Hey, here's chapter two - hope you like it
Oh and i hope no one minds that i gave Bixlow a fake first name haha just to give him something to be teased about xD
Chapter 2
"All right students! You know the drill and I know you've been dying to find out this year's Christmas Challenge!"
A few of the more outgoing students cheered and Bixlow, the massive jock that he is shouted, "Come on! Get on with it Old Man!"
Master sent Bixlow a menacing smirk, "Alright then, Eugene."
Everyone laughed at the boy's real name, and Bixlow's face immediately reddened like a ripe tomato.
Master continued with his grin, "We'll be playing Ultimate Indoor Hockey! Three teams all pitted against each other! It will be a death-match! So everyone eat up, and head to the Lobby after you're done!"
The table was jolted into action and conversation. People – well, more the guys than girls – dove into the food that was set out on the table – lots of mashed potatoes, beef gravy, bread rolls, buttery green beans, and slightly overdone pork chops (it was amazing how much Makarov could get done in such little time). Most of the girls turned to their neighbors and started gabbing away about the Ultimate Hockey game afterwards, a few of them wondering if they'd be able to sit out the action.
Gajeel was actually looking forward to the game – it was a chance to blow off some steam and hit something. Sure it wouldn't be as fun as fighting with Lily like the two usually did to blow off anger and energy, but it was at least something.
The studded boy looked around the table at the mindless chatterboxes that were his schoolmates. There were a handful of seniors, a lot of freshman, and the odd sophomore and junior thrown into the mix. Though he probably knew the name of everyone at the table – excluding a few of the freshmen – he didn't actually know any of them. He knew their reputations, and the rumors about everyone, but as with Levy, he had never talked to most of them…and didn't really care to.
He piled his plate high with food, snatching the last bread roll from the bowl before some freshman could get it. He ate quickly, like most of the other guys in the room, but kept to himself whereas other heavy eaters were also trying to converse with their friends and eat at the same time.
Once Gajeel's plate was emptied and his hunger was abated, he looked across the table at Levy.
It wasn't that he particularly wanted to look at her, but she was directly across from him, and there was nothing else to do. The blue-haired girl was reading a book while trying to take mouthfuls of mashed potatoes. Levy brought the fork to her mouth and attempted to take the bite without looking.
But unfortunately, she was too distracted and the fork ran into her cheek, right beside her mouth.
The girl beside her, Mirajane, broke out into laughter at Levy, whose face quickly reddened as she dropped both the book and the fork at the same time out of frantic nervousness. But misfortune was following the blue-haired girl tonight, as the book fell right onto her plate of food, causing her mashed potatoes to splatter all over her, Mirajane, and the rest of the immediate area. Now Levy's bad luck had the attention of the whole table, and everyone – even Headmaster Makarov – was laughing their asses off.
Gajeel snickered and watched as her cherry-red face just stared in shock at her plate, while slowly trying to wipe off the mashed potatoes that had sprayed her orange shirt. He felt bad for the girl – she had been a relatively good drinking buddy – but couldn't help adding his own strange laughter to the chorus of voices that echoed through the mess hall.
Mirajane was now biting down on her lip to subdue the laughter and helping Levy wipe away the mashed potatoes with a napkin.
Eventually, the laughter died down, but the redness to Levy's cheeks lasted the rest of the relatively short meal. She had been the first to excuse herself, and briskly walked off – probably to go change.
But Makarov stood from his chair, "Wait – hold on a minute Levy. I need to split everyone up into teams first!"
She stood in the doorway, a pleading look very apparent in her large eyes.
Makarov started with Levy, and went clockwise around the table, deeming everyone Red, Blue, or Yellow.
Once everyone had their color – Makarov added himself to the Yellow team to make it even numbers against each other – he told everyone to wear the color of their team to the Lobby and meet there in twenty minutes.
Everyone dispersed afterwards, Levy darting out of the room the quickest, followed closely by Mirajane.
Gajeel snatched another bread roll from the table and went to the dorm room he usually shared with Lily. As he had been placed into the red team, he found a dark red t-shirt in the back of the closet and put it on over his black sweatshirt. He quickly scarfed down the rest of the bread roll and took off towards the shared lobby.
Only a few of the younger students had arrived, so he leaned against the wall by the door that led to the boy's wing of the building to wait.
Makarov, who walked into the Lobby with an armload of hockey sticks and a mesh bag thrown over his shoulder, voluntold the early freshmen boys to help him move all of the furniture in the large circular lobby up against the walls, and soon set up three goals with bright orange cones that stood out against the cream-colored carpet of the room.
Students kept trickling in, staying in mismatching color groups, as they were reluctant to split up from their friends. Gajeel stayed by his spot on the wall, waiting for the rest of his color team to come to him.
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Mirajane plopped herself down on Lucy's unoccupied bed, while Levy dug through her dresser for red and blue shirts for the both of them.
"I can't believe I don't own a blue shirt," Mirajane sighed as she observed one of Lucy's posters tacked to the wall above her bed.
Levy finally found the two shirts she was looking for, "That's alright – I've got an extra one. Too bad we're not on the same team though."
Mira shrugged, "Oh well – at least the game will get everyone's mind off of your diner fiasco." The white-blonde girl smirked at the color that returned to Levy's cheeks.
Levy grumbled and threw the blue shirt at Mirajane.
"Seriously, don't worry about it," Mira started, "No one will remember for very long – at it was only in front of a small group. It could have definitely been worse."
