iesika

Close to Home

8

Monday

Kon got to school early on Monday morning, and he had four posters up before anybody thought to go for Cross. He'd already collected a little crowd - mostly freshmen and sophomores, and mostly giggling and pointing - but he didn't really care. It wasn't like he was afraid to work in front of an audience.

He didn't actually need help, but when Delilah showed up from somewhere to hold the fifth poster, he stepped to one side and taped it into place.

"Kent. Roberts."

Kon slapped on an extra piece of tape for good measure and turned around with a cheerful smile. "Good morning, sir."

Beside him, Delilah looked mutinous. She couldn't know that there was a plan, so Kon kind of wondered what she was doing there. Maybe she just wanted to piss Cross off as much as possible.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to take those down, young man," Cross told him, and folded his arms over his chest.

Kon set his backpack on the floor and pulled out a fat manila envelope. He held it out to Cross, who took it reflexively without even glancing down.

"What's this supposed to be?" Cross looked down at one side, then flipped it over and raised it to look at the other.

"A Demand," Kon said. "A legal Demand. I had a friend draw it up. I figured you probably didn't know you were breaking the law."

Around them, the students shifted and whispered to each other. Somebody with a low voice said, "Oooh..." quietly, but loud enough for Cross to hear. He made a dismissive noise and tried to hand the envelope back.

Kon didn't take it. He stood silently with his hands on his hips and let the envelope hit him in the chest. "You're going to want to read that. If you disregard it, it's going to look bad in court."

Cross's hands fell to his sides, and he clutched the envelop tightly in his fist. "Court."

Kon turned to Delilah. It actually was good that she'd gotten herself involved, because he was pretty confident he could count on her response. "You did see him take it from me, right?"

Her eyes lit up with vicious glee. "Do I need to sign something? 'cuz I'll sign."

"Only if we have to go to court," Kon told her. He wasn't sure if it was true, but it sounded good. "I'm sure we'd all rather that didn't happen."

Someone in the growing crowd was laughing. Cross narrowed his eyes.

"It's long," Kon said, "so I'll summarize. Legally, you've either got to let the club meet, give it the same access to school resources as any other club - or shut down all the extracurriculars. That means everything. Band..." he nodded toward two kids he was pretty sure were in the marching group, "football..."

Delilah's mouth dropped open. She looked fiendishly delighted.

"Otherwise you're in violation of the Federal Equal Access Act, and the Fourteenth Amendment." He leaned forward and lowered his voice conspiratorially. "I assumed you didn't know. I mean, you wouldn't deliberately violate your students' constitutional rights..."

"Er," Cross said, and he looked a lot less angry all of a sudden. In fact...Kon wasn't sure, but he thought he looked kind of sad. "Mr. Kent, please understand... I'm not your enemy, here. I'm just trying to keep my students safe." He sighed. "All right. You've got your club. There's obviously student interest...If you're going to meet on campus, though, you'll need a sponsor."

"He's got one."

Everyone turned around at the voice. Kon just smiled. "Good morning, Mr. Dalton," he said. "I guess you got my note?"

The bell rang. Several people groaned. After a few seconds during which he exchanged looks with both Kon and Dalton, Cross raised his arms over his head. "Everyone go to class."

The crowd dissipated fairly quickly, and Kon and Dalton started walking toward the science hall together. "So you'll do it?" Kon asked.

"Of course," Dalton said, sounding delighted. "Oh, I'd like to see them fire me now..."

"Fire you?" Kon stopped and turned to stare at him. "You think they'd fire you?"

"Oh, don't worry," Dalton said, cheerfully. "It won't stick." He kept walking, so Kon trailed after him, shaking his head. "Really, Conner, you couldn't have made a better choice of who to ask to sponsor you - assuming I wasn't your last choice..."

"No," Kon said. "Actually, I really wouldn't have known who else to ask..." He frowned. "You...sound kind of...uh, not worried. About losing your job."

