Chapter 4

Missing Glasses and Annoying Friends

"Fuck! Don't alert that goody-two-shoes!" He had a dangerous glint in his eyes now. If he had planned on letting me go after his fun before, he certainly wasn't now. Now he was planning on killing me. I could only pray that Superman had heard my scream.

It was a new and slightly frightening aspect for me to be so completely dependent on someone else. Not since I'd moved out of my parents' house had I been dependent on other people as I was now. I liked to have control, I liked my independence, so if I hadn't been squashed against a wall by two thugs, I probably would've had a hard time accepting the help.

"Sir, I'd like you to put the woman down." Every cell in my body cried out in relief at the sight of him. Superman, red cape and all, was standing a few feet away, arms crossed, looking like a father sternly telling his kids to behave. I decided that I didn't mind his interference after all.

He wasn't as good looking as when he was Clark, in my opinion, but it was definitely him. Maybe I just had a weakness for his glasses. Or perhaps it was because I couldn't see anything without my glasses.

Now it was the two muggers who looked close to pissing their pants and the one holding me immediately let go. Suddenly there was no longer anything holding me up, so I sank to the ground, shaking like a leaf. I could feel the tears well in my eyes.

They ran off, as if thinking they could out-run Superman. Superman looked at me and said "Wait here." before flying off after the two.

And wait I did. I don't think I could have moved, even if I wanted to. My legs were shaking badly and I was afraid of trying to stand on them. My head hurt badly too. My cheek stung from where he'd hit me. Once I was alone, the tears started falling freely. The salty tears felt uncomfortable on my throbbing cheek. I wanted to gather my stuff and find my bag, but I couldn't muster the energy to do so. I just sat, cried and waited for Superman to come back.

It took a few minutes before I moved and when I did, it was only to bend my legs and hug them tightly to me. I rested my forehead on my knees and buried my face in my arms. My hair acted as a curtain so I couldn't see anything and I started crying more. Not just tears anymore, but big, unattractive sobs and sniffs and whimpers. I could feel my eyes puff and my nose run and I knew I looked a mess. Mascara everywhere, red nose, messy hair. I certainly didn't need Clark to see me like this.

But at the same time, I needed Clark. I needed him to comfort me.

Since I was hidden behind my hair I didn't see or hear Clark – Superman, I suppose – come back, so I flinched when his hand was suddenly on my shoulder.

Slowly I looked up, scared, only to see the brilliantly blue eyes of Clar– Superman. I'd never seen Superman up close, but now that I had, there was no doubt. Clark and Superman were one and the same.

"Are you alright, Miss?" His voice was sexier as Superman. More confident and manly. I shuddered briefly at the thought of Clark using that voice. He didn't sound unsure and he didn't stutter like he usually did. He sounded strong. When I got past the sound of his voice and started to register what he'd said, his words brought me back to reality.

I tried to nod a bit, but it only resulted in a new wave of unattractive sobs. He looked sort of panicked for a moment, as if he didn't know what to do. Comforting crying girls had probably not been in the job description.

"Did they hurt you?" his eyes went to my swollen cheek, a look of sympathy on his face.

"N-no.." I stammered out between sobs. Taking in a shuddering breath my voiced calmed down a bit, "At least not so bad.." I pouted a bit in my effort to keep the sobs in. Reaching up a hand I wiped some tears off my cheeks and rubbed my nose.

He gave me my purse, which I hadn't noticed before now. All my belongings were back in it. "T-hanks." I stuttered. Next, he gave me my glasses, which I gratefully took and put on again. He was smiling kindly at me as I did.

"I'll take you home now. You'll be alright." He sounded so reassuring. The adrenaline moved out of my body, the weariness in my bones seemed to seep out and settle in the rest of me and I was suddenly incredibly tired. I could barely sit up and I went limb as a ragdoll, when he picked me up.

He didn't ask me where I lived, but I remembered telling him earlier when he had offered to share a taxi, so he already knew. His body was so warm, like a nice fire place and a blanket and his arms were surprisingly soft and gentle. I felt really comfortable in them, which only urged the tiredness on. Soon, I was almost asleep. He landed on the little balcony that went with my apartment a few minutes after. How he knew my exact apartment number I didn't know, but he probably had super-sight and had found my name on the door.

He slipped through the balcony door, which was never locked because no one could get in that way unless they.. well unless they flew.

I was in a daze when he looked through my doors in search of my bed, I was that tired. Even the thought of Clark, Superman, in my apartment wasn't enough to liven me up a little. I just wanted to sleep. Now.

He finally found my bedroom and placed me on the bed, making sure to tug the comforter up to my neck.

"Good night, Miss."

His voice sounded distant, but I could understand what he said.

