Chapter 10 Fundraisers

Laxus pulled his coat closer as he walked through the empty halls. He was happy the smell was gone, but it was freezing in the building. He hoped he was the first person to enter the building so he could work on the drama's many problems in peace. Though, now he was starting to wonder if he'd be able to work properly when it was so cold. He sighed and looked down at the book in his hand as he continued towards his math class. By the time he got there, he was frowning. He was beginning to see that Levy was right. There simply wasn't enough money to cover all the things they needed. He sighed again as he opened the classroom's door. He was surprised to see D and Lucy were already there. D was once again sitting in his seat, but that didn't surprise him. What did surprise him, however, was that there was a nice, warm blanket sitting on top of Lucy's desk, but it wasn't being used. That and Lucy had ice on her shoulder. (She was also painting her nails.) How Lucy wasn't cold was beyond him. D was drinking something from a tall plastic cup with a lid and straw. She was using her tongue to play with the straw, and it was so bizarre that Laxus found himself staring at her. He continued staring until with one swipe D yanked the end of the straw into her mouth and sucked. She looked up at him and released the straw before putting the cup down and smiling.

"Hey, grandson," she greeted him.

"Hey," he answered. He looked at Lucy to see she was giving him that same I-saw-that smile she gave him yesterday. He looked away from her and began making his way over to them. As he got closer, he noticed it was getting warmer. It wasn't until he sat backwards in the seat in front of D that he noticed the heater next to her.

"Why are you here so early, grandson?" D asked.

"I wanted some peace and quiet while trying to work out this problem in the plays funds," Laxus explained. "I was actually going to ask for your help, but it seems like we really just don't have enough money." He sighed and D raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean you don't have enough money?" Lucy asked.

"We don't have enough money to fund the play," Laxus elaborated. Lucy sighed and her shoulders slumped. D rolled her eyes and held out her hand.

"Let me see," she demanded. Laxus handed her the account book. D stared at the numbers for a moment before looking back up at him. "Are you serious?" Laxus looked confused. "You're kidding me, right?" She put the book down on her desk.

"What do you mean?" Laxus asked. D pointed at a spot in the book.

"What's with this ridiculous amount of money for costumes?" she accused.

"That's how much the designer asked for," Laxus explained. D and Lucy stared at him like he had grown a second head. "What?"

"Why the hell are you using a designer?" Lucy questioned before D could open her mouth.

"What do you mean, why? We need costumes," Laxus defended.

"Oh my God," D whispered putting a hand to her forehead and looking down.

"I mean, why are you paying for them?" Lucy tried again.

"Well, the designer won't do it for free," Laxus stated as though it should be obvious. Lucy looked at him like he was crazy.

"Wha-but-oh my head hurts," Lucy stuttered before pinching the bridge of her nose. D sighed and looked up.

"What we mean is why are you using a designer in the first place?" D clarified slowly pronounced every word as though talking to a child.

"How else are we supposed to get our costumes?" he asked mimicking D's tone. D threw a hand up in exasperation before answering.

"Oh, I don't know. How about you, say, make the like, let's say, a normal school?" Laxus blinked. He hadn't thought of that.

"But wouldn't it still cost money for the designer to send us the designs?" he wondered aloud. Lucy's eyes widened and her jaw dropped in disbelief. D's expression mirrored her cousin's until annoyance overcame it, and she began to raise her hand, froze, then pulled back looking away from Laxus while holding up one finger.

"Lucy," D began before pausing, "talk to him." She paused again. "Talk to him before I hit him." Laxus had a bewildered look on his face.

"Laxus…honey," Lucy began in a tone one would use when explaining something to a child, "you don't use a designer at all." Now Laxus was confused.

"Then where would we get the designs for the costumes?" he questioned. Lucy sighed and hung her head in defeat.

"Design it yourselves!" D snapped. A strangled sound came from her throat. "You know what? Never mind, I'll handle it. Let's move on." She quickly turned back to the book.

"What about-" Laxus began.

"WE'RE MOVING ON!" D repeated. Laxus shut up. "Okay…now, this…why is it even on here?" D was pointing to the number labeled: "Snack Fund".

"Some practices last past dinner, so we order food," Laxus answered. D seemed to think about this for a moment before erasing the number from the book. "HEY!" D stared at him.

"Tell me. How do you get dinner here?" she asked.

