Emmeline walked into the Torch office on the very last day of school and put her bags down. It was pretty depressing to see the place already rather bare.

"Chloe?" she called.

Chloe was nowhere in sight.

After last night when they had been working late together, Chloe admitted she was going to have to pull one last all-nighter to get the issue completed in time. Emmeline promised to be here early to help her send it out in the morning.

The problem was that the issue wasn't finished nor was Chloe's coffee.

That was weird.

She decided to go pick up her graduation gown, hoping that maybe Chloe had simply left for a moment to go get hers as well.

Once she had received the gown from the woman handing them out, Emmeline looked over the cap and gown inside the plastic wrap. It felt so surreal that her four years in high school had actually come to an end.

It was going to be so hard to start all over at a different school with a bunch of strangers. She didn't know how she was going to survive without Chloe in her classes.

Or Clark, if she was being honest.

Her mother may joke about the two of them getting together, but the truth was that they were almost closer than her and Chloe, and it was going to be difficult without him.

She looked over and saw Clark and Lana with their own gowns.

"Hey, guys," she called as she walked over. "Have either of you seen Chloe? She wasn't in the office when I got in this morning."

"Yeah, they just called her name," Clark told her. "She hasn't picked up her gown yet."

"She hasn't? I thought that was why she wasn't there."

The three of them headed back to the Torch office to see if they could get answers.

"Chloe?" Clark called, stepping inside.

Lana walked over to the wall filled with newspaper clippings and magazine articles. "I don't know if Met U's ready for the Wall of Weird."

Clark looked around the office. "She didn't get the Torch out today."

"Maybe the printers aren't working."

"No, it's not even in its final format. There's no way that Chloe would let the last day of school go by without getting in her final word."

Lana picked up Chloe's unfinished coffee. "And when was the last time that Chloe pulled an all-nighter with a deadline and didn't finish her latte?"

Clark realized her cell phone was on the desk. "Or leave without her lifeline?"

Something was wrong, and Emmeline was afraid to find out what.

"I guess I'll do my best to get this issue out before Chloe freaks out," she told them. "Until then, can you guys try to figure out what happened?"

"I'll go talk to Lois at the Talon," Clark said.

"Great."

Emmeline skipped a couple of her classes as she ran around the office attempting to finish the issue. Since she mainly proofread, she didn't know exactly how Chloe did things but she knew enough after watching and helping her for the past four years.

She turned when she heard footsteps, hoping it was Chloe. It was their photographer instead.

"Um, you're Brendan, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's me."

"Uh, have you seen Chloe at all? She was supposed to help get this final issue out today."

"I haven't seen her in a while. I came to ask for your help. I took some final pictures and needed some help deciding which ones worked."

"Uh, sure, I guess. Do you have them with you?"

"No, they're still in the photography room. Can you go there instead? I don't want to accidentally mess them up while they're developing."

"Oh, uh, all right."

Emmeline nervously followed Brendan to the photography room. She didn't know what it was about him, but there was something that just rubbed her the wrong way. She felt like he idolized high school a bit more than the normal person would.

"They're just over here," Brendan smiled.

She walked over to his table to look at a pile of pictures. When she looked up, she saw that there were pictures on a screen with Xs over them.

"What is that?"

She felt Brendan's hand on her skin. Her body stiffened before she could scream.


Emmeline gasped heavily as the wax across her whole body disappeared. She looked over and saw Chloe and ran over to her.

"What…what happened to me?" she gasped.

Chloe's gaze was transfixed on Brendan. She looked over at him and saw a wax figure of Lana sitting on the desk. When Brendan touched her skin, Lana was restored as well with a gasp.

She quickly hopped off the desk and went to the other two girls. "Chloe, what's going on?"

"Chloe, I'm going to let you tell Lana and Emmeline the rules," Brendan said menacingly.

"Okay!" Chloe said with a bright fearful smile. "Great!"

Brendan left the room.

"How did I end up back in school?" Lana asked.

