Lex had watched the colt feed enjoying the stillness the country offered. It was nice to get away from the mansion; he hated all the feelings that hung over his head when he was in its vicinity. His father was quick to point out any and all short comings Lex had possessed. There really was no pleasing the man, and Lex felt he'd never escape his shadow.
He was glad Clark had invited him out for dinner. In all honesty, he really didn't want to go out drinking at the clubs tonight anyway. It just seemed to be what all the other kids wanted to do, with the fact that his family had such notoriety; Lex would often use his status as an excuse to buy friendship. He didn't need to buy Clark though. He was a good friend; a true friend. Lex wished he had more friends of his caliber. Thinking of Clark, Lex looked down at his watch. He had been gone a good fifteen minutes. He was about to start walking up to the house when he saw Martha round the corner with her usual warm smile. He smiled back greeting her, "Afternoon Mrs. Kent."
Martha walked up next to Lex and leaned on the stall gate right beside him. She said, "Hi Lex, it's nice to see you. Clark tells me you're going to stay for dinner. I hope you like pot roast."
Lex grinned responding, "Martha, anything I've tasted that you've cooked has been superb. I just hope I'm not too much of a burden eating you out of house and home," he added jokingly.
Smiling Martha said, "That's sweet of you to say. It's not a burden to have another mouth to feed, even if you are a growing boy like Clark. I swear you've both gotten taller in the past month. How old are you again? If either one of you grow much more, I'm going to get a crick in my neck just looking up at you."
Lex beamed proudly, "Well, I'll be seventeen in just two months. That reminds me, I was thinking of going to Europe for the weekend of my birthday. The invitation extends to Clark and you two if you can make it."
Lex wanted to show his appreciation for how nice the family had always been to him, and he figured Clark would make his birthday a lot more fun than taking the trip by himself. Lionel most certainly wouldn't come, not that he really wanted him there anyway. Lex would be surprised if his dad even remembered his birthday.
Last year he'd forgotten and hadn't remembered until a week later when one of the maids that had been on vacation wished him a happy birthday when she'd returned to the household. As the thought crossed his mind he stared back at the colt a small frown playing across his face before he pushed the memory away and turned back to face Martha with a smile.
Martha didn't find it hard to picture Lex at sixteen; that was less then ten years ago, and she'd seen pictures of him now and then as he was growing up. She felt a rush of sympathy for him, as she realized he was making his own plans for his birthday because no one was around to make them for him. She put an arm around his shoulders and said, "Europe sounds pretty far for us to travel, but we would love to celebrate your birthday with you before you go or when you get back. We could have a picnic all together out by the lake. Maybe do some swimming."
The colt, interested in the noises coming from the gate went over and stuck his nose between the slats and sniffed at them. Martha squeezed Lex's shoulder and said, "I came out here to ask you a favor. We're going to be doing some planting this weekend, and it would really help us out to have an extra pair of hands. Would you be willing to stay with us for the weekend and help out? Oh, and it includes all the home cooked meals you can eat."
Lex answered, "I'd be more than happy to help you guys out." Thinking that he didn't want to run into his father at the mansion he added, "I'll just head back to the mansion right quick and pack a bag. It shouldn't take me more than half an hour to get there and back. Do you think dinner will be done before then?"
Giving Lex a small frown, Martha turned him towards her and put both hands on his shoulders. She looked him in the eyes and said, "Do you really think driving is the best idea right now? Maybe there's someone at the mansion could pack a bag for you and bring it over."
Then as an after thought she added, "And leave a note for your father letting him know where you are."
Lex couldn't help letting an eye roll escape at Martha's scolding before giving her a quirky smile responding, "I'm really okay to drive Mrs. Kent; but if it'll make you feel better, I guess I could call Louisa and ask her to send a bag over with Gary before he leaves in an hour. I'll give Gary a note to give my dad; I'm sure he'll be just thrilled to have me out of the mansion all weekend so he can entertain his crusty socialite friends in peace."
He shook his head embarrassed that Martha knew about him drinking and driving. He hated to feel he'd disappointed her as he added, "I can't believe Clark told you I was drinking! You're not going to tell my dad about the alcohol bit are you?"
Martha
smiled at him and patted his shoulder in approval. "I think
having Gary bring your things over is a very good idea."
She started walking towards the house and Lex followed as she continued, "As for Clark telling us about the drinking... well Clark is just a very honest person by nature, and can't help himself sometimes. I hope you don't hold it against him. I have no intention of telling your father about it, and neither does Mr. Kent."
