Into the Pantheon: Of Gods and Angels
::Chapter Three::
After Clark showed Catherine where her class was, he was heading to his own class when Pete and Chloe caught up with him in the hallway. "Hey, Clark!" Pete called.
Clark turned around and waited for his two friends to catch up with him. He was pretty sure he knew what they wanted to talk to him about. Many curious stares had been on him today, and he was sometimes a bit paranoid for good reason. So many eyes on him was a little nerve-wracking, but he knew it was because he had walked in with a new girl that no one knew. And add to that the fact that she was easy on the eyes.
Pete came over to him with a smile.
"Let me guess...," Clark started.
Clark started walking along again and they closed in, walking together in a little group.
"Whoa, Clark. Where did you 'find' her?" Pete asked.
"Yea, who is she?" Chloe asked with a contemplative frown. Chloe looked around, as curious as ever and pointed. "I think that's the class Clark took her to." She went over near the door and peaked in. Pete joined her.
They peered into the classroom. Towards the middle front, Catherine sat in a tan leather skirt and boots and a fitted cream colored top. She noticed them looking at her from the hallway. Clark was behind them and gave her a little wave and guided his two friends away from the door.
""Hey guys..." Clark smiled, raising a brow. "What's all this interest with you two over a new student?"
"Aren't we always interested in new stuff around here?" -Pete.
"Maybe, but not this much." Clark said.
"Think about it Clark, practically everyone's talking about you escorting a new girl around the school. Someone we've never seen before, someone who people are speculating about although I personally heard was staying at the Kent farm, and who by the way has become more interesting due to the fact that you just didn't answer our questions." -Chloe.
"Yeah, man. Don't hold back on us." Pete slapped Clark's chest lightly.
"She's just the daughter of.. a friend of the family." Clark said, although realizing just how much *that* statement was false.
"Yeah, but--" Chloe started.
The warning bell rang.
"We're gonna be late." Clark said and headed into his own class, followed by the other two.
When they sat down, Pete looked at him and Chloe said with a smile, more than half-serious, "I expect more info later, Clark."
-----------------
When lunch time came, Clark was guiding Catherine around, showing her where everything was.
"So what do you think of Smallville High?" -Clark asked as they walked toward the tables area. He spotted Chloe and Pete and headed towards their table.
Catherine gave Clark a sideways look and a smile, "No comment."
"Hey guys." Clark said and sat down. The trio looked at Clark and Catherine silently.
"So I guess that doesn't mean you like the place." -Clark said, talking to Catherine, as they sat down with their trays.
"Who wouldn't like Smallville High?" Pete said and then to Catherine, "Hey, I'm Pete Ross." He held out his hand which Catherine shook for a second. "Hi. Nice to meet you."
"Yeah, it's America's school." Chloe said and then, "I'm Chloe Sullivan."
"That's just it." -Catherine.
"What?" -Chloe.
"It's an American school." -Catherine said, and then, "Nothing wrong with it, it's just different. I'm just used to foreign schools. By the way, I'm Catherine."
"Catherine who?" Lana spoke up as she came up to the table. "Is this seat taken?" She asked as she stood on the other side of Chloe who sat across from Pete, Clark and Catherine.
"Of course not." -Chloe said.
Lana smiled at all of them and sat down. She looked back to Catherine when Catherine said, "Catherine Lancaster."
"Hi, I'm Lana Lang. I must say everyone's curious about you." -Lana said and then she looked to Clark as she asked her, "Is it true that you're staying at the Kent's farm?"
"For now." -Catherine answered.
"Yea, she's a daughter of a friend of the family and she's staying with us for a little while until..." -Clark.
Catherine finished for him, "Until my family comes down to settle in Smallville."
"What foreign schools did you go to?" -Chloe asked Catherine.
"Now let's not overwhelm the new student with questions," -Clark.
"We can't help it." -Lana said, "She seems to be the topic of the day."
"Boarding schools in Europe." Catherine answered, somewhat vaguely.
Chloe's natural curiousity and journalistic instinct went hand in hand. "Wow, boarding schools? Aren't they usually very expensive? Your family must be loaded...."
"Chlo--" Clark started.
"It's okay. I don't mind answering some questions," Catherine said, but with the emphasis subtly on *some*. She continued, "It's something like that."
