Chloe and Emmeline marched into the Talon more than a little ticked off. Chloe paused for a moment as she watched Lana put her hand on Clark's. Emmeline took a deep breath. Things were about to get ugly.
"Clark, what happened to you?" Chloe asked him angrily as she set her bag on the counter. "Story deadline…?" Clark looked at her blankly. "Stop me when I'm getting warm."
"My article about the debate team," Clark suddenly remembered. "Oh, Chloe, I'm really sorry. I got caught up helping Lana. I'll give it to you first thing tomorrow morning."
"Well, unfortunately, Clark, we needed it tonight. It takes time for Emmeline to proofread these things and make all the necessary corrections. To fill in the hole, I had to blow up the lunch menu to a 60-point type. I'm sure the student body is going to find that fascinating."
"Chloe, it's my fault," Lana said from behind Clark. "I asked Clark to help me."
"No, Lana, I don't blame you." Chloe glared back at Clark.
"Well, um…I'm going to go lock up in the back." She looked at Clark. "Thanks again for your help."
"Yeah," Clark smiled. He turned back to find the two girls still glaring at him. "Chloe, I'll make it up to the both of you. I promise."
"I can't say that makes me feel any better," Chloe said. "Given your previous track record on promises…"
"It's one story. What's the big deal?"
"That you couldn't give up one riding practice to do."
"Don't make this about Lana."
"I'm not. This is about you and your perennial inability to be there when I need you."
"Whoa, don't you think you're being a little harsh?"
"No. I don't."
"I'm siding with Chloe on this one, Clark," Emmeline said. "This isn't the first time you've missed a deadline. I love Lana too, but I don't constantly put my life on hold to do whatever it is she wants."
"I do not do that!" Clark said angrily. He didn't even know Emmeline was capable of talking to him like she was. What had happened to that girl who couldn't get mad at anyone?
"I'm never a priority in your life!" Chloe continued. "I'm always just your back-up plan, and I'm tired of it."
"That's ridiculous."
"Is it?"
"Chloe, if that's the way you both feel, then maybe I should quit."
"Maybe you should."
Clark looked at them intensely. "Fine. I quit."
He briskly walked off, leaving the two of them in a state of disbelief. Chloe leaned onto the counter and put her hands to her head. Emmeline looked after him. She hadn't been expecting this turn of events.
When Chloe and Emmeline walked into the Torch office the next day, they found Clark and Pete looking at different articles and papers.
"I thought you quit the Torch," Chloe said.
"Just cleaning out my desk," Clark answered.
"Clearly," Emmeline muttered.
Pete looked up at them. "Wait a minute. You quit?"
Clark glanced at the two girls. "Apparently, I can't be counted on."
"I didn't even know quitting was an option."
"Funny," Chloe said dryly.
"Tough crowd." He looked over at Clark. "Hey, I'll catch up with you later. Keep me posted on Eric."
Pete left the office as Chloe came over and looked at a few of the papers he and Clark were examining.
"Marsh?" she asked. "Why are you guys interested in him?"
"Doesn't matter," Clark answered flatly.
"Really, Clark?" Emmeline said at his stubbornness.
Chloe sighed. "Clark, we didn't ask you to quit the Torch."
"Yeah, but all I do is, uh, disappoint you two."
"I didn't say that. I just said it seems like you drop everything for Lana with no regard for anyone else."
"I thought this wasn't about Lana."
"It's not." When she saw how Clark was looking at her, she added more firmly, "It's not."
"Then why is it, every time you see us together, you look at me like I'm cheating on you?"
Chloe scoffed a little. "Well, I'm sorry Clark, but you're wrong, and if that's the way you feel, maybe we shouldn't hang out anymore."
Clark glared at her for a second before picking up the box full of this things and leaving the office. Chloe sighed heavily.
"He is being such a jerk," Emmeline said bluntly. She had the full intention of setting the record straight, but it would have to be at another time.
Chloe, Lana, and Emmeline were in Chloe's car heading to the Talon when Lana asked Chloe, "Okay, the only time you're ever this quiet is when you're sleeping. What's up?"
Chloe laughed lightly. "Clark and I decided to put our friendship on an indefinite hiatus."
"Over one newspaper story?"
"Let's just say that certain insurmountable forces finally made us raise the white flag."
"And it's not just the newspaper story," Emmeline put in. "He hasn't done some of the other work he was supposed to while at the Torch."
