Planes Of Reality
“You wanna explain yourself?” Alex’s voice echoes in the empty golden hallways of a school that’s been vacated for hours, now. It’s only her and her little sister, now, who looks less than thrilled with the entire situation. “Detention, Kara. It’s your first day. Your first day! Stay under the radar, nothing like last like, just do well, that was the plan, and got a detention on the first day!”
Kara clears her throat. “Well… two, actually. But! One of them was unofficial.” She looks away sheepishly.
“Two?! Please, Kara, my dearest little sister, inform me what exactly it is that you did to get two detentions on your very first day at a new school,” Alex demands. There’s murder in her voice, but Kara at least knows she’s only aiming to keep Kara safe.
“Well, first, I swore-”
“You swore? You never swear!”
“Yeah, well, everything’s changing,” Kara huffs, digging her hands into her pockets. “And that was the unofficial one, anyways.”
“So what was the real one for?”
“I didn’t have my swimsuit! It’s Thursday! I was supposed to have a swimsuit. Did you know I was supposed to have a swimsuit?” Kara asks as they pad across reflective tiles past unoccupied classrooms.
“No. Did anyone actually tell you? Or, anyone? It’s not like Mom would forget something like that,” Alex says.
“No! Nobody told anyone anything about any of that, and I was just supposed to know, and I didn’t, and I got detention, because according to Lena, he’s crazy!”
“Who’s Lena? Oh, doesn’t matter right now- listen, he can’t just give you a detention for something like that, that’s not fair. I’ll talk to him tomorrow,” Alex promises.
“You can’t do that, Alex, he’s not gonna listen to you, he’s, like, eight feet tall.”
“So I’ll get Mom to tell him off,” Alex shrugs. Kara claps.
“Okay,” Alex says, “So the official one, I’ll give you that one, that’s totally messed up. However, no swearing! Especially no swearing in class,” Alex chides.
“You swear all the time! Even in front of teachers!” Kara protests, even though she had never really meant to swear, and didn’t wholeheartedly have any future plans to make a steady habit of it, either.
“I’ve been around long enough to know how to avoid getting caught, Kara. Just… just, be good, alright? I know you always are. You just need to lay low. We don’t need anybody taking notice to you and seeing you do something that could get you caught, okay?” Alex lowers her voice, so as not to echo against brick walls, despite the emptiness of the school.
“I understand,” Kara nods, adjusting her glasses.
“Good. Now. Who’s Lena and why is she telling you that your teacher is crazy? Besides the fact that he really obviously is.”
“She led me around the school. Also possibly I think we’re sort of friends? We got detention together. Which wasn’t her fault the first time, but in gym, she had her bathing suit, but pretended not to, so I wouldn’t be the only one in trouble. Also, we’re lab partners,” Kara grins.
“Sounds like quite the first day you’ve had there,” Alex laughs at her younger sister’s enthusiasm.
“And what about yours, what happened?”
“Everything is sorta.. weird,” Alex shrugs, opening the door and walking out into the fresh, misty air, shining under glimmering late afternoon sun. “Especially my guide. You know, the girl they had show me around.”
“Why? Is she mean?” Kara asks, concern etching its way into her voice.
“What? No, no, no. She’s funny. And quick. And, sort of popular, in a weird way, I guess. I mean, she’s nice. I like her enough. She’s just weird,” Alex shrugs.
"But not bad weird?" Kara asks, casting a glance to her sister as they begin making their way under marvelous, low hanging archway oaks, lining the sides of the cracked suburban sidewalks, glistening in the orange glow, damp from the morning's rain.
"I guess not. I mean, she's nice," Alex repeats herself.
"Thank you, Alex, for that very descriptive summary on what sounds like just about the only person you talked to all day," Kara snorts. "'Nice,'" She mimics.
"Hey! Not my fault she was the only one I talked to, you don't know what it's like in Junior year, everybody's crazy. You have no idea how good you have it down there in Freshman year," Alex laughs.
"I didn't even meet any freshman," Kara protests.
"What? Why not?"
"Lena is a sophomore, I was supposed to go with her to all of her classes. I was surrounded by a bunch of upperclassmen all day. I have no idea what the Freshman are like here," Kara explains with a shrug.
