glanced up at Clark, with a sympathetic grin and then looked back at the ship. "Does it work? Can you make it fly or anything?"

Clark shook his head, "We haven’t ever gotten it to fly. But we do have something that fits into the hole right there," he pointed to the octagonal key-like hole on the side closest to them. "We’ve never dared to try it though."

Pete nodded, "I don’t really blame you." He stood up straight again, "Well I guess you’re the real deal. I never thought this day would come, but yet, here we are."

Clark smiled, "Thanks Pete."

Pete raised an eyebrow, "For what?"

Clark shrugged, "It feels good that I might be able to talk to someone about it now, I’m not the only one who knows. You know what I mean?"

Pete nodded, "I’m here for you anytime man."

Chapter Twenty
Three weeks later (day before homecoming)

"Hey Chloe, here’s my story," Pete said, handing Chloe his floppy disk where he kept all of the stories he’d written for the Torch. He and Chloe had an understanding, Chloe had, by now, figured out how to tell which one was the last one he’d done. It’d taken her a while to figure it out.

Chloe giggled, "Thanks."

Pete smirked at her, "So are you nervous?"

Chloe shrugged, "Yes, and no. I’m more confused." Pete lifted an eyebrow, begging her to continue. She set the floppy down on her desk and set her hand on her hip. "Over the last three weeks that I’ve known him, I feel like I’ve gotten to know him really well," she hesitated, "but then, I don’t feel like I know him at all. He’s so...so..."

"Clark?" Pete offered, finishing her statement. Although he knew all about Clark, he knew what it was like to still feel left in the dark when Clark suddenly disappeared, or he didn’t answer a question about himself in front of the group. He knew that Clark wasn’t trying to hold anything back, he just didn’t want to accidentally give anything away.

"Yeah," Chloe nodded. She brushed the hair out of her eyes, "But I don’t think I can really say anything before a whole month." She shrugged again, "But I’m confused because I still don’t know why he asked me.

Pete looked confused now, "What do you mean? If he asked you, then it means he likes you."

Chloe sighed, "I know, but it only seems like he asked me because Lana is going to Nell’s for the weekend. She said that she told him that she could work around her schedule, but I just sense that it has something to do with that. I mean, have you seen the way he looks at her?"

Pete had to agree, Clark always looked at Lana like she was the only one around. Even though he and Chloe were going to homecoming together, Clark obviously didn’t mean it in any date sort of way, or at least he didn’t display it. He seemed to really like Lana.

Chloe continued, "I just wish he’d look at me that way, it would make me feel better about this whole situation." Pete nodded in agreement.

"Well, I need to get to class," Pete said, "I’ll catch up with you later."

"Okay, bye Pete."

****In Pete’s gym class****

"Dude," Chuck said, laughing, "this is going to be the best one yet!" He and Will were dressing for their gym class in the guy’s locker room. They were the first one’s in there, so they weren’t afraid of being overheard.

Will nodded, "Oh totally. We’re going to get this bastard like he’s never had before. Whitney is going to love us."

The third captain joined them, "Hey, guys, tomorrow’s the day, do we have a candidate?"

Will and Chuck smirked, "Yeah Joe. We’re going to nail Lana’s new shadow."

Joe’s eyes widened, "You mean that uh...Clark dude?"

Will nodded, "We even got him a present!"

Joe narrowed his eyes and looked confused. Chuck grinned and pulled a necklace out of his pocket. His eyes widened again and a grin spread over his face, "Lana’s necklace? How’d you get that?"

Chuck shrugged, "It fell off. I just thought I’d borrow it for a while. Besides, if and when he gets off the crossbars, Lana will think he took it, making her mad at him."

Joe smiled, "Dude! That’s perfect."

Pete walked in to the locker room and saw the guys exchanging high fives. "Hey guys what’s going on?" he asked, feeling in a good mood.

Chuck secretly stuffed the necklace into his locker and they all turned to him. "Hey Pete, nothing, we’re just setting up for tomorrow night."

Pete nodded, "Are you guys going to be able to even do that anymore? They set the football game so that you could get caught in broad daylight."

Will shrugged, "So we take him father into the cornfield."

Pete smiled, "So who’s the lucky guy this year? Sophomore? Freshman?"

The three guys looked at each other and then back at Pete. They knew he and Clark had become best friends and weren’t about to tell him, fearing that he would warn Clark.

Chuck rolled his eyes, "Come on Pete, you know we can’t say. That’ll ruin the entire point about it, curse the good luck, you know what I mean?"

Pete nodded and smiled, "Ah, it was worth a try."

Chuck laughed and walked over to Pete, wrapping his arm around Pete’s neck. "That’s the way to take it. But don’t worry, you’ll sure know next year."

"What? What’s that supposed to mean?" Pete asked, wondering if they were actually hinting at what he thought they were hinting at.

The three guys smiled and shook their head, "Sorry, it’s a secret." They shut their lockers and laughed, walking out to their gym class.

Pete jumped up in the air and pumped his fist. He was going to be a captain next year.

Chapter Twenty One

Clark sat down in his seat in math class, he loved this class. He was great at math. For some reason, his brain worked for subjects like math and science, but not on subjects like English or Spanish...language was not his strong point.

He also liked this class because Lana was in it. They had three classes together that neither Chloe nor Pete were in, which was cool because then he could talk to her the whole time. He liked talking to her, she was easy to talk to and he thought that she liked talking to him.

He flipped open his notebook to a page of notes and glanced over them, memorizing them. He could also memorize things very well. He had what you would call a photographic memory. He remembered things distinctly and in very great detail about small things, like lecture notes, well enough to answer any questions you had about the entire thing. It was weird, but very cool.

Clark decided early on that he shouldn’t look too smart, in case someone was starting to catch on to him. He didn’t want to stand out, so he decided that he would just tone it down: do well, but not exemplary.

"Hey Clark!" Lana said, snapping Clark out of his trance. "You really like math, don’t you?"

Clark looked up and smiled, "Ah, it’s okay."

Lana smiled and sat down in the desk next to him, dropping her purse to the floor and her stuff spilled out. "Oh crap," she sighed and bent down to pick it up.

Clark chuckled and grabbed the things that had rolled under his own desk. He was reaching for her lip gloss when another hand grabbed it right before him. He looked up and saw Chuck grinning, "Hey Lana, you dropped this."

Clark rolled his eyes and sat back up, watching Chuck hand the item back to Lana. The guy had a problem with him or something, he had been doing this kind of thing for the past couple weeks.

"Thanks Chuck," Lana smiled and stuck it back into her purse, then sat down in her chair again. She carefully set her purse on the floor and pulled her notebook out from under her desk. She opened it up and slipped a pen out of her purse and then turned to Clark, "So, are you excited for tomorrow?" Her question wasn’t totally sincere, she didn’t really want him to have a good time with Chloe, but she did want Chloe to have a good time with Clark. It didn’t really make sense to her, but she went with it anyway.

Clark smiled and nodded, "Yeah! It’s my first dance, I’m excited!" He was really nervous, Chloe intimidated him sometimes. She always knew what was going on and she was really smart, probably smarter than Lana. He liked her a lot, but he wasn’t sure if he should have asked her anymore. He was glad he was going with her, really happy, he just didn’t know if he was leading her on or something by doing this.

Lana tried to smile, "That’s good. I know Chloe’s looking forward to it too."

Clark nodded, "Yeah, we’ve been talking about it some. I’ve been planning a surprise for her too."

Lana smirked, "Oh yeah? Care to share."

Clark shook his head, "Sorry, it’s a secret. Pete is doing the same thing for his date."

Lana pouted, "Aw come on! I’m not going to be home for the entire weekend! The least you can do is give me a little hint."

Clark rolled his eyes, "It’s nothing big, it has something to do with flowers though."

Lana smiled, seemingly satisfied, "Ok thanks. I promise I won’t tell Chloe."

Clark grinned, "So are you excited for your big weekend with Nell?"

Lana sighed, "No, I so don’t want to go to the play. But it is time spent with Nell, so I’m happy that I’m going. I love spending time with her, she’s like my big sister."

I knew you would, Clark thought, I’m glad I didn’t ask you, I might pry you away from the only family you have left. Then he kicked himself for his thoughts, he was going with Chloe. She was his first choice anyway, so why did he keep thinking about why he didn’t ask Lana? It was too confusing.

They awkwardly sat there and just stared at each other for a moment, and then looked away when the teacher entered the room.

Pete and Clark were talking in lunch and waiting for the girls to join them. Clark was munching through his hamburger when Pete brought up the subject of the Smallville scarecrow.

"Have you heard about the tradition that the captains of the football team participate in every year? The good luck tradition right before the homecoming football game?" Pete asked, picking up a fry.

Clark nodded and looked up from his tray, "Yeah, Lana was telling me about it a little while ago. She said that you could explain it better, but then I forgot to ask you."

Pete chuckled, "Well whoever is their target this year is going to be in big trouble. They apparently have the whole thing set up and they are always talking about it."

"No kidding?" Clark said smiling. "What exactly happens?"

Pete shrugged, "The senior guys target a freshman or a sophomore and they tie him up in a bag. Then they bring him out to the corn field and strip him down to his boxers, paint a red "S" on his chest and string him up like a scarecrow."

Clark laughed, "Sounds exhilarating."

Pete nodded, "You know the best part? They hinted that I may even be a captain next year! Can you believe that?"

"That’s awesome Pete!" Clark said, truly happy for his friend. "So you’ll be able to string the poor guy up next year!"

"String what guy up?" Chloe asked as she and Lana slid into the spots open next to Clark and Pete. Chloe sat down next to Clark and gave him a big smile, they were getting used to the feeling of being around each other now, now that they felt like their relationship had risen a couple points. They both liked it, it was fun for both of them.

Clark smiled back, "Pete was just explaining to me the whole idea of the scarecrow."

Chloe rolled her eyes, "They’re football players, they’re all crazy. They’re suicidal by joining the team, and then they have to endanger others who were smart enough to stay away." She picked up her roll and took a bite.

Lana giggled, "Oh come on Chloe, it’s not that bad."

"Okay then Miss Pom pom, why’d you quit?" Chloe asked with a smirk.

Lana rolled her eyes, "Because the players were caught cheating and nobody, much less Whitney, didn’t do anything about it."

Clark raised an eyebrow, "You were a cheerleader?"

"In the past," Lana sighed, then looking at Chloe, "the way past." Chloe just giggled and kept eating. "Football isn’t all that bad, I guess I don’t mind watching it. But when guys go out and hang a guy up for no reason then it’s a little wrong." She took a bite of her roll as well.

"It’s not for no reason," Pete argued, "every single game that the captains have done this we’ve won. That’s been years. Clark, I think you’re dad even participated in it."

Clark looked up from his burger, "My dad? Seriously? He never told me he was a captain."

Pete nodded, "Yep. So you see? The tradition is older than Clark." He slapped Clark on the back. In reality, Clark had no idea how old he was. He didn’t know if where he came from had a different life cycle, like you stayed the same way at one point in your life, or even how old people lived to be. What was the average death age? Clark didn’t even know what planet he was from!

"Are you saying I’m old?" Chloe asked defensively. "I’m older than Clark.’

Pete winced and Clark frowned, "I forgot about that. How am I supposed to take you to homecoming if you’re older than me? It’d flatten my ego!"

