We All Have a Story to Tell

Chapter 1

Let me tell you a story about a girl and a boy trying to take on the world.

There's a quote by a man named James Fforde that says that love and magic are like oil and water- they just don't mix. And I completely agree with him. Some things just don't mix, love and magic are a perfect example, as well as he and I were.

Fairy tales say that love is a magical thing, and I once believed so too. My mother used to read me fairy tales at night, all ending in happily ever after. Those stories, however, didn't teach me what happened when your happily ever after completely crumbled in front of you, leaving you all alone to pick up the pieces. To say the truth, happily ever afters only exists in fairy tales. And I am done being a fool and believing otherwise.

My story begins during my first year of high school, when I met Lisanna Strauss. It was the first time I had ever gone to school with other students, for I had been home schooled before that. I had moved to Magnolia just that year and I didn't know a single person in town. I was the loner girl that for her first week of school ate the lunch her mother made for her all by herself in the bathroom stalls.

I met Lisanna in my physical education class my second week of school, when our instructor asked us to run the mile and I tripped and fell on the track field, scraping my palms and knees. I remember feeling tears gather in my eyes, threatening to fall as my cheeks reddened from the embarrassment. And that was when someone's shadow covered me from the sun. Her white running shoes were the first thing I saw through my blurry vision.

"Are you alright?" She crouched down beside me and smiled at me when I nodded without even sparing her a look. She giggled and took my bruised hands in hers. I looked up, surprised and found myself looking at a pretty blue eyed girl with short white hair. She smiled one of the widest and brightest smiles I had ever seen. "I'll take you to the infirmary." She stood up and then helped me up to my feet. "Let's go."

My eyes widened when I saw her smile at me again and tears spilled down my cheeks. She didn't notice at first, but she would when we'd get to the infirmary. She held my hand till we got there, my other hand busy rubbing my teary eyes.

"Thank you." I whispered. She giggled, saying that it was no problem.

That had marked the beginning of our friendship.

We began to hang out together after that. She introduced me to her other close friend, Juvia Loxar. The long, blue haired beauty with equally blue eyes was one of the most popular girls in school, but seemed to not like the attention she got. Lisanna, however, loved the attention and making new friends. She was one of the most sociable girls I had ever met.

A few months after we met, she decided she wanted to join the cheer team in school. She even begged me to join with her. But I told her I couldn't. I was terrified of the attention and of having others depend on me to do things right and not mess up in front of hundreds and thousands of other people. I just couldn't deal with that kind of pressure, though my mother and Lisanna thought otherwise.

My mother was a very supportive mother, always encouraging me to do my best and never give up on my dreams for the future. She was always there for me. I regret not always being there for her as she was there for me.

My father, on the other hand, was a very busy man who I only ever saw during the weekends. He busied himself with work and almost never was home. We weren't very close, with him barely ever being home, and with his stern personality, I was better off not getting to close to him. Mother said that if I tried, I would understand just how much of a loving man he was. She wanted to see us happy. She wanted to see us bond as daughter and father. And neither of us ever even tried to give her that. I am sure we both regret that the most.

My high school life seemed to get better and better as time passed during my freshmen year. Half way through the year I encountered by the hall one of the most popular and charming guys in school. Sting Eucliffe was one of the best basketball players in our school and the team captain for the freshmen basketball team.

I was walking down the hall when two girls, Angel Sorano and Minerva Orland, stepped in front of me and eyed me up and down, as if something must have been wrong with me, or at least the were looking for something to criticize me on that day. They had made it their daily goal to annoy me just for the fun of it. Their bullying was getting to my nerves but I never did anything about it, too scared to speak my mind out.

Angel's eyes had landed on the blue ribbon that tied my long, blonde hair up on a side ponytail. "You're wearing that childish ribbon again, Heartfilia." She stated with raised eyebrows and a mocking grin forming on her lips. Minerva hummed as she stared at it.

I had looked down, holding my textbook and notebook closer to my chest. "I like it." I mumbled. My mother had given me that ribbon, and it was like a good luck charm to me, I always had it with me.

