My apologies. I know I still have comments on chapter 23 to respond to, but I'm too tired to be able to do so intelligently. That being said, please forgive any typos in here – I usually try to give things a final proofread before posting, but don't have the energy today. But I figure posting myself is a step in the right direction…
As always, thanks to Carol for all her help with this!
From Chapter 23
“I don't really like the idea of Clark telling anyone,” Dad said quietly.
“So, what's he going to do, Jonathan? Get married without telling his wife? Wait until their children are teens and start flying around their house?”
We all laughed. “I'm not ready to propose to Maddie,” I said.
Mom smiled. “Well, I'm glad to hear that. I'm just saying, you are going to have to tell someone someday. Maybe that's not Maddie, and that's fine. But if you continue to live in fear that no one will accept you for who you really are, you're going to end up alone.”
She put her hand on my arm to soften the words, but I knew she was right. Not that that made me any more ready.
Chapter 24
“Hey, you okay?” Maddie asked as she slipped a hand into mine. The warmth of her smile made it clear than any lingering annoyance she had had with me was gone now.
“Yeah, I am,” I smiled at her. “Thanks. It was helpful to talk this morning.”
She removed her hand from mine to wrap an arm around my waist as we entered the dining hall. “No need to thank me. It's what I'm here for.”
Mom's words from this afternoon rung in my ear. She was right. I was going to lose Maddie if I wasn't honest with her. And I didn't want that. I loved her. She was sweet and kind and she sincerely cared about me. I knew she wouldn't be the one to turn me over to whatever authorities Dad was always worried about. Still, the idea of telling her was inconceivable. She sincerely cared about me now. But now she thought I was a naïve farm boy. Who knew what she'd think if she knew the truth?
I sighed. Maybe I should just deal with the fact that at some point Maddie was likely to break up with me for my secret and enjoy the time with her that I had rather than agonizing over when that was going to happen.
I leaned down to place a small kiss on the tip of her nose after we both paid for our meals. “Well, then,” I said as we made our way over to our friends, “then thank you for being here.”
************************
After dinner, Maddie and I cornered Lois. We had prearranged to meet Star after dinner as this week's edition of the Titan was supposed to be released tonight. While this wasn't exactly the Daily Planet and things sometimes went wrong with the release dates, I had to admit that one way Lois was right about Paul was that apparently distribution had improved since he took over. I had no idea who the poor guy in charge of it was, and he got no credit, but Paul got credit for getting him to join the paper in the first place. I guess that was the benefit of being editor.
So, the plan was to head over to the student union and try to nab one of the first copies of the paper with Lois' story on the cover. Then the four of us were going to head to that little Italian restaurant, Anjelina's, where Maddie and I had had our first date. I had called ahead and determined that they carried vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce to put atop the chocolate brownies that Maddie still swore were the best she'd ever had. So, we were planning to order a giant brownie sundae for Lois to celebrate.
It wasn't quite the dinner we had had for my article, but this seemed much more Lois' style. Maddie had even had the idea of asking for a sidecar of hot fudge for Lois, so there was no danger of her not getting enough chocolate.
Alicia had bailed on dinner as she and Chris had apparently made up from their fight and were going out alone. I had invited Josh and Steve, but of course Steve had plans with a girl. He assured me that they were going back to her room, though, so there would be no unpleasant surprises for Maddie and me when we got back later. Josh had also had a date, but had brought some fancy brand of chocolate to dinner and given it to Lois in congratulations. Lois had told him not to be silly, it was just an article in the school paper, but it was clear she was pleased.
“I still have homework to do,” Lois said when Maddie and I approached her. “I was just heading back to my room to do it.”
I shook my head at her. “Right. You weren't planning to go try to get a copy of the Titan?”
“It's just an article, Clark. I mean, it's not like it was published in the Planet,” Lois said dismissively. I wondered why she was doing this. I thought this semi-closed off Lois had disappeared. I didn't believe for an instant that she wasn't proud of her accomplishment.
“Come on, Lois,” I said. “In some ways, this is a much bigger achievement than that. I mean, Perry White doesn't have a rule saying he won't publish anything by freshmen. Only the Titan does. And, you have the front page story. That's huge!”
A small smile escaped Lois' lips before she could help herself. “It's still just a…”
“Come on,” Maddie said, laughing as she grabbed Lois' arm. “We're not asking. We are heading over to the union to get a copy of the paper and you are coming with us. We can all study together later.”
“I guess I am with Clark,” Lois said with a smile. “He would never condone me completely blowing off my homework.”
