a/n: I've had this on my tumblr since last fall, but for whatever reason I never posted it onto here. I didn't even realize until I just went to update it and didn't find it, haha. Well, better late than never, I suppose.
disclaimer: I own nothing
The old cassette player was the perfect size. It was just small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, but large enough that it didn't get lost in the dark, endless abyss that he called his backpack. Carefully, he set the headphones over his ears and rolled his thumb over the dial to turn up the volume, purposefully blocking out the mindless hum of conversation going on around him.
The bus hit a pothole, causing the kids in the back to holler in glee.
Natsu slumped farther down in his seat and turned the volume up even higher.
A kid two rows in front of him had his window cracked and the crisp morning air was sending chills down Natsu's back. He rubbed at his bare arms, trying in vain to create some friction to diminish the goosebumps.
His old concert tee that was splattered in various colors of paint did little to keep him warm, and the traitorous rips in the knees of his jeans weren't helping either. Natsu was grateful for a total of two seconds when the bus pulled to a slow stop, meaning a momentary break in the wind.
But then the driver opened the door, and Natsu sat up a little straighter.
He was supposed to be the last stop, and the long driveway outside his window definitely did not lead up to the high school….
As he slid his headphones off his ears so that they rested around his neck, he noticed that all conversation had stopped as everyone held their breath.
A new stop could only mean one thing… a new kid.
Fresh meat.
Natsu felt his heart go out to the new student, whoever they might be, as everyone on the bus waited with baited breath. He found himself clenching his fists in his lap as the kid across the aisle from him crumbled up a past homework assignment in his hands, and Natsu felt his blood pressure rising when he heard a few other kids around him doing the same.
The new kid hadn't even shown their face yet.
Natsu gritted his teeth, returning his headphones back to their rightful place–over his ears–and slid his thumb along the dial once again.
They weren't even going to give this kid a chance.
He waited, his eyes never leaving the ball of paper that the blond beside him was ready to chuck the second the new kid decided to show their face. Natsu watched the windup, and he debated whether it was worth it to throw his arm out and catch the blond's hand before he could release–would the front office consider suspension when it was only the first day of school?–when suddenly, his problem solved itself.
The blond lowered his arm.
Natsu figured the new kid must've finally stepped on board, and he watched the blond's face to gauge the rest of the bus's reaction.
No paper balls flew over Natsu's head.
Deciding to test the waters, he lifted one earphone just barely, but there were no snide comments being made or perverted catcalls being shouted.
The silence was eerie… borderline weird.
Natsu had to see for himself.
Oh shit, his eyes widened and his hand fell from his headphones, snapping the earpiece back into place.She's gorgeous.
Although, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something a little… odd about her.
She kept her head down as she walked down the aisle, so that Natsu could only see the top of her head where she had piled her long, blonde hair up into a ponytail. Maybe it was just the dim lighting of the bus, but he could swear she had shades of blue standing out amongst the various golden hues.
The girl was wearing an acid-wash denim jacket that looked a little too new, as though the price tag had just been torn off that morning. And her hands… he noted, the closer she got. They were covered in black streaks…
They were covered in ink.
When she was close enough for Natsu to make out the chipped polish on the girl's fingernails, he realized his mistake too late. At first he couldn't figure out why she just kept getting closer to him, when he accidentally kicked his backpack that he'd set on the floor.
He'd left his backpack on the floor, meaning the only open spot left on the bus was right beside him.
Well, shit.
The new girl sat down beside Natsu in the seat, leaving six inches between them as he pressed his side as far against the window as he could without being obvious about it. She didn't say anything to him–thankfully–and kept her head down for the rest of the bus ride.
Natsu, with one last glance at the girl from the corner of his eye, turned to the Plexiglass window that was smudged with past fingerprints and slid his thumb along the dial of his cassette player once more.
It was only the second class of the day, and Natsu could already tell that the first day of his senior year was going as expected.
Complete and utter shit.