"Actually..." Dalton looked around and motioned Kon over toward the door of the classroom. He bent forward and lowered his voice. "I was really hoping I would get fired. But don't tell anyone that."

"You- "Kon broke off. "What?"

"The ACLU needs a test case for the 'intelligent design' law Kansas passed a few years ago. It's blatantly unconstitutional, and everybody with any legal sense knows it, but you can't just declare something like that - you have to go through the system. Which means... well, it means someone has to be found in violation. In order to appeal to a higher court. So...Well, I'm already prepared to be hassled, Conner. I'm prepared to lose my job. There really isn't much more that they can do to me."

The final bell rang, and Dalton ducked into the classroom, clapping his hands for order. Kon followed, and took his usual seat in the third row. Dalton opened up his roll-book and started ticking off names, so Kon took a moment to turn around in his seat.

"Hey," he said. Baumhauer looked up at him, his expression vaguely puzzled. He and Kon weren't really on the friendliest of terms, despite being in the same lab group - mostly because Baumhauer always seemed to be in a bad mood in the morning, and he didn't mind making the whole group suffer for it. Kon really wasn't sure how to ask what he wanted. He finally settled on, "I, uh, saw you at Matt's funeral." When Baumhauer didn't say anything, he added, "I was... kind of surprised?"

Baumhauer turned back to his notebook, where he was making some kind of list. "My father is the pastor. Stephens was a member of the church," he said without looking at Kon. "Even if he didn't attend very often."

"Oh," Kon said. Well, that made a little more sense.

"God loves the sinner," Baumhauer said, with the air of someone reciting a proverb, "even as he hates the sin. Everyone deserves a Christian burial." He paused and looked up. "And I imagine a show of support from the church community helped provide some degree of comfort to his family."

Kon was pretty sure Rebecca would rather he show his support by not insulting her son and his boyfriend, but... well, it was better than nothing.

"Though, if we're on the subject..." Baumhauer said, as he went back to his list, "I don't think I've seen you in church all semester. Your Aunt comes alone every Sunday."

"Uh," Kon said, suddenly uncomfortable. "I'm kinda busy on the weekends."

"Good morning, everyone!" Dalton said as he shut his book and stepped toward the whiteboard. Kon seized the opportunity to turn back to the front. Dalton was still grinning like he had been in the hall. "Who's ready to talk about viruses?"

Well, it was better than religion.

He stopped off in the bathroom after Bio - it had taken a lot of coffee to get his chores done in time to be so early - and was washing his hands when two other boys walked in, talking and laughing. They stopped when they saw him and just sort of stood there shuffling their feet.

"What?" Kon asked.

Neither boy answered. They didn't even look at him. Kon growled in disgust and shook his hands dry, and then pushed past them into the hall. One of the boys nearly tripped over himself in his haste to get out of Kon's way.

Jake grabbed his arm when he got to the art room and all but dragged him to the back table. "New assignment," he said, "we have to pick a partner and- "

"Pick somebody else," Kon said, and pulled away.

Jake just stared at him with his mouth open. It made Kon feel like a jerk. "You don't need the hassle. You know what the rumor mill is like here. If people start thinking we're friends - "

"...but we are friends." He frowned at Kon and sat down. When Kon remained standing, he kicked the chair next to him so that it slid out from under the table. "Oh, sit down. We're doing portraits. You're going to need the help."

Kon sighed. But he sat.

"We have to follow all the same rules as the other clubs," Kon told the group. "And you can bet someone will call us out if we don't."

"Okay," Mel said, "then we need to draw up a charter, elect officers, organize a fundraiser for day-to-day expenses..."

They were back in the library, and this time Kon - and Jake - weren't hiding in the stacks. There were other kids, too, who hadn't been there on Friday, including a girl from his math class. The chairs had been pulled into a rough circle, and they were passing around the stack of documents and pamphlets Bart had supplied. "I...have a draft?" Kon said uncertainly. He dug around in his bag and pulled out a folder. It was only slightly bent. "Based on, uh, similar clubs.

