Pilot – Second Chapter
Just after Rory has left the house…
Rory ran down the drive to the front of the farm and found Lana Lang, her best friend standing there waiting for her. "Hey Lana!" Rory greeted her. "How are you?"

"I'm great Rory," Lana replied. "Where's Clark?"

"He's asking the 'rents for something; I'm not sure what though," answered Rory.

"He's gonna be late again," sighed Lana.

Before Rory could respond, the bus had pulled up in front of them. They climbed on and Rory led Lana to the seat just in front of Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross, Clark's two best friends. The bus doors closed and they drove off.

"I cannot believe you bet against your best friend," Chloe said to Pete as she handed him a 10 dollar note.

"Statistical fact: if Clark Kent moved any slower he'd be extinct," replied Pete smugly.

Upon hearing this, Rory couldn't help but laugh. She turned to them and said, "Hey, I bet you that even though Clark missed the bus, he'll still get to school before we do."

"You're on," said Pete immediately. "Ten dollars?"

"Ten dollars," agreed Rory.

"So. What are you gonna wear to the dance?" said Lana to Rory as they turned away. Chloe rolled her eyes and said to Pete condescendingly, "Cheerleaders."

"Cheerleaders," repeated Pete in an entirely different tone that meant an entirely different thing. Chloe smacked him on the arm. "What? What did I do?" he asked her, to which she shook her head and turned to stare out the window. Girls, thought Pete.

At school
Rory climbed off the bus and followed Lana over to a group of some girls they knew who were talking about (what else?) the homecoming dance. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Clark greet Chloe and Pete as they climbed off the bus. She laughed when she saw Chloe's shocked expression and returned to the conversation. I'll get my money later, she thought to herself.

Clark walked up to Pete and Chloe as they got off the bus. "Hey guys," he said to them casually.

Chloe's mouth dropped open. "But… I mean… Didn't you… You missed the bus!" she stuttered.

"Oh, I took a shortcut," replied Clark innocently.

Chloe recovered her powers of speech and said sarcastically, "Through what, a black hole?"

Damn, thought Pete. Now I owe Rory ten dollars. Oh well, I guess I kinda walked into it – she must've known that one of their parents would drop them off. Snapping out of his thoughts he said to Clark, "Did you get it?"

"Get what?" asked Chloe.

Clark knew what Pete was talking about and said uncomfortably, "Actually, Pete, I'm not so sure I want to do it anymore."

"What are you guys talking about?" inquired Chloe again.

"No way, man," said Pete. "It's the only way!"

"Okay you guys have exactly 5 seconds to tell me what is going on or I'll implode!" exclaimed Chloe.

Pete pulled Chloe into a corner and said to her quietly, "Clark and I are gonna sign up for the football team."

Chloe laughed and said, "What is this, some kind of teen suicide pact?"

Pete shushed her and glanced around nervously. "We're trying to avoid becoming this year's scarecrow," he whispered.

"What are you talking about?" asked Chloe quietly, "and why are we whispering?" she said in a much louder voice.

Pete said to her, "It's tradition. Every year, on the night of the homecoming dance, the jocks take the nerdiest freshman in the school out to Evan's field.

Clark added, "Then they strip him down to his boxers, paint a red 'S' on his chest and tie him to the scarecrow stakes."

Chloe laughed again and said, "You guys really think you're in danger? If they tied you up Clark then Rory would dump Jared and no doubt Lana would dump Whitney too! Not only that, but she'd make their lives hell." Chloe shuddered and said, "I would hate to be any member of the 'in crowd' trying to hurt you Clark."

Clark hadn't thought of that. "Well, I guess I'm pretty much safe then."

"So therefore you don't need to sign up for the football team!" exclaimed Chloe.

Clark mumbled, "Yeah, I guess so." He looked up and time seemed to slow down because there was… Lana Lang. His sister's best friend, their next-door neighbour and Clark's big-time crush.

Making his decision, he said to Pete and Chloe, "I'll see you guys later." Without taking his eyes off Lana, he walked towards her.

Pete looked in the direction Clark was and smiled. He pulled out the 10 dollar note Chloe had given him earlier and said, "5 feet."

"10," said Chloe confidently, also smiling as they watched Clark walk towards Lana. Chloe started a countdown, "5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."

As if on cue, Clark stumbled and fell, dropping all of his books on the ground.

"Statistical fact," said Chloe smugly as she grabbed the note out of Pete's hand. "Clark Kent can't get within 10 feet of Lana Lang without turning into a total freakshow. " She walked off leaving Pete to look over at Clark, who was now being helped up by Rory and Lana. Pete shrugged and ran after Chloe. After all, he's in good hands.

