"Hey, Em!" Clark called as she passed by his locker.
She smiled at him, taking note of his new letterman jacket. "Hey, Clark. Nice jacket."
"Do I sense sarcasm?"
"It doesn't really suit you."
"What? I like it."
"Well, if you like it, then that's all that matters."
The two of them were broken out of their conversation when they heard Lois's angry voice over yet another phone call with Metropolis University.
"Well, yes, I'm sure that we could work this all out if you could just get him to call me back. Thank you!"
She angrily shut her cell phone as Clark and Emmeline joined her.
"You know, if you spent as much time studying as you did trying to leave, you'd be in college already," Clark told her.
Lois turned to face him and gave him a thin smile. "And where'd you get that pearl of wisdom? The Farmer's Almanac?"
Clark fake-laughed before showing off his jacket. "So, what do you think?"
"They're not really your colors."
Emmeline smiled up at him since Lois has basically agreed with her about the jacket.
"They're the school's colors," Clark told a retreating Lois.
"I'm glad you made the team, Clark, but why be a conformist? At least with the whole farm boy plaid thing, as lame as it is, it completely belongs to you."
It was Clark's turn for a thin smile. "In the future, let's restrict our conversations to 'hello' and 'goodbye'."
Emmeline smiled again. The banter between them was really something else, and it was never going to get old.
That was when the three of them noticed something strange. Two cheerleaders passed them while two other football players carried their purses and pom-poms for them. Later down the hall, a cheerleader overloaded a player with tons of books that looked like they were going to fall in a second while her friend gave another player her sweater to fold for her. Still further down, a player held a mirror for a cheerleader as she put make-up on.
"Where are we, some kind of freakish feminist parallel universe?" Lois exclaimed.
The three of them entered the Torch office where Chloe was working on the next issue.
"Hey, Chloe, have you seen the way these football players are acting?" her cousin asked.
Chloe didn't look up from what she was working on. "Yeah, and I noticed one of them unloaded a shotgun in the boys' locker room. I was thinking about maybe doing an article on it, but the only two reporters I have are late again." She finally looked up at them. "Oh! Hi. It's you."
"I'm sorry. I was storming the gates of Metropolis U trying to get them to change their admissions policy."
"And I had to pick up my new jacket," Clark explained. "What do you think?"
"Not exactly your colors," Chloe answered.
Lois cleared her throat while Emmeline gave him a pointed look. It was now three against one.
"It's the school colors," Clark said again.
"Whatever. Anyway, Lois, I need you to go to the Smallville Medical Center. Apparently our gun-toting ex-quarterback woke up this morning and he's the feeling the sting of his second-degree burns. He's been apologizing nonstop, so…"
"I'm sure he doesn't love the prospect of playing tight end for the Kansas State Boys' Home," Lois said with a smile. Her phone started to ring and she quickly took it out and answered it. "Hello? Yes, I will hold for the dean." She quickly whispered to Chloe, "I've got to go," before bolting out of the office.
"All right, I guess I'll go to Smallville Medical Center. Clark, I need to you to talk to Coach Teague. After all, you were there. Nice save, by the way."
Emmeline went to her desk to begin her work and get the next issue out.
Clark looked at Chloe sheepishly. "Actually, Chloe, with this whole football thing, I'm gonna have to dial back my time at the Torch."
Emmeline paused her activity and turned to look at him. This wasn't good. Clark working at the Torch meant everything to Chloe. It was the one thing they could do together.
Chloe looked at Clark in surprise and smiled to mask her hurt. "Oh. I guess I've got my work cut out for me."
"I'm sorry. You know, my priorities…"
"You know what? Don't worry about it. This has got to be a pretty big deal for you. I mean, you're the new starting quarterback, right? It's got to be pretty exciting."
"It is, but…I'm just not sure the other guys want me around."
"They've been playing together for three years. You're on the team for two weeks, and all of a sudden you're starting. What did you expect, hugs and kisses?"
Later that day, Chloe and Emmeline headed down to the football field to get interviews for the psycho football player story. Chloe has tried to get Emmeline to take care of one of the interviews, but the sight of Emmeline's panicked face forced her to retract the question.
Chloe ran up to the new assistant coach. "Coach Teague. Hey."