Chloe remained smiling at them. "Okay, don't wig out. We're not in school."

"Why are you acting like this?"

Chloe went close to their ears. "He's watching."

Lana and Emmeline looked up to the corner of the ceiling and saw a video camera watching their every move.

Chloe pulled up the blinds to reveal a set of fluorescent lights that mimicked daylight. "Brendan, A.K.A. Mr. Medusa's touch, recreated this place. It's kind of like a cage. Gives new meaning to the phrase 'capturing the moment', doesn't it?"

"But how…The last thing I remember doing is signing his yearbook."

Chloe picked up her yearbook and opened it up to a specific page. "Lana, will you sign my yearbook?"

"Okay," Lana smiled in order to play along as well.

The page was all of the 'Most Likely To…' people.

"Look at the names," Chloe said quietly. "I seriously doubt it's just a coincidence that the slumber party's guest list is all on the 'Most Likely To…' page. We have been collected."

"But I'm not on this list," Emmeline said. "So why am I here?"

"Brendan told me that it wouldn't be the true high school experience without my best friend. I think he's just starting with this list. Then when it's not enough, he'll add others."

One of their classmates, Haley, walked in with a chipper smile. "Hey, guys!" She smiled at Chloe. "I told Brendan you had a crush on him just like you wanted me to."

"What are you guys talking about?" Lana asked.

Chloe smirked. "Brendan wants high school? We'll give him high school."

"These rules…" Emmeline said shakily. "What did he mean?"

"If you don't play along and pretend you're actually in Smallville High, well…you saw what he can do."

Emmeline nervously bit her bottom lip. Okay, Clark. I'm trusting you to figure out where we are and make another one of your miraculous rescues.


Chloe's plan was to create a diversion so Lana could knock him out and they could steal his keys.

Lana and Emmeline watched from down the hall as Brendan entered the fake Torch office. Once he was inside, they discreetly moved towards the office to catch him off-guard.

"Hey!" Chloe greeted. "It's amazing how much material we have for tomorrow's issue already."

"Well, I wanted to make sure you have some great shots to work with," Brendan smiled at her. He took a seat on her desk. "You know, it's funny. Four years in school together, and I had no idea that you and Haley were such good friends."

Chloe feigned embarrassment. "Why? What did she tell you?"

"Nothing I didn't suspect already."

Chloe stood up from her chair and walked over to him. "You know, the more I think about it, the more I can't believe you recreated this whole place for all of us."

"After I got those rejection letters, I realized I spent so much time proving myself in here and none of it mattered on the outside."

"And we'd have to do it all again if we left." She got in close to him as if she was truly interested in him. "So, how'd you do it?"

"I told my dad if he didn't do it, I'd turn my annoying step-monster into his own personal mannequin. You should have seen the look on her face. It was just crazy."

Lana snuck up behind him and whacked him on the back of the head with a desk drawer. Brendan fell to the ground unconscious. Wasting no time, Chloe dug inside his pocket and took out his keys.

"Let's go," she said firmly.

The three of them ran out of the office where Haley was waiting for them. "Please get us out of here!" she begged.

They ran by the frozen statue of another student and towards the exit door. Chloe pressed a security card to the sensor by the door, and it clicked open for them.

The four girls ran through the warehouse in an attempt to leave Brendan's twisted nightmare version of high school.

Lana tripped and Chloe and Emmeline quickly stopped to help her up while Haley charged ahead.

Just as Lana and Chloe got to the end of the stairs that led to the exit doors, they had to stop when they saw Brendan at the top of them. Emmeline had fallen behind and hid behind some of the pipes in the room when she saw why they had stopped. It wouldn't do anyone any good if she revealed herself and got trapped as well. Hopefully, if she remained hidden, she could do something to free them without Brendan knowing.

"I thought you felt the same way I did about our future," Brendan said to the two girls.

"Brendan, you can't keep us here forever," Chloe told him.

"You have to let us go," Lana added.

