Chapter Text
Part 1: The Introduction
Kara Danvers was eight when her parents and sister discovered she had an acumen for basketball. Jeremiah and Eliza immediately signed her up for club teams, got her private lessons with the top basketball coaches in the surrounding areas, and she made varsity without a second thought from the coaches her freshman year at Midvale High. Several private schools around the state had contacted Jeremiah and Eliza, offering scholarships, faculty positions, moving expenses. Some even offered cars and straight up cash if her parents would transfer her to their school. They never sucked for it, for numerous reasons.
Kara was happy at Midvale High; comfortable, excelling. They didn’t want to take her out of an environment in which she thrived unless there was a very good reason. There was also the whole legal side of it. If it ever got out that the school and her family had bribed/taken a bribe to transfer Kara, she would lose her eligibility for the rest of high school and, quite possibly, college. There was no way they were going to risk that.
It was only when Eliza was offered a tenured position at National City University in the Biological Sciences department that a transfer happened. It seemed as good of a time as any: Alex was off at college, working her way through undergrad and flirting with the idea of not actually pursuing the medical degree she’d long talked about and Kara still had two years left of high school. They no longer needed such a large house with only three living there full time.
So, in the summer before Kara’s junior year, the Danvers family packed up and moved to the suburbs of National City. Jeremiah went to work at the city’s medical college, developing robotic limbs and other alternatives to traditional prosthetics. Kara, meanwhile, received a full athletic scholarship for National City Prep; the most elite private school in all of California—where children of Governors, Washington D.C. politicians, and some of the nation’s wealthiest and most academically inclined attended.
She was sad to leave her school, her teams, her friends, but she was also excited for a new adventure. National City Prep would challenge her more academically and, hopefully, take her basketball skills to the next level. It would give her access to higher tier colleges (and the scholarships they offered), as well as allow her to socialize with an entirely different set of kids she likely would never have met if she’d stayed at Midvale.
---
Prior to school starting, Jeremiah accompanied her to the Administration office to meet the principal and her counselor, to get her schedule and her locker assignment, and to tour the campus.
“This place is massive,” Kara whispered, awestruck, as she walked along the sidewalk and gazed down at the campus map she’d been given.
Jeremiah smiled and squeezed her shoulder and guided her along so she didn’t step off the pavement awkwardly.
“You’ll be required to wear the required uniform for regular classes and gym classes, Miss Danvers,” the principal, Olivia Marsdin, said as they continued through a courtyard.
Kara glanced up from the map. “What does the regular uniform consist of, ma’am?”
“It’s not as strict as some other schools around the country—a red, white, or navy polo shirt with the school crest, khaki, navy, or black skirt, pants, or shorts, and proper footwear.” She glanced back and off Kara’s stricken look, she continued. “There are no requirements for girls to wear the skirt; it’s completely up to them,” Ms. Marsdin replied.
Kara breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at the woman. It wasn’t that she was opposed to skirts, per se, but to be forced into wearing one? No thank you.
“Over here is the athletic building,” Ms. Marsdin pointed out as they headed to a massive three-story building. “It houses our two gymnasiums, our Olympic sized swimming pool, indoor running track, batting cages for our baseball and softball teams, and various weightlifting and exercise equipment, as well as proper locker rooms for teams and students. All state of the art!”
“Wow,” Kara whispered again. She’d died and gone to heaven; she just knew it.
It wasn’t that Kara was totally jock brained, only caring about the sports and basketball of it all; on the contrary. At Midvale High, she’d touted a respectable 3.8 GPA. But seeing what millions of dollars in endowment and booster money could buy, well…it was impressive. She’d be able to train in a top-quality facility whenever she wanted. If she didn’t feel like doing cardio on an elliptical or treadmill, or even on the indoor track, she could do laps in the pool. Midvale High’s swim team had to utilize the YMCA’s pool for practices and meets, so Kara was never able to take dips before or after school.
Hours later, the tour long over and Eliza home from work, they sat down to dinner.
“So, how did the tour go?” she asked as she took a bite of the chicken casserole Jeremiah had prepared.
“It went fine,” Kara shrugged nonchalantly, not meeting her mother’s eye; projecting the essence of cool outside, while her stomach twisted in knots inside.
“Just fine, huh?” Eliza eyed her suspiciously. She glanced to her husband. “And your thoughts?”
“It’s a very impressive campus,” Jeremiah replied around a bite and taking a drink of water. “The science building alone felt about as big as Midvale High.”
