"Time to wake up, Gray."

Gray heard the murmur of voices through his hazy mind. He hated when people tried to wake him up. Sleep was something natural that your body needs. In Gray's eyes, his body was the only thing capable of regulating when he should wake up. There was a reason he didn't use alarms in the mornings. He tried very hard to tune them out and hold onto however much more sleep he could get, until he realized the amount of weight resting on his back.

Gray instantly woke up when he felt his breath being forced out of his lungs. His first instinct was to flail around until the monster straddling his back fell off; but this creature was too fast.

Before Gray knew it, his arms were being restrained behind his back and he felt his legs being pinned down. The beast has help.

"Why is it that you are sixteen years old and still need an entire army to wake your bum ass up?"

"Alarms exist for a reason, young one."

Gray groaned after hearing the voices of his attackers. He should've known. Who else would harass him this early in the morning? It wasn't even worth fighting back. Gray just sunk his face back into his pillow.

"Ultear, get your fat ass off of my back. Lyon, get the fuck off of my legs!" Gray knew he was in a bad situation. He could take either of them one-on-one, but whenever two out of the three joined forces against the other, the winning side was predetermined. Gray's only options were to take the loss like a champ, or use his secret weapon. He was usually above using said weapon; however, it was entirely too early and he was beyond tired.

Gray was not a morning person.

"These are the best seats in the house, Gray! We were sent in here to wake you up, we mine as well make ourselves comfortable." He could practically hear the smirk on Lyon's face.

Gray tried one more time to wiggle his way out of their clutches, only resulting in their raucous laughter. He just groaned and looked over his shoulder. Of course, there they were, smiling at him like the evil creatures they were.

"What the hell do you want?"

"What we wanted was to not get interrupted from our morning routines, just to get you out of bed in time for school," Ultear complained. "Unfortunately, that has already been taken away from us, so you must suffer in one way or another."

Lyon poked him in his sides, causing Gray to practically jump out of his skin. "There is only one satisfying way to truly get you back though."

Nobody knew how ticklish Gray really was except for his family. It was such a problem that he had no idea how he kept it a secret from everyone. He was somewhat grateful that they gave him a heads up of their evil plan. They were like the stupid villains in horrible action movies. He knew exactly how to take actions against them. He just hoped his secret weapon would pull through for him.

He took one last look over his shoulder at his siblings preparing to destroy him. Then, took a deep breathe in, trying to be a still as possible so to not warn them of his next move. He only had one shot, if that.

"UR! HELP! COME GET YOUR EVIL CREATURES OFF OF ME!"

Lyon and Ultear were instantly on him. Ultear diving to cover his mouth while Lyon was going to town on his sides. They knew that in just a matter of seconds, the real beast was going to arrive.

He felt Ultear directly in his ear before she even began to speak. "You'll pay for that one."

He knew he would, but at the moment he was just happy to hear his door get kicked open.

They all stopped what they were doing and turned their heads towards the door to see their mother standing at the door with fire in her eyes. At that moment Gray wasn't so sure that he'd made the best decision.

"Is there any particular reason that there is not one child in this house ready for school yet?"

None of them wanted to respond.

Gray, being the obvious victim in the situation decided that he had the least to lose. "In my own defense, I have two monkeys resting on my back. I can't really get up."

This proved to be his second mistake of the morning.

Ur ran across the room and smacked all three of them in the back of the head before they even knew what was happening. "If you just woke yourself up in the mornings, they wouldn't have even had to come in here! Now don't be a punk and call your mom to fight your battles for you."

Gray was too stunned to even retaliate to what she had just said. She was already making her way to his door. "Ultear, Lyon, you better be outta here in five minutes. Breakfast is almost ready."

He could literally feel the mischief coursing through them. "Thanks Ma, we'll be out soon."

Turned on by his own mother… Gray just took another deep breath, preparing himself for what was to come. I should've just let them tickle me. His only option was to take this beating, and hope for an amazing breakfast. What a way to start the day.

