Eight - Jellal Fernandes

Jellal knew he didn't have a good reason to feel so protective of Erza, but he was so angry that someone would steal her things. He would find out who took them and force them to apologize and give everything back. For the moment, all he could do was lend her some of his clothes. He didn't remember bringing an extra outfit, but he was glad he had. Erza would have been without clothes otherwise.

He pushed away the image that tried to invade his mind at that thought. He turned to his locker to unlock it once more and retrieve the rest of his things. The code was easy to remember because the numbers just so happened to match up to the letters of his name. He wondered if Erza knew about that. He would have to ask her when she was done changing.

As soon as she stepped out of the locker room, however, coherent thought left him. In her own clothes, she had looked stunning. Loose-fitting, guys' clothes did nothing to make her look especially nice, but Jellal couldn't help but find her absolutely adorable in his clothes. He stared at her longer than he probably should have. She smiled slightly at him, seeming a little embarrassed.

She- she's so cute, he thought.

"Do I look bad?" she asked. Jellal didn't trust himself to speak, so he just shook his head vehemently. "Your stupid brother stole my clothes," she went on.

Jellal was confused. "Sieg?" he asked. "Why would he do that?" Erza shrugged and Jellal's eyes followed the curve of her shoulder as the fabric of his shirt slid off of it. She adjusted the neckline back into place, snapping Jellal out of the odd daydream his mind had started pulling him towards. "I'll help you get them back," he said.

"Thanks," she smiled. "I'm pretty sure he's just trying to mess with me."

"Sorry," Jellal said. "You know as well as I do how much of a jerk he can be sometimes."

She nodded. Then she noticed something over his shoulder. "Oh!" she gasped and he looked around to see a wall clock. "We're going to be late for home ec!" She grasped his wrist and lead him out of the gym in a hurry.

-.-.-

Lucy had arrived ahead of them and explained what had happened. Mirajane was the home ec teacher, so she didn't make a big deal out of it. "I hope you find your clothes," she said. "It's nice to have friends to help you out." She winked at Erza and Jellal, and then shared a smirk with Lucy.

"Lucy!" Erza said accusingly. Jellal wasn't sure what was going on, but Erza seemed embarrassed, which just made her even more adorable. "Just get on with the class," she grumbled.

"Okay, class," Mirajane began. "There will be a lot to learn this year. We'll start with learning to sew and wash clothes. After that we'll move on to cooking; that will be most of what we do. Near the end of the year we'll have our sack of flour baby project. The final exam is to have taken care of, properly clothed, and cooked and baked a decent meal and dessert for your little family."

"Do we get to work in pairs?" a guy Jellal knew as Loke asked.

He was leaning back in his chair and winking at every girl in the room. Jellal was suddenly determined to not let the guy work with Erza.

"Yes," Mirajane answered. "And you'll need to pick out your partner for the year today. You will do every project with them and you'll be graded in part by how well you can manage to get along." She motioned for everyone to stand. "Go find your partner and then come tell me who you are with so I can mark it down on my list."

Loke got up and started walking towards Erza. Jellal hurriedly turned to her. "Be my partner," he said. He had meant to ask nicely, but panicked when Loke had approached so quickly. "I mean," he said, "only if you want to."

"Of course," Erza smiled.

Loke scowled at Jellal, who fought the urge to shoot the orange haired boy a victorious smile. Erza told Mirajane to mark down "Myst" as her partner. Mirajane whispered something in Erza's ear that made her blush. Jellal found himself wishing he could make her blush more. It was cute to see her so vulnerable.

"I can't believe Lucy said that," Erza said, shooting a death glare at Lucy, who had ended up paired with Loke. Erza sat back down next to Jellal. "Do you know anything about sewing or cooking?" she asked him.

"Uh, very little," he admitted. "Do you?"

"I can cook alright," she said. "I haven't done much sewing. It shouldn't be too hard for us. We'll be fine."

