Chapter Text
Jordan Kent had made a decision, one that he was very firm about, thank you very much. And he knew for a fact that no one could change his mind: Gen-Ed college courses were the dumbest thing in the history of the world.
He had said as much to his mom, with the hope of getting her to talk to the college about making an exception for him so he wouldn’t have to take so many gen-ed classes. But instead of jumping to his rescue, she spouted a very “mom” response, insisting the general education courses were intended to make students more well rounded and help them decide a major.
Jordan had simply replied that he had already chosen his major and if he wanted to learn more about a random subject he could just go on the internet.
Lois wasn’t impressed.
Which is why, at 8 AM on a crisp Monday morning at the beginning of September, Jordan was sitting in the back row of his Sociology class, bored out of his mind.
The professor wasn’t bad…necessarily. She just had a bit of a monotone voice and followed the textbook closely, which could get kind of boring after a while. It didn’t help that since the beginning of the semester she had been posting the notes online a day or two before they talked about them in class. Once he realized that, Jordan got into the habit of printing them out early. He would read through them and highlight what he considered important, which meant that going to class was pointless because he had already done most of the work.
Jordan had given those facts to his parents as justification for skipping the class sometimes so he could spend more time going on patrol. It was his dad, Clark, who had claimed that was NOT a good reason and that it would be disrespectful to the professor not to attend the class.
Thoroughly annoyed, Jordan had insisted that he would get more out of going on patrol then from the dumb Sociology class.
Clark had banned him from going on patrol for two days after that.
Jordan had thought the punishment was kind of harsh, especially since he wasn’t even living at home any more. And much to Jordan’s chagrin, Clark still had final say when it came to his son’s powers, especially right now, when Jordan was trying to make the transition into a full fledged superhero.
And, naturally, it was up to Clark to decide when that time would be.
When he had first graduated high school, Jordan tried to insist that he didn’t need to go to college, that he could just help his dad on the farm and be a full time superhero.
That conversation didn’t last long.
Both Lois and Clark were very firm in their belief that Jordan was going to get some sort of an education before following in his dad’s footsteps.
Jordan had then reminded them that Clark’s formal education after high school had been at the Fortress, and that he hadn’t actually gone to college. And in Jordan’s mind, that meant that he shouldn’t have to go to college either.
That comment had resulted in no patrol for two days and extra farm chores.
Lois and Clark had both reminded Jordan that the world had changed and getting an education beyond high school would be a good thing. They didn’t care if the boys went to a four year university, a two year college, or a good trade school, as long as they did something that would benefit their futures.
Jonathan didn’t have any issues with it and had really been looking forward to college. But for Jordan, many other arguments and discussions had led to the place he now found himself: being a weary junior who was getting tired of the college experience and ready to go out into the world. He had also put off finishing some of his Gen-Ed’s–thus, his presence in the sociology class at 8 AM.
Jordan had heard some of his other classmates talking and knew most of them were looking forward to going back to bed once the class was over. Jordan, however, didn't need sleep, was energized by the sun, and was counting down the minutes until class was over so he could go on patrol.
There were a couple hours until his next class which meant he had time to fly all over the world and look for people in need.
However, since he wasn’t officially announced to the world as a hero yet, he had to stay in the shadows and out of sight.
But still, it was something.
Clark had decided that he could officially adopt a superhero mantra by the time he graduated, possibly earlier, depending on when his dad thought he was ready. Since he was beyond ready to be a hero, Jordan had done his best to listen to all his dad’s advice and not complain during any of the training sessions. He had even agreed to practice acting more clumsily and wear the stupid glasses that Clark had insisted was important in developing his own disguise. However, since their wasn’t a permanent timeline for when he could go full hero, Jordan had drawn one major line in the sand: he wasn’t cutting his hair.
Not yet anyway.
