Chapter Text
Kara is zipping her suitcase shut, ready to go to college when she hears her sister groan loudly. “I can help you with your suitcase,” she offers, seeing how Alex is laying on top of her suitcase.
“My suitcase is not the problem,” Alex replies as she rolls around to face her sister. She sighs deeply and touches her index finger to her lips, feeling a cold sensation prickling through them. “It’s my soulmate again, they’re kissing someone, again,” she explains frustratingly.
“I’m sorry,” Kara says sympathetically while placing a hand on Alex’s knee to offer her some comfort. “Maybe your soulmate is trying to find you,” she reasons, although that won’t do for her sister.
“I don’t believe that,” Alex huffs as she moves to sit up. “It’s more than one kiss and this isn’t the first time,” she points out truthfully, having felt this many times. “For all I know my soulmate is someone who rejects the idea of soulmates, you know some people do.”
“Maybe your soulmate is experimenting,” Kara tries. She is aware that she’s just guessing in the hopes to make Alex feel better.
“This sucks,” Alex whispers, because personally she does believe in the idea of soulmates, although lately not so strong anymore. “And it’s stupid anyway. I mean come on, if you kiss the wrong person, you get a cold feeling on your lips, so my soulmate definitely knows they’ve been kissing the wrong person.”
Kara can’t argue with that logic, because that’s how the whole soulmate thing works. When you kiss someone who isn’t your soulmate, both people feel a cold touch on their lips, like ice and so do their actual soulmates. If you kiss your actual soulmate, you get a warm burning feeling on your lips without actually getting burned. The only way to know for sure that someone is your soulmate is by kissing them.
Alex continues to groan while she closes her suitcase, wondering when the cold sensation will stop. It’s a good thing it can only be felt by two wrong people kissing and not if her soulmate would kiss someone else’s neck. The thought of the latter and more makes her shiver.
“Hey, I’m here,” Lucy says while she swings their door open. “You two ready or what?”
“Almost done, Luce,” Kara answers with a smile.
“What’s the matter?” Lucy asks Alex, hearing her grumble and seeing her slam her fist against the wall. “Damn, that ought to hurt.”
“It’s my soulmate again,” Alex hisses while she nurses her right hand.
“I’m sorry, babe,” Lucy replies, letting out a small sigh. She gestures Alex to let her see her right hand. “Your knuckles are going to bruise a little.”
Kara lifts her suitcase up along with Alex’s. “We’re good to go, I think,” she says, feeling excited to go to college. It’s a whole new experience and she can hardly wait, although she will miss Midvale.
“This is going to be a long drive,” Alex says, since National City isn’t around the corner.
“It’s going to be awesome!” Lucy shouts happily. “Finally we get to go to college and live in a dorm, how cool is that?”
“I agree,” Kara replies, nodding her head. “Our gap year to travel a bit was fun, but yeah I’ve been waiting for this.”
“Lots of people take a gap year, Kar,” Lucy points out, given they definitely aren’t going to be the only ones who did that. “It doesn’t matter that we’re nineteen, tons of students are going to be our age or even older, who knows.”
“We should go,” Alex insists while she tries to take her suitcase over from Kara. “I can carry my own suitcase, Kara.”
“Okay, fine,” Kara replies, rolling her eyes as she hands Alex her suitcase. She shakes her head when her sister carries it with her right hand she just bruised moments ago.
“Don’t forget your glasses, babe,” Lucy says to Kara as she runs up to her desk to grab them. “Here you go,” she whispers while she puts them on her friend’s nose.
“Oh Rao, I almost forgot,” Kara whispers, knowing she can’t be careless like that. “Thanks, Luce.”
“What are friends for,” Lucy replies, winking at Kara.
It’s a relief for Kara that aside from Alex, Lucy knows her secret too, which had been her idea. When she arrived on earth at age thirteen, Lucy was the first mutual friend she made with her sister. A year later she told Lucy her secret, who reacted quite well because Lucy wanted to celebrate it.
“Don’t let Kara pick any of the songs,” Alex says to Lucy as they walk out the door.
