DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail. I would totally screw it up so let's be grateful ˚˘˚

Thank you everyone who reviewed! You're super amazing so thank you! (P.S., Guest, yes, this is a NaLu fanfic :)

Oh and after note. I DO NOT THINK THAT SUICIDING WILL GET RID OF YOUR PROBLEMS. I DO NOT SUPPORT SUICIDING IN ANY WAY AND I DO NOT THINK YOU SHOULD THROW AWAY YOUR PRECIOUS LIFE IF SOMEONE WISH IT OFF. That was for entertainment purposes ONLY.

Sorry for not updating to quickly... This is a pretty crappy chapter but I did my best considering I haven't slept and was on a 18 hour trip across the world...

I reach Fairy Tail High School at 7:52 and rest my hands on my knees.

"'Ey, no one wants to see your butt Natsu so stop sticking it out."

I growl and replace the real me with my school persona. "Shut it, Heartfilia."

Lucy has no idea that I work for her dad. She has no idea that he makes me want to die. She has no idea that he's just about the worst person in the world.

She has no idea that I'm not the person she thinks I am.

These are all reasons I hate her. I know it's wrong for me to hate her because of her dad but the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?

Lucy rolls her eyes. "I can't believe Levy put us together for Creative Writing."

"I can."

"And why's that?"

"Because that's what Levy's like. I thought you were her best friend, you should know this. I'm sorry, I was her friend for longer until you dragged her away."

Lucy's hateful glare lands on me. "I didn't drag her away. She chose me over you."

"Ouch. That's not true. I don't understand why you had to try to cut off her ties with Gajeel, Gray, Juvia, Erza, and me. What's your problem?"

"You," she mutters under her breath. I look at her, disgusted.

"I've never understood why you hate me. What did I ever do to you?"

She looks down to try to hide the emotions flicking through her eyes but I'm pretty sure I see sadness before she turns away. "I don't hate you Natsu. I never have and I hope you don't hate me," she says, so quietly I'm afraid I've imagined it. Lucy turns around, never meeting my eyes and rushes into the school.

"Wait! Lucy!" I yell after her. She doesn't turn around.

Now I'm utterly confused. If she doesn't hate me and yet I'm her problem, I want to know why.

And then I realize that I'm not the only one pretending to be someone they're not.

I sigh. "Hey, what's up with you?"

"Oh. Hey Jellal."

"Well?" he asks, raising an azure eyebrow.

I shrug. "Nothing. Lucy's just acting weird, that's all."

"You care for her, don't you."

My eyes widen at his implication. "What? N-no! Of course not!"

He stares at me, reading me and I flinch.

He brushes past me and into the school.

The bell rings and I realize I should probably go inside instead of standing out here like an idiot for the rest of the day. I make my way up the stairs and open the door.

As I walk to History, my first period, weight crashes down on my shoulders. I am truly alone in this world. I have no one to reach out to. No one who knows who I really am. I always knew this but the isolation and longing for a shoulder to lean on finally reaches me. No one will ever know me. No one will know the Natsu that will smile at anyone, that can forgive anyone, that can take anything except this loneliness. No one will remember me when I die, they will not remember the real me. They will mourn for the snobby Natsu that turns his back on people and laughs at people and causes trouble everywhere he goes.

I don't know why now, but suddenly I have a profound need to leave a mark on this world, to have someone that will know me. Anyone. Anyone will do. I just need someone.

The warning bell rings and I walk into the class, turning on the switch. I cannot let these doubts get to me or they will eat me from the inside until there is nothing left of me.

Sometimes I wonder if that really is a bad thing.

I sit down in my seat and lean back.

"Yo," Gajeel mutters in my ear and I turn to him.

"'Sup?" I whisper back.

"Gajeel, Natsu, don't you dare continue that conversation," Ur-sensei says and I swallow. She scares me sometimes but sometimes she can be really nice.

We both nod and Ur-sensei continues with her lecture. Gajeel starts to drift off into sleep and I snap my fingers in front of his face. It's only the second day of school and he's already out of it. He jolts up and then glares at me. I wink at him and he narrows his eyes.

Ur-sensei goes on and I continue to take notes in my notebook. I try to keep my grades up because…well, if I let them drop I'm afraid the school will try to schedule a meeting with my dead/missing parents. Luckily, the school doesn't know about my parents. They never really bothered to check into it because there are so many students in Fairy Tail High.

I'm glad. They'd try to intervene with the way I'm living if that happened and I'm perfectly happy with the way I'm living…okay, well maybe not happy, but I'm glad for what I have. Plus I just really hate change even if it's for the better...

I lose myself in my thoughts and my pencil drops from my hand onto the floor, the noise making everyone look at me. I don't notice and suddenly my hands start to shake. I look at them and stand up. No, this can't be happening. Not now.

Ur-sensei looks at me. "Is there something you need?" she asks impatiently.

"Bathroom," I heave and then tear out of the classroom.

I make it out just in time as sobs rack through me and rip out of my mouth. I run to the nearest exit and throw myself outside and I bury myself in sorrow. I don't know why this happens, it just does. It started after my dad went missing. Randomly I'd start to cry. It's embarrassing but it's necessary. I bottle up my feelings and when there are too many to contain, the bottle explodes and I end up curling up into a ball and crying. I guess I've been overexerting myself.

