Author's Note: I now understand some of the author's notes people leave about formatting. I thought I uploaded chapter 4 correctly, but it was a mess! Thank you also to Rein Serenity who gave me some feedback about formatting. I tried to implement some of their suggestions for this chapter. As always, thank you so much for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters.

Chapter 4

"Luuuucccy!"

A high-pitched squeal greeted her at the door as soon as she had knocked. Levy grabbed her into an enormous hug as soon as she stepped into the foyer. Lucy smiled as she leaned into the hug as best she could with her arm holding the bag of ice cream. Levy pulled away suddenly and held Lucy out in front of her.

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you what happened. I can only imagine that you thought…" Lucy held up her empty hand to stop what was surely the beginning of another long, Levy apology ramble.

"It's fine. I handled it. I concede, not well, but I handled it." Levy nodded her head in agreement.

"Erza told me all about it. He got what he deserved. Treating our Lucy like that. I gotta say though, Lucy, your temper is going to get you into real trouble one of these days." Lucy shrugged her shoulders. She was a rule follower, until she got really angry. Then her rules and manners went right out the window. Everyone who knew Lucy knew this. When she was five years, she had watched Jackal pick on a little girl half his size on the playground. He would take her lunch, pull her hair, and spill milk in her lap. The poor girl was so meek and quite that she never said anything to the bully. One day, Lucy came out to the playground to see the little girl wearing a cute blue dress with lace trim decorating it.

"I like your dress," Lucy told the girl. She put down her sandwich and had looked up at Lucy. When she realized Lucy was talking to her, she smiled.

"Thanks. My mom made it for me! It took her a whole month, but she knew I wanted it for picture day, so she worked really hard on it. It swishes with I twirl. Wanna see?" Lucy nodded her head, and the little girl got up and spun around in a circle. The dress did indeed make a smooth, swishing noise as the fabric spun around on itself. The girls giggled.

"Do you want to eat lunch with me?" The tiny girl asked in a quivering voice. Lucy knew the girl must have been scared in case she rejected her.

"Sure," Lucy responded as she set down her pink lunch box. Just then, Jackal appeared at their side.

"Hey little girl," he sneered. "What do you have for lunch for me today?" The girl's eyes got wide as she looked up at him. Lucy could tell she was surprised. Lucy had to admit she was surprised too. Surely if she was with someone, Jackal would back off. It seemed Lucy was not imposing enough to stop him from taking is daily share of the girl's lunch. The girl looked down at her sandwich, and Lucy realized the girl had already eaten most of it, and Lucy could see from where she was sitting that the rest of her lunch box was empty.

"I….uh…I don't have any more lunch today. I'm so sorry!" The girl's eyes began to brim with tears and Lucy could tell she was starting to get scared about what Jackal might do. Jackal glared angrily at the two girls.

"What do you mean no more lunch? Why didn't you save any more me, stupid?" Lucy was getting mad. She knew Jackal was a bully, and had seen his behavior from afar, but seeing and hearing him up close, it was different. His words hurt, and Lucy could feel the girl trembling beside her. Before either one of the girls could do or say anything, he reached out and pushed the little girl off the bench and to the ground. As she fell, Lucy heard "rrriiipp".

The girl's hands went to her face as Lucy looked down and saw what had happened. There was an enormous gash in the white lace of the dress from where it had caught a nail on the bench on her way down to the ground. Giant tears began to fall from the girl's eyes as she surveyed the damage.

"My…my dress. My… mom…my mom…made it," she sobbed. Lucy had heard and seen enough. Who was this boy to pick on such a petite girl, who clearly would never hurt a fly? Lucy shot up out of her seat and stood right beside Jackal.

"Hey! Stop! That's my friend, and her mom made that dress special for her!" Jackal looked down at her, clearly having a good foot of height over her.

"Boo-hoo. What are you going to do about it girly? You are almost just as small as she is." He laughed and started to walk away. Lucy's hands were balled into fists by her side. They were shaking with emotion. She knew she should just let Jackal walk away and help the little girl up, but hearing her sobbing was hurting her heart. Knowing this could happen again tomorrow was too much.

"I said, STOP!" Lucy took two giant steps and swung her foot out in Jackal's walking path. His ankle slammed into her foot and he fell face first onto the concrete. He looked up at Lucy, nose bloodied.

