2012
"We're honoured to have you here, Miss Smoak." Principal Steele told her.
"I'm honoured to be here." Felicity replied, still somewhat dumbfounded by the sheer size and grandeur of Starling Prep.
He slid a slip of paper across the table. "This is your timetable. Now, we have four streams here, you will have classes with other people from your stream. You are in stream 3."
Felicity really hoped the streams weren't sorted by intelligence, because if so, her MIT dreams had already been trashed.
"We try to make sure everyone has a friend in their dorm, but seen as you're new here, we've placed you randomly with five other girls your age. They're very nice, I'm sure you'll get on excellently. There are ten dorms to a common room."
Felicity wasn't looking forward to that particular introduction. She knew spending any long amount of time with her would expose those poor girls to the incessant babbling she just couldn't seem to get a handle on. I'm destined to be alone, she thought gloomily.
Principal Steele continued to outline how the school worked in his pleasant way, and Felicity hoped everyone would be as earnestly welcoming as him. Eventually, he introduced her to a smiling man, who was to lead her to her common room where she could leave her luggage. She'd be starting classes straight away.
"I'm sure you'll be eager to start learning as quickly as possible." Principal Steele said, sadly with no hint of irony. Felicity smiled weakly.
The corridors were full of kids, who were thankfully almost normal looking. They talked just as loudly as kids Felicity knew back home, though arguably with better grammar. Her guide led her to outside her common room (which was up an obscene amount of stairs, requiring her to pretend that she was in no way out of breath at all) and left her with a smile and a 'have a great first day'. He disappeared as she replied, which left her feeling very stupid and alone.
She pushed the door open with trepidation, relieved to find the common room completely empty. She didn't want to be assaulted by curious billionaires until she had some kind of acquaintance with literally anyone else – then she could pretend that she wasn't a complete loner. She went to sit down on a chair, and physically started on realising that she'd been wrong in her assumption that the common room was empty.
There was someone asleep on the couch. Looking back, Felicity did think it could definitely have been worse – he was still wearing boxers… Oh, and socks.
Oh God, do I wake him?
What the hell, why would you wake him?!
What if he's missing a class?!
That's not your problem!
"Did you realise that you just said all that out loud?"
Oh God.
Nice one Felicity, you woke him up, and now he thinks you're weird. Way to go!
It's been a really long time since he spoke, say something!
She went to flick her hair out of her face to kill time, and then realised it was in a ponytail, meaning she had to pretend to be scratching her head, which made it look like she had nits, which was just so much worse…
"Oh, yeah, totally." She tried to sound offhand, trying to make sure her eyes didn't wander to his crotch area. She failed. And he noticed. Of course he did.
"Am I making you uncomfortable?" He grinned, though not necessarily malevolently, and then proceeded to roll off the couch.
"Oh, not at all!" Felicity, he really wasn't expecting a response!
"I don't know you." He commented, as he produced a shirt from somewhere behind the sofa. "What's your name?"
"Felicity Smoak." She watched him produce trousers from under the coffee table, wondering why on earth his entire wardrobe was strewn about the common room, instead of in like, his wardrobe. Also, why on earth he was asleep on the couch basically naked, there was that too. She felt a bit weird watching him dress…
But he's super cute.
Well, that much was undebatable.
She started to ask him his name, but he was already talking again as he hunted behind chairs for his tie or something. "You're a scholarship student aren't you?"
"Uh… yeah. How did you know?"
He turned around for a second, indicating his eyes. "The glasses."
That pissed her off. Why do cute boys always have to be dicks?
"That's such a stupid stereotype." She was indignant, and all her shyness melted away. "I'm smart, so I must have bad eyesight? What kind of logic is that? And also…"
"Hey, woah, slow down!" He held up his hands. "I didn't mean it like that at all! I just meant that, well..." he shrugged apologetically, "the rest of us here are super rich. If we have bad eyesight, we get laser eye surgery."
She could feel herself going red instantly. "Oh God, I'm so sorry." Why Felicity, why? He was cute!
"It's fine." He was still grinning, and looked utterly unaffected by the awkwardness of the situation. "I respect you standing up for your fellow nerds." His grin was infectious.
The bell went while he was doing his tie.
