Author's Note: CHAPTER TWENTY OH MA GAAAAAAWWWWDDDDDDDDDD...

Anyway...

After a short and rather boring game of Truth or Dare had been played (no one could think of any good dares that weren't weird or embarrassing, and all the truths asked were stuff everyone basically already knew), the girls talking slowly filtered off until each of them were fast asleep.

Kara woke up around 3:30 (according to her phone), and went to use the bathroom. When she came back, she hurriedly rooted through her bag, resisted the urge to groan in frustration and awkwardly shook Caitlin awake.

"Mm?" Caitlin mumbled, rubbing her eyes and blinking up at Kara. "Kara? What time is it?"

"Around 3:30," Kara responded in a whisper. "Um, Caitlin, so... I just started my period. And I don't, um, I don't have anything."

"Oh!" Caitlin sat up, looking more awake. "Oh no, I'm so sorry."

"Do you...?"

Caitlin bit her lip and shook her head. "My period just ended and I didn't bring any. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," mumbled Kara, shifting uncomfortably. "I just... thought I would wake you up and ask first before I woke up Thea."

"Yeah, yeah, totally," Caitlin nodded. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help. But I'm sure Thea won't mind at all if you wake her up. She's a girl; she'll understand."

Kara nodded nervously. "Right, yeah, of course. Thanks, Caitlin."

Caitlin nodded back, though even as she laid down she wasn't planning on falling back asleep until she knew that Kara had everything figured out.

Kara took a deep breath and stepped between Sara and Iris to reach Thea's bed. She took another deep breath before gently shaking Thea's shoulder. "Thea?" she whispered. "Um... Thea?"

"Wussup?" Thea mumbled, her long hair falling in front of her face as she turned on her back. "Kara? You need something?"

"Um, yeah," Kara said, twisting her hands together. "I, um, I just started my period, and I was wondering where you keep your pads because I forgot mine."

Thea yawned widely and sat up, pushing her hair back. "Oh, yeah, hang on. There right in the bathroom."

She got up and led Kara out. They walked together to the upstairs bathroom and Thea rooted around in the closet before pulling out a few boxes of supplies. "There you go," she said with a smile. "Do you have, like, cramps or anything? I get them really bad and I've got medicine for it..."

"No, I'm fine," Kara said with a small smile. "Thanks, Thea."

"No problem," Thea grinned. She backed out the bathroom. "I'll let you get... yeah."

When Kara got back to the bedroom, she was surprised to find the other girls awake. "Okay, ladies," Iris said in a low voice. "What do you think about us heading outside and going for a walk?"

"In our pajamas?" Caitlin asked, seeming shocked by the notion.

Thea nodded, eyebrows wiggling. Sara shrugged, pushing her bed-head hair out of her face and sliding on a sweatshirt from her bag. "I'm down."

"It's it going to be cold?" Caitlin said, still sounding unsure of the idea. "I mean, it's December."

"Here," Thea tossed her a bulky sweatshirt that she had grabbed while she was rooting through her closet. "Wear this. I've got another one."

"Thanks," Caitlin said, grabbing the sweatshirt and putting it on. It seemed the other girls had come prepared with their own sweatshirts, and Felicity put on a pair of sweatpants over her sleep shorts. Kara and Iris both put their hair in large messy-buns, and the six girls crept out of Thea's room. They snuck down the stairs, hands over their mouths to stop any giggles that were trying to escape, and hurried to the front door.

Thea carefully unlatched and opened the door, and the girls tumbled out.

"It's raining!" Felicity gasped, the cold shock of the rain surprising her.

"Hang on," Thea said, hurrying back inside and coming out with four umbrellas. She had thrown on a raincoat so she didn't need one, and Sara insisted she was fine getting wet, so the other four girls had enough umbrellas to go around.

They snuck out onto the lawn, Kara gasping at the cold of the grass. Caitlin shivered, pulling Thea's sweatshirt tighter around her.

"Look at us!" Iris squealed. "Little rebels!"

"Oh, yeah, so rebellious," Thea responded, rolling her eyes. "Sneaking out on the lawn. Big whoopty-doo."

They walked around for a little while, feeling bold and rebellious (except Thea), and admired the stars.

"Guys..." Kara murmured after a good twenty minutes. She yawned, widely. "It's cold. And I'm tired."

"I can't feel my feet," Sara admitted, soaked and barefoot. "Should we head back inside?"

