Lana Lang sat up in her bed. She was feeling very . . . gay this morning. She turned off her alarm clock and looked around the room. She had never noticed before just how pink it all was. She walked over to her closet and started flipping through racks of pink sweaters and cardigans, trying to find something suitable for the new her. "No, no, no . . ." she whispered to herself. "Ah-ha! Perfect!" She pulled the selected outfit from its hanger, tossed it on the bed, and went to take a shower.
When she finished, Lana put on an Indigo Girls CD, brushed through her hair, and pulled on the baggy jean/Melissa Etheridge concert T-shirt/combat boot combo she had picked out. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and decided to forgo her normal morning ritual of makeup application. Today, Lana Lang would be as nature intended.
She walked down the stairs to the kitchen, where Nell was drinking coffee and reading the paper. She had just taken a sip when she noticed Lana, and the shock caused her to cough and spill coffee everywhere.
Wiping the table off, Nell asked, "Lana, honey, are you feeling ok?"
Lana smiled. "I'm super, Nell, thanks for asking!"
Nell nodded, but still looked concerned. "You just seem a little . . . different this morning."
"Well I feel great! And gay!"
With that, Lana took off. Nell just sat and stared after her.
*****
"Hi, Clark!"
Clark smiled. He recognized that voice. "Hi, Lana--" he stopped himself and his smile froze as he turned around to face her. "Umm . . . are you feeling ok?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that? I feel super! But enough about me, Clark, how are you feeling?"
Clark's face turned somber as he remembered all the bad things that had already happened to him this morning. "Well, actually, I'm having a pretty bad day. Do you want to go somewhere quiet and talk?"
"Hmm . . . maybe later. Oh, look! There's Chloe! See ya, Clark!"
Clark watched in disbelief as Lana walked off. She had been strange since Whitney left, but this . . . Depressed and mopey, he shook his head and walked to class.
***
Lana stood in the doorway of the Talon office, watching Chloe work. The blonde was reading over copy for the paper, trying to edit the next day's edition. Lana watched the way her hair fell over her eyes no matter how many times she pushed it back, the way her nose scrunched up and her lips pursed when she read something especially bad, and the pauses she would take to sip her coffee. Lana licked her lips and sighed longingly.
Chloe snapped to attention. "Lana! I didn't see you there. What's up?"
Lana smiled and walked into the office, shutting the door. "Do you have a minute, Chloe? There's something really important that I wanted to discuss with you . . ."