Lucy breathed in the crisp fall air, making sure to step on every possible crunchy leaf she could find as she walked to the front doors of the school, waving to her friends once they finally spotted her.
It was the first day back from thanksgiving break and the trees were almost completely bare, a thin layer of frost coating the ground and a cool breeze tinting everybody's cheeks pink.
"Ugh, I hate the cold." Natsu complained loud enough that nearly half the students could hear, turning towards Gray to make sure he knew of Natsu's discomfort.
Gray glared, taking an ice cube from his water bottle and quickly putting it down Natsu's shirt. "Shut up, flame brain, everyone knows it's easier to deal with the cold." He declared, laughing as Natsu began to squirm in an attempt to move the ice cube. "You can get as many coats as you want when you're cold, but what can you do when you get hot? Nothing, you're stuck with it."
Natsu rolled his eyes, carelessly throwing the ice cube over his shoulder once it was out of his shirt. "You're just jealous because I can handle heat better than you, right, Luce?" He asked, turning towards his best friend to try and prove his point.
"Oh no, you're not dragging me into this argument again, last time this happened, both of you ignored me for three days!" Lucy said frantically as she speed walked inside, adapting a slower pace as they entered the school to show she wasn't picking a side again. "And why do you keep calling me 'Luce'? I told you to stop that!"
Natsu shrugged as he entered the classroom, silently letting Lucy know that he had absolutely no plans of dropping the nickname.
As the seventh graders finished being seated, their homeroom teacher announced that a new student was to join the school, instantly losing the attention of roughly half the children.
A pale, frail looking girl nervously walked through the door, her blue curls swaying with each step.
"Everyone, this is Juvia Lockser," The teacher spoke softly, scanning the room for any sort of reaction. "she just transferred here from Phantom Lord Academy, where things were quite different, so I hope you-"
"Gajeel-Kun!" Juvia suddenly yelled, running across the room and slamming her hands down on Gajeel's desk.
Gajeel instantly looked up, a grin spreading across his face before he realized the expression he was currently making, quickly replacing it with his usual scowl.
The entire class gaped at what they had just witnessed while the two began to talk. Had Gajeel just...grinned because of a classmate?! He attempted to cover it up, but it was still quite obvious in his eyes.
"Well, I'll trust you to show Juvia around the school, Gajeel, and hopefully the other students will help when you're not in the same class!" The teacher said loudly, drawing the attention of almost all of the surprised students.
Once the final two classes of the day arrived, Juvia was finally without Gajeel, and of course, the first class was the worst of them all: gym class.
Juvia began to panic when the teacher announced they would be playing dodgeball, knowing that everybody would aim for her by the sinister smirks that adorned the face of nearly everyone that looked at her.
Juvia surprised everybody when the game started, despite the fact that she couldn'y even throw the ball halfway across the gym, she was great at dodging.
Until the entire class targeted her at once.
Juvia jumped at ducked out of the way, barely being able to move anywhere without another three balls flying towards everywhere below her neck.
The hoard of dodgeballs began to slow down as the other team began to prioritize, whispering an actual plan before they continued their assault.
Realizing there was no hope left when they started hurling the balls full force in groups of three, Juvia finally gave up as she curled into a ball in the middle of the gym floor, taking extra care to cover her face as four dodgeballs flew towards her.
Juvia hesitated to look up after none of the balls hit her, seeing a boy with dark hair protectively standing over, panting from running so far in only a few seconds, only to save her.
The boy looked over his shoulder to Juvia for a second, catching a ball and handing it to her so she could block anything that came her way.
"This is the most enthusiastic game these people have played since third grade." The boy said as he scanned the other team, hitting another ball away with the one he was currently holding. "Stay close behind me and I'll protect you, if I somehow miss a ball then try and hit it away with the one you're holding." He threw a ball while finishing his sentence, almost instantly catching a new one. "I'm Gray, by the way." He finished with a smile, catching another ball while simultaneously deflecting another one.
Juvia blushed at the boy's kindness, smiling back as she moved out of the way of a ball that was flying towards her head as soon as she stood up. "Thank you, Gray, Juvia would introduce herself, but she remembers seeing you this morning in homeroom, so you probably know her name already." She said before ducking behind Gray, watching in slight awe at how fast his reflexes were.
With Juvia's skill of dodging and Gray having a great throwing arm, the two managed to pull their team to victory nearly every match they played, only leaving the class with a few red marks and small bruises.
"So, Juvia, how was your first day at Magnolia Middle School?" Gray asked when the final school bell rang, shoving his unfinished homework into his bag.
Juvia smiled, finishing up the final question of her math assignment before placing it in her textbook. "Juvia loved it, especially because of all the help from Gajeel-Kun and Gray-Sama!" She said happily, practically skipping out the door.
Gray's cheeks became pink at her words, looking away to avoid her eyes, Gray stumbled over his own words. "I-I told you, drop the '-Sama'..."
Sorry this was posted late, I was exhausted on wednesday and tuesday when I got back to my hotel, and last night I got home really late so it was kind of a stupid time to update. Anyway, on sunday I'm leaving again and won't be back until thursday, I won't have wifi this time so idk if I'll update on sunday or when I get back, but there's a pretty high chance it'll be when I return.
As always, thanks for reading, reviews are greatly appreciated!