A sharp knocking at her door woke Lena up the next morning.

Shit. Did I oversleep?

Glancing at the watch on her wrist, she squinted at the hands. 5:30 a.m. It was her brother's, the only thing left of him that Lillian hadn't shut away in his room under lock and key.

The knock came again, this time with a quiet call. "Lena? You awake?"

Kara. Lena shot up, looking around. She caught a look at herself in the mirror on the door and froze. Her hair looked like something had nested in it and she was wearing an old Metallica shirt of Lex's. Anxiety locked her mouth shut and she waited for the knock to come again. It didn't, and she sunk back down, her heart thudding in her chest.

An hour later her 6:30 alarm went off and she rolled over, yawning.

Did I dream it?

She thought about the implications of it—dreaming about Kara—while throwing on the same jeans as yesterday and the shirt she had gotten at the dorm meeting. It was white and had a picture of a falcon on the back along with the crest of Midvale Prep, and wasn't particularly flattering but she didn't care. She had never been one to show off her body. She stared at the only picture on her desk, the polaroid from yesterday of her and Kara drinking the same milkshake, and smiled to herself.

With nothing to do until 10, she considered going to breakfast but realized she had no one to sit with.

Just sit by yourself. It's not like it'll be anything new.

Picking up her old copy of Gone With the Wind, she had to psych herself up before leaving for the Thomas Baker Student Center. There was no one in line and as she spooned eggs onto her plate, the woman behind the counter smiled at her.

"Hey there, darling. Early start?"

Glancing up then quickly back down, Lena nodded.

"You look familiar. Were you here last year?"

"No," Lena mumbled, walking off. She hurried past the few other tables and sat in the corner, only noticing once she sat down that she had left her book back in the kitchen. Steeling herself to walk across the mostly empty dining hall, she had just pushed back her chair when a shadow fell across her table.

"Can I sit?" A grey-eyed girl plopped down, not waiting for Lena's answer. "We haven't been formally introduced. I'm Elizabeth Martindale." She stole a grape off Lena's plate. "That's my table, if you want to sit with us." She pointed with a painted nail to where a group of girls was chatting and they all looked over at the same time.

"No thanks, I like sitting by myself."

Elizabeth stole another grape and gave her a smug smile as if to say "No, you don't". "You're never gonna get in with the right crowd if you hang out with people like Kara and Thomas. You're a Luthor, you're rich. You don't belong with them, you belong with us."

Lena instantly disliked this girl and wished her brother were there. Lex would never have let her talk to Lena like that, Lex would have the perfect comeback, wouldn't have been afraid to tell her off in front of a room full of people. Lex would have done a lot of things, some of them unimaginable. "I just like sitting alone."

"You're gonna regret it if you don't sit with us," Elizabeth started.

"You left your book, darling." A woman's voice, coming to her rescue. The lady from behind the counter smiled down on them, shooting a disapproving look at the grey-eyed girl. "Sounds like she wants to be left alone."

"Butt out, you old hag," Elizabeth spat, but she got up and went back to her own table.

Lena watched her go, horrified. "I can't believe she said that to you, I'm so sorry." She had been raised in a world where if you talked back to any adult you paid dearly and she couldn't believe Elizabeth had the nerve to talk like that to such a nice woman.

"It's all right," the lady gave her a conspiratorial grin. "I'm used to it. That girl walked around all last year like she was the shit, so it's nothing new."

Taken aback by the woman's swearing, Lena reached for her book. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. My name's Lydia, I'm the head of Midvale Prep Food Service. You ever need anything, let me know." She had a strong South African accent and Lena smiled shyly.

"Thanks."

"Sweetie, I'm not one to tell people what do to, but steer clear of that girl. Everything else will come easily."

The book was already open but Lena looked back up. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

The older woman smiled at her sympathetically. "You looked like you needed it." A small crowd was coming down the stairs and she turned to see who it was.

"Hi, Lydia!" Kara's face beamed across the dining hall and Lydia waved back as she disappeared into the kitchen.

"Now she's someone you should be friends with," Lydia said happily. "That Kara Danvers never forgets to say hello to everyone, she's always kind, and one smart cookie to boot."

"I know her, actually," Lena said, a hopeful feeling in her chest. Maybe she was off to a good start. "We met yesterday."

