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October 4

Felicity's new friend is huge.

Like, actually. He's built like a giant.

Oliver manages a small grin at the guy, because Felicity has had nothing but good things to say about him and Oliver knows she's been having a hard time making friends with kids a year older than her. He and Felicity don't get to see each other as much as he'd wish, and she's not settling into sixth grade as smoothly as she might have hoped, and this John Diggle person has made it easier for her. So he's trying to be nice, for Felicity's sake. The kids in her grade can be nasty and as desperately as he wants to be the one to protect her, he can't always be there. He's glad that she's got someone in her corner.

But leave it to Felicity to find the one guy in all of Starling Elementary who intimidates him.

They're standing in a little group on the tarmac as kids run wildly around them, letting out their extra energy over the lunch hour. Standing beside John Diggle, Oliver has to look up at him to meet his eyes. He's a good head taller than Oliver and his arms are the size of small watermelons… Maybe medium watermelons. In any case, they're bigger than anything Oliver's ever seen on a kid their age, and by the look Tommy is giving him, he's not alone in being a little bit scared for his life.

He and Tommy look at each other, holding a silent conversation while John Diggle listens to Felicity, and they are definitely on the same page. They're glad that the new kid has seen how awesome their blonde friend is, and Oliver is definitely happy that Felicity has made a friend in her class, even if this guy might be able to knock him out with one hit.

Although, maybe that's a good person for Felicity to have in her corner.

Without a doubt, he wants to stay on John Diggle's good side.

Felicity is happily babbling away, telling them all about the project that she and John "Call Me Digg" Diggle started working on in science, and Oliver is lost, as usual. The fall sunshine lights up Felicity's hair like a halo while her mouth moves a mile a minute. He enjoys watching the way her face comes alive when she's excited about something.

Wait. What?

Again with the weird Felicity thoughts. What the heck is wrong with him lately? Felicity is his best friend.

"Earth to Oliver!" Tommy waves an annoyed hand in front of his face. "Dude, where were you just then? I've been calling your name forever."

Oliver forces a laugh. Play it cool, play it cool, he tells himself, repeating the mantra in his head. "What? Nowhere. Here, duh. What were you saying?"

Digg eyes him like he knows exactly what Oliver was thinking and Oliver forces his face into what he hopes is a totally neutral expression.

"Well, my distracted friend, Felicity was saying that she was invited to a party," Tommy tells him with a gleam in his eye.

Oliver turns to look at Felicity, eyebrows raised expectantly. She raises her eyebrows back with a tiny grin. "Really," he says, drawing out the word. Maybe Felicity is fitting in better than he'd thought. "And what party is this? There's no way it's going to beat a Queen party."

"Or a Merlyn party," Tommy adds quickly.

Both of their families are well known for throwing lavish parties. Oliver used to hate them, but now they're growing on him. He kind of enjoys seeing the wealthy people of Starling City socialize and it doesn't hurt that he's always got his wingman. He and Tommy usually make up fake conversations for people they don't know and pig out on delicious food.

Last time his dad had even let him have a taste of his scotch. It had burned and made him break out in a bit of a sweat, but left a kind of enjoyable warmth in his stomach afterwards. And it meant that his dad was starting to see that he's growing up. Finally.

Felicity rolls her eyes because she's never been to one of his parents' affairs. "It's just a Halloween party," she says, nudging her glasses up her nose. Oliver coughs. How has he still not gotten used to that? Good grief. "Carter Bowen's having it. Probably won't be anything special. I don't even know if I'm going to go."

Digg nudges Felicity with his shoulder. "Aw, come on, Felicity. Carter made sure to specially invite you. I think his feelings would be hurt if you didn't go."

At this, Felicity immediately turns a violent shade of pink, makes a strangled kind of noise, and quickly looks anywhere but at Oliver. Oliver feels like an large and angry dragon has made a home in his chest. It breathes fierce spurts of fire when he pictures Carter Bowen, who is an idiot at the best of times, using his stupid charming voice to 'specially' invite Felicity to his Halloween party.

He clenches his teeth together to avoid saying anything about Carter Bowen and Felicity sneaks a look at Oliver from under her lashes, like she wants to see what his reaction is. "Well, are we invited too?" The words are out of his mouth before he even realizes what he's saying. John smirks at him and Felicity stares.

"Oliver, you actually want to go to Bowen's party?" Tommy asks incredulously.

Oliver nods jerkily, not looking over at Tommy. He's stuck in this now. "Yep," he says. "I actually heard about it earlier and it sounds like it will be pretty lame, but I think Laurel is also invited so we should go so you can spend time with your lady."

Now it's Tommy's turn to roll his eyes. Oliver breathes a tiny sigh of relief that he's pushed the attention onto Tommy. Digg chokes out a laugh but Oliver gets the sense that Digg doesn't quite believe his cover story.

