Author's Note: Okay I know the end of the 9th chapter was like, a total
flirt fest. But it's just Jean's character, she's just, no offense 2 Jean
or anything, but she's just a FLIRT! Her bio even says so. As much as I
really love writing this story, the truth must be told. And she may be
kinda out of character but ummmm I dunno. The big question of the day: Why
did I put the song in the last chapter? Answer: Well... uhhhh... Because I
LOVE IT, and I can so do that! Being the author gives me that kinda power.
Muahahahahahahaha! Kidding... Chapter 10!
**Indicates a thought **
Chapter 10
"Are you sure you're okay?" Clark asked questionably.
"Yeah, I'm sure." Jean frowned; she wasn't a pathetic weakling that fell helplessly to the ground whenever someone even tapped her. The thought upset her, **Is he calling me weak?! **
Clark realized what she was thinking and quickly tried to explain. "It's just that you keep fidgeting."
"Yeah, it's these stupid sleeves. I don't even know why I bought it, because it's annoying the heck outta me!" She frustratedly blew away a stand of hair that fell onto her face.
"There's the bus."
"Yep," Jean agreed reluctantly, "Oh, and I'm not coming straight home after school. I've got a soccer game today." She patted the gym bag that hung across her other shoulder.
He nodded, "I doubt I'll be going anywhere either. Knowing Chloe she probably already hung the 'Mysterious Murder' article on the 'Wall of Weird,' and is most likely going to drag us along to investigate after school."
"That sounds like fun."
"Yeah, I guess," Clark grinned, "Chloe makes it her mission to make sure that none of us misses out on the latest meteor freak sighting."
"Oh." Jean forged a smile, "Well when I finish practice do you think it'll be okay if I drop by."
"I'm sure Chloe won't mind if you tag along."
"Great."
The door to the giant yellow school bus flung open and they both climbed aboard.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"A tremendous pass by number 9, Jessica Rilens to number 1, Jean Grey both of the Smallville crows." The announcer boomed over the speaker.
The game was tied 12 to 12 and with only five minutes left in the game, something had to be done or it would be considered a draw, Coach Arnold was definitely not going to be satisfied with that.
Jean's sunk her cleats into the damp earth, bracing herself for the next "attack."
"Oh, number 4 Tara Johnson from the Ravens now has the ball and is attempting a chip pass to number 7, Casey Sterling and... WHOA, a beautiful bicycle kick delivered by Grey. Kate Evens has the ball now and... GOAL!!!!!!" The announcer jumps up and down in the booth enthusiastically, knocking over his chair in the process, "THE SMALLVILLE CROWS HAVE WON THE GAME 13 TO 12!!! And what a game it was folks!"
"YEAH!!!!" The crowd cheered. And the mascot for Smallville High came out onto the field and did a little dance.
The rest of the members of the team are running onto the field, jumping up and down exchanging hugs and shouting "We won!!!!! YEAH! WOO HOO!"
"Hey! Let's go to the Talon and get some coffee," Kate suggested, "I mean Jean did win the game after all."
"I didn't win anything, you scored the winning goal." Jean corrected her.
"Yeah but who scored most of the goals throughout the entire game, who's the one responsible for getting us this far, who's a great team captain, WHO'S THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO DO A BICYCLE KICK!?" Kate added.
"Well?"
"JEAN JEAN JEAN JEAN!!" They started cheering, and then the crowd joined in too.
"JEAN JEAN JEAN JEAN JEAN JEAN JEAN YEAHHHHH!!!"
Jean just smiled and waved feeling pretty confident with herself. She slung her varsity jacket over her shoulders and exited the field.
"Sorry guys, as much as I would love a cup of coffee right now, I sorta promised my friends that I would meet up with them later, okay?"
"Sure." A random member of the team called.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"... But why would anyone want to kill Matthew Stover?" Chloe said while adding the latest addition to the 'Wall of Weird'.
"Yeah, it does seem a little odd." Pete was observing the pictures that Chloe had printed out of Stover's corpse. "But this is just disgusting."
"Afraid Pete?" She teased.
"No, I'm just kinda leery about the whole thing."
"Well judging by the evidence here, I'd say we have another meteor freak on our hands." Chloe added matter-of-factly.
"What makes you so sure?"
"People just don't die of unknown causes, Clark. It's just not... normal."
"When is anything in this town ever 'normal'?" Pete stated, putting the article back on Chloe's desk.
