Ch. 42 - changed partners

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Levy's P.O.V.

I pouted when I realized Gajeel was with Juvia in another bus. I sighed disappointedly. I really wished I get to at least see them. That way, I could even muster up the courage to talk to him.

"Hey, you alright?" my thoughts vanished when Gray spoke, making me look up to him and realized he was so tall, my height rested on his shoulders. It made me freak out inside.

I nodded, resting my chin on my hand. "I just wish Juvia was here."

Gray didn't speak after hearing Juvia's name. Not to be too nosy but, I wanted to know how Gray feels for Juvia. Though, I'm too chickened out to ask him and thought of the consequences after I do.

Maybe the question will really bother him for the rest of the trip.

"Mukyaa!"

Our attention flew towards the door of the bus where we saw Natsu fall to the floor with a huge bag on his back. He grunted, struggling to stand up. "Damn it. What the hell's in this bag...?"

He continued pulling his bag by letting it roll to the floor then, threw it in the seat next to us. He rested, with his legs spread out and sweat falling from his head.

"Natsu? You're in this bus, too?" I asked curiously.

He looks in my way with exhaustion. "Hah...?"

I lent him a bottle of water and he accepted it with a quick grab of the hand, gulping it intensely. He exhales in satisfaction when he finished. "Thanks, man!" then brought back my bottle.

I frowned at him. "I'm a girl. Levy? The bestfriend of your..." I cleared my throat. "Lucy."

He looked upon me, suddenly just realizing it. "Oh! You are Levy!" he stated with full surprise, pointing his whole arm at me.

I chuckled softly at his reaction. "So... why aren't you with Lucy?" I asked.

"Damn the list. She's enlisted with the damned blonde in the other bus." he scoffed, slumping his head down to his seat.

"Holy shit." I muttered under my breath. How could I make Natsu fall for Lucy if Lucy isn't in this bus with us?! Oh, wait-- "Natsu, who's your partner?"

Someone cleared their throat, making the two of us look up. We saw Lisanna smiling while waving her hand as a greeting. "Hey, guys!"

You've got to be kidding me.

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Meanwhile, in bus 2 - Lucy's POV

I was resting my head on the palm of my hand by the side, bored to do anything or say anything at all. No Levy. No Natsu. I sighed in frustration. What could be possibly worse?

"LOVE RIVAL'S HERE?!"

Oh, wait. What's worse is that Juvia still can't get over the fact Gray used to like me. But, I wanted to tell her he doesn't like me anymore in that way. Though, I knew she wouldn't listen to a word I'll say and continue on calling me her 'love rival'. I slumped my head on the seat and shook my head.

"Lucy!" Erza announced with full surprise. "You're in this bus, too?" behind her followed Mira-san, who waved and smiled upon me. "Oh, Lucy!"

I waved back and simply smiled politely. "Hi, Miss Mira!" both sat in the seat in front of Juvia and Gajeel's seat. O-ho! If only Levy was here!

"Hey, Erza..." I called in silence to make sure I didn't get anyone's attention but hers. "Who decided on our bus number arrangement?" I asked. I wanted to complain to whoever did this!

Erza tapped her chin then pointed at Mira-san with her thumb. âMiss Mira did.â my eyes widened in shock to find out about that. I sulked into my seat and nodded. Ahh... It figures...

Just then, Sting's elbow bumped into mine, he removed his headphones to click his tongue on me. "Tch. Blondie, watch it."

"But, I didn't--"

"Save it." he sighed with frustration, putting his headphones back on, leaning against the glass window of the bus.

This ride is gonna be a looooooong day.

*I'm the king of the world! I'm the king of the world! I'm KING OF THE WORLD!*

My eyes widened with shock when a couple of the students were looking in my direction. The sound of that one cartoon--I think it was their themesong. I remember Natsu watching it. What was it called...?

"Love rival, Juvia thinks Love rival's phone is buzzing." Juvia stated, pointing at the pocket in my bag, flashing a light. I quickly went to my zipper and saw that Juvia was correct! It was my phone! But, who would--oh. I-I get it now.

"N-A-T-S-U."

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Natsu's P.O.V.

Scrunching up my nose, I felt the urge to sneeze. Therefore, I screamed out of nowhere, "YAAAAA-CHOOOOO!!" When I sneezed, I quickly rubbed my hand against it, checking to see if any mucus came out. A lot did, dripping on my pants. "Oh, man..." I looked to my right and saw Levy with her back leaning against Gray, looking terrified.

"W-Whut...?" I looked outside and saw no one. "Did ya see a ghost or somethin'?"

Levy closed her eyes then screamed. "Kyaa! Don't look this way!" she shivered, covering her eyes with both hands. Just then, Gray butt in, pulling Levy to his seat, switching their positions. "Oi, burnt brain, wipe that stupid accident outta your face." he insulted irritably, resting his chin on the palm of his hand.

I was annoyed so much that I didn't care what he said, letting the mucus drop to the floor, without letting it be saved with my towel. "You're so full of crap, MR. UNDERPANTS!" I fought back with my head held high. Just when Gray stood up, as if he was about to throw the best come back ever, Levy butts in, holding her cell.

"Uh, Natsu--pft--L-Lucy's looking for ya!" something was making Levy laugh, and it made me lift my eyebrows at her as I took her cell.

I smirked when I saw Lucy's name on her screen. "Okay, Natsu, what did you do this time?" Gray asked with his arms crossed against his chest. âProbably something stupid again.â

I rolled my eyes automatically at Gray when he stated that. "Pffft. I'll read Luce's message and I'll prove it to ya--she just missed me." I smirked as I read aloud without thinking. "She said, 'Natsu, what the hell did you do to my ringtone?! If you love watching Clarence so much, keep it to yourself!!! What the fuck did I just say about touching my phone?! You are so dead once we land in any of the locations at all!' " my smirk vanished when I just processed what I read. "Wait, what...?"

