CHAPTER 9

Nobody on the Hawks could stop smiling. Even Snart was wearing a grin across his face. The officials managed to contain all the eager friends and fans that had run down to the court enough that they could award the first and second place medals. Soon after the short ceremony, the floodgates were opened and at least a hundred fans rushed the court screaming with excitement. Wally glanced around eagerly as he saw Lisa Snart giving her older brother a hug, and his other teammates being embraced by their loved ones. Just then Joe walked up and wrapped him tight, whispering "I'm so proud of you son". But before they could enjoy the moment, Petrov pushed through the crowd followed by his teammates and a number of other Keystone kids. He isolated Wally, and the crowd shifted separated Joe from his son.

"You are going to PAY, West!" He yelled. "Do you understand that bro?" he cracked his knuckles and shook out his shoulder. And just as Petrov put his fists up, ready to fight, James grabbed his arm.

"I would think again if I were you," James said with a grin. The whole team with the addition of a few other Ridgemont fans surrounded Petrov's guys.

"You mad, bruh?" Wally said. Petrov just scowled and jerked his arm from James. They all walked away.

"Thanks, guys," Wally said genuinely.

"No problem, Wally! We've got your back," Eddie said placing a hand on Wally's shoulder. Wally smiled meekly. Just then HR walked into their group.

"You guys were amazing!" he said. "I have a space cleared out at STAR labs, ready for a celebration. If you guys would like, of course."

"Wow! Thanks, Mr. Randolph!" Eddie said speaking for the whole team.

"Invite as many people as you like, there is plenty of room." HR added as he walked away. The word about the party spread quickly throughout all the students there. It was going to be massive. Jax and Wally then ran up to Snart, who was now standing next to Mick and Lisa. Mick was shaking Snart's shoulders as Snart continued to try to hide the smile on his face.

"Hey, Snart!" Jax said as he and Wally stopped in front of him. "You coming to the party? It's going to be awesome!" Snart quickly began to respond.

"I'll pa-" he was halfway through his usual retort when Mick punched him in the arm. Snart glared at him and let out a sigh. "Fine," he agreed. Slowly the stadium emptied out as all the Ridgemont fans headed over to STAR labs. Mick and Snart were heading out with Lisa trailing behind them. "We'll drop her off at a friend's house first," Snart said gesturing to Lisa.

"Why?" Mick asked.

"There's no way she's coming to this party,"

"Excuse me? Are you Leonard Snart?" an adult in a nice blazer walked up to him. He had a clipboard tucked under his arm. Snart looked at him bitterly.

"Who's asking?" he replied.

"I am Steven Lewis and I represent Starling City University. I saw you on the court today and I wondered if you would be interested in coming to play for us in the future possibly?" Lewis extended his hand and Snart, hesitantly, shook it.

"Sure," Snart said a little unsure of what was going on. The scout and Snart exchanged information.

"See you around Leonard!" Lewis waved kindly as he walked away.

"Oh my God," Snart muttered.

"Man… you could go to college," Mick was in awe as well. They were approached by two other scouts just on their way out. This was not something Snart had accounted for.

…

At STAR Labs, the party was hopping. Loud music was playing, lights were flashing. And practically the entire school was in attendance. Oliver was sitting at a table with Tommy and Laurel. "You're not worried about Diggle being here?" Tommy said gesturing to Diggle who was sitting next to some adults at the table across the room.

"Nah, man," Oliver's attention was elsewhere. Felicity was dancing somewhat clumsily with a handful of her friends. She was stunning to him. Tommy frowned a little. He had never seen his friends so infatuated with a girl. He was happy for him, but it stung nonetheless. Laurel stood up.

"I'm going to go stand by Sara. I'm afraid Snart will get a little too full of himself and try to make a move on her," She walked away.

"What is her deal?" Tommy said. Even her friends thought this was way overboard.

"I don't know man," Oliver agreed, still not taking his eyes off Felicity.

…

"Hmm," Snart said, crossing his arms. He and Mick were leaned up against a wall in the back corner of the room.

"What?" Mick asked. Snart gestured to Laurel standing close to Sara and glancing back at the two of them.

"Doesn't matter anyway," Snart said. He didn't appear to be too broken up, but he never wore his emotions on his sleeve. Laurel was right. Snart was hoping the hustle and bustle of the party would give him an opportunity to talk to Sara, even if it was only for a moment or two. But Laurel had made it her personal mission to not allow that to happen.

…

"Hey, Iris!" Eddie said as Iris walked up to him.

"Eddie you were absolutely amazing today!" Iris walked up and gave Eddie a big hug.

"Ohh," Eddie was caught a little off guard. But he knew if he played his cards right then Iris would be his girlfriend by the end of the night. Then their relationship could move past flirting to something more. "Hey, Iris? Would you like to dance?" Eddie asked

"Of course!" Iris grabbed Eddie's hand as they ran to the dance floor.

...

"Hey guys, this is Anna, my girlfriend." Ray introduced this tall Curly brown-haired woman to his friends. Her eyes were like little planets and her smile glowed like the halo of an angel.

"Hi Anna," everyone said in unison. Jesse frowned a little at the sight of this tall beautiful women at Ray's side. It was almost laughable how she once believed that Ray and she could be together. She was absolutely nothing compared to Anna. She was just a little baby girl next to a supermodel.

"I'm going to go get something to drink," Jesse said excusing herself from the group. Wally noticed Jesse strange behavior and went after her.

"Hey," he said jogging to catch up to her. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Jesse said.

