Thank you, Walk The Moon, for playing wonderful music that helps me revise better~
I have ruined my streak of 4k word chapters. :c I'm not sure if the next chapter will be long, but chapter 37 will be for sure! I'm actually pretty anxious to write the new chapters.
I talk about upcoming chapters a lot in my A/N's.. If you guys don't like that, please don't hesitate to tell me! I will gladly stop so you guys can be extra surprised about the next chapters. :3
We're so close to 100k words for this fanfic. I didn't know I wrote that much, wow.
Thank you so much for reading! The next time I update it's going to be November.. /ugly sobbing
See you next week!
"Good morning, Lu-chan!" Levy shouts as I slide into my seat for Lisanna-sensei's class.
"Good morning," I yawn, a feeling a déjà vu floating in the room.
"You're still sleeping late?" her eyebrows furrow in disapproval.
"Of course not," I wave her off, although Natsu and I did spend way too much time trying to plan his lessons for the new semester last night.
"Welcome back, everyone! I hope everyone had a great winter break," Lisanna-sensei waltz into the classroom as the bell rings.
Several mumbles jump around the room; everybody misses the warmth of their bed.
"Being surrounded by tired people is making me tired," Levy stretches while we exit Lisanna-sensei's room.
"Tell me about it," Gajeel agrees, opening his mouth to release another one of his large yawns.
Despite it being two weeks since we've stepped foot into the school, we move automatically. I instantly turn my back from the couple and wait for them to part.
As always, my eyes wander around the hallway, mentally counting the number of flickering light bulbs on the ceiling. The clicks of work shoes catch my attention, so I instinctively look to the owner of the clicks.
"Good morning," Natsu greets so faintly, it's almost as if my imagination said it and not him.
"Good morning," I reply as he passes by me, his familiar smell drifting past me as well. Oh, how I missed how he looks like with his formal clothes.
"Let's go to gym now," Levy tugs me with her a minute later.
"We're going to have to be outside, aren't we?" I groan as the door leading to outside is slightly open.
"Men!" Elf-sensei howls as everyone huddles together to keep warmth.
"For us to keep warm, we must run," he orders, pointing to the track.
"That's not going to keep us warm, old man," someone mutters. In the end, we jog around the track.
Thankfully, time speeds by us and the next time I blink we're happily sitting inside the cozy school and eating our lunch.
"So, what's there to look forward to other than summer now?" Cana chomps her apple.
"Exams and homework," Levy responds with a shrug.
"I hate this place," Gajeel states bluntly.
"There's nothing we can do about it," I remind.
"Juvia gets to see Gray-sensei after this!" Juvia gushes.
"Oh, that's right," Wendy recalls. "What are Levy and Lucy taking this semester?"
"Health," I answer.
"Food and nutrition," Levy says along with me.
"What?" the both of us stare at each other with a puzzled look.
"We're not going to have the same classes anymore?!" Levy gasps.
I frown in response. Having all the same classes with my best friend was too good to be true.
"Good luck having Laxus-sensei as your teacher for health," Gajeel smirks as the bell rings to dismiss us.
I give Gajeel a strange look. What's so bad about having Laxus-sensei as the teacher?
I take several steps out of the cafeteria then freeze like I've morphed stone.
I have no idea where the health room is.
"Why do you look like that?" a voice asks, laughing at how frozen I look.
"N-Natsu," I stutter in surprise. "Where's the health room?"
"I'll walk you there," he replies, signaling me to follow him.
"Don't you have a class to teach?" I ask anxiously, noticing that almost everyone in the hallways has started to enter their classrooms.
"It'll be fine if I'm a little late," he assures.
"Hey, Natsu! What are you doing?" Gray-sensei calls out, poking his head out of his classroom. He raises an eyebrow when he notices me.
"He's just showing me where the health room is," I say quickly, so he doesn't get the wrong idea.
"Oh, really?" Gray-sensei's eyebrow remains high.
"Really," Natsu speaks.
"Well, Lucy," Gray-sensei clears his throat and steps out of his classroom. He places his hands on my shoulders and rotates me around to the other side of the hallway that Natsu and I just walked past.
"The health room is that way," he points.
My jaw dips to the floor while I feel my face heating up like an oven in humiliation.
"Sorry," Natsu gives me his signature grin, knowing that's the only way I'll forgive him.
"Show me the classroom now," I command.
"Good luck, you two," Gray-sensei waves behind him, entering his classroom and shutting the door.
"Your face was priceless," Natsu chuckles as he leads me to the actual room.
"Be quiet," I mumble.
Everyone in the hallway has already entered their classrooms; Natsu and I are completely alone.
