Chloe sat straight up in bed when the phone rang. What is that? she thought. She realized it was the phone and grabbed it.

"Hello?" she murmured while trying to wipe the sleep out of her eyes.

"Chloe?"

"Who’s this?" she asked.

"Two guesses Chloe, and the first one doesn’t count."

"Belle?" questioned Chloe.

"Of course! What, you were expecting Justin Timberlake, right?" Chloe could hear the peppy enthusiasm of her best friend Belle Black. Chloe lifted her wrist to her eyes and squinted at her watch.

"Chloe Lane, are you still in bed?" demanded Belle.

"You would be correct."

"Omigosh Chloe, it’s like 11:30 in the morning. Don’t you think you’ve had enough beauty sleep?" giggled Belle.

"Not all of us are natural beauties like you Belle. Some of us need to ‘beauty sleep’ longer than others," groaned Chloe.

Chloe was not a morning person like Belle. Neither was she an eternal optimist like the insuppressible Belle. Belle was a small girl with white blonde hair and twinkling blue eyes. She was a cheerleader, in student government, in the Honors Club, a power shopper, a candy striper at the hospital…the list of Belle’s activities were endless. Chloe did have to admit that Belle was one of the few people she knew that actually had a good heart and wanted to help others. Chloe had started out as a "project" for Belle. She wanted to help Chloe fit in at school and make some friends. Belle discovered though how much she liked Chloe and wanted to spend time with her. This Saturday was no exception.

"Okay, well you need to get out of bed and get over here ASAP. My dad gave me his gold card, and I feel the need to do some damage. It’s burning a hole in my purse!"

"Belle, what else do you need to buy? You already own every outfit from Salem Place."

"Chloe, I HAVE to buy a new dress for the Last Blast Dance, and I need your opinion." Belle made it sound as if obtaining a new dress was on par with obtaining world peace. Belle was a determined girl. She was buying a dress and Chloe was going with her and that was that.

Chloe rolled over and sat up in her bed. "Why would you want my opinion Belle? You’ve seen my clothes. I’m no Joan Rivers."

"Because shopping is fun." Belle sighed. "I have so much to teach you, Grasshopper."

"Okay, okay," muttered Chloe. She knew when she’d been beaten. "I’ll be over there in fifteen minutes."

"Will that be enough time for you to get ready Chloe?" asked Belle.

"No, I was timing it so that I could come over naked," replied Chloe sarcastically.

"Well, much as I think my brother Brady would enjoy that, you should probably get dressed first," giggled Belle.

"It’ll only take me a few minutes to get dressed and over there Belle. It’s not as if I have to make a decision about what to wear. I’ll see you in a few."

"Okay Chloe. But hey – be careful. I heard on the news that there’s a major storm headed this way. I’ll make Brady drive us over to Salem Place so that we don’t get rained on. Bye!" and with that Chloe heard Belle hung up.

Chloe looked out of her window. She couldn’t see much past the enormous tree that grew right next to the house, but the sky was definitely dark. She should probably hurry. Chloe headed out of her room and down to the bathroom to wash her face. She’d have to tell Nancy where she was going. Chloe didn’t worry that Nancy would say no. Nancy would probably be thrilled that Chloe was "socializing" and "shopping", all the things that Nancy decided was normal. Chloe splashed her face and looked up at her own reflection and wondered again what it was that made her so different from the rest of the world.

******

Belle hung up the phone and headed back up the stairs to gather the necessary equipment for her shopping venture that afternoon. Belle took her shopping very seriously. Finding the perfect outfit was almost a religious experience.

Brady Black was on the staircase landing, arms folded tightly with a menacing look on his face. "Who were you talking to Belle?" he scowled.

"You’re such a grouch in the morning Brady. What’s the matter, did someone pee in your Wheaties?" asked Belle.

Brady took one look at Belle and started to double over in laughter. "Pee in my Wheaties? Belle, did you really just ask me if someone peed in my Wheaties? Geez, have you been watching reruns of ‘Saved by the Bell’ again? That was the best you could come up with?"

Belle wrapped her arms around Brady. "I’m sorry, I just can’t be as tough as you are. But I’m trying, I really am."

Brady hugged his sister tightly. "Don’t you ever change, Tink. I love you just the way you are."

Belle smiled up at him. "How could you not? I’m just the most lovable thing that ever lived," she joked.

Belle continued on up to her room. "Wait," Brady called after her and began to follow. "Where are you going today? I thought we could chill and watch a movie or something."

"No can do, Brady. I have a major shopping expedition in front of me," replied Belle.

"Ah," said Brady. "Far be it from me to keep you from your calling."

"That’s what I like about you, Brady. You really get things about me, you know?"

"Yeah, I do know," replied Brady. He leaned his lanky build against her doorframe and watched her gather her ammunition for her next hunting trip to the mall. "Are you going by yourself, Munchkin?" he asked.

"No, um, Chloe’s coming with me." Belle’s voice sounded muffled as she crouched on the floor looking under her bed for her lucky shopping shoes.

Brady rolled his eyes. "And let me guess, you’ll be returning here to the Black household after your mighty adventure to discuss your purchases, boys, and any of that other dreck you and your airhead friends find interesting."