"Oh crap, I'm supposed to be in chem." He groaned.
"I have chem now too! Lab 43?" Felicity hoped intensely that he would be in her class. He seemed nice enough, and she really didn't want to be the awkward loner new kid on her first day. There was the whole not knowing his name thing (it was totally gonna get to the too late to ask stage) but she could totally work with that.
"Yes!" He looked euphoric at such a small thing. "My very own scholarship student! Have you made any other friends yet? You're gonna be my friend. We're already friends." Finally conquering his tie, he bounced over and slung an arm over Felicity's shoulder. "I'm totally gonna use you for your homework and intelligence, but I promise that I will also value you for your shining personality."
She laughed. He was so irresistibly careless, it was impossible not to like him, and Felicity was extremely pleased with herself for making a friend before she even had her first class.
The corridors had mostly quietened down now (because they were running late) and Felicity was able to appreciate (/scoff at) the utter grandeur of Starling Prep. It was almost like Hogwarts, or Downton Abbey (this was not a comparison she voiced to her new friend). Pictures that hung the walls ranged from sombre and thought-provoking (well, probably) to abstract and terrifyingly colourful, but they were all large, ornately framed, and very original looking.
"I've been told to clean up my act." Her friend informed her as he led her to Lab 43 (another thing he was useful for). "If I skip any more classes or do anything even slightly out of the ordinary, I'm out." He sounded cheerful as he spoke of his possible expulsion. Felicity envied his obvious security, and felt slightly resentful that he obviously didn't give a shit about the exorbitant education he was receiving with no concern for his merit.
When they finally reached Lab 43, her friend (she really needed something better to call him) pushed open the door enthusiastically, announcing their (late) entrance with a loud "sorry that WE are not on time!" The teacher turned around with a sigh, a small, beakish woman, who looked fairly genial.
"You must be Felicity Smoak." She addressed Felicity directly, with a smile, and obviously deliberately ignoring Felicity's new friend.
"Yes, that's me."
Her friend cut in: "I'm her tour guide. Which means she has to sit with me." He looked extremely pleased with himself as the teacher gave no indication of being in anyway opposed to his statement, and turned back to her lesson as Felicity put her bag down next to her friend.
She decided she was going to get along with this teacher. Anyone who forsook long introductions got an A+ from her.
"Am I stealing someone's seat? Do you normally sit with someone?"
"Honestly," he pulled a face, "I have no idea."
"You don't know if someone sits here or not?!"
He seemed to concentrate momentarily. "I haven't been to this class since last semester." He told her, proudly. "Get out your timetable."
He pulled out his own to compare, grin getting wider as he scanned the two pieces of paper. "Oh this is just excellent." He whispered gleefully. "You're with me for almost everything! We're gonna sit together in every class, and I am not gonna get chucked out." He grinned at her. "Problem solved."
Felicity rolled her eyes. "Before, it seemed like you wanted to get thrown out."
"Oh no, all my friends are here! I'd just have to go to some other fancy prep school, but I'd be friendless, and plus, there would be no Felicity Smoak." He wiggled his eyebrows. "But seriously, you ever need a favour, I'm here, just help me. Do you need a million dollars for anything? I can get you all the beer you want. I'll pay you through college, I'll…"
"Stop!" She cut him off with a grin. "Just buy me some Monster Munch at break and you're set."
He shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah. I could do that too." He paused for a second and then looked guilty. "I don't know what those are." He confessed.
"You billionaires are missing out."
The rest of the class passed, interspersed throughout with the constant chatter of Felicity's new friend. It was a trait she deeply appreciated, knowing it was something she did, and also, if he was always talking, there was less room for her to start babbling and scare him off.
In the end, she decided he was the type of person who really wouldn't care that she didn't know his name after an hour of conversation, and decided just to ask him.
"You know, I never actually, uh, caught your name…" Oh God Felicity why didn't you just wait? This is gonna be so awkward, you would've heard it in conversation at some point, oh my God you're going to lose your only friend, you absolute idiot!
"I never gave it to you." He laughed. "Not purposefully, obviously. It just never occurred to me that there are people here who don't know who I am. That sounded really big-headed. I'm gonna stop talking."
Felicity grinned. That was usually her line.
"You are big-headed."
