(Hey guys

(Hey guys! This story is the next addition to my and Jet's growing library of mutually written stories! D Gods I love this girl! This story takes place during season one of Smallivlle, while Lex and Clark are still friends. Clark is 16 and Lex is 24. I'm playing Lex and Chloe and Jet is playing the Kent family.)

Clark walked down the hall wishing his last class was already over so that he could start his weekend. Lex had invited him to go play a game of pool with him over at the mansion, and Clark would much rather be there then in his Social Studies class. He got to class and saw Chloe sitting near the front of the class. He went and sat down in the chair next to her and said, "Is it just me or does it seem like today has been dragging?"

Chloe's eyes lit up upon seeing Clark, and she smiled stating, "You're a little late Clark, but not to worry, so is Mr. Anmisty. Strange; he's never missed a day." She shrugged, "It is the last class of the day thankfully, and if he doesn't show up if fifteen, they'll let us
go home early. That'd be great since it'll give me one more day to refurbish my paper on Thomas Jefferson."

Clark saw Mr. Anmisty walking into the class as Chloe finished her sentence. He kept his voice low and said, "No such luck."

They watched as Mr. Anmisty walked to the back of the classroom and sat in an empty chair. The students all looked at each other wondering what was going on. Clark and Chloe exchanged confused looks. Clark looked back at Mr. Anmisty and said, "What's going on Mr. Anmisty?"

Mr. Anmisty sneered at Clark condescendingly as he said, "I don't know, what's going on with you 'MR.' Kent?"

Clark flushed with embarrassment and looked to Chloe for help, still confused as to what was going on.

Chloe's eyes arched in confusion taken aback by the harsh way their teacher had just responded to Clark. Mr. Anmisty had always been a bit obnoxious but never all out rude like this.

Chloe turned back to face the front of her desk and opened her book as she whispered to Clark, "Okaaaay… Now that's just weird."

Following Chloe's lead, Clark faced the front and opened his book as well, along with quite a few other students. Fifteen uncomfortable minutes later they heard Mr. Anmisty ask a student next to him, "Hey Jason, if the teacher doesn't show up in fifteen minutes we get to leave right?"

Jason seemed wary, but nodded. Mr. Anmisty got up and said, "I'm out of here."

Mr. Anmisty left the classroom, and again the students looked at each other wondering what to do. Clark closed his book and turned to Chloe again. "Does that mean we get to leave?" As he spoke a couple of students from the back got up and headed out the door.

Chloe shook her head amazed at what had just transpired. She shrugged, "I guess. As much as I don't mind the small break from weirdo Mr. Anmisty, something is definitely not right with this picture! Do you think he's testing us to see if we will really leave?" She got out of her seat and walked to the doorway peeking out into the hall. "Nope he's really long gone."

She turned back to Clark and gave him a quirky smile, "I guess that concludes today's Social Studies class. I'm going to go work on my paper, but do you want to come meet me tonight around eight at the Talon? They've got two for one espressos?"

Gathering up his books, Clark said, "That WAS weird, but I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. I'm going over to play pool with Lex right now, so I'm not sure if I'll be done with my chores by eight, but if I am, I'll meet you."

Chloe nodded and left. Clark went to his locker, gathered the books he would need for the weekend, and left. He started walking towards home, and once he was alone, he super sped to Lex's mansion. Once there he knocked on the door.

One of the staff members let Clark in and said, "Mr. Luthor is in the study."

Clark headed to the study to find Lex. He walked in, and saw Lex at the pool table practicing shots. Clark smiled and said, "Hey Lex."

Lex finished taking his shot before glancing up with a wide smile, "Hi yourself Clark." Lex laid the pool stick on top of the pool table and strode over to the liquor cabinet. He opened it pulling out a vintage bottle of European scotch and taking out two glasses he poured one for each of them.

He positively beamed as he advanced back across the study to where Clark stood. He held up a glass for Clark to take asking slyly, "Thirsty Clark?"

Clark wasn't sure what to make of that. Lex knew he was sixteen, and while he'd had drinks in front of Clark on several occasions, he'd never offered one to Clark. Without taking the offered glass, Clark said with an unsure smile, "No thanks, I'm underage."

Lex snorted, "Suit yourself; it's not stopping me." With that said he downed both his and Clark's shot before shaking his head as the bitter harsh taste invaded his senses. He glanced back up at Clark triumphantly like he'd just gotten away with murder before heading back over to the liquor cabinet to refill his shot glass. He chuckled at Clark pointing to the pool table, "I believe that's a shot you can take right?"

