My first one-shot. Oh, I'm so excited! I'm not entering the contest yet, but I'm planning to do it soon. I'm so bad at making covers. I'll ask my friend to do it for me. XD
Host of Contest: --Lucy--Heartfilia--
Won: ???
~~~
Author's POV:
"Hey, why doesn't she smile?"
"Did something happen to her?"
"I bet she looks ugly when she smiles."
...
A blonde-haired maiden was walking through the halls with her books close to her chest. Not wanting to make any eye contact, she looked towards the ground and walked straight to her next period. It was pretty easy not to look at her schoolmates, but it was harder not to hear them gossip about her.
It was always like this at school. Everyone would be minding their own business, but as soon as she comes into the picture, everybody starts talking about her. How she never smiles. How she never talks to anybody. How she doesn't have any friends. To Lucy, it was just a daily routine.
Don't make any eye contact.
Don't make any conversations with them.
Don't let them see your smile.
Those were the three main things she was concerned about. The rest didn't matter. Nobody knew why she never smiles, which led them to assume things. She thought it was disgusting how people judged others based off their appearance. Since everyone thought she looked like a sad person, she must've had a sad life.
It wasn't entirely true. She did have a happy life. It was just three years ago when all of that disappeared. Her constant chatter, her constant smile, everything. She felt as if life had been completely drained from her body. She was nothing, but a broken soul.
"Class, I present to you your newest student. Natsu Dragneel, could you be so kind as to introduce yourself to the whole class?" Lucy just arrived to her class when her principal was giving an important announcement. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at their blonde-haired student. She kept her head down, so she wouldn't have to look at them. There it was again. The unending whispers she had to deal with. Lucy sighed before taking her seat at the very back corner of the classroom.
"Well, my name is Natsu and I'm seventeen-years-old. I like to eat, sleep, and play video games at home. Other than that, I like to play sports, hang out with my friends, and make other people happy." Lucy doesn't know why, but hearing Natsu talk about himself, intrigued her a lot. Making other people happy? She thought it was some stupid joke. Nobody could make her happy.
Nobody...
"Thank you, Natsu. Why don't you take a seat next to Miss Heartfilia over there? If you don't like it, I can move you to another table." Natsu looked at the blonde student for the first time and made eye contact with her.
Strike one...
She couldn't believe it. She let the new student look at her. Look at her lifeless, brown eyes. Without a second too soon, she looked away from the pink-haired student and focused on something else. She looked outside the window and saw rain pouring down from the dark sky. She had forgotten to bring an umbrella with her.
There was something interesting about Lucy that Natsu saw in her. It made him curious as to what it could be. When he looked into her eyes, all he could see was a person trapped inside a world filled with sadness. It made him want to help her.
Class was over and Lucy couldn't wait much longer. She grabbed all of her stuff and headed towards the library to avoid the crowd of students heading towards the cafeteria. It's not that she doesn't want to eat. She doesn't want anyone to pay attention to her.
Lucy knew there were a handful of people who go to the library. But, everyone was either too busy, researching on the computer, or checking out books to even look at her. She was invisible, just the way she likes it.
She made it to the library and grabbed a random book from the shelve to read. There was a specific book that caught her eye and her hand automatically went to go get it. As she touched the book for the first time, another hand was placed on top of her's. She looked at the owner of the hand and saw Natsu with a surprised expression on his face.
"Oh, you can have this book if you want. I'll just go look for another book. I'm sorry," Natsu said as he handed her the book.
"It's alright," she replied, while taking the book from him. Natsu made a small smile and walked away from her.
Strike two...
It was shocking. Lucy couldn't believe it herself. How? How did he make her talk? Nobody was able to make her talk. Usually, she would either ignore them or pretend to be doing something, so they wouldn't have a reason to go up to her. What did he have that nobody else does?
Lucy had enough. She decided to avoid him as much as possible. It was strange. Yesterday, everything was according to plan. It was predictable just like every other day. This time, everything was changing. She didn't like that.
Not one bit...
School was over and it was dismissal time. The blonde rushed to the front entrance and remembered that rain was pouring outside. She looked around and saw everybody with their umbrellas over their heads. She mentally cursed at herself and debated whether or not she should walk home, while the rain was still pouring.
"Did you seriously forget? How can someone so stupid not bring their umbrella with them? Did you even check the weather forecast? I doubt you did." Lucy was hoping she didn't have to run into her today. Of course, with everything going absolutely wrong, Natalie just had to show up.