Minerva snorted and stepped closer to me. She eyed it carefully and then looked back down at me. "You aren't a little kid anymore, Heartfilia. We're in high school now." Her hand came up to my head and she pulled on the blue ribbon, my long hair falling down to my lower back. My eyes widened when I saw the ribbon fall to the ground and Angel stepping on it. "Start acting like a highschooler." Minerva stated, looking back at me, my wide eyes still staring at my dirty ribbon.

Her last few words still echo in my head at times, "It's time you realize that life can't always be perfect and pretty."

She turned and left then but Angel watched me as I bent down and picked up my ribbon. I rubbed my eyes, not wanting to cry in front of her. I made it to move passed her and towards the bathroom to wash my ribbon but she pushed me, making me trip and fall. I wasn't able to stop the tears that ran down my cheeks after that. I could hear the steps of other students as they stopped around us.

"Your rich father can't help you out in everything, Heartfilia. Are you going to call him after this and ask him to take you away? Are you gonna ask mommy to kiss it all away?"

My hands tightened into fists then. I was done feeling less than everybody else. I was done being made fun of for who I was, for who my family was. Yes my father was a powerful man who seemed to grow money on trees, but he worked his ass for that money. My mother was a caring woman that did in fact spoil me to an extent, but it was only normal. I was her only daughter, her only child.

"I am not." I said through clenched teeth. "I am staying here and there is nothing that will make me run away."

Angel had smirked. "We'll see about that." She then walked passed me, making a few others follow her away. Little by little people started leaving me, walking away as if nothing had happened. Not one of them stepped up to me and offered to help me. That's when my hatred for most of the idiots in Magnolia High School began. I never told my friends about this, and now I wish I had. Maybe they would had helped me, maybe things would have probably turned out much different. But I didn't want them to get mixed up in my problems

Before I stood up and gathered my things, I saw someone else crouched down beside me. He gathered my books and picked up my dirty ribbon. "Angel can be a real bitch sometimes." He told me when I took my ribbon back from him.

He stood up, taking my books with him as he waited for me to get up as well. When we both stood he smiled at me. "All better?" He asked and I nodded, my cheeks already red from what had just happened. He nodded and handed me my textbooks. "I'm Sting Eucliffe by the way." He grinned.

And I smiled for the first time that day as I told him my name. "Well Lucy, you should keep your distance from Angel. She just likes the attention, so don't mind her too much."

I nodded and thanked him. Sting smiled down at me and patted my head. I tentatively smiled when his light blue eyes caught mine. My cheeks turned a deep shade of red at his next words. "You've got a beautiful smile."

That was the very first time a guy made me feel like there were butterflies in my stomach. He was my very first crush.

"Sting Eucliffe?" Lisanna had asked me, looking pretty ecstatic when I confessed who I liked. "Really, Lucy? That's great! You two blonds would make a beautiful couple!"

Juvia sighed, rolling her eyes at Lisanna's over excitement. I blushed, somewhat glad Lisanna seemed happy for me as well as supportive. We were sitting together in one of the many tables in the dining hall. Students sitting all around us, chatting away with their friends. As I looked around, my eyes landed on the very popular Sting Eucliffe and I quickly looked down once our eyes met. I slowly looked back up to find him still staring at me. He would then smile and wave at me. And every time this happened, I couldn't stop myself from smiling and waving back.

Lisanna scooted closer to me, whispering, "You know Lucy, I also like someone from the basketball team." My eyes widened at that.

"Who?" I asked, all to excited to find out who my friend liked.

"It's a secret." She winked and I pouted. At that moment I didn't know how important that information was. I should have known. She should have told me. But things didn't work out the way I would have wanted.

A few weeks later, while we sat at our usual table eating lunch, the rarest and craziest things I had ever seen happened. Two boys, both who were in our grade, came running inside the cafeteria naked. I don't think my face has ever been more red than it was that day. Lyon Bastia and his infamous step brother, Gray Fullbuster were the two crazy guys that decided to run around in their birthday suits one afternoon as the entire student population of Magnolia High ate their lunch. Lisanna had choked on her drink when they ran passed our table, Loke Celeste not far behind them videotaping the entire ordeal.

Juvia even seemed surprised, and she was one hard to break from her usual calm and collected attitude. The weirdest part, however, had been when Lyon stopped in front of our table and asked Juvia for her name. Until today, I have no idea how Juvia could just sit there and answer to his questions and continue the conversation while he was completely naked, standing just steps away from us.

