It's crazy how fast this year is coming to a close! I still feel like I have about a billion things left to do...it's the last exhale before the year is over. Wow time flies. Anyway, enough of me. Here's Ch 7!

"Ugh, Cana, I don't wanna do this." Gray whined, putting his face in his arms as he leaned on the countertop.

"Hey, I'm suffering just as much as you are." Cana replied, leaning on her arm that was stretched across the counter. It was a pleasant Saturday afternoon, but instead of enjoying their weekend outside the two were inside, studying in Cana's kitchen.

"But this is pointless for me. My grades are soaring right now, I can definitely get a 0 on this test."

"That's because you have Levy helping you!..lucky bastard."

Gray's eyes lit up. "Wait, that's it! I'll give you Levy's notebooks! Then we can go outside." He began searching his backpack. "This will go so much faster than- " His joy suddenly vanished. "Shit."

"What? What is it?"

He slumped in his seat again, putting his face in his hands. "I don't have her notebooks anymore."

"What? Did you get a chance to xerox them?!"

He sadly shook his head. "I had to give 'em back."

"What do you mean you had to give them back?" She crossed her arms, "I swear, if you didn't at least make a profit out of it- "

"Gajeel took them from me."

"Gajeel? Of course! He hasn't done any work since the quarter started." She smacked her hand on the counter. "That self-absorbed asshole- "

"No, he's not using them."

"So he's selling them? That pierced eyebrow, 50 ear piercings jerk- "

"He's not selling them either!"

Cana tilted her head in confusion. "Then what's he using them for?"

"I don't know," Gray shrugged. "I was walking to my car after school when he cornered me. He literally grabbed them from me."

"And you didn't do anything?" Cana snickered. "Weak."

"Shut up, it was scary! I don't think I've seen him that mad since that time Lyon took one of his mechanical pencils without asking."

Cana widened her eyes, remembering the occurrence in Biology last year. "Did he say why?"

"I wasn't really paying attention, because, y'know, my life was flashing before my eyes. But from what I remember, he said something like I wasn't allowed to touch Levy's stuff."

Cana arched an eyebrow. "Levy?"

Gray nodded. "Yeah. He was so mad."

"Did he say anything else?"

"Like I said, I was literally about to pee myself. The second I gave him the notebook I got in my car."

"Interesting."

"Speaking of pee," Gray responded, standing up.

Cana pointed behind her. "Down that hall." she shouted after him. She turned back to the precalc homework in front of her, searching for some shred of sense. But the numbers and variables stared back at her, only increasing her confusion. She groaned, stretching her hands out in front of her and touching a certain object. She looked up curiously, seeing her fingertips next to Gray's phone.

Without a second thought she grabbed the device, clicking it on. A four-digit pass code stared back at her. Damn. Didn't think Gray was smart enough to put a password. She thought for a second, before typing 'Gray' in numbers. She smirked as the phone unlocked. Maybe he isn't.

She tapped a specific icon, opening Gray's text messages. Finding the name she was looking for, she quickly typed a message. She put his phone back down just as she heard the bathroom door open.

"What's up?" he asked, sitting back down.

"What do you mean?"

"You look a little on edge. You good?"

Cana waved him off. "Of course. These precalc problems got my heart racin!" Gray raised an eyebrow at her, but laughed anyway. She smirked to herself, trying not to look over at his phone that was on the other side of the table.

Meredy looked down at the dish placed in front of her. "If that's not a work of art, then I don't know what is!" she exclaimed to their waitress, who smiled in appreciation.

Ultear, across from her, thanked the waitress as well as a plate of food was put in front of her. As soon as the woman went away, she turned to Meredy. "I don't get it. Why do people put so many fruits in their salads?"

Meredy shrugged. "For variety, I guess. I don't think there's any reason otherwise." Ultear nodded, and the two started eating. They were spending their Saturday afternoon together, eating at a small restaurant in Magnolia.

Ultear cleared her throat. "Anyway, I was going to ask how advanced bio is going for you." she asked, referring to Meredy's hardest class.

