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.*･｡. AN ODE TO CLARK KENT .*･｡.
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002.
HELLO, JUNIOR YEAR!

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——

"Lois! Lois, wake up!"

   The girl groaned and reached out a hand to slam her alarm off, only for the annoying noise to keep on going.

    "Lois! I'm not your alarm, stupid— get up, already!"

   Lois slowly pulled herself up and sighed, rubbing her eyes with tired hands. She sucked in a breath and blinked, and then cringed at the sunlight that bled through the gaps in her curtains. The girl brushed strands of hair away from her face and wiped the dribble from her cheeks as she looked out of her window.

    "I'm trying to sleep, Stiles—" she pouted, watching his blurry figure walk around his own room with a book in hand. "Do we have to go through this every year? Can't you just let me sleep?"

   He rolled his eyes, "If I let you sleep, you won't wake up at all."

    "What are you—?" She scowled, "My father?"

    "He's not, but I am."

The man himself pushed open the door to her room and smiled at the irritation that adorned her face. He knew his daughter had never been a morning person — especially not on the first day of the school year, and he was glad that Stiles had managed to wake her up so that he didn't have to suffer the wrath of Lois Lane in the morning. It was terrifying, honestly.

   Matthew glanced around the room that had matured slightly over summer, noting that she had nothing prepared or even ready for school at all, and sighed. "Get up, Lo. You don't want to be late on the first day, do you?"

    "What's the point in first day of school when you can't drive your new car?" Lois grumbled, "All because a deer ran into it?"

   He understood her annoyance about the situation, but as her father he had to pretend that he didn't. Pulling a set of keys from his pocket, Matthew tossed them onto her night stand with an eye roll. She squinted up at him curiously when she heard the clink! not understanding what the keys belonged to or why, and waited for him to explain.

    "It's a rental car," he commented simply, watching her face light up like it was Christmas Day, "Until they can fix your car, you have this one."

   Lois launched herself out of her bed and grinned wildly, her arms wrapping around her father's neck. She jumped around like a child, making his body jolt uncomfortably, and planted a large kiss on his cheek. The teenager squealed and moved away, swiping up the keys in her hands and swinging them around victoriously. Lois had half-expected to be told that she had to ride with Stiles, which wasn't the worst thing, but she wouldn't have been able to show the world of Beacon Hills High that she could finally drive, now, having passed over summer. She had changed over break, grown up a little bit, and she wanted to prove that she was normal. Well, at least compared to last year.

    "Thank you! Thank you—!" she shrieked, "Thank you!"

    "Don't break it, or I'll break you." Matthew threatened, though his daughter simply ignored it. "Now, get ready for school!"

   Lois nodded and saluted him, watching him roll his eyes again as he left the room. She span around to look through her window where Stiles was stood, evidently jealous that she had gotten two new cars in the space of a summer, even if one was a rental.

    "Not fair!"

    "Totally fair."

   Making her way over to her wardrobe, Lois hummed to herself as she peered inside, deciding on what the first day would bring. Probably more homework than usual, and a lot new students, so she decided to listen to her inner-Lydia Martin and look around for an outfit that showed off how she was a Junior now, and was ready to return to being a good student who would get her school attendance back to the way it had been, before all of the crazy stuff she had gone through. She was determined to be normal.

   She grabbed a pair of jeans and a nice shirt, slipping off her pyjamas and changing into the clothes, and the inspecting herself in the mirror. Lois frowned and pulled them off, looking again.

    "Found anything on deers running into peoples cars?"

    "Nothing." Stiles shook his head, shutting the book in his hands and throwing it onto his bed.

He looked at her new outfit, "No."

   Lois sighed but nodded, finding the skirt too short. Again she took off the clothes, returning to her wardrobe to find something else. If Stiles didn't like it, it meant something to her. While he was an idiot, he would never let her step foot out of the house if she was going to feel like a fool. He knew it was important to her.

    "I want to know what it means..."

    "Does it have to mean anything?" Lois asked, not seeing why everything had to mean something to Stiles. The event had been freaky and bizarre, but that didn't necessarily mean she wanted to believe that it was supernatural. Anything but.

