Chapter 10 — Reflection

"Nothing says school spirit like a ring that looks like it was jacked from P. Diddy," Chloe loudly declares in the hallway, holding up her hand where the newly purchased Smallville class ring now sat.

"I think it looks great, Chloe," Clark tells his friend. Zoey glances at him. She remembered what Uncle Jonathan had told them regarding ordering class rings.

"Yeah, I think we'll be lucky if the glue holds through graduation," Chloe counters. "I wonder if the ruby's even real." She threads an arm through Zoey's and drags the quiet blonde down the hallway with her. "What do you think, Zoey? Real or fake?"

"Fake," Zoey answers with a smile. For the first time in her life, she felt like she had friends. She felt like she had people she could confide in. She was relieved that Clark had told Pete his secret; it felt as if a weight had been lifted from her.

"When are you picking up yours?"

"I'm not getting one," Zoey confesses. Chloe shoots her a questioning look. "I'm not really a jewelry person."

"Well, you are missing out on the tacky remembrance of high school."

"I think I'll be okay. If you think it's tacky then why did you get one?"

"Because I need to have my high school souvenir, Zoey," Chloe amusedly tells her, walking into the Torch. Chloe sets her bag on the desk and sits down at her computer. She pauses before remembering. She digs through her bag and pulls out a copy of the newest edition of the Smallville Ledger. On the front page was a picture of Zoey standing out of Smallville High School. Chloe hands the paper to Zoey. "I think you have a fan."

Zoey tenses as she reluctantly takes the paper. It wasn't hard to recognize when the picture was taken. It was from the first day of school when everyone was waiting outside due to the fire. "Hotel heiress attends Smallville High," she mutters, reading the headline. She lets out a sigh and drops the paper on the desk.

"Zoey, are you okay," Chloe asks, concerned.

"I'm fine," Zoey tells her, forcing a small smile. "Thank you for letting me know. I don't want to be late."

Zoey quickly makes her way out of the Torch. Her hand tightly grips the strap on her bag. She felt as if people were staring at her. She felt as if the walls were closing in on her. She needed space. She makes her way into the bathroom and an empty stall.

A buzzing on the nightstand wakes Zoey up. She reaches out and grabs her Blackberry. Seeing Max's name she frowns. "Hi, Uncle Max," she tiredly greets, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm curious as to what you got Bruce for his birthday from Discount Eddie's in Metropolis," Max teases.

Zoey sits up, clearly confused. She looks around her bedroom. Everything appeared to be in place. Not many people knew about the credit card Max had given her. Not even Jonathan and Martha knew about it. "Uncle Max—"

"Don't worry about it," Max tells her. "I was just curious. I'll have a driver pick up at the farm and take you to the airport in Metropolis. The jet will be waiting for you."

Zoey sighs. Bruce's birthday wasn't for another month. She had only just received the invitation in the mail the day before. "Okay."

"And for your big birthday, we're doing the party on New Year's Eve. I'll be in Smallville for your actual birthday. Any preference for a performer?"

"I'm sure whoever you pick will be fine," Zoey answers, flopping back down on her bed. She couldn't believe that Max was making such a big deal out of her sixteenth birthday.

"I'll take note of that if you complain in the future," Max amusedly replies. "I gotta go. We'll talk more later."

Zoey drops the Blackberry onto the bedside and stares at the ceiling. She lets out an annoyed breath and climbs out of bed. After pulling on a sweatshirt, she makes her way down the hallway to Clark's room only to find it empty. Growing more annoyed, Zoey quietly slips out of the house and makes her way to the barn. Loud music was coming from the loft. Clark was sitting in front of a new big-screen TV and playing a video game on an Xbox.

"Clark," Zoey snaps, glaring at him. "You need to take all of this stuff back. Now."

"No," Clark yells back, not looking at her.

"Clark, take it back!"

"No!"

"Clark," Martha yells, walking up the stairs with Jonathan. "Where did you get all this?"

Clark glances at his parents. "Discount Eddies in Metropolis. Open all night!"

Jonathan grabs a remote and turns off the TV. "Where did you get the money to buy all this junk?"

"He stole my credit card," Zoey angrily answers.

Martha turns to Zoey. "Why do you have a credit card?"

"Uncle Max gave it to me," Zoey explains.

"We're going talk about this later."

"Why does it matter," Clark argues. "Zoey's rich. And she's fucking Bruce Wayne, who is also rich. Why can't we take advantage of that? Why can't I have all the same cool stuff that everyone else has?"

"Because you stole my credit card," Zoey coldly says. "Take it all back. Now."

Clark rolls his eyes. "Why don't you stop being such a stuck-up bitch? You'd think getting laid would make you chill out a bit."

"Clark," Jonathan angrily warns.

"Fuck you," Zoey shouts at Clark.

"Zoey, leave," Jonathan coldly tells her. Zoey glares at Clark once more before storming down the stairs.

"Bruce must not be that good if you still have that stick up your ass," Clark taunts.

Zoey stops at the door and opens her mouth to reply. "Zoey, we will handle this," Martha sternly tells her. "Go get ready for school." Zoey snaps her mouth shut and walks out of the barn. She already knew that she was in enough trouble, she didn't want to make her future punishment worse.

"Okay, what is going on with Clark," Chloe asks, walking into the Torch and finding Zoey sitting at one of the computers. She places her messenger bag on her desk and walks over to Zoey. "And why are you in here before me?"