Juvia fell into the passenger seat of Jellal's car. She never understood why he picked a car so low to the ground. She would've made a snide comment about it when he got in if she weren't so tired. Jellal underestimated how hilarious season two of The Office really is. They were up for at least three more hours laughing and not caring about school. It seemed like a good idea at the time; but now that it was barely 7 o'clock in the morning, she realized her mistake. She didn't even take the time to find a bomb ass outfit that would impress all of her new classmates. That's what people supposed to do on their first days of school, especially when you're the new kid in a school that has already started their year. The majority of her very short morning was spent putting her wild curly hair into a bun. She looked down at her outfit and laughed to herself softly. She had on a simple white v-neck that fit her perfectly; it hugged her torso so perfectly, while the v-cut wasn't too low as to show off too much of her chest. She wore a pair of navy blue sweatpants that were also form fitting, but not so tight that it looked like she was wearing an extra layer of skin. And she completed her outfit with her favorite low-top white chucks. Simple, but still cute. Just like me. She was somewhat grateful that she was too tired to pick out a fancy outfit. She was the girl that could rock the hell out of dirty Chucks and sweats while everyone else had on some unnecessarily expensive shit.

Jellal walked out of the house, making sure the door was locked behind him and slowly made his way to his car. He kind of felt bad that he kept his little sister up all night. He knew that they were both used to late nights and early mornings, but things had to change. Making sure Juvia got to sleep at a reasonable hour seemed like a suitable start. He was quickly trying to remember some key points about Magnolia High that he could tell her when he got into his car. Before he even got into his seat comfortably, he felt her pushing him back out.

"What the hell!" Juvia wanted to kill her brother in that moment. There was no way that she was going to school matching her brother! She watched him turn his head with a confused face ready to start yelling at her, until he saw her outfit. Realization spread across his face so fast before he looked down at his own outfit. A simple white t-shirt with a pair of blue jeans and his high-top white Converses. Of course this would happen. "Jellal go change! This is gross." He was too busy laughing to even entertain her ridiculous request.

Jellal set up the GPS on his phone and turned on some music that he knew they'd both enjoy. "Well good morning to you as well. And no, I already locked the door. You can use your own key and go inside if you want." He knew she was too lazy to actually get up, so he just started to pull out of the driveway before she answered him. "I doubt we'll see each other anyway, little sophomore." He handed Juvia his phone so she could navigate. Neither of them liked the hostile voice of the woman that was programmed into the app.

She felt less angry now that there was good music playing. He probably did that on purpose. She looked down at his phone so she could get an idea of where they were going. Then she was how far the school was and got mad all over again.

"I'm not understanding why we are leaving at 7:05 when we only live five minutes away. You said homeroom didn't start until 7:30."

"Take your hair out of that bun." She always looked friendlier with her hair down. He needed her to at least pass for a decent person before she opened her mouth and people saw how much of an asshole she was.

Jellal looked at the tiny digital clock on top of his dashboard and then over to Juvia's scowling face while she ran her fingers through her newly freed curls. "Well we have to find out where our homerooms are at least, don't we?" She was so irrationally angry in the mornings; it was hilarious.

"Asshole, our guidance counselor emailed us our homeroom numbers. Before we even left Oak Town! Did you even read it?" Oh. "Make a left at this light."

"I did, asshole. I was going to tell you everything it said. Homeroom is from 7:30 to 7:40. There are nine periods after that and four minutes between each period to get to your locker or do some drugs before your next class, and the day ends at 2:16." He didn't know what email she got last week because that's the only information he received.

"I have no idea what email you got, asshole, because the only one I got was an attachment from my guidance counselor telling me where my homeroom was and to go to her office afterwards. She didn't tell me anything about the drug breaks they give in between classes."

