Edward Kent loitered in the school corridor, in one of his many long black coats, waiting for someone to open the door to class so that he could follow them in - sometimes it was hard not having proper hands. Suddenly he heard Lana's voice:
"Hey, Eddie. Are those your hands in your pockets or are you just pleased to see me?"
"Hi, Lana," he said, turning to face her. "Both," he added, answering her question with what Lana took to be a deadpan feigned innocence.
"So where were you yesterday, Ed? Didn't see you around much."
"I was busy," he said, thinking back to a day that had started, near enough, with his rescuing of Lex Luthor, and finished, near enough, with Edward looking down at the moonlit face of Chloe Sullivan beneath him.
Following his rescue of Lex Luthor, and his calling of the paramedics, Edward's head had still been full of the events of that day twelve years ago. It was meant to be a warning to Lionel Luthor but, as he'd realized in the intervening years, it was also an attack on an innocent young boy. For the first time in all those years, he returned to the field where it had all taken place, the S symbol he'd carved now gone. He couldn't erase the memories, but he could so something to take his mind off them. And so, taking his metallic hands out of his pockets, he began to sculpt the cornfield into the most beautiful thing he could think of - Chloe Sullivan's face.
"So, did you see Chloe on the news last night, Eddie?"
"What?"
"That crop Chloe they discovered in that field. You must have seen it."
"Yeah, I saw it. It was beautiful ... just like Chloe."
"Yeah, just like Chloe - best appreciated from a distance. So, if aliens are behind these crop circles like your Dad reckons, do you think Chloe's their leader?"
Edward looked at Lana with his sad face.
"Sorry, Eddie. Just kidding. I know you're smitten with her. Know how you feel, this unrequited love thing makes me want to smash my head against a wall."
While Lana waited in vain for Edward to ask her what she was talking about, Edward's mind was twelve hours in the past.
"What did you think you were doing?" asked Jonathan, as he saw Chloe's corn visage on the television screen. "I don't mind giant S symbols or stars or hearts or cows, but Chloe? How am I supposed to keep convincing the townspeople that it's aliens behind these crop circles when Chloe's face suddenly shows up."
"I couldn't help it," replied Edward, sorry that he'd upset Jonathan.
"You did a lovely job, Edward," added Martha supportively.
"Wouldn't it be easier if we just told the truth?" asked Edward, tired of all the lies he had to tell.
"We just want you to live a normal life, Edward," replied Jonathan. "Trust me, the minute that people found out the truth about you, all that would be over."
"But I wouldn't be living a lie."
And with that, the conversation ended, as conversations usually do, with silence.
"Speak of the devil," whispered Lana in Edward's ear, as Chloe came towards them.
"Well, Edward Kent, just the person I wanted to see," exclaimed Chloe, a smile lighting up her face as she aimed her full charm at Edward and totally ignored Lana.
"Don't trust her, Eddie. She must want something," warned Lana.
"Ignore Gothzilla. My office. One hour's time. That okay with you?"
A tongue-tied Edward stared at Chloe in disbelief and nodded.
Just as soon as Chloe had left them, Whitney came running after her. Suddenly he spotted Edward and Lana.
"Hey, man," he said, patting Edward's shoulder, "thanks for last night." Then he winked at Edward and resumed his pursuit of Chloe.
"What was all that about?" asked Lana.
"Nothing," replied Edward.
After the conversation with Jonathan, Edward had needed to get out, and so he had decided to return, once again, to the field where it had all started, to gaze, once more, at Chloe's gigantic face. As he slowly made his way through the tall stalks of corn that formed part of her hair, he came across a naked Whitney facing him, tied to a cross with an S painted on his chest.
"Help me," groaned Whitney, his voice hoarse from long-ago abandoned attempts to shout for help.
Edward stared for a moment at his rival for Chloe's affections and then walked right past him. As Whitney's head slumped down in disappointment, he suddenly heard the cutting of ropes and then he was falling into the corn.
"What happened to you?" asked a curious Edward, looking down at the prostrate Whitney.
"Doesn't matter," replied Whitney, and then, realizing that he was stark naked, added "Don't suppose I could borrow your coat?"
Edward looked at the helpless, shivering Whitney, and decided that there was only one thing to do. He took off his coat, and threw it, as best he could, towards Whitney. Of course that meant that Whitney, and, before long, the world, would now know his secret, but Edward didn't care - fate had obviously decided that now was the time for the truth to be known. And so he stood there, his scissors by his side, waiting for Whitney's no-doubt scared reaction.
"Hey, you've got scissors for hands," exclaimed a surprised Whitney, talking to Edward as if Edward might not have noticed this fact. "That's so cool, All this time we thought you were packing heat."
As Whitney staggered to his feet, putting the coat on, he added, with a wink, "Don't worry, Edward. Your secret's safe with me. I owe you, man."
Edward smiled as Whitney staggered away. Maybe now wasn't the time for people to learn about him after all. Slowly he made his way up the cross that Whitney had vacated and spent the rest of the night looking at Chloe's face and wishing on the stars above.
As Edward followed Lana into class, he remembered all the times he'd wished on stars in the past, wishing that he could be human. Of course, Jonathan had told him that all that Pinocchio stuff was just make-believe but last night, in that field, he'd made himself believe, and what he'd wished for was Chloe. Maybe sometimes dreams did come true.