Welcome back! As promised, here's a brand new chappie of "A CHappy Ending!" Thank you all so much for your patience and I hope that you enjoy.
Disclaimer: Please, don't hurt yourself.
A CHappy Ending Ch. 5
"Alright Happy," Carla said as she leveled her hard stare on her pupil's face. "Semester finals are coming up in about two weeks. To ensure that you will ace your upcoming examinations, I think that it is a good idea for us to have longer sessions until the end of the semester. I will leave the final decision to you because ultimately, this is your education we are currently talking about. Do you have any questions or concerns before we get started on what I have planned for today?"
"I think I'm starting to get the hang of most of my core subjects, so I was hoping that we'd spend most of this time on calculus and then possibly quizzing with the time we have left," Happy nodded, as if voicing his thoughts out loud.
"Apparently we had a similar train of thought," the white haired tutor smirked, slapping down a new review book that Happy hadn't seen her pull out before.
The boy groaned as he flipped through the new book, deeming it to be the next round of mental torture. "Why couldn't we just work on the homework assignment?" the bluenette pouted.
"Because we both know you need the extra practice," she deadpanned, raising a chuckle out of Lily who was watching them in amusement.
"Aye…"
Happy Dragneel wasn't usually one to be overly nervous about his grades, but he knew just how important these finals were to his academic standing in the school. If he didn't have a passing average for the semester, he'd be kicked out without so much as a backward glance. The 15 minutes between the final school bell ringing and the principal's secretary coming out to post the final scores on their exams felt like the bluenette had sunk into the gates of Tartaros. He couldn't help the nervous twitching that plagued his entire body and there were a few students who gave him extra space when they noticed his odd movements.
The mass of students surged forward as soon as the secretary started tacking up the large banner, crowding her as they looked for their names.
"Wait until I'm finished!" she cried, shouldering stubborn youths out of her way. "Then everyone can look at their scores and I won't get trampled!" Soon, she was finished posting the large roll of paper and hastily made her exit.
Happy's heart felt like it was trying to run a marathon as he slowly made his way towards the front of the crowd, the cheers and cries of his fellow students lost in the roaring of his pulse in his ears. When he was finally in range to see the names and scores clearly, he first checked in the middle of the page, knowing that their names were all listed by the numerical value of all of the grades on their finals combined. The blue haired boy figured he'd be somewhere in the middle and after a few long moments of searching the center of the list, he grew panicked.
Oh crap! Did I fail?! He thought to himself, his eyes growing wider as they flicked from name to name. Feeling the shame creep over him like a wet blanket, he craned his head to the right to where the lower scores were located.
More time was spent and still he couldn't find his name. Shaking his head to clear it of his dismay, he thoroughly checked the entire right side of the list before he came to a realization. I did… well? The bluenette's pulse quickened again but for a completely different reason. Whipping his head to the left, he didn't have to look far before he spotted his name. "Number 12…" he gasped in amazement and rubbed his eyes to make sure he was reading the list correctly. "I made all 'A's'... I made all 'A's'!" Disentangling himself from the mob of students, he looked for his tutor so he could relay the good news.
"Carla! Carla!" Happy called out excitedly as soon as he saw the white haired beauty standing in the secluded hallway after most of the students had left campus for the semester.
"Yes Happy?"
"I made an 'A' on all of my finals!" the boy rushed out as he closed the gap between the two students.
"Oh!" Carla exhaled in pleasant surprise. She had been hoping the best for him, but she was concerned about his calculus final. "I'm glad for you."
"I wanted to thank you for not giving up on me Carla," Happy said, dialing down the excitement of the mood with the redness coating his cheeks.
"You are quite welcome," the white haired girl smiled.
"I think you deserve a break," the bluenette said suddenly, causing a look of confusion to fall on his tutor's face.
"What?"
"What I mean to say is," the boy backpedaled, the redness never leaving his face, "I think that you should take tonight off in celebration. I mean, I did make 'A's' on all my finals. I don't think I should keep you from enjoying your first night of winter break. You should have a good time enjoying a successful semester with your friends or with your boyfriend!" Carla missed Happy's brief pained expression when he mentioned her boyfriend, drawn into her own thoughts about spending time with Sammy.
"I suppose that would be a good idea, yes?" she exhaled after a silent moment, reaching into her pocket to take out her phone. After typing away at her screen, Carla paused before hitting the send button. "Could I stay with you a little longer? I think we should discuss plans for the holiday break."
"That sounds like a good idea," Happy admitted, silently relieved that she didn't mind possibly giving him lessons over the break.
"Allow me send a message to Sammy and then we can discuss a schedule," the white haired female said absentmindedly, typing for a few more seconds before deciding her message was satisfactory enough to send. "Okay, so how often do you think we should meet up?"
After a few moments to ponder, Happy spoke. "I think that we could drop down to every other day. I mean, we aren't really learning any new curriculum, but we do have projects that are due when we get back. Speaking of which, do you have a partner for the physics project?"
"As a matter of fact, I do not," Carla coolly replied. "Would you mind being my partner? It would save on extra visits I might have to make going to my other friends' homes and I can make sure you understand the work and do a good job on it."
"So I guess it's settled then," Happy chirped. "Well, I guess I'll be going... I'll see you around!"
The boy was about to walk into the next hall when Carla was struck with an idea. "Happy! Happy wait!"
"What is it Carla?" said boy asked in confusion as he saw his mentor making quick strides his way.
"Let me give you my number," Carla said, reaching out her hand.
"U-uh… Okay…" Happy stuttered out, bewildered that his crush basically asked to exchange numbers with him. After a few moments of staring at her hand, he realized he hadn't given her his phone and proceeded to do so. "Should I give you mine also? It would make sending messages easier."
