I'm so happy about all the reviews I got! And I'm overwhelmed by how many of you like Taiga! Thank you so MUCH! And for those constant reviewers, thank you, thank you, thank you!

TheBeastHunter: Although I live in America, I'm actually doing the grade system as it is in Japan. In Japanese grade systems, Preschool/ Day Care and Kindergarten is a separate building, Elementary school is from Grade 1-Grade 6, junior high is 7th grade – 9th grade (but they call it years, so 7th grade would equal first year, 8th would be second year, and ninth would be third year), and high school is tenth to twelfth grade (but they call it years as well – 10th = 1st year, and so on). Hope that helped! :D


Prologue Chapter Seven: Eighth Grade

Soon, the weather cooled, and then warmed, and then cooled as we reached the winter of our eighth grade year.

Somehow, I ended up in a separate class from Levy, Erza, Lisanna, Natsu, and even Taiga.

It was a pretty lonesome year for me, but I managed to endure it.

After my little fiasco with Taiga's ex-girlfriend, every girl discovered Taiga was SINGLE, and his popularity had shot up, and every single day, his shoe locker was brimming with love letters, just like Natsu's. So our school decided to split off into two factions: the Red VS. the Pink.

Natsu Dragneel's die-hard fangirls and Taiga's live-or-die fangirls were totally vicious, so not every female in our school's population decided to join a group. I decided to stay out of it. Because I would like to keep my eyes and face intact, thank you very much.

But, anyways, eighth grade was the second most important year of junior high. Why?

Three names: Lisanna. Natsu. Taiga.

And it starts off with a fairly cold day.

The school bell had rung, signaling the end of the day, and as the students crowded out the classroom doors, everyone groaned at the sight of the pouring rain. Most people whipped out their umbrellas from their arms, but others braved the droplets pounding from the sky with their notebooks. I, on the other hand, wasn't planning to get sick anytime soon, and seeing how I didn't have an umbrella, I decided to wait the storm out.

I wanted to see if, by the time Natsu finished taking that big history exam he had missed, the rain would have stopped. And I if it didn't, at least I'd have Natsu to run through the rain with.

Taking the examination would take at least one hour, so I decided to wait in a random classroom, which would be ideally warmer than the corridor.

So I wandered off to class 2 – D, the class right next to Natsu's (2 – C, and I'm in 2 –A). I was just about to slide the door open, when I heard voices coming from inside. Holding my breath, I peered in through a two inch crack I had opened.

I almost flushed when I saw Taiga standing in front of a window, listening to a girl with short, but silky hair talk to him. The window was open despite the precipitation outside, and Taiga had assumed a thoughtful, soft expression on his face. The girl whose locks hugged her ears was looking at him with admiration and kindness, smiling as her words came out of her mouth. The clamor from the rain outside drowned out her words so that I could not hear what she was saying.

I could see that redhead laughing, his eyes closing at the comment the female had just made. What was that girl's name? I think I've seen her with Levy before. Ume. That's her name. What a girly name.

She's lifting her hand to her ears to brush back her hair; her face becomes serious, and she's looking directly at Taiga now.

He's staring back at her, confusion spread across his features.

And now she's saying something; her whole face turns red as she blurts out her next statement. Taiga scoots back in surprise, suddenly very uncomfortable.

He says something, and the girl stands there, still as a statue. And at that moment, the rain lightens and I can finally hear what they're saying.

"But I thought you liked me, too!" she shouts, her voice tainted with anger.

"Look, Ume-!"

"You grabbed my hand that day, and we became friends."

"I grabbed your wrist, and the reason for that was because-!"

His voice cuts off, but the girl doesn't stay around to hear what he was going to say. She turns on her heel and approaches the door. Quickly, I press myself against the wall as she slams the sliding door open and marches down the corridor. Tears are falling down her cheeks as she grabs her shoes from her locker and opens her umbrella as she steps into the rainy outside world.

"Wait, Ume!" Taiga calls, his hand slamming down on the doorframe inches from my face. I come into his line of vision.

"Holy-!" he shouts, and stumbles back. When he realizes that it's just me, he sighs in frustration and walks back to the open window, scratching his head in irritation.

"Matsumura," I say, "You just broke a heart?"

He glares back at me, and I raise my hands as Natsu always does to me when I'm furious with him. Palms facing outward, like you're defending yourself against a wildebeest.

He leans on the window, and just stands there, looking at the droplets falling towards the earth.

"Hey, you all right?" I asked, clasping my hands behind my back in nervousness.

"Yeah," he says, his voice strained, "It's just that…I'm so pathetic, you know?"

I open my mouth to assure him that that's not true, but he continues before I can say anything.

"I grabbed Ume's wrist because she uses Mayuka's perfume," Taiga said quietly. "I couldn't help it. And then I started talking to her…she's a real nice girl, and everything…it's just that…I don't know. But I'm so pathetic for taking advantage of her feelings like that…"

"You didn't take advantage of anything," I muttered, and he glanced back at me briefly. "You didn't know."

