Summary: High-school wallflower Felicity decides to participate in an online game that involves completing challenges and dares throughout Starling City. Although she is initially thrilled by the game's antics - and the fact that it asks her to partner with a handsome stranger for some of the tasks - the experience eventually escalates into a life-or-death struggle.

Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Nerve, or any of its characters. This is an adaptation of the movie with the same name.

A/N: Hey guys! I am super excited about this story. I recently got obsessed with the movie Nerve, and decided to write my own adaptation of the film. This also has a bit of OoC with some of the characters, but I tried my best. I hope you like it, read and please tell me what you think! Here you have chapter one.


Felicity typed the password and the computer unlocked itself onto the main screen. The first thing she saw was the sweet smile from her brother in the background picture, from his graduation, with both her and her mother on each side. She opened Spotify and clicked on the first playlist. A soft sound started playing on the background. Opening Google Chrome, she logged in on her email and checked her inbox.

URGENT: MIT Admission Reminder

Dear Felicity,

Congratulations again! This is a reminder that your reply is due tomorrow. This could be the first day of the rest of your life. Click Accept and join the class of 2020

Sincerely,

Chet Evans

Interim Deputy Director

She started writing a reply, already declining the offer she waited for her whole life. She saw the face of her mother next to the browser window, and continued to type until she just let her hand fall with a loud slap on top of the keyboard in frustration. How could she be such a loser and not tell her mom that she wanted to leave the little town near Starling City and move to the other side of the country? Just as a groan went out of her throat, a small beeping of a notification sounded.

Ray Palmer tagged you in a post.

Her heart started pounding inside her chest, and she hesitated before clicking the alert bubble, opening Facebook on a black and white picture of Ray with a simple caption: Go Cougars. Peep Rally today. Thanks for the photo Felicity Smoak.

She bit her bottom lip. She was about to press the like button when a FaceTime call came in. It was Sara.

"Good morning, what are you doing?" Sara said through the screen. She was on her bedroom, and you could see the huge S on top of her bed, like one of those you would see on Broadway. "Besides stalking Ray, of course."

Instantly, she opened the newspaper with rapidly reddening cheeks. "I'm reading the news, thank you very much."

"Oh, you're reading the news, you're such a good liar." Sara got up of her bed with an ironic smile.

"Seriously, how do you know I was stalking Ray?" Felicity said with a breathy chuckle.

"Because I know you very, very well. Oh wait! Did you tell your mom about MIT yet?" she picked up her phone and then looked at the camera again.

"Yeah, I told her. She's super excited for me to move across the country and go to a really expensive tech school." Felicity said with a serious face.

"Really?" the high-pitched sound Sara made her laugh and she said no. "No?"

"No, I haven't found, I haven't found the right time to tell her…" a loud beep on Sara's computer interrupted her. Her friend sent her a message with a link through Facebook chat.

"Oh, Nerve is starting. Sorry, this is really important." Felicity frowned slightly.

"What's Nerve?" she asked curious.

Sara replied distracted. "It's a game. Here, just click on the video." Felicity did as instructed and the word Nerve appeared on capitals with black background.

"Welcome to Nerve Starling City. Nerve is a 24-hour game like Truth or Dare, minus the Truth," a robotic voice said. A variety of weird images and gifs and videos played on the screen. "Watchers pay to watch. Players play to win, cash and glory. Are you a watcher or a player? Are you a watcher or a player? Are you a watcher or a player?"

"It's cool, right?" Sara said.

"This looks very sketchy. Is this legal?"

"I don't know. Probably not. Just do it. Sign up and watch, time's ticking."

"Okay, signing up. Look, this is me signing up to watch you." Felicity left the window of the game open but did nothing at all.

"Felicity! You have to sign up and watch me. It's very important that I have Watchers."

"Felicity!" the voice of her mom sounded from the kitchen.

"I got to go. My mom just got home," she said to Sara, who told her to just do it. "I'll sign up after breakfast, I promise."

"Thank you. I love you, I'll see you in a bit." she put her index finger on her nose and Felicity did the same.

"Bye."

"Bye, babe."

She closed her laptop's lid and went to the kitchen to her mother. She was seated on the dining table sipping on a mug of coffee. Felicity took a big spoon of pancake dough and spread it on a pan. That was when her mother asked about her future.

"I mean, Sara hasn't gotten into any schools yet, and she doesn't even care."

"You know what? Sara doesn't have to care, she has a trust fund. And you have something far more valuable than that."

"Here we go." she muttered with a roll of her eyes.

"You have drive, you have focus, you have a scholarship to a local college. And even though we can't afford the dorm, you get to have me as your new college roommate." her mom moved her butt against hers in a funny gesture.

"Actually, I, um… I have kind of a cool idea about that." Donna's eyes looked at her expectantly. "What if we fixed up Roy's room and listed you on Airbnb or something? Maybe it's time to finally go through his stuff and maybe give some of it to Goodwill, and I could give you some space."

"I don't want space." Her mom replied instantly. "I just want you."

Felicity sighed. She knew Roy was still an open wound on her mom's heart, so she was going to comply this time for her. "Okay, I am totally down with commuting. I can get my reading done on the ferry."

