Chapter 1
Lucy groaned, feeling her head throb. She had just finished reading a news paper's classified ads; read every ad to the last dot. She sighed as she looks at the mess of newspapers before her. Connect, World Gazette, Between the Lines, 5 Senses, You, Daily Inquirer and other brands of newspaper were spread out on her table; enjoying the feeling of the wind tickling them, laughing as their pages would rise and then fall abruptly.
She had been searching for a part time job, again. It seems that whenever she gets a new job, the place would either lose customers or close their branch here in Magnolia. She wondered, a fleeting thought, if she was some kind of bad luck. She dismissed the thought immediately, her self-confidence over powering her self-consciousness.
Sighing, she started to gather her things; piling up her newspapers and putting it inside her luggage. Yes, luggage. Two humungous pink obstructions that were currently half blocking the entrance to the small café she had stopped at (she ignored the dirty looks incoming customers gave her). She not only lost her job but also her home. Really, could this week get any worse? Putting her jacket on, she made her way to the cash register, her two luggages rattling behind her.
"Excuse me miss, may I ask for the bill of table five?" Lucy asked, grabbing the small bit of change left in her pocket.
"That will be $150.00 ma'am." Lucy stopped counting and looked up so fast she briefly wondered why her head didn't fly off.
"W-what?" She stuttered, eyes wide. I mean, seriously. A hundred and fifty for a cup of plain coffee? How outrageous is that? What is this? Some kind of VIP boutique store?! Why didn't anyone tell her?!
"Oh, I'm sorry ma'am I made a mistake." She swore she literally felt the colour come back to her face.
"It's actually $1,500,000.00" the clerk said, smiling as if she just kissed her lifelong crush on the lips.
Lucy felt her knees turn to jelly. Holy shit. First she gets evicted out of her home next she'll be in jail because she couldn't pay a single cup of coffee. Great, just great.
Leaning on the counter as if her life depended on it, she forced a smile and used her most polite voice "Excuse me miss, but how exactly did my bill reach that high?" she asked, trying to keep her eyebrow from twitching.
The lady in the cashier did something with the cashier and the next thing Lucy knew, the receipt is in her hands and she was reading the loooooong list of orders she supposedly made.
"Look here, you made a mistake. I only ordered a cup of plain coffee; that's the first thing on the receipt. You can see the evidence on the table!" Lucy exclaimed. Both girls turned their heads to where Lucy sat a while ago. True enough there was only one cup of coffee on the table. She knew the café only cleans up the table if the customer already left the store.
The lady apologized and bowed, saying that another customer claimed that Lucy agreed to pay all his orders came in and ordered every dish in the menu. She can't help it, the thought crossed her mind before she can stop it. 'What a pig.'
She let Lucy pay her coffee and left, heading to the part of the store that was a little more inside. Craning her neck, she was able to see a puff of pink hair before the stranger was dragged away. Towards the kitchen to wash dishes probably.
Lucy wondered briefly, who on earth had the guts to do what the stranger did, but the thought vanish as all she cared about was getting the heck out of there and looking for a job.
"Aahaaa, what will I do now?" Lucy whined. She had been searching for a job the whole day and the results were not actually favourable. Though having no particular place to go to, she just kept on walking not really knowing where to go. Before she knew it, she was in a part of Magnolia she had never been to.
The breath hitched up in her throat and she cursed "Shit". She started running as if her life depended on it which, in her mind, it did. She knew how things happen. Please, she'd seen it in to many movies, read it in too many books and heard it from different liars and attention huggers. No, she has no plans to get raped thank you very much.
She had no idea where she was going, she just kept on running. When she heard footsteps behind her, she ran even faster. She took
With her luggage rattling behind her, she debated whether she should leave them hidden in some place or just keep them and run. She chose the latter. When a rough, calloused hand grabbed her slim, smooth left hand, she immediately regretted her decision.
"Kyaaaaaa! Someone! Help me!" she screamed as she struggled to free herself from the stranger's grip.
"Oy, open your eyes will you lady." The gruff voice behind her spoke.
She opened her eyes and nervously turned around. Why oh why did she have to be utterly sexy and beautiful? (A/N: Lucy, you're really vain. xP)
The first thing she saw was large canine-like teeth, next was the scaly neck and then, black slits as eyes.
"Kyaaaaaaa!" closing her eyes shut (yet again), her right foot rocketed up.
"Aaaaaaah!" Lucy opened her eyes and saw the man fall to the ground and curls into a ball.
There was a brief moment of suspense as Lucy's initial reaction was to help the poor man but then her brain started working again and she remembered her situation.
She let go of her luggage and started to run again. She continued running until her chest started to hurt and her breath became shallow.
"I think I lost him." she said out loud as she leaned against a nearby wall, panting.
"No, actually I'm still right here."
Lucy froze. 'No, no, no, no! What kind of monster is he? How did he catch up so fast? Oh, kami, please help me!'
