CHAPTER 13

[A/N: Ok, I know I took WAY too long to update and I am SUPER SORRY! I'd tell you why I took so long but I know no-one really cares so I'll just leave it at that XD

Anyway, here's the next chapter, I hope ya'll like it! Don't forget to vote on the poll on my profile page! Oh and also please leave a review!

JellyBean Loves you! XD]

Have you ever seen that movie that had sharks and a tornado mixed into one and inflicting chaos upon an unsuspecting city?

Now add a lightning storm and an active volcano and you have the exact scenario that was taking place in the dojo after Makarov's announcement.

The little man was grinning like a Cheshire cat at the 'brilliance' of his idea; while the students thought he had gone completely insane to even suggest such a thing.

Just what the hell was an 'inter-school counseling club'?! What exactly did he expect them to do?!

Although there was a group of students who weren't so much enraged by the idea as they were confused by their Headmasters plan. They were used to his eccentric nature, but this was the first time he had involved another school in one of his schemes.

Erza couldn't help but wonder if the fact that this fight seemed to centre on Laxus and Mira could have anything to do with it.

"What do you mean by that?"

All eyes had turned to Kagura; who had stepped in front of Makarov with a disapproving scowl on her face. She towered over Makarov but he still kept his grin.

"Glad you asked young lady, allow me to explain." He said and then cleared his throat.

Kagura took a step back to allow him to speak out.

"Basically on every Friday when school is over, we will hold a meeting with both our schools archery clubs and discuss our problems and issues in order to come to a permanent solution to this disaster" he said while combing his mustache with his hand.

The girls from Mermaid Heel glanced at each other worriedly; this plan sounded… well… a little too optimistic and just plain stupid to them. Not only that, but they happened to have people here who weren't even a part of the archery club, what about them.

"We refuse" said Kagura defiantly. Everyone looked at her in shock.

"Oh? Is that so?" asked Makarov with his brow raised.

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that Mistress Porlyusica agreed to this ridiculous scheme of yours? And even if she did we have people here who aren't even members of our archery club, what do you intend to do about them?" she replied hotly, there was no way Porlyusica agreed to this, it just wasn't possible. Even if her class was presenting their suggestions about what they wanted to do for their own cultural festival they had to beg her at least 3 times until she relented.

The fact that he thought she would believe he got what he wanted from her so easily was infuriating and patronizing.

"Well if you won't take my word for it, then by all means go and ask her yourself" said Makarov with a nonchalant look.

Kagura glared at Makarov disapprovingly; if there was ever one thing she hated it was being treated like a child.

"Very well then, I shall, excuse me please" she said and she flipped out her cell as she walked out of the dojo for some privacy.

Meanwhile Levy was waking up from her overreaction-I mean, her shock to the spoiler she just heard and found that she was on the floor and her upper body was being held up by Juvia.

"J-Juvia?" she asked as her clouded vision was beginning to clear up.

"Ah Levy-san! You finally came to, yokata!" said Juvia with relief.

"I should be really mad at you for what you and Lu-chan did, but considering the state I was in I understand that it was done in desperation, so I won't hold it against you" said Levy monotonously.

Juvia sweat-dropped, Levy wasn't the best liar, but thank Kami she was at least in a better state of mind and not trying to kill anyone.

"Juvia is very sorry Levy-san" she said with her head down shamefully.

"I know I know, now can you tell me what's going on? I feel like I just missed some big announcement or something" said Levy as she lifted herself to sit upright.

"Uhm… well for starters; Lucy-san wasn't violated at all, in fact Salamander just took her to the infirmary to treat her ankle that got twisted" said Juvia sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head while avoiding eye contact with Levy.

Levy blinked once… twice…

"Eh!?" she yelled in shock which caused Juvia to cringe.

"So then I… then he… wh-"

"You misunderstood and overreacted" said Juvia with a sheepish look.

Levy took a moment to register what Juvia had just told her then she felt the embarrassment of her mistake hit her like a stray bullet.

"Oh God, I wanna jump in a deep dark hole right now" said Levy as her face became dark from shame.

"Before you do that, I would appreciate it if you answered some questions I have… Levy-chan~"

Levy flinched at the tone of Lucy's voice; to the untrained ear it sounded like a regular sweet voice, but to those who knew Lucy well they could tell that her tone of voice held venom in her words.

"Ahahaha, L-Lu-chan, of course I will. What would you like to know?" asked Levy nervously.

Lucy leaned forward so that she was basically hovering over Levy and glared at her with murderous intent "Why did you lie to me about the bus leaving for one? Did you only come along to this competition in order to threaten and possibly kill Natsu? And why was Mira-sensei crying?" she asked, her face getting closer and closer after each question.