It was after that day that we began to have new company at our table during lunch. Lyon and his friends, Gray and Loke, began to eat lunch with us on a daily bases. Lyon was trying his hardest to woo Juvia, and both Lisanna and I thought of him as one of the charmiest and dreamiest guys in school. Juvia, however, was harder to charm. It took her the entire rest of freshmen year to fall in love with the boy who ran around naked in public just to get her attention.

At the time, however, I didn't know that it had taken her so long because she used to have a crush on Lyon's step brother, Gray, who had rejected her back in middle school.

Lyon and Juvia started going out during the summer break before our sophomore year. This lead us to hang out with him and his new band mates, Gray, Loke and Gajeel Redfox, a guy who seemed a lot older than 16, with so many tattoos and piercings and a face that read 'fuck off.'

Their popularity grew and grew during that summer. They were truly amazing. Lyon, who played the guitar, and wrote many of the band's songs was pretty popular with the girls, and though Juvia always claimed it didn't bother her, I knew it did. She didn't like the attention he was getting, she didn't like how he was little by little changing. Loke, the womanizer of the band, played the base. Gajeel was the scariest looking in my opinion, he was tough to initiate a conversation with and always ignored you when you got close to him, but he was an amazing drummer, and was very dedicated to the band. Who knew all it would take to break his mean guy shell of an attitude would be a small bookworm girl with blue hair.

Gray Fullbuster was the lead guitarist and the lead singer of the band. The first time I ever heard him play I was completely mesmerized by his voice. The song hadn't been their usual rock style as Juvia had described to Lisanna and me. The beat had been slow and Gray's voice was low and smooth, and dare I say it, sexy. But that hadn't been what had made me want to never stop listening to him play. It had been the words. The song's lyrics, which I later found out he had written, were beautiful, heartbreaking even. And that night, while he sang that song with his eyes closed, when he sang the last verse, he opened the deepest blue eyes I had ever seen and they were looking straight at me. The perfect face focused solely at me, made me shiver a little.

I went to plenty more of their concerts after that one during our summer break. And a part of me fell in love with his voice.

It was during the beginning of our sophomore year that things started to get complicated.

We all still hanged out together, the guys becoming more and more popular amongst our school's female population. Loke was the one who enjoyed that the most. Gray claimed to not enjoy their clinginess, yet he came to lunch every week with a different girl. Gajeel ignored them all. Their popularity, however, also worsened Angel and Minerva's abuse, and even added a few more girls who claimed I wanted them all for myself.

"Gray is mine. Understood, Heartflilia?" I had nodded. And Angel had smirked. "Good."

They also bullied me when I was prescribed glasses. I was called names like nerd and loner and freak and even bookworm since I was always reading a different book. But I wasn't fazed by their words, I knew who I was and I wasn't planning to change for them. After all, I had a mother who loved me for who I was and friends who accepted me as well.

Lyon and Juvia were one of the most popular couples in school. Rumors came and went, but they stayed strong through it all, they were inseparable. That was until Lyon joined in Gray in smoking, getting high, and drinking at parties every weekend.

Juvia blamed Gray, claiming that he was influencing his brother to do what he was doing. But Gray stated that Lyon was no kid and knew what he was getting into. This almost made Juvia break up with Lyon but they worked things out and stayed together, Lyon ending the drug use and drinking habit, but never quite being able to stop smoking.

It was months after that, during our second semester of our sophomore year, that I noticed the way Gray looked at Juvia. He didn't look at her how he looked at Lisanna or me, or even his best friend, Cana, who sometimes hanged out with us. He looked at her with care, and warmth, and even love, much like Lyon looked at her. And that's when I realized why he had been so hurt when she had blamed him for Lyon's actions. He liked her. Or maybe even loved her.

I wasn't very close to him back then, so I wasn't able to help him, even though I was probably the only person who knew how he felt. I regret not sparing him from heartbreak. I guess I regret a lot of things. But what would life be without regrets?

