"Cool"
Part One
"This is what I love about high school parties," Chloe began off sarcastically as she walked with Clark and Elena through the crowd of teenagers who were either sucking on each other's faces or getting drunk off their socks. "People will gather anywhere as long as there's illegally purchased alcohol and even the slightest chance of hooking up."
"Yeah, it's all a very profound experience," Elena couldn't help but join in on the blonde's sarcasm as she let out a bored sigh.
Stepping out of a loving couple's way, Clark shook his head in dismay and smirked down at both girls, "If I recall correctly, you guys were the ones who wanted to come to this party."
Elena remained quiet by Chloe's side, looking past the throng of partying teenagers, until her eyes settled on the bright flames of the small bonfire burning at the center of the woods' clearing. The only reason why she even agreed to be here was to distract herself from things back at home with her parents.
About a week now, it was the longest that Isaac and Magdalena had been under the same roof with Elena after Evan's death. Elena knew they were trying their best to make things work as a normal family, but she wasn't oblivious to their late-night arguments. It was always about the same thing, too: the League of Assassins and her training to become part of it. As usual, her father opposed while her mother reminded him that the two of them were no better.
Elena knew the kind of people her parents were, or at the least had been. Ever since her father was left orphaned as a boy, he did whatever it took to survive the blood soaked streets of Gotham. But she also knew that while her father's hands were not as clean as she wished they'd be, they were not to be compared to the amount of blood on her mother's hands.
Ever since Evan's death, Isaac and Magdalena had been fighting a tug-of-war game and Elena had been caught right in the middle of it all week.
All she wanted was a little break from her parents' constant back-and-forth in order to prevent herself from being pulled apart in half.
Although sure that she'd have to face the consequences of this big decision later, especially with her birthday coming soon, right now she would rather forget all about assassins, revenge plots, and mysterious family curses.
Instead, Elena enjoyed the beginning low temperatures of a promising winter and listened with an amused smile as Chloe complained while shivering, "Yeah, but I didn't know it was going to be so cold. It's like twenty thousand degrees below zero out here."
Clark smiled the same, shrugging at their freezing friend, "I don't know, it doesn't feel that cold to me."
"Are you from an ice planet? It's freezing!" Chloe looked at him, incredulous, but then shook her head as she joked, "We're going to go thaw out by the fire."
Elena let herself be dragged away from Clark as the blonde walked them to sit by the fire, shooting back to him a sarcastic, "Have fun!"
It wasn't long before Chloe decided she needed a hot drink and went to search for some coffee at the expense of leaving Elena alone by the fire.
Truth be told, it was a little colder than usual and Elena wasn't dressed for it. She contemplated calling Clark over and see if she could borrow his jacket, warming her hands close to the fire, but she was interrupted by Sean.
"If you'd like, I could rub them for you." She slowly turned to look up at the football player, a big smirk splattered on his face as he continued, "Nothing heats up a body like friction."
"First: Gross." Elena scrunched up her nose in disgust. "Second: I'm not that cold. And third: even if I were, Sean, I'd get help from someone else."
Sean shrugged with a sigh and sat next to her on the large wood log, "Well, all I did was offer to keep your hands warm, Elena."
"And all I did was say, 'no, thank you,'" she gave him a friendly smile that didn't reach her eyes as she leaned a little closer to her side.
"I've read your editorials in the Torch," Sean nodded, choosing not to take the hint. "Pretty cool."
"Nah-uh," Elena shook her head and held up a finger 'no.' "Last time you tried this Lillian had it out for me, and you're with Jenna now. I'm not having problems with her, she's my lab partner, so goodbye."
She stood to leave but Sean grabbed her by the wrist and stopped her with a sweet smile,"Come on, didn't you hear? I'm not with her anymore."
"So you dumped her," she deadpanned as he stood up to meet her height. "Really, man?"
"It was mutual."
"Still, not happening." Elena shook her arm free from his hold, annoyance starting to rise on her face.
"Don't worry, Elena, I'm not going to make a move on you, no matter how pretty I think you are."
