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“Let's get fired up! Get rough! Get tough! Get mean! Let's get fired up! And roll right over that team!” Iris finished off the cheer chant with four spectacular back handsprings that pumped up the large crowd. Iris flashed a dazzling smile as she joined her cheer squad in another routine.
“With a spectacular pass from Queen to Diggle, the McArthur Archers have nearly tied the game to start the fourth quarter! Let’s see if our kicker can tie it up!” The announcers voiced wafted through the field. The crowd cheered in response. Oliver Queen gave a slight wave to the crowd and ran to the sidelines as special teams took the field. The kicker lined up the shot. The cheerleaders raised their pompoms to signify silence. A hush fell over the audience. The young freshman kicker reared his foot back and punted the football straight through the yellow goal post.
The cheerleaders fell into a series of celebratory acrobatics. The atmosphere in the stands was nearly palpable. This was the biggest game of the year and everyone was there to watch Oliver Queen and John Diggle finally bring the regional championship trophy back to McArthur Archers from their longtime rivals the Cypress Knights. The energy was infectious, nearly the entire audience felt excitement. Everyone except for two sullen figures who sat near the front of the bleachers. A boy and a girl, both thin, awkward, and very very bored.
“Yay we hit the brown ball through the yellow post thing! Oh my god it’s amazing!” The girl said sarcastically with an eye roll.
“Felicity, how much time is left in this game?” The thin boy asked dryly.
Felicity pulled up her phone. “According to Google, about 12 minutes. So actually like 30 minutes with all the stops and stuff. Why do they stop every second?”
“To prolong the torture, and to provide more breaks for commercials in the NFL. It’s all about money at the end of the day.” He explained with a shrug.
Felicity snorted. “I am surprised the cheerleaders don’t wear literal advertisements on their uniforms. Then again that would require more than a napkin’s surface area of fabric on their bodies…not that you seem to mind Barry.”
Barry’s cheeks turning a slight pink was the only indication that he heard that comment as he watched Iris gyrate to the music.
A man juggling a soda, sign and -incredibly, two hot dogs; ambled his balancing act up the bleachers, knocking past Barry. A glob of ketchup slopped onto Barry’s shoulder.
“Ugh come on!” Barry rubbed it off with a crumpled napkin.
He turned to Felicity irritated. “Why, why did we come here? We hate this kind of thing!” Felicity helped her friend clean up.
“Because it’s the ‘biggest game of the season!’” Felicity mocked. “It’s because of them.” She added. The pair trained their eyes to Iris who was currently the apex of a cheerleader pyramid and to Oliver who began calling out play counts.
“Green 38! Green 38! Hut Hut!” Oliver screamed as he caught the ball. His eyes were rapidly scouring the field for an open receiver. Everyone seemed to be blocked by a defender. Oliver knew what he had to do. He tucked the football, lowered his head and charged into the fray. The crowd pounced on its feet to see their QB running for his life towards the end zone. Felicity and Barry stood as well, anticipation gripped them. Oliver sprinted hard for the touchdown and was careful to avoid defenders. He honed in on that precious white line in the grass. Oliver was a few steps away when suddenly a corner back viciously banged into Oliver’s side sending the young man flying to his left and hitting the ground hard.
“Touchdown Archers!” The referee’s voice shouted. Noise erupted from all around. Oliver looked up to see Iris smiling down at him.
“Hey Superman!” She giggled and held out her hand to help him up. Oliver gladly took it and stood up straight.
“Thanks Iris! I may be Superman but I see you flying and kicking ass out there on the sidelines!” He commended.
Iris beamed up at him. “Thanks! It’s easy to get the crowd pumped when you guys killing it! Keep it up! I don’t think the defense will be able to hold the Knights off. Once they score they’ll probably try for an onside kick so tell your guys to be ready for it! Put all your receivers in. John should be in the center.” Iris advised. Oliver beamed at Iris, she always managed to sneak some pointers in during the games.
“Alright coach! Will do!” Oliver thanked and high-fived her.
“Good luck!” Iris said as they began to part. “You too!” Oliver called out as he jogged back to his sideline.
“It looks like Captain Queen needed a little pick me up after that hard hit. Good thing our wonderful cheerleading captain Iris West was up for the task!” The announcer’s voice boomed through the field. Barry and Felicity seemed especially annoyed at his volume at this point.
