"Kyrianna! Not lost yet, then?"

Kyrianna turned with a smile.

"Not yet, Clark. Although I'm not really sure where I am right now."

"Smallville." Pete said promptly.

"Thank you, that's so much better." she said with a laugh.

"Pete Ross, this is Kyrianna Winner. She just started today. Kyrianna, Pete."

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. What do you think of Smallville?"

"It's nice. Where I lived before, there weren't so many people." Pete stopped walking, going on only when Clark bumped into him.

"Many people? Smallville is bigger than where you lived before?"

"Oh yes! Well, I suppose. I didn't go out very much, at home."

"Why not?"

"My father," she started slowly, "is quite an important person. And they used to worry a lot. So I wasn't let out very much."

"Sounds like a fairy tale." Chloe said, coming up on Clark's other side.

"Not when you're in it." Kyrianna said.

"So why are you here?"

"Oh, they thought I'd be safe here. Lionel Luthor is one of my father's business partners, and he suggested it. I'm staying at the Luthor home."

"You're staying with Lex?" Clark repeated. She nodded.

"Um-hum. I don't like Mr. Luthor much, but Lex seems nice."

"Well, you'll get to see plenty of Clark, then." Chloe said cheerfully, turning into the cafeteria doors. "He practically lives over there."

"I thought that was you. You saved Lex's life. Twice. At least." Clark blushed.

"What do you want for lunch?"

"Ah, lunch…mystery meat No. 1 and some kind of unidentifiable pudding thing, please."

"Are you sure you've never been here before?" Pete asked suspiciously. Kyrianna grinned.

"School meals are all the same. I didn't even go to school, and that's what I got."

"Home schooled?" Chloe asked.

"Um-hum. Did you write that editorial about the attack on the Luthor plant?"

"It wasn't an attack." Clark protested, sitting down with a heavy-laden tray. "Earl was sick and confused."

"He held a bunch of kids hostage with a gun, Clark." Kyrianna said.

"Earl's a friend of Clark's." Pete said quietly.

"He used to work on our farm." Clark filled in.

"Oh. Well…oh." She poked her plate. "What is this?"

"Mystery meat No. 1, just like you asked for."

"Thanks. I think. Did you write it, Chloe?"

"Yeah, I did."

"And is there a hidden Level 3?"

"You're staying with Lex. Ask him." To their surprise she flushed, shaking her head.

"He…doesn't like talking about that. Earl hit him in the head with the gun, you know, and he was…kind of unwell for a while."

"How so?" Clark asked, leaning forward.

"Headaches, dizziness. Nothing major or debilitating, and he says it's fine now. I just—don't think he wants to talk about it." Clark blinked as a wave of dizziness swept over him.

"Hey guys." Lana stopped by their table. "Are you going to introduce me?" Chloe nodded perkily.

"Lana Lang, meet Kyrianna Winner. She just started here. Kyrianna, Lana's the…whoops, used to be the head cheerleader. She helps out with the Torch."

"Kyrianna's staying with Lex." Pete added.

"No kidding. You're staying at the Luthor place? Nice house."

"Yeah." Kyrianna answered absently. "Clark, you ok?"

"Yeah…I think my mystery meat just tried to climb off my plate. Excuse me." He got up and nearly ran out of the room.

"Does he do that often?" Kyrianna asked.

"You have no idea." Lana said, rolling her eyes.

"Lana, you coming?" A tall, blond boy stopped next to Lana.

"Sure, Whitney. Kyrianna, this is my boyfriend Whitney. Whitney, Kyrianna, she's new."

"Hey." Whitney tossed off a casual wave, not really looking at her. Kyrianna grimaced, taking an instant dislike. Lana smiled at everyone and allowed him to tug her away and outside.

"That was…" Kyrianna searched for a way to say it.

"She's great, but he's a jerk." Pete said from the depths of his unidentifiable pudding thing.

"Pretty much." Kyrianna agreed.

"I wouldn't let her hear you say that." Chloe warned. "Lana's got a Whitney-shaped blind spot, sort of like Clark's Lana-shaped one."

"Whitney. That's right." Chloe stared at her. "Oh…Lex told me about some of the kids I might met, the ones he kind of knows. His opinion of Whitney more or less matches Pete's."

"Great minds." Pete said.

"Is Clark gonna come back, or should I get rid of his tray?" Kyrianna rose, taking her own tray with her.

