Ohhhhhh dear I'm in trouble… Like some of you must really be like 'Why the **** is this person taking so long to update?!'

Rest assured I really didn't intend to take this long on updating this. Some may have noticed that I have quite a few stories to juggle so yeah it was unwise but I love making new stories. I'm actually thinking about putting one on Hiatus. Don't worry not this one but another that isn't that popular.

Grrr it's a thought so it hasn't happened yet.

Many thanks to my Followers and Reviewers. I didn't expect this fic to popular from the get go. Inspiration is needed for my next story update so keep the reviews flowing! That didn't sound too needy right? Meh…

For those that don't know there will be some of my Betas comments in here like in some of my other story updates. They add extra character XD

I'm not very good at making friends

- Katniss Everdeen, Catching Fire

I had discovered being in Nirvit, that the rainy season starts in autumn.

It's been two months since I've been here and I missed the smell of rain hitting the earth. The rain here though was unpleasant. Instead of cooling the earth like you would find in summer, here it made it bitterly freezing and muddy.

The rain would also go on for hours on end, at one point the students were assigned to sort out leaks in roofs, de-flood basements and unclog the gutters.

True as my words go back those months ago; this place was better than the mansion, I was still right but this place was still Hell. I loathed it beyond belief.

Still, it was better than home.

The dorm seemed dead tonight; all I could here was the hard rain hit the rooftop. Another leak emerged in the ceiling and caused my half-consciousness to scream.

Drip, drip, drop.

Drip, drip, drop.

Drip, drip, drop.

The pattern would change up every once in a while but the small sound irritated me beyond belief. Like the ticking of a clock in the dead at night had the same effect, sometimes worse.

This was killing me.

I've been suffering from insomnia for some time now; at home I would get in at least three hours rest. I'm not really sure how much sleep I get here and at this point I'm too afraid to find out.

My stomach ached, it's been aching like this for weeks and all I can do to relieve the pain is scrunch up in a ball while I lay down. Not sure if it's the lack of food I've been taking in or the fact that the food here should only be fit to feed to dogs.

My appearance has changed a bit. My blonde hair has become dull; like a sickly yellow, my skin is pale and just as sickly. The lack of sun we get from the coverage of the umbrella-like trees has been depriving me of the vitamins I so miss.

Now the rainy season arrived and it came with a vengeance.

Black was clotting my vision and I've reached my limit for the day. I was too exhausted to battle it and let go to slumber.

…

Once again it felt like I had only just slept for a few minutes and the heaviness of my eyes seemed stronger than my will to get up to the shrill siren echoing through the campus.

The girl's moans were collected as they had risen out their own beds. Reluctantly I joined them and went to the bathroom to use one of the showers. Before going in, the sound of the rain outside caught my attention, this was getting ridiculous.

I was close to not showering because of my irritation at the rain. My body odour is telling me otherwise.

Groggily I went to the public bathroom and used the one shower stall before it would be too late. The only thing that seemed humane in this horrible school; is that we weren't without hot water. A heard a rumour though that during winter one of the punishments was to shower in ice cold water for a week. That is, mind the pun, a cold thing to do if you ask me.

Feeling the hot water against my back gave me Goosebumps and a small sigh escaped my lips. After turning it off I wrapped my towel around my body and moved on to the sink to brush my teeth.

The bathroom never made too much noise, Ultear made sure of that. But the whispers never stopped, especially the whisperings of the most frightening girls in the dorm.

While trying to focus on my task at hand, I felt like the whole schools eyes were pouring into my back. I can't respond, I know these girls aren't the 'slap you in the face and go away' types. No I'll just pretend I'm oblivious, as the saying goes "Ignorance is bliss."

I finally went back to the dorm to change and I mentally sighed in relief that we could finally put on our winter uniform.

It may not look better than the summer one but it certainly was warmer. The material was thicker on the skirt and we could finally wear white button up shirts instead on the one piece dress all together. We could wear vests or plain t-shirts underneath and on top of that we had gotten our jerseys and blazers. The colour of the skirts wasn't grey like I thought, but a navy blue. Our jerseys and blazers were grey and the school tie was also navy blue. It was a step up from our boring summer uniforms. Finally I pull up my stockings and slipped on the horrid looking black school shoes.

I took a brief look in my small mirror next to my bed and noticed my hair has grown; it's grown roughly about seven centimetres. The ends of most strands looked tattered and damaged. I hadn't seen my hairdresser Cancer in a while; he usually tends to my split ends but I could care less about it now. Or so I try to convince myself.

Ever since that humid day on the rooftop, where I succumbed to degrading labour and was losing my will to carry on, that pyromaniac stood by my side under the same circumstances. And from then on I knew I couldn't stop looking at him in a way that is forbidden in this school.

