Everything was blurry. The lights from the streets, the people around him, their faces, their hair, their clothes. I just didn't know what to do. Without realizing me own moves, I entered the sea of people surrounding the scene. I tried to make space between them by pushing and poking with my elbow. I couldn't see anything straight, it was just a meadow of fuzzy heads and bodies.
"Natsu!" I yelled. And I kept yelling. Without even thinking, I just opened my mouth and the sounds came out. I know I was walking to one of the saddest moments I would ever have to face. Part of me wanted to just get out of that place, of that mess, and just to continue to walk down the street, ignoring the commotion. Because I knew, that with every step I took, it became more final.
If I just ignored it, and kept following my own way, maybe it would be different. Maybe it would be another person lying there. Maybe Natsu would be where he was supposed to, and I would come over to meet him, we would bury the hatchet. He was going to open up the door, I would push him to a passionate kiss and we would have the best sex of our lives.
But then I decided to see what was going on. I didn't even think for a second that it might be something to do with me, with my life. I just wanted to check in. Take a peak on someone else's tragedy and feel good about my life for once. That's why there is always a circle of people near an accident isn't it. We pretend we care, we pretend to feel sorry for whatever soul is lying on the concrete, but in our heads, we're always thinking "thank god it didn't happen to me".
Except for this time. I would only stop by for a few seconds to catch in the situation, but as soon as I spotted that pink cherry head of hair I felt a thunder crushing through my heart. And then everything stopped. And I started seeing colors and movements instead of cars and headlights.
"Natsu!" I screamed from the top of my lungs as I finally reached the front of the crowd. I run towards the body. Some cop tried to stop me but I didn't even assimilate what he said. I felt the weight of my body coming back to me all at once and feel on my knees. I pushed his bloody head towards me and put it on my legs. His eyes were closed. My head fell towards it, our noses touched, and all my tears came down at once.
…
"Gray".
I woke up from my trance suddenly as I heard my name. I lifted my head up, a bit dizzy, and forgetting for a second where I was. As everything started to get back into place, I saw a woman standing there smiling at me.
She was short, with medium length curly dark blond hair. Her glasses were coke-bottle ones. On her body, she was wearing a big puffy beige jacket and a long purple skirt that seemed to be swallowing her small body, and black shoes with socks all up to her ankle. She smiled at me as I recognized her presence across the room, and I, nervously, and pathetically, shook my hand at the woman.
…
Passed that first meeting embarrassment, I was now in her room, sitting in a couch in front of her chair, where she was sited. Dead silence taking over the room, as I avoided making eye contact. And whenever I did do that she was looking at me with an intimidating smile, like she was waiting for me to say something. Why should I start the conversation? That was her job goddammit.
"So…" the woman finally opened up, realizing I was not going to. I swallow hard with the first words spoken in that room, still fixing the window in the left side of the room. "Gray. Why don't you start by telling me the reason you came here for?"
"Right." I said softly and coughed to straighten up my voice. "I came here because… Well, let's say I came here because some friends thought it would be good for me."
"Is that it?" I waited a few seconds to process an answer.
"No, I mean… I came here also because, I myself, also thought I needed, obviously". She smiled.
"Great. Gray, I know that's your first time, and you're probably most likely nervous to be here, but can we agree that you'll try to look up and at me as our sessions progress?" I agreed with my head, facing the floor. "Okay. So, is this your first time during therapy?"
"Uh…" I turned my head at her direction, nervously, as I said that. "Can we not do this whole first awkward therapy session dance? I mean, can we just cut to the chase?" She smiled.
"Very well. So… what do you want to talk about?" Was she serious with that question? I mean common isn't there a better psychological strategy to make therapy patients to start talking? I smirked a little in response. "I mean, if you're here, then obviously, there is something you want to say, right?" Obviously, I thought to myself. I was not amused.
The dead silence came back to haunt the room as I didn't know how to make a conversation off of that, and I started to face the flour again. I swallowed hard again as I build up some courage to face the woman and start to talk again.
"My boyfriend died." I spilled that information as I faced my head at her direction, and looked awkwardly at her eyes, as I expected her to respond. I did not intend to say that with that tone and with that abruptness.
Dead eyed she picked up a cup of coffee off of her coffee table and moved it into her lips direction, still facing at my eyes. Her expression saying "yeah, so?". She was testing me. The silence was too awkward for me to bear.
"I'm sorry. I guess… I didn't want to… I mean… I… I guess I just haven't even said that out loud before." Her eyebrows went up with the juicy information. She was definitely testing me.
"And how long has it been since?"