I was only seconds away from falling asleep, when I muttered, "Thank you, Clark."

Then I was gone.

The next morning was a slow one for me.

Even before I opened my eyes, I remembered what had happened to me the night before. How could I not? My cheek still hurt like a bitch, as did the back of my head. Actually, every part of me hurt. For a moment I just lay, not opening my eyes, going through everything that had happened.

Baddies. Robbing. Superman. No more baddies. Taken home. Tugged in by freaking Superman. I felt like I was forgetting something. Something important. It sort of sent a shiver of dread down my spine, but I had no idea why. I felt like I had done something incredibly stupid, something that was going to affect my life a lot in the near future.

Sort of like back in high school, where I really needed to pee and I was on my period, but every stall was taken, so I decided to just use that one stall where the lock wasn't working and as soon as I had my pants down around my ankles, the most popular boy and girl from high school suddenly broke in, sucking faces. The extreme horror of locking eyes with one, then the other, then watch their eyes travel south and knowing, knowing, that this was the end of my already half dead social life.

To my terror, I had that same feeling now. Only that the change wasn't going to be for just the rest of my high school years, but much longer than that.

If only I could remember why.

When I didn't remember, I decided to just get up. I really wanted a bath. I should have done that yesterday, but I was too tired then. Now I really needed to wash the filth away. I could still feel those men's hands on me. I practically ran for the bathroom after that thought.

Once I had filled the tub with hot water, I accidentally got a look at myself in the mirror. I visibly cringed at it: the left side of my face was completely covered in a dark-blue bruise, the area around my eye still slightly swollen. I looked like a train-wreck. Or a mugging victim, which made sense since I was a mugging victim.

The sound that left my mouth, once I stepped into the water, was not human. I almost fell asleep again after a moment of soaking. Once I got in, I furiously scrubbed my body until I felt clean again, but then I just allowed myself to lean back and relax. It wasn't like I had anything planned for the day..

"Honey! I'm hooOOme!"

.. well, except for that. I'd totally forgotten about promising to hang out with Diana! Sighing at my own forgetfulness, I rubbed a hand over my eyes, wincing as I pressed a bit too hard on the bruise.

"In the bathroom!" I didn't bother to get up: Diana had her own key. Not only was that because she was here almost as much as at her own apartment, but it was also great because I always lost my own key. Getting myself locked out of the apartment was a monthly occurrence, and despite all her other flaws, she was better at not losing her things than I. So it was smart to have a spare key with her at all times.

She stepped into the bathroom and made a grimace at my face.

"Eugh, what happened to your face?"

I made a grimace myself, "I sort of got beat up in an alley by two people trying to mug me?"

She cocked an eyebrow. "You? Who'd any to steal money from you? Everyone can see you're poor."

.. Diana, ladies and gentlemen!

The first time I ever met her was in high-school, after that bathroom incident, which ruined my already doomed high-school life. Some kid was picking on me and she actually beat him up. She was almost expelled after that, but it was such a kind thing to do, I couldn't help but find interest in her person afterwards. She's quite the character. I wouldn't say we were immediate friends. Actually, she was annoyed with me for 'following her around', but she gave in, in the end.

Her name was Diana, but don't be fooled. While her name was elegant, the girl herself was about as elegant as an old boot.

Which was ironic because she was absolutely gorgeous. A shame she had the mind, mouth and personality of a fifteen year old boy.

"Love you too." I sank deeper into the water, closing my eyes.

"No, but seriously." She blew a strand of hair out of her eyes, "What happened?"

I, regrettably, took a hand out of the lovely, warm water, signaling for a towel. She handed me one.

"I'm serious. I was mugged in an alley and Superman saved me." I wrapped myself snuggly in the towel, motioning for my eye, "Not before this happened, though." I tentatively felt the back of my head, wincing when I hit the sore spot. Retracting my hand, I found a bit of blood on it. "And this." I waved my bloodied fingers in her face.

I marched out the bathroom and into my bedroom, Diana right behind me. I quickly slipped on underwear and wrapped my hair in the towel.

"I had to bite one of their hands so I could scream for help."

She made an impressed sound, which matched the look on her face. "s'cool. Except you had to call for help. I would've just beaten them up myself."

"Oho, not these guys. They were huge." I wrinkled my nose, "And smelly." On that note, I fished my deodorant out of a mess-pile and used it. "Besides, I got to see Superman up close. Aaand, he flew me home." I pointed at her in an 'I win' way. I didn't' think I'd really won though. It had been a really scary experience, but I kewn that if she knew how scared I really was, she wouldn't leave me alone for weeks. It was her own messed up way of showing that she cared.

