Chapter 4
"Fellow students, welcome and welcome back to this place of learning. Starting this year, let this be our sanctuary. Although many things may take place here, the most important thing to remember is that you are surrounded. So never feel insecure, never feel out of place, never feel that you are alone, for you are surrounded by students in the same place as you are. Yes, education is important, and so is our manner of speech, but most of all, as I have stated, everyone has your back. We, including the most dedicated teachers I have ever encountered, will support you all the way, no matter what decision you decide. So enjoy, and feel at ease, for this a new start.", Erza recited. "Thank you."
Loud, rapid applause echoed through the gym. The teachers had tears forming at the corner of their eyes. The students stared up in admiration at the red-haired beauty smiling warmly on the stage. The freshmen were whispering into each other ears.
I agree. It is a new start. But there is no reason we should feel at ease. Not in this school. This is my first year too, although I'm a junior. But according to what I've seen and heard so far, no one has your back. Unless you're a basketball player, a girlfriend of one, or an absolute beauty with max charisma. Other than that, you're pretty much forced to look up at the top of the ladder without experiencing any kind of support or help.
"This is bull..", I whispered under my breath.
"I agree.", Levy laughed hesitately. "Most of the students in this school don't really have anything to strive to, so its impossible for us to know, let alone, help them.", she put a hand on her head and expressed remorse. I sweatdropped. I don't think thats the case, Levy.
"But Erza's speech was wonderful, don't you think?", she turned to me.
"I guess..", I sighed. I looked up at the prez, shaking one of the teacher's hand. "That was a lovely speech, prez!", I called to her, waving my hand with an emotionless face.
Levy sighed. She put a finger on each corner of my mouth and pushed upwards. "God, Lucy-chan. At least smile!"
Erza looked back down at us and beamed. Then she waved her hand as if saying goodbye and went behind the curtains while another teacher took the mic and started crying out his speech.
"When does this end?", I groaned.
"Umm... in about 6 more minutes.", Levy reported. I sighed.
Unexpectedly, I got throught the ceremony and we were sent off to our third class. I followed Levy to the girl's locker room occupied by other girls. I went to the corner of the room and started undressing, under Levy's instructions before she went away and started chatting with some other girls.
A slim woman with long, blue hair and a bathing suit came in carrying a big, blue tub. "Alright, you little ugly, disgusting women! Get your PE uniforms and put your stinkin' clothes in a locker! We're doing our first class outside! I'll be waiting by the pool, and I'll be waiting for 10 minutes! GOGOGOGO!", she screamed. Then she slammed the door open and ran out.
I stared at the open door being blocked by rampaging girls pulling out clothes from the tub. People in this school... even the teachers are crazy..
"That was Mrs. Aquarius, incase you're wondering.", someone whispered behind me. I turned around and encountered a girl with wavy, mustard-colored hair. She had beautiful blue eyes. She looked at me with twinkling eyes and an agape mouth. "O-Oh sorry... I-I didn't mean to... um... talk to you so casually..", she looked down in remorse.
"Oh! No, what'd you mean?", I replied.
"Sorry, I didn't realize you were Lucy-san..", she sighed.
"Oh- wait. How'd you know my name?"
"Well, aren't you Lucy? Natsu Dragneel's girlfriend?", the girl tilted her head.
"Wah?", my head jerked back. "I'm who's girlfriend?"
"Natsu Dragneel's.", she repeated. "Listen, I don't care what you tell him. At this point, I really couldn't care less what the populars do to me. So I'm sorry if I offended you in any way. Now, I'll just-"
"Wait!", I grabbed her arm. "I'd... *sigh* I'd like to introduce myself as a fellow student. Can we start over?", I smiled the warmest smile I could.
Her eyes widened and I could see a smile forming. "Y-yes, Lucy-sama-"
"N-no... please, no.", I sighed, rubbing my temples. "Okay, my name's Lucy Heartfilia. I'm 16 and I'm new a new Junior at this school. Its lovely to meet you."
Her eyes widened once more. "Ah! O-okay. Well, my name is Michelle.", she held out her hand. "Michelle Lobster. Nice to meet you, Lucy-chin!"
I shook her hand, but she pulled away and instead threw herself on top of me. Michelle bear-hugged me and rubbed her head on my neck. She's pretty short.
I giggled, which scared me because I haven't done that in a while, and hugged her back. "We're friends now, aren't we?", she pushed back a little and looked at me with her blue eyes. Weird... she looks familiar now.
"Yea.. I guess..?", I giggled.
"Okay, stay here! Imma' go get us some clothes, 'kay?", she grinned, running towards the swarm of raging hormones. I followed her with my eyes, then... I finally remember. She's one of my childhood friends... at least, she used to be. Until my father ordered to keep non-authorized people to come within 50 feet of me and my branch of the manor because of that one incident with me hurting another kid. She was my best friend. And I loved her like a sister. Then I slowly forgot about her as depression took over my whole life.
"Oh, Michelle...", I whispered under my breath.