The other girls nodded and they tramped back over the wet grass to Thea's house. It was completely dark, looming, and a little bit creepy, and her entryway looked like the entrance to a haunted house. Caitlin shivered, unnerved.

Thea shook out all their umbrellas as best she could and hung her raincoat up. Yawning, the girls tramped back up to the bedroom. Sara squeezed out her hair and changed into her clothes from yesterday, and then they all crashed into their respectively beds.

Felicity woke up first the next morning. She always did on sleepovers, not that she had gone to very many. She would spend her time laying in bed until she could wait no longer and then she would grab her phone and her book and do some reading while she waited for everyone else to wake up.

Iris was the next up. She rolled around for awhile, trying to get back to sleep, before giving up and waving at Felicity. "Hey, Fel," she mumbled, her hair a mess and still half in a bun from the night before.

"Morning," Felicity greeted in a whisper, not wanting to wake the other girls.

Iris flopped over and grabbed her phone from where it was charging along the wall. She unlocked it and hopped onto Instagram, leaving Felicity to keep on reading.

Caitlin was the next to wake. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, smiling at Felicity. "Good morning," she whispered. "And good morning, Iris."

"Morning," Iris responded, flipping onto her back. "How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty well," Caitlin said. She sat up and stretched, and Felicity sighed enviously. Somehow, even with her hair not immaculately curled and her makeup removed, Caitlin still looked gorgeous. "You?"

Iris mumbled something, still not looking awake, and Caitlin shook her head with a smile.

The talking, even though it was quiet, woke up Kara and Thea. Sara was still completely out, her blond hair sprawled across the pillow and her petit frame starfished across her sleeping bag. Her hair had dried since their early-morning adventures, and Felicity could only hope that she hadn't caught a cold from the rain.

After waiting a good fifteen minutes, Thea rolled her eyes and glanced at Sara. "Girls, no matter how loud we talk or how vocally we pronounce that we are awake and hungry, she's not gonna wake up. Sara could sleep through a fire alarm. Like, she had actually slept through a fire alarm before."

Felicity winced. "That sounds like a story."

"We shouldn't wake her up, though, she probably needs the sleep," Kara said, looking concerned."

"We don't have to," Thea shrugged. "But I'm gonna."

She hopped off her bed and crouched down beside Sara and leaned down so she was right in her ear. "Wake up!"

Sara snorted a little but didn't wake up.

"Alright, ladies, it's time for Plan B," Thea said seriously. She walked around to the other end of Sara and grabbed the cloth of her sleeping bag. In seconds, Sara was being picked up inside her bed and tipped upside down.

That woke her up. She garbled something and rubbed at her face, before squirming out of her sleeping bag like a worm and hopping to her feet. "Rude!" she mumbled, scratching her nose and yawning widely. "I was sleeping."

"We're hungry," Iris complained.

"I'd say Thea's hangry, not hungry, but hey that's just me," Sara responded with a shrug.

The girls all grabbed sweatshirts and headed downstairs. Felicity got all the way into the kitchen before she remembered that Thea had a brother, and that very same brother happened to be her sort-of-boyfriend. She was suddenly very glad that she had changed from her short pajama bottoms and into sweatpants, and that she was wearing something other then just her pajama shirt.

"Morning, Ollie," Thea greeted.

"Morning," Oliver grumbled back. Felicity gulped. His hair was all mussed up from sleeping, and his voice was even lower then usual. She clenched her fists and tried hard to not internally swoon. Sometimes, Oliver was just so attractive that it wasn't even fair.

Rasia, the Queens' cook, came in from the kitchen. She was holding a large plate stacked high with pancakes. Sara's eyes grew wide. "Pancakes!"

"Of course, Sara," Rasia said in her faint accent, smiling, setting the plate down on the table. "Do you think that I would forget about your love of the pancakes?

Sara grinned. " 'Course not!" she responded, quickly sitting down next to Oliver and reaching for a plate. "Oh, hey Oliver."

"Hey, Sara," Oliver responded, smiling. "Haven't seen you around in awhile."

"Probably because you're always hiding in your room," Sara said, smirking and patting his arm when Oliver rolled his eyes. "Kara, could you be a dear and pass the syrup?"

Kara quickly poured syrup on her own stack of pancakes, and then passed the bottle to Sara. She quickly smiled at Oliver when they made eye contact, leaving Felicity to stare at her and Sara in amazement. How were they both so comfortable sitting with him at a breakfast table in their pajamas?

Also, why had Oliver yet to look at her this morning?

