She sauntered into class exactly fourteen minutes late and handed a hall pass to the English teacher. "Sorry, I'm new here."
Mrs. Williamson peered at her over the top of her glasses. "Yes? Er…take a seat, please."
The girl snapped her gum, grinned, and sat down right next to Clark.
Everyone stared at her for a few moments. She definitely was not your typical Midwestern Smallville chick. She had stringy red hair, yellow sunglasses, electric blue braces, and was wearing a fake fur stole and a T-shirt with a stylized S on it.
Mrs. Williamson glanced at the hall pass. "Welcome to Smallville High, Elena…er…M-x-z-y-p-l-t-k...how do you pronounce it?"
"Just like it's spelled," the girl said. "Smith. And my first name rhymes with 'cleaner'."
Behind her, Lana Lang giggled.
Elena whirled around in her seat and stared at Lana. "Hey, I don't make
fun of your name, do I?"
At lunch, Clark usually sat alone on the bleachers. Elena plopped down next to him.
"What's up?" she asked, taking a huge bite of a sandwich.
Clark looked in horror at her sandwich. "What is that?"
"Tofu and nachos," Elena said. She crunched up a huge chip. "Look, I know a lot about you."
Clark blinked. "Um…like what?"
Elena put down her sandwich and started counting off facts on her fingers. "You're in love with Lana Lang, but she isn't the right one for you. You're friends with Lex Luthor and you saved his life, which is, like, incredibly ironic. Oh, and you're an alien."
Clark took a long look at her. "How do you know all this?"
"I'm the daughter of a scary little guy from the 5th dimension," Elena said. "Look, I'll talk to you later, okay? I know a lot of stuff that you're going to need to know if you ever want to fulfill your destiny." She stuffed the rest of her sandwich in her mouth and left.
"Wait a minute," Clark yelled. "What do you mean, my destiny?"
"I'll come over later," Elena called from across the field.