“Hey!” Kara says, feigning offence. “My taste in music is not bad,” she continues, pouting. “At least I didn’t go through a punk phase.”
“Which we will never speak of again,” Alex replies, wanting to ignore she ever had that phase.
“I liked it,” Lucy comments. “Besides, neither one of you gets to pick the music anyway,” she dryly points out. “My car, my music. Deal with it, bitches.”
“So rude,” Kara whispers while she hoists her suitcase in the trunk of Lucy’s car.
“You’re going to be stuck with me throughout college,” Lucy grins.
“Is it too late to change which room we’re in?” Alex teasingly asks Kara, winking at Lucy.
“You can sleep outside if you want,” Lucy says as she fishes her keys out of her pocket. “Who wants shotgun?”
“Why would I want a gun?” Kara asks with a puzzled look on her face.
“That’s not what I meant, Kar,” Lucy answers, laughing lightly. “Come on weirdo, we talked about this,” she says lightly.
“Oh yes!” Kara replies suddenly, remembering.
“Shotgun,” Alex calls out before hopping in Lucy’s car.
“I guess I’ll sit in the back then,” Kara sighs while she slowly opens the door.
“You can just hop in you know?” Lucy comments, gesturing around at how there’s no roof on her car.
“I know,” Kara replies, aware of that. “I’m just worried I’d break something.”
“Try not to break any chairs this year and you’ll be good,” Lucy teases.
“That was an accident, Luce,” Kara retorts. “I didn’t mean to break those chairs in high school.”
Lena looks into the mirror as she smooths her blouse over to rid them from possible crinkles. Tomorrow a new school year will begin and she knows she’ll be seeing a lot of new faces again in her classes. She is the youngest professor the college here in National City has, being only twenty-six years old and this will be her second year of teaching. The only reason she became a professor so early on is because she skipped several grades when she was younger, always having been smart.
She had hardly been fourteen when she went to college and even then she found herself at the top of her class. When she applied to become a professor, she was hired on the spot. Putting on some red lipstick, she feels she is ready to go for the briefing. It’s important so she can get her official schedule, which probably won’t be the same as last year’s schedule.
Her loft is hardly two blocks away from the school which comes in handy to arrive there fast whenever necessary and it also helps to get home fast. She takes a deep breath and with that she’s out the door and on her way to school for that briefing with her colleagues.
“Miss Luthor, there you are,” Cat says when she sees Lena walking in.
“I assure you I am on time, Miss Grant,” Lena replies politely to the dean of the school.
“You are,” Cat confirms, waving her hand to dismiss Lena.
Lena sits down on one of the chairs, noticing how the other professors have gathered as well. She makes a mental note to come earlier next time, just in case. Cat is the woman who hired her a year ago and she would describe her as cold at times but fair. Cat is more than simply the dean given how the woman also teaches history.
“Here is your schedule, Miss Luthor,” Cat says while handing it over to Lena. “As you may notice, I increased your hours.”
Lena glances down at her schedule to check and sees that Cat is right. “Thank you, Miss Grant,” she replies respectfully, especially since more hours is what she had been asking for.
“We have a new professor who will be joining us this school year,” Cat announces while she leans against her desk. “They will be teaching astronomy.”
Lena knits her eyebrows together because she’s the one who had been teaching students astronomy last year. “Excuse me,” she says, cutting in. “Not to be rude here, but am I not the professor who teaches astronomy?”
“You used to be,” Cat answers. “Someone with higher qualifications applied,” she explains dryly. “If you take a close look at your schedule, you will see I appointed you for math instead.”
Lena studies her schedule again, noticing how her astronomy classes have been swapped with math. Okay, it’s not so bad because she still has her name next to science, which is her favorite to teach, though she can’t say it doesn’t sting a bit that someone has higher qualifications than her in astronomy.
Cat clears her throat when there’s a knock on her door. “That will be our new astronomy professor,” she says to the others. “You may enter!” she loudly calls out.
Lena watches how a woman, who looks admirable, walks in. One thing that catches her eye immediately is the white strand in her hair, which jumps out and is impossible to miss.
