Sweetheart

94

"Well at least I know where you stand with this entire thing," he calmly responded, spinning on his heel and walking back towards the growing crowd.

It took her a good few seconds to process her own response, and by the time she had realized what she said, he was already far away from her.

"Natsu," she called out, "wait!"

He had heard her. That was apparent when he looked over his shoulder. But in that moment, he didn't give a shit. So he turned front facing once more and disappeared into the crowd. Her eyes darted to all the gazes of her peers, and it was at that time that she cursed both her recent words and her height, as she was unable to spot Natsu in the crowd from her vantage point. She took one last look around before darting into the crowd, desperate to find him.

Which was unsuccessful, as he had already made his way out to the parking lot.

"Shit!"

-------

Sting had caught up to him as he reached the edge of the school grounds and grabbed his shoulder to turn him around.

"Where are you going?"

"Who fucking cares? Probably home. I have nowhere else to go and I'm done with this shitshow."

"She didn't mean it, Natsu."

"Oh yeah? Then, all-knowing, why did she say it?"

Sting's mouth opened, but the words did not exit. Natsu gave a bitter 'that's what I thought' and shook his hold.

"Just don't do anything stupid."

"Well duh. I'll be home enjoying my newly single life. She made it pretty clear she wants nothing to do with me anymore. So fuck it."

Sting sighed and after many failed attempts at convincing him to stay, Natsu waved him off and stalked off the campus.

"Oh boy," the blonde commented. "This isn't going to go well for either of them."

-------

Aina twisted through the hallways, making her way right to the mats. Upon not finding him (and, luckily, not anyone else), she rushed to the projection room. Still nothing. The tunnel? After whipping the wooden slab to the side, she had come across two people that were definitely not Natsu. Cheeks red, she awkwardly pushed the panel back in its place.

Once seeing the panicked and desperate look in their friend's eyes, Lucy and Levy had agreed to split up and look for Natsu. They all met up in the library, and all of them regrettably revealed that they had not spotted him.

Tears started to pool in the salutatorian's eyes.

"What did I just do?" She whimpered.

-------

Natsu made it about halfway home before he stopped walking and stood on the sidewalk with his head hung. A shaky breath was heard before he continued on his journey home. Another ten steps were taken before he spun in another direction and started off to his new destination.

-------

"I just fucked up everything," Aina croaked. "I can't believe that I did that. Why would I fucking say that?!"

"You were probably overwhelmed," Lucy shrugged. "Pressure, most likely."

"Lucy, you're really not helping the situation," Levy scolded.

"A, I love you a lot," Lucy started.

"But?" The brunette cautiously asked.

"You do have a tendency to be a people pleaser. It's completely natural, considering. You were probably thinking about what other people would think more than what you think."