    "Yes!" Stiles spoke as though she were insane, waving his hands around as he stood at his window. Lois rolled her eyes and pulled on a new dress, paired with a denim jacket, and walked back into view of the window. Stiles furrowed his eyebrows as he observed the look, "Is that mine?"

   She nodded, "Yup."

   Blocking out his whining about how he had liked that jacket and wanted it back — even though he had never worn it — Lois tilted her head to the left, inspecting herself in the mirror. Perfect.

   Satisfied with how she looked, Lois moved to apply a little bit of makeup and pick out a pair of shoes to match. While she was channelling her inner-Lydia, Lois had never been the best at living her life in heels, especially not in school, so she opted for a new pair of sneakers that she had bought herself over summer. When the final look was complete, the girl began to throw items into her bag haphazardly. If it looked important, it was going in.

    "When have you ever needed a spare bra in school?"

   Lois looked down at the bra in her hand and shrugged, "You never know when you're going to need one."

   Stiles shook his head and moved to sit back at his desk, opening his laptop and starting to search for more information on deer crashes and why they tended to occur. Lois continued to pack her bag, picking it up and then frowning at how it looked with her dress and shoes, tipping out the contents and packing it back into a different bag altogether.

    "You ready?" Stilinski asked as he stepped into his sons room, waving at the girl he saw at a daughter through the window. "Hey, Lois. Ready for school?"

   Lois hummed and nodded, focused on her bag.

    "You know how many vehicle collisions last year involved a deer?" Stiles asked his father, who sighed.

    "Oh, god—" Noah huffed at his son, "—please go to school."

    "Two hundred and forty-seven thousand."

"Life changing, Stiles."

He scowled at Lois, "But that's crossing the road—"

"Go to school, kid."

"It didn't cross..." The boy proceeded to ramble, ignoring the words spoke to him. He scrolled down the screen and typed a few more things, frowning at the results. "This one last night came right down the middle."

    "You're telling me—!" Lois said. "It nearly took my eye out!"

Both of them looked at her through the window, one shrugging carelessly and the other sighing. She pouted and returned to her bag, sorting everything into designated pockets rather than having it all cluttered and messy. The latter was her usual style, but she wanted to be different this year. More organised.

Lois pulled her phone out her pocket, having felt it buzz against her jacket. She unlocked it and scrolled to her new message, her brow raised in amusement.

FROM: SCOTT SENT: 8:02
EPHEMERAL.
LASTING FOR A SHORT TIME.

She smiled softly and put the phone into her pocket, again. Scott had been sending her his words of the day over summer, feeling a need to prove to everyone that he was trying harder this year. It seemed that they both were, and he was thankful that Lois had taken the time to help him study and hopefully get his grades up to where they  should have been. Summer school had helped him a lot too, but Lois had really made the process easier. She was no genius like Lydia, but she was still smart.

Lois turned back to the window and frowned, noticing that neither male had moved.

    "I'm not going to beg you—"

    "Okay, good." Stiles nodded his head, satisfied with the idea of not being interrupted by his father again, "I'm impervious to your influence, anyway."

   The sheriff pursed his lips, "Would you consider a bribe?"

    "You couldn't meet my price," He brushed it off, blowing a raspberry with his lips. His father waited moment or two, hoping to think of something else that would possibly get his son out of his chair and headed to school.

"Extortion?"

"You got nothing on me."

   Lois smiled wickedly, "I do."

   Stiles leant back in his chair and shot her a glare.

   When he returned to the computer screen, Lois groaned and sat down on her bed, sprawling out as though she were in such agony waiting. Stiles muttered a brief shut up and ignored her when she groaned even louder than before, evidently irritated that he was taking so long. It was funny how the tables had turned, so quickly.

   After waiting for a minute longer, Noah eventually rolled his eyes and gripped the back of his son's chair.

    "Dad, what are you doing—?"

   He ignored the question and started to pull the chair backwards, away from the desk and the laptop. Stiles frowned and continued to reach for it, his fingers skimming the top of the keys.

