Fallen Star

Chapter 2: the Ice Queen Commeth, and Lex too,

I Just sat. I think I was in shock, probably more in disbelief. She might not be like me. She might just be some poor mutated human, or not. If my real parents sent me here, who's to say her parent's didn't do the same? But then there was the whole car wreck/meteor thing. except the bodies were never found.oh what am I thinking? I thought I was just letting my imagination run away with me, I though I was just so lonely, having no one to confide in, to talk to about my powers to, that I was making it all up. And I truly believed it. For about a month, nothing out of the ordinary happened, for me, or for her. No fat sucking vampires, fire starters, or bug men, no extraordinary feats of strength, no nothing. I gave up that theory. We all hung out, Chloe, Pete, Yve, and me. We were all on pretty good terms with the new girl, she was sweet, and smart as hell, which was a god send during the week we were writing English essays.

We'd all decided that since Chloe had to work on the Torch, we'd all go grab some coffee and keep her company while complaining about how Dickens should be dragged out into an alley and shot for writing Great Expectations.

I could here the murmur of voices as we opened the door, I expected Chloe to be thinking out loud to herself, trying to get her article in just the right words, but it wasn't just her, there was another girl too, with white blond hair and pale skin, tall and spider like. She seemed to be all arms and legs, she was so thin. As we walked into the room Yve leaned over and whispered to me, "Does it seem cold to you?" she was looking suspiciously at the other girl. I nodded. I could feel the goose bumps on my skin.

".so come back tomorrow during lunch and we'll talk about a new column or a partner with one already, okay Sam?" Chloe told her. The girl, Sam, nodded, said goodbye, and then walked passed us out the door. As she passed it got colder.

"Did someone else feel that?" Yve wondered, looking slightly alarmed.

"Feel what?" Pete questioned, pulling up a rolling chair, "I didn't feel anything, except that we need to turn up the heat. It's cold in here."

Yve was looking confused, but quickly shook it off. "Coffee Chloe?" She asked.

"Thanks," she said, taking a long drink of java. I thought I had felt something strange too, after that girl, Sam, passed me. I felt cold. I don't feel cold often, even in the middle of winter so I asked Chloe about her.

"Sam? She transferred from Smallville Centralized High about the same time Yve got here. I heard she had some trouble with the teachers. Now this might not be true, so don't go spreading it around," She told us, me and Yve, who was trying not to look too eager to find out what she shouldn't say, "I heard from some sources that she was flunking English, so she tried to get dear old daddy to buy her way out, of course, the teacher wouldn't take it. Sent in a complaint with the school board, got her expelled for coercion. And then, you guys remember that freak blizzard that happened about two weeks after Yve got here?" We all nodded. It was pretty bad. I had to go help dad cover the crops. What good it did. About a third of it was lost. " Well the teacher that got her expelled, he was trying to drive into school, on the way, down by the gorge, near Gregory bend, there was an avalanche that knocked him off into the gorge, nearly killed him too." She finished, taking a sip of her coffee. I shook my head in disbelief.

"No way. Gregory Bend? There's barely a hill there. And an avalanche? I don't think so." I stated. Chloe nodded, taking another swig of the hot coffee.

"I know. That's what made me investigate. I couldn't find anything though." She said, downcast. Yve looked pityingly at her.

"What if it's not just a coincidence though? I mean, couldn't it go up on the wall of weird?" she asked. Pete shook his head.

"Nope. Wall of weird is only for Chloe's meteor theory."

"Oh. well what if the meteor rocks had something to do with it?" She asked, interested

"They didn't. I checked every angle. If Gregory bend is built on a meteor, where the storm front started, they didn't have that though. I asked and they said that it just came up, too quick to pinpoint it. The only lead I haven't covered is if Sam somehow had an elaborate scheme to kill Mr. Polluchi for getting her kicked out. I heard she was the Lana Lang of SCH. But that idea is just way too radical, even for me. Plus, she seems, somewhat nice," Chloe turned back to her glowing computer screen.

"Well, let's hit the books." Yve stated. About two hours later, Yve had helped me finish my essay, and was reaching for her now cold coffee.

"Who drank my coffee? I had more left the last time I checked. Pete!" Pete had a mischievous grin on his face, "Aww, Pete! Come on, why? That was mine! Okay, who's all done their coffee?" all our hands shot up. "Okay, Chloe, plain black? Pete wants a latte with extra whipped cream, Clark; you take cream and sugar, or just cream?" She asked

"Cream and sugar thanks," I said. She pulled on her coat, and was about to open the door when Lex Luthor, a friend of mine opened it first,

"Well, hello, I only expected to see one woman here so late, but two beautiful ladies, I might stay for longer than I expected." Lex smiled. The suave, smooth side of him was coming out.

"And who might you be? I know would have remembered you," He complimented. She looked as if she might have blushed, or laughed, but couldn't decide which. Instead she just looked at him with an appraising eye and an amused smile.

Yve's POV

He had said it all so perfectly, like a line out of a movie, I almost blushed, or worse yet, I almost giggled. Thank god I held back. He had this charmingly debonair quality and aloofness about him, but the aloofness was a sham. I could tell. It was in his eyes. They said more than he did; those dark eyes. He's probably a very warm person, once you got to know him, I thought. I was dying to find out. There was something so mysterious about him, something I wanted to know. Or else it was just the fact that he said the right things in exactly the right way, looked the right way, and acted the right way. I wondered what his hair would look like if he wasn't bald, but thought better of it, it probably wouldn't suit him, and hey, why mess with a good thing?

"I'm Yvette Mariceau, and you are?" I asked, trying to sound somewhat mature.

