CHAPTER 6:

[A/N: TADA! After a looooong and possibly unnecesary wait, I give you a new chapter, there is a special A/N at the end of this chapter so don't forget to look it over, also feel free to give me a review, complaints about my late update are also accepted as I feel I need scolding for taking so long, anyway please enjoy!]

It was the day of the archery competition and Lucy was a bundle of nerves. Not only did she stress about the actual competition but she also had to convince her dad to let her go, and that took at least 2 hours of begging and the best puppy-dog face she could muster just to get him to let her. She had never felt so worn out; she kept having nightmares about losing really badly then seeing Kagura freak out and try to commit seppuku, not to mention the glares from all the girls at the academy at her, she almost didn't get any sleep.

To say she got a fright when she looked in the mirror this morning would be an understatement; she was visibly shaken by the sight of her tired face.

Bags under her eyes, her hair sticking out in every direction, and her eyes were slightly bloodshot.

"Ew… an overactive imagination is cute? HA, Try saying that after looking at me now" she said bitterly as she walked away from the mirror and undressed herself to take a shower.

Once she got out she wrapped herself in a white fluffy towel and went back into her bedroom to put on her school uniform.

A short-sleeved white button-up shirt, dark red skirt that went just above the knees, thigh-high black socks, and a red bow-tie to match her skirt.

Once she had her uniform on she unwrapped her wet hair from her towel and proceeded to blow-dry it, loving the feeling of the warmth on her face. When it was dry she brushed through it and pulled out a pink ribbon from her dresser and tied her hair up in a side pony-tail; her signature look.

When she was done she got up and walked to her full-length mirror to check her appearance, she gave a little twirl and smiled at herself; she was glad that the shower made her look and feel much better, coz she didn't have any make-up to fix herself up if she still ended up looking like a zombie.

Her father wouldn't allow her to wear make-up, saying something about it drawing unwanted attention towards her, and him already having a hard time trying to keep any away from her; but it didn't really bother her either way, she was just curious as to how she would look if she actually wore any.

"Yosh, all done, now I just need to pack my gi and get my equipment ready" she said as she made her way downstairs to make breakfast first.

She spotted her father sitting at the dining room table reading the newspaper and sipping his coffee.

"Ohayo Papa" she said as she walked into the kitchen, grabbing her apron and tying it around her waist.

Her dad looked up from his paper and glanced at his daughter who was now looking inside the fridge; trying to decide on what to make for breakfast.

"Ohayo Lucy, did you sleep well?" he asked as he went back to reading his newspaper.

Lucy cringed, but luckily her father didn't see it "Yup, I slept like a rock" she said with a fake smile while she was thinking that she felt more like she slept ON a rock.

She decided she was going to make rice omelet for her fathers' breakfast while she would just have a slice of toast with strawberry jam, and then she would make her lunch for the day.

"That's good, now remember; you are to come straight home when that archery competition is over, alright?" he asked with a raised brow while he watched her cut some vegetables.

"Um, does that mean that you aren't going to come and watch?" she asked confused.

"No, I have a lot to do here today, maybe next time, but you didn't answer my question Lucy" he said somewhat sternly.

Lucy's face dropped slightly; she was hoping her father would come and support her since this was the first time she was participating in a competition, but she kind of understood that he had things to do in the shrine and tried to suck it up.

She put on the best smile she could muster "I'll come straight home after the competition papa, don't worry" she said as she glanced over to her father who then nodded approvingly.

She finished her fathers omelet and started making her lunch; rice balls with veggies, and a few octopus sausages [A/N: I think you guys know what I'm talking about, coz I cant explain it any better than that]

Once she was done she gave her father his breakfast and sat down to eat her toast.

"Hhhhhmmmm~~ breakfast is delicious as always Lucy" said her father with a smile on his face and his mouth full.

Lucy grinned at seeing her fathers happy face, it wasn't often that he was happy especially since her mother died, but whenever he was happy she would always feel proud knowing that she could brighten up his day, even if only for a while.

"Glad you like it papa, well I gotta pack my gear now" she said as she got up and went to fetch her bow and gi.

"Lu-chan~~ get your butt out here! We're gonna be late!" yelled Levy from outside.

"Oh crap!" yelled Lucy as she fumbled with her bags

"Language young Lady!"

