Chapter 3

Café Disaster

Back inside my room, I get dressed in my school uniform. A white button-up shirt white a beige school jacket on top, a beige skirt that ends a bit above the knees, white thigh-high socks, and brown slippers with the strap across the top. I was wearing my uniform when I came here yesterday but Grandeeney lent me a pair of Pajamas. I then brush my hair and put some of it in a side ponytail like usual.

After I finish, I head downstairs and into the kitchen. Grandeeney was already sitting down at the table reading a magazine. "Oh, good morning Lucy." She greets. "Good morning." I say back. "Ready for school I see." She points out. "Ye-"

I was just about to agree when I realized something. "My bag!" I don't have it!" I exclaim. "Already thought of that." Grandeeney pulls something from under her chair and puts it on the table. It was a pink bag with yellow stars. The type that you put on one shoulder and it hangs at your waist on the other side.

"I went out and bought it last night. Along with some notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, a sharpener, white-out, and a pencil case to keep all that in. It's already in the bag." Grandeeney informs. "Woah! You're the best!" I cheer. "But you really didn't have to spend your money on me." I add. "Don't worry about it, it was my pleasure. Though, I'm afraid you don't have your textbooks or any homework or stuff like that." Grandeeney pouts. "It's fine, I always keep my stuff in my locker." I say. "But what if you get homework?" She asks. "I finish it during lunch or even after school if necessary." I answer, "What a good student! If only Natsu was like that." She sighs.

Our conversation ends when we hear footsteps coming down the stairs. We look at the staircase to see Natsu in his uniform, well half of it.

He has the white button-up shirt but he doesn't have the beige school jacket, he has the beige slack, white socks, which for the boys only go up a little above the ankle, but instead of the brown fancy shoes the boys are given, he's wearing grey and white sneakers. Just another perk of being a Star Rank.

"Speak of the devil! Morning Natsu." "Hi Natsu." Grandeney and I greet him. He glares at me, picks up a black bag and starts walking to the door. "Natsu, why don't you walk to school with Lucy? She probably doesn't know how to get to school from here." Grandeeney suggests. "You can see the school from our house! She can't be that stupid." He objects. "Natsu..." Grandeeney says his name in a way that gives me shivers. "Natsu, doesn't walking to school together sound like something friends would do?" I rhetorically ask, emphasizing the 'friends' part. "FIne." Natsu gives in.

With my new bag, I quickly rush over to the door beside the pink haired boy. He opens the door and walks out. I follow, closing the door behind me.

"Sooo... I try to start a conversation. He doesn't say a word. "Is your hair natrurally pink? Cause I've never seen pink hair before." I stupidly ask. Still not a word. "Now that I think of it, we're in a lot of the same classes, aren't we?" "You said youwouldn't talk to me at school." He says. I look in front of me and we're already at the school. What a short walk!

"Well technically I said I have no intentions of being near your idiotic friends." I correct him, making him glare at me. "Whatever, I have to go meet up with somebody anyways." I say and walk away.

Ok, so that might have been a lie. I don't actually have to meet up with anybody. I don't really have any friends period. But no way in hell am I going to let Natsu know that. In my defense though, it's kinda hard to make friends when you're in the lowest rank. I make my way into the school, hoping Natsu doesn't see that I'm alone.

After School

As I leave the school building I spot Natsu already walking home. I quickly walk up to him, being glad that he's alone. "Natsu!" I call out. Hearing his name, he turns around to look at me, giving me a face of disgust. Clearly he doesn't want to see me right now, but who cares? Not me.

"What do you want?" He asks. "There's this new café I wanted to check out today." I inform him. "What does that have to do with me?" He asks, visually annoyed. "You're coming with me." I order him. "No way!" He shouts. " That's funny, you think you have a choice. I believe the second rule of our deal is that you have to hang out with me when I want, where I want." I remind him. He growls in response as we change direction and head towards the café. Point Lucy!

It was a small building. It definitely gave off that 'cute' vibe cafés have. We enter the café and casually take our seats, him with his back facing the door and me on the opposite side. It was one of those cushiony chairs that goes along like a bench. "This is nice." I awkwardly point out, trying to break the silence between us. " Don't you even think that this is anywhere near us being on a date." He randomly states. "Like I'd want it to be!" I snap at him.

Once a waitress comes up to us, I order myself a latte while Natsu orders himself a hot chocolate. Though, for some reason, he added 'extra hot' at the end of his order. Weirdo. As we wait for our drinks, a familiar figure enters the café.

I look a little longer at the familiar figure. "Fuck no." I curse out loud, when I realize who it is, getting a weird look from Natsu. I try slouching down in my seat, hoping HE won't notice me. Natsu raises an eyebrow at me as if he were looking at some crazy person. "What are you doing?" He asks. "Shhh! I'm hiding." I whisper, causing him even more confusion. The person finally looks my way and the one thing I didn't want to happen, happens. He notices me.

