The next morning was surreal for Chloe. The events of the night before seemed too much like a horror novel to be true, but the fact that she was not at home reminded her all too well that it was not fiction.
The syrup saturated breakfast did some good to cheer her up, as did the limo ride to school. Clark had received Lex's call and was taking his responsibility seriously. Fortunately, Clark had not told anyone else of her situation. There were only a few days left of school and Chloe just wanted to go through them as normally as anyone could in Smallville.
The day was a long one, and Chloe couldn't help but imagine masked gunmen kidnapping her in the middle of Chemistry.
When the torturous day was finally over, Chloe was driven to the mansion by Lex's bodyguard whose name, she learned, was Max.
Chloe suddenly had a coffee craving, so she wandered around the house, wishing she had a map, until she found the kitchen. It was a big room with many culinary devices that Chloe could not recognize. She eventually found the coffee, and spent about thirty minutes deciding which of the sixty flavors she should try. She eventually decided one of the five exotic Hazelnut varieties.
The coffee maker whizzed and bubbled as Chloe prioritized her homework. She had a page of problems in math, and there was still that Torch article, which she was beginning to doubt would ever be finished.
The coffee maker buzzed, alerting Chloe that her Hawaiian Hazelnut was done. She poured it out of the pot into a stainless steel mug and sipped cautiously, so as not to burn her tongue.
There were footsteps. It was probably one of Lex's employees—probably. Chloe tried to comfort herself as she envisioned a man brandishing a gun popping through the door.
The footsteps were getting louder, and Chloe's breath became shallow.
The door opened.
Chloe screamed and threw her coffee up in the air. It splattered all over her shirt and jeans. She turned around to look at the face of the person in the kitchen.
It was Lex. He looked at her quizzically.
"I", Chloe stuttered, "I didn't realize it was you."
She grabbed a wad of paper towels and began wiping up the spilled coffee.
"I'll get someone to do that for you", Lex offered.
"No. No, its fine. I'm just a little shaken up is all." Chloe flashed him her trademark Everything-Is-All-Right-But-Its-Really-Not smile.
"Well, I came to tell you that we're driving over to your house now if you want to pack some more stuff", Lex explained.
Chloe finished cleaning and the four of them, Gabe, Chloe, Lex and Max, departed.
Chloe stuffed about half of her closet into a suitcase. She grabbed some accessories and important papers. Then she went into the bathroom, and started grabbing hair products. It took a lot to straighten and flip her hair in the morning. She turned to pull some stuff out of the shower. The shower curtain was pulled back.
She had closed it the night before.
"DAD, LEX", she screamed, "Someone has been here since last night."