A/N: Well, although I haven't heard from anyone yet sob,I've decided to muddle through. Now it's time for Clark's assignment!
Disclaimer: I own nothing, absolutely nothing! All ideas are just pieced together from "Smallville"… a show you can't help but love!
Clark looked at her and his eyes narrowed. Chloe shivered a little. Sometimes it was like Clark could look straight through her. "So, what evil assignment do you have for me, Chloe?" Clark said, looking for all the world as if he'd just given up his favorite flannel shirt.
Chloe sat back and blinked. "What do you mean, Clark?" She widened her eyes and started to blink, praying that it made her look innocent of all wrong-doing.
Clark rolled his eyes. "Chloe, will you stop that! I've known you since we were 12 and all that look does is make you seem psychotic."
Chloe grimaced. I knew that time in front of the mirror hadn't helped that look. She wondered how she could perfect that innocent, butter-won't-melt-in-my-mouth look that Clark had down pat. Well, normally I would just come clean, but I don't wanna'! She pouted a little, and Clark's knowing look turned into one of panic. Gotcha! Every time I turn on a feminine wile, you freak out. You are so easy, Clark Kent!
"OK, Chloe. Sock it to me." You could tell by the look on his face that he was waiting for the worst.
"Oh, my gosh! You've been watching Nick at Night, haven't you?" Chloe's infectious chuckle bubbled to the surface. Chloe could tell that she'd just thrown her favorite farm boy for a loop.
"Stop stalling, Sullivan." Clark tried his "bad cop" look. Chloe shook her head. If he knew all her looks, she definitely knew all of his. She sat and looked at him for a few minutes. The staring contest continued until Clark broke it with a sigh. "Fine, if you want to raise the tension and suspense, I wouldn't want to ruin anything that pleases you. I'll just be over here working on my article."
"Anything new on the girls' hockey front?" Chloe found that she was actually curious about it. She definitely wasn't a sports fanatic, but their team had been doing pretty well this year.
"Oh, it was awful. We lost 10 to 1… and it was a play-off game! They totally choked, but you can't really say that, can you?" Clark turned hopeless eyes to his monitor.
"Why not, if it's true?"
Clark looked at her incredulously. "Not only would it hurt their feelings, but…" He blushed and looked down.
"Clark, are you interested in one of the girls?" Chloe was so thankful that she could finally ask that question without the pain that had filled their first couple of years in high school. It wasn't that she didn't still think Clark was still a beautiful individual that any female in her right mind wouldn't sell her soul to date, but they were friends and it was obvious that Clark was never going to feel that way about her. She'd moved on, thank goodness!
Clark's head snapped up, his eyes wide.
Now that's the look I want! Chloe thought petulantly. Why is it so effortless for him???
"No way!" he protested, hands held up in surrender. "I'm finally getting used to being single again. I'm not ready for another failed relationship."
"Clark, there are so many things wrong with that statement!" Chloe lifted her hand and ticked off each reason. "First off, not all of your relationships are doomed for failure. Second, you and Lana dated for what? 2 seconds? That a relationship doesn't make. Third, why wouldn't you want to date one of our famous girls' hockey players?"
"They aren't my type. They're way too into their sport… and it seems that it's all they're able to talk about. I'd like to have an intelligent conversation about the world sometimes."
Now Chloe's eyes widened in disbelief. Could her Clark be branching out into the real world? Actually interested in more than Smallville? She rubbed her eyes and looked at her coffee cup. Was she caffeine deprived? Was that the cause for this audio hallucination? "You're kidding, right?"
Clark looked at her in puzzlement, one eyebrow cocked higher than the other. "Why would I be?" He smiled and Chloe felt herself melt.
Oh, he's good, she thought in a daze. Sure she wasn't interested in him anymore, but he was still a beautiful specimen and that smile always got to her.
"You've ruined me, Chloe," he replied to her silence. "Every day I come in here or hang with you at the Talon and we have intelligent conversation where you challenge me. How could I possibly go back to anything that's one sided?"
"One sided?" Chloe shook her head. She was feeling slightly lightheaded under the full force of that smile. It wasn't a grin and it wasn't a smirk. A buzzing sounded in her ears and she had to listen very hard to catch his reply.
"You know, like they only know about sports… or only know about fashion… It's redundant and tiring, really. And usually if you challenge their viewpoint, they either cry or punish you in some other way." He rolled his eyes in exasperation, the memory momentarily pushing his smile to the side.
Chloe took a deep breath. Had she stopped breathing and that's why there'd been buzzing in her ears? How peculiar. "You flatter me, Mr. Kent. OK, fine. But this still doesn't explain why you don't want to do a hard hitting expose on the meltdown of our fallen champions."
Clark looked glumly at the screen. "Have you ever crossed any of those girls, Chloe?" She looked at him in disbelief and he smiled in self-derision. "Of course you have. OK, then you know those girls are mean when their performance is called into question." He shuddered.
This time Chloe couldn't help it. She threw back her head and laughed… and laughed… and laughed until tears started running down her face. "Clark, you're afraid of a bunch of girls?"
Clark looked offended. "They're hockey players, Chloe. That's the meanest sport around!"
"Clark, I love you like a brother, but you are the biggest pansy!" Chloe breathed in and wiped her eyes. Heavens that felt good!
"Maybe I am," he muttered. "Or maybe it's my excuse so I don't have to hurt their feelings." He sighed as she smiled. "I just want to do your paper justice, Chloe, and the article I want to write won't be the hard hitting expose you're famous for."
Goodness, this boy is sweet. How he survived this long in this meteor-freak infested town is anyone's guess. I guess it's a good thing I've never permanently gotten on his bad side. "OK, Kent," she said, shuffling some ideas in front of her to gather her thoughts. "You have surprisingly jostled me out of my vindictive streak today. So you get two assignments."
"Two?" Clark looked at her as if she'd just kicked his imaginary dog. "I thought you said I got you out of your vindictive streak?"
"Well, you haven't heard the assignments yet, have you?" Chloe smiled. OK, so she was still vindictive, but this way it seemed like she was being nicer.
"You're right. Lay it on me, boss." Chloe watched Clark draw in a breath and hold it. She almost burst into laughter again, but managed to control herself.
"You don't have to submit an article for this week's Torch. But don't get too relaxed. First of all, you and I are going to put our feelers out around town to see if anything interesting has come up. It wouldn't be the first time that a Wall of Weird story hasn't fallen in my lap."
Clark let his breath out in a rush. Chloe felt her chair move backwards in the wind that suddenly kicked up. She looked around curiously. "Darn over-enthusiastic air conditioner," Clark muttered, giving Chloe his innocent look.
She looked at him through narrowed eyes. It was a plausible explanation, but she knew there was another explanation that should have hit her upside the head but he was hiding it from her. Like that's anything new!
Clark cleared his throat, obviously trying to turn Chloe's attention from him. "So what's the second thing?"
"Second thing?"
"Well, you said 'First of all'… That usually implies a 'second of all'." Clark smiled at his obvious joke.
Chloe returned his smile, but added a vindictive twist to it. "Well, second of all, I've decided I want you to headline a new article series. You seem to have your finger on the hormonal pulse of our little school. So you've been elected to be the author of an advice column." Clark's gasp of horror was all the payment she needed.
A/N: In this installment, I've made Clark more intelligent. I just couldn't help with the Slashers out there. Instead of being stupid, I would prefer looking at the last chapter of him being innocent and naïve, OK? So, what do you think? Is Chloe being too evil?