“I bet they’re screwing.” A voice wafted from behind Felicity and Barry. “Do you see the way they look at each other and how touchy feely they are? They’re totally doing it.” Barry’s pink cheeks became slightly redder at their words. The voice continued “I heard no one has seen much of either of them in the past few weeks. They both said they need to ‘focus more on studying’ and now they don’t party as much. I know what studying means…”
“Why wouldn’t they? Iris is the hottest chick in the school. I would bang her. I also heard that she is good to go. Adam says that she was all over him at this pool party wearing the tiniest bikini.” A second voice replied.
Barry clenched his fists to calm himself. He hated when people spoke about Iris that way. Especially when they knew nothing about her. It took severe self-control to keep Barry from turning around and knocking this guy out.
“Of course she’d go for Queen,” the boy continued. “He’s rich and plays football. That’s all girls care about at the end of the day.”
Felicity spun around annoyed. “Wow! You are talking really loud about your lame ass rumors.” She snapped. The boys smirked and exchanged glances.
“Did I hit a nerve? What do you want Oliver too? I swear money gets you all the bitches even the goddamn science nerds want those damn jocks.” Said one of the boys.
“No Oliver’s money isn’t the reason why people like him. We like him because he’s smart, and confident and can be dorky in some ways and he cares a lot about people. Which is more than I can say about you two. By the way, you might get girls if you stopped whining about not having us and calling us bitches.” With that Felicity spun back to face the field.
“What she said! And Iris wouldn’t be interested in you, not because you’re not a rich football player but because you’re an asshole and she’s…she’s amazing.” Barry backed her up before also turning around.
“And one more thing, seriously? ‘Science nerds, jocks’ did we fall into an 80s high school movie? How cliché are you?” Felicity couldn’t resist getting that last dig in before turning around again.
“Whatever!” They boy snapped at the pair. Barry gave Felicity a small high five.
He leaned over to Felicity. “Thanks for saying something when you did. I was about to hit those dudes and end up getting my ass kicked.”
“It’s ok Rocky, I’ve got your back.” Felicity patted Barry’s shoulder as they resumed their attention to the field. The game trudged on to the dismay of Barry and Felicity, finally it was getting towards the end of the fourth quarter.
“The Knights had scored another touchdown. It looks like they are setting up for an onside kick folks!” The announcer boomed. “With only two minutes left in the game and the score all tied up, whichever team regains possession will have the ball for the last few minutes and a chance to end the game now!” The two teams stood in a row facing each other in the center of the field. John Diggle stood in the center ready to recover the ball. Oliver made eye contact with Iris and nodded in gratitude for the idea. The referee whistled and the kicker bunted the football so that it bounced low and awkwardly in the center of the field. Both teams immediately dove for the ball. A large pile of limbs and growls quickly formed. The referee’s moved players off until the person with the ball on the bottom was revealed.
“It looks like it is…Archer’s ball!!” The announcer cheered. “John Diggle recovered the football and McArthur now has possession and a chance to win the game here and not in overtime!”
The crowd screamed its approval. “Diggle! Diggle! Diggle! Diggle!” the cheerleaders led the chant. Iris did another round of back hand springs in celebration. Barry and Felicity found themselves smiling and laughing with the crowd.
“Oh my god! What’re we doing?” Felicity cried. “It’s infectious, not gonna lie!” Barry agreed his eyes glued to Iris. “But I really hope it doesn’t go to overtime. I guess it’s up to Oliver.”
“V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! We're gonna win the game And you wanna know why? Cause we've got spirit! And we're riding high, so V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! Go team!!” The cheerleaders screamed and roused the audience as if they were flexible snake charmers. The McArthur Archers broke their huddle and ran back onto the field to the roars of the crowd. Oliver called out the counts.
“Speedy 22! Speedy 22! Hut Hut!” He cried as he caught the ball and shuffled back. Oliver knew he needed to give his receivers room to get down the field. A defender got passed a lineman and ran to tackle Oliver. Felicity stood in the stands and gripped Barry’s arm with fear. Oliver, evaded the defender and took a few steps forward and threw the football with all his might. The players, the cheerleaders and everyone in the stands watched the ball sail through the air in silent awe. Barry gripped Felicity’s grip as he stared as well. Iris had her fingers crossed under her pompoms. Diggle looked back at the ball coming towards him. He stopped short to throw off his defender and jumped high into the air. Not a sound was uttered when Diggle’s fingers laced around the ball and brought it to his chest. Diggle fell backwards into the touchdown zone and scored.
