Lucy stayed in her bed the next day. She didn't feel like moving at all. Her right eye was bruised, her head hurt, her nose bled, her lip was swollen, her ribs were badly hurt and she had cuts bruises all over her. Plue slept on her bed as she watched The Fault In Our Stars in bed. Later, she got a call from an unknown ID. She picked up.
"Hey, how's my favourite blondie?" Said a familiar voice.
"Natsu…"She whispered.
"I was just wondering if you are gonna come. I got your number from Levy, she's with me right now. So are you?" Lucy didn't say a word. Finally she spoke.
"I'm not coming, sorry." She whispered. Natsu didn't speak.
"Are you ok?" He asked with concern.
"I don't know…just…I don't feel like it." She sighed.
"Just wait minute." He hung up. Lucy looked at her phone and sighed again. She curled up in her bed and cried. She couldn't take it anymore. Her father always beat her and her mother died when she was born. After ten minutes of silent tears, the door of her room burst open.
"Olga, I'm not in the mood." She whimpered and covered her face with her blanket. A warm rough hand that didn't belong to Olga touched her hair.
"Lucy Kayla?" Said a familiar voice.
"Natsu?" She lifted her eyes from her blanket. "What are you doing here?"
"Just checking to see if you're alright. And clearly you're not." Natsu looked at her bruises and blood-stained nose.
"I am, really." Lucy covered her face with her blanket. Natsu put something cold in her hand.
"Here. Levy tells me you love the strawberry milkshakes from Starbucks." Natsu said kindly.
"Wow, thanks." Lucy said quietly and say up and sipped the milkshake.
"So Lucy Kayla, what happened?" Natsu asked.
"I can't say…" Lucy whispered.
"Lucy Kayla…" Natsu said in a way that made Lucy feel uncomfortable about lying.
"My dad…" She whispered. "He abused me ever since my mother died. He's basically a rich and drunk business man. I tried talking to the police about it but when they went to my house to ask my dad about it, he acted all loving and caring so the police said I cried wolf." Lucy sighed.
"Sucks…"
"Yeah…" Lucy looked away. They stayed silent for one moment. Natsu touched her forehead. Lucy felt her heart beat faster. His hands were so soft, so warm, and touched her in a way that made her feel comfortable.
"Do you feel pain anywhere else?" Natsu asked. Lucy blinked and snapped back to reality.
"Not really…" Lucy whispered. Then her ribs started hurting. She put her hand on the center of the bruise and winced in pain. Natsu looked at her and ran downstairs. A few minutes later, he came back with a giant pack of ice.
"Here, lie down." Natsu said. Lucy blushed, but lay down anyways. Natsu lifted her shirt halfway. His eyes widened at the sight of a giant purple and black bruise on her ribs. He put the bag of ice on her ribs and quickly put her shirt back down.
"So you have a TV here?" Natsu looked at the TV in her room. "That is so cool. And it's curved!"
"Yeah we have an even bigger one downstairs, but my dad uses it." Lucy grinned sarcastically. "You didn't notice it?"
"Well I was too busy getting you ice to mind the super cool TV." Natsu replied with a smile. Lucy looked down and smiled. Natsu turned on the TV. Plue jumped onto the bed.
"Is this Plue?" Natsu asked.
"Yeah." Lucy replied.
"Hi Plue. You're a cute little doggie aren't ya? Yes you are, yes you are." Natsu rubbed Plue's belly. Lucy tried not to laugh at his childishness.
"Hey, turn to Nickelodeon I wanna see if TMNT is on." Lucy said, trying to change the subject.
"TMNT? As in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?" Natsu asked had a look on his face.
"Yeah…"Lucy blushed with embarrassment.
"Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of. I watch Winx Club when times go to shit." Natsu changed the channel to Nickelodeon, TMNT was on.
"You watch Winx Club?" Lucy giggled. "I used to watch that."
"I gotta remember that."
"Remember what?"
"Hearing your beautiful laugh, just gotta mention the fact I watch Winx Club."
"You idiot." Lucy giggled.
"See? You're laughing." Natsu pointed at her.
"I'm not!" Lucy couldn't stop laughing.
"Winx Club! Winx Club! Winx Club! Winx Club! Winx Club! I love Winx Club!" Natsu screamed. Lucy couldn't contain her laughter.
"Can we just watch TMNT? I wanna see if Leo kisses Karai!" Lucy kept on giggling for a while.
"Winx Club." Natsu whispered.
On Sunday, Lucy started to feel better. Natsu came over to check on her again.
"So how do you feel now?" He asked.