I wanted to miss her. I wanted to feel sad. I wanted to feel happy. I wanted to feel love! GODDAMNIT, FEEL SOMETHING!
One thing I felt, or one thing I thought I felt was frustration. I wanted to feel something other than the eerie emptiness. I wanted to feel something that reassured me that I was alive. Something! Something..
"Lucy-chin?", Michelled shoved her face up close to mine. "Are you-
"Yea...! I'm.. I'm okay..", I answered. "Just.. thinking about something. Hey, you know what? I just remembered.. you used to be my best friend-"
"Yes. When we were little, you were like my sister. But then my mom said I couldn't come over anymore.", she giggled weakly. "I cried for nights! I never got along with anybody that well after that."
She looked down, clutching two pairs of uniforms tightly in her hands. I forced myself to feel bad. I pretended to feel sorry for her.
"But! I'm happy that I get to see you again!", Michelle looked back up at me. "We could be like how we were before!"
I smiled and nodded. "U-huh..."
"Okay! Good! Here you go.", she handed me a uniform.
I took it from her. "Thanks. But we really need to catch up."
She beamed at me. "Come over after school, 'kay? Oh! Unless you're doing something with your boyfriend..."
"We need to talk about that too.", I sighed. She nodded, then we silently put on our PE uniforms, tucking our regular uniforms in our assigned lockers.
"Alright! I've waited long enough already!", the PE teacher barged into the room. "To the pool!"
Everyone groaned and sighed, following her.
When we reached the pool, it was already occipied by other students; male students.
"Waahhh!", a girl wailed. "Look! It's Gray-sama!" She pointed to one of the boys in the pool playing volleyball with others. He was the one I met at the school entrance with Levy and stoner.
"No way! Sting-sama's way better!"
"No! Rogue-sama is!"
Everyone was squabbling and rambling on about who was better. While the boys ignored them and continued doing whatever they were doing.
"This school...", I sighed, rubbing my temples.
Michelle giggled. "What did you expect? They're girls and they're extremely good looking guys!"
"Not really.."
Then someone climbed on top of all the girls and screamed in her loudest voice. "LOKE-SAMA IS WAY BETTER THAN ALL OF THEM!"
This caught everyone's attention. Even mine. I turned to Michelle with a confused look.
"Michelle...", I put a hand on my chin. "Loke... you don't think-"
"Actually, it is Loke-chin!", she nodded. "Leo Loke! Do you wanna' say hi to him?"
"Hmmm... I guess."
"Well, tough luck.", she sighed. "All the girls swarm all over him. Whats more, he responds to them with flirts unlike the other guys, making him a bit more popular."
"As expected.", I shook my head. "I didn't know anyone would actually fall for those stupid flirts.."
"I did at first, too.. but I eventually got used to them.", Michelle giggled. "Hold on." She ran straight to the flock of horny girls surrounding Loke.
"Wait!", I screamed. "Michelle! You have so much to live for!", I cried desperately.
She came out minutes later, dragging a half naked man wearing deep blue basketball shorts. He was wearing tinted sunglasses and he had orange, spiky hair that looked a bit like a lion's mane. "O-oi, oi! Michelle-chan!", he stuttered. "Wait for your turn!"
"You have someone that wants to see you, Loke!", Michelle looked back at him and winked. "An old friend who's beauty is far beyond anybody else at this school." Loke's head perked up. He closed his eyes, probably trying to remember who she was talking about.
"Oi! You whore!"
"Slut! Give back Loke-sama!"
"What a disrespectful way to talk to him! Tramp!"
The girls kept screaming insults at Michelle, who tried her best to keep them out. She continued to fight the girls who tried pulling Loke the other way.
"Hey.", the man called Gray stepped out of the pool and stood in front of Michelle. "What do you think you're doing to him?" He stared down at Michelle who froze in place.
"U-uh.. I-I was.. bringing him to meet a fr-"
"And is that a good reason to pull him away from the game, let alone, touch him?", he continued. "Who are you?"
"My name's M-"
"Nevermind, I don't care.", he finished. Yes. I finally felt something. Anger. I felt... anger.. boiling inside of me. Anger to him. Anger to the everyone. Anger to this school.
"What are you still doing here?", Gray looked back at Michelle. "Go. Go die in a hole somewhere."
"Ahh...", I sighed, stepping towards the commotion. "What a mean thing to say-", I stood next to Michelle and started petting her head. "To such a lovely woman."
I raise my head and looked at him with a cunning smirk. "Ah... who are you to speak to a woman who's beaty exceeds far beyond those prostitutes you've fucked?"
His eyes widened. His mouth opened as if to say something, but he quickly closed it and clenched his jaw. "And who are you?", he calmly asked.
"Ah? You don't remember?", I tilted my head in a devious way. "This morning? I was the one who caught you having a good time with a stoner (Gajeel) and a minor (Levy). What a shame... to waste a good, clean face like that.. now we know where those baggy eyes came from."
People started whispering. Even the teachers froze and looked at each other in question. Michelle gasped and grabbed my hand. "L-Lucy!", she stuttered.