Rory heard the sound of some poor kid's books hitting the pavement. She immediately turned around to see who it was and went over when she realized it was her brother. "Hey Clark, are you all right?" she asked concerned. Lana came over and started picking up some of his books as Clark said quietly to his sister, "Yeah Rors, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Rory asked. "I mean, you don't look so good. Maybe you should go inside." Clark got the message loud and clear. What Rory was actually saying was: Get the hell out of here Clark! Meteor rocks don't exactly have a fantastic effect on our health.

A melodious voice interrupted his thoughts. "I didn't know you had a dark side, Clark," said Lana as she handed him his books.

Clark managed to smile at her and said queasily, "Doesn't everybody?"

Lana continued to smile at Clark as she said, "Yeah, I guess so. So what are you? Man or superman?"

Clark said to her, "I haven't figured it out yet." Clark continued to smile at her and she at him. You know, if I didn't feel so sick this right here would be a perfect moment, thought Clark happily. Until...

"Hey Lana," said Whitney Fordman, star football player and... Lana's boyfriend. Clark's perfect moment came crumbling down as Lana looked up at Whitney and smiled at him. He leaned down and kissed her on the lips, then pulled away as she said, "Hey Whitney."

Whitney then looked at Clark and said, "Hello Clark." Clark noticed his voice was a little hostile now.

"Hello Whitney," replied Clark.

"Hey, Whitney, do you know where Jared is?" Rory asked him.

"Oh, when I left he was talking strategy with Coach," Whitney explained to her before turning to Clark and saying, "Bye Clark." Noticing a book on the ground he said, "Oh, here, you forgot one." He picked it up and shoved it into Clark's arms causing him to drop all of his books again. Whitney then pulled Lana away as Rory scowled at him.

She turned to Clark and said in a single quiet breath, "Clark, you know you can't go near Lana while she's wearing her necklace, we worked that out ages ago!

Clark snapped at her, "Well maybe you should just learn how to turn off the pain for someone other than yourself!" He grabbed his books and walked off. Rory scowled at his back and went inside the school building just as the bell went.

LuthorCorp, Smallville
Lex Luthor pulled up at his new company and got out of his brand-new silver Porsche. He looked around – apart from the LuthorCorp, there was nothing around but cornfields. "Thanks Dad," he muttered sarcastically under his breath and went inside.

On that random bridge... DUN DUN DUN
Clark stared off the bridge into the cold dark water, thinking even darker thoughts about how having inexplicable superpowers sucked.

"Hey Clark," he heard Rory say to him. "Mom got kinda worried when I went home without you so she asked me to come look for you."

"I'm fine Rors," he said. "I just – I just wish that we could be –"

"Normal?" Rory laughed. "Trust me Clark, normal is way over-rated."

"That's easy for you to say," grumbled Clark. "Your powers are amazing. I mean come on! If you decide you don't like the colour of your wallpaper all you have to do is wave your hand or blink your eyes or snap your fingers or whatever it is you do and it's different! And if you were to decide that you want the book sitting on your desk, you just gotta hold your hand out for it and whoosh! Hey presto!"

Meanwhile...
Thank God I'm finally out thought Lex. Note to self: do all future work at home. Lex's phone rang and he picked it up. "Lex Luthor," he said briskly and conversation ensued.

Barry blinked his eyes and yawned. Almost there, he thought. Barry was a barbed wire deliverer and he was currently taking a big load to a farm about 20km out of Smallville. Unbeknownst to him, one of the straps holding his barbed wire down had started to come loose. Just as Barry was driving over a bridge, the strap broke and the wire rolled off the back, rolling itself out as it did so.

Barry drove on, completely unaware of the pain his inattentiveness would cause.

Lex drove past a truck trundling along, going in the opposite direction to him. He glanced around: apart from the truck, there were no vehicles for miles. Lex smiled slightly and pressed the accelerator down until he was going 60 miles/hour. Man, I love fast cars, Lex thought to himself as he continued driving.

Rory stared at Clark. "Are you sure nothing's wrong?" she asked. Clark normally wasn't as pessimistic as this.

"It's just… well; you know I've had a crush on Lana ever since we were little. And I know she's been going out with Whitney for a while now but still. I guess… I just always liked the idea of going to something special with her," Clark said morosely.

"Cheer up Clark," said Rory. "There's always prom, not to mention graduation. Now, do you wanna go home and have dinner?"

Clark was still looking down at his hands as he pondered the question. He looked up at Rory and started to say something when suddenly his eyes grew wide. Rory realized something was wrong but never got the chance to ask as a split second after she realized it she felt someone – Clark? – grab her and throw her bodily to the side.

Rory immediately jumped to her feet, her heart pounding and adrenaline pumping as she registered what was happening. A silver Porsche had struck Clark – everything slowed down – she watched in horror as he rolled up onto the hood and then fell in.