She smiled at him and he couldn't help but smile back. He had to force his eyes not to linger on the way his clothes hung loosely over her body. It was becoming more and more difficult to ignore his attraction to her. That was not a good thing. Siegrain would definitely not be happy about it.

The thought of Siegrain made Jellal a bit angry. Why would he steal Erza's clothes? Why did he have to screw with her all the time? And why did she still seem to like him, even though he made her life difficult? Jellal huffed in annoyance and decided not to think about that anymore.

Erza can like whoever she wants, he mentally chided himself. She shouldn't like me anyway.

He held back a groan as he laid his head on the table.

"Are you feeling alright?" Erza asked, lifting his hair out of his face and placing her hand on his forehead.

"I'm fine," he assured her quickly, backing away. I don't think that I can handle her touching me, he thought. I'll go crazy. "I'm just a bit tired," he said. "And annoyed by my brother."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, me too," she agreed. "I'm heading home with you after school today. I'll need you to hold him down so I can beat the everliving-"

"Myst and Erza, please pay attention," Mira said. "You can flirt after I'm finished explaining how to thread a needle."

Jellal felt his face heat up and, though he didn't look, he was sure that Erza's face matched her hair. The rest of the lesson went on in a similar fashion. Mirajane seemed determined to embarrass Erza, and Jellal wasn't entirely sure how she was managing it. Erza refused to look at him for most of the period, which irritated him a bit, but it least it let him think more clearly. He wondered why in the world Myst had chosen 'Home Economics' as his second elective.

"'Shop' is one thing," Erza whispered to him, seeming to read his mind, "but why in Earthland would Myst take 'Home Ec'?"

Jellal shrugged and ignored how close she had gotten to him in order to speak into his ear. "I'm not sure," he said quietly. "He already knew he wouldn't be here, so maybe he picked at random."

"At least that means we get to be in the same class," she smiled, standing up at the sound of the bell. "Do you have the same locker as last year?" she asked.

"I assume so," Jellal said, following her out of the room. "I actually haven't visited my locker yet-"

"Myyyyyyst!" Natsu's voice called out over the students crowding the hall. "C'mere!" The pink haired boy was standing on an extremely disgruntled Gray's shoulders as he beckoned to Jellal. "You're joining Karate Club," Natsu said as Jellal and Erza approached him.

"Excuse me?" Jellal asked.

"Karate Club," Gray echoed, pointing to the signup sheet on the dojo's door.

"Why would I join?" Jellal asked.

Natsu blinked in confusion and narrowed his eyes. "Because nakama need to stick together," he said matter-of-factly.

"I don't know what that means," Jellal said slowly.

"He means that you're our friend, so you have to be in Karate Club with us," Gray said.

"But-" Jellal tried to protest, but Natsu had already written 'Mist Ferndez' on one of the sign up sheet lines. His handwriting was even worse than his spelling.

"Give me that," Erza said, snatching the pen from Natsu and filling out the form correctly for all three boys.

"You're not joining?" Gray asked when she didn't add her own name to the list.

"I joined the fencing team!" she announced, eyes sparkling.

"Fairy Hills has a fencing team?" Lucy Heartfilia asked, walking up to the group with a blue-haired girl.

"We do now," the girl — Jellal recalled her name being Levy — said. "Erza is the sole member."

"The clubs here are very small," Lucy noted.

"That's why I'm glad I have one more person for Book Club!" Levy grinned. "Next thing you know, we'll be giving Star Club a run for their money."

"Star Club?" Jellal asked with interest.

"It's astrology, not astronomy," Erza told him. "You wouldn't be interested."

"Oh," he said. "Okay."

"You couldn't join anyway," Natsu said. "You'll be in Karate Club."

"Right," Jellal sighed. "I still don't understand why you guys want me to join," he said. "How do you even know if I'm any good?"

"You were good at dodgeball," Natsu shrugged.

Jellal wasn't sure what that had to do with anything, but he figured he was going to be forced into it either way. There was no point in resisting. He was focusing all his energy elsewhere anyway. They would be heading home any moment. Siegrain would soon pay for messing with Erza.