Hey all!I've decided to post my fic here at N-S.net from the very begining. It may not be done all at once because I'm making changes and fixing things I dislike about the FanFiction.Net version. Not many major changes but....I'm SO obsessive about my stuff. Its kinda embarrassing.
Also...Ch 25 is on the way. Zoe (for those of you who are new to me and my work may not know about Zoe, she's my pink with green polka-dots skinned muse and everything written is HER fault) is being difficult *grumbles* But the newest chapter will be along soon.
Also, remember this was written before we knew Chloe's mom left and didn't die.
Disclaimer:I own nothing but the original characters not already dreamed up by DC, or Joss Whedon (passing references mostly) or Kevin Smith or Dante or whoever.
Chapter 1 - Welcome to Hampton, Miss Sullivan
"You ever wonder if what we do matters? Like, the little things, opening a door for an old lady or giving someone a hug when they've had a bad day? I mean on the grand scale. Because sometimes it’s kind of hard to believe. You know?" Chloe asked as she and Clark walked towards the Kent farm from the Talon. The summer sun was setting and the road was deserted.
"Of course it matters. And wasn't there like an Outer Limits on this? You've been watching those Twilight Zone chain reaction things on Sci-Fi Channel, haven't you?" Clark asked, looking down at her.
"No. Why do you assume that because I have a major theological question, I had to have been watching a 50's TV show?" she asked, poking him in the ribs and pushing him into the street.
"Well, why the sudden concern with the 'ripple in the pond' effect?"
"Just one of those everyday 'we are small and insignificant' epiphanies," Chloe said, kicking at a leaf that blew in front of her. It had just sorta come to her during an episode of Buffy, completely ruining the fantasy effect of the show, and distracting her from Spike with no shirt on. And anything that took her attention away from James Marsters was a bad thing.
"Don't you just hate those?"
"They do get annoying after awhile. But that's the great thing about having a best friend: you can share your revelations with them, and they don't weigh you down."
"So are you feeling worthless, Chloe Sullivan?" Clark asked seriously.
"Kinda. Like, if I disappeared people would notice, but it wouldn't make that much of an impact on the rest of the world," Chloe said, a little sadly. She didn’t mention that the little “what’s the point” epiphany had been bothering her more now that she felt like the third wheel of the Lana-Clark mobile.
"Don't say that Sullivan. You change the world with every step you take and every word you say." Clark said shooting her a million watt smile.
Chloe smiled back, relieved that that smile had finally stopped giving her butterflies. He had left her for Lana during that tornado a couple weeks ago and she had decided to get it all out there. Told him everything she had been keeping inside since middle school. And in the end, they had been able to joke about it. Chloe still wished there had been more she but was grateful she hadn't lost or damaged what they had.
"It just doesn't feel like it you know?"
"Yeah, but just know that you make a difference to a lot of people in this town."
Chloe nodded absently and looked at the yellow broken line in the street or at something near the line. There was something out there, a watch it looked like. It had probably been run over and crushed but for some reason, Chloe felt compelled to go pick it up.
She looked both ways and walked to the middle of the road, set down her bag and kneeled down to pick up the timepiece. It looked relatively new and seemed to be working. She knelt there looking at the watch, transfixed by it for some reason.
Chloe barely heard Clark shouting at her. She barely looked up in time to see the bright lights of a eighteen wheeler. She barely felt the impact as the truck slammed into her small body. And she barely noticed when the world faded away.
~*~*~
It got bright very fast; too fast for Chloe eyes to handle. And she was lying on something hard, and there was wet stuff above eye.
"Are you all right, dear?"
"Huh?"
"You were hit by that car. It just sped up and slammed into you. I'm surprised you're even alive, let alone conscious," an older woman said. She was in her late forties, with pale blonde hair tucked into a neat, tight bun. Her face was wrinkled with sun and age, and wire frame glasses sat perched on the bridge of her nose. Her brow creased with worry as she reached a hand down to help her up.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Ms. Veronica Trendle. I'm the assistant principal at Hampton Preparatory Boarding School," Ms. Trendle said, handing Chloe her bag.
"I got hit in the head, right? So I could have died?" Chloe asked as her knees wobbled a little.
"Yes, dear. But aside from a that little cut above your eye, you're fine," the woman said gently, putting an arm around her to hold her up.
"Ok, just checking to see if I really had been thrown to the pavement." She paused, "On your property?"
"On the school's property."
"I'm at a school? God, I've died and gone to hell," Chloe muttered.
"I promise you dear, you aren't dead," Veronica said reassuringly.
"You know I could sue this place. You know that, right?" She wasn't in Kansas anymore. There were trees that didn't grow in the Midwest, that were there and in full bloom. She guessed from the temperature and the plants she was in New England; New Jersey or something like that. And if she was stranded miles from home, she would need any extra leverage she could get.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't," Ms. Trendle said calmly. She really didn't want to deal with another lawsuit aimed at the school; not so soon after the last one the Luthor boy and his little "friends" had caused.
