Chapter 2

The narrow hallway is painted olive brown. Gajeel turned on the lights as a single light bulb illuminates the gloomy corridor.

Gajeel lived in a small apartment that was enough room for one person and maybe one more if Gajeel shared a bed with someone, if he was married. In the main room, there was a poster of Gajeel's favorite boxer, Rogue Cheney. Up against Gajeel was his mattress, which he occasionally used as a punching bag.

Gajeel drops his leather jacket on the floor. He walks over to a small turtle bowl that contained two turtles that he kept as pets.

"Hey, guys, look who's home," Gajeel said to his turtles, making a small smile.

Gajeel took a can of turtle food and fed it to his turtles and realized he was running out, which meant he had to go to the pet store tomorrow to get some more.

Next thing Gajeel did was get a pain of water and put it on the stove and cranked it up to boil it. While he waits for the water to boil, he turns on the radio and puts on his favorite radio station. This station tended to play classic songs and the song playing right now was "Johnny B. Goode."

As the music begins, Gajeel gets his guitar and starts playing and singing the words to the songs. Honestly, not many of the neighbors could stand to hear him sing since in God's honest truth, Gajeel was a terrible singer.

Once the water was boiled enough, Gajeel dips a piece of cloth in the hot water and soaks it on his right eye where he was punched at the club. He settled down in his bed and turned on the TV to relax.

It was morning and Gajeel stopped by the pet shop. The shop was not very prosperous looking. He looked at the litter of puppies that were happy to see him as Gajeel smiled at them. Looking through the window, Gajeel sees a blue-haired girl behind the counter. Her name was Levy McGarden, an employee at the pet shop. Gajeel waved at the window at her and she looked away as she blushed.

Levy was a short girl who was very slim. Some of the smart asses in the neighborhood thought she was ugly. But Gajeel tended to teach those punks a lesson when they called her that. To Gajeel, Levy was a pretty girl. Gajeel liked to step by the pet shop to flirt with Levy a bit, but she tended to get shy as she did not know what to say. Levy tended to wonder why Gajeel flirted with her when he could get many other girls she felt were more attractive than her.

Gajeel takes a couple of dollars out of his pocket and hands it to Levy.

"So, how's the turtle food this week?" Gajeel asked her.

"Fine," Levy replied.

"You know this day has been kind of aggravating to me," Gajeel told her.

"Why's that?" Levy asked.

Gajeel decided to joke. "You know, you guys ought to be careful how much you're giving these turtles. I mean the last turtle food had more moths than flies. And one of my turtles was choking on the moth that I had to put him on the shell to force it out."

"Oh, that's charming," said the shop owner, Jenny Realight, a beautiful blonde-haired woman.

"Nice to see you too, Jenny," Gajeel replied to her with sarcasm and continued on with his joke. "Anyway, when something like that happens to a turtle, do you know how they get?"

Levy didn't know the answer to that and didn't realize that Gajeel was joking and said, "I don't know."

"Shell shocked," Gajeel told her as he laughed a bit. "You get it?"

Levy laughed a bit at his joke.

"You're starting your day with another one of your bad jokes," said Jenny. "Don't you get tired of that?"

"Hey, give me a break," Gajeel said to her. "At least I'm trying. Like to see you make jokes yourself. Maybe telling a joke or two ought to lighten you up since you're so serious."

A dog began barking in the shop. The dog was a Bull Mastiff named Pantherlily. Pantherlily had originally belonged to Gajeel and that dog was Gajeel's best friend. He couldn't afford to keep him at the apartment and had to resort to giving him up to the pet shop for the time being.

"How's my buddy Pantherlily been lately?" Gajeel asked Jenny.

Putting some food for pets away, Jenny replied, "I don't know. I haven't had time to check on him."

Gajeel walked over to Pantherlily. Pantherlily couldn't help but be even more happy to see his owner. He scratched on the cage, very eager to get out and barked with happiness.

"How you doing, Pantherlily?" Gajeel asked his dog. "They're been feeding you well around here?"

As Jenny continued to put the food away, she looked at Levy and said, "Levy, I want you to go downstairs and clean all the cat cages. They're a mess."

Levy nods and leaves to the other side of the shop to clean the cat cages. Before she did, she looked at Gajeel one last time. Gajeel waves goodbye to her as Levy went about her business and he left the shop with his turtle food.