Kara nodded in agreeance, finally meeting her mother’s gaze. “Yeah, mom. The place is massive. I’m actually kind of nervous about getting lost.” She lowered her head, cheeks reddening at her own admission. She was 16, but even with confidence she’d found over the last couple of years, she still sometimes felt like that same, scared five-year-old on the first day of kindergarten.
Eliza smiled softly at her youngest daughter and reached over and placed a comforting hand over Kara’s, squeezing lightly.
“You’ll be just fine, sweetie,” she said. “I know starting a new school is a scary thing, especially one that is as large as National City Prep. It’ll definitely be an adjustment, but your father and I know you can do it. You can always ask some of the other kids for directions, if need be.”
Kara glanced up as a small smile tugged at her lips. “Thanks, mom.” She took a big bite of her dinner and chewed thoughtfully. After she swallowed, she quickly added, “You guys will have your phones on, though, right? Just in case I need some encouragement via text?” She glanced between her parents as they exchanged a knowing smile.
“Yes, honey,” Jeremiah finally replied. “Our phones will be on all day.”
“Ok, good,” she sighed in relief.
“Did you want us to have Alex leave her phone on, too?” Eliza smirked into her glass, unable to resist having a little fun at Kara’s expense.
Alex and Kara had a pretty good relationship as far as sisters went. There’d been a couple rough patches over the years, given the three-year age difference. But mostly, it was a bond of love. They joked around with each other a lot—Kara teasing Alex if she got less than an A on an assignment (a very rare occurrence), Alex giving Kara grief over her reliance on their parents’ reassurance in any and all aspects of her life, despite being an almost college bound teenager.
Regardless, they both knew they could count on the other no matter what; any time of the day or night.
“Mom, no.” Kara said, pointing her fork at her mother. “Don’t say a word to Alex. She’ll never let me live it down!”
---
Her first day of school was overwhelming, if uneventful. She was paired up with a student guide who’d been at the school for at least a year and happened to share her exact schedule—his name was Winn. He was friendly enough, a bit of a gossip, but he gave her the lay of the land and told her which hallways to avoid and when. She could tell he’d already developed a bit of a crush even though it’d only been five minutes, so she shot it down quickly.
At first she was surprised he took it so well, but based on what he’d told her about his mother and how she had raised him by herself for pretty much his entire life, she supposed it made sense that he was actually well-adjusted. It was refreshing; the guys at Midvale were very…caveman in their mentality.
As they walked to their AP English class, Kara took a shoulder check by a tall brunette with a scowl on her face.
“Oh, my gosh. I’m so sorry!” Kara apologized, even though it wasn’t her fault; her unfailing politeness rearing its head.
“Watch where you’re going then you wouldn’t have to apologize,” the other girl practically growled as she stalked off.
Kara opened her mouth to reply, but Winn pulled her along.
“You don’t want to get into it with her, Kara. Trust me,” he said as they continued.
“Who even is that girl?” Kara asked, exasperated. She’d been at school for half a day and for the most part people had been nice, if a little curious. It wasn’t often (read: never) National City Prep got new students from public high schools, but that girl was on a different level. And for as in shape as Kara was, that shoulder check had kind of hurt…
“Andrea Rojas,” Winn answered. He guided her into their classroom and introduced her to the teacher. They found two desks near the back so they could continue their conversation.
“Rojas…” Kara breathed out, her brain mulling the familiar name. “Why do I know that name?”
“Her father owns and runs Obsidian North,” he replied, taking out his notebook and pen and began to copy down the notes on the board.
“The tech company?” Kara asked as she followed suit. Off Winn’s nod she let out a low whistle. “So, she’s basically queen bee around here, then?”
“Exactamundo, friend,” Winn tapped his nose.
Kara filed that information away as the teacher started class, ending their conversation.
As it turned out, Kara wasn’t so lucky. After lunch she and Winn had gym class, as did Andrea.
She’d changed quickly and was out of the locker room to meet back up with Winn who introduced her to his friend James; a tall, dark, and muscularly handsome boy—if you were into that thing, which Kara sometimes was, but she didn’t have that instant hit to the gut she usually did with crushes.
“How’s your first day going, Kara?” James asked her as he re-tied his sneaker.
“Ok, for the most part,” Kara said. “This place is a little overwhelming compared to my old school.”
James chuckled at that. “Yeah, I’d imagine. Major culture shock going from public to private, right?”
