Season's Greetings to all! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah etc., and Happy New year! Really enjoyed reading the reviews on last chapter and I hope you all enjoyed the holidays however you so pleased, and now, here's a gift from me to you! :D

Edit: This is a reupload. I had posted, but then deleted this chapter to fix some kinks. It's kind of funny how chapter 20 is now being released in 2020. :D

So, story time, I almost lost the entirety of this chapter (which almost made me break down because I worked really hard on it). I gave my laptop to my mom for a few minutes so she could do something, and the document was opened on it. When I got my laptop back, it was off and when I opened it back up, I lost about seven pages worth of stuff. And the chapter was already DONE.

That almost made me not want to write anymore. Seriously I spent almost a month working on it.

Thankfully though, I went back to Auto recovery, and retrieved what I lost initially. It's funny to me now because I was angry enough to throw my laptop across the room (well almost) XD.

Anyway, without further ado.

The keys jingled as Juvia's pale hand fiddled with them to unlock the door of her home. She and her adopted mother, Brenda lived in a very quaint, two-bedroom apartment a little ways from her school. Most, if not all the furniture (the couch, the dining table, the chairs, the bed) were all vintage since Brenda was an avid collector of antiques and she wanted her home to reflect that.

Juvia still remembered the day they went shopping around for them.

Flashback

"What do you think about this one?" The older woman asked, holding up a wooden lamp with light pink shades and hot pink hearts.

"Huh?" Juvia could only remember being confused. What was she supposed to think about it?

"You're right," Brenda sighed. "It's too tacky. But I just can't wait until we move into our new home! I'm going to find that Andean dining table that they had on display earlier this year, and then we're going to go shopping for stuff for your room and I'm going to make it all girly and cute and frilly!"

As Juvia recalled it not being one of her finer moments, she let out the unintelligent sound from her mouth again.

"Huh?"

But that was washed over the next instant when Brenda suddenly squeezed her in a side hug. She bent down a little, so her smiling face was squished against Juvia's smaller one. The blunette felt her cheeks pooling with heat, as a warm, fuzzy feeling fizzled its way into her chest and another one frolicked around in her stomach.

"H-hey," she stuttered abashedly. "C-can you let me go please?" Juvia was frozen, not knowing what to do with her arms, so she let them hang limply at her sides, while Brenda continued to hug her, and her face continued to turn red.

"Just a little longer," the woman cooed back, and nuzzled her cheek with Juvia's a little more.

"Don't worry," Brenda started softly, after she let her go. "I'm going to work harder than I ever have before, and then, we'll have enough money to live the life of mother and daughter that we both deserve." She turned to her daughter and smiled.

Juvia's eyes widened in shock. Brenda turned around again and started her lively window-shopping spree, leaving Juvia frozen in her spot.

Work harder?

The woman was already working herself to the bone as it was; taking 8-hour shifts at the hospital both day and night, working at the ER. The nurse barely had any time to herself, let alone to sleep, but whenever she was off from work, she always spent it fussing over Juvia.

Brenda wasn't a young woman by any means, but by the amount of happiness and spunk, the then, 61-year-old woman had, you wouldn't believe she was a day over thirty.

Juvia's vision slowly became blurry.

Regardless of the radiance Brenda gave off, the fact remained that she was getting old, and all of that working was only inevitably putting a strain on her body.

There was no way Brenda wasn't exhausted.

But she would never show that to Juvia. She just kept smiling that smile of hers to her daughter and never complained.

Before she knew it, tears slipped past her eyes and rolled along her cheeks to the ground. Brenda didn't notice when Juvia stopped pacing behind her until she turned around to dote over a certain piece of tapestry with the blunette.

"Hey," Brenda said confusedly. Juvia was staring holes into the ground, so her hair could cover her watery eyes.

"Coming," Juvia sniffed in the most normal voice she could muster, and quickly skidded over to her. She looked at the beige, wool tapestry in Brenda's smooth chocolate hands. "I think I really like this one," she said.

After Juvia was securely inside, she was more than a little surprised to hear voices coming from the kitchen. She rushed over in alarm but was instead hit with a different kind of surprise when she saw it was Brenda and a man.