"Four months." I said as I realized this was the first non-awkward sentence I've put together since I've been there. "We were together for six years. It's just hard you know? I mean, it's obviously going to be hard, but you just don't want to match people's expectations. Everyone assume I'm just a victim and that they have to go easy on me or something, and I just want everything to go back to normal. Not that I'm not suffering…" I emphasized "but why does every interaction that I have with my friends and family has to be around that foundation you know?"
As I finished my speech I took in some air, realizing I had just opened up with my new therapist.
"But are you over it?"
"No! Of course not. We lived through so many things. It is still pretty recent, I mean… What is four months when compared to six years?"
"So maybe that's why everyone is still cautious when it comes to you. Looking through your eyes as you talked, I could see how moved you are by the whole situation. It is perceivable. Besides, six years is a long time. Perhaps everyone was so used to you two being together, that just seeing you is a reminder of what you've been through." I agreed with my head. "Why don't you just let me know how was your relationship with him? Tell me a story. Any story that would help me understand how the foundations of that relationship were."
"All right." I smiled, nervously. "I guess I can start by telling you the story of how we met."
"Perfect."
…
It was a sunny day of late summer. With a backpack on my back and an opened map in my hands, I smiled as I found myself standing in front of the building where I would live from that moment on. I heard a horn buzzing from behind me and turned around to see the red pickup truck my brother was driving. He put his head out of the window.
"Hey idiot, is this it?"
"No, I'm just in front of it admiring its beauty. What do you think?!"
"I mean, it's not an ugly building." He said stepping out of the car. "C'mon help me unpack. It's your crap after all."
"Why do you have to whine about everything Lyon?" I said as we both started to pick things up from behind the car.
It was basically two bags, a minifridge, an armchair, and a microwave, even though I told my mom there was no need for that. I didn't want to be one of this kids for whom their parents gave a new set of furniture whenever they went to college. Besides, my nerdy roommate's probably set him up with this kind of stuff too. Plus, if there were only the bags I could enjoy the whole going to college trip without the company of my stupid brother Lyon.
"C'mon lazy boy, let's get to work." Lyon said, as he threw the armchair at my direction.
"What's your problem?!" I complained as I dodged the chair, that flew a few meters away.
"Hey!" I heard a girl shout from behind, as I rolled my eyes and went towards the chair to see what happened. It had fell in front of a blond girl with a very unpleasant look at my direction as I went down to her.
She had blond hair caught in pigtails. Her breasts were pretty large and here small pink shirt attenuated that just fine. She was also wearing blue shorts and golden flipflops.
"I'm sorry." I said in advance.
"What's your problem?! Someone could get seriously hurt, you know that?"
"Yeah, I know that. He, on the other hand, doesn't." I said, pointing to my brother that waved at her from the top of the truck.
"Well, someone needs to teach your friends some manners!".
"He only wished he was my friend."
"Whatever. Just pick up your chair and go. I have friends waiting for me!"
"Okay! Geez…"
I picked up the armchair and head my way towards Lyon, who was giggling like a toddler at the top of the truck, the girl went her way cursing us.
"Wow, man. She is hot. I could get used to these college chicks y'know". Lyon said with a jerk expression on his face.
"Yeah, right. Like there's any chance you could have her."
"Yeah, like you could."
I rolled my eyes with the direction that conversation was going and rushed Lyon to get all the things out of the car so I could move to my room as soon as possible.
"I'm going man, jeez!" He replied.
I took the two suitcases and put the microwave inside the backpack I was already carrying. Lyon took the minifridge and the chair. Unfortunately, my room was at the third floor and we had to carry all that weight without showing any sign of exhaustion, because we wanted to prove to one another how strong the other was.
"Here t is." As I said as I stopped in front of the door with the numbers 302 in it. I picked the key from inside my pocket and opened it.
Inside I found a redhaired guy lied down at one of the beds. He wore glasses, and was also wearing a yellow hoodie and jeans. He rushed to put out a joint at the coffee table near his bead as he saw people coming in.
"What up my mans!" The guy greeted us, making it obvious how stoned he was. "Uh, duded, I don't want to ruin the mood or anything but there is only one bed left, so…
"Oh no, he is my brother." I explained. "He is only here helping and tasting the sweet flavor of college while he can, since he is not going to get in."
"You're so funny…" Lyon protested.
"Oh, cool man. What's up, I'm Loki." He greeted me with a hand shake and a tap in the back.
"I'm Gray. Lyon, you can put everything on top of the bed." I said as I dropped the suitcases on the floor.
"I'm not your maid." My brother said, closing the door.
I sat on the bed and took the backpack off my back. Took a deep breath and looked around. So, this is what was waiting for me. A small room with a TV and a stoned roommate. Sweet. I couldn't wait to start this next chapter of my life.