"I suppose that would be a good idea," Carla agreed and pulled out her own device to hand to the boy.
"Okay," Happy breathed out as he tapped the save contact button. "I think that just about covers it…"
"I'll probably message you on Sunday to see when you are available for next week," Carla nodded, pocketing her phone. "I'll talk to you later then."
"Yes! I'll talk to you soon!" Happy called over his shoulder as the pair split off.
After a few quiet moments, Pantherlily appeared by his charge's side. "I didn't realize the two of you hadn't exchanged numbers yet…"
"I hadn't even thought about it until I realized that I wouldn't see him at school next week," the girl chuckled wryly as they walked toward the car. As Lily started the engine, Carla received a response from Sammy. "Pantherlily, my boyfriend would like to hang out with me. Is it okay if we go to meet him?"
"I don't see why we can't," the guard shrugged, looking in the rearview mirror. "Where are we going?"
"I'm finding that out now…" Carla trailed off as she concentrated on her message. After a few quiet moments, her boyfriend's message made her chuckle dryly. "He wants us to meet up in the park just south of the downtown area."
"We are currently eight minutes away if you would like to let him know," Pantherlily replied, briefly shifting his gaze to the rearview mirror to see Carla typing his response to send to Sammy. The rest of the trip passed by in companionable silence as the pair seemed to prepare themselves for the outing to come.
"It was good of us to have time together," the male said, adjusting his glasses.
"Yes, I believe so too," Carla said, a wan smile adorning her soft pink lips. "I'm glad we finally found time to spend together."
"Shall we go to dinner then?"
"Please lead the way." And like that, the pair of youths were off to what Carla figured was one of the more "refined" places in town. Many businessmen and women frequented the establishment and the white haired female had to resist the urge to roll her eyes as they walked in the front doors. Of course he would want to go somewhere he could potentially further his business relations and contacts. Why would I have expected anything else?
"How many are in your party?" a hostess asked politely, darting her eyes between the pair.
"Two," Sam replied coolly, placing one of his hands in a pocket.
"Table or booth?"
"Table," Sam stated before Carla could open her mouth to ask her boyfriend whether or not they could have a booth. Carla didn't miss the wolfish glint in the hostess's eye as the girl sized up the pale bluenette for far too long to be platonic.
"No kid's menus then?" The hostess's voice came out laced in coquettish sarcasm.
"No thank you. Would you mind showing us to our table?" Carla asked politely, neatly tucking her anger behind the brightness in her eyes.
"But of course," the other female sighed, acting as if she had just been denied a basic exceed right. "If you two will follow me, I will take you both to your table."
"What was her problem?" Carla grumbled as soon as the hostess was out of earshot.
"It could be because I sometimes ask her to dine with me when I come here by myself. She might not have realized I have a girlfriend," the male shrugged, his tone callous and cold.
Even though she was unsatisfied with her answer, Carla decided not to press further, knowing that he wouldn't expand on his explanation. Despite the liveliness around them in the restaurant, dinner went by in heavy silence, the pair barely breaking the quiet with mundane conversation. The only time Sammy's facial expression would change into anything remotely positive was when he saw a coworker or one of his bosses from his internship, where he would give his full attention to them as they talked about boring politics and stuffy subjects which were normally reserved for crotchety old men.
What was the point of even asking me to dinner if we weren't even going to be spending our time together? Carla thought bitterly to herself as she displaced her displeasured gaze onto her plate. After Sammy paid for their meal, he led his girlfriend out of the restaurant and onto the streets of downtown.
"Where are we going now?" the white haired female inquired as they fell in step together.
"I thought I would take you out for dessert at your favorite shop as an apology. I'm sorry, I thought I could reign in my 'business side' as you call it while we were in the restaurant, but obviously, I failed at that miserably. I hope you can forgive me…" the bluenette trailed off, giving his girl a look full of remorse.
"I suppose that it is fair compensation," Carla half-jokingly replied, allowing a small smile to curl her lips upward.
The pair walked arm in arm to Carla's favorite tea shop, "The Flying Birman," and the girl was overwhelmed by the scents of the different teas they had for sale. She immediately went over to the lidded metal bins of loose leaf teas, lifting each lid and wafting the tantalizing aromas before replacing the lid and moving to the next bin. The white haired beauty had always had a soft spot for tea and places like this that had so many types drew her in like a moth to flame.
"Have you decided what you are going to order yet?" came Sammy's amused voice from behind her and she spun on her heel to face him with pinkened cheeks.
"Y-yes!" Carla snapped in false indignance, eliciting a chuckle from the icy blue haired boy. After a few more moments of browsing, the couple moved to the counter to place their order.
The rest of their evening went well; they ate their dessert and drank their tea, talked a few minutes more about their goals for the rest of the year and bade each other polite farewells.
When Carla arrived home, she messaged a couple of her friends to ask if they wanted to hang out the next day and settled into a relaxing bath. After rejuvenating herself with hot water, the white haired exceed burrowed into her nest of blankets, drifting off to a deep, dreamless sleep.
And that's a wrap! This chapter was really hard for me to write for some reason… On the bright side, the chappie after this one is complete so I will be posting it eight days from now! Again I do apologise for the wait! And look at Happy go! Scoring a pretty girl's digits! Such a proud moment.
Thank you so much Grimnack for your review! I really appreciate your added verbal support! I realized I never responded to your review (as per my custom) and I apologise! I didn't know if you would have wanted me to PM you about it so late, but I'll give you an extra shout out and virtual cake!
On a side note, I've recently picked up being a beta for R3al and their story "Nothing More." Please go check out R3al-chan's profile and give their fiction a read, it's pretty great! Thank you so much again for reading my story! Please stay safe, have a wonderful day and until next time, buh-bye! :D