Any mistakes you find here are all mine. And there were lots more than this, but Carol caught them.
From Chapter 35
“Why would she be bitter? She already has a new boyfriend,” Alicia pointed out. “And,” she gave me a glance, but this one was less cold than before, “Clark is a lot hotter than you are. It seems to me that she traded up.” I saw Chris hide a smirk, and I bit my lip. This side of Alicia, sort of crude and cold, which had been so prevalent when we first met, had faded the longer she dated Chris, but somehow it wasn't surprising to see it come out to protect one of her friends.
“And why would she claim that she and Michelle both gave you stories to use with your byline? She didn't even know you had asked Grace to do that as well,” I added.
Grace got up, looking at Paul with disgust. “I can't believe I ever fell for your line,” she said. “Sorry I won't be able to join you for dinner after all.”
“You can come with us,” Lois offered, smiling. “We were just about to eat at Hunan Palace.”
“Thanks,” Grace got up and joined us as we all crossed the street. I turned back once to look at Paul. He was still sitting where we had left him, his mouth hanging open in shock. He looked so surprised at being caught, I couldn't help but laugh.
Chapter 36
The ringing phone woke me up, but Steve had just come in from a night at a frat house and picked it up before I finished rolling over. “It's for you,” he said as he passed, leaving the phone on its place on the floor. I groaned. Would it have been so hard for him to pass it to me?
Getting out of bed, I glanced at the clock. I needed to get up in a few minutes anyway if I wanted to get breakfast before the dining hall closed.
“Hello?” I asked into the receiver, trying to stifle a yawn.
“Hi,” Lois answered, sounding sleepy herself. “What are you doing this afternoon?”
“When?” I asked. “I'm planning on going over to the police station after breakfast. I'm not sure how long that should take, but I doubt it will be all afternoon.”
“Do you want to meet for lunch?” Lois asked.
“Of course,” I told her. “Should I come by after I get back from the police station?”
“Yeah,” she said, sounding a bit dispirited.
“Is everything okay, Lois?” I asked her.
“Yeah,” she replied. “It's just… Well, I was going to try to speak to Professor Matthews this afternoon. You remember he mentioned that he sometimes comes in on weekends to grade papers? Well, I heard that the first assignment for Intro to Journalism was due earlier this week, so I thought he might be there.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” I asked.
“Would you?” Lois replied, sounding relieved.
“Of course,” I told her. “I'll see you this afternoon.”
“Good luck with the police,” she replied before we hung up the phone.
************************
“So, what can I do for you, Mr. Kent?” the police officer asked me. He looked young – just a few years older than me, with light brown hair and blue eyes. For a moment, I wondered what his life was like. Did he have a family that would miss him if something happened to him on the job? Being an officer was a lot like my Boy in Black thing except that I presumed Officer Billings was not invulnerable. Well, that and the fact that being an officer was not a cause for secrecy – it was no more unique than being a reporter.
Maybe I should follow Josh's lead and instead of being a reporter, try to write a novel. It didn't interest me, but that would allow me to live the life of a recluse and then I wouldn't need to worry about my strange abilities. I could continue being the Boy in Black – maybe even really use my abilities as I would have no connections to someone else who could be hurt.
“Mr. Kent?” Officer Billings brought me back from my wandering thoughts.
“Sorry,” I told him, shaking my head to clear it. “I… um… I'm a student at Met U. I'm studying to be a journalist and for a class I've been investigating the use of illicit drugs at Westside Elementary.” Officer Billings' eyebrows rose slightly, but he didn't say anything. “I took these pictures yesterday.”
I pulled the pictures out of my jacket pocket and handed them to Officer Billings. He flipped through them quickly, shaking his head, finally heaving a sigh. “I have a son the age of these boys,” he said as he straightened the stack of pictures. I guess he was older than I had thought.
“I'm sorry,” I said, confused. What was the right response? It wasn't like his son was one of those boys. At least I hoped not.
“Thank you, Clark,” he said. “There isn't much we can do with this. With just photos it's hard to prove much…”
“But, you can see the marijuana…”
“We can't prove it's marijuana from the picture,” Officer Billings pointed out gently. “But I do appreciate this, and it's not a lost cause. I'll mention this to my boss. We'll start patrolling the area more heavily and may be able to put a stop to this. Well, sort of. At least the sale of drugs so close to the school.
“Can you tell me when these pictures were taken?” he asked.
“I took them yesterday afternoon. It was about three o'clock,” I told him.
“Shortly after school let out,” he said. “Makes sense. Thanks again, Clark,” he said, holding his hand out towards me.
