Love

Clark got out of the truck and helped Evelyn out. She was wearing a simple purple shirt and blue jeans with some work boots. Her tanned skin, brown eyes, and raven black hair yelled that she wasn't Clark's. It was true, though, she wasn't his. Clark and Lana had adopted her from the Philippines when she was only two.

"Daddy, I'm scared." Evelyn whimpered as she grabbed her daddy's hand.

"Don't' be, You'll do great." Clark assured her as they walked to Smallville Elementary.

"But it's going to be Second Grade! I'm not ready!" Evelyn continued.

"Evelyn, I know that you can do it." Clark told her firmly.

"Okay," Evelyn finally decided to believe Clark. "How come Mommy didn't come?"

Clark paused. What was he going to tell her? That Lana got mad last night and left them, again? "Mommy's very busy right now, but she wants you to do your best."

Evelyn didn't believe him. She woke up last night and heard them yelling. Then she heard the front door slam shut. Evelyn hated it when they would fight. She acted like she did believe Clark, just to appease him.

They stopped at the front entrance. Kids were running up the steps, trying to get inside before the tardy bell rang. Proud parents were holding their kindergartens hand as they walked inside. "Do you want me to come with you?" Clark asked looking into her eyes.

"No, you have to go to work. Remember?"

Clark smiled at her brave attitude. He bent down and hugged Evelyn. "Be a good girl and don't make your new teacher mad. Make Daddy proud."

Evelyn hugged him back. "Yes, sir." she gave him a kiss on the cheek and he kissed her forehead. "I love you!" she said as she began walking inside.

Clark stood up and watched her go. It seemed like so long ago they had just gotten her. "I love you too, bud." he turned around and began walking to his truck.

Evelyn walked into room 2C, her new classroom for the year. This year she was having Mrs. Thompson. Everyone said that she was a really mean teacher. Ella, Evelyn's friend, said that her brothers had her as their teacher and they said that if you weren't listening to her, she would bite off one of your fingers.

Evelyn saw Ella sitting down at a round table. "Evelyn, come sit over here!" Ella called out.

Evelyn smiled, glad that her friend was in the same class as her. She took a seat next to her at the table and looked at the other chair that held no occupant.

All of the new second graders were talking and laughing with each other. But some of them were quiet and anxiously awaiting the arrival of the dreaded Mrs. Thompson.

A little girl wearing a red shirt and blue converse came in. She looked uneasy and tried to find an empty chair next to no one. Unable to find one, she took the only other available seat. The one at Evelyn and Ella's table. She sat down and began playing with her hands. She looked very nervous to Evelyn. "Hi, I'm Evelyn. What's your name?"

"Love." the girl said bashfully.

"Love? That's a weird name." Ella said, not taking Love's feelings into consideration.

Love became upset and looked away.

"Ella, don't be mean." Evelyn chastised. "Ella didn't mean that."

Love smiled. "Okay."

"Where are you from?" Evelyn asked wanting to get to know this new girl.

"Metropolis. Me and my mommy moved here." Love told her.

At the door stood an elderly lady. She was wearing nice dress slacks and a flowery shirt. Her gray hair showed how much wisdom she held inside. She looked just about ready to retire. "Sorry I'm late. I'm your teacher, Mrs. Thompson." she spoke loudly to the class.

All the children in the class immediately quieted and paid close attention to Mrs. Thompson. They didn't want to lose any of their fingers.

Mrs. Thompson walked to the desk and laid down her bag with all of her teacher resources. "Today is the very first day of school and I know that many of you might be very nervous. So I want to get to know each and every one of you."

"I think my brothers were lying," Ella whispered to Evelyn. "Maybe Mrs. Thompson isn't mean at all."

Evelyn nodded. "I think so too."

Clark began loading up some vegetables into the truck bed. Today was the farmers market and right now, they needed all the money they could get.

Clark saw a familiar maroon car pull up. The car parked and the door opened. Lana stepped out. "Good morning, Clark." Lana said curtly. Her pink sweater and city boots declared that she had no place at the farm.

