Coming into class that next morning, Lucy had a smug smirk on her face as she kept having giggle attacks. Friends and classmates gave her looks of worry and confusion as she entered the nearly empty room and sat down, burying her head into her arms to laugh into them.

Levy and Cana once again, exchanged looks and approached the blonde, wondering what had made her so giddy so early in the morning. She wasn't usually a morning person and for her to come in yesterday with such a sour attitude and then come in this morning with such a wide grin and giggles bubbling out of her, they felt like they had to worry.

"Hey, Lucy, what's up?"

"Why are you laughing so much?"

"I—I'm laughing?" Lucy replied, still shaking in her seat as she giggled softly. "I'm not laughing!"

"Lucy, we know how weird you are and all but wow, what is wrong with you?"

The blonde just shook her head and continued to laugh silently by herself as Levy and Cana gave her an odd look. Just then, the class became utterly silent as a certain jock came and stood by the doorway. Unusual for him to be in this part of the school considering his homeroom was on the other side, they all stared at him in wonder and awe.

His dark orbs scanned across the room with an unreadable expression on his face and when he found his target, he burned holes through the back of her head.

Feeling as if someone was staring at her, Lucy sat up straight and looked up at her two friends who were busy staring at the doorway to even properly acknowledge her. Furrowing her brows, Lucy turned in her seat to see why everyone had grown quiet and why her friends were staring at something as if it was unusual and seeing her house mate standing by the doorway with his eyes directly on hers, she now knew why the atmosphere felt so tense and why she felt like someone was trying to kill her with their eyes.

He gave her a glare and pointed at her, curling his fingers towards him to make her raise her brow.

"Why is Dragneel asking for you?" Cana leaned in to whisper to Lucy as he just turned and stepped out of the doorway.

"I.. I don't know," Lucy answered honestly, slowly standing from her seat.

"Do you think he's going to confess?" Levy whispered over and Lucy felt her cheeks glow red with her blush.

"As if!"

Walking over to the doorway ignoring everyone's stares and whispers, Lucy found Natsu leaning against the wall by her classroom door with an annoyed expression. He had his arms crossed his chest with a bag clutched in his hands and once she approached him, he turned back around and sighed in frustration.

"Go grab your gym clothes."

"My... gym clothes?" She asked but she didn't get a response. She only received a hard cold look and she quickly nodded, returning back to her seat to have everyone murmur and whisper about her. Most of them looked a bit frightened for her but then a lot of them were pretty jealous that the famous Natsu Dragneel was speaking to her.

Not like she wanted him to anyways. He was back to being his brute self and she hated how he ruined her mood so quickly.

Grabbing her gym bag, Lucy noticed that it felt a bit more full than usual. Unraveling the bag to peek inside, Lucy immediately noticed the men's gym clothes that were folded and stuffed neatly into the bag. Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, she pulled the tab and looked down at it to notice it had Natsu's name instead of hers.

"Hurry up!" She heard Natsu shout from outside, making her click her tongue in disapproval and file out of the classroom. He didn't even give her a warning or anything as he whirled around and stormed off, forcing her to follow him down the hall and all the way out to the field where it was only him and her.

She tried her best not to look into the surprised faces of her peers who saw her tailing after a frustrated Natsu. She kept her head down the majority of the time, feeling the tips of her ears burn at the amount of attention that was being thrown her way. But this wasn't even her fault and there was no reason for Natsu to be mad at her when he's the one who approached her in the first place and now made a big scene in front of everyone.

They ended up by the large oak tree that stood by the corner away from the soccer field, giving them the freedom and space to speak freely without prying eyes or judgmental ears listening in.

Once Natsu whirled around, he thrusted his bag out to her while he snatched the one in her hands, causing her to jump slightly at the way he was being so aggressive and fast with it. With her gym bag pressed against her chest, she blinked up at him as he scowled at her.

"This is so annoying." He hissed, looking around in frustration, trying to ensure nobody else was around. "I bet my mom did this on purpose."

"You could have just worn it." Lucy shrugged as she held onto hers tightly. This caught his attention as his dark orbs shifted to look at her, a look of disbelief on his face.

" What?"

"I mean, if it's so annoying, you could have just worn mine. Who cares if you wear a girl's gym clothes? You're familiar with girl clothes, aren't you?"

She couldn't hold back the smirk on her face as Natsu looked a bit taken back. He furrowed his brows and glanced back down at her gym clothes to her face, wondering what she meant by that. He didn't question it though as she giggled and suddenly pulled something out of her school shirt pocket.

Presenting a photo towards the male, Natsu stared at it with wide eyes.

