Welcome to Smallville

Claire groaned and rolled over in her bed, ignoring the beeping of her alarm clock. She pulled the covers off of her head with a large sigh and hit the 'off' button on the digital clock, silencing the beeping. She moaned and dragged herself off of her bed and over to her closet. She decided to go casual for her first day at a new school in a new town. She threw on a pair of jeans and a grey patterned cotton shirt.

The Bennets' were forced to move away from Texas, knowing that Sylar was still after Claire. They'd also had to change their last names, so now they were known as the DeLancey's. They had chosen the most remote place they could find. It was literally filled with farms and cornfields. The house they'd bought had a big field around it. Not too far away, another house and a big red barn were visible in the distance.

After pulling her hair into a neat ponytail and applying a shiny coat of lip gloss, she headed down the stairs. The smell of bacon and eggs filled the air. She mumbled a 'good morning' to her mother who was standing by the stove, flipping eggs onto plates. She placed a plate in front of Claire and kissed her daughter on the forehead.

"Good morning Claire-Bear," her dad greeted, walking into the kitchen, briefcase in hand. "Can I take you to school?"

"Uh, sure. Why not?" She replied with a forced smile.

"Claire," he said taking a seat beside her, "I know you miss New York and you don't want to start a whole new life, trust me, this isn't what your mother, Lyle or I wanted either, but it's what we had to do to keep you safe."

"I know, dad," she said picking at her egg with her fork. "You know, mom, I'm not really hungry. Let's go dad."

"You know Claire; I heard this school has an excellent cheer squad. Maybe you could try out, get back into cheerleading. As long as you don't show your ability, what do you say?"

"Sounds good." She smiled as the car stopped in front of the high school. Swarms of people talking and laughing. She wished she could be one of them. Back in her old school in Texas, she was.

"Okay, have a good day." Her father smiled. She smiled and nodded then slid out of the SUV. With one last wave to her dad, he drove off and she looked at the front of Smallville High before stepping towards the doors.

Claire received a lot of funny looks as she passed through the halls. She felt like she was on display at a zoo or a circus. She kept her head down and tried to ignore the curious stares. She was so absorbed in not paying attention to her surroundings, that she didn't notice a girl, about her height, with straight brown hair step out in front of her.

"Hi, you must be Claire DeLancey." She said with a broad smile. Claire nodded and smiled unsurely. "I'm Lana Lang, I've been asked to show you around."

"Oh okay, cool, thanks. Would you mind showing me to the principal's office? I'm meant to check in there before school."

"No problem! Follow me." She exclaimed cheerily. Lana turned and began walking before looking back and gesturing for Claire to follow. "So, are you thinking of joining any clubs?"

"I was kind of hoping there would be a spare spot on the cheerleading squad." Claire said, although it was more of a question because she noted that Lana was wearing a red and yellow cheerleading uniform. Lana let out a small, airy laugh.

"I might be able to swing you a tryout, but after that it's on you," Lana said with a friendly smile.

"Oh my god, thank you!" Claire said with dramatically-exaggerated relief.

"Just a warning though, the captain, Kimberly, can be a bit—don't tell her I said this—snobbish. She's kind of uptight about who makes the team and who doesn't, so bring you're A-game. She will look for any reason to pick you apart. Even more so because you're new and from…where exactly are you from?" Lana finished with a kind chuckle.

"Odessa, Texas." Claire said with a nod and a smile.

"Wow, it must be so different there."

"It is, trust me. It's not so…"

"Isolated?"

"Well, yeah. No offense or anything."

"Oh none taken, Smallville is a very small town surrounded by large amounts of corn."

"I can't argue there." Claire laughed.

"Oh, here we are; Principal Hugh's office."

"Thank you so much."

"Of course," Lana smiled, revealing for the hundredth time, her perfectly straight and blindingly white teeth, "Hey why don't you sit with me at lunch? I can introduce you to the squad."

"That'd be awesome." Claire replied, mirroring Lana's smile. Lana nodded and left in the direction of what Claire assumed to be her first class.

Okay, good, Claire thought I've made a friend. This is good. Sure, she smiles a lot and laughs too much, but I'm sure I'll get used to that.

Claire stepped into the office and was immediately overcome by the smell of hand sanitiser that was wafting over from the secretary's desk. 'Miss Kelly' the plaque on the desk read. The middle aged, blond secretary was sharpening pencils in her electric sharpener and measuring them, then placing them all lead-down in her pencil holder. There was a half empty bottle of sanitiser on her desk as well, but behind her, there was an unopened box of ordered hand sanitiser.

What's a school without OCD right? She thought sarcastically, and then jumped in shock when the door opened abruptly.

"Miss DeLancey, I presume?" Principal Hugh said. Claire nodded and the principal ushered her in.

Claire sat in the seat across from the principal's desk. She was happy to see no sanitiser.

"I trust you found your way alright?" he added, sitting in his desk chair.

"Yeah fine, Lana Lang showed me."

"Oh good; I must remember to thank her."

Claire spent the next period in the principal's office, learning about the school. The secretary also showed her around the school quickly, before giving Claire her timetable and letting her go in time for the first break. As promised, Lana was waiting in the cafeteria for Claire. She waved Claire over to a table that was surrounded by thin, brunette girls in red and golden yellow cheerleading uniforms.

'I don't stick out at all.'

"Hi." She said to Lana, plastering on a smile.

"Hey, everyone, this is Claire." Lana said, waving her hands at Claire as though she was advertising a car.

"Hey, I'm Kimberly." A tall girl with wide brown eyes and straight light brown hair said with a smug smirk. "Welcome to Smallville."