Brendan glared at them. "I don't think you really want that. I know you'll like it here. Or you'll end up like your friend Haley."

All of their eyes widened in horror when Brendan held up the waxed decapitated head of Haley. He let it crash to the ground and pieces of red wax that were her blood went all over the stairs.

Brendan advanced on the two girls. Emmeline put her hand to her mouth and could only watch as the deranged high school student turned both Chloe and Lana into wax figures. Her heart sank when she saw him lock the door to her escape. She could never get out now without his keys.

She ducked behind the pipes as he carried Chloe away back inside the fake school. He soon returned for Lana.

Once she knew he wouldn't be coming back through the room, she quickly searched for another exit. There wasn't another door in this part of the warehouse. She had no choice but to go back into the fake school and think of some other way to get out.

She came through the door they had all tried to escape from.

As if her luck couldn't get any worse, Brendan was just down the hall with another wax figure and saw her enter through the door.

"So you had been trying to escape as well," he said with an angry smile. "After I even gave you back your best friend and everything."

Emmeline quickly backed away from him as he circled around her and forced her down the other end of the hallway and around the corner. She passed by the Torch office and the newest statue Brendan had created. Her brow furrowed. That was…Lois! If she was here, then…Clark had to be too!

Brendan reached for her and Emmeline instinctively threw her arm up to stop him. He latched onto her wrist and his power took effect. Her body began to stiffen.

Her eyes darted towards the Torch office window. Chloe's wax statue had been placed inside. And that was…Clark!

"Clark!" she screamed.

The wax reached her head and she stilled completely.

Brendan looked at Emmeline's wax figure curiously. She was so sure that Clark was going to save her even against someone like him with his abilities. She must really mean a lot to him. He knew what to do about that.

He lifted the figure up and carried it up the stairwell.

Hearing Emmeline's cry, Clark ran out of the Torch office to find Brendan walking up the stairs with a figure of her. Her face was frozen in fear and her arms were up in a useless defensive position. He placed her right at the top of stairs. One wrong move and Emmeline would tumble down and shatter.

Clark used his speed to face Brendan at the top. "Brendan."

Brendan turned around and headed down the stairs, but Clark once again used his speed to face him in that direction too.

"You have to release everybody."

"I wanted you to be a part of all this, Clark," Brendan said angrily. "But you guys…you guys had no right coming here!"

"You have to let them go. Things change. No matter how much we don't want them to. We can't live in high school forever."

"You don't really want that. Clark…think about it." He went up to Emmeline's statue. "She could stay like this forever. Always be with you. You wouldn't be afraid if she ever left you."

"I'm not afraid of that, Brendan."

"You should be. She'll leave you, Clark. She might never come back. If you really care about her, you'll do anything you can to keep her."

"I care about her, but I would never keep someone from doing what they want to do or going where they want to go. Emmeline has her whole life ahead of her. There is still so much she is capable of. She may have a hard time seeing her potential sometimes, but I know how important she is and how many lives she's going to change. Now let her go!"

Clark started towards Emmeline, but Brendan angrily grabbed his arm to turn him into a statue. However, instead of Clark freezing, the process went back on itself and starting freezing Brendan instead.

"What's happening?" Brendan gasped, looking at his wax hands. "No! It won't stop!" He glared at Clark. "You're going to find out what it's like to lose someone forever."

Brendan kicked Emmeline's figure and it started to topple over.

"No!" Clark yelled.

Using his speed, he ran over to Emmeline and managed to catch her before her figure shattered and killed her.

Brendan's body completely waxed over against the railing. His leg detached from the rest of his body which allowed it to fall the long way down to the floor below. His head crashed into a display case and his entire body shattered upon impact, sending red pieces of wax all over the place.

Clark quickly looked back at Emmeline as the wax began to disappear from her body. Once she had returned to normal, she let out a harsh gasp and started panicking and hyperventilating in his hold. She whimpered as she looked around her, presumably for Brendan.

