Chapter Text
Lena hated gym class. It was the one period in the day where she couldn’t hide behind books or slip into the background. Here, she was exposed, she was a target.
The smell of sweat and old rubber filled the gymnasium as the girls’ PE class was forced to run laps. Lena, always near the back, was trying her best to keep up when she felt the familiar shove against her shoulder. She stumbled, barely catching herself before hitting the ground. Laughter rang out from behind her.
“Come on, Luthor,” one of the girls sneered. “You’re supposed to be smarter than this—figure out how to move those scrawny legs faster.”
Lena didn’t respond. She never did. That only made it worse.
By the time they were sent to the locker room, Lena’s body ached. She tried to make herself as small as possible as she went to her locker, but she wasn’t invisible.
A girl named Leslie Willies—one of the ringleaders—slammed the locker door next to Lena’s shut, making her flinch.
“Still rocking those grandma glasses, huh?” Leslie smirked. “Bet you can’t even see without them.”
Lena reached for her stuff, but before she could react, one of the other girls snatched her glasses from her face. The world blurred instantly.
“Give them back,” Lena said quietly, her stomach twisting.
“Make me.”
Lena clenched her fists. She knew better than to try. She could hear their giggles, the shuffle of feet as they tossed the glasses between them like a game.
Then, a new voice cut through the noise.
“En serio? This is what you waste your time on?”
Lena blinked at the unfamiliar accent. The girls hesitated just enough for her to make out the figure of a new student standing in the doorway. Dark hair, sharp eyes, arms crossed.
“Who the hell are you?” Leslie asked.
The girl didn’t look intimidated. If anything, she looked unimpressed. “Someone who thinks you’re pathetic,” she said in a flat tone.
Leslie bristled. “Oh yeah? Why don’t you—”
Before she could finish, the new girl stepped forward, plucking Lena’s glasses right out of her hands.
Lena barely had time to process before the girl turned and placed them gently back onto her face.
“Don’t let them treat you like that,” the girl muttered under her breath before stepping back.
The bullies were stunned for a second before Leslie scoffed. “Whatever. Freaks can stick together.” She turned on her heel, her entourage following behind.
Lena felt her pulse pounding in her ears as she adjusted her glasses. The girl who had helped her—who had actually stood up for her—was watching her carefully.
“Thanks,” Lena mumbled.
The girl shrugged. “They’ll try again, you know.”
Lena knew that too well. She swallowed hard.
“I’m Andrea,” the girl said, leaning against the lockers. “Andrea Rojas. Just moved here.”
“Lena.”
Andrea gave her a once-over. “You always let them do that to you?”
Lena wanted to snap back, but there was no malice in Andrea’s voice—just curiosity.
“Not by choice,” Lena said, lowering her eyes.
Andrea sighed. “Well, they’re jerks. They only pick on people they think won’t fight back.”
Lena didn’t say anything. Andrea’s eyes softened a little.
“Look,” she said, “I’m not saying you need to go full ‘karate movie’ on them, but you could start by speaking up.”
Lena hesitated, then finally looked at Andrea.
“I don’t think that would help,” she admitted.
Andrea studied her for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, maybe not.” Then she smirked. “Good thing you’ve got me now.”
Lena blinked. “…What?”
Andrea shrugged. “I hate PE. And I hate bullies. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.”
After meeting Andrea, Lena felt a little bit of hope for this new friendship she was gonna try of not screw up. When the classes end, and everyone start to head home or to their own extracurricular activities she finds herself going to the library
The place was quiet, the soft hum of the ceiling lights blending with the occasional rustle of pages turning. Lena liked it here. It was one of the few places she could sit and feel invisible, tucked away at her usual table in the far corner, where the shelves cast long shadows in the evening light. She wasn’t in a rush to go home. The silence was comforting, a brief escape from everything else.
She adjusted her glasses and turned a page in her physics textbook, trying to focus—until she heard footsteps approaching. Loud ones.
Lena tensed before she even looked up.
“Hey, Luthor,” a voice drawled.
She knew that voice. Knew all of them.
A group of boys—three of them, all grinning—surrounded her table like a pack of hyenas. The leader, Jason, smirked as he pulled out a chair and sat down across from her like they were old friends.
“We’ve got an issue,” he said, placing a notebook on the table and sliding it toward her. “Ms. Thompson’s test is coming up, and, well… you know how it is. We need some help.”
Lena swallowed, gripping her pencil tighter. She knew exactly what he meant.
“I—I can’t,” she said quietly, glancing at the librarian, but the woman was too busy at the front desk to notice them.
“Sure you can,” another boy, Mike, chimed in, leaning over her shoulder. He plucked the pencil from her fingers and spun it between his own. “You’re smart. It’s not like it’s hard for you.”
“I have my own work,” Lena tried again, but Jason just clicked his tongue.
“Come on, Luthor. Don’t be selfish.”
Before she could react, Mike tugged gently at her ponytail, making her flinch. Not enough to hurt, just enough to remind her how easily they could escalate this.
“Just write it up for us,” Jason continued. “We’ll leave you alone. Easy, right?”
Lena knew better. Even if she did it, they’d just come back again next time. But resisting never worked either.
Her fingers shook as she opened her notebook and started giving they her homework anything to be left alone with no more confrontation
“Good girl,” Jason grinned, watching her work. The other boys chuckled, Mike patting her cheek lightly before stepping back.
A few minutes later, she slid the completed pages across the table, her stomach twisting as Jason scanned them with a pleased nod.
“See? That wasn’t so hard.”
They laughed as they stood up, making a show of ruffling her hair and knocking her glasses of her face before strolling out like they owned the place.
