A/N: Thanks so much for the positive feedback everyone! I really appreciate the nice comments that have been left thus far, and I'm glad so many of you like it! Please enjoy the next chapter, it's a bit of a filler but there's more coming soon!

"Oh my god! Lucy!" Levy squealed over the phone when Lucy told her she asked Gajeel to prom.

"We're going as friends, Levy!" despite her words, Lucy's face was a bright tomato red.

"Oh come on, I know that you have a crush on him!" Levy teased.

"Don't say that!" she snapped at her friend.

"Lu, just accept it and move on. Now instead of you teasing me, it's the other way around." the bluenette sounded positively evil on the other end of the phone.

"I don't even have his phone number." Lucy defended her relationship with the handsome (did she just say handsome?) mechanic.

"I'll text it to you!" Levy was being oh so helpful. Lucy merely flopped back onto her bed and groaned.

"I need to tell my dad." Lucy sighed.

"Today?' Levy sounded a bit worried at that.

"No, no, not today. Tomorrow, probably. Today was… tough." Lucy sighed. It was her mother's birthday. It had been seven years already, and she missed her so much. She and her father ached with love for the late Layla Heartfilia, and so they skirted around each other all day, knowing that one wrong move and they would both be bawling their eyes out.

"I understand." Levy had always been there for Lucy once they became friends, and Lucy was fiercely loyal to the girl.

"Thank you, Levy." the blonde smiled softly.

"It's getting late, Lu." Levy yawned. With a glance at the clock Lucy murmured her agreement, and they said their goodnights. Lucy turned her lamp of and stared at the ceiling for a bit. Her phone pinged with a text. It was from an unknown number.

Unknown:

Hey, it's Gajeel.

Another text came through.

Unknown:

I got your number from Erza

She smiled before adding his contact.

Me:

Hey what's up?

Gajeel:

Just realized I don't know what color corsage to get you

Me:

My dress is pink, you can just choose white or something

Gajeel:

Great, thanks

Gajeel:

Why are you still up? It's perty late

Gajeel:

Pretty*

Me:

Wow thanks for calling me pretty ;) But I was just headed to bed.

Gajeel:

Okay, srry for keeping you up

Gajeel:

Goodnight. I'll text you tomorrow.

Me:

Night, Gajeel

Lucy set her phone back down on her bedside table before reaching for her pillow and promptly slamming it over her face. She released a squeal into it, muffling the sound so her dad wouldn't her. She could barely believe it. It seemed to all rush to her now, and he was getting her a corsage. That totally means it's a date.

Right?

The next morning, Lucy got ready in record time, skipping down the stairs to have breakfast with her dad.

"Morning, daddy!" she chirped, kissing his cheek before sitting across from him. He set down the newspaper as the housekeeper, Virgo served them some eggs, toast, and bacon.

"You're in a good mood." her father replied, breaking the yolk of his fried egg.

"Well, I have a date to prom." she nonchalantly pushed at her eggs.

"Who is it? Is he from your school? Is it Elfman? You know how much I love that kid." Jude Heartfilia grinned at his beautiful blonde daughter. He hoped it was a guy who would treat her right, a real stand up type of man.

"Well, he's from Magnolia High." she began to feel a bit uncomfortable.

"It's always great to know that you can expand your horizon, Lucy. I'm proud of you for not being stuck up like some other kids." Jude beamed.

"He works at the auto shop. He wants to be an engineer." Lucy revealed a bit more about her date to her father. "But we're just going together as friends."

"Redfox's kid?" Jude frowned. He thought about him long and hard. He knew Metalicana, after all, he did fix his car very well on numerous occasions. His son… was the one with all the face piercings. Jude was a bit uneasy about the thought of his daughter going with that sort of boy, but he had heard great things about the kid's personality. He was fiercely protective of his close friends, star of the football team, got amazing grades… Jude couldn't complain, honestly. Hell, he did stupid stuff when he was in high school, so why would he judge this boy? Lucy needed a strong guy in her life that could protect her from…

"Dad?" Lucy waved her hand in front of his face.

"Ah, yes. He's a good kid, I'm glad you don't judge a book by it's cover. You really are growing up to be just like your mother." Jude let out a watery sigh. They shared a sad smile before finishing their breakfast.

"I'll see you after school." Lucy hugged her father goodbye before hopping into her car. It had been getting detailed the day before, so now it was nice and clean and she could drive it again. She enjoyed the calm, quiet ride to school.

When she got to school, however, it was anything but calm.

"Lucy!" Rogue was waiting near her usual parking spot. "Is it true?! You're bringing Gajeel to prom?!" he seemed frantic, maybe even a bit excited.

"Uh… yes?" she frowned at him. How did he know that? She had asked Gajeel not even twenty-four hours before.

"Oh my god!" Rogue shouted. "I can't believe my idol is coming to our prom!" he suddenly ran off. Lucy was still a little bit confused, but she shook it off and entered the school. As soon as her foot stepped through the door, she was bombarded by more people.