Belle stood up and put her hands on her hips. She glowered at him and furrowed her eyebrows. "What if we do Brady? You know, I really hate it when you rag on my friends."

Brady chuckled at the sight of his sister upset. He loved to tease her into anger. He put his hands up as if he surrendered. "Truce Belle! If that’s the case I think I will be calling some of my extended family and seeing if they want to shoot some hoops."

Belle relaxed and asked, "Who are you going to call?"

"Thought I’d call Uncle Phil and your boyfriend," said Brady as he began to head to his room to get his phone.

"What?" shrieked Belle as she ran out into the hallway after him. "Shawn Brady is NOT my boyfriend!"

"Then how did you know who I was talking about?" teased Brady as he disappeared into his room.

Belle stood there fuming, unable to come up with a suitable response.

******

Philip sat at the enormous dining room table alone. Both of his parents had gone into work, despite the fact that it was a Saturday. Lucas was still in bed asleep with a hangover. Will was playing with Henderson. Philip pushed away the overwhelming sensation of loneliness that he got by being by himself in that cavernous room and began to eat his lunch.

Henderson walked into the room and handed Philip the cordless phone. "It’s for you," he said.

Philip wiped his hands off on his pants, swallowed down his mouthful of food and replied, "Thanks, Henderson."

Philip put the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Philip? What are you wearing?"

"What the…Brady, is that you?" Philip asked

Brady chuckled. "Yeah it’s me. Seriously, though, what are you wearing right now?"

Philip glanced down. "Um, a pair of shorts and a ratty old t-shirt."

"Cool. Come over and pick me up. Then let’s go get Shawn and go play some ball."

Philip looked over at the window. "Uh, Brady? It’s raining outside. Water basketball is not my idea of a good time. I have this thing against catching colds."

"Let’s go to your parents’ country club and play there," suggested Brady.

"Okay, sure. I’ll be over in about ten minutes," Philip said and hung up the phone. He hurried upstairs to his room to put on a pair of socks, his tennis shoes and headed down the backstairs to "borrow" a car from the garage. His parents wouldn’t know, and none of the servants would rat him out if he was careful with it.

******

Chloe rushed into the lobby of Belle’s apartment building. It was pouring outside, but Chloe had managed to remain mostly dry thanks to the rather large umbrella Nancy insisted she take with her. A loud crack of thunder made Chloe jump and she spun around to look outside the glass-plate doors. The lightning was amazingly close. Chloe watched in fascination at the storm clouds as they swirled around in angry combat. It reminded her of her own emotions. She often felt so much turmoil and anguish and was unable to release them or to make anyone understand them. She knew what it felt like to want to thunder at people.

Chloe stood for a few more minutes studying the storm. The lightning increased and the rain began to fall even harder. Hmmm, she thought, maybe going to Salem Place is not the best idea.

Chloe was so intent on watching the storm that she didn’t notice when a dark figure ran along the sidewalk, up the stairs and threw the front door open. The figure darted inside and smacked into Chloe, knocking her down.

Chloe started to get up and said, "What were you raised in, a barn? Don’t you ever look where you’re going?"

Chloe took the hand extended to her and as she stood found herself staring into Philip Kiriakis’ blue eyes. "Actually, it was a mansion. Silver spoon in my mouth and everything."

Of all people, thought Chloe.

"What, are you stalking me now?" Chloe asked.

"Don’t flatter yourself," huffed Philip. "Brady asked me to come play some basketball." He leaned in close and smiled at her. "How do I know you’re not here waiting for me?"

"You know what?" replied Chloe, "You’re not even worth my time. It isn’t worth it to stand her and argue with you. I’ve got better things to do."

"Like what?" Philip asked. "Some spells you need to cast?" Philip regretted the words before they were even out of his mouth. Chloe turned and flashed a pair of angry eyes at him. For a split second he thought he saw, what, hurt? immediately replaced by anger.

"Philip, just leave me alone," Chloe said as she walked towards the elevator.

Philip felt badly about the comment he made and went to apologize. "Chloe, wait a second…"

Chloe walked faster over to the elevator and pushed the up button. She wished the doors had opened immediately so that she could have made a dramatic exit. Unfortunately, fate did not seem to be on her side.

She felt Philip walk up behind her. He stepped around her and stood in between her and the elevator. "Hey, I want to talk to you for a second."

"I don’t have to take the elevator," Chloe said and turned to look for the staircase. She found it and tugged at the door, but it was locked.

"Guess you have to have a key," smiled Philip with those disarming dimples. Chloe was keenly aware of how attractive Philip was, but lived in fear that he would discover this information and use it against her. She didn’t want to be attracted to him, but how could any girl help herself? It didn’t mean that she liked him, although he had said some really sweet things to her lately. Thinking someone was devastatingly handsome had nothing to do with his personality. It was just that he had this way of looking at her that was completely unnerving. It was as if he saw into her soul…

Service elevator. There has to be a service elevator, Chloe thought and headed down the hallway. She found the elevator, and the doors immediately opened. Chloe stepped inside and started pushing the close door button. At the last possible moment Philip grabbed the door and pushed it back. He stepped inside and the doors continued to close.

Philip got in close proximity to Chloe. "Hit the floor."

Chloe looked up at Philip. Was he actually threatening her?