"Yeah? That will work, right?"

"Yeah…"


Loud yells and cheers surrounded her as she pressed the shutter button, turning the camera to get shots from different angles. She was on the football's team changing room taking pictures for the school's yearbook, but she couldn't really take the lens away from Ray's face as he stared straight ahead to their coach with the Cougars's pet. She walked back to John, who was holding her gear for her on a corner.

"Hand me the zoom lens." she asked removing the regular lens she had.

"Here…" he handed her what she asked and received the other camera lens. "Doesn't it feel a little unbalanced if every single yearbook photo is of Ray Palmer?"

"It's not my fault he's on the team." she answered innocently.

John Diggle was her best male friend. They had met in Elementary School and were united for their growing love for tech. His hair was always shaved, with chocolate eyes and a geeky smile. Everything about him was kind of nerd; the button up shirts, the giant coats, the thick eyebrows and the fact that he was always surfing in the "dark web", as he liked to call it.

On the other hand, there was Ray Palmer. The guy she had a crush on for two straight years. He was tall with broad shoulders and tanned skin. He had a beautiful charming perfect smile and long eyelashes. He was the kind of guy that any girl would want, the captain of the football team, hot but also friendly.

"Go Cougars! Let's go!" the bunch of big guys started to jog to the main door that would lead them to the field, making Felicity back up on John's chest, who was loudly telling the players to be careful with her. She started hitting the shutter button over and over, taking pictures all the way to the bleachers.

Outside, there was a lot of people with banners, the cheerleaders were about to start their routine, which included Sara with dark sunglasses.

"Laurel! Laurel!" Sara screamed to her sister, who was on the bleachers cheering for the team with everybody else. She passed her her phone as it jingled. "Are you ready, remember what to do?"

Laurel adjusted a couple of things in Sara's phone and then focused it on her sister. "Okay, you're on!"

"Hey, Watchers! It's Sara Baby. I'm counting on you to get me to the final round, so don't let me down and I won't let you down, I promise." she blew a kiss to the camera and slid her index finger across her nose to Felicity. She did the same thing with confusion. As Sara ran back to the cheerleaders, Laurel directed the camera to her.

The cheerleaders routine began, football players stood behind them all and people on the bleachers had their phones out recording everything. It took Felicity a while to process that they were all recording as Watchers for Nerve. Just as she was trying to figure out what her first dare was, the routine ended but Sara turned around and lifted her skirt, revealing her pale and round butt to all the audience and recording phones. When she finally put her skirt back in place, people started cheering like crazy as more sounds came out from Sara's phone, one distinctively of money. The wild crowed continued cheering as Felicity showed the picture she had taken to Diggle, who just let out a breathy laugh and a disbelieving smile.

What the hell had just happened?


"This girl… the Watchers made her eat dog food. She could barely keep it in, but she did. Then these guys had to jump off a cliff to the sea. This guy, he is really popular. He rode his skateboard behind a police car by grabbing the back of the car, for three miles." Laurel told Sara and Curtis.

"I have so many Watchers now!" Sara exclaimed happily, and her friends cheered for her. "I just need to get in that little box thing. Who's winning now?"

"Apparently, this guy named Ryan. I guess he put peanut butter on his junk and let his dog lick it off." the older Lance explained.

"I could do that…" Sara muttered.

"But you don't have a dog." her sister reminded her.

"Or a dick, Laurel." Curtis said with a funny face.

Before any of them could say anything else, a loud beeping came out from Sara's phone, indicating a new dare for her.

"What is it? I need something flashy like the peanut butter thing." said Sara as Felicity and Digg approached them with their food. Felicity had taken her blond hair in a low ponytail and her camera hanged on her neck to her black and white stripped chest.

"Oh my god, how weird. How do they know you're afraid of heights?" Laurel asked with a deep frown.

Curtis snorted. "That's what they do, it's easy. They just take your info from your old profiles and put it in your Nerve profile."

"That's so creepy!" Sara exclaimed sipping her soda.

"You just got suspended. I thought you were done playing Nerve." reproached Felicity to her best friend.

"Hell no!" she fought. "The girl who won Seattle now has millions of followers. She's insta-famous."

"Who cares?" groaned the blond with a roll of her blue eyes.

"I care, Felicity. I don't expect you to understand. I'm an adrenaline junkie, you like to stay within your comfort zone, that's fine."

"That's not true. What about that pole dancing class we took?" at this, Curtis raised his eyebrows and bit his pizza.

"Liz, I dragged you there and you sat in the corner and watched." Sara said.

"I am a visual learner." Felicity told the group as if it was the most obvious response in the world.

"Why are you attacking her?" John intervened, backing up her best friend.

Sara rolled her eyes at his reaction. "I'm not attacking her, Diggle."

"Yeah, you are." he continued. The youngest Lance just glanced back to Felicity.

"Life is passing you by. You need to learn to take a few risks every once in a while."

"I do take risks!" she refuted. To which Laurel smirked in irony, Curtis kept his pizza in his mouth and shook his head, and even John kept quiet.

