Alright, this chapter is short as hell, but I wanted to at least update the story. Anyway, tell me what you thought about it:)

By the way, you should also check out my newest story, The Damaged Hero, depicting the life of an emotionally scarred Superman after 17 years spent in imprisonment. It's a Superman/Wonder Woman story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Superman.

Chapter 39 - World History

It's been a week since the kidnapping of the Kents, however brief it was. Sarah noticed that Clark was solemn and somehow kept pushing her away, letting his Kryptonian persona slowly take control, and she was hurt and worried at first, but now, she was hurt, worried and angry. It was not healthy, and Clark was supposed to know it, with his stupid Kryptonian super-IQ brain.

She knew well Kryptonians were aloof and cold. And she knew well that Clark struggled with this part of his character a lot, even if he tried to suppress it and never show it to her or to his parents. Or anyone, basically.

So it felt both good and bad when she finally cornered him at school, approximately fifteen minutes before the ball rang. He was wearing a pair of jeans, a button up and a sweatshirt on top of it, which did nothing to hide his physique – it only showed off his muscled chest and his arms. Sarah normally would probably be smitten, but she was too cornered and ... and yeah, and angry.

The moment she saw him, she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, which must've looked pretty comically, given their height difference, and proceeded to enter the female toilets, much to Clark's horror.

„What's been going on with you, Clark?" she asked. At his confused expression, she decided to explain. „You've been aloof, cold, and slowly distancing yourself from me over the past two weeks."

„I'm fine," he said stiffly. He might've been many things – a Kryptonian, Superman, a nerd, a dork, an amazing boyfriend, a good son, a superhero, and dozens of different things but a good liar was nowhere on the list.

„No, you aren't." Her eyes softened then, and put her hand on his cheek, „I'm worried about you, Clark. What's going on?" she asked softly, caressing his cheek with her thumb. She could see his façade crumble before her eyes. He looked down at his shoes and took a deep breath. He then looked at her, and saw the pain and the guilt in his eyes. And then it all clicked.

"You still feel guilty, don't you?" and angry, she thought. He didn't answer, but she knew the answer already. "Clark," she said, "It wasn't your fault. Your parents told you so."

"They set Luthor free, Sarah," he whispered, and there was unmistakable anger in his voice. She didn't like that one bit. She put her other hand on his face. "They didn't have enough evidence."

"You'll catch him. You and the League. For now, Clark, stop thinking about it. You are safe. I am safe. Your parents are safe. You can't live in the present while constantly thinking about the future. Stop thinking about the what ifs and why's. No matter how smart Luthor is, he will slip. And you will be there to catch him. Okay?"

"I-I'm sorry," he said, his voice quiet, "I didn't want to push you away. I got so wrapped up in my own guilt that I forgot what truly mattered." He then looked at her, the guilt and anger was still there, but the love outshone it tenfold. She smiled at him. She could see the Clark she knew and loved, her Clark, come back.

He hugged her tightly, and she was all too happy to reprecipitate. She breathed his scent – he smelled like air and something so Clark she couldn't find the words to describe it even if she wanted to.

A sudden shriek broke them out of the hug. They turned around and saw a senior girl.

"Any reason for you to be here?" asked the senior Clark recognized as Mindy. He apologized, and with a tug, he let Sarah and himself out of the bathroom. Sarah was already red in the face, trying to suppress her laughter.

"Very funny," deadpanned Clark, which only made her need to laugh bigger. The bell rang, and Sarah didn't realize they've been on the toilets, having their heart-to-heart.

"What do you have now?" asked Clark.

"Physics. You?"

"World History."

"Okay. I'll see you later?" asked Sarah with a hint of smile on her face.

"Oh, definitely," he said, before leaning down and giving her a quick kiss. Which turned into a deeper kiss. Sarah licked Clark's bottom lip, asking for entrance. He was happy to oblige. Clark let Sarah take control of the kiss, and her tongue found its way into his mouth, something Clark enjoyed thoroughly.

Someone cleared their throat. Sarah groaned and blushed at the same time.

"Shouldn't you kids be in class by now?" asked a teasing voice. They turned around only to be met with a smiling Mrs. Adams, their former Math teacher, thanks to whom they met the other.

"Hello, Mrs. Adams, nice to see you again," said Sarah. Clark was pretty sure he'd be blushing if it weren't for his biology.

