Yay, another update xD I really enjoy writing this story - even though it's got a very serious plotline, there's a lot of room for fun stuff as well. Anywho, hope you like the new chapter, and thanks to everyone who wrote reviews~!
~Enjoy~
Chapter 10
The secret destination turned out to be none other than Gajeel's dorm room.
"Why the hell did you choose my room?!" Gajeel growled at Mira as she made herself at home in the studded boy's room.
As Mira shoved books, papers and general clutter off of the desk in the room, not caring that everything tumbled loudly to the floor, "It's unpredictable, and I highly doubt anyone will bother us here." The platinum blonde slid up onto the freshly cleared-off desk, and crossed her legs.
Gajeel scowled at her, "Just don't mess anything else up, Demon."
Mirajane rolled her eyes, "The room's already a mess – what's it matter if I add to it?"
The studded boy grumbled in complaint but didn't fight with the so-called Demon.
Levy stood awkwardly in the doorway, observing the room belonging to her new delinquent friend. The boy's dorm was smaller compared to the girls dorm, and instead of having two separate beds, there was a bunk bed set along one wall. The top bunk was tidy and neat, the navy blue blankets and sheets made up nicely, but the bottom bunk was a mess of sheets and pillows. The room was messy – the floor was strewn with discarded clothes and school books, a trash basket was overflowing with crumpled papers and empty soda cans, the tall dresser had drawers half-way open and spewing out random articles of clothes. Levy couldn't help but think that this room definitely belonged to Gajeel – he hadn't struck her as the neat and orderly type. She figured that the top bunk – a.k.a. the only clean thing in the whole room – probably belonged to Lily, Gajeel's roommate.
Gajeel sighed loudly and turned towards Levy, "Just sit anywhere, I guess." He pulled his rolling chair away from the desk Mira had situated herself on and plopped down in it.
Since Gajeel had taken the only chair, and Mirajane had claimed the desk, Levy was left with either the dirty floor, or the messy bottom bunk. She decided on the latter, and sat down on the edge of what she was sure was Gajeel's bed. Levy felt oddly strange about her intrusion, but Gajeel didn't seem to care.
"So," Mira started, "We have to figure out what we're going to do. Anyone have any ideas?"
Gajeel gave a dark and deep laugh, "I've got a few…"
The platinum blonde shook her head at the delinquent, "Let me rephrase that – anyone have an idea that doesn't involve simply beating the enemy into a bloody mess?"
Levy's stomach turned a little bit as she answered, "I've been thinking a lot about it…I think the best way to make sure he won't come after me or anyone else is to get the police involved." She kept her eyes focused on her lap as she spoke – Levy felt that if she met either of their eyes, she might lose her nerve to speak her mind. After hiding it all for two years, she found it hard to suddenly be talking about it so much.
"Are you sure? Involving the police would make this a big deal…and the charges might not even stick," Mirajane thought aloud.
Levy shook her head, keeping her eyes on her lap, "No – we have to go to the police. We have to try. Even if he somehow gives up on me, I'm sure he'd eventually do it to someone else…I don't want anyone else to have to…"
"Then we'll do it your way," Gajeel interrupted to spare her from explaining further, "But the police probably won't convict him on just your claim – especially because everyone in the school thinks he's a fucking god."
Mira nodded, "We'll need someone to back up our claim…I think we'll need Master to help us with this."
Levy's heart beat faster – Makarov was one of the last people Levy thought she'd be able to tell. "Even if…if I explain it all to him, I don't think that would be enough for the police either."
Mirajane creased her brows in thought as she said, "Master might need to see Laxus in the act for the police to take us seriously."
"No fucking way," Gajeel growled at Mira, "You really wanna –?"
"I didn't say I wanted to, but it might be the only way," Mira interrupted. She took a deep breath and continued, "I don't want to put her in danger either, but the only way to get proof is have an eyewitness account…"
Levy's hands were starting to shake as she clenched them together, "So…we might have to let Laxus try to…hurt me again, and then have Master somehow see it…"
Gajeel was angry, "We're not doing that! That bastard could –"
"Calm down, will you, Gajeel? I'm not saying that this is the only option we've got…" Mira interrupted yet again.