"Go in my email and look for an email from her, ASSHOLE." More likely than not, they both read half of an email. Jellal knew that he didn't care enough to check for an attachment and Juvia was too lazy to do much more than open an attachment. They were so ass that it was funny. She was probably having the same idea because they were both laughing to themselves.

"This street continues slightly to the left, so technically go straight, but kinda make a slight left." While he made the turn she scrolled through his email and found only the one that he had already opened. "I only see the one with all the shit you told me."

"Does it have an attachment?"

He could practically feel the lights flicker on in her big head. "Oh yea! This is the same email I got! I think I just skipped to the important stuff though." Maybe she's more ass than me. Hopefully making her brain work this hard would fully wake her up.

"Welcome back, Juvia. I thought you were going to stay in your morning mood forever. No more Midnight Netflix for you." He saw her motion to the right turn lane and assumed that he was supposed to turn at this upcoming light. "What is my homeroom number?"

"This is the last turn. It should come up on the right before we hit the next light, so keep your eyes peeled." He kept look out while she waited for his phone to load. He remembered someone telling him that homerooms at this school went by last name, but that was very vague. He needed a classroom number or something.

"It says that you are in homeroom F-12 in the Auditorium. It must go by last name because I'm in homeroom L-10 in Computer Lab B."

"The auditorium? How many people are in there? I doubt they would divide the entire student body up in alphabetical order and stick them in the same room. That's a lot of fucking people." As Jellal was finishing his rant he began to turn into the school's parking lot and he caught a glimpse of Juvia's face. She looked like she was trying to remember something.

"Damn Jellal, you lucky bitch. I think Gray's last name starts with an F. Of course you'd have a class with him." She seemed to be speaking more to herself. She barely spoke loud enough for him to hear it, but he did indeed hear it.

He sped into the first open parking spot he saw and slammed on his breaks. "Who the fuck is Gray?" Before he even got the question fully out, Juvia had realized her mistake. Her first instinct was to hop out of the car and run to the nearest door on the building. Good thing she wore her Chucks. She knew she'd be safe until she saw him again, maybe even until they got back to his car or home at the end of the day.

"Smart bitch." He could've turned his car off quick enough to still be able to catch her, but she left her car door open, knowing that he wouldn't have been able to make it around the car in time. He just sighed and reached into his back seat for the folded black tee and the black and white Converses that he kept back there as a back up. He knew Juvia probably forgot about it, but he needed her to let her guard down in one way or another if he was going to be able to get her. He knew she was smart enough to avoid him, but he will always be one step ahead of her.

"Is this a '99 Acura Integra?" The sound of the soft voice surprised him somewhat. He didn't really plan on talking to anyone here, at all. Ever. He finished tying his sneaker and looked up to see a pretty girl with long straight dark hair, so dark it looked black. HIs first thought was to check out her body, because damn. But it didn't take him long to come back to his senses and scowl at this girl for bothering to approach him before he even got the chance to get out of his car.

"No actually. It's a 1997." He hopped out of his car and grabbed his book bag and a hoodie. He expected her to catch the unwelcoming vibe he was trying to give and just walk away. But she just stayed where she was. Something about her eyes. She seemed just as fed up with the world as he did. When he shut his door he leaned against his car and stared right into her eyes. They were so dark that he would've sworn they were black. This was just a dark chick. She seemed kind of familiar actually.

"Why the fuck are you staring at me like that?"

Instead of answering her, he just tilted his head to the side. "I know you from somewhere, don't I?" She looked surprised before she flashed the most predatory smile that he had ever seen on a girl. Jellal knew exactly who she was. After at least a decade of not thinking about his girl, he could never completely forget her.

His epiphany must've been more visible that he'd intended because she just began to laugh and throw her arms around his torso. "Hello Jellal."

"Hello Ultear. It's been a while." He wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on top of hers.

"It certainly has, Lolly." She pulled out of the hug and grabbed his hand, walking towards the building. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again. What are you doing here?"