"Exactly, I was jus-" Chloe was cut off abruptly when a head popped into the door.
It was Lana. "Sorry I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."
"I just came to drop off my article for the Torch." She handed the disk to Chloe.
"Thanks." Chloe accepted the disk and sat down at her computer.
"No problem." Lana smiled sweetly, "So I was wondering if it would be okay to write my next article about the soccer game?"
"Sure, why not?" Over the past couple of months Lana and Chloe had actually managed to become really good friends.
"Well okay, thanks. I'll see you guys later then?"
"Hopefully, we're going to the Talon later." Clark told her.
"Great, I'll see you then!" Lana smiled once more and walked out of the room.
"Ummm did I just see what I thought I saw?" Chloe pretended to be shocked.
"I think so Chloe." Pete shook his head.
Clark had no idea what they were talking about. He didn't remember seeing anything, or had he? "What are you guys talking about?"
"You," Chloe basically shouted at him, "This is like the first time in the history of our teenage lives that you didn't act like a love sick puppy around a certain raven haired, ex-cheerleader!"
"I dunno, Lana's not having her effect on me anymore." He looked down at the ground.
Chloe cheered silently to herself, **Maybe there's hope for me after all. **
*knock knock* Someone else was knocking this time.
"Lana must have forgotten her backpack." Chloe went to answer the door.
"I'll bet five dollars it's Jean." Pete smirked.
"Pete is that all you think about?" Chloe smiled jokingly.
"Probably..." Clark added.
Chloe and Clark laughed.
"Haha, you people must think you're pretty hilarious. Just keep laughing... you won't be when you're sixty and have horrible wrinkles from laughing so much."
"PETE," She couldn't help but smile when she was around them, both Clark and Pete always made sure that she was in a good mood, "That's why there's wrinkle cream! So you can laugh all you want now and not have to worry about the effects of it later." Chloe opened the door and sure enough the red headed girl stood in the doorway, a placid smile plastered across her face.
"Pay up, Chlo." Yeah, Pete had skill.. or luck. Maybe it was luck, maybe it was chance, or maybe Clark had told him that Jean was coming in the torch office, when Chloe went to get a coffee refill.
"Fine." Chloe handed him the five-dollar bill, but somehow she felt if she was tricked into it.
"Sorry if I'm interrupting anything," Jean apologized, "but the soccer game's over and I decided to drop by. Hope you don't mind."
"NO! Not at all," Pete seemed to answer for all of them," Chloe was just about to lead us on our little 'Witch Hunt' so we could always use the extra person."
"Witch hunt?" She looked confused, "I take it we're going to look for this so called mutant?"
"Yep," Chloe added.
"That sounds, Great!" It wasn't the mutant that scared her, it was the thought of having the meteor freak attack them and debating over whether she should let them all die by not using her abilities or using her 'abilities' to save them, but dealing with the consequences of many people, if not the whole world, finding out about her powers. That was a risk that she couldn't take.
"So, heard you won the game," Clark smiled at her, "congratulations."
"Thanks," **He has such a gorgeous smile. ** "But it really was a team effort."
"So what we do know, is that Matthew Stover's body was found in the Smallville Ledger parking lot Monday morning, so the murder must have happened sometime the previous night." Chloe said picking up her digital camera, preparing to take more pictures.
"Yeah, but that still doesn't explain why someone would want to kill him," Clark frowned.
"Well what if someone had a thing against the Ledger, maybe they were supposed to get the job that Stover had, and killed him for some kind of revenge. I don't know. I need more coffee." Chloe walked back over to the coffee pot.
"Wait a second," Jean picked up a copy of last Sunday's Ledger that happened to be lying on the desk.
"Look at this." She opened to the page with the subtitle 'Mutated Cow Escalates Suspicions' "By: Matthew Stover." Jean read aloud, "Isn't it kind of weird that the person chose to kill him after this article was published."
"You think there's a connection?" Clark read over the paper that Jean gave him.
"Yeah, the person that killed Stover waited until he wrote the article about Luthorcorp, or more importantly Lex Luthor."
Clark looked shocked, "You think Lex did this?"
"No, no, that's not what I'm saying," Jean said defending herself, "I'm saying it was probably some crazed, obsessed fan of Lex Luthor... or something, I dunno."
Chloe also looked at the article, "That is, odd."
