Chapter 1

Levy sat on a bench reading, trying to calm her nerves while waiting for her best friend. A new school year was always so exciting, especially because this was the start of her senior year, and because she would be going to a new school.

"Levy! Sorry I'm late!"

The small girl looked up from her book to see Lucy bounding towards her, out of breath, wearing a school uniform that matched her own.

"Hey Lu!" Levy replied, throwing her arms around the girl she hadn't seen all summer. "I missed you! You have to tell me all about your trip…and this new boyfriend of yours" Levy said slyly watching her best friend get flustered.

"Geeze Lev! You're acting like I haven't told you anything!"

Levy let out a laugh, knowing Lucy wasn't one to skimp on details. The texts she sent during the break could have been novels. Lucy had spent the summer vacationing in Hargeon when she had met Natsu who had helped her out with an aggressive creep who wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Lucy had treated Natsu to lunch as a thank you, and something had just clicked between the two of them and they became inseparable.

"C'mon Lu, you've told me about Natsu but not about what your dad thinks of him."

"Well, he's not happy. You know him, always trying to set me up with the son of one of his business partners. So he wasn't too pleased when Natsu picked me up for our first date. But I think that he'd thought it would just be like a summer romance. Then he learned that Natsu was from Magnolia, so that annoyed him. But he figured it's a big city and we're both in our senior year so we'd be too busy to see each other. That was until Natsu opened his big mouth and talked about how the all boys and all girls schools would be combined starting this year," Lucy said, sighing heavily. "To say he was mad is an understatement, but what's he going to do? It's not like he's going to transfer me out of the best school in the country my senior year because of some boy."

Levy nodded sympathetically as her friend finished. "I'm sorry Lu, that can't be fun to deal with. Hopefully his mind will change the more he gets to know Natsu."

"Maybe," Lucy replied, the skepticism clear on her face.

"C'mon, let's get going," Levy said cheerfully, tucking her book away. "I can't wait to meet him! Will he be waiting at the school gate?"

"You see…about that-"

"There you are Luce!" a loud voice cried out interrupting Lucy.

This loud voice belonged to a guy with equally loud pink hair, who had thrown an arm around Lucy's shoulders and was grinning broadly.

Levy assumed that this must be Natsu, as she noted that he only seemed to have eyes for Lucy and had not seemed to notice she was there too.

"Geeze Natsu! Don't scare me like that!" Lucy exclaimed, confirming Levy's suspicions. "Also, you're being rude," Lucy said, gesturing towards Levy.

"Sorry about that!" Natsu said laughing and not the least bit ashamed for interrupting their conversation. "I'm Natsu, it's nice ta' meet ya'! You must be Levy!" Natsu said, sticking out his free arm.

Slightly surprised Levy took the outstretched hand, shaking it. "Wow, I had no idea Lucy talked about me so much to you."

"Oh year, Lucy goes on about you all the time. I feel like I already know ya. But I recognized you from the pictures."

Confused, Lucy looked up at Natsu and said "I don't think I showed you any photos of Levy."

A perplexed Levy opened her mouth to ask Natsu to explain what he meant when arms wrapped around her middle and lifted her from the ground.

"Levy! I missed you!" a mole voice said into her ear.

"No fair Jet! We agreed to greet Levy at the same time!"

"Sorry Droy," the voice holding a wiggling Levy said. "I got so excited when I saw her I had to run ahead."

"Jet! Put me down!" an annoyed Levy demanded. "I just saw you two yesterday, and I spent my whole summer with you! Why are you acting like it's been months since we've seen each other?"

"Aw Levy, don't be like this," Jet said, holding on to Levy even tighter. "We're just excited that we'll be going to the same school again! And this is the first time we get to see you in your uniform in person!"

Droy, who had caught up with the group, was nodding along in agreement. "This is the first time we've gone to the same school since we were kids!

"I'm excited too guys, but that doesn't mean you have the right to grab me like this!" protested a squirming Levy who was now trying to slide her way down through Jet's arms.

"Levy! Your skirt!" Lucy warned as Natsu began to move towards Jet.

Before he could reach them, Levy saw a tall figure out of the corner of her eye meld from the shadows next to them. A (very muscular Levy noticed) arm reached out in front of her as Levy felt a hand slide between her back and Jet's front, pushing on his chest separating the two.

Pitching forward, Levy grabbed onto the arm in front of her and was surprised she didn't fall forward nearly as much as she expected to. Levy noticed that the muscles in the forearm flexed in order to keep her as upright as possible and felt a strong hand place itself between her shoulder blades to steady her.

"You okay?" a gruff voice asked.

Levy looked up at the individual who had helped her and noticed several things. First, she was surprised how far back she had to tilt her head to look at his face. Now Levy knew she wasn't the tallest person, but she had to be about a foot taller than her. Secondly, he had the longest hair she had seen that also had amazing volume. 'How does he manage that?' she wondered. Third, he had a surprising amount of facial piercings, but none of them took away from how handsome he was. Fourth, he was not making eye contact with her but staring directly behind her. And fifth, she was still clinging to his arm.

Quickly letting go and stepping back, Levy was able to mumble and embarrassed "Yeah." Before she could thank him he stuffed his hand into his pockets, allowing Levy to notice he also had piercings in his arms, and turned towards Jet.

"Oi! I don't give a fuck if she's ya girlfriend, you can't man handle people like that if they're saying no. And you!" he said turning towards Droy, "Being a fucking bystander is nearly as bad. Don't enable that shit."

Before either boy could respond he pushed right by them, shoulder checking both in the process. As grateful as Levy was for the help, and as annoyed as she was with her two best friends, she felt as if that final action was unnecessary.

"Hey!" Levy yelled at his back.

Ignoring her the tall figure lumbered off down the street, causing Levy to feel less grateful and more annoyed. Turning to have the other two boys who had also annoyed her, she opened her mouth to tell them off when she noticed both were completely red in the face and staring off into the distance.

"Oh wow. I think they short circuited," Natsu said amused.

"What? Why?"

"You see Lev," a blushing Lucy said, placing a protective arm around her smaller friend. "Right as you were trying to break free and Gajeel, um, helped…well-"

"Everyone saw your panties." Natsu said nonchalantly as he hooked an arm each around Jet and Droy's necks, dragging them off towards the school. "I'm just going to have a quick word with these bozos. See you at school!"

"Natsu!" Lucy chided as a thoroughly embarrassed Levy hid her face in her hands.