"Thanks," Lex said as he breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the Kent's would keep his secret. His father had often times threatened sending him to military school to straighten him up. And although he doubted Lionel really would send him off; he didn't want to push the matter.
Lex followed Martha back into the kitchen asking for a pen and paper to write his dad a note before heading over to the phone to call Louisa to ask her to send Gary over with a bag of personals.
While Lex was writing the note, Martha smiled and said in a voice loud enough for Lex to overhear, "Lex agreed to stay the weekend and help us with the planting."
Then while Lex was on the phone, Martha whispered to both Jonathan and Clark that Lex thought he was sixteen.
Clark found it hard to wrap his head around the idea that Lex thought he was the same age as him. Once Lex was off the phone, Clark looked in his back pack and said, "Darn it, I forgot my Geometry book. I'm going to have to go back to school and get it before they lock the doors for the weekend."
He looked over at Jonathan and said, "Sorry Dad, I'll have to do my chores after dinner."
"As long as you get them done before you go to bed, that's fine with me." Jonathan answered.
Turning to Lex, Clark said, "I'm glad you'll be here for the weekend, should be fun even with the work. I was going to say we could play some basketball after dinner tonight, but looks like I'm gonna be busy. Maybe tomorrow night instead."
Lex nodded in agreement, "That sounds great Clark. And Mr. Kent, I couldn't help over hearing Clark needed to do some chores. Gary will be by in about a half an hour with my stuff, and I'd be more than happy to change and help out any way I can."
Jonathan gave Lex a nod and a genuine smile. "That's very nice of you to offer Lex. Once you get changed, come on out to the barn and I'll show you what needs to be done."
Clark was surprised, but also pleased that Lex had offered. Clark thought that teenage Lex probably let his guard down a little more often then adult Lex did, and hoped that Jonathan would finally be able to see the person Clark was friends with, instead of only seeing Lionel's billionaire son. Clark said, "Are you sure Lex? You don't have to if you don't want to."
Lex smiled waving Clark off, "It's no problem at all Clark; now go on and get your book. I'd hate to see you have to spend most of your free time doing homework when you get home tonight instead of hanging out with me."
Grinning Clark said, "Thanks Lex."
Clark was about to leave and super speed over to the school, but realized at the last second that Lex would notice something was off with the timing if he did that. He turned to Jonathan and asked, "Can I borrow the truck?"
Nodding Jonathan said, "Sure." and dug the keys out of his pocket.
Clark took the keys and headed out. Knowing that he would lose time by driving the truck, he only drove it a couple of miles away and parked it off to the side of the road. He locked it up, and ran to find Chloe. He went to the school first and went to see if she was in the newspaper room. Not finding her, Clark went to the Talon to see if she was there.
He saw here there sipping a coffee and doing some homework. He walked over, sat next to her and said, "I need your help."
Chloe glanced up from sipping her coffee to see Clark staring down at her asking for her help. She set her cup down responding with a smile, "Well, you're in luck, I just finished the last of my homework. What's up?"
"When I went to see Lex today, he was acting very strange, and the more I talked to him the more I realized something was wrong. You may find this hard to believe, but Lex thinks he's sixteen. And then I got to thinking about Mr. Amnisty today, and wondered if there was a connection."
Chloe listened letting the facts sink in before replying, "Another case for the wall of weird I'm thinking. I guess the first thing we need to do is find out who in all were affected by this and why a meteor freak would be going after them… no offense Clark, but your buddy Lex has way too many enemies, so we might want to try to talk to Mr. Amnisty first."
"Unfortunately I agree. My mom said she saw Mr. Peterson in the store today and that he was acting strange too, bagging groceries instead of trying to run the store. Have you seen anyone else acting strange today?"
Chloe's eyes rolled to the ceiling as she went over her day before answering, "Well, coach Gerard was acting kind of weird today, of course he's always kind of weird. I really didn't think anything of it when he got on the track to do our run with us, and when he left shortly after, without saying anything to any of us I thought he had just gotten sick or something. Do you think it could be related?"
"Sounds like it. Now, how do we find a connection between all of them? Two of them are teachers, so maybe a student is getting revenge for something? But that doesn't explain Mr. Peterson or Lex. Maybe they are all connected through another teacher, or one of the school board members. You're the investigator. What's our next step?"
Chloe responded, "I'll head home and do a little research on the net to see if I can find any connections the four might share. If anything pans out, I'll give you a call."
"Okay, I'll be waiting to hear from you. Let me know if there's any leg work you want me to do too. I think I'm going to take a quick look around the town. See if anyone is acting unusual. I'll give you a call if I find anything."