"Good, I'm glad. Well, I better get back but I'll let her know you're over here." Lydia was gone before she could protest and she sat, staring at her book without reading the words until another shadow crossed her table.

"Hey," Kara said cheerfully, her shirt identical to Lena's but in green. "Nice shirt," she winked, the smell of baking accompanying her as she sat down. Thomas and a few other people were trailing after her talking among themselves. "You don't mind if we sit here, do you?" she said at the surprised look on Lena's face.

"Go ahead," Lena shrugged, tucking a bit of hair behind her ear. "It's not like anyone else wants to sit with the town pariah." Whoops. That wasn't supposed to slip out.

Kara knit her eyebrows but didn't comment. "How was your first night?"

"Pretty good," Lena lied. She had tossed and turned until three in the morning thinking about her brother. "Hey, were you in my dorm this morning? I thought I heard your voice," she said shyly, not wanting to be wrong.

"Oh, yeah," Kara said casually. "I had to get here early and I was gonna show you this cool place to see the sunrise but I realized I didn't have your number."

"Oh," Lena said, hiding her disappointment. I should've gotten up.

"Some other time." Kara touched her shoulder and a mixture of reaction and electricity made her tense. "Remind me to give you my number after orientation."

"Sure."

Stabbing her eggs, she started to eat as Kara talked about the upcoming orientation. The way she held herself, that contagious smile; it was like she was a magnet and everyone was drawn to her without helping it, Lena included. The book lay open on the table next to her and time flew by as she listened to Kara's voice, amazed by the amount of food the blonde was managing to put away while she was talking.

"Oh, crap, I gotta go. I'm supposed to talk a little before it starts, your mom is probably waiting," Kara said to Thomas. "Make sure Lena gets there on time, okay?"

"No problem." Thomas gave her a thumbs up.

"Bangarang. See you guys soon!" Kara went to clear her plate, her golden hair bouncing off her shoulders.

Lena raised an eyebrow. "Your mom?"

Thomas rolled his eyes. "My last name is Rousseau." He shoved a spoonful of cereal in his mouth like that explained everything.

"Rousseau? Rousseau, like Savannah Rousseau?" Lena's eyes widened when Thomas nodded, chewing. "Your mom is the headmaster?"

"Headmistress," Thomas said proudly. "Don't worry, I'm not an asshole about it."

"Yes, he is," Mike piped in, shoving an entire pancake in his mouth a second later. He almost choked when Thomas slapped his chest and Lena laughed nervously, not sure whether to say something or stop him from asphyxiating.

"Whatever, Mikey. I have to follow the rules more than anyone here or I risk embarrassing the family bloodline," he joked. "My mom likes Kara more than she likes me."

"What's this speech Kara has to give?" Lena asked curiously.

"She's student body president, she usually says something at every school function."

"President, huh?"

Thomas shrugged. "Is it surprising?"

"Honestly? No." By the end of breakfast Lena was feeling more social than she had in weeks and she got up with the rest of them to head out. "Why would someone like Kara be friends with someone like me?" she muttered under her breath, mentally comparing herself to the raucous group Mike seemed to be the leader of.

"Don't take it personally, Kara just wants everyone to like her," Thomas said flippantly. "It helps that she's a ray of sunshine. Want me to put your book in my bag?"

Lena hesitated. She had scrawled notes and doodles all over her copy and it was one of her treasures—any of her books were, really, but it was the copy her birth mother had written in.

"I suggest you do it," Mike clapped a hand on her shoulder and she started. He didn't seem to notice, washing down the pancake with a cup of coffee. "If you don't, it's gonna get wet or covered in paint or something." He seemed to be over his mood from the day before and she smiled shyly at him.

"Paint? What kind of orientation is this?" She handed Thomas the book, her eyes on it until the zipper shut it away.

"You'll see," he winked, slinging the bag over his shoulder. "Come on. Kara will kill me if she thinks I've already led you astray."

