CHAPTER TWO
"...And in summation," Chloe finished up, clicking off her laser pointer, setting down a third poster-board that had a colorful pie-chart pasted onto it with some factoids (the others had a bar graph and a line graph, respectively) and turning away from the easel she set up in the den to look at her father, Gabe, "going camping with Pete Ross (she made sure to say the non-boyfriend's name first) and Clark Kent would not only will broaden my life experiences, not only take me out of the usual research facilities such as my bedroom, the Torch office, and the library but also get me into the great outdoors, so I can possibly appreciate what this town to offer than weirdness, other than strangeness. Dad, I need a break from the weird and the strange. You know that my doctors say that it would be good for me to relax; they say there's no stress out in the woods."
She stepped over to the side, rubbed her sweaty hands on her pants and bit the side of her lip, worried about the 'getting experience' line and the fact that no parents were going on the trip, to her knowledge. She pointed out in the presentation that Pete and Clark had been going without parents since there were eight years old, and maybe that was why the boys had such good strength of character.
Gabe sat back in his Laz-E-Boy recliner slightly dazed; he was full-frontal assaulted by Chloe as soon as he got home from work (he was the LuthorCorp's Smallville Fertilizer Plant no. 3 Manager). He was tired and worn out because of a sewage processor that had ruptured, and it wasn't a pretty sight, or smell. But before he could even think 'home, sweet-smelling home', Chloe had led him to the den and, for 90 minutes, she had her father captive with her presentation.
The spunky little blonde read off of index cards about what she knew of Clark's and Pete's camping trip, used the hastily prepared poster boards to list her set of pro's and con's of taking the trip, show possible sites for the trip (she had quickly drawn crooked circles that inside them she had wrote "Campin' Here!" on a crude sketch of Kent farmland, complete with poorly-drawn trees and cows), and all of it was for an one, maybe two day camping trip. Gabe scratched his forehead, and knew that if his daughter had more lead time, she would have used the projector to show slides in some way. Gabe understood that it was this type of enthusiasm and thoroughness she had reserved for some story angle or some weird Smallville action, and he would normally say to her, "Follow that story! Chase down that lead! Get Clark and Pete! Don't get another concussion!" But this time, there was no story; it was just his little girl out with two boys.
He sighed. Chloe stepped lightly and sat on the carpet by her father's chair. And she smiled up at him. She desperately wanted to go with her friends. Father looked at daughter, and knew the camping trip an excuse to allow teen hormones go wild, but just a girl wanting to share in the fun with her friends. He would have preferred that the event was a simple sleep-over at Lana Lang's house, her only real close girl-friend, but even he some qualms about her; to him, Lana seemed to always have a facade up, a false cheerfulness, a fake happiness. He remembered a time when Lana had stayed overnight at their house. The girls were watching an old Tom Cruise DVD, 'Top Gun'. Gabe laughed about wanting a stiff drink after watching the planes dog-fight. Lana hopped up and mixed a drink for him that would make an old bartender in Metropolis bar proud; no one gets that good at something like that without practice or reason.
So Gabe was pleased that her best friends were Pete and Clark. So different than Metropolis, when her friends were Violet, Harmony, Marianne and her older cousin, Lois; of them, now only Lois kept in touch with Chloe. So those boys were her best friends now and were really the cream of the crop, from wonderful families. When they hung around with Chloe, they made a difference in Smallville, despite their age; they solved crimes. And Clark saved her life so many times. Those two were dating now, and Gabe had a feeling that Clark and Chloe were kissing now.
Chloe's toothy grin grew wider, and thoughts raced in Gabe's mind: Overnight trip. No one to chaperone them. As much as he trusted Clark, and Chloe ...they were out of his sight, out their parents sight, at night, overnight. He sighed again, and looked at Chloe, ready to say no.
"Yeah...Clark will be there and so will Pete," Chloe said, almost reading his mind, and she looked down. "But it's me, daddy, remember? I'm not like...that. And neither is Clark."
"I know, Snugglebunny." Gabe knew that about his daughter and her boyfriend. A smile crept on his face. "Okay, Chloe. You can go."
With that, 91 minutes later, Chloe was in. She kissed her dad, jumped up, ran and got the house phone. "Lemme get Pete's and Clark's parents on conference call," she said, her fingers danced over the buttons, pressing the speed-dial option, selecting Clark's number. "Hi, Mr. Kent, Judge Ross, It's Chloe. My Dad would like to talk to you both." She jammed the phone into her dad's hand. She bit her thumbnail, listening to her dad talk to Jonathan Kent and Abigail Ross.
"Chloe would like to go with Pete and Clark on their weekend camping trip. Yes, I'm glad the boys brought it up to both of you...I just got the presentation of my lifetime, Jon...I know it is unusual. But I trust Clark, Jon, and I trust Chloe. Both with my life," Gabe added. He heard Jon hand off the phone to Martha. Then Pete's mother spoke up. "I am very aware that she and Clark are dating but I trust that your son can keep an eye on them, Judge. I think all three proved that they can handle themselves in an appropriate manner, Martha."
Silence.