"We go to the restaurants on campus," Laxus replied automatically.

"And, how do you pay for it?"

"We pay with our own money."

"And where do you order food from during practice?"

"We order from the restaurants on campus."

"So, doesn't it make sense that if someone wants to eat during practice that they should order their own food?"

"Yeah, except it'd strain the staff to remember each individual order, so we order a large amount of the same thing."

"I know. Now to my point, why wouldn't you still do that, but have everyone pay for their own meal instead of using the budget money that you can't afford to spend?" Laxus blinked. Lucy stared at D for a moment. Where D found the patience to explain that, she would never know.

"Did it finally get in your head?" she asked turning to the boy. Laxus nodded.

"Good," D declared. "Now that solves the stupid expenses…for now." D didn't even want to know what other stupid things they spent money on. Laxus was about to say something when his grandfather's voice boomed through the P.A. system.

"LISTEN UP, YOU BRATS!" he yelled. "SECOND PERIOD IS ABOUT TO START, SO GET YOUR BUTTS TO YOUR CLASSROOMS!" Lucy stared at the ceiling in shock, whereas D simply snorted with a smile. Just as Lucy looked back down and D's smile began to disappear, Makarov's voice rang out as he roared: "NOW!" Lucy jumped and D laughed. There were about 30 minutes before first period would end.

"Even with those reductions, we have no where near the amount we need," Laxus pointed out in an attempt to bring D's attention back to the problem at hand. Lucy went back to painting her nails. (She's on the final coat.)

"I know," D answered with a smile on her face.

"Then what are we going to do?" Laxus answered. D leaned forward, and rested her head on her hand with a smile.

"Well, I guess you're just gonna have to have a fund raiser now, aren't ya?" she questioned in an amused tone. Laxus stared at D like he couldn't believe she was there. Then, ever so slowly, he smiled.

"You're a genius," he stated. D shrugged before taking out a new sketch pad and placing it on the desk.

"That's what they keep telling me," she responded by writing 'The Phantom of the Opera' in neat script on the first page in pen. She then turned to a fresh page before beginning to draw while, once again, blocking the image from anyone who wanted to see.

"So, what kind of fund raiser did you have in mind?" Laxus asked.

"Nope," D responded quickly, "I'm not doing all the thinking for you. Try to come up with something good on your own first. Lucy," said girl looked up from blowing on her nails when her name was called, "I want you to write a list of approved and disapproved ideas." Lucy stared at her cousin for a moment. "Please," D added when the girl hadn't moved. Lucy grinned.

"Sure," she agreed. "You want two separate lists?" D nodded.

"Can you make a 'Pending' list as well?" she asked. Lucy agreed and began making the lists.

"Why are you making 3 separate lists?" Laxus wondered.

"We're making three so you can take all of them to the others and, if they have any other ideas, they can add them to the pending list. The 'Disapproved' is to prevent repeated bad ideas. It'll also show you what kind of ideas will not be approved," D explained. Laxus nodded in understanding. "You ready, Lucy?"

"Yeah," the girl answered. She had three pieces of paper, each labeled either 'Approved', 'Disapproved' or 'Pending'.

"Okay then, grandson," D began then stopped sketching long enough to look up. "Shoot. Tell me what you've got." Laxus thought for a moment.

"What if we offer to sell a spot at our lunch table?" Laxus suggested. D and Lucy stared at him.

"No," they rejected in unison. D went back to her sketch, and Lucy wrote the idea on the 'Disapproved' list.

"Then how about we have a video game tournament?" Laxus tried again. D looked at him.

"That could work," Lucy answered.

"Are you going to let strangers play your games and possibly ruin your controllers?" D questioned. Laxus froze.

"Never mind," he responded and Lucy sighed before adding the idea to the 'Disapproved' list. Laxus gave a few more ideas, all of which went on the 'Disapproved' list, until finally he listed a good one. "Well…how about selling a date with members from the cast?" D and Lucy looked at him.

"That's a good one," Lucy said.

"We need everyone's consent for that, so put it on the 'Pending' list," D added. Lucy nodded and wrote the idea down. D went back to sketching.

"How about we do a good, old-fashioned bake sale?" Lucy suggested. Laxus nodded.

"That's a good idea," he stated.

