Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville, Superman, or DC
Author's Note: Thanks for all your lovely reviews! What I know of winter formals and Sadie Hawkins are from Wikipedia, as we didn't have anything similar over here in Britain. At least where I went to school! Here's the next instalment.
Chapter 37
Smallville High Winter Formal
Ladies Choice
TWIRP
28th January 2006
Lucas looked at the flyer he had been handed by Ellen Singer and asked.
"What's TWIRP stand for?"
But Ellen had already moved onto her next victim, so Chloe, who was in the doorway of The Torch office answered:
"It's an acronym; it means The Woman Is Required To Pay. Seeing as we don't have a Sadie Hawkins dance the Events Committee has decided this year's Winter Formal will be Ladies choice. I'd watch out if I were you, I can already see the wolves circling."
Lucas looked down the hall to see groups of teenage girls with flyers looking up at him then whispering conspiratorially. If that wasn't enough, then there was giggling.
"I think I'm somewhere not here that weekend."
Clara came out of The Torch office with another load of photocopied posters and flyers, handing them to a waiting Events Committee member.
"Here you are Stacy."
"Thanks Clara! The copier in the Student Lounge broke down and the Staff wouldn't let us use theirs for "non-class related propaganda". They're real kill joys. Hope to see you at the dance!"
Stacy, a perky blond girl with an inclination towards wearing varying shades of Pink, smiled chipperly at Clara before bouncing down the hall passing out flyers like an overgrown cupid.
It was the second week back from the Christmas break and after a week of having the life frightened out of them by their teachers about the approaching SATs, the Events Committee was doing its part to distract them all by having them agonise over who to ask to the Winter Formal instead.
Lucas moved the heat of the conversation away from him by asking:
"Who are you asking Clara?"
Clara smiled and nervously brushed her wavy hair behind her ear.
"Dances and I get along a lot better if I'm working. I'll be taking pictures for The Torch and the Year Book Committee."
"So there's no one in school you'd want to ask at all?"
A vision of Lex in a tux entered Clara's mind, she forced the thought out of her head. He was one of her best friends, and definitely way too sophisticated to go to a high school dance in a gym decorated with crepe paper and balloons. But she couldn't hide a blush appearing on her cheeks.
"No, no one here."
Chloe looked at her knowingly.
"What about you Chloe, anyone you'd ask?"
"Sorry to insult your kind Lucas, but teenage boys can be a little immature. I prefer a man with a little more...experience of life."
Clara remembered what Chloe had said about her brief tryst with an intern at the Daily Planet, at least if 21 could be called "experienced". Jimmy Olson, she thought his name was.
"No offense taken, I know what you mean. I like to think I'm not like most guys my age."
Clara made a point of not looking at Lucas at that comment. It was a little awkward to know someone's deepest darkest secret. In just a few months, Lucas would be going to Paris, and Coach Teague would be going with him. As long as no one official found out about their feelings in the mean time, then it was plain sailing for their future relationship. Clara hated to say it, but people could be quite homophobic, usually out of ignorance.
"You'd better start spreading the rumour you're out of town then Lucas. Otherwise there is going to be a line of girls waiting to ask you to the dance" said Chloe, grinning.
Lucas looked around again, to see that the groups of girls were had stopped giggling, and were now looking at him with determined faces.
"Er...I think you're right Chloe. I'll see you ladies later; I need to make a quick exit. I'll tell my Aunt Nell to start getting ready for corsage orders."
Lucas bade them goodbye and then started jogging down the hall. The bell rang for 4th period and the disappointed brood of girls slumped to their classes.
Ahhhh the pain of unrequited love.
...
The next two weeks flew by with a flurry of homework, classes, dog walking, baking and farm chores and then suddenly, Clara realised that January was coming to an end. She'd met up with Lex to walk their dogs together a couple of times, they'd played catch with them, Clara surreptitiously using her strength to keep up with the speedy canines, and while they'd chatted, the subject of the dance came up.
"So did you have a Winter Formal?"
"We had a similar event with a neighbouring girl's boarding school, St Bernadette's. It was pretty much the female equivalent of Excelsior."
"So did you ask anyone?"
"It was more of a networking event. The schools rented a hotel and then we were all put into a room together. We'd never met each other before. Making contacts with other heirs and the children of powerful people is important for future business matters. You get thrown in the deep end so to speak."
Clara stopped walking and leant against the boundary fence of the field, looking up at Lex.
"That doesn't sound very fun."
Lex followed Clara's lead and leant on the fence next to her, checking where the dogs were from the corner of his eye.