Once Lucy was outside she was greeted by a rather grumpy looking Levy who had her arms crossed and her cheeks puffed out.

"Gomene Levy-chan, I was busy packing my gear" said Lucy with an apologetic face as she tried to get a better grip on her bags.

"Hmph, I take the time out of my mornings to walk to school with you everyday and this is how I get treated; made to wait outside for who-knows how long" said Levy as she started stomping away, and while she thought it made her look tough, to Lucy she just looked like a grumpy midget, of course she'd never actually tell her that unless she wanted to be yelled at.

"Aw, come on Levy-chan, it wasn't that long" said Lucy as she tried to reason with the temperamental pipsqueak.

"…"

Ok, so Levy was trying to give her the silent treatment was she? Levy was always crabby in the morning, maybe because she always read books until the early hours and would always wake up bright and early with only a few hours of sleep? But Lucy had a trick up her sleeve that always came in handy with a grumpy Levy.

"Sigh, oh well, I guess you wouldn't be interested in the fact that I just finished the latest chapter of my book just for you then" she said with fake hurt as she walked behind Levy.

Levy stopped dead in her tracks and Lucy smirked knowing that she had taken the bait.

Levy turned around and grabbed Lucy's hands and looked her straight in the eyes.

"R-really Lu-chan, you finally wrote another chapter!?" she said with stars in her eyes and a bright smile on her face.

Yup, a complete 180 from grumpy Levy, all you have to do is mention a book and she turns back into cheery Levy.

Lucy smiled and nodded her head and Levy started jumping like she was on a sugar-high.

"Yahoo! Thank goodness, I was getting impatient with that last cliffhanger you left me!" she said as she started walking backwards with a smile on her face.

"Hey, you're the one who wouldn't wait until I actually finished the book, its your own fault for being impatient" said Lucy with a raised brow.

"Hah, says the girl who wouldn't stop emailing the author of Mythical creatures to hurry up with her sequel" said Levy with a smug look on her face.

Lucy recoiled; Levy did have a point, but the story was just so good, she was desperate for the sequel.

"A-anyway, do you wanna read it or not?!" said Lucy as she huffed in annoyance.

Levy grinned and nodded her head profusely "You bet, I wanna be the person to say that I was the first one to ever read a book written by the soon-to-be-famous author Lucy Heartfilia"

Lucy blushed at Levy's declaration, she couldn't believe that her friend had so much faith in her abilities as a writer, and Levy was not an easy person to please when it comes to books, so it really meant a lot to her.

Lucy grinned and pulled Levy in for a hug "Naw~ Levy-chan~~ Your too sweet!" said Lucy as she picked Levy up and swung her around.

"Aah! Lu-chan calm down! Your going to drop me!" yelled Levy as she was swung around uncontrollably while trying to get out of Lucy's hug of death.

"Don't be silly Levy-chan, I couldn't possibly drop someone so small, that would be like dropping a baby!" said Lucy as she immediately let Levy down and started running for her life.

Levy felt a tick mark appear on her forehead as soon as Lucy put her down "Lu-chan, don't make fun of my height!" she yelled as she ran after Lucy while shaking her fist in the air.

"Ne Gray, she knows its lunch now right?" asked Natsu with a blank look on his face.

"I should think she does Natsu" said Gray with an un-amused look on his face.

"Then why… Why is she making us clean this up now!?" yelled Natsu in frustration. Lunch time was very sacred for Natsu and he was not happy having it taken away from him.

Gray wasn't exactly thrilled about it either, but seeing as they had to follow Erza's orders or face her divine punishment, skipping lunch was the least painful route to take.

Erza had decided that she was going to make the boys clean up their pink-paint mess in the halls during lunch break instead of after school, apparently she had some other form of work in mind them, so this was the only time they had available to clean the mess.

"That she-devil, to take away a mans' lunch is truly evil, she must have done this on purpose!" yelled Natsu as he clenched his fist and had tears in the corner of his eyes.

"Maybe next time you guys should think a bit more before you try to prank someone, I mean how stupid can you be?" complained Cana as she leaned against the wall drinking out of her 'water'-bottle while watching the boys clean with an un-amused look on her face.

"Grr, why you…" muttered Natsu.