"But then again...", I continued. "How could I ever expect you to accept this unexpected truth when you're on a high. Don't you know drugs-are-bad-for-you?", I tapped his nose at every word. "You can get back to your game, I'm not really in the mood to meet Loke anymore..", I sighed, grabbing Michelle's hand and pulled her towards the far, unoccupied pool.
All the girls stopped their bickering and I could feel their stares piercing through my flesh. Though its no bother, I've had this happened to me many times before. They resort to glares because they have no comebacks.
The boys in the pool started laughing. I could see a glint of pink in the crowd of well toned bodies. Natsu Dragneel... he was the one laughing the hardest.
"She got you on that one, Gray!", the stoner cried, holding his stomach.
"Ahh! Gray-sama!", a girl with blue, shoulder-length hair hugged him from behind. "Pay no mind to her weak insults! She's a nobody! And look at you!"
"She's right!", a girl with short, pink-ish purple-ish hair agreed.
Gray rose his head, smirking. "Ha!", he laughed. "Juvia, Meredy, prepare for payback-"
"Gray.", a guy with jet black hair and red eyes sighed. "She's just a defenseless doll. Just let your fans take care of it."
"Come on!", Natsu Dragneel motioned for Gray. "Let's continue that game!"
Gray smirked and jumped in the pool, followed by the two other girls. They started playing their game once more like nothing happened. Meanwhile, Michelle was clutching my hand.
"H-hey...", I sweatdropped. "Are you okay?"
She put my hand on her forehead. "Lucy!", she cried. "Y-you're so reckless! You didn't have to do that, you know? Now everyone's gonna'-"
"Don't worry, Michelle.", I pinched her cheeks. "I'll just have Capricorn kick them out of their homes, then they'll know who their going against."
"But thats mean!"
"I don't like what they did to you.", I sighed. "Plus, I'm also mad at Loke. He should've defended you."
"No! It's my fault for dragging him away like that!", she protested. "He's got he's reputation to keep, after all."
I look back down at her and sighed. She's too goody-goody. There's no changing her mind.
I look back across at the group of bodies at the edge of the pool cheering on the boys that were playing. I saw Loke on the ground, getting poked by girls. He was squinting. At me.
When he caught my eye, his' went wide. "L-Lucy! IT IS YOU!", he screamed. Then he ran to me at full speed, tackling me with the usual bear hug.
"L-Loke!", I choked.
"Princess! Princess!", he cried, tears streaming out of his eyes. He clasped onto my waist started kissing my cheeks and my forehead over and over. "Princess! You're here! Princess!"
Michelle stood beside us, giving a warm smile while giggling. I could barely see the students staring at us with shock, the populars getting out of the pool, confused.
"L-Loke-san..", the girl Gray called Juvia approached us with the others.
Loke looked up, loosening his grip. He let go with one hand to wipe the tears staining his cheeks. "Oh! You guys!", he stated.
"Loke, do you know her?", Gray pointed at me.
Loke grinned. "Of course, I do! She's my princess!"
"Y-your princess?", Natsu stammered, his fist clenching.
"I've waited for her... for a long time.", he whispered with a husky voice. "And now she's here.. with me. I don't intend to lose her."
"Loke.", I sighed. "First of all, I'm not an object, so there's no way you could lose me, let alone, find me."
He rubbed his head and smirked. "I love you, Princess."
"Sure.", I looked away.
He always used to say that. He was my betrothed, my father and his family were one of the richest in the country. Until his family went bankrupt. My father kept me from seeing him, after that. He said that I might catch their disease. A disease no one can recover from. I never saw him after that.
I used to say I loved him too... that last time, when he sneaked in the estate to see me... was the last time I got to say that. I always used to look up at him like a big brother. Along with Michelle, I surely thought that we were a happy family. But I lost everything. My feelings, my memories. Everything.
"Princess..", he whispered.
"Loke. Think of what will happen if you go out with that girl.", Gray threatened.
"So, why does it matter?", Loke replied. "She's my betrothed, after all."
"Betrothed?!", Natsu growled, glaring at Loke.
"Not anymore, you're not.", I sighed.
"Is there even such a thing anymore?", someone whispered.
"So, Natsu Dragneel.", Loke pointed at the pink haired idiot. "Clear the rumors that you're dating her! She's mine!"
If looks can kill, Loke would be torn apart in pieces by now, because Natsu was practically in flames. Everyone backed away from him, scared that he might go on a rampage at any second.
"O-oi!", a man with light blonde hair and azure blue eyes spoke up. "N-Natsu...! S-sure, she may be prettier than most girls, b-but- calm down!"
"No.", Natsu growled. "I found her first. She's mine. And I'm not giving her up without a fight.."
"Stop being so possessive, Natsu. Be more like yourself!", Loke smirked, putting his arm around me. I shifted uncomfortably.
"Get your hand off of her, you bastard.", Natsu snarled. "DON'T FUCKING TOUCH HER!"