Like you even have one, Chloe thought, you’re like the most conservative guy I know. She smirked, "There, there Clark. It’ll be alright." She patted his arm softly and they momentarily gazed into each other’s eyes. Then Pete coughed and they acknowledged that there were other people there. They both blushed slightly and continued eating.

Chapter Twenty Three

Clark got permission from his parents to take the car to school the next day. He and Pete were meeting at school early so they could make sure they had everything organized for the day. They also needed to drop their tuxes off in Principle Kwan’s office. They had asked Kwan if it was okay that they leave their suits there for the day, knowing they wouldn’t have the chance to go home.

He laid the tux nicely over the passenger’s seat and walked around to the other door. The wind blew his hair in every direction and he felt the comforting notion of stillness when he sat down in the driver’s seat. He started the car up and waved to his mother, who was looking at him from the kitchen window, then drove away.

He stopped by the florists and picked up the corsage he needed for Chloe and the eight flowers he was going to use throughout the day. Pete was getting the same thing for his date, Sasha.

He drove into the parking lot, which was not even a fourth filled, it still being six o’clock in the morning. The sun was just peeking over the horizon and shown a soft orange haze over the glossy parking lot. Clark parked the red truck in the back and grabbed his tux.

Pete saw him walking up and waved to him, he was standing at the front entrance holding his own tux. Clark made sure to carefully seal his flowers by hiding it within the area of his tux and caught up with Pete. Together they walked in the building and headed for the Principle’s office.

"Did you get your flowers?" Clark asked.

Pete nodded, "I have them in water in my locker. Stupid, I know, but that’s the only place Sasha won’t look." He smirked and shifted his tux to the other side. "Do you have yours?"

Clark smiled and produced them from under his tux. They were absolutely perfect. There were four red roses and four white roses. Clark figured he would alternate giving them to her, red white red white, for every hour of the day. He grinned to himself, it was really boyish, but he hoped Chloe would like it.

Pete grinned back, "They are going to love us!" Clark just laughed.

They met Kwan in his office and he hung their tuxes up in his personal closet. "Now boys, I’m giving you each a key to my office. But I’m entrusting that you will return it to me Monday, no exceptions."

"Yes sir," Clark said smiling.

"Not a problem," Pete said, taking the key from Kwan. The boys left and headed to their lockers to put Clark’s flowers in the vase Pete had brought. "So how are you going to give her the first one?" Pete asked.

Clark smiled, then looked around. There was no one in the hallway so he grabbed a flower and disappeared. Pete shook his head and just laughed.

Chloe hummed a soft tune and stood at her filing cabinet, flipping through some old files. She figured it was about time to clear some of this stuff out. She could only clean when she was in a good mood, and she was in a [i]very[/i] good mood.

She giggled to herself and then picked up a file and turned to go bring it back to her desk. But when she turned around she almost ran right into Clark, who was smiling broadly and holding a single red rose. Her face became giddy and her mind filled with sweet thoughts.

She opened her mouth but Clark spoke first. Bowing slightly, he held out the flower, "A beautiful flower for a beautiful girl." He handed her the flower and she took it, smiling.

She sniffed the sweet aroma and closed her eyes. Opening them again she couldn’t help but smile at the goofy look Clark had on his face. "This is so sweet!" Chloe exclaimed. "I love it," she said softly. They shared another gaze and stared softly into each others eyes, both mesmorized by the energy in each other.

A soft cough distracted them and they looked at the door, where Lana was standing. Chloe blushed, but Clark just smiled, proud of himself for presenting the flower so perfectly.

Lana giggled and walked in, "Well, this is the big day, huh?" She smiled from Clark to Chloe and they looked at each other then back at Lana and nodded.

Chloe brought the file over to her desk and plopped it down on top of her mess of papers. "Did you talk to Nell, Lana?" Chloe asked.

Lana nodded, "Yeah, she said it would be fine if I stayed for the game." She looked at Clark, "Then I don’t have to miss the whole experience."

Clark smiled, "That’s nice. You’re going to sit with us right?" he teased.

Lana rolled her eyes, "No, just Chloe." Chloe giggled.

And so the rest of the day went. After each class, Clark appeared before Chloe, giving her a white or red rose. Little did he know that Chloe was not his only audience; Lana, too, watched, saddened, knowing she could have been in Chloe’s place. But he also had three senior boys watching him, waiting, for an opportunity to make their move.

Right before seventh period he went to his locker. He opened it up and a note fluttered to the ground. He stooped to pick it up and flipped it open. In very neat cursive, was scratched the words

Clark,
Meet me outside by the basketball courts before seventh.
~Chloe~

He smiled and stuffed his books into his locker. He locked his locker back up and headed towards the doors.

Chapter Twenty Four

Clark happily walked out onto the outdoor basketball courts. The sun was covered by the thick gray clouds over head and the wind had picked up, but still his mood was light. You could have picked up his heart and thrown it across the courts and it would have never touched the ground, he was literally flying. He didn’t think that he would actually get like this, but it was happening.

He stopped in the middle of the court and looked around. "Chloe? Are you out here?"

He heard the doors open and shut behind him and turned around with a grin. But his grin faded when he saw that it was not Chloe, but three senior guys, Chuck Will and Joe, who were joining him out on the basketball courts. They were carrying a rope and a can of paint.

"Great day, isn’t it Kent?" Chuck said sarcastically. A gust of wind blew, almost knocking Joe of his feet. He regained his composure and the three boys continued stalking their way towards Clark.

Clark glared at them, "What do you guys want?"

Will shrugged, "Nothing much. We just want to borrow you for the evening."

A realization suddenly hit Clark as he realized what today was and who these boys were. He began to back away, knowing that he could outrun them, out beat them nd probably outsmart them, but he didn’t want to reveal any hidden secrets.

"Congratulations Clark," Chuck said, grinning devilishly, "you’re this years scarecrow."

The boys ran at Clark and Clark ran too, but suddenly tripped and felt a nausea sweep over him. He couldn’t think straight and his whole body ached. Will tied his hands behind his back and Joe ran to get his truck.

Chuck knelt down beside a writhing Clark and dangled a necklace in front of his face.

"You...you have...Lana’s...Lana’s necklace..."Clark managed.

Chuck chuckled, "Yes, yes I do. Very good observation. And you know what? I’m going to give it to you." He opened the latch of the necklace and tied it around Clark’s neck. It barely fit his neck was so thick and the meteor rock burned the skin it touched. "You know why?" Chuck asked, he didn’t wait for the groaning Clark to answer, "because I can tell how much you like Lana. But you know what? Whitney told me to look out for her, and make sure that she was safe. She is safe with no guy besides Whitney, so I thought I’d just make that clear. Comprende?"

Clark tried to fight off the nausea that gripped his mind. He fought to keep his eyes opened and suddenly the world around him turned silent. He barely heard anything as the three boys hauled him into the back end of Joe’s truck. He barely felt the wind nipping at his clothing and ears. He barely saw anything as the truck sped off to some far off corn field.

And then, everything went black.

Clark regained consciousness to some loud laughter and cold wind sliding across his bare chest. He forced his eyes opened and didn’t bother trying to lift his head, he was doing to much as it is. He looked down and saw that he only had his boxers on. His wrists were roped onto huge beams of wood that formed a "T", like that which held up an actual scare crow. They tied his ankles up at the bottom so that he couldn’t kick it over. It wouldn’t have made a difference anyway, he could barely stay awake. He drifted in and out of his subconscious, fighting to overcome the blackness that would soon engulf him.

"Hey! Supercrow is awake!" Joe taunted.

The boys laughed and Chuck said, "Good, now he’ll be able to see us put the finishing touches on." He took a stalk of corn and cut it off with his pocket knife, then dipped it into the paint they had opened. He crudely brushed a huge "S" over Clark’s chest. They stepped back and admired their masterpiece.

"No..."Clark groaned, "don’t do this..."

The boys just laughed. "You still don’t get it, do you?" Chuck sneered, "Stay away from Lana." They finished their sneering and slapped each other on the back. Looking back one last time, Chuck jeered, "We really hate to leave you here all alone, but we have a game to play in. Now make us proud and bring us good luck."

Clark’s head bobbed down once more, sweat pouring down his face and half blindly watched the boys pack up and hop back into Joe’s truck. He heard their laughter as they exited the cornfield.

He struggled to get down, but it was no use. Blackness over took him once again.

Chloe waited by Lana’s locker, a little disappointed that Clark hadn’t finished his hourly tradition of giving her a rose, but she was still surprised that it actually happened. She didn’t really need anymore, the vase on her desk held seven already. Maybe he was waiting until later to give her another one.

Lana approached her locker smiling. "So did mystery man give you another one?" She asked, spinning the combination on her lock.

Sighing, Chloe replied, "No, but it was fun while it lasted." She giggled, "It’s really surprising that he actually did something."

Lana smiled, "He said he had something planned, but I never expected this."

Chloe raised an eyebrow, "He told you about this?"

Lana nodded, "He mentioned he had something planned and I tried to pry it out of him. If anyone can keep a secret, it’s Clark Kent. I guilt tripped him and said that I wouldn’t be here the entire weekend, thinking that he was going to give you his surprise at the dance. I had no idea it was planned for all day."

Chloe giggled again, "So where are we meeting him for the game?"

Lana shrugged, "I thought you would know."

"Maybe he was going to meet us in there," Chloe pondered, "yeah, I think that’s what he said. He said something about having to help a teacher after school and that we should save him a seat."

Lana nodded, "Perfect. It’s really weird how early this game is starting." She shut her locker and the two girls began walking along with the mass of students filing to the outdoor stadium.

"I know," Chloe agreed, "I’ve been so used to them starting at, like, six, that four still seems like everyone should still be in school."

Lana nodded, "I know. Four is way too early. But hopefully it will prevent the football players from making a scarecrow." A thought brushed through Lana’s mind, but she pushed it away, thinking it impossible. She had momentarily thought that maybe Clark was the scarecrow, it seemed like the senior captains were not particularly fond of him, but she figured that she was just assuming the worst about the no-Clark circumstance.

"Yeah, let’s hope. That tradition is taken way too seriously," Chloe giggled. Pete was always talking about how much he wished he could do it.

A short silence followed and the two girls walked without saying a thing.

"You’re dress is really beautiful," Lana said randomly.

Chloe looked at Lana with a grateful expression, "Thank you. I couldn’t have found it without you." Lana smiled back. "I’m sorry you aren’t going," Chloe added.

Lana shrugged, "It’ll be good to spend some time with Nell. Besides, I don’t really care." In reality she did, she had turned down five offers, knowing that the only person she really wanted to go with was Clark. But he was taken, so she might as well visit Nell.

They got to the ticket booth and paid their way in. Once inside they looked around at the mass congregation of students, teachers and parents, rushing around getting food, paraphernalia and using the outdoor biffy’s. They laughed at the choas and made their way up into the stands.

The game was well under way and Lana and Chloe began to get nervous. Clark had not even shown a hint of showing up. What was more, the wind was picking up and the football players were having an incredibly hard time playing. Which was very interesting to watch.

The quaterback would throw the ball high into the air and it would be blown, literally, right back at them. They were changing possession so fast, Lana and Chloe could barely keep up.

But Smallville was winning, 10-0. Their opponents weren’t equally matched and under the conditions, theyhad practically no fighting chance.

