Hey y'all! Here is a new chapter! This time it's based on a prompt from IShipIt87 who asked me for a high school fic with Barry being bothered by Becky Cooper and him asking Iris to pretend to be his girlfriend/kiss him to get Becky off his back... Thanks so much for your story idea!

I tweaked the prompt a little, I hope you don't mind :)

Enjoy!

Thank you, Becky Cooper

Iris was just at her locker to put the books of her first two periods away, when a dull *clang* next to her startled her out of her thoughts. She turned around to see her best friend standing at his locker (that was only two doors down from hers), his forehead resting against its cool metal, eyes closed in exasperation.

Iris scrunched up her nose in confusion. She knew that Barry's last lesson must have been chemistry, one of his favorite subjects he just wouldn't stop shutting up about... normally. Definitely no reason to look so glum.

"Something wrong, Bear?" Iris asked worriedly.

"Hrnngh" Barry replied growling, while opening his locker with unnecessary much force and subsequently shoving his books into it indignantly, "you'll just say 'I told you so'..." he stuffed his history book into his backpack in a manner that made Iris wonder if that book had ever personally offended him and slammed his locker door shut.

The two teenagers made their way towards their next class, history.

Iris was pretty sure she knew what Barry was referring to: "Ooooh, let me guess the source of your misery – is it... THE Nightmare, also known as Becky Cooper?" Her face distorted with disgust like she was talking about a particularly gross animal... something like a slug or a very hairy spider. Unfortunately Becky Cooper was neither the one nor the other but a real nasty human being.

Barry just nodded affirmatively, a big frown on his face.

Iris shook her head, "See? I told..." she cut herself off, not wanting to rub salt into Barry's wounds. Instead, Iris decided to ask one simple question: "What did she do?"

Barry sighed, irritatedly running a hand through his hair. "I was almost late for chemistry and everyone was already partnered up for today's lesson – except for Becky, of course. We made it through the lesson quite okay – I was focussing on conducting the experiment and she talked... a lot. But then, towards the end of class, she – well – let's say she asked me to come to her house at 5 and help her with her homework-"

"You mean she commanded you to do that, right?" Iris interrupted. Everyone knew that Becky Cooper did not ask anyone for anything. Also, 'help' was not a word in Becky's vocabulary.

Barry just shrugged, not wanting to give Iris the satisfaction of another 'I told you so', "Anyway. I said that I had other plans and had no intention to change them. She got angry and made it clear that otherwise our first date last Saturday would also be our last date if I did not do as she 'asked'," Barry's voice turned bitter at that last word.

They entered the classroom and seated themselves in the last row, other students pooled inside the room as well, sitting down chattily.

"And?" Iris pressed on. Their class was going to start in a minute or so and Mr. Maxwell did not tolerate any kind of conversation besides his own boring monologues.

"And I told her that I wasn't interested in showing up at her house or in another date with her."

"Bravo, Bear!" Iris complimented her friend, grinning proudly. Usually Becky Cooper's victims took weeks until they finally freed themselves from her evil clutches. And by then, they were in alarming conditions... or at least their self-confidence was.

"Yeah..." Barry murmured deflated, by far not as triumphant as Iris was expecting him to be.

"And?"

"And she kindly told me that she has been the only one to bestow her mercy upon me and go on a date with me for a good reason... Oh, and that I should go on and start adopting cats to get used to my eternal loneliness that will follow up me breaking up with her," Barry rattled off hastily, on the one hand because he was embarrassed of himself for being bothered by Becky's remark and on the other hand because Mr. Maxwell had asked the last student coming in to close the door, so he could begin monologuing.

Iris felt her jaw drop. That despicable monster had the audacity...! Oh, she definitely had a bone to pick with that Becky Cooper... Her eyes flitted to her best friend who was sitting there with slumped shoulders, pretending to be eagerly writing down whatever their history teacher was babbling about (Iris knew for a fact that Barry normally made use of their history lessons by napping through them... she frequently had to explain him what old Maxwell had talked about later on at home).

Seeing Barry so low-spirited made Iris despise Becky Cooper even more.

She remembered warning Barry of Becky after he had sheepishly, but happily announced that he had a date with that certain... person. Iris had heard from some of her female friends how Becky Cooper collected broken nerd hearts like philatelists post stamps. But Barry had laughed her concerns off, reminding Iris that gossip was not necessarily a trustworthy source and he was old enough to take care of himself... yeah, apparently not...

'You know that any girl would be happy to be your gf, right?' Iris scribbled down on a slip of paper, then discreetly slid it to Barry.

She watched her best friend read her message with a strange look on his face, giving her a short and grateful smile (that was somewhat sad around the edges, Iris noticed). That faint reaction as well as Becky Cooper's disgustingly smug face Iris caught a glimpse of when that nightmare had been passing by Barry during lunchtime, was enough to have Iris spend the rest of her day concocting a devious plan for revenge.