"Brenda!" she cried. "You're not at work?"

Both Brenda and her company jumped in surprise. Clearly, they didn't hear her coming in. The man sitting across from her was tall and lanky, with blonde hair, green eyes and a five 'o' clock shadow. He was wearing a gray suit and blue tie with black shoes and had a brown leather briefcase that was lodged on their table.

"Umm, I'll excuse myself," he said awkwardly as he grabbed his briefcase. Brenda watched him with a worried look on her face. "If anything happens," he looks pointedly at Brenda, "you know what to do. Good day all."

As soon as the door closed, Juvia didn't hesitate with her questions.

"What's going on?" She asked walking to the kitchen with Brenda. "Who was that man? Why was he here? Also, why didn't you tell me you had the day off? I could've been better prepared."

Brenda straddled the glass mug in her hand filled with tea and sighed. She looked over at where the stranger was just seated and his half empty cup of tea. A sad smile creeped up on her face.

"Juvia, that was a social service worker."

The young girl's breath hitched at the woman's words. "So, what did he want?"

Brenda shook her head. "It was nothing important."

"Well if it was nothing important, why couldn't he just say it over a phone call?" She approached the table. "Why was he in our house Brenda?" Juvia could feel her anxiety spike, causing her to raise her voice at her mom. She didn't mean to get all aggressive, but she was confused and concerned.

Finally, Brenda looked up at her. Juvia could see the tiredness in her dark brown orbs. A few locks of her black, curly hair fell across her face. The wrinkles around her eyes and the smile lines around her mouth were mostly visible as she cast Juvia a sad smile. As she opened up her mouth to talk, the next few words that came out felt like they weren't uttered by her at all, but rather, the whole world rang deaf for a moment and those words were uttered by another strange person in another distant planet.

.

.

.

.

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.

.

"Jose's on the loose."

Man on the Loose

For the next few school days since then, Juvia had been living on edge.

Restless nights. Late mornings.

She tried to skip school the next day, but Brenda had surprised her when she dragged her out of bed that morning claiming she had taken a sabbatical for the week just to make sure Juvia went to school.

The whole thing was starting to affect her performance in her classes as she found it harder and harder to pay attention to her teachers as her mind was constantly racing. She even got a zero on an assignment for a certain class. Gray was silently taking notice of these changes in her and although he wanted to ask, Juvia would glare at him for even gazing at her too hard. By the time detention came around on Tuesday afternoon, she was mentally exhausted.

The other five idiots she hung around with though, certainly weren't.

"WOOOOHOOOOO!"

She walked inside the school's indoor basketball court to meet Natsu on all fours, racing furiously with a rag to the ground, and Lucy having the time of her life on his back. Loke also had a special rag in his hands that he was tugging furiously at, watching them.

"No fair!"

"The heck do you mean 'no fair'?!" Natsu shouted back. "I'm actually giving you an advantage by having Lucy on my back!"

"No, it's not fair that you get to carry Lucy on your back!" Loke whined. "Lucy, my sweet, wouldn't you rather ride on my back?"

Lucy, who was too busy enjoying herself, stopped shouting in glee with surprise. "Huh?"

"Don't you want to take a ride on my back?!"

"Maybe later!" She shouted gleefully.

"Ha!" Natsu glowered in triumph.

"Lisanna!" the womanizer shouted suddenly. "Climb on my back!"

"…eh?" Lisanna uttered.

He rushed over to her, grabbing onto her waist with one hand and grabbing her left hand with the other.

"Lisanna, please! You're my only hope at beating that imbecile and getting my love to finally see that we're meant to be!"

"Let go of her you creepy bastard!" Natsu shouted irately and after a moment's pause he continued: "And who are you calling 'imbecile' Swollen Jaw!"

"Okay, but why do I have to help you?" Lisanna whined helplessly, feeling trapped. She's known Loke for a while now, and she knows that when it comes down to him trying to impress a female, there's nothing known to man that could stop him.