They saw Pete jog up to the fence that divided the field from the stands and motion to the girls. They squeezed themselves through the crowd of people and made their way down to Pete.

"Have you guys seen Clark?" Pete asked.

Both of the girls shook their heads, "No, he said he had to help a teacher after school and told us to save him a spot. But he also said that he’d be no later than ten minutes. It’s been a half hour."

Pete nodded, he knew nothing could have seriously happened to him, he was Clark. But he still was curious as to where the boy had run off to. He glanced back at the line of players behind him and noticed the captains whispering and looking at them. Weird, he thought. But he thought nothing else of it and brushed it away.

"Okay," Pete shrugged, "he’ll be here by the dance, don’t worry Chlo." Chloe nodded, knowing that Clark had to show up for that. Pete waved and jogged back to the players.

Chloe and Lana looked at each other, not knowing what to say. They were both thinking the worst, but couldn’t do anything about it so they went and sat back down, anticipating Clark’s arrival.

Chapter Twenty Five

Clark regained consciousness again and struggled to lift his head. The pain in his neck was excruciating and he felt like a hole was being burned into his neck where the necklace was. The sweat still poured down his face, slightly blinding him from his position on the scarecrow cross. His hair was mopping wet from his perspiration and he could feel his heart palpitating ferociously through his invulnerable skin.

He shut his eyes tight and tried to mentally wash away the pain, but he felt no subsiding relief that he had been feeling in the past when he was finally away from meteor rocks. He needed to be physically separated from them before he could feel any relief.

The wind had picked up again and he felt the cool gusts whip through him. The strength of the whistling wind increased and it felt like it could knock over the stand he was tied up against.

But it didn’t.

He waited, praying that someone would drive along and see his head sticking up out of the cornfield. He thought that if just anybody even drove by, he could let out a little yelp and someone would hear him. He’d have to yell louder than what he was capable of, though, because of how loud the wind was becoming.

So silently, and impatiently, he waited for his rescuer to come along.

Lex walked out of the LuthorCorp plant and hurried towards his car. He needed to get home before the storm blew in. He had dismissed everybody from any more work this afternoon because of all the reports that were being issued by the weather station.

It seemed that there were tornadoes billowing in from the east and there was even a touch down not fifteen miles from here. They could be here in hours, no less.

He revved up his silver Porsche and proceeded to head towards the gate. He screeched out onto the main road and started blowing past the stalks of corn.

Not two minutes into his journey he saw something standing upright in the middle of the corn field. He came to a screeching halt and peered out his window. It looked like a scarecrow. A scarecrow was nothing to be curious about. But there was something about the scarecrow, the position.

Then, Lex remembered...
***Flashback***
"Lex!" Lionel shouted at his son, "Don’t go too far, son!"

Lex glared at his father, who had turned his back to him and proceeded to cut a deal with the Ross’s and there stupid business. He didn’t care what his father said, he would do anything he wanted. He brushed his crazy red hair away from his eyes and continued to wind his way into the cornfield to the side of the Ross’s farm house.

He began to get a little nervous, he wasn’t used to being all alone when his father was near by. He looked at the tall intimidating corn stalks around him and frantically looked around, a nervous twitch he had developed recently.

"Help me!" echoed a voice within his head. "Please! Help me!" There it was again. The young Lex turned around in circles and looked all around for where the voice was coming from. He started backing up against a post and realized he had entered some shade. He sighed and began to relax a little, feeling like he was safe now.

"Kid, help me!" The voice came from right above him! Lex gasped and spun around, his eyes rolled up the figure of a young teen who was strapped helplessly to a scarecrow post. His eyes became wide and he stood frozen in horror.

Then a loud explosion sent him tumbling to the ground. Scrambling back up to feet he looked in the general direction of the explosion and saw a billowing cloud of smoke come barreling towards him. He jumped clear off the ground and began running away from it.

"No!" the teenager whispered, "Come back!"

Lex became short of breath and frantically thumbed for his inhaler. He fumbled with it, unable to use it while he was running. Finally, he got it to his mouth, but at the same time another impact, a greater one, hit close to him. It sent him flying backwards and an eerie adrenaline rush flow through his body.

He heard the teenager’s silent scream and then everything went black.

That’s what he remembered it from. He remembered the day like it happened yesterday, and he was reliving it everyday in his mind. He pulled a flashlight from under the seat and got out. He was going to make up for what he didn’t do last time.

He cautiously entered the corn field, careful so that he wasn’t creamed by the corn and it’s whisking stalks that were being blown ferociously by the wind. The storm was getting closer.

He walked through the maze of corn and came to a path of tire tracks. He began to follow them. "Help me!" said the same eerie voice that he had heard so many years ago. "Please, help me!" He hurried down the tracks and soon enough he came to the unfortunate lad who had been chosen to be the Smallville Scarecrow.

He looked at the boy from behind and thought he looked familiar. "Oh God!" he whispered. He ran around to the front and confirmed that it was Clark. "Clark! What happened?"

"Lex...get me down!" Clark moaned. Finally! Someone who could help him!

Lex hit himself on the head, duh! Get him down Lex! He stuck his flashlight in his teeth and began working on the ropes that bound Clark. He undid the right side and the rushed to the other. Clark’s hand drooped to the side of him and he felt a little relief flood over that portion of his side. Lex got the other one out and Clark fell to the ground.

Upon hitting the ground, the necklace fell off and rolled away. Immediatley, Clark began to feel his strength return and bounded to his feet.

"Clark! We need to get you to a doctor!" Lex said, grabbing his arm.

"Lex, thank you so much! You have no idea what you did! But I need to get to school," he looked gratefully into Lex’s eyes. "Thank you!" He picked up his pile of clothes and jogged into the corn stalks.

Lex watched, bewildered, as he saw the boy disappear in the thick corn and watched as the tops of the stalks swayed from his speed.

He couldn’t just stand there. He had to get home! There were tornadoes coming for God’s sake!

***At the Kent Farm***

"Martha!" Jonathan yelled in the house. "Martha can you come help me?"

Martha came bounding down the steps and looked at Jon worriedly, "Yes, what is it?"

Jonathan smiled, "The horses got loose, the gate was blown open. Can you come help me round them up?"

Martha smiled, "Of course." She grabbed her coat and put it on, following Jonathan out the door. In the distance, they saw the horses running wildly into the woods. Sighing, they too began to run after them. This would take a while.

Chloe next to Lana’s car, saying good-bye as Lana was about to continue to Nell’s. "Are you sure you should be going in this weather?" Chloe asked, a little concerned.

Lana nodded, "It’s probably not as bad in Metropolis." The two were silent for a moment. "He’ll show up, Chloe," Lana said sympathetically.

Chloe nodded, "Yeah, I know."

Lana smiled, "Well, have fun."

The two said their good-byes and Lana drove away. Chloe walked back in to the school, she already had her dress on, and he hair was perfect. The dance had started ten minutes ago and Clark hadn’t shown up yet with their tickets.

Pete appeared at her side, "Hey Chloe, how you holding up?"

Chloe shrugged, "Fine I guess. I just hope he’s okay."

Pete nodded, "For as well as I know Clark, he’ll have a reason for being late."

Chloe laughed, "Another ‘Clark’ excuse. Yeah, he’ll have one."

She turned around to look back at the parking lot in which she had just left and saw what she at first thought was an illusion. But no. It was real. A huge smile spread across her face and Pete turned to see what she was looking at.

There was Clark, jogging up to the school in tux and everything, holding Chloe’s corsage in one hand and the tickets it the other.

Chapter Twenty Six

Clark bounced up the steps and saw Chloe standing there, confused and happy. "Clark! I thought something had happened to you!" Chloe said, reaching for his arm.

He tried to smile, but after just facing the side of death, he was a little overwhelmed. "I’m so sorry Chloe," he said, handing her the corsage. "I got a little, er, preoccupied," he cast a sideways glare at Pete. It wasn’t his fault, but he had supported it. Pete got the hint and waved, running to catch up with Sasha.

Chloe smiled and let him slip the corsage on her wrist. "Well, as long as your okay," she smiled up at him. He put out his arm and she giggled, slipping her hand though it. Together they walked up to the entrance of the gym and Clark handed the guy their tickets.

"Would you like something to drink?" Clark asked.

Chloe sighed, "I think I drank too much at the football game." Clark winced. "But if you’re thirsty, you can go get something to drink." She smiled.

Clark heaved a sigh, "Thank you! I am dying of thirst. I’ll be right back." She let go of him and he walked off to get some punch.

After he left, three of Chloe’s friends walked up to her. "Hey Chloe!" said one of the girls, Jenny. "You certainly hit the jackpot this year!" The girls giggled, but Chloe just kept her mesmerized grin on her face.

"Why were you guys late?" asked Keira, another one of the girls.

Chloe shrugged, "Clark was, as he called it, preoccupied. I’m not exactly sure what kept him."

"Ooooh!" Keira squealed, "mystery man?"

Chloe nodded, "In the strongest sense of the word. Clark is the most secretive guy I ever met."

Sasha, Pete’s date and the third in the group of girls, nudged her, "Even better the challenge then, hmmm? Pete is same old same...old..." at that time Pete walked up to them, and he put on an evil grin. Sasha continued, "And I love it." She reached over and gave Pete a kiss.

"Can this same old same old request a dance?" Pete asked, sarcastically. Sasha nodded and waved to the girls, who were giggling uncontrollably.

Keira said, "Chuck can be a mystery man sometimes, but mostly he’s upfront about things." She looked around and saw Chuck talking with two of his buddies. She waved at him and he smiled and walked over to the group. "Chuck, I want you to meet Chloe, she’s Clark’s date."

The two shook hands and Chuck asked, "Clark Kent? Is he here?"

Chloe nodded curiously and pointed to the drink table, "He’s getting a drink. I guess he was really thirsty."

Chuck’s eyes widened and he looked from Clark back to Chloe, "Uh...nice to meet you. Come on Keira...we need to go...over here!" He took her by the hand and forcibly led her to the group he was previously talking with. Keira shrugged and waved good-bye, then tried to pry her hand loose from Chuck’s grip.

"Okay, not that was weird," Jenny said.

Chloe scoffed, "You’re telling me. That’s the least of the wierdness I’ve seen today." Jenny giggled and then they were joined by Clark, who was downing some punch. "Whoa! Slow down big guy," Jenny giggled.

Clark laughed, "I’m thirsty!" Then the song that was being played, ended, and they turned to hear the crowd clapping.

Chloe laughed, "I forgot! They hired Remy Zero to play for us tonight! Isn’t that cool!"

Clark nodded, "I was so hard set on getting something to drink that I totally forgot to look!" They watched as more people walked on the dance floor, and some people got off. A nice slow song started playing. Perfect, Clark thought. He set his glass down and offered Chloe his hand. "May I have this dance?"

Chloe giggled and nodded, waving good-bye to Jenny, who’s date had just joined them. Clark led Chloe out onto the dance floor and wrapped his arm around her waist. She place her hands around his neck and they danced, closely together.

Remember how they always seemed to know
We had the forest in our eyes
But the earth was in our clothes
And they thought we'd fall
Not at all

So look back on the treasured days
We were young in a world that was so tired
Though it's not what we wanted before
Even the saints had to crawl from the floor
Summers when the money was gone you'd sing
All you're little songs
That meant every thing to me

Clark gazed into her eyes and Chloe whispered, "This is my favorite song, you know."

