Just Shut Up Already
Chapter 13
A/N: Okay, so thanks for the reviews. Thank you "random person I don't know" for your, er, enlightening discussion with…. yourself. I was truly entertained… and a little afraid.
It's Thursday morning. The sunlight comes through my window and nearly blinds me. I glance over at my newly returned laptop. Last night I didn't get a chance to look through the files and see what the deviant did to my precious belonging. Whoever stole it is going to pay. That's it! It's going on my list.
I drag myself out of my beautiful, safe bed and over to my desk. I feel a great surge of pity wash over me when I see that my list of things to accomplish by the weeks end is not quite as prioritized as I remember it.
Number 1: Find Mom. (Check.) Number 2: Find out why Jason winked at me. (Check.) Number 3: What business does Lex have at school? (No check.) Number 4: Find out who wants to kill me. I could have sworn that was higher up on the list.
Ahhh. I remember now. Before the damned thing got stolen, I moved a few things around. Okay, I'll admit it, yesterday and Tuesday night I wasn't exactly feeling afraid of the big scary threatener, but as I scan down the list….
Number 5: Die hair brown. Lana, grrr…
Number 6: Find Miss LeMonte a man.
Number 7: Talk to Pete. Slap if necessary. (Check, and I'll just delete that last part.)
Number 8: What happened to Clark between when I saw him on Monday to when I saw him on Tuesday?
Number 9: What are Lionel Luthor's true intentions?
Number 10: Die.
Hmmmm…. I don't remember putting that last one in. Gulp.
Okay, don't freak out, Chloe. So the murder- wannabe had your computer. It's not like you keep a journal. It's not like your deepest darkest secrets are hidden in a Word file.
Doh! Why did I have to keep pictures of Clark on my favorites file? Now, that's just asking for trouble.
Doh! squared. I saved all the encrypting codes in a document on my desktop. Every time I snuck into LuthorCorp files through the 'net and every time I did something extremely illegal on this wonderful machine, it was saved in my web history which any moron could figure out how to access.
This sucks!
School looks the same. It's always the same. What happened to that enlightenment I had yesterday? Am I already jaded from a stroll through the cheerleaders and math geeks who don't have threats on their lives?
I spot Clark out of the corner of my eye as he heads right towards me. "Chloe, you're back."
"Yeah." I am a girl of few words.
He pauses. This is the part I usually jump in with a wall of weird moment or something wacky, after which he says I'm overreacting or crazy and then Lana interrupts us, I'm ignored and then I hear a swoosh noise and Clark is gone. It's a fun game I play everyday. But I'm not in the mood for a game.
He takes the hint and continues the conversation himself. "Did you have a nice day off?"
"I wouldn't exactly call it a day off. In fact it felt like a lot of work. Well, there was a lot of driving, at least."
"I've been trying to get a hold of Lex, but he wasn't picking up his phone and he wasn't home."
"Lex is being mysterious. Ooooh! Smallville continues to surprise us." Okay, enough of the sarcasm, Chloe. "Don't worry Clark. All we need to do is not want to be annoyed, and there he'll be to destroy our wishes."
Okay, now it's enough.
Lana strolls up behind Clark and taps him on the shoulder. Yeah, this is fun.
"Hi, Clark. Hi."
"Lana," he says, and then turns back to me. "I'll swing by his house after school again, if you want to come."
Lana's face flattens. "Clark, I was wondering if you would help me with something. You see I have this tattoo…."
But he ignores her. What is happening?
"Why are we looking for Lex, again?" I ask in order to end this horrible awkward moment.
"I saw him with his father in a very heated discussion. I think he knows something."
"Fine, I'll go with you. I meet you after 6th."
I walk off. I hear footsteps follow me.
"Clark, please, I'll see you after school." But it isn't Clark. It's Lana. And she's pissed.
"So, did find out about Jason?" she says. "The thing he isn't telling me?"
"I have to go Lana, I'll talk to you later." I start to walk away, but she grabs my arm. Now I'm afraid for my life. "I skipped English yesterday and Miss LeMonte is going to kill me for not doing trash pick up."
"You spoke to him, didn't you? What aren't you telling me? Why does everybody keep secrets?"
"Lana, I really don't know. If you didn't realize, I have people keeping secrets from me too. Somebody wants to kill me tomorrow and there are two very skeevy Luthor's on the case apparently. Everybody knows more about who wants me dead than I do. But please, lets focus on you."
She gasps. "Somebody wants you dead? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I'm a bad person." I've hurt her feelings and now I have one more thing to feel bad about. "I'm sorry Lana. We haven't exactly been close lately."
"I know. I've been dealing with a lot of drama. First my parents die. Nell abandoned me. Whitney died. Meteor freaks kept trying to kill me. Clark kept all sorts of secrets. Then when I went to Paris, I got a weird tattoo. Now Jason is keeping all sorts of secrets."
My jaw hurts. I'm getting lockjaw.
"I'm sorry Lana."
"Oh Chloe, I know you didn't mean to snap at me. I bet your going through a lot."
"Oh boy am I. First my crush goes after an annoying, ditzy cheerleader. Then I get attacked by various meteor freaks. One of my best friends moves away and ignores me for over a year. My dad gets fired because I wouldn't play Lionel Luthor's mind games and we have troubles paying the bills. Then after putting away the less attractive, older Luthor, he has my house blown up with my father and me inside. Then after narrowly surviving, I have to live in witness protection. I find out my mother didn't abandon me, only lives in a looney bin." I twirl my hair and put on my ditzy voice. "And Clark is keeping all these secrets from me."
I pull my arm away.
"Chloe," she starts.
"Oh and to top it all off, your boyfriend winked at me because I am too sexy to be true. Talk about confusing."
That oughtta shut her up.