You know how sometimes in the movies the first scene is the climax, and then the protagonist goes "To explain how all of this happened, I'll have to take you back a few months, back to where Blah-and-blah did bleh-and-bleh, and consequently, I'm here"?

Well, here I am, up on stage on Prom night, in front of a huge crowd of students, holding the hugest Teddy Bear in my right hand, an extremely colorful bouquet of flowers in my left, and just about to start declaring my undying love for the prettiest girl in the world, and I bet you're wondering how I ended up like this.

Would you believe me if I told you it wasn't my fault?

Probably not. You shouldn't, that is. A lot of this story happened because I was an idiot, an insensitive idiot, a stupid insensitive idiot, and other unflattering descriptions of me that you will probably hear from my friends' mouths. But I will say this: it did not start with me. I was not responsible for kicking over the first domino that resulted in this clusterfuck of lives in National City High crashing down on top of each other. That person, was Lex.

See, the thing is, despite all of it, I still love him. He's my brother, no matter how much of an asshole he is. He likes starting fires and he can be terribly mean, but he's always been sweet to me. He is the closest thing I have to a loving home, seeing as my real one consists of a Basilisk for a mother, and a ghost for a father. He's the reason I am up at the very top of the food chain at school. His Jock-reputation carried over to me, and made it easier for me to not only survive, but thrive. I am Lena Luthor, sister of Lex Luthor, and life, is easy for me. I wouldn't go as far as claiming that people threw flowers at my feet when I walked down the corridors, or that they bowed whenever I passed by, but it is true that I was untouchable. Even the fact that I was a lesbian didn't get me any bullying. One stare from Lex and his huge biceps was enough to stop any in its tracks.

All in all, Lex is a pretty good brother. The only character flaw he possibly has is his utter loathing of Clark Kent.

That brings us to Clark Kent. Charming nerd. The best actor in our school. Voted Student with the most beautiful eyes in the world two years in a row. Falls in the category of Not Exactly Popular but Everyone Lowkey Likes Him. And the arch-enemy of Lex Luthor.

Nobody knows how it started. Rumor has it Clark once made the winning catch in their Little League team, and Lex hated him getting the attention. Rumor also has it that it started when Clark got to play Superman in the school play, back in fifth grade, winning the part from Lex, who had been harboring dreams of playing a superhero since, well, forever. People say a lot of things, but nobody knows exactly why they hated each other so much, me included. Every time I'd ask Lex about it, he'd smirk it off, and distract me with something else, and after a while, I gave up on asking, and accepted it as one of the enigmas of National City High.

Either way, that was the relevant bit of backstory that was needed for you to understand this entire sordid tale of romance. It all started when Lex Luthor opened his mouth, during lunch, and asked who the girl trailing behind Clark was.

Imagine the scene. It's lunch. There's a lot of people milling about, eating. People talk about the classes they have attended, the classes they have yet to attend, the teachers who made an idiot out of themselves and the ones who made idiots of the students. I was sitting at the table with the most Popularity per square area in the cafeteria, with my brother at my side, Sam sitting in front of me, juggling two apples, while Jack sat next to her, frantically completing his AP Math homework. Half of the football team players with their cheerleader girlfriends filled up the rest of the chairs

"Look at them," Lex mused, biting thoughtfully at a Tater Tot "High School hierarchy in action. The geeks sit with the geeks, talking about Star Trek or Dungeons and Dragons or whatever the fuck they're on these days."

Settlers of Catan, I thought, but keep my mouth shut.

"There are the less-popular cheerleaders, the AV club nightmare freaks, the Glee club rapping like idiots, and there he is, the King of the assholes himself."

I looked up to see Clark Kent walked into the room, and five of his fan girls trail behind him, swooning and giggling. I rolled my eyes at them, but I had to admit, I did see the appeal. He had that Lord of the Nerds thing going on, with his glasses and a pen tucked into his perfectly ironed shirt, and every straight girl in the college had, at least once in their life, been charmed by his smile. But that wasn't what was bugging Lex today.

"Who is that?" he nudged my side, bringing me back from where I had been staring into space.

"Who?"

"That girl, behind Kent," he told me, impatiently.

