Disclaimer: Fairy Tail does not belong to me.

A/N: Many thanks to Silent Reader 6100, Layla, Nia, Aravind, ScarletFiona, Guest, Sayla, irahandayani18, fictionlover1993, E.N.D the fire demon, nikkitheprincess, GioM. Meow and fizirazak for reviewing the previous chapter. Thank you also to those who followed and favorited this story. Love you guys.

Sorry in advance for any mistake. This story is unbeta-ed.

Chapter 2

"Erza, hurry up!"

Erza looked outside her window and saw Natsu looking up at her with an impatient look, complete with his infamous scowl on his face. He was waiting for her to go to school together.

"Crap, Natsu is pissed off at me again," she muttered in panic before she hurriedly back away from the window and grabbed her schoolbag placed on top of her study table. She slung it on her shoulder and dashed towards the door, but not before stopping at the mirror to check on her appearance. "Double crap," she whispered when she saw the state her hair was in. She was such a mess. Ignoring her slightly disheveled hair, she proceeded to step out of her room and down the stairs. She could survive without brushing her hair once. She could always tie it up later on her way to school. But making Natsu more annoyed at her tardiness was a complete no-no. A disgruntled Natsu was hard to deal with. He tended to nag at her when he was dissatisfied with her, be it for being tardy or being such a total klutz sometimes.

Even though Natsu always reprimanded her and acting like a meany sometimes, she knew that he really cared for her. It was just his way to show that he cared and he always wanted the best for her. Erza on her part cared for him too and she didn't like it when he was mad at her. He was her best friend.

"Erza," she heard her Grandpa calling for her from the kitchen. "I know you're late, so take this toast with you," the elderly man said as he handed two pieces of toast to his one and only granddaughter. "Give one to Natsu."

"Thanks, Grandpa Rob," Erza said kissing his cheek before she walked away. "I'll see you later okay," she yelled as she ran out the door and stopped in front of Natsu with a huff.

It was only morning and she was already this breathless. "Sorry I'm late," she apologized trying to catch her breath. Her pink haired best friend rolled his eyes at her before he snatched a toast from her hand and walked away.

"Hey," she cried indignantly. "That's mine," she said as she followed his step.

Natsu smirked as he glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. "Grandpa Rob told you to give me one," he easily countered.

"You heard that?" She asked with surprise. Natsu always had a good hearing but to hear the conversation that took place at the kitchen when he was outside of the house sure was something.

"Of course, being the amazing man that I am, I heard it," he said with a mock air of superiority.

"Tch," Erza scoffed at him. "Whatever floats your boat Natsu," she said with a small giggle. Whatever floats his boat indeed. Let him have his fun, at least he won't bring out the fact that she woke up late again.

"And you missy," he suddenly said looking at her with a displeased stare. "Why are you late again?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Erza's hope was crushed when Natsu questioned her. Nothing escaped Natsu's attention. "I forgot to turn on the alarm clock," she said dejectedly, looking at the ground as she walked beside him to the school.

"Again?" Came the incredulous tone of her best friend.

Erza looked up to stare at him accusingly. "And whose fault is that?" She said with a pout. "You're the one suggesting a late night movie last night and making me forget about turning on the alarm."

Natsu looked a bit sheepish at that as he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Alright, I'll let it slide this time. I'm the one to blame as well," he surrendered. "By the way, you slept halfway through the movie. I have to take you upstairs and tuck you in."

Erza's face reddened at that. Having someone picking her up and tucked her in when she was already 17 sure was embarrassing. But she was touched that Natsu thought of her well being and made sure that she was comfortable and warm when she fell asleep last night. He was a caring man. His future girlfriend sure was a lucky girl.

"You're heavy you know," he added.

Erza looked at him in horror before she glared at him in anger.

Natsu suddenly broke out in laughter and she was fuming in anger at the pink head. He was making fun of her. Cross that about her thinking that his future girlfriend being lucky. Whoever she was, she would definitely suffer for getting together with the insensitive blunt brat. "Jerk," she hissed before she walked ahead of him ignoring the howling laughter from behind her.

"Oh come on."

Erza ignored the laughing man and briskly made her way forward.

