Yo! Sorry for the late update. My resting time is over and now time to go back and take care of this story. Enjoy reading! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.


Chapter 7

Juvia stared at her reflection in the mirror and frowned at how terrible she looks. Her eyes looked kind of weary and she mentally berated herself for not getting enough of sleep. How could she sleep well if her heart kept on pounding and mind circling at the thought of her upcoming confession? It disrupted her slumber and she suffered at the result.

"Juvia should not look like this today!" She said with a panicky feeling, touching her cheeks.

She quickly opened her drawer and subsequently took out a small casket that contains her cosmetic products. She rarely used these stuffs but for this special day, she had to. She sloppily applied a concealer on her eye bags then put some foundation and a pink lipstick on her lips. When she felt satisfied at her face, she took her bag and went out of her room. As soon as she got down, she caught the sight of her mother wiping her favourite figurine while conversing to her friend on the living room. Both of them stopped on talking when they noticed Juvia and a horrified look crossed on their face.

"What have you done to your face sweetie?!" Her mother gasped in horror; almost dropped the figurine that she held.

"Were you trying to make yourself pretty?" Meredy, her friend, asked in disbelief. "Cause you really failed and ended up looking like a modern Geisha!"

"Does Juvia look really bad?" Juvia asked, worried at her state.

"Yes you are!" they answered in unison, causing her to recoil.

"Let's go back to your room and fix your face. You look funny." Meredy said as she approached the bluenette and pushed her back to the stairs.

"B-but we're gonna be late."

"I don't care Juvie. I don't wanna walk to school with you looking like that. Just let me help you out today. Okay?" She light-heartedly slapped her back as Juvia pouted at her.

"Okay."

It took fifteen minutes for Meredy to put some make-up on Juvia, since she had to redo everything, and questioned the bluenette for why she wants some glow up which was left unanswered as Juvia kept on urging her to hurry. Juvia on the other hand felt thankful towards Meredy because of her skills on aesthetics. With a pressed powder, eye brow gel and a shiny lipgloss applied to her face, she felt herself looking like a real and descent human. Afterwards, the two of them left the house without missing the cookies and cinnamon rolls for snacks that Juvia's mom gave.

Meredy was one of her few close friends at school plus she's also her neighbour. The two of them were classmates on their sophomore year but as they became third years, they seldom hang out since the two of them were busy on their studies. Lately, Meredy was catching up and making time with her for the past few weeks. Juvia had to feel happy with that but part of her still felt lonely at the reality that will dwell in to her on the later part of her life. High school will be over and college life will come.

"Your mom is still overprotective." Meredy uttered with a sly grin. They stayed on the waiting shed, patiently waiting for the bus. "Makes me wonder how she would react if she saw you with a guy."

"Quite the opposite. She'd be like some giddy teenager." Juvia said, cringing at her imagination of her mom.

"So you haven't told her about your date last weekend." Juvia was taken aback, frowning at her smirking friend.

"That wasn't a date." She reproved.

"Whether you deny it or not, it was still a date. Come on, a guy asked you to be his concert pal? Seriously. Even you took it as a friendly way, that doesn't erase the fact that he is interested in you at least. And guys don't hang out with girls that they don't like."

"Natsu is just a friend." Juvia said firmly.

Meredy fleered. "Really? Then tell that to your blushing face."

As soon as she said that, the bus came and Meredy nonchalantly boarded in, leaving a fuming Juvia. Blowing out a sigh of frustration, Juvia stomped inside and sat next to the pinkette who was pulling out her earphones from her bag.

"Juvia likes Gray, Meredy." Juvia started.

"Uh-huh. Knew that already."

"And Juvia's going to confess her feelings to him. Later."

With that, Meredy whipped her head to her companion, with eyes so wide as if she had heard the latest and trending gossip in the world.

"You. Are. Going to confess to him?" Juvia nodded in response. "You sure about that?"

"Juvia already thought about it and made a decision."

Meredy gawked at her for a moment before releasing a sigh. "Oh well, I see now why you wanted to put some filters on your face. And here I thought you like Natsu better than that Gray."

