Chapter 2
First Letters
Clark couldn't believe this had happened to him. Me, Miss Lonely Hearts. What was Kwan thinking, Clark wondered, and why did I just agree to do it? All he could think of was getting home so he could take a look at his new burden, but his feet were on autopilot and they had taken him back to The Torch.
"Hi, Clark," Chloe chirped as he wandered into the room and set his backpack on the desk next to hers. "What did our fearless leader want with you?"
Rattled out of his walking coma by Chloe's question, Clark said, unconvincingly, "Oh…nothing."
Chloe rolled her eyes, feeling almost insulted that he felt she was going to believe that one. Clark thought about coming clean, but then he thought about the pink folder in his backpack and the ridicule he would receive if anyone found out, and he decided to keep it a secret. "Sorry, Chloe, Kwan told me it was a secret."
"Oh, come on, Clark," Chloe pleaded.
"Sorry, Chloe, nothin' doin'." Looking over her shoulder at the screen of her desktop computer, Clark changed the subject by asking what she was working on.
"Duh?" Chloe snorted. "It's Tuesday. What does that always mean?"
Clark's face twisted with pretended concentration, something that Chloe found hysterical. Finally he asked in a small voice, "Articles from last weekend's events?"
When Chloe quit chuckling, she said, "Wow! It's only taken you seven months to figure that out. I'd say I was impressed, but then I would be lying."
Clark sat down at the computer next to hers and asked her to send him some articles to go over. Cutting her workload here to a manageable level was Clark's biggest Torch-related job these days. The more articles he could review for her, the more work she could get done on piecing together a preliminary layout for the Friday paper. Clark put in an hour and a half before he felt the need to go home and do chores before dinner. Chloe groaned, but she reluctantly agreed to shut down and take him home.
After chores and a relaxed dinner of chicken and dumplings, Clark took his backpack out to the barn where he could look at the pink folder in privacy. He knew if he was going to tell anyone about this, it would be his parents, only…he hadn't decided if he was going to tell them yet. So, off to the loft he went.
Once opened and on his desk, the folder turned out to be a slim three-ring binder. The letters themselves were grouped by which week they were received, and after checking a few back copies of The Torch, he saw that the letters on top of each week's pile were the ones picked to be answered in the weekly column.
Clark used his super speed to reread all of the letters in the folder, along with the printed responses, in a matter of seconds. He was surprised to find that the letters that called out to him to be answered, were always on the bottom of the weekly piles.
It looked like this Maria Snyder had consistently taken the easy way out by choosing the safest letters to respond to. Clark figured, if he was going to do this, he was going to do it right, and to him, that meant trying to help the people who seemed to need it the most. I still think Kwan was smoking something when he decided I would be good at this, Clark thought, but I'll give it my best shot.
Clark reached into the pile of current letters to pull out one in particular written by 'Lori.' It was typewritten, like a lot of the letters were, likely in an attempt at hiding the author's identity. Lori's letter said:
Dear Miss Lonely Hearts,
I can't believe I'm actually writing to you, but I have nowhere else to turn for advice, and my love life is driving me crazy. I know my problem won't seem like that big a deal, but it's important to me, so I hope you'll give it some thought.
Without getting into too much drama, here's my problem: there are these two guys that I'm torn between.
The first one is my boyfriend, let's call him "Will." Will and I have been dating for a while now. He's a few years older than me and is more mature than the slobbering boys my own age I usually have to put up with. He's also kind (most of the time), cute, dependable, and a lot of fun to be with. I really like him. I think he's in love with me, but I'm not sure.
Virtually everyone thinks Will is the perfect guy for me. My friends, my family…heck, even people I don't know at school think we're this 'golden couple.' As for me, I'm not so sure. Sometimes I think I just stay with him because it makes me feel safe to have someone I can depend on.
But then there's this other guy, let's call him "Corey". I've known him for years, but it was just this year that we really became friends. He's quiet, humble, easy to talk to, puts others before himself, and he's even cuter than Will. The more I get to know him, the more I find myself wanting to spend time with him rather than with Will. I don't know what it is about him, but I just feel drawn to him. I think Corey might like me too.