"No…I think Mira's right…" Levy said quietly, admitting her thoughts. She'd been thinking about the whole problem and ways to solve it the whole morning, and she'd known on some level that without proof, there was no way to definitely tie Laxus to what he did…
"What?!" Gajeel practically shouted as he spun himself to face Levy full on.
The blue-haired girl forced herself to look up and meet his dark-eyes gaze. "Mirajane's right…the police would believe an adult more than a few kids, right? If we plan to get Laxus arrested, we're gonna need Makarov to…to see something."
Gajeel ran his hands through his thick mane of hair, "Shit…" Levy could see that behind his dark eyes he was trying to think of another way. That look on his face made Levy's stomach stop churning so violently…the delinquent boy who'd had a reputation for practically hating everyone actually looked seriously concerned. Granted, he also looked quite angry, but Levy could definitely tell that this anger was because he was worried.
"So we'll have to lure Laxus to chase after Levy – and when he thinks he's cornered her, we'll have Makarov burst in," Mirajane said solemnly. She had her hands each hanging off of her opposite shoulders, letting her fingers drum against her body while she thought.
Gajeel scowled at nothing as he too tried to think deeply. "Fine – if we're gonna do it this way, then we gotta make sure that there's no chance that bastard gets off the hook. If we do this, we make sure there's no question that he's guilty."
Mirajane smiled at the studded boy, "I agree to your condition. How about you, Levy?"
Levy nodded and looked to the both of them. Her hands had finally stopped shaking.
She knew that whatever the plan turned out to be, it would probably be dangerous – anything having to do with Laxus would be dangerous – but she knew that she would be safe.
"Thanks, you guys…I –" but her gratitude was quickly snubbed by Gajeel.
"Save it, Shrimp. Save it until we trap that bastard," he said with his rough voice.
Mirajane nodded her agreement with Gajeel's statement, and the three quickly plunged into planning out their method to save Levy and send Laxus away for good.
They stayed in Gajeel's room for a good two hours, and at the end of it they had a pretty good plan. They decided that they'd set it into motion in two days – giving them enough time to prepare everything and make sure their plan was perfect. No one wanted to make a mistake, especially with Levy's safety on the line…
The long and emotionally draining night that Levy had had was finally catching up to her. Throughout the whole meeting, she'd found herself nodding off and her eyelids growing heavier. She had started out as merely sitting on the edge of the bottom bunk, but as the meeting progressed, so did her position. Levy went from sitting, to leaning on her side with her head propped up on one arm, to flat out lying on her stomach.
Once she switched to the position on her stomach, she knew it was only a matter of time before she fully fell asleep. As her thoughts started to drift away, she caught herself recognizing the spicy and warm scent of Gajeel on the pillow she was using and thinking that it was oddly comforting.
Both Mirajane and Gajeel had noticed Levy starting to get drowsier as their talk went on. The studded boy had tried to silently ask Mira what they should do, but Mira only gave her devilish smile and said, "Let her sleep."
Part of Gajeel wanted to protest, it was only a small part. The rest of him decided that she should just sleep – she'd had a horrible couple of days…hell, a horrible couple of years. She probably needed some good sleep.
Gajeel suddenly realized that Mira was staring at him.
"What?" he asked grouchily.
Mira kept up her analytical stare, "Why'd you help Levy, anyways?
Gajeel's face fell into one of his signature scowls, "What kinda bastard do you think I am? I may hate people, but if I know about something like this I'm not just gonna sit back and let it happen."
Mira shook her head, "No, that's not what I meant. I know you're not actually as evil as you look – I'm just wondering why you suddenly concerned yourself with Levy enough to force the truth out of her…"
The studded boy shrugged and kept up his scowl, "I'm good at figuring out people. She acted weird when it concerned the blonde bastard, and it seemed serious, so I wanted to find out what was goin' on…and OI! Don't say I look evil."
Mira gave a funny little smile and leaned back against the wall that the desk was set against, "Fine, should I say you look frightening then?"
"Hmph – I guess that's better."
The two let their discussion go back to the plan. They talked about it a little more, tweaking it here and there for about twenty more minutes. Suddenly, Mira hopped off the desk and stretched her legs. "I think I'm going to do some more reconnaissance," she smiled as she slowly headed for the door, "I'll make sure the enemy isn't up to anything suspicious."
"What? You're just gonna leave her here?" Gajeel asked, trying not to be too loud so that the sleeping bookworm wouldn't wake up.
