Interviewing Basketball Stars
Author: Liz Luthor
Disclaimer: This is, in fact, merely fan fiction. It comes nowhere near close to the ACTUAL show, and I like it that way. So, despite the fact that I have no right to, I have taken into my imagination the beautiful people of Smallville and given them a new home. :)
Couples: Chloe/Whitney, Clark/Lana, Pete/OC (Amber)
Author's Notes: Hey, wake up people! Did you even NOTICE that Whitney found out about Clark's powers in the last chapter? Nobody said anything about it!!
*~---------- + ----------~*
"I can't believe how well you guys know Lex Luthor!" Amber declared excitedly to Clark, Lana, and Pete at the Talon. "This is so cool! How often does he hang out with you?" She turned to Lindsay and they giggled together. Lana chuckled at them and Pete rolled his eyes.
"You don't have to talk about him like he's above the rest of us. Socially, maybe, but in terms of people he's just low," the Ross boy scowled.
Amber looked offended. "That's awfully harsh. What has he done to you?" she asked incredulously.
"The Luthors completely screwed my family out of business before I was even born! We had to start from scratch after what he did to us!" Clark shifted his weight uncomfortably. He remembered the day Pete had tried to shoot Lex. He knew everything his friend had been through dealing with Lionel Luthor, but he also knew that Lex begged to differ from his father's ways.
"...Let's not get into that now," Clark offered. "Just be grateful that everything's fine the way it is now." Amber folded her arms over her chest defiantly.
"Wait a minute," she requested and turned to Pete. "You said what 'he' did to you. You mean Lionel Luthor, right?" She waited while he nodded his head in response. "Well how can you associate Lex with what his father did? Can you imagine how horrible it would be to live in that man's shadow??" Chloe walked in just as Amber was speaking
Pete glared. "Why are you defending him all of a sudden?! You don't even know the guy!"
"Well neither do you!" she shot back.
"I know what kind of person he is, and that's all I need!" he shouted.
Amber yelled, "You only know what kind of person his father is, but I guess that's enough for you to judge him by!"
"Be that way!" He was furious now. "If Lex is so right and I'm so wrong, why don't you go out with him?!"
Lindsay calmly replied for her friend. "Because she's a minor and he's an adult, not to mention she never said she liked the guy anymore than you."
Amber nodded along with her. "You don't have to be so defensive about it. I know your family suffered a lot, I just think you're blaming the wrong guy. But let's forget about it for now—it's not worth losing our relationship over. Okay?" She swept over to Pete and put her arm around his shoulder. "Besides, you know how much I like you!" she kissed him on the cheek to prove her point.
There was a short silence as Clark, Lana, Lindsay, and Chloe shook off the effects of the couple's first fight. Lindsay was already struggling over a new problem—Chloe's presence. She knew jealousy was a petty concept, and she was trying so hard to get over Whitney. But she knew there was something between those two. How could she ignore her feelings for him when he was finally single? She would have to. Otherwise she would get her heart broken, and she knew it.
Clark felt uneasy. He sensed tension in the group, and he was getting better at reading emotions. He looked to Lana to ease his worry, and her smile at his sight did just that. She picked up a tray of cappuccinos and handed them out to settle everyone down a bit. The Talon had become their new hangout after-hours, when there was no one else there to hear them, no one to watch them. However, she was sadly not surprised to find Whitney absent. 'What could be wrong?' she wondered.
.: In the corn field (where Whitney "hung" Clark like a scarecrow) :.
There was a small clearing in the corn stalks a few feet away from the edge of the road, where the annual scarecrow joke was performed and where Whitney sat now. He was visibly stressed, sweating heavily and constantly fidgeting. He wrung his hands for a few seconds before standing and starting to pace in circles. Finally, he stopped, wiped the sweat from his brow, and reached into his back pocket to pull out an ordinary computer disk.
Sitting down again, he stared blankly at the object. It had no label; there was nothing on it. He traced back in his memory to the day he and Clark had recovered Lex's disk from the hideout of those guys... Those guys that had introduced him to a new, fantastic kind of high, to a whole world of risks and sacrifices, which, to them, would be entirely worth it once they "hit it big". They had introduced Whitney to violence and threats, to vulnerability. And yet he had trusted them. If only for a short time, he had confided in them and caused truckloads of problems, all because of the same stupid scholarship he didn't even want now.
Most of all, however, they had introduced him to alcohol. Until he met them, Whitney had never been a big drinker. He often refused to drink at parties, mainly due to his strict mother. But after what he experienced with those lunatics, drinking became a bit of a problem for him. They had somehow managed to get him a fake ID with his pictures on it so that he could purchase his own beer. Not legally, maybe, but easily enough still.