"I wouldn't be surprised if it was Lex," Pete mumbled to himself.
"Just a thought," Jean slumped into a nearby chair.
"Well one thing's for sure, we won't get anything figured out if we don't leave now." Chloe grabbed her keys and headed for the door.
********************************************************************** TBC
**Indicates a thought **
Chapter 10
"Are you sure you're okay?" Clark asked questionably.
"Yeah, I'm sure." Jean frowned; she wasn't a pathetic weakling that fell helplessly to the ground whenever someone even tapped her. The thought upset her, **Is he calling me weak?! **
Clark realized what she was thinking and quickly tried to explain. "It's just that you keep fidgeting."
"Yeah, it's these stupid sleeves. I don't even know why I bought it, because it's annoying the heck outta me!" She frustratedly blew away a stand of hair that fell onto her face.
"There's the bus."
"Yep," Jean agreed reluctantly, "Oh, and I'm not coming straight home after school. I've got a soccer game today." She patted the gym bag that hung across her other shoulder.
He nodded, "I doubt I'll be going anywhere either. Knowing Chloe she probably already hung the 'Mysterious Murder' article on the 'Wall of Weird,' and is most likely going to drag us along to investigate after school."
"That sounds like fun."
"Yeah, I guess," Clark grinned, "Chloe makes it her mission to make sure that none of us misses out on the latest meteor freak sighting."
"Oh." Jean forged a smile, "Well when I finish practice do you think it'll be okay if I drop by."
"I'm sure Chloe won't mind if you tag along."
"Great."
The door to the giant yellow school bus flung open and they both climbed aboard.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"A tremendous pass by number 9, Jessica Rilens to number 1, Jean Grey both of the Smallville crows." The announcer boomed over the speaker.
The game was tied 12 to 12 and with only five minutes left in the game, something had to be done or it would be considered a draw, Coach Arnold was definitely not going to be satisfied with that.
Jean's sunk her cleats into the damp earth, bracing herself for the next "attack."
"Oh, number 4 Tara Johnson from the Ravens now has the ball and is attempting a chip pass to number 7, Casey Sterling and... WHOA, a beautiful bicycle kick delivered by Grey. Kate Evens has the ball now and... GOAL!!!!!!" The announcer jumps up and down in the booth enthusiastically, knocking over his chair in the process, "THE SMALLVILLE CROWS HAVE WON THE GAME 13 TO 12!!! And what a game it was folks!"
"YEAH!!!!" The crowd cheered. And the mascot for Smallville High came out onto the field and did a little dance.
The rest of the members of the team are running onto the field, jumping up and down exchanging hugs and shouting "We won!!!!! YEAH! WOO HOO!"
"Hey! Let's go to the Talon and get some coffee," Kate suggested, "I mean Jean did win the game after all."
"I didn't win anything, you scored the winning goal." Jean corrected her.
"Yeah but who scored most of the goals throughout the entire game, who's the one responsible for getting us this far, who's a great team captain, WHO'S THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO DO A BICYCLE KICK!?" Kate added.
"Well?"
"JEAN JEAN JEAN JEAN!!" They started cheering, and then the crowd joined in too.
"JEAN JEAN JEAN JEAN JEAN JEAN JEAN YEAHHHHH!!!"
Jean just smiled and waved feeling pretty confident with herself. She slung her varsity jacket over her shoulders and exited the field.
"Sorry guys, as much as I would love a cup of coffee right now, I sorta promised my friends that I would meet up with them later, okay?"
"Sure." A random member of the team called.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"... But why would anyone want to kill Matthew Stover?" Chloe said while adding the latest addition to the 'Wall of Weird'.
"Yeah, it does seem a little odd." Pete was observing the pictures that Chloe had printed out of Stover's corpse. "But this is just disgusting."
"Afraid Pete?" She teased.
"No, I'm just kinda leery about the whole thing."
"Well judging by the evidence here, I'd say we have another meteor freak on our hands." Chloe added matter-of-factly.
"What makes you so sure?"
"People just don't die of unknown causes, Clark. It's just not... normal."
"When is anything in this town ever 'normal'?" Pete stated, putting the article back on Chloe's desk.
"Exactly, I was jus-" Chloe was cut off abruptly when a head popped into the door.
It was Lana. "Sorry I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."
"I just came to drop off my article for the Torch." She handed the disk to Chloe.
