Fifteen - Jellal Fernandes

They had almost reached the Fairy Tail foster home before either of them said a word.

"I'm not sure what you're angry about, Erza," Jellal sighed. "I thought we were having a good time."

"I'm not angry," she said. "You can do whatever you want."

"What did I do?" he asked desperately. He had been so happy, spending time with her. Of course he would mess it up in some way. "I only want to do things that don't upset you."

She gave him an unreadable look. "I don't want to talk about this anymore," she said. "You didn't do anything wrong."

The way she said the word 'wrong' made him certain that he had seriously screwed up. He went over everything he had done and said through the entire show. She had seemed perfectly happy through most of it. He tried to recall the last thing he said before she started to get upset. Maybe she didn't appreciate the story about Altair.

That must have been it. How stupid could he be, telling her a story about people in love? He had made things awkward. She was with Siegrain and he had no right to talk about such things with her. It wasn't as if they were on a date.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Maybe we shouldn't have gone to this together."

"Wh-what?" He looked over at her, surprised by her hurt tone of voice. She looked devastated and he was so confused that he had to pull the car over to the side of the road. "You don't even want to hang out with me anymore?" she asked.

"What?" He was utterly bewildered. "Why in the world would you think that? You've been the one avoiding me."

"You've been at Ultear's anyway," she pointed out. "You don't even need me to try to cheer you up."

"Erza, I don't-"

"Just forget it," she said, unbuckling her seatbelt and opening her door.

"Wait!" Jellal called after her.

"I'll walk the rest of the way," she said, slamming the door behind her.

Jellal wasn't having any of that. It was dark already and they were still miles from Fairy Tail. He turned off the car and got out, running after her. He grabbed her wrist, halting her. A car turned a corner and headed down the road towards them.

"Please, get back in the car," he said. She pulled out of his grasp and started walking again. "Erza, I don't understand."

"Obviously," she scoffed. To both of their surprise, the car coming towards them slowed to a stop. They looked at it as the driver's door opened and someone got out, but it was hard to tell who it was through the glare of the headlights. As he came closer, Erza recognized him first. "Simon?"

"Are you alright, Erza?" he asked. "Why are you two out here?"

"Jellal and I were at the planetarium," she said.

Simon glared at Jellal. "Oh, this one is Jellal."

Erza looked confused about Simon's tone, but Jellal understood. He had every right to be upset.

"Hello, Simon," he said calmly.

"Don't even talk to me," Simon scowled. Erza looked between the two boys with raised eyebrows. "Why the hell are you out here with Erza?"

"She just told you," Jellal reminded him. "We went to the planetarium."

"Simon, calm down," Erza said. "Why are you so upset?"

"How can you be with this guy?" Simon asked her. "He's a complete jerk."

"Simon!" she reprimanded. "Why would you say that?"

He gestured to Jellal angrily. "Do you not know what he did?" he asked. "I'll bet he didn't tell you."

Jellal's heart was beating fast. He wished that Simon would just shut up. Erza was the last person he wanted to find out about the threats. There was no way to explain himself to her. He would lose her friendship, which was the only thing he had left with her.

"Jellal, what did you do?" she asked warily.

"Let's go, Erza," he said. "We'll talk about it later."

"He extorted nearly the entire Era Student Council!" Simon accused. "Didn't you wonder why he was expelled?"

Erza looked at Jellal, eyes wide. "You didn't," she breathed, after a moment of silence. "Right? There's no way."

"He admitted to it," Simon told her. "And now he's pretending he's done nothing wrong."

"I-" Jellal started to protest, but knew there was nothing he could say. "Listen, Erza-"

"I can't believe it," she murmured. She almost looked like she was about to cry and it hurt Jellal to see her so desolate. "I really am an idiot."

"You're not," Simon said, stealing the words from Jellal's mouth. "Don't look so sad. I'll drive you home."

She just nodded and followed him to his car. Jellal stood in the street, at a loss for words. They got in the car and drove away and he was still rooted to the spot. It took him a long time to regain the ability to move or think of anything other than Erza's horribly disappointed expression. He climbed back into his father's car and drove home.

-.-.-

"Where have you been?" Siegrain asked when he walked through the door.

"The planetarium," he responded simply.

"By yourself?" Ultear asked. Jellal hadn't noticed her standing just behind Sieg before.

"No," he said. "But I guess now I'll be by myself forever."

Sieg seemed confused, but Ultear smiled sadly. "Were you there with a certain girl that we've been discussing?" she asked. He nodded and Sieg looked between the two of them, eyes narrowed.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"None of your business, Siegrain," she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder and stepping past him. "Let's go talk, Jellal."

"We're still discussing the student council, Ultear," Sieg protested.

"We have the whole weekend for that," she waved him off, ascending the stairs. "Jellal needs my help right now."

Siegrain didn't seem happy, but he didn't stop Jellal and Ultear from heading up to Jellal's room.

-.-.-

"You are a complete idiot," Ultear said, her face in her hand.

"I don't know what I did wrong," Jellal groaned.

"Why would you tell her that you're going to another girl's house every day?" she asked.

"Because it's true?" he suggested.

"Because you're an idiot," she reiterated. "Now she thinks you and I are together."

"But, we're not," he said.

"She thinks we are though," Ultear said. "And now, since you got her mad enough to get out of your car, she knows about the student council fiasco. It might help if you told her it was mostly Sieg."

"I can't," he said. "She's with him now. He'd kill me if I ruined that."

"First of all, she isn't with Siegrain," Ultear said. "Second, Sieg is a-"

"What do you mean?" Jellal asked. "I saw them together..."

"Doing what?" she asked.

"They were about to kiss," he grumbled.

"Did they kiss?"

"I left before they did," he said. "I didn't want to see it."

"They didn't," she told him. "Sieg told me everything. He tried to kiss her and she pushed him away, saying she was confused about her feelings."

"Confused?" he repeated, identifying with the emotion.

"He also told me that he hasn't seen her since then," Ultear continued. "She hasn't been back to this house."

"Dammit," Jellal sighed. "So, was tonight supposed to be-?"

"I assure you," Ultear said, "Erza thought — or at least hoped — that you were on a date."

"I'm an idiot," he said.

"Yes, you are."

"How can I fix it?" he asked.

"I don't know if you can, at this point," she shrugged. "Just wait and see if she decides to forgive you."