"What?" Juvia jolted, her eye brows scrunched at what she just said. "Juvia doesn't like Natsu that way. Why do you always keep on pairing me with him?"

Rolling her eyes, Meredy connected her earphones to her phone. "It's because ever since you became friends with him, you kept on talking about him whenever we hang out." She then plugged the earphones on her ears and glanced at Juvia. "And I saw several of expressions that you rarely make when you speak about him. I can see that you like him whether you deny it or not Juvie. That's why I was bothered that you want to confess to your crush knowing you got a zero percent chance. Maybe you are still hoping or maybe you're just self-handicapping."

"Self-handicapping?" Juvia asked with a perplexed expression but Meredy just shrugged and scanned her playlist, leaving her hanging.

That was the end of their conversation. It was a quiet ride on the way to school but Juvia was bothered at Meredy's words. Her liking Natsu? She didn't actually know. Honestly, that guy had been disrupting her mind lately but she couldn't quite decipher her feelings towards him. Maybe she did like him but not the way on how she likes Gray. Maybe. She still didn't know. Her mind drifted from her plan on confessing and then to her future path. Just the thought of her plans after graduation made her stomach queasy and heart aching.

Calm down Juvia. She placed her hand on her chest and breathed in. You enjoyed your high school life, did you?

Smiling at herself, she whispered yes and closed her eyes, recalling those fun memories that she had—those memories that she would treasure. And most of it was shared with a certain male pinkette.


It's the final rehearsal and Natsu was tapping his foot out of boredom while glaring at the school prefect who kept on repeating those students' names who missed and always late—and he's one of the latecomers—at graduation practice for the third time and reminding them again and again about the flow of graduation program. The reminders took half an hour to finish and when it was done, everyone was dismissed. Natsu could see his batchmates congratulating one another and most girls were hugging and crying. A pat on his shoulder made him whipped around and saw Gajeel's snarky grin.

"Yo why are you just standing here? If you're gonna cry like a baby right now, I'm not gonna stop you." Gajeel snickered.

"Not a chance moron. Why is everyone crying already? It's not yet the actual day." Natsu uttered, knitting his brow.

"Let them cry their hearts out dude. School's finally over maybe reminiscing those days made them tear up." Natsu gaped at his companion, searching his face. Even though he knew that this guy is sometimes a jerk, he was the mature one in his circle of friends.

That's why Natsu just snorted and grinned. "Yeah. They should do that. Who knows what will happen on that day? The school might get on fire or worst the world would end."

"Well I heard from Levy that students will be automatically graduated if ever the school was burnt down on accident."

His mouth was agape, astonished at the idea. "Really?! We should have burned this school in the first place."

"Stop saying that Natsu that's horrible." Levy chided as she walked towards Gajeel who looked at her and grinned. Levy shyly smiled back and held his hand which he interlaced their fingers in response.

"Hey Shrimp."

"Hey."

Natsu had to look away from them to respect their private moment and also not to gag out in disgust. The way their eyes sparkled and hands tangled whenever they see each other gave him some urge to punch something. Was he jealous for them? Maybe.

"I haven't seen Gray around. Have you seen him?" Levy asked out of the blue.

"Nah. I haven't." Natsu responded, searching for his best pal in the crowd.

"Is that stripper over there? I think he's with someone familiar…Oh…He is." Gajeel said, pointing at somewhere and flashing a smirk. Levy and Natsu followed the direction where he pointed and their eyes grew wide.

"Is that Juvia? She's talking to him."

He heard Levy faintly but his eyes focused evenly at the pair in a far distance. Juvia was fidgeting her fingers as she was conversing with Gray. Natsu couldn't see Gray's reaction since his back was facing his view. But he could see Juvia. And there was something on her face that he found so different. Then suddenly Juvia walked out of the auditorium, leaving Gray who was standing and scratching his nape.

"What do you think it was about?" Gajeel asked.

"I have the feeling she will confess to him." Both guys turned their head to Levy who looked shock for a moment then covered her mouth in mortification. "Crap! That was a secret."

