Felicity watched the clock in the front of the room, over the blackboard. Only fifteen minutes left until the school day was officially over.

Usually Felicity was all about school. She loved it. Well, she loved learning and the fact that the effort she put in now would give her more control over her future. She wasn't as big of a fan if you were talking about, say, the social hierarchy of Starling Prep. She definitely wasn't a fan of some of her peers, if she could even call them that. But today… today she had an important message awaiting her and Mr. Steele had a strict no phones policy in class.

She glanced to her right to see Helena Bertinelli texting under her desk and rolled her eyes. The policy was more of a guideline for some of the students, but Felicity wasn't some of the students. She was a scholarship kid, and even though she was pretty sure she was Mr. Steele's favorite, there was no way she was risking a detention on her sterling record. Not now, when she was getting ready to ask her teachers for recommendation letters for MIT.

A phone dinged in the back of the room and everyone spun to see who it was. Everyone except Felicity, that is. She already knew.

"Sorry about that, Walter," a voice said, sounding just as smug and overly confident as always. "I forgot to turn it back on silent."

"Make sure you do, Oliver," Mr. Steele said, his accent becoming slightly more prominent with his frustration. "And then put it away, please."

Felicity glanced over her shoulder to see the student in question flip his phone to silent and then shoot a wink to Helena before placing it back in his pocket. Helena barely tried to suppress her smirk and Felicity spun back around in her seat, rolling her eyes. She had little doubt what those two would be doing later.

Each other, she thought with an annoyed eye roll.

Oliver Queen was the biggest man slut in the northwest. That wasn't even Felicity judging him, it was just a known fact. He'd sleep with anything that moved and Helena always seemed to be willing to move in his direction. As a matter of fact, a lot of the girls in Starling Prep were interested in Oliver. Maybe it was because his family was the wealthiest of the Starling elite, or maybe it was because he was attractive enough to be a male model. Or maybe the rumors were true and he really was just that good at sex, though Felicity doubted it. Boys like that were always out for themselves. He'd probably never cared for another human being in his life.

Watching Helena throw herself at Oliver repeatedly only to see him flirting with another girl next period just made her appreciate what she'd found with Cooper.

Just thinking about him brought a smile to her face and made her that much more anxious to get out of class so she could check her phone. He'd texted her right after class started and she'd only been brave enough to sneak a peek at her screen while Mr. Steele was writing on the board. Whatever it was Cooper had written her it was a long message and Felicity couldn't wait to read it.

They'd been dating all summer, ever since a late night hacking session turned into a late night make out session last June. Three months later and they were still going strong. In fact, he'd come over last night while her mother was working so they could say goodbye properly.

A flush rose in Felicity's cheeks as she recalled just how many times they'd… said goodbye last night.

She was going over his place this afternoon to actually say goodbye alongside the rest of his family as they helped him pack up his car and head off to MIT. He'd officially moved into his dorm a few weeks ago, but he'd flown back to pick up his car and the electronics he didn't want to ship across country. She was so glad he'd come home, since she wouldn't see him again until Thanksgiving. Maybe not even until winter break, depending on his workload. She was confident they could make long distance work, though. She'd shared so many firsts with him. First kiss, first date, first time. First successful government hack. And she hoped to share so many more once she got to MIT.

Just nine more months, she told herself, glancing back up at the clock just in time to see the minute hand strike twelve. The bell sounded and her classmates began a mass exodus for the door. Felicity would usually roll her eyes while slowly collecting her things and making sure she'd written down the homework assignment, but not today. Today she was throwing her books in her backpack and rushing out with the rest of them.

She'd made it halfway down the hall before she was pulling out her phone and hurriedly reading Cooper's text.

And then she read it again.

And then she read it a third time just to make sure she was reading it right.

"What's wrong?" a friendly voice interrupted and Felicity looked up to see Caitlin watching her with a worried crease marring her otherwise flawless skin.

Caitlin Snow was one of those people that was friends with everyone. She wasn't a "popular kid" but everyone knew her. She was a nerd like Felicity, but she was dating the quarterback of the football team, Ronnie Raymond. Her family was rich, but she never acted like it. Felicity had liked her as soon as she met her. It was just an added bonus that she was Cooper's half sister.

Or, at least, she'd thought so.

Felicity quickly locked her phone, shoving it back into her pocket. "Nothing," she said, forcing a smile for her friend. "Everything's great."

"Was that Cooper you were texting?" she asked, gesturing to the phone in Felicity's pocket. "It sucks he had to leave early. I know you were planning to come over and say goodbye later."

Felicity's nose stung with the threat of tears, but she held them back. "Yeah. It sucks."

"You should come over anyway. Iris wants to have a girls night. All the ice cream we can eat! What do you say?"

Girls night was one of Felicity's favorite things. She'd never had many friends back in Las Vegas, so when she moved to Starling City at the beginning of junior year she'd been relieved to meet Caitlin and her other best friend, Iris West. The two girls were kind enough to take Felicity into their group and Caitlin had even introduced Felicity to Cooper once she realized they shared the same love of technology.

Felicity's chest ached and she felt the urge to pull her phone back out and check Cooper's message one more time, but instead she said, "Uh… not tonight. I promised my mom I'd help her, uh, do laundry. Lots and lots of laundry." She splayed her hands awkwardly in front of her. "And Cooper promised he'd call if he got the chance so…"

That was a blatant lie. In fact, if she hadn't misread his message, then Cooper wouldn't be calling at all. Probably ever.

"Oh, alright." Caitlin nodded in understanding, then reached out to take Felicity's hand in hers. "If you change your mind let me know and Iris and I will come right over, okay? It's only a little while until Thanksgiving anyway," she assured her, before heading off in the direction of her next class.