"Cute, huh?" Lucy said, looking at him and back at the baby picture of the male, a wide grin on her face. "I found it yesterday."

His eyes darted from Lucy to the photo until his arm shot out to try and grab it but with Lucy being too fast for him, yanked it away from his reach.

"Where'd you get that from?!" He shouted as he lunged for her and Lucy squealed, running around the large oak tree with Natsu right on her tail. Waving her hand in the air, she ran from place to place to dodge the jock who tried stealing the photo back from her, shouts of anger echoing in the empty yard. "Give me that back, damn it! That's mine!"

"Not anymore!"

"Give it to me!" He groaned as he tried snatching it from her hands but Lucy pulled away, screaming.

"No!"

"Give it!"

Squealing and running around for a few more minutes, she stopped right by the oak tree, holding her hand up between them to cease his movements. "Wait, wait—I'll give it to you... under one condition."

"Condition?" He echoed, panting lightly as Lucy nodded. "What condition?"

"I want you to be a bit nicer to me."

"Why would I do something like that?"

With a small huff, Lucy gave him a hard look with her cheeks puffed out. Natsu didn't seem to fold with her stare so she rolled her eyes and yanked the photo back out of her pocket. "Hey guys! Look!" Lucy cried out as she turned around and waved the photo in the air to the windows where her classmates all watched, face pressed against the glass.

Natsu panicked and quickly shoved her against the tree making her yelp and wince in pain as he growled. He trapped her between his arms as she looked up at him with wide eyes, her pale face colored in pink.

"Lucy Heartfillia," he sighed, looking at her with an unpleasant look. "You're really low, aren't you?"

"What?"

"If you didn't know, we're in some war right now. If I become nice to you, I'm basically giving up so that's a win for you... how do you expect me to do this with this war going on?"

"Well…" Lucy felt dumbfounded at his words, feeling her blush rush down to her chest and ears. "Obviously if you become nice, I'll become nice too... it's a win-win situation."

"You're spewing all this nonsense because you want me to be fond of you, aren't you?"

Lucy scoffed, turning her head away to look away from his piercing eyes. "As if... it wouldn't hurt to be nice to your house-mate and classmate, asshole." She hissed out, making him roll his eyes. Staring down at the space between them for a moment, he looked up at her.

Her heart skipped a beat and she gasped slightly, the male smirking at her stunned face.

"Fine, I'll be nice. But don't come crying to me that I should return to my old self again because that's not going to happen."

"I don't even know if you have a nice side, you devil reincarnated." She muttered under her breath, narrowing her eyes while she heard the one scoff.

"And what are you, some kind of angel?"

"Yeah, that's it. I'm the angel and you're the devil. It's as simple as that," she smirked smugly at him, making him roll his eyes, pulling away to run his hand through his hair.

"Fine, give me my picture back and we'll call it even."

Smiling to herself, she handed the photo back towards the jock who had his hand out and stepped away from the tree when suddenly he yanked her back and wrapped his arms around her small figure. Lucy yelped in surprise, feeling the embarrassment swell inside of her as her eyes rounded out and darted over to look at the male.

"W—what do you think you're doing?!" Lucy screeched, her face flushing crimson as the feel of him holding her against him.

Is this what it was like to be held by him?

"Have a lovely day, angel! I hope you have a beautiful day full of sunshine and rainbows and—"

"This isn't being nice! This is creepy!" Lucy shouted, trying to pull away from his grip while he held on tight. She twisted her head to try and glare at him but she knew she was beet red by the way he was smirking down at her, snickering to himself.

Watching him lean in, Lucy reeled her head back, looking at him as if he grew two heads.

"What? Do you want a kiss then?"

"In your fucking dreams!"

— X—

"Hey, Lucy, let's go home together!"

Lucy jumped in her seat as she heard the loud voice of the male she least expected. Well, considering Dan showed up anywhere and everywhere and loved to follow her around like a love sick puppy-dog, she shouldn't be so surprised he found her.

Slowly turning her head and looking over at the doorway, she saw Dan grinning widely as his invisible tail wagged back and forth. He came over to her desk and slammed his palms against her desk causing her, Cana, and Levy to jump and scowl at him. "Can we go home together today?!"

"U—uh, no! You can't!" She cried out, making Dan raise his brow at her.

"And why not?"

"Because! Uh, because uh..." The blonde stammered as she couldn't think of a legit reason why he couldn't follow her home. Her eyes darted from place to place as she tried finding a reason, trying to quickly come up with an excuse so Dan could leave her be. Even if her and Natsu are somewhat 'cordial' at the moment, he would still murder her if she allowed others to know she was living with him. And she wasn't trying to go right back into war after she tried so hard to force him to be nice to her.