"Make sense." Gajeel scratched his chin, discerning something. "Now I know why she was oggling and blushing at Gray during the barbecue party. I thought she got the hots for you Natsu."

Natsu did not say a word but started to walk off, leaving the couple bewildered. His thoughts were filled with Juvia at this point in time. She would really confess her feelings to Gray. And he could not stop her with that. Her message for him yesterday gave him mixed emotions as she thanked him for encouraging her always to confess. But part of him was displeased at her confessing to his best friend. But more likely, he was upset of his self for giving some encouragement to her.

I can't blame her. She likes him….But I like her also.

His feet just kept on walking without thinking about his actual destination. Some students were calling his name but he was not aware of it as his mind was so unclear and stomach feeling sick all of a sudden. The area became crowded around him and he found himself on the school canteen. To ease his troubled feelings, he bought yakisoba bread and gnawed on it while searching for an empty table. He situated himself next to a girl and he immediately regretted the moment when he sat on the chair and glanced at the girl beside him.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" Her eyes were shimmering and she casted him her trademark smile.

"…Yo." Natsu swallowed the chunks of his bread and grinned at her. "I'm hungry."

"I see." She giggled. "It's been awhile since we talked to each other. You seem so busy lately. Are you preparing yourself for university life?"

Natsu stared up at her for a while at the same time as she just tilted her head in confusion. Clenching his fists, his right hand almost squeezed his bread as he deliberated. Taking a deep breath, he spoke.

"Lisanna, I want to tell you something."


Juvia kept fidgeting her fingers as she paced back and forth at the Science Lab. She couldn't believe that she talked to Gray earlier and agreed with her to meet at this place because she was going to tell him something. The lab was not a great and ideal place for a confession but it was the only place she found secluded for nobody's using this at this hour. In addition, she had an access with this room because she was the former president of Science Club. Her heart was beating rapidly and cold sweat was excreting all over her body. She had to calm down thus she stopped and inhaled deeply, smelling the scent of ethyl alcohol in the room which she found somewhat relaxing to her. Juvia can do this!

When she heard the door creaked open, her heart was on alarm. The moment would finally come and she had to brace herself. Turning her head slowly to the boy who just entered, she felt her knees suddenly weakened. Part of her wanted to back out but she made it this far. No time to chicken out.

"Juvia." The way he uttered her name gave her some shivers as she gripped the end of the table so hard to support her body from standing. Gray slowly approached her. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"G-Gray…" Her breath quickened as she stared at him, tongue-tied. Shaking her head, she clenched her fists and ignored the nauseating feeling she had. The tension between them thickened and it's suffocating her. She wanted to break the ice right now. And so she did.

"J-Juvia wants to thank Gray for everything. Juvia knows t-that you don't remember this but you saved her back then from middle school and you became Juvia's inspiration. Thank you for that day because you made Juvia realize to stand up and never get beaten by people. Gray is one of Juvia's motivations to strive hard in her studies and life. That's why Juvia was so thankful to you and happy that she finally talks to you." She paused as she placed her right hand on her chest, feeling the loud and rapid beat of her heart. The beating somehow hurt her chest and having a heart attack was the last thing she wanted. This was utterly nerve-wracking.

"Aside from that, Juvia wanted to tell you this….Juvia likes you Gray. Ever since that day Juvia likes you so much."

She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in and out, clasping her cold hands together. The torture was finally over. She finally said those words to him. The fear, the repressed feelings and hopeless emotions were excreted out from her body. And somehow it was relieving her. As she opened her eyes, she saw him looking shock. Then it turned into a despondent one. What's surprising was she was expecting that reaction.

"Thank you for that but I'm sorry Juvia…I can't accept your feelings." He looked away as he scratched his nape. Juvia pursed her lips and nodded slowly.

"It's okay Juvia already anticipated that." She smiled sadly at him. "Juvia also knew that you are in a relationship with someone recently. And secretly."

