Chapter 03 — Candy
Zoey bites her lip as she focuses on the math book in front of her. She was sitting at the dining room table, trying to finish the last bit of homework. "What else," Martha mutters as she walks around the kitchen. "Oh, don't use the upstairs bathroom. It's backed up. I have to snake the pipes."
"Where's the leftover pizza," Clark asks, brushing past Martha and heading right to the fridge. He had headphones on and was blaring music was his walkman.
"Fridge, second shelf. You can nuke the chili for dinner." Martha looks between the two teenagers. "Some clue that one of you actually heard me."
"Don't use the upstairs bathroom," Zoey replies.
"Nuke chili for dinner," Clark adds.
"Glad to see everyone's hearing works," Martha replies.
"Clark," Jonathan shouts from outside. "Can I get a hand out here please?"
Clark runs out of the kitchen in a flash. Martha turns to Zoey, who was closing her math book. "Sweetheart, are you going to be okay this weekend," Martha asks.
Zoey shoots her godmother a smile and stands up. "I'll be fine, Aunt Martha. I promise." She searches through her backpack and pulls out a card. "Happy Anniversary."
Martha smiles and tightly embraces her goddaughter. "Thank you." She grabs her overnight bag and walks out of the house with Zoey in tow. They reach Jonathan and Clark as the latter sets the pickup down.
"I'm definitely raising your allowance," Jonathan tells his son.
"If you guys need anything—" Martha begins.
"Call," Clark interrupts. "Mom, it's a couple of nights in Metropolis. We'll be fine."
A look appears on Martha's face, indicating she wanted to argue. "I'm sure they'll be fine," Jonathan reassures. "And soon, madam, so shall we be."
"Oh, I almost forgot," Clark says, pulling out an envelope with grease stains on it. "Sorry. Happy anniversary."
Martha smiles, taking the card. "Sweetheart." She hugs Clark before climbing into the pickup.
"Thanks for the cards," Jonathan tells them. He tosses a rag to Clark, then slides behind the wheel.
Clark and Zoey watch as the pickup makes its way down the driveway before turning onto the two-lane highway. "So, how many people are you having over," Zoey questions.
"Who says I'm having anyone come over," Clark counters as they make their way back into the house. Zoey shoots him a disbelieving look. "Just a few people. Pete, Chloe, a few other people, maybe even Lana. Small gathering."
Zoey shakes her head. "As long as no one from your small gathering goes into my room."
Clark rolls his eyes. "No one is going into your room. Like I said, small gathering."
Clark's small gathering turned out to be a full-fledged party. Zoey had chosen to hide out in her room. She wasn't a fan of crowds and she wanted to ensure that no one entered her bedroom. It was her scared space. Clark may have had the loft in the barn, but she had her room. She also didn't want anyone from school to know that she did indeed sleep with the old teddy bear dressed up as Robin Hood that kept a permanent home on her bed.
"Hey," a twelve-year-old Oliver softly says, walking into the bright pink room. He hides the teddy bear behind him. A tiny six-year-old Zoey was sitting on the bed. The black dress she was wearing swallowed her. There was a tiny cut on her forehead. He sits down on the bed next to her. "How are you doing?"
Zoey shrugs. She hadn't spoken since the accident.
"Me too. Max says I'm going to Kansas too." Zoey looks up at him, hopeful. Oliver shakes his head. "Not with you, Zo. Boarding school outside of Metropolis. Excelsior. It's what my parents wanted if something happened to your…"
Zoey wipes away a tear. She opens her mouth. But then closes it.
Oliver pulls out the teddy bear and hands it to her. It was a small brown bear that his mother gave him. A bow was in one hand and a quiver was stitched to its back. The teddy bear had a green pointed hat with a red feather and a green shirt. "I want you to have this, Zo."
Zoey shakes her head. She pushes it away from her.
"Zo, I want you to have it. We'll still be in each other's lives. I promise."
Zoey reluctantly takes the teddy bear from him. She stares at it for a moment, then launches herself at Oliver. He wraps an arm around her back and tightly hugs her.
"I'll see if Max will let me tag along when he visits you."
Zoey nods. He feels tears on his neck. His hand rubs her back as her body shakes with sobs. There's a knock on the door and Oliver turns to see Max. "We need to go," Max softly tells him.
Oliver gently untangles Zoey from him and climbs off the bed. He watches Zoey tightly embrace the teddy bear as she climbs off the bed. Max stops her at the door and readjusts the black bow in her hair. "Max," Oliver begins. "When…when you visit Zoey, can I join you?"
