How are you guys liking the book so far and have you started school? (P.s hope you enjoy❤️)
"Glad to see I still have an effect on you," Veronica purred in her ear, making the girl shiver.
Lena's face reddened as she attempted to regain her composure, her cold facade returning, "You're mistaken. What are you even doing here anyway?"
"Looks like you still got bite," Veronica purred, leaning in to connect their lips and moving her leg in between her target's thighs.
Lena released a surprised sound, but the other girl swallowed it and it came out as a pathetic muffle.
When Kara heard someone call out Lena by her last name, her stomach plummeted and she turned around to scope through the sea of students, spotting her friend pinned against the lockers by a stunningly attractive girl around the same age.
She felt anger broiling in her stomach.
However, it was a masquerade for jealousy, though she was unaware of that.
Then when the mysterious girl leaned in to kiss Lena, her jaw dropped to the floor and she felt a painful ache in her chest for some reason unknown to her.
When Veronica shoved her leg in between Lena's thighs, the blonde mistook the shocked sound that left the Luthor's throat to be a pleasured moan and the angry shade of red on her complexion to be one of fluster.
Kara frowned, feeling the familiar burning in her eyes as tears threatened to collect and spill over.
She whipped away and merged into the crowd of students, mistaking the feeling of heartbreak for anger.
Veronica released her victim's lips from her mouth's prison with a quiet smack, turned her head and went in for another.
Lena narrowly avoided the blood red lips, roughly pushing her away and wiping her mouth clean of the lipstick that smudged across her cheekbone, "What the hell do you think you're doing? Do you not recall us breaking up?"
"I don't recall us ever being exclusive, just a hook-up, a one-night stand where many more followed," Veronica tilted her head, "You're so needy, did you really think you were that special?"
Lena pursed her lips and folded her arms, "Whatever, why're you here?"
"I can't visit an old friend? We did move into the same city, did you forget about me?" she made a pouty face.
"Yes," she answered without hesitation, "And blissfully so."
Veronica chuckled, unfazed by the remark, "Is it 'cause of that blondie I heard you keep hanging out with?"
Lena froze, "How'd you-"
"Oh, please, I still keep in touch with Devlin, he's one of my most popular clients."
"I'm not going to ask you to elaborate on that."
Veronica rolled her eyes and sighed, "I'm not a prostitute if that's what you're thinking."
"Color me surprised, then what's he paying you for?"
She grinned, "It's a secret."
Lena rolled her eyes, "We both know that you're full of those."
"You're one to talk, Luthor. You're better at keeping secrets than I am. Also, I didn't know you were capable of making friends, and from what I've heard, it's genuine. So, when will you introduce me?"
The raven-haired girl dropped her head.
Veronica frowned mockingly, "Awww, you guys break up already?"
"Fuck off, Sinclair," Lena growled.
"No need to get so feisty, I've got the perfect distraction for you," the girl chuckled, holding out her hand and giving her a look, "Want to see what's got Devlin intrigued?"
Lena hesitated, she knew if she got herself involved with Veronica's mischievous ways again, there would likely be consequences, but she could not bring herself to think about them.
She welcomed any distraction that could get her mind off of Kara, and alcohol was definitely not a strong candidate anymore.
She took Veronica's hand and was led away.
"Kara," Lucy called out.
"Huh?"
"You called me, asked me if we could have girl time at Noonan's tonight," she stated, looking out the windows into the darkening night, watching as the last of the day's light was swallowed up into the void, droplets of rain and dew dripping onto the panels.
Her lips morphed into a wry smile, "You're picking at your food. Not to mention there are sticky buns, potstickers, and chocolate pecan pie on it. So, what's up?"
The blonde set her fork down and sighed, burying her head in her hands, "It's Lena."
"What'd she do? Hah! Convenient. Right as I was warming up to her. I swear if she did anything I'll literally gut out her nonexistent heart and feed it to-"
"Lucy!" Kara warned, glowering at her friend.
The brunette lifted her arms up as if to surrender, "Sorry, I'll stop. So what happened?"
"I'm more upset about what she didn't do, or won't do in this case."
"Yeah?"
"Her mom, Lillian, I recently found out she was abusing Lena. Badly," she sighed.
"Those rumors are true then?" Lucy asked, her expression saddened, she felt pity for the poor girl.
Kara nodded somberly, flicking at the glass cup in her hand, futilely distracting herself with the echoing sound.
"How'd you find out?"