"Lana." Clark said shortly. He returned to loading the vegetables.

"Where's Evelyn?" Lana asked as she walked up to Clark. She leaned up against the truck.

"At school. I just got back from dropping her off."

"And you didn't even wait to see if I was going to come back? I wanted to make sure that she was dressed appropriately and not wearing any of those work boots."

"I wasn't going to wait for you, Lana. You were the one that decided to leave last night. If you would've thought about Evelyn first, then we wouldn't be here having this discussion." Clark stopped and was now looking into Lana's eyes.

"I had an extremely good reason to leave, Clark."

"Let me guess. Was it all my fault? What did I do this time? Did I forget to polish your hundred dollar shoes? Or was it the dry cleaning that I forgot?" Clark said with evident sarcasm

"I left because of the way you have been treating me! You have been giving meno respect! I've done so many things for you and you treat me like dirt!"

"If anything, I've been the one to be treated like dirt." Clark said quietly, but menacingly nonetheless

"How could I treat you like dirt when I love you?" Lana asked. She made her hazel eyes big and round, exactly the way that Clark had once fallen in love with, but could no longer stand.

"I have to go." Clark said. He walked around her and got inside the truck. "I'll see you when I get back." Clark said from the rolled down window.

Evelyn was walking down the school steps with Ella at one side and Love on her other side. "Mrs. Thompson was not mean at all." Evelyn said.

"Nope. She was very nice. I'm going to tell my mommy that Jake and Phil lied to me." Ella said. "Oh look! There she is! Bye Evelyn. Bye Love." Ella said as she began running to her mom. They linked hands and began walking away.

Evelyn looked at the crowd. She didn't see Clark anywhere. "Do you see your mommy?" she asked Love.

"No, but my mommy's always late. Once, she picked me up when it was four." Love told her.

"Wow. My daddy picks me up most of the time. Sometimes, if my mommy isn't working, she'll pick me up. But they aren't that late." Evelyn and Love sat down on the steps. Already, the school yard was cleared of most of the kids and it was only three ten.

The two girls sat in silence until Evelyn decided to finally ask the question that had been on her mind all day. "Do you have a daddy, Love?"

"Yeah, but I never see him. Mommy says that he loves me very much and he would give anything to see me. She said that she named me Love because it reminded her of my daddy."

"Oh, okay. Do you love your daddy even though you never see him?"

"Yeah. I think that he was a really good person and that he liked to help people. What about you? Do you love your daddy?"

"Yes! My daddy is the best daddy in the world!" Evelyn told her proudly.

"What about your mommy?" Love asked with an innocent smile.

Evelyn thought a moment. Did she really love her mommy? Sometimes it seemed as if Lana didn't love her. What if the reason why Lana would always leave was because of her? "I think so…" Evelyn said unsure if that was the right answer.

"Evelyn!"

Evelyn looked up and saw Clark walking towards them. "Daddy!" Evelyn exclaimed. She got up and began running to him.

Clark smiled and picked up his bundle of joy. "Hey, bud. Sorry I'm late."

"That's okay." Evelyn jumped out of his arms. "I want you to meet my new friend." Evelyn grabbed Clark's hand and began dragging him towards Love. "Daddy, this is Love. Love this is my daddy."

"It's very nice to meet you, Love. You have a very pretty and interesting name." Clark told her with a sincere smile. He looked at Love's blue eyes and her auburn hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. She reminded him of someone, he just couldn't remember who.

Love became very shy and blushed at his compliment. "Thank you."

Clark turned to Evelyn, "You ready to go?"

"Yeah." Clark and Evelyn began walking hand in hand. Evelyn turned around one last time. "Bye Love!" she yelled to her.

Love smiled and waved at Evelyn. She sat there and pulled out her spiral to begin doodling. If she would've kept looking at Clark and Evelyn, she would've noticed the glance that Clark gave her as he tried to figure out who she reminded him of.