Chloe and Emmeline walked into the Torch office to find Pete on the phone.

"Why won't you listen to me?" he yelled to whoever was on the other end. "I told you I don't want to talk about it!" He slammed the phone back down on the receiver.

"Note to self: Forward all telemarketing calls to Pete," Chloe joked. "You want to tell me what that was about?"

"It was nothing."

She noticed that he was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday. "Did you pull an all-nighter or do you just find changing clothes every day a little too cliché?"

"I was a little laundry-impaired this morning."

Emmeline furrowed her eyebrows. She knew when her boyfriend was lying.

"How Bohemian of you," Chloe remarked. "Hey, do you want to cover the gymnastics tryouts?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, can you find someone else?"

"Pete Ross passing up the opportunity to ogle Smallville High's women in spandex?"

Emmeline laughed and put her hands on his shoulders. "It's just because he has such a beautiful girlfriend that he can't think about that."

Pete moved out of her touch. "Look, I just can't do it, okay? I gotta get to class."

Chloe started to gather her things. "Well, hang on a second, and we'll walk with you." She put down her stuff and when she looked up, Pete was gone. "Or not." She looked over at Emmeline. "What was that all about?"

"I don't know," Emmeline admitted. "He's been acting really weird and distant for the past few days. I'm really worried about him."

"He shares everything with you, doesn't he?"

"Not this. Whatever's been going on with him, I guess he doesn't want to tell me. I've been waiting to see if he'll come around, but he isn't. If things get any worse, I'll have to squeeze it out of him."

"Let me know how things work out."


At the Talon, Chloe and Emmeline watched eagerly as Lana opened her letter from Paris School of the Arts. She smiled at first, but her smile quickly faded.

"You didn't get in?" Chloe guessed.

"No, um, no, I got accepted," Lana answered.

"But…?" Emmeline questioned.

"They turned down my financial aid, which means I can't go."

Chloe and Emmeline shared a sorrowful look as Lana sadly put the letter under the cash tray from the register.

"Well, wait a minute," Chloe said as they came around the counter. "Before you commit yourself to pouring lattes in the Sunflower State, why don't you talk to Lex?"

"Chloe, I'm not asking Lex for a loan."

"Why not? You know he would happily lend it to you."

"But I wanted to do this on my own."

"Well, selfishly, the both of us would be glad if you decided to stay. But if Lex were in your shoes, do you honestly think that he would let one bump in the road deter him from pursuing his dreams? Call him."

Lana sighed as she thought about what her friend was saying. In all honesty, she made a good point…


Late at night after working on the latest issue for much longer than they expected, the two girls exited the Torch office. To their surprise, Pete was at his locker. Emmeline didn't miss that he quickly closed it, like he was trying to hide something from them.

"Hey," Chloe exclaimed as she locked the office door. "I thought we held the monopoly on burning the candle at both ends."

Pete laughed a little. "Actually I was just heading to the Torch to print out my term paper."

"Oh, yeah. What good are extracurriculars if you can't milk them for office supplies?" She turned and unlocked the Torch office door and turned the light on for him. "Just, um, lock up when you're done and try to turn everything off, okay?"

"Okay."

"Oh, hey! I saw your mom at the courthouse. You didn't tell me she was up for federal judgeship."

Pete's face darkened. "Actually, she doesn't have the job yet."

"Oh, but, I mean, with her record, she's a shoo-in. I was talking to a couple of people—"

"You don't stop until you get your scoop, do you?!" Pete suddenly burst out, making Emmeline jump a little.

"I was just trying to show a little interest in your life," Chloe told him quietly. "I'm your friend, Pete, I'm not just some random reporter."

"You see, that…that's the problem. You're both. And it's pretty obvious which one comes first." Pete pushed past the two girls to get into the office.

"What's with you, Pete?"

"Not everything is public domain, Chloe! Now I understand why Clark gets so mad at you for trying to bust into his private life."

Chloe held out the office key for him, completely hurt. "Here."

Pete took the key from her hand and shut the door.

Emmeline looked at Chloe. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Chloe nodded and took off down the hall. Emmeline opened the door to the office and stepped in with her arms crossed over her chest.

Pete sighed when he saw her. "What are you still doing here?"

"What's going on, Pete?"

"Nothing is going on."

"Come on, I'm your girlfriend. Something is clearly bothering you, and I want you to feel like you can talk to me about it. You've always been there for me. I want to be there for you."

Pete looked down at his hands for a long time before saying anything. "I didn't mean to yell at Chloe," he said much quieter.

Emmeline took a seat across from him. "What's got you so upset?"

"My parents…they're getting a divorce."

Emmeline gasped quietly and looked down at her hands. Of all the things she thought Pete might say, that wasn't one of them. "Mentioning the job offer touched a nerve, huh?"

"I don't understand. I knew they had arguments, but I never thought they'd want to split."

"You've been staying here, haven't you?"