Mirajane the Demon grinned, "She's tired Gajeel – just let her sleep."
Gajeel only gave her an angry scowl in protest.
Mira gave a small little laugh and came to stand beside the bed where Levy's small form was sleeping, "Relax – I'll come back for her in a bit. I don't see any problem with that."
"You can't just leave your sleeping friend in a guys' dorm room."
"Oh, can't I?" Mira said deviously. She reached down and pushed some of Levy's blue hair out of her eyes. The small girl was sleeping on her stomach with her head resting on a bent arm, facing the rest of the room. "Can you not restrain yourself against my cute little Levy's charm?" The Demon's hand came to her mouth as if she were shocked at some sort of scandal, "Oh, Gajeel, you bad boy. Such inappropriate thoughts!"
Gajeel could only stare with his naturally angry visage with an open mouth.
Inappropriate thoughts?
"The hell?!" he asked a little too loudly, "I wasn't having any thoughts! You were the one having weird thoughts," Gajeel accused. He was really starting to regret his decision to let the bookworm sleep.
"Fufufufu," Mira gave a fake laugh, "Don't do anything naughty – I'll be back in a bit."
"You really are a demon if you can joke about something like that – especially considering the problem with the blonde bastard." Gajeel reacted, suddenly standing from his seat and crossing his arms over his chest.
Mirajane put a hand on the door but turned seriously back to Gajeel. Her face had lost its fiendish grin and her eyes were now shining with sincerity. She gave a soft smile – one that probably only the closest people to her had ever seen – and said, "I joke and tease because that's the only way I know how to cope…with something so serious going on, and realizing that my best friend decided to trust you with her secret before me – it's a lot for me to take in." Mira turned around and pushed on the doorknob. As the door swung open she looked over her shoulder and said as she left, "But – just because I'm teasing you, doesn't mean I'm not serious."
The door swung closed behind her with a soft click, leaving Levy sleeping silently and Gajeel wondering what the heck the Demon meant by all that.
He understood the first part – he guessed it was kinda strange that Levy chose to tell him, who she'd never really spoken to before, before one of her close friends – but what the hell did she mean by being serious when she was teasing someone? And why the hell did she suddenly start implying that he'd do weird things to the girl while she slept?
Gajeel shook his head and plopped back down in his rolling chair.
So now what was he supposed to do? He had been planning to take a nap once the talking got over, but that was obviously out of the question now that the bookworm was in his bed.
He glanced over at her and saw that she had shifted in her sleep so that she was curled up on her side with her arms and legs tucked in close to her body. The girl appeared to be shivering slightly, so without thinking Gajeel got up and pulled the sheet that he used instead of a blanket over her.
He let his hands rest on his hips as he looked about the room. Gajeel figured the Demon wouldn't be back for quite a while, just to make him angry, so he was probably going to be stuck with the sleeping shrimp for a few hours.
He pushed his rolling chair over to the desk and sat down in front of the cleared off section. He pulled the laptop that he and Lily shared from its place on the floor and decided he'd waste some time on the internet – there was always something to do on the World Wide Web. Gajeel stole another glance at the sleeping Levy, and silently willed the Demon to hurry up and come back…he had a feeling that things were only going to get even more awkward if the bookworm stayed much longer.
A tall, broad shouldered boy suddenly trudged through the foot high snow towards Magnolia Academy. He had fuzzy black hair that was cut close to his head, and dark brown skin that resembled the color of coffee with just a little dab of creamer in it. A large duffle bag hung from one of his shoulders as he turned right towards the student lobby and the dorm rooms.
He could hear colorful shouts coming from inside, and as he pushed open the door to the student lobby, he spotted a group of six freshmen boys gathered around the pool table. As he stepped further into the lobby, one of the more talkative and outgoing freshman by the name of Romeo looked up.
"Hey! You're back early, Lily!" He called and waved from the pool table.
The newcomer – Lily – brushed off some of the snow that had gathered on his shoulders and smiled politely. "Hey, Romeo," Lily looked around the rest of the room but saw no one besides the freshmen kids, "Where's everyone else?"
Romeo pulled his pool stick behind his head to rest on his shoulders. He pouted, "Master let the older kids go to town, but told us that the freshmen couldn't go. I think Gajeel and a few others are around here somewhere, but I haven't seen anyone but Mirajane in a few hours."