"I just wanted to hurry and get this over with then go get my nails done…" Lisanna whimpered pitifully to herself as she was being carried away by the blonde and then hauled on his back.

Natsu on the other hand, had already put an abrupt halt to his waxing of the gym floors, allowing Lucy to slide off of his back in disappointment. Lucy's disappointment didn't last very long though, as she wandered around the gym space to find another inane detail to be fascinated in.

Lisanna looked around to try find a certain somebody for help as she was being piggybacked by his blonde friend, but the boy was nowhere in sight.

The whole scene just left Juvia standing there… perplexed.

"What… what exactly am I looking at here?" she questioned to herself.

"Cleaning duty." An unknown voice clarified.

"Gah!" Juvia jumped uncharacteristically, as scared chills caused the hairs on her arms stand up. "You!" A frazzled Juvia shouted at Gray, who was holding a bucket of cleaning utensils. "Don't… scare me like that!" She continued.

Gray simply raised a questioning eyebrow at her and continued. "We're supposed to be waxing the gym floors today. Well that, and scraping the gum from underneath the bleachers, cleaning out the changing rooms…" He trailed off, scratching the back of his neck and let out a frustrated sigh. "Basically, anything that looks bad we have to restore. It's a real pain in the ass honestly. Anyway, where were you during the debriefing he had with us today?"

"I had something to do at lunchtime today," she replied with a bit of an edge.

Gray didn't seem to notice.

"Well whatever the reason, Gramps is pissed that you keep missing these meetings."

Juvia's eyes bulged in shock. "What?! But I'm always staying back afterschool to keep doing these stupid detention services!"

Gray just shrugged indifferently and started fiddling with the broom in his arms. Juvia let out a low groan as she snatched the bucket of cleaning utensils out of Gray's arms leaving a violent clattering sound in its wake.

"Whatever," she said under her breath.

"HEY!" The blunette shouted at her fellow schoolmates, catching all of their attention. "Do you guys mind doing that nonsense another time?! I'd actually like to get out of here before sundown for once!"

There was a small pause.

"Where the hell were you?!" Natsu says shortly after to Gray, essentially ignoring Juvia's outburst.

A vein in Gray's forehead was slowly starting to bulge in annoyance. "I was out getting the stuff we actually needed," he started. "While you were here playing leapfrog with Loke!"

"Ha! That's where you're wrong knucklehead, we were just racing to see who could clean the floor the fastest!" Loke chimed in.

"Same fucking difference!" Gray shouted at him.

"Oh forget this," Natsu drawled, loosening his scarf from around his unbuttoned school shirt. "Fight me Gray!" And with that, he pounced on his dark-haired rival.

During their little scuffle, articles of clothing came flying off of Gray. His tie, his shoes, then his shirt. One of Gray's shoes knocked Loke square in the face, inflicting a stinging pain across his still bandaged jawline, riling him up along with the other two.

"You fucking idiots!" He hissed, tossing off one shoe after another to join the fray.

Juvia heaved out a long, frustrated sigh in defeat, putting her palm to her forehead to nurse her budding headache. "I'm never getting out of here."

Lucy looked unsure at the boys' fighting but then Lisanna walked over and reassured her.

"Should we really leave them like that?"

"I think so," Lisanna replied. "I mean at this rate, what's the point of interfering?"

She noticed how her blonde friend was fervently rubbing her stomach with a strained expression on her face. "Do you have a stomachache or something?" She inquired.

The blonde shook her head.

"No, it's just that I feel a sharp stomach pain whenever someone curses around me."

"Really? Well why don't you just tell those idiots to stop? Do you need me to do it? Because I can if you want me to."

"No, that's alright," the blonde said, mustering up a smile. "I don't want to become a burden or put a damper on everyone's fun."

Lisanna frowned. She made a mental note to chew Gray and Loke for this later.

By the time they were finally done tinkering up the gym, it was well into the evening.

Wednesday 10:45am – English – Mr. Brenan

As the students were all settled into their seats, the caramel skinned man picked up a stack of papers from his desk and started handing them out to each student individually. As Gray received his (folded), he was expecting the absolute worst for his first assignment (considering he turned it in late, on top of half-assing it), but was pleasantly surprised when he saw he got a B-.

