Author's Note: Sorry if Jean seems too much like Lana, it's just really
hard to keep the characters like themselves. Don't worry; we'll start
seeming that "other" side of Jean soon. OH and the constant coffee
comparisons, I love the caffeinated stuff. OH. YEAH! COFFEE ROCKS!! Thanks
for reviewing.
**This indicates that someone is thinking **
Chapter 6
*bleep bleep bleep bleep ble-*
*Yawn*
**What time is it? ** Jean telekinetically turned off her alarm clock.
She squinted at the clock. **Five thirty!!! AM!!! .I'm going back to sleep. ** She pulled the blankets and pillow over her head and rolled over.
**No wait! ** She suddenly sprung up. **I promised to do something around this time. What was it... something. I don't. It was. WHO CARES! I'm going back to sleep. **
The faint sound of mooing could be heard outside of her bedroom window.
**That's what I was supposed to do, ** she slowly rose from the bed and went straight to the closet.
**Ummm, that won't do, nope....nope....nope, ** she rummaged through the clothes, quickly scattering them everywhere. **Uhh. I guess this will have to do. **
She sighed as she picked out a pair of flared hipster blue jeans, her black platform sandals, a red spaghetti strap crop top and a spiked dog collar- like belt to match. She hoped that the dress code for Smallville high was the same as that of Bayville high.
Jean finally threw the brown messenger bag over her shoulder and studied herself in the mirror.
**Like they always say first day, first impressions. **
**Oh almost forgot, ** she trotted back into the room and picked up a few bracelets, rings, and a thin rope like choker adorned with a green stone.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
She started down the stairs talking two at a time. She figured it was still early, and she could help Clark with the chores if she hurried.
She finally reached the bottom stair and started towards the door, only to find that Mr. and Mrs. Kent and Clark were already sitting at the table eating breakfast.
She turned to face them and shoved her hands into her pockets, "I'm really sorry about being late, I kinda overslept." She shuffled her foot back and forth in the air. "It won't happen again."
"Oh that's alright," Mrs. Kent smiled, "just be grateful that I saved your breakfast from the two hungry bears, that are now attempting to invade the kitchen." She teased.
The two women laughed.
"Sure, laugh it up." Clark grinned.
This only caused Jean to laugh harder.
She finally controlled her laughter long enough to eat her breakfast.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jean kept popping food into her mouth, but slowly noticed that everyone in the room was staring at her... or... her choker.
Jean cautiously wound her fingers around the choker and snapped it off.
"My grandmother travels a lot, so I don't really get to see her that often. She gave this to me after she went to Panama..." She paused.
"It's beautiful." Ms. Kent smiled.
Jonathan and Clark nodded in agreement, both thankful that it wasn't a meteor rock, the cause of most "meteor-freaks" and perhaps the ONLY thing that could actually make Clark sick.
"Well, you had better leave now if you don't want to miss the bus again, Clark." Jonathan's comment seemed to remind Clark that he couldn't use his super-speed to get to school, at least not when Jean was present, or she would start to get pretty skeptical.
Clark nodded as if he knew exactly what was being said to him.
"Have a good day at school honey," Martha called kissing him on the top of his head.
"Mom?!"
Jean tried to suppress a giggle.
Clark sighed and headed out of the door, followed by a very giggly Jean.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jean tapped her foot impatiently while waiting for the bus.
"Nervous, Jean?" Clark taunted playfully.
"No." she lied. ** Not the sort of thing you want to admit to impress a really hot guy, ** She thought.
"The first day is always the worst." He still sensed that she was nervous. "It'll get better. I promise."
That's what she liked about him. Not only was he totally gorgeous but he had this really great personality. One minute he could be really sensible and serious and the next minute he would be this lovable, immature, teenager just waiting to make her smile. He was smart, funny and an all around nice guy.
Jean sighed. "Okay."
She smiled, Clark could always get her to smile. It was like whatever he did, he could always bring out the good in her and make her forget about her being "different". Sure Scott tried, and the funny thing was that she knew Scott much longer than she knew Clark. It was just something about him..... he was just so.... Clark.
Her thoughts were suddenly brought to a halt as the yellow school bus came to a full and complete stop directly in front of them.
"Shall we?" Clark extended his arm. And smiled, that smile that too often made her feel week in the knees.
"We shall." She too returned the smile, hooked her arm around Clark's and they walked arm in arm to the bus.
Jean followed Clark onto the bus, Pete had saved a seat for Clark. But Jean was left to "fend for herself." She quickly sat down next to a tall blonde headed boy who was wearing a varsity Jacket with a red 'S' on the front. She guessed he was on the football team, or some athletic team obviously because of the jacket, she remembered Duncan being on the football team, he had a varsity jacket as well. The "blonde haired" guy wasn't as tall as Clark but he was still pretty tall.