Lily nodded and gave a wave to the younger students, "Thanks. See you all later."
Romeo waved his pool stick and then turned back to his friends, who all seemed a little awed that he'd been brave enough to talk openly to a senior like that.
Lily laughed lightly to himself and turned to his left towards the boys' dormitory. He figured that Gajeel would probably be grouching about in their room due to his dislike of both people and the holidays.
It didn't take him long to find room 16E, which was his and Gajeel's room. He pushed open the door, trying not to be too loud just in case his friend was sleeping or something – but he realized his caution wasn't needed. Lily immediately saw Gajeel's bulky form sitting slouched at the computer as he played some sort of game with the arrow keys.
"That looks very entertaining," Lily joked from the doorway.
Gajeel turned around and grinned once he saw who was there.
"You're back," he said as he canceled out of the window on the computer screen and stood up.
Lily was about to explain that he'd gotten bored spending so much time with his family and decided to come back ahead of schedule, when he realized that Gajeel had spoken in a strange gruff whisper.
Lily had pretty keen senses – it took him only a few seconds longer to realize that there was a third smaller person in the room with them, sleeping curled up on Gajeel's bed.
He stared at the blue-haired head resting on Gajeel's pillow in silence.
Gajeel also turned to look at his bed and let his hands run through his thick black hair.
Lily just looked at the sleeping girl and finally stated, "That's McGarden, isn't it…"
Gajeel gave a quiet cough, "Yeah…"
Lily smirked a little bit, "Well, I see you haven't been lonely without me."
Gajeel scowled, "You're a bastard, you know that?"
"So you frequently tell me," Lily smirked with laughing brown eyes. "I'm guessing this isn't what it looks like."
"Exactly," Gajeel growled, "The Demon left her here…"
Lily recognized Gajeel's nickname for their classmate Mirajane and found himself getting more confused about the situation. So not only was the introvert Levy McGarden in their room, but also the troublesome matchmaker Mirajane of the popular Strauss Siblings. It was a very curious situation, but knowing Gajeel as he did, Lily doubted it was anything scandalous. His best guess was that Mirajane was on another one of her matchmaking binges, and his friend happened to be caught in her cross-hairs.
"Should I not ask?" Lily finally questioned.
Gajeel crossed his arms and glanced towards the girl sleeping in his bed, "No, you shouldn't. It's nothing I can say yet."
Lily set his duffle bag down in the corner by the door, "Well, I should probably go –"
But Lily was distracted by sudden movement.
McGarden was starting to wake up. The blue-haired girl pushed herself up onto her arms and let her legs uncurl themselves. She let out a small groan and looked down at herself, "Ah…sorry. I didn't mean to fall –" but at that moment she realized that Mirajane wasn't in the room anymore, and that a new face had suddenly shown up. "Lily!" Levy said in surprise, "Uh…hi…"
Lily couldn't help but smirk – the introverted girl's face had suddenly turned a bright red color and she looked deathly embarrassed. He gave her a small nod in greeting, "Levy."
The three of them just stood there for a moment – no one really sure what to say. By some miracle, they were saved by the platinum blonde, who had a wonderful talent for breaking up awkward silences and situations.
Mirajane suddenly barged into the room without knocking, saying as she stepped inside, "You better have left poor Levy alone, Gajeel~!" The girl was snickering to herself as she waltzed into the room.
Levy's face somehow managed to get redder and Lily bit back a small laugh.
"Dammit, Demon – do you want to get punched in the face?" Gajeel growled.
Mira noticed that Levy was now awake and red-faced and gave her friend a smile. "Oh, you woke up. Have a good nap?" She asked as if she hadn't just said something to embarrass the bookworm.
Levy mumbled something inaudible, but Mira had switched her attention to Lily, "Ah – I figured you'd be here. Romeo said you'd come back." Mirajane gave a small little laugh and asked, "How was your vacation?"
Lily shook his head, "Good, but I'm assuming yours was much more eventful."
Mirajane nodded fiendishly, "Oh yes – it's been very interesting." The platinum blonde turned back to the scowling Gajeel, "Well, anyway – sorry, Gajeel, but I'm rescuing Sleeping Beauty over there from the Dragon's den. We've got things to do."
Levy looked suddenly concerned, "Things?"