"What's got your panties in a twist Cana, and why are you here anyway?" asked Gray as he raised a brow in question.

A tick mark appeared above Cana's brow "I'm here coz Erza had some council work to do and she doesn't trust you guys to be alone together for more than 5 seconds! You think I want to waste my lunch HERE!? I could be hanging out with my boyfriend right now, but NOOO, I have to babysit a bunch of morons who cant pull off something as simple as a paint bomb prank without creating havoc!" she yelled angrily.

Natsu and Gray stood there with sheepish looks on their faces, Cana rarely blew up, especially at them, and being scolded by the school drunk was also kinda weird.

"Wait, doesn't your boyfriend go to Quatro Cerburus High, that all-guy school?" asked Gray with a confused look on his face as he suddenly remembered Cana's boyfriend.

Cana raised her brow "Yeah, so whats your point?" she asked confused.

"Well how the hell can you hang out with your boyfriend if he goes to a school on the other side of town?" asked Gray.

Cana looked at Gray with an are-you-serious look "Well duh, he obviously drives down here and finds me" she said while chugging her 'drink'.

"So you make your boyfriend leave school, drive all the way down here, just so you two can cuddle during lunch?" asked Gray incredulously.

Cana started laughing uncontrollably "Oh that's so cute, you guys think all we do is cuddle" she said as she continued to laugh with tears coming out of her eyes.

"Huh, what does that mean?" asked Natsu confused while Grays' face was red from embarrassment.

This only made Cana laugh even more, did she have to spell it out for him?

"Now I get why you always show up with that creepy grin on your face when you come to class after lunch" said Gray as he looked away embarrassed.

Suddenly the light bulb inside Natsu's head went off, looks like he finally got it.

"So you mean to tell me the whole reason your pissed at us right now is coz your itch need scratching?" asked Natsu with a raised brow.

Grays' mouth dropped to the floor in shock while Cana was also shocked, her mouth also hanging open, of all the stupid things that Natsu had to blurt out…

…and why did he have to phrase it like that!?

"Wow Natsu, I had no idea you had such a dirty mind, I always thought you were a prude" said Cana with a surprised expression as she clung to her bottle.

"Hey! Just because I don't perv out on girls like stripper over here-"

"-Hey!"

"-Doesn't mean I'm a prude!" yelled Natsu in frustration, he just didn't react to girls the way other guys did, girls were always the last thing on his mind, keeping food and fighting as his top priorities, of course recently his thoughts included a certain blonde-haired maiden with beautiful brown eyes, but he chose not to dwell on that.

"Oh, so does that mean you popped your cherry then?" asked Cana with a smirk as she leaned in closer to Natsu with her hands on her hips.

Natsu and Gray cringed and blushed the same colour as Erza's hair, thus answering Cana's question.

"Oh~~ so you guys ARE still prudes then, sigh, that's so sad" said Cana with an incredibly fake sympathetic look.

"Gray, I'm being pitied by Cana and I don't like it" said Natsu under his breath so that only Gray could hear.

"So am I, and what do you want me to do about it?" muttered Gray with an annoyed look on his face.

"Well you've known her the longest, so you should know how to shut her up right?" whispered Natsu.

Gray huffed in sadness "Dude, I stopped winning fights against her the minute she discovered alcohol, so the only way to not listen to her talk anymore is to clean this stupid mess" said Gray as he continued to mop up the pink stains.

Natsu groaned and started cleaning the floor, while Cana was snickering at their annoyed faces while also texting her boyfriend.

And this was only the beginning of the day they will remember as 'The Most Embarrassing day of their lives'.

"Ok girls, I need you all to line up single file and get in the bus, have all the girls been accounted for Kagura-san?"

"We're still waiting for Lucy-san to come back from the changing room Strauss-sensei" said Kagura.

This teacher's name is Miss Mirajane Strauss; she is a teacher at Mermaid Heel Academy for Girls and is also their chaperone for the archery competition. Long white hair, deep blue eyes and the perfect figure, it always baffled the girls as to why she quit modeling to become a teacher.

"Ara ara, Kagura-san, please at least call me Mira-sensei, calling me by my last name reminds me that I'm still single" she said with a smile that seemed sweet but was coated with malice.

