A/N: Woo! Another chapter! :D
Disclaimer: I don't own anything!
Enjoy!
Chapter 12
That Saturday, Lucy dragged herself out of bed at the last minute and headed down with Cana to meet everyone at the front gates. They had made sure they had everything ready the night before, so that they could have that little bit of extra sleep.
It was 7:45 when they got there, and almost everyone else was already there. The only ones missing were Gray and Natsu. Lucy was too tired to be worried that they would miss the bus.
"Alright, everyone on the bus!" Erza called at 7:55.
When she was seated next to Cana was when Lucy began to worry. It was not out of the question that the boys were still asleep. She got out her phone to call her best friend. When he didn't answer, she got really worried.
That is, until she looked out the window. There, screaming at them to wait, was Natsu and Gray, sprinting down the path towards the bus. They jumped in just before Erza closed the doors.
"You're late," Erza told them darkly. "If this happens again tomorrow, we will leave without you," she warned before turning and heading for her seat.
"Aye!" the cowering boys called, saluting.
They made their way towards the only empty seat left, in front of Lucy and Cana. Juvia and Lisanna were sitting in front of them, so Gray immediately turned his attention to them.
"You idiot," Lucy told Natsu as he turned around to face her. "You almost missed the bus!"
"It's too early for me!" he complained.
"It's too early for me, too!" Lucy yelled back. "But we still managed to make it in time," the blonde huffed, pointing to Cana and herself.
Just then, the bus started moving, and Natsu turned green.
"Don't worry, though – it's not that far!" Lucy told him. She only had enough patches for the train ride.
"Lu-chan," Levy called, shaking her best friend awake. "We're here!"
"Huh?" Lucy mumbled, opening her eyes. She had fallen asleep on the train.
"It's time to get up!" Levy told her, grinning at her. There was something about the way that she was grinning that put Lucy on her guard.
It was then that she noticed her position. She had been sleeping on Natsu, and was still leaning against his arm.
She quickly jumped up, turning red as Levy giggled.
"Shut up!" she snapped.
Natsu had been sleeping as well, thanks to the patches Lucy gave him, and she tried to wake him up as well so they could get off the train.
"Is this really where you live?" Levy asked as they stepped out of the station.
"Yep," Lucy smiled. As much as she loved life at Fairy Academy, it felt good to be back.
They didn't have much time to admire the town, however, because Erza hurried them towards the bus.
When they got to the hotel, Erza checked everyone in and handled all the paperwork, and handed out room keys.
Although boys and girls weren't allowed to share a room, Erza had been sneaky. She'd taken into account all the couples when she made some of the room assignments: Erza and Levy; Jellal and Gajeel; Gray and Natsu; Juvia and Lucy; Cana and Bisca; Loke and Alzack; Evergreen and Lisanna; Elfman and Bickslow.
While some of them were made for real couples - or couples that needed a little push - Erza had unknowingly helped a few others.
Once they had gotten settled, Erza called the girls together for a quick practice in the hotel's gardens. Once Erza was satisfied, they meet up with the boys again for dinner before piling into the bus and heading off to Lucy's old high school.
"Luce, you're not helping," Natsu mumbled, watching her bounce up and down.
"Sorry!" she tried to stop herself.
Natsu had one patch on, so he wasn't as bad – but he still wasn't anywhere near good.
"Tomorrow we can go buy some more patches for you, okay?" she told him, patting his arm. "Just hold on, we're almost there,"
She started rubbing circles on his back, the way her mum used to do for her, and it seemed to help a little.
"That feels good, Luce," he told her.
Levy's head whipped around. She was sitting in front of them and had heard his comment. Her face dropped when she saw that it was innocent. Lucy glared.
Luckily Natsu recovers pretty quickly, so he was perfect by the time they reached the field.
Lucy looked through the crowd, seeing tons of familiar faces. She noticed some people staring and pointing at her, shocked to see her there. When she saw Hibiki, she grinned and waved, rushing to where he was standing, leaning against the fence.
"Hey!" she called.
"Hey Lucy! It's good to see you!" he smiled. "Although, you're wearing the wrong colours," he winked.
"Sorry," she laughed.
"It's okay, you'll regret it when we win!"
"In your dreams!"
The two laughed and bantered like old times until Erza called her over.
"I want you to go up for the toss," she told her.
"What? Why?" Lucy asked.
"Because this is your old school," Erza shrugged. "You don't have to do anything besides shake hands – Laxus handles the actual toss,"
"O-okay," Lucy said. That meant that she would be coming face to face with Flare.
Lucy was suddenly fired up.
When the referee called for the captains, Lucy sauntered over with Laxus, making sure to still keep her distance from him.
"Hey Lucy, it's good to see you!" called the other team's captain. Flare looked annoyed – it was no secret that she had her eye on him.
"Hey Eve," Lucy smiled sweetly. "It's good to see you, too,"
"Why are you so happy to see this traitor?" Flare asked, glaring at the blonde.
"Says the manipulative backstabber," Lucy glared back.