"Better than yesterday." Lucy replied with a smile.
"You wanna go to the park?"
"Sure." Lucy put on her coat, put Plue on his leash and walked out the door with Natsu.
"It's really a beautiful day." Natsu looked around.
"Yeah…" Lucy let Plue off his leash and he ran off.
"You ever worry he gets lost?" Natsu said with concern.
"Nah, he never does and never will." Lucy put Tic Tacs mints in her mouth. "By the way, you wear that white scarf all the time. Does it mean something to you?"
"Yeah ish. My dad gave it to me." Natsu replied.
"Oh ok." Lucy started chewing.
"So…have you always been in Magnolia?" Natsu asked.
"Yeah. I've never really been anywhere else." Lucy replied. "You?"
"Same, except for a few dumb trips to the East Forest and Hargeon." Natsu replied.
"What's it like in the East Forest? I've heard of it before and seen pictures of it but I've never actually been there."
"Eh, it's any normal forest. I just hope for this year's school trip we got to go to someplace awesome like Mt. Hakobe."
"I don't like cold snowy places. But sometimes it's nice to just sit on a park bench and look at the snow fall into your hands." Lucy looked at her small pale hands.
"Have you ever been skiing?" Natsu asked.
"No…Levy told me skiing was fun." Lucy replied.
"We should take you indoor skiing sometime." Natsu grinned.
"Oh please no. I have horrible balance and I could easily fall and kill myself." Lucy said.
"Lol, it's ok." Natsu nudged Lucy. Lucy giggled. She looked around the park, found a swing set and sat on a swing.
"I used to play on this swing so many times as a kid." Lucy slowly swung back and forth. "My dad never pushed me so I'd just sit here and watch people feed birds."
"Want me to push you?" Natsu offered jokingly as he went behind Lucy.
"No, don't, don't you dare." Lucy warned him. But Natsu didn't listen. He pushed Lucy on the swing. "Stop! Oh my gosh, Natsu!" Lucy laughed as he pushed her higher and higher.
Lucy didn't want to go to school on Monday. She didn't have enough concealer to cover the bruises on her arms and legs. She only had enough to cover the bruise on her right eye.
"No, Lucy. You have no serious pain anywhere so you must go to school." Olga said sternly when Lucy asked.
"Aw please? What about that bruise on my ribs?" Olga looked at it.
"It's not as serious. You'll be fine, sweetie."
"But I have P.E. today, Olga." Lucy complained.
"We've explained your situation to your teachers so you have no problem." Olga said sternly. "Now you go to school." Lucy groaned. She went upstairs and looked at herself in the mirror. She put her sweater on, followed by her blazer.
"I just hope this will do." Lucy put Plue on his leash and went off to school.
"Hey, it's Lucy Kayla! My favourite blondie!" Natsu said when Lucy arrived at school. He was waiting at her locker.
"You know, it's kinda weird when you call me that." Lucy said quietly.
"Lucy!" yelled a familiar frizzy blue haired girl with a yellow headband.
"Hey Levy." Lucy said quietly.
"How are you? Sorry I wasn't there with Natsu when you got hit."
"It's no problem." Lucy smiled.
"Hey shrimp, where you runnin' of ta?" Gajeel's pierced face and black frizzy hair loomed behind Natsu and Levy.
"Gajeel, how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that." Levy shot back. The two bickered about name calling behind Natsu.
"That guy's Gajeel, Levy's boyfriend and my cousin." Natsu said.
"I never knew he was your cousin." Lucy said.
"Well…yeah." Natsu shrugged. "Anyway what class do you have now?"
"History with Mr. Clive." Lucy replied.
"Want me to walk you there?" Natsu asked kindly.
"No thanks." Lucy looked down.
"Ok. Well, see you at lunch." Natsu turned around and waved. "Bye, Lucy Kayla."
"Bye." Lucy whispered and went off to History. She wheezed and coughed. How much longer would I have to keep lying? She thought to herself. Her mind wandered off until she ran into a small white haired girl. Lucy recognized her, it was Lisanna.
"Oh my god, I am so sorry about that." Lucy frantically picked up Lisanna's books and gave them to her.
"Are you the blond girl who hangs around Natsu a lot?" Lisanna asked.
"I only hung out with him that Friday…" She lied.
"He is dreamy isn't he? Have you seen him sleep yet? It's so cute." Lisanna babbled on.
"What? No, no. I don't really see him that way." Lucy blushed profusely. She tried to hide it.
"Well whatever. I'm gonna have him back." And with that, Lisanna skipped off.