"I wasn't supposed to. She was in the locker rooms and these girls were ganging up on her and then one thing led to another and..." she huffed and her voice broke, "She has so many scars, Lucy. They're all over her body and I wish I could just...just unsee it."
Erase it.
The brunette frowned, "But it could be anyone doing that to her."
"No, I heard her say it, I really wish I didn't have super hearing sometimes."
"I don't get it, why're you upset with her and not Lillian?"
"I didn't say I wasn't angry at her mom."
"Okay, then what's going on between you and Lena then?"
"Lena won't turn in her mom, even after Maggie tried to talk to her, and I get why, I do, but I'm still...angry."
Kara's grip on the glass cup tightened and a fracture cracked its way from the lip and near the base.
"I understand where she's coming from too, cases of child abuse are pretty complex when the child doesn't want to be helped, or just wants to wait it out. A lot of them suffer from Stockholm syndrome and lash out when you offer any form of aid."
Kara's eyes narrowed, "God, I'm still just so, so angry, Lucy. I've never felt so intense. Everything about Lena's situation makes me hot and I just want to...explode."
The Kryptonian's grip hardened against the glass and it shattered into pieces.
"Woah!" Lucy chuckled sarcastically, "Hey, cool it with the edginess will you?"
The blonde rolled her eyes, gathering the shards onto her plate.
She stiffened when she heard a familiar voice outside of Noonan's, the sound made her want to seeth.
"C'mon, it'll be fun."
An unfamiliar voice sounded not too far.
"Veronica, would you slow down?"
So her name's Veronica.
"I'd rather know what I'm getting into, and we've never agreed on our definitions of 'fun'."
Kara's stomach twisted.
Lena's with her.
She looked at Lucy, "It's getting late, my parents want me home before ten."
"We still have an hour, are you sure you don't want to keep talking?" the brunette made sure.
"I'm sure, it was great talking to you, Luce," she smiled and slammed some bills down, hugging her tightly before quickly walking out and tailing the group.
"Sandra, why don't you try convincing Lena?" Veronica laughed, "It doesn't seem my words are really comforting her."
"No. They aren't," the Luthor muttered.
"I don't know if I'm equipped to comfort her."
"Right, sometimes I forget you're colder than she is," Veronica chuckled, "Pam?"
"Ivy," she corrected, glaring at Lena, "And I think you're forgetting what the Luthors did to my family."
"I'm sorry, it wasn't my fault my family decided to hate aliens and metahumans," she remarked.
"You know what, Luthor-"
"Oh don't be so mean, puddin'." Harley murmured in her ear.
Ivy grumbled before turning away, holding her girlfriend's hand tightly, who squeezed it back softly.
"Unbelievable," Lena threw her hands up in the air, "I'm even judged by petty criminals."
Suddenly she was on the ground, wheezing on all fours, a sharp pain in her sternum rendering her breathless.
"Say that again, Luthor," Ivy snarled.
"Hey, hey, hey, let's all be nice," Veronica sighed.
If it were not for Kara's super vision, she would not have been able to catch the large branch that struck Lena in the chest and retract into Ivy's sleeve in just under a second.
She was just about to intervene until Sandra quietly placed herself between Lena and Ivy.
"Back off."
"Hmmm, Sandra, I didn't know you had it in you," Veronica raised her brows in surprise.
"I don't, not usually."
"Then what's it to you?" Ivy growled.
The girl stared undaunted at the metahuman, and it made Kara wonder what she was capable of to stop the redhead in her tracks.
"It's an unfair fight, clearly. And my bond with Lena's built on mutual respect and honor."
Ivy rolled her eyes and continued walking to their destination, "Okay, Mulan. I don't get what the deal's with Asians and honor, I might as well call her Prince Zuko while I'm at it."
Sandra aided the Luthor to her feet and rolled her eyes at the comment, "I find it ironic that you want equality for metahumans when you make such racist remarks."
"It's a joke, Sandra. Chill."
She let out a single chuckle, "You amuse me."
"Ching chong, motherfucker," Ivy spat back.
"Why don't you watch your language? Or do you want me to treat you like I did with that obscene man who approached us earlier?"
Ivy's eyes widened and she shivered, gripping Harley's hand and walking faster.
"Thank you..." Lena mumbled, cradling her chest.
Without looking at her, Sandra nodded in acknowledgement.
"What is this place?"
The Luthor observed her surroundings, filled with several aristocrats that she recognized, cheering something on in the middle of the large expanse of space, where a cage that reached to the ceiling was fixed.
"A fight club, darling," Veronica grinned devilishly, "And lucky for all of you, I'm the host, so everything's on me: drinks, food, et cetera."
