Erza sat in the lecture hall wishing she was somewhere else, preferably two rows in front of here where a blob of messy pink hair dangled off its owners head. She shook the thoughts away feeling betrayed by her own will to not think of anyone like that, she was fine by herself, thank you very much. Sighing, she realized her neighboring classmates had mysteriously decided that today they couldn't muster up the courage to attend second block, not that she blamed them of course, she was nearly falling asleep as their teacher droned on about economics. It was dull, very dull.

She looked away from the projector, which was displaying the slideshow that her notes corresponded with, and her eyes automatically resumed their pervious mission to deny any sense of independence and stare at the stupid boy two rows ahead. She nearly growled to herself when she didn't even stop to think about that action before she had gone and done it.

"And now for the project you've all been waiting for," the teacher proclaimed, and some of the students perked up at this, Erza stopped mentally berating herself and listened, knowing that the final econ project was a group project. The class was actually two classes combined but she kept her fingers crossed knowing that somehow her bad luck had to wear off soon. People began to get eliminated in pairs and she smiled in her mind as his name and her name had both been yet to be called, she internally thanked the teacher when her name was read, "Erza and Natsu," he said simply, as if he didn't just make her day.

She turned her head up to look at him and saw that he was already looking at her, his typical grin in place as he gather his belongings to come sit next to her seat. "What luck!" She said as he approached, her smile soft and genuine.

"I know," Natsu replied sitting down, "what are the chances we'd get paired together?" It was rhetorical of course but Erza couldn't help but wonder if there was some greater power at work, after all what are the chances she'd get transferred into this class second semester? She smiled because Natsu was one of her best friends and as much as she wanted to deny it, she had always harbored secret feelings for the boy.

On the outside she never let it show, she wanted for all she was worth to forget about her trivial feelings and not ruin the bond her and Natsu already shared but he always had a special way of making her feel better.

By now the teacher had begun to explain the directions, something along the lines of selling a product via some simulation and attempting to make the most profit. It was an inter-class challenge, she didn't want to care about actually winning but she was competitive. Eager to get to work or, more so, bored of listening to the never-ending instructions, she started to pack her bag along with a few other students anticipating the end of the teachers directions. She slipped her small black notebook in with the rest of her belongings and patiently waited.

In due time the class had reached the library and each checked out a laptop for each pair, Natsu logged on using his account and went to the startup page for the simulator. Erza allowed him to take control, she wasn't usually like this, in fact she would often times intimidate the rest of her classmates into listening to her, which typically worked, but she liked to follow Natsu for some reason.

"Do you know what we're doing?" He asked her. She opened her mouth to answer but then realized that she hadn't been paying attention in the slightest. He cheeks grew pink ever so softly and she shook her head.

"I… wasn't listening for the life of me" Erza replied. Natsu laughed and told her he wasn't either and she wondered with some type of mystical curiosity what it was that was able to capture his attention over the lesson. Pushing it aside she looked over at the other screens around her and quickly deduced what they were doing. She moved the laptop towards her and navigated the home screen until theirs matched everyone else's.

The class was nearing its end and Erza knew that today was just a practice round for when they did the actual tournament the next week, so she wasn't too worried about her grade knowing it didn't really matter. Together her and Natsu filled out the worksheet and entered in their prices and different orders. When they finished they waited for the rest of the class, the screen showed an animation of day and then fast-forwarded it to night, once the morning came back the screen showed the rankings of who sold the most product, who made the most money and other ways to track each teams progress. Natsu and Erza looked through the list in anticipation.

"Seriously? Last place?" She groaned, "We suck." Natsu just laughed saying it didn't matter anyways, they would come back during the real tournament. She watched as he began to pick fights with the other classmates, boasting about how his team was going to win the whole competition when it mattered. Erza face palmed, not feeling confident in her economic prowess in the slightest.

As the students all sat awaiting the bell signaling their freedom, conversation began to sprout up. A blue haired girl named Levy made her way towards Erza and Natsu. Erza was on friendly terms with her but never actually taken the time to become close friends with her, they ran in different crowds. However apparently her and Natsu didn't, Erza quickly stopped herself from feeling jealously towards the girl as she sat there as the third wheel of their conversation.

However suddenly Levy turned to her, "Are you going to prom, Erza?" She questioned.

