I arrived at Vermillion's Bar and Grill and looked around. It was mostly empty; a couple sat at a table and there was a man sitting at the bar with an untouched beer in front of him, staring at the television which was playing a football game. I suddenly wished that Erza had told me what this Laxus guy looked like. How was I supposed to find the guy if I didn't even know what to look for? As I looked around again, I spotted a girl behind the bar, wiping it off with a rag and humming to herself.

I walked over to her, assuming that she would have some idea where Laxus was. She looked up and smiled. "Hi, do you need something?"

"Um, yeah, I'm actually looking to get a job. Erza Scarlet told me to look for Laxus Dreyar?"

She smiled brightly and I couldn't help but smile back; her smile was absolutely contagious. "That won't be necessary; I can get you an application right now. We've really been needing workers, right now I'm the only one and we could use another waitress and barmaid. I'm the co-owner and your soon-to-be co-worker, Mirajane Strauss." She stuck out her pale hand and I shook it, surprised at how delicate it was. I felt like I had to be gentle or I'd break her hand.

"Lucy Heartfilia," I said before letting go. "It's nice to meet you, Mirajane."

She giggled and said, "Please, call me Mira. It's nice to meet you too Lucy! Now let me just get you an application." She fished around behind the bar for a moment before pulling out a sheet of paper and a pen and pushing them over to me. I sat down on a barstool and began filling everything out; just simple things like my name, age, gender, etc. When I finished, I handed the paper to Mira, who skimmed through it before nodding and placing it on the counter behind her.

"I'll have Laxus take a look if he comes in. I doubt he'll have a problem with it. So, when would you like to start working?"

"As soon as I can," I said simply.

"Alright, how about 6-9 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and 5-10 on Saturdays; I assure you the hours aren't as bad as they sound, we don't get many people and I basically live here so you won't ever be working alone."

"That's perfect," I said, "so I get Fridays and Sundays off?" She nodded, smiling brightly, and I continued, "Great, so when should I start?"

"Wednesday this week?" she suggested and I nodded, shaking her hand again. She told me how much I'd be getting paid I was shocked; they were offering 5,000J an hour, so I'd be making 5,000J more than my monthly rent expenses each week, which would give me plenty of money for food and other things. After that, I left to get buy some groceries and really move into my apartment.

I went into a little supermarket and got a few necessary things, like a carton of milk and a carton of water. I also got a loaf of bread and different things to make sandwiches. I also got frozen dinners that I could make in the microwave. Eventually, I filled up a small cart with food and began to look at other things. I got a few candles as well as a pack of envelopes and paper so that I could write letters to my mom.

I was going to pay when I bumped into someone and nearly fell over. I was about to topple to the ground when a strong arm wrapped around my torso and helped me balance. I looked up in shock and saw a boy about the same age as me looking at me concernedly. He had sparkling onyx eyes and, dare I say, spiky, pink hair. Despite that, he took my breath away.

"Are you alright? Sorry I bumped into you; I should really watch where I'm going. I was fighting with Ice Princess over here—,"

"Who ya callin' Ice Princess, Flame Brain?!" a voice shouted from behind me, and I turned around to see a shirtless boy with dark, spiky hair about ready to beat up the boy who'd stopped me from falling.

"You, Squinty Eyes!" the boy snapped back, then looked back at me, ignoring the insults that the other boy continued to throw his way. "Well? You okay? At least say something! Don't tell me I made you mute!"

"Look at what you've done," the boy with dark hair said, "you made her lose her voice! Poor girl didn't do anything to you Dragon Breath! Why would you go and make the poor girl go mute? What if she never talks again?"

"I'm fine," I said, interrupting their argument, which had gone from pointless name calling to this stupid idea that almost knocking someone over could make them go mute, "thanks for catching me." I added as I looked at the boy with pink hair. He gave me a big, toothy grin.

"Hey, no problem; what's your name, by the way? I don't think I've seen you around before."

"Lucy, Lucy Heartfilia." I responded.