Back at the Kent farm
Jonathan was working on his tractor, and true to his offer, half an hour later Lex showed up in jeans and a tee shirt a few minutes after his bag had been delivered. Jonathan stood up and said, "Ready to help out?"
Lex gave Jonathan a confident nod responding, "Just point me to the right direction."
Jonathan walked to the barn with Lex following. He said, "The chore that takes Clark the longest is mucking out the stalls. We have some shovels over here, and a wheelbarrow here. You shovel up the horse manure and any hay that it's touching and load it into the wheelbarrow. Once you have a full load, come get me and I'll show you where to take it. Then after that we'll put new hay down for them, and refill their water buckets. Think you can handle that while I finish up on the tractor?"
Lex nodded giving Jonathan a small smile, "Will do."
Jonathan left Lex to the tasks he'd assigned, and Lex got to work steadily shoveling out the stalls in quick fashion. It was mere minutes before he'd finished with his first load and was hauling it out of the barn.
Quicker then Jonathan was expecting, Lex had a load of horse manure to empty. He showed Lex where to dump it and watched him go back into the barn to do some more work. Jonathan couldn't help but be impressed with the willingness to do some physical labor. He wouldn't have expected it from Lex, but then he shook his head and realized he had a lot of preconceived notions about who Lex was without ever really getting to know him. Maybe his wife and son were right, and they should be helping Lex out. He went back to the tractor, hoping to finish it before dinner was done.
Lex bustled through the chore of mucking out the stalls and throwing all the hay down, and once finished he took his gloves off reaching into his pocket to wipe the sweat off his brow. As he pulled the rag out of his pocket, his Cuban cigar followed bouncing out of his pocket and on to the barn floor.
Lex bent to pick it up deciding since he already had his gloves off and was taking a break now anyway, he might as well enjoy a few pulls off of his cigar.
After finishing the repairs to the tractor Jonathan decided to go see how Lex was doing. He had seen Lex take a few trips out of the barn, and knew he'd been working hard. Jonathan planned to offer Lex some iced tea and let him relax a few minutes before dinner, but the sight that greeted him in the barn took those thoughts out of his head. Lex was standing in the middle of the barn lighting a cigar.
Jonathan walked up to Lex with anger clearly written on his face, snatched the cigar out of Lex's mouth, and yelled, "Are you crazy?! You don't smoke in a barn! Did you want to catch the hay on fire and watch the animals panic?!"
Lex's jaw dropped in surprise at Jonathan's reaction. He really hadn't thought about the fact a fire could be caused by his smoking in the barn. But the shock was quickly replaced by irritation at the thought of how Jonathan had snatched his cigar out of his mouth. He expressed his anger quickly, "You just destroyed my really fine cigar!" Realizing he was in the wrong he added sheepishly, "I wasn't trying to burn your barn down, I just wasn't thinking straight. Sorry."
After Lex yelled, Jonathan's first thought was to tell him to get off his property. But before he could voice that, Lex apologized, and Jonathan took a second to think about it. He looked at the man in front of him and tried to imagine what he would say to Clark or Pete in the same situation.
He crossed his arms and said with a new found calm, "I'm sorry too, I didn't mean to fly off the handle like that; it just startled me to see you smoking so close to the hay. I know you would never intentionally try to burn down the barn, and I accept your apology. But..." Jonathan held up the cigar for Lex to see "...you shouldn't be smoking these at all. In fact you shouldn't be smoking anything at your age. I don't want to see you smoking again while you're staying here."
Lex could hear the disappointment in Jonathan's voice, and his eyes fell to the ground as he nodded his compliance. Lex was really embarrassed and felt pretty foolish for yelling at Jonathan and making such a mistake, and so he responded, "I'm a real jerk for yelling at you like that Mr. Kent, and for that, I'm even more sorry. I… I should just probably go." Lex leaned over picking his gloves up off the ground to hand them back to Jonathan before going to grab his things and head home.
Jonathan didn't take the offered gloves. Instead he put a hand on Lex's shoulder and said in all honesty, "I don't think you're a jerk, and I don't think you should leave. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. You're still Clark's friend, and we would still appreciate your help this weekend. I'm impressed with how hard you've been working, and how much you've gotten done already. How about we put this incident behind us, and start over again?"
Lex was surprised at how forgiving Clark's dad was, and that made him smile inwardly and outwardly as he answered, "Thanks. That sounds great Mr. Kent. Are there any other chores that need to be done tonight?"
Jonathan smiled as well and patted Lex once before letting his hand drop. He answered, "Everything else can wait for tomorrow. I think it's time for a break. Dinner should be ready soon."