“Exactly,” she agreed. She heard the locker room door open and a commotion of conversation. She glanced discreetly over her shoulder and noticed that it was Andrea holding court over a few other girls. The brunette sent her a glare as the small group crossed over to the bleachers and Kara whipped her head back around to the boys. “Some haven’t been as welcoming as others, though.”
James’ face scrunched in confusion and he looked to Winn, who was taking his turn to chuckle. “Kara had the displeasure of running into Andrea in the hall earlier; literally,” he explained to James.
“Ooh,” James shuddered in understanding. “Ice queen. I’m so sorry, Kara,” he said and gave her a pitying look, placing a hand on her shoulder. “If you need witness protection, I’ve got a couple of friends on the basketball team who can put you in touch with the right people.”
Kara laughed and shoved his hand off her shoulder. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”
The teacher, a younger and very fit (but no less severe looking) redhead named Ms. Stevenson, blew her whistle to call the students over and explained how the class would go. They would do multiple units over the course of the year, each lasting two weeks. As long as you were putting in some effort, you’d get the points for the day. If you weren’t putting in effort, though, she promised consequences in the form of making up the class in after school detention, doing nothing but running until you puked.
Physical education at National City Prep was different from Midvale High in a few ways. First: NC Prep required it all year, whereas Midvale High only required a quarter’s worth of class per year. Second: Midvale split gym classes by grade level; NC Prep blended grade levels. Third: if you didn’t have appropriate dress for class at Midvale, you were docked a couple of participation points and sent to the library for a study hall period; if you didn’t have the uniform for NC Prep, your grade was automatically docked a full level—if you wanted to avoid that, you could write a five-page paper on the impact of the lack of proper physical education and its relation to the obesity epidemic in the United States.
Kara made a special mental note to thank her parents for their foresight in getting her a couple extra pairs of the gym uniform.
Ms. Stevenson informed them that they’d be starting the year off on the tennis courts. It made avoiding another confrontation with Andrea a lot easier, for which Kara was thankful.
---
“How was your first day, sweetie?” Eliza asked as she portioned out the steak and chicken kabobs she’d helped Jeremiah prepare for dinner.
“It was fine,” Kara replied easily, sliding the meat and veggies off the skewer and onto her plate. She cut a piece of chicken in half and stabbed a hunk of red bell pepper and onion onto her fork as well and popped the bite into her mouth. “Mmm, thesh are sho good,” she said around her food.
“Kara,” Eliza chided with a poorly concealed smile. She knew her daughter had impeccable table manners, even if they weren’t on display at the moment. She still appreciated the unabashed praise for the meal.
“Sorry,” Kara apologized lightly after she’d swallowed. “But yeah, school was fine. They don’t mess around with classes at NC Prep—no ‘first day is just going over the syllabus’ stuff; the teachers lectured most of the class and assigned plenty of homework.”
Her parents smiled at that news. It’s not that they were at all unhappy with the education Midvale High had offered, but if they’d had the opportunity (and the tuition money) to send Alex to National City Prep, they would have done it in a heartbeat.
“Did you make any new friends?” Jeremiah asked as he popped a piece of steak into his mouth, groaning in delight as Kara had. “Oh man,” he leaned in his chair and draped his head over the back, eyes closed. “Kara wash right, honey. Thesh are sho good.” He did his best Homer Simpson drooling impression as Eliza swatted at him, laughing.
“Honestly, what am I going to do with you two?” she rolled her eyes good-naturedly.
Kara laughed at the scene and when her dad finally sat back up and looked at her, she answered his question.
“Yes, dad. I made a couple of friends,” she smiled softly. “The school pairs new students up with student guides and I got a boy named Winn.”
“A boy, huh?” Jeremiah leaned forward and raised an eyebrow, flexing his muscles a little.
“Ew, Dad, no. Stop!” Kara’s hand flew to her face at his over-the-top show of masculinity. She knew he was kidding, but still.
“I’m sorry, Kara,” he laughed lightly and sat normally. “You just make it so easy!”
She was tempted to throw a piece of food at him, but one glance at Eliza told her to not repeat the Food Fight of 2015.
“So, tell us about Winn,” Jeremiah prodded, going back to his dinner with a small smirk on his lips, as though he knew what she’d been thinking.
Kara rolled her eyes and picked her fork back up. “He’s nice; single mother, no siblings. Very intelligent, but not braggy or showy about it. Super down to Earth and funny. He and I have the exact same schedule, so if we didn’t click it was gonna be a long and uncomfortable year.”