So, in actual fact I did care what I looked like in front of him. I felt embarrassed though, I couldn't do anything to increase my appearance, and my sex appeal has been out the window from the first day I've been here.

But…
The moment we're together I forget about all the insecurities I have or all the pain I harbour during each day. He melts it all away, simply by seeing his toothy smile or his infectious laugh.

I snapped out my daze and found myself being the only one in the dorm. I looked to the clock on the wall and sighed in relief that I still had plenty of time to eat and see Erza, Levy and Natsu.

Reaching the front door I picked up my umbrella and opened it. The trees that hovered over the school and dorms were not helpful to shelter us from the rainstorms we receive so often. I was being extra cautious since I heard there was a rumour that the time approaching us would be lighting season. It scared me since there are so many tall trees here.

I reached the cafeteria and turned green at the smell of last night leftovers they're serving as breakfast. I stuck with stale toast and milk. [JBB: I'm imagining curdled milk right now, blech! XP] I sat at what has now been called our table for the past few months.

I saw my red and blue headed friends and seeing their smiling faces instantly cheered me up.

"Good Morning Lu-chan" Levy greeted sweetly.

"Good day for a swim eh Lucy" Erza joked

She got me to chuckle louder than I should and I sat down with a heavy thud and sigh.

"So Lu-chan you certainly took your time getting ready today and you spaced out for like 10 minutes before I left." Levy chirped while poking at her food.

I blushed slightly remembering the reason why I spaced out earlier. Levy was studying me closely trying to understand what was going through my head. She's smart like that; I mean she was caught on charges of internet fraud with a ton of cash, so figuring me out would be a piece of cake for her.

I nibbled at my toast to distract myself but she already pegged me. I wish she would be like Erza right now, eating and minding her own business…

"Were you thinking about someone this morning?" she asked slyly.

I tried to keep my reaction neutral but I slightly jumped when she made her accusation.

"Who's thinking about whom now?" another voice appeared.

The familiar voice made me jump onto my feet and causing me to fall backwards over the bench I was sitting on. I yelped in surprise and tightly shut my eyes for impact but instead of the cold ground the owner of the voice before had his arms securely wrapped around my waist preventing my fall.

I opened my eyes and blinked several times and caught sight of his face. Natsu just had to show up now huh?

"You sure are clumsy Luce. The wet season is gonna be a nightmare for you." the pinkette stated.

Levy and Erza were smirking and nodding their heads at Natsu's statement. I didn't really pay much attention to the statement since Natsu still had his hands on my waist. My blush could've been seen from the teacher's office it was so red. He wasn't getting a hint by it either.

I coughed and tapped his hands to indicate he's still holding me. When he noticed he let go and chuckled slightly.

His action of chuckling, I won't lie, disappointed me. I was expecting some reaction like I gave earlier. Even a blush would do!

As cliché as it sounds, finding out if he likes me will be harder than I expected it to be. That though, wasn't something I could do here. True there was no written rule of dating but it is considered a taboo, the school kept it fairly strict about mixing the genders. Besides the cafeteria and the short interval between classes there wasn't any chance of speaking to the other gender.

I've heard several cases of students being caught philandering in small corners of the school and have received punishment fit for prisoners. I was honestly very wary about speaking to guys, both by their shadiness and by the taboo 'rule'.

"… So what do you think Lucy?" I heard Erza say.

I spaced out again and Erza just asked me something.

"I uh… sorry what was the question?"

Natsu almost choked on his oatmeal and tried not to die from laughter. The action made my cheeks flare up again from embarrassment.

Erza swiftly smacked the back of his head with a deadly look in her eye. Natsu quivered afterwards by getting a taste of what the red head is capable of doing to him.

She coughed getting ready to start explaining again. "I was saying I found a candidate to join our circle. He's in our confessions group."

I smiled brightly, it's been a long time since we started the group and the whole purpose was to extend it. My mind wondered of what other boys are in our confessions group. The first that came to my mind was the guy who yelled at me on the second day of school, he also had piercings all over his face when we were in confessions. Then it was the weird, although attractive, exhibitionist. Last was… the guy who got Erza in trouble…

"Is it that Jellal guy?" Levy blurted.

I looked up to Erza to see pain in her eyes. Different emotions crossed her face but her response made it clear how she felt about her former friend.

"No" she hissed. "I wasn't talking about him."

We were slightly scared at the response. It was certainly a bad choice to invite him into our circle.

Quickly recovering from the awkwardness she spoke up again.

"His name is Gray Fullbuster."

Oh dear Glob [JBB: Ha! Adventure Time reference] it was the exhibitionist. Ever since I heard he purposefully strips in his home town I kept a good arms distance from him. I wasn't a prude or anything but my decision was wise. More than a hand full of times he has been unconsciously stripping in school.

