Kaleidoscope
by Lener
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Smallville.
Chapter Three
Clark looked down at the blond head buried deep in his blue sweater. He marveled at how well Chloe fit in his arms, like she was meant to be in this embrace forever. Wait… where had that thought come from? Shaking his head, Clark watched as Chloe pulled away from him, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.
A little of her eyeliner had smudged near the corner of her eye, and Clark used his thumb to wipe it away.
"What happened? How did… Jerry die?" Clark asked as he led Chloe over to the stone ledge. Both of them sat just as Pete arrived.
"What are you two doing out here? School's going to start in like, a minute!" Pete panted, but when he saw Chloe's tear stained face, he stopped and stared. "What happened?" he asked.
"Jerry Fields. He's dead," Clark said grimly.
"Dead? Wha…" Pete's eyes widened in shock. Then he turned to Chloe and shook his head vigorously. "You… you didn't… do it, did you?"
"No, Pete. I didn't kill him!" Chloe said exasperated, but smiling a little. Clark smiled too. He admired Pete, the way that boy could always make Chloe smile and laugh. He wanted to have that power too, the power to make his best friend happy.
But Chloe's smile faded just as it had come, as though she felt guilty smiling when Jerry was dead.
"It's just… he… I…"
The school bell interrupted her, and Clark and Pete hoisted to her to her feet.
"Come on, we'll meet up during lunch and you'll tell us everything, okay?" Clark said, and Chloe nodded demurely.
"Now dry your eyes. We can't have everyone seeing our intrepid little reporter crying her heart out," Pete added gently.
The lunch bell at Smallville High rang, and this time when students filed out of the classrooms, the noise level was over maximum. Announcements had been made by both teachers and the principal that Jerry Fields had passed on. The gruesome details had been kept away from most, but the essential details had been absorbed by the student population, and everyone (especially the football team and the journalism club members) was distraught.
And now Chloe and Pete were settled at the lunch table. Chloe had decided not to eat, so Pete and Clark joined her in abstaining from food.
Out of the corner of his eye Clark spotted Lana and Whitney walking through the doors of the cafeteria. Lana was holding on to Whitney so protectively that they seemed inseparable. Obviously she was probably trying to console him. For a moment Clark wondered if he should give up trying to break them apart. They were obviously Smallville High's dream couple, and they were meant to be together.
Perhaps it was time Clark set his sights on another girl…
Lana led Whitney over to an empty table, and Clark tore his eyes away from them and focused on Chloe, trying to wipe off the look of guilt on his face.
Fortunately for him Chloe had not seen that. She had her hands folded on the table and was looking down, breathing steadily. Clark felt terrible. His friend was terribly grieved by the loss of her schoolmate and all he as a best friend could do was ogle at Lana Lang.
Pushing the beautiful brunette out of his mind, Clark looked at the forlorn blonde.
"Chloe… what exactly happened?" he decided to break the silence by asking.
*
Chloe swallowed and took in a deep breath. The shock her neighbour's death had been difficult to bear, but now she felt a lot calmer.
"Well, you both know that Jerry is… I mean was… my neighbour. And well, I've known him for so long and it's just… too sudden…" she trailed off, and looked down miserably at the table.
"I know how it feels when you lose someone who's close to you," Clark said softly.
"And… just before he left the school that day I… I quarreled with him. Oh, it was stupid. I was… chasing him for… for an article for The Torch and… he told me to lay off. I said just because he had made such a… such a perfect touchdown and gotten all famous didn't… didn't mean he could write people off like that. Then after that he left the school and now he's dead," Chloe put her head in her hands.
"Whoa… that was harsh," Pete said.
"I know… I feel really bad," Chloe sighed.
"It wasn't your fault, Chloe," Clark told her.
"How did he die, anyway? And how did you know before the whole school did?" Pete asked.
Chloe gave an involuntary shudder. "I saw the body," she said, raking a hand nervously through her messy blond hair.
"What?" Clark gasped.
Pete looked like he was about to puke. "Okay now I know why you aren't having any lunch," he said, and did not mean it as a joke.
"Well, it's a natural reaction for anyone after they've seen a corpse, Chloe. It's all right to be unnerved," Clark assured his friend.
"Oh no, Clark. It was definitely Wall of Weird material," Chloe leaned in closer to both boys, her voice dropping to a whisper.
"Okay why don't you tell us exactly what happened, Chloe? Like for instance how you knew it was Jerry Fields… surely the police or the paramedics must have covered the body or something…" Pete trailed off.