"I'm sorry," Lana said. "If there's anything I can do to help…"
Chloe nodded sadly when they realized that Lana was staring at a woman and a man coming out of the building next to them. They kissed each other lightly before the woman started to walk off.
"Who is that?" Chloe asked.
"Jennifer Small."
As the woman crossed the street, her smile disappeared when she realized that Lana had seen everything.
Chloe and Emmeline headed to Smallville Medical Center to see if they could get a story about the guy whose truck was attacked by 'aliens'.
Chloe discreetly opened the door to the man's room and the two of them stepped inside. She took pictures, but it was clear that he wasn't going to be answering questions any time soon.
"So much for an interview," Chloe said disappointedly.
"I admire your dedication," a voice said to the side. The two girls looked over to find Lionel Luthor sitting in one of the chairs. "Though I suspect the hospital might not be quite so, uh…understanding."
Emmeline swallowed nervously. She had never been so close to Lionel before, and given his history, she was very uncomfortable in his presence. She suddenly wanted nothing more than to leave.
"Mr. Luthor," Chloe said nervously. "What are you doing here?"
"Paying a bedside visit to a loyal employee. It's Miss Sullivan and Miss Brooks, isn't it?"
"You know who we are?"
"I know who you are, Miss Sullivan. I've been following your work at the Torch for quite some time. Given today's front-page scoop, I assume you came, uh, hoping Mr. O'Conner would confirm his, uh…connection with LuthorCorp."
"Well, I think you just did that for him."
Lionel placed a small business card with handwriting on it on the bedside table. "It was never a secret."
He left the room, but Chloe called after him, "Unlike the now missing contents of your truck?"
Lionel stopped and turned to her. "On or off the record?"
"The police report says robbery, but no one's been able to find anything that's been taken."
"We were moving some industrial material. It was nothing important."
"Somebody sure went to a lot of trouble to get to it."
"Oh, it's a competitive world. You know that as well as I do. Corporate sabotage is just one of them, uh, costs of doing business."
"Mr. Luthor—"
"Miss Sullivan, I admire your zeal. And your work at the Torch is exemplary, but, um, trust me. You're looking for a mystery where there's none to be found."
Emmeline raised an eyebrow as he walked off again. She would believe the word of Lionel Luthor when she was dead. Something was going on, and she knew that Chloe had every intention of finding out what it was.
Emmeline walked up to Clark at school, and from the look on his face, he didn't expect good things.
"Relax, Clark," she said.
"I didn't want another lecture."
"Well, tough because you're getting one. Look, Clark, you need to understand something. Chloe and I love Lana. She's our best friend. And despite what you think, Chloe isn't making this whole situation about her. It's about the fact that you've fallen through on multiple occasions because you put Lana over her."
"I do not put Lana over her."
"For goodness' sake, Clark, for one second, stop defending yourself and think about the possibility!"
Clark was a bit taken aback. Never before had Emmeline come at him so strongly.
"I know you like Lana, and you want to spend every second with her. But you have to think about your other priorities in your life. Chloe being one of them."
"That still doesn't explain why she looks so angry whenever Lana and I are together."
"Because she still likes you, you imbecile!"
Clark paused. "What?"
"If she finds out I told you, she'll kill me, but she's never stopped liking you. Every time she's said she wants to stay friends, it's because she's afraid that you'll hurt her if your relationship goes any further. Remember how she came to visit you when you were really sick a few weeks ago? She poured her heart out to you about how she really felt while you were unconscious. In your sleep, you said Lana's name."
Clark closed his eyes and sighed. How had he not known any of this before?
"You have been so focused on trying to win over Lana that you haven't seen how much you've really been hurting her."
"Why didn't she say anything before?"
"What is she supposed to say? Whenever Lana comes into the picture, you just get incredibly defensive. You're letting your feelings for her cloud your judgment."
Clark took a deep breath. "Thank you for telling me all of this, Em. I really needed to hear it."
"You've heard it. Now do something about it."
By now, the two of them were near the Torch office. They walked in to an absolutely horrible sight. The office had been completely trashed. Papers were everywhere, the lights were hanging down, desks were broken in half, and almost everything was in disarray.
"Chloe, what happened?" Clark asked worriedly.
"Go away, Clark," Chloe said flatly.
Emmeline ran up and put her arms on her. Clark joined her.
"Are you okay?"