He pretended to look anxious. "Do you really think so?"
"So what is your name?"
"Oh, it's Tommy. Tommy Merlyn."
"Well, it is very nice to meet you Tommy." She held out her hand in mock greeting, and he took it enthusiastically.
Two hours of English Lit passed, which Felicity actually found herself enjoying – Tommy decided to do impressions of all the characters in The Great Gatsby, and his attempt to look like he had bulging muscles for Tom had Felicity almost fall off her seat (which was mortifying, but she was fairly sure only Tommy saw).
"I think I may adopt 'old sport' as part of my everyday vocabulary." He decided. "That's a lovely tie you're wearing, old sport."
They were making their way to the Dining Hall for lunch, something which Felicity had been excited about since arriving, thinking what kind of fancy the cafeteria had to be referred to as 'the dining hall'.
She wasn't disappointed in her imaginings.
Though filled with hungry students yelling at their friends, the room still embodied an elegance Felicity had never experienced in Vegas. Again, she thought it was all very Harry Potter, but had decided that the kids here probably only got to read classics.
Tommy lead her over to two girls sitting at the end of one of the stretching mahogany tables, and she sat next to him, awkwardly smiling at the other two girls.
"Laurel, Johanna, this is Felicity, she's new here. Felicity, this is Laurel and Johanna."
"It's nice to meet you." Felicity said.
"She's a real scholarship student." Tommy put in. "You three nerds will get on perfectly."
"We're not scholarship students Tommy." Johanna rolled her eyes. "It's nice to meet you too Felicity."
Laurel nodded in agreement. "It'll be nice to talk about something else than 'mega-hot girls', won't it Tommy?" She smiled sardonically at him and then switched to a pleasant smile for Felicity.
A blonde girl runs over, whacking Laurel in the back. "I need your history homework that you did."
Laurel turns to her, speaking sarcastically. "Hi, Sara! Isn't it a nice morning? How was class?"
"Please!" Sara interrupts urgently.
Laurel rolls her eyes and roots through her bag for a pristine looking essay, which Sara takes in delight, and with a hurried thank you she is gone.
"My sister." Laurel explains. "The bane of my existence." She adds with a grin.
"Ooh, are you sure Sara's the bane of your existence?" Johanna teases.
"True." Laurel shook her head ruefully. "I must be cursed." Her tone was wistful as she slapped Tommy's hand away from stealing one of her fries.
"So you must be in stream three." Johanna turns to Felicity. "Poor you, stuck with Tommy for the rest of your high school life."
"Hey!" Tommy exclaims indignantly. "I am very good company! You first streamers are such snobs."
Laurel sighed. "You know, I really did think the streams were based on intelligence. But obviously not, or you'd be in first."
"I hope you're right." Felicity grinned nervously.
Laurel was prevented from replying, because at that moment, a boy shoved onto the bench beside her, and kissed her full on the mouth. Tommy turned to Felicity and mimed being sick, which made her giggle, which was awkward because she didn't know the other boy and it definitely looked like she was laughing at him.
When they broke apart, Laurel narrowed her eyes. "What did you do?"
The other boy tried (and failed) to not look guilty. "Do I need a reason to kiss my girlfriend?"
Laurel just looked at him.
He dropped eye contact and looked helplessly at Tommy. "I didn't go to class." He mumbled.
"What?" Laurel hissed. "You're on probation! Are you trying to get thrown out?! You missed three whole hours! Even Tommy went to class!"
Tommy (who, bless him, had a gift for cutting in at the most awkward moments) grinned. "I'm a model student now."
"I hate class." The other boy moaned, after glaring at Tommy. "There is no one to talk to in fourth stream, they deliberately put me on own!"
Tommy whispered to Felicity: "In this case, let's assume the streams are chosen according to intelligence."
"Maybe if you went to class, you could meet some people from fourth stream, and then you wouldn't be on your own!" Felicity admired Laurel's relentless tirade, which succeeded in making the other boy lapse into silence, looking sulky.
Tommy (of course) was the one to break the silence. "This is Felicity." He said helpfully.
The other boy, relieved to have an excuse to stop pretending to be ashamed, looked up in interest. "I'm Oliver." He said, reaching across the table to shake her hand, which Felicity only took after realising he was sincere and that people other than businessmen actually shook hands in the upper class world.