"So…" Lyon said, provocatively "are you going to share this joint with us or what?"
"Hell yeah I am!". Loki said in a stupid potheaded kind of way. He picked up the joint that was hiding behind a watch, and took a lighter out of his pocket, lighting it. He took a pull at it and passed it on to Lyon who was inappropriately already sat on the floor with his shoes off.
"Lyon?"
"Yeah."
"Don't you think it's time for you to go?"
"Oh, kiss my ass!" He responded.
"No, don't go!" Loki said in a dumb and clueless way. "Let's all hang. Before this place starts to get boring, am I right?"
"Fine…" I said, after taking a deep breath. "But one of you better pass me that joint!"
I lied down at my new bed with my head in the pillow, took my shoes off and stretched myself. Picked up the joint and started to smoke it, pulling in and blowing the smoke off, peacefully. My mind was calm and every thought I had, began to be erased from my head. I felt calm like I hadn't felt for a really long time. My problems started to fade, and it was like my bed was just floating around. I smiled at nothing, with the joint stuck in between my fingers.
Suddenly I woke up from my trance with Lyon taking it from me, with an angry expression. He passed it on to Loki again, but I just ignored that interruption and continued to look at the ceiling aimlessly with an unnoticed silly smile across my face.
"Hey, it's getting hot in here. Do you mind if I take off my shirt?" I said, in a dumb way.
"Strip away my friend." Loki replied, while also lying down with the joint in his hands, looking up.
Quickly I took off my shirt, and also my pants, keeping only my boxer shorts and my socks on.
"You better get used to it living with Gray. He is a nudist." Said Lyon.
"Shut up Lyon, like you're the one to talk!" I said, kicking his head.
"Ow! You jerk!" Angrily he turned over me and pushed my face close to his by my shoulders.
His hands were closed ready to punch, and so were mine. Our teeth were clenched. We were staring angrily at each other for a second, but when our eyes met we both started to laugh copiously at that picture.
"I'm actually going to miss this." I said, taking a deep breath, as Lyon let my body go and came back to his early position.
"Awn. Who knew you had a heart."
"Shut up, I'm only saying this 'cause I'm baked."
"Dudes!" Loki shouted, making my ears shake. I looked at him completely lost, remembering that he was still there with us. "You brought a minifridge?" He said with a shocked expression seeing the object on my bed. "Man, my folks didn't let me bring anything!"
Ok, so apparently, my mom wasn't all on the wrong on the whole bring a minifridge and a microwave scenario.
"Hey, you know what they got here?" The redhaired boy said passing the joint on to my brother. "Cable! Can you actually belie it?"
"Taking into account the fee to go here, I say I can, yes." I replied, as I sat on the bed with my back leaning against the wall.
My roommate seemed to not pay attention to my response, as he searched for the remote to turn the television on. The joint was back with me, as I peacefully started to smoke it again, and my body muscles all became relaxed. My moment of peace was disturbed when Loki turned on the TV, and the lights coming from the object seemed to go directly towards my eyes. I covered them with my hands.
"Great, Adventure Time is on! This show is a great entertainment when you're high." My new college classmate said with excitement.
My brother and I started to pay attention to the cartoon on display. Of course, that for the three of us, or for me at least, it was just a bunch of colorful talking bubbly characters that may or may not be unanimated objects (I couldn't figure out what they were, actually.) doing nonsense stuff in a fairy tale background. We laughed together not understanding anything that was going on, doing stupid remarks at the show, as the joint was being passed on to the three of us. It had been a long time since I felt so at peace, happy and in sync, by being completely not in sync with anything that was going on around us. It was like that room was a new-found palace where I could isolate myself from the rest of the world and just breath.
A few hours passed, without any of us realizing it, as we watched that cartoon marathon away, getting high in the process. The three of us decided to order pizza, and giggled when a very stoned Loki called to the pizza delivery place trying to stay serious. After what I believed were several minutes talking to the person on the other side of the line about anything that wasn't pizza and laughing at really idiot jokes, we finally agreed on a topping, which was something they called "everything and then some" pizza.
"Wait, is this still the same show? Where did the talking dog go?" My brother wondered.
"This is the talking dog!" I explained.
"Man, that's a talking pizza!"
"Yeah, the dog was transformed into a pizza a few episodes ago? Aren't you paying attention? I think this is some kind of alternative universe or something." I said. "You see, this old man with a moustache is actually the boy with a cellphone hat."
"Ugh! Can they come back to be who they were before? This talking pizza is getting me hungry!" Lyon complained. "Where is that Pizza?!"
As my brother finished that sentence, we heard someone knocking on the door. With that sound, Loki who was in lying in his bed mouth opened, lost in his imagination, suddenly got up mumbling a sound.
