Author Notes: Okay, so first contact with me! Yay! :) So this is the chapter where Barry gets settled in his apartment in Starling. There won't be much Oliver for a while, the rough draft I had of this story developed way too fast, so I figured taking it slow would be a good idea! I'll be trying to squeeze in a chapter every now and then. I shouldn't take longer than a week for a new chapter, so stay tuned. Also, the title of the story is from "Headlights" by Eminem, ft. Nate Ruess. It's a great song about regrets and realizations, so if you haven't checked it out please do so! Now to the story!
Barry PoV
It was pretty late by the time I arrived in Starling City. I had dozed off for a couple of hours, which was surprising since I've been plagued by nightmares of the incident and I had countless sleepless nights. Starling City was big, like Central City, but it seemed... gloomier. It felt like the city had been shrouded in a thick, dark smog. Great, I don't think this will help my ever growing depression at all. Did this city have to feel so broken and sad? God, I'd rather be at Coast City, that place is always sunny, plus it's by a nice warm beach. Oh well, Starling would have to do for now. I'll just try and avoid any conflicts and interactions, that'd probably be best for me. If push comes to shove, then I'll just face the music. It's not like someone could break me any further, you know?
The cab driver stopped in front of my apartment with a small screech coming from the tires of the old cab. I'd thanked him for his service, paid him, grabbed my belongings and headed to my apartment. I checked the text Iris sent me earlier telling me which apartment it was, after taking a quick glance I made my way to room 19B. I opened the door with the key that Eddie had given me and walked inside to inspect the place. It was... small. Not too small, but smaller than I thought. It had a bedroom, a small kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom, the basics. I actually quite liked it, it wasn't too big or small for me and it felt nice and cozy to boot. I started putting all of my belongings where I wanted them to go, when I finished I took a quick glance at the clock. 1:45 am, God damnit. I had school in the morning at 8:30. I quickly finished my bedtime duties and hopped right into my new bed and went to sleep. I was exhausted and I was internally freaking out about my first day of school tomorrow.
I woke up feeling nauseous and irritated, mostly because my alarm was blaring as loud as it possibly could right into my ear. I sleepily looked at the time. 7:30. Great, I was likely going to be late on my first day. Always late, Allen, always late... I don't think I've ever been early before in my life, either barely on time or late. I panicked and quickly got ready for the day, spent about 15 minutes in the shower and 5 minutes getting ready. I grabbed my jacket and put it on, because judging from the weather outside, it was going to be a chilly day. Found my backpack and put one strap over my shoulder and left my apartment. Luckily for me, Starling City High School was only a block away from my apartment, I checked the time and I still had about 30 minutes left to get to school. Me being me, I didn't want to be late so I ran as fast as my feet could take me, which is actually pretty fast considering I took track for a couple of years. I made it just in time. 8:20. I checked my schedule intently, my first class of the day was AP Calculus with Mr. Palmer. Oh—To clarify, I am a Junior in high school, and I just turned 16 not too long ago. So most would say I'm quite young, but honestly? I act much older than my peers. Not to mention I'm smarter than most, in fact, my counselor back at Central City High School actually considered moving me up to a Senior. Right now, if we went by age, I'd barely be a Sophomore right now. Thank God I am not a Sophomore, that group of teenagers are so goddamn immature. The Juniors aren't much better, but the Seniors are actually pretty mature.
