Because it was Smallville, the residents could not go long without something strange happening. The next strange thing to happen was someone to turn into an old man in a matter of seconds.

"I see Troy's death has officially joined the ranks of the unexplained and bizarre," Pete said, noticing Chloe was tacking up a newspaper article on the Wall of Weird.

"Big time," Chloe answered. "The official report said he died of an acute onset of the rapid aging disease progeria."

"I thought that made you age over the course of ten years, not ten seconds," Clark said as he entered the room.

"Exactly. The coroner's running a genetic test to tell whether Troy had progeria, or if it was just—"

"Something unexplained and bizarre," Pete finished.

"Well, good luck investigating. You'll probably need a hall pass from our new principal," Clark said sarcastically.

"Clark, a lot of schools have a closed campus policy," Chloe told him.

"Yeah. Why are you so worked up?" Pete asked.

"I had a run in with him this morning. He busted me for being late, threatened to keep his eye on me," Clark explained.

"Wow. Clark Kent's on the principal's bad boy list. There's a first time for everything," Pete joked. "Next thing we hear, Em is going to be on it too."

"You're hilarious, Pete," Emmeline said dryly.

"The guy's a real hard case," Clark continued, unhappy with Pete's jokes.

"Right," Chloe smirked. "First with the lockdown, the next thing you know, he'll be burning books in the student parking lot."

"Well, laugh now. Wait till he comes after the Torch."

"Uh-uh, see I did some digging on our Principal Reynolds to find out what his views were on the fourth estate."

Clark looked over the paper she handed him. "Harvard B.A., PhD at Columbia in education, taught at exclusive prep schools all over Europe and the East Coast. That's a pretty impressive résumé."

"Yeah, it is, and his name was even being mentioned as the new head of the Metropolis Board of Education until one day he was summarily dismissed from his position at Excelsior Prep, and he doesn't work again until he resurfaces here."

"So how does a guy on the fast track suddenly end up in Smallville?"

"I don't know, but I don't think he's Wall of Weird material," Pete said.

"Yeah, Clark," Chloe laughed. "Just because the guy doesn't immediately love you like every other teacher in this school doesn't mean that he's hiding some dark past."

"Not just teachers," Emmeline muttered under her breath. Clark didn't seem to notice, but Chloe did, and it took a lot for her to keep in her laughter.

Later that day, Chloe was doing some research on Troy and Emmeline was doing more proofreading when Clark walked in.

"Hey, Chloe. Hey, Em."

"Hey, Clark," Chloe smiled. "Oh, Clark, you might want to disappear for the next hour or so."

"Why's that?"

"Because I'm about to interview your new best friend Principal Reynolds."

"Oh, thanks for the heads-up." He looked over at her furiously at work on her computer. "Hey, what do you got there?"

"Do you remember my buddy Chad that works at the M.E.'s office?"

"Yeah, the guy with the black fingernail polish and lipstick."

"Oh, it's hard being Smallville's only goth. Anyway, he sent me the autopsy report of Troy. It's amazing what lending someone your eyeliner can get you these days."

Clark looked at the report over her shoulder as Emmeline came over to the two of them. "So Troy didn't have progeria."

"No, but his pituitary gland, which by the way produces the hormone that controls the aging process, was completely drained. It's like someone just sucked the youth right out of him."

"Well, that's quite an assumption, Miss Sullivan," a voice said behind them. They all turned to find their new principal standing in the doorway.

"Uh, Principal Reynolds," Chloe said flustered. "I was just, um, running through various scenarios, you know, wild theories and stuff. I'm shutting up now."

Emmeline thought back to when Principal Kwan shut down the Torch because of Chloe's stories, and she didn't want a repeat with the new principal. But what he said next surprised her.

"Well, don't. I like my students thinking outside the box. I've been reading some back issues of the Torch. I see a lot of creativity and insight there."

"You're kidding."

"Well, unverified insight. But many a Pulitzer has sprung from the seeds of wild theories. Just make sure you can back them up, and that'll be the difference between writing trash for Inquisitor, and reporting for the Daily Planet." He looked over at Emmeline. "I don't believe we've met yet."

"I'm Emmeline," she said quietly as she shook his hand. "I proofread all the issues."

"Well, from what I've read, it looks like you're doing your job right. Just don't live in the shadows forever. Sometimes you have to step up and stand in the spotlight."

Emmeline decided not to tell him that the spotlight was certainly not for her.

"Uh, are you still up for that interview?" Chloe asked him.

"Well, give me half an hour." Clark started to leave, but he said, "Mr. Kent, I was actually looking for you. I'd like to see you in my office."

Emmeline pressed her lips together in a smile and looked over at Chloe as the two men left the room. "Clark Kent, troublemaker. I don't think it fits."

"How about Clark Kent, boyfriend?"

"Now that sounds good."


