Chapter Four

I slept a little late the next day. It was a Saturday, so it seemed fair. It was kind of cool that my first week of school had started in the middle of those weeks. The schools had been closed earlier for conferences or something. In any case, it was convenient, and now that Clark and I were becoming closer friends, I did not really feel I needed school as an excuse to see him. Okay, so, we had only been hanging out for a couple days, but every friendship has to start somewhere. I actually got in kind of late. Clark and I had worked for a while, and I was once again invited to dinner. Clark was a little distant, but everything seemed all right, except when I brought up the accident. Then he would get really weird, but I did my best to curb my curiosity after catching on to his aversion to the subject.

When I finally got up, it was around one in the afternoon. That is pretty weird for me; between coffee and natural curiosity, I tend to be a ball of energy. My mind is usually way to busy to be bothered by silly things like sleep. But it had been a really weird week, and I knew, it was only going to get weirder.

When I came downstairs, Lana was on the couch, reading something. She looked up at the sound of me approaching her, and she was looking at me kind of funny. When she realized I had caught her staring, she looked back down at her book.

"Good morning." I said, grabbing a bagel and some cream cheese. Her and Nell had been pretty generous about the food in the house. You gotta love small towns. Of course, they were probably assuming that once my dad landed in Smallville he would reimburse them for putting me up. I felt kind of guilty about that, but what choice did I have, starve. If I was stuck here much longer, I would look into getting a part-time job in town to pay them back a little.

"Morning." Lana said pleasantly.

"Did the paper come?" I asked. Neither Nell, nor Lana seemed very news-conscious, and while I mourned for my trade, I was happy not to have to fight for the paper in the morning. It is a little strange to care about the news in a fictional world, but for as long as I was here, it was real, and anyway, I would not know how to begin my morning without a paper. It is why I hate Sundays. Stupid blue laws. Nell subscribes to two papers, for god knows what reason since I have never seen her read them. She gets The Daily Planet and the local Smallville paper, The Ledger.

"It's on the table. There was actually a really interesting story today."

I look up at her, surprised, "I didn't know you read the paper."

"Sometimes I do." Lana says with a shrug. She seems to be debating saying something to me, "So, you and Clark Kent are sort of friends now, right?" she asks.

I pick up The Ledger, "I guess, wh…" I start to ask, then stop. I know why she is asking. It is on the front page of The Ledger:

"Local Boy Saves Billionaire's Son From Watery Grave"

"Wow." I say, quickly reading over the article. The words pop out at me. "Infamous playboy and heir to LuthorCorp, Lex Luthor came incredibly close to drowning in the bottom of Elbow River. Luthor was rescued by Clark Kent, son of local farmers Jonathan and Martha."

My head is spinning, "Lex Luthor!" I do not know what else to say. Clark saved Lex Luthor! The Lex Luthor! Superman's mortal enemy Lex Luthor! A young Superman saved Superman's mortal enemy Lex Luthor from a watery grave! I can't even, I can't even… my head is spinning. So dizzy. This is insane. Something cannot be right here, can it? How is this possible?

"Are you okay?" I hear a voice say. Lana! I forgot she was there, so caught up was I in this insanity, "You look like you're going to pass out or something."

"I'm fine." I stammer. What else can I say?

"I take it you didn't know."

"Well, you know, I heard about the hero act, I just didn't know who he saved."

"It's pretty impressive. I have to say, if it had not been in the news, I don't know if I would have believed it. I mean, Clark has always seemed nice, but he is too shy to even talk to anyone. And he can barely keep up in gym class. Every time I see him, he looks like he is about to be sick. I never in a million years could have guessed that he could be brave enough to do something like this, let alone competent enough to be successful." I look at her, and suddenly she gets a guilty look on her face, "I'm sorry, that's probably not. I mean, he's your friend, and my neighbor, and our classmate. I didn't mean to sound … he's always seemed decent, I just meant-"

"It's okay." I stop her, "I get what you meant. From what you just described, I wouldn't expect something like this either." I guess he really puts on the bumbling act, even in high school.

