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'I promised not to love him again.'

She touched her lips in a daze. Staring at the door Natsu just left out of.

'I hate him. I hate Natsu Dragneel'

Her face grew redder as she in visioned his touch and his scorching lips on hers. Her eyes were glossy as she attempted to cover her face.

'So please. My heart, be still'

Lucy let out a loud sigh as she collapsed on her bed. She'd finally gotten Juvia and Levy to leave and stop hounding her with questions. Her thoughts constantly traveled back to Natsu.

"I just don't get it." She mumbled. "One minute he's all jerky and says awful things. The next he's being all caring and nice- well sorta... Natsu's version of nice." She flipped onto her stomach. 'He's just so frustrating!' She kicked her feet childishly. Her phone buzzed and she rolled over to pick it up, it was a number she didn't recognize.

"Hello?"

"Yeah it's Natsu."

Lucy nearly fell out of her bed as she moved to sit up. "Natsu?! Why are you calling?"

She heard him sigh and she guessed he was running his hands through his hair by now. "Don't sound so surprised idiot. Of course I would call to see if you were alright. It is my fault you got sick in the first place."

Lucy laughed nervously at the light tone of his voice. "A-ah, yeah. I'm fine, complete recovery!" She fiddled with a lock of her golden hair nervously, tugging it slightly.

Natsu let out a sigh of relief. "Okay. Make sure you take some if that medicine I bought you. And there's some chocolate strawberries in there for you. Juvia said they're your favorite."

Lucy looked at the bag on her dresser and smiled softly. "Yeah... Thanks Natsu."

"Whatever. Eat up Blondie." He said coldly, but it somehow didn't bother Lucy.

"Goodnight Natsu." She smiled and hung up after Natsu gave a curt "yeah".

Lucy stood up and quickly ran over to the bag, seeing that Natsu had bought all of her favorite snacks. "Now I'm even more confused..." She mumbled. "Is he a good guy or bad guy?"

The next day, Lucy nervously walked through the school building. She wanted to avoid Natsu for as long as she could. Positive that she wouldn't be able to think of anything but the heated lip lock the two of them shared on her bed. Just the thought of it was turning her face crimson.

"Are you listening Gray?! You just got here, don't go around starting trouble okay?" Lucy stopped walking when she noticed a guy she'd never seen before leaning against the wall ignoring a lecture from a short haired woman. The boy named Gray sighed and rubbed his neck.

"Yeah, yeah I hear ya." He stood up off the wall and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Behave right?"

The woman let out a light laugh. "Try to keep your close on Gray, and don't be so quick tempered." He gave her a thumbs up, the bored expression never leaving his face.

Lucy walked past them quickly, not wanting them to think she was eavesdropping.

"Hey." Lucy paused mid-step as she heard the raven haired boy call out to her. She turned to look at him. "Y-yes?" Her voice came out just as nervous and shaky as she looked.

Gray let out a laugh, taking in her odd facial expression. "No need to look so nervous! I was just gonna ask if you knew where class 2-A was?"

Lucy's guard dropped as she observed the boy, he was laid back and casual. She smiled brightly at him. "Sure! 2-A is my class. I'm Lucy Heartfilia by the way." She smiled and held out her hand. "Nice to meet you."

He took her hand and nodded. "Gray Fullbuster. Shall we go?" The two turned to walk away.

"Stay out of trouble Gray! I mean it! Especially with Natsu!" The short haired woman yelled at his back. Gray lifted a hand and continued to walk.

Lucy eyed Gray cautiously. "You know Natsu Dragneel?"

He laughed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know that idiot with a horrible attitude. You?"

Lucy scoffed. "Everybody knows 'Prince Natsu-sama' he's soooo cool" She mocked in a flat voice.

Gray burst into laughter. "You're interesting!" His laughter was contagious as giggles bubbled in Lucy's throat.

The two continued to laugh as they walked down the hall together. "This is the class." She gestured to the sign and stepped inside. She went to her seat after greeting Levy and Juvia. Murmurs and whispers filled the room as the teachers introduced Gray.

"No way!"

"He's so hot!"

"He looks so cool."

"Che, another flashy guy."

"He's on par with Natsu."

"I hope he sits next to me!"

"He gives off a bad boy type vibe."

"Yeah like he's a former delinquent, but I don't mind! He's hot!"

The only three paying no mind to the whole ordeal was Lucy, Levy, and Juvia. They were in their own little world. Juvia was texting away on her phone, Levy had her head stuck in a book, and Lucy's mind was elsewhere as she stared out the window.

Gray moved to the seat designated to him by the teacher, ignoring the eyes following him to his seat. "Oi, is your name Juvia?"