"Hello, Ms. Wilson, Mr. Kent. Nice to see you, too. Together," she said with a wink. "Now, I'm pretty sure, as I've said before, you should be in your respective classes."

"Yes, Mrs. Adams, we're sorry," said Clark.

After Mrs. Adams left, Sarah started laughing. Clark let out a chuckle, too. Who knew their teacher shipped them?

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Clark heard a cry for help in his AP World History. He knew something like this could happen. With a raised hand, he asked, "May I go to the toilet, please?"

"Why would you need to go to the toilet right now, Mr. Kent?" asked his teacher, Mr. Fredericks – a middle aged man in his fifties.

Clark was extremely tempted to answer that he needed to go to open his chamber of secrets, but he figured it would be highly inappropriate. "I need to use the toilet, sir."

Apparently, he liked being called a sir, and with a grim smile, he gave him a hall pass and let him go. Ten seconds later, a sonic boom could be heard in the airspace of Smallville, Kansas.

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While Clark didn't have to break the sound barrier to fly across the town, he realized that it was a good cover. Superman wouldn't normally be in a small town in Kansas unless something came up. And that something could be a fire of an apartment building. And yes, Smallville had apartment buildings, thank you very much.

Clark had no idea what to do – as far as he was aware, he didn't have any freezing abilities. So, he did the only thing that came to mind – he clapped. Not an ordinary clap, no. He outstreched his arms, and then, extremely fast, he slapped his palms together, creating a very strong, and very effective ripple of air, which successfully put out the fire, much to his bewilderment. He didn't expect it to work.

Clark then escorted the people out of the building, and seeing as there were some spots still on fire, Clark put it out as well. Some people suffered from smoke inhalation while some suffered from various degrees of burns. Fortunately, the ambulance, or rather, ambulances, were already waiting, so Clark didn't have to escort anyone in the hospital. Everyone would be alright.

He immediately went back to school. He has been gone for almost 15 minutes. This wouldn't end well.

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„Where have you been, Mr. Kent?" asked Mr. Fredericks. Clark felt like a deer caught in the headlights, and so, he said the only thing that came to mind.

„Diarrhea."

The rest of the class started to laugh, much to Mr. Fredericks' horror, and while the teacher seemed to believe him, he wasn't amused at all. He sent him back to his seat and then went back to his lecture about Technological and Environmental Transformations to 600 B.C.

Later, when he met Sarah, she asked him why he smelled of smoke. Clark just laughed.

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Clark had a monitor duty tonight, much to his annoyance – he wanted to take Sarah out on a date as an apology for behaving like a dick for the past few days. She said it was alright and that they could have it tomorrow, since it would be Friday.

He met some members of the League, and since he had the time, he stopped by and had a small chat with some of them, including Zatanna, who was still flirting with him, though in a friendly way, not a predatory way she used to do this before she learned of his age.

When he entered the Monitor Womb, he was met with Black Canary, who he hasn't seen in a long time. „Hey, Dinah. How are you?" he asked politely. Dinah turned around and beamed at him.

„Great. Having a date with Ollie tonight, so ..."

Clark nodded in understanding. He was supposed to replace her on the duty in about half an hour. „That's fine, you can go."

She beamed at him. „Thanks, Clark. By the way, we finally set a date!"

„Really?" Clark asked, surprised. He knew Dinah and Ollie were engaged – he congratulated them both, but he didn't know they've already set a date.

„Yeah. December 15th," she beamed. It was now September 21st. He smiled at her. „That's amazing, Dinah!" he exclaimed.

„You're invited, by the way. Every core member is. Don't forget to bring that girlfriend of yours we've heard so much about," she said and winked at him as she said the last part. Clark rolled his eyes a little bit and gave her a one armed hug.

„Alright, alright, if she's okay with it. Now, don't you have a date to go to?"

Dinah smiled.

After she left, Clark sat down on a chair and picked up a paper and a pencil, sketching some rough ideas about what he could improve on his suit. His hyperactive Kryptonian brain was already buzzing with ideas.

Twenty minutes later, an alarm alerted him of a small and fast aircraft entering Earth's atmosphere. Clark immediately alerted Cyborg and asked if he could take over the duty, as he was one of the few available members on the Watchtower, and left the tower. Vic was already giving him the aircraft's coordinates.

Smallville, Kansas.

Please, let me know what you thought about this chapter in your review, it would really make my day:)