Part 3 - Puberty
October 2012
“Mom, that’s not fair!” Olivia wailed. “Everyone else is going.”
“Olivia, your father has had this event planned for months. We can’t cancel because of a sleepover,” Lois tried to explain.
“You’re ruining my life. I can’t do anything everyone else can, you won’t let me do anything fun. I’ll be the only one at school on Monday who didn’t go.” Bursting into tears Olivia stomped up the stairs, slamming her bedroom door.
Lois winced. “We’re going to have to replace that doorframe soon.”
“She’s just like you at that age,” Ellen remarked, ignoring Clark’s snort of amusement. “Willful, stubborn, always right, never wrong.”
“Mother, that’s not helping.”
“I’m just saying,” Ellen responded with a shrug. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
Lois sighed. Their thirteen-year-old was turning into a pubescent puddle of hormones, seemingly fueled by a skewed sense of justice, and a notion that every adult in her life was out to ruin her fun. “How much more of this will we have to deal with?” she asked no one in particular.
“Hmmm, another ten years,” remarked Ellen with a wry smile.
“Mother!”
“Lois, dear, I jest. Your teen years were less than ideal, and the arguments we had were exacerbated by everything going on at home. You and Clark have given Olivia a wonderful, stable, loving home, and I’m sure you’ll have your moments over the next few years, but overall, it won’t be as rough as you fear.”
Lois walked over to her mother and gave her a hug, as she spotted Clark leaving the kitchen to give them some time. Her relationship with her parents had healed over the years, but all three of them had stopped shy of really discussing the past, so moments like this were rare. After her marriage to Clark, Lois had begun to mend the tempestuous relationship with her parents, which had bloomed with Olivia’s arrival. When her father had passed last year there had been an unspoken agreement between herself and Lucy to not mention the unhappier moments of their childhood to their mother, as she had struggled with guilt in the months leading up to, and after, Sam’s death.
As her mother released her from the hug, Lois decided to heed her mother’s words. Olivia’s life was good, and she knew she was loved. There would be moments of frustration, division and squabbles, but they would be significantly outweighed by the good.
****
February 2013
“Did she give any reason why?” Clark asked.
“No. Just that she wasn’t doing it anymore and we couldn’t force her.” Lois sighed thankfully as Clark placed a hot cup of coffee in front of her, kissing her forehead as he did.
“This just happened today?” asked Martha. “There wasn’t any warning?”
“Not that I can think of. Clark?”
She watched as Clark shook his head after thinking for a few moments.
“She did so well in track last year, and seemed to enjoy basketball this fall. We asked her if she would be interested in soccer this season and she was receptive to the idea. Clark picked up the paperwork last week.” Lois was at a loss why Olivia had suddenly chosen to quit all sports. She’d arrived home upset, and when Lois had asked what was wrong, Olivia had shouted at her, throwing her gym bag in the corner, announcing she would never play school sports, or any sports, ever again, and no-one could force her.
“Maybe there was a falling out at school with her friends?” Martha suggested.
Lois doubted that was the reason. “It can’t be anything too drastic as she’s going out with her friends this evening. Speaking of which, Clark, when are you picking up your father?”
“Early tomorrow. We’ll be here before Liv gets home.”
Martha and Jonathan were staying the week to watch Liv while she and Clark left for a conference Clark had been invited to. Martha had arrived via Superman Express an hour ago, while Jonathan stayed behind to help a neighbour for the evening. They were rapidly approaching their eighties, the farm had become too much work, so while they lived in the farmhouse, the land was leased to a neighbour. Jonathan regularly helped; he joked farming was in his blood and would be until the day he died. Clark fretted about Jonathan doing too much, but Lois continually reminded him that Martha was fully capable of keeping Jonathan from overexerting himself.
“Maybe we should cancel…” Lois began.
“Nonsense,” Martha interrupted. “We’ll be fine. You know Jonathan can talk to his granddaughter about anything and everything. If there’s something to worry about, he’ll find out.”