Emmeline headed to the Talon for a coffee when she saw Clark surrounded by balls of crumpled paper. "Hey, Clark. What's up?"

"Principal Reynolds said I was a slacker and then assigned me an essay about where I see myself in five years."

"You? A slacker? The nerve of that man."

"Very funny, Em."

Emmeline laughed a little then sat across from him. "So what have you got so far?"

"Honestly? I don't have a clue."

"I can see that," she said, referring to all the balls of paper.

"I guess I never really thought much about what I was going to do after high school."

"That makes two of us."

"What are your plans?"

"I wish I had something to tell you. I only do the Torch as an extracurricular and that's about it. Anything having to do with public speaking is out of the question. Or the public in general."

"You say that, Em, but you've actually become a lot less shy since the beginning of last year. I don't think you should cancel out the public just yet."

"Well, I'll leave you to work on this. Good luck."


The next day, Emmeline was walking with Pete and Clark when Chloe came bounding up to them.

"Hey, did you guys hear about Russell? They found his body behind the Talon."

"I just saw him yesterday. What happened?" Clark asked.

"He aged like 100 years. The police thought it was some old homeless guy until they found Russell's license in his wallet."

"Two progeria deaths in two days. What are the odds of that?"

"I don't know. Lana wanted to cancel the Spirit Week party, but Principal Reynolds asked her not to. He said he wanted to keep things as normal as possible."

"He obviously hasn't had his normal-meter reset for Smallville," Pete remarked.

They looked over at Clark and saw him staring intently at Chrissy. Not the weird kind of intently he did a lot, as if he was trying to see through the object, but just intently.

"What is it, Clark?" Chloe asked him.

"I saw Russell with Chrissy at the Talon. And Troy was with her just before he went geriatric."

"It's not exactly a smoking gun."

"It's worth a look. Maybe we could check out her old school records, see if there's anything strange in her background."

"Okay, I'll get started and I'll tell you what I find."

She and Emmeline went to the Torch office and Chloe began furiously researching Chrissy's background.

"Hey, Chloe, where do you see yourself in five years?" Emmeline asked.

"Working at the Daily Planet," she answered without hesitation. "Why?"

"I don't know, Clark got this assignment from Principal Reynolds about that, and it's just got me thinking how much we don't know about our future."

"Well, if we knew everything, life wouldn't be much fun."

"I guess you're right."

"Of course I am. I'm always right."

Emmeline scoffed loudly at the obvious lie. She researched for quite a long time, and Emmeline was getting really bored when she heard Chloe whisper, "Holy crap."

Clark walked into the Torch per Chloe calling him a million times not long after.

"Clark, where have you been?" Chloe demanded. "I just left you like six messages."

"Sorry, it's been a very weird day."

"Well, it's about to get weirder. Take a look at this." She pulled up a newspaper clipping onto her computer. "Florida, 12 years ago, Piper High School. Three students died of the same mysterious uber-progeria."

"All within a 48-hour period. Let me guess. Chrissy was involved."

"Try Missy." Chloe pulled up a picture of Chrissy from 12 years ago. She looked the exact same. "Class of '90, Missy Parker. Different name, same face."

"Yeah, it gets better." She pulled up another picture with the name Robin Stroud on top.

"Lakewood High, Class of '81. There she is again."

"You're not gonna believe this, Clark, but I matched Chrissy to triple progeria cases going all the way back to Hammonds School for Girls, Class of 1921."

"It's like she's feeding off their youth to stay eternally young."

"It takes the Peter Pan complex to a whole new level."

"Troy was killed almost two days ago, and Russell was killed yesterday. Chrissy's gonna need another victim."

"I'll call the police." Chloe reached for the phone while Emmeline looked at Chloe's computer and the pictures of Chrissy. When they both looked up, Clark was gone. "Clark?" She turned to Emmeline. "Have I mentioned I hate it when he does that?"

"I've gotta learn how he gets out of places so fast. I want to use that one."


After Clark successfully defeated Chrissy, and decided that in the world of journalism is where he would be in five years, he returned to school with a much happier expression. At least until he saw Emmeline. She was sitting with her back against the wall and her head in her hands, the sleeves pulled up so much that he only saw the tips of her fingers. He saw her body shake a couple times and realized she was crying.

"Hey, Em, are you alright?" he asked as he sat down next to her.

She turned away from him and wiped tears off her cheeks. "I'm fine."

"Come on, you can talk to me." He cautiously sat down beside her. His heart panged for her when he saw how red her eyes were, signaling she had been crying for a while.

Emmeline looked over at Clark. His brow was furrowed together in that really cute way whenever he was concerned.

"It's my mom, Clark," she choked out.

"What happened?"

"She's been diagnosed with cancer."

Emmeline began to cry all over again. Clark slowly put his arms around her and she sank into his embrace as she sobbed against his chest.