Not sure what to make of this strange behavior from his friend, Clark nodded and said, "Sure."

He started racking the balls to set up a new game. As he set it up he tried to shrug off the weirdness and asked, "How was work today?"

Lex's eyebrow furrowed, "Work? Don't tell me, let me guess, my dad has been talking to you about me learning the ropes at Luthor Corp? Did he tell you that he wanted me to start off in the mailroom? Work my way up from the bottom he says," Lex scoffed in disbelief as he shot back another glass of scotch before adding, "What a joke."

Lex shook his head in obvious agitation as he poured one more shot before capping the bottle. An idea flashed across his mind as he grinned devilishly at Clark, "Clark, you may not want to drink, but you can dance right? We should grab one of my dad's Lamborghini's and head into Metropolis tonight; I've got plenty connections that could get us into a few of the dance clubs down there. No one will ask us for ID and we can slip in through the back. What do you say?"

Clark knew for sure something was very wrong with Lex. Lex had been working at Luthor Corp for a few years now, and was managing the Smallville branch. Clark thought about his teacher and had to wonder if there was some connection. He also wondered how many people were affected, and what had happened to them. Not wanting to make Lex angry or scare him off before he had the chance to figure out what was wrong, Clark decided to go along with it for now while trying to get as much information as he could.

He said, "What do I say? I say my parents would murder me if they found out I went to Metropolis to go to a dance club. I'd be grounded for the rest of this year. No thanks."

Clark had finished wracking the balls, so he picked up a pool stick and took his shot sinking one ball on the break. As he lined up his next shot he asked Lex, "So if you didn't go to work, then what did you do today?"

Lex shrugged answering, "Not much. I couldn't get a hold of many of my friends, and the ones I did were acting all weird. I'm telling you Clark, I think my dad must be bribing them not to hang out with me. It's his way of trying to control me. At least he hasn't gotten to you; that's something. That reminds me," Lex grabbed the bottle of scotch and brought it over to the drink station popping off the top he took one more swig before putting the lip of the bottle under the facet head and adding a little water. He shook the bottle and chuckled, "I swear I think he measures it sometimes. Like he can't just afford to buy another bottle? I'll have Jason order him another one tomorrow before he notices."

Lex feeling slightly inebriated now from the shots stumbled slightly as he grabbed another pool stick off the wall. He walked back across the study to Clark's side to take the next shot before asking, "So if you don't want to go out dancing, what do you want to do? I just want to be anywhere but here; I've been here most of the day, and I really don't want to deal with him when he gets home in a few hours."

Clark seriously doubted that Lionel would be 'home' in a few hours, since he didn't live at the mansion with Lex. Between that and Lex trying to hide his alcohol consumption, Clark was pretty sure that Lex thought he was under 21 and probably even under 18.

He immediately had two thoughts. The first one was that he needed to help Lex, because if Lionel or any of the members of Luthorcorp found out that Lex's mind had been somehow altered, they could take advantage of him. The second was that he needed to talk to Chloe, because with her 'wall of weird' and her investigative skills, she would be the best candidate to help him solve the problem.

His mind raced to think of a way to do both. He said, "Well if you want to get out of here, why don't you come with me to the farm after the game? One of our mares had a new colt a couple of days ago, and he's a lot of fun to watch. And my mom's making pot roast with home made apple pie for dessert. What do you say?"

Lex smiled in appreciation of the invite, "You know I'd never pass up your mom's cooking especially when it includes dessert." Thinking of the Kent meal to come, Lex grabbed a nice Cuban cigar from the cigar box on the desk to enjoy afterwards.

It wasn't long before the two had finished up their game and headed out in Lex's Porsche. As they pulled into the Kent farm's drive, they saw Jonathan working on one of his tractors. Both men waved, and Jonathan returned the gesture.

Lex turned the car off stepping out and taking in a deep breath. He always loved coming out to Clark's house. For some reason everything just seemed right. He turned to Clark giving him a broad grin, "So where's this newborn colt you've been bragging about?"

Clark started walking to the barn and Lex followed. The mare and colt were in a stall together, and the colt was drinking some milk from his mother. Clark smiled and turned to Lex, "Looks like he's occupied right now. But as soon as he's done, he'll come over to see who you are and get acquainted. I'm gonna go put my backpack away and let my mom know you're here for dinner. I'll be right back."

Lex said, "Okay." and leaned his arms on the stall door as he watched the horses.