A whirlwind five days passed of orientation and hanging out with Kara and her friends. No one seemed to care that she was a little jumpier than everyone else, staying away from the more rowdy orientation activities. No one seemed to care that her last name was Luthor, no one but the Martindale girl, and she had steered clear of her since that first day in the dining hall. She had already picked up on some of the lingo everyone used, the bubble-like atmosphere making it easier. They referred to New York City as simply 'the city', because it was the biggest one near them. The Thomas Baker Student Center was the 'stud', and the William Pratt Arts Center was just 'Pratt'.

But today was the first day of classes and she didn't know what to expect. Today wasn't another day of watching Kara bobbing for apples, it was finally learning something and Lena was ready for it. What she wasn't ready for was being alone. Nerves were making her stomach do back flips at the idea that her friends might not be in her classes and she doesn't miss that it's a new feeling.

Guess I've never had friends before.

At all her other schools she had admirers, people that were after her for clout or money or simply to see if the Luthors were human beings.

"Come on, Lena," she muttered, touching the picture of her and Kara without thinking about it. It was so much easier making new friends with Kara there to do the introductions and show people that she wasn't some scary, serious, quiet girl from uptown.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at her outfit again. Dress pants and brown booties and a professional looking blue blouse. Her mother had always said first impressions were important and she needed to start the year on the right side of the teachers, already coming in with a laundry list of things to use against her. Back at her last school there had been uniforms, expensive uniforms that made her hate her reflection every time she looked in a school mirror. With nothing but a simple dress code—no blue denim jeans or sweatpants—she knew most of her wardrobe would fit within the guidelines but she still spent almost half an hour picking the right ensemble.

AP world history, AP french, AP chemistry, AP biology, AP english language, multi-linear algebra, AP physics.

Heading for the dining hall, she saw Lydia when she walked in. "Good morning."

"You're up so early every day. You nervous?"

Lena took her time picking a bagel, sliding it in to the toaster. "Does it show?"

"You tell me. If you convince yourself you belong here there's nothing to be nervous about," Lydia said with a smile. "That's what I told myself when we immigrated here, anyway."

"Do you ever miss it?"

"My country? Sometimes. But there was a lot of things wrong with it and you have to keep moving forward," she said wisely.

Lena's bagel popped out and she jumped. "I guess I am nervous," she said with a chuckle. She wished Kara was there with her bright smile and contagious positivity, but Kara didn't live on campus; she was a fifteen minute drive away and only came early for orientation. Thomas had also warned her that he wouldn't be getting up early for breakfast during the year, being very much a night owl. Lena had learned to function on less sleep; she was a morning person and the nightmares that kept her sweating were reason enough to stay up working most nights.

She tightened her backpack strap and was pouring herself a cup of coffee when she heard someone say "Bangarang!"

Turning at Kara's signature phrase, she bit back a smile. The blonde girl was in the corner with Lydia, who was handing her a box of donuts. She saw the older woman nod in her direction and whipped back around, pretending she wasn't watching. As she headed for a table she heard footsteps behind her and tried to think of something to say, her heart skipping a beat.

"For someone with shorter legs, you walk awfully fast," Kara quipped, sidling up next to her. She had on an over-sized varsity football jacket with the name 'Bartlett' across the back. "Nice clothes," she said, eyeing Lena's outfit.

Lena turned, a smile already on her lips. "Thanks. What are you doing here?"

The other girl smiled and Lena saw that she had expertly applied the smallest amount of makeup; a little mascara and an eye shadow that made her crystal-blue eyes pop out more than usual. Lillian had paid someone to come by every morning for a year to show her the ins and outs of cosmetics and while Lena could compete with the best makeup artists, she avoided putting on even lip gloss or anything that would draw more attention to her.

"I figured Tom wouldn't get up early so I thought I'd come by, have breakfast with you."

"You normally get up this early?"

"Yeah, I'm definitely a morning person," Kara said unconvincingly, pushing her glasses up. "What's your schedule?" She changed the subject, stacking a donut on top of Lena's bagel. "I can show you the buildings again if you want."

"I don't need you to," Lena said without thinking. Seeing Kara's thinly masked look of hurt, she quickly backtracked. "I mean, you can. I just—I remember the way."

"From two days ago?" Kara bit into a donut, sprinkles falling all over the table.

"I have a photographic memory." She stared at her plate, waiting for Kara to call her a freak. She hadn't been alone with the blonde since that first day and now here she was, proving yet again she didn't belong with people like Kara. Normal, happy people that didn't worry about anxiety or saying the wrong thing or...

