Some details you might want to know:

1. I've changed the characters' ages:

►4th Year: Erza, Jellal, Seigrain, Ultear, Mirajane, Laxus (everyone is 17 y/o)

►3rd Year: Gray, Lucy, Natsu, Loke, Levy, Lyon (everyone is 16 y/o except for Levy, she's 15)

►2nd Year: Lisanna, Juvia (both of them is 15 y/o)

►1st Year: Wendy (14 y/o)

2. Classes start in September.

3. Original Characters (OCs) will be added to the story. I don't want anyone from Fairy Tail antagonize the couples I have for this story. Here are two of them:

►Amanda Gonzales – 3rd Year

►Alice Davis – 3rd Year

4. Most of the Celestial Spirits are teaching in Fairy Tail Academy.

5. Since I started editing this story, I decided to focus mainly on Gray and Lucy. So, expect some scenes to be cut from the original, especially those not concerning the two said characters.

THIS CHAPTER WAS HEAVILY EDITED. OR MORE LIKE, I CHANGED EVERYTHING HAHAHA!

Edited: 08/23/13

Re: Edited: 06/14/21

English is my second language and I'm not a good writer, at all, so expect wrong grammar, punctuations, and spellings. Thank you~!

Genre: Drama, Family, Friendship, Romance, some Humor, Hurt/Comfort.

Main Pairing: GrayXLucy

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. I am NOT Hiro Mashima.

If anyone EVER decided to reread this, I hope you'll like this edited version better. ^^


CHAPTER 2: Friends. Kindred Spirits.


Lyon, Ultear and I arrive at school exactly five minutes before the bell rings, much to Ultear's chagrin. She was usually early at school, but because Mom insisted that all three of us should head to school together, the two of us stayed behind to wait for the bathing Lyon, who have been singing loudly in the shower. She practically dragged him out of the house the moment she saw him leisurely walking down the stairs from his room. Sometimes I wonder if Lyon is intentionally riling up Ultear or he's just a natural airhead.

Class usually starts at eight in the morning, but because today is the first day of school, we still have to attend the Opening Ceremony, which I always skip since my first year here. Repercussions are typically just a trip to the Discipline Office, with the person in charge saying things I turn a deaf ear on.

My reason for not attending the opening ceremony, which I don't tell others, is: I'm not comfortable being in closed spaces with that many people. Classroom, I can tolerate. But gatherings like that is a big NO for me. I don't like participating in other similar activities, because as you can already tell, I hate crowds.

I'm basically just existing here at school.

And I like it.

Until our darn Principal made that freaking rule which, in simpler terms, states that all students have to be in at least one club. Luckily, I found one I like somehow. The Library Club. It was a pretty neat experience at first; there were only a few people, it was quiet and serene at times, and I mostly just return books to their respected aisles. I rarely interact with people, much to my satisfaction.

But my luck ran out when my friends decided it fun to torment me by joining it, too. And since they are on the popular side, those two, you could just imagine how many people they've attracted to join in.

Since then, my peaceful days in the club suddenly felt like a fleeting dream.

So, I decided I will go join someplace else. I've already asked permission to quit the club before the end of last school year, a few months back, saying I'm not into clubs with too many members. And they let me quit. I mean, how could they not? There are a lot of members there now, and one person quitting wouldn't affect the club, at all.

I didn't tell my friends, of course, so they wouldn't be able to follow me. Heh!

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Fairy Tail Academy is huge. There is a total of seven buildings, six of which surrounds the last building, namely the cafeteria, and the track and field course (we call it the Oval) to form a hexagon. Once you enter the silver gates of FTA, there is a semi-long path lined with trees and flower beds towards the Main Building, its cream painted walls turning white in age. When you go through the Main Building, the first thing you will see is the Oval and the soccer field. Looking further ahead are six study kiosks, lined parallel from the oval, and once you've looked passed that, you will see the cafeteria.

The other five buildings towers everything in the middle. Starting from the left going to the right is the Gymnasium, the Mavis Vermillon Building (for classrooms), the Lamia Scale Building (for Laboratories), the Zeref Spriggan Building (another building for classrooms), and the Sabertooth Building (Club Rooms), respectively. Trees and flower beds still lined the hexagonal pathways around the Oval and the cafeteria.

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After the Opening Ceremony, and after my 'not-so-thrilling' trip to the Discipline Office, I make my way to the bulletin board to look for my name and see which section I'm in, and whether or not I'm still classmates with my friends.

One thing I hate about this school is the floor plan for the classroom buildings, especially now that I've gone up a year.

We have two buildings for the classrooms. And instead of assigning one building for the first and second years and the other building for the third and fourth years, they stick with the 'floor-per-year-level' plan. Classes A to D are in the Vermillion Building, while classes E to H are in the Spriggan Building.

The classroom assignments were designed so that the First Years can locate their classrooms faster, since they are the newbies of this academy. Hence, they occupy the first floor. Going up to the second floor, is the Second Years' floor. And so on.