Natalie was the "Queen Bee" of the school. Everyone loved her. She's smart, pretty, talented, who wouldn't want to be her? Every girl was jealous of how perfect she is and how she could make all the guys fall in love with her. If you so dare to ignore her just like Lucy did, she'll make you regret that you did.
"Natalie, don't you remember? Didn't she have a sad life? It could only mean that she didn't have a lot of money like us. Ugh, I feel so bad for her. I mean, she can't even afford her own umbrella," Tasha, Natalie's best friend, said. The two girls laughed at Lucy, which made her furious. They were right. She didn't have a lot of money back then. But, she did have an umbrella of her own. She just forgot it at home.
"So, what if she didn't have a lot of money when she was younger? So, what if she wasn't able to afford her own umbrella? You have no right to criticize her and laugh at how poor she is. How do you even know if she's poor or not? You guys have no idea who she is and I never saw you make an effort to get to know her better. Instead of creating unnecessary drama around here, how about you just mind your own business and think about how you should treat others next time. You can be the most popular girls in school, but you should never treat others as if they are inferior than you. We are all the same, whether you like it or not." Tasha and Natalie were shocked. They were never stood up before. Heck, not even a single person would've expected Natsu to come and defend a girl like Lucy.
Without another word, Natalie and Tasha scoffed and sashayed away from the crowd of people that were watching the whole act they have committed. All of the students felt guilty, because what Natsu said was true. Although they never bad-mouthed Lucy before, they did misjudge her and gossip behind her back. Everyone left the scene, leaving Natsu and Lucy alone together.
"Come on, Lucy. You can share the umbrella with me." Natsu opened his umbrella and gestured Lucy to come right next to him. She doesn't get it. Why would someone like him try to help someone like her? She doesn't know why it's troubling her so much, but she won't question it. Instead, she walked over to Natsu and the both of them shared the umbrella together. They walked with no specific direction to go, but Lucy didn't mind. She was actually enjoying it.
"Can I ask you something?" Lucy requested quietly. Natsu looked at her and nodded. She took a deep breath in before asking.
"Why did you help me? These two girls always bullied me and yet, you were the first person who ever truly cared about me. Why did you decide to defend me and not walk away? I don't get it." Natsu didn't know her. She was nothing, but a complete stranger to him. But, he saw something in her. Something special that he couldn't just leave.
"You're not happy. There's just something about you that I can't point out. The way you avoid people and don't talk to them, it feels... unnatural. I don't need to know what happened in your past to understand why you're like this now. Do you remember what I said during my introduction? I told everybody that I like to make people smile, because I feel there is no greater feeling than the feeling of happiness." Lucy just stared at him. She didn't know whether to agree of disagree with him. Was that why she felt lonely all this time? Felt as if nobody was there for her?
"That still doesn't explain why you did it." Natsu stopped walking, which made Lucy stop as well. He turned to face her and looked straight into her eyes. Without any indication, Natsu gently embraced her in a heartwarming hug. She felt something warm dripping from her eyes and wiped it off. It felt weird to her. Tears? Why would she cry if she didn't feel sad at all?
Natsu freed Lucy from the hug and he lifted her chin, so she wouldn't have to look at the ground. Was this fate doing this to Lucy? On one random day, a certain boy showed interest in a blonde-haired girl. He knew she wasn't like any of the other girls, but he could care less. She was quiet, distant, and showed no emotion towards other people. She never made any eye contact and never made any conversations with anybody. Natsu was able to change all of that. Through seven magical words, not only was he able to make her happy, he was able to make her do something that not everyone gets to see.
"Because, I want to see you smile."
After three long years of waiting, she smiled. He was the one who saved her. Saved her from the darkness she was surrounded in. No one was there. It was just them. Lucy formed the most beautiful smile in the world. She knew why she cried before. It wasn't because she was sad, it was because she was happy. Happy that someone was there for her when she needed it the most.
"Hey, Natsu? Would you... like to come over to my place for some tea?" The pink-haired teen nodded and together, they walked all the way to the blonde's home for some tea. Unknowingly, Natsu held Lucy's hand and she couldn't help, but make another smile.
Strike three... You're out...
~~~
Next Update: ??/??/??
I hope you liked this one-shot! I'm extremely tired and I stayed up all night, trying to put this one-shot together. Note to self, don't update, while lying down on bed. Did you guys like it? I know it's not the best, but at least I'm trying my hardest. I think I'm going to enter this one-shot into the contest and pray that I'm going to win. Wish me luck!
~TheKonfusingKK