"You're so lucky," Kara was saying, jealousy creeping into her tone. "I wish I had a photographic memory, it would've helped in half my classes last year. But you still didn't tell me your schedule."

"AP chemistry, AP english lang, multi-linear algebra, AP physics, AP world history, AP biology, AP french," Lena rattled off. Kara had a funny expression on her face when she finished and she slid down in her chair. "What?" she said self-consciously. "It's just a regular course load."

"First of all, that is definitely not a regular course load. Who are you, Albert Einstein? Jesus. And second, your eyes light up when you talk about school and it's cute." She said it like it was no big deal and started in on another donut. "Maybe you'll have to tutor me, I'm only in french four. We'll definitely have English and World together since this school is so small and probably chemistry too, but I got out of taking a math this year."

Lena gave her a tentative smile, running a hand through her hair. She was so caught up in trying to sound halfway intelligent that she missed the way Kara's eyes tracked her hands. "You don't like math?"

"I like some maths. I did AP calc last year and got a 5 on the test but anything beyond that? It's a whole other language. My parents are both doctors and my sister's on the medical track too, so I'm sticking with the chemistry but I'm not as drawn to it as I am to journalism. Hence all the photographs. I take it you like science?"

"I love it," Lena said earnestly. "Plus, everyone in my family went to an Ivy League and most of them graduated early so I always feel like I'm playing catch up."

"If everyone is that smart, genetics is on your side." Kara shrugged and dusted powdered sugar off her hands.

"Genetics isn't really on my side." Lena frowned at her uneaten bagel. Did I say that out loud? Kara looked like she already knew what Lena was going to say but she just raised an eyebrow.

Lena took a deep breath, picking at her bagel. "I'm adopted." The word felt awkward on her tongue; words she had whispered to herself when she was younger and wanted to believe she wasn't all bad, words she had cried over, words that had been pitted against her in court.

"No way! Me too! That's so cool that we have that in common." Kara grinned at her.

Thinking of the picture of Kara and the young boy, and her stuttered "I have a sister," Lena frowned, checking her watch. "Yeah. Cool." She was torn between the confusingly warm feeling like she had done something right, sharing another similarity with Kara, and the thought of letting her repressed feelings spill over. She knew they were just below the surface, fighting to get out now that Lillian wasn't around to beat them back, but her brain didn't give her much of a choice, shoving the feelings away in a box. She blinked, hard, until it passed.

It was Kara's turn to frown, putting down her fourth donut. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, why?"

"I dunno, you just got this look on your face. My mom gets the same one whenever she has a migraine."

"Can I ask you something?" She leaned forward and Kara mirrored her. Glancing at Kara's face, Lena swallowed. "How many people do you think watched the trial?"

Kara sat back, biting her lip. "I don't really know." She had wondered when it would come up, Lena's past, but she hadn't wanted to push the fragile-looking girl before she was ready. She knew better than anyone that all the smiles she had seen during orientation were just a few degrees off and she felt for the brunette. "Everyone watches the news and there were snippets on every channel, but since the trial happened in National City it wasn't broadcasted everywhere here like it was out west. I wouldn't worry. I judge people based on their own merits and so do most of the people here."

"Did you...did you see it?"

Kara shook her head. "I tend to avoid conflict. I know a little bit from the grapevine, but I've never been one to obsess over other people's lives." Rewarded with Lena's hopeful look, Kara continued earnestly. "I don't plan on watching it, either. If you want to tell me about it, that's your business."

"Thank you," Lena breathed, relief swelling in her chest. "You're my only friend here and I couldn't bear it if you stared like all the others."

Kara hadn't missed the looks Lena had attracted when she was walking around campus, even some of the adults had seemed wary of her. Lena was always looking down at the ground but Kara had seen the facial expressions—fear, apprehension, and perhaps the worst of all, pity. "If people stare at you it's probably because you're insanely hot," she pointed out, trying to brighten Lena's mood. Her phone buzzed and she shot an apologetic glance at Lena who was blushing over the compliment.

"Hey, babe, I'm at breakfast. With Lena. No, you left it at my house the other night...I'm sure because I'm wearing it, you dork...Yes, I'll bring you a donut. I love you too."