Levy sighed, "Yeah I know – but it's still embarrassing though. Evergreen's gonna hold it over me for at least the rest of the holiday break." Levy pulled off her mashed-potato stained orange t-shirt and pulled on the clean yellow one. She looked at herself in the mirror as she tied her blue hair up into a high pony tail.
Mira joined her at the mirror and giggled as she pulled her bangs into a pony tail at the top of her head. Levy flicked it, and the small pony tail flipped back and forth comically.
The two girls dissolved into laughter, and once Mirajane had thrown on the blue tank-top over her white blouse, they headed towards the Lobby. The groups had formed already, with most of the students split up. The red team, comprised of five freshmen, Gajeel, and a junior girl by the name of Cana, was lingering by the wall beside the door that led to the boy's dormitory, while the blue team made up of Evergreen, Bixlow, two freshman boys, and two sophomore girls, was congregated in the center of one of the goals.
Mira went to the blue team while Levy headed towards the group in yellow by one of the two fireplaces in the room. Levy's group was comprised of two freshman girls, a senior boy named Alzack, both of Mirajane's younger siblings Lisanna and Elfman, and Headmaster Makarov.
Master smirked at his group and stood proudly with his hands on his hips. "I can feel it! We're gonna beat the snot out of the other teams!"
The two freshman girls giggled while Elfman and Alzack high-fived each other. Levy exchanged a pleasant smile with Lisanna and waited for further instruction.
Master stood up on a coffee table that had been shoved up against the wall, and silently counted all of the students. Once he was satisfied that everyone was there, and no one was attempting to ditch, he clapped his hands and started yelling over all the chatter.
"OI! Listen up! It's seven on seven on seven – one goalie per team. You are only allowed to hit the bean-bag with the hockey sticks, so please refrain from beating each other senseless. Okay – team with the most points after an hour and a half gets a "Skip Coupon" which will get you out of any normal day of class!"
Everyone cheered at the mention of the prize, and mentally decided which class they'd use it on when the time came.
Makarov laughed at all the excitement and yelled out, "READY, SET, GO!"
All twenty students and Master Makarov scrambled to get onto the "field" with their hockey sticks, and frantically divvied up their team into positions. Lisanna was deemed the goalie of the Yellow team, while a sophomore girl and a freshman boy were placed as the goalies of the blue and red teams respectively.
Makarov was in the middle of the fight for the neon orange bean bag that was the game puck. Levy stayed on the outskirts instead of plunging into the thick of battle with her fellow Holiday-Stayers. Levy caught Mirajane's eye and they smirked competitively.
Bixlow got control of the bean bag and sent it flying towards the red team's goal – but the freshman goalie caught it with his hands and threw it back onto the field, where Gajeel immediately trapped it with his hockey stick and sent it soaring towards Lisanna.
Lisanna managed to block it with her stomach and threw it towards the center of the field, where another battle took place for control.
Within the first twenty minutes, the Red team had two points, while the yellow team and the blue team each had one.
Everyone was laughing and letting themselves enjoy the intense game – especially Makarov, who had really gotten into it, and ended up smacking people's shins to get at the bean bag.
As the game progressed, it got rougher and rougher – causing most of the freshman to keep to the sidelines while the older kids fought mercilessly.
About an hour into it, the yellow and red teams were tied with six shots each. Lisanna blocked another shot by Bixlow and threw it towards Levy, who was unblocked and close to the red team's goal.
Levy trapped the bean pack with her stick, but as she went to take her shot, she tripped.
As she began to fall towards the ground, she noticed Gajeel and Bixlow both rushing towards her with determined looks on their faces. They hadn't yet realized that she was falling, and had both readied their hockey sticks to swing.
In the split second it took Levy to fall, Gajeel and Bixlow had both swung for the bean bag, noticing too late that Levy's small body was now on the floor, in direct line of their hockey sticks. The two seniors tried to hold back the force of their swings, but it was no use.
Levy cried out in shocked pain as the two hockey sticks struck her small body – Bixlow's stick clipping the top of her head, and Gajeel's socking her in stomach.
The room immediately froze, and all eyes fixated themselves on to the scene by the red team's goal.
The two boys were shocked and both dropped their hockey sticks to the ground. Makarov and Mirajane were the first ones to reach Levy, who was groaning and clutching her head.
"Oh, my god!" Mirajane breathed frantically. She pulled away Levy's hands from her head and saw the blood starting to flow freely from a wound the hockey stick had inflicted.
Bixlow saw the wound with wide eyes, "It was an accident! She fell right into our swings!"
Makarov came up behind the two and placed a hand on their shoulders, "I know – it was an accident." He knelt at the small girl's side and rolled her gently onto her back, "Levy? Can you hear me?"
Levy groaned, tears leaking from her usually bright eyes. "Yes," She answered with a weak and shaky voice. She was in obvious pain – her whole body was shaking from her attempt to hold in her cries, and her eyes clenched tight as if that could hold back the tears that were forcing themselves out.
Makarov looked up to the two boys, "One of you take her to the infirmary – I've got to call in the nurse." Makarov stood up quickly and headed for the nearest phone, leaving the small crowd of students on their own.
Bixlow was still frozen on the spot, muttering about accidents, so Gajeel took the initiative to kneel by her side and lift her up from the cream colored carpet that was now sporting a few blood stains.
He felt her small frame shaking in his arms as he carried her off towards the infirmary, with Mirajane leading the way in a silent calm that was unnatural to her personality. She held doors open for the studded boy and the injured girl, who was now close to unconsciousness.
Once in the white stained room that acted as the infirmary, Mirajane readied one of the two beds, and pulled back the blankets while Gajeel laid her down as gently as his rough and callused hands could manage.