I saw Alex Danvers, stomping past all the annoying girls, looking as though she was just about one hair away from ripping everyone in her immediate vicinity apart.

"That's Alex, dude," Sam told Lex before I could open my mouth.

"No, you idiot," he muttered. He took my head between both his hands, and physically turned it "Look. There."

It took me a minute, and then I saw her.

You know those movies where guys see the girl, and it's like a light bulb goes off in their heads, or violins start playing in the background, and the world slows down? It definitely didn't happen for me. She was pretty. Blonde hair, tied up in a ponytail, large glasses over her face, and a humongous pile of books in her hands, she did the opposite of stand out. She seemed to be in deep thought, and as we watched, tapped Alex's shoulder to tell her something.

"That's Kara," Jack spoke up, suddenly, and all three of us turned to him "She's in AP English with me. She's Alex's sister."

"Since when does Alex Danvers have a sister?" Lex asked.

"Since her parents adopted Kara," he said, then sighed at our dumbfounded faces "It's like none of you have any idea what's up."

"Start. Speaking. Now," Lex growled at him.

"So she is Clark's cousin, and she's apparently very tight with him, because her parents, the Danvers' and the Clarks were really close. Her parents got into a car accident when she was young, and she's been brought up by the Danvers ever since, and she was studying in some private school until now. She just transferred here."

"How did we not know Alex had an adopted sister?" I wondered aloud.

"Because she's Alex Danvers. Nobody knows anything about her."

I nodded, and closed my eyes, topic already forgotten in my head. But Lex apparently wasn't.

"Did you say she was close to Clark?" he demanded of Jack.

"Yes?"

I opened my eyes when I heard him chuckle. It wasn't his nice chuckle. This spelled more doom than anything else.

"So hurting her would be hurting him?"

"Lex," I warned him "Please don't tell me you're planning on killing a person. Because I will not approve."

"No, no," he rushed to reassure me "But think of how devastated he'd be if someone from Lex's circle dated her and then broke her heart."

There was a beat of silence, then both Sam and I chucked the objects in our hands at him simultaneously. Lex ducked both a pen, and a half-eaten apple.

"What?" he asked, bewildered.

"Nothing," I said, and walked away.

Now, in a perfect world, that would have been the end of matters. Not this one, though.

I'm still not sure what it was exactly that triggered both of them, but I got out of Physics just in time for a random kid to come running up to me and show me a video of Clark punching the lights out of Lex. I watched it for half a minute, and then I was off and running towards the principal's office. They were both sitting outside, Lex bleeding from his nose, Clark with a black eye, already done with Principal Cat, by the looks of it. I heard my mother's rising voice from inside and winced.

"She called Lillian, huh?"

Lex mumbled something that sounded close to an affirmation. From the corner of my eye, I saw Clark scowl at us, and move even further away.

I asked Lex what had happened, whispering the question to him.

"I don't know," he shrugged, eyes still burning with righteous fury "But I hate him. God damn it, I hate him so much. I cannot walk this earth without having revenge."

Well. That's drama.

His voice had started rising, so I calmed him down by rubbing his back "I know, I know. Calm down, okay?"

He turned to look at me "Please tell me you'd do that?"

"Do what?"

"That thing I was talking about earlier."

It suddenly clicked and I started shaking my head vigorously "Lex, no, no , that's….."

"Please, please, please, Lena," he implored "I'll do anything for you, I'll…..I'll get you that trip!"

I paused. There had been this science competition coming up in a city nearby, and I had an idea for a great project lined up, but Lillian, being mother of the year, had no intentions of letting me go.

"You can't," I told him "There's no way you can convince her to let me go."

"Lena," he told me back, just as seriously "If there is anyone in the world who can convince her, it is her Golden Boy, aka me."

I took fifteen minutes "Three or four dates. There will be no prank. No humiliation. I'll just call it quits before it gets serious. But I'm serious, Lex, no humiliation."

"Eh, I'll take care of the rest," he said which didn't really sound promising, but I convinced myself I'd just break it up before she developed feelings for me. And it was a very good possibility she wouldn't even want to date me. That would leave me off the hook.

"We have a deal," I admitted, grudgingly, and he wrapped me up in a tight hug.