During that same year Lisanna and I began going to almost every basketball game at school, sometimes she cheered sometimes she didn't, and when she didn't we would sit together, cheering for our team. She said the guy she liked was just as good as Sting, but she would never tell me which one, they were all good in my opinion so it wasn't easy to narrow it down by just that.

It would soon be the championship game and I was planning to confess to Sting. I had had that crush for him for longer than a year, it was time I confessed my feelings for him. I wanted him to know how I felt.

I had thought of writing him a love letter, as cheesy as that may sound, but Lisanna said it would be better if I did it face to face. Juvia, however, didn't like the idea of me confessing at all. She thought he was a jerk and wouldn't respond the way I would want. He would not be gentle. Juvia couldn't have been more right.

But I had chosen to listen to Lisanna. And I confessed right after the championship game, which they had barely won, by one point. And it hadn't been thanks to Sting, but by another pink haired player.

I had waited by the locker rooms, watching as they all walked out, except Sting. It was getting dark when he finally walked out.

"Lucy?" He had asked, clearly surprised to see me there. I smiled, holding tightly onto the ends of my deep blue uniform skirt.

"Sting, there is something I've been meaning to tell you." He raised an eyebrow, as if not understanding what I could possibly mean by that.

And then I said it. "I like you Sting." We stood there without saying anything for a long while until finally he broke the silence and spared me the torture to continue waiting there.

But his response was everything but what I had expected. He started laughing! And there was nothing more I wanted to do just then but cry. There was a huge knot on my throat as I watched him clean tears from his eyes.

"Are you for real?" My eyes were wide as I stared at him. Hadn't I been clear enough?

I only nodded.

He laughed again, and this time I did start crying. Tears running down my cheeks as my hands fell by my sides.

"The bookworm has a crush on me." He was saying between laughs and my hands slowly came up to cover my mouth so he wouldn't hear me muffle my cries.

"Oh Lucy, I think you've got the wrong idea. I don't like you. I just helped you once and that was it. I felt sorry for you and I helped you. But I would never fall for the school's bookworm."

I couldn't take more of him and his words so I turned and ran as far away from him as I could. Tears blurred my eyes, making it difficult for me to see where I was going. I stumbled a couple times, falling by the school halls and picking myself up and continuing to run. I didn't want to stop, I wanted to be away from that school. I had been humiliated all too much. Why were they doing this to me? What had I done to them?

I rubbed my eyes as ran down the stairs that led down the exit of Magnolia High School. And as I did I bumped into someone's hard chest. I quickly looked up to find black eyes looking down at me. I tried to step aside and continue my run but he grabbed onto my arm before I could escape.

"Hey, are you alright?" I looked back to see the concern in his eyes. I didn't know him, but his pink hair seemed familiar. He was the guy that had scored the winning points. Somehow his eyes emitted some kind of warmth that reached me and made me want to open up to him.

"No, I'm not, not at all." I confessed, tears already covering my cheeks.

His gaze turned hard and he pulled me toward him, wrapping his long and strong arms around me. "Don't worry. Everything's going to get better, I promise." He whispered. And I don't know why, but I believed him.

We became friends after that. Natsu Dragneel was also a basketball player. It was his passion, he told me. He had played since he was a little boy. We got to know one another for the last few months of our second year, and it was during our summer break that we became best friends. He started hanging out with some of my friends, becoming quite close to Gajeel in particular. Which was quite rare. Gajeel was only close to Gray. Natsu and Lisanna had been best friends when they were younger. Natsu told me all kinds of stories about when they were little, and he never disappointed with the laughter. He had me laughing and forgetting all my problems. He made me feel great. But things weren't so easy.

He and Lisanna apparently had a complicated relationship. Lisanna didn't really like hanging out with him. So I had to hang out with them separately.

By the end of my summer break I had forgotten all about Sting. The memories of his cruel rejection remained but I didn't have constant thoughts about it. It was also during that summer vacation that my mother started getting very sick. What seemed to be a harmless fever only continued to worsen. And just when we thought she'd get better, she only got worse.

Natsu stood by my side through the entire thing. He went with me to the hospital when my mother was moved there a couple times, he came home and helped me tend her. Lisanna did as well, and even Juvia did, but not as much as Natsu.