"How'd you know?"

"Not changing clothes? Being at the school at this hour?"

"I just wanted to get away from all the yelling…and all the boxes."

Emmeline sighed. She didn't have any idea how he felt. Her parents were more in love with each other than anything, and she only knew a couple people who had been through divorce before. But it was different when it was happening to the boy she loved.

She gently put her hand on his arm. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Because if I did…then that would make it real."

"Yeah, I can understand that. Look…why don't you come stay at my place for tonight? My parents won't mind as long as you sleep downstairs. They trust you."

"I couldn't do that."

"I'm not going to let you sleep in the Torch office, Pete."

Pete looked over at her. "It's really okay?"

"Yeah. Just for tonight."

"That'd be nice, Em."

"All right. Come on."

Emmeline drove Pete back to her house and brought him inside to the living room.

"Just wait here for a second."

As Pete sat on the couch, she went upstairs to where her parents were getting ready for bed.

"Hey, hon, I'm glad you got back okay," her mother smiled.

"Um…Pete's downstairs because he needs a place to stay for tonight."

"Is everything okay?"

"Not really. His parents are getting divorced, and it's really tough on him. He's been sleeping at the Torch for the past few nights. I told him he could stay here tonight. Don't worry, we won't do anything, I promise. I just didn't want him sleeping on the couch in the office again."

Emmeline's father sighed. His parents had divorced as well when he had been in high school so he was well aware what the poor kid was going through.

"I don't have a problem with it," he told her. "We trust the both of you, and I agree with your reasoning. Just for tonight though, okay?"

"All right."

"I'll get some sheets and a blanket from the closet, and we'll pull out the couch in the guest room."

"Thanks, Dad." Emmeline went back downstairs. "My dad's going to get the guest room bed ready for you."

"I really don't want to put you guys through anymore trouble," Pete said as he stood up.

"It's fine. I'm going to head to bed, okay?"

"All right. Good night, Em."

"Night. And hey, no more sleeping at the Torch, all right? Talk to your mom and dad about how you're really feeling."

She gently kissed him before heading upstairs to her room.

Emmeline's father came down and led Pete to the guest bed. Pete helped him get the sheets on the pull-out couch.

"This bed should be comfortable enough for you," he said to his daughter's boyfriend. "We haven't had any complaints so far."

"Thanks, Mr. Brooks."

"It's no problem, Pete. I know what you're going through. Divorce is really hard, but I know that you'll get through this. It will take some time, believe me. But you will get through it."

Pete nodded a little.

"You ever need anything, our door is always open for you."

"I appreciate that."


Emmeline's cell phone began ringing, and she saw that Chloe was calling her. "Hey, what's up?"

"Pete's mom called me. She wanted to know where he was. She said she tried calling you, but there was no answer."

"I guess I just missed her call. So he's not at home?"

"No, he hasn't been home all day."

Emmeline sighed. "I know where he is."

She quickly got into her car and met up with Chloe in front of the school. The two girls walked down the hallway to the Torch office and entered the room. Chloe flipped the desk light on.

Sure enough, there was Pete sleeping on the couch. His eyes opened as the light turned on. "Chloe, what are you guys doing here?"

"I think we should be asking you that," Chloe answered.

"Give me a minute, and I'll get out of your way." He quickly hopped up off the couch and began to put his shirt on.

Chloe sat down on the couch. "You know, when my parents split, I hid out in the garage. I didn't have my driver's license yet." Pete remained silent. "Your mom called today. She asked me if I'd seen you, and I said I hadn't. She tried to brush it off. She said you were probably hanging out with Clark. But you weren't."

Pete finally turned around. "Mystery solved."

"Yeah. I'm guessing that you didn't tell me about your mom's job offer because it wasn't a good thing, is it?"

"I thought she'd turn it down right away. But it doesn't look like that's gonna happen."

Pete sat down on the couch next to Chloe and Emmeline took a seat next to him.

Chloe gave him a sad smile. "Well, having been through my own version of divorce court, I know how difficult it can be. Do you think there's any chance that they'll work it out?"

"My dad's helping her move to Wichita," Pete said angrily, tears pooling in his eyes. "I guess I just didn't realize how bad it was between them. This just seems like an excuse for her to leave. It just feels like it's somebody else's life and not mine."

Chloe put her hand to his head before hugging him tightly. Emmeline gently rubbed his back, wishing that she could just take his pain and make it all go away.


"Where are you taking me?" Pete asked as Emmeline drove down the road.

"I told you, it's a surprise," she answered with a smile.

She pulled off the road and then led him to where she had set up a small picnic blanket complete with a CD player and all of his favorite foods.

"What is this?"

Emmeline smiled at him. "You were there to take my mind off things during the custody battle. And now it's my turn to do the same."

"You're the best."

"I did it because I love you."

"I love you too."

They kissed each other lovingly before sitting down to eat. For the first time in days, Pete forgot about the divorce.