Title: Ashamed
Part: VIII
Author: Elizabeth Goode
Disclaimer: Don't sue me. I have no money.


Lana stood where Chloe had left her in the Torch office. She thought about their conversation, and felt like slapping herself. Why was it that she so often said things in anger that she regretted later? Why was she angry so often lately? It wasn't as though she'd even spent enough time with Clark recently to even find a reason to be angry with him. She was starting to feel like Clark was a stranger to her, and she knew that it was not entirely his fault. Did her anger have anything to do with the tattoo and the Countess? Was she completely paranoid, or was Genevieve Teague somehow messing with her mind? She knew that her strained relationship with Jason was partially to blame for her spending less time withher friends lately - had it caused her to ignore them so much that her friends were no longer her friends?

She thought about what Chloe had said - that Clark had been ostracized by them. Not just by she, Lana. By them. Chloe was upset with herself as well, and possibly with Pete. After this summer, when Lana had been in Paris, Chloe had been presumed dead, Pete had been gone, and Lex had nearly died - where had Clark been? She was embarrassed to say that she didn't really know. By the moment, she was becoming more and more convinced that loneliness had drawn Clark to Alicia.

At the though of the name of the girl who had nearly killed her, Lana felt a cold chill travel up her spine. Stop it, Lana! It isn't like you haven't dated your share of psycho meteor freaks. She took a deep breath, resolving to find Chloe and apologize, then start trying to figure out what she was going to say to Clark and when she was going to say it.


Late in the evening, Chloe arrived with a backpack full of assignments for Clark. She was welcomed into the Kent house by Martha, who seemed very glad to see her.

"Chloe, come inside and have a bite to eat! We're having pork chops, baked potatoes, and cucumber salad."

Chloe set down her backpack and looked around. "Where's Clark?"

"He'll be back. He took a walk. To the cemetery, I think."

Rifling through the backpack for the list of assignments, Chloe nodded. "Was he all right with me coming over here tonight?"

Martha smiled. "He was a little nervous, but only because he was embarrassed that you knew."

Chloe stiffened. "Knew? Knew what? I don't know anything."

There was an uneasy silence as Martha looked at her critically. "About how upset he's been? What did you think I meant?"

Hastily shoving the papers back into the folder, Chloe shook her head. "Nothing. I just - I was joking. See? If I don't know anything, I don't have to mention it to Clark then, do I?" She offered her most convincing smile to Martha, then headed for the door. "I think I'll try to meet up with Clark at the cemetery, lend him some support if he wants it."

"I think that's a good idea. He really needs his friends right now. Jonathan and I are always here for him, but ... he's a teenager. I think it makes him feel like a - a dork or something to hang out with his parents all the time." She winced slightly. "Was 'dork' the right word? I don't want to sound like one of those too-hip-for-their-own-good mothers."

Laughing, Chloe replied, "I have, upon occasion, called Clark a 'dork' before. In eighth grade. Of course, it was pretty much a case of the pot and the kettle - have you SEEN my school picture from junior high?"