"Erza wait up," he called out. "Hey Erza. I'm just joking," he said but Erza didn't slow down her walk. Let him knew that she was not letting him off the hook this time. He always got away when he made fun of her since they were kids, but Erza won't forgive him easily this time. She was not going to fall for his sweet words and puppy dog eyes again. She would harden her resolve to teach him a lesson to not mess with her.

Suddenly she felt his hands tugging on her wrist, successfully halting her steps. Pink hair filled her view and she stared at the one holding her hand. "Seriously I was joking," he said with a small smile. "Heavy or not, I will gladly pick you up for the rest of your life if you let me. We're best friends. We always take care of each other remember."

Erza mentally sighed. Natsu always knew what to say to diffuse her anger away. She could already feel her resolve began to crumble. It was hard to stay mad at him when he was looking at her with that earnest and innocent face. "Idiot," Erza whispered softly, pouting slightly at him.

Natsu chuckled at her. "Stop acting so cute, we're going to be late for school," he told her. His hand slipped in hers and he clutched at it tightly. Erza stared at their intertwined hand. Sometimes she wondered if this was normal interaction between best friends. Natsu and her were always close since they were children and skin ship was an everyday occurrence in their life. She certainly didn't mind it. Natsu made her feel warm and safe and most importantly, Natsu made her feel loved. What happened when he finally found himself a girlfriend? Would it change the dynamic of their relationship? Would he still treat her the same way? Would he still be her rock, her shoulder to cry on? These thought had been swarming inside her mind lately.

She hoped Natsu would always stay the same. If he was going to change when he found someone else to occupy his time with, then maybe it was better if he didn't have one. She knew she was being selfish, but she couldn't bear the thought of Natsu being out of her life.

"Erza."

She was startled out of her reverie at the sound of her name. She looked at Natsu who was sporting a worried look. "What?" She asked dumbly.

"I asked you if you're okay. You were suddenly spacing out with that faraway look on your face. What's wrong?"

Erza quickly smiled to alleviate his suspicions. "Nothing," she said cheerily. "At this pace, we're going to be late Natsu, let's go," she said in urgency as she began to drag him.

"Crap," Natsu commented, remembering that they were initially already late to school to begin with. And then, the two of them took off running towards the direction of the school with their hands still joined together.

.

.

Erza looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her face was flushed and she was panting slightly from the run to school. It was five minute before the class started. Natsu had gone to the classroom first while she went to the bathroom to fix her messy hair.

"I look a demon from hell," Erza muttered looking at her appearance. She gathered her thick red hair together and tied them up into a simple ponytail with a clear rubber band. After she was satisfied with her look, Erza exited the bathroom.

It was quiet in the hallway. No one was there. Thinking that she was already late, Erza broke into a run to get to her classroom. However, just as she was nearing a corner, someone chose that moment to emerge from it.

"Look out," she shrieked to alert the male student turning around the corner. And because she was running, Erza couldn't stop in time to prevent herself from crashing into him. She closed her eyes as she collided into him and they both stumbled to the ground. She fell on top of him as he pillowed her fall with his body.

The groan coming from the man underneath caught her attention and Erza opened her eyes to look at her victim and savior at the same time. The first thing she noticed about the man was his vibrant blue hair and the red tattoo on his eye-catching face. Weird, was that even allowed in school?

"I know I'm attractive and all, but would you mind getting off me."

Erza yelped as she noticed her mistake. She hastily detached herself from him and bowed down with apology. "I'm really sorry," she apologized. "It was my mistake. I'm sorry."

The man rose and dusted the imaginary dirt on his school uniform. "You shouldn't be running in the hallway in the first place," he said as he gazed at her stoically.

Erza fought the urge to squirm under his cold stare. However she lowered her gaze in guilt as she was indeed the guilty party here. That was when Erza noticed the name tag on his left breast and she froze when she saw the name.

Jellal Fernandes

Student Council President

Erza froze on her spot. I'm screwed! She thought in silence. Even though she never personally met the school's student council president, that didn't mean she never heard about the man. Hell, she should have recognized him from the blue hair and red tattoo. It was the distinctive features about him, much like her scarlet hair to hers. From what she heard, Jellal Fernandes was cold and unapproachable, a strict person who always upholds the school rules. He didn't tolerate rule breaker and always giving punishment to the one who broke them.