Sean's voice dropped low and soft at the end and it sent shivers down her back, but not in the good way as she couldn't help but laugh. "Oh god, no! Please, just- here, just have it…" She pulled the pen she had secured in her ponytail and quickly jotted down her number on his wrist, "but don't bother calling, alright?"
"Yo, Sean! Hail Marys down by the lake!" His team shouted for him to join them a few feet away.
Sean's face broke into a cocky grin as he raced towards the guys but not before turning to say to her, "Tomorrow, I promise!"
"Yeah, don't worry, I won't pick up!" Elena reassured with a smile which only made Sean shake his head back, amused.
Elena sat back down once Sean was gone, the smile still tentative on her lips as she looked at the flames of the fire. If he ended up not calling, it wouldn't be the end of the world. But if he did call, she was thinking of maybe picking up.
"Did you just write your phone number down on Sean Kelvin's hand?" Clark took a seat next to her, raising his eyebrows in disbelief.
"Yeah, he called me pretty," she mocked with a dreamy sigh. She was obviously not serious but this seemed to escape Clark as he grew concerned, "Elena, the guy's a dog."
"Oh, hey, relax, Clark," she laughed, not expecting Clark's stern look, and admitted, "I just did it so he could stop bothering me. Trust me, he's not my type."
Elena meant what she said. There was no way in hell she would ever agree to go out with a guy like Sean, but there was no harm in keeping her options open in case she needed a distraction. And by the way the week had been going, it looked like she was going to need one after all.
The morning was chilly and again, Elena was regretting not bringing a jacket as she walked to the school bus stop with Clark and Pete in only a light, long sleeve shirt. She'd woken up a bit groggy and with a runny nose but at the expense of not bumping into her mother or father at home, she had hurried out the house and forgotten her hoodie.
Her only hope now was to see if Chloe had an extra sweater stuffed in her locker at school.
"Hey, did Sean ever call?" Clark asked Elena as the three of them walked the dirt path from the Kent Farm.
"No," she answered simply. Honestly, she had completely forgotten about it as they weekend rolled around and went. Although, she was if nothing but a little surprised to know that Clark remembered.
Pete mistook Elena's slightly confused look for sadness and tried to stay hopeful for her. "Maybe he got caught up. One time, my sister didn't hear from a guy for a week. When she called to tell him off, it turned out his grandmother died."
"Oh wow," she let out softly at Pete's words. "Well, my condolences go out to that guy. But, really, Pete, I'm fine."
"You're probably better off." Clark agreed. "Sean's a total dog anyway."
"He's not that bad, Clark. He's always been cool to me. Just because you can't get past your Lana crush, don't knock us for trying to make a love connection."
Elena looked at Pete with a smirk, "On better thought, maybe you should call him up, Pete."
"Ha ha, very funny," Pete let out sarcastically before explaining, "look, I'm just trying to help you score, Elena."
"I don't have a crush on Lana," Clark objected, completely ignoring the banter between the two.
"Then why don't you ask some other girl out?" Pete raised his eyebrows at Clark, trying to make a point.
"Like who?"
"Like Elena!" Her name rolled out of Pete's mouth without difficulty and she stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around to say something but Pete didn't give her the chance as he shamelessly continued, Clark just as appalled at the idea as her. "Come on, you guys are practically inseparable. You know each other so well, dating would be a piece of cake for you and Elena."
"Hey, hold up! I'm not gonna be anyone's 'Dating for Dummies,' even if it's Clark." She took a pause and directed at Clark, softening her words but still remaining stern, "Sorry, Band-Aids, but that's just how it is. A girl needs to have her dignity, you know."
"No, I know," Clark quickly nodded, his cheeks flushed pink but he'd like to blame it on the biting cold of the morning breeze. "Pete's just being ridiculous," he shot the boy a sly glare, "right, Pete?"
"Oh, yeah!" Pete rubbed the back of his neck nervously, and smiled, "yeah, I was just joking. You two would be horrible together, really."