"You're asking me about bio while we're not in school?" Meredy scrunched up her nose. "No thanks."

"What do you mean? It's a hard class, but it's really fun once you get past- " A blueberry flew at her, catching in the ends of her purple hair. "Meredy, what the hell?!" she almost laughed, flinging the blueberry back at her friend.

"C'mon Ultear, what's up with you?" Meredy whined, pouting in her seat.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're talking about school on a weekend.."

"Okay, so?"

"So! It's school!"

"...And?"

"You know what I mean. You need some spice back in your life!" Meredy began looking behind her, searching for something.

Ultear followed her frantic gaze. "Spice? What spice- "

"Spice, like- ooh! Like that busser! He'd definitely be a nice spice!" Meredy gushed, nodding behind Ultear.

Ultear followed to see Lyon Vastia at a table a little ways behind them, cleaning a table. While they weren't particularly close, his family, Ultear's, and Gray's were all close friends. "Meredy, do you even know who that is?"

"Yeah! He's that hottie from my 7th hour! Damn, if he weren't into Juvia, I would so- "

"He's also Lyon, who happens to be one of my family friends."

"Alright, so maybe not him. But what about Jellal? I saw how comfy you guys were at the library!"

"You saw us once."

"Still! What's going on with you two?" she asked, sticking a fork in her salad.

Ultear paused, unsure of what to say. "I don't really know."

"What do you mean? He's not dating Erza anymore, right?"

"...It's a long story."

Meredy shrugged. "Start from the beginning."

"Okay." Ultear took a deep breath. "I've known him forever. And we're really close. So of course at some point we liked each other."

"Right."

"But then he started dating Erza. Which was fine, but they'd break up and get back together all the time."

"And?"

"Well, every time they broke up, he always went back to me and started acting on those feelings from before. But then he and Erza would make up somehow, eventually date again, and then he'd leave me out of it. So I'm the permanent rebound girl."

"Jeez, how awful of him." Meredy frowned. "I had no idea, I thought you guys were only having weird fallouts."

"Yeah, it sucked. And thing is, it's not like it hasn't happened in forever. Its happened recently too."

"So why are you spending time with him now?"

"It's for his grade. You know I put friendship first, and I can't stand to see him fail if he asked for my help."

"But what about how he treated you? Doesn't he act the same, to some extent?"

"That's the weird part. He's been really nice, and caring about my well-being and what not."

"Well, what's different from before?"

"Well, he never mentions Erza anymore, or immediately come on to me, and he asks these questions about me that..." Ultear stirred her water around, black straw in hand. "I don't know." She stared at the ice cubes swirling around her glass. "I feel like this time, he's actually trying to get to know me."

Hey Mom,

It's me, Lucy. I know you won't read this, but it's this dumb English project...you know what? It's fine. You taught me to always stay positive no matter what. So maybe you will read this. Anyway, it's really nice outside; I hope you're enjoying the weather too! I am, but not in the way I planned to. Natsu-

"Luce! Look how big this beetle is!" Natsu exclaimed.

Suddenly beside her Lucy jumped in her seat, hands instinctively covering the paper in front of her. "Natsu, don't scare me like that!"

"Did not! I was already calling to you before, but you were too wrapped up in whatever you're doing to notice." He peered over her hands. "What are you doing, anyway?"

"I- well- Mr. Clive- "

"You're doing homework?!"

Lucy nodded, feeling her cheeks getting warm. "Yeah, I am. So?"

"But it's a Saturday! And we're outside!"

"I have to get something productive done."

"We're doing productive things out here!"

"Digging for beetles is not productivity!"

"Sure it is! Why do you think I asked you to come in the first place?"

"You told me we were doing homework! Thank goodness I actually brought my backpack, otherwise- "

"Natsu! Lucy!" a new voice interrupted. "Look at this!"

Lucy turned in time to see Romeo Conbolt sprinting over. "What is it, Romeo?" Natsu asked excitedly.

Romeo stuck his hands in the space between Natsu and Lucy, hands closed around each other. "The biggest beetle I've ever seen!"