I made my way into the classroom and was so relieved to hear that we were free to sit wherever we wanted. So what did I do? Sat away from like... everyone. That is until this blonde girl sat next to me and held out her hand. "Hey! I'm Felicity. Felicity Smoak. I heard you're new here—well I mean obviously you're new here because I've never seen you here before, but you already knew that..." Wow. I had no idea that there was another person on this Earth that could ramble on and on like I can. That's kind of reassuring. I smiled at her, shook her hand, and laughed at her little introduction. "Yeah, I'm new. My name is Bartholomew Allen—but I go by Barry Allen. Well, not that, ughh... just call me Barry." She giggled in response "So what brings you here to Starling?" My face fell into a frown. I wasn't going to tell anyone about my... incident. It was none of their business and I wanted to try and forget about it. So naturally, I lied. "I'm a... uhhh... Foreign Exchange Student...?" Good fucking job, Allen, they're all going to think you're from a different country or some shit. She arched an eyebrow at my answer and simply replied, "Well... we weren't notified of any Exchange Students... You're lying aren't you?" I sighed and nodded my head. "Yeah, look—you're nice and all, but my reasons are my reasons and I'd like to keep them to myself—I mean no disrespect, okay?" She gave me a sympathetic look then smiled. "Alright, that's fine. I understand wanting to bury your past so I won't bug you about it." I gave her a soft smile and fiddled with the laces on my jacket. "Thanks, Felicity." She then gave me... an odd look? "So... Barry. Are you uhh... seeing anyone?" I laughed and she looked hurt after that. "N-No I didn't mean it like that it's just, well... you're kinda barking up the wrong tree here." She went wide-eyed and gave me a look of disbelief and then sighed. "Ughh, of course I am. It's always the gay ones that are pretty." I laughed at that and then Mr. Palmer entered the classroom, introduced me to the class and then handed out some assignments. I told her just because I felt like I could trust her, plus I should try and get comfortable with telling people instead of keeping it in and pretending I had a thing for girls. Joe will never stop believing that I love Iris and that makes me sick to my stomach. She's my foster sister for fuck's sake.
After the bell rang Felicity approached me. "So, Barry, what other classes do you have?" We were walking down the hall. This school was weird. It gave students a 10 minute break in between each class, and they even had an hour-long lunch. Daily. Back at CCHS we had 5 minutes to get to classes and a 30 minute lunch. Barely enough time to do anything in that shithole of a school. I looked at my schedule carefully today was an A day so I had Calculus, and now I was headed to Chemistry with Mr. Stein, then I had Advanced Art with Mr. Wilson, and to finish of today I had... P.E. with Mr. Diggle... Tomorrow was a B day and on those days I had Government with Mrs. Queen, Drama with Mr. Merlyn, English with Mr. Steele, and finally Physics with Mr. Wells. I handed her my schedule. "Here take a look at it yourself." She studied my schedule very closely. "Oh. You have Mrs. Queen for Government?" I nodded my head. "So, you're a Senior too?" I laughed. "No. I shouldn't really even be a Junior either, but I am." She looked impressed. "So you skipped a grade in Elementary?" "Yeah, 2nd grade was just stupidly easy for me so they put me in 3rd grade. Even then that was easy, but they didn't want me to skip another grade. I just turned 16 not too long ago, sooo yeah..." She froze. "You mean, I, an 18 year old girl, tried hitting on someone who should be a sophomore?" I laughed and nodded my head in reply. "Yeah, pretty much! But, hey, it's fine. I'm more mature than most guys your age." She nodded her head rapidly. "On that, we can definitely agree on."
Pretty soon after our little chat Felicity gave me her number and invited me to have lunch with her and some of her friends. We had to part ways since she was headed to her Economics class and I was going to Chemistry. That class was going to be the death of me this year, Mr. Stein was very strict, and today we didn't even do any labs just a bunch of assignments and took notes. After my 2nd hour we have lunch, and I was pretty hungry to say the least. I walked out of the classroom and looked at my phone, as Felicity texted me telling me where they usually eat lunch at. The bleachers in the gym, that wasn't too far from my Chemistry class. There was a gas station right by the school so I was going to head there to grab me something to eat and get a coffee, because I was seriously getting tired. On my way out I bumped into someone. "Oh, sorry-" next thing I knew I was pinned to the wall and the guy was yelling at me. My heart started racing as fast as humanly possible and my vision was going blurry. Was I having a panic attack or something? Before I knew it, I was out cold. The last thing I saw was my assailant dropping me and booking it as people started to crowd around me. Did I mention I have claustrophobia? That didn't help one bit. Already at a great start there, Allen!
Uh oh! Looks like Barry has just had his first dose of bullying at his new school. He met Felicity though, so that's pretty awesome! Also just to let you know, if you have any questions at all about my works or just me in general, I've got an (Who uses that anymore, right? But, I thought it'd be an easy way for me to answer any questions you guys have!) my name is the same as it is on here. ProfaneWings. :) Also, the next chapter is going to reveal a little about Barry's past, so stay tuned my friends ^.^