Max looks at him. He doesn't miss the hopeful look on Zoey's face. "We'll see."
A loud boom knocks Zoey out of her thoughts. She looks out the window and lets out a frustrated breath seeing the fireworks going off. "Seriously," she mutters, climbing off her bed. She starts towards the door, intending to go talk to Clark. A beep comes from her laptop and she finds a message from Oliver. Zoey looks between the door and her laptop. She shakes her head and sits down at her desk.
'Max says you're not doing anything for your birthday.'
'Aunt Martha is making me a chocolate cake. And I'm going to see Legally Blonde at the second run theater with friends.'
'Well, I'll make sure to put your gift in the mail tomorrow so you get it on time.'
Zoey smiles. She had missed having Oliver in her life. His disappearance had been heartbreaking for her.
"Uncle Max," Zoey brightly greets, walking into the kitchen. She had been surprised to see the usual rental car, a red Porsche, sitting in the driveway. She tightly embraces him. "What are you doing here?"
"If you need anything, we'll be in the barn helping Jonathan," Martha tells them, motioning for Clark to follow her.
"It's about Oliver," Max softly begins.
Zoey frowns. "Is Ollie okay?"
"He's missing. His yacht got caught in a storm between islands in French Polynesia. They're searching for survivors, but, um, they're not hopeful."
Zoey blinks back tears. She had just seen Oliver a couple of months ago. He was fine. He was excited about his birthday trip: island hopping in the South Pacific. And now he was gone. "Oh."
Max pulls Zoey to his chest. He runs a hand over her back. "I'm sorry, Zoey," he whispers. "I know how close you and Oliver were."
"I'll be in my room," Zoey states, then makes her way up the stairs. Max starts to follow her, wanting to make sure she was okay. He stops when he hears the soft click of the door closing. Max sighs and walks out of the house to the barn.
"How is she doing," Martha questions.
"Well, she's still talking," Max answers. "Other than that I don't know. I don't think she'll stop talking or anything like before. I'm gonna head back to Star City. Let me know if you guys need anything. I'll check up on Zoey in a few days."
Zoey yawns as she makes her way down the stairs. She stops, seeing the trashed house. Random cups and food were scattered around. She looks up to find Clark standing in the doorway. "Your party, your mess," she states, pushing trash out of the way.
"You're not going to help," Clark disbelievingly asks.
"No!"
Clark rolls his eyes, clearly annoyed at the fact that Zoey was refusing to help. It only takes him a few minutes to clean the house using his super speed. He sits down and grabs an apple out of the basket. Zoey, who had taken a seat at the island, reaches for an orange. Clark pulls the basket out of her grasp. "You didn't help, so you don't get one."
Zoey reaches for it once more, but Clark holds the basket above his head. "Give me the orange, Clark."
"Nope."
"Give me the orange, asshole!"
"Zoey," a stern voice exclaims.
Zoey freezes and Clark pales. They turn to see Jonathan and Martha standing in the doorway. "Sorry," Zoey tells Clark.
"You're home early," Clark greets, handing Zoey her desired orange.
"We called six times last night and spoke with six different people, none of whom knew who either of you were," Martha sternly tells them.
"It was supposed to be an intimate occasion," Clark weakly defends.
"Where have you two been," Jonathan questions.
"The hospital," Clark answers.
"I was in my room. I had my headphones on," Zoey adds.
"That's it," Martha mutters. "I'm never leaving home again."
"Who got hurt," Jonathan asks.
"Nobody. But I found Earl Jenkins hiding in the loft. He was looking for you, Dad. He's all messed up," Clark explains.
"What's the matter with Earl?"
"I don't know, but he's wanted for murder."
"Earl? What did he have to say for himself?"
"I couldn't get close."
"How come? The police?"
"No. Because when I got near him, I got sick. It was weird. I mean, every time I stood next to him, it got worse. It's kind of like…"
"Like what," Martha asks.
"It's kind of like the way I feel around meteor fragments."
Zoey brushes her hair behind her ear as she stands at the back of the crowd. Why the FBLA teacher thought a field trip to the LuthorCorp plant was a good idea, she'd never know. "Hello, everybody," the tour guide brightly greets. "I'm Gabe Sullivan, plant manager, and proud father. Hi, sweetheart."
"Hi, Dad," Chloe awkwardly replies before ducking behind Clark.
"Welcome to LuthorCorp, where we give a crap."
"Okay, somebody kill me now."