"Hey," Coach Teague said with a small smile.
"I'm, uh, doing a story on the Torch on Dan Cormier and I was just wondering if I could talk to you for a little bit."
"Can it wait? I'm in the middle of practice."
"It's only gonna take, like, two seconds, I promise."
"I'll do it later."
"Okay."
"I will."
"Okay."
"Don't worry," Emmeline said to her dejected friend. "This story will get done. And if Clark is smart, he'll realize that the Torch is important to you and that you need him to do his part."
Chloe sighed as she headed over to the drinks table to watch practice. "This day is certainly not going the way I thought it would."
"Well, I'm still here, aren't I? I know I can't be of much help with the interviews, but give me anything else, and I'm all for it."
"I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit. Didn't you once threaten someone on my behalf?"
"Every time I think about that moment, my stomach is in knots. I can't believe I did something like that…"
"I thought it was very admirable of you."
"Well I'm glad you think so. Because it probably won't ever happen again."
Clark passed by the drinks table in his uniform and Chloe quickly caught him. "Hey, Clark! Hi. I know you're not exactly journalistically inclined right now, but I was just—"
Clark pushed past her. "This isn't a good time, Chloe."
Chloe sighed again. "Right. Priorities."
She set her notebook on top of the cooler and grabbed a small plastic cup before filling it up with the green liquid. She took a small sip of it, and a bright almost goofy grin spread out across her face.
"Clark…" she said dreamily.
Emmeline furrowed her eyebrows. "Um, Chloe, are you okay?"
Chloe smiled at her. "Come on, let's head back to the office."
"But I thought you wanted to interview Coach Teague."
"Nah, I don't need it anymore."
Chloe took off towards the school before Emmeline could question her further. When they got back at the office, they saw Lois already inside.
"Hello!" Chloe greeted happily. "Uh, look, I'm gonna need you to run with that psycho quarterback story. You might want to interview his girlfriend, Mandy. She's a cheerleader."
Lois smiled thinly as Chloe handed her a notepad. "Hi, I'm busy trying to get out of Mayberry."
"That's fine. Do whatever you want. You and Em are in charge now. I'm quitting the Torch."
Emmeline's eyes widened. "You're doing what?"
Lois bolted over to her. "Whoa! Wait. Quitting? Why?"
"I finally understand why it never worked with Clark," Chloe smiled.
"Okay, I'll bite."
"Because I was never there for him! I was always here buried in this stupid school newspaper. I wasn't devoted to him. But that's all gonna change now." She started taking down pictures from the Wall of Weird.
"Please stop with your crazy talk! You can't quit because, seriously, I need the credit, and…how many anvils are you gonna let this guy drop on you?"
Chloe turned and looked at Lois angrily, the goofy grin she had been wearing for 20 minutes finally disappearing. "You know what's crazy? I actually thought you'd be happy for me. Now that Lana and Clark are finally a thing of the past, I may actually have a shot at this. Why are you getting in my way?"
Emmeline and Lois glanced at each other at the sudden Mr. Hyde Chloe pulled.
"Fine," Lois relented. "Looks like I'm gonna be covering the pom-pom beat."
"Thank you."
Lois left the office while Chloe went back to removed pictures from the Wall.
"Uh, Chloe," Emmeline said nervously. "I've been in charge of the Torch once before, and it did not go well. Please do not do this to me again."
"Relax, just have Lois do everything, and you can do things behind-the-scenes like normal."
"Why this sudden change?"
"I'm not going to hold back anymore. Do me a favor and just support me in this."
"Right."
The next day at football practice, Lois and Emmeline went up to Clark when he got a break.
"Hey," Lois said firmly. "What did you do to my cousin? She's freaking me out."
"Nothing," Clark insisted. "She's hitting on me."
"Well, obviously you sent some kind of signal that you were interested."
"Look, Lois, I got a big game coming up, and I'm trying to make a good impression here, all right? So could we talk about this later?"
"Hey! Hey, Clark! Hi!"
The three of them turned and saw Chloe running up to them…wearing a cheerleading uniform.
"Oh, boy," Emmeline mumbled.
Chloe finally reached them wearing a large lovesick grin. "Hi, Clark! Hi! Ta-da! Hi!"
