Chapter 24
Pete was driving home one night when suddenly he came across an SUV stopped in the wrong lame. Pete honked his horn at the driver who suddenly shifted into gear and drove away. Pete was about to continue on when he noticed a van on its side off in the corn field. Pete pulled his car over to the side of the road and got out. He quickly ran to help the driver of the van.
"Hey man are you alright?" Pete asked the driver.
The man didn't answer him. He just kept staring with an inquisitive look on his face. Pete followed his gaze. He couldn't believe what he saw.
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Lana was in the barn doing her weekend chores when Pete came running into the barn.
"Hey Pete what's up?" Lana asked as she set down the broom she was currently sweeping with.
"I found something. Something big," Pete said excitedly.
"What is it?" Lana asked.
"You'll see when we get there," Pete replied. "Come on we need to use your dad's truck."
"Why?" Lana asked.
"Just trust me," Pete said.
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Pete excitement in what he had found was able to win Lana over, even though she thought she'd get in a trouble for leaving before she had finished her chores. Pete got Lana to drive to a spot on the road where a vehicle had gone off and over turned.
"Okay Pete," Lana said. "So what is that is just so exciting."
"Come on, follow me," Pete said still jumping with excitement.
Pete led Lana past the over turned van that was lying on the ground and pointed to what lay just beyond it. Lana couldn't believe her eyes. It was the spaceship. She hadn't seen it since the day of the storm when it had suddenly taken off. Now here it was lying a cornfield.
"Come on," Pete said. "It's not that heavy. Let's load it in the truck and take it to my place."
"No," Lana disagreed. "I think we should take it my place."
"You dad will us take it to authorities," Pete argued. "My place is better."
"No he won't," Lana said stubbornly.
"Come on Lana you know that you can't keep a secret from your father." Pete said.
"Pete, we're taking it to my place and that's final," Lana said.
"You're talking like you own this thing," Pete said jokingly.
At that point Lana was met with a decision. She could either tell Pete, or she could risk having him completely blow his secret. She wished she had more time to consider this, she new her father would be upset.
"That's because I do," Lana said.
"What?" Pete asked disbelieving.
"Look we're just gonna take this thing back to my place. I'll explain everything on the way," Lana said as she went to pick the spaceship up.
"Let me help you with it," Pete said.
"It's alright I can handle it," Lana said.
She hoisted the ship up off the ground with ease. Pete looked at her startled and then at the space ship. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted, falling to the ground with a thud. Lana quickly put the spaceship into the truck and covered it with a tarp. She then grab Pete and put him in the truck.
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Halfway back to the Kent farm Pete woke up.
"Alright," Pete said taking a deep breath. "Now can you please tell me that I was seeing things and I did not see you pick that spaceship up off the ground and put it in the truck yourself."
"Alright." Lana agreed. "You didn't see me put in the truck because you fainted."
"What the heck are you?" Pete asked frightened.
"I don't know," Lana replied. "Look just don't freak out okay."
"Why didn't you tell me before now?" Pete asked.
"Because I couldn't let anybody know," Lana said. "All I've ever wanted is to be normal, but as you can probably guess I'm far from normal."
"Well that explains all the times you were able to get to school even though you missed the bus," Pete said. "And what about those fires? Did you do that too?"
"Yes," Lana admitted. "Look I'm still the same person you've known all your life."
"No way," Pete said. "Stop here and let me out."
"No," Lana refused. "Look Pete I need your word that you're not going to say anything to anybody about this. I know it probably hurts you, but the only reason I even told you is because you discovered the ship."
Pete sighed. It was a pretty messed up experience to learn that one of your best friends is an alien. But Lana was still his friend in spite of all that. Regardless of all the amazing things that she could do she was just trying to blend in and be normal.
"I'm sorry," Pete apologized. "I guess… I can understand where you're coming from. I guess if I got freaked out I can imagine why you don't want other people to know."
Lana nodded. "You know you can't tell anybody about this Pete. Not Clark, not Chloe, not your parents, nobody."
"Well what about your folks?" Pete asked.
"They found me when I was just a little girl," Lana replied. "They discovered the ship, of course they know."
"So it's not like I don't have anybody else to talk to about this," Pete said. "Just checking because I might need an outlet and I don't want it to always have to be you."
"Good," Lana agreed. "Because just because I'm an alien doesn't mean I handle grief any better than anybody else. I'm one hundred percent human mentally and emotionally."
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Back at the farm Lana hid the spaceship back in the storm cellar. Pete watched in complete amazement as she lifted the heavy spaceship by herself. Lana was then faced with the misfortune of trying to explain the situation to her parents, who were more understanding than Lana expected. She got saddled with a few extra chores but she was more than able to handle them.
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Please Read Over:
Oh! What lame and brief chapter. That's really because Pete is just a catalyst necessary to put the real story in motion and I wanted to get this out of the way. Besides Dr. Morton was never part of the story prior to now I wasn't about to drag him in. Don't worry, a little lameness is always needed to set up something awesome. Besides, who says Pete will be able to keep the secret?
Just another one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.