"Yeah." She muttered, her eyes never leaving her screen.

He set his stuff down at the desk next to her and plopped down. "I'm Gray by the way." She turned towards him and gave him a half smile.

"Juvia. Welcome to our class." She gave sarcastic jazz hands and turned back to her phone. Gray stifled a laugh.

"Weird."

"...Now class please take out your textbooks and turn to page 185. Ah- Mr. Fullbuster you can share with Ms. Lockser since I'm sure you don't have yours." The teacher adjusted her glasses and gave Gray a judgemental look. Juvia stiffened and looked around nervously. Gray chuckled and moved his desk next to hers.

"Please take care of me."

Juvia laughed nervously. "A-ah yeah... Um... About the b-"

Gray slid the book in between the two of them. "I did attend school before I got here. But the teacher obviously doesn't see that. Leave it to the adults to judge you by your looks huh?" He whispered as Juvia gave him an appreciative grin.

"You're not too bad Fullbuster." She lightly punched his shoulder. The two of them laughed and joked with each other until lunchtime.

Lucy and Levy smiled and giggled as they whispered to each other behind Juvia's back. The two were gossiping like middle schoolers, it was pissing Juvia off. The two of them began giggling uncontrollably. "Why the hell are you laughing?!" She growled snapping at the two of them.

Lucy and Levy stifled their giggles and latched onto her arms. "Nothing really~" Lucy sung.

"Yo, girl who's been ignoring me." Lucy jumped away in surprise.

"Natsu! What are you doing here?!"

He smiled and held up his lunch. "I just wanted to eat lunch with my girlfriend. Is that a problem?" He pouted cutely. Lucy's heart gave an unintentional squeeze. She hesitated and backed away. "Is that a no ?"

"F-fine." She let out a sigh. Natsu smiled and grabbed Lucy's hand.

"Let's go." He dragged her down the hall.

"J-just a second Natsu! Why do we have to eat in the infirmary?!" Natsu sighed.

"Because it's quiet in here, no one's shoving their lunches in my face." He pushes her inside.

She turns around and stomps angrily. "So why'd I have to come along?! Idiot Natsu!" He sighs and takes her hand and leads her to one of the bed.

"Because it's not really all that annoying to have you around." He sat down and opened his lunch. Lucy stood there, her heart thumping loudly in her ears. "What're ya waiting for? Come eat." She swallowed the lump in her throat and made her way over to the bed. Kicking off her shoes, Lucy sat cross legged on the bed.

"I didn't get to buy any bread..,." She mumbled.

"Here." He swiftly shoved a dumpling in her mouth.

Red spilled throughout her cheeks as she chewed the tender dumpling. 'Indirect kiss...'

"...You hear me?"

Lucy looked up in surprise. "Eh?"

"I said that you look really red today, you sure your fever is gone? If it isn't you should've just stayed in bed today, idiot blonde."

Lucy laughed nervously, scratching her head. "I'm fine, I'm fine..."

Natsu eyed her suspiciously, shoveling some rice into his mouth. "Whatever."

The two argued continuously while they shared Natsu's lunch. "There's no way I'm telling you that!" She yelled shoving him away.

He growled and moved closer. "Well why in the hell not? It's not like I don't already know, I just want to know if I'm right!"

Lucy pushed his face away. "Because that's something you shouldn't ask a lady. You barbaric ape."

Natsu pushed her down and got in her face again. "What was that?!"

The curtains opened suddenly. "Okay, okay. That's enough you two. You have to do those things after school hours." Mira smiled sweetly.

Natsu stared at her in shock. "M-Mira?! This isn't what it looks like!"

Lucy frowned deeply and kicked Natsu off the bed. "Of course it wasn't." She mumbled.

Natsu is glared and stood up. "What the hell was that for?!"

Frowning, Lucy crossed her arms and turned away from him. "Nothing really, idiot." Mira giggled at the two.

"My my, you two make a lovely couple." Lucy's face lit up, but it quickly fell when she noticed Natsu's.

"Yeah..." He gave a dry smile that seemed to go unnoticed by Mira. But Lucy seemed to get the message clearly.

'Natsu really is in love with her huh?'

"S-so Mira-"

She stood up a straitened her skirt. Saying nothing, she fled from the infirmary quickly as tears stung the back of her eyes. Lucy ran through the halls as fast as she could manage, the tears blurring her sight. It felt as if Gravity was specifically targeting Lucy's chest as it grew harder for her to breathe. She stopped and turned a corner to sit on the empty stairs and catch her breath. She hiccuped as she sucked in a breath.