"He won't be back." Chloe answered, watching. "Can you manage?"

"No problem." She balanced Clark's tray on top of her own and carried both to the stands at the side of the room.

"Jealous, Chlo?" Pete asked.

"Of what?"

"She's got a crush on Clark."

"So? Why should I care?" She elbowed Pete in the ribs. "Cut that out, Pete!"

"Clark!"

Clark turned on hearing his name.

"Lex! What are you doing here?"

"Collecting my house guest. Have you met her?"

"Kyrianna? Yeah, I met her this morning."

"And this lunch time." Kyrianna put in, coming up beside them. "Although you did leave in rather a hurry, Clark." Clark's eyes flickered to Lex, who was standing, impassive.

"Yeah…sorry about that. I just…wasn't feeling well."

"You all right, Clark?" Lex asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just for a few minutes." Lex nodded and turned to Kyrianna.

"You ready?"

"Um-hum. I'll see you tomorrow, Clark."

"Sure."

"Clark, you're gonna miss the bus!" He half-turned at Chloe's voice.

"Coming! See you, Lex."

"Bye, Clark." The two watched him leave, and then Lex opened Kyrianna's car door for her.

"Well?"

"Lex…"

"It's not spying." Lex said it with the air of someone who's repeated this over and over again. "It's just relaying news of your school to an interested friend."

"Oh, is that what it is. So it won't end up in the little mental dossier on Clark you're building." She made a face at her own grammar, or lack of.

"Well, yeah." She sighed and looked out the window. "Look, I'm not asking you to spy on him in the locker room. What happened at lunch?"

"He just left. Just after Lana arrived and before Whitney arrived."

"He left when Lana arrived?"

"Yeah. I thought you said he liked her."

"He does."

"Odd way of showing it."

"Clark has an odd way of doing most things."

"Kyrianna!" She turned, pausing just outside the class she'd been about to enter.

"I'm late, Clark. Is something wrong?"

"No…I haven't seen you around is all."

"I've been busy." Seeing the look on his face she relented. "I'll see you at lunch, right? Keep me a seat."

"Ok." She grinned quickly and slid into the room, closing the door firmly behind her. Clark started to turn away, then paused as he realised where he was. On the door in front of him hung a plaque reading 'Dr. Reding. Psychiatrist.'

"Urgh." Kyrianna slid into the seat beside Chloe, directly across from Clark, and made a face at Chloe's tray. "I gave up on the lunches here."

"They probably can't stand up to Lex's larder." Chloe agreed.

"I wouldn't know. I haven't been in the kitchen." Catching their looks, she added, "Not from lack of trying. Every time I go anywhere in that part of the house, some one of the servants oh-so-politely sends me back to my own room."

"I've never tried." Clark said.

"Nell was in and out during the party, but she's the only non-staff I've seen in there…why are we talking about the Luthor Manor, anyway?"

"You started it." Chloe pointed out.

"True. How's the Torch? I missed the latest issue."

"How'd you manage that?" Clark asked.

"I was busy elsewhere. Anything interesting?"

"The game, the game, the game, and the aftermath of the game." Pete said.

"So nothing about the game then?" The group laughed, trailing off as Lana came over.

"Kyrianna, have you heard about the blood drive?"

"I heard about it, yes."

"Can I put you down?"

"I'm not allowed donate."

"How come?" Chloe asked.

"Um, I have this disease…it's got about seventeen syllables in the name, but the upshot of it is that my blood clots too easily. I have to take stuff to thin it, or I'd die of clotting."

"Ouch. Well, consider yourself excused." Lana said.

"I'll help out, if you need me."

"Clark's already helping, but we'll keep you in mind." Lana said. "See you later." She left, leaving Kyrianna under the stares of the other three.

"What?"

"Nothing." Clark said quickly. "Just…"

"I know. It's really not so bad, unless I forget to take my medicine. Which stinks, by the way, it tastes horrible."

"Don't all medicines?" Pete asked.

"Most of them. My cousin, one time…" Chloe went off on a long, rambling story that had very little to do with anything. Kyrianna pretended to be listening, but she really wasn't paying much attention to anything.

"Hey, the bell's gone. Are you coming?"

"Hummm? Oh, crap! Chloe, can you tell Professor Smith I'll be a little late? Please? Thanks!" Slamming her books together she took off for the lockers. Clark glanced at his friends once, then followed her.