He rolled his eyes at the ridiculous nickname that he hadn't heard since he was a kid. He assumed she knew where she was going, so he just let her lead the way. "Juves started to get into trouble back in Oak Town. I had to move us out of there before she got any worse."

"Damn, my next question was how is little Juvia?"

"Not so little anymore," he sighed. Who was this Gray kid? "She's basically all grown up. Kind of like you, Teardrop. Puberty treated you pretty well." She rolled her eyes and smiled over to him.

"Me? You'll be on everyone's radar before the end of the day. Magnolia doesn't get many new students."

They were already getting stares just walking through the hallway. Jellal pretended not to notice. He was 6'3" with blue hair and a tattoo on his face; he would be on people's radars even if he was ugly.

"Oh please. Quit gassing me. It's not even two weeks into the school year. I don't think that qualifies me as new." He looked down to his watch to see what time it was; he didn't want to be late to homeroom on his first day. "Where is the auditorium?"

"I'll take you there; we still have a little time," she threw in before she lost her original train of thought. "I'm not kidding, Lolly. Most of these clowns have been in the same classes since they were in kindergarten. You'll stick out like a sore thumb. Hell, even I've been here for almost nine years now." So that's how long it's been.

"Whatever. Why is my homeroom in such a big space?" He took in his surroundings while he walked. He knew he wasn't going to remember anything, but it was worth a shot.

"All of the homerooms are by last name. Since there are so many kids in each letter, they're each in a big enough room, or a hallway with a bunch of classrooms. I don't remember your last name but I know Gr– "

She was cut off by the sound of a loud, annoying school bell. Jellal lifted up his wrist to see if Ultear had in fact lied about how much time they had to get where they needed to go.

"Relax, that was just the two-minute warning bell. The auditorium is right down that hallway. Just go to the stage and sign your name with one of the administrators, then just sit there for ten minutes." He thanked her and gave her a hug, promising to meet her after school by his car before she scurried off into one of the cafeterias.

He made his way into the giant auditorium and saw the left half of the stage cluttered with teachers holding up signs with the letter "F" on them. It annoyed him that the right half of the auditorium was reserved for the students with "E" last names. So backwards. He assumed the ten teachers up on the stage were too stupid to change their perspective for the sake of the gazillion students reading these two letters in reverse-alphabetical order.

Oh no, my hostility is showing. He tried to put himself in a positive mindset before he got any more annoyed with the workings of this school. He hadn't even been to one class yet and he was already itching to just ditch. He walked up to an old female teacher who was clad in an ugly pink sweat suit and thick glasses on her face. He hoped this feeble lady wasn't a gym teacher. She looked up at him with fear in her eyes, like most people did. It always made him even angrier than he naturally was.

She cleared her throat and looked down pretending to read the list of names, clearly uncomfortable with the boy standing before her. "Uhh last name, sir?"

"Fernandez"

Jellal smiled when she flinched at the sound of his voice. Some people were so dramatic.

"Jellal?" She looked up for a quick second, just long enough to see him nod, then looked back down at her packet. "Do you have student ID by any chance? I know this is your first day, but I have to ask." He simple shook his head, ready to end this conversation. She slid the packet in his direction and held out the pen to him.

"Just initial next to your name and sit down until the bell rings. You'll have to go to the guidance office to get your schedule and ID then. If you don't know where it is, I can have someone take you." He was thinking of something disrespectful he could say to her when something caught his eye. It was as if that one name popped off of the list, right in to his line of vision.

Gray Fullbuster – F-10

And the poor kid hadn't checked in yet. Perfect.

He looked at the woman with a smile and sat right on the table next to the packet. "I think I'll stay here up here for a while." Either his smile was much creepier than he thought or far more captivating, because she didn't even try to tell him not to. He got comfortable checking the name of every kid that initialed that packet. He even checked the girls too, even though he was certain that Juvia said "he" somewhere in her statement. He didn't care what gender was after his sister; everyone was equal in the eyes of a big brother.