"Oliver is an idiot." Laurel grumbled, sliding a sausage off of his plate nonetheless. "But don't worry; he won't be here much longer."
"I swear Laurel, I'm gonna go to class from now on."
"You said that on Friday after they gave you the ultimatum."
"Well, I mean it this time."
"You better do." Laurel's glare was terrifying and Felicity was in awe. "We've gotta go, we've got gym." Her and Johanna stood up, and Oliver slid across the bench so that he was opposite both Tommy and Felicity.
He's just as cute as Tommy, was Felicity's immediate thought, which she scolded herself for.
"How do we feel about me getting thrown out?" Oliver asked, as soon as Laurel was out of earshot, picking up a strange shaped potato from his plate and looking at it in distaste.
"Not good man, I thought we were getting our acts together!"
"I don't think it's gonna work out." He wrinkled his nose at the potato, and chucked it away to his right, where it hit some poor kid on the head, forcing Oliver to sheepishly duck his head. "I've had enough of this school."
Tommy looked pained, and Felicity could tell that he didn't want Oliver to go. The way Oliver had addressed them as 'we' gave her the impression that they were very close.
"Don't leave me alone with these people." Tommy whined. "And I am totally not including you in that at all Felicity." He added.
Oliver groaned. "I'll do my best." He decided. "But I've got physics next, and if that's not an incentive to discard my education, I don't know what is."
Tommy laughed. "Well, I got my very own scholarship student."
"I am so not writing all your papers for you."
Tommy wiggled his eyebrows again, something he seemed fond of. "You say that now, but soon, you'll be begging me for the chance."
Felicity rolled her eyes, and Oliver looked disinterestedly off into the distance.
"Why are you so quiet?" Tommy asked him.
"Tired."
"After last night?"
"Yeah." He grinned. "I got lucky."
Tommy sighed dramatically, putting his head in his hands. "Jesus Oliver, you're supposed to be dating Laurel."
"We're literally fourteen, it's not like we're married or something." Oliver was dismissive, but Felicity could tell that he felt guilty.
"You may as well be."
Felicity felt horrible for Laurel, in the realisation that her lazy boyfriend was also unfaithful. They might just be kids, but it was in no way fair at all. Oliver might be cute (and very likely rich), but he wasn't very nice.
Saying that, he was still pleasant to Felicity, asking her where she was from and what she was studying for her electives. He was charming, and Felicity could instantly see why he and Tommy were close. They were similarly careless and confident, with an utter disregard for anything but the here-and-now. Though they were almost identical in personality, from their interactions Felicity gathered that Oliver was the slightly wilder one, whilst Tommy was a peacemaker who really liked to talk.
Tommy had a warmth about him that made you want to listen to him, whatever inappropriate remark he was making, whilst Oliver had more of an irresponsible charm to him. They were both exuberant and loud, and Felicity decided that their sexual awakenings must have come when they were about five, for the amount they talked about girls. Stereotypically, Felicity had expected them to be into football, but neither boy seemed to have any interest in sports (which was great for Felicity because she would've been utterly lost in that conversation), and were more concerned with the way their hair fell (which Felicity could totally sympathised with, it was so impossible to get it right she'd just decided to stick with ponytails).
The bell rang, and the three of them stood up, Oliver with an exaggerated sigh. "Do you think she'd know if I just didn't go?"
"Yes." Said Felicity.
"Don't even try." Advised Tommy.
"I swear to God, if we're working out what happens when we mix oxygen with helium, I'm going to kill myself." Felicity didn't have the heart to tell him that was chemistry, and her and Tommy waved sardonically as Oliver stalked away looking disgruntled.
They sat in the common room doing homework, having commandeered most of the comfortable seats. Laurel had already finished, and was reading Pride and Prejudice with a frown. Sara was curled up on the chair opposite, trying to balance her calculus textbook on her lap whilst she did the problems. On the couch, Tommy and Felicity were researching post war Germany, whilst Oliver groaned at his algebra.
"Oh for God's sake." He snapped, promptly screwing up his paper and throwing it into the fire.
Laurel lowered her book. "Was that your math homework?"