I smiled as I shook his hand, but I was a bit disappointed that so little could be done.
************************
“What has you smiling so brightly?” I asked Lois as I put my tray down across from her.
“I took your advice and went down to the construction site this morning. You are now looking at the new secretary for the foreman. It's perfect – he doesn't need much help. He said five to ten hours a week would be best, and he's okay with my doing those on weekends. This means I'll be down there alone most of the time so I can look through the paperwork all I want.”
I grimaced. The idea of Lois being down in Suicide Slum all by herself if the area was as bad as she had said made me nervous. “You'll be alone?” I asked.
She nodded, looking pleased with herself. “Not all the time. I'll work Friday afternoons after class for three hours, and that's when Eric and I will discuss what else he needs me to do. Then I can finish up on Saturdays.”
“Maybe I could go with you on Saturdays?” I asked.
Lois looked at me quizzically. “What for?”
“Didn't you say this was a bad area of town?” I asked her.
Lois laughed. “I should have guessed you'd be the over protective type. I'll be fine, Clark.”
“I know,” I was quick to reassure her. “Still, maybe I could come with you. Make sure you're okay? I could even help you look through the paperwork,” I offered.
Lois laughed. “Okay. We can talk about it next weekend.”
I nodded, not sure if she was being sincere or if she was just putting off telling me that she didn't want me with her – that she could take care of herself. “So,” I said, to change the subject, “what do you plan to tell Professor Matthews?”
Lois sighed and the laughter seemed to go right out of her. She stirred her mashed potatoes listlessly for a moment before looking up. “The truth,” she said quietly. “Or at least sort of. I may not include the part where I offered to sleep with Paul.”
I reached over to take her hand. “Lois, you don't need to be embarrassed about that. I mean, you don't need to mention it to Professor Matthews either, but when you made the offer you thought it was something you wanted.”
“Yeah, "cause I didn't listen to you about the sort of person Paul is,” Lois replied, self depreciatingly.
“As you know, Paul is good at covering that up. You are hardly the only person fooled by his charm,” I pointed out.
“I guess,” Lois said with a grimace. “Ready to go?”
I nodded and picked up my tray. Once we walked outside, I took her hand, squeezing it slightly in the hopes of making her feel less nervous.
The journalism building was quiet and our footsteps echoed in the hallways. Still, Lois' thought had been correct – I could see the glow of a lamp coming from Professor Matthew's door before we reached it. I gave Lois' hand one more squeeze for support before letting go.
Lois knocked on the office door, and Professor Matthews looked up. For a moment, his face was blank, but then he seemed to recognize us and smiled. “Mr. Kent, Miss Lane. Come in,” he said, gesturing to the two chairs in front of his desk. “How are you? How is the assignment for Professor Halkuff coming along?”
Lois smiled slightly, “Very well, I think. Clark's too.”
“What are you writing about?” he asked Lois, looking sincerely interested.
“The new low-cost housing development being built in Suicide Slum,” Lois said. Professor Matthews nodded. “I heard a tip that in order to keep building costs low, the structures will not be built according to code.”
Prof. Matthews' eyes widened. “If you can prove that, Lois, it will be major news!”
“Good enough to send to the Daily Planet?” Lois asked, cheekily.
“Well, that would be Professor Halkuff's call. Honestly, we don't usually do that sort of thing. But yes, given the topic, I would think the thought would at least cross Theresa's mind.”
Lois beamed. “Well, I've made good headway. I have a job working for the foreman starting next week, so I'll have access to the paperwork involved.”
“That's great!” Professor Matthews said, clearly impressed. “And you, Clark? What are you writing about?”
“Drug use in Metropolis' elementary schools. Although I'm focusing my investigation on Westside Elementary.”
Professor Matthews shook his head. “You two are the most ambitious and talented freshmen I've ever had in my class. I don't envy Perry White having to choose just one of you for the internship.”
Lois and I glanced at each other with matching smiles on our faces.
“So, what can I help you with?” he asked us, and once again, I felt Lois' good mood deflate.
“It's about Paul Bender,” Lois said, and I could hear the hitch in her voice.
Professor Matthews nodded, but didn't say anything.
“Last semester I told you I would deal with his stealing my article,” Lois said quietly. “I didn't really, though, and now… well, I wanted to know if you could help me do something about it. It turns out Paul routinely does this.” I could hear Lois take a deep breath to compensate for the fact that she hadn't breathed at all during her short speech.
“Routinely steals articles, you mean?” Prof. Matthews asked, looking concerned. When Lois nodded, he added, “How routinely?”
