There was no way. There was just no way. There was absolutely, positively no way Gajeel Redfox, resident bad boy of Magnolia High, was looking at me. I was seeing things. That was the only explanation. I blinked and stared back down at my book before glancing back at the desk next to me, and sure enough, he was.

Gajeel Redfox was. Staring. At. Me.

I felt the heat rising to my cheeks and pulled my book up to cover my face. He grinned, and the paper clip he'd been chewing on glinted between his teeth.

I knew what was coming next. His signature laugh. That damned laugh.

"Gi-hee."

I squeezed my eyes shut and hoped and prayed that he'd look anywhere else.

"What's'a matter, Shrimp? Yer book gettin' too lusty for ya?" he chided.

"Don't you have anything better to do? Like, maybe steal candy from a baby? Or skin a cat?" A voice behind me piped up.

Ah, Lucy. My best friend. Bless her.

"Mind yer own business, cheerleader," he snapped.

"That's enough, Mr. Redfox, Miss Heartfilia!" our homeroom teacher, Ms. Aquaria snapped, slapping a ruler against her desk.

All the attention turned to her.

"She's not even a math teacher; why does she have a ruler?" Lucy whispered to me.

The bell rang before I could respond. I marked my place in my book and slipped it into my bag before joining Lucy and walking out of the classroom.

"What's up with Black Steel today?" she inquired.

"Who knows?" I shrugged, trying to act like I didn't care, which was a complete lie. I totally had the hots for him.

"What are we talkin' about?" Natsu, Lucy's boyfriend, asked as he pushed himself off the wall where he'd been leaning outside our classroom door to join us.

"Gajeel Redfox kept staring at Levy in homeroom," Lucy told him, and he frowned.

"I don't like that guy," he muttered.

"You don't like any guy," she pointed out. "You hated Gray since you were kids, but you're best friends now."

"We are not!" he looked offended. "I would never be friends with that cold-blooded male stripper!"

Lucy giggled as we came up to our lockers. "Whatever you say, Natsu."

"Have any of you seen Cana?" a voice to my right said as I opened my locker to get out my books for English and History, my next two classes.

It was Erza. She was a year older than us and, as such, looked out for us in a big sister sort of way.

"Her dad's out of town again," I said, shouldering my bag and slamming my locker shut. "She's probably still asleep or hung over."

Sure enough, down the hall, Cana stumbled out of the bathroom, sunglasses on even though we were inside. She was hurriedly stuffing a bottle of eyedrops into a side pocket on her backpack.

Erza sighed and went to meet her.

"You'd think she'd at least wait until the weekend," Natsu said out of the corner of his mouth. "Anyway, what's this about Levy and that big dumb metalhead?"

I felt my face turn bright red again. "Nothing!" I snapped. "I'm going to be late for class!" I turned on my heel and sped off toward Mr. Caprico's classroom, not wanting to be late for today's lesson. We were starting our poetry section.

"Levy!" my other two best friends, Jet and Droy, called out when I entered the classroom. I smiled and took my usual seat between them. There were still a couple of minutes before the bell, so I pulled my book out of my bag and set to work finishing the chapter I'd been reading in homeroom.

The book was about a plain, ordinary girl whose life turned upside down when a new bad boy rolled into town and ruined her life and any possibility of loving anyone after him. It stood out to me on my last trip to the bookstore, and I simply had to have it. I was almost finished with it already and didn't want it to end.

Try as I might to deny it, I sort of wished Gajeel had that kind of effect on me. Besides my blue hair, I was ordinary. Short, small chest, straight-a student. Lucy was a cheerleader, Cana was a party girl, Juvia had guys fighting over her, and Erza was in the running for student council president. What was interesting about me?

I finished my book before the lesson started and the rest of the class droned on, and so did History with Mr. Crux, who had a habit of dozing off during lectures. When the bell finally rang for lunch, I copied the weekend assignment into my notebook and set off for the library, texting Lucy to let her know I'd meet up with them after I found a new book.

I found myself out of luck, though, as the librarian reminded me that I'd read every book the school keeps in the library, both fiction and nonfiction.

Sighing, I sank down onto one of the comfortable chairs and texted Lucy that I'd be there soon and to save me a seat. I just wanted to enjoy some silence for a few minutes. I lay my head back and closed my eyes.

The library was empty save for Freed Justine, an older student who was studying for an exam. I thought it was weird he was in here alone. He was usually following Laxus Dreyer, the principal's grandson, around like a little lost puppy, accompanied by his close friends Bickslow and Evergreen. They acted like his personal cheerleading squad. Not that I had much room to talk. After all, Jet and Droy had been following me around since elementary school. It did get annoying, having them constantly suck up to me and flirt with me and fight over who got to carry my books. They were just too... normal. They weren't adventurous at all, and I craved adventure. It was probably why I read so many books.

My thoughts were interrupted as something caught my attention. I snapped my eyes open and got up, gathering my bag and looking for the source of the sound, peering down aisles and between shelves.

"Shoo-bee-doo-bop," the gruff voice was singing quietly. "Eyes like hazelnuts, hair like the sea, body so perfect, like a li'l fairy. Shoo-bee-da-boo, shoo-bee-doo-bop."

I rounded a corner, narrowly avoiding catching my hip on a shelf, and came face to face with a sight I never thought I'd see.

Gajeel Redfox was writing a song.

I tried to back away, not wanting him to know that I'd seen- and heard- him, but (just my luck) I backed right into an end table and knocked a display of music books down.

He looked up, the ever present paperclip between his teeth.

"I- I uh- I was just-" I stammered.

"Need somethin' Shrimp?" He said in his deep, husky voice.

"I- yes," I stalled, my eyes searching for an excuse, any excuse. They landed on the books I'd knocked over. "I came to get this book," I said, picking up one at random.

"That book?" he asked, raising his pierced eyebrows.

"Yes. Well, bye!" I said, hurrying off to the front desk to check out the book. It wasn't until the librarian gave me a questioning look that I noticed what I'd picked up.

"History of Jazz"

Definitely not one of my usual reads, but there was no turning back now. My next class after lunch was biology and, lucky me, Gajeel was in it. If I didn't have the book, it would've raised more questions than I was prepared to answer.