Clark smiled, even more perfect. "It’s beautiful," Clark said. He was going to say, just like you, but that was a little corny, and he knew that she knew that’s what he meant.

And I'll remember you
And the things that we used to do
And the things that we used to say
I'll remember you
That way

Remember how they tried to hold you down
And we climbed those towers
And looked down upon our town
And everything you hoped would last
Just always becomes your past (it hurts)
Summers when the money was gone you'd sing
All your little songs that meant everything
To me

They kept dancing, like they were the only one’s there. It felt like no one else was around them, they were dancing alone, on cloud nine. They both were captivated by each other’s presence and they were taken up in themselves. They had only known each other a short while, but they felt as if this was a normal feeling. It felt like they had always been like this, they felt like this was meant to be.

"Can I kiss you?" Clark asked softly, a grin forming on his lips.

Chloe giggled, "You don’t have to ask, Clark. You’re the..." suddenly her mouth was full of Clark, he had not waited for her to say "you’re the guy in this operation". They stopped moving and were enthralled, tasting every piece of each other until the song ended.

But then this world
Slipped through my fingers
And even the sun seemed tired
I still cared
As I lowered you down
My heart just jaded
In that moment the earth made no sound
But you were there
You helped me lift my pain into the air

And I'll remember you
And the things that we used to do
And the things that we used to say
I'll remember you
That way

Clark slowly pulled away and looked into her eyes. That was the kind of power he was looking for.

Suddenly a microphone squeaked and distracted them from their "moment". Principle Kwan came onto the stage and nodded to the members of Remy Zero. He took the microphone from the lead singer and tapped it. A loud buzzing sound razed through the speakers, causing a high pitched squeal coming from the girls who were covering their ears. Clark and Chloe looked at each other and then back at Kwan.

"Students, I am sorry to inform you, but we are under sever tornado warnings for all surrounding areas. I am afraid that everyone will need to remain here until the storm has passed over," Kwan spoke confidently into the microphone and continued, "it may be necessary for us to file into the basement, but if that is the case we will inform you later. So please, students, no one leave the building until we give the all clear."

Chloe gasped and looked back up at Clark, "Tornadoes? Oh cool!" She smiled, always one for an adventure. "He said all surrounding areas, so that must mean..."

"Metropolis..."Clark finished, knowing exactly what she was thinking. "Lana!" he looked down at Chloe. "I’ve got to go find her!"

"Clark! Wait! I’ll call her on my cell phone first, maybe she’s already there!" Chloe said, not wanting Clark to run off and leave her alone. She turned and headed towards her purse, but then Clark let go of her hand. She turned around and he was gone.

"Clark?" she turned around, looking in every direction. He was no where to be seen.

"Martha!" Jonathan shouted over the howling wind. "We need to get back to the storm cellar!" They were still on a horse hunt, and had only returned two.

Martha nodded, "Will we be able to make it back?" she shouted. They wind was blowing ferociously and it was causing a major problem in finding the horses. They would get scared by a blowing branch and run off again, making any hope of catching them virtually impossible- Clark would be the only one with a fighting chance.

Jonathan yelled something back, but Martha couldn’t hear him. She pointed to her ears and then shook her head, trying to make him understand that she couldn’t hear him. Jonathan sighed and nodded, understanding. He looked around and put his hands on his hips, his jacket blew open and whipped around fiercely. A gust of wind blew up and literally knocked Martha to her knees. Jonathan rushed to her and helped her back up.

He pressed his mouth to her ear and said, "There’s an old underground church around here, follow me!" He took her by the hand and they forced their way through the blowing wind that was trying to hold them back. Martha stopped and suddenly turned pale. She pointed to the sky and together, she and Jonathan looked as a funnel cloud formed and out of it came a tornado.

Martha screamed, but she could not be heard. Jonathan looked around frantically and threw Martha into the underground church. She tumbled to the ground and watched as Jonathan looked around and finally jumped in after her. As he hit the ground, an enormous trailer home collided with the opening of the church and sealed the only way of escape. It dulled the roaring of the wind and the two adults realized that they were trapped.

Jonathan crawled over to Martha, who was cradling her arm. "Sweetheart? Are you alright?" he asked, holding her hand.

Martha looked up at him, "Yes, Jon, of course. It’s just my hand..." Jonathan took her hand and looked it over, the bone appeared to be broken in her wrist, but nothing was bleeding.

Yet.

Chapter Twenty Seven

Lana rode peacefully in her car, the music was turned to her favorite radio station and she tried to forget about what she was missing. She thumped the top of the steering wheel nervously, the storm was picking up and there were commercial interruptions that said to stay home.

Whatever you do, do not go outdoors unless you plan on going underground! There are twisters heading this way! We’ve had reports of touchdowns in Switchwa, Morgan County, Alpines...

And they went on and on. Lana couldn’t believe there had been so many touchdowns. Then again, this is Kansas. She sped up and told herself she was almost there, when really she had about an hour drive left. She looked cautiously out all her mirrors and made sure she knew what was happening around her.

She gasped as she looked out her window. In the distance she could see the sign of a tornado funnel! It was going to touchdown! But that was quite a ways away. Maybe if I keep going, Lana thought, I really will be able to beat them there.

Then all of a sudden a mailbox hit her windshield and she screamed, veering off the road. Debris was flying everywhere and a whirlwind of junk was gathering around her car. Her car hit the fence post that was in the ditch where she went off the road and her seat belt prevented her from hitting the windshield. She hit her head against the steering wheel and felt a trickle of blood run down her cheek from her forehead.

Regaining her composure, she opened the door. There was no way she would be able to get the car out of the ditch, but she might be able to look for a refuge nearby. She looked around frantically, peeling the extra debris off of her clothing which was sticking to her from the pressure of the wind. She scrambled up the side of the road and propped herself up against the back of her car.

Looking into the cornfield, she stood, frozen in her spot. There, in front of her, where three funnel clouds. They were moving fast towards her and they were getting bigger as the proceeded. She stared wide eyed and her mind became blank. What was she going to do? A tear slid down her cheek as she realized that there was nothing she could do. She was stuck in the middle of nowhere with out even the slightest hint of a hiding place nearby. Her best luck would be to get back in her car.

Stupid idea.

She fell back down the small ditch and pried the door from its latched position. The wind was telling her not to open it, gravity was telling her not to open it, but she opened it and scrambled inside. The door slammed shut behind her and she felt the onset of tears in her eyes as she watched the funnel clouds turn into billowing twisters.

She turned to look out her drivers window, at the last of what she would see of Smallville. But then she saw something, someone to be exact. He was standing about a hundred feet away, barely fazed by the roaring wind.

It was Clark!

"Clark!" she screamed, slamming her hand on the window, "CLARK!" Then she stopped. What could he possibly do?

Clark ran as fast as he could through the wind and debris that had not-so-suddenly became a major obstacle in his quest to find Lana. He knew there was only one road to Metropolis, so he took that. He raced through the maze of country streets and found himself in a place of Smallville which he did not recognize.

He stopped and looked around, scanning the area with his x-ray vision. Nothing yet. He kept running.

Suddenly coming to an abrupt halt, he saw, in front of him, Lana, getting back into her car. No! he wanted to shout, Don’t do that! But there was no way she could hear him. Then she looked straight at him and started pounding on the window, screaming his name.

Then, before his very eyes, to his ultimate horror, to the very inevitable but most likely event , the tornadoes sucked up the car, with Lana in it. "NO!" He screamed and super sped towards the car.

Not sure if the tornado picked him up or if he willed himself up, Clark began floating inside the vortex of the twister. He looked around at the different things that were up there with him and said to himself, this is not normal. He spotted Lana’s car and somehow managed his way over to it. His fingers grasped the passenger’s door and he pulled himself into it, using every ounce of strength he had in himself.

Pieces of the car began to fly off and soon, the roof itself was pried from it’s very hinges. He got on top of Lana and wrapped his arms around her. "Everything’s going to be okay!" He yelled. He felt her go limp in his arms and automatically assumed the worst. Her cheeks were warm against his hands and her body was shaking hysterically.

Then, as soon as it had begun, it was over. Clark found himself sprawled on the ground with Lana lying casually over him, unconscious. He gently lifted her off of him and spread her out on the ground.

"Lana?" he asked softly. No reply. She was breathing, just unconscious. He slipped his hand underneath her head and held it softly. He looked back up and glanced around. It was like the dead of winter; no sound, no feeling, just the two of them stuck in the middle of a flattened cornfield.

He picked her up and decided to get to a hospital as fast as he could. Night was falling quickly, there was still a slight hint of the sun dipping under the horizon. It was truly a moment where a flooding realization of life could knock insanity over in cold blood, this was Kansas.

Jonathan gently struggled to prop Martha up against a wall in the abandoned cornerstone of the had-been church. She was crying softly, out of fear, pain and emotional distress. She knew Clark was out there somewhere, for some reason she felt like he wasn’t at the dance like he was supposed to be. Out of her motherly instincts she had developed a keen sense for Clark’s behavioral techniques. She noticed that he had been developing quite the hero label over the last couple weeks, always being in the right place at the right time.

But she could do nothing about it so she allowed Jonathan to fuss over her. Jonathan took off his jacket and laid it over her and then stood up and looked around. There was only a dim light in the place, coming from nowhere and they could barely see their hands. He walked around the contour of the walls and checked out every part of it, looking for a way out.

He came across some candles lined up against the back wall. He sighed, he never carried matches around, but maybe this would be a good excuse for the future. He felt the table that was set up underneath the candles and checked for anything that resembled a matchbook. He picked up an old dirty flip pack and opened it, looking closely to see if there were any matches left. There was one.

He studied the wick of the tallest candle, careful to be sure that he would be able to get it on the first try. He struck the match and lit the candle, then tried to light other candles around it. He got three lit before the match started to burn his finger tips, so he took the tallest candle and started to light the rest of the remaining candles. By the time he was done, the room glowing a deep orange and they were surrounded by the subtle glow. There were at least three dozen candles located around the room, making visibility much more bearable.

Jonathan looked back at his wife, who had slipped his jacket under her head and fallen asleep against the cold dirt floor. He sighed, knowing there had to be a way out of here and he had to find it soon.

He spotted some crumbling stairs to his left and went to go inspect them. He carefully touched different areas of the cement, examining to see if they were safe to walk on. He decided that they were stable enough and walked around to the foot of the steps. Carefully placing his foot on the first step, he raised himself up. It was surprisingly firm and he kept going. He reached the top and ducked a little, the motor home that had been flattened on the top creating a solid roof over the vast opening of the underground church and it was now lower than the top step.

He grazed his hands over the ceiling and inspected the area, trying to find an opening he could enlarge and possibly escape through. There was none, the area had been firmly packed down and the side of the home facing towards the floor was the side without the door.

"Damn it!" He whispered. He suddenly became angry with himself, knowing that they should have turned back sooner. He couldn’t believe that they had actually gone out in the first place, but then again, he wasn’t. They had always been a family to do what they had to do and they had always been able to do it.

Now came a flooding realization when he came to his senses, it was because Clark was with them. He had always been able to pull them out of any hole they were in. But now they were in an old abandoned church, underground no less, and Clark was probably out running around helping at the school. It would be a long time before Clark would even realize they were missing.

