This was the first time that either one of them had done something like this. They were not used to school trips, or school to begin with. However, unlike Erza, Mirajane had been to school. She didn't really enjoy the idea, but she had attended it and school trips were apparently fun. Naturally, nothing in her memory told her so. In her mind, school trips were painfully annoying and irritating, more so now because they were going to a beach.
Now, Mirajane had no problems with beaches. She actually liked beaches- she liked relaxing after all. She loved the calmness, the idea of sleeping all day without a care and most of all, she loved not taking care of anyone but herself. However, what she did not like was going to a beach with a bunch of overfed, spoiled brats. Earlier that week, the seating arangements demanded that she and Erza were to be seated in the same cabin. So, Mirajane was pleased, as was her scarlet-haired friend. But the good news was just that. Erza had to sit with none other than Jellal Fernandez himself while Mirajane was to bare Laxus Dreyer for 36 hours. Ordinarily, she would have been more than pleased- both of them had got the ideal chance to watch their enemies and most likely, Jellal had used his influence as the student council president to orchestrate this convenient setting. However, what followed was a horrible back-lash of well, annoyance.
Since the seating announcements had been disclosed, Mirajane had been getting quite a bit of misdirected hatred from self-proclaimed fan clubs ofLaxus. Naturally Erza was facing the same thing, but in Mirajane's case, she particularly had to deal with something called the 'Thunder God Tribe'. That was apparently the collection of 3 students who had devoted their lives to Laxus. It was led by someone called Freed and included Bickslow and Evergreen. All three of them went wherever Laxus went and only were not by his side when he was around Jellal or Gajeel. However, even then Mirajane had seen them lurking behind lockers and walls in order to maintain their proximity to them. It was an odd thing, and unfortunately their so called 'wrath' was annoying. Along with Laxus, Mirajane was monitored closely by them to determine if she had cast black magic on the teachers to earn her position besides Laxus. She dealt with glares from most of the female student population and almost instantly, rumors of her having a secret relationship with Laxus began to spread like wildfire across the school.
Mirajane had never actually cared if she was accepted by the students or not, but things got really out of hand when a bubbly blonde girl called Lucy had walked up to her to ask if she was dating Laxus. While Mirajane had promptly denied it, the rumors evolved with every second. As of now, she was allowed to sit beside Laxus either because she had bribed a Principal Makarov or because she was apparently pregnant with his child. Both of them were utterly false. It would have amused Mirajane on any other occasion but this was not one of them. Especially because while she was seated beside Laxus calmly, all she could hear was the annoying giggles and chattering of the excited and incredibly desperate girls, all complete with the Thunder God Tribe seated in close proximity to her. As she had predicted, Laxus enjoyed the attention and was very evidently flirting with the women, exciting them further. For the next 36 hours, she would have to bare such a headache.
However, her luck got slightly better when the train began to move and students were forced to sit down. Because of the past, students were not allowed to raise their voices in the train and were not allowed to move unless they had to use the bathrooms or something like that. As a result of this, Mirajane was finally able to calm down and collect her thoughts for a few brief seconds.
Truth be told, Laxus was just as happy as Mirajane was. He would never admit it, but the girls were quite annoying. He hated their high-pitched voices, especially their excited giggles along with their shrieks. He hated the fact that every single girl was buried under a thick coat of makeup and suffocated him with their cheap perfumes. But he would never admit either one of these things- he got to sleep with them after all. Now, due to his dissatisfactory behavior over the past few field trips, Laxus was constantly being watched by teachers and he was quite aware of that. In fact, he liked to kick things up a notch, just to see their reactions and in hopes that it would reach his grandfather- it was hilarious when the old man was mad. Unfortunately, he was strictly prohibited from doing any of those things this time because he was seated beside Mirajane- his target.
Recalling what Gajeel had said earlier, Laxus could not believe that someone like her was a part of the Shadow Hunters. Mirajane was slim, slightly below average height and most of all; she was polite to the point of death. So far, he had not had any inclinations of questionable behavior from her. Erza was a different story, but Laxus was certain that she had not done anything to capture their attention. However, he had to admit that he didn't quite understand why someone like her was so close to Erza in the first place. From what Levy had told them, Erza was violent, clumsy, short-tempered and apparently strong. Surprisingly, none of this showed up on the sports fields. Mirajane on the other hand, was graceful, gentle, calm, nurturing, approachable and intelligent and well, the polar opposite of Erza to put it in simple words. He would not expect such people to be friends unless they had a common motive. Therefore, Laxus assumed that Mirajane knew that she was being watched and therefore, made it a point to remain low-key. But if that was the case, Laxus was entitled to have some fun with this. After all, it was 36 hours of mind-numbing boredom.
"So you're Mirajane huh?" he questioned, flashing her, his signature smirk.
Upon hearing his voice, Mirajane glanced up from her book and almost instantly had to suppress the urge of rolling her eyes when she saw that smirk. He was so overconfident- it amused her.
"Yes, why may I ask?" she questioned calmly, flashing him a polite smile as she straighted her back and turned to face him.
"I was just curious, because you're new and stuff," he responded in the same tone as she flashed him the same polite smile.
"Oh well, then yes. I am Mirajane Surge. How about you?" she asked, surprising Laxus mildly.
"You don't know who I am?" he questioned, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow, flashing her the same overconfident smirk as he awaited her response.
"I- I think I know who you are, but I'm not very good with names so I apologize if I get it wrong," she began, with the same polite smile as she pretended to think.
Of course she knew who he was. He was Laxus Dreyer-the biggest player of the school, the overconfident jerk. She knew of his reputation among the female population because of their constant giggling and screaming and was well aware that the boys treated him as a virtual God because of his 'conquests'. But Mirajane also knew that she stung his pride when she pretended not to know who he was and at that thought, she had to suppress the urge to smirk in victory.
"Its fine, go ahead," he encouraged as he leaned back in his seat in an attempt to get comfortable.
"Na- no, wait… Laxus Dreyer?" she questioned as her tone became slightly softer as she doubted herself over getting his identity right.
Upon hearing that, Laxus' smirk widened. Of course she'd know who he was. It would be impossible not to. He was Laxus Dreyer after all- it was impossible not to know him.
"That's correct," he began as her face brightened up momentarily as she pretended to be victorious over getting his identity correct.
Then he leaned towards her until his lips touched the shell of her ear. He could feel her body instantly stiffen and the thought of that made him smirk in amusement once again.
"And don't you forget it," he whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine.
He then returned to his original position and flashed her, the same overconfident smirk at her flustered reaction. Even if she was a part of the Shadow Hunters, he would have fun with her. After all, he was entitled to do so.
Mirajane was not that amused by it. In a normal situation, she would have slit his throat right open by now, but because she was supposed to be 'polite', she was unable to do so. Instead, she had to act like a flustered teenager whose crush gave her excessive attention. Therefore, she had to suppress the strong urges to clean her ear with sanitizer to get his breath off it. But at least she knew what his strategy was now- he was going to tease her. Unfortunately for him, Mirajane did not take anything lying down. If he wanted to play, she would play back. After all, there was no one better at deception than her and she wasn't giving up the title now.