Levy and Juvia sweat-dropped, Lucy always went straight to the point.

"Ah, well, that… um… Sumimasen Lu-chan!" said Levy as she caved from the guilt, bowing her head in shame.

Lucy let out an annoyed sigh and backed away slightly "Takku, I thought you two were acting funny today and I guess I was right" she said placing her hands on her hips.

"Gomenne Lucy-san, we only wanted to protect you, but it seems we misunderstood things a lot today… and Juvia knows that Levy-san never meant to unleash her fury upon anyone… she was going to threaten him though" said Juvia apologetically.

"And as for Mira-sensei we actually have no idea why she was crying, all we know was that it had something to do with that big blonde guy with the scar over there" said Levy while pointing at said person.

Lucy let out another sigh, she felt like she was the victim of some kind of soap opera, [A/N: Oh if you only knew] first the archery club gets into some ridiculous fight, then she unexpectedly runs into Natsu again, then her friends try to kill him, and now some crazy old guy was trying to form some sort of inter-school club…

Her dad was gonna have a stroke about that for sure.

"Well your crazy-ness aside, if my dad hears about what's going on here he'll have an aneurism" said Lucy with a worried look in her eyes.

Juvia nodded her head in agreement "This inter-school thing will not sit well with Mr Jude at all" she said sadly.

'Although… this could work out well for Juvia, this is the perfect way to spend time with Gray-sama! And with Lucy possibly not showing up that removes one of my romantic rivals… Gaaaah! Juvia just thought badly of Lucy! Oh fate why must you make Juvia choose between her best friend and her first love!?' she thought.

While Juvia was going through her mental breakdown and Lucy was worrying about her Father, Levy was just sitting on the floor completely lost and in a state of confusion.

"Eh? Ano… what are you guys talking about? I-I'm very confused right now!" said Levy worriedly, looking back and forth between them.

"Huh? Oh right you were out cold when he made the announcement…" said Lucy softly.

"Thanks to you!" yelled Levy angrily.

"Hey you don't hear me chewing you two out about tricking me do you? No, so don't get all angry at me. If anyone should be mad it's me right now" said Lucy folding her arms across her chest angrily.

"…"

Lucy had a point, so Levy kept her mouth shut before she put her foot in it again.

Lucy noticed that Juvia was being uncharacteristically silent on her end; normally she would have jumped right next to Levy after she yelled to calm her down. Curious, she glanced at her and was very confused by what she was seeing…

Juvia was crouched down on the ground, her hands covering her cheeks, and she was mumbling something incoherent…

Basically she looked like a crazy person.

"Um… J-Juvia?" said Lucy nervously; she had never seen Juvia act like this before so she wasn't sure what to do to snap her out of it.

"Juvia objects!"

…Eh?

"H-Huh?"

"Are? W-What happened to the church… the wedding?" asked Juvia, looking around as if she were transported to a different area.

"…J-Juvia, are you feeling ok? You said something very strange just now…" said Lucy with nervous concern.

Now for those who want to know why Juvia said something so weird… well she sort of started fantasizing about her life in the years to come with Gray, and for some reason she wound up inside a church watching Lucy and Gray getting married. So when the priest asked about objections Juvia couldn't stop herself and stood up yelling 'object!', only to find herself back to where she was and a concerned Lucy in front of her.

Juvia began tearing up causing Lucy to panic.

"Eh!?"

"Juvia…Juvia, thought mean things just now…" she said sniffling between words as she looked to the ground in shame.

"Eh?! I-Its ok Juvia… d-don't worry, we're here for you!" yelled Lucy pulling Juvia in for a hug to try and stifle her tears.

But that only made them come out faster… but not wanting to cause a scene she tried to keep them as silent as possible.

"Juvia wants Lucy to know… that even though she is now her rival in love… she will always be her friend!" said Juvia giving Lucy a bear hug.

"Ack! R-Rival in love?" asked Lucy in confusion.

Juvia held Lucy at arm's length "Lets promise that no matter who he chooses we will always be friends!" she said determinately.

"Hah?"

Lucy was soo lost right now… what was Juvia doing? And what did she mean by rival in love? She wasn't making any sense at all… had the situation somehow made Juvia lose it? Maybe she should just go along with whatever Juvia was saying just to make her more at ease?

"O-Okay Juvia… whatever you say?" said Lucy nervously.

Juvia sighed in relief "Juvia is glad… but if he chooses someone besides either of us we should get rid of her"

Lucy sweat-dropped 'Why has Juvia suddenly turned into some crazy love-sick person?' she thought.