I rolled my eyes at her. I wasn't sure when I had gotten the reputation for being the perfect student. The truth was that aside from Steve, no one in our little group routinely blew off classes or assignments. I wasn't sure that I was any more adamant about that than Maddie or Lois, but I guess I was more vocal about it and thus it was a common tease among them.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Lois called out as we approached the union and saw Star sitting out front.
“Waiting for you,” Star said as she got up with a smile.
Lois turned to look at me. “Did you guys plan this?”
I shrugged, but smiled, giving myself away.
Lois shook her head. “It's just an article.”
“On the front page!” Star said as she brandished a paper from beside her. “STUDENT PRESIDENT WITHDRAWS FROM MET U” it proclaimed in large letters. Under that in smaller letters it said, “By Paul Bender with some contributions by Lois Lane”.
I looked at Lois quizzically. “Did Paul rewrite your article?”
Lois shrugged, seeming to be as confused as I was. I took the paper from Star and read over it quickly. “This sounds just like the article you submitted to Professor Matthews,” I said, handing it to Lois, who was standing there stunned.
She read it, albeit more slowly than I had, and then looked up at us. “I'm not sure, but I think it's exactly the same.”
“What?” Maddie asked. “It can't be. Right? I mean, he wouldn't have taken the byline for himself if he hadn't made substantial changes.”
Lois shook her head. “No, he wouldn't. Of course not.”
We all stood there in silence for a moment before I said, “Let's go back to your room and check.”
“No,” Lois said. “Maddie's right. I'm sure I'm misremembering what I wrote.” I was surprised to see that Lois' eyes were clear and her voice was calm. Either she was doing an incredible acting job or she really did believe that Paul hadn't effectively stolen her story. In my mind “some contributions by” should require so many rewrites from Lois' original story that both of us would have been sure the story was nothing like the one Lois had written. And even then, the byline was an insult. Lois did do all the legwork, after all.
Still, as much as I was upset for her, I didn't want to ruin Lois' evening. “Well, then, let's go,” I said, trying to sound as upbeat as possible.
“Go where?” Lois asked.
“Have you ever been to Anjelina's?” Maddie asked her.
“The little restaurant across the street from campus on Columbus?” Lois asked. When Maddie nodded, Lois added, “No, I've seen it, but never gone inside. But we just had dinner.”
“We're not going for dinner,” Star said.
“Trust us on this, Lois,” Maddie said as we started walking. “You're going to thank us for introducing you to this place.”
By the time we were situated in a booth at Anjelina's, any small part of Lois that might have been disappointed in her byline seemed to have disappeared. “So what are we here for?” she asked right as the waitress approached our table.
“What can I get for you?” she asked us, looking mostly at Maddie.
“I called this morning to see if we could get a brownie sundae,” I answered.
“We don't have that on the menu,” the waitress answered.
“Right,” Maddie cut in. “But you do have a large vanilla sundae with hot fudge and whipped cream.”
“And you also have brownies,” Star added, pointing to the ones in the case.
“Right,” I said, seeing the confusion on the face of the waitress. “So, if you could take two brownies and put them on the bottom of a bowl and then put two vanilla sundaes on top, we'd appreciate it.”
“Oh,” she said, still seeming confused. “I need to check with my manager to make sure that's alright,” she said.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “Okay,” I said before the waitress walked away.
Maddie shook her head and Star said, “Luckily, I'm pretty sure her manager is a bit less dim-witted than she is.”
“What?” I asked. “Do you foresee us eating a brownie sundae in a few minutes?”
Star laughed. When exactly I had taken to teasing her about her psychic abilities, I wasn't sure. But I had to admit she took it well. She seemed to expect that everyone she met would be a skeptic and so it didn't bother her at all. “Yes,” she said. “Besides, her manager had to get to be manager somehow, right?”
“My manager said that's okay,” the waitress said as she approached our table again.
Star smiled at me. “Told you so.” The four of us laughed which seemed to annoy the waitress.
“Well, we'll have that,” I said.
“With a small cup of extra hot fudge,” Maddie added.
The waitress looked a little put out, but nodded after confirming that she was going to need to charge us extra for the extra hot fudge. “Anything else?” she asked.
“I'll have some tea,” I said when no one else spoke up. Star and Maddie also ordered tea, while Lois ordered a hot chocolate.
“You can never have enough chocolate,” she told us with a smile after the waitress had walked away.
We chatted for a few minutes before the waitress came back with a big bowl filled with ice cream. She handed Maddie the extra cup of hot fudge which she promptly handed to Lois. Lois laughed as she stuck her spoon inside the cup and had one spoonful of just the hot fudge before joining us in devouring the sundae.