"Laurel is not my lady," Tommy retorts with a glare.

"Yeah, not yet." Oliver laughs and Tommy leaps at him. They roll around on the ground, wrestling good-naturedly.

Digg and Felicity stand and watch. Felicity shakes her head watching them. "Boys."

October 31

Felicity stands nervously at the door, wringing her hands. Her mom is long gone, with the demand that Felicity behave herself and be home by ten o'clock. Donna will be at work until after midnight, but she trusts Felicity on her own because it's pretty laughable that she'd ever break the rules.

She'd be insulted, but it's true. Felicity loves rules.

For example, although tonight is her first boy-girl party, her mom hadn't even been concerned about that at all; she was more interested in how Felicity was going to wear her hair than if she had a ride home later.

There's a quick honk from outside signalling that her ride is here and Felicity turns to look in the mirror one last time, checking that her costume pieces are all in place.

She's chosen to be a character from one of her favourite books, Alice in Wonderland. Her mom is actually pretty good with a sewing machine, so in between her shifts all month she's been slaving over this blue dress and white apron. It's beautiful and Felicity had gushed over it for hours today.

She brushes her hands over the poofy skirt that falls to just above her knees, overlaid by an apron tied around her waist. White knee-socks and black shoes complete the look, along with a super-soft black headband with a big black bow attached that holds her hair, forced straight by her mom and her trusty straightener, back from her glasses-free face.

She looks pretty Alice-like, she thinks, but just in case she's carrying her battered copy of the book in her arms.

With one last grin at herself, Felicity quickly grabs her house key and locks the door behind her. She is the ultimate latchkey kid, so she remembers all the little things, like leaving the porch light on for later. After the one time she forgot last year and struggled to get the key into the lock for fifteen minutes, all the while imagining creepy who-knows-whats sneaking up in the dark behind her, she never forgets to turn it on when she goes out.

"Hey," she says breathlessly as she slides into the backseat beside Tommy. "Happy Halloween! Hi Mrs. Queen, thanks so much for taking us to the party."

She'd been pretty surprised when Oliver had called and told her that his mom was going to drive them, but she'd kept her mouth shut about it because she knows Oliver's been pretty frustrated with how busy his parents are. He hasn't said anything, but she can tell by the way his shoulders fall each time they miss a baseball game or when he tells her that he tucked Thea into bed again.

Moira Queen smiles kindly at her in the rearview mirror. "It's not a problem at all, Felicity. So nice to see you."

Moira is always so formal and polished, the complete opposite of her mom. Although she's been friends with Oliver for years, Felicity still feels like she has to be on her best behaviour when Moira's around. Even when she runs into Moira in her PJs at the Queen house Felicity uses her best manners. She can't stand the idea of Oliver's mom thinking poorly of her.

Oliver turns around in his seat to smile at her, but then he looks kind of like he got punched in the stomach and whips back around to face the front.

Tommy grins at her. "Nice costume, Felicity. I like it."

"Thanks," she replies, readjusting her headband and sending a confused look at the back of Oliver's head. What's his deal?

They pull away from the curb and the car is pretty quiet on the ride to Carter's house. Moira asks about school and how she's enjoying sixth grade, and Felicity keeps her answers short but polite. She's a bit nervous; there are definitely a few butterflies fluttering around her stomach, although she can't pinpoint exactly why.

Soon enough they're pulling up to the party and they all hop out, thanking Oliver's mom for the ride. "I'll be back just before ten to pick you up," she reminds them through the window with an extra smile for Oliver.

Oliver nods hurriedly and waves her away. Felicity smiles and waves before turning to face the house.

"Well. Here we are," she says, stating the obvious. She clutches her arm tightly around her book and swallows. Her mouth is super dry. Hopefully there are drinks inside. She could definitely go for some Island Punch. And snacks. Snacks are the best part of Halloween. The little pre-wrapped candies, tiny bags of chips, baby-sized chocolate bars…

Tommy gives her a funny look. "What's up with you?" he asks. He's dressed like a ninja turtle, including the bandana across his eyes. It's orange, which makes his blue eyes pop dramatically.

Felicity laughs but it comes out super high-pitched and not normal at all. Why is she nervous? It's just a party. A party with boys. With a boy who invited her. Which is not like a date at all, because she's ten and spends most of her time with boys anyway, so really, nothing out of the ordinary here at all. "Nothing! Nothing at all. Let's go."

Wrinkling his nose at her, Oliver shakes his head. "Oooookay," he says.

He's also dressed like a ninja turtle, but instead of red, his bandana is blue. The blue makes his eyes looks even bluer than normal and she stares at him for a moment before pulling her gaze away.

