Superman: Dawnbreaker (DC Icons #4)(41)

By the end of the day, Clark was an emotional wreck. He felt like he was teetering at the lip of some invisible mountain peak. One more step in any direction and he’d find himself tumbling down the rocky face of the crag. He stayed in his last class longer than usual, pretending to read his history textbook. When everyone else had cleared out, he slipped the book into his backpack, zipped it up, and hurried out the door—only to slam right into Gloria.

She bounced off him like a Ping-Pong ball, and her books went flying.

Clark instinctively shifted into super-speed and caught both Gloria and her books in a single motion. He then dropped down on one knee, cradling her in his right arm, inches above the hard tile floor. At least he had more control over his powers now.

She looked up at him, startled.

Clark stared into her big brown eyes, transfixed. When her lips parted in surprise, an intense feeling came over him. He’d never wanted to kiss a girl as much as he did in that moment. He didn’t kiss her, of course. He simply remained frozen with her in his arms.

Gloria cleared her throat. “Clark, do you think you could, uh, help me up?”

“Oh. Yeah.” He lifted her upright. “Sorry about that.”

“I think it was my fault.” She put a hand to her chest. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Hey, Gloria?” Clark ran his fingers through his hair. “Do you think we could maybe talk for a minute?”

“Sure.” She looked up and down both halls before turning to him with the beginnings of a grin on her face. “What are your general feelings about licorice?”

Clark frowned. “Licorice?”

“Licorice.” She unzipped her backpack and pulled out a fresh pack. “I won this in my psych class this morning, and I’ve been looking for someone to share it with.”

“Actually, I love licorice,” he told her.

“Cool. Follow me.”

Clark’s heart pounded as they walked through the hall. He couldn’t believe he’d just asked Gloria to talk. Maybe this was a positive side effect of feeling so lost: you might as well say what was on your mind.

Gloria led Clark outside and over to the soccer field. He sat beside her in the grass, and they both pulled off their backpacks and set them by their feet. Gloria tore open her licorice pack. She pulled out two strands and handed one to Clark. The men’s soccer team was on the field below them, running through a series of dribbling drills. “Your brother, Marco,” he said, pointing down the hill.

She nodded. But Gloria’s mind now seemed elsewhere. She was troubled by something, which was exactly the way he’d felt all day. He could guess what had Gloria so upset. He stared at the side of her face, wondering how it might feel to live on the south side of Smallville these days. The Mexican part of town. Where your loved ones could up and vanish at any moment. “So, who do you think is responsible for what’s happening in your community?” Clark asked.

Gloria smiled politely and shook her head. “You don’t want my actual opinion.”

“No, I really do—”

“People like you, Clark!” she barked, her eyes suddenly bright with anger. “Perfectly nice Smallville residents who open doors for you and invite you to their church, then turn around and vote to allow cops to stop you just because you’re brown.”

“There’s no way Smallville will let that become law.”

“Yeah….We’ll see.”

Clark swallowed, nodding, and turned his attention back to the soccer practice. He felt small sitting beside her now. And guilty. But he didn’t blame her. If he were in her shoes, he’d be angry, too.

Actually, he was angry.

“You’re right,” he told her. “People like me are sitting around doing nothing while families are being torn apart.”

Gloria let her head fall into her hands. “I’m just sort of messed up right now,” she admitted. “About everything. Last night my uncle got beat up real bad at a bar.” She looked up at Clark. “Some neighbors rushed him into our apartment…and it was awful. He’d lost teeth. He was covered in blood. And he swore he didn’t do anything.”

Clark froze.

“His girlfriend told us that if some random guy hadn’t come along to break up the fight, the attackers might’ve killed my uncle Moises.”

The assault last night…

That had been Gloria’s uncle.

Clark couldn’t believe it. “That’s awful. I hope he’s going to be okay. I swear, Gloria, everyone claims we’re experiencing some kind of heyday in Smallville right now, but I think it’s the opposite. We’ve never been more divided.”

After a long pause, she looked up at him and said, “Do you wanna know the real reason I was so upset that day you found me in the classroom?”

Clark’s phone buzzed just then, and he glanced down to see who the message was from. Lana. He looked up at Gloria again. “Because of the people who’ve disappeared.”

“That was part of it,” she said. “But there was also a much more selfish reason.” She hesitated.

Clark sat up straighter, understanding that what Gloria was about to share was important to her. And he wanted her to know that made it important to him, too.

She reached into her backpack and pulled out a wrinkled letter and unfolded it. “A couple weeks ago, I found out I qualified to be one of the two valedictorian candidates for the senior class.”