He sighed and walked back down the steps, shards of cement rattling down with him. He walked over to his wife and sat down beside her. He brushed the hair out of her eyes and calmly soothed her, in her dear sleep. All they could do is wait.

Chapter Twenty Eight

Clark carried Lana through the doors of the local business firm. The hospitals were packed and he was given directions to take her to the business building where medical crews were gathering to treat those that could not be held in the hospital. She was still unconscious, but she had briefly opened her eyes a couple times and had, unfortunately, acknowledged him. He was thinking, if he was lucky, he could get her there and leave before she woke up.

"I need a doctor!" he yelled when he entered through the door. Looking around he saw beds that were filled with people with broken limbs or gashes that had resulted from the twisters. It was a horrible sight and he averted his eyes to what he was really there for. Lana.

A nurse rushed up to him, "Here, son, please take her this way." Clark nodded and followed the nurse back into a room where there were not so many people and more doctors. He figured that the people in the entrance had already been treated. The nurse stopped at an open cot and Clark carefully spread Lana down on the bed, making sure that her head came down the softest.

"What happened?" the nurse asked as she pulled out her stethoscope. She began to feel around her heart and nodded satisfyingly, pulling it away. At least she was breathing.

Clark didn’t really know how to answer the question. What could he say? Oh, she got sucked up into a tornado inside her car, but its okay because I jumped up with her and made sure that she was alright. Yeah, right. "Uh..." Clark stuttered, "I found her in a field, she was going to visit her aunt in Metropolis. I think she must have been blown off the road."

The nurse accepted it and nodded, continuing to work on her. She turned around to ask Clark another question, but he was gone. The nurse looked around curiously, glancing out the door and down the hall towards the door, but he wasn’t there. She felt very suspicious, but carried on with her work, knowing she had more important things to do than worry about why some teenage boy had suddenly disappeared.

The nurse carefully took out an ice pack and set it on Lana’s knee. The pant of her knee was torn off and there was blood draining out of it. She had cleaned the wound and thought that she would wait for the girl to wake up before she did any sort of wrapping. Next she moved to Lana’s forehead and began to treat the gash that was drying on her head. She dipped a cotton ball into a bottle of ointment and applied it to the cut.

Lana jerked suddenly to the stinging sensation and opened her eyes. She squinted open and sat upright, not sure of where she was. Every muscle in her body ached and she struggled to support herself up. The nurse helped her and leaned her against the wall, still dabbing the cotton ball on her forehead. She finished and looked at Lana in the eyes, "Dear, are you alright?"

Lana nodded solemnly, "What happened?"

The nurse shrugged and threw away the cotton ball, "I’m not exactly sure. But you, young lady, are very lucky. You only had a mild concussion and your friend brought you here before your cuts became infected. I’ll need to bandage your knee up now."

Lana watched as the nurse cut off the bottom of her pant leg, which was pretty much gone as it was. She pulled out a huge gauze strip and placed it over the gash and then wrapped an ace bandage around it.

"Who brought me in?" Lana asked.

The nurse smiled, "I didn’t catch his name, he disappeared before I could ask him anymore questions."

Lana knew it was Clark, if he had disappeared, that was just like him. But she wanted to be sure, "What did he look like?"

The nurse stuck a clothes pin in the bandage to hold it together and then stood up. "Well, let’s see. He was really tall, blackish hair, he was wearing a tux..."

Yep, it was Clark. How strange! He hadn’t shown up to the game at all, but still, he had his tux on. Lana began to wonder if he had even been to the dance.

The even bigger question Lana faced was how Clark had saved her. She could have sworn she was sucked up into the tornado with her car and Clark was there, huddling over her telling her everything was going to be alright. The next thing she knew, she was here. Did she imagine it all? How could Clark have possibly survived the tornado? That was impossible! Absurd! Unquestionable remarkable! It was all these things and yet Lana now felt clueless as to what actually went on.

She felt certain that it had happened just the way she had remembered it. She was going to stick to that story until Clark told her, if he told her. Would anybody believe her?

Clark raced out of the building and headed back to the high school. Darkness had fallen over the small town and no one could possibly see him. He zipped along side roads, past farms that had been demolished and passed homes that were devastated. It was a heartbreaking sight.

He slowed down his pace to a casual walk and tried to go over the events of the day in his head. This had truly been the worst day of his life. Not only was he the target of the senior boys, but he had nearly died, ditched Chloe, to find Lana no less, and then found Lana nearly half dead. He just hoped she was okay.

When he found her he realized then how strong his feelings for her were. He recognized the feeling as something deeper than what he felt for Chloe, which was heartbreaking in and of itself. He liked Chloe, a lot, but he just didn’t feel the same way about her as he did towards Lana. He felt like such a jerk leaving Chloe, and he still did, but he couldn’t get over the fact that even how little he knew Lana he could really not bear his life without her.

He would make it up to Chloe. That he would. He wanted to. And no matter how big his feelings were for Lana, he still felt the same connection he had to Chloe that he felt when he had first asked her to homecoming. They had felt like they were actually dating during the period in between, and he still considered her his date. He just hoped she felt the same way.

He stopped and looked at a newly flattened corn field. He felt like screaming, yelling at anyone to hear that he couldn’t take it anymore and that he just wanted to give up. How could he have known that "social life" was going to be this aggravating? It was like he had been blinded by the excitement that he could not see the down side in proceeding with a socially active life.

With two girls, for God’s sake.

But, looking at it again, he wouldn’t change it for anything. He had met three incredible people, two of which he was practically in love with, and one who had instantly become his best friend. He wouldn’t change that.

Maybe it would just be easier to be friends with the girls. If he didn’t have to choose between either one of them, maybe he just shouldn’t choose. It just complicated things all the more. He didn’t even really know how to handle a relationship, he had never been in one before. The girls must have gone through several, especially Lana and her relationship with Whitney.

That’s what he would do for now. After he made it up to Chloe he would try to live like he was neutral between the two. Wasn’t that the best way to go?

Chapter Twenty Nine

Clark made his way back to the high school at a slow jog. His mind was racing and his heart was heavy. He was a failure at knowing what to do. He had to wonderful girls in his life, and he was practically in love with both of them. Leave it to him to make a problem out of nothing.

He wondered if Lana even liked him. If she didn’t, it would make his whole life a lot easier. She always acted so calm around him and he was always such a nervous wreck. The boy he was walking into school was not the same as the boy he was now. His father had raised him to be a responsible young man, confident in what he did. That was virtually being destroyed, piece by piece, over the weeks. It didn’t seem that he could keep anything straight. Why couldn’t he be sure of what he was doing?

Well, duh, because he was dealing with the female of a species he was not apart of. That was so weird to even think about. He was not human, and still he rendered human problems worse than what many guys his age had. He not only had problems keeping one girl, but he had problems dealing with two OF WHICH HE WAS NOT EVEN CERTAIN! It made his life so much more difficult.

He brushed the thoughts aside when he looked onward towards the school. He came to an abrupt halt and stared. The parking lot was demolished, tar and concrete was torn up leaving cars strewn about and the messiest mess he had ever seen. There were only a few cars that had stayed upright, some were still intact even. Many, though, were piled on top of each other and totaled beyond recognition.

He looked at the school, which had windows blown out and half of the Science wing was falling off. The bricks were crumbling and tumbling down the side, Clark could see straight into his Chemistry class. He shook his head, this can’t be happening, he thought. I leave to find Lana, and in the meantime, the school is destroyed! What? Did I think that Lana would be the only one in danger?

He aimlessly walked closer and looked around as he approached the huge building. He stopped and concentrated on the walls, they suddenly became transparent and he was able to search the building with his eyes. He nervously looked through and was frustrated that he could see no one. Where had they gone?

His eyes weaved in and out of every hallway, searching for any sign of life form. There was none.

But then, something caught his eye. He jerked his eyes to the left and he watched as a door entitled "Basement" was cautiously opened. There, the janitor, peeked out and looked around. He carefully shut the door behind him and walked nervously through the halls. He seemed to be inspecting either the damage or the causticity level. He crept back to the door and waved inside.

He turned back around and he was followed by Principle Kwan and the rest of the teens who attended the homecoming dance. He smiled, they were alive! And they had gotten to safety before anything happened!

They all, one by one, exited through the front doors and looked on in horror as they saw what had happened to the parking lot, surrounding cornfields and anything else in the way of the tornado. Many people were crying and holding each other’s hands as they walked up to their demolished cars.

Clark heaved a sigh of relief and felt a little better, now that he knew everyone was safe. He heard footsteps pounding towards him and turned to see Pete running frantically towards him.

"Dude!" He whispered, a little out of breath. "There was a touchdown by your farm! You’re parents!" Clark’s eyes widened, he didn’t have to say anymore. He nodded and uttered a silent "Thank you" and was gone. Pete sadly looked towards the ground, he hoped his parents were all right too.

"Pete!" Chloe called out. Pete turned around and smiled. Chloe gave a sympathetic smile, not whole heartedly. They had all faced death and none were too high on their spirits. "Did you know..." she began but was cut off by the ringing of her cell phone. She looked at her purse strangely, "My cell phone? How the heck does my cell phone work?" She shrugged and answered it, "Hello?" Her tone was curious and at the same time, almost unbelieving. "Lana? Where are you? Oh my goodness! We’ll be there as soon as we can!" She hung up.

"What is it? Where is she?" Pete asked worriedly.

Chloe stared wide eyed, "She’s at a business building about five miles down the road, she says it’s the back up building when the hospitals overflow." She stared at her cell phone and then back up at Pete, "God! How long were we down there?"

Pete shook his head, "A long time. But the patients could be flooding in from all surrounding farms, I mean, there were several touchdowns."

Chloe nodded, sadly. "Is your car still okay?" Chloe asked. They both turned and looked around the parking lot. Many people were still inspecting the damage, some had even driven away. They spotted his car. It was still intact! They smiled at each other and then hurried over to it.

"Okay, let’s rock and roll!" Pete shouted as he plopped himself down in the drivers seat.

Chloe stared at him, "Please don’t ever say that again."

Clark raced home, faster than fastest that he had ever gone before. If anything happened to his parents, he would never forgive himself. He stopped in mid stride and stared on at his home. The fences were ripped apart and gates strewn about. Their little red truck was toppled over on its hood and leaning against the side of the house, creating a huge hole in the wall.

Clark glanced around, his heart beating anxiously. His parents had to make it into the storm cellar, it was not like them to be caught out in the middle of a storm. Even when he was little, his parents had dragged him down to the cellar when there was even the tiniest hint of danger. Surprisingly, Clark had never ventured into the back where his space ship was. What a surprise that would have been!

Momentarily distracted by his thoughts about his past, he ran into the house and looked around, using his x-ray vision to see through the deep walls, upstairs and in other bedrooms. There was no sign of them. It was pitch black now, and he decided to grab a flashlight. Numbly, he felt his way around and pulled one out of the kitchen drawers.

He walked back outside and flipped it on, carefully making his way back to the cellar. He stopped in front of it. The doors were wide open and he could see straight inside. He carefully walked down the steps, his heart beating wildly. This was not a good sign.

"Mom? Dad?" Clark called out, a little quieter than he had hoped. "Mom are you down here?" No reply. He shown his flashlight around the small cellar room and caught his breath. They weren’t down there. There was no sign that they had ever been down there.

