Chapter Text
”A Little Thing We Call High School”
Word count: 2,115
Oliver couldn't believe what had just happened.
He stared after the petite blonde, who was probably a year or two younger than him as she walked away from him, her ponytail swinging back and forth.
“Dude,” Tommy breathed next to him. “Did that girl just...?”
Oliver nodded as his best friend trailed off, his mouth still hanging open a little. Narrowing his eyes, Oliver shut his mouth tightly, feeling his face heat up a bit as he looked around the hallway, only to see that a lot of his classmates were staring at him.
“What the hell are you looking at?” Tommy snapped beside him, getting into his protective best friend mode. “There's nothing to see here!”
The other kids scattered immediately and Oliver clenched his hands together into a fist.
He had wanted that audience for a brief moment, and now he absolutely hated the fact that they had seen what had gone down.
“Come on, man,” Tommy said, pulling on his arm. “We need to get to class.”
Oliver forced himself out of the shock that was still coursing through him before nodding yet again, walking in the same direction that the blonde had gone off in.
* * *
The girl's name was apparently Felicity Smoak.
She had transferred from a school in Las Vegas when her mother and she had moved to Starling City and the girl was said to be a genius, which was why she had been jumped up two years.
“Why can't we just let it go, Ollie?” Tommy groaned as they ate lunch together. Oliver handed ten bucks to one of the younger kids who had brought him back the information he had wanted.
“Because, Tommy. She embarrassed me in front of the whole school after I saved her life,” Oliver almost growled, shooting a glare at the blonde who was sitting alone on the other side of the cafeteria, engrossed in a book while eating an apple.
“A: the whole school wasn't in that hallway, dude, B: You made some mean girls step down from bullying her, and C: She just told you that she didn't need a knight in charming armor because she could take care of herself.”
“After she pushed me away from her,” Oliver accused. “I just put my hand on her shoulder to check if she was okay and she totally pushed me away from her and got all mad at me for some reason.”
“So what? The girl is immune to your knightly charm... What are you planning to do exactly?” Tommy frowned.
“I just want to know what makes her tick,” Oliver said. “I mean, why would she act like that?”
“Maybe because she really didn't need you to 'save' her?” Tommy raised an eyebrow. “Not everyone needs someone to protect them, you know.”
“I just want to get to know her,” Oliver mumbled.
“And I think that you should just let this one go,” Tommy told him. “The girl can clearly stand up for herself.” Tommy watched Oliver's face for a moment before groaning, “You're not letting this go, are you?”
“I just want to get to know her,” Oliver repeated, taking a bite out of his own apple as he watched the blonde girl stand up from her table, dispose of her leftovers and finally step out of the school cafeteria.
* * *
He began doing something he never would have thought he would never have to do: stalking.
Or actually, it was more like “accidentally” walking into her every time he walked into her in the hallway, trying to strike up a conversation in class over an eraser or just generally trying to get her to talk to him.
Felicity was stubborn though and he asked him several times to just leave her alone and not bother her anymore. He only backed down when he got her into trouble with the teacher when he was insistently trying to get her to speak to him during class.
Tommy had tried telling him time and time and again to just leave the girl alone but there was just something about her that had gotten under Oliver's skin and he just couldn't let go of it. He was determined, to say the least, and he wouldn't give up until the mysterious Ms. Smoak told him just what it was that had prompted her to be so rude to him.
* * *
Of all the times he though out various scenarios where he would finally get her to talk to him, he hadn't once thought about the possibility of seeing her all alone on a bench after he got out of detention.
Sure, he may or may not have actually gotten into a fight with Max Fuller over the fact that he had said something very inappropriate about Felicity, which the girl hadn't even heard when she had been walking to her locker. Oliver had tried telling himself that getting into that fist fight wasn't because of his tiny obsession (which he was starting to realize was more of a crush actually) with the petite blonde, but as soon as it was over and Mr. Adams had yelled that he had detention, the rumors started spreading around the school instantly. He was sure that Felicity had heard it by now; how he had defended her honor like some overprotective boyfriend, because according to Tommy, that was the story everyone was going with.
And now, the girl was sitting on the bench right outside of the detention room, reading a book. He approached her slowly, not sure whether or not he should, but she didn't look up even once. However, he did see that she began tapping her book lightly with her finger, indicating that she was getting annoyed (He had learned some of her tells while he had been admiring her from afar– Not stalking!) so he finally gathered his courage and walked up to her, sitting down next to her. Her tapping instantly stopped, but she didn't say anything; just kept staring down at her book.
“What's wrong?” he asked her, once again not sure if he should or if he was even allowed to be concerned after the stunt he pulled today, inadvertently making her a part of the High School gossip.