Lena cautiously approached the center of the room, curious, but the sight that she saw forced her to choke back a gasp.
There was blood splattered all over the makeshift arena, flesh and limbs scattered about.
Then she noticed the fighters had abnormalities: different skin colors, gills, extra arms or legs or even heads, bones protruding from their bodies, and so forth.
"What the hell is this, Veronica?"
"A fight club, I just told you."
"Yeah, and it doesn't look like they want to fight! You're forcing people to-"
"People?" Veronica scoffed, chuckling, "You're still so naive. They're aliens, beasts, monsters...they don't have any rights you know," she fished out something in her pocket, lifting it into sight.
It was a small rock with neon red crystals embedded into it.
"This place's paid a fortune, and Max promised me more if I tested out this pretty little thing on all the aliens. Said it should be temporary. Don't want my clients or fighters to be permanently affected."
Lena smacked the rock from Veronica's hand, the material sliding somewhere beneath the feet of the club-goers, "They're still lives, lives that you completely disregard! I'm out of here," she declared, walking away.
She froze in place when her gaze connected to a pair of familiar blue eyes.
She was too distracted with who they belonged to in order to notice that the orbs flickered in and out of a bright red before settling back to its normal hue.
"Kara?"
The blonde's expression flashed through so many different emotions in seconds: horror, sadness, confusion.
But they eventually settled on disappointment and anger.
She bolted out of the club.
"Kara! Wait!" Lena called out, chasing after her friend.
"Should we follow her?" Sandra inquired calmly.
Veronica grinned, gulping down her martini, "I'm always in the mood for some drama, but let's give them a little privacy and then we can check on them."
"Kara! Just wait! Stop for a second and listen to me!" Lena begged, "Please let me explain!"
The blonde whipped around so fast that Lena ran right into her.
She stumbled back and rested her hands on her knees and panted, blinking the water out of her eyes.
For a moment the two let the rain drench them, let it soak into their pores.
Kara folded her arms, fuming, "You have one minute. One," she reiterated, "Before I change my mind."
Lena was unable to respond, still speechless that Kara was actually willing to talk to her.
"I guess your silence speaks for itself."
"No, Kara, I-"
"No, Lena! You know what, fuck you!" the blonde snapped, raising her voice, a cruel chuckle escaping her throat, "I had faith in you, I truly believed that you weren't your brother or your parents! But I was wrong! You're exactly like them, engaging in those sickening activities behind my back, and not telling me! That's disgusting! A-And...and hanging out with...with her - Veronica!"
Suddenly the memories of Lena and that vile girl kissing flashed across her mind.
She shook her head, that was irrelevant, why was she thinking about that now?
"You're no different at all! I was so stupid to think so, you fooled me into thinking so!" Kara shouted, backing Lena against the building, jabbing an accusatory finger against her sore sternum, snarling as she saw the girl wince, "You're cold, cruel, dishonest! What you experienced from all those bullies, from your own mom, you deserve it!"
The blonde's hands were pressed against the Luthor's hip and ribs, alarmingly increasing in pressure.
Lena choked out a whimper, tears stinging her eyes, "K-Kara, you're hurting me. This isn't like you."
There was a part of the Kryptonian that was screaming to stop what she was doing, but there was some uncontrollable fire in the pit of her heart that was pushing to break the Luthor in front of her.
There were several snaps and Lena screamed in pain, then suddenly she was flying and her back slammed against the opposite building.
She scrambled away, cradling her likely broken ribs and hip; she shook in fear, unable to fathom the inhumane strength the blonde possessed.
"Is there something going on here?" Sandra asked cautiously.
"Yeah," Kara replied, whipping around and her glare moving to Veronica, intensifying.
"What's your problem?" Ivy glared back.
The blonde noticed the vines entwining her wrist and snapped them off with ease.
The redhead's eyes widened and she whispered to Harley, "Who the fuck is she? She shouldn't have been able to break from that."
Kara shook her head and ignored them, focusing on Lena again.
"Ka-"
"I think you've made your point clear. Rot in hell."
Kara stalked off, leaving Lena's shattered heart in her wake.
Alex sighed when she heard the door slam shut and she nudged Maggie with her elbow, urging her to follow as they tailed Kara, "Want to pay for the new door this time? I mean, I knew high school would be a bitch, but..."
"I paid for it last time, Danvers."
"Damn, I was hoping you wouldn't remember."
Alex poked her head through the crack of the door, "Hey..."
Kara wiped her tears away, though her swollen red eyes betrayed her.