Elena sighed, rolling her eyes and finally letting this pointless conversation end as they reached their stop, "Whatever the case, if I want to go out with a guy like Sean, it's my decision. You guys can share your opinions, but I'm the one who gets to pick, okay?" The boys nodded as if they were agreeing to their mother, and Elena had to hold back her amusement. "And Clark, if you really like Lana that much, just ask her out. I promise she won't say not to y- Achoo!"
"Bless you," the teenage boys said in unison as Elena quickly covered her sneeze.
"Thanks," it was an immediate reaction as she sniffed once more to clear the air.
Noticing the thin material of the shirt she wore, Clark silently took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. Elena welcomed the warmth with no protest, thanking Clark with a smile, and she didn't miss Pete smiling knowingly close behind.
"Whatever," she muttered, pulling Clark's jacket tighter around her as she turned to step into the stationed school bus.
After school, Elena skipped training with her mom and stopped at the Beanery to get a hot cup of lemon tea. Her runny nose and constant sneezing might've been allergies but she wasn't going to take any chances. Besides, the cooler weather merited a warm drink.
"Elena, hey!" Lana smiled as she looked up from her book and waved her friend over.
"Hey," Elena returned her smile and waded through a couple of customers to finally take the empty seat across from her. "Russian classic?" She eyed Lana's paperback novel in hand. "What's gotten you so deep into the words of Pasternak?"
"Whitney can't go to Metropolis with me tomorrow. He made plans with his team that he can't get out of," Lana closed the book with a sigh, not helping her growing frustration.
"That sucks, Lana," Elena sympathized but the raven-head girl was quick to brush the matter off.
"It's partly my fault. I should've reminded him earlier. But hey, at least I got Dr. Zhivago to keep me company."
"Can't say I'm not jealous," Elena joked before a waitress at the front of the coffee shop called her order. "And that's me," she stood up and said goodbye, "I'll see you later, Lana."
"See you, Elena," Lana returned her smile and reached for her coffee on the round table, continuing to flip through her book.
"Let me get this straight," Chloe recapped what had happened after Elena left the Beanery yesterday. "You walked in to get a cappuccino and walked out with a date with Lana Lang?" She asked Clark, hardly believing that he finally had the nerve to ask out the girl of his dreams.
"It's not actually a date," Clark reminded the group as they walked to the front of the school.
"Good," Elena said, "because as far as I know Whitney's still her boyfriend, and that would be low of you, Clark."
"Yeah, agreed." Chloe nodded. "But even with the just as friends rider, I'm still impressed."
"How did you score the tickets?" Pete asked Clark about the two first-row concert tickets to Radiohead in Metropolis tomorrow.
Elena remained quiet as she picked up her pace and pushed ahead of the group.
If she had to take a good guess, her money would be on Lex being the one who got Clark those tickets. But what she couldn't figure out was why all of a sudden, Clark had asked Lana and not her? Clark knew she was a fan of Radiohead, and if it had been her in his place, he would've been the first person on her mind to ask to go with her. And she had also been at the Beanery, granted she didn't see Clark, but maybe Clark would've seen and caught her, if she had been the one he was looking for.
Before her train of thought went any further, Elena sighed and pulled on the strap of her backpack to keep it over her shoulder.
What was she doing? She sounded jealous; when she certainly didn't feel like that towards Lana and Clark... Maybe she was coming down with something, Elena contemplated as she continued to walk a couple of steps ahead of her friends while listening to the conversation.
"I'm guessing a certain follicly challenged individual was behind it," Elena couldn't help but snort at Chloe's description of Lex Luthor.
"Lex hooked me up," Clark said as a matter of fact. "Actually, Elena, I have you to thank."
The brunette stopped and turned around to raise a questioning eyebrow at him "What did I do?"
Clark only answered back with a wide smile, "You were right. I just had to get it out there."
"Oh, well," she cleared her throat and nodded, "no problem." For some reason, she couldn't quite meet his eyes and kind of quickly glanced at him with a small smile before she continued to walk up the steps to the school building.
Skipping forwards to catch up with Elena, Pete smiled as he pointed at the jock coming out of the double doors, "Hey, look, maybe this is your chance."
Sean saw her before she saw him and walked over to her. "Elena," he smiled charmingly, "don't I owe a phone call?"
