Chapter Ten

Two months later…

Clark stood in the hallway, staring at the photograph of Ashley still displayed on the wall. Chloe had arranged a little tribute to her for the school and the corridor was littered with flowers and cards; Clark had no idea who any of them were from. He was sure Ashley wouldn't either. His own flower, a single rose clipped from her secret garden, was still pinned to the wall, its petals wilting with age and the central heating of the school. He sighed softly and walked into the Torch office, throwing his backpack onto the sofa and walking across to the Wall of Weird; there was still no sign of Ashley there. Clark had kept his promise to her; she would never appear up on that wall. He turned and grabbed the scraps of paper from Chloe's in-tray, looking through them to decide which story he would take. He didn't even look up when she walked into the office; he hadn't even heard her footsteps.

"Hey Clark," she smiled. "Usurping the best stories already, huh?" Clark smiled half-heartedly and nodded. "There's not much going on at the moment, it's like we've entered the Twilight Zone. Is it wrong that when Smallville is normal, it feels totally erroneous?"

"I know what you mean," he laughed softly and Chloe felt a little lifted. It was nice to see Clark laughing again; he had been so despondent lately and it had been affecting everyone in the inner circle. Even Pete had found it difficult to make a joke or lift the mood, something he usually prided himself on. "How's Lana doing?"

Chloe sighed; Clark had been avoiding her since Ashley's father had made the decision to switch off the life support machine. He hadn't been to the Talon or to the house; he hadn't even spoken to her when they inevitably passed each other in the school corridors. She didn't know how long Clark could keep up these games of avoidance but she knew that Lana was deeply upset about it. Both of them were feeling responsible for Ashley's death yet neither of them were talking about it. Lana had tried to get Chloe to run interference, ferrying messages back and forth between them but enough was enough. She needed to get them together, she needed Clark to snap out of his haze and rejoin the rest of the world. She wasn't used to this Clark and it broke her heart every single second she was with him.

"She's dealing, I guess," shrugged Chloe. "She misses you, Clark. We all do, can't you just come to the Talon with us tonight? I'm sure Lana would be glad to see you," Clark put the papers back into the in-tray and stared at the floor, scuffing his shoes. Chloe hated seeing him like this, this sullen teenager was not her best friend, she only wished she could bring Clark Kent back into the world of civilisation and stop him moping around the barn, not speaking to anyone about anything, staring up at that painted picture and wishing things could be different.

"I guess I could come with you," he muttered under his breath, Chloe looked across at him and smiled broadly. He returned the smile and she walked across the room to him, standing up on her tip-toes and snaking her arms around his neck and shoulders. He accepted her hug and fell exhaustedly into her arms; it was the first time since the storm that he had allowed anyone close enough to comfort him. Even his parents had expressed their concern at Clark's seeming indifference to everything that was happening to him. Chloe felt awkward and twisted out of shape but it didn't matter because Clark needed her and that was always going to come before anything else on this earth. "I miss her," he whispered into Chloe's neck and she held him closer. She didn't want to let him go, she wanted him to let out every emotion that he had onto her right now. Expel them from his system and become the old Clark, the Clark with the beaming smile and the happy soul. When he finally moved away from her, his eyes were shining with tears not yet shed and Chloe hoped that somehow, she had been enough. That somehow, a simple hug from a friend would help him.

"I miss her too but sometimes, things like this happen," she sighed, reaching up and touching his cheek. "And they always happen to the good guys, it's the way of the world. It sucks and it's hard but sometimes, you've just got to deal with it and then we move on," Clark nodded and breathed in deeply, moving away from Chloe and picking up his abandoned backpack.

"Thanks, Chloe. I'll catch up with you at lunch," he said without turning around before leaving Chloe alone in the office. She sat down at her computer and sighed heavily, looking around the room for nothing in particular. She didn't know what to do with herself, if she could, she would have ran out after him. Grabbed his hand and pulled him to her car, driven them both away for the day, got him away from Smallville, away from the memories of Ashley. That is what friends did for each other, they made sacrifices and they helped as much as they could. She stared blankly out of the window at the sky outside; it was an average day; light blue skies hidden behind cotton wool clouds. No perfect sunshine, no torrential storm, just a normal day.

Suddenly, Chloe jumped up from her seat and grabbed her bag, running down the corridor after Clark. There was no reason that she couldn't get him out of here, no reason at all. She would drag him kicking and screaming into the car if she needed to, they were skipping school today and they were getting away from it all. He needed the distraction, he needed someone to break the spell, nobody had dared to stop him mooning over Ashley and feeling guilty for everything that had happened. It was her job now.

"Clark," she shouted, a little louder than she had intended and everyone stared at her, bemused expressions on every face. Clark stopped and turned to face her, waiting for her to run to him and frowning questioningly. "Screw class, we're getting out of here," She grabbed his hand and walked him towards the door; he followed willingly and even climbed into the passenger seat of her tiny car without a word. She turned the key to start the engine and they pulled out of the school car-park.

"Where are we going?" he asked, pulling on his seatbelt and looking out across the horizon.

"Does it matter?" she asked.

"No," he said honestly and Chloe drove away from Smallville High without looking back.

THE END