She took it from him and thumbed through it, skimming the pages. "Looks pretty good," she said. "Here, let's make copies for everyone and we can vote on changes. Who has quarters?"

"Uh..." Kon dug in his pockets for change. The others did the same, and soon they had a pile of coins.

"When I get back," she went on, "we ought to talk about officers. I think we should at least decide on nominations before we end the meeting." She collected the money and headed over toward the printing station.

"So, who should be president?" Hamilton asked.

A couple of people, Jake and Delilah included, turned to look at Kon.

"Oh no," he said, shaking his head and raising his hands defensively. "No, no, no - "

"You did get all this together," Clarence said. "And you talked Cross down."

He looked to Jake for help, but Jake just grinned at him. "I can't," Kon insisted. "Guys, I have... other obligations, okay? Over and above being, like, the worst possible choice ever- "

"Well," Delilah said, "nominate someone. Otherwise I think you're in charge by default."

Mel chose that moment to return with the charter and start handing out copies. She dropped the whole stack when Kon jumped up and dragged her into the center of the circle by her elbow.

Jake didn't stop laughing until the voting started, but he did pick up the papers, which was helpful.

After the meeting, Delilah walked with him to English. "Did you know Matt?" she asked when he stopped for a drink from the fountain.

"No," Kon told her. He straightened up and wiped his chin, then picked up his backpack and they started walking again. "I mean...I met him last week, just before..." He trailed off. "Miller knocked him down in the hall."

"He's a shit," she said with feeling, and then suddenly stopped walking and spun around. "Wait, that was you?"

"What was me?"

"You helped him pick his stuff up."

Kon nodded and scratched the back of his neck.

Delilah laughed. "He said - wow."

"What?"

"He thought you were cute." She smiled sadly. "I mean, he loved Clarence, don't get me wrong, but he had eyes."

Kon didn't know what to say. He scratched his neck again.

"He told me about what happened. Before seventh period. Pete was always fucking with him, so neither of us... he was supposed to give me a ride home, but he wasn't waiting where he said he would...well, you know the rest."

"Not really," Kon said. If it weren't for Tim and the police reports, he really wouldn't know much at all. "I heard you...found him."

Delilah looked away. "He didn't come out when I called, so I went in to drag his skinny ass out - "

"Of the boy's locker room?"

She snorted. "Like I care?"

"Did you...see anyone?" Kon asked. He wasn't sure why his chest felt so tight. This was what he wanted, right? To get close to her, get her to open up...So why did he feel like he was betraying her, somehow?

If she knew who he was and what he was trying to do, she'd be behind it. He knew that. Why did he feel so...

"Nobody," she said. "I called 911. The team started showing up for practice, but I kept them out. Coach Danielson, too - and he wasn't happy about that, but if I'd told him why, he'd have barged in there and wrecked the crime scene. And then when the cops got there, I sat down in the corner and had a total breakdown." She laughed, bitterly, and wiped her eye. "We're gonna be late."

They started walking again. The hall was mostly empty, by that point. "He seemed nice," Kon said uselessly, because it was true.

"He really would have liked you," Delilah said, and sighed. "He would have loved the club - loved that you fought Cross down over it. He was kind of political, you know? And he was always trying to save everybody..." she trailed off.

Miller was standing outside the classroom. "Lilah," he said, by way of greeting. "See you've got yourself another fag boyfriend. You carry his books, too?"

She stopped dead and shoved her books into Kon's hands. He only managed to catch them by the covert use of superpowers. "You," she growled, and shoved the larger boy back against the door-frame.

"Whoa!" Kon set the books down quickly and pulled her back. "He's not worth it."

"You think I don't know?" she hissed, but she was talking to Miller. "You sick murdering fuck."