"Em, Em, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay!" he said quickly to get her to calm down. "It's okay. Just breathe. Breathe."

Emmeline looked up at her savior and realized it was Clark holding her. She put her hand to her mouth as she clutched onto him. He held her tightly as she started sobbing from the intense fear and panic she had experienced in the last several hours but more from the relief that it was finally over and Clark had indeed performed another of his miraculous rescues.


Emmeline and Chloe slowly took down the last set of articles from the Wall of Weird. With that, the room was now empty. The wall was bare and every single one of Chloe's personal possessions had been moved out.

"This is so bittersweet," Emmeline said sadly. "I can't believe it's really over."

Chloe nodded but stayed silent. She had poured so much of herself into this paper and to say good-bye to it was so much harder than she thought it would be.

She lifted up the box of articles and headed towards the door. She and Emmeline took their jackets off the coatrack. They started to leave, but Chloe took one more look around the room as her hand poised over the light switch. Finally, the room went dark.

She slowly shut the door to the Torch office for the last time.

Emmeline looked at her sadly peeking through the window on the door. "Hey," she said with a small smile. "Next stop is the Daily Planet. You won't even remember the Torch then."

"I was just thinking…this is where we first met," Chloe said softly, laughing a little at the memory. "You were so cute. You were so nervous as if I was some kind of monster and stuttered so badly asking me for a job. I never realized that giving you the proofreading position was…the best decision I was ever going to make."

Emmeline smiled at her. "We've made so many memories in this office. And lost so much sleep."

Chloe laughed. "I couldn't have asked for a better person to help me pump the issues out."

"I couldn't have asked for a better best friend."

The two girls smiled at each other as they left Smallville High School. Some students from the upper level were throwing down flyers and posters with happiness that the school year was finally over.

Clark and Lana walked up to them.

"Hey," Chloe smiled.

Clark took the box of articles from her.

"Thank you. So I guess this is it, huh?"

"It's not like we're never going to see each other, right?" Clark said.

"Yeah, you'll have summers and holidays," Lana added.

"I guess, but it's not the same," Emmeline put in. "All of us here together at one school?"

Chloe groaned a little. "This sucks."

"Yeah, big time," Lana answered.

"Suddenly, all those tests and teachers we hated seem a lot less scary than the big question mark that's hanging out there," Clark remarked.

"You'd think after everything that happened with Brendan, it'd be a whole lot easier to say goodbye to all this."

"There's a lot here to say goodbye to."

"You know, not to go all 'psycho-sympathizer' on you guys, but I can't blame Brendan for wanting to keep everybody together," Chloe said. "Although, after that little lock-in, I can't think of anything scarier than being stuck in the past and not moving on."

"Do you guys remember Chrissy?" Emmeline asked. "She used her power to stay in high school for decades. I bet she and Brendan would've been fast friends. I don't understand why they would want to stay in high school. It's been great, but definitely not what I want the rest of my life to be."

Chloe's brow furrowed and she suddenly stepped in front of Lana. "Wait a minute, Lana. Did you say I'll have summers and holidays? What about you?"

"I'm staying in Smallville," Lana told her.

Clark looked at her in surprise. "I thought you said you weren't sure."

"Don't you want to see what else is out there?" Chloe asked.

"Well that's exactly why I went to Paris last year, but there's a reason that I was drawn back home," Lana explained. "I'm just not sure that I've explored all the possibilities here."

Lana and Clark started walking forwards again.

Chloe watched them go. "Maybe things won't change much after all."

Emmeline linked arms with her. "Things are going to change all right. I don't even know what I'm going to do next year without you by my side."

"I'm just a phone call and a three-hour drive away."

"You better come back for more than just summers and holidays."

"I'll do what I can."

"We need to video chat at least once a week."

"Agreed."

Emmeline sighed heavily. "I'm going to miss you so much."

"Yeah. I'm really going to miss you too."

The two of them hurried to catch up with Clark and Lana as they went home to wait for graduation day where they would take the next step into the future.