Mirajane nodded, "Yep – You, me and Cana are going to plan another event!"
Levy groaned, "No, Mira…not another one."
"Trust me; this will be way better – and less dangerous – than the scavenger hunt." Mira pulled Levy from Gajeel's bed and dragged her towards the door.
"Aren't there more important things to do, besides your stupid games?" Gajeel complained.
Mira just smiled, "Not at the moment. Part of the plan was to act like nothing was going on right? It would be more suspicious if I didn't try to get everyone to play my stupid events."
Gajeel sighed and plopped back down in his rolling chair by his desk, "Fine – at least you know your games are retarded."
Lily was just watching the group silently as they bickered. Another smile came to his lips as the two girls left their room, the blonde matchmaker pulling the blue-haired introvert.
Gajeel frowned at his friend, "What?"
Lily shook his head, "Nothing…but it seems you've made friends."
"Tch – shut up," Gajeel grumbled.
"Will you be able to read me in on what that was all about? Or should I just pretend like I just got back now, and saw none of that?" Lily asked, leaning against the wall.
Gajeel took a loud breath and scratched at his head, "I don't know. It'll all come out eventually, but I'd rather have you help us now that you're here…I'll talk to the Bookworm about it later."
Lily nodded, "It seems like something rather serious – I'd understand if you can't tell me."
Gajeel seemed to debate with himself for a moment before looking solemnly towards his roommate and friend, "For now, just keep a close eye on McGarden…everything's fucking crazy and she's right in the middle of it."
Levy knew that the game was going to be bad, just by the looks on Cana's and Lisanna's faces. Mirajane had also recruited the other two to help her, and decided to invade Levy's room. Levy had ditched planning the game all together and plopped herself down on her bed with a book. When she thought to look up to check on her friends' progress, she could see how exasperated Cana and Lisanna were with Mira's plan. They'd probably tried to make it less sucky somehow, but knowing Mira, the platinum blonde probably didn't listen – she liked to do thing her way, and her way only.
When the girls were about done getting the game set up and figured out, and when Levy was probably half finished with her newest read, a nervous freshman girl knocked on the door and told them that Master wanted them to go to the kitchen. Levy was pretty sure the younger girl's name was Wendy or something similar, but she had disappeared before Levy could ask.
Once they got out to the kitchen and realized that Makarov wanted their help with dinner, the night went by quickly. Dinner was going to be hamburgers, potato salad, and normal salad – which were much better than the hotdogs they'd had previously.
Levy focused on her small tasks – she'd never been much of a cook so she got saddled with doing the dishes as the others dirtied them – and keeping her thoughts anywhere but on her problems. She realized that she was no longer aching so badly from the hockey game incident. While she still had a nasty bruise on her stomach and a slight bump on her head, there was no more pain when she twisted or turned her torso.
When the food was finished, Makarov used the PA system to tell everyone that dinner was ready, and soon the dining hall was filled up with the Holiday Stayers. They all seemed to be happy about the hamburgers – especially the girls, who'd been dreading another night of hotdogs – and the food disappeared quickly.
Mira started passing telling all the seniors, Juniors, and Sophomores that there was gonna be another game after dinner so they should just stay in the dining hall when they were finished.
"Oooo – can I join your little game?" Makarov asked with a grin.
Mirajane huffed, "No, you cannot. This is for students only, Master."
The old man pouted, "Well, you're no fun." He broke his pout to laugh at Mira and then said, "Have fun then – just make sure you don't break anything…and if something does happen to break, blame Bixlow."
Mira raised an eyebrow, "Why Bixlow?"
Headmaster Makarov laughed fiendishly, "If you blame him, I can my money back from that stupid sandwich bet – the kid hustled me out of my money."
"That's pretty evil, Master," Mira smiled.
Master snickered, "When it comes to my money, I'll stop at nothing." He shook his head and took some of the last plates into his hands, "Well, you crazy brats have fun without me. I'm heading off to my house after I dump these in the kitchen."
A couple of the nearby students called out a "Goodnight" to Master as he disappeared into the kitchen and left through another door.
Mira then turned to the table, where most of the participants in her new game where gathered around. "Alright everyone, sit down and shut up!" She smiled happily as she brought up a shoebox from beneath the table and set it loudly down on the table.