"I'll think about it," Chloe said seriously.
"Come inside, dear. We'll contact your parents," Ms. Trendle said, leading her inside a large, three story brick building.
It was your average school, and the vice principal had an average office. But if Chloe really was dead, she hoped this wasn't where she was going to spend the rest of eternity in high school.
"What is your name, and where you do live?" the assistant principal asked as she sat behind her desk. Chloe was crouched on the ground looking through her bag. Her laptop, Advil, CD case and player, and wallet were still there and intact, and the watch she had picked up had somehow gotten in her bag. She shrugged as she slipped it on her wrist.
"Chloe Sullivan from Smallville, Kansas."
"What are you doing in Boston, Chloe?"
"I have no idea. I don't even know what the date is," Chloe said, fiddling with the watch as she spoke. It was digital and the year was stuck on '97. She was usually good with machines but she couldn't fix it.
"It's Saturday, September 4th, 1997. Now, dear, what are you doing so far from home?"
"1997! Are you shitting me? How the fuck did that happen!" Chloe shrieked. It was 2002 not 1997! She was in a coma; that was all there was to it. She was hooked up to a respirator in a hospital in Smallville with her friends and father gathered around her bed. And she was off in a la-la land delusion of five years ago in Boston, Massa-fuckin-chusetts. That's what it had to be. It was the only thing that made sense.
"Ms. Sullivan, I know you've been through a trauma, but this is a school and you are not to use such language," Ms. Trendle said sharply. "Now, I'll ask you again, what are you doing in Boston?"
"I ran away from home. I was walking around the city and I decided to check out your campus."
"Then I must contact your parents," Ms. Trendle said.
"NO!" Chloe exclaimed, her head jerking. If she was in a coma, it would be pointless to call her dad, and if she really WAS in 1997, then her father would be in Smallville taking care of an eleven year old Chloe and his dying wife Meredith. She had to think of something. Her eyes shot to the school crest. That was it.
"Wait, this is a boarding school, right? How about, you let me attend school here, live in the dorms, and I won't sue the school for the accident. Then I don't have to go home, and you're helping a young person get an education," Chloe said quickly. “Isn’t that what schools are supposed to do?”
"I suppose that could be arranged. But you'll have to contact your parent and let him know where you are," Ms. Trendle said, nodding slightly. She was the head of the admission's board. She could make it work. Besides, what with Mr. Luthor's recent donations to cover up his son's latest destructive escapade left more than enough for this girl's admission.
"We'll need your past transcripts by next Monday. And you'll have to get the uniform requirements from the main office. But we shouldn't have any trouble getting you assimilated since its still the beginning of the term," Veronica said, as she scribbled.
"You sound like the Borg. And I can get you the transcripts. Don't worry. I'll have to send them to you via email though. Is that all right?" Chloe asked, looking nervous. Things were a little too real for her to be in a coma. And if she was really five years in the past, she would have to do some serious hacking.
"Of course, that will be fine. Your class options will be sent to your dorm room later tonight. You're in- " She leaned over to the bottom of the desk and pulled out a large black binder and flipped through it. "-Winchester Hall. Room F15. You have one roommate, a Miss Wendy Miller. Also, you might want to bring your luggage relatively soon," she said, pulling a key out of a pocket in the binder and handing it to Chloe. "It's the fifth building in the south cluster of dorms. And this," Veronica said, pulling a booklet out of a desk drawer, "is the code of conduct. The basic rules: no drinking, no smoking, and no drugs. No sex. NO going over to the boys’ dormitory with out permission and check in when you get there. The others are rather minor."
"There's a boy's dorm? I thought since it since it was a boarding school.."
Ms. Trendle rolled her eyes at the other blonde, "That it wasn't co-ed? I'm pleased to say we have eh…a few outstanding male students," she said, her voice dropping.
"Only a few?" Chloe asked interestedly. If she was going to get stuck in the past at least there would be some bad boys around for entertainment. Bad boys may not have really been her type but they were more interesting to watch than the scholarly people.
"Er...yes. Ms. Sullivan, you should be heading to your dorm. You want to be getting settled in, don't you?"
"I um..."
"Of course you do. See the school nurse, third door to the right towards the exit on your way out and then go to your dorm. Wendy will help you get settled and take you to the common room to meet some of the other students. Now shoo." Ms. Trendle said, utilizing the skills that made her a vice principal. Chloe nodded, grabbed her bag and hurried out of the office.
~*~*~
Winchester Hall was an ancient brick building. It had been built nearly a hundred years ago, and was older than the school itself. It was six stories tall and only recently had been equipped with central air and heating. She, of course, had a room on the top floor. The trip to the school laundry, the walk across the grounds of school, to the girls dorm cluster, the search for her building, and the trek up the stairs had given her time to digest what was going on.