Felicity closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and pulled out her phone. She read the message three more times before she noticed someone else had sidled up to her while she was distracted.

"Seldon's a bigger douche than I thought," a vaguely disinterested voice said to her right and she pushed her phone back into her pocket, turning a glare on the last person she wanted to see right now.

"What would you know about it?" she practically growled and Oliver held a hand up in peace.

"Just going to my locker," he said, gesturing to the open locker beside her. "But," he added and Felicity grit her teeth, "from the glimpse I got of that text, he's an asshole and you should forget about him."

She rolled her eyes. "You would know about being an asshole, huh?"

"I would never treat a woman like that," Oliver said.

"Right," Felicity scoffed. "Tell that to Helena or Laurel Lance, or any of the other girls I've seen you flirting with."

"I flirt," Oliver admitted. "I even sleep around. But I'm always, always straightforward about my intentions. I've never lead a girl on and then ditched her once something better came along."

A furious heat invaded her cheeks and she wanted to tell Oliver that he'd gotten it wrong. That Cooper hadn't done that to her. That it was just a misunderstanding. But the look in his blue eyes told her that he knew every argument she had on the tip of her tongue and that he wasn't buying any of them. Instead she ignored him and pulled her phone back out, reading the message one last time.

I had a really great time last night, but being at MIT the past month has given me some perspective. Long distance just isn't for me and you're still in high school. It was fun while it lasted, but I think it's time to move on. Sorry babe. I'm leaving early, that way we can skip any awkward goodbyes. Maybe I'll see you around MIT next summer.

The phone was shaking ever so slightly in her hand. "He never said he was with someone else," she pointed out.

"Oh, believe me," Oliver said, slamming his locker shut. "He's with someone else. He wouldn't have ended things unless he had a sure thing waiting for him."

"You're disgusting," she growled.

Oliver shrugged. "I'm just telling it like I see it. You know the best way to get over a guy?" he asked, and Felicity didn't trust that snarky smirk he was wearing.

"To get under a new one?" she said, shaking her head. "Maybe," she conceded, "but it's definitely not gonna be you."

"Smoak," Oliver laughed, "you wound me."

Felicity didn't feel like laughing. Felicity didn't even feel like going to her next class, but Oliver walked dutifully beside her all the way to fifth period and she'd be damned if she gave him the satisfaction of seeing her skipping class over a guy.

"I'm serious though," he said as they walked. "You need revenge sex, I'm your guy."

She ignored that, pushing past him and into their English class.

###

About ten minutes into class Felicity asked Ms. Schwartz if she could go to the bathroom. She didn't look at Oliver as she walked out of the room, but she could tell he was looking at her. His eyes had a skeevy feeling all their own when they were on her.

When she came back five minutes later she'd managed to collect herself. She didn't cry, but it had been a close thing. She'd never forgive herself for crying in school and, she promised herself, she could have a good cry once she got home. She might not be interested in having a girls night just yet, but all the ice cream she could eat was exactly what Felicity needed.

She walked back into the classroom and paused when she saw all of her classmates had paired off in her absence, sitting side by side or some even moving their desks into the corner of the room and whispering to one another.

Ms. Schwartz smiled as Felicity walked past her. "We just handed out partners for an essay assignment."

She handed her a worksheet with two names handwritten in blue ink on top and Felicity stopped dead in her tracks when she saw who she was partnered with.

"Uh, is there any way I could get a different partner?" she asked quietly, hoping no one else could hear. She really didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but…

"I'm afraid everyone's already started working on picking their topics."

"I understand," Felicity told Ms. Schwartz, "but I would really like to switch partners."

Her teacher, a woman in her late thirties, maybe early forties, gave her a pointed look. "This project isn't just about getting the work done, but it's about learning to work with others. Even if you don't like them. I suggest giving your partner a chance before you totally dismiss him."

Felicity wanted to argue, but Ms. Schwartz wasn't the kind of teacher to back down, so she simply nodded and moved back to her desk. Oliver was on her before she'd even sat down.

"Hey, partner." He grinned that annoying grin of his and Felicity realized just how not in the mood she was.

On a good day she didn't like talking to Oliver, not that she usually had occasion to talk to him. He was usually too busy trying to get in some girl's pants. From the glint in his eye she realized that today she was the unlucky girl. He'd scented blood in the water when he'd seen Cooper's text and now he seemed to think she was easy prey.

"Let's just get one thing straight," she said, folding her hands on her desk and keeping her voice low but firm. She only wanted to have to say this once. "I'm not going to sleep with you. Ever. So don't waste your breath."

Oliver's eyebrows shot up and his signature smirk graced his face. "I only wanted to know what topic you wanted to write about, but if you'd rather talk about sex—"

"I don't want to" —she lowered her voice— "talk about sex. You're the one that brought it up in the hallway."

Oliver laughed. "It was a joke, Smoak. I was trying to lighten the mood, you know, since you just got dumped."

She glared, suppressing the lump rising in her throat. "Listen, I'll worry about the essay, and then you can go back to chasing girls."

His blue eyes flickered. "Oliver Queen doesn't chase girls."

"But he apparently likes to talk about himself in the third person," she said with a sigh.

"Look, it's a team project and, like it or not, Smoak, I'm on your team. So now what topic do you want?" He pointed to the list of topics on her worksheet. "I was thinking about the online bullying one. We could include sexism and how it's persistent on the internet—"

"You want to write about sexism?" Felicity was gobsmacked.

Oliver shrugged. "You seem like the kind of girl who would have a lot to say about sexism."

She rolled her eyes, trying to push down the irritation she felt. She was pretty sure this was what hate felt like. She'd never hated anyone in her life, but if she was going to hate anyone, she thought Oliver Queen would make a decent first.