Lucy entered a room filled with stone-topped lab tables facing a battered oak desk and a blackboard beyond. The tables stood in two rows, each table set up with two dissection trays and four stools. Lucy snagged an unoccupied stool and watched as all the other students came in to take their place.
"Good morning class." The teacher said. "Today we have a new student joining us for the year. Her name is Lucy Heartfilia. I trust that you all will make her feel very welcome."
Lucy smiled and waved to her classmates. They all smiled and waved at her in return, though she knew not all of them wanted to be friendly. Some of them, mainly boys, instantly wanted to try their luck at scoring a date with her and maybe even second base. The others, mainly the girls, were drawn to her extremely stylish and expensive looking outfit. She was wearing clothes that weren't even in the mall yet and if you were a witch, that would be no surprise because Lucy's ability to read fortunes always made her the first customer to know when the latest fashions were coming out. But one student was hiding ill will behind her smile and that was Minerva.
Already she decided that something had to be done about Lucy. For starters she was Juvia's cousin, then there was the fact that she was pretty, obviously rich, and already getting popular. That meant only two things, she could either be Minerva's friend or her rival.
"Alright everyone, find a partner for today's experiment." The teacher said.
All students stood up and began to search the room for a partner. Minerva approached Lucy and put on her best fake, sweet, smile.
"Hi." She said.
"Hello." Lucy said.
"I'm Minerva. Since you're new here, I'm going to make it my personal goal to ensure you end up in the in crowd."
"Um...Thank you."
"So where did you transfer from?"
"Europe."
"Impressive, and that outfit you're wearing is to die for. Where did you get it?"
"I'm close friends with a designer in Milan."
"OMG my friends are going to love you. Would you like to have lunch with us?"
"Sure. Can I bring my cousins?"
"That depends."
"On what?"
"Which one do you want to bring?"
"Both of them."
"Sorry that's not going to work. I mean if your cousin who is also new is coming then we can work with that. But if you're talking about Juvia, then that's a big no."
"Why? What's wrong with Juvia?"
Minerva chuckled.
"Oh come on, you know what I'm talking about. You're related to her."
"Humor me, won't you?" Lucy said getting irritated. "Just what is so wrong with my cousin?"
"Well she's a total embarrassment. A freak of nature. Everyone in this school says so."
"Probably because of people like you I'm sure." Lucy said.
"People like me?" Minerva said. "You mean people who understand how the world works and tries to keep everything in order?"
"No, people who lack any form of human feeling and thrive on the misery of others." Lucy said. "Thanks for the offer Minerva, but I wouldn't want to be in any crowd who bullies or ostracizes Juvia."
"Watch yourself Lucy, you're on the verge of popularity here. Don't blow it by having a pity for a loser."
"She's not a loser! She's my family! And the fact that you just automatically expect me to turn around and treat her like garbage says a whole lot about you, and I don't think you're a person I want to associate with."
With that said, Lucy turned to her heels and went to find a different lab partner. Shortly afterward, she met a thin girl with a mountain of wavy brown hair.
"Genius." She told Lucy. "That was genius."
"What was?"
"Turning down Minerva, you're literally the first person to do that." She said in approval. "And here I thought I was the only one at this school with the guts to tell her how it is. I'm Cana by the way. Cana Alberona."
"Lucy Heartfilia."
"I know. Miss Russo announced it. Remember?"
"Oh right."
"And you're Juvia's cousin, right?"
"Yes. That's not a problem is it?"
"No. I like Juvia. She's the only person in this school besides myself who treats my cousin like a human being."
"And your cousin is who?"
"Well you've probably met him already. He follows Juvia around like a puppy dog. Dark hair, glasses, eyes with two different colors."
"You mean Gray?"
"Yep."
"Huh...Not much family resemblance."
"You should talk, you don't look a thing like Juvia."
"Touché."
"So do you wanna be lab partners?"
"Sure."