Suddenly self-conscious and a little bit depressed, Felicity smoothed down her hair and tried to hide behind her pancakes.

The girls spoke in low voices about school while they ate. Most of them were still half-asleep, but they woke up a bit more once they had food in their bellies.

"Alright, ladies," Thea spoke up. Oliver had long since left the lunch table with barely a glance at Felicity, which made her feel rather like a small green grape that someone had squashed.

"Alright, Thea," Sara responded, mimicking her friend's voice.

"Shut up, Sara," Thea said in the same mocking tone. "Anyway, what's our plan for this morning."

"More sleeeepppp..." groaned Iris, throwing herself down on the couch and sprawling across it. Sara promptly sat on her feet.

"My mom is picking me up at 9:30," Caitlin said, sitting neatly down on ottoman and pulling out her phone to check the time. "So I'm gonna have to leave in about fifteen minutes."

"Noooo Caitlin don't leave," Iris said, throwing her hand on her head dramatically. "It won't be the complete squad without you."

"Technically a squad should consist of four people," Felicity spoke up. "Like, for example, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny."

"No!" Kara gasped. "Harry, Ron, Hermione and Luna are the Harry Potter squad."

There was a long silence. Iris frowned. "Um... Luna?"

"Yeah!" Kara said. "Luna needs more love," she added as an explanation. "Also, I think four people would be a quad, not a squad."

"Okay, if it's anyone besides Ginny in the HP squad it's, like, Nevile, not Luna," Iris argued after Felicity had realized her word-mistake. "Luna only joined during, like, the third book."

Kara shrugged. "Hey, I'm not gonna argue. But Luna is totally an unappreciated character hero."

"I think that Draco is rather under-appreciated," Caitlin said thoughtfully. "Besides, he looks so much like Julian."

"Oh my gosh, he totally does!" Felicity gasped. "Oh, and Caitlin, you look like Layla from Sky High."

"Who?" Caitlin said, wrinkling her nose and frowning. "I've never heard of that movie."

"Ooh, if we had more time I would so suggest watching it," Felicity said vehemently. "It's one of my favorites ever."

"Who do I look like?" Sara asked curiously.

Frowning, the other girls considered her and then each other. Thea shrugged. "No one, I guess."

Sara pouted. "Darn. Well, Kara, if you were a bit older and had brown hair, wouldn't she look like that character from Glee? Marley... Marley-Rose, was it?"

"Yesss," Thea agreed whole-heartedly. "Yes totally."

Kara shrugged. "Never seen it. Is she a total dork like me?"

"You're not a dork," Iris said, shaking her head. "None of you are dorks. Nerds, maybe, but not dorks."

"I take pride in being a dork!" Kara gasped. "It's just a part of my charm."

The other girls snickered, and before anything else could be said the doorbell rang.

"Aw, shoot, that's my mom," Caitlin said with a sigh. "I'm gonna go grab my bag."

She hurried upstairs to pack up, and Thea walked over to the door. "Good morning, Mrs. Snow," she greeted with a smile. "Would you like to come in?"

"Thank you, young lady, but I don't really have time," Dr. Snow responded stiffly. "Caitlin!" she called over Thea's shoulder. "We have to get going!"

"Coming!" Caitlin yelled back, hurrying down the stairs with her bag over her shoulder. She quickly gave the girls hugs, Thea last. "Thanks for having me over. I had a lot of fun."

"Thanks for coming!" Thea answered with a grin. "We'll have to do something like this again."

With one last wave, Caitlin left the house.

The other girls filtered out over the course of the next hour, finally leaving Thea to go and pick up her room. She was sitting on her bed watching youtube when Rasia called up the stairs.

"Thea? Why are the umbrellas all wet?"

AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High

When Kara got home, she found Alex wasn't there.

"Mom?" she asked, poking her head into the kitchen. "Where's Alex?"

"She went out with Maggie," Eliza Danvers responded.

"Whoa, wait what?" Kara's eyes went large. "Like, a date?"

Eliza shrugged. "I don't ask these things, Kara," she said. "Alex doesn't particularly to talk about her love life to me, and I don't want to push it."

"Oh, okay," Kara muttered awkwardly. "Um... I guess I'll just ask her when she gets back."

"How was the sleepover?" Eliza asked, changing the subject. "I know you were a little bit nervous to go. Did it turn out okay?"

