My Semi-Decent Sweet Sixteen (Jon)
(Backdated to May 31st)

At 6:00 AM Eastern Standard Time, Jo Kent was awake and putting on jeans and an old t-shirt. She moved quietly down the stairs knowing that Mom and Dad were both already at work, most likely. That was fine. She was hoping not to have to explain herself. Jon was probably out helping save the world as usual, which was also fine. She /really/ didn't want to have to explain this to her big brother, because it was too embarassing.

Slipping out the house and locking the door behind her, Jo blurred into action, heading toward Smallville, Kansas with all due haste. She looked high and low for the perfect spot to practice, because she didn't want anyone to see her in case this went poorly. Finally, when she came across the old water tower, she raced to the top...and looked down. The area for miles around was deserted, Dad had told her, and she hoped it was true.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Jo Kent leaps away from the tower, sailing into the air for one, two, three, four, five seconds....

...and then gravity casts its all-seeing eye upon her attempt to fly and drags her back to the Earth with a painful thud. Undaunted, Jo rises and races back to the top of the water tower to try again.


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Forty-three attempts later, Jo Kent is convinced that she knows the truth: 

She is the world's only defective Kryptonian.

She sits at the top of the water tower, lamenting her bad luck.