But Whitney wasn't thinking about them at this point. He was thinking about Clark. He remembered how the young Kent had crushed Lex's disk almost to crumbs with only hand. He gripped his own hand around the disk he had with him and applied as much force to it as he could. He squeezed and strained with his arm to break the little floppy.
It lay perfectly intact, still in the palm of his hand, still just as functional as it ever was. It glared right back at Whitney, mocking him.
He threw it to the ground in frustration and stomped on it once. It still wouldn't break.
'I don't understand...'
.: At the Talon :.
Lana took up everyone's cappuccinos and brought them back into the kitchen with her, yelling back to them as she washed out the mugs. "I have to stay back and clean up a little bit, but you guys should probably get going. See you at school tomorrow!" The others nodded and verbalized their agreement, but just as Clark stood up gloomily to leave, Lana called back, "Uh, Clark?" He turned. "...Would you mind staying for a minute? I want to talk to you." He sat back down slowly, confused and slightly uneasy over what she might want to discuss with him.
She finished cleaning the cups and hurried back to the table at which they had been sitting. "What is it?" Clark inquired. Lana smiled at him and leaned forward in her chair.
"I'm concerned," she declared, "about you. Lately, you've got this expression on your face that tells me something is wrong, and you look like the world is going to explode if you don't fix it... That's a lot like how Whitney's been acting, too." He sighed skeptically. She laughed, "Hey, I just want you to be happy. Whatever's between you and Whitney—that's not my problem, it's none of my business. I don't want to ask you what's bothering you, because I know you'll say it's nothing. What I want is just for you to be happy." Clark couldn't look into her eyes, so he avoided them.
"...Well, although I appreciate the caring gesture, I... I can't be happy with this- problem." Lana lifted his chin with her fingers so that his eyes met hers.
"Look, no matter what you're going through, you should know that we do care about you... I care about you." She stood up and walked around the small table toward Clark, then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Don't ever forget that."
*~---------- + ----------~*
Outside, Chloe started walking to her car, but noticed Lindsay standing outside the Talon alone. She approached and offered, "Need a ride?"
Fear struck Lindsay as she was confronted with her biggest dilemma. 'You know Whitney doesn't like you—there's no point in taking it out on Chloe. Might as well make peace with her,' she told herself. "...Uh, yeah," she responded. Chloe opened the door and motioned for her to come.
Once they were on their way, silence embedded its heavy presence into the vehicle. Finally, Chloe spoke up. "...So... Where do you live?" she asked, clearly trying to fill the void.
"Oh, right down the road from... Whitney... actually," Lindsay pointed out. Silence returned. "...Speaking of which..." she began, "Do you, uh, like him?"
Chloe seemed stunned by the question. "I-... umm..." She sighed. "I've been wondering that myself lately."
It was Lindsay's turn to be surprised. "Really? I mean, well, a lot of people appear to think that he likes you, so..."
Chloe let out a short, sarcastic laugh and replied, "I kinda found that out. He... H-he kissed me the other day." It was the first time she had said it out loud, the first time she had really let it sink in, really admitted it to herself. She wasn't sure how Lindsay would react.
In the passenger seat, Lindsay froze. 'Whitney kissed her?? He kissed her, and she... she doesn't even know if she likes him...' She was in awe. Somehow, the center of her attention for the past four years, the unattainable, the impossible to please had fallen for this girl. This girl, who didn't even have feelings for him in the first place, who wasn't sure of how she felt about him! This girl, who hadn't tried nearly as hard as she had to earn Whitney's attention, and who could easily break his heart with what she had been given.
Silence poured through the night.
*~---------- + ----------~*
Whitney drove around in a daze. Smallville was a deep eternity of darkness and empty streets. The night consumed his truck, and he was subtly aware of the light shown by the moon. Tonight, he would not go to the drugstore, as he had on so many previous occasions. He would not, could not drink away this problem.
'...The speed...' he thought. 'It must be accompanied by strength. How could he achieve speed like that without amazing strength?' He thought back to the disk and was sure crushing had been a small feat for Clark. Another memory occurred to him, another part of that night. When the car was falling... He would've been crushed, if it weren't for Clark pushing him out of Death's path. He'd be dead if it weren't for Clark's inhuman speed and strength. Clark had been able to save his life with those powers, but his only question now was, 'Why...?'
*~---------- + ----------~*
Clark looked back on the events of the evening and mentally remarked, '...I won't forget...'
.: End :.
Author's Notes: I really liked this chapter! It was more fun to write, for some reason, than other chapters. :) Oh, and, once again, sorry for the delay! I was on vacation! *grin*
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PS- REVIEW!