Chloe fretted while her father talked, defended her case to go on the trip. She nervously grabbed an index card and a black Bic Round Stic pen and started to make a list of what she might need for the trip. Gabe leaned over, thinking it was info to help her case, and winced, reading the growing list; they had no camping gear what so ever. It was going to a costly excursion. Then Martha spoke one last time.
"I see. I'll let her know, Martha. And you agree, too, Judge? Okay. Goodnight Martha and to you, too, Judge," Gabe said solemnly and killed the connections. Chloe frowned. Gabe turned to her, and gave her a consoling hug. "Martha said 'Metropolis Girls' should stick together. The judge agreed. You have blessings all around."
"WHAT ?!" Chloe squee'd, and hugged her mischievous dad tighter. "You're bad!" She got even by grabbing his hand and tugging his tired body out to his red Lincoln. They went to Fordman's Hardware and More, Smallville's local general retail store, before it closed.
Chloe barreled through the doors and went up to her classmate, Whitney Fordman, the owner's son. He was stocking Metropolis Knights baseball jerseys on a rack. She tapped his shoulder; he turned and gave her a slight look of disdain; he and Clark did not get along, even if she and Lana did. "Hello Reporter Girl."
"And father," Gabe said, smiling, standing behind his daughter and she quickly stuck out her tongue at Whitney. He heard about this Fordman kid from Chloe.
"Hello Sir! How can I help you two?" Whitney stood up fast and straight, becoming all charming. Chloe laughed.
"We need to get some camping gear," Gabe said. "My daughter is going on her first camping trip."
"Price is no object," Chloe said quickly.
"It's a huge object," Gabe corrected.
"Moderate sized," Chloe tried.
"We're getting gear that's nice and affordable, Dear," Gabe smiled. "I'm not made of money, no matter many times I tell you. " Chloe frowned, more at getting chewed in front her bully than what her father was saying to her. They were led by Whitney to the department with all the camping goods, chatting about sales and having fun as they walked, playing 'Spot The Celebrity', a game they had played since Chloe was a little girl, where they looked at the innocent shoppers and matched them to movie stars.
For Whitney, the Sullivans were salesman torture. Chloe was picking out pricey gear ("Dad, I can't help if the better consumer rating means an extra twenty dollars..."), Gabe was picking the least expensive ("At least it looks safe...") and Whitney was caught in the middle of that bickering, plus he needed to explain what the stuff did ("It's not that complicated, Report-, umm, Chloe,...you click this button, unfasten that latch, unfurl it from here and ...Hello? Chloe? Hey! Where did you go?") or explain what it was ("That's an axe, Mr. Sullivan...and what you're holding is a hatchet, Chloe. No, I don't know why they look the same."). But Whitney walked the 'Fighting Sullivans' through selecting a single skinned tunnel tent (a small one, since Chloe had to carry it, but Gabe was very sure that the point of it being a single person tent got across to Chloe), a really good sleeping "mummy" bag, designed for warmth ("No way I'm going to freeze my buns," Chloe said, even if it meant getting a cheaper tent), a green Coleman lantern, a couple of nylon ropes to set up the tent and a large hiking backpack.
"You'll need a mule to haul everything," Gabe said, looking at the backpack in comparison to his little girl. They were almost the same height and the pack was definitely wider than her.
"Dad!" Chloe gasped. "Don't call Clark that." Even Whitney laughed. Chloe then said the words every father with a teenage daughter dreads to hear: "I have nothing to wear."
Gabe looked sadly at Whitney, who could only shrug, as Chloe scampered to the women's clothes department. Her green eyes did a quick assessment of the choices that Fordman's carried and she cringed at what she saw before her. 'Okay, Chloe, You're not here for quirky, make-a-statement clothing,' she thought. 'You're here for functional. You can do this,' she mused. She walked into the aisles, and she seemed lost among the blandness. 'Okay, maybe not. Just pretend Clark is picking out the duds. Duds. See? You even sound like him,' she thought with a smile. Her boots suddenly marched her around, and her hands grabbed a new pair of Levi's, a couple of t-shirts, new sox and thermals to sleep in. It was stuff, except for the sox, that she'd never pick out. She felt like she was channeling Clark's clothing tastes the whole time; that idea made her happy. She snagged a cute floppy camouflage hat, to fight the sun.
"You might need a flannel," Whitney advised when Chloe returned and piled the clothes on top of the camping gear. "It gets cold quick at night."
"Nah," She smiled sweetly. "I have a bunch of Clark's flannels. I'm all set there."
"Well, that saves me a whopping ten dollars," Gabe said, looking at the overflowing cart. He slowly maneuvered the heavy cart to a check stand and Whitney rang up the items, and just to make Lana smile, he gave the Sullivans his employee's discount.
"Thanks, Whitney," Gabe said, handing over his credit card. "I was worried this was going to cost as much as one of her hospital trips." Whitney chuckled as he handed back the credit card and the receipt. "I wish I was joking," Gabe frowned, looking at the final cost.
"Daaaaaaaaad." Chloe tilted her head and grinned. "If you think this is a lot of money, just you wait for the Prom," Chloe said in a sing-song voice as she walked out of the store with her new camo hat pulled low over her head.