"They stuck you with a kid older than you? Rough. Wonder why they didn't have anyone else do it. Either way, is she, you know, 'nice?'" Alex laughs.
"I'm pretty sure?" Kara offers helplessly. "It's hard to say. She got detention for me?" She tries.
"Close enough," Alex agrees. "Just be good from now on, alright?"
"I always try, you know that," Kara says.
The two girls walk all the way back home in such a familiar, calming silence, steady, quiet steps underneath a glowing afternoon sky, and everything feels almost easy.
Friday morning and the words on the blackboard of first period are enough to make Lena's stomach churn, because, shit, as if the mere thought of Chem wasn't enough stimulation to Lena's brain, it's Partner Weekend, as says the blackboard of omniscience, which means the next few days will be filled with a very intricate lab project, to be done at home, with, obviously, a partner. One she certainly doesn't need. One she hasn't had enough caffeine to deal with.
Slinging her backpack off of her shoulder by her seat, she recalls who her lab partner is- The New Kid. Kara. Who is... not here. At all. Lena glances at the clock. 7:59. Freshman's gonna be late. Then again, so is the teacher. Less of a surprise. If Kara is especially lucky today, she will slip in before their likely hungover Chem teacher slinks out of the Teacher's Lounge and comes for roll call.
But speak of the devil, because there's the teacher, entering the room and making a beeline for his computer, all set for attendance.
He goes from Adden to Able to Brooks, Cavalente, and Culver, and then he pauses. "Danvers? ...Danvers? Kara. Danvers. Has anybody seen Kara Danvers?"
He mispronounces her name, which just sort of adds insult to injury, not that Lena cares all too much. But still, she finds herself blurting out, "She's here! She came in earlier. She just went to the bathroom." Lena thinks she sounds half convincing, if she does say so herself. Though she doesn't know why she's lying for this new girl. (Actually, Lena doesn't know why she's been doing most of what she's doing since Kara arrived. Who gets two detentions for someone? Who does that?)
The teachers nods vacantly and moves on to Denwell.
At 8:08 am, Kara Danvers rushes through the door with messy hair, clothing disheveled. She looks about to say something, but Lena rapidly gestures for her just to sit down, don't say a word. The teacher doesn't even notice.
"Someone overslept," Lena chimes with a smirk, never taking her eyes off the front of the room.
"My alarm didn't go off!" Kara protests. "And my sister didn't even realize until five minutes after we were supposed to have left," She pants. "Why isn't he mad?" She points to the teacher.
"I covered for you," Lena says simply. "Ready for Partner Weekend?" She asks with a half grin.
"What's that?" Kara asks.
"Stop talking during class and listen, maybe you'll find out," Lena nudges her with her elbow.
"You started it!" Kara huffs, trailing off.
The teacher paces around the front of the room and begins to speak about Partner Weekend. According to him, each set of lab partners will be assigned a chem experiment that they have until Monday to complete, with results, data, and all.
He walks around the classroom, telling each partner group which experiment they'll be performing, and then he stops in front of Kara and Lena. "Plastic from potato starch," He tells them gruffly, handing out a packet with the starting information.
Lena glances over it as Kara blinks at her. "Okay," Lena hums. "Give me your number."
Kara readily complies, reciting her number from memory as Lena pulls out her phone. "We'll do it at your house," Lena tells Kara more than asks her. "We'll start tonight. I've been in this course since the beginning of the year, I have everything we'll need. I'll bring it with me."
"Uh... okay. Sounds good," Kara chirps, cheery, if still slightly confused.
Lena is fully aware that her house is bigger, and has more space for things like, oh, you know, chemistry experiments, but that doesn't change the fact that she doesn't exactly want to bring Kara into her cold, empty home, so she shakes away the reasonable from her head as she puts Kara's number down in her contacts under the name "The New Kid."
The thing about Alex's third hour is that it absolutely fucking sucks, and this is exactly what she's telling Maggie as they make their way downstairs together. "I mean, is History even, like, a real class? We've been learning about History since, like, second grade, the world is not that old, we've covered everything from the ice age to modern day, why do we still have it? We're juniors, dammit! And here's History, masquerading as a real, important class, giving out homework, trying to make us pay attention," Alex scoffs.
