Chuck Vs. High School.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck.

Well, since my crossover fic didn't go too well, I decided to stick to what I knew I wrote a vanilla Chuck fic. Only, it's not Vanilla, because he's in high school.

So have a read, and tell me if it's worth working on! :D

Chapter One: vs. The Game.

The shrieking of an alarm rudely roused Chuck from his mediocre sleep. With his face still buried in his pillow, he stuck a hand out to his bedside table and found his iPhone, the source of the piercing sound. Still not lifting his head out of the pillow, he fumbled around with the touch-screen till he turned the alarm off. He knew from the alarm that it was 7:30. He also knew that any second now, his big sister Ellie would come barging in through his bedroom door, in her baby blue Mavericks Cheerleaders uniform, and a bouncing brunette pony-tail, to do the job that his iPhone alarm failed to do.

"Chuck! Get out of bed Chuck, come on!" she yelled as she burst through his door, and laid two hands on him and began to shake him violently.

He did nothing but mumble and groan, the duvet provided a much better option than the world outside it offered.

"Chuck, come on! We have to get to school!" still shaking him.

"Fine! Ellie, I'll get out of bed!" he grumbled.

Reluctantly, he swung his two lanky legs out into the morning air, a tingle going through his skin as he did so. Ellie stood up and began lecturing him as she walked out into the hallway, Chuck just ambled behind her, pretending that he was listening.

"Look, Chuck, I know that getting up every morning is something that no one wants to do, but you-"

The rest of her sentence was cut off by the sound of his door closing on her and the clicks that followed as Chuck locked it. That defiant act bought him a few minutes of serenity in his cosy bed, but being a 16 year old Junior in high-school, he'd take what he could get.

Eventually, Chuck gathered enough courage to get himself out of bed and get ready. He took a quick shower, threw on a pair of jeans and a red hoodie, and tied the laces on his black Converse shoes. It was his own self-assigned uniform, wearing that same combination with little variation every week. When he walked into the kitchen, he saw that Ellie was sitting at the dining table, eating a bowl of Cheerios.

"There you are!" she exclaimed. "Quick, quick, eat your breakfast, Devon's going to be here soon!" mentioning that her boyfriend was giving them a lift.

"So Casey's not driving us to school?" he asked, noticing the not-so-surprising absence of their guardian.

"No, he's on another business trip." she explained.

After Chuck and Ellie's parents died on one of their many overseas trips, their last wills dictated that a guardian was to look after them until Chuck was 18. Realistically, they didn't need a guardian, as Ellie was already 18 and she'd already been caring for Chuck for as long as he could remember. At the reading of their parents will, however, Chuck had met the person that would be their guardian for as long as he was still a minor.

John Casey.

Apparently, he was their next of kin, a distant relation that their parents had specified. They argued against it at first; the two Bartowski siblings were so closely knit that they knew they might as well just live by themselves. But when they laid eyes on their prescribed guardian, they knew it was redundant to try. He was an imposing man, held himself in a military manner, which was expected of someone who was a Sergeant in the U.S Marine Corps. When he was at home, which wasn't often, there wasn't much communication that would pass between him and Chuck. Just grunts and grumbles. Today, like many other days, Casey wasn't here to give them a ride in his prized Crown Victoria. So it left an open gap for Ellie's boyfriend to drive them to school.

When they'd both finished quickly eating their breakfast, Chuck grabbed his precious messenger bag, and followed Ellie out the front door into the courtyard of their apartment complex. As they walked out onto the street to wait for Devon, or Captain Awesome as he'd liked to be called, Chuck spotted the scrawny build, and greasy black hair of Morgan, his best-friend.

"Hey Chuck!" he waved. "Oh, and Ellie, beautiful as always." Morgan hopelessly flirted.

"Morgan, no!" Chuck scolded. "We've been through this." he said through the side of his mouth.

"Yeah, please Morgan, it's kinda weird." she added.

"What are you doing here anyway buddy? Your Mom busy or something?"

"I didn't want to wake her and the guy she's been… dating" he gulped, disgusted at the thought of it.

"You're in luck man, Captain Awesome's driving us today." reassuring him that he wouldn't have to deal with Casey.

Ellie found the prospect of Morgan riding with them a bit unsettling, but seeing as her boyfriend was the Quarterback of their school's football team, she was certain that he'd behave. A look of disappointment dropped on Morgan's face the moment that he heard that Ellie's boyfriend was the one driving them to school, as he's always had a crush on Ellie. It wasn't apparent to Devon, but Morgan hated his guts. Well… he tried to hate his guts. Devon lived up to his self-proclaimed title, he was truly and completely, awesome. No one could hate him.