"Oh, yeah!" Kara sat down at one of the kitchen table barstools and swung herself around in a circle. "Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I mean, Caitlin and Felicity were there so it wasn't like I was alone with Iris and Thea and Sara. And I mean they're really nice girls, obviously, but I don't really know them and they've also been friends for, like, forever. But yeah it was fun. We talked about boys a lot and we went on a walk in the lawn at 3 am."

"My goodness, sounds like quite the party," Eliza said with a smile. "And you had breakfast there?"

"Yeah, the Queens' cook, Rasia, made pancakes. Oliver was there for breakfast, too. I think Felicity was a little uncomfortable about that, because they didn't really talk to each other."

"They're dating, right?"

Kara scrunched up her nose. "Um.. I think so? It's really hard to tell. They're kind of the school's 'will they won't they' couple. They were together, and then they broke up right after auditions for Beauty and Beast because of this whole complicated thing with auditions and stuff. But then I think they got back together. They're a little awkward around each other, though."

"Young couples tend to be," Eliza smiled. "How about you and Mon-El? How are things with you two?"

"Oh, Mon-El's great," Kara replied with a grin. "I actually need to text him. We haven't gone on a date in like, two weeks."

"Well, you have art classes on Wednesday afternoons after school, and indoor track on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays."

Kara mumbled something in acknowledgment and pulled out her phone. "I'll just suggest, like, lunch on Saturday or something," she said, sending a quick text to her boyfriend. "That should work with his schedule."

Sensing that the conversations was pretty much over, Eliza turned back to what she had been doing, and Kara, still on her phone, wandered out of the room.

AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High

Maggie and Alex were walking back from their lunch outing to their cars. Alex felt immensely happy. Spending the entire afternoon with Maggie had been, while stressful, a whole lot of fun.

"Thanks for doing this today, Danvers," Maggie said, playfully bumping Alex's shoulder with her own. "I had fun."

"Yeah!" Alex responded happily. "I did, too."

"You don't think it was weird that I didn't invite Laurel, right?" Maggie asked nervously. "Don't get me wrong- I love hanging out the three of us, and it's been super great having friends like you guys. But sometimes one-on-one time is nice, right?"

"Yeah..." Alex repeated, slower. "Um... so Maggie, this is kind of an awkward question but I just feel like... well, I feel like I should ask. Just to... you know... make sure."

Maggie tilted her head, waiting.

"Is this... is this a date?" Alex asked quietly, feeling a blush spread across her cheeks. "Like, I know that we're friends, but we're also... I was just wondering. I figured I should ask."

"Oh," Maggie swallowed, mouth opening a little and one eye scrunching up in a half-wince. "Alex, I... I really just saw us as friends, honestly. Did you... gosh, I'm sorry. Inviting you today probably totally lead you on."

"No, no!" Alex assured her, feeling her face getting even redder. So, now she knew. Maggie didn't like her that way. "I just... I was just... making sure. I should... I should go."

Maggie pursed her lips as Alex turned away. She was infinitely grateful that they had reached the parking garage by now. Her car was close by, and she could just get into it and drive away and pretend none of this had ever happened.

"Danvers, wait!" Maggie called as Alex power walked down the pavement. "Please don't go."

"It's fine, Maggie," Alex called over her shoulder, her voice breaking a little. "I- I have to get home. I had... thank you for today."

She didn't hear Maggie's response, because her car door slammed shut and she started the engine almost immediately.

Alex had never driven and cried at the same time before. Today, however, she did just that. She didn't answer any of Kara's questions when she got home, or her mother's concerned look. She didn't respond to Laurel's texts asking how it went, or Maggie's call. She shut herself in her room, plugged in her headphones, and tried to block out everything.

When her mom called her down for dinner, in a firm voice that told Alex that she had better not argue if she wanted today to not get worse, Alex finally came out of her room.

Kara eyed her worriedly. "Alex?" she asked softly, her big blue eyes filled with concern. "What happened today?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Alex muttered, sitting down and quickly serving herself dinner. She ate in record time, mumbled a quick, "Excuse me", and went back to her room.

On Monday, Eliza didn't take her excuse of being sick. "Alex, I don't know what happened on Sunday," she said firmly, seated on her daughters bed. "But you can't escape whatever it was by hiding out under your quilt. You're going to have to face it eventually, and putting it off is just going to make it worse."

Alex shook her head, her short hair hiding her face as she half-buried it in a pillow. "I was so stupid, mom," she mumbled, voice shaking. "I thought going out together just the two off us was a date, just because we both happen to like girls. Why does it have to be so confusing? Why can't people just have signs on their forehead that say what their true intentions are?"