"I'm trying to find a birthday present for Bruce," Zoey answers. "And I have no idea what's going on with Clark other than he decided to turn into a giant asshole all of a sudden."

"Okay, you need to spill."

Zoey sighs. "Uncle Max gave me a credit card the summer before freshman year to use if I needed anything for school. I told Clark about it. But I never used it. But sometime last night, Clark stole my card and went on a shopping spree in Metropolis. Plus he decided to throw a dose of slut shaming in there too."

"Damn, Zoey. Sounds like you had a rough morning. Well, get this. Clark showed up on a motorcycle with the new girl, Jessie, and got into a fight with your godfather," Chile tells her. She grabs a chair and pulls it over to the desk. "But it gets way more interesting, Zoey."

Zoey frowns. "How so?"

"Our el cheap class rings are fake."

"Well, yeah. We all knew that."

Chloe smirks and grabs her messenger bag. She digs through it before pulling out a rock and tossing it to Zoey. "That is my expose."

Zoey looks over the rock. "What is it?"

"A meteor rock." Chloe holds the hand with her class ring on it. "The jewelry company was substituting worthless meteor rocks for rubies to save money."

Suddenly, everything starts to fall into place in Zoey's mind. She knew Clark had brought one of the class rings the day before. "Chloe, where did you find this red meteor rock?"

"Hobbes Pond. There's a whole bunch of them there. I'm going to write about it in my expose. I'm going to force the school to do a recall of the rings and get us ones with actual rubies in them."

Zoey holds up the red meteor rock. "Can I borrow this?"

Zoey walks into the farmhouse to find Jonathan holding a pack of frozen peas to his chest and Martha with a worried look on her face. Zoey pulls out the red meteor rock and sets it on the table. "The class rings are made with red meteor rock," she tells her godparents. "Chloe discovered it. She's writing a story on it hoping that it'll force the school to recall the rings and replace them with ones made with actual rubies."

Jonathan winces as he picks up the red meteor rock. "You think that's what's causing Clark's behavior?"

"He did buy a ring yesterday and he's been wearing that gaudy piece of crap since he brought it," Zoey adds.

"If the green meteor rocks affect Clark physically, maybe the red affects him…emotionally," Martha reasons.

"It would sure explain his personality changes," Jonathan replies.

"The longer he's exposed to the green meteors, the worse he gets. If the same is true with the red rocks, then God help us all."

"We've got to find him and we've got to get that ring back."

"Well, how are we going to do that? Like you said, if he doesn't want to do something, we're not strong enough to force him!"

"Sweetheart, I don't know, but we have to figure out a way."

Zoey shifts. "What if we used a green rock to make him weak enough to get the red one away?"

A thoughtful look appears on Jonathan's face. "That could work. We just have to find him first."

"Zoey," Lex greets, standing up from behind his desk and walking over to greet her as she walks into his office. "I was surprised when they told me you were here without the weekly produce order. I know we haven't had much of a chance to talk since the tornado."

Zoey wasn't going to deny it. She had been avoiding any unnecessary interaction with Lex. The only times she had gone to the mansion was to deliver the weekly produce order when Clark was unable to. "I've been busy," she lies, hoping that he believes her.

Lex moves closer to her. "You're a bad liar."

Zoey shifts. "You shot a man in the chest."

"I was protecting you, Zoey. Nixon would have killed you."

"I had nightmares all summer long."

Lex pauses. "Zoey, I'm sorry. I was just trying to protect you."

Zoey shakes her head. "It's fine. I'm looking for Clark. Have you seen him?"

"He came by earlier to borrow the Ferrari. He said he had a big date."

"Do you know where he was going?"

Lex sighs. "No. He didn't say where."

Zoey forces a smile. "Thanks." She turns to walk out of the office as Lionel enters. "Excuse me, Mr. Luthor," she says, moving around him.

"Son was that Miss Carmichael," Lionel questions. "If so, do not ruin your friendship with her."

Lex frowns. "Why?"

"Because that girl will be very powerful one day."

Clark knocks on the door frame of Zoey's bedroom. Zoey sits up from where she was lounging on her bed. Jonathan and Pete had managed to rescue Clark from the effects of the red meteor rock. Clark shifts as Zoey stares at him. "I'm sorry," he begins, stepping into her room. "For everything that I said and for stealing your credit card."

"Did you take all that stuff back," Zoey questions, standing up.

"I returned everything this morning."

"Thank you. I'm, um, I'm sorry for yelling at you."

Clark shakes his head. "Zoey, you have nothing to be sorry for. I picked the fight."

Zoey nods. A silence settles over them. She clears her throat. "You never met your birth parents, right?"

Clark frowns. "You know I didn't."

"I…I would give all the money away if it meant I could have one day with them. I would do anything to not have my last memory with them be the car accident or…" Zoey sighs. "You're lucky that you only know Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Martha. Better to know not something than to know it and not have it."

"I never thought about it that way," Clark replies. "I still would want to know about my birth parents."

"Well of course you would. You're ET," Zoey teases.

Clark rolls his eyes. He was glad that he and Zoey were okay. He knew that he had said some horrible things to her when he was wearing the class ring. "Don't leave Reese's Pieces on my bed again."

Zoey laughs. "No promises. Can you take me to Metropolis? I need to go to this bookstore and pick something up."

"Sure."

Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?