Heeey! It's been a while, huh? I'm so sorry, it's just that I've been having a lot of family problems and such, you know how it goes ;P

So anyways, thank you to everyone who favorited, followed, reviewed or silently read! It really means a lot!

My inspiration for this chapter were a few songs, so if you want to, check out Demons by Imagine Dragons, Hear Me by the same band, and Scars by Colton Dixon

Disclaimer: I dis anyone who claims they created Fairy Tail aside from Hiro Mashima!

Giving a grunt, I make one last mighty effort to drag the bulky dresser out of my bedroom. However, it's just not enough to move the furniture out the door. How long have I been going at this? I glance at the clock while wiping my brow. Almost two?! Holy crap, I started around ten!

I find it a little strange that I'm cleaning my room, especially after that fight with Jude yesterday, but there's not much else I can do. Besides, I'm sick and tired of this nasty pink stuff. If I'm being forced to stay here any longer, there's no reason to put up with all this crap.

"Miss Heartfilia?"

At the questioning voice that comes from behind me, I turn around. "Who the heck are you calling 'miss Heartfilia', huh?" I snap at the maid, who raises an eyebrow.

"Pardon me?"

Her tone of voice makes it seem like she doesn't know what's wrong. Irritated, I cross my arms.

"Did I somehow become money-bag's relation over night, or what? Fricken idiot… Don't ever call me that again. Or better yet, don't call me at all."

She doesn't back down, which surprises me. "Mr. Heartfilia said that we were to call you Miss Heartfilia. So my apologies, but he's the one who hands me a paycheck at the end of the month."

What? Did she seriously just say that? Oh man, she's asking for a black eye.

"Nobody," I growl under my breath, "decides what my name is. You don't have any say in the matter. Jude doesn't have any say in the matter. So don't you dare attach 'Heartfilia' to the end of my name, moron!" My voice is raised by the end of my short rant.

Looking at me with a stern face, the old maid folds her arms. "Miss, I don't make the orders-I just follow them. However, what I say next is completely of my own mind."

"Huh?" the word is barely out of my mouth before she stalks over to me, looking down on me since she stands a few inches taller.

"You may not have the best life, but that does not at all excuse your behaviour. You are disrespectful, rude and utterly self-centered." I open my mouth to say something, but she continues before I can retort.

"For a young girl like you, you have very bad manners and a nasty temper, which shows in everything you say or do. Well I'd like to remind you of something, Lucy-you are not the only person in this world. Believe it or not, those young maids you seem to think are poisonous or something are just as important as you-in fact, I care worlds more for them than I do for you. They try their hardest to do their job, yet everything out of your mouth is an insult."

She takes a breath, her aged eyes boring into my own, making me flinch even in my stupor. After a painstakingly long minute, she sighs.

"Believe me, I understand what you're going through, having gone through multiple foster homes myself. But you should know how incredibly fortunate you are, as well."

Her wrinkled face looks the picture of misery for a second. "You ended up in a mansion, just like me. But our positions are much, much different."

The old maid didn't show up the next day, nor the day after. As I pull on a jacket to head to school on Monday, my mind is still full of her words. I spent all day Saturday and Sunday sulking in my room, since I was so tense and irritated that I would randomly blow up at anyone who crossed my path.

Who is she to talk to me like that? I mean who asked for her opinion? In my world, nobody bothers with someone else's personal business. I'll act the way I want. If they choose to get upset about it, that's their problem.

Absent-mindedly bumbling through the front doors of Fairy High's building, I don't really notice what's going on around me. All I can think about is how unfair all this is. I didn't ask to be sent to that mansion, so why is it suddenly my responsibility to take care of the maids' friggin emotional needs? They're the ones who chose to go there.

Ouch! I groan, blinking when I realize I'm on the ground and my head hurts.

My head is spinning... And someone is apologizing. That must mean this was their fault! Rubbing my head, I glare at the person in front of me as my vision clears. "Watch where you're going, moron!"

