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The next day, Eddie came to school in a much better mood than he did the day before. He had taken his own words to heart, he was going to start anew and focus on the positives this time. He entered the building smiling, and walked confidently towards his locker like a cheesy high school movie scene where the protagonist is getting everything he wants. He was even greeted by a couple of kids who he had sat with during lunch the day before. But his smile dropped when he saw that Barry wasn't at his locker.
He tried not to act too disappointed, he barely knew the guy so his absence shouldn't have had that much of an effect on him, but he couldn't help but steal a few glances at the undisturbed locker next to his as well as at the entrance every time he heard the familiar 'swoosh' of the doors opening as someone walked in. He jumped when a female voice came from behind him.
"Don't worry, he's usually always late," Eddie turned around to see a blonde girl with thick black glasses, and a tight ponytail. She was wearing a lime-green sweater and nice black slacks, as well as gray flats. In her arms were several textbooks as well as a classic white binder and a purple pencil case.
She looked sort of familiar, but he couldn't remember where from.
"I'm sorry?" Eddie inquired politely, smiling even though he was confused.
She was smiling as well, but she soon looked like a deer caught in headlights and she stumbled through her next set of words. "I saw you looking over at Barry's locker and uh, thought I should keep you from worrying. Not that I was watching you! Well, I was...but only because I was looking for Barry as well since we are kind of friends. Guess you and I have something in common, we would make a great pair," she chuckled, then started talking again. "Not that I want to get with you because that'd be weird since you don't even know me. But I know you, heh-heh. Only because you're new, not because I was stalking you which I already said before but I really want to make it clear that I am NOT stalking you," she took a deep breath, her face was red from the lack of oxygen. That, or embarrassment.
Eddie was shocked that someone so small and someone who looked so shy could say that much in such a short amount of time. He didn't even know the girl's name yet, and she had spoken more to him than anyone else had in the entire school! Sure, he seemed to be well-known here, and he sat with some of the more popular kids during lunch, but they didn't pay much attention to him.
"Good to know," Eddie said after a brief moment of silence so that the girl could catch her breath.
"Uh, I'm Felicity," the girl introduced, shifting all of her stuff to one arm so she could extend her hand for him to shake.
He shook her hand, and responded "Eddie,"
"I know," Felicity said like it was obvious. Her face fell again, and she took another breath, getting ready to explain a bunch about why she knew his name. But Eddie put his hand up in a 'stop' motion.
"It's fine, I don't mind that you already know who I am," Eddie assured her, and Felicity smiled gratefully.
He closed his locker, deciding that he should trust Felicity on Barry always being late for school. They began walking together, and Felicity started telling him about how she knew Barry.
"I met him on the first day of 8th grade, we were both the awkward kids standing in the middle of a crowd of already formed cliques and clubs. We sort of just connected, in a way, mostly through our common interest in science," Felicity told him, and that was when he realized where he recognized her from.
"You're in my science class!" Eddie said, his expression one of understanding.
"Yeah. I thought you knew that already," Felicity replied, eyebrows furrowed.
"I knew you from somewhere, I just couldn't remember where that was," Eddie replied.
Felicity didn't have time to respond, because the warning bell rang and they both rushed to Professor Stein's classroom so they wouldn't be late. Felicity took her seat at the back of the room, next to a boy with a red hoodie and brown hair. Eddie sat in the middle of the room, at the same table he and Barry had sat at yesterday.
Three minutes into class, the door flung open and Barry ran in with all of his stuff, looking flushed and he was panting for breath. Eddie stifled a laugh, he thought Barry looked sort of cute.
"Sorry I'm late, Professor Stein!" Barry told him between gasps. He handed a pass to the teacher.
"Your brilliant mind won't make up for everything, Mr. Allen. Sooner or later your lateness will become a serious issue," Professor Stein sighed, motioning for Barry to go sit down.
Eddie nodded at Barry in greeting, and Barry smiled in return. He sat down, and they made small talk as they worked on a lab. Eddie found out Barry really liked forensics, and that he also was interested in science fiction. In return, Eddie told Barry about how he didn't do much besides taking boxing classes because he didn't have many friends back in Keystone due to his dad's job in politics. Barry said he knew the feeling, but didn't elaborate on why. Eddie didn't push.
Eddie noticed that Barry would occasionally look past Eddie's head, probably staring at someone behind him. He would usually just glare at whoever he was looking at, and Eddie pretended not to notice. He had a feeling that Barry didn't want him to. Too soon, class ended, and Eddie had to go to English while Barry had to go to gym.
"Hey, I'll see you later?" Eddie asked before they went down different hallways.
"Um, yeah. Yeah, I'll be seeing you," Barry replied in a dumbfounded tone.
Eddie smiled, and they parted ways. He and Barry weren't best friends yet, they weren't even close really. But they were making progress, and that was good enough for Eddie.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the way to gym, Iris caught up with Barry and announced her presence by shaking him by the shoulders.
"You and Eddie are bonding! My dreams are coming true!" She squealed.
"Oh calm down," Barry said, rolling his eyes at Iris. "We're just friends,"
"That's how all ships start," Iris countered.
"Oh sure," Barry replied sarcastically.
"C'mon you're trying to tell me that you don't even have the slightest bit of a crush on Eddie? I mean, how could you NOT? He's perfect! His blue eyes, his princely hair cut, his abs-"
"How do you know if he has abs?" Barry asked.
Iris laughed sympathetically. "Oh honey," she patted Barry's arm. "I know everything. But that shirtless picture of him at the beach..." She paused to cat call at the thought of a shirtless Eddie. "I'd hit that if I were you,"
Barry blushed in embarrassment. "Iris! You can't just say things like that!" He scolded.
