CHAPTER 4: I confess
Walking into the library, Lucy silently looked around and saw that only a few students were there. Some were busy typing at the computer and some were just reading books. Sighing to herself, she felt relieved to see no familiar faces.
As she strolled around various shelves, Lucy scanned each spine of the book and then grabbed it when she found it interesting. When she had enough books in her arms, she immediately settled on a spot that was far from the door and windows, so that she wouldn't have to encounter anyone.
Minutes pass by and she had barely finished a page, in any book that she had gotten. Reading is her hobby but using it to distract her thoughts didn't help much. She'd open a book, read the first pages then she'll start zoning out. She'd begin to think about Lisanna and Natsu being together.
Groaning in annoyance, Lucy slams the book shut and pushes it away to the side. She'd then grab another book and quickly turns the page to locate the first chapter. The moment she sees the number one on top of the page, she'd try to read the first few lines. But to her dismay, she wouldn't understand the sentences as her brain keeps on going back to the idea of her best friend and close friend.
Grumbling again in her seat, Lucy shakes her head as she forces herself to focus. So engrossed in her task to focus on the book, Lucy wasn't able to notice that someone had finally sat in front of her. The student chuckles at her scowling look, causing her to startle.
"Sting?" Lucy astonishingly looked at the blonde boy, "What are you doing here?"
Sting lifts a book and showed it to the girl, "To read a book, just like you…" He then grinned, which Lucy quickly notices as a tease. Lucy then huffs in annoyance as she sits back on her chair and crosses her arms.
"What do you want?" Lucy irately questioned.
"Nothing," Sting shrugs his shoulders, "I just saw you here, and I thought I'd join you. Although, I'm wondering, shouldn't you be with your girl pals? I thought you were spending the recess with them?"
"I was," Lucy replied, rolling her eyes before she closed the book that she was trying to read. When she had placed the book on top of the other books she'd discarded, she then places her crossed arms over the table and rested her chin over it.
"So what happened? Why are you here alone?" Sting leaned forward too, copying her position.
"What do you mean what happened? Nothing happened..." Lucy then sits up straight, moving away from the blonde, and looked around the library. She then spots the librarian, eyeing her before doing the gesture for silence.
"I doubt that," Sting countered, sitting up straight as well and crossing his arms over his chest, "You won't leave your friends if nothing happened..."
Lucy kept mum and didn't respond back. But she gave a stinking eye at the boy, making him see how much she was getting annoyed with his insistence.
Sting then tries to save himself as he raises his hands in defeat, "I'm just saying…" Lucy raises a brow at him in response. So, Sting added, "I just think that you would most likely repeat what you did yesterday. Walking out,"
"Are you implying that I'm a walk-out person?" Lucy then scowls as she whispered it madly.
Sting stifles his laughter, "Maybe? I mean, I don't expect anything less than that,"
Lucy gritted her teeth as she glared at Sting, "You think you're funny? Just to be clear, you don't know anything about me and how I feel. So if I were you, stop asking and assuming, because you don't know anything."
Lucy then pushes her chair back, screeching loudly, making the librarian shush her. But with her annoyance, Lucy couldn't care less and just walked out of the library.
When Lucy walked off with evident anger on her face, Sting suddenly felt guilty. He thought to himself that maybe he had overstepped and miscalculated his teasing. He had the urge to run after the blonde to apologize. But after what he has done, he knew that the best move he can do for now is to leave Lucy alone.
CLASSROOM 3-A
As Mr. Conbolt gave lectures about the table of elements, Lucy returned to her spacing out. Her thoughts were back at Lisanna and Natsu and she kept on recalling how they had spent the summer together. She also started thinking about how she was just a spare companion for Natsu when Lisanna had left.
Meanwhile, completely oblivious to Lucy's self-deprecating thoughts, Natsu attentively listened in class. Until he notices that Lucy was not paying attention and that she was just gazing out the window.