It turns out to be a girl, the one who sits in front of Levy. She smiles nervously, and offers her hand. "I'm so sorry, I was in a rush to get to class! Are you alright?"

Ignoring her, I stand up on my own, still a little dizzy. Crap, my stuff fell out of my bag! Crossing my arms, I glare at the airhead. She apologizes again, bending over to grab some of my unused books.

"Oi, don't touch my stuff! You've already caused enough problems, moron. Just get out of my way, alright?" I mutter angrily, giving her a less-than-gentle shove in the direction of our homeroom. "Fricken idiot..."

Feeling a few students' eyes on me, I kneel down and start collecting my things. Shouldn't these guys be hurrying to class or something? Geez!

Once I'm finally done, I toss my backpack over my shoulder and stalk to class, sending a glare at anyone around me. Thanks to a certain airhead, I'm now late to class.

I slowly walk into the classroom, noting that my worst enemy-Gildarts-is talking to some chick with red-hair. I'm safe for now... Taking my seat, I drop my head on the wooden desk in front of me, ready to sleep for a year.

Before I can actually drift off though, someone pokes my shoulder. "What?" I snap, not bothering to raise my head.

"Lucy, can you sit up please?"

Great. It's Levy. "Why?"

"We have to talk."

"Then talk. Maybe I'll listen, maybe I won't."

"Lucy Heartfilia, look at me!" Levy says in a stern voice that doesn't fit her appearance. However, it's enough to make me raise my head.

"Good grief, what do you want?"

Pulling off her reading glasses, Levy looks me in the eye. Is there something going on with people looking me in the eye and being all serious? It's kinda freaky.

"Do you remember Lisanna?"

"Ehh... Who?"

She frowns. "I introduced you two a while back. Although it doesn't surprise me you didn't pay attention." Scooching her seat to the side, she points to the person in front of her. "This is Lisanna."

Lisanna doesn't meet my eyes as I stare at her.

"Thanks for making me late, Lasagna. Oh, and for giving me a headache. And for ruining the pages of my books. But let's not forget that you smushed my lunch too, okay?"

Unusually stiff today, Levy glances at her friend and offers a smile for whatever reason. Turning back to me, her smile disappears. "Lisanna didn't want to say anything to me, but some other people told me about what happened."

My eyes narrow. "What the frick are you talking about?"

Levy glares at me. "Lisanna apologized to you for accidentally knocking you over, right? " She says, putting emphasis on 'accidentally'. "So how come you're being a total jerk about it?"

"Excuse me?" I scoff, sitting up properly. "A jerk?" My eyes are wide with shock. "Do you even know what a jerk is?"

"Yeah, I do. There's also another name for a jerk, Lucy. A bully." Levy shoots back, a pained expression on her face.

I can't believe what I'm hearing. Is she calling me a fricken bully because I'm justly mad at someone? She's in for a treat if she ever meets a real bully! At this point I'm actually hoping she will, just because she's totally out of line right now.

Shaking her head, the blue-haired midget turns around and places her hand on Lasagna's shoulder. However, her friend shrugs it off. "Levy, I said you didn't have to do this! I'm sure Lucy was just in a bad mood today! She's not a bully..."

That's right, Lasagna. Act all innocent so people know you're the victim.

"If this is just Lucy having a bad day then I've never seen her on a good day," Levy counters, not looking at me. "I thought the way she acts was just a cover, but after today I've realized something. This is all there is to her."

This is all there is to me? What is 'this'?

Levy's last comment keeps running through my head, annoyingly enough. It seems I've lost my ability to forget anything I don't want to think about.

Said bookworm has been shooting miserable glares at me all morning, which I've either ignored or returned with a glare.

My mind distracted by annoying things, I kind of stop paying attention to class. It's just about a bunch of stuff I don't understand, anyways.

"Lucy!"

"What?" I snap, still zoned out.

"Don't give attitude during class, for one thing."

