***
Clark remembered thinking afterwards that Pete being late on a Tuesday was a bad sign.
The Cheerleaders practiced on Tuesday morning and for all the time they had been students at Smallville high and even before Clark remembered Pete insisting that they spend part of the morning drooling over the young girls doing their cheers. Clark had of course had not problem with this plan since it involved an opportunity to gaze at Lana Lang. However, with Lana no longer on the team his interest in cheerleaders had waned. Pete on the other hand was still the biggest fan of the cheerleaders and since he was occasionally an alternate on the Football team, he still had to put in face time to keep the girls interested.
Thus, Pete being late this Tuesday was an important portent of things to come. Clark perched on the steps leading to the school and watched his arriving classmates until he saw familiar faces swimming through the crowd. Lana and Chloe arriving together; as was their habit since starting to live together.
Clark felt the image swimming to mind of Chloe and Lana doing intimate girly-type things together. Then he pushed the thought aside and back to the dark place in his mind it came from. Such thoughts had plagued him a lot since the two young women had started drawing closer as friends. Neither seemed the slightest like the type to be lesbian but he was a guy and Chloe and Lana were extremely pretty and they both had reason not to be fond of men anymore. He tried not to think about the fact that he was one of the reasons they might turn off guys completely.
"Guys, either of you knows were Pete is. He was nowhere to be found this morning." Clark asked.
Lana smiled. "No Pete, You can almost set a clock on Pete Ross and his Cheerleader fetish. "
Chloe giggled. "Pete shows up to practice more faithfully then some of the girls on the team. "
"Well he didn't today. In fact there was no answer at his house when I called this morning."
"Whoa, Clark, a little early to be calling out the dogs. He could be doing something for his mom or his dad."
"Well Principal Reynolds is still laying down the law."
"As near as I can tell the only person Reynolds has his eye on is you Clark."
The girls pulled at him and Clark eventually abandoned his vigil at the door. The trio walked through the crowded halls. They pushed past a group of students standing watching workman install a electronic bulletin board welding it to a set of ceiling struts. It took a while but Clark eventually noticed that they were headed for the main office.
"Do we have to go there."
"Relax Kent you overdue for an Asskick or something." Chloe poked at him snidely
Asskick?" Clark asked curiously
"I head a couple of the guys in the Computer Labs saying Reynolds nickname is Principal Asskick."
The Clark pushed open the door to the office and saw Pete standing at he main desk. "Pete how are you doing I missed you this morning."
"Had to skip practice it was a late night and I had to get Marcus registered." Pete smiled at the two girls and snatched a folder full of papers off the desk. "Guys I want you to meet my cousin from Gotham City. Marcus these are Chloe Sullivan, Lana Lang and Clark Kent."
He gestured to a tall black boy lounging low in a chair. He was tall and solidly built. He was wearing a Grey shirt over black pants. Two-tone shoes completed the causal style. He smiled thinly and held out his hand to all three.
"Welcome to Smallville" Lana began. "If you're looking for a place to hangout after school you can always try the Talon, a local coffee…"
"No worries Lana I already sold him on hanging there. In fact we were going to come over tonight."
Chloe smiled. "I run the school newspaper."
"Yeah, Pete was telling me about this huge collection that you have of all the strange stuff that goes on here."
The Wall of Weird, it only looks like the work of an obsessive mind."
"Hey that's the best kind."
Clark stuck out his hand and Marcus shook it enthusiastically. "You're the reason I can't get this guy to blow this hick town for some real action."
Chloe went into reporter mode. "So, Marcus what brings you to our lovely little hick town."
"Pete has been raving about the women, the farms, women, the good times, and the women. Frankly I don't see it myself."
"Touché,"
"How about it Clark any truth to all the stories Pete has been telling me."
Clark smiled and glanced from Lana to Chloe. "In the interests of keeping my head on my shoulders I refuse to comment."
"Spoken like a true coward." Pete snickered. The five students walked through the halls.
"So Marcus are you going to be with us long,"
"We'd have to see."
"Marcus is an awesome ball player, he totally rules the court when he plays."
"Great someone else for you to lose to for a change."
"I know I didn't just hear that Kent."
"Please cousin, I was tar and feathering your ass the last time we played."
The four reached the hall where the workmen were trying to maneuver the sign into place when there was a spark and an explosion. The worker in the ladder begin to spasm as volts of electricity flowed through him. the sign pulled loose and began to swing dangerously. Clark glanced around and prayed no one would notice him. He dashed to the ladder and kicking it out of the way. The worker on it fell into his arms to be lowered gently to the ground. He then turned to deal with the sign to find it swinging toward a co-ed standing frozen in the middle of the hallway. Clark reached out to snag the sign but it slipped out of his grasp. He watched as the girl suddenly dropped through the floor. The sign bashed into the locker she had been standing in front of second before. He then grabbed at the sign again stopping its precarious swings. He ripped at it pulling it down and laying it flat on the ground.
He turned to look at his friends. They and everyone else was standing motionless, staring vacantly into space. Even as he began to wonder at that the spell was broken and everyone began milling around in confusion. "Clark did you see that," Chloe walked to the damaged sign. "The whole thing just collapsed and took out one of the lockers. Danm good thing there was no one hurt."
Well no one except for the worker, you mean.
Huh?
Clark looked around and saw the worker he had pulled to safety was gone.
Great two people vanish during a serious accident. Definite Wall of Weird material."
Marcus tapped Clark on the shoulder. Is this normal for first day. Cause I could have settled for the traditional pantsing."
"You should have been here for our other semi traditional around here, the scarecrow."
"Pete, let it go. It was a prank, Clark was the odd man out." Lana said sharply.
"He stripped Clark half-naked and tied him to a pole in a cornfield. You don't forget things like that easily."
Yeah Pete, especially with my best friends reminding me. Just when the humiliating memory had begun to fade."
Tied in a cornfield half-naked, I have to reassess my opinion of what a snooze this place was likely to be." Marcus muttered
"Relax Principal Reynolds has promised suspension and expulsion to the team member caught doing things like that in future." Chloe patted Marcus on the back
"Yeah, and we all know that beating up students for being different doesn't happen in these enlightened times." Marcus sneered ruefully. He turned and headed down the hall the girls following him.
Pete pulled Clark aside. "Awesome rescue, Clark, Where is the girl and workman did you take them to the hospital?"
"No I didn't. I grabbed the sign and lowered it to the ground but when I turned to help the girl and the workman they were gone. "
"That's weird "
"And another thing why were you all standing around when I was doing my thing. And why did everyone act like they had just woken up or something."
"I don't know what your talking about Clark one second we were watching the sign give way and the next the sign was on the ground and you were standing near it."
"So something happened, some force clouded your minds and made you not see what was happening."
"Do you think its some new ability you have."
"I don't know it would make my life easier if I could make people forget that they saw me doing things but…"
"But what "
"I can't help but think that there is another explanation. That someone else was there and they didn't want anyone to see what they were doing."
"If that's the case then you have to wonder, did whoever it was see you and if they did what will they do about it now that they know you have abilities too."
***