Curious and bothered by the blonde's mood, Natsu suddenly taps Lucy's shoulder, causing her to jump in her seat. Natsu became even more curious, "Luce? Are you okay? You're spacing out," he whispered.
Lucy peeked over her shoulder and then looked away, pretending to listen. She then mumbles, "I'm fine. Don't mind me,"
"Don't mind you?" Natsu repeated, surprised that Lucy was brushing him off, "Why—what happened?" he whispered a little louder and with more conviction. Lucy then glares at the pinkette when suddenly their teacher called out to him.
"Dragneel! What element stands for K?"
Natsu was startled at the sudden call. He quickly stood up and stared at the board before he answered, "Potassium, sir."
"Okay, good. Next!" Mr. Conbolt shouted then proceeded to call another student.
When Natsu took his seat again, his eyebrows were furrowed, and immediately tipped close to the blonde girl, "Seriously, Lucy, what's gotten into you? Why are you—"
"Can you not?!" Lucy cuts off, as she turns around in her seat to grumble at the pinkette, "I said I'm fine."
Natsu then taken aback, slowly reclined in his chair. "Okay…I'm just worried. You never space out,"
Lucy grits her teeth and was about to make a comment when suddenly Mr. Conbolt calls her last name.
"Heartfilia! What element stands for Na?"
"Sodium, sir." Lucy quickly responds as she halfway stood up and then sits down when the teacher nods in approval.
"Okay, correct. Who else haven't I called?" Mr. Conbolt then looked down at his class list.
When the teacher's attention was no longer with her, Lucy turned a little towards the pinkette and muttered, "Well I do now. So, please mind your own business," Lucy then sharply turns away and completely ignored him.
After 15 more minutes of listening in class, the bell finally rang to indicate their lunch break. Soon enough, Mr. Conbolt gave his last instructions before leaving the room. The students then bowed as they bid goodbye to their teacher. When Natsu stood up straight after, he was startled to see that Lucy was no longer in front of him. He sprints out of the room and looked around the hallway, but it was filled with students coming out of their own classrooms.
He then thought to himself, Where'd you go, Lucy? Why are you so mad?
School Cafeteria
As Natsu walks inside the cafeteria along with other students, he immediately looked around if any of his friends were already there. But to his dismay, none of his friends were there yet. So, he decides to find a table for them instead. When he found one, he immediately removed his scarf and laid it over the other chairs, like he was reserving it.
While waiting, Natsu pulled out his phone and began fumbling with it. Soon enough, Gray and Gajeel spotted him and slowly approached him. As they placed their meal trays on the table, Gray immediately teased the pinkette as he takes the seat next to him. "Look at flame-brain, busy texting his girlfriend,"
Gajeel then sniggers along with the other raven-haired boy, "His face is all scrunched up. I bet he doesn't know how to woo a girl," the boys then laughed, making Natsu look up from his phone and glare at them.
"The two of you, shut up," Natsu then looked down at his phone again and began typing, "That's not what I'm even doing,"
"If you're not texting your girlfriend, then why do you look constipated?" Gajeel then snorts as Natsu threw a dagger-look at him, while Gray bellowed in laughter.
"Gajeel shut the fuck up," Natsu then ignored him again as he focused on his phone.
"Hey, iron-face, if flame-brain here called you by your name, I think it's a sign to leave him alone..." Gray then grinned at the pinkette, who still kept his attention on his phone. "He's probably trying to ask Lisanna out on a date and he's having trouble writing it down,"
Natsu suddenly breaks his attention from his phone to stare at his friends, "I said that's not what I'm doing. This has nothing to do with Lisanna."
The two then looked at each other and then back at Natsu, "Then who?" they said at the same time.