Jordan knew that would come eventually, as would getting the skin tight, blue costume (another piece Jordan wasn’t exactly looking forward to). But there was still a while before that became a reality. Actually, if the way things had been going lately was any indication, it could still be a long time before he got to take the skies.
Privately, Jordan was convinced that Clark was doing everything he could to keep Jordan from becoming a full time superhero.
Probably because he was protective and didn’t want Jordan to get hurt.
Jordan rolled his eyes. Didn’t his dad get that becoming a hero was the most important thing in his life, that he could barely think about anything else most of the time?
Apparently not.
Jordan glanced down at his phone: 8:35. That meant he had ten more minutes of class. Ten more agonizing minutes, until he could go on patrol. Would there be anything interesting today, like a forest fire or a landslide? Maybe! Jordan always appreciated when there was some sort of exciting challenge. But more than likely it would probably just be a series of boring old robberies.
He sighed. Well, maybe it wasn’t as glamorous as the saves his dad usually made, but at least he was still doing some good in the world and–
“Alright, class. I’m going to cut off notes a little early today because I want to give you information about the big partner project that we are doing over the next several weeks. Now for this project…”
Jordan tuned out the explanation that Professor Royce was giving about the assignment. Instead, he just focused on the rubric that she had passed out to everyone. Reading through it, Jordan noticed that it didn’t seem terribly hard, necessarily, just time consuming with several smaller due dates before the big project was done.
Great.
“Alright, now before I give any more instructions, everyone needs to get up, and find a partner.”
Wait, they had to find their own partner, they weren’t just assigned By the professor? That wasn’t fair, thought Jordan. He was terrible at talking to new people.
But sure enough, all his classmates were quickly finding partners. Crap. Realizing he didn’t have much of a choice, Jordan got up and started searching for a partner. But everyone he walked up to was already matched up with someone else, leaving him awkwardly standing there.
It didn’t look like there were any students left to pair up with which meant…that he could work alone! This was perfect! Jordan would much rather work by himself than with someone he didn’t even know. He wasn’t afraid of hard work and he definitely trusted his own work compared to most of the other losers in the class.
Jordan walked up to the front of the lecture hall to explain to Professor Royce that he would have to work by himself and that he was just fine with it. But as he got closer, he noticed there was another girl by the professor’s desk.
“But I’m telling you, I don’t need a partner. I can do the work myself,” she was saying.
Professor Royce sighed. “This isn’t a discussion on whether or not you can do the work yourself, this assignment is about proving you can work as a team .”
“I understand that, ma’am, but I’m just worried that working with someone else who has lower standards will bring my grade down.”
Noticing that Jordan was standing awkwardly beside her desk, Professor Royce turned to the newcomer, hoping for a better conversation than the one she was having with Miss Ross. “Yes, Mr. Kent, can I help you?”
“Oh. Um. There’s no one left to partner with, so, I guess…I was just wondering if I could work by myself?”
For a moment, Professor Helena Royce was annoyed and maybe a little angry that yet another student didn’t understand that this was a group project. But then she smiled. The perfect solution had just presented itself.
“Actually, Miss Ross here still needs a partner,” Professor Royce said, gesturing to the young woman beside her. Jordan glanced over at the preppy, blonde student, instantly making judgements based on her appearance. When she looked at him, Jordan could feel her making similar judgements. Professor Royce didn’t see the differences between them, she just noted the fact that there were two students in front of her. “So this means the two of you can work together.”
“What,” the students exclaimed at the same time. Giving each other another quick evaluation, both students were horrified at the prospect of working together.
“I’m not working with him.”
“And I’m not working with her,” Jordan said, echoing the girl’s sentiment.
“Neither of you have any say in this matter. You two are the only ones left so now you get the pleasure of working together. End of discussion.”
“But–”
“And since this project is worth half your grade, I suggest you find a way to complete it together or both of your grades will suffer.” She turned to the rest of the students and announced, “Class dismissed.” Professor Royce grabbed her bag and sauntered out of the room, pleased about the way she handled the two difficult students.