“YES!” Iris screamed as the stands completely erupted. “ARCHERS WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIPS!” The announcer bawled into the microphone. “With a Hail Mary pass from Queen to Diggle, the Archers are once again champions!!”
“Yes!!!” Screamed Felicity and Barry, they, alongside every fan player and coach rushed the field to celebrate. Oliver ran and hugged Diggle tightly as they jumped around like little boys. They were quickly presented with the trophy. Oliver and Diggle held it up together in triumph as everyone applauded. They handed the trophy to their coach as other members of the team poured Gatorade over his head.
“Congratulations Captain!” Iris shouted to Oliver. Oliver turned and grabbed Iris tightly and spun her around jubilantly. Iris laughed and pumped her fist in the air. Oliver kissed Iris’s cheek with a loud “smack.” “Couldn’t do it without you coach!” yelled Oliver.
“No problem just don’t dump Gatorade on me!” Iris exclaimed as he released her form. Iris’s eyes turned to the stands and were searching. It was hard to see with all the running bodies.
“Looking for me?” a voice behind Iris made her spin. She beamed her most brilliant smile for her sweet boyfriend. “Oh my god Barry we did it!!!” She jumped on his thin frame and wrapped her legs and arms around him tightly. Barry laughed at her enthusiasm and squeezed her tightly to his chest. Iris leant back to look at Barry’s face. She looked so happy and so very beautiful that Barry couldn’t resist but to capture her lips in a searing kiss. A couple of “whoos!” were shouted nearby. Barry didn’t care, he was on cloud 9.
“Wow Barry!” Iris looked surprised and she fell back onto her feet. “That was amazing! I-I thought you wanted to keep our relationship on the down low.”
Barry shook his head. “I was being so stupid and so afraid of what people would say but who gives a shit! You’re my girl, and I’m your boy!” Iris shined at his words. “You’re the best! Thank you for coming! I know you hate football.”
Barry shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad, I was happy to see you cheer!”
Iris suddenly gave Barry a mischievous look. “Well I will be happy to give you a private cheer performance in the captain’s locker room while everyone is out here.”
Barry didn’t need to be told twice. He wrapped his hand tightly around Iris’s and the two teens ran off away from the field giggling, running by the confused faces of their peers. Felicity was currently in a sandwich made of a cheerleader and someone’s dad.
“Oh my god, move!” she scowled and weaved her way through the crowd. Felicity couldn’t find the man of the hour and lost hope of doing so. She watched Iris and Barry tear away from the crowd towards the indoor gym hand in hand. Felicity smiled happy for her friends.
“Hell yeah Barry!” She cheered softly. Felicity sighed and began to make her way back to the car when she heard her name.
“Felicity!” Oliver’s blue eyes were bright when he found his petite blond girlfriend. He rushed up to her but suddenly became shy and slowed his movements. Felicity smiled at his endearing nature. He could be a vicious beast in some moments and practically a kitten in others.
“I ugh just wanted to say thank you…so much for coming, to the game.” Oliver expressed. “It means a lot to me that you came.”
Just like that, every second of the game that initially seemed like torture was well worth it for this moment.
“Oliver, I will come for you anytime!” Felicity exclaimed passionately. Oliver’s eyebrows rose as Felicity’s cheeks grew hot. “Oh my god! Ugh I mean, I will be at a game for you anytime! That’s what a girlfriend does right? And I guess the other meaning too. Yikes this is awkward!” she giggled nervously. “I mean I guess it shoul-“
Oliver gently grabbed her cheeks and kissed Felicity deeply. “I couldn’t have done this without you Felicity.” He whispered. “Want to go to Big Belly Burger?”
Felicity nodded profusely, speechless for once. Their classmates watched shocked as Oliver grabbed Felicity’s hand, waved to his teammates and left the big post game celebration.
“How’s that for a science nerd.” Felicity murmured.
“Huh?” Oliver asked.
“Nothing!” Felicity said sweetly.