"Lucy..." Natsu mumbles as he looks down at his phone then sigh. He then slams his phone on the table and grunts, "I had to text her because before class ended, she was fuming in anger with me. It's like I did something to her when I just asked if she was okay,"
Gray and Gajeel then raised their brow at the pinkette, then Gray comments, "If Lucy was mad at you, most probably, you did fucked up,"
Gajeel then laughs at the boy and Natsu was about to retort back. When suddenly, their other friends finally arrived. Natsu quickly made a quick attendance check. Jellal was finally with them, talking with Erza, while Cana and Lisanna chattered away. Levy and Juvia were behind them, muttering among themselves.
When Levy was close by, Natsu quickly stood up and approached her. "Hey, Levy, have you seen Lucy?"
Levy looked at the pinkette and bit the inside of her cheeks, "Um, no. Sorry,"
"Can you contact her or something?" Natsu then looked around the mess hall as he hoped to find the blonde.
"If you had a fight with Lucy, maybe it's best that you let Lucy alone first. She'll come around when she's fine," Levy then consoles the pinkette by tapping on his shoulder. She then takes a seat next to Gajeel.
"Is she avoiding me or something?" Natsu asks no one in particular as he watched his friends settle on their seats.
As the others tried to ignore his worried look, Natsu kept trying to look around the cafeteria. Until, a hand brushes his arm, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Hey," Lisanna whispered and slowly held his hand, "Don't worry about Lucy. She probably just wants to be alone right now," she then smiles at the pinkette but the boy couldn't help but still be worried.
"But why?" Natsu mutters back, looking down at their hands, "She's been acting differently to me since yesterday. She probably hates me or something,"
Lisanna then squeezes his hand, "Come on now, don't think like that. Just leave Lucy alone for now. She'll get her head straight when she feels better,"
Erza suddenly clears her throat, grabbing the duo's attention, "It's not that Lucy's not thinking straight. But Lucy probably just has some things to sort out on her own,"
Jellal then nods his head, "Don't misinterpret people's change of mood as acting irrational,"
Lisanna then gave a tight smile as she felt like she was being reprimanded, "I didn't mean it that way…"
"Sure," Cana mumbles to herself, but the silver-haired girl still catches it and tilts her head.
"You know what?" Juvia quickly interrupts as she notices the growing tension, "Juvia thinks that everyone should just take their seats so we could all eat. Natsu-san, why don't you and Lisanna grab your lunch?"
"Chop-chop, let's eat our lunch together," Cana then grins at Lisanna and Natsu, who later nods their head and leaves. But as soon as they turned their backs, Cana's smile turned sarcastically, and then she grunts.
"Cana-chan!" Juvia then calls out, as she pinches the side of the brunette, "Control yourself,"
"Oh, come on. I was just bantering with them," Cana then smirked as the girls roll their eyes at her, while the boys smirked.
"Sure," Gray copied the tone of the brunette, moments ago, and the brunette laughed.
"Ayy!" Cana points with amusement, "You're getting the joke!" the two then laugh as the others moan in exasperation and amusement.
LUCY'S POV
Right when the bell rang for lunch and we bid goodbye to our teacher, I immediately left my spot to hide away. I didn't have the energy to deal with Natsu, knowing that he'll be trying to talk to me again. As of now, I didn't want to see or talk to him.
Given that I only have a few seconds to hide, I quickly inserted myself in the next room and hide behind the wall. Right there and then, I heard his heavy steps and sprinted back and forth in the hall, looking for someone.
Is he looking for me?
Natsu then sprinted further and exited the corridor. When he had disappeared, I peeked over the jarred door and doubled check. I then sighed as I felt a little relieved.
When Natsu kept asking questions during class, I reached the point of getting pissed off. I wasn't feeling good anymore, having those intrusive thoughts about him and Lisanna, then Sting reiterating to me that I'm bothered about something, I just snapped. I couldn't pretend that I was okay. So, I just had to avoid him.
I then clenched the front of my uniform as I felt a familiar pang in my chest. I suddenly thought about Lisanna, clinging to Natsu and consoling him.
"Lu-chan?" a voice calls, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Levy-chan," I said as I recognize my friend.