She watched his eyes growing wide in surprise and a blush spreading across his cheeks. "H-how…"

Juvia couldn't disclose to him that she's stalking him so she faked a playful smile. "That's a secret."

"Damn." He sighed and finally gave her a pensive look. "I'm really sorry about this Juvia but I appreciate those feelings for you. I was also about to tell everyone and you about me and my girlfriend after graduation but…you figured it out already."

"Don't worry. Juvia will keep this a secret."

"Thank you. But Juvia…" he hesitantly looked at her then uttered. "I really thought that you like Natsu."

Juvia stiffened and a shock look crossed on her face. She didn't know how to answer that but he wasn't asking her a question anyway. He was just expressing his thoughts about her and Natsu. And it started to bother her making her fall in silence and contemplating the various feelings inside her.

"But if you already know about me and my girlfriend, then why did you still confess to me knowing that I will still reject you?"

She jerked faintly, snapping her out from her thoughts and subsequently released a sigh of relief, thanking that he diverted to another topic. Slowly taking a step forward, she softly smiled at him. She stared at his eyes and she felt proud at herself for finally being able to look at him in the eye even though her emotions were a mess right now.

"So that her feelings for you will be gone."

Gray was out of words as he just stared at her in bewilderment. Juvia slightly bowed down her head in a polite manner.

"Thank you for giving Juvia a chance to confess her feelings."

When she looked up at him, she flashed him a huge smile then started to walk off without waiting for his reply. She walked away from him, away from the lab and away from that precious moment as if she's telling a goodbye. Her pace was brisk as her heart was beating fast and soon its rhythm matched her pace. She already anticipated this outcome but somehow she felt a twinge of pain despite of that. She wanted to go home right away or maybe call Meredy. Stopping her tracks, she hastily took out her phone from her pocket and dialled her friend's number. To her dismay, Meredy was out of coverage. Walking in the hallway while ignoring the chatters and chortles of some students, she felt so alone. It felt like those times when she was all by herself in her classroom with no one interacting with her. All she did was pretending to be cocky when all she wanted was to make friends with them. She felt so lonely.

Just as she reached the stairs, she caught someone below standing near the staircase. Someone so familiar to her that she felt the urge to grab him right now.

"Natsu." Juvia whispered his name as she took a step down. But her feet stopped when she saw him laughing with someone. A girl with a white hair and dazzling smile. Lisanna Strauss—his crush. She felt her body hardened when Lisanna noticed her presence and without thinking clearly, she immediately ran away from them.

She didn't know why she ran away. Her heart was crazily palpitating that it hurt her chest. She couldn't make out the reason on why she just ran at the scene. And why it pained her seeing him laughing with Lisanna. This pain felt worse than the torture of confessing. Ignoring the weird looks from the people, she ran through the corridor and made her way to her classroom. As soon as she opened the door and entered, she hurriedly went to her seat and picked her bag. Thankfully, she was alone in the classroom. Perhaps she could just stay here and air out her vague feelings. Perhaps crying here could also ease her.


"So what do you want to tell me?" Lisanna was still smiling at him; the kind of smile that a flight attendant usually wears to entertain the passengers. And Natsu wondered if that smile would still remain if he spoke the next words.

"I actually like you." He directly said.

He watched her expression carefully. She blinked few times then her smile faltered and it totally dropped as she realized that he's being serious.

"I—I..Th-That was…Um…" Her face was beet red, eyes were wide open and she was stammering awfully. "This is too sudden! I—I was—wasn't prepared for this!"

"Sorry if I surprise you." He wryly smiled, scratching his nape. "But I just want to tell you that."

"Oh. Thank you. I…" she reluctantly looked at him and sighed. "I actually know about how you feel towards me since everyone kept on telling me…I appreciate your feelings Natsu but…I like someone and we're dating now.'"

Natsu frowned. "Why does it sound like you're rejecting me?"

She looked at him blankly. "I am rejecting you."

"I'm not asking you out. I just told you that I like you. And I didn't even mean it as more than friends."

Lisanna momentarily stared at him before her face flushed in mixture of embarrassment and anger resulting him to laugh. "Are you just making fun of me?!"

