A/N: Umm… hi… remember me? I know, I know, I'm horrible! I'm the worst updater ever. My excuse: Life. I became a teacher in 2009 and ever since then things have been so hectic. So, yeah, anyways… sorry… I hope you'll enjoy this short chapter. I'm going to try to finish this story soon.

If you're still with me, thanks!

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville.

Chapter 29: Distractions:

Chloe looked up the many steps of Smallville's Public Library.

"This is your surprise?" Chloe asked unsurely.

She looked from the library to Pete, back to the library.

Pete laughed at her double take. "Yeah," he said simply. He began to climb the steps; he got half way up before he figured out that Chloe hadn't moved. "Come on, Chloe, there's something I want to show you."

Chloe stared at her friend uncertainly. What could he possibly want to show her at a library? How could the library be a surprise?

Pete hurried up the steps, hoping she'd follow; she did. When she made it to the top she found him holding the door for her, waiting.

"Come on, come on," he urged on.

She laughed, his enthusiasm catching. "Ok, ok, I'm coming."

She jogged the rest of the way up, finally catching up.

"Hey Pete," a pretty, dark haired girl greeted him as he walked by her, as she stacked books on a shelf.

Pete stopped in his tracks. "Hi Jenna," he replied, smiling. "How's it going?"

"Good," Jenna replied, blushing slightly.

"Good. Hey, is Mrs. Spencer here?" he asked her.

"Yeah, she's in the back," Jenna answered.

"Thanks, I'll see you in a bit," he offered.

Pete continued walking deeper and deeper into the library. Chloe followed him on his heels, completely confused.

"She's cute," Chloe observed.

Pete shrugged, shooting her an uncomfortable look. "Yeah, I guess."

Chloe was fed up with the lack of information. "Pete, stop," she said firmly.

He instantly stopped in his tracks. He turned around to face her, a completely innocent look on his face.

"Explain," she demanded.

Pete let out a sigh, shaking his head. "I forgot, you hate surprises…"

"I don't," Chloe argued.

"Not true…" Pete laughed. "You hate them, I know you do… don't deny it."

"Ok," Chloe laughed. "I hate surprises, so just tell me."

Pete took her hand and led Chloe further back. "I've been here all weekend getting some help from Mrs. Spencer, the librarian."

"Help with what?"

They were now in front of a door that probably led to a storage room. He pushed open the door and called, "Mrs. Spencer, are you back there?"

"Pete? Yeah, come on back," a woman's voice called back.

Chloe raised an eyebrow at her friend, before following him through the door. There was a bit of a corridor before they entered a room. The room was occupied with an elderly lady, librarian type, who, Chloe assumed, was Mrs. Spencer.

"Pete, hello," Mrs. Spencer greeted. "Is this your science partner?"

Pete nodded and Mrs. Spencer approached Chloe. "It's good to meet you Chloe, Pete's told me a lot about you."

"Uh…" Chloe said, taking the woman's hand. "It's nice to meet you, too."

"So," Mrs. Spencer said excitedly, addressing Pete, "Should I show Chloe what we came up with this weekend?"

"Definitely," Pete said enthusiastically.

"All right," the librarian said. "Chloe, dear, come stand over here."

Chloe, still unsure, did as told.

"Ok, now pull this sheet off," Mrs. Spencer asked of her.

For the first time, Chloe noticed the table in the room that had something bumpy on it covered by a beige sheet.

"Ok," she replied.

She grabbed the edge of the sheet and pulled it off. Underneath she got a very welcome surprise.

"No way!" Chloe exclaimed.

"Yep," Pete stated proudly.

Chloe's eyes widened as she stared at a huge model of the tectonic plates. They'd been talking about making one, they'd even started, but they'd gotten nowhere near this.

"Wow, Pete, Mrs. Spencer this is awesome!" Chloe congratulated.

"Flick this switch, Chloe," the woman urged.

Chloe took the switch and flipped it. She watched on as the two plates moved to hit each other.

"See, it's an earthquake," Pete said unnecessarily.

"You guys did this for our project?" Chloe said disbelievingly.

They nodded.

Chloe was overwhelmed by the gesture. While Chloe was having 'fun' in Metropolis, Pete was here doing their project for them.

Taking Pete by surprise, Chloe engulfed her friend in a big hug. Pete hugged her back after a moment's hesitation.

After a minute, Chloe pulled back. "Thanks Pete, Mrs. Spencer," Chloe said weakly. "But I'm not sure I feel comfortable putting my name on this."

"Why not?" Pete protested.

"Because… I didn't do anything," Chloe replied obviously.

Pete shook his head. "Not true, you did the report part. That was definitely something."

"I don't know…"

"Trust me Chloe, we're going to do awesome!"

Chloe stared straight ahead as she walked home that afternoon. There was a faint smile on her face. She was happy she'd let Pete drag her out early that morning. Seeing her high school science project was another shot of normalcy that she needed at the moment. It seemed to remind her that she was young, and there were important young people things out there for her.

"Admit it," Pete gloated from her side. "You liked your surprise."

She smiled at him. "Of course I liked it."

"Good," Pete said, grinning at her.

They went silent again. The silence was only broken when Pete blurted out, "So… feel better?" Concern was prominent in his voice.

She gave it a moment's thought. Yes, she was still sad and angry, but it wasn't all consuming like before.

"Yeah," she said truthfully.

"I'm glad," he added. "Chloe, Lex—"

Whoa! Where did Lex's name come from?

"Pete, I don't want to talk about him right now," she said cutting him off.

He held up a hand urging her to wait. "Here me out, first, ok?"

Pete knew her; he wouldn't aggravate her further if she didn't really have something important to say. She nodded reluctantly for him to go on.

"You know, I'm not Lex's biggest fan—"

She let out an unfeminine snort; understatement of the century. Pete shot her a look and she quieted down.

"I'm not, but… I see where he's coming from and I honestly think that his backing off isn't about him not caring about you. I think it's about him caring about you too much."

"Pete—" Chloe began uncomfortably.

"He's trying to protect you. You're still in high school, Chloe, you are young. And maybe he's just worried that he's tying you down before you've done so many things."

Chloe's mouth dropped open. This was the last thing she ever thought would come out of her friend's mouth, a defense of Lex.

"Maybe you should talk to him?" Pete suggested. "Give him another chance to explain…"

Ok, was she hearing right?

"Don't get me wrong, I'm still not his biggest fan. But you like him," he continued, "That has to say something about the guy."

"Yeah?" she said unsurely.

"So, what are you going to do?" Pete asked.

Chloe had no idea.

Well that's it for this chapter. I think a couple more and then we'll be done. I hope you enjoyed. Comments would be much appreciated!

Thanks to everyone who's reading and reviewing: g-love78 and Kit Merlot.

Also if you're interested in reading stories about the show Criminal Minds, I have written quite a few under my other penname: Flames101. Check them out if you'd like.