Author's Note: This will not be the last Lana and Whitney chapter. This is simply how they met. How they got together, that will come in later chapters. Please be patient, read, review, and enjoy.

Chapter Seven

Lana and Whitney

Lana sat in the beanery, quietly reading as she waited for the waitress to bring her her order. She liked the beanery; it was a nice quiet place to read or socialize, though Lana preferred the former. However, she had quite a few friends on the cheer squad, and she had worked hard to cultivate a sociable image of herself. The last thing she wanted was to have people whispering about how much of a loner she was. So, she hung out with girls her age on the squad, smiled, and laughed, and eventually, headed home. She often read on the porch outside her house, underneath the glow of the moon. During the day, however, Nell had to run the flower shop, and she did not always have time to drop Lana at home before getting back to work. So Lana would hang out in the beanery, reading the book she had packed for this specific occasion.

The waitress brought her coffee, and she thanked her, taking a sip. Lana was still a little new to coffee, but it kept her up, which when you head almost every committee, are on the cheerleading squad, and are trying to keep on the honor roll was kind of a necessity.

A group of high school football jocks strolled in, wearing their Smallville Crows Jerseys. In just a year, Lana would be cheering for them, assuming she made the squad next year of course. So much was changing. Next year she would be in high school, just like them.

One of the guys caught her staring.

"Who's that chick?" he said, nodding in her direction. Lana quickly turned her head back down and looked at her book.

"Her. She's that girl who was on Time after the meteor shower. You know, Smallville's own cover girl."

Lana winced. She should be used to those comments by now, but she still was not.

"Yeah?" the guy said, looking back at Lana and appraising her, "She's hot."

Those comments she was less used to. She was only thirteen after al, and had only recently started to develop. She was coming along fine, of course, but she was very unaccustomed to hearing guys refer to her that way. Her cheeks grew red. One of the guys must have noticed, because she heard him say, "I think she heard you."

The guy started to approach her, "Were you eavesdropping, princess?" she tried to ignore him, "It's okay, I'm not offended." He said, taking a seat across from her, "It's flattering actually." He waited for her to respond, but she didn't, "What do you say you an I go for a walk, try to go to know each other better."

Finally, she looked up, her face still red. She could hear his some of friends snickering.

"Actually, I was trying to read."

"Yeah, but why read about life when you can live it?" he said, causally placing his hand on her thigh.

"Brad!" she heard a strong voice say. She looked up to see another football player, tall, with sandy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. "Why don't you leave the girl alone." his voice was calm, friendly, but demanding. It was the voice of a leader. Lana guessed he was team captain or something.

"I'm just offering her a chance to hang out. You can take a walk with her when I'm done if you like." Brad said, winking when he said the word walk.

The football player with the sandy blonde hair got angry at that. He grabbed the first guy by his collar and lifted him into a standing position.

"Dude!" the first guy said, surprised.

"She's in Middle School. Don't be an ass."

Brad backed up, hands in the air. "Whatever man."

The other football players were looking at them, but the sandy blonde-haired boy seemed to have calmed down.

"Show's over boys, come on, drinks on me, and then let's go blow off some steam, yeah?" He said, in a very charismatic manner. The guys all sat at a table a comfortable distance away from Lana, and in a minute, they were all laughing and joking, getting along as though the whole incident had never happened. After about forty minutes, they got up to leave. Lana looked up as they made their way out the door, and she caught the eye of the boy who had stood up for her. He looked in her direction, smiled at her, and then he was gone.

When Nell picked her up, Lana was still thinking about what had happened. She wanted to find some way to thank the boy who had stepped in, but she did not know how. In any case, she did not know who he was.

Whitney stood in the isle, helping Ben Hubbard pick out a television screen. How he loathed working here. But he was good at putting up a front, as any good salesperson should be. And the Oscar goes to, he thought as he told Ben how he could never go wrong with this model. It sucked, it really did. It was a lousy way to spend his time. But it was his dad's store, and his dad always said that someday, it would be his. Except he did not want it to be his. He did not want this, the small-town life. Whitney wanted a future, out there in the world, maybe in metropolis, or maybe in some other country. He did not know what he wanted to do exactly; he just knew he wanted to be a somebody, not a salesclerk.

He rang Ben up, and waited for the next customer. A girl with long black hair stepped up to the counter. She looked up at her, and her eyes went wide.

Wait, he knew her. Yes, she was that girl brad had been picking on the other day. How could he have forgotten?

"Hi." He said. He knew he was supposed to say 'how can I help you,' but if he did, she might think he did not remember her, and he did not want to offend her. He was not really sure what to say though, so 'hi' seemed the best option.

"Hey." She just stood there for a minute.

"Um, did you need, um, help?" he asked awkwardly.

"Yes, right. Sorry. Um, yes, I was looking for a desk lamp."

Whitney smiled, "Right this way." He said, making his way out from behind the counter. The girl followed.

"So, this for you?"

"My Aunt, actually. Her old one broke."

"Well, you could have her bring it in, have us take a look at it. Depending on how bad the damage is, fixing it might be cheaper than buying a new one."

The girl nodded. They were silent for a minute, which was awkward, and then, finally, somebody spoke, "Hey, thanks. For the other day."

"No problem. Brad isn't always that bad, but, you know, he can be a real jackass some of the time."

The girl nodded, "So it's your job to keep him in check."

"Someone has to."

"Well, thanks." Whitney nodded. "So, how long have you worked here?"

"Since I was old enough."

"You really dig the hardware profession, huh?"

"Actually, no, but it is my dad's store, so…" he just let the sentence lay there. The implication seemed pretty clear.

"So, you're a Fordman then?"

Whitney stopped. I never introduced myself he realized, laughing at himself a little, "Yeah, uh, Whitney." He said, holding out his hand.

The girl smiled, "Lana."

"Nice to meet you." They continued walking until they reached the lamps, which had only been a few paces away, "See anything you like?" Lana walked around, taking careful inventory of each item. Whitney watched her. "Need any help?" he asked after a couple minutes.

She laughed, "Sorry, I don't mean to take up so much of your time. It's just, well, I'm not looking for my taste; it's for my Aunt. You know."

Whitney nodded. It was always hard picking something out for somebody else.

"Well, what sort of thing does she like?"

Lana squinted and crinkled her nose in thought. She's kind of cute. Whitney thought.

"Elegant. Fancy. Respectable. And old-looking."

"Old-looking?"

"Yeah, you know, looks like an antique, but works with all the advantages of modern convenience."

Whitney smiled, "Ah." He looked around and something caught his attention. He walked over toward it, and Lana followed. Then he picked up the lamp, and gave it to her for her to examine, "This is perfect. She'll love this."

"Glad to be of service."

Lana nodded and followed him to the counter.

"How long is the warranty."

"Two years, but we don't expect our stuff to have any problems. Of course, seeing as your Aunt has not seen this yet, she may opt to just fix her old one, or pick one out herself, in which case she could exchange or return, but with a thoughtful niece like you picking it out for her, I think she'll be satisfied."

Lana giggled, "Too bad you don't like working here. You're a natural."

Whitney smiled, "Just don't let my dad hear you say that. The guy does not need any more encouragement."

"Secret's safe with me." she said, smiling. She had a nice smile. And she was kind of fun to talk to. No, fun was not the word, not exactly. Easy. That was it. She was easy to talk to. He felt comfortable talking to her. He enjoyed it, and it did not feel awkward or weird, even though he barely knew her and she was in middle school.

"Okay," he said, "You're all set."

"Thank you." She said, taking the lamp from the counter.

"Any time." He said, smiling. She smiled back. He watched her go out the door.