Chapter 6
Lies
7:30am
Fairy Tail Highschool Academy
Class 1-A
...
A pair of onyx eyes drifted towards the open window that let gentle breeze into the classroom. The pink haired male stared outside, looking at all of the Sakura trees that occupied the school grounds. Some of the light pink petals blew into the classroom and unto his wooden desk and other students. Many students that walked through the double doors of the classroom smirked when they saw him, whistling and winking. The boys mostly did and some girls looked devastated. He didn't question it, though. All he could really think about was yesterday and how much fun he had with The President, he never really saw that side of her. Shocking, how her eyes light up like stars when she smiles or how her cheeks turn crimson when she laughs. Natsu found that appealing... For some reason, he hoped that they'd do it again by themselves.
But what bothered him is how strangely she acted when he confronted her about her coughing and needing assistance. Almost like... She was scared to tell him what was wrong, she'd always get so tense and tried to change the subject whenever he brought it up. Made him think for a while, kept him up the entire night till early hours of the morning. Up till now...
A particular dark blue male came through the doors, a wide smirk on his face. He walked all the way over to Natsu who didn't seem to be paying attention, Gray placed his hands on Natsu's desk, making him look up. Natsu snarled.
"What do you want, droopy eyes?"
"So, you and Crystal went out yesterday, huh?" His smirk dropped a bit, "Don't tell me you're trying to win her over with this. It's not gonna work.'
"Wait, is this why everyone was staring at me? Pshhh, why do they car-no... Why do you care?" Natsu stood up, glaring at Gray, "Not like you did before..."
"Hold up, hold up. I do care about Crystal! You're acting as if I don't, I'm just looking out for her since I know how you can be around certain girls."
"The hell's that supposed to mean?"
'You're a horn-dog, Flame-shit. It's like you see all girls as walking sex dolls."
Natsu rolled his eyes, "You don't even know the story. Jeez, go bother Juvia or somethin'."
"What the hell is your problem?!" Gray walked around his table to face him properly, "You're acting as if I just shit in your cereal!"
"I'm not in the mood for your shit, Gray!" Natsu grabbed him by his white school shirt, glaring at him with intense anger. The crowd that surrounded them remained silent.
The door to the classroom slammed open, making everyone stop and turn to who did that. The person waked forward through the crowd of people that surrounded the two of them. Once the person who came forward, Natsu's rage died down a bit and he relaxed his shoulders. He released Gray.
'Crystal..'
"What in the bloody hell is going on here?! It's too early for fights!" The sky blue haired girl cleared her throat from the hoarseness that threatened to come up, "Dragneel, Fullbuster! Get your asses in The Student Council's Office, now!'
In the Student Council's Office
...
Natsu and Gray were put to kneel down in front of Crystal, she held a large and long wooden ruler in her hands, tapping it lightly on her hands. Her dark blue eyes narrowed at the two idiots, a dark aura surrounding her.
"Now, tell me. Why were you two fighting?"
"He started it..." Natsu mumbled, sending a quick death glare towards his rival.
"I started it?! You're the one with the huge stick up your ass!" Gray defended himself.
"You shouldn't have bothered me! I was thinking!"
"As if you could do such a thing, all your brain cells fizzed out a long time ago along with your common sense."
Natsu's eyes flashed with anger, "Why you-!'
The ruler slamming down on the floor in front of them made them both jump. They looked up at the bluenette whose eyes had bags underneath each of them, the corners of her eyes were bloodshot red.
"I called you in here because I got some student who told me you two were fighting..." Her left eye twitched, "So why in God's name... WHY WERE YOU FIGHTING?! I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FEATHER WHO STARTED IT!"
After Natsu explained what just happened, the bluenette rubbed the bridge of her nose and pushed her glasses up. She shook her head.
"You two are completely hopeless... I'll let you off this one time, Fullbuster, you're free to leave."
Gray nodded, gave a smirk to Natsu before exiting the air conditioned room. Natsu was still on his knees, watching in disbelief as he saw his rival exit the room.
"Wait, what?! How does he get to leave but I don't?!"
"Because I need to talk to you alone," Crystal walked to the long, dark wood desk and sat in one of the soft, leather chairs. She placed the ruler on the table and gestured to Natsu to take a seat next to her. He got up and moved cautiously towards the seat next to her and sit down.
"Does being seen with me in public effect your social status in this school so much?"