"Thanks." Chloe accepted the disk and sat down at her computer.
"No problem." Lana smiled sweetly, "So I was wondering if it would be okay to write my next article about the soccer game?"
"Sure, why not?" Over the past couple of months Lana and Chloe had actually managed to become really good friends.
"Well okay, thanks. I'll see you guys later then?"
"Hopefully, we're going to the Talon later." Clark told her.
"Great, I'll see you then!" Lana smiled once more and walked out of the room.
"Ummm did I just see what I thought I saw?" Chloe pretended to be shocked.
"I think so Chloe." Pete shook his head.
Clark had no idea what they were talking about. He didn't remember seeing anything, or had he? "What are you guys talking about?"
"You," Chloe basically shouted at him, "This is like the first time in the history of our teenage lives that you didn't act like a love sick puppy around a certain raven haired, ex-cheerleader!"
"I dunno, Lana's not having her effect on me anymore." He looked down at the ground.
Chloe cheered silently to herself, **Maybe there's hope for me after all. **
*knock knock* Someone else was knocking this time.
"Lana must have forgotten her backpack." Chloe went to answer the door.
"I'll bet five dollars it's Jean." Pete smirked.
"Pete is that all you think about?" Chloe smiled jokingly.
"Probably..." Clark added.
Chloe and Clark laughed.
"Haha, you people must think you're pretty hilarious. Just keep laughing... you won't be when you're sixty and have horrible wrinkles from laughing so much."
"PETE," She couldn't help but smile when she was around them, both Clark and Pete always made sure that she was in a good mood, "That's why there's wrinkle cream! So you can laugh all you want now and not have to worry about the effects of it later." Chloe opened the door and sure enough the red headed girl stood in the doorway, a placid smile plastered across her face.
"Pay up, Chlo." Yeah, Pete had skill.. or luck. Maybe it was luck, maybe it was chance, or maybe Clark had told him that Jean was coming in the torch office, when Chloe went to get a coffee refill.
"Fine." Chloe handed him the five-dollar bill, but somehow she felt if she was tricked into it.
"Sorry if I'm interrupting anything," Jean apologized, "but the soccer game's over and I decided to drop by. Hope you don't mind."
"NO! Not at all," Pete seemed to answer for all of them," Chloe was just about to lead us on our little 'Witch Hunt' so we could always use the extra person."
"Witch hunt?" She looked confused, "I take it we're going to look for this so called mutant?"
"Yep," Chloe added.
"That sounds, Great!" It wasn't the mutant that scared her, it was the thought of having the meteor freak attack them and debating over whether she should let them all die by not using her abilities or using her 'abilities' to save them, but dealing with the consequences of many people, if not the whole world, finding out about her powers. That was a risk that she couldn't take.
"So, heard you won the game," Clark smiled at her, "congratulations."
"Thanks," **He has such a gorgeous smile. ** "But it really was a team effort."
"So what we do know, is that Matthew Stover's body was found in the Smallville Ledger parking lot Monday morning, so the murder must have happened sometime the previous night." Chloe said picking up her digital camera, preparing to take more pictures.
"Yeah, but that still doesn't explain why someone would want to kill him," Clark frowned.
"Well what if someone had a thing against the Ledger, maybe they were supposed to get the job that Stover had, and killed him for some kind of revenge. I don't know. I need more coffee." Chloe walked back over to the coffee pot.
"Wait a second," Jean picked up a copy of last Sunday's Ledger that happened to be lying on the desk.
"Look at this." She opened to the page with the subtitle 'Mutated Cow Escalates Suspicions' "By: Matthew Stover." Jean read aloud, "Isn't it kind of weird that the person chose to kill him after this article was published."
"You think there's a connection?" Clark read over the paper that Jean gave him.
"Yeah, the person that killed Stover waited until he wrote the article about Luthorcorp, or more importantly Lex Luthor."
Clark looked shocked, "You think Lex did this?"
"No, no, that's not what I'm saying," Jean said defending herself, "I'm saying it was probably some crazed, obsessed fan of Lex Luthor... or something, I dunno."
Chloe also looked at the article, "That is, odd."
"I wouldn't be surprised if it was Lex," Pete mumbled to himself.
"Just a thought," Jean slumped into a nearby chair.
"Well one thing's for sure, we won't get anything figured out if we don't leave now." Chloe grabbed her keys and headed for the door.
********************************************************************** TBC