“Well, we’d love to meet him sometime!” Eliza said brightly as she took a sip of water. “Anyone else make the cut today?”
“Yeah,” Kara answered before her own drink of water. “Winn’s friend James—he’s in our gym class. He seemed like a cool guy; athletic, funny. He offered to get me in touch with people who could set me up with witness protection, if I needed it,” Kara shrugged and took another bite of her dinner.
Her parents’ silence was palpable and she knew they were tossing worried looks to one another.
“Um, Kara…” Jeremiah broached carefully.
She glanced up and smirked, “He was kidding, Dad.”
Jeremiah’s laughed uncomfortably as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Of course, he was!”
“I mean, I guess I somehow ticked off the most popular girl in school by like…existing. And her family is so rich that they could definitely make it like we never even lived in the state of California. But other than that…” Kara waved her hand through the air as she trailed off.
Her parents exchanged looks again, but said nothing. They knew Kara would come to them for help if she really needed it. But they were definitely going to keep this conversation in the back of their mind, just in case.
“I had a meeting with Coach Carlin after school, too,” Kara continued. “She gave me a strength and conditioning program to start in a couple of weeks to help me get ready for the season.”
“Excellent!” Jeremiah clapped his hands. “You’ll have to show us after dinner. Mom and I can help you make a schedule once you’ve got a better feel for your new school routine,” he smiled broadly. He always loved helping Kara with basketball stuff and was excited to see her in her first game at NC Prep.
“Sounds good!” Kara smiled back, just as brightly.
---
Soon enough, Kara was settled into a rhythm and time started to fly. It was a month and a half into the school year and things were going great.
“Why don’t you pass the damn ball, Danvers?” Andrea hissed out on the court.
Ok, things were going mostly great. Andrea still seemed to have an issue with her. They were in gym class and they’d just started the basketball rotation. It was perfect timing because practices for the school team would be starting soon after their gym unit ended; she’d be plenty warmed up by then. Unfortunately, Ms. Stevenson had split them into teams for five-on-fives and she and Andrea were stuck with each other.
Kara rolled her eyes and sent a bounce pass to another girl on their team, Sam, who dribbled into the paint and made the layup.
As they jogged back to play defense, she heard Andrea muttering to herself in Spanish. Based on the tone alone, Kara was glad she took French instead because if she knew what Andrea was saying, she was sure there’d be some kind of altercation; verbal or otherwise.
---
The next day Ms. Stevenson had mercifully picked new teams, which put Andrea on a squad and a court away from Kara, while also putting James and Winn on her team.
In the midst of a play, James stole the ball and Kara sprinted back down the court. He passed the ball to Winn who took the ball over the center line and launched it with one arm to Kara, who stood near the basket, still alone.
“Kara!” Winn called out.
What he hadn’t seen that Kara had, though, was the girl in black Louboutin’s that accentuated her long, creamy white legs which disappeared under a black skirt, with dark hair and crimson lips and the most captivating green eyes. Kara’s mouth hung open and her eyes were wide and her heart was about to beat from her chest—she was sure she was seeing the single most beautiful person in the world.
The darkhaired girl glanced over as she strode through the gym towards Ms. Stevenson and lifted an eyebrow in Kara’s direction.
“Kara, look out!” Winn yelled again.
Kara didn’t hear or heed the warning.
WHOOMPH.
She took the ball to the back of her head; it hit so hard she went down to her knees as her vision dimmed and her hearing buzzed for a short while.
She shut her eyes took a few deep breaths as she felt someone’s hand touch her shoulder. Her ears were slowly coming back and she could make out Winn’s slightly muffled voice.
“Kara, man, I’m so sorry! You were open so I just-”
“It’s ok, Winn,” Kara said as she shook her head trying to clear the cobwebs. She was still seeing little black spots, but felt better for the most part. She took James’ offered hand to help her stand and glanced over to Ms. Stevenson who was looking at her.
“Danvers,” she yelled across the gym. “You alright?”
“Fine!” she yelled back, giving her teacher a thumbs up.
The darkhaired girl stood next to Ms. Stevenson waiting for their conversation to continue, not sparing a glance Kara’s way.
“What happened?” James asked quietly while Kara dusted her knees off and then wiped her hands on her shorts.
“Yeah, that was weird. You just stood there with your mouth all open and you had drool pouring out,” Winn added as he mimed and mimicked Kara’s alleged expression.
