Chapter 2

"Ok dad? I'll be home in time for supper, don't worry. Love you," Claire said into her phone, just as she hung up. She closed her locker and headed towards the field.

"Hey Claire! Wait up!" Claire turned around to see Clark jogging up behind her. "We have a practice right now so I was thinking I could walk you to the field?" he said with a smile on, as usual.

"I'd love that," Claire said. They walked over to the field and separated off to their teams. Claire could see Lana watching her as she walked over, occasionally glancing at Clark too.

"Hey Claire," Lana said. Maybe if I get her on the team, I can keep a closer eye on her. Clark should know that we're meant to be together! Maybe I can even tell Claire things that will make her hate him, she thought as she tried to keep a mischievous grin off her face. "Why don't we get started? Let's see a back tuck and then we'll show you the routine."

Claire did a perfect back tuck, back flip and the routine went very well too, even the other cheerleaders told Lana that there was no way they could let her leave without an outfit.

"Alright. See you at practice tomorrow Claire," Lana said in a bit of an annoyed tone.

Claire decided to walk home after the 'try-outs'. It would take her about 20 minutes, but she wanted to clear her head. What better way to do that than walking on a road that cars barely ever drive on and that is surrounded by cornfields?

When she got to her house, she realized that she never looked out the window to see that she had next door neighbors, she was too caught up in trying to get her family to move back to Odessa. She lived in a nice little house, not a farm, that had a big field in the back yard, like every other house here. But the house next to hers was a real farm, with a barn between Claire's house and another nice little yellow house.

She walked to her front porch and sat down on the bench swing and casually looked at the other house. Until, of course, she noticed Clark Kent giving a golden retriever some food just near the door to the barn. Does this guy like follow me? Not that I would mind having a next door neighbor like him, Claire thought.

She walked over and stopped just in front of him. As he looked up, he had the strangest expression on his face, a mix between shock, defensive and happy. "Hey Clark, I'm trying to convince myself that your not stalking me since you seem to be everywhere I go today," Claire said with a laugh.

"How did you find me here?" Clark asked. He really did seem defensive.

"I moved in right next door," Claire said while pointing. Then she realized something else, "Hey, I never saw you get into a car before I left, but I walked home. How did you get here so fast?"

Clark took a few seconds too long to think of an answer. "Oh, you know when you've lived here your whole life, you find shortcuts to school," he said, nervously.

"Right, yeah," Claire said. She looked down at an excited golden retriever and started petting it. She loved dogs. "What's its name?"

Clark smiled at the dog, "Shelby, his name's Shelby. Do you like dogs?"

Claire laughed, "Yeah, I have one actually. He's a Pomeranian named Mr. Muggles," she paused to hear Clark laugh, "Weird name huh? My mom's idea," Claire joined Clark and soon they were both laughing so hard, she almost had watery eyes. It wasn't even that funny, but laughing with him was the most fun she'd had since she found out she had to move to the middle-of-nowhere town.

The fun stopped when realized that Shelby bit her. The thing is, since she can't feel pain, Clark saw this before she could even say "Ouch!" in that fake tone she uses to often.