When lunch was over Clark said to Catherine, "Don't worry, their over-interest will fade. But I never like not being honest with my friends."
"You won't have to for long, Clark. It's just for a while." -Catherine.
-----------------------------------------------
A couple days later:
Pete Ross glanced out the window at the night, the other couple houses in the neigborhood weren't glittering with lights. Much of everything was dark. Not a surprise there, some were gone and the rest were asleep: as he should be at 12:53 on a school night.
Pete Ross sighed and went and flopped back down at his desk, propping his head up on his elbows - he went back to studying. There was a big science test tomorrow not to mention a history quiz and he couldn't afford to flunk the tests because his grades had dropped over the last couple months and he was feeling pressured on the borderline.
But after ten more minutes, his mind couldn't be stopped from wandering back to his family. His sister was staying at a friend's house and his dad had been gone for a few days now. His mom was working late at the court house - either that or he thought she was staying late to avoid coming back home. His parents had announced their troubles a couple of weeks ago. Before that he'd been so wrapped up in his own life, he hadn't really sensed anything wrong in their household. Then he was hit with the fact that his parents were having difficulty with their marriage. His dad had even moved out - 'temporarily' they said. 'Not a separation' they said. It sure looked like it to him.
Imagine that! It was sure shocking. He, Pete Ross, had the perfectly happy, nuclear family-- unlike all his friends and many people around him. He was popular, but not as much as he would have liked - he was smart, but not as much as he would have liked and he felt even less now, he was a good journalist but not as good as Chloe, he was an all around good guy but he felt he couldn't measure up to Clark at all. He was the lesser guy in every senario. He'd had a very brief taste of what he considered fame and popularity when he'd raced. It hadn't been overly long since that mistake. And since then, his and Clark's relationship wasn't exactly as it once was. Being honest with himself, though, he knew it hadn't been as great for a long time: not since Lex Luthor came into the picture and became Clark's best friend. Although, Clark still referred to Pete as his best friend now and then, he didn't quite feel their friendship was the same.
Now, Pete didn't even have his family to be proud.
It was hard carrying on like he was happy-go-lucky Pete Ross when his world was crashing down around him, but he didn't want anyone to feel sorry for him. He couldn't ever stand for anyone to look at him with pity. Besides, everyone had their own problems in the last couple months. Chloe was having family and job issues and Lana had Adam issues until a month or so ago. Clark was dealing among other things, with his father's health - which nobody mentioned anymore. Jonathan Kent looked pretty well, but it had only been a matter of weeks since he'd had surgery. His restored health might only be temporary and he had to have a part-time worker around the farm now.
Pete looked back down at his book and the computer and realized he was missing a whole chapter of notes. He'd meant to get it from someone earlier, but he'd forgot.
He looked back down at the computer's clock and it was 1:09 a.m. He was fairly sure Clark was asleep as most high-school students would be, but he was almost desperate to not fail the test, so he gave it a chance and called Clark.
Surprisingly, it rang only once before it was picked up.
"Hello?" -Clark.
"Hey Clark - you're still up?" -Pete.
"Uh, yeah. What's going on?" -Clark.
"You first." -Pete.
"Until a little while ago, I was just hanging out." -Clark.
"By yourself?" -Pete.
"With a guest." -Clark.
"Ah, you mean 'the guest'." -Pete.
Chuckle. "Yeah, it was nothing. We were bored. And I'm curious." -Clark.
"Is something up with that girl or is she as nice and cool as she seems?"- Pete
A pause on the other end. "I don't know."
Pete would normally be interested in such things and to an extent he was, but maintaining a partially false light-hearted mood was draining, especially when he was dead tired.
"Look man, I didn't call to bother you, but I'm sort of desperate. I don't have chapter sevens notes. Could you email--" -Pete.
"Coming right up." -Clark.
"Thanks." -Pete.
"No Problem, Pete." Clark.
"G'night." -Pete said and hung up the phone.
Pete watched his computer screen, fiddling with his webcam absently. When an alert popped up announcing an email, he waved into the cam and mouthed a 'thankyou' - just in case Clark was logged on.
