Gym Class Hero

"Barry, what are you doing here?" Becky asked him in confusion.

Barry didn't respond. Instead, he grabbed her arm and pulled her a little ways down the hallway before opening a door.

"Barry, what are you—?"

But she was cut off when Barry pulled her into a small janitor's closet, turning on the light and shutting the door.

"What's going on?" she asked him, baffled by his actions, "I haven't seen you in years, and you just show up here where I work and pull me into a closet?! I have a class to get to that starts in two minutes."

"So do I," Barry said, running a hand over his face.

Becky looked at him in confusion.

"I work for the CCPD," Barry started to explain, knowing the only thing he could do now was come clean to her.

He had to let her in on it, or she was going to end up blowing his cover.

"I'm undercover," he told her.

"What?" she asked, still not getting it, "What exactly does that mean? Barry, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here as a student," he told her, "And from now on, my name isn't Barry. It's Grant."

Her eyes grew wide as she started to understand.

"You're my new student?" she asked in disbelief.

Barry nodded.

"And I would really appreciate it if you just play along," he said quickly, "If you blow my cover, I'm done."

"What are you undercover for?" she asked in confusion.

"I'll explain all of that later," Barry said, looking at his watch—the bell would be ringing in less than a minute, "Right now, I think we should probably get to class."

She sighed and looked at him in disbelief.

"I'm supposed to just play along with my ex-boyfriend from high school being one of my students?" she asked, laughing lightly at the absurdity of the whole situation.

Barry laughed, too.

"Hey, I'm the one who's going to have to call you 'Ms. Cooper,'" he said.

She laughed at that, and Barry found that it was a sound he had missed. He hadn't seen Becky in years, and although the circumstances were strange, he found himself happy to see her again. It was then that he realized just how small this closet really was. They were almost touching, nearly pressed together in the small space.

Becky must have realized it, too, because she was blushing suddenly.

"We, um," she said, looking at Barry with a strange look on her face, "We should probably get going."

"Yeah," Barry said, reaching over and fumbling with the door handle for a second before opening the door.

He made sure no one was in the hallway before stepping out of the closet. A student leaving a closet with his hot English teacher would probably look a little conspicuous. Wait, hot?

Barry quickly made his way to the classroom, immediately taking the seat that Michael, one of Justin's friends who he had met at lunch, had saved for him. When Becky—or should he say, Ms. Cooper—entered the classroom, Barry could see that her face was still bright red.

English class was awkward, to say the least. Becky managed to play along and call him Grant for the duration of the period. Really, she did her best to treat Barry like any other student. She seemed to be trying not to look at him as she taught the class, introducing the new novel they were going to be reading.

Flowers for Algernon.

Barry had read it before. He was pretty sure it was a part of the course curriculum back when he and Becky were still in school. It was one of his favorites. It served as a reminder to him that people didn't care about how smart you are, but rather the kind of person you are. It's better to have a good heart than a sharp brain. Barry had always strived to have both, but he made sure that heart always came first. Really, it was a terrific book.

Every time Becky and Barry made eye contact, both of them would blush and look away. Barry tried to politely take notes and participate in their novel introduction activity, but he couldn't help but be distracted. Becky looked very much like he remembered her. Curly blonde hair, blue eyes, beautiful smile. Barry found himself wondering why they had ever broken up.

Oh, that's right. Iris.

Barry gave himself a mental shake. Now wasn't the time for him to be reliving that drama. That had all been a real nightmare, one that he wasn't interested in revisiting, even in his thoughts.

"Dude, what's wrong?" Michael asked him in a whisper.

Barry looked over at him.

"What?" he asked.

"You look like you're ready to jump out of your seat and flash out of the room any second."

Barry laughed at his coincidental choice of words and then tried to relax, leaning back in his chair at his desk. He hadn't realized how tense he had been.

"I'm good," he said, "Just nervous about track practice tonight. I don't know anyone on the team."

"Yes, you do," Michael said, grinning, "I'm on the team."

"You are?" Barry said, smiling now, "Well, at least I know one person."