By the beginning of my junior year my mother seemed to finally get better, and the tests would soon be finished and we would know what she had. For now she could stay home and rest. My father stayed with her when I had to go back to school, worried for her state and not wanting her to be alone.

Everything was starting to get better, at least I thought so.

The band continued to grow in popularity, which was a good thing for the guys, but not for Juvia. Her relationship with Lyon only continued to get tested, and she even asked for a break after a while. So they took a break.

Gray and Juvia became much closer after that, and I knew that wasn't a good thing, for he held feelings for her. But I didn't do anything, I had enough on my plate.

Natsu and I were becoming closer too. And I felt special with him. I wanted to be with him. So when he asked me out, I said yes. But this only complicated my relationship with Lisanna. She started avoiding me, always making up excuses to why she couldn't hang out with me.

I later found out she had a boyfriend, Bickslow. He was a year older than us. I thought at the time that maybe she couldn't hang out with me because of him. So I didn't mind it too much. What a mistake had I made.

The band was a mess. Lyon and Juvia clearly wanted to be together, but neither of them made a move to get back together. Gray had feelings for Juvia but was instead dating his best friend Cana. And Loke and Gajeel were just going around with it.

Lisanna was only hanging out with Juvia and Bicklsow, and every time I tried to talk to them, they either ignored me or made up an excuse to not hang out with me.

So in the end I only had Natsu.

But even he couldn't always hang out with me, he had other friends, and he had basketball. So the school's library became my best friend. I read all types of books during my third year. I even re-read some fairy tales my mother had read to me as a child.

And it was on the same day my mother's test results arrived that I sat at the library wishing for my life to end with a happily ever after, as it seemed to happen in all the stories I had read.

But my happily ever after never came.

My mother was diagnosed with advanced leukemia and was expected to live less than six months.

The news had crushed me. I felt like it was all a very bad dream, that I would wake up and find my smiling and bright mother sitting there telling me everything was okay and she would be with me for a very long time. But it wasn't a dream, I wasn't so lucky. My mother was dying and she was suffering. She wanted to live, but things weren't going in our favor.

I remember staying one night with her at the hospital, she had been holding my hand. We were both quietly sitting there, just enjoying each others company. There was so much I wanted to talk to her about, so much we had to talk about before we were separated. We were supposed to have years and years together. She was supposed to see me walk down the aisle wearing a white dress at the alter! She was supposed to be there to encourage me until I reached all my goals! We weren't supposed to be ripped apart so soon! I needed her…

I didn't know when I started crying, I just felt her cold finger cleaning away my tears and snapped out of it. My chocolate brown eyes landed on equally dark brown eyes. "I am always going to be with you, Lucy. Always." Tears spilled down my eyes as I saw her smile at me. I didn't want her to leave me. I didn't want to stop seeing her, having her by my side.

"I love you, mama." I whispered and she smiled, tears gathering on the corners of her eyes.

"I love you too, Lucy." We hugged for what felt like hours and only separated when Natsu knocked on the door, walking in with a coffee for me and another for himself. We spent the night with my mother at the hospital, Natsu distracting us both by making us laugh.

A few weeks later Lisanna and the others surprised me when they came to the hospital. Juvia and Lisanna where the first to come see my mother, they had both already met her, and my mother was more than happy to see them. She even had a small talk with Juvia while Lisanna and I went to get a muffin. When we came back Juvia was crying, something I never thought seeing. She had stood up after we had walked in and excused herself, saying she needed to talk to Lyon. My mother never told me what they had talked about. But she was certain things between them would work out in the end.

My relationship with Natsu continued to get better with time, even with my mother's condition things between us didn't get complicated. He was supportive, and I guess that was the reason why I fell for him. He was my support and I needed him.

My mother and Natsu became close during her last few months, but my mother never told me she liked him for me. Instead said he was a very charming boy that could be a very good friend. She, however, did noticed the weird relationship between him and Lisanna. But I didn't mind it at the time, and told her not to either. I had been happy, stupidly thinking they were making up and going back to being friends again.

I only once questioned him about his meetings with Lisanna. We had been sitting outside the hospital while my father spent some alone time with my mother. I had rested my head on his shoulder and he had held onto my hand as I watched the cherry blossom tree above us. "What's up with you and Lisanna?"