"The pizza!" The orange haired guy said, standing up and going to the door. He opened it to reveal a woman. She was ginger, her hair was long, and she was using a white shirt, jeans and black boots.
"Hi, I'm Erza Scarlet, I'm a sophomore student at teaching school, and I am going to help you today."
"Yes, good. Where is the pizza?" My clueless roommate said, appearing to not have paid any attention to what the woman at the hallway just said.
"Pizza? No, I'm just here to deliver your calendar of the week and some pamphlets with information about this university. Wait, what is this smell?"
At that very moment, the pizza guy appeared behind Erza holding the much beloved and awaited food.
"Did someone in here ordered pizza?"
"Yes!" Loki said, over excited. Ignoring Erza's presence standing between him and the delivery guy. "Thank you". He picked up the pizza box and closed the door at the woman's face, while the delivery man complained the money was not enough.
Unfortunately, the door couldn't be closed, since Erza's foot was standing on it's way. She forced the door opened, and closed it again, this time at the delivery guy's face, while he complained about the money problem.
"Look, I know you're new here and everything, but this institution still does have rules." The redhaired woman said in an intimidating tone that gave me chills behind my neck.
"Your point being?" Provoked Lyon, as I slapped him behind his head.
"I know the smell of marijuana when I sense it. And you're not allowed to smoke inside of school property."
"Oh c'mon. This is college! Rule breaking and stuff, you know?" Loki protested and Erza gave him a stone-faced look that made all three of us shiver.
"Okay…" I got up from the bed, as I felt the need to intervein. "May I ask what you're going to do about this whole situation?"
"Easy. I will report you. And that could take some privileges away from all three of you."
"Ha! That's where you're wrong. I don't even go here."
With Lyon's remark, Erza's face became even more scary, which I know made my brother almost pee his pants.
"Fine! Can we just not take it to this level yet?" I said, trying to ease the situation. "Why don't we play a game?"
After I said that, I noticed her eyes shine and a discreet smiled appeared on her lips for only a second. Jackpot! I knew someone like her wouldn't miss the chance to win at something. It was almost like the word "competitive" was written on her forehead.
"A game?" She turned over to me and pretend to not be much interested. "What kind of game?"
"A card game! I brought a deck of cards with me, if you're interested."
"Keep talking…"
"If you win, you can report us, but…" I paused for dramatic effect "If any of us win, you will not only not report us, but you will also have to stay here and have fun with us."
"But wait, she is clearly in disadvantage, I mean, is three against one!" Loki protested, in an unnoticed attempt to kill my plans.
I looked at Erza's face trying to figure out something to say, when she said;
"That's not a problem." She smiled. "I trust my abilities. Let's do it!
"All right." I smiled this time. "But let's keep everything more interesting." I said, opening my bag to find the deck of cards. I took it out along with a bottle of cheap wine II secretly packed. "Everyone sit."
The four of us sat on the floor, in the middle of the room, in a square, as I shuffle the cards.
"The game is like this; since we're four there will only be four types of cards in this game; ace, two, three and four, four of each to be distributed among us, and also a joker. The idea of the game is to be able to get all the four cards. We have to pass it on each round a card that is not helpful to us to the person on our right. The person who gets all the four cards has to, discretely, drop the cards, faced down. When the first person does that, everyone has got to do the same. The last person to do that loses, and has to drink a sip of this wine."
"Man, this wine is so cheap." Said Loki. "Look, its bottle is even made out of plastic."
"Yeah, but it gets you drunk pretty fast."
"And what about the Joker?" Erza asked.
"Right. So, the joker is only here to increase the game's difficulty. Since there is also the joker, one person will start with five cards. This person begins. And, if you get the joker, you have to wait one round to pass it on. Shall we begin?"
I distributed the cards and the game started. Erza with her, now usual, serious expression facing all of us, to see if we weren't cheating or anything. At one point, Lyon poked my knee with his elbow discreetly and slowly dropped the cards on the floor. I did the same. Erza was now too concentrated to notice it. We just had to get Loki's attention. It was now Erza's turn and I didn't have any more cards to pass it on. Loki was acting like an airhead and was not paying attention to anything. Quickly, Lyon said;
"Loki, is that a sack of weed in your pocket?"
"What?!" Erza screamed, facing him.
Scared, Loki dropped the cards on the floor. With a cynical smile, I put my hand on Erza's shoulder.
"Well my dear friend, it appeared so that you lost."
"What?!" She now faced me, her face and voice reminding the ones of a raging beast. Now, I was the one that almost peed my pants. "That's impossible. I was paying attention to every move. You cheated!"
