(WARNING: RAMPANT Mary Sue-ing in this story. What else is fanfiction for if not to put yourself into the world of the cool guys… ehehe… to my fellow SC students who might read this, let's just suppose that Lana was #24, m'kay? To the rest… don't bother trying to understand.)

ULTIMATE SUPERMAN

Chapter 3: Curbside Meetings

Los Angeles, CA

August 23rd, 2001

"Flight 1796 now arriving at gate A five…"

The roar of people was almost deafening to Clark as he and Lana made their way down the gangway from the airplane to the gate. Everywhere there were people, and they were all people whom he didn't know. Fewer things are more shocking to a farm boy from Kansas than the sudden realization that the world is a whole lot bigger than he'd thought. He'd been in to Kansas City a few times, and had thought it was crowded, but Los Angeles was unlike anything he'd considered even in his wildest dreams.

"So many people…" He stopped for a moment to look around, stunned. He didn't snap out of it until Lana took hold of his hand.

"Come on, Clark, lets go get the luggage and get out of here."

Having no great disagreement to that plan, Clark shouldered his backpack and held on to Lana's hand as the two of them made their way through the sea of humanity. Several minutes and several very heavy bags later they stood on the curbside with a number of other young people, waiting by the sign marked "USC", waiting for the shuttle that would take them to their new home. Clark began to look at the faces around him while they waited. He was startled to realize that he already recognized someone. Over the summer he and Lana had both spent a good deal of time on the internet trying to find out things about the people that they would meet on campus. While their searches hadn't yielded much in the way of results, he had managed to find one other person dong the same thing.

"Josh!" (I'm sorry readers…)

A thin youth standing near the edge of the crowd whipped his head around. He was dressed in simple jeans and a gray sweatshirt emblazoned with the crimson letters of the university. His face bore a well trimmed goatee and a wide, toothy smile as he saw Clark.

"Hey! Clark, what's up?"

The two exchanged a hearty handshake.

"It's great to finally meet you in person." Josh said.

"I know, for some reason AOL instant messenger just doesn't really cut it." Sudddenly Clark was aware of a light touch on his arm, and he mentally chastisted himself. "Oh, sorry! Lana, this is Josh Epstein, I met him over the Internet. Josh, this is Lana Lang, my girlfriend."

Josh took Lana's offered hand and shook it, enjoying her warm, if shy, smile.

"It's nice to finally meet you Lana. Clark's talked about you a lot over the summer. I heard that you're a theatre major too. BA or BFA?"

"BFA. You?"

"That same!" Josh said excitedly. "Awesome, I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other, then."

"I guess so."

Clark had enjoyed talking to Josh online, and found that he had an inviting personality in person. And he was glad that Lana would know someone. He had been concerned that she would feel very out of place there, and even a little worried that some of those theatre guys would be trying to… well… no use thinking about it. He was sure that Josh would keep an eye on things for him.

A red SuperShuttle van pulled up to the curb and a man leaned out the window. "USC?"

Everyone tossed his or her bags in the back of the van and then crawled in. When the van was full, the driver slammed the door shut and pulled away from the curb. Clark took a deep breath of polluted air as they got on the freeway. In the distance he could see the red-tinged buildings of the campus that he recognized from the brochures and pictures he'd seen at the Midwest Orientation. As they drew closer, he felt his heart racing with anticipation. A whole new life was about to begin, and it started as soon as the door opened.

NEXT: PAIRING UP!!!