After Pete went over the notes for close to an hour, his lack of adequate sleep for days now, was catching up with him: or at least the tiredness factor was. He had been having trouble sleeping for a while, so he snuck a few of his mom's prescription sleeping pills now and then. He opened the bottle and popped two in his mouth, along with what was left of a can of warm mountain dew on his desk.
Pete looked over at his book and notes again and decided to study until he felt really sleepy, and then he would just fall into bed...
--------------
Clark was not tired at all, in fact he was pretty energized, probably because of his chat with Catherine earlier. They had really just hung out in the loft for what ended up longer than he expected. He hadn't gotten much to sate his curiousity, but it had been kind of fun. Fun doing nothing but casually talking, mostly light-hearted. He had surprisingly found that having a house guest and especially one his age was rather interesting.
They had hung out for a couple hours and Clark had felt like they were little kids sneaking around staying up late, which was something forbidden while his parents were asleep. Actually, his parents probably wouldn't have approved even at his age: of him being up this late on a school night and him being in the loft with Catherine Luthor.
After Clark emailed the notes to Pete, he surfed the web for a while before he started to feel like sleeping. He closed out his browser, but another was still open; Pete's homepage. He was surprised to see his webcam still on at this hour. Clark figured Pete had fallen asleep studying and was about to close the page, when he noticed something..
He couldn't see much of Pete onscreen, and it did look like he had fallen asleep studying at his desk, although he couldn't see much but Pete's back leaned over in his desk chair. But what caught Clark's eye for an instant was a hazy, foggy look in the room.
What he realized upon closer inspection was that there were small curls of smoke coming through Pete's closed bedroom door.
Pete's house was on fire!
END of Chapter Three
_________________
next chapter should be up sometime within a couple days, probably.
Btw, I have been having problems accessing this one fiction here of mine. I don't know if anyone else is having trouble, but it's only with the IE browser.
Thanks, Nightwing and lirr for reviews! It is going to be a little while before Lex finds out who Catherine really is. At least a few more chapters. There are a few mostly converging plot lines that have to be dealt with first. There's reasons for the ambiguous tone. And there will be some surprises. Actually, I do believe this fic will be pretty long. So keep reading if/when you have a chance.
::Chapter Three::
After Clark showed Catherine where her class was, he was heading to his own class when Pete and Chloe caught up with him in the hallway. "Hey, Clark!" Pete called.
Clark turned around and waited for his two friends to catch up with him. He was pretty sure he knew what they wanted to talk to him about. Many curious stares had been on him today, and he was sometimes a bit paranoid for good reason. So many eyes on him was a little nerve-wracking, but he knew it was because he had walked in with a new girl that no one knew. And add to that the fact that she was easy on the eyes.
Pete came over to him with a smile.
"Let me guess...," Clark started.
Clark started walking along again and they closed in, walking together in a little group.
"Whoa, Clark. Where did you 'find' her?" Pete asked.
"Yea, who is she?" Chloe asked with a contemplative frown. Chloe looked around, as curious as ever and pointed. "I think that's the class Clark took her to." She went over near the door and peaked in. Pete joined her.
They peered into the classroom. Towards the middle front, Catherine sat in a tan leather skirt and boots and a fitted cream colored top. She noticed them looking at her from the hallway. Clark was behind them and gave her a little wave and guided his two friends away from the door.
""Hey guys..." Clark smiled, raising a brow. "What's all this interest with you two over a new student?"
"Aren't we always interested in new stuff around here?" -Pete.
"Maybe, but not this much." Clark said.
"Think about it Clark, practically everyone's talking about you escorting a new girl around the school. Someone we've never seen before, someone who people are speculating about although I personally heard was staying at the Kent farm, and who by the way has become more interesting due to the fact that you just didn't answer our questions." -Chloe.
"Yeah, man. Don't hold back on us." Pete slapped Clark's chest lightly.
"She's just the daughter of.. a friend of the family." Clark said, although realizing just how much *that* statement was false.
"Yeah, but--" Chloe started.
The warning bell rang.
"We're gonna be late." Clark said and headed into his own class, followed by the other two.
When they sat down, Pete looked at him and Chloe said with a smile, more than half-serious, "I expect more info later, Clark."
-----------------
When lunch time came, Clark was guiding Catherine around, showing her where everything was.