"I'm…I'm bleeding," he gasped reaching up and touching his nose.

"Maybe you'll think about that next time you try to pick on one of my friends. Her lunch is her lunch, not yours. Understand?" Lucy put her hands on her hips and gave him the nastiest glare she could possible make with her face. Jackal looked down at the blood on his hand, and then back to her and nodded.

"Great, I'm glad we understand each other," and she turned and skipped back to the little girl to help her off the ground.

"Wow, that was amazing. You're amazing," the girl gushed. Lucy shrugged it off. Secretly, she was glad Jackal had walked away. If he had come back to hit her, she would have been the one in trouble.

"It was time someone said something. The way he treats people is not ok. Hopefully, he's learned his lesson. I'm Lucy by the way." Lucy stuck out her hand to the girl like she had seen her father do to new clients at his office. The girl giggled and took her hand in her own.

"I'm Levy. It's nice to meet you."

Lucy and Levy had been inseparable friends from that moment on. Their group had added and lost friends as they grew up and changed, but the one thing that didn't change was their friendship.

Lucy brought the ice cream into the kitchen and didn't even bother to reach for the cabinet with the bowls. Instead, she headed straight for the silverware drawer, getting out two large spoons.

"Ahh," Levy said in understanding. "That kind of night. Ok then, let's head up to my room with the essentials." By essentials, Levy meant all the pillows and blankets in the house. With a swing of her hip, Lucy shut the utensil drawer and followed Levy to collect all the blankets. It always amazed Lucy that they could fit anything else in Levy's room around her enormous book collection. Once the pillows surrounded them on the floor in Levy's room and a nice fluffy blanket surrounded Lucy's shoulders, they were ready to talk, and in Lucy's case, cry.

At first, Lucy knew she was crying angry tears. She was angry at Sting for being a low life, cheating man whore, but then her tears changed into sad ones. When she first recognized this feeling, Lucy was confused why she felt this way. She hated Sting, and knew she was better off without him, but the deep sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach got bigger. She remembered the feeling when String drove away from her a couple of hours ago and she realized she was missing what they had before. Before the nights of drinking, before the other girls, before the lying. Levy, surprisingly, did not say anything during the whole ordeal. She let Lucy cry until she had no more tears while rubbing her back and humming a soft tune. Lucy didn't even know she was doing it until she rubbed her red eyes and her gasps subsided.

"What are you singing?"

"Oh, it's just a song my mom used to sing to me when I was younger. It always made me feel better." Levy took her hand off Lucy's back and scooted over to face her.

"The ice cream is melting. You ready to down the rest of your sorrows with raspberry banana blast?" Lucy gave a playful groan.

"Oh, Levy, you have the worst taste in ice cream!"

"Hey!" Just as Levy was about to give her rebuttal statement to defend her blue and yellow sugar monstrosity, the doorbell rang. Lucy looked at Levy suspiciously.

"Levy," Lucy said cocking her head to one side. "Who is that?" Levy looked shyly down at the pillow in her lap.

"It could be Erza…maybe. Probably. Most likely."

"And why would Erza be here on our night in?" Lucy prodded.

"Maybe because I sorta, kinda, a tiny bit, invited her."

"Levy!"

"Lu, I'm sorry! She was the one that told me what was going on with you! If she hadn't of told me about the coffee shop, you know I would have had to interrogate you to find out something like that happened!" Lucy sighed. Levy had a point. She had been so embarrassed over everything. Admitting it out loud, even to her best friend, would have been rough for her, and it wasn't like Erza wasn't her friend. She could just be a bit intimidating.

"Fine. She can stay. Go get the door." Levy let out a squeal and ran downstairs to get the door. Lucy could her Erza receiving a similar welcome as she had. Tilting her head, she could hear another voice in the foyer as well. Ugg. She rolled her eyes. Ok, she was being mean now, and she knew it. Cana had apparently tagged along with Erza.

Cana wasn't a bad person. In fact, Lucy liked her. It was Cana's boyfriend Lucy had a problem with. It wasn't like he was a creep or anything, it was just Lucy was ninety-eight percent sure that even though she could never prove it, Bacchus was behind most of the alcohol and trouble that Sting had gotten into. Bacchus was one of Sting's best friends now, and having Cana there almost felt like having a spy in the house. Lucy tried to shake off the thought and be reasonable. Cana was her friend before Bacchus, and she would never betray her trust.

