Secret Love Chapter 1: Naisho (Secret)
Lucy Heartfilia, Fairy Tail High's top student is dating famous school athlete Natsu Dragneel. However, with the school's strict guidelines when it comes to the academic scholars like Lucy, announcing their relationship is a hard bridge to cross. With Natsu's family issues and Lucy's academic struggle, will they be able to make it across and proudly tell everyone about the beautiful thing that they have?
Hey, guys! This is my first story upload so I hope it'll be to your liking.. Anyway, I won't hold you up any longer, I hope you enjoy the first chapter :)
Lucy was not the type of person to have deep crushes on people like Natsu, but for some inexplicable reason, she did. The sight of him made her giggle on the insides and her arms feel as if there is some kind of magnet that draws them to him. Oh, how nice it would be to be able to hug him! But of course, that was not possible, what with teachers all around the building judging the actions and movements of their students as if they were God.
She looked away from Natsu, cutting off the scene wherein she runs to his arms in pure joy, to look at her watch. It had been almost half an hour since she disregarded the class discussion to stare at Natsu and as the bell rung to signal the end of the class, she quickly gathered her belongings and stormed off the room as if it was her most dreaded place.
The school cafeteria was bustling with hormonal hungry teenagers as per usual, but this did not stop her Natsu radar, immediately noticing him sitting with his friends and their respective girlfriends. It was a pain, that's for sure, but she decided not to pay it any heed and just continue with her business. She walked all the way to their table without glancing in Natsu's way once (which she considered to be an achievement) and laughed her way through their one-hour break.
"You have got to stop being so damn obvious, Lucy!" complained one of her best friends, Cana. "We all know you've got this deep crush going on with him and we know it's your first time since Sting, but man, can you be a bit more obvious about it?"
"That's so not true, Cana." she replied, not even looking up to know that everyone was nodding their heads in approval with Cana's useless comment. "I like to think that you guys notice it because you are aware of what I feel, and well, you know me."
Lucy shrugged, trying her best to convince even herself because come on, she is so freaking obvious! Lucy tried to act as nonchalant as possible until she heard a booming laughter echo around the cafeteria. They all turned their heads to Natsu's table where Gray, one of Natsu's friends, seemed like he was dying of laughter.
"Natsu, man!" he shouted, tutting as he was formulating his next sentence. "Those geeks would never let you date them! Didn't you know, they're all about school, all about tomorrow, all about their grades! They're too plain and boring for you, man!"
Lucy rolled her eyes, hating the fact that there was like a bazillion of comments in her brain that would render poor old Gray's statement wrong but not having the courage to speak it out loud. She decided to ignore his insensitive comment and turned back to her table to finish her meal.
"I agree with the man, Natsu" inserted Lisanna, the infamous "lady-jerk", but in Lucy's non-sexist dictionary, she was just a jerk. "People with the wits are more likely to let you copy their assignments than let you date them, but that's if there are people willing to date them."
Lucy's hands were shaking with anger now, and sweat was beading up her forehead. She didn't want to be one of the people who just stood by and listened. No, she wanted to be the one who stands up and actually makes a difference. But, fear. It's her greatest enemy. She was scared she would say something wrong, she was scared people would just disregard her opinion and agree with the stereotypical argument. Her knees were shaking. They were begging to stand up, and yet her legs felt as if they have lost all will to move. What was she going to do?
"Stop it, you guys." scowled Natsu. "Let's just drop it and finish eating." Lucy felt relieved for some reason, it was as if Natsu had sensed her dilemma and had decided to speak out to save her ass. But there was no way that was possible, parents couldn't even do that. She sighed, finally releasing the air that was trapped in her system for like half a minute, and unclenching her fists only to realize that they had been already started to hurt and might even get bruises.
"Are you okay?" asked Levy, worry clear on her face. "You look like you're holding a huge poo."
"Oh my God, Levy!" Lucy said, bursting out in laughter. "I actually thought you were concerned about me. But, yes, I am. It's just that my thoughts are as big as that imaginary poo you think I was holding."
"Yeah well, they're jerks anyway." said Mira, Cana's girlfriend. "Don't pay them or their inconsiderate thoughts any attention."
"Easy for you to say," muttered Lucy, demolishing her half-eaten cup of mashed potato. "You just look like best friends having the time of their lives. We can't even say hi to each other!"
"You'll both be okay, and we all know it." smiled Levy, her eyes comforting Lucy in a way that only a best friend ever could. "Heck, even he knows it."
When Lucy arrived home after yet another day at school, she quickly dove to her study table to finish all the homework she has to do just in time for her favorite person in the world to be finished with practice. She was doing her Calculus homework when the sudden ding of her phone distracted her.
From: Anon
Hey, how you doin'?
Lucy saw herself snickering at the infamous catchphrase of Joey Tribianni, one of the characters from her all-time favorite sitcom, Friends. She shook her head and decided to tease him a little bit by not replying and continued on with her impending homework. Lucy was starting to get lightheaded from all the formulas she saw from a single book when her phone caught her attention again.
From: Anon
oh come on. i miss talking to you. please reply, we're real busy with practice :(
Lucy sighed, not being able to resist the man any longer. She closed her Calculus book and pushed it at the side of the table and grabbed her phone.
To: Anon
I'm here, just doing my Calculus homework. It's such a dull! Care to entertain me a bit? :)
Shortly after hitting the send button, a reply instantly came through. A blush started to spread through Lucy's cheeks.