She glowered at his over-the-top reenactment and shoved his shoulder. Her eyes tracked the darkhaired girl as she headed back towards the doors of the gym, this time sending a look in Kara’s direction—she tried to keep a calm, friendly smile on her face but ended up giggling as soon as her eyes connected with Kara’s.
Kara felt her face flush as she waved to the beautiful stranger.
“Who is she?” she said breathless.
Winn and James followed Kara’s line of sight, then exchanged a look, deciding who would break it to her. Winn drew the short straw.
“Lena Luthor,” he initially offered.
“Lena,” Kara repeated quietly, almost reverently. “Why haven’t I seen her before?”
“She’s a sophomore, but her parents pull her out of school sometimes, to help them with projects.”
Kara sent him a quizzical look. “I don’t understand?”
“She’s a literal genius. She could graduate next year, for sure. I don’t know why she’s not considered a junior or a senior at this point,” Winn replied as they got set to restart their scrimmage.
They didn’t have the chance to finish the conversation before class ended, so Kara had Winn and James fill her in during their group work session in U.S. History.
It turned out Lena Luthor was the daughter of those Luthors—LuthorCorp was the world’s leading producer of medical technology innovations, creating biosynthetic heart valves and organs, state of the art prosthetics—especially for veterans who were injured overseas—among other things. Kara hadn’t even clocked it when Winn had told her originally which was dumb because Luthor wasn’t exactly a common name like Johnson or Smith, especially taking into consideration the setting of the most elite private school.
It also turned out that Lena was close with Andrea.
“They’ve been best friends since birth, pretty much,” James explained. “They’ve gone to the same schools since Lena was in kindergarten and Andrea was in first grade. Their fathers have been friends for years and collaborate on projects from time to time.”
“What’s her dating situation?” Kara asked Winn.
James’ eyebrows rose and he shot Winn another look while Winn sighed unhappily.
“That’s the thing, Kara,” he started. He scratched lightly at the side of his head trying to find the best way to break the news.
“What?” she said, her head turning between the two. Neither wanted to meet her eye. “Look, if she’s straight, it’s whatever. Better I find out now before I embarrass myself any further, right?”
“Well,” James sighed. “That’s not the issue…”
Kara’s brow crinkled as he trailed off. It became clear he wasn’t going to continue, she lifted her hands from her desk, palms up, and prodded. “What? What’s the issue?”
“She’s with Andrea,” Winn cringed.
Kara deflated in her seat. “Oh…”
Well, that complicates things a bit, she thought to herself.
“But just because they’re dating doesn’t mean she would hate me as much as Andrea does, and based on nothing, right? Like, you guys saw the nice smile she gave me,” she tried to rationalize.
“That’s true,” James agreed. He looked over to Winn. “Lena’s always been the more levelheaded of the two.”
Winn nodded, “And now that I think about it, those two haven’t been as close as they usually are.”
He discreetly took out his phone and shot off a series of texts to someone. Within seconds his phone was vibrating with replies and his smile was wide.
“Sam says they broke up back in August,” he relayed. “They’re trying to be friends, but Andrea’s having more difficulty letting go and respecting boundaries. So, obviously Lena was the one who broke it off.”
Kara felt her heart skip a beat and her smile started to mirror Winn’s.
Winn’s phone buzzed again.
“What’s she saying?” Kara leaned over to try and peek at his screen, but he had a privacy shield on. Damn him.
Winn nudged her back into her own seat with a finger to her forehead as James snickered. He was lucky she didn’t bend that finger back and swipe the phone.
“Ahh, this is interesting,” Winn teased with a glance at Kara.
“What? What is interesting?” Kara was desperate, pathetically so. She’d seen Lena one time and her crush was already that bad? Yikes.
“It seems Lena’s got her eyes on someone new and Andrea is not taking it well.” His phone buzzed once more. “Oh, and Lena’s transferring into our gym class; that’s what she was doing in there today. She was having an issue with Max Lord in her morning gym class, so they’re letting her change since her AP Physics class is offered at that time, too.”
Kara slid back and down in her seat to process all this information.
“Sam didn’t say who the new crush was?”
Winn checked his phone again and shook his head.
Kara mulled it over, tapped her fingers on her desk and did some calculations in her mind before nodding resolutely.
“Ok, then,” she said before turning back to James and Winn. “Let’s get to work.”
If Lena was fair game, then Andrea be damned. Besides, even if she didn’t end up winning Lena’s heart, it’d be nice to have another friend.