1.04 - X-Ray

Chloe is working in the Torch* when she notices the power doesn't work, there is no one in the halls, and the only other person she can find has been turned into a plastic mannequin.  She's stuck inside a model of the Smallville High building, on the last day of class with no idea how she got there.  Eventually she runs into two other students who inform her that they're being watched.  Brendan, a photographer at SHS, comes out and reveals that he's controlling it all.  "Some of us didn't get into our dream colleges like you," he snipes at her, trying to convince her to stay 'in high school' with him so she won't be disappointed.  Brendan shows her that he turns the people into mannequins with the clear threat that if she tries to escape, she'll be one too.

Chloe opens up walking out of history yet again (as mentioned in Red and Lineage) talking about how "thinking you know the truth about someone only to find out that it may be a total lie."  She admits that Betsy Ross used to be a role model for taking a major role in shaping this country, but in first grade that feel apart when she learned she was just a "glorified seamstress."

When Whitney shows up, she confronts Lana about Lana's wardrobe crisis; Lana admits her feelings for Whitney came rushing back (similar to what Chloe noted about Clark to Lana in Heat).  Chloe claims that Lana might be falling for a "man in uniform" and Lana remarks that Whitney doesn't have "deep dark secrets."

Clark approaches Pete and Chloe later that week with his theory that Whitney is really Tina Greer; Chloe negates it by pointing out that she's running the story of Tina Greer's suicide on page two.  Clark asks if anyone checked the dental records, and it turns out Tina went homicidal on a fellow inmate to get out.

The student president race is underway, and Chloe has to choose who to write about for the Torch out of the three choices Paul, Sasha, and Felice. Chloe tells them that she's going to run bios and photos of everyone (so there is no bias) and she's asked about who she's going to endorse in the editorial.

However, that is eclipsed when Paul is stung by hundreds of bees. By the next day or so, she's already been in contact with the Center for Environmental Protection Chloe is still pulling for Paul as she discusses politics with Pete -- who has just put Clark in the running. Clark doesn't seem to happy about this; Chloe notes - "Pete Ross, the king maker"* Later, Clark is still lamenting to Chloe about being in the election. She notes that some people are born to greatness, "others are dragged into it kicking and screaming." When they see how tightly wound Sasha is, Clark's mindset seems to shift. Chloe tells him that he has a shot at winning, "right after [she's] elected head cheerleader."

Chloe is apparently still fixing up the Torch as she is shown working not at a regular iMac, but a laptop. Lana Lang tells Chloe that she admires her for saying what she wants to say and asks for a favor -- to find her mother's graduation speech. It does appear that Chloe (or the school, perhaps) is good about keeping duplicates as there is a file cabinet full of back issues of the Torch. However, since the speech was never transcribed, Chloe decides to continue hunting it down.

When Clark goes to investigate Tina, first he calls Chloe who is "busy" with something else (presumably, finding Laura Potter's graduation speech). Pete claims that it's Chloe's job to cover the "tales of the unexplained" and that Chloe telling Clark she is busy is like "being turned down by the National Inquirer."

Chloe meets up with Clark after the incident with Tina; Clark thinks she's there to check up on him but Chloe claims that she was "there to see somebody else." She searches down and finds a tape of Laura Lang's graduation speech for Lana, a girl she barely knows and mocked last episode multiple times. She tells the former cheerleader "if I told you, I'd have to kill you" when Lana asked her how she found the tape.