" Huh," he said as he went over the paper, reviewing the teacher's comments and grammatical errors.

The class was buzzing with pretty average reactions. It seemed as if everyone did pretty well.

Their teacher confirmed his suspicions when he got up to the front of the class.

"Good morning everyone," he started. "First, I'd like to start off by saying that you all did pretty well as a whole on your first paper. Everyone passed. Out of the 17 students in this class, 5 of you got C's, 10 of you got within a B range and two students even passed within an A range. Splendid. But I know all of you can do better."

He got more comfortable, throwing his weight on top of his desk and folding his legs. "I hope you all realized I marked you all on a giant freaking curve because I know half of you were more concerned with drinking your livers' muddy than that paper last weekend!"

Yikes.

"Anyways," he adjusted his glasses on his face, allowing the vein that popped on his forehead to relax. "Let it be known from this day forward, there's no more going easy on you. I know that you all can achieve greatness and I'm not going to get off your asses until you do."

He fixed his glasses again and turned to the board to start writing, leaving a pretty stunned silent class behind him. He didn't notice when a certain blonde near the front of his class flinched at his use of the word 'asses'.

"Oh," he turned around again giving them a matter-of-factly expression. "And I sometimes curse whenever I get frustrated in class so my apologies in advance."

Just as he was about to start writing on the board, the door burst open.

It was Juvia.

All eyes turned to the breathless, teen girl in the boy's school uniform in the doorway. She looked like she just ran a marathon. Juvia's cheeks started to turn red at all of their questioning, and probably judgmental stares.

"Ms. Lockser," Mr. Brenan said nonchalantly. "Please, have a seat."

As she made her way over to her seat in the back of the class, Gray noticed something off about her uniform.

"What?!" She hissed when she was finally seated. She noticed him, in particularly, staring at her from the door all the way to her seat and it seriously pissed her off.

Gray was trying his hardest not to laugh out loud in the middle of class. "Your pants are on backwards."

"No, it's not." She immediately retorted.

"Yes, it is." Gray pointed out as a matter of fact. "Trust me, I would know what backwards pants look like. I wear them."

Juvia's cheeks turned a deep tomato red in embarrassment when she realized that Gray was probably right. She quickly turned away.

He snickered amusedly to himself, and quietly enough so that nobody in class could hear. Mr. Brenan approached their desks and handed a folded piece of paper to Juvia.

"Ms. Lockser, I need to see you after class," he said in his sternest voice.

The blunette took a quick peak at her graded essay and then folded the paper back quickly and shoved it in her bag.

Okay. Now Gray was curious.

Who were the two people who got A's? He'd be willing to bet that one of them was Juvia. He recalled that stupid, smug smirk she had on her face when she turned it in, and he forgot to do the assignment altogether. It still annoyed him to no end. Now if only he could get a peek at her paper.

"What do you want?!" Juvia hissed again, reaching the breaking point of her nerves.

"Nothing, geez." He whispered back, sorry he even got too close.

"Well its obviously something because you keep looking over my shoulder!" She shot back.

Meanwhile at the board, Mr. Brenan droned on about writing techniques the class will need for the next paper.

"What'd you get?" Gray asks, referring to her paper.

Now it was Juvia's turn to give him an odd look. "I got a B-."

Gray was stunned silent.

Huh.

The answer he wanted turned out to be a bit anticlimactic. Thankfully for the blunette next to him, it was enough to appease his curiosity and he stayed silent for the rest of the class.

After class, Juvia approached her English teacher's desk timidly, being sure to try and hide the fact that her back pockets were to her front by covering them with her sweater vest. While she stood there, awkwardly, her teacher sat with his legs folded on his desk, his chair leaning back, and his eyes trained to the ceiling as if he were in a deep trance.

Umm… what the hell?

Was he high or something?

The blunette, quickly losing patience, waved her hands in front his face. "Umm, Mr. Brenan?"

