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Aʟʟ I Eᴠᴇʀ Nᴇᴇᴅᴇᴅ
Chapter 9 - Swim Team

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"Hey weirdo!"

Three Magnolia High girls stood around Juvia's desk during homeroom, bugging the poor girl to the t. They crowded around her desk pestering the bluenette about the day before and her 'bug-eye sunglasses'.

''Where are your sunglasses, hm?" one girl asked, putting a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh "didn't want to wear them because you realized how bad of a fashion statement they were?"

"Fioreans could care less about fashion or pleasing people. Have you seen their homes?!" the other two laugh at this comment and Juvia sinks in her seat, forehead in hand as she wished she were anywhere but there "and this one, this Juvia girl, couldn't give a damn over how ridiculous those sunglasses made her look! She wore them loud and proud, probably like the men she dates to only throw them away and forget about the next day! What a whore!"

Where was Porlyusica when Juvia needed her? These popular girl wannabes were saying false and harsh words that no one wanted to hear or be called, and a teacher would be perfect at that moment to stop all of it. Bad thing was, there wasn't a teacher, and definitely no one to stop it. The teacher had told them it was a free day and they could do whatever they pleased, but she just so happened to forget to mention no bullying the only Fiorean in class. Porlyusica had gone out the door without any word, if only she hadn't left. Juvia was pretty much alone in this situation, no Magnolian in the class would help her- or so she thought.

Just a few desks away, Gray and his group were sitting. They, when the three girls went over to the Fiore student, listened in on the conversation and couldn't help but get mad. Yes, it was a Fiore Highschool student they were getting protective over, but that specific one was an important one, they couldn't just leave her alone.

"And she's not even talking! What, are you scared? Is the poor little baby Fiorean scared?" the last sentence was said in the imitated voice of a baby, sending Juvia over the edge with anger. Juvia was so done, but if she spoke she feared the unexpected.

One girl laughed, moving her blonde hair with a shake of her hand "It's what you get from a lame old Fiorean" she shrugs, finding herself funny as she laughs.

"Hey, would you mind not picking on the poor girl?" someone spoke up, the voice belonging to Erza who was standing behind the three, her arms folded as if angry. Natsu was close behind, an even scarier look on his face.

The girls looked at the student council member before cowering off, a sweet relief washing over Juvia as they sit down far away from the girl without even glance.

Erza smiles in satisfaction at Juvia, winking at the bluenette as she turns around to sit again.

Juvia liked Erza- and Natsu, and Lucy - they were super nice. If only Gray were like that, then maybe she'd like him. But, no. Gray dug himself his own grave in Juvia's mind, and was...confusing, which Juvia hated.

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Lunch rolled around sooner or later and the cards had turned around.

Juvia had told her little group - The Element Four, the preferred title - about the little bullying session that happened during Homeroom, and needless to say, the three boys within that group were indeed helping her out by, not verbally, attacking the prissy pop girls.

Gray poked at the schools mac-and-cheese - which hardly looked as it was called, was it supposed to be green? - as he watched the situation unfold. He had an odd smile on his face, finding it funny as Juvia sat back eating her food whilst her guy friends glared at the table that contained the bullies - which so happened to be right by their table.

The Gajeel guy, Totomaru, Sol, and Aria - although with the same blindfold over his eyes - were staring at the three with venom, sending daggers into their perky busts.

On top of telling the Element Four about the little event, Juvia also had told Lyon, Meredy, and Jellal. Those three were at the same table and were also, not surprising to anyone, glaring at the Magnolian girls.

Gray had to give it to Juvia - she had some very protective friends who knew her better than anyone in the whole world.

Part of him wanted to go stick up for the Magnolian chicks who had hurt Juvia, but the other side decided against it. Those girls deserved it and were bound to be approached by Gajeel and Meredy - Juvia's major shields.

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The end of school happened out of nowhere, but was anyone really surprised?

Team Natsu decided to walk around the school building, deciding against going home. There were clubs, sports, and support going on after school and they thought it was a good idea to look around.