**Well. If I'm going to be here for a while I might as well meet new people. ** She thought to herself.
"Hi, I'm Jean."
"Whitney." He extended his hand to shake her's.
They rode the rest of the way to school in silence only occasionally saying a few words to each other.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"That was a very interesting bus ride." Chloe said sarcastically, once they had all gotten off the bus and in front of the brick school building. " Between the topics of football, Lana Lang and the occasional cheese log discussion" she threw her hands in the air to emphasize, "how can I ever be bored?"
"Chloe, Chloe, Chloe, you just don't understand the importance of it all," Pete shook his head.
"WHAT, is the importance of CHEESE LOGS? They have no PURPOSE!" She laughed at Pete's rather odd remark.
"I think if you opened your mind to the things the free world has to offer, you would be more receptive to the ways of society."
"Uhhhhh, Pete how long did it take you to come up with that?"
"Chloe. Ya know. About ten minutes."
They all laughed.
"Oh yeah, I gotta get my schedule from the office." Jean reminded them.
"Ummmm," Pete nodded and tried desperately to speak a few words. But what he ended up with was. "Ahhhhhh, ummmmm, ah..... Yeah."
Jean laughed subtlety; "I guess I had better go then, as soon as someone directs me towards the office."
"Sure." Clark smiled.
Pete was murmuring something when the two left.
"You really like her don't you?" Chloe inquired when she was sure that Jean was nowhere within hearing range.
"Uhhh," Chloe could read him all to well. "NO! Yeah, maybe."
"I can't believe you Pete," She chuckled, "I swear you must have a new 'girlfriend' every week!"
"Squeal Sullivan, and your secret love life, which I might add does include a very dense, Lana Lang obsessed farm boy, will be all over the school before Monday morning."
"Relax Pete. I'm not going to tell." She smiled at the apprehensive expression that was building up on his face.
"Let's hope not."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
".... so here's your schedule Ms. Grey and welcome to Smallville High." The guidance councilor informed her, "I was going to assign a student to show you around the school but I see that Mr. Kent here has made my job a heck of a lot easier." She waved them off and Jean followed Clark out of the office.
Jean took the schedule and folded it over and over in her hand still trying to understand the scribbled handwriting and room numbers.
"So, do you know what classes you have yet?"
"Uhhhh," she handed Clark her schedule.
He glanced over it for a second, hardly reading any of the words.
"Looks like we're going to be in a lot of the same classes together."
Jean looked genuinely shocked. "You read. I mean, you read all of that, already?"
He searched frantically for an excuse. **Letting Jean find out my secret may not be the best idea. **
"When you've been going to this school as long as I have, you learn to read Ms. Word's handwriting pretty quickly."
Jean seriously didn't want to get to that point where she would just laugh at just everything he said. But she was starting to feel like she was already there.
"Well..... lead on, O fearless one, onto first period!"
The way the light seemed to make her hair radiant and her emerald eyes dance was more breathtaking than Clark had imagined. Pete was right, she was beautiful. Yes, it was true that he had a "crush" on Lana, but reinstating the obvious. She had a boyfriend. And Chloe, he didn't know how he felt about her. Chloe probably just regarded him as a friend.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Within a few minutes they had reached first period, Ms. Strictlent.
"Ms. Strictlent?" Jean almost laughed at the name, "Ms. Strict. Strictlent.her name makes her sound mean."
Clark pushed open the door.
"... And that is how..." She paused when she saw them walk into the room, "Oh hello, and welcome. You must be Jean Grey? The exchange student from Bayville. ah well, I see you and Clark seem to know each other, so I'm guessing you would be probably most comfortable sitting next to someone you know.
Jean shook her head as if to say she agreed. **I guess it's really true what they say, what's in a name? **
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*ring ring*
"Well students that was the bell.. and no homework tonight. HAVE FUN!"
Ms. Strictlent stood by the door and waved to all her students as they walked past.
"Is she for real?" Jean let out a giggly smile.
"As far as we know.... but Chloe insists that she's an alien from another planet," Clark said halfheartedly.
The thought bothered him. It wasn't because of who he was, it was what he was. It pained him to think about not being "normal." He could wish and wish until he was blue in the face, but it wouldn't change the fact that he wasn't human. No one could see Clark Kent for what he really was, with the exception of his mom and dad. He felt so confused, trapped and lonely. There was no one else he could really talk to about his abilities, to tell someone. anyone how he really felt. He hoped that someday they would accept him for HIM. But he knew that day would be a long way off.