Barry's attention was then pulled from the conversation when Beck—Ms. Cooper suddenly spoke to him.

"Do you have something you want to share with the class there, Mr. West?" she asked him.

The entire class looked at him, and Barry blushed, worried he had upset Becky, but when he looked at her, she had a small smile on her lips.

She was messing with him.

"No, Ms. Cooper," he said, trying to fight back his own smile.

The rest of the class looked back and forth between the two of them curiously, and Barry quickly cleared his throat and looked down at his notes.

He glanced up again once Becky had resumed teaching the class, and he saw that she seemed to still have a small smile on her face as she wrote on the board. Barry was going to have a hard time focusing in this class this semester.

Barry's anatomy and physiology class was probably going to be his favorite period of the day. The teacher was very nice, unlike his chem teacher, and he wasn't his ex-girlfriend like his English teacher. Varry wasn't completely lost like he was in his Spanish class, and he wasn't expected to sing, like in he was in Glee. Also, the anatomy they were covering wasn't reproductive in nature like his sex ed class, so there wasn't anything really embarrassing or awkward about it. It was just a nice, normal class, which was refreshing for him. Why couldn't his entire day be like that?

Barry had gym class on his schedule after that. Gym had always been hell for Barry back in high school. Really, it hadn't even been because he was that bad at sports. Really, he wasn't completely hopeless in the athletics department. He had been in track and cross country, after all, so he was at least a good runner, and he had been fit. Not exactly muscular, but fit.

No, gym had always been terrible for him because Tony Woodward and his friends would use the time to torture Barry. They had constantly messed with him during gym class, and the locker room was always hell for Barry because of them.

Thankfully, Barry didn't have to worry about that now. Not only was bullying less tolerated in schools now, but the other kids in the school seemed to actually really like Barry. To them, he wasn't the weird nerdy, science kid with a crazy murderer for a father locked up in Iron Heights. He was Grant, the quiet, yet very likable new guy who had crushed it during the glee auditions and had embarrassed the hell out of the biggest asshole teacher in the school. Within a day, everyone was curious about the new guy.

Barry noticed quite a few girls kept staring at him as he walked down the hallway, whispering and giggling to their friends when he returned their gaze. It made him somewhat uncomfortable. It seemed to happen everywhere he went, and it was really distracting when he was just trying to figure out where the locker room was.

At least when he reached the men's locker room there weren't any girls hovering near him anymore. He was glad when he recognized one guy, Forrest, from his lunch table. He hadn't gotten the chance to talk to him much at lunch, but he was a nice guy as far as Barry could tell. Barry recognized a few other guys from some of his other classes, but he didn't know their names. He was usually really good with names, but Barry found himself a bit overwhelmed with the large number of people he had met today.

Gym class was interesting, to say the least. Being the first day back from winter break, the gym teacher, Mr. Zenner, decided to make it a fun day by having them play dodgeball. While most of the class cheered, Barry couldn't help but think to himself that Mr. Zenner's definition of fun didn't exactly coincide with his own.

Barry had always hated dodgeball when he was in school, seeing as Tony and his friends would always target him specifically, and they always seemed to be aiming for his face when they tried to hit him with their dodgeballs. It was hell for Barry.

Barry was sorry to see that they hadn't done away with the awful tradition of picking teams, as if they were looking for ways to make somebody feel bad. Barry hadn't always been picked last for teams when he was in school, but he certainly was one of the fewer left standing after most of the teams had been picked. He just hoped that wouldn't be the case now.

To his surprise, Barry wasn't one of the last picked. In fact, he was part of the first few that were picked for teams. Forrest grinned when he and Barry ended up on the same team. A few other guys smiled at him, too. Barry hadn't even met most of them officially, yet they all seemed to know his name and who he was. Being a smaller school, word certainly did travel fast. He guessed they probably weren't very used to getting new students, so when they did, everyone was a bit curious to get to know the new guy.