Author: Liz Luthor
Disclaimer: This is, in fact, merely fan fiction. It comes nowhere near close to the ACTUAL show, and I like it that way. So, despite the fact that I have no right to, I have taken into my imagination the beautiful people of Smallville and given them a new home. :)
Couples: Chloe/Whitney, Clark/Lana, Pete/OC (Amber)
Author's Notes: Hey, wake up people! Did you even NOTICE that Whitney found out about Clark's powers in the last chapter? Nobody said anything about it!!
*~---------- + ----------~*
"I can't believe how well you guys know Lex Luthor!" Amber declared excitedly to Clark, Lana, and Pete at the Talon. "This is so cool! How often does he hang out with you?" She turned to Lindsay and they giggled together. Lana chuckled at them and Pete rolled his eyes.
"You don't have to talk about him like he's above the rest of us. Socially, maybe, but in terms of people he's just low," the Ross boy scowled.
Amber looked offended. "That's awfully harsh. What has he done to you?" she asked incredulously.
"The Luthors completely screwed my family out of business before I was even born! We had to start from scratch after what he did to us!" Clark shifted his weight uncomfortably. He remembered the day Pete had tried to shoot Lex. He knew everything his friend had been through dealing with Lionel Luthor, but he also knew that Lex begged to differ from his father's ways.
"...Let's not get into that now," Clark offered. "Just be grateful that everything's fine the way it is now." Amber folded her arms over her chest defiantly.
"Wait a minute," she requested and turned to Pete. "You said what 'he' did to you. You mean Lionel Luthor, right?" She waited while he nodded his head in response. "Well how can you associate Lex with what his father did? Can you imagine how horrible it would be to live in that man's shadow??" Chloe walked in just as Amber was speaking
Pete glared. "Why are you defending him all of a sudden?! You don't even know the guy!"
"Well neither do you!" she shot back.
"I know what kind of person he is, and that's all I need!" he shouted.
Amber yelled, "You only know what kind of person his father is, but I guess that's enough for you to judge him by!"
"Be that way!" He was furious now. "If Lex is so right and I'm so wrong, why don't you go out with him?!"
Lindsay calmly replied for her friend. "Because she's a minor and he's an adult, not to mention she never said she liked the guy anymore than you."
Amber nodded along with her. "You don't have to be so defensive about it. I know your family suffered a lot, I just think you're blaming the wrong guy. But let's forget about it for now—it's not worth losing our relationship over. Okay?" She swept over to Pete and put her arm around his shoulder. "Besides, you know how much I like you!" she kissed him on the cheek to prove her point.
There was a short silence as Clark, Lana, Lindsay, and Chloe shook off the effects of the couple's first fight. Lindsay was already struggling over a new problem—Chloe's presence. She knew jealousy was a petty concept, and she was trying so hard to get over Whitney. But she knew there was something between those two. How could she ignore her feelings for him when he was finally single? She would have to. Otherwise she would get her heart broken, and she knew it.
Clark felt uneasy. He sensed tension in the group, and he was getting better at reading emotions. He looked to Lana to ease his worry, and her smile at his sight did just that. She picked up a tray of cappuccinos and handed them out to settle everyone down a bit. The Talon had become their new hangout after-hours, when there was no one else there to hear them, no one to watch them. However, she was sadly not surprised to find Whitney absent. 'What could be wrong?' she wondered.
.: In the corn field (where Whitney "hung" Clark like a scarecrow) :.
There was a small clearing in the corn stalks a few feet away from the edge of the road, where the annual scarecrow joke was performed and where Whitney sat now. He was visibly stressed, sweating heavily and constantly fidgeting. He wrung his hands for a few seconds before standing and starting to pace in circles. Finally, he stopped, wiped the sweat from his brow, and reached into his back pocket to pull out an ordinary computer disk.
Sitting down again, he stared blankly at the object. It had no label; there was nothing on it. He traced back in his memory to the day he and Clark had recovered Lex's disk from the hideout of those guys... Those guys that had introduced him to a new, fantastic kind of high, to a whole world of risks and sacrifices, which, to them, would be entirely worth it once they "hit it big". They had introduced Whitney to violence and threats, to vulnerability. And yet he had trusted them. If only for a short time, he had confided in them and caused truckloads of problems, all because of the same stupid scholarship he didn't even want now.
Most of all, however, they had introduced him to alcohol. Until he met them, Whitney had never been a big drinker. He often refused to drink at parties, mainly due to his strict mother. But after what he experienced with those lunatics, drinking became a bit of a problem for him. They had somehow managed to get him a fake ID with his pictures on it so that he could purchase his own beer. Not legally, maybe, but easily enough still.
