Eight Members (A NaLu, GrUvia, JeRza, GaLe Fanfic) [COMPLETED]

Ch. 28: First And Worst Concert

{Natsu's POV}

"We have good news! Your first concert will be next month! Isn't that great?!"

We all looked blankly at Zeref. We don't know if we'll be happy about the news or not. It was way too fast, truth be told. I mean, we have just announced that we formed a new band: The Eight Members. Our first concert will be on the first month of next year. Sounds great, but I don't feel like having a concert at that time.

Mavis glanced uneasily at each one of us. "No comments?"

Jellal took a sip from his water and spoke up, "It's great to hear that we already have a concert planned ahead but.. don't you think it's.. uhm.. how do I put this.. quick? You know, we need time. We need the opinions of our fans before doing something." He got it right. Since we were all friends, (I don't know about the friends part) we all thought about the same things. I guess this was normal for groups of friends like us.

Zeref and Mavis exchanged glances, "You're right." Zeref plopped down on his chair and ate fries. "Well, it's your choice. We could cancel the concert now." he said with a disappointed voice.

Gajeel, apparently, knows about Zeref's behavior. He was trying to convince us to agree with the concert by pretending he was sad and disappointed. Nevertheless, he answered, "Quit acting like some teenage girl. We'll do it." It was obvious that his voice was forced. We can't do anything about the date of the concert because it would be embarrassing for the managers to cancel the concert in such a short period of time.

Gray sighed and agreed with Gajeel. I gave him a slight glare. What he revealed to them earlier was irritating. I considered it invasion of privacy. I mean, you spilled a secret to people without your permission.

I'm becoming irrational here so never mind.

After the whole concert deal had been settled, I thought about tomorrow. Surely, tomorrow would be the start of our practice.

"Dude, we're going out. You staying here or nah?" Jellal nudged me, breaking me out of my thoughts. I chuckled and shook my head. Standing up, I searched for my cellphone. Oh shiz. I don't have it in my pocket. Seriously, where is it?

"Jellal, have you seen my phone?" I inquired, panicking. Dang it. He shrugged, which made me panic more.

"It's here. Come on," I looked up and saw Lucy waving my phone in the air. How in the world did my phone get into her hand? Did it walk? "Levy gave it to me. You forgot it at home earlier. No worries. I didn't invade your privacy." she added. Of course she couldn't invade my privacy. My phone had a password. I was the only one who knew the password.

Relief washing over me, I followed Lucy and Jellal. I didn't know why, but I now feel weird about Lucy's name. Dunno.

*-*-*-*-

“No! Stop. Stop, Natsu. You’re singing way too higher than the original key. Control it! We’re starting over again for the sixteenth time. Let’s get this done real quick, okay? I want to eat already! Natsu, I repeat, control your voice. The chords, the rhythm—it’s all great. I admit I don’t have that great voice, but I’m trying my best. You should, too.” Lucy frustratedly scolded. She ran a hand over her hair, trying to remain calm.

I heaved a heavy sigh. I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t focus on our practice today. One thing I’m admitting: I have little attention span.

We were practicing on the garage. Everytime I see something or someone outside the gate, I lose focus, thus making my voice a little bit.. off. No. Not a little bit off, but horrible.

Lucy gave the signal for Levy and Gajeel to start the playing of the piano.

Lucy took a deep breath and sang the first lines of the song, “♪How many times do I have to tell you....♪” she had a nice voice, actually. Maybe she was just trying to humble herself awhile ago just to make the little ‘insult’ she blurted out less offending.

It was then my turn to sing. ‘♪ ‘Cause all of me
Loves all of you
Love your curves and all your edges
All your perfect imperfections.....♪”

At least now, my voice sounded better than the older ones. When I finished, I looked at Lucy who gave me a nod of approval.

She really had her period today. Mood swings.

I didn’t realize I had muttered those words out loud not until Lucy gave me a smack in the head. The boys laughed at me, whispering to each other how much of an idiot I was whereas the girls shook their heads at me with disappointed looks. I shot them daggers. They weren’t helping. Friends they were.

I went on my way inside the house to start eating lunch.

*-*-*-*-

“♪....This woman is my destiny
She said oh-hoo
Shut up and dance with me♪” We were watching Gray sing as he danced with Juvia. They suit each other a lot, in my opinion. The what they call ‘GrUvia fans’ were screaming at the top of their lungs and fangirling. Some of them were rambling about how Juvia and Gray were perfect for each other. It was true. Unfortunately, they weren’t a couple in real life. How I wish they were.

“Natsu,” I turned to look at Lucy who was wearing a purple dress that reached the middle of her knees. I wouldn’t deny it—she looked absolutely gorgeous. “your turn after they sing.” I nodded at her. In case I forgot to mention, it was our concert already. The concert was going smoothly, currently speaking.

As Gray almost finished singing and as I got ready for my song, I heard the people gasp. With knitted eyebrows, I glanced at the monitor behind them. My eyes widened at what I saw. The horrified looks on people’s faces matched mine.

“What the.. hell is happening here?” Levy slowly uttered, peeking through the backstage.

Erza, with her shocked face, shrugged, mumbling: “I have absolutely no idea.”

What made us all shocked was Jellal. Jellal’s face was on the monitor behind Gray and Juvia. Gray had stopped singing when he heard the people’s shocked gasps.

Wait a minute. That picture when Jellal had a red stain on his.. well.. butt. It was when we were eating at the canteen, back in the middle school days. Some guys had pranked him obviously. But how did a picture of Jellal get in there? Who took a picture of him, more importantly?

“Oh gosh. This is turning out to be the Eight Members’ first and worst concert.” Lucy grumbled to herself, looking frustrated and melancholy. “What the hell do we do now?” she asked, looking straight into my eyes. Bothered as well, I replied with a shrug. She bit her lip. I knew she didn’t want the concert to turn out like this, especially with all the hardships we’ve been through. She didn’t want the efforts we made go into waste.

A lightbulb appeared at the top of my head as I realized one thing: there was only one person who would do this kind of thing to us. I became enraged at what I have discovered.

I had a single eye contact with the guy I was talking about as I scanned the audience. I shot him daggers as he disappeared through the huge crowd.

That guy. He was gonna pay for this. Big time.

If you’re wondering on who the guy is, he’s Ivan Dreyar. He’s a professor of ours back in middle school. I don’t know why, but he was annoyed at us. More like he despised us. Still, we didn’t do anything bad to him.

He was also the guy who pranked Jellal. A pretty childish professor, huh? I couldn’t agree more.

I became startled when Lucy spoke. “People! Calm down. That picture is nothing but trash. That pic is only edited. No need to gossip all about it. First things first. We’ll be back after a few minutes.” I didn't notice she was already on-stage, holding a microphone.

Dear Lucy, you just lied to the people in front of you. That picture is true, not edited. You don’t know the story behind that picture.

Jellal walked past us with a disconcerted expression. Oh man. I think we should cancel the concert. With Jellal like this, we can’t continue the concert.

“The show must go on.” Erza said with a determined look. I caught her taking a glimpse at Jellal, who sulked at a corner. “Or maybe not.” she added hesitantly. I knew she badly wanted this concert to go smoothly. What she wanted didn’t happen.

An eery silence enveloped us. I couldn’t think of a way to comfort everyone and continue the concert. Ivan really was a hater of us.

I looked up when Erza started singing on-stage, dragging Jellal behind her.