"Will someone please explain to me what the hell is going on!?" yelled Levy, standing up and marching over to Lucy and Juvia.

"I wish I knew Levy-chan…" said Lucy dazed.

"Oh Shrimp, I see you finally woke up" said Gajeel who appeared suddenly behind Levy.

"Eeeek! I-Idiot, don't just sneak up behind people!" yelled Levy, her face red from embarrassment from screaming.

"Gihi!" laughed Gajeel, finding her reaction to be funny.

"Pink-haired asshole" muttered Levy.

"Oi I already told you my hair ain't really pink! So stop saying that!" he complained.

"So I suppose it makes a difference to you whether you're a pink-haired asshole or just a regular asshole?" asked Levy with a raised brow.

"Yeah! Pink is the Salamander's thing! I don't want anything to do with it!" he yelled.

"Ok, then I will call you asshole from now on" she said with a blank expression.

It was then that Gajeel realized he had made a mistake.

"Wait, that's not what I meant!" he protested.

"So asshole, can you tell me what everyone's so freaked out about?" asked Levy, her expression still blank.

"Don't call me an asshole!" he yelled in annoyance.

"So annoying, make up your mind, pink-haired asshole or plain asshole?" she asked in annoyance.

"Neither!" he yelled angrily.

"Now that's just silly, what do you expect me to call you then?" she asked with fake confusion.

"My name for starters!" he yelled.

"Heeeh~ So you won't stop calling me shrimp and you expect me to call you by your name. My, aren't we arrogant!" she said with a pompous tone.

Crap… she just played him like a moron didn't she? He fell right into her trap… then again he's been called worse before, so why did he care so much about what she called him? It was a total mystery.

"Your devious shorty I'll give ya that" he said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Wow, such a big word for such a big monkey, I'm impressed" she said with a fake impressed tone.

"You know, you two should really work on your flirting coz that just made me wanna puke" said Gray in a disgusted tone.

"Who'd flirt with him/her!" they yelled while pointing accusingly at each other.

"In perfect sync too" said Lucy in a shocked tone.

"Shut up!" they yelled again, this time glaring at each other.

"Someone should just throw them into a room so they can make out already" muttered Ultear softly.

"I heard that you bitch!" yelled Gajeel.

"Hah?" said Ultear, glaring at Gajeel demonically, causing him to flinch.

Ultear smirked, there wasn't a single person who she couldn't inflict fear upon, especially considering she had black mail on all of Gray's friends… Gray included.

"You wanna repeat that, pincushion?" she asked with a raised brow.

"N-No ma'am" he said fearfully.

"That's what I thought" she said with a maniacal smirk.

"G-Gray-sama's sister is scary" said Juvia nervously, she had finally let go of Lucy to focus all her attention on Gray…

Who had lost his shirt again.

"Does that guy have a thing against clothes?" asked Lucy curiously.

"If he does, Juvia will gladly help him with it" she swooned.

"Eh?" asked Lucy confused.

Honestly she's just too innocent.

"Gray do I have to staple that shirt on your body for you to keep it on!?" yelled Ultear annoyed.

"Ah shit! You stay away from me you crazy person!" Gray yelled as he scrambled for his shirt… again.

"I'll remember that Gray" she said lowly, causing him to pale.

"Crap, she needs to get a boyfriend and torture him instead" muttered Gray softly, pulling his shirt over his head.

"Poor Gray-sama…" said Juvia softly.

"He did what now!?" yelled Levy.

Looks like Gajeel finally caught her up on everything that's been going on… after they finally finished arguing anyway.

"You heard right, cept your guys club prez don't buy it, so she's been on the phone with her ever since he made the announcement" said Gajeel gruffly, non-caring as always.

"I should hope so, I'm not even in the archery club, so if I have to come here every Friday just to see your face I'd rather watch my favorite book burn!" she yelled.

Gajeel didn't really understand what she was trying to say… burning books was something he and Salamander did in their free time, and it was pretty fun. Unless she was insulting him..?

"Oi, what's that spose ta mean?" he asked angrily.

"It means I'd rather go through torture than see you again, idiot" she said annoyed.

"Tch, well it goes double for me Shrimp, as if I'd waste my time on a flat-chested kid like you" he said angrily looking away from her.

He knew he was lying, but he didn't want to admit to himself that she had hurt him a little when she said that, like microscopically hurt him. And the only way he knew how to deal with his anger was to direct it on someone… misdirected or not.

"Flat… chested..?" said Levy softly.

