THE RAIN (1/2) ; LEX LUTHOR

2. HOW I MET ANDREA

15 YEARS AGO

Alexander Luthor's Perspective

I slowly smiled at the other boys as they played basketball on the concrete court outside. I stood on the sidewalk on the sidelines. All I wanted to do was play the game along with them. All I wanted to do was simply prove to them that I was good enough to play basketball with the big kids. And by the big kids I mean by the fifteen year olds. I was only twelve. But as they all walked towards me slowly, they seemed to stare at me as if I were a strange creature.

"C-can I play?" I asked one of the taller boys as he stared down at me. The boy smirked as he dribbled the ball steadily.

"Go ahead. Shoot a basket. You miss you're out." I gasped under my breath as the boy then threw me the ball. They all laughed as I scrambled to grab the ball. As I then finally came to grasp with it, I took a deep breath slowly.

I walked up closer to the court, the other boys moving out of my way. I focused myself, thinking only about the ball and the basket. I closed my eyes for a few moments and prayed. My eyes opened. I grunted slightly as I jumped up and threw the ball. I began to panic as I watched it. I missed.

The boy I spoke to before laughed as they walked towards me slowly. It seemed like they were zombies and I was the only brain left. As if they were ready to eat me alive.

"Aw man...did you see that? You missed!" he teased as they got closer and closer. I began to breathe in and out quickly, panicking even more. All I wanted was to be accepted. Was that all too much to ask?

I groaned in pain slightly as I then fell to the ground, scraping my hands in the process of attempting to catch myself. They laughed again. I began to breathe in and out even quicker until I hiccupped.

"Aw, are you going to cry? Are you going to cry you crybaby?" another chuckled. I felt my eyes water. Another began to point at me.

"He's gonna do it! he's gonna cry! What a crybaby!" as the word rang in my ears I finally let the tears spill. I squeezed my eyes shut as I began to sob.

"CRYBABY! CRYBABY! CRYBABY!" they began to chant as I curled up in a ball, pulling up my knees. They began to kick me as I cried harder and harder. I didn't even bother fighting back as they began to beat on me. One kicked me in the face, another kicked me in the side. As one began to punch me in the face, I finally heard a sign of hope.

"HEY!" the boy hitting me stopped and looked up in the direction of the female voice. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" the boys backed away from me as I then watched a little girl, assumingly one year younger than me, walk towards them angrily. She folded her arms.

"How would you like it if someone excluded you huh? If someone beat you up?" the boy who beat me the most then put up his hands.

"We're sorry Andrea! We'll never do it again--" she then stomped her foot in front of them.

"Beat it, punks!" the boys then ran away together. As I sniffled and sat up straight she walked towards me and offered a hand to help pull me up. I took it. She smiled. "Are you okay? you're Alex right?" I nodded quickly.

I was blushing in the slightest. The girl was very pretty. She had black hair and wore a black dress. The only thing she was wearing that wasn't black was her white socks. Yet seeing her wearing all black didn't make you uncomfortable or think that this was strange finding she dressed so darkly.

She made the color seem more like what the color black really was, a combination of all colors. I also quickly noticed that she had soft, green eyes that made even the most colorful of forests seem dull. She made me smile in the slightest. For the first time I felt butterflies in my stomach. She smiled kindly.

"No problem. I don't like bullies." she held out her hand. "My name's Andrea. Andrea Dud. Now are you sure you aren't hurt?" My breath hitched in my throat as she then turned over my arms to try to see the damage the boys had made. I shook my head and pulled my arms away. "What's wrong?" she reached for my arms again as I this time took a step back.

"G-go away!" I blushed even harder as I said this. "I'm fine!"

"I just want to make sure you're okay! It's the least you could do for me after I saved you..." I gasped again as she this time grabbed onto me with a stronger grip. She turned my arms over and found the bruises. What she didn't know was that the bruises weren't from the boys, but were actually...well...

From my father. She looked up at me horrified as almost every other spot on me was black and blue.

"Did they do this to you?" she then turned around back to the boys. I shook my head quickly. I opened my mouth to speak yet not a lot would come out.

"I--n--no--ple--please..." Andrea looked back at me, confused.

"You're Alex, right?" she repeated. "Alexander, Alexander Luthor." I nodded. "Okay--well--Alex, you can't let people do this to you... Who did this to you?" I looked both ways then finally spoke.

"I wouldn't be comfortable saying out here but it wasn't the boys..." I quickly spoke. She nodded.

"We could go into the library...As long as we're not too loud..." I nodded a little. She smiled more. "would you be comfortable telling me in there?"

"I...think so. Maybe." Andrea nodded faster this time.

"Well okay then. Let's go."