Clark awoke with a start, his gaze sweeping across his room fearfully before looking towards his hands, searching for any signs of meteor rocks nearby. A small sigh of relief escaped his lips, as he noticed none; his hands begin to comb through his hair fretfully, as he went over the night's events in his head. Chloe, a story-- Chloe knowing who, what he was, and the meteor rock.

He had been so sure it was real, could feel the pain tearing him apart, but here he was in his room had it just been a dream? A slight shiver ran through his body, as he threw off the covers and rose to his feet.

"It seemed so real, but I guess it was just a dream"

He commented weakly to himself. As he did so, a flood of relief seemed to pass through him, as if mentioning aloud that it was a dream had banished away the horror of it. He took another moment to compose himself, before trudging out of his room and towards the bathroom. As he stood inside the bathroom, his eyes narrowed in scrutiny carefully examining his features in the mirror.

"Not exactly, the most welcoming sight to see first thing in the morning."

He quietly lamented to himself, as he traced along his face with his hands, he flinched he really do look terrible, he'd had to try to keep a tighter lid on his emotions, he didn't want his parents prying wondering what was the matter nor any of his friends.

Lana.

Pete.

Chloe.

Lex.

His closest friends the first and last names on the list sticking out boldly in his mind. Lana and Lex. How had he ended up being best friends with a girl who's very name made him blush crimson, and who before this year could barely speak to without stuttering or acting like a total goof—of course that had to do with the meteor rocks—partly. And Lex Luthor, the son of billionaire Lionel Luthor.

The name Luthor seemed synonymous with Lucifer to most people, most notably his father. Yet, here he was best friends with Lex Luthor, Lex who had been so kind to him helped him out in so many ways, yet had perhaps come closest to finding out his secret.

Sometimes he wondered what would had happened if his powers hadn't been temporarily stolen, and Lex had decided to test out his theory. Would he have shunned him? Informed the authorities and had him taken away to be study like a lab animal, or would he had understood, and allowed Clark to finally have someone else besides his parents to confide in.

How he wished it could be so, that he could let Lex know, or Chloe, Pete, or Lana. But the risk was too great, the chance of rejection—the hate. Would they hate him as much as he seemed to hate himself sometimes? The thought of it made him shut his eyes in fear, he could live with hating himself, he didn't think he could go on with those he held dear fearing him, hating him. But what about--

No! He mentally shouted to himself. Enough whining about what he could have or should have done. He was going to take a shower get dressed, go to school, hang out with his friends and concentrate on there here and now, he couldn't allow himself to stand here moping all day.

Feeling renewed, he once again looked at himself in the mirror, and this time let a wide smile spread across his face, before saying jovially to himself.

"All right, better hurry before I'm late."

Keeping the smile on his face, he turned around and started the shower a fresh outlook and bright mood energizing him.

Chloe sat on the bus quietly, her gaze centered on the Kent farm stationed in front of the bus. The farms looked neat and tidy as usual, the result of tireless hours of work shouldered by Clark and his father. After a few more moments of searching, she turned towards Pete and reluctantly handed him a ten-dollar bill.

"Looks like you win Pete, I'm really going to have to hurt Clark, all he had to do was be on time today, then you could have paid me as I humbly accepted your ten dollars for winning the bet." Chloe mumbled regretfully.

"I'm sorry..Chloe but I told you not to bet on Clark the last few days that he's been on time have been a fluke, a small rip in the fabric of space and time that greatly distorted reality." Pete replied all-knowingly, nodding his head slightly for emphasis.

Chloe rolled her eyes and replied dryly, "Of course, I forgot that you have a sixth sense about these sort of things." "Of course is really too bad that Petedamus couldn't have predicted that he would have been turned down by Samantha Jenkins for a date, which could have saved him a great deal of embarrassment in the Cafeteria yesterday." She added a few moments later with glee.

"Hey! Even the best struck out once or twice, just you wait I'm going to ask her today, and I guarantee that she'll say yes." He quickly retorted.

