Autumn Skies // A miraxus fanfiction

//Chapter 3//

Chapter 3- Friends

"Then she was like 'I understand' and I'm just there like 'What is your Dad a druggy too' and I swear I almost hit her," Lucy ranted, shovelling ice cream into her mouth as she paced around the room.
I loved her already.
"Juvia knows, it's just so stupid that they think she'd going to help us. And when she made you guys clap because Juvia reached her target happy point increase and Juvia just wanted to kill that stupid skinny bi-"
Gray shushed her before she could say the offensive word.
"Look my Granny doesn't care if you swear, she says it makes her feel young again," Lucy finished her pot of ice-cream and reached for another.
"The best part was when she reminded me that the year sevens have never personally offended me. I mean I'm sorry but they're a load of little shits."
"I still don't get why I have to go," Natsu muttered glumly, and everyone went silent.
I still didn't know what that was about.
"It was when she asked how I felt about... About Lisanna," I was surprised to hear myself speaking her name so openly, and for a moment I wished I'd stayed quiet. But when all of the others turned to look at me, nodding in agreement, I think a tiny seed of confidence was planted in the pit of my stomach.
"So insensitive," Lucy agreed, then they all just waited for me to carry on like what I had to say was the most important thing thing in the world.
"And I'm like, oh I don't know maybe I'm sad and lonely and confused and guilty because it should've been me. She was the incredible one, she was the girl who was going to change the world. Where's me- I'm just a nobody. A useless, stupid nobody who doesn't matter one tiny bit. So why's she dead when I'm still alive?" And suddenly I was crying, and everything was just too much and it all came spilling out even though they were practically strangers.
"Nobody? You, Mira Jane, are the prettiest girl in school, and we'd all love to hate you for it but you're far too nice to be angry with," Lucy said it with a seriousness that shocked me.
"Yeah, and Juvia has only just met you but she thinks you're an incredible girl," Juvia's words were soft, kind, but spoken with pure conviction.
"And you're an amazing actress, right? You got the part of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet even though usually they give the main roles to sixth formers," Gray added, sucking another scoop of Ben & Jerry's off his spoon.
"Then there's the fact that all the younger kids look up to you- I know because I live with a bunch of year eights and nines and they all think you're so lovely," Natsu ran a hand through his messy hair, pushing it out of his face as he spoke.
They all looked at me expectantly.
I was speechless.
"I didn't know your sister, but I know you, and I'm so glad you didn't die in that car accident," Laxus finished for them. And then my tears weren't only sad tears but happy tears too, and I wasn't sure what to feel.
Just then, in that emotional moment where for the first time since Lisanna's death I felt like maybe I was enough, Lucy's Grandmother came bursting into the room.
"Lucy! Lucy! Clarence the second has escaped!"
Lucy looked like she wanted to die.
I stopped crying.
"Hey, Mrs Heartfillia." the others greeted, trying their best to keep their laughter contained.
"Who's Clarence the second?" I asked, looking around in confusion.
"He's my hamster, I left his cage open because he needed some fresh air and he's gone." The poor woman looked close too tears.
"Granny, how many times do I have to tell you? Clarence gets plenty of fresh air in his cage because of all the gaps between the wire. Don't freak out- he always turns up." Luce comforted her Grandmother, hurrying to her side and giving her a hug.
"Juvia will help looking," the blue haired girl volunteered, and the others all mumbled their agreements.
"I'll help too," I hurried to offer, earning a surprised start from Mrs Heartfillia.
"Oh, hello, I don't believe we've met."
"No we haven't, not officially, sorry. I'm Mira- Mira Jane Strauss- thank you for the ice cream, Mrs Heartfillia," I introduced myself, suddenly feeling very awkward. The old lady gave me a warm smile, a adjusted her large glasses.
"Honestly, you kids can call me Bea- all this 'Mrs' business makes me feel over sixty."
"Um, Granny, you're seventy-six..." Lucy pointed out, and Mrs Heartfillia- Bea- simply laughed.
"I'm not a day over twenty darling. Anyway, what was I here about?" she gazed vaguely out the window with a contented smile.
"Clarence?" Juvia reminded her, and the smile immediately dropped. She hurried back into the corridor, with all of us following like ducklings after a swan.
Clarence, it turned out, lived in Bea's room, in the most luxurious hamster cage I have ever seen. Clear plastic tunnels connected four different cages, each with a different theme- a circus tent with crisscrossing walkways, hoops and a trapeze; a huge pirate ship with  clear windows showing a hamster nest bellow deck; a gym equipped with a hamster wheel, small non-electronic treadmill and climbing wall; then a kind of generic hamster home with a small plastic hut, bowl of dried rodent food and water bottle.
Clarence was one lucky pet.
"Clarence, Clarence where are you sweetie?" Bea called, falling to her hands and knees and peering under a chest of drawers.
The rest of us set to work peering into every nook and cranny, wriggling our hands behind things to try and fish out Clarence the second.
When it became clear he wasn't hidden beneath or behind anything, we moved on to checking inside things, and that's how I found him. I spotted a drawer that was open just a crack, and pulled it open to reveal Clarence nested among Bea's underwear. He glanced lazily up at me from where he was snuggled on the padded cup of a bra, then rolled over and buried his head in what looked like a thong- clearly dismissing me.
"I found him," I announced, and Bea's entire wrinkled face brightened. She bounded over and smiled lovingly down at her baby.
"Oh Clarence, did you miss me?" she asked the grey and white rodent, tenderly scooping him up. Clarence snuggled into her hand, his tiny nose twitching as he sniffed at her comforting scent.
That hamster had issues.

// AN //
From now on, I think Juvia will just speak in first person- it gets so confusing otherwise.