"A little fertilizer humor there. All right, before we go inside, I need you to remove all your cell phones, pagers, and jewelry. Anything that jangles, dangles, or rings needs to go in these plastic trays right here," Mr. Sullivan tells the students, motioning to the table filled with bins. "All right, any other questions?" Clark raises his hand. "Yes?"
"I heard there was a third level to the plant," Clark begins. "Is that true?"
"Yeah, yeah. That's where we do the alien autopsies," Mr. Sullivan replies. The group laughs. "I think we better get started."
"Don't encourage him," Chloe whispers to Clark.
"This way, everybody," Mr. Sullivan loudly says. "All right, people, let's stay together."
For most of the tour, Zoey tunes everything out. She wasn't interested in the day-to-day running of a fertilizer factory. In fact, she had zero desire to even be in FBLA. Zoey had ambitions to go to law school. Except Max had convinced her to do it; that it would look good on her college applications. The group walks into what appears to be a control room.
"This is it," Mr. Sullivan states, motioning to the room around them. "The plant's mission control. One hundred thousand tons of animal waste is processed here every year. Trust me, the results can be pretty explosive. So, if any of you had beans for lunch, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave."
"Among his peers, he's considered witty," Chloe mutters to Zoey.
"Could be worse," Zoey quietly tells her. Chloe shoots her a disbelieving look. "No one could be laughing at his jokes. Hey, where's Clark?"
A door in the corner of the room suddenly starts rattling. "What the heck," Mr. Sullivan exclaims. "Excuse me." Mr. Sullivan walks over to the door. The door suddenly bursts open and a man that Zoey vaguely recognized as Earl Jenkins walks into the room with a gun.
Earl holds the gun up to Mr. Sullivan's head. "Don't move," he orders. Mr. Sullivan holds up his hand. "Take me to level three. Now!"
"I don't know anything."
"Bullshit! Take me there now! Everyone sit down!"
The teenagers all sit down on the floor. "I swear, I don't know anything about level three," Mr. Sullivan repeats.
"You're lying."
"He's not lying," Clark exclaims, rushing into the control room. He holds up a set of rolled papers. "I found these blueprints. There is no level three."
Earl takes the blueprints from Clark and rolls them flat on the table. "Every night, I go down to level two. I follow the red pipes down that long hallway, I go to the door, I open it, and I take the elevator down to level three. You're just like everybody else, Clark. Now you get over there and you sit down!"
Clark sits down next to Zoey, who happened to be sitting next to Lana and Whitney. "Are you okay," she quietly asks.
"I should be asking you that," Clark whispers back. Zoey shoots him a small smile and lets out a breath.
Zoey looks up from staring at the carpet fibers when the phone in the control room rings. The room had been filled with a nervous energy. Mr. Sullivan picks up the phone and answers. He holds it out to Earl. "Lionel Luthor," he states.
"Speaker," Earl orders. Mr. Sullivan puts the phone on the table and hits the speaker button. "Mr. Luthor, I've finally got your attention, haven't I?"
"Earl, why don't you come out," comes the smooth voice of Lionel Luthor. "We've got a lot to talk about."
"Just tell me what you were using down on level three."
"You're sick, Earl. Let everyone go. We'll get you help."
Earl starts uncontrollably shaking. He grabs one of the pipes. "Earl," Clark says, standing up.
Earl breaks off the valve and throws it at Clark. He looks at the security camera in the corner. "See what you made me do? See what you made do? Your methane gas valve just broke. The whole place is gonna go up."
"We need to do something," Whitney whispers to Lana, Clark, and Zoey.
"Yeah, that's a no from me," Zoey mutters.
"That man's nuts. He's not listening to the cops and that methane gas is gonna blow."
"Whitney, I don't want you to get hurt," Lana quietly tells him.
"I'm not putting my life in that man's hands. Two of us can take him. How about it, Clark?"
"I can't," Clark replies.
"It's okay," Lana reassures. Whitney stands up. "Whitney."
"Luthor, I trusted you. You told me you were trying to help people," Early angrily says to the camera. He turns and notices Whitney is advancing toward him. "Hey, what are you doing?"
Earl swings his arm, knocking Whitney to the ground. "Whitney," Lana exclaims.
"It's all your fault, Luthor," Earl snaps, grabbing the gun off the table. He aims it at the camera and shoots it. The camera shatters with part of it falling to the ground.
A silence settles over the room. Everyone was on pins and needles. Waiting to see what Earl would do next. The door to the room opens and Zoey turns to see Lex entering the room, wearing a bulletproof vest.
