It was an average Friday morning when Natsu ran along the corridor of Fairy Tail Academy. He was late for Algebra class.

Shit, if I'm late for class, Mr. Wakaba will kill me once and for all. Natsu thought to himself. As he ran past the principal's office, he saw Dr. Makarov with a new girl with blonde hair with a small ponytail on the side with the rest loose. Her Fairy Tail Academy blazer was pulled over her tiny skirt and she held the strap of her school bag tightly and nervously while her father with his hand on her shoulder talked to Dr. Makarov.

"Her Algebra class should be that way." Dr. Makarov closed his eyes just as Natsu tried to escape. "Mr. Dragneel should take her there."

"WHAT?! HOW DID YOU KNOW I WAS LATE?!" He screamed.

"I see everything, Mr. Dragneel. I see everything. Now would you be so kind as to guide Ms. Heartfilia to Algebra class." Lucy walked shyly over to Natsu with her head bent.

"Sure. Heartfilia girl, Algebra class is this way." Natsu motioned the girl to follow him. While still looking down, she followed.

"Hey what's your name?" Natsu asked. She stayed quiet for a moment.

"Lucy." She whispered.

"No what's your full name?" Natsu asked. She stayed quiet for another moment.

"Lucy Kayla Heartfilia." She whispered.

"Hi then, Lucy Kayla. I'm Natsu." He gave her his hand to shake. While still looking down, she slowly reached out and shook his hand lightly.

"By the way. When you get to Algebra class, you're gonna be in for a real snooze fest."

"Ok." Lucy said with no expression. Natsu opened the door to class. Everyone lifted their heads immediately after their little nap. Mr. Wakaba turned around.

"Late again, Mr. Dragneel?" Mr. Wakaba said accusingly.

"Well uh I had to uh accompany Lucy Heartfilia to class." Natsu gave Mr. Wakaba a fake grin. Mr. Wakaba sighed.

"Very well. Ms. Heartfilia, you sit next to Ms. McGarden over there in the second row." Mr. Wakaba pointed to a girl with short blue hair tied back with a yellow hair tie. She friendlily waved at Lucy as Lucy sat next to her.

"Mr. Dragneel please take your seat." Natsu sat next to Gray, an ice cold guy with dark blue hair and a soft deep voice.

"Have you hit on her yet?" Gray whispered.

"Shut up, she won't even open to me." Natsu elbowed Gray. As Mr. Wakaba began talking, most of the class started to fall asleep except for the first two rows including Lucy, who's eyes were covered by her side bangs.

"Mr. Dragneel." Mr. Wakaba called after an hour a snoozing.

"Mr. Wakaba?" Natsu said sleepily.

"I see your Algebra grades are rather low."

"And?"

"Is it ok if I assign Ms. Heartfilia as your tutor? From her grades in her previous school, she is very fit to be a tutor." Natsu paused.

"Sure, Mr. Wakaba." Natsu grinned sarcastically.

The bell rang to end the long hard day of Fairy Tail Academy. Natsu noticed Lucy and Levy talking like best friends. He tapped his cousin Gajeel on the shoulder.

"Hey Gaj. What's with Lucy and Levy?"

"They've been friends since kindergarten. Didn't Levy ever tell you that?"

"No, her name never came up." Natsu replied, flinging his bag on one shoulder. "Hey, see you later pal?"

"See ya." Gajeel gave Natsu a high five and left. Levy said goodbye to Lucy and caught up with Gajeel who put his arm around her. Lucy was at her locker alone so Natsu approached her.

"Hey, Lucy Kayla. How are you doing." Natsu leaned against the locker next to Lucy's and pushed back his pink hair. Lucy gave a soft chuckle at what Natsu called her.

"Ok." She said softly. They paused for a moment.

"You know who you remind me of?"

"Who."

"Mei Misaki from Another." Natsu grinned. "She's so quiet and so soft. Kouchi seems to really like her."

"Are you implying that you like me." Lucy smiled slyly at Natsu.

"N-n-n-n-n-no I-I-I-I mean are you likable sure b-b-b-but I don't like you I just like you as a friend. And you are cute. N-n-n-no I don't think you're cute b-b-b-but I don't think you're ugly -" Natsu struggled. Lucy giggled.

"Alright, you can stop." Lucy smiled. Natsu sighed, then started acting cool again.

"We should watch a movie at my place."

"What?"

"What?" Lucy gaped.

"I don't exactly know who you are, Natsu. You could be psycho killer."

"True. But being in high school and not warming up to your tits shows that I'm not some freak show." Natsu grinned. Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Sure. Just let me make a phone call." Lucy pulled out her phone. Natsu chose not to listen, but he couldn't help but hear the words 'appointment' and 'nurse'. Lucy put her phone away.