Lena's eyes were on her face, watching her expressions change and memorizing the way her hands moved when she talked. "Mike?"

"Yeah." Kara shoved the phone in her pocket and stood up. "Take a donut cause he'll finish the box. I'll see you in class!" She ran off before Lena could answer her, leaving her with a donut in each hand.

"I'm Mr. Puckett and I'll be teaching you advanced placement biology. This is a serious, college level course and I'm not getting paid to babysit, so if you think you can't handle it go complain to your academic advisor. Otherwise, I don't want to hear it. Any questions? No? Good, let's get started. Who can tell me about entropy and homeostasis and the part they play in our world?"

Having already reviewed the syllabus, Lena zones out a minute later. Unbidden, the thought jumps to her mind of Kara taking photographs of her. The way the crinkle would form at the scar between her eyebrows, her blonde hair falling in front of the camera. They would laugh and Lena would feel silly posing but she desperately wants to see how Kara would frame it, whether she would use a digital camera or spend the time to develop a film.

"Lena?"

She looked up, her finger on the textbook page. "Mr. Puckett? I'm listening, I swear."

"Class is over. Welcome to Midvale prep."

Lena glanced around and sure enough, the classroom was empty. Shoving her chair back she packed away her things, keeping her head down. "Sorry, I'll get out of your way." She ducked out of the room, already tracing the path in her head. The chemistry room was in the same building just on the upper floor, and she headed for the stairs. The plaque on the wall gleamed at her, mocked her, her mother's name engraved in neat, shiny letters and she sped up, almost walking into two people holding hands by the stairwell.

"Lena!" It was Kara and Mike. "Are you headed to chemistry?" The other girl looked elated to see her and Lena couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah, with Rojas. "

"You're gonna love Mrs. Rojas, she's super sweet." Kara had to stand on her tip toes to kiss her boyfriend then she was grabbing Lena's arm, pulling her up the crowded stairs. There was a moment when Lena held back but Kara's grip was firm and she recovered quickly. The blonde's pants were very well-tailored and very tight and Lena tried not to stare, failing miserably until they reach the top.

"You already know Mrs. Rojas?"

They leaned against the wall and Kara dropped her hand. "She's my soccer coach. Speaking of which, practices start in a week and we need a manager for the team. I know you don't play sports..."

"It's hard when your boobs have a mind of their own," Lena said without thinking, and Kara's peal of laughter carried through the hall. "What?" She said defensively. "It's true." She was secretly pleased at Kara's laugh, though she thought she could see Mike glaring at her from the foot of the stairs.

Still laughing, Kara leaned in; her hand brushed Lena's leg and sent a warm tingle through her body. "I think you have great boobs, objectively speaking."

"You're not too bad yourself," Lena couldn't stop the words as the door opened and Kara laughed again.

"Thanks. I'm sure Mike would agree with you."

Thomas and Kara are both in her English class after lunch and Kara sits next to her in world history, but there isn't a single soul in the math wing when she arrives for multi.

"Is this it?" Lena glanced at the only other person in the room.

"Probably," the other kid shrugged. He turned to face her and all the air whooshed out of her lungs.

It's like looking at a ghost. He had a shock of unruly, dirty blonde hair and green eyes just like her own.

"Lex?" Her whisper was barely audible. She felt disoriented, like she was wrenched back into her past and looking up at her adopted brother like he was her hero. In a way, he had been.

The boy knit his eyebrows. "I'm Nathaniel. You can call me Nate, though." His voice sounded nothing like her brother's. He made no move to get up, shooting her a bored look, and Lena had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from saying something.

She barely heard the teacher, a Mr. Arthur Cryderman, explain that they were the only two students in the school at that advanced level of math. His lecture morphed into a buzzing that she didn't process, trying not to steal glances at Nathaniel. When the class finished she made a beeline for the arts building, running downstairs to the practice rooms and pacing in an empty piano studio.

It's not Lex.

Call your brother.

He's the reason you—

She sat down at the piano bench, cutting off her inner monologue. Taking a deep breath, she rested her fingers on the keys. It wasn't the same as any of Lillian's grand pianos but she played a chord, feeling the music soothe the aching in her chest.