"Oh cmon I know better than that. What's going on? What's wrong?" Wally nagged, playfully nudging her shoulder. They both sat down on a step.

"Fine… why not?" Jesse paused. "I just, I dunno. I kind of like Ray." Wally nodded his head. "Whatever, I hardly know him. He has a girlfriend. He's like three years older than me. It wasn't in the cards."

"No, I get it," Wally responded. "Still sucks though. Even if it's just a little crush. It still sucks to know it can't happen. I can attest to that." he laughed a little.

"Oh, really? Do tell." Jesse said. Wally felt comfortable with Jesse so he went ahead.

"Well I think I had a crush on Sara, she's really good friends with Iris and she was always so nice to me. But I think Snart may like her, and he's my teammate. So I know it won't happen," he said nodding.

"Really? Snart and Sara? I didn't know about that…" Jesse said.

"Well we see how that goes, apparently Laurel is NOT for it," Wally added.

…

"Let's get out of here Mick," Snart was tired of watching everyone have fun from a distance, and didn't really want to come to this party in the first place. Just then a slow song began to play.

"Nope," Mick said.

"What? Why?" Snart said, upset that Mick wouldn't listen to him.

"You owe me big time for what I'm about to do, Snart," Mick walked off, leaving Snart confused. Mick walked up to Laurel. "Hey, Wanna dance?" Mick extended his hand to Laurel. She was clearly caught very off guard.

"Um, sure," She said tucking her hair behind her ear, as Mick lead her to the dance floor. Snart's eyes went wide as he saw Laurel being ushered away. He approached Sara who was sitting at a table with a few friends. Snart smirked and offered his hand to Sara.

"Shall we?" She smiled at his offer and took his hand. Snart kept his cool with ease as he escorted Sara to the dance floor.

…

When Oliver heard the beginning of the slow song he instantly turned to Tommy. "I'm going to ask her to dance," he said.

"Go for it man," Tommy said patting Oliver on the shoulder. Oliver smiled and walked over to her. Oliver was way more nervous than he usually was. He never got turned down and never had trouble talking to girls. But Felicity was different.

"Felicity," Oliver paused. "Um, would you care to dance with me?" he said humbly with a small smile. Felicity looked up at Oliver with pity.

"Look Oliver…" Oliver felt his heart drop from his chest. "You're not really my type. It's just…" Felicity couldn't figure out how to put it nicely. "I'm sorry," she cringed feeling bad.

Felicity couldn't believe that she just rejected this man whose body is like a GOD, but she thought he was a selfish idiot, to her he was a selfish idiot. She didn't know the real Oliver Queen. And if all went to plan, she never would. That made Oliver sad. He just wanted to be himself but was trapped in this Playboy shell. He walked back to Tommy who happily comforted his friend.

…

"Did you see that?" Cisco walked up to Barry. "Felicity just turned down OLIVER QUEEN," Barry looked at Cisco in disbelief. But before Barry could respond Kara ran up.

"Cisco, Winn is looking for you again. Oh hi, Barry!" Kara smiled at Barry.

"Hi," Barry said smiling back. Barry's life felt warm. He just talked to the hottest girl ever.

"Okay, I'm going to go find Winn," Cisco said, walking away.

"Umm…" Barry felt so scared to talk to someone who is just so, amazing "Would you like to dance, Kara?" Barry finally asked.

"I would love to," Kara said. The two of them walked to the dance floor. Barry his hand on Kara's waist and grabbed her other hand. They began to dance slowly. Kara smiled at Barry. He looked particularly good-looking tonight.

"This is a lot of fun," Barry said.

"Yeah, I'm so glad we won!" Kara replied.

"Well yeah, but I'm more excited I get to hang out with you," Barry blushed and looked away. But Kara smiled.

"Me too," she responded. Barry grinned back at her. She was dazzling the room and Barry felt lucky to be dancing with this beautiful lady. These feelings were something even the Flash couldn't outrun.

…

After the first slow song, the entire night changed. People began to couple up left and right.

Snart and Sara were sitting at a table that was off in a dark corner when something caught Snart's eye. Lisa. Although Snart was positive he left her with a friend, there she was. Not only that but he happened to spot her just as she grabbed Cisco around the collar and kissed him passionately. Her lips forcing up against Cisco's, making this kiss almost painful. Snart kept his cool, as he always does, and stood up slowly. "Sorry, gotta go," he said. He began to walk through the crowd. "Mick, let's go," he muttered as he walked passed Mick who was regretfully making out with Laurel. Mick instantly rose up and followed Snart. Snart pushed his way up to Lisa. "Lisa," Snart said calmly. Lisa let go of Cisco. Cisco's eyes went wide.

"I'm gonna…" Cisco pointed towards his friends and then excused himself from the little gathering. Snart didn't say anything he just looked at Lisa.

"Having fun are we?" Snart said with what appeared to be a smirk on his face.

"Oh come on, you're not Dad, Lenny," she responded.

"Oh, I know," Snart said. He didn't look disappointed or mad.

"I'm going find that kid," Mick said as he left to go find Cisco. After a few more seconds of silence, Snart spoke.

"We should probably go stop him from doing whatever he's going to do to that kid," Snart and Lisa pushed through the crowd to find Mick. He had Cisco up against a wall with one hand around his neck and one hand in a fist. "Mick," Snart said. "Mick!" he said again. Mick glanced over and dropped Cisco.

"Let's get out of here," Mick mumbled.

"Agreed," Snart said. But Lisa looked at him. "You can stay," Snart said. Lisa smiled. As they escorted themselves out of STAR labs, something shiny caught Snart's eye.