Tommy and Oliver make pretty cute turtles, Felicity thinks. She especially likes the stuffed shells they have on their backs. Felicity doesn't waste her time with dumb cartoons like the Super Mutant Ninja Turtles, so she's not sure what their turtle names are.

She had suggested they dress up like the Super Mario characters, which she figured was a great idea because one could be Mario and one could be Luigi and she'd be Princess Peach, or maybe Yoshi depending on how much time she could beg her mom to spend at the sewing machine, but the boys had insisted that they wanted to be ninja turtles this year, leaving Felicity to find her own costume, unless she wanted to dress up like a masked reptile, which she most definitely did not.

Leaving her shelled companions behind, Felicity shakes off the stupid butterflies in her stomach and strides determinedly up the front walk to the house. She hears Oliver and Tommy hustling to catch up as she rings the doorbell.

Tonight is going to be awesome, Felicity decides. Well, she hopes.

Awesome, Oliver thinks as he watches Felicity giggle with Laurel on the couch across the room. They look over at where he and Tommy are standing beside the ping pong table, Laurel says something else, and they collapse into laughter again.

"Man, what is Felicity telling her?" Tommy asks from beside him, worry clear in his voice. "She's got years of things I've done to tell Laurel that will make me look stupid."

Oliver slaps a hand on Tommy's shoulder. "Dude, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Felicity has an arsenal of stuff about the both of us but she would never spill it. Best friend code."

Tommy huffs out a laugh. "Best friend code? I don't know about that. I think this whole girl code thing ranks higher."

Oliver pulls his eyes away from the girls to look over at Tommy. He sounds legitimately concerned that Felicity is going to ruin his chances with Laurel. Is this crush on Laurel actually for real?

"Tommy, come on. You have got to relax. Felicity is your friend and she's not going to badmouth you to Laurel." Tommy looks torn, like he sort of believes him, but then his eyes catch on something behind Oliver's shoulder.

"Whoa, that- that is interesting," Tommy says, shoving Oliver's shoulder to make him turn around.

Oliver catches a glimpse of Carter Bowen, dressed as the Riddler, moving away from Felicity, a sly grin on his face. That dragon in his chest rears it's head again with an irritated roar an his fists clench instinctively. Pink floods Felicity's cheeks and she and Laurel look at each other and giggle again. She doesn't look upset, so it must not have been something mean. Oliver doesn't think he's ever seen Felicity giggle this much in his life - what is going on with her?

"What do you think he said to her?" Oliver demands, suddenly angry.

Tommy shrugs. "I dunno. Let's play." He hands Oliver a paddle and heads around to the other side of the table.

Oliver nods, picking up the ball and giving it a testing bounce on the table.

"You're going down, Merlyn," he taunts as Tommy scoffs. He serves and the game is off. Oliver gives it his all, pushing out all the pesky Felicity thoughts that have been bouncing around in his head lately. He's focused and he's actually beating Tommy for once, but Oliver can't help but notice that a few minutes later, Felicity is gone.

Felicity steps cautiously into the backyard, firmly shutting the sliding door behind her. The Bowen's have a massive yard that stretches into the darkness, further than Felicity can see, but Carter told her to meet him on the swing set which is thankfully bathed in moonlight.

She's not sure what exactly he needs to tell her that he can't say inside where everybody else is, but an excited tingle runs down her back all the same.

Most of the kids in her class are pretty indifferent to her. A few are outright nasty. John is really the only person who's accepted her for who she is. Felicity's not surprised - she's smarter than them, and younger, and they've all pretty much known each other since they were in kindergarten. Newcomers aren't welcomed with open arms, which is okay. It's just school, and Felicity has other friends - she doesn't need the jerks in her grade to like her.

But lately Carter has been going out of his way to be nice to her. He sharpened her pencil for her last week, he'd helped her when she dropped all her papers on the floor the other day, and just now, he'd whispered that he really liked her costume and to meet him on the swings so he could tell her something.

The grass is soft under her shoes and the swing is a little bit damp when she sits. Hopefully Carter won't be too long because it's getting pretty chilly. Goosebumps rise on her arms as she gently toes herself forwards and back.

She's not sure how long she sits there for, slowly swinging back and forth, but it's long enough that her fingers feel like popsicles and there are small tremors running through her body. A sudden sound at the doors startle her and she sees a big huddle of people peering out into the yard.

Squinting, she can just make out Carter at the front of the pack, giant laughs shaking his whole body. He points at her and says something to the kid beside him and they both laugh even harder.

Tears well up in her eyes and she blinks furiously, refusing to let any fall. She looks away, staring out into the backyard, pretending she's in her own little bubble, as though this doesn't bother her at all. Show no weakness, she tells herself, pressing her lips together. Don't let them see you cry.