He glanced at the ship, it was still there. He didn’t know why it wouldn’t be, he just prayed that no one else had found refuge in here. He felt a sudden burst of emotion as he realized that since his parents were not in the cellar and not in the house, he had no idea where they could be. He turned around and ambled back up the stairs. He tripped on the top step and felt like he was going to faint. This can’t be happening, he thought, for the hundredth time that day. He picked himself up and shut the cellar doors.

He stared out into the acres of land his family had and wished he would melt down into them. Where were his parents?

"Martha?" Jonathan asked as he felt her stir gently in his lap. He looked down softly at her and brushed her cheeks with his hand. "Dear are you alright?" Martha sadly nodded and pushed herself up, wincing as she put pressure on her hand. "Oh, let me look at that," Jonathan said, very concerned.

She looked away as he inspected it. It was truly a gruesome sight. The bone had begun to break the skin open and the white cartilage was showing through, also exposing the tissues inside her wrist. Martha could not remember having an injury this painful. "It’s okay, honey, really," she managed.

Jonathan rolled her eyes, "Right." He wasn’t about to say that the bone was sticking out, he was sure she could feel it and he didn’t want to make it anymore real than it actually was.

She looked up at him and her eyes drooped, "Is there anyway out of here, Jon?"

Jonathan shook his head, "I can’t find anywhere that there’s an opening, but I’m not going to stop looking. I wanted to make sure that you were okay first."

Martha smiled weakly, "I love the candles." She looked around, distracting herself from her pain.

Jonathan nodded, "At least we’ll be able to see what we’re doing." He stood up and walked around, looking for nothing and then again, he was looking for something. Something that would catch his attention and say "Hey! You can use me!" But he wasn’t quite sure what that would be.

He chuckled a little and looked back at Martha, "Remember when that tree fell over the storm cellar door when Clark was, what? Five?"

Martha nodded, giggling a little, "Yes, I do. But he was eight."

Jonathan nodded, "Whatever." He smiled, "I pushed for at least a half hour to get that tree to budge."

Martha giggled again, "It was that old oak tree I had been telling you to chop down for months. I thought it would be a bad time to bring it up then."

Jonathan smiled, "It would have flattened my ego." He stared off into space. "Clark asked if he could help," he remembered, shaking his head, "at first I was like, yeah right. But he always loved it when I let him help. I thought it could distract him from the circumstance we were in." He laughed at the memory, "He gave one small push and the tree popped right off the door."

"I couldn’t believe it," Martha said, sighing.

Jonathan shook his head, "Neither could I. That was really one of the first times he tested his strength."

Martha nodded. A silence followed as they reflected on their current circumstance which was beginning to feel like a major déjà vu.

"I know what you’re thinking," Martha said solemnly. Jonathan looked at her again. "He will find us," she said. "He’s like a bloodhound."

Jonathan nodded, "I know. I just wish, for once, we didn’t have to be totally dependent on him. I feel like if we lean him too much, he will feel like we’re using him. I don’t want to lose him."

"Oh Jonathan, how could you think that?" Martha asked, shocked.

Jonathan shrugged, "That’s the way I felt sometimes as a teenager. And if the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree..." he didn’t want to think about it. Losing Clark would, ultimately, be the hardest thing for either of them. He was a gift, to them and the world. He could be in the right place at the right time, and Jonathan could help but think that was his destiny.

If Clark felt like his parents were using him, he would feel even more pushed outside the ring than he did already. Jonathan felt a little guilty for that.

Jonathan walked around the building and decided he wasn’t going to get up. While Clark searched for them, which he would undoubtedly do, Jonathan would do his own type of escape. What that was, he was not sure of yet. But he would find a way. He hoped.

Chapter Thirty

"Should you be standing up?" Chloe asked, concerned about Lana’s health. She had made Pete stay in the car while she went in to check on Lana. Lana was lying on a cot in the main entrance of the building, her head was bandaged up and her knee was wrapped. She was utterly shocked at her appearance.

Lana sighed and shook her head, "The nurse said it was only a mild concussion and I should be alright. That doesn’t go for my car, though." She looked sadly at Chloe, "Besides, someone else needs this bed more than I do." She then realized there was something deeper in her friend’s eyes.

Chloe tried to hide her feelings, she felt like Lana could see right through her. Somehow she knew that Clark had brought Lana to the hospital. "How did you get here then?" Chloe asked.

Lana shrugged, "I guess Clark brought me in. Which was really strange..." she said the last sentence almost under her breath.

Chloe looked confused, she had heard Lana say that. "Why is it strange?" she asked, a little unsure of what she was getting into.

Lana sighed, "I remember sitting in my car and thinking ‘this is the end’, then I saw Clark. Before I know it I’m being sucked up into the tornado, still inside my car, but Clark was huddling over me telling me everything was going to be alright. Next thing I see is the nurse putting ointment on my forehead."

Chloe stared at her, "Okay, that is weird. But at least that explains where Clark ran off to."

Lana’s eyes saddened and she realized that Clark had been at the dance, which made the look on Chloe’s face much more explainable. "I’m so sorry Chloe," she whispered.

"Don’t be, its not your fault," Chloe said, although somewhere it was telling her that it was, actually, in a way, Lana’s fault.

"I can’t help but think that it might be," Lana said, "Thanks for coming to pick me up."

Chloe nodded, "What are roommates for?" She smiled and then slung Lana’s arm around her shoulders and helped her out to the car. Lana didn’t really feel like she needed the extra help, but it felt good that Chloe was fussing over her. It kind of made up for the fact that Chloe was probably really angry with her, or even Clark, it gave Chloe something to do.


Clark ran around for hours before he finally resorted back inside his house. He had searched everywhere, but with very little light it was hard to tell if he had thoroughly checked everything. He stepped inside his house and looked around, saddened by what he saw, and didn’t see.

He stumbled into the living room and collapsed onto the couch. He curled up with a blanket and stuffed a pillow under his head. He was not, by any means, giving up. But he would be of no use when his brain couldn’t function. He figured that sleep might help subside any kind of delirium he was experiencing.

Slowly, very, very slowly, he drifted off to sleep.

***The next morning***

"Lana! I brought some more doctors!" Lex called as he stepped inside the doors of the Talon. The two had decided to turn the Talon into a place where people could get medical attention and they were providing food as well. Many people from surrounding neighborhoods and farms were flocking to central Smallville to get help and food while supplies lasted. The local grocery stores and outlets had been nearly destroyed, what was left of the good food was purchased by Lex and brought to the Talon. Lana asked the able women to prepare some meals for the town.

Lana sighed, "Thanks Lex. We are really in need of more."

Lex smiled, "I also found something else." Lana looked at him curiously. From behind him, Nell came running through the door and hurried over to Lana.

"Lana! Sweetie! Are you alright?" Nell asked, stroking her hair. The two hugged and Lana felt a tear roll down her cheek.

"Yes Nell, I’m fine. I just had a mild concussion," Lana reassured her.

Nell looked worried still, "Oh dear, I am so sorry. I should have just cancelled when we knew that there were storm warnings."

Lana sighed, "You could never have known, don’t blame yourself."

"What happened?" Nell asked, as the two sat down at a table. A waitress brought them some coffee and smiled widely at Lana when she poured her a glass.

Lana shook her head, "I don’t really know. I was veering off the road because a mailbox hit my windshield, and then it all gets a little fuzzy." She didn’t know whether she should try saying what actually happened, it might sound a little weird. Nell hadn’t even met Clark yet. "It all happened so fast."

Nell nodded, and they continued to talk.

Meanwhile, Pete and Chloe sat at their on booth munching on some crackers and cheese, all their stomachs could really hold for then.

"So you’re saying you haven’t seen Clark since he magically ‘disappeared’," Chloe quipped.

Pete shook his head, "I called his house four times this morning. There was no answer."

"I hope nothing happened to him," Chloe said. She could have kicked herself for that. She almost wanted something to happen to him, he had hurt her feelings to go save Lana. But then again, she didn’t want anything to happen to him.

Lex walked up to the booth they were sitting at and said, "I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but over hear that Clark’s missing."

Chloe nodded, "He disappeared during the dance and we haven’t seen him since."

Lex looked confused, "He got to the dance?"

Chloe and Pete looked at each other and then Chloe said, "Yeah, I thought he told you."

Lex nodded, "He did. He also told me you two were going together." Chloe blushed slightly, Lex continued, "But how..." he looked off into space trying to figure out how Clark could have gotten to the dance on time. "Was he late?"

Chloe and Pete looked at each other again. "Yes. How did you know that?" Chloe asked, suspiciously.

Lex laughed, a little absurdly. "You mean he didn’t tell you why he was late?" Again, the two shook their heads and shared a look. Lex shook his head, Clark was crazy. "I found him tied up in a cornfield with a big ‘S’ on his chest. I would have thought he told you," Lex looked curiously back and forth between the two.

Chloe and Pete stared at him, and then looked back at each other. Pete shook his head and shut his eyes, Chloe just shook her head. It made sense now. He wasn’t there for the game because he was busy bringing good luck to the football team. They both wondered why they hadn’t thought of that.

But, Chloe remembered, she had thought of that, but shoved it to the back of her mind because she somehow deemed it impossible.

"Hey guys," Lana said, in a smiley mood as she walked up to the three. She looked around at the different expressions and felt a little weird, "What? What is it?"

"I think I’d better be going," Lex said. "Call me if you need anything else." Lana nodded and slid into the seat next to Chloe.

Chloe looked up at her, misty eyed. "Chloe, what’s wrong?" Lana asked sternly.

Chloe looked at Pete who nodded, she couldn’t get any words out so Pete took over and explained what they had just found out. "Lex just told us that he found Clark strung up in a field before the homecoming dance," Pete said, "Clark was this year’s scarecrow."

Lana gasped and covered her mouth, "Oh my God! That’s why he wasn’t at the game!" She looked at Chloe, "We even laughed at that and said ‘He’s probably this year’s scarecrow’." Chloe nodded and the tears started to come down her face, she was angry with herself. She was mad at Clark for showing up late, she felt like he just didn’t care when he said he had been "preoccupied". But now she felt guilty for saying that, he had been hopelessly tied up as a scarecrow and they were blaming him for being late.

Just then they looked up and saw Clark stumble through the door. He looked worn and tired, he still had his tux on. The tux was torn in several places and the sleeves of the jacket had fallen off. It looked like he had just walked through a tornado.

The two girls jumped up and ran over to him. "Clark! Are you alright?" they asked in unison as they took him by the arms and sat him down in a booth. Pete followed slowly, feeling a little guilty for the whole scarecrow thing.

Clark slumped in the chair and the girls noticed he had been crying. His eyes were red and he had huge bags under his eyes, it looked like he hadn’t slept all night. He began to say something but he couldn’t get any words out. Lana ran to get him some coffee. Chloe squeezed in beside him and stroked his cheek, brushing the dirt away from his face.

"Clark, what’s wrong?" Chloe asked.

Clark shut his eyes, "I can’t believe your still talking to me."

Chloe smiled a little, "Of course I am, just tell us what’s wrong."

Clark’s weight finally gave out and he collapsed over the table, mentally, physically and emotionally strained. "I can’t find my parents," he said.

Chloe looked at Pete, who was staring at the dent Clark made in the table with his head. He quickly averted his eyes, and met Chloe’s gaze. Lana joined them and set a cup of coffee in front of Clark. "What is it?" she asked, knowing she’d missed something.