Since the next class was filing in, Jordan and his new partner were forced to take their discussion in the hallway. She walked over to one of the large, wooden tables used for studying, but didn’t sit. This conversation would be better standing.
Once again realizing he didn’t have much of a choice, Jordan followed her.
When he got to the table, she flipped her hair and took control of the situation. “Let’s get this over with. I’m Melissa Ross. And you are?”
“Jordan Kent.”
“Alright, well, Jordan. You don’t have to worry. I’ll take care of everything.”
“Huh?”
“This is a big project and I want to do well. So I’m willing to do all the work.”
“You are?”
“Oh yes, definitely,” Melissa answered, pasting a smile on her face. She had been in countless situations over the years where she had been forced to do a majority of the work after being paired with lazy group members. So, it definitely wasn’t a new scenario for her. She didn’t love when she had to do the work of multiple people, but Melissa wasn’t afraid to work hard, especially when grades were so important to her.
And judging based on this…Jordan’s appearance…he was probably similar to other lazy project partners she’d had in the past. Melissa knew it wasn’t nice to judge people based on their appearances and always tried to be open minded. But in this situation, it was kind of hard not to make assumptions. Jordan was dressed in baggy jeans and a shapeless, dark hoodie that did him no favors. In addition he was sporting large, black framed glasses and had a messy mop of brunette curls. Upon further inspection, Melissa had to admit that his hair looked really soft, not overly stylized like a lot of the guys she normally went out with. And he was kind of cute in a nerdy way…
Never mind that, Melissa scolded herself, she didn’t have time for this. He was probably a slacker anyway, she convinced herself. And if she was going to keep up her 4.0 average, taking a relaxed approach would not be beneficial in any way, which meant that she would have to do all the work.
“But…it’s a group project…which means I should, you know, contribute.” Jordan didn’t want to offend his new partner, or her forward way of thinking, but if she was assuming their project was going to be the result of only her efforts, she was sadly mistaken.
Jordan had been in a lot of unpleasant school situations over the years, but he had never, ever, been forced to work with someone who looked like Melissa did. Jordan had never seen so much pink at a time on one person. Her shoes were pink, her flowered shirt was pink, her nails were pink, her lips were pink AND she was wearing pink jewelry. In addition she had a matching pink bag with coordinating pink folders and binders inside of it. And if he had to guess, she probably had pink pens and pencils in her backpack too.
Long story short, the girl was a walking, talking barbie doll.
In what universe would Jordan want someone like that in charge of a group project worth half his grade. Answer: in no universe.
Jordan had to admit, even though he didn’t want her anywhere near the assignment, she was in fact, drop dead gorgeous–there was no denying that. Despite her preppy, girly style, she didn’t didn’t seem fake. She didn’t have a spray tan and wasn’t wearing too much makeup–Melissa was just genuinely a pretty girl. With her long blonde hair and big blue eyes, she probably had the attention of every guy on campus. Someone like her would never give a guy like Jordan Kent the time of day…
Stop it! Jordan told himself, why should he care what this life sized barbie doll thought of him.
“I’m sure you would like to help with the project,” Melissa said, a slightly condescending tone to her voice. “But I really think it’s better if I handle this on my own. Anyway, I was looking at the rubric and a brief outline of the project is due Wednesday. So, don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. See ya then,” Melissa said, giving a little wave before walking away in a swarm of pink. The only thing that wasn’t pink–her jean skirt. Her short…tight jean skirt…
Jordan forced himself to look away. He couldn’t believe her! She wasn’t even giving him a chance to do the project, even though Jordan had always been a great student. But she didn’t know that because she hadn’t even given him a chance to voice his opinion.
Clenching his fist, Jordan made a decision: he was going to turn in the outline and he was getting them the good grade. And it didn’t matter how pretty she looked, this Melissa girl was just going to have to get over the fact that Jordan was spearheading the project.