"Is it true!?" a guy shouted. "Am I too late to ask you to prom?!"

"I can't believe this!" another wailed.

"How do you all know who I'm bringing to prom?" she questioned them.

"Jet told Droy and Droy told Hibiki and Hibiki told Loke and Loke told everyone! He was really upset." a girl supplied the information Lucy requested.

"That stupid little…" Lucy muttered. "Where is he?!"

"He's waiting by your locker, Miss Lucy." a girl from Lucy's French class said.

"Thanks Angela." she shot a smile at the girl before a murderous expression overtook her features. She stormed to her locker, nearly snarling when she saw the orange-haired playboy leaning against it.

"My love!" he cooed, running forwards to greet her with his arms open for a hug. In return, she drove her fist down onto the top of his head.

"What the hell?! Why did you cause the whole school to go into a panic just because I'm going to prom with Gajeel?!"

"Hey, I didn't cause the panic!" he groaned, rubbing his head. "A lot of guys are freaking out because they wanted you to be their date. Myself included! My princess, why didn't you wait for me?!" he wailed.

"I already told you I wouldn't go with you! And I never said I would go with any of those guys either!" Lucy shouted.

"Lucy! Your beautiful body must go to the prom with me!" Taurus, one of Loke's friends, ran up.

"See? A lot of people wanted to go with you!"

"Make it stop!" she groaned, running to the girls bathroom. She leaned against the sinks with a sigh of relief.

"Lucy!" Angel, a girl Lucy didn't necessarily like, burst into the bathroom.

"Ah!" she jumped, squealing.

"You're taking Gajeel?! As in, super fit bad boy football player Gajeel?!" the white-haired girl slammed her hands down onto the ceramic sink.

"Why does everyone keep making such a big deal out of it?" Lucy was extremely irritated at this point.

"Because he's, like, the hottest guy at magnolia! Well, other than Laxus or Gray. But he's so, so, hot!" Another girl burst into the conversation.

"Tall, dark, and handsome." Flare Corona, one of Lucy's frenemies, piped up. She had appeared out of nowhere. The girls in the room sighed.

"Look, uh, Gajeel and I are just friends." Lucy reassured them all.

"There is no way you can be just friends with a guy that hot." a girl chastised.

"She's friends with a lot of hotties. Like Sting, and Rogue… and Loke!" another squealed.

"Aw man, I wish I were Lucy!" a girl appeared from one of the stalls. Suddenly, the bathroom felt a bit too crowded. Lucy did the only thing she could think of to do. She ran to her homeroom. The door was closed and the lights were off, but Lucy snuck inside and put her head down on her desk, hoping Levy would come soon.

Gajeel was facing similar problems. A bunch of guys he knew were nearly in tears when they found out he was escorting the gorgeous blonde to her prom. And a lot of the girls, who apparently thought he was gonna ask them, were crying for the same reason. Mira and Erza, however… The memory of what he went through haunted him.

"Gajeel!" Mirajane was furious when she found out. "I can't believe you-you aren't going with Levy! You two are perfect for each other!" the white haired woman had actually broken into the school to reprimand him.

"Levy and I are not anything more than friends!"

"You fiend!" Erza reacted similarly, but for different reasons. "If you dare to hurt my precious friend I will slit your throat and feed you to the wolves!"

"What is wrong with everybody!"

"Why is this such a big deal?" Gajeel grunted as he sat outside with Gray. It had been at least an hour since he began hiding from the scary women, and Gray spent the time with him.

"Cuz you're super popular. A lot of girls think you're really hot, a lot of guys think Lucy's really hot." Gray shrugged, absentmindedly tugging at the neck of his t-shirt.

"So?" he challenged.

"So guys are jealous of you and girls are jealous of Lucy." Gray explained. "And vice-versa." he added in.

"So are you jealous that I'm taking Lucy?" Gajeel scrutinized his friend's expression.

"A little. I mean, I heard from Mira that she looks super good in her dress. Who wouldn't want to take her? You've got balls for asking her, man." Gray smirked.

"I didn't even ask her." Gajeel muttered.

"Wait, what?! You didn't ask her?" Gray sat up quickly, eyes going wide.

"Yeah, she was walking home looking like a sad little kitten yesterday in the rain. So I picked her up. We hung out for a little bit and then she asked me to go with her." Gajeel explained the situation.

"Dude!" he laughed. "She must really like you."

"What?" Gajeel's cheeks tinted a tiny bit.

"Lucy has turned down everyone who has asked her to any school dance. So the fact that she asked you," Gray snickered, "well that is a feat within itself."

"You're wrong." Gajeel shot the idea down. "She just felt bad because I was banned from going to our prom."

"Yeah, and my ass isn't white." Gray snorted. "Just face it, Gajeel. You've got a cute little cheerleader all to yourself now."