A/N: Hey! It's been a week! Yay!
Okay... my exuse is... on Thursday, I slipped and cracked my head on a hill of ice and gave myself a minor concussion, so I wasn't allowed to do anything on Friday.
It sucked... it really did. ;n;
Anyway, I don't own Fairy Tail.
Without further ado, please enjoy the following, and if not, leave a little review and tell what you didn't like about it, yeah?
III.
As the day proceeded, Lucy was finding it easier and easier to converse with Levy. She was slowly, but surely, adapting to the girl's usually inadequate and always rickety voice. It wasn't like the blue-haired student was really that timid. Hesitant and nervous? Yes and yes. But, down to her very core... Levy was kind and modest... and actually, Lucy thought, she leaned towards being nerdy.
It only took four periods, lunch hour, a bit of coaxing, and the help of two boys named Jet and Droy, of whom Levy seemed to have an unlikely friendship with, to whittle away at the girl's apprehensive nature, and reveal the chatty bookworm that lay beneath. And, as she was finishing up the light lunch she had thrown together (Ms. Spetto had insisted on packing it, but Lucy had been out of time at that point.), Lucy decided she loved the talkative side of Levy, even as hard to understand as she was sometimes.
"C-C-Cana?" Speaking of which.
"Huh? What is it, Lev?" Cana Alberona, the mystery girl from first hour had arrived thirty-seven minutes into third hour. Just as soon as the girl had stepped into the classroom, she'd been asked politely to leave and "change into more proper clothing" by Mrs. Yuanne, the rather young professor with an obsessive fascination with Europe. Well, she was the history teacher.
Anyway.
Cana had walked through the door with a dangerously low-cut tee, and ripped up jeans. Her wavy brown hair was fixed in a loose ponytail, and her high heels gave her an extra boost of four inches. A fluffy blue purse hung loosely around her shoulder. Cana had a smooth, dark complexion, only adding to her natural beauty, as well as complimenting her dark eyes.
She'd come back in sweats and a hoodie, but to Lucy, the gray clothes didn't dull her looks in the slightest. All in all, Lucy couldn't imagine someone like Cana would even consider talking to someone like Levy. Strange? Yes, she thought very much so.
"H-Have you s-seen Gajeel?"
"Honey, you're gonna hafta speak up... I can't hear anything with this frickin' headache." That was another thing off about Cana. The girl had been tipsy and distant. Lucy wasn't sure if this was normal or not, as she had nothing other than the few hours she'd known the girl to compare her to.
Erza paused in her strawberry cake heaven to raise a stern eyebrow at the brunette, "Have you been drinking again, Cana?"
"Yeah! You reek of booze!" Natsu piped in, wrinkling his nose for an added effect. Lucy sniffed the air, wondering how on earth he could smell her. They were on opposite ends of the table, for goodness' sake!
Immediately, the stench of heavy perfume smacked her senses silly... but maybe under that... a more unpleasant smell? She couldn't tell; Cana had really doused herself in the sweet spray...
Wait a minute.
Booze? As in...
"Alcohol? You've been drinking alcohol?!" What was wrong with these people?! Acting like an underage student coming in late and showing signs of a minor hangover was normal?!
"Only the best!" Cana joked half-heartedly. Lucy gaped at her like a fish out of water. Correction. Like... like... well. It didn't really matter. To say she was shocked was an understatement. She turned to Levy for an explanation, but the girl was staring at her lap.
"Weren't you suppose to cut your drinking by half this month?" There was a new voice Lucy hadn't heard yet. It happened to belong to a young man sitting across from Natsu. He had dark, dark blue, almost black eyes, and uncombed, messy black hair. Searching her memory from when Levy had introduced them all at the beginning of the lunch hour, all she could remember was that the girl had had a heck of a time trying to pronounce his last name without stuttering several times.
Cana scowled at him. He smirked cheekily back at her.
"Alright, alright, I'll talk to Mira tomorrow..." Then her eyes brightened, and her pout turned into a sneaky grin. Lucy could practically see the little devil horns poking out of her head.
"Well, Mr. Fullbuster, I saw you smoke up half a pack yesterday." The brunette reached across the table, and poked his chest for emphasis.
Fullbuster... Fullbuster... What was his name?
The guttural sound of a 'g' kept gurgling up in her throat.
G... G... G... Gra... Gray! That was it!
...what a weird name.
Lucy completely and utterly missed the fact that he had just been accused of smoking. That is, she did. Until Erza was standing over him with a mixed expression of anger, hurt, and disgust, all wrapped up into one face. The boy was rooted to the spot, transfixed by his obvious fear of the girl.
"Gray," she spoke with icy clarity, despite the range of emotions flashing through her brown eyes, "I hope for your sake that Cana is spewing false information."
"O-Of course she is...!" he agreed. Much, much too quickly.
Cana simply sauntered over to him, bent over, and plucked a lighter out of his back pocket.
"That could be anybody's!" he said stupidly, getting red in the face.
Erza didn't hear him. She was rather busy stomping to a window, and chucking the little thing as far as she could... which was pretty far... actually. Then, she stomped back.
"Gray, today after school, we're both going to see Mirajane, and your going to schedule an individual session. You keep shunning them, and the regular meets...!"
