"Don't you guys think you're overreacting just a little bit?" Clark asked his friends as they all came out of history class.

"Not really," Chloe frowned. "I mean, you spend your whole life thinking you know the truth about someone only to find out that it may be a total lie."

"They named the phone company after this guy," Pete grumbled. "Now Ms. Bisery's telling us that Alexander Graham Bell snaked somebody else's invention?"

"I haven't been this disillusioned since I found out that Betsy Ross didn't design the American flag. I mean, she was my role model."

"Betsy Ross was your role model?" Lana said, coming up behind them.

"Yeah. In first grade. I mean, one day, she was a pioneer for women and then the next, she's a glorified seamstress. One by one, our heroes are being defrocked."

Pete, Chloe, and Emmeline continued walking down the halls to their next class.

"Hey, Em, how's your mom been?" Chloe asked.

"It's a rough time for her right now. She's at her low point, but the doctor's expect her to pull through it."

"That's great news!"

"Yeah, it's nice to have a little something good happen with everything that's been going on lately."

It was only a little while later that the three of them learned of Whitney Fordman's return! Emmeline was sure that Lana was ecstatic, especially after that night in Clark's loft. But she had a pretty good feeling that Clark was a little upset that Lana's ex was now back in the picture.

Still, Emmeline decided to attend his homecoming party at the Talon that night. She donned a casual purple dress that had three-quarter sleeves and went down to her knees.

As she walked into the Talon, she walked over to her group of friends, nervously biting her lip.

"Hey," she said quietly.

"Hey, Em!" Lana smiled kindly. "I like your dress!"

"Thank you." Emmeline felt herself slowly shrinking into the background. Sure these guys were all her friends…except Whitney. She felt really uncomfortable around him, but that just made her feel guilty since he was a war hero. All the same, there was something about him that just made her very uneasy. Un-easier than usual.

"So did you catch any tape-delayed Shark games over there?" Pete asked Whitney. "They're burying the entire league."

"I'm not that interested in football these days," Whitney laughed which caused Pete to raise his eyebrows.

"You know, Whitney, if you're up for it, Em and I would love to set up an exclusive interview with you for the Torch," Chloe said.

"I actually don't remember that much, and what I do remember I'd rather not talk about. Now that I'm back home, I'd rather focus on the more important things in life." He smiled and looked over at Lana at the last part. Hadn't the two of them broken up?

"Great," Chloe smiled awkwardly. She, Emmeline, and Pete all left to give Clark his turn with Whitney.

"Anyone else think he seems kind of different?" Pete asked the girls. Emmeline raised her hand.

"Come on, guys," Chloe said to them. "We have no idea what kinds of things he's seen over the past few months. Cut him some slack."

Chloe had a point, and it could very well have been why he seemed so different, but Emmeline couldn't help but feel like there was something more to it.


The next day as Emmeline, Pete, and Chloe gathered in the Torch office, Emmeline got her answer.

"Hey," Clark said, coming to join them.

"Clark, what's going on?" Pete asked as they all prepared the next issue.

"I know this may sound crazy, but Whitney may not be Whitney."

"Are you getting existential on us, or is this Wall of Weird material?" Chloe asked him.

"I think he's Tina Greer."

Emmeline looked up at him, thinking at first that he was crazy, but then realizing how much that actually made sense.

"The mighty morphing power girl?"

"What?" Pete said disbelievingly.

"The girl who was Lex and then Lana and then locked up," Clark clarified.

"I know who she is, but it's impossible."

"Why? She was obsessed with Lana, remember? Maybe she escaped from the hospital to see her again. Who better to impersonate than Whitney?"

"Clark, there's no way that she could have pulled a Martin Guerre," Chloe said.

"Why not?"

"'Cause she's dead."

"What?"

"She committed suicide last week. I'm running a story on it on page 2." She showed him the story Emmeline had just finished proofreading.

"What happened?"

"The authorities said that she went into the art therapy room in the psychiatric hospital, doused herself in paint thinner, and lit a match."

"Okay, now that's nasty," Pete remarked.

"I know. Tina wrote a note saying that she just didn't know who she was anymore. She couldn't take it."