Elena looked at him, pleasantly surprised to not have been met with the same 'annoyed-at-first-sight' feeling in the pit of stomach as it often happened when she met with Sean. So, she decided to go along with it for a change.
"Yeah, Sean, you do."
"Okay, then what are you doing now?"
The way he cut straight to the point caught Elena by surprised, and she couldn't help feel the embarrassment rise to her cheeks as she stammered, "Uh, now?... I-I don't know- I have to finish my-"
Sean groaned impatiently and just as he came he went, moving on to some other girl that caught his eye as he completely ignored her and left.
Elena furrowed her brow, blinking and shaking her head before asking the rest, "Okay, what the hell just happened?"
"It happened that Clark Kent got a date with Lana Lang, and suddenly there's no luck left in the universe for the rest of us," said Chloe.
"It's fine, Chief." Elena let go of whatever weird and begrudged feeling stirred in her heart. It wasn't like her to stop Clark from going after what he wanted, especially if it made him this happy, so she smiled as she shrugged and turned to Clark. "I'm really happy for you, Clark," she lifted her arm and punched the side of his arm playfully with a chuckle, "about time, I'd say."
REVIEW RESPONSES:
scripturient3201: Thank you for your review! I'm glad to know you enjoyed Elena's badass skills lol there's a whole lot more of those to come I promise. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! :)
Guest(1): Thank you for your review! Elena and Lana... those two omg! I'm not going to lie, they're friendship will go through some rough patches, but at the end of the day I think their relationship will grow to be more of a sisterly bond (at least that's what I'm aiming for so far). With the whole obvious Lana/Clark/Elena thing aside, I'm actually more excited for when Lana taps into her dark side in the later seasons- I haven't fully planned out the dynamic between her and Elena at this point but it'll be an interesting one for sure. I hope you stick by to see how it turns out and again thanks for reading! :)
Love. Fiction. 2020: Thank you for your review! And hey, I see what you did with your pen name lol But in all seriousness, I do hope 2020 is treating you and your loved ones well! :)
Guest (2): Thank you for reading! And yes, Elena's faceclaim is the actress Jessica Alba. If it helps to picture Elena better, at this point of the story I see her looking like Jessica's role in the Dark Angel tv show, especially in their first season where she has her hair cut short. :)
ocfairygodmother: Thank you for your lovely reviews! Seeing you pop in on my story always brings a smile to my face! Your kind words gave me just the right and final boost of motivation to get this chapter out! Thank you, again! :)
Djone246: Thank you for your review! I love the thought you put into them and I kid you not when I say I always go back to read your words whenever I feel my passion for writing start to fade, and they make me feel better about Elena and her story so thanks! I also agree with everything you've said. Even though he's trying his best, Elena's dad is not doing a good job at getting through to her. Evan would also never want her to join the League, and actually that's why he agreed to it in the first place even if he was too young, because he wanted to protect her from it. In a way, he sacrificed himself for Elena and that's something that she'll figure out later on. Also later on, I can say for sure that Clark (i don't know about his parents yet?) but she is going to tell him her whole secret and it will be at the end of season one. So during season 2, we'll see how that affects their relationship but don't worry because whatever the outcome of Elena's secret is Clark will be there for her at the end of it. And no, they're relationship is not going to be one-sided, it's just that right now they're teenagers and you know sometimes they can be dumb and make dumb choices lol but though Elena is going to realize it a little earlier than him, when Clark fully comes to realize that he's in love with her it's going to hit him like a truck and he's going to feel so stupid for not acknowledging it sooner lol but let me not get ahead of myself. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)
erica. phoenix16: Thank you for reading! Sorry it took so long, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter now that it's finally here! :)
Hopeyourhappy: Thank you for reading! I know it took me a while but I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! :)
And as always, for those who've read/favorited/followed this fic, I thank you as well!
I would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, and any constructive criticism you may have. Reviews are always great for a boost of writing motivation and do encourage me to update faster, so don't be afraid to leave even the simplest of words in the review box! :D
Thank you so much for reading, I wish you all lovelies a good day/night!