Erza mentally cried. There was no way he was going to let this slide, and she was officially late to the class. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again," she said softly, close to tears.

She heard the sigh coming from the man. "Student council room, after school. Don't be late for your punishment," he suddenly said.

Erza looked up in shock. There went her plan to hang out with Natsu and the rest of the gang after school. Not that the student council president knew it but who was she to complain. "Okay," she nodded in agreement. Better not to argue for she could be given harsher punishment.

"I'll be giving the details of your punishment later," he explained. "Now, you better hurry to class, it's already late," he said.

"Yes," Erza nodded meekly. "I'm sorry again," she said before she turned away from him in the direction of her class.

"And no running," he added.

Erza turned to him with an awkward smile before she nodded and walked away from there with a heavy heart.

.

.

"Are you sure you're not going to join us Erza?" Lucy asked the red head.

Erza sighed heavily. "It's not like I don't want to join you guys to the mall. But the student council president gives me detention for running in the hallway and crashing into him," she said before her face reddened. "That was so embarrassing," she moaned when she remembered the event from this morning.

Lucy giggled at that making Erza pouted at her friend.

"Just skip the detention," Natsu suddenly said, looking at her with a frown.

"I can't," she shook her head. "He's the president Natsu, I could get into more trouble for not going to the detention. And it's my fault anyway," she said.

"So does this mean you're also not going Natsu?" Gray interjected looking at the pink head.

"No," he replied. "I'll just wait for Erza to finish detention and head home with her afterward."

Erza looked at her best friend in disapproval. "You don't have to wait up for me Natsu, just go hang out with them," she told him.

"Don't worry about it," he brushed it off.

Erza wanted to argue more but Gray spoke up instead. "Maybe we can just hang out tomorrow," Gray suggested.

"I'm cool with that," Lucy agreed.

"So it's settled then, Gray said before he picked up his bag and slung it casually on his shoulder. "I'll see you guys tomorrow. And Erza don't go and get yourself a detention tomorrow as well," he said cheekily while Erza pouted at him.

Erza saw Lucy turned to her excitedly. "Erza, I heard that the president is hot. Is that true?" She asked her enthusiastically.

Erza thought back on the time that she met the man. "I guess," she answered not noticing the frown on Natsu's face getting deeper when she said that. "He's scary though," she quickly added, remembering the cold aura he seemed to exude.

"I heard about that too," Lucy nodded. "From what I heard, he seems to be a cold and unapproachable man. Some girls said that they confessed to him but he sent them crying when he insensitively turned them down. But that doesn't stop the girls from crushing on him though."

Erza sighed. "I don't know about that. But you're welcome to trade places with me anytime you want Lucy," she said seriously making Lucy gave out a nervous laugh.

"I think I'll pass," she quickly turned it down.

Erza just shrugged miserably. "I guess I'll get going first. Don't want to be late for my detention."

"I'll wait for you here," Natsu informed her. Erza knew better than to argue with Natsu once he made his decision. So she just nodded at him before she walked out of the classroom towards the council room, hoping that the president was not in a foul mood.

.

.

Erza stood in front of the student council room, fidgeting on her feet as she stared at the door, contemplating whether or not she should get in there. Natsu's suggestion to skip detention sounds so tempting right now when she noticed how quiet and eerie this part of the building was. It was a little dark here in the hallway and the lights keep flickering in and out making the area seemed like it was a set up from horror movie.

Erza knocked on the door three times to announce her arrival but she heard no response from the inside. If the hallway was already this creepy, she wondered how the inside of the council was like. It must be worse, she thought silently as her mind wandered to think worse of the situation. Braving herself to face the circumstances she found herself in so that she could do her detention and leave, Erza turned the knob and pushed the door opened, peeking her head in.

Her heart sank when she noticed that the room was dark and there was no sign of Jellal Fernandes anywhere. "This is scary," she whimpered slowly, closed to tears. "Where is the president by the way? Did he forget that he asked me to be here?" She whined. She had no guts to get inside alone. She should have asked Natsu to accompany her here. He had nothing better to do anyway.

"Are you going in or not?"

