Songbird {NaLu Fanfiction}

Chapter 28

Lucy

I woke up today not really wanting to go to school. I just felt so tired, emotionally and mentally. It's also Monday, which naturally adds to all of my dread.

I decided to walk to school instead of getting a ride from Cana. It became a routine with us, her picking me up in the morning and me driving her home because she always somehow sneaks liquor into the school and gets drunk. I would then end up having to walk home afterwards, but that I don't mind.

Walking into first period, I find Ezra talking with Gray and Gajeel, Levy and Juvia sitting together and reading, and Jellal in the back corner of the room alone. Natsu was nowhere to be found and I felt my mood go down a bit.

"Hey guys," I said with a small smile.

Levy and Juvia jump in their seats upon seeing me, and Gray watched me as I was sitting down. Gajeel and Ezra were so concentrated in their conversation that they didn't hear me.

"Where's Natsu?" I asked, getting their attention, and I heard Gray sigh.

"That idiot probably just overslept," Gray said, his voice sounding bored.

Ms. Evergreen walked in a few minutes later and soon started our lesson. Halfway through the class and the teacher was too distracted to notice, the boy I was hoping to see finally walked in.

One problem- he looked more attractive than usual. He wore a black jacket with a red button-down underneath, sleeves rolled up. Natsu had a pair of glasses on, which made me even more speechless.

As Natsu made his way closer to us, I got to see his face clearly. My eyes widened at the cut going down his cheek, and the bruises around his exposed skin. His face was void of expression, and he let out a sigh as he sat down. Six pairs of eyes watched his movements in silence. I tried to talk to him, my mouth opening and closing, but nothing came out. Gray must've seen me struggling because he placed his hand on my thigh and shook his head when we made eye contact. Instead, he took over in talking to the pink haired male.

"I'm surprised you're here after how last night went,"  Gray said with a sly grin, and I raised a brow. Gajeel matched his expression, confusing me even further.

Natsu returned the look and shrugged. "I wasn't that tired."

Their conversation couldn't continue because of Ms. Evergreen's current lesson on economics. I couldn't focus because of how worried I was about Natsu's injuries.

Gray, Gajeel, Natsu and Jellal- who surprisingly didn't talk to us- walked out together once class ended. Noticing the serious expression on the blue haired teen, I turned towards Erza, who's calming packing up her things. Something seems off and i'm not the only one that noticed. Both Levy and Juvia are staring at our friend with worried expressions.

"What's wrong?" Erza asked without turning towards us.

"We could ask you the same thing, Erza," Juvia replied in a soft tone. "You've been acting really odd since you got here."

The three of us got up from our seats after Erza did, heading out the classroom together. We glanced at each other as we followed the red head.

"Erza," Levy called out suddenly. The said person stopped walking but didn't turn to look at us. "Really... what's wrong?"

Erza's grip on her bag tightened and her shoulders tensed. "I'm... I'm no longer with Jellal." That really made us gasp.

"What happened?" I asked, taking a step towards her.

All of a sudden, Erza turned around and stared at Levy and Juvia, who seemed to understand with just one look. Meanwhile... I did not. They whispered a few things I couldn't catch to each other, completely forgetting about my presence. I watched as the halls grew empty as quickly as my annoyance increased.

"Can you guys tell me what's going on?" I blurt out without thinking, surprising everyone and myself. I looked down with a frown. "I can already imagine it being something really serious... but I just can't help but feel like an outcast sometimes."

It was quiet between us and once I tried to leave, Erza grabbed my arm. I heard Levy and Juvia whisper the redheads name, almost as a warning.

"I trust you enough to tell you this, Lucy. You've been living here for almost a month now, I'm sure you've heard about Tartarus already. Gray, Natsu and Gajeel work together to take down branches of Tartarus," Erza said quietly but with a serious demeanor, pausing to glance at our friends. "Juvia and Levy are sometimes a part of it too. Jellal... he has a similar goal of taking Tartarus down but does so with a different group."

Erza stopped talking and with her gaze on the floor, she let go of my arm. "No matter how many times I tell him to stop... he just keeps putting himself in dangerous situations. Natsu too. I sometimes can't handle knowing what everyone is doing over this one gang. I can't sleep knowing that they could be in danger." Her trembling voice lost volume with each sentence. "I'm gonna go." And with that, she walked away from us.

Juvia and Levy turned to me with cautious expressions, but I stared after our retreating friend. Letting out a sigh, I rub at my temple trying to soothe the sudden headache I'm getting.

I realized that in the middle of Erza talking, the bell had rung. So great, we're all late to our next class. Not sure how much Mr. Conbolt will care, though. I'll just miss his class because of how my head is starting to feel like it's gonna split open.

"I'll meet up with you guys later," is all I told them before walking in the opposite direction as Erza.

Once I was a few steps away, I could hear Juvia and Levy whisper to each other and a second later they take off running, probably to their next class. I just continue walking to my intended destination.

Upon seeing the nurses office, I let out another sigh. Time to get some nasty medicine... yay!

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y'all ... idk how i feel about this chapter lol but at least i finished it! and i'm really happy that i did!!

a few things i want to clear up:
1) i looked back and realized what classes lucy (and most of the gang) has and i can tell 8th grade me didn't know shit about senior classes. well actually it might be different depending on where you live (state, country, etc) but i don't know of high school teaching economics LOL. so let's just say she has Statistics instead, and then Precalc, Physics, British Lit (instead of english 12), music/P.E., and her free period (which i wished i had).
2) i kept spelling rahkeid as rankeid (Larcade ... not sure why i didn't call him that instead, i might from now on)
3) i forget what song i had chosen for jellal & lucy's duet and for lucy's solo
4) i'm working on this story alone. i don't know if anyone reading this remembers how i worked with my best friend on Songbird. usually i was the one writing and she'd proofread it. i haven't spoken or seen her in like 2-3 years. we went to the same high school but once sophomore year started she transferred bc she felt like she didn't belong there :( and we just lost touch unfortunately. i still consider her one of my best friends in my heart, i've known her since the second grade and i'll never forget her. so yeah this story is gonna have lots of mistakes but that's okay! I already plan on possibly rewriting this after i finish!

that's really all i can remember. thank you for reading!! <3