From: Anon
as much as i would love to, i cant. im sitting on bench since its still break time but we're resuming anytime now. anyways, great talk! ttyl.
Lucy felt herself cringing from the way he typed his texts, hating the loss of correct capitalization and apostrophes, but nevertheless, felt incredibly great about herself. She missed being able to just talk to him anytime she wanted or needed to. Now, she can't even talk to him on the phone, much less in person. Lucy could not stop herself from heaving a sigh.
Everybody regards Lucy as a person with a positive outlook on life, which is true for the most part. But being enrolled in a really good and high-end institution whose primary goal was to send all of its promising students to the best schools out there for them was really hard. There were qualifications that were adhered to them, and only them, in order to make sure that they were not going to be distracted from their goals.
The "regime" as the students from other classes teased them, only had two qualifications.
1. Failure to keep grades from all subjects well above 90 will result in being dropped from the section.
2. Every student in the section must have his own extra-curricular activity planned out and should produce results by the end of the semester, failure to do so will result in being advised to drop.
And in order to keep their heads straight, the scholars were strongly discouraged to date, and in the case you are well, to say that the school and the parents are going to make a big deal out of it would be an understatement. Those qualifications were only applicable to the academic scholars. The qualifications for the sports team were a bit more harsh and unforgiving. They were allowed to date though, which was constantly being envied by the academic scholars. The only thing that makes the sports team's qualifications a bit too harsh for Lucy was the need for them to train their body for a total of eight hours a day.
Now, when all this was proposed Lucy was all up for the idea. At the time, she never really imagined herself being in a place where she would actually meet a person who would make her want to disobey the damned institution and date away. So now, when she had started talking with Anon, she just thought that dating won't really harm a student's academic performance if she just focuses enough like Lucy. She sighed, knowing that despite her thoughts, she would never really have the courage to speak them out because her anxiety just kills all her momentum.
A continuous vibration from her phone jolt her awake from her thoughts of unleashing a propaganda against the academic rules of performance. She turned to it and slid the answer button to the left to receive the call.
"Hey, Dragneel." she smiled, her face not being able to contain her apparent blush. "So how was practice?"
"Oh, real good." answered the deep voice on the phone that just made Lucy's heart turn mushy and skip a beat. "How's homework? I hope you're getting somewhere with that shit."
"Oh this shit's never getting me anywhere." Lucy couldn't help but laugh. She only really cursed when she's with him because everyone thinks she's too good for that and she doesn't really want to ruin people's impression of her. "It's just homework after homework after homework. What's getting me somewhere though is the hard work that the school will give to my application for Fiore University."
"Huh, I guess you're settled with that school."
"Yes, actually. And you? Any thoughts?" Lucy was curious as to which school he's decided to attend at college because there weren't really many good schools for sports in Magnolia.
"Yes and I've been thinking that I won't go to a school dedicated to sports." Lucy felt her jaw drop. This was the first he had ever told her about this. "Because I just thought that I'm only in the sports team because of my family, and I think I'm good because of this thing called genetics. But I really want to do something in my life that sets me apart from my family."
"Which is what, if I may ask?"
"Pilot." he said, and Lucy felt her smile get a bit wider. "I want to be a pilot, Luce. I've always wanted to become one but the pressure coming from my family of athletes didn't exactly help with fulfilling my dreams."
"Have you talked to them about this?"
"No, I haven't. I decided to spill the beans at the same time I tell them about you."
Lucy felt her heart drop at his decision. "Babe, you do know that we can't tell any more people about us right? This would put my standing in the section in danger, and this would also mean wrath from your mom who has already chosen some girl for you."
"I know," he started. "But I really, really love you, Luce. And if they can't accept that then I don't think they're my family at all. All my life, all I ever did was follow everything they told me. I walked the path they told me to take and I didn't complain once. Now, I just want them to realize that I am not like their other kid who just blindly obeys them. I don't want to end up like my brother, sad and lonely."
"That's great, Dragneel. To be honest, I've always been envious of you for being so dedicated to your family but seeing you like this is really sexy." Lucy said jokingly. She knew that the man had his kinks and this was one of them; her telling him all the things she loved about him.
"Luce," groaned the man on the phone. "will you please stop calling me by my last name when it's just the two of us? I really want to hear you say my name because you only do it so rarely!"
"Fine, fine" laughed Lucy. It had been so long since he ever had the time to call her and she was also so busy for the upcoming school debate so spending some time with him like this even if it was just on the phone was important to her. But there are times when she wants to see him in person and talk to him endlessly. There are times when she longs for his surprise hugs. There are times when her solitude is too strong that she would want to end it all because after all, even the great Lucy breaks.
"Thank you, love." he said, relief evident on his voice. Maybe her saying his name truly was such a big deal to him. "Anyways, I still have some homework left to do. It's really frustrating because you get home, and you expect to get some rest and when you open your phone, you see the countless of academic homework left to do!"
"Oh my God, stop complaining and just do your homework!" exclaimed Lucy, her voice full of pure happiness. "I'll even help you out, just send me the details and I'll give you the answers in no time."
"Really? You'll do that for me?" Excitement was pouring down the man's voice. "Okay, I'll send you this two Chemistry problems that has been bugging me for the past thirty minutes so I can finally let go of it and start on my Social Science homework. Good night, Luce! I'll always love you."
"Sure, fire away." Lucy's voice was screaming sadness. "And I will always love you more, Natsu Dragneel."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As you can see, I decided to keep all the titles in Japanese while I will just provide translations. So there you have it, the first chapter! I really wish you liked it.