So, I guess I'm not sure of what to do. I feel at ease with Will. Things would be nice and stable with him, very safe. But, I have this feeling that if I take a risk with Corey, that things could be much more than good, maybe even great.
Should I give up something good for something that might be great?
Yours,
Lonesome Lori
She doesn't sound too lonesome to me, Clark thought morosely. She's got two guys to pick from, I can't even get one girl. Of course, when you shoot for the moon like I have, sometimes you miss. So, what can I say to Lori? Also, Kwan said to keep the replies short, but he didn't set an actual limit. I wonder if Chloe has to edit these for length?
Clark took a pencil from his desk drawer, sharpened it, and began writing on a clean sheet of paper. Writing the words by hand will slow down the writing process and give me more time to come up with the right thing to say, he thought. After many rewrites, he was happy with his final draft.
Lori,
For me, the question isn't "which guy to choose," instead, I'd want to know what you want out of a relationship right now.
If your big goal in a relationship is safety and security, then it sounds like Will is the right guy for you. If you really want something that might lead to love, then Corey seems to be the choice.
Only you can make this choice, however, so think carefully about what is really important to you. Once you have decided what you really want, deciding whoyou really want should be much easier.
Sincerely,
Miss Lonely Hearts
After rereading his final copy, he checked his watch and saw that a lot more time had passed than he would have thought. I'll have to do the second letter tomorrow, I need to get my homework done now.
The letter he chose the next day was from "Cinderella," and it went like this:
Dear Miss Lonely Hearts,
My name is Cinderella and I have a problem. There's this guy, called Prince Charming, that I have been interested in ever since the day I met him. We're already good friends, but I want more.
The problem is that Prince Charming has a girl that he is stuck on. Her name is Snow White. Snow White already has a boyfriend, but I can't get Prince Charming to take his eyes off of her long enough to give me a chance.
All I want is an opportunity to see if we can make this work. What can I do?
Waiting for the glass slipper,
Cinderella
Clark had an easier time with this letter, since he had a lot of experience being on the outside looking in. He once again pulled a pencil out of his desk as he sat down to write.
Dear Cinderella,
As far as I'm concerned, if you want to get Prince Charming's attention, you need to arrange some time to be alone with him. A full day someplace where thoughts of Snow White will be left far behind. That way, you'll have a chance to check his interest in you.
If you see enough good signs to think he might like you the way you want him to, then the next step is to ask him out. I know most girls want the guy to ask them out, but if you wait for this Prince Charming to do the asking, you could be waiting a long time.
Sincerely,
Miss Lonely Hearts
By the time the paper came out Friday afternoon, Clark had already had a good day, since his history teacher had given his class a special project, to be worked on in pairs, and had assigned the pairs alphabetically, which put him together with Lana. They had already made plans to meet at the Talon next week to work on the project together. Clark strolled into The Torch, quickly reading his column to see if Chloe had needed to edit anything. Chloe, as always, was already at her computer working on an idea for next week's edition.
Seeing Clark walk in, Chloe perked up and said, "Hey, Clark, there's a student journalism convention in Metropolis two weeks from tomorrow. Do you want to go with me?"
"Sure, Chloe," Clark said as he slid into his usual chair at her side, "that'd be great."
"Oh," Chloe said, "could you sign us up, Clark? If they see my name on the application after what happened last year, we'll never get registered."
Lifting the blank application form out of her hand and placing it into his backpack, Clark smiled and said, "No problem, Chloe." Taking another look at his copy of the latest edition of The Torch, Clark asked, "So, Chloe, how'd this week's edition turn out? What grade do you give it?"
I'll let you know in two weeks after the student journalism conference, Chloe thought. "Right now," Chloe said, "I'd say we get a 'B' for this issue." But if Miss Lonely Hearts' advice pans out, it could be an 'A+.'
