The fair was in town and Chloe, Lana, and Emmeline decided to have some fun with just the three of them. Heaven knows that they desperately needed it after the last few weeks they had had.
Lana picked up a snow globe and frowned as she saw what was inside: a house and a water tower but instead of snow floating around, it was green fragments representing the meteor shower.
"How tasteless is this?" she asked. "I think they even used real meteor rock."
"The American version of closure," Chloe said. "You can only get over your grief when you figure out how to merchandise your tragedy." She looked over at one of the vendors. "Ooh! Cotton candy." The three of them walked over to the man selling the carnival food. "Hi. One cotton candy, please."
"Sometimes I think it'd be nice to get away from all this. Maybe Clark was right, just leave it all behind."
Chloe smirked as she and Emmeline began taking pieces of cotton candy off the stick. "And we almost went through an entire day without mentioning our favorite farm boy."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to throw a wet towel over our girls' day out."
"It's okay. I just feel I should take this moment to state something very obvious. Clark not dating you was his loss, not yours. Okay?"
Lana smiled. "Okay."
"Lana Lang! Hey!"
The three girls looked over at the booth where they had just been standing to see one of their fellow classmates, Seth, working the stand.
"Lana Lang, you want to show off your arm?" he asked with a small smile. "Amaze and astound your friends?"
"Sure, why not?" Lana answered as they all walked back to the booth.
"I'll let you in on a little secret, too," Seth said quietly to them. "The game's rigged. Magnets. Just get it close. I'll slip you a prize."
"Won't you get in trouble for that?"
"Oh no, it's the, uh, last day of the fair, you know? What are they gonna do?"
Seth walked away to speak to another customer. Chloe and Emmeline sat down on the counter and faced Lana.
"I rest my case," Chloe smiled.
"Seth is my lab partner," Lana said firmly.
"Yeah, and he's also had a crush on you for forever."
"Man, if I had a dollar for every person who's interested in you…" Emmeline said with a laugh.
"Believe me, it is not all it's cracked up to be," Lana replied.
"Isn't he the one that used to spell your name out with spaghetti?" Chloe asked.
Lana laughed. "Yeah, that was in sixth grade. And now he's into, like, cars, comics, and Game Cubes. What exactly do we have in common?"
"I don't know." Chloe glanced back over at Seth. "He's cute, though. Why not? Expand your horizons. Go for it."
"All right."
Chloe and Emmeline got up off the counter as Lana picked up one of the balls. She threw it towards one of the floating balls but missed entirely. She laughed as she picked up another one.
"Aim, aim," Chloe told her.
"I am aiming!" She tried again, but it was no use. She missed the floating ball again. She held her hands up in defeat. "I give up."
Seth smiled a little. "Here." He went over to the shelf and handed her the 'tasteless' snow globe. "For a fine effort."
He touched her hand in a clearly flirtatious move.
"Oh, Seth, I…"
"You don't like it?"
A very large and well-built man who looked like a stereotypical motorcyclist came over to them. "I'll take it."
"Uh, I'm-I'm sorry, sir, but you have to win first," Seth told the man.
"Oh, yeah? Like her?"
"Um, I-I think you should…should leave."
The man stepped up onto the counter and hopped into the booth. "Yeah? I'd like to see you make me."
Lana handed him the snow globe. "Here, just take it and leave him alone."
The man took the snow globe and turned back to face Seth. "You gonna let your chick do your fighting for you? Come on, punk. What you got?"
Emmeline saw that look in his eye. Every guy had it when being challenged. Seth angrily pushed the man into the shelf of prizes before quickly hopping out of the booth and running into the crowd.
"I'm gonna tear you apart!" the man growled as he ran after Seth.
"Get security!" Lana ordered to the other two girls.
Chloe and Emmeline ran off to grab someone before the man killed Seth.
It just wasn't possible for them to have a normal girls' day out. Not in Smallville.
Pete walked up behind Emmeline and kissed her on the cheek. "Happy birthday," he smiled as he handed her a small box.
Emmeline sighed with a smile. "I thought we agreed no presents. Besides, my birthday isn't for two more days."
"Cut me some slack. This is the first time I ever get to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday."
Emmeline opened the box and looked at a gorgeous necklace. A multi-colored heart sat on the end of the chain surrounded by silver designs.
"It's beautiful," she told him. She took it out of the box and handed it to him as she pulled her hair to the side. "Would you?"