"Not fair." She jumped onto my bed roughly and I could hear the madras squeak in complaint.

"Hey, stop destroying my furniture!"

"I wanna see Superman up close. Actually, I wanna bang Superman up close." She contemplated, putting her hands behind her head and staring at my ceiling.

I rolled my eyes at her and slipped into a pair of pants. "I'll be sure to mention that next time I'm being saved by him from a pair of muggers."

"Yeah, you will. But I don't want to wait! You should've just told him this time, instead. But you kept him to yourself. That's rude, that is."

Much like the rest of the female population in Metropolis, Diana thought of Superman as God's gift to the women of the world.

"Or, you could just walk around shabby streets in the night, getting mugged, yourself." I shrugged innocently, "It'd save time."

She threw a pillow at me, which I dodged just as I started digging around for my apparently missing shirt. Finding in the same mess-pile as the one my deodorant was in, I was now completely dressed.

"Wait, if he flew you home, does that mean he was here, like, in the apartment?"

The instinct to brag was immediate. "Tugged me in and everything. "

She raised one eyebrow tauntingly. "And everything?" She purred suggestively, a naught smirk on her face.

I returned the pillow with vigor. She wasn't quick enough and it hit her right in the face. When it fell down again, she had her famous 'you will die' glared aimed at me. Luckily, it I was out of the danger-zone. She never sent me that glare properly, only in jest.

"What'd you want to do today?" She sat up in my bed, looking like she for once allowed me to decide what we'd do.

"Not anything too tiring." I shrugged, looking around for my glasses. Which was a challenge, because looking without the device that allowed me to look was idiotic and impossible. "I want to be able to actually pay attention in class tonight and get some homework done."

As coincidental as it was, Diana was in the middle of the same education as I, the same evening school and everything.

It was both a blessing and a curse. Blessing because it meant I was never alone during classes and I always had someone who could help me with homework. The curse was that Diana was the type that didn't help you with homework, but rather copied from you, and she often skived classes. I tried to be a good student and learn as much as possible, but sometimes she even managed to convince me to skip a few classes.

Suffice to say, I would've been a much better student if I hadn't been taking the same classes as she was.

The worst thing was that she was a brilliant reporter, a natural. She barely needed to pay attention in any classes, she was that good. That just happened to go to her head, to the point where she felt like she was above doing her homework like the rest of us.

"Nerd." I gave her a look and she sighed dramatically. "Fiiine," she groaned. "I'll go to the class. And pay attention. But only if we go buy slush-ice first." Eating slush-ice during classes was sort of our thing. We just concentrated better that way, how illogical that might've been.

"Good." I looked around, still on my wild glass-search. "Where'd I put those darn things?" I mumbled to myself.

"Where'd you put what?" Diana had lain back down on the bed, inspecting her nails. I guess 'not doing anything too tiring' meant 'not doing a flying fwupper at all, all day' In her book.

"My glasses." I answered. She lazily looked to both her sides, like she couldn't even be bothered to sit up to do it. "But they're right here. On your bedside table." She picked them up, and, just because she knew it would annoy me, she tossed them to me.

I didn't catch them, since I could barely see them coming and they hit me in the neck, before falling down. I expected to hear a clatter of broken glasses, but the same mess-pile from before saved them.

"Now I know Superman's been here. Those glasses are never where they should be." I suppose she was right. I was quick to pick them up and put them on, the world coming into focus once again.

"Since you're a cheap-ass without a TV, I say we go to my apartment." She said a moment later. I walked out of my room to see her shrugging her coat on again. I felt like I should protest at that, but it was true. She did have a nice TV at her place and it was closer to the school anyway, so we might as well. I made her stay and wait for me to cover my bruise with some make-up and then we left.

It was a short walk from my apartment to hers – only about fifteen minutes, and in the end, we'd end up in a much nicer part of town than my place. Her parents were rich, which meant she had a shit-load of money herself and she put them to good use.

Or at least just put them to use, anyway.

As we walked, I spotted a picture of Superman by a newspaper stand and that horrible feeling that I'd done something stupid returned. I couldn't believe I'd managed to forget it, but now it was totally overwhelming.

On a whim, I stopped and bought the newspaper the picture was on. It was a Daily Planet paper, so after looking at the picture, I went in search of any articles by Clark. I usually liked those. But that probably had more to do with the man than the articles.

"Dude! Look where you're going!" I had found an article by Clark and it got me distracted enough to almost walk into Diana.

"Sorry." I folded the paper and slipped it into my bag, mentally reminding myself to read the article later.

I've been procrastinating on my History paper all Easter and now I don't have anymore time to get it done.

I hate my work attitude sometimes.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and if you did, please leave a review to tell me what you thought of it!