Just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone who has followed this story thus far. I apologize for the incredible delay in posting this update, and I'm sorry that it's not a longer one. I do have the next installment almost complete, and promise to post it asap. The mystery of Chloe will soon be revealed, thanks so much for your continued patience, and support of my little story that could. :)
x X x X x X
Clark sits hoping that although Chloe had not made it to her office this morning she would still make it to her first class. It's this last hope keeping Clark away from his own first period class, and why he is now standing outside of hers.
He drums the door frame nervously, darting his attention between the empty seat he knows she normally occupies and the hallway she would have to take to get there which is deserted. The final bell begins to ring which amplifies Clark's worry and panic.
So, he's off. Confident that no one can see him, no one ever has -- he's that fast, Clark searches every conceivable place in the school that Chloe could be. In the cafeteria he sees a jet of water, frozen in time, inches away from moistening a pan corroded with baked on cheese product. In the library a stack of books hangs impossibly in the air, soon to be quite the chore for the poor student assistant to reorganize. In the administration office a mosquito is poised to sink into the neck of the attendance clerk. Hoping to buy some karma for his impending tardy, Clark decimates the bug with a quick flick before it can sting its target. He pauses outside the girls' bathrooms, thinking he's already broken enough rules this morning, so he gives it a quick x-ray scan to find it completely empty.
By the time the final bell finishes its song he's back at Chloe's first period class to find her seat still empty. Clark is forced to face the fact that something is wrong. Chloe is not at her desk, and until he finds out why, the sick feeling in his stomach will not subside.
Without thinking, he grabs up his backpack, starting down the hallway as though compelled by a force much stronger than even he can control. His heart pounds, his concern for Chloe coupled with his fear of being caught cutting school makes for a sickening combination, very much like the debilitating vex Kryptonite puts on him. The hairs on his arms stand on end, and if he could stop his feet from moving he might notice his knees shaking.
x X x X x X
It's not like Chloe to not be at school, always being the type of student who coughs and hacks her way through classes with a hundred and two degree temperature declaring she would never waste precious time sitting on the couch watching 'The Price is Right'. If she can walk, Chloe's in class, and it's that very thought that is causing Clark's stomach to tie into knots.
After all, this is Smallville, which has a penchant for creating the strange and unusual, both of which are a magnet for Chloe having sucked her into a vortex of trouble a time or two before and could just have easily ensnared her this time.
Typically, Clark has at least his feet wet in the pool of Chloe's investigations, but she has been so distant recently that he has no idea what story she might be chasing, and therefore no idea where to begin searching for her. He would have to start at the one place where Chloe would leave the most clues. He would have to go back to The Torch.
x X x X x X
His boots crush the stem of the rose he had absently dropped on the floor, its petals having already been plucked away. He positions himself in front of her computer again, knowing that she keeps notes for her stories there.
He minimizes the windows containing the spring formal pictures, pretty certain that event has nothing to do with her disappearance. Nestled on the desktop is a series of folders representing the most recent editions of the school paper, neatly organized by date. If she's finished a story then all of the notes for that story will be in a file for that date's edition. Clark scans over those looking for the folder marked Leads.
Remarkably, the folder is empty. Chloe doesn't have any large story brewing on the horizon. Unless, she's hidden the files elsewhere.
He clicks into her personal files, since she's remained logged on to the network, and finds a folder marked Unused Editorials. The folder spreads open to reveal a plethora of would be editorials, a garden of Chloe's thoughts on a range of subjects; all with dates. The most recent is from yesterday's.
Chloe had typed up notes of hers about the sex assembly. Clark was pretty sure that there was no insidious plot by the school administration to take over the world one sex assembly at a time, and therefore this couldn't possibly have anything to do with Chloe's absence, but upon a quick scan of the document, one line catches his eye.
Buried within cynical retorts about abstinence and dry research on teen pregnancy, Chloe had written, "Jimmy was a mistake."
Clark pushes himself away from the desk, with one question; who is Jimmy?