"Sure let's go." Lucy grabbed her bag and walked off with Natsu. They got into his small Smart. Halfway there, Lucy held on for dear life as he made a horrible turn.

"Oh oops." Natsu chuckled as he almost hit a car. "I've failed the driving test a billion times."

"Oh, you don't say because I am totally relaxed." Lucy huffed, her voice still soft and quiet.

"Hey don't you have a license? What a shame that such a pretty girl can fail the driving test so many times."

"My nurse won't let me drive." Lucy replied solemnly. Natsu paused.

"Your…nurse?"

"Well, she's the one who takes care of me when my dad's not around." Lucy explained.

"Oh ok." Natsu relaxed and continued driving. They pulled up to his driveway but knocked over a few flowers.

"Aw man, mom's gonna kill me now." Natsu groaned. Lucy looked outside and laughed. Natsu opened the door.

"Welcome to my home." Natsu opened the door and Lucy stepped in. It was an average two storied house with lots of photos of family vacations. A blue haired girl with pigtails and a middle school uniform came running to him.

"Hi Natsu!" She grinned widely.

"Hey Wendy." Natsu ruffled her hair. Wendy let go.

"Can you help me? Happy and Carla had their babies."

"What the f- you didn't tell mom and dad?!"

"Was I supposed to?" Wendy squirmed nervously and ran off.

"Who's Happy and Carla?" Lucy asked quietly.

"Our cats. Happy's mine and Carla's Wendy's." Natsu replied and walked off to the kitchen with Lucy following.

"Hi you guys." Natsu greeted a red haired man with a short beard and a woman with platinum blonde hair she obviously dyed. He was sitting at the table reading his newspaper while his wife was

"Hi Natsu. New girlfriend?" The woman asked.

"What? NO! NO! Just friends!" Natsu said.

"Alright." She said with a look of surprise.

"This is Lucy Kayla." Natsu said.

"Actually it's just Lucy." Lucy explained.

"Hello then, Just Lucy. How are you doing today?" The man asked.

"Good, thanks Mr. Dragneel."

"Please, call us Igneel and Grandeeney." He said.

"Yeah, we're just gonna go to my room." Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand and dragged her to his room. They heard Wendy's voice screaming about the cats' babies and Natsu's parents running to see. Natsu opened the door to his room. It was filled with posters, trophies and a PlayStation.

"Wow, that's an impressive collection." Lucy pointed to his trophies.

"Yeah, I play football." Natsu sat on an armchair. Lucy breathed heavily.

"Can I sit down for a bit?" Lucy huffed.

"Sure. Make yourself at home." Natsu said. Lucy sat in the armchair next to him and bent her head.

"Sorry it's just…I've always been…pretty weak…"Lucy breathed heavily.

"Seriously, are you ok?" Natsu said with a look of concern.

"No really, I'm fine." Lucy reassured him.

"Ok then…" Natsu looked at his stack of DVD's.

"What kind of stuff do you like to watch?" Natsu asked.

"Well, my favourite genres are romance, comedy, horror and fantasy." Lucy replied.

"So you like Lord Of The Rings?" Natsu asked.

"Not exactly…I think I like Now You See Me." Lucy said.

"Do you have it?" Lucy asked.

"No, but I have the second movie." Natsu replied.

"I've never seen it before…ok" Lucy said. Natsu put the DVD in the DVD player and they watched the movie.

"So…what'd you think?" Natsu asked when the movie finished and the credits were scrolling.

"Oh yeah, it was awesome." Lucy replied with a grin.

"I know right." Natsu grinned widely. A moment of silence has befallen the two.

"Well, uh, listen, I really should be going. My nurse is gonna freak out if I don't get home by six." Lucy checked her watch.

"Six? That's way too early. Welcome to junior year, Lucy Kayla." Natsu said. Lucy looked at him.

"Really?"

"What? You don't think that's a cute nickname for a cute girl like you?" Natsu said confidently, better than when he talked to her at her locker.

"I see what you're trying to do here." Lucy said slyly but quietly still.

"You're trying to play confident plus hard to get. You're playing with my emotions so I'd fall for you. And from what your mom said, I can tell you've had many girlfriends, played with their hearts and got it lost in a game."

"Ok, now you're quoting from Britney's Spears's song Oops I Did It Again." Natsu pointed at her.

"I may or may not. But still, what happened there? Are you one of those guys who would just sleep with a girl and not call her. Hi Natsu Tribbiani." Lucy joked. Natsu rolled his eyes.

"No…maybe…yes…only once I actually dated someone." Natsu let it all out.

"Is it that white haired girl who follows you around and asks if NaLi can start all over again?" Lucy asked with a sly grin.

