Chapter Nine

It was only ten am, and already Clark had decided that this wasn't turning out to be the best of days.

First of all, Chloe was still a little in shock from Clark's confession the previous night. Even though she dealt with stuff like this every day, it was completely different when it was your best friend.

She had had the whole night to think about it, and it seems her conversations with him were now progressing past the four-letter-word stage, and the lengths were definitely increasing. His own voice was also decreasing in decibels when she spoke to him. Clark had never realized it before, but he was very scary when he yelled.

Second, the dry spell had finally passed, and it was raining heavily outside, beating against the windows.

Third, they were both hunkered down in the tiny Torch office, because after Clark told her his secret, she was very (and understandably) wound up. His parents had suffered enough stress that day, and Chloe had been saying some things that they had never heard their son say before. It wouldn't be fair to take her home like that.

And as if all that wasn't enough, Clark had woken up that morning feeling a little crampy and bloated. He wasn't 100 certain what that meant, but he had enough general knowledge of the fairer sex to know that it didn't signal the coming of something he much wanted to experience.

He turned to Chloe, who was seated on the bench along one of the walls.

"You know you can ask me anything." He said. "Anything you want to know."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Chloe asked.

"I wanted to." Clark said. "But I was scared."

"Too scared to tell your best friend the truth?" She asked icily.

"Chloe, you have to understand," Clark argued. "This is a really big secret. I had to consider -"

"You told Pete." Chloe interrupted.

"I didn't have a choice!" Clark said defensively. "He was gonna tell the whole world about the spaceship."

Chloe sighed. She was fighting a losing battle, because, deep down, she knew Clark was right. It was a huge, enormous thing, and if it was her in Clark's position, she probably would have done the same thing. But now it was, and she was totally freaked out.

"Chloe, I know this is difficult, but if we want to get back into our own bodies, then we have to put our personal problems aside, and work together." Clark said. Chloe grunted in response.

"If we're gonna break into the lab tonight, I was thinking first we could go back to my place and get some fresh clothes," Clark continued. "Then I could spend the rest of the day teaching you how to use my abilities, so there are no mistakes tonight."

Another grunt from Chloe.

Clark sighed and scanned the room for anything that might strike inspiration as to how to convince her to go.

His gaze landed on the empty coffee cups from the day before, that still hadn't been cleared away.

"We can take a coffee break at the Talon?" Clark tried. "I'm buying."

Chloe looked at Clark for a second, as if deciding whether another grunt was in order.

"Fine." She said, getting up and gathering up all the blankets.

Clark smiled Some things never change

They entered the Kent kitchen somewhat self consciously. He hadn't seen his parents since they had gone over to the Torch yesterday, and he still didn't feel any more comfortable around them in his present state.

It was almost eleven o'clock when they arrived at the Kent farm. It had taken them a while to leave the Torch, as they had argued over driving privileges. It seemed they needed somewhere to vent their anger and frustration, so they were taking it out on each other. Clark still got a little freaked out when she yelled at him. He wasn't used to being yelled at by someone bigger than he was.

It seemed that Martha and Jonathan were already out in the barn, which Clark and Chloe were very glad of.

Clark dashed upstairs, closely followed by Chloe, and ducked into his room. Everything looked much different from a foot or so lower.

He pulled the closet door open and grabbed out a white t-shirt and a fresh pair of jeans and handed them to Chloe.

Chloe caught sight of Clark's black leather jacket, pushed not quite out of sight in the corner of the wardrobe. It reminded her of the first day he had showed up to school in it. He had been a completely different person, and if she was honest, a complete jerk, but she was surprised to find her thoughts drifting away from Clark's temporary attitude problem, and remembered how hot he had looked in the jacket.

Clark caught her eyeing the jacket. He wasn't even sure why he had kept it. It's not like he would ever wear it again, if he could help it. It was a symbol of his rebellion. He had bought it, courtesy of Martha and Jonathan's credit card, when the farm was already in debt. Perhaps it was because there was a little part that didn't want to forget what it felt like to be completely free, with no guilts or inhibitions holding him back. In any case, it was the only thing he hadn't returned from his impromptu shopping spree.

He grabbed the jacket and passed it to Chloe.

"Here." he said reluctantly. He wasn't keen to see himself in it again. It would bring back too many bad memories, but he didn't want to start fighting with Chloe again. "Knock yourself out."

Chloe grinned and added it to her small pile of clothes as Clark left her to get dressed.

She deliberately faced away from the mirror this time, after what Clark had told her about heat vision. She didn't want to set Clark's house on fire, no matter how hot he was.

Chloe smiled at her private joke. A pun. She had made a pun. Maybe things were getting better then.