The two girls moved to unoccupied seats in front of the dissection tray. As they put down their backpacks, something spilled out of Cana's. It was a pack of cards that spread out onto the floor, and she quickly went to gather them up before they all noticed. Lucy bent down to help her and she quickly learned that these were tarot cards.
"You do tarot card readings?" She asked.
"It's a private hobby of mine." Cana said looking embarrassed. "We're gypsies on my dad's side of the family and I guess I picked up a few traits from that side. I know, pretty weird."
"No way. I think that's cool."
"You do?" Cana replied in surprise.
"Yes. Astrology is literally my whole life so I love stuff like this. Tarot readings, palm readings, fortune tellers, the whole nine yards."
"No kidding. It is such a nice change for someone to see me with these cards and not look at me like I'm a demon or something."
"So if you don't mind me asking, how come you're attending a public school? I thought gypsies were mostly homeschooled."
"Well my dad's a gypsy but my mom wasn't and after I was born, my parents thought it would be best if I had a 'normal' upbringing. But to perfectly honest, I think I would have preferred living the gypsy life. I mean traveling all over the world, seeing new places and meeting new people, getting paid to dance, sing, and pull tricks. Who wouldn't like that?"
"I can see the appeal." Lucy nodded. "What about Gray? Is he as enthusiastic about your culture as you are?"
"Not exactly. His mother, my Aunt Mika, was the gypsy in their family but he takes more after his father's side."
"And what's his father's side of the family like?"
"Well Uncle Silver was in the business of wildlife conservation, so Gray is really into biology, ecology, and zoology."
"Interesting. He doesn't come off as the animal rights activist type."
"Well he's not like a crazy hippie or a radical environmentalist. He wants to protect wildlife in a legal and business way like his father did. Uncle Silver didn't approve of things like eco-terrorism or just releasing animals from the zoo, right into the city. He hired lawyers and used the legal system to do what was best for the animals."
"Sounds like a smart man."
"He was. Dad didn't like him at first, thought he was too conservative to join the family, but he eventually warmed up to him after he got him his dream job as a kick boxer."
"Your dad is kick boxer?"
"The best in the business, and it's much more profitable than his original career of selling a bottle of Dr. Good."
"So your dad used to be a con artist?"
"I guess dancing for coins and fortune telling just wasn't his thing." Cana shrugged which made Lucy chuckle a little.
"Alright everyone, that's enough partner choosing." Miss Russo said. "Let's get started on our lesson now."
They would be dissecting a frog, which reminded Lucy of the little stunt she pulled back at the academy. Thank goodness this was just a regular frog instead of one of the magical instructors she had transformed. Still the idea of cutting open a dead amphibian and digging around in its organs made her feel sick to her stomach. Now you may find this very odd considering that Lucy was a witch and witches often do things like make potions with eye of newt and toe of frog, but Lucy was never particularly comfortable with that part of the job.
"So should I make the first incision or you?" Cana asked picking up the scalpel.
"I don't know if I want to do this." Lucy said. "I'm mean I've never touched anything dead before."
"If it helps, there's no blood in this thing."
"It doesn't."
Speaking of blood, at that very moment, there came a scream from down the hall. Concerned, Miss Russo got up from her seats and looked out the doorway to see several girls running from the ladies's room. Miss Russo quickly stopped one of them to get some answers.
"Amy what's wrong?"
"There's a bat in the girls bathroom!" The girl practically shrieked out. "It just came flying through the window and getting in our faces!"
"A bat?" Miss Russo said, confused. "Flying around in a public bathroom, in the middle of the day? That's not in their usual nature."
"I swear it's true!" Amy insisted. "It was small, and hairy, and blood thirsty, and...kind of stupid looking."
"How is a bat stupid looking?"
"It had a pink mohawk."
A fearful look crossed Lucy face when he heard the description.
"It can't be." She thought. "There's no way."
But she still felt the need to slip out of the classroom and into the restroom to make sure that her suspicions were wrong.