That's what it was. That's why she was so on edge and couldn't sleep. She usually listened to music every second she was out of class, and if she wasn't listening to it, she was playing it. But lately she had been so caught up with Kara and all her new friends she hadn't had time to, had rushed by the pianos she had seen down here when Kara gave her the tour. Had been surrounded by friends every second of every day.

She played the same chord again and muscle memory kicked in. The piece Lex had taught her echoed from the strings and out the door, which she had left ajar in her panic.

Trying not to think, she closed her eyes and let the music flow. Every time her mind dredged up an image of her brother she locked it away in a box, focusing only on the music and the feel of the keys beneath her fingers. Her back straightened and she didn't hear someone approaching, didn't hear them ease the door open a little wider and lean against the frame.

Letting the last note drift away, Lena opened her eyes to see a reflection of blonde hair in the shiny, lacquered wood. A small gasp escaped her lips at the unexpected audience.

"I was going to invite you to hang out with us on the quad," Kara said, an intense expression on her face, "But it looks like you don't enjoy crowds. You should've told me, I wouldn't have made you go out all those other times."

"What makes you say that?" Everything was a little more manageable with Kara in the same room as her. The strange homesickness she had been carrying around eased and the world seemed a little bit brighter.

Kara took a step closer to the piano, noticing that Lena's eyes were lighter than she'd ever seen them. "Let's see, the second you're done with school you run down here to play Chopin by yourself and—"

"You know the piece?"

"Nocturne in C sharp minor. I..." Something shifted in Kara's expression and she wasn't the bubbly, happy girl Lena was used to. She looked sad and resigned and Lena's heart twinged with sympathy. "I listened to it a lot when I was younger," the blonde said vaguely. "You're very good."

What had she been about to say?

Lena licked her lips. "Lex taught me that piece when I was twelve." She hadn't said his name aloud to Kara before and her voice cracked slightly. "Do you know how to play it?"

The older girl raised her eyebrows. "Twelve. You are a fascinating girl, Lena Luthor. You're definitely an introvert, and yet you hung out with me and my rowdy group of friends for almost a solid week. You must be exhausted."

Lena didn't miss the way Kara deflected the conversation back to her but she closed the lid, hiding the keys. "How do you figure that?"

"I read somewhere that introverts get their energy from being alone. Extroverts get their energy from being with people. I hate being alone, that's how I know I'm an extrovert." Kara shrugged but her eyes were still dark. "I haven't listened to anyone playing the piano in a long time."

"Didn't Midvale Prep host a piano workshop two years ago? You must have been here for it." Lillian had tried to force her to visit her potential school but she had finals that week and got out of it.

"I was." Kara sat on the floor, her book bag on her knees. "You don't mind if I leave the door open, do you? I get a little claustrophobic. And yeah, I met Mike when I was running away from it. I hate piano music." She rolled the sleeves of her boyfriend's jacket up and pulled out a binder. The paper in the front sleeve was covered in doodles of hearts and a cute cartoon elephant.

"You hate it...but you can recognize the pieces. And you listened to it when you were younger." Lena's sentence came out halting, confused, intrigued by the inconsistency of Kara's statements. She felt like she was on the brink of a secret, a hidden part of Kara that she desperately wanted to know.

"That's right." Kara looked up at her from her homework and the moment dissipated. "Will you play me something?"

"Something else?" Lena asked, surprised.

"Anything other than that piece. Maybe some Debussy, if you're taking requests." A quick flash of teeth lit up the room and Lena uncovered the keys again.

"Aren't your friends waiting for you?" Kara was acting like it was no big deal and Lena was determined to follow her lead, ignoring the pounding in her chest. "Are you sure you'd rather be here listening to music you hate?"

"I won't hate it if you're playing it," Kara said easily, not glancing up. "And it might help me write this article for the weekly paper."

Wracking her brain for repertoire, Lena brought her hands up again. The beginning strains of Debussy's Reverie started playing and she closed her eyes again, trusting her fingers to remember the way.

They sat like that for two hours, Lena playing piece after piece and Kara listening in the corner. She gave up on the article and turned her phone off, watching Lena's fingers dance along the keyboard, how she moved as she played. There was something about the dark-haired girl that intrigued Kara, made her forget that the room she was in was tiny and the walls felt like they were closing in on her. Her pale skin caught Kara's eye and the way her fingers moved...