Barry's popularity only seemed to grow by the time gym class was done. His teammates certainly were happy that they had picked Barry for their team. He was easily the best dodgeball player they had ever seen. It was kind of easy for him when the balls looked like they were practically coming at him in slow motion. Barry didn't want to be cocky or anything, but really, with his powers, he probably could have taken on the entire class by himself and still won. It was almost too easy for him to dodge the balls that were flying at him, and it was just as easy for him to catch a ball and get the person who had thrown it out. His team won every round.

His teammates were all grinning at him, knowing that they were probably only winning because of him. Barry's aim was decent, too, but the way he dodged and caught the balls that were thrown at him was incredibly impressive. It seemed like most people on the other team were all trying to target him the most, since he was the biggest threat, but Barry was untouchable, and he was having fun. Who knew dodgeball could actually be fun?

As they were exiting the gym, all of Barry's teammates were slapping him on the back.

"That was awesome, Grant!"

"Good game, dude."

Barry grinned at them. He felt a bit bad, though—like he had cheated. None of the other kids knew that they had just been playing dodgeball with the Flash. None of them really stood a chance against him. Barry had always had a competitive side to him, but he promised himself that from now on, he wouldn't go overboard. He would have to try harder to dial it back a bit, but that was hard for him. He had never really been able to enjoy gym class when he was in school, and he found that it was a good feeling. It felt good to be good at something.

After showering and changing back into his normal clothes, Barry had only one more class left to go to for the day. Psychology. Like his anatomy class, it thankfully was uneventful. All they really did during the class time was go over the basic areas of the brain. The class seemed simple enough. The only downside was the amount of homework they had been given.

Barry would have given anything to be able to go straight home after that last class, but unfortunately, he still had track practice to go to. If he thought it was unfair to pair kids unknowingly against the Flash in dodgeball, it was nothing compared to competing with him on the track field. Really, the idea of it was just laughable. Barry's tryout didn't last very long. After running just a few sprints with the team watching, the coach made his decision easily.

"Great job, Grant," the coach said once Barry had completed a short 100 meter dash, "You're form is excellent. We'll just have to work on your speed a bit."

Barry tried not to laugh. He wondered how his coach would react if he showed him just how fast he could really go. He had dialed it back just enough that he'd be good enough to get on the team, but he didn't go too fast because he didn't want to turn any heads. It was still the first day, after all, and he seemed to have already captured enough attention from his fellow students. The last thing he needed was to draw more attention to himself.

"Alright, everyone, we're running the bleachers today."

The whole team groaned as they made their way over to the bleachers. Barry remembered doing this drill back in high school when he had been on the team. It sucked. They literally spent a full hour just running up and down the bleachers, their legs becoming incredibly sore. All except for Barry's, of course. His leg muscles, joints, and ligaments had grown accustomed to withstand running at the speed of sound. Jogging up and down some stairs was nothing to him.

"Dude, you're not even sweating," his new friend, Michael, gasped as they jogged up the bleachers alongside each other, "You don't even seem out of breath."

Barry just smiled and shrugged.

Shit. He had forgotten about breathing. Looking around him, he could see the whole track team gasping for breath as they ran, and here he was breathing normally as if he were going for a light walk. He would have to try hard to at least seem winded in the future.

After track practice was over, Barry was finally able to go home for the day. As he drove home at a painfully slow pace, Barry thought about how the day had gone. He wasn't the biggest fan of his classes, but the students had all been very welcoming. This school was a lot smaller than the school he had gone to, and the kids were a lot friendlier. Overall, he felt like he was off to a good start.

When Barry got home, Joe was already there, sitting on the couch in the living room, going over a few case files. He chuckled when Barry walked through the front door and set down his car keys.

"What?" Barry asked.

"Nothing," Joe said, shaking his head with a smile on his face, "It's just going to take some getting used to—you carrying that red backpack around with you again."

Barry tossed the backpack down on the floor and sat down on the other end of the couch.

"I have a bone to pick with you," he said seriously to Joe.

Joe raised his eyebrows, a small smile still tugging at the corners of his lips. Barry could tell that Joe already knew what he was going to say.

"Sex ed, Joe? Really?" Barry said incredulously, "Sex ed? Glee club? What are you and Singh playing at?"

Joe just laughed.

"I thought it'd be funny," he snickered.