"Approved," was all D said as she focused on her drawing. They kept listing ideas (Lucy came up with most of the approved ones) and students started entering the classroom. They were surprised that one, the room was warm (D's heater had warmed the entire room by then) and two, Laxus, D and Lucy were sitting in the back corner, D in Laxus' seat, and they were huddled together while talking about something. Everyone stared at them while they took their seats. When Alzack entered the room he was also surprised, but was happy that there wouldn't be another scene like yesterday. A few minutes later, the bell rang.

"Eyes forward everyone," Alzack called gaining the classes attention.

"Class is starting," D informed effectively ending the brainstorming session. Lucy and Laxus turned their attention forward. D spend the entire class period sketching, only stopping to quickly do the problems she was assigned.

Once class was over D took the lists and tucked them into the account book before handing it to Laxus.

"Thanks for your help," he said. D nodded as Lucy smiled and said:

"You're welcome!" They headed for the door. D and Laxus both tried not to look at Lucy too much for fear they would start laughing.

"Remember, if your friends come up with anymore ideas put them on the 'Pending' list, and I'll look them over later," D reminded him trying to ignore Lucy. Laxus nodded with an amused smile on his face.

"Yeah," he answered with laughter in his voice, "see you later." It wasn't until they had almost reached their next class that D finally lost it and laughed.

"Oh, I can't take it anymore!" she nearly shouted. "What's wrong with you? Why are you walking like that?" Lucy blushed. After that morning's exercise, Lucy's muscles had been killing her, but now, after sitting for still for so long, they were stiff and cramping. This had resulted in Lucy walking down the hallway in a bizarre way. It was so abnormal that everyone was staring at her, and it's a miracle D managed to hold her laughter for as long as she did.

"My body hurts," Lucy muttered. D chuckled. "Don't laugh! It's not my fault I'm like this!"

"Yes it is!" D laughed. Lucy glared at her.

"How is it my fault?" she growled. D grinned.

"If you worked out more, your muscles would be used to doing exercises, and you wouldn't be in pain," D stated. Lucy simply huffed. "Don't get mad because I'm right." Lucy glared at her.

"Shut up," she grumbled. D laughed again.

"What did you just say, you brat?" the instructor, Aquarius, asked in a dangerous voice with her face mere centimeters away from Lucy's. The girl was trembling. D chuckled. Lucy glared at her. (This seems to be a recurring situation.) They were currently in the girl's locker room, and Lucy had just asked the teacher if she could sit out on the lesson because her muscles were cramping.

"I told you so," D mouthed.

-FLASHBACK-

Lucy had just about had it with D laughing at her today when the girl suddenly turned to her with a smirk.

"So how exactly are you planning on swimming when you can't even walk properly?" D asked. Lucy blinked. Her confusion was evident on her face. "You do realize we have Aquatics next right?" Lucy's eyes widened and, as though not believing her cousin's words, she pulled out her schedule and checked. Sure enough, Aquatics was labeled as their next class.

"I'll just explain and ask the teacher if I can sit out today's lesson," Lucy tried. D snorted.

"I highly doubt the teacher will agree to that…" she informed.

"You need to have more faith in people," Lucy continued. "I'm sure she'll understand."

"We'll just have to wait and see, huh?" D mussed. She had a smug look on her face that obviously said: 'you're wro~ng.'

"Yes we will!" Lucy huffed and tried to storm away, but couldn't manage it with her bizarre walk. D immediately began laughing again.

-FLASHBACK END-

"So you thought you could get out of class just because of a few sore muscles?" Aquarius nearly growled. Lucy didn't answer and simply shook in fear. "HUH?" the furious teacher demanded an answer.

"N-no Ma'am!" Lucy managed to shout.

"Then GO CHANGE!" Aquarius ordered. Lucy ran to her newly appointed locker and began to change into her bathing suit. D snickered. Aquarius turned to her. "What are you laughing at? Go change!" she demanded. D simply smiled at her.

"No, I don't think so, Ms. Mermaid," D answered. Aquarius almost blushed at being compared to a mermaid. "I'm just going to observe so I can laugh at my cousin. Is that okay with you?" Aquarius stared at her for a moment, looked at Lucy who was trying to put on her bathing suit while twitching in an abnormal way, and turned back to D with a smirk.

"Yeah," she agreed, "its okay with me." The two smirked at each other. Ah, this looks like the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Lucy and D left the locker room and came out to the pool only to find two of the boys they met yesterday arguing. (Can you guess who?)