When he'd been handed his schedule earlier that morning, he'd gone directly to the front office and asked why Honors English IV was on there. Natsu's grades had never been too worse for wear, but if any class was hemorrhaging his GPA, English would be responsible.
He was competent, okay? The class just wasn't his strong suit.
Natsu was more of a visual person. He enjoyed art, where he could work with his hands and let his thoughts wander while he blasted his music and drowned out his classmates.
It was a totally different environment than English class.
But the secretary had only rolled her eyes at Natsu and told him to go to class, that there was no mistake, and if he was really bothered by it then he could go talk to one of the counselor's at the end of the day.
Which, as Natsu took a seat in the very back of class, he was very close to raising his hand and asking to go speak to a counselor now instead of later when the teacher opened his mouth and announced that first up on the syllabus would be studying Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
No. Thanks.
His hand was halfway in the air when something to his left caught his attention, and she walked in… the girl from the bus.
"Sorry I'm late," she told the teacher, hurrying to the first empty seat she saw, and this time it wasn't anywhere near Natsu. "I had trouble finding the classroom."
Their teacher had waved off her excuse, noting that she was a new student and told her not to worry about the tardy.
However, Natsu decided that the ignored write-up was part of a bigger ploy, as the teacher then bestowed an even worse fate onto the new girl.
"Miss Heartfilia," he said, reading her name from the roster, "why don't you open your book to page 315 and read outloud for the class?"
Dick move, sir. Natsu thought, cringing at the secondhand embarrassment that he knew was coming. He wanted to wave his hands and get the teacher's attention, yell out to the moron that duh, obviously she was shy and she didn't want to read outloud in front of a bunch of strangers.
But, not for the first time that morning, the new girl surprised him. She opened her mouth and began to read:
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare sieze the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
The teacher cut her off there, to which Natsu figured only God knows why. He for one had been encaptured with the girl's voice, a voice that rang louder and clearer than what he would have pictured for the timid girl.
The way she read aloud had left him wanting to hear more, but then the teacher only thanked the girl and began to ask students what they thought the poet meant.
Natsu found that he could give a rat's ass about what the poet meant, he just wanted to hear more of the new girl's voice.
After english, he didn't see the new girl again. Though, to be fair, he hadn't exactly been looking for her either.
Natsu walked into the cafeteria at lunch time, and as he was patting his pockets for his wallet so he could pick up a bottle of water from the line, he was half-expecting to at least catch a glimpse of the girl amongst the crowd, but he never caught sight of a messy, blonde ponytail.
He saw plenty of jean jackets, but none that looked brand new, and he didn't see any ink-stained hands until he found himself in the art classroom later in the day.
She was nowhere.
But she was on the bus.
Natsu had the strangest sense of deja-vu as once again she was the last one to get on, yet this time the kids kept their gawking to themselves, if at all. The novelty of "the new kid" must've worn off since that morning.
He was busy keeping his head down and tuning his Walkman's volume when, not for the first time that day, she surprised him by sitting down beside him. Natsu shifted uncomfortably on the vinyl seat, having figured that she would've made at least one friend over the course of the day so she wouldn't have to sit beside him.
It was okay though, surprisingly, because she didn't seem interested in speaking. She was busy playing with the rings on her fingers, so Natsu turned up the dial even more and turned to look out the window, allowing his eyes to relax as the scenery whipped by.
Since she was the last stop on the morning route, it also meant that she would be the first dropped off in the afternoon. It wasn't long until the bus was pulling to a slow stop at the foot of her long, winding driveway where the house was hidden by rows of trees.
Keeping his head facing the window, he watched from the corner of his eye as she gathered her things.
She stood up and slipped her bag over her shoulders before stepping into the aisle, and as if on second thought, turned back around and in the reflection of the window where she knew he would see her, she mouthed, "I'm Lucy."
She had taken into account his headphones, and without waiting for a reply–would he have replied?–she turned around and left him there.
His eyes trailed her as she walked down the aisle of kids, stepped off the bus, and was gone.
until next time...