Day 1
"Hey, you're the new girl, right?" Levy asked. The blonde was walking through the locker room, trying to find a spot for her lock and clothes.
"Yeah. I'm Lucy. I- do you have any room over here for my stuff?"
"Yeah, right here," Levy pointed to one of the open lockers. Lucy went to it and stuffed her things in the small cube. She started to change and Levy looked away, changing as well. Levy finished first, and waited a beat to turn, until she heard Lucy's lock close. When she did, she turned and held out a hand.
"I'm Levy." Lucy shook with her.
"I won't pry, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask," Levy said with a smile as she walked out of their locker section. She was halfway down the hall when she heard footsteps falling next to her.
"What are the people here like?" Lucy asked. Levy smiled up at her.
"That's a good question, actually. We have the same factions of people any school would have, but there's like this underlying respect we all have for each other. If you need help, you could go to almost anyone and they'd help you out. That's what I love about this grade. I can't say the same for the other grades, but we're a grade you can be proud of." I gave my typical "welcome the new kid" speech, but everything was true.
"That was… Oddly specific and sweet. But one other thing. What are the 'normal factions' you were talking about?"
"You know, the same kind of people you'd find at any school. The cliques." Lucy looked like Levy beat her over the head with a pillow, not hurt, but dazed and confused.
Lucy blushed as she spoke,"I've never been to school before. I've been homeschooled. I don't really know what you're talking about." But, Levy only smiled brighter, and Lucy had no choice but to smile back.
"No big deal," Levy said, "You just had to say something! What I meant was like jocks, cheerleaders, nerds, arts kids and popular kids."
"Oh, alright. And who's the nicest?"
"Well, that's kind of what I was saying, they all are, which isn't typical. There are only a few bad eggs in our grade."
"Oh. Alright." They got to the bathroom and Levy stepped into a stall. A moment later, they were out on the gymnasium floor.
"Is she one of the jocks?" Lucy asked as they passed a girl with red hair doing insanely deep stretches.
Levy giggled, Oh yeah. She's on the football team." Lucy didn't say anything, her jaw just hung open. Levy laughed again.
"Her name's Erza. She's popular and a jock."
"And nice?" Lucy asked.
"She's nice, but a little intense when it comes to… well, anything, really."
"Got it. And her?" Lucy pointed to a girl with white hair who was talking to a girl with purple hair. The white haired girl was doing a back bridge as she spoke.
"She's a cheerleader. Her name's Mirajane and she's had a hard time, but she's really nice." A whistle blew and the class lined up for attendance. Like usual, the teacher took pity on the new kid and told Lucy where to stand. They did their opening stretches, which Lucy picked up on, since they were shouted out by the teacher. Levy noticed she kept looking at the dividers at the center of the gym.
"The boys warm up on that side," Levy said as she walked up to Lucy. They had just finished warm ups, and groups of friends were getting together to decide what to do. There were choices of wiffle ball, volleyball, basketball in the gym, or walk the cross country track.
"So, what do you want to do?" Levy asked.
"Considering Erza is going to volleyball, Mira's going to wiffle ball, and I hate basketball, walking the track might be the best option," Lucy said.
"I couldn't agree more," Levy agreed with a smile. They filed in line behind some other students and a teacher led them out to the track. It was kind of like a wilderness trail behind the school. It connected the parking lot of the high school to the bus depot, behind the football stadium, and ended behind the parking lot of one of the lower schools. The trail itself was mostly dirt, pebbles, and a little bit of grass here and there. The very beginning, near the parking lot, was actually pretty and serene. The path started with a downward slope, then evened out. There were trees on a hill to the right, with a bit of a clearing to the left then a down slope that led to a stream.
"Does every school have one of these?" Lucy asked in amazement.
Levy laughed, "No, but trust me. When you've seen this place as much as our students have, it kind of loses its appeal. Especially when you see the second entrance."
Lucy gave her a confused look again, but Levy continued, "A lot of clubs use this area. Cross country, the Haunted Trail is held out here, science projects for Environmental science sometimes go on. Even the TV class does some of their projects out here. I did one when I took the introductory class, but I didn't take the advanced this year."
"What did you take?"
"Well, my schedule goes Gym, AP Chemistry, AP French 5, AP Calc, AP Physics, AP English, lunch, AP European History, and Creative Writing."
Lucy shook her head, "That's insane. How do you have time to study and be with friends and go to clubs and have a job?"
"I don't. I have an eidetic memory, I don't have many friends to hang out with. I'm only in a few clubs- one of which is National Honor Society which tutors every week. And I tutor for money on the side with younger kids. I spend most of my time writing for another club, or reading."
"Hmm. I guess that- Oh my god," Lucy's hand flew to her nose, "What is that?" It was like they hit a wall of stench. And it was only getting worse.
"There's some kind of sewage treatment facility just down the path," Levy looked ahead for it, "Right here." There was a little fenced in building to the left. It reeked like exactly what you would think.
"Oh my god," Lucy repeated, "We're never walking the trail again."
"I know, but it's kind of like an initiation." Lucy just shook her head and laughed.
"Is this something you get used to?" she asked. Levy wasn't even holding her nose.
"Yeah, you just kind of accept it. On some bad days you can smell it from the football stadium." Lucy groaned. They ended up talking about clubs and what Lucy could get involved in. She even convinced Levy that she should sign up to do a few more things.
A little bit later, the two girls hiked up the hill that led out of the trail. Levy was huffing a little, but otherwise, they got out unscathed. They walked back to the school just in time for second period to start. In other words: they were late. The girls ran through the locker rooms and got changed as fast as they could, some just leaving their gym clothes on. Lucy frantically tried to open her locker and began to sweat when it wouldn't open. She ended up shoving her stuff in with Levy's and they ran to class.
