Erza looked up from her studies, bored and distressed. Mira, Cana, Natsu, and Gray went to get some food from the local cafe. It was exam time. Apparently, someone told Gramps that it was a good idea for all the kids in Fairy Tail to know how to read and write. Unfortunately, Erza was still trying to perfect writing her name due to the difficulties of her handicapped eye. Her practice packet was focusing on reading simple words and tracing and rewriting long sentences yet she only accomplished 3 out of 15 pages.

She heard the front door to the study hall open and slam shut. Erza turned to see Mirajane handing her a vanilla shake and a cheesecake. She smiled with glee and thanked Mira.

"I got fire chocolate! Gray got frozen pickled plums. Blah! It's perfect for his sour face though. The chocolate isn't that spicy and I got 12 bars. Wanna try. Gray is such a baby. I gave him some and," Natsu blabbered on as Gray glared and Erza zoned out.

Erza, Cana, Mira started to chat as they munched on their snacks. Mira was Erza's arch nemesis but the exams and "great" school gave them more trouble than each other did. So until school is done, they declared that their enemy was Gramps.

The five students half studied, half procrastinated. By 8 pm, they had finally finished their packets, Erza being the last because of her handicapped eye. Laxus walked in, looking grumpy as usual.

"The old man made me tell you babies to get ready for bed cuz some exams or whatever." He said gruffly, shutting the light off and walking out the door. The only highlight of school was that the students got to sleep in the loft on the second floor. This place was only for S-Class wizards. Soon, the five fell asleep, dreading the next day.

They awoke and went to the "classroom" which was basically a few chairs and desks behind wizard job board. Erza sat down in her seat at the front and looked at her fellow classmates. Natsu was burning a scrap piece of paper out of utter boredom, Gray was making pencils out of ice when he stripped as usual, Cana was laughing at Gray, and Mira was by her desk when she went to look at her. The white-haired she-devil was smiling at her.

"You are going to pass this exam Erza. I know it. You always push past challenges, don't let your artificial eye bring you down." Mira said out of pure sincerity.

Erza nodded and smiled weakly. Mira reassured her a bit and she watched as Mira sat back down at her seat. A few minutes later Gramps showed up, holding 5 thick packets. Erza practically lost her soul in her chair. He passed them out with a thud on each desk.

"There are 50 pages. Ring the bell on your desk if you need anything. Good luck and begin." Gramps said as he walked out to watch the guild.

The five started their exams, sighing and uncomfortably grunting from time to time. Erza finished the 13th page by the time an hour passed. She glanced up at everyone else with her eye only to see everyone working or daydreaming. Mira looked up from her work and gave Erza a reassuring glance. Then Gramps appeared and got everyone's attention.

"I have a suprise emergency that I must attend to in 4 hours. This means you have 3 hours left to complete the exam, which will leave me one hour to grade them." Gramps announced. With that, he walked away from the now shocked students.

hey all continued working away until 2 ½ hours had passed. Erza had accomplished 38 out of 50 pages. She started to tear up in fear she wouldn't finish. Out of some miracle, she had managed to finish the exam somehow.

Gramps appeared and collected the papers. Everyone turned it in completed. He said he was going to post scores when he got back.

Gramps had finally returned and wrote the scores on the whiteboard. Erza was afraid to look as he was writing the scores.

"Come on Erza, you couldn't have done that bad. You gotta believe, have some faith in yourself." Mira said reassuringly.

"Done, feast your eyes, young ones! It ranges from 0 to 300 and passing score is 250!" Gramps said, smiling.

The 5 turned, Erza being the last, at the scores of the day.

Natsu Dragneel- 258

Gray Fullbuster-283

Cana Alberona-276

Mirajane Strauss-286

Erza Scarlet-294

"I passed!" Erza exclaimed as tears of joy welled up in her eye.