Aw crap, it's Gildarts. Sighing, I cross my arms and look away from his steady gaze. "Come on man, we both know I don't have the answers to these stupid questions."

His face doesn't change, and he doesn't respond. Looking out of the corner of my eyes, I notice that nobody else is in the room. When did that happen?

"There are no questions-you slept through them all." he finally says, making me blink. Did I fall asleep? No, definitely not... Frowning, my eyes meet his.

"Oi, don't yell at me for something I wasn't doing. Also, you said not to give attitude during class, but clearly there's isn't a class going on." I mutter grumpily.

I know I'm just picking a fight, but I can't hold back. Everything that's been going on over the past few days is leaving me stressed out, which results in my quick temper getting the best of my more rational side. Whatever I have of one, anyways...

Gildarts gives me a stern glare, making me feel even worse. "I wasn't yelling at you, and I meant that you shouldn't give attitude at all." He sighs before continuing. "I'm gonna have to have a talk with you later, but for now just go to lunch."

Having finished, he leaves the room without a backward glance. Rolling my eyes in annoyance, I lean back in my seat. Like heck he's giving me a talk later, whatever that even means. Oh yeah, shouldn't he be furious with me about the other day? Is that what he wants to talk about? He probably is gonna yell at me or something, so maybe I should run for it after classes.

Dang it, I have that stupid tutoring thing afterwards! I swear, soon enough I'm gonna get over myself and run away from this fricken Hell.

I shoulder my bag and get to my feet, barely even noticing my arm's little twitch. It's become natural by now and hardly bothers me.

As I walk into the cafeteria, my eyes immediately go to where Levy and her friends are sitting by the wall. They aren't acting different, although Levy looks away as I walk past. Lasagna as well, actually. Whatever, they're both idiots anyways…

My sandwich is completely squashed after being dropped earlier, so I don't even bother trying to eat it. Instead, I ignore my stomach's growls and absent-mindedly play on my phone. Anything to make the rest of lunch hour pass quickly.

"-don't, Gildarts said he'll talk to her later…"

At the miserable attempt at whispering going on behind me, I close my eyes in annoyance. "Stop talking behind my back."

A shuffling sound, then I look up to see a few familiar faces. Natsu, Bla-no, Gray, and that orange-haired playboy. Rolling my eyes, I turn around in my seat so I'm facing them.

"Well? Spit it out."

Color-boy takes a step forward, arms crossed. "Just so you know, you really caused a lot of problems the other day." he says coldly, making me snort.

"Is that surprising to you or something?" It should be common knowledge by now that I'm really good at making trouble, whether on purpose or not.

He rubs his neck, obviously annoyed. "Look, I don't know what your problem is, but you better stop making so much trouble for Gildarts, got it?"

"Oi, are you accusing me of making trouble?!" I can't help raising my voice. "Am I 'making trouble' by keeping to myself? Or when I don't want some stupid adult meddling with my personal business?" Indignant, I get to my feet, ready to leave

"I won't even try to understand why you guys worship him so much, but to each their own, I guess. However that saying goes. Anyways, if you want to help him, make sure he knows I want nothing to do with him."

Gray narrows his eyes as I start walking away. "Oi, Lucy."

I pause

"Don't pretend to know him, okay? Because you don't. But at the very least, keep this in mind: if he's paying this much attention to you, chances are he's trying to help you."

"Thank you for reading, Levy."

Ugh… This is my least favorite class.

Literature.

It's not exactly a secret that I suck at reading. Like, really. I suck at it.

The teacher's okay, except for always making me read despite knowing I can't. I mean I can, but not everything. So yeah. I don't like it here, but at least it's the last class.

However, today I'm in a particulalyr bad mood, as mentioned before. Levy is usually there to be annoyingly friendly, but obviously… Well, let's just say she's not feeling very outgoing today. Anyways, I can't concentrate at all.

The teacher-lady closes her book, smiling. "I'm sure you'll all be excited to hear that this Friday is our last day reading Moby Dick."

