Luthor family’s new world order

chapter 3: midvale middle (part 1 of 2)

With Kara officially conducted into the Danvers family, the next step was to enroll her in school.
“Welcome to Midvale Middle,” Alex said with a dry smile as she led her new younger sister up the stairs and into the old stone building. Kara’s expression was unreadable. On the one hand, she looked moderately excited. On the other, though, she looked a little less than impressed with the school.
“If you had it better back home, just keep in mind that this is a small-town school, so of course it isn’t going to be the world’s best,” Alex said, noting that look of discontent in Kara’s eyes. Kara, embarrassed that she had been so easy to read, ducked her head with a sheepish smile.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
By the end of that first day, Kara wouldn’t really be sure whether or not she agreed with her own statement or not. Earth school certainly was a spectacle…
First class had been English, which Kara had done decently well in. She still needed to perfect her knowledge of the English language, but she wasn’t miserably behind everyone else. She could read and write fairly well, all things considered, and since it was only the first day of class, nothing too complicated had started yet. It was mostly just introductions and whatnot. The real tough stuff would come later when they started actually diving into more complicated literature.
“But don’t worry about that either,” Alex snickered darkly. “Everyone knows English is a slack-off class. Even the hardest books are easy and half the students don’t even bother to read them because you can just find everything online! You don’t even need to be a good reader or writer, you just need to know how to say what the teachers want you to say, and then you’ll pass! It’s an Easy A!”
And Kara wasn’t sure if this idea relieved or concerned her. On the one hand, she was grateful to know that this class was one so simple even an idiot not paying attention could pass, but on the other, she did find it a tad insulting to think that this class was so easy that people could afford to do nothing and still pass.
Language was far nobler and complex than what this class made it out to be and Kara wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Kryptonian classes had been much more intense and in-depth. It sounded like, by comparison, all anyone on Earth needed in order to complete English class was to show up physically, but they didn’t even need to come mentally prepared. It seemed wrong somehow, and Kara almost found herself longing for the rigorous days back on Krypton, where language was properly respected and treated almost like an art form. Oh well, at least this class would be an Easy A…
Her next class had been math, which had confounded her deeply. She was just glad to realize that she was not the only one in class confused by the subject. Only Alex and a handful of others seemed even halfway confident in their abilities.
“Don’t worry, Kara,” Alex again promised. “It’ll get easier with time!” and Kara cheered up slightly.
“No it won’t,” someone behind them muttered darkly. Alex shot the person a glare while Kara felt her face droop again. Math was hard! She didn’t think she liked this class very much.
Then came history. This was the class Kara was most excited for.
“It’ll be interesting to see the history of your planet,” Kara whispered to Alex, but Alex hurriedly shushed her.
“It’s not nearly as exciting as you think, and I would be cautious of how you word things because if anyone hears you say something like “your planet” they’ll be confused and suspicious!”
“Ah, you’re right,” Kara inwardly kicked herself. The Danvers had all thoroughly impressed upon her the dangers of being alien in a human world. Although quite a few humans accepted aliens easily and willingly, a few held dark feelings and thoughts towards outsiders and for Kara’s own safety, it was wisest to blend in. Kara quickly realized that Alex had a point and made a mental note not just to try and learn Earth’s languages and history, but also its peoples’ languages and history so that she could more easily hide away in a crowd.
But that little gloomy thought aside, Kara did find history fascinating. Krypton was always known as being a warring but elegant planet, aggressive and fierce, yet highly intelligent, refined and dignified. Earth seemed to have a similar dichotomy. In all the stories Kara read and heard, Earth was either a place of savage beauty and thrilling struggles for power and recognition, or it was a place of transcendent and ethereal marvel, shrouded in pinnacle human deeds of intellect and heroism and sacrifice.
“Wow!” Kara had muttered after that first history lesson, though it had only been a summary about how humanity started off. She made sure never to act like that again, however, when Alex and several others gave her disapproving looks.
“This is our most boring class!” Alex hissed softly. “Never sound excited for it!”
“Nerd!” someone else snickered at the same time and a few others began to laugh at Kara. Once again realizing how she’d just outed herself as a weirdo and compromised her secrecy as an alien, Kara ducked her head shyly and made a mental note to never speak in this class again, unless it was to mock or insult it and its boring lectures, though Kara did secretly find it all to be really fascinating.
Then came science, which was another class Kara had been looking forward to. Though she was no scientist, she did hold a deep fascination for the subject, especially as it pertained to Earth. And of course, outer space was always something she held a passion for. She thought science as a subject was cool, and was eager to see how experiments were conducted on Earth, and what sort of things were considered worth studying here.
“Don’t get too excited,” someone muttered to her. “It’s nothing but a bunch of boring memorization and junk.”
“The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell! Woot, woot!” someone else bellowed a few seconds later, earning a few sniggers from the rest of the class. Kara blinked. These were not terms she was familiar with, but if it was a common joke spoken in science class, she would be sure to laugh just like everyone else next time.
After science class, there was a break for lunch.
“How’s your first day so far?” Alex asked as she and Kara took a spot in a quieter corner of the lunchroom.
“Interesting,” Kara replied, shoveling food into her mouth. Alex gave her a slightly disgusted look, but Kara missed it entirely. Unlike the other students at the school, she actually didn’t mind cafeteria food. Instead, to her, while it wasn’t as good as Eliza or Jeremiah’s cooking, it was still tasty stuff. Alex wished she could’ve had that strong of a stomach.
“Did you learn anything good?” Alex instead asked.
“Yes!” Kara said excitedly, then she began eagerly explaining to Alex all of the things she’d heard her teachers and peers say. All of it interested her, even the boring bits.
“Sounds cool,” Alex said. “Make a fool of yourself yet?” she tilted her head with a teasing smile.
“No!” Kara replied, but she looked up from her tray with worry in her eyes. “Why? Do you think I have?”
“No, no,” Alex shook her head with a gentle laugh. “I was just kidding.”
“Oh,” Kara, satisfied with the answer, dipped her head back down and kept on eating. Alex made another disgusted face which, once again, Kara totally missed.
“Just try to act normal,” Alex pleaded as she watched Kara eat.
“Mmmkay,” Kara replied as she took another giant bite of her food.
Then once lunch was over, it was time for P.E.
“Screw this, man!” someone cursed angrily.
“I know, the uniforms suck!” agreed another.
“My shoes don’t fit!” someone else grunted.
“I’m too tired for this crap!”
“I’m already sore!”
“God! I hate this class!”
“I don’t feel like running a bunch of stupid laps today!”
“Think anyone will notice if I hide under the bleachers?”