Which is why I hate it more, because now I have to climb three sets of stairs to get to my classroom. Tsk!

I read through the class list on the bulletin board and found my name, as well as my other two friends, under the same class.

'Class 3-F'

"Ugh, the other building, huh?"

Being in class 3-F means that our classroom is in the Zeref Spriggan Building. This is going to be the first time I'll be setting foot on ZSB since my last two years of uneventful school life happened in MVB (Mavis Vermillion Building).

And so, I started heading towards ZSB. I know I'm already late so I took my time taking in the sight of my new route to class.

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The class was wild when I arrive. They are introducing themselves one by one and answering questions upon questions thrown at them by the others. I tried sneaking in at the back, but my lucky star is probably hiding somewhere again as our Homeroom teacher gasp audibly and animatedly points a finger at me.

'Great. It's Mr. Clive. Just, great.' I groan silently.

"Well, if it isn't the late Mr. Gray Fullbuster. It is nice of you to join us today," he jokes and looks at the whole class and signal for them to stand before continuing, "Okay, class. Let us clap our hands together to show our gratitude towards him for gracing us with his presence." I feel my eyebrows meeting and my blood rushing to my face from his antics.

And of course, the whole class claps. The girls who I think were my classmates last year starts giggling, while others gawk in surprise from I-don't-really-care-what, and the boys are all snickering. Tsk!

I hear two particular laughs, so familiar it makes me grit my teeth in irritation. True enough, when I glance over in their direction, I saw Loke and Natsu, looking as if they'll die soon from suppressing their laughter.

Mr. Clive makes everyone sit as I walk towards an empty seat behind Natsu's and beside Loke's, they probably saved it for me. I slump on my chair and glare daggers on my two friends.

"Y-yo," Loke salutes while suppressing his smile. 'This bozo sure is enjoying this!' I can't stop but think, as plans of how to beat his sorry ass comes to mind.

My eyes narrow at him.

"Hey," he raises both his hands in mock surrender and faces the front where a girl is currently introducing herself while obviously only looking at this Casanova beside me, "It wasn't my fault you're late," He winks at the girl, making her squeal, before turning to me again. "It was clearly the Old Man who made fun of you."

"You were clearly enjoying it, too." I reply sarcastically.

"Who wouldn't? LOL." Yes, he really did say LOL. My eyes roll skywards.

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Loke Stellar is one of my so-called 'best friends'. People branded us as such since we were kids. He topped the academy's 'Man I'd Like to Be My Boyfriend' rankings I didn't know we had until he mentioned it to me. It's because of his killer looks, he says. Well, I can't call the man a liar, when it is apparent how most of the girls studying here worship him like a god. They sang praises of his name; I kid you not. I know because I have been witnessing it with my own eyes.

So, how did I become friends with an outgoing and crowd-loving guy like him, you ask?

Well, when my parents died and Aunt Ur adopted me, I felt multitude of strong, negative emotions as most of us do when our loved ones pass on. I felt numb, confused, guilty, and a lot of other negative feelings you can think of. But most of all, I felt angry. Angry at something I could not fathom. Maybe at the attackers for killing my parents, or the people who ignored me that night, maybe at God and the whole world, or maybe at myself, I didn't know. I just know that all those feelings of hatred and anger reflected on my face. No one dared to come close. No one was willing to talk to me even after our teacher was forcing them to. I know they were scared of me and was worried of how I was acting or what I might do to them, but I didn't care.

Even the friends I had before my parents died were too scared to even look at me. Scared that I will hurt them. I won't, though. But they didn't know that, and I didn't care enough to tell them, too.

Loke was an acquaintance of mine from another section. He became my classmate the next school year after the incident. Most of the student body were aware of what happened, so I presumed that Loke knew as well and will leave me alone, too. So, imagine my shock when one afternoon, at lunch break, he went up to me and smacked me upside the head.

I can still remember what happened that day.

"How long do you plan on sulking and scaring everyone off, huh?" he said, scowling at me. He looked as if he was fed up with my shit and came to knock some sense into me, probably thinking I'm deliberately warding everyone off.

I glared back, of course. There was a tense atmosphere between us and I sensed our classmates staring and were at the edge of their seats waiting for my move. Loke never broke our eye contact, as if challenging me to prove him wrong.

I sighed heavily, "I'm not sulking and I'm not scaring anyone off."

He gave me an incredulous stare and scoffed, so I was forced to add more, "At least, not intentionally." I whispered and looked away.

There was a brief pause so I thought he backed away. But as I faced him again, he was still looking at me with the same incredulous expression on his face. I wanted him out of my sight because I already felt hungry and I didn't want to eat my lunch with him looking at me like that.

Much to my surprise, he pulled me up and took my unopened lunch box from my table. "Let's go," he said. And because I was not expecting that, I stupidly followed him out of the classroom as he pulled me by the arm. I can tell that our classmates weren't anticipating that as well as I heard muffled gasps and questioning whispers.

