Thanks to everyone that's read my fanfic! And thanks to stillaweirdo for adding my fanfic as a fav! You rock! If you could please review, I would be very happy. I'm sad the show's over now, but it doesn't mean I'll stop updating! Enjoy this chapter and review! I might not update for a while because school's so crazy at the moment. Just a little heads up! Keep reading and review, please!

Chapter 4

The next day, Scarlett wakes up to the sound of yelling outside.

"What the hell?" She gets out of bed and runs down the stairs. The yelling stops abruptly. She opens the side door and looks out to the barn. She sees Clark and his dad talking together. It seems to be about the fact that Clark's red plaid long-sleeve shirt looks like a ragged short sleeve shirt on one arm and the other isn't.

Then he goes into the barn. Scarlett walks towards the barn.

"Scarlett! You're up early!" Mr. Kent says, surprised.

"I always wake up at this time. It's when I take my morning walk." There's a brief pause.

"What's wrong with Clark?"

"Why do you ask?"

"It's just that he doesn't seem like himself. He seems upset about something."

"It's nothing. Probably just adolescence."

"I don't know… May I talk to him?"

"Of course."

"See you later, Mr. Kent."

"Clark?" A loud clang of metal answers her.

"Scarlett!" Clark hides behind a bale of hay. "I didn't hear you come in."

"It's a barn Clark. There's really no way to knock."

"I'm- I'm not… decent."

"Do you change in this barn too?"

"Umm…" "Okay, relax. I'll leave. I just wanted to see if you were alright." He pokes his head out from behind the hay.

"Why wouldn't I be alright?"

Scarlett looks at the discarded shirt. "What happened to your-"

"We'll be late for school. We'd better get going."

"Clark, school doesn't start for another half hour. What's going on?"

"It's nothing. Just-"

"Adolescence?"

"… Yeah."

"Fine, if you don't want to tell me the truth, I'll go." She turns around and leaves the barn.

"Scarlett, are you okay?" Mr. Kent asks, as she goes back in the house.

"Never better."

"Clark, where are you going?"

"Can't talk now, Dad, I'm taking care of a problem."

"Good morning, Mrs. Kent."

"Good morning, Scarlett."

"Morning, Mom."

"Good morning, Clark." Scarlett practically flies upstairs and bolts herself in her meadow room. A tentative knock reaches her ears ten minutes later. She takes a deep breath and goes to the door, but it remains closed.

"Yes?"

"Hey."

"Hey, Clark."

"Can I trust you?"

"Why?"

"Because I owe you the truth." She unbolts the door, opening it a tiny bit.

"All of it, or just most?"

"Well, all that I know."

"Clark, you don't have to tell me now. I'm a big girl. I can wait."

"You'll be waiting a long time, then."

"It's okay. Honestly, I'm fine."

"I'll see you at school?"

"Yeah. I'll be out soon, I promise."

He leaves, and she shuts the door.

"What's wrong with me? Why can't I just talk to the guy without sounding like a total idiot? No wonder why he likes that Lana girl. She's perfect!" Scarlett paces around in a circle as she thinks out loud.

"Why am I even talking like this? I don't have a crush on this… this farm boy. Do I?" She thinks for a few seconds. "Nah!"

She puts on a blue plaid shirt and a pair of jeans, and goes downstairs for breakfast.

"You look good in plaid," Clark says, slightly breathless.

"Thanks." She smiles at him. After they eat breakfast, Mrs. Kent kisses Clark goodbye and hugs Scarlett.

"Have a great day you two!" She calls out, as they walk to the bus stop.

"We'll try!" They call back, together.

"I still haven't gotten my class schedule yet," Scarlett says to Clark, on their way down to the bus stop.

"I'm sure you'll get it soon."

"I hope so. Or else, I might have to shadow you for the whole year!"

"That wouldn't be so bad."

"What?"

"I didn't say anything," he looks away, blushing. The bus rolls around the corner, and all of a sudden Clark vanishes from behind Scarlett. She doesn't notice until she sits down, across from Chloe and Pete.

