Lois was the last one to arrive. Everyone else was waiting in the Luthor living room. They all looked annoyed.
"It's only 7:15, people. I ran into some traffic. In some countries time is relative and it doesn't matter what time you get somewhere."
"But in America, you're supposed to be punctual and as an actor, you're going to have to make it to the performance on time," Chloe said in an authoritative tone.
Lois rolled her eyes and sat on the couch beside Clark. They were in a semicircle.
"Okay," Chloe said. "I'm hoping everyone had time to read through the script, but even if you didn't, you should know the general storyline."
"Why are you doing this play thing?" Lois whispered to Clark.
"Let's just say my grandchildren's lives depended on it."
"Yours too, huh?"
"Clark, Lois, are you paying attention?"
"Yes, Miss Sullivan," Lois said.
"As I was saying," Chloe said. "They have a party for the baby and the evil fairy shows up. She casts a spell, so that Sleeping Beauty will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. Then the good fairy—"
Jimmy clears his throat.
"The good MALE fairy will counteract it with a spell that makes it so that she will only sleep for a 100 years and then a prince will wake her up with a kiss. The King orders all spinning wheels in the kingdom to be destroyed. 16 years later, Sleeping Beauty finds the evil fairy, disguised as an old woman, at a spinning wheel. Being curious, she touches the spindle and falls asleep. The prince comes after a 100 years, kisses her, and everybody lives happily ever after. Any questions?"
Lois raised her hand.
"Yes, Lois?" Chloe asked with a tad bit of reluctance.
"I don't think this is appropriate for a young audience. Sleeping Beauty is old enough to be the prince's great grandmother."
"Nice try but we're still doing the play. And she's frozen in time, so she won't age, and I seriously don't think that kids will think of that anyway," Chloe said. "Does anybody have any serious questions?"
"How long does this play last?" Lana asked.
"I'm not sure, but if I had to guess, I'd say 15 to 30 minutes. For today, we're just going to read through the script. Tomorrow, we'll work on blocking. By Wednesday, you should have your lines memorized. Thursday, we'll add props. Friday, we'll add the costumes and Saturday will be the actual performance. Let's start reading."
20 minutes later…
"Oh, prince," Lois said in a purposely monotone voice, "you woke me up, after all these years. Thank you. I love you already."
"I love you too," Clark said, doing the complete opposite and acting with as much expression as possible, "and we're going to live happily ever after."
"Cut!" Chloe shouted. "I've always wanted to say that. Good job. I can't thank you all enough for doing this for me. We'll keep having our rehearsals at 7:00 if that works for everyone."
Everyone got up to leave except for Lex and Lana, of course.
Lois grabbed Clark's arm outside and pulled him to the side.
"What?" he asked.
"Let's be honest. We're going to look weird and awkward, kissing onstage. I think we should practice by ourselves."
"What do you mean by ourselves?"
"I don't like it anymore than you do, but I don't think we should have our very first kiss ever in front of little children. It's got to look sweet and believable or we might scar them for life. I'll come to your house about 6:30 and afterwards, we can go to rehearsal together."
Clark gulped. Practicing with Lois would be interesting.