Clark left the barn, and as soon as he was out of Lex's site, he super sped over to his father and said quietly, "I need to talk to you and mom in the kitchen."

"Is something wrong?"

"Yeah."

Clark and Jonathan walked quickly into the house together. Martha was in the kitchen cutting vegetables. She smiled and said, "Hi sweetheart; how was your visit with Lex?"

Clark put his backpack down next to the stairs and said, "It was odd. Something is wrong with him, and it's going to sound unbelievable, but I think someone or something has affected his mind."

Martha's brow creased in confusion. "What would make you think that?"

"When I got there he offered me some scotch, and..."

Jonathan interrupted, "He what?!"

Martha walked over and put a hand on Jonathan's arm and said, "Let him finish before you get upset."

Giving his mom a grateful look Clark said, "He knows I'm sixteen, and he's never offered me alcohol before, so I reminded him that I was underage and said no thanks. But the odd part is that he seemed to think that he was underage too. He had some shots and then put some water in the scotch to fill it back up to the same level as before and mentioned his father monitoring it. Then he wanted to go to a club in Metropolis and said something about the fact that neither one of us would need fake ID's because he knew someone who would let us in the back. And then he said he wanted to get out of the house because he knew his dad would be home soon and wanted to avoid him. Lionel doesn't even live there."

"Oh my! Poor Lex." Martha said.

Scoffing Jonathan said, "Poor Lex? Poor Lex just 'had some shots' and then drove our son home after offering to take him to Metropolis to do God knows what with God knows who!"

Jonathan turned to Clark and said, "How many shots did Lex have? Was he safe to drive?"

Looking away Clark said, "Um... four I think, maybe five. I was in the front seat with him. If I needed to I could have grabbed the wheel. I was watching the road."

Crossing his arms Jonathan said, "He shouldn't have been driving, and you should have told him that."

"I was worried about him, and wanted to get him over here where he would be safe so that we could figure out what was wrong with him before any of his staff found out and word got back to his father or to Luthorcorp."

Jonathan said, "I've warned you about Lex before. I've told you I don't think he's the kind of person you would want for a friend, and this proves my point."

"Lex has always been a good friend to me Dad. The point I'm trying to make is that today was different then usual. He would never be acting this way if he were himself. That's why we need to help him."

Martha spoke up, "I think Clark is right."

Not quite believing it Jonathan said, "What?!"

"Lex has been a good friend to Clark, and we should help him out. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Clark should have let him drive over here after drinking, but I do think we should help him. We need to keep him here until we find out what is wrong, and if there is a way to fix it."

Jonathan sighed, "I can't believe I'm hearing this."

Martha looked up at her husband and said, "Believe it, because we're going to help him. From everything we've heard Lex had a very lonely and unhappy childhood. Now he thinks he's back in that childhood, and he's acting out the same way he did back then. But with a positive influence like Clark and some positive activities to focus his energy into, he'll be just fine."

She turned to Clark and said, "We need to find out what happened to him."

Clark looked over at his father, who now seemed resigned to helping, but still not happy about the situation. He looked back at his mom and said, "I was going to have the two of you watch him while I went to talk to Chloe."

"Why Chloe?" Martha asked.

"Because today in my last class, my teacher was acting very strange, and now I think it must be connected. He came into the class, and sat in the back row. Then after fifteen minutes was up, he got up and left saying something about no teacher showing up. Maybe Chloe can find a connection between the two of them."

Martha snapped her fingers and said, "I hadn't thought much about it, but today at the store, Jamie Peterson was bagging groceries!"

"Isn't he the new manager?" Clark asked.

"Yes. And when someone called over the intercom for a manager he just stood there chewing gum and bagging my things."

Clark said, "So Chloe and I will look for a connection between all three of them, and try to find out if more people are acting odd. But what if it takes us a few days? We can't let Lex go home the way he is."

Martha looked at Jonathan again. He sighed and said, "He can stay here, but he'll need to help out, and if he starts acting out, I'm going to either kick him out or put a stop to it."

Martha smiled at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek for agreeing to help Lex. Clark said, "Thanks Dad. But I'm not sure how we're going to get him to stay. He's going to want to go home after dinner."

Martha patted Clark's shoulder and said, "Leave that to me. I'll go talk to Lex, and when I'm done you can tell him you forgot a book at school. That will give you time to go talk to Chloe before dinner."

"Good idea. Thanks Mom."

Martha headed out to the barn to find Lex.