Amidst the muffled cheers of relief, Levy lets out a disappointed sigh. Rolling my eyes, I shove the stupid book into my bag. She probably just wants extra points with the teacher.

"Oh, Lucy! Would you mind sticking around for a few minutes?" the teacher calls, making me sigh.

"You too, Natsu." she continues.

Glancing to the side, I stare at the pink-haired boy for a long minute before my mind clicks with recognition. How did I not notice he's in the same class as me?

He walks over with an oddly straight face, which is weird because he's always grinning. A little more curious now, I sit on a desk in the front row, impatiently waiting for the teacher to start.

She clasps her hands and gives the two of us a brief smile. "First of all, have you two met one another yet?"

Neither of us answers, leaving her to stare at us in confusion. "Er… I guess not. Well why don't you introduce yourselves, okay?"

Shifting my gaze to Natsu, I narrow my eyebrows. He doesn't return the gesture, but he's obviously annoyed. He showed up with Gray at lunch, now that I think about it. Probably mad at me too.

Surprisingly enough, he initiates the forced introduction. "I'm Natsu."

Ha, he's a newbie. I did catch a bit of stiffness in his voice, but that's all. Before the teacher suspects something, I give my reply. "Lucy."

"Alright, that makes you acquaintances, right?" Not waiting for a response, the teacher continues. "Right. Now then. I hate to say this, but you both are really falling behind the rest of the class. Especially you, Lucy."

I give a huff at her last comment, crossing my arms in annoyance. No duh, lady.

"Anyways, I don't want you guys to feel bad, because there are other students in similar situations. The only reason I pulled the two of you together is because of Gildarts. You both have classes with him, right?"

Sighing, I shift my weight, keeping silent.

However, Natsu decides to reply. "Yup, he's our homeroom teacher. But what does he have to do with anything?"

I mentally thank him for voicing my own thoughts. What does the old man have to do with this? Although I guess I shouldn't be surprised. He's always involved when it comes to his boys.

"Well Gildarts actually heard of my 'problem' students... " She notices our expressions and hurriedly continues. "Not that I think you're problems! That's just what he called you guys." She gives a little chuckle and looks from me to Natsu, as though thinking of some secret joke.

She shakes her head in amusement, before glancing at the clock. "Oh gosh, it's already four fifteen! Alright, I'm gonna hurry. Natsu and Lucy, you two are gonna be studying with Gildarts when you would normally be in this class."

My eyes widen. "Wait, what?!"

Natsu grins. "Gildarts is gonna tutor us? Sweet!"

I officially hate this guy.

So basically, I'm just adding an extra hour to those stupid private lessons with Gildarts. As though it wasn't enough torture… I swear he's doing this on purpose! Also, I have to put up with Natsu, possibly the most annoying out of all of Gildarts' 'followers'.

I can barely hold in my anger. The teacher is chatting with Natsu, so I grab my stuff and hurry out without saying a word.

Storming into Gildarts' classroom, I glare at said teacher.

There's nothing I can say to explain just how much I hate him. Everything he does is annoying, and most of it just makes things worse for me. Who does he think he is?

I stand there for a minute, not saying anything. Gildarts looks up at me but continues the silence. The air around us is tense, at least on my part. I swear, if he doesn't think I'm angry at this then he's a bigger idiot than he appears.

"Did you know that there's a clock in every single room here?" he finally speaks, keeping his face calm.

Is he really gonna lecture me for getting here late? After he goes and does a bunch of crap without my permission?! I'm totally lost for words. All I want to do right now is punch him.

Gildarts continues, knowing I won't answer. "You've got a habit of being late, that's for sure." He stands and walks over to one of the desks, sliding two chairs so there's one on each side.

"Take a seat, kid."

I mentally kick myself for not making him wait even longer. "I didn't come here for a stupid class, moron. The only reason I'm here is so you know that I hate your guts."

Sitting down himself, Gildarts looks at me and offers a slight grin. "Why does that not surprise me? I already noticed, actually."