You can't really blame me. The anniversary is coming up.

Ok Natsu. Five more seconds of weakness and then you're going to get up and walk away like nothing happened.

Five... I think of my dad's smile.

Four... I think of the mother I've never known.

Three... I think of the children my dad always wanted but never got. Because of me.

Two... I close my eyes.

One. I stand up

It's not like me to lose it in school. Most of the time I become the school Natsu and I am him. I embody every thing he is, I think exactly like him, I don't think of my other life at all.

But today I've lost it and it will never happen again. I assure it. I close my eyes and transform mentally. Steel attaches itself to my heart and my brain switches from vulnerable to mischievous.

I open the door and swagger into the school and back into the class.

"Nice of you to join us," Ur-sensei says, looking at me curiously. A few classmates snicker at me but I ignore them. I take my seat to see Gajeel passed out next to me. I raise my eyebrows but don't bother to wake him. The rest of the class goes on, my thoughts consumed by how I'm going to prank Lucy next.

In cursive (so she doesn't recognize my hand writing) I write "I love you Lucy. Your intense brown eyes are beautiful in every way and I just want you to know you have a secret admirer." I snicker. I know she has a boyfriend but I also know she doesn't like him. I don't know why she got together with him. I think it's just because he's the school jock and she's the cheerleader. Cliché, you know?

I manage to get out of class early by telling Ur-sensei I feel like throwing up. Those are the magic words. She shoos me out of the class and I slip into the hallway. I find Lucy's locker and slip it through the slit thing at the top. I'm sure she'll find it. She can't miss it…it's on a neon yellow index card.

I grin and head back to my locker and open it. I put my bag in it and pick up the books I'll need for my next class. I close the door and lean against it. It's warm with two pairs of shorts but it's necessary.

The bell rings again and slowly students file out of class. I casually glance over at Lucy's locker. She opens it and is about to shove her books in when she notices the card. She warily grabs it and reads it. I watch as her face turns red and she gets a goofy look on her face. I snicker. Revenggggeeee. I got her good. All I have to do now is keep this up and one day get Levy to tell her who it really is. It'll crush her!

"Oi, Natsu." I turn around to see Erza grinning at me. I guess it's time then.

"Hey Erza," I say as nonchalantly as I can. Normally I'd probably beg for her not to hurt me. That's probably why she's staring at me strangely.

"Do you want to see me sing?"

Now it's my turn to give her a strange look. This is how she plans to stall me!?

"Um..."

"First I must warm up. Oo a ah oo ay oo oh ee oo."

I cringe at her warm up while people form a crowd and start laughing hysterically.

Suddenly, my first pair of shorts comes flying down and I look behind me.

"Wow Lucy, I'd never thought you'd be the type to want to see me in my boxers." I step out of the shorts around my ankles. "You'll have to try harder to get me in bed with you."

Lucy turns a bright red and the hallway roars with laughter. "Here, you can have this," I say, signing the shorts with a flourish and handing it to her. She groans.

"Who told you?"

"I have my ways," I wink. She shoves the shorts into my arms and stalks away.

The rest of the day goes on pretty uneventfully until Creative Writing.

"I don't want to work with that dick!" a familiar voice yells just as I'm about to walk in. I stand still. I might as well hear this.

"Well, you're going to have to. I assigned you to him. I'm not your best friend at the moment, I'm your teacher. You know this means a lot to me! If most of the class does well, I get to get into the college I've always dreamed of for free!"

"That's great and all, but why'd you have to pair me with Natsu for Mavis's sake!?" Lucy shrieks.

"Stop it, Lucy. I had my reasons and as your teacher, I'm not going to tell you."

"Then tell me as your best friend," Lucy whispers pleadingly.

"No. I know that you've had a tough past with him but I don't think he knows about that. You said yourself he was intoxicated."

"But what if he's not just like that in a drunken stupor? What if he's like that whenever he feels like it?"

"I know Natsu. He wouldn't harm a fly on purpose."

Lucy sighs. "If you say so..."

I choose that moment to walk into the classroom.

"Hey Levy, Lucy," I smile cheerfully.

I take a seat in the place I sat yesterday and stare out the window, ignoring Lucy and Levy.

"Hey Natsu," a boy with green hair waves and I smile back at him. "I saw what you did today to Lucy, that was awesome," he laughs. I shrug and he turns back to the person he was talking to.

"I sure as hell didn't think it was awesome," someone mutters, plopping down next to me. I look over at Lucy.

"What are you doing...?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean why are you sitting next to me?"

"Levy."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Lucy mutters, glaring daggers at me.

"Can we call a truce?" I blurt out.

Lucy raises her eyebrows at me.

"I mean, I really like Creative Writing and I don't want to ruin it because we don't get along. So how about we call a truce whenever we're working on our novel."

Lucy shrugs. "Yeah, I guess that'll work."

I smile. Good, we've come to an understanding.

And so NaLu begins :D Next chapter there might be some fluffiness but idk :P