They had gone everywhere now - an hour after - and were too pumped to start walking home, so they decided to stay a little longer and visit the swim team - which they hadn't visited and would be their last stop.

"Can we visit the schools' pool? I wanna see the Magnolia team!" Lucy asks with a beaming smile holding on to her backpack strap.

Erza nods in agreement. "I want to see Jenny Realight, I haven't talked to her in a while and need to for Student Co., she is on the swim team anyway."

"Okay, sounds like we're going there! Onward!" Natsu shouts as he starts stomping off towards the back of the school.

There were two different swim teams-with the new school switch and all. Fiore had their own team, and so did Magnolia. They'd occasionally go against each other and that called for major chaos for whoever won. Boasting and name-calling would be done to the school that didn't win, like what always happened whenever their teams brawled in sports.

They stopped at the gates surrounding the pool, peering in towards the swimming pool to notice none of their classmates from Magnolia Highschool--only ones from Fiore were seen.

"What the heck, where are they?" Natsu says in a breathy voice, scouting the area with his eyes.

Soon enough, a whistle went off that was so loud, it sent the friends to the sky--it startled them all, really.

They looked towards the direction and realized a girl walking towards them, the whistle still in her mouth and she in a red 1 piece swimsuit, and a red visor on their head with blue locks of hair tied in a high-pony. It didn't take long for the group to realize who it was.

"Oh, it's Juvia," Gray says with a bored tone, raising a brow as the familiar bluenette walked towards them, not seeming surprised that she saw the group.

"Yes, it's Juvia," the girl says back, mocking the way Gray spoke - like she didn't want to be there. "What're you guys doing here?"

"We should be asking you that" Gray answers back, resting his arms and leaning his weight on the tall black fence that protected the swimmers from unwanted guests.

Juvia glares at Gray and breathes in "Juvia is here because she needs to be, for her swim team."

"No way you're on the team?" Lucy asks with surprise, a smile spread across her face.

The Fiorean nods, placing a hand on her hip "Now, answer why you're here, Gray" Juvia narrows her eyes at the guy, unpleased with his presence.

"We're here because we wanted to see our team. Sadly for us, we got stuck with seeing your face first," he lets the sentence sink in before he talks, getting hit on the side of the head by Erza who wasn't pleased with what he had said, "so, mind telling us where the actual good team is?"

"Well, buddy" Juvia imitates his stance, leaning her weight on the fence "Your team is practicing tomorrow, if you actually read the schedule, you'd know that. So, learn to read and throw shade, it's stale" she looks at him with a babyface, running her finger down her cheek as a fake tear to add to the effect.

Gray raises a brow, looking at the bluenette he never once liked. They both stare at each other starting a full out staring contest, leaving those watching to cower and shrink in the intensity of their looks.

"Okay, are you two done?" Erza asks, waving her hand in front of Gray's face, ending the staring contest early. "You two really need to stop this rivalry between you guys."

"Seriously, do it," Lucy says seriously, shivering in fear at what she just witnessed. "I say we lock them in a room together until they make up!"

Gray laughs "I'd rather be stuck in a room with Lyon, and that's saying something."

"Couldn't agree more" Juvia agrees, noticing it was the first time they had actually agreed on the same thing.

"Uh...Anyway, Juvia how long have you been on the team?" Natsu asks to ease the tension.

Juvia folds her arms as she plays with the whistle hanging around her neck "Ever since she was little, it's her favorite sport actually," she responds with a smile to the salmon, in color, haired boy.

"Why aren't you practicing?" Erza asks.

"Oh, the coach is gone today so she asked me to fill in her place-"

Gray interrupts her mid-sentence "Wait, your coach entrusted YOU?!" Juvia nods to respond to the little comment, scrunching her nose as she looks at Gray. "Why?"

"Because Juvia, for one, is very trustable!" she responds with a cocky smile, quietly applying that Gray was the exact opposite. He clicks his tongue as he folds his arms, looking at the little Fiorean who thought she was all tough just because she was apart of an all-boy group.

