Chapter 3

Get busy – Sean Paul

"Finished!" Oliver smiled and put the paper in front of Felicity. It was Wednesday, the day before the retake, and Felicity had thought it to be a good idea to make Oliver do the exact same test he had failed the past week. The new one would have been most likely similar.

"Let's see" Felicity said pushing back the glasses on her nose. She quickly checked the test and Oliver peaked in to see how many marks she was making with her red pen. So far, four out of twenty, and she was nearly done.

"In Mr. Norrington's book, you would have gotten a 75/100" She said satisfied. "How does it sound?"

Oliver took a deep breath.

"I think I need a 70, so it sounds great!"

Felicity stood up and walked near Oliver. She put a hand on his left shoulder and said looking very serious:

"Well my faithful disciple. I have given you all of my knowledge. Please make good use of it!"

And then Oliver did something unexpected, both for him and Felicity. He touched the hand she had put on his shoulder and squeezed it a little. He noticed that Felicity's cheeks had turned pink, and realized that while he hadn't meant with that gesture anything more than gratitude, it had made her feel awkward.

Oliver gently took his hand off and cleared his voice: "Yes Obi Wan!" and smiled at her.

"Obi Wan!" She whispered surprised "Well….Luke" she paused "You know Star Wars then?"

"Yeah I've seen the movies several times" Oliver said raising an eyebrow. "My favorite trilogy is Indiana Jones actually" he added.

"Ah I like them too. But I'm a Star Wars girl" She said enthusiastically. "Give me anything that has to do with science and fantasy, and I'm yours" Ups, it wasn't something to say in front of Oliver Queen.

Oliver didn't even try to hide a grin.

"I thought you were the geeky kind"

"And is there something wrong with it?" Felicity said almost backing off.

"Oh no Felicity!" He said gently. "I didn't mean that. I'm sorry if my tone made you think otherwise. You are fine just the way you are" Why on earth did I say that.

"We don't really know each other" she said suddenly.

"No we don't. But I'm going to stick around here for the rest of the semester. Who knows, we might become friends!" He winked. He took his backpack and said "We'll see?"

"We'll see" is all Felicity managed to answer. Then he went home, leaving Felicity to think.

Friends. Oliver Queen is talking about becoming friends. Out of the blue. Where's the trick? We've spent three afternoons together. And we've mostly talked about computer science.

Felicity shook her head. She had lots of homework to do for tomorrow, and it was not the time to think about him. He was making things confused though.

Oliver was driving home, with the music of the radio in the background. Jennifer Lopez's line "Ain't it funny how a moment could just change your life" made him think of what he had just said to Felicity in the C.S. Club Room. Basically he had sort of wished that he and Felicity could become friends.

She was funny, enchanting but at the same time childish, and he felt very at ease in her company. And they couldn't be two more different people, coming from very different backgrounds.

Well, he didn't know anything about her background but it was easy to assume it wasn't the same.

Hadn't it been for Tommy and his weird-but-totally-sensible-idea, he'd never gotten to know Felicity Smoak. And see her turn pink because he had squeezed her hand on his shoulder. He hoped she wasn't having a crush on him, because…it wasn't right, was it? And she was just a kid, he reminded to himself.

Thursday morning Felicity came into class finding Oliver already there. She mouthed him good luck and he answered with a wink. The bell rang, and after a little while Mr. Norrington arrived. He made Oliver sit at a desk in front of him and moved the student occupying it at Oliver's place. Then he handed Oliver the test and gave him a sharp look. The test had some of the questions of the last test and the rest were new ones.

Felicity paid attention to the lesson but couldn't help looking from time to time at Oliver's back. He seemed very concentrated, sometimes pausing to think.

A few minutes before the bell rang again, Oliver stood up and handed back the test to Mr. Norrington. The teacher hinted with his hand that he ought to sit back while he was correcting the test.

The bell rang and Mr. Norrington hadn't finished yet. Everybody left the class and Felicity hesitated a moment. Of course she wanted to know how it had gone, but staying in class with Oliver and the teacher seemed a step too much.

"Ok, let's wait outside" She ordered to herself and headed quickly out. She stationed near the water fountain in front of the classroom, and waited dangling on her feet.

It didn't take much for Oliver to come out. Felicity saw him looking at his right and then at his left, as if he was searching for something, but she couldn't read his expression. Then he saw her and his face lightened up in a big smile.

Felicity clasped her hands waiting for him to say something.

People around them could have thought Oliver was going to hug her, but after wavering a moment he took her hands and held them.

"85! Are you happy?"

Felicity looked down at his hands." Oh….of course I am! But are you?"

"Yeah yeah!" He winked.

He was still holding her hands when they heard someone clearing his voice.

"What's going on here, am I missing something?"

Felicity removed her hands from Oliver's and stepped back. It was Tommy Merlyn, who was staring at them with a look that was a mix of amusement and curiosity.

"I took again the test, remember I talked to you about it? It went very well. I was thanking Felicity!"

Tommy nodded, more amused.

"So you are the famous Felicity Smoak. Tommy Merlyn, nice to meet you" He said turning his face to her.

"In which alternative universe I am famous?" She said warily and shaking hands with him.

"Oliver has talked to me a lot about you and how you've been helping him with this problem"

"Oh" Felicity raised an eyebrow. A lot. She managed a smile.

Oliver stared at both of them and then grabbed Tommy by the elbow.

"We're going to be late to class now, let's go! Thank you again Felicity" He and Tommy walked a few feet when Oliver suddenly stopped and looked back at her. Felicity was still near the fountain.

"Hey Felicity?"

"What?"

"Nice shirt!" He said and went away.

Felicity looked around and then down at her shirt. She laughed. The print said "Obi Wan Club".