"Is there a problem?" Ms. Harris asked as she appeared in the doorway behind Miller.

Miller just stared ahead in shock. "You think I - "

"If you don't get the needle I'll fucking kill you myself!"

"Lilah!" Kon shouted, dragging her back with an arm around her waist. She struggled and kicked him in the shin, but he didn't loosen his hold. "Shit, calm down."

"Calm down?"

"Or face suspension," Ms. Harris said. "Or expulsion. I can't believe your behavior, Delilah!"

"Oh, believe me, I've got cause- "

It was like trying to restrain a struggling animal. She was going to hurt herself if she kept this up. "We'll get him," Kon said in her ear. "If it was him, we'll get him. He'll spend the rest of his life in jail, but Lilah, if you don't calm down, they won't just throw you out! This would be all they needed to close down the club! You think Matt would want that?"

She made an awful strangled sound and fell back, against him, limp, all the fight and fury gone out of her as suddenly as if she'd been knocked unconscious. Her heart was racing, thumping in her chest like a bird's, and Kon had to support her weight to keep her from sliding to the floor.

"She's crazy," Miller said, and he sounded both awed and terrified.

"So stop harassing her," Kon growled. "Or I swear to god - "

"Mr. Kent!" Harris broke in, chastising. "I think that's enough!"

In his arms, Delilah started to sob. When he loosened his grip a little, she turned and pressed her face against his chest. Kon tucked her close. "I'll take her to the office," he said. "I think she should probably go home."

Harris sighed. "Do, please. And...see if you can get her to accept some help? The county has made several grief counselors available to students affected by...recent events."

"'m not crazy," Delilah muttered against his chest.

"No," Kon said, "you're not." He gave her a squeeze and set her on her feet, so that he could see her face. "You should talk to someone, anyway."

Delilah's father didn't answer his phone. She tried Mrs. Moore - Clarence's mother - next, and within about ten minutes, Kon was helping her into a minivan.

"She...kind of had a breakdown," Kon told the tall, thin black woman from the Christmas pictures. "I really think she should talk to someone. Have her parents -? "

Mrs. Moore's bitter laugh cut him off. She shook her head. "The less said about them, the better. No, I think Lilah may be staying with us for a while. Or - " she turned in her seat and cupped Delilah's downturned face in one thin brown hand. "Rebecca's been awfully lonely, child. She's been wondering why you haven't come to visit."

Delilah broke into fresh tears. "It's my fault," she sobbed. "She'll hate me. Ms. Charlotte-"

Mrs. Moore drew the crying girl into a hug. "Shh..." she said. "No, no. It's not your fault, honey."

Kon's heart clenched in his chest, but he stepped back and gave them some privacy. Miller was on the football team. They'd know soon if he were a meta. If he was...if he really had targeted Matt because of his fixation on Delilah... Kon wasn't sure they'd find all the pieces.

He turned and walked back into the school, past the office where Cross was doing paperwork, past the hall where Dalton was waxing ecstatic about sea-slugs, past the library doors. He didn't make it back to English, though, because he heard a sound that was entirely too familiar.

Three seconds later, Kon was across the school, in the men's room by the auditorium. He had two terrified boys by their collars, pinned against the wall with their toes dangling just above the tile.

Behind him, Chase carefully picked himself up off the floor.

He was sitting in the library, valiantly battling polynomials, when his phone lit up and started to buzz. When he saw who was calling, he hurried over into the stacks, away from the circulation desk, and put it to his ear. "Hello?"

"About that dinner you owe me..." Cassie said, her tone light and flirtatious.

"I can't, tonight," Kon whispered. "I'm - " even whispering, he couldn't explain while he was in the school library. He wasn't leaving earshot of the campus until everyone from the club had gone home. Hamilton was out on the field with his team, and Mel and Katie were down in the band room. It was hard to hear them, specifically, but if there were enough people around to make that kind of racket, Kon figured they were safe for the moment.

