Chloe

Four Months Ago

   "What secrets lie within the mind of young Clark Kent?"

   Clark snapped out of his daydreaming trance and looked down to see Chloe Sullivan giving him a look of simultaneous amusement and intrigue.  Before Clark could answer her rhetorical question, Chloe looked down the hall in the direction Clark had been staring, quickly spotting Lana Lang, Smallville High's cheerleader captain.  A wide grin spread across Chloe's face, and Clark readied himself for the inevitable verbal jab.
   "Lana Lang. Of course. Y'know, I bet if you just stare at her for a while longer, she's bound to fall madly in love with you."
   Clark rolled his eyes.  Though she'd been teasing him, Clark knew that she was right. Chloe's sense of humor, while highly sarcastic, had real genuineness of heart behind it.  Generally only those who were very close to her understood this.  Fortunately, Clark was one of those people.
   Returning Chloe's sarcasm, Clark cocked an eyebrow at her and replied, "thanks for the advice."
   Pete Ross walked up behind the two of them.  "Hey guys; what's up?"
   Chloe flashed her trademark mischievous smile. "Clark's staring at Lana from afar."
   Pete looked at Clark. "Again?  You know, Clark, you're never gonna get with her if you just sit on your butt all day."
   Clark rolled his eyes again. "So I hear."
   The halls of Smallville High were abuzz with activity.  It was the last day of the spring semester, and all the students were excited about the onset of Summer.
   A tall boy wearing a letterman jacket walked up to the group.  He had a sideways grin on his face, and his eyes were set on Chloe.  Stopping a few inches inside her personal space, he looked down at her and simply said "hey," grinning like a moron.
   Chloe returned his gaze, her right eyebrow cocked in a "what on earth could you possibly think you're going to get from me?" expression.
   "Yes, Sean?" she replied.
   Sean was completely oblivious to her demeanor—or he just didn't care.  "You wanna go with me to the Remy Zero concert tonight?"
   Chloe's eyes narrowed.  "Sean, why on earth would you ask me?  You could ask any one of those other air-headed cheer-losers over there"—she signaled with her eyes to the cheerleaders down the hall—"so why me?  You know I'm one of the few women in this school smart enough to refuse you."
   Sean was undeterred, and still grinning. "Maybe I just can't resist a challenge."
   Chloe's face went serious. "I can."
   She walked away.
   Pete and Clark made eye contact with Sean, gave him the "hey, that's Chloe" shrug, then followed her.
   "Man, Chloe, where's a girl like you get that edge?" Pete asked.
   Shooting a proud smile over her shoulder, Chloe responded, "my dad says it runs in the family."
   The three teens walked into the Smallville Torch's office.  Chloe, being mature beyond her fifteen years of age, had been awarded the position of Editor of the school paper—a position she relished.  As soon as she stepped through the door, she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.  She was never as comfortable as when she was free to buzz about the office, researching and writing.
   Clark watched Chloe delve into her work and smiled a little.  Though she looked like a normal teenage girl, she acted like a slightly high-strung adult.
   "So, Miss Sullivan, what's going to be in the school year's final issue of the Smallville Torch?" Pete jovially asked.
   Chloe happily handed him a copy of the paper. "See for yourself; straight from the printers this morning."
   Pete skipped to the editorial section.  "'Smallville High Endures Worst Year Ever'? Geez, Chloe, don'tcha think that's kind of a downer for the beginning of Summer?"
   Chloe responded quickly. "This year, we've had one principal, two teachers, and six students killed, all under mysterious circumstances.  People should be aware of what's going on."
   Pete rolled his eyes in a friendly tease. "'Mysterious circumstances', 'mysterious circumstances'... lemme know when you decide to come back down to Earth.  I'll see you guys later."
   After Pete walked out, Chloe sighed and gave her "whatever" eyebrow raise at the doorway.
   Not many people gave Chloe's conspiracy theories much credit.  Between that and her generally flippant demeanor, she managed to drive most people away.  As far as Clark knew, he and Pete were her only two real friends.
   Clark tried to comfort her after Pete's jocund dismissal.  "Hey, you wanna go get some coffee?  And then maybe we can go to the annual Summer festival afterward?"
   Chloe brightened up.  "Sure!  Oh, but I need to go run this letter to the post office; can I meet you there?"
   "Yeah, sure.  I'll see you there."
   Clark and Chloe both had amazingly bright, genuine smiles.  If an observer had been standing in the room, they would have been metaphorically blinded.

   Clark walked down main street towards the coffee shop, still smiling goofily for no apparent reason other than he thought that it had been a good day so far.  A screech and a squeal snapped him from his lazy happiness, and he looked up to see a school bus zooming down the street, waving back and forth in an obvious lack of control.  From the panicked look Clark saw on the driver's face, he guessed that the brakes were out.
   Clark was a blur, sprinting towards the front of the bus.  Leaning forward, with one leg bent and the other set backwards for support, he put his hands forward to catch the speeding metal monstrosity.
   The bus hit him with a thud, a crash, and a shower of sparks.  It pushed Clark back, scooting him down the paved street for another thirty feet.  Carefully cushioning the front of the bus with his arms and using his flight power to adjust the amount of friction he put on the ground, Clark slowed the bus safely.  By the time he was done, however, the front of the bus had almost bent around him.
   Taking a quick glance upward, he saw that he hadn't been seen by the driver.  Keeping low so as to avoid the bus windows, he scanned the street for any onlookers that might have seen his feat of strength.  Miraculously, the open shops on the street weren't able to see Clark crouched in front of the bus from that angle, and the streets were unusually clear of pedestrians.  Of course, he thought.  The Summer festival; everyone's there.  This bus was probably on its way there right now.
   But just as Clark was getting ready to speed away from the inevitable onlookers, he noticed that there was, in fact, one person on the street.  From the angle at which she stood, she had probably seen the whole incident.
   It was Chloe.
   Clark spent the next few hours explaining everything to her.  He—reluctantly—showed her his powers: his speed, his strength, and his flight.  He showed her the ship in the storm cellar, and described what he had learned from the golden box: that he was an alien; that he was from a planet called "Krypton;" that he wasn't who she thought he was.  He apologized a dozen times over for all the lies he'd told her over the years, but didn't ask for her forgiveness.  In truth, he didn't feel that he deserved it.
   Chloe was strangely silent, barely speaking the entire time.  She didn't truly respond or react to anything Clark said.  She seemed numb to his words, as though she'd been punched in the stomach and was still too deep in shock to realize that she was hurt.
   After Clark had explained all he knew that he could, they stood together on the front driveway of the Kent farm.  The wind blew through the fields, rustling every tree branch and blade of grass.  The world around Clark and Chloe swirled with noise, but the silence between them was pungent. 
   Finally, Chloe looked Clark in the eyes, and opened her mouth to speak.
   "Clark, I—"
   She couldn't help herself. She fell into tears, her face terribly stricken with sadness.
   "Why didn't you..."
   Frustrated anger set in.
   "Who are you?! What happened to Clark?!  My friend?!"
   Clark tried to reassure her. "Chloe, it's me! I'm the same guy you always knew before!"
   Chloe shook her head in tears, and backed away from him.  She turned away from the farm and ran.  It was a two-mile walk back to town, and she knew it.  She didn't care.
   Clark didn't know what to do.
   Clark's parents had accepted him, even after knowing everything.  But Chloe hadn't.  Though he'd never told her so, Chloe was perhaps Clark's dearest friend.  She was his dearest friend, and now she had run away in fear of him.  For the first time in his entire life, Clark Kent felt truly alone.