"So you'll call if anything's wrong?" Jeremiah Danvers looked back at Kara nervously. This was her first outing with a friend, even if it was just a Saturday afternoon hanging out, a few hours at the most, with a girl from school… the whole Danvers family was nervous. So nervous that they had all decided to pile into the same car to drive Kara to her friend's house.
"I have the cellular phone Kal-El gifted me." Kara was equally excited. Alex looked at the blonde dubiously and clenched her hands into fists. Usually now, Kara would reach out for her and try to hold her hand. But this past week, since the counseling session, Kara hadn't come to her at night. Kara would usually stay and talk with her until Alex dozed off, but Kara had been staying away. It was only a few nights but Alex felt like Kara was withdrawing from her.
"Well, we'll be back… after dinner? To pick you up?" Eliza said anxiously. "You know to call us if anything, right? And we'll text once in awhile just to make sure everything is alright."
"It's fine." Kara squared her shoulders, looking determined. Alex caught the quick look Kara shot in her direction. "I'm fine, I can do this. May I go now?"
"Alright honey, have fun." Jeremiah ruffled Kara's hair and Eliza cupped the blonde's cheek affectionately.
"I'll walk you to the door!" Alex blurted out. She was out her side of the car with the door open, impatiently waiting for Kara before anyone could say anything. Kara slipped out cautiously, almost like she was fearful of Alex. Kara kept her eyes downcast and Alex couldn't help it, she grabbed Kara's hand forcefully and held on even though she knew her parents were watching and big displays of physical contact was never something Alex would willingly do in front of people.
"I'm okay. I can do this myself." Kara said stiffly, but was looking at Alex's hand in hers intensely, as if she wanted to burn that image into her mind.
"You can, but I want to." Alex replied.
"You have other things to do." Kara insisted.
"Like sit in the car?" Alex rolled her eyes. "Come on. Even if I do have other things to do, I will never be too busy to walk you to the door of your friend's place. Especially since this is the first time you're hanging out with someone alone."
"Really?" Kara finally met Alex's eyes.
"Really. I'll never be too busy for you." Alex replied, looking forward again so she didn't have to feel super embarrassed by what she had said. She rang the doorbell and didn't let go of Kara's hand until they could hear someone unlocking the door.
"Hey Kara! Hey Alex!" Sharon greeted them excitedly. Three little faces looked out from behind Sharon's body curiously.
"Oh, your little brother and sisters!" Kara's eyes widened in delight. "Alex, look, they're adorable!"
"Yeah, Sharon they look like miniature versions of you!" Alex grinned. That prompted the youngest boy, who looked about five, to grimace and run away. "Alright, see you later, Kara. Call me beep me?"
"If you wanna reach me!" Kara completed the little song with a grin. Alex impulsively gave Kara a one-armed hug then quickly said goodbye to Sharon before fleeing back to the family car.
"That was very nice, sweetheart." Jeremiah was beaming at his daughter and Eliza looked super proud.
"Yeah, yeah," Alex was flushing deeply as Jeremiah put the car in reverse. Kara watched her go, catching her sister's eye through the window. The older girl waved good-bye and Kara, shyly, waved back.
"Well, I guess it's just us tonight." Jeremiah hummed. Alex turned in her seat and kept Kara in her line of sight until they rounded a corner. "Your mom and I are going to the secret lair to do experiments, do you want to join us?"
"You mean the basement lab?" Alex rolled her eyes at how corny her dad is. Seriously. She wasn't a kid anymore. But… she did love her science.
"Sure. What are we doing today?"
"Looking at RESULTS!" The Danvers parents crowed gleefully. Alex felt her own little surge of excitement but tamped it down with surly teenage attitude.
"Well, I guess we can." Alex said grudgingly. But it was always exciting when they got to test samples that Superman provided them with. With Kryptonian physiology, the aliens did not shed. There was no blonde hair on Kara's comb, no skin cells scrubbed loose, maybe some cheek swabs, but asking Kara for samples was something none of the Danvers wanted to do; not something they wanted to do to Kara. Superman, however, willingly gave the Danvers whatever samples they asked for and sometimes more than what they asked for to answer his own questions. Alex overheard her parents once talking about how they could help Superman have a normal relationship. When they saw her listening in though, they immediately changed the subject saying it wasn't for her ears.
