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Note To All: When you're parents sit you down and ask "What would you do if we were to move?" They don't really want your opinion. That's just their way of indirectly telling you "We're moving, sorry. Get over it."
Eddie Thawne learned this the hard way. When his parents asked him this, he told them that it wasn't something he'd prefer, and he assumed that that was the end of that subject. He was very wrong. He realized that when he woke up on a Saturday morning three days later to the sound of a moving truck that was parked in his driveway. One scream-fest and a very long and tension-filled car ride later, the Thawne family had arrived in Central City.
Eddie didn't even have time to say goodbye to his one acquaintance, Danny, from across the street. They weren't close enough to be friends, Eddie occasionally exchanged hellos with the teenager at most. Having a politician father like he did would do that. But Eddie saw Danny looking at the moving truck from his bedroom window, and they nodded to each other, so that would probably suffice.
"Look on the bright side," Eddie's mom had said. "You can make new friends at your new school!" Eddie kept his comments to himself about how he wouldn't have to make new friends if his dad would just change careers.
Eddie only had two days to adjust before he was off to Central City High School, bright and early on a Monday morning. He was already pissed off that everything was changing in his life, so the fact that he tripped over a few boxes that had been left around and forgot where the bus stop was didn't help matters. Eddie had a chance to get out all of his frustrations by cursing out the cold wintery sky as he walked to school.
As if the day wasn't bad enough, Eddie got to school late, so he had to go to the front office to get his schedule, locker information, AND a late pass. He walked through the empty halls begrudgingly, having to squint to focus on the locker numbers that reflected the bright morning sunlight which was filtering through the windows. When he finally found his locker (almost 10 minutes later), he was surprised to see a boy at the locker next to it, who was busy rushing to remove his books.
"Hi," Eddie greeted with a small smile, hoping that this boy wasn't a jerk. "I'm Eddie,"
The boy flailed around, practically juggling his books, and looked over at Eddie nervously, as if no one had ever spoken to him before. He froze for a second, looking Eddie up and down quickly. "Barry," he replied almost inaudibly, then slammed his locker shut and ran down the hall. Eddie smiled softly, Barry was a nice name. As he walked to class, Eddie caught himself thinking that the day wouldn't be as terrible as he thought.
He squashed those thoughts immediately, because one boy he didn't even know anything about was absolutely NOT going to be able to fix everything in the blink of an eye. That's just....so cliche.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Barry got to class late, as usual. His science teacher, Professor Stein, let it slide though because Barry was top in his class. Barry sat in his regular seat, he had a table all to himself. No one wanted to sit next to the overly smart boy whose mother had been murdered by his own father. Iris sat two tables ahead of him and to the right, her friend Caitlin sitting on the left of her.
Iris caught his eye as he sat down, and she gave him a questioning look to which he shrugged as he avoided eye contact. It was their way of silent conversation, something that had been perfected over the years by precisely planning out eyebrow movement and hand signals. She was asking him why he was late this time, and he was saying he didn't know. But since he looked away, Iris knew he was holding back. She drew her eyebrows together, and titled her mouth into a slight frown. Then she nodded before turning away, meaning she knew he was lying, and she was going to find out why.
Barry sighed, and started paying attention to the lesson. He ignored how the boy he had just met in the hall kept popping up in his mind, instead focusing on the science of electromagnetic radiation. He had almost completely forgotten about the boy's really blue eyes when approximately ten minutes later the classroom door was opened cautiously, and a very familiar person walked in. Barry scooted down in his seat, trying his best to look invisible.
"Uh, is this Professor Stein's science classroom?" The boy asked softly, obviously nervous about all the eyes boring into him.
"Yes. Are you the new student?" Professor Stein asked politely.
"Yeah. Uh...." The boy handed Professor Stein his schedule, who read it over then smiled.
"Right! Eddie Thawne. Welcome to Central City High, please take a seat anywhere you can find one,"
There were about four open seats including the one next to Barry, and he prayed to God that Eddie didn't choose the one at his table. Barry was staring intently at his distorted reflection that the black colored tables gave off, and he was curling in on himself, trying his best to not be noticeable. Unfortunately, either the universe has a grudge against him or Eddie just has awesome identification abilities, because he plopped down into the seat right next to Barry.
"Hello again," Eddie whispered in greeting, pulling a pencil and paper out of his binder to write down notes like everyone else in class was doing.
Barry directed his eyes away from the table, and looked at Eddie. Eddie was smiling, but Barry didn't smile back as he replied, "If you want to get through the year without being tormented by everyone, I suggest you sit somewhere else."
Eddie furrowed his eyebrows, which Barry totally didn't think was cute so cut it out brain!
"I don't understand," Eddie said.
Before Barry could explain, however, Professor Stein's clipped voice rang through the classroom. It was directed towards them when he said, "Mr. Allen, Mr. Thawne, do you have anything to contribute to this lesson?"