Kagura paled and took a step back, Mira was sweet and extremely nice, but if you ever get on her bad side she could turn into the most terrifying woman alive, it was rumored that even in her high school days she was nicknamed the she-devil.

"H-hai M-Mira-sensei" said Kagura nervously.

Mira's smile then turned back to its usual sweetness without the fear and she nodded her head in approval.

Kagura let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and glanced around at the archery contestants.

There weren't a lot of people participating, including her there were only 6 participants, and the car they were using was just a mini-van. Now all the contestants in the competition were here, except for Lucy, and Kagura was wondering where she went.

"Matte!"

Kagura turned and saw Lucy running towards the car with her two friends following behind her.

Lucy stopped in front of Kagura and bent over and tried to catch her breath, it looked like she had been running a marathon and her friends were no better. Just what were they doing.

"G-Gomenasaii… K-Kaichou… I-I… couldn't f-find… my bow… and had to… run around the school… to try and find it" said Lucy in-between pants.

"Its ok, as long as you're here now, hurry up and get ready to go, the trip is only 20 minutes but were cutting it close for time" said Kagura with her usual stoic expression as she proceeded to get into the front seat of the car.

"H-Hai!" yelled the three girls as they started to board the mini-van.

While Lucy was worrying about the competition Juvia and Levy were trying to think of ways to keep the Salamander away from their Lucy, yes their Lucy. She was waaaay too innocent and naive to associate with a delinquent like him and they would be damned if they let him go anywhere near her.

*Shiver*

"Something wrong flame-head?" asked Gray as they walked down the hall.

"I don't know, lately I've been getting chills up my spine, like somebody's cursing me or something?" said Natsu as he glanced over his shoulder.

"Yeah well maybe its Erza, I mean she'd give chills to a penguin if it pissed her off as much as you do" said Gray with a shrug as he continued to walk down the hall.

"Nah, Erza has a specific chill effect, this one feels different" said Natsu with a confused look on his face.

Gray just rolled his eyes "Dude let it go, a lot of people hate you so that list could go on forever, lets just get to the archery clubroom before she kills us, knowing her it wouldn't surprise me if she made us stand in front of the targets with apples on our heads" said Gray with a look of utter fear.

The work Erza planned for them after school; was to assist in preparation for the archery competition and then clean up the building when it was over. And right now they were carrying all the arrows and quivers from the store-room to the archery building.

"Will you two shut up, its bad enough my hair's still pink but now I gotta listen to that monster for a whole month coz of you guys and work WITH you, I'd rather jump in front of a bus"

Oh and Gajeel was there too, complaining as usual. He managed to get the pink paint off his body… but for some reason he was having a really hard time getting any of it off his hair… so he kinda looked like a long-haired, pierced version of Natsu, much to his dismay.

"Shut up metal head, it aint exactly like we wanna see your ugly mug either" said Natsu with irritation.

Just as Gajeel was about to make a remark the guys noticed a dejected Elfman walking down the halls, a depressing aura hanging over his head.

"Geez dude, what happened to you?" asked Gray confused.

Elfman looked up slowly and the guys saw the look of utter terror in his eyes, this got the guys worried, there were only three things that could freak Elfman out in this world; Erza, his girlfriend Evergreen, and his older sister, they were all hoping it was his girlfriend; if not then the problem would affect them all.

"I-I just heard form Erza… that… that Laxus was going to supervise the archery competition" said Elfman with a look of fear.

This confused the guys greatly, sure Laxus was a jerk of a teacher, but what reason did Elfman have to be afraid of him watching archery.

"U-um, and the problem with that is…" asked Gray who was completely lost.

Elfman slammed his hands on Grays' shoulders and gave him a look of warning "Just-just don't go anywhere near him when the other school arrives, there will be blood, so much blood" Elfmans' voice muttered the last part as he started walking away in a daze, like he had a lobotomy or something.

"Wh-what the hell was that suppose to mean?" asked Gray who swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat.

"I have no idea man, but if Laxus is getting into a fight I so wanna be there!" exclaimed Natsu excitedly, Gajeel chuckled in agreement with Natsu.

Gray just sweat dropped, these guys had death wishes, but he was so confused, what the hell did Elfman mean?