Today, as they all crowded into the basement-turned-lab, Superman had sent them samples of his hair. They had realized that Superman's hair was almost as indestructible as him; impossible to break, to cut, to burn. As long as it was attached to him. But if the hair was cut or pulled from him, there was a shelf-life to how long his hair could remain. With the root attached, the hair would last a couple of months holding up a weight of up to a few tons, before it loses it's invulnerability and snapped. If Superman had cut off the hair, a few weeks at best was the shelf-life of the hair before it loses it's invulnerability.
Disintegration would follow the weakening of the hair, and within a few days, the hair would be gone. It would only be during the weakening time where they could properly examine the molecular structure of the hair and better understand how Superman worked, though the weakening of the hair was, possibly, a change in the structure or the chemical composition of the hair.
They've surmised that hair, eyelashes and any other samples from Superman lost their super-abilities after leaving Superman, with different shelf-lives. The samples all seemed to disintegrate and gave them no workable data, but neither were they able to get any data from the samples without heavy equipment present. So in their home, they tended to stick with number crunching and hypothesizing and reviewing results, something that they had always included Alex in. At the heart of it all, the Danvers' were a geeky family.
They spent most of their time, quietly going over charts or discussing what a spike in data would mean. This wasn't something they had never done before, in fact they had done this many times before. But since Kara had arrived, family time like this was far and few in between. Even though Alex relished the time together, her eyes kept drifting to the clock on the wall, wondering what Kara was doing, wondering if she was okay...
She was happy, Alex was. This was what she wanted, wasn't it? To be like it used to be when she was the star. She felt a bitterness, wondering when had Kara become so ingrained in her life, that now she can't do anything without thinking about her. It had only been a few hours, really.
"I'm getting something to eat." Alex announced. Both parents murmured their acknowledgement and the brunette hopped up the steps, going to the kitchen to grab an apple. She took a few angry bites, not knowing why her emotions were roiling. She felt… confused.
Pulling out her phone, Alex didn't know why but she immediately typed out a quick message to Kara, then sent it. Kara replied almost immediately.
'We're having a snack soon. I'm hiding in the washroom'
Alex frowned and her fingers flew over the face of her phone, sending out a reply.
'R U ok? Need me to come get u?'
'I'm fine. Just the food smells delicious and I feel like I'm going to eat the table.'
Alex chuckled. The one thing Kara had really taken to was food.
'I miss you.' Alex typed out, then immediately deleted it, replacing it with something else. Something wry and sarcastic, with just a hint of caring slipped in. Alex just wrote whatever came to mind, maybe a word or a few, just a short, short sentence. Whatever it was was erased by Kara's reply.
'I miss you, too.'
Alex chuckled. Of course Kara would know what she really meant. She leaned against the kitchen counter, contemplating her next message, then finally biting the bullet and sending a heart in reply.
'Angle bracket 3?'
'Turn your head to the right and look at it.'
'It looks like an Earth symbol for heart!'
Alex waited a second and sure enough, another message popped up.
'You 3 me?'
Alex could just imagine the hopeful look Kara would give her, those blue eyes looking at her as if she was the end all and be all of her existence. This girl who could fly like a bird and came from the stars; she thought Alex was the world. And it honestly weighed so heavily on Alex, she wanted to be that for Kara, to not let her down, to protect her. But how do you protect someone who is faster than a speeding bullet, who is invulnerable, unstoppable, and practically a demi-god? Someone like that didn't need protection. How was Alex relevant? How could Alex compare? When Kara finally acclimatized to this new world, where would Alex fit in in her life?
And wouldn't it be fine if Kara left? It would be, wouldn't it? Everything could go back to normal, just her, her dad, and her mom. No Kara from another world, no weird sister to look after at school, no-one keeping her awake at night, no-one to watch the stars with and no-one to be there all the time. Alex would be number one again.
Apparently, she took too long to answer, and her phone buzzed with a message from Kara, who was forever impatient.
'I angle bracket three you, too.'
Alex snorted with laughter. She sent back a wink emoji, which prompted Kara to ask what that was also. It took a second for her to write back that she figured it out herself.
'I will give you humans this: you are quite inventive. ;)'
Alex just shook her head. That goof. About to slip her phone back into her pocket, a message popped up from Brendan.
'waves on the Point and theyre perfect. You said youre "okay" so we're comin to getchu. We rolling on two wheels.'
"Aw, yeah!" Alex shoved her phone into her back pocket and hurried down to the basement, practically flying down.
"Alex," Eliza tsked when her daughter landed hard on the basement floor. "Be careful!"
"Mom, dad, can I go out with Brendan and them?" Alex hopped from one foot to the other. "We're gonna go surfing!"