But Whitney wasn't thinking about them at this point. He was thinking about Clark. He remembered how the young Kent had crushed Lex's disk almost to crumbs with only hand. He gripped his own hand around the disk he had with him and applied as much force to it as he could. He squeezed and strained with his arm to break the little floppy.
It lay perfectly intact, still in the palm of his hand, still just as functional as it ever was. It glared right back at Whitney, mocking him.
He threw it to the ground in frustration and stomped on it once. It still wouldn't break.
'I don't understand...'
.: At the Talon :.
Lana took up everyone's cappuccinos and brought them back into the kitchen with her, yelling back to them as she washed out the mugs. "I have to stay back and clean up a little bit, but you guys should probably get going. See you at school tomorrow!" The others nodded and verbalized their agreement, but just as Clark stood up gloomily to leave, Lana called back, "Uh, Clark?" He turned. "...Would you mind staying for a minute? I want to talk to you." He sat back down slowly, confused and slightly uneasy over what she might want to discuss with him.
She finished cleaning the cups and hurried back to the table at which they had been sitting. "What is it?" Clark inquired. Lana smiled at him and leaned forward in her chair.
"I'm concerned," she declared, "about you. Lately, you've got this expression on your face that tells me something is wrong, and you look like the world is going to explode if you don't fix it... That's a lot like how Whitney's been acting, too." He sighed skeptically. She laughed, "Hey, I just want you to be happy. Whatever's between you and Whitney—that's not my problem, it's none of my business. I don't want to ask you what's bothering you, because I know you'll say it's nothing. What I want is just for you to be happy." Clark couldn't look into her eyes, so he avoided them.
"...Well, although I appreciate the caring gesture, I... I can't be happy with this- problem." Lana lifted his chin with her fingers so that his eyes met hers.
"Look, no matter what you're going through, you should know that we do care about you... I care about you." She stood up and walked around the small table toward Clark, then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Don't ever forget that."
*~---------- + ----------~*
Outside, Chloe started walking to her car, but noticed Lindsay standing outside the Talon alone. She approached and offered, "Need a ride?"
Fear struck Lindsay as she was confronted with her biggest dilemma. 'You know Whitney doesn't like you—there's no point in taking it out on Chloe. Might as well make peace with her,' she told herself. "...Uh, yeah," she responded. Chloe opened the door and motioned for her to come.
Once they were on their way, silence embedded its heavy presence into the vehicle. Finally, Chloe spoke up. "...So... Where do you live?" she asked, clearly trying to fill the void.
"Oh, right down the road from... Whitney... actually," Lindsay pointed out. Silence returned. "...Speaking of which..." she began, "Do you, uh, like him?"
Chloe seemed stunned by the question. "I-... umm..." She sighed. "I've been wondering that myself lately."
It was Lindsay's turn to be surprised. "Really? I mean, well, a lot of people appear to think that he likes you, so..."
Chloe let out a short, sarcastic laugh and replied, "I kinda found that out. He... H-he kissed me the other day." It was the first time she had said it out loud, the first time she had really let it sink in, really admitted it to herself. She wasn't sure how Lindsay would react.
In the passenger seat, Lindsay froze. 'Whitney kissed her?? He kissed her, and she... she doesn't even know if she likes him...' She was in awe. Somehow, the center of her attention for the past four years, the unattainable, the impossible to please had fallen for this girl. This girl, who didn't even have feelings for him in the first place, who wasn't sure of how she felt about him! This girl, who hadn't tried nearly as hard as she had to earn Whitney's attention, and who could easily break his heart with what she had been given.
Silence poured through the night.
*~---------- + ----------~*
Whitney drove around in a daze. Smallville was a deep eternity of darkness and empty streets. The night consumed his truck, and he was subtly aware of the light shown by the moon. Tonight, he would not go to the drugstore, as he had on so many previous occasions. He would not, could not drink away this problem.
'...The speed...' he thought. 'It must be accompanied by strength. How could he achieve speed like that without amazing strength?' He thought back to the disk and was sure crushing had been a small feat for Clark. Another memory occurred to him, another part of that night. When the car was falling... He would've been crushed, if it weren't for Clark pushing him out of Death's path. He'd be dead if it weren't for Clark's inhuman speed and strength. Clark had been able to save his life with those powers, but his only question now was, 'Why...?'
*~---------- + ----------~*
Clark looked back on the events of the evening and mentally remarked, '...I won't forget...'
.: End :.
Author's Notes: I really liked this chapter! It was more fun to write, for some reason, than other chapters. :) Oh, and, once again, sorry for the delay! I was on vacation! *grin*
*~---------- + ----------~*
PS- REVIEW!