"Ice-prick!" the pink-haired boy yelled.

"Flame-brain!" the boy with black hair yelled.

"Stripper!" The two boys had their heads pressed together while yelling at each other.

"You wanna go?!" Natsu shouted pulling back and getting into a fighting stance. Gray copied the stance and yelled:

"Bring it on!" The two then launched at each other with their fists raised. In the next moment, D was in front of them. She cracked their heads together and then proceeded to throw them in the pool before swiftly moving out of the splash zone. Lucy blinked.

"Why don't you hot-heads cool off for a moment?" she suggested. The two boys came up with a gasp.

"Why'd you do that?" they yelled in outrage while swimming to the edge to get out of the pool. D smiled.

"I felt like it," she answered. A moment passed before she gasped in realization. "Ha!" she exclaimed turning to Lucy, "I told you so! I win!" Said girl sighed in defeat.

"Win what?" Natsu asked. "And why aren't you in a swimsuit? Are you swimming in your clothes?"

"Lucy and I made a bet, and I won. Also, I'm not swimming," D replied. Natsu and Gray pulled themselves out of the pool and stood in front of the pair dripping wet. Lucy found herself looking at Natsu. She started at his feet and made her way up. This made Natsu blush, but Lucy missed it when, after checking out his torso, she found her eyes glued to the scarf around his head. Natsu then gave Lucy a similar glance over.

Swimming with a scarf wrapped around his head…interesting…she thought.

"Why aren't you swimming?" Gray wondered.

"I don't want to, and I want to watch Lucy try to swim with all her muscles spasm-ing," D replied with a chuckle.

"What was the bet about?" Natsu asked tearing his eyes away from Lucy's bikini-clad body. Lucy's eyes, however, were still glued to his scarf.

"Why are you swimming with that around your head? Aren't you afraid it'll come off and get caught in the filter?" she asked.

"Huh?" Natsu turned to her. That's when he realized she was staring at his scarf. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "This is important to me, so I never go anywhere without it."

"Oh," Lucy answered and nodded in understanding. She finally pulled her eyes from the scarf and down to Natsu's face.

"What was the bet about?" Gray asked echoing Natsu's ignored question. D and Lucy shared a look before turning back to the boys with equally innocent smiles.

"Nothing~," they sang. Aquarius conveniently picked that moment to start yelling at the entire class.

"Okay, you brats! Get in the pool for a quick dip then line up!" She blew her whistle. Everyone quickly jumped in the pool while D skillfully avoided the water and made her way over to the bleachers.

Lucy was going to kill her cousin. D had been laughing non-stop since Lucy first got in the pool and tried to swim. Emphasis on tried. Her aching, cramping, twitching muscles simply refused to cooperate. Even Miss Aquarius was laughing at her. Lucy would kill her too if she wasn't so scary…Then again…D is even scarier…Yeah…and attempting to kill her…NEVER MIND! A giant wave of fear crashed through her.

I can still make her pay, Lucy thought with an annoyed glare at her cousin's twitching body.

Please allow me to explain. D is currently lying on the bleachers after laughing at her cousin's pathetic attempts to swim. (The class is now over.) Lucy resisted to urge to kick her cousin. She would hurt herself more than D anyway. Lucy watched her cousin take a deep calming breath.

"I wish I had recorded that," D muttered. "Then I could watch…that as much as I want." She chuckled and sat up.

"I so wanna hit you right now," Lucy replied in a dark voice. She could feel D's eyes narrowing at her behind those sunglasses. The girl's natural response to a threat. D smirked.

"I'd love to see you try considering you can't even walk normally," she teased just before the bell rang. "Let's go." Lucy pouted and tried, unsuccessfully, to storm to the locker room. All she managed to do was make D laugh at her again.

"Stop laughing!" Lucy yelled for the umpteenth time that day.

"Okay! Okay! I'm stopping!" D exclaimed while Lucy tried to finish changing. It was funny when she kept twitching. D sucked in her lips to keep herself from laughing.

"D-san! Lucy-san!" a voice called. D turned to see…um…water-woman coming toward them. She had to be one of the best swimmers D had ever seen. It was like she was one with the water.

"Hey Juvia," Lucy greeted.

"Yo," D added with a nod.

"D-san," Juvia nearly whispered with admiration plastered on her face and in her voice.

"You're in the dance class, aren't you?" D questioned in a monotonous voice. Juvia froze.

