ULTIMATE SUPERMAN

Chapter 4: Pairing Up

Los Angeles, CA

August 23rd, 2001

The van had to make a number of stops, as not everyone was living in the same place for the year. Lana's grades (a bit better than Clark's since she hadn't had to deal with the occasional odd crisis that resulted from being born on another planet) had gotten her into the Dean's Halls, while Clark had opted to live in the International Residence College. He'd really liked the idea of living with people from all over the world, especially if he was going to go through with some of his post-college plans. Unfortunately, due to poor planning and construction mishaps, the new building wouldn't be finished until the Spring semester. Instead of moving into the normal dorm spaces though, those students that were supposed to have been housed in the International dorm had been allocated space in the university-owned Radisson hotel, which Clark didn't mind, since it happened to be located right across the street from the Dean's Halls.

Clark helped Lana unload her bags in front of the Dean's hall, then gave her a quick kiss.

"Call me tonight?" She asked quietly.

"I'll call you as soon as I get moved in." He climbed most of the way back into the van. "Love you!" He shouted as it drove away to make a u-turn and pull up in front of the Radisson.

Inside, things were chaotic. The university had not bothered to pre-assign rooms or room-mates, so there was now an immense line of some several hundred students, all waiting to be told where they were going to live. As Clark unloaded his things, he saw Josh doing the same.

"You didn't say you were living here too, Josh."

"I could have sworn I did." The smaller man gave him an impish grin as he dragged his large green duffel bag into the lobby. The two of them found places on one of the benches after filling out the necessary paperwork and sat for a bit. When a woman in a red university polo came by and asked if they happened to know who they wanted to room with, Josh smiled.

"Do we get a room faster if we say yes?"

"We have one open now, if you want to go ahead and move in."

Clark and Josh exchanged a "why not" look and stood up, grabbing their bags.

Across the street, Lana had checked in to Trojan Hall and was unpacking her things in her room when she heard a knock on the door. A small, slightly plump blonde girl was leaning in, bags in hand. Her face had a hint of red in it, but also bore a friendly smile.

"Hi. I'm Bethany. You must be Lana. I tried emailing you before I left home to get to know you…"

Lana returned the smile. "I'm sorry, I read it right before I left for the airport. I would have gotten back to you. Come on in, it's your room too!"

Bethany and Lana lugged B's things into the room and then plopped down on their beds, huffing with the effort. After talking for a bit, they knew quite a bit about each other. Bethany was from Las Vegas, and was a Mormon. Unlike Lana, she was undeclared, but, like Lana, her good grades had gotten her into the Dean's Halls. Throughout the conversation, though, Lana kept glancing out the window to her left, fixing her eyes for a moment on the white front of the Radisson. Bethany looked like she'd be a good roomie, but she already missed Clark.

***

The green glow moved silently through alleyways and beneath overpasses, coming over closer to its target. It would take time, but it would find what it was looking for…