"Yep. That's Lisanna. My ex who still likes me a lot even though we ended horribly."

"Is she the little sister of Mira-Jane the most popular girl in senior year?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah. She's also the little sister of Elfman, the most popular jock in senior year." Natsu leaned back and looked at the ceiling.

"I really wish I could be like Elfman." Natsu stated.

"You are. You're the most popular guy in junior year. All the girls like you and everywhere you go you're the center of attention." Lucy said. "Me, I walk around like a lonely zombie with the one pal who apparently is also popular. I'm basically a shadow." Natsu put his hand on her shoulder.

"You're not a shadow, you're just new. You can't exactly be popular the minute you get to a new school." Natsu said.

"Oh trust me, Natsu. I tell myself that at every school I've ever been to. But no, I'm still the one attacked from all sides. Fairy Tail Academy is gonna be no different. " Lucy sighed.

"Fine, I'll be your friend. I'll show them, Natsu comes with gal pal Lucy Kayla!" Natsu put his arm around her playfully.

"Sure, I'll just be gal pal Lucy Kayla." Lucy giggled. Then she checked her watch.

"I guess you gotta go. Wanna ride?"

"Oh no, I'm not going in that car ride from hell." Lucy said softly but sternly.

"Fine, we'll walk." Natsu grinned. Lucy sighed but agreed. As they walked downstairs, an older boy with black hair appeared. Lucy did not recognize him, he was not from Fairy Tail Academy. Wendy ran to him.

"Zeref-nii. I missed you!" She hugged him tight. The boy hugged her back, then looked at Natsu.

"Hey Natsu, new girl-"

"NOPE!" Natsu threw a ball at him. Zeref caught it.

"Ok, jeez. No need to be so rough. Besides, I'm only here to see Happy and Carla and Wendy." Zeref rolled his eyes.

"Happy and Carla had their babies." Wendy said excitedly.

"Oh my god, let me see." Wendy ran off to the basement with Zeref following. Natsu took Lucy's hand and went out the door.

"Who was that?" Lucy asked.

"My brother Zeref. He moved out and went to college." Natsu replied. It was a cool summer dusk with a pink and marmalade sky of the sun setting.

"So Lucy. What kind of stuff do you like to do?" Natsu asked.

"I like to read, write and hang out with Plue." Lucy replied.

"And Plue is…?"

"My dog. He's a small white poodle. Though my dad hates him a lot." Lucy replied solemnly.

"Tough." Natsu said.

"Yeah…" Lucy said silently. They walked slowly through the park. The wind rustled the leaves in the trees.

"Where do you live?" Natsu asked.

"22 Diamond Street." Lucy replied.

"Diamond Street? That's like one of the coolest places in Magnolia!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Yeah, we'll see." Lucy rolled her eyes. They chatted as if they were friends who haven't seen each other in a long time. Natsu and Lucy felt comfortable and at ease when talking to each other. Lucy stopped talking so softly.

"My friends and I are gonna go to karaoke tomorrow. You wanna come?" Natsu asked when they reached Lucy's place.

"I wanna, but I'm gonna have to ask my nurse." Lucy replied.

"Sure." Natsu handed her a piece of paper. "Just in case you want or need me."

"Thanks. I'll probably see you tomorrow." Lucy smiled, opened the door and went into her house. She sighed happily and immediately raced to her room, only to be blocked by a tall beefy man with blonde hair and a Hitler mustache, her father.

"Oh, f-f-f-f-father. Y-y-you're home." Lucy stuttered.

"Well, aren't you welcome me? I've been gone for months and you just run up to your room to see that stupid dog." He yelled.

"N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-no. Welcome home, father." Lucy plastered a fake smile on her face.

"I'VE BEEN GONE FOR MONTHS AND I HAVE TO GO AGAIN IN A FEW HOURS! WHAT KIND OF DAUGHTER ARE YOU TO NOT WELCOME ME HOME!" Her father roared and gave her one brutal punch in the eyes. He continued to beat her until Lucy's nurse appeared.

"No, Mr. Heartfilia. You must stop this instant!" She pulled him back. Mr. Heartfilia spat on Lucy and stormed off to the living room. Lucy's nurse rushed to her side.

"Are you alright, dear?" She asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. Thanks Olga." Lucy groaned. She put her hand to her ribs where he hit her.

"Let's get you to your room dear. Little Plue is waiting for you." Olga put Lucy's arm over her shoulder and helped her up to her room. When Olga opened the door, Plue came running to Lucy.

"Hey Plue." Lucy smiled. Olga laid her on her bed.

"Now you get some rest dear. I have to make sure your father doesn't get too drunk before another business trip. I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail." Olga closed the door to her room. Lucy stared up at the ceiling and sighed. She closed her eyes.