"Okay," she said. "Tomorrow?"

Kon winced. "Yeah...probably busy tomorrow, too."

There was a pause on Cassie's end. She was...folding clothes? Something with cloth noises, anyway. "Okay," she said after a moment. "Call me when you're not busy, then."

"Will do," Kon whispered. There was a click as the line disconnected. Oops. He was probably in trouble.

He was planning to call Cassie and grovel when he got home, but when he actually approached the house, he immediately forgot all about it. Clark was standing in the truck patch with his hands on his hips, making a big show of inspecting Kon's handiwork.

"Hey," Kon said when he landed. Krypto bounded up to him with an old cannonball he'd dug up from somewhere, so Kon patted his head and threw it over the house, out toward the Mason's back fields.

"You've been busy," Clark said. He bent and adjusted the string around a tomato plant. "Ma expected you home to plant the corn, tonight."

Shit. He was apparently in trouble all around, tonight. "I can do it now."

"It'll keep."

"Some stuff came up - "

Clark frowned. "I know. I know about the club, Conner, and your involvement."

"Oh, good," Kon said. Clark was sending off some serious waves of displeasure, so he went and got the sacks of seed corn instead of just standing there like an idiot. He poked holes in the two bags and started walking across the patch, carefully controlling the fall of seed from the bag under each arm.

"You should- "

"I know what I'm doing," Kon interrupted. "Why are you pissed at me, again?"

Krypto came back. He flew past Clark to Kon, who took the 'ball' with the tip of his sneaker and launched it skyward with a kicking motion.

Clark sighed. "You're pretending to be something you're not."

At the end of the plot, Kon stopped the seeds from falling and moved over to start two new rows. "I'm not pretending to be anything," he said. "Other than human." He kept walking and sowing, laying the seed out onto the ground at neat intervals.

"That isn't what I meant," Clark said, sternly.

"Are you seriously mad at me for getting involved? Maybe you don't know, Clark, but a kid is dead. Today, I stopped his best friend from getting herself expelled, and I couldn't have done it without the club. I stopped - "he made a frustrated noise. "I really hope it was only a beating I stopped. I'm fighting the good fight."

"You didn't even plow the field before you started-"

"I told you, I know what I'm doing!" Kon growled. "Maybe I'm not doing it the same way you would, but somebody's got to do it, and oh, look, it's me."

"Conner-"

"You sent me here," Kon continued. "You wanted me to think of this as home. Well I do, Clark. It's my home, and and I'm not going to stand by and leave a bunch of perfectly nice kids cowering in terror. If you don't like how I'm doing things, go punch a meteor or something."

Kon threw down the empty sacks and clapped his hands together. He dropped to his knees and shoved his hands into the soil almost the the elbow, and with an almighty wrench he split the earth, tore it open, shook the whole plot until the seeds settled under. He dragged against the weight of the dirt until it drew up, forming hills and channels for drainage. He had to bite his tongue to do it, because it hurt - Kon had never done a whole plot like this all at once - but if Clark was going to stand there with his hands on his hips and tell him what to do, at least let him see what Kon was capable of.

Superman was stronger. He was faster and he was more experienced and he had cold-breath and microscopic vision, but Kon wasn't just an imperfect copy. When they'd made him, they'd made him different. There were things he could do that Superman couldn’t.

When he looked up at the neat rows that now stretched from one end of the cornfield to the other, Clark was staring at him in something like shock. They looked at each other like idiots until Clark finally glanced away, toward the house. "You missed dinner," he said. "But we saved you a plate."

"Thank you," Kon said, through gritted teeth.

Krypto landed between them and started to sniff at the freshly turned earth. Clark cleared his throat. "The garden does look look good," he conceded. "Goodnight." He lifted off.

"Goodnight," Kon repeated, and watched him go.

He managed to wait until Clark was out of his sight before he fell over.

Krypto licked his face and whined.

Index | 9 |