He had tensed up, but I disregarded the action. I looked up at him and he looked away. "Nothing." I raised an eyebrow, not believing him.

"Nothing?" I questioned.

He looked down at me and smiled, making my chest warm. That smile of his always had my stomach doing summersaults. "There's nothing going on, Lucy. We're just spending some time together and reliving the past. You know, things between us could finally get better. Not be so complicated." He shrugged and I smiled.

He bent down and kissed my forehead. "Don't worry. Okay?" I nodded. But I should have been worrying. Only I had more important things to worry about.

Later that same week I was surprised to see Gray waiting for me at the hospital. I could say we were friends, but not this close. Not so close for him to come visit my mother.

"I heard from Juvia and Lisanna that she's a great woman." He smiled. And then he looked down. "I know what you're going through. I went through this with my mother."

I looked up at Gray, surprised. This was the first time he had ever opened up to me. The first time of many to come.

He smiled, his warm blue eyes finding my brown eyes. He held my gaze and then held onto my hand and gave a comforting squeeze before I thanked him and lead him towards my mother's room.

I had told my mother about Gray and his band so she had known who he was. She had been so excited to hear him sing that I even cried when Gray did eventually sing her a song, the same song that had made me fall for his voice.

Before he left, my mother held onto his hand, and to my surprise, asked him to take care of me. Something she hadn't yet even asked Natsu. Gray surprised me even more when he looked over at me and said without breaking eye contact, "I promise I will, Mrs. Heartfilia."

He looked down at her again and smiled the sweetest of smiles, making my heartbeats thump at a faster rate.

My mother smiled. "Oh, no. You can call me Layla." She grinned, as did Gray.

"Then I promise I'll take good care of your daughter, Layla."

After long six months of suffering, my mother passed away just as I had ended my junior year of high school. It had been raining that day, Natsu and I were out on a date, drinking coffee, smiling, laughing, without a clue in the world that my mother had been taking her last few breaths at that same time.

My father had called me, only telling me to come to the hospital, but deep down I knew something wasn't right. I had dropped my cellphone, Natsu asking what was wrong. And then I dropped to the ground, covering my face with my hands, begging God that I was just imagining things and that my mother was going to be there, sitting up on her bed, smiling at me when I arrived at the hospital. But she wasn't. I didn't see her smiling face ever again.

I cried all night, Natsu begging me to come inside as I sat outside at a park near the hospital, rain drenching my clothes and hair, my lips turning purple from the cold.

I didn't eat in weeks nor did I leave my room. It was a month after her death that my father walked inside my bedroom and sat beside me on my bed. My red eyes, which were tired from all the crying and were begging for some needed sleep, looked over at him. He pursed his lips and sighed before patting my head.

"She wouldn't want you to be like this right now." He stated and then he hugged me, and completely took me by surprise. He hadn't hugged me since I was a little girl.

I hugged him back, crying onto his shirt. My cries were muffled as I buried my head on his chest.

We sat there for a while, talking about my mother, remembering all our precious memories with her, laughing together, crying together.

"She left this for you." He told me, handing me an envelope. "She wants you to read it when you feel it's the right time. This will help you when you feel most lost. At least that's what she told me." He smiled and kissed my forehead before he stood up and left my room.

There were more than ten letters inside the envelope, but I only read half of them, as they were instructed to be read at certain moments. The ones I did read asked me to be happy, to live each day as if it were my last, to not be deceived, to love, to not let others make me feel less than them, to stand up for myself, and to be strong.

So I stood up, took a shower, slept an entire day, and replied to all the messages my friends had sent. Natsu took me out first, wanting to distract me from feeling depressed again. But his form of distraction drastically changed when he implied wanting to move our relationship to another stage I wasn't at all ready for. I had stopped him before I did something I would later regret. He wasn't all too happy about that but claimed to understand and promised to wait until I was ready to take the next step in our relationship.

We stopped hanging out as much after that. Instead I spent most of my time with Juvia. She was excited to start things over with Lyon and apparently he would ask her out again at a party that Laxus Dreyar, whose grandfather was Magnolia High's principal, would be having the weekend before we began our last year of high school.

