acclivity

μία νέα αρχή: a new start

Lena was dropped off at the entrance to Demos Educational Organization. A college that until recently, she didn't know existed. She stared up at the large building in front of her, closed off by some large, almost intimidating looking fences. Her driver helped her get her things out of the car, offering to help her inside. But Lena just waved him off. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure I can manage." The man nodded, tipping his hat to the youngest Luthor.

When Lena had been scouting out colleges her junior year of high school, Lionel had stopped her almost immediately.

"Lena." He sat her down one afternoon after she arrived home from school. He handed her a brochure. She accepted it, giving it a once over. It seemed to be a brochure for a college, Demos Educational Organization. An odd name for a college, but she just shrugged it off. "I know that you're smart enough to get into pretty much any college you want to, but it was the wish of your birth mother for you to go here." A 16-year-old Lena Luthor met Lionel's gaze. He rarely spoke of her birth family. She wanted to ask how he knew that, but she knew better than to question.

"But what about..." Lena started, but Lionel cut her off, knowing what she was going to ask.

"Lillian won't be an issue. I'll be discussing this with her later." Lena nodded curtly.

"How do you know I'll get accepted?" She asked him. He just chuckled.

"Trust me, dear, they won't turn you away." He said, giving her a knowing look. Lena blinked but accepted the answer. She figured it was because she was a Luthor. No college would probably dare turn away such an influential family. She did wonder, however, why she was being sent to Demos when Lex had gone to Harvard. But again, she didn't question it. In the back of her mind, she figured it was because she wasn't a real Luthor.

"Hey! You new here?" Lena was startled out of her thoughts to see a guy with messy brown hair and a friendly smile on his face. Lena nodded, offering him her hand. He took it and gave her a firm shake.

"I'm Winn! Winn Schott. I'm a junior here." He said. "You are?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Lena Luthor." She waited for the realization to dawn on him of who he was talking to, but it never came. He just nodded.

"Well Lena, since I caught you out here, do you want help with your stuff? Or something? Do you know where you're headed?" Lena shook her head.

"I'm afraid I don't know much. My acceptance letter just said welcome and all the normal pleasantries. And that someone would show me around when I got to campus." She said with a shrug. Winn nodded.

"Ah. I remember my first day." He chuckled as if he was sharing a private joke with himself. "Well, first you'll probably want to go see Headmaster J'onn. He'll walk you through orientation. And get you set up." Lena nodded, frowning slightly.

"Does the headmaster do that for every student?" She inquired as Winn bent down to pick up one of her bags. He nodded when he straightened back up.

"Yeah. If you didn't already know, we're a pretty... exclusive college. We don't get too many new students and J'onn wants to get to know all of us personally." Winn replied as Lena went to pick up the rest of her bags.

"Oh. That's nice of him." Lena said as she followed Winn past the gates. Winn grinned.

"Yeah, J'onn's awesome. Just wait. I'm sure you'll end up loving it here. Never want to go home." Winn said brightly. Lena grimaced, knowing all how true that probably was. She enjoyed Lionel's presence, but he was gone on business more often than not and ever since Lex had gone off to college, it was just Lena and Lillian. And to say that Lillian didn't like Lena was an understatement.