In Secret (Sequel to Behind the Scenes)

Friends

Levy's P.O.V.

"So where have you been lately, Levy-chan? It seems like you're gone all the time, but Jet and Droy have been hanging out around the hall." Lucy giggled a little. "They look like lost puppies sometimes." Great. I sighed. "I'm so sorry Lu-chan. I'm such a terrible friend. I've been ignoring everyone because of a new set of books I've been reading." I was telling the truth, but it still felt like lying. I WAS reading a new set of books. I'd never really read teaching books before.

We were currently sitting in the baths at Fairy Hills after our excursion to the bookstore. My muscles were too sore for me to do much else at the moment. I'd told Lucy that I'd been rearranging the bookshelves in my room again, to explain for the stiffness. "Why didn't you say something? I'd have come to help you! And brought Erza! She could probably move the shelves without having to unload all of the books." We laughed then, picturing our scarlet haired friend moving everything without breaking a sweat. "I just, I don't know. It was something I needed to do for myself, Lu-chan. Mostly the shelves ended up back where they'd started anyway, so that wouldn't have been fair to anyone helping me. And it's good for me to not be such a wimp all the time."

I looked up to see Lucy looking at me with concern in her face. "Levy-chan, what's going on? You've been down lately. And when you ARE around, you're exhausted all the time. I know it's not just from moving the bookshelves." I just shook my head, mentally kicking myself again for being such a bad friend. I took a deep breath and smiled brightly at my blonde friend. "Nothing, Lu. Don't worry about it. Shall we finish up and go have Cancer fix our hair? I'm ready for that pedicure!"

Lucy continued to stare at me for a few seconds, then smiled back. "Sure! Let's go!" We both toweled off and got dressed, then headed to my room. I hooked my arm through Lucy's and we started skipping like a couple of children. That soak did wonders for my muscles. I'll have to remember to do that more often. We got to my door, giggling uncontrollably, and I opened it. "Go ahead and call him, I'm just going to grab something out of my room really quick." I went into my dark room to grab a book Lucy and I had been talking about. I knew exactly where it is, so I didn't even turn the lights on.

As I crossed the room, I felt like something was off. I adjusted my course and grabbed the baseball bat that leaned against the wall next to my bed instead. I took a stance ready to swing and looked slowly around my room to figure out what had triggered this paranoia. I noticed my window open, and thought to myself, I'm pretty sure I haven't opened that all day...

As I continued to sweep my room with my gaze, my eyes adjusted to the low light. I could tell no one was in my room, but the bed I was standing next to seemed to have something on it. Still holding the bat ready, I reached one hand over and hit my light switch. As soon as the lights came on I felt dumb, getting worked up for nothing. I sat the bat against my wall again and went to close the window before turning back to the bundle on my bed.

In the middle of the tiny bed was a package, plain brown paper, tied with twine. I could tell from the shape that it was a large book, but who... I reached a hand towards it, but decided against unwrapping it. I'm already ignoring my friends enough. If I open that now Lucy won't be able to get my attention again tonight. I turned and grabbed the book I'd initially came in for and left the room, turning my light off as I went.

The rest of the night the package on my bed lingered in the back of my mind. I felt more and more like my old self as the night went on, and Lucy stopped asking if I was okay by the time we'd gotten our hair done. Cancer put gentle waves in my hair and pinned my bangs back with clips before he told me my hair was "awesome, baby", took a bow and disappeared. Lucy and I laughed about that as we left, arms linked again. Even though it was dark out, with my new defense skills and Lucy's whip on her belt, we walked down the street without any fear. Of course, she didn't know anything about my skills, but the salon we were going to wasn't all that far from Fairy Hills anyway.