Jean smiled, "Aliens? I think that's just a little too farfetched."
*****************************************************************
TBC
**This indicates that someone is thinking **
Chapter 6
*bleep bleep bleep bleep ble-*
*Yawn*
**What time is it? ** Jean telekinetically turned off her alarm clock.
She squinted at the clock. **Five thirty!!! AM!!! .I'm going back to sleep. ** She pulled the blankets and pillow over her head and rolled over.
**No wait! ** She suddenly sprung up. **I promised to do something around this time. What was it... something. I don't. It was. WHO CARES! I'm going back to sleep. **
The faint sound of mooing could be heard outside of her bedroom window.
**That's what I was supposed to do, ** she slowly rose from the bed and went straight to the closet.
**Ummm, that won't do, nope....nope....nope, ** she rummaged through the clothes, quickly scattering them everywhere. **Uhh. I guess this will have to do. **
She sighed as she picked out a pair of flared hipster blue jeans, her black platform sandals, a red spaghetti strap crop top and a spiked dog collar- like belt to match. She hoped that the dress code for Smallville high was the same as that of Bayville high.
Jean finally threw the brown messenger bag over her shoulder and studied herself in the mirror.
**Like they always say first day, first impressions. **
**Oh almost forgot, ** she trotted back into the room and picked up a few bracelets, rings, and a thin rope like choker adorned with a green stone.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
She started down the stairs talking two at a time. She figured it was still early, and she could help Clark with the chores if she hurried.
She finally reached the bottom stair and started towards the door, only to find that Mr. and Mrs. Kent and Clark were already sitting at the table eating breakfast.
She turned to face them and shoved her hands into her pockets, "I'm really sorry about being late, I kinda overslept." She shuffled her foot back and forth in the air. "It won't happen again."
"Oh that's alright," Mrs. Kent smiled, "just be grateful that I saved your breakfast from the two hungry bears, that are now attempting to invade the kitchen." She teased.
The two women laughed.
"Sure, laugh it up." Clark grinned.
This only caused Jean to laugh harder.
She finally controlled her laughter long enough to eat her breakfast.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jean kept popping food into her mouth, but slowly noticed that everyone in the room was staring at her... or... her choker.
Jean cautiously wound her fingers around the choker and snapped it off.
"My grandmother travels a lot, so I don't really get to see her that often. She gave this to me after she went to Panama..." She paused.
"It's beautiful." Ms. Kent smiled.
Jonathan and Clark nodded in agreement, both thankful that it wasn't a meteor rock, the cause of most "meteor-freaks" and perhaps the ONLY thing that could actually make Clark sick.
"Well, you had better leave now if you don't want to miss the bus again, Clark." Jonathan's comment seemed to remind Clark that he couldn't use his super-speed to get to school, at least not when Jean was present, or she would start to get pretty skeptical.
Clark nodded as if he knew exactly what was being said to him.
"Have a good day at school honey," Martha called kissing him on the top of his head.
"Mom?!"
Jean tried to suppress a giggle.
Clark sighed and headed out of the door, followed by a very giggly Jean.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jean tapped her foot impatiently while waiting for the bus.
"Nervous, Jean?" Clark taunted playfully.
"No." she lied. ** Not the sort of thing you want to admit to impress a really hot guy, ** She thought.
"The first day is always the worst." He still sensed that she was nervous. "It'll get better. I promise."
That's what she liked about him. Not only was he totally gorgeous but he had this really great personality. One minute he could be really sensible and serious and the next minute he would be this lovable, immature, teenager just waiting to make her smile. He was smart, funny and an all around nice guy.
Jean sighed. "Okay."
She smiled, Clark could always get her to smile. It was like whatever he did, he could always bring out the good in her and make her forget about her being "different". Sure Scott tried, and the funny thing was that she knew Scott much longer than she knew Clark. It was just something about him..... he was just so.... Clark.
Her thoughts were suddenly brought to a halt as the yellow school bus came to a full and complete stop directly in front of them.
"Shall we?" Clark extended his arm. And smiled, that smile that too often made her feel week in the knees.
"We shall." She too returned the smile, hooked her arm around Clark's and they walked arm in arm to the bus.
Jean followed Clark onto the bus, Pete had saved a seat for Clark. But Jean was left to "fend for herself." She quickly sat down next to a tall blonde headed boy who was wearing a varsity Jacket with a red 'S' on the front. She guessed he was on the football team, or some athletic team obviously because of the jacket, she remembered Duncan being on the football team, he had a varsity jacket as well. The "blonde haired" guy wasn't as tall as Clark but he was still pretty tall.