"What? No! I like hanging out with ya', Chrissy."
"You were the one to post that picture on your social media account, right?" Crystal looked off to the side, "If so, you shouldn't be ashamed to be seen with me."
"But I'm not ashamed! People just took it the wrong way, that's all..."
"That so? Well, it was the students that started the rumor of you and I dating then. Does that bother you?"
"The awkward stares and people whistling at me like a fuckin' dog, yes."
Crystal mentally took note, "Very well then, if it bothers you that much then I shall confront the school about it since this rumor seems to bother you."
The bluenette stood up, back straight and chin up, ready to exit out of the room till his voice stopped her.
"Woah, woah, what? No! Sure, the rumors get annoying sometimes but it's fine! I get them all the timeee!"
She turned around to face him with a frown, "Oh... Understood. But, isn't this what friends are supposed to do? Confront the other's problems directly?"
"No..?" Natsu rubbed behind his head, "I mean, you can be with them through it but not take the problem on by yourself, I'm no friendship expert..."
"So then... I shouldn't tell the students that spread this rumor around school that we are not in any form of romantic or sexual relationship?"
"Well.. When ya' put it like that..."
"We shall see what happens at the end of the day. It's almost time to take attendance, our teacher will be waiting for us. Come along, now, Dragneel. Let's not idle."
...
Lunch time
11:45am
Classroom; 1-A
...
"So, how'd it go? Judging by the picture Natsu posted, it went well?" The scarlet haired teen inquired, taking a bite of her sandwich she had in hand. Crystal shifted uncomfortably under her friend's gaze.
"Well, it didn't go horribly, I had high hopes since I thought you all were coming which is why I dressed to fit such an occasion. But, to my surprise, you all didn't come."
"Ah, yes," Erza gave a chuckle, "He planned it on the day of the festival, he wanted to show you that he wasn't all bad despite him going after girls every second of the day. I told you, he's a nice person once you get to know him."
"Yeah, guess so..." Crystal looked down at the home-made lunch she made this morning, the food looked unappetizing for some strange reason...
No, it wasn't strange, she knew why...
She hated herself for lying to everyone, it was obvious she didn't get any sort of sleep. The dark circles underneath her eyes that leople commented about it. She was nervous for this evening, she couldn't sleep when she had found out that her condition was getting much worst. It wasn't fair..
It wasn't even her fault!
If she could just go back in time and tell her younger self to at least call Child Support it something! Anything would've been better than having to live with this her entire life...
"Crystal? Why aren't you eating?" Erza give her a frown, her voice laced with concern. The bluenette sighed, fiddling with her chopsticks between her fingers.
"My appetite's... I don't feel for food, not in the mood... Thinking."
"About?"
"Things..."
"Like what?"
Crystal glanced up at Erza from her food, narrowing her eyes slightly, "Just, things, Erza."
"Your mind goes to all places, I'm worried about you. Your dark circles and red eyes made it obvious you didn't get any sleep."
"I'm perfectly fine, Erza."
Crystal pushed up her glasses, moving her lunch away from her. A hand rested on her shoulder, making her jump back in surprise and swinging a punch to the person who touched her. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched the two of them, Cratal got up from her seat and looked down at the person who she just knocked over, she covered her mouth and her eyes widened.
A pink haired make laid on the floor, drool dropping from the goofy smile he wore..
"D-Dragneel... My apologies! I'm really on edge today..." The bluenette have him her hand and he gladly took it, helping himself off of the floor. This caused whispers and murmurs to go around the classroom as the two released hands.
'Look at those two, I knew they were together!'
'They're holding hands!'
'The Prez and The Player? He'll get her knocked up the first night...'
'Her parents are billionaires and THIS is the person she chose to be with?'
'Natsu's probably using her for the money.'
All the assumptions made Crystal's blood boil. They didn't know a goddamned thing yet they were judging them, this is why she preferred private schools, granted, she had to pay a fee but it was better than people openly gossiping right in front her face.
Her sky blue bangs covered her eyes as she lowered her head, her palms clenching into fists, her nails digging into her skin that made a bit of blood draw and leak out through the cracks in the fists. Her sharp teeth gnashed as she opened her mouth to speak.
"SHUT UP!" Her voice heard from everyone, the classroom went silent. Natsu and Erza looked at her in confusion.