He nodded and said, "Oh. I'm Natsu, Natsu Dragneel. And that stripper over there is Gray Fullbuster. It's nice to meet you Luigi."

I glared at him and said, "Luigi? My name isn't Luigi! It's Lucy!" He seemed unfazed by the angry look on my face and instead started laughing. I opened my mouth to say something but closed it when I realized that I had nothing to say.

"How about I call ya Luce then? You don't mind nicknames do ya?" I shook my head in answer to his question and he smiled. "Well good. Hey, you and I should hang out sometime! You know you're really pretty, and you seem really cool!"

I flinched. I didn't mean to, but I just couldn't help it. "Thanks, and I'd love to hang out. But I'm not pretty. Now if you'll excuse me, I should go pay."

"At least give me your phone number—and you are pretty y'know."

Shaking my head, I wrote down my phone number and handed it to him. He said that he'd text me his name and then I could put the number into my phone. "I'm really not pretty," I added before turning and pushing my cart over to the checkout. I could feel him staring at me like I was crazy, but I didn't care. Nobody could convince me that I was beautiful. Not after what he said about me, and what I knew to be true.

"Tch. No dress or accessory in the world could make you pretty, but I guess we can try to make you half as beautiful as Layla was."

I winced as I remembered my father's words. I had tried to tell myself that he didn't mean it, that it was just because it was hard to look at me and think of mom. But that was two whole years after my mom had died. He must've meant it.

Sighing, I paid for all of my groceries, using up almost all of the money I had. Taking the bags, I left the store, blushing as I thought of Natsu. I didn't believe in love at first sight, but for some reason my heart couldn't stop racing and I couldn't get the stupid smile off of my face. I went into my apartment and put things respectively in the refrigerator, cupboards, and freezer. I then made myself a ham and cheese sandwich and ate that for dinner.

When I was done, I checked my phone and saw that I had a text message from Erza.

[MissScarlet] Hey Lucy, wanna hang out tomorrow? You can come over to my place or we can go somewhere else.

I quickly texted a response back to her.

[LucyHeartfilia] Yeah, that'd be great! You can come over here if you want.

[MissScarlet] Okay, if you wouldn't mind that.

[LucyHeartfilia] Of course not! See you tomorrow then?

[MissScarlet] Yeah, I'll be there around noon.

Sighing, I locked my phone and went over to my desk, pulling out a piece of lined paper, a pencil, and an envelope. I turned on the desk lamp and thought of what to write. So much had happened recently that I didn't think I even knew where to start. After a few moments of thinking about what to write, I placed my pencil on the paper and began writing away.

Dear Mom,

Today was my second day in Magnolia—well; it was my first real day in Magnolia anyways. See, dad kicked me out of the house because he didn't want to spend his wonderful money on me. Mavis forbid! So anyways, I got my apartment and met some really… interesting people. Yesterday I met Erza, who is one of the nicest people I know. I think we have potential to be great friends.

She lives on her own too. Interesting, huh? I thought that most kids at this age would still be living with their parents, but she's providing for herself too. I guess that was just a stroke of irony that I ran into. I stayed at her place because I got lost in a storm trying to find my apartment. Dad's instructions were pretty vague. I think you'd like her house a lot. It's modest, but really nice on the inside.

I also met Mirajane Strauss, but she prefers to just be called Mira. I met her while applying for a job, and she's too nice! She seems really delicate, like a flower almost, but I bet she's tough on the inside. Most people who come off that fragile have bulletproof hearts and titanium souls, as sad as it seems. I guess I'll find out eventually, since I'm going to be working with her all the time.

After I met Mira, I was buying groceries and I ran into a boy—literally ran into him. He had PINK hair! It was really pink! How crazy is that? And the thing is it looked totally natural! The other thing is, despite his hair being pink, he was drop dead gorgeous! I'm not a big believer in love at first sight, but man was he cute, and funny, and sweet…

His name was Natsu Dragneel, and his friend's name was Gray Fullbuster. Gray didn't have crazy-colored hair or anything like that but I guess since his name is a color that makes up for it. Unless you consider gray to be a shade, that is, then I guess he wins. Apparently he has a stripping problem too; Natsu called him stripper and he was walking around the supermarket shirtless. At least he had decent abs.