"Okay, I was walking along the street to school and I saw lots of policemen and paramedics, and an ambulance parked nearby. Of course a few inquisitive Smallville citizens had gathered round so I decided to take a look. And I… I overheard one of the policemen. He was talking to another cop and the name 'Jerry Fields' cropped up. I figured out that it was Jerry lying there…" Chloe shook her head sadly.
"Well, what was so Wall of the Weird about that?" Clark pointed out, and Pete nodded in agreement.
"Well, they were in the process of lifting the dead body up onto the stretcher and suddenly Jerry's hand fell out from the black cloth and… oh my god… it was horrible. His skin was definitely glowing neon green, and it looked so… drained… of blood and… everything. It was all skin and bones," Chloe said, shifting about her seat uncomfortably.
"Oh man…" Pete licked his lips.
"Did you hear anything else?" Clark probed.
Chloe played with the paper serviette, shredding it into tiny little pieces that littered the cafeteria table they were sitting at. She felt very uneasy and nervous. Recalling the image she'd seen earlier in the morning was… almost too much for her. Almost.
"I stayed a little longer to hear what the police had to say, and I heard… oh I wish I had heard wrongly. He said there were what seemed to be bite marks on Jerry's neck, and that he had been really, really white when the police came- sort of like someone had sucked the blood out of him…" Chloe gulped.
"What do you mean… like, a vampire or something?" Pete asked.
"Yea…" Chloe nodded.
"Okay so now we have some vampire villain that's on the loose in Smallville? This is crazy! What if he attacks citizens every night? The citizens of Smallville could be in great danger," Clark frowned.
"I think we're already in great danger," Chloe muttered as she spied Lana Lang making her way towards their table, alone. Chloe's sharp eyes spotted Whitney Fordman and some other jocks from the football team walking out of the cafeteria.
"Clark. Pete. Chloe," Lana gave each of them small nods. Her eyes were a little glassy, but there was no evidence that she had been crying. Lana's eyes rested on Chloe a little longer, and Chloe felt herself not willing to meet the brunette's gaze. Pete seemed to realize the tension of the situation, because he cleared his throat and gazed at Chloe. Clark was fighting to stop staring at Lana and focus on his best friend instead.
"Chloe, I know you were pretty close to Jerry, he being your neighbour and all that. And you two were in journalism club. But I think you're handling the news really, really well. And I just want you to know that we're grieving as much as you are. I know how it feels to lose someone you love. I know how you're feeling now," Lana gave Chloe such a dazzling, encouraging smile that she almost laughed out loud.
"I don't think you know how I feel, Lana," she said evenly, standing up abruptly. The metal legs of the cafeteria chair scrapped loudly against the linoleum floor, causing some Smallville High students to look their way. Chloe expected them to turn back to whatever they were doing, but they did not. Then she realized (with a bitter, mental laugh) that she was talking to none other than Lana Lang, the girl who turned heads everywhere she went.
"You don't know how I feel at all," Chloe continued, narrowing her eyes slightly. She ignored the audience all around them. She had had enough of Lana trying to empathize with everyone. Didn't the girl know that she couldn't always be perfect?
"Oh Chloe I do. I mean, I lost my…" Lana tried to launch into an explanation, but Chloe cut her off.
"Yea, I know you lost your parents, everyone knows you lost your parents in the meteor shower. The question is, I want to know when you'll stop using your parents and what happened to them as an excuse to get pity from others. You don't know what I'm going through, and it's best you stay out of my life," Chloe stayed long enough to feel satisfied at the look of pure horror on Lana's face, then stalked out of the cafeteria angrily.
She could hear the surprised murmurs of the students all around her and she made her way (without tripping, thankfully) towards the wide doors of the Smallville High cafeteria. Her cheeks were burning with rage, but Chloe knew her outbursts were only temporary. She also knew that she would regret them later, but for now she was as pissed as she could get.
Pushing through the doors, Chloe heard Pete call her name, but something drove her forward and out of the cafeteria.
Part of her wished that Clark would come running out, grab her by the arm and tell her not to worry about Lana, not to take everything to heart, and that Lana was in the wrong.
But of course, no Clark came.
And Lana was never in the wrong.
Author's Note: All right. There might have been a bit of drama in this part of the story between Chloe and Lana, and a little bit of that mysterious villain is revealed too. Tell me what you think about this chapter in a review, please! Thanks!! Special thanks to:
Stepsters
JadeSelena
Tess
Thanks for reviewing!