"Gray, seriously, stop," Lucy asks politely, glaring at the poor man who was having too much fun with making Juvia upset.

He shakes his head with a sigh, "Fine, fine."

"Do you enjoy being on the team?" Erza asks.

"Of course, it's something Juvia looks forward to in the week!" Juvia smiles a radiant one, looking to her school rivals with a pleasing look.

Erza softly smiles back, enjoying the girls' soft nurture and personality. Before the girl was shy, but now the girl has been slowly warming up on them - though, there was still that slight discomfort to the fact they were pretty much dead to each other. "That's cool, did you inherit it from your family?" and with that one question, Erza makes yet another note about the girl.

Juvia turns visibly still, this going noticed to all four as she silently clenched her hands and breathes through her nose "Juvia-Juvia has to go and help her team," Juvia turns out of nowhere as she starts walking off with quick, precise movements "t-thanks for stopping by even if it w-was unintentional."

"Juvia, wait-" Natsu calls after her but immediately gets ignored as the bluenette starts running.

The group of Magnolians stares blankly as Juvia is gone with just a snap of a finger. She was all chatty with her rivals, but when just one word came up, she vanished into thin air like a cloud losing itself.

Gray sighs aggravatingly as he stares at Juvia talking with girls of her team, after a good minute of his friends being quiet "Anybody else still wondering why she gets so sensitive to just that one word of 'family'?" he looks to his friends and they two have the same confused look on their face, but they're almost all looking away fearing eye contact. The topic was avoidable to most since it was such a sore subject, especially when talking about their school rivals life like that - of course, students talking to the other school was bound to happen, which most students were scared of. Those who could care less about chatting with their school rival feared becoming friends with the other school since it was a bad sight to those whom despised the other - who were almost always the popular people.

"I always wanted to avoid talking about it with you guys, but, yeah...I do notice it," Lucy trails off as she taps her chin looking to the girl a long way ahead, still avoiding eye contact.

Erza sighs as she starts walking off, signaling the other three to follow "Lyon, Jellal, and Meredy say it's none of our business to learn about Juvia's troubles...but Juvia always makes me want to learn more about it since she's so kind and all..." Erza folds her arms as the three walk behind her, fully intent on listening to the red-head "that bruise she had on her face definitely wasn't an accident."

"Agreed. It looked like she was socked in the face hard" Natsu said with expertise, using his fist as little demonstrations.

Lucy nods, but at the same time holding Natsu's arm to stop him from bruising his eye himself "It seems so serious, though--and Meredy said it was something Juvia would have to decide on if she would tell us or not."

Gray shrugs, stuffing his hands in his pockets as the friends walk off the school grounds, "Juvia's choice or not, we're still going to find out what's happening in her life."

"Hey, Ice freak?" Natsu asks, tilting his head as he stares at Gray who was walking in front of him.

Sighing with annoyance, Gray turned his head lazily to look behind him "What?" he replies with anger, his voice going stone-hard cold.

"Sorry for asking, but, don't you hate Juvia?" Gray tilts his head at his friend-enemy "you seem like the last person to even care about her."

Gray stumbled on that question. He, himself, couldn't find it in his head as to why he even cared. The girl was nothing but a nuisance and a Fiorean to him, not some friend. But, again... "she seems important to Lyon and their other friends, and I just wanna help them" even in his head that was a lame response, and he knew for sure it wasn't the real truth. But was he willingly going to say his real intent? "What's important now is that we get the info we need."

"We can't just go up to Juvia and force her to tell us what's going on, though," Lucy states the only fault of their plan, of course being the wise one she was.

"Unless we get the little details first--to better know if it's something we want to help with-- but the question is; who would help?" Gray asks, holding his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

Erza smiles, "We know exactly who."

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A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter-!

I have some news: I won't be posting another chapter for another week or two... I am in desperate need of keeping my grade up so I will need a week break. Super sorry! I need to catch up on a lot of assignments and I know if I have to write a chapter and do that, it won't end up well. Again, super sorry!

See ya one week from now!