Obviously it was all a scheme to make her look like an idiot. Like Carter, or any boy, would actually want to spend time with her alone. Looking up at the sky, Felicity squeezes her eyes shut tightly, hoping with everything that she has that everybody will disappear so she can escape without anyone seeing.

A loud slam follows her wish and she jumps, but doesn't move otherwise. Her heart angrily pounds in her chest, at war with the tears that won't stop threatening to fall.

Kids suck.

"Felicity?"

Oliver. Darn it.

She takes a deep breath through her nose, hoping that will help. It doesn't.

"Felicity, come on. Look at me."

His voice is soft, the same old Oliver voice that he breaks out when it's just the two of them. He doesn't seem to care that the rest of their school thinks she's an outcast, that's she's too smart for her own good. He's always just cared about her, about plain old Felicity.

Two traitorous tears escape down her cheeks and with a heavy breath she opens her eyes to find Oliver standing in front of her, backlit by moonlight. His bandana hangs around his neck and even though he has a giant shell strapped to his back he manages to look cool.

He gives her a smile. "That's better." His eyes ask her what's wrong and she looks away. She can't bear to explain, but he seems to understand anyways.

"Carter is a jackass." Oliver's voice is very matter to fact and Felicity gasps, snapping her eyes back to his. He doesn't look apologetic at all. "Felicity, he's a jerk. He hurt you." He looks like he's in pain at the thought of her being hurt and his hands clench into fists at his sides. "I'm going to find him, I'm going to find him and hit him in-"

"No, Oliver. No fighting." Her voice comes out pretty strong, thank goodness. She already looks pathetic enough. No need to add a whimpering, scaredy-cat voice on top.

Oliver gives her a look. "But this is not okay, Felicity. He can't just get away with treating you like this."

Felicity sniffles. "You are not going to fight Carter Bowen. You'll just get in trouble." His eyes soften a bit, but now that's he mentioned it, her brain starts whirring. She's never used her insane computer powers for bad, has never broken the rules, but maybe it's about time that she does. "You're right. But I'm going to handle it, okay? This is my fight and as much as I love you for it, you can't always fight my battles."

There's a beat where neither of them say anything. Felicity feels those butterflies stirring to life again as she and Oliver stare at each other.

"Okay," he says finally, his voice rough and growly.

He pulls her to her feet and her stomach does a funny swoop when she ends up with her nose nearly touching his chest. He's suddenly gotten a lot taller than her. When did that happen? She tilts her head up and he looks down at her, thoughts running through his eyes. She's pretty sure he has something else to say and he's debating whether or not to say it.

Her freezing cold hands are still clasped inside his warm ones, tendrils of heat snaking down her fingers and up her arms. Chin tilted back she smiles at Oliver, and smiles back like he's distracted.

"Let's find Tommy and go," she says, moving to walk back inside. "It must be nearly ten."

Oliver doesn't move and since he's still holding her hands she's jerked back to where he's standing with a yelp.

"Oliver!"

He shakes himself out of his daze with a sheepish smile. "Sorry."

He lets go of her hands. Felicity shivers, suddenly cold again. They're walking back to the house when Oliver abruptly stops, pulling her to a stop beside him.

"Look, Felicity," he says, turning her to face him, "I just want you to know that ah- that I think that… I mean, uh-"

Felicity smiles gently. "Wow, usually I'm the one talking in sentence fragments."

Oliver looks puzzled for a moment but then opens his mouth and blurts out, "I-think-you-look-beautiful-tonight-and-Carter's-a-jerk-for-leaving-you-out-here."

Felicity blinks and shakes her head. Did Oliver just say she looked beautiful? He looks supremely uncomfortable, like the words escaped his mouth without his permission.

Opening her mouth to respond, although she really has no clue what to say when your best friend calls you beautiful and your stomach is whooshing and your heart is trying to pound its way out of your chest, she's saved when Tommy's voice echoes over the backyard.

"Ollie! Felicity! Ollie's mom is here, it's time to go," he calls, peering into the darkness for his friends.

Oliver abruptly turns and walks away, leaving Felicity feeling a bit dumbfounded. Things are changing, she thinks, and she doesn't know if she's quite ready to keep up.

But Oliver is almost to the door and she doesn't really want to face all those people without him, so she hurries to catch up and presses herself into his side as they make their way through the party and out the front door without too much hassle. She just barely remembers to grab her discarded book on their way out. Luckily, there's no sign of Carter Bowen.

Tommy looks relieved when they appear. "Finally! Where did you guys disappear to?"

He doesn't seem to know what went on with Carter, thank goodness. Felicity wonders what he's been up to all night. Laurel's nowhere in sight, but maybe they were spending time together.

At least someone had fun tonight, she thinks as they climb into the car.

Parties are definitely not her thing.