"Where's Clark?" Scarlett asks Chloe. She shrugs in response.

"There he is!" The bus stops at another house, and Clark gets on.

"Weird… He was right behind me, like two minutes ago."

"Chloe, maybe you should add that to the Wall of Weird?" Pete suggests.

"The what?"

"The Wall of Weird."

"What's that?"

"I'll show it to you during lunch," Chloe says, smiling a little. Clark finds Scarlett and sits next to her.

"What happened to you, Clark?"

"Took a different route."

"But you were right behind me. There's no way you could have gotten to a different house 10 miles away in less than ten minutes, unless you have super-speed." She pauses. "Do you?"

He whispers in her ear, "Yes."

"So you've got super-strength and super-speed?"

"So far, yes."

"'So far'? What do you mean by 'so far'?"

"I think I'm still getting my powers," he says to her in a hushed tone.

"That's how I feel, too." They stay silent for the rest of the bus ride. When they get to school, Scarlett remembers something.

"Clark, why-"

He collapses right in front of Lana.

"Clark!"

His books fall out of his arms, papers flying everywhere. Scarlett helps him get the stray papers back into their folders.

"Here, you missed one." Lana gives it to him, her green necklace glinting in the sunlight.

"Thanks."

"So what are you, man or superman?" She asks, smiling.

"I haven't figured that out yet." He replies.

"Hey, Kent!" Whitney throws him a book, and he falls again. Some boys were snickering at him.

"Leave him alone, you jerks! Find something better to do, like getting a life!" Scarlett glares at them, helping Clark up.

"Scarlett?"

"It's okay, Clark. I'm right here." She says goodbye to Lana and helps Clark get inside. As soon as he's far enough away from Lana, he regains his composure.

"Thanks. No one's ever stuck up for me like that before."

"Not even Chloe and Pete?"

"Like I said, no one's stuck up for me like that."

"So, this is a first then?"

"Yeah. My locker's over here, Scarlett."

"Okay."

"See you at lunch, guys!"

"Bye, Chloe! Bye Pete!" Scarlett waves goodbye as they walk past her and Clark.

"Hey, Clark?"

"Yeah?" He fumbles with his lock.

"About that question… I know that's not what you were going to say. You can still ask me the real question." He doesn't reply.

He opens the locker door, puts a folder and a couple of books away, grabs a textbook, closes the locker, and starts walking to class.

"Clark!" Scarlett runs to catch up with him, slightly irritated.

"Why are you acting like this?"

"Like what?" He pushes the door open to his classroom.

"Like you're trying to avoid me." She slips into the room.

"I'm not avoiding you!"

"Well, you're doing a good impression of it!" The teacher walks in. He is a fairly tall, handsome, brown hair, brown eyed, tan man in his mid-twenties.

"Clark, you're here early!"

"Hey, Mr. Blake. Yeah, I wanted to introduce you to Scarlett Luthor. She's new here and I was showing her around."

"Did you say 'Luthor'? As in Lionel Luthor?"

"I did, Mr. Blake."

"I had no idea Lionel had a daughter!"

"Actually, he adopted me."

"Still, he must've had a hard time keeping the reporters off of you."

"He did like keeping a very close eye on me. It was rather annoying."

"Well, I hope you like it here at Smallville High."

"Thank you, sir." She smiles at him. He returns her smile and goes into the back room, closing the door behind him.

"Does this happen to you a lot?" Clark asks, sitting in a seat near the back.

"If you mean meeting new people, yes. School on the other hand, no." She sits in front of him, turning slightly.

"I meant being recognized as Lionel Luthor's adopted daughter."

"No. But I'm getting used to it fast."

"Listen, Scarlett, about that question earlier-" The door opens, students begin to file in, taking their seats, chatting and laughing.

Clark closes his mouth, and Mr. Blake comes out of the back room. The bell rings as Mr. Blake sits down in his desk. Clark taps Scarlett on her shoulder. She turns around.

"Do you need a pencil?"

She blushes slightly, "Yeah. Can I borrow one?"

