Chapter 1: Assignment

Lucy adjusted her glasses as she leaned back against her chair. The computer screen in front of her glowed softly in the dim lighting of her bedroom. Hunching forward again, she saved her paper to file and attached it to an email, entering in the address on the sticky note next to her keyboard.

journal3jason

She tapped her fingers against the keys softly, thinking of what she should title it. After typing and back spacing a few idea's, she decided to forgo a title and instead put a short summary in front of the file she had saved to the email.

Hi, I'm Lucy Heartfilia. I saw that you guys had an opening in the school paper for a while now, so I've included some of my work in this email to see if maybe I could attain that position. It's a rough draft- let me know what you think!

Lucy H.

She groaned to herself at how stupid she sounded. Why was it that when she was writing a story, the words flowed seamlessly- but when she wanted to send a normal message, she sounded like an illiterate stuttering dork?

Sighing, she just decided to send it. What could the harm be, anyways? It wasn't like she had anything to lose. It had taken her over two years to finally get the courage to send in some of her work to the school newspaper, but she was finally doing it today.

She took a breath and pressed send.

There. Now all she had to do was drop by The Fairy Tail Times journaling office on Monday, and see if they liked her work or not…

Monday just happened to be tomorrow, so Lucy put her computer on stand-by and stood up from the chair, cracking her joints and heading to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Lucy was the kind of girl in high school who just kind of blended in. Not really any close friends, and no enemies either. She had mostly focused on her grades and writing, rather than her social life, since she had no idea how to make any friends after moving to a new school freshman year. If she didn't have friends, then no one would ask her personal questions. She wouldn't have to tell them about what happened to her mom…

But she was finally deciding to do something with her life- or at least start to. If she could get onto the school paper as a writer, she could get some real life practice for journalism and it would look good on her transcript. Along with all of the honors classes and her 4.0 GPA.

If she had had any friends, they would have noticed that she had the nervous tick of adjusting her glasses when she didn't know what to do with her hands.

As Lucy sat in one of the plastic chairs outside the journaling office, she fidgeted with said spectacles. Then clenching her fist, she brought her hand down and pulled the long sleeves of her sweater over her hands. It wasn't particularly cold outside since it was only fall, but the sweater made her feel as if she had a sense of security- shielding her from any outside-

"Hey! Can I sit here?"

Lucy nearly jumped out of her chair as a cheery voice brought her out of her thoughts. She glanced up to see a toned guy with pink hair grinning at her from his stance about a foot away. He was gesturing to the seat beside her. She nodded slightly and then ducked her hair down to cover her face as she leaned forward and slightly away.

"Sweet, thanks!" He said. The chair creaked as he leaned back and folded his hands behind his head casually, crossing an ankle over one knee.

Usually, Lucy wouldn't really be interested in the going-ons of someone around her, but this guy had pink hair…

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye again, observing his lax position. Was he a troublemaker? Another quick look informed her that in the current outfit he was wearing- a sleeveless tee and sports shorts- he had a very toned body. A jock, then? She then remembered that the journaling office was, in fact, right next to the athletic director's.

"I'm Natsu," he said.

"Lucy," she replied, not looking at him. What was it to him, anyways?

"So…you get caught making out in the hallway or somethin'?"

Lucy swung her gaze back around to meet that of the pink haired boy's. He had green eyes- she noted.

"Uh…" she started softly.

"Vandalize the back wall? Copy and paste Shakespeare for an essay?"

"Er…what?" She asked, thoroughly confused.

"What are you in for?" He grinned, raising an eyebrow.

"I-in?" She repeated.

He nodded towards the journaling offices door, "You're seein' the principal, right? What'd you do to get sent to the office?"

Lucy tilted her head, suddenly understanding, "Oh, this isn't the-"

"Natsu?" Both of them looked up as the name was called. The door to the athletic director's office was open and a muscly man with longer shaggy hair and some scruff leaned out of the doorway. The pink haired boy beside her jumped up, and Lucy flinched at the sudden movement.

"Gildarts!" He called back, and Lucy watched them exchange a hand-shake of some kind before losing interest and turning away. It didn't really concern her anyways. She moved her gaze over to the newspaper office's door just as it opened and a student came out. Lucy stood from her seat and walked over to the door, catching it just as it was about to close.

"Hey, good luck with detention, Luigi!" The pink haired boy shouted over to her just as the door closed behind her. She shook her head and turned back to the room in front of her, where The Fairy Tail Times publisher was sitting at his desk reading something on the computer.

"Um, hello," she said blonde haired man glanced up at her, as if he had just noticed her presence in the room.

"Yeah?" He asked confusedly.

"My name's Lucy Heartfil-"

"Oh! Lucy Heartfilia!" He interjected, eyes widening along with his smile. He stood abruptly from his spot at the desk and rounded it to her, grasping her hand and shaking it forcefully. "It's very nice to meet you! I read your article yesterday and it was amazing! Very nice work."

"Oh, er…thanks," she stuttered out, definitely surprised by his response.

"So," he said, "My name's Jason! You can call me Jason. Now let's get down to business, shall we?" He gestured to a seat across from his as he went to sit back down.

"Okay?" She said questioningly, as she took the seat.

"Now," he started, "You are obviously a very talented writer"-she blushed at this-"but, if I didn't have an uncommon interest in the goings on of the school cafeteria food, I wouldn't have been intrigued by your article."

Lucy's shoulder's slumped, "I see," she said.

"But!" He interjected, back to his happy tone, "If we could channel all of that writing skill of yours into something more mind-gripping, you could be a valuable asset to our newspaper crew."

Lucy bit her lip, tilting her head to the side, "So…what would be more interesting?" She was actually wondering how exciting the daily life of a high school student could get…that's why she had ended up writing about cafeteria food. What more was there?

"I'm glad you asked!" Jason said enthusiastically, "I have just the project! I've been saving it for a while and I think you'd be just perfect for the job!"

"Okay…" Lucy said, her heart pounding- this was actually happening!-"What is it?"

He began to hand her a file he had seemingly pulled out of nowhere, but stopped just as she was about to take it.

"How do you feel about a bit of…inside research?" He asked.

"What kind of research?" She countered nervously.

"Well, this particular article is going to require some extensive knowledge and I'm almost positive you won't be able to get very much unless you have an inside view."

"Okay?" Lucy urged him on.

"Read the portfolio- front page," he waved a hand at her nonchalantly, "I set it up myself."

The Inner Workings of a High School Social System, she read.

Objective: To successfully figure out just what it is that is running the school now-a-days.

Suggested Pointers: Infiltration

"Erm…I don't know about this," she said, "What exactly am I supposed to be infiltrating?"

"Why, the high school hierarchy of course! I'm sure you can figure it out since you seem like a little smartie-pants! Anyways, consider this your first assignment- and if you complete it, we can get you a permanent spot on the team!"

The five minute bell rang in the background, making Lucy glance behind her instinctively before looking back at Jason's grinning face.

"So what do you say?" He asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

Lucy gulped.

"I'm in."