One Of The Boys

Miscommunications

Lucy frowned. "An...auction?"

"Yeah," Gray said, nodding. "For charity."

Lucy's face twisted up into an unsure look. "And I'm for sale?"

Gajeel nodded. "Yes."

"I don't want to be for sale."

Laxus shrugged. "You would've gotten a say, if you and dumb-dumb had showed up for first block."

Lucy's eyes flickered over to Natsu, who had his head down on the lunchroom table. His snores were echoing throughout the room, but she didn't have the heart to wake him.

They'd played in the pond the entire night, only returning home when the night sky began to lighten as the sun rose; they'd intended to skip school completely, stay home, but Lucy's father had woken them up rather abruptly, insisting that she didn't miss another block.

So, they'd shown up to class—late, albeit—and Lucy had been struck with the information that she was now a part of the school's latest fundraiser: an auction. The boys had told her at lunch; Natsu had fallen asleep, exhausted from last night's activities.

Girls were put up for sale, and boys—or anyone else who wasn't being sold—could take part in the auction, offering up money. Whoever was the highest bidder would win the person being sold, and they would get to go on a date with them. The dates would occur later that night, in the cafeteria (which would be decked out to look like a romantic restaurant). The school dance would proceed afterwards, where the rest of the school would arrive and enjoy the festivities.

It was the school's Valentine's Day fundraiser. And since Lucy hadn't been at school, she hadn't been able to insist that she didn't want to take part in the entire Valentine's Day shenanigans.

"Isn't that sort of...bad?" Lucy frowned at her lunch. "I mean, really? Selling women? And then the women being sold are forced to go on a date with the highest bidder? I thought the school would at least see the bad PR in that one."

Gray shrugged. "Who knows what the logic was? Either way, you're up for sale on Friday."

"Can't I opt out of it?"

"Probably," Laxus murmured. "But you are aware that you'll raise the most money for the school right?"

"And you know this fundraiser is paying for the baseball team's new uniforms, right?" Gray's eyes darted up to Lucy's face.

For some reason, she got the feelings the uniforms weren't the only reason Gray wanted her in the auction.

"But if I go up for sale, then I have to go on a date with whoever buys me. What if it's a big creep?"

Gray's eyes dropped to his sandwich and his cheeks went a little red. When he spoke, it was barely a murmur; Lucy could only hear a part of his words. "Maybe I'll just have to save up all my cash, then."

Lucy's face went hot at Gray's comment, but she pretended not to hear it. She didn't particularly want to respond to that—she didn't know what to say.

She didn't know how to even talk to him after their date. It had gone nicely, sure. They'd gone out for dinner, chatted all night. And he'd pulled out her chair for her and opened her car door for her and helped her put her coat on, and he'd been incredibly polite and rather charming, but it hadn't been enough.

Natsu was there, lingering in the back of her mind.

Lucy didn't know what to do. Gray seemed to be even more affectionate with her now, even at school; he'd wait by her locker between classes and he'd walked her to the lunchroom. He was being incredibly sweet and really nice. Normally, she'd swoon. He's cute, he's nice, he's focusing totally on her. What's not to like?