"Sure, here."

She takes the pencil from his hand, their fingers brushing against the others briefly.

"Thanks." She says, her voice sounding far away. Definitely have a crush on him. Big time. Curse those gorgeous blue eyes! The second bell rings distantly. She turns back around, trying to listen to Mr. Blake's lecture on Shakespeare. At lunch, Scarlett joins Clark, Chloe, and Pete. Clark sits across from Pete and Chloe.

"So should I add this to the 'Wall of Weird'?" Chloe shows the other three a picture of glowing flowers.

"I'd say yes," Pete says casually, taking a sip of water. Clark nods in agreement.

"Oh, shoot! Scarlett I've gotta show it to you! C'mon guys."

Scarlett follows them out of the cafeteria and into the computer room.

"This is where the school paper The Torch is made. Chloe writes about things that happen at school," Pete explains Clark guides me to a wall filled with newspaper article clippings.

"This is where Chloe keeps track of the strange things that have happened in Smallville since the meteor shower. She thinks she can connect all of them to it."

"Wow. That's a lot of articles!"

"Yeah. I love to read about strange and unusual things!"

"Anyway, let's put up the newest article!" Clark says, holding it out to Chloe.

"Fine!" She rolls her green eyes. Scarlett helps her pin it on the bulletin board.

"Thanks. So, what do you think?"

"This is the coolest thing I've ever seen! I like it a lot!"

"Really?"

"Totally, Chloe. And I don't lie."

"Where have you been my whole life?"

"Locked in a mansion."

"You are officially the most awesome person to walk the face of the planet!"

"Thanks. I try!" They laugh.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to understand girls," Clark shakes his head, looking at the two of them.

"Me neither, dude." Pete pats Clark on his shoulder.

"Oh, shoot! We gotta go. See ya later, Chloe!"

"See ya, Scarlett!"

"Bye, Pete!"

"Bye, Scarlett!" She follows Clark out to the gym, where the rest of the class is filing into the locker rooms.

"I'll see you in a few, Clark."

"See you later."

After they change, the class heads over to the middle of the wooden floor near the basketball hoops.

"Alright, class! Let's get moving here! Run a couple of laps around the whole gym, and I don't want to see any slackers!" A tough looking, broad shouldered, medium build man in his mid-thirties marches over.

His white tennis shoes squeak on the smooth floor, and his green tee shirt and red shorts are slightly wrinkled. He wears a black baseball cap over his short-cropped black hair.

Everyone groans and a couple guys say, "Coach B! We did this yesterday!"

"Do you wanna do 10 laps?"

"No sir!" Everyone choruses.

"Then let's go! Do 'em again! C'mon!" He claps his callused hands together.

"Meet Coach Barr." Clark says to Scarlett, dryly.

"Nice man." She returns, biting her lip to keep from smiling.

"Yup. He used to coach the football team. Then he decided to stop."

"Strange."

"Enough chit-chat! I want to see the sweat coming out of your pores!" Pete runs along Scarlett's side.

"So, do you like someone already?"

"Yeah. He's nice. So far, almost everybody has been nice to me."

"Someone likes you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He thinks you're really nice, funny, stubborn, caring, trustworthy, and extremely pretty."

"Does he?"

"He really does. See, he would have told you this before, but he's a little shy."

"Is he?"

"He could have told you this in person, but he couldn't get the guts to do it."

"Who is this guy that likes me?"

"I promised him I wouldn't tell."

"Of course. After all, a secret is a secret."

"You're not like the Luthors. You've grown up differently, haven't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean-" They finish their last lap.

"Alright, peeps! Time to stretch for 10 minutes!" Coach Barr tells us. Scarlett sits down to stretch her legs. Clark sits on one side of her, Pete on the other.

"So, about that movie…?" She asks as Barr yells at a small freshman boy to stretch farther.

"Chloe said this upcoming Monday, we'll go see it. After school, at the movie theater near The Beanery." Clark replies, keeping an eye on the coach.

"Stretch out those hamstrings! That means you too, Kent!"