Pete smiled as he secured the necklace around her neck. Emmeline looked down as she fingered the heart.
"I love it. Thank you so much."
She lightly kissed him before she headed to the Torch office.
"Clark is late. Again," Chloe groaned. "I've set the latest issue on your desk for you to proofread."
"Great. Hey, look what Pete gave me." She showed her her new necklace.
"Wow, that's so pretty!"
"I know."
"So how come he can give you something, but I can't?"
"I told him not to get me anything. He didn't listen. Hey, you gave me a day at the fair."
"Yeah, and it got cut short because some psycho nearly killed another Lana-lover. Doesn't count."
"I mean, we had fun up until then."
Emmeline sat down at her desk and began to proofread the articles Chloe had set out for her.
Soon, they heard footsteps walking into the Torch office. "Finally," Chloe said. "I didn't think you were gonna show. Not that Clark Kent ever operates on the same speed as the rest of the world."
"Interesting observation, Chloe."
The two girls spun around at the sound of Lex's voice.
"Hey, Lex. Uh, Clark's not here obviously."
"Actually I was looking for you." He looked over at Emmeline. "Could you give us a couple moments?"
Emmeline was about to leave (with the full intention of eavesdropping outside the door again), but Chloe held her hand out. "Uh, I'd like her to stay if it's all the same to you."
Lex smirked a little. "It's come to my attention that you've been checking into my father. I saw your name on the Metropolis County Records log."
"Oh, yeah that. Um, I'm just writing a story on him for the Torch."
"Oh, really? A story that involves obscure childhood medical records?"
"Just trying to be thorough."
"The mark of a good reporter. And you are a good reporter, Chloe. So good, apparently, that my father pulled strings to make you the youngest columnist in the history of the Daily Planet."
"What do you want, Lex?"
"I'm just curious. I'm wondering why a high school reporter is digging so deeply into my father's past. Maybe I'll just ask him about it at dinner tonight."
Lex started to leave, but Chloe just called after him, "Go ahead. Since the only way you could've found out about those records is if you looked into them yourself."
"At least I'm prepared for what I might find. I'm not so sure you realize what you've gotten yourself into."
Chloe turned to Emmeline as he left the room. "He's right though."
"You're desperate," Emmeline told her. "And I don't blame you after your last encounter with Lionel."
"But we've seen how powerful he is. And Lex knows what he's capable of better than anything." She held her head in her hands. "Oh, Emmeline…what have I done?"
The next day, Clark, Chloe, and Emmeline snuck into the hospital Medical Records room to go check on Seth Nelson. According to Clark, Seth had been able to do some weird things ever since he got smashed on the head with a snow globe. He had become a real-life Magneto.
"So you think that the meteor flakes from the snow globe plus the MRI equals magnet boy?" Chloe asked Clark.
"Mm-hmm."
"Okay, well, assuming we can prove that Seth can manipulate metal with his mind, what does that have to do with Lana's sudden Seth infatuation?"
"Her attraction to him has something to do with the accident."
"Or Lana could just think he's really hot."
"Chloe, he's cute, but he's not that cute," Emmeline put in.
Chloe laughed quietly. "Seriously, though, I mean, I know you don't want to admit it, but it's possible that Lana just really likes him."
"Chloe, they have nothing in common—"
"Shh," she quickly shushed him. "What are you doing?"
"He's always been around, but they barely know each other." He opened a drawer labeled 'Patient Files L-N'.
"Well, except for the past two years, you could be describing yourself."
"I found it," Clark said, looking at her pointedly. He pulled out Seth's file and began flipping through it. "Look at this. The electromagnetic activity in Seth's nervous system is higher after the MRI."
"Well, that explains the walking magnet theory. Why didn't the doctors flag it?"
"According to this, they chalked it up to an accident. They're gonna keep an eye on him for a few weeks."
"Well, uh, okay. Let's head back to the Torch so we can check up on the effects of electromagnetism on the body."
"Okay."
Clark put Seth's file back in the drawer just as a doctor opened up the door. Emmeline ducked behind the file cabinet before the doctor saw her. Chloe slammed Clark against another cabinet and firmly began kissing him passionately, making sure to rub her hands across his face. She pulled Clark's arms around her waist.
"What's going on?" the doctor asked. "What are you two doing in here?"
Chloe pulled away and gave the doctor a coy smile. "Nothing. Uh, sorry, we were just taking a break from candy-striping."
"This is a hospital, young lady. Volunteering is about helping patients, not about make-out sessions in the file room, okay?"