Barry huffed angrily.

"It is not funny," he said, "You guilt me into doing this assignment, and then you go and put me in classes like sex ed?"

"Who knows, Barry?" Joe said, grinning, "Maybe you'll learn a thing or two."

Barry groaned and ran a hand over his face in exasperation.

"And why on earth would you put me in advanced Spanish?" he asked, "You know I don't know Spanish."

"That one was Singh's idea, actually," Joe said seriously, "He and I both knew you were bound to take it too seriously, and you were going to end up getting straight A's in every class. We thought that would look strange, so we gave you a class you would be bad at."

Barry groaned.

"You could have just told me to dumb myself down," he said irritably, "You didn't have to put me in Spanish."

"Think of it as a challenge, Bar," Joe said unhelpfully, "You like challenges."

"Yeah, well this assignment is enough of a challenge as it is," Barry pointed out.

"How was your first day, anyways?" Joe asked seriously, "Did it go alright?"

Barry thought about it for a moment and couldn't stop a smile from forming on his lips.

"It was okay," he said, "I made a few friends."

"You did?" Joe asked.

"Why the tone of surprise?" Barry asked defensively.

"No reason," Joe said quickly, "But let's be honest, Bar. You didn't have that many friends when you were in school. There was Iris and then those two friends of yours you used to hang around with. What were their names again?"

"Cam and Matt," Barry answered offhandedly, "And I'll have you know that I'm not completely hopeless when it comes to making friends."

"I didn't say you were," Joe said calmly, "Listen, Bar, I know your high school experience wasn't the greatest. I know how hard it was for you making friends after everything with your dad. Hopefully, you can look at this as your second chance. You don't have anything weighing you down now."

"I'm not ashamed of my dad, Joe," Barry said quietly, "I'm proud to be his son."

"I know, Bar," Joe assured him, "I know you love your dad. That's not what I meant. I just meant that you get a fresh start now. You can be whoever you want to be."

Barry laughed.

"You realize I'm twenty-five, right?" he reminded him, "I have a job and a life and friends. This is just a dumb work assignment."

Joe chuckled.

"Yes, I know," he nodded, "I'm just saying you should try to enjoy it."

Barry nodded and smiled at him.

"I'm going to go grab something to eat," he told him then, standing up from the couch, "I'm starving. Those high school cafeteria meals are tiny for me."

Joe laughed, shaking his head in amusement.

"You better not eat half my kitchen," he joked, although he knew Barry was probably more than capable of actually doing that, "Now that you're staying here, I'm going to have to start buying more food."

"I'll go grocery shopping later," Barry called from the kitchen.

Joe could hear him rummaging through all the cupboards in the other room. He might not actually be a teenager now, but thanks to his powers, Barry certainly did eat like one.

"Celebrating casual Friday a few days early, Barry?" Iris asked when she walked into the living room later that evening, "Or just a rough Monday?"

Barry looked down at the clothes he was wearing. He had on just jeans and a T-shirt—way too casual compared to what he normally wore to work.

"I just changed after work," he answered simply.

"What are you working on?" Iris asked, looking at the papers he had laid out on the coffee table in front of him.

"Oh, um, just some CSI stuff," Barry answered vaguely, quickly hiding the papers from view, "It's sort of confidential. Open investigation and all."

It wasn't a complete lie. It did have to do with work, after all, and the assignment he was given was confidential, so it wasn't really lying. In all actuality, though, he was working on his Spanish homework. He had been able to rapidly speed through most of his other homework, but Spanish was taking him longer because he had so much catching up to do.

He had a Spanish dictionary in front him the entire time that he had to repeatedly keep speed reading. For about five to ten minutes, he was fluent in the language and could practically speak it flawlessly, and then he would lose it. That was the downside to speed reading. He could only retain the information in his short-term memory, not his long-term. If it worked that way, he would have learned all the languages by now and memorized the encyclopedia or something.

Iris thankfully didn't press him for details as he put his papers away. Instead, she sat down next to him and pulled out her laptop.

"What are you working on?" he asked her, already suspecting her answer.

"My blog," she answered curtly.