“Everyone, this is Miss Kryptee,” Cat says, introducing the new professor.
“Hello,” Lena says quietly to the woman who takes a seat next to her. “I’m Miss Luthor, but you can call me Lena.” She very much prefers to be called by her name when it comes to colleagues.
“I am Astra,” Astra replies silently.
“It sounds like you were born for this job,” Lena comments lightly, chuckling a bit.
“Quite,” Astra replies indifferently. It’s far too easy to fool humans and to pose as a teacher, though she’s not here for pleasantries. She is here because she has been informed her niece will be attending this school and she would much prefer to keep an eye on her.
“This is your schedule,” Cat says as she hands it to Astra. “If you have any questions, you know where to find me.”
Astra hardly listens to the boring briefing and it amuses her how Cat sees everyone here as if they would be less, or at least that’s the vibe she gets from her. It was a surprise for her people when she told them she, General Astra, would do this. When she applied to become a professor, she did not only apply for astronomy.
She had applied for science as well, but alas Cat was adamant about already having an excellent professor for science. Truthfully, she was tempted to use her strength when this flimsy excuse of a dean claimed a certain Miss Luthor has higher qualifications than she does when it comes to science, which was very insulting.
“Home sweet home,” Lucy says as she parks her car. “Let’s go find our room.”
Kara reaches out to grab Alex’s suitcase, but her sister swats her hand away.
“I got it, Kara,” Alex sighs, not needing her sister’s help. So what if the knuckles of her right hand are a bit blue and purple? It’s not like she broke her hand so it’s fine.
“This place looks huge,” Kara says in awe, considering this college here in National City is so much bigger than their high school in Midvale was.
“We can get our schedules once we’re settled in our room,” Lucy says, eager to see which classes she’ll be sharing with Kara and Alex.
“Sounds like a plan,” Alex agrees, wanting to ditch her suitcase first.
“I hope our professors will be nice,” Kara muses, curious to see who she’ll have. “Our high school teacher was friendly.”
“You’re going to get a mix in here,” Lucy assumes. “Some professors will be okay while others are going to be annoying,” she says, feeling like she’ll be right.
“We’ll find out soon enough,” Alex comments. “Our first day is tomorrow anyway.”
“I’m going to try out for the soccer team,” Lucy announces, wanting to stay in shape.
“Oooh soccer,” Kara replies, thinking about trying out as well.
“No way, Kara,” Alex says, shaking her head. “You shouldn’t try out for it. It’s not a good idea with your powers.”
“Not fair,” Kara mumbles as they walk towards their room. “I can control it. I’ll kick the ball gently.”
“Gently,” Lucy snorts. “That’s not really how you’re supposed to play soccer.”
“I could be the person who stands in the goal,” Kara suggests.
“As if,” Alex replies, still disagreeing. “What if you fly up to catch the ball or what if you destroy the ball with your hands?” she asks, wanting Kara to understand the risk.
“Okay fine,” Kara sighs, relenting. “I’ll just be a supporter from the sidelines then I guess,” she says sadly, disappointed that she can’t do more normal things.
“Who the fuck are you??” Alex asks when she sees a girl in their room.
“Maggie,” Maggie answers. “Maggie Sawyer,” she says, raising an eyebrow at the raging girl. “And you?”
“This is our room,” Alex replies. “Get out,” she says coldly, pointing her finger outside the door.
“It’s my room as well,” Maggie points out, putting her hands on her sides. She’s not going to let anyone kick her out when this is supposed to be her room, which she has to share with the three lovely sunshines that just walked in.
“Like hell it is,” Alex says, disagreeing. “I’m sharing this room with my sister and my best friend.”
Maggie yawns and places herself on top of the bed she picked out. “What happened to your hand?” she asks, nodding her head towards the girl’s lovely colored right hand.
“None of your business,” Alex snaps. She’s in a bad mood today and nobody should mess with her.
“Are you always such a firecracker?” Maggie asks amusingly. She has a feeling she’s going to like that girl who seems to hold so much anger in her.
