CHAPTER ONE

There comes a time in everyone's life when the things that we want and believe as a child are smashed into pieces.

For some it is the belief that the world is a kind and wonderful place and they will find a happy place within it. For others it can be coming to the knowledge that they aren't as great or as perfect as they were lead to believe by all their friends.

No matter what you believe most come to the bitter realisation that life is bloody hard and difficult, no one owes you anything and you need to stand on your own feet and be accountable for yourself. For some that is what they know from an early age.

High School tries to avoid this unyielding truth and works to protect the notion that popularity and looks are an important part of life.

Pete Ross hated High School.

Looking around the Prom, "Prom who came up with such a stupid name for a clumsy ritual that forces teenagers to pretend they are happy?" Pete could feel the desperation to have fun from the people around him. "Tomorrow they will all go back to who they are, and tonight, for many, will be remembered for how miserable high school made them".

Being bullied was a part of High School for everyone apart from the popular group and Pete was sure even within their group there were social pressures and a type of bullying. The bullying took on so many forms, but essentially anything that could be done to make sure you stayed in your own little box was undertaken. It was like being part of a vicious food chain, as long as you fed on the weaker below you in the chain you could believe that you were safe and someone else was weaker than you.

In many ways Pete believed that studies needed to be made that compared a student's high school experience to the eco-system that lived in a garden hedge. Every single minute of every single day was a fight for survival in some fashion. In a hedge, life at the bottom of the food chain was a brief and violent existence and it wasn't so different in high school.

In the popular group there was always the jocks and the cheerleaders. In the middle and biggest tier was the majority of students who came to school to learn and be part of some club or activity that made them who they are. The last tier was owned by the individuals who stood out due to their individuality and were considered odd but modern life meant it was cool to accept them for who and what they were. At the very bottom were the people who were clumsy, struggled to talk, shy, introverted, doubted themselves and were easy to miss in a crowd. The wallflowers as it were and within that group there was always the weakest.

The bottom was easy to bully as they never fought back, always tried to please everyone and always apologised but were a simple target to make fun of, as no one who counted, had their back.

The popular people like Lana Lang and her quarterback boyfriend Jason were just typical of the popular group. Beautiful, fit with plenty of opinions and a unquestionable belief that the world would bend to what they wanted and to be fair it generally did. Pete couldn't believe that Jason, who was heading off to a full-ride scholarship next year to MU, could just drift through exams and school without a care and was continually given pass marks by teachers even when he failed as "we couldn't jeopardise such a hugely promising football career now can we?"

Pete had always been a little in love with Lana Lang. From the day they started as Freshmen he had been smitten by her. For the first time in his life he understood what it mean to be in awe of another person.

She was beautiful in a classic way but what attracted Pete had always been her smile. When she smiled at him, well never at him directly just kind of in his direction, he felt like his entire body was on fire. No matter how many times he had tried to talk to her about how she made him feel she had always treated him like a friend. He was certainly good enough for her to talk too when she needed help with school work or to fetch her something but never to be seen in public or to spend time in a social setting with him.

Watching Jason put his arms around her as they started to dance was just another dagger to his eternal belief that Lana was the only girl for him. He wanted High School to be over so Jason would leave and he would have a chance to get closer to Lana. Lana had no intention of leaving Smallville as she didn't want to leave her Dad alone on the horse farm they owned. Lana was weighing up whether to go to the local community college or look for work in town.

Hearing a crash behind him, that dragged his attention from Lana and Jason, Pete saw Clark Kent on the floor surrounded by the remains of the table that had been holding the punch and all the glasses.

Clark Kent was the bottom of the food chain and always had been. No matter where he was or which group was around, Clark Kent was the cruel butt of a joke or a prank. Pete couldn't believe how clumsy and awkward Clark Kent was and how he always seemed to be either falling over or stuttering his words.

Pete watched as Stacey's boyfriend Trevor, grabbed her pink shawl, then ran over and wrapped it quickly around Clark's neck. The image was pretty funny even for Pete. Clark Kent was sitting in a massive puddle of orange punch, with smashed glasses all around him. His hair, which was always a mess, was dripping with punch and his curved shoulders seemed to be even more inverted as everyone around laughed at him. Clark went to stand up and slipped over in the mess and landed on his face and one of his shoes fell off his foot.

Clark looked up at the group around him and said "sorry". Tears were running down his red face as he tried in vain to stand up finally settling for crawling to his shoe and then out of the mess on the floor.

Pete wanted to go see if Clark was ok, he didn't really know Clark as he was such an awkward, shy and introverted person, but Pete, like most teenagers, didn't want to be singled out from the laughing crowd.

Pete knew that Clark Kent had struggled to have any friends at Smallville High as he was so weird, always dressed in old farm clothes, stuttered and seemed to always have his head down with a miserable look on his face. The few times anyone had tried to make friends, Clark had been unable to socialise as he was always working on the Kent Farm which could only be described as a dirt farm. There were poor people in this part of Kansas but Pete doubted there were many poorer than the Kents.

Looking at Clark, Pete could see that the suit he was wearing seemed to be an old dark suit that would have been fashionable 20 years ago and his shoes where a couple of sizes too big for him. His tie was dark blue and very wide which made his skinny chest even skinnier. He was swimming in what he was wearing as the entire outfit was too big for him and to set it all off Stacey's pink shawl just made the entire image shockingly funny.

Standing in the midst of the laughing crowd Clark's shoulders slumped even more, his head was looking at the floor and his lank hair covered what was obviously a very tearful expression. His right hand was holding his shoe but weirdly his left hand was clenched tightly in a fist which was very odd to see. It was a painful and pathetic sight and thankfully at that moment Mrs Pearson walked up and took charge of the mess allowing Clark Kent to start to slink away. That was until Jason and Lana walked over and stood in front of Clark as he moved through the parting crowd and Jason asked "aren't you going to clean up the mess you made ruining the Prom for everyone?"

Lana's laughter at that moment was the first time that Pete Ross started to realise how self-centred she really was. Clark's life seemed so miserable why would you want to put more anguish on him. Clark had always stuttered so badly and seemed so clumsier, if that was possible, around Lana.

Without thinking Pete walked up to the group and just stood between Clark and Jason, looking at neither of them. He didn't say anything just stood as a protection against what was obviously going to be a verbal attack. Jason just looked at Pete's profile and with a shrug just walked away holding Lana's hand. Pete obviously wasn't far enough down the food chain to become the next target for Jason's teenage humour and it seemed Jason didn't see the point of continuing if someone, anyone, stood up for Clark Kent.

"Thank you", was all Pete heard in a whisper from Clark. Pete turned to look at Clark and for the first time realised how absolutely miserable Clark Kent really was. There was no light in his eyes and his whole posture screamed of unhappiness, the dripping punch and the oversized suit made him seem so small and weak. "Like a puppy that has been kicked too many times and the soul has left their body," was the thought that entered his mind.

"You're welcome," Pete responded as Clark walked away across the hall and out the door without once lifting his head as couples pointed and laughed at him.

"Fuck I hate high school," Pete Ross thought as he turned to go back to his friends.