Two Days
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Aʟʟ I Eᴠᴇʀ Nᴇᴇᴅᴇᴅ
Chapter 26 - Two Days
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Juvia squoze her eyes shut as her report card ricocheted off of her forehead, falling to the floor with a soft, deafening crash. She just looked towards the floor then, clutching on to her right arm as her eyes scanned below her, guiltily.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Dave screamed, staring deeply into his lazy excuse of a daughter as the room returned to its eery silence.
For the first time in ages, Juvia had received a bad letter on her grade; not just one, but multiple.
Unlike in years passed, Juvia was barely trying to maintain her average 4.0. How could she when she felt pressured with all of the stress, agony, and mind-numbing thoughts? With everything going on in her life she just didn't see the point of trying at anything--not just with her grades, but everything in her personal life, too.
Juvia was just in too much unbearable pain to even have the strength to comprehend the fact that she was still breathing the oxygen of those who hated and wanted her dead. By then she was a definite burden to all those around her, herself included.
She felt trapped with nowhere to go but down onto the floor in a sobbing, weeping mess. It was all she ever did nowadays; go to school, barely pay attention, return home, try her best to dodge her father's abuse, lock herself in her room, and just break down and cry.
In fact, in place of sleeping, taking care of her hygiene, spending time with her supposed friends, and eating that's all she ever did; cry. Her lack of sleep and trials were slowly seeping fast into her mental state, stacked atop of all her constant battles of fatigue.
Her mind was at war. A war that determined either she stay alive or crumble to the ground and die like the "worthless little being she was" according to many of her classmates.
No one appreciated her presence, and that in itself was enough reason feeding into her brain; she quite literally had no reason to live.
"What is it with you and failure?" he harshly spoke, spitting in her face as his whiskey sloshed in the bottle clutched in his hand "a C-?! An F?! Really, kid!? A mentally ill kid could do better than you!"
The glint in her eyes revealed her despair as she allowed her father to yell in her face as if she were some disobedient puppy. The darkness within could tell her whole story, the story of her troublesome life full of terrible memories that crowded her mind, the story of why she was feeling the way she was, and the story of her misery. She needn't talk, because if she were to, she'd be lashed with his spiteful words of pity.
Juvia couldn't blame him, nonetheless.
"If you don't get these grades up you'll have to restart the year! And we can't have that now, can we?" Dave slammed his bottle onto the counter beside her, startling the bluenette "I cherish every moment you're gone, and with you leaving me this year for college you'd finally make me happy for once. I'm going to have to deal with your lazy ass for another year if you don't try your goddamn best to get those fucking grades up!"
He scoffed "If you don't get your letter up to an A within a week, my fists are the only thing you'll be able to see for another year you're in this house. 'Ya hear?!"
Juvia's gloominess emanated from around her, a purple shadow dancing like a madman around her figure as her father continued to speak those words of smite.
"God, little bitch. You really know how to make someone's life hell, don't you?" he spat bitterly, picking up his bottle and drinking the rest of its contents as his cold eyes remained on the girl who's sullen face was towards the floor.
Juvia's silence added with his growing anger, causing a sudden burst of outrage as his hand with the empty bottle of waste swung back, swinging back towards the floor again within seconds as it smashed to pieces by her feet.
That was one of many times he had made a bottle shatter into billions of glass shards by Juvia's side. It was all due to her lack of turn in talking and broadcasting all of her emotions to her father. He absolutely hated it when she chose to be stubborn, and that's always when his anger spikes; she just never learned.
Juvia jumped as loads of glass splinters grazed her ankles, a gasp escaping her lips as her gaze aimed towards her father who had a solemn look on his drunken face. A single strand of hair fell between her eyes.
Tears filled his eyes which was a first. Seeing him cry was rare, he only did it when a specific person came into mind--
Juvia's late mother.
"My life would be 100% better if you weren't alive... Why are you still breathing?" a single tear fell down his cheek as tears filled her own eyes now; his words were a beautiful tragedy "No one would ever remember you if you were to just stop breathing one day."
One minute he was crying, the next he was in front of her, shoving her into the sink behind as her head whipped back and hit the hard surface. His anger had come back as he stood watch, Juvia sinking to the floor whilst gripping her throbbing head desperately.
Dave turned on his heel, reaching for the broom as he threw it behind him, it crashing onto the floor with a loud 'BANG!'
He reached for another whiskey bottle, popping the lid as he took a generous swig, making eye contact with his supposed to be daughter before walking away "Why couldn't it have been you that died instead of Sierra?"