Alex and Brendan had been getting along in and out of school. Alex had friends, but Brendan was gearing up to be one of her closest. He was nice and they had the same interests and shared the same kind of humour. They were really good together, but Rebecca hovering around them put Alex on edge a bit. Brendan and Alex had an easy camaraderie, borne of time together and Brendan's unwavering support of Alex when it came to Kara. He didn't try to make a move on her, didn't make her uncomfortable, and was just fine hanging out with her.
"Who else is going?" Jeremiah raised an eyebrow. He had of course noticed how Alex and the Lee's boy had been getting along and felt a little bit protective of his little girl.
"Brendan and some of the guys." Alex whined, dancing from foot to foot impatiently. She hadn't been surfing as much since Kara came… really, she hadn't been surfing at all.
"Where?"
"The Point!"
"Lifeguards on duty?"
"We all have our lifesaving certifications!"
"Is someone driving?"
"Taking our bikes!"
"Any girls going? Or is it just boys?" Jeremiah continued his questions of the restless teen who groaned in frustration at this line of questioning.
"I don't know! Come on, dad!"
Eliza chuckled. "Oh, just let her go and have some fun, Jeremiah. Go on, Alex. Get your stuff."
Alex quickly darted away with a quick "thank you!" before her dad could veto her mother's decision, taking the stairs two at a time back up to the ground floor, then up to the second floor.
"She's been spending a lot of time with that Brendan kid," Jeremiah muttered grumpily.
"Well, she has been really good lately, I don't see why she can't go out and have some fun with her friends. And Brendan is a good boy." Eliza leaned forward and pecked a kiss on her husband's cheek. They could hear their daughter pounding back down the stairs and with a shouted goodbye, she was out the door, surfboard in hand.
Alex was opening up the garage and dragging out her bike when she could hear the voices of the boys approaching and the sound of their bicycles. Everybody had their surfboards firmly wedged into the surfboard racks attached to their bikes. The teenaged Danvers' smile faltered a bit when she realized that Rebecca had come along, her eyes on Alex and a smirk on her face.
"Hey guys. Hi Rebecca." Alex said nervously, pulling her garage door back down and locking it.
"Hey, Alex." Brendan bumped fists with Alex, super-excited. He hadn't been a surfer before moving here but now, he tried to go out as much as possible. His board was still quite new, and he was super careful with it. Alex mounted her bike and they were all off. As the only two girls, Alex it seemed natural to gravitate to Rebecca's side.
"Didn't know you surfed." Alex started the conversation cautiously.
"Well, you're not around enough to find out more about me." Rebecca shrugged and there was a slight sneer on her face. "You spend most of your time with your foster sister."
"Well, I have to take care of her-" Alex frowned.
Rebecca rolled her eyes. "You hardly ever come out! I see you for tutoring and then you just run off."
"Kara needs me-"
"She's fine." Rebecca scoffed, tossing back her long hair. "She's not here today, surprisingly."
"She's out with a friend." Alex's hands tightened on her handlebars, feeling the separation anxiety something fierce. Rebecca looked at Alex out of the corner of her eyes and let out a long-suffering sigh.
"You're too nice for your own good, Alex." Rebecca lifted up so she could speed up and catch up with the boys, leaving Alex in the dust, staring after Rebecca and blushing at the rise and fall of Rebecca's hips. This was why Rebecca was the most popular girl in school. Alex wished she had Rebecca's perfect hair, and her naturally olive skin. Her figure filled out like how Alex imagined a girl's should, a curvy figure with breasts and ass. Alex felt like a stick next to Rebecca, with her awkward knees and elbows and feet and hands that were way too big.
They arrived at the beach, whooping when they saw they were the only ones besides two or three other surfers out in the water. Alex's self-critical thoughts vanished at the sight of the ocean. She had changed into her gear before heading out, already wearing board shorts and a long-sleeved rashie, eager to get into the water. Bikes were locked at the bike stand at the beaches and with their surfboards tucked under their arms, the teenagers ran eagerly for the surf.
They all let out loud yells as they hit the water which was refreshingly cool, paddling out eagerly to where they could catch a wave. Alex looked to her right, seeing Brendan paddling out with sure strokes. To her left, Rebecca laughed in the water and Alex was suddenly stunned by how the other girl looked in the sunlight that was bouncing off the water.
"Alex."
Alex looked back at Brendan, who was looking from Rebecca to Alex, eyebrows raised. Like he had seen something and knew something that Alex didn't quite know.
