Chapter 8

Lucy dragged her feet down the hallways as she hung her head low. She really wasn't in the mood to attend classes today due to her lack of sleep. But considering exams were near, she didn't have a choice. Her purplish eye bags made it look like someone punched her in the eyes and she didn't even bother putting her hair up in her signature side pony-tail. She yawned really loudly with her mouth wide open, not bothering to care about her image anymore. Since the talk with Cana last night, her mind has been filled with Natsu and Lisanna. Natsu and Lisanna. Everything just... Natsu and Lisanna. She popped a coin into the vending machine to get herself a cup of coffee.

"Lucy, get your shit together. Stop thinking about unnecessary things that aren't even related to you." she said to herself. She bit her lip hard and clenched her fists because all she did was make herself think more. Gosh how she hated the way the brain worked. Lucy watched as coffee flowed out of the machine into a small Styrofoam cup and listened to the sound of the gushing liquid. She was trying to hard to just concentrate on something else, anything. But how was she gonna do that when Natsu kept appearing everywhere?

"Hey Luce, didn't think I'd bump into you here!" it was as if he could track her scent or something. Lucy avoided his gaze and gave him a tired smile. She didn't know what to say either.

"Are you alright? You look really bummed out." Natsu noticed the uneasiness in her eyes.

"Y-Yeah.. I'm fine, just didn't get enough sleep." Lucy still wasn't looking into his eyes.

"Did Cana make you drunk?" he inched closer to her.

"No I stayed away from booze!"

"If she tries to do anything funny, you have to tell me! That girl can get really crazy sometimes!" Natsu cupped Lucy's cheeks tightly with his palms with a hardened look on his face.

Lucy flinched back in shock and lightly slapped his hands away without thinking. "D-Don't do that!"

It surprised Natsu as well and he retracted his hands. There was a small sign of hurt in his expression. Lucy's eyes widened as she realized what she had done.

"I'm sorry..." she muttered and ran away.

"W-Wait! You forgot your-" Natsu reached out his hand to her but Lucy had already disappeared.

"-coffee."

He had absolutely no idea what just happened and why Lucy was acting this way towards him. Did I do something wrong? Natsu scratched his head and headed back to class.

"I can't believe I overreacted, I shouldn't have done that! He probably doesn't even know what's on my mind anyway so what am I avoiding him for?! I don't even like that idiot! Yeah I don't!" Lucy scolded herself.

She calmed herself down after awhile and said,"I really should apologize to Natsu."

She took out her phone to text Natsu but as soon as she walked out of the school gate, she saw him. What the heck?! Is fate playing with me?! When she regained her composure, she noticed that Natsu was talking to a girl. She had long, wavy blonde hair that gathered at the back of her head and tied in a ponytail. Her eyes were a light blue color and she was sporting the Blue Pegasus High uniform. What is a student from Blue Pegasus High doing here? Just then she was dragged behind the school gate by a strong arm.

"What the-"

"SHHHHH!" Erza and Gray placed a finger over their mouths. Lucy was startled for a moment.

"What are you guys doing?" she whispered.

"Spying on flame brain and that girl."

Lucy looked back to that pretty blonde. "Who is she?"

"Jenny Realight, Blue Pegasus High's poster girl. She participated in the Miss Fiore pageant last year and won 1st place. Mirajane did too and she got 2nd." Erza explained.

Lucy wowed at the title of Miss Fiore. But Jenny has such a top model physique, it's no wonder she won. "So what's she doing here?"

"Basically Jenny asked Natsu out on a date because she's crushin' on him. And he actually agreed. I would never understand why someone like Jenny would have the hots for that flame brain." Gray face palmed. Lucy felt a little sour upon hearing that and it made her really paranoid again. Does Natsu like Jenny? Oh god Lucy this has nothing to do with you! She slapped herself really hard.

"Why did you slap yourself? Are you okay?" Gray asked.

