previously:
Martha grabbed a comb out of the downstairs bathroom and took an old pair of Jonathan's reading glasses out of the coffee table drawer. "Let's see how this looks, honey." With that, she slicked back Clark's hair, combing it back with a part on the side, and placed the glasses on his face. "Well, you do look more intelligent now," she joked.
"You *mean* I look like a nerd. All I need is a pocket protector with a bunch of pens sticking out and I'll be all set!" Clark groaned.
"Well, it works," Lois agreed. "No one will take you for Superboy now. You need to change your clothing a little as well. Less jock, more nerd. You might have to drop out of the football team to ward off suspicion."
Martha, Jonathan, and Clark all shook their heads simultaneously. "Can't do that, hon – I have a football scholarship!" Clark exclaimed.
"Oops. Ok. Well, you have an ugly helmet on when you play football anyway. We'll have to ease you in to your new look gradually. You can't be a jock one day and a nerd the next."
"Yeah, every day I'll change my hairstyle just a bit until it looks like this. I'll start wearing the glasses just when I’m in my classes, and eventually wear them all the time."
"And we'll have to get you some more plaid shirts with pocket-protectors!" Lois chimed in. "The farmboy look with intelligence."
"You're having *way* too much fun with this, hon," Clark said with a wide grin. "Mom, do you mind if we stay for supper?"
"I'm counting on it, honey."
~~~~~
Chapter Nine
By the end of the fall semester, Superboy was fully entrenched as an important part of the American culture (with some skeptics, of course, a la Jason Trask) and Clark Kent had built up his on – campus reputation as "that nerd that somehow manages to play great football". Clark was just starting to pack for the Christmas break when he had an unexpected visitor.
"Lex? What a surprise. What are you doing here?"
"Well, your folks told me you had to stay an extra day because you had to take a make-up exam. I figured I'd come visit and stay overnight with you, since they said that Pete's already back in Smallville, and we could catch up."
"Lex… this place must seem like a dump to you," Clark protested, looking around his cramped and very messy dorm room.
"Clark… I may come from a wealthy family, but that doesn't make me a snob! Remember, I'm a country boy at heart, just like you."
"Okay, Lex. It's up to you. Sure. It'll be fun. Thanks."
"Hey, your mom tells me that you have a hot new girlfriend. What happened to you and Lana?"
"Well, we kinda grew apart, Lex. I didn't feel I could share my innermost feelings with her, and Pete has *always* been in love with her… then I met Lois…"
"Aha! The hot new girlfriend has a name… continue," Lex commented.
"Lois Lane. Nursing student here at Met U."
"Is she still here, or did she already go home for Christmas break?"
"She was invited to stay at her roommate's home in Connecticut, then she's going to fly to Smallville to stay with us for a week or so."
"No family, then?"
"No, her folks died in a car accident when she was ten. She has a cousin, Lucy, but she lives on the West Coast so she doesn't get to see her too often," Clark explained. "Hey Lex… what about you? The tabloids have you hooked up with a different woman every night. How much is fiction and how much is the truth?" Clark pulled a National Whisper newspaper out from under his school books. The headline read: "Millionaire scientist playboy has three women trying to get their hooks on his fortune. Who will be the winner?" There was a photograph of Lex and superimposed near his head was the photos of three sexy models scantily clad in bikinis.
Lex looked at the paper and threw it down on the bed, laughing. "Clark, you know you can't believe everything you read. I don't know any of these women, and by the looks of them, they couldn’t even carry on a halfway-decent conversation with me. You know I only like intellectual women," Lex asserted. "There *is* a research scientist that I work with that I'm actually thinking about asking out," he admitted. "But I don't want her to say 'yes' just because I'm her boss."
"What's her name, Lex? Anyone I've ever met?"
"Her name is Bridgette Crosby. She and I talk for hours about my time and space travel theories, and she gives me great feedback. She's so stimulating to be with – mentally *and* physically, if you know what I mean," Lex joked. "I think I've fallen in love with her, actually."
"Go for it, Lex. What woman wouldn't want to go out with you?" Clark remarked. "Me, I'm just a poor college student – I don't really know what Lois sees in me, really. I'm so lucky."
"Yeah, right, Kent. You were the big man on campus at Smallville High. But what is up with those glasses? You studying too hard or something? Turning into a engineering geek like the rest of them?" Lex teased. "The Clark Kent I remember only had to look at the material once, and then it was committed it to memory. Glasses – really?"
"Well, Lois actually suggested that I may need them, and it turns out she was right. She's a very serious nursing student, Lex. You guys would probably get along great! She's going to be an amazing nurse some day. She's a real brain. The glasses help my own intellectual image… and my love life, too," Clark grinned.
"Yeah… I don't buy it. Women always followed you around in high school, with nary a pair of glasses in sight. But anyway… are you flying home to Smallville? Can I give you a lift in my private plane?"
"Actually, I'm taking the train… it's cheaper, and I find it more relaxing. I already bought the ticket. But thanks for the offer," Clark replied, thinking how much more complicated his friendship with Lex had become with the introduction of his 'Superboy' alter-ego.