"All of you making all these assumptions about Dragneel and I are NOT true! We are in no shape or form of sexual or romantic relationship! Just because he posted a picture of us on social media doesn't always mean what you think it means! Saying all of these rude things just because you don't know the full story!" Crystal raised her head up, get eyes narrowed sharply.
"Things like this make me sick! You don't know me or Dragneel! You don't know our lives! Who the hell gives you all the right to judge us!? Will it be fair if we started a rumor about you that wasn't true?! No, it won't! You'd be pissed! All those accusations are are false! We are not dating or in any form of that kind of relationship! It's making him uncomfortable! What we do is absolutely NONE of your business!"
The students had their heads bent, some had guilty looks on their faces. Natsu's eyes softened. Erza watched in awe, letting a small smirk come to her face from her friend's sudden change in behavior.
"Dragneel is not a friend with benefits and he is most definitely is not my significant other! He's my-!" Crystal paused, a light blush coming to her cheeks.
"My f-f-f-... F-friend! He's a friend! So would you all shut up and stop with the blasted rumors about him and I being in that sort of relationship!"
The students watched in stunned silence. Crystal was panting slightly, glaring at everyone.
"Prez..." Natsu whispered, not loud enough for anybody to hear, a small smile creeped to his lips, "Thanks..."
3:30pm
Crystala Dragnela's House
...
The bluenette had stayed back an extra thirty minutes after school was dismissed to make sure nobody was following her but her plan had failed, Natsu had been waiting for her outside the school gate with the same grin he always wore. With a sigh, she agreed that he could walk home with her after the countless times she told him 'no'. The two walked home to Crystal's house in silence, the pink haired male noticed she had a tense look to her and sweat rapidly rolled down her face as she wiped them away with the sleeve of her Student Council jacket.
Once they were at the entrance, Crystal took out a small device that had a red button on it. She faced Natsu.
"Dragneel, this is where we say our goodbyes. I have a visitor coming over so I need you to leave."
"Whattttt?" Natsu whined, "But I wanted foooood!~"
"My apologies."
"It better be the President of Japan or I'm coming in. Who is it? The fuckin' Queen of Englan-"
"My relative..." She inwardly bit her lip, a bead of sweat running down the side of her forehead and down to we neck. Natsu's playfulness stopped, his eyes narrowing slowly.
"You don't have relatives..."
"I-I do! That one's coming over today!"
Natsu sighed, "You're so bad at lying. Just tell me who's really coming over..."
"But I'm telling the truth!" Crystal defended, "I'm sorry but you have to leave, I need to go get ready before they arrive."
"They?"
"I don't need to reveal their gender to you."
"Chrissy, it's 2017, I thought you knew that people don't guess genders anymore. If your relative wants to be an attack helicopter, well, so be it. But you don't need to change yours, you're cute like this!"
Crystal glared long and hard, "Shut the hell up."
"You're even cuter when you try to act all tough~"
"I'm not trying to act tough, you bastard, I told you to never call me cute. Never call me that, or else..." Her threat seemed more like low growl, like a animal going down for its prey.
"Okay... Shit, sorry. How about Beautiful?"
A light blush came to her face and turned away, "Well... Um..."
"My Beautiful little Chrissy!" Natsu picked her up by her waist as if she weighed nothing, holding her up like a child.
"You're kinda like a doll, so small!"
"I am not small! You're just a giant! Put me down!" Crystal kicked her foot into hs stomach, making him hunch forward and gently placed her down unto the ground.
"You kick hard... Damn! Are ya' trying to kick out my guts? Christ!"
"That's the point, idiot..." Crystal shook her head and gave a small giggle, "Farewell, Dragneel."
The gates opened, Crystal walked in and they closed behind her. She gave him a wave before running off into the mansion, Natsu got up and winced at the lingering pain on his stomach, he rubbed it gently.
"I'll stay till your so-called 'relative', comes."
"Let's see how long your lie stays up."
...
4:30pm
...
Natsu sat right beside the gate, his legs crossed and his hands on his cheeks. He was starting to think that nobody was coming, it was getting late. The pinkette sighed, thinking that Crystal had made up an excuse to keep him away from her but she would've said so in the first place! Not make up some dumb lie! He took out his phone, turning it on to watch the time.
The picture of him and her made a smile come to his face, remembering how fun it was to spend some time with her. How cute she looked...
His eyebrows furrowed, why didn't she liked being called cute? The glare she gave Natsu sent chills down his spine which was unnatural for the hot-headed student. Obviously, something had to happen for her to react so harshly like she did.
