A/N: Alrighty kids! Let's get cracking on this! I'm excited to actually do this thing because boy howdy do I have free time!

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"Kara! Don't go so fast!" laughed a male voice from behind me. I giggled and kept running across the park. Suddenly I was caught up in someone's arms and lifted up into the air. They spun me around and pulled me close to their face. I took all of her in, her bright smile and the laugh lines covering her face, the shining blue of her eyes that filled me with warmth, her honey-gold hair, falling in loose curls around her face. She was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen.

"Oh, my little sun, I love you so much," she said to me, voice smooth and soft. I giggled and she nuzzled our noses together, her smile growing wider. She held me tight and I felt safe. Everything felt so incredibly perfect. The man who had called to me caught up to us and the woman put me down. They kissed as they met and the man crouched down to place one on my forehead.

"You left me in the dust kiddo, maybe you should be an athlete," he smiled at me, just as brightly as the woman.

"No daddy, I want to be a scientist!" I said, pointing my little finger at him.

"We know sunshine," said the woman, crouching down next to the man. "Your father was only joking-"

A low rumble cut her off. The ground beneath us began to shake. A look of worry crossed their faces and the woman grabbed me and pulled me back up into her arms. The man, my father, wrapped his arms around both of us. The woman patted my hair down, trying to reassure me that everything was alright. Then, just as quickly as it started, it stopped.

"Mommy, I'm scared," I said, looking up at the woman. She looked over at my father and then turned back to me.

"I know, but I promise everything will be alright-"

"Kara!" called a voice from far away. "You need to get up for school!"

I shot bolt upright, scared back to my senses. I groaned and rubbed my eyes and then ran my fingers back through my hair. I was dreaming about my birth parents again. Or at least who my imagination thought was my birth parents. I got out of my bed and stumbled into my bathroom. Staring at myself in the mirror, I twirled some of my hair between my fingers. I think I looked like them. I had the woman's blonde hair, blue eyes, and upturned nose and the man's face shape and ears. I didn't look like a ray of sunshine like they did. I was just me.

Before I could depress myself any further, I turned on the shower. Once the temperature was the perfect scalding hot I got in, washing my hair and scrubbing the dirt off my skin. I moved quickly, knowing that I was already pushing it by trying to shower before I got ready. Turning off the shower head, I grabbed a towel and then ran back to my room to get ready. Pulling on a sweater and some skinny jeans, I tried to get dressed before my mom called my name again.

"Kara Danvers! If you aren't down here in the next minute you're walking to school!" called the ever-joyous voice of my mother. I groaned and grabbed some shoes and my bag before rushing down the stairs while trying to shove my feet into the shoes. Then I tripped, sending my backpack flying and me tumbling down the steps. My mom and dad came rushing in from the kitchen to see what all the noise about and when my mom saw me sprawled across the floor she rushed over, "Are you okay sweetie? Did you hurt yourself?"

I gave her a deadpan, "Yeah mom I broke all my totally normal limbs because I do that all the time."

"Kara quit sassing your mother she's just trying to be nice," said my dad putting his hands on his hips. "Get up off the floor and come eat some breakfast. I made pancakes."

I got up, dusting off my knees and retrieving my backpack from by the front door. Now that my dad mentioned it, I could smell the batter and syrup coming from the kitchen. I mumbled an apology to my mom and walked past her to sit down and get some breakfast in before I had to go to school. Stuffing pancakes into my mouth, I listened to my parents talk.

"Did you call my sister about us going out to her house for a few weeks this summer?" asked my mom, leaning against the counter drinking her coffee. Her dark hair was pulled up into a ponytail and her face was covered in freckles.

"Not yet, with that toddler running around on a Christmas high I didn't want to bother her too much," he reached over to my plate and stole a piece of one of the pancakes, shoving it in his mouth.

"Hey!" I protested, pointing my fork at him. "That was mine."

He smiles innocently and went back to the stove to make more. My mom rolled her eyes and came over to sit next to me at the table. She placed her cup down and leaned forward as if she was trying to tell me a secret. "You excited for going back to school?"

"It's just the end of winter break, Mom. It's not the start of the school year or anything."

"I know," she replied, sliding back from her hunched position into a more relaxed one. "I just know you miss your friends and everything."

"Okay, Mom." I returned to my pancakes, trying to get as many of them in as I could. I loved my dad's pancakes. He didn't make them very often so I had to eat them while I could. My mom got up from the table and put her mug in the sink, kissing my dad's cheek as she walked past. They were really cute together. It was one of my favorite things about my parents, they just clicked so well.

"Finish up your food and meet me in the car sweetie, we need to get going."

I quickly gobbled up the rest of the pancakes and put the plate in the sink. Grabbing my backpack I headed out the door, excited to see everyone I had missed over break.

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History was nowhere near my favorite subject, so why did I have to have it first period? Mr. Kwan was droning on in a lecture about the Gilded Age and monopolies and I was jotting down the occasional note. Kwan didn't worry too much about what you were doing as long as you weren't obviously not paying attention. I had mastered the art of hiding my phone behind my notebook and holding my pen in a way that made it look like I was note taking in first semester so really I was set. I sitting there half paying attention when I got a message notification.

TT: Did you hear about Mr. Paulson quitting?

I looked over at Thea Hanigan who had sent me the message. She was staring at me and nodded her head for me to respond to her.