"Y-yes…is that bad?" she asked nervously.

"No," D answered with a dejected sigh, "I simply can't stand being fussed over."

"Oh," Juvia sighed in relief. D raised an eyebrow at her before turning back to Lucy and almost losing it when she saw Lucy fighting with her shirt. Juvia followed D's gaze and became a little worried at the sight before her. "Do you need help, Lucy-san?" she asked. Lucy turned to her with a look of complete helplessness and nodded.

"PFFT!" D managed to stop her laugh before it completely escaped. Lucy glared at her as Juvia helped her into her uniform.

"Thank you, Juvia," Lucy said with a pointed look at D who simply shrugged and smiled.

"Let's go eat lunch, and then I'll fix your muscles. You know, so you don't die later," D offered with a slight chuckle. With that, the three girls made their way out of the locker room.

D stopped and blinked at the sight in front of her. Rouge was pacing in front of her dorm room while Sting leaned against the wall across from the door. It seemed like their personalities were backwards to her. Lucy who was behind D at the moment looked passed her cousin and blinked in confusion. Suddenly, D snorted and made her way to the door. Sting and Rouge heard it and looked at her.

"A little impatient, are we?" she teased. Lucy stared at D for a moment before following her.

Are they suppose to be here? she wondered.

"How long have you been here?" D asked unlocking the door.

"Ten minutes," Sting answered as they walked in after D. He whistled at the new design. "Nice." D dropped her stuff on the couch and went into the kitchen.

"Why are you here?" Lucy asked. Sting looked at her as she closed the door.

"Rouge said D was going to feed him lunch," he stated.

"Did you go to all your classes?" D suddenly asked coming out of the kitchen with her lunchbox. Rouge nodded while Sting looked confused. "How about you, Bee-Boy?"

"Yeah," he answered, "unlike Dance, Music, and Drama, I actually need those classes to graduate." D nodded.

"Okay then. I want pizza," she declared. "Anyone else want pizza?"

"I do," Lucy answered. Rouge nodded and Sting simply huffed. D grabbed the phone and ordered the food.

"Yo!" Gray greeted their friends that were sitting at their table in the lunchroom. A few people greeted him back. Natsu and Juvia were with him. Natsu seemed a little too happy though.

"What's with him?" Laxus asked nudging Gray when he sat across from him. Juvia sat at the end next to Gray, and Natsu sat at the head of the table across from Erza at the other end. Gray snickered.

"Natsu has a crush," he teased quietly making sure Natsu heard him. Natsu blushed, but his embarrassment quickly turned to anger as he glared at his rival.

"I do not have a crush!" he whisper-shouted. They couldn't have Mira overhearing. That woman was terrifying when it came to anything love-oriented. Thankfully she was sitting near Erza at the other end of the table.

"Oh yeah?" Gray hissed. "Then how do you explain what happened earlier?"

"Earlier?" Laxus questioned.

"Yeah, Natsu got depressed because D and Lucy weren't coming to lunch with us," Gray explained.

-FLASHBACK-

The girls came out of the locker room to find Natsu and Gray waiting for them. Surprisingly, they had managed not to fight.

"What took you so long?" Gray asked. Lucy blushed and looked away while D was very obviously trying not to laugh. Juvia, on the other hand, had hearts in her eyes and was drooling over the fact that Gray was, once again, shirtless. D and Lucy had learned during their 3 classes together that it was impossible for the boy to keep his clothes on.

"Lucy needed help," D asked still holding her laughter. Lucy glared at her cousin. D looked at Juvia and looked between her and Gray.

"Help with what?" Gray wondered.

"Can you put your clothes back on?" D asked all traces of laughter gone from her voice as she turned from Juvia to Gray who was undoing his pants!? "AND STOP TAKING THEM OFF!" Gray looked down and cursed.

"Shit! When'd this happen?!" he screamed while yanking his clothes back on. Natsu laughed.

"So what did Luigi need help with?" he asked.

Luigi? everyone but Natsu thought. There was a pause.

"Pfft…" D, Gray and Juvia tried not to laugh huddling together.

"It's Lucy!" Lucy yelled.

"Sorry," Natsu apologized with a grin. Lucy pouted. A small nearly unnoticeable blush came over Natsu's face. D, Gray and Juvia stared at them while standing to the side in something similar to a line.