“I'm not sure if he writes any of his own articles,” Lois told him. “He hasn't assigned me anything aside from fillers since I joined, so he hasn't stolen anything else of mine, but he asked me to write something else that he could steal at the beginning of the semester. I refused, so now I don't get any assignments at all. I know he steals articles from at least one other staff member, but I'm not sure if she'd be willing to come forward with that. And Clark and I saw him with a new member of the staff last night and he had asked her to write an article for his use as well. Grace said she'd be happy to back me up by reporting her own discussion with Paul.”
Professor Matthews shook his head. “This is a serious offense,” he said softly, shaking his head.
“You do believe me, don't you?” Lois asked, her voice shaking.
“Of course,” Professor Matthews said, looking up sharply. “I saw the article I sent him of yours and how it was printed under his byline. I was appalled then. I just hadn't realized it wasn't a one-time thing. It sounds like Paul is abusing his position as editor.”
“Um…” Lois looked supremely uncomfortable. “Well, that and the fact that…” she trailed off, blushing deeply.
“I think what Lois is trying to say,” I cut in when it was clear Lois was not going to finish her thought, “is that between his position and the fact that Paul is fairly attractive and charming, several of the female staff members are interested in dating Paul. He uses this as a bartering tool of sorts.”
“What?” Professor Matthews looked at me confused. “As in he'll date the young women on staff in exchange for articles?”
Lois nodded.
Professor Matthews looked at the ceiling, one of his hands balling into a fist. “Lois,” he finally said, his voice calm. “Are you sure you want to do something about this now? I think you should, but I do want to warn you that it will probably involve a disciplinary hearing in front of the school ethics board.”
Lois paled slightly, but I reached out and took her hand and she turned to smile at me, although the smile was wan. “Yeah, I still want to,” she said.
“Great,” Professor Matthews smiled at her. “I'll start the process on Monday and send you an email once I have some news. In the meantime, if you could send me Grace's last name and make sure she's really okay with this, that would be helpful. You may also want to talk to the other girl involved and see if she is willing to participate in this as well.”
“I will. Thanks, Professor Matthews,” Lois said, sounding more confident now.
I got up and gave Lois' hand a gentle tug so she would follow me to the door. “Have a good weekend,” Professor Matthews called to us.
“Thanks,” I said and Lois nodded before we were back in the dark hallway again. We walked for a few moments in silence, but once we were outside, I pulled her to me. “Are you okay?” I asked her.
She nodded against my chest and mumbled, “Thanks, Clark,” before pulling away and taking my hand again to walk back across campus.
************************
I glanced at my watch before landing. It was 3:30, so the math building was out. I had never checked to see if there were generally students there on weekend afternoons. I decided to land outside the gates instead.
I wondered what the chances were that no one had noticed my absence. All of us, including Steve, were supposed to meet up for lunch today. We had agreed to get together for lunch and then spend the afternoon studying together – Maddie needed to work on a drawing for one of her classes and was planning on drawing Lois, and Josh needed to write something for his seminar and wanted Lois and me to review it for him. Then we were supposed to go to dinner together.
That had been the plan, anyway. Still, that was a poor excuse for ignoring the need for help. I had spent the morning at the playground watching the boys from yesterday and gotten some more evidence – I now had pictures of them rolling and smoking the joints they made from the marijuana they had bought on Friday. They were listening to the radio while they smoked and while it was a rock station, the news had come during a news bulletin. They were measuring the strongest earthquake to hit the center of Los Angeles in years.
Helping had taken longer than I expected. For one thing, I had a hard time finding the “center” of Los Angeles. I had never been there before and hadn't realized that it was more of a sprawling suburb than a city. Still, I had eventually given up and just started helping out in the areas that were clearly being hit. I had mostly done my usual job of helping to evacuate people from their homes, but once that was done, I had stuck around and tried to help a little with recovery efforts. Most of that work was being done by emergency professionals, but there was some volunteer work that I was able to do as well. Nothing that even compared to what I would be able to do if I acted “super”, but I was still able to help.
Still, while it made me feel better, as always, to do something productive with my gifts/curses, it had meant I had missed lunch with my friends. I wondered if I should try to find them and join them in studying or just skip it and show up for dinner.
I went back to the dorm – regardless of which I did, I, too, needed to spend the afternoon studying. I grabbed my books and went to the study lounge down the hall – I'd catch my friends later. Perhaps by dinner time I would have thought of a good cover story.
“Clark? Where were you?” Lois asked nearly the instant I opened the door. I stopped and stared in silence. I guess I'd need that cover story sooner than I expected.