"Sorry Lis, it's just that you're funny!" He continued to laugh and then inhaled deeply, looking at her with an impertinent grin. "It's true that I got a crush on you before."

Her eyes narrowed at him. "I don't know what to react anymore."

"But I like someone now. I like her a lot more than a friend. But I don't know if she feels the same way…She likes Gray. In fact, she's gonna confess to her now."

Her expression was going from worry to astonishment. "Oh my gosh! You're in a heavy love triangle!"

Natsu inwardly gagged out at that thought. "Please. Stop using that word."

"Who's that girl? Do I know her? Is she your classmate? When did you start to like her?"

There was so many questions came out from her mouth and it took him hard to answer. He couldn't stop her from asking for she was so stubborn. Eventually he told her his story. He never had shared this problem from anyone, even from his friends, since their opinion was so nonsense to him. Maybe talking to a girl could help him. They were out of the canteen when Natsu started his story; from how she met the girl on a rainy afternoon to how they taunted and argued with each other yesterday. Lisanna was listening earnestly and sometimes make some remarks on how stupid he is or how cute when they interact. When Natsu was done, she finally questioned.

"So what are you gonna do afterwards? If…Gray would date her."

That thought somehow stung him a bit. Even though it has a small chance, the idea of Juvia and Gray together was a bad news for him.

"I don't know." He shrugged and heaved a sigh. "Maybe just support them and move on."

"But what if he wouldn't?"

"Then I'll tell her my feelings and make her the happiest girl in the world." He averred. Even though that was corny, he felt happy after saying it.

Lisanna giggled and smiled warmly. "That was cheesy but really good to hear. That girl would definitely sway when she heard that from you." Then a thought crossed her mind which made her eye him with a frown and place her hands on her hips."You know what, you kept on making her a blind item. Just who is that girl honestly?"

"Her name doesn't matter." He groaned then scratched the side of his cheeks. "Plus, it's embarrassing."

"Really. Like after you told me those cheesy things and now you're getting embarrassed."'

"It's fucking embarrassing when I told you that. How much if I even tell you her name!" he interjected harshly.

"Come on. Don't leave me hanging. We're gonna graduate soon." She pouted. "Fine. I'll tell you the guy that I've been dating. It's Bickslow."

"I'm not intere—what?!" His eyes almost bulged out from his sockets at hearing her boyfriend's name. "You're dating him?! Seriously?!"

She frowned at him, blush crept on her cheeks. "Yep. And why do people find it hard to believe that I dated him."

"Well...Maybe no one thought that would happen." He nervously chuckled. He, himself, couldn't believe it also that a girl like her would date a loud and weird former PE teacher in their school. And he's six years older than her. "How was sensei by the way?"

"He's doing good. He's coaching some junior high kids in baseba—wait, we're not going to this topic! Tell me the name of the girl!"

Natsu exhaled in frustration as he scratched his nape and glanced at her. "Juvia."

"Juvia Lockser?" Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open. "Seriously?!"

"Is it hard to believe that I like her?" He smirked at her.

And Lisanna smirked back. "Well. Maybe no one thought that would happen."

They laughed for a moment as they decided to head upstairs. Then suddenly Lisanna stopped and nudged his arms causing him to stop on his tracks also.

"Was that Juvia that I saw up there just a few seconds ago?" Lisanna asked, pointing at the empty spot on the stairs. Natsu scrunched his brow.

"Where is she?"

"She ran away." She said and looked at him. "I think you better go after her. She looked distracted."

"Right. Thanks."

Natsu left Lisanna as he began to run. His heartbeat was fast as he searched for the blue-haired person on the hallway and he successfully found her. Few meters ahead from him, he found Juvia running and entering their classroom. He didn't know why she was running like in a rush. Then his mind went back to her confession to Gray and he wondered if she succeeded. But he doubted it. Because if she did, Gray had to be there and there's no way she was running in the hallway. And if Gray did reject her, what would he do? He increased his sprint, felt his pulse rapidly pumping and stopped as soon as he entered the room. Then he called her.