After they stretch, Barr tells everyone to go shoot hoops. 15 minutes later, he blows his whistle.

"Alright, girls hit the showers. Boys, stay here." Lana Lang waves goodbye to Clark before they go out of the door.

Once they're in the locker room, Scarlett turns to Lana.

"We never officially met. I'm Scarlett Luthor."

"Lana Lang." They shake hands.

"Luthor?"

"As in Lionel Luthor, yes."

"I've never met a Luthor in person before."

"I've never met a town that's been this kind to me before. If you don't mind me asking, when did you meet Clark?"

"When I was about 7 years old."

"Are you two…?"

"No! We're just close friends, that's all."

"Do you like him?"

Lana stops mid-stride, "As a friend I do. I mean he's nice, funny, friendly, good at heart, and he seems to be there for anyone whenever they need him. Even if they don't know it, yet. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious."

"Do you like Clark?"

"So far, he's made a good first impression. He just seems like he has the weight of the whole world on his shoulders. You know what I mean?" They continue walking to their lockers.

"Now that you mention it, yeah."

"Do you ever miss your mansion?" Lana asks, as they change. Scarlett pulls her red shirt off.

"Sometimes. When I'm out of it for like a week, I do." She buttons up her blue plaid shirt.

"So, do you have any plans for next week, Scarlett?"

"Yeah," she slips on a pair of jeans.

"I'm going to see a movie with Chloe, Pete, and Clark. You?"

"I might see a movie with Whitney. Maybe I'll see you there."

"Yeah. Maybe."

"So. What's the deal with you and Lex? It was all over the newspapers."

"We're just good friends." Lana raises an eyebrow.

"Okay, fine. We used to date when I was 10, but we stopped because it was too awkward."

"Oh. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." Scarlett smiles at Lana. They leave the locker room, a couple of girls giggling behind them.

"Thanks, Lana." Scarlett whispers to her, as they head their separate ways.

"You're welcome." She replies. The rest of the week flies by.

On Monday, Chloe drags Scarlett into the ice cream shop with Clark and Pete. Pete insists on buying Scarlett her ice cream. She sighs, but promises to pay him back. The four of them find a booth near a window.

"So, what movie are we going to see?" Scarlett asks, as Clark stumbles and nearly drops his ice cream on the floor. Chloe and Pete hide their smiles behind their ice creams, while Scarlett helps Clark into the booth.

"Well, we were thinking something like a romantic comedy," Chloe replies, still smirking.

They grow silent, eating their ice cream.

"How about, 'Mending of a Wounded Heart'?" Clark suggests, after a while.

"Hmm, sure. That has good ratings," Chloe and Pete say together.

"Sound good to you, Scarlett?" Clark asks her.

"Sure! When does it show?"

"The time I saw was 6:30 tonight." Pete says.

"And it's…" Clark pulls back his shirtsleeve, reading his watch. "… 5:20."

"We've got time," Chloe says, sitting back.

"Oh wait. I read that wrong. It's actually 5:30," Clark says, embarrassed.

"We'd better get going then… Scarlett?" Pete looks at her.

"What?"

"You've got chocolate on your chin." She wipes her chin with her napkin.

"Good?"

"You missed it. It's right-" He gently wipes the chocolate off her chin with his finger. "-There."

"Thanks, Pete."

"Hate to ruin your little bonding moment, but we gotta go," Chloe says, getting up from the wooden booth. They take their half finished ice cream cones with them on the way to the theater.

"It's 5:45," Clark informs them, finishing the last part of his cone.

"We can wait a bit," Chloe says, as the rest finish their cones.

"6:00," Clark says, as they go inside.

"Four for 'Mending of a Wounded Heart' at 6:30, please," Chloe tells the ticketer.

He smiles at them, "That'll be $20. You know, that movie's popular tonight for some reason."

"I'll bet," Chloe says, paying the man.

"Here are your tickets. Enjoy the show."

"Oh I will," she mutters. They move onto the snack section.