The cut above her eye was reallystinging and reallybleeding. Her head was reallythrobbing and she was reallystarting to smell from the sweat of the day. And Chloe was seriously starting to accept the fact that she reallywas in 1997. She'd seen enough crazy things in Smallville to make her believe just about anything. She'd seen mind-altering flowers, bug people, boys who could fly, why should being five years in the past really be that inconceivable?
She was going to have to work some major computer mojo to fake her transcripts, but she was up to it. And clothes, she didn't know how she was going handle that one, seeing as she had no money, at all.
Chloe walked slowly down the carpeted hallway of the sixth floor. There were doors on both sides of the wall and a community bathroom exactly in the middle of hall. Her room was past that practically at the end of the hall.
Chloe knocked on the door before slowly opening it. It was pulled out of her hand and jerked open from a force on the other side.
"Hi, you must be Zoë. Nice to meet you. I'm Wendy," the girl on the other side of the doorway said before pulling her in.
"It's Chloe actually," Chloe said
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! But I get the worst static on phone calls from the main office. I could have sworn that Trendle said your name was Zoë. Oh, well. Come on. You need to get used to the cell, I mean the room. Be glad we're not like some of the other girls on this floor who have three to a room," Wendy said, grinning.
It was average size for a dorm room with plenty of space for two people, but Chloe couldn't imagine cramming three teenage girls into a room this size. There was nothing distinguishing about the room itself. There were two small desks, two twin beds, a few large windows that overlooked the grounds, two bedside tables, a few lamps, and a closet.
However, Wendy had books of every genre piled haphazardly around the room. Clothing hung off the window frame and lamps and her computer, textbooks and supplies were coving the small desk and stereo surrounded by a mass of CDs some how gave the room personality.
Chloe sat down on the bed and took a minute to study Wendy. She was probably a couple of inches short of five and a half feet tall and of average build. Her hair was dark brown, thick and very curly. She had black plastic glasses that for some reason worked on her face. Behind the lenses, her eyes were bright blue and intelligent. Her nose was prominent and her mouth was large and smiling. The over all look was quirky and friendly.
"So how'd you manage to worm your way into Hampton in less than a day? Your folks rolling in it?" Wendy asked, plopping down.
"No, I just got hit by a car in front of the school," Chloe said wryly.
Wendy blinked at her "What?"
"I was walking and *BAM* I'm making friendly with the asphalt. Ms. Trendle helped me up and, to avoid a lawsuit, said I could stay here and attend school," Chloe explained, leaving out the whole future bit. She may have been a believer of the supernatural but she didn't think her roommate would buy it.
"And your parents don't care?"
"Its just my dad, and no, he doesn't. Besides, this is a good school, right?"
"The teachers try. But Lex and his so-called friends make it very difficult for them," Wendy said smiling a little.
"Lex? Lex Luthor? He goes to this school?" Chloe asked, shocked. Her father's boss was here. Only he wouldn't be here father's boss in this time. He'd just be another teenager. A rebellious, influential teenager from what she'd heard. But still, just a fellow adolescent.
"Yeah. He makes a point of making the administrators miserable. It's pretty funny most of the time. Lex can be a nice guy, he just rarely lets that guy out," Wendy answered, moving her nose and making her glasses bob up and down. "So where are your clothes, luggage that kind of stuff?" she asked, glancing at Chloe's backpack.
"I…um…I don't have any. All I have are the clothes on my back, and my bag. I kinda… ran away from home," Chloe said. She really wasn't comfortable telling her new friend an outright lie.
"Oh."
"It's no big deal. I just don't know what I'm going do about clothes and supplies or you know, everything," Chloe muttered.
"I could ask Lex to spot me the cash and we could head into town this weekend. I'd lend you the money myself but while Lex's resources are unlimited, I get about a hundred bucks a month spending money, which isn't enough to buy much of anything," Wendy said, rolling her eyes. "My parents are all about brining me up normal. You know, not letting the money go to my head. Which I understand, but sometimes it can be SUCH a drag, especially in this crowd."
"What makes you think Lex freaking Luthor would do anything for me?" Chloe asked.
"Cause he and I are like this," Wendy answered, crossing her fingers. "He and I dated a little in freshman year; it really didn't work out between us, but we stayed close. I'm one of the few people in the school, ok I'm like the only person in the school who doesn't care he practically oozes money. I try to be there for him but that boy is just lonely," she said, staring off into space.
"And he won't mind?"
"No. I seriously doubt he'd miss it if there were a couple million dollars missing from his bank account let alone a few hundred lent to a good cause. Don't worry about it. It'll be fine. And I think you'll like him."
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