"T-There was a fly on my face." she tried covering up with a lie.

"You probably should shower more often."

"I shower everyday mind you."

"Guys come on they're leaving!" Erza dragged Lucy and Gray after Jenny and Natsu.

"Why am I coming along?!" Lucy screamed.

They followed Jenny and Natsu to a nearby shopping mall and into a restaurant called Burger Queen. The 3 of them sat at a table 2 seats away from the duo and used the menu to cover their faces.

"Are you sure stalking them is a good idea?" Lucy asked.

"We aren't stalking them, we're doing intense investigation on an individual." Erza replied.

"Aren't they the same thing?!"

Even though Lucy wasn't comfortable with following Natsu and Jenny on their date, she definitely was curious. She watched Natsu laugh happily as he chatted with Jenny, the 2 of them looked very comfortable with each other and Jenny was totally into her pink haired friend. Lucy unknowingly pouted at that sight. Was she jealous? She could hear Natsu cracking ridiculous jokes to make Jenny laugh and it kind of pissed her off somehow. But Natsu has always been friendly to everybody hasn't he?

"Do you think he likes her?" Erza asked.

"He's like this to everybody so I can't tell." Gray answered.

After Natsu and Jenny finished their meal, they got up and walked out of the restaurant. "Come on let's go!" Erza, Gray and Lucy swiftly went after them. They followed the duo all the way to the arcade where Jenny pulled Natsu into a photo booth so they couldn't see them from outside.

"That is totally a typical date activity." Gray commented. Lucy couldn't help but feel a little upset because she's never taken a photo with Natsu before and they've already been close friends for quite some time. But there was Jenny having her way with him already. The arcade was particularly noisy that day and the 3 of them automatically noticed the commotion. Many people were crowding around a certain arcade game and they just had to check it out while waiting for Natsu and Jenny to come out of the photo booth. They squeezed through the crowd and realized that there was a new game in the arcade.

"What is this game?" Gray questioned.

"It's a newly launched game called Pandemonium." a familiar voice answered. The 3 of them turned their heads to the side and realized that the familiar voice came from Hibiki, a Blue Pegasus student. He was a very good looking man, with messy brownish blonde hair and dark eyes. He was constantly topping the school in terms of academics and needless to say, he was very popular with the ladies.

"I haven't seen you in awhile, Hibiki." Erza greeted him.

"You're still as beautiful as always, Erza. And who might this gorgeous lady be?" Hibiki kneeled in front of Lucy and took her hand.

"Lucy..."

"I see, Lucy. What a beautiful-" before Hibiki could finish, Erza kicked him away from Lucy. "Dear god he hasn't changed at all..."

Hibiki immediately got up and brushed the dust off his clothes stylishly. "Anyway, are you guys interested to try this new game? It's limited edition and maybe we could challenge one another."

"Well then, if it's a challenge, I'm down." Erza said.

"I think we'll pass." Lucy and Gray backed off.

"Explain the rules, Hibiki."

"The rules are simple. Each player will go into the Pandemonium castle one by one and fight a number of monsters for points. They can select how many monsters they want to fight, both the monsters and the player sequence will be randomized. The game is set to go on until all 100 monsters are defeated. But be warned that those monsters aren't easy to defeat. So are you up for the challenge?"

"Definitely." Erza rolled up her sleeves and cracked her knuckles. She, Hibiki and a few other players entered their names into the game and was shuffled randomly. Turns out, Erza was the first in line.

"So how many monsters are you gonna fight?"

"Since I can choose any amount I want, I'll go with 100."

"WHAT?!" everybody screamed.

"A-Are you sure?" Hibiki tried to make Erza change her mind.