"Here he comes now!" said Ellie before turning sharply to Morgan. "Behave okay? I don't want a repeat of last week." she scolded him.

"He started it!"

"Buddy, he just had his arm around my sister." noted Chuck.

"Exactly! He can't just do that!" chopping down into his palm for emphasis.

"You threw a can of Grape Soda at him."

"Both of you shh!" ordered Ellie.

A red Jeep pulled up in front of them, revealing Devon in his deep blue Mavericks football jersey in the drivers seat.

"Hey babe!" he deeply intoned. "Chuck! Awesome to see you dude. Oh and Morgan too!"

"Hey honey." kissing him on the cheek. "Sorry about him," gesturing at Morgan. "he just turned up."

"Nah, it's awesome! Yeah, get in here little guy!" he proclaimed.

Chuck pushed himself up against the side door, and buckled his seat-belt. Morgan, with a fake look of disinterest on his face, clambered up into the jeep and closed the door.

"Alright, everybody strapped in?" asked Devon, looking in his rear-view.

After confirming that they'd all buckled up, Devon veered the car onto the road, and began to make his way towards Lincoln Senior High. Knowing that Devon would most likely turn on his stereo system, Chuck instinctively pushed two ear-buds into his ears, and plugged them into his iPhone. Selecting his Music app, he scrolled down the list till he found the song he was craving for. "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" by Cake, and let it play as he was driven through the streets of Echo Park.

His school day started like normal. Reporting to home-room, the Monday announcements being read out over the P.A. After which, Mrs. Grahams, his home-room teacher took roll-call.

"Jeffrey Barnes?" she called out, reading the first name on the list.

There was no reply, which was expected like a rainbow after a sun-shower. Jeff was the epitome of uncoordinated. Chuck was certain, sitting in his uncomfortable wooden chair, that Jeff had probably just realised that he was late for school, and was most likely quite literally rolling out of bed. For a change, Chuck was betting on seeing his beanie clad head stumble through the door, with his wispy straw-coloured hair coming out in tufts out of his beanie. Alas, his guesses were overruled by the inevitable tardiness of Jeff Barnes.

"No surprise there, uh… Chuck Bartowski?"

"Present." stated Chuck.

For the remainder of the roll-call, Chuck zoned out. All he was looking forward to was getting to Computer Tech class, which was the first class he'd have today. A shrill ringing knocked him back into reality. Morgan, who was sitting next to him the entire time, got up and waited for Chuck to scoop his bag up and walk to class.

"Every time man. Jeff always shows up late!" Morgan exclaimed.

"It wouldn't be Jeff without it man. Just think, the world would probably spin the other way 'round before he got normal." Chuck joked.

The two walked towards the door that led into the hallway outside, and found a sea of students gradually tottering past.

"Oh man! Every morning, the hallway's always so packed!" complained Morgan, lifting his hand to point out the obvious crowd that was shuffling through the corridors of Lincoln High.

"One of the many pains of high school man." Chuck stated.

Slowly, he turned to look at Morgan, feeling theatrical at this opportunity.

"See you on the other side." he said dramatically, before leaving Morgan to stand there and watch him get engulfed by the passing crowd.

Given his considerable height, Chuck found it challenging to weave himself towards the computer labs. He did however, have a good view of everything in front of him. His goal, the staircase that led to the second level, was straight ahead, and he tried his best to get there without pushing anybody out of the way. Until a glistening blonde head stopped him dead in his tracks. It was only a glimpse, but passing across the hallway that intersected the one he was in at that moment, was a girl, possibly new, with shining blonde hair, and two slim lips pursed together in concentration. To him, it went like one of those cliché movie scenes where time seemed to lengthen at the brief sight of her. An imaginary spotlight followed her across that hall, and even though it was all in his head, she still out shined it. It took a shove from a passer-by to get him out of yet another of his day-dreams, every bone in his body pushed him to forego getting to class early to follow her, but his brain overruled it. The chances that a girl like that existed, and wanted to talk to a guy like Chuck were about as slim as Olivia Wilde tapping him on the shoulder and asking him out to a movie. It didn't change the fact that she was absolutely amazing. Chuck wasn't one to believe in love at first sight, but that girl, the blonde with shining hair, would change all of that.

The labs were empty when Chuck walked in, and that included the absence of Mr. Larkin, his favourite teacher. Pulling his messenger bag out over his head, Chuck took a seat at a workstation, and booted the close-to-outdated computer up. Eventually, the class began to fill up, and when the entire class was almost here, Mr. Larkin paced in, looking worse for wear. His shirt was crumpled, and the shoulder bag he was carrying had a few papers sticking out of it. Strands of his black hair fell around his youthful face, which was sporting a very apparent five-o'clock shadow. Chuck was worried for him. Not only was he his favourite teacher, but Mr. Larkin was a very close friend of Chuck's late father. When Mr. Larkin was going through college, Chuck's dad was his professor, and the two of them had collaborated on some extremely advanced technology. Most of it went into the government, and never made it into the public, but the work that they did was rumoured to be game changing.