No, Kara, she admonished herself.

As she finished a piece by Satie, Lena heard Kara moving around and opened her eyes for the first time in hours. "What time is it?" Her voice was hoarse.

"A little after five. I have to be home for dinner, but thank you. Really." Kara put a hand on her shoulder and when Lena met her gaze the blue eyes were clear and had lost their unusual dark tone. "We should do this again once soccer practice starts up."

"Anytime," Lena said, a little startled that time had passed so quickly. Kara slung her backpack over her shoulder and left, giving her one last smile before vanishing up the stairs.

Instead of doing her homework, Lena skipped dinner and tried to draw Kara from memory. The charcoal sketches came out blurred, choppy, like the energy of the girl couldn't be contained in the crumbling grey pencils, and she brushed at the paper in frustration.

By 10:30 her floor was littered with several pages ripped out of her sketchbook, all covered in pictures of Kara. Smiling in the sun, talking with her hands, pulling her hair into a ponytail. A knock at her door had her fumbling to pick them up.

"Lena?"

"Yes?" Her voice cracked and she clutched the papers to her chest. "Come in."

It was just Ms. Kincaid, smiling and holding a clipboard. "You didn't check in, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine." She must have looked a mess because the older woman looked at her with concern plain on her face.

"Okay. I'm here if you need to talk." She backed away, closing the door behind her.

Lena ran across the room to lock it, sliding down the wall. She felt dirty, like she had been caught doing something she shouldn't have. Which was ridiculous, because Ms. Kincaid hadn't even seen anything.

You are a fascinating girl, Lena Luthor.

Kara pulled into her driveway and unlocked the front door.

"I'm home," she called out, hearing voices. Her two dogs came bounding up to her and she bent down to rub their bellies. "Hi Osh. Who's a good boy, Krypto, who's a good boy?"

"Hi, honey. How was your day?" Eliza's voice was coming from the kitchen and Kara walked towards it.

"It was great, actually. I—Alex!" Kara stopped in her tracks, her backpack falling to the ground and nearly hitting Krypto in the face. "I didn't know you were coming home!" She tackled her sister in a hug, wrapping her arms around her. "I'm so glad to see you!"

"Me too, sis." Glancing at their parents, Alex untangled Kara from her body. "I have some news for you."

"Okay," Kara said a little warily. Alex had a gleam in her eye that usually meant they were going to narrowly avoid getting in trouble. It was the same one she'd had when they'd stolen some of Jeremiah's liquor a few years ago and gotten drunk in their bedroom, the same one she'd had when she tried to convince Kara to go skinny dipping with her in the neighborhood pool—without success.

"I'm moving back home."

Kara's jaw dropped. "What?! Are you dropping out of college? Are you letting her drop out of college?" She turned to her parents, a shocked look on her face.

"No, no, no, nothing like that." Alex waved her hands. "I'm transferring. To NYU."

"What do you mean, transferring?" Kara sputtered. Her 20 year old sister was moving back home? Since when? She thought back to the call she'd gotten in Lena's room, where Alex had been crying and she could barely make the words out, just that her sister needed a break and needed to come home.

"I got into NYU and I talked to mom and dad about it and I'm finishing my bachelor's degree there." Shooting a look at her mom, Alex winked at her sister. "We can stay up late and talk about it. I want to hear about everything I've missed. You still with Mike?"

"Not too late," Jeremiah warned. "I know you have a week off for moving but Kara has school in the morning."

Already falling back into the habit of siding with her older sister, Kara beamed. "Dad, have I ever been late to school?"

"I wouldn't know," he said with a pointed look at her innocent expression. "Everyone there loves you so much they wouldn't tell me if you skipped a month of classes."

Kara rolled her eyes. "It'll be fine. Let's eat."

"So." Kara propped her legs up on the bed and stared at her sister. "Spill."

Alex took a deep breath. "You remember Sam?"

"Sam? Samantha Arias? The love of your life? The woman you've been dating for like, five years? How could I..." Alex's expression was somber and Kara snapped her mouth shut. "Wait." Understanding dawned on her face.