Iris didn't seem to see a problem with her comment, because she just said, "What? It's true!" And then she ended the discussion by entering the room of her next class.
In gym, Barry found himself thinking about what Eddie would look like while shirtless at the beach. The sunlight would glisten just right off of his chest, and if Iris's reaction was anything to go by, his muscles weren't too shabby either. His hair would be wet and strewn about wildly....and then a basketball hit him in the stomach and his fantasy was over. So sad.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eddie was alone in the hallway putting his books away while everyone else was either still in class or at lunch. He had stayed after class for a bit because he had questions about the English essay he was supposed to complete by Friday. So there he was, scrambling to get to the cafeteria because he knew how long the lunch line could get.
A finger tapped him on his shoulder, and he turned, meeting eyes with an unfamiliar girl in a yellow sweater and way too short jean skirt for the weather outside. She had long, wavy brown hair that curled at the ends and rested on her shoulders, and startling green eyes that were fierce and determined, yet cool and confident. She had a thick black headband in her hair, as well as several golden bracelets on both wrists, and she wore shiny white stilettos that were pointy at the toes.
"Can I help you?" Eddie asked as nicely as he could.
"Actually, I believe that we can help each other," the girl said. "Becky Cooper," she greeted with a smile, but it seemed condescending and forced.
"Edd-" He was about to introduce himself but she cut him off.
"I know your name. And I know you've become quite popular with the gossiping groups around school. Don't you worry, no one hates you. Yet," Becky added the last part as an after thought, it seemed. "And I'm quite high on the People-To-Gossip-Positively-About list as well. So I have decided. We should become an item,"
Eddie choked on air. "What?" He asked. Surely he hadn't heard right, because no one was that straight forward. No one.
"You and I should date. It's not like we don't have anything in common!" Becky scoffed.
"How would you know?" Eddie asked, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms. This Becky Cooper girl gave him a bad feeling.
"It's easy. All a matter of perspective really. You have perfect hair, I have perfect hair. You have nice eyes, I have nice eyes. I have an amazing fashion sense, and you have-" She paused, looking Eddie over with an expression of what Eddie could only describe as dissatisfaction.
"You have an okay eye for how to dress. We can work on that," Becky said.
Eddie shifted from foot to foot, suddenly self conscious. He personally thought that his plain white t-shirt and blue jacket was fine. And sure, his jeans weren't top of the line designer, but they weren't awful to look at either.
"Don't you see, Eddie? Our personalities can be completely different and no one would care. As long as we look good, we'll always be on top," Becky grabbed Eddie's hand suddenly. "We can so do this," she said slowly.
And there was that smile again. It gave Eddie the creeps. He was about to politely decline Becky's strange offer, but suddenly Becky's hand was ripped away from his and a different girl was pressed against his side.
"He's with me, sorry," The girl said. She had dark skin and black hair pulled back in a ponytail, and she wore faded jeans with a light blue V-neck shirt underneath a jean jacket.
Becky looked shocked, and she stood there silently for a moment. But then the other girl wrapped her arm around his and she said "Get lost."
Becky growled, of all things, stomping away angrily. The 'click click click' of her heels grew fainter and fainter, until it couldn't be heard at all. The girl smirked, and started dragging him towards the cafeteria.
Eddie followed, having no choice really, and tried to explain that he wasn't going to date her either. But he didn't have to because the girl said, "I know, you don't play for my team. But Becky's a whore. And she doesn't understand the meaning of gay."
This stopped Eddie immediately. He pulled out of this girl's grasp, looking at her strangely. "How did you know that?" He asked, a bit uncomfortable that a complete stranger knew this fact about him.
The girl laughed, as if this were all some big joke. "I may be straight, but I have the best gaydar. Also, I stalked your Facebook," she turned away from him, and continued walking. "I'm Iris by the way,"
Eddie ran to catch up with her, and soon they walked side by side in sync. He didn't bother to tell her his name, he had a feeling she already knew. And honestly, he was done with introducing himself for a very long time.
"Are you Barry's friend?" He asked instead, vaguely recognizing her as the girl he had seen Barry glaring at earlier today.
"Yep," she smiled slyly, like she knew something that Eddie didn't. "You could say that," they entered the cafeteria, getting in the lunch line together.
They both got their food on separate trays, and Iris looked at him, then smiled as she said, "Eddie, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship," She patted him on the shoulder, and disappeared into the crowd of rowdy teenagers.
Eddie stared at where Iris had just been standing, unable to process what had just happened. Today had been hectic, and it was only Tuesday! He still had three more days before the weekend, and everything was already moving too fast for him to keep up. It seemed that Central High was like a gigantic pond of hundreds of fish, all grouped together by their different species. Said pond was calm and well-put together. Meanwhile, Eddie was a stone, and he had just been dropped into the middle of that calm body of water, causing the entire pond to go nuts. Like ripple effects.
Suddenly, Eddie was shoved by a tall brunette guy in a bright blue sweatshirt. "Watch where you're going, blondey!" The guy called.
Eddie was going to make some sly comment about how it was ironic that he was blonde and yet still the smarter one amongst the two of them, but when he got a second look at the guy, he changed his mind. This dude looked mean and muscular, his green-blue eyes were icy and intimidating. So Eddie just sighed, and started walking to the table he sat at yesterday. Guess he was just another fish in this pond that they called Central High. He just couldn't wait until tomorrow! Wait, scratch that. He really, really could.