Erza ran her fingers through her scarlet hair, "No one has asked me…" she said, acting as if she didn't care. In truth, it didn't matter all that much to her, she has been to plenty of dances and has never found that much enjoyment in them. However, a small part of her, the one she tried to push down, wanted to be girly and look nice, wanted to hold hands and slow dance as strong arms embraced her. She knew it was impossible, she couldn't allow herself to act like that; she was too prideful and too independent to want to rely on anyone anyways.

"Oh," Levy said, brushing past the topic, "What about you, Natsu? Are you going to prom?" Erza waited for his answer, she watched his eyes darken and his eyebrow twitched in annoyance, his expression didn't seem much different from Erza's flippant one when she answered the same question.

"My parents are making me go." He said shortly. Erza giggled internally at his annoyance. He must hate the idea of dressing up and going to a formal event, he was too much of a free spirit to ever want to act all fancy. His parents seemed harmless enough, they were controlling, and she knew that, but good people all the same. The Scarlet's and Dragneel's have been family friends since Erza was in middle school. She liked them but knew they could be a little overprotective, she didn't blame them too much, left to his own devices Natsu would probably blow up the house.

When the ball rang and the mob congested the exit as students struggled to push themselves through all at the same time. In the middle, slowly inching their way forward, Erza and Natsu continued on with their conversation, "Where are you going next?" Natsu asked.

"I'm a student assistant for Makarov, I'm helping with freshman P.E." She told him.

He snickered at her, "You have to stay at school still! That sucks! I'm free at last!" He laughed and she hit him, annoyed but smiling nonetheless.

"I stay at school for the whole day, every day. You are just a slacker."

"Nonsense! I only stay for as long as I have to, then I'm out of this hellhole." He was disgruntled, Erza knew how much he hated having to follow the same schedule every day, and frankly she did too, but she was much better at distancing herself from that discomfort than him.

Together the two made their way through the crowd, sarcastic banter flowing naturally with the ebb and flow of the conversation. Erza looked ahead and saw a blonde gliding her way down the hallway, her hair straight and styled unlike her own which she hadn't even bothered to brush that morning. She walked with her many friends laughing loudly, a white smile, tanned skin and suddenly Erza found herself annoyed.

Natsu didn't even seem to notice her but Erza saw the other girls chocolate brown eyes stare them both down. Erza only kept on walking as if she didn't feel the glare boring holes in the back of her head. About halfway to their destination he brought her up having actually noticed her, "Did you see Lucy?" He said smirking.

Erza looked at him questionably, "No when?" she feinted ignorance, not wanting to seem as if she cared.

"She was watching us," he stated bluntly.

"Oh… so, where do you guys stand nowadays?" Erza prayed that she didn't come off as wanting to know for own sake, she was just curious after all. Lucy was once her best friend, she confided quite a bit in her, which is something she had never done before. However, as soon as Lucy became a Junior (and Erza became a Senior) she changed quite drastically. Erza was quite sad to lose another best friend as all her previous ones had either moved away or found a new crowd. Before Erza and Lucy had their falling out, however, Lucy would often times talk about her and Natsu's relationship. Though they were never actually dating they were pegged as a couple and had even shared some intimate moments together.

"Where do we stand?" He questioned as if it was ridiculous to even ask that. "She's gotten so full of herself ever since this year started, I haven't really been into making conversation with her." He said an annoyed expression.

This only lightened Erza's as she always hoped that Natsu still didn't feel strongly about Lucy. After all she was nothing like Lucy. She didn't spend time making sure her hair looked shiny, she didn't pick out outfits because they were cute (comfort was the number one priority for snoozing in class after all), and she could never be vulnerable enough to warrant his attention. It wasn't that she was jealous of Lucy, mostly that she was different, and she was independent, Lucy needed people, Erza was strong and capable of lasting even if she was by herself.

"Yeah, she kind of left me for her old friends…" Erza said to Natsu. She was sad but she acted as if it didn't bother her. She acted a lot, so much so that she wasn't sure when she was actually confident or when she was just pretending to be. Though that seemed to be the purpose of such a psychology, she thought.

"Ah whatever, she so consumed with all this popularity stuff! Who cares anyways?" Erza smiled at what he said. She didn't care, maybe there was a time when she did but now the only thing that mattered to her was her opinion of herself.

By the time they had walked to the exit of the school the bell had rang signaling the start of the next class. "I'm late." Erza said her glare clearly blaming Natsu.

He nervously scratched the back of his head, "You didn't have to walk with me!" He defended himself.

Erza just turned around, sharing small smile with herself, "I'll see you later." She said without turning around. She heard Natsu cheerful goodbye and found herself smiling despite being tardy.