"Really? Okay, fine. Let's just say, hypothetically, you are playing Nerve." she crossed her arms on her chest. "What would be a good Nerve dare for Felicity?"

"Make out with Ray." Laurel whispered and Sara nodded enthusiastically.

"Baby steps, baby steps. Just talk to Ray." interrupted Curtis feeling sorry for his friend.

"What?"

"He probably likes you, too. You'll never know if you don't talk to him."

"And then everybody that's watching you they would just go on and vote." explained Curtis. "Who wants to see Liz mackin' on Ray P?"

"Oh my god!" Laurel said high pitched.

"You guys…" Felicity sighed.

"All who wanna see Liz macking on Ray P say yes," both Laurel and Curtis raised their hands and yelled a big yes. Then Sara pointed at John. "I assume no."

"Abstained," he replied sourly.

"Thank you," said Felicity.

"Alright, you've been dared. Do you accept you dare, Felicity?"

"What's the point? We're graduating, I-"

"All you have to do is say 'Hi.'" Sara interrupted her.

"I don't want to say 'Hello' to him," she said frustrated.

Her best friend shrugged, "Fine. I love you so much, Felicity, but you're a Watcher. So watch me do it for you."

"No no no, Sara, please no." Sara got up of the booth they were in and started walking to the directions some of the football players were.

"Just watch!"

One of the reasons that, even though Sara and Felicity were best friends, they had different groups of friends, was because they were completely different. It used to bother Felicity to death, until she just began to deal with it. There were a lot of things in Sara's life that she didn't like and that made her feel sorry for her, but ultimately, Sara was a good friend that always supported her. But in this moments, where her gut battled Felicity's repressed courage, that she didn't feel comfortable at all in her presence.

When Sara got to their table, a guy named Jackson started clapping.

"Yeah, Sara! Why don't you show us the front next time?"

"You first, Jacks. I hear it's really big," she did a gesture of a small size with her hands, and the guys laughed at him.

"I guess it's average…" Jacks muttered.

"Hey, Ray," she touched his shoulder and he smiled up to her. Felicity groaned watching in her seat with Curtis, Laurel and John.

"What's up?" Ray said with his charming tone.

"I was wondering, do you have a girlfriend right now?" she asked him with her left hand of her hip. He hesitated a bit and she rushed to clarify herself. "It's not for me, it's for a friend."

"Which friend?" Felicity covered her mouth in embarrassment. Sara didn't bother to say her name or anything, she just pointed her to her seat and all of the guys turned to see her, half covered in the booth, half covered behind Diggle. Slowly, she waved with a fake smile, and Ray turned back to Sara. "No, she's not my type."

"You're not nearly as hot as you think you are," Sara slapped his shoulder. Upset to her core, Felicity started to gather her stuff.

"Yes, he is!" Jacks mocked Sara.

"And you are a douchebag!" she told him.

Felicity took her bag and stood up to flee the scene. Curtis and Laurel called out for her, and Sara was about to chase her but John spoke up.

"Just let her go. Not cool, Sara."

She slumped back in her seat and let out a huge breath. "I'm just trying to help her."

"Let's not help her," John said again.

"She'll figure it out," she shook her head in exasperation.

Felicity hopped on her bike and lost herself in the music playing in her earbuds and the familiar streets of her little town. Across the river, she could see the huge buildings of Starling City that attracted so many tourists from all over the world.

She felt like screaming. And she did.

She was so fed up with this life. She was fed up of her friends thinking so lowly of her. She was fed up with being the bored one. She was fed up of everybody else that had an exciting life. She was fed up with herself and her incapacity of telling her mother that she wanted to leave. Fed up with Sara for being so reckless and making her the laugh of the school. Fed up with being careful. Fed up with everything.

Her phone beeped on her pocket with two messages of Sara.

I'm sorry Liz

You're too smart for him anyways

At the same time, a text from John came in.

Screw Sara. Not everyone has to be a player

She got to the apartment she shared with her mother and made a bee line to her room. Throwing her stuff to her bed, she sat on her desk with her computer in front of her. The window with Nerve was still there, mocking her with both the words Watcher and Player.

She was done being a watcher of life.

With the smallest of hesitation, she pressed the button for Player.

"Hello, welcome to Nerve. You have chosen Player. Nerve is a direct democracy. Watchers decide your dares. The two players with the most Watchers by the end of regulation will advance to the final round where the winner takes all. Watchers can watch from anywhere but they are encouraged to film live. So don't be alarmed. There are three rules: One, all dares must be filmed on the Player's phone. Two, there are only two ways to be eliminated. Fail or bail. Three, snitches get stitches. Thank you for keeping Nerve a secret. Good luck, Player."

The second the voice finished talking, her phone beeped, requesting her to enter her touch ID.

Are you ready for your first dare? |ACCEPT|

That was it. There was no turning back from her decision. Everybody would see her doing God-knows-what in those hours left on the game. Nonetheless, she pressed accept, took her jacket and made a call for Diggle.

What she didn't know was that as soon as her door closed behind her, the still open window in her computer started opening different profiles, extracting all information from her social media, her emails and apps, even about her joint bank account she had with her mother.

Felicity had exited her apartment when the computer shut itself down.