She turned around, ready to give the guy another of her Lucy kick but stopped abruptly. Here, near the light of a nearby shop, she saw that the guy wasn't a monster after all. Although his teeth were a little sharp, they weren't exactly as large as those of a dog's. Looking at him now, she saw that the scale on his neck was actually a scarf that was made up of scales and the eyes well, she didn't know how at first she compared them to that of a snake's. Really, sometimes her imagination gets the better of her.
"I have an electrocuter and if you take one more step towards me I won't hesitate to use it. She bluffed, feeling for her purse that was supposedly hanging on her side. "Just go and try to rape me I swear you'll regret it".
"What the hell are you talking about lady? I was just trying to give back your purse." The 'ex-rapist' said.
Lucy, looked at the man's hand and saw that, true enough, he really was holding her light blue purse that was decorated with dark sea green hearts.
"Oh, uh, thank you and um, sorry." she mumbled, hoping that it was at least dark enough to hide her beet red face. 'You're such an idiot Lucy! Now he might think that you're some crazy person who likes to kick random people and run like a maniac.'
"Seriously, what the hell is happening to the world? A guy does something nice and what does he get? A kick to the groin by some lady on the street?" the guy grumbled as he started to walk away.
"I'm really sorry" Lucy said
The guy stopped walking and turned around his unreadable. "Sorry? Do you think your sorry will make the pain I felt go away? Huh?"
Lucy stared at the ground. "N-no…..but- "
"Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!" his sudden, loud, boisterous laugh almost made her jump out of her skin. She raised her eyes and saw that the stranger was indeed laughing his ass off.
"You know- pfffffft hihiih –I'm trying to be serious but – ahahaha- seeing your face just makes me laugh." The guy said between fits of laughter.
"Huh?"
The guy continued talking "You were like: Someone help me! But then, you just kept running in circles! Bwahahahahahah! Is that what you're gonna to people who want to hurt you? Hihihihi. Make them dizzy till they drop?"
Lucy's whole head flushed red as she realized the twist and turns that she thought would make her lose the 'rapist' actually just made her go right into him. "Hey! At least I'm not the one who was pink hair!" she yelled, trying to protect her dignity
The guy stopped laughing. "It's red! Why do people keep saying that!"
Lucy raised her eyebrow "Red? What are you color blind? No matter how you look at it, it's definitely pink!"
"It's red!"
"Pink!"
"Red!"
"IT'S PINK!" Lucy's eyes widened as realization struck her. "Pink…." And then suddenly, the incident in the café came rushing to her head. "Pink….." she mumbled as she tried to associate the color pink to the café
"I keep telling you its red!"
Lucy remembered. "PINK!"
"It's re-"
"You were the one at the café weren't you?!"
The guy froze. "You know what, you're definitely right. It is pink. Oh, look at the time, it's very late. Time to go." He turned and….started running for his life.
Lucy's eyes widened as she realized that he was getting away. Though she was tired of doing it, she started running too. "Come back here, you! Be a man and apologize for your mistakes!" she said, beckoning her feet to go faster.
"I don't have to!" he called back as he continued on running "You kicked me in the groin and it hurts like hell, so were even!"
"That was different! You didn't nearly go to jail!" she said between pants. Why is he so fast?
"See you next time weirdo!" the guy yelled before speeding up.
"Hey!" Lucy stopped running as she lost sight of him. Now she was left alone in a place she's never been to. Again.
"Now what will I do? And I even left my luggage somewhere!" she groaned
"Miss, over here."
Lucy looked at the direction from where the voice was coming from. There, standing at the dorrway of what Lucy presumed as her store, was an old lady.
"Me?" Lucy asked dumbly evn though she knew she was the only girl on the street. The old lady nodded, smiling. She made a gesture telling Lucy to follow and then she went inside. Lucy, although baffled, followed inside, feeling grateful for the warmth of the store.
"Um, I'm not gonna buy anything though." Lucy said as the old woman passed by her. She was preparing tea.
"It's okay. People should be nice people because they want to be nice not because they want something in return." The old woman said. Lucy smiled at her wisdom.
"I'm Lucy by the way."
The old woman stopped moving and faced her. "You can call me Spetto dear." She said, smiling.
"Can I call you Spetto-san?" Lucy inquired feeling uncomfortable o calling her just Spetto.
"Yes." Spetto said as she now begun to pour the tea. "You can stay here if you like. I've encountered people like you who doesn't have a place to sleep and I always help when I could."
"Eh? Spetto-san, aren't you afraid that they'll rob you or something?" Lucy asked as she was handed her tea.
"The thought crosses my mind but still, you just got to have faith in people sometimes. Besides, " she said, taking a sip from her tea "being king and gentle has a way of affecting even the worst person."
Though Lucy tried not to think about it, she remembered a blub of pink hair when the owrds 'worst person' were said.
"I'll prepare you bed." Spetto said, putting down her barely touched tea.
"Ah, I'll help too." Lucy said, putting down her tea also.
And so, the tea was left sitting on the table alone. Trying to keep her warmth.
A/N: There you have it! The first chapter! Sorry for the looong wait but you know, life happens. Thank you for taking the time this crappy story of mine. And thank you for all the people who followed it when there was only the prologue! You people gave me motivation xD. R&R please?