"Well, as a soon to be lawyer student, I feel like is my obligation to ask; can you prove it?" Her vein was popping in her forehead.
"I don't have to prove anything! It was obvious."
"I didn't see anything." Said Lyon, giggling.
"Neither did I."
"So… I think it's time for you to…" Loki and Lyon started to make drumrolls sounds in their legs. "Sip the wine!" I reached out the plastic bottle and gave it to her.
"Sip the wine! Sip the wine!" The boys cheered.
"Fine!" She took the bottle abruptly, spilling it a little on the brown carpet. "But this is bullshit and you know it."
Erza turned over the bottle towards her mouth, and a little sip became one giant sip. Our eyes popped at the sight of Erza turning over a third of that bottle inside her mouth. I felt the need to intervein.
"Okay…" I reached out for the cheap plastic container and took away from her. "Let's give the chance for other people to have fun."
She passed her hands on her lips with dignity, before saying something.
"I demand another round."
Soon, the other round became four others, and everyone got to taste the cheap wine. By then, the redhaired sophomore was too waisted to remember why she was there for, and the boys had won. We laughed, we told stories, we had fun. My first day of college and I already made two new friends (plus a got a chance to be in the same room as my brother without it ended it up by us punching each other). College started strong, I couldn't wait to see how the rest of it would follow.
When the sun was starting to set, another girl, in a black dress, appeared at our door. Her hair was white and she had a concerned expression on her face.
"Hum, hello…" She spoke softly and nervously, as all the eyes in the room turned over to her. "Erza… We were looking for you…"
"Mirajane!" An extra excited Erza yelled at the sight of the girl at the door. "Come, come! This is Gray, and this is…"
Before the sophomore could finish, she turned to the other side and vomit came out of her mouth straight to the carpet. With dignity, she lifted her head and her finger.
"I'm ok…" Without having a chance to finish more vomit came out of her.
Worried, Mirajane ran to her friend for help, and so did the rest of us, even though, besides the other woman, none of the others ended up being very helpful.
…
It was already dark out, the moon was glowing in the sky. Lyon and I had just left the building and were in front of the red pickup truck in which we came in. Now he was going to be the only one leaving. It was about to get final, and I didn't know if I could handle it.
"So…"
"So… Are you sure you are already okay to drive?"
"Yeah, yeah… Don't worry…"
The awkward silence was reigning at that farewell moment. None of us were very good with expressing feelings. Mixing that up with the fact that we always wanted to be the stronger brother, it was easy to assume we we're not going to make a big scene.
"Okay, so what now…"
"What about a hug…?" My brother proposed, and I didn't know how to reply to that. I stared blankly at him for a few seconds, non-intentionally.
"Okay, okay, forget I said that…"
He turned over to open the door of the truck, as I turned him over and grabbed him into a hug. He replied to it. Our heads fitted into each other's shoulders and we stayed like this for a few long seconds, in that dark night scenario.
"I think that's enough."
"Yeah."
Lyon entered the truck and looked at me from the window.
"Take good care of mom."
"I will." He said, starting the car.
"And if Juvia asks…"
"You're not attending this school, got it."
"Well, then, bye…" I said, forcing my tears inside of me.
"Hey Gray…" I rolled my eyes with this last remark. It was hard enough as it was.
"Yeah…?" Tears almost falling.
"This whole time we lived together… It was cool."
"It was." I smiled.
Lyon turned the truck around as I watched from a distance it leaving. I smiled in relieve when my tears started to come down across my face. I loved that bastard.
…
My first unofficial week of college was amazing. It was almost something out of a yogurt commercial, people were happy, the campus was green and bright, everything seems to be happening just fine. The classes hadn't officially started yet, but there were a lot of activities involving the freshman getting to know their veterans. The law students' veterans seemed to me at the time something that could be compared to Greek gods, they seemed untouchable and unshakable, but at the same time, very genuinely nice.
On my first Monday at the school, on the main patio, happened the "Get to Know Each Other" Fair. A lot of activities took place, coordinated by the veterans of each course, there was a painting class by the art students, an improv class by the drama students, and there was even a first aid classes by the medical students, although with all that was going on it didn't seem to be the most popular of activities. I saw Mirajane there, as one of the teachers.
Erza was also there, but she was one of the coordinators, making sure everything was in line. The times I saw her she didn't appear to be very happy, and was always with a walkie talkie by her side. Very intimidating.
Wednesday some of the professors showed up on campus to introduce themselves to their respective students. None of mine showed up, so I didn't do much that day, also because some of Loki's teachers did show up and he wasn't around much. I utilized that free time to get to know the campus by myself, it was a bit intimidating, especially since it was kind of empty, and I felt like some lonesome adventurer walking around abandoned temples.