"Let's teach that Becky Cooper a lesson." Iris announced decisively the next day, when she and Barry boarded the bus that would take them to school.

"Mhm, yeah sure," Barry replied apathetically, looking out of the window.

"No, I'm serious, Barry. That horrible person hurt you and I – as your best friend – demand that we're gonna wage war against her! And what better way to do that than to throw her stupid words back into her dumb face?!"

Realizing that she really was serious about it, Barry focused his glance on Iris: "What are you talking about?"

Iris grinned, glad to finally have gotten her best friend's attention: "She said you would end up a crazy, lonely cat-person, right? So what if you turned up with an awesome new girlfriend instead?"

She earned herself a blank stare from Barry.

"Come on, Bear... I'm not that bad of a catch, am I?" Iris joked, nudging Barry's shoulder playfully, "I'll pretend to be your girlfriend and hopefully Becky will choke on her cruel, untruthful words and leave you be!"

Barry turned bright red at Iris's proposal, "I couldn't ask you to do this for me, Iris..."

"That's why I'm offering, you big goof," Iris laughed, winking, "So, what do you say?"

Barry and Iris entered the school building holding hands, just talking like usual. Iris noticed that Barry's hands were a bit clammy, but she knew that he wasn't a good liar and just gave him a reassuring squeeze. She had no idea that Barry was nearly fainting because here he was, in public, holding hands with the one girl he's always loved – even if it was only pretend.

Funnily enough they didn't have to do a lot differently than usual to assure their cover, Iris noted. A bit more physical contact, sure, but aside from that, no real difference. Besides, this kind of physical contact maybe was a bit unfamiliar for the two of them, but it actually was kind of... nice, Iris mused, while she and Barry were walking down the hallway towards their lockers, with Iris comfortably nestled up against Barry's body, one of his arms casually draped around her shoulders (okay, maybe not that casually – after all, Iris had to instruct Barry to put his arm around her... but he was getting better at it, slowly but surely reacting to her body instinctively).

She was starting to wonder why nobody of their fellow students reacted to their obvious couple-yness (Iris could have sworn that both Kelly and Alice had winked at her and given her a thumbs up! What was going on with everyone?), when Becky Cooper herself was strutting towards them, giving them both a death glare. Iris could feel Barry turn rigid.

"I know what this is," Becky hissed, staring daggers at Barry, then Iris.

"An amazing person finding someone to appreciate them for the way they are? Unlike others?" Iris challenged her best friend's tantalizer, grabbing Barry's hand to emphasize her point and calm down Barry (and herself).

"Pleease... don't get the impression that your playing pretend does fool anyone," Becky sneered, eyes flickering between Barry and Iris.

Barry started to shuffle his feet self-consciously beside her, tentatively tugging on Iris's hand, trying to pull her away from Becky, who was inching towards the two friends.

Iris felt anger bubbling up inside her – who was that girl to bully Iris's best friend that way? Someone who had been put through enough misery already without the help of tyrants like Tony Woodward or Becky Cooper... someone who had suffered through so much at an early age and had preserved his gentleness, his goodness, his light?!

"Well, then don't let this fool you," Iris growled dangerously, then swiveled around to grab Barry by the collar of his button-down shirt and kiss him hotly on the mouth.

Iris could feel Barry stiffen at first, completely taken aback by her action, but then relaxing again, responding to her lips instinctively. A soothing warmth spread throughout Iris's entire body, quenching the blazing fire of her previous rage, putting her at ease. She felt Barry's arms encircling her waist, pulling her closer to him. And strangely enough, I didn't feel weird at all... It felt right.

In desperate need for air, Barry and Iris broke away from one another, completely dazed by what had just happened.

An unfazed "you owe me ten bucks" coming from one student passing them (apparently directed at his bespectacled friend who promptly was digging some money out of his pocket), brought Barry and Iris back to reality.

Both blushing furiously, Barry and Iris turned around to where Becky Cooper had been standing, only to find out that she was already storming away, not even bothering tossing another glance into their direction. Iris only now became aware of Barry's hands still resting on her hips comfortably.

"Phew," she laughed nervously, gnawing her lips, her glance involuntarily wandering back to Barry's, which were now slightly glittery thanks to her lip gloss, "I never thought I'd say this, but... thank you, Becky Cooper?"

Barry laughed huskily, licking off the strawberry lip gloss of his lips.

"Thank you, Becky Cooper," he repeated, grinning goofily at Iris, who rolled her eyes at Barry's silliness before poking him in the stomach playfully.

"I think you missed a spot." And with that, Iris planted a big smooch on Barry's cheek, smearing the rest of her lip gloss all over his face.

Fin.

I hope you guys liked it :)

As always: Reviews, constructive criticism and story suggestions are always welcome! :)

Also a heads-up for 'Loveable Nerds and Superheroes': I've finally somewhat settled for a real plot-plot (my indecisiveness is my worst enemy, I swear) and chapter 4 is about halfway/ two-thirds done, so... soon ^.^