"Maybe there's more to him than I thought."

I smile.

"Trust me, Lana, Clark Kent is one of a kind."

I decide it is time to head over to the Kents around five. Clark and I were thinking of studying tonight, and I figure five gives him enough time to enjoy the weekend before getting into weekend homework. There is a pretty cool, pretty expensive truck out in the front of the barn. Wonder what that's about.

I knock on the front door. No answer. The door is locked, which may or may not be a good thing.

"Hello!" I call, knocking a little bit harder. "Mr. Kent! Clark!"

No answer. I decide to wait, so I sit on the bench on the front porch, place my backpack down, and take out some Torch stuff I thought I might work on. About twenty minutes later, I hear a truck pulling up. It is Mr. Kent.

I stand up to greet him as he gets out of the car. He definitely looks tired, and concerned. What is going on?

"Mr. Kent. Hi, is Clark around?"

Mr. Kent flinches slightly, "Chloe, hi. Sorry, no, Clark's … out."

"Out?"

"Could you maybe come back later?"

I see Mrs. Kent getting out of the truck as well, following her husband,

"Maybe we could check the school," she says. She does not seem to have noticed me. Mr. Kent nods in my direction. "Jonathan, this s no time for-"

"Chloe, will you excuse us?" he asks, interrupting his wife. I can tell by her face that she is not too happy about that. They go off to the side, and I do my best to eavesdrop inconspicuously.

"Martha," I hear him say calmly. "I don't think it is a good idea to make a big deal about this, especially in front of other people."

"Our boy ran away Jonathan, it is a big deal. And who knows how far he can get-"

"Martha. Martha! Calm down! Yes, he can run far, but I do not think he is going to. He needs some time to cool down, to digest this news, and when he is ready, I am sure he well come home."

"But what if he doesn't." I hear her say, her voice slightly teary. Mr. Kent wraps her in his arms, and whispers something that I miss. I decide this is probably my ideal time to sneak off, but I don't really want to go home. Whatever is going on is pretty major, and Clark will need a friend. I decide to head into the barn and wait for him. In the meantime, I can work on The Torch.

I feel somebody shaking me awake, and I look up.

"Clark?" I ask, looking up at him.

"Hey." He whispers, "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you." I say, "We were going to study, remember?"

"Chloe, it's four in the morning." He says.

"What?" I say, bolting awake. He chuckles a little.

"You've been out here all night?"

"Apparently." I respond, chuckling a little myself. "So, I hear you pulled a little disappearing act."

Clark smiles awkwardly, "Yeah."

"Can I ask what happened?"

"I just … found out something about my birth parent. See, I'm adopted, and today my parents told me something that was a little … unsettling."

Three guesses as to what that is. But I feigned ignorance, simply saying, "Oh."

"Yeah." I look him over.

"Well, you seem okay now. In fact, since meeting you, I have never seen a smile so big on your face." It was true. He seemed so down on himself, what with hitting me, and then saving Lex (still trying to wrap my mind around that by the way) he has seemed so … un-Superman-like. But now, I don't know, something's changed.

His smile grows wider, "It's been an … interesting night."

"Care to share with the class."

He thinks for a minute, and then shakes his head, "Tonight was one of the best nights of my life, and if I talk about it, it might, I don't know…"

"Lose the magic?" I suggest.

Clark looks at me, surprised, "Yeah."

"Well, don't fret. I won't push for details, at least not tonight." I hop down the stairs.

"You're not going home, are you?" there is alarm in his voice.

"I was thinking about it."

"Chloe, it's four in the morning, you're tired, and it's pitch black out. I don't think you should be driving."

I smile, "Actually, I live with walking distance, I mean, it's a little far, but-"

"I still don't think it's safe." He is quiet for a minute; he seems to be thinking, "Look, why don't you stay the night. You can take my bed, and I'll take the couch downstairs."

I look up at him in surprise, "Are you sure?" He nods. ""Okay, lead the way Kent."