"Yeah." Alex exhaled sharply. "We broke up." She held her hands up to ward off Kara's hug. "It turned out she didn't want the same things I did and so I...I called it off. I called off the engagement."

"Alex," Kara breathed. "That's...Why didn't you say anything on the phone?"

"I wasn't sure when I called if that's what I wanted. But it is. Sam doesn't want kids, Sam hates the idea of having kids. What was I supposed to do with that?" Alex said, arguing more with herself than her sister. "Marry her and hope that one day she changes her mind?"

"No, no. You deserve to be happy, I just...I'm so sorry, Alex," Kara said in a sad voice.

Alex sniffled, then rubbed a heavy hand at her eyes. "Don't make me cry now cause I'll never stop, and I wanted to come home and still be your badass older sister."

"You will always be my badass older sister." Kara sat next to her on the bed and leaned her head on Alex's shoulder. "Nothing will ever change that."

"Alright, ugh." Alex ran her hands through her hair. "I really don't want to talk about me. What's going on with you? Still going steady with that jock?"

"Yeah, Mike's still really sweet. Mom still loves him, dad still talks about football with him every weekend—how much can you say about a sport that's just people destroying their brains in six-second bursts?" She had never enjoyed the violent sport but she tried to make it to all of Mike's games.

"Beats me." Alex chuckled and Kara prided herself that she got a laugh out of her sister. It was going to be a long, difficult road back to normal for Alex. Sam had shown her what living was really like and she was afraid Alex was going to disappear into the shadows again.

"I made friends with that girl from the news, Lena Luthor." Alex's expression changed to a suspicious one and Kara knit her eyebrows. "What?"

"I don't know. She sounds like bad news," Alex warned.

"On television, maybe. But it was her brother that got sent to jail."

Alex shook her head. "I forgot how much more coverage we had in California about this. I mean, it was national news and the Luthors have that mansion in New York but all we heard about for weeks was this trial and the whole scandal. Stanford gave up trying to get a gag order. Kara, this guy was one sick puppy."

"What did he do?" Kara felt like she was doing something she shouldn't be doing, digging into Lena's past without permission. But it was on the news, not in a private diary or a classified document.

"You really don't know?"

"I heard that he attacked someone, I just didn't want to read anymore."

Alex frowned, a surge of protectiveness in her chest keeping her from telling her sister the full story. "Why do you think this Lena Luthor is any better than her brother?"

Kara bit her lip, twirling a finger in her hair. "She plays piano."

"So what?" Alex's tone was harsh, almost rude.

"She played for me. Chopin."

To anyone outside the Danvers family that would have meant nothing, but Alex's eyes widened and her face took on a worried look. "And you listened to it? The whole thing? Are you okay?"

Nodding, Kara stretched out on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "I was fine. Really," she said at Alex's concerned expression. "It seemed...better. When she played it, I didn't feel trapped. And we were down in the practice room. Something about her, I guess."

"Was it, y'know..." Alex laid down next to her and pulled the blanket over them like when they were younger. They both barely fit on the twin bed, their shoulders touching.

"I told her I hated piano music," Kara said with a dry chuckle.

"You love piano music."

"I know. I just can't listen to it anymore since..."

"The accident." Alex took her sister's glasses off then reached across her, turning the bedside lamp off and setting them on the nightstand. "Are you going to tell her?"

Kara sighed loudly into the dark room, the silence stretching longer and longer. Memories flashed across her mind and she turned on her side, lifting her shirt up.

Alex knew immediately what she needed and her fingers traced the six inch scar on Kara's lower spine, massaging the raised, darker skin with gentle motions. "Does it still hurt?"

"No."

"Are you going to tell her?"

"I don't know."

Kara pulled her shirt back down and turned so she was facing her sister. Alex was her rock, the person that she knew she could always call, the person that knew more about her than Eliza or Jeremiah or any other living person on the planet. "You really think I should stay away from Lena?" If Alex really meant it, she would take her advice without question.

"Normally I'd say yes. But she played that piece and you didn't have any flashbacks? Nothing?"

"Nothing," Kara confirmed in a whisper. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know, baby girl. But it's gonna be alright."

Kara gave her a tired smile and closed her eyes. "And here I thought I was going to make you feel better."