Her tone was unusually soft compared to all the yelling he'd heard from her, curious, he glanced down and saw that her fists were shaking and her eyes were downcast. He started to think that maybe he had crossed some sort of line here, it looked like she was gonna… gonna cry?

Nervous since he had never had to deal with a crying girl before, he began to panic slightly "O-Oi Sh-Shrimp?" he said.

"You…you…"

Suddenly, like a lightning strike she had slapped him clean across the face, and even caused him to fall backwards from the sheer force. Who knew someone so small could hurt such a big guy!?

"…Pervert!"

Ok, forget crying, she was outright pissed, so much so that her face was red from anger… or was it embarrassment?

"I'll send you straight to hell you sick SOB!"

Nope it was definitely anger; guess he really did cross a line… one he now regrets greatly.

"Shit!" he yelled, getting up off the ground to run from the now rampaging Levy.

"Get back here asshole!" she yelled chasing after him.

"Gajeel really can't talk to women" said Natsu in a disappointed tone as he appeared next to Gray.

"You're the last person anyone wants to hear that from" said Gray in a deadpanned tone.

"Oi, what's that suppose ta mean!?" yelled Natsu angrily.

And now we have Gray and Natsu fighting again, normally Erza would have broken it up by now but…she had other things to deal with.

"So… um… wh-what are you studying?" asked Erza nervously.

"Eh? Oh, um, criminology… I'm hoping to do something in the crime fighting field eventually…" said Jellal.

"I-I see… that does sound like something you'd do" she said with a small smile.

Jellal nodded his head in agreement.

"…"

Well… this conversation turned awkward.

Jellal cleared his throat and tried to keep this 'fire' of a conversation going before it died out completely.

"S-So… um… I-I hear that you're the student council president?" he said nervously.

Well… it's better than talking about the weather at least.

"Ah, y-yeah I am… since middle school I always managed to somehow end up as the student council president, ahaha…" she said rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.

This act caused Natsu and Gray to stop dead in their tracks, their fists frozen on each other's shirt collars…

Erza was… SHY?!

They had known Erza for years, but they had never seen her act like this!

"Hey, since when has Erza ever acted like a girl?" asked Gray.

Unfortunately for him he said it loud enough for Erza to hear.

*WHACK*

Which got him a swift punch in the face from her.

"Ouch!" he yelled

Jellal blinked once, twice, then smiled a little at the sight, Erza was still the same old Erza. He chuckled a little causing her to snap back into reality and realize what she had just done… in front of Jellal.

"Uhm… I-uh…"

Erza's face almost matched the color of her hair, she could not believe she had lost control like that, and in front of him of all people… she was extremely embarrassed.

"You haven't changed at all" said Jellal with a tender smile.

Erza felt warmth spread through her… how long had it been… that she had seen this smiling face? She felt herself smile as well; this was such a nostalgic feeling.

Ultear watched the scene unfold in absolute horror… they were so sickeningly sweet she thought she'd die of sugar overload, and not to mention it was such a strange sight; seeing Erza so… girly, for lack of a better word, and around her kouhai no less…

Hmm, maybe she could have some fun with this… finding blackmail against Titania wasn't easy to come by after all, and to make it better she already had something against Jellal, and she had only known him for a day!

*SNAP*

The sound of something smashing into the ground caught everyone's attention, when they turned to look they saw an angry Kagura who looked like she had thrown something really hard into the ground… and that thing just happened to be her cellphone.

"K-Kaichou?" said Lucy worriedly and a little afraid.

Looks like the phone-call with Porlyusica didn't go the way she wanted.

Kagura took a moment to compose herself, she then stomped off toward the dojo, a scowl edged on her face.

But just as she passed Jellal and Erza she stopped for a moment and sent him a deathly glare, and then continued on.

Jellal sighed heavily and a little sadly "I knew she'd still be angry but… I didn't think it'd be this bad" he said in a somber tone.

Erza's face turned sympathetic, in all fairness she understood why Kagura acted this way towards them, but she knew she couldn't let it continue to be this way between them. Kagura's anger was misdirected and she's no longer a child… it was time they fix things once and for all.

"I'm sure that… if given enough time, and after speaking with her… she may realize she must let go of the hate" she said, hoping that her words would be of some encouragement to him.

Jellal smiled slightly; trust Erza to know just what to say when he needed it.

'She really hasn't changed a bit' he thought fondly.

"Well I really hate to be the one to interrupt this romantic atmosphere, but I think it's time for us to be heading out now" said Ultear 'cheerfully', placing a hand on Jellal's shoulder.

"Huh?!" they yelled simultaneously, both blushing at her implication of them being romantic.