Smiling, Lois agreed with Martha. The bond between Olivia and her Poppa was unbreakable. She adored him, and he doted upon her from their first meeting, shortly after Olivia was born. If there was anything troubling Olivia, it was her Poppa she would talk to first.
“Leave her be. I’m sure whatever it was that upset her will blow over in a few weeks,” Martha said comfortingly.
****
October 2013
Lois sat down in the comfort of the principal’s office, feeling uncomfortable. They’d been in the school before for the standard parent-teacher interviews, which were always conducted in the classroom, but this was the first time she and Clark had been called to the school outside of the normal parent visitations, and the first time with the principal.
“Mr. and Mrs. Kent, we’ve asked you to come today to discuss Olivia’s academics,” the principal began.
Lois watched as he opened a file and placed various pieces of paper on the desk, as well as a print out of Olivia’s teacher’s comments over the previous two grades. A quick perusal showed nothing to be concerned about, all of the marks were high, and the comments from the teachers, good.
“I don’t see the problem,” Lois pointed out. “Is she doing something wrong?”
“No, not at all! Quite the opposite really. Over the last two years Olivia has excelled in school, regularly at the top of her class in all subjects. Mrs. Watkins, her science teacher this year, has stated Olivia is well read, grasps concepts easily, and easily understands more complicated subjects well beyond the ninth grade level.”
As the principal spoke, Lois felt he was leading up to something she wasn’t going to like. “Mr. Allan, please, just spit it out,” she said, frustrated. Calming slightly as she felt Clark’s hand encompass hers.
“What is the concern if she is doing so well?” he asked.
“As this is Olivia’s final year in our school, and shortly you will be applying for the high schools in the area, we, that is her teachers and I, wanted to present you with some further options to consider.” As Mr. Allan spoke, he presented several glossy brochures.
Flipping through one of them, as Clark selected another, she felt as though someone needed to say what she was wondering. “What exactly are you suggesting here?”
“Mrs. Kent, Olivia is an incredibly intelligent individual. We do not have the means to test her IQ at the school, and I would strongly recommend you consider having her tested privately. If Olivia’s IQ is as high as we suspect, these schools, most of which require some formal testing, will be happy to accept her as a student.”
Lois was speechless. Both she and Clark had recognized Olivia’s quick mind and had encouraged her as much as they could without pushing her. This news was unexpected. “Mr. Allan, while we may be Pulitzer winning journalists, we can’t afford schools like this,” Lois blurted out, glancing over at Clark, who merely raised an eyebrow.
“Scholarships are widely available, especially for someone as bright as Olivia,” Mr. Allan assured her. “There’s no reason to rush into this, not yet. Why don’t you take these brochures home, and consider this as another option? If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me, or any of her teachers. If you would like, we can put you into contact with one of the counselors for the school district who can answer your questions.”
Clark stood, his chair scraping back on the floor as he did. “Thank you,” he said, shaking the principal’s hand. “You’ve given us a lot to think about.”
“As much as the school would love to take credit for Olivia’s intelligence, it’s unlikely we had much to do with it,” he laughed. “Keep in touch, let us know what you’re considering. I know all of her teachers will be delighted to write the references needed, and it will be no trouble at all to have her school records organized and sent to prospective schools.”
Lois stood, shook the principal’s hand, and left the office in a daze, still clutching the various brochures. “Where’s Olivia now?” As the meeting had occurred at the end of the school day, she thought they would offer their daughter a ride home, instead of catching the school bus.
“I asked her teacher to direct her to the administrative office down the hall at the end of the class. She should be waiting there. Thank you for coming in.”
As the principal returned to his office, she and Clark walked down the short corridor past the other offices. “Put the brochures in your purse,” Clark requested. “Let’s discuss this some more before we talk to Olivia.”
Lois nodded in agreement and shoved the brochures into the purse, zipping it up in time to reach Olivia. “Hi sweetheart. Want a ride home?”
****
January 2014
“Honey, you can’t quit everything,” Lois tried to say calmly while her fourteen-year-old daughter stared at her defiantly, arms crossed, looking remarkably like her father in his serious Superman mode.
“Why not? It’s my life.”
