Jason walked through the hallway after class. He ignored the chatter of his fellow classmates. Any discussions about who was dating who, how to do your hair, and the star player of the basketball team didn't quite appeal to him. Instead, Jason was fixated on one question.
"Why the hell am I crying?"
It took him a minute to figure it out. The story he told in class was very close to his heart. Superman was more than just Metropolis' savior. He was also Jason's best friend. It didn't matter what was going on in the world. It could have been anything from a terrorist attack or a kitten stuck in a tree. Superman arrived every Saturday at 8am on the dot, never once showing up late. Their routine consisted of breakfast, board games, piano lessons, and bedtime stories. Superman never had to be there, but he wanted to be. Jason could never understand why he was chosen out of every child in Metropolis to be Superman's number one priority.
The train of thought was broken by Jason tripping and falling to the floor. All conversations in the hallway turned into laughter as his face met the tile.
"Might wanna watch that first step, crybaby!"
Evan was standing tall as the culprit. Not only was Evan the most popular among the students, he was the most wealthy. This gave him access to the latest technology and fashions. There were only a handful of red heads in the school and his was darker than most. Intelligence was the only area in which Evan ever had a rival. His rival was Jason.
"I hear you turned on the water works in 12th period today," Evan boasted as Jason got to his feet.
"Heard you still can't find shirts in men's sizes," Jason replied brushing himself off.
"Heh...that's cute. You got jokes. You're also gonna have a black eye in a minute."
The two students approached each other only to be separated by a third party. His name was Kyle, Jason's best friend. Kyle was an artist. Comic strip illustrator for the school paper to be exact. It was fitting seeing as he took nothing seriously. Since freshman year, Kyle had always acted as Jason's big brother; helping him out of confrontations such as this.
"Whoa whoa whoa," Kyle shouted trying to keep them apart. "Let's all calm down before we dent the brand new lockers!"
"Saving the day again are we," Evan asked. "Well one of these days you're not gonna be around to protect him."
"And one of these days your trust fund won't be able to pay for the product in your hair," Kyle replied.
Evan stuttered before responding. "It holds for 12 hours!"
"Thank you," Jason said to Kyle as they walked away. "I wasn't in the mood to deal with him today."
"I could tell," said Kyle. "Felt like frying an egg on your head. What's going on dude?"
"I...got a bit more emotional than I thought I would in class."
If Kyle knew nothing else about Jason, he knew how much Superman meant to his best friend. Jason was close to the Man of Steel for two years. Telling the story of how he died must have taken a toll. Putting his arm on Jason's shoulder, Kyle tried to make things a little bit better.
"Well, look at the bright side, Jay," he said. "You start your internship with Mr. Olsen today, right?"
"Shit," Jason shouted. "I'm late! Sorry, Kyle! I'm outta here! Text me!"
Jason dashed away before Kyle could even come close to saying goodbye. The Daily Planet was a good two miles away from the school. For any normal person at a steady pace, it would take about half an hour or so to get there. Jason, however, moves faster than normal people. Jogging to his destinations cut the arrival time in half.
Upon arriving to The Daily Planet, Jason tried to weave his way through the staff. It was a busy day so everyone was running around trying to meet their deadlines. This was a perfect opportunity to be inconspicuous. After all, he wanted to make a good first impression.
"JASON LANE!!"
Too late for that. The woman's voice was so loud that it silenced the roar of the scattering employees. How she could be heard all the way from the back office, Jason could never understand. All he did know is that from the looks of things the shout was louder to him than it was to anyone else.
"Y-y-yes ma'am," Jason stuttered, adjusting his glasses.
"My office! Now!"
Jason took deep breaths as he slowly made his way to the door marked Editor In Chief - Lois Lane. He shut the door behind him and sat in the chair across from his superior.
"You're late," she said looking into Jason's eyes.
"I know."
She motioned to the slight bruise on Jason's cheek where he had fallen. "What happened?"
"I fell," he replied.
"Evan's fault?"
"Shoe lace."
"Don't lie to me. You know I'm better than that."
"He tripped me."
"Stop letting him get to you."
"Yes, Mom."
Lois let out a sigh pulling out Jason's paperwork. She skimmed through it quickly before addressing her son.
"Look," she said. "I know this isn't what you wanted to do. I don't even know what you want to do with your life. You won't tell me. All I do know is that..."
She tried to stop from getting choked up before starting again.
"He saw the potential in you to do something great. All I ask is that you give the internship with Uncle Jimmy a shot. Maybe then we can at least get an idea of what your strengths are."
"That's just it, Mom," he said. "I'm good at everything short of sports. I don't feel right doing anything though."
"Well you aren't going to find out sitting at the piano until three in the morning are you?"
"No, I'm not," Jason answered. "Am I good to go?"
"Yes, you are."
Jason got up from the chair and made his way to the door. Lois stopped him before he could reach the handle.
"Oh, by the way," she asked. "How did your presentation go?"
"It was ok," he said.
"Is that all?"
Jason paused before telling his mother the truth. "It wasn't great."
"Why not?"
"I didn't get to talk about Mr. Kent," he replied sadly.
Lois got up from her seat. It was one of the two times she got to do it that day. The other being shouting at Jason for being late to work. In contrast, however, she put her arms around her son and gave him a hug. Jason returned the favor.
"Jason," she said. "All that matters is that Clark Kent was a good reporter. You remember what I told you about that right?"
"A good reporter doesn't get great stories," he said with a smile. "A good reporter makes them great."