Friday I went to my first college party. It was law students exclusively, but I managed to bring Loki with me. I felt a bit casted aside and didn't know how to communicate much with people there. It didn't help that Loki completely vanished at one point. With the help of booze, I started to feel more comfortable, I danced and then some girls came to me on the dance floor, but I dismissed them, since I was not actually in the mood.
Tired after so much dancing I sat on one of the sofas. Some sophomore and junior girls sat next to me and we started talking. Their names were Laki, Kinana and Bisca. I introduced myself and they were amused by the amount of crap I said since I was drunk. I don't remember much of that conversation, only that Laki was having trouble with her boyfriend, and Bisca teased her by asking me for romantic advice.
After that, other people decided to play spin the bottom and called the girls who dragged me along. They introduced me and I managed to say even more crap which made more people laugh. There was a boy sitting in front of me. I didn't know his name, but he was smiling towards me the whole time. His hair was dark blond, he had a bit of a beard, and the top button of his shirt was open showing his collarbone. His eyes were light brown and fixated at mine, which made me blush, along with the fact that he wouldn't stop smiling. That smile was incredibly sexy.
Than it happened that the bottle was pointing to me and a brunette woman that was right next to him. I crawled over to her so we could kiss, but than that guy advanced and pushed me by my neck, I didn't intervein. He pressed his lips on mine as I could hear everyone cheering. His mouth had incredible presence and I let it guide my own. An incredible heat took over my body as we pressed our bodies even more next to each other and our tongues danced. Then we were interrupted by someone asking for help.
I pulled my face away from his to see what was going on, and then I saw Loki puking all over the floor. He tried to pull me next to him again, but I said I had to help my roommate and left, making everyone boo at me.
Angry and concerned I tried to help the girl that screamed that first time clean the vomit, but she said it was fine and that I should just focused on bringing Loki to "his" dorm. I used my body as a support, putting his arm on my shoulder so I could carry him. All the way up to our dorm he talked about the girls he made out with at the party. I couldn't help to be a little upset that my time with the hot boy was cut short thanks to my drunk roommate.
The other days of the week I just hanged with Loki inside and out. We had lunch together, we watched TV together, we smoked weed together. At first it was strange seeing him as another being than his party animal self I first met that day with Lyon. The orange haired boy was actually pretty smart and even charming, his popularity with girls was no surprise. He was an interesting man, cultured, and knew how to keep a conversation going. A few times we went to the pool and bet who could swim faster. I always won, since I've been swimming as a hobby from a very early age. It was nice to win over Loki at something, because, my perception of him was that he was way more interesting, smart, and popular than me.
That first week flew by, and soon the first official week of college came. Before the classes could start on Monday, there would occur the initiation ceremony at the auditorium, with all the new students. There the dean would say something, alongside some other people, and then the student with the biggest grade at acceptance exam would make the final speech. I sat with Loki at the end of the auditorium so we could make stupid remarks at the initiation without bothering anyone.
"And now, for the final speech, our new student, Freed Justine."
"Look at this guy". Loki smirked.
"I know… You just know his mom handpicked all of his material".
"And his underwear". He said making us both giggle.
"Why do we have to hear this idiot for?!"
I heard that voice speak loudly, almost scream, from behind of me. If only I knew I would be hearing that voice a lot more from there on, perhaps I wouldn't be so annoyed by it. But for now, I grinded my teeth in shock and rolled my eyes. Loki and I exchange looks of astonishment at the audacity of the boy behind us.
"Can you believe this guy?"
"I know, right? Making rude remarks towards this idiot was supposed to be our thing." My roommate joked, making my smirk.
"You're an idiot."
As if that wasn't enough, the guy from behind me was also eating very loudly, with every chew it was like a crusher was uncontrollably dancing through the room, and with every sip he took with a straw it was like a thousand people were burping into a loudspeaker. My teeth were clenched and my hands were pressed into a fist, as I tried to control myself not to yell with whichever jerk was sitting behind me.
"Oh, come on!" That was it. "Wont this ever end?"
"Hey!" I abruptly turned around to the guy. When our eyes met, I felt a shock going through my body. That was only the first time. He seemed surprised to see someone barging in into his rudeness. His left eyebrow went up at the sight of me. "Can you please shut up? Some of us are actually trying to pay attention." Loki giggled when I said that and I felt a really strong will to punch him.
The boy had unusual cherry pink hair. He was resting his barefoot feet on one of the chairs in front of him (he was actually two rows behind), with a popcorn and a cup of soda on his hands. If I was annoyed by only hearing his voice, seeing him with my own eyes increased that annoyance by a thousand. His face alone, so entitled of everything, made me want to bury my fist into his face. But what was bothering me the most was the way he looked at me. It was provoking me to no lengths.