Frick! I can't figure this guy out! Is he mad at me? Is he just fooling around? Good grief this is messed up!

Unsure of what to do, my eyes narrow. "... Good. Then I guess I don't have to waste my breath." My words are a little slow, as I'm trying to think of what to do.

Gildarts doesn't leave time for me to do that, though. He jerks his head, gesturing for me to come over. "Well now that that's over with, I get to do my part."

"Did you already forget I said I'm not doing lessons with you? Or is your head so big you didn't hear…" I growl half-heartedly, crossing my arms so that he'll understand I'm not gonna do what he says.

"Lucy," he says, looking more serious than a minute ago, "there are two ways of doing this-the hard way, or the easy way. Do you want to guess what those are?"

He takes out his phone, making me frown in confusion. What's he planning?

"The easy way is you coming over here right now. The hard way…" he pauses and gives his phone a little wave, "is me giving your parents a call and telling them exactly what you've been doing up to this very minute. Or what you haven't been doing."

My eyes widen at the mention of Jude. "If you even think about doing that I swear I'll kill you!"

As Gildarts silently taps his fingers on the desk, I frantically search for an answer. I don't even want to think about what Jude would do if he knew what I've been up to since coming to this rotten school, but I also don't want to know what Gildarts has planned for today.

He wants to talk. That's the worst thing anyone ever says to me. I can take a few blows, okay? At least then I know for sure they hate my you never know when it comes to talking. Especially with Gildarts. He's no doubt gonna lecture me on everything I'm doing wrong.

"I'm gonna give you ten seconds," Gildarts says, making me glare in annoyance.

"Shut up."

Okay Lucy, it's not that hard. What are you more scared of? Jude's wrath, or Gildarts' lecture?

Who are you more scared of?

I find myself sitting in front of Gildarts with six seconds to spare.

He nods to himself and leans back. "I would have chosen me too, to be honest."

I can't tell whether that's sarcasm or not… Either way, I made my choice and now I've gotta endure whatever he's gonna throw at me. That was really low of him, bringing Jude into this. He might now know what's really going on, but he should know that no kid wants their parents knowing what they're doing. Period.

"So then, let's begin."

Walking over to the whiteboard, he grabs a marker. What the heck?

"Maybe you're wondering what I wanna talk about-maybe you're not. But here's a little example, just in case." he mumbles from behind the marker cap that's in-between his teeth.

As he makes what looks like random strokes with the marker, I end up zoning out. Resting my chin on my hand, I start imagining what Jude would do if Gildarts told him what I do at school.

If he was a normal person, he probably wouldn't care. However, there is no normal with Jude. He's completely hooked on my grades for some reason. Just a few weeks ago he tried sending a servant to make sure I'd finished my homework.

Let's just say that none of us were happy the next day.

"Finished!" Gildarts calls, jerking me out of my thoughts. Sighing, I raise my eyes to stare at the whiteboard.

The first thing I notice is a pitiful, pitiful drawing of who I'm going to assume is me.

"You made me look like a cow!" I shout, sending a death glare Gildarts' way.

The supposed teacher feigns ignorance. "No I didn't, brat. Anyways, can you see okay from back there?"

Muttering under my breath, I flash a glare. "I could see from a mile away with how big you fricken made me."

"Quiet. So you see the different groups?" he asks, ignoring my comment. Rolling my eyes, I take a closer look. Those are supposed to be people?

I snort. "At least you gave me a face. Those guys are just blobs."

He chucks an extra marker at me, which I'm too slow to dodge.

"Hey!" I call, ticked off.

"Stop criticizing me. I'm the teacher."

"Yeah, and I'm a cow."

Obviously restraining himself, Gildarts takes a deep breath then clears his throat. "Alright, the people on top. Do you know what this word is?" he asks, pointing to a long-ish word that's placed above that group.

"Err…" I pause, frowning. "Adultery?"

Giving a snort, Gildarts raises an eyebrow. "Is that your best guess?"

An eye roll in his direction gets me another marker in the face.

