Lilian was happy to have Jonathan in her house. She introduced her new friend to her mother who was making strawberry jelly in the kitchen. So, they went to her father's office where the chessboard was. Lilian arranged the pieces on the board as they were on Jonathan's last move.
"So, Jon, I will show you how you could have won and teach you my winning move"- Lilian said calmly- "And then, we can play again."
Jonathan listened to Lilian carefully. She spoke with enthusiasm as she explained the strategies. Lilian was not just a pretty girl, she was smart, in fact, brilliant. During the match, Jonathan was distracted, lost, as he could not stop admiring the beauty of his opponent, whose red hair took on a peculiar bronze tone because of the light. So, Lilian won him again and he was happy to lose, because her smile was better than any medal.
"Congrats"- Jonathan said while he held her hand.
"Are you staying for dinner, Jon?"- Lilian's mother asked.
"Sorry, I can't, I need to go home"- Jonathan answered, he felt a huge anxiety when he looked at the clock- "Thank you for everything, Mrs. Beck."
Lilian followed her friend to the door. So, they stayed outside the house on the deck.
"I really enjoyed my private class. You are an amazing teacher."- Jonathan said anxiously.
"Thanks, Jon."- Lilian said, ashamed.
"See you tomorrow"- Jonathan said nervously. He was so nervous that he almost felt the stairs.
"Take care"- Lilian asked while she laughed.
They said goodbye and gave a brief hug. So, Jonathan looked to the sky, he had no doubt that he was in big trouble.
"I'm so stupid"- Jonathan spoke to himself and when he had courage to see his phone, he had no doubt that his mom was planning to kill him- "Twenty missing calls, God, I'm so dead."
As soon as Jonathan got in the house, Lois walked quickly to his son's direction. She was furious.
"Do you know what time it is?! It is almost 9 pm!"- Lois said firmly. - "I called you hundreds of times and you did not answer my calls! You are grounded, you knew it very well, but you chose to disrespect your curfew! What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Can I write my will first?"- Jonathan asked ironically.
Jordan, who was with his grandfather at the dinner table could not hold his laugh. So, Lois asked Jordan to go to his bedroom and Jonathan to sit on the couch.
"Your phone, now!"- Lois ordered- "The main reason for you having it is: to answer your parent's calls. Understood?!"
"Wherever"- Jonathan said, rolling his eyes.
"It is enough for me! I do not need to see it, but by your tone I have no doubt that you are rolling your eyes"- Samuel said, slapping the dinner table in a way that Jonathan fixed his posture on the couch.
In a few minutes Samuel was facing his grandson.
"I will say just this time: here under this roof, you, young man, have two generals, your parents, so if they ask you to come back home after school, you do what they asked! If your mother calls you, you answer her on the first call! Understood?"
"Yes, sir"- Jonathan answered.
"The only thing you have to say here and now is: I'm sorry. Understood?"- Samuel said firmly.
"Yes, sir."- Jonathan answered.
"You let me, and your mother worry about you, because you did not show up and did not answer our calls. Today, I did a special training for your brother and tomorrow will be yours and your training session, young man, will be the same that I used to give to my stubborn recruits who had problems respecting authority!"- Samuel warned- "And I hope that this will be our last talk about respect, because I will not tolerate any of my grandsons disrespecting my daughter under her roof. Understood?"
"Yes, sir"- Jonathan said with difficulty.
"Tomorrow, I will let you and your brother at school, and I will pick you up from school."- Samuel said firmly- "I can say that you understood everything, so Lois, I will rest. Tomorrow will be a long day. If he does not apologize to you, please, tell me."
Samuel kissed Lois cheek before going upstairs.
"So, Jonathan where were you?"- Lois asked firmly.
"I am sorry, I did not plan to let you and grandpa worry about me. I had no idea that he was waiting for me. I just planned to arrive home before you."- Jonathan admitted- "I am sorry. It is just I could not say no to her."
"The Gotham city girl"- Lois realized. Jonathan confirmed with his head.
"I studied chess strategies all night because of her and I wear these clothes because of her. So, I could not say no to her, mom, she asked me to go to her house and teach me some moves." - Jonathan explained, ashamed- "Chess moves." - Jonathan add quickly- "We were studying chess, I swear, you can call Mrs. Beck she was there with us."
"I understand." - Lois said while she sat next to her son- "You did your choice. Jon, we make choices every day, and all choices you make have consequences, positives, or negatives for you and for others."
Jonathan looked to the floor, ashamed and anxious.
"You disrespected your curfew, didn't answer my calls, neither your grandfather's calls and for a strange reason, you were with an attitude enough for your grandfather to decide to step in."- Lois said firmly- "So, your phone will stay with me until the end of the week, no TV and video games. You will just use your notebook for schoolwork and at the dinner table. And of course, from school to home until the end of the week."
Jonathan put his hands on his face as he felt like a complete idiot for putting himself in that situation.
"Are you going to tell dad?"- Jonathan asked.
"Of course"- Lois answered. - "Did you eat something while you were at Beck's farm?"
"No."- Jonathan answered.
"So, you will have dinner and then go to your brother's room, because your grandfather is in yours"- Lois said gently.