"Huh?" said Gray, finally waking up from Erza's punch, confused and not understanding what he had missed.

"Yeah, I gotta head home, so I might as well take Gray with me while I'm here, and I was supposed to take this guy home ages ago, hahaha" she said gesturing to Jellal with her thumb.

"Uh…" said Jellal, confused by her sudden change in priorities.

"Besides, I got all the blackmail I need today, so my work here is done" she said with a smile.

Oh… that's why; she wants to make a getaway.

"Jellal, please be a lamb and help my pathetic brother up will you?" she said without a hint of worry.

"Oi!" yelled Gray.

Jellal paled… why did she call him a lamb? Not only that, but she had this evil look in her eye… like she was planning something… something he'd be the victim of.

"Err…"

"Off you go now, he's not gonna manage to walk by himself" she said shoving him away as fast as she could.

Talk about suspicious, now he was worried. Why did she want him to leave so badly?

"Go on, or do you want to walk the rest of the way home?" she asked with a questioning look.

Groaning at the fact that she had given him an ultimatum, he decided it was more of a problem for his future self to deal with… better to focus on his 'now' problems.

"Ok ok, I'm going" he said in defeat, making his way to Ultear's slightly dazed brother; well at least he's one of the few people who don't need to go to hospital after receiving one of her punches to the face.

"Thank you!" she yelled cheerfully.

Jellal walked next to Gray and lent him his arm for support, the guy was still seeing double.

"You got pulled along in her pace didn't ya?" asked Gray, sympathy in his voice.

Jellal just sighed sadly "Well, you must have had it rough for years" he said sympathetically.

"Ha! Bro you got no idea, wait till I tell ya what she made me do at my middle-school graduation" said Gray with a humorless laugh.

"A-Ano… G-Gray-sama!" said Juvia suddenly with red cheeks, surprising both boys.

"Oh Juvia, something wrong?" he asked tilting his head slightly.

'Kawaii! That look is too kawaii for Juvia to handle!' she thought nervously.

"U-Um… etto… J-Juvia would like to thank you for your help today… and… th-that you make it home safely!" she said quickly bowing nervously, then quickly scurrying away to her friends.

"O…kay? Well that was weird" Gray said confused.

Jellal gave him a knowing look, which annoyed him slightly.

"Oi, what's that look for?" he asked.

"Oh nothing, just thinking to myself…" he said with a hint of amusement.

"Tch, whatever" said Gray, shrugging off his strange behavior.

Once the boys were far enough away Ultear handed a piece of paper to Erza, causing her to raise a brow in question.

"What's this?" she asked curiously, examining it like it was some kind of bomb.

"Oh nothing much, just Jellal's address and contact information" she said nonchalantly.

Erza's eyes were as wide as dinner-plates, her cheeks pinked slightly and her breath hitched for a second.

Ultear giggled slyly "Do with that what you will, anyway, I better get going, this turned out to be an interesting day" she said stretching out her arms.

Erza regarded Ultear with suspicion; there really was no telling what she was thinking… all you knew for sure was that there was always some sort of catch laced in whatever she was doing.

Then strangely Ultear gave Erza a strange look that had her second guessing her motives.

"You need to sort the things out you couldn't before its too late… so consider this a free-bee from me… just don't expect it to be a regular thing" she said with a sad smile.

Erza was surprised… she had never seen this side of Ultear before, and she had known the girl for a while now… and it was almost as if she knew what she was feeling.

Grateful, she bowed her head in silent thanks and watched her walk away. Ultear was… a lot nicer, than people gave her credit for, not that she'd ever admit it of course, but that was how she is.

"Attention Mermaid Heel ladies!" yelled Kagura, getting everyone's attention.

"We will be heading back to the Academy in a few short minutes, please make sure you have all your belongings and head back to the car in an orderly fashion. I shall explain what Madam Porlyusica and I have discussed on the way back, that is all!"

The girls exchanged worried glances with each other.

Natsu was caught off-guard with the sudden announcement of the girls departure; that meant that Lucy had to leave as well. But… he didn't want to let her just go, the chances were slim that they would meet again like this, or get a chance to speak to each other anytime soon… he needed to find a way to stay in contact with the girl.

Natsu looked at Lucy and suddenly an idea popped into his head.

He sucked in a deep breath and made his way toward the unsuspecting blonde and tapped her on her shoulder, making her jump slightly and turn to face him. She noticed he had a determined look on his face and tilted her head in confusion.

She wondered what had caused him to be so serious.

"Uhm… Lucy… can we… exchange email addresses?"

[A/N: Whew, that took a lot longer than expected… thank you all for your continued support! Please leave a review XD]