**Well. If I'm going to be here for a while I might as well meet new people. ** She thought to herself.
"Hi, I'm Jean."
"Whitney." He extended his hand to shake her's.
They rode the rest of the way to school in silence only occasionally saying a few words to each other.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"That was a very interesting bus ride." Chloe said sarcastically, once they had all gotten off the bus and in front of the brick school building. " Between the topics of football, Lana Lang and the occasional cheese log discussion" she threw her hands in the air to emphasize, "how can I ever be bored?"
"Chloe, Chloe, Chloe, you just don't understand the importance of it all," Pete shook his head.
"WHAT, is the importance of CHEESE LOGS? They have no PURPOSE!" She laughed at Pete's rather odd remark.
"I think if you opened your mind to the things the free world has to offer, you would be more receptive to the ways of society."
"Uhhhhh, Pete how long did it take you to come up with that?"
"Chloe. Ya know. About ten minutes."
They all laughed.
"Oh yeah, I gotta get my schedule from the office." Jean reminded them.
"Ummmm," Pete nodded and tried desperately to speak a few words. But what he ended up with was. "Ahhhhhh, ummmmm, ah..... Yeah."
Jean laughed subtlety; "I guess I had better go then, as soon as someone directs me towards the office."
"Sure." Clark smiled.
Pete was murmuring something when the two left.
"You really like her don't you?" Chloe inquired when she was sure that Jean was nowhere within hearing range.
"Uhhh," Chloe could read him all to well. "NO! Yeah, maybe."
"I can't believe you Pete," She chuckled, "I swear you must have a new 'girlfriend' every week!"
"Squeal Sullivan, and your secret love life, which I might add does include a very dense, Lana Lang obsessed farm boy, will be all over the school before Monday morning."
"Relax Pete. I'm not going to tell." She smiled at the apprehensive expression that was building up on his face.
"Let's hope not."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
".... so here's your schedule Ms. Grey and welcome to Smallville High." The guidance councilor informed her, "I was going to assign a student to show you around the school but I see that Mr. Kent here has made my job a heck of a lot easier." She waved them off and Jean followed Clark out of the office.
Jean took the schedule and folded it over and over in her hand still trying to understand the scribbled handwriting and room numbers.
"So, do you know what classes you have yet?"
"Uhhhh," she handed Clark her schedule.
He glanced over it for a second, hardly reading any of the words.
"Looks like we're going to be in a lot of the same classes together."
Jean looked genuinely shocked. "You read. I mean, you read all of that, already?"
He searched frantically for an excuse. **Letting Jean find out my secret may not be the best idea. **
"When you've been going to this school as long as I have, you learn to read Ms. Word's handwriting pretty quickly."
Jean seriously didn't want to get to that point where she would just laugh at just everything he said. But she was starting to feel like she was already there.
"Well..... lead on, O fearless one, onto first period!"
The way the light seemed to make her hair radiant and her emerald eyes dance was more breathtaking than Clark had imagined. Pete was right, she was beautiful. Yes, it was true that he had a "crush" on Lana, but reinstating the obvious. She had a boyfriend. And Chloe, he didn't know how he felt about her. Chloe probably just regarded him as a friend.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Within a few minutes they had reached first period, Ms. Strictlent.
"Ms. Strictlent?" Jean almost laughed at the name, "Ms. Strict. Strictlent.her name makes her sound mean."
Clark pushed open the door.
"... And that is how..." She paused when she saw them walk into the room, "Oh hello, and welcome. You must be Jean Grey? The exchange student from Bayville. ah well, I see you and Clark seem to know each other, so I'm guessing you would be probably most comfortable sitting next to someone you know.
Jean shook her head as if to say she agreed. **I guess it's really true what they say, what's in a name? **
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*ring ring*
"Well students that was the bell.. and no homework tonight. HAVE FUN!"
Ms. Strictlent stood by the door and waved to all her students as they walked past.
"Is she for real?" Jean let out a giggly smile.
"As far as we know.... but Chloe insists that she's an alien from another planet," Clark said halfheartedly.
The thought bothered him. It wasn't because of who he was, it was what he was. It pained him to think about not being "normal." He could wish and wish until he was blue in the face, but it wouldn't change the fact that he wasn't human. No one could see Clark Kent for what he really was, with the exception of his mom and dad. He felt so confused, trapped and lonely. There was no one else he could really talk to about his abilities, to tell someone. anyone how he really felt. He hoped that someday they would accept him for HIM. But he knew that day would be a long way off.
Jean smiled, "Aliens? I think that's just a little too farfetched."
*****************************************************************
TBC