She shot a quick glance at him, her expression serious, as if daring him to lecture her about it right now. Barry really didn't feel like getting into it with her about it tonight, so he let it slide. Instead, he finished packing up his stuff and stood up from the couch.

"You're really going to leave right now, Barry?" Iris demanded incredulously, "I know you don't like that I write about the Flash because you have some kind of problem with him, but that doesn't mean you have to leave the room when I work on my blog."

"Iris," Barry said seriously, "I never said I have a problem with the Flash. I think what he's doing is good. And I'm not leaving because of your blog. I'm just going to bed because I'm exhausted and I have an early morning tomorrow."

"Oh," she said in a small voice, her anger deflating, "Sorry, I guess I'm just a bit defensive about it. My dad's been giving me a hard time about it lately, too."

"He's just worried about you," Barry said gently, "Now that you've put your name on it, you could be putting yourself in danger."

Iris sighed.

"Barry, I really don't feel like talking about this right now," she said tiredly.

Barry sat back down on the couch, frowning as he looked at her face.

"Is something else bothering you?" he asked perceptively, seeing she was clearly stressing about more than just her blog at the moment.

Iris sighed again.

"It's nothing, Barry," she dismissed, looking back at her screen again.

Barry nudged her arm lightly, giving her a small smile.

"Come on," he said lightly, "You know I know you better than that."

Iris let out a heavy sigh.

"It's just…I feel like things have been really different between us lately," she said seriously, "Like everything has been different between us since you woke up from your coma."

Barry sighed and looked down at the couch between them.

"I know I haven't been myself lately," he said softly, "I'm sorry. Things have been…weird, since I woke up. It's just been a little hard to adjust."

"I feel like there's something you're not telling me," she said bluntly, "Like you're keeping something from me. I can tell there's something going on with you, but you're not telling me what it is."

Barry closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, overwhelmed with her accusation. God, there was so much he kept from her. The fact that he was the Flash was the big thing, but there were so many other things he didn't tell her, like how he felt about her. And now this stupid assignment of his. The secrets seemed to keep piling up, and Barry felt like he was going to explode if he continued to keep them all from his best friend. He was supposed to tell her everything. That's the way it had always been between them. They didn't keep secrets from each other, and now Barry felt like there were so many parts of his life that she didn't even know about. She didn't truly know him anymore, something that saddened him deeply.

"You're right," he muttered.

Iris raised her eyebrows in shock. She had clearly expected him to deny it.

"You're right," he repeated, looking up to her eyes again, "I have been keeping secrets from you."

Barry sighed.

"There isn't a gas leak in my building," he told her, "I had another reason for moving back home. I've been doing a special assignment for Singh lately, and moving back home was a part of it."

Iris frowned at him as she thought over this information.

"What's the assignment?" she asked curiously.

"I can't tell you that," he said instantly, "It's confidential. Trust me, if I could tell you about it, I would."

Iris crossed her arms.

"Since when do you not tell me about your work?" she asked, "You usually tell me everything."

"This is a really sensitive case," Barry replied in a strained voice, "Most of the department doesn't even know about it."

"Does my dad know?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

Barry nodded.

"He's the lead detective on the case," he answered, "But even Eddie, his own partner, doesn't know about it. Like I said, it's a sensitive case."

Iris frowned at him.

"So, Eddie isn't in on it, but you are?" she asked in confusion, "What could possibly be so top secret?"

"Iris, if I could tell you about it, I would, but the less people that know about it the better," Barry said, "For now, I just need you to trust me."

Iris sighed and then gave him a serious look.

"You know I'm not going to stop until I find out what it is."

Barry smiled fondly at her.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you," he said in amusement, "I'm going to go to bed now. I have to get up early tomorrow."

With that, Barry left the living room, leaving Iris to ponder over what assignment he could possibly have been given that was so top secret he was even keeping it from her. Iris wondered if it had something to do with STAR Labs and why Barry seemed to spend so much time there. She wondered if it was why he had been so distant with her—why he seemed to disappear at strange hours of the day and night. She wondered just how much of Barry's life she really didn't know about.