"Juvia!"


Juvia turned her head to the direction of the familiar voice that called her name and found her friend who was leaning on his knees as he panted like a wild animal, sweat glistening on his face.

"Why are you running?" his voice sounded hoarse as he breathed heavily, eyes pierced on her.

Juvia inhaled sharply and pursed her lips tightly as she clutched the handle of her bag. Natsu slowly approached her, his intense gaze still fixated on her, making her feel somewhat wobbly.

"Did your confession go well?" He asked as soon as he stood closely in front of her.

Taking a deep breath, she shook her head in response and avoided his gaze. "No…Gray rejected Juvia."

A perturbed look crossed his face when she looked at him and gave him a reassuring smile. Though it didn't reach her eyes as her mind still tried to comprehend her feelings at the moment.

"It's actually fine. Juvia already predicted this so it doesn't hurt so much. Don't worry about this." She said but the words coming from her mouth felt so strange to her. She was really not okay right now. She didn't know why but by just looking at him, she couldn't feel okay.

"No, it's not fine. Being rejected is not fine so don't say it." Natsu said with a scowl. "I know you're not okay so if you want to cry then go on. I won't stop you."

"Juvia wouldn't cry for this." She adamantly said though she could feel her hands shaking for an uncertain reason so she balled it into fist.

"Stop being a stubborn idiot!"

The next thing he did caught her in surprise as he placed his hand on her head and pulled it to his chest, causing her to crash on his body. Juvia was too shock that she couldn't move and just feel the warmth of his body, smell the mixture of his mint cologne and body sweat and hear the rapid beating of his heart. For a moment she was scared—scared that her heart might beat louder than his. The proximity was dangerous to her yet the feeling was enticing and with that, she chose to savour this.

"Actually I hate to see you cry." She felt the vibration of his tone on his body and the soft caress of his hand on her head. "But this time, just let it out."

Sighing, Juvia leaned her head on his chest and relaxed at his soft touch on her locks. She felt so safe with him and as she stood there riskily close to him, realization finally dawn her. She dropped her bag and gripped the side of his uniform then closed her eyes as she relished this rare moment. A rare moment she feared that it might never happened again.

"I'm sorry."

She slowly opened her eyes and let out a soft sigh. "Don't be. It's not Natsu's fault anyway."

"I'm not talking about what happened to you and Gray."

Blinking, she looked up and met his ardent look. His obsidian eyes were focus on her and she could feel the tension of his muscles and quickening of his breath.

"This might be really selfish but…I..yeah…I want to be selfish right now. Just like what you did."

She froze on her spot, feeling her heart pounding heavily on her chest. The line felt so familiar and part of her wished that it was not what she was thinking.

"I like you Juvia…"

Eyes widening, her grip loosened and hands slowly fell on her side. Juvia felt her lips trembling as heart kept on throbbing loud and fast.

"I don't want you to be with Gray. Please…let me take care of you. Please go out with me."

That did it. The genuineness of his voice drove her over the edge. She took a step backward and watched his face contorted into a shock as if he didn't expect her reaction.

"H-hey…Why are you crying?..Juvia…"

His words felt so distant and her eyes were clouded with tears. She didn't want this. She didn't want him to have feelings on her.

"You shouldn't have said that."

As tears began to pour down, she didn't miss the crestfallen look on his face. And with that, she grabbed her bag and ran away from the classroom, ran away from him and ran away from everyone who casted her a concern look when they saw her in tears. Everything was so blurry to her except what she felt right now.

If only he didn't say that, she would not feel this way. She would not feel so lonely at the thought of him liking her knowing that she would leave this place. She would leave him and go far away. Now it would be too hard for her because she finally understood her feelings towards him.

She also fell for him.

And she wanted to be with him.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N

Uh I know the ending here isn't good. But I'm so in great mood—because finally senpai notice me lol—that I'm having an urge to release the next chapter now. But no way, I have to leave you hanging for a week :P To those who reviewed on the previous chapter, thank you so much again and again!

xoxo