Lucy pulled herself to the other side of the wooden park bench, shaking her head. "Absolutely not!"

"Come on, Lucy! Just look at it!" Romeo urged, holding his hands to her.

Lucy leaned further back. "If you think that's getting any closer to me, you're very, very wrong." she warned.

Natsu looked at her, noting her body language and her wide eyes. He stepped in between them, gently nudging Romeo's hand out of her space. "She doesn't want to." he said, his tone oddly serious.

Lucy looked up at him in surprise. "Natsu, it's fine- " she started, but his serious expression was still throwing her off. Does that mean… Her pace began to quicken. He cares for my well-being?

But as soon as the thought crossed her mind, Natsu's cheeky grin reappeared on his face. "She's not cool enough to appreciate them." Lucy rolled her eyes while the two snickered to each other in agreement.

Romeo then cleared his throat, smiling bashfully at Lucy. "Sorry, Lucy. That wasn't very cool."

Lucy returned the smile. "It's fine, Romeo. Just make sure the little guy can breathe." She pointed to his hands.

"Oh, right!" Romeo turned around and opened his hands, the black beetle scurrying back into the grass. "I'm no good with animals, especially in Earth Science. Wendy's always so gentle with them, and I'm not…"

"Wendy? Your lab partner?" Natsu tilted his head, confusion evident. "What does she have to do with anything?"

Lucy's ears perked at the mention of Romeo's classmate and her neighbor. "Wendy?" she raised her eyebrows, and put a hand under her chin.

Romeo nodded. "She's always gentle when we're observing anything."

"Huh. Maybe next time we hang out, she can come too."

Romeo's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Natsu head tilt increased. "Why?"

But Lucy only nodded, gears turning as another plan formed in her head.

Gray walked down Cana's driveway and opened the door of his car. He sat inside, dumping all his belongings in the passenger seat. He had put his key in, when he heard the buzzing of his phone. He pulled out the device, widening his eyes at the screen before answering it. "Hey, what's up?"

"So where are you." came Erza's voice, commanding as usual.

Gray gulped. "W-what? What do you mean, 'where am I?'"

"I'm asking for your location, Gray. What did you think I meant."

"W-well, I don't know, it seemed kinda random."

"Random? I said I was going to call you later!"

"...Okay...about what?"

"What, did you headbutt too many soccer balls again? I asked, where are you?" she repeated.

"I'm about to go home, but...sorry, what are you talking about?"

"Are you kidding?! You're the one who planned this out!"

"Planned what out?"

She let out a frustrated groan. "You texted me, saying we were getting cake at 4 o'clock!" He heard a dull smack in the background, the image of Erza slamming her hand on the table coming to mind. "And it's 4:23!"

"I was studying for the past three hours, Erza. I didn't touch my phone once." Gray responded defensively. He pulled his phone away from his ear and went to his texts.

"Gray, I don't understand why you continue to argue with me when I'm right." He jumped as Erza's voice filled the car, even more commanding when put on speakerphone.

Shaking off his fear he looked at his last sent text. "I did not text you, that's for sure- " He suddenly stopped, his last text in front of him.

Hey, you free at 4? We shud get cake.

His jaw dropped when he saw that the message was not only from him, but also sent to Erza. But...how?!

"What? Did you finally realize I was right?" Erza asked. He could practically hear her smirking through the phone.

"Okay, there's a text there, but there's no way I- "

"I guess I'll see you on Monday. And you better have cake, because I took time out of my busy schedule to get ready, only to be disappointed."

"How is that fair?!"

"It wasn't fair to me, that's for sure." she chuckled. "Also, why would even think of abbreviating the word 'should?' You know how incorrect spelling irritates me."

Annoyance welled up in his chest. "Erza, you- " A dull click sounded on the other end. Gray put his phone down, sighing in irritation. If she thought she was getting cake from him, she couldn't be more wrong.

I'll try to upload the next chapter soon! As usual, do leave a review :) Love y'all.

-Pinky