His eyes suddenly jolted with life, as if he had just been abruptly woken from a deep sleep. A snort came from his nose and he almost lost his balance on his tipping chair, almost falling backwards. "Huh- what the-?!"

Was he… just sleeping with his eyes open?

"Mr. Brenan!" Juvia snapped.

The older male quickly regained his composure, fixing his glasses and adjusting his posture. "Right. Ms. Lockser." He cleared his throat.

"Juvia," he fixed himself at his desk so that he could look her in the eyes. "Is something going on… at home?"

She jumped in surprise.

"I mean, I don't want to pry but… I've been hearing a lot of complaints about you from some of the other teachers lately. Sleeping in class, being distracted, not turning in work… and then you show up to even my class late." He tried to make his voice as understanding as possible.

Juvia didn't want to butt in and tell him he was lucky she even showed up to his class at all, because 10:45 was actually the time she arrived to school.

"I know I didn't have a class with you last year, but I definitely noticed you back then."

Juvia's eyes widened. He… noticed her last year? But… what could he have possibly noticed? Juvia thought nobody noticed her for her last year, people were just content identifying her by her odd quirks… and that was it. After the fact, Juvia decided that she just wanted to be invisible for the rest of her time there.

But this man sitting in front of her right now… what could he have noticed? Probably just the fact that she was a hardcore loner, or the fact that she was the only girl in school wearing boy's uniform, or the fact that kids at this school avoided her like the plague. Nothing good. Nothing ever good.

"I noticed… your work ethic."

Juvia was taken aback. "What…?"

"I mean how hard you worked. I know that you went to all your classes, on time, every day without fail. I noticed how you would always spend your lunch and recess breaks studying. I noticed how in group projects, even though your group members would make up excuses not to meet up with you, you would always do more than your share without complaint."

The man was on a roll.

"Oh yeah, don't think I didn't notice how other students treated you last year," he sighed. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm considered quite the oddball myself amongst the teachers, so I guess it's easy for me to spot an oddball too."

Juvia's heart started pacing a mile a minute. She felt her forehead break out into cold sweats. She wasn't used to this.

"I also know about your habit of going into the poolroom during breaks."

Juvia's whole body tensed.

Oh no.

She knew it.

Nothing ever good, she had to remember.

"What people didn't notice however was that you'd always go into the poolroom with a notebook and pen in hand. Which could only mean that you go there because it's a place that inspires you to write… am I wrong?"

Juvia's whole body started to calm down again. His last words were taking a while to sink in. She slowly shook her head 'no'.

"You're obviously a creative," he continued, not seeming to notice her reactions at all. "And I remember thinking to myself, 'I'd love to have that girl in an English class of mine one day, I'd love to help her reach her full potential.' Juvia, I want you to know that I marked your essay way harder than everyone else's."

"What?! Why?"

"Because I know that wasn't your best. Far from it actually."

Juvia stayed silent, before she decided to object again, she would let him finish.

"Look, the point is Juvia, I just wanted you to know that if you ever needed to talk to someone about… anything. I'm always a listening ear."

He finished his statement by whirling around in his rolling chair for a bit, with an empathetic smile on his face. Juvia stood statue still, with a sad look on her face.

This would actually be the first time anyone has ever reached out to her like this (other than Brenda) and it made the blunette's heart swell with happiness. She almost couldn't believe it. There was someone at this school who cared enough to reach out to her in earnest like this.

Yet still, she stood there quietly.

She wanted to open her mouth; to tell her teacher everything that was troubling her… but she couldn't. It was too complicated.

He would never understand.

So instead, she slowly nodded her head.

"Yes… thank you," she said, and with that, she quietly excused herself from the classroom.

Her English teacher could only watch with disappointed eyes as she exited.

That evening in detention, the gang was tasked with helping out in the school's theatre. The drama club was already starting to make props for a production they planned to put on in mid-October. They were more that pleased to have the extra hands in designing the stage props.

"I don't have an artistic bone in my entire freaking body," Natsu complained. He put an emphasis on 'freaking' because he was about to say another word that started with 'F' but remembered that Lucy was in the room. "Why am I here?"

"Well would you rather to just paint props or build them?" Loke challenged. "C'mon, shut up man."