"What kind of man sends his own kid to do his dirty work," Earl sneers.
"I'm not doing anybody's dirty work, Earl. This is my plant," Lex corrects, holding his hands up. He looks at Lana, who was kneeling next to Whitney. "How is he?"
"He needs a doctor," Lana explains.
Lex turns back to Earl. "What are we gonna do about these kids, Earl?"
"I never meant to hurt anybody," Earl defends. "I tried talking to your father, but he wouldn't listen to me."
"I know the feeling." Zoey's eyes widen when Lex takes off the bulletproof vest. "Earl, you say that everybody's been lying to you. I'm gonna tell you the truth. My father doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about anybody in this room. Because if we all die, his P.R. firm will spin, his insurance company will pay out, and you, Earl, will go down as the bad guy."
"I'm not the bad guy. I'm just trying to get better."
"How are you gonna get better by killing a bunch of kids? If you let everybody go, I'll take you to level three."
Earl aims the gun at Lex. "You stop lying."
"Let them go, and I'll show you where it is. Earl, trust me. I'm a man of my word."
"Get out," Earl tells the group. "Get out. Get out! Everybody, get out!"
Zoey runs out of the room with the other students. She didn't need to be told twice. She easily spots Martha and Jonathan in the crowd of parents. "Zoey, are you okay," Jonathan questions, tightly embracing Zoey.
"I'm fine," Zoey softly tells them. She doesn't miss the cameras and turns to where they don't catch her face.
Martha and Jonathan turn back to see the last of the students running out of the building. Clark wasn't with them. "Pete," Martha calls out. "Where's Clark?"
"He's back inside, Mrs. Kent," Pete answers. "I tried to stop him. I'm sorry. I-I'm sorry."
Martha turns to Lionel. "You have to open the doors."
"They're safety locked and can't be opened until the gas levels have gone down," Lionel tells them.
"My son is still in there."
"So is mine."
Zoey bites her lip as she slowly enters the hospital room. It had been nearly three years since she had seen Oliver. She didn't know what to expect. She wondered if he remembered her or even cared about her.
Oliver was lying in the hospital bed. The sheet had settled around his waist. There were various tubes and wires hooked up to her childhood friend. There were scars over his very tanned body. "Hi," Zoey quietly greets. Her grip on the plastic container of homemade chocolate chip cookies tightens. She had called Martha and gotten the recipe.
Oliver smiles. "You know, Zo, I'm not going to bite."
Zoey lets out a relieved breath and makes her way across the room. She sets the container on the nightstand and climbs on the bed to tightly embrace him. Zoey buries her face in his neck. She doesn't stop the tears from flowing. "You're not allowed to go on a boat ever again. Promise?"
Oliver chuckles. He runs a hand up and down her back. He doesn't miss the vanilla from her shampoo. "Promise."
"I missed you."
"I missed you too, Zo." Oliver rests a cheek against the top of her head. "Quick question. When did you start wearing glasses?"
"Last year," Zoey softly answers. "Turns out, reading by flashlight under the covers leads to shitty eyesight."
"And what exactly were you reading under the covers?"
"The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood," Zoey confesses. Olivers snorts. He leans back in the bed and pulls Zoey with him, keeping her close. She shifts, dropping an arm over his chest. "Sometimes I wish I had a Robin Hood."
"I never thought of you as the damsel in distress."
"Not like that, Ollie. But someone…someone who I can fight against the injustices of the world with." Zoey shakes her head. "It's silly, I know. I'll never have anything like that."
Zoey lets out a yawn as she pulls back the covers on her bed. She was more than ready to crawl into bed and just relax. The situation at the LuthorCorp plant had ended with Clark and Lex walking out of the plant. Clark had managed to save the day once more. There's a light buzzing and Zoey walks over to her desk to find the emergency cell phone Max given her was making the noise. She didn't recognize the number.
"Hello," Zoey cautiously answers.
"Zo, are you okay," Oliver questions. "I saw the news."
Zoey smiles, sitting down on her bed. "I'm fine, Ollie. I promise."
"Why were you at the LuthorCorp plant in the first place?"
"School field trip. Uncle Max said I needed to add some extracurriculars to my resume and that I needed to join the Future Business Leaders of America club…because I'm going be a future business leader," Zoey explains, laying back on her bed. She can't keep the smile off of her face.
So baby, come to me, baby, show me who you are, yeah
Sweet to me like sugar to my heart, ooh baby
I'm craving for you
I'm missing you like candy