"I shouldn't have led her on like that!" he said angrily, slamming his fist down on the windowsill. "I'm such a wretched guy…and I don't even know why I get love letters everyday."

"Well, you're a pretty good-looking guy," I said slowly, but he didn't even look back at me. "Do you read the letters?"

Taiga shook his head. "I give them back. What's the use of giving them false hope?"

I smiled faintly. "It's better than what Natsu does. He just takes them home and dumps them on his bed for his little cousin Wendy to get into, or something."

Taiga gave a small chuckle, but that was enough to make me grin. "When I was in the beginning of my fifth grade year, I got my love letter from Mayuka…I was really happy, because I had loved her for the longest time."

That sounded like Natsu and me. Except for the love letter part.

"So you're still not over her, huh?" I asked him.

He turned towards me and gave a small smile. "I might be…soon."

I blushed, and bit my lip.

"There's this girl in Mayuka's school that's pretty hot," he continued, turning his back onto me again.

I facepalmed myself. How could I even-?

"She's nice, gentle, kind, and a bit of a nerd…but she's very, very pretty. I've known her since the fourth grade."

As I stepped to the side, I could see Taiga's face expression softening. So he really liked that girl, huh?

"Well, I hope you confess of your feelings for her soon, my friend," I said philosophically. "I've got to go…Natsu might have finished his test by now."

Taiga nodded. "I've got a student council meeting…though I'm pretty sure I've missed a good portion of it. I've been skipping out on a lot of meetings recently."

I rolled my eyes.

When we parted ways at the classroom door, I again made my way towards the shoe lockers.

Well, that rainy day seemed like the PERFECT day for two people of opposite genders to talk and laugh with each other.

And why am I coming to this conclusion?

Because when I reached said lockers, I heard two familiar voices chatting with each other pleasantly and (probably my imagination, but since it's the account of MY love life, then it's valid) flirtatiously.

So, naturally, I hid behind a locker. Perfectly logical.

I could hear Lisanna's (smooth and melodic) voice forming words and sentences. Mostly about K-Pop, J-Pop, or something groups. Natsu laughed at her inputs, and I could hear him closing his shoe locker as he grabbed his outside shoes.

"It's raining a fair amount out there, Natsu," Lisanna said, "Are you sure you don't want to come with me? I've got an umbrella."

"It's alright. I have to wait for Lucy."

My heart gave a fast beat as he mentioned (and remembered) me.

Silence.

"Natsu…" Lisanna said hesitantly, "How do you feel about Lucy?"

Yes, Natsu how do you feel about Lucy…I mean…me?

He gave an awkward cough, and muttered something about, "Why does this always come up during conversations?"

"She's just a friend."

My heart dropped like a rock.

"Oh."

More silence. But inside, I was screaming obscenities at Natsu. If it had been me who had received that question ("Lucy" omitted and "Natsu" replacing it: How do you feel about Natsu?), I would have taken a little longer than five seconds to answer.

Lisanna's voice again. "Do you see me as 'just a friend'?"

Natsu choked on something. Probably water he was drinking. "What?"

The gaps of silence filling in the parts where neither person had anything to input into the chat was growing very tiring.

"Look, Natsu…okay?" Lisanna said, her tone sending the message that she was somewhat near tears. "I…I love you!"

"What?"

The white-haired girl made a strangled noise, and said, "And I…I think…do you love me?"

I can hear Natsu's breath – heavy…troubled.

"L-Lisanna."

Oh my goodness. He's going to say yes. He'll say yes, and my whole nine years of love for him were going to ROT down the DRAIN.

"Well?" I'm silently asking him, and I can feel Lisanna feels the same way as I do.

"I don't look at you I that way Lisanna. You're my best friend. You really are. And I like you as a best friend…nothing more, nothing less…I'm sorry."

I dare to look around the locker, and see that…she's smiling. Lisanna's actually managing to smile!

"It's…It's all right. We can still be friends, right?"

"Yeah."

I'm trying to quiet my breathing. He said no! DID YOU HEAR THAT!? He said no!

I'm rejoicing, happy, and joyful.

And then…

And then I think about Taiga. Cell phone, Mayuka, orange juice, Grating Voice, contacting her, and no answers. His cut-open-looking eyes as I mentioned his break-up, his torn open heart as Mayuka refused to answer his calls as she frolicked around with another guy. His strong feelings of pain and suffering washed over me, and I close my eyes to brace myself against it. The emotions of rejection cutting me open and slicing me.

To feel elated and ecstatic over Lisanna's rejection…I was such a horrible person after all.

In the end, I'm still a jerk.


Hope you liked this chapter! Was Natsu's answer to Lisanna's confession shocking...or expected? (Well...I did mention it in the poem at the beginning, but still...)

Please review and tell me what ya think! :DD