She had a crush on Natsu Dragneel, a minor fuckboi in the school who had been turned by Sting Eucliffe. He had changed her best friend from the oblivious boy that he had been to the one that was now painfully aware of the female body. Lucy could only thank whoever was watching over her that Natsu didn't do a complete one eighty. He was still the same when they were together- pulling pranks and annoying her to no end, but he did have this ever-growing panty collection.
Sometimes Lucy would blame herself for studying too much and not sparing enough time for her best friend when they started middle school, which was when the STD king had opened Natsu's eyes to what was between a woman's legs. She still remembered walking into the library to finish an assignment and seeing the group of pubescent boys crowded around a dirty magazine.
Lucy had slapped Natsu for that. Hard. Her face was red with anger as she walked up to the boys and ripped up the extremely crude porn magazine, threw it in the bin and dragged Natsu away. Sting was beyond angry with her.
He yelled threats at her, screaming that she would pay and telling Natsu not to fall victims to Lucy's ways. The pink haired boy only cast his gaze down, face blazing while he let himself be dragged away by his best friend.
Sting hated Lucy afterwards. Apparently he had stolen the magazine from his father and Sting then suffered the talk and a grounding. He blamed her and told all the boys in their class that Lucy was a wild woman and that they shouldn't go near, preaching that she would tear them down if the weren't careful.
All Lucy's male friends seemed to have disappeared after that and would barely utter two words to the thirteen-year-old girl. Even Natsu wouldn't acknowledge her when boys were around, which led to him getting another slap in the face and Lucy tackling Sting to the ground, pulling out a chunk of his hair.
It was all out war afterwards.
The girls and boys would constantly get into fights with one another, the girls always managing to kick their ass and send them away with their tail between their legs. Lucy had even witnessed Natsu butting heads with a few girls though not once would he fight with Lucy. They didn't speak very much anymore and mostly kept out of each other's way. Lucy didn't like the fact that the fighting had interfered with their friendship, but she couldn't stop it. The boys would not get away with holding up numbers as girls walked past them in the halls and when they tried to perv on them in the locker rooms. Lucy remembered that Erza Scarlet throttled the group of boys who tried to peek though, who the blonde girl quickly made good friend's with as she had watched the red head beat the daylights out of the peepers.
Natsu surprisingly stayed friends with Lucy, even though the friendship was put under strain for what seemed to be the longest time. Sting told all that they simply couldn't befriend girls otherwise they would be bewitched, but Natsu still hung out with Lucy on occasion. He would go over her house after school and would sometimes, very rarely, spend lunch with Lucy and her girl friends, Erza and Levy.
As the years went by the immature rivalry between the girls and boys just disappeared. The boys began to talk about sex and made fun of one another for being virgins. However, the girls began to develop crushes and fall in love. Letter's filled with confessions were left in lockers and boys flirted and made comments about their female classmates bodies. Lucy, no matter the bitter relationship she had with Sting, was also subjected to this. Boys flirted with her and would shamelessly ogle her growing bust, and Lucy was beginning to form a crush on her best friend.
After talking to Levy for sometime, and lots of nagging from the petite girl, Lucy also wrote her love letter like the other girls had and walked nervously down the hall, clutching the pretty envelope in her sweaty hands. She stopped dead in her tracks though, heart beating wildly in her ears as she saw Natsu kissing a girl and holding a small, red envelope in his hand.
Heartbreak was new to Lucy. She remembered the hallow feeling in her chest, how her eyes stung and her throat seemed to clog up. Her whole world turned upside down and the tears also steadily streamed down her cheeks as she watched him pull away and smile at the girl who stood blushing in front of him.
Her legs felt like jelly but Lucy managed to run to the bathroom. She washed her face and breathed heavily, telling herself not to cry even though it felt as if someone had driven a knife into her chest. The blonde looked in the mirror. Her eyes were bloodshot and her bottom lip trembled slightly. The young girl closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing before opening her eyes and smiling as best she could. Lucy couldn't be seen crying over that idiot, over some boy.
When Lucy entered her junior year she had matured. Her body had grown into one of a woman's, her chest heavy and waist tiny. Boys flocked to the blonde at every chance, though she ignored them, as her mind was busy with her studies. She had locked up her feelings for Natsu and refused to acknowledge them since the day she saw him kissing another girl. Though now she had seen him kiss many other girls, but she focused on her schoolwork, her friends and ruining Sting's day.
Natsu had also matured. He grew taller than Lucy; muscles growing and becoming bigger built than his old lanky self. Girls swooned over him and he basked in the glory. He even managed to get a girl in the sheets for the first time, though he was the last one in the group to do so. But something's never changed and Lucy was extremely glad for it. He still goofed around and acted like a child, he still had the biggest smile that would practically split his face and he was still Lucy's best friend.
She was reminded of this fact on an autumn afternoon. School had just finished and Lucy and Natsu were at her locker talking as she put books away and then pulled different things out and shoved them into her bag. It was pleasant until Natsu's friends arrived and that included Sting, the guy who had more crabs than Magnolia beach.
They made their appearance known to those around them as they shouted and occasionally banged on the lockers. For whatever reason Lucy didn't know. She didn't understand stupid.
"Yo, Natsu," Sting called and then swung his arm around the pinkette's shoulder, "we going at it with the lads tonight?"
The small hoard of boys around them grinned and some even did some thrusting motions, confirming the blonde's suspicion that he meant they were going to try and get laid. She cringed and closed her locker, thinking best to ignore Sting and his cronies.
Natsu smiled briefly before sliding away from Sting and putting an arm around Lucy's waist. "Sorry, I'm hangin' with Luce tonight."
A small murmur of 'whipped' coursed from the pack of boys and Lucy couldn't help the light pink that tinted her cheeks as well as the warmth that spread throughout her chest.
"C'mon, bro. Don't be gay," Sting whined and Lucy snorted causing the 'alpha male' to send her a heated glare.
"I'm sorry Natsu will be passing up your offer of genital warts tonight. Maybe some other time though?" Lucy smirked at Sting who opened his mouth to retort something, but the cheeky blonde quickly turned and walked away with Natsu hurrying to catch up while uttering a quick 'later' to his friends.
That night Natsu and Lucy laughed until they thought their sides would split and built a small pillow fort just like old times, nestling close together to watch scary movies and stuffing their faces with popcorn.
It wasn't long before the two entered their final year of school and Lucy's crush after years of being tossed into the dark was made known…