    "Dad?" He repeated, "What are you—!"

   Stiles cut himself off with yell as he hit the floor with a thump, much to Lois' pleasure. He moaned out in pain while he father stood up straight, brushing his hands against his pants and looking at Lois with a smile.

    "Have a good day, Lo."

    "You too, Uncle Noah!" She smiled sweetly, waving him off as he left the room, his son still a heap on the floor. Lois skipped over to her window and leant against it, standing on her tiptoes to try and see him in a mess of limbs on the carpet. Catching sight of his crumpled torso, Lois snickered, "Get up, Stiles— you know; we're going to be late."

   The boy frowned, "Don't you dare pull that one, on me..."

    "Already did."

Mumbling a few incoherent words under his breath, Stiles pulled himself up from the ground and brushed off his shirt. He glanced at Lois and narrowed his eyes, to which she smiled.

She swung her keys around her finger and leant over her window frame, "I wonder what car—"

Lois stopped, gaping at the fancy vehicle in her drive way. Stiles spared it a look, barely registering it and turning away, but quickly shot back around and drooled, pushing his newly grown head of hair out of the window so viciously that it had nearly collided with hers from across the gap between their homes. The duo of teens stared at the car for a minute, unable to speak, before Lois finally broke the silence with a smug grin.

"If you get downstairs quick enough, you can drive."

"Deal!"

The girl pushed away from the window and grabbed her bag, rushing to brush her teeth. She grabbed a piece of toast from her father's plate and sprinted out of the door, watching Stiles jump over the hedge that separated their gardens and fall on his face.

She let out an obnoxious laugh and leant against the car door, grinning widely as he moped his way to the passengers side.

"Not fair."

"Totally fair."

• • •

   Lois strolled into the school with a frown, eyebrows raised at the two boys following behind her. "So— your tattoo...vanished?"

    "Totally dissipated." Stiles answered for the werewolf with a nod, a cringe in his face as he recalled watching it happen. "Right into his skin—! It was gross,"

Scott rolled his eyes at the boy but smiled nonetheless, despite being incredibly upset about his first tattoo completely healing and evaporating into his skin. He had paid for it with his own work money and had been pretty excited to get it, so Lois wasn't very surprised that he was bummed — even if she didn't understand what the two black bands were supposed to be mean.

"I guess you call could it ephemeral," he eventually shrugged.

   "Just like my car..."

Patting her shoulder gently, Scott peered down at her with a sympathetic smile while Stiles merely rolled his eyes. He was too busy throwing a tantrum about what Scott had told them in the parking lot.

"And you wanna ask Derek for help?" He frowned, "Why— just, why?"

"He's got the triskele tattooed on his back." Scott explained as the trio continued to walk through the halls of Beacon Hills High, occasionally waving at a lacrosse team member or a girl who told Lois her dress was pretty. It made her feel smug, she had to admit, but in a good way. She liked her outfit and apparently, so did other students. Noticing that he needed to go further, Scott tried to paint the idea out for them, "So, there has to be a way to do it without it healing, right?"

"He's got a point, Stiles." Lois nodded.

"Okay, yeah—!" he rolled his eyes, coming to a stop at the first bulletin board and pointed a hand to paper pinned on it, "—but still, doesn't he have his hands a little full?"

Pursing her lips, Lois looked at the missing posters for Boyd and Erica with sad eyes. Sure, she hadn't liked either of them, but the world seemed to have swallowed them whole. The last that she had about them heard was from Isaac, when he had said that they were leaving on the night of the championships game.

She felt for their parents, a lot — the ones who must have been losing their minds. Lois couldn't have imagined having children who just went missing one day, disappearing off of the face of the earth and yet to return. They had no idea about this life, and Lois doubted that Erica and Boyd would have just told them that they were headed off into the night to find a new pack of wolves. Their parents didn't even know that they were werewolves, or that the world of the supernatural even existed. There was no chance that they would have told them anything, at all. Derek and Isaac were the only ones who knew, other than the infamous trio.