"I'll see you later," he says once we've reached the classroom.
"Thank you," I smile to show my appreciation.
I feel him swiftly give my hand a squeeze with his hand.
"I should probably tell Laxus where you've been," Natsu realizes, knocking on the closed door.
Natsu allows me to step in front of him as the door opens. I stiffly enter the classroom, knowing everyone's eyes are settled on me.
"She was with me," Natsu explains to Laxus-sensei as he blankly stares us down.
"Alright," Laxus-sensei responds plainly, already walking away to resume what he was doing.
Natsu gives the middle of my back a push with his index finger then leaves the classroom. I glance around the desks to find an empty one. I end up sitting in the far back.
Already feeling the dreary atmosphere in the room, I lean against my arm. I don't do anything besides zone out.
"How was health?" Levy questions while we stroll to Natsu's room later on.
"Boring," I reply with no hesitation. "All he did was give us worksheets and told us to read over them."
"He still hasn't changed," she giggles. "When I took health, he didn't even tell us to read them."
"This semester is going to a good one," I state sarcastically, placing my bag onto my regular desk in Natsu's room.
As Natsu enters the class after the chiming bell, I listen to him lecture us. Even though I'm not listening to his actual words, I enjoy the sound of his voice.
"Here's your homework for the day," Natsu tells us, giving everyone two sheets of paper.
"Homework?" someone repeats with bewilderment.
"Everyone needs to start getting used to having homework. You're all going to be on your last year of high school in four months," he replies.
I'm reminded of the time Natsu informed me that all students on their last year are required to receive homework every day. He seems to be serious about giving out homework.
While neatly placing the sheets of paper in a folder, I put it in my bag and zip it up. The teachers aren't playing around this year; I have homework in almost all of my classes today.
Natsu nonchalantly leans against his board when we exit the classroom after the bell rings. We make eye contact for a second—our mental way of saying, "See you at the rooftop."
"Do your homework, Lu-chan," Levy lifts a finger in a scolding manner.
"Same goes for you," I respond.
We wave goodbye to each other and I spin back around to the school, hiking up the stairs to the rooftop.
"Hey, Luce," Natsu says as he enters the rooftop a few minutes after me.
"Thanks," I firmly hold the cup of coffee to warm up my icy hands.
He sets his cup of coffee down on the ground and leans towards me, smoothly pulling away my scarf from my neck.
"How should I style it today?" he asks himself, switching from looking at the scarf then me.
"You still have more styles?" I ask with large eyes.
He nods with a grin, sticking with a traditional style—wrapping it around my neck and having the ends flow down.
"I have something to tell you," he states.
"What is it?" I sip the coffee.
"Starting this week, teachers are going to be having meetings twice a week," he answers.
"Twice a week?" I echo.
"We won't be able to see each other much now," he speaks with a hint of disappointment in his voice.
My fortune taunts me. This is only a coincidence. This is a pure simple coincidence.
"That's okay," I guarantee. "This is your job and all."
"Sorry," he scratches the back of his head awkwardly.
"Don't worry about it," I force a smile.
I view my half empty cup of chestnut-colored coffee.
"We'll never break up, right?" I whisper, trying to find some type of hope to hold onto. I continue to stare at my coffee.
"What are you saying?" he inquires softly. I hear him scoot his seat closer to mine. His hand meets my chin as he lifts it up.
"I love you too much to let you go," he says.
"Okay," I reply, still in a whisper. What he says makes me feel better, but I somehow still feel uneasy about the future.
"I can do all the homework you give me while you're in meetings," I realize.
"Are you saying you want homework?" he chuckles.
"It'll give me something to do," I respond.
"You're weird," he leans towards me to brush his lips against mine.
With that, I let time do its own thing. With each day, I don't know if the fortune of mine is correct or not.
The times Natsu and I are apart, as soon as we reunite we make up for all the separation by simply talking. It's not much, but it works.
"We only have two more months until summer," I notice on the rooftop one day, being able to hear the once silent chirping birds. Even though we're only on the rooftop three times a week now, I somewhat became used to it.
"Let's go to the beach during the summer?" Natsu suggests.
"In Hargeon?" I ask with excitement.
"It might be a little risky, though," he responds, placing a hand under his chin in thought. He straightens up in his seat once he gets an idea.
"I know another place with a beach," he states.
"Where?" I question.
"It's a secret," he leans back in his chair with a mischievous smile.
I decide to let him keep the secret to himself. The idea of the beach seems as fun as it sounds. With the beach to look forward to, I don't have anything to worry about my relationship with Natsu.
As for when we return to school after summer… Well, that's something I'll have to worry about later.