"Chloe," Clark greeted uncomfortably. "What's up with the cheerleader outfit?"
"I found it in the storage locker. I thought, you know, what better way to support my new favorite starting quarterback than to join the cheerleading squad? We can be together all the time!"
"…Yeah."
Chloe looked over and noticed Lois and Emmeline's presence. Her smile faded. "What are they doing here?"
Lois and Emmeline looked over at each other. Why would Chloe have such a problem with them being around Clark? It just added to the many questions about her mysterious change of attitude.
"Hey, Kent! Some time today!" Coach Teague called from the football field.
"Good luck!" Chloe exclaimed. "Bye!" She blew him a kiss and stepped to the sidelines.
Lois looked at both of them in disbelief. "She's taken the fast train to Stepford."
"I need you both to keep her away from me," Clark told her.
"With what? A tranquilizer gun?"
"There's obviously something wrong. I just need some time to figure it out, okay?"
"Okay."
Lois walked away to try to handle the problem her cousin was causing.
Meanwhile, Emmeline followed Clark to the water cooler. "You know, Chloe tried to hide it, but she was pretty disappointed you weren't going to be at the Torch very often."
"Yeah, I know, but I can only do so much. And I only have one more year to do this football thing."
"Maybe so, but the Torch was the only thing Chloe could do with you."
Clark guiltily poured a small glass of the green liquid from the cooler and drank it. A few seconds later, he keeled over and began gagging and coughing.
"Whoa, Clark, are you okay?" Emmeline exclaimed, quickly putting her hands on him to steady him. "What happened?"
Her first assumption was that he had simply choked on the drink, but she had never seen anyone react this way to swallowing something the wrong way.
"Kent," Coach Teague said harshly as he walked over to him. "What's wrong with you?"
"Coach, I'm not feeling very good," Clark answered breathlessly. "I think I better leave."
"You're gonna walk away because you don't feel well. You know, maybe I was wrong about you, Kent."
"Coach, I…"
"You know, your team's waiting for you out there. Are you a leader or not?"
Clark painfully headed towards the field.
Coach Teague stopped one of the players walking towards the field. "Tell the rest of the guys they got a green light on Kent. I've been too easy on him."
The player smiled and ran towards the others.
Emmeline looked at the coach in concern. Was he really telling the other players to basically torture their own teammate? She knew they didn't all get along, but that was going a bit too far. And for a coach to actually give that order?
Something was seriously wrong with everyone.
Emmeline proceeded to watch the players utterly destroy Clark. Chloe cheered maniacally on the sidelines doing random cheers of her own and calling out things that were ridiculously out of character for her.
Emmeline winced with each blow Clark received. She hadn't seen anyone able to tackle him so forcefully in a long time.
This was going to be a long practice.
Emmeline and Lois were about to head out later that night when they ran into Clark.
"What are you doing here?" Emmeline asked.
"I'm looking for Coach Teague. He just attacked me in my loft."
"He did what?"
"After that performance on the field today, I'm not surprised," Lois told him. Clark stopped walking, not amused. "I'm kidding."
"Look, the cheerleaders are spiking the water cooler at practice. That's why Chloe and the players are acting so weird."
"That makes sense," Emmeline said. "Chloe started acting strange right after she took a sip of whatever is in that cooler."
"Nice work, Smallville," Lois remarked. "You want to know what they're using?"
Clark looked at her in disbelief. "You actually did some investigative reporting?"
Lois grabbed his arm and pulled him into the Torch office. "My cousin goes Martha Stewart without the jail time? Yeah. Suddenly, the power of the press interests me." She opened up a folder and showed it to him. "Look what I found."
"Mandy and Rhonda did a science fair project together. So?"
"So that's our smoking gun. According to the chemistry teacher, they researched a hormone called phenylethylamine."
"Phenylethylamine?" He took the file from her and looked through it. "'The Love Molecule'."
"Exactly."
"So it's a love potion?"
"Yeah, but it didn't work."
"Until they added the meteor rock."
"Naturally," Emmeline put in.
"We have to find a way to reverse the effect."
"Well, it must wear off at some point," Lois explained. "Otherwise they wouldn't keep juicing the football players."
"We don't have enough time. What if another player goes into a jealous rage and hurts someone?"