"How dare it!" Maggie teases in a falsely serious tone.
"Don't mock me," Alex swats at her.
"Oh, but it's just so easy," Maggie croons in response. Alex scowls. "Look," Maggie starts, "if it makes you feel any better, I have gym class. It's fucking boring."
"Your misery does actually make me feel slightly better, thank you," Alex laughs.
"Now, I have a thought- one that probably hasn't occurred to you, but just hear me out- what if, instead of laughing at one another's pain, we just skipped third hour entirely? Put the pain aside?" Maggie offers.
"What, won't we get caught?" Alex asks skeptically.
"Exactly two teachers here actually take attendance, and they teach Freshmen. Don't worry about it, Danvers," Maggie assures her.
How can Alex possibly pass up an opportunity like that?
Kara is half convinced that high school lockers rooms exist on an entirely separate plane of reality than the rest of everything in the world. For one thing, there is seemingly no feasible way Kara can make it from her third hour to the locker rooms in a timely manner, so she's usually among maybe three girls there when she makes her way in there, and even then, most of them are leaving. Apparently, Lena is plagued by the same time management phenomenon, though, because by the time Kara actually manages to get the crazy lock on her locker open, it's only Lena left in there with her.
And then, there's the entire atmosphere- the humid, still air of a half underground room with peeling paint over brick walls and damp floors from leaking showers that Lena swears nobody has ever actually used, all in between rows of rusty red lockers and benches.
And that's even sparing the whole "changing in front of other people" thing. Or, well, not people, really. But, person. Lena. It's weird. Is that even normal on Earth? Or is that only a high school thing? Because that definitely wasn't normal on Krypton, and it barely seems normal on this planet, to begin with, so Kara isn't entirely sure about the whole thing, to be honest.
One minute, it'll be totally normal, Kara opening her locker and everything, and then Lena will just be, like, completely undressed, right in front of Kara. That's weird! That's weird, right? So it's not exactly easy for Kara to drag her eyes away from Lena's, you know, bare back, which is equally as weird, but, well, not unpleasant or anything.
And Lena seems entirely oblivious to the whole weirdness of all of it, which is so not fair, and then she just gets into her gym clothes and leaves, leaving Kara still standing there, holding her locker door, staring at the empty space where Lena had been standing.
Weird.
"You hypocrite," Kara accuses, walking side by side with Alex as they make their way home.
"We skipped one class, Kara," Alex laughs.
"I got one detention, and that was the end of the world," Kara points out.
"Well, actually, you got two. And anyways, you're supposed to be flying under the radar. It doesn't matter what I do. In fact, consider this me protecting you- nobody will notice you if I'm the one skipping classes. Not that we got caught," Alex chimes.
Kara huffs halfheartedly. "You and your double standards," she shakes her head, but a smile passes her lips despite herself. "Meanwhile, Lena Luthor is coming over tonight for our science experiment."
"And, does Mom know?"
"She will as soon as we get home and I tell her," Kara shrugs.
"She'll just be glad you're making friends," Alex tells her sister. Kara's phone buzzes, and- speak of the Devil, Lena Luthor.
What's your address, and does six work? the text reads, with oddly impeccable grammar for a high schooler's text.
Kara responds that six works great, along with her address (and a healthy amount of emoji's).
"Someone looks excited," Alex laughs and shakes her head as the sisters continue on their way home.
Lena Luthor is surprisingly punctual- Kara mentally stores that away in her collection of Things About Lena that she knows. Six o'clock, exactly, and a shiny black car pulls up in front of the house. Lena walks up carrying a bag full of what Kara can only assume are the materials for their plastic making experiment.
She opens the door eagerly, and Lena greets her with a smile. "Hi!" Kara says. "We can do it in the basement," she informs Lena, who is taking off her jacket. Kara takes it and puts it in the closet, then leads her downstairs.
"Are you any good at chemistry?" Lena asks as the two descent into an unfinished basement.
"Uh. I guess. Good enough to be a Freshman in the Sophomore class?" Kara offers.
"Right," Lena says, laying out the materials and handing Kara a pair of goggles. "I think this is simple enough. Can you dilute the hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide? I'll extract the starch," Lena says this all in a very take-charge sort of manner, so Kara silently stammers in agreement, and the two begin to work in silence.