Minutes later, Jonathan was with his brother. Jordan looked at him in a way that he knew that he was feeling sorry for him.
"They didn't kill me, so I'm fine"- Jonathan joked.
"So, being in trouble because of a girl is your new routine now?"- Jordan teased.
"Yeah, maybe"- Jonathan answered. So, the twins laughed.
The next morning, Samuel, Lois, and Clark were relieved to see that Jonathan was not trying to impress anyone.
"Morning boys"- Lois said happily- "Look at this beautiful young man that we have, Clark."
"Yes, they are, thanks to their mother"- Clark said, while he kissed his wife.
"This I totally agree"- Samuel said, smiling- "I was like Jon, when I was his age."
"Really?"- Jonathan asked.
"Yes, you have the strong blood of the Lane's. I will find a picture to show you."- Samuel answered, proudly- "It's why you are stubborn and have smart answers for everything."
"Thanks"- Jonathan said, smiling.
After breakfast, Clark scolded Jonathan for what he did yesterday. Jonathan did his best to keep his smart answers for himself and probably the fact that his grandfather was behind him, helped.
At school, Jonathan could not stop thinking about his grandfather's training session. Hours later, when he saw his grandfather waiting for him outside, he really wanted to run away, but he knew that was the worst option.
"What 's going on?"- Samuel asked, worried.
"Let's go home"- Jonathan asked anxiously.
As soon as they arrived at the farm, Samuel asked his grandson to change his clothes and meet him at the barn. A few minutes later, Jonathan widened his eyes when he saw the tasks at the board: 100 burpees, 100 push-ups and 100 suicides running. He was concerned because he was not exercising anymore.
"Grandpa, we must go to a doctor, because you clearly forgot that I am the powerless son of Superman. No way, I will do this shit."- Jonathan said firmly.
"Excuse me." - Samuel said, astonished. - "Jonathan, we are here because you chose to disrespect your parents yesterday, so I'm surprised that the first thing you do it's to disrespect me."
"I am just worried about your mental health. You cannot punish me for that."- Jonathan argued- "What are you doing?"- Jonathan asked when his grandfather erased the numbers that he had written on the board.
"Congratulations, now it is 150 burpees, 150 push-ups and 150 suicides. We will start with the push-up, get ready."- Samuel ordered, but Jonathan didn't move- "Now it's 160."
"I'm ready!"- Jonathan said, desperate.
While Jonathan was doing the push-ups, he remembered what happened with his cuts and bruises when he fought with Tyler, so maybe he could hope that he was going to survive the army training session of his grandfather.
By the time Jonathan hit one hundred push-ups, he was feeling his muscles burn. So, he almost rested, but his grandfather stopped him.
"You asked for more sixty, young man!"- Samuel remembered sternly- "60, 59, 58…"
When Samuel said zero, Jonathan laid down on the floor.
"You have 3 minutes to rest, here is your water"- Samuel said firmly- "Drink it."
Jonathan drank his water and took a few deep breaths. For his relief, the burning of his muscles was getting better.
"Jonathan, listen to me carefully, you are not powerless. You have the strong blood of the Lane's. We are not weak, understood?"- Samuel said.
"Yes, sir."- Jonathan answered with a small smile.
"You are my grandson, you have a natural talent to be an athlete, so I will not tolerate what you are doing with yourself. Your parents told me what you did and unfortunately, I saw with my own eyes. You cannot throw away your dreams and your hard work, like you did."
"Grandpa, I can't play anymore, you know that"- Jonathan argued.
"160 burpees, get ready"- Samuel warned.
After the 160 burpees, Jonathan was afraid that he was going to have a heart attack while his muscles were burning. At least the healing power was working.
"So, I talked with your parents, and they agreed that I can train you during this year, so you will be able to play football next year."- Samuel said.
"I did not know that you were planning to open a CrossFit GYM here in Smallville. Congratulations! Unfortunately, I do not have time neither interest for it."- Jonathan argued- "So, what is the name? What do you think of Hellville CrossFit? You could adopt a Pitbull and name him Satan or Lucifer would be cool."
Samuel applauded, so he went to the board and started writing. For Jonathan's despair, he read: 100 sit-ups.
"What happened to your sense of humor?"- Jonathan asked.
"I don't tolerate back talk, young man!"- Samuel answered. So, he ordered his grandson to start the sit-ups.
While Jonathan was doing the sit-ups, he realized that it would be better to keep the smart answers for himself or he would never get out of the barn. Minutes later, Jonathan got in the house feeling exhausted after the 160 suicides running. During dinner he decided to remain silent and was relieved that he was not feeling any pain.
"So, how were the school, boys?"- Clark asked curiously.
Jordan talked about football and Jonathan rolled his eyes, not interested in it.
"And you Jon?"- Clark asked.
"I am sorry dad, unfortunately, I have nothing to share."- Jonathan answered politely.
"Come on Jon, you are probably learning something interesting"- Lois said gently.
"Will you allow me to leave the table to do my homework, please?"- Jonathan asked formally.
Lois authorized, so Jonathan thanked and left the table.