Lois's brow scrunched together in confusion. "Wait a minute. You drank some of it, too. Emmeline and I saw you. How come you're not going all love slave?"
Clark looked at her blankly for a moment. "I don't know. What's your point?"
"That science report's in Mandy's faux Prada bag. Presumably, it can tell us how to reverse this, right? And presumably, you're infected. The cheerleaders are having a pool party tonight. How do you look in a swimsuit, Clark?"
Clark's eyes widened when she realized what she was getting at.
The three of them headed to the Smallville pool where various cheerleaders and football players were either swimming or socializing. The players all had goofy grins on their faces and were doing random things from serving food to dancing with hula skirts and coconut bras.
"Okay, Clark," Lois said. "Faux Prada bag, folder, show time."
"Lois, I don't think—"
"Go."
"Lois—" Lois gave him another shove. "Okay."
Clark looked back at them nervously and Lois urged for him to get moving. He slowly walked in front of Mandy.
"Hi, Mandy."
"Hey, Clark," Mandy greeted. "Welcome to the party."
Clark glanced back at the two girls. Mandy turned to see what he was looking at, but in order to prevent her from seeing Lois and Emmeline, Clark grabbed her shoulders and kissed her.
"I'm devoted to you."
Emmeline raised an eyebrow. Someone couldn't act under pressure.
Lois discreetly went up behind Mandy and attempted to take her bag.
Mandy lifted up Clark's shirt to examine his stomach. "Yeah, I can work with this."
Emmeline rolled her eyes. Mandy was even shallower than she had thought.
Mandy took Clark's hand and grabbed her bag. Then she quickly sauntered off away from the others.
"Lois!" Clark whispered in a panic.
Lois urged him to keep going.
"Now what?" Emmeline asked.
"We…follow them," Lois answered. "We've gotta get that folder."
Lois and Emmeline followed Clark and Mandy to the exercise room. The two girls discreetly entered making sure to stay out of Mandy's sight. It wasn't hard since she was really taken with Clark.
"Oh, you're so strong!" Mandy breathed in between her passionate kisses that Clark clearly did not return.
Clark smiled nervously but then caught himself. "You're so beautiful."
"I'm so grossed out," Lois whispered.
Emmeline smiled at her comment. She quietly laughed when Mandy tossed Clark's towel away and it hit Lois in the face.
Mandy moved Clark to another machine and straddled him. "So, tell me. If you like me so much, what are you gonna do for me?"
"I'll buy you dinner." Clark looked over at Lois who shook her head. His eyes widened, questioning what she wanted from him. "Cook! I'll cook you dinner."
"Oh, that is so hot!"
She continued to kiss him almost ravenously.
Clark removed Mandy's bag from her shoulder and tossed it towards them, wildly pointing to it to get their attention.
"You seem distracted," Mandy remarked.
"Um, I'm just nervous."
"Why?"
"I've, um, never done what I think we're about to do before."
Emmeline grimaced. As hilarious as it was to see Clark in such an uncomfortable situation, this was starting to get a little painful to watch. And like Lois had mentioned earlier, it really grossed her out.
While Emmeline continued to hide, Lois snuck around the desk and reached for Mandy's bag. Suddenly, Mandy stood up which forced Lois to duck under the desk. Mandy grabbed her bag again before lying down on the desk and forcing Clark to climb on top of her.
Emmeline had to wonder what kind of person worried about their bag while making out with someone.
Clark once again took the bag and shook it by the desk. Then he let it drop and it hit Lois on the head.
"Ow," Lois exclaimed quietly.
"What?" Mandy asked.
Clark tried to cover up Lois's exclamation with pleasure noises. Mandy laughed and mimicked the noises he was making.
Emmeline pretended to retch.
Mandy removed Clark's shirt and dropped it off the desk. That too fell on Lois.
Lois quickly scurried out from under the desk. Then she looked over at Emmeline and waved at her to follow her out of the room.
The two girls discreetly left out of the other door to leave Clark to handle Mandy.
Poor Clark.
The door led to a boiler room. Mandy laughed behind them.
"Gross," Lois remarked.
"Seconded," Emmeline added.
Lois set down the bag and pulled out the folder. "All right.
