A few weeks later, Lucy walked with her tray to the lunch table where her four best friends were sitting (as well as Juvia, because she was always following Gray around).

She sat down in between Levy and Natsu to a bunch of happy greetings from everyone (except for Juvia's response of "Love Rival," as she tightened her hold on Gray's arm. Somewhere along the way, she had gotten it into her head that Lucy was also in love with Gray.)

Since she had started at Fairy Tail, Lucy had really loosened up. She smiled now more than she ever had before, even when she was "mad" at one of her friends (mostly Natsu; he didn't know the definition of personal space). She had also adopted her own style of crop-tops and miniskirts; she loved the freedom these clothes gave her, as it was a contrast to the huge, heavy dresses she had been forced to wear for her entire life.

She had gotten used to Natsu and Gray always butting heads. Those two were like fire and ice: almost exact opposites, both in their looks and in their personalities. Gray was guarded and somewhat expressionless (except when fighting with Natsu) and Natsu was an open book: hotheaded and childlike.

And then there was Erza. Despite having known her for a few weeks now, Lucy was still afraid of the red-headed girl. She was fierce and independent. Actually, pretty much everyone was scared of her. This was for good reason, as she was strong...scary strong. She could be her own team in gym and still win. Lucy was surprised that she hadn't sent anyone to the hospital during dodgeball.

Levy was the easiest to get used to. She was quiet and kind, and genuinely interested in other people's lives. She wanted to be the first to read Lucy's book-in-progress.

Lastly was Juvia. Lucy didn't know her well, but she was attached to Gray. The blue-haired boy seemed to have no idea that she considered him more than a friend, which was odd, since to everyone else it was painfully obvious. She was also convinced that Lucy planned to steal Gray from her. She took "possessive" to a whole new level. But despite all of this, Lucy kind of liked the girl. When she wasn't being possessive of Gray and suspicious of Lucy, of course.

So far, no one had been purposely cruel to Lucy. In fact, everyone had been very welcoming. It was so unlike her past schools, where people were treated differently based on the amount of money their family owned (and scholarship students were practically stepped on), that Lucy felt almost uncomfortable, even though she had never been bullied there. Quite the opposite in fact; her family was so important that she was all-but idolized.

All these things ran through Lucy's mind, as they had done many times since starting at Fairy Tail, as she placed small, polite bites of her food into her mouth. That was one thing that hadn't changed about Lucy: her eating habits. She was, by far, the cleanest eater at the table. Natsu and Grey shoved huge bite after huge bite into their mouths, barely waiting until they were done swallowing before shovelling another big forkful in. Levy and Juvia weren't so bad, but they talked through their food on occasion. Erza, however, was almost as bad as the boys. She was a fan of efficiency, and so put as much food as she could into her mouth with each bite, except when it came to her cake. Once she was done with the actual food, she would spend the rest of the lunch period happily savoring each and every bite of the sweet, which was seemingly made specially for her, as no one else was even offered cake.

Not that Lucy had a problem with any of this; it was a part of them as much as the way she ate was a part of her.

Soon, lunch period was over, and the five of them separated to head to their respective classes. Natsu and Lucy walked together, since they both had Math next. Yes, this school of the arts still had Math, as well as Science and History (but not English, since Master Makarov figured that they'd suffered through the same curriculum every year for long enough). These classes were, after all, a requirement in high school.

They reached class and took their seats next to each other. On the first day, the teacher,

Cana Alberona, had taken one look at the two of them, grinned, and placed them next to each other. No one was really sure why Cana was the Math teacher, or really a teacher at all, since it didn't seem like her type of job. She was pretty much always drinking, which should have been against the rules but for some reason was allowed. However, despite all of this, she never acted drunk.

Lucy really liked Cana. While she didn't really teach, just assigned activities, she was a lot of fun. Loud and boisterous, the brown-haired woman had a lot of stories to tell. Lucy also liked how she didn't seem to care about the rules, and looked up to her for it.

Cana copied a bunch of problems onto the board for the assignment before sitting back on her desk expectantly, waiting for them to finish, while taking large gulps from her bottle, as little effect on her as if it was water.

The class proceeded with a bunch of questions from Natsu to Lucy on how to do this, or what is this minus that. Lucy eventually snapped at him, telling him to use his calculator, but that didn't last long, as soon he was back at it again. A little after halfway through the class, Cana hopped off of her desk and walked around the class, peering over people's shoulders at their work and nodding approvingly, like she knew what she was doing, which Lucy strongly suspected she didn't.

There was about ten minutes before the end of class by the time everyone finished all the problems, and Natsu sighed in relief, glad that he didn't have to exert his brain anymore. He sat back in his chair, lifting the front two legs off the ground and balancing like that. When he caught Lucy's eye, he gave that familiar ear-to-ear grin, and her heart skipped a beat. The beginning inklings of something were slowly growing, and Lucy couldn't decide if she liked it.