Nervously darting her eyes around her surroundings, her eyes followed the movement from the window and she gasped, seeing the players warming up.

"I'm going to the soccer game! Yeah, I—I'm going to the soccer game so you, uh, you can't walk me home!"

"Soccer game?" Dan echoed, his eyebrows furrowed as he stared at the blonde. "Why?"

"Yeah, Lucy, why?" Cana egged her on, smirking at the blonde who shot her a look.

"Because... because, uh," Lucy was beginning to sweat, trying so hard to come up with an excuse as she looked right at her two friends but Cana was being a jerk about it while Levy was staring at her blankly. "Because Levy wanted to!"

"I don't want to—"Levy started to say but Lucy quickly covered her mouth, laughing nervously.

"Levy, you're so silly! Remember how we talked about it during lunch that you wanted to see the first game of the season?"

Levy blinked dumbly at her with her palm pressed against her mouth and Lucy could only give her a pleading look that soon had the bluenette rolling her eyes.

"Oh…" Dan spoke, trailing off as he stared out the window before turning his head to grin at her again. "Well, if you're going, I'll go too, Lu-tan!"

Mentally cursing herself, Lucy started to cry as the final bell rang and everyone filed out of the classroom leaving Levy, Dan, and Lucy all alone. Where was Cana when she needed her?! How could that bitch just up and leave them? She could have fought off Dan for her and now it was only up to Levy to be a buffer between the two.

"Let's go to the game, Lu-tan! Maybe we can get some good seats!" Dan was first to get up from his seat. He was out the door before she could say anything and she merely exchanged an exasperated look with Levy before they were following after the giddy brunette.

Lucy made sure she stuck Levy in between her and Dan but Dan being the annoying one came around to her other side so he could be closer. Levy tried her best to stay out of it as she stuck her nose in her novel, following after the two in silence while Dan ran his mouth about his day and asking her all sorts of questions.

It made her feel dizzy with how fast he was talking and she was glad they finally made it out of the building and onto the field where it felt a lot less crowded.

"Do you even know anything about soccer, Lu?" Levy asked as they approached the field, seeing how there were already other students on the bleachers watching the players warm up before their game where to start in the next thirty minutes.

"O—of course I do!" Lucy exclaimed, cheeks flaming while she had a pout to her lips, clutching her book close to her chest. "You just… run around and see who can score the most points!"

Levy quirked a brow at her and Lucy merely scowled, hissing at the bookworm who rolled her eyes and went back to her novel.

Not wanting to fully commit to this just yet in case Dan may run off, Lucy stood by the field instead of climbing up the bleachers. She scanned over the many players who were jogging back and forth and kicking the soccer ball to one another. Their white jerseys were a complete contrast to the opposing team who had a black and Lucy could only squint to see the player at the other end of the field.

Isn't Natsu on the soccer team? Where was he?

Blinking stupidly, Lucy felt her cheeks heat up again as she caught herself thinking about him. Why the hell is she thinking about him of all people? She didn't even like him! Who cares what he's doing or where he is. If he missed his own game then that's on him!

She just wanted to bang her head against her hardcover but there were too many people around and she did not want to be labeled as 'the weirdo' like Natsu liked to call her.

"Want to find a seat, Lu-Lu?" Dan's voice brought her back from her investigation and she was startled to hear his voice, forgetting he was standing right by her. Levy continued to ignore them but she seemed to be aware enough to shuffle along with them as Lucy noticed she was leaning against the fence and being in her own world.

Laughing awkwardly, Lucy simply nodded. "Uh, sure! That'll be great. We'll be up there in a second."

"I'll find us the best seats in the house!" Dan cackled as he began to barrel up the stairs, stomping loudly and ignoring all the others who were already seated. Levy was already following behind him, not even bothering to stop reading as it seemed like she was getting to a good part in the story.

Lucy made a mental note to ask Levy to borrow the said novel she was so invested in.

Lucy sighed out in relief, returning back to her investigation where she began to scan the field for her one suspect. She didn't even know why she was but for some reason, that was all her eyes were trying to find.

She could see Gray on the field with some of the other players like Laxus, Bixslow, Elfman… but where was—?

"What the hell are you doin' here?"

Surprised to hear and see the one person she was looking for, the blonde whipped her head over to see the said devil standing right in front of her. Wearing his all white uniform for the game, Natsu had a headband pushing back his rosy-locks and she tilted her head to the side to take it in. He kind of looked cute and a little bit too innocent for someone who was the devil himself.