"Very sure." Erza walked towards the game screen and pressed 'start'. She held the controllers tightly as she prepared her player for the incoming monsters. As soon as the game started, Erza had already thrashed numerous monsters. The crowd stared at her in awe while Lucy and Gray cheered her on. Erza devilishly slammed the control buttons Lucy couldn't sworn she saw devil horns grow out of her head and fire emitting from her body. It was a pretty scary sight. Erza's player only had a little HP left but she persevered and after 15 minutes, Erza successfully defeated all 100 monsters and conquered Pandemonium. The crowd gawked at her in shock while Gray and Lucy were jumping in joy. The game round was over since Erza already defeated all the monsters. Who knew that Erza was good at gaming? She probably wasn't joking when she said the student council president is good at everything.

"I'm sorry that took longer than I expected." Erza walked towards Lucy and Gray.

"Longer than she expected?!" Hibiki screamed.

Erza's eyes shifted to the photo booth and she noticed that it was empty. She looked around for Natsu and Jenny but they were nowhere to be seen. "Oh shoot we have to go!" Erza dragged her 2 friends out of the arcade.

"Where do you think they went?"

"We spent such a long time at the arcade they probably left already!"

The 3 of them searched around the shopping mall but they found no trace of Natsu and Jenny.

"Oh well, I guess our intense investigation ends here. The both of you are probably tired already anyway." Erza said.

"You still think it's an investigation?!"

"You should head home Lucy. Thanks for coming with us anyway!" Gray said.

"More like you dragged me here!" Lucy huffed.

"But you're curious aren't you? About Natsu and Jenny. I mean we are too."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm heading home, bye guys!" she waved the other 2 goodbye and left the shopping mall.

Lucy's way back to her apartment gave her some time to settle her thoughts. "Natsu has way too many girls in his life. Girls that like him in fact." She flinched at her last sentence.

"No Lucy, you do not like Natsu. . .NATSU." Lucy kept chanting that to herself and she was on the urge of ramming her head into a nearby brick wall. She sighed loudly. I can't believe I'm getting so frustrated over this. It isn't worth your time, Lucy. As she neared her apartment, her eyes widened at a familiar figure standing at her door. The figure noticed her and walked towards her.

"Luce! You're finally back!"

"Natsu? What are you doing here?"

"I was waiting for you to come home. I uhm... needed to ask you something." Natsu's eyes shifted.

"What is it?" these kind of situations always made Lucy particularly nervous.

"Did I do something to make you angry?"

Lucy was shocked at Natsu's question. "What are you talking about? Of course not!"

"I thought that you were avoiding me in school today, so I'm sorry if I did something wrong!" Natsu said with a face full of guilt. He actually realized that something was wrong with her today, turns out Natsu wasn't as dense as she thought. Lucy couldn't help but feel bad.

"No, I'M sorry. You didn't do anything wrong, Natsu. I just overreacted! I felt really guilty for creating so much tension between us and I really wanted to apologise." Lucy started tearing up.

"H-Hey! Why are you crying?! It isn't your fault, it's mine!" Natsu started slapping himself. Lucy noticed his stupidity and she burst out laughing.

"You are such an idiot!" she slapped Natsu's back and he laughed along as well.

"I'm glad we cleared things up. I wouldn't want anything to come between our friendship." Natsu grinned. Lucy blushed and smiled back at him. There was an awkward silence for awhile because the 2 didn't know what to say anymore. But Lucy didn't want Natsu to leave just yet so she just randomly started a topic.

"I uhm, saw you at the shopping mall with a girl just now. She's Miss Fiore isn't she? Were the both of you on a date?" Lucy pretended to not know anything.

Natsu seemed a little taken aback by Lucy's question but answered anyway. "Yea we were. But she was the one who asked me out."

"S-So, d-do you like her? I mean, she's so pretty and you looked very happy!"

"I like her as a friend, Luce. I've only known her for a few days and she's a great person but I don't think I'll ever like her in a romantic way. I told her that before she left and she understands, so we're just really good friends now! But I just felt really bad rejecting her when she asked me out." Natsu looked shy as he explained to Lucy.