Next to Lucy, Levy shrank in her seat, and Natsu and Cana laughed at the black-haired boy's great misfortune.
Erza stared down at them with a look of sheer disappointment. Natsu quieted down a little ( he knew Erza ), but Cana couldn't stop herself from giggling. Lucy suspected she hadn't yet flushed all of the alcohol out of her system, and so the final traces were amplifying her mood.
"This is no laughing matter, Cana. You're going to be coming with Gray and I," the redhead said sternly.
"...fine," Cana massaged her temples with an index finger, "Anyway, Levy, I think I'm sober enough now, what was it you wanted?"
"O-Oh, n-nothing, Cana-san."
"Levy-chan?"
"Y-Yeah, Lucy?"
Lucy looked at the smaller girl. She sounded nervous, as if she knew what the blonde was about to say. Then again, she always sounded nervous.
"Who's 'Mirajane'?"
"Mirajane? Sh-she's a fr-friend..."
"Does she attend East Mag. High?"
"N-No... she's... she's... i-in college..."
"...oh." Lucy wished she could ask more, but they were in front of the gates that marked her grand house.
Lucy and Levy had decided to walk home together. Lucy was enthusiastic about it at first - she'd get to know more about this Mira girl. Then she learned Levy lived halfway across the city, and she wasn't so sure about letting the girl walk that far. But with Levy's gentle assurances, and small prods, they'd enjoyed a conversation filled hike to Lucy's house. Well, until Lucy had brought up the mysterious, and apparently touchy, subject of Mirajane.
"See you tomorrow, Levy?"
"O-Of course. G-Goodbye, Lucy-san!" she waved, before turning around and walking away.
Crap! The blue-haired girl reverted back to using formalities again. Inwardly, Lucy kicked herself. She shouldn't have even mentioned that name! What is Levy completely ignored her to next day because of her stupid mistake? Lucy fumbled with her keys for a minute, that thought weighing heavy on her mind.
Once she finally entered, Lucy dropped her shoulder bag on the couch, and plodded into the well-refurbished kitchen for some sort of afterschool snack. She made a beeline for all of their frozen goodies.
"Ah, Miss Lucy..." Huh? Lucy looked up from rummaging through the fridge to see Ms. Spetto sitting at the dining table, cupping a mug of warm tea between her hands. Her face was... downcast. Very unlike the old, sweet maid Lucy knew.
"Is everything alright, Ms. Spetto?" Now she could watery hazel eyes set in the woman's wrinkled face.
"Y-Your father, Miss Lucy," she took a few breaths, and a sip of tea, "h-he has requested an audience with you... you are to go immediately, M-Miss Lucy."
...
...
Lucy slammed the door so hard, she heard all of the contents inside rattle.
...
Before she knew it, Lucy was already halfway up the stairs to her father's office, fists clenching tighter with each step she took.
...
A little voice inside told her didn't have to go. She could be a rebellious little brat and downright refuse his request. He wouldn't notice. He wouldn't care. Hell, he wouldn't notice, or care if she left right now.
But, no.
...
No.
Lucy wanted to hear what Jude Heartphilia had in store for his "little girl." She wanted to hear what kind of crap he would say, what new rule he was laying down, or what new regulation, or new change in their lives he was making. She wanted to hear it all.
Lucy wanted... She wanted...
...
She leaned on the railing at the top.
...
She wanted to be wrong. About everything.
Lucy wanted to open that door and see the man that existed before her mother died. No, even before that... She wanted to see his face crinkled with a smile at his newborn daughter... and she wanted to hear his laughter at his little three-year-old's silly antics.
Oh God, she wanted it so badly.
Lucy pulled herself together as she gripped the shiny, brass doorknob that led to Mr. Heartphilia's office... hoping, hoping to see his face not ground down to pure bitterness by work, work, work, but... relaxed.
Her hand unwillingly turned the knob, and she heard the mechanisms working with steadfast accuracy. The door did swing open... ever so slowly.
And, with each inch of his room and rim revealed, another piece of her disillusioned dream cracked and shattered.
Lucy stood motionless in the doorway.
There he was.
The perfect businessman.
The worst father.
"Lucy... come in..." his weary tone grated on her ears. Lucy took two steps in.
"I heard you requested my presence... father." the word tasted like bile on her tongue.
"Yes, yes I did. Please. Sit down." She obeyed without a sound.
"Lucy, you are 18 now, correct?"
"Yes, sir," Lucy glared at her lap.
"Well, it has come to my attention... that in a few years you will be of the proper age to wed... so I have taken it into my personal interest to find good suitors for you. Whichever of the predetermined men you choose, will perform duties as your husband and keep my business alive while I'm gone."
...'proper age to wed'...
...'find good suitors'...
...'perform duties as your husband'...
...
...no...
Word count: 1,804 (this is an approximate!)
A/N: Can someone say drama? C:
heh. Y'know how on the last chapter, I thought it went too slow. Well, I thought this one actually went too fast.
On a side note, I make up all of these teachers' names on the spot, and if any of them sound familiar, then I'm probably getting them from manga authors that I like.
Anyway.
Like it, hate it, don't really care? Please review! Itmakesmehappy.
