Heavier Now, Chapter 2

True to his word, Clark slept through his first two classes. He only got one warning and one detention, but he didn't care. He was just trying to get through school as fast as he could, then super speed home and spend the rest of the day doing his homework and chores, and maybe thinking about the stars. That was his new theory. If he thought about where he came from all night, he would be sick of it during the day. He hadn't tried this theory out yet, but he was ready to. PE would be a little easier—all he had to do was run around a lot and pretend to be tired. Of course today he wouldn't be pretending. The only thing about PE was that Lana was in his class. They had been going through a weird time lately—he had been going through a weird time with all his friends—but Lana and his relationship had been weird for the longest, besides Lex, but Clark really didn't want to think about that right now, either.

"You look tired."

Lana's comment brought Clark out of his thoughts.

"That's because I am."

"What time did you get to bed?" Lana asked as they started stretch exercises.

"I went to sleep around eleven, but for some reason I was exhausted when I woke up." He knew the reason. "It's because I'm driving myself insane," he thought.

"Did Clark Kent go J-walking and tipping over cows again last night?"

Clark smiled. "See Lana, you know all of my secrets." Clark immediately stopped. Why did I say that? That was stupid…

Lana was taken aback a little by that, too. He'd never been that blunt before, but she just smiled. "I wish," she stated, hoping he got the hint. He did, but it didn't matter. Clark took the detention slip out of his gym pocket and handed it to her.

"Detention? Why Clark, are we starting to rebel?"

"It's for sleeping in class. I was tired. Mr. Jenson just gave me a warning, but Ms. Birkley gave me this and her world famous lecture on "how no one respects teachers anymore, and 10 years ago, yes, even 5 years ago, students were eager and willing to learn,"

Lana interrupted, "But now we're all a bunch of loquacious adolescents with no sense of inner responsibility, if that still exists in today's upcoming society." Lana laughed. "Yeah, I got that one before, too."

"Okay everyone, 13 laps around the gym, " the gym teacher yelled as she blew her whistle.

"You know, I ran less in cross-country," Lana remarked.

Clark chuckled. He liked this, when they could just joke and laugh and not try to dig for a deeper meaning in everything Clark did. "Yeah, and what's with 13 laps? 10 or even 15 would make sense, but 13?"

"I'm sure it has a certain cultural importance on her home planet." Lana joked. Clark's smile faded. Out of all the phrases in the world, she had to choose that one.

"Clark!"

Clark snapped out of his thoughts again.

"I was joking. It might have sounded meaner than I intended it to, but…"

"Miss Lang, Mr. Kent. Are you going to join us or would you rather run your 13 laps after school?" The teacher interrupted.

Clark looked at Lana. "We'll… run now." And with that the two ran.