"Why, Blondie, I don't know what you mean,"
"You're in Michelle's spot," Lucy growled.
"Please," Flare scoffed. "That little cry baby shouldn't even be on the team, let alone Captain!"
Before Lucy could lunge at her, she felt Laxus grab her arm. He gave her a stern look, warning her.
Lucy ripped her arm away from him, glaring.
The referee had waited until they were done before starting. Laxus won the toss.
"Now shake hands," he said, a little nervously.
Lucy made sure to squeeze Flare's hand extra hard.
The game was a tough one from the start. The boys played their hardest, and the girls cheered their hearts out. Lucy's heart was racing from beginning to end.
It was during the last ten seconds of the game that Lucy thought she was going to have a heart attack.
The scores were even. Natsu had the ball. He was running, dodging, trying his hardest to get down the other end. His teammates were covering him well, but he just need more speed.
Five seconds.
Lucy could barely stand to watch.
Four seconds.
He wasn't going to make it.
Three.
"Go Natsu!" Lucy screeched at the top of her lungs. At the sound of her voice, he sped up.
Two.
Everyone in the stadium held their breaths.
One.
He made it.
"Fairy Academy wins!" the announcer called.
There were screams everywhere. The girls cheered and ran to the field, where the boys were lifting a grinning Natsu. Flare was screaming in frustration, throwing her pom poms to the ground.
"Cheers!" the boys called, smashing their glasses together.
The Fairy Academy group was celebrating in the small nightclub that the hotel had. They definitely deserved to have a little fun.
"Where's Lucy?" Lisanna asked a dispirited Natsu.
"She wanted to see her old squad, but she said she'd be here by now," he replied, checking his watch. "I hope she's okay, maybe I should look for her," he added getting up.
"I'm sure she's fine," Lisanna said, grabbing his arm. "She probably just got a bit carried away – you know how girls are,"
"I guess…"
"Besides, this is her home town – it's not like she's lost or anything," Lisanna smiled reassuringly.
"Yeah," Natsu replied. "Thanks,"
Half an hour later, when Natsu was having a drinking contest with Gray, Lucy appeared.
"Sorry I'm late!" she cried. "I lost track of time!"
"Luce!" Natsu called. "It's about time," he grinned.
"Is this you giving up, Flame Brain?" Gray called.
"Of course not, Popsicle Face!" Natsu cried, rushing back to the bar.
Lucy sighed as she sat down to order a drink, watching the boys to make sure they didn't make the same mistake she did the other week.
Natsu was right, though; he definitely was not a lightweight. He'd had close to ten beers since she got there, and God knows how many beforehand, yet he seemed fine to Lucy.
He was very loud and excited, yeah, but not in a drunk way.
Eventually, Juvia came and took Gray away, ending their competition as a draw.
"Did you have fun seeing your friends again?" Natsu asked, grinning at Lucy when they were alone.
"Yeah," Lucy smiled softly. "It's been so long, and even though we were competing against them, it was good to see that they had improved,"
"You are happy we won, though – right?"
"Of course!" Lucy grinned. "I feel a bit bad about it, but I'm really happy that we beat them. I know my friends would understand that, though,"
"So what time are we meeting your friends tomorrow?" he asked. "Are you sure you still want us there? Wouldn't you rather be able to catch up with them properly?"
"Of course I want you there! I want all my most important people to meet, and hopefully become friends, too," Lucy smiled. "And we're meeting at 9,"
"That's only eight hours away!"
"We should probably go to bed then," Lucy said, standing up.
Natsu groaned but followed her upstairs to get some sleep.
Lucy found her room empty, and wondered when Juvia would be back. Shrugging, she got ready for bed. Just as she got under the covers, there was a knock on the door.
She thought about ignoring it, but the knocking became quite persistent. She groaned as she got out of bed to answer it. She came face-to-face with Natsu.
"What?" she asked tiredly.
"Gray kicked me out," Natsu told her. "He's in our room with Juvia," he shuddered, and she wondered what exactly he had walked in on. "Juvia told me to come here and use her bed," he continued, scratching the back of his head.
Lucy sighed as she stepped back from the door to let him in.
"As long as nobody finds out – especially Erza," Lucy warned. Although she's probably doing the same thing to Levy, she thought.
"Thanks, Luce,"
"Just don't keep me up! I want to sleep," she told him.
"I won't – I'm going to sleep too," Natsu said, sitting down on a bed.
"Uh, Natsu?" Lucy said. "That's my bed,"
"Oh, sorry!" he said, jumping up and over to the other one. "Aw, yours is so much more comfy!" he whined.
"They are exactly the same!" she screeched, getting into bed.
"But Luuuce!" he whined.
"Go to sleep!" she roared.
"Aye!"
A/N: *sigh* I wish NaLu would become cannon already. I mean, I get that they're dense and stubborn and all, and it's not gonna happen overnight, but seriously! I think we've all waited long enough!
Sorry, I'm having a lot of Nalu feels today haha
The next chapter's gonna have some pretty special Nalu moments, so stay tuned! ;)
I hope you liked this chapter! Please review! :)