Cana and Erza had joined Levy and Lucy's group when they were halfway through sophomore year. Lucy had already been with Sting for eight months, and Cana was Lucy's lab partner in chemistry, while Erza had been partnered with Levy. One day, Cana had mentioned she had a crush on a boy on the swim team. This immediately peaked Lucy's interest, and she was ashamed to say that she had even thought Cana may have had set her sights on Sting. Instead of being defensive, Lucy carefully prodded Cana with coaxing questions until the brunette admitted she had feelings for Bacchus. Lucy had been so relieved that Cana was not interested in Sting. It wasn't like she didn't trust him around girls (at the time), but she didn't like the idea of someone else trying to take her place. Lucy had talked to Sting, who talked to Bacchus, who thought Cana was cute and wanted to ask her out as well. The rest was what was known as history.

Sting became friends with Bacchus so they could double, and Friday nights became date nights. Levy came too when she had the occasional date. Looking back, Lucy supposed technically it was her fault that Bacchus and Sting became friends. If she hadn't of gotten involved with Cana's love life, she would have never asked Sting to approach Bacchus about Cana. Then again, they were on the swim team together, so maybe they would have fallen into the same crowd no matter what, like magnets being attracted to each other, pieces of the universe being drawn together.

Lucy could hear the girls' voices getting louder on the stairs behind her. Levy pushed open the doors the rest of the way and smiled cheerfully at Lucy.

"Cana brought wine!" Although Lucy kept a smile on her face, she inwardly cringed. She obviously had had alcohol before, but after taking care of Sting so many nights, she had come to dislike the stuff. It made good people do strange (and sometimes cruel) things, and it made her head feel fuzzy. She didn't judge her friends who drank, they were adolescent teenagers after all, but through Sting, Lucy had seen the bad choices that could happen. She now only took a couple sips at parties to make it look like she was drinking along with everyone else.

There was also Ms. Supetto to think about. It had all started when Lucy was caught with a beer under her bed at home…

The housekeeper had found it. Lucy secretly wished her father had found it instead because her punishment probably would have been a lot less severe. Ms. Supetto had gone on and on about the dangers of drinking. She even threatened Lucy that she would make her watch an educational video! All over one beer! Just as Lucy was about to drown out the sound of Ms. Supetto's voice, she reminded herself that Ms. Supetto loved her and was like her surrogate mother. Lucy sighed. She was lecturing her because she loved her, because she wanted her to grow up right. The least she could do was pretend to listen.

"When I was a girl…" Ms. Supetto started while rubbing her hands on a dishtowel. Lucy took another dish from Ms. Supetto's hands. They were washing dishes together as Ms. Supetto lectured Lucy. It was part of her punishment (along with being grounded for an indefinite amount of time), but Lucy didn't tell her that she found washing the dishes to be relaxing. There was nothing else to think about when washing dishes. Dunk, wash, rinse, dry, repeat. It was mind numbing, and Lucy loved it. It also meant she wouldn't run into her father. He was never in the kitchen, that was, if he was home at all. What she didn't love was the sound of Ms. Supetto's shrill voice dragging on about statistics and the proper development of teenage minds.

Lucy let out another sigh. They were almost done with the dishes, and Lucy had been done with this conversation long ago. Ms. Supetto stopped drying and looked at Lucy, a mix of fear and love wavering in her eyes.

"I just want you to make better choices, ok Lucy?" Lucy looked at the older woman and realized just how old Ms. Supetto had gotten. She had smile lines now on her forehead and around her mouth. Her hair had grayed and there were speckles on white peeking through. Lucy also noticed, with an inward grimace, that Ms. Supetto had far more worry lines gracing her face than the last time she had looked. Lucy sighed once again, but this time in resignation.

"I understand, Ms. Supetto. It won't happen again. I didn't mean to make you worry." After a hug, the housekeeper had let the subject drop, and Lucy had never brought alcohol into the house again.

Since her mother had died when she was younger, Ms. Supetto was the only mother she had known. She could remember small details about her mother: her smell, her arms around her. Sometimes she dreamed about her lovely smile. Lucy also remembered her father's laugh from back then as well, though that particular memory was fading with each passing day. Her father had not laughed, seriously laughed from joy, since her mother's death.