"Maybe she just wanted people to think that," Emmeline put in, her brow furrowed in thought. "That way no one would suspect her if she ever pulled anything. I mean, I know I'm not the only one who thinks Whitney's acting different. And I'm not talking about PTSD."

Clark looked at her and then asked, "Did they ID her dental records?"

Clark and Pete seemed to share a knowing look which drove Emmeline crazy. Why did boys have to have a secret language that she couldn't understand?

Chloe and Emmeline stayed behind to finish the issue while Pete and Clark headed to class.

Once the issue was near complete, Emmeline grabbed a pass and headed to her class. She knew she'd be late, which she hated because all eyes went to her when she walked in the room, but it was necessary.

However, she stopped when she heard commotion in the hallway, quickly recognizing Pete and Lana's voices.

"…but that freak is dangerous," she heard Pete say.

"I know," Lana responded.

Emmeline peeked around the corner and saw Lana kick Pete in the face and then the stomach which sent him flying across the hallway against the lockers. Lana went over to him and hoisted him up by his shirt until he was well off the ground.

"You're Tina," Pete gasped.

Lana/Tina tossed Pete across the hall into the other row of lockers, denting the one he hit his head into, and he lay motionless on the ground.

"Who you calling a freak?" Lana/Tina smirked.

As soon as she was out of sight, Emmeline ran up to the unconscious Pete. "Pete?!" she said frantically, taking his head in her hands. "Can you hear me? Pete!" Emmeline whipped out her cell phone and called 911.

An ambulance arrived at the school and Pete was admitted to the hospital, still unconscious.

When school let out, Emmeline went straight to visit him.

"Feeling better?" she asked as she stepped into his room.

"I feel like my head has been pounded with a two-ton rock," he replied, wincing a bit.

She looked at the bandage around his head. "I'm sorry about that. Tina's really nuts."

"Yeah, and she's got a heck of a right hook."

Emmeline's smile disappeared a little. "I can still remember the last time she was in our lives. I had just met all of you and was slowly beginning to experience what it was like to have friends. It was right after everything that had happened with Greg. I saw her dead mom and…I had my first panic attack. But…you and Clark were there. Just like you always are."

Pete smiled at her. "And now look at you. Completely over Greg, and practically a whole new person."

Emmeline's smile returned. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry you had to see that part of me. I wish we could've just fast-forwarded to where we are now."

"Yeah, but that's how you know who you're true friends are. Those who see you at your worst, and still like you even then. I mean, look at me. I'm here in a hospital with a bandaged cranium, and we're still friends."

Emmeline laughed at his joke. "You're right. Thanks for being such a good friend to me, Pete."


Emmeline and Chloe returned to the hospital the next day to share the news with Pete before he was discharged.

"Hey, guys," he greeted. But one look on their faces told him something was wrong. "What is it?"

"A military officer came to the Fordmans house a few days ago," Chloe began. "Tina murdered him before he could say anything, but he had been coming to tell Mrs. Fordman that, um…they found Whitney's body. He died in combat."

"Oh man," Pete said quietly, shocked by the startling revelation. "I can't believe it."

There was a bit of silence between them in the room, all of them reflecting over the loss of the once football jock.

"How's…how's Lana doing?" Pete finally asked.

"She's having a rough time," Chloe responded. "She's been locked in her room, and I can hear her crying a lot."

Pete looked over at Emmeline and noticed that her eyes were shining. "Em, are you okay?"

"Yeah," she sniffed. "It's just that…I don't know. It feels like so many people have been dying around me. And I know the doctor said she'd be fine, but…what if something happens to my mom, and I lose her too?"

Chloe quickly wrapped her best friend into a tight hug.

"Geez, I feel like such a horrible person," she cried. "Whitney's lost his life, and I'm over here crying about someone who's doing fine."

"Em, it's okay to feel upset about what's happening with your mom," Pete said, slowly getting out of his bed to go over to her. "Cancer is huge and it's scary. And with everything going on, it can be really overwhelming."

"I'm just scared."

"I know."

The three of them hugged tightly in the hospital room, and Emmeline knew that she could never find better friends to help her deal with her mother's cancer.