Pete looked at her, "He can’t find his parents."


"Should we split up or look together?" Chloe asked.

Clark shrugged, still not having changed out of his tux. "I don’t know, I don’t even know where to look." He was being really indecisive and it was making both Pete and Chloe frustrated.

Pete spoke up, "Chloe and I will go this way, Clark, you meet us by Old Mason’s Pass. How bout that?"

Clark nodded, "Okay, good idea." He watched as Chloe and Pete circled around the right side and disappeared from sight. He sighed and looked around. He was standing in the middle of a clearing, the woods of these parts had been trampled by the twisters and an old motor home was lying in the center of it all.

He carefully concentrated on the surrounding area and he was able to see through the trees. He looked around, circling the opening. He saw Pete and Chloe walking in the distance and he saw some squirrels go bounding up a tree. He looked at the ground and made sure there was no holes in the ground he was forgetting about. He looked through the motor home and then sighed.

They weren’t here. So he continued on his way.

Chapter Thirty One

Jonathan stood up abruptly from his sitting position on the ground next to his wife. He thought he heard voices. He ran towards the steps and rushed up to the top of them, hitting his head at the top. He cursed and then rubbed the top of his head. He pressed his ear against the metal frame of the motor home and listened.

Martha sat up and watched him, "What is it dear?"

Jonathan put a finger to his lip and motioned to his ear, then up at the motor home, gesturing outside. Martha listened and they could hear the faint sound of muffled voices.

"It’s Clark!" Jonathan exclaimed. He began to pound on the roof and yelled out his son’s name. "Clark!! CLARK! We’re down here! Clark!" He screamed and pounded but the pounding barely did anything with his human hands and thick walls surrounding the motor home.

He stepped down one step and looked around, for something to hit the roof with, but there was nothing. Not even a baseball bat of the sort. They really cleared out the place when they abandoned it.

He shouted again, "CLARK!" And then listened. He heard the voices more distinctly now.

^ I will go this way, Clark, you meet us by Old Mason’s Pass. How bout that?^ That was Pete’s voice

^ Okay, good idea.^ And that was definitely Clark!

He smiled at Martha, "That’s Clark! He’s looking for us!" He turned back to the motor home and began yelling, "CLARK! CLARK! WERE DOWN HERE!" His hopes were high, but then he heard some scuffling and everything fell silent again.

He shook his head sadly and walked back down the steps. "He couldn’t hear me. What are we going to do now?"

Martha looking lovingly up at him, "It’s okay dear. He will find a way."


Clark reunited with Pete and Chloe with a heavy heart. He had lost some hope, but he wasn’t going to give up. There were still chances something might pop into his head or he might find some sort of clue as to where they were.

Together the three walked back and none of them spoke. Each very preoccupied with his or her own thoughts. Chloe felt guilty that she was thinking about Clark at a time like this, but she couldn’t really help it. He was so confusing. One minute he was being all lovesick, or so she thought, and giving her flowers after every class, the next he was making an excuse for being late to something he could have explained perfectly well and nothing would have mattered. Then, he’s racing off to save Lana. Now he’s searching dutifully for his parents that were just as well dead, not that she was thinking they were actually dead, she thought there was about a fifty-fifty chance they were still alive.

She looked over at him, head slung and eyes downcast. She had never seen the boy look so sorrow driven. She felt so bad for him, she somehow knew that even though he had ran off on her, he still felt huge amounts of pain and guilt riding through his body. She could see it in his eyes.

Chloe almost felt it would be better if he did not feel guilty about the dance, he had really gone for a good cause after all. He did save Lana, or so she claimed. Maybe she was just telling Chloe a story to make it seem like Clark was, as it appeared, superhuman. Maybe she was just trying to make her jealous. Chloe laughed out loud at that one. Although it had made her jealous that Clark ran after Lana, it was not in any way the jealous that Lana would have intended, so she pushed that thought out of her mind.

Pete looked at her, "What is it?"

Chloe shrugged, "Oh nothing. I just had a...uh...idiosyncratic moment. You wouldn’t understand." She giggled.

Pete shook his head, "Girls. Come on guys, we’re wasting time, I’m going to go this way, okay?" He was hinting to Clark that this was a good time to make amends.

Clark nodded, "Alright, we’ll meet you back at the farm." Pete nodded and ran off to the left. Clark watched him go, "You know what this means, don’t you?"

Chloe looked slightly bemused, "What?"

Clark sighed and stopped walking, "This is my chance to apologize."

Chloe stopped too and shook her head, "Clark, you don’t have to...."

"No, Chloe, I do," Clark interrupted, "just listen, okay?" Chloe nodded, bewildered by his assertiveness, it was cute. He dug his hands into his pockets and looked at the ground, "I just wanted to say I’m sorry that I showed up late and left early, I really wanted it to be a perfect day, for us." He looked at her with big soft eyes and she nearly melted under his gaze. He was so cute when he apologized.

"Clark, you know its okay, I know why you ran off," she said. He winced and she carefully corrected herself, "I mean, if I had some sort of ability to disappear and save people miraculously, I would do it."

Clark looked skeptical, wondering how much she knew, "What do you mean?"

She rolled her yes, "Oh come on Clark. You let go of my hand and like two seconds later you vanished into thin air. Lana says that you were up in a twister with her! Then you carried her to a hospital. Isn’t that what happened?"

Clark averted his eyes and looked at the ground, Lana had told her, but maybe there was a way to get away with the half truth. "Well...I found her in a cornfield..." he didn’t think it was too convincing, and the look on Chloe’s face showed that she didn’t really believe him either. He purposely avoided the vanishing statement, knowing there was no way around that.

"Okay..." Chloe looked skeptical now and didn’t know whether to believe him or not. She brushed the statement aside and got really serious, "You know, you could have told me what really made you late."

Clark took a double take, "What? What happened?"

Chloe rolled her eyes, "You were the scarecrow." Clark’s gaze shifted again and he stared at the ground. Chloe looked hard at him, "Why didn’t you just tell me that?"

Clark scoffed, "Oh, what was I going to say? Sorry I’m late, Chlo, but I was strung up in Soldier’s Field as a scarecrow."

Chloe shrugged and smirked, "Well that would have worked." They looked at each other, neither one bothering to avert their eyes. Chloe really hated it when he used "Chlo" on her, it made her feel all mushy inside. He had a way of hitting her right where she could cave in and she was exposed, down to her very last atom.

"Can I make it up to you?" Clark asked finally.

Chloe smirked, "You don’t have to, I mean, it’s not like it was a date."

Clark inched closer and looked at her directly, "Really? I was pretty sure it was." He stared down at her, "I’d really like to make it up to you."

Chloe’s knees began to buckle, but she felt Clark’s strong hand wrap around her waist and pull her in close. "Aren’t you supposed to be looking for your parents?" Chloe asked softly

Clark’s face was inches away from hers and he nodded, "They’d rather I do this first." Slowly he lowered his head the rest of the way and their lips met. He couldn’t help it, when he was with her he felt the emotion he felt in the beginning, something very strong, yet not exactly sure of what it was exactly. He knew that he had feelings for both girls, but he wanted this right now. Someday he would clear everything up and decide once and for all what was supposed to happen.

It wasn’t a very long kiss, but it was long enough to feel a surge of energy go through both of them. He pulled away as slowly as he had gone into it and looked into her eyes. She giggled a little, not knowing what else to do.

"Well, I guess that makes up for it," Chloe said.

Clark rolled his eyes, "Like I was going to kiss you and pretend that was it. Yeah, right."

Chloe became serious, "Clark, even through how much fun I had last night, and even right now, I don’t know if this is such a great idea for either one of us." He looked into her eyes, a little confused and slowly started to pull away, a little hurt. She looked away and sighed, "Clark, I really like you, but I...I don’t know. There’s something in me that’s saying this might not be such a great idea."

Clark looked really confused now, they had just shared a kiss and now Chloe was telling him that their relationship was not a good idea. He looked away, "I don’t understand."

Chloe brushed her hair from her eyes, "I know this is very bad timing, and I hate myself for it. I know I may never get this chance again, but maybe, if it’s meant to be, we will get another chance."

Clark looked at her, he understood. He heaved a sigh, "It’s funny how a natural disaster can put your life in perspective."

Chloe nodded, "When I walked outside after the storm hit, the first thing I thought about was my dad. I know he’s alright now, but I began to realize that if he hadn’t, if he had died, I would not have been able to forgive myself." She sighed, "Before I left for school yesterday morning, we got in a big fight. Over everything and nothing, we’ve never really fought before and it scared me. When I left the school yesterday night, I immediately cursed myself for leaving on bad terms. If anything would have happened to him...I...I don’t know, I just know now that I have to set things right in my personal life before my social life gets ahead of me."

Clark nodded solemnly. In a weird way, she made sense and he respected her for that. "That is really cool Chloe, I wish I had your common sense."

Chloe shook her head, "No, it really gets in the way. And it’s not really common sense." Clark looked at her questionably and she shrugged, "It’s love."

Chapter Thirty Two

Lana rushed through the front door of the Kent house, which had not been touched in terms of damage-wise. Clark had not even considered working on the house before he found his parents.

"I’ve got the books," she declared, showing off the massively big pile of books she carried in her arms. She spilled them onto the table and the four teenagers dug hungrily into them.

"Great," Clark said, "Thanks for picking them up."

Lana smiled, "No problem."

The books were layouts of the land surrounding the Kent Farm, as well as all it’s property. The books showed data dating all the way back to since the Ross’s first moved to Smallville, way back in the early 1800s. It was incredible to think some sort of documentation dating back that far was still anywhere valid, but Clark was willing to try anything.

Chloe sighed, "So what exactly are we looking for?"

Clark flipped a couple pages, but didn’t look up from the book, "Anything. Anything that might suggest some sort of refuge that my parents could have taken."

"What makes you think they’re even around here?" Chloe asked, not trying to beat up Clark’s mind, but simply trying to state an alternative matter.

Clark looked up at her with heavy eyes, "The horses are gone. Knowing my parents, they probably tried to round them up before the storm hit. If the horses ran far enough, they might not have been able to get back to the storm...to refuge."

Lana glanced up from the book she was looking up, "You guys have a storm cellar?"

Clark averted his eyes, "Uh, yeah. I already checked there, though. They weren’t there and it didn’t look like they had ever been there."

Chloe shrugged, "Lana and I could go down there and see if you’re right, you know, look for clues to where they might’ve gone..."

"NO!" Clark suddenly shouted. The girls practically jumped and looked at each funny. Clark regained his composure, "I mean, no. I already checked, they weren’t there."

"Okay..." Chloe mumbled and looked down at her book again. Sometimes Clark could be a little weird.

Lana stared at Clark as he started looking through his own book again and then looked at Pete, who had stayed silent throughout the entire little conversation. He looked away and kept flipping his book. Lana shrugged, reluctantly, and the four teens sat in silence, reading diligently.

"Hey!" Chloe exclaimed, "Look at this!"

Clark stood up and walked around her, setting one hand on the table and using the other to brush through his hair. "What is it?"

Chloe began to read, "Local Church Digs Underground School. It looks like there was a church here," she said pointing to the map that showed a picture of the church next to it, "and they dug a basement to the church that went underground. I think they were using it to keep black slaves in the early nineteenth century, either that or it was a school for African American kids, like the headline says."