Juvia rasped for air as she curled up on the floor, hearing the sound of her father's door slamming before she broke out in sobs.
"I-I c-c-can't--!" she silently screamed between sobs, breathing harshly as her eyes clenched hard "I can't do this anymore...!"
She whispered to herself desperately, slowly drifting off into a deep slumber on the cold hard floor of her kitchen.
It was one hell of a Tuesday night...
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Wednesday morning came as fast as one could say geronimo, slapping mostly everyone's face with a dazzle of hope for the upcoming day.
Juvia walked as slowly as she could, listening to her music playing through her earbuds as it drowned out the sound of the world surrounding her.
Her eyes were extremely puffy, red, and sore from the previous night's crying fest. She hung her head low so no student could see her foggy blue orbs full of despair as she walked, stuffing her hands in the extra jacket she had brought.
The past week had been long and miserable, full of extreme amounts of loneliness she had never experienced before. And although the harassment had died down a little bit since the post-it note incident, there were the occasional students who still sought to make her life a living hell more than it already was.
"Is that Juvia?!" a very familiar shrill of a voice broke through her music, disrupting her moments of peacefulness as the boy who yelled her name joined her side as he pushed his blonde locks out of his eyes. Seconds later, his face was all up in hers. She tried to continue her walk, dodging his obvious stare waiting to ruin her day as always.
The content look his face contained dropped tremendously then when he realized it was indeed her "Oh, you're not dead yet..."
Take Sting for instance; during the entirety of the week, he had never failed to say the same sentence to her multiple times. It was a new trend to say it straight to her face with an almost identical bored tone as if it were a bummer the bluenette was still alive.
Like the jerk he was, he just smirked at her silence, briskly walking away from her to the white-haired friend of his 4 feet away. Juvia took the saying into consideration almost every time.
As she turned into the school entrance, she was expecting to be left alone. Sting was the only one constantly bugging her half the time, and since his little party of torture was over, she figured it'd be the last for a while. But as much as she wished...sadly, it wouldn't be coming true.
When she let out a sigh of relief, her wrist was suddenly snatched much to her dismay "What the--?" she looked up to her captor, trying to tug her wrist away as his raven hair blew in the soft gush of wind. "Gray, what the hell are you doing?" she tugged desperately "Can you let me go?!"
Instead of an answer, the Magnolian just ignored the girl, continuing to drag her into the school and up several flights of stairs.
What was he doing? Juvia didn't know, but her energy sure was draining fast. The stairs were her enemy much like the students of her school, constantly there by her side to insult her. But, the steps were it's own kind of evil, daunting the bluenette every time they encountered one another.
Juvia's strength was exceedingly low for the past couple of months, leaving her bones always heavy. It was quite difficult to even walk, Juvia didn't know how she managed to walk to school nowadays, but she didn't mind it.
She chose walking over driving in case she ever was to...
The wind was back to blowing their hair as Gray pulled the bluenette up to the school's roof, spinning around just then and placing his hands on her shoulders to gain her attention before taking them off.
Her gaze was dreary as he stared into them, taunting his heart.
Silence was met between the two as the time passed where they tried avoiding each other's glances, looking to the side as the air continued to blow.
Gray's hands left her shoulders then, returning to drop to his sides "Are you okay?"
The question was out of the blue; it was the last thing Juvia expected him to say to her at a time like this. But...the question was important.
Was she okay? Not really. It was obvious to everyone. But did she want to admit it?
"I'm fine."
Gray looked at her skeptically "You sure?" Juvia nods to his question, looking at the ground grimly "Positive?"
"Why do you want to know?" she asks gloomily, steering clear of his obvious attempt to get the truth out of her.
"Well, I'm, uh-" he cleared his throat "w-worried about you is all..." Gray rubbed the back of his head awkwardly as a light blush coated his cheeks, though, Juvia didn't notice it. "I don't know you as well as Meredy, and I-I hope to change that..."
'What am I even saying?' Gray thought to himself before continuing "...but I don't really believe what you just said. So I'm gonna be looking out for you."
"Cool." was all she responded with.
Gray didn't even know why he was so embarrassed saying all of this stuff to her with all of the dry comments he had been receiving. She was his friend, nothing should be awkward between the two...
When the silence was too much to bear, Gray coughed as he drove away from the previous discussion "Well...um, Porlyusica wanted me to give you these books to study because she doesn't want you to fail her class," he pointed behind him, meaning to indirectly speak of his book bag...but Juvia looked passed that to something else behind him "So, let me give those to you...if you want."
