Just Add Water

Chapter 28

Another full moon was coming but this time the girls were determined to be prepared. They met up after to school discuss what their plans would be for tonight.

"This full moon thing makes me nervous." Juvia said.

"We'll be fine. You two just need to control yourselves a little better this time." Erza said.

"You're not immune to it you know Erza." Lucy said feeling irritated.

"I'm pretty sure I can resist the big bad moon. I did it twice."

"I'm pretty sure we all can." Lucy said. "We just have to be prepared and I really wish I could find my aunt Anna. She knows a lot about this stuff so she could help us."

"She's not at her boat?" Juvia asked.

"No."

"Oh this is a bad sign." Juvia said. "A very bad sign. There's going to be trouble tonight."

"I'm pretty sure we'll be fine tonight." Lucy said. "We'll have a sleepover at my house and my dad will be away on a business trip so if anything does happen at least he won't be around to see it."

"I'm going to go back home to get my things ready." Erza said. "I'll be here before dark."

Erza left Lucy's house and hurried over to where she lived. She packed her bag with pajamas, a tooth brush, extra clothes, and sleeping bag then went back over to Lucy's. On her way there she spotted Jellal talking on the phone.

"Dad I am not crazy! I know what I saw out there!" He argued. "Please don't talk to me like I'm some little kid...Why can't you just believe me?!...Yes sir...Bye."

He hung up.

"You stupid jerk!" He said angrily before sticking his phone back in his pocket. He turned around and saw Erza staring at him. "What are you looking at?!"

"Sorry! I didn't mean to stare. You just seemed so upset that I-"

"Look what's going on in my life is none of your business! Now beat it!"

Erza did exactly what he demanded though she couldn't help but feel sorry for Jellal. She never thought that she would ever feel sympathy for him but how could she not given his situation. A lot of the kids at school mocked him, even his parents thought he was nuts. Part of her wanted to tell him the truth just so he could know for sure that he wasn't crazy but Lord knows what Jellal would do with that information if he had it. It would probably land all three of them in the nearest government lab.

"I'm really sorry." She apologized to him in her thoughts. As annoying as she found him tob e she never really wanted to do anything to him that would upset him this bad.

"I just wish there was a way that we could prove to everyone that he's not crazy without exposing our secret." Erza told her friends when she got back to Lucy's house.

"Well there isn't." Lucy said. "Erza I know how you feel, we all feel guilty but we can't tell anyone and since when do you care about Jellal?"

"I don't care about him but I can sympathize with him."

"So can I." Juvia said. "You know some of his so called friends are starting to turn on him."

"I'm not surprised." Lucy said. "Laxus and Minerva are about as faithful as Judas Iscariot. But lot's of people get bullied and have friends turn on them."

"Yes but not all of them have a parents and families to help them out through this difficult time." Juvia defended. "For as long as I can remember Jellal's parents have always had trouble being there for him. Especially his father. I think that's one of the reasons why he bullies other people so much. I think he feels that there's no one who really cares about him."

"I wouldn't go that far." Erza said. "I mean his dad does buy him all that expensive stuff."

"But that's not love that's bribery."

"I'm just saying that Jellal's dad does a lot more for him than my da-... I mean than some fathers do for their children."

Lucy and Juvia looked at Erza skeptically when they noticed that she had trailed off and changed her phrase.

"What was that?" Lucy asked her.

"What was what?" Erza replied.

"What you were about to say."

"I wasn't about to say anything. I said what I wanted to say."

"But you were about to say something about yourself. About your own dad maybe?"

"No. I wasn't going to say anything about him."

"You know you don't really talk about your dad that much. We know that you live with your mom but you never told us what happened to your dad. Did he die?"

"Look I really don't like to discuss him and neither does my mother. We both think it's best for everyone if we just never mention him. You can understand that can you?"

"Of course we can." Juvia said. "We know we're coming from. To this day I still have trouble talking about my parents."

"And my mom." Lucy added. "We've all lost someone important to us when we were little. We understand."

"It's not exactly the same situation with you guys." Erza said walking away from them.

"Erza we're sorry if we upset you." Lucy said.

"No it's cool." Erza said. "Trust me. It doesn't bother me that bad. Listen since we're basically going to be sealed up all night I think I'll get some air while I still can. By myself if you guys don't mind?"

"Sure." The two of them said.

Erza then left the living room.

"Do you believe that she's really okay on that subject?" Lucy asked Juvia.

"I don't think so." Juvia said. "If she did then it wouldn't bother her to talk about it."

"You know it might be my imagination but Erza doesn't seem to want to open up about how she feels on anything. Have you noticed that?"

"Yes I have. Has she always been like that?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Her sister might."

"Yeah but let's not question her. Erza would probably be pretty steamed if she found out we were invading her personal life."

"Oh like how you guys invaded mine last week?" Juvia said raising eyebrow. "When you sent Chelia to spy on me?"

"That's different! We didn't want to invade your privacy. We just wanted to get Gray off our backs."

"Uh-huh. Right."

"It's true and it was Erza's idea to use Chelia."

"Whatever."

Erza went outside on the balcony to get some air before it got dark, that usually made her feel better whenever this subject came up. She appreciated their compassion but they could never understand how she felt about her father. Lucy's mother and Juvia's parents died which meant that they sincerely loved their daughters and couldn't help leaving them but it wasn't at all like that with Erza's father.