"So what do you think of Smallville High?" -Clark asked as they walked toward the tables area. He spotted Chloe and Pete and headed towards their table.
Catherine gave Clark a sideways look and a smile, "No comment."
"Hey guys." Clark said and sat down. The trio looked at Clark and Catherine silently.
"So I guess that doesn't mean you like the place." -Clark said, talking to Catherine, as they sat down with their trays.
"Who wouldn't like Smallville High?" Pete said and then to Catherine, "Hey, I'm Pete Ross." He held out his hand which Catherine shook for a second. "Hi. Nice to meet you."
"Yeah, it's America's school." Chloe said and then, "I'm Chloe Sullivan."
"That's just it." -Catherine.
"What?" -Chloe.
"It's an American school." -Catherine said, and then, "Nothing wrong with it, it's just different. I'm just used to foreign schools. By the way, I'm Catherine."
"Catherine who?" Lana spoke up as she came up to the table. "Is this seat taken?" She asked as she stood on the other side of Chloe who sat across from Pete, Clark and Catherine.
"Of course not." -Chloe said.
Lana smiled at all of them and sat down. She looked back to Catherine when Catherine said, "Catherine Lancaster."
"Hi, I'm Lana Lang. I must say everyone's curious about you." -Lana said and then she looked to Clark as she asked her, "Is it true that you're staying at the Kent's farm?"
"For now." -Catherine answered.
"Yea, she's a daughter of a friend of the family and she's staying with us for a little while until..." -Clark.
Catherine finished for him, "Until my family comes down to settle in Smallville."
"What foreign schools did you go to?" -Chloe asked Catherine.
"Now let's not overwhelm the new student with questions," -Clark.
"We can't help it." -Lana said, "She seems to be the topic of the day."
"Boarding schools in Europe." Catherine answered, somewhat vaguely.
Chloe's natural curiousity and journalistic instinct went hand in hand. "Wow, boarding schools? Aren't they usually very expensive? Your family must be loaded...."
"Chlo--" Clark started.
"It's okay. I don't mind answering some questions," Catherine said, but with the emphasis subtly on *some*. She continued, "It's something like that."
When lunch was over Clark said to Catherine, "Don't worry, their over-interest will fade. But I never like not being honest with my friends."
"You won't have to for long, Clark. It's just for a while." -Catherine.
-----------------------------------------------
A couple days later:
Pete Ross glanced out the window at the night, the other couple houses in the neigborhood weren't glittering with lights. Much of everything was dark. Not a surprise there, some were gone and the rest were asleep: as he should be at 12:53 on a school night.
Pete Ross sighed and went and flopped back down at his desk, propping his head up on his elbows - he went back to studying. There was a big science test tomorrow not to mention a history quiz and he couldn't afford to flunk the tests because his grades had dropped over the last couple months and he was feeling pressured on the borderline.
But after ten more minutes, his mind couldn't be stopped from wandering back to his family. His sister was staying at a friend's house and his dad had been gone for a few days now. His mom was working late at the court house - either that or he thought she was staying late to avoid coming back home. His parents had announced their troubles a couple of weeks ago. Before that he'd been so wrapped up in his own life, he hadn't really sensed anything wrong in their household. Then he was hit with the fact that his parents were having difficulty with their marriage. His dad had even moved out - 'temporarily' they said. 'Not a separation' they said. It sure looked like it to him.
Imagine that! It was sure shocking. He, Pete Ross, had the perfectly happy, nuclear family-- unlike all his friends and many people around him. He was popular, but not as much as he would have liked - he was smart, but not as much as he would have liked and he felt even less now, he was a good journalist but not as good as Chloe, he was an all around good guy but he felt he couldn't measure up to Clark at all. He was the lesser guy in every senario. He'd had a very brief taste of what he considered fame and popularity when he'd raced. It hadn't been overly long since that mistake. And since then, his and Clark's relationship wasn't exactly as it once was. Being honest with himself, though, he knew it hadn't been as great for a long time: not since Lex Luthor came into the picture and became Clark's best friend. Although, Clark still referred to Pete as his best friend now and then, he didn't quite feel their friendship was the same.
Now, Pete didn't even have his family to be proud.
