Hey everyone! I decided to upload one last one for the weekend. Thanks for all of your reviews. If I get up to twenty I'll post the next chapter.
The inventor of the word "jet-lag" lacked imagination in Lucy's regard. Although the birds were singing and the maid, Virgo, was pulling her by her feet to try and get her out of bed, Lucy was just not having it. She still felt sleepy from the mini coma drug Gray had given her a few days ago, and the last thing she wanted to do was get out of bed.
"Miss Heartfillia, you must get up! You must not let the young master wait." Virgo pleaded in a petite accent.
Groaning, Lucy stretched as she slowly opened her groggy eyes. You could call Lucy many things, but the one category that would never describe her would be the term morning person.
Thankful to see that Lucy was getting up, Virgo immediately led her to the bathroom where the giant bath was full, inviting her in to soothe her aching muscles.
"Would you like me to wash your back Miss. Heartfillia." Virgo offered obediently.
"No thanks Virgo, and you can call me Lucy if you wish." Lucy replied wearily as she dipped a toe in the bath. It was customary that personal maids offer this service in elite homes, however, Lucy preferred to use her morning bathing ritual to gather her thoughts for the day. Alone.
A little shocked at the prospect of calling Lucy by her first name, Virgo smiled nervously. "I cannot do that Miss. Heartfillia, to do so is a sign of disrespect."
Lucy nodded in understanding. Most maids and butlers that served in Lucy's world had been trained at special academies. They were practically hardwired to assist whomever became their master.
"Okay, Okay if you say so. Would you mind laying out my uniform for when I am done?"
"Yes miss." Virgo smiled cheerfully at the prospect of being given an order.
"Thank you" Lucy said softly as she allowed herself to fully submerge into the warm water.
The bath felt heavenly and she quite enjoyed smelling all the different options for shampoos and conditioners. She enjoyed a nice fifteen minute soak before deciding it was time to get ready for school.
Emerging from the bathroom, a rush of steam billowed behind her as she walked out in her towel towards where her clothes should be.
Unfortunately, the school uniform wasn't the only thing sprawled out across her bed. Laying back fully clad in Uniform, Natsu Dragneel peaked towards his future wife out from under his long eyelashes.
"Not that I don't love the look" he said, hands gesturing towards her towel clad figure. "Its just, we are heading to school in five minutes and unfortunately a towel is not one of the mandated articles of clothing we are permitted to wear."
Lucy's whole body turned red from head to toe due to the fact that she was standing almost naked in front of a man that she hated.
"This is outrageous!" She screamed as she grabbed her clothing from off the bed.
"I know it is sweetheart, I'll make sure to bring it up at the next school policy meeting."
Glaring at him, Lucy decided to pull him up from his blazer, and kick him out the door; smacking him in the process.
"What's outrageous is that you have the audacity to enter my room without my permission! STAY OUT YOU PERVERT!" she screamed as she slammed the door behind him.
Seven minutes later Lucy emerged from her room and was lead by Virgo to the car lot where she would be driven to school.
"Your late." Natsu mumbled, rubbing the top of his head where Lucy had hit him earlier.
"Your fault." she replied getting into the back seat with him. If it wasn't for having to waste time with throwing Natsu out of her room, Lucy would have been right on schedule.
Natsu snuck a peak towards Lucy's direction. While he definitely preferred the towel look, he had to admit that she cleaned up well in a uniform. Her thick sunshine coloured hair bounced just past her elbows and the clothes were tailored to fit her slender frame. It was still warm out this time of year, so spring uniforms offered the majority of students a way to cool down. Girls would wear their black skirts with a white button up and a black ribbon tied around their neck. Boys on the other hand got away with only a pair of black shorts and a white button up. They had the option of wearing a tie or not, which today Natsu decided to nix.
The car pulled out and down a long driveway that weaved within a forrest. It was quite beautiful and the gates leading out looked pretty thick. Lucy stored that piece of information incase she ever needed to leave unnoticed.
"So, what's the deal at school?" she questioned.
"What do you mean deal? It's school. We will be there in fifteen minutes." Natsu replied in a bored tone as he shifted his attention to looking out the window.
"I mean what do we say to people. I don't think we could get away with us being cousins, but perhaps we could go with I am merely here studying abroad and your family offered to let me stay at your house?" she reasoned.