"Why are you still here anyway?!" she asked in anger. Natsu chuckled.

"We thought you wouldn't know where to meet us for lunch," he explained smiling at her. Lucy blushed a bit then raised an eyebrow. When Lucy blushed, D's eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.

"You know," Natsu began, "the bet."

"You lost the bet," D informed leaving her little line with Gray and Juvia. She stood next to Lucy with her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed at Natsu. (Not that he knew that.) D was getting a bad feeling from Lucy and Natsu's little interaction just then. Natsu, Gray and Juvia looked equally shocked at D's little revelation.

"Eh?!" they shouted. Lucy looked down in embarrassment.

"Sorry," she apologized. "In my defense, I was half-asleep." Natsu looked a little depressed.

"Well, we lost fair and square," Gray dismissed. D grinned.

"Glad you're such a good sport," she noted. "See you later!" With that said, D began walking away. She wanted to get Lucy as far from that boy as soon as possible.

"We'll eat lunch with you guys another time, okay?" Lucy offered with a smile. She was trying to cheer Natsu up. Natsu smiled back and, for a few moments, the two just stood and stared at each other. "Okay?" Lucy repeated. Natsu blinked.

"Yeah!" he answered a little embarrassed to be caught staring.

"LUCY!" D's outraged scream came. Lucy's eyes widened, and she ran after D with a panicked:

"I'm coming!" Natsu stared after the scared blond as she made her way down the hall. Gray and Juvia stared at him. When Lucy was out of sight and Natsu finally turned back to his 'friends', Gray and Juvia had evil grins on their faces.

"What?" Natsu asked cautiously.

"As happy would say:" Gray began gesturing to Juvia.

"You liiiiike her," Juvia finished blushing in happiness over being able to finish Gray's sentence. Natsu blushed.

"Do not!" he denied. Gray and Juvia laughed.

-END FLASHBACK-

"So Natsu, you like the little blond?" Laxus concluded.

"You're wrong!" Natsu yelled causing everyone's attention to turn towards him. He noticed and quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, what about the play's funds?" This quickly turned everyone's attention to Laxus.

"Well…Levy's right," Laxus stated. "We don't have enough money to fund the play like we've been doing." Protests immediately came up. "Wait. Calm down. See, I spoke to D like you asked me to, Levy."

"WHAT'D SHE SAY?!" Levy, Lisanna, Cana, Evergreen, Juvia and Wendy shouted in perfect sync suddenly at Laxus' end of the table. Everyone stared at them while Laxus answered.

"Well…"

"AH! NO! OW! STOP IT! IT HURTS!" Sting and Rouge stood staring at Lucy's door while the screams of pain reverberated throughout the entire dorm room. Suddenly, the screaming stopped. Sting and Rouge shared a look. A few minutes later, the door opened and D stepped out wiping her hands on a towel.

"Sorry about that," D began, "Lucy's a big baby." She sounded annoyed.

"What were you doing in there?" Sting asked.

"I had to massage her muscles or she'd keep walking like…that," D answered with a snort.

"Are you sick?" Lucy asked venomously as she came out of her room. After D had ordered pizza, she had grabbed Lucy and dragged her into her room. "You've been way too cheerful today. Laughing non-stop like that…is just so not like you." She had started out angry but then worry began to enter her voice.

"Maybe," D agreed. "Now then," She spun to face the boys effectively cutting off Lucy inquiry, "boys, I believe it's time I introduce you to the rec-room." Sting and Rouge looked at each other then back at D.

"Fund-raiser?" everyone wondered. Laxus nodded. "WHY DIDN'T WE THINK OF THAT?!" they yelled. Everyone was now huddled at Laxus' end of the table.

"I don't know!" Laxus yelled back.

"What kind of fund-raiser?" Gray asked. Laxus sighed and pulled out the accounting book with the three lists.

"D had Lucy make a list of approved, disapproved and pending ideas," Laxus explained while spreading the lists on the table in front of them before handing Levy the book. While Laxus explained the purpose of the three lists, Levy looked at the account book, and her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"What the hell?!" she exclaimed. Everyone turned to her in shock.

"What's wrong, Levy-san?" Wendy asked.

"Everything's been changed!" Levy shouted in shock. "All the numbers have either been reduced or removed completely. With this amount what we need is a lot smaller. D must have done this," she continued talking more to herself than everyone else. "She even calculated the amount we need to raise and added an emergency fund?" The last part sounded like a question. Levy groaned. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"I know how you feel. She makes you feel stupid, doesn't she?" Laxus admitted sympathetically.