As everyone gathered around one end of the circular table that way everyone was close together for the game, Mirajane started to explain her new creation…
Except, it made almost no sense…
It was like some kind of mixture of "Would You Rather" and "Truth or Dare", where each person had a turn and picked a card. They would have to choose one of two things written on their card and do them. Mira had probably imagined that the card choices were going to be fun little dares or challenges, but most of them turned out to be just plain punishments. And aside from the dumb challenges on the cards, Mira hadn't actually figured out a way for someone to win.
So after Alzack had to choose between holding his tongue until his next turn and speaking without using the letter "R" and after Elfman pulled a card telling him to either wear a pink tutu for two turns or doing a hundred jumping jacks, people started to complain.
"Sis ame zucks," Alzack said boredly as he kept his tongue held between two fingers.
"Why don't we just play normal Truth or Dare," Evergreen complained, "We'd get to come up with stuff ourselves instead of using these lame card ideas".
The rest of the group started to agree with Ever's suggestion, and Mirajane pouted at the entire table, "You guys just want it to be bad because I came up with it."
"No – it really is bad. Half of these dares are retarded, and the other half are just plain punishments." Elfman said as he leaned against the table.
Levy nodded and turned to her friend, "I think you need to let this one go."
"You too, Levy?!" Mira asked, as if she was shocked.
Levy nodded and Mirajane gave a huffy sigh, "Fine – let's play boring old Truth or Dare."
Everyone cheered at this, and Mira stole the first chance to dare someone.
The game then turned into normal Truth or Dare. Elfman got dared to carry Sherry around on his shoulders while singing a Queen song. Evergreen got dared to dunk her head fully into a sink full of water. Gajeel got dared to drink a whole bottle of hot sauce (which he did in about three large gulps). Bixlow got dared to roll around in the snow in just his boxers. Cana was asked a truth about what color underwear she was wearing (She checked by pulling at the waist of her jeans and then replied that they were purple). Fried was dared to let one of the girls braid his long hair (Mirajane jumped at this opportunity to fondle the boy's gorgeous long hair).
The dares and truths started out funny and simple – any of the outrageously embarrassing or mean ones got voted down – but as the night progressed and a large bottle of vodka that Bixlow and Laxus bought in town got passed around, the intensity changed as well as the type of game.
Since everyone had run out of creative dares because no one liked choosing truth, someone would randomly blurt out a question, and everyone around the table would have to answer it. The first questions started out funny like "Who at the school has the worst fashion sense" and "Who at the table would you want with you for the Zombie Apocalypse?" to which almost everyone answered either Gajeel, Bixlow or Laxus because they were strong.
Most of the players around the table were slightly buzzed, but Levy had taken care to pass on the alcohol every time it came around. She was definitely not going to drink while Laxus was present to take advantage of any weakness she had. She could feel an icy gaze on her every time she passed the bottle on without drinking, and didn't need to look up to see that it was Laxus staring her down with a horrible smirk on his lips.
Bixlow suddenly blurted out, "Okay ~ new question. If you had to kiss someone around the table, who would it be?" His voice was slurred slightly and you could tell that he was a little over the buzzed mark by the red tint to his cheeks. He hummed to himself and answered, "I'd say Cana."
Cana laughed from farther down the table and took a large swig of the vodka. She set the bottle down on the table with a funny grimace on her face due to the bitter drink and replied, "I don't think you could handle a kiss from me."
Bixlow shook his head as everyone laughed and pointed to his left, at Evergreen. "You're up, Ever."
No one was surprised to hear her answer. "Laxus, duh," she said as if it had been the most obvious thing in the world. She leaned to her left and smacked a kiss on Laxus' cheek because he was just a little too far away for their lips to meet.
The blonde smirked handsomely and then settled his blue-eyed gaze on Levy, who was determined to look anywhere but at him. "Well," Laxus started, "I've never kissed Levy before – I bet she's good at it."
That earned him a few cat-calls from around the table and a frowny glare from Evergreen, but no one but Mira and Gajeel noticed that there was a look of fear shining in Levy's eyes. Mira patted her friend's knee as some form of comfort, and Levy gave her a thankful look.
The question continued down the table. Sherry said she'd kiss Alzack; Angel said Bixlow; Lisanna picked Lily; and Cana chose Elfman giving the boy a drunken wink as she did so. Mira was next and she playfully blew a kiss to Fried as her answer. Fried only responded by smiling politely.