"No." Said Oliver decisively. Laurel just rolled her eyes and continued reading, as Oliver grimaced at Tommy.
A very pretty dark haired girl came over and jumped on to the arm of Sara's chair. "Have you done your geography?"
"It's my next priority." Sara groaned. "Why I thought it would be a good idea to come to your 'good student' party last night, I will never know." Her words were directed at Tommy and Oliver.
"It was a good party!" Tommy argued. "How's it going Nyssa?" He asked the dark haired girl.
"How's what going?"
"No I mean generally- you know what, never mind."
"You fell asleep on the couch practically naked." Laurel informed Tommy. Well that explains what he was doing there, Felicity thought wryly. Tommy just wiggled his eyebrows in response, something Felicity was coming to realise that he did a lot.
"Do you wanna go upstairs Laurel?" Oliver interrupted the conversation.
"Now?"
"Upstairs?" Oliver repeated, a grin creeping on to his face.
The corners of Laurel's mouth turned up, her eyes flickering. "I would very much like to go upstairs." She agreed, and the two of them got up, whispering and giggling as they disappeared. Felicity about what Oliver had said about getting lucky last night, and wondered if she should tell Laurel. After lunch, Tommy had asked her not to; though he too looked kind of pissed off about that. Felicity decided it wasn't her business, but still felt like knowing about it made the blame partially hers.
Johanna, who had just joined them, sighed as she dropped into Laurel's vacated seat. "Let's play a game of whose room will be unsafe for the next hour or so."
"I vote mine." Tommy slapped a hand on the table.
"Oh please," Nyssa rolled her eyes, "They're fourteen, at the most they're going to make out a little."
"Have you ever seen Laurel and Ollie make out?" Sara asked. "Their tongues are everywhere, it's disgusting." She shuddered, but to Felicity, it felt like there was something else there. Maybe it was that Laurel was Sara's sister, but somehow she didn't think that was it.
"Personally, I think you're all being very assuming." Felicity grinned. "How do you know Oliver isn't showing Laurel his fossil collection?"
Tommy laughed. "You're right, we should think more highly of them. I'm sure Oliver just wants to talk to Laurel about the state of the economy in private."
"God, I hope your Dad calls in the middle of them making out again." Johanna said. "He hates Oliver so much, it's hilarious."
"I think that may be partially due to the time Oliver and I left drawing pins on his chair in first year." Tommy grimaced. "Yeah, he was not happy about that…"
"Your Dad teaches here?" Felicity asked Sara.
"Yeah, biology, god knows why. He's the reason me and Laurel are here." She gestured at the general vicinity. "There's no way we could afford to come here."
"Tell me about it." Felicity agreed.
"Such lowly paupers." Tommy mocked as he tried to balance his pencil on the end of his nose instead of drawing the quadratic graphs they had moved onto.
"I feel like a charity worker just talking to you, it's extremely self-fulfilling." Nyssa teased, though in a deadpan sort of way that left Felicity unsure whether she was really joking or not.
"Posh twats." Sara snorted.
"The language of the peasants these days." Tommy grinned. "My ears are bleeding."
Felicity threw a cushion at him, which only made him laugh more.
"Cheer up Smoak." He told her. "Four days, and then we can have the sort of party I'm definitely not allowed to have any more to celebrate a week of hard work."
"Ollie won't be invited then." Sara said.
"What kinds of parties do fourteen year old boarders even have?"
"Well let me tell you, there's a hard core amount of fizzy drinks, which would just disappoint your parents." He wiggled his eyebrows in an exaggerated manner, as if he was going to throw the best party of his life.
"Who's disappointing parents?" Oliver appeared behind them. "I'm definitely in."
"That was quick." Tommy observed, surprised.
Oliver rolled his eyes. "Your Dad called again." He told Sara. "I think he's worked out our routine."
"What a shame!" Johanna said sarcastically.
Oliver turned to Felicity. "What's a coefficient?"
"It's the number in front of the unknown value; like in 20x, 20 is the coefficient."
Oliver scrunched up his eyes for a second, trying to commit the information to memory. "Well that is my learning for the day done!" He announced cheerfully. "Who wants to go down to the changing rooms and mess up Coach Wilson's spare kit system?"
I had to massively fuck around with everyone's ages and backstories in this – sorry?