Clark looked up from the computer he was working on. Immediately, he smiled at his friend, "Hey, Lex."
Lex waited for Rhone to walk through the door he was holding open for her. Nothing happened. He turned around, but only saw the quickly thinning mass of students he was waiting to emerge from.
"You Ok?" Clark was walking towards him.
"Yeah," Lex looked both ways down the hallway, "Rhone was with me." If at all possible, Clark's smile became even wider. Lex considered putting his driving glasses on to lessen the glare.
"I'm sure she's fine," Clark said with quite a bit of confidence, "I'd be worried about everyone else."
Lex's eyes darted to Clark; surprised that he was referencing the bank robbery so lightly. Finally, the corners of his mouth turned up, "I guess you're right."
"So, I haven't seen you around that much lately," Clark said, "You two must be seeing a lot of each other."
"Your subtleness is unsurpassed," Lex left the door ajar slightly when he walked through it.
"Just stating the obvious," Clark held up his hands in mock defense.
Lex was really hoping it wasn't that obvious. "She is…" he truly did not know how to finish that sentence.
Clark continued to beam, "She's pretty cool. I like her way better than any of the other girls I've seen you with -- especially Victoria."
Lex rolled his eyes at the mention of his former – chess opponent.
Clark thought that he might have said too much, he didn't want to offend Lex. "What I mean is…" he began to correct.
"No, Clark," he held up a hand to silence his friend. A faint smile was playing over Lex's face, "I agree with you. She's – pretty cool."
"And since you are always giving me advice – telling me to go for it," Clark started, "You've told her she's pretty cool, right?"
Lex leaned against one of the desks, brushing a pile of papers. He ran his hand over his head, "That's – complicated."
She kept her eye on the girl moving down the hallway. The girl took a left, Rhone followed. The girl didn't really seem to notice. Rhone observed that they were venturing to a – lesser-used portion of the school. It wasn't dilapidated by any means; it was just a little darker -- less people.
She should have said something to Lex, but what would she say? Oh, excuse me, Walking Elegance, I just had a vision. I'll be right back. …Right.
But she had to follow her; she had never had a vision like that before. Normally when she saw something, it was very brief and happened in a matter of seconds. But there was no way that that would happen in seconds. The vision was outside, and it was dark. It was the middle of the day.
And they were nowhere near a jungle. Not to mention, the visions were random, not induced by touching something or someone. And she wasn't even in the vision – that never happened. Maybe she was finally losing it…
Rhone stepped in front of the door the girl had gone into. The sign on the door read, Agriculture Lab. She paused and listened. There was only one person in there, must be the girl. She reached for the knob and opened the door quickly.
The brunette sat at a table and was setting up some type of equipment. The room had a lot of glass and plants – a green house. Yet, it was pretty evident that this lab was also a lesser-used, lesser-funded portion of the building. Rhone thought that odd, considering they were in farm country.
The girl turned around and looked at her unexpected company.
"I'm sorry," Rhone smiled widely, "I was on a tour of your building and I seem to have gotten separated from my escort."
"You must be lost, there's no way that they would show this place off. They were probably trying to take you to one of their jock monuments or to The Torch," the girl gave a wave to her surroundings. There was a hint of bitterness in her voice when she mentioned the other areas of the school.
Rhone walked over to the table, "Rhone Chade." She held out an ignored hand.
The girl was completely focused on the small plant sprouts before her. "Adra Arden," she said absently.
Rhone slowly looked over the plants in the room. They were quite large, thick with broad leaves – perfectly green. …Totally perfect.
She remembered the vision; it wasn't that clear, but this wasn't right. And in the vision Lex and Clark were – she didn't know, but she didn't like it. Maybe that was why she was willing to put up with Adra's lack of manners, to make sure that it was just some kind of hallucination. Maybe she really wasn't getting enough fluids; it was surprising how many problems could be traced back to that. "Which ones are yours, Adra?" Rhone gestured to the unbelievably healthy plants.
"All of them," Adra still didn't look up.
Rhone walked over to some of the larger plants and began to reach for one, to examine it.
"Don't touch that!" the girl jumped out of her chair.
Rhone turned and looked at the girl that was swiftly coming at her. She looked at her questioningly.
Adra composed herself, "I'm – running an experiment."
"Of course," Rhone turned when she heard a rustle in the plants behind her, but saw nothing.
"Are you interested in joining Ag?" Adra asked.
Rhone couldn't tell if the girl was hoping she would or hoping she wouldn't. "Do I look like a student?" Rhone asked. Maybe I should invest in a push-up bra or something, Rhone thought. – Ok, then you would have to start wearing bras period… Forget it.
Adra shrugged in a "maybe, maybe not" way.
"I'm just visiting," Rhone clarified. The way the girl was standing was uncomfortable and Rhone didn't like the vibe that she was getting. "I hated high school too," Rhone crossed her arms over her chest.
Adra gave a "Tss…" noise to show her agreement.
Rhone wasn't getting anything else from the girl, from the situation at all. Maybe she was off her game.
"So, you weren't a jock or anything?" Adra gestured towards Rhone's toned arms.
"God, no," Rhone smiled.
"You ever get ragged on?" Adra asked. She assumed that this Rhone Chade might have been an art geek, judging from the long artist's tube across her back.
"Just once, my freshman year, why?" Rhone looked at the girl.
"You're kind of pretty, I thought maybe you got out of some of the -- torment," Adra went and leaned against the table she had set her things out on. "What happened?" Adra was curious as to why this woman was only tormented once in high school.
"What happened with what?" Rhone was shocked that someone called her pretty. That never happened unless someone was drunk or they wanted something.
"Whoever ragged on you," Adra clarified.
"I beat him up," Rhone smiled faintly.
"Him? That's awesome. I wish I could do that," Adra laughed lightly.
"No, you don't," Rhone's smile faded and she shook her head.
"Yeah, I do," Adra said seriously.
"Do you have any idea how people look at you when you're the fifteen-year-old girl that beat up the varsity quarterback?" Rhone asked.
"Do you have any idea how much more awesome this story becomes every time you speak?" Adra smiled again.
"One small step for man, one giant leap for nerd-kind," Rhone joked.
"Did you get in a lot of trouble?" Adra asked, grinning widely.
"No," Rhone quickly added, "But I should have. What I did was wrong."
"Yeah, right. So, why didn't anything happen?" Adra probed.
"Getting your ass kicked by a hundred and ten pound girl isn't exactly something all-stars want people to find out about," Rhone pointed out. Rhone decided that she wasn't getting any more information about her vision and she had just kind of disappeared on Lex. "Listen, I should get back. Nice talking to you," Rhone said, unsure if she was telling the truth or not.
"Yeah," Adra watched the other girl walk out the door.