Barry and Eddie looked guilty and embarrassed at the same time, and it was Eddie who answered. "No sir," he said.
"Then I suggest you save your feverish whispers for after class," Professor Stein said, then went back to teaching like nothing had happened.
Several students laughed softly, and Barry went pink up to his ears. He sank so low into his chair that he almost slipped off, and Eddie refrained from slamming his own head on the desk. A few minutes later, Barry noticed Iris turned towards him. When she realized she had caught Barry's attention, she pointed her two index fingers at Barry and Eddie, and moved them together. She finished this silent message by forming a heart with her hands that she pressed to her own heart with an inaudible sigh of adoration.
She thought Barry liked Eddie. What? Never in a million years! Barry shook his head wildly, but he realized that Iris wasn't paying attention. She was staring at something else. Barry followed her line of sight, and saw Eddie staring between her and him in confusion. Barry laughed awkwardly, and looked at the front of the classroom. When he noticed Eddie stopped paying attention to him, he glared at Iris, pointing at her and then using the same finger to run across his throat.
Iris cackled out loud accidentally, and the entire class turned towards her. She immediately covered her face with her right hand, looking down as she hunched her shoulders. Barry smirked. Point for him.
~~~~~~~~~~
Barry had one other class with Eddie, and that was math. However, there were assigned seats in that class, so Eddie had to sit across the room while Barry's friend Cisco sat next him instead. And at lunch, Barry noticed from the corner of his eye some of the more popular kids beckoning Eddie to their table. He supposed that no one really bothered to notice that Eddie was around Barry, so that meant he had a chance. Hopefully Eddie wouldn't ruin it by hanging out with Barry even more.
So by the end of the day, Barry had only had a run-in with the new kid twice because he never saw him during passing period. Barry was packing up his stuff by his locker when Iris came bouncing over to him like she did every day, backpack slung across her left shoulder and smile on her face.
"Okay, so what's up with you and Mr. Pretty Boy? Like, what do you think of him?" She asked with a cheeky smile.
"Mr. what?" Barry asked incredulously.
"Mr. Pretty Boy. Everyone is calling the new kid that," Iris explained. "But that doesn't matter. What do you think about him?" She asked again.
"He's annoying. Always wants to talk to me," Barry shrugged and crinkled his nose.
"Awe, he's being nice," Iris reasoned.
"He's being clingy," Barry countered.
"He wants to be your friend. You just don't want to admit that you like him," Iris said.
"Like I'd have a chance," Barry scoffed.
"Actually, you do. Felicity helped me find and hack into his Facebook. And guess what? He's gay and single!" Iris cheered.
"How do you know he's gay?" Barry asked curiously.
Iris avoided the question by saying, "Details are unimportant." Then she squealed, and started jumping up and down. "You guys are gonna be together forever!"
Barry shushed her rapidly and looked around to make sure no one was paying attention. He calmed Iris enough so that she was just smiling widely and her eyes sparkled. Barry didn't understand how her cheeks didn't hurt.
"Fine. He's nice or whatever. But I don't have a crush on him!" Barry whispered furiously.
"Oh, you do too. I know you, Bear. You guys are my OTP, and I will make it happen," Iris assured him, but it felt more like threatening.
Neither of them had a chance to say more because that was when Eddie turned the corner and walked up to his locker right next to Barry's. He didn't look at them, he was busy getting his stuff together and listening to music they both assumed because of the earbuds that were in his ears. Iris turned to sneak a peak at Eddie but she covered it up by craning her neck as if she was looking at something behind him. When she turned back to Barry, she winked with a smirk.
"Well, I better be going. As secretary for the student council, I have a meeting to attend to," Iris said cooly, as if she hadn't just been trying to meddle with Barry's love life. "Bye, Bear. I'll see you at home," She gave Barry a hug and walked off.
But Barry saw her turn around to face them and start walking backwards while holding two thumbs up quickly and smiling before turning away again and walking down a hallway, disappearing from sight. Barry glared at her for the tenth time that day, well more like where she had just been, and shut his locker. Before he was able to leave though, Eddie took out one earbud and looked at him.
"So, I have a feeling you're not a big fan of me," Eddie said, not breaking eye contact with Barry as he put his belongings into his bag.
"It's not that, it's just....I'm awkward. I don't talk to too many people, and not too many people want to talk to me," Barry found himself saying. Why he was trying to dissuade Eddie's theory of Barry hating him, well that was the question, now wasn't it?
"Well, hopefully, we can start anew tomorrow. Have a good day, Barry," Eddie replied, and closed his locker before slinging his backpack across his shoulder and exiting the school.
Barry was the last one in the hall, just standing there silently like an idiot. He was too busy being caught up in his own thoughts to be able to move. Did he like Eddie? Possibly. Did Eddie like him? Doubtful. Barry sighed, then started walking home. He wasn't any good at this romance stuff, and Iris wasn't helping at all. He supposed that he would have to take Eddie's advice, and start anew tomorrow.
But what was he supposed to do until then?