"Or, call me crazy, but we could just introduce you as my fiancé?" he replied lazily.
"I'd really like to keep the whole arranged marriage thing quiet until we actually get closer to the date. At least in front of everyone at school." she admitted as she hung her head.
If this Fairy Tail school was anything like Fairy Falls back home, she would have an extremely long day ahead of her. Most of these schools would foster the children of the elite, and it would be rare that a spot would open up for an outsider. Lucy knew she was the new kid walking into a nest of teenagers whom had known each other since childhood.
"If you say so. Its got to come out sooner or later though." He replied as the car came to a stop.
"I'll take you to you to the head office for your classroom placement, but besides that your going to have to find your own way around. Sorry princess, but I don't babysit" He informed her as he exited the car, extending his hand to her.
"Good, because I don't like men who hover." she ignored his hand, walking curtly past him.
The school grounds of Fairy Tail were very beautiful compared to Lucy's old school. While they both bled money when it came to the aesthetics of the grounds, Lucy couldn't help finding the ones here much more stunning. There was lush green grass everywhere and the entire complex was surrounded by a stone wall which gave the students added protection. Various ponds could be heard splashing in the background if she closed her eyes. Earlier she had walked by the facilitates and while they still held their old fashioned charm on the exterior, many of the classrooms were quite impressive on the inside.
Natsu had taken Lucy to the head office where she was forced to sit down and take what they called a placement test. She was informed that in contrast to her old school, here they placed students in classrooms based on their intelligence. While the test allotted an hour and a half for a student to complete, Lucy was done it within ten minutes. Her perfect memory aiding her in filling out her answers quickly.
The secretary, Mrs. Kinana, seemed rather shocked when Lucy rose from her seat.
"Is there something wrong Miss Heartfillia?" she questioned. "Do you need another pencil?"
"No, I just wanted to tell you that I am done." Lucy smiled as she handed her the completed answer sheet.
Mrs. Kinana's mouth dropped at the girl's speed. "Are you sure you don't want to look over your answers? This is a very important test you know."
Shaking her head, Lucy smiled again and told her that she was sure she was done. The last thing she wanted was to be late for her first class. Arriving late would only make her the centre of attention.
At her old school she was practically invisible to everyone whom she had shared a class with since preschool. While indeed her family was quite renowned and revered, Lucy had been forced by her grandmother to use a fake name since kindergarten in order to add an extra layer of protection. Back home she had gone by Lucy Hale, the daughter of some wealthy businessman who lived abroad. Hardly anyone worthy of getting anyone's attention.
Here however, she would start out fresh with her real name. Lucy found herself in a position where she might very well even make friends, a task that proved difficult with her old classmates.
After a few minutes, Mrs. Kinana was done marking her exam and told her that she was free to leave. "You scored very high Miss Heartfillia. Here are the documents you are to hand to your teacher upon entering the classroom. Your homeroom number is at the top of the page and I'm sure Mr. Dragneel here will guide you there." Mrs. Kinana smiled at the two.
Taking the documents from Mrs. Kinana, Lucy signalled to Natsu whom had fallen asleep in a waiting chair that it was time to go.
Upon exiting the head office, a large wave of female students quickly rushed forward to say hello to Natsu. Lucy was ignored as if she wasn't even there and it didn't take long for her to surmise that the pervert king probably had a large following at this school. This alone easily became reason number one for her to distance herself from him. She didn't get along too well with girls.
Back in Seattle at school, before her best friend Sting had taken sick, the girls in the class would often hide her shoes or place threatening letters in her locker. Lucy ignored them, it wasn't like she wasn't in a position where she couldn't always get new shoes. It was just more of a hassle.
Amongst the commotion of clamouring girls, Lucy became separated from Natsu and decided she could find her own way to her classroom. Walking swiftly in the direction Natsu had been taking her, Lucy quickly took a peek at her class schedule. Her homeroom was listed to be in room 220 so she just had to go around the corner it seemed.
Accurately finding her classroom, Lucy pushed open the door only to be greeted with twenty-eight pairs of eyes looking in her direction. By the looks of it, they weren't informed prior about having a new student in their class.
It only took a moment for the entire class to erupt in whispers and greetings.
"Hi, I'm Loke" a tall red headed boy spoke up first. He had an athletic build and was carrying basketball in his left arm.
