Yay! Depressing stuff is now over, so I can write some fluffy stuff :D well, I say fluffy stuff, this is much more normal high school orientated. So issues with self esteem, homework, prom etc etc… Oh, and Lana knows Clark's secret, cos it's easier that way. And they're just friends.

"That is incredibly impressive!" Chloe laughed aloud as Lana chucked another grape into Clark's mouth. The sun tickled her bare legs as she sat on the field watching the clouds trickle past, soaking up the warmth that occasionally graced Smallville with its presence.

"You're not just good for super saves then?" Lana asked, popping a grape into her own mouth. Clark rolled his eyes making Chloe giggle. This drew their attention to her, and she grinned.

"Don't look at me like that you two; you know I have no hidden talent such as…" Chloe thought for a second, "catching grapes in my mouth from a couple of metres away." Clark chuckled and Lana smiled, handing Chloe a stick of Kit-Kat.

"Come on Chloe, you must have a freaky talent, I mean, you're you!" Chloe glared at Lana, clutching her heart in mock agony.

"Lana Lang, are you implying that I'm a freak?" Lana laughed as Chloe playfully hit her arm. As people walked past they looked at the three friends with confused smiles. What an odd mix of people…

"Where's Oliver?" Clark asked Chloe, who was now eating her lunch like a regular person, "I thought he was done with stuff in Star City…" Chloe shook her head.

"He's coming home tomorrow, but he's been texting like crazy," Chloe grinned, "I think that it's something to do with my tendency of getting into trouble whenever he's not here…" Lana rolled her eyes.

"You get into trouble even when he's here!" Chloe groaned.

"Don't do a Clark, Lana. I'm perfectly safe in my own skin, I can protect myself," Chloe pulled her bag around in front of her and began rooting through it, "I have mace, a whistle, even a butter knife just in case." Both of her friends raised their eyebrows, and then all three burst into hysterical laughter.

"You are completely insane Chlo." Chloe turned to face the new voice and saw Oliver. She felt herself grin like an idiot as he sat beside her and wrap his arms around her in a tight hug, "I missed you."

"I missed you too!" She drew back, "what are you doing back so early?" She turned to face Clark, "did you have something to do with this?" Clark looked sheepish and Lana giggled nervously.

"You were moping Chloe and it had been two weeks since you had been completely happy, so I called Oliver yesterday and he obviously took the first plane back…" Chloe grinned and hugged Lana close. She had been moping. Two weeks after her accident, Oliver had to go back to Star City to sort out his future with the company. She had been the good supportive girlfriend, this kind of separation came with the relationship, and she let him go. He'd been promised a week to sort stuff out, and then he would be back in Smallville, and she thought she could deal with a week. But then he called her to say that the meetings had been made longer thanks to a disorganised chair and a useless guardian. She had hung up the phone, promising she didn't mind, and then burst into tears.

"You were moping?" Oliver looked surprised, "Chloe Sullivan, I swear you do not mope." Chloe smiled sheepishly.

"Not usually…" Only when you're not here, she added internally. She knew it was unfounded and stupid, but all the time he was in Star City, her self esteem had disappeared. On the first Saturday she had disappeared, she had opened the Daily Planet to find a massive two page spread on her boyfriend and some other girl. She had texted him, trying to be nonchalant about it…

"Why is there a picture of you in the Daily Planet? What have you done this time?"

"You saw that? Sh*t! That was a complete accident."

"Care to explain the newest heiress people are now calling your girlfriend?"

"She clung onto me like I was a life raft and she was drowning. Chlo, I know you miss me, but can you not second guess my faithfulness? I love you."

She had been completely and utterly sure he was telling the truth. But her father had spoken to her about it (Gabe wasn't completely oblivious to his daughter's personal life. He had even spoken to the 'lucky lad' and had been thoroughly impressed with his daughter's taste) and she couldn't help thinking that everyone was judging her. She had even overheard people talking…

"How can she be so oblivious?" Tammy, a preppy popular girl, asked her friends, "I mean, it's splashed all over the tabloids…" Chloe felt her stomach clench.

"I feel sorry for her," Gina, another preppy girl piped up, "I mean, her relationship is her business…" Tammy rolled her eyes.

"Oh come ON! She completely deserves this. As if Oliver Queen would like someone like her for more than a month." Chloe grimaced, trying to hold back the tears. Why were people so cruel? What was wrong with her anyway?

"What do you think she did to get his attention?" Jamie asked, giggling. Chloe couldn't take anymore. She ran to the girls' bathroom and sobbed.

"I'm glad you're back Ollie," Chloe leant into him, glad that finally she had someone to protect her. She had fought evil with Clark for a year now, often coming into danger that was over her human head, and she hadn't felt the fear and stress she had felt while Oliver was away ever. It made her feel vulnerable.

And she really didn't like it.