Chapter 3

I do not own Fairy Tail. It belongs to Hiro Mashima.

The celebration ended at 8pm. Students, some feeling unwell and some still laughing, walked out of the restaurant. Levy, Mira, Erza and Lucy were chatting while also walking out of the restaurant.

"I know something's up with you and Gajeel," Mira teased Levy. Levy's face turned bright red and she avoided Mira's gaze.

"Y-you don't have to put it in such a way, Mirajane," Erza said, looking uncomfortable. Mira turned her attention away from Levy, and slung her arm around Erza's shoulder.

"You're being so cute right now, Erza!" Mira exclaimed. Just as Lucy was about to say something to Mira, a terrible realization hit her.

"Um, sorry guys, but I have to go. See all of you tomorrow, okay?" Lucy said, hurrying off to the direction of her mansion. What am I going to do? What will Father say? Lucy thought anxiously to herself. Her heart was consumed in fear, thinking of the worse case scenario.

A few minutes later, she was standing in front of the doors of the huge Heartfilia mansion. She gulped, and with a trembling hand, she opened one of the doors.

Silence greeted her. When Lucy stepped into the mansion, however, she heard a something. It was muffled, but she was quite sure she heard the voice of an unfamiliar woman. The voice was very soft, so Lucy assumed the woman was in a room far from the doors of the mansion.

Supetto, a maid who worked in the Heartfilia mansion, hurried over to Lucy. "Lucy, your father requests for your presence." Lucy nodded and walked slowly to her father's study. Supetto looked at Lucy with a look of sympathy.

When Lucy finally arrived in front of her father's study, she knocked softly on the door. "Father, may I come in?" Lucy said.

There was a short moment of silence before her father boomed, "You may." Lucy placed her hand on the gold doorknob and took a deep, shaky breath before she twisted it and opened the door.

Sitting in his chair was Jude Heartfilia, Lucy's father. There was someone else other than Lucy and Jude in the room. It was a lady who was dressed in skimpy clothing and slightly heavy make-up. She was sitting on one of the sofas at the left side of the room.

Jude noticed Lucy staring at her, and 'coughed'. Lucy quickly turned her attention back to her father. "I'm sure you have some questions, Lucy, but first, we must discuss a certain matter. I don't feel the need to elaborate as you should to know what I'm talking about."

Lucy walked closer to her father's desk. "I do, Father. I am very sorry for ignoring your warning. I should not have done that. I beg for your forgiveness. I will accept any punishment given to me."

"You accept any punishment, Miss Lucy? May I, Jude? I will give her a punishment she will never forget. Do not worry, and continue with your work," the lady spoke. Jude nodded, letting the lady give. Lucy her punishment. The lady gave Lucy a sickly-sweet smile. "We can save the introductions for later. Come with me, Miss Lucy." The lady stalked arrogantly out of the room, as if she owned the mansion.

A few minutes later, Lucy and the lady were both in Lucy's room. Lucy heard the door lock behind the lady, which made her more terrified than she already was. What was the lady going to do to her? The lady had a menacing glare on her face. "Miss Lucy, let's have some fun."

Before Lucy could even question what the lady meant, the lady suddenly slapped Lucy so hard that she fell to the ground. Lucy let out a bloodcurling scream. The slap stung, and was so painful Lucy could not put the pain in words. "Shut up, you brat. Jude will hear you. Do you want more?!"

Lucy shook her head vigorously, with her lips tightly sealed. Tears welled up her eyes, and she nevee felt so helpless in her life. "Wh-why... are you doing this?" Lucy half-said, half-whispered.

The lady gave Lucy one of her sickly-sweet smiles again. "Why, you say, my spoiled little child? Because it's fun!" She started cackling. "That's all for today. Misbehave again and something worse is going to happen to you." With that, she left.

The next morning, she went to school as usual. The slap left a red mark on Lucy's face, so she put a huge white plaster on it, hoping that no one would notice anything different about her.

Lucy happened to meet Levy on the way to school, so the two decided to walk to school together. Levy immediately noticed the plaster on Lucy's face. "What happened to your right cheek?! Are you okay, Lucy?" Levy asked worriedly.

"Er, I accidentally walked into a pole?" Lucy said, trying to make up an excuse.

"That sounds like a question instead of an answer, Lucy," Erza pointed out, joining their conversation and walking to school with them. "What really happened?"

"Eheheh, nothing really. Oh look, Mira's just a few meters ahead of us. Mira! Wait up!" Lucy said, trying to change the subject. Much to Lucy's relief, it worked.

The group of girls met Natsu and a few other boys at the front gates of the school. Natsu noticed the plaster on Lucy's face and tried to walk to her, but Gray picked another 'fight' with him before he could.

At around the start of class, Natsu casually walked past Lucy's table to his seat, and at that one second, he dropped a folded note onto her table. As soon as she noticed it, she stuffed it into her skirt pocket before Miss Evergreen saw it.

When Miss Evergreen had her back turned, Lucy took the note out of her pocket, unfolded it and read it. 'Meet me at the staircase to the rooftop during recess' It read. Why does Natsu want to talk to me? Lucy thought curiously to herself. She snuck a glance at him, and he looked back. Their eyes locked for a few seconds before they quickly looked away.

"Well, I'll just have to wait till recess to know," Lucy said softly to herself.