Loke pulled me all the way up the stairs and out into the rooftop. He sat down, cross-legged on the ground. He took his lunch out and stared at me as he placed my lunch box neatly beside him. "Being a loner doesn't suit you," he joked to probably lighten the mood and then grinned, motioning for me to sit down, too.

"What do you want from me?" I asked him, twitching in annoyance and in disbelief with whatever this person is doing. I didn't like going to the rooftop after she left.

"Nothing. I just want to eat."

"Well then you can eat without me." I huffed and picked my lunch box off the ground. I was about to leave when he suddenly sighed loudly.

"I know you don't like eating in that classroom," he said.

"That doesn't mean I want to eat here with you."

"I know, but isn't it better here? There are no other people here beside us." He said and took a bite from his sandwich. "I know you don't like crowds. That's why I brought you here."

"You don't know me."

"I know. But I kinda know what you're feeling."

What? What is this person talking about? He can't possibly know what I'm feeling. He'd never had his family taken from him! He'd never felt the pain of being in a place where you know you didn't belong. How can he bluntly say something as irresponsible as 'I know what you're feeling' to someone who has gone through a lot?

I was about to tell him off. But the moment I saw his eyes lowered to look at his sandwich, the words didn't come out of my mouth. He was still smiling while he chewed his food, but his eyes reflected the loneliness no other kid should possess unless they've truly gone through some horrible experiences.

I know those eyes.

I see them every time.

I see the same loneliness in my eyes whenever I look at myself in the mirror.

That was why I know he was telling the truth.

I didn't know exactly what his truth is, and he didn't explain it further, but I believed him.

And so, I walked towards the door of the rooftop.

But I didn't go in. I sat beside it, in front of a now grinning Loke.

"Shut up." I groaned.

"I'm not even saying anything!" he laughed.

And then he was stuck to me after that. I didn't expect to find myself feeling thankful for what he did. Sometimes he ticks me off the wrong way, though, and we will fight and reconcile as children often do. We never got to discuss about what our relationship is, no matter how gay that might sound (no offense), but we knew we were friends.

And we still are.

The more I spend time with him, the more I get know him. And I eventually got the gist of why he was drawn towards me― because we are alike in many ways, especially with family related stuff.

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"Natsu Dragneel, everyone! I'm finally in this building that was named after my great, great, Grandfather! Woohoo!" My attention suddenly shifts to the moronic, pink haired person in front of me. He is currently dancing. Seriously, why is he the sperm that won?

The whole class laughs, though. And it is official, he is this class' clown. As he was to every class he's been to.

"No one wants to hear that!" one of them yells out, even cupping his hand around his mouth to louden his voice.

Natsu visibly stiffen and shoots his not-so-terrifying eyes at him. "I'm will kick you in the face later, Droy!"

But the class only laughs again. Natsu would've charged at him if it wasn't for the fact that Mr. Clive is giving us his infamous warning grin. And so Natsu begin introducing himself once again.

This hyper person in front of me became my friend after he thought he lost to Loke over something I could never understand.

He is the stupidest person I've ever and will ever meet.

Natsu, like Loke, has been my classmate since elementary after the incident.

I was always seen with Loke that time because he won't leave me alone even if I had always forced him away. And with the idea that Loke was the only one who was not afraid of me and even befriended me, Natsu thought that Loke became the mightiest kid in our year. So, he took it upon himself to call us his henchmen. Call me stupid, but Natsu's reasoning is out of this world.

Of course, I didn't like that idea. Natsu was forceful in the beginning, and didn't give me a damn minute to be alone— he even followed me in the toilet once. Until one day, after many attempts to push the 'henchmen plan' on me and Loke, he stopped. He said, rather rudely, that he will accept us as his equals. And even arrogantly said he will think about promoting us to being his friend if he liked us.

Naturally, I ignored him. He was just so full of himself.

But then he cried. Loudly, at that.

And it troubled me more than I thought it would.

So since then, I've had these two bothersome friends with me.

And now here we are, one who is super vain and cocky, the other so arrogant, convivial and kooky, and me, the standoffish and cool guy. Heh.

Not once did I think people with different personalities could mingle together.

I didn't know I would enjoy their company.

Until I did.

..ooOoo..


I was barfing and cringing at my previous attempt of editing this hahahaha I am now contented with how this chapter came out. XD

How was it?

To the Guest (06/13/21) who reviewed not a day ago, I don't know how I could reach out to you and thank you for your kind words. I was especially thrilled that someone read through the first chapter that I've posted on June 4, 2021 and praised my work. I'm working on my mistakes hahaha I've seen them too when I reread it. XD I wouldn't recommend reading the chapter after this as I have not yet edited it (you will see how BAAAAD I was as a writer 10 years ago hahahaha) Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I really appreciate your review~!

Jaa~ Ganbarimasu!