He smiled,

"Why, I'm Lex Luthor. Frankly, I'm surprised, most people around here know who I am, and "He ran his hand over his bald head, as if to emphasize it," go screaming the other way, but I'm open to change," He said. Clark laughed, so did Chloe.

"Lex's Dad owns Luthorcorp, we've been friends for awhile," Clark inserted

"Ahh.so you're the famous Lex Luthor,"

"The one and only, only I probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Clark, a small matter of which he happened to leave out. He saved my life in a car crash. So when did your family move here?" He asked. I looked over at Clark. He had saved Lex? Well, there was something odd about Clark. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something.

"I'm an exchange student. My foster family lives in Quebec, Canada," I said.

"Oh really? In what part of Quebec? I have some business contacts there," he asked. He seemed interested.

"I live, presently, in the St.Lawrence river area."

"Foster child you said?" He asked. I nodded

"My parents passed away when I was three." I said

"I'm sorry." He apologized, I nodded,

"It was nice meeting you Lex," I said as I walked through the door.



Clark's POV

She smiled at him, and waved back at us. Then she walked through the door and was gone. Lex sauntered in.

"Nice girl. She's pretty too. Looks a bit like Lana Lang." We all looked confusedly at him, "It must be the dark hair. She seems smart though" I stared at him eyebrow raised,

"And you get this from a quick hi, how are you?" I asked. Chloe nodded.

"And may I ask how you came to that conclusion Sherlock?" She questioned.

"Why of course, Watson. You are all obviously working on something, homework, I concluded. She was going to get the coffee, am I right? I noticed that there was no more left. I deduced from the fact that she was going for the coffee, she was done first, hence her being smart. Simply elementary, my dear Watson," Chloe smiled as he said all this, "And you know, she reminds me of someone else.I just can't put my finger on it," He stated as he sat on the desk by Chloe, " Oh, it'll come to me. So Chloe, Tell me, is your meteor theory coming along?"

She rolled her eyes. "As well as can be expected, I guess. Lately though, it's been slow." Lex smiled playfully as I was printing off my essay,

"Oh, I know nothing can quite compare to being held hostage at a school field trip at the plant." She smiled ruefully at him, and proceeded to punch him playfully in the shoulder.

"My Dad still hasn't gotten over that. He keeps on telling me about it like I wasn't even there, and then he'll give me a lecture every time I go out on the importance of pepper spray." She complained. I laughed, so did Pete and Lex, "It's not funny."

Just then Lex snapped his fingers, like he'd had a revelation, "I've got it!" he cried out. We all looked at him a little askance, that was until he mentioned what he'd got. "I know who that Yvette girl reminds me of! She reminds me of Punky Brewster!" then, of course, we slowly started edging away from him. I didn't know who Punky Brewster was, and I didn't think that Chloe or Pete did either. He looked at us like we were from mars

"Come on, don't you guys remember the Punky Brewster cartoon? I had to watch it every day when I was twelve, babysitting my Cousin Lena." Chloe shot him a look,

"Babysitting? Lex Luthor? I just cannot imagine it," She stated.

"It was my Mother's idea; she said it would help me get more allowance money. I had a horrible sweet tooth." He paused for a moment, the happy reminiscent look slowly slipping away beneath the polished veneer of the Luthor look, "My father-he said it would build character. Of course after that year, when he though the character building should have taken place, he wouldn't let me baby-sit, he said he couldn't find any change whatsoever."

"Well he's an Asshole, even by my standards," Yve had walked in unnoticed, even by me, "Although compared to my fifth foster father, he sounds nice. The fifth was a drunk and he hit Mary." she set down the coffee and sat beside Lex, who stared at her, shocked. I think we all were. "Oh, don't worry," she said, "Mary and I called the police. After that, of course, Child services took me away, but we still keep in touch, Mary and I." she said it nonchalantly, but there was something beneath there.

"If I ever meet your Dad, Lex, I'm going to give him a very large piece of my mind," Chloe laughed,

"Count me in Yve. He is an Ass. My dad is annoying, and strict and just slightly crazy, but he's not an ass." Lex looked at them with a new respect, and I think his eyes started to tear up, and he laughed and just said,

"Well I won't hold you back!"

It was about an hour later, we where all thinking up crazy Meteor theories and joking around, we were all trying to think up reasons for the crash and for Lex's dad being the ass that he was, each idea was crazier then the last.

"I bet that Sam had it all planned out. You know, and I bet that the meteor rocks did something to her, made her a mutant or something, like Storm on X- men, where she can control the weather, and stuff. she was like-I'll get you ! and your little dog too!" Yve snorted into her coffee, as we all broke out in fits of laughter,

"It might just be me, but didn't that last line come from the wizard of Oz? I'm certain X-men didn't have a legion of flying monkey's.I could be wrong, of course," he joked, laughing.

"You know, I bet that's it. She's was transformed the wicked witch of the west by the meteor showers-do you think she'll melt if we throw water on her?" I wondered out loud. Little did any of us know, she was standing out side the door through it all.

"You know, were really being hard on her, I mean, we don't ever know her," I said, my conscience sneaking up on me. Chloe stared,

"She walked in to my paper demanding a column. She insulted me twice; I thought I told you guys.Of course she apologized after I told her if she didn't quit being a bitch I wouldn't let her get on the school paper at all, ever. Which of course would just ruin her college transcript," Chloe stated melodramatically, impersonating Sam's nasally voice.

Sam stared in, a look of hatred emblazoned on her pale face. The sky outside suddenly changed from a light snowfall to a swirling, snowy haze. She set her face, as if she had figured out a plan, and slowly, quietly, backed away from the frozen door frame.

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I turned to the door, it had suddenly gotten so cold that I could see my breath in the air. Something got the hair on the back of my neck to stand up. It just wasn't right somehow.