The sound of a car driving into the property made him jerk up in alarm, jumping into a nearby rose bush and peeking through the cracks to see who it was. It was a white Lamborghini that pulled up right in front the gate. Natsu heard the nine switch off and a car door open, he peeked to see who it was.
A man in a white coat and black pants wearing what appears to be a stethoscope around his neck. The man held a silver suitcase in his hands and walked in from the gate, pulling out a phone from his poker and texting something. After he placed it inside his pocket, the gates were opened for him to enter. Natsu took this opportunity to sneak out of the bushes and pass through the gate as well, being stealthy as possible.
Natsu took cover in another bush, watching the doors to the mansion open to reveal Crystal welcoming the man inside.
"A doctor? Why did she call a doctor? Relative, my ass..." Natsu whispered to himself.
...
...
The man sat down on Crystal's couch, his suitcase on top of the glass table. The two had teacups in their hands along with plates, sipping green tea. The man placed the cup down, watching Crystal in disbelief.
"You stopped taking the pills?!"
"My hair was falling out, Kristopher, what else was I supposed to do?"
"I told you if that happened was to call me immediately. You waited this long, don't you want to get better? You need to take the medication for it!"
Crystal placed her cup down, sighing, "What's the point, anyways? Taking the pills won't cure me, Doctor."
"It'll fight off the disease for as long as it could, granted, that there's no cure, but these pills are for you to live longer. To graduate, to get married and have kids, Crystala." The man known as 'Kristopher', pointed out.
"Ahhh, fine fine. I'll take the damned pills... You brought more, did you not?"
"Indeed, I did," Kristopher opened the silver suitcase, taking out a few bottles of pills.
Crystal sighed, "Look at all those..."
"You were supposed to be off the last dosage I gave you, now that and this combined will surely have some side-effects... You have your Mother's stubbornness..."
"Don't bring her up during this..."
"Just know that it wasn't your fault..." Kristopher smiled, closing the suitcase as he rose off the couch with his suitcase in hand. Crystal sat up as well, ready to escort him out.
"Each pill is to take 3 times a day and flush down with purified water. Not tap water. Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, cut out dairy products and oily foods. No gluten, either. I'll check up on you next 2 weeks to see how the treatment's going. Take care of yourself, Crystala."
"Thanks for coming," The two walked towards the door, Kristopher opened the door to reveal a teenage with rose-pink hair in a school uniform; a white blouse with black pants and shoes. He raised an eyebrow, Crystal stood there in stunned silence as all the colour washed off her face.
"Is this your friend, Crystala?" Kristopher turned to her, "You look so pale, are you okay?"
The bluenette slowly nodded. Kristopher gave her one last look before exiting through te door. Natsu let a smirk come to his face.
"So... Relative, huh?" He walked in.
"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to leave?" Ceystal closed the door behind her, folding her arms underneath her chest. Natsu walked over to the glass table and noticed the amount of pill bottles there were.
"Look at all this, this isn't good for ya' to be taking all these pills at once, Chrissy. Didn't Doc tell ya' that? Oh, sorry, 'Relative'.."
"Dragneel..." Crystal walked over to him, growling slightly.
"I thought you weren't sick? I thought your relative was coming over?"
"You're acting as if you're my Father or significant other, which you at not, why are you prying into my business?"
"Why did you lie to me? You said it yourself that you don't like liars, hypocrite."
"I didn't lie to you, he's the family Doctor, I consider him a relative."
"All you could've said that your Doctor was coming over, you didn't have to go make up some bullshit excuse." Natsu rolled his eyes, turning around to face the glass table once again and picked up on of the pill bottles.
Natsu examined the name, it wasn't no plain-old pharmacy drugs. It had a weird name to it and looked expensive. The name was;
"Avastin (Bevacizumab)" Natsu raised an eyebrow at the medication, turning around to look at the angry bluenette.
"Isn't this a serious drug?"
"None of your business."
"Crystala, come on! I wanna know what's wrong with you! What if something happens to you and nobody knows what and you die, what will happen then?!"
"It's no big deal, I've lived with this for years-" Crystal stopped, realizing what she had just said. The two stared at each other in silence, Natsu's eyes going wide.
"Long-term illness... What is it? Is it AIDS?"
"What? No."
"Tuberculosis?"
"No."
"A bacteria or something?"
"No!" Crystal glared.
