The Wheels on the Bus

Rating: PG/K+

Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Friendship

Summary: For the hc_bingo challenge, prompt "Motion Sickness". Set during Season 1. Chloe's day goes downhill remarkably fast; thankfully, Clark and Pete are there to help her out.

Author's Note: …I think this is the first non-Tess or Conner-related thing I've written for the Smallville fandom. Go me!

Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville. It belongs to Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and the CW.

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Chloe did not want this field trip.

It was a part of her biology grade, though, and that had been slipping lately due to some late nights at the Torch. Eventually she knew she would have to make Clark pay for skipping out on so many projects she'd needed him for, but for now even contemplation of revenge was too much.

Not too long after the bus had set off on its two-hour journey to Metropolis, Chloe had begun to feel a bit off. Not 'Ugh, I'm so not in the mood for this' off, but 'Ugh, I think I should stop eating fast-food for a while' off. Motion sickness was not normally a problem for her, but today it seemed that the world just wanted to take a crap on her.

Normally when Chloe was tired or bored or just generally burned out, there was comfort in retreating into daydreams: Contemplating stories for the Wall of Weird, testing out story ideas for the Torch, wondering if fifteen year-old girls were meant to enjoy 'Grim and Evil' as much as she did… Today, however, it seemed that that wasn't going to happen, because every time she tried to slip into that the-lights-are-on-but-no-one's-home state, her stomach started turning in a way that heralded trouble.

Clark and Pete were chatting beside her; Chloe had the window-seat, Clark in the middle and Pete on the aisle. Chloe pressed her forehead against the glass and watched the trees and fields go by, and tried to pretend like that feeling in her stomach wasn't getting worse with every slight jolt of the bus. She shut her eyes.

This is not happening. I am not sick. You never get sick at school, elementary or high school, because you will always be remembered as the kid who threw up. The bus hit a bump, and she grimaced. No, no, no, no. Not getting sick. Not going to throw up. It's not happening. I am ordering you, stomach, to do as I say.

"Chloe?" Clark gave her a little nudge with his elbow, eyes narrowed in concern. "You all right?"

"Fine." Chloe muttered, sparing him a brief glance before trying to focus on the window again. Moving and talking gave her that feeling, the little warning that said 'You are T-minus ten seconds away from blowing chunks all over somebody and having everyone remember it until you graduate'.

"You don't look fine." Pete said. Chloe twitched her shoulders as much as she dared in response.

"Hn."

Even though she wasn't looking at them, Chloe knew that Clark and Pete were probably having one of their silent, mouthed conversations that they usually tried to use when they thought she wasn't looking. "Chloe, should we be getting the teacher?" Clark inquired.

"I don't know."

Then there was an awkward silence amongst the three of them (the rest of the bus was chatting normally), the kind that came about when a friend was ill and the situation was, relatively speaking, dire. Chloe felt dimly bad that she was the source of said awkwardness, but it wasn't like she could help it.

And then, "Hey, Chloe, what did the ostrich say to the pineapple?"

Both Chloe, who managed to briefly overcome her nausea and move without issue, and Clark looked at Pete strangely. "Uh… I don't know, Pete. What?"

"I don't know, when have you ever heard an ostrich talk?" He grinned, nodded. "Eh? Eh?"

Clark blinked. "Pete, what was that?"

"Laughter's the best medicine, dude!"

"I think the joke actually has to be funny for that to work."

"My sister thought it was funny."

"Kathy thinks everything's funny."

"True."

The conversation was doing more for entertainment than the joke had but, unfortunately, it wasn't working. In fact, the feeling of nausea was turning into a much stronger feeling of imminent trouble; a sudden bump in the road made her gag, and she panicked.

"I'm going to throw up."

"Okay, I call bull-crap, it wasn't that bad."

"No, Pete, I'm seriously going to throw up."

"You want me to ask Mrs. Coulter to see if the bus driver can't pull over?"

"Everyone's still going to see!" Chloe moaned, curling in on herself and trying in vain to will the sensation away. "I'm going to be 'The Girl Who Puked in Freshman Year' for the next three and a half years!"

Clark stared at her for a moment with that fretful look that was so common to him. Then, quickly, Clark pulled his notebook, textbook and pen out of his book bag and then handed it to Chloe. "Pete- Distraction, please?"

Pete popped up out of their seat and pointed out the opposite window. "Hey! Is that grizzly bear out there?"

As Chloe eventually lost her battle with her stomach and ended up vomiting into Clark's backpack, everyone's attention was conveniently diverted to the supposed bear-sighting outside the window. "Where?"

"Right back there! It was huge and furry, and kinda like it should have been taking up space as someone's rug!" Pete got more laughs for that than his ostrich joke, and by the time the teacher managed to quiet the students back to a dull roar, Chloe felt much better and far less embarrassed than she should have been.

Clark delicately took the bag from her and slid it under the seat. "We can toss that when we get to Metropolis." He assured her.

"Why didn't you just ask the bus driver to pull over?" Chloe asked, perplexed. "You'll have to get a new backpack." And there was the embarrassment, just for a different reason. Clark gave a little shrug.

"I wouldn't want to throw up in front of everyone either." He said. "Now no one will know but us. I can get a new backpack tomorrow; my parents will understand."

Chloe managed a smile. "I love you guys." Pete grinned as he sat back down.

"No problem, Chloe. You know, that grizzly bear thing reminded me, my brother told me a joke about a panda bear in a tutu that goes into a bar-"

"Pete?"

"Yeah?"

"Stick with the ostrich and the pineapple."

-End