Feminism… Am I right?

It was at that moment, while Jellal was busy laughing at his own joke, that he made eye contact with this black-haired kid. It wouldn't have meant anything to Jellal, but the frown that this particular boy sported looked too familiar to be a coincidence. He just knew that this was Gray. He couldn't have been more than a few inches shorter than himself, kind of on the skinny side from what he could see. Messy hair, a pair of black shorts, red Vans, and a red sweatshirt. This kid looked like he just rolled out of bed. This should be simple.

Jellal sat there smiling, waiting for Gray to come up and confirm what he already knew.

Before he even got a chance to pull out his ID, the skeleton woman on the other side of the table smiled at him. "Good morning Gray. Why do we look so down?"

Bingo. He decided to wait until Gray finished his conversation before he went in for the attack.

"Hi, Ms. Ooba. I'm not down, I just hate being here." This kid is like a mini-me.

Gray proceeded to find his name on the list while Ooba went on laughing at his joke that wasn't a joke, trying to ignore the menacing man staring at him from his side. He had planned on walking in the opposite direction when he finished what he was doing. That was until said kid smacked his hands against the table and hopped down, throwing his arm around Gray's shoulders.

"So Granny, I pick Gray to take me to the guidance office. His face looks awfully familiar."

Gray was fully prepared to curse this guy out. That was until he turned and saw the sadistic grin on his face and the face tattoo. A sharp pain shot down Gray's spine before goose bumps spread across his skin.

This was Jellal.

Why was he here?

He looked exactly the way his personality was described, if that made any sense. This was the kind of guy that Erza would be attracted to, of course. Leave it to Gray to be interested in the little sister of a man like this, of course.

Why was he here?

"Gray, are you okay accompanying Mr. Fernandez to the guidance office when the bell rings?" Ooba didn't need to say it out loud for both of them to know that she was asking if Gray felt safe with Jellal. He saw Jellal smiling at him still, but felt the threat in his eyes.

"Yea, I know him."

"O-okay then. Just sit– "

"Actually we're going to be leaving homeroom a little early today, Granny." Before she could even answer they were off of the stage and out into the hallway.

Gray wouldn't be bested by this guy that easily. He couldn't look like a pussy that quickly. He was way too tired for this kind of bullshit this early on a Monday morning. He would not get his ass beat twice in two hours.

"Let go of me. What the fuck?" Gray had to pry Jellal off of him before pushing him a good distance away. Jellal watched Gray throw his hoodie off and get into a fighting stance. So he knows how to fight.

They both stood there: one smiling and one growing more uncertain by the second. "Why are you just standing there? You pulled me out here to fight, didn't you?" He was way too tired and way too confused for this, but Gray would never back down from a fight.

"Actually no. You seem like you haven't fully left your bed yet," Jellal laughed and walked towards him, throwing his arm back around his shoulders. Since he was not nearly as forceful as the first time Gray didn't fight back. "You're actually gonna do something for me, Gray."

It didn't sound like he had much choice in the matter; but if he was going to play along, he had to get something in return. "If I'm gonna do anything for you, you're gonna have to answer some questions or something. You got lucky by catching me this early before my brain turned fully on. But I'm still not gonna do something for nothing."

Jellal began to laugh again and started walking down the hallway. Gray instinctively went in the direction of the guidance office, hoping that's where they were really headed. "Alright, Fullbuster, I'll agree to those terms." He briefly pulled his arm tighter around Gray's neck, "but I'm gonna tell you a short story first."