"Care to say that to my face?" the pinkette growled.

"Come on, not today boys," Lisanna said sternly. She got up from her station of decorating to shuffle around and do some flawless pirouettes. "This is my domain and will not have you ruining it with your bickering," she finished whimsically.

"There's nothing quite like the joy of dancing your heart out on stage."

Gray couldn't help the half smile that formed on his face as he watched her dance around from the corner of his eye.

"Lucy!" She sputtered randomly. The girl jumped in surprise, dropping a can of red spray paint she was using on a pair of character heels as a result. "You have to come watch me dance at my next dance troupe performance!"

"Oh!" Lucy said uneasily. "I didn't know you could dance, Lisanna."

Natsu scoffed unceremoniously. "Oh puh-lease," he said. "Lisanna's been doing ballet and gymnastics since she was six. She's been winning first place for solos at competitions since elementary school! She even placed in the top ten at nationals the first time she's competed! She's practically a pro!"

After his mini tirade, Natsu beamed with pride, as if it were he who was decorated with medals and trophies as a dancer. Lisanna giggled uncontrollably when he was done.

"Gee thanks Natsu," she started. "But all of that was ages ago. Besides I stopped my training a while back. I'm only still doing it now because I still love dance," she shrugged. "But thanks for the dramatic introduction though," she finished with a smirk.

Natsu pouted like a little puppy when she was done. "It was all true though…" he whined under his breath.

"Wow!" Lucy said in awe. "I really do have to come watch you, huh?" She finished happily.

Lisanna blushed slightly at her reaction. "Yeah," she agreed softly. The platinum blonde then turned to the blunette on the ground in front of the pews, taking shed fur off of a lion costume.

"You too Juvia! You and Lucy are the only ones who haven't seen me perform yet!" Lisanna whipped happily back around to everyone on stage. "In fact, let's make it an outing!" She announced.

"Alright!" Natsu shouted enthusiastically.

"I'm down," Loke added.

"Oh, this is going to be so fun!" Lucy said, barely containing her excitement.

Juvia watched them all cautiously, not saying a word.

"Oh wait… I don't actually know when we're performing again, heh heh," Lisanna trailed off, laughing embarrassedly at the end.

"Why don't we all just go out somewhere though?" The Strauss tried again. "To the mall or the movies or something? I know I'm free tonight, but what about you guys?"

The teens all agreed on the idea, letting out sounds of approval. Juvia finally spoke up. "I can't."

They all turned to look at her.

"Aww," Lucy drawled in disappointment.

"Why not?"

"I already have something to do today?"

"Like what?" Lisanna inquired, but before she could answer, Natsu piped up.

"Oh wait! I forgot I have work today, sorry Lis."

"Now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure I have a date with someone today," Loke said uncertainly. "At least… I think so? What was her name again?"

While Loke scratched the back of his head, pondering an answer, Gray sighed.

"Crap," he started. "I forgot I have to go home as soon as we're done today, I promised my family I'd do something for them."

Lisanna pouted and let out a sigh of disappointment. "Awww."

"I guess we can't plan an outing today because too many of us have things to do," Lucy pointed out. "That doesn't mean we still can't do it some other time right?"

"Yeah!" Lisanna cheered. The others, all except Juvia, silently agreed.

"Juvia!"

There.

"Wouldn't you rather do it like this?"

It's Him.

The blunette shifted her stance to match that of the man in front of her.

"Good job!"

Cold.

The man patted her forehead and smiled encouragingly.

She was sweating, but it was cold.

His smile turned sinister, barely concealing his bloodlust to the blunette. The wooden staff shook in her hands as they began to tremble.

"Now," he said. "Do it again."

She trained her azure blue eyes before her in total concentration in first position preparing herself.

Smack!

Her body went flying across the room on impact. She held her face, feeling a throbbing ache and warm blood coat her fingers.

Her eyes glossed over her bloody hands and icily she looked up. "I'm sorry… big brother."

Within the next second, she went from a well-lit room, to a dark, damp one in a different outfit. She looked around.

No.