"Are you kidding me? You're the one laughing at your student!"

He ignores my indignant shout and continues. "This is the word 'authority'. Do you know what that means?"

I scoff. "Yeah. Cocky jerks. Like all you teachers here."

"Thanks for proving my point." Gildarts says and points to the next group.

"These are students. The word next to you guys is 'youth'. And if you're wondering why you're a little bit farther down from them, it's because you're more of an immature kid."

"Are you kidding me?! I'm the immature one? What about, like, every boy in your class?!" My voice is losing it's gruffness, which makes me appear less angry than I am. This sucks.

Gildarts raises an eyebrow. "They know when to stop. You don't. Which brings me to my main point."

Where is he going with all this? My face falls. I'm so confused right now that it hurts.

"Your attitude."

Well that doesn't surprise me.

"If you're not snorting, scoffing or rolling your eyes, you're spitting out insults. I've counted dozens of them come out of your mouth in just the past week."

I snort before realizing that's just making his point. He raises a brow and I settle for glowering at him.

"I don't need someone dictating my life, which is what everyone is trying to do. So suck it up."

Gildarts crosses his arms, which is apparently a trend nowadays. "If you'll look at the board, you'll notice how I drew the teenagers to be lower than the adults. Know why?"

" 'cuz adults think they know everything and teens are stupid."

"You do realize that not every adult is a complete idiot, right?"

I don't give an answer.

"And not every adult is a complete jerk?"

I still don't answer.

Rubbing his forehead, Gildarts looks in frustration at the board, then back at me. "What the heck, kid? Were you raised under a rock or something?"

I give a snort again without even thinking, but hold my tongue.

He closes his eyes, probably in annoyance. I do the same. Out of frustration.

Of course I'm right. All the adults in my life are idiots or jerks. Well, that's not to say that any of them are in my life anymore. There's only one or two at a time, depending on how long I'm in their home. Right now Jude is the only adult in my life. And he's a jerk.

"So I'm either an idiot or a jerk, right?"

My eyes shoot open in surprise.

How could I forget? There are two adults in my life as of right now.

Gildarts is a part of your life, Lucy?

Wait, no he's not! He's just a nuisance. Someone who keeps butting in, even though he's not welcome. Crap. What are you doing? What's happened to you in the past few months?

Lucy, get a grip. You don't need anyone else. They'll only hurt you.

He'll only hurt you.

But… Why is it so hard to shut him out? When he asks how I'm doing no matter how many times I pretend not to hear, why does it make me feel special?

"Is that a yes?"

The blurry figure in front of my turns into the very man I'm thinking about as my eyes refocus.

"... What?"

Gildarts sits down again, right in front of me. "Am I an idiot?"

Startled, I lean back an inch or two. It takes a minute for his words to register, since I'm still battling with myself.

"Yep." I finally reply, my eyes refusing to meet his. Instead, I pull out my headphones and iPhone. This is too much drama for me.

As I plug in the headphones, Gildarts looks at me in amusement. "You're just gonna avoid me? Am I the plague or something?"

Ignoring him, I place my feet on the desk and close my eyes again, effectively blocking him out of all my senses.

With mad skill, I manage to open the front door using only my foot. I would use my hands, but they're in my pockets and I'm too lazy to take them out.

As soon as I walk in, my face contorts into disgust.

"What the frick are you doing here, money-bag?"

Jude sighs from where he's sitting at the enormous dining room table, but I can bet he's smirking on the inside. "Children with dirty mouths aren't allowed at the table, Lucy."

"Well then I guess we're both happy now." I mutter under my breath, walking past him to get to the stairs.

A hand on my arm makes me freeze. Giving Jude a venomous glare, I jerk my arm out of his grip.

"Keep your filthy hands off of me, creep!" I can't help my voice from raising a little.

A look from Jude sends me straight to my room. Not because he looked angry, but because he looked satisfied.

What the heck is going on today?

Thanks so much for reading!

-God Bless :)