"Ohh, a guarantee. What do you say to a wager? About twenty dollars says she'll say no?" Chloe replied with a sarcastic grin planted firmly on her face.

"You're on!" Pete shouted quickly the defensive tone in his voice easily readable. A slight frown marred his face as he extended his right hand towards Chloe shaking hers before folding his arms tightly across his chest and mumbling.

As Pete sat mumbling to himself, and Chloe sat beside him launching friendly verbal jabs at him, Clark walked from the front and plopped down on a seat across from there. Chloe paused in her comments and blinked in surprise before saying, "Clark! There you are, you almost cost me ten dollars today you should be lucky I'm going to let it slide for now, and speaking of ten dollars." She turned her attention to Pete, and politely held out her hand, while he reluctantly handed back her ten dollars along with ten of his own.

Clark looked at the two for a moment and smiled remarking, "Really sorry about that Chloe, if I had known how much was at stake I would had set my alarm clock two hours earlier to be up and ready."

"Like I said, I'll let it slide for now Kent but don't do it again." Chloe grinned to herself, and pleasantly placed the twenty dollars inside of her purse.

"So, what did I miss?" Clark asked as the bus began to start up and pull off, forcing a few students to flop up and then down in their seats.

"Not much."

"Nothing."

Chloe and Pete replied respectively as they leaned backwards in their seats. Clark nodded slightly and followed suit, relaxing and trying to enjoy the ride to school.

***

Lex stood in his office quietly clad in a light blue cotton shirt, and a pair of comfortable black khaki pants. His gaze roaming across the office quietly, vaguely listening to the man seated before him speaking.

Clark.

His closest friend, perhaps his only friend and yet so much about him was a mystery he had once thought that mystery could be explained by glowing green rocks from space, not anymore. Clark had disproved that theory, but yet there was something about him that was guarded a part of him that he didn't seem to want to show anyone else. Lex often wondered what exactly it was that the young man was hiding, but quickly dropped any thought of asking him. Clark would tell him in time, and then there would be no secrets between them—well except for his but his secrets he had to keep a secret.

"Excuse me, Mr. Luthor but it you don't feel like hearing my proposal then perhaps I should look for business elsewhere." The middle-aged man sitting before him muttered through gritted teeth.

"Yes, perhaps you should Mr. Rosen, perhaps you can bore another company's executives with your dribble." Lex coolly replied, before standing up from his seat and motioning towards the doors leading out of his office.

"Well, I can say that I have never been treated with such disrespect, I certainly don't need your investments if this is how the Luthors treat their potential clients." The man murmured in slight shock and indignation.

Lex simply ignored him, allowing his gaze and his attention to shift towards other things, as the man gathered his belongings and promptly left.

Maneuvering his way back towards his desk, Lex fell into his chair abruptly. Grasping hold of a bottle of spring water, he took a small swig his mind beginning to drift back towards thoughts of Clark, as his phone beeped loudly in the background.

***

Half-awake and half-asleep Whitney struggled miserably to stay awake and listened to his economics teacher's lesson. Unfortunately the long nights at his father's store and the teachers droll and tedious teaching style were working heavily against him. Sighing, he tried to let his mind wander to more interesting avenues, if he couldn't pay attention, then the best he could was try to stay awake. Sitting in his desk, he began to think of his Father. He hated working in the store, yet he didn't want to disappoint his father, after all his father had been through, the least he could do was obey him.

Yet, sometimes he just wanted to stand up to his father and scream that he wasn't him that he didn't want to run the store. He just wanted to be a normal teenager, and not have to worry about if the next shipment would be in on time, or if prices needed to be raised or lowered. Rubbing the side of his forehead tenderly, he began to mumble. Thinking about his father always gave him a headache. Sparing a quick glance at the clock, he decided to give up trying to stay awake, and just fall asleep. He didn't need a headache bogging him down, and thanks to his father he had received more then his fair share of economic lessons.