It was hard carrying on like he was happy-go-lucky Pete Ross when his world was crashing down around him, but he didn't want anyone to feel sorry for him. He couldn't ever stand for anyone to look at him with pity. Besides, everyone had their own problems in the last couple months. Chloe was having family and job issues and Lana had Adam issues until a month or so ago. Clark was dealing among other things, with his father's health - which nobody mentioned anymore. Jonathan Kent looked pretty well, but it had only been a matter of weeks since he'd had surgery. His restored health might only be temporary and he had to have a part-time worker around the farm now.
Pete looked back down at his book and the computer and realized he was missing a whole chapter of notes. He'd meant to get it from someone earlier, but he'd forgot.
He looked back down at the computer's clock and it was 1:09 a.m. He was fairly sure Clark was asleep as most high-school students would be, but he was almost desperate to not fail the test, so he gave it a chance and called Clark.
Surprisingly, it rang only once before it was picked up.
"Hello?" -Clark.
"Hey Clark - you're still up?" -Pete.
"Uh, yeah. What's going on?" -Clark.
"You first." -Pete.
"Until a little while ago, I was just hanging out." -Clark.
"By yourself?" -Pete.
"With a guest." -Clark.
"Ah, you mean 'the guest'." -Pete.
Chuckle. "Yeah, it was nothing. We were bored. And I'm curious." -Clark.
"Is something up with that girl or is she as nice and cool as she seems?"- Pete
A pause on the other end. "I don't know."
Pete would normally be interested in such things and to an extent he was, but maintaining a partially false light-hearted mood was draining, especially when he was dead tired.
"Look man, I didn't call to bother you, but I'm sort of desperate. I don't have chapter sevens notes. Could you email--" -Pete.
"Coming right up." -Clark.
"Thanks." -Pete.
"No Problem, Pete." Clark.
"G'night." -Pete said and hung up the phone.
Pete watched his computer screen, fiddling with his webcam absently. When an alert popped up announcing an email, he waved into the cam and mouthed a 'thankyou' - just in case Clark was logged on.
After Pete went over the notes for close to an hour, his lack of adequate sleep for days now, was catching up with him: or at least the tiredness factor was. He had been having trouble sleeping for a while, so he snuck a few of his mom's prescription sleeping pills now and then. He opened the bottle and popped two in his mouth, along with what was left of a can of warm mountain dew on his desk.
Pete looked over at his book and notes again and decided to study until he felt really sleepy, and then he would just fall into bed...
--------------
Clark was not tired at all, in fact he was pretty energized, probably because of his chat with Catherine earlier. They had really just hung out in the loft for what ended up longer than he expected. He hadn't gotten much to sate his curiousity, but it had been kind of fun. Fun doing nothing but casually talking, mostly light-hearted. He had surprisingly found that having a house guest and especially one his age was rather interesting.
They had hung out for a couple hours and Clark had felt like they were little kids sneaking around staying up late, which was something forbidden while his parents were asleep. Actually, his parents probably wouldn't have approved even at his age: of him being up this late on a school night and him being in the loft with Catherine Luthor.
After Clark emailed the notes to Pete, he surfed the web for a while before he started to feel like sleeping. He closed out his browser, but another was still open; Pete's homepage. He was surprised to see his webcam still on at this hour. Clark figured Pete had fallen asleep studying and was about to close the page, when he noticed something..
He couldn't see much of Pete onscreen, and it did look like he had fallen asleep studying at his desk, although he couldn't see much but Pete's back leaned over in his desk chair. But what caught Clark's eye for an instant was a hazy, foggy look in the room.
What he realized upon closer inspection was that there were small curls of smoke coming through Pete's closed bedroom door.
Pete's house was on fire!
END of Chapter Three
_________________
next chapter should be up sometime within a couple days, probably.
Btw, I have been having problems accessing this one fiction here of mine. I don't know if anyone else is having trouble, but it's only with the IE browser.
Thanks, Nightwing and lirr for reviews! It is going to be a little while before Lex finds out who Catherine really is. At least a few more chapters. There are a few mostly converging plot lines that have to be dealt with first. There's reasons for the ambiguous tone. And there will be some surprises. Actually, I do believe this fic will be pretty long. So keep reading if/when you have a chance.