"Im Jet, are you lost?" Another asked.
"Im Droy!" a third came forward. "Nice to meet you!" he added enthusiastically.
Taking a step back at their forwardness, Lucy bumped into none other than Gray. He was missing his usual suit and instead wore the same uniform that Natsu had been wearing. He had chosen to wear the tie option for his uniform, his glasses exchanged for contact lenses.
Lucy's mouth dropped. If someone had asked her to guess Gray's age she would have pegged him for twenty five. Definitely not a seventeen year old belonging in her class.
"Miss. Heartfillia, could you please move? You are blocking the door." He stated in a bored tone.
It took a moment for Lucy to remember how to use words.
"Why are you here?" she tried not to stutter.
"Because this is my classroom? I think the better question would be why are you here Miss. Heartfillia?" he wondered aloud. "Are you lost?"
"Why does everyone assume I am lost? I can read a map you know. This is room 220 if I am not mistaken. I was transferred into this class." She held up her registration papers in Gray's face.
For once, Gray was the one to look surprised. He didn't expect Lucy to wind up in his class of all places.
A huge eruption from her new ease-dropping classmates caused Lucy to jump slightly.
"You're in this class!"
"Does it really say that Gray?"
"We haven't had a new student since elementary!"
"A girl to boot!" they hollered.
Lucy took a look around at the last comment. It seemed as if the class was divided 80% male, 20% female with herself included. A total of six girls in a class of thirty people. Just great.
It was at that precise moment that the home room teacher walked in.
"Will everyone please take their seats? What's with all the commotion?" a grey haired ancient looking teacher spoke with a deep voice.
Everyone in the room quickly took their seats as Lucy was left alone at the front of the room.
"Are you having trouble with the concept of finding your seat Miss….Forgive me but I do not recall your name." he said, shifting through his attendance slip. "First week of classes and all."
Walking forward, Lucy handed him the registration forms that she had gotten earlier.
"Ah, so you're the new student at Fairy Tail." He nodded as he looked over her papers. "We teachers were told last night that a new student was coming but weren't sure on your class placement. I must admit that I didn't even entertain the idea that you be placed in my class."
Red creeped up Lucy's neck as she started to feel a little embarrassed standing by herself at the front of the class. Twenty-nine pairs of eyes examined her like she was an alien or something, and even the teacher thought she was lost. She knew that she hadn't read her class schedule wrong, she of all people would remember it.
"Well you might as well introduce yourself Miss. Heartfillia, and by the way my name is Mr. Makarov Dreyer. I am also the headmaster of this fine establishment. " he smiled, encouraging her to speak.
Taking a deep breath, Lucy tried her best to introduce herself without stammering over her words. One-on-one she could talk someone's ear off, but in front of a crowd of people she would most often find herself stuttering. Public speaking was defiantly not her forte.
"My name is Lucy Heartfillia. I have just transferred here from America and am currently billeting a room from Natsu Dragneel's family…" Getting that fun tip out of the way first, she took a breath, "I like books, indoor sports, and cooking. My birthday is in July and I play the piano." She finished quickly.
Lucy could hear some hushed whispers at hearing she was living with Natsu, but ignored them when she turned to her teacher.
"Where would you like me to sit?" she smiled.
Headmaster Dreyer looked over the classroom briefly before speaking, "Please take the seat nearest the window next to Mr. Fullbuster and we will get started."
Lucy's eye twitched a bit at having to sit next to Gray. She couldn't seem to get rid of him the past few days and now she would have to endure him at school as well. She wove between desks and made her way to her seat, praying that by ignoring him he would get the hint that she was not going to play the guinea pig in any more of his experiments.
She could already tell that this was going to be a long day.
Hope you all enjoyed. This story is going to be a long one so I do like to take my time with introducing characters and getting to know why they act the way they do. Someone pointed out that Lucy isn't developed enough yet, which I agree, which is something that will be addressed as the story goes on. It takes time to create a well sculpted character and Lucy is no different. She is a fiercely caring person who cherishes the people she does have in her life, so while some find it a little strange for her to accept the marriage proposal so soon, just wait until you see more of the bond that she has with Sting before jumping to the conclusion that her decision was made too quick.
THANKS TO ALL THAT REVIEWED AND FOLLOWED/FAVOURITED