"I don't think any man would reject her, she's Miss Fiore after all." Lucy looked down at her feet.

"Honestly, Luce." Natsu proceeded to place his hand on Lucy's head. "I'd choose you over her any day."

Lucy stoned for at least 10 seconds before she could absorb what Natsu just said. He would choose me over freakin' Jenny Realight? Miss Fiore?! Lucy's cheeks turned a scarlet red that could rival Erza's hair in mere seconds and steam came out from her head.

She backed a few steps away from Natsu and he raised a brow at her. "You must be having a fever or some sort! You're acting really weird and you're starting to say nonsensical things! You mustn't be in the right state of mind right now!" she used a single finger to scratch her face nervously and she avoided as much eye contact as she could with the pink haired teen.

"Lucy I was dead serious!" Natsu crossed his arms and Lucy's body tensed up at that.

"N-No you aren't! Come on, I think you should go home to rest or you're gonna get even weirder! And you should start studying more too if you have so much time! Erza isn't happy with your grades!" she tried coming up with all sorts of excuses she could think of. She pushed Natsu in the direction of his house to urge him to go home.

"Aren't you the weird one?!"

"Just go home, hurry!" she continued to push him.

"Alright alright!" Natsu suddenly stepped forward, causing Lucy to stumble a little bit.

"See you soon, Luce. Stop acting so weird, it's rubbing off on me." Natsu waved back facing her.

Lucy sighed heavily and ran into her apartment. Seriously Natsu?! Saying things like that to annoy me?! She huffed and stormed into her bedroom. Her heart was still beating really fast even if she thought that what Natsu said was a joke. Man, sweet talk really gets to her. She walked to her book shelves and tried finding a book to read, possibly in an effort to calm herself down. She looked through the gazillions of books she had and one stood out to her. She pulled it out of the shelf, the title was 'Seeking For The Clock'. Her eyes widened as she remembered how this book came about. This was actually a book that she had written herself after having a dream. It was a dream that left a deep impression on her so she decided to put it in words. It's been 2 years since Lucy read this book and she nearly forgot about it's existence, she hasn't written other books since either.

She sat at her desk and started reading her own work. She laughed at her 14 year old self trying to come up with all those crazy imaginations and love stories. She was the main protagonist in the story and the man in the story whom she fell in love with, somehow reminded her of her very own pink haired friend. He was strong, goofy, really dense and he cared deeply for all of his friends. She didn't give the man a name though, she couldn't come up with one. Maybe she could just name him Natsu, since they are so alike. Her favorite part of the story was the ending, where Lucy herself was falling from the sky like a shooting star and this man ran after her with all his might. He managed to catch and the both of them crashed straight into the hard ground, somehow surviving. It really was like a scene in a fairy tale.

Lucy let her imagination flow. What if the man who caught her was Natsu? She was actually making up the entire scene in her head right now and it fit his character so much. But why would she fall from the sky anyway right? She giggled and closed the book.

"I was such a hopeless young girl, thinking so much about love and such." Well maybe she still is. Nonetheless, Lucy's dream has always been to be a writer, and nothing has changed her mind.

She prepared to take a shower and made her way to the bathroom. Just then, her phone lit up. Turns out she received a text from Loke.

"Hey Lucy! Are you free tomorrow night?"

She replied, "Yes, what's up?"

"Do you wanna go out for dinner? Just the 2 of us."

Oh shoot.

So how did you guys like my twist on Pandemonium? HAHAHA. I felt that it was the best scene from the GMG arc cause' all hail titania ! it was epic af don't argue with me on that one HAHA. anyways, i'm finally back after my exams and FREEDOM. i'll be going on vacation for a week so I won't be able to write fanfics for awhile :'( but a week will go by quickly!

like always, any criticism will be accepted and if u have any suggestions please feel free to tell me! I will gladly accept. till next time, stay tuned for the next chapter! NALU FOR LYF.