Suddenly, she was struck from behind with a wrench. To their shock, it was Chloe.
"OW! Chloe, what are you doing?"
Chloe swung the wrench at her again. "I know what you're both up to! I went through this with Lana, and I'm not gonna go through it with you!"
"Do what?!"
"Steal Clark!"
"Chloe, stop!" Emmeline yelled. "Don't you remember that deal we made when we first became friends?"
"The deal's off, backstabber!"
She came at Lois again who tried to dodge all of her swings.
"Chloe, this is stupid!" Lois exclaimed. "I don't want to hurt you!"
Chloe groaned as Lois threw her to the ground. "Too late. You already did."
Lois sighed and did a spin-kick to Chloe's chest. Chloe stumbled back and burned her hands on the door to the boiler. She cried out in pain and sank to the ground. The two other girls quickly knelt down next to her.
"Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry!" Lois cried. "Are you okay, Chloe?"
Chloe sat up and looked at them with a confused face. "Yeah. What happened? What's going on?"
Lois and Emmeline looked at the boiler before sharing a glance. They knew how to break this 'spell'.
The three of them hurried back to the exercise room.
"So, how far do you want to go here?" Mandy asked.
"Um…"
"Right about there would be great, thanks," Lois answered for Clark.
Mandy sighed in annoyance and hopped off the desk. Clark quickly grabbed his shirt and ran behind the three girls, almost as if they would shield him from Mandy.
"Chloe, you okay?" he asked as he put his shirt on.
"Yeah, fine."
"I can't believe you, Clark," Mandy said with crossed arms.
"Oh, please!" Lois exclaimed. "Do you know how pathetic it is that you had to resort to chemicals to control your boyfriend?"
"I'm sick of being a distant second to a football."
"So you created a bunch of psycho nut-jobs." She looked over at Chloe. "No offense."
"None taken," Chloe answered.
"What, uh, what took you so long?" Clark asked.
"Oh, they were attacked by a, uh, crazy plumber."
"Did you find the cure?"
"Yeah, we worked out our own little experiment," Lois explained. "I accidentally burned her on the furnace in the boiler room and she snapped out of it."
"Just like Dan snapped out of it when the gun heated up."
"Exactly," all three girls responded.
"So it's the heat."
Chloe turned around and saw they were alone. "Uh, you guys, where's Mandy?"
"Oh, nice, Clark," Lois remarked. "You know, you only had one thing to do."
"Me? You're closer to the door."
"Okay, so it's automatically my fault?"
"Uh, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys," Chloe quieted them once Mandy came back into the room.
"Oh, hey," Lois smiled. "We were just talking about you."
"Yeah?" Mandy said. "Well, now you're gonna wish you never crossed me."
"Yeah? What are you gonna do? Cheer us to death?" A few large-muscled football players joined Mandy holding baseball bats. "Oh, great. Here comes the love squad."
"Let's get out of here," Clark insisted. "Come on, Lois."
Lois ignored him and looked at Mandy threateningly. "Bring it on, hotshot."
One of the players stepped forward and swung his bat at her. She dodged it before kicking him in the stomach.
"Lois, what are you doing?" Clark exclaimed.
"Hey, Clark, do you got any explosions up your sleeve?"
The player Lois had kicked stood up again. "You're gonna pay for that."
Suddenly, the pipe above them broke and hot steam sprung down onto the players breaking them out of their trance.
"Okay, what was that?" Lois asked in disbelief.
"I guess the pipe must've broken or something," Clark answered. "Pretty lucky, huh?"
"Yeah. You better hope for that kind of luck tomorrow on the field."
Clark rolled his eyes at her.
Emmeline sat in the stands at the big football game. She wasn't really a sports person and she didn't prefer the crowds, but since her best friend was the quarterback, she wanted to show her support.
After a short huddle, the team broke and took their positions. Clark got the ball and tossed it all the way to the end zone where another player caught it and won the game.
The players hefted Clark up onto their shoulders as he removed his helmet.
He met eyes with Emmeline, and she gave him a broad smile.
Emmeline realized how happy Clark looked out on that field. He really wanted this more than anything. He may not have as much time for the Torch now, but if he looked that ecstatic, who was she to talk him out of it?
After all…she really liked his smile.