And in another split second, she was in a dark apartment building. Flashing lights. Music. People.

When she blinked, she was in another dark room. Couch. Lamp. Rug.

They were staring at her.

Ten of them.

Smiling maliciously.

No… please no.

Close. Too close.

No.

Mavis no!

The blunette jumped up her bed with a mortified expression. She clutched her chest beneath her black t-shirt. Her heart was beating so fast it physically started to hurt. She kept staring at the wall in front of her, taking quick breaths. Some of her hair ended up falling on her face, blocking her right eye. She lifted up her pale hands to inspect them as they trembled uncontrollably.

Her palms and fingers looked smooth… normal.

Not like before. Calloused. Bruised.

She clasped her hands to her face, still shaking with terror.

Now why'd she have to go and have a dream like that?

That man was on the loose… and it was bothering her. A lot.

It took a while for her body to register that the whole thing was just a dream and calm down. She looked out the window as sunlight pooled into her room. The curtains flew up with the fall breeze. A series of rampant knocks on her door broke her out of her trance.

"Juvia wake up!" Brenda called. "It's time to get ready for school!"

Why did she have to go to school?

Knock, knock, knock.

"Juvia?" Brenda called again.

She slid out from under her covers and slowly shuffled her way to her closet.

She already knew the answer to her own question.

"I'm awake."

She couldn't just stop going to school. Breaking regular patterns was the easiest way to get herself in trouble. Besides, she wasn't going to let him ruin the life she and Brenda worked so hard to build.

She had to go.

She had to.

That afternoon in detention, the other five teens were about as loud and lively as usual.

"Okay seriously guys," Lisanna rallied. "When are we going out to the mall?"

Loke did a double take. "Woah, who said we were going to the mall?"

"Well do you have a better idea Einstein?" the Strauss asked, annoyed.

"Always. I was thinking more along the lines of the arcade."

"Now we're talking!" Natsu chimed, and he fist bumped Loke without thinking.

"What? Hell no! The mall has literally everything. Isn't that right Lucy?"

The blonde pointed at herself to confirm that Lisanna was talking to her and three pairs of eyes turned to her expectantly. She looked between Natsu and Loke, and then Lisanna's eager faces in nervousness. Truth be told, both options sounded like fun to her. She wouldn't mind going to either one of them.

"Uhhh, ummm…"

"See?" Lisanna started. "She wanted to say the mall, but you two idiots are making her nervous!"

"What?!" Loke shouted. "She didn't even say anything!"

"Yeah well, she didn't object to going to the mall!"

"Nor the arcade!"

And with that, the two proceeded to bicker back and forth about the arcade vs. the mall. Gray was silently listening with amusement perched on top of a prop tree, where he was stapling paper leaves.

Who was going to be the one to tell them that there was an arcade within the mall?

He guessed he would just let them figure that out for themselves.

Similarly, from on top of his tree, he noticed how secluded and standoffish Juvia seemed, sewing up a lion costume in the pews facing the stage, instead of on the stage like everyone else.

Juvia made it a point not to include herself in the outing conversations as she had no intention of going.

She had to be home. Be vigilant.

The others just weren't going to give up on this group outing idea though. The next day when they all showed up to the theatre for their detention, the idea came up again. Except this time was different.

At about 3:30, Makarov showed up at the theatre while everyone was mid-conversation. Makarov smiled fondly at the scene before him.

His brats… were finally… getting along.

"Gramps!" Natsu yelled from the stage. The pinkette quickly ditched his prop and jumped off the stage in one incredibly brave leap (considering how high the stage was). "How's it going you old geezer?!" He yelled excitedly.

And then, a few seconds later after some thought of all the hell the shorter man was putting him through, his demeanor changed. "Fight me, you dusty old nut sack!"

The pinkette lunged aggressively at his short principle, but the shorter older man, stood still, unwavering. Once Natsu was close enough, Makarov positioned his foot behind him and took a hard swing for his shin.

"YEOWWWW!" Natsu screamed as he held his shin in his hand.

"Anyway," the man continued, ignoring Natsu's pain. "I have a little something for you all."

