Chasing Shadows

Move : Part I

Juvia clutched her books tighter to her chest. Somehow she felt really excited yet extremely nervous about being here. She wasn't exactly someone anybody would expect to find sitting in a bleacher amongst many frenzied students in front of a basketball court. Her eyes strayed briefly from the running players to look to her surroundings, checking if anyone was looking at her. She didn't have to worry since everyone seemed intensely focused on the game, it was after all their dear basketball team, the Wizards against their most bitter rivals, the Phantoms. No one knew why there was so much amnesty between the two teams, the supporters simply soaked in the competitive spirit and somehow brought the whole thing onto a whole new level.

Every space available was filled with hyped up students. One could barely distinguish anyone from the crazy mass. To the left of the court, were all the Wizards' supporters and classmates, and to the right belonged to those who came to watch the Phantoms. It was a little unbearable for Juvia to listen to all the sounds around her.

On her side, people were bouncing off their seats, shouting insults and cheering for their players. They had huge banners and flags raised and they sometimes cheered as one and most times they were one unintelligible group. Bets flew everywhere and some of the senior boys removed their shirts, showing letters drawn on their skin, spelling 'Suck It Phantoms!' Juvia smiled a little at the effort and support they were showing. She faced forward again and examined the other side.

It was chaos. The students across them didn't even bother to sit down. They cursed and yelled and frequently flashed their middle fingers. It was kinda scary the way they were banging soda bottles on the rails and leaning over to shout profanities. Almost every one of them wore black shirts with words spray painted onto the garments. Juvia couldn't make out the words but she guessed they weren't pretty. Their energy hadn't toned down ever since the beginning of the game, never running out of rude or crass things to say.

The buzzer blared, making her flinch, ending the 3nd quarter of the game. They were leading by a mere point and that seemed to frustrate the hell out of the Phantom supporters. Her schoolmates on the other hand cheered and pounded their chests. Wow, they're really into this.

Juvia's eyes made its way to the reason she was even here in the first place. Gray was walking towards the rest of his team, catching a towel thrown his way by his teammate. His hair was sticking out in spikes and his mouth was slightly open, heaving deep breathes of oxygen. Juvia couldn't help but appreciate how toned his muscles looked in his white and blue jersey. It was her first time watching him play in an actual game and she admitted that she was very impressed. She found his movements really graceful and measured. He perfectly executed shot after shot, raining 3 pointers on the other team, earning them that one point lead.

"He's so hot!" She couldn't help but get distracted when several girls squeeled behind her. She had no doubt who they were referring to. Sure there were other handsome men in the team, there was Loke Sky, a very charming junior that was really popular among the girls. Then there were the Hunter twins, Laxus and Freed, although their personalities were extremely different and odd, they managed to easily garner fans and followers. Dylan 'the Elfman' Richards was also pretty popular with his macho look and bleached hair, however girls don't dare ask him out, there were several rumours that he was dating the super hot biology teacher, Evergreen Stone, most students found her a little scary. He was also very protective of his little sister Lissana Jean Richards, a very good friend of Juvia. None of them however, compared to Gray, with his easy smiles and his cool aura. He was the absolute dream-boat.

He didn't even need to do anything, people just naturally gravitate towards him. She didn't know if that fact fascinated or irritated her. Gray wasn't exactly too fond of the attention, he just reacted to it nonchalantly and acted as usual. He was very approachable and fun to be around. Although Juvia had known Gray for a very long time, they weren't exactly as one would say from the same 'world', according to many gossip-loving students. They were close, and people accepted that, Gray was after all pretty easy to talk to.