Cobra was indeed suspended for two months, and even during the first two weeks without him, there was still tension in school as students still remembered the shocking yet juicy event.

Jasmine isolated herself from everyone, especially Racer, Angel, Midnight, and Hoteye. She didn't want to associate herself with them because she knew that they knew.

They knew everything and they went along with it.

Meanwhile, Freed, Evergreen, and Bickslow were still trying to convince Laxus that this was not his fault and that there was a positive side to this.

"Think about it, man," Bickslow said, "now that Cobra and Jasmine are no longer a couple, there's room for you to make a move on her!"

"Yes!" Freed agreed, "Now's your chance, Laxus!"

"I already made a move on her, remember?" Laxus grumbled, "Look how that turned out."

"Yeah, but now she's single." Bickslow commented.

"There's still the underlying issue that Jasmine most likely won't let Laxus make an advance because she's not over Cobra." Evergreen remarked, bringing up a valid point.

"Hmm . ." Freed hummed, thinking deeply.

"That could be true, but we've been in this curse for long enough." Bickslow argued, "Don't you guys want to go back home?"

"Of course we do." Evergreen scoffed.

"Then I say we -- and by 'we,' I mean Laxus -- win Jasmine's heart and break this curse!"

Evergreen sighed. This could possibly add more fuel to the fire,  but she understood Bickslow's point. "Fine!" She agreed, then glanced at the blond. "What do you think, Laxus?"

Laxus thought about his options while his friends stared at him expectantly, waiting for his answer.

"I think-"

He was interrupted by the school bell ringing, signalling the beginning of class.

____________________

During lunchtime, the conversation came up again.

"What exactly am I suppose to do, huh?" Laxus asked, "She's probably not gonna want me to be anywhere near her, so how am I suppose to win her heart?"

"If it's like you suspected prior to Cobra's suspension," Freed explained, "then there should already be feelings for you somewhere in her heart."

Laxus stayed silent as he thought about what Freed said. True, he did suspect -- or rather, he hoped -- that Jasmine had some feeling for him. He even kissed her to see her reaction.

"Just don't push her if she's not ready." Evergreen warned.

The conversation ended there, hoping that things would go well. Class was soon back in session and Laxus wasn't paying any attention to the lesson. He was trying to figure out how he would approach Jasmine.

Just go up to her and say 'hi'?

Leave her a note asking to meet up somewhere?

Show up at her basketball practice?

Go to her house?

She could potentially turn all of those attempts down right away, but the question is: should he go with the direct or indirect approach?

Since he ultimately couldn't decide, he chose to flip a coin. Heads, I go with the direct approach. Tails, I go with indirect. He happened to have a quarter in his pocket, so he took it out and stared at it for a moment. He took a deep breath before he finally flipped the coin.

Heads.

Of course. He groaned in his head. He continued to pay the class lecture no attention as he now thought of when the best time would be to approach Jasmine.

He finally decided on after school.

Jasmine, on the other hand, had the overwhelming desire to isolate herself from the world, but since that's not currently a possibility, she puts all of her energy and focus into her schoolwork and after school activities.

Once school ended for the day, she quickly packed her things away in her backpack and rushed to her locker. Switching out the necessary books and grabbing her duffle bag, she then made her way toward the school gym for basketball practice.

She has been skipping practice recently to go hang out with Laxus at boxing matches. She's also noticed that the thought and concept of basketball doesn't appeal to her like it once did.

She likes going to the boxing matches. She likes the atmosphere and energy there, but now that she's avoiding everything and everyone -- without Laxus -- there really is no point in her going alone.

When she entered the gym, she was immediately scolded by Erza -- something she expected. She nodded her head even though she wasn't paying attention to anything the redhead said.

The girls changed clothes and practiced -- dividing up evenly and playing a game against each other. During the practice, the large gym door creeked open, but no one paid any attention to it.

At least, not Jasmine.

"Don't forget that we have a game coming up soon! You need to start coming to practice regularly if you're not already!" Everyone muttered a 'yes' at Erza's loud voice.

When Jasmine changed back into her other clothes and exited the locker room with all of her stuff, she noticed that Laxus was sitting on the bleachers. Wanting to avoid him, since he hasn't noticed her yet, she looked down at the floor as she tried to make her quick escape.

"Jasmine."

Of course it wouldn't have worked. She made it to the center of the gym before he saw her and called out to her. She slowly looked over her shoulder, seeing him jog over to her. "What is it, Laxus?" She questioned.

"I just-uh . ." He fumbled over his words before sighing and asking, "Can we walk and talk?"

Laxus and Jasmine walked outside of the gym together and toward the school entrance.

"I'm sorry for getting you into the mess you're in." He apologized, "I shouldn't have kissed you that night."

Jasmine sighed, releasing all of the tension she was holding. "No, I'm actually glad you did." She said.

"You are!?" Laxus looked down at her with wide eyes. Does this mean that she has feelings for him?

"Yes." She nodded her head. "Thanks to you I was able to see Erik for who he truly is. He's not the guy I thought he was." Just mentioning her ex, she felt like crying. She held in her tears though.

"I'm sorry that things ended so badly with him, but-" Laxus stopped himself, wondering if he should just go ahead and say it. He's been trapped in this curse for who knows how long and he just wants to break it to see the real Jasmine again.

"But?" She repeated, urging him to continue.

It's now or never. "But I honestly didn't think that Cobra was right for you. I had a feeling deep down that I was right for you, if only you'd give me a chance. I want you to give me a chance to show you that I can be what Cobra wasn't." From the corner of his eye, he noticed that Jasmine was no longer there. He stopped walking and looked behind him.

She had stopped walking a few feet back.

Was she angry?

He opened his mouth to say something and took a step toward her, but she spoke instead.

"I don't know, Laxus." He heard her voice shaking like she was holding back tears. "I just don't know . ."

"I don't want to force you." He admitted. Never had that been his intention. "If you say that you have no feelings for me whatsoever, then I won't ask and I won't bother you again." He continued walking toward her, "But if you do have feelings for me, then I want to make this work. So, tell me. Do you have feelings for me or not?"

He was directly in front of her, asking her the big question. What was she going to say? Does she have feelings for him? This entire time he's been nothing but kind to her and she's noticed the small gestures he does for her. And then there was the kiss.

"I think I . . ." She took a deep breath because her entire body was reacting to the strong emotions she was feeling.  "I think I do . . have feelings for you."

Don't get your hopes up. Laxus stared down at her sternly. She wasn't looking at him. Instead, she was looking at the ground. "Let's find out." He said, lifting her chin up with his fingers.

"Lax-" Before she could say anything else, Laxus kissed her passionately. She dropped her duffle bag and ran a hand through his hair, kissing back.

Something about this kiss felt right to her.

And that's when it happened.

A bright light shined between the two, making them separate. Laxus covered his eyes so that the light wouldn't blind him.

The next thing he knew, he was at the same exact location he was before he entered the curse -- the bar.

"Laxus," Freed called, looking at their surroundings. "you did it. You broke the curse."