"Eeeeep," Erza shrieked as she was startled at the sudden voice behind her. With an undignified pose, she fell face first to the floor in her haste to get away from the cold gruff voice. "Ouch," Erza whined as she slowly sat up and rubbed her sore forehead. She turned her head an looked up behind her to see the one and only Jellal Fernandes standing there looking at her with a raised eyebrow, clearly unimpressed at her clumsy conduct. "Do you have to startle me like that?" She complained, annoyed at the blue head.

"Are you always such a klutz?" He asked instead of apologizing to her.

Erza fumed when she heard that. She was not always such a klutz as he put it. He was the one who surprised her and he dared to ridicule her like that. She wanted to vent her frustration at the cold president but he was too scary with his sharp eyes glaring at her like a hawk. Most importantly, he might give her trouble later on. So for today, she was just going to take it all in and hopefully, she was not going to see him anymore after this. She cursed herself for her inability to speak up her mind and defended herself. That was the downside of having an overprotective best friend like Natsu. He tended to stick up for her whenever she was in trouble and never let her solved the problem herself. She unknowingly had become dependent on Natsu so much. Even Gray and Lucy won't let herself get into trouble. They always treated her like she was an innocent and fragile little girl.

"I'm not a klutz," she whispered slowly, darting her eyes to the ground, feeling pressured under his intense stare.

She heard the slow exhale of breath coming from the president before he spoke up once again. "Are you planning to sit on the floor all the time? Because I'd like to get started on your punishment so that both you and I can go home."

Erza gasped before she hurriedly got up from the floor with an apology. "I'm sorry president," she apologized as she stood in front him with an embarrass face.

.

.

Jellal didn't know what to make of the girl currently with him, helping him assorted the files in the drawer. At first when she crashed into him this morning, he expected her to be one of the fan girls who seemed to be following him lately. It was not the first time a girl bumped into him just to have a conversation. It was really annoying. But he thought that was not the case with this girl. She didn't initiate any conversation and only spoke when it was necessary. The girl looked like she was not interested in him at all. In fact, she looked like she was wary of him. She seemed eager to get the job done so that she could get the hell out of council room, to be far away from him. Aside from the clumsy demeanor, he was glad that she was not the talkative type who felt the need to fill the silence, for he appreciated the peace that came with it.

It seemed like he was wrong about her and he felt a little bad for being callous towards her earlier.

They were so absorbed in their task that they didn't notice that 2 hours had already flown away since they started.

Jellal looked over at the girl to see her holding a blue file as she sported a confused look on her face.

"That one goes to the last drawer actually," he quickly supplied as he closed his own drawer, having placed the last file from his batch inside of it.

"Oh, sorry president," she said as if realizing her mistake. She smiled sheepishly as she kept the file where it was supposed to be.

"You apologize too much," he commented. She probably was scarred to life from having to deal with an insensitive jerk like him and he felt like he owed it to her to ease her mind a bit around him.

The girl laughed nervously as she rubbed the back of her head in an awkward gesture. "Sorry," she couldn't help but said, making Jellal shook his head in amusement. "Is there anything else you need my help with president?"

"Jellal."

The girl raised an elegant eyebrow. "Sorry?" She inquired.

"It's Jellal, not president," he said. "You can call me Jellal," he added. He didn't know what made him asked her the next question since he never made any effort to get to know anyone else aside from his little group of friend in the school. "What's your name?" He inquired. He almost berated himself for asking because he was sure that the girl didn't have even a shred of positive thought about him.

But then, her face lit up in excitement and he thought she looked so much better with a smile on her face. "It's Erza. Erza Scarlet."

A small smile played on his lips. "The color of your hair," he unconsciously uttered. How befitting of her.

"Huh? Did you say something?" She asked with a confused expression.

Jellal shook his head. "Nothing," he denied. "It's already late Erza. You can go now and thank you for today."

Erza nodded. "You're welcome," she replied. "Then I'll be going first. See you again, Jellal," she said with a beaming smile before she gave him a wave and exited the room through the door.

Jellal smiled as he shook his head slowly. "Erza Scarlet," he uttered. "She sure is not like any other girl," he whispered slowly as he picked up his bag pack and get ready to go home for the day.

To be continued