"Okay." Chloe looked at Clark as the doctor left. "A good reporter always thinks on her feet."
As Emmeline passed a stunned Clark on the way out, she couldn't help but laugh.
"Happy birthday," Hannah said as she came up to Emmeline. "Doing anything special?"
"No, I don't really do birthdays."
Hannah looked away guiltily, knowing that a good chunk of that was because that was the day she had been given up.
"Some people are coming over tomorrow though to spend some time with me. You're welcome to join them."
"Why tomorrow? Why not tonight?"
"It's tomorrow, okay? Stop by if you can."
Emmeline's birthday started out with her visiting Lana in a holding cell.
"Happy birthday, huh?" Lana said awkwardly.
"Lana, what happened? This isn't like you."
"I know. I know that Clark convinced you and Chloe that Seth has some kind of hold on me."
"We'll get you out of here, okay? Just stay away from Seth for now until we figure out what to do about him."
"Thanks, Em."
Things took a turn for the worse when Seth broke Lana out of jail. Apparently when Emmeline had gone to visit her, she hadn't changed at all. Seth still had a hold on her.
Emmeline thought about where they would've run to. Seth worked at the fair so he would know all the tricks and tips of the place. And the fair was leaving soon which would make it a perfect place to stow away.
She drove the fairgrounds and saw Lana waiting outside for Seth.
"Lana!" she called.
Lana frowned as she saw Emmeline approaching. "Whatever you're thinking, don't. I'm going with Seth whether you want me to or not."
"Lana, think about it. You don't even like him. Two days ago, he was just your lab partner. He's still using his powers on you."
"How would you know? Do you know what it's like to be really in love? Of course not. You may be dating Pete now, but you've never actually been in love. How could you with you being so quiet all the time?"
Emmeline closed her eyes, and reminded herself that it wasn't really Lana who was saying these things. "You don't want to be with him."
"I don't want to be with anyone but him. So stay out of this."
"I'm sorry, Lana, but I can't let you do this. I'm taking you to the sheriff's station one way or another."
"Take your best shot."
Lana delivered a spin-kick, but Emmeline quickly dodged it. Then she threw two punches, but she also dodged those.
"Lana, I really don't want to hurt you!"
"You couldn't hurt me even if you tried! You're too weak!"
"We took classes together, remember? That means that everything you know, I know too."
The two girls delivered punches and kicks to each other, each trying to gain the upper hand for a different goal.
Seeing that she was losing the fight, Lana pushed Emmeline down and took off in a sprint in the other direction. Emmeline got up off the ground and went around the other way in order to cut her off.
She ran around one of the tents just in time to tackle Lana to the ground. Breathing heavily, she called 911 on her cell phone.
"Happy birthday to me," she mumbled to herself.
Emmeline walked into the hospital and saw Lana mopping the floor wearing a gray jumpsuit with the words 'Community Service' on the back.
"Anyone ever tell you jumpsuits aren't your thing?" she asked with a smirk.
Lana turned and gave her an apologetic smile. "Em, I am so sorry for ruining your birthday."
"Actually…it was the best birthday I've ever had."
"Really? Why?"
"Well, you know me. I don't like being the center of attention. So everything happening with you took the focus off me. Not to mention it was kinda fun kicking your butt."
Lana laughed. "That was only because of the meteors. On a normal day, I could totally take you."
"Okay, well, someday soon, we are putting that to the test!"
"Look, Em…I wanted to apologize for the things I said to you."
"You were under the influence of a meteor freak. It's okay."
"No, it's not okay."
"Lana, you are one of my closest friends. And I know that if Seth didn't have that hold on you, you never would've said any of that. We're all getting together tonight at my house, so once you're done paying your debt to society, why don't you stop on by?"
"Really?"
"Of course."
That night at Emmeline's house, everyone gathered around as her mother and father brought out a cake and placed it in front of her.
"Okay, make a wish," her mother smiled.
Emmeline smiled broadly as she looked around at her parents, her friends, and her boyfriend smiling at her. "I have everything I ever wanted right here with me."
Chloe laughed. "Fine, but you still have to blow out the candles."
Emmeline obliged her best friend's request and blew out the candles on her cake. Everyone cheered for her as Pete kissed her.
Outside on the front porch, Hannah paused at the doorway having heard her daughter's words. She looked through the window as she kissed her boyfriend and smiled at the people around her.
Sadly, she turned and walked away from the house.