"You're not stupid, Laxus," Mira reassured. Freed placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You're right. LAXUS COULD NEVER BE STUPID!" he declared. Everyone laughed at his funny way of expressing loyalty.

Sting and Rouge were staring slack-jawed at the room in front of them. Rouge moved inside to examine the room more closely while Sting stayed just inside the doorway.

"So what do you think?" D asked with a smirk.

"I think I'm in love," Sting nearly whispered. D chuckled as Rouge nodded with his hand on the glass of case with the video games like a kid at an aquarium. She moved to his side, opened the case and pulled out Dragon Slayer IV before locking the case again.

"Wanna play?" she asked with a grin. Rouge and Sting's eyes widened before they began nodding furiously. They both looked so innocently happy that D couldn't help but laugh at them.

"What do you mean we lost?" Cana shouted. Erza had just explained how they all lost the bet and D wouldn't be buying them lunch.

"Like I said, D won so let's just go grab our lunches and think of some more fundraiser ideas," Erza said in a way that left no room for argument. Everyone agreed in fear for their lives.

"That was fun," D stated walking down the hallway leading to the gym.

"Can't we play more?" Sting whined. "Class doesn't start for 2 more hours. Why are you going to the gym?"

"If you don't like it, don't follow me," D snapped. Sting then shut up.

"Why are you going to the gym?" Rouge asked. He was carrying the pizza's they hadn't eaten yet. Lucy is quietly following them with the soda.

"If I'm playing Christine, I need to brush up on my ballroom dancing," D explained. "Since I taught myself, I really need to practice." D turned to Sting. "I also need to get used to dancing with you…" Sting glared at her. What did she mean by that?

"In other words, even if I wanted to leave, you wouldn't let me," he restated. D merely grinned. "You know…you're kind of mean…" Both of D's eyebrows went up at that.

"Kind of?" she questioned. At first, Sting thought she was proud of being mean. "No one has ever said I was 'kind of' mean before…they all call me cruel…" Now he thinks she's legitimately shocked.

"You are cruel," Lucy muttered under her breath. D came to a halt. Sting, Rouge and Lucy stopped behind her. They were a few feet from the gym doors. D turned around with an all-too-innocent smile. The other three took a step back.

"Are you trying to say something, Lucy?" she asked. Lucy rapidly shook her head.

"Nope! Absolutely not! Me? Saying something? No way! Uh-uh!" she panicked. D tilted her head to the side with a little laugh.

"Didn't think so," she giggled in an innocent way before turning on her heel and walking to the door. She held it open. None of the others moved. "Get in." D demanded with a glare. The three moved simultaneously for the door and practically ran for the dance studio. D chuckled and followed them.

"Why is 'Video Game Tournament' on the 'Disapproved' list?!" Natsu shouted only to get promptly hit on the head by Erza with a demand for him to 'keep his voice down'.

"I'll ask you the same thing D asked me when I came up with the idea. 'Are you going to let strangers play your games and possibly ruin your controllers?' I said no. What do you say?" Laxus asked raising an eyebrow.

"Hell no," the boys answered in unison. Laxus pointed at Natsu.

"That's why," he stated. Natsu nodded in understanding before looking back at the list in front of him.

"The $20 entrance fee wet t-shirt contest sound cool…why's it on here?" Gray asked looking over Natsu's shoulder. Laxus shivered in fear.

"D's face when I said that…Man, she's scary…Little Miss Sunshine can get pretty scary as well…" he muttered to himself everyone heard him though. "I thought D was going to kill me when I said that."

"I agree with them," Levy stated with a glare at the boys. In fact, most of the girls where glaring at them. The boys gulped.

"This bake sale sounds interesting, huh?" Natsu asked trying to change the subject. It worked when Erza spoke up.

"Yeah, and it'll be even better if D is the one baking. Along with Mira, Minerva and Ultear it'd be a huge success," she stated with a nod. Everyone murmured their agreement. "So it's decided! We will have a bake sale!" Erza declared. Too afraid to argue, everyone quickly agreed. They then spent the rest of the lunch time coming up with back-up plans in case the bake sale didn't raise enough money. D is going to have quite a few things to say when she sees that pending list.