They got to school and parked before getting out of the car. They had twenty minutes before class started so they slowly walked through the school towards their classroom.

Rogue suddenly stopped in his tracks. Grace looked at him in confusion, "Why'd you stop? Isn't this the way to class?"

The male nodded but said, "We should take a different route. Like the other staircase."

Just as the pair turned around a raspy voice spoke from behind them, "Well if it isn't Rogue Cheney? This school's resident emo loser."

The male growled and clenched his fists, "Come on Grace, let's go."

The red head looked at him with worry but agreed, "Okay..."

As they walked, the raspy voice spoke again, "Ay! Don't ignore me, asshole!! I'm talkin to ya!"

Suddenly Rogue was grabbed by the back of the shirt and slammed against the lockers. Grace gasped and watched that blonde guy she say next to in science class hold Rogue up by his throat, "I told you the next time I got you alone I'd hurt you, you freak."

The blonde reared his balled up fist back and shot it towards the black haired boy's face. He quickly dodged it as best he could while being restrained, causing the other male to punch the lockers. He retracted his hand and dropped Rogue, "God dammit!! Fuck, that hurt!"

The blonde looked at him with even more anger in his blue eyes than before, "You're so gonna get it now."

Grace had seen enough and stepped in.

Right as he was about to throw another punch at Rogue, she shot her hand out and grabbed his spikey blonde locks and yanked him towards her. She gritted her teeth and growled out in a low voice, "Like hell I'm gonna let that happen, Blondie Boy."

She yanked his head back again, him grunting in pain, and then threw him into the lockers face first.

Before he could pick himself up, Grace grabbed Rogue's hand and they ran towards their first class of the day.

The pair arrived out of breath before they looked at each other and burst out laughing. Grace held onto her stomach as she wheezed.

Rogue just gave deep chuckles as he watched the girl almost laugh herself dead. They both finally stopped, and the black haired male stated, "Thanks a lot for having my back. I'm not much for physical conflict."

The red head smirked proudly, "Don't worry sweetheart, I'll always have your back. I'm honestly not much of a fighter either but if I need to I can put someone in a coffin hella quick."

He gave a breathless laugh at that, though he blushed at the harmless nickname she had called him.

They walked into class and sat in their respective seats, waiting for the other students to enter and class to start. Soon the door opened and in came the blonde boy himself with a small bandaid on his nose. He saw where his seat was, next to the red head who gave him the injury, and immediately looked down and walked towards it. He dropped his backpack and sat down, without giving the girl so much as a glance.

The red haired girl smirked and rested her chin in her palm, "What's the matter, Blondie? What happened to your nose? Did you trip over a curb on your way to school?"

The male growled but didn't respond, causing the girl to cackle. Ms. Porlyusica heard the noise and asked grumpily, "What's so funny Miss Grace?"

The red head cleared her throat, "Oh nothing Ms. Porlyusica. I wasn't laughing, a piece of dust flew into my mouth and I choked a bit."

The old woman grumbled something about 'disruptive children' and 'they don't pay me enough' before turning back to the board and continuing to teach.

Soon it was lunch time. The pair walked to the cafeteria and separated, Grace to their respective table and Rogue to the lunch line.

The red head joined Gajeel and Juvia and nodded in greeting, to which they both responded with a nod back.

Rogue soon joined the trio and they all ate in silence, listening to all the conversations going on at the other tables.

Gajeel suddenly narrowed his eyes at the red haired girl and asked, or rather threatened, "What's your beef?"

The girl blinked, "...huh?"

The studded male repeated, "What's your beef? Why are you hanging out at our table and with Rogue? Is this some type of dare that the populars put you up to as some sort of bullshit coronation into their little group?"

Juvia glared, "Gajeel!"

This caused the studded male to click his tongue, "No one ever CHOOSES to hang out with any of us Juvia! Especially not no new girl!"

The red head shrunk back a bit, "I-I'm sorry. I swear this isn't a dare or a plot of any kind. Rogue was the first person I met in this school so I've kind of been following him around like a lost puppy. I didn't mean to make it look like I was playing with you guys."

The bluenette smiled sadly at the girl, "It's alright Grace. Gajeel is just kind of protective, and hates when people pretend to be any of our friends. He means well, really he does."

The red head nodded her understanding as she looked up at Rogue, who stopped mid bite and was staring at nothing. She gave a worried look and poked his hand, "Hey, Rogue? Are you in there?"

He shook his head free from its trance and looked at the red head. He looked down shyly, "Yeah...I'm fine."

The red head didn't believe him but let him be and continued eating.

The school day finally ended and as students piled out into the parking lot, Grace and Rogue walked in silence towards his car. Grace was itching to ask him what was wrong but she didn't want to seem nosey.

The car ride wasn't much louder as Rogue turned the radio on and just drove, remembering exactly where Grace had directed him to go the day before.

He pulled into her driveway and she grabbed her backpack from the backseat and waved with a small smile, "See you tomorrow. Are you picking me up?" She looked away, "You really don't have to if you don't want to..."

He didn't look at her and just said quietly and more emotionless than usual, "Yah...sure I'll pick you up. That's what I promised to do isn't it?"

The female turned her head away, surprised and a little hurt by his sudden coldness, and stated, "Yeah...it is...I guess."

With that she walked up to her front door and, before opening it, turned around to watch him speed out of the cul-de-sac. She sighed and walked into the house, immediately going up to her room and shutting her door.

She face planted on her bed and groaned into the blankets, "What's happening to me? I've never felt this hurt about how someone else might see me."

She flipped herself over and stared at the ceiling, It's what I promised to do isn't it?

Those words repeated in her head, "Why'd it sound like if he hadn't promised he wouldn't do it? Does he hate me now or something? Did I do something to upset him?"

She curled up into a ball and laid on her bed for what felt like days. Until her mom suddenly yelled up at her, "G, come down dinner's ready!"

She really didn't want to eat anything, but she knew she'd be hungry later so she went down anyway. She just poked at her food, every once in a while absently taking a bite. Her father saw the strange behavior and asked, "What's up with you, Red? Something happen at school?"

The girl shook her head, "It's nothing. Just thinking about this poem thing we have to memorize for English."

She wasn't completely lying, she did have to memorize a poem, but that wasn't what she was thinking about.

Her parents left her alone after the explanation.