And he wasn't alone. On his side, resting her face in his left shoulder, was that very same girl that yelled at me on my first day there, with that whole chair spectacle. And on her side, was a brunette girl, with a water bottle on her hand.
"Fine, pretty boy!"
"Fine!" I said, turning around again.
After a few seconds, I could hear some whispers from behind and rolled my eyes at it, but tried to pay attention at the speech. Then a popcorn hit the back of my head. My hands were already closed into a fist, but I tried not to pay attention to it. Then it happened again. I just couldn't bare it. I turned around with anger moving my body.
"What is your problem?!" I whispered loudly, as the girl from the other day giggled at my anger.
"Nothing." He said provocatively.
"Can you turn it down a notch, we're trying to watch the speech." The blond woman said in a cynical way.
"Well it doesn't appear that way." I said, without noticing my voice was getting louder.
I turned around again, with rage going through my body. A split second after, I felt another popcorn hitting my head. That was it. I turned around and pulled him closer to me by his ankle. We we're face to face now.
"That is it! What is your problem?!" I was pressing my fist really hard not to hit him with it.
His teeth we're clenched and his eyes were exhaling anger too. He kicked me in the head with the feet I pulled. I fell back and hit the chair in front of me. Without a second to recover I kneeled in my chair so I could get taller and pulled him closer by his collar, my fist ready to hit his face.
"Hey!"
Erza jumped in, coming out of nowhere, and split us, making us both fall back into our chairs. Her face was as intimidating as usual, and her vein was popping on her forehead. It wasn't a pretty picture.
"You both stop it, or I will be forced to show yourselves out of the building."
For as angry as I was at the boy with the stupid pink hair, it wasn't worth it defying Erza, so I turned around again, but my angry expression was still looking deep into his eyes to show I wasn't done yet. Then Erza pulled me by my collar, and, this time, I almost pooped my pants.
"What are you doing?" She whispered in my ear. "Can't you see this people are trouble?" She let me go and I fell back into my chair. Then she looked at the other boy, and said with a tone that wasn't nearly as friendly as the one she reserved for me. "And you! Sit straight, this is not your living room!" She pushed his foot away, taking them out of the chair he was resting them in.
As Erza was walking away, Loki turned around for the first time to see who were these people behind us.
"Hey Cana!"
"Loki…" The brunette woman replied, with a drunken voice.
"I bet my own clothes that this isn't water." My roommate said referring to the bottle in her hands.
"Hey, if you want to, why won't you visit me again at my dorm?"
"I'll consider…"
He turned around with a provocative smile on his face.
"Geez…" I said "How many women have you been with since you moved here last week?"
…
I was walking down on campus with Loki, the sun was shining on our heads. I was waiting him as he was buying some chocolate at the cafeteria. Then I saw him. The boy with the cherry hair was sat under a three with the two girls that were with him before. On his body, he was wearing a red sweater, black sweatpants and flipflops. He was also using goggles on his forehead for some stupid reason. My eyes met his and he smiled cynically at me, making my body shake with anger. I had to go talk to him.
Leaving Loki there I walked to that boy and his friends very determinedly.
"What was your problem back there?!" I yelled.
"She told me what you did." He said, playing with a tiny ball. I looked at the blond girl still resting his face on her shoulder.
"What I did...?" I turned around to the girl. "You mean that thing with the chair? That was an accident! It wasn't even me it was my brother…"
"Save it. We don't care about your excuses." The guy stepped in, still playing with the ball, throwing it up and catching it.
My body was shaking with rage still, as I looked to that man again. I tried to say something, but his stupid ball was bothering me. Without even thinking, I caught that ball in the air, and threw it away. It landed on the top of a building.
"What is your problem?!" He said, getting up abruptly, throwing me on the ground. "That ball was a present from my father, it has been with me since I was a kid, it is my lucky ball!"
I was surprised by how upset he was about the ball. It was the first time I saw him without being his stupid provocative self. I got up cleaning my sweater.
"Look, I'm sorry. I'll go get it."
"Don't bother!"
He went into the building direction. It seemed to be under repair, and not being used. It also appeared to being repainted. I followed him as he walked determinedly.
"I'm sorry!" I tried to explain.
"I don't care!"
We got into the building and he started to climb the fire scape stairs that were on the side of the edifice, as I followed him.
"Look, while we're at it, can you at least explain to me your behavior back there?"
"I already told you!" He fired.
"Not towards me! I mean, while you were watching the speech, why were you like that? Do you just enjoy being a jerk?"
"He was a jerk!"