When Lena finishes extracting the starch, she says, "alright. We just have to let it sit for five minutes now, and then we can make the plastic film." She takes a picture of their set up. "For the process," she explains, drawing her knees to her chest as the two sit on the tiled floor. "I like your house."
"Thanks," Kara smiles easily.
"Your family seems nice," Lena mutters, letting her neck fall back, turning her face to the ceiling.
"They are! They're really nice," Kara promises. "I'm sure your family is nice, too."
"They're not," Lena mumbles dryly, and then resigns to silence. Kara says nothing.
When the five minutes is up, Kara mixes everything together, and then Lena turns on the Bunsen burner. When she leans forward to set the beaker on top, she recoils quickly with a sharp scream as the beaker falls into place.
"Oh, fuck!" Lena yelps, pulling her burnt hand away from the fire, tears pricking at her eyes.
"Oh, my God, did you burn yourself?" Kara stammers out in a blind panic. "Oh, no, okay, okay, water!" Kara says, remembering what to do in the event of a fire.
Lena would say "no shit" if she had not just, you know, accidentally stuck her hand in a fire.
Kara more or less drags her to a sink in the corner of the otherwise empty basement, holding Lena's hand under a stream of cold water as Lena clenches her teeth and keeps her eyes shut very tight.
After maybe six minutes of the two girls just standing there while Kara stares at Lena, entirely concerned, Lena swallows and says, "alright, I'm okay, I'm fine."
She draws back her hand, the back of which is read and swollen. "Are you sure?" Kara asks, doe-eyed and worried.
"Yes, it's just a little burn. I'll be perfectly fine," she reassures Kara, who nods. "How's the beaker doing?"
Kara glances at her phone. "Seven more minutes, then we remove it."
"Fantastic," Lena says, returning to her place in front of the burner, but keeping a safe distance, all while Kara watches her cautiously.
By the time they remove the beaker, Lena says, "Let's take a walk." She gives no reason, no warning, but despite this, the two girls find themselves exiting the back door and walking out onto the street.
The streets are wide under bright, glowing streetlights, casting shadows of towering trees in between the bright spots. The air is cold but damp and smells of blacktop in spring and static, and the sky feels impossibly high above them, a steady, inky black with pinprick stars. It is inexplicably peaceful, the calmest Lena has found herself in God knows how long.
And so, wordlessly, the girls begin to walk in an easy pattern of swinging arms brushing against one another and staring at the canopy of trees.
"Are you sure you're not hurt?" Kara asks in a voice that is quiet enough to blend into the background seamlessly.
"I'm sure," Lena says, soft smile on her face that Kara cannot see.
"Okay," Kara says. It comes out a whisper. But there is a silent understanding between the two as they pace through the wide suburbia.
Perhaps they could keep walking like that for hours- maybe they would, even, had it not been for the gusts of wind picking up, and then the sudden onslaught of torrential sheets of rain pouring down upon them from seemingly nowhere.
"Oh, shit," Lena says, looking up at the sky, but there's no regret or fury in her voice.
Kara pauses. And then, she laughs. And so does Lena, as flash flood conditions that they did not foresee soak them, leaving them shaking to the bone with long hair slick to their faces, clothes sticking to their skin, teeth chattering and all.
By the time the stumble inside with rolling thunder as their background music, the streets are terrible. No condition for any kind of driving, according to Eliza.
And so, Lena has to spend the night. Though, that's not really any source of disappointment.
The juxtaposition of the fuzzy warmth in Kara's room versus the outside storm leaves both girl's cold skin burning as they quietly change into dry clothes, leaving Lena wearing a sweater and pair of sweatpants that belong to Kara.
"Thank you again for letting me stay," Lena says, hours later, as the two lay parallel to one another on the floor, covered in sleeping bags and blankets.
"It's really no problem!" Kara assures her quickly. "I'm really glad you're here," she mutters tiredly, staring at the windows, streaks of rain sliding down, casting raindrop shaped shadows across Kara's room.
Lena just smiles. It's the first time she's spent the night at someone's house. Truthfully, she kind of gets what all the hype is about.