“I'm tired of people always thinking that I'm defenseless just because I'm a little younger than the others,” she told him. He was surprised that she was even talking to him, so he didn't know whether he should stay quiet or not. When she continued speaking, he figured that he had made the right call to just not speak. “That first time you intervened, I had been about to tell that girl off. It just annoyed me so much that I couldn't help but snap at you for trying to play a hero. People always judge me because of my age and think that I need them to watch my back, but I don't,” she told him, finally lowering her book, but she didn't look at him. She sounded a little bitter but also sad about it.
He cleared his throat, “You shouldn't be so judgmental either though. Me stepping in that day had nothing to do with saving you. I just wanted to do the right thing.”
That was a truth he hadn't dared to admit to anyone. At first, he had thought that he just wanted the attention, but the more he thought about that day when he had told the bullying girl off, he realized that it hadn't been all about that. It had been about what he had just admitted to Felicity: doing the right thing.
Felicity's head snapped to the side and she stared at him. “You're calling me judgmental?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow. She was such a puzzle that he didn't even know whether he had offended her or not, so he shrugged instead.
“Yeah,” he drawled. “You judged me before getting to know me. You thought I was just some jackass trying to show off, just like everyone else thinks.”
She didn't say anything for a moment, just looked at him and he found it difficult to look away. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail, with strands sticking out in various places and she looked tired, wearing a hoodie that was clearly too big for her and a pair of ripped up jeans. She didn't wear much make-up, he realized as his eyes moved over her face. The only thing that stood out was the hot pink lipstick. His eyes settled on her lips and his tongue darted out subconsciously, wetting his own.
“I'm sorry,” she suddenly said, looking away from him. He could see the small hint of a blush appearing on her face and he figured that she must have seen where his attention had landed. “I didn't mean to judge you.”
“It's okay,” Oliver said, turning a little so that he could see her more properly. There was still a good foot or so between them, but his palms were starting to sweat and his heart was beating just a tad faster than before. He didn't understand when this girl who had been ignoring him in his advances so far had begun getting this kind of reaction out of him.
Just when he thought his luck had run out and that she wouldn't try talking to him again, Felicity proved him wrong by asking, “Why aren't you going home?”
He eyed her and shrugged. “Why aren't you?” he countered.
“My mom's new boyfriend, a.k.a. 'the love of her life' broke up with her and now she's drowning her sorrows away in chocolate ice-cream,” Felicity deadpanned, surprising him with her honesty. It seemed to be such a personal thing to share and Oliver honestly would never know what got over him when he started speaking again.
“My dad keeps pressuring me about college,” he told her. “It's easier to just stay in school for a bit longer.”
“Is that why you got yourself detention?” she asked, tilting her head a little as she looked at him curiously. He felt like his answer now might define the outcome of their conversation. If he replied in a good way, he might have a chance at at least being her friend, but if he answered wrong...
“Not today it wasn't,” he admitted silently, waiting on her reaction.
The corner of her mouth tugged up a bit and he was certain that his heart was about to jump out of his chest. “And all the other times? When you aren't defending my honor?” she quipped, amusement clear in her tone this time.
“Yeah,” he replied honestly.
“You are aware of the fact that you can just go to the library after hours, or just hang out here in the hallways?” she asked him. “They won't kick you out for staying after classes are over. I do it all the time.”
She sounded genuine and he could see that she was just by the sparkle in her eyes. The best thing about it though, was that she hadn't pushed him away yet or told him to stay away from her, even after she had made it clear that she knew just why he had gotten detention today.
“Uh...” he trailed off. “Would you mind if I stayed here? With you?” he asked, feeling his own cheeks heat up a little, suddenly feeling a bit insecure, all because of the blonde that was sitting next to him, still watching him with those mesmerizing eyes of hers. “At least for a little while?” he added, hoping that he wasn't asking too much from her. Also, he wouldn't want to push her too far or something.
“No,” she finally said, her eyes twinkling again, with kindness and something else. “I don't mind if you stay here with me... At least for a little while.”
Oliver couldn't help the grin that spread across his face and even though the two of them didn't speak for another minute, they quickly fell into an easy conversation about everything and nothing afterward.
* * *
Three months later, Tommy offered to buy them ice-cream when he revealed that there had been an ongoing bet about how long it would take for the two of them to get together. Tommy had won, naturally, claiming that he knew his best friend the best and Felicity too, who he had become good friends with as well.
Oliver and Felicity accepted the ice-cream, but quickly began plotting a revenge plan to get back at Tommy for tricking the younger kids into something that had always been a safe bet.