The table laughed as Bixlow pretended to intercept the blown kiss before it reached Fried. Everyone then turned to Levy for her turn.
She smiled slightly and answered, "Uh, Elfman I guess."
Elfman laughed and flexed his muscles, "Oh yeah – that's two for me, guys."
Cana gave a playful glare at Levy and slurred, "We'll hafta fight for 'im."
"Well I'm not giving him to either of you," Mira laughed deviously, "I've already made plans for him."
Elfman shuttered at the thought of his sister trying to set him up and then turned to Alzack, who was next down the line.
The black-haired boy was slouching against the table looking kinda depressed. His cheeks were red from the vodka and his eyes looked a little out of focus. "Can I choose Bisca? I don't wanna kiss anyone at the table."
Mirajane and Cana gave a drawn out "Awe" and Elfman gave his friend a pat on the back. "Alright – that sounds good. It's my turn then." Elfman looked around the table as if weighing all his options – which were limited considering two of the few girls at the table were his sisters –and then answered, "Sorry, Cana, Levy – but I'm gonna say Evergreen."
Evergreen responded with a quick, "You wish," but then proceeded to glare at Laxus, presumably because he hadn't chosen her like she had thought.
It was Gajeel's turn next, and he was making a horribly vicious face at the wall in front of him. "I kinda hate all of you – do I really have to choose?"
"Come on Gajeel, you have to pick someone," Mirajane said with a suggestive smirk.
"Pick the person you hate the least, then," Fried said stoically – it had probably been the first thing he'd voluntarily said all night.
Gajeel grumbled to himself and glared around the table. He actually hadn't been drinking much either – just a sip here and there so he wouldn't hurt his image – but he'd had enough to get him buzzed. If he hadn't been drinking at all, he probably would have fought not to answer at all, but he ended up giving in. "Fine – I'll say Levy then. I hate her a little less than I hate most of you."
Everyone laughed and Laxus spoke up, "Well don't you have a way with words."
Despite hearing Laxus' chilling voice, Levy managed to smile at the delinquent, "I'm flattered."
Mirajane and Cana exchanged snickers, but Gajeel just kept up his steady scowl.
Lily was next and decided to help take the focus off Gajeel, "Well, I'll say Cana then."
Cana grinned, "I'll allow it."
The last person was Fried, who was sitting to the right of Bixlow. "I'll return the favor and choose Mirajane."
Mirajane grinned and was suddenly out of her seat. Everyone was too shocked to do anything but watch as Mira quickly rounded the table and came to Fried's side. The green-haired boy was just as confused as the rest of the table when suddenly Mirajane leaned over and landed her lips right on top of his.
It was a quick peck and after probably a few seconds Mira pulled away with a happy smirk. Fried looked absolutely dumb-struck, and it was the first time for most people at the table to see him making face that wasn't totally serious.
Mirajane placed her hands on her hips and faced the table, "Well, I think that's a good note to end on."
Fried coughed to force the dumbstruck look to disappear. Cana was snickering to herself, "Yeah, I think we should call it a night."
Mutters of agreement echoed around the table and people started to clear out. Laxus was laughing loudly as he pulled Fried out of his chair and slung an arm around his friend's shoulder. "She got you pretty good, huh?"
Fried started to mumble something, but the two followed by Bixlow had already disappeared towards the Student Lobby.
Mira came to Levy's and Cana's side as the room started to empty. "Well, I accomplished my goal for the night."
Cana shook her head, "Were you really planning that the whole night, or was that just the booze?"
"We~ll, I wanted to do that sometime over the break, and realized once we started that last question that now was the perfect time." Mirajane smiled deviously and started walking proudly towards the lobby as well.
Cana and Levy followed her. "She's got guts, I'll give her that," Cana said shaking her head and leaning against Levy for support, because the alcohol was impeding her ability to walk straight. "And you, Missy Levy were quite the popular choice tonight. The player and the delinquent both wanted to kiss you."
Levy rolled her eyes at her drunken friend, and led her towards the dormitories for a good night's rest.
A/n: hehehe go Mira! wish I had that kinda confidence lol Anywho, thanks for reading. The next chapter is sitting right there in my head, so hopefully it won't take too long to update xD