"I feel ridiculous," Lois muttered to herself as she hid the note requesting a parent-teacher conference under the mattress. "But lately, what else is new?" It wasn't that she was afraid he was going to punish her. What was he going to do? Send her to bed without any supper? Give her a spanking? She simply didn't want him gloating about her inability to stay out of trouble and just thinking about Clark acting as her parent and talking with Ms. Kenney made her shudder.

Clark still hadn't found Zatanna. He said it was like she had disappeared off the face of the earth, but that he would keep looking. Lois wasn't too worried. She was annoyed though. She figured Zatanna was probably hiding on purpose.

---

"What did your father say about the note?" Ms. Kenney asked the next morning.

Lois put on her best innocent act, which as an adult would never have worked, but with a child's face, it worked decently well. "He said that he isn't going to take time off from work to go talk about his stinking kid. He already knows me. He doesn't need to hear the comments of some know-it-all teacher with a college education."

"Thank you, Lois," Ms. Kenney said.

"You're welcome," she said before going to her seat with relief. She had obviously succeeded.

---

At recess, she sat on the sidelines again, simply watching the kids. It was actually rather interesting watching the children play. Her eyes fell on a student in her class, who also sat on the sidelines. Ethan was autistic. During recess he would study the rocks like they were the most fascinating things in the world. Lois had tried to talk to him a couple of times, but he had ignored her. He would sometimes talk to himself. He seemed happy entertaining himself and not eager for company, so she let him be. Lois wished she was as good at entertaining herself. He looked like a very sweet kid and highly intelligent for a kindergartener.

She could tell Ms. Kenney was worried that she wasn't joining in the play at recess because she would shoot her worried glances every so often. She had a feeling that if there had been a parent-teacher conference that fact would have entered into the discussion.

Carter came over to her, red and out of breath from his playing, and invited her to come onto the playground equipment.

"Oh, what the heck. You only live once, right?" Lois replied.

She climbed up the play equipment stairs and then went down the metal slide. "Hey, I forgot how fun this was," she called up to Carter.

She stood up to go and try it again when she saw a couple of 3rd graders picking on Ethan. They appeared to be calling him names and dropping pebbles on his head. Ms. Kenney and the 3rd grade teacher, who were supposed to be watching the kids, were busy talking and didn't see the 3rd graders picking on Ethan.

She knew she really shouldn't get in a fight with children, but she couldn't exactly pick them up the back of their shirts and call their parents. This fight would be fair given her size and she wouldn't use her karate skills. She went over and held up her fists in a threatening manner, hoping that alone would make them back off. "Why don't you pick on somebody who can defend themselves?" she asked.

They snorted. "We're not going to fight a girl," one of them said.

"Well, I'm going to fight you. How does that strike you?"

It apparently didn't strike them very well, as they took the pebbles and started throwing them at her with force.

Lois managed not to get hit, but she forgot her promise to herself not to use karate. She knocked them to the ground. She was careful not to hurt them while she did it, because she realized they were still children. She took the rocks out of their hands.

The teachers had seen the 3rd graders getting knocked into the grass and came running over.

Ms. Kenney grabbed her right hand. To the boys, she said sharply, "We're going to the office. Let's go."

"Thank you," Ethan said before she was dragged away, surprising Lois. It had a rather emotionless sound to it and he didn't make eye contact, but she knew it was genuine. He never initiated conversation.

She gave him a wide smile. "You're welcome."

Lois sat on the hard wooden bench in the office waiting for her turn to see the principal. Ms. Kenney was in there with him. The boys had gone in first to tell their side of the story. Then it was Lois' turn. The principal looked stern. Ms. Kenny looked more sympathetic. They waited for her to take a seat.

"What happened?" Ms. Kenney inquired gently.

Lois figured she might as well come clean. "They were picking on Ethan and dropping rocks on his head. I had to do something."

"We don't tolerate fights, Lois, and you should learn that in kindergarten. If you see someone in trouble, you go tell a teacher," the principal told her.

"I plan on calling her father," Ms. Kenney told the principal.

He nodded, "I support that."

Lois leaned back against the chair and shut her eyes tight. She almost wished they were calling her father. He would take her side in this matter.

TBC