Just Neighbors

Prologue

♫ Prologue ♫

ONE YEAR AGO...

Today was the first day of Spring, the season people find romantic, which I don't get, I find Spring quite beautiful, but I don't really sense the romantic atmosphere of Spring.

As I walk to school on the route of flying Sakura petals in the air, I noticed that there was a blonde girl that goes to my school—by knowing this, I observed her school uniform—eating a rice ball a few feet beside me. She glanced at me and I looked away, blushing. She shrugged and continued eating her rice ball.

My stomach growled from not eating breakfast this morning, and the girl beside me heard it. I smiled sheepishly at her and she smiled in response.

"You want the rest?" She gestured towards her half bitten rice ball. My stomach grumbled once again, making her giggle.

"Here. You can have it." She walked closer to me and grabbed my hand, opening it, while placing her rice ball on my hand. She smiled at me and I smiled in return.

"Thanks." I munched on it like a hungry animal, and she giggled.

"You laugh a lot. Weirdo." I mumbled my last sentence. She playfully punched my shoulder and rolled her eyes.

"I laugh a lot because you're funny, you dummy." She pouted.

"Oh." I said with realization.

"But you're pretty cute when you laugh." I complimented, making her blush a rosy pink on her cheeks. She smiled slightly and brushed a hair strand behind her ear with her finger.

"You know what else is cute?" I sent her a questionable look.

"What?" She reached up to play with my hair.

"Your pink hair." She teased.

I pouted. "It's salmon."

She laughed. "I'm going to call you Pinky, and you can call me Lucy."

"The name's Natsu, Luigi." She sent me a death glare making me bring my hands up as defense.  Doesn't this chick not know who I am?

"It's Lucy." I smiled and shook her hand, taking her by surprise.

"Nice to meet ya' Lucy." She shook my hand in response.

"You, too, Pinky." She grinned happily.

"It's Natsu!"

＊＊＊

After 3 hours of basketball practice, I decided to walk home and catch up on homework than just hangout with the basketball team tonight. I mean, education comes first, right? Plus, Coach Gildarts says that I should probably start bumping up my grades because I may not even graduate high school next year. Which will probably suck because then all my friends will start making fun of me for being a dumbass.

I sighed in frustration as I took the same, usual route that I walk on to school and from school—so I can get home. I then saw the same blonde girl from this morning, Lucy. I smiled.

She was walking in front of me and humming a song that I don't really know. I listened carefully to her angelic humming, until I noticed that she was wearing soccer cleats, black knee length socks, and our school soccer jersey. She held her gym bag, including her school bag, that looked like her school clothes were in and probably a soccer ball.

The number 14 was said on the back of her red jersey and on top of the number read "Heartfilia." Lucy Heartfilia? I enunciated her name in my mind. Her blonde hair tied into a ponytail, cascading behind her back and a pink headband—her bangs falling out of her ponytail and not fully in her headband—to complete the look. I looked up and saw my street name Crocus Avenue and realized that I was almost home.

I looked around for any signs of Lucy and I spotted her walking towards a white two story house. I looked back at the street name and then at my house that was just one house away from me. I watched as she stepped onto her porch and entered her house. I ran to my house and stopped on my tracks. I turned around to face her house, which was across from mine.

My stomach fluttered, "Lucy's my...neighbor?"