Inevitability by Electric Spyro

A.n. hey guys! thanx alot for all the great reviews. ur awesome. here's the next chapter. enjoy!

'After all this time...all this waiting....why did he pull away?' Lana thought as she made her way to her next class. 'He wasn't going to at first - I saw him leaning in too - but why did he stop? God, I feel like so stupid now...'

"Lana?"

Lana stopped abruptly, startled by the sound of her name. She turned to see Ms. Morgan the art teacher smiling down on her just outside of her classroom. "Hi, Ms. Morgan."

"Hello. Lana, I noticed a dramatic improvement in your artistic skills these past few weeks," Ms. Morgan said with happiness.

"Oh, yeah. I'm kind of getting help from a friend. I heard how free it feels when you draw and create things. I just wanted to learn that feeling, too." Ms. Morgan continued to smile. It was beginning to frighten Lana a little.

"Children with a burning urge to expand in the artistic world...that's been my fuel to teach these long twenty years," Ms. Morgan admited laughing a little and looking up at the ceiling with a twinkle in her eye.

"Yeah," Lana said laughing with her politely. "I have to get to class now - "

"Wait, I didn't stop you in the hallway for nothing," Ms. Morgan exclaimed with cheer. She went into her room and came back out handing Lana a booklet. "This is a student guide to an art college in Europe. Now, you are still a developing artist at this point, but I'm almost positive that if you keep it up, they will be begging you to attend their school."

"Thanks Ms. Morgan, but I'm really just doing this for fun. I don't think I could leave the country for it," Lana admitting flipping through the pamphlet. She was almost shocked that Ms. Morgan would consider her for this. Hadn't she seen any of her artwork? It was terrible. "Besides, I think Clark Kent would - "

"Ah yes, Clark Kent," Ms. Morgan broke in dreamily as if she was in love with him. Lana looked on feeling as though she was watching a passion play. That was definitely what Ms. Morgan was - passionate. "Clark is too advanced for any art school in existence. His talents go far beyond that of even the greats - Da Vinci, Rembrant, Michelangelo..."

Lana screwed up her brows in a confused expression. Sure, Clark was awesome at drawing, but Ms. Morgan was going a little overboard. She decided to leave afraid that if she stayed much longer, Ms. Morgan would begin to do an interperative dance in Clark's honor. "Well, I don't want to be late for class. Bye, Ms. Morgan."

"Goodbye and good luck on your artistic journey!" Ms. Morgan shouted as Lana practically ran through the hallways eager to get as much distance between her and the overly excited art teacher as possible.

Clark sat in his loft gazing out at the sun as it sunk slowly in the sky. He sighed thinking back to fourth hour when he'd discovered Lana had been his first kiss. He wanted to kiss her again today, but he just couldn't. He couldn't put that burden on her. Sometimes he just wanted to throw away his powers and live the rest of his life like everyone else.

"Clark?"

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sweet voice of Lana who was standing on the landing of the staircase. "Lana. This is a surprise."

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you," Lana hesitiated and then added, "about what happened earlier today."

Clark took a breath as Lana joined him on the couch. He might as well explain. "Listen, Lana, I don't want you to think I don't like you - because I do - it's just that..." Clark was struggling for the right words, "Lana, there are so many things you don't know about me - that you should never know about me - "

"Why?" Lana asked baffled.

"I don't want you to get hurt," Clark admited truthfully.

Lana watched Clark in silence before she quietly stated, "If this is something really important about you or your life, I think I should know about it."

"You don't understand," Clark retorted strongly. "I think you're an amazing girl - I've never met anyone else like you - and I'll always be your friend. But that's all I can be.....a friend."

Lana was so confused. Why couldn't he just let her in? She'd except whatever it was. She was positive this feeling that she felt around him would never go away. "So you're just going to live life in the shadows? Stay out of the lime light just because of some secret you're too scared to admit?"

"Lana, I told you," Clark said staring into her soft eyes to try and get her attention, "I can't tell you. It isn't my choice to make."

She let her gaze fall to the ground. She didn't understand anything Clark was telling her. Why wasn't it his choice? What would be so bad that it could hurt her? Suddenly, she felt Clark's hand reach her cheek and pulled a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'll always be here for you, Lana. Whenever you need to talk, I'm right here." He then kissed her cheek affectionately.

Lana forced herself to muster a smile and then stood and made her way down the stairs.

As she left, Clark's content expression faded. He knew that this sort of misunderstanding would eventually happen to him, but he'd had no idea how much it would hurt. He never imagined it would be like this....never thought someone would like him enough to want him to open up. Lana was more then he could ever want. Everything about her was just...perfect. His heart began to fight with his mind.

'Maybe you should just tell her...'

'And put that much pressure on her? No way! If you really had feelings for her, you'd stay friends and keep quiet.'

'But she'll want to know whether your her friend or something more!'

'She can't know! You'll put not only your life on the line, but her's too.'

Clark fell back into the couch covering his face with his hands. 'I can't live like this. I can't be alone forever. I'm missing so many opportunities - Lana is one of them.'

'Don't do it! You'll regret it for the rest of your days!' Clark's Mind shrieked in his head.

'You're right! Lana will slip away if you don't do something about it!' Clark's Heart exclaimed with determination.

Closing his eyes, Clark forced himself into a light quiet sleep hoping that he might dream about a solution to his problem.

A.n. yea, there's a lil bit of angst goin on, but it'll be over soon don't worry :oP

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