They all began gathering around the man slowly. Their eyes studying the man in curiosity. He had his hands folded behind his back holding a couple of papers.

"What's in your hand Gramps?" Gray asked.

Loke gave him a side look but then turned his attention back to the man before them. At this point, he was used to Natsu referring to the man as 'Gramps' or some other demeaning nickname rather than 'Mr. Dreyar', but he sometimes forgot that Gray referred to him as such too. He sometimes forgot that Gray, Natsu and Lisanna had that shared history of knowing him since they were kids. Something that he, Juvia and Lucy didn't have.

Their principal revealed what he was hiding behind his back, which turned out to be some coupons.

"There's one for each of you. Courtesy of the Fine Arts Department's Drama Club."

Lisanna's eyes grew to the size of saucers as she eyed hers. "These are coupons for Marcus' Entertainment Palace!"

"I don't think I've ever heard of it," Gray said plainly.

"Well obviously Gray, its grand opening ceremony is today!"

"It's a roller-skating rink/pizza parlor, with a bowling alley, arcade area and private party section," Natsu listed off from the coupon.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!" Lucy squealed, jumping up and down. Natsu plugged his ears in annoyance, but Lucy didn't seem to notice as she latched onto his arm, hugging him with excitement. "I can't wait!"

"Now this, is where we're going when we go out," Loke said convinced, reading his coupon.

"This coupon is good for one free entry into Marcus' Entertainment Palace and 15% off Marcus' King Palace Pizza Special," Gray read off. "Corny meal names aside, this is actually a really good deal. And with 6 of us, that makes one totally free 'King Special' or whatever it's called."

"Grampa, how did you get these?" Lisanna asked starry eyed. "I hear that they're incredibly expensive… and limited, now that I think about it."

"Like I said, that's from the drama club. They're really pleased with your work and how fast you've progressed."

"Let's go today!" Lucy shouted with glee.

Juvia looked at her coupon, and then looked at the excitement of her fellow detention mates. She wished she could get as excited as they were over the tickets. She stared at the tickets long and hard.

"You brats should probably catch the grand opening today."

She snapped up when she heard that.

"What are you saying Principal Dreyar?" Lucy asked.

"Take the afternoon off. You've earned it."

The room erupted in cheers as the teens yelled in glee and hugged one another.

"As long as you lot are done with the setup, you're free to go and enjoy your reward."

"Alright! You guys up for a little bowling tonight?" Loke asked.

"Hey, I thought your sorry behind wanted to go to the arcade," Natsu challenged. "I've been itching to beat you in Mortal Kombat!"

"Who even plays that anymore dweeb? It's Street Fighter all day!"

They started to argue about which game was better, Natsu almost didn't catch the words Juvia said next.

"I'll have to pass," the blunette said dismissively, turning to walk away.

They all stared at her back in shock, and just as Lisanna was timidly about to reach out to her, Gray yanked her by her bag strap halting her movement.

She stood there in shock.

"You should really stop that you know," Gray started, making a point to burn his gaze in the opposite direction. "It's good to hang out with friends and relax from time to time."

Juvia turned around to stare wide-eyed at him. She couldn't believe this guy even had the audacity to do that to her. His words. Even though he spoke so calmly and nonchalantly, like he didn't care, Juvia could easily sense the conviction behind his words.

He seemed so serious.

But… why?

"Well why wouldn't you like to go Ms. Lockser?" Makarov questioned. "It may not be what you're used to, but I was hoping you'd at least find something there that piqued your interest."

Sure, even on a normal day Juvia probably wouldn't want to go to such a place for a recreational activity, but on that day in particularly, hanging out with that rowdy bunch and 'relaxing' was the last thing on her mind.

Juvia looked around between the confused or pleading faces of her peers, to the expecting eyes of her Principal and then, to the hand of the boy who had physically stopped her in her tracks. There was literally no other way she was getting out of this. Not anymore.

She was trapped.

She guessed she was going.

Super excited for the next few chapters! My favorite part was the dream sequence.

Thanks for the read, please review, I worked really hard on this one! Till next time.