At that same moment Clark showed up in the doorway of the barn and said with a smile, "Looks like my timing is perfect. Chores are done and dinner's almost ready. I should invite you over more often Lex."
Lex chuckled, "You're welcome Clark; I will say your chores have worked up quite an appetite!"
The three made small chat as they made there way back to the house where Jonathan told Lex he could be the first one to grab a shower. Lex gratefully accepted very ready to get out of his dirty clothes and even more ready to eat some of Martha's home cooking.
When Lex went to take a shower, Clark told Martha and Jonathan about his conversation with Chloe. Once he was done, Martha said, "Let's see if Lex can remember what happened to him today. Maybe someone he came in contact with did this to him"
Half an hour later they were all sitting down to dinner, and a few minutes into it, Martha asked, "How was school today Lex?"
Lex's eyes rose from carving his pot roast thinking over why he hadn't gone to school today. The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. The last thought he did remember was walking out of the Talon with a cup of coffee around eleven in the morning. He assumed that he must have skipped today for some reason, but he didn't want to say that in front of the Kent's as he responded, "I kind of slept in, so I missed class today."
"Were you feeling sick?" Martha asked with concern.
Lex blushed responding, "As much as I hate to admit it, I don't really have a good excuse for missing school today. It's not something I do very often though."
Martha and Jonathan exchanged a look, not quite knowing what to say. It seemed wrong to berate someone for not being in school when they didn't belong there in the first place. After a few seconds Martha said, "Did you go somewhere else? Visit with friends?"
Lex shrugged growing uncomfortable with all these invasive questions responding, "I went to the Talon earlier, and for the most part, I stayed at the mansion."
Martha could tell Lex wasn't happy with all the questions, and decided they'd gotten enough information to start with. Not wanting it to look like they were interrogating Lex alone, she turned to Clark and asked, "How about you Clark, how was school today?" even though she already knew the answer.
Clark played along and said, "I had a pop quiz in English about the chapter we read last night. I think I did pretty well."
Then Clark remembered that Chloe was wondering if there was any connection between the people who had been affected, so he decided to mention his teacher's name. He kept an eye on Lex to see his reaction as he said, "Actually something kind of strange happened. Mr. Amnisty didn't teach us anything. He just came in, ignored us all, and then left before time was up. Strange right?"
Lex chewed slowly needing a moment to digest Clark's words. Could Clark's teacher be Tom Amnisty's father? The reminder of that name made him blush slightly. He remembered Tom all too well; what he and the others, Tom Amnisty, Joel Peterson, Matt Grading and Larry Kingson had done. Poor James Marshall had been their selected target; he was the 'so called' weakest link. What they had done was wrong; it had been a joke, a cruel one, but a joke none the less. Lex shook his head slightly as he quickly swallowed a drink of Martha's homemade lemonade to gulp down the memory as well as the food.
Martha, Jonathan, and Clark could all tell that Lex recognized the name. Jonathan said, "That is strange. Are you okay Lex? You look a little green around the gills."
Lex glanced up from his plate surprised by the question before smiling sheepishly remarking, "Oh, no. I'm fine. I was just thinking about missing class today; I need to get a hold of one of my classmates to get my homework for Monday."
Clark could tell Lex was lying, and decided that was enough for one night. He said, "Hey Mom, can I have some pie now?"
Martha laughed and said, "Your father and I haven't even eaten half of our dinner yet."
He gave her a big grin and said, "I already had seconds."
Still smiling Martha shook her head and said, "You can wait until everyone is done with dinner."
Clark gave her a good natured, "Okay." and then turned to Lex and said, "You wanna shoot some hoops after dinner tonight?"
Lex was relieved by Clark's question happy to be talking about anything else that wasn't his day! He grinned responding, "That sounds great Clark; after all I've eaten for dinner, the exercise will help me work up an appetite for pie."
After they had all finished dinner and were rising from the table Lex asked, "Before we go out to play basketball; do you need any help with the dishes and clean up Mrs. Kent?"
Martha smiled and said, "Thank you for the offer, but I've got it covered. You and Clark go play."
The rest of the evening went well. Clark and Lex played some basketball, and once that was done, everyone had some pie. When it was time for bed, Jonathan got a small cot from out of the closet and set it up in Clark's room for Lex.
The next morning all four of them worked hard until lunch time. During lunch the phone rang. Clark answered and heard Chloe on the other end. He said, "Hi Chloe, what's up?"
Chloe responded, "I think I've got a pretty solid lead on our man. Whenever you can get the chance to come down to my house, I'll be waiting here to fill you in on the juicy tid bits."