However, his rushed appearance didn't change the fact that this class was the only thing standing between Chuck and insanity; it balanced him out in a way. Whenever he was in here, the world around him achieved a natural balance.

"Alright class, for this lesson, just go on with your databases." Mr. Larkin announced in a dishevelled voice. "Umm, Chuck, you can come up and collect that game we worked on, look through the changes I made." he said, singling him out quite nervously.

This was the cherry that topped the sundae. Now Chuck was definitely worried something was wrong with him. Granted, he never worked on what the class was doing, given his extensive knowledge of IT, but the quivers in his voice spoke multitudes about his situation. As he got up and approached him, he saw him trying to maintain a calm and level attitude, but the way his eyes shifted from side to side resembled that of a paranoid mouse that was being chased by a hungry cat. Chuck reached for the deep blue hard-drive case that was clutched in Mr. Larkin's hands. Just when he was about to close his hands around the case, his hand shot forward and pulled Chuck closer to him. The smell of sweat and anxiety assaulted Chuck's nose, causing him to think of every possible reason why he was like this. Was there a fall in with the school? Was he on the verge of losing his job? Or was it something to do with the work him and Chuck's father did?

"You haven't let anyone else see what you've worked on have you?" he harshly whispered.

"To be honest sir, no one's cared enou-"

"You need to be careful Chuck." he interrupted.

"Are you alright? I mean, it's just a game." Chuck asked.

"Yes, yes. I'm okay." he clearly lied. "You take this with you," holding up the case, "and you'll find instructions in the graphics coding on Level 6."

"Instructions? Sir, I thought you made changes to it already?"

His eyes began to dart more suddenly now, looking out the window, into the hallway, and even scanning the faces of every other student in the class.

"Just take the hard-drive Chuck. In class, work on every other level, but level 6. Then, take it home, never let it leave your sight. When you're sure that you're alone, plug it into your computer and open the coding for level 6." he instructed in the clearest voice that his current state let him do.

Without another word, Mr. Larkin shoved the case into Chuck's hoodie pouch, and sent him back to his seat. For the remainder of the lesson, Chuck found it hard to concentrate on programming the game, "Dragonhammer". If he wasn't worrying over Mr. Larkin, he would drift seamlessly into that one glowing memory of the girl in the hallway. Whoever she was, Chuck was set on finding out more. Like if her personality was as exuberant as her hair? Or if she played Halo, and if she did, could she beat Chuck?

A few short glances at the front of the classroom showed that Mr. Larkin was still as unsettled as before, but he seemed to be showing signs of calming down. However, he still hadn't got up to pace around the room, checking on the progress of any of Chuck's classmates, and his tan suede shoulder bag remained more or less untouched. Finally, when the shrill ringing of the bell signalled the end of the period, Chuck packed up, carefully put the deep-blue case in messenger bag, next to his personal Alienware laptop, and zipped it up. Upon walking out of class, he waved his good bye to Mr. Larkin, to which he stood up and approached Chuck with an outstretched hand.

"Hey, Chuck, I just want to say your dad was a good man. I know it's late, but this may be the last time I'll get to say it to you. He would've been proud of you, with the way you worked on that game. It was almost like I was working with him again." he said nostalgically.

"Mr. Larkin, no offence, but you do know that I'm not graduating till next year right?" Chuck clarified.

"Yeah, I know. But it's going to be the last time you're going to see me, at least, I think it might be." he added. "Goodbye Chuck." He said it like there was a large burden that was lifted on his shoulders, like if he died to today, he'd be content. With no other choice, Chuck took his outstretched hand and shook it.

"Where are you going? Did you get another job at another school?" Chuck inquired, saddened by his words.

"You better get going, I don't want to keep you from you next class. Remember, Level Six." Mr. Larkin said, disregarding his query and ushering him towards the corridor.

There was no real arguing against it, besides, all of this was just too confusing for him to gather just one single thing to ask him about. What's so important about level 6? Why was he so anxious? What was he anxious about? There was just to much. So, with no other option, he made his way out into the empty corridor, turned a corner, and hoped that all of that wasn't true, that it was just some joke.

Little did he know, that coming up the staircase just behind him, were two burly, suited men. The two of them both had one order, that rang clear and loud in their disciplined heads.

Bring in Ex-Agent Bryce Larkin. Whatever the cost.

Mr. Larkin was right at least honest about one thing.

Tell me what y'all think!