"He…? You mean the guy reading the speech?"
"He was from the same school as Lucy, you know? She was supposed to be reading that speech. But he advised her to get her exam reviewed." He explained, while having to take breaks to breath since it was a really big climb through those stairs. "He told her one of her answers was wrongly corrected. And as a result, another one of her answers was deemed as incorrect and he got the bigger grade!"
"And this Lucy girl… I take she is the same from the chair thing, right? Is she your girlfriend?"
"What gave that away?"
I smirked at that answer. We climbed the rest of the way up the roof quietly. When we finally got there, we saw the red little ball right in the middle of it. The problem was, between us and the ball, there was a hole at the roof. As the pink haired guy was walking his up there, I held his leg.
"What?! Let me go!"
"Let's play a game."
"Game?! I don't have time for this bullshit."
"If I get to the ball first…" I said, ignoring what the boy had just said. "Then you have to forgive me. But, if you get to it first, you can punch me in the face. Deal?"
"Deal…" He sighted.
"You go around the hole by the right and I go around it by the left."
We both got into the roof, and I held the boy's arm.
"What are you doing?!"
Ignoring his question, I counted to three and let him go. We ran to the ball, my adrenaline was popping. I jumped as high as I could and landed where the ball was, picking it up with my hands. I saw as the guy with the pink hair was still running towards it and how mad his expression got when I got to it first. Distracted, he slipped and fell through the hole in the concrete.
"Look out!"
I ran to him, his arms and his upper chest were still holding on not to fall. I held his arm and pushed it as strongly as I could. It worked, as I pushed him back to the rooftop. We realized that all that effort made another massive piece of the concrete break, and we crawled away to the other point of the roof, seeing as the piece of the roof fell down, making an even bigger hole.
"I'm Gray" I introduced myself, breathlessly, still looking to what just happened in shock, extending my hand at the other guy.
"Natsu." He responded to my handshake. "So how the hell are we going to get out of here?"
…
"Gray Fullbuster. Natsu Dragneel."
The man sitting in front of us said our names, looking at each of the young boys sitting in front of him separately when saying it.
We were sitting in two armchairs, me at the one in the right, and Natsu at the one in the left. Separate from us by a wooden table, was the dean, Makarov Dreyar. He was an old, bald and unusually short man, and was looking at us without a single expression on his face, making his short figure even scarier.
"Look, old man" Natsu started talking and I closed my eyes in hopelessness, as I knew nothing good could follow up that sentence "It is not our faults that the buildings here are so old that they are falling apart. If you ask me, we only helped to showcase the problems with this place architecture before anyone could get hurt."
"That building was under repair and it was off limits."
"Well, then you should have put a sign."
"I did."
I sighed in discontent as I knew our fates were sealed. Natsu rolled his eyes as he didn't expect that answer and faced the floor.
"I have to tell you, I don't think there were ever any freshmen students that ended up being in my office this soon into the school year. Since it is clear that any of us wants to be here, I'll make it easy for you. The repair of that building is going to cost ten million.
"TEN MILLION?!" Natsu and I shouted in disbelieve.
"That's impossible, there is no way I'll be able to pay that." I explained.
"Yeah, and that building was already fallen into pieces before, shouldn't we pay only for the cost of the roof?"
"This is the cost of the roof! But since I already saw problems like that coming, I'll make it easy for you. I'll put you down to help on the cleaning team at night, as long as you promise me you won't get in any more trouble."
"Fine." I said quickly, before Natsu got the chance to screw things up. "But what about our classes in the morning?"
"You're young. You'll manage."
We left the dean's office a little bit shaken, but at least we we're not going to have to pay for ten million bucks. We took a glimpse at each other's eyes one more time as we stood in the hallway in front of Makarov's room, we were both tired and relieved. He smiled at me and I smiled at him, the first of many smiles to come.
"Here is your stupid ball." I said, taking it out of my pocket and throwing the red object at him.
"Thanks."
We both turned around to different directions, and he called me.
"And Gray…" I turned around again to see the pink haired guy who had just gotten myself into trouble. "Take care."
"You too." I smiled at him as we both turned around again to keep our paths.
As it turned out, that school was not big enough to the two of us.
…
I got out of the building a little bit shaken. It has been a while since all those memories came all back to me. The memories of the early days. As I stepped out of the door I cursed myself for not bringing an umbrella with me, seeing as the rain was abruptly fallen. Then I felt a protection coming over my head, at the form of a black umbrella. I sighted surprised and turned around to see Erza next to me, stretching her arm. She was smiling, which made me smile.
"How was it?" My friend asked, casually.
"It was… Something." We both smiled, as we walked down the rainy streets, two friends, catching up.