Eliza laughed softly. "That would certainly be easier in some cases," she agreed. "But it would also complicate things. Honestly, the only way to get people true intentions is to just ask."

"Yeah, well, been there done that," Alex huffed. "And it basically ruined my life."

Eliza sighed. "Okay, dramatic teenager. Get out of bed, get dressed in your most confidence-producing outfit, and get your butt downstairs. Kara's making waffles, and you're not going to want to miss out on them."

She leaned down and kissed her daughter on the forehead before leaving her to get ready.

Alex sighed. All she wanted to do was throw on sweats and hide underneath the hood of a giant sweatshirt. But she didn't think her mom would be very happy if she didn't follow her instructions, so she turned to her closet and took a deep breath.

When she finally got downstairs to have a couple waffles before she drove her and Kara to school, she was dressed in navy blue skinny jeans, a mauve shirt, and her favorite collard leather jacket. Her hair was brushed, curled under the way she liked it, and she was wearing mascara and lipstick that matched her shirt. If she looked great, she didn't notice. It didn't change how she felt.

Kara gave her a sympathetic smile and a plate of fresh waffles with syrup, whipped cream and strawberries. "Thanks," Alex murmured, eating the waffles as quickly as she could so that she wouldn't make them late for school.

As she stepped into AV High just in time to hear the first warning bell, Alex took a deep breath. Just one day of facing Maggie. One day could be so bad, right?

AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High-AV-High

A couple days after the sleepover, Felicity was hovering near her locker listening to Winn babble on about some math concept that annoyed him. It was an uncommon occurrence to hear Winn complaining about math, a subject with normally came easily to him, and Felicity felt it was only fair that she let him rant.

Winn's gaze slipped past her shoulder and his words died off abruptly. "Oh, uh, hey, Oliver," he stuttered. "Um... what's up, dude?"

Butterflies exploding in her stomach, Felicity turned around to see that, yes, it was Oliver Queen standing behind her. "Hi," she murmured, her voice not quite coming out so she really just ended up mouthing the word.

"Hi, Felicity," Oliver said, smiling a little. "How's your day been?"

Winn took his cue and stepped back awkwardly. "I'm just gonna... go pee," he muttered, throwing his backpack strap over one shoulder and splitting.

"It's been pretty good," Felicity replied, biting her lip. "Um... how's yours been?"

"It's been a Thursday," Oliver chuckled.

They stood for a moment in silence, before Felicity looked back up again. "Not that I'm complaining but... why exactly are you here?"

Oliver shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I felt like you might think I was ignoring you when you came over to Thea's on Sunday. I wasn't, but I just felt like I should make up for it."

A weight that Felicity hadn't even noticed lifted off her chest. "Oh," she said softly. "Well... that's good."

"Yeah." Oliver stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

Felicity wasn't used to seeing Oliver look awkward or uncomfortable in his own skin. But here he was: slouched down a little and peeking at her from under his fringe of blond hair. His incredibly blue eyes were looking right at her, and his mouth was a little scrunched to the side, unsure of what to say.

Felicity smiled.

"I was also thinking," Oliver spoke up, seemingly encouraged by the smile. "That I should maybe clarify where we are in our relationship right now."

Felicity tilted her head. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"A lot of people have talked to me recently about whether you and I are, well, actually dating," Oliver said awkwardly, hands stuffing even deeper into his pockets. "And when I tried to answer them I found that I honestly didn't know. I mean, I know that we're speaking, you know? We made up after the whole Beauty and the Beast thing. But are we actually dating?"

Felicity's mind, unhelpfully, latched onto the first thing she heard. "Who's asking if we're dating?"

"Um... Thea, mostly," Oliver said slowly. "Did you hear anything I said after that?"

"Oh, oh, yeah," Felicity stuttered. "Um..." She was about to say she didn't know, ask what he thought, but here he was asking her about something in their relationship. What did she want? She could give him any answer she liked.

"Yeah," Felicity said, shoulders straightening and finally looking Oliver straight in he eye. "Yes, we are dating."

Oliver looked a little surprised at her passionate response. "Okay then," he responded with a small smile. Then he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.

Felicity's eyes went wide, and she still wasn't exactly sure what to say when, two days later, he texted her a 'Happy Birthday'.

Author's Note: Hopefully you enjoyed this last chapter! I'm sorry if Felicity and Oliver are SOOOO OOC- I'm having a bit of trouble writing them.