Title: "The Sandwich Incident"
Author: Niggle
Genre: Humor/Vignette
Summary: What if Clark forgot to hide his powers?
Rating: G
Archive: View as author intended at: niggle.0catch.com
The sun hovered low in the west as another day reached its end, but the festivities were just beginning at Michael Reiner's annual Smallville High end-of-the-year party. Cars, substituted for picnic tables, were scattered across the half-mile-long field, while hundreds of kids milled about with beverages, alcoholic and not. Several basketball players were working on what was - hopefully - soon to be a roaring bonfire, well away from the groups playing football and soccer in the spring grass.
On the east side of the Reiner property, the field dropped away sharply and became a sloping tumble of rocks intermixed with hardy weeds. A few students had settled near the edge, pausing every once in a while to throw a rock or stick over. Every few minutes a new vehicle would pull in, make it's way up the dusty lane and onto the turf, where there was still plenty of room to maneuver.
Chloe, Pete and Clark were tailgating roughly twenty yards from the drop, eating turkey sandwiches and talking lightly. Their conversation died with everyone else's when Brent's pickup came hurtling across the field, narrowly missing several partygoers. Above indignant shouts from other guests, Holly's panicked screams could be heard from the front seat as her obviously inebriated boyfriend swerved dangerously and headed straight for the slope. He apparently saw the steep drop ahead because he slammed on the brakes and yanked the wheel to the right, but too late. The S-10 skidded sideways as it reached the slope and was poised for a moment on the edge, about to roll down the hill.
In that moment, Clark closed the distance between himself and the truck. Parking his sandwich in his mouth and grasping the chassis with both hands, he carefully dragged it back to level ground. Plucking the turkey and swiss from his mouth, he walked over the passenger side and tore the door off with his free hand, for no apparent reason.
"Are you okay?" he asked Holly, his voice muffled by bread and cheese.
"I'm...I'm fine," she replied shakily while she stared at him.
Clark stepped away from the truck and started to walk back to his own Chevy while taking another bite of his snack. He paused when he noticed the eyes of everyone - everyone who had been able to see the near catastrophe, anyway - on him. He slowly stopped chewing.
"What?"