"What happened, sweetheart?" Eliza cooed, walking in to sit next to her daughter.
"Sh-She's just like her family, I saw her."
"Saw her?" Maggie urged the girl to continue, leaning against the doorframe.
"At an alien fight club."
"Why?" Alex asked, already skeptical.
"She was with her...friends? I don't know, maybe girls from her boarding school?"
"Are you sure she went there for fun?"
"I don't know? I'm pretty sure? I-"
"Did you even let her speak? I'm sure there's an explanation, reasonable or not, but since it's Lena, I'm pretty sure she has a good reason," Alex questioned, "You know you have a really bad habit of interrupting people when you're angry."
Kara faltered, recalling with immense pain their previous arguments and dug her fingers into her scalp, "No...I...I didn't let her talk..."
She sighed in relief when she felt the last of her unnatural anger seep completely away from her body.
Before she could register what she did to Lena, Alex's voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Ah...and we have found the solution," the agent smiled, fishing her keys from her pocket, whirling them around her fingers, "Let's go pay her a visit then."
"What? It's, like, almost midnight!"
"This's the one time I'll extend your curfews," Eliza stated.
"I have a curfew?"
The woman gave Alex the mom look, "When you're at my house you have one."
The agent laughed nervously, "Oh. Whoops."
"Ms. Luthor."
Lena lazily looked up, still dazed by her argument with Kara.
Though it was not really an argument, she just stood there silently and took whatever came out of her now former friend's lips.
She shuddered, grunting at the pain in her chest and leg, her mind still racing around the thought that Kara actually hurt her.
The one person that told her to stand up for herself, to not tolerate any of the nonsensical hate spewed at her, to defend herself, to show that she was better than her xenophobic, and many other things family.
The pain ran too deep and she needed to counter it with something else.
Fight fire with fire.
Lena sighed and looked at the mansion, "My mother's home?"
"Indeed, Ms. Luthor."
She nodded and cleared her throat, then clicked the door of the luxurious ebony sedan open, her eyes and voice absent of any signs of weeping.
"You're dismissed."
"Yes, Ms. Luthor."
She limped into the manor with a very mad woman standing in the living room, "Where have you been?" Lillian snarled.
"That's none of your business, is it?" Lena retorted.
The woman's eyes bulged and in a flash, she was in front of her daughter and struck her in the gut.
The girl keeled over and not a moment later, a hard slap connected to her cheek and she fell to the floor.
Lena tasted blood and felt a soreness radiating from her stomach, but she still could not get the image of Kara's disappointed and angry expression out of her mind.
Not enough pain.
"What did you say?" Lillian spat coldly, "Clearly I need to give you more lessons on being polite."
"You heard me."
A six kicks assaulted her chest and she felt more ribs crack and bruise.
As she was nearing the sweet bliss of forgetting Kara, it all suddenly stopped.
"Pathetic. Worthless excuse of a daughter," Lillian growled.
Lena could only utter a wheeze.
The woman stepped over her daughter, "I'll be back tomorrow, maybe the beating you've gotten will knock some sense into you."
The door slammed shut and Lena found herself crying, the image of Kara's disappointment morphing into something like hatred, lines blurred between.
Not enough pain.
She sauntered upstairs into her room, in her path she flipped tables and chairs over, shattered fine dining wares, dragged a knife across the walls in chaotic designs, emptied out cupboards and spilled the contents all over the hardwood floor.
At this point she was tearing her room apart, and could no longer feel the physical pain her mother inflicted upon her body, only the harsh words that left Kara's lips and the accusatory finger that jabbed against the center of her chest.
Then the words, the cruel words that swirled in her lungs, that she willingly breathed out.
Not enough.
Then there were the pills on her counter, which she hastily snatched away and dry swallowed without any second thoughts.
Lena caught sight of her reflection on her vanity mirror and studied it, a cold yet tear-ridden expression with red eyes painted in her face. The area where her mother struck her had already started bruising, she had a split lip, and her hair was wild. Her appearance was unkempt and unsettling, it was like a completely different person to her.
Lena huffed and smashed the glass with her bare hands, giving no care to the shards that embedded into her knuckles.
She began to sob, only just barely feeling the overdose symptoms come on.
The pills. They're not working fast enough.
An idea popped into her head when she looked out of her balcony.
Lena removed her shoes and wet socks, still wearing an oversized t-shirt and jeans.
She eyed her poem book, flipping it open, her tears soaking the ink and smearing it.
You have me in the palm of your hands.
My heart races for you.
I'm your antinomy, your antithesis.