"You know, Lana and her aunt Nell run this place," Clark says to Scarlett.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Lana told me years ago." Chloe rolls her eyes at him, but doesn't say a word.

Scarlett clears her throat, "So. Popcorn?"

"Yeah, 1 large popcorn, and 4 medium sodas."

"It's cheaper to buy the #4 combo of 1 medium popcorn and 3 small sodas," the nasally voice, blonde cashier woman tells them.

"Then we'll take that, plus a bag of candy, please."

"That'll be $7.50." Pete pays the cashier, giving Clark the popcorn, Chloe the bag of candy, and Scarlett two sodas. He carries the other one, giving the tickets to the usher. He tears them in half, returning the stubs to Pete.

"Theater 12, to your right," the usher says, in a semi-deep voice.

"Thanks," Scarlett says, as they pass by him. He nods at her, but smiles slightly.

"Come on, guy." Chloe drags Pete into the theater. Scarlett looks at Clark. He shrugs and they go in.

They choose their seats in the middle of the theater. Scarlett sits in between Pete and Clark, Chloe on the other side of Clark. The lights darken. Chloe elbows Clark in his ribs.

"Is that Lana?"

"What? Yeah, I guess."

"Shh, you two, the movie's starting."

"It's just the commercials, Pete."

"Shut up, Chloe!" She sticks her tongue out at him. After a couple 2-minute commercials, the movie begins. It's about this girl Sarah who's in love with a guy named Skyler, but her friend Peter is in love with her.

Scarlett is enchanted by the story and how real it is to her life. She understands that it isn't real, and there are stunt doubles that perform the really dangerous things. Yet she still falls in love with the movie.

When Skyler breaks Sarah's heart by cheating on her with another girl (Jenna), Scarlett silently cries. Clark notices, but doesn't do anything. Later on, Peter and Sarah kiss tenderly.

Half of the theater (including Scarlett) goes "Awww!" really softly.

Scarlett wakes up in time to see the screen fade to black and the credits roll by. The lights come back on. She jerks her head up from Clark's shoulder and follows Pete out of the door.

"Scarlett!"

"Hey, Lana. And Whitney."

"What did you think of the movie?" Lana asks, walking closer to the other four. Whitney comes a little behind her.

"To be honest, it was great! Though I did cry when Skyler broke Sarah's heart like that." Scarlett admits.

"I cried then too, I think even Whitney was a little teary."

"I just got dust in my eye."

"If it matters, I believe love should last, and a real man isn't afraid to show his true feelings to anyone."

"Those are good beliefs, Scarlett."

"Thanks, Lana." She smiles at her.

"You know each other?" Clark asks sounding mildly surprised.

"We met last week. So far, Lana's been really nice to me. I guess it's like a Smallville custom."

"I just think it's better to be nice than mean."

"I agree, Lana," Scarlett smiles at her again.

"Okay… Starting now, Clark!" Scarlett turns around quickly and both Pete and Clark kiss her on her cheeks before jogging to the door and running out to the other side of the street. Scarlett blushes.

"Embarrassed?" Chloe asks, smiling.

"A little bit, yeah."

"Me too. They always have to race."

"But Clark wins every time," Lana puts in.

"It's true. I've witnessed it," Whitney says, nodding.

"Oh, it's late. We'd better go. It was nice seeing you two again! See you tomorrow," Lana waves to the girls as she departs with Whitney.

Scarlett waves back as they go out the door, hand in hand. Clark slips through the door minutes before Pete, and stops in front of the girls.

"You know, Clark, you're cheating." Scarlett whispers to him.

"I go a normal pace," he returns.

"Normal?"

"Well, sorta normal." Scarlett opens her mouth, but Chloe pulls her out of the door.

"Where are you taking me?"

"To talk, away from the boys."

"Why?" Scarlett asks, confused. Chloe turns around quickly. They're outside of The Beanery.

"I want to get to know more about you. The real you."

"Um, okay. What do you want to know?"

"Do you like Clark Kent?"

"What?" Scarlett asks, totally off-guard.

"I asked if you like Clark."

Scarlett pauses, thinking.