Gray also asked me to go out to one of the band's concerts. And I did. I think that was when I felt like I could finally move on with my life. It gave me hope for the future. But things just crumbled after that. For both of us. Little did we know at that moment, that that would be the band's last concert for a long time. And he would be responsible for that.

Lisanna had gone back to ignoring me, and I couldn't understand why. I later found out by Cana Alberona, Gray's best friend an ex girlfriend, that she had broken up with Bickslow. I tried calling her, to see how she was doing, but would always get sent to voicemail.

I finally heard from Natsu a day before the party. He wanted to go together and would pick me up at seven the next day.

We made it there around eight, Natsu holding my hand tightly as we stepped out of the car and towards the Dreyar residence. There were plenty of people there already. I wasn't much of a party girl, and felt a little overwhelmed as more and more people arrived. I held tightly onto Natsu and he smiled, giving me a peck on the lips before he took a beer from Gajeel, who also offered me one but I shook my head no, I hated the smell of beer, so I couldn't imagine it tasting any better than it smelled.

I had seen Gray then, he was talking with Juvia, and it seemed like they were arguing, they later stepped out of the house. Gajeel had watched as well, and he raised an eyebrow at me, probably asking if I knew what was going on, but I shook my head. I could only guess that Juvia already knew how Gray felt about her.

I later saw Lisanna, she was looking my way, and I tried waving at her, but she looked away and walked up to the second floor.

The loud music, the smell of alcohol, and the smell of smoke were making me dizzy so I excused myself and told Natsu I would go to the bathroom. He nodded, bending down to get another beer. I sighed and walked to a bathroom near the kitchen.

I walked in and turned the lights on and felt my eyes go blurry as they adjusted to the bright lights. I fixed my hair, re doing my side pony tail and tying it with my blue ribbon. I pulled down my short, black dress a little, feeling self conscious. I had done my makeup, but I still didn't feel pretty enough. Maybe it was the glasses or maybe it was because I looked a bit too childish. But Natsu liked me this way, right? He wouldn't be going out with me if it were otherwise. At least that was what I thought.

I stepped out of the bathroom and walked over to where I had left Natsu, but I only found Gajeel, now with Loke.

"Where's Natsu?!" I yelled over the music, barely hearing myself. Gajeel only pointed to the second floor. I nodded and thanked him before I made my way upstairs. The music was just as loud upstairs, but there were a lot less people.

There were a couple of doors, one was opened, a group of people playing a game of strip poker in there, and I recognized one as Cana, already only wearing her underwear.

A couple had just entered the next room. So that just left one more room. He wasn't anywhere else, so I opened the door without thinking twice. Oh, how I wish I had re considered my actions. What I saw inside that room was something I would have never wanted to see.

A naked Lisanna was lying under an equally naked Natsu. The girl I considered my best friend and my boyfriend were having sex. My best friend and my boyfriend….They were doing it… He was cheating on me with Lisanna. Of all the girls, of all the guys… They were the worst! My wide eyes looked away, not wanting to see anymore of that.

"Lucy! Wait!" I heard Natsu yell, but I closed the door before anything else happened and ran down the staircase leading to the first floor. I made my way to the nearest bathroom and emptied my stomach. I felt sick. I felt used. I felt like a complete idiot. I found out the hard way that fairytales didn't exist.

I exited the bathroom and when I walked passed Loke and Gajeel I took the cold beer Loke had been holding and excited the house.

My legs finally gave up on me a few yards away from the party. At first I didn't cry, I just sat there, staring at my feet, and then I watched as tears dropped onto them. I held onto the cold beer, not knowing why I had taken it from Loke, I wasn't going to drink it, that just wasn't me.

I hated them. I hated them for doing this to me. And as I sat there, I realized that the guy Lisanna had talked about during our freshmen year had been Natsu. She liked Natsu… But why hadn't she said something to me?! Why did she instead leave me in the dark and later sleep with Natsu while I was still dating him? She was the worst! I stood up, knowing that if I stayed there Natsu and Lisanna would find me and would try to explain everything to me. The last thing I had wanted at that moment was to see them or listen to them.

I walked towards a nearby park, watching as a couple of kids were pulled away from the swings as their parents called it a night. I looked down at my phone, seeing that it was barely ten. Just three hours ago everything had been going out just find, Natsu and I were still together, and he wasn't cheating on me with Lisanna… Or was he? I shook my head, not wanting to think about them any more.

