Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or Absolutely (Story Of A Girl) by nine days.
Authors Note: I tried my hardest when writing this story to not give away to much information about what is going on with Gray and Juvia but I did. Also note that I made Natsu serious in this fanfic although I doubt that will last long. I hope you like it.
This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world
And while she looked so sad in photographs
I absolutely love her
When she smiles
"Why does she even bother coming?" a voice whispered behind her as she sat in class waiting for the teacher to show up. "It's not like anyone would miss her is she didn't."
"Shhh" a second voice mumbled as they continued to talk as if she couldn't hear them "Do you want to be cursed?"
"Oh please she may be scary and ugly but I doubt that she could actually curse anyone; those are just silly superstitions."
"Really because I heard the last person to say that drowned, and their body was never found" replied the second girl in a loud whisper. Juvia rolled her eyes like she could kill anyone by placing a 'curse' on them; did being unpopular automatically make her a witch?
"You're just messing with me" replied the first girl "you have absolutely no proof."
"I do too," the other girl responded "Amy was the one to tell me." Juvia shook her head; Amy was anything but a reliable source the girl would mock anyone and say anything in order to maintain her popularity. Was it really that hard for people to believe that she was just a normal girl who simply wanted a friend and to fit in with everybody else? Couldn't they just see that she was like everyone else and that like everyone else she has feelings? Why was it so hard for people to see past those rumors to see who she really was?
Juvia looked down at her desk and tried to ignore the two girls behind her who insisted on talking about her in what could possibly be considered the most annoying of voices. Six more hours Juvia thought as she listened to the calming pitter patter of the rain on the window to her right.
"Alright class today I will introduce our new project. In partners each of you will research a topic and create a presentation on it. This project will be worth ten percent of your grade so it's best if you work your hardest on this project. You may now pick your partners then one of you will come to the front in order to obtain your topic." And with that Juvia was done listening because this project would be like every other in which every student would partner up and the unlucky kid without a partner would be stuck with her. Juvia sighed and turned to the window watching the raindrops slide down the window in an imaginary race to the finish line. She was busy watching the rain when she was handed a large piece of paper with hieroglyphic scribbling that she recognized to be her teacher's handwriting. Glancing at the paper she managed to recognize the word suicide.
"It seems like an easy topic," said her partner "I think we could get an easy A with that topic."
Juvia turned around to stare at her partner and expecting to see someone just as unpopular as her when she saw none other than Gray Fullbuster. Juvia's eyes widened there was absolutely no way that Gray was without a partner, he was always either with Natsu or with Loke.
"Yeah, an easy A," she mumbled turning to the front of the class in an attempt to stop herself from looking like a fool when she noticed that half of the class was still in front of the teacher's desk trying to get their topics. Juvia's eyes widened if there were still people at the front trying to get their topics that meant that Gray was one of the first to go and that meant she wasn't picked last. She turned to Gray trying to determine his reason for pairing up with her. It had to be a trick there was no way that he was willing to pair up with her; he had to have an ulterior motive. She continued to look at him for a sign that he was doing all of this just to hurt her but when she couldn't find any she simply smiled at him.
Juvia sighed as she turned the corner and walked into the cafeteria. It was to say her least favourite place in the whole school but alas the library had a no eating policy and she'd rather eat in a place she hated then freeze her butt off outside. She calmly walked it the café her bag slung over one shoulder as she looked down at her shoes in an attempt to ignore the looks she got. A loud laugh could be heard in the otherwise quiet cafeteria and she flinched knowing that someone had said something bad about her again. There really was nothing bad for them to say, she had never cause drama or been involved in any sort of drama but there really didn't need to be a reason for them to mock her. A slight speech problem as a child and a few enemies made by mistake and next thing she knew she was being made fun of for basically nothing. Juvia sighed and went to grab one of the empty tables at the back. Shaking her head she took out her lunch and her books. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.
Juvia was late again and she knew that she would be in trouble if she was. She was running through the halls in a mad attempt to get to her job before three. If was late one more time there would be absolutely no way that she was going to keep her job and there was no way she could afford to lose it. Juvia skidded around the corner hitting the shoulder of a black haired man. She yelled a quick apology and continued to dash off failing to see the boy pick up something off the floor and try to call her back.
It was a sort of unspoken tradition among Gray and his friends. Each day after school they would go to Igneel's Barbeque shop. If you had asked anyone when this tradition started no one would have a real answer for you, no one really knew when the tradition started all they knew was that it did start. Usually they would walk into the shop at four, the only slow hour for the fast shop, and sit themselves at a booth in the back. Then they would proceed to argue, Gray and Natsu would almost break down the place, and leave before business started back up. And that was why Gray's silence stunned everybody, including Igneel himself. Normally the two boys would be throwing insults at each other and would only stop in order to throw punches at each other, but today Gray was simply sitting at the booth staring at a plastic card in his hand. Natsu walked up to him and sat down once he saw the contemplative look on his face.
"What's up?" Natsu asked as he watched his friend stare at the card.
It was a while before Gray finally responded "Juvia was in a hurry today, and she dropped this." Gray handed Natsu her student id card and watched as Natsu's face slowly fell. "I don't understand why she looks so sad in this picture. I mean she isn't exactly the happiest person but she never looks this sad."
Natsu handed the card back to Gray "It could all be an act; I mean maybe she hides how she truly feels behind a fake persona. After all the easiest way to hide your sadness is to smile."
"It doesn't matter the reason why," Gray said after a while "All I know is that no one should ever look that sad."
Natsu shrugged and looked over at is friend who was staring at the card yet again. "I've only seen one person look that way," mumbled Gray "And it didn't exactly end well."
Natsu sighed "There was nothing you could do. It's not like you knew it would happen."
Gray turned to look at Natsu "You're right I can't change the past but I can affect the present. I like it when she smiles whether or not she believes it Juvia has a beautiful smile. I am going to make her smile as much as I can and maybe if I'm there I can help her."
So did you figure out why Gray helped her? I made it super obvious. Anyways on the off chance that you didn't get it, Gray will explain it at a later date. Furthermore, even though it doesn't seem like it the cafeteria scene does have a purpose.