And you're an immaculate goddess.
She stepped outside and onto the railing, excruciatingly ripping out every page from her poem book about Kara and tossing them out, the numbness preventing her from feeling the raindrops on her skin and how chilly it was.
"Here we are. Luthor manor," Alex smiled.
Maggie gaped, "Holy shit, their garden's huge! Their driveway's literally hundreds of feet away from their front door."
The detective then squinted, "I see some lights," she turned to Kara, "We'll be waiting out here. Text or call if you need anything."
The blonde nodded and exited from the vehicle, pulling her hoodie on to shield herself from the drenched weather.
She knocked on the large double doors, "Um, this's Kara Danvers, I was wondering if I could speak to Lena?"
No answer.
She waited for a moment before knocking louder, more insistently, "Lena, I know you're home, I want to hear your side of the story. Please?"
Silence.
Her next sentenced rushed out, "Lena, please, I...I don't know what came over me, and I hurt you. Please, I want to fix this."
Kara groaned, unable to resist her urge to utilize her x-ray vision to scan past the door.
She gasped at the amount of damage and thought of no consequences when she let her strength get out of hand and snap the hinges of the mahogany door clean off.
The blonde quickly looked around.
Not here.
She glanced at the stairs, noticed there was a sharp engraved design that followed up the path as she did as well.
Kara used her x-ray vision to scan through the rooms and found Lena moving erratically about at the end of the hall.
She shut off her vision and walked over, slowly creaking the door open, "Lena? Is everything okay? I wanted to apologi-"
The aperture finally swung wide.
"Lena?"
Her familiar pale figure stood atop the rails and did not turn, unable to hear anything over her despair.
The sight was so surreal, it had to be a nightmare.
No, no, no, this can't be happening.
It took everything in Kara not to dash forward and she took a tentative step closer, "Lena...don't do this," she pleaded, "Just get down from there. Let's talk, okay?"
The Luthor jerked her shoulders upright, her heart raced in fear, then they sagged again as she pivoted, dropping the book.
The last thing Kara saw was a self-deprecating smile, then Lena fell back and let gravity do the rest.
The scream that left Kara's mouth was filled with utter agony and terror as she broke the sound barrier with her flight.
"No!"
Lena felt the wind whip against her back as she fell from her family's mansion, and she closed her eyes, hoping that she would hit the ground, hoping for the pain to end as soon as possible.
But she never did.
It never did - the pain.
She could still see in the back of her head the hateful blue eyes.
I guess this's hell then. I deserve it.
A warm hand tapped frantically against her cheek and she forced her eyes to crack open.
Then she noticed that her savior and her were floating in the air, but could not comprehend the situation fully in her current state.
"You dummy!" Kara sobbed as she lowered to the wet grass, tightening her hug around the body, the body that thankfully still had a beating heart.
She released a relieved, shaky sigh, hiccuping, "W-Why?"
Through the aching pain in her body, through the soreness in her ribs, through the ragged breaths she was heaving, Lena managed to speak.
"Ka-"
She only got one syllable out before she began to convulse as blood poured out of her nose and her eyes rolled back, the pills' side effects ravaging through her body with impeccable timing.
The blonde panicked and dialed her sister.
"Everything oka-"
"Alex! Please get over here! I need help! Lena, sh-she tried to jump, but I caught her and now I think she's having a...a seizure? Please, I don't know what to do!"
"Fuck! Don't worry! We're coming!"
The couple sprinted over and found Kara hovering over Lena, trying to feel a pulse, a breath, but she was too panicked to concentrate.
The Luthor's eyes fluttered and she made a gagging sound, blood and bile pouring from her foamy lips.
"Flip her on her side! And hold her down!" Alex barked, Kara immediately following the order, "Shit! She's choking on her vomit!"
The agent turned to her girlfriend, "Maggie! Call an ambulance now!"
"Already on it!"
At that moment Lena ceased to struggle, bloody fluid still leaking out of her mouth.
Alex checked for a pulse and breath, "Her heart rate's elevated and erratic. And she's still breathing, but hyperventilating."
Maggie shut her phone and examined the bile splayed on the ground, noticing white ovular shapes.
Her eyes widened, "She overdosed," then she sprinted into the mansion and into Lena's room, scouring the ruined space for the container.
The detective pulled out drawers after drawers, one of which contained a tiny box of razors that made her swallow shakily at the sight, some of them fresh with blood.
Then she glanced down at the carpet, and after skimming under the stands and bed, she snatched a familiar cylindrical orange pill container, pocketing it.