Lucy paused at the door to the office, her hands trembling, as well as the papers she held with them. She took a deep breath and opened the door. This was it. The moment that decided it all. It was scary.
The white-blonde haired girl who sat at the secretary's desk looked up as Lucy walked in. "You're back!" She greeted kindly. "Headmaster Makarov is in his office. You can just walk right in."
"Thank you…" Lucy trailed off, not knowing the girl's name.
"Mirajane. You can call me Mira." She smiled.
"Thanks Mira." Lucy walked into Makarov's office, placing one foot in front of the other.
"Hello Lucy."
Lucy held out the completed story, and he took it gently, smiling at her.
He started reading over it, and Lucy just fidgeted, nervous that he was reading it right there. He glanced up and told her to sit down, before going back to reading her work. Lucy sat, and waited.
A few minutes later, he glanced up and grinned. "I love it. Let's get you enrolled."
Lucy jaw dropped. "Right now?!" She had expected it to take a lot longer, but it seemed Makarov was the one who made all the decisions. No thorough double- and triple-checking. No giving a bunch of contact information. Nothing. Not even an orientation. Lucy could tell that she would like this impromptu style of school. It was definitely a far cry from the stuffy private schools Lucy had gone to before, where they did background checks on the students and catalogued their fingerprints.
Makarov nodded and Lucy lit up. "What do I have to do?"
The next day, Lucy showed up at Fairy Tail Academy for her first official day. She walked to the office to meet Mira, who was going to walk her to her first class and introduce her.
Mirajane handed her her schedule, and Lucy glanced at it. Her first class was Writing Workshop. She grinned. It was hard to believe that this was actually happening.
Mira led her to a classroom full of students who all looked up at the newcomer when she entered. Lucy's face turned pink at all the eyes on her.
The teacher also looked to the two girls in the doorway.
"Hello Mira. Is this the new student?"
"Yep!" She answered brightly. "This is Lucy."
Lucy waved shyly. "Welcome Lucy. My name is Macao. All of my students call me by name. You can sit next to Ms. McGarden."
A petite blue-haired girl waved from the back of the room, and Lucy ducked her head and walked to sit next to her.
"Hi. I'm Levy." She introduced herself with a smile.
"Nice to meet you."
Mira left, and the class continued. Macao talked about Plot Development, and how to plan out a story in an organized manner. Lucy found it extremely interesting that students weren't afraid to talk to him like an equal. They even made fun of him. Lucy was used to teachers always being treated with the utmost respect: never referred to by their first name, being called sir or ma'am, and most certainly not joked around with.
The blonde was ecstatic. She had really, truly escaped. This life was nothing like her old one, and Lucy loved it.
"Why are you smiling like that?" Levy interrupted her thoughts.
Lucy looked at the girl next to her. "No reason. Just happy."
Levy smiled. "I know what you mean. It's a great school, right?"
The blonde girl nodded.
By the end of class, Lucy and Levy were practically best friends. Lucy was thrilled that she had only just started at Fairy Tail and she had already made a friend.
The two girls looked at Lucy's schedule. "Awww. Our next classes aren't together." Levy complained. "Room 212 is on the second floor, right next to the staircase. Characterization is a lot of fun. You are going to love Elfman. He's Mira's brother." The petite girl said goodbye and walked off to her next class, leaving Lucy to follow her directions.
She made it to her next class quickly, but still getting there only just before the bell.
Lucy walked up to the teacher, a large white-haired man with a scar underneath his right eye.
She looked up at him. "Hello. My name is Lucy. I'm new."
"New students are manly!" was his odd response. "Welcome to Characterization!" The way he talked made every sentence seem to end with an exclamation point. "You can sit next to Juvia."
The girl Elfman gestured to had blue hair, like Levy, but it was curled at the ends. Juvia wore a blue dress and a sad expression on her face.
Lucy sat next to her, and Juvia just watched her. "Hi. Juvia, huh? I like your name."
The sullen girl only nodded.
Once class started, Elfman took roll, yelling everyone's name. Then he started on about manly personality types. Everyone seemed to have heard it before, and would interrupt him to finish his sentences, to which he would act surprised ("That's right! It's manly!") Levy had been right, this class was fun.
Juvia had spent the entire class period writing 'Mrs. Gray Fullbuster' on a blank notebook page in different fonts. Once class ended, the two of them packed up and walked out.
Third period was PE in the gym. Lucy had never been to such a chaotic class: the teacher, Mr. Gildarts, had an obsession with dangerous and damaging sports, like dodgeball, and tackle football.
Once Lucy had found the gym and changed into her rented uniform. She and Levy, who she had this class with, walked into the large room and waited for everyone to arrive.
"Lucy!" A familiar voice called out.
Lucy turned around to see Natsu grinning and waving at her, wearing a gym uniform, as well as his scarf.
Levy answered before Lucy. "You two know each other?"
"Yeah. he recommended me." Lucy responded, a little meekly.
The pink-haired boy's grin widened, but then fell away when a boy with dark blue hair walked up. He was missing his shirt.
It was obvious that the two of them didn't like each other, and Levy started to pull Lucy away. "Those two will be fighting within five minutes." She whispered to her new friend.
"Who is that guy?" Lucy asked.
"Gray Fullbuster. He and Natsu are enemies. And friends...when they're not fighting, which is never." Levy laughed, and Lucy laughed with her.
Levy's prediction was accurate, as pretty soon the two boys were in a full out brawl, although it ended quickly when a tough-looking girls walked in.
She had long red hair and a serious look on her face, and when her eyes turned to Natsu and Gray, they immediately stopped fighting and threw their arms around each other, huge grins appearing on their faces. At this, the serious look faded into a satisfied one, and her eyes wandered the rest of the gym, finally coming to rest on Lucy.
When she started to walk over, Lucy gulped. This girl was scary, just in the confident, threatening way she carried herself.
When she reached Lucy, the girl smiled. "Hi. I'm Erza Scarlet. You must be new."
The blonde nodded, less afraid now that Erza had smiled. "I'm Lucy."
The pink- and blue-haired boys that had just been fighting walked up to them, arms still tossed over each other's shoulders.
"Glad to see you boys are still the best of friends." Erza greeted them, a threatening glint in her eye, but a smile still on her face.
"Aye!" They answered simultaneously. Levy was just laughing silently next to Lucy.
It was pretty funny, and soon enough, all five of them were laughing, like they had been friends forever. For the first time, Lucy felt accepted, and it was the best feeling in the world.