"What are you doing there?" Levy asked as she stared at me standing behind a wall. She then looked around the corridor before she took a step closer to me, "Are you hiding?"
My eyes then bulges in surprise as I pulled Levy even closer, "Shhh—" I then looked around and saw the other girls heading towards the exit of the corridor. I hid again, "Yes, I'm hiding from Natsu...I don't want to see him right now."
"What? Why? What did he do?" Levy asked.
"It's…it's complicated. I have this weird feeling about being around Lisanna and Natsu together. I don't think I can handle that right now," I then loosen my grip on Levy's hand. But as I dropped her hands, she quickly grabs my hands and squeezed them back.
"Take your time, Lu-chan. After all the confession that happened yesterday and today, I understand why you're feeling like this."
I then smiled at her as she wraps me in her arms. Soon enough, Levy left and followed the other girls toward the mess hall, while I headed toward the library.
School Library
As Lucy busily does her paper works, she could hear her phone ring, indicating that she's receiving a message. But she wasn't in the mood to deal with that and focused her attention instead on her work.
Being immersed in her task, she wasn't able to notice that someone had sat in front of her, not until she heard her name,
"Hey, Lucy..."
Lucy looked up and staggered to see Sting in front of her, waiting for her to respond. "Why are you here in the library again?" she asked, "It's lunchtime, shouldn't you be at the cafeteria?"
"I should ask you that too," Sting smiled teasingly, "Have you eaten lunch already?"
Lucy stared for a moment, baffled at the boy's concern, before she shrugs her shoulders, "No, I haven't. But I'm not hungry,"
"I see…" Sting said as he nods his head. He then pulls out his worksheet book, "Well, I did…just wanted you to know,"
Lucy then snorts, finding the blonde boy a little ridiculous. But either way, found it amusing.
"So, what are you doing here?" Sting asks again as he leaned forward to peek at her desk.
"Doing my homework," Lucy said as she raised an eyebrow at him, "What are you doing here?"
Sting then spans his arms over his things and showed his worksheet booklet, pencils, and calculator, "Doing my seatwork,"
"You do realize that that seatwork is due right now," Lucy smirked mischievously at the blonde, who just chuckles back.
"Why do you think I'm working on it now?"
Lucy then chuckles along as she shakes her head in disbelief. Soon, they fell into a comfortable silence and did what they said they were doing. When nearly half an hour had passed, Sting puts down his pencil and just watched the blonde.
"Staring at me won't make you figure out the answer that you have been trying to solve," Lucy mutters as she kept her eyes on her paper. Sting then sniggers, knowing that he'd been busted by the blonde.
"I know…It's just that, I have been meaning to tell you something," Sting then went silent as he waited for the blonde to look up at him. When Lucy did with a tilt of her head, he continued, "Do you remember when I said this morning that I wanted to get to know the girl that I liked?"
"Uhm," Lucy nods, putting down her pen to listen intently, "What about it?"
Sting then looked nervous as he fumbled with his pencil. Seeing the boy act the way he did, Lucy couldn't help but furrow her brows. But she waited for him to continue.
"Well, I'll tell you who it is," Sting sheepishly smiled as Lucy beamed in amusement.
"Okay," Lucy then sat up straight, when suddenly, Sting handed her a paper flower.
"I know we're not that close, for me to just tell you this. But I realized, there is no best way or best time to become honest with someone. So…"
Lucy was then confused as she stared at the paper flower laying on her desk. She then looked back at Sting as he sighed, gathering courage.
"I like you, Lucy…I have been, since last year. I'm finally taking my friend's advice that I should confess,"
"Confess?" Lucy repeats, astounded.
"Yes, I'm confessing. I like you very much, Lucy Heartfilia. I really do,"
Lucy was then left dumbfounded as she was at a loss for words. They stared at each other until Sting broke into a gentle smile.
Say, what?!
To be continued…