The period was just starting when I finally got there, drenched in sweat. The bell hadn't rung yet, thank God, but I got a look from Mr. Conbolt, the Anatomy teacher. I took a seat and he started his plan for the period.
"First double lab of the year! Two wonderful periods just for the science of the body. Or, not so wonderful depending on who you are," he gave a look to one of the boys a few rows up from me, "Whatever the case, you'll be assigned partners and doing a small project today. Get to know each other while mixing chemicals to preserve an insect." He read out the list of names with their partners as he went around the room. He told us this would be our seats for the marking period, or however long he decided to keep us there. Mr. Conbolt handed out the lab packets. As he did so, one girl's hand slowly went up. She wore a white sweater and a large scarf and her pink hair was in a bun, but that was about all I could see of her.
"Um, excuse me?" she asked. Her voice was so small, I could barely hear it over the air conditioning. She held her hand there until Mr. Conbolt saw her.
"Yes, Aries?" he prompted. He was so close to her, she decided to whisper, even more than she already was.
"Oh, good question. One I don't really care for, but alright," the girl' cheeks flared red as he spoke, "She asked why we were doing this in Anatomy. It sounded more like a Chemistry or Biology project. But, aren't those the classes you've had in the past two years?" Aries's face got even redder, which I didn't think would be possible. I looked at the sheet. It was simple. There was mixing water and a powder with another liquid, but we had to pick them out by their scientific names.
The kid next to me had a slightly lighter shade of pink hair than the girl currently wishing she could literally curl into herself. He was looking out the window towards senior court and had his bag at his feet. No notebook, no folder, just a number two Dixon Ticonderoga. Suddenly, he looked over at his lab sheet as if he was just noticing it. He lifted it slightly and looked over at me next.
"Oh, hey. You that new girl?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah. Lucy. Have we met?" I asked, "Last period, were you in the gym?"
"Yeah, just coming back from the office," he responded, "Came in late and got a Wednesday school for too many tardies."
"I have a few questions from that, but we'll start with what is a Wednesday school?"
"Like Saturday school, but on Wednesday. Ya gotta stay in detention until 5."
"Oh. Alright…" I looked back down at my lab sheet. To my surprise, he did too.
"Okay, do you know what any of this means?" he asked. It sounded like he had been holding it in for the past few minutes.
"Yeah, why? You don't?"
"I'm not too good at the whole science deal."
"Oh, well… I guess I'll teach you. Since I'm your partner. How much do you understand?"
"I understand the heading and where to put my name, but that's it."
"Oh boy."
For the next hour, I explained the names of chemicals, the mixing process, and even how to use a triple beam balance properly. He told me his name and I told him where I had transferred from. We were the last ones to finish, but when we did, it was… spectacular, in a way. We called Mr. Conbolt over, since he needed to be there to see the final product. We put our goggles on and I let Natsu pour the chemicals into the final vial.
"Let 'er rip, Dragneel," Mr. Conbolt gave the thumbs up to go.
Mr. Conbolt was too far away, but I heard Natsu when he said, "I'm like 75% sure this won't explode on us."
"Oh my god," I whispered and barely had a chance to move before he poured the mixtures together. I quickly jumped behind him. He stood back up and it looked like it was fine. I poked my head out and saw the mixture start to fizzle. It bubbled up and over the rim as foam and the foam hardened. The bubbles coming out of the liquid underneath were getting smaller. The kids at neighboring tables got up, regardless of the fact that it looked like the bubbling was stopping. Good thing they did. There was a violent bubbling again when one of the chairs tapped the table as a kid walked away.
Mr. Conbolt had looked on peacefully until now, "Hide your eyes!" He turned away and Natsu took after his lead. My cheeks burned as Natsu turned away, straight into me. He adjusted like he meant to do it and put his arm around me, as if shielding me from the vial. I turned with him and then the beaker exploded. I squeaked and pressed myself against him. I felt a sharp pain in my side and a few other pieces pelt me. A few seconds later, I recovered from the shock and realized that we were still pressed together. I admit, I didn't quite jump back, but I did turn turn so we weren't in the same situation as before. I turned to look at the table where shards of glass lay and liquid spilled all over the floor. He put his arm down, but suddenly I was a lot more comfortable with standing so close to him.
Natsu looked from the table to me and I looked back at him, until something on my shirt caught his eye. He put his hand to my hip and looked at his hand.
"Oh my god. You need to go to the nurse," he said.
"You do, too," Mr. Conbolt said, "Just to be safe. And after that, be prepared to get a failing grade."
"But, Mr. Conbolt, plea-ah!" I started to move forward and there was another sharp pain in my side. Natsu put his hands on me to try to help steady me.
"Mr. Conbolt, I think you should give them some leeway, even if they were too stupid to get it right. They did get hurt," said a girl with long, light blue hair.
"How about I just send them to the nurse for now," Mr. Conbolt said, "Natsu help her down while I call."
"Got it," he said. I tried not to move too much, and Natsu helped me out of the classroom, but I couldn't make it much farther until I was in too much pain.
"Get on my back," he said as soon as we got to the hallway and he closed the door. My shirt was stained at that point and sticking to me a little. So, I gently climbed onto his back and he brought me all the way to the nurse.
Turns out, I had a glass shard in my side. Not a big one, but one big enough to be a pain in my ass. I was bandaged up and sent home. All in all, Natsu probably wasn't the worst person I could have as a partner.
For future refrence, if I get anything wrong (especially with languages) please correct me! I haven't take French in 2 years (I stopped at French 3) and I never took Anatomy, I'm just going off of what friends say about the classes and what I remember! Review please!