************************
“Do you really think Paul stole Lois' story?” Maddie asked me several hours later. After dessert, we had come back to campus and the four of us had gathered in a lounge and studied. Of course, despite this, Maddie and I still got back to my room before Steve.
“I don't know,” I said. “But I doubt he really made substantial changes or one of us would have noticed. Certainly nothing major enough to downgrade her to someone who made "some contributions'.”
“It was a bit weird that she wasn't more upset, don't you think?” Maddie asked.
I sighed. “It was more than a bit weird. The only reason I can think of is that she idolizes Paul. But I have to say, I don't get it. How much evidence does she need that this guy is a jerk to kill her feelings for him?”
Maddie shook her head as she slid into bed beside me. “I don't know. Maybe she knows something about him that we don't know?”
“Like he teaches blind kids how to read in his spare time?” I asked, trying to guess what she could possibly know that would outweigh what it was we knew she knew.
Maddie giggled. “Something like that.”
We lapsed into silence and I could hear Maddie's breathing deepen. Just before I drifted off as well, though, I heard someone upstairs talking. “Did you hear about the volcano that just went off?” a male voice said.
I tuned out the rest of the conversation. I didn't want to know where the volcano was. I didn't want to know anything that might help me get there and help.
Not wanting to wake her, I tightened my hold on Maddie just slightly. I wasn't ready to lose her yet and if that meant I didn't slip out to be the Boy in Black tonight, than so be it.
************************
“I looked at my article,” Lois said the following day as we walked to class. She had been quiet during lunch and I wondered if she was just thinking about it or if she had actually checked.
“And?” I asked her.
She pulled the paper out of her backpack and handed it to me, followed by the one marked up by Professor Matthews. I read them both quickly, although not so quickly to be noticeable.
“They're identical,” I said shocked. Even though I was nearly certain that Paul had not made the types of massive changes to her article that he should have given the byline, I hadn't really thought he had used it word for word. I mean, he hadn't even made any of the changes Professor Matthews had suggested.
“I know,” Lois said quietly.
“So what are you going to do?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “There's nothing I can do,” she said, sounding beaten down.
I looked at her carefully as we walked. “What happened to Lois Lane?” I asked her.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“The girl I met a few months ago would bite my head off for things as silly as comma usage. And once as I recall for using a salad fork to eat my dinner,” I smiled at her. “Why are you not getting all riled up about this? Confronting Paul?”
Lois shrugged. “The girl you met didn't have any friends. I'm supposed to be reinventing myself into someone with better social skills.”
I stopped walking, completely startled. “That's what this is? You're trying to be someone… Lois,” I said, at a loss for words. I sighed. “First off, having strong social skills does not mean you need to let people walk all over you. So, if someone steals your article, which Paul has, you should do something about it. At least mention it to Professor Matthews so he knows not to submit more of your work to the Titan to be stolen.
“But more than that, you need to be yourself. Was the girl I met a bit abrasive? Yeah, she was a little. But there was nothing wrong with her. Besides I don't believe that this softer side of you is all an act. I think it's real, you're just not used to showing it.”
“This is what happens when I do,” she said glumly, pointing to the paper.
“Which means it's time to stop suppressing the side of you that fights for what she believes in. You need to allow yourself to be who ever you feel like at that moment. Which means sometimes you'll be a bit abrasive and sometimes you won't. Abrasive isn't always bad, you know.”
“You haven't met Linda King,” Lois said. “She's all sugar and spice and everything nice. Paul clearly doesn't go for abrasive.”
I almost groaned in frustration. My guess was Paul didn't go for abrasive because abrasive and stupid didn't often come in the same package. “You still want to date him?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “I don't know what I want. I can't turn my feelings off just like that.”
“He stole your story, Lois!”
“He gave me a byline,” she pointed out.
“As someone who made some contributions to his story. That's not really the same thing as "Lois did all the legwork and investigating. She wrote every word. I contributed by handing it to the layout editor.'”
Lois giggled slightly. “I know, but…”
“If you don't say something now, he'll just keep stealing your work,” I pointed out.
“But I'll be getting published,” she said.
“You won't be able to submit those stories with your application to the Planet,” I reminded her. “They'll all have Paul's name on them.”
Lois sighed. “I know. I don't know what to do though.”
“Would it be easier to talk to Professor Matthews?” I asked her.
“No!” she said immediately. “I need to figure this out on my own, Clark.”
“Okay,” I said. What I wanted was to go punch Paul in the face, but she was right. This was her problem, and I should let her deal with it. I just hoped she did.
