smallville : sense

『 scene one : in which biology class is just as boring as you imagined 』

Clark leaned back in his desk chair as he waited for class to start. Not the most comfortable feat, but it gave him more space to stretch out his legs.

He was getting better at this super speed thing and had already quickened the amount of time he could do chores in, leaving him more time to... okay he didn't have much to do in his spare time, other then sit in his loft staring at the ceiling, or maybe use his telescope to see if his neighbor, Lana Lang was home from cheer-leading practice, but that was about it.

He was tired of fighting his dad about playing football, and besides the season had already started. His only other option was more chores or hanging out at The Torch with Chloe while she worked on articles. At least now that Pete had joined the Football team.

He looked towards the door and watched the other students file in, he knew them all after seeing them around school since, well, since he was a kid. People didn't really move into Smallville so you sorta knew everyone. But he was only really friends with a few. Lana got there first, early like always, with her boyfriend Whitney in tow.

The guy was alright, but he was a football player, and that meant he was arrogant. If only Lana would just step away from him for one minute maybe he would get up the courage to say hi.

"You should stop staring before someone other than me notices." Clark looked up and saw Chloe standing over him, her blond hair pulled back by a large hot pink headband today.

"I-" 

"You were just watching Lana hoping to get her away from Whitney for a minute so you could say hi." Chloe interrupted. "But don't scare her by staring at her like that."

"Yeah, that's no way to get a girl." Clark's best friend Pete chimed in, sitting at the desk to Clark's left. 

"Like you would know." Chloe smacked him over the head with her notebook playfully and made her way towards the back, passing Lana who was coming towards the front.

Pete watched her go, then turned back around with a sigh and pulled out his textbook.

"What was all that about not getting a girl by staring at her?" Clark asked his friend. "You should just say something you know, I'm sure Chloe would-"

Pete shook his head. "Never! You know I couldn't. Besides I'm not her type. She wants a brainy guy who can keep up with her. I'm just a football player." then he added sadly. "And not a very good one at that, Coach benched me again."

Clark gave his friend a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Hey, you're a great football player, it's just that there are a lot of seniors on the team. You'll get your shot! I promise. And Chloe would be lucky to have you. Homecoming is coming up, maybe you should ask her? You guys went together freshman year, didn't you?"

Pete shook his head. "I don't think she wants to go. Not unless she has a reporting reason for it."

The boys' conversation ended as their teacher, Ms. Mason, began the lesson. "Good morning class!" she began. "Before we start today's lesson on Kingdom Fungi (which I hope you read up on before class)" -this was followed by a lot of groans- "We have a new classmate I'd like you all to meet. Autumn?"

A girl with curly auburn hair and bangs stood up, well at least Clark guessed she had curly hair, at the moment it was pulled into a ponytail, but it was short like Chloe's, so some of it had fallen out.

"Tell us something about yourself Autumn." Ms. Mason urged the girl.

"Oh.. umm." The girl played with her sleeves, looking down at them. "Well, my name is Autumn... Autumn Bradbury. My grandma grew up here for a bit and we came to visit her old farm when I was little but I grew up in New York. My dad took a new job and well... We moved here." 

The girl looked up, blushing, and quickly looked back down at her hands.

"Anything else Autumn?" Ms. Mason prompted. "Any hobbies or special interests?"

"Oh." Autumn squared her shoulders and looked up again. "Well, I like acting and writing. I did theater back in New York. And I was homeschooled. But my parents thought I should try school here."

"Thank you Autumn, you can sit down." Ms. Mason said with a smile.

The girl sat down quickly and the class turned back to face the board and teacher again, whispers breaking out. 

"Class!"

Clark zoned out as Ms. Mason began to write out terms on the board. Letting his mind wander. He counted off his chores in his head again, insuring that he had done them all, then he tried to list things he could do after class after he did his homework.

It wasn't a very long class.

"What do you think of the new girl?" Pete asked as the two boys headed into the hallway, walking to the next class.

Clark shrugged. "I didn't really pay attention to her." he probably should have, new people, didn't come to Smallville often. And when they did, it didn't normally turn out very good. They tended to have strange powers caused by the meteor rocks and they normally wanted to either kidnap Lana Lang or kill him.

Autumn seemed harmless enough, but maybe he should check, just to be sure.