"Lulu!" He exclaims as he quickly makes his way up to me. "Stop calling me that, Dan!" I demand him. "But Lulu aren't we best friends? Best friends always give nicknames to each other." Dan explains. "No. We are most certainly not best friends. And I just said don't call me Lulu." I deny. "This oughta be interesting." Natsu says to nobody in particular, catching Dan's attention. "Lulu, what is HE doing here?" Dan asks, ignoring my previous statement and emphasizing the 'he'. "Uh, well..." I try coming up with an excuse but Dan continues speaking before I'm able to. "Don't tell me you two are on a date." He accuses. "NO WAY!" Both me and Natsu shout in unison, a little too loudly.

Dan sighs in relief. "Then I guess you wouldn't mind if I sit here too, right?" He rhetorically asks with some weird attitude, taking a seat next to me uninvited. Something tells me he doesn't believe me. "Hey Lucy, where did you end up staying?" Dan asks, referring to my burnt down house as he ignores Natsu's presence. "Um, my mom's friend's house." I answer, not giving a name so he doesn't find out I'm living with Natsu. "What's her name? Is she nice? When will I get to meet her? Is the house big enough for all of you?" Dan starts questioning me... more like interrogating me. "I... Uh..." I try to find the right words to say. "Why don't you back off and stop interrogating her!" Natsu unexpectedly snaps.

I mean, it does make sense that he doesn't want Dan asking those questions. No way in hell would Natsu want him to find out we live under the same roof. But he seriously thinks I can't handle the situation myself? Asshole. Still, I kinda just stare at him for a while. "Why do you care what I say to Lulu?" Dan asks defensively, slightly mad as he goes back to using the nickname. "She told you not to call her that."Natsu reminds Dan.

My gaze switches from Natsu to Dan and back to Natsu. "Why the hell are you being so protective of her? You're not her boyfriend!" Dan shouts. "Neither are you." Natsu points out. "Don't tell me you like her!" Dan assumes. 'God no! Why the hell would I like somebody like her? She's a N-Rank for Christ's sake!' That's what I was expecting to here from Natsu, but that's not close to what he said. "And if I did? What if we actually are on a date right now?" Natsu asks, making Dan angrier on purpose. What is happening right now? Why's Natsu saying these things? Does he really enjoy making others mad that much? "A Star Rank liking a Nameless Rank? Like I would believe that!" Dan says, having a pretty good point. "Would you believe me if I did this?"

Before I knew it, Natsu grabbed my hand and intertwined it with his, like a couple holding hands. "Wh-wha?" I all I managed to let out. I could pratically feel the smoke coming out of Dan's ear in anger. "That doesn't prove anything! I could totally see the annoyance of holding her hand in your eyes!" Dan says, like he wants to make it worse. That kinda hurt a little on the inside. "Well, what about this?" Natsu tugs on my hand, which makes me lean forward and all in one second, Natsu plants a kiss on my cheek.

WHAAAT?! This has got to slow down! We're only at chapter three! "You son of a-" Dan interrupts his own sentence as he jumps on Natsu. And just like that, the two are engrossed in a fight.

"Thanks a lot guys! Not only did you get us kicked out, but we're banned from the café!" I scold the two boys. "I'm sorry Lulu, but he was the one who started it!" Dan childishly pouts as he points to Natsu. "Oh really? I'm not the one who's too dumb to realize when somebody doesn't want them around." Natsu argues. "Both of you shut it!" I shout, making Dan go silent while Natsu lets out a 'hmph'. "Dan, go home." I order him, and he surprisingly listens. Sending one last glare at Nastu before he walks away.

"What the fuck was that?!" I yell at Natsu once Dan is out of sight. "What? He annoyed me." Natsu simply replies. "So because he annoys you, you get in a fight AND get us banned from a café?" He thinks about it for a while. "Yes?" He answers as if he were asking a question. "Why did he annoy you so much anyways?" I curiously ask. Natsu just shrugs. "I swear..."

I start walking back home and Natsu follows. "I just hope you aren't going to end up falling for me now." Natsu brings up out of the blue. "What do you mean?" I ask confused. "Duh, girls always fall for guys who just randomly kiss them. Don't you watch TV?" He states. "First of all, that makes no sense whatsoever. Second of all, even if it were true, I would never fall for you. And third of all, I have already completely erased the kiss from my mind." I fact. "I bet you enjoyed the kiss though." Natsu says after a few seconds of silence. "What kiss? I don't rememeber a kiss." "Liar." "Am not." "Are too." "Am not!" "Are too!" "Shut up." "Not if it annoys you." "God I hate you." "Don't worry sweetie, the feeling is mutual."

Sooo sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been really busy with school. But no need to worry, after my exams are finished, it's summer vacation and I can update more often. Sorry for any grammar mistakes. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I just wanted to introduce a possible rivalry between Dan and Natsu. Make things more interesting. Don't worry though, the kiss on the cheek certainly does not mean the story is coming even the slightest bit close to an end... Duh.

Review Corner

dianaloveanime: Well here it is!

Delirium0629: No problem, thanks for reviewing!

LoveDragonSlayer: Thanks, that's awesome! All shall be revealed eventually so don't worry.

That's all for now. Till next time, bye minna!

-Celestial Princess Lucy