"Hello? Earth to weirdo?" He waved his hand at her and she blinked dumbly, scowling at him. "I asked what you're doing here?"

"What? Can't I come and support my high school's soccer team?"

"Do you even know anything about soccer?"

"Of course I do!" Lucy growled, stomping her foot on the ground. "Why is everyone asking me that?!"

"Well, you've never even come to a soccer game so… what's the sudden appearance now?"

Lucy laughed nervously, averting her gaze away from the frowning player. "Well… you see…" Her eyes trailed over to find Dan on the stand, shouting at someone about moving over while Levy had already found herself a seat at the top of the bleachers. Natsu seemed to follow her eyes to see what she was looking at and he immediately made a sour face.

Offering an awkward smile, Natsu furrowed his brow and huffed slightly as his eyes darted from her to the bleachers.

"Are you talking about your stupid little fan-boy?"

Lucy frowned, furrowing her own brows. "His name is Dan and don't call him stupid."

Even if Lucy wasn't particularly fond of Dan in that kind of way and he could tone it down a notch, she still didn't condone bullying nor name calling. Dan was innocent and he was only going by his heart so who was she to crush him like that? They've known each other since they were just kids so she felt like an older sister to him in a sense so hearing someone call him stupid made her feel a little bad.

Dan was a nice guy but he was just super annoying.

"That junior needs to learn his place. Who does he think he is following a senior around like a lost puppy-dog? And worst of all, he's a guy. He's a fucking pussy and it makes him look like a mama's boy." He scoffed, making Lucy scowl at his rude behavior.

Planting her hands on her hips, Lucy huffed in annoyance. "Stop it. Dan has it hard too—he's basically like my younger brother. I've known him since he was born and we're really close."

"Great, great," he said, his voice condensing. "Do you tell him when your period starts and what you eat for lunch every day, too?"

Lucy gawked at the player, clutching her book tighter against her chest. "I thought we had an agreement you'll be nice."

"This is me being nice." He snorted, hands planted on his hips as he looked at her gowring face. "We made a deal, I'll be nice to you, not him." Natsu twisted his wrist in the air as if he was brushing away the conversation. "Anyways, he's annoying and pisses me off."

It was Lucy's turn to scoff now as she crossed her arms across her chest and quirked a brow at him. "What has he ever done to you?"

"Called me an inconsiderate bastard 'cause I wouldn't donate money to your stupid fundraiser." Natsu rolled his eyes before they pinned back on the blonde, his eyes narrowing. "Did you tell him about us living together?"

"No way! I didn't tell anyone so you better not tell anyone either!" Lucy pointed a finger at him, hissing at the jock. "My reputation will be ruined!"

Natsu snorted, giving her a flat look. "You don't have a reputation, loser."

With her cheeks flaming in embarrassment, Lucy gawked at him once again, unsure how to respond. "S—shut up! The deal?!"

"Oops, my bad." Natsu brought a hand to his mouth, a smirk curling up. "Err, this is teasing, y'know? Friend's do it. Wait—never mind, you wouldn't know. You don't have friends—"

"Jeez! You're such a douchebag!" Lucy yelled, holding the thick hardcover book up to act as if she was going to hit him with it and he flinched away, snickering at the red-faced blonde.

"I'm kidding, Luce."

" Luce?" She echoed, venom laced between her words as it sounded pretty deadly. Natsu cringed and gave her a look of worry as she shot him yet another dirty look, book still held above her. "What the hell is Luce?"

"It's like a pet-name." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Don't give me pet-names! My name is Lucy. Not Luce or weirdo or blondie or anything else you want to call me!" She threw her hands in the air once more, barking at the pink-haired student who rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. I'll call you whatever I want, Luce." He emphasized her pet-name making Lucy growl before she chucked the textbook right at the player. Being the quick male he was, Natsu jerked his foot away before it fell on it and gave her a look of triumph, smirking at the glaring one.

"You saw that? Yeah, magic. I'm quick, baby, yeah, that's right, I'm fast." He gasped dramatically as he started to walk away, waving his hands around making her roll her eyes and round the small fence to pick up her book.

Dusting off the dirt and grass that was on her book, Lucy huffed as she felt the annoyance bubble inside of her again. Though Natsu was being a lot nicer to her and even engaging with her on school property, she still had to be cautious around him. Who knows when he would snap and go back to being the dick he is? She doesn't even know if he is being genuine or if he had any other tricks up his sleeves. She couldn't trust him too much at once or she might get burned.

Just then, the devil came back and placed his palm on top of her golden head, startling her.

"If you're staying to watch the game, let's go home together."

Scrunching her face up, Lucy looked at him in confusion. "Ew, why?"