"Then what is it then?!" Natsu glared right back.
"Why do want to know?!"
"BECAUSE I CARE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR WELL-BEING!" The pink haired male yelled, putting the pill bottle back onto the table, "Taking all these pills will fuck up your body! I take health class! And with a long-term illness, it's bound to fuck up somehow! Why the hell can't you understand that I care about you?!"
Silence.
"Fucking answer me!"
The memories of her past all flooded her brain at once, the ones that she hid in the deepest corners of her mind combined with the tense situations that went on, she was sure to lash out at him but that scared her, just like before when she first got into the school. All of these feelings overwhelmed her...
She had to do something before she snapped at him...
She never wanted anyone to see her like this.
Not even Erza... Nobody...
"Get out..." Her voice was shaking. Natsu calmed down from the soft sound of her voice but came out almost like a whisper.
"What?"
"You just had to go dig up the worst of it... You just had to push your boundaries with Me..." Crystal raised her head up, tears streaming down he chin as anger surged through her eyes and veins.
"Get. Out. Now."
His eyes softened at her tears, "Chrissy... I'm sor-"
"Are you deaf?! I SAID GO!" Crystal shouted, pointing to the doors. The tears rapidly going down her cheeks, the anger in her eyes all made Natsu feel guilty, he pushed her too far... Something like this must've been a delicate matter for the bluenette and he had to go and push her.
"Sorry, I..." A pain coursed through his chest, "I pushed you too far, I'm so sorry, Crystal..." With that, he left through the doors without another word.
A hiccup escaped escaped her lips as her hands went to tug on her sky blue locks, her mouth was open yet nothing came out. That annoying sob that won't come out of her throat. Her head up high as the tears dripped down her neck and into her clothes.
"Why did I do that?! Goddamnit! Why am I like this?! The first friend I've made on my own without anybody's help... I pushed him away when he was trying to be considerate! WHY?! God, why?! For the love of everything that's holy, WHYYYY?!"
Loud wailing sobs racked through her body as her stomach churned, her eyes widened as she bent over at the waist, hurling up whatever vile, watery substance she had left in her stomach. Her throat burned and her taste buds screamed at her to stop, she always did this... Always isolating herself from everyone, building walls around her mind and heart.
She pushed him away... The first friend she made on her own...
Erza befriended her but it took a long while for her to accept it.
Natsu befriended her but she accepted the friendship. She made a friend...
It made her sick. She felt selfish and disgusting, tainted...
Her knees gave out under her and she fell to the ground, "I hate myself for always doing this! He probably hates me now! Ita not like I wanted this! I never wanted to contract this! This is all your fault, Mother!" Crystal sobbed loudly, covering her face and let the tears fall freely off he face and unto the polished floor.
"I don't deserve anyone! I don't deserve anyone anymore! Not after that! God, he'll find out and think that I'm disgusting! Oh, who am I kidding? I AM DISGUSTING!"
The sky blue haired teenager plopped down beside all the contents she threw back up and turned away from it, curling into a ball and hugged her knees up to her cheat, her salty tears rolling off her face and unto the ground, pooling into a little puddle.
"I never asked for this..."
...
Before he could even take two steps away from the house, he heard screaming and yelling. How much he wanted to rush inside there and hold her close to him, comforting her and protecting her from the demons she had buried deep within her. Natsu felt guilty, guilt stabbed him in the chest for prying into her life so much. They were just friends, new friends. It would take time for her to open up to him...
'You just had to go dig up the worst of it...'
Then he heard wailing sobs and what seems like she had thrown up. This was the side of her she wanted nobody to see, peopled eared her and respected her name. She was looked up to, a strong person that ruled the school with and iron fist. This side, she neve wanted people to see just how weak she was deep down inside..
"I'm still here for you..." Natsu wishpered in an oath as he walked off the property, her loud wails not going unheard but echoing through his mind.
...
Thank you all for reading! Hope you all enjoyed, leave a review! It makes my day! Seriously, I get all giddy when I get a review, the anticipation to see what you guys think about my story! :D And the pills, you can look up the causes and what's its used for, obviously, I won't tell you what it does or what it's for! I'll reveal it later down in the
This now. This chapter was a hard one, having to act this out is kinda tear-jerking knowing what happens in the story as the author. As I said before, whatever Crystal has, I do in real life and it is caused by my mother. But you guys figure it out! Love you all! Byeee!