Restraining herself from rolling her eyes, Lois began emptying the dishwasher, giving her something to do so she didn’t start pacing, or yelling. “Liv, you have to do something. Last year it was sports, this year it’s everything else.”
“Why? Does it matter? In a few months I’ll be at a completely different school. What’s the point of doing anything now?”
“Let’s see. You were elected to the student council in September, something you were very excited about, only to quit in October. You tried out for choir last year, another thing you were very excited about, and then quit just after the Christmas concert, at the same time dropping out of the drama club. Your father enrolled you in a science camp for winter break, which you refused to go to.” She was glad her hands held clean mugs from the dishwasher, preventing Lois from ticking off the various activities Olivia had quit over the last few months. The action would have only aggravated her already agitated daughter.
“Mom, you can’t make me,” came Olivia’s shout of exasperation as she fled upstairs, slamming the door to her room.
“I have to check that doorframe,” Lois muttered to herself. She hadn’t been fooled though; there had been tears in Olivia’s eyes as she fled the kitchen. She finished emptying the dishwasher, and then gathered the ingredients to Clark’s famous hot chocolate. With a steaming mug of liquid chocolate deliciousness, Lois climbed the stairs to her daughter’s room, currently the source of the loud music blasting through the house. Lois knocked, remembering how agitated she was as a teenager when her parents stormed into her room. At the mumbled permission to enter, Lois opened the door, finding Olivia sprawled on her bed, facing away from the door. Lois turned off the music before sitting at the foot of the bed.
“Liv, talk to me, please. I’m not upset that you don’t want to do certain activities, but I would like to know why.”
As Olivia turned to face her, Lois knew she’d been crying, but didn’t point it out, instead handing her daughter the hot chocolate she knew couldn’t be resisted. It took several sips before Olivia started talking.
“It’s just too much, Mom. Can I not take some time off?”
Lois considered Olivia’s simple reasoning. In the months since the meeting with the principal, Olivia’s marks had dropped, and while still good, were now below the scholarship level. The private school option had not been discussed with Olivia, and Lois was glad, concerned that it would have been too much academic pressure on their daughter.
“Ok,” Lois acquiesced as a smile returned to her daughter’s face. “But this doesn’t mean you get to spend your extra time in front of the TV or the computer.”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “Mom.”
Laughing, Lois patted Olivia’s legs as she stood.
“Where’s Dad?”
“He’s working late today,” Lois answered, knowing Superman was spending a little longer on patrol this evening after a recent surge in crime. “I’ll talk to him when he gets home.”
As Olivia nodded, Lois closed the bedroom door gently behind her. Clark had stepped back from nightly patrols several years ago, choosing to vary his routine instead. The hope had been to ease the amount of rescues Superman attended while Olivia was young. Having Clark gone for days at a time had been very challenging for Lois, especially once Clark had resigned from the Planet.
The editor chosen to succeed Perry after his retirement had not been as easy going, requiring a constant update on where his reporters were. Perry had warned Clark beforehand, and helped him find his way as a freelance reporter when Clark finally left, leading Lois to suspect Perry knew exactly where Clark had been running off to all those years. It wasn’t until Olivia was two when Clark reluctantly handed in his resignation, freeing him from having to create lame excuses continually. It did mean that when Clark was called away, especially on large disasters that took several days, Lois was left to juggle both the editor, and Olivia’s schedule. Cutting back on the Superman rescues had been the wisest choice, and also gave Clark more time at home with their daughter.
As Olivia had grown, Clark never appeared as Superman around their neighbourhood. He would return elsewhere close by, before walking home. To keep Olivia safe, Lois had wanted no connection between her and Superman, especially given how often Lois herself had been kidnapped by people who wanted to get to the hero, resulting in Olivia not meeting Superman until Superman Day in elementary school. Professionally, Lois had reluctantly told Clark to give his exclusive interviews to someone else, another way of creating distance between herself and her former obsession, and the world slowly forgot Lois Lane had ever been a close friend to Superman. It had worked, she thought ruefully. No one had kidnapped her to get to Superman in over ten years!
****
Chapter Four - RebellionFeedback