"It was more an exercise for future business events. Of course it did lead to other...connecting on a more personal level."
Clara understood what he meant. Lex had always been quite frank about his personal conquests. He'd decided it was better for him to tell her, than for her to find out from someone else. They'd walked on and then the subject of Clara's dance photography came up.
"So, you're going stag? Have you at least bought a dress?"
"I'm just going to be taking pictures, is there really a need?"
"Why not get into the spirit of things? You're only 18 once Clara" Lex threw the ball again and Krypto and Swift scrambled after it.
"I'm sure if Excelsior hadn't been a penitentiary for criminally rich little snots I'd have given it a try."
"Really? You'd have rented a tux and gotten a girl a corsage?"
"More likely I'd have worn an Armani and bought the girl diamonds, but you get the idea."
"I think I'll just wear something I already have. I'm behind the camera, no one's going to be looking at me."
Lex reached out and tucked a piece of her waving hair behind her ear, chucking her under the chin lightly.
"Then those boys must be blind."
Clara had blushed at that, and luckily Swift nearly bowled her over in his enthusiasm to return the ball.
...
The next day, at 1 am in the morning, in the middle of a dark field, Sheriff Ethan motioned for his deputies to surround a shack. The lights were on, and steam was emanating from the ramshackle chimney. It smelt like a bar. They took up their point positions and he made hand signals. Then he shouted:
"Kansas County Sheriff's Office! Come out with your hands up!"
There was no response, and he gave the order to kick the door down. The inhabitants tried to run, but were collared by deputies.
"Joseph and Jack Daniels, you are under arrest for the selling of liquor without a license or tax, for the theft of farm produce and the use of contaminated goods with the intent to sell for consumption. You have the right to remain silent..."
Around them were all the signs of an illegal distilling operation. Ethan moved to some boxes that contained fruits that were tinged with an odd red essence. He read the stickers.
"Yep, this is the produce contaminated by those funny red meteor rocks by the creek. Mr Jefferson said it was stolen from his barn before he could get environmental health to come dispose of it. Looks like you boys are in a heap of trouble."
"We didn't steal nothing! It was left on the side of the road. We don't know anything about no contamination!"
"Tell it to the judge son. You'd better give us the names of everyone you've sold your bootlegged alcohol to. If anyone gets sick or god forbid, dies, you could have manslaughter charges on you!"
They dragged the men to the cars, and Ethan hoped their operation hadn't spread too far, who knows what that alcohol could do to somebody.
...
The school halls were silent and dark as two figures slunk in clumsily through an unlatched window, knocking over a pot that rang obnoxiously through the cavernous kitchen. Sam and Bobby cringed and the former held up a hand, but when there was no sign of any other human life, they finished climbing in and switched on the work top lights. Sam slapped Bobby on the arm in admonishment for kicking over the pot and they began arguing in whispers.
"This is totally cliché. If we get found out we're going to be in deep again. We were nearly expelled for that stunt at Halloween."
"Stop being such a girl Sam. It's not a high school dance if someone doesn't spike the punch! Anyway, come on, how were we to know those meteor rocks could cause mutations? If anything, it's the governments fault for not cleaning them up! We were practically doing a public service by bringing a health hazard to their attention!"
"I don't think spiking the punch is going to do us any favours"
"Come on! Everyone's scared stiff about the SAT's and most of them are too damn straight laced to loosen up. But this" Bobby held up a hip flask "is some sweet stuff the Daniel's brothers hooked me up with. It was distilled right here in Smallville. I mean, we're supporting a local business! You know how the Events Committee were harping on that all the dance food and drink were local produce."
"It's illegal alcohol."
"It hasn't done me any harm. The Daniel's don't care much for age limits, only cash. I'm giving away good money to see some of my classmates loosen up!"
Bobby walked over to a large industrial refrigerator and opened it to reveal several glass jugs of purple liquid. He pulled them out and sniffed them.
"Yup, Blackberry Punch, not very inspired, but it'll cover up the liquor nicely" he opened the top of his flask and poured a decent shot into each jug, swirled them, and put them back in the fridge while Sam stood on watch. A light suddenly turned on in the corridor, flooding through the window of the door. Sam hissed at Bobby:
"Someone must have seen the light, the janitor is coming!"
Bobby slammed the fridge and ran to the window and they slipped out, unaware of the red light emanating from the fridge, or that the liquid within had shifted from purple to bright crimson.
...
Authors Note: Hope you liked it! I'm not a police officer so most of those charges are probably bogus, I tried to make them sound official though! Please read and review!