Me: No, do you know why?

TT: No clue. But what I did hear is that his replacement is super hot.

Me: Really?

TT: Very my girl, very.

"Thea! Put your phone away," called Mr. Kwan from the front of the classroom. She slipped it into her bag and I did the same, not wanting to have a bad start on my first day back. Mr. Kwan returned to his lecture and I lightly tapped my pen against my notebook, thinking. Boy, could I not wait for fifth period.

All day I had heard about the new teacher. I had learned for sure that they were indeed a woman and that she had previously been a forensic scientist with Metropolis City Police before she started working at our school. Along with that, I had heard a whole lot of rumors. Someone said that she had to quit her job and move because she had an affair with the police commissioner. Another person claimed that she was fired for meddling in the cases too much. Some else told me that she was actually a disgraced member of a seedy genetics company that got shut down. I really didn't know what to believe but I was definitely excited to actually meet her.

Finally, it was time for fifth period. I made my way to the science as quickly as I could, wanting to see the new teacher before the rest of my class. I rushed in and wow, they were right she was hot. She had a little button nose and round eyes that really contradicted the rest of the look she had going on. Her mouth was pursed into a tight line and her eyes were a cold, icy blue. She had red hair that tumbled down like she was an old Hollywood movie star and she dressed rather smartly compared to the rest of the teachers at Midvale High School. I tried to brush off the fact that I had burst into her room by moving to my seat in a cool composed manner. Soon enough, the rest of the class filed into the room and found their seats, half of them staring at the new teacher. The bell rang and she got up from her desk and walked to the board.

"Hello class, my name is Dr. Kane, but you probably know that already. I will be your new Chemistry teacher for the remainder of the year and hopefully more to come. Your previous teacher, Mr. Paulson won the lottery over the break and quit, so here I am. Now, could one of you tell what the last thing you learned before the break was?" her voice was soft and sweet but I could hear a sharp edge just underneath it that indicated she wasn't going to be taking any shit. I was going to love this class this semester.

Later that day, I was sitting in a booth at Sandi's, sipping on a chocolate milkshake and listening to Hadley give the rundown on all of the winter break drama. She babbled along about who had broken up with who and who cheated on their significant others. Hadley had a way of making the small events of the tiny town of Midvale so much more exciting. Despite the excitement she carried in her voice, my mind was still somewhere else.

"Do you guys ever have dreams about stuff that really happened to you?" I said suddenly, stirring my straw around wistfully. I looked up to examine Hadley and Gavin's reactions to my question.

Hadley looked a little surprised at my interruption as I usually listened to her stories quite diligently. She put her surprise aside an answered anyway. "Not really. I'm usually dreaming about other things," she winked at me and Gavin smacked her arm.

"I'm serious guys." I played with a piece of my hair as I talked. It was a nervous habit I had had since- well since I could remember.

"Well," started Gavin. "Sometimes I guess. Why do you want to know?"

"I don't know- it's stupid, just forget it," I said focusing back down on my milkshake.

"Kara-"

"Please just drop it." I cut Hadley off. "I'm really fine guys. I promise."

Silence covered the booth after I spoke. I twirled my straw around some more and watched out the window. Gavin picked at the dirt under his nails and Hadley turned her head to watch the patrons in the diner. We all sat in silence until the waitress came back over to check on us. Her presence brought all of us out of our tense silence to be kind to the staff. As she walked away, Hadley picked up her phone and gasped.

"What is it now Hadley?" asked Gavin, leaning over the table and placing his hand in his chin. I perked up as well, waiting for Hadley's latest news.

"It's Josh Butler," she brought her hand up to her mouth. I creased my eyebrows, examining her expression as Gavin went on.

"What did the football star do this time? Get kicked off the team for drinking? I heard that he and KJ go out and do it all the time."

"Gavin!" I said harshly. Hadley looked on the brink of tears. "Hadley, what happened?"

"His parents just reported him missing. No one has seen him since last night."

"Oh my god, I'm sorry Hadley, I didn't realize I just-"

"Don't be sorry, Gav. I just- that poor family. If Gavin ever went missing I-"

I grabbed Hadley's hand and squeezed it tightly as a few tears started slipping from her eyes. Gavin rubbed her back in an attempt to calm her down as I looked out the window. How could someone from my school actually go missing? Nothing like that ever happened in Midvale. As Hadley broke further into a sob, I paid for our food and we all got up and left Sandi's. I walked them to their car and then started off in the direction of my house Once the coast was clear I leaped up into the sky and flew the rest of the way home. Landing on my roof, I climbed in my window and crawled onto my bed. A moment or two later, my mom came in.

"Hey sweetie, I heard you come in. How was Sandi's?" She asked, sitting on the edge of my bed. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine," I replied, but the break in my voice gave away my emotions. My mom came close to me on the bed and rubbed my back. I started to cry.

"Kara, what happened?"

"A kid at my school was reported missing today and I- I" I broke down and grabbed my mom, pulling her into a hug. She smoothed my hair and spoke comforting words to me. Slowly, my crying stopped and I lightly sniffled pulling away.

"Thanks, mom," I mumbled, crawling back under my covers. I think I'm going to go to bed."

"Okay sweetie, just call me if you need anything." She smiled at me and got up, leaving me alone in the dark. I pulled the covers tighter around my body and tried to go to sleep.