A/N: Was planning on stopping it here but seeing as I left you guys hanging for a really long time I figured what the hell ^3^

"Ok girls, welcome to Fairy Tail Academy" exclaimed Mira as she stopped the car in the schools parking lot.

Lucy, Levy and Juvia were looking out the window in awe; the Academy was beautiful, the building looked like a fancy castle, to quote Levy it was like a tiny piece of Hogwarts, when she says it like that the name 'Fairy Tail' seems to fit.

The girls giggled a little at their 'book humor' and started to file out of the car.

"Ooooooh, I cant wait to see Er-chan again, its been so long!"

"Well it looks like Milliana is excited about this" said Levy slightly amused.

Milliana was a girl with light-brown hair and cat ears on her head; she was a bit of a cat enthusiast, bordering on obsessed, but she was still nice and had an extremely innocent nature, she was also Kagura's adoptive younger sister so nobody ever made her sad (well if they tried they didn't live to talk about it).

"Calm down Milliana, remember we're not here for fun" said Kagura.

Milliana pouted and puffed out her cheeks; which kind of made her look like a chipmunk, the cat-ears only making her look more so.

"Awww~ come on Kagura-Nee, lighten up a bit, its not everyday we get to meet up with her you know?" said Milliana.

Kagura sighed in exasperation "Just focus on the task at hand and then you can play Milly" said Kagura while pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Hooray!" yelled Milliana as she jumped up and started running in circles around the group. The girls sweat dropped at hr actions while Kagura covered her face with her palms in embarrassment.

"W-well, she's nothing if not enthusiastic" said Lucy with a nervous smile trying to bring up the mood.

"More like hopped up on catnip" said Levy jokingly with an endearing smile.

"Eh?! Really?!" asked Lucy who was in shock.

Levy and Juvia sweat dropped, sometimes Lucy was just too naïve for her own safety.

"Lucy-san, Levy-san was joking" said Juvia while patting Lucy's shoulder in comfort.

Lucy blushed and pouted, embarrassed that she once again couldn't detect her friends joke, she should really work on that.

"Ah, I see that your finally here"

The girls turned at the new voice and saw a girl with light brown hair and glasses walking towards them, she was tall and her hair was curled at the tips, and she was also very pretty.

"My name is Evergreen, and I'm here to escort you to the archery field" she said as she pulled a large fan out of nowhere and started fanning herself, she also had a very smug look on her face for some reason.

"Hello, my name is Kagura, please take care of us" she said as she bowed slightly.

"But of course, they wouldn't have named me the Fairy Queen of the Academy if I didn't help oth- OH MY GOD IS THAT YOU MIRA?!"

Evergreens' soliloquy of vanity was stopped abruptly as she spotted the white-haired teacher coming from the other side of the car, to say she was shocked to see her was an understatement; she felt petrified. [A/N: Hah, see what I did there, heehee, Fairy Tail humor]

"Ara, Evergreen, my, this is unexpected" said Mira with a smile as she kept her hands folded in front.

Evergreen couldn't form a coherent word, her skin had turned pale and her eyes were as wide as dinner plates.

The girls were completely confused by her reaction, they knew Mira could be scary but this was a different kind of fear, if Mira noticed she didn't show any kind of reaction.

"Is my little brother doing well?" asked Mira as she stepped in front of Evergreen, a smile still on her face.

"A-ah, h-h-he's fine, s-st-still goes on about b-b-being manly, ehehehe" said Evergreen nervously as she tried to regain her composure.

Mira giggled, she took no notice of Evergreens' fear at all "That's Elfman for you, so shall we get going?" she asked sweetly.

Evergreen cringed and took a step back, well… seeing as she didn't have any other choice "S-sure, i-if you'll just follow me" she said as she turned around and started heading towards the schools main entrance.

She hopes that nobody will blame her for the events she is sure are going to occur, she shivered in terror at the thought of it.

She just prayed that maybe this time there wouldn't be as much blood.

[A/N: Mwahahahaha, hows that for some creepy foreshadowing, hehehe, all will be revealed in the next chapter… probably, again sorry for taking so long, had a lot of assignments to do, will try to upload the next one as soon as I can, don't forget to review and let me know what you thought]

You are free to try and figure out what I mean with the blood, hehehe, anyone who gets it will be named as a special OC for this story, good luck!