Lena exhaled shakily, willing herself to stay composed.
Then she felt a presence nearby.
“Lena?”
She turned sharply. Andrea was standing a few feet away, watching the boys disappear through the library doors. Her brows were furrowed, lips pressed together in something unreadable.
Lena quickly adjusted her glasses, straightening in her seat as if nothing had happened.
“H-Hey,” she said, voice a little too light, as if she could brush off what Andrea had just seen.
But Andrea wasn’t stupid and didn’t move right away. She just stood there, watching Lena as if trying to decide what to say. Lena hated that—the look, the pity. She didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for her.
“They do that a lot?” Andrea finally asked, nodding toward the door where the boys had left.
Lena hesitated, pushing her glasses up her nose. “It’s nothing,” she muttered, flipping through her textbook as if she were busy.
Andrea didn’t buy it.
“They were all over you,” she pointed out, stepping closer. “And you let them.”
Lena’s fingers curled around the edge of the page. “I didn’t let them.”
Andrea pulled out the chair across from her and sat down, dropping her bag onto the table with a loud thud. “Then why didn’t you tell them to screw off?”
Lena exhaled, staring at the words on the page without really reading them. Because that’s not how it worked. Not for her.
Instead of answering, she turned the question around. “Why do you care?”
Andrea scoffed. “I don’t.” She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. “I just think it’s pathetic that a Luthor gets pushed around like some nobody, from what I heard your brother used to be a big deal when he go here”
Lena flinched, a flicker of something sharp twisting inside her. Lex Luthor’s sister. That’s all she ever was to people. And even that didn’t save her from being the school’s favorite punching bag.
Andrea must have noticed her reaction because she sighed, rolling her eyes. “Relax. I’m not trying to be a bitch.”
Lena raised an eyebrow. “Could’ve fooled me.”
Andrea smirked. “Look, you don’t have to be so scared of them. They’re just a bunch of idiots.”
“Easy for you to say,” Lena murmured, tracing the edge of the table with her fingers. “They don’t go after you.”
Andrea tilted her head. “No, but I’ve seen enough.” Her eyes flickered toward Lena’s notebook—the pages filled with answers that weren’t for her. “And if you keep letting them walk all over you, they’re never gonna stop.”
Lena swallowed, trying to ignore the tightness in her chest. She knew that. Of course, she knew that. But what was she supposed to do? Fight back? The last time she tried, she ended up getting shoved into a locker for it.
Andrea tapped her fingers against the table, then sighed like she’d just made a decision. “Alright, that’s it. Get your stuff.”
Lena frowned. “What?”
Andrea grabbed her bag and stood up. “We’re leaving.”
“But—”
“No but.” Andrea gave her a look. “Come on, Luthor. You can sit here and mope, or you can come with me and let me cheer you up at least.”
Lena hesitated. She wasn’t used to this. Someone seeing what happened and still sticking around.
Andrea raised an eyebrow. “What’s it gonna be?”
Lena bit her lip, glancing at her books. Then, before she could second-guess herself, she sighed and packed up her things.
“Fine.”
Andrea grinned. “That’s what I want to hear.”
Lena rolled her eyes but follow Andrea to outside of the school.
*****************************************
Kara Danvers was the kind of person who lit up a room just by walking into it. She was effortlessly friendly, always quick with a smile or a joke, and had a way of making everyone feel like they belonged. It was part of why she was so well-liked at Midvale High. That, and the fact that she was one of the fastest runners on the track team.
Her friend group was tight-knit—her older sister, Alex, always looking out for her, Winn with his endless nerdy facts, Lucy Lane, who kept everyone in check, and James, Lucy’s boyfriend, who had an easygoing coolness about him. And then there was Mike.
Mike had been trying to ask Kara out since freshman year, despite her very obvious lack of interest. He was persistent in the most annoying way possible, always trying to impress her, always lingering a little too close. But Kara, in all her sunshine-filled kindness, never outright shut him down. She just… dodged.
One afternoon, as Kara sat in the cafeteria, staring at her latest math test with a deep sense of impending doom, Mike slid into the seat beside her with a smirk.
“Oof, that bad, huh?” He leaned over, peering at the red marks covering her paper. “Yikes, Kara. Maybe track isn’t the only thing you should be running from.”
Kara rolled her eyes. “Hilarious, Mike. Really.”
Lucy snorted from across the table, while Alex just raised an eyebrow at Kara as if to say, why do you even entertain him?
Mike ignored them. “Lucky for you, I know someone who can help.”
Kara perked up. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Mike leaned back, tossing an arm over the back of the seat. “There’s this girl, real genius type. She’s done a couple of my papers before.”
Lucy shot him a look. “Wait, done your papers?”
Mike waved a hand. “Helped. Whatever.”
Kara frowned, not loving the way that sounded. “And she’s okay with that?”
“She doesn’t have to be,” Mike said with a smirk. “She just does it.”
That didn’t sit right with Kara, but she was too focused on the fact that she desperately needed help in math to overthink it.
“Who is she?”
Mike shrugged. “Some nerd. Luthor’s little sister.”
Kara blinked. “Luthor?”
“As in Lex?” Winn chimed in, finally looking up from his own textbook.
“Yeah,” Mike said, snorting. “Didn’t even know he had a sister, huh? Yeah, she’s nothing like him. All nerdy and books and…” He trailed off, smirking to himself like he was remembering something funny.
Kara frowned again but sighed, looking back down at her test. “I guess I could use the help…”
“Great,” Mike said, clapping her on the back. “I’ll introduce you.”
Something about the way he said it made Kara uneasy.
But she didn’t know why.