The small pop of the cork from the wine bottle brought Lucy back to the present. Cana had opened the wine and was pouring it into plastic cups. Cana and Levy each took one, and Lucy took her cup and held it in her hands. She might take a few sips, but she knew most of it was going down the sink by the end of the night. Erza's hands remained empty, as she had passed on the invitation.

Erza was a serious girl, but it was one of the reasons why Lucy loved her so much. Deep down, Erza's seriousness was brought on by a motherly instinct to protect her friends. Lucy also knew Erza had serious future goals. She had been on several of the girls' sports teams, hoping one of them would bring her a scholarship. Erza trained everyday, and Lucy couldn't help but be a little envious of her drive and determination. Oh, Lucy had goals all right, but Erza's dedication and passion took things to a whole new level. In the end, all her work paid off as she was going to a university inland on a full ride.

"So, Sting is out of the picture, huh?" Cana asked, downing the last of her cup. Lucy nodded without saying anything.

"Cana," Erza reprimanded. "Lucy may not want to talk about that topic right now. As I recall, we are here to be supportive and cheer her up." Lucy smiled at Erza. There she was. Her friend and protector. Lucy knew Erza would go and kick the crap out of Sting if she let her, but Lucy also knew that if Erza got in that kind of trouble, it could ruin her scholarship. She wasn't about to put Erza in that position.

"It's ok, Erza. Levy all ready listened to me cry it out. Sting is gone, and now I'm free to start my first year of college with a fresh slate." Lucy said the words in an upbeat way, not letting her fear come through her words. Yes, Lucy longed for freedom, but moving away for college meant leaving everything she grew up with behind. Yes, that did mean her father, but that also meant everything else she grew up with as well. She had applied to several schools, near and far, but it had come down to two real choices for Lucy. Her dream college was in the next state over; it was the same college her favorite author had attended. She had been in awe when she read on the website that Kemu Zaleon was teaching creative writing at that university. It immediately became her dream to go there and study under him.

Her second option was the college in the next town over. It wasn't a big college, but it was an accredited business school. Her father had been planning for her to attend there her whole life. It wasn't her dream, but it was close to all the things she knew. Because of her studious nature and good grades, Lucy had naturally been accepted into both schools, but she had kept the letters in her desk, away from her father and Ms. Supetto's prying eyes. Any involved parent would have realized the letters should have come by now, but her father was too busy with his overseas clients, and Ms. Supetto was too sweet to ask. In this way, Lucy was lucky. She could put off having to make her life altering decision for just a little bit longer.

"I guess we'll all be going to college boyfriend-less," Levy groaned. Lucy looked at her friend, confused.

"Cana is still with Bacchus." Cana threw her light brown hair back over her shoulder and laughed at Lucy's comment.

"Please, as soon as I heard you and Sting were over, I broke up with his sorry ass. The only reason I stayed with him was keep an eye on you when you were with Sting. I had a feeling he was in a downward spiral, and I was going to make damn sure he didn't take your pretty ass down with him." Cana picked the bottle back up and filled her cup again. Lucy felt the tears prickle behind her eyes, but refused to let them fall because then her friends would think they upset her. Cana was her friend, worried about her all along. She now felt guilty about all the blame she had put on Cana for her own misery. Her friends could see the path her relationship was headed, why couldn't she?

"Thanks, Cana, that means a lot to me." Cana just shrugged her shoulders.

"Whatever. Boys are trouble anyways."

"Oh, Lucy, speaking of trouble, I heard you ran into some troublemakers down by the pier today. Is everything ok?" Erza's concerned eyes turned back to Lucy.

"How did you hear that?" Lucy thought she knew the answer, but she waited for Erza's response anyway.

"Mira," the redhead simply replied. Of course. Somehow Mirajane always knew what was going on in Magnolia. She was another graduated student of Fairy Tail High, but somehow she was omnificent when it came to gossip. Lucy didn't know if she had some sort of teleportation powers, or spies everywhere. She suspected the latter, but it honestly wouldn't have surprised her if Mira could fly.

"It was nothing. Two boys where just fighting and cussing loudly near the pier. You know it is a family place, so I broke it up. No big deal." Lucy thought back to Gray and Natsu arguing with each other. They really were stupid. But also good-looking, a voice chimed in her head. She quickly pushed that thought as far back as it would go.

"Are they the same two boys I saw moving in the other day next to your house, Lucy?" Levy asked. Lucy whipped her head away from Erza, shocked at Levy's words.