“Hi, I’m Kara Danvers,” Kara says, introducing herself. “Are you sure you’re in this room?” she asks, thinking it could be a mistake. “We thought it would be the three of us,” she explains.
“I’m sure,” Maggie answers. “This is the room they appointed me to,” she explains, shrugging. “Y’all know each room has either two or four people in it, right? Not three, not one.”
“Argh,” Lucy grumbles. “No, we weren’t aware,” she says, having thought three was fine.
“Four beds, four people,” Maggie points out, gesturing towards the four beds.
“I’m Lucy Lane,” Lucy says, finally introducing herself as well. If Maggie is going to be their roommate for at least one year, they need to make it work to get along. “The firecracker here is Alex Danvers.”
“Don’t call me that, Luce,” Alex whispers, not wanting to be stuck with such a stupid nickname.
“So,” Maggie says curiously to Alex, “who’d you punch?”
“A wall,” Alex mutters as she selects her bed.
“Which study did you choose?” Lucy asks Maggie curiously.
“Criminology,” Maggie answers. “One day I want to join the police and become a detective,” she explains briefly. “What about you guys?”
“I’m mostly here for general studies,” Lucy answers, not really having a specific study in mind. “I need to sharpen up some things such as math and someday I want to join the military or something, but I’m not entirely sure yet,” she says, since she didn’t make a permanent decision so far.
“I’m here to study bio-engineering,” Alex says, plopping her suitcase down on her bed without elaborating further.
“I chose journalism,” Kara says with a bright smile. “Maybe I can be a reporter someday.”
“Are you two non-identical twins or something?” Maggie asks curiously, pointing between Kara and Alex.
“No, we’re not,” Kara answers. “The Danvers family adopted me when I was younger,” she explains, leaving it at that.
“I see,” Maggie replies, nodding.
“I’m going to go get my schedule,” Alex says, already about the halfway out the door.
“Wait for us, babe,” Lucy replies as she grasps Kara’s hand, tugging her along.
Maggie would ask if Lucy and Alex are a thing, but the firecracker already said Lucy is her best friend so clearly they aren’t involved like that. “Wait up,” she says as she leaps from her bed. “I need to get my schedule too, might as well tag along.”
“Whatever,” Alex mumbles when Maggie follows them.
“You’re not going to punch me for it, are you?” Maggie asks Alex, not worried about it at all.
“No, I’m not,” Alex answers, sighing as she lets up a little. “I’m sorry, it’s not you I’m angry at,” she says, softer this time. “My mood was already down the drain before I got here.”
Maggie wasn’t taking Alex’s mood personal anyway. “That bad huh?” she asks, noticing the scowl on Alex’s face.
“Yeah kind of,” Alex says while she runs the fingers of her left hand over the bruised knuckles of her right hand. “My soulmate is some kind of asshole, going around kissing people.”
“I’m not sure if I believe in soulmates,” Maggie says, feeling like it’s all a bit odd.
“How can you not believe in soulmates?” Alex asks, surprised to hear Maggie wouldn’t believe in it. “What about the whole cold and warm thing when it comes to kissing?”
“I do believe in that part,” Maggie clarifies. “It’s just that it sounds kind of weird that there’s some person out there who is assigned to be yours, you know? Sounds kind of forced if you ask me,” she explains, definitely not a fan of it all. “What if you’re absolutely crazy about someone who sets all your nerve endings on fire when you kiss them, but kissing them feels cold because they’re not your soulmate? Are you just supposed to be like okay bye, you’re not it?”
“I’m not convinced about your theory,” Alex replies, disagreeing. “I don’t see how anyone would be able to feel that way for someone who isn’t their soulmate,” she says, feeling like there’s no way that can happen.
“But what if it does, Danvers?” Maggie retorts. “You sound like a hopeless romantic, waiting for a true love’s kiss.”
“And you sound like a pessimist who fails to accept what has been scientifically proven, Sawyer,” Alex throws back.
Maggie wouldn’t say she’s a pessimist; she’s merely being a realist even though Alex fails to see that. “I’m not going to let science dictate who I should or shouldn’t be with, nerd,” she comments lightly, amused by how much Alex wants to prove her wrong.