Gray pushed him off and continued walking towards the front of the school. Jellal kept pace next to him and began his story. "I have a little sister named Juvia." Oh no. "She's is a sophomore, just like yourself; but I have a feeling you already know that. Anyway, this morning as we were pulling up for our first day of school at Magnolia High, we began discussing how nonsensical it was to stick all four grades in a homeroom together, to which she responded 'Damn Jellal, you lucky bitch. I think Gray's last name starts with an F. Of course you'd have a class with him'." Gray tripped over his feet for a second, regaining his footing quickly. "Don't get tripped up now, Gray. She ran off before I could even find out who this 'Gray' person was. And then, guess what?"

"You creepily sat in Ms. Ooba's face until I showed up." Gray rolled his eyes at Jellal's enthusiasm. It was obvious that he knew how to get under people's skin. He had sarcasm practically leaking out of his mouth every time he opened it to say something.

"More or less. Anyway, Juvia is not supposed to keep secrets from me. Especially when it comes to the shitty boys she chooses to be a part of her life." He saw Gray get ready to complain, but cut him off before he could get any words out. "Oh shut up, I'm not talking about you. There's a reason I haven't beat you bloody yet," he punched Gray in the arm a little too hard to be playful. The look on his face showed that he didn't even notice the amount of strength he used.

They approached the office and leaned against the wall next to the door. "So instead of beating you up, I'm just gonna keep you close. Only for today, unless she tries to act out. Then who knows how long I'll have to keep you."

Gray was honestly expecting much worse. If he were lucky he wouldn't even run into Juvia today. He definitely didn't want her to see him being held hostage by her brother. In the back of his mind he wanted to go find her to at least say hi, maybe ask her why she didn't tell him that she was transferring today. But all that could wait until tomorrow when he didn't have a chaperone from hell.

The school bell dismissing homeroom cut off Gray's train of thought. Jellal tapped his arm silently instructing Gray to follow him into the office. "She should be here before first period starts."

"Wait, what?"

Jellal looked over unfazed, "We have to meet with our guidance counselor to get our schedules. You can ask me any questions as you walk me to my first class."

This went against Gray's entire plan. He wasn't mentally prepared for this. Way way too tired. Thirty minutes ago he left home thinking that he was going to sleep through this day to make up for the energy drain of the night before. Now everything exhausting about lastnight was getting plunged into Gray's lap before he even reached first period.

He needed back up. He had to get ahold of Natsu or Erza or even Mira or–

Erza

She was bound to notice her ex-boyfriend dragging Gray around school all day. He told her that they had time to prepare. Boy, was he wrong.

Gray was genuinely worried about Erza being with this maniac.

Not even one period into the day.

Leave it to Gray to have this kind of luck.

He took a quick glance at Jellal watching the door with the same sadistic grin that he'd been scaring people with all morning. He pulled up Snapchat really quick on his phone, grabbing a quick picture of him and the side of a big head covered in blue hair. He wrote the caption 'SOS', and sent it off to Natsu and Mira. Even if Natsu was too dumb to figure out what it meant, he knew Mira would have an idea of what was going on. Gray just wished he had added Juvia on Snapchat so he could warn her too.

Gray's heart was out for Juvia. Her brother was going to have a field day with her.

That's when Gray got the idea to just text her! He could just tell her not to come and then–

"Oh, you're on Snapchat. I thought maybe you were trying to text my sister not to come here. I knew you wouldn't be that stupid." Gray jumped at the sound of Jellal's voice, forgetting for a split second that he could easily see what he was doing on his phone. Well, that plan failed. He decided to just play it off like his game-changer wasn't completely figured out.

"That actually would've been a good idea."

Jellal let out an ugly snort and nudged Gray in his side. "You're smarter than that. Where was she going without a schedule to tell her where she's supposed to be?" Damn. Gray hadn't thought of that.

Gray was convinced that Jellal was some evil genius that was sent to Earth to psychologically torture those around him. His only option was to sit back and wait another minute or two for Juvia to come into the office and hopefully have a way to free him of her brother. I haven't even been up for two hours yet.

Gray couldn't wait to see what else this day had in store for him.