Clark took the book from her and read the length of the article. Setting it back down on the table he drifted into thought and aimlessly walked away from the table.

"Clark, man," Pete said, looking at the article himself. "Isn’t that the place we were just at? The big clearing in the middle of the woods?"

Clark turned and nodded at him, "But there was no underground passageway there. There wasn’t even a church."

Chloe flipped the page, "Oh wait! It says here that the church was burned to the ground after the civil war, only the underground portion remains. But that still doesn’t explain why we didn’t see the opening."

"Wait, wait, wait," Pete said, snapping his fingers, "wasn’t there a trailer in the middle of the clearing?" He walked over to Clark and was pounding the side of his head with his palm. "Yes! There was, remember? It was red and green, come on!"

Clark looked up from his thinking position where he had his eyes sealed to his toes. "Yes! There was, but there was nothing under it."

Chloe scoffed, "What? Do you have x-ray vision? How do you know?"

Pete lowered his voice, "Did you lift it up?"

Clark spoke under his breath, "No, I just looked through it."

Still in a hushed tone, Pete said, "Are there things you can’t see through?"

Chloe and Lana looked at each other strangely and stared as the boys conversed in a whispering conversation. Neither one of the girls could hear what they were saying, making it very unbearable.

Clark’s eyes widened, he couldn’t see through lead. Maybe the walls of the underground church had lead in them or something. "I’ve got to go back there," Clark gasped.

Lana and Chloe jumped from their chairs. "There’s no way you could lift that thing by yourself, we’ll all help," Chloe said.

Clark turned around and practically made the girls jump out of their shoes, "Uh...I...I need you guys to call an ambulance. Pete and I will take care of this."

Lana looked concerned, "Are you sure?"

Pete patted her on the shoulder, "Yeah, don’t worry. Clark’s bailed enough hay to know that together we can handle it."

Neither of the girls looked very convinced, and reluctantly agreed. "Okay, but we will follow you when we get through."

The boys nodded and ran out of the house. They sprinted about a hundred yards from the house and stopped.

"Okay, Clark," Pete said, gasping for air, "I’ll cover for you. Hurry!"

Clark nodded gratefully at his friend, turned, and disappeared. Pete just stood there and shook his head.

Clark reached the clearing in seconds and stopped to look at the motor home that sat there, so tormentingly still. It bothered him to pieces that it was concealing something that should have been so very obvious to him from the beginning. If he was really a good reporter, hero, or son, he would not have simply just tried to look through the dang thing, he would have picked it up, just like he had every other pebble he had come across.

Quickly and effortlessly, Clark lifted the trailer off the ground and threw it to the side. He looked down into the hole and saw his mother and father, staring awkwardly up at him. He raced down the steps and flew into his parents arms. Martha started to cry and Clark held her softly.

Jonathan patted his son and his eyes became misty, "Son, thank you."

Clark shook his head, "I can’t believe I walked right past here without even looking under it. I only looked through it."

Martha’s weeping had settled down to some mere sniffles as she clung to her son. Clark picked her up and carefully brought her up the stairs, lying her gently on the ground. Jonathan followed them up.

Clark took his mother’s broken and dismembered wrist in his hands and carefully examined it. The bone had broken through the skin and blood was caked over her arm. Her shirt had been used to mop up the blood until it was no longer useful.

Clark toke off the remainder of his jacket and covered her with it. Then, ripping his undershirt he tore it into strips and carefully wrapped them around her wrist. An ambulance was coming, but it would be a while before it got there. Now Clark was half naked and bending over his mother trying to secure her wrist so it would not be so painful.

Every time he wrapped another strip, Martha would scream with pain and Clark would wince, trying to be ever more careful.

Presently, Pete ran up to the clearing and was not surprised to see that Clark had already arrived and searched the place, finding himself successful.

"Mr. and Mrs. Kent!" He said, smiling, he ran to them and shook Jonathan’s hand. "You had us so scared," he said, shaking his head. Jonathan smiled half heartedly and looked down at his wife, she was having Clark dry her tears. He was gently cradling her in his arms.

Pete nodded satisfyingly, Clark had found them.

"Well, that’s a pretty bad fracture you have there, Mrs. Kent. But don’t worry, you just keep this cast on it for a while and it will be as good as new," Dr. Kilbrew reassured the family.

"Thank you doctor," Jonathan said, wrapping his arm around Martha. He looked down lovingly at his wife and then back up at the doctor, "That was sure a scare."

Dr. Kilbrew smiled and lowered his clipboard, "Yes, it could have been much worse. You’re lucky your son found you when he did."

Clark sat in silence as he rode next with Chloe, Lana and Pete, all crammed into Pete’s car. Chloe and Lana had willingly forfeited the front seat to Clark, who’s legs were three times as long as their own. He stared out the window, still in half his glory. Chloe and Lana could not help but stare at his muscular chest.

He did not notice though. He was still mad that he couldn’t ride in the ambulance with his parents. Now Pete was driving them all to the hospital.

Neither of the girls even thought of offering to go back to his house to get him a shirt. It didn’t even occur to them. Well, maybe it did, but they quickly shoved it out of their minds.

It was too intriguing watching Clark not having a care in the world, breathing steadily and watching his chest rise and fall. They had to peel their eyes away from him when they thought he was going to look at them.

Lana was beginning to think that by just seeing Clark like this, his muscular being, that there was no question of his capability to have been up there in the truck with her during the twister. Chloe knew that was what Lana was thinking, and the two girls shared a look, each knowing that this was way too weird for either of them.

But their fun soon ended when they saw they were approaching the newly re-opened hospital. Clark sat up straighter and flinched his muscles, showing off his ripped upper figure.

Everyone sighed when they saw it was starting to rain. The clouds had gathered suddenly and began circling overhead. Just the thing they needed to add to their gloomy weekend.

They drove up at the same time they saw Jonathan and Martha walk to the front doors. Clark hopped out of the car and ran up to them, his friends followed shortly.

Chapter Thirty Three

The girls giggled and screeched as the rain hit them and began to soak through their clothes. They hurried up past Clark who had met his parents halfway on the steps and embraced them into a giant bear hug. The girls found safety under the overhang and watched silently as Clark was finally, and officially, reunited with his parents.

Martha had her arm wrapped up in a cast that prevented her shirt from covering it. She looked like she had been drugged up with pain killers, her eyes were a little hazy. But the girls could still tell how happy she was to see Clark, he had saved her life, and judging from what they already knew and experienced of him, it was probably not the first time it had happened.

Clark switched parents and hugged his father. The two men stood wrapped in each others arms, like they were actually biologically related. It was something that neither of his three friends had ever experienced with their own fathers and looked on, jealously, wishing they could share in his experience.

Reluctantly, the men parted and Clark looked back and forth from his mom to his dad. They shared a couple words and the last part of which Lana and Chloe could hear. They had been standing under the overhang for twenty minutes, still experiencing the heat before the rainfall. But slowly, things were cooling down and they knew they would be leaving soon.

"I’ll go get the truck," Jonathan said, patting his son on the back. Martha smiled up at him. "You’re coming home with us, aren’t you Clark?" he asked.

Clark looked from his friends to his parents, he knew he should go home, but he felt he needed to stay and officially thank his friends. They had helped him so much in the past twenty four hours that he owed them a little more than his parents. He looked at his dad and said, "I think I’ll run home, I have some things to take care of."

Jonathan nodded, understandingly, and took Martha by the hand. Martha reached up and kissed Clark on the cheek, and followed Jonathan down the steps.

Clark watched them go and then turned back to the girls, who were huddled together underneath the overhang. Pete stood solemnly at the bottom of the steps, staring up at them through the pouring rain. Clark slowly walked up the steps, now a little self conscious that he was half naked, his chest was exposed in broad daylight and the rain pounded gracefully off of it. He tried not to make it too clear that he knew he didn’t have a shirt on.

He stopped at a step below the girls and simply said, "Thank you."

Both of the girls looked at one another and then back at him. "For what?" they asked in unison.

Clark shrugged, "Over the past three weeks, I have had some of the best moments of my entire life. I had no idea what I was getting into when I finally agreed to start public school, and I know that if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have met you two." He sighed, "And today, I could never have made it without your moral support."

Chloe smiled, "We’re just happy we could help."

The girls smiled softly and gazed into his eyes, both entranced by the color they flared and the intensity of friendliness they held. "Clark, you have done more for us than we could ever have imagined," Lana said sincerely, "to be honest, neither of us are very sure how you do the things you do." She paused, and Clark started to get the idea of what she was getting at. Lana quickly stole a glance at Chloe, who was looking at the ground, not able to make eye contact with either of them. Lana looked back at Clark, "Clark, how did you save me?"

Clark averted his eyes and crossed his arms, "I found you in the field, just like I told the nurse."

Lana stared into his eyes, and could sense that he was not telling the truth, but he was not parting from his story.

Clark smiled gravely, "Well, I better be going." He looked at Chloe once more, who had finally lifted her gaze. They locked eyes for a moment and then all was lost. They both knew that that was the last time they would either feel the same way towards each other. Then he looked at Lana, who was still curiously looking at him. He nodded, in his subtle Clark way, and turned around, slowly descending the steps.

He started a slow pace across the barren parking lot, hanging his head and deep in thought.

Chloe stared after him and a tear slowly trickled down her cheek. She knew she had ruined her opportunity to save herself from loneliness by telling Clark that they couldn’t make it work, but something inside of her was telling her that now was not a good time. She watched as the handsome young man ambled across the pavement and the tears kept rolling.

Lana was a different matter. She did not know what had gone on between them, or hadn’t gone on and was still thinking about the tornado. If Clark had found her in the field, then she had dreamt it, and she knew it was too real for that. Was he lying? He didn’t look the least bit honest while he was saying that he found her in the field, was there still a chance that he had been up there with her?

In two different worlds, the girls sadly watched the heart driven boy disappear into the distance, silently wondering if they would ever understand him. They wondered if there was more to him than met the eye. They wondered if Clark was some sort of hopeless hero that would never be able to reveal himself for fear that his obsession would be discovered and his solitude from the world would be destroyed. Was it possible that Clark Kent was Smallville’s own personal hero?

"Our guardian angel," Lana whispered.

In the arms of the angel
Fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear
You were pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
You’re in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here

"Knight in shining armor."

So tired of the straight line
And everywhere you turn
There’s vultures and thieves at your back
And the storm keeps on twisting
You keep building the lies
That you make up for all that you lack
It don't make no difference
Escaping one last time
It’s easier to believe in this sweet madness oh
Oh this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees

"Smallville’s mystery man, Clark Kent."

Maybe, I need to see the daylight
To leave behind this half-life
Don't you see I'm breaking down

Lately, something here don't feel right
This is just a half-life
Is there really no escape?
No escape from time
Of any kind

I keep trying to understand
This thing and that thing, my fellow man
I guess I'll let you know
When I figure it out

But I don't mind a few mysteries
They can stay that way it's fine by me
And you are another mystery I am missing

This was just the beginning of Clark, they realized, this would not be the first time he confused them, nor would it be the last. They had a long way to go in beginning to understand him, he was their own personal mystery that they would never solve. He would always be their life saver, the one that was there to deliver them from the trouble they had dug themselves into.

Would it ever end?

"He’s our superman."