To be honest though, I'm just waiting for someone to stab me in the back, or at least to meet someone mean. Everyone I've met so far seems to be nice, but misfortune follows me everywhere I turn. Just because I moved to a new city doesn't mean that air of bad luck will just disappear. I mean, do you know how many times I had to transfer because of bullies in middle school? Like eight. No wonder dad wanted to get rid of me; I bet it was tough finding good private schools for me to go to and then shelling out buckets of tuition money every time I transferred.

Well, hopefully things keep going smoothly.

-Lucy

I put down my pencil with a sigh and realized that it was getting pretty late. I folded the paper neatly and slid it into an envelope, sealing it shut and putting it in the drawer on the desk. Then, I stood up, turned off the lamp, and changed into my pajamas. Crawling into bed, I smiled to myself as I drifted off into the land of sleep.

I awoke to the sound of snoring behind me. 'Weird,' I thought before trying to stand up. A hand tightened around my waist and pulled me back. Wait, what? I slowly turned my head and saw the tips of spiky pink hair. My eyes widened in shock and I jumped out of bed yelling, "NATSU? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY APARTMENT?"

He squinted at me groggily and slid out of bed on the other side. "Mm, I dunno," he muttered, scratching his head as though he was really confused. "I mean, since I talked to you yesterday 'n all, I assumed we were friends. I saw you come in here and thought I'd check out your place. The door was locked though so I had to come in through the window. Then I saw you sleeping and thought your bed looked pretty comfy and then this happened."

I glared at him and said, "That's no excuse to break into my apartment! And we barely talked! You already consider us friends?!" He shrugged and nodded and I face-palmed. "Natsu, that's not how it works. You don't just become friends with someone the minute you meet them and then have the right to break into their home."

He frowned and said, "Funny, I was pretty sure it worked like that. Well, sorry Luce, but your bed is really comfy, and you're warm and nice to snuggle with!" I groaned and said pointed at the window. He followed my winger and looked at the window in confusion.

"Mavis, you are so dense! Get out of my apartment idiot!"

He grinned and said, "Alright! See ya later Luce!" With that he jumped out of my window, and I shut it immediately. Rolling my eyes I headed off to take a shower, suddenly glad that he hadn't entered my apartment while I was showering. Knowing him, he would've just broken right into the bathroom.

I took a generally quick shower and then got ready for the day by drying my hair, brushing it and putting it up into its normal side-ponytail, throwing on my bathrobe and then heading out to the small kitchen to make eggs and toast. It was nine in the morning, meaning I had plenty of time before Erza would be coming to do whatever I pleased.

I finished making breakfast and got a plate, putting the two sunny-side-up eggs on it and taking the piece of toast out of the toaster. I then proceeded to dip my toast in the yolk of the egg. Some people found it odd, but it was just something I'd always done since I was a kid. My mom always did it, so I always did it, and eventually it became a habit.

I finished eating and cleaned my plate in the sink. I then dried it off and put it away. When I finished that I went to my suitcase, which I had yet to unpack. I carefully sorted my clothes into piles and put them into drawers, then hung up my dresses and jackets in the closet and also put my different pairs of shoes in there. I took my doll, Michelle, out of the suitcase and set it carefully on the bed, which I made neatly, being a total perfectionist.

Once I finished unpacking, I stored my suitcase in the back of my closet and went to change out of my bathrobe into an actual outfit. I changed into a purple strapless top with a lavender bow at the top where my cleavage was, for lack of better explanation, and a lavender skirt. I tied my side pony with a purple ribbon and hung up my robe. Since I wasn't going out, I decided not to put any shoes on for the time being.

I walked out to the kitchen and noticed that it was about ten, which meant that Erza would be coming in two hours. I flopped down on my couch with a book and got to reading it. Before I knew it, there was a knock at the door.

I closed my book and set it on the coffee table, then went over to open the door, revealing Erza. "It's noon already?" I asked in surprise, and she nodded, laughing a little.