"Physically, yeah, I'm fine. Emotionally…what do you care?"
"I want to help. No matter what it takes, we'll get the Torch back on its feet."
Chloe furiously turned to him forcing Emmeline to let go. "There is no 'we' anymore Clark! There's only me! And this paper was my whole life! It was the one place I could come to when everyone and everything let me down, and now, I don't even have that anymore."
She furiously started walking to the door.
"Where are you going?" Clark called.
"To find a friend."
Emmeline and Clark looked at each other sadly and took off after her. They ended up running into Eric Marsh.
Hadn't he been arrested earlier?
"Hey, Kent," he said with a snide smile. "I heard the paper's not going to press."
Clark angrily shoved him against the lockers. "Did you do this?"
Eric took his hands off his jacket. "I don't know how you got out of that fire!" He then shoved Clark against the wall and got up in his face. "But you better back off."
"What are you doing out of jail?"
"Seems I've got friends in higher places that I didn't even know about. And suddenly, you're not so anonymous."
"I'll testify, if that's what it takes to put you away."
"Oh, no, I'd think about that, Kent. I mean, I know you're unbreakable, but people that you care about…aren't. I'd sure hate to think something happened to those wholesome parents of yours."
Clark sped off at his threat, and Emmeline prayed that Martha and Jonathon were okay.
Eric looked at Emmeline. "It's Emmeline, right? Well, how about we go and have a little fun of our own?"
"Sorry, I don't date people who have nothing better to do with their time than go after people I care about. And I'll tell you this. If you ever do anything to hurt Chloe like that ever again, I will make sure that you hurt even more."
"Is that a threat?"
"Yes. It is."
"I could go to the police with that, you know."
"It's my word against yours. And who's going to believe that the girl who is far too scared to open her mouth could possibly make a threat against someone like you?"
Due to Clark's ability to be Clark, Eric was stopped and everyone was safe once again.
Emmeline went inside the Talon and found Lana crying at a table. She ran over and sat down across from her. "Lana, what is it?"
"It's Henry Small."
"What about him?"
"I had to part with him."
"What are you talking about?"
Lana sighed. "Remember when we saw Jennifer Small a couple days ago? That man she was with was a divorce attorney. She was divorcing him because I had come between them. And I had to let him go so he can repair his marriage."
"Oh, Lana, I am so sorry. That's not fair to you at all."
"I just feel like every time I try to get close to someone, life comes and snatches them away."
Emmeline gave her a small smile. "I'm still here." She went over and hugged her as she continued to cry.
"Miss Sullivan. Miss Brooks."
The two girls stopped fixing up the office and turned to find Lionel in the room.
"Mr. Luthor," Chloe said surprised.
"Your principal told me you might be here. I hope I'm not interrupting you."
"No. No, I mean I'm…I've never entertained a billionaire before. Um, you'll have to excuse the destruction. We were recently vandalized."
"Ah, so I heard. By the same men who hijacked my truck, I think."
"Actually, there's still a question. Eric Marsh owned up to the robbery of the truck and the assault, but he said he didn't have anything to do with the Torch."
"Hmm."
"I mean, why confess to the heavy crimes and deny that?"
"Well, it's not easy to understand the criminal mind." He walked over to Chloe's wall where she was in the process of re-pinning all her articles up. "What's this? Hmm…this is an interesting display."
"Yeah, I call it The Wall of Weird."
"I'll come to the point, Miss Sullivan. I'd like to help you rebuild. I've instructed the LuthorCorp Foundation to make a donation to your school. The funds are specifically earmarked toward rebuilding and updating the journalism department."
"Mr. Luthor, I'm confused. I mean, the struggling editor in me wants to just leave it at 'thank you', but the journalist in me has to ask 'why'?"
"I'm impressed with your, um, willingness to explore alternative ideas, options. You interned at the Daily Planet this summer, didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm. Well, I have a little influence there. They certainly could use some new blood. Maybe, um, a column…to introduce your unique point of view."
Chloe laughed nervously. "I…I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but…I don't understand why the most powerful man in the city is interested in helping me."
"We're after the same thing, Miss Sullivan: the truth. You know, um, journalists are the midwives of history. Perhaps, with my help, we could, uh…make history together."
Lionel handed her a business card and left the office. Emmeline didn't know what to make of his offer. She had heard enough stories to know that he didn't help anyone without an ulterior motive.
Whatever was going on, she didn't trust him.
