Beyond the Sun

05

The peaceful bubble in which they now sat in was disturbed by the oncoming sounds of heels on the floor. The clipped sounds caused Clark more than Annie to look and eye up the approaching form of Miss Cooper, the rather stern eyed teacher naturally looked at them with hard eyes. "Clark Kent and Annie Lockett, what are you two doing out here instead of in class? There's a time and place for...whatever it is you two think you're doing, and it certainly isn't in the corridor." She lectured but then caught sight of Annie, who seemed to double into herself and place her hands over her ears. "Annie, what's wrong?" Her tone turned to one of concern as she slowly leaned down to look at the cowering girl.

"She had a panic attack." Clark said, opting to miss out Whitney's involvement. If he did that'd surely come back to cause him more problems. He kept his tone even, and quiet as to not set Annie off again, unlike what Miss Cooper's tone accomplished.

Annie slowly turned and looked with bleary eyes to the drama teacher before her. Clearly, she had a free period and was transitioning from her classroom to the staff room and had come across them. "Oh, Annie, are you okay now?" She slowly nodded as an answer not wholly trusting her voice. "Come on, up you get. Let's see if we can go somewhere else for you to recover, yes?" She spoke kindly while taking a step back from the pair.

"You should probably call her mum." Clark said while managing to move by her side so that he was crouching. With ease, which caused both Miss Cooper and Annie to blink with confusion, he lifted her up and stood looking up at the teacher with a simple look. He readjusted the arm which was under her legs so that she fitted better against him, yet just waited for the teacher to lead them elsewhere.

Getting over the fact that Clark had lifted Annie as if she weighed nothing at all, Miss Cooper turned and led the way towards the nurse's office. Annie could stay there while she went to the main office and called for Annie's mother to come pick her up. With a nod, Clark commenced walking after the teacher. Annie rested her head against his shoulder and shut her eyes. There was a light frown on her face. Truth be told, she was a little shocked that she could be lifted, let alone carried, so easily; but there was something so comforting about being held, Clark was very warm, and that added to the comfort. When exactly Clark became so strong was completely unknown to her.

Annie sighed heavily, she supposed though, that strength wasn't always a bad thing; it wasn't like he used his strength for anything bad. If he was anyone else, he could easily hit back against the bully which caused this whole moment, but he wouldn't because he wasn't that sort of person. And really, Annie supposed, that was one trait which she'd forever find endearing in him. Her eyes opened slowly as she was placed down on something. Being lightly fussed over by the nurse, she watched as both her and Miss Cooper backed off and left the two of them in the room. Annie shifted on the bed, and looked at Clark as he sat on the edge of the bed watching as she awkwardly ran a hand through her hair. "You didn't need to stay with me."

"I told you I wasn't going anywhere." Clark replied while looking at her from the corner of his eyes before looking about the room.

"Stop using me as an excuse to bunk off a lesson!" Annie laughed awkwardly and got a frown sent her way. Using humour to cover up the slight exhaustion and embarrassment she felt was a default. Who didn't do that? Anyone else would, and she was no exception.

"I'm not using you as an excuse. I just think my presence is better off here than in class." He said while turning and looking at her with a light smile. "Plus, I'm like the smartest person ever, remember?"

"Clark..."

"Don't start. I don't need to go to class. As far as priorities go, you outrank science. I want to be here with you."