Before opening the front door, Juvia said a small prayer that all would go well and that Gray wouldn't start spooning around or asking too many questions. She was sure that if he ever found out she was half witch then that would be the end of their friendship and she's go right back to being the lonely and gloomy freak. She'd rather die than ever go back to that.
"Hi Gray." She greeted him with a smile when she could finally bring herself to open the door.
"Hi." He waved to her. "Ready to go?"
"Almost, I just have to wait for my cousins."
"Your cousins?" He inquired.
"Yes! Would you like to meet them?"
She invited him inside and escorted him into the kitchen where they stood.
"Gray these are my cousins Erza and Lucy. They'll be staying here with me for the school year. They're from Europe."
An awful tightness was already forming inside Juvia's throat and in her belly and in her chest. She wondered if this could be what a heart attack feels like. For all she knew she could end up unconscious on the floor in seconds flat, her blood boiling, her brain fried. God, she hated lying to Gray. She hated lying to anyone she cared about. It made her feel like she was betraying them in someway.
When Gray first saw Lucy and Erza, he was surprised by how very little resemblance the girls had to Juvia or each other. Sure, all three were equally pretty but that was the only thing he could find similar between them. Their hair, their skin, their eyes, their faces, completely different in every way. Then again, he barely looked anything at all like his uncle Gildarts or his cousin Cana.
"Hi. Nice to meet you two." Gray said, holding out his hand to shake.
Erza and Lucy both flashed him a smile. Erza's was platonic and respectful, the kind that someone would practice making just before a job interview. Lucy's of course was her usual coquettish like smirk that she gave every boy she met. The one that would cause every male specimen to just drop everything and worship her. Erza counted in her head how long it would take for this poor sap would just fall at Lucy's feet and propose marriage. But to her and Lucy's surprise, he did no such thing.
"Well hello." Lucy spoke to him in her flirty voice. The two shook hands and she pulled his closer. "Mind if I read your hand lines?"
"Read my what?"
Juvia thought that she would have a conniption right then and there.
"I'm into astrology." Lucy explained. "You know zodiacs, fortune telling, palm reading, that sort of thing."
"Oh you don't say." Gray said, getting intrigued. "My folks are kind of into that. I'm half gypsy, you know."
"Interesting." Lucy batted her eyes at him. "So can I read your hand lines?"
"I...I guess."
Lcuy batted her eyes at him again and looked down at his hand, running her finger over the palm in an almost sensual way. Erza face-palmed, Juvia couldn't figure out if she was horrified or jealous. Gray just stood there, confused and wondering how long this girl would be doing this.
"Wow, fascinating lines." She said truthfully. "They say that you have a dark secret and a very subtle charm. Quite the rare thing to find in a person. I'd love to uncover what you're hiding."
"May I have my hand back please?" Gray asked, not at all aroused by the blond's tactics at flirtation.
"Oh..." Lucy said, once again surprised by his reaction. "Sure."
Words could not describe how much Erza wanted to burst out laughing in that moment. Ever since Lucy hit puberty, she had every boy at her beck and call. She had always been completely irresistible to the coarser sex. Her smile alone could bring an army of military soldiers to their knees. But this mortal young man was a hundred percent immune to her charms.
"So ladies." Gray said pulling his hand back. "Which part of Europe are you from?"
"England!" Erza said.
"France!" Juvia said.
"Sweden!" Lucy said.
Gray lowered his glasses slightly from his eyes in a skeptic manner. The way he stared at Lucy and Erza with his one dark eye and one silver eye, made it difficult for either one of them to look away or manage a half-decent fabrication. Turns out, Juvia wasn't being melodramatic at all. Gray's eyes really did have a way of compelling someone to tell the truth. Luckily though, Erza had an incredibly strong will.
"All three!" She had said. "I'm from England, Lucy is from Sweden, and we attended a boarding school in France. "
"Funny you two don't have any accents." Gray said.
"They were both brought up by Au Pairs from America." Juvia improvised.
"Interesting." He said. "You know Juvia, I didn't know you had any extended family. I thought you just had your dad."
"Well Lucy and Erza are related to me through my mother and my dad has a very strained relationship with her side of the family."
"But it's just my mother and Lucy's father." Erza said. "We like Uncle Derek just fine."
"Living with your cousin, huh?" Gray said. "I guess that's another thing you and I have in common Juvia."
"Yep, and since they're new and my family, would you mind if they hung out with us at school?"
"Not at all. Why would I mind? We hang out with my cousin and my uncle all the time."
"Great! Just give us a few minutes."
"Okay, but remember the bus comes at 7:45 and it definitely won't stop if we miss it."
"Half the time it doesn't stop even when we're on time."
"True."
He left the kitchen, choosing to wait for them outside.
"Well he's pretty cute." Lucy complimented once he was gone. "A little too geeky for my taste but charming."