"Look, these are the applications for the career advisor—"

The three teenagers peered into the principals office, raising their brows as they listened in one what he was saying.

"I need them sorted," The man continued, a grumpy expression painted on his face. Though, really, Lois wasn't surprised. "And whatever happened to the library while I was gone, I want it cleared up."

Lois, Scott and Stiles looked at one another guiltily.

He then dislodged a sword from the drawer, in his desk.

"And what the hell is this—?"

Their eyes went wide and their mouths flew open at the sight of the weapon Gerard had left behind, Stiles and Scott each gripping one of Lois' shoulders with a hand and spinning her around. The hyperactive boy proceeded to point in the other direction, nodding his head wildly and beckoning them to walk quickly.

"Go, go—" he instructed, "—go!"

His two friends did as told, Scott following right behind Stiles while Lois slipped away and went to her locker. After getting out the books she needed and replacing them with her spare items, her eyes travelled along the hall until they landed on familiar faces.

Adjusting her grip on the bag on her shoulder, Lois shut her locker door and made her way down the hallway, getting closer to the three teenage girls and smiling as she did so.

"Guess who has a rental car?" She sang, holding up her keys.

   Lydia looked impressed, "Nice, how long?"

    "Until my car gets fixed, my dad said." Lois shrugged, leaning against the locker on Allison's left while Lydia leant on the one on her right. The brunette rooted through her locker in the middle of the two, placing in a few binders and files that she didn't need to carry around all day, while Luna completed the triangle. With a hum, Lois glanced around the hall at all the passing students that were new to the school. "Freshmen?"

    "Freshmen." Lydia echoed a confirmation, her lips pulled into a smirk as she observed the teens, "Tons and tons of fresh men."

    "You mean fresh boys." Allison laughed.

    "Yeah, Lydia..." Luna nodded, though she couldn't prevent the smile. It was nice to see that the strawberry blonde was finally getting over Jackson Whittemore, she had been a bit of a mess when he left for London. "They're fourteen."

    "Well— some are more mature, than others."

    "You know, it's okay to be single." Allison reminded her friend, with an innocent shrug. "Focus on yourself for a little while, work on becoming a better person..."

    "Allison," Lydia interrupted with a chuckle passing her lips, "I love you. So— if you need to do that thing where we talk about me and pretend like we're not actually talking about you, then it's totally fine." She smiled softly, to which Allison returned. "But I don't want a boyfriend...."

   Lois rolled her eyes playfully as she watched her friend throw out an arm, placing it against the lockers and glancing around the hall for sight of her next victim. She knew that Lydia had already had a guy over the night prior — which she didn't judge her for, since women were allowed to do whatever they wanted with their bodies and their time — and she was already moving on, fast. Though, Lois only had the upmost respect for the girl. If she had looked like Lydia Martin, then she probably would have been making her way through guys too. There was no shame in it, really.

   At the end of the day, she knew that Lydia was still heartbroken. And she was getting through it the only way that she knew how.

   Moving on.

    "...I want a distraction."

As if on cue, Lydia caught sight of three boys strolling into the school, all with helmets at their sides, heads held high. The three other girls turned to see what she was staring at, all quite amazed and pleasantly surprised by the three new kids.

"Brothers?" Luna queried, pointing at the two that looked alike.

Lydia's face lit up, "Twins!"

But Lois and Allison were both concentrated on the third, who seemed to have made friends with the twins pretty quickly, only being here for all of ten minutes. While Allison was watching the boy with her jaw agape, Lois rolled her eyes at his rather dramatic entrance and tried to bite back the smile on her lips. But she soon cracked, grinning wildly when he noticed her and sent a wave.

Lois left the girls and made her way over, two of three watching cluelessly as the new boy wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug.

"She knows him?" Allison frowned.

"Yup." Lydia modded, her eyes following the pair as they travelled down the hallway. They caught up with Scott and Stiles, both boys giving the new kid high fives and commencing their own little handshake, confusing Allison and Luna even more than they already had. "Wait— why?"

The hunter shook her head, lips pursed as she turned back to her locker. "No reason."

——

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