"Ah, yes, the dark haired boy and the pink haired boy. I wonder why his hair is pink?" Erza mused the last part to herself.

"You both knew I had new neighbors?" Did everyone know except her?

"Sorry, Lu. I meant to ask you about it sooner. You had gone shopping in Crocus since your dad was coming home, and then everything happened with Sting last night and this morning. That just seemed more important." Lucy nodded in understanding. Levy wasn't wrong. In the scheme of things, new neighbors were nothing compared to a broken heart.

"Were they hot?" Cana slurred. Lucy looked over at the bottle to find it nearly empty. When did that happen?

Lucy didn't answer right away. If she answered too quickly, she would look defensive and the girls would know she thought the boys were good looking. She had just broken up with her boyfriend of four years this morning. She was not a floozy. Apparently, Lucy waited a beat too long, and all three girls pounced on the extra second on silence.

"We'll take that as a yes," Levy coyly smiled.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "It wasn't like that. They weren't ugly by any stretch of the imagination, but you should have seen them! They were acting like they were middle schoolers in a brawl. Really, who acts like that on a public beach?" Levy, Cana, and Erza all glanced at each other and let the subject drop. They talked about upcoming summer events in Magnolia, and other, more pleasant, things. It wasn't too much longer before Lucy realized how late it was. Cana was already asleep among the massive amounts of pillows and blankets around Levy's room, and she noticed Erza had started to add less and less to the conversation as she hard started to doze off. Levy was still wide-awake due to the large amounts of sugar in her ice cream. As for herself, Lucy felt her body begin to catch up with all the stress of the day. She stood up and stretched her arms above her head. Her tank top rose up above her belly button, but she didn't worry about pulling it back down. She was with her girlfriends.

"Hey, Lev. I've got to head on home. I'll text you when I get there, and we'll talk in the morning, ok?" Levy's round eyes looked up at her, questioningly.

"Are you sure? You can always stay the night here." She giggled. "Apparently, Cana and Erza are." Lucy looked over at Erza and saw the redhead had given into her drowsiness. She had probably worked herself to the bone at training today.

Lucy shrugged. "Nah, it's a short walk. I'll see you later, Lev." With a smile and a small wave, Lucy made her way downstairs and out the front door quietly. Levy's parents were probably home by now, and she didn't want to wake them.

The night air greeted her as she stepped out into the empty sidewalk. It was cooler than it had been before. Some of the heat had dissipated as the breeze from the ocean took over. Lucy ran her hands over her arms, not due to the temperature, but because she realized just how quiet it was. No cars moved up and down the road, and people no longer sat out on their porches enjoying the breeze and the stars. Putting her arms around her made her feel a little bit safer. Lucy looked up at the stars, and wondered if her mother was among them. Was she watching over her? What would she think of her daughter now? Would she agree with the choices she was making? Lucy stopped her train of thought there. It would only bring her pain to try and answer those questions. As tempted as she was to keep looking at the stars, she leveled her gaze to look around her. It was late, and she knew she had to be aware of her surroundings. A small, sleepy town did not equal no crime.

Thankfully, she made it home with out incident. It wasn't until she closed and locked the door behind her that she let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. Apparently her run in with Sting had affected her more than she thought.

Lucy made her way quietly up the stairs to her room. Ms. Supetto had long gone home for the day, and she doubted her father even realized she wasn't home. She hopped over the third, squeaky stair like a pro, just in case. After kicking off her sandals and shooting a short, goodnight text to Levy, she flopped down on her soft bed. She contemplated taking a quick shower to rinse the cool layer of sweat off her skin that had formed on her walk home but decided against it. It wasn't worth potentially waking her father if he had noticed she was gone. Lucy shimmed out of her shorts and opted to sleep in just her tank top. She was far too tired to do anything else, and once she landed on her bed, she knew she was not getting up again. She rolled over and switched off the lamp beside her bed, not even bothering to glance towards her window.

Lucy had always made sure the curtains were drawn so no one could see in. She knew she was on the second story, but her window did face the house next door. Not wanting to take all the natural light from her room, she always left it open just a crack so she could still tell what time of day it was depending on the light from the sun, but it made sure no one could peak in. If she had looked over, she would have noticed she was not the only one awake at this hour. She would have noticed the small sliver of yellow light coming through her curtains, coming from the house next door.