"Listen, can you not do that flirting thing with him ever again?" Juvia asked Lucy.
"Oh sorry, I didn't know you already had dibs."
Juvia suddenly turned bright red in the face.
"What?! No! No it's not like that! It's just that...Um...He's my friend and if he goes out with one of my cousins and you two break up, it might make things weird."
"Right." Lucy chuckled, not believing one word Juvia had said in that moment.
"But he is very special to me." Juvia said. "You know he's the only person in Magnolia who hasn't treated me like a freak. He's not scared of me, he never believed any of the rumors said about me, I couldn't bear to lose him. Lose him as a friend that is."
"Well whatever your reasons are." Lucy said. "It looks like you've got nothing to worry about. He obviously doesn't want me."
"Which is a first for all men everywhere." Erza said. "Every other guy she's ever flirted with before, would swear that you were a goddess or something. Guess you're just not his type."
"I guess." Lucy said. "Hey maybe he's gay."
"He is not gay!" Juvia quickly said. "He's just not like other guys when it comes to girls."
"How do you mean?" Erza asked.
"Well I know he's attracted to girls, I've seen him try to get a date many times, though he was rejected each time. But he's not like some hormonal lecher. He doesn't constantly stare at boobs and butts, or try to sneak a peek of the girl's locker room."
"How do you know that?" Lucy asked. "It's not like he'd tell you if he did."
"I just know."
"She's probably right." Erza said. "Remember Lucy, she can see into a person's heart. She probably knows everything about that boy."
"Not everything." Juvia said. "He has his own secrets like everyone else does, and I try not to pry."
"I meant you probably know everything about him morally speaking. I suppose he can be trusted."
"Trusted?"
"Trusted for us to hang around him. He seems harmless."
"But a little odd." Lucy said.
"Odd? Between the two of us I'm the odd one." Juvia said. "He's perfectly normal."
"For future references, no one is ever perfectly normal. Even if you're human." Erza said.
"You know what I mean. He's not half supernatural like I am." Juvia said. "And the same goes for everyone else at my school, so again, don't do anything strange or unusual when you're attending my school. Please?"
"You have our word." Erza said. "We will do everything we can not to cause you any humiliation today."
"Promise?"
"Promise." Lucy confirmed.
"Okay."
With that settled, the girls said goodbye to Anna and went out the door to walk to the bus stop with Gray. Juvia had her fingers crossed and she prayed from the bottom of her heart that this would be a day where the bus wouldn't pass them. Thankfully Mr. Taylor was driving the bus today and he had five children and fifteen grandchildren, ten who were around their age, so of course he was as nice as he could be.
"Morning Juvia." He greeted opening the bus door with a smile. "Morning Gray."
"Good morning Mr. Taylor." They both replied.
"Who are your friends?"
"They're my cousins actually." Juvia explained. "And they'll be going to school with me for the rest of the year."
"Good to know. Welcome aboard ladies."
The four of them stepped on to the vehicle and took a seat. Gray and Juvia sat next to each other while Lucy and Erza were seated side by side. As you would probably expect, all eyes were on the two new students and the staring continued during the whole ride and into the school building. Male gazes were mostly on Lucy but the boys at school thought Erza was a real looker too. The girls were torn between wanting to befriend them or feeling envious of them.
While Gray and Juvia headed for first period, Lucy and Erza went to the principle's office to turn in their applications and get their schedules and locker combinations. Lucy's locker was on one side of the hallway and Erza's was on the other. She wasn't sure if it was good that she and Lucy were so far apart, but then again at least it wouldn't be easy for Lucy to steal from her locker like at the academy.
"Okay 15." She muttered turning the lock to match the number. "35...64."
But when she tried to open the locker door it remained still. She tried the combination again. And again. And again. And again. Sadly the results did not change.
"Ugh! This is impossible!" She scoffed, tempted to make a hammer magically appear and use it to beat open the locker.
"Need some help?"
She spun around when she heard a voice speak behind her. There stood a tall, gorgeous boy who was firm-jawed and tousle-manned. He was grinning at her in a friendly manner and his green eyes appeared to be filled with curiosity.
"Um...Maybe." Erza said, not sure what to do at a time like this. "I think I may have been given the wrong combination to my locker."
"No, that locker is just really tricky. I had it last year, and why they haven't fixed it is a mystery to me."
"Can I change lockers?"
"Yeah. Just tell the principal and if he doesn't believe you, I'll vouch for you."
"Thanks."
"But for now."
He gave her locker door a few bangs and it popped open.
"Wow thanks." Erza said.
"You're welcome." He said giving her a smile that almost made her melt. "I'm Jellal by the way. Jellal Fernandes."
"Erza." She introduced while trying not to blush. "Erza Scarlet."
"Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too."