The bus stop was as tiny and pathetic as the one in Roswell. Going from one tiny town to another. Smooth move Valenti. Way to go. Should have gone with UC Sunnydale. Sunnydale…now that sounded like a town without any problems.
Everyone thought he was crazy for going so far away to a community college. But the college actually had a decent sports program, and was willing to offer him a pretty good scholarship- more than he could say for the local CC in Roswell. And it was away, far away.
Where nobody expected Kyle Valenti to be a freakazoid.
He groaned, looking down at the welcome pamphlet in his hand.
Meteorite capital of the world?
Oh, shit.
***
"At last." Whitney Fordman sat his duffel down on the floor with a sigh. All of his crap was now in this tiny, brick walled cubicle.
His new home. And soon, his new roommate would be here.
It wasn't Kansas State, but it was college. And for a community college, the football program was pretty good. And he’d get to play-a lot as a freshman.
Plus, he'd be with Lana. They'd hit some tough points last year-with his Dad being sick and then loosing the Kansas State spot...he’d been lost. Not to mention the extraordinary number of trucks he’d managed to wreck—which was nothing short of spectacular, actually. They’d decided to give it another try this summer- they weren’t going to be exactly exclusive, but they’d still date. Which could be good...or not.
The door opened, and he saw a stack of a laundry bag, suitcase and boxes with legs.
"Can I have some help?" It asked.
Whitney grabbed the boxes from the top and sat them down on the empty side of the room. "You sure got a lot of stuff there."
The guy had brown hair and amazingly blue eyes. "It’s not like I can just go back home to get what I left behind. This is college, man. A guy’s got to be prepared."
"Whitney Fordman."
"Kyle Valenti. Nice to meet you. You’re my roommate?"
"Yeah." Whitney paused. "Has anyone told you that you sound remarkably like Christian Slater?"
Kyle laughed. "Actually, no." He flopped down on the empty bed. "Where you from?"
"I’m local. You?"
"New Mexico."
"You came all this way for a community college?"
"Hey, you go where the money takes you."
"True enough."
Kyle’s stomach rumbled.
"You hungry?"
"Famished. Know anyplace good to get something to eat?"
***
"This is the Beanery. Small little town café and coffee bar. Your local popular restaurant."
Kyle smiled. "Trust me, I know all about this kind of place. Reminds me of home."
"Really?"
"Small towns are all the same."
"Ah, but does your town have an extraordinarily high crime rate?"
"Not that most people know about."
"You’d be surprised at the kind of freaks we get here."
Oh yeah? Kyle laughed; "I don’t think anything would surprise me."
**************************
"Clark, you are so full of crap!"
"Chloe says it as it is." Clark replied with a smile.
"Chloe Explains it all." Pete amended.
"And you didn't watch Nickelodeon!" She chided. "Honestly. You guys...are...."
"Are what?" Clark said with a smile.
"Guys!" She bubbled. "Guys, guys, guys!"
"I should hope so." Clark deadpanned.
"Watch it, Kent."
"Or what?"
"I hold the power of the Torch in my hand, thank you very much...and holy cow...who in the heck is that with Whitney?"
Clark craned his head. Please don't be some meteor freak. Don't be a villian. Be normal. Be normal. All he wanted was
a normal school year. The summer had been a pretty quiet one, like in the days....before.... "I don't know, Chloe. I've never seen him before."
"He's hot."
Clark wrinkled his nose. "He's not."
"Kent, you are an idiot. He's....he's....he's....very...very...."
Pete sighed. "You guys really need to get out more. Clark, my man, you are fighting Chloe over a guy being cute. Why do you care, or is there
something that you're not telling me?"
Clark rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, Pete. I have strong, strong feelings for Lex."
"Ewwww."
"I second that ewww and raise you an ick." Lana sat down beside Clark. "The things you miss when you go to the bathroom."
"I...I....I wasn't...I was....ki....."
"He was kidding." Pete started to clarify. "Chloe was checking out the dude by the door with Whitney."
Lana craned her neck. "He's hot."
"See?" Chloe bubbled. "That guy does good things for a pair of jeans."
Clark leaned his head against the table. Lineoleum was cool. Soft. And no one could see how red his face was this way..
"Whitney!" Lana called. "Over here."
Pete and Chloe slid over, as did Clark and Lana. Kyle sat next to Chloe while Whitney sat next to Lana and stretched his arm around her shoulders.
Clark groaned. Why couldn't he have gone to Kansas State? Far, Far away off into the wild blue yonder...
"Guys, this is Kyle. He's my roommate. Kyle, these are some of my friends, Lana, Clark, Pete, and Chloe's beside you."
"Hi." Chloe said with a blush. "Whatever made you come to Smallville?"
"Good scholarship." Kyle said with a smile. "Plus I had to get out of my hometown."
"Oh, I know." She said, shaking her head and causing the golden mass to wave. "I plan on leaving right after graduation. Hello Metropolis, Hello Daily Planet,
Hello, Fame and Fortune!"
"Chloe's not a local. She's an implant...she moved here during Junior High and still has visions of Metropolis." Pete said with a chuckle. "But the rest of us
are old timers. Smallville born and bred."
"Like it's a good thing to be Meteor Queen?" Chloe said with a chuckle. "No thank you."
"It's better than Miss Crash." Kyle said with a chuckle.
"Miss Crash?"
Damn it. He'd made it 8 hours without mentioning Roswell, and now he'd blown it spectaculary. Soon the alien questions would start...and the whole thing
would be a gigantic mess of...poo.
"Uh...I'm from Roswell...you know the big Alien Crash? We feel morally obligated to celebrate that event every year."
Chloe's eyes widened. "You must have some pretty cool stories."
"Uh...huh?"
"Chloe's a budding reporter." Pete explained.
"I'm not a budding reporter. I'm a star reporter waiting to be discovered." She huffed. "Weird occurances are my specialty. So do you believe in aliens? Do they really exist? Did you ever meet any?"
Kyle swallowed and picked up his menu. "So what's good to eat here?"