I always share a class with him before lunch and I've witnessed it myself. Thank goodness he has only taken off his shirt. He's received plenty punishment for each case. There was something else about him that seemed off… It was almost as if there was a stormy barrier surrounding him, like a guard of some sort. I can't explain it but every time I walk past him I get a terrible chill down my spine.

I have to push the feeling away if Erza wants him to be part of the circle.

"That stripper? He's such an asshole." Natsu stated.

Erza gave him a deadly look that made the rest of us shiver simultaneously.

"Who are you to judge? Besides if he doesn't fit then we let him go."

We all nodded at Erza's explanation. Now the next thing to decide is who's going to ask him to join.

I don't know what it was but somehow Erza must have read my mind, for when she looked at me with her brown orbs I knew I was already tangled up in the matter.

"Lucy you share a class with him before lunch right?"

I cursed internally and if I'm not mistaken I think I heard a growl quietly beside me. I tried to not react to his growl but it made my heart thump louder than ever. I turned my attention back to Erza who was patiently waiting for my answer.

"Uh… yeah I do." I distractedly said.

Levy piped up after listening to the conversation "So it would be logical for Lu-chan to invite him to the group and we can rendezvous here by lunch."

I bit the inside of my cheek: that's easier said than done Levy. Besides Erza, Levy, Natsu and I haven't spoken to anyone else in the school. Frankly I'm too scared to.

Natsu's eyes poured into my head waiting for me to say something but the siren shrilled indicating to start school.

I sighed mentally and dashed away from the table. Natsu was still in his seat and continued to stare at me as I walked away. I wasn't sure if he was trying to read my mind or something but it did make me feel extremely self-conscious.

As I exited the hall the rain had died down enough for me to not need my umbrella. Getting into the main building I was hoping that my lessons from here to lunch time would stretch longer.

For once in my life time, as the cliché quote says, was as if it was an illusion. One moment I blinked and there were five minutes to go till lunch break.

My eyes averted to a few seats behind me in a different row. I spotted the raven haired boy I'm supposed to speak to in a few minutes.

His black hair was growing shaggy, which would probably change in a few days. His eyes were distant, further than daydreaming and his mind totally non-existent in the class room but as if he was contemplating the meaning of life or some important deal as such. His scowl looked permanent and intimidating, it certainly made me nervous to speak to him.

He tugged on his collar uncomfortably, looking like he was suffocating slightly. Knowing he had a habit of taking his clothes off, the school must have been pressing on him to stop.

The siren; that I despise so, shrilled indicating lunch. Without me realising I was still looking at him. Only when his eyes met mine did I snap back.

My head cracked forward by the fright I received and I shut my eyes tight and mouthing curses at myself. I seriously wanted to face palm myself for being a blonde.

Lost in my own self-loathing I felt a tap on my shoulder. My head spun around to see the raven haired boy.

I turned white, or whiter than usual, and waited to see his next move.

His hands were casually in his pocket and his white shirt on the one side was un-tucked and peeked through his jersey. His bag was clasped in his hand but flung over his shoulder looking too off-the-cuff. He looked so relaxed compared to earlier.

"Oi, anything wrong?"

"No!" I replied defensively and loudly.

He smirked slightly "Relax Blondie, I'm not trying to pick a fight."

I sighed too loud for leisure and he just chuckled slightly.

"Well ill just be on my way I guess." He said readying to exit

"Wait!" I panicked

He halted immediately and lifted his eyebrow sceptically.

"Sorry but I wanted to ask if you would like to have lunch with my friends and I? I-mean-if-you-want-to-cause-my-friend-had-this-idea-of-having-our-confessions-circle-and-she-suggested-you-so-"

"Whoa, whoa breathe!" he said waving his hands in front of me.

My face felt hot and flushed, I took a long breath in and without realizing it I started to laugh.

"Sorry" I said after my short laugh.

"Did you hear anything I said there?" I asked.

He gave a small smile "Yeah, sounds good. Why don't we walk there now and meet the others."

I gave sweet smile and picked up my bag to leave with him.

Call me crazy and I most likely am at the moment, but it felt like from the moment we spoke I sensed a really dark aura near us…

Or rather watching us…

Sorry it's a bit short but the next chapter is gonna be a Drama Rama.

So far I never have had the opportunity to describe Gray in a story before nor how he acts when he zones out so I hope I did okay.

This story is making me so proud and you guys are to thank.

Repeating myself here… Leave a review to inspire the next chapter!

[JBB: Have you noticed the amount of people who are no longer into FT and giving up on the fandom all together? It breaks my heart, how can people be so half-assed about NaLu and Fairy Tail?!]