"Come on," Brendan pulled her board closer to his with a tight smile. "Speed up, we don't know if the waves will stay clean."
"Right, right." Alex blinked and sputtered as a spray hit her face, glanced over at Rebecca again when she laughed.
"Come on, Alex." Rebecca was a little bit ahead. "I thought you were good?"
Alex blushed. "Who told you that?"
"I guessed."
They paddled out to a good spot and sat around waiting for waves, chatting with each other, interspersed with going off on their boards, screaming gleefully. Alex had tied her hair up in an untidy bun on top of her head, laughing in the ocean spray and sometimes falling silent as she watched Rebecca catch a wave, unable to look away and not knowing why. Sometimes Brendan would catch her staring and splash her to get her attention, other times Alex would catch him watching her. Alex didn't know what any of these looks meant and didn't know why she couldn't stop looking at Rebecca.
When they were tired out after many runs to the beach, everyone started just goofing around. Brendan tackled Alex into the water at one point, quickly taking her out of her own head. That started off a water fight that Rebecca joined in on, latching onto Alex's back from behind, everyone laughing and giggling in the sun as they took a break from surfing. It helped Alex forget that she was learning to deal with an alien who was now her sister, an alien that she resented sometimes, but more and more, cared about deeply. Just sitting in the ocean on their boards and chatting about school and video games, no longer eager to catch every wave and willing to wait for the really good ones, Alex felt relaxed for once.
It wasn't long until one of the boys called the time and started his last run to the shore, and everyone followed. Bone-tired, probably sunburned, but definitely happy-drunk on the high that came from surfing, they all made it to shore. The teenagers loaded up their boards and everyone went their separate ways, Brendan hanging behind with Alex until everyone left. Everyone except Rebecca, who made her way over. She looked like she knew a secret as she grinned at Alex unabashedly and Alex stared back dumbly.
"See you at school?" The queen bee of Midvale pinned Alex with a look that honestly sent shivers down the brunette's spine.
"Yeah. Sure." Alex shrugged clumsily, almost losing hold of her handlebars and dropping her bike and board, but managing to catch it before it did. She felt… slow. Stupid. What was happening? And it seemed she got even more cotton-headed when Rebecca leaned forward and pressed a quick good-bye kiss on her cheek. Not unlike the ones Rebecca gives to her inner clique of mean girls at school, but this was something Alex had never received before.
"See what you miss, Danvers?" Rebecca settled back on her bicycle. "You should ditch your sister and hang out more. It was cute when you first started babying an orphan, but you know, it's only cute for a while. Then it's weird."
Alex bristled, Rebecca's words finally cutting through the haze of pretty eyes and soft skin and lips.
"See you Brendan!" Rebecca sing-songed then headed off, waving carelessly without looking back.
"Rebecca is so goddamn mean all the time." Brendan was frowning beside Alex. "Come on. I'll bike you home, I'm on the way."
"Yeah, sure." Alex nodded, still feeling really confused. Something had happened today but she wasn't sure. Rebecca had been friendlier than usual with her, and Brendan had seemed to catch on to that.
"So," Brendan finally broke the silence as they pedalled side by side back to Alex's house. "What's up with you and Rebecca?"
"What do you mean?" Alex glanced over at Brendan.
"You two are real chummy today."
Alex shrugged, suddenly feeling like she should be wary as to where this conversation was heading to.
"Yeah, I guess. So?"
Brendan's sidelong glance was full of meaning. "Just a heads up that Rebecca does this with everyone. Guys, girls, whatever. She just likes the attention, so don't get sucked in."
Alex almost lost control of her bike, coming to a screeching halt. When Brendan realized Alex was no longer following him, he did a sharp turn and rounded back to her side.
"You okay?"
"What do you mean? By Rebecca doing this with everyone." Alex wobbled a bit as she started pedalling again.
"Anything that gives her more attention, she'll try to get in on." Brendan scoffed, resuming his pedalling beside her. "You're smart, funny, and pretty. People like you and if you like her, then people pay attention to her. That's why she's flirting with you."
Alex's face went bright red and she hoped that Brendan would think it was just from the sun when they were surfing. It felt like she was still surfing, as her blood roared in her ears, panic gripping her tight.
"But, but I'm not-" Alex stuttered.
"It's fine." Brendan finally seemed to notice the state Alex was in. "It's fine, I know, Rebecca's hot-"
"No." Alex shook her head. "No, it's not what you think."
Brendan gave her a look halfway between pitying and amused. "Sure."