Gray and Levy started laughing out loud, copied by the whole batch inside our bus. It made me scratch the back of my neck.

"I told you, Lucy would never text you unless you did something idiotic again!" Gray laughed out loud even more, slapping himself on the knee.

I bit my lower lip and was about to text her back but, it was too late since the organizer of this bus arrived with a mic, explaining the whole idea of the fieldtrip. "Boring..." I murmured to myself, pulling my scarf to cover my face to hide the fact I was sleeping.

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"...mm... Chocolate... Yellow... Pink..." I snickered when someone started tickling me by my sides. "Nyaha! Nyaha! Nyahahahahahahahaha!!!"

I held both arms of the culprit, yawning, opening my eyes to see the teacher, the one I didn't encounter yet, the one with long hair and a short status. She giggles, "Mr. Dragneel, everyone has already climbed down the bus, leaving you." she held out her hand with a grin, "We haven't met, it seems. I'm Mavis Vermellion, the principal of the school. I welcome you to FA. Are you enjoying the academy so far?"

I grinned. "Nice to meet ya. I'm enoyin' it more than you know." I winked, making her chuckle. She wraps her arm around my shoulder, gesturing me to go out of the bus along with her. Stretching my arms out, I yawned in the process.

"Yoohoo! Oi, Natsu!" I turned around towards the caller, it was Lisanna. She was waving a hand around as she went through the crowd to get to me.

"Oh, Lisanna." I greeted nonchalantly with my head resting in between my arms which were hanging in the air.

She pants, wipes the sweat falling from her forehead. She pouts when she places both her arms on her hip.
"Moh, where were you? I thought you already went with Levy and Gray."

"Hah? How could you not notice me? I'm seated next to you." my eyebrows furrowed at her. How could she not notice me at all?

She looks away, blushing while holding her phone close to her chest. "N-No reason..." she seemed so distracted, as if she was looking for someone particular in the crowd.

I shrugged with an eyebrow lifted. "Well, here I am. Care to explain what happened?"

She turned her gaze to stare at me, pointing at me. "W-Wait... Y-You mean... Y-You didn't listen to the rules... Did you?" she sulked when I shook my head, slapping a hand against her forehead. "Unbelievable." she sighs, then shook her head. "Fine, even if it's a pain to expain the whole story." she clears her throat then started. "Principal Mavis said our seat partners aren't really our partners. Here, she gave us each numbers as a code to be partnered with the bus assigned to us." she hands me a small paper with a code that says ; bus no. 2, seat no. 5 & 6.

I scratched the back of my neck, "Uh... I don't get it." I laughed nervously, making her roll her eyes at me. "It means we need to go and find these people, and exchange partners. You take the girl and I with the guy."

I huffed, "Man, what a pain..."

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Lucy's P.O.V.

I gladly accepted the small paper Erza handed out to us. Slowly opening the paper, I peeked and saw ; bus no. 4, seat no. 7&8.

Crumpling the paper to tuck it inside my pocket, I signalled Sting. "Come on, help me find these people."

Sting clicked his tongue with full annoyance shown. "Man, what a pain..."

I bit my lip. "whatever." why did I even bother? It was so obvious from the first time we met--he wasn't interested communicating with me. Anyway, I ignored his complaints and started finding these people. But, where should I even start...?

"Lucy!!" A very familiar voice called upon me, waving a large hand in the air. She was wearing a large smile on her face when she let herself bump into my chest. "I'm so happy, Lucy! Miss Mira did a good job getting our partners!"

"What...? Who are you guys partnered up with?" I asked.

Levy smiled, handing me their paper. My eyes widened, making myself blush. "...d-don't tell me, you picked Gajeel?!"

"SHUSH, IDIOT!" Levy got her face fully flustered, covering my mouth with both her hands, making myself land on Sting's chest.

Just when I was about to apologize, Sting sighs in defeat, pulling me by my wrist. "Fine, come on, let's find those people and get this over with." he literally pulled me out from Levy's embrace, as we went through with the crowd.

"Seriously, the principal should've just partnered us up with these changes instead of making us struggle with this..."

Sting suddenly stopped walking, making myself bump into his back. "W-Why did you suddenly stop, Sting...?"

I looked up front and saw Lisanna standing in front of him, blushing while she was holding her phone close to her chest. The atmosphere surrounding them both seemed to be intense. Do these two know each other?

"Hey, Lis, I found out who our partners are--" Natsu stopped talking when both of us stared at each other. I suddenly reacted first, breaking the silence. "E--EH?!"

Natsu pointed at me with his finger shaking. "W--WAIT, Luce, why are you here?"

I sulked at his presence. "We're here on a vacation." I replied sarcastically.
"We're finding our partners, STUPID! Ain't it obvious?!"

He snapped his fingers. "You're in bus 2, right?" he was lurking his hand through his pockets until finally, he lets out a crumpled paper. "Do you know who these guys are?"

I took a quick look then looked up to see who had those number. "Oh, I'm seated with Sting in that number."

My eyes widened, making myself pull out the paper and showed it to Natsu. Natsu smirked, pulling me close to his chest by my waist. "Looks like you and I are together forever, wifey."

I blushed with my hands placed against his chest. "W-Wait, N-Na--"

"Huh? Why would you call Lucy your 'wife', Natsu?" Sting asked, pointing in my direction. A chill was sent down to my spine when I heard Sting ask the same question everyone would ask us commonly.

Fuck, what're we gonna do now?!

~~

So sorry I was only able to update now. School is the main source as to why I became so busy. Am trying to update as much as I can. Thank you for your patience, minna-sama!

xoxo ,
clare - chan