A grin slid across my face and I said, "Well, come in then. I started reading at ten and I guess I just lost track of time." She nodded and came in, taking off her boots by the door.

"Would you like tea or anything?" I asked her, and she just shook her head. We both walked over to the couch and sat down.

"This is a cute apartment," she commented, "and it's decently sized too. Have you gotten a job yet?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I talked to Mirajane yesterday and we decided my hours and how much I'd be getting paid. I'm glad I was able to help them out, they seemed pretty desperate for workers."

"Yeah, Laxus and Mira are friends of mine, and that place they run isn't bad. Business has been slow for a while, sadly." She commented. "So, do you want me to tell you a bit about Fairy Tail High?" the subject change took me off guard and I looked at her curiously as she continued, "I may be more mature than most but I still enjoy to gossip a little. I could tell you about the people there."

"Sure," I said, "I'm going to have to be told at some point anyways!"

She grinned and said, "Alright! Well, most of the kids think I'm scary, to start. And I guess I can be when I or my friends are threatened. So as long as you stick with me you shouldn't get too much crap from bullies. Most of the kids are ok to hang out with; there aren't many scandals or anything. Just make sure you don't start flirting with any boys before you know which girls are into them." I nodded.

"Most of the teachers are pretty chill. Ms. Alberona or Cana-sensei is most of our favorite. She just graduated from college and is a die-hard alcoholic. She's usually drinking or hungover in class. Ironically, she teaches health. Needless to say that class teaches you nothing.

"Elf-sensei is Mirajane's younger brother and Lisanna's older brother, also fresh out of college. He's the gym teacher and anatomy teacher. He's all bark and no bite. Reedus-sensei teaches art, and he's such a good teacher that he makes the class feel easy. English is taught by Bacchus-sensei, Cana's boyfriend of three years. He's also usually hungover but when he gets hangover he just makes the class harder. Don't sweat it too much, the tests are usually easy.

"Math is taught by Gildarts, the class is easy but the tests are hard. However, you can usually find the tests online and use them to study. Chemistry is taught by Ichiya-sensei. There are never tests in his class, so don't expect to be able to get low grades on all the experiments and then bring them up with tests. You won't get the chance.

"Principal Makarov is the best principal Fairy Tail could ask for. He's easygoing and understanding, but he will take issues like bullying very seriously. The vice principal is Laxus, but he doesn't do much. That's why he runs Vermillion's. His job as vice principal is really easy.

"The one person you want to watch out for is Minerva. She's a sophomore, and the word sophomoric couldn't fit her any better. She thinks she has everyone in the palm of her hand, and I guess she sort of does. She has two guys with her all the time, Sting and Rogue, and though they may not agree with her all the time, they'll do whatever she says, and they're not scrawny. They're pretty tough. You don't want to get on Minerva's bad side; if you do, she'll make your life miserable.

"Unfortunately that means that you can't get too romantic or anything with most of the football team, because she has them wrapped around her finger and thinks that all of them are hers. You could probably get away with some of them though, like Gray. She gave up on Gray after losing multiple fights to Juvia, who's madly in love with him. But there's one person you absolutely can't fall for. He's the hottest guy at Fairy Tail High and the quarterback of the football team, and all the girls want him, including Minerva even though she already has a boyfriend. Minerva will hate you forever if you fall for him."

"Who's that?" I asked curiously, crossing my fingers that it wasn't…

"Natsu Dragneel."

A/N Ooooh things just got intense. Also, let me explain something. Erza is going to be a freshman; she knows all of this stuff because she grew up in Magnolia. Also, my town is too small for a middle school. Our elementary school goes k-6 and our high school goes 7-12. I'm kind of basing it off of that a bit, so Erza would know about all of the teachers and kids in older grades.

Just clearing that up in case you go to legitimate middle schools and such.

Thank you all who have reviewed, followed, and favorite! It means so much to me. Each one of those is like a little voice saying, "Hey, your story is good! Other people think so! Keep writing, someone likes this story!"

I hope you continue to enjoy and read!

Until next time!