I sat down at the now empty swings. I sat there for a while, staring up at the stars, tears every now and then falling down my cheeks.

It was around thirty minutes later that I saw another shadow take a seat on the swing beside mine.

"You were the last person I'd have expected to find here all alone."

I looked over to see Gray beside me, a frown taking form on his lips as he stared up at the stars. "Life sucks sometimes." He mumbled, and I found myself nodding at his words.

"Indeed." I whispered. He looked over at me, raising an eyebrow. Before he could ask me anything I mumbled, "I won't spill anything before you do."

He sighed and looked down at his black combat boots. "I confessed to Juvia." He straightened his legs out and looked at the star filled night. "I'm an idiot. Out of all the girls in the world, I fall for the one girl I can't have. I mean, for God's sake, she's my brother's girl!"

He stopped the swing and cursed under his breath. "I'm a horrible person, aren't I?"

My eyes widened and then softened when he smiled and looked down, "I am aren't I?" He repeated.

I shook my head, "No." I stated, loud and clear. He looked up, surprised by my answer. "You're not a horrible person, Gray." I smiled at him. "Falling in love is not a crime. It's just something that happens, and you can't really prevent it." I handed him the beer I had taken from Loke and he nodded, and I knew that was his way of saying thank you.

"Have you been in love?" He suddenly asked and I shook my head. He raised an eyebrow at this, probably thinking I would have said yes since I was dating Natsu.

"I thought I might have been, but I realized I was foolish for believing in love in the first place. Love only brings heartbreak." I stretch my legs in front of me, and smiled at myself, happy to realize that at least I hadn't fallen for that asshole.

Gray nodded, raising his beer as he said, "Cheers to that." I laughed and nodded. He took a drink and then handed it to me. "One drink won't hurt." He told me and I took it. I had just seen my best friend and boyfriend in a very compromising situation, I mean for God's sake, a drink should have been without question.

I took a drink and immediately winced at the taste. I gave it back to Gray and he laughed. "Easy, Lucy, don't chug it all." I glared at him and he smirked. "So…" He started. "Did something happen between you and Natsu?"

I looked down at my feet, and then looked over at him and nodded. "He cheated on me." I didn't elaborate, not wanting to talk about it anymore.

Gray stood up, his fists tightening at his sides. "That asshole did what?!" I hadn't ever seen Gray act this way and stopped my swing, standing up and holding onto his fists.

"Gray… It's… well it's not alright. But I mean, I rather know now then later. This way… this way I'll at least be glad it wasn't later when I had already fallen in love with him." I don't know when I started crying but Gray unfisted his fists and pulled me over to him, hugging me.

"I won't let another asshole do this to yo ever again, Lucy." I buried my face on his chest, too embarrassed to let him see me like this. He dropped his head onto my shoulder and whispered, "I have a promise I have to keep." And my sobs were muffled by his leader jacket, which he later placed over my shoulders as he drove me home.

Later that night, as I cried in bed, I was met with the realization that I had had feelings for Natsu. And I didn't sleep at all that night.

I don't believe in love.

I did once. But life had cruel ways to show me that love can only last so long before it is ripped away from you. Love just isn't worth the pain you feel.

Gray seemed to agree with me.

I didn't know when I met him that we would become so close, a close friendship with him never once crossed my mind. And though I didn't believe so before, we are more similar than one would believe.

We all have a story to tell. And this is mine.

Will I end up happy?


Author's Note: Hey everyone! Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter :D I came up with this story after I read another GrayLu fic here by the author IceKeys121 called Total Opposites, but she deleted all of her stories not too long ago, so I asked her if I could use some of her story ideas for mine and she agreed. If any of you read Total Opposites than you probably noticed that it has almost nothing to do with it, but it I did use some things that are the same.

I know this chapter seemed to go a little fast passed but that's only because it's seting they story for the next chapter, in which I'll start to focus on the main story plot.

Well, thanks for reading!

Until next chapter! Please tell me what you thought of the first chapter ;)

Main song for this story will be Happily Ever After by He is We

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is owned by Hiromashima!

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