"Lucy?" A hesitant voice called out to her. She gasped and quickly tried to wipe away her tears, but they only seem to fall harder.

"J-Juvia... Gray..."

Juvia quickly ran down the stairs to her side. "What's going on Lucy? Why are you crying?!"

"It hurts..." She sobbed as she fell into Juvia's chest, sucking in short breaths in between her sobs. "I don't wanna do this anymore. It's painful!" Her friend wrapped her arms around her tightly, still confused as to what's going on. Gray sat next to her awkwardly.

"A-are... are you okay Lucy?" He patted her shoulder as her sobs quieted down to soft hiccups.

"No... I mean, I don't know. It's stupid..." The tone of her voice indicated that she was at conflict with her heart.

Juvia patted her back and pushed her away to look at her tear stained face. "Start from the beginning."

Lucy nodded in response and began pouring her heart out about each event that had transpired between her and Natsu. "... But I already knew it, that he loves Mira-sensei. It just hurts to watch him look at her like that... because I really want him to look at me like that. Even though I know how cruel he can be. I... I still love him..."

She bit her lip to repress the tears fighting their way out. Finally admitting that she wasn't over Natsu was painful. It stung. Without a word Juvia stood up and stormed off, mumbling she needed some air. Gray sensed the malice Juvia was emanating and he ran after her, Lucy followed suit. "Oi Juvia wait!"

Juvia continued to walk, disregarding the shouts of Gray and Lucy. She slammed open the infirmary door, startling Mira and Natsu. His prince like smile was present and he grinned at Juvia. "Hi Juvia-san, what do you nee—"

Juvia said nothing as she pulled back her fist. "You bastard!" She punched him so hard he tumbled off the bed. "How dare you?!" In an instant she was on top of him, punching like no tomorrow. "Do you realize what you did?! You heartless piece of shit!" She punched him yet again. Gray and Lucy entered the room in a panic.

"Juvia!" Lucy gasped out.

Gray quickly pulled her off of him as she thrashed and kicked, determined to get back to him. "Let me go! I'll kill him, I swear!" She growled, kicking Gray in his shins. Mira stood there in shock, unsure of what to do. Lucy watched as Juvia went ferral. "Why'd you do it?! What was your purpose?! She said she wouldn't tell! She promised! You piece of shit!" She struggled out of Gray's grip and scrambled back over to Natsu, who was struggling to get back up, and landed a punch square in his jaw. Juvia stumbled and fell forward as Natsu fell back. Lucy gasped and quickly hustled to retrieve Juvia from the ground.

"That's enough Juvia!" She hooked her arms around Juvia and pulled her up and away from Natsu. Gray quickly grabbed her and restricted all of her movement, leaving her squirming and struggling like a tiny infant having a tantrum.

"What the hell." Natsu grumbled out wiping the blood from the side of his mouth. This action only seemed to rile her up even more.

"You disgusting bastard!" She spat. "Give it back. Give Lucy her three years back right now! It's not fair!" Her voice wavered and tears pooled in her eyes.

Lucy couldn't do anything but stare in shock, the scene unfolding in front of her was too much to handle. She covered up her mouth to hold back her sobs. Gray looked as if he couldn't believe someone could possibly get this emotional on someone else's behalf. Yet here he was holding this sobbing, thrashing, angry blue haired woman. Mira finally snapped out of her daze and helped Natsu to his feet. She let out a shaky breath and turned to the seething Juvia.

"Will one of you please explain this to me?! What's happened?!"

Gray decided Juvia was calm enough to release, but he still held on to her hand tightly just in case she decided to lash out again. "Ask him." She spat and glared at Natsu. Mira turned her questioning gaze to Natsu who frowned and ruffled his hair.

"It's nothin'." His words triggered Juvia's rage again.

"Nothing?! You lowlife, pretentious, piece of sh–"

"Its okay!" Lucy shouted wiping away the tears that threatened to fall. "It's stupid, I was upset and Juvia jumped to conclusions. Its my fault really, so if you want someone to punish; punish me. I'm truly sorry." She bowed her head. "Juvia isn't at fault, neither is Natsu. Please forgive me for causing trouble." She grabbed Juvia's hand and quickly exited the room, Gray trailing behind them.

"Just a second Lucy! You can't just pretend like he hasn't hurt you! It's not fair dammit!" Juvia yanked out of Lucy's grip. "Why did you defend him?!" Lucy turned to smile at Juvia, a painful smile. "People do stupid things when they're in love."

Gray stood there in surprise. 'Even though she knows who he really is, and who he really loves; she'd still take the blame for him and protect him. What the hell are you doing Natsu?'