"I'm feeling generous." He shrugged, redoing his headband to push his bangs out of his face. "And it's going to be dark so it's safer to go home with me."

"Aw, is somebody worried?" She cooed at the male who rolled his eyes.

"Yeah right. My moms going to blow a fuse if I let you walk home alone in the dark again. I actually want to live till eighty."

"Dragneel!" A nice voice startled the pair and Natsu was quick to step away from her as if she was some kind of wet animal. Lucy merely rolled her eyes at his behavior and turned to see a scarlet-haired student coming towards them, a clipboard tucked against her side while she wore a black visor.

Lucy tilted her head to the side, wondering who this was while Natsu seemed to cower behind her. She sort of looked familiar but it was a bit hard to see her entire face with the visor on.

"What are you doing slacking off? The game starts in ten minutes! Get out there and continue your warm up!"

"Aye, sir!" He immediately saluted her before running off and Lucy was stunned to see the sight.

Did he just..? What the hell was that about?

Turning back around to look at the scarlet-haired woman, the first thing Lucy noticed was how beautiful she was. With a tall, slim structure and long scarlet hair that was tied back into a ponytail, she looked intimidating in a way.

She knew she attended this school but where has she seen her before?

"Sorry, I didn't mean to keep him."

Seeing how she turned to look right at Lucy, she didn't know if she should be apologizing or just running for the hills.

"You shouldn't apologize for others. Natsu is known for slacking off and that is nobody's fault but his own."

Lucy didn't know how to respond to that considering she's never heard any other female talk about the Natsu Dragneel like this. Normally, all girls and even teachers would bend over backwards for that cocky son of a bitch.

It was kind of refreshing to have someone not worship the jock for just being good-looking and good at sports.

Smiling, Lucy offering a hand her way. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Lucy. What's your name?"

Seeing the surprised look on her face, she finally made her way to grab for her hand. "Erza. Erza Scarlet." Her handshake was firm and Lucy was surprised to feel the grip this woman had. It just then reminded her that she was their class president. "You're the one whose house fell down during the storm a week ago, right?" She asked, making Lucy flush and nod shyly.

"Y—yeah... that's me."

"Well, I hope all is well, Lucy." Erza offered such a warm smile that Lucy couldn't help but smile back. "How come I've never seen you around before, Lucy? What class are you? Are you a senior?"

"Yes, I am. I just don't attend sport games or do much but y'know, read and stuff." Lucy shrugged carelessly, her face flaming up in embarrassment as Erza just recognized her as a loser. If Erza Scarlet, Senior class president didn't know who she was—she seriously needed to come out of the rock she was living under.

Suddenly, Erza smiled widely and crossed her arms over her chest, looking as if she realized something.

"Do you want to help me manage the boy's varsity soccer team?"

"E—eh?" The blonde squeaked, obviously taken back by the request as the red head nodded.

"It's not too hard, you should do it with me! We can get acquainted better and it'll be nice to have someone else with me."

"B—but I don't know how to—?"

"Oh it's easy! I'll teach you before the game starts, c'mon!" She cried out in joy as she grabbed her hand and quickly pulled her around the fence. Lucy, who only could cry out in surprise, was dragged all the way down and towards the track where a table and chairs were set out.

She didn't even know this was here as she was too busy trying to find a certain soccer player. And how did she even get into this position? She didn't even know what it meant to manage a soccer team!

"Okay, it's very simple. All you do with the book is write down who scored a goal, who attempted to score a goal, and what penalties. They're really simple so you actually have to watch. And during breaks or quarters, you just fill the water bottles and hand it to them. Seems easy, huh?"

"Uh... am I allowed to help? Don't I need to sign up or uh, something?" Lucy didn't know how to feel about the sudden change and promotion while her eyes darted from the open book to the beaming face of the scarlet woman.

"No, no. You just tell the coach you want to help and you're officially manager!" Erza said happily as she handed Lucy the pencil. "Why don't you write down their names and I'll go fill water?"

Without having the chance to reply to her, Lucy watched how her new scarlet-haired friend walked away towards the bench where the water cooler was.

How was she supposed to do this? Why did she even agree? No, she didn't, she was forced to. But Erza seem so nice and stuff... she really wanted to help and who was she to reject a request from Erza Scarlet? She was popular, beautiful, nice, and friendly. She wasn't in the spot to reject friends.

Sighing, she sat herself down on the fold out chair and took the roster to start writing down the boy's name, number, and position.

She was going to come and watch the game anyways and this was so much better than sitting on the bleachers with a screaming talkative Dan.

Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad.

Maybe… things were finally turning around for her.