Lucy Hearfilia laid in a bed three times too large for her with her eyes closed yet fully awake. The empty space in her bed suffocated her and the sound her clock's tick echoed in her heartbeat's thud. After what could have been two minutes, or two hours, Lucy got out of bed and walked across the room to her desk. Her desk was handcrafted out of ivory and intricate designs were carved into the legs of the table. Lucy felt nervous with a hint of melancholy so she began to do the only thing that could help settle her nerves. She got out a clean piece of paper and a pen and began to write.

Dear Mom,
I am starting my Sophmore year at Fairy Academy this year. I am feeling kind of nervous right now and I know that if you were here then you would know exactly what to say. Truth is, I don't know what I am so nervous about, after all, I can't wait to see all my friends again-

Lucy smiled at the thought of her friends. She had not seen them all summer due to the trip to Europe she took over the summer. She had to admit that it stung seeing all her friends together on social media but she did not blame them. It was not their fault her summer was taken up by fancy overseas business parties.

I made a lot of great friends after I transferred halfway through freshman year. I am sure you would have loved to meet them, Mom. I expected to have a hard time finding friends due to my late start however, that was not the case at all. I made friends with the most beautiful girl I have ever met, Mirajane Strauss.

Lucy thought of her friend Mira, she was kind and beautiful, everything Lucy wanted to be. But behind her kind words and a beaming smile, she too knew the tragedy of losing family. Mira's younger sister, Lisanna, was killed in a freak accident when Mira was twelve and her sister was nine. She had learned about Lisanna's tragic end on the third anniversary of her death. On that day, everyone wore purple in remembrance of Lisanna. When Lucy had asked about the occasion, someone had told her that Lisanna had found a baby dove on the ground and decided to put it back in its nest. While she was climbing the tree, a branch snapped and she fell to the ground where she was impaled by a fallen branch. They said that the odds of her landing on the branch at just the right angle to kill her was one in a million. The story haunted Lucy and from that day forward, whenever Lucy saw a dove, she felt her stomach drop.

I also made friends with a girl named Levy McGarden. You would've liked her a lot. Like me, she shares my passion of reading and writing. We were thinking about starting a creative writing club at our school this year, actually.

Levy was the first friend that she had made when she transferred. Levy was working at the front office the morning Lucy transferred and noticed that Lucy looked lost. Levy asked if she was new and Lucy had replied yes. Levy walked her to her first class and offered Lucy to eat lunch with her and her friends.

Two of my closest friends are Gray and Erza. Last year, we all had our first period and lunch together. Our teacher was harsh and the subject was boring but it was the best part of my day. We always did projects together and met up at the local cafe near the school.

Erza is a grade ahead and the school council president - all the students respected and feared her. Gray is the carefree slacker who always props his feet up on the desk in front of them. Lucy never imagined she would be able to have friends like them. She smiled as she remembered all the fun they had in their first class together, Juvia's constant declarations of love that Gray never took seriously, going to the mall, and just hanging out after school.

However, never would I have had the friends and the adventures if it wasn't for my best friend, Natsu Dragneel.

Lucy paused and reread her sentence several times. Her best friend Natsu Dragneel. While Levy was her first friend, Natsu introduced her to all her other friends. He always made her feel included in everything that they did. She went over to his house almost on a weekly business, whether it was to study for an upcoming test or just to hang out.

Lucy began to reminisce on how they met. It was her second week of school and she still only had one friend Levy. It was fine, she really only needed one. The teacher called for a group project and wanted everyone in groups of four. Lucy figured that she would just join Levy, Jet, and Droy, that is until the teacher decided that she would assign the groups. Lucy still remembers the groups that the teacher had called out.

"Levy, Gajeel, Cana, and Juvia"

"Jellal, Mira, Laxus, and Bickslow"

"Freed, Reedus, Evergreen, and Mest"

"Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Erza"

Immediately Natsu and Gray jumped out of the chair and yelled out, "WHY WITH HIM?"

After being scolded by Erza the quietly shrank back down into their seat. Afterward, the teacher gave them time to sit down and begin working on their projects.

"So who's this Lucy chick anyway?" Natsu said scanning the class.

"I sit right next to you, flame brain!" Lucy said in a tone harsher than she had meant.

"Chill dude, I thought your name was Luigi or something like that," Natsu said smiling.

They did not get a lot of work done the rest of the day and decided that they would have to meet up at Natsu's house later that day to get work done. Levy had come up to her at the end of class and apologized saying that her schedule got changed and that she could not sit with Lucy for lunch because she had library aid for the rest of the semester. Lucy smiled and said it was alright but could not help but to feel if she was back at square one, lonely girl with no friends.

When she walked into the courtyard for lunch, Natsu immediately called her over to come sit with him. When Lucy asked why he invited her, he merely smiled and said
"Were friends right?"

"Right."

Later that day when she got into the car of the Hearfilia driver, she told him to take her to Natsu's house instead of her own.

"Has my lady finally made friends?" the driver asked raising an eyebrow.

"Kinda," Lucy said, "we're just doing a project is all."

She got to his house at the same time as Erza and Gray. Erza reached over to ring the doorbell and then they waited in silence for a few moments. After a couple of seconds, a boy with jet black hair and piercing black eyes opened the door. Lucy began to panic as she thought that they had all mistakenly gone to the wrong place
until Gray said, "Hey Zeref, is Natsu home?"

Zeref sighed and opened the door to let them into the living room. "That idiot just ran off to the store with Wendy. He'll be back in about ten minutes. You can wait
here I guess."

"Zeref? Whose here? Some of Natsu's friends?" a girl's voice called.

"Something like that," Zeref called back.

Lucy went over to the source of the voice and saw a girl with blonde hair laying on the couch holding a video game controller. Instantly Lucy recognized her.

"Ha you didn't pause the game and now I am way ahead of you," the girl said smiling.

"You need all the head start you can get," Zeref said sitting down and picking up the other controller.

"You're Mavis Vermillion!" Lucy exclaimed. "As in, the valedictorian of your grade and captain of the volleyball team with a full ride to all the top colleges?
Friends with Yuri, Precht, and Warrod? You're practically perfect!"

Mavis smiled, "I am nowhere near perfect and a lot of those rumors are just exaggerations anyway."

Suddenly the door to the garage opened and Natsu burst inside.

"I'm back! And I bought supplies to help us complete our project! Oh, hey Mavis!"

A young girl came in the door behind Natsu helping him bring in some of the supplies.

"Oh Lucy, this is my cousin Wendy who lives with us while her mother is working in another country," Natsu said introducing them.

"Nice to meet you!" Wendy said smiling.

That memory of working together all night on a project was one of Lucy's favorites. For the first time ever, she had learned what it was like to have friends. Lucy looked back down at the letter she was writing to her mom. She no longer felt nervous, just relaxed.

Thank you, Mom, for always calming me down. Even though you are not here, I know that you are watching me.

Love,

Lucy.

Lucy then fell asleep at her desk after signing her name.