He slides one strap off of his shoulder as he reaches behind him, swinging the big bag full of school supplies and necessities in front of him. Unknown to Gray, though...Juvia didn't know what he was doing even with his explanation.
She hadn't been listening for a while, in fact, her full attention was on the railing of the roof, 6 stories up from the ground. A fall from that high was fatal...
Juvia's face was colorless, completely blank as she shook at the thought...her lip quivering.
Meanwhile, Gray dug through his bag searching for the books the old hag demanded him give to the girl. He didn't quite know why she couldn't do it herself, but Gray wasn't one to question his grandma. Whatever it was about, it was Juvia. His friend--even though she still believed he and his friends had stabbed her in the back.
Meredy tried her best to pull Juvia away quite a few times in order to tell her dear friend the truth...but every single time Juvia was either busy, had work, or pretended to not hear what the pinkette wanted. It was completely hopeless to tell Juvia who really made the account. It was only a matter of time before the bluenette would realize it herself. So the group left it at that--but boy was it hard to see the struggle in Juvia's eyes...
Soon enough, Gray had pulled out a black notebook with many tabs marking the pages along with a green, hardcover herbs book. They were filled with notes and all the things to know, Porlyusica having spent many days and nights on it just for her student--which happened rarely.
Porlyusica wasn't a generous teacher, so receiving help from her was some miracle. Juvia was lucky.
Gray stood up from the ground after closing his book bag, swinging it over his shoulders as he held the books out for the girl to grab them, but she didn't.
"Juvia?" Gray called for her, but he didn't get a response.
The bluenette wasn't even looking his way. Instead, her eyes were glued on something behind him. Gray looked back, seeing if it was something cool, but much to his dismay there was nothing interesting. He was confused, but spoke no word about it--he just assumed she had zoned out.
"Juvia?" he said once again a little more aggressively than before, waving his hand back and forth in front of her line of vision--and this time, she was snapped back to reality.
She looked...bewildered...as if she had somehow managed to blackout during the time being. Her eyes were completely lifeless as she looked down towards the books he was trying to give her, taking them immediately from his hands and clutching them to her chest for comfort. Then, she looked back up--not at Gray, but behind him again.
The boy grew oblivious to her stare that looked right passed him, "If you need any help studying, me, Erza, Levy, Lucy, and Natsu are here." Gray paused, thinking back to what he had just said "Actually...don't ask Natsu. He's not that much for help, trust me."
When the bluenette didn't react to his rude remark, Gray realized she was staring passed him again. It wasn't the first time she had done that which worried him; the concerned glint in his eye had returned.
"Juvia? What are you staring at?" he tried blocking her view, but she just continued to stare straight through him "Juvia?!" he looked behind just to be sure he wasn't missing anything, but again, there was nothing. "JUVIA!" he all but screamed, shaking Juvia once more from her thoughts--but this time, there was fear in her eyes.
Gray's scream sounded similar to that of her fathers' horror-filled one, and in her head, she thought she was back at home getting yelled at for a mistake she had made.
Her eyes were big as her breath grew heavy, relief washing over her once she realized she was indeed safe from Dave's wrath. It was only Gray.
"Did you hear what I said?" Gray questioned softly, looking beyond her fearful gleam. Juvia nodded unconsciously, blue orbs returning to their normal size as Gray smiled, slowly rubbing his hands on her shoulders in a soothing manor "Great. Well, since class is starting soon wanna--"
When he had begun to talk, Juvia just simply started to walk away, cutting him off as she spoke in a low voice "I'm going to class..."
Gray just watched as she walked down the stairs, a dumbfounded look hanging from his mouth
He whispered the last of his sentence, having it hung in the air for quite some time "--walk...with me..."
Gray dejectedly looked towards the ground, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants with a pout on his lips. He felt rejected--
But it was nice that he got to talk to her again. He hadn't received a lethal glare from her during their chat which he considered a victory.
Maybe she wasn't lying after all...!
Unknowingly to Gray, though...she was indeed lying.
Juvia swiped at the tears that fell from her eyes as she slowly walked down the steps of the school, occasionally passing by students who paid no mind to her depressed state.
The railing on the roof had truly mesmerized her extremely, coating her mind with a single plan that would gain her father, classmates, and even herself the happiness they all needed--that is if she decides to fulfill this plan of hers.
Two days. She would do it in two days...
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we're just going to throw a little victory party for writing this in three days with no disruption 🥳
next few chapters are gonna be even more of an emotional ride. prepare the tissues (probably not necessary, but eh. Better safe than sorry)
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