"So, Clark… I have to say that this 'Superboy' character… he kind of looks a lot like you," Lex hinted. "What have you been hiding from me all of these years?"
<What's Lex, a mind reader now?> Clark thought. "Lex, you're my best friend. Why would you say that?"
"Well, when he first appeared it was in Smallville… and he's been sighted quite often in Metropolis… which just happens to be where *you* are… and now you're dressing different, wearing glasses, and slicking your hair back… hey, they don't call me a genius for nothing, Clark."
Clark looked at Lex, his eyes pleading with him to just drop the subject. "Do you want to rent a movie or something?"
Lex smiled resignedly. He knew his younger friend well enough to know that further prodding would be pointless. "Sure, Clark. Let's go get something to eat, my treat. Then we'll hit a video store… I'm in the mood for a nice action-adventure movie all of a sudden," Lex said with a bit of sarcasm in his tone of voice.
Clark looked at him, shaking his head. "You got it, Lex."
~~~~~
About 3:00 a.m., Clark's super hearing woke him out of a sound sleep. A young woman was screaming "help" and it sounded as if she was being attacked. Looking over at Lex, sleeping in Pete's bed, he jumped up, spun into his Superboy suit, and flew out of the window. Because Clark didn't feel the cold, he forgot that it was December.
The cold breeze woke Lex up. He opened his eyes just in time to see a blurred figure zip through the opened window. Looking over at Clark's now empty bed, he was filled with pride that the young man that was like his younger brother was not only one of the brightest individuals that he'd ever known, but someone who had special abilities who chose to use them to help people. <No personal gain for Clark Kent. He was brought up right by Martha and Jonathan. I guess he'll tell me he's Superboy in his own time.> Lex feigned sleep so that he could see his buddy fly back in the window.
~~~~~
Clark tracked the sound of the woman's cries for help to a dormitory clear across the campus. Using his enhanced vision, he saw that it appeared to be a date-rape scenario. Clark was disgusted to realize that it was one of his buddies on the football team, Zack.
Hovering outside the window, he focused his heat vision on the perpetrator's metal belt clip; as soon as it started to burn him, he yelped in pain and ran out of the room. Clark grabbed him in the hallway trying to escape and flew him out the building and up into the cold night sky. Dangling him by his feet, about ½ mile up, he used his best intimidation tactic.
"I don't want to *ever* see you try that again! When a woman says 'no', that's what she means." Clark asserted. "The next time, I might just drop you. Just because you're a big football jock on campus doesn't mean you can abuse a woman."
"Ok, man, put me down!" Zack cried. "Superboy, I swear I won't do it again. I'm afraid of heights. Oh, man, I'm gonna hurl! Put me down!"
Clark immediately flew him down to the ground, landing him in the middle of the park. "Some big hero you are. You're just a wimp and a bully," he told him. "You'll be lucky if she doesn't press charges against you." With that, he took back off into the night sky, suddenly focused on trying to figure out how he could get back into his dorm room without Lex noticing.
He was mortified when he noticed that he had left the window open in the middle of winter. He quietly closed the window from the outside, and changed back into his night sweats and entered his room from the hallway. He could always tell Lex he heard a strange sound and got up to check it out.
Much to his relief, Lex appeared to be sleeping. Clark silently levitated over to his bed, thankful that he hadn't been caught.
Unbeknownst to Clark, Lex was wide awake, having noticed the window seemingly close by itself. He saw Clark sneak back into the room and literally float over to his bed as quietly as possible.
<If he's going to all that trouble to hide it from me, I'll play along for a little while longer,> Lex reasoned. <But not *too* much longer. I have a million questions to ask him!>
~~~~~
Once Superboy had revealed himself to the world, Jason Trask began writing memos to his superiors requesting funding to link the Shuster's field meteor rocks to the arrival of Superboy. He had not publicly revealed how old he was; however, it was definitely plausible that it was his rocket ship that the folks in Smallville saw that night in May, 1968. Trask figured that would make him somewhere between 16 and 18, depending on how old he was when he arrived on earth.
Because the Teen of Steel was enjoying boundless popularity, the government did not want to rock the boat by investigating him. Trask found himself up against a brick wall. Frustrated, he began writing letters to the Luthor Foundation, asking for assistance in determining the extraterrestrial origins of the world's newest super-hero. One day he received a letter from Henry Geoffrey Wells!
Dear Mr. Trask,
I read your request with much interest and felt compelled to respond to you.
I too am aware of the possible UFO sighting in Shuster's field in May, 1968. I would be very interested in studying the meteor rocks that you have in your possession. You may be interested to know that the Luthor Foundation sends out radio signals into space attempting to locate extraterrestrial life.
Please call me, or if you have the ability to send an e-mail, my address is: HGWells@LuthorFound.org. I'd like to discuss this further. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Henry Geoffrey (H.G.) Wells
Jason Trask immediately made plans to travel to Metropolis to meet with the descendant of one of the greatest science-fiction authors in recent history.
TBC
