Chapter 4

Upside down.

Since then, my world's had been turned outside down.

After a good night of sleep, I thought my common sense would have come back to me, but no; images of the ''new'' Jellal were still floated in my mind...

I sincerely thought that the week-end wouldn't be a problem; I had already planned to spend it studying. I did, but not as easily as I thought I would. I kept reading the same sentences twice, or three time, but it seemed like the only thing I could remember perfectly was the outline of Jellal's lips.

On Monday, after the exam, when I came back to the dorm, I felt up on my bed and slept till the next morning. I felt so overstrained...

I assumed I would feel better after the some rest, but, yet again, I was wrong; those weird feelings where still there, alive, kicking and screaming...

So, I kept myself busy, but Jellal was still occupying my head, letting less and less room for anything else. The notice he'd left me on my bedside table, while I was sleeping, didn't stopped my mind from racing; quite the contrary in fact... It was saying: Don't worry, you killed it. Then, I asked myself: if a simple notice could do that, what would actually seeing him would do. I wasn't quite sure I wanted to know. However, I wouldn't be able to avoid him for so long and I wasn't sure I wanted to either...

On Tuesday, I went to our karate class. I really wanted go; I knew exercise would do me some good and I wanted to see how my mind would react facing Jellal.

Result: The new Jellal: 1, Erza: 0...

When I arrived at the dojo, he was already there, talking to Laxus and Grey. Quickly, I went to change into the locker room. When I joined them, they were still talking about last Friday night. Even here, in the haven I came to seek comfort and peaceful, It was still all about that damn night! They rapidly noticed me and saluted me as I took my face at Jellal's right, my given place. He smiled at me and I smiled at him back, trying to act as normal as I could. I was hoping he wouldn't see the difference, but I doubted it. He knew me as well as I knew him. He hadn't changed, I had...

Quietly, we started to stretch and our sensei came in shortly. We did our katas, then it was fighting time; I thought I would be a good way to let off some steam. Wrong again! Our Master had decided that our combat training would take place as a tournament. So, we splitting into two teams to fight our way to the top.

It felt really great to fight; I emptied my head in every move. I easily defeated my first three opponents. Apparently, I was still good at fighting! Things got complicated when I found out my next opponent was Jellal.

So, we faced each other and we fought. I tried to think about him as any other opponent. I succeeded, till we found ourselves on the floor, me on top of him. I lost my concentration when our body brushed against each other. As the good fighter he was, he took advantage of my falter and switched our positions, placing himself on top of me. Pinned down under him, I found myself unable to move. As much because of our closeness than his technique, I was beaten; I had to surrender.

Once his victory was declared, Jellal get off of me and helped me to stood. Even if the others were cheering up loudly, he had acted bumptious; I thought he looked a bit astounded. Under his unsure gaze, I sat down with the others and watch the final fight: Grey against Jellal.

It was a hell of a fight, but as it went on, my eyes watched Jellal every move, every muscle spreading underneath his thin and white kimono, his broad shoulders, his rounded and firm buttocks. God! Will it never stop!

Feeling my face covering with red, I stood up and went to the locker room where I watered my face. I stayed there for a couple of minutes, the time to shake those images out of my head and to catch my breath. However, I couldn't succeed. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I noticed that my face nearly matched my hair.

I stayed into the locker room until my face had come back to its natural shade; I didn't want anyone seeing me like that, Jellal mostly... I benefited the time to change into my normal clothes; the class should be over by now, what I thought wasn't a bad thing. When I got out of the locker room to go seeing who had won the final, I came face to face with the guys. Grey and Laxus were wearing an obnoxious smiles, but Jellal looked disappointed.

''Sneaking out, Erza?! You bad loser!'' said Laxus, smiling .

''Get used to it Scarlet. Cause, there's a new champion in town. Next time, I'll be the one to make you eat dirt.'' Grey said proudly.

Normally, I would have replied them to get lost or another killer line, but I decided to kept quiet. I didn't want to drew too much attention towards me, I didn't wanted them to notice the redness of my face. Gladly, Grey and Laxus didn't seem to catch sight of it as they passed by me and entered the locker room.

''Is something wrong Erza?''

I lifted my head to face Jellal who seemed truly worried.

''You look sick!'' he added promptly, as worried as before.

Without knowing it, he had handed me a pole and I took it. Therefore, I wasn't really lying...

''I must have caught something last Friday'' I replied coughing too loudly.

Yeah! A solid crush!

But, that, I kept to myself, feeling my skin getting redder by the second...

Jellal put one hand on my shoulder.

''Take care of yourself; I'll be waiting for a revenge, anytime you want''. He said smiling.

Then, he passed by me and entered the locker room.

Once he was gone, I couldn't help but smile; Jellal would stay Jellal. However, I didn't know if it was a good thing for my sanity...

Alone, I went back to the dorm more troubled than I was before. Even if I wouldn't have believed it to be possible, it was...