Everything In This World
By Viv
*~*~ Part Twenty-Seven ~*~*
"So Chloe, have you got your dress picked out yet?"
Chloe jerked her head up from the pile of history notes before her, hurriedly yanking her head phones off. "Huh?"
Lana smiled indulgently, gesturing at the gaudy flyers complete with shiny sparkles that were plastered all over the side of the school building. "Junior prom?"
Chloe's face fell as she registered Lana's not-so-hidden meaning, and she hastily looked away from the other girl's expectant expression. She bit her lip nervously, astutely avoiding Lana's penetrating gaze. "I'm not going."
Lana's face registered fleeting surprise, before she admirably covered it up. She paused, frowning. "Mind if I ask why?" She asked lightly, in an effort to dispel the awkwardness that had settled between them.
Chloe shrugged, dislodging a few random leaves that had settled on her hunched shoulders.
They were outside ostensibly enjoying the spring sunshine, but in reality enduring a desperate cram session before finals. For Chloe at least, the last couple of months had flown by so quickly and so insanely happily that she had completely neglected the normal day to day activities of her life, namely chores and studying for finals. Which was a bad thing for her, given the fact that she couldn't hope to put a foot into any prestigious journalism course without getting good grades; which meant that her current position was about as desperate it could get.
It was extremely lucky for Chloe that she had such great friends whom she could panic to. Clark the super geek who had a memory like one of her digital cameras, except was much better quality and wasn't apt to break down from lack of batteries; Lana and Pete who were becoming fellow caffeine dependants like herself, who didn't mind sitting through the matinee showing of the Chloe-panic stage show; and Lex, who she knew she could always turn to when the studying got rough and make her face the roughness head on, before treating her to a special dinner and make-out session for two.
Chloe smiled whimsically. She knew that a big part of why she had neglected the whole studying thing was Lex. He seemed to be everything to her these days. Try as she might, Chloe just couldn't recover a modicum of that cynical wittiness that had branded her as uniquely Chloe, that trademark snarkyness and slightly caustic intelligence that was her calling card and trademark. It seemed that being with Lex had eroded that out of her, although - she wanted to mentally highlight in a big fluoro yellow marker - that wasn't necessarily of the bad.
It was just ... different.
"Hello? Paging missing earthling?" Lana's softly insistent voice recalled her attention to the present.
"Huh?" Chloe wiped the side of her mouth hastily. Had she been drooling?
If she had, Lana pretended not to notice. "Why aren't you going to the dance?"
Chloe shrugged for the second time in as many minutes. It seemed to be her gesture du jour. "I don't know, I just don't feel like it."
"Chloe." Lana admonished, her brows crinkling in disapproval.
"Oh all right." Chloe huffed, snapping her notebook shut. "The quick Chloe anxiety download? I'd rather not risk it." Lana brows shot heavenwards in puzzlement. Chloe elaborated, blowing her fringe off her face. "I know I don't have to spell out that the word 'prom' has connotations for me that doesn't exactly thrill me with light and joy. I think the connotation would be more 'never again' and 'over my dead body'."
"Chloe, you can't let one bad experience rule your life."
"I'm not letting it rule my life Lana. I just don't need another starring role in 'Proms gone wrong - how to get ditched by your date'. I've had enough of a bad experience to last me a lifetime, maybe even two. I think I can deal with not taking that tempting refresher course in 'guaranteeing self-humiliation in 5 easy steps'."
Lana looked stricken with guilt, making Chloe feel bad for having brought up what was obviously still a touchy subject between them. After all, it hadn't been the ex-cheerleader's fault that she had almost gotten herself blown away by a tornado, and if Chloe really needed to compare bad times, she knew that almost dying probably ranked a lot higher in the cosmic scale of things than having the suckyest time ever at a stupid high school prom.
Chloe's expression softened. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean - you know." She lowered her eyes thoughtfully. "It's water under a very shaky bridge, but water all the same. I hope we're cool with that."
"We are." Lana smiled softly, perfectly understanding Chloe's totally non-subtle gesture of friendship. She paused, as a determined glint materialised in her eyes. "I don't think you should give up on the idea of going to the prom Chloe. I'll tell you what," her eyes searched Chloe's penetratingly with a hint of humour, "if you happen to change your mind, let me know. I'm going shopping for my dress this weekend, so we could go together."
Chloe let out a mocking laugh, before toning her caustic attitude down. Had she just been saying that she had lost her snark? She made a mental note to herself to stop worrying about the whereabouts of her edge. She was Chloe - she always had the edge. "Yeah right. And maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt and bake cookies in Clark's fortress of solitude."
Lana chuckled in spite of herself. "I don't know whether Clark would let monkeys into his fortress of solitude, but you never know Chloe," Lana smiled cheekily through her lashes, "monkeys can fly out of anywhere."
Chloe eyed the mischievous glint in Lana's eyes suspiciously. If she hadn't known better, she could have sworn that Lana was up to something.
(c) September 2002